Small Business Growth Through Digital Media

In today's world, small businesses must accept and embrace digital media.  Having said this, there are often limiting factors (from financial to a lack of knowledge) that can impact companies from figuring out how to successfully integrate a social strategy with an already existing more-traditional marketing strategy.

Reports from the National Small Business Association's 2013 Technology Survey state that one in 10 small companies do not have a website and about 30% of them don't use social media.

Thankfully, there are many options for small business to engage with their customers, partners, etc. through digital media. Whether it includes Facebook posts, tweets or videos, the options are endless -- and quite easy to execute if the right strategy is developed beforehand.

For those who don't believe in the benefits of social media or don't believe that they have enough time to entertain such ideas, they're missing out on wonderful marketing opportunities. If used correctly, small businesses can not only grow their own communities and overall brand awareness, but their sales as well. 

According to PQ Media, "digital media usage among U.S. consumers is estimated at nearly 15 hours per week. By 2017, it's expected to hit 19.30 hours per week" (USA Today article). By these numbers alone, it's clear that to be top of mind for the consumer, one must be active within social media. This doesn't mean you have to bump an important project off the books, but instead think of it as a benefit to the company (rather than a burden). By taking a little time each day to be active (monitor what people are saying about you, post interesting updates, form relationships with the audience, etc.) you can create brand loyalists that can take your company to the next level.

It will take time, but it will be worth it. Here are a few ways to get started!

• Find out what others are saying about you. Google or Bing your company and be 100% aware of what you find as a result. Turns out, your customers (both current and future) are doing the same thing and it's critical to know what people are finding.
• Market your social presence everywhere. Add social information (like Facebook and Twitter links) on business cards, your website and within emails so as many eyes as possible see your digital efforts and can later connect with the brand online.
• Insert your company into the conversation. Don't post company-centric information only. Instead, find out what your fans are talking about and post/tweet with something that relates! For instance, if you're own a exercise company, try posting lifestyle-themed content like healthy recipes or exciting workout tips to keep your audience engaged and wanting more.
• Be successful on mobile. Over half of the adult population owns a smartphone, while slightly less own a tablet as well. Because of this, your company website, social presence, etc. must show up clearly and work properly for those who are not on a desktop computer.

Tell us: What is your small business doing to enter the digital world?

-- Samantha

Where Sports Fans Engage on Social Media

Big sports fan? Ever talk about the game on FB or Twitter? You're certainly not alone.

Catalyst's annual fan engagement study studies sports fans to better determine where they play on social media -- and where marketers can better reach them! In Catalyst's recent study, the team surveyed 2,100 sports fans (16 and 64 years old) who follow the NFL, NBA, MLB, college football, college basketball and soccer.

A few top points are highlighted below, but check out the full infographic below

• Surprisingly, only 57% of fans surveyed "liked" a brand/sport team page to show their support -- versus 61% who "liked" a page for a coupon or discount.
• Although more fans are on Facebook in general, Twitter is the most popular platform on a game day.
• Post game, Instagram rises in popularity, when fans are most likely sharing images from the game or viewing party.

-- Samantha

Three Ways Brands Successfully Use Vine

When Instagram introduced their video feature, many thought Vine would soon be on its way out. While Instagram may have the advantage when it comes to number of users, we still see great opportunity with Vine, especially for brands. Vine offers a fantastic platform for brands to connect with their audience in a whole new way. Below, we have highlighted three such ways brands are successfully tapping into their Vine following. 1) Announcing New Products

New product promotion is always incredibly important to a brand. After all, whats the point of developing the latest and greatest if nobody knows about it? Here are two examples from Twitter and Puma of how to effectively promote a new product in six seconds:

https://vine.co/v/bY5dEjLxeJd

https://vine.co/v/blFJpaPi9j5

2) Behind the Scenes

People love seeing behind the scenes footage. Whether it's from the Super Bowl or the Grammys, audiences love exclusive material that the average consumer might not get. Here is a Vine from a Kate Spade fashion shoot and one from an XBOX event:

https://vine.co/v/bQZ5aD622BL

https://vine.co/v/blrpqqxh5ZP

3) Straight Up Entertainment

One of the best ways to succeed in social media is simply create content people want to share. Regardless of topic, the more people linking your content, the bigger audience you reach. Here is a cool video from Urban Outfitters on glow-in-the-dark body paint and another one from Oreo, who may have just revolutionized your ice coffee:

https://vine.co/v/b9JLTdqpivB

https://vine.co/v/hBxZ2Z1YAhv

-Mike & Samantha

Instagram Vs. Vine

Instagram vs. Vine, Facebook vs. Twitter, it has been quite interesting watching the battle between the two social media behemoths for mini-video supremacy.  When Vine was released in Jan of 2013, it was heralded as the Instagram of video. 5 days after being introduced, Vine had more shares-per-day at 2.5 million, while Instagram was only generating 2.2. These are very impressive numbers for a service only 5 days old, it appeared Vine was coming in strong and here to stay.

Fast forward 6 months later to June 20th, the date Instagram added a video service to their app. Vine shares-per-day plummeted from 2.5 million on June 19th, to 1.5 million on June 20th. In the same month, Vine links on twitter also dropped by 70%, not a good sign for Vine.

Personally, when Instagram launched their video service, we at Sike immediately went and deleted our Vine apps. After all, why would we want to try and manage 2 separate video sharing apps? Since we already had an Instagram presence established, it was an easy choice to stick with Instagram, rather than start again from the ground up with Vine. If someone was to tell us that the fate of Vine is a slow death, you would not hear many objections, but maybe, just maybe, we have Vine all wrong.

The first thing we have to realize is the fundamental difference between Instagram and Vine. While Instagram's success was based on the huge number of users uploading and the volume of uploaded content, Vine should not be measured in the same way. This is because of the simple fact that pictures and videos are very different things. The complexities of creating a great video are going to inhibit the casual user from creating and uploading a video to Vine, after all, it is much easier to upload a cool sunset picture than create a 6 second video people will actually want to watch. This will, in turn, skew many of the Vine users into consumers, rather than creators. This is bad for Vine right? Not necessarily.

The best way to see the potential success of Vine is to view it as a mini YouTube. YouTube is a consumer-centric service, much like Vine. Chances are everyone you know has seen a video on YouTube before, but how many of those same people have actually uploaded content? Consumption far exceeds creation on YouTube. It is estimated that 30% of the videos uploaded to YouTube account for 90% of total views. This simply shows that people are consuming YouTube videos MUCH faster than creating them and we feel this is the direction Vine will be going.

We have already seen numerous big brands take advantage of Vine, creating brilliant 6 second advertisements. With the money and resources to create quality videos, we see Vine as a fantastic avenue for brands to get fresh, new content out to their fans.  We all know consumer attention spans are shrinking, and nowhere is this more prevalent than online. It is only natural to see the progression to shorter advertisements, and Vine is a perfect avenue for that content.

We are very interested to see where Vine ultimately goes. It is obvious that Instagram has a huge advantage over user-generated content and it would be a big mistake for Vine to try and go toe-to-toe with them. We would like to see Vine aggressively target advertising partnerships, bringing more creative and quality content to its platform. Give us a reason to re-download that Vine app on to our precious smartphones.

-Mike & Samantha

Updating Your Twitter Profile Just Got Easier

If you ever thought making your Twitter profile look perfect is a little more difficult than it should be, this is for you. Twitter just made their profile editing easier and more user friendly. Don't take my word for it though, check out this video from Twitter explaining the process: [youtube=http://youtu.be/ZkP8riJvau8]

-Mike

What Does Your Facebook Profile Look Like to Other People?

We have said it before and we will say it again, be very careful of what you make visible on your Facebook profile. Many may not be aware of this, but Facebook actually allows you to see what your profile looks like from the view of other people. It is as simple as going to your profile, and clicking the settings icon in the lower right corner of your cover photo. This will allow you to toggle through a few "view as" options, including the public or even a specific person. Now you can actually see what a total stranger sees when they come across your profile online. This feature can also be handy in discovering what your Mom sees when she logs onto Facebook. Take a second and check out your profile through someone else's view, you might be surprised and what you find.

-Mike

Social Media Crucial for Retailers

Everyone has been hearing about the importance of social media for the last few years, especially in retail business. Some businesses may have written off social media, not wanting to spend time and resources, thinking it is just a fad. Social media has officially been around long enough, and its importance validated enough, that we can all agree, this is no fad.

Speaking from a retailers point of view, more and more customers are using social media to stay informed and up to date on their favorite brands and retailers. According to Monetate.com, 80% of smartphone users access social media on their devices, and 55% of those users visit these social networks at least once a day. In addition to the social network activity, 96% of smartphone users have researched a product on their phone before purchase. With consumers relying so heavily on what comes through their mobile phone, it is imperative retailers take full advantage.

Although it is obvious that a retailer must commit to improving their online social presence, it is not always so clear as how to measure their return on this investment.   According to SocialBakers.com, here are a few social media metrics a retailer can use to measure the fruits of their labor.

• Fan/follower growth: How many new fans are you gaining during a select time frame?
• Engagement rate: The number of user interactions (likes, comments, retweets, replies and shares).
• Response rate: The percentage of user posts or questions that the administrator responded to.
• Response time: The average amount of time it takes for the administrator to respond to user posts or questions.
• User activity: Identifying the hours and days of the week your users are engaging most frequently.
• Shareability: The number of shares and retweets a post gets.
• Interactions: The number of interactions that a page or post receives and the types of interactions (likes, comments, retweets, replies and shares).

Whether done in house, or outsourced, do not underestimate the power of social media and what it can bring to your business.

-Mike