TwitterToolsReviews |
- New Data: Tweet Lots of Links to Get Followers
- 6 Tips for Finding Prospects on LinkedIn
- Get More Twitter Followers
- How to Customize Your Social Share Buttons for Increased Traffic
| New Data: Tweet Lots of Links to Get Followers Posted: 26 Jan 2014 01:36 AM PST My effort to analytically study the unicorns-and-rainbows myth of "engaging in the conversation" started by looking at the relationship between the number of followers a user has and the percentage of their Tweets that are "@" replies. I found that highly followed users are less conversational than those with few followers. This time, I looked at the relationship between follower count and the percentage of a user's tweets that contain links and are not replies. Using a sample of random, recently active Twitter accounts, I found a strong correlation. As the amount of links a user tweets increases the number of followers they have also increases. And users with more than 1,000 followers tend to tweet many more links than users with fewer than 1,000 followers.
The data is starting to mount to suggest that "engaging in the conversation" is a waste of time from a marketing and reach-building perspective, especially when compared to sharing content. The post New Data: Tweet Lots of Links to Get Followers appeared first on TwitterToolsReviews. |
| 6 Tips for Finding Prospects on LinkedIn Posted: 25 Jan 2014 06:35 PM PST By Melonie Dodaro
Do you want to learn about social selling tactics on LinkedIn? Social selling is the use of social media to discover and connect with new leads and new clients. In this article, you'll discover a 6-step process to find new leads and attract new clients on LinkedIn.  Start social selling on LinkedIn with these 6 simple steps. Image source: iStockphoto #1: Make Your Profile Easy to FindMost of social selling requires an active outreach process. But you can draw prospective clients to you when you optimize your profile with keywords a potential new client might use when seeking out someone with the products or services that you provide. Add strong keywords to the Title and Summary sections of your profile to ensure you show up in search results. Remember that you'll only show up in search results for people in your network. This includes first-, second- and third-level connections, and people who are members of groups you belong to. For this reason it's beneficial to have a larger LinkedIn network rather than keeping it limited to close personal connections. The more connections you have, the more searches you will show up in. That said, try not to treat LinkedIn as a popularity contest, since you're limited to 3000 connection invites. #2: Create Strategic AlliancesNext you'll want to remember to network and build business relationships with peers in your industry. Find professionals who share a target market similar to yours, but don't offer the service you provide. Once you connect with them, consider fostering a reciprocal relationship to generate referrals for each of you.  Before connecting with a prospect, ask yourself “What do I have to offer her?” The third-party credibility you receive will dramatically shorten the sales cycle with prospective clients. #3: 'Search' for OpportunitiesNow you can focus on finding the prospects you want for your business. First, join a few LinkedIn groups to network with a wider audience. Second, use the excellent functionality of Advanced Search to find prospects. You can filter by relationship, groups, location and industry, and the Save Search function even allows you to store effective criteria.  Search by relationship, groups, location and industry. Use the Tags feature in LinkedIn Contacts to sort your results and save profiles of prospects to the Profile Organizer without being connected to them. #4: Carefully Craft Your MessageAfter you identify someone you want to connect with, you'll want to carefully tailor your communication. A great first impression with your prospects on LinkedIn should leave them with an interest in your service and a willingness to continue communication. Approach your prospects with a connection request naturally. Always start by greeting them by name. Be clear and concise in your body paragraph. Give them a reason to click "Accept".  Personalize your connection request and tell them why you want to connect. Personalize your connection request to avoid being flagged as spam. If you're flagged too often, you'll be required to add an email address to each connection request you send. You can also contact your prospects through InMail, which can be purchased by unpaid members. These messages have a very high open and response rate and if the prospect doesn't respond in seven days, the InMail will be credited back to your account. #5: Build the RelationshipOnce your connection request is accepted, develop the relationship through sustained communication. Do you want to build buyer confidence and credibility? Offer your prospect something of value in the form of a helpful article, eBook or other free download. Whatever it is, ensure that it is of clear value so it isn't dismissed as spam or self-serving.  Offer your prospects value with a free download. Depending on your social selling strategy, you can send a follow-up message over the next several weeks. Set up reminders using the LinkedIn Contacts feature. Remember the content of these messages can vary, but you shouldn't include sales materials.  Build your relationships with prospects by offering them something of value. Do you need to organize this process? The Tags, Notes and Reminder features inside LinkedIn can help you. Create a series of tags denoting stages (Lead-1, Lead-2 and Lead-3) to advance prospects as you continue through the process. Store useful information about your contacts in the Notes feature and use the Reminder feature to let you know when your contact should be emailed next so they aren't overlooked.  Keep track of where you are in the social selling process using the Tags, Notes and Reminder features on the profile page. You'll also want to stay up to date on what your contacts are doing on LinkedIn. The Your Day feature highlights the birthdays, business anniversaries and job changes of all of your contacts.  Develop your new and existing relationships on LinkedIn by acknowledging special occasions for prospects using the Your Day feature. Use this information to further your relationships with a comment directly from the Your Day feature or with a personal message. #6: Move Online Connections to Offline ConversationsEventually, you want to move the contacts you've identified as prospects further into a business relationship by moving off the LinkedIn platform into an offline conversation via phone or in person.  Social selling starts online but moves offline to further the relationship. Think about moving the relationship offline after a contact has responded to one of your relationship-building messages. If there's no response after one or two attempts, consider sending one final message that briefly explains how you can solve their "problem." Everyone online has a problem that they are looking to solve and if you can tap into that and provide a solution, you'll convert sales from LinkedIn. Group unresponsive prospects under a tag for dormant contacts. You can continue to reach out to these prospects through the Your Day feature and by actively contributing to common groups they are members of. Over to You Follow these 6 steps to discover and connect with new leads and new clients. Integrated into your business strategy, you're sure to transform your connections into business relationships. Social selling produces better results than cold calling and allows you to easily reach the decision-makers. To be successful, strive to offer value and build credibility. After all, that's what we look for when we do business with people, isn't it? What do you think? Are you using LinkedIn for social selling? What successes have you had? Leave your questions and comments in the box below. Image from iStockPhoto.This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you’re reading it on someone else’s site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php#publishers. Five Filters recommends:
The post 6 Tips for Finding Prospects on LinkedIn appeared first on TwitterToolsReviews. |
| Posted: 25 Jan 2014 12:25 PM PST
For this infographic we decided to tackled our most popular topic here on the blog, how to get more Twitter followers. This is our first infographic here at TwitterToolsBook.com! Speaking of getting more Twitter followers, if that is your goal you might also want to check out our comprehensive blog post 50 Powerful Ways to Get More Twitter Followers. If you want to get Twitter followers fast I also recommend you check out the service Grow my Twitter Network. Enjoy the infographic! Let us know your favorite tip for getting more Twitter followers in the comments below!
Here are the thirty ways to get more Twitter followers from the infographic above. 1. Tell People They Should Follow You On Twitter 2. Tweet Awesome Content 3. Ask Your Followers to Retweet You 4. Reach Out to Your Followers 5. Use #Hashtags in Some of Your Tweets 6. Buy Twitter Followers 7. Retweet Others the Classic Way 8. Unfollow People Who Don't Follow You 9. Email Your Contacts and ask Them to Follow You 10. Link to Your Twitter Name in Your Email Signature 11. Participate in Trending Topics 12. Follow Highly Relevant People 13. Engage with Twitter Giants 14. Use a Tweet Button in Your Blog Posts 15. Tweet Often 16. Interact With Others 17. Install a Twitter Follow Button 18. Add Yourself to Twitter Directories 19. Install a Twitter Widget into Your Website 20. Link it Up 21. Write a Guest Post 22. Participate in #FollowFriday 23. Do Podcasts 24. Host a Webinar 25. Put Your Twitter Name on Your Business Card 26. Host a Tweetup 27. Do a Radio Interview 28. Offer "Follower Only" Exclusive Specials 29. Give Away a Free eBook 30. Give Away a Free eCourse… …speaking of eCourses You Should Discover Powerful Twitter Tips and Twitter Tools in our FREE: Twitter Tips eCourse. The post Get More Twitter Followers appeared first on GrowYourTwitterNetwork. The post Get More Twitter Followers appeared first on TwitterToolsReviews. |
| How to Customize Your Social Share Buttons for Increased Traffic Posted: 25 Jan 2014 05:45 AM PST By Angie Pascale
Do they auto-populate with information that makes your brand look good on social networks? To maximize the benefits of social sharing on your website, you need to make sure your social share buttons contain customized messaging that's easy for your readers to use and benefits your brand. In this article, I'll focus on how to optimize the top social share buttons for your website. What's an Optimized Share Button?An optimized share button automatically generates a sharable message with custom information for your brand. Here's an example of a social share button tweet that's not optimized with custom information.  Here's an example of a tweet that has not been customized. While the product ID number shows in the URL, the tweet is missing the brand's Twitter handle and hashtags. Including these items would help the brand increase followers, reach and engagement. Here's an example of a social share button tweet that's optimized to auto-populate with the brand's Twitter handle.  This tweet has been customized to display the product name and color number within the URL, and includes the brand's Twitter handle. Notice the additional information included thanks to the customized URL in the tweet above. Customized share buttons let your readers share useful information and help you control brand messaging at the same time. Installing Social Share ButtonsEach social channel handles share buttons differently and allows for various levels of customization. All channels offer options for look and feel, size, share count, connection annotations and what metadata is automatically pulled through the widget. Below, I cover share buttons for Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, Pinterest, Facebook and email. I'll explain which buttons let you add your username or include hashtags; how URLs, images and page summaries are rendered; and how to best install and customize each button. If you have a basic familiarity with HTML, the buttons are relatively easy to install. You can also send this to the person who does your technical web support. #1: Twitter Share ButtonHave you ever wanted to retweet something from someone you wanted to network with, but couldn't find his or her Twitter handle in the automated tweet? Did you look for a Twitter handle to include in the retweet? Or did you abandon your networking endeavors? In the example below, the Tweet button on ModCloth's blog automatically pulls through the blog title, a custom shortened URL and their Twitter handle.  This is an example of a tweet from a customized Tweet button.  Here's how the message looks when tweeted. Here's how you can customize the Twitter Share button: Step 1: Go to Twitter Buttons and select the "Share a link" button you like best. Complete the form fields in Options and make sure to include your Twitter username in the Via and/or Recommend section. Select "Use the page URL" for share URL and "Use the title of the page" for tweet text.  Customize your Twitter Share button with your Twitter handle and any relevant hashtags. Step 2: Click the Tweet button to preview how your tweets will display.  Preview the auto-populated message to see how it looks with your customizations. Step 3: When you're satisfied with how the tweet looks, copy and paste the code into the HTML for your site in the location you'd like the button to display. Save the change to your site and you have a customized Tweet button. #2: Google +1 ButtonThe Google +1 button attributes include the page title, URL, image and recommendations.  Simple's Google +1 buttons automatically pull through article titles and images. You can also select from advanced options, including how the +1 button loads, to better fit the needs of your website. For example, select Asynchronous JavaScript loading to improve page load time by allowing the browser to load the page and the +1 button code at the same time. Google+ pulls information to auto-populate in one of four ways, in this order: To ensure the best rendering of the share message and create the most eye-catching message, I recommend you implement both Schema and Open Graph on your site. Visit the Google Developers page and follow the instructions below to customize your Google+ button. Step 1: Select the desired button size, annotation format (meaning where the share count displays) and width.  Customize the size and format of your Google +1 button. Step 2: Select the appropriate advanced options.  Advanced Google +1 button options allow you to choose how the button loads on the page, impacting render time. Step 3: Now that you've formatted your button, click "Want to customize your snippet?" below the preview and code to customize the share message.  Here's where you can customize the message that is auto-populated for the Google +1 button. Step 4: Copy the snippet code and the button code from step 2, and paste them where you want the button to appear.  Preview the share button and copy your code here. Just like that, you have an optimized Google+ button on your site. #3: LinkedIn Share ButtonLinkedIn's Share button is more basic than those for other social media networks. And it isn't for every brand, but should be included if you deliver B2B content. The LinkedIn Share button not only pulls through your title, description and image from the page, it also lets users edit the post.  The target audience for American Express's Open Forum blog is entrepreneurs and SMB owners; therefore, it makes sense that LinkedIn is the first button in their share options. To install the LinkedIn Share button, visit the LinkedIn Share Button generator and follow instructions below. Step 1: Leave the URL to be shared blank and it will default to pulling the current page. Select how you want the share count to display.  Select your preferred format for the LinkedIn Share button. Step 2: Preview your button. If you're satisfied, click "Get Code," then copy and paste it where you want the button to display.  Copy the code generated for your LinkedIn Share button. That's it! Your optimized LinkedIn Share button is ready to go to work. #4: Pinterest Pin It ButtonBecause Pinterest is image-based, the Pin It button only works on pages that include an image. The Pin It button ignores any background images in your CSS and pulls any content within <img> tags that are at least 80×80 pixels. If your page has multiple images, they are listed in the order in which they are specified in the HTML file.  Fab.com coded their Pin It buttons to automatically show their brand name in the pin description. Pin It buttons require a bit more advanced coding than other sharing buttons. Don't be afraid to check with your web developer to make sure you're using the correct URL, image and description. When you're ready to build your button, visit the Pinterest Widget builder to get started. #5: Facebook Share ButtonFacebook offers two types of buttons: Facebook Like and Facebook Share. Both buttons allow users to share your content on Facebook and create a story on their news feed. The difference is in how the news feed stories display and how much control the user has in crafting that story. While both buttons allow users to add a comment and tag friends, the Facebook Like button doesn't allow them to edit the headline, description or thumbnail image.  Here's a Facebook Like button dialog box. Note that you're unable to choose the thumbnail image or edit the title or description. The Facebook Share button lets users make these changes. That means more exposure and engagement for you because the reader can personalize the post for their audience.  In this image you can see how the Facebook Share button allows the user to edit the description (highlighted in blue). For this reason, I recommend you create a customized Facebook Share button for your website. Follow these step-by-step instructions to add Facebook Share buttons to your site: Step 1: Leave the URL field blank, as this will default to sharing the page that the button lives on. Enter the width that makes sense for your page design. Then choose from six different layouts that combine different designs and share count displays. I recommend you use a version with share count to increase sharing—if readers see that others have shared something, they're more likely to share it themselves.  Customize and preview the Facebook Share button.  Choose from six different layout options for the Facebook Share button. Step 2: Click "Get Code" and choose between HTML5 and XFBML (iFrame and URL do not work with the Share button).  Copy the code that Facebook generates for your Share button. Step 3: Copy and paste the code where you want the button to appear on the page. Step 4: Include the proper Open Graph (OG) tags in your page to allow for more appealing share messages. The basic OG tags to use are title, site_name, URL, description, image and app_id (this tells Facebook what the site is and allows Insights to work). An OG tag for a page title looks like this: <meta property="og:title" content="This is the Title of the Page"/> Depending on your business's industry and the type of content being shared, you can also include other OG tags like media type (this defaults to the website if no media type is specified), locale, author and publisher. It may seem complicated, but know that OG is just meta-tags and your web developer should be familiar with them. Learn more about Facebook Open Graph. Once the code is copied and saved to your site, the Facebook Share button is installed. #6: Email This ButtonTrue, email is not considered a social media network. However, according to research by The Atlantic, emails, instant messages and other "dark social" channels account for 69% of the sharing that occurs online. These objects are considered "dark social" because they're untrackable through Google Analytics as people typically copy and paste a direct link, which shows as direct traffic in analytics. Email buttons differ based on whether you're using HTML, CSS or another programming language. Regardless of which language was used to build your site, make sure the title pulls through as the email subject line, and the URL renders correctly in the body copy so that the recipient can easily click on the link to visit the source from any email platform and device. Work on your own or with a designer to develop a button that matches the look and feel of your site. Then add this code, which will open up the user's default email client and create a new message: How to Measure and Enhance PerformanceGoogle Analytics shows activity on these buttons within the Social Plugins section. You can also use Event Tracking to see how many users click on each social share button. Keep an eye on the volume of shares for each button. If you find that one button isn't generating any shares, your audience simply may not use that social media channel. Consider removing the button to make room for others that perform well. Conclusion Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn and Pinterest are arguably the top 5 social networks today. While you should make it easy for your readers to share your content on these networks, you should also make it a priority to control how your content looks when it's shared. Take advantage of the custom attributes each platform's share button provides to help ensure that your brand messaging stays intact when your content is shared. What do you think? How do you use social sharing on your site? Which buttons have you seen the most success with? Share your experiences in the comments below. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you’re reading it on someone else’s site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php#publishers. The post How to Customize Your Social Share Buttons for Increased Traffic appeared first on TwitterToolsReviews. |
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