The Real McG

Dear car dealer: Take the time to be genuine

Sat, 17 Jul 2010 20:18:00 -0400

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

Thu, 01 Jul 2010 10:37:00 -0400

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

Mon, 28 Jun 2010 11:59:46 -0400

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

Mon, 21 Jun 2010 16:32:00 -0400

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

Wed, 16 Jun 2010 13:06:00 -0400

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

Wed, 16 Jun 2010 09:33:14 -0400

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

Mon, 14 Jun 2010 10:30:09 -0400

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

Mon, 14 Jun 2010 09:39:00 -0400

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

Fri, 11 Jun 2010 08:40:16 -0400

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

Wed, 09 Jun 2010 21:01:34 -0400

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.

WordPress introduces reblogging, catches up with Tumblr

Wed, 09 Jun 2010 13:37:59 -0400

WordPress introduces reblogging, catches up with Tumblr:

Last week, WordPress, the top host of blogs, added a “reblog” feature. Clicking that button composes a new post housed on your blog suffixed with the headline, description, thumbnail and link to the source material — a process nearly identical to adding a link to your Facebook profile.

Starbucks Used Social Media to Get One Million to Stores in One Day

Wed, 09 Jun 2010 08:27:00 -0400

Starbucks Used Social Media to Get One Million to Stores in One Day:

Last year’s Free Pastry Day was a whopping success, driving more than one million people to stores. activity on social media sites like Twitter and Facebook became electric on the day of the event as the free pastry news spread in digital form.

What Twitter can do for businesses

Tue, 08 Jun 2010 12:44:39 -0400

What Twitter can do for businesses:

As a business, you can use it to quickly share information with people interested in your company, gather real-time market intelligence and feedback, and build relationships with customers, partners and other people who care about your company.

As an individual user, you can use Twitter to tell a company (or anyone else) that you’ve had a great—or disappointing—experience with their business, offer product ideas, and learn about great offers.

iPhone 4, iOS4 and WWDC recap Summer 2010

Mon, 07 Jun 2010 21:51:06 -0400

iPhone 4, iOS4 and WWDC recap Summer 2010:

Facetime seems to be the coolest innovation on the iPhone 4. This feature alone would make me want to upgrade … if I had someone far away I wanted to connect with using video chat/call. Still, how cool is Apple for actually delivering a technology we see in movies and on TV all the time? Apple just went out and created it. Damn.