by winstonbromley | Apr 28, 2017 | Facebook, Google+, Instagram, Klout, LinkedIn, QR codes, Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Social Media, Social Media Management, Social Media Tools, Twitter, Youtube
Today, almost every business establishments, from small and medium enterprises to large corporations, are always aiming to do great things in their online or digital marketing campaigns. The majority of the public today spend a lot of time engaging online.
People have become so involved with the digital world that they expect to do just about everything and anything online, from banking to purchases to checking status updates. As a result, digital marketing is an ever growing and expanding playing field. You need to stay on top of what works and what doesn’t.
Maja Neable
VP, Digital and Channel Marketing
BMO FINANCIAL GROUP
According to Maja Neable, Vice President of Digital and Channel Marketing at BMO FINANCIAL GROUP, as the consumers move to expect more in digital, the marketers have adopted: better targeting, more relevant messaging, and more competition for the digital consumer.
Neable, who is a guest speaker at the Digital Marketing For Financial Services Summit this year, also pointed out that humans still play a big role in helping consumers become comfortable with online world.
According to Neable, their company has found the biggest impact when their knowledgeable representatives in branches and contact center help bring customers on board. Customers trust them and rely on their advice.
Their campaigns include a number of strategies and tools like videos, email marketing, ad targeting, and social media. Their whole strategy is anchored on fully integrated intuitive experiences: from targeting well with relevant messages, to then meeting the customer’s need by providing an easy experience. Treating customer interactions as a life-cycle, a journey, rather than an instance, provides for the most powerful and engaging experiences, and business results.
While this strategy has been fruitful for BMO FINANCIAL GROUP, it took time to work. It is a product of a learning cycle where they tested different strategies, encountering failures and learning from them. Developing a workable strategy really is not easy in digital marketing.
“Given the amount of competition, you also have to adopt and innovate as quickly as possible to remain relevant”, Neable discussed, “To compete in the digital space today, one must continually invest and re-invent itself. This requires a different approach and thinking for established financial institutions. The ones that are the fastest to change to this way of thinking, will be the winners.”
This is where a good networking and linking up with fellow digital marketers becomes very important. Learning from others successes and failures allows you to expand your horizon and identify possible ways to improve on your very own marketing campaigns.
If you are seriously looking to improve your digital marketing strategies, the 7th Digital Marketing for Financial Services Summit is the perfect conference to attend. This year it is happening at The Westin Harbour Castle Conference Centre in Toronto, on Wednesday June 21st & Thursday June 22nd 2017.
Here are five reasons why you should attend this summit:
- Innovate at a digital speed.
- Learn from C-level financial services leaders on how to create a competitive advantage.
- Learn how to eliminate organizational roadblocks.
- Connect with industry veterans and rising stars.
- This is the only digital marketing forum for financial services.
- BONUS Reason: Save 20% off your tickets (see below)
Boost your digital marketing and take it to the next level.
As Andrew Artemenko of Bank of America said, it is “encouraging to see innovative and creative ways to solve the issues, constraints and challenges in a highly regulated industry. It’s nice to get out of your comfortable home environment to meet peers face to face, who have new and inspiring ideas.”
The 7th Annual Digital Marketing for Financial Services Summit will be on June 21 – 22, 2017 at The Westin Harbour Castle Conference Centre in Ontario, Canada. You can learn more here: http://www.financialdigitalmarketing.com/.
Also you can get 20% Off your Tickets by using the code “REFUEL20”
by winstonbromley | Apr 19, 2017 | Facebook, Google+, Instagram, Klout, LinkedIn, Pinterest, QR codes, Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Social Media, Social Media Management, Social Media Tools, Twitter, Youtube
As a business using social media marketing, you need to know what is the most important thing that you can do to attract customers to your business. You may be surprised to learn that the most important thing in online marketing is building trust.
Customers want a brand that they can trust and count on. They want a company that they can refer their friends to or that they can keep returning back to when they need similar services again. At the end of the day, the ROI (Return on investment) is not the biggest value that you are going to get from social media marketing. Through social media, you are going to be able to build up a trusting relationship with your customers, that helps them identify from you, and to learn from your insights. This will make you “front of mind” and become their first call when they need something.
The first step to gain this trust is to communicate with your customers and potential customers in your personal brand voice that is consistent always. This is most effective through writing social media posts in a manner that is human rather than through messages that seems very robotic in nature. You want to show off a relatable personality that will get customers to trust in you and your Company. Once you find the specific tone of your brand voice, you need to stick to it. Being consistent is key to gaining the trust of your readers and customers.
When it comes to actual posts, there are a few things that you need to do. You should post ideas that are unique and original for a few reasons. One, fresh posts help in ranking articles and two, when people see a different approach to a common topic, it can gain traction. These posts can be informative pieces or ones that are entertaining or a mixture of the two. You want to make sure these posts shareable so that your followers will want to share it with their friends, by having social media sharing buttons on each article or post you do. By doing this, you will gain more followers, which will increase the recognition of your brand.
A final aspect to using social media to gain the trust of your customers is through engaging with them. If a customer contacts you through social media about an issue with your products or services, be accountable and apologetic while trying to remedy the situation.
These are things that will help increase your customer’s trust in your brand. If a customer trusts you, they will be more willing to keep coming back for services and refer their friends and loved ones. Do not use your posts to market things all of the time, otherwise people will not want to follow you. You need to find a perfect balance between advertising and offering more value to your customers.
Remember this: Educate, don’t inundate.. Provide value, and people will trust and buy from you naturally.
by winstonbromley | Dec 14, 2013 | LinkedIn, Social Media, Social Media Management, Social Media Tools
LinkedIn is one of the best social media platforms for business from the access to top level decision makers to finding capital and resources for your business. Today I wanted to show you how you can use LinkedIn in your business and 5 easy steps to improving traction on your LinkedIn account.
1. Your Linkedin Profile – The first step is to modify your LinkedIn profile so that people who are looking for your kind of talent should find your profile easily. For that, you need to make your LinkedIn profile very friendly to how people will find you – using keyword searches. For example, most of the time if you own a company, you tend to write that you are the founder or owner. That is great however, the people who are searching for your talent like the Lawyer or Realtor, will put the keywords “realtor” in the search engine. If you don’t have these words in your profile, they will not be able to find your profile in the list. Make sure your profile is keyword rich (words people will search for you – from their perspective)
2. Provide a reason to connect with you – So, you have updated your profile with your expertise and now your profile is getting into the lists that you want to be found in. Now here is the rub. There are many other profiles, which are also showing in those lists with the great keywords you just created. How do you get the edge over the other people in those searches? Create a compelling headline which will get their attention and almost force them to click on your profile first, because it catches their eye. Take time and write a dramatic compelling headline which includes the 1 or 2 keywords that are used in normal search engine results, like “real estate” or “realtor”
3. Summary – the next step is to write a Summary. So a prospect has visited your profile. Now, to keep them here and not have them leave quickly, your page should describe in their minds what they are looking for and show your credibility in fulfilling them. As an example, being a social media marketer, you can imagine the amount of other people in the same line of work. Some really good and some not so much. Once they land on my profile, instead of “Winston grew up in Mexico.. (rest of my life and business story)” I would suggest you think of WHY those people are looking at your profile. You should know this by now. Mine would be they are looking for social media training or marketing. So my Summary talks about their needs and how I can help.
(see my profile here)
You an also add in a video in this section which is excellent marketing. So remember, most of the people try to write their autobiography in this Summary. Always remember that the prospect who is visiting your page is very busy and they just would like to know that you have the sufficient ability/talent/skill to fulfill their needs. In short, the summary should be client-focused Otherwise, you are going to get just hits on your page and nothing to show for it.Then,
4. Increasing network connections –Ok, you have modified your profile and your Summary. Now it is time to increase your network connection to increase your business. Aim to make connections, much like real networking, with people that are aligned with your business. If you are realtor, you may not need to connect to another realtor profile.
5. Following up with the new connections – It is not enough to find new connections, however you should keep in touch at times on regular basis. What I suggest to at least have them remember you, is that when someone accepts your connection request or connects with you, send him/her a Welcome or Thank you message. I strongly suggest that you offer them something of value for free, as it will be an excellent gesture. I include a $47 Value social media teleseminar I did last year as my gift (see my profile here)
6. Regular updates – As often as possible (minimum 1 time per week) update the Status on LinkedIn regarding in your business life or related articles to your business in order to engage people in your network
LinkedIn is a great business (social) network website where if you are able to utilize all the features of the website including the 5 tips above, you will increase your business.
Enjoyed this post? If so, please share on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest to let your friends know about it. Your help spreading the word would be really appreciated.
by winstonbromley | Dec 14, 2012 | Facebook, LinkedIn, Social Media, Social Media Management, Social Media Tools
LinkedIn, the Business Social Media Platform, is a social media monster on the rise again. Often I find people I work with don’t have a LinkedIn profile or very basic as they feel it’s only for people looking for a job. But it is a lot more than that…. and has been for a while. I started using LinkedIn back in 2005 and it’s gone through many changes. All for the better and maybe this is why people feel it is best used looking for a Job as you may not know the potential of it.
LinkedIn is often the misjudged Social Platform of the bunch. But it shouldn’t be. Here is why:
With new changes that took place in the past year, this profitable media monster has taken over a large portion of the business world looking to grow and expand their customer base as well as connect with others in the same niches of the business world.
With this network, you can reach people who actually can make your business money and vice versa. Reach up to 160+ million others who are on the site to do business and learn more about how to do business better. Now that’s not the same as Facebook however people on LinkedIn are business-minded people, who generally have money and can, if positioned right, spend money with your Business.
There are great features you can use that do not exist at the same level as they do on LinkedIn. For example, you can create specific interest groups on LinkedIn that pertain to your genre of business. You can use this group to drive traffic to your website and gain a ton of members. It is very possible to get thousands of people to join a specific business network. The best part is you can do more with it than just having “Likes” as done on other type of media.
You can also host events and webinars for your group to keep people interested and they will network with each other as well. You actually create your very own network which is relatively unique in social media. You can even do one on one counseling and mentoring on LinkedIn through your business page.
Unlike other platforms, with LinkedIn, people can actually see how other professionals feel about you and your Business through your Endorsements, Skillsets and Recommendations. Once you have a personal profile, you can also create a separate page for your company which you can grow exponentially by putting out good content and keeping people engaged, by talking to them, helping them and answering questions.
It’s worth working on your profile as well as having a business page for a lot or reasons. You can get a lot of feedback from actual customers. This is invaluable if you use the information to your advantage. You can earn business from some new people by growing your network and trying new things that you are learning from customers. It may also be a great tool for you to meet other professionals that you can network with and even learn some new things from too.
To sum it all up, don’t let LinkedIn be social platform you use when the moons align. If you are a professional business owner or Entrepreneur or working your way up through a Company, you really should be using LinkedIn on a regular basis to find new contacts, connect with others, post about your skills, share your skills, etc. It’s truly where the professionals with money are.
Come connect with me on LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/winstonbromley and if you want to find out more about learning about using LinkedIn correctly, contact me
Enjoyed this post? If so, please share on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest to let your friends know about it. Your help spreading the word would be really appreciated.
by winstonbromley | Nov 13, 2012 | Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, Social Media, Social Media Management, Social Media Tools, Twitter, Youtube
With Social Media being integrated into everything from TV shows to businesses, some may see it as a great tool that people have learned to utilize to better their business and personal lives, while other see it as the bane of existence, something that is only cluttering up our internet waves and depriving kids of exercise. Whatever you feel it may be, there is definitely no stopping it now. Many people have found that having an online presence on any one of the most popular websites of today such as Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and even Instagram have helped them build a long list of social or business contacts. Each platform fulfills a need. These are the building blocks of what social networking is all about.
As someone who helps coach and train business owners leverage social media, I am going to share why social proof is so important to building a product, brand, or business these days… and without it you aren’t going to be able to leverage yourself that well.
Here it is in just 6 words:
“People like what other people like”
In the online world, Social Proof is really just something that we share or see others engaging in or sharing, feel it is something worth checking out because other people are into it, see that others like it, and that helps us to confirm our choice. It’s human nature. A little bit of Darwinian Internet Selection if you will.
It’s the reason Justin Beiber is famous and Lady Gaga has world tours. Alone, these people would be a pre-teen who came too late on the boy-band train and a talented girl with an interesting fashion sense, but because they had a niche that someone liked, people began to flock to it in droves. Thanks to Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, and social sharing, we have the behemoths that are these celebrities.
In business, getting the social proof such as the number of Facebook likes, Google’s +1, and Twitter followers and Re-Tweets is a matter of building up a network around the brand or product, and spreading the word about it. To do it smart, you must leverage yourself with tools to speed up the process.
As you see above in my article right below the title, with the social sharing buttons, as people like this, re-tweet it or pin it (which you can do as well when done here 😉 ), what it does is build up a credibility about this particular Article to others, that give it more of a credibility and makes it worth reading (more people that read it, it must be good right? – not always the case but stick with me here)
As a business, you need to ask your clients, friends, people on your email newsletter list and customers to like, pin, share your website links and your content. And you need to make it EASY for them. As humans, we like things that are SIMPLE so make sure your site has Social share buttons on them as mine do or hold a contest.
The best part of this Social Proof, in my mind, is being able to leverage yourself and business. If Dan likes this article, and presses LIKE on the Facebook Button, it goes into his Facebook Timeline where the people that follow Dan will see. This usually results in more people reading it and helps to build the social proof that this Article is worth reading.
Now, the down side, it may seem like it is an easy thing to do, however it require some convincing to getting people to go out of their way to Like or Re-Tweet something for you, if they don’t already like and trust you. However this can easily be fixed with great fresh content. Great Fresh Content is number one in building up your Social Proof. Reviews, ratings, viral videos, and interesting stories and images. These can all can help — It’s about getting more people involved that is really the key.
People like what other people like – so build up YOUR Social Proof today so you can build your Business online AND offline.
———————————- W ——————————————-
Enjoyed this post? If so, please share on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest to let your friends know about it. Your help spreading the word would be really appreciated.
by winstonbromley | Oct 18, 2012 | Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Social Media, Social Media Management, Social Media Tools
Social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn have taken over the world by storm, connecting people in ways that no one ever thought possible. There are many different types of people that use LinkedIn and access its benefits in the best ways possible, and this has quickly become a great tool for those seeking to expand their personal professional networks to others who they may only know from afar.
What is great about the success of these social media outlets, is that anyone can sign up for a profile and start meeting people, even companies. With the new LinkedIn Company Pages, companies now have the ability to make connections to others via the social network that wasn’t available a while back.
Getting a company page is akin to making a page on Facebook; both are meant to outsource a person, brand, or products availability in a way that is convenient and conducive to finding out more information. LinkedIn has created a way to share a company’s information on its site, versus the personal profile layout of the majority of its visitors.
The LinkedIn Company Pages allow companies to express their brand through pictures that they might not have the ability to share otherwise. This is invaluable since the internet is really about instant gratification and pictures can many times speak for themselves (I am looking at you Pinterest!). It also allows companies to showcase what they have to offer, such as being able to quickly give a customer the ability to scan what it is that you offer in a hands-off, non-intrusive way. This quickly builds a customer rapport on a level that regular advertising does not. These pages allow a company to highlight what’s important and keeps their followers up to date.This allows for a connection to the individual in a way that companies in the past could never even dream of!
People all over the world connect to each other every day through social media. Now, with the revised LinkedIn Company Pages, even companies can connect to their customers at the base level like never before through status updates, pictures, highlights, and comments. Companies are now able to interact directly with the people who are buying their product, supporting their brand, and who have questions. Although similar only in idea as a Facebook company page, companies can now interact so closely with their consumers like they can through LinkedIn Company Pages as LinkedIn is more about doing business and connecting, whereas Facebook is about sharing information.
Well done, LinkedIn.
