Follow the path of electronic enlightenment

So what is Twitter and how to use it?

I won’t try and describe exactly what Twitter is because that could take a while! What I will do is give you 3 tangible tips that you can use right now to make Twitter work harder for you.

1. Post often, but keep in mind that quality is better than quantity.

How often? That depends on your market and your audience. Once a day is a good start. You could get away with Monday, Wednesday and Friday but you will likely get lost in the noise.

A lot of times people ask me.

What should I Tweet about?

Remember the three Is. Interesting. Informative. Insightful. If you find something interesting, it will likely be interesting to your audience, so tweet it, or re-tweet it. Giving your audience good information is difficult but essential for building a following. Seek out information if you need to. If you find it informative, then so will your audience. If you can’t find anything new to tweet, try re-acting to someone else’s tweet, just make sure it’s insightful. Don’t tweet for the sake of it. Tweet with a purpose.

2. Know your audience

Bookmark http://search.twitter.com. Go ahead Bookmark it. I will wait. Okay, so it’s bookmarked, now it’s time to see it’s jaw dropping power. Use the search box and put in your company’s name. Hopefully something comes up. If not, don’t worry, see 1. to get the word out there.

If people are talking about you in a positive way, thank them and interact with them.

If people are talking about you in a negative way, thank them and interact with them.

See how easy this is! Don’t shy away from criticism and don’t ignore praise. Stroke the egos of your followers and make them feel special, because let’s face it… they are! If they are taking the time to speak to you on Twitter, they are special and should be treated as such.

If there is really NOTHING going on on Twitter for your company, then you have your work cut out for you. Get yourself out there and start conversations. It takes time and patience, but it will pay off.

3. Everything you need to know about Twitter you can learn from Sesame Street.

What! Did he just say that? Yes I did, and here’s why…

The key to Twitter is being open and honest. There is no room for stuffy PR people here. Be real. Be yourself.

And have fun with it. Twitter is quickly becoming the new e-mail. It’s a very low impact way to communicate and share your thoughts with anyone willing to listen. Don’t use it as a press release platform. You are the best judge of content. If you would roll your eyes if you saw the Tweet you are about to post, then DON’T POST IT.

Be real. Be honest. Give more than you get.

Pretty soon I will show you how to actually gain paying customers using Twitter but that’s for another day. This should keep you busy for the next few weeks.

Hope your Thanksgiving was relaxing and filling. Back to work! Have a fantastic week,

Yours,

Kent

We are not the right people to write a eulogy for Steve Jobs, but we like John Gruber’s post over at Daring Fireball the best.

http://daringfireball.net/2011/10/universe_dented_grass_underfoot

All we can say is that we all use Macs here at Ewakened and speaking for myself, I watch the Stanford Commencement address and the Think Different commercial on a regular basis for inspiration and motivation. I always strive to reach my goals, but meeting Steve was one of them. Looks like that one is off the list.

Steve and I share a passion for Hinduism and Buddhism and in that vein I am comforted to know that wherever he is, he is surely at peace and has experienced the eternal om.

So it goes.

The new Apple CEO took the stage today and shortly thereafter we learned about a new App that is coming standard on all iOS5 devices… Cards.

Cards is a simple application that lets you take a picture and send a real card to anyone in the world, for the low price of $4.99.

What does the announcement of iCards mean for Hallmark? A lot.

Hallmark has done some innovating in the past and has a very decent virtual card business through their website.  While there are pay options, I feel that most of the offerings are geared for Free E-Cards.  This business likely won’t be affected as people who want to send a Free card, aren’t going to pay $4.99.  Also, if you want to send an e-card to a lot of people, things like Paperless Post might be a more apt choice.  So Hallmark is not directly affected by iOS5 and Cards, but it brings up a point that everyone should take to heart.

APPLE MIGHT START COMPETING WITH YOUR BUSINESS EVEN IF YOUR BUSINESS HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH MUSIC OR APPS.

Yes that’s right!  Even you could be affected.  Apple’s goal is make the lives of their users easier so that they cannot help but buy an iPhone.  Things like iCards is designed to make something that can sometimes be a pain, sending cards oversees, very easy and painless.  I have a feeling that I will be getting and sending more cards given the new iCards application.

So does Hallmark need to worry. YES.  This is what Apple and innovative companies do. They find things are painful for their users and they make it easier. They did it with Music, they did it with Phones, and now it looks like they are going to do it with Cards.

What will they do next?

When most people think of Google Adwords they think of advertising.  For good reason, Google Adwords does over 5 Billion in revenues a year and is the main profit engine for Google’s massive wealth and success.

This week, I want to show you one way you can use Google Adwords even if you have nothing to advertise.  It can be helpful to solve a really simple yet hard problem:  Choosing a name.

A few months ago, Ewakened launched it’s first product, called Autovate.  However, it’s original name was Motiveatr.

So why did I end up going with Autovate?  Because after running a bunch of un-biased Ads with different names, Autovate converted the best! Let me explain how I did it.

1. I went and created a campaign on Google Adwords.
2. Using the four potential name candidates: Motiveatr, Autovate, Autovator, My Auto Motive.  I created a series of Ads whereby the only thing I changed was the name of the product.
3. I looked at the results and let the data guide me to Autovate.

Think about how powerful this is!  In less than 20 minutes, I had essentially turned everyone searching for my kind of product into a market research experiment.  Google randomly shuffles the Ads around so the ones that users click on the most clearly indicates that they like or prefer that name better than the other.  Autovate had over 80% of the clicks!  Can you believe it.  Out of the four different Ad variations where the only thing I changed was the name, Autovate received 80% more clicks.

How much did this cost me?  About 20 minutes and $20… not to shabby.

A word of caution.  When choosing a name, there are times we have instinctual gut feelings about one name over another, I am not suggesting using this technique when that is the case.  For example, I won’t use this technique to name your baby  However, when you need an impartial, data-driven result that is hard to argue with, use Adwords to run this kind of experiment.

So there you have it.  I wonder if the smart engineers at Google thought that people would be using Adwords to pick names!

Have a great week everyone.  Thanks for reading.  Let me know if you have any Google Adwords hacks that you want to share.

My Dad is a real estate agent, and he taught me that location is everything.  Turns out, he was right.  Advertising on the web, is all about location too.

Unless you have been living under a rock, you have likely heard of location-aware startups or websites.  There are many of them and we could spend hours talking about each of them, but today we will focus on the most popular one, Foursquare.

The idea behind Foursquare is simple.  Users use their mobile phone and  GPS location to pull up a list of business / brands currently around them.  They virtually “Check-In” to one of these locations.  The users that check-in the most and you become the Mayor of that brand or business.  I know what you are thinking… “Why the heck would I go through all of this trouble to check-in?”   That’s a good question.  The truth is that no one knew at the beginning, but Millions, yes Millions of people do it each and every day.  There are thousands of Foursquare Mayors in the GTA alone.  This raises another question… “Who cares if I am the Mayor of say… The Crooked Cue?

Glad you asked.

Being the mayor used to mean nothing more than bragging rights amongst your friends, however companies such as Starbucks paved the way by giving mayors and other special “check-ins” special deals and offers.  I know what you are going to say.  ”That’s find for Starbucks and their zillions of dollars but what about me?”.  What makes you different than Starbucks?  Nothing really…  they have just sold more coffee than you.

You, yes you can use Foursquare to your advantage.  It’s fun, cheap and very easy.  The strategy will need to be tailored for your  business, but here are a few prototypes.

1.  The restaurant.

This one’s easy.  You give special deals to people who check-in the most, similar to loyalty or rewards program.  Give the mayor a free appetizer or give first time check-ins a coupon to buy one get one free.  The possibilites are endless.

2.  The non-commodity business.

Treat check-ins with a free consultation or give the mayor a shout out on your blog, online newsletter or other media outlets (you are blogging and sending newsletters right?).

3.  The store.

GIve the mayor of your store 5% off everything you sell!  Heck, give them 10% if you can afford it.  For people who shop at your location often it will create some fun competition for them and will encourage them to come back.

While these efforts might seem like gimmicks I can assure you they are not.  If you back your actions with the intention of giving value to your customers, the gift will be appreciated and will keep them and their friends coming back.

So… did I convince you that Foursquare is a good investment?  Then head on over to https://foursquare.com/business/ and get started.  As always if you would like some help, you know where to find me.

Have a fantastic week everyone!

Kent

If you are looking to make a splash in the online marketing world, you need to add Facebook to your radar.

Facebook Ads are quickly becoming the Goto way for businesses large and small to get their message in front of a large audience.  Here are 6 reasons why you should be advertising on Facebook.

1. Facebook ads are targeted.

Facebook let’s you target your ads to any niche.  You can select by age, geographic region, by interests, by gender, by what they like and much more.  It’s the most detailed ad targeting system we have ever used.

2. Facebook ads let you pay per click.

Like Google, you only pay for what you use.  This comes in handy when you are on a budget.  It also let’s you run A/B tests and use clicks as your measure of success.

3.  You can use it to promote your Facebook page.

Facebook wants to keep users on Facebook, so it’s no surprise that your ads by default will direct users to a Facebook page, rather than a webpage hosted somewhere else.  Why would you want to promote your Facebook page?  We can cover this in more detail later, but the great thing about building your Facebook fan base is that you have a direct medium to advertise to them.  You can send out updates to all members, you can post status updates, photos etc.  The more you share, the more likely they are to share with friends.

4.  Facebook Ads are easy.

Google’s Adwords system is complex and can be intimidating for new advertisers, Facebook’s is quite simple and intuitive.  It’s easy to run multiple campaigns, test different ads and modify budgets on the fly and much more.

5.  Facebook Ads is not Google Adwords… yet.

Facebook has lots of users, and lots of early adopters advertising there, but the market is not saturated.  There is still room for you to make a splash.  However, this advantage is dwindling every day.

6.  Your product or company is worth talking about!

If you have devoted time and energy into something like a business or a product, then it’s worth spending $10 / month telling people about it.  That’s all it takes to get started, and starting is hardest part.  Monitor your progress and make course corrections as you need to.

Remember that Ewakened is always here to help.  Send us an email or give us a call.

Have a great week!

Kent

People and companies alike get excited when they first start  blogging.  They see lofty goals. They will blog everyday.  Their eyes are bigger than their stomachs.

But you should blog everyday.  Heck, blog twice a day.  Here’s the trick though.

Be concise.  Be simple.  Be like Godin.

http://sethgodin.typepad.com/

Seth Godin blogs a lot.  His posts are short and insightful.  No fluff.

Be informative.  Be reflective.  Be like Wilson.

http://www.avc.com/

Fred Wilson blogs everyday.  His posts are informative, subjective and short.  No fluff.

I am no role model, but I know the path.  Now walk it.

The best advice that I can give anyone is to start.

Starting is bar none the reason why some people fail and others succeed. Starting means that you take a bold step outside of your comfort zone and start making your own path.

We are quickly becoming a book culture, heck, even a blog culture where we think that the next great thing is waiting for us in that NEW book. Or maybe if we just subscribe to another blog then magically we will be successful. We will find the key.

Deep down you know that’s a load of crap.

Don’t get me wrong, books are fantastic learning tools, but too often we read books and then don’t follow any or some of the advice that they are preaching to us. Raise your hands if you have bought The 4-Hour Body have read it, maybe even twice, but have not tried the Slow Carb Diet. My question is… Why didn’t you at least try?

Why didn’t you start?

The answer is easy. Starting is hard. Starting means that you need to do something you might have never done before and that’s scary. I am trying to tell you that you need to do it anyway.

If you need some more inspiration checkout this great podcast called Back to Work from the 5by5 network. You won’t be disappointed.

All my best,

Kent