Compilation of Resources for Marketing

Transcription

June-16-11
12:58 PM
Compilation of Resources for Marketing:
Blogging
Mobile Marketing
Online Marketing,
Video Marketing,
Local Marketing,
Social Media Marketing and
Travel Marketing
July 19, 2011
Compiled by Carol Wain
Marquee Marketing
Cover Page 1
June-16-11
1:07 PM
Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Marketing General
• 12 Mind Boggling Stats Every Marketer Should Know
• Why Marketing Hurts Your Growth and What You Should Do About it
Chapter 2: Blogging
• Blogging Tools and Tips
• Ultimate Bloggers Guide to SEO
• 21 Dangerous Blogging Mistakes and How to Fix Them
Chapter 3: Mobile Marketing
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Tools and Tips
8 Creative Uses of QR Codes
Marketers embracing QR codes, for better or worse
TripAdvisor Survey Reveals That Travelers Find Mobile Devices Make Good Travel Companions
How travelers make use of mobile devices
Smartphone mobile travel strategy means immediacy, push alerts and video
7 email tips for the small screen
How is mobile technology redefining the customer relationship?
Top 10 SMS Campaign Dos and Don'ts
State of Mobile Advertising 2011
Why QR Codes and mobile apps fail
Legal Minefields in Mobile Marketing
Classic Guide to Mobile Creative
Chapter 4: Online Marketing
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The Essential Guide to Internet Marketing
Tools and Tips
5 Easy Things You Can Do to Improve Website Conversions Right Now
7 Tips for Successful Content Marketing on the Social Web
Infographic Marketing Tips: 11 Ways to Promote
2010 B2B Content Marketing Benchmarks, Budgets and Trends
If content is the only marketing left, how is it integrated into the marketing mix?
Content Marketing Usage
How to Turn Offline Documents into Online Traffic and Leads
26 Tips for Using Images to Engage Fans and Followers
Chapter 5: Video Marketing
• Tools and Tips
Chapter 6: Local Marketing
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Tools and Tips
Top 5 Foursquare Mistakes Committed By Small Businesses
How to Start Marketing on SCVNGR
How to Start Your Foursquare Campaign
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• How to Start Your Foursquare Campaign
Chapter 7: Twitter
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Twitter Tools and Tips
17 Twitter Tips from Mashable Connect Attendees
Top 5 Twitter Tools for Social Media Community Managers
Tweeting Grows Up: Add Photos, Links to Promote Offers
Want Free Sales Leads? These Twitter Tools Make it Easy
4 Ways to Use Twitter Data to Optimize Your Social Activities
Chapter 8: Contests
• How to Run a Successful Social Media Contest
• Facebook Promotions: What You Need to Know
Chapter 9: Social Media
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Social Landscape
Do's and Don'ts of Social Media for Business
How Executives Are Using Social Media
Social Media Marketing Infographic
A Simple Way to Calculate Social Media Return on Investment
Thoughts about Google Plus to Inspire B2B Adoption
12 Steps for Social Media Programs
26 Tips for Adding Customer Service to Your Social Media Strategy
3 Ways to Benefit From Social Media Crowdsourcing
What Brand Marketers Expect from Social Media Followers
Social Media Marketing Report 2011
Which Social Sites are Best for Marketing Outcomes
Free Updates/Upgrades - Online and SMM
Considerations for the Facebook Commerce Experience
12 Social Media Tools Recommended by the Pros
8 Reasons Why B2B Social Media is Easier than B2C
8 Rules for Social Media Marketing
Which of the Seven Dwarfs reflects your social media style?
Are we killing our customers with engagement?
Hot Trends in Social Media: Globalization and Real Time
How to Grow Social Media Leads: New Research
6 Ways to Socially Reward Customers
Social Media for Business: The Dos and Don'ts of Sharing
Chapter 10: Facebook
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Tools and Tips
The Mystery of the Facebook News Feed
How to Build Your Facebook Fan Base by Creating Experiences
How to Optimize Your Facebook Page for Visual Branding
Top 10 Facebook Apps for Building Custom Pages & Tabs
Facebook Pages
Clicked LIKE, Don’t Blow it! – 23 Tips to Engage Me After Facebook Like
Facebook Page Success Stories
Top tips for running a good Facebook Page (that you might not think about)
Chapter 11: WordPress
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• 12 Websites You Probably Didn’t Know You Can Build With WordPress
Chapter 12: Travel Marketing
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Tools and Tips
10 things hoteliers should be doing on Facebook but probably aren't
Facebook Referrals Fly High, as Social Travel Category Expands
7 Social Media Tips for Revenue Managers
Increase Direct Hotel Bookings with Social Media
Top 10 trends for the boutique hotel sector...
Chapter 13: Sales
• Rain Today Training
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12 Mind-Blowing Statistics Every Marketer Should Know
June-16-11
12:24 PM
12 Mind-Blowing Statistics Every Marketer Should Know
Posted by Marta Kagan
Fri, Apr 01, 2011 @ 12:00 PM
It's no secret that the marketing landscape has changed dramatically over the past few years as social
and mobile technologies have gone from early-adopter novelties to mainstream essentials.
Still, there are plenty of traditional marketing stalwarts out there who aren't buying all of the social media
hype or can't convince their boss or marketing team to experiment in the brave new world of inbound
marketing.
So we've rounded up a dozen powerful stats that are sure to be eye-openers, if not total mind-changers.
1. 78% of Internet users conduct product research online.
That means your website stands a good chance of being a prospect's "first impression." That also means
your new business card isn't a business card—it's Google.
2. In the past year, Web-based email usage dropped a staggering 59% among 12-17 year olds, who
prefer to communicate via text, instant messaging, and social networks.
If 12-17 year olds aren't your primary customers, you may think, "So what? They're just kids." But webbased email usage has been on the decline among ALL Internet users under the age of 55. And by the
way, today's kids are tomorrow's customers—and they're probably not going to be reading your email.
3. 78% of business people use their mobile device to check email.
So that means pretty much everybody that can check email on a mobile device, does. Is your email
newsletter optimized for mobile devices?
4. 40% of US smartphone owners compare prices on their mobile device while in-store, shopping
for an item.
Is your business website optimized for mobile devices? If not, you may be missing out on hundreds of
sales opportunities.
5. 200 Million Americans have registered on the FTC's "Do Not Call" list.
That's 2/3 of the country's citizens. The other 1/3, I'm guessing, probably don't have a home phone
anymore.
6. 91% of email users have unsubscribed from a company email they previously opted-in to.
We're getting savvier with technology and less patient with unwanted solicitations. And it's just so easy to
hit 'delete'.
7. 84% of 25-34 year-olds have left a favorite website because of intrusive or irrelevant
advertising.
Frankly, I'm surprised this stat doesn't read "100%" and apply to a much wider age range.
Marketing General Page 5
Frankly, I'm surprised this stat doesn't read "100%" and apply to a much wider age range.
8. 57% of businesse s have acquired a customer through their company blog.
Finally, some good news! Blogging is good. Intrusive ads are bad. See how simple it is?
9. 41% of B2B companies and 67% of B2C companies have acquired a customer through
Facebook.
If this stat doesn't poke a hole in the "Facebook is not useful for B2B companies" myth, I don't know what
will.
10. The number of marketers who say Facebook is “critical” or “important” to their business has
increased 83% in just 2 years.
That's right—critical or important. When a channel generates not only leads, but real revenue, you can't
call it "experimental" any longer.
11. Companies that blog get 55% more web traffic.
The more you blog, the more pages Google has to index, and the more inbound links you're likely to
have. The more pages and inbound links you have, the higher you rank on search engines like Google—
thus the greater amount of traffic to your website. Which is why we repeat: Blogging is good.
12. Inbound marketing costs 62% less per lead than traditional, outbound marketing.
That's right—62% less. The average outbound lead costs $373. The average inbound lead costs $143.
And as we love to say around here, "if it don't make dollars, it don't make sense." Outbound
marketing just don't mak e sense anymore.
You can find sources to all of the above stats along with a boatload more eye-popping facts, figures, and
how-to's in the presentation embedded below or you can join us next week each and every day at 12pm
EST for a very special edition of HubSpotTV where we'll share hundreds of tips (and give away dozens
of awesome prizes!) in celebration of Marketing Transformation Week.
Read more: http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/11414/12-Mind-Blowing-Statistics-EveryMarketer-Should-Know.aspx#ixzz1P T7XQbyH
Pasted from <http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/11414/12-Mind-Blowing-Statistics-EveryMarketer-Should-Know.aspx>
Why Marketing Hurts Your Growth and What to Do About It
June-16-11
11:47 AM
Why Marketing Hurts Your Growth and What to Do About It
About the Author, Michael Stelzner
Have you noticed the tried-and-true forms of marketing are rapidly losing their luster? People aren’t
responding. Prospects are harder to find. Customers are tuning out.
As a marketer or business owner, what in the world can you do to grow to your business? I‘ve struggled
with these very issues.
I‘ve got good news and bad news for you. The good news: You really can rapidly grow a loyal
following. The bad news: You may need to rethink the way you market your business. If you‘re ready
for change, keep reading.
In this article I‘ll reveal a new (yet proven) method of achieving rapid growth in the social age. It‘s the
very model I employed to grow Social Media Examiner into one of the world‘s top business blogs.
But let me warn you. I‘m going to challenge much of what you‘ve learned about marketing, but the ideas
I‘ll share here will resonate with your core.
Where‘s Your Focus?
Have you noticed that everything is changing? Your industry advances, ideas expand, products morph
and your customers move on. Similar to space travel, everything‘s hurtling forward. Nothing remains still.
Just when you think you have everything figured out, it all changes!
As a marketer or business owner, you‘ve likely wondered, ―Will my business survive?‖ or ―Am I ready for
the next big change?‖
Here‘s the funny thing. We‘re all so focused on what‘s next that we’ve overlooked the most important
thing that doesn’t really change. Can you guess what that is?
The one thing that remains constant is people. I‘m talking about you, your peers, your customers, your
prospects and your partners. Yes, they might jump to the competition, but at their core they don‘t really
change.
change.
Everyone wants access to valuable insight, great people and recognition BEFORE they want
products or services. If you can focus on the true desires of people, you‘re halfway to a successful
mission.
Where‘s your focus? Are you focused on yourself, your products and your company? Or are you looking
outward?
Why Marketing Fails
Are you frustrated with the undelivered promises of marketing?
According to the American Marketing Association, “Mark eting is the activity, set of institutions, and
processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for
customers, clients, partners, and society at large.”
Key in on the words ―exchanging offerings.‖ That phrase implies a mutual interaction. We‘ve been taught
that marketing is like a gift exchange. Acme Company gives something and Joe customer is obligated to
respond. In reality, marketing has become a way to force people into obligatory situations.
We’ve been treating people like fish. We‘ve been taught to simply crawl into a boat, paddle out to
where the customers are, grab our reel and cast out on top of customers. Then just jiggle that bait the
right way and you‘ll be able to force a customer into your boat!
It‘s no wonder that customers don‘t trust businesses! According to the 2010 Edelman Trust Barometer,
trusting companies trumps good products and services. But let me be blunt:People don’t trust your
business.
Add to this that marketing messages are raining down on people EVERYWHERE they go. You can‘t
escape marketing. Heck, it‘s even in bathroom stalls. In fact, this channel overload has caused many
people to seek refuge. Your customers have tuned out.
If people don’t trust you and aren’t paying attention, what can you do? This is a big challenge for
businesses.
Naturally, you might be asking some of these questions:
 How can I attract quality leads, prospects and opportunity without actively selling?
 Is there an easy way to establish trust with prospects and customers? Can I break through the
noise?
There is good news.
How to Build a Raving Fan Base
If you want to connect with customers and attract raving fans, the solution is very simple: Focus on
people.
You can meet the needs of people by helping them solve their problems at no cost. Remember that
people‘s core desires don‘t change. Your audience wants access to great insight and people.
When you help people with their smaller problems, many will look to you for their bigger issues. If
you can multiply free assistance by hundreds, thousands or millions of people, you can rapidly grow your
business.
Content enables this!
When you provide engaging ―how-to‖ information and assistance in the form of valuable gifts (without
strings attached), it triggers the ―How much more?‖ question. ―How much more value will I gain if I hire
this company or buy this product?‖ is the response many will have when they see the great value you
provide for free.
I‘ve developed a simple formula to show you how to grow.
Introducing the Elevation Principle
Here‘s my formula for growth. It‘s called the elevation principle. When you follow this model, you‘ll be able
to take your business to new heights.
to take your business to new heights.
The elevation principle: Great content PLUS other people MINUS marketing
messages EQUALS growth!
When you combine great content that's focused on the needs of your audience and lacks any obvious
marketing messages with other people, your business can rapidly grow.
When you offer great content—such as detailed how-to articles, expert interviews, case
studies and videos—that focuses on helping other people solve their problems, you‘ll experience growth.
Why? Because this type of content meets the needs of people. It doesn‘t focus on you, your products or
your company. It is a true gift to your audience.
The ―other people‖ component not only means focusing on the needs of people. It also transcends your
reader base and involves reaching out to people outside your company, such as industry experts. These
outside experts possess amazing knowledge that your audience will find very valuable.
The last part of the formula is to deliver this content in a marketing-free zone. Once the marketing
messages are caged, the focus of your company shifts from ―What can we sell you?‖ to ―How can we
help you?‖ You shift from pitching products to boosting people. Instead of investing in ad space, you
invest in creating content, experiences, gathering places and communities where people who need help
can find it.
You have the chance to own the place people go to for help, eliminating your reliance on traditional
marketing channels. You can become the center of your industry, niche or local market. And when that
happens, you‘re launched on an unstoppable trajectory that will take you places you never imagined
possible.
The result: You no longer need to sell! Instead, you demonstrate your expertise by the content you
produce, the ideas you showcase, the stories you share and the people you attract. By creating a
platform for others, you can also build strategic alliances, quickly grow a large following and dominate
your industry.
your industry.
When you follow the elevation principle, your business will experience rapid growth while your
competitors will struggle to survive.
With the old forms of marketing, you pitch and sell. People ignore you and your business is at risk. With
the new method, you give gifts, people trust you and you become indispensable. Which course will
you take?
The entire elevation principle is documented in the new book titled Launch: How to Quick ly Propel Your
Business Beyond the Competition. Click here for a FREE sample chapter.
What do you think? Have you employed content marketing with success? Are you working with outside
experts? Please leave your comments in the box below.
Blogging Tools and Tips
June-16-11
10:56 AM
Janet Fouts suggested the following scenario:
1) When you make a new blog post, post a link to the blog post on Twitter.
2) Ping Technorati and use pingomatic to update the search engines
3) Twitter and blog RSS feeds to pipe to FriendFeed and Linkedin
4) Post a complementary post on Posterous and use Posterous feeds to auto post to Twitter, LinkedIn,
Delicious, Reddit, tumblr and StumbleUpon.
5) Add your RSS feed to MyBlogLog and Blog Catelog
6) Post the videos you will use in your blog on YouTube, Vimeo
7) Post the pictures to Flickr and tag the people in them
8) Look for other blogs that will find your post interesting and add your comments - Sign up with Backtype
and Disqus.
9) Clip interesting posts to share on Amplify, adding something different to your post.
10) Use Tumblr to post image and short posts that relate to your original post and link them back to your
site.
Now I'm wondering if there are other scenarios out there that would work? What do professional bloggers
do when they have a new blog post?
Feedback
Roohi Moolla
Good job on your first WordPress site Karen! A quick FYI, Technorati no longer takes pings, and
MyBlogLog will be offline/out of service as of 24 May 2011. Yahoo Pulse also discontinued blog service
as of May 16, 2011 (it's read-only for now). Other tips are to add a blog link to the email signature, post
the blog on the Facebook page (!), send out an eNewsletter to your/her email list with the first paragraphs
of the blog as leader text, with a link back to your blog.
Rachel C Vane Really looks awesome. Do you follow @JohnAguia? http://twitter.com/#!/JohnAguiar Check out his blog, it's loaded with good stuff. Email is great as Roohi suggested... also make sure she is
telling people that she meets and knows in person. It can make a BIG difference, when you're just
starting.
Jim Teresinski There is no help from the meta-tag setup - you'll be struggling to maintain any traffic you
did get by other means. If you email me your email address at [email protected], I'll send you an
example of how I set them up for http://causenet.org/, a 2 month old site that is already approaching
2,000 daily site visitors even though I haven't promoted it much
Jim Teresinski For those looking for an easy way to monitor how their sites are doing on the web, daily
site visitor traffic can be checked at http://visualizetraffic.com/ and overall global and USA popularity at
http://alexa.com/ an Amazon.com company
Eric Figgins What about Digg submissions?
Jim Teresinski Meaning ?
Karen Four thanks for your help. Take a look at the source code now... is it improved?
Karen Four would you include Digg or Reddit or both submissions in the steps?
Eric Figgins I'd stick with digg personally, you have to be even more careful with Reddit.
Jim Teresinski WP has the OnlyWire plugin that you can install - it will automatically post your blog entries
to up to 40 others sites of your choice (including Digg, Deliscious, Reddit, Facebook I think, Twitter, etc.)
as soon as you publish the entry. Pretty convenient.
Je'Nein Ferrell I'm very interested in your setup as well and where can I find the Open Wire plugin? I
googled it, but couldn't find it. Your help would be greatly appreciated. BTW, love your site. Found an HIV
grant to apply for. Will share it with my friends.
Jim Teresinski Good morning Je'Nein I'm involved with an animal rescue and have to go do my dogga
thing for a couple of hours. Of all the causes I'm involved with Aids/HIV tops the list, as my wife died of it.
I would love to help you with your site, so if you send me your email address, I'll get back to you a bit
later.
Blogging Page 12
Carolyn Clark Je'Nein I think he may have meant Onlywire?
Jim Teresinski: question on the onlywire plugin - is it not a bad idea to automatically post the same
content to all those sites? Is it not better to add slightly different content to each site? Can you manually
choose which posts to send out through onlywire or does it pipe everything out?
Jim Teresinski You get penalized for duplicating content belonging to others - theres nothing wrong with
sharing your own at different sites. Some folks don't do FB; some don't do Linkedin, so theres nothing
wrong with making original content available for as wide an audience as possible
Jim Teresinski You can choose where your stuff goes with OnlyWire - you actually need an account with
whatever site it posts to, but in setting up Onlywire, most of the site choices can be signedup for through
FB Connect - a click of the button. Takes about 30 min. or so because you probably have no use signing
up fro some of the 40
Karen Four Quick question: how often should a new blog post be published? 1 per day? 1 per week?
Eric Figgins I push it out via twitter 2-4 times per week, which is probably quite low
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Jim Teresinski
It should only be published once - republishing to the same places more than once is actually spamming,
and you're spamming yourself and diluting the search-engine value of your article. What needs to be
done after the initial publication i...s PROMOTING those initial publication locations through linkbacks,
such as commenting on someone elses blogpost/article that may relate to the topic of your own published
piece and through other means. This promotion/marketing of your creation is a whole other topic on it's
own.
Christine Bode You can also use an app called Networked Blogs that will add blog posts to your
Facebook profile or fan page. You can invite your Facebook friends to your blog using this. I use it and
think it's pretty decent.
Christine Bode I publish on average about 6 blog posts a month and they are sent out via Twitter, and to
my Facebook profile & page by Networked Blogs. They are also connected to my LinkedIn profile so they
show up there too. I average about 100 hits a day after blogging for almost 1.5 years.
Christine Bode By the way, you did a very good job on Rejane's site! You could also consider following
blogs that are in some way related and post links to them on her site and let them know that you're doing
that as they might link to hers as well. Cross promotion always helps!
Jim Teresinski Sure right about that cross promotion Christine.
Christine Bode
Thanks Jim. I've even gone so far as to add a feature once in a while about my favourite blogs and blog
about them to try to turn others onto them. Mind you, I haven't done this in a while because I'm having
trouble keeping up with the blogs I follow and getting my work done as well! I write for a couple of online
magazines and contribute reviews of books, CDs, DVDs, live performances, etc. as a way to draw traffic
to my website. Rejane could organize a blog tour with other bloggers with similar interests and they could
write about and/or interview each other about a specific topic and have all the bloggers post their blogs on
the same day. I've seen authors do this and be quite successful with their traffic.
Jim Teresinski
There is one more thing to do. Go to http://www.web-site-map.com/, Get a free .xml sitemap, and upload
it to where your WP files are, (WP does have plugins to do .xml sitemaps, but I personally prefer to do
it ...myself for better control) and then submit it to Google and Bing. You need a Google Webmasters
account to do this with your website Google verified. I didn't see a verification tag when I just looked at
your source code, When you add your site to your Google account, you're actually going to add it twice;
rejaneclaasen.com and www.rejaneclaasen.com. After it's listed you'll set the default to the www. URL
Blogging Page 13
Ultimate Blogger’s Guide to Search Engine Optimization
June-16-11
11:58 AM
Ultimate Blogger‘s Guide to Search Engine Optimization
About the Author, Rich Brooks
In the competitive world of search engine optimization (SEO), your business blog is a critical tool for your
success.
Why is blogging so important to your search engine visibility? Because search engines serve up
web pages—not websites—when people ask a question. And here‘s the important part:
Every blog post is a new web page and every web page is another opportunity to rank well for another
search term.
More groundbreaking than E=mc2!
In other words, every time you blog on a subject you want to rank well for, you create another
opportunity for your best prospects to find you.
What You Need to Get Started
There are three things required for you to succeed in your business blogging:
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Use the right blogging platform. While I don‘t believe that you can‘t succeed using platforms such
as Joomla, Drupal orTypePad, my recommendation for blogging is WordPress. It‘s powerful, easy
to learn and has plenty of SEO plugins that increase your chances of topping the search engine
results.
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Own your domain. Don‘t run a business blog from an address
like mycompany.typepad.com ormycompany. wordpress.com. When you do that, you‘re just building
up trust and inbound links to someone else‘s property. You want to blog from your own property,
such as mycompany.com/blog or mycompanyblog.com. This is also critical in case you ever decide
to move to another blogging platform as it allows you to retain all the inbound links you‘ve gathered
over the years.
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Be committed. Blogging success doesn‘t happen overnight; it‘s not like pay-per-click (PPC)
Blogging Page 14
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Be committed. Blogging success doesn‘t happen overnight; it‘s not like pay-per-click (PPC)
advertising where you can immediately appear on the first page of Google. However, it also lasts a
lot longer. PPC ends the day you stop paying, while my company has blog posts written years ago
that still deliver hundreds of new leads each month. That‘s great ROI!
Posts from as far back as 2006 still drive thousands of new visitors each month to our company blog.
What Affects Your Search Engine Ranking?
All search engines have a unique algorithm for determining how relevant your blog post is to a given
query. To oversimplify this process, it comes down to two main factors:
 On-page optimization: how the words in your post match up with the search that was just done,
and
 Off-page optimization: how many quality inbound links you have (links from other websites, blogs,
directories, etc. to your blog post)
How to Improve Your On-Page Optimization
If you want to create content that‘s relevant to your business, answers your prospects‘ questions and
helps you rank higher, there‘s a simple three-step process to help you get there:
1. Brainstorm your keyword phrases. Whether you do this by yourself, include co-workers or survey
your current clients, you should start by brainstorming as many keyword phrases—the words you want to
rank well for or you believe your prospects are searching for—as you can.
2. Test your beliefs. Too often we think we know what our prospects are searching for, but we‘re off
the mark. If you‘re blogging about divorce lawyers and everyone out there is searching for how to save
my marriage, you‘re not helping anyone.
You‘ll want to use keyword analysis tools like Raven Tools, Keyword Discovery or Google Adwords
Keyword Tool to help you determine what people are searching.
All of these tools work in a similar fashion: they determine how many people are searching for your
phrases, and how much competition you have for each phrase. You want to first target the phrases
that have good search volume, but maybe don‘t have as much competition.
Blogging Page 15
Bacon queries at Google Adwords Keyword Tool.
The keyword phrases most likely to bring home the bacon for your business. #groan
3. Start blogging! Running sneakers gathering dust in your closet don‘t make you fit, and keywords
you‘re not using won‘t get you good rankings. Start creating new blog posts of 300–700 words 2–3 times
a week.
Blogging for Search Engine Success
While knowing what keywords to target is half the battle, here are a few tips to maximize your results:
 Start your post title with your best keywords. Page titles are the most important variable in how
well you‘ll rank. Search engines give more weight to the first three or four words in your title, so
you‘ll get better results from titling your post Super Bowl Commercial Reviews: The Best and Worst
Ads, as opposed to What I Thought of Last Night’s Super Bowl Ads.
 Use your keyword phrase through the body of the post. Try to use your phrase in the first
sentence or two, and then a couple of more times in the post. Put it in your meta-description, the
meta-tags, the image alt-tags, the post tags and anywhere else that seems appropriate.
 Link to appropriate pages on your website. If you‘re blogging about the boots some B-list
celebrity wore on some reality show last night, make sure you link the boot name to the page on
your website where they can buy those boots. If you‘re blogging about how to retain employees,
make sure you link ―employee recognition‖ to your page on employee reward programs. This will
help increase the search visibility of your web pages; just make sure you link your keywords, not
―click here‖ or ―learn more.‖
Blogging Page 16
E-commerce sites can benefit from blogging around their customers' interests.
SEO Tools and Plugins
Here are a few tools to help you create posts that will rank well and attract qualified clients to your
blog:
Keyword Questions: Struggling with blogger‘s block? This tool from WordTracker returns popular search
engine queries based on your keywords.
Each result is another post for your blog.
All In One SEO Pack: One of many plugins that improve your blog’s optimization, this is the one I use
on my own web marketing blog. This plugin allows you to easily add unique meta-descriptions, meta-tags
and titles to each post, improve the page title format and reduce the chances that the search engines will
get confused by duplicate content on your blog.
Blogging Page 17
Use SEO plugins to improve your titles and meta-information.
Scribe SEO: Scribe is a plugin for WordPress that requires a monthly fee. Once installed, you can run
keyword analysis on each post from directly within the admin. Scribe will also score your blog post
before you post it, and suggest improvements.
Scribe shows you where you can improve.
It will also suggest other blog posts and social media resources that may be sources of inbound links to
your post.
Off-Page Optimization
As mentioned earlier, the other half of the search engine equation is inbound links: links from other web
pages to your blog posts.
Search engines see inbound links as “votes of confidence.” The more quality incoming links, the more
confidence that the search engines have that you‘re providing a valuable resource to their searchers.
Not all inbound links are created equal, however.There are a number of variables that affect how
important each link is.
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The linking site: sites deemed trustworthy will provide more value than new or untrustworthy sites.
The number of links on the referring page: each page has a limited amount of ―link juice‖ to pass
on. If you cut a pie into four pieces, everyone gets a good-sized piece of pie. If you cut that pie into
four hundred pieces, everyone goes home hungry.
The context of the linking page: If you‘re blogging about burritos, a link from a taco blog will give
you a bigger boost than one from a bicycle blog, all other things being equal.
The anchor text: the words in the link are critical.
Admittedly, you often won‘t have any control over these variables, but Google and Bing take them into
Blogging Page 18
Admittedly, you often won‘t have any control over these variables, but Google and Bing take them into
consideration. Which begs the question…
How Do You Get More Incoming Links?
Ah, I thought you‘d never ask. The obvious—and aggravating—answer is create quality content that’s
valuable to your audience. If people find your content valuable, they‘ll share it and link to it.
That being said, here are some techniques for getting more inbound links:
Videos make how-to posts even more link-worthy.

Guest blog: Blog at a related blog—bonus points if it‘s more well-read and influential than your
own! From your guest post you can create keyword-rich links to your blog or website. If you‘re
not sure where to start your guest blogging, check out My Blog Guest, a marketplace for guest
blogging.
In conclusion:


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Perform a keyword analysis to know which keywords will drive qualified traffic to your site.
Put your keywords in your titles, content and throughout your post.
Create content that will encourage people to link to your blog.
This post just skimmed the surface of what you can do to improve your search engine visibility and drive
more qualified traffic to your blog. What techniques and successe s have you had with your blog and
search engines? Please share your stories in the comments box below!
Blogging Page 19
21 Dangerous Blogging Mistakes (and How to Fix Them)
July-06-11
10:41 AM
socialmediaexaminer.comhttp://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/21-dangerous-blogging-mistakes-andhow-to-fix-them/
21 Dangerous Blogging Mistakes (and How to Fix Them)
Are you struggling to get the results you want from your blog?
Blogging can be complicated, so you want to make sure you’re doing things right.
We asked our Social Media Examiner writers “What’s the single biggest mistake bloggers make and
why?” Read their answers carefully to see how you can improve your blogging to get the results you
want.
Get Off to a Good Start!
Mistake #1: Not understanding your audience
Charlene Kingston @SocialMediaDIY
The biggest mistake bloggers make is to misunderstand who their audience is. I see many blogs where
the bloggers clearly understand the topic, but they fail to connect to their audience with their posts.
Bloggers must understand the problems facing their audience and what the audience already knows
about the topic to craft posts that deliver useful information. Otherwise, the posts include the wrong
information or exclude the right information, making them too complex or too elementary. Or, the posts
fail to explain the problem being solved, and the reader can’t put the information into context. Either
way, the post is full of information that the reader can’t put into use.
Charlene Kingston, author of the Social Media DIY Workshop.
Mistake #2: Not having a strong niche
Peter Wylie @threeshipsmedia
The biggest mistake bloggers make is trying to be everything to everybody, or even three or four things
to three or four different groups. You can’t overestimate the benefits of focus, and the more clearly and
tightly defined your mission for blogging is, the more likely you are to develop a niche following that is
equally as focused, passionate and valuable.
For instance, if a banking blogger is especially interested in lead generation for small business lending,
he shouldn’t waste time and energy also trying to write about the mortgage market. Instead, he should
focus that energy on niches and interesting topics within small business lending. How do loans differ for
convenience stores versus restaurants? What are the different small business loan options for different
businesses?
This doesn’t pigeonhole the blogger; it just means the wealth of topics is more specific, and ultimately
more interesting and informative, to a smaller group of people.
Peter Wylie, lead researcher for Three Ships Media.
Mistake #3: Covering too many topics
Blogging Page 20
Peter Wylie, lead researcher for Three Ships Media.
Mistake #3: Covering too many topics
Stephanie Gehman @airport_girl
I believe the single biggest mistake bloggers make is covering too many topics. Many bloggers want to
appeal to as wide an audience as possible, so they write about a myriad of topics.
The problem with this is that the scope of the blog can become lost and possibly disengage the
audience. Defining a few key areas that a blog’s posts will cover can finely hone the content and laserfocus the knowledge and expertise of the blogger.
Stephanie Gehman, marketing manager for Harrisburg International Airport in Pennsylvania.
Establish Good Practices
Mistake #4: Inconsistency
Jay Baer @jaybaer
The single biggest mistake bloggers make is inconsistency, both in quality and in publication frequency.
The tricky part is that these two elements of success often work as opposing forces.
The notion that you should blog “when you have something to say” makes sense on the surface, but
unless you establish and adhere to a publication schedule or a level of frequency (daily, three times per
week, etc.) it becomes VERY easy to eventually tell yourself, “well, I don’t REALLY have anything to say
today, so I’ll just skip it.” That’s how your publication frequency drops from five per week to three to
one to occasional blogging. The blogs that are successful over the long haul are those that make
publishing routine, not based on daily inspiration.
But making publishing routine does not mean, “let’s just throw up a garbage post because I have
committed to writing three per week.” Quality always trumps frequency (with the possible exception of
SEO). Five mediocre posts per week will not get you as far as two outstanding posts per week.
That balance between the need to be consistently publishing and the need for consistent quality is the
key to successful long-term blogging.
Jay Baer, author of the popular blog Convince & Convert and the book The Now Revolution.
Mistake #5: Not committing to the process
Rich Brooks @therichbrooks
Oh, there are so many mistakes business bloggers make. If I had to choose just one, it would be not
committing to the process. Too many people get into blogging thinking that it will have an instant
impact on their business. Their search engine visibility and inbound traffic will skyrocket, and they’ll be
sleeping on a bed of $100 bills.
However, unlike pay-per-click advertising, constructing a blog that builds your business takes time and
effort. I tell people to plan on writing two to three posts per week for six months to get the results
they’re hoping for… more if they’re in a competitive industry.
This means more than just writing, however; you also need to write keyword-rich posts with
persuasive, compelling titles that will be read, linked to and shared on social media sites.
Rich Brooks, president of Flyte New Media and author of The 11 Biggest Mistakes Small Business
Bloggers Make (free report, email registration required).
Mistake #6: Focusing on quantity instead of quality
Blogging Page 21
Dag Holmboe @dagh
I think a lot of bloggers focus on quantity versus quality and I think this is the biggest mistake. There is
this theory that states that you need to blog a few times a week to make your blog always seem fresh;
both from the perspective of human consumption and also from a search engine perspective. The
advantage is a gain in quantity—perhaps also a gain in page rank—but there is a loss in quality.
A good, in-depth blog post takes time to research, write and edit. Unless you’re a larger company with
a team of professional writers, there’s not enough time in the day to do this well; thus there are a lot of
blogs with underperforming material.
Dag Holmboe, CEO of Klurig Analytics.
Mistake #7: Writing for yourself, not your audience
Jim Lodico @jlcommunication
Although it might be cathartic to opine on your latest thoughts of the moment, if it isn’t of value to your
audience, your audience won’t read it.
Readers are selfish. They want information they can use. Find a way to provide it.
Jim Lodico, copywriter and marketing consultant.
Mistake #8: Making it all about you
Linda Coles @bluebanana20
Are you that interesting? A celebrity perhaps? If the answer is no, stop writing about yourself and write
about something that your readers will find useful, interesting or entertaining.
Sure, put your own personality into your content or add a post or two about something that has
happened to you and is noteworthy, but write about interesting stuff.
Linda Coles of Blue Banana.
Hone Your Craft
Mistake #9: Bad writing
Corina Mackay @corinamackay
A blogger’s objective is the same as any other writer: to find (and keep) readers. The more readers, the
better. Having said this, there is one sure-fire way to turn off regular and potential readers: bad writing.
With the ease and accessibility of creating a blog nowadays, the importance of good writing in getting
published has all but disappeared—online, at least. I cringe in disgust when I find typos in a $30
hardcover book from the bookstore, or a newspaper or journal article. Yet it’s not uncommon to find
formatting, spelling and grammatical errors littered throughout blog posts and articles published online.
Not only do these mistakes make a post difficult and unpleasant to read, they make the point harder to
get across, and ultimately leave the reader with a less-than-professional opinion of the blogger. Of
course, good writing is more than grammatically correct sentences that have been spell-checked.
Good writing is concise, has a point to it and is accessible (in other words, easy to read and understand).
But I would argue that half of the battle to gain readers comes down to simple, lazy mistakes that are
easily fixed. Use spell-check; take time to research ideas, facts and concepts you’re not sure about; and
most importantly, read over your work before posting. This can make a huge difference.
Corina Mackay, an entertainment-based social media manager and writer.
Mistake #10: Failing to engage readers with a compelling headline
Blogging Page 22
Mistake #10: Failing to engage readers with a compelling headline
Jeff Korhan @jeffkorhan
The biggest mistake bloggers make is failing to engage readers with a compelling title and an opening
statement or question that supports it. Think of the title as the label of a package, one that will only be
opened if the label clearly or cleverly describes what’s inside.
Once the package is opened, the first few lines have to hook the reader again by delivering on the
promise of the label. When both the title and opening work together, the remaining content is willingly
consumed.
Jeff Korhan, professional speaker, consultant and columnist on new media and small business
marketing.
Mistake #11: Going it alone
Debbie Hemley @dhemley
What do I mean by that? I think bloggers have the ability to be great storytellers, but sometimes they
cut themselves short. They think they have to generate the whole story themselves and fail to use
blogging as a way of reporting.
Bloggers need to ask questions and go after a story. Bloggers should follow their instincts and interests.
They should feel like they can reach out to other bloggers and people who have commented on posts.
Contact companies directly. Ask an author if he or she can do a Q & A. Go behind the scenes, dig
deeper.
Simply stated, bloggers will write better pieces and generate more interest when they look for the
special angle and break free as writers, reporters and researchers. Bloggers needn’t go it alone. Instead,
they should ask themselves what they hope to achieve in a post and go after the material. Like what
you’re doing here, Cindy!
Debbie Hemley, social media consultant and blogger.
Mistake #12: Adding to the noise
Richard Spiegel @crowdtogether
Because social media has what seems like an insatiable thirst for content, it can feel like there’s a black
hole consuming as fast as we can create. Don’t fall into the trap where you feel like you’ve got to create
content for the sake of creating content. Publishing material indiscriminately that lacks substance adds
to the noise and diminishes your credibility.
So how can you keep the quality up while also keeping up a steady flow of material? Take one wellthought-out topic and break it into smaller parts. Not only will this approach give you both quality and
quantity, it can be used to stimulate a conversation with your readers.
Start by telling your audience what you’re planning to do; for example, let your readers know this is the
“first of a three-part series that will explore…” This simple technique will let your audience know there’s
more to come and help to create demand for your next piece. Next, make sure to invite readers to
comment or share their thoughts by asking questions or including a survey/poll at the end of your post.
Then in your subsequent pieces, show your audience you were listening to what they had to say by
referencing or incorporating some of the feedback/input they provided.
Richard Spiegel, founder and CEO of Crowd Together.
Build Your Blog Community
Mistake #13: Only talking about your company, products and services
Blogging Page 23
Janet Aronica @janetaronica
I see that companies talk a lot about themselves—their products or their services—on their blogs and I
don’t think that’s the best way to go about it. If potential customers are seeing your blog for the first
time, they don’t care about you yet. They care about their problems and how your product or service
can solve them. Informative content such as tips/tricks or how-to posts are much more effective.
Whether you’re a furniture company giving home decorating tips, or a B2B marketing analytics software
company giving marketing tips, informative content puts the customer first and build trust before the
sale. That’s how you build relationships and create a community that will advocate for you.
Additionally, this is how you can rank for the right keywords and phrases that your target audience
searches for on Google.
Janet Aronica, director of marketing and community for oneforty and author of a social media blog.
Mistake #14: Not engaging with your readers
Mari Smith @MariSmith
The single biggest mistake bloggers make is not engaging with their readers in the comments section.
Creating exceptional content is one thing that certainly can get lots of viral visibility. But I feel that
acknowledging and responding to your readers as they comment helps build stronger relationships
and more “social equity.” People remember you when you take time to reply.
Granted, this may not always be possible or scalable for larger blogs. But even a few replies to
comments indicate to all readers that you do read your comments.
Mari Smith, social media speaker and trainer and coauthor of Facebook Marketing: An Hour a Day.
Mistake #15: Not taking time to respond thoughtfully to your blog
comments
Ben Pickering @bpicks
The biggest mistake I believe a blogger can make is not to take the time to respond thoughtfully to
comments and interact with readers. Interacting by responding to comments and questions is an
important way to build readership because readers who are acknowledged are likely to come back.
It seems that some writers approach blogging as a unidirectional means of communicating (i.e., “I have
something to tell you”) rather than an active conversation within a community. From the reader’s
perspective, an analogy would be attending a lecture that didn’t allow for any question-and-answer
period.
Although the content might be quite interesting, the richness often comes through the back and forth
with the audience. I have found this to be true, for example, in a recent post on Social Media Examiner.
Not only were great questions asked that benefited other readers, but the comments also helped me
realize what readers are interested in hearing more about in future posts.
Ben Pickering, CEO of Strutta.
Get More Out of Your Blogging
Mistake #16: Not promoting your blog content
Kristi Hines @kikolani
One of the biggest mistakes I see bloggers making is they don’t promote their own content enough.
Granted, there are some who go overboard and do nothing but self-promotion, which is not the right
Blogging Page 24
Granted, there are some who go overboard and do nothing but self-promotion, which is not the right
way to go.
There is, however, a healthy balance that will get your blog posts the attention they deserve without
driving your followers crazy. If you don’t do just that amount, no matter how great your content is, it’s
still likely to fail at bringing in traffic. The whole “If you build it, they will come” motto from the movies
just doesn’t cut it unless you already have a subscriber list in the thousands. Even at that stage, you may
be getting a satisfying amount of traffic to blog posts on your own site, but it will still take extra work to
get the same volume of traffic to guest posts and articles that you write as a freelancer on lesser-known
sites.
So if you’re writing great content, don’t feel guilty about promoting it! Your followers want to know
about your awesome content as well as the awesome content you share from others. Proper selfpromotion is a win-win situation for both you and your audience!
Kristi Hines, author of the popular blog Kikolani and the Ultimate Guide to Blog Post Promotion.
Mistake #17: Not joining a blog community
Elijah Young @elijahryoung
One of the largest mistakes new bloggers make is going about it all alone. There are tons of talented
writers who would love to form a community blog based around wonderful content in your niche,
which would accelerate your blog’s growth with more promoters and give you a wider social circle to
pull from for comments and sharing.
Look at Social Media Examiner as a case study in this. One person’s social circle didn’t make this site the
powerhouse that it is today, but a community effort of many. My advice to bloggers is to consolidate for
the greater good, so you all can be successful instead of trying to do it all alone.
Elijah R. Young of Fandura.
Mistake #18: Not collaborating with other bloggers in your industry
Stephanie Sammons @stephsammons
The single biggest mistake that I see bloggers making, and that I’ve made myself up until very recently, is
not collaborating closely with other bloggers within your industry or profession.
When I first began blogging, I was very skeptical about showcasing or promoting any “potential”
competitors, but I was completely mistaken about this. By collaborating with and promoting your peers,
everyone benefits from increased traffic and visibility. All boats rise with the tide!
You could put a blogging group together in your local business community, or you could build a group
from across the world if you want to! Each group member could agree to comment on blog posts of
group members as well as promote posts through social media sites.
Remember, there’s enough business to go around, and you need to have an abundance mentality in
order to be a truly successful blogger. I plan to spend a lot more time figuring out ways to promote
other bloggers who work within my industry or share the same passions and interests. It’s really
important that we all help each other grow!
Stephanie Sammons, the voice behind Smart Social Pro.
Mistake #19: Not sharing your expertise
Carla Dewing @CarlaDewing
The single biggest mistake bloggers make is not sharing their expertise with other blogs and other
bloggers to build credibility, reputation and trust.
The fastest way to build a community online is to share information. Most bloggers think they’re doing
this because they post daily and interact with their community. By far the most common problem
Blogging Page 25
bloggers face is attracting loyal readers. But readers don’t come from a void—they come from other
authority blogs or sites where great information is shared and syndicated.
What’s lacking is the integration of guest posts into their own blogs, and being a guest author on other
blogs. This is how you rapidly build a community of targeted readers—by sharing excellent information
from and across a variety of sources, not just your own. Did you know that trust, credibility and a good
reputation can be shared too? If you do this, you won’t have to search for readers, they’ll find you!
Carla Dewing of Contrast Media.
#20: Sacrificing keyword-rich titles for cleverness
Jason Miller @JasonMillerCA
Many bloggers sacrifice keyword-rich titles for clever, attention-grabbing headlines they feel might
share better socially. However, doing so will ensure a quick trip to social media wasteland and cause
your content to be overlooked by its best friend, the search engine.
With a keyword-rich title, your blog post will live on in search indexes and become a resource instead
of a flash in the pan. Don’t rely on a magical combination of shares and retweets to carry the torch for
your hard work.
If you want to have a catchy title, put your keywords first, add a colon, and write an attention-grabber.
Remember, blogging is the social media rug that ties the room together. So make sure you’re getting it
the attention it deserves.
Jason Miller, social media marketing manager at Zoomerang.
Mistake #21: Neglecting blog SEO
Tim Ware @hyperarts
Certainly bloggers must make sure they engage with commenters and keep their blogs free from
spammy comments. However, the most important thing is that as many people as possible read posts.
This means that each post utilizes SEO (search engine optimization) best practices so that it ranks well
when the subject matter of the post is Googled. I feel neglecting this is the biggest mistake bloggers can
make.
Bloggers should make sure their posts have: 1) a descriptive, keyword-rich title; 2) a “permalink”
natural-language and keyword-rich URL; 3) section headers that are descriptive and utilize keywords
specific to each section; 4) “anchor” text (the text that is hyperlinked) that contains keywords relevant
to what’s being linked to; and, most importantly, 5) self-hosting your blog instead of using Blogger or
WordPress.com.
Also, a blog should have an SEO plugin like Headspace for WordPress or in some way be set up so that
bloggers can craft their own title and meta description tags for each post. All of these elements should
convey the subject matter of the post in a keyword-rich manner, top to bottom.
Tim Ware, owner of HyperArts Web Design.
What other blogging mistakes have you noticed? How would you improve your blogging? Please share
your comments in the box below.
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Blogging Page 26
Tools and Tips
June-16-11
11:41 AM
US Mobile Solutions Provider
http://www.txt180.com/why-txt180.php
Mobile Page 27
June-16-11
12:52 PM
(CNN) -- A confused crossword puzzle. A psychedelic postage stamp. A bar code on drugs.
This is how a QR, or Quick Response, code may appear to most people. You may have noticed these
black-and-white squares showing up in subway ads or in pages of magazines. Thanks to our growing
addiction to our smartphones, you'll likely be seeing more of them.
QR codes are showing up in more and more places: posters, storefront window displays, TV
advertisements, business cards, websites and even on T-shirts. When accessed with your phone, a QR
code takes you to a landing page where you'll usually find special promotional content.
The QR code was invented by a Japanese company called DENSO Corp., a subsidy of Toyota, in 1994.
The codes have been used in Japan for years and are quite common there. But only now are they
becoming mainstream in the United States.
Here's how they work:
First, you must download a QR scanning application for your smartphone. When you see a QR code on a
poster or billboard, open the scanning app and use the phone's camera to focus the code on your screen.
The application will recognize the code and automatically open up the link, video or image in your phone's
browser. You just need an internet connection to access the content.
Many QR scanning applications -- RedLaser is a popular one -- are available for Android, iPhone,
BlackBerry and Symbian phones. Anyone can generate their own QR code for free. And you can link it to
anything -- from URLs to contact information to your GPS location.
Brands and companies are increasingly taking advantage of this relatively low-cost marketing tool. Last
year, the animated movie "9" was promoted with green posters containing only a large QR code that took
users to a new trailer and special features.
A recent issue of Wired magazine included an ad by watchmaker Tag Heuer that contained a QR code
that led users to images of its latest collection of timepieces. Magazine ads have used QR codes to
promote everything from hair-care products to sheepskin boots to diamonds.
Mobile Page 28
Even New York City launched a QR code campaign in Times Square that linked to Notify NYC, the city's
official source of emergency events and services.
And people are responding. According to a February survey of U.S. smartphone users by MGH, a
Baltimore social-media marketing company, 32% of respondents said they have scanned a QR code.
Of those, 53% said they used the code to get a coupon or discount. And 72% said they were more likely
to remember an advertisement with a QR code.
Getting something extra
Matthias Galica, CEO of ShareSquare, a QR code platform, said he believes that QR codes have
changed the way people consume services and products.
"Imagine you see a poster of your favorite artist's upcoming concert," Galica said. "Usually, you would
have to go home to look them up. But QR codes work as paper-based hyperlinks that can lead you to
music videos, the site for MP3 downloads, and even purchase tickets right there."
But will that incentive prompt people to whip out their phones and scan the QR code? Galica seems to
thinks so, and reminds us using our phone to get something in return is not a new concept.
"The 'text to win' SMS campaigns have been very successful, and that's the trigger for QR codes," Galica
said. "Something like getting a coupon through a QR code is a powerful call to action."
Mobile coupon apps by companies such as Groupon and Living Social also may have helped familiarize
consumers with the idea of using their smartphones to earn discounts.
The kind of mobile content that the QR code leads to is as equally important as creating one. Rich
Brooks, CEO of flyte new media, a Web design and internet marketing firm, said the rewards one gets
through scanning QR codes should be valuable.
Brooks said he once came across a company's Facebook page whose avatar was a QR code. When he
scanned the code with his phone, it led him to the same Facebook page he had opened on his computer,
leaving him disappointed.
"I mean, what's the point of that?" he said. "You need to deliver something that is not available elsewhere
and is something worthwhile, surprising,"
Brooks suggests QR codes should lead to discount coupons, a virtual tour of a real-estate property or a
never-before-seen video, for example.
"You can the damage the brand of the company if you don't provide something of significant value," he
said. "And I would not want to use your company."
A Lupe fiasco?
An ill-conceived QR code promotion can even backfire.Take the case of a recent promotional event
surrounding the pre-release of hip-hop artist Lupe Fiasco's third full-length album, "Lasers."
On a chilly night in February, Fiasco fans flocked to New York's Union Square after getting a mysterious
tweet from him that said, "union square, nyc. just look up in the sky. 7pm."
Fans saw a laser show, projected high on the side of a nearby warehouse. The show ended with a
customized RedLaser QR code that Fiasco's Twitter followers recognized immediately as his Twitter icon.
The code took smartphone users to a landing page that let them pre-order the album. A spokeswoman for
eBay, which owns RedLaser, told CNN in an e-mail that the event was "a huge success" and that
approximately 25 percent of pre-orders for Fiasco's "Lasers" album were driven by the company's QR
code.
But according to several bloggers who were there, the event disappointed fans who expected the
Mobile Page 29
But according to several bloggers who were there, the event disappointed fans who expected the
Chicago rapper to show up and put on a surprise concert.
"The QR Code flashed and played previews for what looked like a music video -- with no sound," wrote
Myles Tanzer on a New York University blog. "People began to walk away very quickly, to say the least."
Tanzer said some fans left the scene vowing to download the album online for free.
QR codes on 34th Street
On the other hand, experts say, Macy's iconic New York department store seems to have gotten QR
codes right.
Early in 2011, QR codes began appearing inside Macy's trademark stars in storefront windows and
strategically inside the store. Even sales associates wore lanyards with the code for customers to use.
When scanned, the code directs customers to Macy's special "Backstage Pass" landing page that offers
behind-the-scenes videos of star designers such as Martha Stewart putting the finishing touches to a
cake.
Holly Thomas, vice president of media relations at Macy's, said that the store saw the opportunity to use
QR codes to deliver unique content, especially when customers are not in front of a computer.
"It's one application that can speak to customers across so many vehicles," she said. "QR codes are such
a sensible way to send content with immediacy."
And the campaign has met with some success. According to Thomas, during one week in February, there
were an estimated 20,000 downloads through QR codes alone.
Presenting a QR code
Both Galica and Brooks said they believe the United States has reached a tipping point in terms of
smartphone usage. In other words, most affluent professionals -- the kind of person advertisers love -have smartphones now, making it necessary to include QR codes with all marketing material.
However, Wayne Sutton, a digital marketing strategist, said that how marketers present a QR code will
differ from company to company. He cited a recent Calvin Klein billboard in New York that contained a
massive red QR code under the title "Get it uncensored" and nothing else. Calvin Klein could get away
with it because the ad was edgy, just like the company, he said.
"At this early age of QR codes, though, there should be additional information and images on the poster
(to provide context)," Sutton said.
That does not mean that companies cannot get creative with their QR code marketing. Sutton said that
many QR codes can have patterns or logos embedded in them and around them, as long as the code
itself works properly.
To ShareSquare's Galica, there's something about a basic black and white QR code, and the promise of
its hidden message, that makes it striking.
"I'll admit, it's not a beautiful thing and stands out as a sore thumb," he said. "But it ends up being a signal
that gets you something in return."
Measuring success
Like internet ads, QR codes can help companies measure how many people are using the code and at
what time. By having easily traceable analytics, marketing firms can view results and know if their QR
code campaign is successful.
"QR codes may not give the best immediate returns of investments, but they can tell a prospective buyer
how cool and hip your company is," Brooks said.
But more work needs to be done to raise awareness among American consumers about QR codes and
how they work, experts said.
Mobile Page 30
While some consumers know how to use their phone cameras to scan, many do not. Galica said he
believes scanning QR codes is not always intuitive and should not be taken for granted. He suggests that
QR codes should be accompanied with text such as, "Scan with any barcode scanner on your phone."
It is important, he said, to communicate the use of QR codes; otherwise, there is point in having them at
all.
"If you don't have the opportunity to interact with an advertisement you see, the meaning is lost," Galica
said.
Still, experts said QR codes are here to stay and will revolutionize the way companies market their
products -- as long as they reward consumers with content that is relevant to them.
"QR codes can be a powerful tool of marketing if they are leveraged in a clever way," Sutton said.
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expire=&title=Marketers+embracing+QR+codes%2C+for+better+or+worse+-+ CNN.com&urlID=
449751397&action=cpt&partnerID=212106&fb=Y&url=http%3A%2F%2Fedition.cnn.com% 2F2011%
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8 Creative uses of QR Codes
Monday, July 11, 2011
11:50 AM
http://econsultancy.com/us/blog/7700-eight-creative-uses-of-qr-codes?
utm_medium=email&utm_source=topic
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TripAdvisor Survey Reveals That Travelers Find Mobile Devices
Make Good Travel Companions
June-16-11
11:40 AM
TripAdvisor Survey Reveals That Travelers Find Mobile Devices Make Good Travel Companions
http://www.tripadvisor.com/PressCenter-i4720-c1-Pre ss_Releases.html
Nearly 40 Percent of U.S. Respondents Have Planned Trips Using Mobile Devices; 60 Percent
Have Downloaded Travel Apps
NEWTON, Mass., May 25, 2011 PRNewswire/ -- TripAdvisor®, the world's largest travel site*, today
announced the results of its mobile device travel survey of more than 1,000 U.S. respondents with mobile
devices. Thirty-eight percent have used their mobile devices to plan a trip and 60 percent of respondents
said they have downloaded travel apps on their mobile devices.
To view the multimedia assets associated with this release, please click:
http://multivu.prnewswire.com/mnr/tripadvisor/ 42953/
(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/ 20110525/MM07616 )
(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20080902/ TRIPADV ISORLOGO)
While the main reason to bring a mobile phone on trips remains making calls, according to 47 percent, 19
percent cited communicating online through services like chat and email as the most important function.
Phone Plus
Thirty-eight percent said they often use their mobile devices for tasks other than calls when traveling, and
28 percent said they always do.
Other than calls and texting, the top activities travelers use their mobile devices for when traveling
include:
 65% taking/sharing photos
 54% surfing online
 52% navigation
 48% staying on top of the news
 36% games
Mobile for Travel Planning
When asked what parts of the travel planning process they conduct on their mobile:
 52% researched restaurants
 46% read about destinations
 45% read traveler reviews
 42% booked or researched accommodations
 34% booked or researched flights
On the Road Activities
While traveling, 62 percent of travelers said they use their mobile devices to research restaurants. Fifty one percent check their flight status and 46 percent research attractions. Twenty-eight percent have
checked in to a restaurant, hotel or attraction using their mobile device while on a trip.
Other Mobile Device Travel Tidbits
 23 percent have reviewed a hotel, restaurant, or attraction they've visited using a mobile device
while on a trip.
 38 percent post status updates to social networking sites to keep friends updated on their travels.
 47 percent of respondents have used their mobile devices internationally.
 The greatest frustration with mobile devices when traveling, not surprisingly, is sporadic
connectivity, according to 35 percent, while 25 percent identified small screens as their biggest
mobile device gripe.
 75 percent of respondents said they use GPS devices when traveling.
 59 percent of travelers have used the GPS capabilities of their mobile devices.
"Smartphone adoption around the world is skyrocketing, and is fundamentally changing the way people
get travel advice," said Mike Putnam, director of mobile product for TripAdvisor. "Whether it is finding the
perfect museum or restaurant, booking a hotel or a flight, or sharing advice, it is clear that travelers
around the world now rely on their smartphones and other mobile devices to plan and have better trips."
Mobile Page 44
TripAdvisor recently launched a new "My Saves" feature for its mobile websites and apps that allows
travelers to save hotel, restaurant, and attraction pages so they can easily find them again for future
reference. TripAdvisor has free mobile apps available for the iPhone, Android, Windows Phone 7, Nokia,
and Palm smartphones, the iPad, and a mobile website available for all major mobile devices.
More information about TripAdvisor Mobile can be found at www.tripadvisor.com/mobile.
About TripAdvisor
TripAdvisor® is the world's largest travel site, enabling travelers to plan and have the perfect trip.
TripAdvisor offers trusted advice from real travelers and a wide variety of travel choices and planning
features (including Flights search, TripAdvisor Mobile and Instant Personalization) with seamless links to
booking tools.
TripAdvisor® Media Group, operated by TripAdvisor LLC, attracts more than 50 million unique monthly
visitors* across 18 popular travel brands**. TripAdvisor-branded sites make up the largest travel
community in the world, with more than 40 million unique monthly visitors***, 20 million members, and
over 45 million reviews and opinions. The sites operate in 29 countries worldwide****, including China
under daodao.com. TripAdvisor also operates TripAdvisor for Business, a dedicated division that provides
the tourism industry access to TripAdvisor's millions of monthly visitors. The division includes Business
Listings, which allows hoteliers to connect directly to millions of researching travelers, and Vacation
Rentals, which helps property managers and individual home owners list their properties and showcase
hotel alternatives.
TripAdvisor Media Group websites have been recognized as top travel resources in 2010 by Conde
Naste
Mobile Page 45
June-16-11
11:38 AM
May 26, 2011 | Online Travel
http://hotelmarketing.com/index.php/content/article/how_travelers_make_us e_of_mobile_devices
TripAdvisor announced the results of its mobile device travel survey of more than 1,000 U.S. respondents
with mobile devices. Thirty-eight percent have used their mobile devices to plan a trip and 60 percent of
respondents said they have downloaded travel apps on their mobile devices.
While the main reason to bring a mobile phone on trips remains making calls, according to 47 percent, 19
percent cited communicating online through services like chat and email as the most important function.
Phone Plus
Thirty-eight percent said they often use their mobile devices for tasks other than calls when traveling, and
28 percent said they always do.
Other than calls and texting, the top activities travelers use their mobile devices for when traveling
include:
65% taking/sharing photos
54% surfing online
52% navigation
48% staying on top of the news
36% games
Mobile for Travel Planning
When asked what parts of the travel planning process they conduct on their mobile:
52% researched restaurants
46% read about destinations
45% read traveler reviews
42% booked or researched accommodations
34% booked or researched flights
On the Road Activities
While traveling, 62 percent of travelers said they use their mobile devices to research restaurants. Fifty one percent check their flight status and 46 percent research attractions. Twenty-eight percent have
checked in to a restaurant, hotel or attraction using their mobile device while on a trip.
Other Mobile Device Travel Tidbits
23 percent have reviewed a hotel, restaurant, or attraction they‟ve visited using a mobile device while on
a trip.
38 percent post status updates to social networking sites to keep friends updated on their travels.
47 percent of respondents have used their mobile devices internationally.
The greatest frustration with mobile devices when traveling, not surprisingly, is sporadic connectivity,
according to 35 percent, while 25 percent identified small screens as their biggest mobile device gripe.
75 percent of respondents said they use GPS devices when traveling.
59 percent of travelers have used the GPS capabilities of their mobile devices.
"Smartphone adoption around the world is skyrocketing, and is fundamentally changing the way people
get travel advice," said Mike Putnam, director of mobile product for TripAdvisor. "Whether it is finding the
perfect museum or restaurant, booking a hotel or a flight, or sharing advice, it is clear that travelers
around the world now rely on their smartphones and other mobile devices to plan and have better trips."
TripAdvisor recently launched a new "My Saves" feature for its mobile websites and apps that allows
travelers to save hotel, restaurant, and attraction pages so they can easily find them again for future
reference. TripAdvisor has free mobile apps available for the iPhone, Android, Windows Phone 7, Nokia,
and Palm smartphones, the iPad, and a mobile website available for all major mobile devices.
Mobile Page 46
Smartphone mobile travel strategy means immediacy, push
alerts and video
July-14-11
Forrester:
Smartphone mobile travel strategy means immediacy, push alerts and video
9:26 AM
Posted by Dennis Schaal
on 13 July 2011
Travel companies should consider providing push alerts, the ability to modify or cancel
reservations, and plenty of video and augmented reality as part of an effective mobile strategy,
according to a new Forrester Research study.
The study, Why Smartphones Will Become One of Travel‘s Two Most Important Touchpoints ,
written by Henry Harteveldt, notes that while only 22% of U.S. adults have smartphones, 35% of
U.S. online leisure travelers and 55% of U.S. business travelers use these mobile devices.
―This critical mass of adoption enables — make that compels — travel organizations to develop
and executive smartphone-based eBusiness strategies and tactics that will keep them connected
with their travelers, an audience that is willingly tethered to their smartphones,‖ the study says.
By 2013, smartphone will join traditional websites as the two most important touchpoints in
travel, Forrester says.
The research firm makes a series of recommendations on how travel companies should address
the new mobile landscape. Among them:
 Travel companies should ensure their apps can identify the user‘s mobile location, provide
push alerts and have the ability to run when the traveler has no Wi-Fi or cellular
connection.
―To keep app users engaged, travel sellers must configure their CRM systems to track travelers‘
usage — including the ability to send alerts when a person‘s usage falls below predetermined
levels, so the travel seller can reach out to the traveler to re-engage him,‖ the study says.
 Travel sellers need to meet travelers‘ expectations in terms of ―what they want when they
want it‖ and offering the ability to easily modify or cancel reservations should be a top
priority, the study says. And, taking advantage of smartphones‘ GPS capabilities will help
ensure that travel companies can provide the most relevant offers, the study says.
 Acknowledging that ―it won‘t be easy,‖ the study advises travel sellers to inspire their
customers by ensuring that apps and mobile sites provide easy navigation to video
content, which should be formatted to fit nicely on a smartphone screen. Augmented
reality, too, should be part of the mix, the study advises.
―For example, if consumers gain the ability to virtually try on clothing from a retailer‘s smartphone
app, will they soon expect the ability to ‗try on‘ your business class seats, hotel rooms or
shipboard spa? (Hint: The answer is yes.)‖
And, with smartphones especially suited for last-minute bookings, Forrester argues that new
travel revenue-management models will emerge over the next couple of years.
Says Forrester: ―Under this scenario, a traveler at LaGuardia Airport using an app to find a hotel
in midtown Manhattan for a same-day arrival might be offered a higher rate than a traveler at
Boston Logan Airport using the same app for a room at the same hotel for the same night.‖
Mobile Page 47
July-14-11
10:02 AM
Mobile By Tom Sather on July 12, 2011
Mobile is new territory for many email marketers. More than ever, emails are being opened
and read on mobile devices from just about anywhere throughout the day. The most
important thing to keep in mind when designing for the small screen is to look at your
subscriber list and determine if they're a growing, relevant segment. If subscribers follow
the trends outlined in "Email on the Move: The Future of Mobile Messaging," then consider
these tips to get them reading:
•
•
•
Tom Sather
Contact
More by author
Can't read what you can't see
Don't forget about placing "alt text." By writing compelling and descriptive text, you can be
sure your email message will be understood, even when images are disabled.
Time of day really matters
Many people wake up to checking email on their mobile devices as they prepare for the
day. If you find your email is being read more than once, in multiple environments, it may
mean that your email made it through the first sweep and has been given a second chance
read-through at the office. Testing the timing of your sends can help make the entrance
into the early morning inbox sweep.
Stay informed. For more insights into the latest brand marketing strategies, attend the
iMedia Brand Summit, Sept. 11-14. Request your invitation today.
Getting the second-take look
Your subject line must be compelling to improve open rates, and don't underestimate the
importance of the header either -- its preview can help bolster the chances that your email
is opened.
Understanding mobile devices
iPhones don't offer the function for a subscriber to mark emails as spam. If your mobile
readership is high, you may find that your complaint rate is low. Because this avenue for
feedback has been removed, make sure to monitor your unsubscribes as a more reliable
way to gauge feedback for a high mobile subscriber list.
Offers and coupons
If you're geo-targeting or offering mobile coupons note the offer in your subject line. Mobile
users are more likely to open a campaign if they may come across an opportunity to use
your offers while on-the-go.
Cater to iPhone or BlackBerry?
Evaluate your list and determine which mobile device subscribers favor, then you can
optimize specifically for the reader. For example, if your list favors iPhones, you can feel
comfortable sending image-heavy email because this device automatically enables
images. Conversely, the default for BlackBerrys is image suppression.
Make your website compatible
If a large segment of readers are viewing emails on Apple products, including the iPhone
or iPad, they will not be compatible with your Flash-based website. Meaning, this will not
only make a reader unable to follow through on your call-to-actions, but it will also frustrate
subscribers. So consider your site's compatibility with the user in mind.
Following these tips will help you effectively serve the growing segment of mobile email
readers. Also, consider offering subscribers a choice to select a primary mail reader so you
can optimize messages accordingly. Finally, remember to regularly check subscriber's
usage to evaluate the best course of action, and test, test, test!
Tom Sather is director of professional services for Return Path.
On Twitter? Follow iMedia Connection at @iMediaTweet.
Mobile Page 48
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utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%
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Mobile Page 49
How is mobile technology redefining the customer
relationship?
July-14-11
10:55 AM
How is mobile technology redefining the customer relationship?
Posted by Brent Leary in Customer experience, Social CRM on Thu, 14/07/2011 - 01:00
inShare7
As part of his ongoing series of roundtable interviews, social CRM guru Brent
Leary talk s to leading experts from the world of CRM and social CRM about topical issues
and the industry at large. This month Brent's panel discusses the impact of mobile
technology on CRM and social CRM.
From left to right, this roundtable session's panel consists of...
Brent Leary: Brent Leary is a crm industry analyst, advisor, author, speaker and award
winning blogger. He is co-founder and Partner of CRM Essentials LLC, an Atlanta based
CRM advisory firm covering tools and strategies for improving business relationships. In
2009 he co-authored Barack 2.0: Social Media Lessons for Small Business.
Recognised by InsideCRM as one of the 25 most influential industry leaders, Leary also is
a past recipient of CRM Magazine's Most Influential Leader Award. He serves on the
national board of the CRM Association, on the advisory board of the University of
Toronto's CRM Center of Excellence, and on the editorial advisory board for The Atlanta
Tribune. Leary writes a regular online column for Inc. magazine , and blogs
at BrentLeary.com. He can be found on Twitter at http://twitter.com/BrentLeary.
Maribel Lopez: Maribel Lopez is a principal analyst and vice president at Constellation
Research Group. She is also the CEO of Lopez Research, a market research and
strategy consulting firm that specialises in communications technologies with a heavy
emphasis on the disruptive nature of mobile technologies. Maribel‟s mission is to
understand the evolution of these industries, provide thought leadership, and assist both
enterprise and technology vendor clients in building winning market strategies.
Steve Drake: Stephen Drake is the program vice president for mobility & telecom research
at IDC. In this position, he has responsibility for the mobile enterprise, mobile SMB, mobile
device coverage, IP communication services and also contributes to IDC's unified
communication research. Drake has more than 10 years experience as an analyst prior to
joining IDC in 1997, he was a research associate with Giga Information Group
(subsequently acquired by Forrester Research) where he conducted primary and
secondary research on a wide array of IT topics in the end-user community.
Josh Greenbaum: Joshua Greenbaum is the principal of Enterprise Applications
Consulting, with over 25 years of experience in the industry as a computer programmer,
systems analyst, author, consultant, and industry analyst. He spent three years in Europe
as an industry analyst and as European correspondent for Information Week and other
industry publications. In his role as an industry analyst, Josh regularly consults with leading
public and private enterprise software, database, and infrastructure companies, and
advises end-users on technology infrastructure and applications selection, development,
and implementation issues. An award-winning columnist, Josh is widely quoted in the trade
and business press.
Brent Leary's SCRM roundtable - How is mobile technology redefining the customer
relationship? by Neil Davey on Mixcloud
Mobile Page 50
OR CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD MP3 OF THE PODCAST (right-click, save as).
Brent Leary: Hello, this is Brent Leary and we are about to do a great roundtable
conversation from MyCustomer.com, part of the Social CRM Roundtable conversation
services. Today, we are going to be talking about the impact of the latest and greatest
mobile technology on the customer relationship. Yes, this has definite implications for
social CRM, because everything that involves computers and technology and devices that
people love to use, definitely impact the customer relationship. So today with me, this is a
great roundtable. So, starting off and I am sorry, I am in the south so I am going to do that
ladies first theme, although we are in the 21st century. I am still going to do it. I would like
to welcome Maribel Lopez. Maribel is the principle and vice president for Constellation
Research and also founder of Lopez Research. Maribel, thank you for joining me today.
Maribel Lopez: Thank you.
Brent Leary: Steve Drake is the program vice president for mobility and telecom at IDC.
Steve, thanks for joining me.
Steve Drake: Thanks Brent.
Brent Leary: Last, but certainly not least, is Josh Greenbaum, who is the principle for
Enterprise Applications Consulting and he is also a man of intrigue. Josh, thanks for joining
me today.
Josh Greenbaum: {chuckles} What an intriguing intro. Thank you so much, glad to be
here.
Brent Leary: Well, this is a really timely to be talking about this and so I am going to just
jump right in it and go to Maribel first and ask, your opinion on what have things like the
iPad (and the multitudes of tablet devices, and the latest and greatest mobile technology)
impacted, maybe at a general level, the relationship between customers and vendors
today?
Maribel Lopez: I think one of the most compelling things about mobile is the way we have
access to data. Having the new devices that have come out, they are connected, they
have location and they have access to CRM systems. You combine those and you have
the ability to know information about your customer. Get routing information and have realtime access to anything that is going on with them, not just the CRM database, but in any
of the other social feeds.
We really see mobile, social and local coming together to change the customer experience
and to enhance how businesses deal with customers, and what kind of information they
have.
Brent Leary: Steve, what do you think?
Steve Drake: I think tablets in particular seem to be really transforming the way that
organisations can begin to reach their customers. We have been hearing about, not only
the portability of the device, but the large displays, quick 'on' device and the power of those
types of UI's and robust views are allowing, for example, sales folks to really demonstrate
their offerings, solutions and services. Like I said, in a much more robust way, they weren't
able to do before. Oddly enough, we are hearing that in some cases there are companies
out there that are looking to actually replace laptops because of the successes of some of
those tablets.
Now, it's not certainly widespread taking over all laptops, but definitely in certain pockets
because of the kind of success that the tablets are having in the enterprise for those kinds
of companies. It's really again, changing the way that companies are looking at how they
can deploy these services.
"Tablets in particular seem to be really transforming the way that organisations can
begin to reach their customers." - Steve Drake
Josh Greenbaum: I'll jump in before you ask me Brent. I think in particular for me, in
addition to what Maribel and Steve said, I think the rich user experience of that graphical
interface, really next generation graphical interface that Apple threw out in the market very
quickly, adopted by everyone. We now have this extremely rich and exceptional user
Mobile Page 51
experience that not only is able to display on these, particularly the larger tablet devices,
very, very complex and engaging interfaces to the customer, but also, the tablets
themselves are becoming more and more a nexus for social activity in and of
themselves. Essentially, I just saw Walt Mossberg take after the new HP tablet because its
only has one camera, it doesn't have two. It doesn't have a back and a front one and that's
the new standard. That is partly because those two cameras are a richer engagement with
the users and it extends the user community around a single tablet. That kind of
extendibility of the tablet, within its parameter, having its own community around it, means
that these tablets can really start positioning social CRM for actual new forms of interaction
as well.
Maribel Lopez: I would like to pick up on what Josh just said there, because there are two
important things that he is picking up on. One, we talk about everyone has talked about
having tablets. one of the things that we don't talk about is a lot of enterprises are
extremely excited that sales people are going out and buying their own tablets now
because of that user experience. They wanted to have that user experience and now we
can enable a wide range of employees within the organisation because they are buying
their own devices and in some cases are even willing to pay for their own plans. So all we
have to do as corporations is give them access to the right tools in a secure way.
The second thing that Josh was bringing up around user experience and the front -rear
facing cameras, there is a lot of interesting things happening in the consumer
side. Augmented reality - I believe augmented reality is going to come to the
enterprise and it's going to allow you to take what was pretty static content and make it
very interactive.
Also the cameras in these devices, allow you to, as I say, see other things and do
overlays, but also do a great amount of data capture in a very rich way, in terms of video
and images that we didn't have before that can go back into CRM systems and provide
tremendous value to the business.
Steve Drake: Brent, if I could be a contrarian here. Certainly there are lots of good things
going on with all of these, but it also raises a large number of challenges as well for
organisations. First and foremost I think when you start talking about this, more devices
and how you manage that in terms of managing and supporting and such, but managing
the idea that this is an additional data plan that you need to deal with, the additional costs
of the hardware in and of itself…
Recently, we have talked a lot about the idea of individual-liable type devices coming into
the enterprise. The idea that there's lots of challenges beyond the technology of support
and managing those when it comes down to things such as compliance policies,
regulations, whether it is a government kind of regulation or an internal kind of regulation things that go down to the HR level. There are certainly certain countries, we have talked
to a lot of CIOs, where they literally have to go from country to country within their large
multinational organisation to understand if this is allowed in our country. Some countries in
Europe, there are union regulations that say, as a corporate employee I must receive a
corporate device. I think that with all of the positives, it opens up a lot of challenges for a
number of these companies to support ad manage the influx and how do we plan for this
going forward, whether it is multiple device data plan or overall kind of manage and
support. Again the whole kind of everything from compliance to privacy, driving policies all
become quite challenging when you add this sort of device in the mix.
"Augmented reality is going to come to the enterprise and it's going to allow you to
take what was pretty static content and make it very interactive." - Maribel Lopez
Josh Greenbaum: Is it safe to say I am a contrarian with you? I absolutely agree,
100%. This is huge. In effect, this speaks to the larger question for this convergence of
consumer and the enterprise is one of the big struggles in corporate IT, and that's from the
IT and from the enterprise standpoint. But there is a similar issue at the consumer side, at
the customer side, the people that we are trying to reach with social CRM. They too have
this problem. If you are sitting at work, you want to have some limits as to what are the
inputs that can come into your mobile device, you don't want to suddenly have your work
day interrupted with offers for the latest consumer items for some retailer you are
connected to. So I think there is this issue in addition to the protecting the innate security
of the enterprise with this proliferation of the loosely controlled devices. There is also a
question of being about to separate consumer and enterprise in ways that are appropriate
for both models.
Brent Leary: Let me pick up on something and toss it over to you Maribel, because you
Mobile Page 52
guys just really brought up a number of challenges to companies for being able to really
fully utilise these new devices, but one question I had was around utilising the new devices
to create opportunities to engage. We see a lot of companies that are beginning to look at
how to create content that looks good on a mobile device, but it is mostly push content or
push messages, not really getting into engagement or utilising the mobile device to fully be
engaged or interact. Maribel, are you seeing companies fully embrace these social tools
and use mobile devices to connect for a traditional purpose of push marketing or are you
actually seeing them change in terms of their culture, towards interaction?
Maribel Lopez: A little bit of both. I think push is obviously easier, but if we look at some of
the things that are going on in pharma and health care, they are creating rich documents. If
you show somebody a price list or a drug list, you really have about fifteen seconds before
they want to walk away, but if you start showing them interactive videos and create a
dialogue around the possible with different products, it's actually very engaging for the
customer base.
If you look at what's happening in the medical environment in terms of patient care being
able to take electronic health records and place them on tablets and smart devices and
being able to do things like check in medicine to make sure that we are giving people the
right drugs, scanning bar codes and the like. There are definitely lots of ways business is
changing as a result of that. Then there is also the move to the next generation of
collaboration, where we have tablets and we can do collaboration on the go. Things such
as expert services in the field - if you are in the field, changing a piece of equipment and
something's wrong and you need to talk to somebody back at the office, you can now do
that with the next generation of mobile devices.
Josh Greenbaum: I think Maribel wasn't there, I don't know if you were there at Sapphire,
SAP Sapphire show, but I know Brent and Steve and I were there, and there they showed
during one of the keynotes, the Avon app on the iPad for the Avon sales people. To go out,
instead of lugging samples and catalogues, they have got this beautiful iPad. That was a
good example and the fact they didn't say when they demo'd it was it was not SAP
employees, it was a real live Avon rep - and this was how she was changing her
business. Now she is changing her interactions with her customers. I thought it was an
interesting example of how that works.
Maribel Lopez: Yes, we are starting to see lots of kiosk apps go into stores to
demonstrate products. Avon is a great example - lots of opportunities I think.
I actually also agree with the challenges that were brought up earlier. I think that there is a
level of management and security that needs to be installed to make these work for
enterprises.
Brent Leary: Let's pick up on another subject that came up at the Sapphire event, which
was the potential that a technology like near field communications (NFC) could have on
mobile commerce, but also customer interaction with the companies. Steve, what does
NFC have to offer and do you think we will actually see it getting into the mainstream
anytime soon?
"One of my concerns is that there's a tendency to see this as purely goodness and I
think there is some concerns in the consumer world that this NFC is really the
beginning of a slightly too invasive relationship." - Josh Greenbaum
Steve Drake: Well, I think there's a real opportunity, when you talk about improvement of
that customer experience, the opportunity to leverage that device - your device that you
likely always have with you - for payment purposes. I think this is something that we see
and in general lots of those mobile banking issues are much further along outside of the
US part of the problem - and you can probably go back to previous challenges with some
things like texting, as an example, probably five or six years ago - we had just gotten
interoperable so a T-Mobile customer could send a Verizon customer a text. There are a
lot of stakeholders that get involved in these issues. You have got retail stores that have
got to have the equipment ready. You have to have the device OEMs to make sure that
the devices are ready. Anytime banks get involved, carriers get involved. There are a lot of
ownership issues of who owns the customer. There is no question that the opportunity is
out there to really improve the idea of leveraging something that is already out there. Sort
of that lowest common denominator, if you will, of something that really would improve the
way you buy and leveraging that mobile wallet.
On top of that there are new opportunities for new companies when you talk about
marketing and different campaigns and promotions that companies can put out. I think that
Mobile Page 53
started out in this country a little bit, but it falls a little short but when you add an NFC actually couponing or promoting particular products and then be able to act on that at a
retail site - I think becomes very interesting. I think it is coming along. I think that it starts
with the devices being able to support those increasingly coming aboard - certain retail
shops today are beginning to deploy those, and banks coming on board. I think you will
begin to see that in the midterm, in the next couple of years we will see much more
widespread because I think it is something that will improve that day -to-day use case.
When you look at all of the interties, whether it is end-user improvement, all of the
companies that are involved in deploying it potentially, all their vendors and retail folks that
can really enhance the customer experience and improve their opportunity to sell more. I
think those are all positives that make them want to expand this.
Brent Leary: Josh, I am going to ask you if Apple were to say they were going to include
NFC chips in their next release of the iPhone5 , what impact do you think that would have
on the adoption of NFC?
Josh Greenbaum: Before I answer that question I have to pose my own question, am I
the only one that is concerned about this technology, in terms of the potential for
invasiveness? This is one of my concerns, that there's a tendency to see this as purely
goodness and I think there is some concerns in the consumer world that this NFC is really
the beginning of a slightly too invasive relationship between our consumer selves, our
technology and retailers who are trying to reach out to us.
Maybe that is my contrarian position. I'd love to hear if someone wants to challenge that or
not. I am not sure that's exactly the greatest thing to happen to mobility, personally.
Maribel Lopez: I guess I will take the flip side of that for a second, because I don't think it
is just NFC. We have got NFC, location based services, scanning of bar codes, there are a
lot of things that are going on there and I think that absolutely we are going to fall over our
skies. Someone is going to go too far, but we have seen this happen again and again with
Facebook and people, by and large have not fallen out in droves on Facebook. All of the
privacy issues, maybe they're not...
Josh Greenbaum: Brent, can we tell them what we talked about before. What we were
just talking about before we started?
Brent Leary: I know that Josh was going to go in this direction because just recently he
posted about how he is going to disable his Facebook account due to some privacy
issues. So this is actually right along with the theme.
Josh Greenbaum: Today is day one of Facebook free life for me.
Maribel Lopez: There you go and I think that some people will opt out and I think what is
going to happen is somebody will go too far and everybody will flip out but then we will
know where the boundary is. We have to get to the point where we know where the
boundary is because I think that technologies are very powerful and someone will have to
make that leap of faith and mistake and then we will all know where it is and then we will
be able to use them.
I also think that we need to have some control over them. Just because you have NFC,
there should be a way for you to turn it off if you don't want to have it on all the time,
right?
"If you can provide me relevant information, then these services are valuable, if not,
they are just an intrusion on my privacy. I think we move to context aware services."
Maribel Lopez
Josh Greenbaum: Not just turn it on and off. I want some real fine grade of controls. That
is my problem with Facebook. Every time I think that I have their privacy adjusted, there is
something I cannot adjust. I like having my GPS on my phone. I don't want that to be a
totally binary action. I want to be able to control that. I don't necessarily want every aspect
of that on all the time. I think that is the problem, we need to have some more complex
dials to this technology in order to give consumers the comfort they will begin to demand.
Steve Drake: There is no question the privacy issue is huge, whether it is Facebook, NFC
or again, even that user that is leveraging their own device for the company. There is lot of
implications there and Maribel has a good point about where those boundaries
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are. Unfortunately in some of these cases, it could be a catastrophic boundary. We have
already seen examples of mobile malware that have come in and really changed the way because we are doing so much on our phones. We are quick to say accept and yes, yes,
yes and move forward on our devices. There will be increasing payment exchanges from
not only person-to-person, but person to other equipment and other companies that will
have lots of opportunities for malicious activity there. Again, there has been a lot that has
gone on already. But nothing huge and until that sort of catastrophic front page, New York
Times comes about, people don't get to excited or worried about it. Unfortunately, it may
take something large and I think there has been lots going on in the none-mobile world,
whether its laptops or hacking of various websites and getting contact information that is
pretty private.
Unfortunately, the boundary may actually be a pretty catastrophic one if we hit on some of
these.
Brent Leary: It sounds to me like people just love the technology. People love social. They
love mobile and even though there are these missteps, how can you forget too fat to fly or
United breaks guitars or even the Anthony Weiner situation, we see these really big
missteps, but it doesn't seem to slow the adoption of technology and social into
mainstream and even the business world. Maybe this is the time to ask, because we need
to wrap up this great conversation. Let me ask each of you, if you were to peer out into the
future, maybe a year or two years from now, where is mobility going to impact the
customer-vendor relationship the most? Is it something new that we haven't seen?
Maribel Lopez: I think we move to context to where engagement and experience. So, my
phone knows where I am, my calendar, knows if I am late for an appointment or if I have
time. It can check my LinkedIn and see if anybody's nearby and also knows that I happen
to like Tapas, and a friend of mine near by likes Tapas and really starts to create services
and intelligence that are meaningful for me. The issue is not so much about privacy, I think
it's about relevancy. If you can provide me relevant information, then these services are
valuable, if not, they are just an intrusion on my privacy. I think we move to context aware
services.
Steve Drake: I would agree. I think there is going to be some new and amazing
experiences for end user customers. Again, thinking of a retail scenario, there are
companies today like Coca-Cola already looking at as you walk into a particular store, how
they can create an experience for you as a customer. This, from a technical perspective
from Coke, from the retailer, they can leverage lots of different backend information and a
lot of what Maribel had mentioned, context aware, knowing who you are, how old you are
and what your interests are and then be able to push out a particular marketing campaigns
and allow for you to have a new experience. They know you have kids there while you are
doing this, can you offer up a game or offer up a particular marketing promotion. Can you
provide this new experience where you know what you need to get shopping and it tells
you where to go where things are and sponsored by a particular company or
whatever. Really changing that customer, perhaps, shopping experience and much
improved for that customer but also for the product folks getting into a much bigger
touch. Retail guys as well, being able to really provide a new differentiated play, so that
maybe I will come back to this store because it is a really cool setup.
I feel like we have just scratched the surface on these devices. No one thinks twice about
using their device for the mobile web today, whereas, just a few years ago, it was a pretty
horrible experience. I think these kinds of things will continue to improve in pretty large
leaps when we start to think about what we can do with these devices.
Really, scratching the surface from sort of singular types of uses, to really integrated
offerings that truly embrace your whole society with it. At what point, you are walking
through your daily life that you'll be able to leverage this for various types of use cases. I
think this will come certainly sooner then it may sound, certainly coming up in the next
couple of years.
Josh Greenbaum: Gaming and virtual reality I think these are two very exciting
engagement tools that we are going to see more of in the consumer and the end-user
experience in general. Not just attached to mobile devices, but I think mobility has a
tremendous value for gamification. I saw a Swedish ERP company that showed me a
prototype of a field service virtual reality app that was fascinating. A warehouse
management company that has a pick and pack game for warehouse pick and pack. You
are out there trying to beat the best time in the warehouse and you are getting points for
it. It's on your little mobile device. It's kind of fun. It has a cute interface.
Mobile Page 55
I think we are going to have those type of engagement models, particularly the
gamification. Not sure games per say, but adding game elements and the incentives ad
rewards and peer recognition that comes out of the online multi-user gaming world and
putting that into the mobile device in the enterprise, both for the consumers interactions
with the company as well as the internal interactions of the company. Gaming is already
one of the hottest things happening in mobile today and its going to enter the enterprise in
a big way, very, very soon.
Pasted from <http://www.mycustomer.com/topic/social-crm/mobile-megatrends-and-missteps-defining-customer-relationships/127695>
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Top 10 SMS Campaign Dos and Don'ts
July-18-11
9:37 PM
TOP 10 SMS Campaign DO’s:
• Integrate SMS into the entire marketing mix including traditional (TV, radio, print) and digital
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
(web, email)
Ensure “call to action” is the primary message and focal point in advertisement
Use a value-incentive, relevant to the demographic, to encourage participants to text-in
Use multiple keywords to track media channels and track response rates of media buy
Use PIN numbers and promo codes for tracking and redemption
Create an opt-in database for future communication
Send out SMS reminders, updates, notifications, and mobile coupons
Include WAP link (mobile webpage) to further extend brand engagement
Use SMS to drive traffic to a store, to an event, or online
Run a successful pilot SMS campaign and then expand into a national campaign
TOP 10 SMS Campaign DONT’s:
• Don’t place the “call to action” in a hard-to-see location (eg. at the bottom of the print ad,
only featured on the TV screen for a few seconds, tiny font etc.)
• Don’t mix too many messages within the advertisement – have one key message (“Text WIN to
889988”)
• Don’t use long words or words with multiple spellings – choose short, simple, and easy to text
words
• Don’t send text messages to people who don’t want them – allow people to easily opt-out
• Don’t run print advertisement, radio spot, or commercial only once – run media multiple times
• Don’t blend call to action with other written content – ensure “call to action” stands out with
different size font, different colour, separate section etc.
• Don’t limit “call to action” to one medium (eg. only newspaper advertisements) - incorporate
“call to action” into entire marketing mix
• Don’t use numbers as keywords (eg. “Text 10 to 889988 to get $10 off) – instead use, “Text
DISCOUNT to 889988 to receive $10 off)
• Don’t use fullwords, abbreviate to fit more into ur msg
• Don’t look at mobile as a one-off campaign - reconnect with your loyal database for ongoing
communication
Pasted from <http://www.mobilemarketeducation.com/top_ten.php>
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State of Mobile Advertising 2011
July-18-11
9:45 PM
http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/lib/12311.pdf
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Why QR Codes and mobile apps fail
July-18-11
9:47 PM
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Legal Minefields in Mobile Marketing
July-18-11
9:59 PM
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Classic Guide to Mobile Creative
July-18-11
10:03 PM
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The Essential Guide to Internet Marketing
June-20-11
11:51 AM
http://blog.hubspot.com/Portals/249/docs/ebooks/the_essential_guide_to_internet_marketing.pdf
The Essential Step-by-Step Guide to Internet Marketing by Hubspot
Note: this version does not have any images and only a couple of links. For the complete ebook go to the
link above and download the PDF version
The Building Blocks for Succeeding With Marketing on the Web
The Essential Step-by-Step Guide to Internet Marketing
Introduction
If you're reading this ebook, chances are you're either a marketing professional or a business owner who
understands the importance of internet marketing today. You "get" that traditional marketing methods
are becoming both ineffective and expensive, and you know that by neglecting to market your business
on the web, you're missing out on the powerful business results that an effective internet marketing
strategy can afford.
Whether your business is just getting started with internet marketing or you just want to brush up on
the basics, this ebook can serve as your essential guide to setting up and implementing a successful
internet marketing strategy, step by step.
From establishing your initial keyword strategy to leveraging social media to promote content online all
the way through to analyzing and refining your strategies, this comprehensive internet marketing ebook
will guide you through every essential step you should be taking to effectively market your business on
the web, whether you're a software company, a chimney sweep, a tailor, or a marketing agency, to
name a few.
Step One: Create a Keyword Strategy
If you wanted to boil internet marketing down to single starting point, keywords are it.
What is a Keyword?
A keyword is a word or phrase that a person enters into a search engine like Google and Bing or a social
media site like Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn.
Why Build a Keyword Strategy?
More and more consumers are finding businesses online through search engines. How do they find
them? By using keywords! Fortunately, you can take advantage of this consumer habit by optimizing
your website around the keywords that are relevant to your business and which keywords consumers
are using to find you online. This will increase your chances of getting found by people searching with
those keywords, which will drive more and better quality traffic to your business' website.
While it's difficult to know exactly which keywords will get the most relevant people to find your
business, there are ways to determine the popularity and competitiveness of certain keywords. You can
also test and analyze how effective different keywords are in drawing visitors to your site.
As a business professional, you should make sure the right people are finding your business online. In
this section, you will learn how to define which keywords will maximize your potential to draw in
relevant traffic from search engines.
Keyword research is an ongoing process that should be followed closely. It gives valuable insight in
terms of industry trends and product demand. Comprehensive keyword research can help a business
Online Marketing Page 115
terms of industry trends and product demand. Comprehensive keyword research can help a business
grow its organic traffic and save you from spending money on pay -per-click (PPC) campaigns such as
Google AdWords.
3. How to Create a Keyword Strategy
• Create a list of 3-5 keywords relevant to your business.
○ Think like you're using the brain of someone searching for your product with a search engine. For
small- and medium-sized businesses, your keywords are not your brand name. Instead, think of
words and short phrases that get to the core of what your product or service is about.
• Choose keywords based on difficulty and relevance.
○ The keywords you choose should be based on difficulty and relevance. Some very general words
such as “marketing” or “business” are very competitive, making it harder to rank well for them in
search engine results.
○ If you are a small- or medium-sized business, you probably want to choose less competitive
keywords, more specifically related to your business (these are commonly referred to as long tail
keywords).
○ The greater the volume of searches on a keyword, the more competitive it is. There are a number
of different tools you can use to determine the competitiveness of a specific keyword as well as
suggest and help you brainstorm new keyword ideas. These tools include the Google Keyword
Tool or HubSpot's Suggest Keywords feature in its software's Keyword Grader tool.
• Another important factor for picking keywords is their relevance to your business.
○ While some obscure terms might be easy to rank for, they might not be relevant to your business.
You should find a balance between relevance and difficulty.
○ Choose about 5 keywords that match your business well.
○ Note that these keywords do not have to be perfect at first. You can try out different ones to see
which work best for you. This will be discussed more in the "Analyze & Refine Strategies" section
(Step Eight).
4. Design and optimize your website around your keywords.
Now that you've chosen your keywords, you should incorporate them into your website. We will talk
more about this in the upcoming section on website optimization (Step Two). Additional Keyword Tips:
For more helpful information about choosing keywords, check out HubSpot's Keyword Tips.
Step Two: Optimize Your Website
Now that you've chosen your keywords, you can increase your website's chances of ranking for
those keywords. Search engine optimization (SEO) is about doing just that! In order to get found, you
should aim to be on the first page or in the first few search engine results pages for your keywords.
Google suggests that you design your website for visitors, and not for search engines. While you should
keep this principle in mind, it is worthwhile to learn a bit more about SEO in order to better optimize
your site.
What You Should Know About SEO
SEO can be divided into two separate categories: on-page SEO and off-page SEO. On-page SEO refers
to how well your website's content is presented to search engines. This can often be improved
immediately.
Off-page SEO refers to your site's overall "authority" on the web, which is determined by what other
websites say about your site. This can take time to improve.
Even though on-page SEO accounts for only about 25% of how search engines score and rank your
website, it's worth tackling first since it can be improved quickly.
Test Your SEO With WebsiteGrader.com
To find out how well optimized your website is, run it through HubSpot's free SEO tool, Website Grader.
This tool will analyze your website and provide you with an overall score between 0 and 100. The higher
the score, the more SEO-effective it is. These scores are based on a percentile scale, meaning that if you
scored a 54, your website has scored better than 54% of the more than 3.5 million websites that
scored a 54, your website has scored better than 54% of the more than 3.5 million websites that
Website Grader has analyzed.
For on-page optimization, the most relevant part of this report is Part II: Optimize.
Do not be discouraged if your SEO score is a little low. If this is the case, you can probably get your
website back in the game with only a little bit of work on your on -page SEO.
Nine Elements of On-Page Website Optimization
1. Page Title
Page titles are one of the most important on-page SEO factors. Page titles are the text you see at the top
of your browser window when viewing a web page. They are also the title of a page that is presented in
search engines.
Page titles can be found and edited in your site's HTML. The text that is surrounded with the <title> tag
is your page's title.
The following are a few guidelines for coming up with effective page titles:
2. Include keywords.
○ Make it fewer than 70 characters long. Longer page titles will not be seen in your web browser or
in Google search results. If you make the page title too long, it will also dilute the importance of
the keywords mentioned.
○ Put keywords as close to the beginning of the title as possible.
○ Make it readable for site visitors.
○ Include your company name at the end of the page title, unless you are a big brand and people
search for you through your brand name.
○ Use different page titles for each page. Each page is an opportunity to target different keywords.
3.
Meta Description
Meta data is an often overlooked opportunity to attract visitors from search. Interestingly, it does not
directly influence search engine rankings. Nevertheless, it is a good practice to include keywords in your
meta description.
Meta data is the text seen as the description of a site in Google search. These words attract a searcher's
attention and indicate if a search result is particularly relevant to the searcher. For this reason, including
keywords in your meta description can draw in visitors, even though it does not affect search engine
rankings.
The meta description is not something that is visible on your web page. The short summary of the web
page, which is usually included at the top of the pages source code in a <meta description> tag is not
used by the search engines for any SEO purposes. What the meta description is used for is to provide
the searcher with a short description of the page (<150 characters to be exact) beneath each result. In
fact, if a meta description is not included in the source code, then the search engine will usually display
part of the content from the page in its place. Since the meta description is not as well understood as
other page elements, there are some very common mistakes people make when creating their websites.
4. Headings
If a piece of text appears larger or more prominent than the other text on a page, it's probably part of a
heading. You can verify this by checking the HTML code of your website, and seeing if that text has an
<h1>, <h2>, or <h3> tag surrounding it.
Ask a developer to help you check this. Text in the headings is more likely to be read by search engines
as keywords than text in the rest of the page. For this reason, it is good to include keywords in your
headings whenever possible. <h1> tags give the text more weight as keywords than <h2> tags, and <h2>
tags have more weight than <h3> tags.
While <h4> and <h5> tags do exist, their influence on keywords is virtually the same as that of regular
text. Including too many headings dilutes the importance of keywords in other headings, so we
recommend using the <h1> tag only once. If the page is text-heavy like a blog post, then feel free to
throw in a few <h2> or <h3> tags as paragraph titles.
throw in a few <h2> or <h3> tags as paragraph titles.
Cascading Style Sheets (CSS)
HTML is the back-end code of your website that search engines read. Search engines extract relevant
information from your HTML, such as keywords.
CSS, on the other hand, holds a template for the layout of your page. In the CSS, you define how
headings, links, and other visual elements of the text should look. The takeaway here is simple: use CSS.
Putting layout-related information in your HTML can dilute the relevance of the HTML text, which is
what you want search engines to read.
5. Images
Images on a web page can certainly enhance user experience. However, when inserting images into
your website, you should keep in mind the following:
• Don't use images excessively. More pictures means your page will take longer to load.
This has a negative impact both on user experience and search engine optimization.
• Associate text with pictures. Search engines do not "read" images; they read only text. ALT text is an
HTML attribute you can add to your picture so search engines replace the image with some associated
text.
• Include keywords in your image file name. This will help you draw in relevant traffic from image
searches. Separate different keywords in the file name with a dash ( -).
6. Domain Info
Search engine rankings favor sites that are registered for a longer period of time. Longer domain
registrations indicate a commitment to the site and mean the site has a lower chance of being
considered to be spam. Extend your website registration for $10-20 a year for an SEO boost.
7.
MOZ Rank
MOZ Rank is a general measure of how much online authority your site has. A higher MOZ rank is better.
Note that MOZ Rank factors in both on-page and off-page SEO. Improving your on-page SEO may help
improve your rank, but there is much more you can do to improve it. Don't worry, we will get to all this.
8. Google Crawl Date
When Google crawls your site, it updates the information related to it, such as your keywords and other
SEO factors. Therefore, you want Google to crawl your site as often as possible.
The best thing you can do to make Google crawl your site more frequently is to regularly produce fresh
content and publish it on your website. We'll cover this in more detail in Step Three.
9. URL Structure
The URL of a web page is its web address. For example, HubSpot's blog has a URL of
http://blog.hubspot.com. The URL structure of a website is about how the different URLs connect with
each other.
Unfortunately, improving your URL structure is one of the more difficult aspects of on -page website
optimization. The methods of fixing these issues depend entirely on the back -end parts of your website,
such as your content management system or programming framework. Nevertheless, if you have a
competent developer by your side, having him or her tackle these issues can significantly improve your
SEO. Your best approach might be to hand your developer the following list.
Principles of Good URL Structure:
• Apply a 301 redirect where required. A 301 redirect forwards an old URL to a new one after it changes.
Make sure you do this if you change the URL of a page on your site. A common mistake is not applying a
301 redirect between yoursite.com and www.yoursite.com. This can be quite a problem from an SEO
standpoint, because search engines will give separate credit to both versions of your site.
• Avoid pages with deeply nested URLs. Here is an example of what a deeply nested URL would look like:
http://yoursite.com/about/management/contact/phone. Deeply nested pages will get less SEO credit.
You can fix this problem by improving your overall site design.
• Include keywords in your URLs. If you've already purchased your main URL, then don't worry about
buying a new one just for this sake. But you can clean the URLs of your interior pages to include
keywords and not look like gibberish.
• For your internal page URLs, separate individual keywords with dashes ( -).
• For your internal page URLs, separate individual keywords with dashes ( -).
For example: http://hubspot.com/marketing-resources/ is a good URL that captures 'marketing' and
'resources' as keywords.
• Create static URLs, not dynamic ones. This means that the URL for one of your pages should be the
same, no matter what. Check if you see different URLs for the same page in your website. If there are,
you can look into how to create static URLs with your web server software. Do a Google search on
"create static URL" + (name of your server software).
• Avoid 'Keyword Stuffing' . After reading this, you might think, “Keywords are really important. If having
keywords all over my page helps me rank for them, I should just fill my page with these keywords."
I'm afraid it's not that easy. Apart from leading to a bad experience for site visitors, search engines are
smart enough to detect these behaviors. Trying to 'trick' search engines is not a good SEO strategy, and
sacrificing readability for SEO is not a good idea either.
• Improving Off-Page SEO With Inbound Links. So if on-page SEO accounts for 25% of your overall search
engine ranking, what makes up the remaining 75%? As we mentioned before, offpage SEO is based on
the authority of your website, or what other websites "say" about yours. Simply put, websites with
better or higher authority will rank better than websites with lower authority.
One of the main influencers on a website's authority is inbound links. If another website links to your
website or a page on your website (like a blog article), that is called an inbound link. More inbound links
is better, and more inbound links from websites with high authority themselves is even better than that
(e.g. an inbound link from The New York Times website is much more valuable than an inbound
link from a low-trafficked blog with a small readership).
So what's the best way to attract more inbound links (or "link love", as we like to call it)? Through
content creation! Creating valuable, remarkable content that other websites will naturally want to link
to in their own content is a great way to increase your website's inbound links. In addition, you can
improve your chances of attracting inbound links by sharing your content in social media and optimizing
it for search results so it can easily be found. We'll discuss content creation more in Step Three of this
ebook and social media promotion in Step Four.
Additional SEO Tips:
For more tips on search engine optimization, check out the resources in
HubSpot‟s Search Engine Optimization Marketing Hub.
Step Three: Create Blog & Other
Content
Blogging platforms like HubSpot, WordPress and Blogger have made publishing content on the
web easier than ever. Now that you have developed a clear understanding of your business'
keywords and optimized your website for search engines, your next step should be to attract
more visitors. Blogging and creating other content like ebooks and webinars are powerful ways to help
more of the right people discover your business online.
How to Think About Business Blogging
When thinking about blogging, take off your hat as a business owner or marketing manager and instead
try to think like a magazine publisher. The goal of your business blog should be to publish articles that
are not promotional but instead share industry expertise, much in the way a column or an article in an
industry magazine would.
Think about what you are writing and the words you are using. Don't use industry jargon that only you
and your employees would understand. Just as you did when brainstorming keywords, think of the
words your customers would use to describe your business and use those keywords in your blog posts.
Section One of this ebook should serve as a helpful guide for the types of terms to include in your
blog posts.
Getting Set Up With Blogging
While writing content that is interesting to your prospective customers is important, you first need a
way to publish that content online. There are many paid and free tools available that provide a way to
way to publish that content online. There are many paid and free tools available that provide a way to
let you easily publish content online.
When selecting a blogging platform, take a few things into consideration. The most important thing you
can do when you first start blogging is to make sure your blog is a section of your business website.
Without a blog, a website is kind of like a brochure that doesn't change often. A blog makes your
website more dynamic by automatically injecting new content every time a blog article is published.
Search engines reward higher rankings to websites that consistently add fresh content, and these higher
rankings translate into new visitors and leads for your business.
Blogging Platforms to Consider
While it is important that your blogging software be easy to use, it is more important that the content
you create be interesting. If you are looking for a blogging platform for your business, some options
include HubSpot, WordPress, TypePad, Drupal, Posterous.
These platforms all offer a content management system (CMS) that allows you to easily add content to
your blog, without needing to know any HTML code. This enables you to quickly update your site with
industry news or other timely information, without having to wait for a webmaster to post your
changes.
Key Components of a Great Blog Post
•
•
•
•
•
A well-constructed blog post should include several key components:
An Attention-Grabbing Article Title: Because your blog article's title is the first thing people will see, it's
important to make sure it clearly indicates what the article is about, is concise, keyword -rich (because
the header tag is the most important for SEO), and attention grabbing.
Well Written & Formatted Text: The body of your article should be well written and formatted in a way
that makes it easy to read. Consider using header tags and bulleted lists to break up the content into
sections.
Images/Videos: Relevant multimedia content can make a blog article more memorable and fun to read.
It also helps to break up text to make it more pleasing to the eye.
Links: Include in-text links to relevant content. These can also point to landing pages (which we'll
discuss more in Step Five) to help you generate more leads for your content.
Call-to-Action: Each and every blog article you publish should include a relevant call-to-action at the
bottom of the article to help boost lead generation (again, will discuss this is more depth in Step Five of
this ebook).
Deciding What to Blog About
Most business blogs start with a purpose. What are you trying to educate your industry and potential
customers about? This education is not about your product, but instead about common industry issues
and the problems your potential customers face and that your product or service helps to solve.
A great way to start blogging is to think about the 10 most common questions you get asked by
prospective new customers. Take each one of those questions and write a short article explaining an
answer. Do this once a week for 10 weeks and you have the strong foundation for a successful blog.
Once those first 10 weeks are over, check out this list of additional ideas to keep your business blog
packed with interesting content. Remember to let your expertise and passion shine through your blog
content and keep some of these business blog best practices in the back of your mind.
Convert Blog Visitors Into Leads
In Step Five, you will learn how to create landing pages and calls -to-action (CTAs) to help drive more
potential customers for your business. It is important to remember that your business blog is an
important platform to use these conversion opportunities. Create a call -to-action of some type at the
end of each blog post. These CTAs work best if the offer is closely related to the subject matter of the
blog post. Additionally, you can place image -based CTAs in the sidebar of your blog as a secondary way
to convert more visitors into leads.
These calls-to-action should link directly to a landing page that provides downloadable access to a more
in-depth learning experience such as an ebook or webinar upon the completion of a lead generation
form. We'll discuss CTAs and Landing Pages in more depth in Step Five.
For additional information on converting blog visitors to leads, read this post on blogging lead
generation.
Other Types of Content
While it's a great place to start, blog content isn't the only type of content you can be creating. Consider
producing longer-form content items like ebooks, whitepapers, or research reports than can be used as
lead generation offers for your calls-to-action. Also consider non-text based offers such as how-to
videos, webinars, slideshows, etc.
For more tips on business blogging and content creation, check out HubSpot's Business Blog Marketing
Hub.
Step Four: Promote Content & Participate in Social Media
Social media is generating a lot of buzz right now amongst marketers and business owners. Marketers
who can leverage social media to help distribute business content and increase the overall community
of advocates for their business can experience significant growth. Social media allows your customers
and potential customers to communicate directly with you and your employees online, and it allows
interesting content to spread quickly.
While new social media tools launch every day, most businesses really only need to focus on the major
players: Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.
Monitoring Social Media
An important part of leveraging social media for business is to understand what conversations are
happening online related to your industry and recognizing where you should respond. Here are some
great tools you can use to easily monitor your business and industry mentions in social media:
• Google Alerts: Set up multiple Google Alerts for your company, brand, products, leaders, industry
terms, etc. The alerts will get delivered directly to your email inbox at the frequency you indicate (e.g.
daily or as they happen) and is a great way to help you track mentions of your brand and relevant
keywords on the web on news sites, in blogs, etc.
• Twitter: Monitor mentions of your brand on Twitter with tools like Twitter Search or HootSuite.
CoTweet is also a great tool to help manage multiple users on a corporate Twitter account and allows
you to assign particular tweets to the appropriate team member for follow -up.
• Google Reader and RSS Feeds: Set up RSS feeds in Google Reader of searches of your brand or industry
keywords in other popular social media sites such as Flickr, Digg, Delicious, etc. Scan the results in your
reader daily for mentions.
• Facebook Insights: Stay on top of and participate in discussions occurring on your company's Facebook
Fan Page. Use your Fan Page's Facebook Insights Dashboard (found in the left sidebar when you're on
your page as an admin) to show you stats such as fan growth and page views to gauge your page's
interaction and engagement.
Getting Started With Twitter for Business
Twitter is a social network on which users share short, 140-character messages with each other. Users
"follow" or subscribe to each other and can receive messages from each other via multiple technology
devices including desktop computers, smart phones, and text messages. As mentioned previously, for
business, it is best to use Twitter's free search engine, Twitter Search to search for your business,
competitors, and industry mentions on Twitter. Understanding how and if people are talking about your
business and industry will give you enough information to determine if you should invest the time to
start and manage a Twitter account for your business.
If you decide that Twitter is right for your business, you can visit Twitter.com to sign up for a free
account. Here are a few tips for setting up a business Twitter account:
• Use the name of you business as your Twitter username.
• Use the name of you business as your Twitter username.
• Use your business logo or a picture of the person managing the account as the profile image for the
account.
• Create a custom Twitter background that provides additional information about your business.
• Use Advanced Twitter Search to help determine industry influencers and potential customers that your
business should follow.
For more tips on how to use Twitter for business, download HubSpot's free webinar, “How to Use
Twitter for Marketing & PR.”
Using Facebook for Business
With more than 500 million users, Facebook has become the major player in the social media industry.
Facebook can serve as a powerful platform for building a community of advocates for your business to
help increase word-of-mouth marketing. The first step in leveraging Facebook for business is to set up a
business page. Watch this video for a step-by-step guide to creating a Facebook business page.
For more in-depth information about how to use Facebook for business, check out HubSpot ‟s
complimentary ebook, “How to Use Facebook for Business.”
LinkedIn: The Social Network for Business Professionals
The social network businesspeople may be most familiar with is LinkedIn. This network of over 101
million business users and more than 1 million business profile pages can be an important resource. To
get started using LinkedIn for your business, it is best to set up and complete a personal profile for
yourself as well as a company profile for your business. When setting up these profiles, remember to
include all important information such as your website and blog URLs. Additionally, it is important to
take the time to make the descriptions for you and your business interesting to read and an accurate
reflection of your experience, knowledge, and passion.
LinkedIn Groups
Once you have created profiles, LinkedIn has two major features that are of particular use to businesses
and their employees. The first feature you should examine is the Groups feature. The Groups feature
allows LinkedIn users to create and participate in discussions around a topic within LinkedIn. Groups can
be a great way to make potential business connections, but can also be a great place to share relevant
blog content.
LinkedIn Answers
The second feature, LinkedIn Answers, allows you to find people publicly stating they have a specific
problem or need that your product or service would solve.
Identifying these questions and responding with a resources or a blog article of yours that answers that
person's need can offer a great marketing opportunity for your business. Ultimately, you can generate
high-quality traffic to your blog from LinkedIn Answers, and get some really qualified leads as well.
For more information about how to use LinkedIn for business, access HubSpot's free ebook, “Learning
LinkedIn From the Experts.”
Step Five: Convert Site Traffic Into Leads
By step five, you should have already launched your blog, optimized your site for search
engines, and started participating and promoting you content via social media. If it's been several
weeks, by now you should start to see a spike in traffic to your website.
There's only one problem. All that traffic to your site isn't leading to any new business! People are
visiting your site, but those visits aren't leading to new customers -- or even new sales leads.
So what do you do?
Simple. Focus on conversion. Focus on converting more of your website visitors into sales leads. To do
Simple. Focus on conversion. Focus on converting more of your website visitors into sales leads. To do
this, decide on a compelling offer for your customers, create a call -to-action to promote your offer, and
launch a landing page with a form for visitors to submit their information to obtain the offer. Finally,
test, measure, and iterate the whole process.
Here's a detailed guide to each step in this sales and marketing conversion funnel:
Step 1: Decide on Your Offer
The offer is the most important part of any campaign. It's the initial attraction that catches the attention
of your website visitors and gives them a reason to fill out the form used to collect their information.
Your offer should target the type of sales lead you're trying to attract. For example, if you're a golf
instructor, you want to create offers that will appeal to golfers trying to improve their game. If you're a
sales process consultant, you'll want to create offers that appeal to executives trying to improve their
sales process.
Typical content offers include research reports, how-to ebooks (like this one!), slide downloads, or
archived webinars. Other offers might include a free trial or demo of your product or a personal
consultation. Of course, there's no reason to be constrained by what's typical. Use anything you think
will work for your target customers. (Also keep in mind that the offer form is a conversation starter for
the sales team, so it should be designed to start a conversation that will lead to a sale.)
Step 2: Create Calls-to-Action
Once you decide on your offer, create a few compelling CTAs. As we alluded to in Step Three of this
ebook, a call-to-action is a button or a link on a website that grabs a user's attention and directs that
user to a landing page. On the landing page, the user is prompted to complete a form and submit
contact information in order to receive what's being offered. By submitting that information, the visitor
is then converted into a lead with whom your sales team can follow up. Your call -to action can be text,
an image, or html, but it should always include a link to the corresponding landing page. If you have an
effective call-to-action, you'll convert a high percentage of your website visitors into leads.
Here's an example of a call-to-action at the bottom of a HubSpot blog article, which was focused on a
topic related to using Facebook for marketing:
For additional information about creating calls-to-action that work, check out the
following HubSpot blog articles:
○ 7 Tips for Effective Calls-to-Action
○ 9 Ways to Optimize Your Links and Draw Attention to Your Calls-to-Action
○ 5 Signs Your Call-to-Action Needs a Makeover
Step 3: Create Landing Pages
After you create a call-to-action, you need to set up the landing page that it will link to. The landing page
is the page where your website visitors arrive after they click on your call -to-action, and where they will
fill out the form to receive your offer.
You'd be surprised by how many times we've seen calls-to-action that aren't links. Whether intentional
or a matter of forgetfulness, the lack of a link will make it much harder for visitors to find out how to
receive the offer, and they'll likely give up. So double, triple, and quadruple check to make sure all of
your CTAs link to their corresponding landing pages.
As we said, landing pages house the form where users submit information that allows them to access
your offer. The information you collect will also be used by you or your sales team to follow up with
them. Once users submit their information on the landing page, they should be redirected to a thank you page where they can access the offer. (Note that if you're doing a promotion on a third
party site -- Google AdWords, for example -- a landing page might be the first
page on your site where your users arrive.)
Below is an example of a typical HubSpot landing page:
Be crystal clear about what the offer is in your CTA. And be specific. If you're giving away a free guide,
say “Download our FREE guide to X.” If you're hosting a free webinar, say “Register for our FREE webinar
on X.”
X should clearly convey a compelling benefit of receiving the offer. This is much more effective than
“Download Now” or “Get a Free Article.” These simply aren't specific enough.
For more tips on creating optimized landing pages, check out our free archived webinar, “Optimizing
Landing Pages for Lead Generation and Conversion.”
Step 4: Test, Measure & Iterate
Offers, calls-to-action and landing pages are the core elements of the conversion process, but you can't
stop there. If you just have a single conversion pathway, you have very little insight into the process and
the way it performs. In order to improve your conversion process, you need to experiment. You need to
test different CTAs, you need to test different landing pages, you need to test different offers, and then
you need to decide which ones best help you achieve your goals.
After a CTA has been on your homepage for a month, vary the messaging or swap out an entirely
new CTA, and after another month, measure which has performed best. If landing page conversions are
low, move the form above the fold and measure the results. Don't be afraid to test different variations;
you can always switch back if the old version worked better. It will be worth it when you've found the
best combination that increases your site's conversions.
For additional tips on increasing your website's conversion rate, check out our free, on -demand webinar,
“Always Be Testing: 10 Tips for Increasing Your Lead Conversion Rate.”
Step Six: Nurture Leads With Email Marketing
According to MarketingSherpa, 70% of your leads will end up buying something from you or one of your
competitors, but they won't do it right away! Companies that build relationships with their leads
over time have the greatest success in turning leads into customers by staying top -of-mind until the lead
is ready to buy.
Lead nurturing is the process of developing that relationship with your potential customer by sending
targeted, relevant, and valuable messages to them in a timely manner. The end goal is to get your leads
to “raise their hand” and self-select into further engaging with your business.
Forrester Research found that companies that excel at lead nurturing are able to generate 50% more
sales-ready leads at 33% lower cost-per-lead.
Email Marketing Best Practices:
List-Building
• Create opt-in opportunities. Make sure your lead forms allow your website visitors to enter their email
address and opt-in to receive your messages.
• Give people a reason to opt-in. Whether it's a landing page for an ebook or an email newsletter
subscription form, make sure you give people a compelling reason to opt -in. What's so valuable about
your ebook? What interesting and unique information will they receive in your email newsletter? Be
explicit and phrase the benefit(s) in terms of your recipient.
• Would I be upset if I didn't receive your message? Only send messages to people who have explicitly
opted in. You can follow the extreme principle of Seth Godin's Permission Marketing: Would your
recipient be upset if they didn't receive your message? If yes, you should go ahead and send your
email.
Sending
• Stay relevant. What was your lead interested in? Did they download your “5 Tips for Using QuickBooks
to Manage Your Business” ebook? Or did they read your blog article on “How to Get Your Business
Listed in Google Places”? Send them an email with more resources targeted to their interests.
• Get personal. Use a name and email address in the “from” line of your email that your recipients will
recognize. Personalize the message so the recipient remembers how and why they came to your
website. For example, start with “You recently checked out our ebook…” or “Thanks for subscribing to
our blog!”
• WIIFM? At the end of the day, make sure that your message adds value. Get into the mind of your
recipient and ask, “What's In It For Me?” (WIIFM) Are you emailing them just to tell them how great
your product is? Or are you offering to help solve a problem they're facing? Make the value clear in
your product is? Or are you offering to help solve a problem they're facing? Make the value clear in
both the email body and the subject line.
Don't rely on images. Many email clients don't load images automatically, so if your email is one large
image, your recipient won't have any idea what it's about! Use images as supplementary (clickable)
content in your email, and make sure you have enough text to communicate value.
• Be consistent. You want your recipients to expect and look forward to your messages. Whether you
send your messages daily, weekly, or monthly, pick a schedule and stick to it.
• Don't let the law get you down. Brush up on CAN-SPAM regulations to make sure your email practices
comply.
Converting
• What do I do here? When someone opens your email, make it clear what they're supposed to do. Is it to
click to read a blog article? Download a new, free ebook? Include a call -to-action that links to a landing
page where the recipient can convert again and self -select to further engage with you.
• The landing page is part of your email campaign. Email marketing doesn 't stop with a click. Your landing
page is an extension of your email, and it is where your conversion takes place. Make sure your email
offer and landing page flow, and review Step Five of this ebook for tips on conversion opportunities and
landing page best practices.
Measuring
• Click-Through Rate (CTR) measures response. Of the people you emailed, how many of them clicked
through to your landing page? The CTR can give you a sense of how compelling your offer and email
messages are. Experiment with different subject lines, calls-to-action, and timing to improve the CTR of
your emails.
• What about open rate? Open rate is an increasingly unreliable metric, as more email clients do not load
the images necessary for tracking who opened an email. Focus instead on how many clicks your email
received.
• Unsubscribe rate measures annoyance and spam. There will always be some people who do not want to
receive your emails anymore, but you want to make sure your unsubscribe rate does not exceed 5%. If
your unsubscribe rate gets this high, check on your opt-in policies and procedures to make sure you're
only emailing subscribers who want to receive your messages.
• Conversion rate measures actions. The final step is conversion, so measure how many of those clicks
turned into reconversions on your landing page. Test different landing pages to improve the conversion
on your website.
Lead nurturing is all about developing relationships with your leads, so keep in
mind that this does not have to be limited to email communication. Think about how you can
communicate with your leads via social media or another platform they use.
For additional information about implementing successful email marketing and
lead nurturing campaigns, download HubSpot‟s free ebook, “7 Steps to JumpStart Your Email Marketing
Strategy.”
Step Seven: Be Mobile-Friendly
It's obvious that mobile platforms are becoming more and more of a consideration when it comes to
internet marketing. The growth of the iPhone is going to continue, with reports showing that Verizon
may sell as many as 13 million iPhones in 2011. If you are trying to market on the mobile web, you need
to consider the importance of creating entertaining and quality content that can be easily consumed on
mobile devices such as smartphones or tablet computers.
Optimize for Mobile
Mobile marketing is being tossed around frequently in marketing circles, often with many different
intended meanings. While mobile marketing can mean many things, there is one primary message being
conveyed for marketers looking to take advantage of mobile: optimize for mobile devices.
While developing a mobile application relative to your business is another option, most businesses are
still just ramping up their internet marketing efforts and do not have enough content to support a
mobile application. Additionally, many marketers would be better off optimizing their SEO, email, lead
nurturing, and social media campaigns for maximum lead generation before taking on yet another
major project such as a mobile application.
For those internet marketers just getting started with mobile, the important thing to focus on is making
For those internet marketers just getting started with mobile, the important thing to focus on is making
sure your website is easy to view and navigate when accessed on mobile devices.
What should you worry about when optimizing for mobile?
1. Emails & Calls-to-Action
It is important that you optimize your website and emails to be viewed correctly on mobile devices, such
as the iPhone and Android-powered devices. Additionally, it will be important to think about how your
calls-to-action and offers work on mobile devices.
2. Downloads
Is it easy for a prospect to fill out a form on your website from their smartphone? If you are offering a
download, will it open on mobile devices?
3. Video
Bytemobile has found that in 2011, 60 percent of all traffic on mobile web devices will be for video. The
study also shows that 10 percent of mobile web users account for 90 percent of mobile web traffic. This
staggering statistic means that a relatively small group of mobile internet users are doing the vast
majority of mobile bandwidth consumption.
This data highlights some critical elements in the evolution of the mobile web. With indications that
mobile bandwidth cost may be on the rise, it is important for marketers to develop lightweight ways to
engage mobile users. Don't ask a user to stream a 10-minute video. Instead, provide a clean text
summary of the video if they are using a cellular data connection. Give them an opportunity to watch
the video if they are on a WiFi connection, in an effort to help them conserve mobile bandwidth.
For more tips on mobile marketing, access HubSpot‟s free, archived webinar, “How Companies Adopt
and Measure Mobile Marketing.”
Step Eight: Analyze & Refine Strategies
Now that you have all the right internet marketing strategies in place, it's time to make all of them as
efficient as they can be. Your main goal in this step is to find the best way to use all the techniques
we've already discussed to get found online and generate new customers.
5 Steps for Analyzing & Refining Internet Marketing Strategies
1. Implement an Analytics Program
In order to analyze, you need to have an analytics program in place. HubSpot software has a business oriented system in place for this purpose. Google Analytics is a non-business based but free tool that
helps analyze your website traffic.
2. Identify Opportunities
Figure out what you want to improve. Do you want more people coming to your blog? Do you want to
convert more visitors on your home page into leads? Get into the mindset of constantly looking for new
opportunities.
3. Set a Metric for Success
In almost all cases, your metric should be quantifiable and involve a set time frame. For example:
"Increase X website leads over the next X days."
4. Refine
Analyze how your programs performed and make changes with the aim of achieving your marketing
goals by doing less of what doesn't work and more of what works (and by modifying what doesn't work
so that it works better).
5. Evaluate
Determine if you've met your success metric. If so, stick with your change. See what you could have
done differently. Continue to monitor it to make sure the improvement has a long -term effect.
Metrics to Analyze
In order for your refinements to have a big impact, you need to monitor several key factors. Again, you'll
need analytics software to do this.
need analytics software to do this.
Before diving into how to improve them, let's first discuss what the relevant metrics are. This is just a
minimal list of what you should be monitoring. After getting comfortable with these metrics, take a look
at a more comprehensive set of metrics to measure in our Web Analytics Marketing Hub.
Website Grade: How well optimized is your website overall? To find out, continue running your website
through Website Grader. You can sign up for monthly updates on your grade via the Website Grader
report.
Traffic: Overall, how many people are coming to your website?
Leads: How much of this traffic are you converting into leads (e.g. potential customers)?
Customers: How many sales did you close this month?
Customer Acquisition Cost: How much are you investing to draw in each new customer?
New vs. Repeat Visitors: Of your overall traffic, how many visitors are returning to your site, and how
many new people are finding you? Both types of visitors are good. Attracting new visitors means
people are finding you through search. Attracting repeat visitors means you've given people good
reason to come back to your site. The key is finding a balance. Mike Volpe, HubSpot ‟s CMO,
recommends having around 15% repeat visitors.
Effectiveness by Channel: What promotional channels or referring sources are sending you the most
traffic? Focus on long-term results, not short-term traffic spurts that you might get from news coverage
or press releases.
Traffic by Keywords: Which keywords are drawing in the most visitors to your site?
Steps for Improvement
While you should try to reach long-term goals, there are some short-term steps you should take to get
there. The following are some elements of your website you can refine so you can reach your broader
goals:
Keywords: Try new keywords or variations of keywords to see if they help you get found better. Since
each page on your site can incorporate different keywords, there are tons of ways to do this.
On-Page SEO: See if changing a simple on-page factor can help boost visits. Examples of on-page
factors are page title, meta description, and headings. As a simple test, try changing the page title of one
of your web pages to see if you generate more traffic.
Conversions: Try new things with your conversion forms or landing pages. For example, try making the
conversion form more prominently located on your web page.
Content Strategy: Determine which content is generating the most traffic. This could be an opportunity
to either focus more on that kind of content, or refine your delivery of other content.
Social Media Promotions: Evaluate which social media channels are generating the most site visitors
and leads. Again, you can either focus on your successful social media platforms, or try improving your
performance in your less successful ones.
Lead Nurturing: Maybe you're sending emails too frequently -- or not frequently enough. Maybe the
calls-to-action in your email are not appropriate for your audience. Always keep experimenting and
testing.
For more information about how to effectively measure your marketing programs, check out HubSpot's
on-demand webinar, “The Science of Analytics.”
Conclusion
For starters, the concept of internet marketing might seem difficult and daunting. But by tackling each
For starters, the concept of internet marketing might seem difficult and daunting. But by tackling each
internet marketing tactic step by step, businesses can make internet marketing more manageable and
start generating results. By reading this ebook, we hope you've gained an understanding of how internet
marketing can improve your overall marketing plan and help you achieve business growth.
Now go forth and conquer internet marketing, one step at a time!
Next Steps
If you are interested in using Internet marketing to grow your business and generate leads, take
advantage of HubSpot’s free 30-day trial!
Tools and Tips
June-16-11
11:27 AM
Courtesy of Nick Unsworth (www.nickunsworth.com)
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http://www.autopilotfms.com - Special Promo Code: 15off
http://simplesocialmediaformula.com/order/ Special 25% Coupon Code: FBSUMMIT
www.odesk.com
www.guru.com
www.fiverr.com
www.ezine.com
www.articlebase.com
www.craigslist.com
www.northsocial.com
www.googlekeywordtool.com
www.easyvideoplayer.com
www.tubetoolbox.com
www.expion.com
www.pingfm.com
www.triends.com
Autoresponders
 http://www.getresponse.com – Automate your email delivery
 http://www.autopilotfms.com - Special Promo Code: 15off
Blogs
 http://www.hostgator.com – Host your new blog
 http://onlinemlmsecrets.com/design – Low budget, still high quality choice
 http://www.theunifiedtribe.com – Blog Content Syndication
Browser
 http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/new - I resisted for a while…but when I switched it was
amazing!
 Firefox Add-Ons: Browse in ―Tools‖ for add-ons.
 Add-On: Zemanta – provides relevant suggestions for links & tags
 Add-On: Alexa Sparky – provides website ranking and traffic statistics
Conference Calls
 http://www.freeconferencecall.com – Free teleconference line
 GoToWebinar.com – Excellent webinar platform – Free 45 day trial
 www.instantpresenter.com
Copywriting
 http://www.copyblogger.com – A blog about copywriting with great tips
 http://www.clickbank.com/marketplace.htm – affiliate marketplace…however it‘s a great place to
search relevant sales letters for copy
Keyword Research
 https://freekeywords.wordtracker.com – Free keyword research tool
Outsourcing
 http://99designs.com – create a contest for your project and get designers and coders competing
for your project. You set the prize amount
 www.Elance.com
 www.RentaCoder.com
 www.namingforce.com – use crowdsourcing to name a business, project or website
 http://www.autopilotfitnessmarketingsolutions.com/website/ Special Promo Code: 15off
Press Releases
 www.1888PressRelease.com
 www.24-7PressRelease.com
 www.Free-Press-Release.com
 www.PRLeap.com
 www.PRWeb.com
Social Media
 http://hootsuite.com - dashboard to manage your social media accounts
Surveys
 http://www.surveymonkey.com – Free simple website to conduct surveys
Time Management
 http://www.simpleology.com – Free software to organize your day & life
Twitter
 http://www.twellow.com - yellow pages for twitter. Great search tool. Great place to make a free
profile.
 http://tweetadder.com – automation tool to automatically follow / unfollow tweeps
 http://www.socialoomph.com - Free automation tool to follow / unfollow and DM
 http://www.tweetdeck.com – manage your twitter account
URL shortener
 http://bit.ly/ - shorten & track website addresses (URLs)
Videos
 http://www.tubemogul.com - Upload your videos for free and syndicate them all over the web
 Camtasia Studio 3 – Free download for screen recording software. It normally costs $300.
 http://www.techsmith.com/jing – Free screen capture software to take a picture of your screen
5 Easy Things You Can Do to Improve Website Conversions Right
Now
June-16-11
11:35 AM
5 Easy Things You Can Do to Improve Website Conversions Right Now
May 25, 2011 at 12:04pm ET by Aaron Bradley
The bedrock of conversion rate improvement is testing. However, testing is almost always easier said
than done. You might lack the technical or executive support to implement a test program. A test or series
of tests might already be in the works, but you‟re sitting on your hands while the data is being collected.
What can the motivated marketer do to improve conversions today?
While testing will always provide you with the best guidance in making website conversion improvements,
enough testing has been done collectively that certain conversion-facing improvements can be made in
the absence of test data.
While you will always want to measure the impact of page changes on conversion rates by comparing
data before and after those changes have been made, there are a number of measures you can
undertake with relative safety that are almost certain to improve how many visitors complete a website
goal.
1. Remove One Unnecessary Web Page Element
Singularly of purpose is important in maximizing conversion rates. In general, the fewer elements you
have competing for a visitor‟s attention, the more likely that visitor is to follow through on actions that
ultimately lead a conversion, whether that conversion takes the form of an online purchase, successfully
completing a form, or making a phone call.
If you‟re only going to remove one thing to improve your conversion rate, the biggest bang for your buck
is almost certainly going to come from removing an unnecessary form element. People don‟t like filling in
forms, and they also don‟t like divulging personal information. By removing an unnecessary form field,
you‟ll increase the likelihood that a visitor will fill out and submit the form.
Review each form field and ask yourself two questions: is it helpful to collect this piece of data, and is it
necessary?
Gender declaration is a useful example here. If you ask visitors to select “male” or “female” on a form,
what use do you make of that information? This is frequently the sort of data that‟s collected solely to be
able to report on visitor demographics, or is being collected for “future reference.” In both of these cases,
there‟s no actual benefit in collecting gender information, so it should be dropped from the form.
Perhaps that information is used – say in differentiating subsequent email offers by gender. Then you
need to ask if that information is necessary, even if it is helpful.
Put another way, is this essential information, or are you willing to see it omitted if this results in more
conversions? If conversion trumps data collection, then at the very least make that a non-mandatory field,
which will also likely improve your conversion rate on that form.
For sites where the conversion does not involve a form, or if you‘re already asking for the bare minimum
of information in your form, look at other places where an unnecessary page element can be removed.
When a website visitor enters into the conversion funnel, you don‘t want that visitor to be distracted from
completing the goal at the end of that funnel.
The appearance of a secondary call to action, a link that unnecessarily provides a path out of the funnel,
and even non-clickable visual elements that draw the visitor‘s focus from completing an action can all
potentially lower conversion rates.
2. Reduce The Load Time Of One Page
The longer a page takes to load, the less likely a visitor is going to stick around. According to a recent
study, a one second delay in page load time can result in a 7% reduction in conversions. Furthermore,
users are less likely to return to a website with pages that load slowly, and page speed is now
acknowledged by Google to be a factor in rankings. There is simply no downside to making a page load
faster.
Google Page Speed Online
Google has made diagnosing page load time easier of late with the introduction of page speed tools,
including a simple form where you can enter a URL and page speed improvements are suggested.
Common sense questions can augment tool findings.
Are any images being served that are being resized down with HTML that could simply be replaced with a
smaller image? Are unnecessary scripts being run on the pages, such as tracking pixels that are no
longer used?
Improving the load time of a single page may not send your conversions through the roof, but it‟s a good
place to start. However, as most sites are based on page templates, you may find that making one
change has a positive impact on page load times across your website.
3. Add One Call To Action To Your Thank You Page
Thank you pages – the page that appears after a visitor has successfully ordered an item or submitted a
form – are often missed opportunities. Yes, the visitor has already successfully completed the goal in this
visit, but you want to facilitate future conversions by providing a follow-up action for that visitor to pursue.
Some of the calls to action you can consider adding to a thank you page include:
 Signing up for a newsletter
 Becoming a follower on Twitter or a fan on Facebook
 Inviting the visitor to share the offer they have just completed with others
 Providing a coupon for a future visit
Almost any call to action on a thank you page is better than simply saying ―thanks‖ without providing any
links for the visitor to follow. A visitor in this case is really left with only one easy course of action: closing
the browser window.
4. Replace One Block Of Text With Bullet Points
Identify a page in, or closely related to, the conversion funnel that contains a large paragraph of text, and
then rework that paragraph as a bulleted list. The bigger the text block and more convoluted the copy, the
more likely it is that it is having a negative impact on conversions.
Among the reasons why bullet points may be more effective than text blocks:
 Bullet points are more effective for listing the benefits of a product or service, since each point is
distinctly enumerated
 Special formatting stands out that much more in bullet points compared to a paragraph
 People find it easier to scan bullet points than a big block of text, which is important because the
average visitor spends very little time on each page
The very exercise of reworking a wordy paragraph as a bulleted list can be beneficial. Self-promotional
copy without useful information for the visitor doesn‘t lend itself well to a bulleted list, and should be
replaced with better information or deleted altogether.
There are any number of candidates you can look at for making this improvement, such as a product
page with a verbose product description, or a wordy return policy FAQ. The existence or absence of a
bulleted list won‘t make or break your site‘s conversion rate, but you‘ll rarely be doing your website
visitors a disservice by making the site‘s copy easier to read and digest.
5. Use Analytics To Uncover One Actionable Insight
So you‘ve got a fast site with nothing to distract or impede visitors in their journey through the conversion
funnel. You edited your content and its presentation for maximum ease of readability. You‘ve carefully
considered possible post-purchase visitor actions and incorporated these into your thank you page.
Is there nothing you can do improve your conversion rate without testing?
Unless you‘re not using analytics on your site (in which case it‘s laudable, but bizarre, that you‘re even
investigating conversion improvements) the answer is almost certainly yes.
Sifting through your analytics with an eye to improving conversions, even without a specific purpose in
mind, is almost certain to uncover at least one actionable insight.
Some possible lines of inquiry include:
 What page has the highest bounce rate on your site?
 Does the page deliver the promise of its primary traffic sources, or are users‘ expectations being
thwarted? If so, how could those expectations be better met?
 Does the page vary substantially from pages with lower bounce rates, and if so, what aspects of the
low bounce rate pages be carried over?
 Which page in the purchase funnel has the highest proportion of exits?
 Why might this be the case, and what improvements might you make to decrease the fallout rate?
 Of the top 25 or 50 keywords entered in site search, which has the lowest conversion rate?
 Does an existing page need to be modified, or a new one created, to better satisfy a visitor‘s
expectation for that search term?
 For ecommerce sites, is the site search for that low-performing query returning the right products,
or does site search need to be tweaked to produce better results for that query?
Your site‘s analytics are a mine of information that can help you improve conversions, but all too often
analytics data is relegated to use in reporting or ignored altogether. Taking the time to perform some
basic analysis on page performance will almost always result in at least one insight that will improve your
site‘s bottom line.
Opinions expressed in the article are those of the guest author and not necessarily Search Engine Land
7 Tips for Successful Content Marketing on the Social Web
June-16-11
11:49 AM
Seven tips for successful content marketing on the social web
Posted by Danyl Bosomworth in Marketing, Social CRM on Thu, 28/04/2011 - 02:04
In this series of Smart Insights Best Practice Advice, Danyl Bosomworth of SmartInsights.com shares
tips on best practice to get better results from digital mark eting. This week , Danyl provides seven tips on
content mark eting for the social web.
Brands have long used content marketing to promote their products and services, and the emergence of
the social web has increased the need for - and the reach of - content. According to the recent 2010 B2B
Content Marketing Benchmarks, Budgets and Trends Report, for instance, over half of B2B
marketers are planning to increase their content marketing spend over the next 12 months.
But what happens if you become frustrated that your content isn't getting the reach? What if you've done
the hard work, developed some great content but it's just not happening in the results stakes? Danyl
Bosomworth provides the following seven tips to help achieve better results.
1. Objectives and purpose
What is the point of the content and what do you want it to achieve? Define this clearly, are you using it
the right way? This can be complex with multiple objectives or it can be as simple as getting readers to
visit a web page with a request form on it. Either way, know what you‘re aiming for and the related KPI‘s
and objectives you‘re going to use to prove impact.
2. Relevant communications
Do the research to ensure relevance and customer centricity when talking about or sharing the content.
Use any existing customer personas to guide editorial, also delve in to some basic keyword research
within search engines and social – why is this good? It‘s the language that you‘re market is already using,
so echo it.
With keywords in hand, and an understanding of the audience, you craft the message for the person
that‘s going to consume it. Remember the Ogilvy advertising mantra with his emphasising the 'big idea',
that‘s the communications piece that enables the consumer to 'get' it. Why should I look, read, watch or
listen to the content, what‘s in it for me?
3. Graphic design
In its broadest sense we‘re talking about the packaging and creative upon which the content sits, if the
content is great then it should look great too, premium even. Have a professional execution – for
example, don‘t throw ebooks into a crappy Word document – it doesn‘t exactly inspire, does it.
Design has never been more important, people expect it and the standards are higher than ever. Just as
important is the need to design a great experience for consumers. Readers (as well as search engines)
should also be able to tell what the idea is, it should be easy to consume and scan and it should definitely
be easy to share, save and post to social news and bookmarking sites.
4. Distribute it
This is a key area, you need to publish the content you‘ve created, sounds obvious but so often overlooked. Ensure that however you‘re publishing, you have automated distribution through Email
subscription or RSS. However, pushing out content automatically must be done carefully to avoid
duplication and overt promotion that just gets annoying.
Post on key site pages with traffic, again obvious – think about being findable in the obvious places your
market already is. If your consumer is on Facebook for example, you might find it makes sense for your
Fan page to accept posts from the blog and that the blog also posts to Twitter. Then have Twitter post to
Fan page to accept posts from the blog and that the blog also posts to Twitter. Then have Twitter post to
LinkedIn. You get the picture!
Following from point 2, optimise content with relevant keywords or the content you are publishing. Make
SEO a natural part of the publishing process. Again your goal is being findable. Monitor and cultivate
social networks where conversations are happening relevant to the people and companies you‘re trying to
reach, you want your content in those networks and also relevant portals to your market all with relevant
links back to your site.
5. Inspire me
You‘ve got your content in front of the right person, now give readers something to do by designing in the
outcome (ties back to point 1, as well), think about engaging me in comments or discussion, subscribing
to other services, join or even buy, also sharing the content with my network. Not all content needs to
have an outcome, but if you don‘t ask you won‘t get. The story of the content should guide the reader to a
conclusion such as more content, or visiting a web page.
Without making it painful, you might layer the calls to action to appeal to different personas at different
stages in the buy process – broadening the relevance, just keep it all relevant and on-message so that it
doesn‘t put people off.
Don‘t forget to thank and encourage commentators that are interacting or sharing your content – this is
powerful stuff and you‘ll hear people like Jay Baer and the Convince & Convert blog really hammering
these basics home. It‘s motivating to be thanked, and as obvious as it sounds it grows good-will, one at a
time.
6. Monitor what‘s happening
Ensure that you have tools and processes for measuring performance, for the short and long term.
Whether you use social media monitoring tools, Google analytics or even PostRank, make sure you track
the reach of the content you‘re promoting. Understanding where you‘re getting traction is important to
enable you to improve what works and what doesn‘t – most likely where you push in terms of
distribution – if you cannot measure it, you cannot monitor and improve it.
It‘s important to think strategically since developing and promoting content on the social web is different to
direct marketing. For starters opportunities might arise to create and promote content on demand, for
example responding to trending social topics.
7. Improvement
Test and refine! We accept in other areas of marketing that not everything we create and share, will pay
off. So thinking of testing time of day, message, creative, traffic sources and anything else that could
impact the reach and engagement.
Have you got any tips that you can share?
Danyl is co-founder of Smart Insights and a digital mark eting contractor. His experience spans brand
development, direct mark eting and digital mark eting, with roles both agency and client side over the last
12 years.
June-16-11
10:56 AM
Lee Odden on May 19th, 2011
Infographics are a hit with online marketers this year and as more companies hire designers to artfully
represent data in creative and engaging ways, many fall short when it comes to infographic promotion. It‟s
the old “great content will attract it‟s own audience” scenario. As I‟ve always said, “Content isn‟t great until
someone shares it.”
While there are many other smart posts about creating compelling infographics to attract attention, links
and traffic, the information on promoting that type of content seems a bit light. If you‟ve invested in
creating great infographic content and need advice on how to promote, here are a few ideas:
1. Involve credible sources in the data collection and then encourage those sources to help you
promote the resulting graphic.
2. Create a blog post for the infographic and support promotion through the blog‟s social channels
(Facebook, Twitter, Email, social news & bookmarking sites)
3. Segment the infographic into screen shots which can be used in blog posts and shared on image
hosting sites like Flickr with links back to the main page hosting the full infographic. A week or two after
publishing and promoting the infographic, upload the full image and unique description to Flickr with a link
back to the original web page.
4. Schedule tweets of specific data points mentioned in the infographic over time with a link back to
the full infographic. 10 data points/statistics = 10 tweets. A similar, but more conservative approach can
work with Facebook as well.
5. Submit the infographic to aggregators and directories. Here is a short list:
 http://dailyinfographic.com/
 http://www.coolinfographics.com/
 http://www.infographicsshowcase.com/
 http://submitinfographics.com/
 http://www.infographicsarchive.com/
 http://www.visual.ly/ (not live yet)
6. Promote the infographic with an article/news release that includes a link to the full infographic and
distribute through a news distribution service like our client PRWeb.
7. Highlight the infographic in an email promotion to your in-house prospect and/or customer list.
Include a segment of the graphic and a link for readers to see the full image on your website or blog.
8. Pitch relevant industry bloggers and media on the story behind the data included in the infographic.
Focus on relevant, personalized emails and offer previews or pre-release opportunities for more
influential sources.
9. Share the infographic with influential users of social news & bookmarking sites: StumbleUpon,
Delicious, Reddit, or Digg. Or enlist a connected social media marketing service to do it for you.
10. Create a screencast video version of the infographic and promote through YouTube and other
video hosting services.
11. Deconstruct the infographic into a PowerPoint and PDF document and share
onSlideshare, Scribd, Docstoc and other document hosting services.
Additional tips that can help promotion include: Make sure the file name includes relevant keywords
as well as the text on the web page used to describe the infographic. Social sharing buttons on the page
that hosts the infographic should be easy to see and use. Include a text area form element with code that
that hosts the infographic should be easy to see and use. Include a text area form element with code that
users can copy to embed the infographic (with link back to your site) on their own website or blog.
Obviously there are many other ways to promote and re-purpose great content. I have to say, at TopRank
Marketing, we‟ve had many opportunities to develop our content marketing and promotion skills as well
as content re-purposing. It‟s an essential part of an efficient marketing program.
If you‟ve been successful at marketing content through infographics, what promotion tactics worked best?
What additional ways do you think infographics could be useful on their own or as part of a coordinated
content marketing effort?
Profile of a twitter user Infographic courtesy by GDS Infographics, on Flick r
June-16-11
11:50 AM
contentmarketinginstitute.comhttp://www.contentmark etinginstitute.com/2010/09/b2b-contentmarketing/
Joe Pulizzi
Have
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
you ever wondered:
How many tactics B2B marketers use in their content marketing efforts?
Which tactics are most popular?
What percentage of the marketing budget do marketers spend on content marketing?
Which industry has the highest level of content marketing adoption?
What are effective content marketers doing that less effective marketers are not?
If so, download this free report now or view the Zmags digital version from Junta42 and
MarketingProfs to get answers to these questions and many more.
With help from American Business Media and the Business Marketing Association, Junta42 and
MarketingProfs surveyed over 1,100 North American B2B marketers from diverse industries and a wide
range of company sizes. B2B Content Marketing: 2010 Benchmarks, Budgets and Trends
represents the largest, most comprehensive survey about content marketing in the business-tobusiness (B2B) space to date.
A few of the key findings:
The use of content marketing is widespread
Nine in 10 organizations market with content, with marketers using eight content tactics on average .
The most popular tactics are social media (excluding blogs) (79%), articles (78%), in -person events (62%)
and eNewsletters (61%).
If content is the only marketing left, how is it integrated into the
marketing mix?
June-16-11
11:52 AM
http://www.mycustomer.com/topic/marketing/if-content-only-marketing-left-how-it-integratedmarketing-mix/125964
If content is the only marketing left, how is it integrated into the marketing mix?
Posted by Danyl Bosomworth in Marketing on Thu, 02/06/2011 - 01:20
In this series of Smart Insights Best Practice Advice, Danyl Bosomworth of SmartInsights.com shares
tips on best practice to get better results from digital mark eting. This week , Danyl explains how
businesses can integrate content mark eting into the mix by using a framework .
“Content is the only mark eting left“, suggests Seth Godin. I think that statement has never been truer, if
marketing is about respecting and teaching your customers to believe in you over other brands. I‟d say it
is, these days. Seth has argued for years that this is the basis of new mark eting, a wave of other thought
leaders have backed this too – David Meerman-Scott and Gary Vaynerchuck being just two of them.
Someone becomes a fan, follower, lead or customer because you help them feel better about their world,
it makes more sense and they are able to make decisions about something.
So, where are the marketers?
Thinking how we can apply this to our businesses, I wonder where exactly have the marketers gone,
then! All we hear these days is how to leverage communications channels like email or social media, or
exploit SEO… as if there‘s a panacea or silver bullet we can employ. Channels vs channels. Marketing
always has been, and always will be, about people first. This is why we need the marketers to step up,
not the niche consultants or the SEO experts – they work for the marketers providing channel expertise.
The solution is shareable content
Creating content, and then ideally marketing it around an engaging ―big idea‖, is an approach that
Creating content, and then ideally marketing it around an engaging “big idea”, is an approach that
provides a means to connect with the right customers, because it‟s stuff that the right people actually
want to consume. Social media experts like Chris Brogan liken content to the fuel that lets social campfire
burn. So, if you are not creating great content that gets people talking about you, then what are you
doing?
What content? It‘s everywhere – text based in blogs, articles, ebooks and whitepapers, video based in
short series or ad-hoc guest interviews, webinars and online meet-ups, user generated feedback through
social media and comments… the list goes on.
With such rich tools available, let‘s stop the interrupting of prospects with irrelevant messaging, and
instead integrate useful content that provides people with information that is genuinely relevant,
personally or professionally, at the right time. You can start that change and integrate content marketing
into the mix by using a framework, like RACE, to help ensure that both scope and priorities are fully
considered. Here‘s a short introduction to how you can apply RACE to make your online marketing more
effective…
Reach – be findable online
Approaches to use to improve your reach through content marketing are:
 Target – ask ―who is listening to you already‖? Make something for them, ideally something that
makes their life a little easier, inspire them to want to talk about you to others, you only need the
first 10 items to start that process. Be targeted in your approach above all else – the first question is
not how many, but who – who are your key influencers?
 Create good stuff – ask not what helps “spread your message” but what content does your
audience need or enjoy, where is the intersection of value for your brand (what you want to say)
and your audience (what they are trying to solve)? The more that content is based on their needs,
the more it‘s going to be perceived as valuable – use social listening tools, blog researching and
search engine keyword research to quickly define those audience pain points.
 Publish to outposts - make your content visible in places where your audience already are. Success
comes from employing online listening to the market and doing the hard work t
Act – share is the new search
At this stage we are looking to encourage visitors to interact with and share our content, so we need to
know the content types that are effective. Approaches to use are to:
 Create variety – with a range of persona types and devices on which content is consumed, varying
how content manifests is important in itself. Consider the difference of mobile smart-phones to
desktop PC‘s – what is it that fits your audience? There‘s so many ways to share content –
including a daily blog post, a weekly video series on YouTube, quarterly webinars with guest
speakers or a bi-annual ebook. You can even go interactive with quizzes and contests, it‘s all
content.
 Be human – when a user hits your website does it make sense, is it organised ―for me‖ and my
needs or is it a re-brand of how every other site operates in your market? Using a language that
sounds human and is well structured, offers a huge advantage in introducing your ideas to others in
order you can be quickly understood. Is content in a format that makes sense and does it hang
together under topics or categories that speak to the audience, allowing them to find more of the
same.
 Mak e it shareable – Having content that is easy to share matters. There are a wealth of tools that
you to make it easy for users to pass your story forward into their social networks, the Facebook
Like/Send button on Tweet Meme are the most obvious. And, don‘t forget enabling syndication and
bookmarking of your quality information and content. Anyone that is expressing an interest should
be encouraged to share it.
Convert – gain permission
At this stage we are building a relationship, converting to a lead or a sale. To help with this you need to:
 Value – Demonstrate value. What do you want me to do, and why would I sign up, follow or connect
with you on an ongoing basis? Keep the calls to action appealing, relevant and valuable, what do I
need to do – is it offline (attend an event or visit a store) or online (go to your customer community
service or Facebook page).
 Interactive – The more interactive content is, the better. Can I ask questions, vote on something,
take a quiz, use a diagnostic that help me make a decision or enter a fun contest that entertains.
Help ―me‖ get involved with the content and with the subject matter in new ways, teach me
something. Consider interaction from your brand‘s perspective too, encourage the human to human
interaction through commenting on your blog, in a forum or maybe a webinar about a meaty subject
area.
 Promote – Selling, at the right time, it‘s ultimately why we are in business. Make promotional offers
natural and convenient, demonstrate the value exchange. Create social media only offers – for
example vouchers or special notifications only available via Twitter or Facebook – and promote how
to access those in emails or on brochures, Starbucks are masters of this.
to access those in emails or on brochures, Starbucks are masters of this.
Engage – develop advocacy and referral
This is the long-term engagement. Key approaches to guide your work here are include:
 Build trust - work hard to gain customer comments and feedback from all sources including social
media – then pool and present them to consumers to help engender trust. Pulling feeds from
external sources, like Twitter as social proof that people like your brand is particularly powerful,
though don‘t forget to simply ask and reward customers for coming back to your site to share their
product story.
 Integrate – share content through extended services that marry marketing with that value
exchange – special deals and timely reminders and updates are important for this, think of an ISP
reminding you of domain name renewals via email at the exact moment you need to know and
appending an offer to that for hosting effective promotional content at the right time.
 Social CRM - social tools are just that, a means to build a better business because we‘re now
afforded the ability to cost effectively listen and serve the customer better. After years of paying
research companies and chasing insight we find it here, right on our doorstep if we‘re open to
employ it as a process within the business. Only one benefit of that is our ability to continually
improve content and communications.
So, for us, content marketing success requires an adoption and integration of simple, but still new,
processes. Behaving like a publisher over a broadcaster to create an inbound effect of interested
prospects and customers is something that still feels pretty new to marketers. Yet we can see that it‘s
authentic marketing, meeting market needs and helping consumers make decisions over looking to
interrupt and persuade. Having a process in place to create and re-create content in multiple forms for
distribution in multiple channels like email, outposts like Facebook or LinkedIn and of course your own
web services, will help you scale up and meet these new demands.
For Danyl's tips on successful content marketing on the social web, click here.
Danyl is co-founder of Smart Insights and a digital mark eting contractor. His experience spans brand
development, direct mark eting and digital mark eting, with roles both agency and client side over the last
12 years.
Content Marketing Usage
June-16-11
11:55 AM
Marketers are committing budget to content marketing
B2B marketers allocate approximately 26% of their total marketing budgets to content marketing
initiatives. 51% of B2B marketers plan to increase their spend in content marketing over the next 12
months.
Much education is needed in the area of content marketing
While content marketing is mainstream, marketers are unsure of how effective various tactics are. For
many tactics, there is a large ―confidence gap‖ in which marketers use tactics but are unsure of how
effective they are. For instance, of the 79% of B2B marketers who use social media, only 31% of users
think they use this tactic effectively.
Marketers need additional help with content marketing
Marketers need additional help with content marketing
While marketers certainly need education around content marketing, this isn‘t the only thing needed for
content marketing success. As shown in the chart below, the biggest challenges for marketers are
producing engaging content (36%), producing enough content (21%) and finding budget to produce
content (20%). (This isn‘t only something that this research confirms – we hear this from the marketers we
talk to every day. Stay tuned Friday when we‘ll talk more about how the Content Marketing Institute is
changing to help marketers with these challenges.)
If you are in B2B marketing, there are many other things you will find out by downloading this report, such
as how content marketers measure success, what distinguishes self-described best-in-class marketers
and much more. Want to learn more?
 Get the free report:
 Sign up to get how-to content marketing articles delivered to your inbox (including posts that will
directly address the issues in this report).
We’d love to know your thoughts about this study. What surprises you? What questions do you
have? Let us know in the comments below.
How to Turn Offline Documents into Online Traffic and Leads
11:34 AM
HOW TO TURN OFFLINE DOCUMENTS INTO ONLINE TRAFFIC AND LEADS
by Matthew Bark er
July 11, 2011
Virtually all travel agencies use some form of print or electronic brochures, itineraries, or other documents
as marketing tools for prospective clients, or as pre-travel information once clients have booked.
Chances are you‘ll have spent some effort on compiling or creating these documents. You might have
even paid a professional to do the layout and design.
But don‘t stop there. Your offline documents are often precisely the kind of top-rate creative content that
the search engines crave, and you should make full use of them on your site. You can put them online in
a way that actively benefits your business by generating more traffic and new leads.
The good news is that PDFs are now very well read and indexed by the major search engines (almost as
well as regular HTML webpages).
There are just a few things you need to bear in mind while preparing and uploading your documents:
Use text, not images: If you prepare your PDF in graphic design or drawing software (i.e. Photoshop) it
will be generated as a single image, and search engines cannot ―read‖ images in the same way that they
can index and understand text. If your needs are limited, you can do this in MS Word or similar. If you are
creating a fully designed brochure, invest in a tool like Adobe InDesign.
Use tags & attributes: Depending on the software you‘re using, you can optimize the meta tags in your
PDF content in the same way that you optimize an HTML webpage. You should definitely apply
tags/attributes to your page title, subject (similar to the page description), image ALTs and even specify
H1 and H2 headers. As with on-site optimization, the key is to use your target keywords in all these fields.
To add tags in Acrobat, look under Document Properties in the File menu. Other programs will have
slightly different interfaces.
(Bonus tip: If you‘re paying a design agency to prepare a document for you, be sure to check that they
are able to include all this with the design. If not, go elsewhere.)
Watch the file size: The only downside to uploading your entire brochure is that the file will probably be
colossal. Even if the search engine spider did index the file, your users would leave the site before it‘s
even loaded. Instead, create a web version of your docs, using lower resolution images. Tools like
Acrobat also have file size optimization settings and you should definitely select the ―Fast Web View‖
option.
Deep link through your site: The PDF acts in the same way as HTML web pages, and you should make
full use of linking opportunities to other pages on your site. Be sure to use keyword-rich anchor text, as
you would with any other web page.
Link to the document: You can‘t just stick the document online and hope for the best. First, don‘t bury
the document too deep inside the site (www.example.com/travel-packages/itineraries/peruitineraries/downloads/machupicchu5day.pdf is far too deep for the spiders to find). Store it as close to the
root domain as possible (www.example.com/machupicchu5day.pdf would be fine).
Second, make sure you link to the document from other prominent pages – your home page, destination
pages, product pages, etc. This gives the spiders additional signals that the document exists and that
they should go and check it out.
Following these very simple steps will allow you to leverage all those beautifully designed offline assets
and get them working for your site. As with regular pages, if the documents are well optimized they can
become part of your online footprint, drawing new visitors and creating new leads.
Matthew Bark er is a managing partner at Hit Riddle, an internet mark eting consultancy specializing in the
travel industry. He is also the author of the Hit Riddle travel mark eting blog. Contact him at
[email protected].
Pasted from <http://www.travelmarketreport.com/technology?articleID=6042&LP=1 >
July-16-11
10:56 AM
socialmediaexaminer.comhttp://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/26-tips-for-using-images-to-engagefans-and-followers/
You‟ve heard this: “A picture is worth a thousand words.” But can it actually help you engage with
customers and prospects?
In this post, I‟ll share ways you can ensure your images provide the best experience they can; ones
that will help keep the conversation flowing.
Among the topics covered in this post are tools, tips and strategies that can be used to enhance the
visual representation of your business.
As I‟ve done in the other posts in the 26 Tips series, this post provides an easily digestible A-Z guide to
which you can return time and again.
A-Z Guide
#1: Adverts
Location, location, location. Talk about good real estate. You can use the Facebook photo strip space for
pictures that serve as adverts for your business. You can include descriptions, links and calls to
action.
In the post How to Use the Facebook Photo Strip on Your Fan Page, you can learn more about optimal
sizes for photo strip images.
The Facebook photo strip is prime real estate and a great place for free business advertisements.
Watch how Make It In Music created them in this helpful video.
#2: Brand awareness
Ann Smarty suggests watermarking your images to protect your brand and increase brand
awareness. She recommends a number of tools to get the job done; e.g., Fast Watermark and Photo
Watermark.
Fast Watermark is a quick and simple tool that allows you to add a watermark to your photos.
#3: Creative commons
The service through Flickr makes it possible for users to offer their work under a creative commons
license where people can search through images under each type of license: attribution, noncommercial,
no derivative works and share alike. Before using a creative commons image, be sure to check out the
license.
#4: Digital art
Greg Finn writes that digital art is a staple in social media news sites and suggests that design-related
images should be “high resolution and content should be truly extraordinary.” He describes four
examples of design images typically used in social media: design art, graffiti, web design and fonts. One
outstanding example he references was created by Kevin Hulsey for Royal Caribbean, which can be
viewed on his site, where you not only see a representation of the full ship but can go cabin by cabin
through the ship. Pretty impressive!
#5: Effects
Create interesting effects with your images to help them stand out in the crowd. There are countless
apps which can help to create all kinds of effects; e.g., collages, high dynamic range rendering, tiles,
vintage, sketches and interesting textures. If you work on a Mac, you can check out the photography apps
online.
#6: Facebook Photos Plus Comments
Photos and comments are the perfect duo for Facebook. While you may think you have the most
fantastic photo to post on Facebook (and you might), sometimes it won‟t be enough to stand on its own.
As, Jim Lodico writes in his post, 6 Tips to Increase Your Facebook Edgerank and Exposure, ”Photos and
videos show up in the Facebook new feeds as thumbnail images. Due to their size, they almost require
interaction as users click on them to make them large enough to see. Be sure to add a comment that
encourages users to open the photo and add comments of their own.”
Use photos that represent your business.
#7: Google index
Text isn‟t the only thing that Google indexes. That‟s right. Google indexes your images too. Images are a
very powerful way to add more Google juice to your site‟s search ranking. Panda‟s post 9 Ways of
Optimizing Your Site for Image Search says, “If you have optimized your images correctly, you can get
yourself a very attractive top 10 position by tagging your images correctly.”
Fun Tip: You can check how many pictures Google has indexed from your site by going to
http://images.google.com/images?q=site:yoursite.com, and replacing “yoursite.com” with your domain
name.
Google found 2,750 images on Social Media Examiner in 0.8 seconds!
#8: Hipstamatic
If you‟re on the go and want to take some interesting photos with your iPhone, Hipstamatic is a great app
worth exploring. Photographer Stephanie Roberts lists it as one tool to fuel your creativity in her article
in Digital Photo magazine. She says, “Hipstamatic mimics the unique style of vintage prints characterized
by vignettes, blurring, textured edges and oversaturated colors created with the original analog plastic
camera. Using a square-format viewfinder, the app lets you switch „lenses,‟ „flash‟ and „film‟ with the swipe
of a finger. I often shoot with Hipstamatic because I like composing images in the square-format
viewfinder and I like the creative constraint of choosing the „film‟ and „lens‟ before I shoot.”
Rich Brooks from Flyte talks about Hipstamatic and other apps in this video from 207, the evening news
Rich Brooks from Flyte talks about Hipstamatic and other apps in this video from 207, the evening news
magazine on southern Maine‟s NBC affiliate, WCSH.
#9: iPhoneography
Stephanie Roberts, author of The Art of iPhoneography: A Guide to Mobile Creativity, gives a number of
compelling reasons for seeing the iPhone camera as a powerful creative device for photographers. My
personal favorite is: “You rarely go anywhere without it, which means you increase the odds of your
ability to capture fleeting magic moments as you move through the day.”
I can‟t begin to tell you how many times I think I should have brought my digital camera when I remember
that my iPhone, the constant friend and companion, is ready and waiting and very up for the task at hand!
Stephanie suggests loosening up and following your instincts and crafting your toolkit with apps to fuel
your creativity. She recommends Photo fx from Tiffen, Iris Photo Suite, Hipstamatic and Adobe
Photoshop Express.
Think of iPhoneography as a mobile method for making art as you move through life.
#10: Join the community and be social with your photos
Stephanie Roberts also recommends creating an Instagram presence. “Instagram is a rapidly growing
social network of iPhoneographers sharing images in real time. The Instagram app displays a
chronological feed of photographs shared by users you choose to follow. You can use Instagram to shoot
an image (or choose an image from your photo library), apply an image filter (or not) and quickly share
the image with your followers. Instagram also can automate image sharing to your online journal, or
your Twitter or Facebook accounts.”
Instagram is a fun and quirky way to share through pictures.
Steve Kovach‟s post, HOW TO: Use Instagram for Your Business recognizes the ways businesses can
use Instagram to make their photos searchable with hashtags. As he says, “This is fun for the
average user, but a huge win for brands that want to get more attention with the Instagram crowd.” He
offers four tips for leveraging hashtags for your brand on Instagram: host a contest, target people by
interest, create an RSS feed and encourage participation.
News organizations are using Instagram, too. In this recent post, Anthony Quintano, the community
manager for @NBC News, offers three tips: upload original photos that share a unique perspective,
thank and follow other Instagram users and search for user content.
You can also search for hashtags that interest you. For example, see who has tagged their photos
#socialmedia.
#11: Keywords
Where would we be without keywords? They‟re everywhere we search today. But when it comes to
searching for the perfect image, they become even more important to understand. Getty images put
together a very comprehensive guide to help users search for images. Whether you‟re looking on Getty
Images or not, the concepts are important to consider. For example, they suggest using keywords related
to concepts, topics, people, age, sayings, image and footage styles, editorial-specific terms and human
emotions. They offer advice for refining your search; e.g., combine terms, be creative, editorial and
footage.
#12: Link
This may be an obvious piece of advice, but nevertheless it‟s worth mentioning. Users have become
accustomed to rolling over images in hopes that they will be able to navigate to a destination. So why not
link the screenshot and take users directly to the website. This is particularly useful on web roundup
posts. In this roundup, “The Art of Facebook Page Design,” the images represent the artwork of 50
Facebook pages. When the user wants to see more about the Facebook page, he or she can easily
navigate to the page by clicking on the image.
Link screenshots directly to the website.
#13: Movies
Images needn‟t be stills. With a variety of tools, you can create short movies with a series of photos,
add music, embed on your blog, link on Facebook and wow, think of the impressions you can make. One
such tool is Animoto.
Here‟s a good tutorial by mentorMichel.
#14: Networking sites
Looking for a way to keep track of the images you’ve shared on different social networking sites?
There are several options to help you. One such product is GRID, which “fetches all your photos from
different social networks and lists them out by week. Currently GRID can rewind your memories from
Facebook, dailybooth, Instagram, picplz, twitpic and yfrog.”
Pixable, another fun service, makes it possible to view your friends‟ photos shared on Facebook. Young
writes in the post, View Facebook Photos with Pixable, “For every photo you can see on the Pixable
website, you can also like it, read its comments, comment it and see who is tagged in it. Very enjoyable,
especially when your friends share many beautiful photos of themselves.”
especially when your friends share many beautiful photos of themselves.”
See all of your images in one place.
#15: Optimize
In the post 9 Ways of Optimizing your Site for Image Search, we‟re advised to: use descriptive file
names, use the html alt tag, add descriptive text close to the picture, keep the most important images
close to the top headline or title, put photos within articles and blog posts away from navigational
elements, do not add code to break out of frames, use images that read well when thumbnailed, make the
photos accessible, and use social photo sites like Flickr with links back to the relevant page on your site.
#16: Profiles
The placement of social icons on blogs is an important consideration. Cindy King points out in her post,
19 Ways to Use Images to Enhance Your Blog, “A blog is considered a social media platform and you
want to make it easy for readers to connect with you on the social platforms they feel most
comfortable with. This is why many blogs have easy-to-recognize social icons in a prominent position.”
#17: Quality of experience
While we‟ve been talking largely about images and photos so far in this post, Greg Finn suggests six
formats for informative images that work in social media: charts/graphs, flow charts, how-to‟s, maps,
screenshots, and guides. “The key for these images is to be easy to consume and to be comprehensive.
The images should not only be helpful, but should also be designed well. Great design can make an
ordinary informative image turn into an essential resource.”
#18: Resize images and use same sizes
Greg Finn offers great advice for using the same size for each image in your piece. Go a step further and
make it part of your editorial standards and request that all images have the same dimensions. As
Greg says, “This gives your article a more professional feel and gives the submissions a much more
uniform look. Never use a jumble of different image sizes; your story will look much more amateur.”
#19: Screenshots
Sometimes nothing says it better than a screenshot, the “image taken by the computer to record the
visible items displayed on the monitor, television, or another visual output device.” (Wikipedia) Screenshot
images are often used to demonstrate a point and show users how to complete a task. Another
powerful feature of screenshots is the ability to annotate them, and this is where you might want to
explore software options. Recently I‟ve started using SnagIt by TechSmith, which I‟ve used in this post.
The annotating features really help add pizzazz.
Annotate screenshots to demonstrate a point.
#20: Twitter
As discussed in the post, 26 Twitter Tips for Enhancing Your Tweets, images can be shared on Twitter
via a number of Twitter image sharing services, SMS or email, Brightkite or FriendFeed, Skitch and
Encoded Tweets. You can learn more about these options from Josh Catone in his post.
#21: User Photos
One of Facebook‟s newest developments is the ability to tag pages in user’s photos. Right now it‟s
limited to pages categorized as “Brands & Products,” but it can be very effective for brands looking to
expand their reach. As Josh Constine writes, “A tag of a brand or public figure represents a strong social
recommendation of that Page, which will make a user‟s friends curious to visit that Page and improve the
chance that they‟ll Like it themselves.
“Photos are Facebook‟s most popular native application, receiving huge numbers of Page views. Tags of
Pages in Photos could gain many impressions from a user‟s friends over a long period of time, offering
many opportunities for that Page to gain new fans.” Josh demonstrates this new feature in the Coke
brand photo below:
Tagging products can expand a brand's reach.
# 22: Volume
While there aren‟t any hard-and-fast rules about the number of images to include in a blog post, I think
most bloggers would agree that effective blog posts should contain at least one or two. Keep in mind that
Images will help engage readers by breaking up long blocks of text and enhancing the readability of
the page. Posts on Social Media Examiner for example, always include a number of images and
the pièce de résistance, captions!
#23: Widgets
Cindy King discusses widgets and how most social networking sites provide widgets for you to embed on
your blog. Cindy says, “This is a great way to grow your communities on social media platforms. It gives
your readers the choice of where they want to connect with you. And as the communication styles vary on
different social media platforms, it also lets your readers choose how they want to connect with you.”
#24: Experience
In the post How to Improve the Appeal of Your Graphics, Connie Malamed discusses research that
indicates the ease of processing information (otherwise known as processing fluency) which influences a
person‟s aesthetic pleasure and contributes to positive experiences. Four features attributed to facilitating
fluent processing are: symmetry, high figure/ground contrast, visual clarity and less information rather
than more.
Use images as a way to facilitate a good experience for your customers, fans and followers.
#25: Why images
Adam Singer describes images as being vital to modern blogs for six reasons: content moves through the
social web lightning-fast and strong imagery can‟t be ignored; images are a signal to visitors that a site‟s
material is premium and unconsciously we elevate the worth of a site that has images mixed in with
stories; strategic imagery helps bloggers build their brand—the imagery can help build a stylish brand
associated with their sites; images are mood setters and help writers tell their stories better; images are a
precursor to the inspiration that happens from effective copy and can give a blog an advantage over
their competition; images help bloggers create viral content.
#26: Zero impact
#26: Zero impact
At this point we‘ve explored 25 tips and good reasons for using images in your social media to engage
customers, followers and fans. With that being said, there‘s really no good reason to use images that
have zero impact. I‘ll end with these last pieces of advice: with all the great possibilities out there, use
images with the most dynamic impact and ones that are representative of the points you are
trying to make.
Happy imaging!
What do you think? What image tips can you add to this list? Which of the 26 tips here did you enjoy
reading about most? Leave your comments in the box below.
inShare431
Pasted from <http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/26-tips-for-using-images-to-engage-fans-andfollowers/>
Tools and Tips
June-16-11
11:13 AM
Tools
FYI: If you need great music, video, images, script codes, etc for really cheap, check out
http://audiojungle.net/ for music/audio http://videohive.net/ and you'll see links for other sites too.
http://www.thevideoboss.com/sq/4913-video-boss-2-now-even-bossier
Pasted from <file:///C:\Users\Carol\Dropbox\Content%20for%20Marketing%20Book%20v2.docx>
Video Marketing Page 156
Tools and Tips
June-16-11
11:43 AM
Local Search Rank Checker
The easy way to track your local search rankings
http://www.brightlocal.com/seo-tools/local-search-rank-checker/
Local Marketing Page 157
Top 5 Foursquare Mistakes Committed By Small
Businesses
June-16-11
10:56 AM
Top 5 Foursquare Mistakes Committed By Small Businesse s
Lauren Drell 2 Comments

http://www.openforum.com/articles/top-5-foursquare-mistakes-committed-by-smallbusinesses
May 24, 2011
From our coverage on Mashable, you've probably learned a fair share about Foursquare for
business. There are more than 9 million people on Foursquare, and there are 250,000
businesses that have claimed venues and use the location-based service as part of their
overall marketing program. Foursquare is a free platform for merchants to use to engage and
incentivize customers, but only if done right. Here's what not to do as you embark on your
Foursquare marketing endeavors.
1. Creating a complicated special
There's no fun in trying to unlock a special that is nearly impossible to unlock. Keep it simple.
The purpose of Foursquare's merchant platform is to bridge the gap between customers and
merchants, and a high barrier to entry could easily turn users off. There are seven kinds of
specials to choose from, depending on whether you're targeting new customers,
encouraging people to come back multiple times or wanting to reward the mayor (your most
loyal Foursquare customer).
Foursquare enables businesses to activate a special only on certain days or during certain
times, or they can reward people for every nth check in, regardless of what time or day it
happens. "Receive a free cupcake on your fifth check in" or "10 percent off your bill on
Tuesdays" are good examples of simple rewards.
Specials can provide discounts, a few bucks off or a free item. If you're worried about
margins, you can offer a special that doesn't affect your bottom line—maybe users will get to
shop during special hours at your shop. Alternatively, you can post videos of your most
active Foursquare users on your Facebook and Twitter pages. Eric Friedman, Foursquare's
director of business development, says the best kind of specials are those that make people
feel special and provide them with something they couldn't get as a regular consumer.
Also, remember to set an end-date for your campaign if it's a limited-time offer and use the
fine print if there are exclusions to your special.
2. Not training staff
You never want someone to redeem a special and show it to your staff, only to be looked at
with googly eyes. Be sure your team is prepared and can recognize a Foursquare special
and offer the redemption. Once you create a special, Foursquare provides flyers for you to
print off—one for employees, and one for customers—to build awareness for the product and
make sure everyone is on the same page.
If you add a new special or change your current one, be sure to alert the team so they can
answer any Foursquare-related questions.
3. Not using Foursquare's dashboard
The Foursquare dashboard is chock-full of useful information. Merchants can see what times
people are checking in, in addition to details on the gender and age breakdown of those
users. Businesses can use this information to craft a special to lure people to their venues
during slow periods.
Only about 25 percent of Foursquare users send check ins to Twitter or Facebook, so
logging into the dashboard allows you to see who your most frequent and most recent
Foursquare check ins are. This is very helpful for businesses and gives them an inside look
Foursquare check ins are. This is very helpful for businesses and gives them an inside look
at their customers, while also providing contact information—such as their Twitter handles—
if a user provided it when he signed up. The Twitter handle can be used for one-on-one
outreach, which will make your customers feel special and appreciated—and hopefully not
creeped out.
4. Giving away too much product via specials
Just like on Groupon, there is a point at which your margins could be affected in such a way
that you could be losing money. If you're a cupcake shop, you might not to be able to afford
giving away a free cupcake with each check in. That's fine, just get more creative and offer a
more exclusive special. Perhaps you can do a loyalty special so that people get a reward —a
free cupcake—on every third or fourth visit. That way, they're incentivized to come back.
5. Not advertising that you're a Foursquare merchant
People might not be inclined to check in if they don't know there's a reward, so be sure to put
the window clings (which Foursquare sends you when you create a special) on display.
Setting up a special also guarantees that your business is shown in the "specials nearby" tab
when people open the Foursquare app in the vicinity your business.
The bottom line is that there are nearly 10 million people on Foursquare. Some might be
more inclined to try your business—and keep coming back—if they know there's an incentive
on Foursquare.

Ted Sindzinski
5 great points that are certainly issues at the small business level and often enterprise
too [especially training employees across an entire network of stores]. Less of a critical
problem and more of a strategy gap that I often see with location check-ins is failing to
give people a reason to participate other than a discount. Sure it's great to save but
real loyalty is only bought to a certain degree and with check-in tools, there's lots of
room for social engagement as well as just well planned CRM. To this end I've seen a
few local businesses successfully use location check-ins to encourage attendance at
events, gaming / challenges, even buddying up for participatory businesses like
climbing gyms. Ongoing recognition & messaging makes for far more impact than just
rewarding a mayor. Similarly encouraging friend/ follower participation can help push
to the user‘s network. Much like the daily deals opportunity, success is a matter of
building value on top of the platform, not just using it one off.

T S Habout
Another item that should be added is when businesses offer specials of any kind, they
Another item that should be added is when businesses offer specials of any kind, they
should not have employees checking in. I *** that...
How to Start Marketing on SCVNGR
June-16-11
12:03 PM
http://mashable.com/2011/06/08/scvngr-marketing-guide/
HOW TO: Start Marketing on SCVNGR
Lauren Drell4
The Social Media 101 Series is supported by Global Strategic Management Institute. GSMI’s Social
Media Strategies Series are the leading educational events for organizations look ing to advance their
online capabilities. Learn more.
What do Neiman Marcus, HP and Buffalo Wild Wings have in common? Not a lot, except that they‘ve all
created marketing campaigns on SCVNGR. The breadth of industries above showcases exactly why
SCVNGR might be a good tool for your business. Mashable spoke with Chris Mahl, SVP of marketing at
SVNGR to find out how businesses can get involved with the platform and start cashing in.
Before we jump in, let‘s start with an explanation. SCVNGR is a location-based gaming platform — there
are default challenges at every venue, and businesses can also ―script‖ their own challenges. Customers
with iPhones and Androids can complete challenges to earn points, which are redeemable for rewards,
such as free drinks or 10% off a purchase. The Cambridge-based company launched in 2008, and was
founded by 22-year-old Seth Priebatsch.
Case Studies
More than 1,000 enterprises have launched challenges and rewards on SCVNGR. Consumers complete
challenges to earn rewards. ―What we‘ve learned is that when brands launch, they can get people to
engage with them for 9 to 21 minutes per play,‖ says Mahl. ―They often pull their friends in, too.‖
Because SCVNGR has a partnership with Google, it has more than 320 million places in its database.
Thus, SCVNGR has the ability to launch challenges with badges and have leaderboards all over the
world.
Since launch, SCVNGR has accrued 1.6 million users. Most users are 13 to 38 years old, but there is a
roughly equal breakdown of male and female, so there‘s a broad range of customers to target. SCVNGR
has been implemented successfully in a variety of businesses. For example:
 Buffalo Wild Wings hosted what Mahl deems ―by far the most successful‖ SCVNGR campaign
during March Madness.
 Neiman Marcus encourages customers to be fashion leaders and snap photos of their favorite
trends. For instance, the ―trendsetter‖ challenges asks users to snap a pic of their favorite
accessory for a little black dress. The campaign is live at 42 locations, and sharing to Twitter enters
users into a contest for a $2,550 shopping spree.

users into a contest for a $2,550 shopping spree.
GameStop launched a challenge leading up to the release for Call of Duty: Black Ops.
Now that we‘ve covered the basics, here‘s how you can launch a SCVNGR campaign for your own brand.
Make Your Own Campaign
SCVNGR is all about interaction, so as a business owner, you have the ability to ―create an engagement
story.‖ Mahl emphasizes that the challenges are entirely scriptable and customizable. Such creative
license allows a business to get exactly what they want out of the platform. As such, launching a
SCVNGR campaign is both ―brand safe‖ and scalable. The nice thing about SCVNGR is that you can
have ―cross-place play,‖ so users can visit a business with multiple locations and the points accumulate
from each venue (this is an optionFoursquare doesn‘t currently offer).
Register for the site, and select ―I am primarily a builder.‖ A temporary password will be emailed to you,
and you‘ll see a welcome screen on the site. Choose ―Click here to begin.‖ You‘ll now arrive at the
builder — you can opt to set up your SCVNGR independently, or you can work with the SCVNGR team to
get started.
Challenges
Now you‘re ready to create challenges, which are what Mahl calls a ―multidimensional interaction‖ and an
invitation to play for rewards. Click ―Create Challenge,‖ choose a location, give the challenge a name and
assign it a point value (2 to 5 points). Then you can write the text of the challenges and assign it a
challenge type: Specific Text Response, Open Response, Photo Challenge or QR Code. You can also
upload an image, audio or video file that the user will experience on the challenge prompt (I uploaded a
picture of the logo I‘m referring to so the user knows what to look for). Then, you can create a ―Done
Message‖ — a type of congratulations for when the user completes the challenge. Once you‘re done,
click ―Save & Continue.‖
When you‘re coming up with challenges, Mahl has a mantra to keep in mind. ―If it‘s cool, people with do
it — that‘s the nature of game dynamics,‖ he says. SCVNGR provides some best practices for writing
challenges that fit with a brand‘s style. Here are some more general tips from Mahl, too:




Keep it short. Don‘t create a challenge that takes ten minutes to do.
Let them explore. Try to create a new experience for the user by encouraging them to discover
something new about a brand or business.
Let them express themselves. For open-ended questions, let the users ruminate and ideate —
they love to give brands a piece of their minds.
Time is of the essence. Create content that is timely — you can always modify and update
challenges to keep things fresh and relevant.
Note that users can create their own challenges, too, but only after they‘ve completed a number of
challenges and proven themselves to be a sort of ―power user.‖ This creates a whole new level of brand
engagement, says Mahl, and transforms the users from players into ―authors.‖ SCVNGR staff combs
through the user-generated challenges and curates them to weed out any inappropriate ones.
Rewards
Now that you know how to create challenges — and you can write up to five custom ones — you can
outline some rewards. The rewards are items and perks that can be redeemed with the points earned
from challenges, so you want to incentivize people to play with excellent rewards. Click ―Create Reward.‖
Again, enter a place, a title and a reward description. Assign a point value to the reward, and you can set
a limit for how many times the reward can be earned. You can also set an expiration date if the reward is
seasonal.
Keep in mind that a reward can be digital or physical. Mahl says you could offer a sneak preview for a
movie or even the ability to enter into a random selection for a big grand prize. During Coca-Cola‘s
SCVNGR campaign, the brand offered a free bottle opener and an AmEx gift card for $9, so the user
could get free soda for himself and a few friends.
Treks
The last item is a trek — essentially, a walking tour of an area. Select an ―anchor point,‖ which is the
starting point and home base for the trek. The way the trek works is that each time someone checks in to
a location, they‘re directed to the next one, so it‘s a bit of a scavenger hunt (hence the app‘s namesake).
Under ―Some Details,‖ you can add a custom map image, choose whether this will be a competitive trek
or not — is it a race or a leisurely tour? — and whether the trek should have a linear route or a
―SmartRoute,‖ which issues the next destination based on distance and crowding. Once you fill this out,
―SmartRoute,‖ which issues the next destination based on distance and crowding. Once you fill this out,
click ―Save & Continue.‖
With that, you‘re all set — your challenges, rewards and treks are live. Mahl suggests having a training
week when your staff can play around with the platform and get used to it so they can answer any
questions a user might have. Once the campaign is underway, you can check on the progress and
download a .csv report of user activity.
Once your campaign is live, Mahl says you can rest assured that SCVNGR will stay out of your business
and let you run the show. ―We‘re gardening,‖ says Mahl. ―We‘re keeping the place clean and not
interrupting — there‘s no advertising.‖
LevelUp
A unique aspect of SCVNGR is LevelUp. ―[LevelUp] combines the best parts of the checkin — the
challenge and the reward — into one bite-sized unit,‖ founder Seth Priebatsch told Mashable in March. As
of May,SCVNGR partnered with AmEx to make redemption even easier.
In short, rewards are automatically synced onto one‘s AmEx so that redemption is paperless. No staff are
required. SCVNGR is currently alone in that space.
Above and Beyond
If the five custom challenges aren‘t enough for you, you can get more creative — but it comes at a price.
You can email [email protected] to find out more about pricing and options.
If you have any questions at any time during your campaign, you can submit them through the ―help‖
button in the builder and expect a response within 24 to 48 hours, or you can email [email protected].
What other SCVNGR tips do you have? Let us know in the comments below.
How to Start Your Foursquare Campaign
July-18-11
8:39 PM
How To Start Your Foursquare Campaign
By: Lauren • Published: July 18, 2011 (Today)
•
Hey! If you are new here, you might want to subscribe to the RSS feed for updates and super awesome
information regarding social media marketing and small business!
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Hey Hubzers,
Foursquare has over 10 million users and 500,000 merchant accounts. It is a great platform to gain
exposure and keep customers coming back. I like foursquare because it gives businesses creative control
and deals always give me a warm and fuzzy feeling. To get started with Foursquare all you have to do is
claim your venue, it‘s pretty simple and you can begin making specials right away.
There are a few different specials you can choose from:
Specials to Get New Customers
Swarm works by specifying the number of people who need to be checked in to unlock a special. For
example, a western wear store can give away a free stetson when 20 people are checked in at once; how
they share their cowboy hat is between them. You can set limits for how often a swarm can be unlocked.
Friend Special is smaller scale but it aims to get groups of friends to come to your venue. You set the
minimum number of friends who need to check-in together in order to redeem your special. I have
planned entire evenings with my friends around Foursquare Friend Specials.
Flash Special is like a ―Flash Sale‖. It is a first-come, first-serve kind of deal. You allow X amount of
people to receive a special within Y amount of time. It is great for generating traffic during slow hours
because you can decide the time.
Newbie Special works by unlocking a special when it is a visitors first time to your venue, so you start off
on a good note.
Check -in Special is a ―classic‖ Foursquare special. It rewards users whenever they check-in and will build
loyalty as well as earn new customers.
Specials to Keep Customers
Mayor Special is reserved for the Mayor of your venue, or the most frequent visitor within the last 60 days.
With this special you can award your best customer and incite healthy competition.
Loyalty Special works three different ways. You can reward a user every X times they visit, you can
reward them for the total of times they visit, or you can reward them for coming in X times over Y days.
Customize Your Special and Start the Campaign
Describe your special. After you choose the Special, it is time to go to the ―Next Step‖ and write up your
Special in the ―Offer Description‖ box. You have 200 characters to describe your Special which will
appear in real time on a mock iPhone, so you can preview how it will look on a users smartphone. You
can include a register or point-of-sale code into the text of your Special (―instructions to staff – enter code
4SQdiscount‖) so your staff can easily process it and you can track redemptions.
Write up the Fine Print. The ―Next Step‖ will take you to the ―Fine Print‖ where you can describe any
restrictions or disclaimers for the special. Here you can be specific and set times at which a special can
be redeemed, targeting times like your slow hours.
Create special. Click ―Create Special‖ and your on your way to seeing some new faces or perhaps a
couple mugs you‘ve seen quite a few times already.
Customize your campaign. You will then be prompted to ―Start a Campaign‖ where you can select the
venue you wish the Special to take place at. This allows you to run different specials at different locations.
Start your campaign. Don‘t forget that you can have multiple specials running at the same time. For
limited-time offers or one-day specials, put an end date for the campaign. The Special will go live once
you click ―Start Campaign‖ and is verified by Foursquare. It should all appear in the ―Specials Nearby‖
menu within 24 hours.
Let your employees know about the Special with one of the flyers you can download via Foursquare. The
menu within 24 hours.
Let your employees know about the Special with one of the flyers you can download via Foursquare. The
main thing you need to know is that an unlocked special is in color while a locked special is in black
and white. Additionally it is important to remember that not all Foursquare specials have to give a
discount. You can offer exclusive access to a sample sale or a special item that is only available for
Foursquare users. Arby‘s reserves tables for Mayors. I have yet to come across a reserved parking spot
special, but I would be thrilled to receive a little prestige.
What creative Foursquare specials have you seen or created? Comment and let us know!
Pasted from <http://blog.hubze.com/2011/how-to-make-a-foursquare-s pecial/>
Twitter Tools and Tips
June-16-11
10:56 AM
http://energise2-0.com/2011/02/04/a-list-of-useful-twitter-applications/
A List of Useful Twitter Applications
Posted on February 4, 2011 by Alan Stevenson
Please find below a useful list of twitter applications to support your core business objectives in this area.
The list covers:
 Desktop, Browser and Mobile Clients
 Tweet Feeds
 Twitter Search
 Analytics
 Directories and Follow Services
 Others
Desktop or Browser Clients
Tweetdeck (all)
Hootsuite (all)
Seesmic (desktop and browser)
Twitterific (phone)
Twhirl
There are also desktop and browser based applications available for smartphones (iphone, Android,
Blackberry and Symbian). These allow you to manage all of your twitter activities: to tweet to multiple
twitter accounts (simultaneously if needed), search, categorize and view tweets in numerous separate
panes, and retweet, reply and follow from each individual tweet. They also allow management of lists and
some statistics.
Tweet Feeds
Twitterfeed: allows you to feed your blog into Twitter. You provide the URL of a blog‘s RSS feed and how
often you want posts to Twitter, and twitterfeed does the rest.
Posterous: blogging platform allowing feed to Twitter
Others: most blogging and feedreader tools provide the ability to feed to Twitter, including Google
Reader, Google Buzz, WordPress, and so on.
Search
Twitter Search is a good tool for finding Tweets on any subject area (and also good for finding profiles).
Twitter Clients like TweetDeck offer this functionality
Search engines are now providing live Twitter search, try Bing Twitter
Monitter: is a Twitter search tool, but it differentiates itself from others by allowing you to search for 3
search terms at once.
Tweet Scan: Tweet Scan searches Twitter, identi.ca and other Status.net-based sites. Results available
via email, RSS, and JSON.
Analytics
Twitalyzer: social media statistics that categorize Twitter users in some detail
Klout: looks in particular for influencers on Twitter
Twittercounter: is Feedburner for Twitter. TwitterCounter tracks Twitter users and displays attractive stats
to everybody interested.
Twitturly: aggregates and ranks what people are talking about on Twitter. Each time someone tweets a
URL to their followers on Twitter, Twitturly takes note of it and applies it as a vote for that URL. The more
votes a URL has the higher it ranks on Twitturly‘s Top100.
Retweetist: Discovering trends, popular topics and popular people by tracking Retweets across Twitter.
Twitterfall: Analysis tool looking at Twitter topics
TweetStats: Trending stats for your twitter profile
Directories and Follow Services
Twitterholic: most popular profiles by number of followers and various other categories
Twibs: is a directory of businesses, services, and applications on twitter
We Follow: Twitter Directory and Search
Twellow: Yellow pages for Twitter
Twitterati: Following the most influential bloggers on Twitter
Tweepler: provides Twitter follower management and categorization services
Friend or Follow: Looks at who from those that you are following is also following you
Followformation: is a tool for twitter users who want to follow the top people in the areas of their interest
Other Notable Applications
Twitter Tools & Tips Page 169
Other Notable Applications
Twitpic: lets you share photos on Twitter. You can post pictures to TwitPic from your phone, through
TwitPic‘s API, or through the site itself. Also, some Twitter clients have built-in support for TwitPic.
Twtpoll: is a simple survey/ poll twitter app. Type in a 140 chars question, type in multiple choice answers,
and embed/share it!
TrueTwit
Twitdom: The twitter application database
Twittervision: maps tweets realtime
Additions to the list are very welcome – please let us know if there is another application that you find
useful.
Take care
Alan and Vincent
Tools…
http://tweetadder.com/
June-16-11
11:00 AM
http://mashable.com/2011/05/15/twitter-tips-mashable-connect/?
utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Mashable+%28Mashable%29
While Twitter users have become more active in the past year, there are only a few who are consistently
valuable, engaging and respected.
Becoming one of those users is a challenging task, but it‘s also something that can pay big dividends.
That‘s why we asked the world‘s leaders in digital for their advice on how to become a master Twitter
user.
On May 12-14, several hundred of the world‘s digital leaders gathered in Orlando for the first-ever
Mashable Connect, an intimate three-day conference focused on the impact of social media and digital on
entertainment, media, technology and society. Connect attendees, along with Team Mashable, had the
chance to hear about the biggest trends in digital from the leaders of Syfy, HBO, Edelman, Gowalla,
Tumblr, Buddy Media and more.
On Saturday, I walked around the conference floor, asking Connect attendees one simple question:
―What one tip do you have for best using Twitter?‖ I got a wide variety of responses from CEOs,
entrepreneurs and accomplished professionals in the digital world. Some had very simple advice, while
others had proverb-like quotations. But each had something completely different to say about the world‘s
hottest microblogging service.
Here‘s the sage advice our Connect attendees had to give:
Twitter Tips
 1) @jeffpulver, Casting Director, #140conf: ―The secret to Twitter is to listen, connect, share and
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engage. It‘s the conversations that matter.‖
2) @davepeck, Director of Community, Meshin: ―Respond to everybody, positive or negative.‖
3) @michiganflavor, COO, MIFlavor.com: ―Retweet, retweet, retweet. People love to see their
stuff retweeted, and they‘ll start retweeting you.‖
4) @shrmsocmedguy, Social Media Strategist, Shrm: ―Use your tweeting to set up meetings.‖
5) @dstatusstalker, Chief Status Stalker, Status Stalker: ―Start a conversation. Reach out to
others, and say hello.‖
6) @kratzpr, Founder, Kratz PR: ―Don‘t think of it as a tool, think of it as a gateway for being
social.‖
7) @ctreada, CEO, Notice Technologies: ―Ignore it; they‘re all pornographers anyway.‖ (Chris‘s
other tip: ―Chill out.‖)
8) @jkrohrs, VP of Marketing, ExactTarget: ―Don‘t tweet if you can‘t spell.‖
 8) @jkrohrs, VP of Marketing, ExactTarget: ―Don‘t tweet if you can‘t spell.‖
 9) @moniguzman, Director of Outreach, Intersect: ―Tweet what comes naturally. Don‘t try to
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fulfill someone else‘s expectations.‖
10) @shashib, Social Media Swami, Network Solutions: ―More than an RSS feed, connecting
with people on Twitter gives you interesting content that is validated by them.‖
11) @jennydevaughn, Director, Social Strategy, @HODES: ―You need to have brand sacrifice if
you want to be viewed as an expert in your field. Only tweet about 10 topics, events or ideas.‖
12) @robkey, CEO, Converseon: ―Embrace your insignificance.‖
13) @zagrrl: VP Technology, Innovation Center for US Diary: ―The best way to learn is to
share.‖
14) @heidiotway: VP & Director Social Media, Salter Mitchell: ―Follow the best, learn from the
best.‖
15) @jonnorp, Director of Social Media, American Airlines: ―Remember that it flies forever.‖
16) @chrisvary, Director of Emerging Technology, Weber Shandwick: ―Don‘t connect your
Twitter to Facebook.‖
17) @joeyinteractive, Interactive Creative Director, Disney Parks: ―Marketing doesn‘t spread;
stories do.‖
June-16-11
11:23 AM
socialmediaexaminer.comhttp://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/top-5-twitter-tools-for-social-mediacommunity-managers/
About the Author, Janet Aronica
Do you manage a social media community? Are you looking for an easier way to manage what happens
on Twitter?
Here are five tools to help make your Twitter workflow more efficient, along with some simple
instructions on how to use them.
#1: Schedule your tweets more efficiently
Not everyone agrees that scheduling tweets is the best approach. Twitter is, after all, a platform based on
real-time interaction. However, offering tweets of relevant industry news content for your community is a
way to brand yourself as a resource or thought leader and give people an incentive to follow you.
Scheduling tweets of this curated content frees you up to answer questions from your community and
monitor search terms.
With Buffer, you can select times throughout the day to send your tweets and load up your ―buffer‖
with your key messages. There are three pricing plans – free, $5/month and $30/month, with the premium
plans offering more accounts, users, tweets and times.
Scheduling tweets with Buffer is easy. First, you set your times in your dashboard.
Set times in your dashboard.
You head on over to your Buffer section and schedule the tweets. A Chrome extension makes it easy to
schedule tweets right from articles themselves.
Schedule tweets of your favorite content with a Chrome extension.
Finally, Buffer offers some basic analytics that are quite helpful. It shows you number of clicks, reach and
retweets (plus who retweeted) for each tweet that you schedule. At the very least, it shows you which
tweets and headlines resonate the most with your audience. This is especially helpful when it comes to
driving traffic to your own content.
Buffer offers some basic analytics about the performance of your tweets.
Although just about every other mainstream Twitter client like TweetDeck or HootSuite offers the tweet
scheduling function these days, I like to use Buffer for this task. Not having to select a time for individual
tweets that I am scheduling is a great component of the interface. Give it a try.
#2: Create easy and interesting content for your community
Tweetwally helps you create great content for your community through tweets. Tweetwally helps you
highlight the contributions of your community members who participate the most by including
them in your content. Here are some potential uses for Tweetwally:
 Engage your Twitter community by asking a question and showing off their responses in a
Tweetwall.
 Share a few tweets from a conference hashtag in a conference wrap-up blog post.
 Share some takeaways from your webinar with your participants‘ tweets.
You may recognize this digital storytelling tactic from blog posts that feature a somewhat similar tool,
Storify. Why choose Tweetwally? Tweetwally lets you customize the look of your tweet story, so you
can create an embeddable image consistent with your company’s branding.
First, you type in the hashtag or username you want to use to create your story.
First, you type in the hashtag or username you want to use to create your story.
Tweetwally is a digital storytelling tool.
Next, Tweetwally will deliver all of the tweets for your chosen search. You can edit the look of your
Tweetwall under Display Options
.
Customize the look of your Tweetwall in Display Options.
You‘re done! Just embed your Tweetwally code into the HTML tab of your blogging system to display
your Tweetwall. Here‘s just a sample of what a collection of tweets can look like on a Tweetwall.
#3: Make social media listening easier
As a community manager, you‘re the eyes and ears of your company.
Monitoring searches for industry keywords and phrases is an important tactic, along with keeping an eye
on your competitors. However, with so much real-time community engagement to take care of throughout
the day, it‘s hard to keep an eye on all those search terms in real time. You need to prioritize and scale.
That’s where Twilert comes in.
That’s where Twilert comes in.
Twilerts are like Google Alerts for Twitter.
Twilerts are like Google Alerts for Twitter. Set up searches for the keywords or competitors that you
want to learn about and get those emailed to you in a daily digest. There are even advanced search
options for geolocation, which is perfect for local businesses.
Create local searches in the advanced search of Twilert.
#4: Keep up with social media news
Keeping up with social media news can be tricky, right? There‘s so much information out there to stay on
top of for your professional development, as well as important information to share with your community.
That‘s where Summify, a news curation tool, comes in.
That‘s where Summify, a news curation tool, comes in.
Summify shows you a summary of the most shared news stories from your network.
Summify sends you a summary of the most shared news stories from your Twitter network right to your
inbox.
In your settings, you can sync this with your Google Reader account and select certain feeds you‘d like
included in the summaries and customize the frequency that you get them. It‘s a great way to keep
current on the news you want to know without overwhelming you the way an unread pile of articles in
Google Reader or Instapaper can.
#5: Measure your progress
All of the tools listed above will help you effectively manage your community and social media strategy,
but measuring what you‘re doing beyond ―fans and followers‖ is critical. You want to make data-driven
decisions, know how your conversations and content are contributing to your business and pin
down the elusive ROI.
Marketing analytics company Performable offers an array of tools to help you measure your activity. Their
reporting tools help you understand what actions people take on your website and how they arrived.
This helps you see how your Twitter, Facebook or email campaigns are driving engagement on your
website or conversions, like event registrations or ecommerce sales.
Performable tracks which campaigns are successful at driving conversions on your website.
Performable also features handy marketing and community tools. You don‘t have to be an HTML ninja to
quickly create targeted landing pages to promote events or webinars to your community.
Performable also offers easy-to-create call-to-action buttons. Offer an ebook or webinar related to your
blog post or an invitation to sign up for your newsletter. These are all ways to drive engagement beyond
your blog by offering value to your community with content. Because the buttons are so simple to
make, you can test several to see what resonates with your community the most.
These are just five of my favorite tools. What social media tools do you use to direct and measure
These are just five of my favorite tools. What social media tools do you use to direct and measure
your community management efforts? I‘d love to hear about them in the comments box below.
inShare617
Tweeting Grows Up: Add Photos, Links to Promote Offers
June-23-11
2:42 PM
TWEETING GROWS UP: ADD PHOTOS, LINKS TO PROMOTE OFFERS
by Matthew Barker
June 23, 2011
The days of tweets as 140 characters of mind boggling robot-speak are over, and not a moment too soon. (What
does “RT @GaGaM, @YouTAZ must-see: http://bit.ly/f7r99 #nonsense” mean anyway?)
Instead, thanks to some generous cross-sharing between Twitter, Flickr and Google, it‟s now easy to create tweets
that look good, grab attention, and integrate into your other social campaigns and promotions.
They say a picture speaks a thousand words and given that words are in short supply on Twitter, using the right
picture can make an enormous difference to your initial impact and subsequent click -through rate (CTR). This is
especially the case for travel businesses like agencies, which have access to an array of impressive photos from
destinations and suppliers.
Take a look at this example of how you can take your tweets to a whole new level:
Using the latest image-sharing and location functions, you can now turn a boring tweet into a mini -portal devoted to
the specific message you are promoting to your followers. What‟s more, you don‟t need to stick to regular photos; you
can use existing banners or other ad artwork, or you can create new artwork just for the tweet.
To do this, upload your images to Flickr first. You should add tags and a good description to make the image more
findable to other Flickr users. You can also pinpoint the image location onto the map – this is very useful if you‘re
promoting a specific destination or hotel.
From there it‘s just a case of connecting your Flickr account to Twitter and sending the tweet direct from the Flickr
interface. Remember to add a compelling message and a shortened link to the web page. (Tip: use a link shortener
like www.bit.ly, which will also track clicks.) At this point you can also choose to add the location, which will connect
with Google Maps.
Share offers and promotions
The technique outlined in the above steps is useful in driving clicks to regular blog articles that you have shared via
Twitter. But it will really come into its own if you use it to share promotions and offers. Everyone likes a special offer,
and if it‘s compelling enough your followers will start to re -tweet your messages.
The key here is to make sure the link you give back to your website is pointing to a specific landing page that is
directly related to your special offer or promotion. It‘s no use sending this highly targeted traffic to your home page;
sending them to the deal they are interested in as a result of your original tweet will help convert them into buyers.
Make sure you use the same artwork across multiple platforms (especially Facebook and your blog) to improve
overall awareness of the campaign.
As with any social campaign, the key is finding the right messaging and using it to make the biggest impact possible:
adding a single photo can make a huge difference.
Matthew Barker is a managing partner at Hit Riddle, an internet marketing consultancy specializing in the travel
industry. He is also the author of the Hit Riddle travel marketing b log. Contact him at [email protected].
Pasted from <http://www.travelmarketreport.com/technology?articleID=5929&LP=1>
Want Free Sales Leads? These Twitter Tools Make it Easy
11:32 AM
WANT FREE SALES LEADS? THESE TWITTER TOOLS MAKE IT EASY
by Dori Saltzman
July 11, 2011
Pasted from <http://www.travelmarketreport.com/retail?articleID=6040&LP=1>
This is the fourth article in a series of practical technology articles featuring advice and insights from social media
expert Sophie Bujold.
Sophie Bujold
Obtaining sales leads is typically an expensive proposition for travel agents, but social media is changing that. By
putting people‘s everyday conversations online and making them available for anyone to read and track, social media
has made free lead mining a reality.
Twitter, the most public social media venue, is an especially useful resource for sales leads.
But Twitter users send about 200 million tweets daily, and it takes time to sift through all the tweets flooding the
Twittersphere. ―Twitter is a big melting pot of updates and replies,‖ said Sophie Bujold, a social media consultant for
the travel industry.
Monitoring tools
Social media management tools like HootSuite and TweetDeck make navigating this hodgepodge of tweets much
easier.
Let‘s say you want to find sales leads for safari trips. HootSuite and TweetDeck will monitor conversations on Twitter
for you, so you don‘t have to check your Twitter page constantly or use the Twitter search function to follow
conversations.
You just have to set up the keywords you want to track, and the software sets up monitoring dashboards that track
both your followers‘ conversations and all the other millions of conversations on Twitter.
Find your keywords
To get the best possible leads, you‘ll need to determine the most useful keywords to follow. Some will be obvious. If
you want to find leads for safari vacations, keywords and phrases like ―safari,‖ ―big five‖ and ―Kruger National Park‖
are safe bets.
If you‘re not sure what keywords to monitor, use Twitter‘s search engine, Google or socialmention.com to research
the words that come up most often when people discuss travel, Bujold advised.
Create a monitoring stream
Once you‘ve compiled a list of keywords, log into TweetDeck or HootSuite and add a monitoring stream. Each stream
can monitor from one to several words, depending on the software. You can also set up separate streams for
different words or different subject matter.
The number of keywords you monitor is up to you, but make it manageable, Bujold advised. She recommends that
agents start by monitoring two or three streams of keywords to see how it goes. From there, they can decide if they
want to add or subtract any.
Fine tune your keywords
Pay attention to the relevancy of the tweets being found. ―There might be a keyword that you think is great, but once
you start monitoring it you realize there‘s really nothing you can bring to the discussion that would be useful, or the
people using the keyword aren‘t in the demographic you want to target,‖ Bujold said.
In those cases, delete the keywords from the monitoring stream and try something else.
In those cases, delete the keywords from the monitoring stream and try something else.
Broad vs. narrow
Another thing to keep in mind when choosing your keywords is the different results you‘ll get using broad versus
narrow keywords. Broad keywords will pull in lots of tweets and keep you very busy, but the vast majority likely will
not be relevant. Too narrow and you may get virtually nothing to work with.
Bujold recommended applying the same principles to keyword monitoring that you do with Google searches. ―Most
people don‘t search for ‗travel‘ nowadays. Instead they search for ‗travel to South Africa‘ or ‗travel to south France.‘ If
you‘re seeing too much, you need to get more precise. If you‘re not seeing enough traffic, then broaden it a bit.‖
Hashtags are helpful
If you want to go broad without overdoing it, Bujold suggested following keywords preceded by hashtags. For
instance, rather than simply follow ―travel‖ or ―cruise,‖ follow ―#travel‖ or ―#cruise.‖ When tweeters use a keyword with
a hashtag they‘re indicating that that subject matter is important to the tweet.
There are also several weekly travel-related conversations that agents should consider monitoring and participating
in. They include #TTOT (travel talk on Tuesday), #CruiseChat, #TNI (travel night in), #TravelTuesday and
#MexMonday.
Monitoring frequency
―A day in Twitter is like a year in real life,‖ Bujold said, so agents should monitor their keyword streams at least daily.
Bujold suggested that agents check their streams at least three times a day: in the morning when you start work, at
noon and just before the end of your workday. If you‘ve got a free minute in between, take a peek to see if there‘s
anything worth jumping on.
You can set up both TweetDeck and HootSuite to alert you when a relevant tweet has been found, but if you‘re
monitoring several keywords you may get alerts nonstop, which will be more of a distraction then a help.
Responding to leads
It is considered polite to follow someone with whom you want to interact, so the first step, once you‘ve identified a
lead, is to follow the person you want to contact. Once you‘re following them, reply to the relevant tweet right away.
For instance, if someone tweets that they‘ll be visiting Oahu and are looking for hotel suggestions, first follow them,
then reply, ―I‘ve been to Oahu and know of several great properties. Let me know if you want info.‖
Don’t sweat what you miss
It‘s important not to get overwhelmed, Bujold emphasized. ―Don‘t sweat what you‘re missing. Yes, you‘re going to
miss some leads, but if you don‘t have the time to do this on a daily basis, check as often as you can and respond in
that moment to the leads that are in front of you.‖
Ab out Sophie Bujold: Before starting her own social media consulting company for travel agencies, Bujold spent eight
years working with first Uniglob e Travel and more recently Ensemble Travel Group in their online marketing divisions.
Pasted from <http://www.travelmarketreport.com/retail?articleID=6040&LP=1>
12:02 PM
socialmediaexaminer.comhttp://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/4-ways-to-use-twitter-data-to-optimizeyour-social-activities/
Twitter is just over 5 years old and its users are sending more than 200 million tweets per day. This
means your own tweets are just droplets in an ocean of content.
The good news is all of that content can become actionable insight.
Here are four ways to use Twitter data to optimize your social media activities for maximum
exposure and effectiveness.
#1: Analyze your best topics and tweets with Crowdbooster
All tweets are not equally as effective. Crowdbooster aims to help you optimize the things you tweet by
tracking what resonates and what flops among your followers.
Rapper Lil Wayne‘s digital manager, Mazyar Karooni, monitors the performance of Wayne‘s tweets each
day. Karooni uses Crowdbooster, a free tool that lets you track the reach of your tweets.
Use this information to target special deals, rewards and promotions to the people who are impacting
your brand the most.
Crowdbooster CEO Ricky Yean says, ―We have found that paying attention to data can help our users
become more powerful.‖
Poring over Crowdbooster's analytics graph of your Twitter activity can help you identify patterns of
successful tweets, so you can produce similar tweets.
#2: Track communities and sentiment with SocialMention
There‘s likely a lot being said out there about you or your brand on Twitter, perhaps too much to read all
by yourself. Twitter data-sifting tools likeSocialMention can help you filter out the messages with
negative sentiment, so you can take action with dissatisfied or antagonistic Tweeters and make things
right.
SocialMention scours the social web for your keywords (or company name), and returns a report of what's
being said out there and by whom.
You can also use sentiment analysis to discover pockets of Twitter users who are particularly big
fans. Reaching out to those who tweet great things about you is an excellent way to reinforce your brand
and foster even stronger advocates.
SocialMention scours blogs, microblogs, social bookmarking sites, comments and social networks for
your keywords, almost like Google Alerts, but in real time and not limited to regular web content. It then
performs an analysis to determine whether the chatter in each case is positive or negative, and lets
you browse what people are saying based on filters you choose.
Poring over SocialMention analyses can help you figure out whom you need to be reaching out to on
Twitter and what you need to say to them.
The 8:1 sentiment in this example means that 8 positive things are being said about this topic on the
social web for every negative comment.
#3: Publish dynamically with SocialFlow.
Timing is everything in social media. The real-time scientists at SocialFlow agree, and they‘ve built a
platform that ―dynamically publishes your content when it will resonate most with your customers and
audiences on Twitter.‖
SocialFlow tracks your followers' behavior patterns and helps you publish your tweets at the appropriate
moments.
SocialFlow helps you create a ―content queue‖ of potential tweets, and then ―actively reorders‖ them in
real time, based on what your audience is tweeting about at that very moment. It then can automatically
publish tweets when the likelihood of engagement is highest.
―Companies import their messages into SocialFlow‘s content queue where they‘re dynamically
prioritized,‖ explains SocialFlow‘s president, Peter Hershberg.
―We then analyze the language they‘re using,‖ he continues, ―and combine that information with click data
we get from Bit.ly, that currently sees about 8 billion clicks/month, to understand the types of content a
company‘s followers are engaging with. The best tweet in the queue is sent out when it’s likely to
yield the greatest number of clicks, retweets, mentions, and followers.‖
yield the greatest number of clicks, retweets, mentions, and followers.‖
Since every audience and every brand—and every user—is different, it doesn‘t make sense to time your
tweets based on aggregate data. Middle-aged female runners may have very different social media
behavior than teenaged male gamers. And trending topics throw all rules out the window.
For example, a tweet about your product would have been wasted the night Osama Bin Laden‘s death
was raging across Twitter. For this reason, companies like SocialFlow are monitoring active data streams
to make smarter recommendations.
A fairly complex algorithm sits beneath SocialFlow‘s interface, powered by the firehose of data from
Twitter and Bit.ly, something that very few companies have access to, according to Hershberg. So if
you‘re in the business of ―real-time intelligence,‖ crunching the numbers behind the optimal time to
publish is no longer something you have to do yourself.
The complex data behind SocialFlow is made visual to help users digest it and make quick decisions.
#4: Hone your influence with Klout
Social intelligence engine Klout measures your influence on Twitter (and other social media accounts),
both in relative and absolute terms. With it, you can see how influential you are among your followers,
down to specific users.
Klout charts your Twitter personality compared to others in your network.
This data can be a blow (or a boon) to the ego, but more importantly it can help you determine to which
influencers you should be targeting your tweets and how you can step up your game.
Klout also digests your tweeting activity and tells you what kind of user you are: broad or focused,
consistent or casual, creating or sharing, participating or listening.
Klout also calculates a score depicting your total influence on the web.
You may think you‘re one thing or the other, but data doesn‘t lie. When you see your behavior tracked
and measured, you can alter that behavior to match your vision. All of this insight, distilled, can help
you tweet more effectively.
You don‘t need to be a data scientist to use the wealth of Twitter data to sharpen your campaigns. The
Twitter content ocean isn‘t getting any smaller, but the right mix of inexpensive (or even free) tools can
help you make every drop count.
help you make every drop count.
What do you think? What’s your Twitter optimization strategy? Leave your comments in the box
below.
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Pasted from <http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/4-ways-to-use-twitter-data-to-optimize-your-socialactivities/>
How to Run a Successful Social Media Contest
June-16-11
10:55 AM
socialmediaexaminer.com http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/how-to-run-a-successf ul-social-media-contest/
How to Run a Successful Social Media Contest
About the Author, Ben Pickering
Are you planning to run a social media contest (like this one)?
Today it‘s possible for anyone to achieve success engaging consumers online, thanks to the growing popularity
and relative ease of execution of social media promotions.
The fact that anyone can run a promotion doesn‘t mean that everyone should, and it certainly doesn‘t mean that a
promotion guarantees social media success. However, if executed as part of a comprehensive social media strategy,
social media contests can produce tremendous results no matter how large or small your business.
So if you‘re thinking of running a contest or sweepstakes, here are some key considerations.
Start With the End in Mind
Before jumping into a social media promotion, there are several important questions to ask:


What are your marketing objectives? Be clear and realistic about what you hope to accomplish. Are you
looking to generate leads or Likes, engage or activate your existing user base or reach a new audience?
What is your budget? Yes, social media promotions can be executed at a relatively low cost. But budget
considerations should guide your decision on the type of promotion you choose to run and will impact your
ability to achieve certain outcomes.
 Where are you on the consumer engagement pyramid? Assess what type of promotion is right for you
based on the level of engagement you expect from your users.
Which promotion is right for you?
Consumer Engagement Model for Promotions
At the base of the pyramid is the traditional enter-to-win format. This is a tried-and-true contest model and can be a
great place to get started online. Whether you have 100 or 100,000 fans on your Facebook page, running a
sweepstakes is an easy way to increase the number of Likes on your page. This expands the audience for your
Facebook communications and builds a fan base for future promotions.
Contests Page 189
This basic sweepstakes requiring users to Like the brand and complete a simple form to enter resulted in a doubling
of Likes in a matter of days.
As you move up the pyramid, you‘ll see a decrease in the number of participants but a deeper level of engagement
and richer content. It‘s also important to remember that the number of entries is not a sole benchmark of your
promotion‘s success. If you run a promotion with public voting, you‘re likely to see at least 10 times the number of
voters as entrants.
Using terminology originally coined in Forrester‘s Social Technographics report, there are three distinct audiences
that will engage with your promotion: Spectators, Joiners and Creators. All three groups should be accounted for.
 Spectators may see a shared link from a friend and click through to your site but their interaction will likely
stop there. For these people, you want to ensure you have a well-designed user interface and clear
messaging, whether they ultimately choose to engage at the next level or simply leave with your brand top of
mind.
 Joiners are likely to participate in a low-barrier format such as a sweepstakes and may engage further up the
pyramid through voting, commenting and sharing.
 Creators are the people who are the target for any user-generated content contest. The percentage of online
users who are content creators is significantly higher now than it was just a few years ago. Still, you
must make it as easy as possible for people to participate.
Knowing your audience is essential when selecting the type of promotion you wish to run. Once you‘ve determined
the type that‘s right for you, it‘s important to communicate the what, why and how of your promotion: What is it all
about? Why should I participate? And how do I enter / win?
Plan, Prepare and Prepare for the Unplanned
With social media promotions, you can reap the benefits of viral or word-of-mouth marketing, but it‘s still essential
to have a well-thought-out marketing plan to support your campaign. It may sound obvious, but when launching
your promotion, you must drive traffic to your destination. I often remind our clients not to fall victim to the ―Field of
Dreams Fallacy‖—the idea that ―if I build it, they will come.‖
Utilize the channels available to you, be that social media, paid media or promotional partners. Don‘t overlook any
opportunities to get the word out. Do you have a regular email newsletter or a point of sale display?
Participation at the outset will generate the ROI that comes from social sharing. And remember that your existing
customers are most likely to engage. By targeting them first, you can build momentum that will spread through their
social networks.
While we all hope our promotion will ―go viral,‖ it‘s not something you can bank on. Nevertheless, it‘s important to plan
for the scenario in which it does. If you‘re running a photo contest and plan to moderate all of the submissions, are
you prepared to handle the potential volume? If you‘re running a contest on Facebook, are you prepared to manage
the community dialogue?
Contests Page 190
the community dialogue?
Here's an extremely successful contest that required virtually 'round-the-clock support to moderate more than 1,000
entries per day!
One of the biggest topics people get concerned about when it comes to planning a contest is rules and regulations.
This topic is worthy of a blog post of its own, but the short version is that with some foresight this should not pose a
major obstacle to launching your promotion.
For those looking to run a promotion on Facebook, it‘s important to be familiar withFacebook’s Promotional
Guidelines and/or work with someone who is. This article by Mari Smith provides a good overview of what you need
to know about Facebook promotions.
Execution Over Concept
Why do so many businesses still have a container at the register to drop a business card in for a raffle? Because it‘s
easy to participate and administer. Don‘t get me wrong; I love cutting-edge promotional concepts. But I have seen
time and again that too much of a big idea can take focus away from what‘s really core to the promotion. Keeping it
simple often yields better results.
When running a social media promotion, the first rule is ensure that it’s easy to enter and easy to share. While it‘s
possible to accomplish this on your own, there are companies that provide tools to ensure the mechanics of a
successful promotion are in place. That frees you up to be creative. Avoid overcomplicating what you‘re asking users
to do when they visit your promotion. Make it fun, personal and accessible.
Example of a third-party app that capitalizes on the social medium while adhering to Facebook platform policies.
Listen, Engage and Learn
Running promotions must be part of your overall social media strategy and not approached as a one-off event.
Because promotions today are inherently social, take advantage of that toengage and gather consumer
insights. Add a survey question to your entry form, encourage conversation on your Facebook page, gather
feedback and apply what you learn to future campaigns.
What are your experiences with online contests and social media promotions? If you have questions that you
would like to see addressed in a future blog post, feel free to ask them below.
inShare1,656
Contests Page 191
would like to see addressed in a future blog post, feel free to ask them below.
inShare1,656
Contests Page 192
Facebook Promotions: What You Need to Know
June-16-11
11:14 AM
http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/facebook-promotions-what-you-need-to-know/
Facebook Promotions: What You Need to Know
About the Author, Mari Smith
Are you thinking of running a contest or promotion on Facebook? Have the rules imposed by Facebook
confused you?
Look no further. This article will provide an in-depth look at Facebook‟s promotional rules.
The Tricky Rules
Running a contest on Facebook is a powerful way to generate buzz, increase engagement, boost your
fan count and build your email list. But Facebook has rigorous rules governing what campaigns you
can and cannot administer and promote on their platform.
For several years, the contest rules were fairly loose and Facebook users and page admins could pretty
much administer whatever campaigns they wished within the confines of Facebook‟s general terms (now
called Statement of Rights and Responsibilities ).
However, in 2009, Facebook severely tightened up their promotion guidelines, causing a great deal
of confusion even two years later. To quote Susan Getgood on her post about Facebook contests:
Bottom line, Facebook doesn’t want any explicit involvement in ANY of your contests. It’s all about
liability, and the Facebook promo guidelines are designed to distance the social network from whatever
companies and bloggers do with their contests.
Every day, vast numbers of page admins —from small businesses to major brands —administer
promotions that violate Facebook‘s rules. They are running the risk of having their pages disabled
completely. I strongly recommend all Facebook page admins become very familiar with how to safely
run contests within the rules.
This post will tell you what you need to know.
What does Facebook mean by a “promotion”?
To quote Facebook:
These Promotions Guidelines govern your communication about or administration of any sweepstakes,
contest, competition or other similar offering (each, a ―promotion‖) on Facebook.
A ―sweepstakes‖ is a promotion that includes a prize and a winner selected on the basis of chance.
A ―contest‖ or ―competition‖ is a promotion that includes a prize and a winner determined on the basis of
skill (i.e., through judging based on specific criteria).
So, anytime you run a campaign on Facebook where you wish to select a winner , that would fall into
the terms of Facebook‘s Promotions Guidelines.
Facebook also says:
You will not administer a promotion through Facebook, except through an application on the Facebook
Platform. Administration includes operation of any element of the promotion, such as collecting entries,
conducting a drawing, judging entries, or notifying winners.
Simply said: You can’t use Facebook’s features for your promotions!
A promotion where you select winners is not to be confused with you simply promoting and
marketing your business—that‘s exactly the reason Facebook (fan) pages were designed!
What are Facebook’s contest rules in plain English?
On November 6, 2009, Facebook changed their Promotions Guidelines significantly. Prior to this date, it
was pretty much a free-for-all. With the changed rules, Facebook basically went from one extreme to the
other.
In order to administer any kind of contest, you had to (1) get written approval from Facebook at least
seven days prior to running your campaign, (2) have an account rep at Facebook and meet the minimum
ad spend of $10,000 per month and (3) use a third-party app on the Facebook platform.
Then, on November 29, 2010, Facebook loosened up a bit and changed rules. So, the good news is:
1. You no longer need written permission from Facebook in order to run a contest.
2. You no longer need an account rep at Facebook, nor do you need to meet the minimum monthly ad
Contests Page 193
2.
3.
You no longer need an account rep at Facebook, nor do you need to meet the minimum monthly ad
spend.
BUT you still must administer ALL contests on Facebook via a third-party app ON the
Facebook platform.
That‟s right! You MUST use an app to conduct a contest or risk having Facebook come down on you.
Unless of course you‟re a big time advertiser with Facebook.
What apps are best for running contests?
One of the most widely used apps is Wildfire app. Their interface is fairly easy to use and their fees are
competitive.
Wildfire app
You can choose among 10 different types of promotions, including photo, video, quiz, trivia and more:
Wildfire app promotion choices
Contests Page 194
Wildfire app promotion choices
See Wildfire‟s FAQ to decide among running a sweepstakes, contest or coupon/giveaway campaign.
A wide variety of third-party apps offer promotion services that meet Facebook’s rules. Check out
any of the following:
 UPDATE March 5, 2011: Two additional promotions app services to check out include Offerpop
and PromoBoxx.
 UPDATE March 14, 2011: Another promotions app to add to this list is Freepromos (currently 400k
monthly active users!). Free for Pages with fewer than 5,000 fans. $100 for Pages with
5,000-50,000. White label also available.
See also this related post: Top 75 Apps for Enhancing Your Facebook Page. Plus, see Facebook‟s list of
preferred developers here.
Can I select a fan at random to give away a prize?
No. This constitutes a drawing where winners get selected. You‟re effectively using Facebook to “collect
entries.” Plus, you cannot contact winners inside Facebook at all—via email, chat or posting on
their wall—nor can you post winners on your page wall.
What you can do, for example, is select a fan at random and feature him or her in your page photo.
Or possibly feature chosen fan(s) on a custom tab (link). As long as you don‟t have other fans vote or
submit nominations, etc.
Toys R Us Featured Fan!
Toys ”R” Us currently runs a fun Featured Fan promotion. Keep in mind the submission and voting is, of
course, part of an official sanctioned promotion being run on a third -party app.
Contests Page 195
Toys "R" Us Featured Photo Facebook contest. Note the link to terms and conditions.
Can I have my fans enter a contest by uploading photos?
Not if you ask fans to upload photos directly to Facebook. Photos, or any content, submitted for entry into
a contest can only be done via a third-party app on the Facebook platform. The Facebook app doesn’t
count.
From the Promotions Guidelines:
You cannot: Condition entry in the promotion upon a user providing content on Facebook, such as
posting on a wall of a page, uploading a photo, or posting a status update.
You can: Use a third-party application to condition entry to the promotion upon a user providing content
to the application. For example, you may administer a photo contest whereby a user uploads a photo to a
third-party application to enter the contest.
I searched extensively for a Flickr Facebook app, for example, that might be a good workaround for
running a contest, but came up blank.
If you do a Google search for “Facebook photo contest,” unfortunately, you‟ll see there are scores of
Facebook pages running photo contests that do not adhere to Facebook’s terms.
Here‘s a fun example of a photo contest —that does comply with Facebook’s Promotions
Guidelines—by the United States Potato Board:
Twice Baked, Twice as Smart recipe photo contest
Contests Page 196
Twice Baked, Twice as Smart recipe photo contest
Can I give away a prize to anyone who likes my page?
You CAN restrict your promotion only to entrants who have first liked your page, as long as the
promotion is administered through a third-party app on a separate canvas page (now a link,
formerly a tab).
Plus, good news! You CAN provide a giveaway and even collect names and emails from fans and
visitors to your page. I highly recommend you add a custom contact form to your page . Use the signup box code from your own email management system, or create your own form code using something
like JotForm, reviewed here.
You can use a piece of ―fan only‖ reveal code to give away a coupon code or special gift to everyone
who likes your page. Check out Guy Kawasaki‘s Facebook page for his forthcoming book,
Enchantment, where he gives away a free ebook just for liking his page.
Guy Kawasaki—Enchantment Facebook page
See the Facebook page of 1-800-Flowers for a discount code, only revealed to users who like their page.
How can I tell if a contest on Facebook adheres to the guidelines?
Promotions on Facebook need to have clearly set-out terms that are visible right on the canvas
page. For example, here‘s the Twice Baked, Twice as Smart photo contest rules:
Contest rules for Twice Baked, Twice as Smart
Contests Page 197
Can I promote a contest on my Facebook page that I run on my blog?
Yes. As long as there’s no requirement to do anything on Facebook; e.g., like your page, comment,
upload content, etc. You can simply post a link on your page to the contest. And, to be fully safe, I would
also include this disclosure, “This promotion is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or
associated with, Facebook .”
Is it worth the risk to run a contest without a third-party app?
No, the risks are far too great, in my opinion. Yes, Facebook does not have the resources to monitor
every single promotion on the platform. But, you never know when you might catch the attention of their
legal department.
In addition to our other remedies, we may remove any materials relating to the promotion or disable your
page, application or account if we determine in our sole discretion that you violate any of our policies.
Facebook is serious about taking action if they discover a violation. My friend, Jonathan Rivera, had an
experience with his real estate referral Facebook page where there was an inadvertent use of a
trademark. Despite Rivera‘s becoming compliant, Facebook shut down the very popular page with tens of
thousands of fans. Fortunately, the issue got resolved in a fairly timely manner and Jonathan got his page
back intact… under a new name.
So, just take note that any violation of Facebook’s terms is obviously a risk. (Along with directly
administering contests and promotions on your Facebook page, two other common violations are setting
up more than one personal profile and/or setting up a personal profile in the name of a business.)
Hopefully the fog around contests on Facebook has lifted for you now! All you need to remember is
anytime you wish to run any kind of promotion where you select a winner, you’ll have to use a
third-party application on the Facebook platform . I‘ll be writing a follow-up post covering the specifics
of what makes a successful contest. Stay tuned!
In the meantime, what questions do you have about contests? Have you run any successful
promotions yourself? We‘d love to hear from you in the comments below.
UPDATE March 5, 2011: It may be that you can run a contest using Facebook ’s new iFrames feature
and remain in compliance with the Promotions Guidelines. Essentially, you are creating your own app in
order to use iFrames and you host the content on your own site. I’m waiting to hear back from Facebook
with the definitive answer and will k eep you posted. Also, please note that my use of the term “third party
app‖ includes an app you create yourself if you have the k now-how/resources to do so – you basically
become the ―third party‖ in this case.
inShare1,673
Oh, I wrote up a huge blog post on this here: http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/facebook promotions-what-you-need-to-k now/
Try Wildfire Interactive, Inc., Strutta, Votigo, Offerpop and others!
Contests Page 198
Social Landscape
July-18-11
10:20 PM
Social Media General Page 199
Do's and Don'ts of Social Media for Business
July-18-11
10:19 PM
How Executives Are Using Social Media
July-18-11
10:22 PM
Social Media Marketing Infographic
July-18-11
10:21 PM
June-16-11
10:56 AM
socialmediaexaminer.com http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/a-simple-way -to-calculate-social-media-return-on-inv estment/#more-9862
About the Author, Dag Holmboe
Social media return on investment (ROI) is simply a measurement of efficiency. It‘s a lot of things to a lot of people:
―return on inactivity,‖ ―return on innovation‖ and ―return on engagement.‖
However, in a stricter sense, social media ROI is defined as a measure of the efficiency of a social media
marketing campaign. This definition might sound complicated, but in reality, it‘s quite simple.
What Does ROI Really Mean?
Let‘s backtrack a bit.
We‘ve all heard what ―ROI‖ stands for, but what‘s less understood is the actual meaning and the importance of ROI.
In the financial world, ROI is used to measure the financial efficiency of an investment. ROI is based on the
financial formula:
ROI = (return – investment) / investment %.
Increase social media ROI.
This means that if you increase your return while keeping your investment the same, then you increase your
ROI. This is good. If you decrease your return while keeping your investment the same, then the ROI goes down.
That‘s bad. A high ROI is better than a low ROI.
Because the ROI formula uses only two inputs – the return and the investment – the ROI formula is an easy way
to measure and compare marketing campaigns. A marketing campaign with a high ROI is considered better and
more efficient than a marketing campaign with a lower ROI.
It‘s important to understand that ROI measures the efficiency of an investment because then you also understand
that ROI cannot be defined using alternative definitions. ―Return on inactivity‖ does not help you measure the
efficiency of your campaign.
Social Media ROI Uses The Return And The Investment
Now, all we need is to take our social media return (the amount of value that we got from our social media campaign)
and our social media investment (the amount of money that we invested in our social media campaign) and run it
through the financial ROI formula.
Social media ROI = (SM return – SM investment) / SM investment %.
Simple, right? Not so fast. The social media investment is clearly defined, but how do you define the social media
return and how do you attach a dollar value to the return? We need to answer both questions before we can calculate
the social media ROI.
Social Media Return Is The Return On Your Social Media Goals
Social Media Return Is The Return On Your Social Media Goals
The peculiar feature of the social media return is that you can define it to be essentially anything you want it to be!
Brian Solis from the Altimeter Group puts it even more succinctly in his article ROI Doesn‘t Stand for Return on
Ignorance: ―Everything starts with an end in mind.‖
In reality, social media return is the value that you derive from your social media campaign. For instance, if the goal of
your social media campaign is to drive sales, then your social media return is the number of sales that you can
attribute to your social media campaign.
Instead of sales, say your goal is to drive consumer insights. In this case, your social media return is the
quantity and quality of the consumer insights you get from your fans and followers.
A third example of social media return is brand awareness. If your goal is to drive awareness of your brand, then
your social media return is brand awareness.
I could give many more examples, but the point is that social media return is the value that you derive from
social media based on the goals of your campaign. (Note that the number of followers, fans, Likes and comments
are not social media campaign goals.)
Quantifying Social Media Return
After we have defined our social media return, we need to quantify the social media return into dollars and cents. This
is difficult because you need to look at each type of social media return and develop a method for dollar
quantification.
For instance, looking strictly at sales, we can quantify the social media return by looking at ―last touch‖ sales, or we
can use sales forecasting techniques or use unique identifiers such as coupon codes.
Quantifying consumer insights is harder and requires different techniques to estimate value.
Hard estimation is critical.
One commonly used technique is to compare the quantity and quality of consumer insights from offline focus groups
to consumer insights from your social media campaign.
The idea is that you know the value of consumer insights from offline focus groups based on their cost. By comparing
the quantity and quality of consumer insights from both channels, you arrive at a reasonable estimate of the value of
consumer insights from your social media campaign.
Brand awareness requires yet another method. In April 2010, social media analytics company Vitrue made quite a stir
when they stated that according to their research, the average Facebook fan is estimated to be worth $3.60. Vitrue
looked at the average number of messages each fan received and then compared this number to what it would cost
to purchase impressions to send the same number of messages to each fan.
Use Social Media ROI To Compare Apples To Apples
After estimating your return and your investment, you use the ROI formula to calculate your social media ROI.
Remember, ROI is a measurement of efficiency, so having calculated the ROI of your social media
campaign, you use the ROI number to compare to other social media campaigns and also your TV, print,
radio and other campaigns.
ROI is possibly the most powerful tool in your marketing toolbox. This sentiment is demonstrated in Amy Porterfield‘s
post, Study Reveals Top 6 Social Media Goals for 2011, where she correctly points out that according to the Altimeter
Group, 48.3% of all corporate social strategists will have social media ROI as their highest focus in 2011.
ROI is a very powerful weapon in your marketing arsenal.
What do you think? What methods do you use to measure social media ROI? Leave your comments in the box
below.
All photos from iStockPhoto.
inShare1,515
11:06 AM
By Jeffrey L. Cohen
Fri, Jul 8, 2011
Communications, Marketing, Social Networks
As a preview to its launch of Google Plus last week, Google launched the +1 button last month. In my
post at the time, I wrote that one of the biggest problems for the use of the recommendation button for
B2B companies was its reliance on people‟s Google network, not their professional network. This network
exists in their work email and LinkedIn network. I offered a suggestion to bring business network
relevance to the search benefit of +1. With the new Google Plus social network, Google already provides
a connection to your LinkedIn network as part of your social graph.
From a business perspective, it is still too early to use Google Plus, but you can already start thinking
about the benefits and how you will use it for your B2B company. Google has announced that there will
be business specific functions coming, but for now Google Plus is based on personal profiles. The
following articles provide some context for your inspiration, rather than explain the platform. So many
articles have been written and shared in the past week, that I figured if you were interested, you have
already read them and are aware of the details.
Remember that at its heart, Google Plus is about tying social to search so Google can provide you better
search results based on your social graph. Jay Baer‟s post on Convince & Convert below does a great
job explaining why this is so important to Google. If you have thoughts about how you can use Google
Plus for your B2B company, let us know in the comments below.
The Google Plus 50
from Chris Brogan
If you‟re curious about Google+, the new social network platform from Google, you‟re not alone. I‟ve
logged several
hours already on the platform, experimenting, testing, and observing. It sparks my attention from several
angles: marketing, technology, community, media, mobile, advertising, and more. To that end, I wrote
down 50 things to think about with regards to Google+, in no particular order.
Continue reading
Why Google Has the Hammer To Make Businesse s Use Google Plus
from Convince & Convert
My initial, abbreviated take is that Google‟s new social toy is essentially a Facebook Twitter hybrid with
outstanding ease-of-use and eye-popping potential. In the very first release, Plus has a killer integration
with Picasa (Google‟s photo service), and its live video chat feature (called Hangout) could very easily
become a Skype killer. The most obvious and ballyhooed functionality is the Circles paradigm, which puts
segmenting your contacts front-and-center and makes it an easy process via drag and drop controls.
Continue reading
Why Google+ Doesn’t Stand a Chance Against Facebook
from Social Media Today
So by now, you‟ve likely heard Google+ is coming to an internet near you. You may have taken a look at
the demo, or gotten an early invitation, you might think this could usher in the next generation of social
networking. And you might be right. I‟ll admit, I‟m anxious to see if Google‟s actually gotten it right this
time.
Continue reading
How to measure Google Plus with analytics
from Christopher S. Penn
Right now, Google Plus (hereafter lazily abbreviated as G+) is in its infancy. That said, it‟s certainly got
the buzz and the shine that social media folks have been craving for some time. It‟s got the ease of
Facebook plus the asymmetric relationship nature of Twitter. As a result, expect marketers to flock there
in droves as they get invited. Shortly after their arrival and spamming of their friends, the inevitable
question will be asked:
How do you measure this thing?
Continue reading
Google+ Invites
from sbdc blog
from sbdc blog
Traditionally, invites have been handled via a company giving out a set number of invites to beta users
who then decide who to send those invites to. But with Google+, they are doing something different.
Rather than giving beta users a set number of invites, they are systemwide making invites an option or
not. They are turning on the invite/sign up process when they want to add to the userbase, and then
turning it off when they think they have enough people.
Read more: http://socialmediab2b.com/2011/07/thoughts-about-google-plus-to-inspire-b2b-adoption/
#ixzz1RozGZ7sV
Pasted from <http://socialmediab2b.com/2011/07/thoughts-about-google-plus-to-inspire-b2b-adoption/?
utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+SocialMediaB2b+%
28Social+Media+B2B%29>
12 Steps for Social Media Programs
June-16-11
11:21 AM
http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/4837/ The-12-Step-Social-Media-Program-for-TraditionalMarketers.aspx
Here's the 12 Steps:
1. Audience Identification. If you know who your audience is, you're already one step ahead of the
game. The next step is to figure out where they interact online.
2. Platform Development & Design. Figuring out how to engage and interact with this audience.
3. Brand Campaign Integration. It's possible for a social media program to piggyback off a good
brand campaign, but it has to be transformed into its cooler younger brother.
4. Content Creation/Coordination. You must create a consistent message.
5. Goal Mapping. In other words, how do you measure your success? Is it brand mentions? Traffic?
Email sign ups? Leads? Sales?
6. Brand Identity. Everyone that is engaging via social media on your team must understand your
goals and messaging.
7. Audience Attraction. Larger brands like to start spreading the word of their new, fancy and glossy
initiatives at the outset, but if your social media program is good, your audience will find them on
their own and the spread the word for you.
8. Social Media Listening. If you don't know what people are saying about you and your products,
their related interests and more, how are you going to interact with them?
9. Community & Social Responsibility. Social responsibility is increasingly expected of everyone and this engagement is an essential part of your online identity.
10. Internal/External Community Engagement & Response. Be everywhere. All the time. It's up to
you to let people know that you are listening, engaging, helping, and offering solutions.
11. Brand Advocacy. Authenticity and transparency are such huge aspects of social media, your
social media and management team must be 100% on board.
12. Customer Service. Good customer service involves listening (within and outside of social media)
and responding appropriately.
Read more: http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/4837/ The-12-Step-Social-Media-Program-forTraditional-Marketers.aspx#ixzz1Nap1sFE H
June-16-11
11:30 AM
socialmediaexaminer.comhttp://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/26-tips-for-adding-customer-service-toyour-social-media-strategy/
About the Author, Debbie Hemley
Do you need a plan to add customer service to your social strategies?
As Jeremiah Owyang states, “as internal and external demands mount, companies become mostly
reactive, relegating themselves to a „Social Media Help Desk‟.”
With strategy, planning and communication you can ensure that your company won‟t be caught off guard.
If the day hasn‟t come yet when your social media team is thrust into fielding customer-service problems,
it‟s fair to say that it‟s just a matter of time before they will be.
In this post, the seventh installment in the A-Z guides published here on Social Media Examiner, I‟ll
discuss the importance of developing an integrated social media and customer relationship
management program for your company.
A to Z Guide for Integrating Customer Service Into Your Social Media Strategy
#1: Allocate your resources
Assign a number of team members the responsibility of managing social networking profiles to ensure
they‟re all covered throughout the workday.
Provide coverage when staff isn't around to monitor social networking profiles.
#2: Bridge the gap
Bridge the gaps in customer-service coverage during staff breaks and vacation times. Don‟t risk missing
important messages.
#3: Create a center of excellence
Jeremiah Owyang advocates for creating social media centers of excellence described as “a centralized
program that provides resources, training and strategy to a variety of business units that are deploying
social media in order to reduce costs, increase efficiency, and provide standardization. This team is
often run by the corporate social strategist, who‟s the business stakeholder and program champion.”
The social media center of excellence has four major duties: planning, resources, processes and vendor
selection and management. Image source: Altimeter Group
#4: Deliver
Deliver on your customer communication as promised. Whole Foods, for example, lets users know what
time and days they can expect to hear back.
Whole Foods lets users know the hours they monitor their Twitter page.
#5: Evaluate
On a regular basis, stop and take a look to see how your social media pages are doing. Monitor reports
and keywords and determine how much of your time is spent fielding customer issues.
#6: Food for thought
A couple of good mathematical equations to remember are contained in this food for thought offered by
Seth Godin: “My rule of thumb is this: every person you turn away because your product or service isn‟t
right for them turns into three great customers down the road. Every bad sale costs you five.”
#7: Guerilla marketing techniques
Ann Evanston offers five guerilla marketing techniques to improve customer experiences in the
social sphere:
 Set up search phrases for issues that your target market faces, like “slow Internet” or “Internet
connection.”
 Also set up search phrases for your business name. Searches are easy to set up in Twitter,
MarketMeSuite, HootSuite, Social Mention and will search blog posts as well.
 Watch those mentions and respond to them! Offer empathy, help and make a suggestion. Show
them you heard.

them you heard.
 When people use your business name positively, saying “thank you” creates a way to keep in touch
as they‟re becoming fans and referral sources (or potential customers, if they‟re not already).
 If something negative happens, deal with integrity and good communication. Don‟t delete it; that‟s
like putting your head in the sand. You can show others how gracious you really are.
#8: Hub and spoke
Jeremiah Owyang suggests that the hub-and-spoke model provides centralized resources to business
units. And Drew McLellan recommends that clients build the web of content creation in a hub-andspoke model. ―You need to have a core—or hub—for all of your social media activity. One place that‘s
the repository for your core content.‖
Create a hub-and-spoke model for social business. Image source: Altimeter Group
#9: Interface across functions
The Community Roundtable suggests in their report, the 2010 State of Community Management, that
community management is ―increasingly a distinct and separate role that‘s explicitly responsible for
interfacing across many functions to ensure continuity of care for community members.‖
#10: Justification
Heed the advice of the Community Roundtable : ―Measurement is NOT about justification. It’s about
understanding the data so that you can do a better job.‖
#11: Key stakeholders
Remember, key stakeholders will care about different aspects of your social media and will need access
to different types of social media metrics. In Forrester‘s white paper, ―Social Media Marketing Metrics That
Matter: Communicating the Right Data to Internal Stakeholders,‖ Nate Elliott points out the focus of the
company’s various internal stakeholders will differ. ―Create frequent reporting of digital metrics to
community managers and social media strategists, per-campaign or annual reporting of branding and trial
metrics to other marketing team members, and quarterly or annual reporting of financial metrics to
executives.‖
#12: Listen
Set up a good listening strategy and be sure to not only listen for customers‘ compliments, but also keep
your ears tuned to hear their complaints. Heidi Cohen says, ―With the help of social media monitoring
tools, customer service can hear what consumers are asking, provide timely responses, and determine
early warning signs of PR and other issues.‖
#13: Mitigate problems
It‘s one thing to listen to what customers are saying. In addition, we must also take precautionary steps
It‘s one thing to listen to what customers are saying. In addition, we must also take precautionary steps
and actions. As Heidi Cohen says, ―In the current social media ecosystem, it‘s critical to have a crisis
management plan in place to mitigate potential problems.‖
#14: Number of interactions and issues
Some businesses are heavily focused on the number of fans and followers they‘re acquiring through
social media. And while that‘s all fine and good, we must remember to track the interactions staff are
having and be able to report back the issues identified and how many were successfully resolved.
#15: Opportunities
Customer-service issues and complaints need not be seen as all negative. With the right mindset, we can
view them as opportunities to learn more about what people want and expect from us. Use feedback
as opportunities for improvement.
#16: Processes and policies
Customer service and social media needs must be addressed by more than the marketing department.
Companies are encouraged to develop thorough processes and policies. Drew Kraus writes in the
Gartner paper Emerging Technology Analysis: Social CRM for Customer Service that ―one of the
inhibitors for the adoption of social CRM customer service technologies is the lack of defined processes
and policies… Many fitting the mainstream and late-adopter profile will look to hold off on bringing the
new technology into their contact centers until optimized processes and policies have been vetted by
early adopters. Instead, they will opt to allow their marketing departments—which have access to nearterm budget for such investments—to take the lead in handling all social CRM interactions in the interim.‖
#17: Questions
Answering consumers‘ questions often ends up taking a back seat to responding to customer complaints.
However, the timely response to a question will make customers feel heard and potentially can alleviate
dissatisfaction.
Apologize for missed communication.
#18: Resolve problems
Try to resolve problems immediately. Stacey Acevero says, ―Sometimes the largest protesters can
become advocates with a little bit of love and attention. If you don‘t provide some source of customer
service or redirect online to someone who can help, you‘re risking your reputation.‖
#19: Structural hole
A structural hole can be seen as the person between two groups who has been taken away, thereby
creating a disconnect between the two groups. Community Roundtable suggests that the ―recognition
may cause companies to rethink the outsourcing of their Twitter accounts to their PR companies.‖
#20: Template for Social CRM
Gartner‘s Drew Kraus offers actions for technology and service providers which includes developing a
―template‖ social CRM for the customer-service delivery process for your customers. You may think of this
as the standards by which you base all of your customer service, whereby all of your business reps
deliver the same quality of care and the same services and messages.
#21: Unhappy customers
When we think about social media and customer service, there may be times when we find ourselves on
When we think about social media and customer service, there may be times when we find ourselves on
the other side of the spectrum as the unhappy customer. Erik Deckers writes, ―If you‘re unhappy with a
company, by all means, complain. It‘s your right as a customer. But if you do it the right way, you‘re
more likely to get what you want than if you whine and gripe about their incompetence and failures.‖
#22: Variety of functions
Heidi Cohen states that social media has changed how consumers and companies view customer
service. Customer service fulfills a variety of different functions including enhancing your marketing. Heidi
lists 12 ways social media enhances customer service:
 Gives business a human face
 Listens to what customers are saying
 Proactively engages with prospects and customers
 Provides additional product-related content
 Answers product-related questions
 Supplies alternative contact channel
 Gives customers a channel to talk to each other
 Shares customer feedback
 Celebrates your customers
 Shows customers behind the scenes
 Makes special offers
#23: Wisdom
There‘s a lot of wisdom in this statement by Jacob Morgan from his post,
What is Social CRM? ―Social CRM is about moving from fans and followers to customers and advocates.‖
#24: (E)xposure
The MarketingProfs post Brands Undervalue Social Media for Customer Service points out that ―when
social CRM is done well, it provides the added benefits of increased exposure for your brand by helping
to retain existing customers, acquiring new customers and driving brand awareness.‖
#25: Why measure
For community management to be successful, we need to regularly measure our efforts. Dion Hinchcliffe
writes, ―If you aren‘t looking at overall levels of participation, growth rate of new members, making lists of
the recently disengaged and following up on them, etc., then you aren‘t managing your social
environment. Understanding the overall health and momentum in your community, directly responding to
it, and doing it every day will be vital for the long-term success of your effort.‖
#26: Zealous
Social CRM requires dedication and devotion. Be zealous about maintaining good customer relationships.
Have you integrated your customer service and social media efforts? What would you add to this
list? Leave your comments in the box below.
inShare512
June-16-11
12:08 PM
socialmediaexaminer.comhttp://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/3-ways-to-do-social-mediacrowdsourcing/
About the Author, Richard Spiegel
Are you familiar with crowdsourcing? Do you know what the benefits are?
Social media has changed the way businesses engage with consumers—fans and followers don‘t want to
be told, they want to discover. It‘s no longer a one-way (or even a two-way) conversation.
It’s now a multiplayer experience that relies on collective, thoughtful engagement.
Consumers have the tools, time and desire to be involved on a much deeper level than we‘ve ever seen
before. There are several distinct ways that you can take these ideas and build social media
campaigns that use existing tools and technologies to achieve powerful results.
Today, brands big and small are homing in on the tactic of crowdsourcing, defined as the act of
outsourcing tasks traditionally performed by an employee or contractor to an undefined, large group of
people or community (a ―crowd‖), through an open call. Hidden within this utilitarian definition are powerful
cultural drivers that can be catalyzed to achieve powerful social engagement and activation.
What‘s the benefit of crowdsourcing?
As the evolving relationship between consumers and brands brings everyone closer together, interactions
and relations will continue to become more and more complimentary each time, giving and taking equally
and fairly. You can turn consumers into brand advocates by getting them involved and engaged.
It‘s at the intersection of these ideas where a powerful and new way to socially activate and engage
consumers exists. It‘s time toget your consumers talking—so connect with your crowd when you‘re
using social media.
Alex Bogusky and John Winsor wrote in their book Baked In about organizational intelligence, saying,
―The intelligence of the whole can differ wildly based on who is connected and to whom and how.‖ By
extension, we can say that if a company is disconnected from its consumers, the organizational IQ
suffers.
Open up your social media sites to the input and feedback of your "crowd." Image source:
http://www.istockphoto.com/
Below are three principles of crowdsourcing that can be used on or in tandem with social media
platforms like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and blogs.
#1: Ask for feedback (then do something with it)
Your business might say, ―We listen to our customers, and your feedback is always welcome.‖ Well, that‘s
great, and listening is the first step, but without follow-up action, you‘ll leave your customers feeling shortchanged. The gap between satisfied and disappointed is easily closed, yet it‘s often left wide open. This is
changed. The gap between satisfied and disappointed is easily closed, yet it‘s often left wide open. This is
a wasted opportunity.
Asking open-ended questions on your social media sites is a way to not only close the gap, but
also create a program that turns the act of collecting and reacting to feedback into a marketing
campaign of activation and engagement.
Biore Skincare asks their consumers questions to facilitate a conversation.
For example, ask fans when or why they first had a need for your product or service. You‘ve not
only connected with your online audience, but also gained valuable insight into the thought process of
your constituents.
Starbucks executed this idea of using consumer feedback with ―My Starbucks Idea.‖
Starbucks fans can share, vote, discuss and see ideas on My Starbucks Idea.
The site allows users to submit suggestions to be voted on by Starbucks‘ consumers, and the most
popular suggestions are highlighted and reviewed. Starbucks then took it a step further and added an
―Ideas in Action‖ blog that gives updates to users on the status of changes suggested.
#2: Create contests and giveaways
People love winning, and when they win prizes or discounts, they‘ll share the news with their
friends. Consider implementing trivia promotions and offering reduced-price or free products or
services as prizes to fans who identify the correct answer first. Using a contest application can give you
everything you need to implement and manage a campaign.
One thing you want to be sure of is your ability to capture contact information for participants. Getting
users‘ contact information allows you to plan for a post-event promotion. You‘ll know the participants have
your brand top of mind at the end of your event, so having a special promotion ready to offer immediately
following the event while you have the attention of the participants is critical.
You also want to be sure the platform you choose has all the social media sharing tools built in so
participants can use Facebook and Twitter to let their social networks know about the contest. After all,
turning participants into promoters is one of the main reasons to run a crowdsourcing campaign in the first
place.
For example, create contests with a seasonal twist to get people talking, like a costume photo contest
for your consumers and fans during Halloween. A brand that executed this concept is Graco baby
for your consumers and fans during Halloween. A brand that executed this concept is Graco baby
products. They implemented a Halloween Costume Contest in 2010 on the brand‘s Flickr page and gave
away a sound machine to the winner as an incentive for fans to participate.
Here's a promotion where people sent their child's cutest Halloween photo.
Another great big-brand example of crowdsourcing with social media is Dunkin Donuts. DD created the
―Create Dunkin‘s Next Donut‖ contest in 2010. The contest was a huge success, generating more than
130,000 donut submissions and 174,000 votes.
Dunkin Donuts asked fans to design the next donut.
#3: Poll or survey your fans
Consumers love to give their opinion. They want to share their ideas, feelings and opinions in a quick,
easy way that makes them feel like they‘re connecting with a brand. You can poll fans on anything; it
makes them feel like their ideas, thoughts and feedback are appreciated.
Facebook Questions lets you submit an open-ended question and create custom multiple-choice polls.
For example, if you‘re a restaurant owner, consider polling fans on what seasonal dish they would like to
For example, if you‘re a restaurant owner, consider polling fans on what seasonal dish they would like to
see for the upcoming summer season. Polling or surveying fans and followers is the fastest way
to structure an active conversation on a topic that you encourage.
Whether you‘re collecting user feedback, running crowdsourcing contests or polling your audience, you‘ll
benefit greatly from making these types of campaigns recurring fixtures in your business‘s social media
strategy.
While participation may not be where you‘d like it for the first attempt, by repeating the programs on a
regular basis, you‘ll condition your community to anticipate what’s coming next and this will cause a
steady increase in participation. So don‘t give up in the beginning. Trust that you have a clear
understanding of the behaviors you‘re trying to solicit and that your community is eager to participate.
Resources
In this video interview you can learn how to turn your customers into raving fans and you can also
read here how to use Twitter to connect with local customers.
Are you connecting with your crowd? What ideas or suggestions do you have? Leave your
comments in the box below.
Photo from iStockPhoto.
June-16-11
12:19 PM
APRIL 5, 2011
Brands place value on insights and loyalty, not spending
How much is a brand fan worth? It‘s a question some social media marketers have been asking for a
while, but research suggests many are moving on from the search for a hard number.
According to a July 2010 survey of social media marketers byMillward Brown and Dynamic Logic, the
most valuable aspects of social media brand fans go beyond anything with an immediate monetary value.
Increased short-term and long-term spend on the brand were the bottom two results.
At the top of the list were the fan‘s value as a source of insight and increased loyalty overall. Advocacy
and engagement were also important to at least three-quarters of respondents.
This suggests that, despite the real need for return on social media marketing investments, marketers are
largely not worrying aboutputting an exact dollar value on each Facebook fan or Twitter follower—as if
such an amount could be accurate. And they are keeping in mind some of the less-obvious qualities of
brand fans, like as a source of market research.
Still, these soft metrics can leave marketers unsure about their returns. Half of respondents to the
Millward Brown/Dynamic Logic survey were uncertain about how much they were getting out of their
investment in a social media fan base.
Less than a quarter thought ROI was good. Difficulties with these measures mean some marketers are
still not trying to answer the question.
still not trying to answer the question.
―The business question always comes up, but nobody can figure this out,‖ Maria Yap, director of product
management at Abobe, told eMarketer about proving ROI for the company‘s Facebook page. ―For me, it‘s
about the value to the customer. I understand why companies want to focus on the business goals, but I
put that aside. Let‘s experiment. Let‘s see what being here brings.‖
Keep your business ahead of the digital curve. Learn more about becoming an eMark eter Total
Access client today.
Check out today’s other article, ―Ecommerce Sales on Track for Healthy Growth.‖
Pasted from <http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?R=1008319>
Social Media Marketing Report 2011
June-16-11
12:20 PM
SocialMedia
Marketing...
http://marqueemarketing.biz/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/SocialMediaMarketingReport20111.pdf
Which Social Sites are Best for Marketing Outcomes
June-16-11
12:42 PM
http://www.cmo.com/sites/default/files/CMOcom-SocialMediaLandscape2011.pdf
CMOcom-So
cialMedia...
Free Updates/Upgrades - Online and SMM
June-19-11
8:29 PM
socialmediaexaminer.comhttp://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/free-upgrades -this-week-in-socialmedia/
Free Upgrades: This Week in Social Media
Welcome to our weekly edition of what‟s hot in social media news. To help you stay up-to-date with
social media, here are some of the news items that caught our attention.
What‟s New This Week?
YouTube Allows You to Take Off Its Logo: You can now set your YouTube videos to remove the
YouTube logo on the bottom right-hand corner. Many businesses will appreciate this gesture from
YouTube.
Note the absence of the YouTube logo in the video below.
Bit.ly Upgrades Services for Everyone: Bit.ly Pro has come out of beta and is now available to
everyone for free. One of the cool new features of this popular URL shortening tool is that marketers
can now create their own customized link shorteners. Instead of creating links with “ bit.ly/xxxx”, you
can now create their own customized link shorteners. Instead of creating links with “ bit.ly/xxxx”, you
can create short links with your own short domain “ name.com/xxxx”. Check this out and learn about
the other new features here.
You'll need to have your own domain to create these custom shorteners.
HootSuite Launches New Tools: HootSuite came out with a few new features too. Marketing
professionals should find the new HootSuite scheduling tool useful.
This scheduling calender makes it easy to manage your updates.
Apple Announces Comprehensive Twitter Integration: This is great news for iPhone and iPad
users as it makes it easier to use Twitter on the go. Find out why it‟s a great move for Twitter.
The new Twitter integration makes it easier to Tweet on Apple products.
Tumblr Now Has More Blogs Than WordPress.com: On Wednesday Tumblr had 20,873,182
Tumblr Now Has More Blogs Than WordPress.com: On Wednesday Tumblr had 20,873,182
blogs and WordPress.com had 20,787,904 blogs. This news stands out, as earlier this week Steve
Rubel announced he ditched his other blogs to write exclusively on Tumblr .
You might want to keep an eye on Tumblr and check out how other businesses are using their
Tumblr blogs.
RockMelt Partners With Facebook: The social browser RockMelt has improved features since it
first came out and is now partnered with Facebook.
Check out this browser for an enhanced social experience.
Here’s a social media tool worth noting:
Wajam: This social search tool makes it easier for you to find content shared by your friends.
.
Launch Photo Contest Winners
We‟re excited to announce the winners of the Launch photo contest. With 80 entries and nearly 4500
votes cast, it was a crazy competition. The Grand Prize winner is Ken Sehres with
the855DontText campaign—a student fundraiser aiming to save teens‘ lives by keeping them from
texting while they drive. Ken received the Ultimate Business Launch package including a library of
books, passes to the next three Success Summits and three hours of coaching with Michael
Stelzner.
Ken Sehres wins the Launch photo contest with this entry.
The other finalists were Debra J. Frank, Ryan Brown, Evan Milton and Amos Marvel. Each of them
received a free pass to Facebook Success Summit 2011 and a free autographed copy of Launch.
Debra's entry for the Launch photo contest.
Ryan's entry for the Launch photo contest.
Evan's entry for the Launch photo contest.
Amos' entry for the Launch photo contest.
To see the entries of all the winners, go here. Congratulations on all the excellent entries!!
And don’t miss this:
Get your FREE chapter of Launch: How to Quickly Propel Your Business Beyond the
Competition to discover the formula Michael Stelzner used to make this blog one of the top small
business blogs in the world (according to Technorati).
What social media news caught your interest this week? Please share your comments below.
inShare296
Pasted from <http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/free-upgrades-this-week-in-social-media/>
Considerations for the Facebook Commerce Experience
June-20-11
11:06 AM
Monetizing social media is an elusive but desirable target for retailers both large and small. According to
Forrester Research‘s annual retail study with Shop.org, 72% of retailers plan to increase social marketing
spending in 2011, and the ever-popular Facebook is unsurprisingly central to their strategy.
JC Penney Facebook Shop Splash Screen
Though there are many ways to engage customers via Facebook, one recent strategy involves bringing
the online ―store‖ to a business‘ Facebook page. This allows potential customers to browse products, add
items to their cart and complete checkout, all without leaving the Facebook website. Despite Forrester‘s
warnings—analyst Sucharita Mulupuru says that ―these efforts do little to drive sales‖— and considerable
doubt among retailers themselves—59% said that the monetary returns on these social efforts remain
unclear—many companies plan to launch Facebook -powered stores in the next 12 months.1 As with any
emerging platform, the time-to-market for these stores will often take priority over the quality of their
design and, as a result, many user-centric design principles can be overlooked.
In this article, I‘ll take a look at several of the first -to-market Facebook shops to determine what
considerations should be made when deciding to build one. The shops I reviewed include JC
Penney, Lands‘ End, Steve Madden, Express, GNC,Westin Hotels, Molly Sims Jewelry and Rachael Roy
Jewelry. After evaluating these experiences, some common themes emerged, leading to these 5
considerations for the Facebook commerce experience:
Any branded experience that a company provides —even on a third party site such as Facebook —is an
experience with that brand, and thus should be treated with the same care that would apply to an
experience within a company‘s own domain (or anywhere, for that matter). Customers will not forgive a
negative experience because they happened to be on Facebook, nor will they accept poorly designed
graphics or navigation just because it was built by a third-party for a Facebook commerce app.
A great example of how this can go horribly wrong is for Molly Sims Jewelry. Comparing her website‘s
look and feel to the look of her Facebook shop, it‘s easy to see that there is a huge gap in the overall
branding:
Molly Sims Jewelry Page on Facebook
Molly Sims Jewelry Main Site
The main site looks clean, polished and well-designed, yet the Facebook app is busy, amateurish and
does not make her products look particularly nice.
Several other brands offer product images that are far smaller on the Facebook shop than they are on the
main site. In Steve Madden‘s Facebook shop, for example, the Product Detail image is 43% smaller than
on the main site, and the Product Listing image is 32% smaller.
Steve Madden Image comparison
In my experience, both usability research and site metrics suggest that larger image sizes resonate more
with customers and drive higher conversion rates. Though it is true that the width of the Facebook shop
with customers and drive higher conversion rates. Though it is true that the width of the Facebook shop
area is smaller than the width of most websites, this should be no excuse to offer the customer poorer quality images.
This comment, from a Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide excutive in a Wall Street Journal article on
social commerce, gave me pause: ―The Westin Facebook shop is identical to its online shop, but it
doesn‘t have the same advanced search capabilities.‖ So it isn‘t ―identical‖, is it? If this advanced search
would help a customer using the Facebook shop, how would they know they could find said feature on
the main website?
Advanced faceted search is actually one of the features that was frequently missing in the Facebook
shops I reviewed. Steve Madden, for example, offers refinement by size, color and price on their main
site, but only refine by size on their Facebook shop. JC Penney offers a bit more on Facebook —
including item type, gender and color refinements, but leaves out price range, brand, ratings and more
from their main site.
Speaking of ratings, of the sites I viewed, almost none (including JC Penney and Lands‘ End)
offered customer ratings and reviews on their Facebook product detail pages. This is a crucial feature
for online shopping; Forrester reports that 39% of US online buyers say that they‘re more likely to
purchase from a store that features ratings & reviews. My own research affirms that most shoppers rely
on ratings & reviews to make an informed purchase. Only Express comes through here; though they‘ve
somehow incorporated an extra click to get to the full review content, the information is nonetheless
available.
Express‘ Facebook Product Page
Express also demonstrates superiority in product detail image functionality. Unlike Lands End‘, Steve
Madden and JC Penney, Express‘ Facebook shop offers all the key visualization features that are so
important to online shoppers, including the ability to view the item in each available color, alternate views
of the item, and enlarged or zoomable images.
We must not forget that if a customer is viewing an item on Facebook, and can purchase it without
leaving, they may not also be looking at the item on the main website. Thus, if features or content exist
that have been proven over time to increase conversion, they logically should also to be included in the
Facebook shop. Otherwise, it would be more prudent to direct this traffic to the main website which offers
the features we know customers want and need.
Along those lines, directing customers from a Facebook shop to a main website is a perfectly reasonable
idea, despite what marketers seem to highlight. Messaging around these shops includes verbiage like
―You can now shop Lands‘ End without leaving Facebook‖, or ―Why leave the social scene to shop? Get
what you need right on Facebook!‖ (GNC). What is so earth-shattering about ―leaving Facebook?‖ It‘s a
link. We use them all the time — they are the foundation of the web. Especially if the main website has
better content or features, as referenced above, why not just tell users that and direct them to a place
where they are more likely to convert?
Lands‘ End Splash Screen (Cropped)
In addition to being simple, linking also alleviates the pressure of duplicating and maintaining every single
feature and piece of content on the main site, and might even drive more traffic to the main site. Rachael
Roy, a division of Jones Apparel, for example, created a ―pop-up shop‖ on Facebook for a product launch
event, and this also led to one of the top 3 revenue days in the history of rachelroy.com.
Rachael Roy Facebook Pop-up Shop
Rachel Roy‘s pop-up shop also seems like a great example of how to utilize Facebook to offer unique,
time-based experiences. According to the design firm that created the five-day shop, which announced a
limited-edition jewelry collaboration with singer Estelle, a Facebook -exclusive item sold out in six hours,
and the promotion helped double the brand‘s ―likes‖ in one week.
Retailers such as Steve Madden and Express, on the other hand, have converted their entire catalog for
sale within the Facebook store, in essence creating a duplicate version of their commerce website.
Without any exclusivity or urgency, however, the point of this seems unclear, especially when considering
the UI limitations of a shop within Facebook‘s interface, not to mention the extra problems related to
maintaining functionality across multiple experiences. Even Facebook itself doesn‘t recommend this
approach. In a Wall Street Journal article on social commerce, a spokesperson from Facebook suggests
that ―rather than simply bringing their existing Web experiences to Facebook, we believe retailers who
provide deeply social shopping experiences will see the most success.‖
Lands‘ End also choses to offer a limited subset of items, to more inconsistent results. On the positive
side, their promotion is seasonal (swimsuits during May 2011), and the exploratory UI is an attempt to
create a quickly browsable experience within the Facebook page.
Lands‘ End Facebook Shop
Unfortunately, the messaging around this promotion leaves something to be desired. Though the splash
page indicates a promotion of the Beach Living collection, the product listing page is titled ―Women‖,
leaving customers to wonder if they are viewing all women‘s clothing or some subset. In addition, neither
the product listing page nor the product detail pages informs customers that there may be any other
bathing suits available from Lands‘ End, a clear missed opportunity to drive them to their main website.
Lastly, thought it may seem silly to suggest to a UX audience, we can‘t forget the basic principles learned
over the past 15 years. (Why do we need to have this conversation every time a new ―technology‖ is
introduced?) Take the back button, as one example. On JC Penney‘s Facebook shop, the browser back
button is completely deactivated. To navigate backwards, one must use the breadcrumb or a ―Back‖ link
that sometimes (not always) appears in the upper right. On Steve Madden‘s Facebook shop, the back
button is activated, but it rarely goes to the previous screen (usually it brings up an earlier screen). On
Lands‘ End shop, the back button always goes to the splash screen, no matter which page is currently
displayed.
The back button is a basic usability standard that we all have known about for years, yet somehow these
three rather large retailers found a way to break it. Is this a limitation of the platform? No. The back button
works fine on the Express Facebook shop.
Just like any user experience, if we don‘t let the excitement over the newness of the technology cause us
to forget that we have a toolkit of standard best practices, and we conduct usability research to find out
what works best for our customers and our business, we‘ll surely build a good experience. That said, if we
are tasked with launching this along an aggressive timeline, don‘t forget to maintain experience
standards, leverage existing content and features, drive traffic to the main website, and create timely,
unique reasons for customers to participate in the Facebook shop.
1.
REFERENCES
(Shop.org State of Retailing Online)
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Mike Madaio currently leads the UX team for a large multi -channel retailer and holds a Master‘s in
Human-Computer Interaction from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. In his spare time, Mike enjoys curling
and creating innovative sandwiches. Check out Mike‘s website or follow his sporadic tweets on Twitter.
Pasted from <http://www.uxbooth.com/blog/considerations -for-the-facebook-commerce-experience/>
June-20-11
11:44 AM
socialmediaexaminer.com http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/12-social-media-tools-recommended-by -
the-pros/
Are you struggling to make social media work for your business? Sometimes a few well-chosen tools are all you need
to get your social media marketing working for you.
In our recent Social Media Success Summit, there were presentations that covered all the key topics you need
tomake your social media marketing easy. In this article, I‟ll share 12 of those tools that were recommended by the
pros.
Tools to Refine Your Visibility and Engagement
Here are three tools recommended byMari Smith during her first presentation on increasing your visibility and
engagement on Facebook.
#1: Socialbakers
Get useful stats from Socialbakers. Socialbakers offers paid services to monitor your Facebook statistics, but it
also provides useful free statistics for Facebook and LinkedIn.
Check out the useful marketing data on Socialbakers.
#2: Kurrently
Find out what’s being shared on social media withKurrently, a free, easy-to-use, real-time search engine for
results from Twitter and Facebook. “Companies can capitalize on just-in-time marketing and social CRM opportunities
like never before.”
You can search through Facebook or Twitter or both.
#3: Blekko
Select the sites you want to search with Blekko. You can create “slashtags” for groups of URLs, friends, experts
and communities and you can “slash in” what you want and “slash out” what you don‟t want to search.
With Blekko, you have more control over your search results thanks to the slashtags you create.
Tools to Measure Specific Social Media Goals
Jay Baer gave a fantastic presentation on measuring social media. He clearly identified the different goals a company
could have on social media and recommended tools to use to monitor results for each specific goal. Here are three of
those tools.
#4: Social Mention
If social awareness is your main social media goal, then be sure to check out Social Mention, which allows you
to set up social media alerts so you can measure awareness for specific keywords.
"Social Mention is a social media search and analysis platform that aggregates user-generated content from across
the universe into a single stream of information."
#5: Klout
Klout is another tool you can use to measure awareness on Twitter and Facebook.
Check out the different graphs for your score results on Klout.
#6: PostRank Analytics
If customer loyalty is your main social media goal, you can use PostRank Analytics to measure results in
improving loyalty.
PostRank Analytics is a favorite tool of social media marketers.
Tools to Get the Job Done
Frank Eliason gave an overview of how to use social media in business and shared two of the tools he‟s found useful.
#7: Blogsearch.Google
Use Blogsearch.Google.com for better search resultsthan Google Alerts. There are many tools to monitor
keywords. Don‟t forget to use this one!
keywords. Don‟t forget to use this one!
Remember to check out what blogs are writing about you through Blogsearch.Google.com.
#8: Twitterfall
Use Twitterfall when you need to show executives how you can monitor what‟s being said about your brand on
Twitter.
Twitterfall specializes in real-time tweet searches.
A Useful Tool for Twitter Marketing
Hollis Thomases showed businesses how to use Twitter marketing to grow using this tool:
#9: Friend or Follow
Friend or Follow helps you improve your Twitter marketing. It tells you who‟s not following you back on Twitter
and who you‟re not following back.
Use Friend or Follow to craft a stronger Twitter presence with your audience.
Tools to Make Video Blogging Easy
Steve Garfield always makes video blogging easy for everyone. Here are three tools to create on-the-fly videos to
enhance your social media content.
#10: Wetoku
Sign up for Wetoku to make the popular side-by-side video interviews. All you need to do is sign in and send an
invite code by email to the person you want to interview.
invite code by email to the person you want to interview.
Wetoku is an easy tool to use for interview videos.
#11: Socialcam
If you have an iPhone or an Android phone, be sure to check out Socialcam. Steve says this is the easiest way
to share videos with your social networks.
Socialcam combines video sharing with social communities.
#12: Stupeflix
Use Stupeflixto integrate after-effects and photos to your videos. If you want to do editing without using editing
software, this tool is for you.
software, this tool is for you.
Stupeflix is an easy way to make your videos more appealing.
Find the Tools You Need
One of my takeaways from the summit was that you don‟t need to use all of the tools available. Businesses have
different cultures, different goals and are at different stages in integrating social media into their marketing mix. These
social media pros found the tools that worked best for them.
Do you think any of the tools above can make your social media marketing easier to execute? Please let us
know in the comments below if you‟re going to try any of them.
inShare261
Pasted from <http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/12-social-media-tools-recommended-by-the-pros/>
11:36 AM
By Adam Holden-Bache
Thu, Jul 7, 2011
Communications, Marketing, Social Media 101
Although social media is seldom ―easy,‖ there are some distinct advantages that B2B companies have
over B2C brands in the social media space. Here‘s a list of 8 reasons why B2B social media is easier
than B2C:
1. It’s driven by relationships
B2C marketing is largely based on a product and its price. It tends to be a more impulsive or emotional
buying decision than B2B. B2B purchasing decisions tend to be more involved and relationship driven,
and that suits social media.
In a B2B sales cycle, businesses tend to interface directly with potential customers multiple times in order
to inform and educate the prospect. Social media can play a big role in this process. Through social
media you can interact with the prospect and nurture the relationship, which can ultimately influence the
final purchase decision.
2. Your practices can lead to sales
Your social media practices can demonstrate your business value which can lead to purchases. Users
can see that you are reliable, responsive, intelligent, etc. via your social media practices.
3. You have more control
B2B companies tend to have less people talking about their brand than B2C companies. In most cases
that means less content, and B2B typically generates less negative sentiment than B2C. That means B2B
companies have less content to control and less negative content to deal with. Therefore B2B companies
can maintain more control over their social content which makes it easier to get their message through to
the right audience.
4. B2B purchase decisions are more rational
B2B sales cycles can span months or even years. Buyers research products, educate themselves, review
competition, seek opinions via referrals or recommendations and in many cases, interact with brands
before making a purchase decision. B2B buyers also need the approval of one or more colleagues to
make the purchase. Compared to B2C, the B2B buying decision is a much more considered process and
it‘s based largely on business value.
5. It’s easier to build long-term relationships
The goal for most B2B marketers is to convert prospects into customers. Because the sales cycle is
longer, B2B companies need to focus on relationships as part of that process. Communication with
prospects, engaging them, educating them and leading them towards purchase creates the foundation for
a long term relationship. And in many situations, the social media relationship continues past the sale
through support, updates and continuing education.
6. The B2B market is smaller than the B2C market
Compared to B2C, B2B is a smaller, more focused target market. Using social media to identify
Compared to B2C, B2B is a smaller, more focused target market. Using social media to identify
prospects, connect with them and start building a relationship is faster and easier in the B2B market.
7. B2B buyers trust recommendations and feedback
Because B2B purchases are typically more considered decisions, B2B buyers tend to value the
recommendations and feedback they receive from colleagues and other industry professionals. Social
media provides a great opportunity to solicit product feedback, which can help influence the purchasing
decision of the buyer.
8. B2B content has a long tail
B2B products tend to change less frequently than their B2C counterparts, so the social content you
produce for your marketing efforts will create value for a longer period of time. That can make B2B social
marketing more effective (and likely less expensive) than B2C.
Do you agree that B2B social media is easier than B2C? Are there any other ways that you feel B2B
social media has an advantage over B2C?
share
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2.
3.
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5.
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8 Rules for Social Media Marketing
12:08 PM
Posted by CarolWain - July 5, 2011 - Advice and Recommendations, Articles etc., News and
Views, Social Media- No Comments
I just finished listening to Don Crowther‘s video training on ―8 Rules for Social Media Success‖ and I
thought that I would share them with you as they are so valuable. You can watch the video here
too! http://www.socialprofitformula.com/fe/ 12868-8-rules-for-social-media-success?r=y
Here are the first 2 rules (the others will be posted shortly!)
Rule#1 – Laser-focus on your target audience
•
•
•
•
•
•
Don looked at the top 5% of social media marketers (removing stars etc.) to see what they all did in
common.
The following should be used to attract your target audience:
content
incentives
contests
design
jargon/vocabulary
localization
The key is to realize that we will make more money if we focus on a smaller group of people who are
current and potential buyers of our products and ignore everyone else.
•
•
•
•
One of the best ways to generate large amounts of highly targeted followers is to give an incentive to
follow you.
The best incentives increase quality and attentiveness of your following now and in the future and repulse
anyone not in your target audience (e.g. don‘t give away an iPad!)
The more value your incentive provides, the more followers you will get.
Incentives should be only for your niches and they should either solve a problem that only your target
audience has or include a discount or free trial of your products and services.
You need to create and nurture a highly-targeted social media audience. Don‘t fall for the ―more is better‖
argument… because anything that gets you more of a less-targeted audience is bad.
The interactivity score looks at the % of people that are following you who interact (like and/or comment)
on your posts.
It‘s much better to have 2,000 fans and 1,000 interactions than 10,000 fans and 1,000 interactions.
You must have a highly targeted audience to increase the interactivity / engagement. So audience
targeting not only affects your ability to sell, it affects your ability to be seen at all!
Google and Bing use your social media interactivity to show your content too.
Google may even refuse to show your content if you are being ignored by your followers.
Bottom line is that you should focus on creating a highly-targeted audience and encourage them to
interact with you. Focus creates results and results = $
Rule 2 – Focus on providing content, not conversations
The top 5% build relationships with their target audience by initially delivering a steady stream of highlyrelevant valuable content, then they engage in conversations about that content by answering questions
and responding to feedback.
Social conversations for businesses are built on the value you‘ve added to your customers lives, rather
than on something irrelevant like who is going to win the tournament.
Create primary and secondary topics that you will talk about and only provide content about those.
The top 5% don‘t usually initiate conversations first because it almost always creates a deviation from
your target audience‘s business needs and it simply doesn‘t generate the type of business relationship
you need to succeed.
Conversation Starters (favourite food, what are you doing, etc) won‘t help your credibility, your sales or
your business relationships!
You may have lots of friends/fans but no sales!
By focusing on quality content in your area of expertise that helps the lives or business of your followers,
you will be seen as an expert in your field; as someone or company to respect and listen to; and as
someone to do business with.
There are multiple opportunities for conversation that will result from providing quality
There are multiple opportunities for conversation that will result from providing quality
content. Followers/Fans will thank you for your content, ask you questions and provide feedback.
By focusing on discussions that make sense for your business you will have totally different conversations
with a totally different targeted audience and spend a fraction of the time!
Here‘s some examples of conversations that travel businesses could have.
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•
•
•
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•
•
A bit about the area where you are located
Things to do while on vacation in the area
Special deals that you have during your slow periods
Family vacationing tips
What to bring if you are planning on a destination wedding
Best time to book a meeting / incentive group
Creative ways for cost effective, green decorations (for groups)
Ways to negotiate best inclusions
And if you get stuck, you can and should post other people‘s content because when you post other
people‘s content you increase the interactivity of your audience. BTW, this is a suggestion of every SM
specialist!
What ideas do you have about creating content and laser-focusing your audience with your travel or
tourism business?
Please leave comments below or on our Facebook wall www.marqueefans.com
Pasted from <http://marqueemarketing.biz/8-rules -for-social-media-success/>
8 Rules for Social Media Marketing – Rules 3 + 4 | Marquee Marketing
Posted by CarolWain - July 6, 2011 - Advice and Recommendations, Articles etc., Social Media - No
Comments
Here are rules 3 and 4 for Don Crowther‘s Video 8 Rules for Social Media
Success http://www.socialprofitformula.com/fe/12868-8-rules-for-social-media-success?r=y
Rules 3: Be Everywhere your Audience Is
You need to have significant social media presence on multiple platforms (LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter,
YouTube etc.) because you need to have your message in front of your audience each and every place
they visit online.
The key is to figure out where your target audience hangs out and be there, and to never assume they‘re
all on Facebook or Twitter.
Find niche sites where your audience hangs out. With the travel industry there are lots of places and
TripAdvisor is but one. Check for sites for snowboarding or skiing or hiking or mountain biking if you are
in an ski resort area.
Don gave an example of Ravelry.com which has over 1 million members that knit! Yes, knitters, who
hang out online in a community that is only about knitting! Talk about a niche market, with no distractions
such as you‘d find on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn!
Figure out the niche sites where your audience hangs out and go there.
Rule 4: Integrate Your Social Media
People who are making serious money consciously create systems to gather their target audience and
get them to friend and follow them on every social media platform that they are on and they actively move
their followers between the various platforms.
Word of Warning: Do NOT post the same content on each social media site. It‘s one of the biggest
mistakes that you can make. Don says that people who tell you to do this haven‘t tested it — and it
doesn‘t work!
We need to develop a separate, unique presence on each platform. Populate each platform with unique
content and pull content from one into the other. Incentivize your audience to follow you everywhere and
interact with you on each platform.
Embed YouTube videos into your Facebook Page and onto your Blog.
Bring mobile into the equation by ensuring that everything you do is mobile friendly and ready.
•
•
•
•
Go outside social media.
Send emails and build your opt-in list
Move beyond free and pay for ads on Facebook and Google Adwords
Mail postcards, letters and brochures
Meet people ―live‖ at conferences and seminars
Don‘t think of each as a separate silo. Think of each as part of your social media network and actively
integrate all of them.
Don says ―If they like you everywhere then they love you in total!‖
The big money in social media comes when you integrate all of your different social media sites to create
a single, all-encompassing social media presence.
So, what are you doing to be everywhere and integrate your social media? Where are you finding your
best customers? Where are they hanging out? What is working for you and what isn‘t?
Let‘s talk about it below or on our wall at www.marqueefans.com
Pasted from <http://marqueemarketing.biz/8-rules -for-social-media-marketing-rules-3-4-marqueemarketing/>
8 Rules for Social Media – Rules 5 & 6
Posted by CarolWain - July 7, 2011 - Advice and Recommendations, Articles etc., News and
Views, Social Media- No Comments
Success http://www.socialprofitformula.com/fe/12868 -8-rules-for-social-media-success?r=y
Rule 5: Don’t Forget Your Profile
That‘s where you put in the key information about your business, so that your audience can quickly
identify who you are and whether you‘re worth their time to follow.
Profiles should say who you are and what you do
A large % of people check out your profile before deciding whether or not to follow you so if you do a half hearted job on your profile, they may decide not to follow you, interact with you or buy from you.
Search engines love to profile social media profiles in their SERPs!
You could have your LinkedIn and Facebook profile listings show up on the 1st page for results for your
name or business.
―Would you like to own and control the first page of Google for your name and brand?!?‖
The best way to do this is to create thoughtful, complete, well -designed social media profiles. Each
profile should be unique for all the others.
Your total social media presence on each of the sites where you participate is just as important as your
website. In fact, some people may never actually see your website, only your profiles!
BTW, a search for my name ―Carol Wain‖ in Google pulls up my Ning profile, LinkedIn and Twitter all
within the first few results. There are other people called ―Carol Wain‖ too, so their FB profiles show up
(my personal profile has a block on being spidered). For ―Marquee Marketing‖ the directory listings show
up first with the first social media links (YouTube and LinkedIn) being on page 2, which is really cool
considering there is more than one Marquee Marketing business in the world!
What happens when you do a search for your name? What about your business name?
Rule 6: Post Consistently
Posting regularly helps people feel like you‘re involved, caring about them, and participatory rather than
doing feast or famine marketing. (I know that this is something I, personally, have to work on !)
If you post too often people will unfriend/unfollow you because you slam their newsfeed.
If you post too often people will unfriend/unfollow you because you slam their newsfeed.
A steady stream of posts everywhere (blog, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn etc etc) is much better than feast
or famine.
If you find that it‘s overwhelming… post other people‘s content. It takes the pressure off you while giving
your readers, friends and followers a different perspective. If you‘ve found something particularly
valuable, they will also thank you!
So, what can you do to increase your brand awareness and sales? What do you have to work on?
Please let me know your thoughts on www.marqueefans.com and/or below.
Pasted from <http://marqueemarketing.biz/8-rules -for-social-media-rules-5-6/>
8 Rules for Social Media Marketing – Rules 7 & 8
Posted by CarolWain - July 8, 2011 - Advice and Recommendations, Articles etc., News and Views - No
Comments
Success http://www.socialprofitformula.com/fe/12868 -8-rules-for-social-media-success?r=y
Rule 7: Post Throughout the Day
If you spread out your posts throughout the day a few things will happen:
•
•
•
•
You‘ll be less likely to become ―unfriended‖ or ―unfollowed‖ because you‘ve filled someone‘s wall with
your ―news‖
You‘ll be more likely to catch someone when they check their Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter Feeds
You won‘t hide important posts/tweets with less important posts/tweets
So use a scheduler (we use www.HootSuite.com) to queue up your posts to Facebook and Twitter and if
you are posting a blog with an auto-post to Twitter, queue up your blog to publish when you won‘t be
publishing other updates. Note though, don‘t always use a 3rd party service to post as some people may
hide ―all posts by HootSuite‖ on Facebook, which will effectively block you too.
So mix it up. Set up some posts using a scheduler and others manually.
Just remember to post throughout the day!
Rule 8: Make sure you blog!
There is a crucial relationship between blogging, websites and the rest of social media.
Facebook, Twitter, YouTube introduce you and start relationships. Blogs build relationships and establish
credibility, turning your from an acquaintance into a trusted resource….
… and then your website will help you to sell!
Blogs are the most powerful of tools in your marketing tool box. They are incredibly effective and an easy
way to create and post content you can link to from your different social media sites.
Let me repeat this as it is soooooo important.
Set up your blog and post to it regularly with quality content that is valuable to your very-targeted
audience. Then post different updates in Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn etc. directing people to your
blog, which establishes you as a thought leader, builds credibility and trust and sets-up readers to
be customers. Your website and sales people then close the sale.
Search engines like quality blogs because they provide content that the users of the search engines
want. Blogs can rank well in search engines. So regularly post there.
If you find yourself posting updates of other people‘s content many times about the same topic, then you
should write a post targeted to your audience.
If you‘re not actively blogging, you‘re leaving money on the table, crippling the impact of your social media
marketing.
So, travel marketers and tourism marketing specialists… what topics do you post throughout the day and
So, travel marketers and tourism marketing specialists… what topics do you post throughout the day and
what topics do you write about in your blog? Where do you go for inspiration for topics? What do you
find works best for your particular business?
Please share your thoughts with us below and/or post to www.marqueefans.com (our Facebook Page)
Pasted from <http://marqueemarketing.biz/8-rules -for-social-media-marketing-rules-7-8/>
July-14-11
8:45 AM
Posted by Neil Davey in Social C RM on Thu, 14/07/2011 - 01:19
Share
in
6
The Seven Dwarfs all have very different personalities. Which one best reflects your social media
interaction?
Doc
Doc is well organised and structured. He know s w hat he is going to say, presents it w ell to his target
audience on their social media tool of choice.
A great social media ambassador and one to emulate.
Those new to social media could learn a lot from Doc.
Grumpy
Using social media to vent his grumpiness is the unpleasant trait of Grumpy. Each day brings forth
new moans, groans and w hinges about all that life throw s at him.
Unfortunately his general persona makes him unpopular and of the few followers that he does tend to
acquire, most are of a similar disposition to him – so bew are!
Happy
A general pleasant nature and a lovely person to interact w ith via social media, Happy tends to
brighten up most people‘s day.
Most look forw ard to his tw eets, blogs and posts. A truly inspirationally social networker.
Sleepy
Just like his name, Sleepy only posts from time-to-time. His social media interaction is so sporadic
that many lose interest in him and forget that he exists.
Sleepy who? This is w hat you w ill hear them ask.
Bashful
Bashful tries to make interesting social media interaction but he is painfully shy. He tends to loiter and
jump into the social conversations of others, not really knowing how to initiative social interaction
himself.
His shyness is often mistaken as dullness.
Give Bashful a chance and help him to network – he does have some useful content to add if he is
encouraged.
Sneezy
Just like the atchoo accompanying a sneeze his communications are all one way.
He never interacts w ith others. The repeated posting of the same message is a trait of Sneezy.
Often posting ‗buy from me‘ messages he believes that social media is a means to broadcast adverts.
Unfortunately Sneezy has not grasped the social networking aspect of social media.
Dopey
Dopey
Dopey‘s social media interaction is unplanned, haphazard, simple and naive. There is no general
purpose to what he posts on his social media sites.
My advice to Dopey would be to go back to the drawing board and review just where social media fits
into his marketing strategy.
It may be that you have traits of a few or all of them. Of course – I like to think of myself as more like
Snow White!
Elaine Clark is the founder of CheapAccounting.co.uk.
• Click here to comment
Pasted from <http://www.mycustomer.com/topic/social-crm/dopey-grumpy-which-seven-dwarfs-are-you-social-media/127791>
July-14-11
9:58 AM
Jul 13th
Share36
49 comments
By Neicole Crepeau, Contributing {grow} Columnist
Facebook is seeing a decline in use. Studies show that users are un-Liking business
pages. Consumers are getting savvy and more jaded about businesses use of social
media—and they‘re responding negatively. The thing is, it‘s our own fault.
Social media consultants and bloggers have long urged companies to create Facebook
pages and Twitter accounts and start a conversation with their customers. So, lots of
companies have done just that. The problem is, most customers don’t want a
conversation with a company or its representatives.
Sure, there are exceptions. There are customers who are genuinely passionate about a
restaurant, a hotel, a clothing line, or shoe company. Those customers are a minority,
though.
It may be worth engaging that minority deeply, as brand advocates. But companies aren‘t
focusing on deeply engaging with the few people who deeply want to engage with them.
Most companies either aren‘t doing social media, or they are in a race to acquire as many
fans and followers as possible and then get likes and comments from as many as possible.
As I noted in my recent post, If You Want to Engage Me, Make Me Look Good, the
conversation approach ISN’T customer-centric. It‘s the business, the marketer that
wants to engage in conversation with the customer. Just as marketers want blog and
newsletter subscribers, and want customer email addresses, they want Facebook fans.
They want to be able to regularly contact and message leads and customers —even if they
do it in a less promotional, more sociable manner.
do it in a less promotional, more sociable manner.
Customers aren’t beating down the doors of businesses begging them, ―engage
with me, please!‖
Customers want to engage with their friends. They want to engage with content that
amuses, teaches, or inspires them. They may want to engage with their friends about said
content.
Don‘t get me wrong. I‘m not saying that companies shouldn‘t listen to customers and
respond to them. Good companies have been listening to their customers for years, in the
ways available at the time. Good companies will continue to monitor, respond, answer
questions, address concerns, elicit suggestions, all through social media as well as other
means.
It‘s the inane and sometimes manipulative attempts to converse and engage people that
I‘m decrying. With all the competition for our attention, the flood of content and news and
status updates, I think consumers increasingly resent attempts to draw their attention with
questions, content, contests, and conversations that aren‘t valuable, relevant, fun, or
interesting. It‘s just more noise.
We’ve created a monster, by telling every company that they NEED a Facebook page
and Twitter account and that they need to converse and engage. I‘m hoping we can slay
that monster by taking a truly customer-centric approach. I hope we begin to tell
companies that they need to identify the specific consumers of value to them as a
company, and then find a way to be OF SERVICE to those consumers. I hope companies
will find ways to serve the customer‘s goals online. Find ways to facilitate the
conversations those consumers want to be having with their friends. Find ways to entertain
and inspire them. Find ways to let consumers take the actions that help them personally or
professionally and that enrich their online lives.
So many businesses now are out on the social web expending resources and money
trying to get a conversation started on their page and blog. What if they were all
spending the same resources and money trying to find valuable ways to serve
consumers through their Facebook pages and blogs, ways to help consumers meet their
own online goals and enrich their own relationships with one another. If a company did
that for me, I‘d be a loyal fan and I‘d be visiting their Facebook page more often.
Do you agree?
Neicole Crepeau is a partner in Coherent Interactive, which specializes in web, mobile,
and social media design and implementation for small and mid-size businesses. You can
read more of her original material at her blog, Coherent Social Media or onTwitter where
she is @neicolec.
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July-15-11
10:23 PM
socialmediaexaminer.comhttp://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/hot-trends-in-socialmedia-globalization-and-real-time/
In this video I interview Steve Rubel, EVP/Global Strategy and Insights at Edelman Digital.
http://vimeo.com/17570567
Steve reviews the biggest changes in social media over the past 12 months. He also
shares the latest social media trends and gives tips on what businesses should focus on
in the future.
Be sure to check out the takeaways below after you watch the video.
Here
•
•
•
are some of the things you‘ll learn in this video:
Why globalization of social media is now skyrocketing
Which companies are doing social media right
How to monitor the ―irritations‖ shared on social media to improve your
business
• How the increase in real-time communication impacts businesses
• Why it‘s important to focus on when you engage on social media
• Why Twitter is in the future of media
• How to connect the ROI of social media on a business level
• Why the leadership of social media will come from outside the U.S. in the future
• How privacy issues impact geolocation on social media
Find Steve at Edelman Digital (@EdelmanDigital). You can also connect with him on
Twitter at @steverubel and at SteveRubel.me.
What social media trends do you monitor? How will they impact your business?
Please leave them below.
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July-16-11
10:31 AM
socialmediaexaminer.comhttp://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/how-to-grow-socialmedia-leads-new-research/
Have you wondered, ―How often should I post articles on my blog?‖ or ―How does my
social media reach impact lead generation and traffic?‖
Two brand-new studies by HubSpot and Edison Research provide fresh insights on these
important questions. Consider these five findings as you enhance your social media and
blogging strategies.
#1: More frequent blog posts bring greater traffic and leads
C.C. Chapman and Ann Handley like to say that starting a blog is like having a baby. You
can‘t put it back and you have to keep feeding it. The question is how often do you need to
feed your blog to get real results?
HubSpot found in their 2011 State of Inbound Marketing report that a vast majority of
bloggers post once per week, with a significant 29% only posting monthly or less.
No matter how nutritious the food is, no doctor would recommend feeding a baby weekly
or less. Mike Stelzner acknowledges that most content only has a shelf life of around 72
hours. Read about this in his new book Launch.
As it turns out, businesses seeing significant growth have also discovered they need to
feed their blogs more frequently.
There‘s a strong correlation between how frequently a blog posts and the amount of traffic
generated. In fact, businesse s that post daily will generate 5 times more traffic than
those that post weekly or less.
The likelihood of acquiring a customer through your blog increases significantly the more
frequently you post. Note that posting multiple times per day gets 15% greater results than
just posting daily. Of course, you need to understand your audience’s appetite for
content before you start posting multiple times per day.
While getting one customer through your blog is great, it will be far better when you start
seeing consistent leads. HubSpot found blogs that post daily generate 4 times more
leads than those that post weekly or less.
Key takeaway: While it may not be realistic for your business to post high-quality content
on a daily basis, post as frequently as feasible. You‘ll outpace the competition and see
improved results.
#2: A steady library of blog posts grew leads and traffic better
Over time, a well-fed blog will outperform other blogs. This is evidenced by the impact
of blog size on traffic and lead generation. (Note: By blog size, I don‘t mean the size of the
company, but the number of blog posts accumulated over time.)
HubSpot found that blogs that have accumulated at least 51 posts see 53% more traffic
than blogs with 20 to 50 posts. Additionally, blogs with more than 100 posts see 3 times
the traffic, while those with over 200 posts see nearly 4.5 times the results. (Special thanks
to Melissa Miller of HubSpot for this exclusive graphic.)
The size of your blog will also affect your monthly leads. Your business will profoundly
benefit if you accumulate at least 52 blog posts.
Key takeaway
: Keep growing your blog by feeding it regularly—at least 2 to 3 times per week. It may
take 6 to 12 months to start seeing strong results, but don‘t give up. For some ideas on
generating quality blog content, see
this article
by
Denise Wakeman
.
#3: More Twitter followers = more leads
As Elijah Young reminded us last month, all Twitter followers aren‘t created equal. So, if
you have 1,000 spam accounts following you, there won‘t be much measurable benefit to
your business. But don‘t let that excuse you from trying to grow your following. You may
be missing out on some real results!
HubSpot found that businesses with over 1,000 followers saw 6 times more traffic
than businesses with 25 or fewer followers.
Additionally, those businesses with over 1,000 followers saw 5 times more leads than
those with 1 to 25 followers.
You may have questions about the value of a Twitter strategy, but know that 20 million
Americans are on Twitter (half between the ages of 18 and 34, according to Edison
Research) and these are the people more likely to influence public opinion about your
brand than the other 90% of the population.
#4: Bigger Facebook fanbases mean better results
Edison Research recently found that Facebook is the one social media site that people
allow to influence their buying decisions, with 24% listing it as their first choice. Of course,
it‘s not Facebook itself but the people on Facebook who influence those decisions. That‘s
why it‘s so important to grow a strong and active fanbase.
HubSpot found that the size of your Facebook reach has significant impact on your traffic
and leads. For instance, businesses able to grow a fanbase of 501 to 1,000 fans have 3.5
times more traffic than those with 1 to 25 fans. Moreover, businesse s with over 1,000
fans had 22 times more traffic.
Additionally, the size of your Facebook fanbase will dramatically impact how many leads
you receive. Businesses with 501 to 1,000 fans saw 4 times as many leads as those with 1
to 25 fans and businesse s with over 1,000 fans saw 12 times more leads.
#5: Social demographics are growing
#5: Social demographics are growing
Tom Webster of Edison Research recently published a study that gives some fresh insight
into how Americans are using social media.
In the Social Media Marketing Industry Report, we made the claim that social media has
gone mainstream. Edison‘s report proves it. They discovered that 52% of Americans over
the age of 12 have at least one social media account and 51% of all Americans are on
Facebook.
What‘s more significant is that 46 million Americans are on social media sites multiple
times per day. These are the influencers and potential clients we all want to reach.
These habitual social networkers tend to be young and female. In fact, 68% of these
active networkers are between the ages of 12 and 34. Depending on your product or
service, this information could help you better target your customers online.
The last thing to note about frequent social networkers is that they‘re nearly twice as likely
to be using mobile devices. Make sure to see what it‘s like for your customers to engage
you on their mobile devices.
Habitual social networkers are also 50% more likely to access social networks via their
mobile phones.
Go generate some leads!
In many ways, this research confirms what many experts have been saying, but now you
can see the reasons in black and white. If you want to generate leads through social
media, try blogging more frequently and growing your reach—all with an
understanding of your target audience.
For some great ideas on how to generate leads through social media, refer to Debbie
Hemley‘s article, 26 Ways to Use Social Media to Generate Leads.
What do you think? I‘d love to hear what you think about this research. Leave your
comments in the box below.
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6 Ways to Socially Reward Customers
July-16-11
10:41 AM
socialmediaexaminer.comhttp://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/6-ways-to-socially-reward-yourcustomers/
6 Ways to Socially Reward Your Customers
Looking to build your customer base and keep people coming back for more?
The answer is to reward your customers.Want to know how? Keep reading…
Why Rewards?
It‘s easy to see that social media and other digital technologies are making a huge difference in the way
brands interact with customers and how customers perceive a brand‘s image.
With so many new business owners testing the waters of social media, it can be easy to forget what our
focus should be. Just lik e any business situation, the customer should be our first priority, always.
Social media is another great way to drive traffic to your website, people into your stores, and
ultimately, money into your bank account. One of the best ways to grow your customer base is to
reward them.
Social media and online communities are the perfect playing fields for a customer rewards scheme, and
can offer new possibilities to business owners in any field. Let‘s take a look at six ways you can reward
your customers online.
#1: All the world‘s a game—stickers, badges and pins
Commonly seen on ―check-in‖ applications like Foursquare, GetGlue and Gowalla, collectible stickers,
badges, pins, medals, stamps, items or trophies add a game-like competition to the user experience.
Not only does this create an urge to collect all the items available, but also a competitive spirit is
aroused, as users compete against friends (and ―enemies‖) to collect more items, more quickly.
As evidenced by Foursquare, users flocked to the location-based app because of the appeal it held by
using a leaderboard and creating competition among its user base.
―]
Stickers make a great collectible reward for customers. Photo: GetGlue
How can you use this strategy?
Depending on the size of your customer base, you may want to start your own collecting
competition—stickers or digital stamps are cheap and easy to acquire, and if you take the time and effort
to design rewards for specific user actions, the ―game‖ becomes more challenging and more interesting.
This strategy is perfect for businesses that thrive on frequent repeat purchases. It could be used to
reward repeat purchases, similar to the idea of ―buy 5 coffees, get 1 free‖ you might see at your local
café, or to reward customers for recommending friends to your business.
For smaller businesses, jumping on board with an established brand dealing in collectible rewards
may be the best way to go. Many small- and medium-sized businesses have started promoting their
physical stores as Foursquare check-in points, and many better-known brands now offer exclusive
stickers to collect using GetGlue.
The more possible ways a customer can interact with your products, services or staff, the more
opportunities you have for developing an engaging, collectible reward system using either of these
methods.
#2: Digital discounts: Online-only offers
With discount sites like Groupon growing in popularity, consumers are not only hungry for discounts, but
they‘re beginning to expect them. Offering discounts, exclusive offers and coupons is nothing new, but
focusing this effort on your online audience is a fairly recent idea.
You can choose what you want to offer, the discount you want to give and how long you want the deal to
last.
Whether you‘re looking to reward the online customers you already have, or increase the size of
your online customer base (or, more likely, both), discounts and special deals that are exclusively
available online is a great approach.
You may want to offer coupon codes for a discount in your physical store, which users can print from your
website, which will drive traffic to your site and sales to your store. Or you could offer regular discounts
or special offers to your email subscriber list. This will encourage new customers to sign up, and give
you a bigger and more receptive customer base to send news and information to.
To make this process simpler, you might like to sign up with Groupon or a similar service to offer a special
deal to your customers. However, remember that you need to find out where your customers spend their
time online before you start, so you can meet them on “their turf,” and reach more people.
#3: And the winner is… Content-creation competitions
Competitions are another tried-and-true way of engaging new customers and rewarding existing
consumers. While giving away free prizes can be a great way to reward your customers, content-creation
competitions have recently become a popular way for brands to use social media and digital
technology to involve consumers, while achieving free publicity.
Any competition that requires a user to create content of some k ind in order to enter is a ripe opportunity
for brand publicity. A recent example is Microsoft‘s Cannes 2011 competition, which required users to
create ―an entertaining and engaging 60- to 90-second film that shows how a Windows 7 PC is at the
core of a student‘s life.‖ This is an obvious example of a competition that led to user-created content
promoting the brand and one of its main products.
promoting the brand and one of its main products.
The grand prize winner received $8,000 in cash and a trip for two to the Cannes Lions Advertising
Festival in France.
A great prize will encourage people to enter a competition, but it‘s also true that the majority of online
customers are content consumers, not creators. Therefore, to have a content-creation competition be
successful, the prize needs to be more impressive to encourage more effort from users. The Microsoft
competition offered thousands of dollars in prize money, as well as a trip to the 2011 Cannes Film
Festival and a meeting with Social Network star Jesse Eisenberg.
For smaller businesses that don‘t have film stars and international flights handy, giving away free
products or services may be enough to encourage consumers to make a short video or take a picture,
and ask their friends to vote for them.
#4: Say cheese: Involving your customers in advertising and promotions
Another great way to get customers involved in promoting your brand is to directly involve them in your
advertising.
Doritos has a great example of a successful campaign called Make an Ad, Make a Fortune, where users
created a commercial for Doritos corn chips, with the most popular commercial (voted on by the public)
broadcast on prime-time television.
This is the second year that Doritos has handed creative control over to the Australian public to come up
with the next TV ad for Doritos.
Another great example is the Vauxhall Corsa billboard competition that ran through a Facebook
application. The winning design was professionally painted onto a London billboard, advertising the car.
application. The winning design was professionally painted onto a London billboard, advertising the car.
Graffiti billboard for the Vauxhall Corsa designed by the Facebook competition winner.
Whether it‘s as a billboard designer, a spokesperson in a television or radio commercial or a model for
your poster advertisement, offering customers their own ―15 minutes of fame‖ is sure to be just reward for
their efforts in promoting your brand.
Ensure that you make the requirements clear and simple and encourage customers to involve their
friends to grow your customer base. Choosing a winner based on the most votes received online is a
great way to encourage word to spread about your competition, and ultimately, your brand.
#5: Hand ‗em over: Collecting suggestions and ideas
Starbucks is a brand that immediately comes to mind when thinking about businesses that have
succeeded in showing customers that their ideas are truly appreciated.
―My Starbucks Idea‖ is a platform designed to collect ideas and suggestions for improvement from
Starbucks‘ customer base, and allow other users to vote on suggestions they agree with. The most
popular ideas are then implemented throughout the coffee chain.
Customers can make suggestions, other customers can vote on and discuss them, and Starbucks can
see which ideas gain popular support.
Dell‘s Idea Storm works in a similar way, and both companies have taken ideas from their customers and
implemented them. This not only rewards the customers who made suggestions or voted for those they
liked, but offline customers win as well, as the company develops in a direction driven by its customers‘
desires.
desires.
The goal of IdeaStorm was to hear what new products or services customers would like to see Dell
develop.
#6: Gracias, Merci, Danke, Xiexie: Thank you goes a long way!
Perhaps one of the easiest, yet most often overlooked, ways of rewarding customers is to simply say
thank you.
This may come in many forms—recognition of the competition winner who designed your poster or new
slogan, a discount or freebie for repeat purchases or even a simple ―thank you‖ in-store. A simple thanks
makes for a more enjoyable visit, and a feeling of appreciation, which will leave your brand with a positive
sheen in that customer‘s mind.
Remember those customer feedback forms that were once so popular? Perhaps you still use them in
your stores. If you don‘t, you should. You can also implement this online—set up a simple feedback
form on your website; monitor conversations on Twitter and Facebook about your brand, your
industry and your product; and most importantly—listen.
Listening to your customers and implementing their ideas is where the real magic happens. If they‘ve
taken the time and effort to get in touch with you and tell you what they think, reward them by taking
their suggestions onboard and find a way to execute them.
If you send out an email newsletter to subscribers, add a freebie, a discount coupon or an exclusive
offer now and then to thank them for subscribing. Perhaps you could set up a discount or special deal
for your customers on their birthdays, or even just an email to say ―happy birthday.‖
If your customers can collect tokens, stickers, points or add currency to their accounts on your website,
encourage them to persuade their friends to sign up by giving them bonuses for recommendations.
Using Twitter, Facebook and other social media tools, you can thank your customers personally by
reaching out to them, responding to their feedback, and following up on any suggestions they‘ve made to
you.
As social media and the digital world continue to grow, increasingly more opportunities are available to
businesses, which enables interaction with customers at a level we‘ve never seen before.
What do you think? What do you do to reward your customers and make your business stand out
from the rest? Leave your comments in the box below.
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Social Media for Business: The Dos and Don'ts of Sharing
July-18-11
10:09 PM
Social Media for Business: The Dos & Don’ts of Sharing
February 27, 2009 by Sarah Evans 640
Sarah Evans is the director of communications at Elgin Community College (ECC) in Elgin, Illinois. She
also authors a PR and social media blog and is the founder of #journchat.
It doesn‘t matter if you‘re on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Flickr; your online personality is not only part of
your overall brand, it becomes an interactive experience for you and your business. So, who is the face or
voice of your brand and what do they share? It‘s a very important decision in and of itself.
Just as you create branding guidelines and key messaging guides, so too should you dedicate time to
creating your social media personality. There are multiple combinations that you can use to increase your
brand visibility and converse with your customers.
Be transparent and authentic. Be human.
Don‘t want the worst day of your life to be played over and over again like Groundhog Day? Then don‘t
talk, share, Tweet or write about it via social media. That said, no one is happy, or perfect all of the time.
It‘s okay to let people into the ―real‖ events which happen in your life. Social media for business is about
return on engagement. Connect with people, build opportunities through dialogue which would not have
otherwise occurred, then connect them with your business.
Think in terms of ―bad driver just cut me off‖ instead of ―just got served papers for a lawsuit.‖ The first
example connects people and encourages dialogue. Who hasn‘t been cut off by a bad driver? The
second example has the potential to make people uncomfortable or turn them ―off‖ to your brand.
A great example of ―what not to do‖ is posted on Peter Shankman‘s blog, How an ―accomplished
communicator‖ communicates. The sender of this email has now publicly shared a not-so-nice side of his
personality in a VERY public setting.
A profile pic is worth a thousand tweets
A major part of your social media personality is your avatar and your profile bio. The first rule for avatars
and bios is to stay consistent across social platforms. If you‘re sharing information from your business
account, decide whether you want your avatar to be your company logo or the face of the president. Each
sends a completely different message and requires a different messaging and branding approach.
Who is doing it well? Here are a few of my favorite business and/or personal branded avatars and profiles
on various social media platforms:
Facebook
Businesses have many options when it comes to creating a Facebook personality. There are options for
―group‖ or ―fan‖ pages versus a personal account.
· Benjamin Leis and his pet project‘s group page, The Campus Buzz for College Media: Ben uses The
Campus Buzz as his avatar to reinforce the importance of his project and brand. He is becoming one with
this identity.
· Carrie Kerpen and her company‘s fan page, the Kbuzz: Carrie‘s profile is on par with her personality—
smart and helpful, a loving wife and mother.
YouTube
· Blendtec’s Will It Blend? – The company offers a full library of ―Will It Blend?‖ videos on its YouTube
account with a profile perfectly suited to match.
Twitter
· @VeronicaDLcruz - Tweeting from the CNN newsroom in New York City.
· @jasonfalls – Social media explorer for a brand building agency.
· @PRnewswire – Vicky Tweets on behalf of PR Newswire.
An inviting avatar may include one of the following attributes (along with great content): a smiling face, a
full color photo (as opposed to black and white), or a familiar logo.
Leaving a legacy
Your social media personality becomes part of your brand‘s legacy. Don‘t brand your personality for the
day, the month or the year. This is serious stuff. What you post stays around for a pretty long time and the
information (good and bad) isn‘t too hard to find. Your social media posts offer vast archives of
information about you.
This means, what you share, post or tweet today should reinforce your brand tomorrow. Think about each
message you share via social media as an email which has gone public to your entire organization and all
of your stakeholders. Now, imagine if they are reading this email and RESPONDING to it. That‘s part of
the power of your social media brand.
Who is leaving a legacy aligned with their brand on Twitter?
· @BreakingNewsOn – Why? All breaking news, all the time. I‘m not confused about what I‘m getting
from them.
· @dannybrown – Why? He walks the talk on business with a strong emphasis on philanthropy.
· @barefoot_exec – Why? Her messages completely align with her goals—to empower women,
celebrate success and encourage greatness.
Don’t be a social schizo
Multiple personality disorders do not work well in social media. If you confuse, you lose. If you are a
business expert one day, a media maven the next and live news feed after that, people will ultimately stop
connecting.
A very simple approach is to make a short list of what you WILL talk about via social media. Stick with it.
The pay off? When someone thinks about an expert in interior design, they will think of you because you
will have BRANDED yourself as one. (DISCLAIMER: This is not an opportunity to ―play a doctor on T.V.‖
You should actually be an expert in the areas you claim to be.)
The same concept applies for joining multiple networks. Keep the same personality for each.
Ever heard the compliment about a truly admired person, ―he or she is the same in public as he or she is
behind closed doors?‖ This is what I believe to be the golden rule of your social media personality. Live
your brand across all networks (including offline).
The following people blog or vlog about specific topics and continue the dialogue via other social media
platforms consistently:
· Aronado Placencia: (@Aronado) This man lives to promote entrepreneurs and new startups. With a
goofy sense of humor and an ability to connect quickly, he is ultimately all about promotion (in a good
way).
· Jeff Pulver: (@JeffPulver) Usually looking for social media speakers, getting ready for the next social
media summit, or just talking about social media – he really does live ―in‖ social media.
· Melanie Notkin: (@SavvyAuntie) She has branded the new, hip way to be an aunt. Her blog and online
personality co-exist harmoniously.
Social climbing not the best approach
Social climbers beware. As you build your social media personality, don‘t only connect with people who
have a lot of ―followers,‖ ―friends,‖ ―connections,‖ etc. It makes sense to engage the ―big dogs‖ of social
media, but it‘s even better to connect with other quality audiences. Spending too much time looking for
the big fish may take away from an entire school passing you by. Go grassroots and begin to build your
personality one social media platform at a time.
A relatively easy approach on Twitter:
Use the search function and type in keywords associated with your brand. Reach out to everyone talking
about these items with a personally crafted ―Tweet.‖ Do not resend the same thing over and over. People
you interact with will read your Twitter stream and want to see what useful information you provide.
Check out networks, groups, or fan pages on Facebook:
Creating a group or fan page for people to become a member of both gives you a new to interact with
current customers and offers the opportunity to grow your reach exponentially. The Creative Commons
fan page is a great example of a fan page doing it well. Their fan page has several discussion board
posts (similar to a blog) and many wall posts – which demonstrates that people are engaged. They also
have ―REAL LIVE‖ employees who participate on the fan page.
Start a conversation on Seesmic, a video blogging community:
Start a conversation on Seesmic, a video blogging community:
Post a 30 second video blog on Seesmic, asking for feedback and you‘ll get it. There is a small, but
mighty network of users on this video platform. If you‘re looking for a way to jump on the video
bandwagon this is a great way to get started. Todd Jordan (@tojosan) is an engaged member of the
Seesmic community and offers ―tell it like it is‖ advice. He gets that it‘s not all about the numbers, and
follows people who enjoy frequent video conversations with him.
It’s not a one-stop shop
There is no one-size fits all personality for your brand. In fact, think you know your brand? Explore social
media and see how people really experience what it is you‘re selling. You may need to adjust or reflect on
your brand.
What is your brand offline? Social media isn‘t an opportunity to reinvent a new brand, but to widen your
brand‘s reach. It‘s all about the experience, right? People should get the same (or similar) experience with
you online that they get offline.
For example, a business owner talks up an impressive customer service experience at his or her
business online without ensuring his or her staff truly delivers this service. Making a promise you can‘t
keep is worse than never having engaged your audience at all.
Remember Motrin Moms? Sharing information via social media without someone there to interact is a
giant NO NO! A ―must have‖ when branding on social media is being available to your public.
Return on engagement
It‘s all about ROE – return on engagement. Is your social media personality working? You‘ll know when
opportunities arise that never would have been possible otherwise. A few ways to ―quantify‖ engagement:
• Track incoming traffic from links
• Number of people subscribed to RSS feeds
• Number of people in social media groups, fan pages, etc
• Number of people in social media groups, fan pages, etc
• Trackbacks or linkbacks to posts
• Conversation tracking tools like Twitter Search (Mashable guest writer Dan Schawbel previously
discussed free and fee-based brand monitoring tools)
• Comments on blog posts
• Increased sales and general inquiries
Best advice? Don’t take anyone else’s advice
You know your brand better than anyone. Learn some of the social media fundamentals, then apply and
find what works best for you.
Tools and Tips
June-16-11
11:06 AM
Facebook deals
http://ads.ak.facebook.com/ads/FacebookAds/EMEA_partner_deals_businesses_EN.pdf
Facebook Pages Page 270
The Mystery of the Facebook News Feed
July-16-11
1:28 PM
The Mystery of The Facebook News Feed: How to Optimize The Hidden Jewel of Facebook
by carrie on 24. Sep, 2010 in Facebook, marketing, social media
By Carrie Kerpen
As brands come to understand Facebook more, they learn how to optimize posts to make them more
―likeable‖, or worthy of clicking like. There are many ways to do this, but the method that is by far the most
mysterious to brands is the often misunderstood News Feed.
Currently on Facebook, when you log in as a user, you are brought to a home page that has your Top
News Feed. The Top News Feed is a stream of information from your social connections (Facebook
Friends, Groups you‘ve joined, and Pages that you‘ve ―liked‖) that Facebook thinks is most important to
you. It‘s not every piece of information being posted by every one of your friends. You have access to
that, of course, through the ―Recent News‖ feed—but the default for users who log into Facebook is the
―Top News‖ in their News Feed.
If you‘re a smart marketer, the first thing you‘ll want to know is how to get into your target users Top News
Feed. And yet, if you‘re not a techie, you might find most descriptions of the process quite difficult to
digest. Here‘s a graphic from the presentation given by Facebook engineers Ruchi Sanghvi and Ari
Steinberg at the 2010 f8 developer conference.
I don‘t know about you, but when I start seeing anything that looks like my 10th grade math homework, I
cringe. What does this mean in plain English? Let‘s try it this way: Anything that is posted on Facebook,
be it a status update, a link, a video, or some other form of update is considered an object. Since I‘m kind
of girly, I imagine that object as a big, shiny, diamond ring. Now, bear with me here. I‘d like you to think of
this said object as a fabulous diamond ring. Your update, that you post, is the center of that ring—it‘s the
diamond itself. Whenever a user interacts with that gorgeous diamond ring through a comment or a like,
they are forming the EDGES of that diamond. The more interaction, the sharper the edges (better cut,
clarity, color, etc). The crisper the edges, the more likely to show up in a user‘s TOP news feed—where
they‘ll see and interact with you and your ring (maybe they‘ll even ―ooh‖ and ―ahh‖ at it‘s brilliance!). Let‘s
look at the criteria to make that perfect diamond ring in a way that an everyday user can understand:
There are three edges that determine News Feed Optimization. The first is how often this user is checking
you out. If a user ―liked‖ your page through a Facebook ad, never visited that page, and didn‘t have
friends who interacted with that Facebook page, the user would be much less likely to see your update. If
the user visits your page from time to time, has liked the occasional post, or has viewed photos from your
company, your chances of showing up in the News Feed increase dramatically. (And here‘s where you
see why getting likes initially on your content is so very important—once you‘ve got someone engaged, it
allows you to continue the dialogue.)
The second edge is strengthened by the type of interaction. One way to think of it is the amount of time a
user is engaged with your page. Posted written comments on the status probably weigh more than
multiple likes, for instance. But this edge is also interesting, because when Facebook launches a new
product or service, it IMMEDIATELY ranks higher than comments, likes, or any other interaction on
Facebook. You may have noticed that when Facebook launched Places, for instance, you immediately
saw a post from anyone you had on your friend list who was using the new service. That‘s because
Facebook weighted Place checkins higher than any other action on Facebook. And so, another trick to
News Feed Optimization would be to capitalize on Facebook‘s new launches quickly, even if they‘re not a
part of your long term approach to Facebook.
The third edge is the simplest edge. If your content is recent and has a lot of activity on it, you can count
on it showing up in the news feed. Great examples of this include posts on the day of a new product
launch, or posts when a baby is born. This is also one of Facebook‘s ways to outsmart marketers. If you
have to push forever to get likes or comments on your posts, it must not be that interesting. And so, what
we can learn from that is to be current, and relevant to your audience. Haste makes waste in the world of
Facebook.
By getting engaged to Facebook with the diamond ring strategy of News Feed Optimization, you‘ll find
increase page growth and interactivity. But, while outsmarting the news feed is an important skill, it‘s
useless if you don‘t first create content that is worthy of being viewed, liked, or commented on. Anyone
have tips for how they crack the news feed code? Share here!
Pasted from <http://www.likeable.com/2010/09/get-engaged-to-facebook-using-their-news-feed/>
July-16-11
1:31 PM
socialmediaexaminer.comhttp://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/facebook-page-experiences/
It‘s obvious that Facebook pages are quickly becoming an essential part of most businesses‘ marketing
strategies. But how can you find ways to differentiate yourself from the competition?
In this article, I‘ll take a look at how brands are standing apart from the crowd on Facebook. And how you
can employ some low-cost techniques to grow your fans.
Oreo knows a thing or two about standing out. Their fun ―World‘s Fan of the Week‖ campaign encourages
fans to post photos for a chance to claim the coveted fan of the week spot. Oreo‘s Facebook page
has almost 8 million fans, so they must be doing something right!
Spotlighting fans is one way Oreo creates a fun experience on their Facebook page.
Old Spice was able to grab the attention of Facebook users with their ―Old Spice Guy‖ videos. These
videos showed a topless guy responding to fans‘ silly and often hilarious questions and were quickly a
viral sensation. When the 2-day campaign ended, the Old Spice YouTube Channel had almost 8 million
views and 616,000 fans on Facebook.
The Old Spice videos were made almost as quick ly as fans posted their questions for Old Spice Guy on
social sites lik e Facebook and Twitter.
But what about the small- to mid-sized companies? Many wonder if they will be forever lost in the
Facebook abyss.
Here‘s the great news: You still have a chance! You don‘t have to be a major brand to gain exposure and
build relationships with your clients and customers on Facebook.
The way to stand out from the masses is to create “Facebook Experiences.” These are experiences
you execute on your Facebook page that are unique to your brand and also of great value to your
fans. No matter how big or small, these experiences can be extremely powerful.
For example, on the Social Media Examiner Facebook page, we created ―Expert Fridays.‖ Every other
Friday, we feature a social media expert who answers our fans‘ questions, directly on our wall, for one full
hour. Anyone can post their questions and the expert will answer as many of them as he/she can in that
one designated hour. It has proven to be a huge hit.
Here’s an example of a Q&A post from ―Expert Friday‖ with Jesse Stay. Notice how even the fans helped
answer questions!
It‘s a win-win for everyone involved. At Social Media Examiner, we‘re able to add immense value for our
fans, the expert gains exposure to a new audience and our fans can reach out and get support on the
areas that most interest them.
How to Create Your Own Facebook Experience
If you like the concept of an experience and want to create something unique to your brand and your
mission, here are 4 steps to get you started in the right direction:
#1: Decide on the overall vibe you want to create with your experience
Do you want to add value? Perhaps you‘re looking to entertain? Is your outcome to educate? Create
excitement among your fans? Determine the kind of experience that will resonate with your fans.
#2: Get clear on what your company does best
What‘s your company known for? What do you do best? What do your clients tell you when they are
singing your praises? Use this insight to fuel your ideas for unique experiences.
Here’s a tip: When you‘re brainstorming, think of experiences you can duplicate (meaning do them
multiple times).
An experience you can execute consistently is key to building momentum with your Facebook community.
An experience you can execute consistently is key to building momentum with your Facebook community.
Once you create your list of ideas, choose the experience your audience will embrace the most (and
your team will enjoy delivering!).
#3: Map out your execution plan
Much like an editorial guide for your Facebook page, you will want to document the process of your
experience.
Before we began ―Expert Fridays‖ at Social Media Examiner, we followed this step. We talked about ways
to find the ideal expert, the best day to announce the weekly expert, how we would post the questions
and answers and all the other specifics involved. Once we talked this all out, we documented it. At any
time, we can refer back to our process for guidance or tweak it as we make the experience better each
time. It‘s a work in progress.
#4: Commit to it
For some, this is the toughest step! Once you decide on your signature experience, it‘s crucial that you
deliver. If you say you‘re going to do it once a week, do it. If you don‘t follow through, you could lose trust
with your fans and that‘s something you don‘t want to mess with!
How to Optimize Your Facebook Experience
Once you create your experience, begin to think about how you might repurpose the content or
information that comes from it. If there‘s audio involved, perhaps you can create a podcast. Or if your
experience involves video, think about using that video in an opt-in strategy for anyone who might have
missed it that week. This could be a great way to build up your list.
This blog post is one example of how you can repurpose your experience. You can also take the tips
and post them in new ways weeks later for those who might have missed any. This not only allows you
to continually post great content, but it spotlights the experts in new ways beyond just their one-hour Q&A
session. Repurposing the content or elements of your experience creates multiple touchpoints throughout
your marketing strategy.
Signature experiences and other ―out of the box‖ ideas are key to keeping your Facebook community
engaged and enthusiastic about your brand. The key is to find something that you can duplicate and
build on over time.
Now it’s your turn! Have you created a signature experience for your Facebook page? Share the details
in the box below so others can learn from your efforts!
inShare13
Pasted from <http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/facebook-page-experiences/>
July-07-11
6:32 AM
socialmediaexaminer.comhttp://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/how-to-optimize-your-fac ebookpage-for-visual-branding/
Are you wondering how to visually optimize the new Facebook page layout?
As of March 10, 2011, it became official—the new Facebook page layout was applied to all fan
pages. Now that the dust has settled, bugs addressed and some tweaks made, admins can now
focus their attention on making the most of what Facebook has given them, which is a LOT of
screen real estate!
Essentially, the new page layout gives over two-thirds of the available screen space to
brands (see the red boxes in the image below), with Facebook reserving only its narrow blue
band at the top and the right column for its own content.
Each of these red boxes represents areas where you can manage your visual brand on your
Facebook wall.
This new layout greatly expands the branding possibilities for businesses. Now you can create
a Facebook presence that’s more fully branded and unified than was possible in the old
layout. Before, the only opportunities for visual branding were the profile picture and custom
tabs.
This is about branding strategy more than design!
This is about branding strategy more than design!
Unlike other articles that have focused on cool landing tabs, this article will take a broader look
at the available elements and how to use them together for best visual and messaging
effect.
This article will primarily be about the profile picture (see above image #1), the photostrip (#2)
and the tab navigation (#3), the creative use of which can result in a visually compelling and
easy to navigate fan page. But the featured Likes (#4) and the profile picture thumbnail (#5)
also present branding opportunities and warrant attention.
The Profile Picture—The Most Important Visual Element
The profile picture is your brand‘s key visual identity, occupying the location where on websites
you‘d see the brand logo. You want to give it visual weight as it occupies the “power
corner” of the page.
The profile picture‘s maximum allowed dimensions are 180px x 540px. However, because the
tab navigation is directly below the profile pic, page admins should balance the height of the
pic and keep their page navigation above the fold.
Page admins need to be aware of balancing the messaging in their profile picture with how it
affects the position of the tab navigation. As with websites, you want to keep your key
information above the fold.
The Profile Picture and the Photostrip Should Work Together
Because the photostrip is immediately to the right of the profile pic, designers should consider
how each one affects and reinforces the other. The Manchester Libraries page is a good
example, but there are many others.
And Don‘t Forget the Profile Thumbnail!
The thumbnail is the image that accompanies all your posts and comments to pages‘ walls—
thus it‘s your ―mini-logo‖ and should be crafted carefully.
The thumbnail, by default, just shows a section of your profile picture; you can‘t create and
upload an image specifically for the thumbnail. However, you can edit the thumbnail image via
―edit page > profile picture > edit thumbnail‖:
Just drag it in the box till you‘re happy with the result. If your profile picture is:
You want this:
Not this:
The Photostrip—Roll with the Randomness!
When Facebook added the photostrip to fan pages, many savored using it to create a
seamless branding incorporating the profile pic and the photostrip. However, they were
disappointed to discover that, unlike with personal profiles, the photostrip‘s five pictures were
shuffled every time the page loads.
But many pages have quickly adapted and taken advantage of that randomness and selected
five images that work in any order.
HyperArts and Juicy Agency accentuate the randomness:
While other brands utilize pictures not dependent on their ordering:
As you can see, the enforcement of randomness of the five images in the photostrip is a
design/messaging challenge that brands and their designers should embrace. It‘s an opportunity
to be creative within the rules.
The Tab Navigation—Something Lost, Much Gained
Moving the tab navigation to the left column was probably the most unwelcome change to the
fan page layout. Admins felt that their page navigation had been demoted to a place of lesser
visibility.
But there‘s another side to that coin. Instead of six blue tabs with the names often truncated due
to character limitations, you now have 36 characters to work with and custom icons.
When you create your own iFrame applications, you can create the app’s tab icon for the tab
navigation, thereby visually connecting the navigation with the other visual elements on the
page, or using ―idiograms‖ (e.g., a picture of a fork next to the ―menu‖ tab) to reinforce the
tab’s content.
Keep Your Navigation Pruned!
Pages should avoid navigation that’s cluttered with too many tabs (particularly tabs where
there‘s little or no content), icons of widely varying quality and design (those gray Static FBML
icons now look dated and a bit ugly) and randomly ordered rather than by importance.
In the above examples—and, mind you, these are from big brands—there are events tabs with
no events, applications with no icons, lots of stale Static FBML icons, etc. These brands would
never be this sloppy with their website‘s navigation!
In terms of pages that are paying attention to their navigation, there were pages that went with
the pared-down and minimal…
…and others that used custom icons (which you can do when creating iFrame page tabs) to
create a unified look:
Featured Likes—Opportunities for Cross-branding and Partnerships
The ―Featured Likes‖ area in the left column below the Like count, presents a great opportunity
for brands to highlight other pages they own, partner pages or just related by interest:
Admins have a lot of control over the Featured Likes.
Via ―edit page > featured‖ you can select which of your Liked pages (these are pages that your
page has Liked, not your personal profile) will show up in the rotation of five pages.
The Take-away: Consider All Elements of Your Visual Branding
Because the old layout only allowed visual branding of the profile picture and custom tabs, that‘s
really all those in charge of visual branding had to pay attention to.
But it‘s a new day and a new layout—crisp and clean—so look at all the above elements,
think creatively and use them all together to display a strong and compelling presence!
What do you think of these changes? If you have any questions or comments, please leave
them in the box below.
Pasted from <http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/how-to-optimize-your-facebook-page-for-visual-branding/>
Top 10 Facebook Apps for Building Custom Pages & Tabs
July-07-11
6:40 AM
socialmediaexaminer.comhttp://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/top-10-fac ebook-apps-for-buildingcustom-pages-tabs/
Top 10 Facebook Apps for Building Custom Pages &
Tabs
Are you looking for an easy way to create attractive pages on Facebook? Are you wondering how
businesses are creating Welcome tabs?
In this article I‟ll reveal a number of applications that make it very easy to add functionality to your
Facebook page.
Custom Tabs: What You Need to Know
You may have seen some Welcome pages on Facebook that encourage new visitors to Like the
page. You may even be given an incentive such as a free report or, in Tim Ferriss‟ case, a free
chapter of his book. This is sometimes referred to as fan-gating, meaning only fans see special
content.
Tim Ferriss gives away a free chapter of his book to those who become fans.
A brand may also be using a Facebook custom tab in many different ways, as Social Media
Examiner covered in the post8 Powerful Ways to Use Facebook Landing Tabs.
But how do you create these custom tabs? You can create a custom tab on your Facebook page
with an iFrame application.
First, what are iFrames? iFrame stands for Inline Frame and is basically an HTML document
embedded inside another HTML document on a website. An iFrame pulls the content from one
website into another. So in the context of Facebook, an iFrame pulls the content of another website
into an area on your Facebook page.
iFrames are very powerful because anything you can create on a website, you can bring into
your Facebook page, providing a unique and rich experience for your community.
How to Use iFrames
How to Use iFrames
To use iFrames on Facebook pages, you have two different choices. You can build an application
from scratch or you can use one of the third-party applications available. In this post, I won‟t
cover building an iFrame application from scratch. You can learn more about that on Tim Ware‟s
post: Tutorial: Add an iFrame Application to Your Facebook Fan Page – 2011 Edition.
In this post, I cover the top 10 iFrame applications that you can use to easily create your custom
Facebook tab. These applications are available from third parties (i.e., not Facebook) and make it
very easy to create a professional Welcome page or whatever you choose to display.
Typically you‘ll need your own graphics or HTML code to use these applications. Some are more
customizable than others with drag-and-drop features that allow you to easily add videos, pictures or
your email option forms.
Many of the third-party apps will ―host‖ your content for you. Your content in this case will be either
your image or your HTML code that you‘re using to create your mini-webpage within your Facebook
tab.
If you‘re using an image, it‘s best if it‘s 520 pixels wide by 800 pixels high at maximum.
Many of these third-party apps also have the “fan-gating” or “reveal” option (also called “fanonly content”) where you have to Like the page before you see the next page. Giving visitors
something for free (i.e., a coupon, a free chapter, a free report) is an added incentive to Like your
page.
How to Install an iFrame Application
Before we get into the various applications, I want to cover how to install an application on your
page.
Some of the applications will be installed from the websites given below (and I‘ll indicate when that‘s
the case).
Other applications can be installed from the Facebook App page (the special page designed for the
app you want to install). In those cases, you will click the “Add to My Page” link in the left-side bar
and typically a drop-down menu appears to select the Facebook page where you would like to add
the app.
Use the drop-down menu to add this application to your Page
After you have added the application to your Page, navigate to the Page and then it should be in
the left side-bar. If not, you can go to the Page dashboard by going to Edit Page and then select
Apps and find it listed there.
Top 10 iFrame Apps
#1: Wildfire
Wildfire has several Facebook applications, most notably their contest and sweepstakes apps.
Their iFrame app is currently free and works very well. But, per their blog, they may start charging
for the app at some point in the future (if you install it now, you’ll be grandfathered in for the free
option). Wildfire is easy to install right from their website and has the option for fan -gating.
Once you install the app, you‘ll see this screen on your page where you can either upload your
custom image from your computer or add your custom HTML code.
Add your Image or your HTML content within the Wildfire application on your Facebook Page
#2: Involver
Involver also has a suite of Facebook applications and their iFrame app is called Static HTML.
To install it, just go to the Involver website and click ―Install‖ next to the Static HTML app. Involver
also allows fan-only content and one of the nice things about Involver‘s app is that you can
easilyadd multiple custom tabs by clicking ―Add a Second Static HTML Application.‖
You can add additional custom tabs by clicking Add a second Static HTML application
Involver allows you to use two applications for free. If you want to use more, you have to switch to
their paid plan. So if you‘re currently using two of their other apps on your page, you‘ll have to
uninstall one of them to add the Static HTML app, unless you want to pay Involver.
uninstall one of them to add the Static HTML app, unless you want to pay Involver.
#3: TabPress
TabPress is a free iFrame application developed by HyperArts that can easily add fan -only content.
Install TabPress from the Facebook application page by clicking the ―Add to My Page‖ link on the left
side of the page under the profile picture.
TabPress does not host images, so you‘ll have to upload them to a site and reference them using
HTML code such as <img src=‖http://www.yourwebsite.com/images/yourimage.jpg‖> or wherever
you have the photos hosted. Or if you have HTML code, just enter it in the boxes as shown in the
image.
Enter your HTML code within the application on your Facebook Page and then Preview your tabs by
clicking the Preview buttons at the top
#4: TabSite
TabSite allows you to create multiple tabs within your custom tab so that you can create a miniwebsite. You design your custom tab on their website and then load it onto your page.
You get two tabs for free. If you want more tabs, there‘s a monthly fee. You can see the app in
action in the figure below where each blue bar takes you to a different tab within the tab.
An example of a custom tab on Facebook with multiple tabs. Each of the blue bars navigates to a
new sub-page.
#5: Static HTML: iframe tabs
Static HTML: iframe tabs is another free application and it doesn‘t host your images similar to
TabPress as mentioned in #3.
I found this app to be more accepting of some of the HTML and CSS tags than some of the other
apps. To install it, go to the Facebook app page as linked and click ―Add to My Page‖ on the right
column. This app also allows FBML tags if you used those in the previous Static FBML app that
came before iFrames.
Add your HTML code within the Application on your Facebook Page. If you have FBML tags in your
code, check the Enable FBML box.
#6: iwipa
iwipa is a cool free iFrame application that‘s somewhat easier to use if you don’t know how to do
HTML coding.
You can add banners, slideshows, videos and pictures in a visual environment. They have some
nice video tutorials to help you out. To add iwipa to your page, go to their Facebook app page and
click on ―Click Here to Install‖ on the left-side bar.
You design your custom tab within their website and then add it to your page.
The iwipa application on Facebook has some handy tutorials embedded in their custom tab.
#7: Lujure
Lujure is another iFrame app that‘s easy to use (if you don‘t know coding) with their drag-and-drop
design area.
Their free option comes with one tab and they have the fan -only content capability. Install this
application directly from their website. They do require billing information even to install the free
version.
An example of a custom Welcome tab created with Lujure.
#8: Hosted iFrame
Hosted iFrame is free for up to 25,000 fans and you can have up to five tabs. They have an easy
place to add your Google analytics code . They‘ll host your images up to 25 MB.
To install just click on the green ―Get Started‖ button on their Start Here tab.
Configure your custom tab with Hosted iFrame on their site and add it to your Facebook Page
afterwards.
#9: iFrame Engine
iFrame Engine has a free version that allows for one page with one tab and does have fan -only
capability. Their upgraded model is a one -time fee, which I like because you aren‘t paying that
monthly fee for the life of your page (that adds up!)
iFrame Engine has a video tutorial on their Page to show you how to set it up.
#10: FaceItPages
FaceItPages has easy-to-use templates that allow for multiple tabs, embedded pictures, videos
and more. The free version doesn‘t allow for multiple tabs and is more restricted as to what you can
add.
FaceItPages has lots of examples of their templates in action.
You can always try one of these applications and if it isn‘t working for you, try another.
If you‘re creating a Welcome tab that you want people to land on first, make sure you change the
Default Landing Tab in the Manage Permissions area of your Facebook page dashboard.
Default Landing Tab in the Manage Permissions area of your Facebook page dashboard.
New applications are being added all the time, so watch for newer, easy -to-use iFrame apps.
What do you think? Have you used these applications to create a custom tab on your page?
I‘d love to hear from you. Leave your comments in the box below.
Pasted from <http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/top-10-facebook-apps-for-building-custom-pages-tabs/>
Clicked LIKE, Don’t Blow it! – 23 Tips to Engage Me After Facebook
Like
June-16-11
10:56 AM
http://www.business2community.com/social-media/i-clicked-like-don‘t-blow-it-–-23-tips-to-engage-meafter-facebook-like-029011
Clicked LIKE, Don’t Blow it! – 23 Tips to Engage Me After Facebook Like
Pam Moore | May 19, 2011 | Comments: 0
So you got me to click the ―like‖ button. I may have been excited, simply curious or half asleep when I
clicked like. I may or may not virtually run to my Facebook wall to remove the automated Facebook post
that tells the world I clicked LIKE on your page. If you‘re lucky I will leave it there. I admit I delete at least
50% of them!
Will I ever visit your page again? What are you going to do to inspire me beyond the like? The even
bigger question is do you care about me after I click ―like‖? Or are you in it just for the numbers? Am I
nothing more than another number to you?
Did you know that on average 90%-95% of people who click ―like‖ never visit the Facebook page again?
Given these statistics you better give a hoot about me after the like. Otherwise it‘s all for nothin‘! (Note, I
have seen varying statistics and can not 100% verify the actual percentage as it’s not something
Facebook obviously mark ets or mak es readily available.)
The Facebook like is the start of our relationship, not the end. The like is not the big score. The big score
comes in getting me to come back. Getting me to actually have a conversation with you. And yes, even
stopping me from ―un-liking‖ your page the next time I do the ―like‖ house cleaning.
A like is virtual agreement to open up the conversation with you if you so inspire me to do such. It‘s up to
you if that conversation ever happens.
I wrote an article on the art of engaging your audience post like that was quite popular awhile back ―What Happens After the Facebook Like? 20 Tips to Engage Your Audience After the Like‖.
The purpose of this post is to offer you some additional tactical recommendations on how you can
actually get an engaging and fun conversation going. What do you talk about? How do you best engage
your audience to take action? What can you do to get me back to your Facebook page?
13 Friendly Reminders of What I Expect From You as a “Liker”
1. Acknowledge I may not know you. Although I clicked ―like,‖ I may have not put a lot of thought into it. I
could have done it from a mobile device, been interrupted by something or someone else and the list
could have done it from a mobile device, been interrupted by something or someone else and the list
goes on. The like is the beginning of a potential conversation.
2. Acknowledge you aren’t my only page. As much as you‘d like to think you are my only page I have
clicked like, chances are I have many. Maybe tens, even hundreds. At this point we‘re not even dating.
We had one simple wave where I acknowledged you existed, and that‘s about it.
3. Take ownership for our relationship. What happens next with our relationship is in your hands at this
phase. Will we ever talk again? Will you ever do anything to inspire me to visit again?
4. Focus on value to your “likers.” Although the Facebook page may have your photo, video and other
insignia blasted all over it, it still is not all about you. It‘s about me. It‘s about engaging ME to do more
than like your page. Give me a reason to listen. A reason to care. A reason to give you even one minute
of my already busy day.
5. Don’t wing it. Develop a plan with goals and objectives. Create an editorial calendar. You better have a
plan if you ever want to see my eyeballs on your page again.
6. Know Facebook. Educate yourself on the terms and conditions of Facebook. This includes
understanding the promotional guidelines. The last thing you want to do is risk your page being shut down
for a breach of simple terms and conditions.
7. Be confident. Don‘t hide behind your Facebook page avatar and email opt-in form. Come out and
communicate with me. If you are too shy and sit behind the logo hiding the chances are high I‘ll never be
back.
8. Connect with me off your turf too. It‘s greater than Facebook. Remember, Facebook isn‘t the only social
network I hang out on. You can regularly find me on Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube and a host of other
platforms. What are you doing to connect with me outside of your turf? Why not come visit my blog?
9. Don’t thank me by promoting yourself. This includes posting as your Facebook business page to my
business page wall. Don‘t visit my Facebook business page and thank me for liking your page. I may not
want everyone to know I liked your page. Keep that between me and you for now until you‘ve earned that
trust and we have a real relationship.
10. Don’t single me out. This includes calling me out on your Facebook wall. Don‘t write a post thanking
me for joining your page. Similar to #9 above, keep it between you and me until we have nurtured a real
relationship. It‘s obvious when you do this you really aren‘t wanting to communicate with me. You‘re
simply wanting to brag about the fact you have more ―likers.‖ Who really cares?
11. I need inspired. I run a business. I have good days. I have down days. I know some stuff well. You
may know some stuff better. Your job is to figure out what you know better than I that can help me, inspire
me. What can you do to make my job, business or life better?
12. Treat me like a human, not a robot. Don‘t talk to me like I am a number. Don‘t talk to me like I your
robot that needs to click like, comment on your posts so your Facebook edge rank can increase. Talk to
me in real words.
13. Engage on my terms, not just yours. Acknowledge when I comment on your wall. Answer my questions.
Talk about what I want to talk about sometimes, even if it takes you off your agenda or editorial calendar!
10 Tactics to Spark Our Conversation
10 Tactics to Spark Our Conversation
1. Ask me a question via a post on your wall. Facebookers love to answer quick and easy question. Ask us
what we like. Ask us what we need. The topic doesn‘t always have to be about your business, industry or
services. Even questions such as ―Snickers or Kitkat?‖ will get responses if you have an audience
interested in what you have to say.
2. Ask a question via the new Facebook questions feature. This is by far one of my favorite new features of
Facebook. This feature is a great way to not only engage your audience but also attract new ―likers.‖
When people answer the question it shows in their news feed. You can also have the question be set as
public (anyone can see) or more limited.
3. Post a rhythm of tips. How about a Marketing Monday, Tweet Tuesday, and Facebook Friday? Have fun
with something regular and stand above the crowd.
4. Let’s play a game. There are many apps you can use within Facebook that will engage your audience.
Some of my favorites include sweepstakes, crowd sourcing projects and more. One of my clients just
recently purchased an airline. We leveraged an integrated marketing program to obtain excellent crowd
sourced input on naming the planes. I started a new Facebook business page specifically for the
campaign. I engaged our email subscribers, members of all our online communities including Facebook.
5. Use multi-media. Don‘t just post boring status updates. Leverage video, music, podcasts and more to
engage your audience.
6. Ask your “likers” what they want to hear from you. Give them a chance to provide input on what they
would like to see as a member of your page. Ask them what help the need etc.
7. Post an FAQ video that incorporates the questions you received in #6 above. People love these!
8. Share posts from thought leaders. Do you have a favorite thought leader or two? Why not share posts
from them or others that you find interesting. Get in the head of your audience and always be thinking
about what information is most beneficial to them.
9. Share photos from your latest event. Did you know that photos are one of the most viewed assets on
Facebook? Share your photos from the most recent training you conducted, a seminar you attended or
visits with your clients. To fully maximize the use of photos, I suggest sprinkling them in over a few days
or a couple weeks. Post a few photos during and immediately after an event. Then approximately a week
later post more or the remainder of them. This will enable you to reach more people as well as maximize
the investment in the event or activity for which you took the photos.
10. Share yourself. Remember, I am a human so treat me like a human. Tell me what‘s on your mind, what
you think. If you are worth the like then I should be inspired, educated by your thoughts. If you are a
brand then I‘d probably be thrilled to feel like I am talking to a real human being. The more you can
humanize your brand the better! Although asking me questions are great, don‘t forget I ―liked‖ your page
so I can gain some benefit too. Share yourself in a way that provides value to my business and my life
please.
Your Turn:
What are your thoughts? How often do you visit a Facebook business page after you click like? What
inspires you to engage in a conversation with the owner(s) of the page? How often do you ―un-click‖ the
―like‖?
Facebook Page Success Stories
June-16-11
11:05 AM
http://mashable.com/2011/05/24/successful-brands-facebook/
8 Brands That Have Found Success on Facebook & What We Can Learn
2 hours ago by Dave Kerpen 6
Dave Kerpen is the CEO of Lik eable, a social media agency that has work ed with more than 200 leading
brands including 1-800Flowers.com, Verizon and Neutrogena. He is author of Likeable Social Media.
Any brand worth their social media salt has a presence on Facebook. But just because a brand is online,
doesn‘t necessarily mean that it is doing a good job.
While it‘s possible to suggest some tips and best practices, there‘s no greater teacher than learning from
example.
Below, find eight brands that have found success on Facebook, including some takeaways on what they
did right and how you can emulate their success.
1. The Pampered Chef
The Pampered Chef launched their Facebook page at a national conference in front of thousands of
enthusiastic consultants. The page earned 10,000 likes in its first 24 hours and now has over 260,000
likes.
Lesson: Ask your staff, customers, vendors, and partners — who already k now you and lik e you — to
―Lik e‖ your Facebook page first.
2. Restaurant.com
Restaurant.com combines exclusive Facebook offers with lots of engaging questions. This drives higher
results in users‘ newsfeeds because of Facebook‘s EdgeRank formula. Last week for instance, they
asked, ―When the weather is nice, do you prefer to dine on the restaurant‘s outdoor patio or stay
indoors?‖ and ―Which American Idol finalist would you like to dine with — Haley, Lauren, or Scotty?‖
Lesson: Ask a lot of questions. You’ll get valuable feedback , plus you’ll be more lik ely to appear in your
Lesson: Ask a lot of questions. You’ll get valuable feedback , plus you’ll be more lik ely to appear in your
fans’ newsfeeds.
3. Oreo
Oreo is a global brand with over 19 million fans, and yet they still manage to make things personal for
their fans. They consistently run fun content, creative pictures and links. They also have a ―World‘s Fan of
the Week‖ that showcases one Oreo fan in their profile picture based on uploaded fan photos.
Lesson: Share lots of photos, and ask your fans to share photos. Facebook ’s Photos remain the most
viral feature of its platform.
4. Vitamin Water
Vitamin Water has been trailblazing on Facebook for years, including crowdsourcing an entirely new
flavor back in 2009. Today, they have over 2.3 million fans with frequent posts featuring pictures, videos,
events and links. Most importantly, they are responsive to fan questions and inquiries, breeding loyalty
even when their answers aren‘t exactly what customers want to hear.
Lesson: Find the resources to respond to your fans questions and inquiries.
5. Boloco
Boloco is a Boston restaurant which has set up their Fan Page as a ―Place‖ Page, allowing people to
check-in. In addition to using the Reviews app to solicit and showcase reviews, Boloco is engaging and
has fun with their audience. Most importantly, as a Place Page, they can leverage one of Facebook‘s
newest features, Deals, offering customers specific and local specials.
Lesson: If you have a physical location, use Place Pages and Deals to drive traffic through your doors.
6. LOFT
Last June, LOFT upset its fans after they posted a series of photos of super-thin models wearing their
clothing. So the very next day, they apologized and shared photos of their own staff, of various shapes
and sizes, wearing the line. Fans responded enthusiastically, and since then LOFT‘s Fan Page has grown
from 50,000 fans to 250,000 fans. They also post a lot on weekends, when their audience is online and
there‘s less competition from other brands.
Lesson: Know your audience well, and when you mak e a mistak e, quick ly own up, do right by your
audience and fix the problem.
7. 1-800-Flowers.com
1-800-Flowers.com was one of the first brands to establish buying opportunities inside Facebook, and
now leverages in-stream sales. But the most important thing they‘ve done is to deeply integrate Facebook
onto their website, putting the Like button on all products. Imagine visiting an ecommerce website and
onto their website, putting the Like button on all products. Imagine visiting an ecommerce website and
seeing what products the person you‘re buying a gift for ―Liked‖ — it would make choosing the right gift a
lot easier, wouldn‘t it?
Lesson: Integrate Facebook outside of your Fan Page, on your website, in as many places as you can.
Create more compelling opportunities for people to buy your product based on their friends’ Lik es.
8. Brooklyn Museum
This local non-profit has used pictures and an art app called Wall Paper to attract more than 37,000 fans.
One thing they do particularly well is engage other entities. A look at their Wall shows lots of artist pages
and other organization‘s pages interacting with the Museum‘s page — not just the fans.
Lesson: Find synergy with other organizations and entities, and then work together to promote each
other’s Facebook pages so that everyone benefits.
These eight brands all demonstrate worthwhile lessons in Facebook marketing. What are your favorite
brands doing on Facebook? And what other lessons have you learned? Let us know in the comments
below.
Disclosure: The Pampered Chef, Restaurant.com and 1-800-Flowers.com are clients of Lik eable.
Top tips for running a good Facebook Page (that you might not
think about)
June-16-11
11:56 AM
http://www.simplyzesty.com/facebook/top-tips-for-running-a-good-facebook-page-that-you-mightnot-think-about/
Top tips for running a good Facebook Page (that you might not think about)
May 30th, 2011 by Lauren Fisher in facebook
There‟s lots of good advice out there for running a good Facebook Page and how you can build a longterm community. I wanted to offer something a little bit different and look at those simple tips that you
might often overlook, but are fundamental to running a good Facebook Page. A Facebook Page itself is
now almost shorthand for running a social media presence altogether, yet it‟s still such a unique medium
that many of us are getting our heads around. There‟s certainly no tried and tested right or wrong method
to it, though many brands are making the mistakes as they go and importantly learning from these. Check
out our own tips, and let us know your own below!
Write for the newsfeed, not for your wall
When you write an update for your Facebook Page, by default you are likely to be on the wall of the Page
itself. It can be confusing however, to consider that the wall is not the place that 99% of your fans are
going to see your update first. Though some people will be lead straight to the wall through a link or ad for
example, your existing fans are going to see your update in their newsfeed. I‟ve seen many updates from
Pages for example, that show up in my newsfeed and tell me to click on a certain tab, with no link in the
update. This is no use to me when I‟m skimming my newsfeed, and I‟m not likely to go the Page to find
out more, if I haven‟t been provided with the link. Remember that saying something like „check out our tab
on the side‟ is completely out of context for people seeing this update in their newsfeed. For this reason
you should also try and use photos, to draw people into your updates.
Restrict ads to people that don’t Like your Page
Just today a client asked me if it was possible to choose to only show an ad to someone once, to avoid
the risk of over-exposure of ads and annoying people with the brand and message. Though there isn‟t a
direct option for this, you can do this in a roundabout way by simply choosing to only show your ad to
people who don‟t already Like your Page. This is an easy option to select whenever you set an ad up and
it means that not only do you avoid paying to remarket to existing fans, you also avoid bombarding new
fans, who may not have decided if there‟s any value in your Page yet.
Don’t worry about writing too little
There seems to be an increasing amount of worry by brands, who want to update more and more
frequently, probably so their fans won‟t forget them. Thought updating a Page regularly is best practice,
it‟s not actually as necessary as you think. Think about the brands you follow on Facebook. Would you
notice if one of them missed an update, or would you prefer it if you saw only the best posts in your
newsfeed? Many brands are guilty of filler content to keep fans entertained but the nature of Facebook
Pages is you‟re really only going to see them in your newsfeed. You‟re not going to keep returning each
day to check they‟ve made an update. Frequency of content isn‟t as important as it might seem, provided
it‟s being backed up by good content and a generally active Page.
Invest in sponsored stories – they work
Sponsored Stories are a great addition by Facebook into their advertising platform. Essentially these
allow you to place ads for actions on a Page or app, such as when someone Likes your Page. This will
show up under the „sponsored stories‟ sidebar of Facebook profiles, alerting you to organic activity by
your friends. Having spoken to many brands and advertisers, it seems that not many people are taking
advantage of this, but it‟s actually a great way to grow fans on your Page. As they focus on organic
activity, the Sponsored Story will always show at least one friend‟s Facebook profile, in the same way that
you can see which of your friends also Like a Page on a traditional ad. We‟ve seen Sponsored Stories
work brilliantly for our clients, and some advertisers are recording click through rates as much as 46%
higher than standard Facebook ads. Sponsored Stories can be set up through the standard ad interface,
though you don‟t have the option to change the text associated with the ad.
Accept you won’t work a 9-5
The fact is that if you‟re going to run a successful Facebook Page, you‟re (unfortunately for some) going
to have to say goodbye to the usual 9-5 routine. Your Facebook Page could experience some of it‟s
busiest times outside of work hours, as people access it from home. They will often expect a reply there
and then and might not care too much about the fact that your office hours don‟t match their Facebook
and then and might not care too much about the fact that your office hours don‟t match their Facebook
hours. Smart brands will often have evening and weekend social media moderation in place, to monitor
any issues they may need to reply to, or make important announcements. This can be managed in a way
so that your fans know the best time to reach you, while ensuring there is some level of activity outside
the standard 9-5 of a customer call centre.
Don’t forget to send an update to fans
This is a great feature for Facebook Pages that has slowly become more hidden as Facebook make
changes to their Pages. An update can be sent to all fans of your Page and will appear as a notification in
their Facebook inbox. In this way you can help to ensure that all fans see an important announcement
you may have to make, if they missed it as a wall post. It can be easy to forget about this option, but this
can be accessed by clicking on „Edit Page‟, then „Marketing‟, then „Send an Update‟
12 Websites You Probably Didn’t Know You Can Build With
WordPress
June-16-11
10:56 AM
WordPress Tutorial: 12 Websites You Probably Didn’t Know You Can Build With WordPress
by BRADLEY WILL on JUNE 8, 2011 · 15 COMMENTS
Do you like this post?
WordPress is the preferred blogging platform for over 35 million bloggers, and this WordPress
Tutorial will show you some very interesting (yet uncommon) ways to use WordPress. Although the
majority of users choose WordPress‟ easy-to-use software for blogging, its power extends far beyond
building blogs and static websites. In fact, with over 12,000 plugins available today, you can make
your WordPress site do virtually anything you can imagine (well…. except for maybe cutting your grass)!
Not only is it dynamic and capable of doing what you want, WordPress plugins do exactly what they are
described to do and “plug right in to your WordPress blog”. This means that with simple configurations a
world of opportunity is open to even the most basic user. To get your creative juices flowing, we‟ve put
together a list of our favorite uncommon uses of WordPress.
DISCLAIMER: We try to recommend the best FREE tools available to you in this WordPress tutorial,
but sometimes the best require a purchase. Throughout this post, various affiliate links are used to
suggest premium tools. If you end up buying something by clicking one of these links we‟d like to thank
you in advance for helping to fund our company!
Squeeze Pages, Sales Pages, & Landing Pages
The OptimizePress plugin creates high-converting squeeze pages that allow you to capture users‟
information with an ethical bribe. For example, “Give me your name and email and I will send you my free
ebook on how to make money online”. Once you have your page set up, you can drive traffic to the page
and easily capture email address, pre-selling your future customers on your paid products through your
email marketing list. You can also create Sales Pages using OptimizePress – giving you the best of both
worlds. Create a high-converting sales page with no technology background by combining WordPress‘
ease-of-use with OptimizePress‘ advanced technology.
Membership Site
Maybe you have premium videos and articles, and you only want to give access to only select users of
your site. The Wishlist Member membership plugin creates protected content, different levels of user
access, easily allows both free and paid members to register through your site, and even integrates with
your shopping cart to sell access. Your website continues to appear normal to the rest of the world, so
you can continue to draw traffic in through your blog and automate your marketing funnel.
WordPress Page 302
Review Site
If you are passionate about a certain niche and interested in finding the best products and services, a
great thing to do is to create a review site with MyReviewPlugin. Find and review products, compare
them side-by-side, and when people search for product reviews in the search engines, you review will
show up with your affiliate link attached!
Video Blog
If you‘re like most of us, writing doesn‘t come naturally to you! Grab a camcorder and film a daily show or
some YouTube videos that are featured on your blog. People like Gary Vaynerchuk and Chris Pirillo
have become massively successful through their video blogs. With the right theme choices
like VideoZoom Or Groovy Video, you can easily embed your videos right to your blog and, most
importantly, they are displayed in a way that is easy for your viewers to watch and interact on your videos.
Also check out the collection of Multimedia Themes from WooThemes.
WordPress Page 303
Portfolio
With only seconds to make a good first impression, it is a great idea for artists, photographers, and web
designers to have a theme accommodating to easily uploading and showcasing your work. Portfolio
themes allow you to do exactly that! We highly recommend the Aperture Themeand ProudFolio Theme.
Or, you may not be able to choose which one you want! At WooThemes you can Join the Theme Club
and Get All WooThemes for Just $125!
Forum
Forums are considered one of the early forms of social networks, and have been around since the
beginning of the web. Naturally the creators of WordPress wanted to make it easy for you to add a forum
to your WordPress site! Enter bbPress, a 100% FREE, Open-Source WordPress Forum plugin, from the
creators of WordPress themselves! Easily create, following, and manage discussions on your website
WordPress Page 304
creators of WordPress themselves! Easily create, following, and manage discussions on your website
with this free plugin.
E-commerce store
Using E-Commerce Plugins, you can easily turn your WordPress site into a online mall, allowing your
customers to add your products to their shopping cart. Let‘s say you don‘t have actual products to
sell. You may have a great niche in mind, and using an E-Commerce Plugin you can aggregate specific
products that you are affiliated with and use your website to sell affiliate products. You‘d make a smaller
percentage this way, but it allows you to get in business fast, build traffic and a reputation, and later
you can increase your profit margins by bringing in products that pay you higher margins. You can also
connect your new shopping cart to multiple different merchants, including popular options such as PayPal
and Authorize.Net. For a free E-Commerce Plugin, check out WP E-Commerce. It‘s powerful but lacks
some of the options you‘ll only find in a premium plugin, such as Cart66.
Wiki
Almost everyone has heard of Wikipedia by now. A wiki is a collective of information that is created,
edited and maintained by the users. Basically you have your users writing all your content. Obviously this
is a pro being able to crowd source your website, however the accuracy of the information can be in
question, and you should keep an eye on the information your readers are adding to your website. If you
want a Wiki-style WordPress website, check out the FREE WordPress-Wiki.
WordPress Page 305
Social Network
Most likely, you‘re not going to duplicate the success of Facebook. However, the success of that
behemoth Social Network leaves massive opportunity to build your own niche social network! By
integrating with Facebook, you can bring your users to a private social network where they can talk
about things they have in common. One of my favorites that is not a WordPress site is Give It to Me Raw;
a vast growing social network for raw foodists. With the FREE BuddyPress Plugin, you can build your
own social network on your WordPress site!
Business Directory
WordPress Page 306
A business directory is a great way to increase your website‘s SEO and build revenue. Imagine building
traffic and having other business owners pay you to list and review their business! Business Directory
Plugins do just that. For a FREE Business Directory Plugin, check out theBusiness Directory Plugin. For
something a little bit more fancy-pants and easy to use, visitWPDirectory Pro.
Job Board
Looking to hire a new helping hand? Maybe you‘re a startup looking for interns, or a local non-profit
looking for helping hands. There is no easier way to publish an online job board than by publishing one on
your WordPress site. Using a Job Board Plugin, you can focus on creating content and attracting your
ideal hires – all while easily listing your positions and getting your job in front of the right eyes. Check out
the FREE Job Manager Plugin or the Premium WP Job Board.
Daily Deal Site
As you‘re reading this post, the hottest thing on the Internet is the phenomenon known as ―Daily Deal
Sites‖. More specifically, sites like Groupon and Living Social have ‗exploded‘ by connecting businesses
with special offers to the right customers. As these sites with huge waiting lists are tapping into the local
markets, it creates a whole new untapped marketspace for niche daily deal sites like Gather Green, which
provides health conscious offers to the greater Los Angeles Area. Now with the Group Buying
Site Plugin, you too can create your own daily deal site!
WordPress Page 307
Site Plugin, you too can create your own daily deal site!
What’s Your Favorite New Idea?
We‘d love to hear your feedback on the ideas listed above, and any other incredible websites you can
build with WordPress. Leave a comment under this post and let us know what you think : )
Get More Updates
Simply enter your email address below and receive our latest blog updates delivered instantly to your
email:
Email:
Tagged as: how to use wordpress, using wordpress, wordpress how to use, wordpress tutorial
Pasted from <http://blog.freeblogfactory.com/12-websites-you-can-build-with-wordpress/>
WordPress Page 308
Tools and Tips
June-16-11
10:56 AM
Use Craigslist as a travel agent, tour operator or property. – You can use HTML in the ad
(back-links too)
http://www.travelbusinesssuccess.com/free-travel-advertising/
Travel Marketing Page 309
10 things hoteliers should be doing on Facebook but probably
aren't
June-16-11
11:32 AM
10 things hoteliers should be doing on Facebook but probably aren’t
Home » EyeforTravel News » Marketing » 10 things hoteliers should be doing on Facebook but probably
aren‘t
Published: 01 Jun 2011
Facebook has become one of the must-haves in any modern-day marketing strategy and every socially aware hotel should have its own page. But with it being such a new tool, how do you know what you
should be doing? Why should you invest time engaging people on Facebook?
The answer is simple. Search engines like Google are taking account of interaction with social websites
and Facebook in its search algorithm. This means that you could get higher search engine results and an
edge over your competition just by being social, as well as generating a lot of traffic to your website‘s
booking engine.
evolution, the hospitality e-commerce and e-distribution provider, recommends the top 10 things hoteliers
should be doing on Facebook that probably aren‘t.
1. Create a custom URL for your Facebook page
If you haven‘t already created a customised URL for your Facebook page, do it now. It‘s first -come firstserved so claim yours before someone else does! Search engines are indexing Facebook and are
returning these URL‘s in results. Simply visit http://www.facebook.com/username and follow the
instructions. Your URL cannot be changed once it is set, so make sure you choose it carefully. Tip:
include your city, state or country in your URL depending on how people find you on Google. For
example, Facebook.com/yourhotelnameparis.
2. Promote your visual identity through video
Photos are great but there‘s nothing that sells a hotel more than watching a good video, so promote your
hotel through video on your Facebook page. Create general videos or niche -specific videos and use
Youtube to host and share them on your page, alternatively you can upload them directly. Videos will also
get more hits for your hotel in search engines as they also appear in results.
3. Use Facebook insights
Every administrator of your Facebook page will have access to Facebook insights which can be a
powerful tool for tracking the growth of your page. You are able to analyse which types of posts are the
most popular, monitor fan growth and interaction, see page views and track impressions. Tip: You‘ll be
able to see how many fans have ―hidden‖ you from their feed – if this is high, it may indicate that you are
posting too often or the wrong type of content. Monitoring these metrics will enable you to adapt your
engagement and content strategy.
4. List the hotel on Facebook places
Make sure you are listed as a hotel in Facebook places. Your hotel should be there already, but if not you
can add it easily. Encourage users to ―check -in‖ via Facebook places by offering an incentive such as a
free drink in the bar or a money off voucher for a certain number of check -ins. Every time a user checks-in
this gets promoted across their network giving you extra exposure and boosting brand awareness as well
as potentially adding more likes to your page.
5. Use the reviews application
Facebook has a reviews app which you can easily add to your page. It allows guests to leave honest
reviews and opinions of the hotel. These reviews will let your prospective clients know what to expect
from the property. In the event of a bad review, you don‘t necessarily have to remove it. Respond to the
user with a positive reply and look at how you can improve things in the future. You can also pull reviews
from Tripadvisor into your page if you prefer.
6. Run competitions to encourage interaction
Running a competition on Facebook is a great way of increasing fans and interaction. If someone sees a
competition that one of their friends has entered in their newsfeed, they will probably enter it and
recommend it to their friends and so on. There are endless possibilities with competitions but be careful –
Facebook has guidelines on what you can and can‘t do so make sure you read these rules carefully and if
necessary use a third party application to run a competition.
7. Customise your page with a welcome page
Landing on a customised welcome page on Facebook is far more appealing than seeing the basic wall or
the general info page. First impressions count for everything so design your own customised welcome
page. You can change the settings of your page so every new user automatically lands on your welcome
page.
8. Use Facebook questions
Anyone can add Facebook questions to their page and for hoteliers, it‘s a great tool to survey users and
get feedback. You can create quick polls to gather opinions and learn about your potential guests or ask
questions – great if you are thinking of trialling new services or want to put together packages. To get
started visit www.facebook.com/questions.
9. Use Facebook advertising
The beauty of advertising on Facebook is that you can target your preferred demographic based on a
users profile information. So whether you want to target 20 -something women, men who like golf or
married couples, you can reach these markets through Facebook. Before you even place an ad, you can
use the advertising platform to see how many people are in a certain demographic and then add or
remove filters if necessary. You can get started easily by visiting http://www.facebook.com/advertising.
10. Allow users to book directly from Facebook
Think about offering a direct booking functionality through Facebook by installing your own booking
widget. It allows access to your booking engine where customers are able to check rates and book
special packages created just for them by assigning special rates and offers only available through the
Facebook booking channel.
Facebook Referrals Fly High, as Social Travel Category
Expands
July-14-11
9:23 AM
PhoCusWright FYI
← Back to FYI Listing
Facebook Referrals Fly High, as Social Travel Category Expands
July 14, 2011
Facebook may be a general social networking site, but its influence on travel
planning and even purchasing appears to be on the rise. PhoCusWright's Social
Media in Travel 2011: Traffic, Activity and Sentiment reveals that not only is the
social networking behemoth delivering more direct referrals to travel websites, but
the rate at which those referrals become purchasers is outpacing some travel
planning websites.
Created in partnership with Circos Brand Karma, Compete and Travelport,
PhoCusWright's Social Media in Travel 2011: Traffic, Activity and Sentiment finds
that average monthly unique visitors to social travel category websites – travel
review sites, traveler review pages of online travel agencies and travel blogs – grew
more than 35% from 2008 to 2010. And Facebook's reach in online travel appears to
be gaining as well; the social network referred more than 15.2 million visitors to hotel
websites in 2010, a 35% increase from 2009, and a 428% jump from 2008.
"Social media and social content are no longer a trend in online travel. They are
pervasive and essential components of the traveler search-shop-buy process," says
Douglas Quinby, senior director, research at PhoCusWright. "Travel companies now
operate in a landscape where everybody has something to say, and ample means to
say it. Their customers are sharing their experiences, airing grievances and inspiring
friends."
PhoCusWright's Social Media in Travel 2011: Traffic, Activity and Sentiment
examines the role and impact of social media and content on the online travel
ecosystem. The report focuses on how social media influences the major online
travel categories, and highlights the implications for travel companies. Key topics
include:
○ Influence of social media and online social features in online travel planning
and shopping
○ Analysis of the "social travel category," organized around traveler review sites,
hotel review pages of online travel agencies, and travel blogs
○ Traffic, referral and conversion analysis of more than 50 "social travel
category" websites in relation to the online travel agency and hotel supplier
website categories, from 2008-2010
○ Cross-visitation, referral and conversion analysis from general social networks
(e.g., Facebook and Twitter) to hotel supplier websites and online travel
agencies
○ The evolution of social travel guides, and the role of the social graph in trip
planning and travel product selection
○ Detailed analysis of nearly 2.9 million traveler reviews posted on social travel
websites from 2008-2010, representing more than 26,000 U.S. properties of
65 leading hotel brands
○ PhoCusWright's "Buzz" social travel benchmark, which provides a gauge of
social travel performance in terms of review volume and activity
○ Social Travel Advocacy Index (STAI) benchmark, which tracks traveler
sentiment to gauge satisfaction with a particular hotel stay or brand
PhoCusWright's Social Media in Travel 2011: Traffic, Activity and Sentiment, a
Global Edition publication, delivers up-to-date information and insight on the role of
social media in online travel, so that travel companies can leverage the power and
potential of the social Web. Early-bird pricing is in effect through July 31, 2011.
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7 Social Media Tips for Revenue Managers
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
9:14 AM
7 social media tips for revenue managers
07 July 2011
By Stephanie Wharton
Editorial A ssistant
[email protected]
Story Highlights
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Revenue managers w ill have to w atch RevPAR by room type much more closely due to the hyperdetails consumers get online.
Value score on sites such TripAdvisor are useful indicators of w hether or not to push higher prices.
Cross-comparing social media metrics to market share performance w ill help hoteliers benchmark
where they stand amongst the competition.
REPORT FROM THE U.S.—Deploying an effective social media program at the property level
can be stressful for a hotelier. However, it may be a necessary step to stay afloat in the
industry.
―Social media is here to stay. Hotels that do not have an active plan will be left behind and
lose market shares, especially if you‘re an independent,‖ said Bonnie Buckhiester, president
of Buckhiester Management Limited, during HSMAI University‘s ―The Impact of Social Media
on Revenue Management‖ webinar last week.
Bonnie Buckhiester
Forty-eight percent of consumers combine social media and search engines in their buying
process, according to data released by Social Media Today. This leads to an acceleration and
amplification of information on the Internet, where shoppers research and obtain
information very quickly and then broadcast their findings to connections on social media
sites.
Those findings, in turn, impact the booking behavior of other consumers. In an Econsultancy
survey cited by Buckhiester, 90% of online shoppers said they trust recommendations from
people they know, while 70% trust opinions of unknown users.
Revenue managers can leverage this influence to drive business and increased bookings.
Buckhiester outlined seven key components of a strong social-media program:
1. Product alignment
Buckhiester stressed the importance of knowing value scores on websites such as
TripAdvisor. Most hoteliers are familiar with where they stand in the rankings, but value
scores provide pricing signals. If a hotel has a higher value than its competitors, it‘s revenue
manager should be pushing higher prices.
Consumers are getting hyper-details about hotel guestrooms before they even check into
hotels. Some hotel sites even allow guests to see the view from each room online. When the
consumer has hyper-details such as these, revenue managers will have to watch RevPAR by
consumer has hyper-details such as these, revenue managers will have to watch RevPAR by
room type much more closely.
2. Competitive benchmarking
―Social media is changing the whole way we approach benchmarking,‖ Buckhiester said.
Websites such as Chatter Guard and Market Metrix help revenue managers manage and
understand what is being said about their properties online. The new metrics to track and
evaluate are reviews on online travel websites, videos, Facebook fans, Twitter, photo
shares, bookmarks and blog entries. Buckhiester also suggested cross-comparing socialmedia metrics to market share performance.
3. Strategic pricing
Consumers are intrigued by new retail concepts that offer members-only deals, flash sales,
group buying and auctions. The key is to focus on value instead of price. There are websites
that show consumers exactly what they are getting for the price they are paying. Value
seekers will pay more if they are getting more and then move on to social-media networks
to spread the word about the great value.
If revenue managers decide to start a social-media initiative involving pricing, it is
imperative they have sufficient staff to handle questions as they start coming in.
4. Demand forecasting
―We have to have better forecasting skills. We have to have a regimen that is more
rigorous. And we certainly have to be very careful about how we time our pricing decisions
because the consumer has, in some cases, more information than we do,‖ Buckhiester said.
When it comes to forecasting, accuracy is key, and most hotels will have to deploy revenue
management software systems, she said.
5. Business mix manipulation
―I‘m not seeing dynamic business mix management at medium- and short-term levels,‖
Buckhiester said. Rate conflicts will intensify with social media being as dominant as it is
and with flash sale sites connecting to online travel agencies. The goal is to manage
business mix strategies and change messages rather than rely on prices with last-minutes
sales. Doing so will create a more profitable hotel.
Putting an emphasis on market share forecasting will help in the process. Using historical
and demand data to forecast future RevPAR and then projecting that into the marketplace is
like having a STAR report in advance, Buckhiester said.
6. Distribution management
Buckhiester cited a New York Times article from February 2010 that reported the average
person made 21 visits to websites before finally booking a trip. Mobile phones also are
giving consumers unprecedented options. Hilton reported that 70% of business via mobile
phones is same-day. Better-informed consumers and shrinking lead times mean hotels need
to fence pricing more precisely.
7. Optimize ROI on social media
Revenue managers should question their resource choices and allocation of time. They
should evaluate what they are wasting time doing now and what they could be doing with a
social-media plan in effect. Buckhiester emphasized that hotels should be connecting to
their communities at a local level.
Employing a social media champion, as well as a revenue management champion will help
to ensure a successful campaign, she said.
Pasted from <http://www.hotelnewsnow.com/Articles.aspx/5916/7-social-media-tips-for-revenue-managers>
Increase Direct Hotel Bookings with Social Media
July-18-11
8:10 AM
Increase direct hotel bookings with social media
July 18, 2011 | Hotel Marketing
For many hotels, the profitability of direct website sales justify investment in website optimization.
Fortunately, this process does not have to be difficult or expensive. It simply requires an understanding of
recent changes to search engine algorithms and consumer behavior that guide current best practices.
by Josiah Mackenzie, ReviewPro
Online hotel reviews are increasingly seen in the hotel industry as a key tool to monitor, measure and
improve quality. But another valuable use of reviews and user-generated content is the significant
opportunity to increase the number of inbound website visitors, and to convert more of those visitors into
buyers.
User generated content (UGC) has been defined as any data or media that is contributed by the users of
a website - rather than being created by professional journalists and editors. In the travel industry, UGC
commonly includes online guest reviews, photos, videos, social networking posts, and a wide range of
other digital content.
These pieces of content can increase website sales two ways:
- indirectly: by increasing rankings in search engines, bringing more traffic to your website
- directly: by increasing sales conversion rates by increasing consumer confidence
―Consumer confidence‖ is simply how much a potential customer trusts you. Over the past few years, a
significant shift in communications authority has taken place. According to Yankelovich research, 75% of
consumers do not believe companies tell the truth in their advertisements. Further, emarketer discovered
that consumer reviews are trusted 12 times more than product descriptions by the company. When
making a purchase decision, people are increasingly turning to people they trust and other consumers for
advice and guidance.
Use user-generated content for search engine optimization
For years, the primary search optimization benefit of reviews and UGC was that they provided a source of
fresh content – something search engines needed and rewarded. This is still true: Content is king. But
now, search engines are rapidly integrating social data to put content into context. Online reviews and
UGC are an increasingly important factor in the search algorithms that determine how web pages are
ranked.
- Google is emphasizing consumer reviews to reward local businesses that the community finds helpful
- Bing is reaching into their users‘ social graph to suggest content they will love
Bing announced integration of Facebook data in their search results pages in a blog post that included
this short description:
―Not only [will you] see the individual pages or stories your friends like, but the overall sites they like
related to the topic you‘re searching for.‖
The new functionality will display personalized results based on that person‘s social network – such as
links or content their friends have Liked. When the person‘s friends have not shared any content related
to a search, Bing will prioritize content that is popular with the Facebook community at large. This means
search engine optimization is now not exclusively all about building inbound links, but improving the
overall sentiment and engagement toward your brand on the web.
Google also takes user-generated content very seriously. Their local business listing – the ―7 box‖ very
familiar to search engine marketers - is determined primarily by reviews and user-generated content.
Recent Google patents seem to suggest that:
- the quality and quantity of your reviews,
- how many websites contain customer reviews,
- and the sentiment behind the customer reviews
...all play an important role in increasing search engine visibility today. If for no other reason, these factors
would make a strong case for investing in online reputation management.
would make a strong case for investing in online reputation management.
Use guest reviews to increase direct sales by building trust
Encouraging more direct sales takes place through three basic categories of activity:
1. Driving traffic to a website
2. Making sure visitors stay on the website
3. Converting that website traffic into sales
Since we covered the first point by looking at search engine optimization, let‘s proceed to the other two
areas.
First, making sure visitors stay on your site. Depending on the hotel type and a number of other factors,
between 25-40% of people who leave a hotel website do so to read online reviews. Publishing reviews
directly on your hotel website fights this loss of traffic, making that direct booking a higher probability.
Second, converting more traffic into sales – turning more more website visitors into buyers. Improving
consumer confidence is a key factor in improving those conversion rates. Hotels that place guest reviews
on their website typically find it much easier to get new visitors to trust their sales message.
This approach is especially important for small and independent hotels that may not have the recognition
of a large chain brand. Business travelers in particular tend to choose large hotels because chain brands
offer a consistent experience. The chance of having a horrible experience is perceived as lower. For
small and independent hotels, developing a positive online reputation increases confidence that your
hotel has been approved by dozens of other travelers. Trust is established through credibility, and today
credibility is best built through the words of others.
Publish a mix of feedback formats
Sharing reviews you receive online as written text is a powerful tactic. But mixing formats of usergenerated content can make the testimonials even more effective.
Many hotels that deliver remarkable experiences for their guests receive notes of appreciation back from
these people. If people send your hotel staff a postcard or letter talking about how much they appreciated
their stay, get permission to scan it and upload the positive feedback to your website. Hotel SO in New
Zealand shares their guestbook online by uploading images to a separate domain – WeLoveSo.com – for
easy reference. How difficult would it be for you to do something similar?
Video or audio testimonials can be the most difficult type of content to create, but can make for a very
compelling sales tool. If you ever have the opportunity (and permission) to record positive feedback from
guests in video or audio format, do so. Showcase it on your blog. Feature it on your website.
You may find the best way to create video is through events hosted at your hotel. The Roger Smith Hotel
in New York City makes hosting live events and meetups a strategic part of their digitial media campaign
for this reason.
Once you have positive reviews, testimonials, and other pieces of user-generated content, place it
anywhere on your website where you need to build credibility. Look at your website analytics for pages
with high bounce rates and high exit rates. This could reveal good opportunities.
Cultivate and work with brand ambassadors
Whatever goal you are trying to obtain with public relations or marketing communications, have your
guests and customers become the spokespeople and share the message for you. Remember that the
greatest selling tactic in the world is the similar situation story. Consumers will find a story from another
traveler like them to be most credible and helpful as they make their buying decision.
- Collect and share stories of delighted guests.
- Leverage social proof in the form of testimonials.
- Put guest feedback on every page of your website
- Focus on putting positive reviews and testimonials in the website sales process, as this may increase
conversion rates.
- Consider creating a separate website page or mini-site where you publish all guest feedback in one
place for easy reference.
- Mix up the media formats – text, photos, and video – to achieve maximum results.
Josiah Mack enzie is an industry analyst at ReviewPro, which provides online reputation analytics to more
Josiah Mack enzie is an industry analyst at ReviewPro, which provides online reputation analytics to more
than 1,500 hotels worldwide, helping them use feedback from the social web to improve operations:
http://www.reviewpro.com
Pasted from <http://www.hotelmarketing.com/index.php/content/article/increase_direct_hotel_bookings_with_social_media/>
July-18-11
8:15 AM
Panel of experts predict sector developments at Boutique Hotel Summit, Europe's first b2b conference for
the boutique and lifestyle hotel sectors
Delegates at the inaugural Boutique Hotel Summit, Europe's first b2b conference for the boutique and
lifestyle hotel sectors, enjoyed a lively discussion about the future direction of the sector, with a panel of
leading industry figures sharing their 10 top trends and buzzwords for the boutique market.
The session was a fitting finale to the conference, which was held at London's St Ermin's Hotel in June,
and attracted an international audience of 170 delegates. Event organiser Piers Brown said: “The
boutique hotel sector is a fascinating market which is evolving at a rapid rate, so it was really enlightening
to hear how our panellists see things changing over the next few years. The session certainly provided
delegates with food for thought, and we will certainly be revisiting some of these topics in more detail at
next year's event.”
The panel consisted of Ben Elliot, founder of Quintessentially; Catherine Martin, assistant editor of
Sleeper Magazine; Philippe Bijiaoui of Hotel Missoni; Mark Cannata, head of culture and heritage at HOK
Architects; and Andrew Coutts, president and CEO of The ILM Group. The session was moderated by
Russell Kett, managing director of HVS London.
Ten trends and buzzwords for boutique hotels
1. Experience and integrity: Boutique hotel guests are looking for something different from the
“cookie cutter” approach. It is essential to give them an experience they will remember fondly, and
this is more important than getting obsessed with design details
2. Clubs: Look out for a proliferation of members' clubs incorporated in to boutique hotels, particularly
in key urban markets such as London and New York.
3. Caring for the environment: There is a small but growing band of environmentally aware
travellers who are increasingly concerned with their carbon footprint. Boutique hotels can cater for
them in a variety of ways from serving locally sourced, seasonal food to allowing guests to control
their energy usage. It is also important not to force the green agenda down people's throats.
4. Boutique goes budget: Until now boutique hotels have been operating at the upper end of the
price scale, but there is huge scope for budget hotels to offer a more distinctive, less homogenised
experience.
5. In-room technology: It's important for boutique hotels to offer technology that is at least as good
as the guest would expect to have in their home, but it must be user friendly and practical. The
technology must also sit comfortably if installed in heritage buildings, and not jar with its
surroundings.
6. Authenticity: Boutique hotels are particularly suited to conversions of historic or interesting
buildings. By doing this with sensitivity to the materials used and the original structure, they can be
among the most sustainable and authentic hotels in terms of the built environment.
7. Variety: Boutiques can capitalise on their flexibility and independence by providing individually
designed guestrooms rather than standardised offers.
8. Location, not brand: Boutique guests are looking to interact with the hotel itself, and the
passionate people who drive it and provide great service, not a company or an international brand.
9. Boutique B&B: A significant trend towards offering B&B in distinctive, design-led properties with a
range of added service and experiences available, such as visiting chefs, wine tastings etc.
10. Lifestyle hotels: While the multinationals will struggle to replicate the true boutique experience,
they will increasingly focus on the lifestyle model of 100 to 200 room hotels, using their economies
of scale and management experience.
Pasted from <http://www.hospitalitynet.org/news/154000320/4052181.html>
Rain Today Training
June-16-11
12:01 PM
....First off, let‟s take a page from direct marketing and its age-old formula referred to as AIDA. AIDA
stands for Attention, Interest, Desire, and Action. Think of prospecting as the process of creating attention
and interest—enough interest to win a conversation to explore the subject area more deeply.
The goal of prospecting is to create interest and convert that interest into a conversation.
Note that we didn‘t say that the goal of prospecting is to find someone currently looking to purchase your
particular services. For most, this is not what you want to do because it doesn‘t work often enough.
When prospecting you will find people who are already in the Desire Phase(someone interested in
solving a particular problem or purchasing a known type of service) or the Action Phase (someone
already in the process of searching for a solution to the problem). But if your approach is only to look for
these people, then you‘re in for a number of rude awakenings:
 Find someone who is already looking to buy, and they likely have a front -runner in mind. This frontrunner is not you.
 If you don‘t sell a commodity, it‘s likely that the buyer isn‘t considering buying what you offer
because he doesn‘t know much (if anything) about it, let alone how it works and why it‘s worthwhile.
 Find someone who has the desire to solve a problem and hasn‘t yet started looking into how to do
it, and you‘re in luck! But finding these people will be like finding the proverbial needle in the
proverbial haystack.
If you are the one who can capture Attention and stimulate Interest and Desire, you will be the frontrunner, you will shape the prospect‘s understanding of the importance of solving a particular problem, and
you will be in the position to persuade them into Action.
If you really want to be a successful prospector and fill your pipeline with leads, here are the six keys to
lead generation success:
1. Targeting
The foundation that underpins sales prospecting success is the strength of your list and the precision of
your targeting. Consultants often call too low in the organization and try to start a groundswell by working
their way up. Reach high to the decision makers. Make sure your list is clean and ready to go before you
start, or you‘ll find that your day is lost in fits and starts.
2. Value in Every Touch
When you sell, no one wants to hear your capability pitch, your history, or your life story right off the bat.
They‘re looking to find out how their lives can be enriched by working with you.
When you think about providing value, don‘t just think about the value you will eventually provide when
they buy from you. Think about the value they‘ll get just from speaking with you. Eventually you‘ll sell your
company, your offering, and yourself. At first, sell the idea that the prospects‘ time will be well -spent if
they elect to speak with you.
3. The Right Offer
Your ultimate offer might be a particular type of assessment, operations plan, or marketing tactic. But the
interim offers—the offers you make and they accept before they buy from you—must be crafted with the
utmost care.
4. No Tricks
Plenty of business success awaits you with your high-integrity approach. There is no need to use tricks,
bend the truth, or cut corners to generate an initial conversation. Leave out anything that you wouldn‘t feel
comfortable telling your children about when you tuck them in bed at night.
5. Multiple Touches
It takes more attempts than most people think to get through to top prospects. It can often take seven,
eight, nine, or more touches to get through to someone. That number goes up and down —across
different industries and when you reach out to different titles. What‘s always true, though, is that it takes
more attempts to get through to your targets than you think.
6. Variety of Touches
Cold calling works well alone, but it works even better with mail (yes, we are talking snail mail here) and
email touches. Use a variety of touches to reach out and warm up your prospects. And make sure each
touch has value in and of itself (see #2).
Sales Page 319
Adhere to these six keys, and you‘ll be well on your way to lead generation success. At the very least,
you‘ll be leaps and bounds ahead of the consultants out there who will not prospect at all.
Sales Page 320

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