Social Media Marketing is not always about Client Acquisition

Because of the fact that online marketing is one of the most precise and measurable ways to market products and services, many companies have resorted to only going online to acquire new customers or clients. What these companies are forgetting is that being online gives a chance to dialogue and to do some Brand Monitoring.

A great example of how many companies today are misusing a great marketing tool, due to too much focus on generating customers, is the latest buzz word in online marketing, Social Media Marketing. What many companies see here is a chance to communicate directly with their prospects and clients, and what they do is to push out their offers and promotions. The problem with this is that many people view the Internet and being online as a part of their private life, as private as their own homes if not more. If a company then comes in there and pushes in promotions and offers, it is very likely that they will have next to no success in generating new clients. No one wants to get their private space flooded with promotions and advertisement, that’s something we always need to have in mind when planning campaigns. This is especially true for Social Media Marketing, as many of the websites and forums are very private in the sense that only friends can view profiles etc.; very much in the same way you only let your friends in your house.

Now you might be thinking “if I cannot promote my products to prospects and potential customers through social media, then what good is it for?”. No worries here, there are still many areas where this tool comes in handy. One of the best ways to use social media is to reach out in an honest fashion to prospective customers and see what they think of you and your services. One great example of how this has been done in the past is when chocolate manufacturer Cadbury brought back the Wispa bar after seeing demand from social networks. Their move proved to be a success and is a great lesson in how to use social media.

Another way to use social media sites and networks is to search your own brand name and do some brand monitoring. Many times when customers are disappointed with a product or service, they might not complain to the manufacturer or company, instead they send out their complaints on the web.  Someone might be unhappy with their hotel while some other person is angry that their new phone has broken down. This is a great chance to search such critics and try to convert them into happy customers.

Let’s use Twitter as an example. You can use the Twitter search to see what other people are saying about your brand. Let’s say you run a Hotel called ‘The Sleep & Eat’. Simply put in “The Sleep & Eat” and see what people are saying about you. If you find guests that are unhappy, then contact them directly and offer them some sort of compensation or at least let them know that you are aware of them being unhappy. This is an extremely powerful way of monitoring your brand and increasing customer happiness. You can also use the same concept when doing press releases or news releases of some sort. Just type in your company name and see what reactions you have gotten around the web.

As you might have figured out by now, this strategy is not about directly generating new customers and clients. The brand monitoring is to build a respectable brand and show that you care about your business and customers. By establishing that image in a genuine fashion, the customers and clients will come by themselves.

Soheil Amorpour, CEO @ CPerspective Online Marketing Agency

Illness, Easter and.. CPerspectives New Website is Up!

As you might have noticed I have been somewhat inactive on this blog during the last couple of weeks. The reasons are mainly work overload, a really bad cold and Easter holidays. However, I’m back now and hopefully I can keep posting useful articles regularly again.

During the last couple of weeks the CPerspective Web design team has worked very hard with getting our new website finalized and launched. This has as usually been handled by my friend and colleague – our in-house web design wiz – Anwar. I think he and his team managed to get a very neat site up for us. Check it out: www.cperspective.com

If you have seen our previous websites you’ll see that we have switched our approach somewhat. Previously we we’re really content focused and wanted to provide as much information as possible through our website. We re-evaluated this view however, much based on what Anwar suggested, and chose to instead focus on essential info and actual work we have done. We don’t want our website to be like a miles long sales pitch; that wasn’t really our idea with the previous sites either, they just ended up looking like that due to a somewhat excessive information load. Instead we want our site to be brief but informative. This is why we have chosen to present more visual statistics and through animations.

I think that it in many ways is harder to create a website and logotype for yourselves than to do it for someone else. If you create a website for someone else you can take a rather unbiased point of view while trying to figure out what style might be most suitable. However, when you create a site for yourself you become the spider in the web; you will not be able to transcend your company identity since you will be biased and entangled in it. You will also have to deal with all your coworkers opinions if you are in a smaller sized company. This will make it very hard for the web design team to decide what ideas are good or not, and especially when the ideas come from executives. It’s not always ‘ordinary’ people understand why something is not doable, and this could very well be one of the biggest headaches for any web design team. However, I would honestly give full credit to the CPerspective web design team as they managed their task extremely well.

All in all I’m very happy with our new website, and I hope it will be useful for all our clients and visitors. Visit us at www.cperspective.com.

Soheil Amorpour, CEO @ CPerspective Online Marketing Agency

How to Use Forums to Promote Your Website

I personally think of Internet forums as one of the best and most effective ways to promote new websites, products etc. The problem is that very few people use the forums correctly. In this article I will give a quick guide on how to use forums to promote your website, but also point out common mistakes people make when trying to promote their sites on various forums.

Let’s start by looking at what you shouldn’t do when using forums as a promotion tool. There are some recurring mistakes that I keep seeing over and over again. For example, many website owners think it’s a good idea to act as if they’re not affiliated with the website they’re trying to promote. They will start a forum thread asking if other people know about the site, and then give their own comment on how great they think the site is. This is most often very obvious, and it almost seems as the promoter thinks of his fellow forum users as complete idiots. If there ever would be a book on cheap online promotion tricks, then this would be one of the oldest tricks in that very book. What usually happens when someone tries to promote their site like that is that other users report him to a moderator who removes his thread. The result of this is that the website loses the chance to be promoted on that specific forum since the promoter no longer is trustworthy. It might also damage the reputation of a website, depending on what type of industry the site operates in.

Think about it, usually when you come across a great website you don’t start a thread about it in some random forum. You might tip of a friend or two about it, but that’s about it. Just because you’re online it doesn’t mean that people will not detect strange behaviour. It’s a riddle to me why people chose the few bad ways of promoting their site on forums when there are so many good ways.

What are then the good uses of a forum when it comes to promoting your website? I think the problem is that many website owners are afraid of losing trust if they reveal that they are the persons behind the site they’re promoting. Trust me, you will not lose any trust at all if you’re honest about what you’re doing. Let me show you some easy and good ways of using forums to promote your site.

First of all, you need to analyze your own site and the forum. Do they match at all? If not, then you’ll be better off finding a forum that actually makes sense in regards of what you’re promoting. Your website needs to match some aspect of the forum. So let’s say you’re running a website that reviews technical gadgets such as cameras, mobile phones, laptops etc. Instead of just posting a thread where you ask if people know about your great website, you could post your actual articles every now and then in relevant sections of the forum. Introduce the article and at the end of each article you can tell the readers that if they liked that specific article they might like the rest of the content on your website. However, do not spam the forum with each article you write – chose carefully and wisely what you post. This way you will promote your website in an open and honest fashion and it will be relevant to the forum and its readers.

But what if you’re running an online shop, or a website that is less content based? No worries, you can still use forums, you just need to switch tactics a bit. Instead of directly promoting what you have on the website, you can ask for input. Let’s say your e-shop sells designer clothing. A good idea would in that case be to find forums related to fashion and instigate a direct dialogue with potential customers. For example you could start a thread where you introduce your e-shop, and ask for feedback on the functionality, usability as well as the various brands you’re offering. Ask what they think is missing, what they think you’re doing well and so on. This will give you feedback from the very same crowd you’re targeting. It will also make you look serious and sincere about what you’re doing.

I think it all comes down to how much creativity you allow yourself to have. Don’t be lazy and don’t be afraid of communicating directly with your prospects, they will most likely give you the best and most accurate feedback. Just remember that its people you’re talking with, and just because its online it doesn’t mean you can run around pitching everyone; act online like you would act in real life situations. Be honest, sincere and focus your energy on the right forums instead of trying to cover as many as possible with lazy posts.

Soheil Amorpour, CEO @ CPerspective Online Marketing Agency