Our Failed Facebook Experiment

The cobbler’s children have no shoes.  The hairdresser’s hair is a mess.  And for this web company that manages social media for its clients, the social media company had few followers.  We’d always been so busy doing work for our clients, that we’d neglected our own. 

Feeling that this was no excuse, I decided to do something about it, starting with our Facebook page.  I thought to myself, “What’s the quickest way we can get hundreds of fans?  I know, give something away for free to those who join our page!”  So we tried a Facebook page experiment.

Here were the rules: Anyone who got 25 of their friends to “like” our page would get a $15 Target gift card.  I figured it would be worth the expense.  How many hundreds of fans would we acquire with this ingenious contest?  Maybe even a thousand or more!  One could only hope…

Well, it turned out to be a huge flop.  We didn’t get hundreds of fans; In fact, we didn’t even get one hundred.  We ended up with about 40 new fans, mostly due to an employee’s promotions of our page.

Why did this happen, and what did I learn?  Asking people to promote a page they don’t know, for a relatively small incentive, just doesn’t work.  Had we offered $500 for this, no doubt the results would have been much better, but the cost would’ve been unreasonable.   It goes beyond incentive, however; For most people, promoting a business that isn’t theirs is outside their comfort level.  I don’t do it, so why did I expect others to be so willing to promote our page, for a mere $15 gift card?

The contest wasn’t really a flop, though.  I value those 40 new fans, and will do my best to provide them with quality information, tips, and contests that are easy and worthwhile.  And the lesson learned, well, that was invaluable.

Client Testimonials are Great for SEO!

It’s sometimes difficult to come up with quality content for an existing website, and a really effective way which has multiple benefits is asking for client testimonials.  There are several reasons why this is such a great, creative way to add content to your site:

1. Testimonials will usually have many quality key words in them, since the client is often complimenting you on a particular product or service you provide. 
2. Asking for a testimonial puts you in contact with a client, which is always beneficial; any “touch points” with a client are important ways to build on your business relationship.
3. Having a client write a testimonial will remind them why they are happy with your services or products, making repeat business more likely.

Having a tough time getting testimonials from your customers?  Here’s an effective way to get a lot more – write the testimonials for them!  This also ensures that they say what you want.  When asking for a testimonial, you can say something like, “I know you’re busy and so I wrote this testimonial for our website that I was hoping I can attribute to you.”  

From an SEO perspective, this allows you to customize the testimonial exactly the way you’d like, to include certain key words.  Also, any time a client compliments you on the phone or in person, ask them if you can put that in writing and add it as a testimonial on your website.

Like all effective SEO, if it’s genuine, it will benefit your website.  Get testimonials!  It’s a great way to get in touch with your clients, remind them why they like you, and will add some great content to your website!

Tis the season for holiday telephone on-hold recordings!

Tis the season for holiday telephone on-hold recordings! If you call any of our clients this time of year and are placed on-hold, you will hear nice holiday music with well wishes for the new year interspersed throughout the regular promotions. This is a great way for our clients to promote their services while getting their customers in a festive mood!

Every year in October and November we start creating holiday recordings for our clientele.  The recordings feature holiday messages wishing callers a happy holiday season, with holiday music in the background.  They typically play between Thanksgiving and New Years, and then most clients will do a new update in January for the new year.  Our on-hold messages promote the company’s products and services while making on-hold time go by faster with informational messages.

10 things only bad managers say

Here's an excellent on managing employees.  Want to be a good manager?  Here are a few things you should never say. 

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44732669/ns/business-us_business/t/things-only-bad-managers-say/#.TotxWrKy1SJ

QR Codes

By now you’ve probably come across QR codes, the square bar-code images used on coupons, websites, business cards, and other marketing materials. QR stands for “Quick Response,” and all one needs to scan a QR code is a free app on a smartphone.  They seem to have caught on, with stores using them to provide shoppers with instant savings or info on a product, manufacturers using them on coupons, and businesses using them on their marketing materials.

What can you put on a QR code?  You can make it link to your website, or show some text, or show your contact info which people can then easily save on their phones.  Creating a QR code is pretty easy, with several websites offering it for free.  You’ll need to play around with the size of the QR code, depending on whether you’re using it in print or online, and on how much info your code stores.  Watt Media can help generate your QR codes and advise you how to best use them for print and on the web.