Tag Archives: LinkedIn

It’s FREE!!!

Posted on December 13, 2009 | 4 Comments

Kindly find below our updated price list for your consideration …

Item	Price	Supplier
Courses & Tutorials	FREE	Youtube, Blogs …
Global Client Database	FREE	Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter …
Market Insight & Trends	FREE	Twitter, Google Wave …
Customer Feedback	FREE	Facebook, Twitter, SurveyMonkey …
Global Talent Pool	FREE	LinkedIn …
Viral Marketing	FREE	All of the Above …
Infinite knowledge	FREE	All of the Above and more …

The Internet has provided us with the platform of information sharing – however, it was not completely free. Companies where using the web as a tool to push their product/services onto customers – very similar to other traditional media, like TV. But that is the old Internet – before the Web 2.0 era – before Social Media. If you are still charging for information, you might want to reconsider your pricing strategy. If you don’t, I can assure you that you’ll be out of business very soon! It’s out there for grabs and it’s all FREE!!!

As a marketing professor, I am sometimes asked by my students how come I don’t teach from a book, and my answer is more often than not “I am no thief!” In my opinion, the university textbooks have become obsolete – Seth Godin said it beautifully in his blog entitled “Textbook Rant” and I quote “Any professor of intro marketing who is assigning a basic old-school textbook is guilty of theft or laziness”. This is FREE info, you cannot charge for it and claim ownership.

This is only one example – think of Head Hunters – if they are still charging you as an employer or as a job seeker for their mere services of match making that you are being ripped off. I would recommend you setup a LinkedIn account and save yourself the unnecessary cost.

Interested in finding out what everybody is talking about, what the latest buzz word is, what the latest trends are … just create an account on Twitter – if used properly, this tool can become one of your primary sources of information – it’s viral!

Are you still charging for these services? Maybe it’s time to change, everybody else is providing them for FREE – Think About It

→ 4 Comments

Posted in Social Media Marketing

Tagged Budgets, Facebook, FREE, Internet, JOHN ANTONIOS, LinkedIn, Marketing, Social Media, Twitter, Youtube

Negative is Positive!!!

Posted on December 7, 2009 | 3 Comments

I know what you’re thinking … “John has certainly lost his mind” – not really! In social media negative is positive!

Allow me to explain – A lot of companies fear Social Media because they have no control over all the elements involved in the process. ”How can we stop customers from saying negative things about us?“- I hear this from a lot of companies when I try to encourage them to use social media in their marketing plans.

True – in social media you’re standing naked in front of the masses – but when you have nothing to hide, why should you be fearless. A company should invite negative feedback to better itself. When I ask a market research agency to conduct a brand awareness survey or a brand positioning survey – I’m always interested in the negative comments! It’s good practice to take the negative feedback and turn it into a positive opportunity.

The other day, I received a complaint from a customer about a bad experience he had in one of the SUBWAY stores in the UAE. This customer was furious – his email was very offensive – but let’s not forget he is king. As the Head of Marketing for SUBWAY in the Middle East & Africa region, I could have done three things – 1) ignore the complaint – after all he’s just one customer, 2) defer the complaint to a customer service rep – since it’s not my job to deal with customer complaints, or 3) pick up the phone and call the customer. I chose option number 3 – why? because I saw it as an opportunity to make the business better – and that’s exactly what I did – I changed an angry yet loyal customer to a content customer and potential vendor (it turns out he works for a big Ad Agency and wanted to pitch for the SUBWAY regional account).

Lesson Learned: Negative feedback is more valuable than positive feedback – after all, you know what you’re doing right and you should be interested in finding out what you’re doing wrong and improve on it.

Social Media presents you with that opportunity on a daily bases and it’s up to you how you’d want to deal with it. Think About it!

→ 3 Comments

Posted in Social Media Marketing

Tagged Facebook, JOHN ANTONIOS, LinkedIn, Marketing, Marketing Calendar, Social Media, Twitter

SMM – Leveling The Playing Field

Posted on November 22, 2009 | Leave a comment

What is the main difference between big brands and smaller brands? The former obviously have much bigger budgets, which makes activating a through-the-line marketing strategy a simpler task than for small brands, which have to keep track on all expenditures and monitor their ROI.

I’ve been working in the FMCG industry for a while now and the most common excuses for Brand Managers when they fail to meet their objective is ” … their budget is massive compared to ours – how do you expect me to compete with that!”

I must say, I fell into the same trap a couple of times but that is before I got introduced to the notion of online marketing and more specifically Social Media Marketing (SMM).

SMM levels the playing field and gives every brand the same advantages and opportunities! With marketing budgets being slashed, having an effective and low-cost tool that communicates directly with your customers should sound like music to your stakeholders.

I’m not saying that you should inject all your budget in social media, but you should certainly consider dedicating part of it for developing your social media. SMM has certainly provided companies with the option of competing with the “big guns” and establishing thought leadership.

The close of the year is upon us and most of you (marketeers) are probably half way through their planning for next year’s marketing calendar. Why not think of how your brand can benefit from Social Media in 2010 – Think about it!

→ Leave a comment

Posted in Social Media Marketing

Tagged Big Brands, Brand Managers, Budgets, Facebook, JOHN ANTONIOS, LinkedIn, Marketing, Marketing Calendar, Small Brands, Social Media, Twitter

Are you making the best use of Social Media …

Posted on November 20, 2009 | 3 Comments

This morning i signed in to my social media accounts (Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Youtube, etc …) and guess what i found … nothing … except for the basic tags on Facebook pictures and some status updates … On the other hand, when the clock struck 3:00 pm my time (GMT +3) … this is when the people in the US wake up, i start getting flooded with tweets and updates … so it struck me then and there that the MENA region is still not making use of Social Media as it should …

Is that because we don’t have enough people online, or is it simply a miseducation on that front … I would vote for the latter since online statistics show a substantial number of people who are surfing the net on a daily basis … this presents a number of questions:

Are businesses looking at Social Media as a Marketing tool?
Are individuals aware of the power of Social Media in Personal Branding?
Aside from Facebook, are businesses aware of the different Social Media sites out there?
Aside from setting up their business website, what are enterprises doing online?

Honestly the questions are endless … and therefore, so are the opportunities. From what little i know about Social Media, if i were to say one thing about it … it is certainly one of the cheapest ways to promote your business … it spreads like a virus … and if you know how to manage it, it is the best thing you can do for your business! All you need to do is unleash the virus and let the internet do the rest.

The graph below was taken from a report issued by MarketingProfs Research on The Benefits of Social Media Marketing. Honestly, the results are fascinating and should entice any kind of business to explore this incredible “free” tool.

As an independent consultant who is fascinated with this epidemic, I will be discussing in my postings how to make use of Social Media Marketing to benefit your business … and I invite you to give your input and thoughts on the subject.

talk to you soon,

John