Falcon Invoice Discounting: Unlock Your Business Potential
Iact social media mktg 102715
1. Marketing Your Product on Social
Media
Cliff Ennico
Attorney and Small Business Consultant
2490 Black Rock Turnpike, # 354
Fairfield, Connecticut 06825-2400, U.S.A.
Tel.: (203) 254 1727
Fax: (203) 254 8195
e-Mail: crennico@gmail.com
Web: www.succeedinginyourbusiness.com
2. Disclaimers
• Views expressed in this program are Cliff
Ennico’s own, and do not reflect the views of
The Entrepreneurship Foundation, Fairfield
University, its faculty or indeed anyone else.
• Legal and tax information presented in this
program SHOULD NOT be relied upon as
legal or tax advice, which can only be given
by a lawyer, accountant or other professional
licensed to practice in your state.
• Nobody knows everything there is to know
about SM
• “Do as I say, not as I do . . . “
3. Marketing 101
• It may be too late . . .
• If you build it, they (very frequently) won’t
come
• Should do thorough market research
before you develop product
• Better yet, design your product with the
market in mind (“lean startup”)
4. Marketing 101
• The “Four P’s” of Marketing
– Product
– Packaging
– Pricing
– Promotion
• The Three Keys to Successful Marketing
– Focus on prospect’s “fears” and “passions”
• www.youtube.com, search for “Cliff Ennico channel”
– Focus on “benefits,” not “features”
– Don’t oversell: “Successful marketers have a touch of
larceny in their souls”
5. What Is “Social Media”?
• Also referred to as “Web 2.0” – a category
of websites that is based on user
participation and user-generated content
• Or “the [illegitimate] stepchild of a website
and a blog, incorporating the worst
elements of each”
• Key: the site is “interactive” and
(sometimes) “public”
6. Types of SM Sites
• Networking sites
– Facebook, Myspace, LinkedIn, Google+
• News and “bookmarking” sites
– Digg, Newsvine, Delicious, Reddit
• Media sharing sites
– Flickr, Instagram, Pinterest, Snapchat
• Microblog and “broadcast” sites
– Tumblr, Twitter, Friendfeed, Plurk
7. Examples of “Social Media” Sites
• LinkedIn®: commonly used for business networking, job
searches, and recruiting
• Facebook® and MySpace®: commonly used for
friends/family members to keep in touch with each other;
users can post what is on their minds for friends (or “fans”) to
read
• Twitter®: users post “tweets” of up to 140 characters that
answer “what are you doing right now?”
• YouTube®: users create and post videos to their “channel”
• Instagram®: an online “bulletin board” for photographs and
graphic images (owned by Facebook)
• Pinterest®: another photo sharing site
• Snapchat®: photo/video sharing site where posts disappear
after one to 10 seconds like “Mission Impossible”
8. SM is Becoming All-Pervasive
• More than 1 in 3 Americans have Facebook
pages
• Facebook is the largest country in the world
(1.44 billion “monthly active” users; China has
1.36 billion people)
• Twitter has roughly 236 million “monthly active”
users
• MySpace still has roughly 50.6 million users
• Virtually every American between the ages of 10
and 25 is SM’ly active
9. Implications for Your Business
• 80% of small business marketers plan to increase their
use of SM this year*
• 58% of small business marketers spend at least 10
minutes on SM marketing per day (46% more than one
hour/day)*
• Businesses gain a 185% lift in in Web traffic after
achieving 1,000 Facebook “likes”*
• Businesses with 51 to 100 Twitter followers generate
106% more traffic than those with 25 or fewer followers
• Many businesses see an increase in their search engine
rankings if they are active on SM*
– * source: www.marketmesuite.com
10. Implications for Your Customers
• 57% of businesses have generated customers
through LinkedIn®
– 48% Twitter®
– 42% Facebook®*
• 46% of online users count on SM when making
purchasing decisions*
• 50% of shoppers have bought something based
on a recommendation made through SM*
• 71% of SM users are more likely to buy from a
business they are connected with through SM*
– *source: www.marketmesuite.com
11. Implications for Society
• Our lives are now much more public (“The Circle” by
Dave Eggers)
• We are untethered to a specific physical space, but
tethered to our technology (and the Internet)
• We all have personal brands that must be maintained
(“Life: the Movie” by Neal Postman)
• We all believe we have something to say or share (but
are our lives truly unique?)
• We believe “the crowd” knows more than individuals do
• SM currency is reputation and perceived expertise, NOT
experience, title or affiliation (“The Cult of the Amateur”
by Andrew Keen)
12. SM Marketing: Getting Started
• Know Your Objectives: Are You
– Looking for new customers,
– Looking to build “brand loyalty” among existing customers,
– Building a professional network, and/or
– Driving traffic to your business website?
• Do Your Clients/Customers Hang Out on SM?
• How Much Time Do You Have for Daily SM Activity?
• Are You Running More Than One Business?
– Some sites do not allow you to set up multiple SM pages with
different “profiles”
– May confuse people by having several businesses on one SM
page
13. Why SM Is No Substitute for
a Website
• You can sell goods and services from your SM
pages, BUT
• The better practice is to use SM to drive traffic to
your business Website and sell from there.
• Why?
– People expect that you have one;
– You can keep 100% of the profits you make; and
– You can use your own Terms of Service (TOS) and
Privacy Policy rather than the SM site’s;
– If you are selling creative works, you avoid some SM
sites’ policy of “owning all rights” to images posted on
the site
14. SM Marketing Tip # 1
• Share “cool, compelling content” to your
target audience
– Must be entertaining AND informative
– How-to articles and video tutorials
– Interviews
– Webinars and Podcasts
– Reviews and Ratings (but be careful!)
– Market reports
• “Pull,” don’t “push”
15. SM Marketing Tip # 2
• Share content to a SM platform when
traffic is at its peak:
– Facebook®: 1 pm to 4 pm EST
– Twitter®: 1 pm to 3 pm EST
– LinkedIn®: 7 am to 9 am, 5 pm to 6 pm EST
– Google+®: 9 am to 11 am EST
– Pinterest®: 2 pm to 4 pm, 8 pm to 1 am EST*
• *source: www.marketmesuite.com
16. SM Marketing Tip # 3
• To start discussions and keep the “buzz”
going, ask questions
– DO ask “open ended” questions
– DO ask questions about your industry or
niche
– DON’T ask “yes or no” questions
– DON’T make every question about your
products or services
17. SM Marketing Tip # 4
• Use SM for customer support and feedback
collection
– 50% of online customers expect SMBs to provide
customer support on Facebook®, but only 23%
actually do
– Only 42% of SMBs use SM to solicit customer
feedback;
– 56% of customer “tweets” to SMBs are ignored;
– 12% of SMBs do not take any action to respond to
negative SMB posts*
• *source: www.marketmesuite.com
18. SM Marketing Tip # 5
• Choose the Right SM Platform for Your
Business
– B2C businesses: Facebook®
– B2B businesses and professional services:
LinkedIn®
– “Impulse” buys: Pinterest® and Instagram®
– Entertainment: Myspace®
– Celebrities and personal brands: Twitter®
• * source: www.myaffordablemarketing.com
19. SM Marketing Tip # 6
• Stay Focused and Don’t Spread Yourself Too Thin
– 30% of SMBs find LinkedIn® helpful;
– 22% of SMBs find Facebook® helpful;
– 14% of SMBs find Twitter® helpful;
– 13% of SMBs find YouTube® helpful;
– 7% of SMBs find Google+® helpful;
– 2% of SMBs find Pinterest® helpful;
– 11% of SMBs find other sites helpful.*
• You Don’t Have to Be Everywhere, But Grab the Real
Estate
• Don’t Overlook “Microsites” for Highly Targeted
Communities
– *source: Wall Street Journal
20. SM Marketing Tip # 7
• Measure Your SM Performance
– “Friends” and “followers” are great, but if they’re not
generating sales, leads or website traffic, throw them
under the bus
– “Listening” to SM data in “real time” so you can
• Benchmark against your competitors
• Learn which demographics are most active
• Track content performance
• Top 50 SM analytics tools:
http://socialmediatoday.com/pamdyer/1458746/5
0-top-tools-social-media-monitoring-analytics-
and-management-2013
21. Legal Issues of SM Marketing
[Part 1]
• Your advertising on SM must be “truthful and not
misleading”
– Must be prepared to back up all claims
• SM postings, blogs or reviews recommending
products or services may qualify as
“endorsements” or “testimonials” subject to FTC
regulation:
– Cannot say you use a product if in fact you don’t
– May have to disclose if person making endorsement
receives compensation of any kind for doing so
22. Legal Issues of SM Marketing
[Part 2]
• Your advertising “tweets” may violate anti-spam
laws (CAN-SPAM Act of 2003)
– You must give followers the chance to stop following
you if they don’t want to receive your “tweets”
– You cannot send “tweets” to people who have not
registered as a follower, or who have ceased
following you
– Must include a physical mailing address in all “tweets”
– Header must be honest and not misleading
– Suggestion: personalize your “tweets” so you have a
personal connection to your follower
23. Should You Post Specific Content
to a SM Website?
• The “political opponent” test:
“If you were ever to run for public
office, and your opponent’s campaign
got hold of this posting, would
you be concerned?”
24. Three Things Your Great-Grandma
Knew About SM
• “People judge you by the company you
keep”
• “To have friends, you must be a friend”
• “If you can’t say something nice about
someone, don’t say anything at all”
