Social media has been twisted for profit and gain. Furthermore some unscrupulous Marketers are using some nasty tactics to pull the wool over your eyes. Here are just a few ways they are leveraging social media platforms for their fun and their profit.
https://enrollmentresources.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/New-ER-signature.png00Gregg Meiklejohnhttps://enrollmentresources.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/New-ER-signature.pngGregg Meiklejohn2018-04-26 11:31:332018-08-24 12:40:22Social media messes you should know about
Is your promotional information written in selfish ‘feature language’? Consumers are like selfish six-year-old kids and hate reading other people’s selfish language. It’s all about what’s in it for the consumer when parting with their dollars.
Tip:
Write in benefit language, become an empathetic organization.
https://enrollmentresources.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/New-ER-signature.png00Gregg Meiklejohnhttps://enrollmentresources.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/New-ER-signature.pngGregg Meiklejohn2016-07-27 08:33:442018-08-24 12:49:11Is Your Marketing Information Selfish or Empathetic?
Our Marketing Manager, Jodie Gastel, got me thinking about a notion to consider: the onslaught of information on the web feeds into the ‘confirmation bias’ carried around within us all. This bias, combined with readily-available, easily joined ‘Confirmation Bias Tribes’ is deepening entrenched opinions and judgments like never before. Dealing with deeper, harsher opinions represents a serious adjustment when it comes to the Art of Persuasion.
Here’s a Tip:
Understand the biases that sit within your target market and understand what on the internet feeds or confirms those biases. Write your copy accordingly to address those biases in a proactive manner.
One of the outcomes of mobile phone adoption is we have the ‘entire’ world available to us sitting within this little rectangle box, which in turn is constantly attached to our person. ‘Content’ is being dumped into the internet slipstream landing in the little smartphone boxes. Professional branding and PR types compete intensely for your attention. The bi-product is an incredibly pervasive stream of unfiltered media content: cute kittens followed immediately by cops killing people. We as consumers chew on what is mostly crap, each and every day, whether we like it or not.
Content one, two and three point zero
Back in the day, PR people would get hired by companies to wine and dine assignment editors, writers and personalities to speak favourably about their clients. Media controlled the message and they shaped the content. My Dad was a photo editor at a major Daily. One of his jobs was to sort through images, match them with stories, then write captions and headlines, gluing the story and photos together. His lament was 90% of his job involved being negative, but that’s what sold papers. His thinking behind this was readers would say, ‘at least my house didn’t burn down or my car didn’t crash’. Basically, consumers gained an appreciation of their lives by comparing themselves to the misery of others being displayed in the papers or on the news. Negative news garnered readership which garnered media buy.
The dawning of 2.0 actually came pre-internet, when TV started channeling horrendous footing of war atrocities from the Vietnam War. This jarring violent footage of freaked out miserable villagers, soldiers, mutilated bodies, etc. helped to kick start the Vietnam War protests in the 70’s, catalyzing social change. The Korean War was just as hideous, but its documented footage was not pushed into the living rooms of the masses while eating their TV dinners.
Now 2.0 is firmly entrenched; with thousands of Clickbait sites feeding content to massive information addiction portals such as Facebook. We as consumers have sort of become our own photo editors plus consumers of this massive surge of content engulfs us; most of it salacious, violent or negative in nature.
We have direct daily access to massive amounts of footage that often elicits negative feelings. It is pervasive. Facebook paying over 150 Clickbait companies hundreds of millions a year to generate footage is a ‘small’ example of how big this trend has become. We are being pounded and pounded with amateur and professionally produced news footage everywhere, every day. Much of the footage has an agenda. SUGGING – ‘selling under the guise of’ – is a staple of the PR industry.
Fear that seeps everywhere…
In my opinion, this phenomenon is generating a palpable angst with many folks within society, more negative crap than any average person ever needs to know. Marketers need to deal with this collective angst like never before. Salespeople now often have to unspool partially or totally false information previously gleaned online. But mostly marketing and sales types must now fold into their marketing plans the new reality of dealing with the collective and individual fear pulsing within their target market.
…like carbon monoxide.
If you are asking me how to deal with this societal angst within the context of marketing our stuff, heck, I don’t totally know. I am thinking that perhaps the day of marketers just ‘selling stuff’ is over. Marketing now shapes opinion and self-esteem, in turn shaping our society. Is it our duty now to market in such a way that we leave society in better shape along the way?
I will say, that having awareness and an intention around this question, will in turn, allow ideas and solutions to bubble to the surface…
I’m curious about your thoughts….
Namaste, Gregg Meiklejohn
https://enrollmentresources.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/New-ER-signature.png00Gregg Meiklejohnhttps://enrollmentresources.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/New-ER-signature.pngGregg Meiklejohn2016-07-14 18:36:452018-04-11 13:42:02Is it Time to Embrace Fear as a Marketing Strategy?
A year or so ago I was contacted by Chris, the new CMO of a three-campus school system. He was baffled as to why his lead flow had dropped by 60 leads per month for the past three or four months. Being new to his school, he didn’t really have a handle on the problem yet and wanted help with some insights.
I asked him to Google the name of his school and see what happens. My worst fears were confirmed. He didn’t show up at all. Turns out their website had been “delisted” by Google. Nuked, obliterated, vanished from the search engine. Read more
https://enrollmentresources.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/New-ER-signature.png00Gregg Meiklejohnhttps://enrollmentresources.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/New-ER-signature.pngGregg Meiklejohn2013-10-05 01:25:452018-04-13 08:43:58How an SEO “Expert” Cost a Three Campus School $1,375,000
Back in the day, the industrial age chugged along and real estate was the foundation in which market share and wealth was built. Factories, warehouses, roads and store fronts were mechanisms for commerce. Those who owned the real estate controlled the wealth. Does McDonalds make more money selling hamburgers or through their real estate empire? What was drilled into our heads in Business School is Real Estate is the foundation investment for all millionaires, blah, blah… You get the picture.
https://enrollmentresources.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/New-ER-signature.png00Gregg Meiklejohnhttps://enrollmentresources.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/New-ER-signature.pngGregg Meiklejohn2012-07-18 18:16:282019-02-25 10:21:32How School Marketing Is Just Like Real Estate
“Online Lead Generation Improvements that you can use” An audio recording and notes as presented from our Conference Call Presented on Sept 29th, 2011 by Gregg Meiklejohn and Shane Sparks of Enrollment Resources Inc.
An online lead generation and qualification tool that helps prospective customers understand their personal strengths, explore their motivations and match with your school. It is delivered through a simple and fun online questionnaire that guides prospects to request a meeting with your sales team. The comprehensive Career Training Readiness Report generated by the pathway gives your sales teams deep insights about your prospects. In addition to creating high-quality leads, sales staff gain valuable information on each prospect’s perceived strengths, support network, perception of key features of your business, and much more.
Student Marketing Channel Assessment
This is a survey delivered to your enrolled students to determine their marketing habits. Learn marketing demographic and psychographic information including their content delivery preferences and habits (TV, internet, radio, etc.) to aid your school in determining marketing direction and opportunities.
Book A Tour Form
This is a key tool for capturing those highly interested website visitors who want more than just “Requesting Information”, they are ready for the next step… a virtual or in-person appointment. Use this tool to engage more appointments for your admissions team that will convert higher than your standard organic website leads.
Apply Now Form
Truth be told, this isn’t a true application, but is very useful for pulling out your highest intent website visitors (typically about 7% of inquiries). Use it to high-grade your top prospects and put these at the top of your contact list.
Website Inquiry Form
So much more than a typical “Request Info” form, our website form is a conversion powerhouse that has been tested and perfected with numerous clients. It features a number of subtle but important conversion magnets and “in-the-code” enhancements. Widely copied by competitors, they never capture the beauty and conversion-power of our original.
High School Recruitment Pathway
As young people near the end of high school they face an enormous amount of change and what to do after high school can become a looming question. This 2-part pathway starts with providing a lead gen interface for gathering leads from presentations, then helps high school students and parents to identify goals, articulate strengths and explore their options in a low-pressure survey. Utilizing a variety of question types including sliders, multiple choice and open-ended, the High School Recruitment Pathway allows students to feel empowered and gets parents involved.
Lead Recovery Pathway
Provides an entry point to re-engage old “stale” leads and a reason to reach out to those prospects who may have dropped off of the radar, but who are potentially still interested in going to school. Not only will you increase your ROI by re-engaging existing leads, you’ll also have the opportunity to potentially improve your admissions process by identifying possible barriers that may have held prospects back from initially enrolling.