It’s Been Good to Make Small Talk in 2013

Social media climbed to never before levels in 2013. One of the features of successful ventures during the year was shorter viewing time which made direct talk without beating around the bush imperative. I think this was mainly driven by teenagers whose activities and opinions are very important to the advertising and marketing worlds.

Through 2013, you could manage to invoke sufficient interest without content that was 500+ words long and without really thinking about SEO. At least in the pure communications arena, it pays more to say less.

Move over talkative sites – we don’t have time! 

In 2013, concise presentation topped the priority list of many users. Here are some supporting examples.

·         Teens named Twitter as the preferred social media platform. This reduced Facebook to a hobby pursued by earlier generations like grandparents and parents.

·         Vine, Instagram, and Snapchat mesmerized teens in a big way. This paved the way for the Instagram purchase by Facebook.

·         Google absorbing YouTube resulted in pushing the video site away from the limelight.

·         The struggle to be noticed by Google+ resulted in the rolling out of various new functions. 

Twitter is well known for restricting conversation length to 140 characters. This was a bit of a challenge when it launched in 2006. Today it’s the way to go. 

Instagram’s 15 second videos that seemed really short at one time are now the accepted norm. Vine proved its mettle with 6.5 second videos which can loop endlessly. Videos from Snapchat have lengths between these two - about 10 seconds.

So why did teens start loving these sites? The answer is School. Schooling is an almost full time occupation but youngsters can grab a few moments between classes to post a tweet. Photo-sharing sites like Snapchat and Instagram allow posting pictures in a few seconds. Even videos require only a couple of minutes. 

Limitations of compact communications 

Vine, Instagram, and Snapchat feature creatively produced mini-commercials. There are generally from businesses that deal in big market products and services such as food, entertainment, and fashion. Some nonprofit organizations have also posted effective and moving messages on these platforms. 

Twitter possibly purchased Vine to safeguard against the total elimination of the written word but I don’t think that blogging or Facebook will go away totally. They are likely to continue as important social media tools. Learning something often requires more than 10 to 15 seconds, whether it’s watching a short video, reading a well-written post, or putting up a query on Facebook. 

Snapchat, which refused Facebook’s $3 billion offer to buyout, acknowledged that time is sometimes a friend. It recently announced Snapchat Stories, a tool that allows creations of narratives with a lifecycle of 24-hours. 

Can Facebook regain popularity? With the Instagram purchase, there’s a probability that the app will now offer more. Apparently, Vine is viewed more a distraction which can be easily fitted into its world, rather than a competitor. 

In 2014, I think B2B professionals and companies should look for sites that serve their needs and those of their customers. Though video sites provide entertaining distractions, they might not serve purposes other than product pitches, public service messages or short testimonials like those presently seen on Twitter.

10 Effective Ways to Generate Leads

You can't build a successful online business without leads. If there are no leads, how are you going to make any sales?

 

Here are 10 cost effective ways to create leads. However, before you start generating leads, you should know the basic rules.

Rule 1: Create value

If you are really serious about your business, you should create a great value machine. This could be your blog, your YouTube channel, or something else where you post content on a regular basis. It is not easy, but it is the most effective way to create a loyal following.

Write a 100% useful post every day. This strategy takes a while to generate results, but it is highly effective.

Rule 2: Attract leads that will turn into buyers

If you are building an email list, your objective should be attracting buyers, not leads.  There is no point in building a list of freebie seekers. So generate leads that will ultimately turn into buyers.

Building a list full of people who want free stuff is relatively easy, but that is hardly worth your time.

Rule 3: Encourage people to act fast and don't wait until you have built a relationship

Building a relationship with your potential buyers is good, but this might take a while. If you can't wait that long, encourage people to buy faster.  If you are in business for selling, make no excuses about it. Just sell.

So, here are the most effective ways for generating leads:

1. Post viral videos

Create a video that has the potential to go viral and post it your own blog and YouTube. If you post it on your blog, it may generate lots of incoming links. You can promote the video by buying PPC adverts on Facebook. Make sure that your video is entertaining because that is what people like.

2. Be active on social media

It is not exactly clear whether social media is good at generating sales, but when it comes to creating awareness, it is quite effective. Encourage your leads to spread the word for you. Put a Facebook 'Share' button on your 'thank-you page'.

3. Start selling right away

Put an offer in front of your leads. You will get to know how many of them are willing to buy.

4. Don't ignore the easy stuff

Don't overlook cheap and free ways to generate leads. For example, you can include your offer in the email signature.

5. Give away free stuff but make it useful

It is no longer possible to attract people by offering them free junk. This strategy used to work in the past, but now nobody will subscribe to your list just because they will get some free stuff.

So, if you are giving away free stuff, make sure that it is useful.

6. Promote your products as if they were a rare commodity

Everybody wants things they cannot have easily. So when you promote your products, present them as something they can't have easily. If you keep your funnel open all the time, people will have no reason to buy today and not four or five years later.

7. Think big

Many lead generation techniques do not produce the desired results. So instead of putting all your time and money on one lead generation campaign, launch ten. Try every trick in the book. Write good sales copies, great articles, and press releases. Launch banner and PPC ads. If you want to win, you should give yourself plenty of chances to win.

8. Fully leverage all opportunities

Whenever you find an opportunity, think about creative ways to fully leverage it.

9. Link bait

Link bait still works and you don't have to publish sensational or scandalous stories to encourage people to link to you. Instead, publish content that is truly valuable.

10. Don't forget the basics

Success will be yours if you execute the basics well. There are three steps to generating leads. You must have a great offer. You must make it visible to the right people. You should give them a reason to act now.