 |
|
|
||||
Karen Bardsley Joins Welborn Social Media
Karen Bardsley Joins Welborn Social Media
We’d like to welcome a new addition to the Welborn Social Media family – Karen Bardsley.
Karen brings enthusiasm, passion and know-how to Welborn Social Media. Karen graduated from Cal State Fullerton with a degree in graphic design and has done an outstanding job marketing herself, the Women’s Professional Soccer League and women’s soccer.
Karen is currently playing professional soccer in Sweden for Linköpings FC. She is a member of England’s National team, was the starting goalkeeper for the 2011 Women’s World Cup and is a 2012 Olympic hopeful for Team GB Women’s Football.
In 2008 she left Apple to assist with the Women’s Soccer program at the University of San Diego before she was drafted in 2009 by New Jersey Sky Blue FC of Women’s Professional Soccer. She played there for three years until the leagues suspension in 2012.
In November 2011, Karen began building the foundations for her coaching business, Reflex Goalkeeping. With her new business she plans on working with goalkeepers of all ages and skill levels.
We’re excited to have Karen Bardley become a part of Welborn Social Media and look forward to using her skills and expertise to help the businesses we work with grow.
The Hunger Games, Reputation Management and Our Newest Clients
The excitement about the new movie, The Hunger Games has led to a social media explosion. The marketing team for The Hunger Games movie have used social media effectively to promote the new movie. In The Hunger Games and Social Media, we’ve pointed out the ways in which they’ve used social media to promote the movie . . . some you can use directly to promote your business.
Lately we’ve been receiving a lot of interest from businesses about managing their online reputation. With websites like Yelp, Angies List and Apartment Finder, it’s no wonder . . . online ratings can have a significant impact on your bottom line. As online reputation managers we can come up with plans and policies designed to make your ratings on those sites higher. If you’re interested in finding out more about how we can improve your online reputation be sure to read our article, Yelp, Angie’s List and Other’s Spur New Career Path . . . Reputation Manager.
We’ve been extremely busy as we’ve begun working with two of our newest clients:
- Technology4Medicine is a leader in laser and photon technology for dentists. The use of photons in medicine and healthcare can be used to improve our quality of life. The laser equipment Technology4Medicine uses reduces the use of drugs, can be minimally or non-invasive, reduces or eliminates pain, and allows for faster recovery time. This is great news for providers and patients.
- Transparent Mortgage is attempting to make the mortgage process more transparent giving the consumer full access to the mortgage process. They have a strong commitment to raising the industry standards for client care, open access to information, and social and ethical responsibility.
Technology4Medicine and Transparent Mortgage are incredible organizations and we’re thrilled to have the opportunity to work with passionate leaders to expand their online presence.
Lastly, remember we can give custom presentations to any business who’s interested in seeing how Internet marketing and social media can help their business grow. Call us today at (909) 973 – 9089 to set up an appointment.
Who’s Your Ideal Customer?
Ideal Customer vs. Average Customer by Cynthia De La Torre
Who’s your ideal customer? Depending on your business, the difference between average and ideal customers could be hundreds, thousands or millions of dollars.
The average customer is someone who buys the product or service and has no relationship with the business beyond the buying and selling of goods.
The ideal customer is someone who continually buys the product or service and promotes the product or service to others.
As an entrepreneur, I learned early on that my success was dependent upon having people invested in my business and sharing my business with others. The Tutoring Solution, which provides tutoring for students across Southern California, was able to locate these ideal customers through email and social media campaigns. These ideal customers loved our product, loved the relationship I had developed with them, and encouraged other parents with kids in need to sign up for our tutoring services. One parent emailed her entire school telling them what a great job we were doing with her son, another encouraged five different families to receive tutoring from us and another, a High School Counselor, continues to refer every struggling student she comes across our way. These connections are not made by chance, they are fostered and have resulted in thousands of dollars in increased revenue.
Facebook and Twitter have given businesses the opportunity to locate these ideal customers and develop a win-win relationship that, when used effectively, will result in increased revenue. Not only do they make it easy to identify our ideal customers, but Facebook and Twitter encourage our customers to be more like our ideal customers. Every time they “like” our page, every time they “comment” on our page,and every time they “share” one of our posts, they are acting like a sales machine for our business.
Welborn Social Media has helped locate these ideal customers for the businesses we work. At Scrapbook Expo we developed a strong relationship with a scrapbooker from Georgia who continually re-tweeted our stuff. We connected with her and she told us she was contacting all of her Scrapbooking friends from across the United States to attend one of the Scrapbook Expos. Not only that, but she was sending our sales messages off to everyone she knew. Similarly, at Los Serranos, we located two fervent supporters of the golf course; we encouraged a stronger relationship which has resulted in the creation of our 19th Hole Stories where golfers share their most memorable events at the golf course and have taken their weekly golf match from a rival course to ours. At WireSpeed Systems we connected with Cisco Systems – the largest producer of computer networking equipment – where they made us their SuperFan of the month and consequently shared our business with more than 225,00o of their followers.
Facebook and Twitter give us the opportunity to identify, connect and grow our relationship with our biggest supporters. In the tutoring business, this has resulted in thousands of dollars in increased revenue. In other businesses, it could mean much, much more.
By its very nature, Facebook and Twitter encourage the sharing of information, and people will share what is important to them. If you give them an opportunity to connect with your business and make it easy for them to share your product or service, your business will benefit. If you want to make more money for your business, find who’s your ideal customer. From my experiences there is no easier way to find your ideal customers than through social media.
Contact Zeb Welborn today at (909) 973 – 9089 to schedule a free personalized presentation to demonstrate how we can help grow your business.
Black Hawk Helicopter Pilot Uses Twitter to Get Tickets to a Denver Broncos Game
Black Hawk Helicopter Pilot, Jimmy Wilson, is the biggest Broncos fan.
Jimmy was coming home from Iraq for some R&R in October of 2011. His wife, Merriah, wanted to make sure it was a trip he would never forget so she concocted a plan. She was going to surprise Jimmy by taking him to visit his sister, Amy; flying his mother out from California; and by taking him to a Broncos game. When she began calculating the finances, she realized they wouldn’t be able to afford it. Then, she turned to Twitter.
Merriah started by sending messages to every email address she could find on the Denver Broncos website. She came up empty. Next, she decided to contact the players. Merriah is not much of a football fan, but she checked out the rooster and got to work. She was able to contact almost every player on the team through Twitter and received one response from @LanceBall . . . Running Back for the Denver Broncos.
The black hawk helicopter pilot uses Twitter to get tickets to a Denver Broncos home game.
“I told him my husband was coming in from Iraq for two weeks and wants to see a Broncos game. Can you help us out?” Merriah said. Lance Ball sent her a message telling her to contact him through his email address. They exchanged some messages and were able to settle on a game day when Jimmy would be in town.
The details got a little sticky from there. Jimmy’s departure date was set back and he was forced to fly directly to Colorado. Merriah packed up some of his things so her plans could be carried out.
Jimmy was picked up by his wife… and his Mom, a complete surprise to him. They all went and visited his sister Amy and his newborn nephew. And ,when Jimmy saw the clothes Merriah packed for him . . . all Broncos gear, Merriah caved. She told Jimmy they were going to a Denver Broncos game. He couldn’t believe it . . . he was ecstatic.
Jimmy and Merriah took a train to the stadium, picked up their tickets at Will Call and made their way to their seats. It was an experience Jimmy Wilson will never forget. They sat in the section with all the friends and families of the players. They were five rows back from the field, near the tunnel where all the players made their entrance.
Social media has the ability to connect people like never before. It gives people an opportunity to help in brand new ways. And it can create memories that will last a lifetime. The Wilson’s will never forget the kindness of Denver Broncos Running Back Lance Ball.
Jimmy and Merriah Wilson
When used for the right reasons, social media can have a tremendous impact on any business. Contact Welborn Social Media to find how we can help you build your business using social media.
Leap Year Gives Us One Extra Day to Gain Customers for Your Business
It’s a leap year this year and even with the extra day, February flew by for Welborn Social Media. Now we’re well into March and looking forward to the new projects we’re working on through the end of the month to help gain customers for your business.
Facebook has made some major changes to individual’s profile pages incorporating them in the Timeline. At the end of March they’re switching Business pages over to timeline view as well. Stay tuned for Lacey’s tips on Facebook layout design for the new Facebook Cover Image as we start to create some exciting new designs.
After becoming annoyed with telemarketers, an excess of commercials, and distracting web advertisements we shared some of our favorite things about social media marketing. Social Media is the Preferred Marketing for Everyone because it’s not intrusive and allows customers to seek access to your business.
The potential of Facebook is limitless. In The Pyramid Scheme of Facebook Likes, we wrote about how building a large Facebook following can give you access to a much larger customer base.
We’re especially glad for the extra day this year. We are wonderfully busy and that doesn’t show any sign of stopping! We have several new clients and are excited to begin implementing their social media plans in the upcoming weeks.
We want to help gain customers for your business. We believe that social media marketing is the best marketing for for both the business and the consumer. And, we know that social media, when done right, can benefit any business. If you or anyone you know is interested in growing their business contact us for a free presentation Welborn Social Media can have on any business.
Call Zeb Welborn for a custom presentation – (909) 973 – 9089
The Hunger Games and Social Media
The Hunger Games opens in theaters tonight at Midnight. We’re excited about the movie and have been keenly observing the social media outlets associated with the film. The Hunger Games has sparked a creative marketing effort to promote the movie, gotten fans involved, created massive amounts of content and allowed social media efforts to promote a good cause.
Also, we’ve been enjoying discussing how the Hunger Games and Social Media could have affected Panem (the fictional nation in The Hunger Games).
Social media has become one of the most cost effective and quickly spreading forms of marketing. To market the movie online and through social media the marketing team created a standard website that focused on the release date and movie trailers. They also created a website that allows visitors to become a member of Panem at thecapitol.pn. Users share what district they’re in and their new Panem identification card on Facebook or Twitter.
The official movie Facebook page is extremely well done. With over 3.2 million fans this page can attribute much of it’s success to making their Facebook fans feel valuable. Making their fans first to hear news about the upcoming movie by sharing screenshots, the movie soundtrack, exclusive photos of the characters & actors and by interacting with fans not only on the main page but also on Facebook pages created for each district in Panem. They’re really using the Hunger Games and social media to bring fans into the movies.
Their Tumblr page is a perfect example of this. Tumblr is a great social media site that has many uses, because it is a great place for sharing and reposting items found on the web it has a lot of active users. One popular topic on tumblr blog pages is fashion. Social media marketers used this to their advantage by creating a faux online fashion magazine called Capitol Couture which examines the extravagant and absurd fashion trends displayed by citizens in the Capitol.
On Twitter they’ve chosen actual twitter users to become mayors of districts and district recruiters. Tonight, along with the movie they’re also launching a Facebook Game — The Hunger Games Adventures. With all this and more their social media efforts have encouraged fans to interact and to generate their own content to spread all over the world wide web.
While it’s neat to see all the things the markerters are doing it’s absolutely wonderful to see fans get involved, to become promoters of a product themselves. While this is particularly popular for books and movies with epic stories it’s important to keep in mind that this can still apply and happen with other businesses as well. For Example, Arizona Iced Tea on Tumblr share fan generated content featuring Arizona Iced Tea.
One of the most popular things I’ve seen floating around the web is this creative and well thought out map of Panem, which obviously took quite a chunk of time to put together. There are podcasts and entire websites that are dedicated to the fandom with names from CitizenOfPanem.com to TheMockingjay on LiveJournal. Countless fan art creations including this lovely illustration of Katniss Everdeen.
Website Badge
Besides promotion for the movies, other marketers have been able to use the success of The Hunger Games’s social media marketing for different endeavors. One example of this is Hunger is Not a Game by Imagine Better (An endeavor by The Harry Potter Alliance). By using themes from the novels & movies, and social media they are partnering up with Oxfam to gain supporters to change our system of distributing food relief, and to spread awareness of starvation.
While examining all the ways that the Hunger Games and social media are used, the experience got me thinking about how social media could have affected Panem. While there does seem to be television and phones in Panem there never is a mention of social media. One can imagine how it might affect the games and the fictional world of Panem. Tributes would be required to tweet throughout the Hunger Games competition, the more followers they get the better sponsors they’d get. There would be Facebook pages, fansites, podcasts, and blogs focused on all the tributes.
However, when I really think about it, if social media were around I don’t think they would have ever made it to a 74th Hunger Games. Social media can be very powerful. Knowing the role social media had in The Arab Spring, I think in the world of Panem, social media would have a hand in ending the spectacle of the Hunger Games years before Primrose’s name is ever called in the reaping.
Yelp, Angie’s List and Other Review Sites Create Reputation Manager
Since the beginning of 2012 I have talked with a variety of businesses about the impact Yelp and Angie’s List are having on their business.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with Yelp or Angie’s List, they are websites that rank businesses on their performance. Customers can visit either of those websites and give feedback in the form of a rating and also comment about the services they have received. The company has no control over these ratings and, for better or worse, they appear in search engine results when people are looking for a particular business.
System 1 Acoustic Ceiling Removal Gets Angies List Super Service Award
In the past month, we have been working with two different businesses to help build their online reputation. Understandably, they had concerns about the impact feedback on these sites is having on their business.
At the beginning of the year I began hunting for an apartment and really had no idea where to begin. We traveled by car to local apartment complexes and I visited one that I thought was perfect. It was in my price range and seemed to have a lot of extra benefits that really attracted me. But just before I left, the woman trying to sell me the apartment told me not to pay attention to the ratings because sometimes other apartment owners sabotage the ratings or an evicted tenant leaves false information about their experience. I hadn’t even thought to look at a rating site for apartments, but her statement made me want to see for myself what was written.
Thirty or so people commented on that apartment complex. Ninety percent of those people said something along the lines of, “Whatever you do, do not move here.” There were stories of burglaries, drug deals, shootings and no help from the administration when a problem arose. This was not a place I wanted to live.
The ratings on apartmentratings.com actively influenced my purchasing decision. I ended up choosing an apartment complex with a relatively high rating, Somerset Apartments, that I absolutely love. If you have a business where people are rating and commenting about it online, know that these ratings are affecting and will continue to affect your business.
How do you ensure people are talking positively about your business??? Hire a reputation manager.
Check back in the next couple of weeks to see our tips for building a business that excels at the ranking and commenting websites to give you an advantage over your competition.
Welborn Social Media provides social media services for small and medium-sized businesses all over the United States. If you would like more information about how Welborn Social Media can act as your reputation manager and enhance your online reputation please give Zeb Welborn a call at (909) 973 – 9089.