Social Shares and Social SEO – Linking strategies in 2012

Posted on May 18, 2012 by rfmblogadmin

All the leading search engine specialists gathered in London this week for the Search engine expo (SMX). Lisa Myers, – CEO of Verve Search boldly declared ‘Social shares is the new link building.’
Interacting in social networks, creating compelling content, encouraging re tweets, Facebook shares, is a vital component for building authority in search in 2012.

Essentially, the ‘old’ is link building through web directories, and the ‘new’, is building fan following and shareable content that can accelerate the link building process for increasing chances of real time indexing in Google results pages.
Put in simpler terms, if you need to get found in Google, whether you’re a consumer company or a niche business to business to company, there is a need to take heed of this information.

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Promotional gifts – takeaway reminders of brands

Posted on May 18, 2012 by rfmblogadmin

Recently attended a local exhibition organised by the Chamber of Commerce and met a promotional gift company keen to show off new ideas and desk top reminders of brands, – mousemats, holders for mobile phones, insulated coffee mugs, trolley coin keyrings, post it notes, pen holders etc. Some people would say the time for this has passed. However, at RFM, we always think of where the potential and existing buyer spends time, and in business to business markets, the customer is often desk bound for most of the day. Promotional gifts are geared to be constant reminders of a brand, to be ‘in the face’ of the customer all day with no ‘self-select’ topic of conversation and no ‘delete’ button.
The social media scene is changing, Google is ranking in a different way and lip service to marketing a business is a yesterday!

It is always a good idea to think of your target markets: what they will be doing and where they will be when making business decisions. It is also good to know about their perceptions of your company as a potential supplier of goods and services.

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Are you staying ahead of the curve in search engine optimisation?

Posted on May 4, 2012 by rfmblogadmin

Search engines update their catalogues regularly, constantly indexing millions of websites for updated content. These are sophisticated engines, and in these digital marketing days, your website simply can’t remain static, and must add value to the visitors.

Blogging, has been around for over 12 years, but can be combined as a key tool in Search Engine Optimisation. Studies indicate that women are your most avid blogging demographic.

Now that you’ve got your website in the game, are you staying ahead of the curve with remarkable content? Are your social media biographies written succinctly, tailored for search engines?

Digital marketing is a multi-faceted area, and authority in search engines really can reflect well on your company profile.

Good SEO marketing is increasingly favoured as a marketing tool after email marketing. What are you doing to achieve higher rankings?

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Groupon – short term gain over long term growth?

Posted on May 4, 2012 by rfmblogadmin

For improving your brand awareness, Groupon leverages the power of group buying and many companies have taken advantage of its location based offers and promotions.

There is much debate over how effective Groupon is for companies in the long term. Consumers who use Groupon tend to be bargain hunters who will use the product/service once and move on to the next company who offers a good deal – difficult to brand build.

However, the advantage of Groupon is that it gets your brand out there. The deals are relevant to consumers in that specific area allowing the company to build a database of customers, followers on Twitter etc. for future promotion.  It also gives companies the opportunity to increase revenue when the consumer comes to their premises by upselling/link selling their products and services.

It is clear Groupon is effective in the short term and in order to make it worthwhile in the long term it is crucial to use the database correctly.

One word of caution we would recommend to clients – use Groupon sparingly, as it doesn’t do much for high level brands.

 

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Pinterest – its all the rage

Posted on May 4, 2012 by rfmblogadmin

Watch Pinterest, as it’s something the early adopters are using. It’s a valuable resource, “unfiltered window” that requires excellent content.

Harrods used Pinterest in exactly this way.  Pinterest is strong for arts, crafts and fashion and Harrods used this to create an innovative social media campaign to mark the Queen’s Jubilee. Fans of the social media site made their very own display of items that they believed represented the Jubilee. The winning board selected will be used as a real life display for the Harrods window.

This approach was original and exciting. Harrods incorporated the more established social media platforms in the campaign – Twitter and Facebook. Entrants submitted their Pinterest board via Twitter using the hashtag #HarrrodsWindows and fans of the Harrods Facebook page were asked to vote for their favourite.

This strategy created social buzz across all three of the platforms and demonstrated a new technique of embracing social media which is important in this digital age to set you apart from competition in the market.

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Brand planning – target a wider audience

Posted on April 27, 2012 by rfmblogadmin

Patagonia, the US clothing company has a green initiative, encouraging sellers to re-cycle their clothing and resell items through a custom Ebay store. Listing products on one of the largest online websites has clear benefits for search engines, and serves to strengthen the brand’s role as an ambassador of the ‘planet’.

Their theme:- “the greenest product is the one that already exists”

The sustainability aspects are clear; however the commercial aspects are curious. Our guess is that the thinking is not only to illustrate the durability of their clothing but it could perhaps be a measure to target a wider audience, – those who are happy to wear last season’s collection second hand but at a cheaper price. This thinking will rely on the ‘trendsetters’ to continue purchasing brand new items directly from Patagonia. Watch this space.

For more information contact russ@rfm.co.uk

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Using Social Media for engagement

Posted on April 27, 2012 by rfmblogadmin

We pick up on a very topical theme, – ‘engagement’. In the digital era, businesses have a responsibility for developing a social media plan to engage the audience and chosen platforms that suit their market niche.

For organisations building online communities, it is tempting to race ahead and build up a presence on multiple social platforms which can lead to content being spread too thin, and in the worst case, leaving your profile abandoned.

To maximise your online authority and broadcast to an online audience, internal marketing teams need to hone rapid response skills. A couple of key questions need to be asked: are your staff equipped to be brand advocates? Do they understand good content in a digital era?

Any well thought through marketing campaign requires a message and tone of voice that aligns with the target market. Good social networking goes hand in hand with well targeted on and offline campaign topics.

For more information contact graham@rfm.co.uk

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Hits of the brand – The simplest techniques always work best

Posted on April 27, 2012 by rfmblogadmin

Jen Boyle in the RFM office, received an empty breakfast cereal sample bag on her home doorstep. She followed the instructions given, which was to leave it outside the door the next day. Two days later, she received a full sized pack of the new Kellogg’s ‘All-Bran Golden Crunch’ cereal.

The technique was simple! – a door-drop sampling campaign to promote the new cereal targeting predominantly females aged 35+. The strategy didn’t involve searching for the customer – they are already in their homes, the place where they consume the product!

This low cost technique provided 3 + hits of the brand:

• 1st Hit of the brand – bag dropped in through letter box.
• 2nd hit of the brand – the full sized cereal lands on doorstep 2 days later.
• 3rd hit of the brand – munched at the breakfast table the next morning.

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Cool beer advertising campaign for mass market

Posted on April 13, 2012 by rfmblogadmin

Noticed some advertising positioned in mass consumer press with Caffrey’s in an aluminium bottle. The imagery is young with both men and women in the graphic.

It is beer in an aluminium bottle – why? There must be lots of bottling and canning halls geared to glass production of a specific can size. Check out the Molson website: http://www.molsoncoors.com

It is all about marketing and engaging with the customer – a new drinking experience and an updated look.

Objective: Protect everyday beers and lager from decline.

Product:

  • Beer in a bottle-shaped can
  • The can keeps the beer cooler.
  • Good size to hold and looks good.
  • Product is recyclable and safer to drink from.
  • Glass is also branded.

Price: Mid-range competing in a regular beer category.

Place – Now available in Tesco, Asda, Budgens, Costcutter everywhere!

Promotion: Half page colour ads – mass market.

People: English and French

Presence: New style of brand, new packaging – more contemporary.

Planet: Lighter to transport, so less emissions

Purple Cow: It really stands out as something new.

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Selling Technology to the world

Posted on March 30, 2012 by graham

Scottish companies with an objective to create sales of their technologies could not do better than exhibit at the Scottish Technology Showcase.

This show, sponsored by Scottish Enterprise will bring together buyers and sellers and give Scottish companies a feel for the specialist skills required to operate a stand effectively.

Planning for shows is everything, making the stand look good and making sure the team (actors and actresses on stage for a day), know how to work the stand and create leads, sales opportunities and maybe even a sale.

Planning sessions are being held in:
Glasgow – 17th April, Citizen M, Renfield Street, Glasgow
Edinburgh – 2nd May, Murrayfield Stadium, Edinburgh
Dundee – 3rd May, Scottish Enterprise, Greenmarket, Dundee

They are free to attend and a truly worthwhile session that will directly help business.

For more information contact russ@rfm.co.uk or speak to your Account Manager at Scottish Enterprise.

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