Is There A Secret Sauce For Social Media Success?

There are an unlimited number of ways to use social media for your business. Networking, awareness, lead generation, and customer service are all possible through social media. It’s still new to many businesses, and it’s always changing. Unfortunately for new and old marketers alike, that means it’s almost impossible to establish a science behind it, or a set of best practices to follow.
Successful online marketers and entrepreneurs know the value of social media. And while it’s tempting to look to them for the secret sauce in it all, what you may find instead is just Thousand Island dressing.

 

How Does Social Media Fit Into Your Business?

I honestly believe that any company can be successful on social media, but not all businesses should use social media the same way. As much as we want there to be a shortcut to success, a specific blueprint for everyone’s own unique business goals simply does not exist.
Looking to successful social media marketers is a good way to get started. They can offer a lot of advice and insight into some best practices and new ideas for your own strategy. Even if you’re not a beginner, there is always something new to learn by collaborating with other marketers.
Just keep in mind that they are advising others based on their own experience with their specific social strategy. It may not translate well into what works for your business.
So? Stop searching for the recipe for their secret sauce. Instead, plan to dedicate some time experimenting with different tactics. See which ones work best for your own goals and start figuring out a specific strategy for yourself.

 

 Your Two Main Ingredients: Planning and Tracking

Many people learn best by doing; I’m certainly one of them. But social media marketing works best if there’s a solid strategy behind it.
Here are a few specific ways you can think about your strategy:

• Set your goals: Start by defining what it is you want to get out of social media. Do you want to provide an efficient customer service channel? Do you want to promote certain aspects of your business, like your company culture, or your community service? Do you want to build awareness and generate leads? Is it all of the above?
• Pick your networks: You want to be where your customers and prospects spend time, so take some time and learn about the demographics of the different social networks. If you’re trying to reach millennials on Facebook, for example, your efforts may be wasted.
• Keep your story in context: While planning, designing, and executing your content strategy, keep the customer experience in mind. Each social network can communicate to your audience in a unique and compelling way. This is often called native marketing, with native content.
• Track your results: Analytics are essential to your overall execution. Find out what metrics you want to track based on your goals, and look at them on a consistent basis. Do more of what works, and less of what doesn’t, and if a specific kind of content isn’t working, try something new.

Designing and executing a successful social strategy takes a lot of time, effort, and some trial and error. It’s OK to feel impatient with your results, but don’t give up on the daily work it takes to achieve your long term goals. You may not find the secret sauce, but over time you’ll be able to write a recipe that helps your business find its own social media success.

3 Online Business Ideas To Implement Today

When it comes to making money online, you will need to look into some marketing tactics that will ensure your longevity on the net. Most people don't understand the fact that you can't simply put up a web page and hope people will show up. Instead, it becomes important to look into a variety of different things that will make even the smallest of companies flourish in today's fast paced digital society. If you want to start an online business or simply want to grow an existing site, you will want to look at the following options that will get you the most market share possible.

First and foremost, you will need to have a social media profile. This is a necessary thing for those that want to look relevant to today's Internet crowd. If you don't have any sort of social component to your company, you are going to miss out on a captive audience that can be marketed to completely. The top websites in the world are all social media based, so you know that you can gain a massive following if you simply look to these as promotional indexes. It takes a little bit of nuance to get going, but once you are moving forward, you will make money.

The second thing that you need to work with is article marketing. Without this component you will not be able to leverage the attention of search engines. You will have to spend a great deal of money on CPC and even SEM to get the same kind of reach that you could create by simply writing information for directories. These directories publish hundreds of thousands of pieces on a variety of different topics and can create authority for just about any niche on the web today.

Lastly, you will need to work on implementing blog solutions to help you move forward. Without adding a blog to your online business marketing tactics, you will miss out on something grand. A blog can create a great amount of interest by simply writing content that is similar to the articles that you will publish. Supplemental information on anything that you're passionate about will not only be helpful for potential clients, it will be indexed by search engines, which is one of the best ways to gain traffic. This is one of the most important pieces to the overall online marketing puzzle, and it continues to be proven by sites that have large scale blogs attached to their brands.

5 Tips to Empower Your Email Marketing

Email is has proven to be a very effective way to drive engagement with consumers. Here are five things to ask yourself in order to create an email campaign that will drive maximum engagement.

1. Is it Easy on the Eyes?
Make sure that you have less text that is spaced out and that your content is highlighted. Reduce the fine print to what is required and put in pictures that are relevant. Pictures help break the monotony of reading and help with cognition. Design your email well — think about putting pictures in a frame, they need to look pleasing. But don’t stop with the email. Create a mobile version, and do not forget about your landing page.

2. Is Your Subject Line Compelling?
The goal of your subject line is to draw in the consumer. Use powerful words and sentences that inspire action. These types of words and phrases include, “proven,” “exclusive,” “limited number,” “two more days,” “for our platinum segment” and “advanced tips.”
Remember to test your subject line — first with your team, then conduct an A/B test before launching to the entire list.

3. Will it Find the Inbox?
Marketers should monitor deliverability to ensure that the message is getting through to their consumers. Start by checking the spam score, include multi-part messaging, avoid spam traps and spam words, and keep checking your bounces. Make sure that you are honoring the subscribe and un-subscribe process. It is also important to ensure that the reputation of your IP addresses is aboveboard.

4. Are You Looking at Your Numbers?
Make it a habit to check the results of a campaign before scheduling the next campaign. Opens, clicks and conversions can be improved by looking at other factors. Monitor the time between an email being sent and the email being opened. Look at the quality and length of your subject lines. One of the best things you can do is to predict your results and then evaluate the difference to improve.

5. Does Your Consumer Trust You?
Every message you send and every open (and click) is a way for you to build up on your value proposition. Continue looking at branding, the consumer’s attention span, and your ability to convert the consumer to a customer. Your biggest success would be driven by focusing on getting the consumer to trust you — they need to learn to depend on you for important and relevant messaging.

8 Rules For Social Media Marketing

Have you posted links on Facebook, Twitter and other social media networks and wondered why you never get a response? Do you find your friend requests ignored or have you noticed that you've been removed from lists or groups? Ever stopped to ask yourself why?

Are those with a huge followings and lots of social validation just lucky? Or have they done certain things to attract and keep their following? Believe it or not, these marketers are doing things right. If you do social media marketing the right way, you will attract a large following, get a ton of leads and can massively grow your business almost on autopilot. So what are they doing right?

Here are the top 8 rules for social media marketing.

RULE 1: Never promote your business on the first contact. That's like jumping into bed with them before you ever get to know them. Find something in common and build upon that. Get to know them and ask about their business first. Just be a friend without an agenda. Find out how you can help them.

RULE 2: Never send random or generic invitations to people to join your list or network. When you invite someone to connect, you should always include a message, not a link. Compliment them on a post or a training they shared. Find a common interest you both have. Mention another friend or connection you both have in common. Give them a reason to connect with you.

RULE 3: Once you have made some connections and contacts, don't start bombarding them with messages about your business. You will be 'unfriended' in no time. Instead, give them a reason to stay on as a friend by offering them something of value... (see rule #4.)

RULE 4: Always look for ways to add value to your contacts through education, not sales. Share with them a motivational quote or a link to a relevant article or blog post. Offer free trainings that can be shared without an agenda. Don't always try to be pitching them on your business or selling them the next big thing. Always be adding value to the relationship. (see rule #8.)

RULE 5: Prepare your content and information outside of your social networks. Use the social networks to draw them to your blog, your videos, your website or to the articles you have written. Let your content do the selling for you, rather than you trying to sell them on what you have to offer.

RULE 6: Always get permission from your friend before you send them information about your products, services or your business. Timing is everything. Make sure it is right. They are more likely to take a look at what you are offering if you've developed a relationship of trust first, and then they will be open to receiving what you have to offer, if you have prepared them properly. (Remember rule #3?")

RULE 7: Never do a shameless plug for your product or business on someone's content, comment or material. This is just plain rude and inconsiderate. Find a way to add value to the conversation, not take away from it by shamelessly promoting your product or service. Add value, consistently and often. This will help build trust and rapport, and people will begin to recognize you as a valued contributor.

RULE 8: Master the 95/5 give-to-take ratio, meaning you are giving away something of value 95% of the time. Promote your products and services or business the other 5% of the time. If you give more than you take, you'll sell more when you make your offers.

Well, that's what I consider to be the top 8 rules for social media marketing. I am sure there are others, but if you were just to follow these eight simple rules, you would be ahead of 95% of the other marketers out there who are doing it all wrong.

By following these 8 simple rules for social media marketing, you will attract a huge following, sponsor more people into your business and sell a ton more products and services than those who don't. Guaranteed!

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6901038

5 Reasons Why Facebook’s Timeline Will Enhance Marketing

Facebook just launched Timeline for brand pages. Marketers and brands are looking forward on how the Timeline will enhance user engagement and CRM. Big brands like Starbucks and Coke have launch their revamped brand pages and more brands will follow suit as Facebook reminds that the Timeline change will be mandatory. If you’re a page admin, you can check how your page will appear in Timeline format by previewing it. It’ll help you plan and assess what you need to add on the page aside from a cover photo. The cover photo is one of the visual enticements that the Timeline has. It’s proof that Facebook wants to enable brands to connect with customers using a more visual approach. But is this change favorable for brands? Will user engagement still be the same without the feed? I’ve rounded up a few ideas why the Timeline can make or break a brand’s Facebook page. Read on.

1.) Leveraging UGC
Content is asset. It’s the very lifeforce that fuels the Internet. In the Social Web, content isn’t limited to text or a couple of sentences. We live in a world of instant where users will share content using mobile devices. Photos, videos, location-sharing pins, and site links are the most shared content on Facebook. For brands, it’s an opportunity to utilize Timeline as a powerful syndication tool to spread content. But wait, brands should ascertain what content drives the most engagement. Dunkin’ Donuts is doing it well with their…donuts, and they’re also putting a premium on user-generated content. Their page is very customer-centric which is why it has 5 million fans. With the Timeline format enhancing pages visually, it’s time for brands to drive their fans in sharing content. After all, a brand’s page is really the customer’s page.

2.) No Tabs. No Problem.
The landing page has been a great help to brands and page admins. Facebook’s Timeline is changind the landscape of brand pages. The tabs were options to control an impression a user will encounter. Now that the Timeline format has arrrived, there’s no default page anymore. This means reduced fan-gating and instant likes. It’s either a good thing or a bad thing. The Timeline is designed for users to get “lost” within their page and explore so they can learn more about the brand. The bad? No CTAs like “Like Us to View More” which can add instant fans to the page. It’s up to brands how they’ll customize their facade to make it more interactive for users to share the page.

3.) Connecting More Through History
Sure, the News Feed will be missed. But this is an opportunity for brands and marketers to focus on new functions of the Timeline that will increase user engagement not only with user-generated content but with brand-generated content as well. The Timeline format for brands is no different from an ordinary user’s personal Timeline. It tells us that Facebook is enabling brands to open up itself including every brand’s rich history. Every accolade and milestone that a brand achieves is documented in their timeline and this acts as a wikipedia of sorts. The Timeline format is a pseudo time machine where people can learn about a brand's throughout the years. People are educated about the brand through being open which prevents the idea of alienating users and dismissing them as mere customers.

4.) Humanizing Brands
Facebook is a great community management tool if you know how to use it. Seasoned community managers and page admins are always monitoring and replying to customer queries and rants on their pages. Usually, a thread turns ugly and forms flash mobs even if the complaint of one person doesn’t really concern them. Not all brands are able to put up a social monitoring command center like Dell’s or Gatorade’s, a Facebook page is a practical and easy tool for better CRM. With the launch of Timeline for brands, customers will now be able to exchanged private messages with a company. It makes the conversation more personal and every customer appreciates that.

5.) Real-Time Social Analytics is Imminent
Google launch Real-Time Analytics last year. Facebook didn’t have an answer until Timeline for brands was released. Facebook now plans to gear community managers and page admins with real-time tools for better social monitoring. Page managers will be able to view and analyze real-time date for metrics such as Engaged Users, People Talking About, and Page post metrics. Brands and marketers can also instantly omit what isn’t workin and replace content or ads with better copies and CTAs. Real-time tools will be a game-changer, but with the recent EdgeRank issues it remains to be seen if Facebook’s real-time analytics is actually feasible or just hype.

Hashtag Marketing On The UP

Last week as I was organizing my Twitter account I decided to re-evaluate the search terms I was using to find interesting content. This led me to take a closer look at hashtags and their latest use by marketers for business purposes.

As many know, the use of the pound sign (#) is at the crux of the hashtag. Putting symbols in front of words for taxonomy purposes isn’t a new concept. The @ sign has been at the center of email universe for decades now. Not surprising, it’s also used to address someone on Twitter.

However, the Twitter hashtag is more than a simple way to categorize content, identify themes or track real-time conversations. They're increasingly being used by companies to drive positive online conversation and build brand recognition and loyalty.

Hashtags Driving the Popularity of SocialTV
Television networks have been quick to leverage the power of the hashtag by displaying it in the bottom corner of the screen during a broadcast. Usually it’s the name of the program or TV show such as #Revenge, #TopChef or #PanAm. I noticed that LifeTime’s Project Runway gives each contestant their own hashtag for voting purposes, which is a fantastic idea and also provides more ways for fans to tweet about the show. Expect to see more creative uses of the hashtag by entertainment companies and TV networks in the near future.

Hashtags as Branding Vehicles for Companies
Many marketers are starting to use hashtags as branding vehicles for campaign awareness. A good example is Audi that recently promoted their new LED headlights with the hashtag #solongvampires. The unique hashtag was connected to a TV ad that showed the headlights destroying vampires because of their extreme brightness (part of the product message). The result was a memorable campaign with excellent integration between multiple mediums.

While hashtags can drive massive attention for a branded campaign, some companies are going even farther by using them organically to convey value proposition. Red Bull’s tagline, “It Gives You Wings,” has been parlayed into the #givesyouwings hashtag and is quite popular with consumers when discussing the brand on Twitter and referencing other activities synonymous with the tagline.

The Perils of Hashtag Hijacking
Just like any other communications tactic, careful consideration needs to be given to hashtags. Unfortunately, McDonald’s learned this the hard way when it decided to offer up stories on the healthy aspects of its food using the hashtag #mcdstories. Within hours of the first tweet, consumers hijacked the hashtag and posted negative stories damaging the McDonald’s brand. What started out as a solid communications platform for the burger chain quickly turned into a PR nightmare. (Read: When a Hashtag Becomes a Bashtag on Forbes)

Marketers need to think about how hashtags can be integrated into broader media campaigns without losing control of the narrative. This is especially important since hashtags are now moving beyond Twitter and into other media channels. We’ve only witnessed a glimpse of their true potential and the real opportunities that they can bring for brands and the marketers that use them.

10 Extreme Ways To Rocket Launch Your Profits

1. Advertise your web site with banner ads that are animated and include a call to action. You must grab people's attention and make them to c.lick.

2. Use pop up windows or advertisements on your web site. They grab your visitors attention because they jump right out at them.

3. Buy internet business books, ebooks, private site memberships, etc. Study and learn all the new web site promotional ideas you can.

4. Analyze all your promotional efforts.Concentrate on the ones that work and drop the ones that don't work. Don't waste your valuable time.

5. Get the most from each one of your visitors. Ask them to subscribe to your e-zine, participate on your message board, bookmark your site, etc.

6. Use text links if your banner ads are not pulling traffic. People don't ignore text links as much as they do banner ads.

7. Trade content with other ezine publishers or web sites. This is a powerful and effective way to place your links on other targeted web sites.

8. Keep your product available to your customers at all times. If you have to backorder it, they may end up canceling their order.

9. Use content on your web site so people can skim through it easily. Most people have little time so try using lists, short tips, short articles,etc

10 Add a message board or chat room to your web site. If people enjoy it, they will revisit your web site to participate regularly.