Creative Marketing Channel

“Facebook took something that even a novice could understand and have turned it into something that even to someone who has programming experience, is a confusing mess all for the sake of more ad space. Way to alienate your users Facebook! Social media is impatient and fickle, best get things simplified or people are going to split! P.S. It shouldn’t be all about the money. You either want businesses to use FB or you don’t.” – Heaven Graphics

Facebook’s recent pages upgrade has left a lot of small business owners reeling. For those businesses who rely solely on Facebook instead of their own brand, the fallout from FB’s upgrade has just begun and it’s looking uglier with each passing day.

The Problem: Customers and friends no longer see business page comments, links, photos, and status updates. Why? Because along with the new Facebook came an automatic new default setting placed on everyone’s newsfeed.  The new newsfeed default setting shows you comments, links, and status posts ONLY from those people you interact with most.  This means, if you’re a business, people who normally don’t interact with you will not see you anymore. Feeling invisible on FB lately? It gets worse.  Facebook has decided relevancy is what matters. Therefore, even if you change your newsfeed settings,  your newsfeed will never ever be the same as it has now become part of The Borg – I mean Facebook’s new relevancy algorithm.

The Partial Solution: You can change your newsfeed settings and see more filtered, relevant posts.  This will make more people visible to you but will not make you more visible to them. Will all 600 million people on FB make the effort to do this? I think not.  But, here’s how you can do it:

Step One: Go to your home page and click the little blue triangle next to “Most Recent.”

Step Two:  Choose “Edit Options.”

Step Three: Click the little blue triangle next to Show posts from …  and choose  “All of your friends and pages.” Click Save.

To all  businesses suffering under Facebook’s upgrade it’s imperative you understand the following distinction: Facebook is not your brand. Facebook is Facebook’s brand.  Your blog and your website are your brand. Social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter are places where you can share your brand. If you put all of your marketing eggs in Facebook’s basket then you’re in trouble.

It’s easy to wonder whether Facebook knew all along small businesses may not like their upgrade.  If they did, then they’re willing to take the hit and nothing will change.  If they didn’t,  then perhaps these pages will matter: Bring Back Chronological Posts,   You Are Invisible, and  New Facebook Settings Affecting You.  How do you predict Facebook’s new default newsfeed settings and  relevancy algorithm will impact brands? How do you predict they will impact Facebook?

To contact oz 2 designs LLC to handle your digital marketing and design email Catherine Lockey at cl@oz2designs.com.

Consistent, relentless adaptation to the ever changing business climate takes passion and dedication.  2010 was a tough year for some businesses and many are grateful it’s over.  Before us lies a new year filled with opportunities which can only be discovered by pushing oneself and one’s business to be better.  The right words may be all it takes to help a business owner stay on target and achieve her goals. Last October, The Creative Marketing Channel held a totally subjective Original Coach Quotes Contest asking coaches for original quotes to inspire businesses in 2011.  Today we’re very pleased to announce our winners. Read the rest of this entry »

Successful online commerce means knowing critical new business practices which result in online success. Dawn M. Yankeelov, president and founder of Aspectx, shared these practices and so much more in her session “Customer Retention : Learn Critical Factors for Maintaining Online Commerce Success” at PRSA’s 2010 global conference. Below are the pearls of wisdom I gathered from her exceptional session. Read the rest of this entry »

“And remember, ‘YOU did it and you did it ALONE.’” This is something a relative loves to tell me whenever I share good news with her about my business. Her automatic response, “You did it alone.” A seemingly strong statement revealing her great weakness. Read the rest of this entry »

“Every customer represents an opportunity. That customer will be singing your praises, or doing what I’m doing. Branding You.” – Angela Russell from StateFarmSucks.homestead.com.

Welcome to the Digital Age

Not too long ago, if a customer was dissatisfied with a product or service it would take weeks, months, or years for word of her dissatisfaction to get around – if it got around at all. Today, the rules of the game are very different. Welcome to the digital age where the internet is everyone’s equal opportunity forum.  With the advent of social media, bad news spreads like wildfire and negative press pops up in real time. So, how do you effectively protect your brand online?

***************************************************************************************

Read the rest of this entry »

Wanted by Everyman

“I’m not sure if Bank of America knows this, but we are in a recession and most of us, we are hurting.” – Jackie Ramos

If you haven’t already heard college graduate and single mother Jackie Ramos’ compelling story on YouTube, you have to check it out. Jackie was a customer assistance representative for Bank of America.  Every day she worked directly with countless people who couldn’t afford to pay Bank of America’s 29.99% interest rate, late fees and “convenience” fees. Read the rest of this entry »

Business Predators

I just visited a non-profit business group today whose goal is to eradicate polio around the world as well as spread the message of peace.  It was a lunchtime meeting.  I was warmly welcomed and enjoyed meeting a few new people.  What I loved about this group is their values.  They want members whose values align with theirs:  Honest people who care about the world around them.

As I exited this meeting , I could see another meeting ending in the room next door – this was a different kind of group.    I was spotted by at least seven members of this group.  At least three of the seven are genuinely good business owners.  The remaining four are people I  prefer not to associate with.   Their motto: People are but objects to be used.   I call them “Business Predators.”

Business predators are people who treat business like war and people like objects.  They misuse their knowledge of others in hopes to control them. If they cannot control someone, they look for their weakest area and attack them. A predator has a dual mindset of both fear and lack.  A fearful mindset doesn’t believe in honesty, peace, or even good manners. Instead, their world is a black and white fighting arena where everyone is either for them or against them. Their mindset of lack says, “There isn’t enough good stuff in the world so I must take what I can now, before someone else does.”   Business predators become filled with “righteous anger”  when confronted.  Their mindset is entirely self-serving.  They truly do not believe anyone else is any different from themselves. I repeat, they truly do not believe anyone else is any different from themselves. 

Obviously I don’t respect business predators.  They come in both genders, every race, and all shapes and sizes.  If you really want to identify a business predator, don’t listen to what they say.  Instead, observe what they do.  What they do reveals who they are.  For those of us who are not business predators, this is hard to swallow.  We try to understand and hope for the best.  We look for that grain of good we think is in everyone.  That’s why we occasionally get stomped on by a predator..we really didn’t see it coming.  The victim of a business predator surprise attack may say, “I don’t understand!! Couldn’t he/she see my intentions are good.  I thought we were friends!” The answer is a big, fat, bold NO. Business Predators don’t see you at all. They see themselves in you – and they know they (themselves) are never to be trusted.

Business predators are everywhere. Some are very successful. Some are mediocre.  Some are beautiful and some are ugly.  Many are charismatic.  My point here is, they are not going away.  Their mindset of fear and lack sadly exists.  The best way to deal with this mindset is to truly see it when it’s in front of you. You can’t control it.  Instead,  work daily to control yourself.   You can choose not to support them as you direct your focus away from them and continue to work to achieve a higher standard.

It’s competitive out here and some of the things businesses do to acquire new business are just plain wrong. You’ve seen it before – maybe you have been tempted to participate. A few untruths here, a dash of jargon there, mix in some fear and before you know it, unethical businesses who shouldn’t be doing well appear to be doing great! So why should you play fair when all the other kids don’t have to? Read the rest of this entry »

I know you’ve felt the pain – the torturous discomfort created by long voice mail systems. After you make your choices and punch in your account number the next thing you hear is “Your wait time is 15 minutes!” And your pain doesn’t end there – oh no. That’s because when you finally get to speak with a human, the human is a tired, bored, possibly outsourced “customer service representative.”  Oddly enough, you find yourself repeating yourself, even arguing with this person. They aren’t helping you! Your head pounds and your back aches as your watch your precious time evaporate. Read the rest of this entry »