TwitterToolsReviews |
- How to Encourage Google+ Fans to Share Your Content
- Snapchat for Business: How Your Marketing Can Benefit From Photo Messaging
- 6 Facebook Marketing Tips for Managing Your Facebook Page
- 5 Ways to Blog From Your Mobile Device
- Nominate Your Favorite Social Media Blog: 5th Annual Top 10 Social Media Blog Contest
- How to Increase Your Social Media Following by Over 700%
- 5 Ways Businesses Are Using Visual Storytelling on Facebook
- 6 WordPress Plugins That Ensure Your Posts Look Good When Shared on Social Media
- 10 golden rules of twitter
- 5 Ways to Prepare Your Facebook Page for the Holidays
| How to Encourage Google+ Fans to Share Your Content Posted: 20 Feb 2014 03:00 AM PST By Martin Shervington
Do you want to find Google+ fans who love what you do and will share it with others? When people share your stories, campaigns or products with their friends, they're giving it their stamp of approval and their friends take notice. This word-of-mouth marketing is invaluable, but how do you find these super-fans? In this article, I'll show you how to use Google+ to find the evangelists who want to tell the world about you. How Do You Find Your Best Fans?As a marketer, you want to find people who engage with your message and amplify it, spreading it on to others. These loyal fans, your brand evangelists, fall in love with your company and tell the world. Google+ can help you find and engage with your evangelists, and lead you to a wider pool of potential clients. The process includes finding potential candidates, seeing which of those actually engage with your campaigns, and finally, those who share your campaigns with others (your true evangelists). Prepare for Your Search Before you start your search, create three empty Google+ circles to help you keep track of your evangelist candidates.
 Name your circles. Tip: Add these circles to the beginning of your Circles page so they'll appear on your home stream navigation bar. When you add people to each circle, you can click and access their content from the bar.  Change the order of your circles on the home stream navigation bar. Now that your circles are in place, it's time to start vetting your evangelist candidates. Below I explain how the process works. #1: Search Google+ for Potential CandidatesTo begin, you need to search for people who are talking about your brand, product, topic, etc. The first 100 people you find probably won't all be true candidates, so you want to cast a wide net. Try to build a pool of around 200 people for your potential candidates circle. Start by searching within Google+ for content. Use hashtags or keywords that are related to your business, brand or niche. For example, search for the hashtag #socialmedia. You can filter your search, including search options, under the More tab.  Search to find out who's talking about your topic or business. The search results will show the hashtag you searched for, as well as related hashtags. You can click on the hashtag(s) to flip the card and find more related content posted by other Google+ users.  Click on the hashtag to flip the card over to find more prospective evangelists. After you flip the card, scroll through the results and review the level of engagement on each person's post to get an indication of their influence. When you find a candidate whose post has a reasonable amount of engagement, click on the arrow in the upper-right corner of the card and choose View Ripples at the bottom of the list.  Click the upper-right corner to find the menu. Ripples are a visual representation of the public shares a user's link has generated. The larger the circle of a sharer, the more relative influence he or she has. Browse through the ripples on other people's content to find the influencers for your niche.  Ripples give you an idea who the influencers are for that content. Tip: Don't forget to look at your competitors' pages. If they have the Who Has Them in Circles feature showing, take a look and see which of their audience members may fit into your potential candidates circle, then check them out.
Any time you find someone you want to add to your potential candidates circle, hover over their name to bring up your Circles menu, then choose which circle to put them in. For our purposes, put them in your potential candidates circle.  Add people who seem to be influencing others with outward ripples. When you add people to your potential candidates circle, don't wait to start interacting with them. View some of the posts they've shared, then comment on the most relevant one. Introduce yourself and if they've been talking about your brand, thank them. Another place to continue your hunt for candidates is Google+ communities. Most communities allow you to join immediately and once you click in to look around, you'll find more people and content to review.  Check out relevant communities to find more people to add to your potential candidate circle. #2: Mine Google Search for Additional CandidatesNow that you know who's sharing or mentioning your brand on Google+, it's time to broaden your search, literally. Go to Google search and run a few typical queries you'd expect from your customers. The results will show people who write on the subjects that align with your brand. Tip: Make sure you open up a private/incognito window if you want non-personalized search results. In the search results, thanks to Google authorship, you'll find people's Google+ information next to their content. Generally, you want to look for writers who have been circled by a large number of people.  Click on the author's circles in the byline to see his or her Google+ profile. Click through to the author's Google+ profile to ensure that engagement levels (+1s, comments and shares) match his or her reach. If the numbers measure up, add the person to your potential candidates circle. #3: Engage With Your CandidatesDon't assume people will just come to you because you're awesome. You need to proactively engage with your candidates so they'll know you exist. To get started, click your potential candidates circle to see members' content, then start giving +1s, commenting and sharing. Do this often, especially when you're starting off, to put your content on your candidates' radar. Once you engage with your candidates' content, they'll likely engage with yours and start to connect with you. As they share your content, they spread your message—otherwise known as evangelizing. You'll soon be able to see who is engaging with you the most. Move the most active candidates to your people who engage circle. Tip: This is also a good time to do a little more candidate prospecting. After you move someone to the people who engage circle, check his or her ripples again to see if you can find someone new to add to your potential candidates circle. #4: Send a Special Offer and Opt-In Through a Private EmailAs a final vetting step, send candidates in your people who engage circle a special offer with the opportunity to opt-in. This step lets you see who is really interested in your brand and is a true evangelist candidate. When you send an offer by email, respect the relationship you are building. Create an offer that fills the unique needs of the users in your people who engage circle. Think beyond discounts. Maybe host a Google hangout and give your prospects early or exclusive access to new content as incentive to attend. Whatever your offer, make sure it's special enough that your recipients don't feel like you're being spammy by getting in touch through email.  By clicking the box at the bottom, candidates will receive an email notification. This is key! In the same email, invite people to opt into your mailing list to receive notifications when you have something amazing to talk to them about. The candidates who take advantage of the Google hangout are definitely good prospects, but those who opt into your email list are your targets. Even if only 30 people out of 100 opt in, you now know who your real evangelists are. Move everyone who opts in over to the my 100 brand evangelists circle. From now on, when you share on Google+, notify your evangelist circle. They in turn will engage and spread the message to their own networks. You may need to go through this process a few times until you find 100 evangelists, but it's worth it. Word-of-mouth marketing and the partnerships it creates are an important foundation for the rest of your social marketing. Build your list of 100 brand evangelists. Follow these steps to find the influential people who will spread the word about what you have to share. It takes time and effort to find your brand evangelists, but once you have, you're well on the way to building a stronger community around your brand. Working with people who truly love your brand and want to share it with their own friends and audience will transform your experience on Google+, and may lead to a lift in Google search. What do you think? Have you found evangelists on Google+? How have you worked with them to leverage brand awareness? Leave your questions and 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 Encourage Google+ Fans to Share Your Content appeared first on Make Money Online With Twitter Marketing. |
| Snapchat for Business: How Your Marketing Can Benefit From Photo Messaging Posted: 19 Feb 2014 10:23 PM PST By Eric Sornoso
Do you want to deliver time-sensitive offers to your customers? Wondering how SnapChat could help your business? It's no secret that mobile is the new black: most people rely on their phone or tablet to access information. In this article, you'll discover 5 ways brands can add Snapchat to their mobile marketing strategy. How Snapchat WorksIf your target audience is age 13-25, Snapchat may be the answer you're looking for. It's a popular mobile app—it logs over 400 million messages every day—that shares photos and videos that disappear after a short time. First, let me explain how Snapchat works. A Snapchat picture, or snap, is only available for a set time limit, from 1 to 10 seconds, once the user opens it. However, the new Snapchat Stories feature allows items to be available for up to 24 hours. The limited lifespan makes Snapchat the perfect tool to deliver a call to action that creates excitement and a sense of urgency.  Open the app, then to take a snap, tap the center button once. For video, press and hold the center button for as long as you want the video to record. Ready to get down to business? Here are five creative ways you can leverage Snapchat to promote your own business. I'm including a few brand examples to get your creative juices flowing. #1: Reward Current Customers With Mobile CouponsBecause Snapchat is ubiquitous with its young target market, it allows brands to deliver offers and coupons in a matter of seconds. Coupon snaps not only reward customers, they provide incentive to bring them back for more. 16 Handles, a frozen yogurt chain, uses Snapchat to send discount coupon codes to customers who send them snaps of themselves or friends eating 16 Handles frozen yogurt. The discounts range from 5% to 100% and recipients redeem the coupon by showing the cashier the code. Within a few days of beginning their Snapchat campaign, 16 Handles had exchanged more than 1,400 images with users, and built a user list to which they could send future promotional material.  16 Handles uses Snapchat to send mobile discount coupons. #2: Gain New Followers With a GiveawayIn the same way coupons can retain customers, giveaways put you in touch with new ones and generate leads. The giveaway incentive helps you build a follower base that receives future giveaway offers and coupon codes. You can use a giveaway to encourage fans from other social platforms, including your website, to add your brand on Snapchat and get their friends to add you as well. You can track your new subscribers with a simple hashtag that reinforces your brand. In June, sports ticket provider Chat Sports used Snapchat to offer their community a chance to win tickets to a game. To enter, users had to have five friends add Chat Sports on Snapchat. Then those friends had to send a unique image to Chat Sports with the username of the fan who wanted to win the tickets and the hashtag #gimmietickets. The result was 150 responses in 48 hours.  One fan's submission to Chat Sports to win free tickets. #3: Take People Behind the ScenesSnapchat recently added a Stories feature that lets brands send out a combination of images and 5-second videos to tell a story. If you have a lot of fun behind-the-scenes footage, offer your followers a taste with a story. At the end of the story, include a teaser and send fans to your website or YouTube channel. The New Orleans Saints use this feature to its full potential by regularly sending out stories that include behind-the-scenes footage, a look at kits for the game and images of new Saints products.  The New Orleans Saints keep their fans involved in what they do. #4: Preview a New ProductSneak peeks on Snapchat are one way to build customer loyalty and buzz around a new product before it even hits the shelves. Your brand's snaps could include a string of teasers leading up to the product launch. When you send out an image of your new product, treat your community like personal friends rather than customers. Taco Bell wanted a friendly and convenient way to reach their customers with information about the new Beefy Crunch Burrito. Snapchat fit their needs perfectly because it's popular with their target market.  Taco Bell uses Snapchat to let current fans know about new products first. #5: Tell Customers About Holiday Sales and EventsSnaps of a holiday greeting or invitation are great ways to keep your brand top of mind with customers during any holiday season. Use snaps to promote your brand or products to customers long before they decide to shop. But you don't have to wait for the major holidays. Every month comes with lesser-known celebrations like International Talk Like a Pirate Day or Chocolate Milkshake Day—prime opportunities to engage your fans in a new and interesting way. Karmaloop, an online streetwear retailer, sent snaps to customers after Thanksgiving and included coupon codes for their online store. Using Snapchat let them reach their target customers without spending a lot of money on advertising.  Customers love holiday greetings with an online coupon. Consider using Snapchat to reach a young customer base. It can be hard to engage a younger audience like the age 13-25 demographic. Snapchat gives you inexpensive access to them, and done right, Snapchat can fit seamlessly into your mobile strategy and have a high ROI. What do you think? How are you using Snapchat? Let us know your experience and thoughts 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 Snapchat for Business: How Your Marketing Can Benefit From Photo Messaging appeared first on Make Money Online With Twitter Marketing. |
| 6 Facebook Marketing Tips for Managing Your Facebook Page Posted: 19 Feb 2014 03:40 PM PST By Jim Belosic
Or are you overwhelmed with all of the Facebook tactics you read about? No matter how long you've had a Facebook page, it's good to review some of the basics for creating a page for your business. This article includes six simple tips that will make you a more effective admin and make your page more professional starting today. #1: Check Your Wall-posting PreferencesDoes your page get a lot of, ahem, critical commentary on its timeline? Or maybe just more than you have time to deal with easily? If so, it might be time to set your page's Posting Ability tab so that only your page admins can post. Here's how: Choose Edit Page from your Admin panel. Then choose Edit Settings.  You can add/remove admins directly from the Admin panel. From there, edit the Posting Ability tab and decide if you want everyone to be able to post on your page, or if you want to allow only your page admins to post.  You can adjust the posting ability to fit your page's needs. While I normally advocate allowing open access to a page, and even leaving negative posts up so your customers and future customers can see how you deal with criticism, for some businesses it's just simpler to let people message you privately if they have an issue. Setting to "Posts by Page Only" also prevents Facebook users from spamming you.  You're able to choose to allow everyone to post to your page or limit posting. #2: Use Insights to Determine What's Working for Your PageThere are two basic types of Facebook page admins: Those who post based on hunches as to what motivates engagement, and those who look at Facebook's Insights to see what actually drives engagement. Checking Facebook Insights will help you give your fans what they want. For example, if you notice that the posts with images have better reach and engagement than those that are text only, try removing the images to see what happens. Since Facebook is always messing with EdgeRank, it can seem like just when you have figured out the formula for engagement, something changes. Checking Insights will help you stay on track, no matter what algorithmic changes Facebook throws your way. A few months back, Facebook did a complete overhaul of Facebook Insights and Jon Loomer wrote a nice article for Social Media Examiner that walks you through the latest features.  Facebook Insights provide valuable information about the actions of your fans that can enhance your Facebook presence. #3: Assign Admin RolesFacebook allows five different administrator roles: manager, content creator, moderator, advertiser and insights analyst. Each role has different capabilities—only managers have the ability to change each admin's role. Facebook makes all admins managers by default.  Each admin level has different capabilities for a Facebook page. You can have as many admins on a page as you want. To add an admin, go to Edit Page on your timeline and then click Admin Roles. Scroll down and select Add Another Admin. Note: To make someone an admin of your page, the person must have liked the page. To prevent conflict among your employees and before you assign your Facebook page's admin roles, establish some company-wide guidelines. Some things to consider:
 Adding new admins is easy as long as the person has liked your page. #4: Choose Your Featured LikesLiking other business pages helps you build connections (and when they reciprocate, gives you added exposure), but you might not want certain pages to be among the first things visitors to your page see. Luckily, you can control which of the pages you've liked appear on your timeline. Five of these likes are displayed at any one time, and the five that appear randomly change each time the visitor to your page refreshes—unless you edit which pages appear. Why would you want to do this? You might want to feature pages that are related to your business. Or perhaps you want to feature pages that you think will be relevant to your readers. (If you pick more than five, they will rotate randomly.) To choose featured likes, go to your Admin panel, choose Edit Page, then Edit Settings. Next, click More and then select Featured. From there you can edit your featured likes.  Try choosing featured pages that are relevant to your business that you think your fans would like. #5: Bookmark Facebook's Page Guidelines and Reacquaint Yourself With What's Changed RecentlyFacebook changes its terms of service…often. And unless you follow the company's blog or frequently check their Page Guidelines, it can be difficult to keep track of what's allowed—or not—during a given month. Of course reading social media blogs like Social Media Examiner will help you stay in the know, but page admins should still bookmark Facebook's Page Guidelines and read the document at least once a quarter.  The constant changes of Facebook's Page Guidelines require businesses to read and reference them often. #6: Use Facebook as a Page Instead of as YourselfChances are if you're the admin of a page, you simply head over to your business page and when you comment or post, you act as the business. But did you know that you can actually change your profile so that you are on Facebook as a page and not just as a personal profile acting as an admin on the page? Why would you want to do this? If you happen to own or work for a B2B company, it's a good way to build alliances with other businesses that are in your same industry (but aren't competitors). Let's say you own a restaurant. You'd want to interact with hotels nearby so that when people check out the hotel's page, they see your (positive and helpful) comments and are motivated to check out your business. Of course there's a fine line—you don't want to post too often or be so complimentary that your posts appear insincere, spammy or otherwise annoying. But posting as a page is a great way to network with similar businesses and leverage the marketing power of Facebook. To act as a page on Facebook, click on the Settings icon in the top right corner of your Facebook profile and you'll see an option to "Use Facebook as" with a list of the pages for which you're an admin. When you choose to "Use Facebook as a Page," you are able not only to post and comment as that page, but also your news feed contains the updates from the businesses your page follows instead of your personal friends and page likes.  Using Facebook as a page offers a variety of benefits to B2B companies. Hope you find these tips helpful as you look for new ways to invigorate your Facebook presence! What do you think? Do you have any Facebook tips to share? Please share your 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 6 Facebook Marketing Tips for Managing Your Facebook Page appeared first on Make Money Online With Twitter Marketing. |
| 5 Ways to Blog From Your Mobile Device Posted: 19 Feb 2014 09:06 AM PST By Brian Milne
Would you like to have the ability to blog from your mobile device? In this article, I'll show you what you need to run your blog from your mobile device. Why Blog From a Mobile Device? OK, so you're not going to build a robust blog entirely on mobile. But once you've launched your blog using a platform like WordPress, a computer is no longer required to continue posting, engaging and building your brand online. In today's mobile, 140-character world, more readers prefer their content in bite-sized chunks—which makes quick-hit and multimedia posts from a mobile device ideal in some cases. "Every day you have to be communicating; that's the important thing," said rock star video blogger Gary Vaynerchuk, when asked what today's businesses are lacking online. "Long-form blogging was the big thing in years back. Microblogging is now the big thing. It's changed the dynamics a bit." And microblogging doesn't have to be just a Twitter thing. Many new WordPress themes have custom content types baked into the editor and design for short blurbs, photos and even asides. In fact, a standardized list of these "short-form" post formats has been recognized since WordPress 3.1, and bloggers can now customize their themes around these specific, shorter-than-normal posts. That standard list of post formats includes Aside, Audio, Chat, Gallery, Link, Quote, Status and Video.  WordPress makes it easy to publish short-form content with those callouts on the content management side of things. It's encouraging Google and other search engines to become more flexible when it comes to ranking quality content, no matter how many words the body area contains. You'd be hard-pressed nowadays to find any official Google documentation that suggests minimum word counts for blog posts. As long as you do your best to create unique, resourceful content that provides value to search results, you're going to rank well in search. That, combined with the unprecedented adoption of mobile, makes posting to a blog from a mobile device easier and more valuable than ever. This means bloggers no longer have to remain chained to a desktop to stand out online. #1: Mobile Blogging AppsIn the mobile world, "note"-worthy apps such as Evernote get a lot of the attention. And while cloud-based note-taking apps are a huge leap forward in terms of mobile content development, I prefer to cut out the middleware and publish straight from the app I'm writing in. With that approach in mind, my top three mobile blogging apps right now are:
But you don't even need an app to push quality mobile content to your blog. Read more below. #2: Mobile Blogging by EmailOne of my favorite mobile blogging approaches is to send posts to my site via email. With some tweaks to your admin settings, you can publish via email to your WordPress blog. WordPress gives you a unique address to email posts to, so be sure to keep that email address secret to avoid spam hitting your site. In terms of posting, the title of the post goes in your email subject line; the body text goes in the body of the email.  Post a blog by email from your mobile device. Hit Send, and your post will get published as soon as the email hits your web server. #3: Photo Blogging With FlickrWhile emailing posts can be convenient, attaching and getting multimedia to display properly on your blog can be challenging. That's where a photo portfolio site like Flickr can come in handy, allowing you to kill two birds with one email send: double-publishing mobile photos to a photo-sharing service like Flickr, as well as to your own blog. The Flickr publish-by-email feature is great for review posts, where photos often carry the post.  Use Flickr to publish photos from your mobile device to your blog. And if you use an automated feed service such as Feedburner to syndicate your blog to your social networks, those six keystrokes can also generate a tweet and Facebook post that spread the word and kick off the link-building process for you automagically. All in 30 seconds or less! #4: Video Blogging via MobileVideo blogging isn't quite as quick as photo blogging via mobile, because it takes more time to process videos, but it's become a lot easier thanks to the evolution of WordPress and YouTube. As we know, the WordPress app allows video uploads straight from your phone, but did you know WordPress allows you to embed a YouTube video by simply pasting the YouTube URL into your blog editor? That means a video blog can be published via mobile in these easy steps:
A local surf shop recently followed this model, and was able to shoot and publish a viral Surfing Sasquatch video and photo gallery all in the same day using nothing more than iPhones and an iPad. They also edited the video on their iPad equipped with iMovie, which is another great, easy-to-use video editing app worth picking up.
#5: Event BloggingCoveritLive allows multiple bloggers to collaborate on a live blog from anywhere in the world. You can even post to the live blog via Twitter; again, killing two birds with one iPhone. Using my iPhone, I was even able to live blog while kayaking San Francisco's McCovey Cove during the 2012 World Series. That's right, blogging while kayaking—at night—at the World Series; something that would have been unfathomable prior to the advent of the smartphone.  Blogging from a mobile device opens new possibilities today. And because I was one of the only sportswriters who paddled out into the cove for Game 2, my live blog was picked up by everyone from Deadspin to the Detroit Free Press and was one of my most popular posts ever. Conclusion As you can see, today you can build a blog via your mobile device. Use these tips to build a blog where you only share short-form content, or to add short-form content to keep your business blog active while you are away from your desk. Keep in mind that these mobile blogging options may help you publish content faster than your competition or larger mainstream sites. For example, this can help you be the first to cover breaking news at events and increase your visibility within your industry. What do you think? Have you used your mobile device to blog? What have been your challenges and successes? Please share your 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 5 Ways to Blog From Your Mobile Device appeared first on Make Money Online With Twitter Marketing. |
| Nominate Your Favorite Social Media Blog: 5th Annual Top 10 Social Media Blog Contest Posted: 19 Feb 2014 09:06 AM PST By Cindy King
We are looking for your nomination for the Top 10 Social Media Blogs. The winners will be promoted in our 230,000-reader newsletter and announced on Social Media Examiner. How to NominatePlease make a single nomination of your favorite social media blog by commenting below and including why you like the blog (only your first nomination counts). Be sure to include a link to the blog. To be considered, a blog must be nominated by multiple people. Make your nomination by January 6th, 2014. The judges: Our judges include Lee Odden (author of Optimize: How to Attract and Engage More Customers by Integrating SEO, Social Media and Content Marketing and CEO of TopRank Online Marketing), Denise Wakeman (founder of The Blog Squad™) and Neal Schaffer (author of three books, including Maximizing LinkedIn for Sales and Social Media Marketing). Judges' blogs are not eligible.
Winners will be selected based on the quality of their content, the frequency of their posts, reader involvement and their blog's ranking (in that order). Think part readers' choice and part Oscars.
Note that our judges will decide the final winners. Go ahead and enter your nomination right now in the box below and be sure to let your friends know about this contest.  Cindy King is the director of editorial for Social Media Examiner. She spent 25 years abroad in international business development and then built her own international business from scratch by using social business networking. Other posts by Cindy King » 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 Nominate Your Favorite Social Media Blog: 5th Annual Top 10 Social Media Blog Contest appeared first on Make Money Online With Twitter Marketing. |
| How to Increase Your Social Media Following by Over 700% Posted: 19 Feb 2014 03:00 AM PST By Louise Julig
Are you dealing with limited resources? Then you'll want to study what Microsoft Dynamics did. How is a giant like Microsoft the same as everybody else when it comes to social media marketing? They have the same challenges as any company. They have to figure out:
And even though they're Microsoft, they still have limited resources to do it all. So how does Microsoft do social media? They start by trial and error, and then see what works and what needs changing. Sound familiar? Over the past two years, Microsoft Dynamics, a business group of Microsoft, pruned their social channels by half, but now reaches more customers. I spoke with Kelly Rigotti, senior marketing communication manager of social media for Microsoft Dynamics, to learn how they did it.  Microsoft Dynamics uses Vine videos as visual elements in their Twitter stream. Social Media Handles and Stats Highlights
#1: Who's in Charge of Social?Before Rigotti was hired two years ago at Microsoft Dynamics, they had over 40 social media accounts and blogs spread over multiple platforms. A lot of people had social media as part of their job. But no single person was responsible for it as a whole. Rigotti sees the way things evolved at Microsoft Dynamics as similar to what happens at many companies. "Nobody would dream of going off and doing his or her own website," she said. "You don't go off and do your own advertising campaign." But teams would start their own social channels because it was so easy. "Somebody would hear about something new, like a blog, and get the okay from their manager to start it," she said. But the company realized they needed to start thinking strategically about social media. They created a new position and hired Rigotti, who had consulted for them previously. Her sole responsibility would be to manage social media.  Microsoft Dynamics started looking at social accounts strategically.  Microsoft Dynamics pared social accounts and groups to 23 from over 40. #2: Storytelling vs. Talking About ProductsRigotti's hiring coincided with a shift in marketing strategy for Microsoft as a whole. She characterizes it as a storytelling approach vs. a product-centered approach. "We wanted to start talking to customers about what their needs are as opposed to what our products are," she said. Instead of talking about individual products, they would listen to their customers and then show how they could help them do their jobs better.  Microsoft Dynamics shifted to addressing customer concerns with their social updates. Many of the existing social accounts had been started by product specialists and had a product-centered approach. The shift meant these accounts would need to be cut, tweaked, repurposed or updated. This required a diplomatic approach on Rigotti's part. But first she needed to track down and evaluate what they had. #3: Selling the Idea InternallyShe searched to find all of the Twitter accounts, Facebook pages and other social accounts containing "Microsoft Dynamics" and figure out who owned them. At the same time, she and her team of two were developing the messaging and talking to the people managing the accounts. Since they would need to give control over to Rigotti and her team, she made special effort to bring everyone on board with the idea. "We were not saying, 'Thanks for your two years of work, but that doesn't matter anymore,'" Rigotti explained. Instead she touted the benefits of letting her team take over the time-consuming tactical aspects of social media. "You share your expertise with me and I'll make sure we grow the audience for that content," was her message. It wasn't always an easy sell. "People are really rational when they see you're not abandoning something, but instead bringing things together," she added. By the end of the first year, Rigotti's team had pruned their social media accounts to four platforms, focusing on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and YouTube. Rigotti said she is often in the role of traffic cop, tracking down unofficial accounts that still pop up. "It's a constant effort through education and communication," she said. But she explains the reason for curbing additional accounts this way: "We always ask, 'Can we reach an audience with this account that we can't reach on our other channels?'" #4: Content + ConnectionsThe company has a range of audiences, including end users, purchasers and solution partners in each of five priority industries. "We don't have specific social media communities for each one of those audiences," said Rigotti. So how do they reach more people with fewer social accounts? They think about what ties all these audiences together. "We asked, 'What's the story we can tell that will appeal to as many of these people as possible?'" Rigotti said. The message they developed was that the technology you use makes a difference in the way you work. That story is the common thread they use in all their content on all their social media channels.  Even when talking about products, the focus is on solutions, not features. For content, Rigotti and her team rely on product and industry specialists, such as manufacturing industry experts who know what that audience cares about. Then they think about how they can socialize that information. About 30 people contribute content as determined by an editorial calendar. "It's all about great content and great connections," Rigotti said. #5: Evaluating ResultsThe link between social media and product sales at Microsoft Dynamics is not direct, because end users typically purchase through a solution provider. To evaluate social media activity, Rigotti said they approach it similarly to PR. The focus is on awareness and engagement. They use the enterprise social media management program Sprinklr to track metrics such as reach, hashtag use, etc., and NetBreeze, which Microsoft Dynamics acquired in 2013, to track sentiment and mentions. Though their measurement data is proprietary, Rigotti noted that they are getting great visibility with LinkedIn. Up to 75% of followers are seeing content from their LinkedIn showcase page. That translates to over a million followers getting their updates. Their main Twitter account was started from scratch in 2012 and has grown to over 13,000 followers to date. Facebook and YouTube followers have grown to 10 times and 8 times their previous numbers, respectively, since mid-2012.  The Microsoft Dynamics Twitter account, new since 2012, has an engaged follower base. Rigotti stresses that whatever metrics you evaluate, the most important thing is to be consistent over the long-term. Looking at a snapshot of data or a small sampling of posts won't tell you much. Pick something to measure and evaluate it over time. "Even if [the criteria] are not the most accurate, we can measure over time to see progress," she said. What do you think? Is your company overextended on social media? Could you benefit by pruning your accounts and focusing on storytelling to your core audience? Include your comments and questions 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 Increase Your Social Media Following by Over 700% appeared first on Make Money Online With Twitter Marketing. |
| 5 Ways Businesses Are Using Visual Storytelling on Facebook Posted: 18 Feb 2014 03:00 AM PST By Ekaterina Walter
Do you have a great story to tell, but you're not sure how to share it? Every company has a story to tell. It could be anything from brand history to internal innovation to fun customer feedback. Unfortunately, few businesses share their stories effectively on Facebook. In this article I'll show you five imaginative ways brands are using pictures to tell compelling stories that generate engagement on Facebook. Why Tell a Visual Story?A picture is worth a thousand words. It's a cliché for a reason. When you're scrolling through the news feed, what catches your eye? Most updates are text, but Facebook users like pictures. Posting images can help increase engagement and shares on Facebook. Photo posts account for 93% of the most engaging posts on Facebook. They can get 53% more likes, 104% more comments and 84% more click-throughs on links than text-based posts! Are you using pictures to your advantage? Below are five examples of companies that are wowing their fans with visual stories. #1: Use Clever Photo CollectionsThe American Express Facebook page strives to give a strong visual representation of the brand. That can be a tall order for a service-based company. American Express rose to the challenge by taking photographs of related items, then sharing them with short updates that ask a question or evoke a certain feeling. Recently, the freezing weather in the US has everyone talking. American Express shared this simple but hugely descriptive picture on their Facebook timeline.  American Express connects with fans through a simple image. Not only does the picture convey winter and snow days, it also subtly includes an American Express card. To me, that picture said, "You're probably having a snow day, but all you need is your American Express card in case you need to order pizza, download a movie or do some online shopping without braving the weather." The company used the same technique on December 23:  Interesting pictures and fun questions encourage Facebook engagement. The post asked, "Guess whose holiday essentials these are?" It was a clever alternative to the in-your-face holiday posts that had been doing the rounds, and invited plenty of discussion and good-natured responses. Hey, doesn't everyone need a credit card? Those reindeer vet bills sure do add up. Tip: Photograph your product with everyday objects or in a live setting to tell a fun story or spark an emotional connection with your community. Take advantage of trends that are relevant to your audience to show how a customer could use your product. #2: Create Stand-Alone Visual CampaignsSometimes a company's marketing gimmick can take on a life of its own. Several years ago, UK-based insurance comparison site Compare The Market created a campaign around the idea that market sounds just a little bit like meerkat. They introduced Aleksandr Orlov, a meerkat with a Russian accent and an aristocratic heritage. The campaign was a huge hit. Even though Compare The Market isn't actually on Facebook, Aleksandr has his own page, with more than 800,000 likes! The story of Aleksandr, his friends and his family (including the new baby, Oleg) is played out on this fun, interactive page, which drives traffic back to the company website with its clever use of storytelling and merchandising (a free meerkat toy with every purchase through the site).  Compare The Market uses Aleksandr Orlov, a meerkat, to share stories with its audience. Tip: If you don't have a mascot, why not tell the story behind your logo, choice of location or something else that makes your company unique? Marketing is not about B2B or B2C anymore, it's about P2P (people to people). Your fans want a human connection with your brand and your people. They want to peek behind the scenes and explore your culture, understand your mission and find out what inspires your innovation. #3: Develop Community Around a CharityMany businesses make a point of giving back to their community, but TOMS shoes goes much further. The company was founded on the charitable concept that for every pair of shoes they sold, they would donate a pair to children in poverty around the globe. TOMS makes an impact on their fans by sharing pictures of those they've helped. It's one thing to know a company has a strong charitable background, but seeing it helps fans appreciate the effect they're having on the world.  TOMS gives their fans a connection to the people they (both the company and its fans) are helping all over the world. Tip: Share your company's passion with your fans. Every brand has a story about the inspiration behind the innovation or employees' passion for company product(s). Use pictures to convey your brand's core values. #4: Incorporate Fan-Generated ContentThe Starbucks' Facebook page celebrates the most important people to the company: their customers. Starbucks posts Instagram photos from their fans to give a customer's-eye view of the brand. Not only is this a fun way to show customer appreciation, it's a really clever way of generating fresh, relevant content that brings business and customers closer together.  Starbucks uses fan-generated content to show customers its appreciation. When Starbucks shared the customer photo above, it generated a massive response with over 78,000 likes, 460 comments and 1,500 shares. Using customers' own photos to tell a brand's story is an inclusive strategy and clearly resonates well with other fans. This authentic word-of-mouth is priceless. Tip: Your customers are your greatest asset; make them feel like a valued part of your story by sharing their images. Ask fans to use a specific hashtag when they share photos of your brand so you can find them easily. #5: Share Your HistoryPositive nostalgia fosters true emotional connection. Reflecting on your brand's history brings a whole new dimension to your marketing. IBM has an illustrious history of innovation and the company capitalizes on that by sharing pictures from their archives on their Facebook page. Some of the company's most liked and commented-on posts are those that show how much technology has changed and how IBM led those changes.  Fans love to see how things have changed over the years. Showing how your brand started, the challenges you have overcome and celebrating some of your best achievements can make your followers proud to be associated with you and all the great work you have done over the years. Tip: Don't bury photos from your past in offline archives. Use them to show how far you've come and the moments you're most proud of. Celebrate those moments with your community and ask them to share their own memories. Share your stories. Your brand has some great stories, so why not tell them? Don't settle for long text updates that get glossed over in the news feed. Tell your story with pictures and rich media so your fans connect with you. Customers who feel more connected to a brand display greater loyalty and are more likely to advocate for your brand. What do you think? How have you used pictures to share your company's story? Do your fans respond more enthusiastically when you post pictures? Share your 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 5 Ways Businesses Are Using Visual Storytelling on Facebook appeared first on Make Money Online With Twitter Marketing. |
| 6 WordPress Plugins That Ensure Your Posts Look Good When Shared on Social Media Posted: 18 Feb 2014 02:00 AM PST By Kristi Hines
Are you looking for WordPress plugins to help control how your content looks when it's shared across social media? In this article, I'll share the best WordPress plugins you can use to make your social shares look great everywhere. Why WordPress Plugins for Social Sharing?To get the most mileage out of every social share, you need to optimize a few key elements of your content so it looks great on every social network, including search results. While many websites have to rely on adding rich snippets to the HTML, WordPress users have almost unlimited options when it comes to easy-to-use plugins for social media optimization. Keep reading to take your blog to the next level: #1: Implement Twitter Cards for Rich Media Tweets From Your WebsiteWhenever someone shares content from your website on Twitter, you hope for at least two outcomes: 1) You want their tweet to bring other Twitter users back to your content and 2) you want your username added as the publisher and/or author. Unfortunately, a lot of the tweets you get for your content can look like this. Twitter cards make it possible for you to have rich media elements and a link to your Twitter handle included with each tweet of your content. You can see the difference in this tweet from a site using Twitter cards. In the above tweet, you see the title, description and featured image for the blog post that was shared. You can also see the author's Twitter handle (@gsterling) and a link to the publication that goes to their Twitter handle (@segneinland). If you would like this functionality on your own WordPress site, Twitter recommends the following plugins. (For directions on how to implement Twitter cards using these plugins, you can refer to the CMS Integration Guide from Twitter.) Jetpack—This plugin will be familiar to WordPress.com users as it's a part of the free version of their blogging platform and has dozens of other feature enhancements for WordPress. JM Twitter Cards—A simpler plugin that only handles Twitter card implementation. WordPress SEO by Yoast—One of the top SEO plugins that also handles Twitter cards, Facebook Open Graph and Google+ authorship. Once you've installed the plugin of your choice, you can validate your content by using the Twitter Card Validator. After you sign in with your Twitter account, click the Validate & Apply tab and test a link from your website. You should see that the tags check out and a button to request approval from Twitter to use Twitter cards. Once your website has been approved, tweets from your website will have rich media summaries on Twitter. #2: Control How Your Posts Are Shared on Facebook With Open Graph ProtocolWhenever you share a blog post on your Facebook page, you have the option to edit the link's title, description and preview image. When others like your post, they get whatever Facebook chooses to pull from your post. This can mean cut-off titles, the first sentence of your post and showing any random image on the page as opposed to the one that best suits your content. Implementing Facebook Open Graph protocol allows you to control exactly what's posted on Facebook from your link. This will allow people to share the information that will make others want to click on your link. Facebook recommends using the official Facebook plugin for Open Graph protocol integration. In addition to crafting the perfect updates for Facebook, it also allows you to learn more about your audience and those who share your content through Facebook Insights.  The Facebook plugin includes a range of data on your content shares. Alternatively, you can also use the WordPress SEO by Yoast mentioned earlier to implement Facebook Open Graph protocol on your website. It also includes the option to configure your website for tracking through Facebook Insights. #3: Customize the Text for Any Social ShareWhat if you don't want to implement Twitter cards or Open Graph protocol for Facebook, but still want to control the text that's shared on social networks with your content? Again, WordPress SEO by Yoast is the answer. It comes down to the SEO title tag and meta description that you enter for your post. To illustrate, see the following SEO title and meta description entries:  Enter your SEO title and meta description into the WordPress SEO by Yoast plugin. This title and description will be used on Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+ (title only), Pinterest (title only as description for image), social bookmarking networks like BizSugar and other social networks.  You can easily preview what text will show in shares and search results. As an added bonus, the SEO title and meta description will likely be used in search results. So even if you don't implement Twitter cards and Open Graph, do this. It helps control how your posts appear when they're shared on social networks and when they show in search results. #4: Encourage Social Sharing With Official Social Sharing Buttons From Top NetworksSpeaking of social sharing, one great way to encourage people to share while adding social proof to your website is to install the official social sharing buttons from top networks on your content pages. If you're looking at this site on your desktop, you'll see the social sharing buttons floating to the left. While you can add these buttons manually into your WordPress template using the coding provided by Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+, StumbleUpon and other popular networks, you can do it much faster using plugins like Digg Digg. This plugin allows you to quickly add your social sharing buttons as a floating toolbar to the left, right, top or bottom of your content. When you set up Digg Digg, be sure to visit the Global Config to add your Twitter username to any Twitter sharing button you place on your website. This will ensure that your @username is included with any tweets of your content.  Optimize Digg Digg to add your Twitter username to content shared on Twitter. #5: Link Your Content to Your Google+ ProfileGoogle+ authorship allows you to establish authority with Google search through your Google+ profile. It's a great way to optimize your website for both social and search as it includes your name, photo and link to your Google+ profile next to any content you've authored when it shows in search results.  Google authorship helps with social and search optimization. There are two ways to manually establish Google+ authorship, but if you have a WordPress website, you can also use the Google Author Link plugin. This plugin allows authors on your website to place their Google+ link in their profile within your WordPress admin panel. The plugin will handle the code placement. Once the author has linked back to your website on their Google+ profile in the Contributor link section, you can test whether authorship has been set up correctly by previewing one of your content links using Google's Structured Data Testing Tool.  Test your connection to Google authorship with the Structured Data Testing Tool. This tool will show you how your content will appear in search results and if authorship has been set up correctly. If it's not set up correctly, it will help you by giving you additional information and an authorship email verification tool. The latter only works if you have an email associated with the domain through which your content is published. #6: See Which Pieces of Content Get Shared the MostKnowing what pieces of content get the most shares on Twitter, Facebook and other top networks can help you continue to create content that your audience loves. Social Metrics Pro is a premium WordPress plugin that measures your content's social sharing within your WordPress dashboard.  Filter the results from Social Metrics Pro by social network. This plugin measures shares on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Pinterest, StumbleUpon, Digg and LinkedIn. You can sort results by social network—a useful feature if you know that a particular social network drives the most converting visitors to your business. You can also filter posts by date, category and author to find other trends. Wrapping It Up You spend a lot of time and care creating content. Once you publish, it's important that your content is shared in a way that not only spreads your message, but also benefits your brand by increasing visibility and social proof. Each of the WordPress plugins in this article will make sure your content is optimized to include key elements across social media network shares and search engine results. What do you think? What WordPress plugins do you use to optimize your content for social? Please share in the comments! 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 6 WordPress Plugins That Ensure Your Posts Look Good When Shared on Social Media appeared first on Make Money Online With Twitter Marketing. |
| Posted: 16 Feb 2014 09:40 PM PST
If you ever wanted to know what the traits of highly successful Twitter users you've come to the right place. The 10 Golden Rules of Twitter will help make you a Twitter success by modeling the masters. Brian Solis, Chris Brogan and myself engage with the following Twitter tactics on a daily basis, and you will find most if not all of them exhibited by any successful social media guru. Apply these strategies to your own Twitter presence and your following will start to really grow. You get out of Twitter what you put in to it so invest time into networking and engaging on a daily basis and the good karma that you build will compound and come back to you in time! 1. Reciprocity is KeyFollow and be followed, Retweet and be retweeted, follow and be followed. You have got to give in order to get, and the more time you are willing to invest in others the more likely they are to give you the time of day. Reciprocity is a powerful thing, and the main reason for the 255,000 followers I have currently, and the 400,000+ followers I have been able to build for the various accounts I have managed. Once your network grows to several thousand followers don't let it get to your head, I try to respond to everyone who is not an ass that sends me an @mention, and I even respond to some of the asses. Haha, but seriously this is key if you want to build a big brand and a strong network. Look at any Twitter giant and you will see that they have thousands and thousands of tweets and many are conversational. You've got to talk to people to really connect with them, it's just that simple. 2. Schedule Your Golden Tweets |
| 5 Ways to Prepare Your Facebook Page for the Holidays Posted: 16 Feb 2014 03:24 PM PST By Jim Belosic
Are you looking for tips on how to use your Facebook page this holiday season? If you haven't even started thinking about the holidays yet, it's time! In this article, you'll find five ways to make your Facebook page festive for the holidays. Why Customize For Holidays?According to Mashable, 65% of shoppers tap social media looking for the perfect gift. Any day now, your fans will start to look at your business's Facebook page for holiday offers, promotions, events and deal information. To make the most of these page visits, it's important that your Facebook page is ready for the season. Here's how: #1: Holiday-themed Cover PhotosWhen visitors land on your Facebook page, the cover photo is the first thing they see. Use this 851 x 315 px banner-style image to get your visitors into the spirit of the season! You should change the cover photo of your page on a regular basis, especially during holidays. Why? Because people are browsing more than usual, looking for special offers and gift ideas, and checking out friends' recommendations. Fresh cover photos motivate them to check your page often. Your holiday cover photos should be representative of your brand, but reflective of the season as well. If you don't want to use a holiday-specific cover photo, try a general holiday message or feature fall and winter colors.  An example of a nonspecific holiday-themed cover photo that wishes fans a warm and happy holiday season. In the above image, you can see how Media Barista themed a seasonal cover photo for their fans. Use your cover photo to direct fans to a custom holiday app, showcase your holiday products, promote exclusive holiday deals and even encourage interaction from your fans. Think of your cover photo as a large billboard. What information do you want to promote during the holiday season? Create a number of cover photos to help you! #2: Spruce Up Your Profile PhotoYour profile photo is a major asset that can be used to complement your cover photo. Most brands don't change their profile photo very often, but you should use the holiday season to change things up and get creative with it! Ask an employee to dress in fall or winter clothing—or if someone is willing, like an elf or Santa. Decorate your company mascot or simply feature a special holiday product. If you prefer to keep your logo as your page's profile photo, add some holiday accents to your logo like DKS Systems did, below.  Adjust your profile image for the holidays to keep your Facebook page looking fresh and up to date. #3: Run Seasonal Social CampaignsAccording to HubSpot, 81% of retailers use Facebook to alert shoppers about their in-store holiday deals. Facebook recently updated their promotion guidelines, opening the door for more opportunities for promotions and giveaways. Businesses can now use the timeline in addition to custom Facebook apps to run promotions. Here are three ideas you can implement this holiday season: Reward Fans With a Holiday Giveaway During this time of the year, the most popular kind of Facebook app to build is a giveaway app.  Businesses can offer fans a holiday-related giveaway, including free resources, coupons or prizes. Build an app to offer Facebook-only coupons, host holiday-themed photo and video contests that award a prize or run a special Black Friday, Cyber Monday or Christmas giveaway. Drive Online and In-store Sales With an App Fans appreciate free gifts and opportunities to win fun prizes and awards, but as a business you still need to drive online and in-store sales. Use your Facebook page to showcase a popular product to customers. Once you have their attention, make it easy for them to find you with a store finder app to direct your fans to your brick-and-mortar location. Everywhere Travel promotes travel deals on their Facebook page year-round.  During the holidays, Everywhere Travel can drive traffic to this app for holiday travelers. Boost Engagement With a Giving App Holidays are a time for giving, so charitable-giving apps are really effective during the holiday season. Consider running a campaign that benefits a local or national charity and ask your fans to get involved.  Apps that require direct fan engagement during the holidays draw in fans. All of these ideas can be combined with timeline promotions, which allows you to capitalize on the engagement and reach the campaign generates. You can host your competition on the timeline and use a Facebook app to offer extra entries, share additional offers and collect information from your fans. #4: Decorate Your App ThumbnailsApp thumbnails continue to be one of the most neglected areas of a business page's timeline. Your app thumbnails are the 111 x 74 px images located underneath your cover photo on the bottom right side of your page. Edit your tab apps with custom images that are adjusted to fit your holiday branding. Design your cover photo with an arrow that points to your app thumbnails and use the thumbnail space to create a call to action that encourages fans to learn more about your holiday offers. In the image below, notice how Burt's Bees does a great job of drawing attention to their current campaigns and offers with their branded app thumbnails. They haven't updated their profile for the holiday season yet, but I bet they will soon!  Update your app thumbnails to coincide with your latest offers and social campaigns for further reach and engagement. #5: Schedule Holiday-related Facebook AdsMost businesses on Facebook are using Facebook ads, at least on occasion. If you're still on the fence about Facebook ads, the holiday season is a perfect time to jump in. If you're ready to experiment with Facebook ads, first set a budget. Then create a few different ads and implement some A/B testing. Andrea Vahl provided some great tips for seeing results with Facebook ads. You can also experiment with promoted posts and sponsored stories. Promoted posts and sponsored stories are existing Facebook posts that you pay to promote, versus creating ads. If you post a status update promoting a holiday deal or app, I recommend putting money behind your posts to reach a larger audience. If you need to catch up on Facebook's latest advertising offers, check out this eBook from Jon Loomer.  Test a holiday-themed ad for your business to drive more traffic during the holidays. Over to You To make sure that your Facebook page is ready for holiday traffic this year, take time now to plan your seasonal campaigns and prearrange your holiday ads. Be creative with your seasonally themed cover images, profile photos and custom app thumbnail images. Most of all, be giving and remember to experiment with your social media activity. What do you think? How do you plan on using Facebook in your holiday marketing efforts? What other tips for holiday readiness can you share? Leave your ideas and comments in the box 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. Five Filters recommends:
The post 5 Ways to Prepare Your Facebook Page for the Holidays appeared first on Make Money Online With Twitter Marketing. |
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