New Media

This was a fun one. My recent profile on the top executive of YVR, published in BC Business magazine: Larry Berg, CEO, Vancouver Airport Authority:

The CEO has a touch of lingering laryngitis and an annual general meeting tomorrow to prepare for, but he talks in a charming, reassuring voice, assisted by lemon tea. With his white button-down shirt, blue paisley tie and glasses set on a face that might belong to your friendly neighbourhood hockey coach (indeed, Berg is a “huge hockey fan”), he has the look of a professional everyman.

Berg first joined the airport authority in 1992 as senior vice-president of operations, but his connection goes back a lot farther. He first arrived at Sea Island in 1960, when he was 13 years old. “I was here as an air cadet with 442 Squadron from Cold Lake, Alberta. I came here for two weeks of summer camp,” he says, recalling a time when the area still had a barracks and a mess hall. “Certainly, I never thought then that I’d be here heading up the airport authority one day.”

I’m a believer in social media marketing for business, not least because that’s how I often get referrals for my own SEO web copywriting and corporate communications business.

I was recently researching the cost of social media — what it takes to hire a blogger, run a Facebook campaign or get a social media marketer in-house. Gradually, the article evolved into How to Get Social Media to Work for Your Business, published on Techvibes. Here’s a little blurb:

Blogs are a popular (some would say critical) social media tool, offering the ability to boost brand and advertise deals to bring in actual sales. Remember that “funny” gets eyeballs and there’s no profit in “playing it safe”. The point is to get noticed.

Open Road Communications Ltd. are the Vancouver-based maker of social intranet software called ThoughtFarmer. The company derives 100% of its business from inbound leads to its website, with customer deals ranging from $10,000 to $200,000. The objective of their campaign was to boost the number of sales leads. They used a blog, targeted at IT workers and managers. It was funny, at least for IT professionals. And for $7,000 for an outside firm to set it up, it worked.

“Of those visitors, we can see that 474 then proceeded to our website,” McGrath explains. “At our typical conversion rate, those 474 visitors will result in about one sale, at an average sale price of $30,000. Our sales this quarter shatter all previous records and are a 270% increase over the same quarter last year,” suggesting multiple sales from the campaign.

 

My latest rant on why most companies using Twitter and Facebook to build business without having a blog are wasting their time.

If Twitter and Facebook are gateways to your website where customers can learn more and conduct transactions (read: sales) and you’ve got nothing there, it’s kind of pointless. It’s sort of like having a real store with decent signage out front, but when people come in, there are no labels on anything and no way for people to easily sort through all of your products. Imagine a Best Buy where all of the electronics are out of their boxes and you need to consult a customer service rep every time you think you want something… if you can find one.

My Vancouver-based SEO website copywriting company now has a referral rewards program. If you’ve got a buddy with an old, crappy website that isn’t getting found in search engines, tell them about me.

Why should you do that? Because a quick email, tweet or phone call to a friend that takes about 30 seconds could be worth $100 to you. Next time, it’s $200. Easy money, people.

You don’t actually need to know me to refer your friends. But feel free to do some due diligence and check out what I can do. Here’s a quick overview of my SEO website copywriting process

For those who follow this blog and didn’t know, I’m a Vancouver-based SEO website copywriter and all-around business communications wonk. Sure, I use this site to sound off about politics and social media and all sorts of weirdness. But I do actually have a busy job as a guy who writes content for websites, newsletters, blogs… you get the picture. And now I’ll be sharing some of the nuggets of expertise I’ve gained about business communications that helps build your business with the Better Business Bureau. Here’s a marketing blurb for my upcoming presentation:

How does your company get the word out? From websites and blogs to newsletters, brochures, direct mail sales letters, case studies, white papers and press releases, you’ve got plenty of tools. But different tools are used for different purposes. Learn how to use them to reach different target audiences effectively.

Sounds interesting? If you’re a business owner or marketing professional, and you’re in Vancouver, I recommend you check it out. Seriously. It’s going to be AWESOME. Register for my presentation here