By Johnny Rivera
Are you interesting?
What is your brand? Is it marketable? Would consumers rush to buy your latest creation en masse? Does your brand have what Simon Cowell calls the WOW Factor?
Even we writers face a dilemma when we [finally] write: do we keep faithful to the art or do we write for our audience?
If you’re in the habit of turning a profit – and we all are; it’s why we work - you know it’s necessary to be aware of the pulse of your customer (or audience). Anything we create for public consumption must be able to provide what the public needs. Your product must provide a service - a reward for money well spent.
Juvenal, Roman philosopher, poet and author of “The Satires” wrote, “… for the People… anxiously hopes for just two things: bread and circuses.” While Juvenal meant this as a cynical outlook of humanity, modern businessmen and women took this ancient philosophy to heart. Translated into today's language, entrepreneurs understood that consumers will spend their hard earned money readily on two things: being fed [physically and emotionally] and being entertained.
Most sports fanatics venerate athletes to the point of worship. They will spend gobs of money supporting their favorite teams via tickets, sports memorabilia and buying other products. They will also know useless stats of their favorite players. Why? Sports feeds a need and it entertains. This is not necessarily a bad thing.
Naturally, we will have many detractors that will accuse us of selling out. I don’t subscribe to that notion. There are bills to pay and mouths to feed. Our detractors will not support us while we play the role of starving artist. Second lesson: ignore anyone who criticizes your work. Let your critics pay first. Then they’ve earned your attention. Otherwise, “dogs bark but the caravan moves on.” On that note, let us move on.
People are not interested in how cool you are. They don't care if you're beautiful (or handsome). They want to know what you can do for them? Can you bring the goods? And they are correct to feel this way. Is your brand fulfilling a physical or emotional need? For example, if you’re a comedian, most don’t care if you have won awards. As a consumer, I want to know if you can make me laugh hard. I’ll remember how you made me feel rather than your accomplishments. If you make me feel good, I’ll buy a ticket to your show. Do not create something that merely satisfies you and expect your audience to support it. Create something that plucks the heartstrings of your audience.
Consumer needs change daily. What was a hot ticket item yesterday is today’s cliché. In order to take advantage of this, you must be observant and fluid. In the streets, it’s known as “hustle and flow”. Captains of industry practice this axiom on a constant basis. For example, auto companies are retooling their factories to meet the demands of their customer base. Monolithic SUVs are not in style. Lean, green and economical is the flavor of the day. Hummers were the rage of the last decade. Now they are the scourge of America.
One of the first users of social media, surprisingly, was 50 Cent. While he was the top money making rap artist in 2003, he sensed the rules of the game were about to change. He embarked on finding new ways to connect to his audience. He went to the Internet while most artists in the industry were hanging on the old and dying business model. Through his website, he posted raw uncensored videos and the latest happenings in his world. His fans found a new social portal and felt closer to him. While other rappers were fast becoming yesterday’s news, 50 Cent’s fan base grew. Today, 50 Cent is not only a globally known rapper but also a multi-media mogul, and an author. He has the full support of his fans. Why? He fulfilled their needs. He hustled and flowed.
The same can be said of Ringling Brothers, Alice Cooper, Rob Zombie, KISS, Rammstein and Metallica. When you go to one of their shows, you’re in for an epic event. Over the top, done well, is more memorable and profitable than safe and pacified [read: boring].
So the question remains: are you interesting? How can you tell? How is your audience responding? Are you making money? If not, it's time retool your creative factory.
By Johnny Rivera
Fortune 500 corporations and small businesses alike realize that their brand must have a strong online (internet) presence in order to remain profitable.
According to Nielson, In the U.S. alone, total minutes spent on social networking sites has increased 83 percent year-over-year. In fact, total minutes spent on Facebook increased nearly 700 percent year-over-year, growing from 1.7 billion minutes in April 2008 to 13.9 billion in April 2009, making it the No. 1 social networking site for the month.
The impact social media has on traditional print and TV media is almost massively fatal. Advertising in newspapers magazines and on TV is almost a thing of the past, like vinyl records and cassette tapes. You do remember cassette tapes? It is... best left in the past.
Social media, once discounted as a passing fad, has taken over as the consumers' medium of choice. Here they get their news, read reviews on products and interact with other consumers, exchanging ideas and information. Even civil wars are broadcast almost instantaneously on Twitter! Twitter gets fresh news before CNN has a chance to cover it.
Ladies and gentlemen, that is massive power. And it is free to harness, employing the correct methods and techniques
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Pause a moment and imagine having the audience of billions of consumers globally. And they are paying attention to your message. Imagine your new clients ordering your product or service from England or Japan. Don't be afraid to DREAM BIG. In order to make your dreams reality, you have two options. You can learn business strategy, social media and all its components, sacrificing 18 hours a day - time that would have been wisely spent on fun, family or enjoying the fruits of your labor. OR you could hire an experienced company with time tested and proven methods that have made/saved its clients mucho money. Do you like the thought of mucho money stuffing your bulging pockets?
The following is a basic understanding of key methods used to drive real traffic to your website, Facebook business page, enhancing the visibility of your brand:
- SEO - Search Engine Optimization is the method used to optimize your website though the use of various techniques to improve your website's ranking in search engines (such as Google and Bing) thus attracting more visitors and/or potential clients.
- SEM - Search Engine Marketing works with paid advertisements which are placed with search engines. They are created with specific keyword and short and long keyword phrases; also known as Non-Organic (paid) Search. This is the expensive approach but less effective of the two methods. Consumers tend to shy away from paid advertisements and give more credence to organically grown SERP. Do not confuse SEM with Pay-Per-Click (PPC) ads.
- SMM - Social Media Marketing is the method - much the same as SEM - employed using paid advertisements which are placed within social media sites such as LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, My Space, and YouTube. Note: many "specialists" use SMM and SMO interchangeably. This is not correct. SMM is the non-organic, paid solution (and the least cost effective) to drive traffic to your website and/or business profile. A specialist will tell you that this is the quickest way to drive consumer traffic to your site - it is not. Again, consumers generally ignore paid ads.
As of this writing, Facebook and other social media platforms are testing custom made paid ads tailored to the consumer's profile. In the future, businesses can pay for direct marketing ads that will reach consumers who have expressed interest in the business' niche, through liking pages or commentary This certainly will help mold their products' branding technique Look for this method to take off in the near future.
- SMO - Social Media Optimization is a set of methods for generating publicity through social media platform, online communities and community forums/websites. The focus is on driving traffic from sources other than search engines, though improved search ranking is also a benefit of successful SMO.
Business owner, now you possess information that would otherwise be hidden to you. ThinkRivera Technologies introduced General Motors to social media marketing. Its methods are still in use by GM today.
This is what Raymond Wilkinson III, former president of Poughkeepsie Chevrolet Cadillac, New York wrote on LinkedIn about ThinkRivera Technologies:
Johnny performed excellent service developing, maintaining, and marketing my business website and maintaining all IT functions at a considerable savings to my business
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