The online marketplace is always evolving. Smart marketing means creative experimentation as well as vigilance about online ROI data.

The real results are in the data.

It’s critical to closely monitor your Google Analytics and other data to evaluate what’s really working to generate real online interest in your company, e.g. visits of at least 2 minutes to your site.

If you don’t have Analytics, get it, please; it tells you a lot about online marketing ROI.

Embrace your best online referrers…

Right now Houzz.com is leading the pack in referring people—ones who are interested in his upscale remodeling service—to his website.  Houzz.com is a hyper visual/image-rich form of social media, like Pinterest, but focused on the home. Its ‘Ideabooks’ enable users to capture his great project photos and stories into their personalized Ideabooks for their vision for their own home.  Each image is always attributed to our client. Visits from Houzz are averaging 6 minutes.

Second to Houzz right now is Housetrends magazine.  We’ve purchased a multi-faceted package that includes print ads, plus an online marketing suite with 3 banner ads and very nice mini-website there. Visits from here are averaging 5-1/2 minutes.

Harness the power of blogging!

We’re also big believers in blogging as a business marketing strategy for a variety of reasons.

Three key ones are: 1) search engines like changing website content and 2) it gives a business a way to establish itself as experts in a particular marketplace and 3) it can reinforce and strengthen the business’ brand.

A synergistic online marketing strategy we’ve used is to first create a blog post on a topic both important to the company’s brand and to the target audience.  Search engines will find it, sometimes in less than an hour.

Drive eyeballs to it with ads.

To enhance the traffic to the post (hopefully located on your website), try creating online ads that link to the blog—ones that you can easily change when the blog topic changes next time.  Make sure the location of the ad is where your target customer is.

BTW, we have an interesting very visual, example- and data-driven presentation on Social Media for Business.  If you’ve got a half hour, you may find it valuable. Also, we just discovered a great blogger in Atlanta that offers lots of great tips for blogging.

Below are some examples of how the ad-linking-to-a-blog has worked for our remodeling client on the Mt. Lebanon magazine website. Click on each ad to see the particular blog (or website page) that it takes you to.

According to Google Analytics, in the last 5 months, this inexpensive series of 24/7 ads has brought to the client’s website 87 highly targeted, upscale visitors—any one of which could be a great client.

Add to that the repetitive visibility of his award-winning brand, month after month, in this demographically AND geographically desirable community.

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In addition, we blog for an upscale, award-winning remodeling contractor.  In both cases, blogging is part of a multi-faceted marketing strategy, of which Internet Marketing is a critical piece.

In this post, we offer you a short sampler of our most popular posts with marketing insights, tips and research going back 3 years.

First, here’s our most recent blog post:  Second thoughts about Facebook marketing: A disturbing trend? (Oct 2012).  Notice that it seems to refute one of the most popular, older blogs below.  Also, notice that our posts tend to be longer, more detailed and more visual than many.  Some serve as links in press releases. That’s our style.

Second, here’s our most popular post:  Today’s technology revolution for marketing businesses (Dec 2009).  But in some ways it doesn’t really count like the others here… because the word ‘Avatar’ attracted the wrong people to it.

Now, lets look at ones that were visited by many AND the people stayed for a reasonable time reading.  We would call that the true measure of popularity.

Social media drives better prospects to websites: the quality-of-visit difference (10/12)

iPad, the ‘intimate’ marketing tool and more. Ya gotta love it! A rave by Randy. (3/11)

Nightlife on Main Street:  Hospitality Zone strategies in business districts. (6/11)

A how-to:  Facebook advertising and marketing solutions in Pittsburgh (10/11)

10 user-friendly techie tools we like for marketing, communication and research (4/12)

Client wins 4 awards:  we promote with social media (Dec 2010)

Deutschtown House Tour highlights 3 decades of neighborhood revitalization (8/11)

Custom FlexTeam to brand and market luxury vacation condos in New York (7/10)

Finally, if you’d like to see the most popular posts of 2011 for our website and for our clients, read this:  Blogging as a business marketing strategy:  Our ‘Top 10’ most read blog posts in 2011

Thanks for coming to our blog.  Hope you come back.  Shoot us an email or give us a call if you want to discuss blogging. 

Well, the Internet is an ever changing, dynamic marketplace. Is there a negative trend unfolding today for Facebook referrals to websites?  Does that mean to abandon Facebook marketing?

More Facebook market research

We also posted an October 2011 blog focusing on the impact of Facebook ads with two client case studies.  Again, very positive results, including strong social media Reach and Impressions, as well as clicks to the client websites.  And in May we gave a presentation at the 2012 Entrepreneurs Growth Conference on Facebook For Business detailing uses and data to date.

While we still think many of the positives in the second blog are true, some ROI data we’ve gathered since then shows a downward trend in the value of Facebook referrals.

Case study:  1 year of Facebook posting & advertising

Starting in September 2011, we’ve been posting frequently for an upscale remodeling contractor on their Facebook page. The majority of the posts are PR in nature, meaning they give mostly free information, ideas and insights.

We believe weekly posts on the Facebook page have value in building relationships over time with the people who have chosen to Like and follow the client’s communications.  Part of the proof is the Facebook data on Talking About and Viral Reach, in September 2012 for example:   (click to enlarge chart)

Not huge numbers, but this signifies some active engagement and interest… and JUST ONE SALE generated from this effort could mean a project ranging from $30,000 to $500,000!  So, maybe it’s worth taking a chance on Facebook?!

Also, during the past year we’ve launched several Facebook ads, starting with 4 in September 2011; we now have 10 running (from a high of 14) as Pay Per Click.  See the actual ads below; total clicks for each ad are indicated with the blue number on each ad.  (Click on the image to view a larger PDF version.)

Primarily because of the ads, we’ve seen the client’s Facebook Reach grow to more than 35,000 in some weeks and total Impressions for a year hit 6,000,000+, with a total of 1,500+ clicks to the website.  Which is great.

So, what has happened to referrals (links) to the client’s website as a result of this dual activity on Facebook?  Facebook has been by far the best referring site to the client’s website—almost 4 times as great as the next referring site. What’s not to like about that?

Below is one years’ data on growth of referrals to the client website from Facebook: a 3-4x increase in referral Visits and New Visits since Sept. 2011:

But how do the visitors behave when they get to the site?  Recently most Visits from Facebook are not what we’d call a ‘quality’ visit—i.e. ones showing that visitors have much interest in the site or could become a customer.

As you can see above, in December 2011, average Pages Per Visit reached a peak of 9 and Length Of Stay hit a peak of 10 minutes.  Great.  But, since then the trend has been to shorter and shorter visits, reaching a low this September of 16 seconds (!) and only 1.23 pages average per visit.  Not good.

What’s going on here? What are we doing about it?

We’re not really sure. If you have any ideas, let us know.  We vaguely remember seeing a post on a social media site about bots (automatic web robots) doing the clicking. Could that have something to do with it?  Plus, as time goes on, we think people make judgments more and more quickly about a page they land on, scanning pages faster, including by mobile devices… and then ‘bounce’ away.

What we’ve done for this client so far is to shut off some of the ads, which were the big drivers of traffic from Facebook—much more than from actual Facebook page posts with links to the website. We’ve also cut back on Facebook page posts because we’re still looking for clear evidence in our monthly customer lead reports that these are producing phone calls or emails to the client’s office.  Of course the whole point is to generate business.

We’re confident that Facebook can play a role in a multi-faceted marketing plan. It has improved website traffic stats from 50% to 120% from month-to-month over the previous year, which probably helps with SEO.

But clearly it’s not a Silver Bullet. But what is?  Facebook is only one of many possible tactics in the marketing toolkit, in this case perhaps not the best, particularly for sales. Our monthly lead generation reports say referrals and a strong website with SEO are the best for this upscale contractor.

Latest Forrester Research report provides more insights

It’s serendipitous that this Forester Research report should come out as our blog does.  The headline is “Report Shows Social Media Is No Sales Driver.”  It touts especially email marketing as a sales driver, but does not totally discount the value of social media. “Researchers still haven’t figured out how to put a dollar value on social media, but it’s still an incredibly important way to engage with customers,” says the lead researcher at Forrester.

Revealing our multi-year experience with Facebook business Pages and Facebook ads, it’s 20-25 minutes long and has more than 100 visuals.  Of course questions and discussions are welcome; we can share it with groups or individuals.

FYI, Facebook is part of our multi-faceted marketing strategies for clients.  Read more about our Internet marketing strategies here.

The presentation includes numerous examples of using Facebook for a variety of business types, from a contractor to a tavern, from a community to a consultant.  Here’s what to expect in the presentation:

• • 4 basic marketing principles, including branding
  • Question:  Is Facebook a silver bullet?
  • How we use social media for our business
  • An in depth case study, including a look at FB Insights
  • Can FB serve as a website? (two examples)
  • Facebook advertising and ROI (two examples)
  • Facebook ads and the impact on Reach
  • The ‘crash’ of a client’s Reach in April
  • Using Hootsuite to post to Facebook and Twitter
  • Creating a ‘community portrait’ on Facebook
  • Facebook as part of multi-faceted marketing
  • The take home:  5 key points to remember

For more information now, take a look at two blogs we’ve previously posted about our social media impact research:

• “A how to:  Facebook advertising & marketing solutions“
• “Social media drives better prospects to websites“

To schedule a viewing, give us a call at 412-322-9720 or email us.

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The marketing workplace and marketplace have changed dramatically in the last 3 years or so, partly due to ‘the cloud.’ Strategies, communication and research efforts can be implemented so much faster, more efficiently and more easily.

During that time we’ve discovered Dropbox, Wordle, Doodle, Keyword Tool, Facebook ads, Hootsuite, Mail Chimp… and Apple’s iPad, iCloud and Keynote program.

Online business marketing & communication tools

DROPBOX. It’s such an easy way to share files among team members. As the name suggests, once you set up Dropbox you simply drag and drop files into a project or client folder right on your desktop, even though it’s really in ‘the cloud.’  Invite as many people as you wish to share particular folders. Right now we have 7 folders set up for 7 different clients or projects with 7 separate sets of people invited to share. (2.5 Gb free; get more free Gbs when you invite people)

WORDLE. At first Wordle seems like a graphical toy to transform hundreds, even thousands, of words into colorful, arty ‘word cloud’ diagrams.  There are so many variations possible in terms of color, fonts and layout.  We’ve used it twice to quickly visualize the results of hundreds of consumer surveys and once to analyze website keywords for specialized vacation properties. We like to limit the number of individual words displayed to 15-20.  Otherwise the word cloud gets too jumbled. (free)

Below is an example of a Wordle cloud we created from the 109 responses to a question on a Brand Audit survey we did for a human services provider.  It helped to identify key branding characteristics.

DOODLE. Take the headaches and hassles out of setting up meetings with a bunch of busy people.  Forget all the emails back and forth.  Doodle lets everyone see the possible meeting times and each logs in his/her availability.  Wallah, you have a meeting date!  (free)

KEYWORD TOOL. Google also calls this Google AdWords because their main intent was to help you create ads that would return strong search results.  But we use it to look for the best keywords to use on the websites we build and administer.  Again, easy to use.  We don’t necessarily look for the most frequently used keywords for searches, but rather ones that have lower “competition” but still relatively high volume in “local monthly searches.” (free)

HOOTSUITE. Calling itself a “social media management dashboard,” this is a great time saving tool if you’re using social media.  Hootsuite allows you to post to more than one social media site simultaneously (but you also have to be an admin on those sites). So, for one client we can post to two Facebook pages and his Twitter feed at one time.  Cool. Easy. (free)

FACEBOOK ADS. We’ve had some interesting success with Facebook ads for two clients.  One client is now up to 1,550,000 impressions and has gotten 404 clicks; the 10 Facebook ads and links to their website from their Facebook page make it the leading referring site for Master Remodelers. Plus, the ads give them enormous social “reach” on Facebook.  Read more about our marketing successes with Facebook ads.  Easy to set up and target.  (set up a budget; pay per click)

MAIL CHIMP. One of our associates swears by Mail Chimp and publishes 3 regular e-newsletters with it. Here’s one for her business and one for a client.  She says it very easy to use and design in—while we’ve heard numerous complaints about Constant Contact.  Plus, like the others, you can measure the results of your mailing.  (pricing starts at $10/month for up to 500 addresses and as many mailings as you want in a month)

Other cool Tech Tools—Apple products & services

THE iPAD. After using this tool for more than a year, we can only say great things about it. The iPad is a versatile, user-friendly business and marketing tool; we especially love the way it can instantly display our portfolios and case studies. Read more about this in an earlier blog. (price from $399 to $829 depending on features and model)

THE iCLOUD. We haven’t really tapped into Apple’s new iCloud services much yet.

But it’s great to have iCalendars and Address Books sync automatically and wirelessly between the iMac and the iPad—instantly. (free basic services)

Next comes the iPhone as part of the tech team.

KEYNOTE. A powerpoint-like element of Apple’s iWorks, Keynote is so easy to use to create presentations, and even simple videos.  (See a sample in-store marketing video we did for a tavern and a reconstruction slide show for a contractor) It’s so intuitive and includes drag and drop features for adding images. It even has basic photoshop-like features that gives lots of image control. And it’s great for quickly mocking up ads for print and banners.  (From $9.99 for mobile to $19.99 for desktops)

Offer YOUR COMMENTS and IDEAS here or contact us for a demo or discussion.

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Previously we posted a blog titled “Social media drives better prospects to websites: the quality-of-visit-difference.” This one is a sequel in our adventures in the dynamic world of social media.

Perhaps your business can take away some marketing success strategies from our initial, no risk experiments for a neighborhood pub and an upscale remodeling contractor in Pittsburgh.

While Randy Strothman & Associates has developed many more traditional marketing and branding solutions—print advertising, websites, blogging, signage, trade shows, etc.—the world of social media presents a fascinating  opportunity for marketing. We’re experimenting and are seeing some interesting results in Pittsburgh.

Some Facebook ad benefits

1. First of all, the ads are so easy to create; the first one will take you maybe 15 minutes. After that, maybe 5 minutes per ad.

2. Plus, they can be targeted to specific demographics:  age, geography, sex, personal interests, etc. 

3. The ads feed back good data about what’s working… and not.

4. You only pay when someone clicks, i.e. takes an action you want.

5. Facebook now has nearly a billion users worldwide!!

Lets look at a couple of Facebook advertising examples. Plus, at the end of this blog you’ll find two bonus 2012 white papers by experts on Facebook for business and the ‘State of the Social Universe!’

Park House case study #1:  one Facebook ad for friendly pub

We began last January with one Facebook ad for “Pittsburgh’s oldest & friendliest tavern”—with no discounts offered, just the usual pricing and offers.  We targeted it to specific demographics, a budget of $100, and only paid when people clicked to the website.  It took about 6 weeks to run down the budget. The stats from the campaign included:

• 211,142 Impressions on Facebook

• 3,706  Reach on Facebook

• 89 Clicks to the Park House website

• $100 total cost

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Some definitions:

• Impressions—# of times the ad was displayed

• Reach—# of individuals that saw the ads

Did Facebook advertising work for The Park House? We know it brought 89 people to the website, perhaps mostly new visitors. We believe that is true because, according to the owner, on one Friday night alone 5 couples who had never been there came and spent at least $100, based on the ad they saw on Facebook.  Likely there were more than those 10 new customers showing up and eating and drinking over 6 weeks.

Park House case study #2:  five ads

Five days ago we created a new Pittsburgh regional campaign with 5 ads, with 5 different hooks, and slightly different targeting for each each ad.

(NOTE:  Facebook recommends creating several ads to see which work best.)

It’s very early to predict the outcome, but after 5 days here are some results:

• 19,825 Impressions

• 6,935  Reach

• 6 Clicks to the Park House website

• $4.63 total cost so far

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Another case study…

Master Remodelers:  six Facebook ads for upscale contractor

On September 26^th we launched the first 4 of 6 new ads; two more came later. Five ads drove people to the website, one to their Facebook Page.  A month after launch here are the results of the campaign:

• 179,196 Impressions

• 18,396 Reach

• 42 Clicks: 25 to website…17 to Facebook

• $43.36 total cost so far

Is this ad campaign working for Master Remodelers in Pittsburgh? On their Facebook page they’ve got 8 new “New Likes,” up 100% from last month…  “Post Views” are up 32%… “Monthly Active Users” are up 19%.

For their website—where 5 of the ads were directed—they got 49 Facebook referrals in the last month, three times as many as the next referring site.  These visitors stay 2 minutes longer on the website and view 1.5 more pages than the average visitor.  For us its about the quality-of-visit difference.

Master Remodelers has an active Facebook page too

Starting a year ago we built a Facebook page and began posting for them—about 20 to 40 posts per month. (plus an occasional blog) Our strategy has been to provide information that we think potential customers would find valuable in their decision making process about their homes—consolidated from a variety of e-newsletters we’ve subscribed to.  We don’t do much obvious hucking of their services (usually only when it relates to another piece of information—i.e. tips, ideas, new products).

For this high end remodeling contractor—we’re talking kitchens, baths and additions more than $100,000—only a few upscale followers can be of great value.  Even one sale makes this social media effort more than worthwhile.  Here are their Facebook Page stats for the past month:

• 5,506 Post Views

• 112 Monthly Active Users

• 82 Lifetime Likes

• 65 % female followers

• 59%  35-64 years old; 17% > 55

At this moment we’re OK with these stats, although we’d like more followers (and the ads seem to be adding followers). But if we turn one or two into customers, Master Remodelers will be very happy with this modest investment.  They’re not selling thousands of $10 widgets, but rather high end home remodeling projects.

Bonus & Update: In 2011 this Pittsburgh marketing client saw a 55% increase in revenues and won 2 awards! We also provide Master Remodelers with a monthly internet marketing activity report.

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Bonus 1:  Hubspot offers a good, detailed white paper called “How to use Facebook for business: an introductory guide.”

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Bonus 2:  Silverpop offers a good 2012 white paper called “The state of the Social Universe” with insights from 4 experts.

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We can help energize your marketing with social media and other marketing and PR strategies. Find out how: contact us.

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Sunday September 25, 2011, 11 am – 4 pm

Sliced in half by the construction of I-279 in the 1980s, Deutschtown has been rebuilding and reinventing itself for three decades. The 2011 self-guided Historic Deutschtown House Tour spotlights the momentum of this neighborhood’s decades-long revitalization efforts. It features recently restored and distinctive homes, many built in the late 1800s, and some modern surprises. Showcasing an array of architecture, interiors and styles in 7 homes (and 5 gardens), the tour also offers ethnic music and diverse cuisine at local restaurants.

One outstanding town home on the tour was completed just this year by local contractor and developer, Al DePasquale. A major player in the most recent wave of Deutschtown renovations, he designed and rebuilt this home to his tastes and lifestyle for himself. With five fountains, a stunning modern décor, a delightful garden, fine craftsmanship, a variety of faux treatments, state of the art technology, and lots of Al’s personality, he pulled out all of the stops on this one. (see a house tour photo ‘sneak preview’)  Read the great story about it in the Post-Gazette!

In addition to the stunning homes, tour goers can experience a new tour feature: the optional end- of-the-day wine tasting from 3:00 to 5:00 in the courtyard at the Priory Hotel, formerly a German Catholic monastery. Restored in 1986, the internationally acclaimed and newly expanded Priory Hotel is a centerpiece for the Tour, which begins in its garden courtyard on Lockhart Street. Free parking is available in the large lot adjoining Pittsburgh’s Grand Hall.

DISCOUNT HOUSE TOUR TICKETS: www.deutschtown.org $12 in advance, save 25%… or  $15 at the door. Students $5. Discounts of $2 per ticket for groups of 6 or more.  Advance discount ticket sale locations include Priory Fine Pastries, Priory Hotel, Sweet Time Cafe, Amani Café and Bistro To Go.

PROCEEDS BENEFIT the ongoing community development efforts of East Allegheny Community Council, which has been responsible over the past three decades for creating more than 80 homes—some meticulously restored, others designed and built new.

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Neighborhood character and revitalization

Once part of historic Allegheny City and a heavily German-settled community, some key remnants of Deutschtown’s German heritage still exist here:  The Priory Hotel and Pittsburgh’s Grand Hall with their colorful Blumengarten, Max’s Allegheny Tavern, Penn Brewery and Teutonia Mannerchor, a popular private German club.

In this National Historic District, many homes date back to the late 1800s and offer fine examples of restored Victorian and Italianate architecture, particularly on Lockhart Street and Cedar Avenue.  On the last tour, one relocated Manhattanite enthusiastically described the neighborhood as “Pittsburgh’s Greenwich Village.”

In related revitalization efforts, the community’s historic East Common park is nearing completion of the second phase of a multimillion dollar restoration. (In the mid-1800s the 87 acre Allegheny Commons was grazing land for sheep, cattle and pigs within Allegheny City.) Funds from a community benefits agreement with Rivers Casino are upgrading the business district as well.

Deutschtown’s East Ohio Street business district features grand 3-story historic buildings. Bistro To Go recently expanded next door with Bistro Soul, offering slow-cooked southern comfort foods. For sweets it’s Rita’s or Priory Fine Pastries.

For unusual gifts it’s Sweet Time Café and General Store. For culture, it’s PhotoAntiquities’ huge historic photo collection.  Into the night, one can enjoy bluegrass, blues or rock bands at The Park House, along with microbrews and craft beers, plus free peanuts and popcorn.  For more music, the popular Pittsburgh Banjo Club brings down the house every Wednesday night at the local Elks Lodge.

Thanks to TOUR SPONSORS:  Citizens Bank, First Niagra Bank and Highmark.

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CONTACT:  Randy Strothman, Randy@StrothmanAssociates.com or 412-322-9720.   Randy Strothman is part of a marketing professional, volunteer team promoting the tour and branding the community.

Why incredible?  It’s because of all the marketing tools and resources you have in one very compact place.

As a marketing tool, either for B2B or B2C marketing, it’s packed with capabilities—not even considering the hundreds of thousands of apps available. (for nonprofit marketing too!) Everyday I use it I wonder “How the heck did they do this?”

The story starts here

Last Fall my “dumb” cell phone broke. Literally.  So I tried out several smart phones.  Didn’t work for me.  So my solution was another dumb phone… plus the Apple iPad. Couldn’t be happier.

Like having 20 brief cases!

Besides the basic capabilities like web browser, email, contacts and iTunes, my iPad has 30 gb of storage. That’s a lot.  So now I can carry hundreds of PDF documents and thousands of images.  It also lso opens Word docs, Powerpoint and more.

(More later about why images are important. Hint, it’s about stories)  Plus, I can go on the web to bring more to the table for prospects or email them information or examples on the spot.

Intimate?!

My experience over the last 3 months is that when you sit down with a potential customer and start talking and using the iPad to bring up examples and ideas, you are starting to build the kind of relationship that leads to trust. To me, marketing and sales are all about TRUST.

The iPad allows me to easily demonstrate capabilities and experience.  I can tailor it on the fly to the prospect because I have so many resources at my finger tips, literally. Plus, at this point in time, there’s still the “cool” factor about it. Many people have not seen one in action yet. I let them”drive” it too.  They enjoy it, trust me.

Telling stories

When I first started working with the iPad, I thought what a wonderful way to bring a large portfolio to a client or prospect. Then, the more I started digging into the archives on my computer, I realized that I could present powerful case studies, i.e. “stories” about my clients’ challenges and our solutions.  I call them “the Strategy behind the Creative.”

So, the stories I tell are more than pretty pictures.  Some of the images reflect market research done with our Marketing Snapshot or even website data from Google Analytics.  Others show “before” and “after” or special challenges for marketing efforts. Every business has stories to tell, as well as products to show.  “Facts tell, stories sell.”

Nonprofits have amazing stories to tell.

In these trying times, nonprofits are even more pressed, with increasing demand, perhaps falling revenues and increasing challenges for fund raising.  What is the story you have to tell?  Make it compelling.  You know the need is there. Tell the world how you’re making a difference. Intimate stories and pictures make a difference.

Bigger than you think.

Don’t think of the iPad just in terms of a small screen suitable for 2 or 3 people.  It can be plugged into a TV, VGA monitor or projector.  I’ve seen its images blown up to 6 feet wide.  They look great. So do PowerPoint presentations, although I prefer Apple’s Keynote software.

Drawbacks?

Yes, the Apple mobile devices don’t play Adobe’s Flash, which is a disadvantage for viewing many websites.  And the on screen keyboard is still a little small, so, when I need the iPad to be more like a laptop, I plug it into a nice little docking station with a keyboard more like the one on my office computer.  And, oh yea, the screen is very shiny and shows finger prints and whatever you may have on your fingers.  Buy a wiping cloth to periodically clean it.

Share how you’re using it in your business.

I’ll be happy to show anyone how I’m using it in my business.  Or answer any questions that I can (I’m still learning). Contact me to make it happen.  How are you using it?

An Aside:  The Google “doodles” here are eye candy.  Google shares a lot of them on their website, plus “fan logos.” What happened to logos locked in for decades?  Google changes everything.

Now, back to our powerful social media discovery based on Google Analytics stats…

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The quality-of-visit question for website traffic

If you had a choice between…

1. Hundreds of visitors (maybe 1000s!) to your site who stayed only a brief time and “bounced” off at a high rate… or

2. Many fewer visitors who stayed 14 times longer and bounced at 1/3 the rate of the average visitor…

Which would you prefer? We go for #2, opting for QUALITY of visits versus Quantity of visits. Lets see what Google Analytics stats show…

Two examples of website visits from social media

B-to-B EXAMPLE. Reviewing Google Analytics stats for our website for the past month, the referrals from LinkedIn jumped out as exceptional. While there were only 18 visitors  from LinkedIn posts, their interest soared above the average visitor. Compare these two:

Our GENERIC STATS on all traffic (1 mo. 377 visits)

• pages/visit:  1.98 avg.
• time on site:   1:39 avg.
• bounce rate:  71.4% avg.

Our LINKEDIN referrals (18 visits)

• pages/visit:  11.2 avg.  (more pages is better)
  
• time on site:   18:26 avg.  (more time is better)
  
• bounce rate:   27.78% avg.  (lower %age is better)
  

Of course you have to be active and ‘appropriate‘ on social media in the first place. We’ve seen this social media referral phenomenon before for other sites, including from Facebook. There can be a huge QUALITY advantage for links from social media. We’ll take these kinds referrals from social media any day.  Quality trumps quantity for most of our clients.

B-to-C EXAMPLE. Here’s another example, this time for Facebook, for award-winning client Master Remodelers.  We launched their first Facebook page a month ago and are slowly building an audience. (one month stats)

Their GENERIC STATS on all traffic  (406 visits)

• pages/visit:  4.15 avg.
• time on site:   5:16 avg.
• bounce rate:  42.6% avg.

Their FACEBOOK referrals (27 visits)

• pages/visit:  10.2 avg.
• time on site:   20:23 avg.
• bounce rate:   14.8% avg.

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Facebook Bonus #1: A new feature of Facebook is stats on visitors age and sex, for example, not available with Google Analytics. Here’s an example of that insight we’ve never had before…

Facebook Bonus #2: Another nice feature Facebook gives you—as an administrator—is the number of “impressions” for each post. This helps with better targeting of social media marketing strategies in the future, including for blogs on the website.

I like the addition of the social media statistics (to the Master Remodelers monthly Internet report), which is a new feature from Facebook. You , Randy, are the first to use it in a report that I’ve seen. Good job. Keep up the progress.—Bob Stein, Manager of IT Programs, Pitt SBDC

A question for readers…

What do you think is the reason for this discrepancy in behavior between average website visitors and those from social media?  We think it’s all about TRUST—an extension of  ‘word of mouth.’  Give us a piece of your mind on this…

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Before last week, we had not heard of the Responsible Hospitality Institute (RHI), which organized the Pittsburgh conference and is staging similar events for “nightlife solutions” in 20 states this year.  Here are some highlights of the Institute’s strategies. (plus, read Post-Gazette article on the Conference)

What is a Hospitality Zone?

These are often located in a mixed-use business district. Within many districts a Hospitality Zone is…

“…an area of specialized mixed uses distinguished by a high concentration of dining and entertainment businesses, such as restaurants, pubs, taverns, cafes and nightclubs… (It) often has an active street life and may serve as a center for community fairs, festivals and events.”

But, according to RHI…

“unplanned hospitality zones are costly, lead to conflicts, excessive burdens on police and demands on elected officials to manage safety and quality of life impacts.”

South Side:  Working on solutions

One element that often distinguishes these zones is the serving of alcohol, which, when combined with entertainment, can cause a variety of problems in communities. For example, here are the results of a study of the South Side summer weekend night arrests from 2007-09:

• • median # of arrests/weekend:  4
  • 40% for drunken driving
  • 28% for simple assault
  • 15% for drug violations

In addition, 61 % of all South Side arrests throughout the entire day took place between midnight and 3:00 am.  And when the police conducted Operation Sweep for 12 weeks from April through June 2007, the median number of arrests per weekend jumped to 48 —up from 4 per weekend of normal policing!  That’s because an extra 33 police officers patrolled for those 12 weekends.  BTW, the South Side has 124 liquor licenses with the capacity to serve 20,000 people at any one time—i.e. 4 bar stools for each of its residents over the age of 18!

So, the key question with Hospitality Zones is how  can they contribute to the vitality of a city or a community without the downside?  The answer is in planning, management, partnerships and a new kind of enforcement strategy. The South Side now has a detailed analysis and plan developed on Hospitality Zone principles. Read the August 1, 2010 followup article in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:  South Side bar owners try to keep the peace.

The other 9-5 economy

Most people work in the daytime 9-5 economy. Some of them play in the nighttime 9-5 economy, too. Despite the potential problems, a vibrant and safe nightlife can add much to a city. Consider the employment and taxes generated by this economy.  Plus the diverse venues in a hospitality zone provide varied ways for people to socialize, from residents to tourists. Read here about the potential positive impacts that well planned and managed hospitality zones can produce.

RHI spotlights six core elements to develop a “safe and vibrant nighttime economy” including:  • Entertainment • Multi-use sidewalks • Venue safety • Public safety • Transportation • Quality of life (for the community).

Targeting several ‘Social Generations’

First, in the planning process it helps to think of potential markets for Hospitality Zones.  Many districts narrowly focus on young singles and the bar and club scene.  Instead, think of 4 potential generational markets defined by RHI offering “diverse options for diverse ages and cultures:”

• Singles—individuals in their late teens and early 20s with limited funds.
• Mingles—older couples or social groups of any age with a common interest
• Families—having children often reduces the frequency of going out, but not entirely
• Jingles—business travelers, vacationers, or empty nesters with more money to spend

Planned and managed properly, a Hospitality Zone is a place “where people of diverse ages, incomes and lifestyles unite as a community to share food, beverages, music and dance in public venues.” Good planning and management makes the zones much easier to market.

A shift in thinking—to “concierge” government and policing

Sociable City advocates also make the assumption that most businesses want to do the right thing and that most consumers are well behaved. A healthy Hospitality Zone is more helpful in many ways to businesses, as well as customers and residents.  It involves shifts in thinking:

• from enforcement (catching) to compliance (educating)
• from policing to problem solving
• from security (“guns & badges”) to safety (safe environment & monitoring)

More than one speaker at the June 8^th Conference in Pittsburgh recommended not using off-duty police officers for nighttime enforcement, but rather a trained team.  In Gainesville the team includes specially trained police and graduate students.  In addition, some Hospitality Zone plans provide a variety of support systems for businesses, starting with business planning and including education on codes, compliance and approval processes.

“Soft closings” can help

More than once at the June 8^th conference the experts mentioned the strategy of “soft closings” for bars and clubs, meaning the serving of drinks ends say an hour before the establishment closes.  This can spread out the exodus from a Hospitality Zone and give people time to sober up.  Remember that fully 48% of ALL arrests throughout the day on the South Side happen between 1:00am and 3:00am and that 46% of those are directly related to alcohol.

Stakeholder groups

To make it work, the planning and management process needs to involve a variety of stakeholder groups. RHI’s Sociable City Network unites leaders from six primary stakeholder groups – hospitality, safety, development, community, entertainment and research – with online forums and access to the latest news and event calendars.

MORE INFORMATION at The Sociable City Network.  See the board of directors for the Responsible Hospitality Institute. Find out more about another excellent organization: Project for Public Spaces.  On a related topic check out our blog post on “Revitalize communities and Main Streets with branding and marketing.”

Call or email to discuss your Main Street or Hospitality Zone strategies today.

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