The Research Playbook

Archive for February, 2011

Plaxo is very LinkedIn like. However, it does not simply replicate LinkedIn. Some of the functionality is different and it presents an opportunity to create a new group of connections separate from LinkedIn.

One school of thought is to connect with people on multiple platforms and I generally subscribe to this approach. In the case of Plaxo, however,  there is a compelling argument for creating a separate set of connections. First, Plaxo limits the number connections you can have to 1,000 (and 10,000 entries in your address book) a much smaller number than LinkedIn (30,000 connections). To use up these limited “spaces” by connecting with people you are already connected to on LinkedIn does not leverage the potential of Plaxo.

Although Plaxo cautions you to connect only with people you know, there are wide openings for making new connections. This is another area that sets Plaxo apart from LinkedIn and it allows you to connect with people you don’t necessarily already know.  

This makes Plaxo the perfect platform to help you expand your total network.  Truth be told, LinkedIn has a couple of connection “work-around” options as well, but that’s a subject for another post.

To make it easy to set up a Plaxo account, reuse your Linkedin (LI) profile (of course this assumes you have a well structured and complete LI profile). There is no point in reinventing the wheel. If your LI profile is already written and optimized, you can save time by applying the basic content to Plaxo. You will need to make some minor adjustments since the structure of the two platforms varies a little, but most of your hard work will already be done.

P.S. If you have a LinkedIn account ,but your profile is not complete Click Here for Advice.

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When we look for ways to be “Green,” sometimes the answer is right in front of us. In the case of marketing, using social media networks is greener than many other forms of marketing, especially paper based marketing approaches.

This simple thought-for-the-day is hardly earth shaking. However, it might inspire you to use your marketing resources in ways that increase the “Green” in your business. Yes, pun intended!

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Power Up Your Profile

If you want to use LinkedIn effectively to connect with peers, partners, clients, potential customers, and other relevant users the first step is to power up your profile. Forget about all the other stuff the guru’s are clamoring about at least for now – if your profile sucks you aren’t going anywhere.

What’s the first thing anyone you connect with on LinkedIn is likely to do? If you join a discussion and someone thinks your comment is valuable what’s the first thing she or he will do? If you check out someone else and that person checks on who is viewing his or her profile what’s the first thing they will do?

If you said “read my profile” you are exactly right, most if not all are going to check out your profile. If your profile is anemic at the very least you have significantly reduced your opportunity to impress!

We reviewed of over 200 LinkedIn profiles and gave each person a suggestion on how to improve his or her profile. The results of this work are summarized as a top ten (10) list (with a nod to David Letterman) of improvements people were advised to make.

First Five Improvements

Starting with Number Ten – Use a high quality [not necessarily professional] photo of yourself, preferably from the shoulders or elbows up. To be trusted be real.

At Number Nine – Use a header under your name – repeating your job title doesn’t add any information. Remember this header will show up when you are interacting on LinkedIn

Number Eight – Customize the names of your websites “Company Website” or “Blog” doesn’t tell us much.

Improvement Number Seven – Customize your Twitter account with your user name – Don’t have a Twitter Account? 

And at Number Six – Customize your LinkedIn URL – give it your name!

Next Five Improvements

If you want to get to the next level of LinkedIn proficiency, send me an email and I will send you the next five (5) improvements people were advised to make.  >>Send Me the Next Five Improvements Now!

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P.S. If your profile is so perfect that you cannot implement at least one of these improvements, call me I will highlight your business in a future blog post.

How often do I have to blog?

This is a question I am asked over and over again. When I hear someone asking it, especially if he or she has a certain negative “tone” in her or his voice, my first response is, “If you think blogging will be painful to do or you do not enjoy writing the blog you have, perhaps blogging is not for you.”

We frequently hear, and I often give, the advice. “Blogging is a great marketing tool and you or your business would be well advised to consider entering the world of blogging” by joining the millions of other people who are already posting weekly!

However, blogging is not for everyone and done poorly a blog could do more harm than good. Blogging is much like other endeavors in life – You’ll get out of it, what you put into it.

Thus, you can blog as infrequently as you like.

If you blog a little you will get a little.

If you blog a lot you are more likely to get a lot, with the following caveat – what you blog about has to be interesting to some defined audience – I guess that’s a given.

To answer the frequency question more specifically, I would recommend posting content twice a week and 3-4 times some weeks if you can manage it. Do I always manage it – No, occasionally life gets in the way and a week will slip by, but that’s OK.

A related question is, “How long does each post have to be?”

Posts do not have to be long. A few posts of 100 -150 words is okay. Others posts might be 200-300 words and still others 300 or more, but probably not more than about 600 words [when they get long nobody reads them]. If you have a lot to say, split the content across two or more posts!

More than one person can write for your company blog [or a personal blog for that matter] and you can have none-employee contributors to [Call me, I’ll volunteer for at least one post, if it’s a topic I know]!

Equally important is thinking about the theme or focus of your blog, which does not have to be exclusively about what your company does. Topics can be informative, entertaining, news worthy, or perhaps humorous [this one can be tricky].

 

Your blog could be about mushrooms or Corvettes

  

For example, a roofing company started a blog about interesting places in the New England region. They add a roofing tip or some roofing related information every now and then, but the theme is about old houses and interesting architecture as well as ghosts thought to be haunting specific buildings, and other fanciful stuff. 

I hope that this helps a little and I am open to discussing the topic further. Please leave comments or questions below.

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P.S. This post is over 450 words long – see that wasn’t so hard!

Yes, it is possible to grow a large and targeted following on Twitter. A following that is relevant to your message whether your message is related to a charity such as one of the many humane societies around the world or a commercial endeavor in one location.

Keeping the tweets on point, entertaining, informative, and perhaps news worthy can keep you focused and provide value to your audience regardless of how large it becomes. Think of it as micro-blogging rather than tweeting and you’ll be more likely to engage your audience in a meaningful way. With the proper approach, you can grow your following to 1,000 in 6-8 weeks (even if you start at zero). Next, you can take the number of followers up to 4,000 in about 6 months (this is the hard part). Then, using a best practice approach, you can achieve 10,000 followers in the next 3-4 months (also hard, but doable).

With work you can target followers based on your ideal audience or customer profiles. Make sure you encourage Un-following when appropriate. Yes, I said un-following  Click this link for more details  http://researchplaybook.com/tweet-to-get-unfollowed-yes-unfollowed/

If these objectives sound like something you would like to achieve, I would welcome the opportunity to show you how to accomplish them. It requires a little training [we have programs and one-on-one coaching] or you can outsource the hard part and just have fun interacting with your new audience.

Our goal is to help you get the highest value possible from Twitter and other networking platforms. Send an email directly to me for more information and three examples showing this type of performance. Carey.azzara@atheath.com

Remember always target followers based on your ideal audience or customer profile!

Happy Tweeting or should I say micro-blogging!

 

    Click Here or the Photo to Build a Better Twitter Account

By Jeanne Willson

If you don’t believe me, perhaps you’ll take the advice of an expert “Ninety seven percent (97%) of all failure is due to the System and not the person.” – W. Edwards Deming

We all get overwhelmed at times with so many projects and being “on the go.” I have a close friend who refers to it as ‘plate spinning.’ For example, you have five important projects you are working on. All the folders are sitting on your desk and you are in the throws of making some valuable headway.  Then, all of a sudden, you remember you need to follow up with a networking contact. Now, where did you put their number?

Work ‘On’ Your Business, Not ‘In’ It

The key factor to not missing this important contact and others is to set up a system. Systems can be defined as; ‘putting together a sequential series of events with a specific outcome.’  It is part of shifting your thoughts from ‘What am I working on’ to ‘How am I working.’

To set up a proper system you need to know three things:

1) What process requires a system?

2) What is my intended outcome?

3) How do I achieve my outcome?

One great way to solve the puzzle of ‘what process requires a system’ is to choose a task that you do repeatedly. An example is in-person networking.

Sample System for Networking

Scenario: You went to a networking meeting and you made a connection with a fellow small business owner who you would like to get to know better.

Define the three things you need for your system:

1) What process requires a system?

    Following up with networking connections

2) What is my outcome?

    Set up a meeting

3) How do you achieve your outcome?

Setup This System!

A. Collect business cards

B. Write on the back where/when you met

C. Within 24 hours:

1)      Add them to your email (and email marketing) database

2)      Connect with them on LinkedIn

3)      ‘Like’ their Facebook business page (and their personal one if that is part of your FB strategy)

4)      Follow them on Twitter

5)      File their business card

D. Email them a ‘great to meet you’ note and ask if you can get together to get to know their business better

E. Look up their website and learn a little more about what products and services they offer

F. Than 48 hours before your meeting, send them a quick, detailed reminder email about your meeting (ie: ‘Look forward to getting together at your office on Thursday at 10am to learn more about your business’)

G. Meet with them and determine how you can do business together or become a referral source for each other

This may sound like a lot of steps. However, once you start implementing it the steps become a simple, automatic routine.

Try It!

This week, choose a task you do over and over and you could use a system to achieve greater efficiency. Set up the step-by-step sequence of events and then…follow it!

Chet Holmes sums it up this way; “the key is learning and practicing pigheaded discipline and determination.”

I like the way he thinks!  What do you think?

About the Author

Jeanne Willson is the Director of Markbeech Marketing, a virtual marketing department for small businesses. She is a small business marketer, entrepreneur, social media manager, blogger, speaker and professional graphic designer. Join her on Facebook: http://facebook.com/MarkbeechMarketing and Twitter: http://twitter.com/MarkbeechMktg.

A Rhetorical Question
The title is, of course, a rhetorical question, but the answer I’ll give is, “Probably not.” Developing a marketing and market research strategy [a.k.a. a well thought out plan] is a critically important task for every business.

However, companies, especially small and midsized firms can easily fall into the trap of using a disproportionate amount of time and resources for strategy at the expense of implementation or other activities. A strong tactical approach can often substitute for an elaborate strategy. Some of the areas typically under valued or at least under resourced are market intelligence [which can come in many forms], market research [not necessarily large expensive studies] and targeted marketing plans and campaigns.

Strategy is a fancy word for planning your marketing approach. Keeping it simple but directive helps to move your efforts from cerebral to action. Here is a checklist of critical questions to address as part of this process.

Seven Critical Questions
1. Can you describe what your company does in 140 to 160 characters or less? This is the new “pitch” parameter.

2. What do you want most from your marketing program? Are you building personal awareness, promoting your credibility as an expert, creating a sales pipeline, maintaining a loyal following?

3. Thinking about your target market or audience, how do they use social media?

4. Now, please describe your perfect customer: What does the person or company profile look like?

5. Describe your brand, that is, what defines you what is your value proposition?

6. What market intelligence needs or questions do you have?

Would you like to know what your customers and/or prospects are thinking – get in their heads?

7. How will you measure success?

Answering these questions is a good first step toward developing your business strategy. However, as stated, sometimes you don’t need a complicated strategy. A set of well conceived tactics that fit together is a plan that can get you started. Thus, while I always tell business owners to Plan the work – I also tell them to Work the plan – nothing is written in stone!

Social Media TIP: Always Start Networking When You Don’t Need To!