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- 4 Fun Ways to Improve Your Facebook Engagement
- Visual Social Media: How Images Improve Your Social Media Marketing
- Affiliate Marketing Program
- Unlimited Pinterest Secret Boards: This Week in Social Media
| 4 Fun Ways to Improve Your Facebook Engagement Posted: 08 Mar 2014 09:02 PM PST By Cas McCullough
Are you looking for fresh ideas to quickly create engagement on your Facebook page? In this article, you'll discover four ways you can create better engagement on your Facebook page using social game. Why Games?If you're tearing your hair out worrying about the number of fans interacting with your Facebook business page, moderating your page may not be much fun. Worse still, you may be missing out on getting to know your fans on a deeper level. The good news is that initiating simple social games on your page's timeline gives your page interaction a boost. Social games on your timeline encourage comments, shares and likes, and build a sense of community around your brand. Plus, as a side benefit, they are also a lot of fun for you and your fans. Why Engagement Matters on FacebookThere are more than 15 million business pages on Facebook. Add in Facebook's hundreds of complex algorithms that work behind the scenes to help people see what matters most to them, and it's little wonder that page owners find it frustrating to maintain news feed visibility. Because of the algorithms, fans don't see all updates from every page they like in their news feed. But every time a fan likes or interacts with a particular type of post on your page, Facebook uses that information to determine what content your fan likes most, and makes that content more prominent in their news feed. So if your fans are mainly interacting with your images, they'll see more of your images; if they're mainly interacting with your text posts, they'll see more of your text posts. Get the picture? Initiating social games is good for your Facebook page. Using your business page timeline to feature fun social games creates community among your fans and brings them back to your page over and over again, giving them more opportunities to get to know you and your brand. If you want to improve your visibility without spending lots of money on Facebook ads, initiate social games to draw your fans back to your page. Each of these games can be run successfully on a page timeline or in a group—which is good news if you administer both! #1: Take Your Best GuessWith the recent changes to the Facebook Page Guidelines, businesses can now run competitions on their timelines. For information on the latest Facebook policy, check out our post here. You can choose to run the "What's Your Best Guess?" game as a timeline competition with a prize or simply to create engagement. Admittedly, it's more fun for your fans if there's a prize on offer.  The “What’s Your Best Guess” game can feature anything in any quantity. Candy in a jar is a popular choice, though! How the game works. Buy a quantity of anything you think will interest your fans. You can choose candy, buttons, balloons, branded promotional items like golf balls or even toys. Fill a jar, then take a photo of the jar and post it to your business page timeline. If you don't offer a prize, all you need do is post the image with the words: "What's your best guess? Post your answer in the comments below." If you run the game as a competition with a prize on your page's timeline, you'll need to ensure you comply with Facebook Page Guidelines and be very clear about what the prize on offer is so there's no confusion for your fans. As there is just one correct answer, let people know what happens if there's a tie. If there's only one prize, an easy-to-implement tiebreaker is to simply state that whoever posts first wins.  To determine the winner in case of a tie, check to see who posted first by looking at the time stamp on each comment. See who posted first on a page by looking at the time stamp on each comment. You may also want to put a time limit on the game so people know to post their answer within a specific time frame. This will encourage fans to get in early and makes it easier for you to administer the game. #2: Ask the Next Friend"Ask the Next Friend" is a fun and simple game that quickly builds camaraderie and community. How the game works. Simply kick-start the thread by posing an "either/or" question and state that the next person to comment should answer in one word, then pose their own "either/or" question.  Keep games simple for lightning-fast engagement on your page or in your Facebook group. In this example from Queensland Business Group's "Ask the Next Friend" game, 95 people commented and not one person went off topic in the thread. #3: Name Your Life's Feature FilmGames that help your community get to know each other are awesome for engagement and relationship-building on Facebook. In this game, your fans name a movie that reflects their business or life. The answers will help fans forge closer relationships with one another. How the game works. Ask the question: "If your life/business was a (movie/book/song), which one would it be?" Remember to kick-start the conversation by answering the question yourself and invite your followers to share the thread so that more people can participate.  Games can help your community members get to know each other better. #4: Tell the StoryHave you ever read one of those books where you choose what happens next? This game is kind of like that. One of the best things you can do on Facebook is to harness the power of storytelling. Involve your fans in the storytelling to make them the stars in your brand's show. Use this simple social game to co-create a story with your followers. Not only does this game result in a fun and engaging story, but you'll also get to know some new fans on your page.  Use a graphic to share instructions on how to play the game. How the game works. Create a graphic that shares the first sentence in the story and outlines the instructions for participating in the game. You'll also place the first sentence in the description. It's a great idea to post a follow-up status update to share the story as it evolves. This not only increases participation; it also lets you restore the story if Facebook mixes up the order of comments.  Post an update of the story every so often to encourage greater participation. Things to keep in mind when you run social games on Facebook. Make sure your pictures are clear, attention-grabbing and preferably square. I recommend making your images the optimal timeline size of 403 x 403 pixels or larger. You can actually size your images up to a maximum of 2048 x 2048 pixels, so when people click the image, it takes up the whole window. Include the game instructions and any rules in the post description, not just on the image. Keep the instructions simple for people to follow so they don't balk at participating. Kick-start the process yourself to encourage others to participate or tip off some avid fans to help you get the process going. Round up some willing fans to help initiate the comments. If your post is getting great engagement, consider boosting the post to further increase engagement and visibility. Over to you Creating engagement for your Facebook page doesn't have to be time-intensive, complicated or cost you a lot of money. With a little imagination and a sense of fun, you can use one of these games or come up with one of your own to encourage participation from your fans so they'll see more of your posts in their news feed. What do you think? Have you played social games on your page's timeline? What were the results? What ideas for games can you share? Leave a comment below. 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The post 4 Fun Ways to Improve Your Facebook Engagement appeared first on Make Money Online With Twitter Marketing. |
| Visual Social Media: How Images Improve Your Social Media Marketing Posted: 08 Mar 2014 02:35 PM PST By Michael Stelzner
Are you wondering how you can use images to take your marketing to a whole new level? To learn about visual social media, I interview Donna Moritz 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 Donna Moritz, who is a social media and visual marketing expert. She's also the founder of Socially Sorted, a blog designed to help small businesses achieve more with visual social media. Donna shares the importance of visuals in your social media marketing. You'll discover the types of images that work best and the tools you can use to create them. Share your feedback, read the show notes and get the links mentioned in this episode below! Listen NowPodcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed You can also subscribe via iTunes, RSS, Stitcher or Blackberry. Here are some of the things you'll discover in this show: Visual Social MediaWhat is visual social media marketing? Donna sees it as the use of some kind of imagery to communicate visually. You can use images or video to tell a story or share a message. This has been done in marketing for years. As humans, it's in our nature to communicate visually. Images process quickly and people are drawn to them. Listen to the show to find out why visual marketing has merged with social media. Why do visuals matter so much? Donna explains how most people started out with a blog, where they would write in long form and build a community around it. Then along came Facebook, where posts became shorter and then Twitter burst onto the scene with a 140-character limit. People have moved from blogs to microblogs and now to multimedia microblogs. The only direction to go is to communicate with pictures. With Instagram and Pinterest, you can communicate purely with images. Sometimes words aren't even necessary.  People have always communicated visually—from as far back as painting pictures on walls in caves. Image source: iStockPhoto Images have become even more popular with the ability to take photos and video with the camera on a smartphone. Detavio Samuels, who owns the marketing business Global Hue, said, "The only thing shorter than a tweet or a post is a picture." Listen to the show to find out why all platforms are becoming image-centric. Image options for marketers Donna explains how you can use images in different ways in your marketing. You can make a short, snappy video; use images and graphics; slides or a SlideShare presentation; infographics and text-based images. You'll find out which one from the list below Donna discovered gets the most shares and responses.
Jay Baer talks about being inherently useful in his book Youtility. If you want your image to be shared a lot, then you have to make sure it's helpful to your target audience.  For highly shareable content, make sure it's valuable to your target audience. You have to remember that as humans, we connect emotionally to images more than video, audio or text. People make decisions and take action quicker when prompted by images, rather than by reading a lot of text. You'll find out how you can use how-to images for your business and why it's easier than you think. Another great option is to tease people with a graphic. You don't have to provide the whole procedure; instead add a call to action to get people to click through to your blog, Facebook page or Pinterest page. On Facebook, you want to build engagement, so the image should be one that people will share, rather than click through to your blog. If you are clever, you can get some really great results.  This image was designed so the Social Media Examiner community would react to it. People went crazy for it. Listen to the show to learn why people feel compelled to click on an image, like it, share it, repost it or save it. The elements of good visuals and what makes them sharable Donna says that with any piece of content, you have to think about what you want it to do and where you want people to go. A great place to start is with content that helps and inspires people. For a more shareable factor, you can make it timely content to coincide with breaking news, a celebration or an event. Donna talks about when she worked with the team at Know Your Midwife, a private midwifery practice in Australia. They have about 1700 followers on Facebook. They started to post images consistently that were shareable and relevant to their community. A lot of the images included quotes about natural birth and empowered birthing.  Know Your Midwife post consistently on Facebook. You'll hear about the people who started to share these images, and why it isn't just people in their community who look to them for content to share. When it was International Midwives' Day, Donna quickly made up an image with a quote using PicMonkey. They had 1400 shares by the end of the day.  The image was more shareable in this case because sometimes people like to share images that look like their own on Facebook. You'll hear the business benefits of using these types of images, and why it's becoming increasingly important with the new Facebook news feed ranking algorithm. Donna believes that Facebook is like Pinterest, in that 80% of content is shared content and 20% is original content. When you merge the power of imagery with original content, then it gets shared a lot. If you can create some of your own original content, you've got more chance of it being shared, versus having to share everybody else's. It's very powerful. Another great example is a business owned by Caz and Craig Makepeace called yTravel Blog. It's one of the biggest travel blogs in the world. They have 4.35 million followers on Pinterest. They have seen a 3- to 5-fold increase in traffic from Facebook to their blog, just from posting images with the overlay of a tip or a quote.  They saw an increase in traffic from Facebook to their blog, when they posted this type of image. Templates were designed, so that text can be easily added.  This template was designed so that the owners can overlay the text themselves. Listen to the show to find out why scheduling your images is so important, and the tools you can use to accomplish it. How to get started and the tools to use Donna says that although she isn't a graphic designer, she does do a lot of the images herself. One of the first tools she discovered is PicMonkey. It's an image-editing tool that doubles as an image-creation tool. Donna says that it's very intuitive and there are a lot of templates to choose from.  PicMonkey is really easy to use. The other tool that Donna loves is Canva. You can now get your account and username very quickly. They are unique in that they have made graphic design very accessible to everyone. They also have a stock library of one million photos that you can access and some amazing social media templates. Donna says that some of the updates that are due out from Canva will blow people's minds. You'll hear how you can use screenshots with tools such as Snagit and Jing. If you have a lot of images that explain information, then the best type of image to use is an infographic. It's a great way to help someone understand your message, story or concept. Donna and her team have done a lot of infographics for her business and for clients. You'll hear different ways you can use infographics in your business, and the sizes that work best for Facebook, Pinterest and blogs.  In this article, Donna goes through the different elements of an infographic. Donna recommends that you don't just put your infographic on Pinterest. If you have something more to say about it, then embed it in one of your blog posts. It's a fantastic way to get extra mileage out of it. Listen to the show to discover the other tools that Donna uses to create infographics. Discovery of the WeekI was recently in Las Vegas with Joel Comm, where he introduced me to a really cool app called Hang With. It's an app for your iPhone or Android that allows you to do live streaming with the push of a button directly to your Facebook page or directly to other people who have the app. It's a live broadcast and when the broadcast has finished, the video is then available on YouTube. Joel decided to do a quick 2-minute video of us at a buffet in the hotel. Everything was done seamlessly for him.
I think it's a really cool app, although I haven't used it myself yet. Maybe it's the direction we are heading with photography and video—the idea of a live component. Be sure to check it out. 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 MentionsThis week's podcast is sponsored by Social Media Marketing World.
The conference features more than 80 sessions in four major tracks: social tactics, social strategy, community management and content marketing. These sessions are taught my leading experts in the world of social media marketing and content creation. A small sampling of some of the speakers includes Ekaterina Walter (visual marketing), Ted Rubin (social relationship-building), Larry Benet (networking), Martin Shervington (Google+) and Lou Mongello (podcasting). We are so excited about this conference! Make sure you check out our hashtag #smmw14. The conference is heading toward a sellout. Be sure to 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 visual social media? Please leave your comments below. Image from iStockPhoto.This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you’re reading it on someone else’s site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php#publishers. The post Visual Social Media: How Images Improve Your Social Media Marketing appeared first on Make Money Online With Twitter Marketing. |
| Posted: 08 Mar 2014 07:55 AM PST You spent all that time and effort creating the perfect ecommerce website. You used the bestimages and descriptions. You spend money on ecommerce SEO, not to mention pay per clickadvertising. Would it not be nice if someone would communicate your value proposition to prospects and help you sell? Do such angels really exist? Yes, they do and they are called affiliates. As expected, affiliate marketing is not a bed of roses. But if you understand it well, and design a good affiliate marketing program, you could end up skyrocketing your sales. This article is a beginner’s article for understanding the multiple dimensions of an affiliate marketing program for ecommerce websites. What Is an Affiliate Marketing Program? First Principle: Help Affiliates Earn More Help the Customers of the Affiliates
Give Credit Where Credit Is Due Help Your Affiliates Sell Provide Your Affiliates With Analytics
Help Affiliates Access Their Money Reward Affiliates for Getting More Affiliates to Sign Up Train the Affiliates Communicate Regularly — Communicate Effectively Final Words The post Affiliate Marketing Program appeared first on Make Money Online With Twitter Marketing. |
| Unlimited Pinterest Secret Boards: This Week in Social Media Posted: 08 Mar 2014 03:00 AM PST By Cindy King
What's New This Week?Pinterest Announces Unlimited Secret Boards: "With unlimited secret boards, there's no limit to the number of ways for you to plan, contemplate, practice and explore all of the things you want to do."  "You can always invite friends to your secret boards so you can hatch plots together in private." LinkedIn Introduces All-New People You May Know Page: "The new People You May Know simplifies the experience of growing your network. It does that by bringing all of your pending invitations and suggestions to connect together in one place."  "The sleek new design features beautiful cards with larger photos for an easier-to-read, streamlined experience." Disqus Adds Featured Comments: This new addition allows moderators "to feature a comment, placing it proudly at the top of the Comments section."  "You can feature any comment within the discussion. When you feature a comment, it will be displayed prominently at the top of the thread." Getty Images Introduces Embed Tool: This "new Embed feature makes it easy, legal and free for anybody to share (Getty) images on websites, blogs and social media platforms."  You can easily share Getty images on blogs and social media. Evernote Adds Handwriting for Android: You can "easily move from writing to typing to taking photos and back all within a single note."
Facebook Releases Updates to Paper App: You can now "share articles via Facebook Messages, text message or email."  "Experience other improvements that make Paper even more reliable and—hopefully—that much more fun to use!" Google Redesigns Hangouts App: This new version is "fully optimized for the iPad, including picture-in-picture video calling." And you can "record and send video messages up to 10 seconds long."  You can use "animated stickers that help you share exactly how you're feeling." Facebook Messenger Arrives for Windows Phone: "You can now download Facebook Messenger from the Windows Phone Store."  "With Facebook Messenger, you will be able to see who's online for a private or group chat, send a private message and bring messages to life with pictures and stickers." Here are a few social media tools worth checking out: Sharalike: "With an easy-to-use, highly personalized approach to image management, Sharalike users can store, edit, enjoy and share gorgeous slideshows with just a few clicks."  "A single application for all image/video saving and sharing (instead of the multiple applications you currently need to use!)." StoryBox: "StoryBox aggregates all forms of earned media—tweets; YouTube videos; posts; Instagram photos and videos; and content created directly through VideoGenie technology—on your site, which is then optimized based on (StoryBox's) proprietary engagement algorithm."  "Easily collect new videos and photos from your community as part of your site experience." Swiftype: "The easiest way to add great search to your website or mobile application."  "Powerful features in one simple package." Here's a cool social media marketing ebook: Other MentionsIntroducing Social Media Marketing World: 60+ pros help you master social media marketing! Join Chris Brogan (co-author of The Impact Equation), Mari Smith (co-author of Facebook Marketing: An Hour a Day), Michael Hyatt (author of Platform), Jay Baer (author of Youtility), John Jantsch (author of Duct Tape Marketing), Amy Porterfield (co-author of Facebook Marketing All-in-One for Dummies), Mark Schaefer (author of Tao of Twitter), Michael Stelzner (author of Launch) and experts from more than a dozen brands as they reveal proven social media marketing tactics at Social Media Marketing World 2014—Social Media Examiner's mega-conference in beautiful San Diego, California. Check out this overview of the conference or click here for more details. 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. The post Unlimited Pinterest Secret Boards: This Week in Social Media appeared first on Make Money Online With Twitter Marketing. |
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