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Monthly Archives: May 2013

Twitter Wants To Import Your Contacts (And Increase Your Activity)

25 Saturday May 2013

Posted by leonidesignoryblog in Twitter

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Best Practices, Engagement, Enterprise Social, Social Media, Social Media Marketing, Twitter

I just did this…I hope I did not just piss off my entire circle of friends! Stay tuned for an up-date…

 

By Mary C. Long on May 24, 2013 8:15 PM

We told you the folks at Twitter were clever, didn’t we? In case you missed it – they are.

In what we’re expecting is another example of Twitter’s “innovation through experimentation,” Twitter has come up with another way to increase your activity: importing your contacts.

 

It’s pretty clever actually. The more friends you connect with on Twitter, the more you’ll use it, right? Sure! So Twitter is now asking some users if they’d like to import their contacts:

Wouldn’t you want to do this, so you can “have more fun with your friends” online?

This is a great idea assuming you aren’t using Twitter incognito, of course. Hopefully there aren’t foolish folks out there who tip people off to their secret online trolling identities with a couple of clicks (though I secretly hope they do, don’t you?).

Have you seen this prompt – or others? Do you ever import contact like this? There’s a case to be made both for and against this practice, of course – where do you fall?

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Big Global Social Networks Are Closing In On Facebook

25 Saturday May 2013

Posted by leonidesignoryblog in Facebook, Google+, Uncategorized, YouTube

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

Facebook, facebook page insights bug, Google Analytics, Online Marketing, Social Media Marketing

or..wishful thinking on Google’s part, you be the judge.

 

An article by HootSuite CEO Ryan Holmes was recently featured in Business Insider. Take a look at the original version here.

Last year, Facebook marked a new milestone in its nine-year history.

Image from Robert Scoble on Flickr

Image from Robert Scoble on Flickr

It lost users.

While the network did pass the 1 billion monthly active user threshold globally in 2012, Facebook also lost 1.4 million U.S. monthly active users late last year, a small but symbolic decline. Nor was it the only network experiencing a slowdown.

After years of double-digit expansion, social media use in the U.S. leveled off markedly last year. American social media users grew an estimated 6.8% in 2012, a far cry from 30 percent growth rates just a few years ago. With so many of the country’s 221 million netizens already logging into social networks, growth is forecast to slow to a trickle in the years ahead.

Overseas, however, the social media landscape is entirely different.

In India, social media users grew by an estimated 51.7% in 2012, no small change in a country of 1.25 billion people. Indonesia followed closely behind with a 51.6% growth rate. China’s social media user base expanded 19.9%. Latin America grew at a 16.3% clip, while Russia grew by 11.1%.

To be sure, an ever-growing number of these international users are turning to Facebook. In fact, Facebook is now estimated to be the most popular social network in all but 10 countries.

But there are numerous and notable holdouts. Around the world, localized, country-specific social networks are expanding, commanding the attention of billions of users in some of the planet’s fastest-growing economies. For global companies willing to dive in, the rewards are sizeable. But so are the risks.

International Social Media Giants

Perhaps nowhere are stakes higher than in China, where the blocking of Facebook and Twitter has given rise to wildly popular homegrown alternatives. By some estimates, nearly half of the country’s population of 1.3 billion is online and active socially.

The Chinese social media landscape, however, is far from settled. The most popular networks are complex hybrids, combining the functionality of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and instant messaging in one platform. Dozens of sites vie for supremacy, and millions of “zombie accounts” make it difficult to pinpoint where users are most active.

The aging Goliath of Chinese social media is QQ, an instant messaging platform started in 1999 that claims some 800 million monthly active users. Nowadays, users treat QQ as a jumping off point to access a range of popular networking sites controlled by its parent company, Tencent Holdings.

Arguably the most important of these is WeChat, a mobile platform similar to WhatsApp that mashes up instant messaging and video calls with photo sharing and status updates. Launched in January 2011, WeChat (known as Weixin in China) already counts 190 million monthly active users (nearly as many as Twitter) and is growing at an astounding clip of 25 million users per month. Brands like Starbucks, Nike, and Durex are just beginning to test the waters.

chinese-website-qq-homepage

Chinese social network QQ

Another Tencent offering is microblogging platform Tencent Weibo. A fusion of Twitter and Facebook, it counts 277 million monthly active users, with a strong base in smaller cities and less economically developed areas.

As on Twitter, messages on the network and other weibos like are limited to 140 characters.  But, since each Chinese character represents an entire word or phrase, users have significantly more room for expression than afforded by a standard Tweet.

Outside of the Tencent universe, the key fixture on the Chinese social media landscape is Sina Weibo, a similar microblogging service with 287 million monthly active users.

Popular in larger cities and among educated users, Sina Weibo has drawn significant attention from international businesses, with 25% of Fortune 500 companies already onboard. It’s China’s original weibo and remains perhaps the country’s most important social network overall.

The presence of so many competing networks, not to mention regulatory and censorship hurdles, poses distinct challenges for global companies wading into Chinese social waters. But rewards are just as great. Chinese netizens made a staggering $160 billion worth of online transactions last year, closing in on the estimated $226 billion spent in the U.S. Half of this sum was spent by just 17% of buyers, a coveted demographic known collectively as the “golden shoppers.”

vkontakteVK.com is getting big

Russia offers another case of social exceptionalism. With a reported 100 million monthly active users, VKontakte, popularly known as VK, is the country’s most popular social media network.

VK’s functionality is reminiscent of Facebook, with the familiar news feed and Like button, as well as Public Pages specifically for businesses. But VK also has hashtags like Twitter and photo filters like Instagram, and it’s used for music and video storage and content sharing.

Demographically, VK users have traditionally been on the younger side, with professionals increasingly migrating to Facebook. In fact, VK is often looked at as the network of the people, useful for generating buzz but not necessarily for pitching high-end products. However, it is a paradise for millions of small businesses and serves an important niche reselling goods from Chinese online giant TaoBao. Not to mention that international brands including the BBC, National Geographic, Victoria Beckham and Tom Cruise have all plunged into VK with active ad campaigns.

Slightly less popular is a site called Odnoklassniki, Russian for “classmates.” (While monthly active users aren’t disclosed, the network claims 148 million total registered users.) Positioned as a network for finding relatives and schoolmates, Odnoklassniki skews toward an older crowd and is particularly popular in less economically developed regions.

In appearance, it resembles Facebook. However, a popular paid feature also enables users to assume “invisible status” and visit other users’ pages without being noticed. While officially Russia’s “second network,” Odnoklassniki enjoys widespread cultural cachet, as evident in this popular music video, showing a schoolgirl singing about the network and the joys of “online communicating.”

Cultural Challenges

While global companies willing to look beyond Facebook and Twitter have a chance to reach billions of social media users, gaining a foothold isn’t necessarily easy.

English may be the international language of business, but it’s hardly the language of choice for online commerce and socializing. A recent European Union study showed only 18% of web surfers would make purchases from sites not in their native language. For social networking, users are even more inclined to communicate in their native tongue. Tapping country-specific networks, therefore, starts with effective translation.

Social media etiquette and expectations also vary from country to country. International marketing giants Lewis PR recently ventured a few ground rules. The Dutch are notoriously averse to self-promotion, while in Russia puffery is par for the course. The Brits admire cheekiness done right, while Singaporeans are straight-laced. Privacy is paramount in Germany, while anonymity is often key in China. While these social types are obviously generalized, they do reveal that social media mores are far from universal.

Social media users’ need for speed presents other challenges.  If a company plunges into social networks halfway around the world, will representatives be able to respond in real time?  What happens if a customer in Beijing complains and staff in New York are already fast asleep?  A minor issue left unattended overnight can can grow into a viral nightmare by the morning.

The right technology is also critical. Social media management systems – software for monitoring multiple social networks at once from one page – can help. Some systems are already incorporating country-specific sites into their lineups. At HootSuite, for example, we allow users to move between Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn and local networks in China and Russia, not to mention Latin America and Western Europe, from a single dashboard. The means less time spent navigating exotic interfaces and more time spent communicating directly with users.

Kenneth Cole's infamous Twitter fail.

Kenneth Cole’s infamous Twitter fail.

Ultimately, however, global success on social networks – whether localized platforms or transnational giants like Twitter and Facebook – comes down not to equipment but to local knowledge and sensitivity, plus a little common sense.

Just ask Kenneth Cole.

During Egypt’s revolution in 2011, the clothing designer reached out to his tens of thousands of followers around the world with this message of inspiration. ”Millions are in uproar in #Cairo . Rumor is they heard our new spring collection is now available online …”

Here’s guessing sales in Egypt haven’t exactly been brisk since.

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Online Marketing News: Biggr Flickr, Kmart Strikes Again, Yahoo Takes A Tumblr, Twitter Cards, Penguin 2 & SEO FUD

24 Friday May 2013

Posted by leonidesignoryblog in Facebook, Google+, Multi Channel Marketing, Pinterest, Twitter, Uncategorized, YouTube

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Enterprise Social, Facebook, Google Analytics, Marketing, Mobile, Online Marketing

Ok, if you can decipher that headline you are my hero. Beyond that this is pretty interesting news . Brought to you from  Top Online Marketing News.

By Lee Odden on May 24th, 2013     Online Marketing, Online Marketing News

Kmart is at it again with a clever follow up to their highly popular video “Ship My Pants” that has had over 17 million views. The play on words this time is “Big Gas Savings” with over 1 million views in 2 days. Like the Old Spice videos that went ballistic, the question remains: They’re very creative and popular, but will these videos get shoppers in stores and buying at Kmart?

New Flickr

Flickr is Biggr. Users now get 1 terabyte of storage. I’ve been a pro Flickr user for many years and during Yahoo’s pre Marissa Mayer days, it had an uncertain future. Now Flickr is adding 1,000 x more storage for users and some new features including full resolution of images and new sharing functionality: “Upload once, send to any device, any screen, any friend, and any follower.”

The user interface has also been updated with the removal of small thumbnails and photos leading the experience, vs. text based navigation. I for one and looking forward to jumping back into using Flickr more often from the desktop, tablet and mobile. Via Flickr, Fast Company.

Penguin 2.0

Arguably the big news in the SEO world this week was the roll out of Penguin 2.0, Google’s algorithmic webspam fighting effort. If your site is engaged in link buying, high volumes of exact match anchor text, or other link focused manipulations to improve search results, there’s a Penguin out to get you. More on Penguin from Matt Cutts, Search Engine Land, Search Engine Watch and of course, TopRank’s advice on Penguin 2.0 for Content Marketers.

Speaking of SEO and spam:

Google Notifies Sprint Of Spam Penalty; Seeks Advice In Google Help Forums. Apparently a portion of the Sprint site that was open for users to publish content was cited by Google for spamming. This is not a unique situation as Search Engine Land reports, since the BBC and Mozilla have had similar situations. Initially there was no help from Google outside of the notification but Matt Cutts eventually stepped in. As Barry notes in the SEL article, this is a tough one for brands to monitor, but they must if they expect to retain search positions and traffic form the almighty Google. Google Forum Thread. Thanks to Brian Larson for the heads up on this one.

Pinterest Rich Pins

Oh, How Pinteresting!, Introducing More Useful Pins for food, retail products, and movies. This week the nearly 50 million member strong Pinterest added a new feature directed towards commerce: Rich Pins. The new feature will make additional information available besides an image and description which many anticipate will give users more motivation to click through. Since Pinterest users tend to spend 70% more than buyers referred from non-social sites, there’s plenty of motivation for marketers to take advantage of these new features. Via Pinterest Blog, The Content Standard, Marketing Land.

Twitter Card

Twitter announces ‘Lead Generation Cards’ to help brands drive qualified leads. Twitter has upped the ante for lead generation by adding 6 types of Twitter Cards as an advertising option for brands. Twitter cards (Summary, Large Image Summary, Photo, Gallery, App, Player and Product) make it possible for marketers to attach media experiences to Tweets that link to brand content. When someone expands your Tweet, they see a description of the offer and a call to action. Their name, @username, and email address are already pre-filled within the Card. Via Twitter Advertising Blog, TNW.

Yahoo has agreed to pay $1.1 billion for blogging platform and social network Tumblr, which is 6 years old and has 100 million blogs and about 300 million unique monthly visitors.What is Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer getting for all that Yahoo cash? Cats, porn and a lot of opportunity to connect with a very attractive demographic. Via Wall Street Journal.

But wait, there’s more!

Yahoo continued the buying spree and purchased a startup that powers games played on smartphones, tablets, consoles or personal computers called PlayerScale for an undisclosed sum. Via TechCrunch.

In other news about the social web:

According to a new Piper Jaffray study, Teens’ interest in Facebook is dropping but their use of Twitter has grown by 50% in 1 Year. I suspect the growth of teens’ use of Instagram and Snapchat is also on the rise.

Nutella Thanks Its Biggest Fan, Founder of World Nutella Day, by Sending Her a Cease and Desist reports AdWeek. But according to ABC News, they then took it back. When legal acts without social media savvy, it can be a sharp sting that gets them on the right track.

From the TopRank Online Marketing Blog Community:

Empathize to Optimize Your Customer’s Journey on the Search & Social Web – Carrie Morgansays: “A fantastic read on the same topic is Google’s Zero Moment of Truth, A must for every marketer to be familiar with! Nice post, Lee!! Great job story-telling. =)”

7 Steps to SEO at Scale, Patrick McFadden says: “Plan a Multi-Faceted Approach” Yes! The struggle many face with marketing online is a misguided impulse to put various tactics into separate boxes, instead of seeing each as an aspect of one strategic process.To this day, I see people referring to content marketing, social media marketing, and search engine optimization (SEO) as three different things — as if each is a tactic that can get you there alone. The smart way to treat these things as a holistic strategy.”

What are your thoughts on this week’s online marketing news? Was Tumblr a good call for Yahoo at 1.1 Billion? Do you like the new Flickr? How about Penguin 2.0 – is it doom and gloom or more like, “meh”.

Keep up with what’s up here at http://www.toprankblog.com/2013/05/online-marketing-news-052413/ 

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Twitter Premieres TV Ad Targeting, Enabling Marketers To Synchronize Their Twitter And TV Ad Campaigns

24 Friday May 2013

Posted by leonidesignoryblog in Uncategorized

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Twitter Premieres TV Ad Targeting, Enabling Marketers To Synchronize Their Twitter And TV Ad Campaigns.

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Twitter Premieres TV Ad Targeting, Enabling Marketers To Synchronize Their Twitter And TV Ad Campaigns

24 Friday May 2013

Posted by leonidesignoryblog in Multi Channel Marketing, TV Advertizing, Twitter

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Advertising, Multi Channel Marketing, Online Marketing, Radio Advertzing, Social Media Marketing, TV Advertizing

Twitter is all, well a-twitter!

Almost four months after acquiring social TV analytics company Bluefin Labs, Twitter has premiered Twitter TV Ad Targeting.

 

The brand new service is designed to enableTwitter and TV ad campaigns to be synchronized. Why does that matter?

Brand messages can be even more engaging (fans are seeing it in two places), interactive (you can’t click on your TV screen), and measurable (goodbye, old school Nielsen ratings).

As Michael Fleischman, Twitter’s Product Manager of Revenue, wrote in a blog post announcing Twitter TV Ad Targeting,

“TV ad targeting works by using video fingerprinting technology to automatically detect when and where a brand’s commercials are running on TV, without requiring that advertiser to do any manual tracking or upload media plan details. Whenever a commercial airs during a TV show, Twitter not only determines where and when it ran, but can identify users on Twitter who tweeted about the program where the ad aired during that program. We believe a user engaged enough with a TV show to tweet about it very likely saw the commercials as well.”

TV ad targeting for Promoted Tweets is available – as of yesterday afternoon – in a limited beta to selected partners running national TV commercials in the U.S.

As the product rolls out to advertisers, they’ll see a new TV Ads dashboard, which shows when a brand’s TV ads have aired, enabling digital teams to align their Twitter advertising efforts with what’s shown on TV and when.

For more info on the new TV Ad Targeting product, check out the video below:

What do you think about this new development in the close relationship between Twitter and TV?

Article written by  By Allison Stadd on May 24, 2013 12:00 PM

Courtesy of All Twitter

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ShortStack Apps on Mobile Devices, FINALLY!

20 Monday May 2013

Posted by leonidesignoryblog in Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, YouTube

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Ok this is straight from ShortStack so sorry for the formatting, but I wanted to get it out here!
mobile phoneWant users to view your apps on mobile devices? If so, you’ll need to provide them with the app’s Smart URL, since Facebook does not show apps on mobile by default. The Smart URL allows ShortStack to detect if the user is on a mobile device and serve them the appropriate content. Our mobile capabilities are available to all users, even those on Free Plans!

Where do I get a Smart URL? Once your app is installed to your Page, ShortStack will provide you with a “Smart URL” to use when promoting your app. You can find your Smart URL in two places.

In ShortStack:

One
Login to your ShortStack account.
Two
Navigate to your tab in the Tab Designer.
Three
Click on the orange Manage Installs button.
Four
Under the Smart URL column, you’ll see the respective Smart URL listed for your installed Tab.
On Facebook: You can also find the Smart URL in the Admin-only footer (the very bottom) of your installed app on Facebook. It will look something like this:http://a.pgtb.me/dbaC
NOTE: You'll want to get in the habit of using your Smart URL to link to your apps because of its ability to detect mobile and non-mobile devices. When the Smart URL is accessed on a mobile device, ShortStack will display your app outside of Facebook. If the URL is accessed on a desktop or laptop, the user is redirected to the Facebook URL for that app.
When linking to your app, use your smart URL to make sure your tab is accessible on mobile devices. You will need to create a status update (or something similar) and include the Smart URL link. An example of a post would be “Trying to access our contest via a mobile device? Click here (SMART URL) to view the contest!” For further instructions, click here to check out our Mobile doc.

Don’t feel like reading the doc? Don’t worry, just watch the video instead.

Click to Watch Video: http://youtu.be/N_4Q3MOyfac

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How to schedule Google+ posts in Chrome

17 Friday May 2013

Posted by leonidesignoryblog in Google+

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Best Practices

Whether you need to schedule an announcement or a birthday wish in Google+, here’s an easy-to-use extension that does the work for you.

(Credit: Google)

If you’re a fan of services like HootSuite which let you schedule tweets, Facebook posts, and even LinkedIn notes, then you’ll probably like Do Share for Google Chrome, as well. Unfortunately, sites like HootSuite haven’t rolled out the ability to schedule posts on Google+ to all of their users. So if you’re interested in scheduling a notice about a product launch, a reminder to a friend, or just your random thoughts, Do Share can help you out.

This browser extension is very simple to install, and even easier to use. Here’s how to get started:

Download a copy of Do Share for your Google Chrome browser.

Note: Chrome has to be running, connected to the Internet and logged into Google for Do Share to send posts to Google+, since they are saved in your browser until the scheduled time — per the notes for the extension.

Step 1: Click then button for the extension on your browser’s toolbar, then click on Create new post and then fill in the details of your message.

 

 

(Credit: Screenshot by Nicole Cozma/CNET)

Step 2:To adjust which circles will see your post, click on Add more people.

(Credit: Screenshot by Nicole Cozma/CNET)

Step 3: From here, you can decide to send the post to your drafts, schedule the post, or share it immediately.

(Optional) Step 4: If you choose Schedule, you’ll need to input a date and time for the post to go live.

(Credit: Screenshot by Nicole Cozma/CNET)

(Optional) Step 5: View the drafts and scheduled tweets at the bottom of the page. Simply click on any tweet you need to delete or adjust.While this method isn’t as easy as scheduling posts in HootSuite, it’s the next closest thing. What types of posts do you schedule in advance?

Also, if you love efficiency while using Chrome, you might want to check out these time-saving extensions.

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Google’s Matt Cutts On Upcoming Penguin, Panda & Link Networks Updates

16 Thursday May 2013

Posted by leonidesignoryblog in Google+

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Online Marketing

The bear and bird are at it again! This just in from Search Engine Land…a side note, if your into online marketing you should really sign up for Search Engine Land’s posts. Just sayin’

Google’s head of search spam, Matt Cutts, announced new updates with Google’s Penguin and Panda algorithms and new link network targets in 2013. Matt announced this during the SMX West panel, The Search Police.

Significant Penguin Update

Matt said that there will be a large Penguin update in 2013 that he thinks will be one of the more talked about Google algorithm updates this year. Google’s search quality team is working on a major update to the Penguin algorithm, which Cutts called very significant.

The last Penguin update we have on record was Penguin 3 in October 2012. Before that, we had Penguin 2 in May 2012 and the initial release in April.

So, expect a major Penguin release that may send ripples through the SEO industry this year.

A Panda Update Coming This Friday Or Monday

Matt also announced there will be a Panda algorithm update this coming Friday (March 15th) or Monday (March 18th). The last Panda update was version 24 on January 22nd, which is one of the longer spans of time between Panda refreshes we’ve seen in a long time.

Another Link Network Targeted

Matt Cutts confirmed that Google targeted a link network a couple weeks ago, and said Google will go after more in 2013. In fact, Matt said that they will release another update in the next week or two that specifically targets another large link network.

Postscript: See our important follow-up story, Google: Panda To Be Integrated Into The Search Algorithm (Panda Everflux).

Thank you  Barry Schwartz

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Remarketing using Facebook’s Ad Exchange

14 Tuesday May 2013

Posted by leonidesignoryblog in Facebook

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Tags

ads, Online Marketing, remarketing

Most social media marketers largely relied on the Facebook MarketPlace Ads to reach out to the billions of Facebook users each month. Although they were relatively effective in marketing, Facebook saw the need of introducing a better and more reliable social advertising option –The Facebook Exchange, otherwise popularly referred to as FBX.

FBX is a system where Facebook sells high quality inventory ads through an auction to many marketing bidders (Real Time Bidding). It significantly helps marketers reach out to the valuable consumers on Facebook. 

FBX enables advertisers to serve tracking cookies on users’ browsers as they visit advertiser or publisher sites and then retarget those users with relevant ads once they enter Facebook, often for remarketing, i.e. to remind them about a retailer site they have visited for example.

FBX however, doesn’t quite work like the regular Facebook MarketPlace ads. Facebook doesn’t provide any data on the individual users. So, what exactly makes FBX effective? How can you target the general Facebook audience? FBX also enables advertisers to buy ads using search data from Google’s users.

Learning the FBX basics

Since FBX advertising doesn’t rely on the data provided by Facebook, you need to rely on 3rd party data sources. This is done by anonymously dropping cookies in the users’ browsers to track their interests based on their online activity. The users are consequently retargeted with relevant ads once they access Facebook. This is done with the help of companies which have FBX access.

Apart from that, you could use a couple of secrets to target the Facebook audience. Start by assessing your FBX partner and confirm the integrations which it can work with.A reliable FBXpartner should effectively accommodate a wide range of retargeting options.

Choosing a partner

An excellent FBX partner should be able to target the Facebook audience based on the searches done on major search engines. Every internet user’s interests can be substantially tracked through the searches on the search engines. The interests should be subsequently reflected on the ads displayed to the respective users once they access their Facebook accounts.

Although Facebook doesn’t provide the geo-location of the individual users on FBX, your partner could. The geo-location data is provided based on the respective users’ IP addresses. Consequently, the Facebook ads can be optimized depending on the users’ geo-location.

You could also cleverly leverage FBX by targeting your own site visitors. A significant percentage of your regular site visitors are obviously on Facebook. Therefore, it would be wise to track their interests by collecting data and using it to customize the Facebook ads for each of the visitors.

Targeting your audience

The effectiveness of your marketing campaign largely relies on the particular times you choose to display the ads on Facebook.

It’s therefore highly advisable to focus on the particular times that you think your consumers are in the purchase cycle. This strategy should also be reflected on FBX by using your FBX partner to target the specific times of the day, week, month, etc.

Finally, apart from FBX partner, you could also consult a third party data provider. Such a company usually gives valuable data to marketers based on the users’ online activity. This can be effectually used to target the audience especially if your FBX partner accommodates this integration type.

 

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26 Social Media Marketing Tips from the Pros

09 Thursday May 2013

Posted by leonidesignoryblog in Facebook, Google+, Pinterest, Twitter

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Online Marketing, Social Media, Social Media Marketing

Yet again great information in a tasty format, It does not get any better than this folks. If Social Media is your bread and butter, read on!

CATEGORY: Calls to Action

#1: Get More Leads With Calls to Action

Throughout the conference, the topic of calls to action (CTAs) came up in numerous sessions. What is a CTA?

A social media call to action is an integral and often overlooked element of an effective social media strategy. Social media gets prospects, customers and the public primed to want to find out more about your offering or to engage with you further, but you must lead them to the next step in your sales or other conversion process.

Regardless of the platform—blog, Facebook, Twitter, etc.—posts will receive better success rates if they contain calls to action, compared to ones without them. So, all the more reason to use them!

call to actionFrom the post, “Theft: 9 Ways to Protect Yourself From Losing Your Data” by Michael Stelzner.

#2: Optimize Your Facebook Posts With Calls to Action

“On Facebook, posts that include the call to action “share” receive more shares, comments and likes.”

—Mari Smith, 10 Ways to Improve Your Facebook Reach

Sometimes just the act of inviting someone to share your post will be the encouragement a fan needs to take your suggestion. Once they share the post, it will travel on further to their colleagues, friends and family, thus expanding your reach. Truly one of greatest benefits of social media!

shareThis post was shared by 42 people, in addition to 59 likes.

#3: Grab Readers’ Attention With CTAs

Examples of calls to action include: click here, sign up today, get your ticket, join us at, RSVP here, buy now, enroll here, check this out, click, and comment.

—Rich Brooks, Beyond Likes: How to Turn Fans Into Customers; Amy Porterfield, Facebook Strategies to Launch a New Product; Pat Flynn, Podcasting for More Exposure, More Leads and More Money

When a reader is on your page and you have the privilege of having their attention for even the shortest span of time, make your CTAs an integral part of your marketing plan. Something you had front of mind—not an afterthought. Then you’ll have some influence on where readers navigate next and what steps you want to encourage them to take.

grab attentionCalls to action grab attention.

#4: Get the Most Bang for Your CTA Buck

Make your CTAs crystal-clear and stick to one CTA per post. Avoid excessive calls to action.

—Cliff Ravenscraft, 15 Tips for Creating a Podcast People Can’t Live Without

When you present clear and direct CTAs, you reduce the risk of overwhelming readers with too many choices. They came to your post to learn something and the last thing you want to do is to make them feel they have to give you everything if they decide to become a follower of your content.

cliff ravenscraftDecide what action you want users to take.

#5: Experiment With Different CTA Touch Points

On Twitter, if you want to target people who aren’t following you, try using a call to action to engage.

—Kyle Lacy, 5 Social and Digital Trends Impacting Consumer Behaviors

Twitter is a fast-moving stream of content. Updates can quickly flow by readers. While they’re deciding on whether to read your full update, a call to action can help seize the moment. If they like what they see, they’ll be more inclined to follow you, retweet your message and visit your website.

touch pointsReach out and touch someone!

#6: Take the Guesswork Out of CTAs

Effective calls to action can result in completed lead generation forms, phone calls and email signups.

—Rich Brooks, Beyond Likes: How to Turn Fans Into Customers

When you put a call to action out there, you’ll know which ones have been effective. For example, if no one is signing up for your free website consultation, ask yourself if the call to action is buried too far down on the page, could the wording be more enticing, are readers worried that once they do that they’ll be hounded by salespeople?

What can your call to action do better to be more effective? Knowing the answer willenhance your marketing efforts.

gather informationGather information with forms.

To learn more about CTAs, a 13-Point Checklist to Optimize Social Media Calls-to-Action can be found in an article by Heidi Cohen.

CATEGORY: Content Strategy

#7: Give Content the Priority It Deserves

It may not be much of a surprise that the topic of content received “royal” treatment at SMMW13. Whether the focus of a workshop was on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, blogs, etc., many focused on the importance of fresh, frequent, quality content.

“Content is King but engagement is Queen, and she rules the house.”

—Mari Smith, 10 Ways to Improve Your Facebook Reach

Content is kind of a catch-22. The best content in the world won’t receive traffic unless people engage with it—sharing, commenting, liking, etc. Give your content the royal treatment—dot the i’s, cross the t’s, and most importantly, make it engagement-friendly. Then you’ll be able to see great results!

tweets and pics15,000+ tweets and pics sure sounds like good engagement!

#8: Be Generous With Your Content

Useful content that people continue to remember long after the post was read becomes “sticky.” The content keeps you in the person’s mind. They may be willing to check out your products and services. By giving generously and gaining a reader’s trust, you earn a reputation of being a reliable resource. With all the competition out there, useful content will help differentiate you in the marketplace.

Content is fire, social media is gasoline. Content should be so useful that it’s seen as a “YOUtility”; in other words, content marketing that is so useful, people will want to keep you close and even be willing to pay for it.

—Jay Baer, How to Create Customers for Life by Informing More and Promoting Less

youtilitySwitch from a “me” to a “you” mentality.

#9: Keep the Content Flowing

We’ve all been there. Landed on a blog that hasn’t been updated in months. Or on a Twitter account that has an egghead avatar and was abandoned in 2010 after the user wrote: “Hello world.” What’s wrong with these pictures? Lack of content.

[Only] 36% of people surveyed believe their content marketing is effective. Biggest challenges they’ve faced are producing enough content and the kind that engages.

—Joe Pulizzi, 10 Content Marketing Secrets That Will Propel You Beyond the Competition

Content requires a strategy, a production schedule with designated authors and engaging topics that encourage readers to return. Find ways to cover your content bases with an effective content plan.

Verbal and visual content that delivers on a frequent and regular basis will increase your chances to catch up to your competitors and join the ranks of those with effective content marketing strategies.

cmi contentHow will you create more content?

#10: Offer Subscriptions to Your Content

Content can easily be missed on Facebook, Twitter and RSS feeds. One way to helpensure that your content is seen is through subscriptions.

Focus on subscriptions to your content; for example, “Join over 40,000 of your peers. Get daily articles and news delivered to your email inbox and get CMI’s exclusive ebook…free.”

—Joe Pulizzi, 10 Content Marketing Secrets That Will Propel You Beyond the Competition

Delivering daily articles and news to a subscriber’s email inbox is highly effective for busy businesspeople. Even if their inbox is overflowing, when they chip away at reading their emails, they’ll find your content pointing and linking to your articles.

emailUsers may miss your tweets but will be more likely to receive your email.

#11: Give Credence to Analytics and Post Data

Social media data is the keeper of all kinds of useful information such as location of readers, topics and keywords that attract and time and day an update is more likely to be seen by your audience.

Amazing content yields great leads. Don’t get attached just to shares—find out which posts are getting leads.

—Brian Carter, Turning Social Advertising Into Leads and Sales

Set aside time each week to review your analytics and what you can learn from them. Content may not magically convert a lead to a customer, but you’ll be more likely to increase your funnel of leads when you provide great content.

Unfortunately, there’s no shortcut around the sales cycle. Print placement ads, radio and TV commercials never promised that either. With social media marketing, you still have to work a lead!

batman and robinCould it be any clearer?

#12: Give Your Posts More Pizazz

Some posts read like they’re just giving the facts, something that you’d find in an old-time Yellow Pages ad.  Nowadays, we have to go the extra couple of miles.

Posts that are shareable give advice, warn, amuse, inspire and amaze… don’t be boring.

—Cliff Ravenscraft, 15 Tips for Creating a Podcast People Can’t Live Without

“Don’t be boring” might be one of the harshest tough-love pieces of advice that you’ll receive. But it’s true. How many times are you more willing to read an article with catchy titles and cool images or watch a video with great camerawork and music or listen to a podcast that presents a dynamic interview or industry report? If you build amazing content, they will come!

dont be boringWhat? We need to be interesting, too?!

#13: Meet Social Media Followers Where They Are

How many times have you felt that a company isn’t letting you in? That they’re not telling you more about the business culture or values that are important to them? One of the true assets of social marketing is the ease with which we can converse with our followers.

One kind of content that has been effective for TaylorMade is real-time, ‘inside-the-ropes’ information to consumers.

—Liz Phillips of TaylorMade, Twitter Marketing: Success Tips From Brands

Real time is the real thing. Inside-the-ropes information makes followers feel a part of an online community—and connected.

taylormadeConsumers like to be in-the-know.

#14: Tune Into What’s Being Talked About

Time passes quickly and topics do, too. It’s become increasingly important for social media marketers to know what readers are most interested in today, this week, this month—and as projected into next year.

Content is the greatest sales and trust-building tool in the world.  Find the most common phrases and their keyword rank in monthly searches.

—Marcus Sheridan, How to Build a Business Blog That Grows Your Brand, Generates Leads and Makes Sales

With free and paid keyword tools at our disposal (e.g., Google Keyword Tool, Long Tail Pro), you have a tremendous opportunity to tap into the content that is resonating the most with your audience. This will cut down on useless projects and make each and every post an important spoke in your marketing hub.

higher ranked keywordsUsing higher-ranked keywords will make a difference.

#15: Look for the Best Ways to Promote Your Content

Content promotion is an important part of content marketing strategy. With the ease of ebook creation, many businesses have found that putting together new or repurposed content into an ebook format may be one of the most advantageous ways to get their content out there.

Ebooks are best used to promote content. Businesses should focus on the value that users will receive from your content.

—Rebecca Corliss, How to Generate Leads With Social Media

Ebooks offer the ability to create cost-effective, well-designed pieces that don’t require the expense of printing.

hubspot ebooksHubSpot displays their ebooks on a Pinterest board.

#16: Know Thy Customer

By keeping your customer in mind during your content strategizing, you’ll be more likely to engage the people you’re looking to attract.

Use the social data you have about your customer to improve content strategy.

—Kyle Lacy, 5 Social and Digital Trends Impacting Consumer Behaviors

Buyer personas and knowing how topics rank among their interests will be helpful ways to improve content strategy.

know who you're talking toKnowing who you’re talking to is a big part of the content equation.

#17: Write Great Blog Posts

In an earlier 26 Tips piece, we discussed Tips for Writing Great Blog Posts. Writing great content involves many aspects beyond the ideas you set down on the page. It includes factors such as layout and design, formatting, whether the content is original or curated and more. Producing quality content requires proactivity.

Take an active approach to content development. Create content all the time.

—Amy Porterfield, Facebook Strategies to Launch a New Product or Program

Even when you’re not in the middle of a new post, jot down ideas as they come to you and see whether you can work them into a post.

keep content rollingKeep the content rolling.

#18: Think Beyond the Written Word

Content assets include images, videos, printed word and audio. When you have an idea for what you want to communicate, you may find that one format will serve your audience better than another. At SMMW13, there was a lot of buzz about podcasts and the impact that mobile phones and working on-the-go have on our ability to reach people, even when they don’t have time to sit down and read an article.

Podcasts cannot live without content.

—Cliff Ravenscraft, 15 Tips for Creating a Podcast People Can’t Live Without

What information could be communicated to your audience via a podcast?

list of topicsOffer a variety of topics.

#19: Deliver Targeted Content

If the demographics of your target customer are diverse, then targeted topics or specific platforms may suit one audience better than another.

Slice and dice content to make it highly targeted… be consistent, authentic and relevant.

—Michael Bepko of Whole Foods, Twitter Marketing: Success Tips From Brands

Maybe you have one blog that speaks to a younger audience and another that addresses issues of more concern to middle-aged people. Messaging isn’t one-stop shopping.

whole foodsWhole Foods takes “slicing and dicing” very seriously (and literally).

#20: Motivate Customers

Don’t just communicate. Motivate. Find the niche area that makes readers stop, listen and watch.

Who are your customers, what do they want to hear about, what do they talk about to friends and family, what are their obstacles, what are their worries, how can you inspire them, how can you coach, mentor and motivate?

—Brian Carter, Turning Social Advertising Into Leads and Sales

motivationMake your content motivating and inspiring.

#21: Use Keywords Strategically

Keywords should stay front and center. Don’t think of them on a piece-by-piece basis. Instead, what are the topics that will cover the range of topics of most interest to your audience?

Develop 5 key topic areas and at least 20 unique pieces of content for each of 100+ keywords per year.

—Joe Pulizzi, 10 Content Marketing Secrets That Will Propel You Beyond the Competition

Being prepared with topics and keywords will make it easier to create unique content.

use keywordsKnowing keywords and topics you will be writing about will help keep you focused. Readers will learn what they can expect.

#22: Alter Your Ways of Looking at Content Development and Delivery

Your content strategy will make a lot more sense to your authors and your audience if you think about people and where they are in the sales cycle. The information will be helpful in making a decision about whether to write a blog post, conduct a webinar or engage in a LinkedIn group forum.

Map content to customers’ journeys through the sales cycle—awareness, interest, consideration, purchase, retention and advocacy.

—Lee Odden, How to Integrate Blogging With Content Marketing That Inspires

target contentTargeting content to the sales cycle can be highly effective.

To learn more about content marketing, 10 Content Marketing Tips can be found in an article by Cindy King.

CATEGORY: Email and Social Integration

#23: Integrate Email and Social Media Marketing

Consider this: “Email has had a long history, beginning in 1971 when U.S. programmer Raymond Tomlinson allegedly sent “QWERTYUIOP” as the first network email, and he was the first to connect his computer to his mailbox by using an ‘@’ symbol… Email has become a major part of our lives, consuming 28% of our workday.”

With the maturity of media, preceding ones will become displaced. Email, which has been a key player for 20 years, hurt postal delivery. Today, many are using Facebook messages instead of email.

—Mike Stelzner, Social Media Marketing in 2013: New Research and Its Implications

facebook messageFacebook messages improve the odds of having direct contact.

#24: Interact With Your Audience Via Opt-In Emails

With the subscriber opts into your emails, your business can get in front of your audience’s eyes on a daily and weekly basis.

The inbox is the best social network in the world.

—Chris Brogan, Are We Getting Better or Just Busier?

email updateSocial Media Examiner not only sends email updates, but also tells you the number of subscribers.

#25: Vary Your Email and Social Integration Strategies

Below are a number of great suggestions from presenters at SMMW13:

  • Advertise on Facebook to your email list.—Brian Carter, Turning Social Advertising Into Leads and Sales
  • Subscribers who follow brands on Twitter are three times more likely to open an email than a subscriber who’s not on Twitter.—Kyle Lacy, 5 Social and Digital Trends Impacting Consumer Behaviors
  • During the promote phase of a Facebook campaign, build your launch email list with a signature promotional giveaway. When launching, your email list can be your most powerful profit-generating resource. Use an autoresponder as part of your email campaign.—Amy Porterfield, Facebook Strategies to Launch a New Product (autoresponder)
  • The third time you email someone, just pick up the damn phone.—Jay Baer, How to Create Customers for Life by Informing More and Promoting Less 
    autoresponderSet up any number of email messages to be sent either immediately after a new user subscribes to your mailing list, or after any period of time has passed.

To learn more about email and social media integration, 9 Ways to Integrate Email and Social Media Marketing can be found in this article by DJ Waldow.

#26: Set Personal and Business Goals for Social Media

  • Personal: Self-expression, exercise writing, be a useful resource, connect with bloggers, contribute to the community
  • Business: Brand awareness, elevate publicity, support customers, recruit,attract new business referrals, create an editorial calendar

—Lee Odden, How to Integrate Blogging With Content Marketing that Inspire

  • Google Analytics to create and track goals via a goal funnel, a series of pages leading up to the goal destination—for example, a contact page.

—Rich Brooks, Beyond Likes: How to Turn Fans Into Customers

goalsBe sure to create and track your business goals.

To learn more about setting social media goals, 4 Social Media Goals Every Business Should Measure can be found in this article by Andrew K. Kirk.

Concluding Thoughts

Perhaps the most telling number about the significance of social media marketing was reported in the April 8, 2013 PeekAnalytics report for the hashtag #SMMW13 that states:

The content [at SMMW13] was shared by consumers who have a combined total of 4.8 million social connections across their social graphs.

The speed-of-light communication that social media provides with its far-reaching capabilities is unprecedented and undoubtedly will continue to change the way businesses engage with customers, prospects and leads. What will we be talking about at SMMW14? Stay tuned!

By Debbie Hemley and Social Media Examiner

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