Social Media and Network Accounts
Some Top Brands Using Facebook Pages and Why They’re Successful
Dec 20th
So, your business has a Facebook page. Or you’re thinking about one. But have you ever wondered what successful Facebook page owners are doing right? Well, look no further.
This post examines some of the top Facebook pages from brands you’ll surely recognize. But regardless how large – or small – your business is, hopefully you’ll discover some great ideas that will help you take your Facebook experience to the next level for your fans.
Each of these pages has incorporated unique features that have attracted hundreds of thousands (or even millions!) of fans, as well as the notice of major media publications. That’s no small feat, considering how many new pages are popping up daily on Facebook!
It’s important to remember, there’s no need to reinvent the wheel with your Facebook presence. Instead, why not check out what others are doing, and tweak these strategies to make them your own?
#1: Red Bull
The Red Bull team is very much in tune with their target audience. This is evidenced by their unique content and the custom apps used throughout their page.
Red Bull delivers what they know their audience will respond to best. For example, they’ve created a series of online games for their fans, very aptly called the “Procrastination Station.” The games are geared toward sports and extreme, high-impact competitions.
Red Bull also created a web TV program that’s featured prominently on their Facebook page. There are many different segments, many which spotlight the lives of sponsored athletes. Not only does this web TV show align the brand with celebrity athletes, but it also incorporates video into the page, which gives the audience another way to interact with Red Bull.
Another smart feature of Red Bull’s page is their welcome tab. When a non-fan lands on their page, they see the image shown below. They creatively encourage fans to “Like” their page with this attention-grabbing image. Also, they only put one thing on their welcome tab, making it very clear what action step they want to happen. If you have too much information on your welcome tab, your fans will get confused and are not likely to take ANY action. So less is definitely more. Stick with just one call to action.
Facebook Tip: One area you should consider spending a bit of money on is the creative design of your page. When design is done right, it can really make a great first impression with non-fans. Also, when you design your Facebook page, pay close attention to your call to action, specifically the all-important “Like” button. What can you do to grab the attention of your new visitor and encourage them to click on your “Like” button quickly? The creative design on Red Bull’s welcome tab does just that!
#2: Uno Chicago Grill
Uno Chicago Grill has taken full advantage of the Facebook app FBML to highlight their menu options in an extremely appealing way. They have many tabs dedicated to specific areas of their menu and use imagery to entice their fans. In addition, on their welcome tab they link to the most important areas of their website, including locations and online ordering options. When non-fans come to their page for the first time, they get an instant snapshot of Uno’s offerings.
In addition, Uno has incorporated a Fan of the Week contest on their Facebook page. Fans get their photo posted directly on the profile image of the restaurant’s wall.
This is great exposure and a lot of fun for the fans that participate and get selected.
To take it one step further, Uno does something unique with their Fan of the Week contest—they ask fans to post photos of themselves while at an Uno restaurant, thereby encouraging fans to come in and dine.
This is a great strategy to bring online fans into their brick-and-mortar establishments!
Facebook Tip: If you have a brick-and-mortar establishment as well, think of creative promotions to entice your fans to visit in person. Contests and special offers are all great ways to invite new fans to come in and check things out!
#3: Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola has taken a spot near the top of many “best-of” Facebook page lists due to their unique promotions and fun, innovative and interactive features.
During June-August, their promotion focused on the Summer Snapshot contest, where they encouraged fans to take a photo with the summer Coca-Cola cans. Not only did this get their fans involved with their page, but of course the contest also integrated photos of their products with fans into the page.
Photos are viewed more than any other type of content on Facebook. They go viral quickly because when a fan posts a photo, that photo is then sent out to the news feeds of all of their friends. Many thousands of potential new fans ultimately see these photos.
Here’s an example of a photo posted by a fan for the Coca-Cola contest. Notice how others can vote on each photo? This allows *everyone to get in on the fun!
Facebook Tip: When creating a Facebook contest, keep it simple! The less information your fans need do to enter, the better. Make it easy, fun and make sure to incorporate a sharing component so your contest can spread virally.
#4: Oreo
Another brand which does a fantastic job of creating unique experiences for their fans is Oreo. They know that their cookies have been part of many people’s lives since childhood, and they utilize this angle to create a sense of nostalgia with fans. And it’s working, since they have over 8 million fans to date!
A recent campaign was their “Back to School Memories” initiative, where they asked their fans to share their memories and photos directly on their Facebook page. Once again, remember how important photos are. And by offering unique experiences like Oreo has done with their back to school campaign, brands create a connection to the fans, who become loyal followers and keep coming back for more.
Facebook Tip: You’ll usually get the best response when you ask fans to share something about themselves. Ask them their opinions, thoughts and feedback and you’ll be pleasantly surprised how quickly they start talking!
Other great Facebook pages include Jones Soda, the Travel Channel, the promotions for Toy Story 3 and the Twilight series of films, Burt’s Bees and Uno Chicago Grill. Check them out, and get ideas that you can use in your own Facebook promotion!
And remember, if you don’t have the staff or other resources to manage your own Facebook campaigns, you can bring in experts like Hat Trick Associates to help you and your brands create social media campaigns that connect with, and engage with, your fans.
Marketing During Challenging Times
Dec 13th
May you live in interesting times.
Is that ancient expression a blessing or curse? I suppose it all depends on how you define “interesting” and more importantly how you respond and adapt to it.
`If you define interesting to mean unpredictable, challenging and/or threatening, then we clearly live in interesting times. Business these days is more like shooting the rapids in a rubber raft than canoeing in a duck pond.
It’s too easy to be mesmerized by the danger of capsizing. If you focus on the rocks, that’s where you will go. The secret is to look for and steer to the high water and paddle like crazy.
Survival is Never the Goal
If you set your sights on surviving you could slip and sink. If you set your target as thriving then you just might flourish.
How do you thrive in these turbulent waters?
Marketing is the culmination of all the messages and communication that you and your staff send. In fact, your staff sends more powerful marketing messages than all the advertising in the world could ever do. Thus, marketing becomes the end result of almost every business decision you make.
Think Long Term
You should never make knee-jerk decisions - especially about your business strategy. Gather as much relevant information as you can. Seek the advice of people you respect. Be clear on your purpose. Examine both the short term and long term effects of major decisions. Once you decide, act quickly and confidently. Your staff is looking to you for leadership and hope. Be open to course corrections when and as needed while clearly focused on the objectives and purpose.
Prepare for Disaster, But Don’t Fixate On It
The fire or police department prepares for disaster – but they don’t obsess about it. They analyze, plan, acquire the best tools and rehearse their response so they can move swiftly when needed. Where are you exposed and how can you protect yourself? When you are shooting the rapids it is very foolish to save money by not buying life vests.
Review Expenditures
Don’t make across-the-board cuts. That’s a political response and just plain dumb. You are cutting both valuable, ROI positive activities - that make you money and bring you customers - along with ineffective ones. Instead, categorize expenditures and investments into four categories:
Items that are needed because of the turbulent times to keep you above water or deal with potential disaster. Plus, items that generate a solid return. These are new or increased expenditures.
Items that are mission critical and need to be maintained as is. Nothing more to say here. Cutting anything here would be a very poor business decision.
Items that provide variable return. Peg the expenditure level to the conditions and vary as conditions change. Treat this process like an exchange rate and invest accordingly.
Items of questionable value. Eliminate them, modify them or phase them out completely. This is where some of your cost savings comes from.
Review Training
Review does not necessarily mean reduce or eliminate. Training can be even more important during challenging times. This is when your own skills and those of your staff need to be at their best. You don’t want to lost sales because of poor quality control or customer service. Categorize your training needs into three categories:
Key individuals that will steer you through the turbulent times. Provide individualized coaching or training to them. This is the time to invest strongly in your best assets.
Departments that need to stay sharp and ahead of your competition. Provide group training, tele-seminars, webinars or other special attention to improving their skills sets.
Staff that need to be motivated and reminded of overall purpose. Remind them of the little things that make the difference to customers. Get each of them a copy of a good book that best conveys that message. Ask each staff member to report at weekly meetings on an assigned chapter in that book. Make them feel important to your mission. Remember that it only takes one employee’s mistake (or sabotage) to sink your raft.
Review Advertising
Too many companies make the dumb decision to make major cuts in advertising or marketing communications during turbulent times. My guess is that they were the same folks who didn’t review their marketing during the good times. Categorize your advertising into three categories:
Advertising that is measurable and has demonstrated a profitable ROI. Continue to measure as you grow your investment in this profitable avenue. Unfortunately, too many companies don’t measure their return on advertising or they don’t design their ads or online communications in a way that allows the results to be measured. So they have nothing in this particular category. That’s a shame.
Advertising that has gained market recognition and that you believe to be working. You just don’t have a clue how profitable this venue actually is. Start to build in some measurement indicators. Vary the ads and measure. Then increase or reduce investment appropriately.
Advertising that is merely “me too”. You bought an ad because your competitor did. It might be a waste of money, but you don’t know. Reduce the expenditure, modify the message or medium or simply eliminate it.
Build Relationships
In turbulent times nothing is more important than relationships. We will warmly remember those who suffered with us or helped us through the turbulent times. Invest strongly in strengthening the relationship with your best clients. Segment your clients into three categories:
Best clients. Divert more attention to their wants and needs, and instruct your staff accordingly. Jump through hoops for these clients. Provide them additional value-added services to help them. Communicate with them more often.
Average clients. Maintain your service levels and pricing. Attempt to upgrade them to “A” clients by introducing additional services.
Pain-in-the-you-know-what clients. Don’t let them bully you into reducing your prices. Instead, you might reduce your level of service to them. Give them the choice of upgrading or leaving. You’ll have less stress in your life.
Relationships are your most vital assets
Relationships are ALWAYS more important than your branding - especially during turbulent times. When you have the choice to invest in branding or invest in relationships - choose relationships, every time. It is the far more profitable choice for most businesses, especially small and medium sized enterprises. Don’t forget that big businesses invest in branding because they cannot build relationships. Don’t be fooled by the branding hype.
Online Social Media
Don’t hide. Use the Internet to keep your message and name in front of people. If you haven’t yet created your blog, this is the perfect time to begin. Post regular tips and advice, news and positive messages. Register and maintain your accounts on social networking sites like LinkedIn.com, Plaxo.com and Facebook.com.
Explore the use of Flickr and YouTube.com to publish product news and demonstrations. Barack Obama, used these tools to successfully promote his presidential campaign, and he plans to use them to convey his messages to the American people and the world.
May you thrive in interesting times.
3 Social Media Aggregators That Bring It All Together
Dec 3rd
Thanks to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and a host of other social media services, people are more connected than ever. But keeping up with all the posts, tweets, status updates and social bookmarks isn’t always easy, because they all come from different social media sites. So how do you connect the different services that keep you connected? How do you steer all of that stuff to one spot on the Web where it becomes a lot easier to manage?
New tools called social media aggregators have risen to address that challenge. Their goal: to provide you with one simple point of entry where you can keep track of the streams from any and all of the most popular social networking sites.
A bunch of social media aggregators (sometimes called “life-streaming” tools) have popped up in recent years, but some social media services don’t always do the job you need them to do. Here’s a look at the three that fulfill the promise of social media aggregation most completely, Streamy, Flock, and FriendFeed.
3 Social Media Aggregators That Bring It All Together
How Laura Roeder Created A Business Model By Helping Small Businesses Become Rockstars
Dec 2nd
The most recent video blog at The Rise To The Top, one of my favorite resources for entrepreneurial advice and online marketing strategies and techniques.
From David Siteman Garland:
Laura Roeder is a cool cat. She isn’t literally a cat, but she has created a interesting business model centered around helping small business owners become rockstars. Not like “grab an instrument” rockstar, but instead a rockstar to a specific niche of people.
I invited Laura on RISE for a few reasons.
- She is super cool and down-to-earth.
- We think similarly, and while I love guests with different opinions of course, sometimes it is fun to pull in someone on the same wavelength.
- She has a lot of great stuff going on that we can all learn from.
In this interview, Laura and I discuss:
- Why she decided to work with small business owners as opposed to corporations.
- Her business model and how she makes money.
- How she has marketed and promoted herself.
- Her platform strategy (this is really interesting).
- Advice for creative entrepreneurs, and much more.
See the interview: http://blog.therisetothetop.com/2010/12/how-laura-roeder-helps-small-businesses-become-rockstars/
Online Reviews: Word Of Mouth, Amplified
Nov 29th
It’s no secret that satisfied customers bring you more sales, while unhappy customers can prevent them. People who feel strongly about a service they received or a product they purchased in either a negative or positive way are very likely to tell others about their experience.
Before the internet, this effect was limited to actual word of mouth. A customer could tell his family, friends and co-workers about his fantastic or horrible experience with your business. But this took some effort on the customer’s part to get the word out, however, and many customers wouldn’t take the time. Very few people actually took the step of writing a letter to the business or would even tell friends about their experience more than a few days after their interaction with a business. Only if they were extremely pleased - or displeased - would the word get out.
The growth of the internet has made it much easier to praise or complain about a company in a public way. But there are many online directories that allow anyone to post a comment about a business. Not only does this allow a customer to make their opinion of your products and services known to many more people, it also opens the door to abuse. Business owners pretending to be customers can post positive reviews. Or disgruntled employees and competitors can post negative reviews. There is no verification that the information posted is true.
All of those reviews are about to become ten times more visible to potential customers who are looking for a local business. Google Places, formerly Google Local Business Listings, has displayed reviews entered by users on their site and a number of other directories. Now Google is integrating information from the Google Places listing into the organic search.
So you’ve worked hard to ensure that your company is one of the first few listings that shows up when customers are looking for the services you provide in your area. Now, right next to the organic listing is a link to customer reviews. Immediately below your URL is your address and phone number from your Google Places listing. Often a snippet of a review is there too. If this happens to be a negative review, the potential customer will almost certainly click on a different listing. It’s the online equivalent of someone standing in front of your business with a sign telling people Don’t Shop Here.
What can you do about it? Well, first of all Google won’t remove a negative review just because you ask them to. But they also won’t take the time to find out whether the information is accurate. You must encourage positive reviews and address negative ones - with your customers and online.
Always Encourage Good Reviews
If there are more positive reviews than negative, the odds say there’s a better chance that a review that shows within the body of your listing will be a good one. Also, if a customer takes the time to look at several reviews, hopefully they will be swayed by the happy customers. You could encourage all of your customers to write an online review, but that will result in more negative reviews as well as positive.
So how can you approach only the satisfied customers with a request for an online review? There are a number of great techniques that we use here at Hat Trick Associates. One of the best takes advantage of the system already in place to solicit customer feedback in place at many businesses already, often in the form of a telephone follow-up or written questionnaire. You could sort out those who have responded favorably and send them a request for an online review. If your request is in the form of an email, you could provide links to your business’s listings on various sites that accept user reviews. You could provide something to your customer in return for taking the time to post a review. A free ice cream, 10% off their next purchase from you, or some other prize could entice them to make the effort and make them feel good about your business at the same time.
Address Damaging Reviews Head On
If you can contact the unhappy customer and solve whatever problem he or she had, they just might be willing to remove the negative review. Whether or not you think the complaint is valid, it’s in your best interest to fix it. This may cost you money - but not doing so could cost you even more. Think about how much you spend to bring in new customers. Don’t let a relatively small amount of money get in your way, even if you’re right and the customer is wrong.
Sometimes it will still be impossible to get the customer to rescind his post. But there are still techniques that you (or we here at Hat Trick Associates) can still use to help mitigate the damage by responding to the complaint online. Post your own comment explaining the situation or apologizing to the reviewer and stating your offer to fix the problem. If another potential customer takes the time to read the whole post, they will see that you’re trying to make your customers happy, and will be far more likely to still do business with you in spite of the negative review.
Other Advice
- Occasionally, a negative review will violate the terms established by the review site, for example using foul language. If this is the case, you can flag it for review and it might be removed by the publishing website.
- Don’t enter multiple positive reviews yourself. Online directories try to prevent fraudulent reviews because they make their site less useful to their visitors.
- Google Places displays reviews from sites such as Insider Pages and Yelp, as well as reviews posted directly to Google. If you ask your customers to post positive reviews, give them links to a variety of review sites. It will look more natural if reviews come from more than one site.
It’s always been critical for a business to cultivate a good reputation, but never before has a dissatisfied customer been able to reach the public, right alongside your advertisement. The majority of consumers are bypassing the yellow pages (when was the last time you used one?) and turning to their favorite search engine to find a business instead, making these reviews more important than ever.
You can no longer afford to not know what reviews are out there or to simply ignore dissatisfied customers. They have more power than ever before. But managing your reputation throughout the internet with an Online Reputation Management Campaign certainly takes time and resources, and a long-term commitment from you.
As part of a comprehensive social media platform or as a stand-alone service, Hat Trick Associates can help you manage your online reviews to maximize the positive word of mouth for your business, and minimize the negative. Contact us for more information on how, including a specific pricing quote created just for you.