TwitterToolsReviews |
- How to Customize Your Social Share Buttons for Increased Traffic
- 6 Ways to Grow Your LinkedIn Connections
- 7 Niche Social Networks for Strategic Networking
- 5 tools to monitor and improve your Twitter communications
- New Data Shows the 7 Most Powerful Calls-to-Action for More Retweets
- 5 Ways Twitter Chats Can Help Your Business
- How to Use Twitter Ads for More Exposure, Leads and Sales
- 31 Must-Read Social Media Marketing Articles
- 3 #Twitter Tools to #Enhance Your #Marketing
- Facebook Ad Changes: This Week in Social Media
| How to Customize Your Social Share Buttons for Increased Traffic Posted: 21 Mar 2014 02:26 AM PDT By Angie Pascale
Do they auto-populate with information that makes your brand look good on social networks? To maximize the benefits of social sharing on your website, you need to make sure your social share buttons contain customized messaging that's easy for your readers to use and benefits your brand. In this article, I'll focus on how to optimize the top social share buttons for your website. What's an Optimized Share Button?An optimized share button automatically generates a sharable message with custom information for your brand. Here's an example of a social share button tweet that's not optimized with custom information.  Here's an example of a tweet that has not been customized. While the product ID number shows in the URL, the tweet is missing the brand's Twitter handle and hashtags. Including these items would help the brand increase followers, reach and engagement. Here's an example of a social share button tweet that's optimized to auto-populate with the brand's Twitter handle.  This tweet has been customized to display the product name and color number within the URL, and includes the brand's Twitter handle. Notice the additional information included thanks to the customized URL in the tweet above. Customized share buttons let your readers share useful information and help you control brand messaging at the same time. Installing Social Share ButtonsEach social channel handles share buttons differently and allows for various levels of customization. All channels offer options for look and feel, size, share count, connection annotations and what metadata is automatically pulled through the widget. Below, I cover share buttons for Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, Pinterest, Facebook and email. I'll explain which buttons let you add your username or include hashtags; how URLs, images and page summaries are rendered; and how to best install and customize each button. If you have a basic familiarity with HTML, the buttons are relatively easy to install. You can also send this to the person who does your technical web support. #1: Twitter Share ButtonHave you ever wanted to retweet something from someone you wanted to network with, but couldn't find his or her Twitter handle in the automated tweet? Did you look for a Twitter handle to include in the retweet? Or did you abandon your networking endeavors? In the example below, the Tweet button on ModCloth's blog automatically pulls through the blog title, a custom shortened URL and their Twitter handle.  This is an example of a tweet from a customized Tweet button.  Here's how the message looks when tweeted. Here's how you can customize the Twitter Share button: Step 1: Go to Twitter Buttons and select the "Share a link" button you like best. Complete the form fields in Options and make sure to include your Twitter username in the Via and/or Recommend section. Select "Use the page URL" for share URL and "Use the title of the page" for tweet text.  Customize your Twitter Share button with your Twitter handle and any relevant hashtags. Step 2: Click the Tweet button to preview how your tweets will display.  Preview the auto-populated message to see how it looks with your customizations. Step 3: When you're satisfied with how the tweet looks, copy and paste the code into the HTML for your site in the location you'd like the button to display. Save the change to your site and you have a customized Tweet button. #2: Google +1 ButtonThe Google +1 button attributes include the page title, URL, image and recommendations.  Simple's Google +1 buttons automatically pull through article titles and images. You can also select from advanced options, including how the +1 button loads, to better fit the needs of your website. For example, select Asynchronous JavaScript loading to improve page load time by allowing the browser to load the page and the +1 button code at the same time. Google+ pulls information to auto-populate in one of four ways, in this order: To ensure the best rendering of the share message and create the most eye-catching message, I recommend you implement both Schema and Open Graph on your site. Visit the Google Developers page and follow the instructions below to customize your Google+ button. Step 1: Select the desired button size, annotation format (meaning where the share count displays) and width.  Customize the size and format of your Google +1 button. Step 2: Select the appropriate advanced options.  Advanced Google +1 button options allow you to choose how the button loads on the page, impacting render time. Step 3: Now that you've formatted your button, click "Want to customize your snippet?" below the preview and code to customize the share message.  Here's where you can customize the message that is auto-populated for the Google +1 button. Step 4: Copy the snippet code and the button code from step 2, and paste them where you want the button to appear.  Preview the share button and copy your code here. Just like that, you have an optimized Google+ button on your site. #3: LinkedIn Share ButtonLinkedIn's Share button is more basic than those for other social media networks. And it isn't for every brand, but should be included if you deliver B2B content. The LinkedIn Share button not only pulls through your title, description and image from the page, it also lets users edit the post.  The target audience for American Express's Open Forum blog is entrepreneurs and SMB owners; therefore, it makes sense that LinkedIn is the first button in their share options. To install the LinkedIn Share button, visit the LinkedIn Share Button generator and follow instructions below. Step 1: Leave the URL to be shared blank and it will default to pulling the current page. Select how you want the share count to display.  Select your preferred format for the LinkedIn Share button. Step 2: Preview your button. If you're satisfied, click "Get Code," then copy and paste it where you want the button to display.  Copy the code generated for your LinkedIn Share button. That's it! Your optimized LinkedIn Share button is ready to go to work. #4: Pinterest Pin It ButtonBecause Pinterest is image-based, the Pin It button only works on pages that include an image. The Pin It button ignores any background images in your CSS and pulls any content within <img> tags that are at least 80×80 pixels. If your page has multiple images, they are listed in the order in which they are specified in the HTML file.  Fab.com coded their Pin It buttons to automatically show their brand name in the pin description. Pin It buttons require a bit more advanced coding than other sharing buttons. Don't be afraid to check with your web developer to make sure you're using the correct URL, image and description. When you're ready to build your button, visit the Pinterest Widget builder to get started. #5: Facebook Share ButtonFacebook offers two types of buttons: Facebook Like and Facebook Share. Both buttons allow users to share your content on Facebook and create a story on their news feed. The difference is in how the news feed stories display and how much control the user has in crafting that story. While both buttons allow users to add a comment and tag friends, the Facebook Like button doesn't allow them to edit the headline, description or thumbnail image.  Here's a Facebook Like button dialog box. Note that you're unable to choose the thumbnail image or edit the title or description. The Facebook Share button lets users make these changes. That means more exposure and engagement for you because the reader can personalize the post for their audience.  In this image you can see how the Facebook Share button allows the user to edit the description (highlighted in blue). For this reason, I recommend you create a customized Facebook Share button for your website. Follow these step-by-step instructions to add Facebook Share buttons to your site: Step 1: Leave the URL field blank, as this will default to sharing the page that the button lives on. Enter the width that makes sense for your page design. Then choose from six different layouts that combine different designs and share count displays. I recommend you use a version with share count to increase sharing—if readers see that others have shared something, they're more likely to share it themselves.  Customize and preview the Facebook Share button.  Choose from six different layout options for the Facebook Share button. Step 2: Click "Get Code" and choose between HTML5 and XFBML (iFrame and URL do not work with the Share button).  Copy the code that Facebook generates for your Share button. Step 3: Copy and paste the code where you want the button to appear on the page. Step 4: Include the proper Open Graph (OG) tags in your page to allow for more appealing share messages. The basic OG tags to use are title, site_name, URL, description, image and app_id (this tells Facebook what the site is and allows Insights to work). An OG tag for a page title looks like this: <meta property="og:title" content="This is the Title of the Page"/> Depending on your business's industry and the type of content being shared, you can also include other OG tags like media type (this defaults to the website if no media type is specified), locale, author and publisher. It may seem complicated, but know that OG is just meta-tags and your web developer should be familiar with them. Learn more about Facebook Open Graph. Once the code is copied and saved to your site, the Facebook Share button is installed. #6: Email This ButtonTrue, email is not considered a social media network. However, according to research by The Atlantic, emails, instant messages and other "dark social" channels account for 69% of the sharing that occurs online. These objects are considered "dark social" because they're untrackable through Google Analytics as people typically copy and paste a direct link, which shows as direct traffic in analytics. Email buttons differ based on whether you're using HTML, CSS or another programming language. Regardless of which language was used to build your site, make sure the title pulls through as the email subject line, and the URL renders correctly in the body copy so that the recipient can easily click on the link to visit the source from any email platform and device. Work on your own or with a designer to develop a button that matches the look and feel of your site. Then add this code, which will open up the user's default email client and create a new message: How to Measure and Enhance PerformanceGoogle Analytics shows activity on these buttons within the Social Plugins section. You can also use Event Tracking to see how many users click on each social share button. Keep an eye on the volume of shares for each button. If you find that one button isn't generating any shares, your audience simply may not use that social media channel. Consider removing the button to make room for others that perform well. Conclusion Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn and Pinterest are arguably the top 5 social networks today. While you should make it easy for your readers to share your content on these networks, you should also make it a priority to control how your content looks when it's shared. Take advantage of the custom attributes each platform's share button provides to help ensure that your brand messaging stays intact when your content is shared. What do you think? How do you use social sharing on your site? Which buttons have you seen the most success with? Share your experiences in the comments below. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you’re reading it on someone else’s site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php#publishers. The post How to Customize Your Social Share Buttons for Increased Traffic appeared first on Make Money Online With Twitter Marketing. |
| 6 Ways to Grow Your LinkedIn Connections Posted: 21 Mar 2014 01:14 AM PDT By Melonie Dodaro
Do you want to improve your chances of connecting with people via LinkedIn? In this article, you'll find six tips for successful networking that will help you avoid common mistakes that can damage your professional reputation on LinkedIn. What's Different About LinkedIn?Unlike social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter that accommodate both personal and business uses, LinkedIn is a social network built strictly for business. From the appearance of your profile to how you manage relationships, the people on LinkedIn expect professional behavior from you at all times. As you build your network, it's important to know what's appropriate and what's considered bad LinkedIn etiquette. Here are six tips: #1: Show People Your Business SideYou only get one chance to make a first impression, so make it count. If you use an unprofessional image for your profile photo, you may never get a chance to recover your reputation. Your LinkedIn profile image should show you in your best professional light. Use a head shot with a clean background, a smile and a clear view of your eyes. Think of how you would present yourself at an event thronging with prospects and use an image that does the same, online.  Always use an appropriate profile image. #2: Skip the Keyword-StuffingThe first thing many people do when they receive your connection request is look at your profile. And if your profile is stuffed with repetitive or irrelevant keywords, there's a pretty good chance that they won't connect with you.  Too many keywords make your profile look suspect. Yes, you must optimize your LinkedIn profile with relevant keywords so you're found in search results, but there is a big difference between keyword-optimizing and keyword-stuffing. Instead of using a large number of vaguely relevant words to show up in hundreds of search results, choose three or four top keywords you want to be associated with to make sure you show up in search results when people are looking for exactly what you offer.  Be smart and selective with the keywords you use in your profile. #3: Personalize Each LinkedIn Connection Request You SendThe default connection request message can send the wrong signal to the person you want to form a relationship with. The generic message can imply either that you don't have the time to send a personal request or that they aren't important enough to warrant a personalized request.  The default connection message can end a relationship before it starts. Personalize each connection request with a reminder of how the person knows you or explain why they should connect with you, and you'll find they're far more likely to accept. The latter is especially important when you're trying to connect with prospects you've never met.  A personalized connection message shows that you value the person you want to connect with. As a side note, if you send one too many invites that induce people to click on Report Spam or I Don't Know This Person, you will end up in LinkedIn Jail. This will mean you're required to enter an email address for prospects in any future LinkedIn invites you send, which greatly reduces your ability to expand your network. #4: Ask for Endorsements From People Who Know Your WorkA LinkedIn endorsement is a great way to show someone that you notice and value their skills and knowledge about the service they provide.  This is not the best approach in getting skills endorsements. Endorsements should be given freely. Endorsements should be given freely and without an agenda, and should never be followed up with a message saying, "I just endorsed your skills, can you endorse mine now?" Endorse the skills of the people you're connected with to show others that you appreciate and admire their work, not to build your own endorsements.  Show your appreciation of another’s skills with a LinkedIn endorsement. If a connection does reciprocate, take the opportunity to grow your relationship with a personal thank-you message. #5: Treat Recommendations Like ReferencesUnlike endorsements for skills, recommendations are a personal reference and reflect on both parties. If you accept a recommendation from someone with a poor reputation, it shows on your profile and links back to theirs. Their reputation can reflect poorly on you.  Only request recommendations from people who can vouch for your work. Never ask for or accept a recommendation from someone you don't know, or give a recommendation to someone whose work you can't personally vouch for. #6: Protect Your Connections' Contact InformationNobody feels special when they get a message that was sent to a bunch of other people. Worse, your connections may be offended when you share their email addresses with recipients they aren't connected to. If you send messages to more than one person at a time, be sure to unselect the option that says, "Allow recipients to see each other's names and email addresses."  Always uncheck the “Allow recipients to see each other’s names and email addresses” option. If you forget to uncheck the box, rectify the situation quickly and honestly. Send a message to those same recipients (with the box unchecked) and explain that you made a mistake and that you won't let it happen again.  An honest apology will show that you take responsibility for the mistake. Over to You If you're ever in doubt as to what you should do on LinkedIn, think of it as a networking event. Think about how you would present yourself, what you would do or how you would act when interacting with a person at a live event. If you wouldn't do it in person, don't do it on LinkedIn! What do you think? What mistakes have you made or seen on LinkedIn? What suggestions can you offer on how to use LinkedIn professionally? Leave your questions 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:
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| 7 Niche Social Networks for Strategic Networking Posted: 20 Mar 2014 11:57 PM PDT By Kerry Butters
Have you considered a smaller social network? In this article, you'll find 7 niche social networks built to serve specialized markets. Why Niche Social Networks?Ask almost anyone what to include in your social media strategy and you're likely to hear Facebook, Twitter or Google+ in the response. But you may find it useful to tap into a specialized network. Use a niche social network to reach a narrowly targeted audience where strategic networking can help you connect with potential customers and business partners of all kinds. A niche social network within your industry can work wonders to reach people of interest there. You can also look for niche sites where people come together around one of the core values or interests of your business. It's an easy way to find and connect with like-minded people for more strategic networking. The easiest and fastest way to find these niche sites is likely to be a good old Google search. For example, see below:  Use a Google search to find niche social sites relevant to your business. Use the examples below to inspire you to connect with niche social networks for more targeted networking. #1: Build Sustainable Relationships on Wiser—The Social Network for SustainabilityIs your business actively involved in sustainability and environmental topics? This is something that's becoming very important to many businesses and Wiser is a network built specifically to encourage dialogue about all things environmental. If your company is green, you can use Wiser to add partner organizations, promote events and share resources that raise your company's profile where it counts.  Adding an organization in Wiser. Much like with LinkedIn, you can also add groups where you can discuss issues close to your heart and propose solutions. Create a profile on Wiser today and start to network with people whose values align with yours. #2: Promote Your Books on LibraryThingAre you a publisher, literary agent or author? In addition to Goodreads, give LibraryThing a try. You can join as an individual or an organization, then upload your own books with their covers. You can also add books by capturing ISDN from web pages and use universal import to upload several books at once. This can also be done with .CSV files.  Quickly add your books to LibraryThing with the import feature. LibraryThing is ideal for companies that produce eBooks, as well as blossoming authors who want to cultivate social relationships with their readers. #3: Reach Alternative Audiences With Vampire FreaksMainstream networks don't always work well for independent bands, tattooists, gothic clothing retailers and so on. VampireFreaks is a community made of people who share news, images and music from the alternative scene.  Vampire Freaks social network. Once you've joined the Vampire Freaks, you can add events, upload videos and join in discussions to create ties with others who share your same interests. #4: Share Your Style and Designs on KaboodleIf you're in the fashion industry, Kaboodle is full of opportunity. It's similar to Pinterest, in that it presents posts in image form. Kaboodle allows you to create style boards with different items of clothing and accessories, making it ideal for fashion retailers.  Kaboodle—fashion, makeup and accessories. Organize your products by creating lists, carry out polls to see what your connections love the most and create a blog magazine for your business on the site.  Install the browser button for easy addition of images. Kaboodle is a powerful and aesthetically pleasing site that gives you plenty of opportunity to connect with your audience so you can learn more about their preferences. #5: Talk to the Man on GentlemintDo you produce manly products? Then Gentlemint is the place for you. From cars to food and pop culture, there are plenty of opportunities here to reach your audience. Like Kaboodle, Gentlemint is presented much like Pinterest in that it tiles images on the front page and is very visual.  The Gentlemint home page. From fashion-forward items to tongue-in-cheek products, if you target the 'gentleman audience,' then you need to join, get those manly products uploaded and get involved.  Manly deals on Gentlemint. #6: Showcase Your Creative Works on BehanceBehance features creatives in everything from web design and advertising to music and food. The site features a serious amount of talent from a range of industry sectors and, as it's dedicated to creative people, it's bursting with original posts and jaw-dropping artistic designs. Behance is a perfect place for you to build a following by featuring your work, or to network with other creative types for inspiration and collaboration.  Behance, the creative community. If you're in the creative industry, you must give Behance a go. #7: Serve It Up on AllrecipesAll things relating to food and drink belong on this fabulous site, which is lovely looking, so if you're a caterer, nutritionist or personal chef, Allrecipes will put you in front of your target audience.  Pro membership on Allrecipes. You can make shopping lists, plan a menu, answer questions and post recipes. There is a mobile version of the site and a YouTube channel, so your followers will be able to access your advice in numerous ways. It's simple to create recipes and menus and there are plenty of options. You can also get your recipes approved by the 'kitchen staff' so it's high-profile on the site. Allrecipes allows you to add nutritional information and provides more useful tools.  Allrecipes—My Recipe Box. As an added bonus, Allrecipes allows you to create your own URL, which is ideal for strengthening your brand. Final Thoughts Use these examples to inspire you to find like-minded people who fit well with your business audience. The major social networks are great for reaching broad markets, but there are thousands of niche social networks out there that cater to groups with more focused interests. Do some research, then join one that's highly relevant to your target audience to begin networking. Build visibility on the right platform to help you raise brand awareness, build your reputation and create a loyal following with people who share your interests and values. What do you think? Do you use niche social networks in your marketing? Where have you had success? Share your comments and suggestions in the Comment 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. 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| 5 tools to monitor and improve your Twitter communications Posted: 20 Mar 2014 10:52 PM PDT
Monitoring your retweets, mentions and favourites on Twitter is a good indicator of how effective your social communications are. But sometimes you need to dig deeper to discover your influencers and brand ambassadors, find out the optimum times to tweet and reveal what people saying about your brand. This is when a social media tool can help and here are five low cost ones I recommend checking out: CrowdboosterCrowdbooster is a helpful analytical tool for tracking the performance of your tweets and presenting the results in a simple, easy-to-understand way. Crowdbooster monitors the number of followers, retweets, mentions, favourites and potential impressions. View the results in a chart or as table and then drill down further to discover why some of your tweets are proving more popular than others.
Features I really like include being able to download the data as a .csv file (very handy when creating reports for your client), recommendations for the best times to tweet based on your previous activity and identifing your biggest fans that retweet the most. These are the people to engage with to increase the exposure of your social communications. You can even tweet from the Crowdbooster platform, with the tool scheduling your tweets at the most optimal time to maximise reach. TweetreachSearch with Tweetreach using a specific url, Twitter profile name, phrase or hashtag and they will provide you with a comprehensive report that analyses the performance of tweets mentioning that search term. Below is a snapshot of the report on the search term, "How to make social media 'work' for your business", which is the title of a Muddywall article I recently tweeted:
The report lets me know who has tweeted the search term, including the number of impressions and retweets their tweet achieved. This helps identify key influencers to target with my future tweets. Other helpful information includes the estimated reach and impressions of tweets containing the search term, the top contributors and a list of all the tweets mentioning the search term. Like Crowdbooster you can download the report to Excel or as a PDF if you set up a Tweetreach account. Commun.itCommun.it is all about managing your Twitter community. Get an idea of who your top followers are, who to engage with and who to follow (or unfollow) all based on the performance of your tweets and interactions. Initially the platform can be quite confusing as there is so much information to process. But it does soon become clear and then really helps with managing your Twitter community to achieve the best results.
The feature I really like is the ability to follow Commun.it's recommendations and manage your Twitter community directly from their platform. Buffer users can even schedule outgoing tweets directly from Commun.it. Commun.it's analytics includes Twitter mentions, retweets, reach, impressions and follower growth, all downloadable as a PDF. MentionMonitoring is so important for managing your online reputation. Mention is a simple tool to do this by monitoring any keyword or phrase. That might be your name, brand, company or competitor. As well as Twitter, the tool monitors the Web, Facebook, news, blogs, videos, forums and images.
Access a ‘statistics’ report that highlights the sentiment of your mentions and which days received the most activity. Their line graph is useful for monitoring spikes in your mentions. You can then drill down further to see where these mentions are coming from and why, all helpful data for fine-tuning your content strategy. The statistics reports are downloadable with the paid version of Mention. BufferPrimarily known as a scheduling tool, Buffer does include basic analytics that really help with refining and improving your Twitter communications. Their analytics are not as complex as Crowdbooster or as in depth as Commun.it but provide a simple overview of which tweets were popular. One downside is only tweets scheduled through Buffer will appear on the report.
Use the analytics to discover the number of retweets, mentions and favourites, plus the potential impressions a tweet has achieved. Drill down further to identify the retweeters, discovering influencers and brand ambassadors to target with future communications. Monitor when your popular tweets were sent out and you may discover patterns revealing optimum times to tweet. And review the number of people who clicked a link in your tweet. Then in future communications, play around by placing a link in different areas of a tweet and monitor to see if one area is more effective than the other. Unfortunately the Buffer analytics report is not downloadable on their free and basic packages. Have you got any other tools you use to monitor and improve your Twitter communications? Or have you got any thoughts on the ones I’ve mentioned in my post? Let me know in the comments section below. The post 5 tools to monitor and improve your Twitter communications appeared first on Muddywall. The post 5 tools to monitor and improve your Twitter communications appeared first on Make Money Online With Twitter Marketing. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| New Data Shows the 7 Most Powerful Calls-to-Action for More Retweets Posted: 20 Mar 2014 09:25 PM PDT I'm a big fan of social calls-to-action. Previously, I've found evidence that they work on Facebook and Twitter. So I wanted to expand my research and see if I could find more words and phrases that were good at spurring people to social action. Using a huge data set of more than 2.7 million Tweets provided to me by the awesome folks at Buffer, I analyzed the use of calls-to-action (like "please retweet") and their relationship to retweets. To control for number of followers, I used a retweets-per-follower ratio. I found that there are 7 words and phrases that when included in a tweet are correlated with that tweet getting more retweets than those that did not include those words. The expected CTAs are on the list: "please retweet" and "please rt" but leading up the list is the somewhat surprising "please help."
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| 5 Ways Twitter Chats Can Help Your Business Posted: 20 Mar 2014 08:12 PM PDT By Kristi Hines
Have you considered using Twitter chats as a marketing tool? As the use of hashtags on Twitter continues to flourish, conversations built around specific hashtags—or Twitter chats—have become commonplace. While you may be familiar with how to use Twitter chats for personal networking, you might not know they can also be used by brands to achieve business goals. In this post, I'll show you 5 ways your business can benefit from Twitter chats. #1: Connect With Customers and ProspectsHosting an event is a great way for a business to bring its potential and current customer base together to learn, engage and build a deeper relationship. Not all businesses can host a conference or seminar, but every business can host a Twitter chat. The key to hosting a Twitter chat that helps your business connect with potential and current customers is to choose a topic that resonates with your customer base. Whole Foods, for example, hosts a weekly Twitter chat that discusses (you guessed it) food. HubSpot hosts a weekly Twitter chat that discusses the science and data of inbound marketing. Their Twitter chat is run in conjunction with a weekly webinar on inbound marketing, which makes it a great lead generation tool for their business. Especially considering that, according to the Hashtagify tool from CyBranding, the #scichat hashtag gets an average of 12 million weekly impressions.  HubSpot combines lead generating webinars with Twitter chats. As the host of a Twitter chat, you can expect to gain lots of new followers each time you hold the chat. In addition, you'll build your social influence (i.e., Klout) when you're retweeted and mentioned during each chat. As your chat grows in popularity, your business will become synonymous with the Twitter chat topic, and thus achieving recognition as a leader in your space. #2: Build AuthorityMany businesses use social media with the goal of building themselves up as an authority in the eyes of their customers and in their industry as a whole. Appearing as a Twitter chat guest to answer questions about your area of expertise is a surefire way to boost your authority. So, how does one get invited to a Twitter chat as a guest expert? The best way is to actively participate in the Twitter chats you'd like to be a guest on. Get to know the host of the chat and tweet with him or her on a regular basis. Staying in the forefront of the host's mind and acting as a valuable resource in the Twitter chat is bound to lead to a guest opportunity.
If you want to take a more proactive approach, send an email and let the host know that you'd love to be a guest on the chat sometime. If the host is familiar with you and believes you'd be a good fit, he or she just might agree. With the goal of lead generation in mind, be sure that you update your Twitter profile appropriately before the chat. For example, if you're a social media expert who is going to be a guest talking about Facebook, include a link in your Twitter bio that takes new followers from the chat to your Facebook services page, book or product. As the guest of a Twitter chat, you can expect to gain lots of new followers during the chat as well as if/when the host writes a recap with the highlights of the chat. You might even get some business leads from people who find out how knowledgeable you are about your topic during the chat. #3: Create One-on-One RelationshipsAs an active participant in a Twitter chat, you have the chance to demonstrate your knowledge to customers and colleagues. The more often you participate in a specific Twitter chat, the more relationships you form and the more recognition you gain in your industry.
Each time you participate in a Twitter chat with valuable comments and advice, you'll gain new followers. You'll also generate leads for your business as people in the chat visit your profile to connect with you, so make sure your Twitter profile is updated to help people learn more about you and your business. #4: Stay InformedNot everything has to be about your business's bottom line. Attending Twitter chats in your industry as a spectator can be a great educational experience. In Cases on Formal and Informal E-Learning Environments, there's a chapter dedicated to a case study on how higher-education professionals used the weekly #sachat as a learning resource for student affairs. As a spectator, your goal is to find Twitter chats where other professionals and experts in your industry meet to discuss common issues. Marketing professionals, for example, will find lots of Twitter chats with educational opportunities in the Ultimate List of Twitter Marketing Chats by Raven Tools. #5: Promote Your BrandIf you know that a particular Twitter chat attracts your target customer base, then it makes sense for you to approach the host of the chat about sponsoring. Sponsorship packages vary based on the Twitter chat you're interested in, but many include some of the following opportunities:
Some examples of Twitter chats that offer sponsorship include #blogchat, #TGTaste, #SocialChat, #FoodieChats and #PPCchat. To find sponsorship opportunities that are relevant to your business, search for Twitter chat sponsorship on Google. In Closing Before you decide to be the guest or host of a Twitter chat, be sure to find and observe a chat within your industry so you know how they work. There are many Twitter chats happening on a regular basis and you can find them on this Twitter Chat Schedule by Tweet Reports, or by searching on Google for your keyword + Twitter chat. What do you think? How have you been involved with a Twitter chat? What were the benefits? 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 5 Ways Twitter Chats Can Help Your Business appeared first on Make Money Online With Twitter Marketing. |
| How to Use Twitter Ads for More Exposure, Leads and Sales Posted: 20 Mar 2014 07:05 PM PDT By Kristi Hines
Have you followed the latest on Twitter ads? Twitter has many paid options to help you gain more exposure. Keep reading to discover three ways to use Twitter ads to grow your business. Why Twitter Advertising?When Twitter released their advertising platforms, there was a huge lack of functionality when it came to targeting your ads toward specific audiences. While it's still not as detailed as Facebook or LinkedIn advertising, Twitter has come a long way in making sure your advertising reaches the right audience. In this post, we're going to look at how to create a high-performance Twitter ad campaign for your business. #1: Gain Visibility With Promoted TweetsOne of the most popular uses of Twitter advertising is to promote a specific message (tweet) on Twitter. For example, if you search Twitter for a particular keyword, you're likely to see a promoted tweet at the top of search results.  Example of a promoted tweet from Buffer. This can be a great way to get a specific message about your products and services at the top of your potential customers' Twitter feed. It can also be used to promote engaging content created by your business to boost authority in your industry. To promote a tweet, you need to go to the Twitter advertising section and sign in with your usual Twitter username and password. If it's your first time there, you'll be asked to select your country and time zone. Twitter advertising is currently available in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada and Ireland. For those who have used Twitter advertising before, you can click the New Campaign button to start a new advertising campaign. National brands and advertising agencies in 18 other countries including Australia, Brazil, France and Italy can fill out a form to speak with an advertising specialist. Next, choose New Promoted Tweets Campaign. Then you'll answer a series of setup questions about your campaign, starting with the campaign name and duration.  Give your campaign a name and duration. Next, fill out your targeting options. You can choose to target users based on keywords that users search or tweet about, television programming they engage with (such as people who tweet about the top-tweeted show, Scandal) and interests. Interest-based targeting allows you to target people similar to the followers of any Twitter username you enter, meaning you could target ads toward your competitor's followers.  Using the keyword targeting option. Note that of these three options—keywords, television and interests—only keyword ad targeting allows your tweet to appear in search results when someone searches for a particular keyword. Other ad targeting options will only show on users' timelines. In addition to the above targeting options, you can target your ads toward people in specific locations down to a city/metro level within the United States. You can also target by user device and gender. Once your targeting is set, you can choose to manually select the tweets you want to promote or allow Twitter to choose the five most engaging recent tweets. If you are trying to achieve specific goals, such as advertising your latest product launch, it's best to compose a custom tweet about the launch using the Promote a New Tweet option.  Manual vs. automatic tweet selection. Finally, set your total budget, daily maximum and maximum bid amount per engagement. While you can choose to bid lower than the amount suggested by Twitter, you may lose out on exposure if someone outbids you on the same targeting options.  Budget setup for your promoted tweets campaign. If you're new to Twitter advertising, you'll need to enter a method of payment. Otherwise, save your campaign, which will go live upon approval by the Twitter advertising team. #2: Grow Followers With Promoted AccountsThe next thing you can do with Twitter advertising is grow your followers with promoted accounts. You can see promoted accounts in various areas across Twitter, such as in the Who to Follow box in the left-hand sidebar.  Example of a promoted account. This is a great way to increase the targeted followers of your Twitter account quickly, especially if you are new to Twitter or simply want to expand your audience. The setup for promoted accounts is similar to the process for promoted tweets. Targeting options are limited to reaching users who are similar to a particular Twitter user's followers (such as your competitor's) and reaching users with specific interest categories.  Promoted account targeting options. You can also choose a tweet from your account that will be shown on mobile devices next to the suggestion to follow you. The tweet should be something that gives your potential new follower a reason to follow your account.  Share a tweet next to your promoted account on mobile. The budgeting options are also similar—you set a total budget, daily maximum and bid per follower. Suggested bid amounts vary based on the targeting options you set, but can range from $2 to $3 per follower. This is why you have to be extremely picky about your targeting so you only pay for followers who are good for your business. #3: Increase Leads With Lead Generation CardsThe best addition to Twitter advertising is lead generation cards. These are tweets that allow businesses to collect names and emails of potential leads for their business or mailing list subscribers directly on Twitter. You can see how it works by clicking on the cards.twitter.com link in this tweet from ExactTarget. You can find out how to set up lead generation cards in this post by John Bonini. It's a great way to really get tangible, measurable ROI from your Twitter advertising. Twitter Advertising TipsTo get the most out of any Twitter advertising campaign, be sure to use these three tips.
Over to You As you can see, Twitter now gives you more options to reach your audience and helps you to create the Twitter ad campaigns you need for your business. What do you think? What have your results been using the new Twitter advertising targeting and lead generation options? 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 How to Use Twitter Ads for More Exposure, Leads and Sales appeared first on Make Money Online With Twitter Marketing. |
| 31 Must-Read Social Media Marketing Articles Posted: 20 Mar 2014 05:58 PM PDT By Cindy King
We asked our writers to share their favorite social media blog posts. What follows is a gold mine of content you can apply to your marketing in 2014. #1: Enlarge Your Digital Footprint for More Effective Online Marketing Andy Crestodina I love this post by Barry Feldman because it emphasizes content promotion (which is all-important) and includes a comprehensive list of specific actions. It's a great overview for beginners. But the pros may also find a few tactics they aren't using.  Enlarge Your Digital Footprint for More Effective Online Marketing. It's a great piece of writing. As usual, Barry is approachable and direct. Not a word is wasted. It's one of the great posts of 2013 for both style and substance. Andy Crestodina, strategic director of Orbit Media. #2: A Visual Guide to Keyword Targeting and On-Page Optimization Rachel Sprung With of all last year's changes in the social media space, there are so many articles to choose from! But one article that resonated with me was Rand Fishkin's A Visual Guide to Keyword Targeting and On-Page Optimization. Every blogger knows that it's important to optimize their pages properly, but it's hard to keep track of everything you need to do with on-page optimization.  A Visual Guide to Keyword Targeting and On-Page Optimization. In this article, Rand clearly lays out the most important parts of on-page optimization. He uses an infographic and also gives details with visual examples to explain his points. Though some of the points are high-level and complex, he breaks them down so they're easy for beginners—as well as advanced SEO professionals—to understand. Rachel Sprung, product marketing associate at HubSpot. #3: Tell Your Business Story, One Blog at a Time Debbie Hemley Back in April, I came across Mike Alton's article, Tell Your Business Story, One Blog at a Time. As someone drawn to the idea of storytelling, I love the way Mike approaches the subject matter, practicing what he preaches by telling a compelling story about storytelling. Sure, the connection between storytelling and business blogging has been made before, but what differentiates this article from others for me is:
 Tell your business story, one blog at a time. Mike suggests that storytelling is one of the most effective purposes of a business blog. He outlines six different kinds of stories businesses can tell:
As storytellers, Mike reminds us to be genuine, paint a picture with words, bring the audience into the story and keep them in mind. All highly valuable points to take with us as we write our way into 2014! Debbie Hemley, freelance writer and social media coach. #4: Is Youtility the Future of Marketing? Ian Cleary My favorite post of 2013 is Jay Baer's Is Youtility the Future of Marketing? It's becoming increasingly difficult to get the attention of a prospective customer. At the top of the sales funnel (i.e., when the potential customer makes first contact with you), Jay outlines three ways of getting attention:
 Is Youtility the Future of Marketing? Top of mind awareness is an expensive marketing technique that uses constant marketing, so when the person is ready to buy they will think of you. Frame of mind awareness is also called inbound marketing. This is where you produce content that helps you get found through search or on social channels, so when a potential customer is looking for your product or service, they are attracted with content and converted over time. Jay also talks about a third option that he calls friend of mine awareness. This is where you provide something of real value to the customer. For example, you build an app that provides a useful service. It may be expensive to build the app, but it's so useful that prospects become attached to the brand. They view the brand differently because your app adds real value. Jay calls this Youtility. What I really like about the post is that it shows a new direction for marketing. We can all provide "Youtility" to our potential customers and stand out from the crowd. Jay's book, Youtility, provides all you need to know about this new form of marketing. Ian Cleary, founder of RazorSocial. #5: 6 Facebook Reporting Tools for In-Depth Analysis of Fan Pages Jim Belosic This is one of those posts where every single word is important and educational. In other words: I actually read the whole thing! What I love most is that it speaks to a more advanced Facebook marketing audience and digs deep into how to analyze a Facebook page.  6 Facebook Reporting Tools for In-Depth Analysis of Fan Pages. Many businesses are on Facebook just to be on Facebook, but there are plenty of tools that can show the impact of the social network. Kristi Hines explains them here, showing admins how they can demonstrate to bosses and colleagues the results they're getting. Plus it has a lot of pictures and I love articles with pictures! I'd heard of all six tools mentioned in this post, Simply Measured, Socialbakers, Sprout Social, Rival IQ, Cyfe and Google Analytics, but I didn't know just how valuable each tool could be. This post really breaks down the offers, options, features and benefits of each tool so you can choose which one(s) will work best for your business. Jim Belosic, CEO of ShortStack. #6: How to Grow a Billion-Dollar B2B Growth Engine  Eric Siu The most valuable blog post I read in 2013 was HubSpot—How to Grow a Billion-Dollar B2B Growth Engine. HubSpot is known for championing the push toward inbound marketing and has long been great at using content marketing to drive leads. However, there has never been a good case study on how they've done it and what led to their success.  HubSpot—How to Grow a Billion-Dollar B2B Growth Engine. I really enjoy blog posts that are backed by data and use specific examples because they allow me to start thinking about new ideas. These posts also serve as motivation for me as an entrepreneur. From early traction to taking risks on different tool sets to hosting webinars to creating a partnership program, there's enough in here to spark at least one actionable idea. Eric Siu, founder of Growth Everywhere and COO at Single Grain, a digital marketing agency. #7: 13 Characteristics of Human Brands Mike Gingerich If I narrow down to one social media article that really shaped and guided me in 2013, it was this blog post by Pam Moore the Marketing Nut: "13 Characteristics of Human Brands." It was like getting a bucket of cold water splashed in my face! It wasn't a strategy post. It was about the philosophy of life and business—not a "how-to" post, rather a "who are you?" post. It caused me to think long and hard about the core values, guiding principles and "human side" of our business.  13 Characteristics of Human Brands. I loved this post because it spoke to the heart of social media for business! Social media is SOCIAL—it's about people and relationships. It's person to person, not object to object or transaction to transaction. Pam wrote passionately about this, cutting through the fluff, getting past all the data-mining and formulas and making a simple, clear point: It's about being real, authentic and human. That's the core of social media for any business. Mike Gingerich, co-founder of TabSite. #8: 11 Content Marketing Lessons Learned From 20 of the Top 100 Blogs Thibaut Davoult Neil Patel's blog is a must-read for content marketers and SEO professionals because he goes straight to the point and values the power of data over gut feeling. These 11 tips are instrumental to growing a professional blog's audience. I had to learn them on my own when I started working on Nitrogram's content strategy, and now they all sit together on this list!  11 Content Marketing Lessons Learned From 20 of the Top 100 Blogs. Following these tips will not only help you become a better writer and improve the impact of your own efforts, but will also improve your productivity. You'll get more done by outsourcing efficiently. If you have to choose just one paragraph, make it "It's all about the headline." I read it often. Should you focus on your blog post's body? Sure you should; that's what brings value to your readers. But what's a strong article worth if no one clicks your headline? Thibaut Davoult, head of content marketing at Nitrogram. #9: The Top 7 Social Media Marketing Trends That Will Dominate 2014 Brian Honigman One of the most valuable posts I read this year about social media was The Top 7 Social Media Marketing Trends That Will Dominate 2014 by Jayson DeMers. I found this post valuable because it clearly identifies many of the social media marketing developments that are important for brands and small businesses in the coming year. Yearly roundup posts are often filled with fluff, but Jayson's post touches on actionable trends that business owners and marketers must take note of if they want to remain relevant in the ever-changing marketplace.  The Top 7 Social Media Marketing Trends That Will Dominate 2014. I learned about the continuing importance of Google+ and Google authorship, further stressing how companies need to focus on content to make an impact across their digital properties. Google is merely aligning with companies that are creating quality content, which Jayson helped outline nicely. Brian Honigman, freelance writer and content marketing consultant. #10: Social Media Stardom: 7 Lessons Marketers Can Learn From Digitally Savvy Celebrities Ben Pickering One of my favorite posts of the past year comes from Ekaterina Walter, who shared Social Media Stardom: 7 Lessons Marketers Can Learn From Digitally Savvy Celebrities. The overarching theme is to focus on your audience and not yourself. This is a powerful lesson for any organization engaging on social media.  Social Media Stardom: 7 Lessons Marketers Can Learn From Digitally Savvy Celebrities. I really like the concept of building a tribe of brand advocates as a classic quality-over-quantity strategy, with the upside being that in social circles, quality can actually beget larger quantity as the hardcore fans are likely to be your biggest influencers. Ben Pickering, digital marketing executive who has worked with many of the world's top brands. #11: 9 Persuasion Lessons From a 4-Year-Old Greg Hickman As marketers and adults, we typically overcomplicate things. Not because we want to sound smart (all of the time), but because we usually don't get into our customers' heads during the content-creation process. The article 9 Persuasion Lessons From a 4-Year-Old not only gives us 9 valuable tips we can use today, but also a perspective that brings us back to our own youth, when things were much more simple. Bringing out your inner child while writing can offer great results for your audience.  9 Persuasion Lessons from a 4-Year-Old. I learned that after I write or record anything, I need to review the content as if I were my own customer reading it AND make sure it's simple enough that a child would know what I'm asking them to do. Greg Hickman, founder of Mobile Mixed. #12: Twitter Files for IPO—What it Means for Users, Investors and Social Media Lior Degani Without a doubt, the biggest social media event of the year was Twitter going public, which had a big effect on social media marketers on both short- and long-term fronts. Brian Solis wrote a great piece for marketers about the IPO's impact on media, society and business, "Twitter Files for IPO—What it Means for Users, Investors, and Social Media."  Twitter Files for IPO—What it Means for Users, Investors and Social Media. The post helped me understand the business effects the IPO will have on the network. Advertising on Twitter will become more viable for the company, and therefore more valuable for marketers as well. As Twitter accumulates more data and the network grows, the platform becomes more approachable by both big brands and small businesses. As for what's next, Twitter is committed to improving mobile engagement and mobile ads, with relevant acquisitions such as MoPub. As a public company, Twitter's business decisions will strike a unique balance between monetization and user experience. Lior Degani, co-founder of Swayy. #13: What Everybody Missed About Hummingbird: Social Signals Stephanie Shkolnik One of the most valuable blog posts I've read this year is Eric Enge's What Everybody Missed About Hummingbird: Social Signals, as it pertains to the implications of search and social. This article expands on how in the past Google has had technical issues that impacted social signals as a ranking factor. Enge highlights a recent study that showcased how Google+ share links hadn't actually impacted ranking in the past, indicating that while historically links have been a driver in SEO, social signals will become more prominent.  What Everybody Missed About Hummingbird: Social Signals. This piece illustrates how experts who specialize in particular topics should and can be recognized based on their online credibility. While this post is relatively straightforward, it endorses the notion that social will inform search to a higher degree in the future and that to rank in Google, you must build social media credibility. Stephanie Shkolnik, director of social media at Digitaria. #14: How to Sell on Facebook: A Detailed, 9-Step Guide Krista Bunskoek For business value, I would recommend Jon Loomer's How to Sell on Facebook: A Detailed, 9-Step Guide. Jon's practical step-by-step guide compiles tactical details on how to create highly targeted Facebook ad campaigns that ultimately result in sales conversions.  How to Sell on Facebook: A Detailed, 9-Step Guide. I loved the article for Loomer's insightful strategies such as:
I loved it even more because it walks you through the process with clear language and easy-to-understand screenshots. Facebook ads have proven to be an effective way to reach our market, so knowing how to use the tools (with strategic tips) has been very valuable. Krista Bunskoek, content marketer at Wishpond. #15: This So-Called Digital Life: Re-Evaluating the Value of Time Spent in Social Networks Linda Coles This post by Brian Solis really captures the other side of social media—the side that isn't often talked about, but is still very important to keep a handle on. While this article really looks at how our teens are using social media and how it influences them, some of us older folks are feeling just the same way.  This So-Called Digital Life: Re-Evaluating the Value of Time Spent in Social Networks. It can affect us all like a shot of dopamine (a neurotransmitter that helps control the brain's reward and pleasure centers). Each time we post something and get a reaction such as a like—or better still, a comment—it gives us pleasure. So we do it again and again and again. It's not that we feel like we need a digital detox; we're in control. But that doesn't stop us enjoying the feeling. Just like opening a box of chocolates. We don't intend to eat them all in one go, but to enjoy one or two straight off because they give us pleasure. We like them. Linda Coles of Blue Banana is a sought-after speaker and LinkedIn influencer.  John Lee Dumas #16: Social Media Strategy in 8 StepsI love Jay Baer's 8 steps post because it lays out a roadmap to easily follow to start building a platform for social media strategy. Taking away the idea that small businesses and companies "do" social, Jay instead focuses on how they can "be" social—an important distinction to make, given how powerful our social communications have become.  Social Media Strategy in 8 Steps. As Jay points out, I think it's obvious that too many businesses focus on the tactics and tools they can use to do social media, all the while forgetting to actually listen to their audience or utilize the metrics to help them measure and track their goals. What stood out to me the most in Jay's post, and a valuable takeaway for my own social media strategy, is the idea that we need to become more human. Putting yourself out there as a relatable human being versus an entity is a great way to break down any existing barriers there might be between you and your potential audience on social. John Lee Dumas, founder and host of EntrepreneurOnFire. #17: 10 Biz Owners Who Are Doing Rad Things With Images Cas McCullough The best blog post I read about social media was not from one of the famous social media blogs. It was this one on visual marketing by blogger Karen Gunton from Build a Little Biz. With the rise of Instagram and Pinterest, visual marketing has become a higher-profile social media strategy for small businesses. Karen takes a whole lot of overwhelm out of visual marketing for small businesses who do it all themselves. She doesn't feature big corporations or high-profile social media stars. Instead she features real people and real little businesses, and that makes the content easy to relate to.  10 Biz Owners Who Are Doing Rad Things With Images. I love this blog post because it shows you how to brand all of your visuals, tools, templates and worksheets in a particular style. While I do illustrate many of my own social media visuals, I hadn't thought about taking a mixed-media approach. Something to have fun with in 2014. I felt refreshed after reading this post and my brain is now full of new ideas on how to use visual marketing to better relate to my followers on social media. Cas McCullough, founder of Content Marketing Cardiology. #18: LinkedIn Etiquette Guide: 20 Do's and Don'ts Vincent Ng I feel that the single most helpful social media post for me was LinkedIn Etiquette Guide: 20 Do's and Don'ts. The blog post provides helpful tips on how to create real relationships with people on LinkedIn and practical tips on what you should never do. To top it off, it also has a beautiful infographic of all the tips.  LinkedIn Etiquette Guide: 20 Do's & Don'ts (Infographic). I love this article because I've put a lot of these tips into practice and have seen positive results. I've made some great contacts within the Pinterest marketing community through LinkedIn, and it's led to a lot of guest blogging opportunities and interesting discussions. The tip that I like the most is about sending a LinkedIn welcome message that delivers value to your contacts. This can be a message that provides a link to your latest ebook or a report that's helpful to your LinkedIn connections. Vincent Ng, president of MCNG Marketing and a Pinterest marketer. #19: Facebook Marketing: From 2,500 to 1 Million Fans in Just Two Years Adeel Vanthaliwala The most valuable social media blog post for me, published on the Crazy Egg blog, was called Facebook Marketing: From 2,500 to 1 Million Fans in Just Two Years. Generally, this article taught me that social media marketing is not a sprint, but a calculated marathon. It's important to remember this if you are using social media for your business.  Facebook Marketing: From 2,500 to 1 Million Fans in Just Two Years. Specifically, there are three things that I really liked about this post:
Adeel Vanthaliwala, co-founder of Incentivibe. #20: Breaking Down the Four Ms of Influence Marketing for Better ROI Kimberly Reynolds The post that truly made me reevaluate my perspective about online influence is Danny Brown's Breaking Down the Four Ms of Influence Marketing for Better ROI. After reading this post, I started to think about how I could shift from focusing on influencers as determined by Kred or Klout, which really just measures amplification. Instead, I started to focus on connecting with the real influencers: people who will motivate my customers along the sales funnel, ultimately to the purchase decision.  Breaking Down the Four Ms of Influence Marketing for Better ROI. Kimberly Reynolds, co-founder of SocialNotz. #21: A Scientific Guide to Writing Great Headlines on Twitter, Facebook and Your Blog Donna Moritz In 2013, this fabulous post from Leo Widrich at Buffer was the one that I referred back to the most. Leo's post is packed with hot tips for getting more mileage out of your social media marketing. I love that it includes some really clever ways to structure your Twitter and Facebook headlines, not just on your blog.  A scientific guide to writing great headlines on Twitter, Facebook and Your Blog. My key takeaways:
There are hundreds of blog posts that I read and love every year, but if you want to be successful on social media, do what I did: bookmark, refer to and apply some of the tips in this post in 2014. Donna Moritz, founder of Socially Sorted. #22: 32 Experts Share Their Best Blog Post Promotion Tips Stephanie Sammons One of my favorite social media blog posts in 2013 was 32 Experts Share Their Best Blog Post Promotion Tips from Kristi Hines at Kikolani. In this post, Kristi gathers 32 best practices from the experts on the most effective ways to promote your blog content through social media and beyond. You will undoubtedly recognize many of the experts whom she asked to contribute to the post.  32 Experts Share Their Best Blog Post Promotion Tips. I really enjoyed reading the insights of these successful contributors and also picked up some great tips for my own blog promotion strategies! Stephanie Sammons, founder of Build Online Influence. #23: 51 Irresistible Social Media Tool and Technology Tips Jamie Turner Ian Cleary has done a terrific job taking his RazorSocial blog from zero to 100 miles per hour in just under 18 months. He's done it by creating amazingly helpful blog posts like 51 Irresistible Social Media Tool and Technology Tips. The post is classic Ian Cleary, packed with helpful information that is not only relevant but also actionable.  Social Media Tips: 51 Irresistible Social Media Tool and Technology Tips. If you want to see how to take a blog from nothing to something in just a year and a half, and you want to learn valuable social media tips in the process, you can't go wrong with this blog post and Ian's blog. Jamie Turner, founder of the 60 Second Marketer. #24: 52 Unique Ways to Create Social Media Magic Katie Lance I loved this post because it reviews a lot of the basics that we all should be doing, but it also gives some great insights into the nuances of specific platforms. Too many blogs posts about social media don't dive into specific how-tos and I love Rebekah's easy-to-understand style for beginning or advanced social media marketers.  52 Unique Ways to Create Social Media Magic. I especially like the tips for Pinterest and Google+ (two emerging platforms with enormous SEO opportunities). These are tips I'll be implementing immediately! Katie Lance, CEO/owner of Katie Lance Consulting. #25: Empowerment Marketing: Advertising to Humans as More Than Just Selfish Machines Lisa Peyton I discovered Johan Sachs this year while studying storytelling for my degree in Media Psychology. This blog post on Fast Company is an excerpt from his book, Winning the Story Wars, and outlines what he calls empowerment marketing. It's a fresh take on how companies need to craft messages that empower consumers instead of making them feel inadequate. He reveals the tactics of the inadequacy approach and explains why they no longer work on social media–savvy consumers.  Empowerment Marketing: Advertising to Humans as More Than Just Selfish Machines. The article also lays out specific empowerment marketing tactics that social media strategists and community managers can use to connect with their audience. His tactics will help you inspire, motivate and reach the core values of your target audience. Each tactic outlined is supported with evidence from real campaigns from brands like Nike, Dove, Apple and Volkswagen. Lisa Peyton, a leader in the field of digital marketing who serves as editor at ThoroughlyModernMarketing.com. #26: Ten Visibility Tips for Google Plus Louise Julig I loved this guest post and infographic by Stephan Hovnanian, Ten Visibility Tips for Google Plus, that he created in October for Denise Wakeman's site. Stephan is one of the most helpful people I've found on G+, and this infographic succinctly sums up 10 tips for the platform.  Ten Visibility Tips for Google Plus. Since Google+ has some distinct features and cultural differences from the other social media outlets, I appreciated learning from a pro how to take advantage of them to get more engagement and boost visibility. I particularly appreciated the tip about posting to communities vs. posting only to your profile. It's a great way to get some traction on your posts, particularly when you're just starting out on G+ and don't have many followers. Louise Julig, Social Media Examiner's case study writer, freelance writer and former engineer. #27: Taking the Long View: Social Media's Real ROI Bryden McGrath When it comes to social media, many businesses simply want a clear ROI they can calculate. It's a topic that continues to occupy marketers who want to track every single dollar that their social media efforts have generated. In this blog post, Ian Lurie explains why social media's ROI is actually all about the long-term, from great customer service through a company's social media channels to improving the overall opinion of your brand. While these types of social media investments often lose money when measuring near-term ROI, Lurie's point is that these activities have big-time growth implications. Or as he puts it: "The long-term payoff is huge."  Taking the Long View: Social Media's Real ROI. Bryden McGrath, social media coordinator at Precor Incorporated. #28: How to Find More Content Ideas Than You'll Ever Be Able to Create Jason Miller I love this post because it addresses one of the biggest challenges for businesses in regards to social strategy: content ideas. Let's not forget that the blog is probably the most important and underutilized social media tool out there, and content is its fuel. Without a constant source of high-quality, original content, your overall social strategy will suffer.  How to Find More Content Ideas Than You'll Ever Be Able to Create. What I learned from this post is that many of us have far more to say than we probably ever realize and it's up to us to pull these ideas and topics out of the deep recesses of our unconscious minds. Peter Shallard takes a deep dive into the psychology of content success and poses three questions to help content creators and social marketers dig deep and never run out ideas to write about. Shallard also reminds us that the basics matter more than ever: "writing magnetic headlines, building irresistible narratives and focusing on good writing are still important." But by continuing to ask yourself the three simple questions he proposes in the post, you'll get great ideas flowing and have "an unlimited source that you can craft into brilliance." Timeless advice for social media and content marketers alike. Jason Miller, senior content marketing manager at LinkedIn. #29: The Story Behind the Numbers: Social Media Research Kerry Butters Having read extensively on the subject in 2013, I loved the Internet Advertising Bureau's (IAB) research on proof of ROI for social. While those of us "in the biz" are of course aware that social is a powerful medium for businesses, it's not always simple to convince clients of this. For me, the study gives a solid insight into social media ROI from a reputable source that could be worked on to give insight to clients and my readers. The idea that social can produce a return of 3:1 is valuable to businesses and can really help agencies communicate extra value to clients. It's easy to claim proven results, but sometimes business owners are naturally skeptical about such claims.  The Story Behind the Numbers: Social Media Research. The study claimed that for every $1.64 spent on social, the return is $5.47 (converted from GBP to USD), which is a significant ROI. Of course, not everyone agreed with the study. Bryan Urbick of the Consumer Knowledge Center pointed to a Pepsi campaign that suggested otherwise. I really liked the research as it led to further research and allowed me to get a grip on understanding why the debate on the value of social remains. This also gave rise to a better understanding of how tools such as CRM can help. Kerry Butters, founder and director of markITwrite. #30: 46 Experts Share Their Top Social Media Management Tools Christian Karasiewicz The single most valuable blog post I read on social media in 2013 was an article titled, 46 Experts Share Their Top Social Media Management Tools. The reason I loved this article so much was because it emphasizes that while it's important to develop a social media strategy, you need to be able to execute on that strategy. Trying to squeeze 24 hours of work into an 8-hour day is nearly impossible unless you have the right tools to help do the job.  46 Experts Share Their Top Social Media Management Tools. This article teaches about a lot of the social media tools that are available to help manage the day-to-day time spent on social media. What I enjoyed most was learning about the different tools many of today's social media professionals are currently using and where those tools can be applied to help execute a successful social media strategy. Christian Karasiewicz, founder of FB Marketing University.  Heidi Cohen #31: Blog Optimization: How to Optimize Your BlogUnlike many social media marketers, Andy Crestodina can be geeky (in a good way). In this post, Andy lifts the hood on Google Analytics to show bloggers how to get their posts to rank better. If it works for top bloggers like Gini Dietrich of Spin Sucks, it'll work for you.  Blog Optimization: How to Optimize Your Blog. Heidi Cohen, chief content officer at HeidiCohen.com. What do you think? Which one of these is your favorite? 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 31 Must-Read Social Media Marketing Articles appeared first on Make Money Online With Twitter Marketing. |
| 3 #Twitter Tools to #Enhance Your #Marketing Posted: 20 Mar 2014 04:51 PM PDT Are you looking for tools to help better manage your Twitter presence? Managing your Twitter presence along with your other online networks can be difficult if you have limited resources. In this article, you'll discover 3 tools to make your basic Twitter marketing tasks easier. #1: Manage and Analyze Your Community with SocialBroEvery business needs at least one management tool to manage its Twitter presence, and there are many excellent Twitter management tools to choose from. SocialBro is one of my favorites, thanks to the excellent features it offers.  SocialBro offers many features to manage your Twitter account. SocialBro allows you to not only manage your Twitter account, but it also provides you with useful information you can use for your social media strategy. Here are some examples of how to use this cool Twitter tool. Target your business niche When you start to build a community, you'll want to make sure you follow the right people. SocialBro helps you find your target audience through a function called Discover Twitter Users. This feature works with filters and search options to give you the data you need tofind your relevant audience.  SocialBro’s filters allow you to find your relevant target demographic. You can filter your search based on time zone, language, verified/non-verified users, public/private profiles, profiles with or without URL and profiles with or without customized avatar. After that, you can arrange the searches by doing a second filter based on influencer score, followers, number of followers, following, lists they are in, followers/friends ratio and more. This helps narrow your search results to find relevant Twitter users to follow. And this is beneficial as you can often create a more dynamic community when you use more specific targeting. You'll want to use these results to create lists to keep track of the people you're interested in. For example, you can create Twitter lists for clients, influencers, industry thought leaders and competitors to follow their conversations easily. Another way to find relevant followers is to use the Monitor a Hashtag feature. It's a great way to keep tabs on people relevant to your business and follow their conversations on Twitter. Here's an example of a search on #blogchat, a Twitter community that actively discusses topics on blogging every week.  When you monitor hashtags, you can find relevant Twitter users who use them. With the Monitor a Hashtag feature, you're able to see who has used the hashtag, users who have followed you, users who have not followed you and users whom you're following and aren't following you back. You can choose to engage with the people who aren't following you. And when you get to know them, they're more likely to follow you back. This is a great way to build your Twitter community with people who share similar interests. Twitter is all about social commentary, so listen to conversations to define the community your business needs on Twitter. Analyze your competitors SocialBro allows you to analyze any account you're interested in. This function is ideal to:
 Results of competitors’ analysis. Your business most likely targets the same audience as your competitors. With SocialBro, you're able to use the filters mentioned above to zoom into your competitors' followers, quickly analyze their followers and determine whether they're relevant to your community. You can decide to follow your competitors' followers or simply create a Twitter list of their followers and engage with them in the future. Find your best time to tweet It's important to maximize your time on Twitter. SocialBro has a feature that lets youknow when your followers are online and find the optimal times to engage with them.  Best time to tweet based on SocialBro’s analysis. SocialBro is a great tool to help you engage with your community. It gives you the ability to search both within your community and throughout the entire Twitter platform using a variety of search criteria. Another benefit of using SocialBro is that it can be integrated with Buffer, the next tool I discuss. Other alternatives to SocialBro for Twitter management are SocialEngage, Sprout Social, HootSuite and TweetDeck. #2: Make it Easy to Schedule With BufferIn addition to a Twitter management tool, every business needs a scheduling tool. Although many Twitter management tools come with scheduling features, none of them can compare with one of the simplest Twitter scheduling tools available,Buffer. Buffer makes it easy to schedule your tweets. All you have to do is pre-set the date and time of your posting schedule ONCE and you're done. You're able to space out your tweets to avoid spamming your followers.  Schedule the times you’d like to tweet in your Buffer dashboard. Need to figure out the best time to schedule your tweets on Buffer? I recommend you use Tweriod or SocialBro for this. Once you've set your timing, the hard work is done. To add a post or a tweet to your account is simple—you can either use theirGoogle Chrome extension, their iPhone app or even the Buffer share button installed on many sites.  When a website has a Buffer button, just click it and you’ve buffered a post. Here's how to Buffer an article After you find an article to share and click on the Buffer button, a pop-up like the one below appears.  You can either use the same text or change the text you want to tweet and click the green Add to Buffer button and you’re done. All you have to do is select the account you want to use, change the text if you want to and click Add to Buffer. You're done! Your Buffer is now set to tweet based on the times you setearlier. Buffer also offers analytics to find out if you're getting the best out of your tweets.  Analytics from Buffer showing you how your tweet performs. You can get statistics based on the number of clicks, retweets, mentions and favorites all from their website or on their iPhone app. Tip: It increases your visibility to thank people for their retweets. Even if you have little time to do this, try to thank those with a large number of followers. It's easy to do this from Buffer's website. With Buffer's free account, you can have one Twitter, Facebook and LinkedInaccount and schedule a maximum of 10 posts per day. If your business has an active community, you may need to upgrade to the paid pro plan to schedule more than 10 posts per day. Buffer is a great tool for small business owners who want to optimize their tweets and save time. And Buffer has partnered with many other tools such as SocialBro to improve your social media marketing experience. #3: Manage Your Twitter Account With TweepiTweepi is a great additional tool for small businesses. You can use Tweepi tomanage and grow your Twitter followers. Tweepi is quite straightforward. It allows you to unfollow inactive users, add new followers and easily follow back the people following you on Twitter. You can sort Twitter users based on followers, tweets, last tweet and Klout score. This information is presented in an easy-to-read format. It's easy to identify inactive followers and unfollow them. This is important tokeep your Twitter community relevant to your goals.  Tweepi helps you manage your followers. One of the features that I like to use is the Follow Followers function. As the name suggests, you can easily follow the followers of any account you choose. For example, this means you can follow the people who are following your competitors on Twitter. How to use the Follow Followers function on Tweepi All you have to do is insert the Twitter account you wish to follow. You canchoose the Twitter account for any of your competitors, influential users or highly active accounts. Then simply click Start Following.  The Follow Followers feature allows you to follow users who are following any Twitter account. Next, Tweepi gives you a list of 20 users who recently followed the account and you can choose from there.  This list shows the most recent followers. I like to sort the results on this list by Last Tweet and follow those who have a real photo of a person in their profile. You'll want to be careful to avoid following businesses that use Twitter for the sole purpose of promoting their products. Once you've selected the people you want to follow, simply click Follow and you're done. Tip: Follow a small number of people. I suggest you follow fewer than 100 per hour and never more than 500 in a day. Tweepi applies Twitter's rules of only considering a certain number of follows at a time as legitimate. If the number of people you follow is too high, you'll be considered a spammer. So you'll want to use this tool wisely and with moderation to get the most out of building the community you want on Twitter. Another alternative to manage your Twitter community is ManageFlitter. Choose Your Twitter Tools There are many useful Twitter tools, but these three are a great place to start your Twitter marketing. As you move forward, choose additional tools that best fit your social media goals. What do you think? Are these all the tools you need? Are there any other tools that you would like include? Join the conversation below and let me hear your thoughts. The post 3 #Twitter Tools to #Enhance Your #Marketing appeared first on Make Money Online With Twitter Marketing. |
| Facebook Ad Changes: This Week in Social Media Posted: 20 Mar 2014 03:40 PM PDT By Cindy King
What's New This Week?Facebook Ads Get New Formats: Facebook advertisers now have more options in ad sizes to choose from to best suit their needs. "The changes mostly impact page post link ads, page like ads, offers ads and event ads, because these ad formats weren't originally designed to work across all placements on Facebook."  Facebook increases the size of images in many of their “ad units to give advertisers more room to display their brand or products.”
 You can now embed your public Google+ posts to your website pages. Google Integrates Google+ Sign-In With Author Attribution: This is currently only being piloted on WordPress.com (not for self-hosted WordPress.org blogs) and Typepad. "So if you connect your WordPress.com account with Google, for instance, the articles you publish will now be associated with your Google+ profile automatically."  “Today users may see your name, picture and/or a link to your Google+ profile when your content appears in Search, News and other Google products.” Facebook Announces New Tools for Surfacing Conversations: "Selected news organizations can begin to integrate Facebook conversations into their broadcasts or coverage by displaying public posts of real-time activity about any given topic."  “From favorite television shows to sporting events to the latest news; the conversations are happening on Facebook.” Foursquare Lets You Search Menus: Foursquare expands Explore search to include full menus. "Type in the dish you're looking for" and Foursquare will scour their "menu database of over 43 million menu items from over half a million places to find exactly what you're looking for."  Foursquare will show you all the restaurants nearby that serve the dish you’re looking for. Don't miss this: Social Media Success Summit 2013 Social Media Success Summit 2013 is a special online conference designed to help you master social media marketing (brought to you by Social Media Examiner).  Social Media Success Summit 2013. Forty-five of the world's leading social media pros will show you how. Instructors include Jay Baer (author, Youtility), Chri s Brogan (co-author, Impact Equation), Mari Smith (co-author, Facebook Marketing), Michael Stelzner (founder, Social Media Examiner), Mark Schaefer (author, Return on Influence), Jesse Stay (author, Google+ for Dummies), Amy Porterfield (co-author, Facebo ok Marketing All-in-One for Dummies) and experts from General Electric, Sony, E! Online, Kelly Services and Discovery Channel–just to mention a few. Fully online. Click here to learn more. What do you think? 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. Five Filters recommends:
The post Facebook Ad Changes: This Week in Social Media appeared first on Make Money Online With Twitter Marketing. |
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