As I work with clients, or evaluate social media sites as part of the research I do on the topic, I frequently find that many sites–even those owned and managed by some top organizations–are more engaged in conversations with themselves than with interested followers or fans. They’re not sharing information that is of interest or value to their audience–they’re talking about themselves! That’s a strategy destined to fail. Why? Continue reading “Are You Talking to Yourself on Social Media?”
Category: Business Development
The Benefits of LinkedIn for Business Development
LinkedIn initially gained popularity as a tool for job seekers and it remains a popular go-to source of candidates for recruiters and HR professionals. But businesses, large and small, and business people in a variety of professions are also finding LinkedIn to be a great networking tool and an opportunity to do business development across a much wider market area than ever before.
I’ve used LinkedIn for some time and have to confess that Continue reading “The Benefits of LinkedIn for Business Development”
Connecting With Your Audiences Through Social Media
As hard as it may be to believe, not everybody is engaged in social media these days. And, even those who have profiles established on sites like Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter may not be active participants and, importantly, may not be seeing your communications, regardless of how frequently you post or how brilliant your insights are.
In my work as a marketing communication consultant I work with clients regularly to assess and improve their communications, including online communications. The first area of discussion Continue reading “Connecting With Your Audiences Through Social Media”
Markets Can’t Really Tell Us How They’re Influenced
I’m a proponent of marketing research and the use of data to drive business decisions at every level and in every aspect of organizational performance. I recognize, though, that sometimes the predictive value of research can be questionable and that it can be most useful to evaluate actual behaviors to support future decisions.
Advertising efforts are a good example of this. Continue reading “Markets Can’t Really Tell Us How They’re Influenced”
Overcoming Your Fears of Social Media
Contrary to popular belief not everybody is engaged in social media. In fact, recent Pew research reveals some surprising statistics about the level of engagement among various market segments. While their research suggests that 50 percent of adults do use social media, fully 50 percent do not. You may be among the non-engaged and, if you are, Continue reading “Overcoming Your Fears of Social Media”
Are You Prepared to Become Obsolete?
While watching the local news my husband made a comment about the weatherman: “You know – who really needs him anymore? You can just look at the radar yourself any time you want to online.”
True. You can. Wonder if people going to school to be “weather people” have thought about that. Wonder if the schools that teach them have thought about that. And, most pertinent for this blog, wonder if all of us have given Continue reading “Are You Prepared to Become Obsolete?”
The Value — and Limitations — of Leading Indicators
Working in large organizations I became very familiar with “leading” and “lagging” indicators and, admittedly, sometimes I found what I thought was the “complexity” of the concepts to be a bit overwhelming. But, I’m very data-driven and very committed to measuring the impacts of my efforts whether working in an organization, for a client or for myself. The premise is really quite basic: if you are looking for Continue reading “The Value — and Limitations — of Leading Indicators”
Create, Co-create, Collaborate or Die
We’re all familiar with the saying: adapt, migrate, mutate or die. Charles Darwin put forth his theory of evolution in 1859 and its relevance to businesses has long been applied by academics and business experts. But, in today’s fast-paced environment, while still applicable it suggests a pace that is much slower than our reality.
Adapting, migrating and mutating takes time–sometimes a long time.
While it may not be relevant from a biological standpoint, businesses today might be well advised to follow a different piece of advice: Continue reading “Create, Co-create, Collaborate or Die”
Influencing Target Audiences – Work From the Inside Out
There are four ways that people learn about our products and services:
1. Through their own experiences with us.
2. From their friends, family and colleagues – word of mouth.
3. Through the media – news reports, articles, etc.
4. Directly from us through our own advertising, web sites, social media, etc.
I always list these four sources of information in this order, because Continue reading “Influencing Target Audiences – Work From the Inside Out”
Do Happy Employees = Happy Customers? No!
Common wisdom suggests that there is a direct correlation between employee and customer satisfaction. Common wisdom, of course, is often flawed. Just ask a couple of my favorite business authors, Dan Ariely (Predictably Irrational) and Steven Levitt (Freakonomics). Sometimes the things that we believe to be true, simply aren’t.
A few years ago an article in the Harvard Business Review Continue reading “Do Happy Employees = Happy Customers? No!”