WHAT IS A MARKET?

In a country like the United States, most economic decisions are resolved through the market, so we begin our systematic study there. Who solves the three fundamental questions—what, how, and for whom— in a market economy? You may be surprised to learn that no one individual or organization or government is responsible for solving the economic problems in a market economy. Instead, millions of businesses and consumers engage in voluntary trade, intending to improve their own economic situations, and their actions are invisibly coordinated by a system of prices and markets. To see how remarkable this is, consider the city of New York. 

Opportunity Cost Doesn’t Always Mean Dollars Paid Out

People often confuse the opportunity cost of a decision with the direct dollar cost of that decision. If you’ve ever missed a sports practice to take a make- up exam after school, you’ve experienced an opportunity cost that doesn’t involve money at all. And even if you’re not Ben Kaufman, the opportunity cost of attending

college includes more than the cost of tuition.

College students also give up the best alternative to attending college, which is typically going straight to work. Suppose you would earn $25,000 a year in the best available job right after high school. Then the opportunity cost of attending college would be the tuition cost plus the forgone income of $25,000 for each of four years, or $100,000. Although it isn’t actually paid out, that money you would have earned is part of

the cost, too.

The first step in making good decisions is to understand that the true cost of any decision is the opportunity cost, and not just the amount of money spent as a result of the decision. This applies to life’s big decisions, such as whether to attend college, and to everyday decisions, such as whether to make up an exam.

The four general categories of resources needed in the production of all goods and services include land, labor, capital, and entrepreneurship.
Labor includes any work done by people, whether they are doing manual labor or performing services.Land includes all “gifts of nature,” or any natural resource not created by people.

A few smaller ones worth a mention

Google+

Google plus Facebook plus Twitter

The most interesting development of 2011 has definitely got a lot to offer. After inviting only a select group of people (10,000,000!), Google+ has become the fastest growing network of all time (however that growth was definitely aided by Facebook and Twitter).

But what is Google+, where is it going, and how can it help your business, if at all?

Google+ has cleverly combined the two most popular social networks, Twitter and Facebook into a tool that brings sharing, following and discussing content together seamlessly. Unlike Facebook, you can follow other users without needing to be friends. And unlike Twitter you can share content without getting lost in the abyss (thanks to a sophisticated filtering system).

If you are blogging (which you should be after this!), Google+ is a great tool to add weight to your search results. For all the posts that you write, you can display your profile alongside your search result. This increases the likelihood of click throughs but more importantly, your face will pop up whenever your search result does – a great way to strengthen your online reputation in the industry!

These new areas are just the beginning of a very exciting development. Google+ is likely to impact social, search and just about everything else that you do on the web in a way that only Google can.

FourSquare

Not for squares

FourSquare is one of the newest and most exciting forms of social media - Location Based Social Networking. Don’t worry, it’s less confusing than it sounds. Basically it’s a network through which users “check in” to physical locations (restaurants, shops, museums, cinemas) in order to let their friends know where they are. They can also be eligible for a Foursquare promotion from the venue. So if I’m popping into a Nick’s Massage Parlour and I “check in” using Foursquare then I may be eligible for 20% off his world famous “Nude Massage” (I never understood why he insists on taking his clothes off).

So what’s in it for the businesses? Well every time someone “checks in” to Nick’s parlour, all their friends on foursquare are given an update. That’ gives Nick some great exposure, so to speak, and by offering his special deals at specific times he can ensure his quiet hours pick up some decent trade!

Groupon

Proudly mugging grateful business owners since 2010

Groupon, funkily derived from the term Group Coupon, is all about collective buying power. They advertise a small number of daily deals in every city, often up to 60%-70% discount. The deals are so good that they tend to go like really cheap hot cakes, guaranteeing high sales for the retailer and Groupon take about half the money paid for the coupon.

It’s a great way for businesses to gain a bit of extra business and some exposure. The trouble is that once they allowed for the huge discount and then given half of the amount paid to Groupon, they are left with almost nothing! For new businesses just keen for trade at any cost, this is a price well worth paying. But for established businesses the sums don’t tend to stack up.

Recently Google Offers has come into the market and hopefully this new competition will help retailers get a better deal.

MySpace

You’re welcome to it!

Back in 2006 MySpace was what Facebook is now – no, not managed by stinking rich, power-hungry toddler. I mean it was the biggest, most dominant player in the social media market. Then, as the aforementioned ankle biter gained momentum, the once omnipresent monster shrunk into an ever more targeted niche, until now, when it is little more than a place for emerging bands to gain exposure.

After another failed re-brand at the end of 2010 then you can safely assume your time is better spent elsewhere (unless you work in music of course!).

Facebook

I’m kind of a big deal...
Facebook is the worlds’ largest social network where friends hang out, share images and videos,
discuss their interests and organise their social lives.
Facebook is a funny one. It’s the first thing people think of when they hear the words “social media”, and yet for business it’s the last thing I usually recommend. Here’s why:

• Most businesses exploring social media tend to be B2B (business to business) rather than B2C (business to consumer). Facebook is full of consumers but not many businesses.
  
• Facebook is where people go to be entertained and socialise. Fail to fit into either of these categories and you won’t fit in at all!
  
• Even if you are able to engage with people successfully on Facebook by being both social and entertaining, how do you then turn them into customers? After all, they’re not there to shop!
  

But, in the interest of presenting a balanced argument, here are a few reasons why you DEFINITELY shouldn’t dismiss it:

• There are about 750 million active Facebook users, 50% of whom log onto Facebook on any given day.
  
• Through their targeted PPC* advertising, you are able to home in on your perfect demographic in incredible detail. If your target audience is single women between 25-30 that live in Hull and harbour an interest in medieval jousting, Facebook PPC was made for you!
  
• If you are B2C and able to entertain and socialise whilst building commercial relationships with new clients, then you have probably found your most powerful route to market EVER! Seriously, we’ve worked with several lucky companies that fall into this category, and it soon becomes absolutely integral to their business (one even abandoned their website!).
  

For who
Facebook is a big deal for those organisations that tick the right boxes. The trouble is that these box tickers are few and very far between. Here are a few examples:

• Large B2C brands with strong consumer loyalty – companies like Coke, Red Bull, MTV, Disney, Starbucks and many other large B2C brands that have traditionally benefitted from strong relationships with their clients. These represent the largest fan bases on Facebook.
  
• Charities – People connect emotionally with charitable organisations and are often very keen to broadcast their belief in a particular cause. The Breast Cancer Awareness and The Breast Cancer Site fan pages, for example, have over 4 million fans between them.
  
• Small B2C companies with a strong front-man/woman – sure, they may not have the deep pockets of the big brands, but what they do have is remarkably close personal relationships with their Facebook network. As long as the individual representing the brand is able to approach it with a commercial mindset whilst maintaining these personal relationships, then it’s a dynamite formula.
  

So if you feel you could fall into one of the above then read on....

Personal Profiles, Groups or Fan Pages?

• Personal profile – the page dedicated to you, the individual. This is where 95% of activity takes place.
  
• Group – an area for members to share ideas and thoughts on a particular topic/interest.
  
• Fan Page – a page dedicated to the fans of a particular cause/organisation/brand.
  

So which should you choose? Well they each have their pros and cons but in almost all circumstances I would suggest a Fan Page. It is the only one actually designed with marketing in mind. The others are for more personal, intimate purposes, which does offer the advantage of being able to message people directly into their inboxes, but this is quite a spammy technique and far outweighed (in my opinion) by the superior functionality offered by a Fan Page - videos, email capture, music, games - even shops!

Tip top tips for Facebook Fan Pages

This is the important bit. You’ve decided you need a Fan Page, but just having one isn’t going to help your business. You need a clear strategy for both engagement with fans and then turning that engagement into cash. Here are some tips:
Incentivise likes – by hiding content to non-fans you can twist peoples’ arms into hitting the “like” button. This could be a discount voucher, entry into a prize-draw or practical/instructional content of some sort.

• Be creative - If you do offer prizes or discounts then why not request that people claim these via the wall? It will encourage conversation and expose the wall to their friends. On a landing page that we recently created for a fashion company, they advertised a competition but you had to click “like” before you could enter. After that they would announce the winner via the wall giving people a reason to come back time and time again to see if they were the lucky winner. Worked a treat!
  
• Use status updates sparingly – unlike the world of Twitter where it often seems the more inane and frequent your comments the more powerful you become, Facebook fans will not be so tolerant. Every time you update your status you are invading their personal space. Pointless, boring updates will soon result in “unlikes”. The best updates are short, interesting (funny, emotional or a bit controversial) and encourage user participation. Spread the like button far and wide – the more exposure your “like” button gets, the more fans you will attract. Blog pages are particularly effective.
  
• Learn from the stats – Facebook Insights is like a watered down version of Google Analytics. It will tell you the number of views, new fans, unlikes, etc. When you get up to decent numbers this information is fascinating. We started a fan page for Christmas Carols in December and hit 20,000 in three weeks. Every time we posted an update the activity would surge. We would see lots of comments, new likes and even images posted (particularly when we started “the best Christmas tree” competition!).Then Christmas passed and the fan base more or less plateaued out. At Easter Nick, being the friendly chap that he is, posted a “Happy Easter” message in five different languages. It bombed - 200 “unlikes” in 30 minutes! Painful but valuable data.
  

Facebook Actions

• B2C or B2B? - Decide if it is appropriate for your business.
  
• Choose your weapon – Select a Fan Page, group or personal profile depending on your objectives. 90% of the time a fan page is best.
  
• Customise - Design a bespoke tab for your fan page that offers something unique and incentivises people to become fans through hidden content.
  
• Quality not quantity – you need a steady flow of updates (at least one a week) but the message has to be spot on. You won’t get second chances.
  

Flickr

Helping you look good online
A free image hosting service owned by Yahoo.
Flickr is a bit like YouTube but for photos. Happy snappers everywhere use it to store their images before sharing them with the world.
Benefits

• While Flickr links are no-follow* you can ask that people who use your images credit you with a link. Okay, it’s going to be impossible to enforce, but generally people are pretty happy to give credit where it’s due so if you put images up frequently it could end up having a really nice impact on your search engine optimisation!
  
• Arguably even the no-follow links can have a positive search engine optimisation benefit as they act as a social signal to Google that your site is busy offering great content to the web.
  
• There are so many images floating around online that it can be tempting to just copy and paste without a moments’ thought for the legal implications. In the long term it is worth erring on the side of caution and acquiring images from legitimate sources, of which Flickr is probably the biggest!
  

Flickr Action

• Social - If you have a very photo heavy web presence then you can definitely make use of Flickr as an additional arm to your social media activity.
  
• Free images - If, like the vast majority, you are more concerned with finding great photos than supplying them, use it for adding a bit of colour to your blog and website – just remember to give credit!
  

“Too many tweets make a twat” - David Cameron
Twitter is a microblogging service through which users can chat to any other user with short, SMS
style messages
Twitter is probably the most social of the social networks. You are not limited to friends or connections; you can tweet to anyone. And good etiquette - helping others out and thanking those that help you - is the very foundation of Twitter.
It is little surprise, therefore, that as a couple of social halfwits, we’re bloody hopeless at it!
Oh it isn’t through lack of trying, but social media is as much about finding the right platform for your personality as it is about finding the right platform for your business, and in the real world we’re that awkward bastard that walks into a networking event, heads straight for the food table and then stands in the corner staring at his blackberry pretending to send emails. So we keep up appearances (a bit) and have impressive looking backgrounds, but between you and me, we’re a waste of Twitter space.
HOWEVER, “do as I say not as I do” as the saying goes. Twitter, honestly, is brilliant. We know more businesses, particularly SME’s, that successfully drive business through Twitter than ANY other social media platform, and if you have even an ounce of social ability, then you can too!
For
Those that enjoy a good virtual chinwag with anyone and everyone
Benefits

• Develop new relationships
  
• Increase traffic to the website
  
• Gain brand exposure amongst your target audience (Twitter is the second most populated social network after Facebook)
  

Twitter Tip Top Tips
Okay, following my intro we’re probably the last people you feel you should be taking Twitter advice from, but we do understand this stuff and work with loads of people who live their lives (both personal and professional) through Twitter. Here are a few of the things that they do to make the most of it:

• Keep it personal – people want to connect with real people with real faces, so unless you’re a charity or popular brand with an extremely loyal following then personalise your Twitter and deal with people authentically.
  
• Branding – I’m doing a very slight U-turn here. Do keep it personal but ultimately this is about you representing your business, so brand your background (including your other contact and social media details/icons) and make sure it looks professional.
  
• Create a targeted following – have a strategy. Who is your target audience within Twitter and are they following you? If they are then are you making an effort to forge a relationship with them?
  
• Metrics – Use bit.ly.com to measure the number of times links on your tweets are clicked. You also need a basic system for recording those relationships that started/developed on Twitter and went on to lead to cold, hard cash. Even a simple Excel spreadsheet will do it. Your time is a cost and you need some way of tracking the return.
  
• Don’t miss a day – in the early stages it’s all about building momentum. Don’t slack.
  

• Third party applications - Experiment with Tweetdeck and other apps. Believe me, they will make your Twitter life soooo much easier. For example, I have around 1000 followers (god knows how) and I’m following about the same. There is absolutely no way I can listen to all that noise, but by using Tweetdeck I can check it once a day and immediately see what my “primary tweeters” (in other words those people I actually know and care about) have been tweeting.
  
• Tweet on the move! – All smart phones have great applications now that make social media management more efficient than ever. Download a Twitter app and, as much as possible, try to restrict your tweeting to those occasions where you’ve nothing else to be getting on with.
  
• Combine with your blog – the next time you find yourself about to send out a tweet with a link to an interesting article somewhere on the web, stop! For the 10 minutes it would take you to write a 100 word summary of the topic with your spin on things, wouldn’t you rather your website got the traffic instead?
  

Twitter Action

Twitter has the potential to benefit just about any business. It really just boils down to personality. So give it a go for a month (without missing a day!) and if you don’t enjoy it then you never will, so stop. You’re time will be better spent elsewhere.