Archive for the ‘Social Media’ Category

This Just In: Marketing to Your Own Social Network Works and it's Cheap!

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Archive for the ‘Social Media’ Category

The Holiday Birthday… How do you separate??

It’s almost Christmas and yet we’ve been inundated with presents since the 18th due to it being my daughter’s birthday, she just turned 2. My husband and I have a strategy in place (or so we think) to make her birth “day” special and still keep the holiday spirit. On the 18th (we started it last year) we go to pick out the family Christmas Tree… there’s a great tree lot right in our neighborhood, so we don’t have to venture far. This year, Tallyn seemed quite excited about the whole ordeal. We took the tree home, heated up some chili and started to decorate. After all the morning excitement, it was naptime, during which we actively assembled birthday presents to surprise her upon awakening. Our little plan worked and she immediately wanted to ride her new tricycle (fondly found on CraigsList for a steal!) and get messy with her Painting/Chalkboard easel (from Grandma).

Now the tricky part comes in… family from all over the continent then begins to send birthday AND Christmas presents and we (my husband and I) are forced to ‘decide’ which is for which holiday and when does the present opening stop? Toss into the mix her ‘friends’ party (seven 2-3 year olds running around for 2 hours at our house on Sunday) and all the gifts that go with that… which we ended up opening last night since Sunday was much too chaotic. So now she gets 4 days separation between Birthday and Christmas and we are running out of room and wrapping paper…perhaps we are destined to a week of present opening for the next 16+ years… should we be more diligent on the separation of holiday at this early an age?

I fear poor Tallyn will end up one of those horror stories where the birthday and Christmas celebrations get blended into one… I have a co—worker whose 2nd son was born on Christmas day and they’ve had to make a habit of reminding relatives to get him a Birthday present too… his mom almost forgot one year, poor kid. The Holidays are a magical time of year and still Birthdays are the #1 holiday for all of us… we hope to keep the spirit alive for both for our daughter. Are you a ‘Christmas Holiday Birthday Kid’? Or do you have a relative or child that is? How do you separate the celebrations? Have a Merry Christmas and HAPPY Birthday to any and all!

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Archive for the ‘Social Media’ Category

7 Steps to Increase Trust for More Online Sales

Nearly all small businesses face a common challenge.  This challenge is demonstrating to potential customers that your small business is credible, trustworthy and has a track record of success and delivering products and services.  This challenge is typically derived from the fact that when someone gets to a small business website, they often do not have any indication whether they can trust that small business if the shopper wants to buy from that business.

Further complicating matters for small businesses online, is the constant threat of fraud and misuse of personal and financial information that weighs heavily on online users minds.  This fear of shoppers online is real and tangible.  In fact, a  Javelin Strategy & Research study found that the fear of identify theft and online shopping in general cost retailers over $21 billion in lost sales in 2008.

A June 2009 McAfee’s study showed that 92 percent of consumers are concerned about their security when shopping on new or unknown websites. Further, that study found that 63% of shoppers will not purchase from a web site that does not display a  security policy or other indications of trustworthiness.  A 2009 Verisign Security Report also found that nearly 50% of internet users avoid buying online due to concerns that their financial information will be stolen. The report also found that 83% of internet users want assurances that their information will be secure.

These concerns are getting the attention of all types of businesses, including industry giants like Microsoft.  Scott Charney, Microsoft’s Corporate Vice President of Trustworthy Computing, said at the 2009 RSA Security Conference that  “When [shoppers] visit Web sites, they don’t know if that Web site is to be trusted or not. For all of these reasons we need End-to-End Trust.”

Steps for Small Business to Demonstrate Trust

Shoppers concerns with buying online are well documented and the data supports those concerns. The good news is that there are some simple steps that all small businesses can take to demonstrate trust on their website to shoppers:

1. Management/Owner Information:  Be transparent to your shoppers. Prominently display under a Management tab the names of the owners of your business.   Make sure you add some background information on that manager/owner.  You can even include  it in story form.   This information gives shoppers comfort that there is a real person behind your business and makes it more personal.

2. Use Online Video to Virtually Introduce Yourself: A hot new trend is using online videos, through a YouTube clip, that introduces the management of your small business to shoppers and potential customers.  Here are some good tips in this prior post on using videos to build trust and credibility for your small business on your website.

3. Contact Information: Another way to build trust is to clearly and prominently display contact information including phone number and email addresses for customer service and management contacts.  By showing shoppers that they can contact you in case there are any product or service issues, you give them comfort that your business is accessible.

4. Return, Shipping, Customer Service & Data Policies: It is important that you clearly provide a list of your return, shipping, customer service and data protection policies.  It is important enough that small businesses should consider devoting a whole tab or area of their website where shoppers can visit and see what are the policies for your business.  Again the goal here should be the more information about these policies the better.

5. Trust and Validation Marks/Seals:  The 2009 Verisign Security Report found that 86% of online shoppers feel more confident about entering personal and financial information with sites that have some type of security indicators, such as trustmarks.   A few seals provides much of the information that is covered in this post through just one seal that resides on an online store’s website. Look for those seals.

6. Customer Feedback: Show that you can be trusted and also let people know your track record with customers by publishing comments about your product, service and business.

7. Actively Engage Customers: Use social media sites and tools like Twitter, Facebook and a blog to profile your business, create a tangible brand and personality and also engage customers.  These conversations with your customer and the community give shoppers a more complete, in-depth and intimate look into your business.  These conversations and having them like we have covered in previously posts via Twitter and your blog only make your business more credible.

Also one of our favorites, Inc Magazine has a good article on this same topic of online trust and you should check that out too.

If you start using these tips, your business and your website will go a long way to clearly demonstrating trust to shoppers and thereby helping you increase sales.

Please tell us in the comments section below what you look for before you buy online.

*Image from Bill Mullins Blog.

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Archive for the ‘Social Media’ Category

Choosing the Right Smartphone to Manage your Business While you Aren't in the Office

I recently made the decision to move out of the pre-iPhone ages (believe it or not that was only a little over 2 years ago) and get a smartphone that allowed me to better manage my work and personal life while I wasn’t in the office. After I made this decision I started researching the various smartphones on the market and determined that there were some features that I really needed and others that were nice to have but not vital to managing my business while on the go.  I thought that I would share a few of these features to consider the next time you are looking for a new smartphone:

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Archive for the ‘Social Media’ Category

Small Business Grit & Social Media Buzz Turn Zhu Zhu into Holiday Bonanza

Have you purchased your Zhu Zhu?

I have to admit, I never heard about a Zhu Zhu until this past weekend.  I did not even know what the big holiday toy was this year.  Chalk it up to traveling, being busy, not having any kids (yet, my first is due in 4 weeks!), or being distracted by our last minute (before baby arrives) home renovation that my wife and I are undertaking (its being chronicled over at another blog).

That brings me to opening up the Saturday Washington Post and reading all about the Russell Hornsby who has had a family toy business for over 35 years.  He has spent a lifetime fighting the likes of Mattel and Hasbro who each have million dollar marketing and R&D budgets.  His story and the story of the family business that is behind this year’s holiday must have toy should bring a smile to any small business and inspire everyone. Zhu Zhu is this year’s Pokemon and Furby (my wife actually still has this must have gift of holiday past).

The Zhu Zhu Idea

In Spring of 2008, Hornsby and his daughter, who are employees in the family business named Cepia, literally put their thinking cap on and debated whether a hamster toy could sell.  As market research, he literally watched hours of YouTube clips of hamsters to learn their peculiarities, unpredictableness and just how they can be plain cute. From this research came the Zhu Zhu idea.  But not just the pet hamster, but a bunch of accessories such as a ramp, slide, skateboard and even a fun house.  So they had the idea, the product, accessories but how the heck did they plan on marketing the Zhu Zhu and all of the accompanying accessories?

Social Media Creates the Zhu Zhu Buzz

Most small businesses face the same challenge of a limited marketing budget, Hornsby and his company were no different.  This is where social media and some very thoughtful planning lead to a smashing small business success.

Mommy Party: Hornsby with the help of mommy marketer, BSM Media first, held 300 “mom mavens” parties where 10 moms and their children were invited to parties where they could play with the Zhu Zhu toys and all the accessories. Brilliantly, nothing was for sale at these parties, but the kids and the moms got hooked and went home thinking about Zhu Zhus.

Mommy Bloggers: Then the moms who went to these parties started blogging about how great the parties were. They also posted pictures on Flickr and uploaded videos to YouTube.

Zhu Zhu Twitter Party: Then they decided to have a party for moms and kids on Twitter to talk about…….Zhu Zhus.  According to the article, more than 1,000 people attended and there were over 8,700 tweets in a one hour period.

Buzz Sells!

All of this buzz helped start the Zhu Zhu craze.  From there it was word of mouth marketing and further coverage in the lead up to the holiday season.  The rest is truly history.  Hornsby’s Zhu Zhu has crushed anything comparable from the big guys of Hasboro and Mattel.

The Zhu Zhu story gives me hope that through a good idea, great execution via social media and word of mouth marketing, that any small business can recreate this success.  This type of glass half full optimism that we highlighted before is the fabric for small business success.

Tell us your thoughts on the Zhu Zhu success story.

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Archive for the ‘Social Media’ Category

Why Online Stores Should Blog

We get the question a lot these days about whether small businesses and in particular online stores should have blogs?  Often, the question is asked why should a store owner spend their precious time blogging.  Here are some reasons that an online store should blog:

1. SEO Value: It is no secret that Google and other search engines really like and prefer fresh website content.  A blog is a quick, easy way to continually provide new and fresh content related to your store and your website.  The more posts that you create and publish and then syndicate to various blog search engines like Technorati, MyVenturePad and SocialMedian the better.  Also when you incorporate relevant keywords into posts, that content is spidered by Google and other search engines, and that then helps your overall search results for those keywords.  That is because you are creating more relevant content and website pages related to those keywords for your store.

2.Humanizing Your Store: Shoppers and people in general like to shop and interact with businesses that they can relate to and like.  Use your blog to educate your customers, prospects, the community and the industry on who your business is, your business culture and ideals and the personality of your business.  There are many ways to do that including using videos on your blog to introduce employees as we described previously.  Giving shoppers and your customers a more in depth look at your brand and your business allows customers to create a bond with your business.  This can help drive word of mouth marketing of your store by these customers and shoppers.

3. Another Channel to Feature Products:  Online stores can use a blog to describe and introduce new products or product lines to your customers and the market.  You can also have blog posts that describe a special discount on a product.  Some stores even use their blog to outline special features of their products that may not be obvious.  You can even use a blog to create  your own Frequently Asked Questions for your products which can help reduce your customer service calls and call drivers.

4. Way to Engage Your Customers: Having a blog is a great way to interact with your customers.  Your customers and the greater community can visit your blog, read the posts and then comment on those posts.  When they do, it gives you and your store and opportunity to have a conversation with your customers.  This also has the benefit of giving your customers a forum to discuss your products.  That is a great alternative to your customers not having a forum and then posting negative feedback on a third party website that you do not control.

5.  Linking And Traffic Benefits: If you have a blog, it gives you a great opportunity to link to third party websites. BUT, it also allows other websites to link to your posts and your store.  If you can combine this, with an affirmative strategy on your own where you go out and post comments to other blogs, those bloggers will eventually return the favor and post comments on your store’s blog. For some more context, here is a good post from blogging experts on getting more blog comments. If you are active with other blogs,  those bloggers will often also add links to your site and in some cases they will feature your products and store on their blog.  All of this taken together can really help increase the visibility of your store and drive new traffic. It all begins with your blog!

Now let us note that, having a blog is just one step in your overall marketing, social media and branding strategy.  Combine your blog use with a strategy that uses Twitter and Facebook like we outlined previously here and here and you can really begin to extend the reach of your store to new communities, customers and industry experts that your business never would have reached before.

Let us know if you have any tips for using a blog for your online store.

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Archive for the ‘Social Media’ Category

Small Biz Thankful List

In honor of the day, we are doing our KikScore Small Business Thankful List.  These companies, tools and sites have been helpful for us or other start-up businesses we work with.  Clearly this isn’t an exhaustive list (and feel free to add your own in the comments).  So, in the spirit of Thanksgiving, we here at KikScore are thankful for:

1.  MyBusinessAssistant.com — helping out small businesses manage their, well, their business — via their virtual assistant service

2.  Shustir.com — creating a unique online marketplace and community for new and small businesses.

3.  Design2Print — did a great job on our marketing gear.

4.  Freeconference.com — Free and Conference, need I say more.

5.  WordPress — allowing small business to create an inexpensive way to spread the word.

6.  Twitter/Facebook — I’ll start talking about it soon enough, but social media has been wonderful for KikScore and Small Business in general.

7.  YouTube — allowing Small Biz to create and distribute their own commercials without buying a slew of server space.

8.  Google — providing research resources that 20 years ago would have cost thousands of dollars.

9.  iPhone — providing Small Biz a reasonable excuse for dropping calls (and it’s a pretty handy tool).

10.  oDesk — providing some relief to our development team, with providing a marketplace for Tech contractors.

11.  Minnesota Vikings — because Small Businesses love a winner (okay, i’m throwing that in there to see if anyone is actually reading this).

12.  MicroSoft BizSpark — providing KikScore and a lot of startups, a lot of free software (we really like groove…check it out)

Here’s hoping you’re having a great holiday…we’re most thankful for our readers and customers.

Team KikScore

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Archive for the ‘Social Media’ Category

Tips for Using Video to Help Your Small Business

It really surprises me that small businesses do not more often use videos and online clips to help them with promoting their business.  Before YouTube, online videos were relatively few and far between.  But with YouTube’s popularity and the explosion of video clip sites, online videos are everywhere. Not only are they everywhere, today these video clips are even easier to upload and circulate.  If you have not seen the wedding video from this summer that went seriously viral, this is one example of how easy it is to get a video uploaded and circulated (this video has had over 32 Million views. Yes, I said million).

So what how can your business start using videos.

1. Introduction Video – Start by have an introductory video on your website.  The introductory video can help you introduce your company to shoppers. An introductory video can also personalize the experience that a website visitor has as they can virtually “meet” the management of your small business.  An introductory video allows potential customers to see who they are about to do business with and can give you a boost of credibility.

2. Product Video – Sometimes it is difficult for website visitors to get a grasp of a product and its key features from a list on a website.  Try a short product video that describes your company’s product.  Use a video where a company representative or owner can narrate a description of a product and also personalize the product experience.  Sometimes a product can be a lot more appealing if the customer hears a passionate voice that is describing the product in detail while that company spokesperson highlights the key product benefits.  Check out KikScore’s product video at the bottom of this previous post.

3. Customer Testimonials – You can also use online videos for short customer testimonials about a product or an experience with your company.  You can then post these testimonial videos in the “Testimonial” section of your company’s website.  When do you get to shoot these customer videos? Use a customer meeting or your next industry conference to shoot a quick video of the customer.  Also it never hurts to ask a customer too.  If you will not be seeing a customer that you know is happy with your product, just ask them if they can record a short video with their video phone and have them send it to you.  The quality may vary, but online video can now be cleaned up very quickly.

4. Educational Videos – These types of videos are underrated but can really be helpful for potential customers.  Take the time to shoot short videos that can contain educational tips for your customers.  You can even use this as an opportunity to have employees or product managers film these tips so they can get some “face time” with your customer community.  Using employees is also a good way to convey your brand to the world by allowing the community to put an employee name to the face of your company.

5. Thought Leadership Videos – There has been a real rise in posting of videos that have been taken from conference speeches or panel sessions.  Next time you are speaking at a conference or an event, make sure the video of your speech gets uploaded to YouTube (provided there are no copyright issues) and then gets posted on your website.  As potential and actual customers start to see you as a thought leader in the industry, your business and management will get even more credibility.

So start using videos today to spread the word about your business.  Tell us in the comments how your company plans to use video in the future.

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Archive for the ‘Social Media’ Category

When to Shut Up About Your Small Business

This post may seem a bit counter-intuitive, since we’ve been evangelizing about the need to promote your business on social media.  We’ve talked about how this blog, and our tweets, and facebook have led to good things for KikScore.  But there are times when you should stop sharing.

Keeping Your Competitive Advantage:  No matter what business you have, there are certain things that you do, or mistakes that you have learned from, that your competitors would love to know.  When we thought up the KikScore service, we took the time, prior to launching, to file a couple of patents.  But patents don’t completely protect your business.  To file a patent, you must disclose exactly what your competitive advantage is — prior to knowing if you’ll get the patent granted. That’s why Coke has never filed a patent on its secret formula…because they’d have to disclose the exact formula.  Same thing goes for your business.  If you do something better than your competitors, it’s a valuable trade secret.  And it’s not just your competitors you have to worry about…you also have to worry about people interested in investing in your business.  This article describes a recent example of a potential investor that, after learning about a business, deciding to forego the investment and just start a similar business.

Going From Enthusiasm to Annoyance:  We’re all excited about our businesses.  And we love to talk about to our family, friends, followers on Twitter, the guy at the bus-stop, and the deranged homeless man asking for money.  Generally, our enthusiasm is viewed in  a positive light.  But what is the fine line between our enthusiasm and becoming a spammer?  The other night, I was having dinner with friends and letting them know how easy it is to automate updates on my facebook page.  My good friend than said “If you go overboard, I’ll do what I’ve done with my other friends and just turn off your updates.”  I realized that I’ve got to make sure not to abuse my friends and over-promote our business, as it will hurt my brand and I will start losing friends.

Feel free to share other instances when you shouldn’t over-share about your business.

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Archive for the ‘Social Media’ Category

To Be Or Not To Be: A Business With A Personality on Twitter?

Should your business have a personality on Twitter and other social media channels?  Businesses are asking that question.  Heck, we at KikScore are asking that question.  By way of example, I was tweeting on our KikScore Twitter account this weekend, and I got caught up in the excitement of the Ohio State victory over our arch rival University of Michigan and I retweeted:

“makes me happy thinking of all the 6 year-olds in Ohio that are undefeated in LIFE against Michigan =D (via @Sweet_UpAndDown) great thought!”

After I tweeted this from our KikScore account I had a thought that passed through my head that said, “Should I have just done that? Is that really appropriate for Twitter and our company brand?”  Now there are lots of sites out there that have Twitter Rules including a good one from Chris Brogan.  Not many give guidance on whether your Twitter business account should convey a personality and talk about non-company related topics like football etc.

Our Guidance – Personality Wanted

Here is where we at KikScore come down on this questions.  You can always just tweet about your company, your industry, your products etc.  That generally is the traditional approach to business on Twitter.

We say, be different.  Have a personality on Twitter.  Actually have a remarkable personality on Twitter and that can even help your brand and sales.  Yes, you should try to follow as many Twitter rules as possible – don’t be annoying by being spammy, don’t tweet about the bagel you are eating after your conversation with Joe from Marketing etc but be unique.  Being remarkable and unique with your tweets will help you stand out from all of the other businesses on Twitter.

The best example that I think small businesses should try to use is Zappos.   Employees at Zappos help bring the personality of the company to life on Twitter and that is just one way Zappos has such a unique brand and they are recognized for that by many.

So here are some tips to bring out the personality of your business on Twitter:

1. Tweet about items that employees are passionate about – charities, sports, events, accomplishments etc.

2. Tweet about positive customer experiences or if employees are doing something special like having a volunteer day.

3.  Even if someone is criticizing your company on Twitter, you can always respond and tell them that you are sorry that they feel that way.  That allows even the angry tweeps out there to know that you are listening.

4. Share funny stories or funny occurrences that happen in your business.  If you come across a funny pet tricks video, share it.  Now do not be that person that solely tweets out forwarded messages.  That could be annoying.

5.  Be sensitive and remember generally do not tweet on controversial subjects from your business Twitter accounts.  These subjects can include politics, religion, gender etc.  Your rule should be do not tweet about something that you would not want your mom/dad to see that you wrote and was then was posted on the cover of a major national newspaper.

We think having a personality on Twitter and other social media sites can be fun, rewarding and also help you interact with your community of followers at a deeper level.  That interaction can then turn into a more committed and loyal community for your business which is a good thing!

So when you are hanging out on Twitter this holiday season trying to get sales using the tips we covered previously, show the world that you are a little different.  Let us know how you are remarkably unique on Twitter.

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