by Ace Concierge | Virtual Assistant | Nov 19, 2013 | Marketing, Small Business, Social Media
Image credit: Inthenet Marketing
In the last post, Social Media and Your Brand Image, we discussed the significance of creating a cohesive message across all of your social media channels. It isn’t just enough to create your profiles; you must ensure they all clearly communicate your brand image, mission and values without any errors, broken links or poor content.
Your social media marketing efforts are the architectural structure, the blueprint toward creating communities, a positive customer experience, brand image, a following, online reputation and a strong digital footprint for a return on investment. It goes far beyond simply a few posts on various channels; it is a two-way conversation. Interaction. Collaboration. Education. Communication. Community.
“Social Media only serves to amplify the consumer experience.” Jeffrey Summers
Some clients have inquired about different bits and pieces of marketing components without taking into consideration their current online presence or lack thereof. Whether it is an email campaign, YouTube videos, e-books or teleseminars, without an audience, it won’t matter how much time and energy we invest to create these programs, because no one will be listening.
Without the proper foundation and building blocks, other marketing efforts are not nearly as successful because there may not be an audience, credibility, interest or social proof. This is the premise for building your network, being consistent, posting and most importantly, engaging. The engagement and building relationships is what will establish a following and authority.
In the compelling article by Fast Company, 10 Surprising Social Media Statistics That Will Make You Rethink Your Social Strategy they list some valuable stats that should help you to understand why you should plan before you simply “throw stuff” at the wall and expect it to stick. The numbers paint a picture! The data is intriguing but just because you have a widget to sell and some passion to back it up, it doesn’t translate to the digital world jumping on your bandwagon IF they don’t know you’re alive. Consider how many people are online, searching for products and services every single day. You need to think about how YOU will be found amongst the sea of herrings.
- Social media has taken over porn as the No. 1 activity on the web
- The fastest growing demographic on Twitter is the 55–64 year age bracket
- 93% of marketers use social media for business
- 189 million of Facebook’s users are “mobile only
Building and maintaining your online relationships will eventually turn into revenue, but it does take time and effort.
You are able to develop not only your brand image and following but also a level of trust and loyalty. People buy from people and when they can see and follow you online, the relationship building begins and eventually converts to business.
It is paramount that your digital footprint, in each platform remain consistent and representative of your goals and mission. Even your content must clearly define and support your company and brand. Everything in life has plan, an outline with action steps.
- Choose your social channel (s) and have a solid strategy, a blueprint of your goals and desired outcomes.
- Participate on a regular basis. Frequency is key
- Maintain a positive image
- Ensure that your platforms are up to date and mirror your bios
- Nurture your relationships
- Organically grow your audience
- Create supporting content
- Share content of others
- Limit self-promotional posts
- Understand that your efforts are an INVESTMENT
- Build synergistically from the ground up
You can’t expect to construct a fortress by tossing a girders on the ground. Build your foundation first.
by Ace Concierge | Virtual Assistant | Sep 12, 2013 | Blogging, Marketing, Social Media
BOOM! Information overload. Noise.
Cut through the clutter – but how?
Searching for rich and valuable content to share or repurpose with your audience is a social media essential to creating trust, interest and loyalty. Remarkable content is written for your buyers and their needs not just as a self promotional tool. Be the resource that readers turn to for information and answers. Know and understand your audience to feed their social media content appetites.
Traditional marketing and advertising is telling the world you’re a rock star. Content Marketing is showing the world that you are one. Robert Rose
Where do you look? You probably already have your list of RSS feeds from industry thought leaders, Twitter lists, feedly, your trusted network, keyword searches and various other news feeds but what if you had a few other news aggregators to easily compile your interests and top trends into one place? How cool is that? It certainly saves time and weeds out the “blah” that isn’t truly of value.
Prismatic: displays articles based upon your network shares. It is simple to use. Sign in with Facebook or Twitter. Pick topics, publishers or exact matches. Share your comments or “likes.”
Tagboard: is a social media hub for hashtags. It searches through Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, App.net and Google+ for the hashtag you entered and presents you with the results, noting the platform. You can tweet, reply or comment right within the search results. You can also create your own personal Tagboard with a keyword and images.
Paper.li: Create your own daily newspaper in just seconds. The free version permits 25 resources to populate your content from your social media community. Paper.li processes more than 250 million social media posts per day. Personalize your paper with a custom title and tagline, set up a promotional tweet upon publishing and even add the news widget to your website. They also offer a bookmarklet to add to your browser to quickly add great content.
Inbound: Great source for content especially revolving around social media, SEO, and inbound marketing. Register with Twitter, submit content and join the conversation. Simple keyword searches deliver valuable content right to your fingertips.
Flipboard: Magazines on the web for iOS and Android phones. Curate from newsworthy sites, magazines and other uses to populate remarkable content to share with your audience. Browse sections based upon interests and categories. Choose and arrange the sections according to your interests and industry. Find, subscribe and share! #thatwaseasy
Now that you have a few places to curate content, share it with your community.
Tips:
- Make sure you tag the author’s Twitter handle.
- Use appropriate hashtags, but don’t overdo it.
- Schedule your posts using Buffer, Hootsuite, Tweetdeck or your tool of choice.
- Read about the best times to post.
- Track and measure the results of your efforts.
Your turn. What are your favorite content curation sites?
by Ace Concierge | Virtual Assistant | Aug 20, 2013 | Blogging, Marketing, Small Business, Social Media
Content attracts
Marketing has drastically changed over the past several decades in terms of the delivery methods but no matter how you look it, it is still content driven and always will be. It used to be solely about print media and ad space but now it is more about vying for attention from your online audience. This can be the biggest constraint but with the right content, geared toward the right market, you have an opportunity to be seen and heard.
Consumers consume content: Feed them a healthy rich diet.
“The single most significant trend is the continued emergence of content marketing as a standalone discipline. Content, in all its shapes and forms, is core to everything we do as marketers.” Econsultancy.
You need remarkable content. Just what is that?
Remarkable content is written for your buyers and their needs. You are here to provide solutions to their questions and problems. When you can do this, you will see a higher conversion rate. You have the opportunity to attract your audience with compelling content and images through your blog posts, website, e-newsletters and online discussions.
How will these statistics influence your content marketing strategy? (courtesy of WSI)
- 79% of marketers report that content is more effective than paid advertising.
- Blogs have 434% more indexed pages
- 90% of consumers find content useful
Research:
- Your audience, your buyers and their key drivers of what makes them tick.
- Where do they hang out?
- What interests them most?
When creating your content, think about some of the common questions you have been asked.
- What problems does your product or service solve?
- How will your product or service help them improve their career, their daily lives?
- What makes it difficult for them to do what they need to do on a daily basis?
- What are their obstacles to success?
Your solution based content can produce reactions and needs to your offerings. Help your readers thrive and flourish.
Feed their hunger.
Invest in your content: 60% of the sales cycle is over before the buyer speaks with your sales team says HubSpot. This means it is up to your content to drive the message home with your blogs, ebooks, webinars and any other online content. “People don’t need to be told how awesome you are, let them come to you.” @sbedrick #BDNMaineWhatsNext
Content is more than text: Use images. They capture attention, invoke emotion, are more widely shared and help to simplify your message. Share the images on your social networks like Facebook and Pinterest. Articles with images receive 94% more views.
“Harnessing the power of images and visuals will make your marketing more powerful and more memorable.” Anita Campbell.
In a 2012 study by ROI Research, they found that 44% of respondents were more likely to engage with brands who shared pictures. This is a pretty big number that shouldn’t be overlooked. Visual content is fast becoming an important force for online communications. Pictures communicate your message quickly and succinctly. Consider the rise of infographics! This is a huge market to disseminate a variety of information, share data and statistics. Fav 5 Infographics
Here is an informative overview about the tools and benefits of visual marketing: How to Optimize Your Marketing for the Visual Marketing Revolution
“Blog posts became Facebook updates and Tumblr posts, which shrunk to Tweets and finally to Instagram or Pinterest. Here’s how smart brands are navigating the new visual social-media era.” Ekaterina Walter.
Share your “remarkable” content on your social media channels. Make sure it is a mix of third party articles which are industry specific and rich, some of your content and blog posts that are solving problems and answering questions and finally your company’s landing pages which is for the final lead conversion process. Your goal is for your audience to not only read and visit your site but to also share your content and materials.
Is your content:
- Sticky
- Useful
- Engaging
- Educational
- Problem-solving
- Insightful
- Branding
- Experiential
When you post poor content, you don’t get visitors.
When you don’t get visitors, you lose money.
When you lose money,
You close your doors.
Don’t close your doors, write rich compelling content.
