Improve Your Web Presence - For Free

Written by: Mike Monocello

Facing a poor economy and slumping sales, what can companies do from a marketing standpoint to boost sales? The answers, while somewhat obvious, are relatively easy to execute and yet fraught with potential distaster.

Prove Your Capabilities With Case Studies
When talking with marketing experts and successful dealers about web presence, one of the most common recommendations is to post real life case studies of your work so prospective customers can visualize what your solutions can do for them. This works. As a small proof, consider that a case study (containing a customer problem, the solution [i.e. product], and the benefits) posted to BSMinfo.com is read 30 times more than a product press release. Why? People want to read about real-life applications! If sales are slow right now, take some of your extra time and write customer case studies to improve your web site.

Don’t worry, you don’t have to be Hemingway to write case studies. The process mostly requires organization. In fact, if you’re interested, drop me an email (mike.monocello@bsminfo.com) with the subject “Case Study Template” and I’ll email you a question set and basic template that you can use to stay organized and craft your own case studies.

Finding A Business Case For Social Media
Beyond case studies, there are some new web marketing tools that are quickly gaining popularity. Actually, they are a set of tools under the title of social networking. You quite possibly just let out a sigh of disappointment when you read that last sentence. And I do realize that I might have just lost half the people reading this article. Whether we’re talking about Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn, chances are if you’re participating at all, you’re not sure why. The business case for these “applications” is a mystery to many. To others, these applications are extensions of a sales force.

Let me say right now that I honestly can’t find a POS dealer business case for Facebook (let me know if you find one). However, Twitter and LinkedIn get my full support. For the purposes of this article, I’m going to address Twitter since it seems to get the biggest snicker when mentioned in a business setting.

A quick background: Twitter requires you to create a user name and password. Set up of an account takes a minute. The original purpose was for users to share (in 140 characters or less) what they are doing at any given moment. While anyone with an Internet connection could browse to and see your Twitter updates (called “Tweets”), those who chose to follow you get your updates sent to directly to them. Twitter users can rely on Twitter.com as their main conduit of Tweets or there are a host of smart phone applications (Ubertwitter for the BlackBerry is a popular choice), Firefox browser extensions (Twitterfox gets my thumbs up), and stand alone apps (Tweetdeck) to manage your Twitter account.

Ok, now the business case. First, use Twitter to search for your company name, your competition, or other industry key terms. There’s a lot being talked about on Twitter. It’s a great information source. Second, consider using a company Twitter account to tell existing customers about deals you might have going on. Or, consider tweets that update customers on security threats, industry mandates, hardware and software usage tips, or updates to your web site (“See how one of our customers saved $20,000 a year with a video surveillance system” followed by a link to your new case study). Attending a trade show? Make sure your customers know that you’re a true professional and attending the event to learn about the latest trends to bring back and improve their businesses.

What’s appealing about Twitter is that users can rest assured they’re only going to receive messages that are 140 characters or less. In today’s busy world, such brevity is appealing and catching on.

Now, some quick Twitter best practices for a business:
1) Deliver value in your tweets. Give people a reason to want to read what you write.
2) Don’t flood your followers with tweets. A couple a day at the most.
3) Share non-promotional tweets about the communities you service. This shows how you’re integrated in your community.
4) Don’t turn your Twitter account into a brag board.

You might be asking, why should I use Twitter to do these things? Preference. It’s the same reason you probably send more email to customers than faxes. While I don’t expect email to go anywhere, social networking apps are another common communications tool people use today. Why would you knowingly choose not to use a communication method that people are using? It’s free, easy to use, and popular. You have little to nothing to lose.

Create Social Media Policies For Your Business Now
If you're thinking about using Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn for your business, there are some additional considerations. Today's newest communication forms are catching on because they're powerful. With that power comes potential disaster if misused. Refer to our esteemed elected officials accidentally spilling the beans via Twitter because they didn't fully understand the application's public aspect.

As a business owner, I'd only want key employees using such mediums for corporate purposes. Even then, I'd want management or marketing to weigh in on what is and isn't appropriate communications.

The alternative often is an account started by a motivated well-intentioned employee that in essence became the de facto corporate account in the absence of a true corporate account. The good: the company is using a social networking tool. The bad: information of all types is shared to the world with no control.

Additionally, think about how long you struggle to find just the right word to describe any aspect of your services in marketing collateral. How would you feel if a young employee was referring to your products or services on Twitter as "the shizzle?" Not quite the image your marketing attempts to convey.

Also, particularly in the case of Twitter, the person tweeting includes some of those personal tweets that Twitter was designed for. In that case, the public sees what appears to be the corporate representation on Twitter, with the addition of "Looks like rain. It would be a great day to stay home and snuggle with my cat." Again, not the message your marketing attempts to convey.

That's what it comes down to. Companies can spend a lot of time and money marketing and shaping public perception. All that investment can be quickly undone by a well-intentioned employee left unchecked. Create policies now to prevent future disaster.

Finally, if you want a very handy extensive guide to using Twitter as a business, follow me at http://twitter.com/bsminfo. I’ve got a tweet there with the link you’ll need.