Your business needs Facebook

Just how big is Facebook and why should you use social media to help brand your business? Facebook now reaches over 500,000,000 users per month!

More and more people comment about their experiences via social media. The ever important 'word of mouth’ has now become ‘world of mouth".

The popularity and ease of use of social media sites such as Facebook has translated from personal to business, allowing companies to start their own Facebook ‘Fan’ pages. When a user ‘likes’ a particular business, they now receive updates each time the company changes their status, just like you would from the friends on your Facebook page.

In a recent Nielson poll the study found that Americans spend nearly ¼ of their time online on social networking sites, up from 15.8% just a year ago (a 43% increase). To put this into perspective, here are some amazing facts:

If Facebook were a nation it would be the third largest in the world after China and India. It took radio 38 years to reach 50,000,000 listeners and it took Television over 13 years to reach that mark; Facebook added 100,000,000 users in 9 months. 96% of all Gen Y have joined a social network. Not too concerned because your consumer is ‘older’? Take note of the fact that the fastest growing demographic segment on Facebook is 55-65 year old females.

Recent studies have been trying to quantify the value of a ‘fan’, in terms of real dollars. The results range from $1.60 to $3.60. These results do show that a ‘fan’ of your business will be more likely to purchase from you, and more importantly, has a greater likelihood of referring you to someone else.

If you're not convinced yet that Facebook, which is free, can help your business. Consider this: An average Facebook user has 130 friends – so do the math. If you reach 1,000 fans you actually have the potential to reach 130,000 people each time you send an update.

If you still aren’t sure how to leverage this technology, Creative Juice social media experts can help. Be a fan on Facebook and win new business!

Country Fair TV Commercial

Creative Juice produced this spot for Long Island's entertainment park - Country Fair in Medford.

My Gold Mailer TV Commercial

Here's one of many TV commercials Creative Juice produced for MyGoldMailer.com---a nationwide gold buying company.

Your Advertising: Juice it up!

Let's look at some marketing fundamentals to help you better market your business. From now on, I'll assign a number to them for easy reference. Let's "juice up" your market share! This time, we'll examine JUICE TIPS 1 and 2.

JUICE TIP 1: Why People Buy

When you sell a product it's not only important to know who bought it, but also why they bought. What motivated them to buy your product, what motivated them to buy your product over your competitor's product, and what you can do to motivate them to into a repeat purchase in the future. Almost every significant purchase made involves either saving money or time. If you can include one, or better yet, both of these powerful motivators in your offer, you're success rate will likely increase. When people feel like they are saving money they are more inclined to make a purchase immediately rather than put it off and eventually forget about it. This is especially effective with limited time offers that initiate action within a certain time frame. Demonstrate that your product or service can save them time, make them more efficient, and allow them to get more business done during the day and you have a winner. Integrate these two buying motivators in the same offer and watch your direct marketing campaign soar.

JUICE TIP 2: What's the deal?

You should always present the offer as something of value and something of importance. Free is the key. Many people believe that "free" is the most important word in advertising and direct marketing. It's certainly the most important word when it comes to describing your offer. If you are offering something for free-shout it! Especially in this economy, every ad should offer some type of deal or benefit.

Improve your marketing. Get out!

If you're trying to improve some aspect of your marketing, get out. That's right, get out of your house and go to the mall or a local store. And don't focus on you, focus on consumers. It's easy to do research when you have a big enough sample size. By viewing other consumers in action, you'll notice some interesting behaviors.

The other great thing about getting out is that you can learn from promotions that others are running. From a retail perspective, you'd be amazed at simple marketing tips that go a long way. Putting the milk in the back of the store, offering a coupon, or a loyalty card. By visiting retailers you can even learn about integrated marketing promotions as consumers redeem coupons they received through email or online.

Into coffee? Stop by Starbucks. From the warm feeling inside to the consistent product, Starbucks does it right. There's a reason people drop $4 for a cup of coffee. Stop in and analyze why.

Make it a habit of trying new marketing concepts. For example, you may have noticed a type of merchandising that might work well for your products or services. Can you change a display? Use what you've learned. The more you do this, the more you'll see results. Over time, these results can add up significantly. If you want to improve your marketing, get out, get informed, and get learning!

TV Energy

Here's a look at the making of the Jo Jo Energy drink TV commercial. Creative Juice advertising was part of the creative process. We had this video produced by Vispol TV to ad content to Jo Jo's site. "On Point Productions" handled the commercial shoot . See it here.

Does your website have video?

I’ve often noted here that great content doesn’t have to be written - it can be images, animation, audio, video or even live content.

Case in point: The online video company Vzaar, just released results of a recent straw poll of Vzaar users. Some of the results included:

• Diamond Jewellery United based in Antwerp Belgium, saw their sales increase by 65% four months after implementing product videos.
• Industry Recycles who sell second hand equipment, saw an increase in sales over 12 months by over 307%,
• Yesil, an online furniture website, saw a 50% increase in web
  traffic transferring to a rise of 30% in sales over the same period.

Admittedly the evidence is anecdotal but it does make sense. Creating great content is often simply about giving the prospective customer what they want - and in these cases they wanted a better way to experience the products before they bought.

How could you use video - or any other content - to better demonstrate to your prospects what you do? Call us at Creative Juice. 631.371.1287. We can help you creative content for your website - and drive sales up.