Why The Rise of Ello Should Be A Wake Up Call For Your Marketing Strategy

The new social networking site Ello is certainly causing a stir online right now. It seems that many are jumping onto the site’s manifesto, which states that the platform will be advert free.

So essentially Ello has been created as the antithesis to Facebook, where our newsfeed and sidebar contains a regular flow of ads from marketers who are able to target us via the gargantuan amount of data that Facebook hold on us.

We’re business owners, so therefore we are marketers. The ads are a positive thing for us – or at least, they should be if you want to attract more warm leads and paying customers.

But this blog is not about why you should be using Facebook ads… nor is it about why you should or shouldn’t be jumping into Ello.

It’s about the reason why Ello exists… and the VITAL lesson it serves to you and every business owner on the planet.

The rise of Ello is the reason why all your marketing (especially emails) MUST include the 25% “ask” element.

If you’re not familiar with the 75%/25% ratio, it comes from Gary Vaynerchuk, a leading Social Marketing expert, who coined the “Jab, jab, jab, ask” process

Which translates into 75% of your marketing output should add value to your audience, and 25% should add value to your business – asking for the sale.

Facebook got it badly wrong!

Significant numbers of Facebook users are annoyed with Facebook adverts ‘disturbing’ their user experience because for a long time, the platform was ad free.

So when Facebook did start “asking for the sale” by selling ads and allowing marketers to target users, it felt icky and intrusive.

If the BBC one day decided that they were going to start selling adverts, and began sticking a commercial break in the middle of Eastenders, that wouldn’t be a popular decision either. In fact, I reckon there would be an uproar!

Yet, the same viewers don’t feel aggrieved at Sky for showing ads, because they’ve been used to seeing those commercial breaks from the start of their relationship with Sky.

Too much value is not a good thing

The reactions of Facebook users towards Ello should be a lesson to you if you are sending emails or posting on social media, of the importance of getting your audience used to you making an offer from very early days – or risk losing them en masse down the line**

Following the 75/25 ratio, that means that as soon as someone has opted in for your Lead Magnet, send them 3 value adding emails spaced 2-3 days apart, then in the 4^th email, ask for the sale – invite them to take the next step.

It doesn’t matter if they don’t buy at this stage, as we’re only 10 days or so into the relationship, but getting the sale isn’t necessarily the objective right now. It gets your readers used to you asking for the sale, and it won’t come as any shock when you do it again.

Then you won’t give any of your competitors a reason to believe there is a need for an antithesis of your business. 🙂

**I don’t think users are going to leave Facebook en masse anytime soon, but if you’ve ever promoted a post on Facebook, you’ve likely had the users’ anger dumped in your post comments 🙂