Listen to Your Heart

On 02.23.10, In social media marketing, By jennifer

“Next time, I’ll listen to my heart
Next time, well I’ll be smart”

Some wise words from The Ramones. Don’t wait for a next time – start today! In other words: listen to your heart, but rely on the experience to get the best results. This holds true for almost everything in life. Fashion, love, your personal values, and even your marketing mix. Just because everyone is doing it, doesn’t mean that you should. This can go both ways but today, we’ll take the latter approach.

Here are some ways your social media presence can benefit when you take the time to listen to your heart and share your passion. Have any others you’d like to add?

  1. People want to know more. This article from Social Media Today shows that the most common retweets are actually “bites of wisdom”.
  2. Establish your unique voice. There must be thousands of mommy bloggers, but only one Jessica Gottlieb (@JessicaGottlieb).
  3. It makes you interesting! It doesn’t matter if you’re right or wrong, taking a stand will help you stand out.
  4. Helps you remain consistent. Are you an avid sports fan or film buff? Your readers will probably never get a chance to meet you, but will grow to know the social you that you put forward.
  5. Even if you make mistakes, you can learn and try better next time :]
Tagged with: • •
 
2 Comments
Leave A Response

Start Your Facebook Ad Campaign

On 02.15.10, In Pay-Per-Click, Uncategorized, social media marketing, By jennifer

Currently, waiting for Twitter’s fail whale to disappear…

Anyways, I’ve been thinking about Facebook advertising lately. Have you ever used it for your business? It can even be a pretty effective way to get new fans to your Fan page and more. When you start your Facebook ad campaign, you can either set a maximum price per click (CPC) or per impression (CPM ). You will also be prompted to set a daily budget, which Facebook will not go over (unlike Google). Facebook is going to roll out a beta version of ad conversion tracking. The service will allow you to calculate the ROI of your ad campaigns. Really excited for this to make its way to my account so I can try it out!

The key in direct marketing is choosing your target audience, and with Facebook ads, you can do just that. There are 11 different criteria that you can use to your advantage. Don’t hesitate to take your time to think of the relevant users you want. Did you know that you can target users on their birthday? You can also target a specific radius within cities and even users who have a certain interest or activity. Facebook coupons come up frequently, so make sure to check. I just got a $50 credit and it’s a great way for small businesses or individuals to test their ads.

Some more interesting-reads for advertising on Facebook:

10 Rules for Advertising on Facebook
Facebook Ads Best Practices
Facebook Advertising – An Opportunity for Deep Targeting at Very Low Cost
25 Bad Facebook Ads
Is the big Facebook advertising experiment working?

Is the big Facebook advertising experiment working?

Tagged with: • • •
 
0 Comments
Leave A Response

What Do you Think about Google Buzz?

On 02.09.10, In relationship marketing, social media marketing, By jennifer

Following up with their minimalist Super Bowl ad, Google has launched their social service, Google Buzz today.
Google Buzz will incorporate social media into their Gmail platform while also connecting to other services like YouTube, Twitter, Picasa and Flickr. Of course, Yahoo! and Microsoft aren’t too pleased.

Microsoft released the following statement:

“Busy people don’t want another social network, what they want is the convenience of aggregation. We’ve done that. Hotmail customers have benefitted from Microsoft working with Flickr, Facebook, Twitter and 75 other partners since 2008.”

While Yahoo!, took a similar route in this Tweet:

Two years after #Yahoo! launched #Buzz, Google follows suit. Check out the original: http://buzz.yahoo.com

Although I sortof think that Google jumped in late to this game, I don’t think it will hurt them. Following Apple’s iPad ridicule, Google could’ve at least named their service something different from Yahoo’s version.

What do you think about Google Buzz? Check what others are saying in real-time here.

Tagged with: • • •
 
2 Comments
Leave A Response

Content is Still King

On 01.28.10, In Search Engine Optimization (SEO), relationship marketing, social bookmarking, social media marketing, By jennifer

Today’s webinar was about how to track content engagement and ROI with Byron White and Carol Leaman.
As most experts advocate the importance of testing and measuring, I’d like to emphasize another important point that I took from this webinar: You can increase the longevity of your content through social media. Whether it’s through social bookmarks, press releases, Tweets, or static pages on your site, old content can be made new again.

How exactly does this work? If you have good content that your audience can relate to, you can use social media to bring them in the spotlight again. This can happen via Digg, Reddit and even email. After going through your own articles and stories that best resonate with your audience, take the time to make them relevant again. Carol tells us that most of her clients have had success with content that was written months to even one year ago!

Come up with a realistic content plan. Recognize relevant keywords and track their position as you release content that should bring more traffic. Although content marketing is a slow and steady process, it has very real results. Get ready to focus on your content plan today. There are many free research tools that you can use to get started you keyword research that will strengthen your content efforts: Word Vision, SpyFu, Compete, Quantcast, MajesticSEO, SEOToolSet, LinkVendor, Marketleap and PageGrader.

Tagged with: • • • • •
 
0 Comments
Leave A Response

You’ve Got Friends… Now What?

On 01.21.10, In relationship marketing, social media marketing, By jennifer

The Problems with Social Media

Just attended an interesting webinar, “7 Strategies to Convert Friends, Fans, and Followers into Paying Customers”, with Matthew Arndt. He went over some noteworthy things, like the three main problems that people have with social media. Those problems would be how to:

1) Build quality relationships over social networks
2) Effectively communicate with friends, fans, and followers
3) Turn your network into potential leads

There’s No Single Solution

There is no real single solution to these problems. Although you can scour the internet for tips from self-proclaimed experts, you should try your hand at it. There’s no real way to learn and improve your social media strategy without getting involved. It takes time and you may have to change your plan, but the results are worth it. After all, you don’t have to go it alone. There are helpful tools for your profiles. Some being WeFollow, Mr. Tweet, and Facebook Page Insights. Take the time to integrate these resources as you also come up with blogs, PDFs, and even free contests to involve your customers!

You can’t just accumulate friends and expect business to come flooding in. With spammers and robots on Twitter, quantity doesn’t mean as much as quantity. When coming up with a social media plan, you need knowledge and expertise. While it helps to stay up to date with current information, you’ll also need a team to help you implement a comprehensive strategy.

Tagged with: • • •
 
0 Comments
Leave A Response

Marketing Gurus Predict 2010 Search Trends

On 01.11.10, In Search Engine Optimization (SEO), By jennifer

Nowadays, everyone claims to be a marketing guru. Buyers beware, as they can be all talk! Anyways, let’s take a look at what they predict is in store for 2010. We’ve touched base on some of these topics near the end of 2009, so let’s see what we can expect with the year to come.

Real-Time Search for Real Life

Search engines are useful in bringing us relevant results. But what about information that’s relevant in this moment? I was searching for Google’s financials awhile back and came across some reports from before 2004 – before it went public! How and why is this relevant to what I’m looking for? It’s not! In December, Google launched its Real-Time Search, which will help customers get their hands on up-to-date info. With Google leading the way, it’s only a matter of time before others follow. Yes, we’re looking at you Yahoo! and Bing.

Going Mobile to Accommodate Smart Phones

With new smart phones coming out every second, you can’t rule out the importance of having a mobile compatible site. I don’t have a smart phone, in fact, I like to call mine’s a dumb phone. But I do have my handy iPod touch. When browsing the internet on a small screen, you want to ensure that all the essential links are there and that your customers aren’t missing out anything because they’re not on a desktop. The sky’s the limit for mobile in 2010, as consumers will want faster ways to get their info and all in one convenient place. If you haven’t done so already, get started on making your site more friendly with the right mobile web design.

Facebook is Up While Twitter Falls Flat

Ok, so the time is here. In 2009, there were many skeptics who doubted the staying power of Twitter. So far, we can certainly see that Facebook remains in the lead. As Facebook is experiencing increasing growth, Twitter seems to be flat lining. These two giants will continue to fight for the market share in 2010 as they go head to head by releasing international versions of their services. Twitter is working hard to be more personalized and relevant. On the other hand, Facebook’s CEO has publicly announced some questionable beliefs about users’ privacy. In any case, it looks like it will be another exciting year for social media.

Tagged with: • • • •
 
3 Comments
Leave A Response

The (Near) Future of Music

On 12.17.09, In Uncategorized, relationship marketing, social media marketing, By jennifer

Innovation Breeds Revolution

What happens when the Apple giant acquires online music streaming services offered by Lala? Some observers think that this will change the future of how consumers will obtain their music. Gone are the days of a need for tangible objects to hold our music…
From vinyl, 8-tracks, to cassettes and eventually CDs, consumers have always been looking for a more convenient way to store and listen to their music. Lala technology allows users to stream their favorite music over an internet connection. With similar sites, like Last.fm and Pandora, there’s no longer a need for physical CDs or even storage space.

What Does This Mean for the Music Industry?

Since the early days of Napster, the music industry has been scrambling to regain their past vigor. They claim losses of album sales due to internet downloading. But the internet and music streams may be a place where the music industry can regain their momentum. Trendsetters will want to investigate this new potential, so that they don’t get left behind. And you can bet that this is exactly what Apple’s strategy is. Surely, they don’t intend for the Lala technology to cannibalize their iTunes market, but they realize the powerful potential. For now, some experts believe that it is a long way before a majority of users switch to solely streaming their music online. Internet and wi-fi connections are still problematic, even with smart phones. For now, this is a viable market to keep your eye on.

Consumers are Still Key

Music and music fans will always exist. You won’t get anywhere if you blame your failures on consumers. Internet music streaming may frighten some artists, but others have begun to embrace it for novel ways to promote themselves. For example, solo artist, Beck, has always been known for his unique techniques for marketing his music. His 2006 album, The Information, came with a CD cover that fans could personalize by using accompanying stickers and other artwork. Recently, Beck has launched several websites where he releases exclusive new recordings, interesting interviews, and just plain weird videos. This is an easy way to keep in touch with your fan base and keep them up to date with the latest news. So, whether it is an interactive MySpace or entertaining Twitter account, there are many ways musicians can supplement their online presences and embrace technological upgrades. Internet music streaming may seem new today but it’s just a matter of time before something new comes out. Maintaining your consumer base will help you, regardless of the change to come.

Tagged with: •
 
1 Comments
Leave A Response

The Importance of Video

On 08.03.09, In Search Engine Optimization (SEO), online viral marketing, social bookmarking, social media marketing, video marketing, By jennifer

From video resumes to the Diet Coke and Mentos experiment, YouTube allows virtually anyone to gain visibility online. But, have you ever wondered how popular Youtube videos make money? Before you grab your video camera, it’s important to understand how this is possible and the work that needs to be done. Also, make sure to check up video marketing tips and tools. Many people may have the misconception that uploading a video will be guaranteed success. In reality, it can require meticulous planning and work.

So, just how do popular YouTube videos make money? The most obvious answer is that they can act as links that drive traffic to your website. Like updates on Twitter or being featured on social bookmarking sites such as Delicious, your website can benefit from exposure to a huge Internet audience. Video is a growing trend and you can use your creativity to help your site rank higher in search results. From product placement to running affiliate ads on your videos, there are many ways to monetize your YouTube efforts. Just like any other social media campaign, videos are a great utility in promoting your website.

Many have found that video blogs are catching on because you can easily promote yourself, your company, and your brand. Embeddable videos are user-friendly because they are easy to access and share. A popular video can help you gain leverage that you might not get otherwise from using standard PPC ads or SEO. The next time you see a viral video that you like, analyze some of their techniques and see how it can help you in your efforts. Do you have any videos that you’d like to share?

Tagged with: • • • • •
 
0 Comments
Leave A Response

PPC on Facebook

On 07.27.09, In Pay-Per-Click, social media marketing, By jennifer

In the growing age of social media, researchers are scrambling to study how effective advertising on social sites really are. Research by SEO and paid search PPC firms find that users do spend time clicking paid ads on social networking sites. Some studies show that users look at the paid ads before clicking on the actual search results. In a recent study, 65% of participants clicked on sponsored ads during the first ten seconds of their search. But what does it mean and how are these studies useful?

These results are surprising and shows that social media has changed the way people normally search online. Traditionally, users look at search engine results starting at the top left hand side of the page and move downwards to the right. The first few search results that appear at the top or near the top of the page are most likely to be clicked. But this isn’t necessarily the case when it comes to search results on social networking sites. Users typically pay more attention to pay per click advertising before they scroll down to look at the fourth or fifth search engine result.

Since this is a growing online trend, it means that more research needs to be done in order to effectively understand how users respond to advertising patterns on social media sites. Facebook advertising can be a helpful tool for your company but you need to keep some things in mind:

  • Do your research and perform an updated analysis on competitors and consumers. The more you know about how they behave, the better.
  • Tests, tests, and more tests. Testing your ads will help you differentiate the winners and losers.
  • Keeping track before and after an ad campaign. It is important to take notes on how much traffic you’re receiving before and after a campaign. Without numbers, it is impossible to quantify whether your efforts have been successful. If the results aren’t as good as you’d like, your notes will help you learn from mistakes
Tagged with: • • • • • •
 
0 Comments
Leave A Response

Social Bookmarks as a Tool

On 07.22.09, In Uncategorized, social bookmarking, social media marketing, By jennifer

Your internet browser is probably full of bookmarks that you’ve never really gotten around to using. Every minute, there are so many new and interesting things that you can find online. Accumulating so many sites can quickly lead to a cluttered bookmark list. Did you know that social bookmarking can help you organize your favorite sites and make them easier to find? By using a social bookmarking site such as Delicious, you can organize and save links that you want to remember or share with others. As opposed to traditional bookmarking on your browser, this type of bookmarking is considered social because you can share it with the public, other users in your networks or specific users.

Social bookmarking is becoming more widely used in social media advertising. So how can you use this as a marketing tool? Utilizing these methods allows your website to gain exposure from Internet users allover the world. By using tags, your site is categorized to the keywords that are relevant to your business. A great advantage is that if others find your site useful, they may bookmark it and share it with other users on their network. Sharing your helpful website with others will improve your online reputation and help your business gain online recognition.

However, many people may have the misconception that bookmarking your site a few times will instantly boost your website traffic. This isn’t the case as you constantly need to update and maintain your social bookmarks. Your website won’t be successful in the online marketing environment if you are not actively networking with others. If you are unfamiliar with social bookmarking and other forms of social media advertising, it may be helpful to consult with an internet marketing firm. An experienced firm will help you with all your social media needs and keep up to date with the rapidly changing nature of internet marketing.

Tagged with: • • •
 
0 Comments
Leave A Response
« Previous Entries
Go To Top »