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Social Media Q & A: Expert Ed Gazarian Talks About First Steps for Small Businesses

Social Media Q & A: Expert Ed Gazarian Talks About First Steps for Small Businesses
by Sherron Lumley.

Ed Gazarian is a native of Boston, a graduate of Northeastern University and Harvard, who works for Pandemic Labs in Boston, one of the oldest social media marketing and analytics agencies in the U.S. He took some time to talk with writer Sherron Lumley about what’s new in social media and the first steps a small business can take when creating a social media strategy.

SL: Tell me about the business of Pandemic Labs.

EG: Pandemic is a 100-percent social media agency; we are not in print media at all. We’re all about customizing for actual customer needs. Rather than be tied to a specific set of platforms or technologies, we’re an agency committed to the notion that marketing is a dialogue, not a monologue. Our client roster runs the gamut from top-tier luxury brands (The Ritz-Carlton), to global retail chains (Au Bon Pain), and to regional groups (Fairmont Parks Art Association and The Roaming Boomers). We’ve also run campaigns with Dunkin’ Donuts, Puma, Canon, and DIRECTV.

SL: What are the basic social media steps that you advise your clients to take today?

EG: First, identify whom you want to communicate with. Based on who a brand wants to engage, the platforms, technologies and strategies we deploy will vary drastically from client to client. Knowing your audience is the absolute first step.

Next, figure out where those people are. If it’s Facebook, you know that’s a crucial part of your overall strategy. If your consumers are more active on something like LinkedIn, or social media’s latest darling—Pinterest—then focus your efforts there. There’s enough demographic info about the major channels out there, to make an informed decision about which channels to operate on. Depending upon what platforms you choose, your methods of engagement will differ. Understand that you will have to commit some time—and money—to these endeavors.

The last of these basic steps is identifying metrics of success. Yours will not be the same as those of other brands operating on the same platforms. Don’t get bogged down in things like “The Top 3 Metrics In Social Media”—lists like that are a dime a dozen. Don’t be dazzled by ‘The Next Big Thing’—does anyone still think Google+ is at all relevant? You know your brand, and you know who you want to go after. Be thoughtful in how you define what success means for you.

PQ_QAedgazarian.jpgSL: How has this changed in the last few years?

EG: Mobile and touch-based technology are easily the biggest game changers over the past few years. The ubiquity of devices like the iPhone, iPad, and their ilk have made social media campaigns based on these things extremely easy—and extremely cost-effective—to deploy on a large scale. Foursquare is a great example of this.

SL: Why is online marketing important today and looking forward?

EG: People are increasingly connected through social channels like Facebook and Twitter. We know, both anecdotally and through vigorous research, that people’s purchase decisions are more significantly influenced by recommendations/reviews/suggestions from their personal connections, than by any brand messaging. This is never going to change. Brands that capitalize on that fact through active engagement on social channels will reap the rewards.

SL: What are some examples of niche areas or groups in social media marketing?

EG: The B2B crowd is definitely one. In the small businesses world—from mom & pop storefronts, to local restaurants, and even 15 to 20-person niche service firms—opportunities abound. Just about every eatery near our office participates in some form of social campaign, such as group buying (through services like Groupon or LivingSocial), and they’ve enjoyed success using those channels.

SL: What are the benefits of targeting small audiences in social media?

EG: The more detailed you get, the more effectively you can tailor things, from the images and copy used in a Facebook ad, to strategically timing your tweets, to the text used in your Tumblr posts. The next evolution of this would be identifying your most engaged audience members. Solutions like Offerpop and Foursquare give small brands a way to compete with the Coca-Colas of the world, without being priced out of the market.

If you’re a local clothing designer with a single storefront, and you want to spread the word about your label to women around 35 years old, that live near your city, and that are interested in fashion—then there are channels (like Pinterest and Instagram) that are uniquely suited to that demographic. The people are already there, and the conversation already exists. Your job—and what will set you apart from the novices—is to find the relevant conversation, and take part in it. Anytime you can mix the value of in-person communication with the reach of social media, that’s a win.

January 2, 2014 Today's Business, , , , , , , , , , , , , 0 Read more >

Thumbthing New: What the Rise in Mobile Marketing Means for Small Business

Thumbthing New: What the Rise in Mobile Marketing Means for Small Business
by Robert Lerose.

If you’re not involved in some type of mobile marketing, you’re cutting yourself and your business off from engaging and communicating with a significant number of customers and prospects.

According to CTIA-The Wireless Association, the nonprofit organization representing the wireless communications industry, there are more than 320 million wireless subscriber connections in the U.S. alone. And mobile app downloads are predicted to hit an astounding 25 billion by 2015.

In other words, mobile is increasingly how your customers live and shop. When you factor in the low barrier to entry and the potential for high returns, having a mobile presence should be as much a necessity as almost any other kind of marketing your business is currently doing.

To help you get started if you’re new to it, or to provide a reality check if you’re up and running, here is some advice from the experts.

Multiple channels for engagement

“Mobile marketing can help small business get new people in the door,” says Kim Dushinski, author of The Mobile Marketing Handbook. “It can help them increase the purchases from their current clients. It can be a customer service tool. There are a number of things [it can do], depending on what kind of tool they use and how they market it.”

Familiar examples of these new tools include text messaging campaigns and QR codes. To enroll in the former, a consumer sends a keyword to a five- or six-digit short code established by the business.

A QR (or Quick Response) code is a postage stamp-sized, two-dimensional barcode that is typically arranged in a square, black-and-white pattern. Using an Internet-capable mobile device, a consumer scans it and is routed immediately to the company’s web page or to a special micro-site; for example, a webpage with a discount coupon. The immediacy, speed, and convenience of QR codes enhance the chances that a browser will turn into a buyer.

To see these tools in action, check out the text and QR code-based campaigns waged by the arts and crafts retailer, Michaels. According to Dushinski, this company does a very good job of integrating their traditional, online, and mobile marketing. For example, consumers can scan codes on Michaels in-store signage, get taken to a mobile landing page, and choose the app they want.

“Mobile marketing has really become not so much a channel but channels, where you have things like location-based services [such as Foursquare], mobile-optimized websites, various apps and various ways to engage with the customer,” says Mike Craig, co-founder of Missouri-based Ruxter Mobile Marketing, a provider of self-service mobile marketing applications. But whatever channel you choose, the goal is to build trust and engagement between the customer and the brand.

PQ_MobileMarket.jpgSmall screen, simple message

As a first step, Craig suggests that you look at your website on a mobile device through the eyes of your customer. The smaller screen size, compared to that of a laptop or desktop, forces you to figure out what you can put in front of them that they can review and understand in 30 seconds.

“You need to think about stripping out all the extraneous information about your business except for the most fundamental things that you want to get across,” Craig says. Putting the top four things you want to tell a potential customer front and center is one of his mantras.

Know your audience

Another good place to begin—checking out your website’s analytical data to see how much of your online traffic is coming in via mobile. The numbers may surprise even the most web savvy entrepreneurs. For example, when Dushinski looked at the analytics numbers for her own Colorado-based training company, she was shocked to see that mobile visitors had more than quadrupled—from 4 percent to about 18 percent—in only a year. A recent comScore report found that, overall, online traffic now accounts for nearly one in ten website visits and the rate is only accelerating.

Optimize your site for mobile

To capture and hold all that booming traffic, Dushinski says it’s imperative to optimize your site so consumers can find what they’re looking for on their mobile device easily.

To accomplish this, you could reconnect with the webmaster who developed your company website to create a mobile version. “They’ll take care of making sure that when someone accesses your site, it will either give them the full-size site or their smartphone site based on what kind of device they’re using to access,” Dushinski says.

For those who are comfortable doing their own mobile-based website building, she says Dudamobile and Kishkee offer tools and services that are worth checking out.

The key, Dushinski says, is to feature basic information customers would be looking for when using a mobile device: things like business location, directions, hours, and menu of services. “Put the phone number in a lot of different places where people can see it,” she also emphasizes. “[The device] can turn from a webpage browser to a phone with just a click and that is so powerful.”

Getting started in mobile is relatively cheap compared to other marketing channels, such as mounting a direct mail campaign. Some tools let you ‘mobilize’ your site for free, while others may charge modest monthly fees—anywhere from nine to 40 dollars a month.

Customized sites, however, can run into tens of thousands of dollars. Dushinski sees no reason to go that route when there are plenty of excellent low-cost alternatives. “There’s a site called qrstuff where you can pay a very small amount to have the ability to track who’s scanning your codes,” she says.

Both Craig and Dushinski emphasize that mobile marketing is neither as hard nor as technical as some might think. That it is both cost-effective and quick to set up makes it very attractive for small businesses.

“If people can put the technology aside for just a little bit, plan out their strategy, then apply the technology to it, it all works so much better,” Dushinski says.

Getting started

Since mobile is a permission-based medium, make sure you get the consent of the customer before you begin either a text or email campaign. One way to get permission is to have an opt-in page on your website. Another is to promote your mobile campaign on your in-store signs, bags, and printed material that directs the consumer to send an opt-in keyword to your shortcode.

Because you’re working with very limited screen real estate, construct a site that’s easy to view and navigate. “Being able to present your ideas and your value proposition in front of the consumer in a way that they can quickly scan it, hit a couple of buttons with their thumbs, and get exactly what it is you want to sell them is really the key component that anybody needs to start with,” says Ruxter’s Craig.

Provide the consumer with something of unique and relevant value. Giving them something that they won’t find or see elsewhere in your marketing makes a greater impact than merely duplicating your existing incentives.

April 30, 2012 Today's Business, , , , , , , , , , , , 1 Read more >

Social Media Q & A: Expert Ed Gazarian Talks About First Steps for Small Businesses

Social Media Q & A: Expert Ed Gazarian Talks About First Steps for Small Businesses
by Sherron Lumley.

Ed Gazarian is a native of Boston, a graduate of Northeastern University and Harvard, who works for Pandemic Labs in Boston, one of the oldest social media marketing and analytics agencies in the U.S. He took some time to talk with writer Sherron Lumley about what’s new in social media and the first steps a small business can take when creating a social media strategy.

SL: Tell me about the business of Pandemic Labs.

EG: Pandemic is a 100-percent social media agency; we are not in print media at all. We’re all about customizing for actual customer needs. Rather than be tied to a specific set of platforms or technologies, we’re an agency committed to the notion that marketing is a dialogue, not a monologue. Our client roster runs the gamut from top-tier luxury brands (The Ritz-Carlton), to global retail chains (Au Bon Pain), and to regional groups (Fairmont Parks Art Association and The Roaming Boomers). We’ve also run campaigns with Dunkin’ Donuts, Puma, Canon, and DIRECTV.

SL: What are the basic social media steps that you advise your clients to take today?

EG: First, identify whom you want to communicate with. Based on who a brand wants to engage, the platforms, technologies and strategies we deploy will vary drastically from client to client. Knowing your audience is the absolute first step.

Next, figure out where those people are. If it’s Facebook, you know that’s a crucial part of your overall strategy. If your consumers are more active on something like LinkedIn, or social media’s latest darling—Pinterest—then focus your efforts there. There’s enough demographic info about the major channels out there, to make an informed decision about which channels to operate on. Depending upon what platforms you choose, your methods of engagement will differ. Understand that you will have to commit some time—and money—to these endeavors.

The last of these basic steps is identifying metrics of success. Yours will not be the same as those of other brands operating on the same platforms. Don’t get bogged down in things like “The Top 3 Metrics In Social Media”—lists like that are a dime a dozen. Don’t be dazzled by ‘The Next Big Thing’—does anyone still think Google+ is at all relevant? You know your brand, and you know who you want to go after. Be thoughtful in how you define what success means for you.

PQ_QAedgazarian.jpgSL: How has this changed in the last few years?

EG: Mobile and touch-based technology are easily the biggest game changers over the past few years. The ubiquity of devices like the iPhone, iPad, and their ilk have made social media campaigns based on these things extremely easy—and extremely cost-effective—to deploy on a large scale. Foursquare is a great example of this.

SL: Why is online marketing important today and looking forward?

EG: People are increasingly connected through social channels like Facebook and Twitter. We know, both anecdotally and through vigorous research, that people’s purchase decisions are more significantly influenced by recommendations/reviews/suggestions from their personal connections, than by any brand messaging. This is never going to change. Brands that capitalize on that fact through active engagement on social channels will reap the rewards.

SL: What are some examples of niche areas or groups in social media marketing?

EG: The B2B crowd is definitely one. In the small businesses world—from mom & pop storefronts, to local restaurants, and even 15 to 20-person niche service firms—opportunities abound. Just about every eatery near our office participates in some form of social campaign, such as group buying (through services like Groupon or LivingSocial), and they’ve enjoyed success using those channels.

SL: What are the benefits of targeting small audiences in social media?

EG: The more detailed you get, the more effectively you can tailor things, from the images and copy used in a Facebook ad, to strategically timing your tweets, to the text used in your Tumblr posts. The next evolution of this would be identifying your most engaged audience members. Solutions like Offerpop and Foursquare give small brands a way to compete with the Coca-Colas of the world, without being priced out of the market.

If you’re a local clothing designer with a single storefront, and you want to spread the word about your label to women around 35 years old, that live near your city, and that are interested in fashion—then there are channels (like Pinterest and Instagram) that are uniquely suited to that demographic. The people are already there, and the conversation already exists. Your job—and what will set you apart from the novices—is to find the relevant conversation, and take part in it. Anytime you can mix the value of in-person communication with the reach of social media, that’s a win.

April 20, 2012 Today's Business, , , , , , , , , , , , , 5 Read more >