Social Media Competition for Thames Valley Business EXPO Windsor 13th June 2013… join in the fun if you can drive attendees… obviously just sit back and watch the pros if you’re a light weight 
Calling Windsor business owners and those planning on attending The Thames Valley Business EXPO… news just in… an opportunity for you to shine in more ways than ONE!
When you attend an exhibition the organisers will hand you a goodie bag as you enter. Mostly full of flyers from exhibitors who have paid for their insertion into the bag… well now is your chance to have your flyer or goodie placed in the bag for FREE… yippee, something for nothing… almost.
The EXPO is on the 13th June and we want to get as many business people as possible registered sooner rather than later… as we stand around 275 are registered to attend, an excellent number 6 weeks out. It would be great to see 500+ pre-registered before the big day…
A goodie bag can only contain a certain number of items… 20 flyers + 5 goodies would make for an excellent gift for the businesses that attend. To make choosing whose flyers & goodies go in the bag fair, we need to run a competition.
What we can monitor is registrations… so it’s a very straightforward competition… those that drive the most registrations get to shine the brightest
• Registrations who say you recommended them score you 20 points
• Tweets containing #WindsorEXPO score 1 point, RTs 2 points
• LinkedIn Updates #WindsorEXPO score 2 points, likes 3 points
I can search Twitter & LinkedIn easily for the #WindsorEXPO, Facebook is not so straight forward but use it and other social media and digital marketing channels, like your newsletter, as registrations introduced by you count 20 points.
Obviously, if you WIN you’ll need to provide a minimum of 500 goodies or flyers…
So let’s get this party started… cut off date is Monday 3rd June 2013… registrations will be counted and verified and the TOP 20 winners made aware of their contribution to the event. The official announcement will be on the day and the actual winner celebrated throughout!
You can register via the link at the top of the EXPO website…
Thank you.
Jon
07717 820823
| Article Categories: | Business Networking,Joined up Social Media Campaigns,Social Media Competition,Social Media Strategy,Social Media Thoughts,Social Networking,Twitter |
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Twitter trainers building walls around their ivory towers!
I’m loving using auto-tweets on Twitter to say hello to new people who say something relevant to my world… but some twitter trainers prefer to build walls around their ivory towers to avoid actual real time social media engagement! They must be from the marketing department
Most recipients of my auto-tweets obviously don’t respond, they just click through to the articles, scan them and continue on their life journey…
Of those that respond, 80% are positive and happy to make a new acquaintance… but there are 20% who throw some form of negative response back. I assume they attended a Twitter course run by a marketing person who hates the thought of actually having a proper conversation, they’d much rather keep their distance and position some marketing spiel as thought leadership instead.
Me, I come from a sales background and enjoy the banter of real life conversations. I love it when someone has an opposite opinion but is solid enough in their belief that they can have a proper conversation about it… but it does annoy me when some Twitter Negative Twit (TNT) throws over a “You can’t spam me with your stuff ‘cos I know way more than you about engagement. I’m in Marketing and have a degree don’t you know!”
Yawn, yawn… it’s not so much their comment, it’s when they block me from responding back… they throw over the dynamite and then build a wall quick, just in case they might get an intelligent response back that they’d have to deal with.
I’ll lock and load a few of those responses later, need to go put the tea on before the Mrs gets back and there’s another explosion
Thank you.
Jon Davey
07717 820823
| Article Categories: | Content,social influence,Social media engagement,Social Media Strategy,Social Media Thoughts,Social Networking,Twitter |
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Social Media Engagement… Get Your Heart Racing at Windsor Racecourse Business EXPO
Millions of people are engaging on social media platforms in 2013, with millions more looking on asking, “What’s the point of social media, what have I got to say that anyone is going to find remotely interesting?”
In the words of one famous magician, the response might be, “Not a lot!”
Then again, maybe you just have something others would like to hear… my wife said to me the other day, “The emptiest vessels make the loudest noise”… not heard that phrase before so after giving her the “look”, I checked Google and Wikipedia tells us “As empty vessels make the loudest sound, so they that have the least wit are the greatest blabbers,” from the early English author William Baldwin (1550′s hence his poor grammar!).
There is certainly plenty of social media noise, lots of babbling going on… what we require, to take social to the next level of maturity, is for those with insightful comments to feel inspired to step forward and add their two penneth to the conversation. Those that can add some value and in so doing make themselves known to a wider audience… although, for many, that’s the bit they don’t want and so don’t engage in the first place!
In the days of Baldwin you might be known by 50 people in the local area… in 2013 this can be 1000+ in the blink of an eye… and before the day is out 1,000,000+ might hear your words… should they be witty enough
So we need to get a few hearts racing, people inspired to take that next step…
On Thursday 13th June, a week before Royal Ascot, at Windsor Racecourse the Thames Valley EXPO will be taking place and a few of the speakers have been announced… Brad Burton, Warren Cass and Jon Davey…
Brad certainly knows how to tell a good story… we captured this last year… careful ladies, he’s a bit of a charmer…
Warren will tell you about his favourite subject and as for a our very own Jon Davey…
All these three guys have pioneered a path that others feared to tread but have, once at the party, leveraged for their own ends… worth a couple of hours of your time to come and see if they ignite a spark in your mind… hopefully leaving you wanting more…
We’re looking forward to seeing you on the day… hopefully we’ll help you see the value of taking those first steps into social media engagement… this could get your heart racing… but that could simply be the fillies in their short skirts on what is bound to be a beautiful summers day in June
If you are planning on joining us or have seen Brad, Warren or Jon present before and would like to share a few thoughts, do add them to the comments below…
Thank you.
Jon Davey
Sales & Marketing for Web 2.0
Encouraging Positive, Proactive Participation
SOCIAL MEDIA DIRECTORS
01753 852904
Selling & generating business leads in 2013 compared with 1993
What are the differences between selling & generating business leads in 1993 compared with 2013? The world keeps spinning on its access, no change there then… we all need to eat, although Wagon Wheels aren’t what they once were
In 1993 I was working for Vistakon, part of Johnson & Johnson, selling Acuvue disposable contact lenses to opticians in the north of England. My original patch had been the M62 to Scotland but with the recent promotion of my Scottish colleague into management, I was asked to launch the 1-Day lens in Scotland…
Opticians are professionals and so that meant the majority were more concerned with the health of their patients than simply making a pile of cash… I’m not involved in that market these days but I like to think that is still the case.
I had a car phone & a Renault Laguna which allowed me to drive up to Aberdeen & Inverness in the north, Newcastle in the south, Edinburgh to the East and Ayr to the West… guess where I was living!
I’d built a database using Access 1 to help me with my call cycle… this was a new patch and I needed to understand the account profiles and so building a system that allowed me to manage my connections made a great deal of sense. This way I could identify the key account in an area, make an appointment with them and then drop in on the others to say hello, only making fixed appointments where necessary.
While covering my previous patch I was able to encourage the professionals gently towards fitting Acuvue and only needed to make appointments with 2 accounts out of 200 I set up… I’d launched the original Acuvue disposable contact lens in the north of England.
One media campaign in The Yorkshire Post involved encouraging 50 opticians to spend £30 each to be part of the advertorial… I match funded this and we had 3 or 4 insertions in the paper… the advertorial won Best Co-operative Advertising Campaign for United Newspaper Group… this would have been around 1990… I still need to chase up a copy of that award, so if you know someone who can help, do connect us… thank you.
I had gained the trust of the opticians by calling on them regularly, not ramming my message down their throats but simply building the relationship which saw them try a pair on a patient and evaluate the benefits for them… if it worked, they’d try another… and then another until 6-9-12 months later they were convinced that Acuvue had a place in their practice… if they were commercially minded then they would fit loads because the profit margin was very good.
In 2003 I had been running my own business for 4-5 years and was banging the doors of marketing & PR companies about the benefits of email marketing as a great marketing tool and the fact that the click through tracking provided the sales team with evidence of interest in a product or service. Back then, if you immediately followed through with a phone call, they would have thought it the work of the devil… leaving it a couple of days was seen to be the balanced approach… today you need to be calling them while they are thinking about it, as they click and it is fresh in their mind!
Html emails offered the ability to send a quality email, with pictures, for the viewers enjoyment… today these same emails are seen very much as an intrusion into someone’s day… we are really at a point of information overload… trying to please all the people all the time and therefore we only want essential messages coming through to our email accounts.
In 2013… I have spent the last couple of years preaching social media and still many are reluctant to join in… it’s less an age thing and more a resistance to change within each and every one of us. Those who just love the sound of their own voice will dive into tools like Twitter and share far and wide… younger people are using it to share their next move so others can join them mentally or physically!
If you have fun products then sharing them on Facebook makes sense as that has been the fun place to be… although as the accountants have moved in and egos have taken over, the people are looking for somewhere new to go and hang out…
LinkedIn is the best social media business tool in the box as it allows people to communicate in groups, connect directly and share their latest business moves in real time… other members can then log in as their time or their preference allows and review the moves of others while considering discussion topics and sharing opinions.
If you are looking for a new job, LinkedIn allows companies to share their profiles and promote job opportunities to their huge database… 11-12 million members in the UK means that most business professionals are choosing to at least add a few words about themselves on the platform, making it the most logical place to go and find fresh talent.
As well as new employees, the platform also allows you to search for your perfect customer… what is the profile of your perfect customer? What do they want to know about you, if they choose to click through on your profile image? You’d best make it clear and engaging… see what you think of my profile…
So how is selling and business lead generation in 2013 different, compared with 1993?
Technology, rather than giving us more time, has increased the urgency within us to deliver… if not for our own gratification, to meet the expectations of our mangers and in turn theirs.
If people are able both mentally & practically able to make a decision on a subject quickly then fantastic, away we go… but if they are middle management, with more than one master to please, then this could be an arduous task as their priorities are changed daily… is that any different to 1993? Faster and less personal comes to mind…
The upside is the key decision maker will have a full diary and therefore as they, as individuals, become more comfortable with technology, they will be happy to review online, rather than in person, make a decision and catch up at the relevant industry award dinners!
Most simple products and services can be sourced online and so ensure your e-commerce system is the smoothest it can possibly be to make that straight forward purchase, straight forward.
Use social platforms… make them work for you, creating, building and strengthening relationships with those around you.
On balance the best piece of advice I can give you in 2013 is to ensure your LinkedIn Profile is saying who you are and what you can do for another… this way, when that perfect client comes virtually walking by, they will have no choice but to make a connection… and as they say, the rest will be history
People still deal with people… they just make decisions more quickly… so best make sure you are talking to the right person at the right time!
Also, make sure you add your two penneth on the difference between 1993 & 2013 to the comments below… this site has great SEO and so adding comments will enhance your own… assuming you need a little pull up the rankings
Thank you.
Jon Davey
Sales & Marketing for Web 2.0
Encouraging Positive, Proactive Participation
SOCIAL MEDIA DIRECTORS
01753 852904
Will ONLY the best social media do for you?
If you run the best marketing agency… or the best sales lead generation company… the best PR company or the best of anything, when it comes to thinking about who to turn to for social media advice, then obviously ONLY the best social media director will do
I’ve just reviewed the social media marketing solutions on offer from Social Media Directors in 2013. The links below will take you to a few words on each of our best social media services:
And at the start of 2013 we’ll have some fun with our Social Media Awards… if you spot something that looks like fun, share it with us and we’ll shine a light on the best social media.
Thank you.
Jon Davey
Sales & Marketing for Web 2.0
Encouraging Positive, Proactive Participation
SOCIAL MEDIA DIRECTORS
01753 852904
Lucky Thirteen Social Media Strategies for 2013
Hi, my name is Jon Davey and I’ve been helping people build their businesses for 13 years… for thirteen years before that I was working for “the man” and after seven years of watching what has become known as “social media”, the ability to communicate easily online with other people for the purpose of business, education or just fun, it is becoming increasingly clear that all we hear from the PR machines of the BIG social media platforms is BIGGER numbers… after all we all want to be millionaires, or better still billionaires… don’t we?
The only way to be successful in business is to LIKE it! Social Media is the answer to all your problems…
Or is it?
I recall being shown statistics on the relative power of the key elements of your message… I’ve just tried googling it to quote it properly but hey, too many have key worded pages for what I’m looking for, making it useless as I’m not going past page 1 in my quest for information… I’ll just pull out the key factor and make it fit the rhythm of my story…
13% of the power of your message is in the words you use to deliver your communication… so as one little chap would say, “Not a lot!” and he owns Mother Shipton’s Cave in Knaresborough… I wonder what she would have thought of today’s technology and its ability to spread her prophesies?
Lucky Thirteen Social Media Strategies for 2013:
1. The key to successful social media engagement is FOCUS… if you have 13,000 “fans” but only 13 are listening then consider focusing your energy on just the 13…
2. Hey, perhaps you could give them a call and CHAT things through? Radical!
3. KISS – Keep it simple stupid!
4. Create a clean, focused WEBSITE. It doesn’t have to have a fancy design, make it work for the viewer. Who is your target market? Kids who want bells & whistles or older folk who just want the basic info presented in a traditional way, in a font they can read without adjusting their settings?
5. Have a BLOG… not because you are going to write some amazingly interesting article every day, you may hate the thought of having to put pen to paper! The aim is to use it to share the content of others and in so doing get more pages indexed for the search engines… on every page of your blog have a nice big button taking folk to your main website which is dressed accordingly.
6. EMAIL NEWSLETTER… you can write and add your own articles to the blog to create credibility but then you may prefer to add your own pros to your main website, your place for sharing deeper thoughts with those who have a real interest in what you have to offer… rather than the 80% of folk who are simply dashing around, unsure why!
7. If what you sell is fun then having a FACEBOOK profile makes sense… but if your are more B2B, perhaps consider just using Facebook for keeping in touch with family… until a better solution with less interested in simply selling your data to the highest bidder comes along.
8. TWITTER is great for saying hello… it’s not really any good for meaningful conversations… use Twitter to say hello to strangers and then move them onto other more engaging platforms, like email or the phone, to add real value.
9. Say hello using Twitter via AUTO-TWEETS! Over 60% of my own web traffic during 10 days of Christmas (22nd – 31st Dec) came via Twitter while I enjoyed the holidays… was I wrong to do it? Better ask those who responded!
10. Polish your LINKEDIN PROFILE… present what you’d like to be doing next and see if someone can make your dream come true! In 2012 I had a number of enquiries via LinkedIn and one simple hello turned into a £6k deal… worth spending a couple of hours getting it right… and then change it weekly!
11. Create a focussed LINKEDIN GROUP… Drill down the perfect profile of those you would like to talk to on a regular basis and consider what floats their boat… what would make them pop in once a day, week, month to see what’s going on? If you truly have their attention then they will respond when you put out a call to action. They’ll respond in their time, not yours, so allow them room and a month to catch up! Most Groups are not managed or focussed… make sure you spend quality time getting your foundations right and keep tweaking, as you do your profile. They are alive and need real time attention… not just a week of crazy enthusiasm and then nothing!
12. GET OUT MORE… social media is social and requires you to know people a little more each day… and the best way to get to know people is to meet with them… find out where your customers gather and go join the party both on and offline. Most people will find the next opportunity through a connection who introduces the two parties… so go make connections, they don’t have to be friends, this is business and most folk like to keep the two separate so the photos don’t appear online
13. KEEP PEDDLING… None of this works in isolation and you may not be able to quantify what led to what result but just keep doing what feels right… you can and should try to measure your activities but in broad sense, you can never be sure… there is a rule of 21 which says you have to hit folk with emails, phones, face 2 face, via social networks and with paper flyers 21 times before they take you seriously… so keep peddling and with clarity of focus you’ll get to where you want to be in 2013.
Hope that all makes good sense and if it does, perhaps I can be of some assistance helping you and yours get tuned into this Sales & Marketing 2.0 world? I’m just a phone call away… 01753 852904.
Thank you.
Jon Davey
Sales & Marketing 2.0 Manager
Some may prefer Social Media Director but that might imply too much fluff for others!
AKA Director of Aspirational Customer Experiences
Encouraging Positive, Proactive Participation
SOCIAL MEDIA DIRECTORS
01753 852904
| Article Categories: | Business Networking,Community Management,Joined up Social Media Campaigns,social influence,Social Media News,Social Media Strategy,Social Media Thoughts,Social Networking |
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