The Real McG

Robotic messages are turn-offs. Genuine customer contact is where it’s at.

I recently received an automated e-mail and robo-call from the dealership where I bought a new car. While their sentiment was on-target (“We want to make sure you’re pleased with your purchase!”), their delivery sucked.

Funny, because this dealer wasted no time in calling me minutes after I submitted an e-mail of interest in buying a car from them.

Would it have killed them to pick up the phone after the sale and say, “Hey Dave, just wanted to check in make sure everything is OK with your car?!”

The dealer failed to take the time to keep it real. And I’ll remember that.

Make sure you don’t make the same mistake in your line of work. It’s the little touches that count.

Quick tips on managing your business' social brand

Not having a business social media strategy is unacceptable.

Businesses should already have done their homework with regards to maintaining a social media brand.

People rely on repetition to reinforce the things they already know. That helps them stay on track over long periods of time.

So as an exercise in reinforcement, here again, are some of the essential approached businesses need to keep in mind for their social media brand(s).

mashable.com: 6 Challenges to Managing a Brand on the Social Web

The Grateful Dead 4-Step Guide to the Magical Influence of Content Marketing

“No one can argue the cultural influence of the Dead and the legions of loyal Deadheads who continue to love the band. And a big part of how it happened was due to the band’s pioneering content marketing approach.

Instead of banning recording at concerts, the Dead actively encouraged audience taping and distribution of the band’s legendary live shows. This turned attendees into raving fans – a word-of-mouth marketing force that out-performed most of the contrived corporate attempts we see today in social media.”

copyblogger.com: The Grateful Dead 4-Step Guide to the Magical Influence of Content Marketing

Attracting customers using social media

Studies say that social media is one of the most important emerging channels for lead generation. Some of the ways you can harvest leads via social media include:

• Continuously Pointing Users to Your Content

• Promoting Your Social Presence with Social Links

• Monitoring Conversations about Your Brand and Competitors

• Responding to Customer Questions and Feedback

• Leveraging Your Offline Skills

Full article: How to Use Social Media for Lead Generation

Why DEVO hired an ad agency to promote new album

The band took pitches from several agencies, including Mother, whose clients include Target, Dell and the Virgin FreeFest, and Wieden+Kennedy, which is now using a concept that Devo turned down for the Diesel clothing brand. Of all the ideas, Gerald Casale says, “Mother’s pitch was just superior in every way. They nailed it.”

“An ad agency’s agenda is getting things in front of people that they might miss. They have to sell one car out of 50 that are coming out that season, and there’s no room for failure,” singer Mark Mothersbaugh says. “Record companies have this whole other trajectory. They shoot all this stuff against the wall to see what sticks, and if they get one success out of a hundred bands, they high-five each other. But this is our only album, so we said, ‘What can we do to stack the deck in our favor?’ “

DEVO: How to get ahead in advertising

Gatorade takes social media very seriously

The company recently created the Gatorade Mission Control Center inside of its Chicago headquarters, a room that sits in the middle of the marketing department and could best be thought of as a war room for monitoring the brand in real-time across social media.

Optimizing Social Media for a Local Audience

Tips on:
Finding and Attracting the Local Target Audience
Getting Local on Twitter
Social Media Content for Local Search

Why Small Businesses Shouldn’t Take Social Media for Granted

Ignorance is not bliss when it comes to the web. Ignoring, avoiding or just not looking at what people are sharing online about your small business or your competitors is just plain lazy.

Now more than ever people turn to Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Foursquare, Yelp and a slew of other sites to share information and make it publicly available. As such, there’s a wealth of information that existing customers, future fans and online detractors are putting into the public domain, and there’s a plethora of tools to make it easy for you to follow along.

Get Noticed: 7 Ideas for Generating Buzz for Your Business

A lot of small business owners feel that there’s a cringe-factor associated with marketing; some resistance, avoidance and dread. It is possible, though, to create buzz-worthy promotional events around your business that not only get you in front of your target audience, but might even be fun to coordinate. Here are a few ideas for generating buzz for your business.

10 Social Media Marketing Questions Answered

When you market using social media tools and tactics, you are interacting in a “social” space where trust and etiquette are critical. Many tools may allow you to broadcast, but broadcasting should not make up the bulk of your participation in social media spaces. Instead, you should be looking to first listen, and then meaningfully engage in conversations with your connections.