But you also may have heard that there are rules that Facebook created around holding a contest…and if you break those rules, your page could get deleted. The biggest rule of course being that you have to use a 3rd party application to run a contest…perhaps something like Wildfire.com. Well let’s assume you’re following the rules to the “t” and now you need a contest that will be wildly successful. While there’s no guarantees of what will work and what your fans will respond to, below are some great examples of contests that other small businesses have run that have been super-successful.

Disclaimer: these are contests that I created and managed for my clients….

1. PETERBORO BASKET COMPANY (www.facebok.com/peterborobasketcompany) – About 6 months ago, Peteboro ran a contest asking fans to design and submit a description of a type of basket they’d like PBC to offer. Obviously it had to be something that didn’t already exist and had to be feasible to create (meaning a basket with wheels that’s remote controlled would not work). The winner of the contest after a month long fan-voting period would get their design for free. Within 1 month, the Facebook page received over 50 entries. From there, PBC asked fans to vote for their favorite entry. So not only did this get current fans engaged, it also encouraged people who came up with the designs to invite their friends to like the page and vote as well. The end result of this contest was incredible. #1, PBC got lots of great ideas for future basket designs…and it came at no cost to them. #2, the voting resulted in a 3 way tie – so PBC created all 3 baskets and gave the winners the first one free. #3, the winning designs sold like hot cakes because it was actually what people wanted (talk about crowdsourcing). And #4, the fan base jumped up by over 500 new fans that are now active PBC consumers.
2. NASHUA HOLIDAY STROLL (www.facebook.com/nashuaholidaystroll) – For the past 18 years, the Great American Downtown in Nashua, NH has put on a holiday stroll that brings over 25,000 people into downtown for one night to celebrate the holidays, meet the downtown businesses, listen to live music, look at ice sculptures, and perhaps do a little last minute Christmas shopping. But for 2011, they decided to mix it up a little. This year, they promoted the event with a Facebook contest whereby one person would win a gift basket filled with gift cards from over 45 downtown businesses worth over $1,000. To win the gift basket was simple. All you had to do was go to the Nashua Holiday Stroll Facebook page, and thru a custom contest tab, become a fan of all the participating businesses, fill out a short form, and wait. Once again the results were amazing. In one month, the contest generated over 300 entries…which also meant up to 300 new “likes” for every participating downtown business!

One of the many business lessons my dad taught me was that you can have the greatest product or service in the world, but if nobody knows about it, its worthless. This is why every successful marketing campaign has to start with a list of what my dad calls “high propensity to buy prospects”.  The ongoing challenge for most small businesses though is building that list.  Many small business owners simply don’t have the time (or the know-how) to organically build a list of those ‘high propensity to buy prospects’.  That’s why you’ve probably advertised in a newspaper or on TV or in a coupon book – because you were sold on their list…their distribution, readership and/or general reach…and best of all, you didn’t really have to do anything.  But do you have any idea who’s actually on that list? Do you know if they are even seeing your advertisement? Do you know how many people on that list are likely to buy? Did you somehow manage to collect emails or even Facebook ‘likes’ from the people that saw your ad? Probably not!

So where does this Daily Deal concept fit it? Most business owners (especially restaurants, hair salons, cafes, retail stores, etc..) have heard of or been approached by a sales rep from a Daily Deal marketing company – The big names out there being Groupon and Living Social.  But if you’re in New Hampshire, you might be familiar with a company like Couptopia.  Since the daily deal market took off (and Groupon turned down 8 billion dollars), I’ve been a bit skeptical of this type of marketing for a variety of reasons, but upon further inspection and talking with my good friends over at Couptopia.com, I believe I have uncovered the #1 Way to Be Successful with a Daily Deal Promotion!

Businesses need to start looking at offering a Daily Deal as a way to build their list.  Couptopia.com has a reach of thousands of consumers in southern NH.  Now how much additional business could you bring in if you could capture even a small percentage of that list for your own future marketing campaigns? But how and where do you capture it? In Facebook of course!  When you run a daily deal promotion, make becoming a ‘fan’ of your businesses Facebook page a required aspect of purchasing the deal.  OR, to capture the folks who aren’t ready to make a purchase, run a contest for Couptopia’s list where you’ll raffle off a $25 gift card to one lucky new fan while the daily deal promotion runs. 

This way, regardless of how much money you spend acquiring those customers, you’ve also built a list that you can continuously market to long after the daily deal is over…and Facebook gives you a simple and cost effective way to do just that!

Would You Really Trust Anyone Who Says They Are A "Guru"??

Social media is not dying..?or going to die anytime soon. In fact, social media is as alive and vibrant as ever. But you know who is dying? The guru..the expert…the fanatic. I think its kind of like the Daily Deal business model. Groupon came out and has made an absolute fortune. So businesses all over the world said to themselves, “hey, if we copy Groupon, we too will make a fortune”. So now the daily deal is a dime a dozen. Heck in New Hampshire alone I think we have 5 competing companies…and you know what? They are all doing the EXACT SAME THING. Nobody here has improved the model…Nobody is offering anything unique. So at the end of the day in my humble opinion businesses and consumers will become keen to what’s really happening and guess what….most of these daily deal companies will go by the wayside.

So what does that all have to do with the death of the social media guru? Its simple really. Everybody and their mom sees the potential of social media – and many of those same people see the potential of offering social media consulting. The question is, do they actually know what they are talking about? If you want to be a social media consultant, its really pretty simple. Just go on google, type in social media consulting, and find some other guy’s “services” page and offer the same thing. Just like Groupon and the Daily Deal, social media consultants are and will be a dime a dozen. Most of these guys will last a few months, hook a few clients and then suddenly realize they can’t produce results because in reality, they really didn’t know what they were doing. They said to themselves “well this guy charges $2,000 a month and makes a fortune…so why can’t I?”.

Well I’ll tell ya why…Social Media is marketing. In fact, its just one piece of the marketing puzzle. In some cases its the most important piece…and in others its not very important at all. The question you must be able to answer as a consultant is how important is social media for a particular client. If someone comes to me and says “Hey Tim, I need your help with all this social media stuff” – my first job is to look at the rest of their marketing mix as well as their business plan to see if social media even makes sense at this point. For example, I have a client who came to me with this very question. The first thing I did in this case was look at his website….and you know what? His website was horrible. In fact, he didn’t even know how to access the back end of his website or connect it to Google Analytics to figure out who was visiting and what they were doing. My response to him was “Bob, I’m not a web designer. But I’ll tell you this – before we do anything with social media, we need to get your website up to par. If you use social media to drive traffic to a bad website that doesn’t collect any information, then you are wasting your time. Let me connect you with someone who I think can help you out and when you’re ready, we will revisit the social media piece”.

You might be thinking, “Tim, why would you reject a potential client?”. Well, I may market myself as a social media consultant, but I understand the entire marketing mix – and at the end of the day I tell my clients what they need to hear…regardless of whether or not it benefits me financially. The reality is that a particular client may not be able to afford to do every type of marketing that would make them 100% successful – but as a consultant, my job is to direct them towards the solution that makes the most sense for their particular situation…even if it doesn’t benefit me directly. This is why most “social media gurus” will die. Most are not willing to look at the big picture and turn away business…and believe me it goes the same for “SEO Gurus”, “Web Design Gurus”, “Pay Per Click Gurus”, and the like.

- Tim McMahon

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So the purpose of today’s blog is simple.  If you are a general contractor, architect, home builder, plumber, electrician, landscaper, paver or any other type of contractor, below are a few tips that you can start using today to reach more customers, close more deals, and get more referrals!

1. Build Trust by Sharing Your Expertise….and Keep On Sharing!!! Let’s take a look at a great case study in sharing with “Big Tony the Plumber” (yes he’s a real person).  Tony has a profile/page on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/user/bigtonytheplumber and his page as you’ll see is filled with “how-to” videos in plumbing.  Now I often tell people in this industry to share their expertise much like Big Tony does – and am typically met with the same response: “But if I show people how to do it, won’t they just do it themselves instead of hiring me??” – and the quick answer is NO.  Sure you’ll have a true handyman here and there who refuses to pay someone to do something he will figure out on his own….but he wasn’t going to pay you anyways.  However, what he will do now is refer you to people that he doesn’t have time to help…and why? Because you built a “virtual level of trust” with him simply by providing/sharing free advice…and best of all, he’ll probably re-share (or retweet) you video or blog with his friends and family as well.
2. Promote, Promote, Promote – And Use LOTS of Pictures, Videos and Slideshows! Think about how many yards you’ve landscaped, homes you’ve built, floors you’ve installed, and buildings you’ve designed.  My question to you is, how many people know about it? How many pictures or videos of your work have you shared outside of your website?  And truthfully, how many people visit your website anyways? Social media tools like Facebook, Linkedin, YouTube, Flickr and Slideshare are great venues to SHARE your work with those of us who prefer a more visual marketing approach.  Images (especially in the construction industry) are exceptionally important to customers because a beautifully landscaped lawn or perfectly installed roof builds confidence – and consumer confidence breeds commitment!  Of course, you may be saying that you submit images to various magazines and newspapers (i.e. traditional marketing).  The problem is that I can’t share an image in a magazine with thousands of people.  Post that same image on Flickr (www.flickr.com), and I can share it with thousands INSTANTLY!
3. Create a Custom Landing Tab in Facebook. Assuming you’ve set your business up on Facebook (with a page…NOT a group or profile), now stand out from the competition by creating a custom Facebook landing tab – often referred to as a “Welcome” tab.  Typically when someone reaches your page, they are brought straight to your “wall”.  However, with a little coding knowledge, you can add a custom tab that visitors land on first!  So what should be on this tab? I usually tell people to think of it as the front page of a website – in that its something that should motivate a visitor to take a next step…which generally means “liking” the page at the very least.  Another major benefit to the welcome tab is that statistically, visitors are significantly more likely to “like” your page with a welcome tab, then without.  Below are a couple examples of welcome tabs we’ve recently completed for clients:
   • I-Abode Real Estate http://www.facebook.com/IAbodeRealEstate?v=app_6009294086&ref=ts
   • Moo’s Place Ice Cream http://www.facebook.com/MoosPlaceIceCream?v=app_4949752878&ref=ts

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Well now I have my own personal case study in bad customer service.  I recently joined a local (and brand new) Rotary club here in New Hampshire and as part of our marketing efforts to get more members, I offered to design and order 1000 postcards with information about the club to be handed out at a humongous local event (Ribfest) the following weekend.  Due to a couple good experiences previously, I decided to place the order with a company called “OVERNIGHT PRINTS” - a name which turns out to be very ironic.  With the weekend long event starting the following Friday, I paid extra shipping to ensure that the postcards would arrive, GUARANTEED, by Thursday.  As you can probably guess, the postcards did not arrive on Thursday which resulted in my first phone call to OVERNIGHT PRINTS on Friday morning.

In order to keep this story relatively short, I’ll summarize by saying that I was on the phone with the customer service rep for close to an hour being told that the cards would not arrive until Monday (which rendered them useless) and to top it off having her repeating the same line over and over again:

“Sir, I understand you feel that we have not helped you, however we are taking full responsibility for this matter”.

To which I replied:

“But you haven’t actually done anything for me – I’ve asked to speak to your supervisor and you refuse. I’ve asked for a refund and you refuse.  I’ve asked you to call UPS and have this item rush delivered OVERNIGHT! and you’ve refused.  So please explain EXACTLY what you’ve done for me”

And once again she responded:

“Well we’ve taken responsibility and perhaps if you decide to order with us in the future we can help you out”

I cannot explain in words how frustrating this whole ordeal was for me – I continued explaining to the woman that ‘good’ customer service would suggest that she do whatever it takes to satisfy me since this was completely their fault…and getting the package to me 3 days later was virtually useless.  I explained that the customer service I was receiving truly impacted the chances I will ever shop with them again…I even tried to put it in numbers for her by saying:

“The cost to you to refund me or even call UPS and have this package rush delivered is at most $100.  But the cost of losing me as a customer forever is potentially thousands since I will no longer be ordering business cards, postcards or any other printed material for my business from you folks ever again”

Apparently they don’t teach customer service reps that sort of thing at OVERNIGHT PRINTS! So whats my goal of writing this post? Well for one, I want to see how many people, and especially small business owners I can reach with my message of how little the folks at OVERNIGHT PRINTS care about their customers.  Do I think this post will put them out of business? Or course not.  But the real question is, how will they respond when they see this….if they are even paying attention….

Thank You OVERNIGHT PRINTS (www.overnightprints.com) for making me a cynic….and for the great personal case study!!!

At the end of the day, while the use of social media tools like Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter are great for a number of different purposes, one of the biggest ones I constantly promote is “Inbound Marketing”.  If anyone has read Dharmesh Shah’s (the founder of HubSpot) book on Inbound Marketing, you’ll understand why having both a website and a strong social presence is critical to success.  The IM concept is simple – make it easier to be found online by people who are already searching for your products and services.  Instead of constantly just pushing a message out to the masses and hoping to get that “needle in a haystack”, create a digital/internet/social marketing strategy that ensures when someone types your keywords into Google, you show up extensively on the first page.

Years ago, it was just important to make sure your website was on the first page – because statistically, about 95% of people searching on Google never go past the first page.  Now the goal is to get your website, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, YouTube and other accounts on the first page as well – and you know what that does right???  It pushes everybody else off!

So back to the main point here – in most cases, it is your website that will convert a prospect to a customer (or at least it should). However, when someone searches you on Google, they are more likely to check out your “social accounts” first. Therefore, we need to ensure that all our social media accounts drive traffic to our website which is where we really capture the necessary info from our prospects….and the more social media accounts we have being searched on Google, the better the chance our website will be found by the people already searching for our products and services…a la Inbound Marketing!!