Archive for October, 2013
21 Things You Must Do to Get Amazing Results from Your Social Media Marketing (Part 3)
In the last post of 21 Things You Must Do to Get Amazing Results from Your Social Media Marketing, I discussed 7 simple tips to grow your social networks organically, for this post, I will discuss how to grow your social networks using paid methods.
Each social network is different in the types of advertising that they offer, but it helps to look into the following options of advertising for the particular social network you are using.
Here are 7 simple tips to grow your social networks using paid methods:
- Purchase an Ad– consider paying to place an ad that is targeted to reach your particular target market as a way to grow your network. The ad must have a good image and good copy to attract attention and get results.
- Pay to Promote- this is a great way to use existing content that has gotten a good response from your followers and fans, and pay to promote that content to a larger audience. This can include a promoted post on Facebook, a promoted tweet on Twitter, a promoted pin on Pinterest, etc.
- Sponsored Stories– This is popular on Facebook, sponsored stories are messages coming from friends about them engaging with a Page, app or event that a business, organization or individual has paid to highlight so there’s a better chance people see them. It allows you to promote a story on a person’s timeline, so if they liked your page it will say “Jane likes (the name of your business)” and allows people to click to your page to also like it or get more information.
- Referral Marketing– connect with someone with a large audience that fits your target market, and ask him to promote your business, you can offer some type of incentive for each fan/follower you get from that particular person’s network. This may take a little bit of work to figure out the tracking and an appropriate incentive.
- Create a Contest or Sweepstakes where someone will win something for connecting with you on social media. Depending on the prize the cost of this method could be minimal or expensive. You can use tools such as Constant Contact’s Social Campaigns or Woobox to create all the necessary pieces to execute the contest or sweepstakes correctly.
- Promoted Profile– this is popular on Twitter. It allows you to pay to promote your profile so you can gain new followers. Promoted Accounts are suggested based on a user’s public list of whom they follow. When an advertiser promotes an account, Twitter’s algorithm looks at that account’s followers and determines other accounts that those users tend to follow. If a user follows some of those accounts, but not the advertiser’s account, then Twitter may recommend the advertiser’s Promoted Account to that user.
- Promoted Page– this is popular on Facebook. You can pay to simply promote your page without having a special ad or offer. Your business page will show up for your target market as a suggested page to like.
What paid methods do you use to grow your social networks?
To download the complete checklist of 21 Things You Must Do in Order to Get Amazing Results from Your Social Media Click Here or go to 21 Things You Must Do in Order to Get Amazing Results from Your Social Media Marketing!
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )21 Things You Must Do to Get Amazing Results from Your Social Media Marketing (Part 2)
In the last post of 21 Things You Must Do to Get Amazing Results from Your Social Media Marketing, I discussed 7 tips for creating engaging content on social media, for this post, I will discuss how to grow your social networks organically.
You can grow your social networks organically and/or pay for exposure via advertising on various social networks. Organic growth is the most affordable because you don’t have to pay money for it, and if you consistently post good content, you will be able to easily grow your network organically.
Here are 7 simple tips to grow your social networks organically.
Offline Tips:
- Encourage people to connect with you online by placing your social network information on your business card. If you are out networking and meeting new people, then your business card is a great promotional tool to promote and encourage connecting with you on social networks.
- If you do speaking engagements for your business, be sure to promote connecting with you on your social networks by placing your social network information at the beginning and/or at the end of your presentation.
- If you have a retail space or an office that is open to the public, place signs around your establishment encouraging your customers to connect with you on social networks.
Online Tips:
4. Promote connecting with you on social networks by adding links to your social networks on your e-mail signature line. You probably send out tons of e-mails every day, adding your social networks to your e-mail signature is an easy and effective way to promote connecting with you.
5. Email your current customers inviting them to join you on a social network. It helps to offer some type of incentive for joining like a discount, coupon, e-Book, report, checklist, etc.
6. Encourage your current fans and followers on your social networks to promote your page to their network.
7. Post good content and encourage your network to share your information with their network, by asking them to like, share, retweet, repin, etc.
What techniques and ways do you use to organically grow your social networks?
Just as equally important as growing your social networks organically, is strategically using paid methods to grow your social networks. The next blog post in this series will discuss how to grow your social networks using affordable paid methods . Stay tuned for the next blog post or click here to download the complete checklist of 21 Things You Must Do in Order to Get Amazing Results from Your Social Media Marketing!
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )21 Things You Must Do to Get Amazing Results from Your Social Media Marketing (Part 1)
If you are using social media to promote your business, or you are thinking about using social media to promote your business, then the first step to being successful in your social media marketing efforts is to put a plan in place. Create a social media marketing plan that will outline what you want to achieve on social media and how you plan to do it. It is important to include in your plan the strategies and tactics to grow your social networks and keep them engaged. In this blog post series, I will go over some tips on creating engaging content and growing your social networks.
Here are 7 tips for creating engaging content on social media:
- Know your target market– when you are very specific about your target market, you will be able to know the best social networks to be on to reach your target market, and you will also be able to identify the problems your target market may be encountering and be able to use the appropriate information that talks about the solution to their problems. Knowing exactly what to say to your target market keeps them engaged.
- Create a content strategy and calendar– be sure to keep your overall content 80% Entertaining/Educating and only 20% promotional. Create a content calendar so you can plan what topic you want to concentrate your conversations around each month, and make it relevant for your target audience and for your business. Your content calendar could be for the next 90 days, 6 months, or 12 months.
- Know what type of content you want to share– will your content be humorous, educational, inspirational, motivational, etc.? It is good to have a good mix of various forms of content.
- Automate the publishing of your content– there are some great tools available to help you to automate the publishing of your content on your social networks. Some popular tools are HootSuite, Sprout Social, etc. Planning out your content and then automating the publishing of it saves you a lot of time!
- Include content that naturally creates more engagement this includes content like pictures, videos, questions, fill in the blank statements, polls/opinions, and inspirational quotes.
- Ask people to like, comment, share, repin, retweet, etc. (whatever the appropriate terminology is for that particular social network you are on, ask people to do it). You will be surprised, when you ask people to do something, a lot of times they will actually do it.
- Consistently post good content– as the saying goes, content is king. If you have good content, this will naturally encourage engagement.
What techniques and ways do you use to create engaging content on your social networks?
Just as equally important as creating engaging content is growing your social networks. The next blog post in this series will discuss how to grow your social networks organically (without paying for it). Stay tuned for the next blog post or click here to download the complete checklist of 21 Things You Must Do in Order to Get Amazing Results from Your Social Media Marketing!
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 2 so far )3 C’s to Get Amazing Results from Social Media Marketing
Over the last eight years or so, Social Media has become very popular for personal use and business use. Businesses are learning how to use various social networks to reach out to current customers and get new prospects just by having an active presence on social media. Some businesses are doing this very successfully, and other businesses not so much!
In order to be successful with your social media marketing it is important to keep the 3 C’s of Social Media in mind. In this blog post, I will be go through the 3 C’s and why each one is important to your success on Social Media:
3 “CON”s:
CONnections- The reason why your business is on social media is to connect with people. These people could be your current customers and also potential customers. Your goal with your connections is to make sure you are connecting to people who are interested in your company and what you have to offer. When you keep this in mind, you concentrate on the quality and not the quantity of your fans or followers. It is more important to have 100 people who are interested in what you have to say than 1,000 people who couldn’t care less. When you concentrate on strategies to grow your network organically then you naturally attract individuals who are interested in your business.
CONversations- No matter what social network your business may be on, it is important that you are not TALKING TO or TALKING AT people, but you are STARTING CONVERSATIONS. The whole point of social networks is to be “Social” and the best way to be social is by having engaging conversations with people. Treat your followers and fans like a best friend that you are talking to online. When you create a conversation in a way that is geared to a more one on one feel, people will feel more connected to you and your business. Make sure your conversations are entertaining, informative and not “salesy”, nobody likes to feel “sold to”.
CONversions- your goal on social media should really be for your customers to become more loyal and your prospective customers to learn more about your business. The best way to accomplish this is to convert them to your other online marketing channels where you can build an even strong relationship. The three best places to convert your social media followers to are your website, your blog, and your e-mail list.
When you convert them to your website, they are able to learn more about your company and what you have to offer and if your website is designed correctly, they will also have an opportunity to purchase products or services they may be interested in, and/or sign-up for your e-mail list. Converting individuals to your e-mail list is important because you are able to create a strong relationship with an individual via e-mail because e-mail is more one-to-one while social networks tend to be one to many. The one-to-one areas are where you tend to create trust and this can help you build your business. Lastly, you want to convert your followers/fans to your blog because your blog is where you showcase your expertise and where people can learn from you. When someone is learning from you, they are more likely to buy from you.
Bonus C:
CONsistency- any marketing activity that you do, it is important for you to be consistent. If you are not consistent with your efforts, you will not see consistent results. Whether you decide to post several times a day, once a day, every other day, etc. be sure to do it consistently. This shows you are committed to building your relationship with your customers and prospects customers, and also show that your company is reliable.
What strategies for social media marketing success do you have for your company? Be sure to share your comments below.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 1 so far )Six Types of Networking Events That Can Grow Your Business
Networking is an integral part of growing your small business, but most people don’t take the time to make a networking plan. I recently hosted a tele-seminar for Independent Ladies Club called Master How to Develop a Powerful, Diverse Network with guest speaker Coach Kimberly. She shared the reason why networking works is the connections you make, which leads to the relationship you create, and the relationships can help you to grow your business. Therefore, it helps to be very strategic in your networking activities and knowing what types of networking events you would like to attend and who specifically you are looking to meet at these events. Here are six types of networking events that can help you to grow your business:
- Casual Contact Networking– This type of networking involves networking with individuals in a casual setting. This could be things like a local chamber after hour events, a happy hour, etc. The goal at these types of events is to make connections with individuals in a more relaxed “non-business” type of atmosphere.
- Strong Contact Networking– This type of networking is an involvement in a networking group whose sole purpose is to pass business referrals to other members of the group. Examples of this type of networking includes Business Networking International (BNI), PowerCore, and Chamber Lead groups to name a few. Your goal with this type of networking is to create trusting relationships with the individuals in the group, which will increase their trust level in you and your services and they will feel more comfortable to consistently refer business to you.
- Community Service– Being involved in your local community can really help you and your business to be more visible and can be considered a form of networking in which you and your company are giving back and in return you can get new business. Although giving back may not lead to direct business, the exposure for you and your business almost always leads to indirect business in some way.
- Professional Associations– This type of networking is good to create strategic alliances with other people within your industry. Many people specialize in a particular area of a profession, so if they have a client in need of services that they don’t offer, they can refer the business to you. Someone from your professional association could be a good fit to refer business back and fourth. In addition, going to professional associations specifically designed for people in your target market is another great way to network and also reach potential prospects.
- Social/Business Groups– As the saying goes, a lot of business transactions actually happen at social events. Therefore, attending events that are social is a great way to develop relationships and make those business connections.
- Women/Men Organizations– Being involved in clubs and organizations specifically designed for women or men can help you to create relationship with individuals who could be a great referral source.
What types of networking events do you attend and does it help to grow your business?
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Marketing Essentials by Nadine Mullings 