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We recently completed the RB Production Rentals new website!
We wanted to keep the vibe and feel that RB Components had already established for their Production Rentals Department on their print materials. We wanted to use large images and include galleries to really show every detail of their wonderful production trailers. Featuring the Honeywagon, the PMO, and soon, their new Wardrobe Trailers was the goal of this site.
The production trailers that RB Production Rentals manufactures include the Honeywagon and the PMO. The Honeywagon is a 53 foot long trailer with 7 talent rooms, two crew restrooms and an associate directors room. The modern styling and high end fiberglass/aluminum steel construction make it stellar vehicle to have on set. The PMO is a 4 stall VIP restroom. Its efficient design includes more stalls, necessary for a busy production crew. Coming soon is their Wardrobe Trailer, which is sure to be well thought out and designed and have the same high end construction.
RB Production Rentals is already at work on some of the hottest sets across the country including Califonication on Showtime, Scandal on ABC, House of Lies on Showtime, New Girl on Fox, and Justified on FX.
Marketing vs. Advertising
Advertising: The paid, public, non-personal announcement of a persuasive message by an identified sponsor; the non-personal presentation or promotion by a firm of its products to its existing and potential customers.
Marketing: The systematic planning, implementation and control of a mix of business activities intended to bring together buyers and sellers for the mutually advantageous exchange or transfer of products.
When talking with business owners and decision makers we are constantly inundated with questions about ROI, or Return on Investment. While platforms like Facebook, Twitter and Google have attempted to address those concerns the fact remains that it is difficult to track the complete ROI benefits social media can bring to a business. Advertising makes it very easy to track the ROI of a particular campaign because it’s a one-shot deal which can be easily tracked. Marketing on the other hand is very difficult to assess because it encorporates the overall plan of a business to attract new customers.
Marketing is a strategy, and advertising is a tactic that can be an implementation of a marketing strategy. However, advertising does not usually work alone toward its goal. Other tactics such as market research, media planning, public relations, product pricing, distribution, customer support, sales strategy, and community involvement are implemented alongside advertising. All of these elements must not only work independently but they also must work together towards the bigger goal. A tactical executive may be very skilled at putting into motion plans to get results, but fail to see the bigger picture. That is why they may confuse advertising for marketing. Strategic executives will have a better grasp on bigger concepts, but may not understand the best way to reach their customers.
In Chet Holmes’ book, The Ultimate Sales Machine, he tells us there are three types of executives, “A full 90 percent are what I call ‘tactical executives,’ while 9 percent are what I’d call ‘strategic executives.’ And only 1 percent – the most effective executives – possess the rare combination of both tactical and strategic abilities.”
Holmes goes on to say, “Tactical executives think only in terms of making the sale for today. They don’t understand strategy . . . Strategic executives will often look at the situation from a global perspective and see if they can develop some high-level strategy that might help to solve the problem. These executives are brilliant. They create concepts, ideas, and strategies that most would never adopt. But strategic executives are not good at, or interested in, tactics. Hence, I’ve seen many big ideas that never come to fruition because strategic executives fail in the implementation of their big ideas.”
The executive who thinks both tactically and strategically can develop the big ideas and the big strategies and also use discipline and determination to see those brilliant strategies implemented at the tactical level. And just for the record, the second type of executive, the strategist, can often be paired with a strong tactician and be very successful. However, the strategist may have to keep explaining and selling his or her ideas again and again to the tactical executive.”
Social media is most effective when it is used as a strategy and not a tactic. While a social media campaign can include some tactics and advertising features, it is most successful when used as a tool to market to potential and current customers. When done properly social media can have a profound impact on any business.
To use social media properly it is imperative to become a social business.
General Motor’s decision to end its $10 million Facebook advertising campaign is big news in the social
media world. Many skeptics have used GM’s decision to pull their advertising dollars from
Facebook as a way to attack the effectiveness of social media marketing for businesses.
However, these skeptics fail to recognize the difference between social media marketing and
social media advertising. GM still loves Facebook and recognizes the importance of social media marketing, but has
failed to recognize the correlation between the Facebook advertising feature and profits. GM’s
decision to pull money from Facebook advertising has nothing to do with the effectiveness of
Facebook as a social media marketing tool.
GM is still spending 30 million dollars on Facebook content promotion. Despite having ceased
paid ads on the site, the car-maker continues to make full use of the social network. Their
Facebook page remains very active with several posts every day. This includes links to articles
about their products and their partners, as well as more traditional advertisements.
GM stopped using Facebook Ads, but will continue producing Facebook Content
GM has built their Facebook following to 345,000 people through Facebook advertising. The
massive following they now have allows them to stop using Facebook ads, because
their 345,000 Facebook followers act as a built-in referral network to bring more customers
to their Facebook page. Facebook page interaction will attract new followers on a consistent
basis without advertising because their followers can interact with the page and share it with
their friends. The more “likes” they get, the more exposure they get.
According to a Mashable article, GM issued the following statement: “We are reassessing our
advertising, but remain committed to an aggressive content strategy with all of our products and
brands, as it continues to be a very effective tool for engaging with our customers.”
Don’t let people convince you that Facebook is not a useful tool because GM has pulled its
advertising dollars from Facebook. Arguments can be made either way about the effectiveness
of Facebook advertising; however, it remains clear that Facebook content promotion is
highly effective to engaging with a captive audience. Many other companies, including car
manufactures, say they do not plan on pulling their Facebook ads any time soon. Experts agree
that the ads can be an important part of a marketing campaign, but it is important to implement a
complete strategy that interacts with its audience in ways that keep their attention after bringing
them in with an ad. As a Ford representative put it, “It’s all about the execution. Our Facebook
ads are effective when strategically combined with engaging content and innovation.”
GM’s decision to pull their money from Facebook advertising may also not just be because
of the effectiveness of Facebook, but of GM’s decision to cut massive amounts of advertising
expenditures. GM also made big news recently for stating that they intended not to purchase a
$3.8 million dollar Super Bowl ad this year. Leading many to believe the new Chief Marketing
Officer, Joel Ewanick is seeking ways to cut his expenditures and is not cutting his
advertising just from Facebook ads, but across the board.
As a marketing tool, Facebook has proven its effectiveness time and time again. The percentage
of companies using Facebook to expand is increasing every month and sees no signs of slowing
down. Those companies that do not adapt to social media are missing out on a large captive
audience. In an increasingly digital world, traditional methods of advertisement don’t have the
same pull they used to. However, Facebook still has a lot to learn in terms of figuring out the
marketing game and knowing what exactly it has to offer. As its products continue to evolve,
companies that want to use social media will have to continue to adapt. We highly encourage
any business to develop a Facebook page and use Facebook as a way to connect with current and
potential customers. Having a Facebook presence is a built-in referral network. Don’t miss out
on the opportunity.
Direct mail, radio commercials, television commercials, billboards, flashing web advertisements, pop-up ads, and horribly timed telemarketing phone calls are all forms of marketing most people find extremely annoying. They are intrusions in our lives — always interrupting. They’re not like social media marketing. The biggest difference between this kind of marketing and social media marketing is that people get to pick and choose which social media messages they receive.
On Facebook you choose which pages you like, on Twitter you pick who you follow, when it comes to blogs you pick which ones you read. Social media allows you to subscribe to messages for the products and services you actually want to hear about.
Marketing your business to only those that want to receive your message at times during their day when they’re able to take in your message is more effective and less expensive than other forms of marketing. There are two forms of marketing, inbound and outbound. Inbound marketing is any form of marketing that helps you get found by potential customers. Outbound marketing is marketing that interrupts consumers and forces the message on them. When you think about it like this, outbound marketing sounds rather rude.
Social media has quickly become the most effective means for inbound marketing. But, simply switching your messages from outbound marketing outlets to your social media outlets isn’t enough. Outbound messages are trying to be heard over the massive amounts of other messages that a person is bombarded with each and every day. Outbound messages are the equivalent of screaming at someone. Inbound marketing in the form of social media is for people who are already seeking out information from you. They may appreciate something with more detail. And, since social media platforms are a place for conversation, it’s a perfect place to be conversational and to encourage interaction.
Social media marketing is ideal for both businesses and consumers. Don’t just try to be heard. Invest in social media marketing, get your message to those customers who are not only interested in your message, but are also at a point in time when they can fully absorb your message and interact with your brand.
At Welborn Social Media we truly believe that every business can benefit from social media marketing. If you’re interested in social media services for your business please contact Zeb Welborn at (909) 973-9089 or email Zeb@WelbornSocialMedia.com
One of the many things we do is set up Facebook Profiles. It is important to fully fill in profile information and to have a to-the-point description in the About section, since that always shows up on the side bar on the left of the Facebook page.
We do these things, but our favorite part of setting up a Facebook Business page is creating the page’s profile picture.
The maximum width for a Facebook image (as displayed on the profile page) is 180px. Which isn’t a whole lot of room. The good thing is that this image can be much longer. The maximum height is 540px (as displayed on the profile page). Which makes a good size space for you to add some color to a page, add information, or add an image that really expresses the brand.
One important thing to keep in mind is the page thumbnail. The thumbnail is the small square image that shows up next to your page name whenever you post on Facebook. This thumbnail is taken from your profile picture. To get a good thumbnail make sure there’s a square portion that’s almost as wide as your profile image dedicated to giving your page a good thumbnail. (To set your page thumbnail: After you post your profile image you can click to ‘change picture’ and ‘edit thumbnail’ to pick the appropriate part of your profile image to be the thumbnail.)
When designing a Facebook profile picture I usually make sure the logo takes up nearly the whole width of the image, that it has a square portion all to itself, and there’s no distracting background behind the logo. This portion will make up the thumbnail. Then I work with the colors and the attitude of the business to create something appealing and attractive. Sometimes it is important to get more information in the Facebook image, one thing I always try to include is some contact information. It should always be easy to find out how to get in touch with a company. I always keep the Facebook layout in mind when designing these pictures. Once I get the image together I like to put it into a screenshot of a Facebook profile so that I can really see how it’s going to look on the page. After a little fine tuning and approval from the business owner we post it up and admire how much a well crafted profile picture can really enhance the look of a Facebook page.
Keeping the Facebook layout in mind can let you have a little fun with profile images.Try adding a shadow to the edges of an profile picture to create a little bit of depth, or use the white background to your advantage by adding rounded corners. The white background could also be useful in creating a super 3-d look, a photo at an interesting angle with a white background could be used in the profile picture to create a really dynamic effect.
Lacey’s super special tip: Most people recommend that the Facebook page profile picture be 180px wide by 540px tall, but it’s better to upload a page image that is 250px wide by 750px tall. That way when the profile picture is opened the image viewer it will be full size.
If you would like help setting up a Facebook page for your business, or if you already have one but want it maximized contact Contact Zeb Welborn at (909) 973-9088. Be sure to ask about the other Facebook services we provide.
Technology is amazing. One of the greatest tools for increasing your online profile is developing an array of videos that can provide potential customers with more ways to find you.
Use video to build your brand. According to a Create Hype article, 5 Ways Business Owners Can Use Online Video to Grow Their Business, videos can be used: for product/service demonstrations, to provide a video tour of your company, to profile your employees, to highlight your customers and to keep your customers informed.
The possibilities for using videos to promote your business online are endless. One excellent example of a company who has used video for their business is BlendTec. They have a YouTube series called “Will it Blend?”
In one of their most popular videos they blend a brand new iPad, completely destroying it. To date, the video has more than 13,000,000 viewers and counting. Well worth it.
Can your business use 13,000,000 people viewing a message you put out? Online video is an amazing opportunity to connect with your customers.
In 2012, we aim to help a variety of companies use video to build their brand. We have access to high-quality equipment and develop ways to engage any customer. We have already begun creating videos for The Tutoring Solution and Los Serranos Country Club and can do so for your business.
If you want more people to find your business online, use video to build your brand . . . and if you want help, come to Welborn Social Media.
The most common question I get from businesses is: What is the Return on Investment (ROI) of Social Media? Although ROI is difficult to calculate, there are numerous studies that demonstrate the value Social Media can bring to any company.
The Value of a Facebook “Like”
While perusing my LinkedIn account I came across an article titled, “The Value of a Facebook Fan.” According to the article, SocialCode, an agency owned by the Washington Post Company “looked at 50 brands and more than 5 million Facebook ads over a five-month period earlier this year.”
What they discovered was:
The overall impact of Social Media undoubtedly benefits your business more substantially and for less cost than other forms of marketing and advertising. The study by SocialCode is just one example of the thousands that can be found online indicating the benefits Social Media can bring to any business.
Sign up for a free, personalized consultation with Welborn Social Media owner, Zeb Welborn to discuss how we can improve your Social Media presence, meet more customers and enhance the relationship you have with current customers.
(909) 973 -9089
*Cost per Acquisition means how much it costs to convert a sale incorporating all marketing and advertising used to attract clients to a product.
I’m looking forward to sharing what I know with local business owners. Reply to this email to let me know which session(s) you plan on attending.