Monthly Archives: February 2015

Build Relationships for Your Business Using LinkedIn Groups

23 Monday Feb 2015

Posted by in LInkedIn, Multi Channel Marketing, Uncategorized

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Whenever I’m holding a webinar, presenting at a seminar, or just interacting with our awesome customers, I’m asked a lot of social media questions that span all major networks.

When it comes to LinkedIn, the one question I hear time and time again is “Should I be spending my time participating in Linkedin Groups?”

My short answer is “yes” and here’s why…

LinkedIn Groups are virtual meeting rooms (or forums) where people with similar interests can post and hold conversations around topics they want to share or learn more about.

Participating in Groups allows you to show off your expertise around a subject and start to grow relationships with like-minded people.

Many of these people may be colleagues, who could offer solutions to certain challenges you’ve been facing, or could provide partnership opportunities to help you grow your business in the future.

Others could be potential customers, who are using groups to network and also find solutions of their own.

By sharing your expertise, participating in conversations, and being a reliable source of information within the Group — you’ll have the opportunity to build valuable relationships to help you do more business.

How do I find and join the right Group?

LinkedIn makes it easy to find Groups that are relevant to your business, or the audience you’re trying to reach. Within LinkedIn, you can perform a search based on keywords and filter to find the right Group.

For each Group found in your search, you have the option to view who in your network belongs to those Groups. Joining Groups that your connections are already members of can help you nurture the connections you’ve made on LinkedIn.

Take it one step further and reach out to your network to ask them what they think about the Groups they belong to. This can help to continue building the relationships you already have, while starting to understand what Groups may be right for you.

On LinkedIn there are both public and private Groups. If they’re public, all you need is to hit the “join” button when you find a Group you’re interested in and you’ll gain access instantly. Private groups on the other hand, require you to request an invitation from the manager of the group to get access.

You can join up to 50 Groups, but be aware that many groups aren’t actively managed. Make sure to spend the majority of your time on the key Groups you find that are managed well and have constant interactions.

How do I participate in a Group?

When you join a Group, take the time to familiarize yourself with the content people are sharing, and types of questions that are being asked.

Relevant content is the only way to take full advantage of a LinkedIn Group. When you share content that others are interested in, your chance of “connecting” with that person is much higher than if you just hit “connect.” Use groups to strengthen relationships, with your ultimate goal of connecting on and offline with Group members.

Here are a few tips to remember when participating in a LinkedIn Group:

  1. Show off your expertise by answering questions that others have asked, and don’t forget to ask some questions of your own! Groups are meant to be a forum for like-minded people, so make sure you’re asking and answering.
  2. Post articles and ask questions. Share articles or blog posts you’ve found and ask the Group members a question related to the article.
  3. Don’t over-promote! Your goal when posting articles or answering questions is not to promote yourself or what you’re doing, but to build relationships. When you use the words “me”, “I” or “my”, your content will more than likely get sent directly to the “promotions” tab of the Group.
  4. Make that connection. Once you’ve been interacting with someone in your Group, and you’ve built up some familiarity, send them an invitation to connect on LinkedIn. Make sure to let them know why you want to connect, and remind them of your interaction in the Group.
  5. Don’t forget other networks. If you have been interacting with someone on numerous occasions in a Group, connect with them on Twitter or find their business page on Facebook. Most people are participating in a Group for the same reason you are, so they will be happy to connect with you and extend your relationship!

Are LinkedIn Groups really worth the time and energy?

Hopefully, by now, I’ve convinced you that the answer is YES! The ability to reach people you wouldn’t otherwise have access to is one of the main reasons that social media works, and LinkedIn Groups are no exception.

Get out there, begin by joining three groups and see what relationships you can build by engaging with the right audience.

Have you joined a LinkedIn Group? How has it worked for you and your business? Let us know in the comments below.

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Is Pinterest Better Then Facebook?

20 Friday Feb 2015

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This article is by Troy Ireland, managing partner at Digital Current, a conversion-based digital-marketing agency specializing in content marketing and SEO.

Pinterest has always seemed like Facebook’s cozy little sister. Instead of sharing news articles and memes, Pinterest users (mostly women) curate pages of living room furniture and Halloween party recipes.

But underestimating Pinterest would be a huge mistake. “As social networks go, Pinterest doesn’t get a whole lot of respect,” wrote Kevin Roose in a New York magazine article. “Which will make it even more surprising when Pinterest eats its competitors alive.”

That May 2014 prediction appears to be coming true. Just after the holidays, IBM Digital Analytics released a report showing that overall holiday online sales were up 13.9% for the 2014 season. They looked specifically at Facebook and Pinterest sales and reported on a very interesting statistic: “Facebook referrals drove an average of $101.38 per order, while Pinterest referrals averaged $105.75 per order.”

Since its launch in 2010, the scrapbooking, image-pinning site has been steadily growing and picking up pace. It is estimated to have approximately 70 million active users and is worth about $5 billion. That’s a drop in the bucket compared to Facebook’s 1.2 billion daily users and $210 billion market cap. But Pinterest is growing quickly and, unlike Facebook, the whole setup of Pinterest is designed to move products.

“Pinterest’s power is the volume of referral traffic it generates,” explains Jason Miles, author of the book “Pinterest Power.” “When it comes to that metric, it is already in very rarefied air. The top four sources of referral traffic are organic search, direct typing of a URL, Facebook and then Pinterest.” And if Pinterest can get to 280 million users, it could easily surpass Facebook in terms of driving Internet traffic (and purchases), according to Miles.

To help marketers take advantage of all of this user-generated enthusiasm, Pinterest has started selling Promoted Pins, which are ads that look like Pinterest images and content shared between users. “[They are] sounding the call that Pinterest is open for business and that it wants to compete for ad dollars with the likes of Google, Twitter and Facebook,” according to CNBC.

In many ways, Pinterest is actually already ahead of Facebook. “Pinterest Expert” Anna Cadiz Bennett talked to one of my colleagues about why you might be better off funneling your social media marketing funds to Pinterest:

  1. Visual content marketing: The visuals on Pinterest are clear, clean and engaging. There arelots of reasons why visual content is important for a marketing campaign, but probably the most important is that it grabs instant attention and is quickly processed by the human brain.
  2. Shelf life: Pins last and are easily available forever. On Facebook, they are around for only a few hours (if you’re lucky). “On Pinterest, everything you create and pin lives forever,” Bennett says. “I have blogs from two years ago that are still being shared. No other socials are doing that. In terms of ROI, that’s phenomenal.”
  3. Intent to buy: If you’re lurking around on Pinterest, you are probably looking to purchase something. According to Shopify, “The average order coming from Pinterest is $80, higher than any other site including Google, Amazon and Facebook, which has an average of $40.” On Facebook (or Twitter) you tend to be there for a conversation.
  4. Promoted Pins: Maybe the best tool out there for marketers. They hardly look like ads, they are heavily shared and they are now open to all advertisers.According to Pinterest, “Brand advertisers achieved about a 30% bump in earned media (free impressions!) from their campaigns.” Pinterest now even has an analytics panel as part of its Pinterest for Business
  5. Large female audience on Pinterest: Approximately 85% of Pinterest users are women — and women have $7 trillionin buying power. “Women on Pinterest are 30% more likely to shop or buy online than the average woman, and Pinterest users spend nearly two times the norm,” according to Comscore 2014.

This year, especially as Promoted Pins open up to everyone, will be telling as to how our companies and brands are affected by this relatively new stream of marketing. As marketers adjust their brand plans and start figuring out how to be successful on this powerful social media site, there may be a few growing pains. I would love to hear about any concerns or major problems you have had marketing on Pinterest for a potential future article. If you have your own conclusions about Pinterest’s marketing evolution please share them in the comments below.

shared by permission Forbes Business News.