Success Through Strategy!

Strategy Matters delivers news, tips and strategies for effective communications through traditional and social media. 

Google+, Pinterest, LinkedIn:  

Are You Missing Out?

 

A recent survey by VerticalResponse, a marketing software company, indicates that while 90 percent of small businesses are on Facebook and 70 percent on Twitter, they're not as eager to embrace social media sites like LinkedIn (only 4 percent!), Google+ (3 percent) or Pinterest (1 percent). Wow! (An infographic provides more detail.)

 

Should small businesses be using LinkedIn, Google+ or Pinterest? Should they be using Facebook or Twitter? The answer is proverbial: "It depends."

 

It depends, first of all, on who these small businesses are, what they sell and to whom they sell it. If they're selling to businesses, then they should be on LinkedIn. If they're selling to consumers, and their product is a high-involvement product, Facebook probably makes sense. But so might Pinterest. And, quite honestly, there are still businesses out there that really don't need to use social media at all (blasphemy, I know, but it's true).

 

We have several blogs on how to determine whether social media is right for you, which tools might best fit your needs and best practices in leveraging relationships through social media.  

 

 Learn more here. 

Analytics and Business Dashboards

 

One of my big "aha" moments as a business owner was recognizing the importance of monitoring certain "leading indicators" to help me stay on top of desired results. I very early on realized that, in order to achieve the downstream revenue thresholds that I desired, I would need to develop, monitor and impact certain upstream indicators.

 

For instance: $ value of new projects taken on each week; $ value of projects completed each week; $ value of proposals in circulation (monthly). These are some of the items that I track on my dashboard and they give me an indication of whether my annual revenue projections are under/overperforming and areas where I may need to shift my focus.

 

I also closely watch various analytics for my clients' and my own web site and social media activities. Real-time analytics allow me to make quick adjustments as I see what's resonating, and what may not be, with various audiences. With so many low and no-cost options to track communication activities there's no reason not to stay on top of what your audience is doing. Surprisingly, though, many organizations I connect with are either not monitoring at all, not monitoring regularly, or not monitoring the right metrics. 

 

Monitoring business performance metrics through dashboards, and analytics, can help businesses of any size ensure that they are on the right track.  

 

Are you measuring the right leading indicators to achieve the results you're after? We have a white paper on designing effective business metrics that can help. 

 

  

 

Brand Matters!
 

While doing some online research recently I came across an article on branding that I wrote back in 1997! Clearly it's a topic that I've been interested in for some time. Two things struck me about coming across this piece:

  1. Wow! The Internet was still in its infancy in the late 90's, yet content from "way back then" is online.
  2. Everything I said about branding back in 1997 is still relevant today - the core principles really don't change.

I have worked with a number of organizations on branding--and rebranding--initiatives. A critical first step: conducting a brand audit. Literally evaluating every facet of your customer (or intended customer) interaction with you from their point of view to see how what they may be experiencing aligns with what you want them to experience in support of your brand.

 

In most cases, it is quickly apparent that there is a disconnect between the desired and the actual brand. Why? Because it's not about a logo, a slogan or corporate colors! Sure the logo may be used consistently. The web site may be included in all communication materials. Social media sites may be "branded" consistently with communication materials.

 

But those things are really just the window dressing. When it comes to effective branding, the devil is truly in the details. We have a number of blogs on branding; this one talks about some of the key things you need to analyze to determine your brand impact.  

 

 
Volume: 4 - Issue: 12
December, 2012
Strat Comm logo
In This Issue
New Social Media Tools
Analytics and Dashboards
Brand Matters
We're In the News! 






Research Matters

Some recent research you may be interested in--we were!  
 
 
Linda Pophal
Strategic Communications, LLC
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