Startling Statistics About Social Media for Business
As social media continues to grow, some of the things we thought we knew about it have changed. Here are some of the latest statistics for 2018.
GENERAL
• 95% of adults aged 18-34 online are likely to follow a brand via social networking.
• 71% with a good experience with a brand will recommend it to others.
• Visual content gets 40% more views than other types of content.
• 50 million small businesses use Facebook Pages to connect with customers. Four million of these pay for Facebook advertising.
• 68% of marketers have posted video content on Facebook.
• The best time to post is 3PM on Wednesdays, 12-1PM on weekends, and 1-4PM on Thursdays and Fridays. Continue reading →
Why a Well-Done Intake Interview is Vitally Important to Writing Copy
When working with a new client, we always perform what we call an “Intake Interview.” This interview is valuable in a number of ways.
Get the Facts
First, it provides us with the facts we need about a company’s products, services, customer service policies, history, background, target customer audience and goals.
Get the Tone
Second, it gives us the opportunity to “hear” the company owner. We listen not just for the facts but for how the owner represents the business. Does he or she speak using technical language? Are the sentences long or short? Is there humor? This helps us to write in “their voice,” not our own, and is especially helpful when writing a speech the interviewee will be delivering. Most of the time our client remarks, “It sounds just like me!”
Get the Customer
Listening also helps us to uncover problems the owner may be having in the business, or issues their customers might be having. These can and should be addressed when creating good copy. Continue reading →
Seeing the Sale From the Other Side of the Desk
When I was director of marketing for a national company, my office was situated right next to that of the president’s. One day, he walked by my door and saw me sitting in the visitor chair at the opposite side of the desk than my normal chair. I was just sitting.
The president stopped in the doorway and asked me, “What are you doing?”
I answered, “I’m looking at the company from the customer’s point of view.”
We are often so busy working at our own jobs that we can overlook the point of view our customer sees. Therefore, it is good to either take a moment to “sit in their chair,” or hire an outside eye (trained consultant) who can identify just what it is the customer sees…and needs.
As a hired marketing consultant, I have made the tiniest tweaks in someone’s presentation, look, office, retail space or marketing strategy that have made huge differences the next time they Continue reading →
Want More Sales? Writing in Active Voice Gets Others Excited
Even as a professional writer, I have to review everything I write to make sure I am writing in “active voice.” I review for it in my professional writing as well as my everyday correspondences via email or letters, and believe it or not, I usually find at least one place where I can make my writing stronger.
What is Active Voice?
When using active voice, the subject of the sentence performs the action expressed in the verb: The girl brushed the dog. An example of this same sentence in passive voice would be: The dog was brushed by the girl. One tip for identifying a passive sentence is to look for the word “by.”
Why is Active Voice Important?
Active voice sentences are preferable in writing because Continue reading →
Does Your Marketing Copy Tell Your Story?
Are you using plain, nondescriptive words on your website and marketing materials? Words that everyone else is using? If so, you might be falling into the copy dead zone.
I learned a technique as a magazine writer. As an exercise, we wrote a sentence or paragraph using ordinary words, as in this example:
- John went to the store to buy bananas.