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Category Archives: Marketing

The social media manager is (almost) dead: 5 tips on how to evolve as a marketer – #MyIndustry

28 Friday Mar 2014

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

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Best Practices, Community Management, MOBILE SOCIAL NETWORKING, Strategy, Trending

This is an amazingly insightful article about a subject that it near and dear to my heart (for obvious reasons) and some not so obvious reason. I love to learn new thing, I always have. In fact I have had to practice quite a bit of restraint, and condition myself to not chase after every new trend and tool. Having said that I do agree, completely with Kelvin’s assessment of the Social Media Marketers landscape.  In a nut shell, evolve or die.

social-media-confusion1

Almost three years ago, right after university, I talked to an awesome HR professional about my career prospects. While she gave me a lot of great info that day, one thing that stuck to me was her advice not to pursue positions that are only about social media. Her reasoning was that more and more marketing and business professionals were learning social—meaning, the need for professionals who specialized in this space was about to decrease.

Persuaded by this reasoning, I avoided roles such as “Social Media Manager” and even “Community Manager.” I ended up with a position in PR, which had some elements of social but mostly included media relations.

Fast forward to last year and I’ve decided to leave the world of PR to take on a social media role. The thing is, I liked PR—and quite frankly, I excelled at it—but it wasn’t my number one passion.

Last year, Hootsuite’s Ryan Holmes proclaimed the role of social media manager dead. He cited a study that found that the growth in positions with the title “social media manager” has slowed down by 50% between 2012 and 2013.

Reading Ryan’s blog post—and now that I’m fully entrenched in social media management—I can’t help but re-visit that HR person’s advice. What if she was right and my current role becomes obsolete soon? What can I do now as a social media manager to make sure that I’m still in demand in the future?

After thinking about this, I’ve come to a simple conclusion: To remain relevant and employable, I have to evolve from a social media specialist to a marketing leader.

I brainstormed a few ways social media managers can make the transition successfully. If you work in social media and want to thrive in your career in marketing, here are some tips to keep in mind:

1. Acquire new (but related) marketing skills.

Content marketing has been hot for a couple of years now—and for good reason. Many marketers are learning that providing true value through content is a great way of increasing brand awareness and turning prospects into leads. Influencer marketing is another trend that will likely grow in the next year or so.

The point is, there will always be something new in marketing. Learn these trends because some of them will stick.

You also want to acquire older—but still very essential—marketing stills. The lessons I’ve learned in PR in my previous role are applicable to influencer marketing, for example. My basic SEO knowledge helps me drive organic traffic to our company blog. Email is still very hot, and learning MailChimp and other similar systems is a good skill to have.

Keep learning. Take some time everyday to peruse blog posts, to try new apps and networks, and to get your hands on new technology. Embrace your inner geek. Readinsights from creative and successful business leaders.

We have a lot of opportunity to keep on building on our hard skills. If numbers isn’t your thing, something like Analytics Academy, a program provided by Google Analytics, is a good option

By diversifying our skills and acquiring new ones, we can ensure that our marketing skills are up-to-date and relevant.

2. Become the customer advocate in the marketing team.

In an IBM C-suite study, 55% of CEOs said that customers have influence on a company’s strategic vision and business strategy. Executives are waking up to the fact that they need to involve their customers in every business process.

So how does this relate to you? Social media managers fundamentally understand the value of listening to and engaging customers. Together with the folks at customer insights, we’re in a good position now to be the customer experts in the marketing team.

Use social media to capture trends that will affect your company’s future. Trends like the Internet of Things, wearable tech, the collaborative or sharing economy, and big data have the potential to disrupt many industries. Listen on social to determine how these trends might affect your industry, and then share what you know to your CMO and the rest of your marketing team.

By becoming customer-centric, we do not only demonstrate the true ROI of social media—we’re also positioning ourselves as experts in the organization, which might help when we make career moves in the future.

3. Write—and then write some more.

Marketers require great writing skills, and they will continue to do so in the future. If you’d like to stay in the marketing field, learn how to organize your thoughts and to write well. From blog posts to emails, from landing pages to ebooks, writing has a lot of practical marketing applications.

Whatever is the next hot trend in marketing, you can bet that your writing skills will be required. So if you’re already blogging, keep on doing that, and find a way to improve your craft.

If you’re not blogging yet, now’s the time to do so. I have some tips in the embedded Slideshare. Get writing!

How to rock blogging: The beginner's guide from Kelvin (KC) Claveria

4. Learn how to market to the entire sales funnel.

Let’s face it: most (if not all) social media efforts help with top-of-the-funnel stuff. But many CMOs are looking for people who understand the entire sales process. Those who can drive prospects from awareness to information and evaluation are a lot more valuable to brands. You can provide more business value if you know how your skills can contribute to the entire funnel.

5. Build your online reputation.

Here’s the thing: The more real influence you have—and the stronger relationships you have with people—the less likely you’ll ever be unemployed. As social media nerds, we are experts at building communities for brands. The same marketing skills that allow us to build brands can also help us build our own personal brand.

Don’t wait until you’re in need of a job to start enhancing your online presence. Use LinkedIn to its full advantage. (Some tips in the embedded presentation.) Build your Twitter following (and always keep your eye out for possible future employers). Maintain a credible blog that provides real value and that communicates your expertise.

The social media manager will not die quickly

As long as people use social networks, it’s unlikely that social media managers will completely go away. Yes, social is “part of everyone’s job, or soon will be,” but businesses (particularly enterprises) will need specialists who will keep up with the ever-evolving social media landscape.

Given that social media is still expanding and continues to evolve, it will probably take years before our position becomes 100% obsolete. But just like any other roles, social media managers like myself need to evolve—and the time to evolve is now.

Brands need us: after all, most of us understand the value of engaging customers, and we know how to communicate with people using digital technologies. To prepare for the future—and to bring even more value to our employers and/or clients—let’s also make sure that we’re acquiring the skills that businesses need tomorrow.

P.S. I wrote this article as part of the LinkedIn’s #MyIndustry campaign. For more social media rants, I invite you to read my marketing blog. If you have any comments on this post, please tweet me @kcclaveria.

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How to reach your customers through a mobile app

06 Thursday Mar 2014

Posted by leonidesignoryblog in Best Practices, Content Marketing, Marketing, mobile app marketing, Mobile Web

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Best Practices, mobile marketing, MOBILE SOCIAL NETWORKING, Social Media, social media tools

Spreading your business in a tough economic environment is never easy. Being a business owner one has to deal with multiple tasks like keeping up with products, services, and competition, besides maintaining a two-way communication with customers. Current trends indicate that users are increasingly going mobile and one of the best ways to connect with them is through mobile apps.

mobile apps

A report by Flurry suggests that consumers are spending more time on mobile apps than on the web. Flurry found that in June, consumers spent 81 minutes per day using mobile apps, compared to 74 minutes of web surfing. The shift comes because of a large number of users purchasing smartphones and tablets. Similarly, a February 2012 Forrester research entitled, “Mobile Marketing: Three Principles for Success,” said the number of consumers researching products for purchase using their mobile device has nearly doubled from last year. This indeed makes a mobile marketing strategy crucial for any interactive marketer.

Organizations of all sizes and nature are now embracing the revolution called mobile apps. A clear and intuitive app, designed intelligently, can do wonders for a company if the approach is correct. Here are some ways that you need to keep in mind while delivering a powerful app experience that could be a game changer for your business.

Connect your customers to remarkable content and mobile experience

Today, no consumer business can ignore the potential of reaching out to customers through mobile applications for customer service, marketing and now payments. But before you start, you need to remember that great user experiences doesn’t just happen overnight. It takes a conscious effort throughout every stage of the design and development process to get it right.

Guidelines 

• Prioritize and present core features of your app. For a pizza chain like Domino’s, which already has apps on both iOS and Android, it could be convenience and delivery. The Domino’s Pizza app allows you to place an order for delivery or carry-out. You can also choose to select from its specialty pizzas or build your own. A striking feature of the app is the pizza tracker, which allows users to check whether your order is in the delivery process or not.

• You can opt for geo-location feature. The feature provides a rich experience to a user since it gives relevant data based on your location. One such example is Shopkick, an advanced geo-location social shopping application. A recent survey of 5,000 Android and iPhone users conducted by consumer insight group Nielsen, placed Shopkick at top of the list in the category that engages shoppers the longest, being used by consumers for three hours on average. Shopkick is a free location-based rewards application that offers its users “kickbucks” (rewards) when they check-in at participating businesses, and when they scan the barcodes on specific products. These kickbucks can be redeemed for restaurant vouchers, retail gift cards, movie tickets, and more.

• Make sure that your app contains all the features relevant to your category (retail, shopping, productivity, location-planning, paperless ticketing, music, games, etc.)

• Besides functionality, you also have to focus on providing the right type of content to your users. Apple’s own User Interface Guidelines suggest that to make an app that people will care about, one need to focus on content. For this you need to first draft a statement of intent for your content. Identify how will your content promote your business objectives and meet the customer needs. Remember the objective of this exercise is to demonstrate to your audience why you matter.

(Read: 7 pre-launch tips to deliver a successful mobile app)

 Integrate your app seamlessly with social networks 

Social media Integration on your mobile app is a good way to help users interact with social networks. Besides Facebook and Twitter, there are other options too like Tumblr, Pinterest, Instagram and Flickr, that can improve engagement with your existing and potential customers. Here’s how social media can help you in increasing brand loyalty:

– Identify customer needs and engage them through social media marketing contests, surveys, and opinion polls

– Use feedback to gain insight and improve performance

– Encourage customers to share their experience on the company website

Grilling app, iGrill, is a good example of winning combination of mobile apps and social media. The app recently rose to limelight when Mark Zuckerberg, founder and CEO of Facebook, praised the app on his Facebook page saying, “I updated my grilling app, iGrill, today and it now has Facebook integration that lets you see what other people are grilling right now around the world. Awesome. I’m making a Fred’s steak.”

Also, if you want to run a social media contest to promote your app, make sure you market your campaign or contest across multiple platforms like: social media accounts, your website, your partners, all of your e-mail list, related forums, etc.

(Read: Learn more about how to launch your app effectively here)

Build buzz around your new product or event 

A mobile app is probably one of the best ways to inform your customers about new products and services that you have already launched or about to launch in the market. In this era of cut-throat competition, a key element of an effective marketing strategy is to create the buzz around your product. Offering users discounts and offers will prompt them to visit you more often and spread the good word as well.

Make sure you customers can find your app easily 

No doubt an app is a wonderful way to connect with your customers, but the idea won’t work unless it is visible to masses. The usual trend is that developers only submit their app to their respective marketplace. To make it more visible you can create a dedicated website, build a splash page, Facebook fan page, Twitter account, get a blog, do a sneak peak, or create teaser videos. For further assistance on mobile app marketing, you can contact us.

– See more at: http://blog.kiwitech.com/?p=1800#sthash.QL7onImF.dpuf

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How To Market A Social Media Contest:

06 Thursday Mar 2014

Posted by leonidesignoryblog in Best Practices, Facebook, Google+, LInkedIn, Marketing, Multi Channel Marketing, Online Marketing, Pinterest, Twitter

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Best Practices, contests, Facebook, Marketing, MOBILE SOCIAL NETWORKING, Online Marketing, sweepstakes

Social media contests are a great way to connect with consumers in the ever evolving web. Social networks are natural venues for users to share information quickly. Since I am a big fan of giving real world examples whenever I explain a specific tactic, I wanted to highlight a contest I found recently. I’ll walk you through how I would go about promoting it and how I might actually do it differently.

I would like to point out a few things here about this contest – first of all, they are not a client of Ignite Social Media and secondly, I don’t know what they’ve done to promote it so far.

Beneful Most Incredible Small Dog YouTube Video Contest

Before I get into promotion tactics I have to point out something that is extremely important, but that a lot of companies don’t do well.

Put Appropriate Keywords In Your Contest Name

If you implement a contest properly, people will be linking to your site. 9/10 times people will use your contest title as the anchor text, so make sure you take advantage of a well-thought-out contest title before you even start thinking about promotion.

In this example I would have used the following contest title:  Beneful Dog Food YouTube Video Contest. Ranking for “Incredible Small Dog” is probably not going to amount to many sales of the Beneful dog food product line.

Host The Contest On Your Site

 

For the Small Dog Video Contest  we are dealing with YouTube as the means for entry. As someone who understands the power of search, I am never a fan of hosting linkable assets off of my main site. It is also worth pointing that hosting a custom channel like they have rolled out on Youtube is not cheap.  More often than not contests are very linkable. As I will outline later on it is relatively easy to drum up some press for your contest, and more than likely they will link to the destination of the contest, where it is hosted on your site.

I suggest hosting the contest on your site, and leveraging tags to aggregate YouTube videos.

That way, contestants are still using YouTube, which is widely established as the de facto video hosting source, and people are familiar with the interface.

Find People To Enter The Contest

Now that I have those two main issues out of the way, let’s explore how one might actually promote the contest. This can be the toughest aspect of contest marketing in my opinion, especially because videos have a high barrier of entry. That’s because videos are not easy to make and share when compared to other forms of online content creation.

Using the example above, we can utilize custom search queries inside of Google to help us identify dog owners who have channels on YouTube. This will help us target individuals who we know have created dog videos in the past. Then through some additional social searching we can identify some form of outreach, whether that is via email or other means, to let them know about the contest.

Submit Your Contest To Social Media Contest Sites

There are several well-known and emerging sources in the giveaway and contest market that are worth submitting your contest to. These sites will help you get additional coverage and should help drive entries into your contest, which is very important, after all. Below is a list in no particular order:

  • ContestHound
  • ContestPad
  • OnlineSweepstakes
  • Contestformoms
  • ContestBlogger
  • About.comBlogContests
  • About.comContestsandSweepstakesForum

Summary

Contests are being widely adopted by many big brands currently and are the sort of tactic that even small to mid-sized businesses can implement with success. Since there is an influx of so many contests in the market, however, it can be difficult to cut through the similarities. Approaching contest marketing from the angles outlined above will help ensure success for your campaign. Do you have any additional tips to add? Have you run a successful social media contest?

 

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18 Ways to Improve Your Facebook News Feed Performance

29 Wednesday Jan 2014

Posted by leonidesignoryblog in Best Practices, Content Marketing, Facebook, Marketing, Online Marketing

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

Engagement, Facebook, Metrics, Online Marketing, social media tools

Are you frustrated with Facebook’s frequent changes to the news feed algorithm?Do you feel like you’re being forced to buy ads to reach your audience?

While Facebook change is the rule rather than the exception, this article gives you 18 ways you can improve your Facebook news feed performance—and gain the upper hand.

How Reach Is Created on Facebook

Facebook defines reach as the number of unique Facebook users who see your updates.

To see your page’s reach, go to Facebook Insights and look at your page’s Reach report. You’ll be able to see how your reach is improving over time (as shown below).

facebook reach

How much reach does your Facebook page have?

 

Reach is generally influenced by one or more of the following actions:

  • You post content to your Facebook page. Yes, most of your fans don’t see it, but it still generates reach. Facebook calls this organic reach.
  • Facebook users take action on that update (like, comment, share), which creates a story in their friends’ news feeds. Facebook calls this viral reach.
  • You send visitors to that update using your own marketing channels. An example would be linking to a specific Facebook update in your email marketing newsletter. This also falls within organic reach.
  • You buy reach with Facebook ads. Facebook offers a variety of ad options, including boosts and targeting custom audiences. Facebook calls this paid reach.

All four actions are interrelated.

For example, if you publish content (organic reach) that your fans react to, friends of those fans will see that content (viral reach). If you decide an update is worthy of a Facebook ad, then the ad creates paid reach.

The more kinds of reach you generate with an update, the more people see that update. And that’s where these 18 ways you can beat Facebook’s news feed algorithm come in.

#1: Create a Content Strategy

You’ve heard this before, but what really matters in the end is the content.

Your fans don’t share a post just because they see it the news feed. They share it because it’s useful and interesting to them.

In the nonprofit world, fewer than 25% of pages have a content strategy, and I’ll bet that’s true for most small businesses as well.

If you need guidance on creating a content strategy, read these Social Media Examiner articles:

  • 5 Habits of Successful Content Marketers: New Research
  • Content Marketing: How to Attract People With Content
  • How to Create Written Content That Generates Leads

#2: Know When Your Fans Are Online

When is the best time to post on Facebook? When most of your fans are actually using Facebook.

In general, Facebook shows the most recent content at the top of the news feed. If you post an update at 2am, but your fans are using Facebook at 8am, you can be sure they aren’t seeing your updates.

You can find out when your fans are online by going to your Facebook Insights and clicking Posts.

when facebook fans are online

Post when your fans are on Facebook to ensure maximum reach.

#3: Pay Attention to Post Frequency

After looking at your Post Insights, you probably noticed there’s never a period whennone of your fans are using Facebook.

This means you should post at least once per day. Socialbakers recommends no more than twice a day, based on their research.

#4: Let People Post Content on Your Facebook Page

When Facebook users post updates on your page or mention your page, their friends see that activity in the news feed. That’s important viral reach.

In the update below, Max has posted an update on the Libraries Are Essential Facebook page. Many of Max’s friends will be exposed to this page through viral reach because his post shows up in his friends’ news feeds.

If you’re worried about spam or negative content being posted on your page, don’t worry. You can easily configure your page to block content that contains specific keywords or profanity.

viral reach

Any time someone posts on your page, it shows up in their friends’ news feeds, which results in viral reach.

#5: Host a “Caption This” Contest

One thing I’ve done that’s consistently worked well is to host caption contests as a way to generate an instant flood of comments, which in turn creates a flood of viral reach!

caption contest

Fun and easy contests or giveaways result in higher organic and viral reach.

I give away copies of great books, but you can give away anything you want. Justmake sure it’s useful and relevant to your community.

#6: Reply to Comments

To build community, you have to listen to and respond to community. People use Facebook because they want to be heard!

Responding to comments is important.

comment reply

Reply to your commenters so they know they’re heard.

Your Facebook page has an optional threaded comments feature. This means that when a fan leaves a comment on an update, you can reply specifically to that comment.

When you respond, that fan receives a notification, which is incentive to revisit your page to read your response. Increasing the frequency of visits to your page is a key part of developing a core Facebook page community.

You can turn on threaded comments in a few easy steps:

  • Go to your page and click Edit.
  • Choose Edit Settings.
  • Find the Replies heading in the list and click Edit.
  • Click Allow Replies to Comments on My Page.
  • Click Save Changes.

#7: Tag Commenters

Normally, pages can’t tag people on Facebook, but there is one exception: If a Facebook user leaves a comment on an update, you can tag the user when you comment on that same update.

tag commentersTag commenters in your reply to bring them back to the conversation.

Depending on the users’ privacy settings, they’ll receive notification that they’ve been tagged, prompting them to revisit the thread.

#8: Tag and Give Props to Other Pages

Human beings are hardwired for reciprocity. Generally speaking, when you promote another business’s agenda on Facebook, they receive a notification so they know the good deed you did for them. If they’re a good partner, they’ll return the favor.

tagging other pages

This update tagged RazorSocial.

#9: Repost Previous Top-Performing Updates

Your content strategy doesn’t have to only include new content; you can also recycle your most successful posts to reengage fans.

To find and reframe your top-performing posts, you need to know post engagement rates—the percentage of people who saw an update and liked, commented on or shared it.

To find post engagement rates, go to your Insights and click Posts. Scroll down to the All Posts Published table, and click the Engagement column to quicklysort your posts by engagement rate.

To really get a feel for which updates your fans loved, export at least six months of post-level data and study it.

To bring fans back to your most brilliant and engaging content, you can:

  • Click Share on the original post and share it directly on your page.
  • Copy and paste the original post into a new status update.
  • Modify the original post, then post as a new status update.

An important note here: Don’t recycle recent content. You don’t want fans to feel like they’re seeing reposted content too frequently.

#10: Boost Previous Top-Performing Updates

There’s no way to escape it. If you’re serious about Facebook marketing, use ads. 

What I will say is this: Only promote awesome.

Investing in posts that already have a high engagement rate is more likely to give you the biggest bang for your buck—more likes, comments and shares—which translates into more engagement and reach in the long run.

Whether you have experience with Facebook ads or not, make time to read Jon Loomer’s articles on using Facebook Ads and the Power Editor to promote your top-performing posts.

boost a post

Promote your best Facebook content easily right from Insights.

#11: Feature Your Posts in a Like Box

Most people don’t know that the Facebook Like box in their website’s sidebar has a setting that lets you display your most recent page updates.

When people see your Facebook updates in your sidebar, it not only encourages them to like your page right there, but to click over to your page and take part in the conversation.

To update your Like box, visit the plugin page and configure the settings to Show Posts (as shown below).

display latest posts in like box

Sharing your Facebook updates in your sidebar Like box lures people to your page.

#12: Embed Top-Performing Updates in Blog Posts

One constant challenge for most bloggers is finding topics to write about.

Take a look at your most recent high-engagement Facebook updates and write blog posts that expand on those topics. Within the post, embed one or more of your best Facebook page updates (as shown below).

embed facebook posts

Write blog posts around your popular Facebook topics and provide a way for readers to revisit the conversation on Facebook.

This approach not only creates more reach for your best Facebook updates, it gives you blog post content that’s already been vetted by your community!

#13: Message Your Friend Networks

Have you hit a wall on your way to getting engagement? Depending on the strength of your collective friend network, try asking for shares or comments from within your personal networks.

Now, obviously you can’t force people to do this. But you can have willing parties message their friends at a time when you know your fans are mostly likely to be online.

These network shares cause a trending effect among friends connected to your business. When people see several of their friends talking about a topic, they’re more likely to be interested in that topic and click over to read more.

#14: Guest Post on Sites That Send You Traffic

If you’re a regular reader of Social Media Examiner, you know how powerful having aguest blogging strategy can be for growing your business.

But did you know you can find potential leads for guest-post opportunities right in Facebook Insights?

Within the Visits report, scroll all the way down to the External Referrers section. This graph shows you which websites are referring the most traffic to your Facebook page (shown below).

referrals from guest posts

Keep track of who’s sending traffic your way and make the most of those partnerships.

Contact the sites sending people your way and see if you can write a guest post for them.

Don’t limit yourself to guest blogging. Feel free to explore other co-marketing opportunities that may work as well.

#15: Pin Top-Performing Pictures on Pinterest

When you post images to Pinterest, you have an option to include a URL. When a user clicks the image, they go to that URL.

Try reposting a few high-performing photos from your Facebook page onto Pinterest and linking back to your Facebook update.

Make sure you use the correct permalink for the post! You can find that by clicking on the post’s publish date on Facebook (as shown below). You’ll be taken to a new page that shows just that post. Copy the URL for this page to use as your Pinterest link.

finding a post permalink

Use eye-catching images on Pinterest that link back to your Facebook page.

Keep track of how much traffic Pinterest is sending to your Facebook page via your Insights’ External Referrer graph. Then you’ll be able to determine how effective this approach is in boosting reach for your Facebook page updates.

#16: Tweet Your Top-Performing Updates

Some of my clients have had success scheduling tweets with links to their high-performing Facebook updates. Two or three tweets in 48 hours is plenty. Tweet recent Facebook updates rather than older ones.

tweeting a facebook update

Tweeting a Facebook post drives external traffic.

Make sure you’re able to measure clicks from Twitter to the post.

#17: Use Email Marketing to Promote Top-Performing Posts

This is one of my favorite strategies to use for my Facebook page. It’s so simple and effective, I’m surprised I don’t see it done more often.

Every time I write my weekly newsletter, I include a link to a Facebook page update.

For example, I recently asked my subscribers if they’d like me to write more about blogging, then I provided a link to a Facebook post where they could answer.

facebook poll

People who open and read your emails are highly likely to engage with you on Facebook as well.

#18: Identify Best Tactics With Facebook Insights

In the end, you have to find the tactics that work for your Facebook page.

Export the last six months of your Facebook Insights and study them to see what works for your page, then replicate that success with the tips above.

Pay attention to which updates resulted in new fans. Look at which posts produced specific kinds of reach and engagement (shares are more important than likes, for example).

 

From our good friends at Social Media Examiner –  Keep up with all the news http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/improve-facebook-news-feed-performance/

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9 Ways Social Media Marketing Will Change in 2014

28 Tuesday Jan 2014

Posted by leonidesignoryblog in Best Practices, community manager, Content Marketing, Facebook, Google+, LInkedIn, Marketing, Multi Channel Marketing, Online Marketing, Pinterest, Twitter, YouTube

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

Community Management, Engagement, Facebook, Marketing, Online Marketing, Social Media

This in from Mashable. Mashable asked nine successful entrepreneurs how they are planning on altering their social media marketing strategies in the next six months, based on their predictions for the new year. Here’s what they had to say.

You tell me what you think about what they think…That’s a lot of thinking I know…

From the decline of Facebook use among teens (ok this one right off the bat is a rather misleading statement) to Twitter’s IPO, if there is one thing we know for sure about social media, it’s that few trends hold on for long — so marketers need to stay on their toes.

1. Graphic software will rise.

Laura Pepper

Posts on Facebook with photos get 53% more likes, 104% more comments and 84% more click-throughs than text-based posts, according to Kissmetrics. With the rise of Pinterest and Tumblr, it’s going to become increasingly important to produce content in visual form, whether it is infographics, images with text overlay or pretty quote graphics. We’ll be using more graphic software to turn our written content into visual content to make it more shareable on social media.

– Laura Pepper Wu, 30 Day Books

2. Social won’t be use for sales.

Charles Gaudet

People love to buy, but they hate to be sold. Companies currently celebrating the most success in social media focus on engagement, nurturing relationships and sharing value through their social outreach. Customers and prospects will seek out companies offering value, entertainment, discounts, help and engagement.

– Charles Gaudet, Predictable Profits

3. Automation will explode.

Brennan White copy

A lot currently rides on the shoulders of social media marketers. They have to be on top of brand voice, any current company promotions or marketing campaigns, the tools they measure social media with, the various communities on the platforms, etc. It’s a lot, and it’s more varied than most people are capable of doing well. In 2014, we’ll see a lot of automation of the tactics (think timing, platform, structure, etc.), so social media marketers can focus on the content and the genuine social interaction. Autonomics is being adopted now and will only explode as more technologies come online in 2014.

– Brennan White, Watchtower

4. LinkedIn will become the most important publisher.

Trevor Summers

Imagine a publication with more than 100 million captive readers and writers, such as Bill Gates and Richard Branson, all natively hooked into and targeted to a social network. LinkedIn will become a premium destination for industry news, and you need to take part in that ecosystem early and often. Publish original content, network among peers in groups and raise your profile now.

– Trevor Sumner, LocalVox

5. Content will be bigger and better.

Andrew Howlett

Simple messages and simple questions aren’t enough anymore. To achieve a deeper connection with your customers, a company needs to engage on a deeper and more intelligent level. Short videos, infographics, quality imagery and polls are all ways to engage deeper. Companies need to look at the content they put out and ask themselves, “Is this shareable?” An example of a huge company that’s doing this really well right now is Wal-Mart. Its content is smart and engaging, and the fan engagement is very high by comparison to its competitors. Also, companies need to focus on the fans they have and not the fans they want. If your message is always trying to reach out, you’ll bore the fans that have chosen to connect with you.

– Andrew Howlett, Rain

6. Social will need to stand out.

Wade Foster

Social media has really started to mature. Therefore, it will be a lot harder to stand out. To win big in social media, you’ll have to think outside the box and find ways to get your content to stand out in all the noise.

– Wade Foster, Zapier

7. Social media campaigns will have to be paid.

Kristopher Jones

I assume that the most effective social media campaigns in 2014 will be paid. The key is learning how to use Facebook and Twitter’s paid tools now so that you’ll have an edge on the competition. For instance, are you using Facebook’s advanced audience tool? It allows you to upload your email database and send specific response messages directly to your focused audience. Imagine being able to segment both email marketing and Facebook ads to your target audience. Facebook already offers these types of advanced tools, and they will become more mainstream in 2014. Similarly, Twitter is now public and has been making an aggressive push into paid advertising. If you are a brand and want to succeed on Twitter in 2014, get ready to pay for it.

– Kristopher Jones, ReferLocal.com

8. Interactive content will trump static content.

Chuck CohnCreating static content is too easy. In 2014, the bar will be raised on the type of content people choose to engage with. Expect to see content become more interactive (think software-like). The year 2013 was the year of “Top 10” lists. To get users to engage to the same degree in 2014 and subsequent years, publishers will need to make it increasingly engaging, and one effective way to do that is to make your content interactive.

– Chuck Cohn, Varsity Tutors

9. Google+ will merge into the social scene.

Nicolas Gremion

As Google continues to merge its products, it’s becoming more and more important in the social media landscape. There are so many benefits to using Google+. It creates a strong community that allows you to use your brand and identify consumers who share an interest in your products. It also allows your brand to become more social with like-minded consumers. They provide like-minded consumers a platform to connect with one another. This builds a strong community, which is a great way to get feedback on new and old products from real-time consumers.

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How Brands Use Infographics To Create More Powerful Messaging

19 Thursday Dec 2013

Posted by leonidesignoryblog in Bloging, community manager, Email Marketing, Facebook, Google+, LInkedIn, Marketing, Multi Channel Marketing, Twitter, Uncategorized, YouTube

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Infogrphics

With numerous different types and formats available, infographics provide ample space for creativity and analysis for brands, both in the kinds of information they capture and in their approach.

For customers, the form helps them quickly visualize complex issues. Together, that’s a recipe for engagement and messaging, making creative visualizations an ideal marketing format.

That said, not all infographics are created equal, and any quick search of the genre is sure to source any number of hilarious “fails.”

Here’s a deeper look at the kinds of approaches the most successful brands are taking for a lesson or two in how to get infographics right.

The Hard Data Infographic

How Brands Use Infographics To Create More Powerful Messaging image 121

Designed by mycleveragency using data collected by Brandwatch, the data visualization above entitled “Language on the Internet” explores a topic that’s of interest to just about anyone with a Twitter account: how social media is changing the way we speak.

In visualizing these stats, both Brandwatch and Mycleveragency can reach a broad base of people who are inherently interested in this subject and are highly likely to engage in sharing (I mean, who wouldn’t want to know what all those LOLs and ROTFLs mean for humanity?).

The precision of the stats chosen and the logical, seamless layout and flow of the infographic help establish both brands as marketing and design authorities — go-to experts for anyone looking to market their brand or just learn a little bit more about marketing best practices.

In this way, the engaging choice of topic and design help to expand the reach of both agencies, while the excellent research and communication that undergird the project establish both companies as niche authorities not to be ignored by the industry.

That’s the best of two worlds, in one infographic.

The Timeline Infographic

How Brands Use Infographics To Create More Powerful Messaging image 211

If you’re a music fan of any stripe (so, if you’re human), you’ve probably wondered how we’ve moved from gospel music to grunge.

oncertHotels, a booking service that helps you find rooms near events, capitalizes on this curiosity in the above infographic, “100 Years of Rock”, which helps viewers visualize the timeline of rock in less than a minute.

Though it doesn’t directly discuss what ConcertHotels does, it stays within the brand ecosystem, which is built on a passion for music.

And because the timeline also provides samples of music, the infographic provides a fully interactive experience in a single interface for a totally dynamic experience, ensuring the infographic will be well-shared.

That’s sure to sell a lot of rooms (and maybe some MP3s) in the long term.

The Guide or Process Infographic

How Brands Use Infographics To Create More Powerful Messaging image 3

One of the most popular forms of content on the internet falls into the “how to” genre, and the guide or process infographic is no exception.

This shouldn’t come as a surprise, as it reflects the shift from passive to active media consumption; viewers want their content to help them create or learn, not to pitch to them.

In “How to Create Perfect Posts on Social Platforms”, mycleveragency again takes a very popular yet mystifying subject and breaks it down in a step by step, highly-visual manner that makes it easy for just about anyone to follow.

In doing so, the infographic reinforces the brand’s influence as a social media expert, ready to help both novice and advanced users, both of whom are more likely to develop brand loyalty thanks to this helping hand.

Again, the infographic is inherently shareable, especially in niche social media groups, and it’s sure to get followers engaged.

The Location or Map Infographic

How Brands Use Infographics To Create More Powerful Messaging image 41

London may be one of the world’s great shopping capitals of the world, but few working people have the time or energy to expend on dashing all about the city to find that perfect gift.

Online shopping is one solution; using this interactive map entitled, “Where Should I Go Shopping in London?” is another.

Just click the stores you’d like to visit on the sidebar and they’ll automatically populate on the map so that you can head to the areas with the densest concentration of your target shops.

For the company that produced this infographic, Trainline, which helps customers find the best tickets and routes for their travels, this kind of route planning is well within their area of expertise, and just goes to prove so even further.

The Christmas angle makes the infographic timely, relevant and helpful. It’s highly likely that consumers would take this map with them on their shopping adventures, meaning the brand’s messaging will be in the palm of their hand wherever they go.

Note that there are many other effective ways to use maps to illustrate important points. Maps, just like infographics themselves, are a powerful tool for instantly capturing an important point that’s directly relevant to the people who care about the regions pictured.

The Quiz Infographic

How Brands Use Infographics To Create More Powerful Messaging image 51

There are few things people like quite so much as taking quizzes that reveal something about themselves. All the better if doing so involves a healthy dose of childhood. That’s something Two Little Fleas embraces wholeheartedly with the above “90s Nostalgia Quiz”.

The infographic is bound to be a hit with (you guessed it), a wide audience of ’90s kids who will definitely want to interact with the quiz and share their results on Facebook. That does a lot for the Two Little Fleas brand, as it brings more and more visitors to their site, where they’ll find even more quizzes and other fun games, recipes and quotes with which to engage.

The quiz is a quick, easy way to move potential consumers deeper into the brand.

The Takeaway

From hard hitting research to goofy quizzes, there are just about as many ways to approach an infographic as you can imagine.

But whatever your approach, an infographic is the perfect way to expand your viewership while still satisfying your diehard fans, establishing your authority and reinstating your authority within your niche.

Published by permission via B2B Community 

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30 Social Media & Blogging Influencers you should follow

15 Sunday Dec 2013

Posted by leonidesignoryblog in Bloging, community manager, Marketing, Multi Channel Marketing, Online Marketing, Uncategorized

≈ 7 Comments

Tags

Blogging, Community, Community Management, MOBILE SOCIAL NETWORKING, Online Marketing

I do realize that the title is a moving target since social media, influencers and online marketing in general is a moving target. Perhaps I should change the title to the 30 SM & Blogging influencers (for now) you should follow…hum let me ponder that, in the mean time this what I think now.

John Paul Aguiar

Twitter: @johnaguiar Website: http://www.johnpaulaguiar.com/ John is all about helping us make money on our blogs. He learned the hard way by getting himself of disability benefits in 11 months. His advice is gold.

Mike Allton

Twitter: @mike_allton Website: http://www.thesocialmediahat.com Mike knows his stuff when it comes to social media. He is also expert in many other areas: in his own words “Social Media, SEO, Blogging, Writing, Internet Marketing and Business Technology”. You should check out his blog.

Sarah Arrow

Twitter: @SarahArrow Website: http://www.sarkemedia.com/ Sarah is a Social Media and blogging expert, with a few books and blogs to her name too.http://birdsontheblog.co.uk is her group blog featured in the Forbes top 100 websites for women, and it also funds two girls at school in Uganda. If you are looking to get started on a Kindle book, she is your girl!

Meghan M Biro

Twitter: @MeghanMBiro Website:http://www.talentculture.com/ http://www.forbes.com/sites/meghanbiro/ A knowledgeable lass and a contributor to Forbes, her areas of expertise are: HR, Social Media and Leadership. She is also a host of twitter chats: #TChat.

Chris Brogan

Twitter: @chrisbrogan Website: http://www.chrisbrogan.com/ Chris is another influencer with a lot of klout. Has is co-author of a NYT best seller (The Impact Equation) as well as other books. He is on the board of advisors at Hubspot. and CEO/President of a publishing company (Human Business Works). Chris’ stuff is fantastic, especially in the area of writing and content development.

Danny Brown

Twitter: @DannyBrown Website: http://dannybrown.me/ What more can you say about someone who has the following awards for his blog:-

  • #1 marketing blog in the world by HubSpot
  • Social Media Examiner’s Top 10 Social Media Blog in 2011 and 2013.
Jeff Bullas

Twitter: @jeffbullas Website: http://www.jeffbullas.com/ Jeff is another influential blogger who’s blog receives over 4 million hits a year. His blog covers a broad range of topics from social media tips to online marketing advice from.

Lilach Bullock

Twitter: @lilachbullock Website: http://www.socialable.co.uk/ Lilach calls herself three things: business owner, social media consultant and internet mentor. She has published various books and is often quoted by top newspapers as well as the BBC.

Heidi Cohen

Twitter: @heidicohen Website: http://heidicohen.com/ Heidi is all about marketing. She has published over 1000 posts and was named in the Social Media Examiner’s Top 10 Social Media Blogs, two years in a row.

Jim Dougherty

Twitter: @leaderswest Website: http://leaderswest.com/ Jim shares great Social Media content and loads of amazing infographics. Not your standard SM blog, you should also add this to your “must read list”.

   Enjoying this amazing list? Why not Tweet it?

Steve Farnsworth

Twitter: @steveology Website: http://stevefarnsworth.wordpress.com/ He is your man for Social media, To start with, Steve is Chief Digital Strategist at Jolt.  He has also been:-

  • One of the Top 50 Social Media Power Influencers.
  • One of the top influencers on Twitter with over 100k followers
  • Included in The Top 35 “Connectors” on Twitter.
Kim Garst

Twitter: @kimgarst Website: http://kimgarst.com/blog/ A great resource for all things social media, Kim has a strong presence on Twitter and on Google+ with her community Boom! Social Media with Kim Garst.

Kristi Hines

Twitter: @kikolani Website: http://kristihines.com‎ AND http://kikolani.com/‎ Kristi Hines is guest blogger extraordinaire!! You see her everywhere and she knows and researches everything. If you are not reading her posts on SEO, social media, blogging, guest blogging and…..get to it.

Ana Hoffman

Twitter: @AnaTrafficCafe Website: http://www.trafficgenerationcafe.com/ Ana is all about getting you traffic. I have used loads of her tips and man do they work. She is also on the pulse of social media, SEO and what Google is up to. I think she has Matt Cutts phone number too, if you ask nicely :>

Michael Hyatt

Twitter: @MichaelHyatt Website: http://michaelhyatt.com/ Another of Forbes top 50 social media influencers, Michael’s focus is leadership. That is not to say it’s all he writes about; he also offers advice on social media, personal development and productivity too.

Sté Kewer

Twitter: @dukeo‎ Website: http://dukeo.com/ Sté is all about blogging and online success. His blog will help guide you along the way to making money online. Check it out.

Aaron Lee

Twitter: @askaaronlee Website: http://askaaronlee.com/ Aaron is a strong presence on Twitter, with nearly 500k followers and No. 4 in the Top 100 Small Business Experts to Follow on Twitter.. He is all about using social media to help you grow.

Scott Monty

Twitter: @scottmonty Website: http://www.scottmonty.com/ Scott is global head of social media at Ford. So he has a little experience on the matter. His personal blog shares all his wisdom and is certainly worth a look.

Neil Patel

Twitter: @neilpatel Website: http://quicksprout.com Neil Patel is the co-founder of Crazy Egg and KISSmetrics amongst other achievements. He was in the top 100 entrepreneurs under the age of 30 listed by President Obama. If you want to learn about SEO and how to get backlinks – you have to read his posts and guides.

   Enjoying this amazing list? Why not Tweet it?

Amy Porterfield

Twitter: @amyporterfield Website: http://www.amyporterfield.com/ Amy Porterfield is a Facebook guru – proof? She is author of Facebook for Dummies. She says on her blog

…after working with Mike Stelzner of SocialMediaExaminer.com, I discovered Facebook. It was a total love affair.

Annetta Powell

Twitter: @AnnettaPowell Website: http://www.annettapowellonline.com/ Annetta Powell is an accomplished blogger. Also known as “the success coach”, she will show you the way to blogging success, no doubt about that. And she will use a variety of media to help you along the way too!

Rebekah Radice

Twitter: @RebekahRadice Website: http://rebekahradice.com/ Rebekah says she is a: social media strategist, content developer, brand manager and social media trainer. I love her posts on social media. She has lots of knowledge to share!

Darren Rowse

Twitter: @problogger Website: http://www.problogger.com/ Darren is Problogger, one of the best sources on how to blog for profit. He is also a fellow Aussie (gotta count for something right!)

Mark Schaefer

Twitter: @markwschaefer Website: http://www.businessesgrow.com Mark has a lot of Twitter and Blogging awards and rightfully so. Like all great influencers, he has also been busy publishing great books! His blog is a little more business oriented, but has lots of gems on Blogging and Social Media as you would expect.

Ann Smarty

Twitter: @seosmarty Website: http://www.seosmarty.com/  Ann Smarty has an industry leading SEO blog. She was previously the editor in chief of SearchEngineJournal.com,and a contributor to SEOMoz. She is founder ofMyGuestBlog.com, a place to find and share guest posts and more recently, she has started ViralContentBuzz.com where you can get your quality content shared on social media.

Adrienne Smith

Twitter: @adriennesmith40 Website: http://www.adriennesmith.net/ Known as the “ Engagement Superstar” and for good reason. Adrienne will not only email you when you subscribe to her blog…..she will drive to your house with flowers! Almost. If you want to learn how to engage with your readers – seriously, there is no better place to go.

Ileane Smith

Twitter: @Ileane Website: http://basicblogtips.com/ Ileane is the girl to help you get started with blogging and social media. Heavily involved in the community, she is always there for her readers.

Brian Solis

Twitter: @briansolis Website: http://www.briansolis.com‎ Mashable named Solis one of the “25 Twitter Accounts That Will Make You Smarter”. He blogs about social media and disruptive technology amongst other things. He is a prolific speaker and writer, and has his hand in just about everything.

Mark Traphagen

Twitter: @marktraphagen‎ Website: https://plus.google.com/+MarkTraphagenGoogle+ guru since day 3 and in over 60 thousand circles. If you want G+ info, he is your man. He is also Director of Digital Outreach at Virante.

Gary Vaynerchuck

Twitter: @garyvee Website: http://www.garyvaynerchuk.com Social media guru, entrepreneur, author, speaker and wine afficiondo Gary has been there and done it all. You can certainly learn a thing from him and his blog.

Feel free to add your thoughts to this list.

 

 

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The Forgotten Social Media Metric: You =

15 Sunday Dec 2013

Posted by leonidesignoryblog in community manager, Google+, LInkedIn, Marketing, Multi Channel Marketing, Online Marketing, Pinterest, PR, Twitter, YouTube

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Behavior, Community, Community Management, Engagement, Infographics, Research, Social Media, social media manager, Social Media Marketing

Social Media Managers are a weird species. If you take a look at the LinkedIn profile of any real Digital Marketer or Social Media Marketer, you’ll notice that their skills vary from Analytics, to Marketing and Promotions, to Client Relationships to severe alcoholism. And what’s even weirder – they’re actually endorsed for all of those things (especially the alcoholism).

It’s no secret that there are a vast array of skills you need to succeed in social media – and that every social media marketer and community manager is constantly working at enhacing those skills and picking up some more in the process. Makes you think we should really be getting paid more!

Looking at it from a broad perspective, the following skills are what are probably the most important “buckets” as such that community managers need to focus on:

  • Interaction & People Skills
  • Content Skills
  • Project Management Skills
  • Analytical Skills
  • Crisis Management Skills
  • Technical Skills
  • Marketing & Promotional Skills
  • Ethics

That probably covers all the aspects of community and social media management. An interesting infographic from GetSatisfaction I came across also talks about the various duties a community manager undertakes – pretty nifty I thought. Many Hats of a Community Manager

But do you as a community manager know how good you are in each of these skills? Can you honestly say that yes, you’re good at Analytics, or no you’re not good at Project Management?

Circus Social has put together a fairly in-depth quiz, a 40 question multiple choice one that asseses you on these very categories. The quiz has a massive question bank out of which you get 40 questions at random that give you real life social media situations with three options that you can choose from. On completing the quiz, you get a breakdown of your score by each category – how well you did in Analytics, how well you did in Project Management, how well you did in Ethics etc. It gives you an interesting insight into your strengths and weaknesses as a social media manager and gives you the major pain points where you need to focus to become a better and well rounded social media and community manager.

Results Breakdown of the Social Media Manager's QuizOn being graded against other social media managers – you can actually see whether you’re really lacking in a field where everyone is excelleing, or whether you’re lacking in a field in which the general expertise level of social media managers is pretty low.

Sure, you can always measure how well your community is doing or how well your Facebook page and Twitter account are doing when you track engagement and re-tweets – but could it be possible that the reason you’re not getting enough retweets or not getting enough engagement be because you’re lacking something in Project Management and need to rethink the way you execute a campaign?

Could it be that you’re lacking in Analytics – and therefore need to get better at tracking results and engagement to amplify certain parts of your content? Or could it just be that you’re lacking in Marketing and Promotions as a social media manager and need to rethink how the marketing works around your brand.

There are plenty of tools out there that let you evaluate your page performance and track mentions for your brand, but maybe it’s time that we take a look inside ourselves as social media managers and tried to find what part of our personality isn’t making our social media campaigns work.

 

Cross posted by permission Social Media Today

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6 Small Business Marketing Trends For 2014

09 Monday Dec 2013

Posted by leonidesignoryblog in Marketing, Multi Channel Marketing, Online Marketing, Uncategorized, Web Site Design

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

content marketing, Integrated marketing plan, marketing plan, small business marketing, Social Media Marketing

As the world of marketing evolves and becomes more complex, one has to wonder how small business owners can stay abreast of what marketing trends are emerging, never mind figure out which are worth investing in for their particular situation.

Let me offer some help. First, as you update (or create) your marketing plan for 2014 (get your template here), ask yourself:

  • Will the marketing activities that have been effective continue to work for my business?
  • Will I need to add new marketing tactics or simply make adjustments to those in which we currently invest?
  • What should I be adding to my marketing activities that are worth my time and effort?

6 small business marketing trends that are important for your upcoming marketing efforts.

1. The integrated marketing plan becomes popular again

6 Small Business Marketing Trends For 2014 image integrated marketing planIntegrated marketing plan becomes popular

Although I’m not a huge fan of complex marketing plans, I do believe having a plan is more important for small businesses than they realize. A marketing plan focuses your efforts and helps you avoid wasting time and money doing things that aren’t moving your business towards your goals.

And now, with all the varying online activities – email marketing, social media marketing, content marketing, mobile marketing, search marketing – you need one place where you define what you will be doing and in what time frame.

2. Content marketing dominates small business marketing strategies

6 Small Business Marketing Trends For 2014 image content marketing2Content marketing dominates small business marketing

Today’s buyers are smart – we no longer want to be sold and we are sure going to know a lot about the possible solutions to our problems before we make a purchase decision. In fact, according to the Corporate Executive Board (CEB) almost 60% of the purchase decision is made before prospects reach out to vendors. This means the buyer is finding content from expert sources to help them determine the best solution to their problem.

6 Small Business Marketing Trends For 2014 image blog ROI impactAlmost 80% of marketers with company blog report ROI

To position your business as an expert resource, you need to create content that speaks to your audience, helping them determine the best route to take. What this means for small businesses is that you need to have a blog if you don’t already have one and you must keep adding new, fresh content regularly. Blogs convert readers into buyers. 42% of consumers look to blogs for information about potential purchases; 52% say blogs have impacted their purchase decisions. According to Hubspot’s 2013 State of Inbound Marketing, almost 80% of marketers with a company blog have acquired new customers.

3. Case studies get reinvented into content marketing stories

It’s hard to continually produce content that is relevant to your audience. Most small businesses have plenty of satisfied customers but few use these experiences as a source of rich content that will help others understand how you solve a problem better than anyone else.

But did you know that for B2B marketers customer testimonials (89%) and case studies (88%) have the highest effectiveness rating for influencing potential buyers? And 85% of consumers say that they read online reviews for local businesses and 73% of consumers say positive customer reviews make them trust a business more.

Most of us underestimate the value of what we do really well because what we do for our clients may seem so simple to us. We are taught that things of value must be difficult, therefore what we do which is easy for us has no value.

Just remember that your ideal clients are willing to pay you to do what you do best because it solves a problem or fulfills a need, regardless of how simple it may seem to you. Your existing clients and customers can often provide inspiration for your most powerful and engaging content spoken in the language your customer understands.

4. Marketing activities evolve from mobile enabled to mobile optimized

6 Small Business Marketing Trends For 2014 image mobile optimizedMobile enabled evolves to mobile optimized

A year ago in my post on small business marketing trends for 2013, I said that mobile support was mission critical and that mobile responsive design would be the most popular small business solution. Today, responsive design is just the first step.

If you are like me, you read email, participate in social media and research information regularly via your mobile device. According to Pew Internet research, 63% of adult cell owners now use their phones to go online and 34% of these cell internet users say that they mostly go online using their cell phone.

With this growth, if the first impression a buyer has of your brand on their smartphone or tablet is not the experience they expect, you can potentially lose a customer before you even know they are interested. Review your marketing tools and determine if mobile access provides a user experience that doesn’t detract from the message you are trying to convey:

  • Can your email newsletters be easily read?
  • Is your website content consumable?
  • Can the visitor fill in your contact forms?
  • Can they use the shopping cart easily from their mobile device?

Going forward, mobile needs to be at least an equal partner with the web browser if not the primary platform for all marketing, taking the lead in design and usability.

5. Getting and staying visible is no longer an option

6 Small Business Marketing Trends For 2014 image online visibilityIf I can’t find your business online, do you really exist?

If I can’t find your business online, do you really exist?

I ask this question every time I am speaking with a small business owner who is wondering if they should create a solid web presence for their business. 93% of online research starts with a search engine, and 68% of consumers check out companies on social networking sites before buying. Online visibility is a must, so every small business needs a strategy that increases their visibility when someone is in need of their products or services.

Although your web presence begins with a well-designed, mobile responsive website and integrated blog, it is much more. Start with a web presence analysis to find out how visible your business is today. Once you have your baseline visibility, then add marketing activities that help increase and optimize your presence on social media and online directories.

6. Simplicity in marketing will become the norm

6 Small Business Marketing Trends For 2014 image marketing simplicitySimplicity in marketing will become the norm

Many marketers feel that today’s buyers are web-savvy, mobile-enabled researchers capable of sifting through the complex information about a product or service in order to make a purchase decision. In reality, buyers are looking for trustworthy information that helps them easily and efficiently weigh their purchase options. Too many options and messages can paralyze decision making, encouraging the buyer to look at your competitors.

Keep your marketing simple. It will help both you and your prospective customer. Make your value clear, your purchase process simple and customer service awesome. Focus on creating websites and marketing materials whose design is clean and message is clear to attract more people to your business.
Read more at http://www.business2community.com/small-business/6-small-business-marketing-trends-2014-0707580#OjolKOSrlSXYbxDt.99

 

This article originally appeared on Masterful Marketing and has been republished with permission.
Read more at http://www.business2community.com/small-business/6-small-business-marketing-trends-2014-0707580#OjolKOSrlSXYbxDt.99

Authored by Debra Murphy

 

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