Monetization

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Are you confident in your Social Media strategy? I've found that people tend to answer this question in two ways. A large segment of the online businesses will report "Definitely Not". The other largest segment, although a very small total, indicate "Yes". In reviewing the actual programs and campaigns of those segments, there are two overwhelming observations that bubble to the top.

Businesses who are not confident in their social media strategy are well positioned to succeed.

  • They know what they don't know, therefore making them open to change.
  • Their hesitation to jump in opens an opportunity for a strong start.
  • They are watching market trends to identify the best place to start.

Being involved with these companies is a very exciting opportunity. They recognize the tremendous potential the social media channels can offer, and strive to be strategic about their interactions. Many of us would simply laugh at the idea of starting a business with no product to sell, revenue to gain, or plan to get there. Yet, hundreds and thousands of businesses have a "social media strategy" that entails nothing more than having a page or group on Facebook.com or a Twitter.com account.

Businesses who recognize the immense potential of reaching over 120 Million monthly visitors (according to compete.com ) on Facebook requires careful planning. This week, I was speaking with some folks from a great agency located in Michigan, DDM Marketing & Communications. They are an organization that understands the potential of social media for business, and are actively working to set strategies for clients that meet the clients' business needs. To quote the Principal, "Anyone can create a Facebook Page in 15 minutes, our smarter clients understand it takes more than just a page". Exellent observation, which unfortunately is overlooked by many.

What makes a good Social Media strategy that inspires confidence in the business?

  • Understand Social Media is a commitment, not simply a campaign.
  • Align the strategy with the business objectives.
  • Invest time, resource and money into growth.

Businesses who are confident in their Social Media strategy are most often missing trememdous opportunities.

Simply having a presence on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. doesn't mean your strategy is solid. It means only that you've started something.

Measuring your success based on the number of followers, connections, fans or "likes" is an equally unvaluable metric. This only suggests the pool of prospects more readily available to you.

Understanding the visitors, conversions, leads and comments from your social network outreach is a step in the right direction. These often are the start of an effective engagement and monetization strategy, they are only valuable when aligned with the business strategy.

Are you confident in your social media strategy?

If you've read this entire page, you probably realize the expected answer is "no". Regardless, your success online depends on making sure customers and prospects can locate you, wherever and whenever they want.

Contact Spartan today to find out how you can dip your toe in the water in this wide open ocean of opportunity.

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Answer this question for yourself: "Is it wrong to promote a product that is high quality, good for consumers, and really does what it promises?" Of course not! Yet, many businesses feel this is some sort of taboo if the business also profits from the promotion of the product.

What am I talking about you may ask? There is a very interesting article today from the New York Times. You should check it out for some pleasure reading. But here's the synopsis.

  • Successful online business, Daily Grommet has a unique model
  • Every weekday, the site posts a new product selection
  • The products are selected by the Daily Grommet team
  • All products are created, manufactured, marketed by another company
  • Professional demonstrations, videos, and information highlight the product's value
  • Customers can then buy the product

Since Daily Grommet doesn't make or produce the products, you may be asking yourself a basic question. "What is so strange about this? Every media and product review company does this."

Yes, but here's the kicker. According to the Daily Grommet's website, "We're independent—no one pays us to select a product. "  That is surely a 100% true statement. Yet, a percentage of the sale of each item made through the Daily Grommet's website goes to... The Daily Grommet.

This post is not to denigrate the website, the work they are doing, or to call anyone out on the carpet. Rather, this is Pure Genius! Many businesses have a lot to learn from their business model. Here's what they're doing that can be a lesson to all of us:

  1. Consumers hunger for unbiased opinions on new products, old products, or anything they can use to improve their satisfaction. By creating this website, they have manufactured a true, unbiased authority who provides consumers guidance.
  2. Social-sharing is built into the model. Every step of the way, readers and consumers on the site can see ways to share their experiences with each other, and to share the recommendations with their network of friends
  3. Affiliate Marketing is a viable business opportunity. Rather than building products to sell consumers, these folks have decided they can make more profit by promoting other people's products.
  4. By establishing trust, consumers return for the latest recommendations.
  5. The schedule of new content is consistent. By posting the new review each day, at the same time, consumers' expectations are met, and I imagine Daily Grommet's business metrics become very easy to predict.

Kudos to the folks at Daily Grommet!

How are you using innovative strategies and making money without selling your own products and services directly?

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At the core of every business lies the same principle. Customers must generate more revenue for the business than is required to remain in business. Easily said, yet more difficult to accomplish.

Many businesses have relatively simple business models. Customers enter the store, website, etc. and leave having paid for some items. Managing that business model relies on very simple factors.

  • Constant flow of customers
  • Profitable pricing strategy
  • Effective conversion to purchase

Online, we have even more options. Of course we are all familiar with the ecommerce model made popular a decade earlier by Amazon. Yet, on the same website where we hope to produce product sales online, we have other options.

  • Cross-channel revenue
  • Passive-consumer profit
  • Affiliate business

The first step in any online strategy is to define the primary goal of the website. However, this need not be to the exclusion of any ancillary monetization strategy. The beauty here is if you fail at your primary objective, you may still produce revenue from the site visitor by another means.