TwitterToolsReviews |
- 5 Ways to Sell With Social Media
- 26 Ways to Engage Your Fans on Facebook
- An 8-Step Approach To A Better Twitter Marketing Strategy
- Blog Growth: How to Build a Mega-Following
- 3 Ways to Use Google+ to Increase Search Rankings
| 5 Ways to Sell With Social Media Posted: 05 Feb 2014 11:55 PM PST By Jim Belosic
Are your social activities working? In this article I'll show you 5 simple ways to tweak your social media updates for better sales conversion. Some social media updates can go further toward bringing in sales than others. And they can do this without detracting from the spirit of social media.  Some social media updates can help with sales more than others. Image source: iStockPhoto. #1: Incorporate a Clear Call to ActionYour customers and fans visit your social media pages for a variety of reasons, but generally speaking, they want to do something or learn something. Some people are looking for information about your company, some are looking for details about products and services, some want access to special deals and coupons, some want to see if you have any contests or promotions running and some may be looking for expert tips and how-to tricks. If you don't give them what they're after, they won't return. Use status updates to give them what they want and what you want: a sale. Post calls to action like "Click here for a Facebook fan exclusive coupon," or "Enter to win…" Here you see how Target offers daily deals on Twitter.  Target has a Twitter account where followers can see deals the retailer has in stores. But remember to stay true to the 70-20-10 rule: 70 percent of your page's content should be information that's valuable and relevant to your fans; 20 percent should be content that comes from other people and 10 percent should be promotional. Once you know why your audience wants to interact with you on social media, be sure to give them the types of information they're looking for. #2: Convey a Sense of UrgencyDue to the ticker-tape nature of most social media platforms, you have a very limited amount of time to catch the attention of your customers/fans/followers. If they see an update with verbiage that compels them to "act now," you win. Using words like "For a limited time" or "On sale this week" or "Own it first" will catch the eye of your visitors. You can also offer incentives for booking or buying immediately instead of later. Depending on your business, you could waive shipping fees, offer an extra week of your service or even a buy-one/get-one, etc. Ideally, post different time-sensitive offers on different networks. For example, "The next 10 people who retweet this will receive 10% off their next purchase." On Facebook you could use an app to make an offer like, "The first 10 people to share this on Facebook get $25 off a $50 purchase," and so on. Here, Chili's uses their Facebook cover photo to connect and offer a deal.  Chili’s uses their cover photo to announce a limited-time offer. This is one way to use the instant nature of social media to your advantage. #3: Offer Followers and Fans Exclusive DealsThis idea is similar to the previous one, but you want to make sure that your fans know the deals you're offering are for fans of a particular network only. To grow your following on a variety of networks and inspire loyalty, offer deals that are exclusive to each network. Kate Spade New York always has something special cookin' for their Facebook fans. Periodically offering special deals is a great tactic for a business that wants to keep its fans coming back again and again. And doesn't every business want that?  Kate Spade New York offers Facebook fans exclusive deals and coupons on a regular basis. It keeps them coming back again and again. This is a great way to reach out to specific audiences within your social media strategy. #4: Encourage SharingIt never hurts to ask your fans and followers to retweet, repin or share. Ideally you're offering such a great deal that your fans and followers will want to share it anyway, but a little nudge is okay. If your update is about a Facebook contest, you can even let your followers know that if they share the news about your contest, they'll get an extra chance (or chances) to win. National Builder Supply uses Pinterest to give fans a chance to win a chandelier.  National Builder Supply gives fans a chance to win a new chandelier by repinning their contest image on Pinterest. When you ask your audience to interact with your content, they're more likely to do it. #5: Keep All of Your Social Media Profiles CurrentWhen potential customers land on your various social pages, they should have a clear idea of what your business/brand is all about. At the very least, go through each of your business's social profiles (Facebook, Google+, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.) once a quarter and make sure all of the information is current, because social networks occasionally change dimensions and other details. For example, earlier this year Facebook relaxed its rules about using calls to action on cover photos, but many companies haven't yet updated their pages to make the most of this space. Tip: You can now include price or purchase information on a Facebook cover photo including phrases like "40% off this week only" or "Download our new eBook here," contact information or other calls to action such as "Get it now" or "Tell your friends." The main image should also give customers and prospective customers some insights about you. In this image, Trunk Club tells you everything about what they do right on their Pinterest page.  The men’s personal shopping service Trunk Club has a fantastic Pinterest profile that tells you everything you need to know about what the company does. Never forget to give your social media audience the information they need about your business. Over to You These are just a few opportunities for you to connect with potential leads for your business. But together with a strategic plan, they can help convert the quality leads your business is looking for. What do you think? What kinds of posts and updates have you found are the most effective for making a sale? Leave your questions and comments in the box below. Images 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 5 Ways to Sell With Social Media appeared first on Make Money Online With Twitter Marketing. |
| 26 Ways to Engage Your Fans on Facebook Posted: 05 Feb 2014 05:41 PM PST By Debbie Hemley
Do your current Facebook engagement tactics need a little more oomph? With the addition of Story Bump, getting your fans to engage with updates from your Facebook page has become even more important. Your visibility in the news feed depends on engagement like never before. If your page is experiencing a drop in engagement, using different post types and making a few content adjustments can bump it back up. In this article, you'll find 26 tips, an A-Z guide, for engaging fans on Facebook. #1: Attract Readers' Attention to a Point in Your ArticleYour fans see a lot of content pass through their news feed in a day and a great title isn't always enough to spark engagement with an article you post to Facebook. When you update your Facebook page to let readers know about your new article, include a statement or question that refers to a specific point from the article to drive more clicks, likes, comments or shares. In this post, the author shared her reaction to a tip from the article to interest readers in clicking through to read the rest.  Highlight an update with one of the points from your list articles. #2: Balance Various Types of ContentIf every piece of content you deliver on Facebook has the same look and feel, it stands to reason that your fans will begin to pass them over for content that looks different and more interesting. To make your Facebook page more engaging, share your content in a variety of forms. Experiment with photos, videos, links and questions, then track the engagement in Insights to see which types of posts do best (more about this in #7). Choose your top-performing post types and include a variety of each in your updates. To avoid creating a news feed that appears to serve up more of the same content fans have already seen, Storify includes both large photos with descriptions and smaller images with linked articles in their updates.  Storify posted a large photo that made good use of their page's real estate and included a link in the description.  Linked articles with smaller images add variety to the news feed. #3: Craft Posts to Drive Click-ThroughsOn its own, a link posted to your page won't generate many clicks. Move your fans from your Facebook page to your app or content with a combination of incentives and calls to action in your updates. Lowe's recently generated clicks on a link when they published an update to encourage fans to take a color and personality quiz.  Lowe's promises a color quiz that provides valuable information for the user. #4: Develop Evergreen ContentIf your content tends to be dictated by trends, you'll find that once the trend has passed, so has interest in your content. Evergreen content stays relevant for at least a good 6-12 months. Create a number of evergreen articles and you'll always have something that generates engagement on Facebook. HubSpot's "36 Awesome Social Media Blogs Everyone Should Read," was posted in spring 2010, but is still highly useful and relevant today.  Social Media Examiner, which got its start in October 2009, made the list! #5: Express With EmoticonsPlain text doesn't always lend itself to expressing the humanity, enthusiasm or emotion behind a post. Hubspot reports that "something as simple as a smiley face emoticon in your post can increase likes by 57 percent, comments by 33 percent and shares by 33 percent over posts without them." Show off your personality and help fans relate to you by adding an emoticon to updates. A recent update from Zappos included a heart and received 718 likes, 22 shares and 8 comments in 22 hours. Compared to other posts the brand made that day, the heart post was more likeable.  Zappos and their Facebook fans not only like UGG boots, they love them! #6: Find and Share Timely ContentEngagement is engagement and the subject that drives it doesn't always have to be yours. If there's a story you know your audience is interested in, share the details with your fans. For example, let your fans know that you're going to attend an industry conference, then post updates and images from the event to create more opportunities for engagement. When the Red Sox won the World Series, The Boston Globe knew their readers would be interested, so they shared information about the Red Sox parade in Boston. On the day of the parade, they continued to provide updates and photos, making them a good source for people to follow the parade.  The Boston Globe provided coverage in advance and on the day of the event. #7: Gain Insights From Facebook DataPages that post content blindly without learning more about how their fans react to it can find themselves posting furiously with no rise—or worse, a drop—in engagement. Facebook's Page Insights provide businesses with key information that takes the guesswork out of which types of content your fans like seeing most on your page. Use the data from Insights to tell you which types of posts achieve greater engagement for you on Facebook and adjust your content to include more of them. Mari Smith provides a great summary of the new Insights features. #8: Have a Backup Plan With NotesA few months ago when The New York Times website crashed, they needed an alternate plan. They turned to Facebook notes where they posted the entirety of several stories on their Facebook page. While maybe not the optimal format to read a lengthy story, the key takeaway here is when an obstacle arises, look for a workaround. The New York Times was able to engage with their audience on Facebook during this time.  The New York Times was quick on their feet and continued to deliver the news to their fans through their Facebook page. #9: Include Facebook AppsFrom contests to event listings and email signups, custom apps provide numerous opportunities for driving engagement, but many pages don't take advantage of them. Andrea Vahl provides a great roundup of eight customizable Facebook apps you can use to get your fans' attention. Use them to drive traffic and engagement when you link directly to them from a status update, a blog post or even Twitter. Social Media Examiner uses Heyo on Facebook to introduce fans to SME's podcasts.  Social Media Examiner's podcast app provides links and listener reviews. #10: Join the Conversation On the GoA large portion of successful social media relies on carrying on a consistent conversation with your audience. If you work on the go, but only manage Facebook from your desktop, you risk being out of the loop when important conversations happen. Facebook administrators don't need to be tied to their desk in order to post an update or respond to fans. The Facebook Page Manager for iOS and Android devices lets you check your page activity, view Insights and respond to fans right from your mobile device.  Update on the go as you think of something you want to communicate. #11: Know What to Include in ImagesWhile many businesses are incorporating images in their updates, it's a good idea to see how different styles of images affect your engagement on Facebook. An interesting research study conducted by Taggs suggests retail brands need visual content strategies that take into account their unique brand identity, objectives and audience. Tagg reports:
Experiment with images that show your product without people using them to increase engagement on Facebook. Remember to compare the engagement for both types of images in Insights and adjust accordingly. In these two examples from Old Navy, there's a striking difference in engagement.  This Old Navy update received 11,275 likes and 137 shares.  In comparison, Old Navy's update with pictures of people received only 1,315 likes and 48 shares. #12: Launch a Competitive Intelligence CampaignFacebook sheds interesting light on what other brands are doing and can provide valuable competitive intelligence information. You can check out how your competitors are using their business Facebook page and what their customers like and share, then apply successful strategies to your own page. For example, Krispy Kreme Doughnuts got on the pumpkin bandwagon with an update welcoming pumpkin spice and the month of November. Several days earlier, Dunkin Donuts acknowledged National Pumpkin Day and received far more likes and shares. Based on the response that Dunkin Donuts received, it's fair to assume that Krispy Kreme should consider recognizing National Pumpkin Day in 2014.  Krispy Kreme Doughnuts received 3,344 likes and 282 shares.  Dunkin Donuts National Pumpkin Day update received 20,171 likes and 1,574 shares. #13: Manage Your Image UpdatesImages command a lot of attention when it comes to engagement on Facebook, but how you publish your images can either excite or frustrate fans. Instead of loading a mass of images to your page all at once, take the time to experiment with single-image updates, collages and albums to see which type of image update your fans prefer. Darren Rowse found his audience responded best when he took the time to upload a number of images into an album.  The Digital Photography School's album of great light painting images received 610 likes and 113 shares. #14: Note When Your Fans Are OnlinePages that post when their fans aren't online suffer from low engagement. One of the most useful pieces of information you'll learn from your Facebook Insights is when your fans are online. To find out, click on Insights, then Posts. In this example, the chart below shows that the fans for this page are online in higher numbers between 10 am and 11 pm.  Posts for this page should be published after 10 am ET. #15: Optimize Social Media Tags for FacebookBy optimizing your blog posts with social media tags, your posts will be more likely to come up in search results, which can improve your engagement. When fans share your blog posts on Facebook, you want to make sure that you have the most control you can by adding the required metadata to your page. The four required properties for every page are title, type of object, image and canonical URL. The tags will define what text appears in the image, title and description codes. Note: Facebook requires an og:image of at least 200 x 200 pixels, so be sure that your thumbnails are at least that size.  Social Media Examiner's post will carry over all the required information for full optimization on Facebook. To see how well your posts are optimized for Facebook, check out KnowEm.  Social Media Examiner is fully optimized for Facebook. #16: Plan Using Different Calls to ActionThere isn't a one-size-fits-all solution for crafting a call to action (CTA) to tell your readers what you want them to do next. Different CTAs may work better than others for your fans. Make sure your CTA matches the goal you've set for your reader. Jayson DeMers outlines different kinds of CTAs to achieve different conversion goals:
Take a look at your Facebook Insights to pinpoint the correlation between posts that created more CTA engagement and the wording you used in your updates.  Example of a no-pressure, sales-oriented call to action. #17: Quiz Your Fans About Their InterestsIt's hard to break the ice or start a genuine conversation when you don't know anything about the person (or fan) on the other side of the table. To learn more about your fans and encourage them to engage with you and other fans, ask questions that invite them to share about their interests or what they enjoy doing in their free time. In an update honoring National Family Literacy Day, SME posted, "Tell us what you're reading this weekend."  Questions allow for engagement between you and your fans. #18: Read About What Others Are Doing on FacebookSocial media marketing is both an art and a science. It's always helpful to take some time to see what others are doing on Facebook, and also read about what big brands are doing and the lessons that can be learned from their efforts. Several interesting reading resources about brands include: A fantastic example is the 100th birthday campaign for Oreo cookies created by DraftFCB where they created a daily update for 100 days leading to Facebook interactions going up by 195%. Check out the video to learn more about the campaign.
#19: Survey Fans on FacebookAlmost everyone likes to share his or her opinion. Surveys let you give your fans a voice and create engagement at the same time. Ask everything from "What's your favorite color?" to "Whom will you vote for on election day?" As a bonus, when your fans share their preferences, you learn information that helps you create better targeted updates. There are a number of easy-to-use third-party survey applications, including Polldaddy and Poll.  Example of the survey interface from Poll. #20: Try Uploading Video to FacebookVideo is becoming increasingly important to brands that are looking to engage with their audience. Earlier this year, Socialbakers found that post updates with videos uploaded directly to Facebook received 40% higher engagement than posts that linked to a video on YouTube. Experiment with where you upload your videos, and if there's a difference in engagement levels when you post them in an update, you'll know where to make the change.  This update shows a video that was uploaded directly to a Facebook page.  This update shows a video that was uploaded to YouTube. #21: Update Your About PageAn incomplete or out-of-date About page can leave prospective and even existing fans with the impression that something's not quite right. When that happens, their engagement will begin to drop. Revisit your About page often to make any needed changes like adding a new email address, product updates or a life event.  Social Media Examiner added a 4-Year Anniversary to Life Events on their About page. #22: Vary Where You Spend Your Time OnlineSometimes the best-laid plans will go astray. The most important thing is to remain flexible about where you spend your time online and create strong, active presences on social networks where your customers and prospects hang out. You may have a personal connection to Twitter or Pinterest, but your customers may be more inclined to spend time on Facebook. It's a good idea to vary where you spend your time to see what combination receives the highest level of engagement.  Maybe it's time for Plan B. Image source: iStockPhoto. Be sure to seek out engagement where your customers are willing for you to connect with them. #23: Widen Your Reach With Scheduled Weekend PostsIf your target audience is online during their free time on weekends and you're not posting, you're missing out on engagement. Schedule posts to publish over the weekend and be prepared to answer any questions that arise come first thing Monday morning. Better yet, find someone who can keep an eye on the activity over the weekend and respond as needed. To schedule a post, simply click the clock icon in your status update.  Scheduling a post for a time in the future is very easy. #24: eXamine Comments and Shares as They HappenSome of the most active Facebook page admins are guilty of going missing in action as soon as their update is posted. Studies have shown that likes, shares and comments are generally made within the first few hours after an update is posted. Check back early and often to see if users are engaging with your update so you can answer any questions and encourage further engagement.  A Zappos fan commented on this update at 1:58 pm and Zappos responded 6 minutes later. Impressive! #25: Your Promotions on Facebook Provide Customer Data Via Open GraphA Facebook promotion created through a third-party app provides an added benefit of being able to collect user data including age, gender, location and Facebook likes of a user (available via Facebook's Open Graph). This information allows brands to analyze who their users are—and send targeted emails by segmenting users based on these data points. Use this tactic to stimulate further engagement from these segmented user lists. The caveat is that you must abide by Facebook's policies for data collection and use.  Data fields on a Facebook promotion. #26: Zero In on Users Via Mobile App AdsAs the number of people who use Facebook from a mobile device continues to grow, reaching those people has become a priority for many brands. Facebook recently announced that they'll be rolling out new ways to reach people who have visited your website or mobile app by expanding the capabilities of Custom Audiences. The new features will be available to a limited number of test partners initially, then rolled out globally in the coming months. Use these app ads to remind people who've downloaded your Facebook app but haven't used it in a while to revisit the experience.  Ads delivered via mobile apps are coming soon to mobile devices. Over to You These are just a few ways you can tweak your content and change your delivery to create stronger engagement with your fans on Facebook. Check them out and try a few. See which ones spark your fans' interest and add them to your strategy. What do you think? Do you see any tips that you'll consider using soon? What other engagement tips can you share? Please leave your comments below. Images 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. The post 26 Ways to Engage Your Fans on Facebook appeared first on Make Money Online With Twitter Marketing. |
| An 8-Step Approach To A Better Twitter Marketing Strategy Posted: 05 Feb 2014 11:04 AM PST
Twitter is a social site used today by tens of thousands of businesses for micro-blogging. It is the preferred place on the web where big enterprise organizations as well as smaller brands post short updates, to be precise, an update less than 140 character long. For many businesses, Twitter is a hybrid from the cross of an instant messaging service and a chat room. It is in principle an open forum but as a Twitter user, you can restrict the people with whom you connect. For any business, Twitter is an incredible marketing and PR tool. With that said, if you've decided to finally join the Twitter bandwagon to increase the reach and impact of your business, you are going to need some guidance. Out there, on a social site like Twitter with a current estimate of over 500 million registered users, it is easy for businesses to get lost never to be found by potential customers. So what should you do? What should your Twitter marketing strategy look like? To help you get started with marketing on Twitter, below is an 8-step approach to successful micro-blogging. So here we go! Buckle up and let's get started! 1. Choose carefully who to follow on Twitter On Twitter, what you will come across in terms of updates and knowledge is going to directly depend on the people you follow. Your learning curve will therefore depend on those initial choices you'll make picking out the Twitter accounts worth following. In the beginning, the temptation to follow just about anyone is going to be strong and you will have to resist it. Always remember that your incoming stream should stay relevant. 2. Organize the Twitter accounts you follow So you are on Twitter and you've managed to find some influential Twitter accounts worth following. It might be a good idea to actually organize your incoming stream into lists using Twitter tools including Tweetdeck and Hootsuite . This helps you keep tract of those topics that you particularly care about.
3. Don't think twice about blocking irrelevant accounts Like on the social media giant Facebook, Twitter offers its registered users the possibility to block other Twitter accounts. One of the mistakes that many businesses make is that they opt for ignoring the spammy accounts that follow them but on Twitter, you are judged based on your followers. So if you have spammy accounts following you, don't think twice. Block them. 4. Don't make retweeting people a point of pride On Twitter, businesses often make it a point not to retweet other people's updates. This is not the right approach. As a matter of fact, you should be retweeting people you wish to build a rapport with. If you come across something useful or interesting, share the good stuff. What's the harm in that? 5. Always find new people to follow Setting up a Twitter account and following a few people in the first couple of weeks followed by the occasional update and retweet is not the right approach to micro-blogging. Always make it a point to find new and relevant Twitter accounts to follow. One of the best ways to do this is to find the time and research the Twitter streams of the people you follow. The site's Advanced Search function might also be helpful. 6. Streamline the things you share on Twitter To most businesses, social media marketing is a joke but it's not. You see, having a Facebook account with hundreds of fans or a Twitter account with hundreds of followers is not really the goal you want to set for your marketing strategy. What you should be doing is engaging your audience and finding the triggers that will convert potential customers into buyers. So don't share just about anything you find on the web because you can't be bothered to come up with good stuff. Invest in the content you share. Sure sometimes you can curate content from the web if you are blank on what to share with your followers but stay relevant. 7. Use the weapons in your arsenal, for example ‘Favorite’ Did you know that each time you favorite someone's content or Twitter update they get notified about it? Use this to your advantage. That right there is an incredible tool you have to dangle your name in front of people you respect and wish to connect with. 8. Learn the semantics of the micro-blogging site If you've been on Facebook or Twitter for long enough, you would know that people on a social site tend to speak a language characteristic to that particular social network. Learn the secret language of Twitter. Of course you can refer to the Twitter Glossary but more importantly you want to pay attention to how other people are using the social site. The post An 8-Step Approach To A Better Twitter Marketing Strategy appeared first on Make Money Online With Twitter Marketing. |
| Blog Growth: How to Build a Mega-Following Posted: 05 Feb 2014 03:59 AM PST By Michael Stelzner
Are you wondering how you can write content that will generate more comments, shares and subscribers? To learn how to grow a successful blog, I interview Syed Balkhi for this episode of the Social Media Marketing podcast. More About This Show
The Social Media Marketing podcast is a show from Social Media Examiner. It's designed to help busy marketers and business owners discover what works with social media marketing. The show format is on-demand talk radio (also known as podcasting). In this episode, I interview Syed Balkhi, founder of multiple popular websites, including WPBeginner and List25. He's also the founder of OptinMonster. Syed shares how he grew his very popular sites and provides actionable tips that you can employ to grow your own blog traffic. You'll learn about the different types of content that work best and some profitable choices for monetization. Share your feedback, read the show notes and get the links mentioned in this episode below! Listen NowPodcast: Play in new window | Download You can also subscribe via iTunes, RSS, Stitcher or Blackberry. Here are some of the things you'll discover in this show: Blog GrowthThe idea for WPBeginner Back in 2009, Syed did consulting work for small businesses, with a lot of the work retainer-based. To free up some time, he decided to switch his clients to WordPress, which would give them the ability to change their own text and not have to contact him directly. Once this change happened, Syed was still approached with the same questions about WordPress. At the time there was no other WordPress resource site out there for beginners. So WPBeginner was formed on July 4, 2009.  WPBeginner was started because so many people were asking the same questions about WordPress. Syed explains how his goal in the beginning was to produce multiple posts a day and answer all of the questions that he was asked. The idea was to put the answers on the website so he could link back to them, rather than send an email. When he noticed that other people were using the site, he knew there was definitely a market for it. You'll hear how Syed used Twitter to help with content creation and why he used Digg and StumbleUpon to push articles. Listen to the show to find out why it was Syed's goal to help individuals, rather than have hugely popular articles. WPBeginner's site metrics Syed states that WPBeginner gets an average of 1.5 million page views a month and they have just over 70,000 followers on Twitter. Listen to the show to find out how these figures are similar to Social Media Examiner's. The lessons learned about content creation From the very beginning, Syed built an email list, but he didn't engage with it. At first, he didn't realize the value of asking people to ask you questions. Now when you subscribe to WPBeginner, it asks you one question: "What is the one thing we can help you with right now?"  Once you have subscribed to WPBeginner, you are given the opportunity to ask one question. You'll discover why there is huge value in this one question and how this has changed the way WPBeginner creates content. Syed used to be the only person who wrote articles, but the site now has multiple writers with a very good editorial workflow. Listen to the show to hear how the interaction and response to email has developed the WPBeginner community. WPBeginner's business model Syed explains that his business is monetized through building WordPress applications and plugins. A lot of the time, it's conversion marketing for clients. The WPBeginner brand allows them to position themselves as experts. Whenever somebody wants a WordPress company to work with, they automatically think of WPBeginner. You'll hear how they use affiliate links for paid plugins. In the beginning, Syed tried display advertising. He had ads through AdSense, BuySellAds and private ad sales. You'll find out why these ads didn't work for the WPBeginner audience and how affiliate deals make more sense.  Affiliate deals make more sense for the WPBeginner audience. Listen to the show to find out why we use DoubleClick for Publishers at Social Media Examiner. The challenges Syed explains that one of the biggest challenges they face is being able to stay up to date. Blog articles can become outdated, and because of WPBeginner's reputation, people in the WordPress community hold them to a very high standard. So they have to make sure articles are updated to the best of their ability. The editorial team spends time making sure all articles are relevant and concurrently strives to produce new content. Listen to the show to find out why all of WPBeginner's articles are how-to information. How List25 started Syed explains that List25 is an entertainment site. Each article relates to 25 things on a particular topic. The slogan is "Consistently Conciliating Curiosity." You'll hear the original idea that Syed had for a new site and how it turned into List25.  List25 was launched at BlogWorld LA in November 2011. At present, List25 has over 250,000 Facebook likes, over 530,000 YouTube subscribers and 62 million YouTube views. The site gets tons of visitors every month. It's growing at 52,000 YouTube subscribers a month. Syed believes the reason why it's grown so quickly is because of the type of content. It appeals to the masses and is much more shareable. It raises curiosity in people's minds. You'll discover why list-based posts are very popular and shareable. One of the things that Syed did differently with List25 was to grow on all different outlets. You'll find out why they have a lot of success on Tumblr and StumbleUpon, and how Syed uses Twitter search to ride the hashtag during holidays. Listen to the show to find out how content is created for List25. The strategy for List25′s YouTube channel The videos on YouTube are created with the images from each article and made into a slideshow. Syed's friend then does the voiceover from the article list.  The images from each article are compiled into a slideshow-style video for YouTube. You'll hear how they cross-promote their content and collaborate with various YouTube channels. Syed says that YouTube was an experiment that turned out to be great. They now plan to put more thought into the video layout. Listen to the show to hear how the YouTube channel drives people back to the website. Lessons learned about these two very different websites Syed states that with List25, you can't control what is said. There is so much up for debate. You can only moderate it or facilitate the discussion; whereas with WPBeginner, you can engage with users and help them out. You'll find out why WPBeginner is easier to manage. The reason that List25 has grown a lot faster is because Syed has a network of power users on different social media networks. He understands the game of making it go viral. Listen to the show to find out why List25 is about stirring people's emotions, whereas WPBeginner has a more practical approach. High-frequency content versus low-frequency, high-quality content Syed says it all depends on your audience. On his personal blog he writes once or twice a week, on WPBeginner he writes once a day and on List25, they publish multiple articles a day. It depends on the model you have and what your goals are.  Articles are published once a day on WPBeginner. If you're a small business, a coach or in a specific industry, Syed advises you to create low-frequency, high-quality content. However, if you have a site where your primary means of revenue is display advertisement, you've got to get more page views. This means you have to provide high-frequency content. You need to provide your audience with multiple articles. Listen to the show to find out why it's important to stay relevant with high-frequency content. Survival Tip: How to Use Testimonials in Your MarketingRecently I've created a new video series. I want to share with you three simple steps for using testimonials in your marketing and why they are super-powerful forms of marketing. We did testimonials at Social Media Marketing World this year and we will use them to sell next year's conference.
Here are three simple steps for getting successful testimonials. 1. Obtain exit surveys through audio endorsements and video. This is very easy to do. You can use a survey system like SurveyMonkey. The two questions you need to ask are, "Would you recommend this to a friend or colleague?" and "If you were recommending this to a friend or colleague, what would you say?" You'll find out why these questions are so important. Another powerful form of testimonial is to record someone who can recommend whatever it is you have to offer. You'll hear a testimonial clip from Mari Smith at Social Media Marketing World. When you ask for a testimonial via video, you need to let the interviewee speak first and then always ask a follow-on question. It's the key part of the testimonial. 2. Go through and identify the good testimonials that you might want to use. 3. Pull it all together. You'll find out how we put all the video clips together to make one amazing video testimonial. Call in and leave your social media–related questions for us and we may include them in a future show. Listen to the show to learn more and let us know how this works for you. Other Show Mentions
The conference features more than 60 sessions in four major tracks: social tactics, social strategy, community management and content marketing. Click here to see the full clip of all the great video testimonials we put together for Social Media Marketing World. It's a 10-minute video, which includes a lot of people you respect such as Chris Brogan, Mari Smith and many others, who thought this was one of the best conferences they had ever been to. I suggest you check it out. Key takeaways mentioned in this episode:Ways to subscribe to the Social Media Marketing podcast: What do you think? What are your thoughts on building a mega-following? Please leave 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 Blog Growth: How to Build a Mega-Following appeared first on Make Money Online With Twitter Marketing. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| 3 Ways to Use Google+ to Increase Search Rankings Posted: 05 Feb 2014 03:00 AM PST By James Thomas
Did you know your Google+ page and profile could help? Google+ can help you increase search rankings for your website, but you have to take the time to optimize your page, profile and content. This article shows you three ways you can maximize your Google+ presence and tells you why that's important for SEO. Why Google+ for search?Google+ isn't just another social media platform; it's a powerful weapon in your SEO arsenal. Moz's recent Future of Search Report showed that Google +1s had the highest correlation with high website SEO rankings, just after backlinks.  SEO ranking correlations. Image source: The Future of Search: 2013 Search Engine Ranking Factors Released, by Moz. The reason Google+ is an SEO goldmine is that Google+ links are DoFollow links, which means they pass link equity, or link juice, on to the website you share. If you're sharing your website, you're getting the link juice. DoFollow links are a core building block of SEO. They work in conjunction with PageRank, TrustRank and link context to determine how you rank for specific keywords. #1: Optimizing Your Google+ Page for Search RankingSpending a little time to optimize your information can reap big rewards. With five easy tweaks to your Google+ business page and personal profile, you can build a strong foundation for SEO success. SEO Title The SEO title is the name of your Google+ business page (be sure you're using your company name here). Avoid trying to stuff any keywords into the SEO title—it's unprofessional and has little SEO value. Custom Page URL Google+ recently rolled out the Custom URL feature. This is great news for companies that want to include cleaner links in their marketing. Your new customized URL looks like this: https://plus.google.com/+YourCompanyName. To set your custom Google+ page or profile URL:
Below you can see where I've customized the URL for my personal Google+ page to JamesThomasUK.  Google+ Links section. SEO Meta Description The SEO meta description for your page combines your tagline and the first two sentences of your introduction. You only get 160 characters, so make them count.  Google+ Intro section. To edit your meta description or tagline, go to your Google+ business page and follow these instructions:
It's smart to include one or two of your target SEO keywords in your description. Links Google+ pages are born with a high page rank, which is great because it means links you share from your Google+ page or profile carry weight. To get the most out of your Google+ profile, be sure you've completed your backlink profile. Your backlink profile is where you link to all of your other social media profiles, as well as to a relevant landing page on your website.  You can view your backlink profile in Google Webmaster Tools under Search Traffic. To link to your other social profiles:
Nice and easy. Google+ Authorship Google+ authorship is an important ranking factor and one that you may not know about. Authorship tags each piece of content you create and lets Google know you created it. Without Google+ authorship, you're losing potential link juice and SEO. Eric Schmidt, author of The New Digital Age, says, "Within search results, information tied to verified online profiles will be ranked higher than content without such verification…" There are two ways to set up Google+ authorship to "claim" your own content:
If you need more help, Google has provided a more detailed guide in the Support section of Google Webmaster Tools. The image below shows what a correct Google+ authorship looks like. You can see that my picture and Google+ information are included next to my name.  Google+ authorship information as it appears in search engine results. #2: Posting ContentOnce you've optimized your Google+ page and profile and correctly set up authorship, you're ready to start posting content. This is the quickest and easiest way to build a solid following on Google+ because at the end of the day, content is still king.  The Anatomy of A Perfect Google+ Post. Image source: Dustn.tv. When posting content to your Google+ profile or page, follow these guidelines:
 Google+ post setup. #3: Connecting the DotsNow it's time to pull all of your efforts together and start tracking your results. You can track every piece of Google+ content you distribute or just a chosen few. Tracking the content you share on Google+ allows you to correlate SEO gains and ranking increases against Google +1s and other social signals. An easy way to keep an eye on what's working and what's not is to assign each Google+ link a custom URL, then review its stats weekly in Google Analytics. To set up a custom URL, open Google URL Builder in a new tab and complete the information. Here's an overview of each section and what you should type in:
When you've completed the URL Builder form, click Submit and you'll get your appended URL. If you like, you can use a URL shortener like bit.ly to make it look cleaner. Use Google+ to increase your SEO ranking. With so many changes in the Google search algorithm, it's important to keep up with what matters—and right now, Google+ matters. Taking the time to optimize your page and profile, share interesting content and track your efforts puts you on the path to higher SEO rankings. What do you think? Have you seen value from your company's Google+ page? Share your experience 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 3 Ways to Use Google+ to Increase Search Rankings appeared first on Make Money Online With Twitter Marketing. |
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