TwitterToolsReviews |
- Bad Advice Time: Likes and Impressions = ROI
- Basic Social Media Resources To Help You!
- 15 Ways to Win Fans and Influence Followers
- The Shocking Truths Behind “Viral Videos”
- Aren’t You One of These 6 Social Media Sharers? [Infographic]
- 5 Reasons Why Your WordPress Website Is Too Slow
- How To Get The Most From Social Sharing
- How to Use the Power of Hashtags in Your Social Media Marketing
- A Simple Trick To Improve Your LinkedIn Campaign Performance
- How Social Media Helped Shape The Next Generation of Video Games
| Bad Advice Time: Likes and Impressions = ROI Posted: 10 May 2014 01:30 PM PDT
5 tools to increase your social media ROI, by Jeff Bullas Even though Jeff notes in the early part of his post that measuring conversions is extremely important, his discussion of ROI throughout the rest of the post incorporates mentions of replies on Twitter and comments on blog posts. The Death of Social ROI…Business Insider This article goes so far as to say that no one is measuring ROI for social media marketing anymore. The only thing to measure is audience size and engagement. Understanding the B2B Social Media ROI Pyramid…marketsmartly.com This article suggests that the key components a B2B company needs to look at are impressions, engagement, and filtration (meaning looking for prospects out of those engagers and impressions). Let's make a few things very clear right at the forefront. 1. There is nothing wrong with tracking things like impressions or followers or numbers of fans. They are good ways to benchmark whether your content is resonating with anyone. However, it is not ROI. 2. ROI stands for Return on Investment. That's the end of that story. 3. The single best way to track your social media marketing ROI is to drive traffic to a sample request form, an RFQ form, or some other type of form that will qualify and quantify leads and enable you to track conversions from leads to customers. That whole "non-transactional" thing Let's return for a moment to the concept encompassed in that Business Insider article. It claimed that social media platforms are completely non-transactional and that is why it is so difficult (nay, impossible) to track the ROI. This is not the first article to make that claim and it probably was not and/or won't be the last. Here is what you need to know about that argument, however. It is completely devoid of sense. Suggesting that social media should be non-transactional is essentially telling companies, "Hey – I'd like you to spend a lot of time standing in this room and talking to this guy about cats. He is not a customer and probably never will be because actually he is one of your competitors. But I want you to build a really strong relationship with him because relationships are important." Measuring the ROI of that kind of time-suck would also be extremely difficult, if not impossible. However, that is not what companies actually need to do online. What companies actually need to do is: - Make sure they are building relationships with existing and potential customers - Balancing soft promotional content with content that may not be related to the business at all - Signaling via "about" sections and Twitter bios what the company is about and why it has a presence online Once again, we want to reiterate that there is NOTHING wrong with tracking your mentions, your retweets, your followers, your impressions, your fans, your +1s, or any other social media metrics like that. However, indicating that measuring these sorts of metrics is the same as measuring ROI is simply not correct. Make sense? Image Credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/cambodia4kidsorg/3290848259 via Creative Commons The post Bad Advice Time: Likes and Impressions = ROI appeared first on Twitter Tools Reviews. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Basic Social Media Resources To Help You! Posted: 10 May 2014 12:30 PM PDT I'm often still surprised at how many people ask me basic Twitter questions every day. I certainly don't mind helping and answering, but I wonder: Twitter has a wonderfully helpful and detailed Help Section. Why are folks asking me (or anyone) when the answer is most certainly found in Help? And there are so many other wonderful resources available at the touch of a few keys. Why not hit those?  FreeDigitalPhotos.net So, today I provide you a list of where I go when I'm stumped. Let's deconstruct. I Google everything. If I don't know it, most likely someone else out there has asked the same question and the answer is there floating around. I found that using Google to find specific information (or really any search engine) requires some guidelines: 1) Be specific while keeping it simple. What's that mean? If you're looking for say, a hotel near your local airport, say 'Cleveland Airport hotels' instead of 'What's the closest hotel to the Cleveland airpot?' Make sense? The first will likely give you a list of valid options with a pricing list, while the second will likely give you separate entries. 2) Use one word where three will do. Instead of 'What's does Pi mean?' instead say 'Define: Pi' which immediately gives you the definition at the top. I could go on all day but read the basic Search guidelines — they will help you, I promise! Twitter has a great Help Section, as I mentioned above. Many people new to Twitter are confused by all the lingo: what's a RT? What's a hashtag? What in the heck are Lists? It's ALL in the Help Section and easy to understand. To find the Help Section, simply go to the gear (round) button on the top right and click >> on the drop down menu, click on Help. It's THAT easy. Then either peruse the various topics, or type in a specific term (again, the least amount of words possible). Still confused? There are a number of articles here on my website regarding Twitter basics. I also suggest Mashable, BookPromotion.com, 12Most.com, and Twitter's own blog. It's virtually impossible to get a real, live person from Twitter to respond to you (even if you email them), so look in these areas first. Not my favorite platform, I find Facebook's Help Section to be somewhat limited. So, I always check there first, and then move on to either Mari Smith's site or to Social Media Examiner (which features a number of experts and updates daily), and Social Media Today is also very helpful and informative. In Facebook's defense, they do have decent customer service. If you have an issue not found in forums, you can email them and they do get back to you — at some point, usually long after you've found the answer. GOOGLE+ Regardless of your feelings on Google+, it is a Google product and therefore, important for any author to have for no other reason that their Author Ranking. Learn what it is here and how to use it. Create a Google+ page if you're an author, or really any business. Check their Help Section also for answers to your questions. I find Pinterest really easy to use (my 3-year old niece taught me). I mean, come on. The concept is basic: pin pictures to a board you create, or find pins others have and pin to your own boards or share . So, pin purple things to a purple board. Pin books to a book board, etc. The only real difference I see between Pinterest and other social media sites is that they generally frown on 'the hard sell.' I see Pinterest as a way to round out your author brand, display your interests in a visually stimulating way. The also now offer business pages (just like Facebook and Google+) to make it clear that your page is about business. To learn more, visit Pinterest's excellent Help section here. Hope you find this information helpful. Any questions? Check the Help Sections (sorry, had to), or ask me. Have you signed up yet for my newsletter? It's free and I don't ever share my list. Promise! The post Basic Social Media Resources To Help You! appeared first on Twitter Tools Reviews. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| 15 Ways to Win Fans and Influence Followers Posted: 10 May 2014 10:30 AM PDT
"How to Win Friends and Influence People" is one of the most popular self-improvement books ever written; in response, I present to you 15 ways to Win Fans and Influence Followers. Through the teachings of Dale Carnegie, I will explain how businesses can harness the power of social media to improve their social media marketing strategy. Each tip is directly borrowed from his book, followed by a summary of his advice, then applied to social media marketing. 1) Don't criticize, condemn, or complain This goes hand in hand with the basic social media principal of avoiding negativity (i.e., criticize, condemn, or complain). The moment you're negative is the moment you start to lose followers. Never use social media to hurt the pride of your customers or clients.
2) Give honest and sincere appreciation Social media is a great place to give honest and sincere appreciation to your fans and followers. Let them know that you appreciate them, and more importantly, be specific with your praise. For example, “It is because of the support of fans like you that I am able to do something that I am so passionate about.”
3) Arouse in the other person an eager want Your social media should create a desire for your product or service among your fans. If you fail to foster this desire, you are failing to utilize social media to its full potential.
4) Become genuinely interested in other people Take interest in your followers and they will take interest in you. Create content that celebrates your fans, and reply to comments that show you are excited to talk to them. Use twitter to find people having conversations about your business’s area of interest, and join their conversation.
5) Smile Smiling suggests that are having a good time. You must have a good time meeting people if you expect them to feel the same when meeting you. This means that it is ok to use emoticons and emojis when communicating with fans and followers. Perhaps it is not appropriate to "smile" with certain messages, but it is usually okay when using social media to engage one-on-one.
6) A person's name is to that person the sweetest and most important sound in any language This means that when you respond to someone on social media, use their name when possible. On Facebook it is obvious, on Twitter try to guess it. Even if you are wrong, you will get their nickname or close to it.
7) Be a good listener, encouraging others to talk about themselves It used to be that you could ask just about any question on social media and get a response. That is no longer the case. Instead, you must ask interesting questions. It takes creativity to come up with the perfect question, so do not rush it. Once you get them talking, keep them going by engaging them about their interests.
8) Talk in terms of the other person's interests This means that you must find out what your fans are interested in and discuss it. Now, you can't post content that is irrelevant to your brand, but you can certainly get involved in conversations that aren't necessarily "on topic". Using your social media to talk about the interest of your fans will keep them engaged, in turn creating passion for your brand.
9) The only way to get the best of an argument is to avoid it This means that if someone mentions your competition, it is okay to compliment it. For example, a pizza place doesn't have to condemn every other pizza place in their area. In fact, your credibility will increase if you sincerely praise your competitors. The goal shouldn’t be to have potential clients only eat your pizza instead (likely impossible), but to eat your pizza as well.
10) If you are wrong, admit it quickly and emphatically People make mistakes. Businesses make mistakes. The worst thing you can do is avoid owning up to your mistakes. So when your business inevitably makes a mistake, address it, fix it, and move forward. Ignoring the mistake only makes it worse.
11) Get the other person saying "Yes, Yes" immediately The skillful social media marketer will first get a lot of "yes" responses. This sets the psychological process of the listeners moving in the affirmative direction. Ask questions that potential clients are forced to agree with. Keep on winning one admission after another until you have an armful of yeses to build upon. This happens over time, and takes post after post to collect the necessary "yeses" required, so do not rush it.
12) Let the other person feel that an idea is his or hers A great way to do this in social media is to ask for fan feedback. Perhaps you are designing branded t-shirts, and have a handful of new designs. You already know that you are making 4 different styles, but inform your fans that you are in the designing phase, and want to know which designs they are most likely to buy. When you release them, you will already have a committed audience.
13) Appeal to nobler motives This means your social media marketing strategy should involve a cause of some sort. Find something that you are passionate about, and give your fans and followers a reason to support you. These causes do not have to be grandiose either. It can be as simple as cultivating a passion for supporting local businesses.
14) Dramatize your ideas This should be the case for every post. Incite desire in your audience by utilizing a flare for the dramatic. Which blog post are you more likely to click on "Summer Wedding Advice for the Bride-to-be" or "7 Wedding Tips that Every Summer Bride Must Know Before the Big Day"?
15) Give the other person a fine reputation to live up to Let your fans know how valuable they are. They are the most effective part of your online marketing. Word-of-mouth will do more good for your business than all other marketing combined. Give your audience the reputation of one that loves your product, and proudly endorses it.
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| The Shocking Truths Behind “Viral Videos” Posted: 10 May 2014 08:20 AM PDT I can't tell you how many stories I hear of clueless CEOs who go out to their PR team and tell them to "make us a viral video." Not knowing how the web really works, they think it's as simple as coming up with the most genius idea ever, filming it, and collecting the money from the Internet truck that pulls up to your house (or something like that).
What is a viral video, exactly? When a video goes viral, most people seem to think it was part of a well-orchestrated event. Somehow the "Chocolate Rain" or Nyan Cat creators were able to create buzz around their videos and let practically the entire world know about them so they could make money off their temporary fame, right? But that's just the thing about viral videos – nobody knows what's going to blow up. People create and upload stuff literally all the time to the web, and only like .001% goes "viral." The silliest thing in the world can go around the world while a poignant, impactful video goes nowhere. The collective hivemind of the Internet just happens to decide this one video is worthy of spreading around to literally everyone. So how do you make one? When the poor misguided CEO says they want a viral video, they don't really know what they want. They know that some videos spread like wildfire and they want to get in on the action. But if you were to ask what KIND of video, they would have no clue. This is because, as stated above, there's no telling what will go big. Take Funny or Die, for example; you've no doubt seen some of their greatest hits (the one with the little girl as Will Ferrell's landlord was amazing), but how many have they made that haven't gone anywhere? Hundreds. They can't all be hits. But there was something special about the little girl landlord one, and that's just how it goes. So the process of making a "viral video" is just making the best video you can. Make it interesting, funny, amazing, ridiculous…whatever, as long as it's interesting! Even if it's cruddy you can still find success…as long as it's cruddy in a fun way. The important thing after you make your video is to get it out to the public. There are likely thousands of videos waiting on YouTube that could potentially be world-travelling viral videos but nobody knows about them. So tell everyone you know, including your family, customers, bloggers, and your barista. In the end, though, it will be out of your hands. If that video fails, try another one, and make it more interesting or more moving to your target audience. If that one also fails, try again. Eventually you might hit pay dirt – or, with the simple action of making great videos, you'll find the audience you need in more traditional ways. What's your favorite viral video? The post The Shocking Truths Behind "Viral Videos" appeared first on Twitter Tools Reviews. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Aren’t You One of These 6 Social Media Sharers? [Infographic] Posted: 10 May 2014 08:00 AM PDT 90% of content on Twitter is generated by 2% of users. Every second 2 people join LinkedIn. 3/4th of the Facebook users are closing their accounts tomorrow! [source] Okay, I am kidding about the Facebook one
The Sharers
Some interesting stats from the infographic
Some more stats on How do we share?An Individual
Company's CEO
You're Brand
Source: The above info graphic is sourced by StatPro The post Aren't You One of These 6 Social Media Sharers? [Infographic] appeared first on Twitter Tools Reviews. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| 5 Reasons Why Your WordPress Website Is Too Slow Posted: 10 May 2014 06:40 AM PDT
So what do you look for when it comes time to optimize your WordPress website? Where do you start amplifying your WordPress page performance? There are 5 simple reasons why your WordPress site is probably running slower that is should be. You Aren’t Page CachingHave you ever looked at a WordPress page template file? They can be extremely complicated depending on how much you’ve customized your site. Most common hosting providers run their shared hosting on LAMP environments. LAMP stands for Linux – Apache – MySQL – PHP, which is a common stack of software that powers providers’ servers. Apache is a web server – it’s what actually serves files to viewers who browse your site. However it doesn’t understand PHP, a programming language that resides on the server and the language WordPress is built on. Since Apache doesn’t understand PHP, all those lines of code in your template files have to be processed every time a user requests a page. In normal situations that may not account for much latency (or lag), but if you’ve got lots of concurrent users the machine powering your site has to constantly process code. Apache, because it doesn’t understand PHP, has to communicate with PHP via an Apache module that is included in every standard shared hosting package. This Apache module is the go between between Apache and the PHP processor. This means that when visitor A comes to your website (and you’re not page caching), Apache sends the request down through the PHP Module which sends it to PHP which then generates a bunch of HTML and sends it back to the module and then Apache finally displays the page! Page caching runs the PHP codes only once every so often and stores the resulting HTML on the hard disk. Then when Apache sends the request to PHP it says “Oh hey, i already did that and its over there!.” Apache then immediately serves the HTML content! So how do you implement page caching? There are a lot of plugins available for WordPress and the amount of articles debating which one is the best are endless. We typically use W3 Total Cache for advanced clients and users, and wp super cache for more basic caching needs. W3 Total Cache has a ton of options, bells and whistles that make fine tuning your cache challenging (but rewarding) whereas super cache tries to take most of the control out of your hands in favor of tried and stable caching methods. We also have a custom caching system that is included with our LyntonCare hosting packages (more to come on that later)! You Aren’t Object CachingSo the page cache thing is great, but some PHP is still going to be run on every WordPress page load. You can’t cache things like function definitions or the core PHP logic of WordPress via the page cache. To help in that area you should consider object caching. Object caching is simply storing a PHP object (basically any variable value) that is in the database on the hard drive or better yet, in memcache! This can save lots of time rather than generating that object repeatedly,especially if the nature of that object is not very dynamic. For example, lets say every time someone views a page on your site you are loading the WordPress user object which contains their first name, last name, etc. The function calls behind that process grab data from multiple points on the database and then build an object and return it. Rather than doing that, why not store the result of that operation into the database as an object so that all you have to do is make one call and the object is returned ready to use and without having to be rebuilt! WordPress comes with a great tool call Transients that let developers store data into the WordPress database and access it later. You can store the HTML for an entire page in a transient if you like. It’s more concise and practical to store object data used to build that HTML – and then let page caching handle the rest! Your Site Has Spaghetti Code!It happens to everyone, so don’t worry. Spaghetti code is what happens when you have too many developers working towards the same goal in a short period of time and as they complete tasks they have three or four more added to their plate. Sure, you might have hired a really awesome development team that communicates flawlessly – but the chances of having code be repeated, control structures becoming obtuse and gnarly and loops getting out of control is pretty high! When we developers first plot out our websites, everything is controlled and looks nice and easy to follow, but as more and more features are added, the code starts to look a little messy. Eventually its damn near impossible to tell where one function starts and ends, kind of like looking at a plate of spaghetti and trying to follow one noodle. The trick to this is to refactor code all the time. Every month you should dedicate a small portion of your budget towards optimizing the code base. You’ll shave time off of your page loads and your developers will love you for the opportunity to make it easier on them to extend the site when you need new features! WordPress makes it somewhat easy to stray from the MVC framework for building code – sometimes all the code that powers one page can reside in one file. LyntonWeb developers are bound by honor to deliver all code at the MVC standard, with each part of the code broken into logical sections. We live and die by the CRUD (Create, Read, Update, Delete)! You’re Using Way Too Many PluginsIt’s OK, I plan on starting WPPUA (WordPress Plugin Users Anonymous) for a support group. Anytime you install a plugin you need to ask yourself one simple question: “Is this plugin really necessary for my users.” There are great number of plugins that you really don’t need. Pretty much anything to do with adding jQuery to your website or installing your Google analytics tracking code are really unnecessary. A developer can add that functionality to your website with less than 10 lines of code. Always remember that every plugin you install has to be loaded with every page load. A lot of them are cached efficiently and don’t impact performance, but just as many are coded horribly and are packed with features that aren’t needed. Here are some examples of things to avoid:
You’re Using Shared HostingSorry to tell you this but your 9.95 Hatchling Plan at Hostgator isn’t suitable for millions of visits a month! I bet you probably have a couple websites running on that same plan, too! Shared hosting means you SHARE hosting. That means that there are likely a half dozen or more other users on the same machine your site is on. Nothing against Hostgator, but a truly dedicated hacker who has gained access to one site on a shared machine can most likely gain access to all the sites on that machine. Those expensive hosting plans aren’t looking so bad now, right? Here’s what you can do when you break out of the mold of utilizing common shared hosting plans:
LyntonWeb offers LyntonCare WordPress hosting packages. There are multiple LyntonCare tiers available, but every one of them uses Nginx server architecture on top of Apache for lightning fast speed and armored-truck level security. You could take the time to learn all the ins and outs of setting up Nginx with Apache and PHP, but why worry about that when you have a site to run? Our customers have noticed improvements in their page load times by as much as 30 seconds on large pages. Most pages will load under the 2 second mark when cached. Don’t settle for a slow WordPress site. The visitor leaving because your page is taking a minute to load or doesn’t load, could be your competitor’s next customer.
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| How To Get The Most From Social Sharing Posted: 10 May 2014 06:38 AM PDT
With the continual growth of social media, something that accounted for 20% of the average American's time spent using their computer and 30% of their time spent using a mobile device, it's no surprise that social sharing is still the "hot new thing", even though it's no longer really new. But in this brave, new-ish world of driving engagement through social media, how do you get people to share your content and then how do you get that share to turn into traffic and brand awareness and leads and whatever else you were hoping for? Like we've said time and again, it all has to start with great, compelling, genuine content, but then what? How do you increase how often a piece gets shared?Include a sharing option on pages - The first and possibly most obvious thing is to build in a sharing button or menu on pages that will let people automatically send the link to your content to their social media network of choice. If someone has to copy and paste the link, open a new tab in their browser window to open Facebook or Twitter or Tumblr or Pinterest or what have you, and then set up a status update with the link, they're less likely to share your content. I know it may sound lazy, because how hard is it really to copy and paste a link, but anything that makes someone pause and move away from what they're doing is going to be less successful than something that requires the minimum of effort and distraction. One thing to be wary of with including sharing menus — you want them to be easily visible so that people are aware that they're there but not so large or invasive that they annoy people or distract them from the actual content. Make images and video easily embedded - You want people to share your content on Facebook or Tumblr or Pinterest, so make it easy to not just link to but embed your multimedia content. Just a link and a headline won't catch people's attention the way an image or a video thumbnail can, and once you've gotten people's attention, they'll be inclined to click through to your site and the rest of your wonderful marketing strategy can take over from there. This is another instance where an easy "click here to post this on Tumblr/Pinterest" button is going to work to your advantage, because you can include not just the embed code then but whatever relevant caption information you want people to see, including a link back to your site. So now how do you increase how many people who see your piece shared actually pay attention to it?Make that update the best it can be - I mentioned this already, but it bears further discussion. You have a unique opportunity when creating that social media update that populates when someone clicks on your sharing button to make sure that exactly the content you want to go out there is what's being shared. Now of course, people can make edits and may not always leave all of it in tact, but more often than not, people will just click that "share" button and move on with their day. Make sure that the text that fills the social media update box automatically is as descriptive as possible given space limitations and includes relevant hashtags and your handle as the source. Not only is this going to make sure that people are driven to the content the way you want and to your social media accounts, but an out of context headline and a link isn't going to encourage people to click once it's shared. An Upworthy style "You'll Never Believe What Happened Until You See It!!" headline tells me as a reader absolutely nothing and doesn't encourage me to devote any of my limited time to your content. "Watch a Baby Polar Bear Rescue a Penguin" with the hashtags #cute and #animals is a lot more likely to make me think it might be worth two minutes of my time, even if it's the exact same content. Build an optimized landing page - Make sure that your content, especially if it's long form or involves multiple media types, has a landing page that is where all sharing links to and is free of unnecessary distractions. You're going to have ads on the page most likely, and that's fine, but take the time to adjust where they are and how they display so that it doesn't take away from the impact of your content, especially if the content is visual like a photo or info graphic. Too many images and headings and other bright or colorful or moving things leads to everything blending together and being ignored, or at least less effective, so stick to ads in places that won't distract from the primary content and headings only where useful and necessary. Also make sure that there is navigation on that landing page so that if people like your content, they can easily and immediately find more. This is a great opportunity for a "similar content you may like" algorithm to be employed at the end of your content, whatever it is, so that people who have enjoyed one piece can be led to others. Use the clearest but most intriguing thumbnail you can - Even on a text only article, you've likely got some kind of image attached to it, so include that in your default update through the social sharing buttons and it will reinforce what your content is actually about and also draw attention to the update when people are scrolling through their feeds. If the content you want people ultimately to view is visual in nature, like a set of photographs or an infographic, take the time to create a thumbnail that is informative enough to be interesting and attention getting, but enough of a tease that people are drawn to your site for the full content, instead of never leaving their social media timeline. There's a fine line to walk between offering enough through that sharing function that people have a clear idea of what your content is and become interested in it, but not so much that they never actually click through to your site. Social sharing isn't the new frontier any longer, but it is constantly expanding and growing in importance as more and more social media networks take up our time and more and more people join them. Think how many links you saw shared when you did your morning peruse of your social media network of choice today, and then think of how many links you scrolled right past because there wasn't enough information in the update to make you interested. That right there is exactly why this kind of attention to detail is important! Pay attention over the rest of the day to how well people have used their sharing function and let us know in the comments what you find out. The post How To Get The Most From Social Sharing appeared first on Twitter Tools Reviews. 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| How to Use the Power of Hashtags in Your Social Media Marketing Posted: 10 May 2014 06:15 AM PDT
In case you hadn't noticed, the hashtag has pretty much taken over social media. With sites like Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, and Instagram all using this format to organize content, it should be clear that this once forgotten character on the keyboard has finally made the big time. According to some research by Buddy Media (and mentioned on the Buffer app blog), one lonely hashtag can increase engagement by 100%! Unfortunately, there are a lot of people out there who just don't seem to understand the new trend. They misuse the organizational tool thinking that it is simply a means of attracting attention to their content. While the hashtag can serve this purpose, using it improperly isn't going to help you at all. Here are some tips on how to effectively make use of hashtags in your social media marketing. #1. Choose the right wordsThe hashtag isn't meant to be used for every word in your post. The point of this little character is simply to organize content and make it easier to find. For example, if someone wants to find news about their favorite basketball team, they might search for #NBA, but they probably aren't going to search #basket or #ball. Using either of those terms is likely to pull up multiple results that aren't even related to the sport they are looking for. Hashtags are typically very focused, meaning that simple and frequently used words don't usually make the cut. But how do you know just what to say in order to send the most effective message? By testing. #2. Test your messageMost brands that take advantage of this social media tool spend some time testing their hashtags. Even the White House media team tested 26 different possibilities before one of the President's State of the Union addresses, eventually settling on the 7 most successful messages. It will be important to test each social media platform you intend to use and see for yourself what resonates the best with your customers. In addition to testing, you can also search each social media website for hashtags and look for the most effective words. That being said, it should be noted that each site has a vastly different user base and you will do better to target each market individually whenever possible. #3. Don't overdo itJust because you can use more than one hashtag in a message doesn't necessarily mean that you should. Most perusers of social media sites see an overabundance of hashtags as nothing more than spam. While they can be an incredibly effective marketing tool, you may do yourself a disservice if you use them too frequently. Typically, you don't want to use more than one or two hashtags per post, with one hashtag being the optimal choice. In addition, it will be important to avoid using them in every single post that you make, as social media users are wary of businesses trying too hard to promote themselves. Use these organizational tools when it makes sense to use them and you'll reap the rewards of a more engaged subscriber base. #4. Create brand engagementThe true power of hashtagging is the ability to connect your brand with various popular and incredibly visible topics, which will drive new viewers to your social media presence, as well as give you the opportunity to engage with them. When well-crafted and used sparingly, hashtags can help increase your visibility and even improve customer relations. The more comfortable your followers feel with your brand, the more likely they will be to attempt interacting with you via social media. You definitely don't want to ignore them, but you don't necessarily want to use hashtags while conversing with your followers either. As noted above, you don't necessarily need to use a hashtag in every post, but it's particularly important to remember that you should not use them while responding to someone . Whether it's a retweet or a reply, avoid plugging these characters in when they are not needed. Hashtagging in a nutshellWell, there you have it. If you keep these simple concepts in mind, you are sure to see social media marketing success. Effective communication is a must when it comes to brand management, but it should be noted that the overuse of hashtags can actually lead to fewer interactions overall. Using hashtags sparingly (no more than 1 or 2 per post) and wisely has shown to be an effective means of marketing for several brands and companies. Join the revolution today and start sending the right message with the power of the hashtag! Have any hashtagging tips of your own? Leave your comments below! The post How to Use the Power of Hashtags in Your Social Media Marketing appeared first on Twitter Tools Reviews. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| A Simple Trick To Improve Your LinkedIn Campaign Performance Posted: 10 May 2014 05:45 AM PDT
LinkedIn has become a powerhouse media company for B2B marketers, from opportunities for direct engagement (it does still have a few social media trappings) to publishing, content promotion and advertising. Not to mention the targeting data (but we'll come back to that). But many B2B marketers also find LinkedIn campaigns to be challenging. LinkedIn is a premium property and media programs quickly become expensive. As LinkedIn continues to move towards bid-based pricing (i.e. Sponsored Updates), it is also increasingly competitive, particularly for in-demand audiences. But there is a solution that can dramatically reduce competition and improve the results from your campaigns. To start, you need to recognize one of the big shortcomings of LinkedIn's targeting data: it may be accurate, but LinkedIn data is very incomplete. Just how much data is LinkedIn missing? Here are some of the common profile points B2B marketers target and how many profiles LinkedIn is missing this data for.
If you are targeting IT buyers at large companies, you are using the company size, job function and seniority. You are relying on three data points that are missing 39% to 74% of the time. You might be missing 80% or more of the audience you care about, and because you are taking the same approach to targeting that everyone else is, you also have more competition and pay higher rates. There is a better way. The Trick to Improving LinkedIn Campaign PerformanceBuild a new campaign, starting from the targeting in your existing campaigns, replacing explicit targeting with exclusions and other targeting approaches:
Run your traditional and new campaign side-by-side. By limiting your reliance on the LinkedIn's incomplete data, you will see higher volume, higher engagement rates and lower CPCs. Your TurnDo you have any tricks for improving LinkedIn campaign results you are willing to share? Let me know in the comments below! Photo Credit: h.koppdelaney via Flickr cc The post A Simple Trick To Improve Your LinkedIn Campaign Performance appeared first on Twitter Tools Reviews. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| How Social Media Helped Shape The Next Generation of Video Games Posted: 10 May 2014 04:20 AM PDT The video game industry has gravitated towards social media over the last few years, bringing gaming to a new level of interaction. The efforts of games developers across the world has seen the likes of YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter utilised in order to connect games fans as never before. Online gaming has been highly popular for over a decade, but the addition of social media has added business opportunities, intriguing creative avenues, and a chance for gamers to showcase their achievements. What's more, the integration of smartphones with popular titles such as Candy Crush, Angry Birds, and others has brought about an easy transition into the format. We are all now so used to social media, their appearance on our favourite games consoles cannot be considered gimmicky. They are an integral part of the gaming experience, meaning social media has helped shaped the way Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo have approached their latest devices. It’s an intriguing moment for the industry, and here’s how it has all developed. Smartphones
As more people across the world turned to smartphones to keep in contact (and as apps grew in popularity), mobile games began to boom as an industry. The likes of the iPhone helped take video games into the mainstream like never before, and titles such as Angry Birds and Candy Crush proved accessible, easy to play, and addictive. The most popular mobile game, by some way, has been Angry Birds. It first launched on Apple’s iOS in December 2009, and since then has proven a phenomenon. According to the official Angry Birds Google+ account, “Angry Birds fans around the world have so far played a total of 200,000 years of Angry Birds. Join the movement! Squawk!”. Finnish developers Rovio Entertainment Ltd. are behind the hugely popular game. Their financial year from 2013 highlights their success. They state, “Rovio’s total consolidated full-year revenue amounted to €156 million (2010: €6.5 million, 2011: €75.6 million, 2012: €152.2 million). Earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) were €36.5 million (2010: €3.1 million, 2011: €46.9 million, 2012: €76.8 million), and net profit after tax was €26.9 million (2010: €3 million, 2011: €35.4 million, 2012: €55,5 million).” CFO Herkko Soininen added, “"After three years of very strong growth, 2013 was a foundation-building year. We invested in new business areas, such as animation and video distribution, ventured into new business models in games, and consolidated our strong market position in consumer products licensing.” Other titles have dominated headlines. The extraordinary success of the Flappy Bird, in early 2014, depended on the game’s intense difficulty (which emulated the near impossible difficulty levels of many NES games it was inspired by. Games such as Ghost ‘N Goblins, Silver Surfer, and even Mario Bros. had a high difficult level to make the short length of the game longer), which led players to take to social media to vent their frustrations. Flappy Bird has a tumultuous history (it’s no longer official available), but The Guardian reported a third of all games released in one day were Flappy Bird clones – my favourite is the excellently titled Flappy Beard Hipster Quest. The gaming community has had a mixed reaction on the spread into the mainstream. Mobile game quality is of concern, and microtransaction have become called into question. Gamers are concerned the console section of the video game market is being adversely affected by the popularity of mobile games. Despite this, the formats a user expects from a smartphone (social media accounts such as Twitter, YouTube, and Facebook) have spread readily onto the latest generation of games consoles. It’s been a straightforward merger, but the implications for gaming has been unexpectedly social. Wii U
The first of the Next Generation, Nintendo’s Wii U launched in November 2012. The Wii U utilizes a touch screen GamePad which technology fans have become used to with smartphones, and other devices, leading to unique player interaction with games such as Super Mario 3D World and Pikmin 3. YouTube access and an internet browser were featured prominently from the off, with the company’s “Miiverse” being a social media network in its own right. Wii U owners are able to interact with others users from across the globe, compete in online games, post images of their favourite moments from in-game, and write comments to each other. They can also phone their friends for free via their GamePad, which is equipped with a camera and other features. Players are able to pause a game during play and go into the console's browser, where they can search for tips, update social media accounts, send images from their game. Upcoming title Mario Kart 8 will have options to post videos of races directly to YouTube, with a “Tournament Mode” for races expected to lead to high levels of social media interaction. Xbox One
The Xbox One launched in November 2013. As you'd expect from Microsoft, the company's social networking plans for the Xbox One are complex. As they own Skype, for instance, the chat option allows gamers to keep in contact with their friends easily. Game footage is posted directly to a player's profile, where it can be accessed on the social network. Alternatively, an Xbox One owner can send the video to YouTube where anyone can see your skills in action. As with Sony, Xbox have a version of the Wii U's "second screen" GamePad which can be used with other devices, such as tablets. Again, this encourages user interaction as players can send messages and engage in digital conversation as they play. Microsoft are using other features, as with Netflix, to create original TV shows and documentaries. Most notably, they sent a research team to New Mexico in order to unearth copies of the legendarily awful Atari 2600 game E.T. This will form a documentary later in this year, and Microsoft will no doubt build on their social media options in the future. PS4
Sony’s PlayStation 4 was released in November 2013, shortly after the Xbox One. Sony's focus has been on social gameplay, with the use of a "share" button on the console's controller immediately opening up its players to a global audience. However, as with the Xbox One, the concept for the console is also to be a "all-in-one" entertainment unit. The PS4 has features which link it to PlayStation Now (a streaming video service which is also expected to allow backwards compatibility with older games through downloads), PlayStation App (which will create interactivity between users and their smartphone), and the handheld console the PlayStation Vita. The DualShock 4 controller's "share" button allows a player access to their last 15 minutes of gameplay. As they move through this they can select clips (or a specific screenshot), and share it via Facebook or Twitter to other users. Interaction between friends is encouraged, with gamers able to browse live video footage as their friends play on a game. They can even comment on this from web browers via a number of devices, such as a smartphone. It's worth noting all these features can be disabled (should players would a traditional gaming experience), but on the whole the merger between social media and games is complete and ever flourishing. The post How Social Media Helped Shape The Next Generation of Video Games appeared first on Twitter Tools Reviews. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
It is one of the most common errors we encounter in the online world today. Discussions of social media ROI inevitably result in conversations about Twitter replies, Twitter followers, Facebook fans, or web impressions. Here are a few examples.
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Of course that's not the truth at all. In fact, "viral videos" aren't exactly what most people think they are. Treating them like they're just a sum of parts can not only be pointless it might actually hurt your business as you could find yourself barking up the wrong tree.![Aren't You One of These 6 Social Media Sharers? [Infographic] image social sharing](http://cdn2.business2community.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/social-sharing.jpg "Aren't You One of These 6 Social Media Sharers? [Infographic]")
![Aren't You One of These 6 Social Media Sharers? [Infographic] image social sharing infographic](http://cdn2.business2community.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/social-sharing-infographic.jpg "Aren't You One of These 6 Social Media Sharers? [Infographic]")
You’ve just launched your fancy new WordPress website only to find out that it takes longer to load than it would for you to mail people a printed out version of your new website? This is the downside of having a Content Management System that is open source and extended profusely by third party developers – the more you add to it, the slower it can become if you’re not careful.
If you are a B2B marketer, you are paying attention to LinkedIn. You almost can't ignore it today.
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