Three Keys to a Successful Social Media Marketing Campaign

There’s one thing I’ve learned over the five years of being a social media marketing consultant. The idea of social media marketing usually terrifies managers. However, this is not rocket science that we’re talking about. In fact, as someone who spends literally 8-12 hours per day online doing digital marketing, it’s one of the most fast-paced, constantly changing jobs there is. However, there are three main keys to every social media marketing campaign, and you expect them to be difficult, but really, they are common sense. Check it out:

Consistency: I’ve seen so many businesses, both small and large alike, start off successfully on a social media marketing campaign. Now, successful social media marketing doesn’t happen over night. It takes time, sometimes months, or even a couple of years to fully develop. However, in the world we live in, when results don’t occur overnight, it creates disappointment and can cause people to give up. The absolute worst thing a business can do is to start-up a social media marketing campaign, and then halt all efforts. Not only does this completely waste all the time, money, and energy put into the initial

social media marketing campaign, but it also gives off a negative image of the company.

Persistence: Although the idea of “doing” social media marketing on a daily basis, terrifies most managers, it’s also persistency that is also a key in social media marketing. This involves logging into all of your social media networks on a daily basis to check up on your accounts. For example, for your Facebook business page, you should be logging in, using Facebook AS your business page, and commenting and interacting on other Facebook pages. This shows others there is actually a person behind your Facebook business page as well as adds credibility to your business.

Management: The social media world is constantly changing and trying to keep up with it can be extremely tiresome. We now have Facebook pages, Twitter accounts, LinkedIn accounts, YouTube channels, Google+ pages, FourSquare accounts, WordPress accounts, and more. Managing all of these manually will take hours out of each of your days. So take advantage of the paid and free digital marketing tools available to help you manage all of these accounts. One of my favorite tools is Hootsuite. Hootsuite is available in both a free and paid version and allows you to add your Facebook page, Twitter page, LinkedIn page, YouTube channel, FourSquare account, and WordPress blog all in one which you can schedule updates for, see who’s commenting on what, and respond to those comments. Another social media management program is SocialSprout, but unfortunately this is only a paid tool, therefore you can only get a free 30 day trial.

Hope you enjoyed this blog post, check back next week for another post on how you can utilize social media marketing for your business!

Tags: digital marketing, internet marketing, Marketing, social media marketing

The Power of Twitter: Quick Keys to the Twitter Kingdom

Let’s face it. Twitter has a lot of power. From spreading news of events before mainstream media can report it, to being the virtual water cooler for conversation about social topics, Twitter has become a huge resource for businesses…if done correctly.

Twitter is meant for conversation. If you were having drinks with friends, it wouldn’t be a conversation if you were the only one talking or never responded back to anyone else in your group. That’s the basis of why you have to engage your followers. No one wants to constantly see a one-sided Twitter account. It gives the impression that you don’t have time for your followers.

And speaking of followers, these are your fans. Fans of your business. Fans of your products. Fans of you! Don’t spam them! While it’s great to strategically tweet about your products and services, it’s not great to see that every single day in every other tweet. Your fans will grow tired of those tweets and you will find yourself quickly unfollowed.

Get in the habit of tweeting often. A sporadic Twitter account is boring, and we all know your business isn’t boring. Right? Life can be hectic at times, so don’t be afraid to pull in some help for keeping your tweets flowing. HootSuite or BufferApp are both great tools that you can use for scheduling tweets.

The best part of leveraging social media (more specifically Twitter) is that it unleashes the power of promotion to your followers. Remember how the media covered the story about how much social media lit up during the Academy Awards? That’s the power of what can be at work for you and your brand through your followers. Once you have a user base that is actively engaged with you, they will be talking about you to their followers. The ripple effect will keep going, and along with that, so will new exposure to your brand!

Tags: digital marketing, social media, social media marketing

Outsourced!

NBC recently had a sitcom entitled Outsourced, which lasted all of one season. It did offer a sometimes humorous look at outsourcing via an India call center, but just how far off were they in the concept of outsourcing? Outsourcing has grown in these recent economic times, but the idea is not necessarily a bad concept.

When it comes to social media management for your company, there is a significant amount of time that has to be devoted to it each day. So much, as some companies have started hiring individuals specifically for social media management. But what if you are trying to manage operations with a small budget, or yet, trying to just stay afloat in today’s economy? Hiring costs money. From salaries to insurance to payroll taxes, the costs mount quickly for each new hire you make.

A specific group of workers have emerged as a viable option for entering (or maintaining) a social media presence. Welcome to the world of freelance social media managers. Their backgrounds are as diverse as the demographics of social media users and most are excellent at what they do.

We throw in most because some people believe that if they have a personal Facebook account, then they are automatically experts in social media. That is why you should always interview your potential freelance social media managers. We have a few tips for outsourcing your social media operations:

• Ask to see some of their work and ask for proof they are responsible for the day to day operations. Request a portfolio or screenshots of them logged in as an admin. A true professional will be able to provide this without any trouble.
• Don’t be afraid to seek out references. After all, this person will be handling the social media of your business. The public doesn’t know that someone is outsourced, but they will know if things are not handled professionally or properly. Invest the small amount of time to confirm you are putting the reins into the right hands!
• Look into their social media footprint. Does what you discover make you confident about turning over the responsibility to them or does it make you feel like you have discovered a new Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde?

Outsourcing can make your life much easier when the proper initial steps are taken. You’ll be relieved of the constant monitoring of your brand and you will also be relieved of having the added expense of additional employees. Unlike NBC’s canceling of the Outsourced sitcom, if you follow these steps, you won’t have to cancel your outsourced social media.

Tags: digital marketing, internet marketing, social media, social media marketing

Know When To Hold ‘Em- Know When To Post ‘Em

You know the legendary song. In a strange way, it has some words for the wise…socially. When it comes to your posting schedule, you have to know what times work and what doesn’t. You can have the greatest content in the world that has viral potential, but if you post it during off hours for your page, you’ve missed the mark.

So that brings us to the question of how often and what times? Google the topic and you will get a range of answers varying from post often all throughout the day to post once a day at a specific time. The truth is that you have to determine what time works for your page. A wide variety of variables come into play when it comes to determining your post times.

The biggest faux pas in Facebook is over saturation from a page. We know our friends on Facebook that show up in our feed every single time we log on. Those are the friends we unsubscribe to or even eventually unfriend. Too much of a good thing will end up hurting your efforts in the long run. To find the most appropriate times to post takes time. You aren’t going to launch your Facebook page and immediately hit home runs with every post you make.

Facebook is an awesome tool for marketing, but if you market at your convenience, you are wasting your time. You’ve seen the stories in the media about employees using social media at work. Businesses are cracking down on personal social media usage while on the clock. That should be a tipoff that you probably won’t be getting maximum impressions on posts you make during the 9-5 workday.

Getting the most out of Facebook requires working outside of normal business hours. This is especially true if your business focuses on business to consumer. Think about how you personally use Facebook. A lot of people start the day with a cup of coffee and checking Facebook. Others come home after work and check Facebook. Each represents outside the norm hours, but both are crucial hours for marketing.

We all want to get the most out of Facebook, but sometimes we hit the mark and sometimes we strike out. Knowing your fan base is crucial with being able to connect with them. Invest some time in analyzing your posts and you can take your Facebook marketing effectiveness to the next level.

Tags: branding, social media, social media marketing

Is Your Brand Social?

Facebook. Twitter. YouTube. Foursquare. Social Media. All of these are words that were not a part of our language ten years ago, but are words we use throughout our daily routine in 2012. Why are we talking about these things?

If you have put off becoming social because you don’t understand it, then you should know that your customers do understand the social language and are actively participating in social media…daily! On top of that, your competitors understand social media and have a social media presence that is daily putting their brand in front of your potential customers.

So now since that information has gotten your attention, you are starting to ask, where do I go from here? There are many social platforms that have impressive user statistics, but ultimately every platform will not be beneficial for your brand. Here’s a simple blueprint for getting started.

Facebook:

The Facebook name may be no stranger to you. The Facebook brand was in the news every time you turned on the television this week due to their upcoming IPO. Just to confirm how big social media has become, the Facebook IPO is set to be one of the biggest in history. That alone should impress upon you how large social media has become.

Facebook is a social networking platform. With over 800 million users, it is clearly the leading social platform. Whether you are a multi-national corporation or a small neighborhood coffee shop, Facebook is probably a good social media launching point for every business.

Twitter:

Twitter is real time. In fact, information travels so fast on Twitter that it can actually spread faster than mainstream news organizations can report it. Remember the earthquake that shook D.C. in 2011? News of the quake spread almost instantaneously through tweets and could have easily been considered “old news” once the news outlets began reporting on it. The key to remember is news travels fast.

Remember the old saying that if a customer has a bad experience that they will tell ____ many people? That is true, but before social media, it took time for word to spread. The bad experience might not reach their friends for several days (or weeks). Now, they have an experience that is less than stellar at your business, they can simply tweet it to the world (and while they are still standing in your store) and let them know about your business. So what does that mean for you?

Simply put, you can’t afford to not be on Twitter. Again, your customers can be found on Twitter, so you need to be on Twitter. Before social media, if someone was talking about a problem they had experienced with your business, wouldn’t you seek out that person and try to make the situation right? Sure you would. Your reputation is at stake. Same with Twitter, only now you can jump in the conversation and respond at the drop of the proverbial hat.

For more great social media marketing tips, check out our blog regularly!

There are always people out there who have just started the social media strategy without a plan. This is really a good idea at all. Every company should have some sort of social media marketing plan, no matter how big or small has a plan, but you should definitely have. Although social media can be terrifying in the beginning, most professionals who learn and practice at social media admit that it’s not as scary as they were making it out to be. Practice makes perfect! So to begin your social media marketing plan, you need to determine your businesses goals and objectives. You will have to answer questions as you like to increase sales, increase conversion rates, increase traffic to your site or to add brand awareness? You need to set goals so that later you can measure the social media strategy for action. Any social media strategy must be evaluated to determine what kind of results you receive and return on investment, but if you do not set your goals, you will not be able to respond to this assessment.
Once your goals and objectives are determined, you can then determine your target market, and if you are currently a small business in operation, you should have no issues in determining this. You’ll need to define your target market to ensure you are targeting the proper users on social media networks and interacting on the proper group discussions. Once you’ve determined your target market, you can then begin to determine which social media networks are the best networks for your type of business.
Once you have determined exactly how many minutes of social media you want to create at that time, the next step is to follow and actually create these accounts. Once you have created your account, you can start adding content as much as you can, so that users can see that you are a real company. The more content and information, you can add your company, the more credible you think that the users coming to your profile. you should take guideline from a best social media marketing firm which efforts you to be determine your goals and objectives.

Social media marketing can be a very terrifying concept for some business owners. Blogging, social media networks, search engine optimization, link building…how do you know which steps to take and what order to take them?! Well, you’re definitely not alone; most small businesses don’t actually have a social media marketing campaign. So here are some great tips, tricks, and steps to take to get your successful social media strategy started.
One of the first steps you should take guideline from a best social media marketing firm which efforts you to be determine your goals and objectives. You need to determine what you want to get from creating and implementing a social media network. Do you want to increase sales, increase your conversion rate, increase traffic to your website, or increase your brand awareness? You need to determine goals.
The second stage of your social media is to determine your target audience, and if you are currently operating a small business, you should have no problem with this problem. When your audience is defined, you can begin to determine which social media network is most appropriate for your business. It depends on whether you are a B2B or B2C transactions.
Once you have determined the social media networks for your business, you can then begin the account creation process. You will go to the website for each social media network and register your company and begin to brand your profile. To mark your profile, you can use the HTML code to customize your profile (for some social media networks), you can add the company and product photos, add testimonials, etc. It is certainly the process the least exciting of your social media strategy.
Once you’re finished completing all of your social media network accounts and branding them, you get into the exciting part – connecting with customer, partners, and competition! You can begin to interact with your customers, attract new prospects, make connections with strategic partners, etc. You’ll slowly learn about the online community for each social media network and you can learn which profiles have the most influential voices, you can participate in online discussion, and interact with others. Many search engine optimization firm helps you in choosing the keyword phrases that will produce the greatest ROI for your business.

Express Yourself Marketing provides you with the ability to achieve top search engine spots on major search properties such as Google, Yahoo, and Bing as well as effectively drive targeted visitors who are interested in your products or services to your website, therefore, increasing leads and sales generated on your website. No matter how many SEO services or internet marketing tactics you are employing for your site, there is nothing better than quality content. Search engine optimization is a strong part of your internet marketing campaign and is only as effective as the quality and usefulness of your site’s content such as titles, hash-tags, subtitles, keywords, and written content.

For many, the idea of social media marketing terrifies them. What is social media marketing? Why is it necessary? Will it really help with my business? Why not allow our professional and experienced team to take care of your entire internet market plan and you can focus on what you do best ! We’ll take care of your social media marketing, search engine optimization, press release, blogging, video marketing, and article marketing.