Status Update

Social Media Marketing for Architects

In a recap of "How Architects Can Use Social Media," V3's Shelly Kramer sums up the takeaways from a presentation she and Cindy Frewen made to the Kansas City AIA Chapter. (My connection to KC: Lived in the area for 15 years.)

Shelly notes that inbound marketing is exponentially more profitable than outbound marketing. By feeding your website -- the operations hub -- with fresh content from blogs and other social channels, you can improve SEO and build site traffic. Compelling content brings prospects to you!

Have a Facebook Content Strategy

"When something isn’t working, don’t dwell on it. Change it and move on!" Sound advice from Social Media Examiner Blogger Amy Porterfield as she sums up six daily habits for Facebook marketing.

To get any value from your company Facebook page, you have to check in several times a day and engage with your fans. Here's a quick recap of what to do when you're expecting results:

1. Solve the problems that plague your fans with expert advice.
2. Respond to comments and post on fan pages with brief, friendly remarks.
3. Track changes in activity using Facebook Insights.
4. Set a goal and change up your action plan if you're not achieving it.
5. Create a content calender to keep your posts timely and relevant.
6. Pass along tips from industry experts and active fans (crediting the source).

These tips put in perspective the amount of time and commitment it takes to make Facebook marketing worthwhile (and the same goes for Twitter, Linkedin and all the others).

Who Reads Your Facebook's Newsfeed?

This was news to me: People usually visit a company Facebook Page once, "Like" it (or not), then read your forthcoming news (status updates) in their own newsfeeds. They may never visit your Page again!

How many people, places and things do you think stream updates to the average Facebook user's news feed? I'm guessing a lot. So Facebook has a complex algorithm that decides which news items to feed the user.

Your news may never make it into a fan's feed.

Compelling content is the key to getting read on Facebook. Constant Contact's Social Media 101 chapter on Facebook offers these quick tips for status updates:

• Make it personal.
• Keep it short.
• Use rich media.
• Post when people are on Facebook.
• Split content 80/20: 80% shared interests, 20% brand/company.
• Update once a day, twice max.

Get more readers by inviting fans to join your mailing list (there's an app for that). And in your mailings (email or print), invite people to "Like" you on Facebook. Around it goes... .

It's Just Word of Mouth

Everyone is talking about "social media marketing," but what is it, exactly? In a new Social Media Quickstarter, Constant Contact explains:

"Social media is the technology that connects people–whether it’s to share content or just to chat.

"Social networks, like Facebook and LinkedIn, are the places where social interactions happen (discovering & sharing).

"Social media marketing is the way to use that technology to build relationships, drive repeat business and attract new customers through friends sharing with friends.

"Sound familiar? That’s because social media marketing is really just word-of-mouth powered by technology."

When you think of it this way, it makes sense to dip a toe into the technology water. It's murky, deep and daunting at times, but going with the flow is better than being washed away by the "friending" flood.

According to Constant Contact’s 2011 Small Business Attitudes & Outlook Survey, 73% of small businesses and organizations have started using social media marketing and 62% of those not using it expect to start marketing through social media within the next 12 months.

If you're ready to get started, let's talk!

Invite Customers to Have a Conversation

"The Role of Feedback in Brand Loyalty," a white paper by the survey software company Vovici, recently caught my eye. (I was skimming.) I've been thinking about how social media marketing invites customers to have a conversation with you.

In the same way that surveys pose questions to elicit feedback, your social networking site can initiate dialog about brand perceptions, product preferences, customer experiences and complaints. You can use the question tool to create a poll, or simply ask a conversation starter with a status update.

When you "hear the voice of the customer," Vovici says, you can:

• focus on factors that are most meaningful to customers
• keep tabs on changing customer needs
• measure the success of marketing and other programs
• use customer ideas in the creative process

When customers think they are being heard, they stay with you. I guess building brand loyalty is just a new way to talk about gaining and retaining customers.