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Posts Tagged ‘Twitter’

If you keep hearing about Pinterest and want to hop on the bandwagon because you heard about the SEO benefits, it’s time to hop off. Pinterest is a social community, not an SEO tool.

With every social community, (the most popular being Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn), in order to have your business succeed on a social network, you’ve got to be present, active and participate. This is where most businesses fail using social media. They think they can just open up an account and the business comes pouring in. Not so.

There’s no denying that Pinterest does have some SEO power because it can drive traffic to your site. Visits to your web site is just one of MANY elements of SEO, but, recent studies are showing that the bounce rate is high. So, people click to your site and click right off in a matter of seconds. You can’t make a direct sale that way.

Pinterest’s REAL power is building a visual representation of your brand. See Better Homes and Gardens on Pinterest as an example of a brand who’s doing it right. Choose good images to pin that are relevant to your business and whenever you see a box to fill in, always customize with your keywords and link people back to your blog (this is where the SEO part comes in). You should always write a pin description (it appears under the pin image and provides additional information about your blog post).

Make sure the image makes sense on its own, as some images only make sense in the context of the blog article. You may need to overlay some text onto the image for major impact.

As you are getting started in Pinterest, find followers who are genuinely interested in your site and build targeted connections for link building (that means, make friends online and then talk about how they can link to your website – Twitter is also great for this.) This is where the real SEO benefits begin.

Marketing is all about reaching the most targeted audience at the right time in their buying cycle. The reason permission based marketing (when someone opts-in to your list) is so valuable is that you often may not know when a customer is “ready to buy”, so making sure your target audience is engaged with you in the contact method(s) they prefer is key.

People need to see your message 7 – 10 times before they take an action, so the more methods they opt-in to, the better. If they see your Facebook post, email and LinkedIn Status update in the same week, you are increasing the “marketing impressions” they receive, so you have a better chance of being top of mind when they need you.

Try these 3 Ways to Stay Top of Mind:

1. Email: Make it part of your marketing plan to send monthly emails. Even if your audience doesn’t have time to read them, or even click through, your name goes by as a touch point. Even if they hit the delete button, your name / brand has registered in their mind… keeping YOU top of mind when they need your product or service.
2. Be Engaging: Create content on your blog, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn status updates that people will want to share or comment on. The more interaction you can get with your content, the more you will be remembered by your audience AND, get exposed to their contacts when they “share” what you’ve posted. Photos and Videos get the most activity.
3. Reach Out 1 on 1: When you see an article that makes you think of someone, email it to them, or share it on their Facebook Wall. When you make an effort to keep others top of mind, they will do the same in kind just based on the fact that they appreciate your thoughts and effort.

Every business should have an online marketing plan that should include blogging, Facebook and email to get started. Twitter and LinkedIn should also be considered. If you are not sure how to reach your target customer, or you need assistance developing a marketing plan, we’re here to help.

(Image credit: warehousinglogisticsinternational.com)

Why is a blog so important in online marketing? Because of its ability to “pull” leads and customers to you!

When you think of typical marketing, it’s generally “pushed” out to the audience. You send out direct mail and email, you post Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn content, you hand out flyers, you place print ads…. push, push, push.

With 70 million people conducting daily searches on the internet, smart business owners are using their Blog to “PULL” potential customers to them! People are conducting online search for a solution to their problem. If you Blog about the right topics, YOUR web site can come up as the solution!

How to Pull People to Your Blog?

• Put the Keyword into the Title as soon as Possible: Search engines give more weight to the 1st 3 words of a title.
• Use Keywords throughout the Article: Use the phrase in the 1st sentence or 2, then 1 or 2 other times in the post. Hyperlink them back to the most relevant page of your own website or blog.
• Get Links to your Blog: Start with links from your own website, your own Facebook and Twitter sites, and then branch out and make friends online to get links from OTHER peoples websites.

Keywords are the key and you must use them in your content in the right places and also receive inbound links to your content on your important keywords. There are many elements that effect Search Engine Optimization and your ability to pull people to your content. Call us if you have any questions on how to blog effectively for your business.

The vast majority of Americans are actively using social media. Has your business acted on this fact?

If you looking for a way to keep pace with the quickly evolving field of social media marketing I highly recommend this webinar series for any business. As a social media professional, I always stay on top of the latest happenings with big brands and online social tools. This social media webinar series is something I attend every year and highly recommend to clients.

More than ever, it’s critical to keep up with social media changes, to stay competitive and to learn the tactics and strategies that produce the best results and the greatest return for your business.

If your business has not yet tapped the massive opportunities presented by social media marketing, read on…

Recent Statistics on Social Media Adoption
Here are a few reasons why you should invest heavily in social media:

Mass adoption of social media: Nearly 80% of all active U.S. Internet users regularly visit social media sites (Nielsen). And while consumers spend 25% of their Internet time on social sites, Facebook has become the most visited website in the world. Your customers are there.

Social media benefits businesses: Among marketers who include social media as part of their overall strategy, 97% agree that it provides benefits and value to their business (eMarketer).

Social media improves branding: In a survey of more than 700 marketers, 88% of respondents found that social media helps grow brand awareness. Social media also benefited marketers by allowing them to engage in dialogue (85%) and increase sales and partnerships (58%). An additional 41% of marketers said it helped reduce costs (Wildfire Interactive).

These stats are just a sample of the power of social media.

Are you “all in” with your social media activities? Want to fast-track your success?

Social Media Examiner Announces Social Media Success Summit 2012
“Social media has changed radically in the last 12 months,” acknowledges Michael Stelzner, (CEO and founder of Social Media Examiner). “Google+ entered the stage, Facebook introduced Timeline for pages, YouTube unveiled their new layout, Twitter got a complete revamp and then there’s Pinterest. It’s a completely different world and there’s a need to discover new strategies and new ways to market your business with these platforms.”

To equip you with the latest strategies for marketing with Google+, blogging, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, Twitter and Pinterest, Michael Stelzner and the people you trust from Social Media Examiner have recruited 27 of the world’s most respected social media experts to share their newest tips and advice at Social Media Success Summit 2012.

If you’re not familiar with these events, they’re large online conferences (so you don’t need to travel).

Typically, thousands gather at Social Media Examiner Success Summits to discover new social media tactics, network with peers and discover how other successful businesses are using social media.

What People Say About Social Media Success Summit

Last year, 3,000 people attended the online summit.
Some of the organizations represented were Coca Cola, Visa, Microsoft, 3M, Honda, Kraft Foods, SAP, Wells Fargo, Disney, AutoDesk, LexisNexis, Four Seasons Hotels, Fuddruckers, EMC and thousands of small businesses.
Here’s what some of them had to say:

“Thoroughly wowed by the format and content. I will most definitely attend future summits,” Kim Kiefer

“Guaranteed to improve the way you approach social media. I’ll be back next year!” Derrick Sweet

“Phenomenal topics and knowledgeable speakers. The ability to ‘catch up’ on sessions thanks to recordings was a selling point for me due to scheduling,” Erin Caples

“This is the most comprehensive training I have yet seen on social media. The lineup of presenters was most impressive and the whole summit exceeded my expectations,” Suzanne Kiraly

Meet Your Presenters
Among the 27 social media experts who will be presenting at this summit are:

• Jeremiah Owyang, Altimeter Group
• Chris Brogan, author of Google+ for Business
• Mari Smith, co-author of Facebook Marketing: An Hour a Day
•  Brian Solis, author of Engage
• Scott Monty, head of social media at Ford Motor Company
• Frank Eliason, author of @YourService
• Michael Stelzner, founder of Social Media Examiner and author of Launch
• Jay Baer, co-author of The Now Revolution\
•  Jason Falls, co-author No Bullshit Social Media
• Mark Schaefer, author of The Tao of Twitter
• C.C. Chapman, co-author of Content Rules
• Dave Kerpen, author of Likeable Social Media
• Jesse Stay, author of Google+ for Dummies
• Amy Porterfield, co-author of Facebook Marketing All-in-One for Dummies
• And experts from Dell, Ford, LinkedIn, Citigroup, Citrix and many others.

Why Attend Social Media Success Summit?
Here are a few reasons:

• Learn the latest and best social media business-building tactics.
• Learn about tracking and measuring social media return on investment.
• Learn how to sell with Google+, blogging, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, Twitter and Pinterest.
• Learn how content marketing fits in with social media.
• You’ll have the opportunity to network via LinkedIn with thousands of people who are expected to attend.
• You’ll interact live with experts from big B2B and B2C brands such as Ford, Dell, LinkedIn, Citigroup and Citrix.
• Keep learning even after the summit is over—With the session recordings and the transcripts, you can keep studying the material for up to one year from the date of your ticket purchase.

Want to save some money? If you reserve your spot now, you’ll save 50%. Click here for details.
What do you think? Would you be interested in learning what the world’s top social media experts are doing that makes them so successful?

Leave your questions and comments in the box below.

One of the great things about a WordPress blog is all the Plugins easily available for use.

Plugins help add features to your WordPress site that maximize flexibility and minimize heavy HTML coding. They offer custom functions and features so that each user can tailor their site to their specific needs.

Here are my top 6 favorite WordPress Plugins:

All in One SEO Pack
Automatically optimizes your WordPress blog for Search Engines (Search Engine Optimization) by allowing you to easily add keyword tags and relevant descriptions to each blog post.

Akismet
Checks your comments against the Akismet web service to see if they look like spam or not and lets you review the spam it catches under your blog’s “Comments” admin screen.

Google Analytics
Enables google analytics on all pages helping you understand how someone came to your site and what keywords they used to get there.

Subscribe2
Provides a comprehensive subscription management and email notification system for WordPress blogs that sends email notifications to a list of subscribers when you publish new content to your blog.

Share This
Adds links to share posts via Email, StumbleUpon, Digg, Facebook, Twitter at the end of each article you write.

Yet Another Related Post
Shows a list of the last 5 other posts you’ve written on this same topic that is related to the current entry, which introduces the reader to other relevant content on your site and keeps them engaged with your site longer.

Have you seen any Twitter hashtags on your favorite shows lately? I’ve started noticing this myself and then read a great article in TV Guide Magazine about the introduction of hashtags (#) scrolling at the bottom of your TV screen for certain shows.

Just last week, “#Glee” was shown throughout the entire episode of Glee and “#AmericanIdol” is loving their real time Twitter Tweets from devoted fans during the show itself.

Many broadcast and cable networks are now starting to add Twitter hashtags to the bottom of their shows: Fox, CBS, NBC and Comedy Central included. Fox marketing president Joe Earley says, “We thought if we provided the official hashtags, then more posts would aggregate.” Joe is right. If you want to aggregate information to view real time activity on your brand, name, product or service, hashtags are the way to go.

Monitter.com is a great online resource that lets you monitor hashtags in real-time from their website. You can even monitor up to 3 hashtags at once, which appear in three columns with the newest tweets in each column popping up at the top. It’s a powerful way to see trends and get in on the conversation that people are having, real time!

As DVR’s become more popular, social media is now helping TV networks drive people to watch their favorite shows in real time so they can be part of the conversation. In fact, NBC just launched NBC Live, a whole site devoted to promoting its shows via social media, while CBS just recently held its own “Tweet Week” devoted to its shows.

Social is starting to weave itself into the daily fabric of our lives, from the computer to our phone, to the way we search for information online and watch TV (which you can also do from your phone). So much cross over is very exciting for those of us in the social media industry. If you are not using the power of Twitter or Facebook to promote your business, you need to take a look at these results below and then ask yourself why not?

Last month, Comedy Central jump-started the hashtag trend with its Comedy Central Roast of Donald Trump. The network reports that the show became it’s “most watched in history” and credited some of that success to its decision to run a “#trumproast” hashtag at the bottom of the screen throughout the special. Analysis shows that the “#trumproast” hashtag was used more than 27,000 times on Twitter during the telecast. That’s a lot of social activity for a 1 hour Television show.

Think there is no power in social media? Think again!

Can you believe it was just 5 years ago that Twitter began? What was once just a way to keep friends easily connected with real time updates like “Where you at?”, Twitter is now a tremendous tool for the business that knows how to use it properly.

Used for Branding, Customer Service, Coupon Specials, making joint venture partnerships, online networking, search engine optimization, driving traffic to your blog or web site, and more… Twitter is an online marketers dream. With keyword search, you can find someone talking about your product, service, or Brand, real time and reply back to them (whether they are following you or not.)

I caught Biz Stone, the co-founder of Twitter (find him @biz on Twitter), on Conan O’Brien’s Show last week. With the Tonight Show debacle and Conan being restricted on when he could appear in public and what he could say last year, he said Twitter was his saving grace. Visit @teamcoco to read his witty tweets.

Brian Solis blogged that Twitter, “has a reported 200+ million users (and bots) and a market valuation of $8 – $10 billion. It took 3 years, 2 months and 1 day to hit 1 billion Tweets. Now it only takes 1 week for Twitter to syndicate 1 billion Tweets.” If you are actively using Twitter, you understand how it works and can really see the power of it to connect instantly with someone you know, or have a common interest with. Even the mobile use of Twitter has grown 182% in the last year.

If you visit Twitter’s home page these days, their tag line reads, “The Best Way to Discover What’s New in Your World.” For the general user, you can find out what Oprah has to say, or stay up to date on the latest happenings of your favorite music artist or celebrity.

In January there was a lot of talk about how Twitter helped the people of Tunisia stay connected and avoid censorship by their government using the hashtag #sidibouzid.

Twitter is a lot of things to a lot of different users. For social media experts, having a networking tool available at your fingertips that can reach anyone (who has a Twitter account), anywhere, in any country, in seconds is phenomenal. As long as you have a business strategy in place regarding what you are saying and when, you should be seeing success with this aspect of “permission marketing”. If after reading this you thought to yourself, “I’m supposed to have a Twitter strategy for my business account”, then, you might want to give me a call.

Twitter itself reports that 460,000 new accounts were created each day on average in February 2011. Did one of those accounts belong to you or your business? Have you found connections that are a great source of referral? Are you tracking clicks and offer codes from Twitter? What do you use Twitter for? I welcome your comments.

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.

You are a business owner. A struggling economy may not be the optimal market you’d like to operate in, but, we can’t do much to change where we are… or can we? History shows that companies that continue to market and even increase their marketing effort in a down economy grow their business even more when the recession rebounds. And, with social media marketing on the rise, there is no better time to take advantage of your time resources and “spend time” utilizing social media marketing to promote your business!

In a study by the American Association of Advertising Agencies, companies with even modest increases in marketing and advertising spending during the last recession saw gains in market share. Here’s a few ways you can give your business the best chance possible for riding out and rising above this troubled economy.

• Be Innovative!
  Using your Blog, Twitter and Facebook sites, launch a poll or survey using a free service like SurveyMonkey.com, to find out what new products or services your customers want to see. Social media is a great place to get real time results and listen to what people want. Needs are out there, now’s your time to shine by finding out what people want and creating a product or service to fit that need. Awareness and focus grows from economic downturn, so, instead of pulling back, get out there and find out what your market needs and why. Be the solution to their problem.
• Listen to Your Customers
  Strengthen your customer service arm by adding support through Twitter. Be there for your customers. Listen to their needs and strengthen the relationship by going above and beyond their expectations. This is the time to secure their loyalty and keep them connected to you through Facebook with positive, uplifting, informative messages posted daily. Be a thought leader and inspire them with your knowledge about your industry. Make the content so great they will want to “share” or “RT (retweet)” it.
• Keep Your Prices Steady
  Rather than reduce prices, increase the value of your offering. Your product or service has the same value it always did and people will spend money on things they want and need. To help make the sale on your product or service, try a limited time offer with an additional bonus ie.) “Order your lipstick before Sept 15th and receive a free purse mirror as an extra bonus.”
• Stay in Front of Your Customers
  Don’t cut the marketing and advertising budget. Keep top of mind to your customers by staying in front of them with mail, email, phone calls and social media. This is a great time to pre-schedule daily tweets to twitter, posts to Facebook and start writing one blog per day. Because many other companies are cutting back, your message will more likely be heard and reach your customer more easily because there will be less clutter. Social media by nature is permission-based marketing. When someone “follows” you in Twitter or “likes” you as a Fan in Facebook, or subscribes to your blog via RSS, they are giving you permission to speak to them, so make it good.

Be the smart company in this economy who rides out this storm and rises above the rest. Keep marketing in a down economy and when it turns around, you’ll be the one who has their loyalty, trust and a customer for life.

Contact me today for a FREE Social Media Marketing Report!

• Do you know how to use Social Media to get new customers?
• Are you looking for better and easier ways to market your business online?
• Were you aware that Facebook, Twitter and a Blog can help your business be found in Google search when you use your “keywords”?
• Did you know that Social Media is new newest way to network online?

Don’t miss your opportunity to get new customers and get the word out about your business, products, services or fund raising efforts using social media.

If you are in business you need to be using online marketing. If you are not yet using social media marketing or you have created social media accounts in Twitter and Facebook and are saying to yourself… “Now What?”, please email me to receive my FREE Social Media Marketing Report: “Top 5 Reasons Businesses Should Use Social Media Marketing”.

“I don’t have time”… “I don’t know how”…

If you know you need to start using social media but “don’t have time” or “don’t know how” to use these tools, I am here to help with training, consulting or implementation of your social media marketing campaign. I have over 15 years of experience in corporate Direct Marketing and I am trained in social media. I am dedicated to helping businesses add social media marketing to their traditional marketing plan for increased results.

Call or email me today for your FREE report.

And, if you don’t have time to read my free report, call me for a free 1/2 hour consultation via phone or in person (if you live in San Diego, CA) and I’ll tell you why your business MUST be using social media marketing!

Contact Joann Whetstine
Social Media Marketing Consultant
#858-212-8185

joann@howdoimarketmybiz.com

http://www.HowDoIMarketMyBiz.com

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