Generate Creative Has Moved (But Don’t Worry, We’re Still Offering Our Services All Over New Brunswick)

Generate Creative Has Moved (But Don't Worry, We're Still Offering Our Services All Over New Brunswick)

When I started at Radian6 nearly ten years ago, what immediately made me enjoy the work with social media, digital marketing and technology overall was the sense of community that I could see forming in our office and our online communities. The online space can feel very anonymous and distant to many people, so I can understand why that may sound a bit odd. However, the kind of marketing and technology use that I have built my business around focuses on not viewing the online space as a distant or anonymous landscape, but rather a place to build a community to help non-profit or small business efforts. I see Technology in that same light. Not something that overrules or gets rid of old ways of doing things or removes the hands-on human element, but can help improve business processes and make people’s lives easier. For me, my business the last three years has focused on building community, sharing creativity and providing advice on the right technology options that are available to accomplish these goals.

My work over the last three years has literally taken me all over the province and I’ve also worked remotely on some projects as well, which I has allowed me to make a personal choice that reinforces my love of a strong community by being able to move back to my hometown, St. Stephen, N.B. Personally, this is a move that gets me closer to my family and allows me to be part of a community I’ve always loved. Professionally, it doesn’t change too much for the business of Generate Creative. We will continue to service New Brunswick and the broader Atlantic Canadian landscape and hope to continue to make an impact in helping more businesses and non-profit find further success.

Digital Marketing is a Marathon, Not a Sprint

Viral. It’s not a word that even five years ago most of us would be using in our day to day speech except during cold and flu season. Now, it seems that every day we hear about someone trying to make something go viral, something that has gone viral or someone trying to sell you the ability to make you or your business go viral.

Yes, having a large, immediate and far-reaching impact on your business or campaign can have positive effects. We can’t deny that. When using digital media, you will generally have times when you see a spike in your average volume or activity. But here’s the thing about getting hung up on trying to make everything go viral, pardon the pun but you’ll probably end up making your business sick.

We are seeing more and more social media and digital marketing platforms change their algorithms and terms of service to try and prevent click bait, engagement bait or forms of quick-hit viral marketing that doesn’t focus on your overall business goals or the experience of your customers. What this means is while you are trying to come up with the flashiest, catchiest campaign and telling everyone you know to “Like and Share” what you are doing is damaging your brand reputation. You could be annoying a lot of your customers who care about your business and products instead of that cat video with your logo superimposed on it and connecting with people who are only interested in a $50 gift card and won’t ever do anything to make your business money.

So is there a place for viral marketing? Yes, but it is a very limited scope that shouldn’t be your overall goal as a business looking to use digital marketing. “Going viral” is not a business goal. Digital marketing is a marathon, not a sprint. It doesn’t happen overnight. It takes months and sometimes years to grow a strong, invested community online that helps your business objectives. And yes, it is a hard lesson to accept that if you want to see benefits from social media and online marketing that it will take work and time invested when everything out there tells you it’s all about instant gratification and overnight success. Keep in mind though; you aren’t trying to create a business that has one good day and then nothing for months at a time. You are trying to create and grow a business that over time builds a loyal, dedicated customer base that brings in other people to join them based on the positive customer experience they have with you, so why isn’t that also your goal with your social media and digital marketing?

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Social Media: Should I Pay For It?

The question, “Why Should I Pay For Social Media Help?” is one that I know is going through most people’s minds when I talk them about my services. While this question is definitely one I can’t say I don’t have an unbiased opinion towards, I’ll start by saying that this post isn’t meant to convince you why you should work with me or even other consultants. The main reason I am writing this post today is because I’m still seeing so many small or medium size businesses and organizations struggle with their online presence when they don’t need to.

It’s probably because social media has such a pop culture association that businesses still feel like they can have an intern, that younger person on their staff or just no one at all fully responsible for their online presence. Why pay someone who just plays on Facebook all day? Yes, social media is something used widely for personal interactions, but so isn’t a telephone and no business would question the use of a phone in the day-to-day operation of their work. So please, read through some of the reasons why you should consider paying someone to help you with your social media.

Your Business Needs Social Media

The online world and social media aren’t going away. In fact, they’re growing every single second, minute and hour of the day. Not having an online presence of some form whether it’s a website, social accounts or even just an email on your Yellow Pages listing can have major impacts on your bottom line. Your business needs to have someone who has experience with building all of that to help you.

Your Younger Staff Needs To Not Automatically Be In Charge of Social Media

Yup, we all we do it. We assume the youngest person in the room knows more about technology than us so we put them in charge of it. Sometimes we luck out and it’s their passion and area of expertise. Other times that younger individual feels forced into being the social media person, just because they’re the younger employee. If marketing or social media isn’t their thing, your younger staff desperately needs you to stop adding it as a responsibility just because of their age. Plus, think of it this way you wouldn’t make someone your accountant just because they have a calculator, so why are you making someone your social media specialist just because they can log on to Facebook? Business and personal use of social media is very different. You and your younger staff need to accept that difference.

You Need Less Stress Around Your Social Media

If you are small to medium size business and you don’t currently have the in-house resources or time to train someone, you’re probably stressing yourself out more than you need to about what’s happening on your social accounts. In fact, you may want to use social media, but you end up getting so frustrated that you tell yourself it’s just not worth it. Freeing up those couple of hours a week you spend wondering why that link just won’t show a picture when paste into that little box, but everyone can make a picture show so you get frustrated and give up, yeah those hours, your schedule could definitely use those back. It is worth it when you have the right support system in place.

So there it is, quick reasons why it makes sense to pay someone to manage your social media. It doesn’t matter if it’s me, another consultant or hiring someone with experience in the field. Just like anything else you would do for your business, you need to make sure that you are getting the best, most qualified individual for the job. Don’t think of it as paying someone to play on Facebook all day, because it’s not. It’s paying someone to make sure you’re well represented in the fastest growing marketplace there is.

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Go Google Yourself!

No that’s not meant as an offensive statement, but actual advice. Whether you are selling a product, service or just building a presence for your organization, knowing what information is readily available to the public is important to be aware of. A research study has shown that 71% of consumers will research online reviews before they purchase a product. By knowing what already exists online about you, you can then start to think about how you would like to see the conversation shift.

Company Name

This is probably the first thing that a consumer will search for. It might be just to find your website, but it could also be to find reviews of your product and service. Make sure you know where you rank in search results and if there’s any information posted that you need to address.

Personal Name

If you run your own small business or if you serve as the face of an organization like a director on a board, make sure that you search for yourself as well. Online boundaries are blurry, so while the results for your company may be favourable, there might be information posted about you personally that you wouldn’t want connected to your company. Make sure that whatever network you join, you are comfortable with their privacy settings. Remember though, whatever you post online could be made public, so if you don’t want others to ever see it, don’t post it.

Product and Service Terms for Your Area

Once you know about exists about what can be considered your brand, make sure that you are also searching for terms related to your product and services. For example, if you sell stoves in Halifax and that’s your main target audience, you will want to search for “Stoves Halifax” or “Buy Stoves Halifax”. This will give you an idea of what your potential customers see when they search for your products and if your name is in the results.

Tips

Remember to clear your browsing history or use a private/incognito browser when searching so your own previous search results and location do not impact what you are seeing.
Once you’ve identified this information about yourself, you can start to think about ways to impact it like improving your search results, updating your personal privacy settings or even using different words in your marketing.

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Fitting The Internet into Atlantic Canada

Management Services

We all know that Atlantic Canada is a beautiful place that is steeped in history. We have our main industries that have been around for as long as most people can remember. So where does the Internet fit in our world of Lumber, Potatoes and Fish? Pretty perfectly actually.

The Internet is the great equalizer when it comes to accessing information. Whether you are in New York City, London, Sydney or right here in Atlantic Canada, you will be able to access the same type of information through the internet.

In fact in Canada we are better off then many places in the world. The Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA) pulls together stats every year to show the state of Internet in Canada, including where we rank in the world. According to their research, currently Canada ranks 2nd among it’s G8 partners for internet penetration. How does Atlantic Canada stack up? In 2012 the percentage of households with internet access looked like this: Newfoundland and Labrador 79%, Prince Edward Island 78%, Nova Scotia 80%, New Brunswick 77%.

The biggest impact to these percentages is they tend to be higher in urban areas, lower in rural and also vary in the same way by socio-economic levels. The good news is there is awareness of these differences at the government level and initiatives like this one in New Brunswick started in 2010 to improve access to high speed internet through providers that use satellite internet to rural areas. From another side of the equation keep in mind that every library in New Brunswick will give you free Wi-Fi access and even free access to a computer with internet if you need it.

Lastly, don’t forget the impact that smartphone and mobile internet is having on our access. Canada wide it is estimated that 49% of internet usage is accessed from a mobile device.

So why does Internet access matter? By being a connected area it not only allows us to grow our tech community, but fold in internet technology like social media and digital marketing in to our every day lives and businesses. Technology doesn’t have to eliminate the culture, history or industries we currently have, but it can help us to find more innovative ways to complete tasks. So take a few minutes today and think about all the things you do on a daily basis that are helped by having internet access. Now think about all the things you wish there was a way to do in a more innovative way. Chances are you may be able to find a full or partial solution to solving those every day problems by opening up to the possibilities that technology like the internet can bring.

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Why Should You Worry About Online, Social, and Digital Marketing?

Why Should You Worry About Online, Social and Digital Marketing?

One of the biggest questions I have heard from a variety of businesses across a collection of industries, is “Why Does Online or Social Even Matter? My business has nothing to do with technology, online marketing or social media marketing, so really why does this even matter?”

It’s a valid question and the truth is, if you don’t build your online marketing, social marketing and email marketing to align with your business goals, then it really doesn’t. Before you would spend a large amount of money and time investing on a new piece of equipment for your business, you would know what that piece of equipment is going to do for you. Put it this way, if you run a hardware store you probably aren’t going to run out and spend money buying pillows. Now, if you had a strategy and plan about how you will sell those pillows as the start of a new home decor aisle, then that might be a good investment. That’s what matters most when starting to look at building an online or social presence, is having a plan that will make your time & choices a good investment. How do you get started with building that plan? Well, first up is educating yourself about what is out there.

For today, start with a high level overview of how online and social media has been evolving in the last few years. You don’t need to understand all of the concepts or know exactly how you would implement them for your business right away, just review the material and be aware of the growth. Erik Qualman author of Socialnomics has made a series of videos over the years that highlights the gains of what social media can do. I’ve embedded them below so you can view them in the order they were released to start to see the growth of technology and social media towards the impact of marketing for businesses, big or small.