The no.1 mistake made by small businesses on Facebook is a simple one: directing people to a "you don't have permission to see this" message.
"Only special people can see this thing and you're not special. You must have been invited by mistake."
Ouch. Not a good look.
Spotted this afternoon, an interesting post at Technology Spectator.
Fifteen years ago Sensis, the directories arm of Telstra, was untouchable. A listing in the Yellow and White Pages was essential for every business and Sensis’ monopoly was a true river of gold.
Sensis’ launch this week of an Australian partnership with the US based review site Yelp is Telstra’s desperate throw of the dice to survive in a market where its directories business has become irrelevant. ... The phone directory business model is a product of the 1920s and in many ways Telstra and the other Yellow Pages franchisees around the world should be greatful it has lasted so long.
Technology Spectator considers how much partnership with Yelp may help Sensis and comes to a conclusion of "not very much".
Here at CCM our advice has been, for many years, that a dollar spent on listing in Yellow and White Pages is a dollar wasted. Spend that dollar on improving your own website! Your company website is your home on the Internet. That's the #1 online location where you can form and cement relationships with potential customers, tell your own story, and market your products and services.
In a recent article for the Barossa Grape and Wine Association I talked about using reports and testing to work out what editorial tone would be most effective in capturing the attention of a email newsletter’s readers. (See "What’s the right tone when communicating with your winery’s email database?")
In a new post I focus on the readers themselves – the people on the mailing list - and ask: "What’s an email mailing-list subscriber actually worth to the business?"
Read MoreHere's a collection of 10 short tips that will help you improve your email marketing!
Read MoreThere is no one-size-fits-all "best tone". But here's what an online database-driven marketing campaign can do: it can reveal the best tone for the task at hand, and it can do so more accurately than traditional marketing methods, in a fraction of the time and at a fraction of the cost.
Read MoreAlmost a year ago I made a post explaining a bit about "Website hosting" - what it is and why Chilli Chocolate Marketing provides it to our clients if required. Now hosting a company website brings certain responsibilities. Website vandals and malicious hackers are constantly on the lookout for badly-secured websites - they're out there 24/7 performing the digital equivalent of trying doors and windows to see if they're locked and looking under doormats for spare keys.
Read More"Social media has changed the way we do almost everything. We make buying decisions, find jobs, play games, listen to music and learn socially. But for business it’s clearly been a more challenging shift. Engaging in social media requires a fundamental change to the way businesses function and think. No wonder so many are slow to embrace social media and devote budgets to it."
Read MoreHave you recently received a call from a helpful gentleman with an Indian accent who claims to be calling from Microsoft or from "IT support" to alert you to a problem with your computer?
It's a scam of course. And it's happening a lot at the moment. Be prepared!
Based just south of Adelaide in McLaren Vale, Chilli Chocolate Marketing is a boutique marketing agency with a particular focus on email marketing, customer retention, and relationships.
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