Adams answers: We have over 100 that are supplied to our clients across the nation, and the “generally” best received posts are a combination of humor/useful information.

Our #1 is a photo of a fat gray cat with a post that says, “If your AC/Furnace filter looks like a large gray cat, it’s probably time to change it. Here’s how…” And that goes to the main website where we’ve supplied both a “how to” and a video of the process. This has gotten huge response, and as you’d imagine, many likes and many service calls.

Our #2 is “Top Questions My Technicians Get” and we begin to answer a question on Fb, that is linked again to the site. These too result in lots of likes and service calls.

Adams answers: Thanks for the question Rick, this was a particularly hot subject. Since we are in the business of marketing directives, here you go:

Clearly, both of the above ASSUME that you have “pre done” posts made, and “set” to launch, interspersed with streaming posts that are made at the moment. If you do NOT have pre-done posts, you are choosing to take a) way more time and become b) way more random while c) divesting of the ‘70/30’ content to promotion ration so often recommended.

"What is your opinion on outsourcing social media marketing to a consultant?"

Adams answers: Thanks for the question Jill. I only recommend it if the outsource is us. Next question please. HA! I ARE HILAROUS AND WELL SPEAKED TOO! Anyway…

As hinted earlier, you need a combination of posts that “reflect” your image and personality which CAN be outsourced, plus you need some that are truly “you” and of the company which keeps a nice balance of continuity and reality. (We supply posts to clients, but recommend that you make an occasional cameo appearance!)

Actually Steve, you DON’T NEED Social Media. You don’t need wrapped vans. You don’t need direct mail. You don’t need shoe covers. (You see where I’m going with this?)

You only need Social Media as it advances your relevance, taps into a different audience, assists in boosting image and TOMA, quietly – but not explosively – generates leads, and regularly builds community. Those may sound subtle and avoidable, but they have become part of the marketing fabric of today’s consumer.

"How do we measure ROI from social media activity? Does paid advertising work as well? What's the best strategy for paid ads? What sites should we be involved on? What's the best way to convert followers, fans, and friends to leads, sales calls and revenue?"

You take your top dollar of gross sales, divide it by ‘active’ customers on your database (activity within 48 months) and multiply by years of customer relation to get LTV (lifetime value)

So, for every ONE new customer from Social Media, that’s a $2000 LTV.

For every existing ACTIVE customer on Social Media, you can expect to extend the last number (5 years) though the media is too young to have measured this.

This is why I yammer nonstop about “inviting” all your customers to your Fb page for something meaningful, and NOT just “like us” which sounds to me like an insecure loser you meet at Summer Camp.

If paying someone $20 per hour, at 30 mins a day, 10 hours a month of Social, that’s $200 of ‘time’ invested. Expecting a 20 times return on marketing, then expect to pull $4000, or 2 “new” customers per month to call it a meaningful ROI. Most anyone should surpass that, especially considering the extension of “lifetime” as a bonus.

That’s the number: 2 ‘new’ customers a month at 30 mins per weekday.

Paid Advertising: It works BETTER than social for lead generation, but that’s why you pay for it. You MUST have the message and the market right or its money down the toilet, just like any rotten advertising.

Best Strategy for Paid ads: Call your coach here. Package ‘B’ included a video on this. I’d get that too. Today, you’re going to have to go to an “integrated marketing model” as opposed to the old “scattered message model” that was at its prime in the Yellow Page era.

Direct Response ads are STILL the absolute king of response, with email pointing to site or direct mail pointing to phone. But they must be integrated, or you lose the combination force of those media.

Sites to be involved in: I presume you mean for backlinks, so Chamber of Commerce, Manta, YP, Google +, Facebook, remarketing on your most popular local news site, weather page or site on same, PPC for most common keyword lookups. Those aren’t all “sites” per se, but are the most popular inroads for you to gather leads.

Best Way to Convert Fans, Friends to Leads: Use a “baited” post (also shown in Videos of Package B, or as PowerSuite user) that drives traffic to YOUR site, where they hit article and/or video that goes into a sales funnel. We’ve done this several hundred, or thousand (?) times and it is THE methodology used by the top marketers in the world, translated now for contractors.

And if your site doesn’t offer an “info capture” for name and email, your web dude should either be sprayed with a foul-smelling liquid or not leave work today until that is done, his choice.

"What is the average suggested time devoted to maintaining a media presence? How best to "target" particular demographic?"

Adams answers:

Time has been answered previously, so I hope you’re clear on “30 minutes a day” PLUS having “pre done” posts, loaded and ready to fire so you’re not wasting your life on Facebook.

Targeting can be done through PPC and paid ads among target demographics. Your chamber for business accounts; parents of school age children on “education” pages of news source; high net worth individuals on “Finance” or “Investing” sites in your area. Same stuff as Direct mail, just a different way of getting there.

You can also choose “geo-target phrases” in your keywords for certain pages, metadata, and video titles such as, “Heating in Hookey Town” or “Heating for 34567” <zip code for a part of Hookey Town>.

There is no “targeting” of your Fb page, only of the traffic you drive there. Make sense?

Adams answers: Anything you get from us works. What doesn’t work is stuff you get from other people.

Wow Elaine, gonna have to refer you to your marketing coach here for that. But I’ll spill this –

A BAD or BORING ad message has never worked, anywhere. Choosing a GOOD message to the WRONG market has never worked either.

MEDIA (Facebook, radio, newspaper, whatever) is not inherently “good” or “bad”. It is always: Who’s watching/reading/listening and WHAT do they respond to?

What ROCKS is a good message to a good target at the right time. (We have created several thousand, tested hundreds, have only about 40-50 that make the cut each year, with just 16 or so “campaigns” that are delivered to our clients if that tells you anything about testing and selectivity. Anyone who thinks they can just “come up with something” is truly shooting in the dark, using your wallet for ammunition.)

I’ll assume from your email that you have franchise advertising supplied to you. Have you tested the various ads supplied? What are your results? Have you gone over those with a coach here to gauge whether that’s high, low, or about right? If you want, test ours against your own, let the winner be the winner. It’s your money, you deserve the best results.

"Here are a few separate, yet related questions:

What are some of the best, most cost effective tools we can use to measure and verify how successful our social media efforts/campaigns are being? We currently do not have a marketing budget (our boss is trying to get one into the company budget...) So, along with my first question- how much money should be spent on tracking our results, along with how much money/time should go into a campaign? THANKS! Looking forward to it!"

We spend roughly 30-40 hours per campaign, creating 26 pieces (in all different media) that are “sourced” from ONE proven successful campaign. In our case, we use DIRECT MAIL as the most reliable, trackable and targetable marketing source, and “build” campaigns based on that for every other media.

And let us GIVE you a marketing budget calculator, no charge. Same for anybody out there who wants one. Send a polite email to coaches@hudsonink.com to get one. Quit guessing. We’ve done this nearly 2,000 times in a row.

"I have social media presence, but the views can be from 20 to none per week. I'm currently building the content of my website as a designer/handyman contractor from the past 18 years of projects. I have written an article on home improvement. Does blogging and too much content make your website a failure."

Adams answers: There no such thing as “too much” content, only “too much bad content”. You need to ask what your PROSPECTS AND CUSTOMERS will be asking when they visit your site, and answer THAT.

So take your 18 years’ experience and think of the top 10, 20, 50 questions you’ve gotten. Put THOSE into categories which will become tabs on your site. The most asked questions become your “warm lead generators” to download reports/articles, or come straight to your inbox.

Have your articles PROOFED Kevin, so they best represent your professional stature. Money well spent, I promise.

"No contractor can overlook the volume of customers and prospects on social media, but I have two questions -

What to Post? Here’s the list of the Top 14 posts categories we “pre-create” and supply to contractors:

About 70% of your posts should have NO promotional tie-in; about 30% DO have a promotional tie in. The “type” posts that can be promotional are shown in bold.

If you’re a PowerSuite client of ours, you already have 104 pre-written posts in your material. (Along with every other type of online and offline ad you’d ever want!) Don’t have a PowerSuite? Do you know what you’re missing?

"What if I have no interest in the social media and find it a waste of my time?"

Adams answers: Then have someone else do the posting. There’s no rule that when you run a Yellow Page ad you should go read the Yellow Pages, or become a fan of Oldies if you advertise on that station.

Seriously, you don’t have to be a consumer of the media for it to generate leads and sales. Those are different issues.

Heck, I wish Twitter would’ve never been invented as I believe it DOES and WILL CONTINUE to erode our ability to focus as we evolve, and I’m not kidding. But we tweet like over-caffeinated canaries here IF it generates a meaningful lead and customer. (I only write them, I don’t post or read them.)

So I say, “Put all your lines in the water” and if you’re not keen on doing social, let someone else bait the hook.