Location Based Marketing Strategies

Location based marketing & digital strategies you can use. WhatDidEricSay.com

Tag Archives: Twitter

Thanks For Your Shorty Award Votes!

Thanks to all of the amazing friends and colleagues who have supported my passion for automotive technology & the CarZar app!

Truly honored by Mike Johannson @mikefixis for his initial nomination – thank you Mike, nice gesture. And while it has my name attached, my partner in this location based marketing project, Jared Hamilton, deserves a ton of credit for his contributions to CarZar as well.  As of right now, we’re in 5th place among 100+ nominated apps!

The Shorty Awards honor the best people and organizations on Twitter and social media.Nominations may be made through Twitter and this website, culminating in an awards ceremony that recognizes the winners in dozens of official categories, as well as thousands of crowd-sourced categories. For the first time, the Shorty Awards will also honor the industry’s best agencies and social media professionals.

Nominate @emiltsch in the Shorty Awards!

Here’s a sampling of some of the awesome people who have voted – very appreciative and humbled by your comments. It means more than you know.

Shorty Awards

Nominate @emiltsch in the Shorty Awards!

Thank you!

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Can Quora Kill Blogging?

Quora is awesome.

If you haven’t checked it out, here’s a few quick reasons why I think it has the chance to change the way information is shared & discovered.

I see it as a unique combo of Twitter and a Blog. (Tlog? Blitter?) Maybe even a dash of Linkedin Q&A’s. The premise is simple. Ask a question about any topic, share your responses, vote them up and follow/get followed. If you’ve been online for a while, all the familiar faces are there & they’re willing to share their experiences and knowledge.

So far, the content I’m following has been hype/spam free, just great people asking & sharing good stuff. I like Twitter because it
helps me find content…but this helps me find specific topics,
answers and a quick connection to the person to who actually knows
something about the question being asked. No need to read a full
blog post and it’s comments to find out who else is a real expert
on the subject.

Looking for another way to build your own credibility on a topic and help your personal brand? Answer some questions and share your knowledge. Pro bloggers typically end their blog posts with thought provoking, engaging questions to get the conversation started. Quora skips all that fluff and gets right down to that last question at the end of the blog post. And the responses are great.

Check it out. I’ll save my question for Quora:)

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14 Ideas & Tips To Promote Your Business

american breakfast

Want to test yourself? Talk to a group about the basic, simple principles behind some of your business strategies.

That’s what Tim Eddinger, Josh Pies and I did today at the Victor Chamber of Commerce Social Media Breakfast hosted at Auction Direct USA.

A quick survey showed nearly everyone in attendance using social media. However, only a couple were confident enough to say they were using it effectively for their business.

Recap of the ideas & tips shared with the group. (Geared towards users with a general familiarity of SM sites, looking to add an additional layer to their efforts)

  • Companies & brands who actively blog, see 55% more website visitors, 97% more inbound links and 434% more pages indexed by search engines than those who don’t (Hubspot)
  • 75% of social media site users spend 25% of their time online
  • Friends & fans of brands via social network sites are up to 63% more likely to purchase from that brand again.
Quick ideas on how to get started creating content: (Stumped? need something fresh?)
  • Expert advice – You’re an expert. Tell your unique story and simply explain how you can help make things bigger, faster, cheaper, etc. (This is different from selling – this is how you help)
  • Leverage testimonials & word of mouth – people trust testimonials. Genuine testimonials are great. Video testimonials are even better.
  • Interview other influential people – Great way to meet people, build relationships and give your contacts the attention rather than you or your company
  • Host an event at your business. Simple way to create even more exposure:)
  • Ask your clients/customers for feedback – When they give it, listen to it and act upon it
  • Share content – blend the mix between informative & entertaining; always tasteful, yet memorable
  • Know your intended audience and the content they’re seeking. If it’s not what they want – its basically spam
  • Check the default security settings for your new profiles. Concerned about what people may see or gain access to? Change your settings or even easier – don’t share it!

Quick links & examples:

Thanks to everyone who made it out this morning!

What else would you share with someone starting out or looking for fresh ideas?

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Study: 36% of Fans Disengaging with Brands on Facebook

Keeping a consistent presence anywhere online, especially Facebook, is more than a full-time effort. Unless you’re among the creative elite, have a seven figure ad spend and an army of support superstars, you’re in for a mighty challenge.

Plus, if you’re in an industry with a less than favorable perception of customer service and experiences – say, automotive – the odds are against you.

It doesn’t mean it can’t be done. Check out CheckeredFlag on Facebook – Christine does such an incredible job owning their Facebook presence with valuable relevant content on a consistent basis. Pictures, videos & contests with the occasional passive sales message; always some new from her – even fun stuff like trivia & riddles. And it works – it ropes me in every time. (Nice job Christine!)

How do you keep your fans involved?

Check out the BizReport Study below for even more info.`

Amplify’d from www.bizreport.com

Study: 36% of fans disengaging with brands on Facebook

Read more at www.bizreport.com
See this Amp at http://bit.ly/dbqQvW

 

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2 New Twitter Features. 1 Excellent. 1 Meh.

So what’s twitter been working on recently?

1st item – Location Based Tweets. (The meh choice)

This is probably the only location based marketing feature I don’t even notice. Why? Users can put their location in their bio. Sure – it may not represent their current location, but of all things location, this is not a concern. And, I’m fairly confident nobody else cares where my message originates…

I’m sure this is simply the raw form of something bigger to come – say, integration into a specific service like Google maps; real-time tweets within a check-in based platform a’la Foursquare or Gowalla may be more interesting & relevant. Knowing where someone is when they shriek about Justin Bieber in a tweet is not important to me. Or the rest of the country over 17.

2nd item –  Recommended People to Follow. (The excellent choice)

A sharp conversation with my friend Mike Johansson got me thinking about this deeper. Twitter now provides suggestions as to who you may want to follow. Why show recommended choices? And why does it work? Mike & were in agreement that it played more on Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. This level of the Needs Pyramid would be Esteem; the need to respect others or be respected by others.

Yes – the whole debate over Maslow and twitter’s success has been played out over the years. But – this finally provides a new visual motivation for users. It could be the face of someone they are intrigued by, someone they have heard of or better yet – a brand they may not have thought about seeking out via twitter – but are now aware.

Either way – I find this element fascinating. Yet, their location…not so much. Hopefully the brands will embrace it though. Location based marketing strategies will continue to drive new life into otherwise lame consumer experiences.

What do you think of these new features?

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6 Words That Make People Share Content

The Open Share icon conveys the act of sharing...
Image via Wikipedia

Dan Zarella dug up some great insight regarding the best words to use, and the best to avoid, to get more people to share you content. If anyone knows, its Dan. (Self proclaimed Social Media Scientist)

Dan stated that adjectives don’t work as well as verbs & nouns; big shocker – sexual references appear to work the best with regards to total sharing.

6 Words that make people want to share content:

  1. Facebook
  2. Why
  3. Most
  4. World
  5. How
  6. Health

6 Words to stay away from

  1. Vs
  2. Apps
  3. Review
  4. Down
  5. Poll
  6. Game

When content is simple and easy to understand, people will share it more often. As reading level and overall ability to understand the content increases, frequency of content sharing decreases.

Simple stuff gets shared.

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40 Top Twitter Applications

Here’s the best list of Twitter Applications you’ll ever need for your mobile phones and PC’s. Enjoy…

Mobile Twitter Apps:

Desktop Twitter Apps:

Web-Based Twitter Apps:

Can you think of any more?

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How Facebook Got 6 Million Free Workers

Give it up for Facebook and their latest marketing stunt: Vanity URL’s.

Within hours, Facebook wrangled about 6 million people to convert their profile URL from,

this: www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1128085240
to this: www.facebook.com/ericmiltsch

Does this help you? Sure, maybe you feel better now that your name isn’t a number. Personally, I haven’t seen my Facebook profile move up in the search results.

Who does this help? Facebook. They’re hoping everyone forwards their address to everyone not on Facebook. Imagine if half of those 6 million people sends their new URL to 25 Facebook noobs. That’s 75,000,000 new, warm referrals. Imagine if your business got 75mm warm leads. For free.

Want to beat Facebook at their own game? Here’s two ways to make either your personal, or professional brand, just a little different from everyone else. And that little bit can go a long way.

Collateral full movie Shorten your URL using any site that shrinks URL’s with the ability to customize and provide tracking. Several sites will do the trick – for this example I’ll show you what I did using BudURL.com’s service a few months ago.

The Boondock Saints film
The Scarlet Claw full

Radio Flyer divx I changed my original long URL to this: http://budurl.com/fbem. The last four characters signify ‘Facebook Eric Miltsch’

Other examples follow the same naming convention for consistency:

budurl.com/dgem | Digg

budurl.com/dlem | Delicious

budurl.com/viem | Vimeo

budurl.com/twem | Twitter

budurl.com/suem | Stumbleupon

Another easy way is to purchase your own custom domain name and simply forward it to your social profile site, such as: EricMiltschOnFacebook.com or some other variation.

You need to do everything possible to promote your personal or professional brand – put your name(s) first.

We’ll see what happens in a couple of weeks when Facebook Pages can get their Vanity URL’s as well.

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4 Ways to Create A Successful Online Presence

wegmans-new-logo

I recently had the honor of presenting a case study to the executive management team from Wegmans. For those not familiar, Wegmans is the pinnacle of grocery shopping, having created a shopping experience unlike any other.

People leaving the Rochester area actually include Wegmans as a must-have when deciding where to move.

Cherish download

The case study presented include some of the online technology solutions and social media guidelines I created for Auction Direct USA. Regardless of the market segment, basic underlying tenets can be applied to creating and managing a successful online campaign.

Create A Unique Online Experience

  • Does the design stand out above your competitors?
  • Is your website memorable?
  • Are key items easily called out and identifiable?
  • Can visitors provide instant feedback?
  • Are you leveraging social channels and tools to extend your online reach?

Create a Continuous Improvement Process

  • Are you actually listening to your visitors feedback and comments?
  • Are you gaining real-time feedback with questions and polls via blogs and micr-blogging platforms?
  • Who will manage customer feedback; is there an escalation process?
  • Is the feedback directed to the appropriate contacts and departments?
  • Is your online brand being managed  (ie: Brand mentions, keywords and competitors?)

Create Metrics to Measure Performance & Ensure Growth

  • Have you implemented a management process to measure past performance, marketing results and benchmarks for your segment?
  • Are you measuring traffic performance with items such as visitor locations, exit/entry locations and bounce rates?
  • Are you monitoring analytics to ensure efficient web activity? (ie: Key sections, effective ad channels, conversions)

Create a Social Media Presence with Specific Objectives

  • Activities on the major networks are a must: Facebook, Flickr, Twitter & YouTube
  • Communicate the overall plans with your internal staff; be sure everyone is on the same page
  • Keep the message congruent between online & offline channels – consistency is so important
  • Emphasize your visitors – not you or your company; create authority, build confidence and earn their trust
  • Develop specific objectives and measure them. (ie: New sign-ups, leads, appointments, revenue, etc.)

What has helped improve your online presence?

erics-ramblings2

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