There are various reasons why Facebook fans don’t “Like” a Company on Facebook:

• 54% don’t want to be bombarded with messages or ads,
• 45% don’t want to give any companies access to personal profile information,
• 29% don’t want companies to contact them through Facebook,
• 23% don’t see the benefit of it,
• 4% don’t understand what it means to “Like” a company.

If a Facebook fan likes your Company page, it is very important to observe that they do so with an expectation. People don’t just “Like” every page on Facebook, they “Like” it for a reason. Fans like Company pages to gain access to exclusive content, events, sales or promotions.

47% of users “Like” a page to receive updates about the company, persons or organisation in their newsfeed. 26% want to interact with the page owner. The survey also shows that only 24% want to be contacted through other social media channels such as Twitter once they have interacted with a company on Facebook. 37% do not expect anything to happen.

Media such as photos and videos always perform well on Facebook. It grabs attention in newsfeeds and it is easy to share.

Just ask. People like to interact with each other so ask for those opinions on topics, and if you want your fans to share favourite content, go ahead – ask them.

One of a fan’s expectations is that the page owners will thank them for their replies and for sharing their opinions. From time to time, talk about things other than your products. Wish them happy holidays. Ask them fun questions or to share their personal stories.

Remember, if a fan likes your page; interact with them, because it’s one of the biggest expectations any Facebook Fan has.

The first of these industries to understand the value of this kind of lure, was the hotel industry, and they not only advertised their motel or inn on the first real en masse method of advertising, but quickly adapted their billboard signage to include distance to and amenities at their establishments.

The rise of the automobile meant more people were travelling, many other industries started seeing the value of this form of advertising and quickly adapted their strategies to include a billboard (or six) along the side of industrious motorways.

Many years later, radio and television were introduced, and around that formed a hype and a belief that these forms of advertising would reach masses faster and more effectively than that of traditional advertising.  And, while this is true to certain national and multi-national companies, it does not detract from the fact that, if someone is not listening to or watching at the exact time that your advert is showing, you will not be seen or heard.

This, while the faithful billboard stands -24/7, for everyone to see, at any time, all the time – for as long as you keep your advert showing.

But, advertisers say, isn’t it expensive?
In light of TV and radio?  In light of a 15s or 30s advert possibly lost on a phone call, a thought, or the 10seconds it takes to read a billboard instead whilst in traffic?

But, advertisers say, is it measurable?  How do I know it is not a complete ‘spray and pray’ approach?  And what is my return on investment?
In lieu of these absolutely valid questions, we have set up a few questions to ask yourself before considering a billboard, or any other form of marketing, to see its viability:
1.  What is my strategy? Is it brand awareness or direct response?
2.  How will I structure my messaging to incorporate my strategy?
3.  And finally, where will I place said message?

Either way you look at it, though, people will need to be aware of you before they will associate with you.  And in reference to cutting through the clutter, this is one of the effective ways of standing out above the rest.

It goes without saying, then, that a business without a sign is not only a sign of no business, but a recipe for disaster.

The thing with brand new domains is that it takes some time for Google to know it’s there. You will eventually feature organically for your brand name or domain name, but not immediately. One thing that you can do to ensure immediate results is to run a branded PPC campaign where you only show an ad on the search engine result pages when someone type in your company name or misspellings thereof.

This will ensure that you will be seen when someone is looking for your company. The clicks for these branded terms will also be fairly cheap as there will be little or no competition. Google Adwords has got a setting called site links that is only enabled when you have a campaign that has a very good quality score and feature mostly in the first position. Now with a branded PPC campaign it is very easy to achieve this. The site links will display up to 4 of your products or services with direct links to their pages on your website, this will give the user a greater experience as they can see what your main products or services  are from your ad and  go directly to that page.

I have found that a lot of people have the Google page as their browser homepage and whenever they open it up they type whatever website address they want to go to directly in the search box. The problem with this is that they might be potential customers and if they don’t find you in that search result, they will think that your website doesn’t exist or that it is broken (believe me I had people phoning me tell me that their website is not working because they can’t find it on Google).

So if you just launched a new website get a branded PPC campaign going to make people aware of your brand. Even if your website has been indexed and appears in the first position keep your PPC campaign active and up there and make use of site links to direct people to your most popular products or services.

I decided to take a short holiday last weekend and wanted to find an appropriate resort that would allow me to relax and de-stress and God knows we all need that at some point or the other, I had a recommendation regarding a resort from a friend, however when I tried to search for the resort online to have a look at what they offer, and what activities and facilities they have I was sorely disappointed, the resort in question did not have a website, I started getting  frustrated as I couldn’t even find decent images of the place

The only information I could find concerning them was on other accommodation sites and the information I got on there was very limited. All these directory sites where you can list your website can help to get good exposure, but are very limited when it comes to what information you give your potential clients.

By having your own website you can you can give the customer a better feel of what you have to offer, you also don’t have limited space to provide them with the necessary details. Your whole website’s look and feel will add to the experience when people actually visit your resort. The nice thing about having your own website is that it will strengthen your brand a lot. You will never grow a very strong brand by just appearing on these other websites. When users find that you own your own website they tend to trust you more than your competitor which they can’t look up online. This means that you immediately gain an edge above your competitor which is always useful when your selling your services.

If you are in the same situation that Chris was in, in his article being your own travel agent you want to get the right information and as detailed as possible when you need it. If your website is easy to find and informative you will definitely reap the rewards. If someone needs to plan a holiday in a short time and can only use the internet, they will choose the company that gives them the best information in the easiest, quickest way.

In South Africa the national energy supplier Eskom recently increased their prices on electricity by 24.8%. Now many of us would be utterly disgusted by this increase and not even noticed the potential treasure that lies in this situation. If you are a supplier of any renewable energy sources then you should be blowing your trombone as loud as you can. You need to inform worried people of small things that might convince them to buy your products. Did you for instance know that 43% of your home’s energy usage is from water heating. This means that you could in the long run cut your energy bills by 43% by simply installing solar water heaters.

So what should renewable energy suppliers be doing at the moment?? They should be shouting from the rooftops so everybody can hear that their product could save them up to 43% on their energy bills in the long run. Is this happening? The short answer is no. Companies struggle to react quickly to changes such as these and this means that they miss the wave. That point where the need for a product or service is create by what’s going on in the world.

One of the things your company will need is to be proactive, you need to encourage your employees to identify situations like these and use them to your benefit. Secondly your company needs to ensure that they are able to react quickly to change by updating things like your website and pay per click advertising that you might be running. During the course of this week we will have another blog post that will provide you with some tips to help ensure your company can adapt quickly when the need arises.

Now identifying the treasure trove is only the first part. You need to find visitors to show your message to. You need to ensure that you plan out your marketing strategy so your unique selling point will be put across to the right audience. You need to drive traffic using all forms of advertising that your company can afford. Online definitely still is the most effective and because of this I would suggest you start here. If you play your cards right you could even co-brand your product as the solution to a certain need. An example of where this has happened (and the only one I can now think of the top of my head) is Google. Google came into the market as a solution to the need people had. Google offered them a really quick simple and accurate tool to find what they are looking for. To Google something has now even also become a verb. This is exposure that you can’t buy for your brand.

You will also need to look at optimizing your landing pages so that your visitor land on pages that closely resembles solution to the need they have. By making sure you tailor this as close as possible, you will have far more visitors converting and performing desired actions.

Lastly you will need to ensure you make a habit of thinking about how you can identify these hidden treasures. Our theme this week is on how to identify treasures like these and react to them to ensure you get the most out of these situations. So please check in the next few days.