Thinking isn’t results.

Why would anyone want to be known as a “thought leader” – for thinking? Thinkers are rarely leaders, so why do we use that term to identify people we believe are leading? There is a better term.

As discussed in an earlier post, Facebook’s Graph Search (launched in beta January 15, 2013) is a powerful new opportunity for businesses to reach potential customers. The question is: what exactly is Graph Search and how can you achieve a first-mover advantage to leapfrog your competition? We’re here to share some ideas that should help you do just that.

Quick stats: according to Facebook, the social platform has more than 1 billion monthly active users who share 350 million photos, 2.7 billion likes, and 2.5 billion items of information each day. That is an enormous amount of information that so far has been extremely hard to search. This is the problem Facebook’s new search seeks to solve – in a nutshell, Graph Search allows people to search across the rich data set that Facebook has in a very personally relevant manner. Rather than try and explain in detail how Graph Search works, CNET  and Gigaom have great articles that describe it well, including the underlying “Unicorn” infrastructure.

How can businesses prepare themselves to take advantage of this new way people are searching? The first thing to understand is that Graph Search is very different from web search (i.e. Google or Bing). It is powered by what people are liking and sharing, meaning it is about social connections as opposed to webpage inter-connections. Graph Search is poised to change the very fundamentals of search engine optimization (SEO), socially-informed search and content marketing. That doesn’t mean that you can’t apply some of the same thinking you would use for SEO to “social optimization,” though. Instead of developing strategies to build backlinks as you would for web search, you can develop strategies to build likes, shares, check-ins and comments – which are essentially the “backlinks” of social media.

To do this, there are a few common sense steps you should follow. First off, make sure you have a Facebook page. I know this sounds straightforward – but like any good story we should start at the beginning.  There are several kinds of pages you can choose for your business, so be sure to choose the one that makes the most sense for you. MarketingGum has put together a good summary of the options available and some tips.

Now, what you might not know is that there is a good chance that your business may have an existing page (or pages) in Facebook already. This sometimes happens when you do not have an existing page and people checking in create a new page for your location. In some cases, your business may actually have multiple pages with different spellings of your company name, slightly different addresses, etc. It is very important that you go through the process to claim these pages and amalgamate them as necessary.

With your page set up and all “rogue” pages amalgamated, your next step is to fill out the “about” section of your page in as much detail as possible. Be sure to include your address, phone number, website URL, hours of operation and a good summary of what your business is about. If you are a business with multiple locations, you may want to consider Facebook’s Parent-Child functionality to ensure you have a local presence for each of your outlets.

Once these steps are completed, you are now set up for success because you now have a local address within Facebook and have included as much information about your business as possible. But you still have a lot of work to do, because Graph Search is all about how many likes, shares, comments, recommendations, etc. you receive. So your next step is to engage your customers to encourage these sorts of activities.

There is, of course, no one way to do this. Every company is unique and therefore every strategy has to be custom-tailored to your audience and brand. However, there are some common best practices for you to consider:

• Any good social media approach starts with great content. Be clear on what your editorial voice is, create a content calendar and source quality information that your customers care about
• Tell people about your social presence through every avenue you have. This includes your website, but also consider how you can use your stores and staff as opportunities to “spread the word”
• Specials and offers are a great way to engage people, and one of the main reasons people follow brands on Facebook
• Check-in deals encourage people to check-in when physically visiting your store to receive a coupon, which drives both engagement and sales

So, you might be wondering how this will help you achieve a first-mover advantage. Well, although these steps sound very simple, the majority of your competitors have likely not followed them. They likely have a page, but have they completed the about section, claimed all “rogue” pages and put a real effort behind building up their followers? Probably not. So, if your business does this first, you have a real chance to move ahead of the pack and grow a sizable audience in advance of Facebook Graph Search’s full rollout, which gives you a position advantage ahead of your competitors before they even know what’s happened.

Success breeds success, so done well this advantage can exist for some time. If you outrank your competitors in social search results right out of the gate, then you will be seen more, and being seen more leads to more engagement which keeps you on top – a virtuous circle of success is a real possibility. But it all starts with being that first mover, which means taking action NOW to jump ahead of your competitors in likes, shares, comments, etc. Is your business ready?

This is part two of a three-part series on Facebook opportunities for franchisors and businesses with multiple locations.

In part one of the series we discussed Facebook’s Parent-Child functionality and the significant benefits it provides for franchisors and multi-location businesses. In that article we touched on a few of the reasons why companies should consider implementing local Facebook pages for each of their locations. This article outlines how multi-location businesses can translate the tremendous reach they have through their physical locations into social media dominance. We also discuss the ramifications of social media on mobile (in particular Facebook’s “Nearby” functionality) and social search (specifically Facebook’s new Graph Search).

Translating offline reach and brand strength into social media success

Franchises and other multi-location businesses often have tremendous reach and brand strength through their physical network. They may interact with hundreds or even thousands of people a day in their stores. However, in most cases that interaction is only for a brief window of time – usually just long enough to complete a transaction. Once the customer leaves the store, the relationship ends until the customer (hopefully) comes back.

Social media, particularly sites like Facebook, Twitter and Google+, offer a powerful opportunity for companies to engage in direct conversations with their customers after they leave the store. Using strong social strategies and engaging, relevant content, companies can create ongoing interaction and repeat business through:

• Information sharing
• Branding strategies
• Relationship building
• Customer retention activities
• Targeted offers and incentives

Realizing the benefits of social media, many organizations have already implemented a single “national” Facebook page for their brand, which they use across all of their stores. In many ways this makes sense, as a single page enables the brand to:

• Control interactions with consumers on one page as opposed to managing multiple pages
• Aggregate all “likes” from across all geographies to show scale
• Manage the brand personality and creative directly, as opposed to relying on local stores and risking off-brand messaging

However, for companies with multiple locations this approach does not take advantage of their existing offline reach and brand strength. In fact, by de-emphasizing their bonds within local communities and delivering only national, centralized messages, they are artificially limiting their social media heft. In order to effectively translate their offline strength to social media, these organizations must implement local pages for each physical location.

What is the big deal about local pages?

There are many reasons why implementing local pages are superior, many of which were outlined in part one of this series. When you boil it down though, there is really one core reason why individual local Facebook pages are a must-have: they each have a local street address.

For a company looking to translate offline strength into social media dominance, there is no better way than to literally replicate your store network address by address through social media, particularly on Facebook and Google+. Google+ deserves its own blog post and has different approach than Facebook, so we will leave that discussion for another time. For now, let’s focus in on the behemoth that is Facebook.

A local address is critical because it is the centerpiece for local customer interaction, mobile exposure and social search visibility.

Customer interaction
No matter how well-managed a national Facebook page is, a network of pages will typically have a larger audience than a single national page can achieve. As described in part one, this is in large part due to the fact that local pages can tailor relevant content to their local community (i.e. local news, local people, local promotions, etc.). Locally-relevant information, photos, videos and other content will generate local engagement. Although the level of engagement on each individual page may be smaller than the national page, in aggregate across many local pages, the level of activity can be quite large.

In addition to local content, a major reason for increased audience size and engagement is the fact that the page has a local address. The reason this works is because a page with a local address is:

• Viewed as more locally / personally relevant by local customers, increasing the likelihood that they will become a fan of the page
• Easier to find when searching for local businesses (via maps and other location-based searches)
• Visible when someone is looking to check-in locally

What this means is that if you do not have a local address, you will not be found when someone is looking for a local business on Facebook – in this instance you are essentially invisible to potential local customers. This is critically important as we discuss mobile and search in the next sections.

Mobile & Facebook Nearby
Facebook owns mobile – period. The Facebook app dominates all other apps by a wide margin. According to a recent report from comScore, the Facebook app was the #1 downloaded app for both Apple and Android in 2012. Even more impressively, the study found that 23% of time spent across all apps is spent on Facebook’s. Think about that for a minute – of all the apps out there, Facebook commands a staggering 23% of all time spent.

source: Comscore

With that type of mobile dominance, the Facebook app is something all businesses need to pay attention to. In particular, the “Nearby” functionality built into the app is something all companies with a local footprint need to be thinking about.

In December 2012 Facebook made some significant improvements to its “Nearby” functionality which will greatly benefit local businesses. Widely seen as a step towards Facebook’s grander vision of social search (as discussed in the next section), “Nearby” allows people to use their phones to find information about close-by businesses such as restaurants, retailers, hotels and others. This type of consumer discovery is very different that a Google search or other type of local exploration because:

• “Nearby” results are very personal. Facebook prioritizes results based on where a person’s friends have been, what they have liked and what ratings / reviews have been completed. This means that everyone’s results are different based on who they are friends with. It also means that businesses with few “likes” or “check-ins” are at a major disadvantage in showing up versus their competitors.
• The information people receive on a business via “Nearby” comes from the company’s local Facebook brand page or place page. Meaning that when a consumer is viewing a business’ information on their phone via the Facebook app they don’t see the company’s information from Yellow Pages, Yelp, Foursquare or any other source – they see the company’s Facebook address, phone number, timeline, number of likes, check-ins and Facebook user reviews. So, if your business does not have a local Facebook page with a local address, it will not show up when someone is looking for someplace to eat, shop or visit. A national page alone simply will not cut it.

So the long and the short of it is that if you do not have a local Facebook page, you are missing out on a major opportunity on the #1 downloaded and used mobile app.

source: Facebook

Social Search
As discussed in part one of this series, social search will have significant ramifications on how local businesses are found in the future. Facebook’s new Graph Search (announced on January 15, 2013) enables people to search across Facebook’s vast database of information, but in a very different way than a conventional search engine. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and other Facebook employees explain Graph Search in the video below.

In simplified terms, a Google or Bing search is meant to return the most “relevant” answer to a question based on the inter-relationships of webpages across the internet and the billions of searches performed on a daily basis. What that means is, other than some “light” personalization that Google and Bing perform, your search results and the next person’s are more or less the same. This is not to say they are exactly the same – but they are based more on the inter-relationships of content across the internet as opposed to you personally.

Graph Search is very different. Rather than attempting to provide results based on inter-relationships of pages and information across the whole internet, Facebook looks at your personal relationships on Facebook and provides information that should be relevant to you based on who your friends are, where you live and what you like.

This is significant for businesses because it means that people using social search are finding companies, services and products based on personal relationships and affinity, as opposed to who is linking to whom across the internet. This changes the game for businesses, because it means that companies who have no Facebook presence or an inactive presence (meaning few likes, comments, ratings, etc) will be less visible than businesses that have a lot of activity on their pages. This is because a social search is inherently based on activity. Some examples:

“Restaurants my friends like”
“Restaurants in Toronto liked by chefs”
“Most popular stores in my neighborhood”
“Favorite music of my friends who live in Toronto, Ontario”
“People who like things I like”

Looking at the above list, the common denominator is activity – businesses that have more likes, visits or other activity will rank well in these searches, whereas those are not active will not show up.

So – bringing this back to the point of the article – how does a multi-location and/or franchise organization generate more local activity? Through a strong, relevant local presence, which includes:

• Local content that people care about. Don’t just shovel out marketing messages – interact with people as a member of the community. Talk about the local sports team, the weather (people love to talk about the weather), local events and other topical items.
• Local address & contact information. Make it easy for people to find you when looking for things to do or buy in their neighborhood or city.
• Local people checking in to your location, liking your page, commenting and rating your establishment.

Challenges

There are, of course, challenges to this approach. The implementation alone of all those pages is a daunting task, but tools such as Facebook’s Parent-Child framework and the support of an agency that knows what they are doing can make the job much easier.

However, the implementation is actually the easiest part – it is the ongoing management of those dozens or hundreds of local pages that is truly the challenge. The most difficult task is in publishing timely, relevant content across all of those pages. Without content to engage with, people have nothing to like, comment on or share – which is the whole point in creating the local pages in the first place. In many ways, an empty Facebook page is actually worse than no Facebook page at all.

In a perfect world, all of the franchisees or local store managers would create local posts to engage with their communities. However, experience shows that only about 20% of locations will be effective in consistently maintaining their pages. Nonetheless, it makes good sense to provide training and support to your local teams, as there is no better source of local information (and therefore local engagement).

In addition to a strong local training approach, there clearly needs to be national content support for franchisees / store managers. Unfortunately, there is no easy way to automatically publish content to a multitude of pages. If your company only has a dozen or so pages then a 3rd party publishing tool such as Hootsuite or Social Sprout can be helpful, however, these tools are not designed to manage hundreds of pages. And unfortunately, Facebook’s Parent-Child functionality does not include content sharing capabilities.

Despite these challenges, it is imperative that multi-location businesses pursue a strong local strategy. There are absolutely solutions to the challenges outlined, which we will cover in our third instalment of this series.

Summary

For franchisors and multi-location businesses, translating offline reach and brand strength into social media dominance means implementing local pages within social media, particularly Facebook.

Implementing one corporate (or national) page may seem simpler in the short term, but it limits the organization’s ability to capitalize on local engagement opportunities, which is critical for effective customer interaction, mobile visibility and social search relevance.

When you are building a business, you are also building a brand. Some entrepreneurs, typically consultants and coaches, choose to build their personal brand (examples for people-brands can be Oprah or Donald Trump). Other business owners, who produce and sell physical products or provide services, may prefer to create a brand around their offerings (think Swiffer or Progressive). Yet others, usually entrepreneurs who want to build large businesses, put most focus on building their company brand (think Apple or Starbucks).

Brands are, in many ways, similar to people. A brand has a personality, a voice and a look. A brand builds a reputation and creates expectations. We become fond of some brands when we get to know them and when we like what they stand for.

Building a brand is a challenging task. It requires focus, clarity and consistency. In the vortex of an entrepreneur’s busy life, it’s easy to lose sight of these principles and compromise the brand you’ve worked so hard to build.

Here are three common branding mistakes that any business owner would try to avoid

1. Trying to be too many things.

To create a strong brand, you need to be courageous and to position it categorically. For example, your cupcakes can either be sinfully indulgent, or healthy. Your fashion line can either be wholesome, or sassy and daring. You, as a speaker and consultant, can either be outgoing, or reserved. It can rarely be both in one. Businesses who position their brands at the intersections of multiple claims do it out of fear that if they don't, they won't please everyone. Remember: pleasing everyone should not be your goal! As long as your brand appeals to your chosen target market, your business should be rock-solid.

2. Sending mixed messages.

All your Marketing efforts should reinforce your brand positioning, otherwise you will confuse your customers and will compromise your brand. For example, if a brand that claims to be high-end but sells for a low price, or has an average-looking website, it will be a while before it establishes its desired classy reputation. It's even worse when an established brand "does" something that doesn't fit its identity. A good example of damaged brand identity is what happened to Netflix a couple of years ago: A hip and fun brand, known for its convenience, Netflix launched Qwikster - a service that was anything but convenient. As a result, 800,000 disappointed customers took their business away in one quarter alone.

3. Repositioning too soon.

Unlike promotions, price discounts and ad campaigns, which you can turn on and off any time, your brand positioning is “on” for good. Your website design, logo, copy, marketing materials, and events you choose to associate your brand with all need to support your chosen brand positioning. Changing your positioning means rebuilding your brand from scratch. Because of the massive effort required to rebuild a brand, before you reposition, which is a valid option in some cases, make sure you've given your old brand positioning your all.

How Making People Smile, Think Or Even Dislike You Can Be Good For Your Brand.

Someone told me a long time ago that “people buy from people” and so when selling your products and services you should be yourself. So what if you are a quirky individual with a wicked sense of humour who runs a shoe shop, restaurant, flower shop, etc.? Well traditional views would have you acting in a friendly, professional demeanour at all times, which of course is correct, but that same view would strip you of all your personality too.

Those old enough will remember a very famous ad that Apple ran on television. It was based on Orwell’s book “1984” and it’s only daytime airing was on Sunday 22^nd of January 1984. The ad portrayed the then leading partnership of IBM and Microsoft as the soul-crushing Big Brother, stifling creativity and individualism.
 

 
Back then this was seen as an incredible advance in advertising and branding, but it barely touched the approach taken by modern companies like Google, Facebook, Starbucks, Ben & Jerry’s and T.G.I. Friday, to name a few. These companies don’t just portray themselves in a quirky and unique way, they are the total embodiment of thinking and acting differently. They even interview differently in order to hire the right type of person that will help them to maintain their quirky eco-system.  Imagine going for an interview at Google and being asked “You have a closet full of shirts. It’s very hard to find a shirt. So what can you do to organize your shirts for easy retrieval?” or “How many golf balls can fit in a school bus?” or famously “How much should you charge to wash all the windows in Seattle?”

So you are wondering whether this kind of thing can apply to any company, large or small. The answer is yes. The only difference is the amount of quirkiness involved. Obviously if you are a funeral director or investment bank, your opportunity to be quirky will be somewhat curtailed (although it’s still possible); but for everyone else you can explore the realms of possibilities in order to make people laugh or think.

And yes, even making people dislike you can work, but you have to really know what you are doing. Ryanair is a prime example of this with CEO Michael O’Leary going out of his way to reinforce the no-frills nature of his cheap flights ethos. There is no denying that the approach of (and I am paraphrasing here) “if you want the cheapest flight book with us, if you want anything more f*** off!” has certainly worked. But remember that they also have the deep pockets to pay for the times when their ads or statements back-fire.

But as much as I am advocating for you to be quirky, witty or controversial, remember that you can’t force this. If you are a conservative individual/company that tries to be quirky you’ll get found out and ultimately it could damage your business. It has to be you or you have to fully embrace the change for it to become a successful strategy.

I had two really good examples of this where I was once asked to review a website for a potential client. They sold printer cartridges and toner. Their site was pretty conservative and basic, but one of the menu items was “Humour”. On that page was a series of rather risqué jokes. The whole thing was simply inappropriate and executed badly. There was no reason for it, it was just there, like a guy standing at the back of a funeral in a Spider-Man outfit! Furthermore, the owner of the business was not a funny guy, if anything he was rather dour, which made the disconnect even more jarring.

The second example, on the other hand, was an email I received from a business coach. It was around Valentine ’s Day and he closed off the email with three Valentine related jokes. They were innocent but very funny. However, the whole email, including the business part of it was written in a familiar and disarming way, so that by the time I reached the jokes I was kind of “ready” for them. There was no disconnect. I had also previously met this person and although he was very professional, he did his business with a glint in his eye and a wit that had you laughing as much as thinking.

So, embrace you quirkiness and free your humour. It doesn’t have to be about full-page ads in national magazines. It might just be a single line on a product label, an image or tagline on your vans or a daily witty comment on your street sign. It can all work to make you memorable.