I've previously written a
blog series on how to get the most out of your online content in which I focused mainly on technology and social media and how it can help leverage your content to a larger audience. You can also get more exposure for your content by thinking strategically about social network applications.
We all know about the social media applications that are meant for a general audience such as
Facebook and
Twitter. If you have a wide variety of hobbies and interests as I do, you may be aware that many web sites that cater to a niche audience engage in community building by incorporating social network applications into their web sites such as personal blogs.
I supply blog posts and articles for several web sites, a magazine, and two e-newsletters. When I'm deciding on what topic to write about, I often will choose subject matter that is appropriate for more than one channel. Here is an example: I recently joined Weight Watchers. The Weight Watchers web site includes an online community and each member gets a blog for sharing his or her thoughts on food, health, fitness and other suitable topics. I have been writing a blog series for the Route 66 Association of Missouri called
Fit and Healthy on Route 66 in which I describe my experiences on hiking and biking trails on or near historic Route 66. It seems logical that Weight Watchers members might also want to read these, so I've been posting excerpts from my articles on my Weight Watchers blog with a link back to the full article on the Route 66 Association of Missouri blog site. With very little extra effort, I've gained another link which is always valuable, and increased the potential audience for my content.
Whatever it is you're trying to accomplish online, whether it's personal, business-related or both, growing your audience will help you reach your goals, so use your multi channel mix to seize opportunities to do so whenever you can.
Several years ago I started a web site called
John's Modern Cabins News as a personal project. The purpose of this site is to help along historic preservation efforts on Route 66, on of my personal passions. To that end, the site contains preservation news, suggested actions, a directory of promotional resources, and a free directory for historic businesses on Route 66 to help them get more exposure and thus stay vital and open.
I've recently relaunched the site because I have added an
online form provided by
Webinar Resources to make it easier for business owners to send me their information if they want to be in the directory. To promote the relaunch one of the things I'm doing is sending postcards to businesses that I think would be appropriate for inclusion. For some of the businesses I've have to search online for their street address - while doing that I noticed something interesting.
Quite a few of the businesses I searched for have web sites, but their web sites did not always come up first in the search results. In many cases review web sites such as Trip Advisor were the first result shown. Why would review web sites be first in the search results over the businesses' own web site?
One possible reason is that the nature of review sites is that they have a lot of content that is frequently updated. Search engines are known to favor such sites. Also, the more incoming links a site has, the more search engines will like it. A high profile site such as Trip Advisor is likely to have a lot of incoming links, so in order for a site to rank above it, a number of incoming links are needed to stay competitive. You don't necessarily need more links than Trip Advisor, but you need enough for your incoming links plus other factors such as your title tags and site content to lift your site above the review sites.
Why is this important? Well, some of the reviews I read of the businesses I was searching for were not favorable. If someone reads a negative review before they even get to see your web site, that is bad news. There is no guarantee that the reviews are fair either. I read some reviews of businesses that I've patronized myself that in no way reflect my own experience.
Because you can't control what other people say about you, you have to take charge of your own online reputation. Search for your own business name if you haven't for awhile to see what people are saying about you. Be visible in as many channels as possible by strategically planning your multi channel mix. Make use of social network applications in addition to your own web site. Take advantage of every free link you can get. Push those review sites farther down the page so that people can at least get a good first impression of you before they read something negative!
At Webinar Resources we have been producing short 2-3 minute Brainshark presentations as ticklers or "webinar trailers" to promote our series of Webinar Wednesdays events. Webinar Trailers are a very effective customer acquisition process for engaging and acquiring registrants as they appeal to more modalities than traditional email invitations.
With Webinar Trailers, we can strengthen our marketing message with an on demand presentation that consists of audio, slides and capture a registration at the moment of the viewing of the presentation. We also can post Webinar Trailers in many different locations - social network applications, webinar newsletters, landing pages and of course link directly to a personalized email. Using our proven process of selecting the appropriate multi channel mix, we gain the attention needed to capture registrants for our webinars.
We are now extending the reach of our multi channel marketing to SMS text messages and mobile video. Registrants and/or past participants can subscribe to our Webinar Wednesdays SMS reminders and alerts by texting to the word "webinar" to short code 88769. Once the subscriber is added to our list, we can then reach out to them in their preferred communication method with a text reminder.
Soon we will be delivering mobile content to our Webinar Wednesdays SMS subscribers. Stay tuned for more information in our blog or text "webinar" to 88769 and join our Webinar Wednesdays subscriber list.
Building customer acquisition is all about extending your reach through an effective multi channel mix using cross media applications to drive attendance and list growth for your events. We have partnered with Peter Muir, and his Bizucate team to communicate these strategies and enable our participants to learn how to develop a marketing plan to drive effective events. Join us at our next Webinar Wednesdays event on June 23rd, from 1-2pm CDT. Listen to our webinar trailer and register at: http://www.brainshark.com/webinarresources/WebWed. We hope to see you there.
The day of the event (DOE) represents a major influx of responsibility for both the organizer and the attendees. Organizers have to manage a myriad of variables to ensure a successful event from catering coordination to registration to setting up tech requirements, wrangling presenters and more. Attendees have fewer responsibilities but ideally they’re coming into the DOE with the desire to learn, network and/or do business. The multi channel marketing strategy focuses on distributing the traditional pressure of event days through the entire pre & post event campaign. Using the multi-channel approach can help make the DOE far less stressful and chaotic for all involved. Of course, planning & organization are both central to executing a successful event; here are some suggestions for managing the day of the event.
Begin at the very beginning. Before you plan or schedule the pre-event efforts consider what items you anticipate having on your “to do” list on the DOE. Then look at how you can distribute management of them in the pre-event stages so when you get to the day of the event there is less to worry about.
Examples
- Make sure you’ve set up a series of informational emails or a website for support staff and presenters. They should know what is expected of them; where to be at what time on the day of event, deadline for submitting, tech requirements for laptops and presentations, etc.
- If it is a large event like a conference, let attendees set their schedules early to establish presentation expectations and to cut down on people asking questions.
- Delegate the compartmentalized or smaller tasks, like catering and registration, to someone with fewer things to worry about on the DOE.
- Delegate the updates of social network applications during the event such as Twitter, blogging and Facebook updates.
Identify three main goals you have for the DOE. They should be tied to the larger goals of the full multi-channel campaign but focused particularly on the day’s events. Then make these three things your mantra. It will keep you focused and make decision making a little easier when you have already identified your priorities.
Examples
- To ensure attendees walk away with the information/material they came looking for.
- Make sure messages, observations and news from the event are captured for post-event newsletter/follow-up or to share with those who could not attend.
- Facilitate smooth running presentations to ensure everyone gets to present and/or learn.
- Help make networking as easy as possible for attendees and vendors alike. Assign a QR code to every attendee so they can simply scan to exchange information. Or, offer team with a local print shop to offer discounts on business cards so they have something exchange.
Maximize the multi-channel opportunity. Using new channels for communicating is just as relevant on the DOE as it is to support the pre & post-event variables. Keep in mind ways you can use them to create a more accessible and effective event
Examples
- Use SMS to send attendees a link to their event schedule on the morning of the event.
- Consider a live webcast or recorded podcast to share the event with those who weren’t able to attend. Webinar replays can be used as a review for those who attended as well as a customer acquisition process in your grand lead generation conference strategy.
- Place QR codes or Microsoft tags on presentations, collateral or exhibition displays to enhance attendee’s interaction with content.
To find out more about how to better use the multi-channel approach to events on the actual day of the event, tune into the June edition of Webinar Wednesdays, June 9th from 1:00-2:00 p.m. CDT. Visit
events.webinarresources.com/WebinarWednesdays to save the date and receive a reminder for the June 9th event.
And don't forget the May edition of Webinar Wednesdays on May 12th from 1:00-2:00 p.m. CDT. We will cover Phase 2: Pre-Event Efforts of Successful Event Planning. Visit
events.webinarresources.com/WebinarWednesdays to register for our May 12th Webinar Wednesday session. You can view replays of past webinars at our Webinar Resources
replay portal.
Peter Muir, president Bizucate Inc.
www.bizucate.com
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