Curated Content vs Original Content

The study is on!  And I might add, "AT LAST!"

Watching the growth and acceptance of social media has been interesting.  People were shy of it in the beginning and the "excuse" was, "I don't want everyone to know my business" or "it's for kids!"

As time went on, the business community caught on to the benefits of social media as a medium with a reach beyond all other!  They adopted it,  they used it, they created personnel & departments with a full focus for using social media and the study of its metrics! That was it ... social media officially arrived and is here to stay!

HOWEVER . the growth curve continues for many small businesses.  Giving up on the notion that social media can be ignored, the small business owner/entrepreneur has realized they must participate.  (Kind of like when they realized they needed a website.)  BUT, the small business owner/entrepreneur doesn't come equipped with a marketing and sales team.  They are often skilled at what they do and not so much in the selling aspect of what they do. 

The challenge for the small business has been what to say on social media.  Using quotations was discovered!  It has saved many and at a minimum it does get your business name in front of people with good feelings attached.  There are also places one can go online to find "content" that can be used online postings. Also sharing industry news, community news, other items of "interest" can be used.  Anything that can be shared, i.e. videos, songs, photos, etc. can be and is used for content.

All of the above is what is referred to as "curated" content. Basically you are  finding relevant content pertaining to a specific category of your business and passing it on.   This technique has been keeping businesses pretty happy to date.  You are out there in front of your market ( known or a guess? ), and you can even get away with hiring outsiders to do your  posting for you ( if a budget is available).

BUT what is "now" happening is that the business owners/managers who thought they were having social media success are discovering "NOT! " The metrics are there .... lots of LIKES, SHARES, and positive comments!  But who doesn't like a great quote, photo, video, news, etc  It doesn't always translate into prospects, business connections and buyers!! 

Some business owners are not getting any results!  Very few LIKES, SHARES, or comments. They feel like it is all a waste of time.

Enter "ORIGINAL" content!  Original content is required by business of all sizes "IF" you plan to target and make business connections that will buy from you!!  Hootesuite just released a white paper in which IT managers nationwide are projecting an increase in their use of "original content" for all the reasons discussed here. 

So, it's time to bite the bullet business owners!  YOU MUST know how to create, from your business offerings, online social media content that is "original and specific" to what your buyers need! Content that will attract, connect and convert! Content that will create new, repeat and referral business.... but doing so via relationship building, not ads and not "selling."  Matching needs and wants to solutions, sharing concerns, "hitting the nail on the head" for what "your" buyers are looking for "via what" you offer, not "what" you offer! 

It's not difficult to do. It can actually be lots of fun and eye opening! Business owners have turned to me and said, wow .. "I never realized the "true" benefits people get from my services!"

And, It's not difficult to learn how to do if you need help.  Again, it can be FUN to learn and again, eye opening to what you are contributing to your "communities of buyers."

Today's Way has always promoted the use of "original content" so we feel as if our day has come!  Each of our clients is unique so a variety of ways have been created to help you start from scratch, fine tune, or pick up the pieces somewhere in between. 

Let us know where you are at and we can map out a plan to make you 120% with your online social media "original" content.  We offer as low as $1 a minute coaching ( 15 - 45 minuter), have packaged programs that are individualized for you, and hourly ongoing coaching.

Right now our popular "It's Time" program is reduced to $295 (normally $500) until the first day of summer, June 21st. Walk away with purpose, know-how, & control!  Find out more about it and how to proceed by clicking here

The choice is still yours ... Curated or Original?   Can't force you in a direction but if all things were equal which way would you go?

I welcome your thoughts on this.  Please leave comments below. 

Enjoy and ...

Keep Your Business Garden Growing
margie

Website Content vs Website Design .... Which Comes First?

2014 is the year in which "content" is king!  So that statement alone should answer the question the title of this blog posting presents, "Website Content vs. Website Design ... Which Comes First?" 

Yes, your website is your online presence, your place of business.  It needs to look nice BUT if push come to shove ... which would you do business with in the traditional world of business:

1. The business that runs out of stock, misses deliveries, has been accused of false advertising BUT has a beautiful, plush, color-coordinated office in the best high-rise in town?
2. A business that services their clients with quality products, on time deliveries, available and friendly service BUT works out of a less than sleek office with used furniture in a low rent part of town? 

I have to assume you all chose #2. My examples are rather extreme.  But apply the points of my example to your website.  What matters most is what goes on "inside" your website, i.e. your content.

Your words, your photos, your videos ... all need to reach out to your website visitors and "easily" connect  them to your entire website. Take visitors to where they need to go, answer their questions,  make them comfortable and trusting, show them where and how they can buy from you!

BUT .. you can't have all of the above happen at its highest efficiency without a "design" to support it!   A good design will enhance the return on your content.  Good content will never enhance a bad design.  It will hide it, maybe make it be a less than important element, but it will never enhance a bad design. 
The first question I always ask my website clients is tell me about your business.  From that discussion I always plan the website layout and navigation and what will be on each page.  How all the pieces will feed the whole. From there I create the design to support the content. To me, it's the only way to go!

.
Think about it, especially when flash websites became the rage.   How many beautiful websites did you see with changes of color, beautiful effects but with text that was too small to read!  Or text that was impossible to read because it was on a colored background very close to the color of the text!!   People paid thousands of dollars for these sites and where are those sites now?
.

Always put your content first!  2014 "IS" the year in which content is king!  I can help you out with this, be it a new website, redo of existing content, blog content and/or how to create your social media posting content.    I'm here, call me!

.

Also .. as always, I welcome your comments on this post!   What are "your" thoughts, experiences, ideas!  Please share! 

Keep your business growing ... 

margie

Communication Plans & Communication Strategies ... Are They The Same OR Different?

Hi .. 

My last blog post was all about having a plan.  Plans are great! They lay out what you want to do. Let's say for example, you are planning a vacation.  You need to choose where you are going.  how you will get there, where you will stay, what you will do, etc.  

The plan is made. Now you need to put it into action and make it all happen! That is the strategy!  So in the case of your vacation, the strategy might be that you add sick days to vacation time to get enough time off for your vacation,  save on groceries for extra spending money, call some friends for free places to stay, etc.  

Are you seeing the difference?  Plans are wonderful for your online planning. They map how what you "plan" to do via your online presence.  And again, the strategy is putting that plan into action.

Using a business example,  your plan is to create 5 new clients via Linkedin via posts, group activity, Linkedin email and requests for new connections. The strategy would base itself upon the content you need to use to attract and connect to the type of client you are looking for and how you would take the Linkedin areas defined in the plan and integrate their functionality to create a bigger whole and create the 5 new clients! 

Do you see the difference now?  Let me know!  Leave your comments below. I would love to have you share your thoughts.

Keep your business growing ...
margie

How Do You Make Online Marketing Easy? Have A PLAN!

Is it "really"  more fun NOT to have a plan?  Winging it .. last minute changes ...go with the flow ... random stabbing at opportunities .... never knowing what you are going to do, etc!  

Really? ... I mean REALLY? You would think so because so many small businesses have taken on the above "ways" for their daily online marketing activities! The overwhelming number of resources all shouting out how valuable they "each" are is probably one of the reasons that this sad state of affairs exist.  It really is a mess out there ... with lots and lots of duplication.

When you stop to think about it, do any of these "ways" ... winging it, last minute changes, go with the flow, etc, ... sound like a smart way to create, manage and grow a business?  Do any of them represent a "style" that you would use for your future security? I don't think so.  Yet again, online marketing is being managed this way by many small businesses.  Time might be a factor, especially for the entrepreneur. 

Just last week, an online group that I follow, had a post in which someone asked  followers when they are short of time, which marketing resources do they grab to use if limited to just two?

1. First ... one should not be just "grabbing" at resources.   This speaks to my point that winging it, random stabbing, etc is no way to run a business. 
2. It also speaks to online marketing resources having the control of a business success NOT the communications going over the resources. 
3. And lastly, it makes it sound like all businesses might have the same priorities. 

ALL of the above chaos goes away when you have a plan!  Planning is vital at "any" level of your marketing! Plan your marketing for one product or plan for a huge marketing campaign over a certain amount of time ... BUT DO PLAN!

Identifying the "jobs" that need to be done to attract, connect, interest and convert buyers, choosing and assigning resources to do these jobs and creating the messaging for your plan makes your life soooo much easier AND more successful. 

Going back to the question in the online group that I follow .... let's say the resources in this question were people  Which two people would you keep working in the same scenario. Wouldn't you first be asking what you needed to get done that day?  Of course.  It's really the same with online marketing. If you have a plan and on a given day you are short of time, you know the two most important tasks that need to get done on that day for the unique communications needs of "your" business!  It probably won't be the same as other businesses! And you probably would feel foolish even asking the question! 

Do you see the difference?  I hope so!   Let me know your thoughts! 

If you need help creating a plan for your online marketing you may want to know more about our Lay Of The Land training!  One-on-one, hand-holding and guaranteed to enlighten your online experience, empower you and give you the confidence you need to drive your business forward ! 

Keep your business growing ... 

margie

Has Internet Overwhelm Got You Down?

Hi there .... 

It's a fact! If there isn't some new online resource announced weekly, it's a new way to use an old tried and true resource. It can become overwhelming and definitely can get you down!

BUT as it all things ... there is a flip side. It there is a down, there is an up! All it takes is a small shift in your mindset and a reminder of what great advantages the internet brings to your business.  

If we compare the old days to now ... it used to be that:

• Before: One sales rep would visit one prospect at a time.
  Now: One online sales presentation can visit unlimited prospects at a time. 
• Before:  A single ad could cost lots of dollars with no cost effective way to change, tweak, etc.
  Now:  Ads can be created by yourself and most can be FREE ... able to be tweaked at will. 
• Before:  Marketing was to a broad group of people .. .including multiple demographics. 
  Now:  Marketing can be targeted  to a single demographic and layers within that demographic.

And so on!  Are you seeing the advantages?  Feeling better? Yes, but so what?  You are "still" overwhelmed!!! 

Sometimes  having a bit of guidance can pull you out of overwhelm. Going back to the old days and using "driving a car" as an analogy.  You could probably successfully drive a car around some simple low traffic country roads without guidance or instruction.  BUT ... if you headed out for the jammed packed highways and freeways full of traffic and fast moving exits, etc... you would look for some guidance.

Same thing for your internet marketing.  To continue with the "driving" analogy ... taking a class on how to park, or how to set speed control, won't help you in the big picture where all comes together and you are out in busy traffic. You need to know the rules of the road, the purpose of each sign, and more! Same thing with your internet marketing.  Taking a class in one piece of the "whole" won't help your entire marketing implementation!  

To reach out to all of you who are in this "overwhelm" state, I have created a very simple class that will immediately clarify the internet for "your" specific business marketing purposes.  It's hand-holding, 1-on-1, can be completed in one telephone session but two are included just for follow-up questions & review. You can even call  for a complimentary discussion to make sure it's right for "your" specific case of overwhelm.  You can find out more here ...http://bit.ly/1qXeXgS

I welcome your comments on "internet overwhelm" .. on my new class offering ... on what I have to say here in this posting!  Your input is very important to me! 

Keep your business growing ... 
margie

Back To The Basics!

Back to the basics!  Isn't that what sports heroes do when they go into a slump?  That's how they find their game?  Same thing for all of us who get overwhelmed when using the internet!  We have lost our game and guess what?  Going back to the basics works for us also. 

How do you do that?  Well, my weekly mailing, this week, includes 7 steps that will take everyone back to their beginnings and with that .. back to the basics.  If you are not on my list, click here to link to the mailing.  Make sure you join the list . .there is a link at the top! 

The 7 steps walk you through the first days of your business, BEFORE the internet!  It is easier to get clarity about your communications if you study them "offline" ..i.e. no internet!   Am hoping that as you go through each step things will be simplified for you.  Next week, we will apply the internet to all that you learned from these 7 steps. 

What I would love you to do here is let me know how you felt after completing all 7 steps. Would you please tell me if it simplified and gave you some insight? Maybe it brought back some old ideas that you had forgotten about!  How did it feel to answer the 7 questions? Did you feel more in control of what you need to do?  Please leave a comment below and share here so we can all learn from each other.  Thanks so much! 

From 

Keep Your Business Growing

margie