Banking And Digital Marketing
Competition among banks is as intense as ever. Banking is especially prone to de-personalization. Digital marketing is a means for banks to develop a more personalized, humanized look and feel. (more…)
7 Reasons Why Your Financial Advisor Business Needs To Use Email Marketing
Many business owners don't see the point of email marketing. They believe all of the hype that email marketing is dead so they don't want to waste their time. However, that is actually pretty far from the truth. Email is still quite powerful when it comes to growing your financial advisor business. (more…)
Ep 031: Using Facebook Groups To Grow Your Business
Ep 031: Using Facebook Groups To Grow Your Business
Using Facebook Groups To Grow Your Business
The Digital Slice Podcast is brought to you by The Friedman Group, LLC
You already have a Facebook page. What do you need a Facebook Group for? Every business desires to be as close to their audience as possible and social media is a robust tool that can make this happen.
Although not every business should have a Facebook Group, having a group allows for community building and can bring you closer to your target market. The main advantage of having a group is you get to actually talk to, interact with and engage with your audience in an intimate manner. It provides your audience an opportunity for human-to-human interaction that a business page may not allow.
In this way, it is easy for people to trust you and your authenticity in helping them with their challenges. In exchange, you get to collect a wealth of information about your audience. This information can help create a foundation for your content and your overall marketing strategy.
Learn pretty much everything you need to know about Facebook Groups in this episode of The Digital Slice Podcast.
Bella Vasta is the owner of Jump Consulting, a one-woman, dynamic coaching company that invigorates people to leap towards the next level of their pet businesses. Since 2007, Bella has coached pet sitting business owners on systems, processes, leadership, and networking.
She has published a good number of highly comprehensive research on industry-related topics including a book called, “The Four Types of Dogs Every Business Needs: How to Build the Right Team to Grow Your Business and Have a Balanced Life.” The book uses dog breeds as a metaphor for the different personality types as they work together on a team.
Being a trailblazer in the industry, Bella earned the National Pet Sitting Business of the Year award at age 25. She was also featured in Huffington Post, NBC, Entrepreneur, ABC, NPR, and others. She hosts the Bella in your Business podcast which is popular for all kinds of business owners. Bella uses her extensive experience in her coaching, speaking, and consulting work.
In this Episode:
- Fun fact: How Bella holds the record as having one of the world’s smallest female babies born at 12 ounces
- How to deal with life’s challenges while running your business
- Why invest in a Facebook Group when you already have a business page
- How a Facebook Group is a more personalized venue to engage with your audience
- Factors to consider in deciding whether a Facebook Group is good for your business or not
- Questions to ask potential members before adding them to your Facebook Group
- How to make members’ answers into a content goldmine
- Using software to organize members’ responses to your Facebook Group membership questions
- Different creative ways to get people to join your group
- How to get people engaged in your Facebook Group
- How to monetize your Facebook Groups
- How your Facebook Group should be well-thought out like a business plan
- Best practices for managing your Facebook Group
- Bella’s book, “The Four Types of Dogs Every Business Needs” and her motivation behind it
Quotes From this Episode:
“The backyard is your group and the front yard is your page. So why have it? Because it’s more personable. People love to feel safe and like they belong, and that’s what groups do for a brand. It humanizes a brand” - Bella Vasta
“Most people don’t feel comfortable having those intimate conversations on a business page.” - Bella Vasta
“If you have a group, you need to be asking the right kinds of questions.” - Bella Vasta
“It’s just a content goldmine, those three questions, if you position it right. Make those questions so that they serve your business because it’s so valuable.” - Bella Vasta
“Your people are gonna tell you what they need from you if you ask.” - Bella Vasta
“I have multiple groups and I can tell you I’ve had two products this year that I’ve completely sold out just in my mastermind group.” - Bella Vasta
“If you can’t be disciplined with it, have a plan for it, don’t do it.” - Bella Vasta
“The cool thing about a group is that they’re also gonna kinda tell you what you want.” - Bella Vasta
“Facebook wants to create an engaging audience and great experience on Facebook. They want you to interact with each other.” - Bella Vasta
“It’s not talking at them. It’s getting everyone to talk within each other and support each other too.” - Bella Vasta
“If you have a successful business in 2, 3, 5, 10, 15 years, somewhere in there, you’re going to need to step out of your business for yourself, for your own sanity.” - Bella Vasta
Resources:
Bella Vasta
Twitter: @Bellas_Pets
Facebook: @BellaVasta1
LinkedIn: @BellaVasta
Website: jumpconsulting.net
Website: bellavasta.com
Book: The Four Types of Dogs Every Business Needs
Brad Friedman
Twitter:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thefriedmangroup
LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/bfriedman/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-friedman-group-llc
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/friedmansocialmedia
Website: https://friedmansocialmedia.com
Books
“Brad Friedman on Digital Marketing,” by Brad Friedman
“The Small Business Owner's Guide To Inbound Marketing,” by Brad Friedman
Be sure to sign up for the Brad Bot at TheBradBot.com To get reminders when I go live on Facebook and to receive freebies and other content from The Friedman Group, LLC.
Ep 030: Ask Me Anything (Digital Marketing Related)
Ep 030: Ask Me Anything (Digital Marketing Related)
Ask Me Anything (Digital Marketing Related)
The Digital Slice Podcast is brought to you by The Friedman Group, LLC
Generally, your marketing campaign goals include trying reach as many individuals as possible and lure them into your sales funnel. Most of the time, this kind of strategy also requires getting out there to talk to people, giving out brochures, cold-calling, sending email and hosting big events.
While there is nothing wrong with this kind of marketing for bigger brands, it is not the only option a business owner like can utilize. In particular, inbound marketing is the type of marketing that results in clients reaching out to you instead of you to them. The key is to be able to provide value to them first, enough to have them trust you and contact you to engage, interact, do business with, and build a lasting relationship.
Today’s Digital Slice Podcast is an “Ask Me Anything” episode that focuses on questions about Inbound Marketing and email marketing as queried by connections, prospects, and other individuals seeking advice about digital marketing. Here is a quick but value-laden episode to learn from.
In this Episode:
- Inbound marketing to the core as defined by HubSpot
- How inbound marketing helps bring in warm leads to your funnel
- How to use inbound marketing to grow any kind of business
- How to create content that matches what your buyer personas consider
- How consistency in your content promotes top of mind awareness
- How email is still a very useful and beneficial marketing tool
- How to convince company leaders to use inbound marketing strategies
- How education and real-life case studies can help convince decision-makers go for inbound marketing
valuable
Quotes From this Episode:
“Inbound marketing does not interrupt people while they are online like ads do. It’s the value of your content that attracts people.” - Brad Friedman
“Create buyer personas for real people that you wanna connect with.” - Brad Friedman
“Having developed these personas makes it easier for you to create a content calendar and focus your content on a special persona every time you put something out there.” - Brad Friedman
“Keeping top of mind awareness is critical to your success.” - Brad Friedman
“Email is still the number one way to communicate in a B2B business to business setting.” - Brad Friedman
“There’s always some education needed before jumping into any kind of marketing.” - Brad Friedman
Resources:
Brad Friedman
Twitter:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thefriedmangroup
LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/bfriedman/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-friedman-group-llc
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/friedmansocialmedia
Website: https://friedmansocialmedia.com
Books
“Brad Friedman on Digital Marketing,” by Brad Friedman
“The Small Business Owner's Guide To Inbound Marketing,” by Brad Friedman
Be sure to sign up for the Brad Bot at TheBradBot.com To get reminders when I go live on Facebook and to receive freebies and other content from The Friedman Group, LLC.
Ep 029: Use Instagram To Grow Your Business
Ep 029: Use Instagram To Grow Your Business
Use Instagram To Grow Your Business
The Digital Slice Podcast is brought to you by The Friedman Group, LLC
Instagram is the second largest social media platform in the world. Most business owners should consider taking advantage of Instagram (but play close attention to our use of the word “most”). Not all businesses SHOULD have a presence on Instagram just because any business CAN.
There are factors you need to consider as a business owner to determine whether Instagram will work for you or not. For instance, you have to check whether your audience is on Instagram and using the platform to engage with businesses like yours.
Next, there’s also the challenge of creating visual content. It’s important to understand Instagram is a visual platform. Consequently, you really need to determine what will work for you and what will work for your audience and if all goes well, you can develop an Instagram social media strategy to help grow your business!
Learn more in this episode of The Digital Slice Podcast.
Jenn Herman is an Instagram guru – a world recognized Instagram marketing expert and forefront blogger on the topic. Jenn’s blog was named one of the 10 best social blogs by Social Media Examiner, 3 years in a row. Jenn is also a sought-after speaker and consultant who shares tips and provides training for various businesses on social media strategy.
She has been featured in Inc., Social Media Examiner, Fox News, CBS Radio, Yahoo! Finance and many other publications and podcasts. Her book, Instagram For Business For Dummies, is a relevant resource on everything Instagram. Recently, she became part of the 360 Marketing Squad which is composed of a team of 4 experts on different social media platforms. The 360 Marketing Squad share valuable information and answers your social media related questions for an incredibly low monthly fee.
In this Episode:
- Jenn’s book, Instagram for Business for Dummies, and its relevance today
- The 360 Marketing Squad and how it’s a complete social media marketing package for your business
- How Jenn went from having a Master’s degree in Forensic Science to running Jenn’s Trends
- How Jenn’s “scientific” orientation has led to a strategic approach to business for clients
- Why use Instagram for your business at all
- How to decipher whether Instagram will be advantageous for your business or not
- How to overcome the challenge of creating visual content on Instagram
- How engagement and community-building on Instagram is one of the strongest compared to other platforms
- How to come up with your Instagram marketing strategy
- How establishing your WHY for using Instagram helps in formulating your strategy
- How to put together a good Instagram story and how to integrate your strategy in there
- The various uses for Instagram Live for engagement, trust-building, and content repurposing
- Pros and cons of IGTV and its future potential
- The newest Instagram features, like name tags, quick reply, and direct messages
- The advantages of the Instagram business profile
- Newest features for Instagram stories
Quotes From this Episode:
“I love what I’m doing. I love being able to teach. I love being able to work with business owners. I love being able to speak on stages and meet all these amazing people around the world, so I have no complaints.” - Jenn Herman
“You look at things differently because we have this scientific mindsets which I think is why I’m so big on strategy and I love working with clients to develop a strategy.” - Jenn Herman
“Every single business can use Instagram. That doesn’t mean every business should use Instagram.” - Jenn Herman
“You audience is on Instagram so you absolutely can use it from that perspective.” - Jenn Herman
“On Instagram, the average engagement is about 3% so that may sound low but that’s exponentially higher than what you’re gonna get on any other platform.” - Jenn Herman
“You may not get as much traffic from Instagram as you get from the other platforms but the quality of traffic is, in my opinion, significantly better than what you get on any other platform.” - Jenn Herman
“I’d rather only share high quality content when it’s relevant that I know my audience will see, and interact, and appreciate with, rather than just posting for the sake of posting.” - Jenn Herman
“Most people get the best brand development from Instagram Stories because you’re not trying too hard.” - Jenn Herman
“Instagram Live is my bread and butter.” - Jenn Herman
“Most of the time people see your ad, it is the first time they’re seeing your business. That means this is your first impression and you don’t get to make another first impression. So if your ads sucks, you’re ruining your reputation on Instagram” - Jenn Herman
Resources:
Jenn Herman
Instagram: @jenns_trends
Twitter: @jenns_trends
Facebook: @jenn.herman1
LinkedIn: @jennherman
Website: jennstrends.com
360 Marketing Squad: 360marketingsquad.com
Book: Instagram for Business for Dummies:
Brad Friedman
Twitter:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thefriedmangroup
LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/bfriedman/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-friedman-group-llc
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/friedmansocialmedia
Website: https://friedmansocialmedia.com
Books
“Brad Friedman on Digital Marketing,” by Brad Friedman
“The Small Business Owner's Guide To Inbound Marketing,” by Brad Friedman
Be sure to sign up for the Brad Bot at TheBradBot.com To get reminders when I go live on Facebook and to receive freebies and other content from The Friedman Group, LLC.
