Tag: DGM2

The fourth and final of our guest speakers in this 2nd cohort of Digital Marketing at General Assembly was none other than coffee & beer master Jason Dominy. I met Jason in person in his office at The Dalton Agency last fall after we engaged in numerous digital conversations. Jason is a firm believer in 2Dto3D conversations.

Last night, Jason joined us at Ponce City Market to teach us about Twitter, Linkedin, Facebook & Display Ads: what they’re good for and what they’re not good for.

Jason started us off with a primer on the power of digital media advertising.  We used to be “on the ground” with advertising, and could only go where paper could take us, but now we can go anywhere we need to in order to get our audience, and rise above all the stuff on the ground.

So where do we go in digital marketing? You go wherever your audience is. You can even go everywhere, but you don’t need to, because your audience isn’t everywhere. You determine where you go (by which we mean what ad channels and social networks we use, by learning where our customers are, what channels they use the most. There are dozens of tools to find this answer, but the easiest and most effective method of finding this information is to simply talk to your customers.

Then create great content that your customers will like. But how do you know what type of content they’ll like, share, and engage? The best types of content are the types that we want to see in our timelines. Do you want to see what you’ve created? If not, change it. We’re all bombarded with content, so we need to market differently so that we stand out from the spammy noise makers.

We don’t have a lack of content. We have a lack of quality content.

Twitter

Twitter is good for…

• short updates
• quick engagements
• real time info
• Quotes
• Easily digestible content
• targeting – amazing how granular marketers can get with twitter; e.g., if people follow a certain twitter user, target their timelines; and it’s not very expensive.

The best Twitter ads don’t come across as ads. You get the audience’s attention with something that stands out.

Twitter is not good for…

• conversations
• posting lots of information
• overall reach for single tweets – tweets get served to all followers, but not everyone can see it.
• posting out just marketing

The average lifetime of a single tweet is measured in seconds, so it’s helpful and very much acceptable to post several times during the day the same content, even several days in a row at different times. You can’t do this on Facebook because their timeline algorithm is different. Also, sponsored tweets sit up near the top, so they may get seen more, but they’ll also get ignored more.

Finally, if you have an egg as your avatar, you’re doing it wrong.

LinkedIN

LinkedIn is great for…

• connecting B2B
• recruiting / hiring
• search – their blogging platform gets far more engagement
• providing a great background for your business
• targeting

LinkedIn is not good for…

• connecting with your fans
• total reach
• paid ads
• tracking

Display (aka banner) Ads

Display Ads are great for…

• targeting
• tracking
• catching attention
• budgets

Display ads not great for…

• people who hate banner ads
• your grandparents
• bang for your buck
• formatting – specific sizes for specific places on specific web sites
• x marks the spot – we’re trained to click the X to close the ad

Retargeting

Retargeting is great for…

• re-targeting those who already visited you
• tracking
• catching attention
• reminding
• success

Retargeting is not good…

• because it can be a little creepy
• because it can backfire
• because it causes brand fatigue
• because your customer can’t turn it off

Facebook

Facebook is the most cost effective method of paid marketing today. Jason puts out ads every day for $20 and reach 8,000 people or $30 and reach 25,000 people. Really cost effective and hyper targeted.

Facebook’s organic reach: if you have 20k followers, Facebook determines who sees your content and how often they see it, so now you really have to pay to play. That said, Facebook is still ridiculously cost effective to advertise.

Knowing all of these channels are out there, available, and relatively cheap, you should find out where your audience is, and then put your money where your audience is.

Thanks again to Jason Dominy of the Dalton Agency for taking time out of his Tuesday night to educate a group of future digital marketers. If you ever need help in that area, or in making a great cup of coffee or creating a great batch of craft beer, Jason is your guy.

Last night, we enjoyed the third of our four scheduled guest speakers at the Digital Marketing class at General Assembly. Van Baird has spent over a decade in the financial services industry, and when he opened his State Farm insurance agency in Johns Creek, he decided he didn’t want to be a typical insurance agent. Van describes what he did not want to be using this clip from “Groundhog Day”:

Right from the get-go, we knew we were in for something different from Van this night. He started us off with a simple exercise that took less than a minute, but made a huge point. Pair up, and take 15-seconds to tell the person you’re paired up with 3 things: where you live now, where you went to high school, and your favorite color. Then switch. Simple. Now, on the count of three, everyone YELL the answer to this question as loud as you can: where were you born?

In the first portion of the exercise, connections were made, information exchanged. In the second part – the yelling part – nobody could hear any information. In 10-seconds face to face, we learned more than screaming the same information all at one time. Is this what social media was meant for? Boom.

At this point, Van started bombarding the class with nuggets of digital wisdom that have the power to completely change how you do social media.

The dreaded auto-DM on Twitter: “Thanks for following! Please subscribe to our newsletter.” I don’t even know you. Don’t be like Ned Briarson from Groundhog Day. Van did not want to be Ned Briarson, so he developed a different model which became Relational Equity, to invest in the people who pay them for something they never use: Insurance. Insurance is like an epi-pen. You must have it there, but you hope you never use it. But Van does it differently. He uses social media to invest in the success of his clients. The results are uncanny.

Remember that very first week on a new job, working for the man? You’re special! Three months later they hire a new group of fresh faces, and you’re no longer special. When you start a business, your first clients feel really loved, because they are your only lifeline, but not after you have 50, 100, 200 clients. We all want to feel loved all the time, not just because we’re your first or 8th client, but because we are people. And people need to be loved on.

Whose content is more valuable, your content or your clients’ content? Try this to get a clear answer to that question: What would happen if you did not listen to your spouse for a month? People share what they are passionate about online. Listen to those you care about. In business, you should care about your clients, so listen to them on social media. How are you using social to create a relational equity with those who pay you? In business and in life, relationships are all that matter.

We don’t apply the 60-20-20 rule that Lindsay Trinkle espoused in real life, but we should. Imagine what would happen if, in real life, when you spoke, 60% of the time you were adding value to those you were speaking to by teaching them something new.

Some facts about the average digital media user:

• The average Facebook user has 338 friends.
• The average Twitter user has 208 followers (those who have more than 1,000 followers are the top 1% in the world).
• The average Instagram user has 112 followers.
• The average Pinterest user has 67 followers.

Some facts about how users of digital media make purchase decisions:

• 53% of people on Twitter recommend products in their tweets.
• 93% of shoppers make a buying decision based on social.
• 90% of consumers trust peer recommendations.
• Only 14% of people trust advertisements.

Now do some math:

• If 5 Facebook friends like a post, that means up to 1690 people might see it.
• If 2 Twitter users RT, then your exposure is up to 416 users.
• If 2 Instagram followers like our picture, that’s exposure of up to 112 users.
• Two Pinterest repins gets you exposure to 134 users.
• Total eyeballs from a few seconds on digital media: 2352

But that’s “organic” reach. If you’re paying for advertising, and you’re not paying for advertising on Facebook & Twitter, you’re missing the boat. It has never been easier and more economical to directly target the people that you want to be your customers.

Which is better: you talking about you or other people talking about you? Shut up and listen.

The 4 Ps of marketing don’t matter in digital. Now it’s the 4 Cs:

1. Create
2. Curate
3. Connect
4. Culture

Van and his company use Evernote to capture life events of their clients – the little things – so they can bring them back up on special dates. Van once noted from one tweet that a client of his loved – I mean really, really loved – a certain kind of pickle. So Van bought him a jar of these pickles for the client’s birthday. Client’s. Mind. Blown.

Van gives access to his company Instagram account only to clients. Then he shares very specific things with only those clients, like a free Starbucks offer that they can use, simply because they are his clients.

Mobile alerts: get notified when your clients tweet.

Van has setup a very simple thing in Twitter: mobile alerts. Every time his clients tweet, he gets a notification, and then he engages with a comment or a favorite or the old fashioned “RT”, which works better, because you’re not one of many. It’s a separate notification to that user, and they see your name. Free advertising, and dirt simple to setup.

Everyone loves to receive love, but it’s even stronger to give love, whether the recipient knows it’s you it or not. Don’t invest for ROI, but for “R.O.R.” – return on relationships.

It’s also simple to create lists in Facebook. Create a list of your clients, and like, share, and comment there first, before you get lost in all the other garbledeegook of Facebook.

You must use Twitter Lists. Put everyone on a list. From your corporate account, follow back only people who are clients.
Make a private account (also using your name or company name) in Instagram, and follow only your clients who use Instagram. Then, every day, scroll through and double tap every picture. How often are you the only user liking someone’s pictures? That’s giving love in a really easy way, and again, they are seeing your name in their digital media life. Free advertising.

Using these simple methods, how many times will your clients see your name in a day? In the Relational Equity model, you don’t ever have to post or tweet. Just follow, like, and share.

And, some quotes from Van that might rock your world, or at least your perception of who you are on digital media.

• “None of us are as busy as we think we are.”
• “There’s not a lot of people encouraging others on social.”
• “Don’t ever just ask people to like your Facebook page. Give them a very specific reason. Tell them what they will get for liking your page.”
• “Always engage on a personal level if you can. Most of the time, on the other end of that social account is a person. Engage with them as a person.”

Finally, this amazing thing that I don’t even know how to describe: Van’s company buys Facebook ads for his clients. He invests in the success of his clients.

If you have the opportunity to invite a guest speaker to talk about building real relationships in an increasingly digital world, you should book Van Baird. You’ll be glad you did.