Top 3 Reasons Webinars Work

Webinars are great, cost-effective tools to help market your financial institution, whether your target is increasing number of products for current clients or looking for new clients.  Remember though, it is important to not be sales-saturated in your webinar, but rather provide value through education on worthwhile topics to your target audience. Below are the Top 3 Reasons why Webinars work:

1. They add value: A webinar creates value for the participant. It is an affordable way to create goodwill and customer loyalty, add value, and to stay top-of-mind.
2. They position you as the go-to expert: If you are the presenter, you must be an expert, right? Another option is to bring in other experts to your webinar and offer them to your customers.
3. They engage your audience: It is not enough these days to have a static website. People expect more. Webinars are a great tool that engages your audience and helps you forge a closer connection to your customers.

Webinars can market your financial institution, increase customer loyalty and develop new streams of revenue. Add a webinar (or two or three) into your next campaign and watch your campaign results grow.

Cheers to you,

Melissa

Learn more here.

Chat with me LIVE!

Or contact me directly (click here).

If computers get too powerful, we can organize them into committees. That'll do them in.
- Unknown

MarketMatch is a full-service marketing consulting firm, dedicated to the credit union and community banking community.  We utilize knowledge-based strategies to help you FOCUS on the efforts that will generate MOMENTUM and yield the greatest RESULTS for your bottom line.

Are We Spending Too Much Time on Social Media?

Many of us have spent numerous hours researching and learning about social media marketing along with keeping up with the trends, not to mention interpreting regulations, when in fact, only 22% of the time Internet users are actually on social media sites. (via Visual Economics) So what about other avenues of Internet marketing that can bring your company numerous benefits along with stretching your limited marketing dollars?

There are multiple Internet marketing avenues, including, but not limited to; remarketing, search engine marketing and various online ad opportunities. 

All of these tools give us many benefits over traditional marketing including tracking real-time results and instant conversion ability. In addition, you’re able to target your audience by demographics, geography (Geo-targeting), behavior and context, allowing you to place your message to a specific target in your specified trade area.

• Demographics – Age, gender, income, home ownership, and business ownership, are among a few of the options you can narrow down your audience target to include.
• Geo-targeting allows ads to be served based on a user’s geographical location whether by state, city, zip, radius to your branches, etc.
• Behavioral targeting is when ads are served based on the user’s behavior. These are based on a variety of online factors such as previous online purchases, searches, browsing history and can include demographic details as well. For example, if a customer recently visited a site looking for homes you could pinpoint this customer to receive your mortgage loan display ad.
• When ads are served based on related content a user is currently reading or browsing online, it is known as contextual targeting. For example, if you are reading an article on a news website about a bank charging for debit cards, you may see contextual ads for debit cards with no fees from other FIs.

Internet advertising is a smart option for you to consider stretching your marketing dollar and getting results. In addition, your cost per impression (CPM) for Internet advertising is lower than traditional media. If you haven’t targeted this avenue with your marketing campaigns, 2012 would be a good time to give this a try. The dollars you spend to get results will be less than you expect, often less than just one newspaper ad.

If you have questions or need help getting started, contact any of us at MarketMatch.

Cheers to you,

Melissa

Learn more here.

Chat with me LIVE!
Or contact me directly (click here).

Life is not about how fast you run, or how high you climb, but how well you bounce.  – Unknown

MarketMatch is a full-service marketing consulting firm, dedicated to the credit union and community banking community.  We utilize knowledge-based strategies to help you FOCUS on the efforts that will generate MOMENTUM and yield the greatest RESULTS for your bottom line.

Tips on Creating / Refining Your Mobile Website

Where are you with your mobile site? Do you have one? Even if you don’t per se, people are visiting your website using their mobile devices. I wonder if the need for a dedicated mobile version of your website will go away in a few years as mobile devices progress? Not to mention those who predict the web will be fully “appified” (as in apps) in the coming years, which is an entirely different ballgame. Until then, however, it may certainly be worth your time to develop a mobile site and strategy.

In the spirit of being transparent, I haven’t built a mobile website before, and don’t claim to be a mobile expert. That said, in my former life at WIStv.com, I would help clients develop a mobile strategy and would also oversee their mobile ad campaigns. I’m sharing 4 things I learned below, and encourage you to visit my friend’s blog (Tim Gluth) for his tips as well. He’s built a mobile site and is quite brilliant, too!



A few things to consider when building your mobile website…
1. Make your mobile site easy to navigate. Some things that work well on a traditional website don’t translate well onto mobile. I found a great article on mobile website building and some excellent examples over on Noupe.com here.

2. Place your phone number(s) and other important contant information clearly on the homepage (if applicable)…people visiting via mobile may very well want to contact you for more info!

3. Have fun with your content, and by all means, keep it up-to-date! If you are a programmer (or know a talented one), consider setting up a different mobile banner to top your page each day of the week. I know this is possible, because it’s something we did for clients at WIS. For example, if you are a restaurant and have a different daily special each day, create 7 banners to reflect those specials, and have the automatically change out based on the day a person visits your mobile site. Make sense? Even if you aren’t a restaurant, there are still many fun things you can brainstorm and execute similar to this.


4. Events rule – If you are a local business hosting an upcoming event, your mobile site is a great place to promote it. Even better, enable technology that will allow the person to add the event to their calendar on their mobile device (anyone reading this have a good recommend? – Comment below, please. Thx!)

Don’t forget to visit Tim Gluth’s 4 great tips on “going mobile” over here…enjoy!

PS – If you are a mobile-website-buildin’ expert, comment below or contact me at lauracotero (at) gmail (dot) com. I would love to expand the list above and will link to your site/blog. Thanks!

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Creating a Facebook Business Page &/or Taking It Up a Notch!

Do you have a business and are ready to create a business page (formerly known as a Fan page) on Facebook? The actual creation process only takes a few minutes, but there are a few important things to consider/include on your business page before you begin officially promoting the page (and before you begin inviting your friends and customers to “like” your biz page).

First things first, if you haven’t created a business page on Facebook, follow the steps below…
1. Login to Facebook
2. Paste this link into your browser: http://www.facebook.com/pages/create.php
and begin creating your page.

Now that you’ve created your page, there are many things you can do to really set your page apart. Below you’ll find a quick rundown of these tweaks and “things to consider” before applying them to your biz page.

10 Tips on Taking your Facebook Business Page Up a Notch!

1. Name with Care
Remember that the page name you choose for your business can't be changed later, so name with care! If you are running a small business and include your name in the facebook business name (such as "XYZ Company by [your name here]), keep in mind that if your business grows and you add other partners, you can't modify the Facebook business page name later to include their names, or to remove yours.

2. Upload an oversized profile photo
200 pixels X 450 pixels is a great size to start with. Not too big, so you don’t look like you are over-doing things, but nice enough to make a great first impression. Example over on my jewelry page here: www.facebook.com/dreamydesignworksjewelry

3. Create a “Welcome Screen” to display the FIRST time someone visits your page
Great place to offer an incentive and showcase your work – wonderful example here: http://www.facebook.com/MackenzieImageConsulting?ref=ts. Here is a tutorial on how to create a “welcome” screen: http://www.openforum.com/idea-hub/topics/technology/article/how-to-build-a-facebook-landing-page-for-your-business-matt-silverman

4. Create a Company Summary (just below your profile photo)
There is a handy little box just under your business profile photo that will say “write something about [business name] here”. Go ahead and click on this to include a friendly blurb or two about your business.

5. Include your website link in your Company Summary
Include a link to your website in your company summary (see step 4 above). This is prime real estate on your biz page, and a great place to drive folks to visit your storefront/website (thanks, Trevor for this tip!)

6. Don't forget to create a photo album/albums
I think it's important to have created a few albums (or at least one) so first time visitors will have lots of goodies to look at. To do this, while on your biz page, click on the "photos" tab. There you can create a new album and upload photos, etc.

7. Don't Overlook the Info Tab
Fully fill out the “info” tab on your page. This is where you can list company information and link to your website, etc.

8. Invite your Friends to “like” your business on Facebook (formerly known as becoming a fan). While on your fan page, look below your profile photo. You should see "suggest to friends". Click this and highlight the friends who you would like to invite to "like" your biz page.

9. Create a biz page badge to place on your website/blog
This is a great way to drive traffic into your Facebook business page. If you have a blog, it might not be a bad idea to officially announce you’ve created a biz page on fb and invite your readers to “like” you. There is a great page on Facebook with info on how to grab the code for this to place on your blog... www.facebook.com/badges/page.php

10. Monitor your progress using Facebook “insights” tool
Within the first few days, it will be important to learn how access your "insights" for your fan page on facebook. Go to your facebook fan page after you've logged into facebook (when you login, go to "account" on top right and then to your "manage pages" and your biz page). You should see an "insights" area on the left hand side of your biz page (only you can see this). Click on "see all" and then "view old page insights" to get to the good stuff. You can see how your page is growing, and the level of interaction, etc. It will take a few days to get to this data, since it isn't available to first day or so (too new for your page).

11. YOUR tip here...
If you have a tip you'd like to see included in this list, just comment below! Thanks.

I hope you find this information helpful as you promote your business on facebook!

Laura
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Top 10 Mistakes Made/Lessons Learned on Twitter

I joined Twitter in July of 2007. Learning how to effectively use Twitter to connect with friends and meet new people was certainly a work in progress for me. If only I'd known then just what a powerful networking tool Twitter was! Looking back at my own twitter journey, there are a few things I wish I’d known before I started tweeting. I’m a big fan of lists, so here goes…

Top 10 Mistakes Made/Lessons Learned on Twitter
1. First Impressions First: You make a first impression with your Twitter profile/page in a matter of seconds, if that. If you haven’t taken the time to “brand” yourself, be sure to put the thought, time and effort into creating this brand BEFORE you attempt to make connections on Twitter.

2. Your Background Counts (twitter background, that is)
Your twitter profile background makes up a significant part of your first impression. If you’re skilled at Photoshop, you may choose to carefully design your own, otherwise, it may be best to go with a twitter background site design such as http://www.twitterbackgrounds.org or http://www.twitter-backgrounds.net). Remember, nothing too cutesy or outrageous. Professional is best.

3. You know what they say about a picture…( it’s worth a thousand words)
The same holds true for your profile picture on Twitter. My advice would be to choose a professional-looking photo that isn’t too uptight. Some people incorporate a company logo into their profile photo if there is room. If you’re tweeting for your company, the company logo may serve as the best profile “photo”.

4. Who Are You, Anyway?
In your twitter bio, you are tasked with describing (in 160 words or less) who you are, what you do, and why you came to the party. Be strategic, but not braggy! Avoid terms like “expert”, “ninja”, “master”, etc. Have a little fun. Show you’re well-rounded and looking to connect with other like-minded professionals.

5. Checkin’ You Out…
You have the opportunity to share a link to your website. You only have one link, so you’ll need to make it count. Since you’re limited in your profile description, your website link is the next-best place people will go to learn more about you. Whether you link to your homepage, a blog, or your facebook page is up to you, but think about the pros and cons to each before you proceed.

6. Tweet FIRST, Friend Later: This one goes along the same lines as the first tip. If first impressions are first, then think about this with me for just a moment…You’ve dressed up your twitter page with a professional background, you’ve artfully written your “bio” and carefully selected just the right photo for your profile. Now, you think it’s time to “connect” or “friend” as many people as possible, starting that second! Word to the wise…hold your horses! The first thing most people do when they are making the decision about whether to “follow” you back is pull up your twitter page. Essentially, they are checking you out to see if you are legit. When they see you’ve made only one “hello, world!” tweet, you’ve discredited yourself. The chances of them following you back, unless they are personal friend, are slim to none. As much “give” as you’ll find in twitter, there is equal “take”. What I mean by that is quite simply, people don’t want to waste their time “following” your tweets if they don’t think you have anything to contribute. My advice (from personal experience) would be to spend several days or even weeks tweeting before you attempt to build your connections. Make sure your tweets are well-rounded and a good representation of who you said you were in your bio.

7. Make Your Connections Count
The temptation initially is to make as many connections as humanly possible on twitter. Try your best to resist this urge! You’re new to Twitter, and making hundreds of connections right away may result in you being overwhelmed with your tweet stream. Furthermore, it may also send a red-flag to Twitter that you are abusing the system, putting your Twitter account in jeopardy. Start small, making legitimate connections. Then actually attempt to engage in meaningful tweets. For example, if you have an interest in art, connect with local artists on Twitter. Tweet about their work and what you find most interesting about it. You’ll find they will typically respond back with a tweet and mention, thanking you and engaging back.

8. It’s what you DO with your account that matters
You can have thousands of followers, but if you haven’t made legitimate connections with any of them, you may find yourself lost in the crowd. Be consistent in your tweeting. Initially I set a goal to tweet something at least once a day. My goal was even more specific than that, since I actually had a goal to not only tweet once a day, but to use that tweet about something related to marketing. Whether it was a link to an interesting marketing article, or to retweet something another marketer had posted, the goal was one tweet a day.

9. Re-tweet (RT) with care
My tendency initially was to re-tweet instead of coming up with my own tweets. Re-tweeting is actually a great thing, but you want to be careful not to become known as a constant re-tweeter who never has anything original to say. Try to create a balance between re-tweets, original tweets, and conversational tweets.

10. Give Back!
Once you’ve formed a circle of tweeps, BE THERE when they need help. It only takes a few minutes to help point someone in the right direction when they’ve asked for assistance. Helping others is a great way to show your tweeps that you’ve connected with them because you DO care. The other day someone I follow on twitter said she needed help finding a good online RSVP company. I had experience with e-vite, but took a few minutes to search the web for other RSVP companies. I scanned a few articles quickly and did a variety of searches. Less than 5 minutes later, I had 4 companies that I could recommend she check out. I was sure to mention I only had experience with e-vite, but that the others may be worth a look. A few minutes later, I had a thank you tweet from her. We’d officially “connected” in a real way. You’ll find the more you give, the more you get. I’ve been blessed with generous help and tips more times than I can count through the power of twitter. After all, isn’t connecting with and helping others what we are here to do anyway?

Great how-to/best practices guides available from Lyris at no cost!

If you haven’t visited www.Lyris.com lately, now is the time! I have found Lyris especially helpful in publishing helpful “how-to” guides that walk you through best-practices from start to finish. Their papers are free after submitting a pretty straightforward request form.

Go to the Email Marketing Resources page to see a full list of great free articles.

Here are a few of my new favs…

Email Design No-No’s Guide for Non-Designers – Ten things Marketers and Designers need to know

Rescuing Problem PPC Campaigns: 7 Metrics You Must Consider – Discover seven key metrics needed to optimize your paid search marketing efforts.

Spring Clean Your Email List: 5 Easy Steps – Practical tips for removing old email addresses and re-engaging inactive email subscribers.

Be sure to scroll down the resources page to the full list of free webinars Lyris also offers!

How to Improve Your Facebook Fan Page

Do you have a business and are ready to create a business page (formerly known as a Fan page) on Facebook? The actual creation process only takes a few minutes, but there are a few important things to consider/include on your business page before you begin officially promoting the page (and before you begin inviting your friends and customers to “like” your biz page).

First things first, if you haven’t created a business page on Facebook, follow the steps below…
1. Login to Facebook
2. Paste this link into your browser:http://www.facebook.com/pages/create.php
and begin creating your page.

Now that you’ve created your page, there are many things you can do to really set your page apart. Below you’ll find a quick rundown of these tweaks and “things to consider” before applying them to your biz page.

10 Tips on Taking your Facebook Business Page Up a Notch!

1. Name with Care
Remember that the page name you choose for your business can't be changed later, so name with care! If you are running a small business and include your name in the facebook business name (such as "XYZ Company by [your name here]), keep in mind that if your business grows and you add other partners, you can't modify the Facebook business page name later to include their names, or to remove yours.

2. Upload an oversized profile photo
200 pixels X 450 pixels is a great size to start with. Not too big, so you don’t look like you are over-doing things, but nice enough to make a great first impression. Example over on my jewelry page here:www.facebook.com/dreamydesignworksjewelry

3. Create a “Welcome Screen” to display the FIRST time someone visits your page
Great place to offer an incentive and showcase your work – wonderful example here:http://www.facebook.com/MackenzieImageConsulting?ref=ts. Here is a tutorial on how to create a “welcome” screen:http://www.openforum.com/idea-hub/topics/technology/article/how-to-build-a-facebook-landing-page-for-your-business-matt-silverman

4. Create a Company Summary (just below your profile photo)
There is a handy little box just under your business profile photo that will say “write something about [business name] here”. Go ahead and click on this to include a friendly blurb or two about your business.

5. Include your website link in your Company Summary
Include a link to your website in your company summary (see step 4 above). This is prime real estate on your biz page, and a great place to drive folks to visit your storefront/website (thanks, Trevor for this tip!)

6. Don't forget to create a photo album/albums
I think it's important to have created a few albums (or at least one) so first time visitors will have lots of goodies to look at. To do this, while on your biz page, click on the "photos" tab. There you can create a new album and upload photos, etc.

7. Don't Overlook the Info Tab
Fully fill out the “info” tab on your page. This is where you can list company information and link to your website, etc.

8. Invite your Friends to “like” your business on Facebook(formerly known as becoming a fan). While on your fan page, look below your profile photo. You should see "suggest to friends". Click this and highlight the friends who you would like to invite to "like" your biz page.

9. Create a biz page badge to place on your website/blog
This is a great way to drive traffic into your Facebook business page. If you have a blog, it might not be a bad idea to officially announce you’ve created a biz page on fb and invite your readers to “like” you. There is a great page on Facebook with info on how to grab the code for this to place on your blog... www.facebook.com/badges/page.php

10. Monitor your progress using Facebook “insights” tool
Within the first few days, it will be important to learn how access your "insights" for your fan page on facebook. Go to your facebook fan page after you've logged into facebook (when you login, go to "account" on top right and then to your "manage pages" and your biz page). You should see an "insights" area on the left hand side of your biz page (only you can see this). Click on "see all" and then "view old page insights" to get to the good stuff. You can see how your page is growing, and the level of interaction, etc. It will take a few days to get to this data, since it isn't available to first day or so (too new for your page).

And a few more great tips/articles with more FB goodies...

~ How to set up Google Analytics for your Facebook fan page (as I write this, Google Analytics is more robust than the stats you may be able to access within FB):http://www.webdigi.co.uk/blog/2010/google-analytics-for-facebook-fan-pages/

~ Great article on 13 ways to move your Facebook fans into action: http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/13-ways-to-move-your-facebook-fans-to-action/

~ eMarketer article on finding consumers on Facebook: http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?R=1007518

~ Great article on 5 quick ways to improve your Facebook SEO: http://smallbiztrends.com/2010/03/5-quick-ways-to-improve-your-facebook-seo.html

~ Great article from Mashable on 4 easy ways to engage your Facebook fans: http://mashable.com/2010/03/19/facebook-fan-engagement/

~ A list of articles from “Who’s Blogging What” with even more Facebook articles that may interest you: http://www.whosbloggingwhat.com/issues/2010/04132010/useful_facebook

Incentives for Facebook “Fans”

Have you noticed how many companies are offering incentives for Facebook "fans"? I've seen such a trend that it seems you could get a free coupon, discount, product, etc. just about every day on Facebook if you play your cards right.

I've heard arguments that some may feel this is bribery and portrays false loyalty that may quickly fade after the freebies stop coming. Others have felt it is worth the time and cost to gain a new "fan" base. At first, I leaned towards agreeing with these arguments. Over time, my thoughts on this have evolved.

I am guilty myself of becoming a "fan" of a product on Facebook to get a free discount/coupon or sample. Perhaps it is due, in part, to the economy. After all, I certainly wasn't using coupons or getting excited about free samples a year ago. I don't become a fan of just anything to get a freebie, but if it is a product I have used in the past or have an interest in trying, I will often become a fan.

At one social media panel, I heard people say the "fans" would disappear overnight, and that offering these kinds of incentives to gain a fan might be perceived negatively and have the opposite effect as desired. At first, I tended to agree with these arguments. However, after a few months of being a fan of various companies/products on Facebook, I can say that I am actually a fan that sticks around after the sample/coupon.

Understanding why I have remained a fan is something I'm exploring. I feel a little indebted (perhaps it's guilt) to remain a fan since I received something out of the relationship. Many of the companies I became a fan of have continued to keep the communication coming, whether on Facebook, via email or text, and I'm becoming less of a faux-fan and more of a real one. It certainly helps with the product/sample I received (such a Purex washer/dryer sheets) turns out to be quite good.

There are a few companies I have become a "fan" of that I've been a fan on long before Facebook. Coca-Cola is one such company.

As a marketer, I value a well executed campaign, and have been impressed with how the communication from many of these companies has been just right. Not too much, not too little. It's as though these companies may understand that they are actually winning over an existing Facebook "fan" to become a true brand loyalist.

What are your thoughts on this trend?

Top 10 Companies Doing it Right on Twitter

I receive Larry Chase's Web Digest for Marketers. If you aren't signed up, you should consider it!

Read about the Top Ten companies who are using Twitter right, according to Web Digest for Marketers.

The Marketer's Social Media Cheat Sheet (thanks Twittown!)

This is one of the best roadmaps to social media that I've come across in a long time! This one's going on my wall for sure. :)

Article

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Top 10 Trends for Retail Marketing in 2010 (courtesy @TheBlakeProject)

I came across a post from The Blake Project on Twitter that was too timely not to share...

We have all seen how the web has truly transformed the way that consumers research, share, and make purchasing decisions.

After you have read the top 5 trends, continue reading The Blake Project article for the full list of 10 trends.

Read Trends...