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Archive for the ‘Facebook’ Category


Show me the Numbers!

Monday, July 26th, 2010

Over the past six months or so you’ve heard a lot from us about Social Media. We’ve talked about Twitter. We’ve blathered about blogs. We’ve focused your attention on Facebook. But have we practiced what we preach? Have we been “eating our own dog food?”

Actually, we have! We’ve been blogging and tweeting and posting on Facebook. So what kind of results have we seen? Let’s take a look at some of the numbers. In the six months since we began doing Social Media for ourselves here’s what we’ve observed:

  • Our overall website traffic is up 63%
  • The number of unique visitors to our site is up 51%
  • The number of page views is up 51%
  • The average time spent per visit is up 65 seconds
  • Our bounce rate is down 4%

In other words, more people (including new visitors) are spending more time on our site, and they are looking at more content. We’re pretty pleased with what’s happened so far. Of course, it raises another important question.

Can we show you the money? In the spirit of transparency and full disclosure, the answer has to be: “it remains to be seen.” We knew that an increase in business wouldn’t be immediate.  But we also know that the goal of Social Media isn’t just to increase website traffic: it’s to increase the amount of business we do. One other thing we know is that if we’re not staying in front of existing and potential customers, we won’t have a chance to increase our business.

We think we’re on the right track and we’ll keep you posted about the specific impact on our bottom line.

What do you think?

Posted in Blogging, Facebook, Social Media, Strategy, Twitter | No Comments »

Make a Prediction

Tuesday, June 8th, 2010

If you want to get peoples’ attention, if you want them to listen to what you have to say, if you want to start a discussion about a topic important to your business or industry . . . make a prediction.

You may argue that you’re not clairvoyant, and you’re probably right. Maybe you’re afraid that your prediction won’t be 100 percent accurate. Again, you’re probably right.  But it really doesn’t matter.

Chances are that if you’re in business you have a certain amount of knowledge, and understanding about how your little corner of the Universe works. You probably have enough experience to allow you to see the patterns that develop in your particular area of expertise. There’s a good chance that you understand your niche better than someone who hasn’t spent years doing what you do.

You don’t have to be arrogant with your prediction. You don’t have to be a “know-it-all.” As a matter of fact, you don’t even have to call your prediction a “prediction.” You can call it a projection or a supposition or a strong possibility. The point is, you have knowledge and experience that you can share with others. You can say something along the lines of: “After fifteen years in the industry, when I see ‘X’ happening and I can be pretty sure that ‘Y’ will happen within six months.”

People are desperately looking for someone to help them make sense out of things they don’t understand. If you have some credibility, you can help customers or prospects make sense out of things they lack the experience or knowledge to evaluate. You may want to avoid giving specific advice (“Sell all your stock and buy widgets.”), but you can suggest what you see as a trend.

If nothing else, you’ll start a discussion. And starting a discussion is a great way to find out what peoples’ needs are—and how your company might meet those needs.

(By the way, our prediction is that not everybody will agree with what’s been said here!)

What do you think?

Posted in Copywriting, Facebook, Social Media, Twitter | No Comments »

Who’s Using Social Media?

Tuesday, May 25th, 2010

Do you sometimes wonder if all the uproar around Social Media is overblown? Do you find yourself thinking that all this hoopla about blogs and Twitter® and Facebook® is all fine and good, but it’s not where you’re audience is?

Before you dismiss Social Media out of hand as something for kids, you might want to take a look at who’s actually using Social Media tools to look for goods and services like yours. There’s a very interesting article about the types of people using social media that you can check out for yourself. But here’s a quick summary.

• 48% — of Americans age 12 and older are now members of at least one social network
• 30% of Americans age 12 and older who have a profile on at least one social networking Web site use those sites “several times a day
• 42% of all Americans say the Internet is essential to their lives

Add to those statistics that the fastest growing segment of Facebook® users is women 55 years of age and older. You may find Social Media “interesting”, or even terrifying. But chances are, a significant portion of your target audience finds it extremely helpful in making purchasing decisions.

Are you using Social Media? Why or why not?

Posted in Facebook, Social Media, Strategy, Twitter | 2 Comments »