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The Changing Nature of Facebook Marketing

Posted on April 7, 2014 by tomaszmajewski — No Comments ↓

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Recently, Jason SurfrApp (formerly Headsetsdotcom, formerly Sadler), had a wonderful post on Facebook about its changing nature and role in the marketing mix.  Jason gained fame through his company “I Wear Your Shirt,” where he wore a different sponsor company’s t-shirt everyday for nearly 5 years.  He would promote these sponsors through social media, his blog, and his many appearances on legacy media.

Suffice it to say, Jason knows his way around social media.  When he takes the time to post something like the quote below, you should pay attention.  I’m going to post the full status here because there’s no way that I could say this better.  You can read the original post on Facebook here.

If you’re using Facebook and seeing a decline in reach, specifically because you want to use Facebook as a marketing tool, here’s what you should do to get the most value out of Facebook:

Step #1. For the next 30 days, spent $10-20 boosting/promoting your posts. These daily posts should be status updates and photos that direct people to sign up to your email list (if you don’t have an email list, use MailChimp, Aweber, or another service). Don’t bother posting anything else at all (unless you have to). Your entire goal should be to shift your audience from Facebook to an email list.

Step #2. During these 30 days, every message you post should include a link to get people to your email list. Tell them exactly why they want to be on your email list, what your brand will offer them, and what value your emails will provide. If you do a good job of “selling” signing up for your email list, the RIGHT fans/customers/followers will opt-in. It’s safe to assume you’ll convert 10-30% of your total Facebook fans if you do a good job of promoting your email list. DO NOT just say “Sign up for our email list.” Make sure to explain WHY your fans/customers/followers/friends should sign up. (Maybe you have multiple email lists? One for daily email updates? One for weekly? Make sure people know the frequency of your email marketing too.)

Step #3. After 30 days, assume that Facebook is useless to you. Maybe you can post updates here and there, but don’t look at Facebook as a marketing platform anymore. In fact, I’d just continue to post email newsletter signup info (without paying).

Step #4. Start using email to market to your fans/customers/followers. Use drip campaigns, use good copywriting, do A/B testing, and track every open rate and click. Unlike Facebook, email doesn’t have useless metrics like “reach.” Email has open rate, click rate, read rate, and you can sort, segment, export, etc, your list subscribers as much as you like. You should expect to spend money for an email provider to manage your subscribers and the messages you send, and it’s 100% worth every penny.

Step #5. Enjoy talking directly to your audience and not having to worry about algorithm changes or news feeds. Your messages now go to a very special and coveted place for people: Email inboxes. This magical place IS NOT overrun with baby photos, wedding announcements, complaints, political rants, or competition with your brand. People select what email they receive. It’s a very curated and special place to be.

Step #6. Don’t f&$k it up. Don’t oversell your product. Don’t send something people didn’t opt-in for. Respect the fact that you now have a direct line of communication with your customer. Do everything in your power to make sure they are happy and are reading the emails you send.

Step #7. A few months later, take a look back and realize how much you don’t miss Facebook at all. You might even notice you’re happier and feeling more excited about your marketing.

I’m moving all my marketing strategies from social media to email and I’m the guy who built a business based on social media (and used it daily for nearly five years). Facebook is not the network it used to be and will never be the same again. Accept this reality and move on while it still doesn’t cost you much to do so.

I don’t plan on paying Facebook to promote this message. If you think it has value, click the Like button, leave a comment, tag a friend, and share it. If it doesn’t bring you value, don’t do any of those things.

And if you want to sign up for my email list, you can do so by going to JasonSadler.com and entering your email in the green bar at the top. I send out a couple emails a month and they typically contain updates about projects I’m working on and things I’ve written. I’d add a direct link here, but that would kill this post immediately in Facebook’s algorithm.

Jason is spot-on in his assessment of the future of organic page reach on Facebook.  Even though many of us have spent countless hours (and sometimes, lots of money) to build up followers on FB, the game has changed and it ain’t going back.  So, now what?

First, follow Jason’s advice, above.  His strategy is pretty solid and is darn-near guaranteed to pay off in the long run.  And when you think about it, it makes even more sense — if a ‘fan’ is not willing to join your email list, then how valuable can they really be?

Second, use Facebook sponsored posts!

But why?!?  I thought we were talking about how Facebook is done as a marketing platform??  Well…it is, but stay with me.

Facebook has clearly demonstrated that building a Facebook Page follower base no longer makes sense.  Period.  Hard stop.  No further argument.  BUT, FB is still a very powerful way to connect with people that will find your brand relevant.  Because of the generous amount that Facebook users self-disclose interests, you can very easily target people you want to reach.  Additionally, the depth to which you can drill down in your advertising makes Facebook paid advertising very economical!

So, now that Facebook has us in this pay-to-play corner, the only thing we can do is move people off of Facebook!!  Because you can find your market by targeting very specific people, this makes FB sponsored posts ideal for:

  • Promoting Events & Conferences
  • Building Blog Readership
  • Building Email Lists
  • Contests & Giveaways
  • Whitepaper downloads

So — start moving your “fans” off Facebook to email…and Linkedin, and Pinterest, and Instagram…  But maintain an FB presence so that you can utilize Facebook Sponsored Posts when the need arises!

 

 

Posted in Social Media

Big News from MM+M

Posted on April 1, 2014 by tomaszmajewski — No Comments ↓

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Posted in Events

Most Successful Client Profile

Posted on March 31, 2014 by tomaszmajewski — No Comments ↓

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Many people have come to me and asked what kind of clients are best suited to working with Majewski Marketing & Media.  …Is there a specific industry which I’m trying to reach or niche I’m trying to “mine.”

I’ve never targeted any particular type of business per sa, but there is a “profile” that the most MM+M successful clients tend to fit.  And I use the word “successful” very deliberately.  There are a few elements to this profile.

First, let’s start with two obvious, yet overlooked elements — the client has an interest and ability in pursuing marketing projects. Interest means they understand and value the need for good marketing; ability means they have the means to invest in not only the additional help, but in the associated media and advertising that may come along with those projects.

Certainly, Majewski Marketing & Media is not known for being fiscally irresponsible.  Quite the opposite, MM+M prides itself on being able to tackle most projects ‘in-house,’ instead of tapping outside resources. We also have established relationships with many print and media vendors that helps to keep costs in line and budgets in check.  Even in today’s digital marketing playground where many opportunities can be had for little or no cost, there is always a need for paid messaging.

Additionally, successful clients do not have the bandwidth to start or complete many projects themselves.  They have lengthy “to-do” lists that can range anywhere from an un-updated Facebook page with photos of last year’s company picnic, to a re-branding or product launch.

This lack of bandwidth also implies a certain size of company.  Majewski Marketing & Media has found its most successful clients are those that have a headcount from about 10 to 50, with two, one or none employees in a dedicated marketing role.  Oftentimes, this may look like a small manufacturing facility with a “Director of Sales & Marketing.”  Even though that person has a background in business development and was brought on for that role, “marketing” got added to their title somewhere along the way.

In such a small-medium sized company, MM+M becomes a defacto outsourced marketing department.  We’ll tackle everything from designing new sales sheets & brochures, to running the company email marketing & social media.  We can look at creating some online product videos, and can do product photography as well.  MM+M can even act as a “gatekeeper” for all those advertising salespeople that come calling — simply send them all to Tom, and they’ll be screened out with only the most appropriate opportunities brought to the company’s attention.

The “Outsourced Marketing Department” relationship model is usually based on a monthly retainer, for which the client receives “X” billable hours at MM+M, for “Y” dollars.  Many times, clients start with a single design or video project, then more projects get added, and as the relationship matures, it just makes sense to start working on retainer.  At this point, not only can MM+M start to be very proactive with a client’s marketing projects, but the accounting department is happy too, as a retainer gives them a predicable marketing expense every month.

Contact Tom today to learn more about how have an agency on retainer can take your company’s marketing to the next level!

 

Posted in Partnerships

Filming on a “set”

Posted on November 27, 2013 by tomaszmajewski — No Comments ↓

Recently, I worked with on of my favorite clients, Alisun Abbott Style, to film a video for her on a “set.”  This exciting as it was a first time for me on a set…if you can call it that.

The “set” was built in my “studio.”  That is to say that we had a couple lights set up in my garage.  We worked with an 8-foot folding table, but it was too low!  So after a quick inventory of available elevation enhancement devices, we settled on using four paint cans — one under each leg — and got the table to the height we needed.

I’ve used the seamless white background behind Alisun before.  I’ve even gotten a compliment on it from an actual filmmaker!  Truth is, it’s just a plain white sheet with four can lights on it!  The cans give off enough light to blow the sheet out about 2-3 stops above the foreground, and that seems to work well.  I suppose that we could have used an extra light on the main subject, the background actually provides some nice bounce lighting…

Either way, take a look and let me know what you think in the comments!


Posted in Online Videos

On Being Called A Spammer

Posted on October 15, 2013 by tomaszmajewski — No Comments ↓

I was recently called out as a “spammer” on Twitter.  Let me tell you how all this went down.

I’ve volunteered at meetings of Social Media Breakfast Minneapolis-St. Paul for a couple years now.  I’ve helped set up, tear down, worked the registration table, and in short, a little of this – a little of that.  For the last year or so, I’ve volunteered as the camera person.  Basically, I sit there and make sure that nothing goes wrong with either the camera that records the panel sessions, and that nothing interferes with the camera that streams the sessions live.

After two years of attending 90% of SMBMSP.org events, I thought that I’d built up if not a rapport, then at least recognition as a ‘regular’ and volunteer.  Especially on Twitter, which is usually very active during each breakfast.  This last session, I’d forgotten to charge my devices, but didn’t want to miss out on the Twitter action.  (never mind that it’s a great way to pick up new followers)  To that end, I’d set up Hootsuite to strategically send out a few tweets before, during, and after the event.

Most of these pre-scheduled Tweets were fairly innocuous.  There was one that proclaimed “I’m on my way…” and another that generically stated, “Great event…!”  Then, shortly after the social media panel discussion was planned to end, I had one Tweet scheduled to thank the organizers for another event.

The Tweet that drew the ire of a handful of people following the discussion on Twitter was one that was scheduled to be published sometime in the middle of the event.  The Tweet was directing people to visit my webpage, where I’d embedded a video that I had created.  The video is only a minute long, and it is 90% informative, simply listing about 10 statistics about video marketing — likeliness of views, viewer retention, etc.  Pretty benign, with the exception of a call-to-action at the end of the video, directing viewers to contact me to create a video for them.

The offending Tweet is listed below.  As you can tell, although I purposefully used the hashtag to get attention, I also clearly tagged it as being outside of the current discussion.

Naturally, when I was working the cameras at the event, I didn’t see this Tweet post, nor did I see the reaction, as I didn’t have any devices on me.  Imagine my surprise, when I got home and found out that I was being called a “spammer” by several members of the SMBMSP community!! Below is the first in the series of these Tweets.  Naturally, I think this is a bit harsh.  Although an obvious hashjack?  Certainly.  Was it clearly labeled as such?  Obviously.  Has anyone ever had a problem with ignoring one Tweet?  Never.

What’s your take on “spamming” on Twitter and my infraction? Tell me your thoughts in the comments, below.

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Posted in Social Media

Regarding Blogging

Posted on October 8, 2013 by tomaszmajewski — No Comments ↓

I’ve never liked the idea of blogging — for myself.

I like reading blogs.  I’ve learned lots of interesting and useful things from other people’s blogs.  I think the Internet — and this world — has benefited greatly from blogs.  New ideas from corners and minds previously unexplored are able to be heard and read around the world.

Not me, though.  I have a hard time considering myself an authority on much of anything.  It’s one thing for me to spout off about poor typesetting to a friend or a few colleagues at a networking event.  But to put it in writing…?  And then to “publish” it for all the world to read.  Eee-gahds!  Surly, my point of view is not worth the digital page it’s written on.

Maybe it’s humility?  Doubtful.  Shyness, perhaps?

Still, a blog is de rigueur for anyone in the marketing industry, and certainly anyone working in social media.  So here we go!  For getter or worse.  A blog…from me…yikes.  Hold on for some drivel.

Who knows — if I keep this up long enough and give it some thought, I may actually come up with a decent opinion on something or –gasp!– a good idea of some sort.  Wish me luck!

 

 

Posted in Social Media
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