Your Business Funnel

Whether you design, monitor, and maintain your marketing, website and social media yourself or someone does it for you, it's important to monitor how the process is working for you and your business. You likely had a goal in mind when you set up the process (ie: We want x number of subscribers by this date, we want to increase client satisfaction by x% by this date, or we want to increase referrals by x% or x#, etc...). When you set that goal, you should have had known how you were going to measure the results. Social media is just like any other sustainable project. Yes, there will be changes along the way, but knowing where your going and how you're going to get there is the key to a truly successful program.

We encourage our clients to think about social media as a funnel. Your Twitter account should not be at the base of the funnel, your Twitter account should give customers/clients and potential customers/clients a preview of your offerings and should drive them somewhere else. Only you can determine where that somewhere else is, but below is an example to give you an idea of a social media funnel.

What this funnel shows if the various ways that a particular company drives interest in their company. Their YouTube videos contain information or links to their company website, their Twitter posts may link to an article, but ultimately they are driving potential customers/clients to their company website. Just driving someone to your Twitter account isn't going to give them enough information about your business to keep their interest. Make sure that posts are keeping this in mind. It's okay to encourage 1,000 facebook "likes", but once they are 'liking' you, it's important to provide them with value added information that takes them the step further to your website. I can "like" Menards, but if I never step foot in the store, I'm not a customer and therefore not creating revenue.

You or someone in your organization (or contracted by the organization) needs to track the traffic at the base of the funnel. It's not important how many Twitter followers you have, or how many Facebook "likers", it's important how many people are checking out what it is you want to check out. In the example above, they are driving people to their company website. So, using the analytics behind the scenes on their website gives the company a good idea of what referral source is giving them the biggest 'bang' for their buck (see below)

Referrer Types	Visits	Percentage
Direct Traffic	337	56.90%
Social Network	128	21.60%
External URL	67	11.30%
Search Engine	58	9.80%
News Message	2	0.30%

Then they can dig one step further and analyze which types of social media are working hardest for them.

Social Network	Visits	Percentage
Facebook	115	90%
Linkedin	10	8%
Twitter	3	2%

In this particular example, the focus should not be on Tweeting, it should be on improving the number of people they are reaching on Facebook. They may not want to discount Twitter completely, but may want to analyze what they are Tweeting, are they using hashtags? is their information interesting? They should ask others for advice, see what's trending, etc... and make their decision from there.

It's never a good idea in marketing to continue blindly - make sure you have a schedule to analyze what is and isn't working and ask for fresh and edgy ideas to stay ahead of the competition. Things move fast in this technological world and being prepared is important, but being creative and opportunistic is even more important!

If you have any questions or aren't sure about any of the information contained in this post, let us know and we would be glad to clarify.

Sincerely,
Relax Consulting - where we do the work so you can RELAX!

Grab a Spoon - Stir That Pot!

Crystal here, with some thoughts that have been on my mind. I am the type of person who asks questions about everything. Yup...it was annoying in first grade and it's still really annoying...BUT...if knowledge is power and you gain knowledge by asking questions then she who asks the most questions wins, right? Not that life is a game of winning or losing or a game at all, it just reminds me of that saying "he who dies with the most toys wins" which also holds no water, so just something funny. OK - now for the point.

I worked for a decade in an environment where one of our rules to live by included the phrase "don't stir the pot" and I understood what was meant by the saying so I never questioned it. In context, it simply meant that you shouldn't gossip about something, just get back to work. That's a great philosophy, but last week or so I started thinking about the saying itself in the literal sense. Can't believe it took me this long, but I guess I was too busy to question it...anyway, now I ask: What happens if you don't stir a pot?

*the food burns
*your mean sticks and the pot is ruined
*the meal becomes inedible
*your hard work preparing the meal goes down the drain
*the house smells like charred food
*your family never gets to sit down to a hot meal

So...grab a spoon and stir that pot. The difference between stirring the pot and gossiping needs to be clearly defined though. Make sure you're talking to the RIGHT people, about the RIGHT things, for the RIGHT reasons and providing solutions. Otherwise, you still end up with stinky air, a ruined pot, and you never get to enjoy the delicious meal.

Pretty random thoughts and hope this wasn't too hard to follow - just felt I had to share.

I'm off to go grab a spoon and stir the pot (of spaghetti that is - at least at our house tonight)!

~Crystal


Do you have other sayings that are just plain funny or you wonder where they came from or what they mean? Post them here, it would be great to discuss them!

Grant Writing Presentation

I am putting together a grant writing presentation - if you would be interested in looking it over, please inbox me: Crystal@RelaxConsulting.com

I need someone to proof it and let me know if it's helpful...and you'll get some FREE tools to help you and your organization.

Crystal's Literary Diet

Crystal is often asked what she is reading (probably because she asks others the same question). She wanted to share some literary suggestions with the Relax Consulting blog followers and as you can see below, Crystal feels strongly that a literary diet should include some meat and potatoes/educational reading, some dessert/a fun read or a romance novel, and some snacks/periodicals to even things out. Some of the books below are being read for the first time and some for the tenth time. If you have any feedback on any of them, please leave a comment below to help other reader in their choosing of a literary diet.

What's on your literary diet menu for the next few weeks?

Bossy Pants by Tina Fey is a fun read with a little bit of business and a lot of laughter. (find Crystal's full review of this one on Ezine: http://ezinearticles.com/?This-Boss-Loves-BossyPants!&id=6921339)

Waiting for Your Cat to Bark by Brian and Jeff Eisenberg is definitely a business and marketing book, a good value with lots of insight

Four Hour Work Week by Tim Ferriss is the kind of book that can change your life - stop putting off until tomorrow what you could be enjoying today. A complete review of this one should be up on Ezine in a few days, subscribe to Crystal's ezine feed to read it first: http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Crystal_J_Casavant)

The Dirty Life by Kristin Kimball is a fun read - not part of Crystal's business book diet, but more like the banana cream pie after the meal. A great book to grab when relaxing with a cup of coffee.

Customer Satisfaction is Worthless by Jeffrey H. Gitomer is a fabulous read for customers and customer service providers alike. Who wants to be satisfied when you can instead have your expectations exceeded?

Success Magazine - where you can learn, laugh, and find valuable business tools. As part of the literary diet, this is the mid-afternoon snack of carrots and celery needed to get you through the day.

What People Are Reading - Written By Crystal Casavant

What People Are Reading (this week)

I love the creative part of my job, but I have to be mindful that I’m meeting the needs and exceeding the expectations of my customers, potential customers, and supporters. So, I must pay attention to what is driving traffic to my website, what times I post, etc…and I’m always a little surprised at what people are reading. Each of my blogs has a statistics page to show the most heavily viewed or trafficked posts (as does Ezine). Below you’ll find a top ten list for popular posts. This may be helpful if you’ve read something and liked it, and you want to read more but don’t have time to read everything. So here goes (starting with the most popular - and YES, each title is a hyperlink to the post/article so you can easily read it if you have not done so already):

Build Your Network Ladies – Follow the Best Business Blogsfor Women

I AM

Alternatives to Those Three Forbidden Topics

Simplifying Social Media for Your Successful Business

Believe in Yourself

Say YES To Yourself and Start Today

Are we Stronger

Don’t Just Embrace Change, Drive It

What is Relax Consulting?

This Boss Loves Bossy Pants 

What is Relax Consulting?

What is Relax Consulting?

I get asked this question a lot, and when I try to answer using a title or reference to another business, I feel like I'm trying to stick a square peg in a round hole. Administrative Consulting or Virtual Assisting is 'sort of' what I do...but more of some and less of other things that those type of companies provide. What Relax Consulting is, is an extension of me. We do the things that I'm good at and the things I enjoy - and we do them for the people I enjoy spending my time with. 

I am reading a book by Tim Ferriss called the Four Hour Work Week where he talks about controlling the W's in your life, which lets you control, WHAT you do, WHEN you do it, WHERE you do it, and with WHOM. And that's exactly what Relax Consulting is. I help companies and individuals with marketing, writing, team building, presentation creation/polishing, etc...and it do it on my terms to fit into my family schedule, I do it from my home (or remotely - gotta love technology - ie: from the beach), and I get to choose my clients which means I have the ability to work with only those people I want to work with.

So, to answer the initial question of what Relax Consulting is, it's a chance for someone who is frustrated by their limitations, to sit down and talk to someone who has insightful ideas, positive energy, and a passion for life. We can talk about plans, goals, and ideas, and see if we can help one another. This may mean I help you design a website and teach someone at your office how to maintain it and link together your social media, or it may mean you call me once in a while to write a blog or proof read a presentation. 

In the end - Relax Consulting is about building relationships, building up one another, and going back to the basics of life where one hand washes the other and ideas can be shared and created openly and honestly among people that respect one another.

That's the scoop - and as I learn more things, or hire additional teammates, Relax Consulting will become bigger, better, and we will expand into different business spaces. It's all about embracing diversity and individuality as well as driving change!

~Crystal

Simplifying Social Medial for Your Successful Business

Well - the presentation has been used, tested, reviewed, and now I'd like to tell you it's perfect...but let's go with 'polished' instead. If you know of someone who would benefit from this particular presentation, direct them to the Relax Consulting website and I can present to them individually, as a group, or to a larger audience. Or, if you'd like a self directed study, I would be happy to email you a copy of the powerpoint presentation that you can use on your own. FREE OF CHARGE, of course - because providing value to others comes with it's own priceless reward for me too!