Social Media Revolution

Social Media: The True Impact

We spend a lot of time talking about how to make social media work for business and what kind of marketing targets social media users. But we don't often take a step back and see the true impact that the addition of social media networks has had on our everyday lives. Ten years ago, could you ever have imagined what social media is, let alone how it has changed our world?

The addition of social media to our everyday landscape has been both a positive and a negative influence. Social media has made it incredibly easy for news to spread. It seems as though people are more educated as to what is going on in the world around them, because it is no longer necessary to check the news. More than likely, someone on your Facebook feed has posted a story, or you have seen a tweet about what’s going on. This ease of spreading information has gave birth to a new type of marketing, real-time marketing. At the same time, many people feel as though their privacy has been compromised. It is very easy to find out nearly any kind of information about any person online, and this is in large part due to the presence of social media.

One positive aspect that has personally made me feel as though social media has helped people draw closer together is the amazing ability for grassroots campaigns to be successful. While of course incredibly tragic, last week’s attack at the Boston Marathon is an example of this. People posted all over social media with requests for help, blood donations, and places for displaced runners to stay. The response was astonishing. Blood banks and hospitals had to turn away people looking to donate blood because they were full to capacity. It’s just amazing.

The overwhelming use of social media can have downsides as well, as with anything that grows in popularity so quickly. Sometimes, news spreads too quickly and facts are distorted. Again, in the case of the Boston Marathon, rumors regarding what exactly happened circulated for days, whether they were correct or not. Gruesome photos of people who were injured were posted all over the Web without permission from the victims or their families. Imagine finding out that a friend or relative was hurt by seeing their photo on the Internet or in a new story, before you hear it directly.

​But there is no denying the power of social media. It will only continue to grow, if people keep up the level of interest that they currently have. I would encourage anyone who uses social media on a regular basis to be a savvy user. Don’t share sensitive information. Do take the time to pass along things that you find interesting or you are passionate about.

http://jureklepic.com/2013/04/24/social-media-the-true-impact-2/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+JureKlepicBlog+%28Unspoken+%29

Social Media Experts Don’t Exist, But You Can Still Be One

Social media savvy is an integral part of a well-rounded ad/marketing campaign. Businesses are taking it seriously, with 58 percent of Fortune 500 companies are on Facebook and 53 percent of small businesses are using social media, according to The Social Skinny. Social media is also dominated by women, with 58 percent of Facebook users and 64 percent of Twitter users being female. This is great news for women in business, even if you're unsure how to maximize your social media leverage to your benefit.

The good news is, you don't need a social media expert to create the best social media presence this side of the Rio Grande. As social media usage advances and we learn more about trends, it becomes clear that, just like learning to read or riding a bike — learning how to build and maintain a valuable social media presence easily evolves, it’s passion, creativity and perseverance that make for a great online reputation.

Let Your Passion Be Your Guide

photo Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums

You can be a lion tamer or a cross-stitching guru — the most important asset you have when conquering the social-mediasphere is the very same asset that drove you towards your career in the first place. Mari Smith, the president of the International Social Media Association knows this better than anyone else. In an interview with Success.com, Smith delves into her experiences with sites like Twitter, exclaiming that it’s little more than a global chat room stocked with influencers who don't know what they're doing or why they're even there.

In for the Long Haul

Laying out your long term objective and sticking to it is the only way to build a solid social media network. Although your methods may vary, Smith advises that social media simply be used as a vehicle that transports your message — not an ATM machine that doles out cash for pressing the right buttons. Also, just like building a brick and mortar house, constructing a social media structure takes time. Success.com suggests that it can take as long as six to 24 months to see results after even the most ambitious social media campaign.

Build and Maintain a Solid Reputation

The second essential ingredient to a flourishing, long-term business presence online is managing your reputation. Although minding your Ps and Qs is a given, even the most confident media mavens often make missteps and miss opportunities to build or strengthen their reputations online. Services like reputation.com can help ensure that false or slanderous remarks don’t clog your business search results, but the reach of reputation management stretches much further than that. Encouraging your social media friends and followers to review your company on sites like Yelp.com can really help bolster SEO and your brand’s reputation. Offering customized incentives also helps incite user engagement and helps your brand and mission resonate.

The social world truly is your oyster, even if you're not as tech savvy as you’d like to be.

http://www.firebrandsocialmedia.com/guest-blogger/social-media-experts-dont-exist-but-you-can-still-be-one/ 

Marketing As The Social Business Spark

The role of marketing in organizations has never been more critical.

But probably not for the reasons you think.

The obvious discussions are often centered around marketing as the new front line of engagement for organizations. Marketing is the part of the company best suited to leading the organizational charge around social marketing and all of the intersections of paid, earned, and owned media.

All of that can be true.

But the real impact of marketing’s role in the social evolution goes even deeper.

Today, thanks to the fluid and real-time nature of social, we invest a lot of time and energy in the things that will create an amazing impression and connection with our customers online. We build community engagement initiatives, we develop content content with the purpose of education and information, and hope that we can establish early relationships with prospects online so they'll come to like us, trust us and want to learn more about us.

If we're successful, we’ve just set a pretty incredible expectation.

An expectation that says that we as a company believe in an overall philosophy that goes beyond making customers a priority. A philosophy that invests in both the operational and cultural backbone of our organization, so we can deliver customer love all the time, no matter what department they touch.

We can’t quit at the margins, stop at the edges of a clever marketing campaign, count our leads or conversions, and believe that our jobs are done.

The continued ripple effect after that clever marketing is where the true shift is happening in business.

It creates massive implications for how we support customers long term, for how our employees work with each other and communicate. We need to adapt the way we work to accommodate the new expectations we’re setting for our customers.

That means that the inside of our business is changing as much as the outside.

It means that marketing is the catalyst for not just a change in the way we communicate and market our brands. But that marketing can be a catalyst for adapting both the operations and the culture of our companies to become more connected, more adaptable,and more able to keep pace with the ever-shifting needs and demands of today’s empowered customer.

Simply put, today’s marketers need to be social business professionals.

They need to represent a new philosophy and a more modern point of view about their role in not just social media, but the holistic, organizational direction that will align marketing with customer service with HR, IT, sales, partners…all across the board.

Today’s most promising marketers are ready to embrace the opportunity to not just revolutionize the way we look at a sales lead, or a content campaign, but who just might see their role as a spark that can ignite new ways of thinking and working altogether.

Marketers are in a unique and exciting position to be the ambassadors for a pretty incredible new era, and I don’t think that’s an overstatement. The demand for professionals that understand social business – not just social media – is accelerating, and more than anything, it’s exciting.

Do you see it that way too?

http://blog.marketo.com/blog/2013/04/marketing-as-the-social-business-spark.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+modernb2bmarketing+%28Marketo+B2B+Marketing+and+Sales+Blogs%29

Social Media Marketing Strategy

5 Fundamentals of Internet Marketing

The world of Internet marketing is massive, growing, and dynamic. The experience of entering this world for the sake of your business can be a slightly intimidating and daunting experience. On the Internet, the word "marketing" has many different connotations for different people. Therefore, it will be helpful if you understand the various ways that you can "market" your services or products on the Internet. This article shares the 5 basic principles of internet marketing.


The 5 Fundamental Ways to Start Your Internet Marketing Campaign

Fundamental#1: Personal Website

Before you get any deeper into the Internet marketing world, you must have a website. A personal business website is a sure shot way for long-term success. After all, aren't you better off on your own rather than using someone else's website and depending on it for your success? Getting someone to create your website is easy now, especially since you are spoiled for choice with the kind of software packages available online. And the prices are good too! Keep your website simple for search engine optimization and future changes, if any may be needed.

Fundamental#2: Internet Advertising

Now there are 2 distinct types of online advertising - free and paid. Using any of these two types is definitely not as useful as using a combination of both. Not only does a well planned online advertising campaign, which involves both free and paid advertising, give you tremendous exposure but it also helps you extend the reach of your business over the net. Simplest form of paid internet advertising are banner ads, besides pay per click, classified ads in article directories, etc help push targeted traffic on your website. Free advertising includes free classified, link building, article marketing etc.

Fundamental#3: E-Newsletter

One of the best ways to promote your business is by publishing your very own newsletter that is emailed to people who visit your website and subscribe to it. Your e-newsletter should provide useful information that is SEO and related to your products and/or services. Believe me, this is a very effective long-term internet marketing strategy.

Fundamental#4: Email Marketing

If you want to kick start your business and don't want to spend too much money just yet, then email marketing is the way to go. Not only do you get your message across to thousands of prospective buyers, but you also manage to create a long-long mailing list with valuable information.

Fundamental#5: Blogging

Today, blogs have captured the imagination of the average "netizen". A blog is a web log of your thoughts written on a regular basis. You can have your own blog site using Blogger.com or WordPress. Blogs help you connect to your target audience with minimal effort and maximum efficiency. 

Of course the internet offers almost limitless opportunities to anyone, anywhere to promote their business and make money once you learn the art of internet marketing.

http://goarticles.com/article/5-Fundamentals-of-Internet-Marketing/700132/

The 9 Social Media Mistakes You’re Probably Making Right Now

Social media has all but taken over the internet marketing discussion these days.  Many businesses just like yours have jumped on the bandwagon, intuitively knowing that there is something to it, but perhaps not fully understanding yet the long-term effects and implications.

While many younger business owners and entrepreneurs aggressively use social media, it may be harder for some to grasp the relevance.  Social media networks, like Twitter, have been the source of some marketing coups, but have also been a huge marketing nightmare for some businesses who failed to understand the rules and impact of immediate information.

A Quick Overview of the Social Media Landscape

There are many social media networks on the internet today. Each has its unique focus, user-base and intended use.

First there are social networks like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google+. These networks provide social and/or professional interaction between friends, colleagues and customers. They allow direct, real-time contact between a business, its customers and its potential customers. In some areas, social networks are replacing traditional call centers.  Google+ is interesting in that its network pages are integrated into the Google search, allowing local businesses with Google+ pages a leg up on the search game.

There are also review sites such as Yelp, Angie’s List, and TripAdvisor. These allow members to post reviews of businesses, products and services. Business owners can monitor their customer comments as well as those of their competitors.

Video and photo networks such as YouTube, Instagram and Pinterest can all be used to post photos, videos and even company created graphics such as infographics. Because there is a tight link between these and the popular social networks, your information may be shared more quickly, with more people and more easily than you might imagine.

If you are one of the many business owners who have a Facebook page or a Twitter account because your SEO marketing firm told you to, it may be time to step back and take a look at some common mistakes which can make social media marketing less effective.

Common Mistakes and Quick Fixes

1.      Ignoring Social Media – Perhaps you’re one of the older set who just doesn't get the benefit.  It may not be clear until you take the plunge, but effective social media marketing will show you proven results. Start simple, create a Facebook page.

2.     Impatience with Social Media– Building a social network takes time and patience. From the first Tweet to a loyal Facebook following, there may be months of hand-wringing and many attempts at grabbing attention.  However, when you least expect it you will reap the dividends.

3.     Not Using Like, Share and Follow – You should be taking advantage of your company website by placing social media like, share and follow buttons on your pages.  This is just another source for building your network and your social media presence

4.     Focusing on the Wrong Network – Make sure to do your research and find out the places where your customers are likely to be found.  Depending on your business and demographics, the obvious choices may not be the most lucrative for you.

5.     Cross-Network Brand Confusion – When posting on multiple networks, be sure you have brand consistency with logos, fonts, tag lines etc.  It’s important that customers and potential customers, who see you on several networks, know immediately who you are and make connections.

6.     Not Keeping Up With the Competition – Monitoring the competition is easier than ever.  Review sites are great for hearing what people are saying about the competition.  Find out where your competitors are and be sure you are there too!

7.     Posting at the Wrong Time – There are times when your posts will be seen by the maximum potential number of people.  Though research is required to determine when those times are, it is then simple to time your posts for greatest reach. Facebook even lets you schedule your posts in advance.

8.     Poor Interaction with Customers – Social media is for interacting.  If you do not friend or follow or respond to the customers in your social media network, the fizzle will die down.  Keep up with those who like your page, thank commenters for their remarks, address complaints, when appropriate, in a public manner to show your professionalism.

9.     Poorly Written Posts – Bad grammar, spelling mistakes and confusing messages can negate any value you may have had in a post. Always double-check your writing or have someone else read it before it goes live. 

        Just One Piece of the Internet Marketing Puzzle

For those of you who thought social media marketing was a fad, it’s time to admit that it is here to stay. At least for the near future, social media platforms have relevance in any internet marketing strategy.  Though social media marketing may be only one piece of the puzzle, in today’s world, it is an important piece.

The space is young and is in a phase of continual innovation and change.  Keeping up with those changes will be important for any business.  For now, addressing these common, relatively easy to fix, social media mistakes should be enough to hold steady while you work out a full-on strategy for harnessing the power of social media.

http://social-media-optimization.com/2013/02/the-9-social-media-mistakes-youre-probably-making-right-now/

15 tools that may come in handy in your online life

 

In time, I’ve came across many tools which I found very good or at least interesting because they were covering things that the popular tools didn’t.  Some of the tools are for Web Analytics, some are for Social Media Monitoring, some are for website improvements and some are just for fun.

Let’s get started, check out the 15 tools that may come in handy in your online life, below:

1. PIWIK - THE FREE WEB ANALYTICS SOFTWARE

Piwik is a very interesting Analytics Platform, it offers you a bit more information than Google Analytics. That means that you can even see detailed information about each of your visitors in real-time. They have a demo in place, check it out and tell me what you think.

The platform has to be installed on a server to use it, it can be the server where you keep your website or even another one.

2. SOCIAL MEDIA IMAGE MAKER – AN EASY WAY TO CREATE YOUR COVER PHOTOS AND ICONS

Facebook, Twitter, G+, Youtube, Vimeo, Pinterest, Xing, Foursquare and all the other social networks need special sizes for their profile images, cover photos, highlighted posts, applications, background images and lots and lots of more types of images.  AP Social Media Image Maker helps your understand what the sizes for each of those image types are and where they would show up on the social network. It also let’s you upload your standard image, edit it to fit the social network’s needs and download it in the best format possible. It is a great tool, try it out.

3. TRENDSMAP – REAL-TIME TWITTER MAP

I’ve talked in a previous article about this incredible tool. It is a real-time visual map of top twitter discussions in your region. With this tool you can quickly find opportunities for your brand to jump in, from online interactions to offline ad-hoc events.

4. SOCIAL MENTION – WHAT HAPPENS WITH YOUR BRAND ONLINE AT THIS TIME?

Social Mention searches for Blogs, Microblogs, Networks, Bookmarks, Comments, Events, Images, News, Videos, Audio and Questions for your keyword.  After “Searching content from across the universe…” they give you the results together with a short analysis of the strength, sentiment, passion, reach and even offer you the top users talking about the keyword you entered and most popular channel.

5.  TWITTER COUNTER – CHECKING YOUR TWITTER STATS

Twitter Counter shows you the current stats of your twitter account. You can see your current followers, how many you are following and your total tweets in a specific period. But the more interesting part of this tool is that you can get a prediction on how your account will evolve in time if you continue to do the same as you did till now. If you want to know how you perform compared to your competition, this is the tool to check out.

6. BROWSEO – THE SEO BROWSER

Browseo helps you see your website exactly how a search engine does. I’ve used it several times for troubleshooting my website, even for connectivity issues. The tool tells you a lot about the page you are checking: the server response code, if the URL is redirected, the number of words, how many headings you have, the number of internal and external links on the page and meta information.

With Browseo I  discovered once that someone injected hidden links on my website. It’s a great checking tool which gives you a fast overview of your pages.

7. URIVALET – CHECK SERVER HEADERS

Urivalet gives you a lot of insights about the server headers, the percentage of objects you have on the website, the ratio of html to text, how much time it takes on different connections to download your website, internal and external links and even server responses on different objects on your site. It’s a great tool to check the health of your website but also an indicator to improve your website if necessary.

8. UBERSUGGEST – LACK OF KEYWORD IDEAS?

Ubersuggest is a keyword suggestion tool, it helps you get out of the moment when you are stuck. The tool is based on Google suggest but also other similar tools. The interesting part is that you start from a word and you can end up having a whole sentence which you can easily use. Check it out, it’s worth it.

9. RAPPORTIVE – RICH CONTACT PROFILES INSIDE GMAIL

Rapportive is a cool tool for Gmail. It adds a helpful functionality to your account, meaning you can see directly in Gmail who the sender is, if they are nearby, what they are up to, what their job name is and even more. The best thing is that it also replaces the ads on the right with useful information.

10. PEEKYOU AND SPOKEO – FOR FINDING OUT MORE ABOUT PEOPLE

 

PeekYou and Spokeo are tools that help you find out more about people. Peekyou can search world wide and it will give you links to that person’s social profiles but also other information like discussions on forums. Spokeo is focused on the US and can get very detailed, it can check the address of that person, the family tree, social networks, income in the neighborhood, ethnicity, occupation and much more. Kind of creepy, reminds me of my article about online privacy.

11. BROWSERSHOTS - YOUR WEBSITE IN DIFFERENT BROWSERS

Browsershots is a simple but yet important tool if you have a website. It makes screenshots of your website with different OS and with different Browsers. This is helpful to check the compatibility of your website with other browsers and operating systems.

12.UPTIMEROBOT – HOW MUCH WAS YOUR SITE OFFLINE?

If you have trouble with your hosting provider, then it’s a good thing to create an account on UptimeRobot and have an overview on how often your website is down. You can set up alerts which you get when there are issues with your website. UptimeRobot is free, so you might give it a try.

13. GOOGLE PAGESPEED INSIGHTS – HOW FAST IS YOUR SITE?

Google PageSpeed Insights tells you how fast your website is and what to improve to make it load faster.

14. FACEBOOK OBJECT DEBUGGER – CLEAR CACHE AND CHECK WEBSITE

Facebook object debugger is a great tool to check if you integrated your website right with facebook, it helps you find out why your pages are not showing up correctly in facebook and how to improve that. The second thing it does is to clear the cache on that specific URL and re-cache the page. Let’s say you used a wrong description or picture for facebook, if you put the link in there and check, it will re-load the info from your website.

15. THE USELESS WEB – WHAT IS USELESS ON THE INTERNET?

This is the last one I want to add to this article, it’s not a useful tool, the name says it. This page is helping you to find useless things on the internet. Useless but in the same time funny, interesting and out of the ordinary. WARNING: You might get stuck in a loop of clicking the “Take me to another useless website, PLEASE” button.

http://www.rudibedy.com/blog/15-tools-that-may-come-in-handy-in-your-online-life

3 Tips To Get More Blog Traffic

The internet has changed the way we get information about companies we love or how we learn more about new companies. The trick is getting those people to visit your blog. It’s important to have a blog that is easy to read and navigate. You want your potential customer to be able to find out more about your products. Here are 3 tips that can help generate more blog traffic to your website.

Use Social Media – Social media outlets like Facebook, Twitter, Google+, etc. are a great way to have direct communication with your customers. I love to write a quick Facebook comment on company pages that I like. I can ask a question and I usually get an answer pretty quickly. Use social media to tell your followers about specials or promotions. You can also use social media to host giveaways. People love to comment, share, and Re-tweet things if they have a chance to get something for free. Just be sure you don’t ignore your fans.

Make sure you use keywords to help bring traffic to your site – We use keywords everyday to search for things on Google, Bing, etc. You want to be on that first page when people search things related to your company. A great place to start is Google Keyword tool. This tool is a great place to search when writing for your website.

Create good content – You want to write articles that will keep your readers interested. Make sure it’s useful and lets your customer know why your product can help them. Adding new content every few days keeps it fresh. Make it interesting so your readers keep coming back.

http://jacksonmarketingservices.com/blog/2013/03/07/3-tips-to-get-more-blog-traffic/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+jacksonmarketing+%28Jackson+Marketing+Services%29#.UVmfqhyG1go

The Secret of What Makes a Product Go Viral

The Secrets of What Makes a Product Go Viral

image credit: shutterstock.com

Ten years ago, had you ever heard of the hand sanitizer Purell? It existed, but nobody really used it. Then one day, it was everywhere. Grocery stores placed dispensers at the door, nail salons gave it to clients, and people started carrying travel size bottles in their bags. With little advertising, how did Purell catch on?

Jonah Berger, an assistant professor of marketing at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business, has dedicated his career to answering that question. As he explains in his new book,Contagious: Why Things Catch On (Simon & Schuster, 2013), every viral product has six key features in common -- features that can be replicated to make any product go viral. 

"People often think that contagious products just get lucky," Berger says. "But it's not luck and it’s not random. It's science."

According to Berger's research, specific circumstances and attributes empower consumers to share a given product. Any business can leverage those insights to create a viral hit. "You don't need a huge advertising budget," Berger says.

As many as half of consumers' purchasing decisions are driven by word of mouth marketing -- it's trustworthy and far more targeted than traditional advertising. Plus, the majority of those interactions happen offline, where advertisements can't reach. "Authenticity is a big reason word of mouth impacts behavior," Berger says.

To create a viral product that consumers are inspired to share authentically, incorporate these key elements.

1. Social currency. Consumers are more likely to adopt a product if it makes them feel special or ahead of the curve. For example, Gilt's exclusive sales helped it become one of the hottest online shopping sites.

2. Triggers. Products that catch on become part of our everyday lives, so successful products create reasons and reminders to return on a regular basis. For example, Facebook and Twitter drive you back to their sites every time they email you to say you have a new message or mention.

3. Emotional impact. People tend to evangelize a product if it affected them emotionally, whether it solved a stressful problem or brightened a bad day. For example, if a Buzzfeed article makes you laugh, you’ll likely share it with friends who need a lift.

4. Visibility. Giving a product a distinctive feature, such as a standout logo or color, helps consumers notice when others are using it. For example, you immediately recognize iPods because Apple made the headphones white when other companies all used black.

5. Practical value. A truly useful product that helps the user become more effective is more likely to be recommended often. For example, Evernote is very good at helping users remember and organize information, so it's often recommended for research.

6. Stories. If people are going to share your product, they need to be able to tell its story. That can be as simple as a clear statement about what the product does, or as complicated as a really interesting origin story. For example, people who buy TOMS shoes love telling others how one pair is donated for every pair you buy.

http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/226114