Now you have to engage your followers to take action and turn those 1,500 fans into 1,500 repeat customers.

Everyone says “engage,” but what does that actually mean? It means give someone a reason to act on your Facebook post.

Give them a reason to respond — usually it’s because they will get your feedback or feedback from fellow Facebook users.

Incentive goes a long way online.

Engage also means give people a reason to come back and don’t give them a reason to not come back.

Ever had a non-responsive run-of-the-mill waiter at a restaurant or bad food at a so-called great restaurant? How many times did you go back? The same is true for social media. If you give someone a great experience or at least are trying to give them an experience — heck if you even show them you’re paying attention, you’re ahead of most.

And remember, like you do with your current customers, treat your online friends or fans like actual people and not just their representation in zeros and ones — aka digital code.

While traditional coupons work, think of social media as a way to get to the forefront of your customer’s their mind and stay there.

Fast food chains don’t have to advertise to let you know they’re out there, part of why they advertise is to keep their brand and associated products, words, etc. in your head so when you get hungry you associate that feeling with their food.

Social media can work like that as well.

Just make sure you’re being yourself so your Facebook posts don’t come across as fake and contrived.

Next, consider creating a social media policy or plan. Once you’ve identified the platforms, assess how much time you can devote to using them. If you only have 15 minutes a day, Twitter is probably your best option for keeping customers informed of news and updates. 30 minutes can allow for Facebook updates, such as pictures of events and products. If you have more than 30 minutes, consider crafting a blog post with interesting information about your company or helpful hints and techniques for your customers. You can create articles from your blog posts and add them to article submission sites to spread the word on your company beyond your followers and customers. Even one blog post a week can work wonders.

Here are some quick tips on making the most of your time:

1. It’s not about who posts the most. It’s about who stands out. Find a niche or an angle that makes you unique so you become a leading knowledge source.
2. Take five minutes to answer questions via social media. You will engage followers and potential customers, and show you care about questions and feedback.
3. Be sure all of your social media platforms work together. Keep your messages consistent and link back and forth between platforms. You’ll best maximize your time this way.

Keep these time-saving techniques in mind and use them to revamp your current social media actions.

For over a year now, I have preached the gospel of content.  More content.  Better content.  Relevant content.  Just keep generating and distributing content…it’s the “software” of marketing.

While preparing content and materieals for the launch of the “new” Burst Marketing, I’ve broken my first commandment:

“Thou shalt never stop producing new content.”

While attending to new clients and the launch of a new business, I ingnored the responsibility to connect with Burst Marketing’s readers.  And such, Google rankings are down.  I’ve lost some continuity with readers.  I’ve been a bad boy.  And I apologize.

So let my misguided ways be your beacon of light.  Once you start your blog, newsletter, friending campaign, tweeting, or however you communicate with your peeps – don’t stop, never stop.

That’s just the way it is.  See you next week.

Posted by: Steve Banis

A brief glance across the room. Penetrating eye contact and a smile. A brush of the hand…

Well you get the idea.

Good marketing aims to move beyond seduction.  To take a “passer by” beyond fascination with your shiny new thing to legitimate and immediate target.  That means dinner, dancing, and dating.

It’s rational economics.  Moving them through the sales cycle by helping them see the true cost of NOT acting.

Stoke their fascination. Make friends. Have rational conversations. You offer a solution, or excitement, or notoriety. Whatever problem they really want to solve.  And you do it at a justifiable cost.  It’s not just money. Sometimes its not money at all.

Its time, comfort, or prestige for example.

Make it easy for them to talk to you. Online, offline, in person. Let them get involved with you – with forums, social media, and live events.

What brought them to your door was only skin deep.

What brings them into your living room is the comfy couch, great music, good coffee, and intelligent conversation that connects.

Posted by: Steve Banis

I heard a discussion on NPR last Friday that should cause anyone interested in Social Media to reflect on its use.  The maelstrom of information and ‘expert’ opinions out there casts doubt on their voracity, and drives people to seek the opinions of friends and others they trust.

Motion picture promoters spend months and millions carefully crafting their campaigns.  They rely on the buzz they generate to translate into good box office results – even if their movie is a bit of a stinker.  They hope the receipts are in before word get out.

Enter Twitter.

Today’s hip moviegoer starts tweeting minutes after the opening credits.  By the time the movie is over, hundred if not thousands of opinions are scattered about to followers everywhere.

Sorry Sacha.  But I guess Bruno stinks.  Because business dropped 40% between Friday and Saturday night.

So yeah, properly done, your message will probably get out.  Guess it better be a good message.

“That’s the way it is”

I was too young to remember Walter Cronkite in his heyday.  At the time of his signature television reports of the JFK assassination, Vietnam, Apollo 11, and Watergate, among others, I wasn’t yet 10.

But that doesn’t prevent me from knowing and understanding his primary legacy – truth, trust, consistency, and character.  He wasn’t called “Uncle Walter” or named the most trusted man in America without good reason.

Although those of us in the marketing business are often charged with helping to shape public perception – Walter Cronkite stood for ensuring that the basis of our perceptions was reality.

Posted by: Steve Banis

Content is king, now more than ever. In the May 29th, 2009 edition of the Albany Business Review, I mentioned that distribution of content is separating ever more quickly from the production of content.

Traditional electronic and print content mediums are joined by mobile broadcast and by websites, blogs, social media outlets, email, video and audio streaming and other online content distribution channels to blur the focus of where people get their content.

As the where becomes more fragmented, the what becomes the central hub of your communication plan.

To put a spin on a piece of advice mom may have once given you…

‘it’s not how you say it, it’s what you say.’

Targeting is still important – very important. But the reasons for that and the execution of it are different than they used to be not so long ago. Targeting now comes first in the form of content and next in the area of placement. Cost per 1000 or GRPs are too misleading today to be reliable measures of spending effectiveness.

Your target may be listening or watching something one moment and then seconds later be somewhere else. Trying to hit them in a single spot is like tracking a mirage in the desert. Don’t try.

Content is the one constant you can control.

Posted by: Steve Banis

You give readers a chance to get to know what you’re about and provide them a forum for discussing your ideas. Posting regularly (at least once or twice each week) offers search engine spiders the one thing they crave most: new content. So it helps with SEO.

The best blogs try to provide a service to readers. Good information, insights, and tips. That’s what keeps them coming back and builds your credibility.

Blogs also provide an essential service to its creators…it lets them think out loud.

We take in so much information that it’s hard to remember all of the little observations that can turn into big ideas each week. So writing is a chance to noodle through your thoughts, organize them, and pick out a few gems.

Panning for gold

This process goes on all over cyberspace. And readers are the big winners. You can mash up your favorite blogs using your reader. This allows you to decide which “gems” have value to you.

My fellow bloggers are some of the most brilliant and creative people on the Web. I use their ideas in my business and for my clients almost every day.

I’d like to share a few of the best resources I’ve found on the web for marketing ideas and information in hopes that you’ll find a little extra help in these difficult times.

• • • •

(the brief descriptions are by EvanCarmichael in his post last year)

• • • •

Duct Tape Marketing Blog – The award-winning John Jantsch offers his astoundingly practical advice, tips and tricks for small business marketing.

Seth Godin’s Blog – One of the most famous names in the industry, Seth Godin’s blog has long been a favorite for all things small business marketing. As the author of the most popular ebook ever, his blog never fails to give you advice you need.

Marketing Profs – What started as a simple blog by marketing professor Allen Weiss in 2000 has today turned into a fully-staffed venture that provides marketing know-how and offers valuable B2B articles and event information.

Brand Autopsy – How do you conduct a marketing physical for your brand? Check out John Moore’s blog to find out.

Marketing Sherpa – Using case studies, surveys, and other techniques, Marketing Sherpa researches what works – and what doesn’t – in all things marketing. (BMB note: Emarketers and online merchants will find studies by affiliate Marketing Experiments extremely useful)

• • • •

This list is by no means complete. In the future I’ll try to add to it so you can extend your own blog library.

…your comments on the burstmarketingblog are always appreciated.

Posted by: Steve Banis

Twitter is all the rage. Facebook is adding thousands of fans. LinkedIn and MySpace are like old friends. There are millions of subscribers in them thar servers and marketers are gonna be darn sure they get their share.

Hold on little doggie

It’s true. Social media can be a very effective component of your overall marketing mix. But it’s not a panacea. Think of your social media profiles as a sort of virtual satellite office.

Your “headquarters” is your web site. It’s where you want to drive traffic, show them your wares, make your offers, capture their attention, and add them to your community.

The personal profiles and groups you create on places like Facebook are a distribution channel for your content that propagates from your website and related items like your blogs.

Direct marketing begins with the identification and location of your target audience. You want to deliver your message wherever they hang out, play, live, and work. Many of them are now on social media sites. That’s the reason you want to be there – because they are.

Be a good host

Of course, once your “satellite office” is open, you’ll need to “hang out a sign” and tell people you’re there. Invite them over. Serve some drinks. That’s where the real hard work comes in.

Just like on-site SEO, it takes hours and hours of tedious and focused work to make your social media effort successful in the long term. And like in real life, you need to network your way in with the cool people (at least those that are perceived as cool by your targets). Be seen in other popular groups. Participate in discussions. Show your personality. And again, invite people over.

Now do that day after day. Week after week. Month after month.

Leverage your customers, your prospect email lists, and other communities you’re involved in. Invite them to your groups.

And always have something for group members to do. Play a game. Watch a video. Go to an event.

A good host always has a plate of cookies out on the table for guests.

Social media works. It may seem less expensive on the surface than other forms of marketing communications.

But it sure ain’t cheap.

Posted by: Steve Banis

Basically, professional investors think that when the little guy has caught on – the big opportunity is over.

That brings me to the hot topic of social media marketing.

The time for the easy money is over.

But that won’t stop many advertising agencies and social media ‘experts’ from trying to cash in on the enthusiasm of the masses.

Here’s what tells me that the “go-go” days of social media are over-

This past week, my partner Laurie attended a panel discussion here in the Albany area with 3 marketing hot shots talking about social media. That was just one of at least 5 different events on the topic scheduled for the the greater Capital Region in the next 30 days.

The topic is hot as a pistol on Marketingprofs and MarketingSherpa as well.  Local chambers and economic development groups are allowing some marketing insiders to get on their social media soapboxes as well.

As they used to say, “everybody’s doin’ it.”

Social media isn’t free

So should you think the social media trend is flaming out?  Well…yes and no.

While Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube, Stumbleupon, Squidoo, and hundreds more social sites are adding thousands of new members a month – only a few marketers will tell you the truth.

It takes tenaciousness, dedication, ingenuity, and an interesting point of view to make a mark in social media.

Most people are coming to seriously consider social media as a marketing tool because of two main reasons:

1. They’ve heard about it for some time from their ‘cool’ marketing friends and now they want to do it too
   
2. They’re hard pressed to find cheaper ways to market and many think social media is free

The first reason reminds me of my mother asking me if I’d jump off the Brooklyn Bridge if everyone else was ‘doin it.’  The second reason is total bull.

For social media to work, it needs to be a part of a broader integrated marketing program. You’ll need to feed it with content, content, and more content.  Interesting content. Useful content. Provocative content. By the way, it’s the same with blogs – the last trend everyone had to do.

Now the web is littered with abandoned blogs.  Soon it’ll be littered with abandoned social net pages and bookmarks as part of a program that some advertising agency or marketing firm sold you.

Marketing is hard work. It doesn’t have to cost a fortune, but it doesn’t follow the “Field of Dreams” strategy either – “if you build it, they will come.”

No they won’t.

Begin with a purpose for your social media effort. Find traditional as well as unconventional ways to get the word out about your page. I’ve seen many use Ebay, Craigslist, and the local coffee shop to gather followers. You’ll need to become a part of the culture. by commenting on others’ blogs and posting on others’ walls.

Bottom line – the little people have caught on. Now the real work begins.

Posted by: Steve Banis

For those of us in the marketing business, the Super Bowl is more than the game on the field and the halftime show. It’s about the strategic decision to spend $3 million for a 30 second ad and how to make it pay off (although the economy has forced some last minute discounting by the network).

Since you’ll be thinking about advertising during the game (at least some of the time), here are the 3 biggest lessons to remember:

1. Don’t Hide - the economy makes it even more important to communicate
2. Get Permission – because so many people watch for the ads, they’re basically giving you permission to sell to them.
3. Integrate – use different tactics to get more bang for your buck. Smart Super Bowl advertisers make every attempt to integrate Internet and social networking tactics, along with advance PR and direct marketing.

I typically root for the underdog. Phoenix in this case.  To me, it’s like helping a smaller business beat the big guys. I like winning smart.

Speaking of smart, here’s Mary Ann Rogers’ take on the big game and the need to keep your message out in front.  (Steelers 27 Cards 20; My heart’s with the Cards but my head knows better. Now if the Cards had a running game…)

The Super Bowl is here

People everywhere are stocking their fridges with an endless supply of beer, chips and deep-fried goodies.

And since I have no personal affiliation with either of the teams playing in Sunday’s game, I will resign myself to watching the next best thing – the Super Bowl commercials!

Taking into account the current economic state and the fact that a thirty second spot costs a whopping $3 million, can we expect this year’s commercials to be as effective as in years past?

In previous blog postings, Burst Marketing has advised area businesses not to run for cover during a recession, but rather market smarter and more efficiently. And from the looks of a recent CNN.com article, several big-name NFL sponsors like Anheuser-Busch, Audi, Bridgestone, FritoLay and GE are doing just that. (Click here for more.)

It’s Worked Before

Anheuser-Busch, famous for their Clydesdales and talking bullfrogs, has been a cornerstone of Super Bowl advertising for years, winning the top spot in USA Today’s “Ad Meter” for the last decade. This year the brewer has recruited comedic star Conan O’Brian and purchased an additional 30 seconds of air time, ramping up their total commercial time to four and a half minutes.

Anheuser-Bush chief creative officer Bob Lachky said, “We’re trying to reassure the viewer, and our consumer, that we’re here and we’re strong and we’re never changing.” (Click here for more.)

That’s exactly the right message to send in this economy. Remind your target audiences that you’re relevant and reliable.

“What makes the Super Bowl unique is that this is the one time every year where, instead of complaining about advertising, we celebrate advertising,” said Peter Blackshaw, chief marketing officer for Nielsen Buzz Metrics. “You can’t really beat the reach.”

But not everyone is embracing this idea of recessional-style marketing. Past Super Bowl advertisers FedEx and General Motors will not be running ads in this year’s game. Blaming the economy and “bad timing,” these two giants aren’t willing to pay the hefty price tag for ad space.

“As a country, we are in unprecedented economic waters,” said Steve Pacheco, managing director of advertising at FedEx. “A Super Bowl ad buy is not where we should put dollars at this time although, in the past, the value of doing so for FedEx has been indisputable.”

While most Capital Region businesses won’t be running ads in the Super Bowl, the need to out in front of your target audiences is still the same.

So if anyone gives you a hard time for paying too much attention to the Super Bowl commercials on Sunday, just tell them its market research.

Posted by: Steve Banis and Mary Ann Rogers