Social Media


Thursday, April 11th, 2013

Don’t Aim for Consistency, Aim for Cohesion in Social Media

April 11, 2013

Don’t Aim for Consistency, Aim for Cohesion

Social media’s most appealing abilities revolve around content: creating it, sharing it and engaging with it. Quality content will inspire, inform, educate or even entertain your customers (and if you’re really lucky, it does all four!). So if you’re looking to engage with your customers, to keep them coming back for more, follow the tips below to implement social media cohesion.

Establish Your Brand Voice 

Brainstorm and establish your social media presence or identity before you set up a Twitter account or Facebook page.

Ask yourself the following questions to help identify your social media presence:

  • Do you want it to be strictly a selling tool?
  • Do you want it to build you life-long customers?
  • Do you just want to have fans and followers and don’t care what comes from it?

Decide what your brand stands for and how you want to portray that organically.

Focus on Your Topic

Your audience frequently forgets the messages you push out through your social media content. However, they generally remember what you talk about most—your most popular topics and/or your subject matter of expertise.

This is why an effective online branding strategy should write, talk and share about topics related to your business and industry. Doing this will reinforce your weight as an expert on that topic or topics. That’s not to say you should never post about anything else—dynamic content is always a plus—but keep your subject matter close to your area of expertise to reinforce your image as a leader in that area.

Get to Know Your Fans

People become fans of your page for a reason. They didn’t happen to “like” your page just because they thought it looked cool. They want relevant and expert information from you. So go ahead and give them what they want! Talk about what you know. Talk about what you have been doing for the past twenty years. Show them you’re the leading voice of authority in your industry!

Update moderately

Don’t get caught in the overload zone. Once you fall into this trap, it’s hard to escape. Overloading your followers and friends with too many updates will annoy them and can cause them to unsubscribe.

It is important to update moderately, steadily and cohesively to help keep your brand fresh and reiterate your brand personality to the organic whole which is made up of your customers, followers and fans.

Quick-Fire Marketing is brought to you by R&A Marketing. Armed with more than 25 years of furniture retail marketing experience as a full-service traditional and digital marketing company, R&A is the industry’s premier agency for retailers in the home furnishings and appliances/electronics industries. Visit us on the web www.ramarketing.com or email us at info@ramarketing.com.

Posted in Customer Experience, General, Industry News, Recent Articles, Social Media | Comments Off

Tuesday, February 19th, 2013

An Old-Fashioned Barn Raising—Online

Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, YouTube…

How do you nurture relationships in business and in life? You show up. You show interest. And you keep doing it over and over. Social media is the same. It’s about investing in relationships. Trouble is, with so many social media channels it’s easy to get sucked into them all—posting, tweeting, updating, commenting, posting again. Whew!

Step back, breathe and take a break.
With the right tools on the right networks and the right resources, your business can enjoy a digital barn raising that helps build your business today and sustain it into the future.

Find your friends
If you’re new to social media, finding the conversations you need to be part of can be like searching for the proverbial needle in the haystack. You can’t see everything at once and the effort it takes to learn how to find those conversations takes an extraordinary amount of time and effort. Try these tips to hone in on your community:

  • Set up alerts: Let Google search the Internet for keywords that are relevant to your business and deliver them to your inbox. From there, you’ll start to see patterns.
  • Use Facebook and Twitter like a search engine: Search social media to see who’s talking about your products or using keywords associated with your products.
  • Gain competitive insights: Watch what your competitors are doing and how well they’re doing it. Analyze their conversations to see if there’s an opportunity for you to do it better.

Keep in mind that every comment a customer posts is a chance to create a better connection. Ask yourself if more conversation will get you closer to your end goals? Are these conversations the seeds for future business?

Choose your networks
Every social network offers a unique twist on relationship building. Understand the dialect of each network and then learning to speak it with ease takes time—and patience.

Twitter
Twitter is for comments, connection and quick communication. You’re limited to 140 characters so learning to economize your content is the key to success.

Join in the conversation. Don’t feel hesitant about talking to someone you don’t know–it’s the perfect opportunity to show what your company can do or to ask advice. Think of your conversations as personal, between two people, but taking place on an old-fashioned party line on the phone. You know others are listening but you’re focused on the person you’re talking to.

Facebook
Facebook allows you to say more and return to conversations easily. Because Facebook is so different, it allows for deeper relationship building over a long period of time. Like Twitter, you can set up groups, promote events or share videos and photos—they’re just more accessible for a longer time on Facebook.

A Facebook business page allows you to connect with clients, share feedback, act as a customer service portal, make offers and share opinions. What’s more, it’s searchable by Google, unlike personal pages on Facebook. Make sure you do it right.

LinkedIn
LinkedIn is viewed as the business social media site. You can search connections and join active groups in your industry as well as offer answers and ask for help. If you’re in B2B LinkedIn can be a powerful way to make connections that could lead to sales, hiring and new vendor relationships.

Whatever you do on social media and whichever you decide to use for you and your business, be you. Understand that you are your brand and that your voice, the conversations you have and what you share helps others understand your reason for being.

Remember, it’s a brand,  not a bland.
The barn’s up, time to party.

Imagine this scenario, if you can. You love a product so much that you’d drive across town just to be lucky enough to buy it, and hold it in your hands—SKYY Vodka, for example. And as you’re paying for your purchase, you find it on Twitter. Suddenly you hear angels singing, the clouds part and a warm and welcoming ray of light shines on you. You whip out your smartphone and follow chat and share your brand love with the Twitterverse…

But then days go by and that brand doesn’t acknowledge you or follow you back. You’re bereft and lonely. Why aren’t you good enough to follow? Why don’t they love you too? Why SKYY Vodka, why?

Sadly, brands that don’t follow haven’t figured out the difference between an audience and a community—and they’ve missed the whole point of social media.

If you’re a brand on social media and you’re not following everyone who follows you, you’re missing the point. More importantly, you’re sending a strong message to those you don’t follow: I’m important because I’m a brand and you’re not…

When things go wrong (as they always do at one time or another) those people whom you don’t follow have no way of privately asking for help. Everything they say to you is public facing. And if they’re angry, the whole world is now privy to that anger. Think of how much grief you could have saved yourself just being a little friendlier in the first place by being a follow-back brand.

I asked a few of my friends on Twitter how they feel about brands that follow (or don’t follow) them back. The discussion ranged from disappointment about not being followed back to putting brands on pedestals and not expecting them to follow back.

I personally believe that the beauty and magic of social media is the humanization of brands. It equalizes us all, removes the gatekeepers and opens up opportunities for conversations. I left high school a long time ago and have no desire to enter a popularity contest with a brand. If I’m not cool enough to be followed, I’ll go find my community somewhere else—and likely spend my money there too.

What the emotional side means for business

For all the C-level execs out there who are shaking their heads, muttering, “I knew this wasn’t a good idea,” hold up a second. Just because something’s emotional doesn’t mean it’s bad for business. Think about it. You want your customers to become so engaged with your products and/or services that they share their brand love with friends and family. That’s emotional, right?

Being a brand representative in social media means making friends with people you might otherwise never meet. Some of those friendships will grow more personal over time. While we can, and should, set boundaries of what’s acceptable to share, we can’t help but dive into the day to day stuff that defines us. The friendships I’ve formed in social media are powerful and have changed me. I’m thankful for those experiences but I’ve learned that they come with responsibility.

For your community’s precious time and friendship, you (as a brand) must agree to:

  • Respect the friendship. Marketing messages are necessary in a brand’s social media strategy, but the 90/10 rule is golden.
  • Respect your position as a brand. While sharing your personality is important, some topics are definitely inappropriate. For example, it’s okay to share that the flu is going around the office and you’re passing out oranges instead of coffee today. It’s not okay to share that you’re running late for your OB/GYN appointment and will check in with everyone later.
  • Always do what you say you’re going to do. If you tell someone you’re going to call them to resolve an issue, call them. If you say you’re going to launch a contest, do it exactly as you said.
  • Remember to be friendly but don’t pry. There are some conversations a brand shouldn’t be part of (remember the OB/GYN?) unless it’s central to your business. Know your own boundaries and play within them.
  • Always be the hostess. Part of your role as a brand is too keep everyone happy and talking to each other.

While social media should be part of your business strategy, removing the emotion from it is short-sighted. Dive into the conversation and enjoy the connections you make with people and brands alike. Your digital barn raising might just be the key to your future success in business.

Dana Helms is the Social Media Community Manager at Social North, a social media strategy firm. Dana brings 10 years of experience in home & furnishings from retail to cutting edge technology. Connect with her on the many channels that she manages, as you may know she loves a great conversation. Twitter: @TheMrsHelms and @SocialNorth. Facebook: Dana Helms & SocialNorth. 


Posted in General, Industry News, Recent Articles, Social Media | Comments Off

Thursday, January 3rd, 2013

Social Moves in 2013

2012 saw tremendous social media growth with rapid interest in Pinterest and Facebook exceeding 1 billion users. 2013 is expected to be another year full of technology innovations and social media growth. Here’s what’s trending for the upcoming year:

  1. Mobile Marketing

  2. eCommerce Sites

  3. Social Shopping

  4. Loyalty Programs

  5. Digital Wallets

1. So text me, maybe?
Email inboxes are filling up fast and getting someone to act on an email, let alone open it, is always a challenge for marketers. With text or SMS (short message service) marketing, consumers can get offers and sales delivered directly to their cell phones. For retailers, using SMS to market can be a great way to get exclusive event information or time sensitive coupon codes out quickly for customers to easily access and act on.

Tatango is an easy to use service for merchants to integrate texting into their stores. When using SMS marketing, be sure to be selective with what messages you send out and the frequency. Using email marketing is still a great way to connect with customers, and can be a compliment to your text offers. In fact, I suggest using email to promote your text message offers and encourage customers to opt-in.

2. Very Pinteresting.
Pinterest impacted online retailer sales in 2012, referring more traffic than Twitter and more revenue per click than Facebook. This social platform proved imagery sells and consumers shop online. From these results, more retailers are opening online stores or giving customers the ability to buy products from their Facebook page. U.S. social commerce (sales of physical goods through online social networks) is projected to grow by 93 percent per year from 2011-2015, and predicted to be $5 billion in 2013. Ecwid.com is a good solution for selling products on a Facebook business page.

With sites like Shopify and Big Commerce, retailers can create an online store without needing a developer or graphic designer, helping them stay competitive and giving them an additional sales outlet. Mobile shopping is also on the rise, predicted to be $14 billion in 2013, up $4 billion from 2012.

3. Come buy with me, let’s buy away!
Social shopping is a method of eCommerce where shoppers’ friends become involved in the shopping experience. This is achieved through group buying sites like Groupon or LivingSocial, product recommendations whether left on the merchant’s website or discussed on social networks, and forums that create communities of shoppers to discuss, share and shop. As eCommerce spending grows, social integration is critical to stay competitive.

2013 will show more eRetailers featuring the “Pin It”, “Share It”, “Like It” button next to every product and will include product recommendations, ratings and community forums. In 2013 we might also see a “Want” button on Facebook for brand pages. (Facebook is currently testing this feature and has not stated if, or when, it will be live to any or all brand pages.)

4. Old Dogs Learn New Tricks.
Retailers have been using loyalty programs for decades to retain customers. A Deloitte Retail Survey found that retailers with a loyalty program are 88 percent more profitable than their competitors that don’t have one. However, for 2013 we’ll see loyalty programs turn digital, running off of iPads and smartphones. The digital element allows for a more automated, fun and game-like experience.LoyalBlocks, a loyalty mobile application makes it incredibly easy for shoppers to get rewarded. All they have to do is add the app to their smartphone and walk in to the retail store. Once inside, customers can open the app and either receives tokens, a punch on their digital “card” or an in-store message like “Receive 10% off today!”

5. Leave your wallet at home.
Loyalty programs are going digital and so are your wallets. Cashless consumption is already happening in places like Starbucks and Best Buy, but technology companies like Google and Apple are developing apps and programs that enable customers to make purchases with their smartphones, creating a “Digital Wallet” that can be used at local retail locations.

All a consumer has to do is sync an app with their credit card and scan a code at the register. With LevelUp, merchants can accept mobile payments and not be charged a fee, so if you sell something for $40, you’ll receive $40. With predictions of smartphone adoption to continue to grow and account for around 90 percent of all mobile phones in 2013, we’ll see more retailers integrate with this technology. (Note: with the growth of digital wallets will also increase the concern of privacy and security. When implementing this type of technology, ensure you’re using a secure application.)

Also expect: gift giving on Facebook, more rewards for social sharing, social search, paid content placement on Facebook versus ads, increase in video marketing, mobile POS systems like Squareup.com and an increase in SoLoMo (customers using location-based mobile applications to share local business sales, products, events to their online networks like Facebook and Twitter).

Crystal Vilkaitis has been using social media to market businesses since 2007 producing results such as: tripled web sales, increased blog traffic by over 2,700% and coverage in Entrepreneur Magazine and USAToday. Crystal was featured in Fast Company’s 2010 Most Influential Person Online campaign, ranking in the top 2% and took third place out of over 1,400 nominations for the Top 10 Small Business Facebook Pages of 2011 by Social Media Examiner. She is currently the owner of Crystal Media, a company dedicated to helping retailers integrate proven social media and mobile marketing strategies into their stores to increase traffic and sales. For more information or to become a member of Social Edge, a membership site for retailers, visit crystalmedia.co.

Posted in Recent Articles, Social Media | Comments Off

Thursday, October 4th, 2012

NHFA, WHFA, Best Buy For Business, R&A Marketing introduce “The Social Spot”

Press Release

COLUMBUS, Ohio – The National Home Furnishings Association (NHFA), Western Home Furnishings Association (WHFA), Best Buy For Business, and R&A Marketing have partnered to create the “The Social Spot”, a dedicated space inside the Retailer Resource Center (RRC) for the industry to learn the ins and outs of social media. Located inside the Plaza Suites, at High Point Market, the RRC has been the retailers’ destination for networking opportunities, free educational seminars, and information on products and services designed just for buyers.

With the landscape of social media changing daily, The Social Spot is a perfect place for retailers to get up to speed and find new ways to connect to consumers. Along with the dedicated Social Spot launch, a website, www.furnituresocialspot.com, has been created to inform, and teach, retailers throughout the year about social media. The content-laden website will help businesses grow in social media by giving them the one thing that helps a social marketer: information.  Updated daily, visitors will be able to find information, insights and news about what is happening around the world in social media and how it can help move their businesses forward.

“The Social Spot can help retailers learn ways to market their stores today without the pressure of a sales presentation” said Kyle Doran, President and co-owner of R&A Marketing. “As suppliers in this industry it is important we focus on education of retailers to help ensure they stay in business. Without retailers in business we don’t stay in business”.

At each High Point and Las Vegas Market, the website will be used as a social sharing resource to help retailers understand the tools that are available to them in the Retailer Resource Centers. Along with the social sharing resources, a page will be dedicated to the vendors showing in the RRC, featuring special Market savings. Market attendees should be on the lookout for The Social Spot buddies around Market to get a Social Spot discount card.

“The Social Spot is a great addition to the RRC,” said Tim Timmons, NHFA’s Senior Director of Marketing Communications & Education. “Our goal is to educate, and The Social Spot is a perfect opportunity for retailers to learn how to grow their business and thrive in the social media arena.”

Be sure to check out The Social Spot’s twitter handle (@FurnSocialSpot) to see even more content that is shared by the experts in social media, retail and marketing each and everyday. The Social Spot will be open October 13-18, in the Retailer Resource Center, first floor of the Plaza Suites.

 
###

 

About R&A Marketing
R&A Marketing is a full service traditional and digital marketing company located in Columbus, Ohio, focusing on the furniture industry. R&A Marketing is a second-generation family business that began in 1987 and today services clients ranging from $150 thousand – $100 million in top line sales from coast to coast.

About WHFA
65 Years Ago—Furniture retailers formed the Western Home Furnishings Association to save time and money. They negotiated competitive programs, developed valuable education and found ways to get together and share stores, all to help them grow professionally and thrive financially. Today WHFA is still your association, for retailers and by retailers.
WHFA is committed to being the industry advocate of the home furnishings retailer and is dedicated to providing valuable, consistent services and opportunities for industry networking to help members thrive financially. With a growing membership base of nearly 1,000 home furnishings retailers representing more than 2,400 stores throughout 12 western states; WHFA provides you a support group, community of practice and the opportunity to create and sustain long-term relationships with people that share your experiences.
Retailers Helping Retailer–It’s Where You Belong

About NHFA
National Home Furnishings Association (NHFA) is the nation’s largest organization devoted specifically to the needs and interests of home furnishings retailers. NHFA’s membership comprises 2,000 corporate entities representing 5,000 stores in all 50 states and several foreign countries. NHFA’s mission and vision encompass the association’s commitment to helping home furnishings retailers operate highly profitable businesses that provide an exceptional level of service to the consumers who buy their furniture.

About Best Buy For Business
Best Buy For Business is a division of Best Buy focused on providing business professionals with customized technology product and service solutions, personal assistance from Account Managers who are trained to address the needs of all types of businesses, and specialized technology set-up and installation services for mobile, computing and home theater products. More information can be found at www.bestbuybusiness.com

Editor’s Note: Kevin Doran is available for interviews; please contact him at 1-888-225-0776, ext 103, or kevin@ramarketing.com.

Posted in Advertising and Marketing, Industry News, Recent Articles, Social Media, Websites | Leave Comment

Friday, February 3rd, 2012

Social media—What It Is and Isn’t

By Jody Seivert

All things being equal, social media is a relatively new phenomenon that many people (especially anyone older than 50) are still trying to figure out. For as much business as it has created for some, it has created high anxiety for others who don’t understand its value and how to use it effectively. They also don’t quite get what it doesn’t do, especially as a replacement to traditional marketing.

What it is….

1. A formidable way to quickly inform those who “follow you” of your most recent promotions, new findings and perspectives, and information that you want to pass through you and on to your readers.

2. Here to stay. We have just scratched the surface of how this tool can keep us informed and connected.

3. A challenge to learn how to use and to manage. As someone older than 50, I really didn’t want to spend my time posting blogs and researching sites when that time is better spent speaking, consulting/training, coaching, or actually writing new blogs (in short, making money). So I hired someone to do it for me. Find someone to do this for you, someone who is dedicated to learning this vehicle and being a valued member of your team. It is money very well spent.

I started using Facebook about a couple of years ago—well, I got a FB page. About the same time I updated my website (which is due to be updated again, and changed from traditional website architecture format to a blog format), and I started a blog. My website was static and most readers didn’t venture beyond the home page. I had a blog that I had personally posted a couple of articles to but not much more than that.

In January of 2011, I posted an ad in Craigslist for a social media assistant and I found ‘Jr.’ who has been a Godsend. He linked all of my stuff—FB, Twitter (which I don’t use much), my blog and my website—and connected it to my Blackberry so I can view and post as needed. I have a personal FB page with a One by One page connected to it, to which blogs are posted weekly. I also send blogs via Constant Contact email blasts—and I do all of this weekly. I write the content, take the photos and then I email it all to Jr. to format and post. He also updated and linked all of my databases and segmented them so that I can write blogs for specific audiences—retailers, to the trade showrooms and salespeople, interior designers and business owners. I rework a blog so that it applies to the different segments and that makes my writing efficient. I now have 3,000 weekly subscribers and that number keeps climbing as I add to my database and to my email blasts via Constant Contact. My objective in 2011 was visibility—to get on and get back on the radars of people I want to work with. And I use all of these vehicles to post new programs and products (as well as YouTube) that I regularly create. While my average sale is lower this year, my number of clients and my overall revenues are up and consistent… which is good.

What it isn’t…

1. The single solution to your marketing plan, but rather an important piece of it.

2. Free advertising—your readers will get tired of you only selling stuff, so offer them information and opportunities that would be of interest to them.

3. A replacement for gracious, human touch. Social media does not replace a handwritten thank you note or a call to find out how someone is doing. It keeps people connected who might not connect otherwise, but it’s not a universal substitute for reaching out and touching someone.

We’re all learning how to use this tool to expand our audience and keep ourselves visible to those we most want to reach. I would rather remain the talent or the product in the discussion and leave the execution to someone who really loves to do it, but that’s just me. Regardless of how you engage, it’s imperative that you engage, and know that there is help to assist you however you want to do it.

All things being equal, social media is a relatively new phenomenon that many people (especially anyone older than 50) are still trying to figure out. For as much business as it has created for some, it has created high anxiety for others who don’t understand its value and how to use it effectively. They also don’t quite get what it doesn’t do, especially as a replacement to traditional marketing.

Jody is honored to be speaking on this subject at the Home Furnishings Industry Conference in Palm Springs in May 2012. By then she’ll have new anecdotes, applications and research information to share with you. See you there!

Tags:
Posted in Social Media | Leave Comment

Friday, February 3rd, 2012

12 Ways to be Likeable on Facebook

Okay. You have signed up for Facebook. Created your Facebook page. Now what? I mean people all say getting Fans is the easy part. There are over 800 million people on Facebook. It can’t be that difficult, can it?

Scratch that. It’s really difficult. You’re competing with a lot of other businesses in the social media marketplace. Facebook recently announced that there are now more than 3 million active business pages on Facebook, and the average user becomes a fan of four pages every month.

With that many business pages and more and more users joining Facebook everyday, can you really afford not to join the Facebook game and truly become likable?

Do I have you convinced to create a business page yet? Okay good! First off, don’t let anyone ever tell you that it’s all about getting people to press that “like” button. Now, don’t get me wrong, gaining a Fan is a vital part of Facebook and the success of your page. However, you own a furniture store for one reason and one reason only, to sell furniture.

Of course you want your Facebook marketing and communication campaign to be successful, but first you’ve got to be likeable! Below are the top-12 ways to generate more likes, clicks and fan interaction to build a powerful sales channel for your business:

1. Use a Landing Tab to Offer a Compelling Reason for People to “Like” You

When first-time visitors go to your fan page, they will initially see your Wall. That is unless you create a landing tab with one of your Facebook promotional apps.

Make your sweepstakes, share and save or fan coupon offer your landing tab and use it to offer potential fans an incentive or discount. Show them why they should “like” your page and what’s in it for them.

2. Share Pictures

A picture is worth a thousand words. In fact, 800 million Facebook users share their pictures with their friends on a daily basis. So why shouldn’t you?

Share your pictures of customers, products, staff plus more and watch your fans comment on your store’s unique flair.

3. Make and Share Videos

If a picture’s worth a thousand words, a video is worth 10,000. Upload your 30 and 60-second TV spots or even create your own, sharing insights and interviews. Mobile phones make it easy to create videos showing you having fun with staff, customers and partners.

4. Give Away Value

People respond well to quality information and freebies. Use different Facebook apps to offer your fans plenty of value (coupons, sweepstakes, interactive pages, etc.). Plus, it’s simple to provide information by sharing links to articles, podcasts, white papers, and webinars.

Potential customers will remember you and react positively to the expertise and value you can provide. You’ll become their “go-to source” for help and advice.

5. Respond to Negative Comments

There’s a temptation to delete negative remarks or complaints from your Facebook page but if you delete someone’s comments, they will only get louder somewhere else.

The two most important words in Facebook marketing are “I’m sorry”. Mistakes happen, so apologize, fix the problem and turn that complainer into a fan.

6. Respond to the Positive Comments, too

A heartfelt “Thank you” goes a long way too. Make “Thank you” your two next most-important words.

Don’t pass up the chance to encourage a fan who posts something nice on your Facebook page. Give them opportunities to spread the good word about their experience, and thank them sincerely. Get creative with this; there are hundreds of ways to show your appreciation with some personality.

7. Surprise and Delight

Elements of surprise and delight have always been a tenet of good business. But on Facebook, it’s even more important to surprise and delight fans since 800 million people are watching.

Consider giving away free stuff. Reward people randomly and have fun with your fans.

8. Ask Questions

Facebook is the world’s largest focus group. You can ask questions and get plenty of valuable feedback about your product or services, and opportunities or challenges. People want to know that you care about their opinion.

Consider this—it’s more important to be interested than interesting in the world of Facebook. Questions are the best way to generate comments, which will improve your pages, your rank and enable you to show up in more of your fans’ news feeds.

9. Share Stories

People love stories. Talk about how your company got started, an interesting customer or staff member, charity or community involvement. Keep the stories short and simple, and use multimedia.

10.  Be Honest and Transparent

Honesty and authenticity go a long way. Don’t be afraid to be honest with fans. They’ll appreciate the authenticity—and even vulnerability—that accompanies it.

Share what’s going on in your store. Fans will respect it and respond.

11.  Be Short, Sweet and Conversational

Talk to your business’ fans the same way you’d talk to your friends. Short, informal statements and questions generate a lot more engagement than longer posts. You can use up to 420 characters in each Facebook post, but try to keep it to 140 or fewer.

 12. Don’t Sell

Make it easy and compelling for your customers to buy your products. If you’ve set a precedent of quality fan interaction—by listening to them, creating value and educating them about your business through storytelling—then they’ll use your products and services when their needs must be fulfilled. Better yet, when their friends have similar needs, you’ll be the one they “like” and recommend.

Kevin is co-owner of R&A Marketing, a full service traditional and digital marketing company in Columbus, Ohio, which services clients ranging from $500k to $150 million in top line sales from coast-to-coast. For more information, contact Kevin at kevin@ramarketing.com or visit www.ramarketing.com.

Tags:
Posted in Social Media | Leave Comment

Friday, February 3rd, 2012

Social Media Highlights Home Fashions at High Point Market

A Real Life Use of Social Media in Our Industry
By Cheminne Taylor-Smith

PinterestAt the High Point Market we have a clear strategy for social media. We use it to increase brand awareness, to build a community within the home furnishings world, to provide customer service and respond to feedback, and to quickly circulate information about the Market.

There is also a less tangible, but no less important, reason that we use social media tools—and that’s to create excitement about, and enthusiasm for, the High Point Market. We’ve done that at every recent Market, from a flash mob in the fall of 2010, to viral behind-the-scenes videos in April, to our Style Spotters event last October.

Each of those programs increased traffic to the website (www.highpointmarket.org) and pushed the High Point Market brand, but they also showcased the fun and energy that surrounds each Market Week, which in turn allows us to draw in new retailers and interior designers. It’s a lot of pay-off for very little money.

The Style Spotters program featured a new social media website called Pinterest, now one of the fastest-growing sites online. Pinterest (www.pinterest.com) is a website that lets users organize and share photos on virtual pinboards. It works the way a designer’s “mood board” or inspiration board works—you select photos of things you like, or items that inspire you, and you pin them to your board.

Pinboards can have themes—like food, home decor, fashion—or they can focus on moods like “favorite things,” or “everything blue.” You can also follow other users and show your appreciation for what they’ve chosen by “liking” photos or re-pinning them to your own boards.

The High Point Market recruited home fashion trendsetters to showcase their favorite products and top trends from the October show on Pinterest. The Style Spotters were bloggers and interior designers, and they captured images of their favorite finds as they walk the High Point Market. The trendsetters also presented exhibitors with signs that highlighted the Style Spotter’s name with a QR code and URL for the Pinterest board.

The Style Spotters for October were Meg Biram, Mimi + Meg; Jennifer Brouwer, Jennifer Brouwer Design; Heather Clawson, Habitually Chic; Julieann Covino, Create Girl; Tobi Fairley, Tobi Fairley Interior Design; Lisa Ferguson, Decor Mentor; Wanda Horton, Interior Concepts by Wanda; and Elaine Williamson, Elaine Williamson Designs.

Market attendees also participated in the High Point Market Pinterest event, voting on the pinboards and products for each Style Spotter by generating “likes” or by re-pinning. At the end of Market, we tallied those votes on a point system and named Tobi Fairley the winner. A new group of Style Spotters will be named in March for the April High Point Market, and will also include Tobi Fairley as this year’s winner. To view the High Point Market Pinboards, go to pinterest.com/HighPointMarket.

Pinterest is a wildly popular site and the event generated a lot of online traffic for the High Point Market, and also created a “buzz” on other social media like Facebook and Twitter, particularly among interior designers and bloggers. What I enjoyed about it was the sense of sharing and community it created, as participants discussed their favorite products, trends, and companies.

Retailers also could use Pinterest for their own marketing campaigns, perhaps by offering contests for the best boards created from photos of products on your website, or by posting your latest Market acquisitions on a Pinterest board while you’re at Market.

Whatever social media tool or site that you choose, just make sure it fits your company image and brand, that you create your own community online, and that you have fun.


Tags: ,
Posted in Social Media | Leave Comment

Thursday, February 2nd, 2012

Social in 2012

Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, Myspace, Foursquare, Blogger, Tumblr, Pinterest, Plaxo… the list goes on and on of social media sites that you and your business could utilize. But where should you start, what do you say, and how do you find the time to do it?

social mediaAccording to industry social media guru, Leslie Carothers, owner of The Kaleidoscope Partnership, the first thing that retailers need to do is evaluate how much time they have (or someone in their company has) to dedicate to social media. “It takes a lot of time to do social media properly,” she said. “Needless to say, the answer on how retailers should use social media would be based on how much time the retailer has or how much time they are willing to contract to an outside vendor. Social media is a conversation, so you need to be active in the conversation for it to be successful.”

Once you have decided how much time you are willing to devote to this new marketing medium, Carothers advises focusing on three key tools: Facebook, Pinterest and blogging.

Facebook will continue to be an important avenue for retailers since it has the largest audience of consumers. Carothers suggests retailers focus on Facebook advertising to help spread the word about their brand.

The newcomer for retailers this year is Pinterest. This invite-only site has only been in the social scene for 20 months, but has seen a huge spike in requests for invites over the last few months (and recently received $37 million in funding!). Created by a past Facebook employee and his friends, Pinterest is a virtual bulletin board that allows users to share photos they find over the Web, including product images from your store. A description and original link location are added to the image, giving users the chance to visit your site directly.

“I believe it is going to be a very important tool in the upcoming year, and I already have design clients who are using it,” said Carothers. “If you want to connect with designers in your local area, Pinterest is the place to do it. Designers have been using it as a tool to help them get inspiration, and they are connecting with each other on the site. Retailers are able to go onto Pinterest and show their product offerings, new market finds, design tips and more. Retailers can create an upholstery board, night tables, bedding, etc. and post it all of Pinterest.”

Once items are posted on Pinterest, other users, whether it’s your customer or a local designer, can view your pins and re-pin an item on their own board. People who use this program are looking for new ideas for design, fashion, cooking, etc., and love to share with others. This site makes it easy for consumers to find styles and create a home they love. Brands like West Elm and Whole Foods have already started pinning like crazy. They are using Pinterest to show consumers the idea behind their brands, not just their products.

“A retailer might wonder why this is an important tool for them. It’s important because designers, hundreds of thousands of them, are already using Pinterest to find products and gain inspiration for new designs. It is very fast, and it’s great for search engine optimization because retailers can tag each picture with keywords,” Carothers said.

She also believes that Pinterest is going to be a social media phenomenon in 2012—especially for people who are in a visual field, “Consumers are hearing about the site, going online to look for inspiration, and then sharing it with their designers or working directly with a retailer. I think Pinterest is going to take off in 2012.”

The last social media tool that Carothers believes will be important for retailers in 2012 is the blog. While blogs have been around for years, many retailers still haven’t jumped on the bandwagon or aren’t using it to its full advantage. Blogs are another important tool for search engine optimization and can show your customers that you are the expert in home furnishings. Blogs don’t have to be long posts, but they should contain interesting information to engage your customer and keep them wanting more. Show your readers that you are an expert in home furnishings and design and help them create the home they have always wanted.

When conversing with customers (or potential customers) via social media, treat them with the same respect you would in person. Be gracious, say thank you, please and you’re welcome. Engage with the Golden Rule in mind, and be helpful and conversational. Don’t just send out your latest sale promotion; have conversations with your followers and be memorable. Match your online personality to your in-store personality. You will notice that many of the people who are successful in social media are those that listen, engage, and respond to everyone.

Have you used Pinterest? What do you think will be the social media hit in 2012? Let us know on our Facebook page: www.facebook.com/westernretailer.

- By Melissa Dressler

Hiring Outside Consultants

You’ve come to the decision that your business needs to participate in social media, but who has the time? Social media consultants and “experts” are popping up everywhere—how do you know who to hire and who is legit?

Carothers had some tips to look for when hiring an outside company to do your social media interactions. “First, you need to decide if you are going to just have someone set up your pages, or if they are going to execute the day to day communication and be your ‘voice’,” she said. Once you have decided that, here’s what you should look for:

  • Get testimonials from trusted peers who have used the company for social media.
  • If they are to be the voice of your brand, be sure they understand your brand and the industry (the vocabulary, how personal the decision to purchase home furnishings is, etc.). You don’t want them to communicate the wrong message to the consumer. You must trust the person who is executing your social media strategy.
  • If you wouldn’t hire them to work in your business, then you shouldn’t hire the person to work in your online business.
  • Ask the consultant how social media fits into an integrated marketing plan and ask for examples of how they have leveraged a brands’ message across platforms in the past.

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in Advertising and Marketing, Social Media | Leave Comment

Tuesday, October 4th, 2011

R&A Marketing Revolutionizes Facebook for Retailers

Marketing Firm taking Social Media to the Next Level

R&A Marketing is revolutionizing social media for retailers by using Facebook as an effective selling tool capable of increasing fans organically and then converting them to loyal customers. R&A’s new social media service is a tremendous asset to retailers and a great addition to R&A Web Plus, a user-friendly Web platform that integrates traditional marketing into the Website.

“We realized that the whole social media arena was growing,” said Kevin Doran, Vice President and co-owner of R&A Marketing. “It’s important that we stay ahead of the game and offer the best services to our clients.”

R&A’s new social media services are designed to help retailers make more money. This is accomplished first and foremost by creating a Facebook page for retailers and then connecting the Facebook page directly with the retailer’s Website.

Linking the two sites doubles the chance of a customer visiting the retailer’s Website and it also helps with organic search engine optimization (SEO) efforts. R&A’s social media package also includes four promotional apps that offer incentives to customers for “liking” the retailer’s Facebook page. These innovative promotional apps are intended to quickly build a large fan base so the retailer can easily interact with and market their products and services to hundreds of fans.

“We noticed trends showing millions of people turn to Facebook on a daily basis for information,” Kevin said. “It makes perfect sense to use Facebook as a selling tool to boost online and in-store sales.”

In fact, data from comScore shows 1 out of every 8 minutes online is spent on Facebook and that the average user spends more than 11 hours a month on Facebook.

A Syncapse Case Study published in June of 2010 found the following conclusions about a Facebook fan:

  • On average spends over $70 more than a non-fan
  • 28% are more likely to continue using a brand
  • 41% are more likely to recommend a product

R&A Web Plus services include 24/7 support and an online specialist who is assigned to maintain each Website. Every online presence needs monitoring, and the online specialists perform this job. They ensure the retailers’ Websites are up to date and achieving top-notch results. The online specialist is also notified of all activity on their client’s Facebook page.

In addition to a host of other clients, R&A is a social media provider for retailers of Ashley Furniture Industries, one of the nation’s largest and best furniture manufacturers.

Tags: ,
Posted in Industry News, Social Media | Leave Comment

Tuesday, August 23rd, 2011

Showcasing Your Online Reputation

What Google says about your store will make you wealthy or leave your broke.

Over 81 percent of your prospects will Google you and make an emotional decision about doing business with you before they ever show up on your radar screen but after they respond to your advertising. Less than 20 percent of the 81 percent of the prospects that Google you will actually call you or land on your showroom floor. Even if you have positive online reviews, an easy to find website and a top listing in Google Maps, you will lose the bulk of your advertising respondents to Google Distraction Disorder (G.D.D.), never to be seen or heard from again.

My guess is that most furniture store owners and managers reading this, that have even a speck of an advertising budget, can instantly “feel” the truth of these statistics. Manufacturer’s often times support our advertising budgets and thus we can all be rest assured that they are looking at their retailer’s online reputation credit report. Services like Groupon®, Social Living® and Google Offers® use online reputation scores as the single most important qualifier for a new business member.

Your Online Reputation Credit Score
Ever asked your bank or lender to increase your flooring line? Yes you guessed it… They most likely are looking at your online reputation first and financials second. One of the single largest losses for capital lenders in any retail industry stems from retailers growing too fast. The problem is that five years ago if the retailer’s growth was fueled by marketing and sales practices that upset the public they rarely knew about it until hit their collections report.

Google has Become the X-ray Machine
Today a simple Google search for a furniture store’s name followed by the word “reviews” or “complaints” will tell a lender, a manufacturer, your prospects, the media along with your friends, neighbors and relatives everything they’d like to know about your business. The challenge with this reality is that usually a store’s Google footprint doesn’t reflect reality. A typical store’s Google footprint is either to boring or non-descript to keep the searcher engaged, is chalked with misleading, inaccurate or bogus information often placed there by competitors or rouge ex-employees, or just flat out non-existent.

Control Your Google… Control Your Income…
So now that we are painfully aware of the Google reality and we know that 70 percent++ of our advertising and marketing respondents are evaporating into thin air, what do we do about it? You must control the first three pages of Google. While this may sound like a lofty goal and an extra 100k out the window, you may be right but fear not. There are ways to control your Google on a shoe string budget and look better than your nearest competition when and where it counts. First let’s talk about what it means to own the first three pages of Google. What you are looking for is “Search Engine Saturation (SES)”, which means, “To own more positions within the first three pages of Google than any single competitor or reputation threat”.

Get a reputation monitoring system
You’ll want to invest in a program that allows you to monitor the conversation on the web about you and your competitors (Google alerts need not apply). Without one you are flying blind against the wind and with one you can get a bird’s eye view of your entire market area from 15ft back and 200ft up.*

The best content for Google, Facebook and YouTube
First you must have the ability to control an acceptable number of positions within the first three pages of Google and then you will need to decide what to put there. The best content in the world is always the voices of your satisfied customers. Whether we are talking about Google, YouTube your website, Facebook, Twitter, or your blog, happy customers telling the world that they love you trumps all other content hands down. Considering 75 percent of the buying public thinks that advertising is misleading, your satisfied customers digitally leveraged on the World Wide Web can become the ultimate leveling stick.

Doing right simply isn’t enough
Your good works and excellent customer service is no longer enough. Once upon a time a business’ reputation was won by doing business right and depending on your satisfied customers to tell the world. Today our customers are far too busy intercepting emails, text messages and phone calls to market your business or respond whole-heartedly to solid recommendations from friends and family. Even when we do pay attention to recommendations of a business, we Google them before we call them. So in the end the only way to garner the level of R.O.I. you deserve from running a great business is to go viral.

Going viral is what happens when word of mouth becomes digitally leveraged
To succeed in the repeat, referral and word of mouth business model you MUST give your satisfied customers a powerful voice and distribute that voice on their behalf to hundreds, if not thousands, of strategic online destinations across the web. In turn these distribution points go viral, get picked up by search engines (providing that they are optimized) and suddenly you find yourself in control of the first three pages of Google.

You will also find yourself selling more furniture, retaining more customers, generating more referrals and producing more traffic with less advertising. As a side note we all know that a salesperson cannot be effective on the showroom floor or on the phone if he or she is unable to position themselves as the expert in the mind of the prospect. Own the first three pages of Google and make sure that your prospects can SEE your customer testimonials front and center without having to click from Google to some other site first and your prospects will show your sales people a renewed attitude.

What about 3rd party review sites like Yelp, CitySearch and so on?
Having good reviews on a review site pales in comparison to owning the first three pages of Google. The reason being is that these sites get over 90 percent of their traffic from people that Google your name or your name coupled with words like reviews and complaints. In other words third party review sites exist because Google and other search engines exist. With that said, they are still important and the key to managing them can be summed up in two words “Strategic Management”.
Remember that you are only as good as your last review but to send your customers blindly to these sites without hand selecting them first is a receipt for disaster. The more reviews third party review sites receive the more they strangle hold your business name in Google. So know who your best customers are and then guide them towards third party review sites in a coffee drip fashion. Build slowly, methodically and sparingly and you will have five star reviews a great online profile without sacrificing your Google home page to do it.

The secret to using Facebook
Recently our company invented a way to make satisfied customers magically post positive comments on a company’s Facebook page and then link those comments to an auto-generated testimonial site complete with the business’s look, feel and logo. What we thought was going to be cute value add to our service has turned out to be one of the most effective online marketing tactics in existence (wish we could brag but in reality it was an afterthought). As such we have learned a secret, which is that happy customer comments and Facebook is a recipe for instant social media success. Place you best customer comments on your Facebook and then link them back to well designed testimonial page and just watch what happens.

The Ultimate Reputation Accelerator
In conclusion there are three facets to creating a stellar online reputation that will garner instant profits. Control the first three pages of Google, your online review sites, create a dynamic and robust testimonial site and add your satisfied customer comments to your Facebook and Twitter like your favorite hot sauce and you will find business life gets much easier.

Oh and one more thing! Create a credible and classy web page where customers can write a review about your business and give you their feedback directly. The idea is to get to them before they go public on you (by then it’s usually too late) and you will suddenly be in control of your customer satisfaction index.

Here is to you, your online reputation and your selling success!

Eddie Coleman, is CEO of Reputation Accelerator LLC, an online reputation management company. [*Good news! If you are a member of the WHFA, you already have a reputation management company paid for that is sitting and waiting for you to log into. It may get bored sitting on the shelf waiting for you so if you haven’t scooped it up already, you will want to do so. Simply contact Jeff Carrier at (877) 874-9737 ext #121 let him know what email address you would like your access link sent to. For more information, visit http://ReputationAccelerator.com]

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Advertising and Marketing, Recent Articles, Social Media, Websites | Leave Comment