St. Louis Missouri (MO) Small Business Social Media Marketing

In this installment I will discuss a few ideas about Internet marketing.

By Tom Day                www.longtermcarelink.com

I am by no means the expert on Internet marketing, but I am using it successfully. The National Care Planning Council has achieved our growth primarily through using the Internet. As far as I can remember, we have never spent a dime on hiring salespeople or using traditional media advertising strategies. Our primary website — www.longtermcarelink.net — receives about 800,000 hits a month from roughly 60,000 visitors a month — almost all from search engine searches. We currently have a Google page rank of 6. We are ranked by Alexa at around 500,000. People find us through approximately 16,000 keyword searches a month. At least 15 of these keyword searches are common public search engine inputs for long-term care issues and bring up our site in the top three returns on a Google search.

In September, we will have a brand-new version of www.longtermcarelink.net and expect this will increase our traffic and our business by 20% to 30%. We are already in the process of redesigning our state council websites and this has brought increased traffic as well.

Our other 20 websites are also popular for certain keyword search strings and come up in at least the top five searches on Google for these categories. In addition, we maintain another 83 websites for our veterans benefits consultants. We are adding 6 or 7 new websites a month. A year from now, we will have well over 180 websites generating leads for our members.

Our websites are designed to produce requests for help from the public. The number of these requests has doubled or tripled every year. As an example, the search category that attracts the public to our primary website on the aid and attendance benefit is currently producing about 10 to 20 requests a day for all of our veterans aid and attendance consultants. The volume of these requests has quadrupled over the past two years since we started offering this service.

I’m sure many of you are well-versed in strategies using the Internet to attract new business. I will share with you a summary of some of my observations on Internet marketing.

Using a Website to Establish Your Credibility

When someone contacts me about our services, I go to that person’s website. If I don’t get a URL or recognize a domain from their email, I will do a Google search until I find a website. If there is no website, I will go to the specific search links that reference that particular person to learn as much about that person as I can. Sometimes, a website will give me an idea of who people are and what they do and give me some confidence in their services. I would like to think I’m not alone in this behavior. I believe more and more that the public is doing this or will be doing more such person-specific Internet searches in the future.

I realize that social networking websites can serve a similar purpose. Quite frankly, I am older — a baby boomer — and I don’t feel comfortable registering for a social network site to find out about someone. Somehow I think this more of an activity for people in their 30s or younger. These people are not our target market. It is either the older folks or their children who are in their late 40s or in their 50s. My personal opinion is having a website is more effective than using social networking sites to tell people about you.

I believe there is a trend for the public to rely on Web searches for an unknown individual to check that person out and to try and get an indication of that person’s credibility. I know this isn’t fair and might not even be true, but I often judge a person’s ability by the design of that person’s website. A crummy looking website gives me a negative feeling about that person’s abilities. If I have this feeling about websites, then perhaps others may as well. I might not be alone in the way I relate people to their websites. Here are some of the things I look for when I land on a website. I could write pages on each one of these items. There is simply not enough room to do this here.

· professional and pleasing design

· intuitive and easy navigation of the site

· generous content on a number of pages

· clear message of the services provided

· good biography of the people offering the services

· compelling sales message why I should use the services

· third-party endorsement by being a member of one or more recognized organizations

Using a Website to Establish an Identity and a Presence in the Community

It seems that everyone in business has a website. Those who don’t have a website are likely at a disadvantage to those who do. I think it is getting to the point that the public expects any organization offering services to the community should have a website or that person or company might not be considered to have an identity or a presence in the community. The lack of a website may result in losing some new business that would have been created had there been a website.

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Great article at business week about seniors opening their own businesses and getting back in the mix:

http://www.businessweek.com/smallbiz/content/jun2009/sb2009068_927403.htm?chan=smallbiz_smallbiz+index+page_top+small+business+stories

Economic volatility plus more boomer retirees have moved the starting age for startups and led to a surge of senior-run businesses.

“In recent years, the number of individuals starting their own businesses during what is usually considered the “retirement years” has been rising, according to economists and small-business observers. And so has the age at which they are starting their own ventures: According to the nonprofit AARP Public Policy Institute, in 2008, 21% of the self-employed were between 55 and 64, while 10% were 65 and older. Of course, not every self-employed senior is an entrepreneur, but experts believe the stock market’s recent brutalization of retirement accounts will prod additional older Americans to start their own businesses. ”
 

If you don’t understand how social media marketing fits into your current marketing plan, and how it changes the way you might traditionally look at Return on Investment, here’s an article that I think explains it precisely. I proper social media marketing plan is not an option moving forward. Those who survive an economic turn down are those who plan effectively and for the long haul….and that means starting TODAY (ok yesterday, but it’s not too late)
Valerie
PS Register for the Power Marketing Conference for Elder Care Entrepreneurs and Senior Service Providers at http://www.powermarketingconference.com

Why Big Brands Struggle With Social Media

February 20th, 2009 | by Tom Smith
Original Post at: http://mashable.com/2009/02/20/big-brands-social-media/

Tom Smith is the founder of Trendstream, a research consultancy that specialises in providing research and consultancy on social media, web and mobile. He formerly worked as Head of Consumer Futures at Universal McCann.

Social media continues to grow globally in terms of adoption, usage, interest and impact in a massive way. It’s undeniably changing the way that content and information work particularly in terms of the publishing of consumer opinion. This has transformed the way that consumers relate to brands and the way that brands should operate, driving direct interaction, transparency and a more consultative approach.

However, we still operate in a system defined by the old media world and consequently big brand involvement is still in the main tentative and sporadic. From my experience of trying to get big brands to embrace the social revolution, there are a number of reasons why they have yet to embrace the real opportunities that involvement can deliver:

1. Social Media is often viewed as just another marketing channel: It is of course so much more; it is a completely different approach to interacting with consumers and customers. Of course, you can advertise in a social media environment, but the true return on investment comes from developing communities, creating content to be shared, and talking and listening directly with consumers.

2. It does not fit into current structures: True social media falls somewhere between marketing, PR, communications, content production and web development. No one is quite sure whose responsibility it is and who should ultimately deliver their organisation’s social media strategy.

3. Communities and content are global: Users of social media connect, consume, and share content globally with little care for international borders. Marketing and PR departments and objectives are set up nationally or regionally. Very few organisations have a truly international structure and perspective.

4. Social media needs a long term approach: To build community, distribute content, or get people actively involved in an application takes time. Marketing and PR work on short time frames and are wedded to sets of individual campaigns or short term objectives. Social media is not a campaign, it’s a permanent approach.

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I found this article in the New York Times online. Interesting take on seniors using the internet to stay connected, especially those who are homebound perhaps, but able to easily communicate and contribute given the opportunity. I would encourage everyone to read this important article. Which gives me an idea—I think we just found our next territory exclusive program for home care providers and maybe even some reverse mortgage professionals out there.

Boy, you aren’t going to want to miss this Fall’s POWER MARKETING CONFERENCE. It’s only June and we are almost sold out, so get off your duff and get registered. Your competition might be there….hmmmmm. www.powermarketingconference.com

Online, ‘a Reason to Keep on Going’

 Here’s the link to the original article: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/02/health/02face.html?_r=2&ref=technology
By STEPHANIE CLIFFORD
Published: June 1, 2009
Like many older people, Paula Rice of Island City, Ky., has grown isolated in recent years. Her four grown children live in other states, her two marriages ended in divorce, and her friends are scattered. Most days, she does not see another person.
FAR FROM LONELY Paula Rice, 73, had been “dying of boredom” before discovering social networking sites. She spends up to 14 hours a day on the sites.  But Ms. Rice, 73, is far from lonely. Housebound after suffering a heart attack two years ago, she began visiting the social networking sites Eons.com, an online community for aging baby boomers, and PoliceLink.com (she is a former police dispatcher). Now she spends up to 14 hours a day in online conversations.

“I was dying of boredom,” she said. “Eons, all by its lonesome, gave me a reason to keep on going.”

I received this email today, and I did click through- well worth my time. So much so, that I thought it was worth sharing this with all of you!

Download it and read when you have time. Remember, it’s about forming relationships and establishing authority, credibility, and trust.

http://img.en25.com/Web/Eloqua/eloqua_eBook_chapter4_v4-1.pdf

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