Why not face up to Facebook with me?
If you don't already have a page go ahead and follow Step 1 and 2 below - we'll move along together. Post comments here and hopefully we can help each other out along the way.
I was fasincated to read on SimplyZesty's blog post recently that their Facebook (FB) page is their most successful tool for attracting readers to their blog and in turn, new business. The SimplyZesty blog has brought in over 80% of their business as a social media marketing agency.
To quote: "a whopping 18% of our traffic now comes through Facebook. That’s a fifth of our traffic or 200,000 uniques a year that we have coming from Facebook alone."
Impressive stuff. What was really interesting was to read their review of Twitter's usefulness (or lack of): "People obsess with Twitter as a traffic driving tool but here is a little secret for you that will surprise you…..It contributes 1.3% of our overall traffic. That’s tiny!"
Now I follow SimplyZesty on Twitter and they don't actually tweet very much. Certainly not as much as they blog (twice a day - very impressive!) In my opinion, this could help account for the low referral number, rather than Twitter as a channel overall.
However, given that Simply Zesty reached half a million blog readers in just 6 months, we need to pay heed to these statistics!
Having gotten up and running with Twitter (at long last), I'm now giving Facebook a try, and will post here over the next few weeks about how I'm getting on. Ideally, this will help you to set up your own Facebook presence easily and quickly, and start getting a good response. My mistakes will prevent yours, hopefully!
For the moment, here's the report on Phase 1:
I'm a regular enough FB personal user. I have a personal profile which I update every few weeks, and I log on regularly, mostly due a fascination to see what my friends have been up to, and to see photos of their exploits, their kids etc.
So I thought, getting a business FB presence should be quick and easy - as I'm used to using the personal interface the business side should be an easy learning curve.
Boy was I wrong!
Step 1:
Business users need a FB 'page' - a 'profile' is for personal users. There are rules about how to promote your FB page using your personal profile so be careful, and check them out. You risk losing your entire profile if you break the rules. Here's the FB guide to business pages.
I've used the link on the home page to set up a 'page' and this is linked to my personal profile. So now I have a basic page (which looks and feels very similar to my personal profile), complete with my logo, and a link to my blog posts.
However, I found the whole process a little illogicial - shouldn't I set up my page completely separately from my profile? Apparently not.
Step 2:
I want to promote my FB page but to do that I need the short URL: www.facebook.com/knowledgeworks. I'm assuming I will be able to use this to point people directly to my business presence rather than having to go via my personal profile. I don't want my personal profile to be visible to my business connections (as I'm guessing most people wouldn't). Currently I can't find any way to access by business page other than via my profile, so hopefully having a dedicated username will do the trick.
The FB rules say that I need at least 25 friends before they will allocate my username and give me that short URL. So that's the next step. I'll post again once I've reached that 25.
Problems so far
I can't figure out how to log directly in to my Facebook page (I'm currently logging into my profile and accessing it from there). Perhaps this option will appear once I've gotten my username.
More to follow soon.
Friday, July 23, 2010
Friday, July 16, 2010
To Tweet or not to Tweet? The KnowledgeWorks Journey...
Regular readers will know that I posted a few times earlier this year about Twitter. How to get started, using it regularly, and some of the more sophisiticated features.
I held off from giving my final opinion on how worthwhile Twitter is until now. This is because it takes months to get value from it.
And that's the first point I need to make: Twitter takes weeks and weeks of effort before becoming completely comfortable with it, and before building a good presence. It's essential that you allocate plenty of time for Twitter, particularly in the early days. As you build up more and more followers (and followees), and as you tweet more, and re-tweet, you'll eventually start to see a return on your effort.
Thankfully I'm now over the early stages of:
- searching out relevant people to follow
- reading up about them on their websites to make sure it's worth my while following them, and
- reading endless tweets (usually entitled "10 tips to Using Social Media for business" or similar)
I take time every few weeks to actively seek out new people to follow, but mostly for now its just regular checks on what's being posted and sharing information with my followers.
What's the verdict?
Well, (within the caveat of the huge amount of time necessary to spend first on getting to know Twitter) here it is:
I held off from giving my final opinion on how worthwhile Twitter is until now. This is because it takes months to get value from it.
And that's the first point I need to make: Twitter takes weeks and weeks of effort before becoming completely comfortable with it, and before building a good presence. It's essential that you allocate plenty of time for Twitter, particularly in the early days. As you build up more and more followers (and followees), and as you tweet more, and re-tweet, you'll eventually start to see a return on your effort.
Thankfully I'm now over the early stages of:
- searching out relevant people to follow
- reading up about them on their websites to make sure it's worth my while following them, and
- reading endless tweets (usually entitled "10 tips to Using Social Media for business" or similar)
I take time every few weeks to actively seek out new people to follow, but mostly for now its just regular checks on what's being posted and sharing information with my followers.
What's the verdict?
Well, (within the caveat of the huge amount of time necessary to spend first on getting to know Twitter) here it is:
- Twitter is a great way to network online, and to meet lots more people who are relevant to my business
- Twitter holds a wealth of valuable information: reading just a few of the daily links to great articles or posts helps build my own expertise rapidly
- Twitter allows me to share valuable information I've come across with my network. This might be referring a business colleague, promoting a training course, or pointing to a well-written and informative blog or article. [Much easier than heading off on a dark and rainy Monday night to a networking event in town (tho face to face has great value too of course)]
- Finally, Twitter has helped me to build my own online brand. It's an essential facet of the online marketing strategy of any business which hopes to connect with people online. My website is a useful starting point, but now people expect more: and building relationships, offering help and exchanging learning points through Twitter is a great way to deliver more.
Has Twitter driven sales for me?
The answer is Yes, and No.
No because I don't think anyone has gone online in the last six months, and actively looked through Twitter for a researcher such as myself.
However, what Twitter has done for me is to 'help' my sale. My business has a stronger profile through Twitter. People see my tweets and learn more about me. They are reassured about my expertise through the content I tweet. And they feel more confident that my business practice and processess are up to date, relevant and professional. I know that I've won several projects in the last few months, with the help of Twitter.
OVERALL: After nearly 6 months of testing, I would advise most businesses to use Twitter, if they can commit the time.
So, are you Twitter-phobic or a Twitterphile? Would you agree with my verdict? Is there a les time-consuming way to get the benefits of Twitter?
Thursday, July 15, 2010
The last of the professional networks: Ecademy, Doostang, and SmallBusinessCan
Ecademy
This is a UK based site, with a third of members based there. The company itself says it has 12 million contacts, with 300,000+ unique users per month. However, independent sources give this figures as being just 400,000.
Nearly two-thirds of Ecademy users are self employed, indicating that many may be looking for project work, as well as pure networking opportunities.
There is a lot of irrelevant functionality on Ecademy which makes it difficult to navigate. Its layout is quite different to other online networks and overall it’s not very user friendly. If you’re looking to build your network in the UK, then this is a useful site – otherwise it doesn’t have much else to offer.
Doostang
This is a US based career building community. Membership is by invitation only, and it targets graduates from the top US universities. A hefty monthly fee (c. $40) allows these members to access job advertisements. Not a useful networking tool then, but interesting to see a niche like this developing.
Small Business Can
At last, an Irish based site, filled with Irish based members who are keen to maintain active discussions and network!
Sponsored by Ulster Bank, this site has an impressive team running the show, so we’re hoping for continued success as the site develops.
Essentially, the site is all about driving business growth. It has resources, blogs and community discussions to drive this. The site is littered with comments and inputs from members, so it’s interesting to view what other members have been saying. The look and feel is great, and functionality includes a forum for discussions, apps, groups etc.
While the site is still in development phase, with some sections awaiting content, it does have the potential to be a successful and active Irish networking site. Let’s wait and see.
...
That's it for now on online professional networks folks! I hope this guide has helped you to save some time and get the most that these have to offer.
This is a UK based site, with a third of members based there. The company itself says it has 12 million contacts, with 300,000+ unique users per month. However, independent sources give this figures as being just 400,000.
Nearly two-thirds of Ecademy users are self employed, indicating that many may be looking for project work, as well as pure networking opportunities.
There is a lot of irrelevant functionality on Ecademy which makes it difficult to navigate. Its layout is quite different to other online networks and overall it’s not very user friendly. If you’re looking to build your network in the UK, then this is a useful site – otherwise it doesn’t have much else to offer.
Doostang
This is a US based career building community. Membership is by invitation only, and it targets graduates from the top US universities. A hefty monthly fee (c. $40) allows these members to access job advertisements. Not a useful networking tool then, but interesting to see a niche like this developing.
Small Business Can
At last, an Irish based site, filled with Irish based members who are keen to maintain active discussions and network!
Sponsored by Ulster Bank, this site has an impressive team running the show, so we’re hoping for continued success as the site develops.
Essentially, the site is all about driving business growth. It has resources, blogs and community discussions to drive this. The site is littered with comments and inputs from members, so it’s interesting to view what other members have been saying. The look and feel is great, and functionality includes a forum for discussions, apps, groups etc.
While the site is still in development phase, with some sections awaiting content, it does have the potential to be a successful and active Irish networking site. Let’s wait and see.
...
That's it for now on online professional networks folks! I hope this guide has helped you to save some time and get the most that these have to offer.
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
More on professional networks: Ryze, Viadeo, Plaxo and Naymz
In my last post I selected a few (so-called) online professional networks and reviewed them. Here are some more: some useful, some not. This is not an exhaustive list, as these sites are constantly popping up. However, I will try to guide you through the dross to find the ones that work!
Ryze
This is a business networking site, and its functionality is similar to that of LinkedIn. It’s quite un-sophisticated though, and has only around 300,000 members, most of whom are US based. This site doesn’t seem to be going anywhere: although it’s been around a long time the look and feel are quite boring, and its offering is fairly limited. For these reasons, I won’t be using it.
Viadeo
This is an excellent site (which along with Xing) could prove a viable competitor to LinkedIn, particularly in Europe. It has a very strong presence in France, and acquired a network in Canada last year, bringing its member numbers to 25 million.
It charges fees of around €6 monthly for premium membership. The structure is very simple: users get access to all areas with premium membership, including contacting other members.
In late 2009, the Economist reported: “Last year LinkedIn had struck a deal with Apec, France's best-known professional-recruitment service, to offer search functions to its huge customer base of over 30,000 companies and 500,000 executives. But on November 17th Apec made a new deal with Viadeo, having noted that although LinkedIn could reach executives at France's biggest international companies, it failed to connect enough people in the country's thousands of smaller firms…
In Italy and Japan, LinkedIn is number one even though it has not translated its site into the local language in either place. In China, however, LinkedIn has to compete against the Chinese-language website of Tianji, the country's biggest professional network, which is owned by Viadeo.”
Plaxo
Plaxo sells itself as being an address book in the cloud. It has been around for some time: the company itself says it has 40 million members, although recent press reports quote 20 million. It launched ‘Plaxo Pulse’ (a true online networking site) but following its lack of success, Pulse has been rebranded and toned down to ‘Stream’ – which shows web-wide activity of a user’s contacts. Its functionality is mostly aimed at working with existing contacts and so it’s not useful for networking.
Naymz
Naymz is a little different from other networking sites in that it offers tools focussed on reputation, personal branding and identify verification. There is emphasis on the truth of the information on a profile, and members receive points on a reputation score dashboard.
Having said all that, Naymz has a slightly dubious reputation for being simply a scraper site that pulls names from other sites. Naymz appear to be completely US based, so will be of limited value to European-side networkers, especially at a basic fee of €25 monthly.
Ryze
This is a business networking site, and its functionality is similar to that of LinkedIn. It’s quite un-sophisticated though, and has only around 300,000 members, most of whom are US based. This site doesn’t seem to be going anywhere: although it’s been around a long time the look and feel are quite boring, and its offering is fairly limited. For these reasons, I won’t be using it.
Viadeo
This is an excellent site (which along with Xing) could prove a viable competitor to LinkedIn, particularly in Europe. It has a very strong presence in France, and acquired a network in Canada last year, bringing its member numbers to 25 million.
It charges fees of around €6 monthly for premium membership. The structure is very simple: users get access to all areas with premium membership, including contacting other members.
In late 2009, the Economist reported: “Last year LinkedIn had struck a deal with Apec, France's best-known professional-recruitment service, to offer search functions to its huge customer base of over 30,000 companies and 500,000 executives. But on November 17th Apec made a new deal with Viadeo, having noted that although LinkedIn could reach executives at France's biggest international companies, it failed to connect enough people in the country's thousands of smaller firms…
In Italy and Japan, LinkedIn is number one even though it has not translated its site into the local language in either place. In China, however, LinkedIn has to compete against the Chinese-language website of Tianji, the country's biggest professional network, which is owned by Viadeo.”
Plaxo
Plaxo sells itself as being an address book in the cloud. It has been around for some time: the company itself says it has 40 million members, although recent press reports quote 20 million. It launched ‘Plaxo Pulse’ (a true online networking site) but following its lack of success, Pulse has been rebranded and toned down to ‘Stream’ – which shows web-wide activity of a user’s contacts. Its functionality is mostly aimed at working with existing contacts and so it’s not useful for networking.
Naymz
Naymz is a little different from other networking sites in that it offers tools focussed on reputation, personal branding and identify verification. There is emphasis on the truth of the information on a profile, and members receive points on a reputation score dashboard.
Having said all that, Naymz has a slightly dubious reputation for being simply a scraper site that pulls names from other sites. Naymz appear to be completely US based, so will be of limited value to European-side networkers, especially at a basic fee of €25 monthly.
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Which professional networks?
As you well know (and as previously discussed), there is a fine line between making effective use of online professional networks, and spending all day connecting, tweeting, commenting and blogging.
Who has all day to do this? Unless your job title is 'Online Marketing Specialist', then you'll need to consider a new network carefully.
Is it a useful marketing tool that will help win business? Or is it a time-wasting drag, devised by a clever techie start-up obsessed with bumping up their member numbers so they can make a quick buck with advertisers while dreaming of being the next Facebook?
Here's a high level review of some of the main networks. For more in-depth detail, or for some help on which are most suitable for your industry, contact KnowledgeWorks. More to follow in a few days.
Spoke
Spoke says it has 60 million users, mainly in the US. Basic membership is free but premium is costly (from $25 to $99 monthly). Most comments posted by members are dated from 2007 or earlier, so our guess is they’re not getting very many new users, or any up to date discussions. In any case, this is more of a 'people finder' than a professional networking site.
Xing
Xing is probably the most successful online professional network in Europe, after LinkedIn. It has 8 million members worldwide, with most of these European. Xing has strong corporate backing and this, along with with reasonable membership fees, is a good first step to a solid business model. Xing's functionality is very similar to LinkedIn – a blend of networking, discussions, and also job searches. It has yet to make a big impact in Ireland and the UK, but watch this space.
Zoominfo
This is essentially a US-based list broker. It claims functionality as an online networking site, but in fact it’s about accessing lists and contact details for people and companies. Zoominfo gathers data abut people and invites users to register in order to ‘reclaim’ your data and fine tune the profile that already exists for you. Even the free trial to premium level at Zoominfo requires that users share their entire address book (from Gmail or Outlook etc). Usually these sites allow you to pick and choose which of your contacts you’d like to search for, but Zoominfo takes it all. This site might be useful if you need lists from the US, but not for professional networking.
Jigsaw
This is a good US based B2B directory with contact details only. It has powerful search functionality, with a very detailed search engine, although data is likely to be scraped from other sources rather than contributed by the individuals themselves. Jigsaw charges for obtaining contact information. Again, Jigsaw could be useful for finding people and their contact information, but it's not useful for networking. Jigsaw has recently been acquired by Salesforce.com, the contact management business, and this could raise issues about ownership of data.
Who has all day to do this? Unless your job title is 'Online Marketing Specialist', then you'll need to consider a new network carefully.
Is it a useful marketing tool that will help win business? Or is it a time-wasting drag, devised by a clever techie start-up obsessed with bumping up their member numbers so they can make a quick buck with advertisers while dreaming of being the next Facebook?
Here's a high level review of some of the main networks. For more in-depth detail, or for some help on which are most suitable for your industry, contact KnowledgeWorks. More to follow in a few days.
Spoke
Spoke says it has 60 million users, mainly in the US. Basic membership is free but premium is costly (from $25 to $99 monthly). Most comments posted by members are dated from 2007 or earlier, so our guess is they’re not getting very many new users, or any up to date discussions. In any case, this is more of a 'people finder' than a professional networking site.
Xing is probably the most successful online professional network in Europe, after LinkedIn. It has 8 million members worldwide, with most of these European. Xing has strong corporate backing and this, along with with reasonable membership fees, is a good first step to a solid business model. Xing's functionality is very similar to LinkedIn – a blend of networking, discussions, and also job searches. It has yet to make a big impact in Ireland and the UK, but watch this space.
Zoominfo
This is essentially a US-based list broker. It claims functionality as an online networking site, but in fact it’s about accessing lists and contact details for people and companies. Zoominfo gathers data abut people and invites users to register in order to ‘reclaim’ your data and fine tune the profile that already exists for you. Even the free trial to premium level at Zoominfo requires that users share their entire address book (from Gmail or Outlook etc). Usually these sites allow you to pick and choose which of your contacts you’d like to search for, but Zoominfo takes it all. This site might be useful if you need lists from the US, but not for professional networking.
Jigsaw
This is a good US based B2B directory with contact details only. It has powerful search functionality, with a very detailed search engine, although data is likely to be scraped from other sources rather than contributed by the individuals themselves. Jigsaw charges for obtaining contact information. Again, Jigsaw could be useful for finding people and their contact information, but it's not useful for networking. Jigsaw has recently been acquired by Salesforce.com, the contact management business, and this could raise issues about ownership of data.
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
SME: Are you budgeting for market research?
A colleague commented recently that many SMEs don't budget at the start of the year for market research.
I've worked with a lot of SMEs, and I know these things about SME owner managers:
So the message is, allocate a piece of your budget for research - it'll pay off next year, wait and see.
I've worked with a lot of SMEs, and I know these things about SME owner managers:
- you are dedicated to growing your business
- you expend every ounce of your knowledge and experience in bringing about this growth
- you constantly seek to expand your own skills by networking with others to learn more - in order to grow your business.
I also know that:
- in a small small team you must outsource: your pool of knowledge is by nature limited
- there are areas which can help to grow your business, which you may not until now have utilised - these can be a number of things: technological, operational, or market based research
- market research will always help you to stay ahead of the competition
- research is a pre-requisite to succesful expansion or business development
I've seen it time and time again. Companies operate within their comfort zone: they anlayse the hell out of the factors they're familiar with, such as the supply chain, manufacturing, quality control and so on. But with the best will in the world, ad-hoc necessities like research tend to fall much lower on the prioirty list - largely because they're outside an SME owner's area of expertise and experience, and because they're ad-hoc.
Allocate a small amount this year, and use it when you're tearing your hair out saying:
- Why am I losing sales to this new competitor? What are they doing that's new?
- I don't understand enough about this market to take this risk! Am I making a mistake?
- How can I estimate for stock levels when I don't know the size of this new segment?
So the message is, allocate a piece of your budget for research - it'll pay off next year, wait and see.
Friday, May 7, 2010
Our personal lives revealed
The US has seen some growth in people search engines recently. Enter a person’s name and results show any personal information about them, including their Facebook pages, linked in page, website, etc. Some examples are Wink , PeekYou, and Zoominfo for business people.
Ok, it might seem like a ‘nice-to-have’, a bit like the google images search which restrict searches to results with pictures. Or an easy way to find a person’s LinkedIn page. Or an easier way to find a long lost friend or classmate (without all the Google Search results clutter).
However, there are more ominous uses! Most notable is the trend of employers using these search engines to trawl social networking sites to find out more about potential new employees (or partners, or suppliers, or contractors or consultants…).
Suddenly, that photo of you on your friend’s Facebook page where you’re dancing on a bar table with your trousers on your head might not seem quite so funny...
Until recently, it’s been fairly easy to keep personal information personal. Watch what you say, stay circumspect about life outside the office and no-one will find out about your personal peccadillos.
However, sites like these (as well as a regular Google search) mean that your personal life is increasingly on show. Now your professional connections can search and view and wonder, and maybe even think twice about that job offer based on what they see you doing in your spare time.
Like a lot of trends, 'people-check' is slowly making its way to our shores. Krishna De reported in her blog this week that 40% of European tech firms check social media profiles of potential employees. Krishna also reports that Irish SMEs are embracing social media marketing - and this means they’re likely to use it for people-check too.
Unsurprisingly, the US market has come up with a partial solution. Naymz is an online professional network which offers members the option of a Google ad which appears when their name is searched, pointing to their profile on Naymz. It's designed to encourage people to just look at the ad, get the information they need there, and ignore other Google search results.
Naymz used to also offer 'search engine flooding': camouflaging a web page that you don't want people to see. They create lots of related but postitive comment about you, and work to get that placed higher in the search engines. This 'search engine flooding' technique might eventually push the offending page to Page 2 of more of Google results, making it unlikely to be spotted. However, Naymz haven't been giving this the big sell recently, meaning it's probably not effective enough.
So, reader, the moral of the story is: be good, and if you can't be good - BE CAREFUL!
Ok, it might seem like a ‘nice-to-have’, a bit like the google images search which restrict searches to results with pictures. Or an easy way to find a person’s LinkedIn page. Or an easier way to find a long lost friend or classmate (without all the Google Search results clutter).
However, there are more ominous uses! Most notable is the trend of employers using these search engines to trawl social networking sites to find out more about potential new employees (or partners, or suppliers, or contractors or consultants…).
Suddenly, that photo of you on your friend’s Facebook page where you’re dancing on a bar table with your trousers on your head might not seem quite so funny...
Until recently, it’s been fairly easy to keep personal information personal. Watch what you say, stay circumspect about life outside the office and no-one will find out about your personal peccadillos.
However, sites like these (as well as a regular Google search) mean that your personal life is increasingly on show. Now your professional connections can search and view and wonder, and maybe even think twice about that job offer based on what they see you doing in your spare time.
Like a lot of trends, 'people-check' is slowly making its way to our shores. Krishna De reported in her blog this week that 40% of European tech firms check social media profiles of potential employees. Krishna also reports that Irish SMEs are embracing social media marketing - and this means they’re likely to use it for people-check too.
Unsurprisingly, the US market has come up with a partial solution. Naymz is an online professional network which offers members the option of a Google ad which appears when their name is searched, pointing to their profile on Naymz. It's designed to encourage people to just look at the ad, get the information they need there, and ignore other Google search results.
Naymz used to also offer 'search engine flooding': camouflaging a web page that you don't want people to see. They create lots of related but postitive comment about you, and work to get that placed higher in the search engines. This 'search engine flooding' technique might eventually push the offending page to Page 2 of more of Google results, making it unlikely to be spotted. However, Naymz haven't been giving this the big sell recently, meaning it's probably not effective enough.
So, reader, the moral of the story is: be good, and if you can't be good - BE CAREFUL!
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Running on empty
Damien Mulley talked in his blog last week about what a desperate state Ireland is in and how things look so bleak and unpromising. However, he then went on to list some of the advantages of doing business in this environment.
It’s true: though the outlook does look very bleak there are things we can be doing to win sales, develop our business and stay ahead of the competition. And the most obvious of them is... online networking of course.
It's running, because despite what you might think it will work for you. And you're doing it on empty, because it's free. If business is slower than usual and you have some down time, then use this time to get up and running online, and here are three good reasons why:
Your customers expect you to be expert, in all things!
First off, everyone is thinking about it, so if you’re a service provider and you DON’T have an online presence then you’re looking outdated and out of touch. Customers want to know that you’re ahead of the game in all things service-oriented and digital (whether this has anything to do with your business or not). So developing and maintaining an online presence is a must.
(NOTE when I say online presence I mean on professional networks, on twitter, blogging, etc. Of course you have a decent website, that goes without saying)
It's marketing, at no cost
Secondly, it’s an inexpensive way to network and win sales, particularly if you’re cash strapped. There are no associated costs, except for your time. That beats shelling out for advertising, brochures or DM mailings for sure.
It's a great way to build your expertise
Finally, it’s a great way to easily develop your expertise. You can connect with like minded people and learn from them, all from the comfort of your own desk (or PC or mobile device). Free webinars, excellent expert blogs, tweetmeets, LinkedIn group discussions – these are all available and cover your sector or industry for sure. And if they don’t then set up a group and get people talking. Once you sort out the wheat from the chaff, and figure out which ones are bringing you real knowledge (and which are wasting your time) then you can’t help but learn. and once you start to communicate this learning with your prospects and customers, then you’re actively keeping one step ahead of the competition.
So, in a nutshell, use the downtime to get online, get your presence felt there, and use it as a long term strategy to build revenue and grow your business.
It’s true: though the outlook does look very bleak there are things we can be doing to win sales, develop our business and stay ahead of the competition. And the most obvious of them is... online networking of course.
It's running, because despite what you might think it will work for you. And you're doing it on empty, because it's free. If business is slower than usual and you have some down time, then use this time to get up and running online, and here are three good reasons why:
Your customers expect you to be expert, in all things!
First off, everyone is thinking about it, so if you’re a service provider and you DON’T have an online presence then you’re looking outdated and out of touch. Customers want to know that you’re ahead of the game in all things service-oriented and digital (whether this has anything to do with your business or not). So developing and maintaining an online presence is a must.
(NOTE when I say online presence I mean on professional networks, on twitter, blogging, etc. Of course you have a decent website, that goes without saying)
It's marketing, at no cost
Secondly, it’s an inexpensive way to network and win sales, particularly if you’re cash strapped. There are no associated costs, except for your time. That beats shelling out for advertising, brochures or DM mailings for sure.
It's a great way to build your expertise
Finally, it’s a great way to easily develop your expertise. You can connect with like minded people and learn from them, all from the comfort of your own desk (or PC or mobile device). Free webinars, excellent expert blogs, tweetmeets, LinkedIn group discussions – these are all available and cover your sector or industry for sure. And if they don’t then set up a group and get people talking. Once you sort out the wheat from the chaff, and figure out which ones are bringing you real knowledge (and which are wasting your time) then you can’t help but learn. and once you start to communicate this learning with your prospects and customers, then you’re actively keeping one step ahead of the competition.
So, in a nutshell, use the downtime to get online, get your presence felt there, and use it as a long term strategy to build revenue and grow your business.
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Advertising – not the be-all and end-all
I read a blog post recently about a consultant who was trying to develop his business and wanted to advertise. This person immediately began an analysis of potential costs and returns for each advertising medium, as well as some brief analysis of who their customer might be and how best to reach them.
What he hadn’t considered at all was that advertising might not be the best way for him to grow revenue.
Businesses sometimes see advertising (often mass market advertising) as being the goal of a cash rich business – have the cash, spend it on advertising and watch the business roll in. Instead it can prove a costly mistake, either as an overall strategy or in implementation.
I worked with a client who was thinking along the same lines – this business needed to grow revenue and wanted me to advise them on how best to advertise.
First a little on the company background: the business owner/managers were two ‘techies’ who had set up an online retail business. Their expertise was technical, and certainly not consumer or retail.
I immediately called ‘Whoa there’. Mass market advertising is not always the right way to go – in fact it could bring huge problems like an inability to meet demand due to stock or resource issues, leading to poor customer service and brand damage, to name but a few.
My client was in a similar boat: our research showed that mass marketing just wouldn’t work for their business: instead they needed to build their brand and market to their specific segments, thereby growing the business organically.
A key option which I explored with them was to diversify a little: we recommended that they use their technical expertise to ‘white label’ their offering to other players in the market. Our research showed that other players were struggling to move to online retailing. These companies had the retail experience but not the technical expertise (which my client had in spades).
This strategy proved a successful one: now the client is working on technical projects they are good at, enjoy, and are growing their expertise. A little targeted advertising and brand development kept their core business in growth mode too, albeit slower than they had originally envisaged.
What he hadn’t considered at all was that advertising might not be the best way for him to grow revenue.
Businesses sometimes see advertising (often mass market advertising) as being the goal of a cash rich business – have the cash, spend it on advertising and watch the business roll in. Instead it can prove a costly mistake, either as an overall strategy or in implementation.
I worked with a client who was thinking along the same lines – this business needed to grow revenue and wanted me to advise them on how best to advertise.
First a little on the company background: the business owner/managers were two ‘techies’ who had set up an online retail business. Their expertise was technical, and certainly not consumer or retail.
I immediately called ‘Whoa there’. Mass market advertising is not always the right way to go – in fact it could bring huge problems like an inability to meet demand due to stock or resource issues, leading to poor customer service and brand damage, to name but a few.
My client was in a similar boat: our research showed that mass marketing just wouldn’t work for their business: instead they needed to build their brand and market to their specific segments, thereby growing the business organically.
A key option which I explored with them was to diversify a little: we recommended that they use their technical expertise to ‘white label’ their offering to other players in the market. Our research showed that other players were struggling to move to online retailing. These companies had the retail experience but not the technical expertise (which my client had in spades).
This strategy proved a successful one: now the client is working on technical projects they are good at, enjoy, and are growing their expertise. A little targeted advertising and brand development kept their core business in growth mode too, albeit slower than they had originally envisaged.
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Acceptable frequency of blog posts?
It's interesting that as soon as my day job gets busy the first thing to suffer is this blog.
There's a lesson there for all of you potential bloggers out there, and one I've evidently yet to learn myself.
Blogging must be regular - even if it's short - otherwise readers will look elsewhere, as I've done myself many times. It's the regularity of the posting that makes it up to date, relevant and interesting. A post that's more than a few weeks old smacks of half heartedness. It says to the reader: "Don't bother checking this blog again as this could have been my last post". We've enough to do every day without clicking through to an empty blog to check for a post. And those 10 seconds wasted out of anyone's day is an insult, if you ask me.
So, please accept my apologies for having having been such a lame poster in the last few weeks.
What do you all think - what's the minimum acceptable frquency of blog posts?
I know there are ways to get alerted for a new blog post but not everyone uses these, so let me have your thoughts.
Personally, I think two weeks is about the longest I'd be happy to leave a blog empty for. Ideally I'd like to post twice a week.So, I'm not happy with my recent lack of posts. In future, I'm going to try to stick with this limit, and if I can't do that, I'll stop blogging.
How's that for a promise!
There's a lesson there for all of you potential bloggers out there, and one I've evidently yet to learn myself.
Blogging must be regular - even if it's short - otherwise readers will look elsewhere, as I've done myself many times. It's the regularity of the posting that makes it up to date, relevant and interesting. A post that's more than a few weeks old smacks of half heartedness. It says to the reader: "Don't bother checking this blog again as this could have been my last post". We've enough to do every day without clicking through to an empty blog to check for a post. And those 10 seconds wasted out of anyone's day is an insult, if you ask me.
So, please accept my apologies for having having been such a lame poster in the last few weeks.
What do you all think - what's the minimum acceptable frquency of blog posts?
- Hourly
- Daily
- Twice a week
- Weekly
- Twice monthly
- Monthly
I know there are ways to get alerted for a new blog post but not everyone uses these, so let me have your thoughts.
Personally, I think two weeks is about the longest I'd be happy to leave a blog empty for. Ideally I'd like to post twice a week.So, I'm not happy with my recent lack of posts. In future, I'm going to try to stick with this limit, and if I can't do that, I'll stop blogging.
How's that for a promise!
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Twitter: beyond the basics (in plain english)
There's a lot being written about twitter these days, but I still think that the language used can be complex and potentially off-putting to new users. Writers also dwell a lot on the advanatages of using twitter, but not enough on HOW to use it.
In my last twitter post I described how to get started on twitter. For those of you who've now dabbled a little, here are a few pointers on how to use it more effectively, and efficiently.
Direct Messaging (DM)
This allows you to send a private message to one of your connections. It's similar to an email except it's done through twitter by typing D before their username (e.g. D kwroisin How are you today?). If the recipient is using one of the packages below, they'll see the DM on their screen. Otherwise they'll get an email telling them to log into twitter to view their new DM.
NB: Don't confuse this with putting an '@' before their username: this addresses your tweet directly to that person (e.g. @kwroisin how are you today?) but everyone else can see this message. Unlike this, DMs are private.
Using Hootsuite (or similar) for twitter
The http://www.twitter.com/ website is not the easiest way to use Twitter. It shows the last tweets by your followees in order of most recent first, and not a lot else.
What you might want to do is sign up to one of the twitter 'clients' which allow you to view several information streams at once. Hootsuite is very popular, as is Tweetdeck. I chose Hootsuite because you just need to register an account: Tweetdeck requires a software download to your computer.
I now have three tabs open on Hootsuite. The first tab (or my home page) has three columns displaying: New Tweets, my Direct Messages, and Mentions (of me or of my tweets).
One thing that puzzled me before using Hootsutie is if someone addresses me directly (e.g. @kwroisin, see above), I won't see it if I'm not using twitter at the time. However, Hootsuite stores these messages in its Mentions column, so I can see them any time, whenever I log in.
If you use MS Outlook all the time for your email, then you can download this software which allows you to use and manage twitter in a similar way to how you use and manage your Outlook emails. If you use gmail then you can use Twitter Gadget to interface with twitter. And of course you can use your phone and your iphone and more...
Using Hootsuite (or similar) to view all your social networks
The second tab open in Hootsuite shows my Facebook page, with all my Friend's updates. The third tab shows my LinkedIn page, and all the activity there.
This means that (1) I'm more up to date with what's going on in my networks and (2) I spend a lot less time logging in to various networks, entering my username and password forty times a day. What a relief.
Using Hootsuite (or similar) to schedule your tweets
If you're going to be out of the office or busy at work and you don't want to be very silent on twitter then there is a solution. Hootsuite (and other twitter clients) will allow you to schedule your pre-written tweets for whatever time you'd like to post them. So, for example, I'm at an all-day meeting on Thursday. On Wednesday, I compose four tweets and instruct Hootsuite to post them at two hourly intervals the next day. It now appears to others that I'm always at my desk and consistently coming up with interesting things to tweet about.
Finally...
There are even more tricks to using twitter efficiently but the ones above are more or less essential. For more on twitter ettiquette and how to benefit most from twitter, watch this space.
In my last twitter post I described how to get started on twitter. For those of you who've now dabbled a little, here are a few pointers on how to use it more effectively, and efficiently.
Direct Messaging (DM)
This allows you to send a private message to one of your connections. It's similar to an email except it's done through twitter by typing D before their username (e.g. D kwroisin How are you today?). If the recipient is using one of the packages below, they'll see the DM on their screen. Otherwise they'll get an email telling them to log into twitter to view their new DM.
NB: Don't confuse this with putting an '@' before their username: this addresses your tweet directly to that person (e.g. @kwroisin how are you today?) but everyone else can see this message. Unlike this, DMs are private.
Using Hootsuite (or similar) for twitter
The http://www.twitter.com/ website is not the easiest way to use Twitter. It shows the last tweets by your followees in order of most recent first, and not a lot else.
What you might want to do is sign up to one of the twitter 'clients' which allow you to view several information streams at once. Hootsuite is very popular, as is Tweetdeck. I chose Hootsuite because you just need to register an account: Tweetdeck requires a software download to your computer.
I now have three tabs open on Hootsuite. The first tab (or my home page) has three columns displaying: New Tweets, my Direct Messages, and Mentions (of me or of my tweets).
One thing that puzzled me before using Hootsutie is if someone addresses me directly (e.g. @kwroisin, see above), I won't see it if I'm not using twitter at the time. However, Hootsuite stores these messages in its Mentions column, so I can see them any time, whenever I log in.
If you use MS Outlook all the time for your email, then you can download this software which allows you to use and manage twitter in a similar way to how you use and manage your Outlook emails. If you use gmail then you can use Twitter Gadget to interface with twitter. And of course you can use your phone and your iphone and more...
Using Hootsuite (or similar) to view all your social networks
The second tab open in Hootsuite shows my Facebook page, with all my Friend's updates. The third tab shows my LinkedIn page, and all the activity there.
This means that (1) I'm more up to date with what's going on in my networks and (2) I spend a lot less time logging in to various networks, entering my username and password forty times a day. What a relief.
Using Hootsuite (or similar) to schedule your tweets
If you're going to be out of the office or busy at work and you don't want to be very silent on twitter then there is a solution. Hootsuite (and other twitter clients) will allow you to schedule your pre-written tweets for whatever time you'd like to post them. So, for example, I'm at an all-day meeting on Thursday. On Wednesday, I compose four tweets and instruct Hootsuite to post them at two hourly intervals the next day. It now appears to others that I'm always at my desk and consistently coming up with interesting things to tweet about.
Finally...
There are even more tricks to using twitter efficiently but the ones above are more or less essential. For more on twitter ettiquette and how to benefit most from twitter, watch this space.
Friday, March 5, 2010
Market research - what's it all about?
The other day a colleague commented to me on how many businesses pursue a marketing strategy without having researched their market and their customers.
I feel quite strongly that many business managers, especially in SMEs, don't have any experience of formal market research. For some, the easiest way forward is often to avoid the unknown.
Getting the customer's opinion on your new product, brand, or business idea is obviously vital - if they don't like it then you must stop, listen and adapt what you're doing. As Seth Godin says in his excellent blog, the lizard brain in all of us tempts us to forge ahead with what we want to do, what's easiest for us to do, even if at the back of our minds we know that the right thing to do is something else completely.
The successful business manager will always pay attention and react to to what their customer says they want, and the only way to hear them is through market research.
So, here's a short sharp shot at unveiling the mysteries of research. To find out more, just contact KnowledgeWorks.
There are two main types of research: Secondary and Primary. (For more info on secondary research check out this earlier blog post.)
Primary research. So called, because it's about talking directly to the primary source of information i.e. the end user or the target market. There are two main types of primary research: qualitative and quantitative.
- Qualitative research is about understanding how customers feel about something. Focus groups are often used for this: these are sessions with eight to ten people lasting for around an hour where the subject (the business idea, brand or advertisement etc) is discussed and explored at length. Sometimes in-depth interviews are also used in qualitative research: these are one to one and will reveal a wealth of sentiment about the subject.
- Quantitative research is all about numbers and measurement and typically involves asking a relevant group of interviewees what they think of something. It answers questions such as ‘how much’, ‘how many’, ‘how often’, etc. This type of research is normally carried out in the form of a (face to face, over the phone or online) survey or questionnaire.
[There are many excellent research tools that will facilitate communication with your customer/consumer, this is just an overview to get you started]
With thanks to Real Insights for Colette's input to this post.
I feel quite strongly that many business managers, especially in SMEs, don't have any experience of formal market research. For some, the easiest way forward is often to avoid the unknown.
Getting the customer's opinion on your new product, brand, or business idea is obviously vital - if they don't like it then you must stop, listen and adapt what you're doing. As Seth Godin says in his excellent blog, the lizard brain in all of us tempts us to forge ahead with what we want to do, what's easiest for us to do, even if at the back of our minds we know that the right thing to do is something else completely.
The successful business manager will always pay attention and react to to what their customer says they want, and the only way to hear them is through market research.
So, here's a short sharp shot at unveiling the mysteries of research. To find out more, just contact KnowledgeWorks.
There are two main types of research: Secondary and Primary. (For more info on secondary research check out this earlier blog post.)
Primary research. So called, because it's about talking directly to the primary source of information i.e. the end user or the target market. There are two main types of primary research: qualitative and quantitative.
- Qualitative research is about understanding how customers feel about something. Focus groups are often used for this: these are sessions with eight to ten people lasting for around an hour where the subject (the business idea, brand or advertisement etc) is discussed and explored at length. Sometimes in-depth interviews are also used in qualitative research: these are one to one and will reveal a wealth of sentiment about the subject.
- Quantitative research is all about numbers and measurement and typically involves asking a relevant group of interviewees what they think of something. It answers questions such as ‘how much’, ‘how many’, ‘how often’, etc. This type of research is normally carried out in the form of a (face to face, over the phone or online) survey or questionnaire.
[There are many excellent research tools that will facilitate communication with your customer/consumer, this is just an overview to get you started]
With thanks to Real Insights for Colette's input to this post.
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Looking good on LinkedIn
So many people just post a basic profile on LinkedIn (and on twitter too, but that's another story), gather three or four connections and leave it there. Job done.
This is a pity, because a little more time at the start will give you a lot more reward for your efforts.
Here are a few pointers to get you going on LinkedIn, if you haven't done so already:
1. Fill out the work experience section on your profile
Spend an hour or two re-hashing your CV to fit into the work experience fields. A long and interesting career looks impressive, and the LinkedIn page formatting makes it easy for readers to scan. A short and gap-filled career makes you look either (a) a bit dodgy or (b) lacking in committment to even a basic thing like getting your LinkedIn profile completed.
2. Join some groups
Spend some time browsing through the groups to find a few that fit. Again the formatting makes group updates very easy to scan and pick up anything relevant to you.
3. Get an easy view of blog posts made by your connections.
This is an easy way to keep in touch with what your connections are up to, and it makes the LinkedIn home page a little more interesting when you log in. [Add Application - on the bottom right of your home page].
4. See your tweets.
If you're on Twitter you can now connect your account with linkedin, so your twitter updates are displayed on your LinkedIn homepage. Again it makes it more interactive and informative.[Add Application - on the bottom right of your home page].
5. Get recommended
Ask some (trusted) colleagues for recommendations, but be aware that you can't edit anything they say. I'm a bit wary of this feature, as it's open to false recommendations by people's friends etc. Better to have a couple than to leave the space bare though, overall.
6. Post a picture
I can't help thinking there's something a little suspicious about people who won't post their photo on their LinkedIn profile. Is it because they're not bothered enough about networking on LinkedIn to dig out a picture (or are they on the run??)
This is a pity, because a little more time at the start will give you a lot more reward for your efforts.
Here are a few pointers to get you going on LinkedIn, if you haven't done so already:
1. Fill out the work experience section on your profile
Spend an hour or two re-hashing your CV to fit into the work experience fields. A long and interesting career looks impressive, and the LinkedIn page formatting makes it easy for readers to scan. A short and gap-filled career makes you look either (a) a bit dodgy or (b) lacking in committment to even a basic thing like getting your LinkedIn profile completed.
2. Join some groups
Spend some time browsing through the groups to find a few that fit. Again the formatting makes group updates very easy to scan and pick up anything relevant to you.
3. Get an easy view of blog posts made by your connections.
This is an easy way to keep in touch with what your connections are up to, and it makes the LinkedIn home page a little more interesting when you log in. [Add Application - on the bottom right of your home page].
4. See your tweets.
If you're on Twitter you can now connect your account with linkedin, so your twitter updates are displayed on your LinkedIn homepage. Again it makes it more interactive and informative.[Add Application - on the bottom right of your home page].
5. Get recommended
Ask some (trusted) colleagues for recommendations, but be aware that you can't edit anything they say. I'm a bit wary of this feature, as it's open to false recommendations by people's friends etc. Better to have a couple than to leave the space bare though, overall.
6. Post a picture
I can't help thinking there's something a little suspicious about people who won't post their photo on their LinkedIn profile. Is it because they're not bothered enough about networking on LinkedIn to dig out a picture (or are they on the run??)
More soon on the more advanced benefits of using LinkedIn for business. If there are any! (and yes I believe there are, so watch this space).
Friday, February 19, 2010
Time to link, blog and tweet?
Apologies for being so quiet, the office has been busy and I also went to Cork to meet with these guys: ThinkTank
Number 1, what a great name for their business, Number 2, how refreshing to meet a team of truly talented, fun and down to earth people and Number 3, yes going to Cork does feel like going to a different country! More on ThinkTank soon.
Being out of the office and then trying to catch up with things on my return has eaten severely into my tweeting, blogging and linkedin time. So one of the things I'm going to recommend to you, valued reader, is how much time each day it makes sense to devote to online business networking.
It's all very well to spend (recessionally-quiet) hours each day building an online profile but if you're serious about it then, even when you're busy doing 'real' work, you need to maintain some level of reliable and regular presence.
Here's the breakdown of time I'm currently spending on online networking:
- Blogging is the least time consuming (once you build up the habit). Having said that, this might depend on how much you enjoy writing. If you don't, then think of delegating this to a colleague. The time consuming part of blogging is reading other people's blogs, which is a necessary in order to stay up to date and maintain your industry knowledge (which in turn enables you to blog well). Maintaining a reasonably up to date blog is currently costing me 2-3 hours a week.
- Linkedin had been looking very easy on the hours, until I began to join some groups. Now the topics for discussions are all around, difficult to resist and very time consuming. I think I'll have to keep fine tuning the number of groups I belong to, and aim to partake in an average of one or two discussions every week or so. I'm aiming for 2 hours a week here too.
- Tweeting is extremely time consuming, and still difficult to get to grips with. I'm still not sure if I'm going to recommend twitter as an valuable networking tool for business - I need to give it more time (more on this soon). In the meantime though, I'm going to try to restrict myself to three hours a week.
All in all that adds up to seven to eight hours a week. Ridiculous. For a small business owner/manager, this is simply too much time to spend on one aspect of marketing.
So, I'm going to try to figure out how to cut that time down (possibly dropping twitter altogether?!). Stay tuned for more on: how to cut down online networking time and get a real-life life...
Number 1, what a great name for their business, Number 2, how refreshing to meet a team of truly talented, fun and down to earth people and Number 3, yes going to Cork does feel like going to a different country! More on ThinkTank soon.
Being out of the office and then trying to catch up with things on my return has eaten severely into my tweeting, blogging and linkedin time. So one of the things I'm going to recommend to you, valued reader, is how much time each day it makes sense to devote to online business networking.
It's all very well to spend (recessionally-quiet) hours each day building an online profile but if you're serious about it then, even when you're busy doing 'real' work, you need to maintain some level of reliable and regular presence.
Here's the breakdown of time I'm currently spending on online networking:
- Blogging is the least time consuming (once you build up the habit). Having said that, this might depend on how much you enjoy writing. If you don't, then think of delegating this to a colleague. The time consuming part of blogging is reading other people's blogs, which is a necessary in order to stay up to date and maintain your industry knowledge (which in turn enables you to blog well). Maintaining a reasonably up to date blog is currently costing me 2-3 hours a week.
- Linkedin had been looking very easy on the hours, until I began to join some groups. Now the topics for discussions are all around, difficult to resist and very time consuming. I think I'll have to keep fine tuning the number of groups I belong to, and aim to partake in an average of one or two discussions every week or so. I'm aiming for 2 hours a week here too.
- Tweeting is extremely time consuming, and still difficult to get to grips with. I'm still not sure if I'm going to recommend twitter as an valuable networking tool for business - I need to give it more time (more on this soon). In the meantime though, I'm going to try to restrict myself to three hours a week.
All in all that adds up to seven to eight hours a week. Ridiculous. For a small business owner/manager, this is simply too much time to spend on one aspect of marketing.
So, I'm going to try to figure out how to cut that time down (possibly dropping twitter altogether?!). Stay tuned for more on: how to cut down online networking time and get a real-life life...
Friday, February 12, 2010
twitter: baby steps
I've found a lot of articles on how to get the best from twitter, but at an advanced level. There wasn't a whole lot on how to get started (or if there was, it was in bite-sized tweet language with lots of mysterious abbreviations - irritating until you get used to it, and how was I to get used to it if I couldn't figure out the darn thing in the first place???)
Okay, rant over. Here is a very basic guide on how to get started on Twitter, and not embarass yourself too much in the process.
1. Go to www.twitter.com , and register a relevant username that's not too long or too difficult to spell. Write a brief and catchy profile about yourself and link to your website.
2. Log out.
3. Go to your favourite blogs, news sites, industry sites - wherever you usually read about your business or industry online. If they're bloggers, look at the list of blogs that THEY read, and read them. Make a long list of the names of people whom you find interesting and informative.
4. Return to Twitter, and look these people up. Read their recent tweets and if you still think they're interesting then click on the Follow button. This means that anything they write (or tweet) will appear on your home page.
Now, and only now, are you ready to participate.
5. Read the tweets that appear on your home page. Follow the conversations and if you have anything of value to add then type it into the box at the top of your screen. Everyone knows you only have 140 characters so I don't need to tell you that!
6. Keep it simple at the start, just read and converse about the topics they introduce. Be polite and professional. Tweeting is actually very conversational as you get going, so try to converse politely. Don't push your company. If people find your tweets interesting then they'll look you up.
A short piece about the logic of twitter which I hope you can follow:
Say I am following Enda, George and Brian on twitter, so I see all their tweets. But of course, all of their connections see their tweets too, not just me.
So, if for example George posted an important resignation notice on twitter, Enda won't see if it he's not connected to George. If I think it's relevant to my conections then I can Re-Tweet George's notice. This is a little like forwarding an email on. By typing the letters RT at the start of the message and copying in George's notice to the tweet, all my connections will now see the tweet containing George's news. [This is a nice way to spread the word about a good tweet someone has made. It might be a link to a good blog post they've made, or just an interesting piece of wisdom.]
So, now my other connections, Enda and Brian, have also seen George's tweet.
They've probably got lots of connections of their own, so if they like they can ReTweet (RT) George's message too. This means that in a short space of time, a tweet can spread across twitter like wildfire.
Okay, that's enough for one blog post. There are more complex features of twitter which I'll post on soon. Watch this space.
Okay, rant over. Here is a very basic guide on how to get started on Twitter, and not embarass yourself too much in the process.
1. Go to www.twitter.com , and register a relevant username that's not too long or too difficult to spell. Write a brief and catchy profile about yourself and link to your website.
2. Log out.
3. Go to your favourite blogs, news sites, industry sites - wherever you usually read about your business or industry online. If they're bloggers, look at the list of blogs that THEY read, and read them. Make a long list of the names of people whom you find interesting and informative.
4. Return to Twitter, and look these people up. Read their recent tweets and if you still think they're interesting then click on the Follow button. This means that anything they write (or tweet) will appear on your home page.
Now, and only now, are you ready to participate.
5. Read the tweets that appear on your home page. Follow the conversations and if you have anything of value to add then type it into the box at the top of your screen. Everyone knows you only have 140 characters so I don't need to tell you that!
6. Keep it simple at the start, just read and converse about the topics they introduce. Be polite and professional. Tweeting is actually very conversational as you get going, so try to converse politely. Don't push your company. If people find your tweets interesting then they'll look you up.
A short piece about the logic of twitter which I hope you can follow:
Say I am following Enda, George and Brian on twitter, so I see all their tweets. But of course, all of their connections see their tweets too, not just me.
So, if for example George posted an important resignation notice on twitter, Enda won't see if it he's not connected to George. If I think it's relevant to my conections then I can Re-Tweet George's notice. This is a little like forwarding an email on. By typing the letters RT at the start of the message and copying in George's notice to the tweet, all my connections will now see the tweet containing George's news. [This is a nice way to spread the word about a good tweet someone has made. It might be a link to a good blog post they've made, or just an interesting piece of wisdom.]
So, now my other connections, Enda and Brian, have also seen George's tweet.
They've probably got lots of connections of their own, so if they like they can ReTweet (RT) George's message too. This means that in a short space of time, a tweet can spread across twitter like wildfire.
Okay, that's enough for one blog post. There are more complex features of twitter which I'll post on soon. Watch this space.
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Research Vouchers
Something new from KnowledgeWorks: clear and actionable deliverables from cost-effective research - Research Vouchers.
Total Voucher covers 3 full day's research by Roisin Bell and costs E1,000 plus vat.
Research tasks under voucher scheme:
- Market sizing research
- Market structure - research and analysis
- Competitor research and analysis (profiling, SWOTs, revenue & business models)
- Product research and analysis
- Market trends research and analysis
Output and usage options for research tasks:
- For inclusion in business plan
- For inclusion in funding application form
- Internal analysis for new strategic direction
Research Vouchers are targeted at businesses, small and large, who need more intelligence on their market.
For more information just contact us.
Total Voucher covers 3 full day's research by Roisin Bell and costs E1,000 plus vat.
Research tasks under voucher scheme:
- Market sizing research
- Market structure - research and analysis
- Competitor research and analysis (profiling, SWOTs, revenue & business models)
- Product research and analysis
- Market trends research and analysis
Output and usage options for research tasks:
- For inclusion in business plan
- For inclusion in funding application form
- Internal analysis for new strategic direction
Research Vouchers are targeted at businesses, small and large, who need more intelligence on their market.
For more information just contact us.
Friday, February 5, 2010
More on Twitter, and it's not good
Ok I'm not encouraged. Over on his blog, Frank Fullard reports on new research collated by the Economist magazine:
- 10% of twitters generate 90% of tweets (compared to 30% on other social networks)
- 20% of those who have signed up have never tweeted at all
- over 50% tweet less than every 74 days.
My interpertation of these statistics is that regular tweeting will only reach a certain audience, likely to be those who are online a lot and who are heavy users of social networks. Great if this is your target market, but what if it's not? Is the whole exercise then a waste of time and resources?
The most common benefit that seems to be quoted for regular Twitter use is: if you're travelling, waiting for a plane or train, or staying in a new city etc then tweeting your whereabouts might win the attention of an old aquaintance who will come and keep you company.
Sigh. Not a key twitter-selling point in my opinion (when would I get to read my book?!)
It's not encouraging, but still, I've been tweeting for just a few days now. I'll reserve judgement for the moment!
- 10% of twitters generate 90% of tweets (compared to 30% on other social networks)
- 20% of those who have signed up have never tweeted at all
- over 50% tweet less than every 74 days.
My interpertation of these statistics is that regular tweeting will only reach a certain audience, likely to be those who are online a lot and who are heavy users of social networks. Great if this is your target market, but what if it's not? Is the whole exercise then a waste of time and resources?
The most common benefit that seems to be quoted for regular Twitter use is: if you're travelling, waiting for a plane or train, or staying in a new city etc then tweeting your whereabouts might win the attention of an old aquaintance who will come and keep you company.
Sigh. Not a key twitter-selling point in my opinion (when would I get to read my book?!)
It's not encouraging, but still, I've been tweeting for just a few days now. I'll reserve judgement for the moment!
On twitter for business (in Ireland)
I haven't made up my mind about twitter for business. Yet.
I think that the true worth of twitter, especially for business, only comes once you've established your presence and built a back catalogue of tweets, followers and followings. Once you've listened and understood how others comment, then you can start to tweet in a way that's valuable to your business.
I'm going to give it a try.
I have to be honest though, I'm not expecting much. I believe (from the outside) that Twitter is essentially a personal social tool, not business. But let's wait, and tweet, and see.
The big hitter opportunity will arrive when I've something I want to promote, or to test. Until then I'll tweet and watch, and listen. And I'll keep you posted.
And in the meantime, here's some good reading for you: an interesting piece from US-based Mashable to get you started on why the big brands tweet, and how they do it.
I think that the true worth of twitter, especially for business, only comes once you've established your presence and built a back catalogue of tweets, followers and followings. Once you've listened and understood how others comment, then you can start to tweet in a way that's valuable to your business.
I'm going to give it a try.
I have to be honest though, I'm not expecting much. I believe (from the outside) that Twitter is essentially a personal social tool, not business. But let's wait, and tweet, and see.
The big hitter opportunity will arrive when I've something I want to promote, or to test. Until then I'll tweet and watch, and listen. And I'll keep you posted.
And in the meantime, here's some good reading for you: an interesting piece from US-based Mashable to get you started on why the big brands tweet, and how they do it.
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Free membership of the ICS for 6 months
This is very unusual, perhaps the ICS needs to boost its membership numbers? Or perhaps they're just doing a good turn for other recession hit businesses whose membership fee budget is one of the first to go.
Whatever the case it's a great deal. Click here to register.
Whatever the case it's a great deal. Click here to register.
Thursday, January 28, 2010
On blogging for business (in Ireland)
Some blogs make money through advertising, and through blatant promotion of its own products - nothing wrong with this if your readership doesn't mind. One good example is beaut.ie, with a reported 15,000+ hits a day. Another is Donal Skehan's goodfoodmood blog, and he's using it to help sell his books and his profile as an Irish chef.
More often however, blogs are a means of building a company's brand, and spreading their image as an authoritative leader in their field. This in turns leads to familiarity, trust, and a willingness to engage with and recommend. Many business related blogs in Ireland are based on this model. Some examples are: mine!: knowledgeworks, bizgrowthnews, and Damien Mulley.
Here are the basics for starting your blog:
- Pick your subject area or niche and begin writing about, commenting on and analysing your (hopefully interesting) area of expertise. Be fairly specific about what your subject is - vagueness won't win you any regular readers.
More often however, blogs are a means of building a company's brand, and spreading their image as an authoritative leader in their field. This in turns leads to familiarity, trust, and a willingness to engage with and recommend. Many business related blogs in Ireland are based on this model. Some examples are: mine!: knowledgeworks, bizgrowthnews, and Damien Mulley.
Here are the basics for starting your blog:
- Pick your subject area or niche and begin writing about, commenting on and analysing your (hopefully interesting) area of expertise. Be fairly specific about what your subject is - vagueness won't win you any regular readers.
- Blog regularly, at least once a week. Any blog I look at will quickly ditched if the last post is more than a couple of weeks ago. The value of blogs is that they are regular snippets of valuable information - occasional one-off snippets just don't cut it.
- Keep it short and sweet. Not quite tweet-like, but long blogs don't make sense to me. Perhaps it's because of the layout on the page, perhaps it's because I go there expecting a snippet rather than an essay. Perhaps it's because blogs are personal and informal, and a long personal and informal posting doesn't appeal. It smacks of ego, conceit and blather, to be honest.
- Market your blog. One of the best ways to do this is to comment on other blogs. If your comment is interesting enough then people are likely to click through on your link to your own blog. Of course you should also link to your blog through your website, your email signature, your Facebook and Linkedin profiles, and anywhere else you can think of.
Offline promotion can also be of huge value, but this depends on your business and your customer profile (e.g. if you've a tennis coaching business and you blog on Irish tennis then do of course place flyers on tennis club notice boards).]
There's lots more to talk about, particularly on blogging worldwide and associated trends.
Short is indeed sweet though :) so I'd better listen to myself and leave it there for now! More to come though so watch this space...
Friday, January 22, 2010
The Attack of the Social/Professional Networks
Do you ever feel like you're being attacked from all sides by reqests for linkedin connections, facebook friend requests, and followers on twitter?
Does it feel sometimes that you spend all your time updating your profiles, and not enough actually working? I guess the success of these efforts depends on the business we're in, and our need. Certainly we're told by the 'experts' that not maintaining these presences is online business suicide, and I can see where they're coming from with that. But is this going to help us win business, or are we just covering necessary bases?
Moreover, it's evident that getting good search engine results is all about maximising the quality of our content, on our websites, profiles, blogs etc. So we spend yet more time refreshing our content, but to what avail?
Does it feel sometimes that you spend all your time updating your profiles, and not enough actually working? I guess the success of these efforts depends on the business we're in, and our need. Certainly we're told by the 'experts' that not maintaining these presences is online business suicide, and I can see where they're coming from with that. But is this going to help us win business, or are we just covering necessary bases?
Moreover, it's evident that getting good search engine results is all about maximising the quality of our content, on our websites, profiles, blogs etc. So we spend yet more time refreshing our content, but to what avail?
A quick and dirty search reveals a dearth of specific examples of increases in sales through use of a blog or linkedin etc. Instead, there are many examples of slow burning successes: improvements in networking and knowledge-sharing and improvements in brand visibility and general image. Internationally there are amazing stories of new product launches or media campaigns which have taken off through Twitter or Facebook.
On a local level however, I think some more justification is required. For example, this blog is quite new, and in order to ascertain just how much time and resources I should devote to it, some more detailed research is in order.
In fact any business which is considering spending time every day or every week on online networking or blogging must justify this use of resources.
So, my mission for the next few days is to do just that - justify the time we're spending in defence of the Attack! Stay tuned for the results...
Thursday, January 21, 2010
China China China
Morning Ireland reported on China's return to double digit economic growth today (how do they do it?). (Here's how: "A 4 trillion yuan ($585 billion) fiscal stimulus package was complemented by an unprecedented surge in lending by the nation's predominantly state-owned banks, ensuring that China was the first major economy to recover decisively from the credit crunch." - Irish Times, 21/01/10)
Interestingly one of the things they say China has a market for (in terms of Irish exports there) is baby goods. Hence a big opportunity for Abbott and Wyeth, to name but a few.
I quake with excitment at the idea of doing business in China, and at the realisation that westernised products such as these that are so basic for Irish consumers have potential there.
Just imagine the thrill of setting up a business exporting to China, getting the mechanics of production and distribution right first time, and then focussing on growth. Pure, almost unending growth. The huge challenge would be getting procedures right to enable this growth, to allow the business to take on the opportunity.
Eesh, that's almost too much excitement for this time of the morning. Any other entrepreneurs who have a business idea that you think will fly in China, please get in touch! Get KnowledgeWorks on board!
And in the meantime, check out Entperise Ireland's info on doing business in China.
Interestingly one of the things they say China has a market for (in terms of Irish exports there) is baby goods. Hence a big opportunity for Abbott and Wyeth, to name but a few.
I quake with excitment at the idea of doing business in China, and at the realisation that westernised products such as these that are so basic for Irish consumers have potential there.
Just imagine the thrill of setting up a business exporting to China, getting the mechanics of production and distribution right first time, and then focussing on growth. Pure, almost unending growth. The huge challenge would be getting procedures right to enable this growth, to allow the business to take on the opportunity.
Eesh, that's almost too much excitement for this time of the morning. Any other entrepreneurs who have a business idea that you think will fly in China, please get in touch! Get KnowledgeWorks on board!
And in the meantime, check out Entperise Ireland's info on doing business in China.
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
DON'T waste time, DO research!
- Who are you customers?
- How many of them are there?
- What are they currently buying?
- Do they need you?
- Who are your competitors?
- Is anyone doing your ‘thing’ already?
- Are they doing it well?
- Are your customers happy?
- How can you talk to them and sell to them?
- Can your customers afford you?
- Are you cheap or expensive?
These are the kinds of questions you need to ask if you're an early stage business or you're considering expansion into a new area or niche.
Don’t go spending your hard earned euros on product development, early stage sales efforts and marketing – DO this research first and find out if it’s worth the effort.
- How many of them are there?
- What are they currently buying?
- Do they need you?
- Who are your competitors?
- Is anyone doing your ‘thing’ already?
- Are they doing it well?
- Are your customers happy?
- How can you talk to them and sell to them?
- Can your customers afford you?
- Are you cheap or expensive?
These are the kinds of questions you need to ask if you're an early stage business or you're considering expansion into a new area or niche.
Don’t go spending your hard earned euros on product development, early stage sales efforts and marketing – DO this research first and find out if it’s worth the effort.
And for help with your research and analysis, contact KnowledgeWorks.
Trendspotting: what's for sale?
January is the fun month for trend spotting, and http://www.trendwatching.com/ are the definite leaders when it comes to this.
One trend that caught my eye, probably because I see evidence of it here in Ireland, is ‘sellsumers’. These are consumers looking to profit from their assets with novel ideas for generating hard cash.
Some examples:
- http://www.parkatmyhouse.com/ Post the parking space in front of your house for rent, especially if it’s near a train station or in the city centre etc. It can be rented by the month or just by the day.
- People are also renting out spare storage space in their houses or premises, camping space on their land, and B&B for hotel weary travellers.
- Our own Irish initiative for selling excess energy back to the grid is one which is gaining ground internationally, as more countries and US states look to implement it.
- Raiding the attic for jewellery to sell is also a trend which is very evident here in Ireland: several companies now encourage consumers to sell their gold and make a quick buck.
There are plenty of other examples of this trend in web content, design and manufacturing.
I wonder what opportunities there are for Irish business? This is definitely the time to start thinking laterally about these ideas. As delegates at Checkout Conference for Retailers were told this week: slashing prices was the strategy for 2009, if there’s nothing more to be done on prices then 2010 is the year for thinking creatively about new ways to sell to consumers. Perhaps retailers should partner with imaginative ‘sellsumers’ for some fresh ideas.
To flesh out the market for your novel idea contact KnowledgeWorks, the leaders in secondary research and analysis.
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Multi channel sales
Shopping around for car insurance today reminded me of something I’d read from Forrester recently about multichannel ebusiness. Personally, I like to do my research online, but more often than not, switch to the phone for my purchase. In the case of car insurance I like to speak to a real person before purchase, mostly to ask for a further discount! (haggling is now cool again in case you weren’t aware, more on this to come).
I’m typical of the majority of consumers, according to Forrester. They say 70% of consumers like to research online before purchasing via another channel.
What a pain I hear you say. Yes, unfortunately this does mean that businesses today must invest in a range of channels, and make sure that content and customer service are excellent in each one. Customers are likely to be using more than one channel so all bases must be covered.
Don’t forget though, the customer is king, so paste a smile on your face as you go back to your telephone scripts, website content and your brochures – it’s unavoidable I’m afraid!
I’m typical of the majority of consumers, according to Forrester. They say 70% of consumers like to research online before purchasing via another channel.
What a pain I hear you say. Yes, unfortunately this does mean that businesses today must invest in a range of channels, and make sure that content and customer service are excellent in each one. Customers are likely to be using more than one channel so all bases must be covered.
Don’t forget though, the customer is king, so paste a smile on your face as you go back to your telephone scripts, website content and your brochures – it’s unavoidable I’m afraid!
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Full circle research
We’re starting the new year with change at KnowledgeWorks.
Instead of being slush and snow-bound, slipping our way into 2010 on slippery ice, we’ve put a strong foot forward with a new strategy for clients.
(Apologies for all the slippery metaphors!)
We’re now offering clients a full-circle research service. Our core area of expertise is secondary research (more on this in the coming days), but we’re now partnering with the best in Irish primary research to offer clients a one-stop shop.
No more dealing with several different firms for your business plan research, your client interviews and your questionnaires. We will organise it all for you from one source. Plus, you can be reassured that we work with the best and demand the best from our partners.
It’s a good deal for our clients, and we hope you like it.
For more on our partners click here
Here’s to a happy and prosperous New Year
Instead of being slush and snow-bound, slipping our way into 2010 on slippery ice, we’ve put a strong foot forward with a new strategy for clients.
(Apologies for all the slippery metaphors!)
We’re now offering clients a full-circle research service. Our core area of expertise is secondary research (more on this in the coming days), but we’re now partnering with the best in Irish primary research to offer clients a one-stop shop.
No more dealing with several different firms for your business plan research, your client interviews and your questionnaires. We will organise it all for you from one source. Plus, you can be reassured that we work with the best and demand the best from our partners.
It’s a good deal for our clients, and we hope you like it.
For more on our partners click here
Here’s to a happy and prosperous New Year
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