Being yourself

I love that in the time short time I’ve been in the digital marketing industry, I’ve seen massive changes from being in a position where I was once inferior to the ‘powers that be,’ to actually having a voice and a pretty on point perspective of what actually works and doesn’t work.

Something that took the previous generations years to figure out, is being solved in a much shorter space of time – Given the extreme amounts of information that’s being downloaded every second, to the vast amount of connection that is taking place; not just locally, but globally.

The global part may not be news to you, but in the perspective of business marketing and digital marketing. This explains Google Panda, and Penguin, and to those who are not familiar with either of these. They relate to a bunch of guidelines, or boundaries that Google have put in place to stop black hat marketers cheat you out of your money, and sell you bad links, or anyone trying to cheat a game of fair play.

Although my marketing friends world would frown at me for saying this, but it’s true – And I for one think it’s a good thing. It’s good for everybody involved (generally)

It helps us the business owner choose a better fitting glove for our business when looking to partner with outside companies, etc. And it helps the consumer have a varied pallet to choose from – Hopefully giving them a better selection of genuine businesses.

What do I mean, by ‘genuine ‘ people who’re in business for all the right reasons, and not for a quick buck.

Oh yes, it goes that deep.

The wrong kind of fear

Way too many people are walking around today in fear of what people think of them. I want to encourage you today, to be bold and confident in your identity. If you don’t know what you stand for yet, then figure it out.

“If you stand for nothing, you will fall for anything.”

One of the most problematic areas I’ve found in social media marketing today is in the mindset held by suits at the top, or those in management. There is a fear that if they equip, or empower someone else to be the voice of their brand then, they are losing control, which is semi-understandable providing they don’t hire someone to be a social media strategist, and remove all privileges of what that entails, once they are in the door. This problem still consists today, and as hard as that may be to believe given the massive leaps and bounds made within the world of internet marketing, of late, I’m not sure we’ll see that back of it any time soon. My advice is best to be aware of this, and prepare to go around.

The truth is no business, irrespective of size can afford to be living in fear of what someone will say about your product or brand. If it’s a good product then there shouldn’t be a problem. Of course there will be a small percentage of people who just don’t like your product, or idea, and that’s OK. These are not good enough reasons to go all tightfisted on your social media team, if you have one (If you don’t, you have bigger problems that fear of what people think about your product, or brand).

Rather than shying away from the world, why not train your staff on how to handle complaints, and extend your customer service arm when needed through Twitter, Facebook and the various platforms that includes for you.

Remember some of those key fundamentals to having an online social media presence are:

• establish your online presence
• increase brand awareness
• engage with your consumer market
• encourage customer loyalty

 

 

 

Honest really is the best policy

If your thinking about investing in digital media this year, then by all means go for it. Just make sure you’ve done your research and explored every avenue before choosing your route.

Honest really is the best policy. So make sure you partner with someone who can back up what they say they can do. It really is unfortunate that there will be people out there who will happily take your money and run, or rip of your work at the drop of a hat. Not all of them, but there are a few.

Make sure you do your research before you enter into a contract. If you’re not up to speed with the land of digital marketing, then take your time and get there. Don’t be afraid to ask the questions until you understand.

The good news is… Googles January update, which was announced in a post, on the Insights blog on Friday. Will now make life extremely hard for anyone who doesn’t follow the correct processes. For more information on that, click here.