Last updated 1 year ago
I have a simple question for you. Who is your company’s target audience, demographically speaking? Now read on for some interesting insights about multicultural marketing…
According to an April 2011 survey performed by Yahoo!, Mindshare and Added Value, diverse groups including Hispanics, blacks, and Asian-Americans said they couldn’t relate to current online advertising. Here’s another turning-point in the survey findings: the majority of respondents said they couldn’t name one company in which their online advertising appealed to them.
Why do ethnic groups feel so disconnected from existing online advertising campaigns? The main reason for the disconnection cited by respondents was poor ad messaging and not having enough diversity in the ads themselves.
Key Take-Aways
Sure, you can add a Hispanic woman to your ad, but that isn’t enough to create a deep connection with your target audience. In an interview with eMarketer, Lauren Weinberg, Vice President of strategic insights and research at Yahoo!, confirmed the present perspective of ethnic groups by saying, “brands are picking people who may look like [them], but they are not speaking to concepts that are relatable to [them]” (eMarketer).
So how can your business use online advertising to make an impact on your diverse target market? You have to determine their particular core values and interests (eMarketer), and understandably, each ethnic group varies in this regard. Take a look below at what the survey revealed:
Therefore, if you’re seeking to target diverse groups in your online advertising, explore unique ways you can showcase what “drives” them, and hopefully these survey findings will help as you plan your online advertising in 2012.
If your target market consists of various ethnicities, how does your company’s online advertising grab their attention? How do your campaigns stand out from other firms’ online advertising campaigns?
About Heidi Glocker: Heidi is an Account Manager with ReachLocal Baltimore. She works alongside Alan Moore, who is an Internet Marketing Consultant and together they represent Team Moore. Their mission is to help you increase your revenues and decrease unproductive advertising expenses through proven online marketing strategies. Give Heidi a call today at (443) 276-4700 to schedule a free consultation. They are happy to help!
For additional insight from the survey, check out http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?R=1008746
Last updated 1 year ago
What are your New Year’s resolutions? If you could do one thing in 2012, it would be ___________.
About Heidi Glocker: Heidi is an Account Manager with ReachLocal Baltimore. She works alongside Alan Moore, who is an Internet Marketing Consultant and together they represent Team Moore. Their mission is to help you increase your revenues and decrease unproductive advertising expenses through proven online marketing strategies. Give Heidi a call today at (443) 276-4700 to schedule a free consultation. They are happy to help!
Image link: http://www.wallpapersfreebackgrounds.com/uploads/happy-discount-wallpapers_for_desktop.jpg
Last updated 1 year ago
We cannot deny the way social media has transformed how companies interact with their would-be customers and existing customers. Most companies tend to use social media to promote the business itself, yet there is another manner in which social media can function in today’s digital world: employee recognition. After all, the number one reason why people leave their jobs is because of the people they work with on a daily basis, so why not celebrate your employees through another venue like social media?
Here are three reasons you should consider upgrading your company to what I like to call, Employee Recognition 2.0:
- It isn’t expensive.
- You can boost employee motivation immediately.
- You can give your brand image a boost.
Why else does employee recognition through social media make sense? It makes sense given your employees are already using social media sites, so why not announce their achievements where their colleagues, friends, and family will readily see it? After seeing your employee’s accomplishments through a site like Facebook, that employee’s network can then share the news on their walls, leave comments, and “like” the recognitions.
Some examples of Employee Recognition 2.0:
- Facebook – Include photos and videos along with text-based messages that show your appreciation vividly.
- Twitter – With Twitter, you have just 140 characters to congratulate an employee on a job well done, so keep it simple but sweet. According to Curt Finch, founder and CEO of Journyx, “make sure to @tag the employee so it shows up in her Twitter feed. You could also create a hashtag for all employee recognition tweets so that Twitter groups them together for easy search” (Mashable).
- Company Blog – Your business blog is another great place to shine light on an employee’s recent successes. Excellent blogs effortlessly depict a visual image of your brand through in-depth descriptions, pictures, and videos.
Occasionally, your employees may not want to be recognized through social media. Not one person has the same personality, right? So not everyone will enjoy the acknowledgement online. Human Resources hint: be mindful of your employees’ preferences and you’ll be fine.
How do you recognize your employees? Have you ever recognized an employee through social media? If so, how?
About Heidi Glocker: Heidi is an Account Manager with ReachLocal Baltimore. She works alongside Alan Moore, who is an Internet Marketing Consultant and together they represent Team Moore. Their mission is to help you increase your revenues and decrease unproductive advertising expenses through proven online marketing strategies. Give Heidi a call today at (443) 276-4700 to schedule a free consultation. They are happy to help!
Go to http://mashable.com/2011/12/16/social-media-employee-recognition/ for other examples of employee recognition via social media.
Last updated 1 year ago
Please feel free to submit any suggestions for next year's topics. I would love to hear your feedback!
Sincerely,
Heidi Glocker
Last updated 1 year ago
For the majority of us, Google is our “go to” search engine when we decide to look up information online. However, some of us are not as familiar with Google+. Even though Google+ is just six months old, the social media platform now has over 40 million users. Creating a Google+ page provides another opportunity to communicate and connect with your audience online. As with any social media marketing campaign, you need to have a well-defined strategy that ties into your overall online marketing objectives. Here are six guidelines to follow for your Google+ brand strategy.
1) Drive Traffic To Spark Following – To increase your number of followers, you have to first drive traffic to your Google+ page. How do you do this? Make sure to add the Google+ badge on your website, email signature, Facebook, Twitter, and blog. Don’t forget to ask your employees, partners, friends, and family to share your Google+ page with their Circles. Keep in mind: a Google+ user has to add your brand to a circle on his or her Google+ profile to receive your content in their stream.
2) Segmentation Is Key – After you have generated traffic to your Google+ page, it’s time to segment your followers. By default, you have four circles including Following, Customers, VIPs, and Team Members, but you can also make custom Circles, too. To find out who has added your brand to their circles, click on the “People Who’ve Added You Tab.” From here, you can drag a follower into any of your Circles. At the moment, you have to add users to Circles manually, so try to do your best to update your Circles every day. An effective approach would be to base your custom Circles on various consumer behavior, such as “Big Influencers,” meaning those users who share your content the most.
3) Know Your Followers – For your Google+ brand strategy to be successful, you need to truly know who your audience is. You can’t assume that your Facebook fans, Twitter followers, and Google+ followers are one in the same either. Don’t be afraid to openly ask your Google+ followers what kind of content they want to see on your page. After all, if they’re not engaged, then having your Google+ brand page is useless. It can be tough to know what content is effective during the initial launch of your Google+ page. There is great news though. Google will be offering tools in the near future to track important metrics like user demographics and social engagement, as well as unique views into influencers and trends in your community (Mak).
4) Distinguish Your Content – Over time, you will have a better understanding of your Google+ followers. To retain your followers nevertheless, you need to have exceptional content on your page to preserve their interest in your brand. Each of your social media pages should not have the same content; if that was the case, why should a user follow you on Twitter, Facebook, and Google+? For your Google+ content, keep it interesting (so they’ll want to share with others) and applicable to your followers.
5) Think Outside The Box – Put yourself in the mind of your follower. What content would you find interesting? Having a simple text-based update probably doesn’t cut it. Use photos, videos, and links to make your posts more appealing. Your end goal is to keep the conversation flowing between you and your followers as well as spreading your content across the Internet, so more people can hear about your business (i.e. brand awareness). A few other considerations:
- Place the Google+1 button on your website, articles, and advertising. When a consumer +1s, your brand receives a recommendation that will appear in the consumer’s stream and is shared with his or her Circles.
- Use the Hangout feature on Google+ to video chat with your followers. They may feel that much closer to your brand with a personal real-life touch. Your video chats could center on general Q&A, customer service, or even new product launches.
6) Alter Accordingly – Like your other marketing campaigns, whether offline or online, you need to modify your strategy as necessary, especially once Google offers the insights tools; this would be an imperative time to rethink how you will segment your Circles and continue to engage through your content.
I love how Lawrence Mak, product marketing manager at Context Optional, puts it: “the more viral your content, the more engaged the audience and the greater the likelihood of new users following your brand.” To get some ideas for your Google+ page, check out the top 10 brand pages on Google+.
Does your business have a Google+ page? If so, how are you increasing your followers and keeping them engaged?
Check out Lawrence Mak’s article.
