If you don’t own it, you and your business are at risk. Years ago, my friend Kevin Mullett and I had this discussion and it’s true. Don’t Be Social Media Stupid with Your Business.
Let me explain.
Facebook is the world’s largest Social Media platform and they offer a multitude of ways for people like you and me to start a business, promote and grow a business, even become independently wealthy with a business that lives on Facebook.
The problem is if your business relies only on Facebook, you are eventually going to be hurt.
Facebook is your virtual landlord. Except when you have a real landlord relationship, there are contracts that you read and sign. Promises made by both parties and some guarantees for a period of time.
That’s not the way it works with Facebook or any of the other social media platforms.
Facebook can make changes and you have no say in the matter.
Does anyone remember reading the “Terms Of Service” when they signed up? Over 98% of us blindly just click on the checkbox without reading.
Holly Homer, an entrepreneur from Texas owns the Facebook pages for “Quirky Mama” and “Kids Activities.” With over 3 million followers, Homer’s Facebook page had become so popular she hired five employees and her husband quit his full-time medical job to help with the business. Homer showed NBC News a chart of interactions with her Facebook page that shows a decrease in February when Facebook implemented changes to News Feed.
As you can see, she was all-in when it came to running a Facebook based business. And that is where the problem lies. I did some of my own investigating and her Facebook page is Quirky Mama, but her website where she makes money is KidsActivities.com . But Holly is using another short cut that echos the mistake she made with Facebook. Her KidsActivities.com domain isn’t really her own website. Sure she owns the domain, but it’s actually just a sub-website on the Maven domain. Just like Facebook can change the rules, Maven can make changes and Holly will really be up the proverbial creek without a paddle.
I know this is sounding technical, so let’s talk in everyday language. When you lease a car, you don’t own that car. There are some benefits to leasing over buying but because you never owned that car, the only value is the immediate value of having that car to use. You can’t sell it, because you never bought it.
If your business is built on someone else’s platform, like Facebook or Maven, in Holly’s case, she and her entire company are at risk of losing it all. Holly says:
One of the Facebook policy changes that kind of went under the radar and it went into effect in February was the branded content policy. And it decreased my income from Facebook by 60 percent, overnight. No explanation.
Holly and her business fall into another category. Facebook is free for you and me to use, but not so much if we are using Facebook to promote our business. Holly and other businesses have to pay to get their Facebook posts seen by the masses. Same is true for any organization that Facebook believes has money to spend to promote their message.
In the summer of 2013, I ran the social media department for a $50 million dollar e-commerce company. Our average sale was under $100, so we had a lot of customers to make up that $50 million each year. That summer, I saw Facebook make a change in their algorithm that reduced the number of people my Facebook post were reaching by 75%. Fortunately, I knew what to do, move some of my budget around and spend a little more.
Facebook is constantly making changes. All you can do is figure out how to adapt. But there is something else you really need to do too.
Own your own online presence. If your only online presence is a Facebook page, Instagram account, Twitter handle, LinkedIn account, Snapchat account, or a free WordPress or Blogger website, prepare to lose it all.
That was part of the lesson I learned from my conversation with Kevin Mullett in 2011. I had made a name for myself with a few marketing blogs that were hosted free on Google’s Blogger platform. They are living there, you can find them if you Google ScLoHo.
However in 2011, I also bought my own domain and website hosting service for ScottHoward.me It’s where all of my content lives. I update every week still with a new story and article like this one.
Facebook and all the other social media platforms have a purpose still. They are being used simply as a marketing tool, not a place to host a business. Websites were around before social media. A website without any publicity is not going to get any visitors. Use social media as a tool to draw people to your website if you want, but please don’t confuse the two.
One more item from the 20 year old in my family, Jake. He posted this on Facebook the other day:
Hey friends and fam ,
I will be deleting my Facebook account or at least the app because I have been really wanting to change my daily habits and my phone is not a good one .. so I will not be on here for at least a couple months but I hope each and every one of you continue to strive to be the best you can be each and every day.
Jake is Gen Z. He’s in college. He and others of his generation don’t care about or even trust Facebook anymore. This is a another warning sign. I have advertising partners on WOWO Radio that use WOWO to drive traffic to their website.There are other ways besides social media to drive people to your website and we’ll talk about that soon. In the meantime please remember this: If you don’t own it, you and your business are at risk.
Want help in figuring all this out and creating something more stable? Let’s talk.
Today, I have a few key tips for anyone in the business of sales, which is not limited to people who sell for a living, but nearly all of us. The three words I want you to remember is: Help People Buy.
This month, the company I work for, Federated Media, experienced a tragic loss with the unexpected death of Charly Butcher, the host of Fort Wayne’s Morning News on WOWO Radio. Charly began his career with Federated Media in the 1980’s on WOWO’s sister station, WMEE. His life touched countless numbers of people as made evident by the stories and tributes.
One story I heard from my coworker Tracy was how a car salesperson was struggling with a sale but then Charly stepped in to Help People Buy:
We were at a remote at Fort Wayne Subaru and they just got in one single BRZ sport coupe in bright red that was stunning. This guy about 23 was looking at it with lust and the sales person just could not close the deal no matter how hard he tried. Charly went to the guy and said “I tell you what…you buy this car now and I will put you on the air live on Monday to brag about it. You can tell all your friends you will be on WOWO Monday morning.” The guy agreed to it on the spot and sure enough he got his 5 minutes of Fame on Charly’s show that Monday. We had a happy customer, happy sales person, happy manager and Charly was so proud of himself.
I’ve recently told you about my most recent car buying experience, which was filled with unnecessary sales pitches, because by the time I went to the dealership, I already decided exactly which car I wanted and all they really had to do was take care of the paperwork.
Today, I’m going to share with you another bad buying experience I had.
The afternoon after attending Charly Butcher’s funeral, I needed to visit some funeral homes for a brother-in-law who was just transferred to hospice care. Yes, it was a dreadful week, but sometimes you have to plow through it to get things done.
I visited 3 places and told each exactly what I was looking for:
I am here to get price information for direct cremation for the upcoming passing of my brother-in-law who is likely in the final week of his life. I am getting this information for my wife who will be making the decision of who we use. No public funeral or additional services are needed, just the bare bone basics. A family memorial will take place in a few months out of town.
That was the story I told all three funeral homes. From what I said, if they were listening, they would know that I am looking only for their price and I was not going to be buying anything today. I told them I was price shopping only.
So what happened?
At funeral home number one, I get what I am looking for, the bottom line price, in writing, but first the guy shows me his powerpoint on who he is, how many funerals they have done over the past 10 years complete with the standard bar chart.
He was not listening to what I said, he was stuck in selling mode. I redirected him to get the info I needed and left.
Funeral home number two was worse. Two guys, teaming up to sell me, after I told them exactly why I was there. They even asked questions about my wife and I that had absolutely nothing to do with why I was there. Like, “how long have you and your wife been married?” I almost walked out. In the end, I got the answers I wanted and a bad taste in my mouth to never do business with these two salespeople.
Funeral home number three was actually the best. When I told him the same story I told the other two, he actually listened and told me that they are not the least expensive for cremation services. I appreciated his honesty instead of his sales pitch and we talked more. I learned a few things that made me want to transfer some of my own business to them in the future.
I learned a few lessons that day about the sales process that I am going to apply to my work, and hopefully you can apply these same lessons in your company:
How to Help People Buy
Listen first to find out what they think they are shopping for so you can focus on what they want.
Ask questions to clarify what they are looking for as an end result.
Answer their questions first, then ask how else you can help them.
Funeral home number two, almost had me walk out in the middle of their sales pitch, can you imagine having a potential customer come to you and then walk out because you were too salesy?
I bet it happens more than we realize.
By the way, I wrote a piece about Charly Butcher and his impact with WOWO and the community, but did not create a podcast for that article because it contains a few videos. I invite you to read and watch by clicking on the link to this article on my website at ScottHoward.me
The topic for this week is: Make it Easy. I’ll start with some questions.
How easy is it for someone to do business with you?
How easy is it for someone to get an answer to a question?
How easy is it for someone to find you online?
How easy is it for someone to call you?
How easy is it for someone to pay you for goods and services that you offer?
How easy is it for someone to pay you a compliment? Either in person, or online?
I could continue asking similar questions and I’m sure you could come up with a few more that are just as important for you and your business.
Here’s the take-away I want you to have: Make It Easy.
No matter what the question, do what ever possible to make it easy for people.
Advertising can bring people to you. What happens next is up to you. The WHOLE BUYING EXPERIENCE is part of your marketing.
I understand that there might be some pretty complicated things that need to go on behind the scenes that will Make It Easy for your customers, but sometimes it really doesn’t need to be complicated at all.
Recently I was talking to a business owner who wants to let people know that despite the fact he has a couple dozen employees and managers that work for him, the real person that can solve their ultimate problems is him.
So we created a way to Make It Easy for anyone to reach him. A special phone number that accepts phone calls and texts that rings directly to his personal cell phone. When you call, you talk to the owner, not his manager, not an answering service on the other side of the planet. You get the guy in charge, the one who can make everything Easy.
Some companies empower their front line employees to take care of everything. Instead of having to “ask a manager” or “go up the food chain” to resolve something, the actual person you or I talk with takes care of it, then and there.
A couple more stories to illustrate how this Make It Easy process works. For years my wife and I have had cable TV, Internet and sometimes phone service from one of the two big national companies and every year we saw our bills climb just because they could raise the prices. One year my wife spent 3 hours on the phone with customer service and was able to knock our bill down a little but it went back up a year later even though we dropped some of their services.
This summer I was convinced to cut the cord and go with internet only because I finally figured out all the other pieces to the puzzle to watch what we wanted via internet streaming and over the air local channels.
Our current internet provider wasn’t going to budge on price, so I tried to buy from their main competitor. I attempted to do it online and over the phone. Even using the online chat feature was a nightmare. I nearly gave up until my friend told me exactly who to talk to in person at a local store front location.
I walked in and asked for her by name and she knew who I was because my friend had contacted her earlier that day. Within 15 minutes on a Monday afternoon we had everything set up for them to come out 3 days later to install and start internet service. Plus the price was lower than what I was paying the other company, and lower than I was able to find online with this company. This woman was an expert in the Make It Easy department.
The other Make It Easy story is a follow up on what I shared recently when I upgraded our homes heating and cooling system. We were eligible for a rebate from our electric company with the new system and I started to fill out the paperwork online, but never completed it. In the meantime, a check for $300 arrived from the electric company. Turns out the heating/cooling company took care of that paperwork for me, and I forgot that they were taking care of that for us. They really won in my book in the Make It Easy department.
My work as a marketing coach and consultant and advertising sales person with WOWO radio and Federated Media Digital includes doing what ever I can to Make It Easy for my advertising partners. Last week I updated a couple items on a clients website, not because they paid me to do it, I was just doing it for them to Make It Easy.
Go back over that list I started with and review the questions about how easy is it for people to do business with you and then add a few that are particular to your business, and take action. If you want my help in reviewing those questions and coming up with answers, let’s talk.
You can email me, text me, message me, call me, find me online on social media by simply looking for ScLoHo, that’s me. That’s my commitment to Make It Easy for you!
There are a lot of postings online about the sudden and unexpected passing of my friend and co-worker Charly Butcher. I took some time to find some video’s that give a glimpse into the Charly we all know and love, but first a run-down of what happened in the past 24 hours.
Wednesday evening, August 15th, 2018, I was at home when my phone notified me that a work email arrived. It was the announcement that Federated Media Fort Wayne Market Manager Jim Allgeier sent us:
It’s with a heavy heart that I am sending this email out right now. Charly Butcher has passed away this afternoon. No details as of yet that I can share.
Over the next couple of hours my co-workers in the advertising sales team at WOWO and I were in communication with each other. Numb and shocked were the words that we used as this was totally out of the blue. We wondered how our WOWO News and Programming co-workers would handle this, as Charly worked daily with them in the studio.
A couple hours later, WOWO sent a news alert via text that Charly had died and they posted the initial story on WOWO.com and shared on Facebook and Twitter. Soon the news teams at WANE-TV and WPTA-TV had the news on their websites and I stayed up to see all three local network affiliates, CBS, ABC and NBC lead their local newscast with the shocking news about Charly Butcher. You can search online to find their stories.
Charly was on vacation this week so his usual fill-in host Steve Shine is on the radio all week.
Thursday morning it was all hands on deck at the studios. Many of us wore our WOWO staff shirts all day. The entire morning program, Fort Wayne’s Morning News with Charly Butcher along with the entire afternoon show, The Pat Miller Program were live and local tributes to Charly. Phone calls, emails, text messages, in studio appearances, social media posts were all shared from former Indiana Governor and current Vice President Mike Pence to Fort Wayne Mayor Tom Henry. Current and former co-workers and others in the media took part. And of course there were plenty of reminiscing moments from listeners and friends of WOWO and WMEE where Charly first built his reputation in Fort Wayne in the 1980’s.
When Charly Butcher joined WMEE in 1983, I was also on the air at WMEE, but it was 30 years later that our paths crossed again when I rejoined Federated Media in 2013. Charly has now firmly in the news/talk business instead of the top 40 radio business and for nearly 5 years now, I’ve had the pleasure of working with him as we would brainstorm ideas for my WOWO advertising partners or just reminisce about our old WMEE days.
Sometimes when you work in local media like Charly did, you don’t realize the impact you are having on peoples lives. Over 3,000 people shared the original Facebook posting and the link on the WOWO.com website crashed as so many people were trying to find out what happened.
A hashtag #RememberCharly is being used on Facebook and Twitter if you care to join in or simply read.
I took some time to find a few videos from the past to share:
Quite a different persona than those who listened to him on WOWO radio, but still the same radio dude.
Here’s at promo clip from when WOWO began our TV simulcast:
As WOWO’s FM signal is now at 107.5FM the TV simulcast is now found on MyTV.
Charly emceeing one of the numerous events in our community from 2009:
Charly never lost his sense of humor at WOWO as evident in this clip from 2011:
Penny Pitch 2013:
Charly got the hang of being both on WOWO and TV:
Charly loved portraying himself as “The Grinch”:
Charly played tribute to another Fort Wayne institution a few years ago:
The last post from Charly on his Facebook page the day before he passed away shows one side of his personality:
Let me leave you with this clip from a couple years ago as Charly tells his story to students at Croninger Elementary in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
Follow the official post and comment at WOWO.com .
Time to introduce myself, again for some of you that I’ve known for awhile, and perhaps for the first time if you are unfamiliar with this website and podcast.
This is episode 75 of the weekly podcast titled, The Genuine ScLoHo Media & Marketing Podcast.
Launched in early 2017 as a request from a couple of the managers at Federated Media in Fort Wayne, Indiana, they were asked to create a sales and marketing oriented podcast and they asked me if I would consider doing it.
See this ScLoHo thing has been around for quite awhile. On the ScottHoward.me website are over 13 hundred articles I have written, edited and published since 2011 and the Genuine ScLoHo Media & Marketing Podcast is simply an audio version of most of the articles I have created since March, 2017.
The history of ScLoHo however is much longer that that.
And before we dig into that history, I want to clear something up about what ScLoHo is.
ScLoHo began as an email address and grew into an online moniker, identity and nickname. I even registered a marketing company with the ScLoHo name. ScLoHo is a made up word that takes the first two letters of my first name, middle and last names and mashes them together. Scott Louis Howard becomes ScLoHo. Look for me on Twitter, Instagram and nearly any other social media site that I am on as ScLoHo. Before launching the ScottHoward.me website, I published over 10,000 articles on ScLoHo branded blogs starting around 2005.
So ScLoHo and Scott Howard, that’s me, are synonymous.
I began working in the media world as a teenager when my high school launched a radio station. After school, I landed my first full time job on the air in Marion, Indiana at WBAT, followed by WIOU in Kokomo, WMEE in Fort Wayne, WKSY in Columbia City, WZWZ in Kokomo, and WXIR in Indianapolis. At all of these stations, I worked on the air as a disc jockey and radio personality.
Life changed when I turned 26. I crossed over to the advertising side of the radio business. I was impressed by the philosophy that the Crawford Broadcasting Company had regarding the relationship between the listeners, the radio station and the advertisers. I moved my young family to work for WMUZ in Detroit, one of a dozen Crawford stations at the time. My job was to write and produce advertising campaigns.
I loved the challenge and learning that occurred during my 8 years at WMUZ. I also did fill-in work in the afternoon and spent about a year hosting WMUZ’s morning show in Detroit. My first venture as an advertising salesperson was also at WMUZ.
The philosophy that I learned related to the trust factor we as people have. WMUZ was and is a commercial Christian radio station that has a special bond with their thousands of weekly listeners. Listeners trust the WMUZ radio personalities. Those personalities often talk about their advertising partners and so that trust factor is passed along to the businesses that advertise. WMUZ listeners trust that the businesses that advertise on their station are trustworthy.
My job was not just to create effective advertising campaigns, but to screen out the bad businesses from the good. I carry this philosophy today as I consider which businesses I want to work with at WOWO radio in Fort Wayne.
In the mid 1990’s, we decided to leave Detroit and return to Indiana. I worked on the radio again in Fort Wayne at WBTU, WFWI, WGL and WAJI. Between 1995 and 2003, along with some part-time radio work and voice over production I was doing, I took a few blue collar jobs too in the printing business, the plastics industry and even automotive.
2003 was the year that I returned to media and marketing full-time in Fort Wayne when I joined a group of radio stations in the advertising sales side of the business. I spent 8 years rising as high as one could advance at that company before I was lured away to work for a website development company and later manage the social media for a $50 million dollar internet sales company.
Kevin, Ric and me. Picture snapped by my friend Ryan Recker.
I also served on the Board of Directors for the American Advertising Federation/Fort Wayne Chapter for 7 years. I taught personal branding seminars, guest lectured at a local university, was featured in some national publications including the Wall Street Journal, won a few awards and have had a lot of fun. I have consulted and coached businesses doing newspaper and magazine ads, billboard advertising, social media and all kinds of internet marketing, along with television and event marketing. More recently I was featured on an international podcast for broadcasters to share what it takes to be successful in broadcasting.
I only share all this with you because I want you to have confidence in the Scott Howard dude a.k.a. ScLoHo, that I’m not just hear to sell you stuff. I am here to help. I’m here to teach, to consult, to advise, to coach and even guide you through the process of marketing you and your business.
Human Relationship Principles are the heart of most successful marketing and advertising efforts and I can help you employ them with your business, organization, or event.
I have learned a lot from a lot of people and continue to learn more and more every week. If you have any marketing or advertising questions or answers, I’d love to talk with you.
Life changed when I turned 26. I crossed over to the advertising side of the radio business. I was impressed by the philosophy that the Crawford Broadcasting Company had regarding the relationship between the listeners, the radio station and the advertisers. I moved my young family to work for WMUZ in Detroit, one of a dozen Crawford stations at the time. My job was to write and produce advertising campaigns.
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