Go Big or Go Home: A Competitive Advantage eBook

A Competitive Advantage
Article Series From:
Asking Smarter Questions

SEPTEMBER
OCTOBER
2012
AskingSmarterQuestions.com

Table of
Contents
Preface: Are You a Game Changer?
Preface:
pg. 1

Part 1:
Part 1: SEO Competitive Analysis: Tackling the Tools
pg. 4

Part 2:
Part 2: SEO Competitive Analysis: Beating the Other Guys
pg. 7

Part 3:
Part 3: The Xs and Os: How To Improve Your Paid Ads
pg. 9

Part 4:
Part 4: Learn the Fundamentals: Paid Search Optimization
pg. 11

Part 5:
Part 5: Facing the Competition Head-On: Display Ads
pg. 13

Part 6:
Part 6: Display Ads: Tactics to Get the Win
pg. 15

Part 7:
Part 7: Throw Down the Social Gauntlet, No Matter
What your Size
pg. 16

Part 8:
Part 8: Beef Up Your Business with Social Research
pg. 18

AskingSmarterQuestions.com

Are You a Game Changer?
Preface:
By Steve Parker, Jr.
In our newest series, Go Big or Go Home, we discuss analyzing and tackling
the competition. More specifically, we discuss tactics to help you evaluate
your competition and win in various aspects of the digital game including paid
search, SEO, social media, display and analytics. In this series you will learn to
be a champion and change the game.
“The same items
that give us more So, what about you? Are you a game changer? Do you rise to a challenge?
pressure from Do you find a new way of solving old problems? Do you persevere when the
competition also going gets tough? For most, the answer is no. Don’t be offended. Most people
provide for us don’t rise, they run. Most don’t search for a new way, they lay low. Most fold
the answers we under pressure when faced with a challenge. That’s the easy way out. It’s non-
confrontational. And it’s unfortunate because there is always a way to rise, to
need to become
challenge, to succeed and it’s only in those moments when you find out if you
a formidable are indeed a game changer.
challenger and
ultimately a If you have seen the movie Moneyball, you may remember a scene (that I truly
game changer.” believe to be one of the best in film about thinking differently in challenging
situations) where Billy Bean played by Brad Pitt asks his senior scouts, “What’s
the problem?” and they answer in the litany of standard old ways of thinking.
Billy is clearly not buying it and at the end says, “The problem we’re trying to
solve here is that there are rich teams, there are poor teams, then there’s 50
feet of crap and then there’s us. It’s an unfair game.” In order to compete, Billy
needed to find a new way of approaching the game.

Often times we dismiss challenges as runs of bad luck, as insurmountable
hurdles or as “the man” sticking it to us. Come on, be honest. You’ve felt this
way; you’ve been a victim too, haven’t you? We all have – and I’m including
myself. But this mentality doesn’t solve the problem, it only exacerbates
it. Competition in our lives is escalating, not becoming less of an issue.
Competition for a job, for an account, for a relationship, for attention, for our
businesses to succeed is at an all time high as the world has become a global
communication tool where decisions are made in milliseconds.

Thankfully, the same items that give us more pressure from competition also
provide for us the answers we need to become a formidable challenger and
ultimately a game changer.

Consider the following questions:
What if our problems and challenges were the playing fields upon which we
learn the way to create a new solution, a new way of visualizing the right
answer?

Example: The shotgun offense, devised in 1960 by Red Hickey (A little piece
of knowledge I gained personally from the great Jack Harbaugh – father of John
and Jim, coaches of the Ravens and 49ers respectively).

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P AskingSmarterQuestions.com 1

Preface: (continued)

What if persevering through these challenges will ensure you learn, grow and
succeed in a matter that no one thought possible or that most never consider?

Example: Consider using information and data that others are not using such
as raw query analysis from paid search or social research linguistics analysis.
“To solve an Finding the answers, overcoming challenges and persevering is never easy,
issue you need there are a few simple ways to think differently about the problems.
a new lens from
which to view the The same issues that created the problem won’t solve the problem. Doing more
problem.” of something that doesn’t work is just (say it with me), s-t-u-p-i-d.

1. To solve an issue you need a new lens (e.g. tool) from which to view the
problem. What tools are you not considering or leveraging fully?

2. To solve a problem you often also need a new language that may well be
foreign to you. For clarity, I’m not speaking of learning a new language; I’m
speaking of learning a new way, a new approach.

The above will not be comfortable in most cases. That is unless the pain from
the problem has become so intense that anything is better. Most people don’t
change anything unless it becomes painful.

Example: Someone has high cholesterol and instead of changing diet
immediately they wait until they have a heart attack. That is painful so they
make a change. Don’t wait until you have a heart attack. Start now!

In the advertising industry, brands (really people) get easily “geeked out” over
creative ideas. Let me give you a common example of thinking different. Special
Note: please know I am not bashing creative in this example, I’m being critical of
the process and outcome and the way people think or don’t think differently.

Step 1
Agency A will pitch ideas using their “give it a name” branding process which
often consist of a cookie cutter methodology that has not changed in decades
and is as commonplace as a coffee shop on a NYC street corner.

Step 2
Creative insanity ensues.

Step 3
The ads win major awards, they grace the cover of AdAge, the client
is over-excited at the attention and come eighteen-months later,
sales are still flat, down or only up slightly but not enough to justify
the “campaign.”

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Preface: (continued)

Step 4
Agency A is fired, Agency B is hired.

Step 5
“How you The entire process starts over.
respond to the
competition and Step 6
how you react Agency B has to make a name for itself so again the same “give it a name”
in the face of process begins.
new challenges
will determine if Step 7
Creative insanity ensues.
you are a game
changer.”
Step 8
Wash, Rinse, Repeat.

Solving a problem with the same process as before doesn’t work. Frankly, the
creative may have not been the issue. The real issue may be that your customer
service lacks effort, your distribution mechanisms don’t get the product to
market in time, your merchandising plan is poorly positioned, your marketing
messaging is hilarious and kitschy when the customer just really wants honesty
and pricing.

The good news is there are many ways to evaluate these problems and provide
answers to solve them. For example, why rely on expensive focus groups in four
cities and a few dozen people when you can get real-time, unsolicited feedback
from conversation that already exist in the market via Social Conversation
Analysis and Search Linguistics- from thousands, in many markets, right now?
How you respond to the competition and how you react in the face of new
challenges will determine if you are a game changer.

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SEO Competitive Analysis:
Part 1:
By Steve Parker, Jr. Tackling the Tools
We’re beginning our “Go Big or Go Home” series with a piece on how to size
up the competition in SEO (search engine optimization). We begin with SEO
because it is truly important to lay the foundation for success on your website
early on, thereby setting the stage for future optimization. Determining what the
“Determining
competition is doing in the space is a great first step in identifying opportunities
what the for your own site.
competition
is doing in To begin, we’ll share some (free!) tools with you to help you better understand
the space is a where your competition stands.
great first step
in identifying The most basic of these tools is probably the Google Keyword Tool. We have
opportunities for referenced it before in a post about social messaging. It is valuable because
it can help you decide which keyword to target. It does this by offering two
your own site.”
important pieces of information: 1) volume of queries, 2) status of competition.

It also offers you keyword ideas–that is, keywords that may be related to your
search queries that also have a good volume of searches.

The second of these free tools is the Google Insights for Search. This tool can
be reached through the Keyword Tool by simply clicking on the keyword you
wish to discover more about. This will give you some more in-depth information
about the month over month volume of queries and the country or countries
where the keyword is most often implemented. Additionally, the Insights for
Search gives you ideas about fast-growing related keywords. For “discounted
hotel rooms,” for instance, it suggested “hotel discount codes,” which has seen
a growth of +70%. This not only tells us beneficial information about related
keywords, but that also perhaps the competition is encouraging customers to
book online by offering promotion codes that can be typed in at checkout.

Our third helpful SEO competitive analysis tool is Open Site Explorer, which was
created by SEOMoz in order to promote link transparency. It gives you relevant
information about the backlinks a competitor may use. Here is an example
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Part 1: Tracking the Tools
By Steve Parker, Jr. (continued)

of what you might find there if you typed in the Wall Street Journal. Beware,
however, that unless you upgrade your account, you may only look at five site
reports a day:

“It’s important
to know how
accessible
your site is
compared to the
competition.”

Web Page Test is a good source of finding out your competitions’ site load time.
What does that matter, you ask? Well, Google has made it clear that a fast site
load time is factored into their algorithm. They know that people do not want
to wait for 10 seconds for a page to load. You can test a site (including your
own) on all the different browsers as well, which could also help explain bounce
rates (if you are seeing a difference in browsers). Since it has been shown that
customers will not wait longer than 10 seconds for a page to load before exiting,
it’s important to know how accessible your site is compared to the competition.

Compete and Alexa are our last basic tools to tackle. This simply compares
two sites’ volume of unique visitors. Though the reliability of the data has been
questioned, we usually find these to be helpful as an overview. Here is an
example of a few things you might find with these tools when typing in quick
service oil change:

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Part 1: Tracking the Tools

A slightly deeper dive into the top result looks like this:

“Getting a broad
view of your
digital space is
just as important
as diving deeper
into an individual
competitive
brand.”

It is important to remember that getting a broad view of your digital space is just
as important as diving deeper into an individual competitive brand. By using
these competitive analysis tools, you can find openings in the digital space
where you need to be present. Perhaps your brand can take advantage of the
less-searched but highly-converted long tail keywords. All of this information will
enable you to make better decisions about how you build your website and how
you implement SEO changes.

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Part 2:
By Jeff Adelson-Yan Beating The Other Guys
Now that you have used your free tools to see how your SEO competitors
stack up, it’s time to dig a little deeper into their brand’s website for deeper
competitive analysis. There are several things you need to look for in order to
best assess what is working for them and where you can improve your site to be
“As the old agage a stronger competitor.
goes, ‘content
is king’.” At this point, you’ve probably done your due diligence with keywords. So let’s
move on to site structure. Firstly, you can check out roughly how many pages
have been indexed on that site by going to Google and typing in:

This will give you an idea of about how many pages have been indexed by the
search engine. Though this will only give you a rough estimate, it’s important
information to have in comparison to your own site.

Secondly, assess the site structure itself. Are your competitors generating fresh
content through a blog? Is that blog on a separate domain or a subdomain?
Look at the titles, tags and descriptions on the blog. Are they keyword-rich? Are
their website pages helpful and informative? Do the title tags indicate the correct
page you are on? These are all factors in search engine algorithms, which help
them in rankings and traffic.

So let’s say that you have dug into these competitors’ sites and found lots of
great information on their many well-built pages with natural linking practices.
How on earth can you compete with that?

Well, as the old adage goes, “content is king.” Fixing your pages and site
structure to be the best that they can be is very important and should be your
first SEO undertaking; however, once you have an established foundation and
a solid structure, it’s time to add the decor. This means that it is time to add
keyword-rich (but not stuffed) content to your site. Here are some ways you can
do that to beat the competition:

1. Blog development
Develop a blog that is on a subdomain (ex: blog.yoururl.com or yoururl.com/
blog) so that its updates will count as your site’s fresh content. Post once a day
or as consistently as possible. Each time you add a new page to your site, the
search engines crawl it and index them, adding to the number of indexed pages
for your site.

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Part 2: Beating The Other Guys
By Jeff Adelson-Yan (continued)

2. User-generated content
Add user-generated content to your pages in order to compete. This can be
written reviews of a product (many online retailers are now offering incentives
to do so), comments on blog posts, forum discussions, and video or photo
“SEO is like submissions. RentTheRunway.com relies heavily upon their customers to submit
building a photos of rented dresses with detailed reviews of fit and shape. Side bar: User-
house…things generated content also allows a great opportunity for data collection and lead
do not happen generation, as there is usually a registration process to participate.
overnight. If
3. PR, news and career pages
you want it done
News sections and career pages are easy to update frequently and are more
right, you have to timely. This is a great place to start if you’re looking to increase traffic quickly.
put in the time.” Though you should not blindly submit all of your content to directories (this is
link-farming and is penalized), press releases can be a great tool to spread the
word about what your brand is doing. However, make sure that what you’re
saying is actually newsworthy. Quality over quantity is always true with most–if
not all–SEO tactics.

4. Focus
Focusing on the major opportunities in your local area could be the place to
start. Especially if you are out-ranked by big, nationwide chains with seemingly
endless amounts of time and money, try focusing your SEO content strategy to a
local level. This does not necessarily have to be just one town or city, but maybe
a region. If your website is not a reflection of a brick and mortar location, then
focus on brands or products you carry. Perhaps you don’t need to rank for the
term “running shoes.” Perhaps, it is more beneficial to your business to rank for
“nike running shoes in mt. pleasant, sc” or “specialty shoe store phoenix, az.”

Authoritative, inbound links are a huge factor in SEO as well. Therefore, it’s
important that you assess where your competitors are linking and who is linking
to them. Don’t fret if you do not have a huge network of people linking to your
site. Instead, focus on generating content that others will want to link to (and
share!). Mix up branded anchor text links and keyword-rich ones. There’s not a
magical number of links that will get you to your optimum ranking and search
engines want to keep it that way. Instead, focus on making your site navigation
user-friendly, your content clear and fresh and your linking practices transparent.

Also, remember that SEO is like building a house and things do not happen
overnight. If you want it done right, you have to put in the time (and hire the right
contractor). If you have done your homework on the competition and exposed
their weaknesses (read: your opportunities), then you will be well on your way to
creating a website that will be loved by users and search engines alike.

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The Xs and Os: How To
Part 3:
By Jeff Adelson-Yan Improve Your Paid Ads
You have done your SEO conditioning and made sure that your site is packed
with content that is both easy-to-understand and informative. Your navigation is
both user and search engine spider-friendly. You have title tags and meta data
“Now the real that support your most valuable keywords. Now the real battle is waged: paid
search.
battle is waged:
paid search.” The search engine can be a confusing place. There is paid, non-paid and
local listings. Each ad comes with a seemingly endless list of options that can
differentiate you. The user has been known to pay heavy attention to those in
the top three slots. Next week, we will talk budgets and optimization. This week
we will discuss best practices for building your ads themselves.

1. Emphasize relevancy
A landing page is where the user ends up when he or she clicks on your ad.
Since it is now possible to build ads that are fairly dynamic and match many
different keywords, it is important to keep these landing pages relevant. What
do I mean when I say relevant? Well, you need a landing page that 1) accurately
represents the ad text and 2) allows the user to find what he or she was looking
for. Relevancy for search engines means that the keyword is relevant to the ad,
the ad to the landing page, the keyword to the landing page, etc. Every piece of
your paid search strategy must be relevant to the next in order to get the best
quality score.

Here’s an example: if you’re bidding on the keyword “Gerber baby rattles,”
then the landing page for that ad should take a user to the exact page on your
site where you are selling baby rattles. If your business is service (not product)
centered, the page should explain the product you are selling. For example, if
your ad matches out to the keyword “HR software,” the user does not want to
be directed to your homepage, blog or a white paper. The user probably wants
to go to a landing page that has information about your brand’s HR software
(imagine that!).

If many of your sales or leads come in from phone calls, consider adding a
dynamic Google phone number to your landing pages. This will give you a report
with call duration and zip codes, which can be helpful in targeting optimization.

Bonus tip: Always make sure that your landing pages render well on mobile
devices (and not just iPhones).

2. Write compelling ad copy
A good ad will tell you the brand name and product name and send you to
a landing page with that product. A great ad will list the brand, product and
price (or an offer if there are varying price points). A superb ad will do all the
aforementioned things plus give you an incentive to click. Do you offer free
shipping? Do you have hassle-free returns? Can the user purchase with one
T click? These are all things that will put you ahead of the competition and are
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The Xs and Os: How To
Part 3: Improve Your Paid Ads

valuable enough to take up expensive space in your ad text.

Test messaging and format. Do ads That Capitalize Each Word do better than
those that do not? How does changing the display URL affect clicks? Feel free
“Do not just to test all of the elements of your ad text. Do not just copy what the competition
copy what the is doing; perhaps they haven’t changed their strategy in awhile.
competition is
doing; perhaps 3. Utilize ad extensions
Ad extensions are a great way for your ad to catch the user’s attention. Rather
they haven’t
than saying you have Columbia rain jackets, for instance, show that you have
changed their
them. Users’ eyes will immediately go to the photo and they are far more likely
strategy in to click. Another helpful ad extension is click to call. This is especially helpful on
a while.” mobile devices. More extensions include location, sitelinks (to various popular
pages) and seller ratings. Each can be helpful for different businesses (though
many are especially helpful to the retail marketer). Location extensions allows
users to get directions and see your local store, which is especially helpful for
multi-location stores and your ad’s relevancy to a user’s location.

4. Stay studious
Maybe I sound like a broken record when I say, “stay studious,” but search
engine landscapes are changing all the time. Though Google still maintains the
majority of search volume today, Bing is looking to make that a past reality. Do
not settle for the status quo. You (or your marketing firm) should be looking to
improve the quality of your ads constantly.

For the time being, search for ways to make your ads more compelling to
users. Even if you do not have the budget to be in the top position for your
most important 550 keywords or build 45 specialty landing pages, you can take
advantage of everything mentioned above to put you ahead of the competition.

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Learn the Fundamentals:
Part 4:
By Steve Parker, Jr. Paid Search Optimization
Last week we covered improvements you can make to your paid search ads
themselves. As promised, this week we will focus on bidding and optimization.
Learning the fundamentals here is paramount to your success, especially as you
dive deeper into analytics and complex data.
“Learning the
fundamentals Let’s Talk Match Types
is paramount to Keyword match types are important to know because they dictate what your ad
your success, shows for (and does not show for).
especially as you
dive deeper into A broad match keyword will match out to misspellings, variants and phrases that
include your keyword.
analytics and
complex data.”
Example: marketing

This keyword can match out to the following queries: marketing, markting,
digital marketing, online marketing, learn marketing, outdoor sales marketing,
traditional advertising and marketing tips, etc. Do you see how this might be too
broad to convert relevant traffic? Broad match types can be useful for research
because of the information they bring in, but are often not the most cost-efficient
option.

Note: Broad match modifiers are also now available in both AdWords and Bing
Ads (formerly AdCenter) and they allow you to strike a good balance between
broad and phrase match keywords.

A phrase match keyword will match out to the keyword phrase plus other words.

Example: “how to make brownies”

This keyword phrase can match out to the following queries: how to make
brownies with nuts, how to make brownies with extra fudge, how to make
brownies with fewer calories, paula dean teaches people how to make brownies.

An exact match keyword will only match out to that exact phrase
(and misspellings).

Example: [digital marketing firm]

This keyword can match out to the keywords digital marketing firm and digitl
marketing firm, but never digital marketing agency or how to find a digital
marketing firm.

A negative match keyword is a keyword that you do not wish to be included in
your query.

Example: -free
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Learn the Fundamentals: Paid
Part 4: Search Optimization

If you wish to weed out those users who are searching for a free service or
product, you can do so with negative match types. Similarly, if you carry a
product in red but not blue, you can add -blue to make sure your ad doesn’t
“With the right show for those looking for the blue product.
data, anything
can be done.” Also, it’s important to keep an eye on your search terms or raw search query
data which shows the searches that are matching to your keywords. This is a
great source for new keyword ideas–both positive and negative keywords.

Optimize for Rank & Placements

You can now choose to bid based on your optimal ad position on the search
engine results pages. Choosing your optimal ad position might require testing
and some competitive analysis, but you can generally find a cost per click gap
that will allow you to be in the top three at the lowest possible amount. Your
ad rank is determined by your bid and your quality score. You can check your
average position in both Bing Ads and AdWords in order to understand how an
increased bid will influence your ad.

You can also optimize your ad placements in the Google Display Network. If
you want your ad to show on certain websites, it’s important that you set your
budget according to how competitive you want to be on those individual sites.
Conserve valuable dollars by being very thorough about which placements you
want and those you do not.

Optimize for Conversions

It has to be said that in order to best optimize for conversions, you have to start
with your website. Making sure that your site is easily navigable is essential.
Optimizing your ads with straight-forward pricing, promotions and a strong
call-to-action (buy, purchase, order, sign up, get a quote) is also essential. If you
have done both of these things, then you can try using a tool like the Conversion
Optimizer, which allows you to set a maximum or “target” cost per acquisition
(how much you’re willing to pay for a user to “convert” on your website*) instead
of cost per click or cost per thousand impressions.

*Conversions can be any action you wish a user to complete, from requesting
more information to email signups to purchasing an item.

Increasing your return on ad spend (ROAS) can seem like a cumbersome job,
but with the right tools, you can do it. Remember that optimization of every
keyword is possible when each is assigned a specific value to your business.
Finding that specific value can be time-consuming, but with the right data,
anything can be done.

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Facing the Competition
Part 5:
By Jeff Adelson-Yan Head-On: Display Ads
Display advertising. It’s a powerful form of digital marketing because it integrates
marketing and creative–a whole lot of creative. But let’s first talk about what the
competition is like in display.

“The competition It’s slightly different than paid search because while it requires fierce
is any display optimization tactics, it’s all about the latest and greatest thing and not
ad that is cooler necessarily which ad has the better product or deal. In other words, the
than yours.” competition is any display ad that is “cooler” than yours. In fact, getting a user
to interact with anything other than a click is downright impressive; that means
that they not only saw the ad but they are likely to remember the brand. So let’s
talk tactics:

Remarketing
You want to make sure your strategy aligns with remarketing. For e-commerce
brands, it may make sense for them to remarket a customer who abandoned
their cart (ie: didn’t go through with the purchase) with banner ads displaying
the items that were in their cart. With data that is less revealing about consumer
intent (non e-Commerce), it’s still important to remarket based on actions taken
and not taken on the site, but creative has to be more generic. The only issue
with remarketing is the brand runs the risk of the user feeling a little “exposed”
when the site is able to recall what he or she almost purchased. Many users are
savvy to this tactic, too, which may lessen the feelings of exposure.

Search remarketing can also be used to target users through display networks
who have searched for your product or competitor brand terms. By doing this,
you can not only target a relevant audience but also your competitor’s audience/
customers with your message and product–which has its obvious benefits.
Most importantly, it can help push prospects down the funnel and consider your
product over competitor’s product. The diagram further explains how display
targeting corresponds to the sales funnel and consumer journey.

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Facing the Competition Head-On:
Part 5: Display Ads

Measurement
Like I write in practically every series post on beating the competition, it’s
imperative to remember that measurement is at the root of all data-driven
decisions. Measuring success beyond the click-through rate seems like a
no-brainer these days, but a lot of advertisers still deem this to be the main
“Measurement is performance indicator of a display campaign because it’s all about creative.
the root of all data- Going past that, you reach on-site conversions, return on ad spend, return
driven decisions.” on investment and attribute each to a piece of creative. A successful display
campaign can report on all four things.

Content
Content is king is not just true of SEO, social or paid search. It also applies in
display marketing. As video becomes more important, it is paramount that the
content is compelling. In fact, MediaMind reports that the click-through rate of
online video is 27.4 times that of a standard banner ad. If you want to capitalize
on this, your video must not only be informative, but entertaining.

These are just a few high-level tactics to help you beat the competition in
display advertising.

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Display Ads: Tactics to
Part 6:
By Steve Parker, Jr. Get the Win
Tactics are only useful if they align with the goals of your display campaigns.
Therefore, setting your goals and implementing a plan to get there is the first
step. However, if you have already done that, these are the tactics that will
ultimately get you to where you want to be:
“Ask the core
question: How Tactics as They Relate to the Purchase Funnel
are we measuring Tactics may be determined as they relate to the purchase funnel. For example,
success?” the lower down in the funnel the customer is, the greater the targeting and less
scale you will need. For targeting customers higher in the purchase funnel, you
will need a wider reach and high impact.

For the Smaller Budget
Small budgets curtail the high impact units (e.g. page takeovers) though so
tactics need to focus on capturing users in the lowest stage of the purchase
funnel. Targeting becomes a key factor when dealing with smaller budgets and
the goal becomes the sale of a product (or as close as you can get to a “sale”). If
your goal on a small budget is still brand awareness, then reach, frequency and
impactful creative become large players because you have to use those at the
most efficient price point.

For the Larger Budget
Larger budgets are a whole other story. Here, it’s most important to understand
the primary goal of the client and ask the core question: How are we measuring
success on the back-end so that we can show and optimize towards
performance that warrants us spending a large amount of money? Offline
variables and other online channels become key players here as well. A large
budget also lends the flexibility to test, test, test. We can test targeting tactics,
creative, publishers, etc. to find the proper mix within the display channel. Use
as many creative versions for testing if budget allows (often times there are
restrictions with development).

Ideas for Testing:

•Calls to action
•Color schemes
•Visuals
•Expandable units
•Sound
•Publishers
•Targeting

The possibilities are nearly endless with display, but no matter your budget, your
brand can run effective campaigns.

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Throw Down the Social
Part 7:
By Jeff Adelson-Yan Gauntlet, No Matter
What your Size
For the next two installments of Go Big or Go Home (our competition series),
we are going to tackle social media tactics to compete in the social sphere.
“Testing and
The great thing about social media is that it gives small businesses the unique
optimization
opportunity to compete with larger businesses.
are key.”
Contrary to popular belief, it’s not all about who you know in social media, but
rather (and more refreshingly) what you know. Businesses of all sizes can figure
out ways in which to do all of these things, though some may require more
budget.

1. Do your homework. What do you offer that your competitors do not? The
larger corporations do not automatically create a larger social buzz. Some
things to study: competition’s pricing, perennial offers or sales and messaging.
Keeping tabs on the competition is an easy way to see what is working for them
and what is not. If you notice, for instance, that they have a lot of success with
posts with photos, you can try this tactic too.

2. Get creative. This seems like a no-brainer, but to differentiate yourself in
social media, you have to get creative with grabbing your audience’s attention.
For example, if your customer service is a point of pride in your business, offer
customer reviews or a customer appreciation program of some sort. Offer
rewards to those who review your customer service on social media (even small
discounts make them feel appreciated). If you are competing with a larger (chain)
retailer, you can also find ways to make people feel good about shopping with
you. Does your business donate to charities? Use eco-friendly packaging?
Support a grassroots movement? All of these things make a difference to the
consumer and they are more likely to shop with you (even if your prices are
slightly higher) if they feel like they are helping a bigger cause.

3. Set goals. Having a data-driven strategy in place is imperative in order to
achieve the goals you want. Don’t stay small (think: “let’s increase likes by
40%”); go big (think: “I want 1/4 of my online sales to be driven from social
media channels”). For many businesses, that is not an insane goal to set. And
perhaps you should not be doing business with those who say it is.

4. Test + optimize. Every size business should do some level of this. Therefore,
testing and optimization are key. Using free social media tools is a great start.
Appending tracking code to social messaging and tracking user paths and
conversions with advanced social tools is even better. Reporting should be in-
depth enough to optimize social messaging to capitalize on trends and insights
seen.

5. Create unique experiences for every platform. This is a great way to ensure
T that your audience wants to connect with you on every platform. You can create
O

Throw Down the Social Gauntlet,
Part 7: No Matter What your Size

different facets of your brand on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Pinterest, etc.
and design each one to satisfy different aspects of your business. Let’s say, for
instance, that you’re a major car dealer. Pinterest is where you pin photos of
awesome cars, Twitter is where you offer most of your deals, Facebook is where
“Social listening you answer customer service and car questions and YouTube is where to post
gives you the videos of races and discussions about car technologies. That is just a quick list
ability to be a fly of things you could do, but it gives you an idea of how to expand each platform
on the wall in the and make it unique from the rest. If you simply copy to Twitter what you post to
Facebook, why would anyone want to follow both?
homes of your
consumers.”
6. Integrate with your offline advertising. Traditional ads on TV and magazines
should incorporate social media (hashtags that appear during the commercial,
bonuses for liking the brand on Facebook, and at the very least a URL for
people to find you online), but social media should also be an extension of your
traditional advertising. Take Old Spice for example. After having wild success
with Isaiah Mustafa (“The Old Spice Guy”) as a spokesperson, they took to
YouTube to answer consumer questions, which garnered huge engagement.
Social media is also a great way to test ideas for advertising before paying the
big bucks for major TV network airtime. Why not try out an idea as a social
media campaign and see what audience feedback you receive? Social research
in the form of social listening gives you the ability to be a fly on the wall in the
homes of your social consumers, so it’s a great way to see how they feel about
new campaign initiatives.

T
O

Beef Up your Business with
Part 8:
By Steve Parker, Jr. Social Research
Competition in the travel industry is fierce, especially online. And since the
travel and tourism industry has taken a bit of a hit in the last few years–with
many people not being able to afford travel and choosing not to because of
the headache–we are going to focus on how social research can be used
“Listening to your specifically to help those in the travel industry. Though we will use travel industry
customers can to illustrate our points, these ideas can be beneficial for any industry. Listening
give your brand to your customers can give your brand insight into the competition and beyond.
insight into the Here are ways your brand can use social research to better business and get
competition more consumers to book with you:
and beyond.” 1. Showcase what people love about your brand.
What do people appreciate most about your brand? How do you find out these
things? Social research is a great way to figure out what people like without
soliciting them. Listening to public conversations online is an easy and efficient
way to make data-driven business decisions that will directly impact your
consumers. For example, do your customers love that you brew Starbucks
coffee in your lobby? Let them check-in online? Make check-outs headache-
free? Showcase these pluses on your digital and offline channels to make
consumers feel appreciated. You can even go so far as to tell them that you’re
making business decisions based on consumer feedback. They will feel like they
have been heard and it may encourage more positive sharing.

2. Improve your business according to consumer complaints.
There are often trends in consumer conversation. Find out what the negatives
are that people are discussing in relation to your brand. How can you improve
your consumer’s experience and also run your business more efficiently? If wait
times are a number one complaint, perhaps there are services you can offer to
combat this like online check-in, mobile check-in or a self-service machine.

3. Tailor messaging to target audiences.
Use data you have gleaned from your campaigns to bucket your demographics
and write messages specific to them. For example, let’s say that you’re a hotel
owner. If professionals are complaining about having to travel for work, your
messaging can emphasize relaxation and efficiency–essentially taking the “have
to” out of traveling for work. In another example, if you see a trend of young
people traveling with pets, you can tailor your messaging to target pet owners
and list your properties that are pet-friendly.

4. Find new opportunities in your industry.
Social listening and research does not just have to be about your brand, or
even your competitors’ brands. Monitoring what people are saying about your
industry as a whole is a great way to find new opportunities to offer/do things
that other brands are not. For example, if consumers are discussing the lack
of information online about a particular vacation destination, your brand can
incorporate Yelp! reviews onto your booking page. Solving small problems and
taking away obstacles for your consumers can not only make them happier, but
increase bookings. Google always emphasizes that what is good for the user is
T what is also good for your website, and it should work like this in all aspects of
O your digital initiatives for your business.

Like what you read
and want to learn more?

Primary ASQ contributors Steve Parker, Jr. and Jeff Adelson-Yan are also the
Managing Partners and Co-Founders of Levelwing. Levelwing is a business
analytics and intelligence firm, mining and analyzing data to help businesses
operate with greater clarity and profitability.

Please contact us directly to learn how your business can benefit from our
services.

e: steve@levelwing.com
p: +1.843.631.4587

Or visit our website at
www.levelwing.com/services

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