For the Love of…

 

 

By: Samantha Scott, APR
Grand Poobah AKA Owner

Today is the day of love, Valentine’s Day, so I thought I’d write in genre. As we grow up we strive to find something that we love that can provide income and sustainability for ourselves as adults – a job or career. It’s my hope that you (reading this) have found that one thing, industry, topic or passion that you love. It’s more likely if you’re an entrepreneur. Take me for example.

My husband and I started this company 7 years ago because we found that we were both good at marketing. I love the process of communications and relationship creation. On the Myers-Briggs scale I’m an ESTJ. Words are my friends and I’m comfortable with new people. What I don’t like is math and numbers, especially balancing a checkbook and calculus. This is important because I do what I love and good at, and leave the other stuff to those who are good at it. I practice public relations and run Pushing the Envelope, but I leave the bookkeeping up to my accountant.

It’s easy to get caught up in running your business. You’re busy and work hard to meet the demands of your clients or customers and your staff. Maybe you could use a little help and as a result, have stopped or stalled your marketing efforts. Don’t let being busy in “season” (for those of you in Southwest Florida) lead to a lack of business or new clients come summertime.

You are good at what you do. You run a successful business, but if we’re being honest, it could always be better, right? It can be hard to ask for help or even realize there is a need. Chance are, you didn’t go to college for marketing or web development. You know you need both for your business to be successful and grow, but aren’t sure where to start or perhaps, what to do next. Why not let us help?

Our skilled team can be your virtual in-house marketing department, help you get social media going (you know that plan you talked about 6 months ago?) and work on updating your website for increased traffic generation – and ultimately leads.

Do what you are good at. Let us help with the rest. Have questions? Give us a call at 239.221.2858 or email info(at)getpushing.com. We’ll be glad to help you do what you love.

The Engagement Equilibrium: Social Media Strategy Meets Economic Theory

 

 

By: Alex Fernandez
Internet Marketing Strategist

Okay, bear with me. The title has some big words, but trust me – I’m going somewhere with this…

Figuring out the “right” mix and frequency in for your brand’s social media posts can be a tricky business. The word “right” is in quotes, because it’s such a subjective term. My definition of “right” is when you find consistent engagement levels along with a consistent rate of growth in engagement levels, month after month.

Engagement, in the most basic terms, means that people are liking, commenting and otherwise interacting with your brand when you’re posting. If you’re hearing crickets chirp after your social media posts – it would be wise to put some thought into what you’re sharing.

In economics, the equilibrium point, or “Market Equilibrium,” is the point where market forces meet. It is the point where the supply and demand curves intersect. Perhaps you’ve seen a common supply and demand model:

The basic idea is that supply and demand are inversely related.

A common example is with a commodity, such as apples, for example. If the supply of apples decreases (moving the supply curve left) then the demand for apples increases, raising the equilibrium point (or market price).

• Supply UP = Demand DOWN, Price DOWN
• Supply DOWN = Demand UP, Price UP
• And vice versa…

In social media, post activity and post visibility are inversely related. If you seldom post, you have a good chance of users noticing your posts in their social accounts (whether it be a Facebook news feed, Twitter stream, etc). If you post too often, users will either tune your posts out or opt-out from your brand (un-follow or hide posts). In the case of Facebook, the social network will actually cut your visibility for the user if your posts are published too frequently.

Thus, the supply and demand model can actually be adapted to describe this relationship. As illustrated below, post activity replaces “Supply,” and post visibility replaces “Demand.”

ENTER: Engagement!

Social media isn’t as two dimensional as the law of supply and demand. The bell shape curve in the visual represents engagement. Engagement is a bell shaped curve it’s non-linear. It’s very sensitive to extremes; if you do too much OR too little, it actually tapers off.

There’s a “sweet spot” with social media engagement that you have to hit just right.

Post too infrequently, and you’ll lose your audience. Sure, your posts will be visible, but no one will care what you have to say,  because you’ll have no rapport with them.

Post too often, and you’ll over load your audience, not giving them enough time to enjoy your wonderful posts. They will either miss most of what you send out or get sick of you, very quickly.

Post at the right frequency, with the right kind of content, and you’ll hit the sweet spot, the Engagement Equilibrium.

I’d like to know what you all think. Crazy talk? Some substance to all of this? What I like about merging these two worlds, is that economics and social media marketing are both applied sciences. Both would be nothing if it weren’t for the masses and how they react to things. Please leave a comment below with your thoughts!

Should you need an Engagement Equilibrium for your social media presence, email us at info(at) getpushing.com or give us a call at 239.221.2858.

PTE’s Tips for Creating Social Media Videos

Susan Frantz
Online Communication Assistant

After reading last week’s blog, we are sure you understand the importance of including videos in your social media mix. We bet you’re thinking; “Well now I know I need a social video, but how do I create one?” Luckily, your neighborhood social media experts (cough, cough, PTE) are here to with some helpful advice to guide you.

The Camera. As the old adage says, “Garbage in, garbage out.” Its really important to know the benefits and limitations of the various types of cameras out there that work well for social media video.

• Flip Video Cameras. For off-the-cuff social media videos, these cameras can be a great asset. They are lightweight, use an internal hard drive that typically holds an hour of HD video, and have a built-in USB dongle that fold out. They’re very easy to handle and shoot with, and their only real limitation is if you’re looking for commercial-quality video.
• Mobile Phones. For impromptu or real time social videos, your mobile phone can often be a great resource. Most smart phones these days have incredible camera technologies built-in, and are easy to hold and shoot. These aren’t great for high-quality productions. However, since they are almost always within an arm’s reach, they are great for social videos.
  • TIP: You’ll want to make sure you hold the camera horizontally, not vertically, in order to record video that makes the most of standard viewing dimensions.
• Go Pro Cameras. For some situations, you need a camera that can handle vibration, impact, water, heat or other kinds of abuse. The Go Pro camera shoots decent quality video and can handle pretty much anything you throw at it. We’ve shot with this kind of camera in the water for a boating video, and were amazed at how well it functioned. The only downside of a super rugged camera is that it doesn’t have many controls or adjustable settings, so it may be frustrating to get the right settings dialed in at first.
• Camcorders. If you want a social media video that has high quality or commercial-quality resolution, you’ll want to either use a camcorder or HD video camera. While these take a little more finesse and expertise to shoot well, they’re the only option for filming high-quality video.

The Lighting. Make sure when your filming that you always consider lighting. Since social videos often involve eye contact with your viewers, it’s important that your shots are well lit to ensure great eye contact throughout the video. If you’re shooting in a dark place, you’ll want to setup some additional lighting so that everything in your video is easy to see. Solutions can range from turning additional lights on, to purchasing an actual video lighting kit.

The Sound. Video camera’s (of any kind) typically don’t capture great sound with their built-in microphones. If you want decent sound quality, an external microphone is the way to go. There are a variety of external microphones on the market at different price points. If shooting an impromptu social video, try to shoot somewhere that has a minimal level of background noise. If someone is talking in the video, make sure they speak very clearly.

The Length. Social Media = short format. We typically recommend keeping all social media videos between 1-2 minutes. It’s very difficult to keep an online audience’s attention longer than 2 minutes. Also, since attention comes at a premium, you’ll want to provide a brief intro to each video with an explanation of what’s to come.

The Action. Also pertaining to the social audience’s attention span, make sure there is a “rhythm” or constant action in your audience’s social videos. By keeping an upbeat, consistent pace in your social video, you’ll be more likely to keep your audience’s attention.

The Quality. Every step along the way in the video editing process involves compression or degradation of the video source. It’s important, when you’re shooting, to make sure you’re capturing video the maximum resolution that your device allows. With some devices, the quality isn’t that great to begin with, making it even more vital to shoot at maximum resolution.

• TIP: Remember, you can always compress the video later – but you can never increase the video quality after it’s been degraded.
  

So there you have it, the how-tos of filming a great video for your social media mix.  If you have any further questions, we are more than happy to help you and share our expertise. Of course, if all of this sounds a little outside your forte, we offer social media video filming and editing services as well. Just contact info@getpushing.com or call us at (239) 221-2858.

Happy filming!  

4 Reasons Why Videos are a MUST in Social Media

By: Susan Frantz
Online Communication Assistant

How many times a day or week are you inclined to watch a video posted on a social media site? Once a day? According to The Social Skinny and their recent stats, about 3 billion hours of video watching happens on YouTube each month!  3 billion hours… Do you know what that means? It means that it’s  imperative for to incorporate video into your social media effort. Here are our top 4 reasons why video and social media go hand in hand – and why you should incorporate it into your social media mix.

1. Video gives your brand a voice. It gives your audience a way to connect with your brand in a simple and tangible way, providing a quality, personal interaction. Your fans will be seeing and hearing what your brand has to say, thus allowing them to connect.
2. People like videos more than photos and simple status updates. It’s a simple fact. The virility of a video post is much higher than that of a photo or status update. (Photos with content are still better than basic posts, though.)
3. What happens when people like videos? They share them. A video can “go viral” in the blink of the eye when people like the content. Not every great or funny video gets millions of views or shares, but many good videos still get hundreds or even thousands – and that’s more than you’ll get if you don’t try.
4. It’s easy. Thanks to all the tech savvy, smart phone creators, it’s easy to shoot video now. Taking a video is as easy as swiping your thumb on the screen of a phone or pushing a button. Video editing can even be done on a mobile phone, tablet or on easily-available software for a laptop or desktop.

Check out one of our recent social media videos.

Incorporating video into your social media effort will provide qualitative and quantitative results. It’ll offer richer, deeper connections with your audience and provide measurement opportunities for your reach and engagement.

Have questions about integrating video into your social media plan? Give us a call. Happy filming!

Stay tuned for next week’s blog. We will share how to make a successful video for your social media effort.

Alert Today. Alive Tomorrow.

 

By: Samantha Scott, APR
Grand Poobah / Owner

If you live in Southwest Florida (aka Fort Myers, Cape Coral, Estero, etc.) then you’ve probably seen the Florida Department of Transportation signs saying “Alert today. Alive tomorrow.” While their signs refer to paying attention to the road, I thought this could also apply to businesses and their marketing efforts.

Being alert today, in a business sense, means many things…

Competitive Advantage and Unique Value Proposition (UVP)

To start, it means being aware of what you offer (services products, etc.) and what your competitors offer. How do your services stack up? What can you add or research? Better yet, are you providing what your customers want/need? Addressing your competitive advantage is key. Take a little time this month to really think about what it is that sets your company apart then follow up with a plan to communicate that, as your UVP, to your consumers.

Trends, Fads and New Tech

It seems that with each new day new widgets, devices and tools are developed. Music stars are made, and crumble, over night. Trends come and go, but in the midst of all this chaos, we must pick out the changes that really shift (or should) our business model and/or our customers’ lives. Two great examples are social media and cell phones.

Many people, both the general public and business leaders. brushed off sites like Facebook and Twitter saying they were just fads and would pass. While the application or specific site might fall to the wayside (ever heard of a little site called MySpace?), the concept is here to stay.

Check out Nextiva’s infographic on Visual.ly

People have evolved their communication styles and want instant, quick ways to communicate news and share information.

The cell phone – a similar situation. What used to be just a tool for vocal communication can now send text messages, operate apps, access the Internet and more. Smart phones have virtually taken over the cell phone market making it easier for consumers to find information about products or services on the go.

So the question is, are you paying attention, being alert today, to trends in your industry that will impact your business tomorrow?

Reputation Management

One HUGE and often overlooked opportunity is reputation management. I’m not referring to high school days when you were protecting your “cool factor.” I’m talking about what your consumers are saying about your business, its product and/or services. Even before there were websites specifically designed for reviews there was word of mouth. People love to share their experiences with others, especially if they have a bad one. With the creation of sites like Yahoo! Local, Google Places, and Yelp it’s more important than ever to monitor your company or brand’s online reputation.

Other sites, predominately thought of as social media or social networking sites such as Foursquare, Facebook,  and LinkedIn are also viable reputation management platforms. Specifically, LinkedIn has launched business pages where business owners can “own” their page and post updates while also receiving comments from visitors. There are also sites for specific industries too, such as medical field such as RateMDs.com.

Are you listening? If you are, are you responding and showing that you care about your customers opinions – good and bad? Consider setting up a weekly routine to monitor these sites. We provide this service for a number of clients who’ve seen drastic, positive changes in their online reputation just from monitoring and responding to reviews.

Alive Tomorrow

Let’s focus on being more alert today for a better tomorrow. If you need help focusing on the many marketing and communications tasks at hand or maybe want a little help managing your reputation, contact us. It’s what we do and we’d be glad to help.

Have questions? Post a comment here or feel free to share on our Facebook page. You might also enjoy our chili pepper flake challenge video!

13 Goals and Resolutions for 2013

By: Annette Venditti
Communications Ally

The new year is nearly upon us and we suggest taking some time away from opening gifts and eating sugar cookies to create your 2013 New Year’s Goals & Resolutions list for your personal and business needs. Each new year is the perfect time to focus on that “to-do” list that is still not done and add some creative items as we move into the new year.

We have put together 13 suggested Goals & Resolutions for 2013, so feel free to borrow these ideas as well as add a few of your own personal favorites:

1. Get Healthy: Personal & Business – We all know one of the first items on everyone’s list every year is to get fit and healthy for the long-term. Keep this one on the list for your own personal health but try a take on getting your business healthy too. How do you do this? Take a good look at your office space and determine if the layout and items in your office are supporting or hindering a healthy and productive environment. Ask your team about ways to improve working conditions like updating office chairs and adding healthy food and drink options for all to enjoy in the new year and beyond.

2. Review & Refresh: Set Goals – Review business goals you set in 2012 and determine what has been achieved and not achieved. Then, set new goals. Create a plan for these newly revised goals with your team to take ensure these goals are met and delivered in a timely manner. Record and track this list as you and your team work on them and follow-up after each is completed to discuss results, lessons learned, etc.

3. Stay Accountable: Support your staff in developing and putting systems in place. Make sure everyone is held personally accountable to making any approved changes that will keep the team motivated and highly productive. Remember to celebrate success often and review, but also measure the one’s that flop to learn how to change the process in the future.

4. Tools & Assets: Revise & Refresh – Have you read your website lately? How about your Facebook page or printed hand-outs/information packets for cultivating new business? Review all your current assets to revise and refresh them over a scheduled period of time so they will be ready for your next big meeting. Don’t forget about updating staff photos and business cards as we do look different after a few years go by and that scratched out, re-written title on your business card is just not good anymore.

5. Measure. Monitor. Reward. - Set up a procedure with all tasks and projects to consistently measure, monitor and reward those involved. These can be used as quantitative date or analytics in your final client report too. Putting checks and balances into place is a great way to see how things are going and to see what worked and what needs to change the next time around.

6. Explore New Media & Technology - Ask your staff – and yourself – to read and research new media and technology on a consistent basis. Things change rapidly and there are always new and better tools and solutions for doing business for you and for your clients.

7. Make The Right Connection: It doesn’t matter who your audience is, but you need to know to whom you’re selling to and make a point to connect with the right people, not just people in general. Most consumers and B2B buyers alike respond to content and ideas that speak to their interests, so take time this year to make that personal connection and let them really know who you are too.

8. Are You Listening? - At every meeting with staff and clients alike, keep in mind the most important concept is listening. Make it your mission to listen more than anything else next year and then use what you have learned to speak and clarify your points and understanding of the task at hand. (You might also review our recent blog on the passive act of communication – listening, too!)

9. Planned Escapes - Everyone needs a physical and/or mental health break during a busy work week. Try setting aside time to grab lunch with co-workers or meet after work for a early evening stop before heading home, just leave your work discussions at the office. These scheduled mini-breaks are proven to keep our minds and bodies in a more relaxed state allowing us to return to work refreshed with increased levels of productivity. On a personal note, make time for a couples or family “stay-cation” over the year, a week or weekend away with your loved ones will be sure to add years to your life and substantially increase your happiness and productivity levels.

10. Pay It Forward: Giving Back - Are you and your business involved in your local community and with your local non-profits? If so, keep up the good work and if not, this is the year to pay it forward and use your successes to reward those who are in the most need. Find organizations that matter to you personally and contact them to find out how you and your business can contribute and volunteer.

11. Seek Answers: Get Educated – Are there areas of your business where you and your staff are feeling you need more information to become better and more efficient? Take the time to commit yourself and your team to continuing education in your specific field of business. Check into local seminars and groups where you can join and share in discussions and feedback. Don’t forget about online media for more educational tools and group discussions.

12. Expand Your Network: Personal & Business -  Are you and your business taking full advantage of business networks like LinkedIn? If not, this year is the year to create a LinkedIn page for your business and yourself where you can make connections with individuals and organizations who may work in the same profession or live nearby. These connections will afford you valuable insight into creative solutions and ideas for increasing productivity, new work tools and networking resources for cultivating and meeting new, potential clients. You will also find this business networking platform adds to your social circle as well as you will find new friends within your connected circle.

13. Big Picture View: Don’t get trapped in the tasks themselves and end up forgetting about the big picture. Be sure to schedule meetings during a project and allow updates on each aspect so there is no loss of view or vision for the end goal. Sometimes walking away for a moment allows our brains to stop and breathe so we can then easily see the issues and solutions

Go ahead and start building your 2013 Goals & Resolutions list today! If you need help with any of your 2013 goals, feel free to contact us. We’re just an email or a call away.

The Passive Act of Communication: Listening

By: Samantha Scott, APR
Grand Poobah / Owner

Did you take a second glance at the subject of this post? I had to think about it for a second when I first came across it in a book by Dr. David Jeremiah. So often we think about communication as the act of telling or informing, not the other side of the equation – or even in the context that it is an equation with two parts.

What is Listening in Communication?

Listening, according to Dictionary.com, is a verb meaning “to give attention with the ear; attend closely for the purpose of hearing; give ear, to wait attentively for, and/or to pay attention.” If we really want to have good relationships with our friends, significant others – and more importantly from the business perspective – our clients/customers, wouldn’t it seem logical that we actively pursue the act of listening?

The answer is “yes!” but so few companies do it. With the increase of listening and communication tools such as social media or networking sites, Google alerts, etc. there are many ways to make listening feasible – even at an entry level.

As MarketingProfs says “Years of research have revealed that the single most important factor that separates the good companies from the great companies—Adidas from Nike, Kawasaki from Harley-Davidson, Hewlett-Packard from Apple—is the ability to listen to their customers.”

Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

So why is it that listening is “the single most important factor” in converting a “good” company to a “great” company? From my perspective, it’s because it shows that the company cares and it shows the personality or humanity of the company. As we tell our clients, at the end of the day, people connect with people. They don’t connect with companies.

By listening to your consumers (and I’ve even venture to add your employees, board, etc.) it’s proving that their input matters. It does matter, you know. They are your business. Without them (your consumers), you have no market share. With no market share, you have no revenue. With no revenue, you have no business. With no business… We don’t need to go on and turn this into a DIRECTV commercial.

Communication Tug-of-War

Communicating with customers (the two-way kind) doesn’t have to be a tug-of-war for time and attention. The concept is simple – listen to your customers to learn what they like, want, enjoy, etc. and then return their communication with information on you, your company, services, products, etc. that fit into those categories or alleviate their “pain points” or dislikes.

The days of “push” or one-sided communication are gone. Advertising alone isn’t going to build business. You have to hear out your consumer and involve them in the creation of new products/services and in the constant review and upgrading of existing services. A great example of this is Fiskars and their “Fiskateers“. Created and coordinated by Brains on Fire, it’s a perfect example of how listening and engaging your consumers can garner outstanding results.

Where to go from Here

The first step in any marketing or communication effort is do your homework (research) and develop a plan (strategy). What are your goals? Do you want consumer input for R&D or are you looking for general customer service feedback? How will you measure this information? What channels will you use to get the information – social media? If so, which ones? Is the company already on those sites or do you need to create new accounts?

Start asking – and answering – these questions and get a plan in order that includes SMART goals and KPIs. You can do this! Moreover, you should do this! Need help? We’re just an email or a call away.

Make it Great. Listen.

Virtually everyone has heard the old cliche “you can’t listen when you’re talking” or some variation of it. It’s true and now, more than ever before, businesses need to start LISTENING.

We have tons of communication channels developed to target our core audiences everywhere and every time possible – SMS messaging to cell phones, tweets, promoted posts on Facebook, Yelp reviews feedback, etc., They’re all designed to spread YOUR message. What about your consumers? Are you listening to them?

Not only can you learn A LOT about what your consumers actually want (and will therefore spend money on), but you can improve your services or products and PROVE you care about them and their desires. They are your business after all.

Just a thought.

 

3 Easy Tips to Avoid a PR Nightmare

By: Samantha Scott, APR
Grand Poobah / Owner

Life doesn’t come with a manual, nor do many of our jobs, so here’s my gift to you this holiday season – 3 quick and easy tips to help avoid some unnecessary, potentially embarrassing, definitely unprofessional moments. Consider it an early Christmas present.

Plan

I know, that doesn’t sound so hard. If that’s the case, however, why is it that so few businesses have a public relations or marketing plan? Planning involves focus and time, which scares most people away, but it is one of the most important steps in any public relations or marketing effort. Take the time to develop a strategy with SMART goals and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) or milestones. Then, incorporate steps to measure the plan’s outcomes – successes or failures. They’re both learning experiences.

Proofread

Yes, it’s a bit of pet peeve of mine, but really, if you’re writing for business proofreading should be an integral part of the process! Check your work before it goes out to the media, clients, co-workers, etc. We’ve all seen embarrassing mistakes in copy that could have been avoided. Don’t be “that” person.

Measure

Most us have to develop some kind of report at the end of a project. From year end reports to quarterly board meetings, there’s usually some kind of round up done that reports how effective our efforts were, but why wait? Measure your efforts as you go (start with a baseline at the beginning, measure incrementally throughout, then do an end measurement) so there aren’t any surprises at the end! This affords you the opportunity to make adjustments and potentially succeed ultimately even if the campaign starts out a little rocky.

None of these concepts are nouveau or highly technical, but I can virtually guarantee that if you employ them, they can help you avoid errors and potential problems. However, if you still need help, give us a shout. We’re just an email or a phone call away.

Instagram: The photo wave of the future

By: Susan Frantz
Online Communications Assistant

How many of you use your smart phone to take photos of what you’re eating, what you’re wearing and whom you’re with? If your thinking in your head, I do that everyday – keep on reading.  Many of you are probably uploading these photos on Facebook to share photos of that mouth watering Thanksgiving dinner. Well now there is an alternative to Facebook… don’t panic, we’re not replacing Facebook. It could be considered an addition.

Instagram, is a fun and easy way to share your life with your friends, through a series of photos. Even better is that it allows you to be your own photog extraordinaire by giving you the ability to edit the way your photos look. Here is a great example of the first music video to be filmed via Instagram.

Instagram has just been acquired by Facebook and as such are beginning to integrate ways to be more accessible to businesses. Recently, they have unveiled Instagram profiles, which allow the user or business to showcase their pages, and establish a more complete identity, through their photos. Another way they are becoming more business friendly is through the use of website badges. Similar to what currently exists for Facebook and Twitter, you can now add an Instagram badge to your website to link the user directly to your Instagram page. And the best part, Instagram is measurable. You can measure your audience size, comments, follows, and engagement.

So are you ready to jump on the Instagram bandwagon? Here are some tips of the trade that might help you;

• Use #hashtags! Similar to Twitter, Instagram gives you the ability to use hashtags to target a specific audience, or area.
• Be relevant. Instagram is meant to be a way to describe yourself or your brand through photos, so take advantage through photos of new products and events.

Once you’ve set up your Instagram page, be sure to tweet us your profile page link. We’re loving this new social channel and are so excited to see it used in multiple different facets.

P.S. Like my new head shot? We had new staff pics taken by Brian Tietz. View them all on our Facebook page!