August 2012
DIGITAL MARKETING INSIDER
6 COMPANIES THAT ARE KICKING ASS ON TWITTER MAC USERS CHARGED MORE THAN PC USERS HOW TO PAY PC PRICES ON A MAC HOW TO HACK NEW EMPLOYEE INTEGRATION 7 HABITS OF HIGHLY EFFECTIVE SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETERS / RIP STEPHEN R. COVEY
Contents.
01 / A Note From The Editor. 02 / 6 Companies That Are Kicking Ass On Twitter. 03 / Mac Users Charged More Than PC Users / How To Pay PC Prices On A Mac. 04 / How To Hack New Employee Integration. 05 / 7 Habits Of Highly Effective Social Media Marketers / RIP Stephen R. Covey. 06 / 7 Habits Of Highly Effective Social Media Marketers (continued). 07 / Case Study: Introducing Geo Targeting, Delivers More Fruitful Relationships. 08 / Get In Touch.
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A Note From The Editor.
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The difference of course is the medium that’s used to communicate the message. Neil Asher, Roarlocal.com
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Neil with his wife Natasha and daughter Isabella. I went to my 5 year old daughters sports day this week, did you know that they all won a medal? Have we gone mad? None of the winners were announced for fear of upsetting the kids that didn’t win… apparently this is a directive from Brussels, what next kids not getting told their test results for fear of upsetting other kids who didn’t study as hard? It’s a joke. Talking of schools I feel genuinely sorry for teachers, can you imagine any situation in real life where a disruptive bratty kid would not be disciplined? But no, our teachers can’t give a bratty kid a clip around the ears when they need one, nor can they give a child who’s hurt a hug or gently pat a kid in encouragement on the shoulders for fear of being taken to court for abuse or molestation. It’s nothing short of a joke. As entrepreneurs I think we see through the BS of the politically correct crowd, I know myself whenever I hear idiots talking about the next craze online it always makes me chuckle. The same things that made businesses successful 100 years ago still apply today, the difference of course is the medium that’s used to communicate that message.
In this issue I want to show you some of those things that make businesses successful AND some of the amazing things we can do with that new medium. In this issue you’ll find 6 companies that are really rocking Twitter, how to quickly and effectively hack new employee integration, we pay tribute to best selling business author Stephen R.Covey with our own “7 Habits Of Highly Effective Social Media Marketing” and how to avoid paying more for things just because you’re a MAC user! Enjoy! CEO / Neil Asher / ROARlocal.com
6 Companies That Are Kicking Ass On Twitter.
Why Marketing On Twitter Rocks! 50% of users say that they are more likely to buy from a brand after they follow them on Twitter.
Customers who are engaged in social media are more likely to buy and recommend.
Having a social media button next to your product can (in some cases) positively affect buying decisions.
Twitter shoppers spent more money than Google shoppers this past Christmas season.
Twitter has been shown to increase sales by bringing in more traffic to your site.
60% of people say they are more likely to recommend the company after following them on Twitter.
The brands that get the most out of Twitter are the ones who use it correctly. Below are 6 brands that are taking full advantage of Twitter
JetBlue
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They don’t take any days off (just like their airlines) and are there to help at any time. If your brand is going to go on Twitter for customer service, it’s important to be committed. It’s a win-win: customers get service on Twitter, while JetBlue publicly displays their quick and responsive service.
Whole Foods
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Whole Foods is there to provide value in any way possible. It appears that their goal is not to increase sales by using Twitter, but to serve customers. Be there to give your audience value in the niche that you serve.
Staples
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Staples uses Twitter to gather customer feedback and support. Many brands like Staples get the information they hear from customers on Twitter and report it to others in the company. This helps them better understand their customer, which when used effectively can improve your product.
Dell
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Dell combines it all – engagement, promotions, photo sharing and retweets (shows that they’re paying attention). They are able to keep followers informed of what Dell is up to without spamming.
Red Cross
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Red Cross provide tips and how to get help when you need it. They are there to be of value and service to their followers. They know what their role is and they stay true to it on Twitter.
Namecheap
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Namecheap has done it and managed to get over 90 thousand followers! One of the first things Namecheap did when they started their Twitter account was run a contest. This contest helped increase their followers from 200 to over 4,000 in one month. All of this also lead to a 20% increase in domain registrations!
Mac Users Charged More Than PC. By Neil Asher
A website knows what kind of computer you are using based upon your web browsers User Agent.
There’s been a lot of news lately about Mac users being charged more than PC users. I think it’s a bit of a shame, but it does make sense. If the Mac users have more money, why not charge them more.
Now, if you want to make a website think you are on a PC there are several really simple ways to do it.
It’s the same thing as charging £6 for a latte inLondon instead of the regular £2 everywhere else. They are charging more to the people that have more money.
The User Agent says if you are on a Mac, PC, etc and what web browser you are currently using.
How To Change Your User Agent: Based Upon Mac (Google Chrome)
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Press Command + Option + I
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Click the Settings icon in the bottom right corner
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Click “Override User Agent”
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Change it to whatever you want
How To Hack New Employee Integration. By Neil Asher
This has been a valuable tool to increase integration and has meant our new hires become productive MUCH faster.
The official…Blue Print to Neil And His Quirks How to fit in part is an important one, most people leave this to chance but that’s far to average for me so I split it into 3 parts:
Opinions matter but nothing trumps data to settle a discussion.
Fight your corner. Telling the truth will win you points.
I value quick response to e-mails. 1. Knowing the quirks of the boss. 2. Knowing the quirks of their team members. 3. Knowing the client quirks.
We’ve set up systems for each and I thought I’d show you mine so you get an idea of what research we do for each client and each other.
Question everything, 99% of what you read online is bullshit, the only thing that matters is testing. I value the “shower idea” I’ve often found I get great ideas in the shower, there is evidence that many other people do too, something to do with the water.. Fall on your sword – finger pointing drives me nuts. Nothing bugs me more than passing the buck, if you screw up great, we can learn much more from mistakes than we can from getting it right. I value initiative – try and find the answer before asking the question. I value problems and solutions. Office politics will get you fired fast.
Sometimes the customer does not like the advice but we give them the truth every time. 100% of all problems arise from not communicating, if you have a problem talk. Being late bugs the hell out of me, if we have a 9.30 meeting and you’re going to be late let me know.
So there you go, what I do is sit down with a new hire over coffee and go through each one and ask clarifying questions and get their feedback. Hacking new employee integration is easy when you open up! Give it a try with your team and see their productivity rise, after all, we all like to know where we stand.
7 Habits Of Highly Effective Media Marketers. Stephen R Covey RIP. By Nicola Cairncross
I’d always been a big fan of “how to” books, but “7 Habits” was only the second really powerful personal development book I read and it made a profound difference to my life.
7 Habits Of Highly Effective Social Media Marketers
I was drawn to it by the down-to-earth title (I was a real cynic in those days!) and one thing was for sure, back then in 1998 I certainly needed to become much more effective! I’m NOT going to tell you about the book here but I do urge you to go and devour it – by reading or listening – not forgetting to actually do the exercises as that will make a huge difference, I promise. What I AM going to do as a mark of respect to Stephen, and to celebrate the fact that one of our clients, the Worthing & Adur Chamber, has a page on Facebook which is now reaching over 1000 people, is to create my own “7 Habits of Highly Effective Social Media Marketers”
1 / Use The Cool Tools Use plugins like Share This, Shareaholic and Easy Social on your blog – make it really easy for people to share your content on their preferred social network. Consider using one of the cool management tools like Hootsuite, which is free for limited numbers of profiles / accounts, runs in a tab in your browser but which is also available for your smartphone. 2 / Set Goals & Track Your Progress With the Pro version of Hootsuite you get a nice little round up each week of where each account is, making reporting much easier although we have just started using TwentyFeet.com too. Unless you decide what your key metrics are and track them weekly, how will you know if what you are doing is working? 3 / Be Human Follow genuinely interesting people as well as local business, bodies like the local Chamber etc., This will not only make your social media activities more enjoyable, and make you appear like a real human being, but give you cool things to retweet which will attract more followers, It’s important to have fun on social media. (continued on next page)
7 Habits Of Highly Effective Media Marketers (continued). Stephen R Covey RIP. By Nicola Cairncross
“ Social media can be a massive time suck for business owners but if you create and follow a strategic plan, your social media activities can be the secret sauce that boosts your business right over your competitors. Or, if you would like us to intelligently and strategically manage your social media for you, just get in touch and tell us what your goals are.
I can honestly tell you that just grasping and implementing Habit #1 changed my life for ever. Nicola Cairncross
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4 / Think Creatively & Follow Strategically You should have created a written avatar of your ideal customer or clients by now (you haven’t? why not?) so try and put yourself in their heads and think about who they would follow / friend and find interesting. For example, my sister Heather is a jazz singer with a new laid back classics album out and we have had some success with Facebook ads targeting people who like Ella Fitzgerald and Adele for example. 5 / Follow Your Ideal Client See if any of your ideal clients have Twitter accounts or Facebook pages. On Twitter you can actually follow the people your ideal client follows – there’s a good chance those people will be just like them. Then don’t be creepy about it – just add value by sharing cool stuff and you never know who you will attract. Similarly, if there is a local journalist, tv or other celeb, look at who they are following and consider following those people too. You are creating networks of people that may be able to help your business if you interest them and engage. 6 / Learn How Invest in the top tuition programmes, to discover how to use Social Media better. It’s always changing and the top tuition programmes like Brian Moran’s “10,000 Fans” (Facebook), Veronica Pullen’s “Social Media Prospector” (Twitter), Lewis Howes’ “LinkedInfluence” have to keep up to date and a reasonable investment usually includes a lifetime’s upgrades/updates. 7 / Keep Up To Date Everything changes but some things stay the same. To cut down overwhelm and keep up to date, follow the movers and shakers in the field. Names like Mari Smith, Social Media Examiner and Lilach Bullock spring to mind – not forgetting those in Habit #6.
Introducing Geo Targeting, Delivers More Fruitful Relationships.
We were approached by an up-and-coming introductions agency who had already built a solid reputation in their local area and were known for giving professional guidance to busy singles, looking for romance in their lives. The Challenge: The agency asked if we could take a look at their digital marketing. They had been making a significant monthly spend on Google PPC campaigns but simply weren’t seeing value for money and their return on investment was highly unimpressive. When we studied the figures, it quickly became apparent that they were spending around £200 to acquire every new customer. Our challenge was to lower the spend on digital advertising, whilst increasing the conversion rates in customers who did click. To do this we’d needed to make the ads more enticing and relevant to users, whilst also ensuring that only high quality leads, with strong conversion potential, would be clicking. Solutions: Firstly, we devised a Google PPC campaign which would speak directly to potential new customers and engage them in a more fulfilling way. Digital advertising in the introduction industry can be very time sensitive, meaning that the kind of customers looking for love in the morning, may not be the same as the ones looking for romance in the afternoon.
We quickly devised a campaign which would divide the agency’s Google Ads into four time slots across the day:
Results:
Morning / Noon / Afternoon / Evening
We brought the cost of acquiring a new customer down to just £30, meaning that we’d slashed £170 off the previous price. That’s a massive 65% reduction in cost.
In the afternoons we tailored adds around romance and evening plans: > No dinner date again tonight?
The results were outstanding.
In the evenings we focussed on intimacy:
We also tripled the volume of targeted leads going into the business and we have now gone on to roll out similar campaigns for Facebook, LinkedIn and Bing, our client was understandably thrilled with the results.
> Are you sleeping alone again?
Interested?
It’s time you had someone to cuddle up to at night.
If you think we could help you to achieve similar results, (and we know we could), don’t hesitate to call us for a chat today. Our team of highly experienced digital superstars are ready to get to work on developing strategies tailored to your business.
You know you deserve better we’ll help you find true love.
We knew these ads would give a boost in click through rate but we needed to ensure we only had high value clicks. The agency was localised to the North East and as dating is clearly a localised activity too, they weren’t going to be getting much value from people clicking on the ad who lived in different parts of the country. We geo targeted the ads, meaning that only people who lived within a certain distance of the agency, and were searching specifically for dating and introductions, would be presented with the ads.
Get In Touch.
Contact www.roarlocal.com/contact Fill in the form to contact us at any time. We need your name, the domain name of your existing site (if you have one), your preferred method of contact (phone number or email address) and we will get back to you as soon as possible.
☎ 01273 90 69 91 Monday through Friday 8.30 – 6.30 and get answers immediately. Admin Office The Sussex Innovation Centre University of Sussex Science Park Square, Falmer Brighton BN1 9SB CEO / Neil Asher COO / Nicola Cairncross
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Photography Front & p8 - Humbert15 / Flickr
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Contents, p2 & 10 - Dogfrog / Flickr p6 - Heather Buckley / Flickr p7 - www.thinkers50.com
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p9 - Idleformat / Flickr