January 24, 2012 - Posted by Amy Rose Brown
| 5 Comments |
|
|
“Marketing Zen!” you say, “Someone said something rude and awful about my business on the Internet! What do I do about this?”
From Yelp to Google Places and many sites in between, consumers now have a variety of outlets to express their opinions about your establishment. This can be great for your online marketing – if you do everything perfect all the time. What if you messed up? Well, here are some tips for dealing with that unpleasant predicament.
Yeah, we get it. It sucks to put all your effort into something, only to see people trash it on the Internet. For an example from the publishing industry, take independent author Jacqueline Howett, whose defensive replies to a two-star review of her book went viral (although many of her comments have since been removed – probably because she realized in hindsight that responding wasn’t such a great idea to begin with).
People aren’t always going to like what you’ve created as much as you like it. That’s just how it works. If you get too emotional when people offer criticism, you’re probably not the right person to be monitoring what people are saying. Find a level-headed person whose judgment you trust and delegate the responsibility to them.
In summer 2010, a man named Joel went out for pizza in Scottsdale, Arizona. Then he wrote a one-star review of the experience on Yelp. Then the restaurant owner replied to let him know that their food was great and he was a moron. A little more research reveals that this restaurant owner has a pretty full history of poor Internet etiquette.
The “fake review” the owner refers to actually contained some pretty constructive criticism, had he bothered to pay attention. The reviewer thought the portions were small for the price she paid, and that the service was a little slow and inattentive. Which brings us to…
Negative reviews can hurt, especially if they’re anonymous negative reviews – those are the ones where people tend to be more rude, since no identity is attached. But take a step back for a second. Then ask yourself this question: Where’s the truth in what this person is saying?* Does my receptionist have a bad attitude? Does the decor really look that shabby? What’s going on that you may have not noticed? You may be doing something to turn away customers that you didn’t even realize you were doing.
*Note: If someone leaves you a review saying, “I’d rather drink expired milk every day for the rest of my life than go back to (your business),” do not try to find the truth in that. Just leave it alone.
So a person has indicated that they’re really disappointed and absolutely never going to return to your establishment again. Don’t just leave them alone to be angry. Here’s an example of how you could respond:
Hello (name of reviewer),
I am very concerned about your observations/experiences concerning (thing they did not like). We appreciate your feedback and can assure you (thing you did to fix it). I’d like to invite you back for a (discount/free item) so you can see how great we really are! Please email me at (email address) so we can work out the details.
We hope to see you again soon!
(Your name)
How have you previously dealt with negative online reviews? Leave us a comment to let us know!
January 20, 2012 - Posted by Amy Rose Brown
| 0 Comments |
|
|
It seems like there’s a new development in online marketing just about every day, right? Things evolve so rapidly that you might be having a hard time keeping up. For example, what exactly is a Pinterest and do you need one? You added people to your Circles on Google+ but now what do you do with them? The following tips should help you on your journey to continuing online marketing education.
Since you’re reading this blog post right now, you’re already on the right track to keeping up with marketing trends. For those who are serious about continuing their marketing education, it’s essential to stay organized. Once you’ve found more than one or two blogs you want to keep up with, you may want to subscribe via email or RSS feed – for example, using Google Reader.
You may find that many of your favorite marketing bloggers are also using Twitter to exchange ideas and engage in conversations about the constantly evolving nature of online marketing. Although these Tweets are much shorter and simpler than the thoughts laid out in a blog post, they are often posted much more frequently and allow for more one-on-one interaction. If you don’t know where to start, try following:
If you start following more people than you can keep up with, try downloading one of the many Twitter desktop clients. You can organize your contacts into easily manageable lists, instead of trying to follow all of them in one stream.
Whatever your industry or concern, there’s probably a LinkedIn group addressing it, and it’s full of professionals just like you. Once you join a group, LinkedIn will suggest similar groups that you may also be interested in joining. If you have a question, you can ask it to your group members. Or you can pose it to the LinkedIn community at large using the LinkedIn Answers feature, which you may not have noticed since it’s buried in a submenu.
The Answers feature is a lot like Yahoo! Answers, except the questions are less outlandish and more professionally focused. You can pose your question into a specific category – marketing has its own, with multiple subcategories – and members of the LinkedIn community will answer for you. You can also answer other people’s questions, if you’re so inclined.
There are tons of useful marketing conferences and seminars, but how are you supposed to get to all of them? Unless you have an unlimited budget and a private jet (and if you do, congratulations), you’re probably not going to make it to everything that interests you. The affordable alternative? Attend webinars. They’re generally free, and you can watch and listen from the comfort of your own office. Can’t make the webinar? Presentations are often posted online after the fact, either on the company website or Slideshare. Contact the specific webinar organizer for information.
If you have a very specific question or concern, it may be more useful to contact an online marketing expert one-on-one. Reach out to your current marketing firm, or give The Marketing Zen Group a shout if you don’t have a designated online marketing team.
January 13, 2012 - Posted by Amy Rose Brown
| 1 Comments |
|
|
From a quick glance at YouTube, you might think that the only way to make your content go viral is to replace your old marketing strategy with a gaggle of adorable kittens. But before you head down to the animal shelter to cast your next video, we think you should read our list of tips for viral content marketing.
“Going viral” simply means that your content has been shared on a massive scale. Videos are often associated with going viral. For example, you may be one of the 71 million people who’s seen this Free Hugs video since it was uploaded in 2006.
As shown in the Free Hugs video, people are more likely to share content that has made them feel some sort of emotional reaction. Other reasons people are likely to share content include:
It’s funny. Sometimes you need to take a break from the daily grind with a laugh. Think about it – there’s a reason The Simpsons has been on the air since 1989.
It’s useful. It’s nice to help other people, but sharing useful content can also help people seem a little more savvy or in-the-know.
It’s controversial. When something makes your jaw drop, what’s the first thing you usually do? Well, first you pick your jaw back up off the floor, but then you tell other people about it to watch their reactions.
Bonus: It features cute kids or animals.
Of course! Since we go above and beyond here at Marketing Zen, I’ll even give you two examples of online marketing campaigns gone viral.
1. Blendtec
Blendtec sells blenders. Blendtec also puts unusual objects in their blenders, videotapes the results, and posts these videos to YouTube in a series called “Will It Blend?”. They’ve blended a garden rake, some glow sticks, Justin Bieber (not the actual person), and even an iPad. These videos have racked up a total of almost 200 million views. Why? In an absurd way, the video campaign is pretty funny. There’s also the inherent curiosity involved when you see that a grown man is sticking a pool noodle into a blender.
2. Old Spice
How do you revamp a 72-year-old brand? Easy: hire a funny and good-looking spokesman, shoot a well-received Super Bowl commercial, and then spin that off into a social media campaign that results in your shirtless spokesman recording 183 personalized videos in three days (including one where he proposes to someone’s girlfriend for them). The result was millions upon millions of views and an almost 3000% increase in Twitter followers. How? One tactic employed by the team behind the campaign was to dive further into web communities than just Facebook and Twitter – for example, they took questions from both Digg and Reddit.
Have a compelling title. The first thing part of your content that people will see, whether it’s a video, story, or infographic, is the title. Your wording needs to immediately spark interest.
Make sharing easy. The less work people have to do to share your post, the more likely they are to pass it along. Ensure that sharing buttons are prominently placed.
Don’t be long-winded. If you’re making a video, cut yourself off at the two-minute mark. Viewership drops off dramatically after that point. For articles, you want to write enough to be informative, but not so much that the reader feels like they’re staring at a wall of text. Break it up with photos and formatting.
Get your 22 page online marketing plan! plus - A free subscription to our digital adviser.
Sign up Now!
Buy the Ultimate Social Media Marketing Book!
Let us Help you with your Social Media Marketing!
