Of all the tools you can use to find new customers online, Facebook is quickly becoming a favorite of a lot of business owners and marketers. Not only does it boast hundreds of millions of users, and offer a unique way to advertise to them, but most of us just enjoy using the site. How many chances do you really get in your day to combine a bit of fun with your Internet marketing plan?

As great as that is, though, it also presents a bit of a catch-22: when you’re having a good time, it can become easy to give yourself too much of a good thing. In other words, it’s easy to let your Facebook time eat significantly into your workday.

So what is the answer? The best way to manage your need for Internet marketing with the other demands on your time is simply to budget small pieces of your schedule for sites like Facebook. Promise yourself that you’ll spend 15 min. each morning on the site, and then stop after that. You might have to set a timer or alarm at first, but before long, you’ll develop a good habit.

After a few weeks or months, if you find that Facebook becomes a major source of new business, that you can increase your time commitment. Until then, follow our quick rule of thumb and budget out the time you spend on social networking.

Call Marcy Design, a Columbus Ohio website design company to help with your web, marketing and advertising campaigns.

If you scour the Internet, you’ll find a lot of advice on what the most important parts of your businesses Facebook page should look like. Some experts will tell you it’s all about the logo, or company photos; others will point to your slogan, quotes from satisfied customers, or even updates about pricing.

These are all relevant, but we feel like they sort of miss the point of it. That’s because, when it comes down to it, every business and industry are different. And for that matter, every customer is different, too. So how can anyone piece of advice cover what it takes to reach all of them effectively?

It can’t, so there isn’t a whole lot of use in trying. What really matters about your company’s Facebook page isn’t that it show off a certain color or mention a specific phrase — it’s that it’s interesting, informative, and makes your business seem like a reputable partner.

That might sound like it’s oversimplifying the issue, but at the end of the day, a Facebook page isn’t very likely to be your first or only marketing avenue. Instead, it’s going to be a place where potential customers are going to stop by to see what you are all about, and what other people’s experiences have been like. They just need to see that you can be trusted to do (or deliver) what you say you will.

Facebook, like all social media sites, is constantly changing, and so the best strategies for marketing through it are going to keep changing too. If you want to attract customers, however, just concentrate on being interesting, informative, and trustworthy. And don’t forget to contact Marcy Design, the leading Columbus Ohio website design company.

There are a lot of reasons we could give you about why your business needs to have a Facebook fan page, like the fact that the site currently has more than 500 million registered users and is growing quickly, that it’s a great way to meet new customers who have self-identified their interests, or that there’s no better way to let buyers see you as more than just another company.

But as great as those are, none of them are the real reason.

When it comes down to it, the one thing we simply can’t ignore is that social media in general — and Facebook in particular — is all about word of mouth advertising for businesses of all sizes. It’s a concept that’s as old as commerce itself, but also the single marketing tool that’s more profitable and effective than any other.

When your customers are busy saying good things about you on your Facebook fan page, other people believe it in a way that they wouldn’t if you were saying those things about yourself. The longer they keep it up, the more it spreads and the more other new customers want to come and talk about how great their experience was. And that good word, as a business asset, is truly priceless.

Facebook is the largest social media platform in the world. And businesses are getting on board. Click below and take a look at this cool InfoGraphic.

Full story at Mashable.

Automotive Advertising Agencies Must Manage eCommerce Sites To Monetize Facebook

In today’s consolidating auto industry automotive advertising agencies must maximize the R.O.I. in a quantifiable manner for any investment they make of their time or with their client’s money. Social media, including directed investments in and with Facebook, presents some unique challenges to monetize the services provided by an automotive advertising agency. I recently replied to a question posted on FOCUS, a social networking portal I support composed of professionals sharing best practices, titled — Do Facebook Stores Really Do Anything – How Do You Monetize Facebook?

That question revealed a new area of responsibility for automotive advertising agencies. Agency retainers are no longer supported by production fees associated with conventional radio, TV or print advertisements. Media savings and commissions for placing broadcast media have also taken a back seat to consulting on Internet based investments and enhanced selling processes leveraging the viral nature of social media. In part, providing production and associated Creative and Marketing Services have been supplemented by Consultation Services focused on key vendor selection, directing social media activities and integrating selling processes on websites with those at the dealerships. Easier said than done when attempted through the glass wall of the Internet.

Automotive advertising agencies are constantly challenged to provide a verifiable R.O.I. for their services in a consolidating auto industry. Most agencies take credit for everything from website and floor traffic to conversion rates and increased sales to support their fees. Unfortunately downsized dealers with reduced staff and budgets now rely on detailed R.O.I. analytic tools built into every process and application to track their individual investments; or at least they should!

In response to these new dealer expectations, most vendors integrate a Dealer Portal into their solution that quantifies and qualifies the results of their application independent of the advertising agency’s possibly self serving analysis. Automotive advertising agencies have found that, as with any recommended vendor or advertising investment, their agency retainers and commissions must also be supported by quantifiable results. In a performance based business model with line item accountability the R.O.I. from Facebook and other social media investments in time and money can prove to be hard to quantify.

My actual answer to the post on Focus concerning how to monetize Facebook was, “The key to answering this question is to manage the expectations of the advertiser. If their goal is to make as many friends as possible with the confidence that people like to do business with people that they like — then the answer is an unqualified yes!”

“Social networking sites have unique personalities and rules that govern the conversations that they manage for their online community of friends designed to filter out direct sales messages. The market on Facebook is a conversation that exists before, during and after the shopping / buying decision. Any sales and/or marketing message is best delivered from the inside out as a C2C message between like minded consumers sharing their experiences vs. from the outside in as B2C message delivered by a self serving retailer.”

“As a result, direct sales messaging in Facebook stores will only go as far as the reputation that the retailer has earned by his/her other contributions to the community and of course their track record with previous customers and their willingness to share their experiences online.”

“The R.O.I. from Facebook is realized by collecting a data base of Facebook friends that allow retailers to group their friends by categories. The ability to then deliver relevant messages in a scalable and efficient manner to a qualified and targeted group of potential customers as one friend to another is the way to monetize Facebook.”

“In addition, the R.O.I. should not be limited to considering only short term sales since it is often reflected by increased traffic to the retailers website and/or an enhanced reputation that is only evident over time and reflected in the referrals and customer satisfaction / retention that it develops.”

“Finally, the search engines have weighted references in social media in their algorithms to determine their rankings and page positioning for retailers. As a result, conversations about the retailer on Facebook can be reflected in improved S.E.O. that might not be otherwise achieved. Also, the value of W.O.M.O. — Word Of Mouth Optimization — is less tangible and verifiable, however it has similar value which must be factored into any R.O.I. analytics.”

I have since added specific areas of responsibility concerning the need for the affiliated automotive advertising agencies of Ad Agency Online to help build, manage and monitor the Facebook stores that we are recommending for our auto dealer / vendor clients. As with any website, price and product matter … unfortunately, in that order. It is not enough to simply set up the site and sit back to monitor and manage the results. The more productive Facebook stores are built with the same focus on their online retail displays as they apply to their brick and mortar facilities.

Best practices in building Facebook stores are being shared in venues like this one and any that you can add to my observations would be greatly appreciated.After all, what are friends — and Auttr — for!

In a way, the growth of social networking is a bit like the latest “gold rush” for online marketers – a new way of reaching hundreds of millions of potential customers, just like search engine optimization, pay-per-click advertising, and e-mail newsletters were in the past.

But even though sites like Facebook and LinkedIn can be a gateway to more business, to use them as a marketing avenue alone kind of misses the point. That’s because, at their core, what makes social media sites so interesting and effective isn’t that they give us another way to reach out and sell to people… but that they give us a chance to do so much more.
The real goal of your social network marketing plan shouldn’t be to increase sales this month, or new accounts this quarter. It should be to let your customers get to know you – and vice versa – in a way that wouldn’t have been possible through newsletters, advertisements, and other traditional forms of online and off-line marketing.

To some, this will sound a lot like branding, and we suppose that it probably is. But don’t forget that the goal of branding is to create customers for life. If social media marketing lets us accomplish that in a way that doesn’t require us to obsess over logos or hire expensive consultants, shouldn’t we embrace that?

The point is that social media can be a great way for deepening client relationships, but only if we use it as more than a megaphone for advertising. Here are a few tips to get you started on getting more out of social networking sites:

Don’t just sell, communicate back and forth. Rather than battering people with advertising messages and offers to buy, try starting and maintaining conversations. The more dialogue you create, the deeper relationship you’re going to be able to enjoy with customers and potential customers.

Invite feedback. Maybe one of the most underrated benefits of a strong social networking plan is that it can encourage customers, vendors, and colleagues to open up and give you greater insight into the strengths and weaknesses of your business.

Be friendly. Your network should always be growing and expanding. Take a little bit of time every day, or at least every week, to see if there are more potential customers, industry contacts, and other people you can bring into your social media circle.

Emphasize content and advice. Whether they are on social media sites or not, one thing web users love is a good source of information and guidance. While sites and profiles that only advertise are rarely bookmarked or returned to, ones that offer expert opinions and guidance become a trusted resource.

Wish your social media marketing plan was more comprehensive? Get in touch with us to see how we can turn your Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter accounts into a new way to get to know the people you do business with.

“Social media” is just a term used for sites like Auttr, Facebook, or Twitter that operate by having users sign up, create profiles, and update information with friends, colleagues, and customers. How much you participate is entirely up to you, but what makes sites like Auttr special is that they are built through continuous interaction.

For example, you may choose to create a profile for yourself, or your dealership, which grows as you link with other dealers and auto industry experts over time. Or, you could be a car buyer who is interested in finding out more about different autos and financing options; in that case, Auttr can work with your shopping assistant, guiding you towards the decision that’s right for you in a way that online shopping sites can’t match.

What this really means is that Auttr, like other social media websites, can be a lot of different things to different people. It’s up to you to decide which features and areas can help you right now, and which ones you might want to come back to later.

Interesting little tidbit I saw on the Ford FB site today… “Did you know that the first speeding ticket was issued in 1902? Remember to always follow the speeding limit and drive safely in your Ford.”

The fastest growing demographic for Facebook and other social media: Those age 50 and over, says a new report.

Social networking use among Internet users ages 50 and older nearly doubled—from 22 percent in April 2009 to 42 percent in May 2010, says a survey of over 2,250 U.S. adults from the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project.

The figures were even higher for the oldest users: Usage among those over the age of 65 percent grew 100 percent, from 13 percent last year to 26 percent in May 2010.

“Young adults continue to be the heaviest users of social media, but their growth pales in comparison with recent gains made by older users,” said the report’s author, Mary Madden, a Pew senior research specialist. The percentage of social networking users age 18 to 29 rose from 76 percent to 86 percent, according to the report.

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