“Wasted days and wasted nights”. That is how a recent conversation started with a colleague. It immediately reminded me of the Freddie Fender song by the same name.
Why do business owners and successful entrepreneurs continue to take the advice from friends and colleagues about technology and its implementation. Is it because they say, “Oh. it’s easy – just takes a minute?
We all laugh at the ridiculousness of the Holiday Inn Express commercials don’t we?
Weeeeee! Good for a chuckle but do you continue to do the same thing in your business.
Isn’t it time you stop listening to the guy that stayed at the Holiday Inn when it comes to using technology in your business?
Here is an example to get you to think this through:
I wrote a post a week ago about The Power of the Pixel, explaining how a specific small piece of technology can dramatically increase results in specific areas for you. I included links to specific directions from Facebook and mentioned that a big majority of websites are not using this tech currently, so it can provide you some early-mover competitive advantages.
I heard from several readers that they are already using a pixel on their site. One of them was the person that I referred to at the top of this post, explaining that they had been told about this by a respected author and speaker in a different field a few weeks earlier and that they need to install a pixel on their site. So she had gotten it installed on their site but was disappointed that she was not getting any results after almost a month had passed.
I mentioned that it was very unusual, knowing the traffic that was going to her website was significant and started asking a few questions.
Have you created custom audiences (and subsequent look-alike audiences)? (Custom audiences are at the core of this technology. Capturing info on everyone that lands on your website is only the beginning. Once you are building your custom audience, you can then really have some fun by creating “look-alike audiences” that match the profile of those already visiting your site. If you are an author of a book on sales, you might want to create an audience that includes people who are a fan of other authors with sales books. If they are fans of a book by Anthony Iannarino or Mike Weinberg, might they also be interested in yours?) You get the idea – the possibilities are endless.
Which events are you tracking in your Pixel? (Events are parts of the Facebook pixel code. They are triggered when something significant happens on your site (like when a key page is visited)).
Are you using Dynamic Events in your Pixel? (They are events triggered when an action is performed on your site, like when a click on an important link or button is made by the user. The key difference between a normal event and a dynamic one is that a dynamic event is not triggered when the page is loaded, but when the desired action is performed on the page.)
It became clear within a minute that the sense of completion she had felt for getting that pixel installed was gone, so I stopped asking any further questions.
She got caught taking the advice of a Holiday Inn guest, when she should have sought out someone who understands what is required to get the results that are possible.
I understand that everyone likes to talk about technology and the amazing things that we are now capable of doing with it. I am simply suggesting that when it comes time to implement these technologies and tools into your workflow, seek out someone who understands the entire process, the entire flow and all the interconnected pieces. The tech itself might be fairly straight-forward, but getting the results that you expect usually takes some expertise. Don’t find yourself singing the Freddie Fender song because you listened to your barber!