Is Your Business Disoverable Passion Squared blog

Is Your Business Discoverable?

November 7, 2016Nina KovnerENGAGE

The single biggest problem with communication is the illusion that it has taken place. George Bernard Shaw

One of the most effective ways we grow our business is by engaging new clients. Word of mouth and referrals are the way this happens. We all know this. With the social + digital web, we have an awesome opportunity to amplify word of mouth and referrals. Yet, unless we are present on the platforms that people use to find businesses, then we have missed the opportunity to be discoverable.

So let me take you on a little journey, and before you jump on, put your “client” hat on…

Intent
I want or need something

Search
I am going to look for it

Discovery
Yay, I found it.

Action
I am going to click, call, book, buy…. or NOT!

There are two ways I like to look at search and discovery. There is social and digital. Both need to be looked at now as mobile search as nearly all of our day to day online activities are happening via our mobile.

Social
Social search is what it sounds like, searching on social. This is what we do when we use the search bar on Facebook, peruse hashtags or use the discovery page on Instagram or even use Snapchat to find businesses via a tool like Ghostcode, Add Nearby, etc. See where I am going with this?

Digital
Digital search is a more traditional type search like Google, Yelp, YouTube, Yahoo, Siri, etc.

The Job of Search Engines & How You Benefit
Both social + digital platforms and search engines are designed to deliver to us the most relevant and recent results for the terms we used to search. So if your business is relevant to the search and you are active on the platforms you have chosen, you have more of a chance of being in the top results.

Put Your Consumer Hat Back On
Ask yourself and think about the last time you searched for something online.
What terms did you use?

Now think about clients looking for your business.
What terms would they use to find you?
What is your “thing”? What experiences do you offer?
Who is your audience?
All these things need to be thought through to ensure you get matched up with the ideal target clients.

The words, posts, photo descriptions, about sections, etc. need to be relevant to your brand and business so when I go looking, I find YOU.

What Pages Matter?
Well, there are some that matter to all and then some that matter depending on your target audience as we always want to be where our clients are. But here is a good start.
Yelp
Google Business
Facebook
Instagram

Now Its Your Turn!
This week, I want you to set aside one hour to do some more searches of your own. Then head back to your social + digital pages and see where you can improve your chances of becoming more discoverable. Think words, think pictures and their descriptions, think contact info, brand name, services and specialties, all those things matter.

And if you feel extra inspired, click here and let me know what you discovered and what actions you will take.

Love + Awesomeness-
Nina

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Gary Vee Cares

October 16, 2016Nina KovnerENGAGE, GROW

“The best marketing strategy ever? Care.” Gary Vaynerchuk

NOTE: This post was originally published February 28, 2013 as is still relevant AF.

Gary Vee is a business bad ass, author of Crush It and The Thank You Economy and now his newest piece of awesome Jab Jab Jab Right Hook: How To Tell Your Story In A Noisy Social World.

He started selling lemonade and baseball cards at the age of 8 to running his family liquor business to creating WineLibraryTV and now Vaynermedia, which works with personal and consumer brands to build unique and efficient online brand strategies. Gary is also one of the most passionate thought leaders in the new economy, or what I love to call, thanks to Gary, the “thank you” economy.

On February 28,2013 I had the honor of interviewing Gary as part of his #1aDayQandA. This was WAY before the awesome #AskGaryVee Show. An insane commitment he made to his fans to engage and bring value to his community. Why did he do it? He cares.

We talked why social, why caring matters more than ever for both big and small business, why storytelling is a gotta do, online and off, about passion, the power of Twitter, context, content and much more.

So grab your Starbucks and press play. You are in for quite a treat from one of the best, most passionate and caring biz leaders I know today. (and yes, I was freaking out which you will hear!)

Here are some of the highlights from my time with Gary…

  • Passion is the gas the drives the engine. True story.
  • All businesses began as a small business. Google at one point was just two dudes. Money is no excuse not to engage.
  • Business is about supply and demand. Caring is in short supply. But always in demand.
  • Business is all about storytelling and sharing those stories where our clients live. And that includes online.
  • We are all in the content business, well, only if we want to be a relevant, growing business.
  • Conversations about beauty are happening all day, every day on the web, especially Twitter, the clients are there, it’s your choice to join the conversation, or not.
  • How do you find time to engage on the social web? You make a decision. The End.

A big shout out of LOVE and GRATITUDE to Gary for being so generous with his time. And for being awesomeness squared.

What did you think of my interview with Gary? Share your thoughts in the comments below or directly with me. I’m listening.

(shared with LOVE from Nina)

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The Power of Social: Lady Gaga

October 16, 2016Nina KovnerENGAGE, GROW

“I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the waters to create many ripples.”  Mother Teresa

NOTE: This post was originally shared on April 1, 2012 which is significant as it was nearly 5 years ago yet it is as relevant today as it was then.

(via YouTube)
Lady Gaga builds one of the world’s largest fan bases by using the web to talk directly and openly to her community. This film celebrates Lady Gaga’s special and unmediated relationship with her fans, the Little Monsters. The making of this film is a demonstration of the power of the web in its own right. The entire project, beginning with Lady Gaga’s shoot in NYC on May 8th 2011, to shipping materials to the television networks for air, took 10 days.

Within hours of the release of her new single “Edge of Glory” on May 9th, fans began uploading videos on YouTube, making the song their own by dancing to it, singing it and playing it on all kinds of instruments. Lady Gaga then posted a message on her website asking for more videos to be used in the film project. Fans responded within minutes and uploaded hundreds more videos. Back in the editing room, in real time as fan videos streamed in, editors were putting them into the film.

The film was completed on May 18th in time to air during Lady Gaga’s performance on the season finale of Saturday Night Live, and to also live on the web and turned into a commercial for the launch of Google Chrome. Wow.

 

We love Lady Gaga; we love the social web; we love you and hope that you will take this video as a lesson from Gaga on the power to use the web to transform your relationships with your own “little monsters’ in a way that will propel your business, brand, career (and life) forward!

Love + Awesomeness-
Nina xo