There is no denying the ever-increasing importance of the social sphere on search engine optimization and inbound marketing. Google is relying on social signals – especially from their own products – to assess the general buzz surrounding a website, an article and even an author.
Webdirexion has a core specialty in Social Media Marketing, and offers both project and campaign based options. And, below are some articles with tips, traps, and techniques to get you going.
You’ve worked hard growing followers on Twitter, why not turn them into leads so you can work toward sales using automated marketing? Twitter ads? Yup. Don’t count that platform out yet — especially when we have a new American President that loves to tweet, and the platform has 317 million users in 2016. That bird can still sing.
Our clients are always interested in smart ways to gather more leads, so we are pleased to tell you about a tactic where you pay only for the leads gathered. This strategy pairs up newer Twitter ads with your marketing automation program of choice to discover leads and grow your list. And with a lead campaign on Twitter, you pay only for the leads gathered. (more…)
Facebook ads can take on many appearances depending on the ad type and the device used to view the ad.
Are Facebook ads dead?
Short answer: no, they’re not. Not even close.
Long answer: Facebook ads are still very much alive and thriving. How alive you might ask? Looking ahead, KISSmetrics statistics indicate that Facebook is expected to generate at least $4 billion in revenue this year of 2015 from ads alone.
For that kind of money to be spent on ads alone, it’s apparent that this method of marketing is worthwhile and working for many businesses.
So why do certain ad managers swear that Facebook ads are a lost cause? This could depend on a number of factors, but most likely businesses that didn’t see any immediate results so they became discouraged and turned off their ad campaign prematurely. (more…)
In preparing for our PAII Webinar on Online Marketing Recommendations for Websites (Sept. 30th — register online, it’s free), we took a closer look at some Hotels & Inns we had reviewed recently to look for the strengths in their social media strategies.
Below, I’ll outline some things we know are strong for both the Balch Hotel and the Edenwild Inn with regards to their presence in the social venues. First, let’s look at the Balch Hotel:
The Balch Hotel covers a range of social sites including those above (Google+, Twitter, and Facebook) with a smart strategy to emphasize different advantages of staying with them
Are you closing your social media connection loops?
How can you engage strong Klout leaders in social media, then close the engagement loop? Let’s take a look. This post begins with a focus on a great engagement tip using HootSuite — the pro social media dashboard, scheduling and swiss knife tool. Then we’ll look at a SlideShare presentation (still another content engagement tactic you should explore) and with a takeaway on content strategy. The beauty of the sequence is that using social media, one connection led to another and this post closes that loop.
Let’s start with a Hootsuite tip (disclosure, Webdirexion is a pro solution partner with Hootsuite and both Julie Hume and myself are certified in Social Media Marketing by Hootsuite University). In a nutshell, this tip focuses on finding and engaging Klout leaders. You read it right — “Klout” is the name of a ratings service that looks a key performance indicators in social media and assigns you a score. The higher the score, the more Klout you have… see Webdirexion’s Klout score here.
The Klout Technique in Hootsuite
In the screenshot below, using Hootsuite, you can see that I have first filtered in the “stream” of twitter users that have mentioned our company (@Webdirexion) using the Klout filter set for at least 40-45 strength. This reveals at least one possible Klout leader for engagement:
3-steps for engaging with Klout leaders as a social media marketing tactic.
My reply, which links back to this post, shows in the Hootsuite stream with the original message.
After I review a Klout leaders profile, I check number of followers (Vinay has 4400+ followers that may see my reply to him) and further qualify the the contact. Then I actually read the post and follow the link in it. I need to do each of these things to qualify the contact (ie. a possible client or a colleague?) and make an intelligent reply. No robo-replies here — being “social” means you actually talk to one another with authentic dialog.
Following the link in Mr. Koshy’s original post led me to the slideshare presentation included below — and gave me the right inspiration for a reply. Note that in the reply, I did three key things:
I linked back to this article which mentions the dialog
I put some text before @vpkoshy because if I did not, only vpkoshy would see the reply (credit to our Julie Hume for the tip on that tactic)
I used a hashtag to extend visibility for the reply
The Content Strategy Concept (from a Slideshare presentation)
Note how the Content Pillars support each of the objectives above.
On slide 28 shown at right, in a presentation recommended by our Klout Leader friend from Australia, the author (Christel Quek) gives a diagram of three “content pillars” supporting the audience, brand objective and user motivations. What a concise way to picture your “content marketing” work to be done.
There are also a number of great tips for social media marketing in that presentation, including:
Using hashtags as a call to action
Let your brand personality shine in social media
Remember to use social media to “listen to understand”
Focus on how your products or services touch people’s lives
Make your user the hero
Recognize your champions — influencers
I then left a comment at the slideshare. Thousands of people will see the tweet. Mr. Koshy will see that Webdirexion replied directly and followed up and respected his tweet. Ms. Quek will find out that a Koshy tweet led to a blog post with her slideshare embedded (below). Who knows, maybe Vinay Koshy and Christel Quek will learn about and help be influencers for Webdirexion. It’s a social circle — see how that works?
Here’s the slideshare on winning at content strategy:
Hootsuite: Social Insights with Adam Pisoni Co-founder – Yammer
At the center of this post’s tactical tools is Hootsuite, so we’ll end with a short video of thoughts related to using the platform.
How does a company respond fast enough to their customers that are themselves, communicating, sharing and learning at faster and faster speeds due to technology? Adam Pisoni of Yammer has some thoughts in the following video. Yammer is a private social network that helps employees collaborate across departments, locations, and business apps. Note that you can add Yammer and dozens of other networks and apps into your convenient Hootsuite pro dashboard.
The Webdirexion Sled Team, left to right: Scott (Chief Optimizer), Miranda (Content Wrestler), Serhii (Programming Ninja), Julie (SEO Maven), and Wendy (Project Chauffeur). Sherri is not in this race (only 5 allowed on the slopes), but will appear in a forthcoming video.
Quick… what would be a great way to unwind after all that online, digital, content, internet marketing work? A sled race, a la Jib Jab, of course.
We were inspired to create the following video for our Holiday Greetings in the spirit of fun and good humor when one on our team, Sherri Gutierrez (Marketing Consultant), did her own greeting using the same tool. We’re reproducing our sled race here, in case you missed it, and we do wish you a Happy New Year — watch it below.
But beyond the good fun, here are some technical social media marketing points for consideration: (more…)
Scott is Chief Optimizer for Webdirexion and includes Marketing, Content Strategy, WordPress, CSS, Photoshop, Tai Chi, and Coffee among his passions.
This month, my “TacTech Talk” Column (a fusion of Tactical and Technical tips for today’s marketers) discusses Responsive Design vs. Mobile App solutions; and I have an “authentic” Social Media Marketing tactic or two for you.
Responsive, Schmonszive… Responsive or Mobile App Solution?
There are a lot of gurus out there claiming that “responsive design” (your site shrinks according to the size of the mobile device screen) is the only way to go nowadays. Wrong. You have two choices — compromise your desktop view and go for a smartphone/tablet view that looks the same but smaller, or design for desktop, then optimize in an app-like interface for mobile devices. Is one “better” than the other? It’s debateable, and the answer depends on two things: your budget; and how best to serve your visitors. Let’s look at strengths and advantages to both: (more…)
You’ve worked hard growing followers on Twitter, why not turn them into leads so you can work toward sales using automated marketing? Twitter ads? Yup. Don’t count that platform out yet — especially when we have a new American President that loves to tweet, and the platform has 317 million users in 2016. That bird can still sing.
