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5 Powerful Facebook Guerilla Marketing Tips to Outsmart Competitors |
5 Powerful Facebook Guerilla Marketing Tips to Outsmart Competitors Posted: 20 Feb 2012 06:16 AM PST Continuing from my previous post, 11 tips for a better Facebook ad campaign, I thought I'd share with you some simple yet powerful tactics to outsmart your competitors and reach out to your target audience. Facebook offers some incredible targeting options, so here are my five top tips to get the most out of these features. #1 Targeting your competitors’ fans There has never been a more fertile hunting ground for systematically picking off competitors’ customers and fans than Facebook ads. At the time of writing, there are no legal limitations in targeting users who express positive or negative interests in other companies’ protected brands. I doubt that this frontier mentality will last legally; but meanwhile, you can certainly get it while it’s hot!
Why do you want to target your competitors customers and fans? You need to keep in mind that brand interests carry important customer qualifiers. For instance, consider luxury brands, especially if the marketing task involves high-quality goods. Those interested in luxury items tend to prefer the finer things and are willing to spend. Brands such as Rolex, Mercedes-Benz, Burberry, Issey Miyake, Chanel and Swarovski are great examples and well represented on Facebook. Users displaying interests in these brands may qualify to view your ads. Also, people interested in a competitor’s product or service may be interested in yours too. Conferences are a great example; Distilled could target users who already like the Search Marketing Expo Facebook page. That’s because these conferences attract attendees surrounding the same topical content: SEO, PPC and Social Media. #2 Targeting users who hate your competitors Users who display colourful expressions of negativity toward your competitors’ brands provide powerful fodder for marketers for a couple of reasons. First, they were once interested in the actual products and their bad experiences have pushed them away from the brands. Second, it is reasonable to assume that these unhappy customers might actually be in the market for an alternative, which we are only too happy to offer up. For example, Spotify could target users who like the fan page “iTunes sucks”. Please note that marketing to competitors’ disenfranchised customers is nothing new, and Facebook offers lush ground to mine negative sentiment. As in life, community members are more than willing to explicitly share what bothers them about brands, including general hatred. #3 Targeting general things people dislike If your client or organisation is a college or university and you offer online distance learning, you could target young adults who are fans of the pages “I don’t hate school, I hate waking up at six in the morning” and “I hate waking up in the morning” and write ultra targeted ad copy to entice these users to call you or sign up for more details. Facebook users hate many things; sell privacy fences to those who hate their neighbours, sell anti-romantic or lonely-person products to those who hate Valentines Day. The list is practically endless. #4 Occupation and employment Next ask yourself “what are the occupations and places of employment that indicate a user might be interested in my product or service?” Targeting occupations can be an extremely potent strategy, because after family, profession is one of the most powerful components of an individual’s identity. I am aware that LinkedIn gets all the publicity as a ‘business’ platform, while Facebook has been known as the ‘personal’ platform. The reality could not be further from the truth. We work with many B2B clients. One thing nearly all of them have in common is that they openly question the value of Facebook ads for marketing to professionals. If you look at Facebook’s PPC targeting girth, they boast of over 800 million users worldwide (and counting)! That number amounts to almost one in seven people on earth. Therefore, it is reasonable to assume that business people use Facebook at sometime in their daily cycle. If you sell specialised goods to large manufacturing companies, then you could target users with the following job titles, “procurement manager” or “purchasing manager”. If you sell DNA testing services in order to distinguish who a child’s father is, you could target specific lawyers who deal with these types of cases. If you’re a local restaurant or a coffee shop located next to well known businesses, then you could target your ads to these professionals as they are your target customers. Also, certain job roles require certain types of productivity software, tools, machines, clothing gear etc. #5 Final list of ideas In addition to the list above, here’s a list to inspire you to come up with even more creative niche segments:
As you can see, there’s a universe of creative ad targeting ideas for marketers. More important than the examples above is that I hope this post has inspired you to look deeply at contextual targeting in a whole new light. As always, I would love to hear your views, ideas and tips on advanced Facebook targeting, so feel free to add to the discussion below. Image credit: HikingArtist.com © SEOptimise - Download our free business guide to blogging whitepaper and sign-up for the SEOptimise monthly newsletter. 5 Powerful Facebook Guerilla Marketing Tips to Outsmart Competitors Related posts: |
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The map keeps getting redrawn, because it's cheaper than ever to go offroad, to develop and innovate and remake what we thought was going to be next. Technology keeps changing the routes we take to get our projects from here to there. It doesn't pay to memorize the route, because it's going to change soon.
The compass, on the other hand, is more important then ever. If you don't know which direction you're going, how will you know when you're off course?
And yet...
And yet we spend most of our time learning (or teaching) the map, yesterday's map, while we're anxious and afraid to spend any time at all calibrating our compass.
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Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis |
Meaningless Greek Deal Supposedly Reached; Deal Won't Hold Posted: 20 Feb 2012 07:15 PM PST Reuters reports Deal reached on second Greek bailout package Euro zone finance ministers struck a deal early on Tuesday for a second bailout program for Greece that will involve financing of 130 billion euros and aims to cut Greece's debts to 121 percent of GDP by 2020, EU officials said.Deal Won't Hold Even if true, the deal won't last. It may not even last a month. In fact, it may be nothing but a setup to convince Greeks to leave their money in banks. Greek Debt Nightmare Laid Bare Please consider Greek Debt Nightmare Laid Bare A "strictly confidential" report on Greece's debt projections prepared for eurozone finance ministers reveals Athens' rescue programme is way off track and suggests the Greek government may need another bail-out once a second rescue – set to be agreed on Monday night – runs out.We are supposed to believe all of that has been magically fixed? Mike "Mish" Shedlock http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com Click Here To Scroll Thru My Recent Post List Mike "Mish" Shedlock is a registered investment advisor representative for SitkaPacific Capital Management. Sitka Pacific is an asset management firm whose goal is strong performance and low volatility, regardless of market direction. Visit http://www.sitkapacific.com/account_management.html to learn more about wealth management and capital preservation strategies of Sitka Pacific. |
Disability Fraud Holds Down Unemployment Rate; Jobless Disability Claims Hit Record $200B in January Posted: 20 Feb 2012 11:18 AM PST Looking for another reason for an artificially low unemployment rate? Consider disability fraud, people claiming disabilities they do not have such as mental illness. Prior to the great recession 33% of applicants claimed mental illness. The number is 43% now. There was fraud before, of course. There is even more fraud now. Please consider Jobless disability claims soar to record $200B as of January Standing too many months on the unemployment line is driving Americans crazy — literally — and it's costing taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars.What's the Number? The above article says there were 10.5 million individuals receiving disability checks. A quick check of Fed data shows there are 27.5 million Civilian Noninstitutional Population - With a Disability, 16 years and over Unfortunately the data only goes back to mid-2008. I would like to see the pattern before the recession began. We can see a brief recovery for a year following the end of the recession. However, since mid-2010 the number of people with disabilities has risen by 1.5 million. All of them dropped out of the labor force and are no longer counted as unemployed. Household Survey Data click on chart for sharper image In the last year, the civilian population rose by 3,565,000. Yet the labor force only rose by 1,145,000. Those not in the labor force rose by 2,420,000. That is an amazing "achievement" to say the least. Disability Math If one million of those disability claims are fraudulent, the civilian labor force would rise to 155,395,000 and the number of unemployed would rise to 13,758,000. The resultant unemployment rate would be reported as 8.9%, not 8.3%. However, we need to go back further because there were certainly fraudulent claims prior to the recession. For the sake of argument, let's assume 25% of the total is fraudulent. Unemployment Rate with 25% Fraud 25% of 27.5 million is 6,875,000. The civilian labor force would rise to 161,270,000 from 154,395,000 The number of unemployed would rise to 19,633,000 from 12,758,000 The resultant unemployment rate would be 19633/161270 = 12.2% Don't like that number? Let's assume a minimum of 10% fraud. Unemployment Rate with 10% Fraud 10% of 27.5 million is 2,750,000. The civilian labor force would rise to 157,145,000 from 154,395,000 The number of unemployed would rise to 15,508,000 from 12,758,000 The resultant unemployment rate would be 15508/157145 = 9.9% Is there anyone who thinks disability fraud is less than 10%? If not, then the unemployment rate would be at least 9.9% assuming those in fraudulent claims started looking for work. For more on the incredulous, artificially low unemployment rate posted by the BLS, please see ...
Mike "Mish" Shedlock http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com Click Here To Scroll Thru My Recent Post List Mike "Mish" Shedlock is a registered investment advisor representative for SitkaPacific Capital Management. Sitka Pacific is an asset management firm whose goal is strong performance and low volatility, regardless of market direction. Visit http://www.sitkapacific.com/account_management.html to learn more about wealth management and capital preservation strategies of Sitka Pacific. |
Posted: 19 Feb 2012 11:49 PM PST Several people have asked me about statements I have made that "Greece is in a hopeless situation until it exits the Eurozone." Actually Greece is in a horrific condition whether or not it exits the Eurozone as the Troika literally destroyed Greece (perhaps purposely to protect French and German banks), by dragging this mess out the way they have. A Primer on the Euro Break-Up To understand why Greece (then Spain and Portugal and perhaps even Italy) must exit the Eurozone, one must first understand the flaws of the European Monetary Union. In general terms, the question at hand is "what makes good and bad currency unions?" The best answer I have seen written anywhere is also in the same article that explains in depth how sovereign defaults and currency devaluations happen. Please consider some pertinent snips from A Primer on the Euro Break-Up by Jonathan Tepper of Variant Perception. THE NEED TO EXIT: A ONE SIZE FITS ALL MONETARY POLICYDoes the Euro Act Like a Gold Standard? Here are a few more snips that caught my attention. EURO AS A MODERN DAY GOLD STANDARD: SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCESBarbarous Relic - Not Anyone quoting Keynes in a positive manner is going to elicit a negative reaction from me. Gold is hardly a barbarous relic. Nearly all of the problems cited with a gold standard have little to do with gold per se, but everything to do with fractional reserve lending, the rampant expansion of credit, and arrogant central bank planners who think they (and not the markets), know how to set interest rates. Russia Central Planners vs. Central Banks By trying to prevent recessions and bail out banks every time they got into trouble, The Greenspan Fed, followed by the Bernanke Fed spawned the biggest housing and credit bubbles in the history of the world. Can someone, anyone tell me why economists correctly railed against communist Russia central planners, yet openly praise complete fools at the Fed who think they can plan where interest rates ought to be? Setting interest rates by central planning committee cannot be done, and the results speak for themselves. Indeed, history has proven that central bank malfeasance spawns boom-and-bust cycles of increasing amplitude over time. It's high time we stop blaming the gold standard for problems and instead lay the blame where it squarely belongs, on fractional reserve lending, central banks, and government interference in the free markets. Currency Controls, Bank Holidays, and PIIGS to the Slaughter The above section constitutes my main complaint in an otherwise brilliant article, packed full of historical examples as to how sovereign defaults occur. It's 53 pages long and well worth a read in entirety. Ideal Breakup The ideally, Greece, Portugal, Ireland, and Spain should all drop out of the Eurozone at once, but it's far more likely this will drag out over time. If so, Portugal is on deck, followed by Spain. In spite of recent praise of Portugal by German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble, it would be foolish for anyone to trust what he or chancellor Merkel says. Like Greece, the situation in Portugal and Spain is hopeless, just not far enough progressed yet. Fate was sealed on February 7, with Merkel's Official Denial "I will have no part in forcing Greece out of the euro"; Schäuble Starts Salami Tactics on German Participation, Calls for Vote. Note carefully how the "I"s are being dotted and the "T"s crossed: Germany Draws Up Plans for Greece to Leave Euro; Athens Rehearses the Nightmare of Default; Merkel's Denial Rings Hollow Look for Greek CDS to Trigger in March possibly with preceding bank holiday ahead of the March 20 bond due date. The weekend of March 11-12 or 18-19 look like ideal candidates for a bank holiday and Greece exit of the Eurozone. If you have money in Greek banks, get it out now! Mike "Mish" Shedlock http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com Click Here To Scroll Thru My Recent Post List Mike "Mish" Shedlock is a registered investment advisor representative for SitkaPacific Capital Management. Sitka Pacific is an asset management firm whose goal is strong performance and low volatility, regardless of market direction. Visit http://www.sitkapacific.com/account_management.html to learn more about wealth management and capital preservation strategies of Sitka Pacific. |
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