Category: Social Media

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Programmatic Advertising: Beginners Guide For Tauranga Based Businesses

[Image credit: Searchengineland.com]

What have you heard about Programmatic Advertising so far?

(Perhaps only by book summary from a few weeks ago?)

It seems like awareness is only now starting to grow here in New Zealand.

Some say that NZ is perhaps 3-5 years behind the rest of the world.

It’s time for us to catch up.

In fact, our timing is good, because getting involved now has the benefit of us accessing a much more mature system. The rest of the world has been removing the bugs for us!

I have come to believe that Programmatic Advertising is about to explode in New Zealand, so I’m looking for a handful of Tauranga based businesses that would like my help to get started.

Enquire Now

At the bottom of this page in an enquiry form, but first, let’s answer questions you might be wondering right now.

Q: “What is Programmatic Advertising?”

Continue reading “Programmatic Advertising: Beginners Guide For Tauranga Based Businesses”

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Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook: How to Tell Your Story in a Noisy Social World by Gary Vaynerchuk

Here are my notes on the book “Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook: How to Tell Your Story in a Noisy Social World” by Gary Vaynerchuk1002029_10151895114248227_228094411_n-1

For me, I got 3 things out of this book:

  1. I got a simple introduction into the major social media platforms all in one place
  2. I got a simple explanation of how they all work and, more importantly, how they are different from each other
  3. I got dozens of examples of best practice and many examples of poor usage

    • To be honest, I found this part a bit confusing at times – it was hard to tell the difference between examples Gary liked and those he didn’t!

Continue reading “Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook: How to Tell Your Story in a Noisy Social World by Gary Vaynerchuk”

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Business Facebook Pages: 6 Simple Tips For Your Business Page on Facebook

Are you just about to set up a Business Page on Facebook?

Or have you set one up already but it’s just not generating business for you?

Then this short list of tips will save you some time and help you generate some results.

#1. Don’t sign up for a new Facebook Personal Profile just for the business

  • You can always tell when people do this because under the business name it says “Add as Friend” instead of just clicking “Like”
  • This introduces strange elements like “Date of Birth” and “Hometown” and “Marriage Status” that just don’t fit. This is because Facebook Personal profiles are for people, not businesses
  • The “Add as Friend” process is odd and cumbersome for your Fans. It creates a barrier that you just don’t need
  • Also, this is a violation of Facebooks Terms of Service that state that everybody on the planet can have one login only and that each personal profile must be a real person not a business.
  • Anyone with a personal Facebook account can set up a business page. If you’re an employee, that’s fine, you won’t be personally identified on the business page, and you can set up additional admins so that when you leave, you can remove your own access and everything still runs smoothly
  • If you’ve made this mistake you can convert your Personal Profile to a Facebook Business Page

#2. Ensure your Cover Photo is the right size

  • Set your cover photo to exactly 851px by 315px
  • If you don’t, then Facebook will do a really bad job of resizing it for you and introduce graininess and “artifacts” around parts of the image (especially any text)

#3. Add a Facebook widget or “Like Box” to your website

  • Don’t be tempted to just add a Facebook icon and link, add a whole widget! Facebook calls it the “Like Box“
  • Set the widget to show 20+ fans (the more the better)
  • The genius of this is that Facebook will automatically show the friends of the person looking at the webpage which will encourage them to “Like” you too. That is “social proof” that makes people think “if my friends have liked these guys, I will too!”
  • Turn off the other junk like a stream of message
  • This is the easiest way to get Facebook followers

#4. Get a Vanity Url as soon as you can

#5. Consider Facebook Advertising/Promotion

  • Consider Facebook text-ad advertising. It’s ability to target specific groups of people in your target market is unmatched on the planet. However, people are on Facebook to socialise, not to click on ads so Click-Through-Rates are poor
  • Consider promoting one or two of your posts using the $5/$10 promotion button. This can expose your messages to a huge audience

#6. Use Polls for creating engaging content

  • Polls work really well for getting people talking about 3 or more choices you set
  • Everybody who votes automatically tells all their friends what they’ve done so the word spreads virally

What do you need to make your Facebook Business Page really work for you?

  • Do you need help with the initial set up of each your Facebook Business Page?
  • Do you need someone who can provide you with advice, strategy, techniques, know-how, shortcuts, tips and tricks on how to use various social media platforms to generate results for your business?
  • Do you need training so you can control it all yourself so you don’t need to pay anyone to do it for you?

I know some people who can help with this, so let me know if you’d like to talk to them.

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Quickguide to LinkedIn Part 2: How To Milk LinkedIn – The 8 Most Important Cows

(Missed part 1? Read it first)

Firstly, it’s important to note that “100% completion” is your starting point.

That’s right, spend a few hours and just get all the basics done and out of the way until you score 100% completion.

Then come back here and read the rest of this article.

The 8 Most Important Components (or “Cows”) of LinkedIn For You To Milk

1. Customise your profile address url

2. Join at least 10 groups

  • Join a set of groups that paint a picture of your interests
  • Include several dedicated to your city, several to your country, and a few international ones
  • Don’t bother reading the discussions in those groups. Don’t bother starting discussions yourself.  Just join to get the “badges” on your profile

3. Be creative with your job titles

  • Have some fun with them
  • Poke fun at yourself
  • Be a little outrageous
  • I’ve created a website that lists all of New Zealand hot pools so my job title for that is “Head Hot Hydro Honcho”.
  • Stupid? Yes. Silly? Yes. Entertaining and different that might brighten someones day even for a moment? Yes.

4. Be creative with your job descriptions

  • Use numbers to made things concrete Eg “Developed 47 business plans, created 53 advertising plans, wrote 54,327 words for newspaper ads”
  • Take a guess at the numbers rather than painstakingly count, and don’t round them off
  • The longer ago a role was for you, the more you should simplify your experience there to a single project, or the biggest impact you made, or a long lasting improvement you made. Tell a story
  • Say something controversial
  • Take a stand on an issue
  • Wake people up
  • For example, in one of my roles I say “When clients come to me for a new website, I don’t give a damn about what they want, I only care about what THEIR customers want.”
  • The worst you can do is be boring. The world is full of boring. Don’t add to it.

5. Write your summary last

  • Weave together elements of your past, your attitude in the present, and your plans and ambitions for your future

6. Be the first to connect

  • Every time you meet someone face-to-face (or talk to them for a reasonable time over the phone), find them on LinkedIn and request a connection
  • Do not use the default message which is “I’d like to connect with you”. It requires zero effort and everyone knows it, so it cheapens your effort to connect and looks like spam
  • You could make a reference to how you met, repeat something they said to you, or thank them for a specific piece of advice or an idea they had, or simply say “Hi firstname!“

7. Don’t add people you don’t know

  • If you get requests from people you don’t know, don’t add them
  • They are just playing a game to get more connections than other people
  • And worse than that, by adding them you are “vouching for them” and they may use your endorsement to get to others in your network. Not cool

8. Write recommendations for people you want recommendations from

  • Testimonials/recommendations are powerful stuff. They help people trust you and get to know you
  • It’s easy to get them, just write them for others and that creates pressure to reciprocate without you even asking
  • I’m not a big fan of pushing the “ask for a recommendation” button, but do it if things are moving too slow for you in this area

For bonus points (or bonus milk)

There are a few bonus sections that are a little hidden in the navigation that you could try. Like “Projects” and endorsing “Skills”.

For bonus points you could start discussions in the Groups you join (I might write a whole blog article just on that one day). A few ideas to start with:

  • Write an engaging headline. Headlines that ask questions are the best
  • Make it short. Articles on LinkedIn are more about generating discussion than you sharing your wisdom
  • Finish the article by asking people to add their opinion or share their point of view

Do You Use LinkedIn?

  • Did you find this article useful? Say so in the comments below
  • Got value out of other sections I haven’t mentioned? Like the jobs section? Write your ideas in the comments below
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Quickguide to LinkedIn Part 1: What Types of People Are Looking At Your LinkedIn Profile Today?

Think you should be doing more with your LinkedIn profile?

First let’s consider your audience.

Who’s actually going to look at your profile?

The 5 types of people looking at your LinkedIn profile today:

1. People you meet who are curious about you

You might hunt them down first, or they might find you first.

They will have these kinds of questions on their mind:

  • Might it be useful to connect with this person?
  • Would connecting with them be consistent with the image I’m trying to project? Do they fit smoothly into my network?
  • Can I connect them to other people I know to make me look good?

2. Employers both past, present and future

They will have these kinds of questions on their mind:

  • Past: What have they done since leaving here?
  • All: Who are they connected to?
  • All: What do they say about themselves?
  • Future: Are there gaps in their employment history?
  • Future: Do they bad-mouth x-bosses or workmates or workplaces?
  • Future: Are they worth poaching?

3. Potential clients getting a feel for your experience and skills

They will have these kinds of questions on their mind:

  • Can I be confident this person will get the job done?
  • What else are they capable of that could be useful?
  • How diluted is their range of services/experience?
  • Do they specialise in what I need them for?

4. Salespeople who just want to sell you something

  • They may be just trying to collect 500+ connections (this is called “vanity metrics”) in the hope that this huge number will engender trust in them and their services

5. Uber-networkers who just want to connect with the entire world if they can

  • They are driven to feel important and like to see themselves in the middle of a giant virtual hub

What Next?

Tomorrow in Part 2 I’ll share with you tips on how to milk LinkedIn, and I’ll detail 8 cows.

In the meantime, start to think about how each of these audience groups have different information needs, and which groups are more important to you right now.

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A Facebook Page For Your Business? Should You Bother?

Word of Mouth is how a business dies, survives or thrives, right?

Well, social media platforms such as Facebook are Word-of-Mouth with a megaphone.

Traditional, mass-media, or “broadcast” forms of advertising are becoming less effective because they are based on interruption.

Media is continuing to fragment (more websites, more TV channels, more magazines) so it is increasingly expensive to shout at your target audience.

The future is about getting permission to talk to your audience.

Facebook is all about building a permission asset.

People of all ages are using it. It’s free. It’s easy. It’s a way to get feedback from your customers.

Continue reading “A Facebook Page For Your Business? Should You Bother?”

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In New Zealand Is Facebook Just For Kids? No.

I thought it would be interesting to combine age group data from Facebook with age group data from Statistics New Zealand to see what proportion of each age group is using Facebook.

In particular, I was interested in answers to questions like:

  • Is Facebook mainly for teenagers?
  • Are people over 50 using Facebook?
  • Are people over 65 using Facebook?

What questions would you like answered?

Let’s take a look at the data:

Edit

Age

NZ Facebook Users*

% of total Facebook users

NZ Population**

% of age bracket on Facebook

13-15

161,709

8%

181,850

89%

16-17

141,495

7%

127,220

^111%

18-24

505,340

25%

448,210

^113%

25-34

464,913

23%

557,750

83%

35-44

343,631

17%

613,030

56%

45-54

222,350

11%

614,160

36%

55-64

121,282

6%

481,640

25%

65+

60,641

3%

569,160

11%

Totals:

2,021,360

100%

4,367,800

56%

*Source: SocialBakers.com

**Source: Stats.Govt.nz

^How is it possible that more than 100% of that age group use Facebook? I don’t know.

What do you think? Do these results surprise you?

Write your comments below

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Socialnomics: How social media transforms the way we live and do business by Erik Qualman

My notes on “Socialnomics: How social media transforms the way we live and do business” by Erik Qualmantélécharger (1)

The story about bacon salt

  • Bacon Salt was an idea that was born out of the minds of two Seattle buddies, Justin Esch and Dave Lefkow, who over a few beers jokingly posed the question – “Wouldn’t it be great if there was a powder that made everything taste like bacon?”
  • They found over 35,000 people that mentioned bacon in their MySpace profile. They began reaching out to these people to gauge their interest in Bacon Salt, and not only did they find interest, they started receiving orders when they didn’t even have a product yet.
  • It went viral.
  • The spice that made everything taste like bacon incredibly sold 600,000 bottles in 18 months. “We didn’t even have a product at the beginning; instead, we bought cheap spice bottles, printed out Bacon Salt logos and scotch them onto the bottles.”
  • Lesson: People are passionate about what they like. Each passion is a niche that can turn into a business.


Continue reading “Socialnomics: How social media transforms the way we live and do business by Erik Qualman”

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Online Advertising In NZ: A Crash Course On How You Can Get Started Advertising Your Business Online in New Zealand

Have you noticed how much publicity the growth of online advertising has been getting lately?

If you are wondering:

  • “Am I missing out because I haven’t tried online advertising yet?” and
  • “How can I dip my toe in the water to see if online advertising is right for my business?”, then this crash course on online advertising is what you need

“What are the major formats of online advertising?”

There are 2 main formats:

  1. Text based ads
    • Very easy to setup
    • Very easy to change
  2. Display ads
    • Traditionally just “Banner Ads” but now includes rich media/interactive ads and video ads
    • Usually expensive to get graphic design and difficult and expensive to change
    • But, your best performing text-based ads can be converted to display ads very cheaply! (They look absolutely hideous, but they work really well)

“Where can we place our ads?”

In New Zealand there are 4 main places where it would be appropriate to put your ads:

1. Beside Google NZ Search results (“Google Adwords”)

  • Format: Text-based ads
  • In the right hand column, and sometime above search results
  • Very easy to set up
  • $1 per click would be average (highly competitive industry’s like finance or tourism will cost more)
  • Good targeting: You can specify a geographic target and your ads are displayed when people in those cities are searching for something related to your offer
  • Provides excellent data so you can just copy/paste your best performing ads to the next 3 ad networks

2. Websites that use Google Adsense

  • Format: Text-based ads and display ads
  • That have dedicated space on their website to earn revenue (like mine: LoveOneDaySales.co.nz)
  • Very easy to set up
  • Display Ads:
    • Very cheap CPM (Cost-Per-Thousand Impressions) because most people don’t bother creating display ads because it’s too hard = less competition for ad space = cheaper cost of advertising
    • Good reach – your ads would be popping up on random NZ websites all over the place – good for cheap brand recognition

3. Facebook

  • Format: Text-based ads with a single small image
  • Excellent targeting: you can specify exactly who your demographic is Eg Female 25-35 who live in the Tauranga area
  • But Facebook users are not there to click on ads, they are there to have fun and share their lives. Therefore effectiveness can be very poor
  • Cost-Per-Click varies greatly eg $1-$3

4. Huge NZ Websites that have their own advertising systems

  • Format: display ads (interactive costs extra & video is not usually available)
  • Eg TradeMe, NZHerald etc
  • The CPM (Cost-Per-Thousand Impressions) is usually very high and uncompetitive to a discerning advertiser (because they put a very high value on their own audience and there is large overhead to pay for)
  • No targeting at all

“Great! How do we get started?”

  1. Be very clear what your objective is
    • If it’s new customers: What are you offering them? Why should they join? What’s in it for them? What should your landing page say?
  2. Set a value on that new customer
    • Eg if you can expect every new customer to stick with you for 5 years and you will earn $100 from that relationship, then the value of a new customer is $100. If 50% of them will stick with you, the value is $50
    • This is your maximum allowable “Cost of Acquisition”
  3. Set a target
    • Eg “1000 new customers”
    • And decide upfront how you will measure the results (eg install tracking code on the website)
  4. Set a budget
    • Multiple your target by your Cost of Acquisition
    • If the number is unacceptable, re-adjust any of the numbers accordingly
  5. Hand over the project to someone who knows what they are doing

“Great! Sheldon, can you help us with this?”

I’m booked up until March 2011. If you’d like to join the queue, email me your details and I’ll make a note in my diary to contact you then.

Cheers,
– Sheldon

Phone: (07) 575 8799, Email: sheldon@marketingfirst.co.nz

P.S. What I’ve left out:

  • Mobile advertising
    • Google Adwords offers you the ability to show your ads on mobile devices. There is huge growth in this area and definitely worth keeping an eye on and considering later
  • Google Search Partners
    • This is a network of search engines that use Google to serve ads, but these alternatives are not popular in New Zealand so ignore them for now
  • Other Search Engines like Bing
    • Perhaps there are bargains to be had with Bing’s text-based ads but their market share is very small in NZ
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Social Media 101 by Chris Brogan

My notes on “Social Media 101” by Chris BroganScreen-Shot-2015-04-29-at-10.43.45-AM

In this book Chris talks about how he doesn’t use the word “expert” but uses the word “advisor” instead.

So I extracted 4 pieces of advice from what I read. Here they are:

(Should you read the book yourself you are sure to extract different advice for yourself).

1. Chris’s Advice About Writing

What is the customer, consumer, user and/or partner thinking?

  • What’s in it for me?
  • How does this impact me?
  • Do I have to do something?
  • What’s this going to cost me?


Continue reading “Social Media 101 by Chris Brogan”

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Social Media Marketing for Dummies by Shiv Singh

My notes on “Social Media Marketing for Dummies” by Shiv Singh.51xOpIA89AL._SX397_BO1,204,203,200_

My additions are in italics.

Can sponsored conversations in social media be authentic?

Yes, the trick is to be completely transparent that they are sponsored

Disney partnered with SavvyAuntie, an online community focused on aunts without kids. Melanie Notkin, who runs SavvyAuntie, tweeted about Disney’s Pinocchio movie in March 2008 to coincide with its Disney anniversary release. She tweeted about t themes in the movie, often in question form, encouraging others to respond. Her 8000 followers on Twitter knew that she was doing this for Disney (every tweet about Pinocchio had a special tag), but because the tweets were appropriate for the audience, entertaining, and authentic, the campaign was a success.

Continue reading “Social Media Marketing for Dummies by Shiv Singh”

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The Zen of Social Media Marketing by Shama Hyder Kabani

the-zen-of-socialMy notes on “The Zen of Social Media Marketing” by Shama Hyder Kabani

Facebook

Facebook is like a coffee shop. Everyone is there for his or her own reasons, but it is a great place to strike up a conversation.

People from all walks of life use Facebook. They aren’t there to buy stuff. They are there, first and foremost, to express themselves. After self-expression comes their need to connect with others.

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Twitter/Facebook: How To Update Your Business Facebook Page Wall With Twitter

I am assuming you already have the following:

  1. Business Twitter Account
  2. Business Facebook Page

(If you don’t, I can help you set up Twitter and Facebook for your business)

You may be already aware how easy it is to update your personal Facebook Wall from Twitter.  But you don’t really want your tweets about your favourite movies or what you had for lunch appearing on your Facebook business page do you?

So, what do you want?

  • Do you want to be able to write a Tweet and for that Tweet to appear on your Business Facebook Page Wall (not on your personal profile)?
  • Do you want Retweets to be ignored so only your messages appear?
  • Do you want hashtags to be ignored because they wouldn’t work on Facebook anyway?
  • Do you want to save time by not having to update 2 platforms every time you have something to say?
  • Do you want your Facebook Business Page to look active without extra effort?

Then I have good news. Here’s how I achieved this yesterday.

How to Automatically Update Your Business Facebook Page Wall From Your Business Twitter Account:

  1. Go to the “Smart Twitter for Pages” Facebook application
  2. Click “Add to my page” (at the top of the left column)
  3. Choose the business page you want to add this feature to
  4. Login to your Business Twitter Account
  5. Authorise the application to access your Twitter account
  6. You’re done!

Need more help?

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Business Facebook Pages: Simple Tips For Your Business Page on Facebook

See updated version: October 2012

If you are just about to set up a Business Page on Facebook this short list of tips will save you some time.

#1. How to set a Facebook Business Page up

  • You need a personal Facebook account before you can set up a business page. If you’re an employee, that’s fine, you won’t be personally identified on the business page, and you can set up additional admins so that when you leave, you can remove your own access and everything still runs smoothly
  • Don’t make the mistake of setting up new Facebook login just for the business. This is a violation of Facebooks Terms (and people would have to “Add as Friend” instead of just clicking “Like” which is a barrier you don’t need)

#2. Ensure your logo is the right size

  • Set your logo to 180px by 180px. If you set the width bigger than that Facebook will do a really bad job of resizing it for you.
  • You can also increase the height to add some photos or text (but keep the top 180px x 180px just for your logo because this portion will be cropped and resized for the little 50×50 icon that appears beside all your wall posts). Eg: http://www.facebook.com/juicyfruit have done a great job

#3. Add a Facebook widget or “Like Box” to your website

  • Not just the Facebook icon and link to your Facebook page, add a whole widget! Facebook calls it the “Like Box“
  • Set the widget to show 9 or more followers (randomised)
  • Facebook will automatically show the friends of the person looking at the webpage which will encourage them to “Like” you too
  • Turn off the other junk like a stream of message
  • This is the easiest way to get Facebook followers

#4. Get a Vanity Url as soon as you can

#5. Change the order of your tabs

  • If you are logged in, you can just drag the tabs into the order you want (you can’t change the position of “Wall” or “Info”)

#6. Delete the tabs you don’t want to use

  • In your settings you can delete the tabs. If you decide you need them later, you can add them back
  • Eg delete the “Discussion” tab. Nobody seems to use it and it looks lame being empty

#7. ADVANCED: Add a custom HTML page

  • If you want to create a simple “About Us” page, or add a email newsletter signup form, or show other complex content, you’ll need to install an iFrame app like Static Iframe Tab
  • You have 3 choices, you can either:
    1. Show a single large image (lots of brands have a few pictures, text + a big arrow pointing to their like button)
    2. Type your content into the box provided using the Rich Text Editor or HTML view (if you need images you’ll have to host them on your own website and link to them with absolute references which is a bit annoying)
    3. Or, even better, setup a hidden webpage on your website and have it load within an iFrame (which gives you the ability to create any content at all)
  • Then you can rename the tab to whatever you like and choose a cool little icon for it

What else?

  • Do you use Facebook Business Pages? Share your tips in the comments below
  • Have I made a mistake in my list of tips? Correct me by leaving a message in the comments below

See updated version: October 2012