Learn From Your Competition: 4 Questions You Should Ask Yourself

Competition doesn't always have to be the enemy. Competition can also be a valuable learning tool.

In today’s social media age, it is easy to keep an eye on your competition. As mentioned in the “why all businesses should be on twitter” blog it’s a way to see what customers are saying about them. But there are a lot of other things you can learn from them throughout social media.

 Here are a few questions to ask yourself about how your competition interacts with their customers and also how their customers interact with them on Facebook.

         What type of posts get the most responses from their customers?

    What type of specials are running through their fan pages?

What type of information are they putting out there?

          How active are they and does it seem to be working?

New Years Resolutions Businesses Should Make in Social Media

Losing weight and getting in shape is a popular resolution for most individuals each year. However ; individual resolutions aren't the only ones that should be made in 2013. Businesses should have them as well to help jump start their New Year and get off on the right foot. Here are 3 social media resolutions businesses should make for 2013:

1. Create more social media focused specials: One of the main reasons customers become a fan of a business on Facebook or follow them on Twitter is to take advantage of special offers. If you haven't taken advantage of this outlet yet, start in 2013.

2. Interact more with your customers: As stated in the Twitter Numbers Game blog posted last week, it's not always about the quantity of people, but the quality. Social media is all about the networking. Start talking to your customers. Offer up surveys about new products and questions about current ones. Encourage them to share their experience with a testimonial and answer any questions they might have. Start building relationships and trust and you'll have customers for life.

3. Post more pictures: Current social media studies show that customers respond more to visuals than words. Show them your products in use or your employees hard at work. Anything that can make your customers get a feel for your culture and what you stand for will help you become more relatable to them.

What resolutions have you made for your business in 2013? We'd love to hear them!

The Twitter Numbers Game

As we spend our days tweeting, retweeting, uploading pictures and interacting with our followers, we dream of the day we can be as successful as the likes of Kim Kardashian. But is a substantial number of followers the real end game for a business? Not necessarily. 

The goal of twitter for businesses is to interact with their customers. To gain their trust and show your commitment to a product or service you create. The more you create valued content, interact with customers, show useful photos and information about your business, the more followers you will receive because they will want to see what you have to say. Creating value and a reason for someone to want to follow you is more important that just trying to up your numbers.

What you should be tweeting about?

1. Special promotions available specifically via social media: This gives customers a continued reason to follow you as these promotions are exclusive.
2. Information about your company: People need to get to know you and what you are all about. Introduce your employees, share the process of creating your product etc. Giving an inside look is a great way to gain trust and rapport. The more a customer can relate to you the more likely they are to stick around.
3. Up and coming products customers would be interested in: Leave people always wanting more. Show them that you are hard at work, listening to their wants and needs. Keeping your name in the front of their mind is very important with the flood of information they receive these days via social media. Always keep them informed of your next steps. 
4. Sharing customer testimonials and pictures relating to your product and business: If a customer takes the time to validate you, show them your appreciation. Share their thoughts. A happy, valued customer is your best marketing tool. 
5. Share Your News: Share your success! Let your followers know about an award you one, an article you're featured in or a milestone you've reached. It's OK to boast every once in awhile. Shout it out loud and be proud!

Most businesses may never reach Lady Gaga status, but if you're  interacting with the right audience and sharing the type of information your audience wants to hear, you will in the end, build the type of following you need. The type of following who will share tour tweets, buy your products, recommend you to others and interact with you on a daily basis. 

This is the type of following we are tweeting for!

Using Pinterest Wisely

There are times that Pinterest can seem intimidating to even the most veteran social media advocates, but once you take a minute to delve through its categories and format, you will find it’s not really as scary as it looks. In fact, it is quite beneficial for the individual and the business owner.

Pinterest is becoming a fast growing social media outlet for businesses to expand their reach. Pinterest users on average spend at least an hour each time they visit the site. Those using Pinterest follow 3% more retailers on Pinterest than on Facebook and 1% more than on Twitter. It has over 14 million users!

There is so much a business can do with Pinterest to be noticed by their target market and to gain followers.

·         Like and comment on other pinners pins. This will get you noticed and send traffic to your boards.
·         Make sure all of your boards description sections are filled out with relevant details
·         When re-pinning, don’t just leave whatever comment happens to be on their, make it unique to yourself, your customers and your brand.
·         Create boards relevant to your product and make sure the website the pin comes from works. Pinners get frustrated when they would like to see where the original post came from and find it doesn’t exist.
·         Pin beyond your product. 

• Here are a few companies who have mastered the use of Pinterest for their business. Study it and learn from them.

·         Contests. I bet you didn’t know you could do contests on Pinterest did you? This is a great way to get your name out there, but it is also a fun way for users to engage. If your customers are enjoying something, they are much more likely to not only join in, but stay involved even once the contest ends.

• Homes, a real estate company, created a very interactive and unique contest on Pinterest we wanted to share with out readers. Here is a description of it.

We hope all of these new ideas will get you motivated and your mind stirring with new ideas!

Creating a Brand Image That Deserves to be Heard

Creating a successful brand is much more than just a logo or a great advertising pitch. It's cohesively bonding all aspects of design, marketing and campaigning together to create some beautiful music. Developing a successful brand has many different components that need to be focused upon. Doing each of these components well will not only help show consistency and increase your brand image, but it will make your story come to life by creating a vision within your customers minds. 

• Create a logo that is visually appealing and easily recognizable to customers
• Establish a memorable tag line. Tag lines that are easily remembered are short and to the point, humorous or emotional and resonate with the product or service you offer.
• Build a marketing campaign that is parallel to your company's value and mission. Make sure that it is organized as well as carefully planned and executed. A good marketing campaign should be thought out 3, 6 or even 12 months in advance. 
• Employees that represent the company are a very big part of your brand image. They must be customer friendly, helpful and presentable.
• Your website should be up to date at all times so customers are aware of all that is being offered. It should be easy to navigate, useful and eye-catching.
• All social media sites must be active and contain content that is valuable for your customer base

By carrying out all of the above and making sure you are representing all aspects of your brand in a positive way, you are showing your customers that you care about them and your business.Going that extra mile, makes all the difference when it comes to your company being first in your customers mind. You don't want to be just like your competition. Who wants to blend in when they were born to stand out?

The 3 E's of an Effective Marketing Campaign

Here at Evoke Creative Group we are all about storytelling and getting your products and services in the minds of your customers by creating a memorable and engaging story people can relate to. But what makes a visual marketing campaign effective? It’s simple, the 3 E’s.

Enduring 

At the end of the commercial, you want people to remember you and what you are trying to sell. The campaign needs to be durable and able to hold a place in your customers mind long-term. Long after the commercial has ended. This can be done by using a tag line (15 minutes could save you 15 percent or more on car insurance-Geico), a well known icon (Peyton and Eli Manning-Oreos), a humorous character or action that catches people attention (Talking Baby-eTrade).

Emotional

A story that engages a customer’s emotions is another way to create a lasting impact. Actions speak much louder than words, so let the visual do the talking and draw your customers in. Pulling at their heart strings or their funny bone is much more likely to resonate with them because they can feel it. A prime example of an emotional commercial is the SPCA.

Efficient 

An efficient commercial allows each customer to interpret the story for themselves. It allows them to answer the questions: how will this be valuable to me and how will I benefit from this. Any good story will convey a call to action to the viewer. This must be clearly stated in the story in order for the ad to be effective. Nike and their Just Do It campaigns have almost perfected this. Very little words, lots of action with no doubt what they are trying to convey and to whom.

I’d like to end this post with one of the newest commercials in 2012 that specifically touches on all of the above that I find quite ingenious and creative. It uses a celebrity to endorse the issue, the story line is humorous and by the end of the commercial you know exactly what message the commercial is trying to get across. Well done Play 60, well done.