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Posts Tagged ‘Marketing Tips’

As I meet new businesses, I often hear, social media does not work. With that statement, I usually ask, how often are you posting? What topics is your audience interested in? And, how does social media fit in with your “traditional” marketing efforts?

Many businesses open social accounts because they “know they need to”, but, then abandon them, or, don’t create a solid marketing plan to integrate the activity alongside their other marketing (like print ads, flyers and email).

If you want to see success using social media marketing, follow these 3 tips:

1. Get your Fans into your Sales Funnel. This is where you drive people to your ordering path, such as, getting them opted into email where they can start to hear about your specials and offers on a regular basis. Drive people back to your OWN website whenever possible. Use your blog to write great content that you can link to and make sure you have a way to capture anyone who visits your web site with a “sign up for emails” box.
2. Post Good Content. Make sure you are posting what your audience is interested in. Be sure to deliver great information and yes, you can “sell” to them as well. But, most often, Facebook (for example) is a great tool for reinforcing your brand. You may not make as many “direct sales” from someone clicking on a link. But, you are staying top of mind when they are ready to purchase. And, it’s GREAT to build your list here by posting about upcoming events you are holding or FREE seminars they can “share” with others and opt into your list. You never know where someone is in their buying cycle or what post you make is the one they need at just the right time.
3. Ask for What you Want. Your audience already likes you, which is why they are a Fan! All you need to do is tell them what you want them to do. Ask them to “like”, “comment” and “share” and they will. Plus, give specific “calls to action” that provide urgency. “Order by Friday and get 10% off – please share with your friends” and give a link and a code to get the discount.

Marketing is a continuous effort not a one shot deal and there is no silver bullet in any marketing campaign. But, it is just that, a campaign, filled with many efforts that keep you in front of your customer, lead and target marketing so that you are there with the right offer at the right time when they are ready to buy.

(Image credit clickz)

I’m excited to be interviewed on by the team at Conscious Social tomorrow with their webinar “5 Keys to Social Media Success”. On the webinar, I will be sharing tips and showing examples of how businesses are being successful using social media marketing.

Conscious Social is an online community that offers FREE Social Media Webinars hosted by Laura Rubinstein & Karriann Graf. You can find them in Twitter at @KarriannGraf and @CoachLaura. Visit ConsciousSocial.com to attend my webinar for free and keep coming back to them to hear other experts reveal their marketing tips every week. You’ll also have access to time leveraging tools, and learn insider social media tricks.

Learning to navigate the Social Media spaces is definitely something you need to be taught in order to use your time efficiently. I highly recommend Conscious Social webinars as a great online resource. And, if you are looking for one-on-one, in person, Social Media training in San Diego, I can help. Or, if you are a small to medium sized business that does not have the in-house resources to facilitate your own social media campaign, HowDoIMarketMyBiz.com provides monthly social media services, speaking as your company voice.

Here’s my last installment of notes from the Social Media Success Summit webinar. These are great social media marketing tips from two top bloggers. Blogging is so important to getting your keywords found online and having a social media marketing strategy in place BEFORE you begin your social media efforts in Facebook, Twitter and your blog will help you achieve your business goals.

“Making Your Blog a Social Media Destination”
There are 1.8 billion people online which equals 26% of the world population. You’ve got to be found online and dominate search results for your keywords. So, what can a blog do for you? Technorati’s “State of the Blogosphere” reports these numbers about blogging:
71% = Blogging provides greater visibility for your company
63% = It gets clients to purchase
56% = Helps you be regarded as a thought leader
40% = Makes you more visible so you are asked to speak at conferences on your product/service

If that’s not enough, here are more reasons why you should blog: Enhances reputation, Establishes your brand, Builds credibility, Helps you get traffic (SEO), Helps you build your list and most importantly, it Brings you more business! Be sure to create great content, use your keywords, and tap into what your readers want. Via @denisewakeman

“Easily Integrate Social Media Into Your Marketing Mix”

Some people are just broadcasting in social media spaces and not responsive to customer service and replying to people. Don’t create a social media account unless you have a strategy in place to support it. Social media is about the pre-sale and relationship building. Once they love you, they will refer. Find out what your audience is interested in and give it to them in the way they want it. Talk to people about their problems then direct them to your articles that solve that problem. Network with those people who influence your audience for a bigger reach. Via @chrisgarrett

I love learning more and more about the dynamic, ever changing landscape of social media marketing. As it is still a relatively new industry, keeping current on what other companies are doing is essential to building your own strategy. Here’s some additional notes I’ve complied from the recent Social Media Success Summit #SMSS10 webinar series that can help you with your social media marketing efforts.

“Facebook Engagement – Building a Loyal Fan Base”
You have 420 characters to add compelling content to your Facebook page that adds value to your readers. Mix up the media of your content by using: blogs, articles, podcasts, videos, photos, interviews or slide shows. Post tips, questions, How-To Tutorials, polls, quotes and info on events. You can even post other people’s content. Make use of the FBML app and add a custom Welcome Page to your site. You could see a 45% improvement in conversion! The new “Like” app adds the element of social proof and when someone clicks it, it pushes out into their news feed. Very powerful marketing! Via @marismith

“Using Social News Sites to Grow Your Audience and SEO”
Using social bookmarking sites, such as the largest one, Digg.com with 350 million users, can support your SEO efforts when you publish content that gets shared. The top 50 users there provide 41% of the content. To participate in this space, you need to research the community you are interested in and become part of the subculture. Your headline should include a number, an adjective and a keyword for the best success. You should plan to build a relationship with a top user in Digg to have them post your content. Do your homework. Approach them with what they are interested in. Via @msaleem

“Twitter Power Panel”
@problogger @copyblogger @chrisbrogan Shared their strategies for using Twitter. Great stat: 44% of twitter users are the 1st to buy or try a new product before others. Build relationships before asking for the sale: send @ messages to people, get involved in the conversation. Twitter is a great tool for: promotion, info sourcing, conducting search, listening, promoting others, finding business opportunities, building your brand, building trust and authority, driving traffic! Make your posts useful, personal, relational and regular.

I’m really enjoying the great reminders and ideas speakers at the Social Media Success Summit #SMSS10 are sharing. Here’s my recap of the Social Media webinars from the Tuesday sessions:

Getting the Most out of LinkedIn
@LewisHowes has spent a lot of time using LinkedIn and he’s learned by trial and error the best place to focus. With 65 million business professionals using this tool, he believes it is the #1 social media site to build your business. You can export your contacts (to use in other marketing ways, like email) and the demographics of those who use it are people with a high net worth (an average Household Income of $109,000). These are business decision makers, so, if you make a good connection for a business partnership, you can most likely close a deal quickly.

Top 3 places to focus:

1. Optimize your page for keywords.
2. Join as many targeted groups as possible.
3. Add Blog Feed and Video Apps.

How Big Businesses are Leveraging the Power of Social Media
This webinar had the marketing directors of Whole Foods, Best Buy and Home Depot talking about how they are utilizing social media. Many have “global” sites for the brand and also “local” sites for stores (since they are brick and mortar) – both in Facebook and Twitter.

They are using Flickr for photo streams, YouTube for both user generated and vendor generated content, in addition to their own videos which range on a variety of topics. They are putting their social media sites in printed circulars, in their windows (since they are store fronts) and sandwich boards in front of the stores.

Many are using twitter as a customer service outlet like Best Buy @twelpforce and some even have twitter accounts just for specific topics like Home Depot and their sponsorship of NASCAR racing @homedepotracing or Whole foods and their food and wine guys @WFMWineGuys. The big takeaway was to have fun with it and find out who is passionate about your brand and tap into that.

3 Reasons You Need a YouTube Marketing Strategy
@GregJarboe spoke about YouTube, pointing out that 86% of internet users are viewing videos each month and 81% of all videos are viewed on YouTube, so, you need to be there! Many people stop watching at the 10 second mark, so, your call to action and good content needs to be front loaded. You must optimize your video for keywords, so, be sure to put them in the Title, Description and Tags. If you need ideas for what to make videos about, visit the YouTube Creator’s Corner:

There is also an “insight” button in “My videos” of your account where you can see demographic info, referring URL info and where people are bailing out.

Bottom line is to add video frequently so people will subscribe to it (like your blog). And, every time you post a video on you tube, embed it in your blog as the views there count in YouTube.