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Posts Tagged ‘Twitter’


How to Integrate Email, Facebook and Twitter in a Marketing Campaign

April 6th, 2012 ::

Marketing strategy

Integrating your email, Facebook and Twitter strategies into one marketing campaign doesn’t have to be hard. And, with all of the following benefits, smart marketers are syncing their efforts to get big results.

  • Social drives email opt-in:  On Facebook, you can drive visitors to Like you and to opt into your email list with a custom welcome tab. On Twitter, you can send out teasers promoting your next email campaign, with a link to an email sign-up page.
  • Email drives social campaigns:  Including social share buttons in all your email messages can increase traffic, followers and Likes.
  • Increase the reach of your message:  Your entire email list may not be on Facebook and Twitter, and not all your fans and followers may have opted into your email list yet. Cover all your bases with an integrated marketing campaign.
  • Increase the potential of word of mouth:  Using sharing buttons and sending fans and followers to an email list sign-up not only increases your reach, but it also increases the opportunities for word of mouth communications.
  • Integration helps nurture a lead further along: Perhaps one of your leads received an email from you and then clicked over to your Facebook page. There, he or she receives more information and enjoys your Facebook content, helping to lead the prospect further along the conversion funnel.

Socialize Your Email Marketing

To get started integrating your email and social media strategies, embed social media links into your emails. You may want to consider one of the email marketing solutions with features that allow you to easily integrate social functionality into your campaigns. Lyris HQ offers tons of social features such as the ability to add social enhancers to email messages and segment recipients by social activity. You can also ask email recipients to share and retweet content with your own buttons embedded in the emails.

Build a Helpful Toolbox

Use tools to help integrate your strategies. Here are several worth checking out:

  • Vanity URLs:  If you haven’t done so already, create a custom URL for each social media page you set up. Try to use the same name for all your platforms if possible (Facebook = facebook.com/mycompany, Twitter = @mycompany)
  • Embedded Like buttons:  Add a Facebook Like button to all your channels, from your blog to your email messages.
  • Facebook Connect:  Allow your website visitors to log into Facebook as they browse your website content.
  • Twitter Search Widget:  Use this widget to display real-time tweets for a specific term within your Web content.
  • TweetDeck/HootSuite:  Easily manage multiple feeds for consistency with these third-party dashboards.
  • Radian 6, SM2 and Sysomos:  Track social media using these tools.
  • Buddy Media:  Create landing pages for your marketing campaigns across different platforms.

3 Steps to Integrating Your Message

A total digital marketing campaign should focus on a unified message, stretching across different platforms and complementing and leveraging each one’s strengths. Though it may sound complicated, this process can be really simple.

Step 1:  Use your email subject line to define your message. Keep your writing clear and tight, using no more than 50 characters. State what your readers can expect from your email, including what’s in it for them, and what action you want them to take as a result from your email.

Step. 2:  Tweak your message for Twitter. Translate that 50-character email subject line to a 140-character tweet. Use the additional space to add more interest and to clarify your call-to-action.

Step 3:  Modify your message for Facebook. Now you have plenty of space to flesh out your message further. Still keeping brevity and clarity in mind, develop your message into a full Facebook post. Add a compelling image, and you’re all set.

How about you? How do you integrate your marketing efforts on Facebook, Twitter and email into one cohesive campaign?

Image courtesy of creative design agency Arrae

7 Tips to Help You Get More Clicks on Twitter

April 3rd, 2012 ::

Twitter and click-through rates

When it comes to Twitter marketing, there are few experts more accessible and results-driven than Dan Zarrella. Recently I came across an infographic Zarrella created to show marketers how to get more clicks on Twitter. In this article, I will break down the facts for you so you can increase your click-through-rate (CTR) and see more results from your Twitter marketing efforts.

1.  Compose tweets that are between 120 and 130 characters in length.

Twitter allows space for 140 characters per tweet. Too short, and the tweet might not appear to be worth the effort; too long, and the tweet might seem too dense. Type out several practice tweets that fall within the 120-130 character length so you can get accustomed to the length you want to aim for when writing.

2.  Position your links about 25 percent of the way through your tweet.

After analyzing the length of 200,000 link-containing tweets, Zarrella found the ones with a link positioned about one-quarter of the way through the tweet got the most clicks. Perhaps these tweets provide just enough introductory words to convince followers the link is worth clicking.

3.  Put some space between your tweet links.

This one is pretty straightforward. As the speed of link tweeting increases, the number of CTRs decreases. Be careful not to overburden your followers with too many links because, like other forms of marketing communications, too much can turn off your audience.

4.  Select your words and phrases carefully.

Content producers understand that word choice is critical for creating the most relevant copy, and tweet composition is no different. Avoid the words “marketing,” “@addthis” and “@getglue,” as they get lower CTRs than average tweets. However, the words “please,” “RT,” “via” and “check” get higher CTRs, so work them into your tweets for more clicks.

5.  Try the paper.li system out for yourself.

Have you seen tweets containing the phrase, “daily is out?” Paper.li is a service that lets you publish your own online newspaper of curated information. Zarrella found that tweets containing the phrase, “daily is out” get more clicks than any other phrase. Does Paper.li fit into your content creation strategy?

6.  Use more verbs and fewer nouns.

Getting people to click on your link means encouraging them to take an action. Noun- and adjective-heavy tweets get fewer clicks than ones containing action words. So pack your tweets full of verbs and adverbs to motivate followers to click.

7.  Tweet when people have time to click.

It makes sense to tweet when people aren’t being pulled in different directions due to work and other weekday obligations. CTRs are higher on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, as well as during the afternoon hours, compared to other days and times. For weekend tweeting, platforms like Hootsuite can help you schedule great content without being stuck at your computer all weekend.

So there you have it – relatively simple ways to encourage your Twitter followers to click on the links you tweet. Higher CTRs mean more traffic to your website or blog and more opportunities to generate leads, build your brand, and delight your online community. Try some of these techniques for getting more clicks on Twitter, and let us know how they worked for you by leaving a comment below.

Image courtesy of creative design agency Arrae

How to Get Your Company On Board With Social Media

March 16th, 2012 ::

Getting on board with social media

Here’s the problem:  As a small business marketer, you know social media offers an affordable, effective way to promote your business, products and services online. You’ve done your research and understand how to leverage social networking to generate new leads and build brand loyalty. But, your co-workers are still shrugging off social media, not convinced it will provide adequate ROI.

What’s a smart marketer to do? Here are several ways to convince your company that social media is an important part of your overall marketing plan.

Hold an Event to Educate

Before you notify the company of your social media plan with a mass email asking them to Like the company’s new Facebook page or contribute articles to the blog, you will need to educate employees about the power of social media.

Social media speaker Marcus Sheridan suggests holding a “social media summit” to show your company that social media has potential beyond its personal use for keeping up with family and friends.

The first half of the event should be devoted to education. Teach employees about the different types of social media and how each can be used for marketing communications. You will also need to explain how content marketing works, as many people do not understand this marketing strategy and how it can be leveraged on social networks and blogs.

Your job during this phase of the summit is to help employees understand how social media affects lead generation, customer satisfaction, revenue, sales, brand loyalty, etc. Understanding these links will show them why social media is important to your company.

Make a Plan

Once everyone understands why social media matters, you will be ready to make a plan of action. Show each person in the company how he or she can be involved in the social media marketing strategy and why their part matters.

For example, ask each employee to list information they have expertise in that may be helpful to customers and clients. Just be sure this information is relevant to your industry, company, products or services. The customer service department will know the most often asked questions of clients and customers, the technology department will have the technical information customers want, and product managers will be able to provide deeper knowledge of your goods and services. If you are a professional services company – such as a financial services, web design or law firm – you will have numerous options for sharing information with clients.

If you are blogging, ask employees to commit to writing articles that share their expertise. For social networking sites, ask employees to create tweets/posts containing links with the useful information they are willing to share.

If everyone pitches in, your social media content will be rich and varied, and the responsibility will  be evenly distributed, rather than being placed on the shoulders of the CMO. Most importantly, when employees feel they have an important role to play, you will be able to garner more support for your efforts.

Keep Everyone in the Loop

Once you have gotten your company’s social media program off the ground, you will need to work to sustain it. Sheridan recommends marketing officers publish a regular newsletter to employees to share the results of their social media efforts.

Letting people know how their contributions have made a difference will provide recognition and keep the momentum going. Employees will also be able to see how their co-workers created useful content, hopefully getting new ideas in the process.

Some examples of what to include in the newsletter are leads and sales that came through social media efforts, examples of customer satisfaction resulting from social media communications, increases in the number of website visitors, excellent blog articles and the staff members who wrote them, and opportunities for employees to provide feedback or ask questions.

Continue Training for Long-Term Success

Because social media changes rapidly, you will need to continue your education efforts to keep your company up to date. You can use the social media newsletter for small updates, but you may want to consider holding periodic meetings to keep employees abreast of new social networks you’ll join or new campaigns you’ll be implementing on social media.

When new social technologies arise, it will be your job to train employees and give them the confidence to use them on behalf of your company. Sheridan uses video marketing as an example of a social technology that is gaining ground. If you train employees on the basics of video production, they will be able to contribute product and service videos that can be tremendously helpful to customers as well as beneficial to your brand. In any form of social media and content production, the more employees who help out, the better your results will be.

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What other tactics have you successfully tried to convince your company that social media is worth the effort? Let us know by leaving a comment below.

Image courtesy of creative design agency Arrae

Small Biz Resource Tip: SocialBro

February 23rd, 2012 ::

SocialBro

If you’re looking for ways to improve your Twitter management and activities, SocialBro has many features that can help. This tool helps manage your Twitter community and get more information about who’s following you and who’s not. See where your community is mostly located on Google Maps, then store followers’ information in a database you can refer to even when you’re offline. After you’ve gained valuable insights about your community, SocialBro then helps you clean up your account by blocking unwanted followers and quickly returning the favor by following new fans. Finally, you can use SocialBro stats to determine the best time to tweet for the most interaction and best response.

 

Small Business Social Media Trends

February 21st, 2012 ::

social media trends

When it comes to small businesses, Anita Campbell, author of Visual Marketing, knows a thing or two.  Recently, Michael Stelzner of Social Media Examiner interviewed Campbell for her insight on small business social media trends.  Here are some of the key takeaways:

Believe it or not, some small businesses won’t get much business from social media, no matter how hard they try.  For example, a small landscaping company that gets most of its business from local neighborhoods may not see an impact from Facebook or Twitter.  Campbell suggests businesses like this should stick to fliers, word of mouth marketing, and customer testimonials to get their message to the target market.

Campbell’s biggest tip for growing an online community sounds familiar, but it is worth repeating:  When it comes to social media communications, don’t just broadcast – engage!  Campbell believes in pulling information back in from your social networks and fostering back-and-forth conversation, rather than sending out tweets and posts that simply tell your audience what you’d like them to know.  Give them a chance to talk, too, and you’ll get a better return for your investment on social media.

And, what is the biggest mistake Campbell sees small businesses making online?  It’s neglected websites, and they’re really a turn-off for customers.  When your website is out of date, and you greet customers with 2-year-old information, you’re sending customers a bad message.  If you are neglecting your website – your online storefront to the world – how much attention do you give to your customers or to other parts of your business?

Campbell is constantly watching small business trends through her sites, BizSugar and Small Business Trends, and here is what she is seeing now:

  • Everyone is going mobile, including small businesses.  They are embracing mobile marketing with text messaging, location-based coupons and QR codes.
  • Many small businesses are getting really good at social media.  They’re out there testing different campaigns and communications tactics, and they’re getting big results.

Are you one of the small businesses embracing mobile and excelling at social media?  You can check out more small business marketing tips and trends from Anita Campbell on BizSugar and Small Business Trends.

Image courtesy of creative design agency Arrae

The 5 Most Common Types of Social Media Buzz

February 8th, 2012 ::

Social media buzz

Buzz is buzz, right?  When it comes to getting people to talk about your company or products online, as long as they are talking, should you be content?

Smart marketers not only listen carefully to what customers are saying online, but they also learn to use social media buzz to strengthen their brand and enhance customer satisfaction.  Recently, I came across an article dissecting social media buzz.  Here’s a breakdown of the five most common types:

1. Compliments

The good news is that loyal customers love to talk about their favorite brands.  If you’re doing a great job, your customers are likely to share their experiences online, and the results can be stellar: online compliments have the power of becoming viral through “likes” and re-tweets, and personal recommendations can introduce your company to many new customers.

2. Complaints

The bad news is that people are quick to complain when you’ve failed to meet their expectations.  It’s so much easier to tweet about poor customer service than to go directly to the company to complain.  The thought of customers sharing stories of product defects or shoddy service might be scary, but this type of buzz creates opportunities as well.  By responding to problems online, you get the chance to win back the complaining customer, and hopefully, to give them a more positive story to share online!

3. Suggestions

Think of the social media universe as one big focus group you can drop in on at any time.  When social media buzz takes the form of suggestions for product or service improvements, marketers win big.  If you’ve released a new product or upgrade, find out what customers love or hate about it, as well as what features they’d like to see in upcoming products.

4. Recommendations and Comparisons

Shopping is often a social endeavor, as consumers talk about which products they would suggest to friends, or why they prefer one brand over another.  While they’re getting information from each other, marketers can gather information from these conversations.  Recommendations can offer data on how customers are using your products, or why they are not.  Also, you can get a frank assessment of how your brand stacks up to the competition.

5. Purchase Behavior

This type of buzz gives marketers a window into customers’ buying processes.  Forum sites can reveal which brands or products customers are comparing, which distribution channels are being shopped, and why one brand is chosen over another.  These insights can show marketers who their biggest competition is, provide ideas for future marketing campaigns, and help them to tweak pieces of the marketing mix to promote sales.

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Even though listening to the din of social media buzz can be disorienting, with so many voices across so many platforms, organizing the types of content related to your brand can help you make sense of the noise.  What other types of buzz do you find useful in evaluating your products and services?

Image courtesy of creative design agency Arrae

Who Were the Major Social Media Players of 2011?

January 26th, 2012 ::

Major Social Media Players

From social media IPO activity to the entrance of several upstarts, the U.S. social networking market is strong – and exciting.  comScore recently released its report, “It’s a Social World: Top 10 Need-to-Knows About Social Networking and Where It’s Headed,” an in-depth look at the global social networking market.  Here are some highlights from the U.S. market:

Facebook on top

It’s no surprise that Facebook is still the top U.S. social networking site, boasting 166 million unique visitors in November.  And, how much time are we really spending on Facebook?  The average user spent 6.6 hours in November, up 37 percent in the past year.

We’re number two!

LinkedIn and Twitter have been vying for the number two spot in audience size for a while now.  Twitter took second place in November with 35.4 million unique visitors, only slightly ahead of LinkedIn with 35 million unique visitors.

MySpace still alive and kicking

Even though we don’t hear much about MySpace these days, the network is still holding its own.  MySpace is currently in fourth place with 25 million unique visitors; however, its audience has declined steadily over the past two years.

Upstarts worth mentioning

Three newish social networks are gaining prominence – and audience members – while introducing fresh engagement tactics.  Tumblr has increased its U.S. visits by 131 percent since November 2010, to 15.9 million.  Tumblr is also winning points for engagement and is second only to Facebook, as its average user spends 2.4 hours on the site each month.

Google+ has gotten plenty of attention this year, and it got plenty of traffic, too.  In November, the site received 15.2 million unique visits, just behind Tumblr.  What’s really exciting about Google+ is its future:  its integration with other Google products make it an important one to watch in 2012.

Finally, Pinterest, which I recently wrote about, deserves kudos for its quick rise in the social networking ranks.  Since May 2011, Pinterest has soared from 418,000 unique visitors to nearly 4.9 million in November.  Its engagement rates are impressive, too, with the average visitor spending nearly an hour and a half on the site each month.  Add to that the fact that users spend more than 15 minutes on Pinterest per visit, making the site third in consumer engagement.

Even though Facebook currently remains the clear leader in the U.S. social networking market, there is plenty of room for other players to shake up the industry with new innovations.  2012 looks to be equally exciting on the social media front, so be sure to watch for emerging trends.

Image courtesy of creative design agency Arrae

5 Sure-Fire Social Media Tips for Small Businesses

January 24th, 2012 ::

5 social media tips

If you’re struggling with your small business’s social media strategy, turn to these tried-and-true tips for taking your strategy from stalled to stellar in no time at all.  Here are five tips that put your social media activities to work:

1.  Just Be Yourself

Plenty of marketers post multiple updates per day on places like Facebook, offering their followers links to their recent blog posts and tips for succeeding in business.  How can you stand out from the crowd?

Being yourself and allowing your personality to shine through your social media communications can help you get the attention and interaction that will boost marketing success.  Let your followers and fans know there’s a real, live person behind your posts by sprinkling in personal touches.

For example, posting pictures of your latest culinary masterpiece, or other creative endeavors, adds a fun element to an otherwise “just business” profile.  If you’re heading out to cheer on your favorite sports team, or you heard something hilarious (but PG-rated) on the subway that your followers might enjoy as well, share them with your online community.   These personal touches keep things fresh and are excellent conversation starters, so be sure to use them in addition to your regular wall posts.

2.  Find Your Place Online

As a small business, you know you have to prioritize your resources carefully, including which social networks you devote time and energy to.  Having your business on multiple social media profiles, but only giving them partial effort, won’t cut it.  You need to determine where your customers are, and then devote all your effort to that network.

Use Follower Wonk or Facebook’s advertising platform to find out where your target audience is most concentrated.  Then, invest all your resources building a loyal following there, and engage your community by giving it the attention it deserves.  Your good work here will help you build a case for expanding your reach (and the necessary resources) on additional sites as you grow.

3.  Generate Leads With Facebook

Once you’ve begun engaging your Facebook community, why not leverage your page to generate leads?  Facebook offers small businesses new ways of building their lists of qualified leads.  For example, you can offer an opt-in strategy directly on your page by using iFrames to create a custom welcome tab.  This tab should include a two-step process called a “reveal tab.”

Step 1:  Create a call to action to encourage new visitors to Like your page.

Step 2:  After visitors Like your page, offer them a giveaway for providing their name and email.

Following this simple two-step model will help you increase both your fan base and lead list–now, that’s efficient!

4.  Make the Most of Video

Using video is a creative and interactive way to get your small business to the top of search results, and social media can help.  Google and other search engines use video to decide which pages should be displayed first, but you must tag, title and publish your videos correctly to get their full SEO benefits.

One way to add video marketing to your social media strategy is by creating a custom channel on YouTube.  This is super easy to do.  Think about what problem your business solves for its customers, and create a series of short instructional videos related to this problem.  Use the videos to show how your business can help customers, and try adding testimonials from current customers as well.  For the best videos, use humor and graphics to communicate your messages, and keep it under three minutes.

5.  Do The Hard Work

To stand out in a sea of content, sometimes you have to get down and dirty.  What information do your customers really want to know?  If you’re willing to solve your customers’ hardest problems and answer their toughest questions, your content will be linked to and shared.  This activity will get you higher search rankings and more followers/fans on Twitter and Facebook.

Think about the most difficult and interesting customer questions, and create a list.  Every time you sit down to write, use one of these questions as a starting point.  Be honest, do the extra research required, and strive to help customers with their challenges.  Then, publish your content and promote it on all your social media platforms.  Doing this consistently will earn you significant results.

If you follow these five tips, you should start to see the payoff of your efforts rather quickly.  Do you have additional tips that have taken your small business social media strategy from mediocre to outstanding?  Share them with us by leaving a comment below.

Image courtesy of creative design firm Arrae

Small Biz Resource Tip: Twilert

December 8th, 2011 ::

Twilert

Your business’s success depends on your reputation, so you’d better keep up with what customers, clients and competitors are saying about you. One bad review can spread like wildfire. Want to know what people are tweeting about your business? Set up a Twilert, similar to a Google Alert, but instead of searching websites and blogs, Twilert monitors tweets and sends you an email when your business gets mentioned on Twitter. Or set up a Twilert on a new trend you’re following, on your competitor’s business or even to see what people thought of the recent event you hosted.