Social Media

How to Begin to Develop Your Business’s Social Presence

by Rebecca Bleznak June 5th, 2014

We’ve established that there are at least three ways in which social media can boost your website’s traffic. But what if you’re a new business, or new to utilizing social media as a marketing tool? A tree has fallen in the forest – and no one is around to hear it – we wonder if it made a sound. Similarly, if you send your content out to the internet, and no one sees it, did it really help your business at all?

In a recent article from Marketing Land, Eric Enge addressed three different ways in which you can go about creating and sharing content for your business, based on what your situation is. The third scenario, titled Social Media Concentration, is aimed at small businesses that can’t afford to spend a lot of time or resources on a social media strategist and extensive content creation. We’re going to continue the discussion, and help you figure out how to make this scenario work for you.

1.    Choose the right platforms for your business.

Enge writes that you may want to focus your energy on one social media platform. This is certainly a strategy you might take, but consider trying to extend that a bit to putting yourself out there on at least 2 or 3 different social media sites, in order to get the best reach possible. To do this, you’ll want to determine which sites will work best in order to convey the message of your business. We’ve discussed two of the most popular here:

• Almost everyone is on Facebook today, and your business’s Facebook page can serve almost as a second website, allowing you to post pictures, announcements, and even videos that serve as promotion. You can communicate well with your customers here, either through private messages or comments on your wall. You can share posts from other businesses, who may in turn acknowledge you, or tag another page in order to make them aware of certain information. Additionally, you have paid options to create ads based on the specific type of results you’d like to see them have (clicks to your website, more page likes, etc.), as well as “boost” your posts so that they are made visible to more users.
• Twitter is also becoming increasingly influential. Customer conversation is a bit simpler, and you can utilize hashtags and the explore tab in order to determine who is talking about you, in order to address customer questions or complaints. You can also engage in Twitter chats that are related to your field – if you chime in with interesting information, or find a way to direct someone to a post that you’ve written, you’ll be helping someone out, and giving yourself a new potential customer. As with Facebook, there’s a similar promoted post option, where you can pay to target particular demographics with one of your tweets.

2.    Branding

Now that you’ve chosen your platforms, you need to set them up. First of all, you need to make sure that you maintain consistent branding across all platforms. These are things that will identify your brand, so they need to be easily recognizable and related to one another as closely as possible. Examples include:

• Profile pictures
• Cover photos
• Logos
• About section

3.    Production and Engagement

Everything is finally set-up, so you’re ready to really dig in. Begin by following others in your industry. When you read something you like, don’t just retweet it without a second thought: Add your own opinions, and reply when they ask questions. The benefit of this is twofold: It gets your name out there to others, and allows you to learn from those who are playing the social media game right.

You’ll also have to dive into content creation. You probably want to start small, and remember that staying consistent with your posting schedule is more important that churning out as much content as possible. Write about what you know, write about what interests you, and build upon what others have written. Everyone in your industry is talking about the same things, so by drawing upon your own experiences or attempting to tackle a different angle, you can produce content that is worthwhile and unique.

As Enge describes in his scenario, if you’re interacting with others on a daily basis, sharing their content as well as some of your own, and offering a valuable perspective, this can help build up recognition of your brand. Establish yourself on social media, create awareness by engaging and sharing your own experiences, and you’ll be on your way to bringing in more business.

What You Can Learn From the Top Brands on YouTube

by SEO Savvy May 27th, 2014

When you think about social media marketing, Facebook and Twitter are likely the first networks that come to mind. However, although these two channels can be effective marketing tools for any brand, other platforms can also contribute to the success of your social media campaign. In fact, according to Social Media Today, more than one billion users visit YouTube on a monthly basis, and many brands have already cashed in on the opportunity.

YouTube’s Biggest Brands

According to a recent research study conducted by Google, the top brands on YouTube as of Q1 2014 are GoPro, Six Pack Shortcuts and PlayStation.

GoPro

GoPro is a leading manufacturer of cameras, as well as camera accessories and applications. Google credits GoPro’s success on YouTube to the brand’s content curation efforts, as well as the originality of the content presented on the GoPro YouTube channel.

Six Pack ShortCuts

Six Pack ShortCuts produces workout videos and other fitness-related products. According to Google, this brand owes its marketing success on YouTube to its high quality content that is tailored specifically to reach its target audience.

PlayStation

Gaming giant PlayStation has also made its mark on YouTube by creating engaging content that captures and retains users’ attention. Google reports that much of PlayStation’s content is shareable, which has contributed to the brand’s success on this content channel.

YouTube Marketing Best Practices

1. Create shareable content.

Many of the brands that have enjoyed success on YouTube, including PlayStation, have enhanced their influence by adding engaging content that generates large numbers of shares. According to Reel SEO, content is more likely to be shared if it is:

• Relevant or interesting to the target audience
• Provokes a strong emotional response
• Easily shared on a variety of other platforms

When creating content, ask yourself it meets the criteria above before you post it. If it doesn’t, consider making some changes.

2. Make use of YouTube SEO.

According to Search Engine Watch, the top brands on YouTube concentrated on SEO more effectively than others did. To make your channels SEO-friendly and improve visibility, be sure to include relevant tags on every video you upload. Use the tags suggested by YouTube, as well as any others you want to add on your own. Be sure to include variations of tags as well. For example, if one of your tags is “cellular phone,” consider adding “cell phone,” “cellphone” and “phone” to the list too. In addition, YouTube recommends increasing watch time by creating well-organized playlists with optimized metadata.

3. Respect the viewer’s attention span.

If your videos are too long, viewers are likely to get bored and go to another page. In fact, Web SEO Analytics reports that the most popular videos on YouTube average approximately 3 minutes in length. Aim for anywhere between 2 to 4 minutes each time you upload a video. If you have longer videos to upload, consider breaking them into multiple parts.

4. Be Productive.

Producing a consistent stream of high-quality videos is one of the best ways to create a loyal base of followers on YouTube. In fact, according to Search Engine Watch, the top brands on YouTube upload an average of 78 new videos every month. Build your content library by posting short videos about your products or services, such as demonstrations or tutorials. You can also add content to the channel by converting webinars and webcasts into a series of videos.

5. Keep it connected.

Integrate YouTube into a comprehensive social marketing campaign by linking your YouTube profile to the profiles you maintain on other social media networks, such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Pinterest, and encourage users to connect with you on those networks as well. Your YouTube profile should also be linked to your official website to encourage direct conversion.

3 Ways Social Media Can Drive SEO

by SEO Savvy May 13th, 2014

From Twitter and Facebook, to Pinterest and Instagram, social media engagement helps to build brands, boost sales and drive SEO. YouTube, a social platform, has become the second largest search engine, bigger than Bing, Yahoo, Ask and AOL combined, according to Social Media Today. Business leads generated via search engines have a 14.6% close rate, compared with 1.7% for direct mail and print advertising, according to Search Engine Journal. And companies that generate more than 1,000 Facebook likes also receive nearly 1,400 website visits each day, according to HubSpot.

It’s not enough to just have great optimized content on your website anymore. Ignoring the importance of social media in leading users to your site can be detrimental to your business. If you want more traffic from search, you need to understand how social media enhances organic rankings. Here are 3 ways you can improve search traffic through the use of social media:

#1: More social media traffic equals more organic traffic.

When it comes to Google’s search algorithm, there’s a correlation between an increase in the traffic your website receives from social median and the more organic traffic it then receives. Though, this may be a bit of an oversimplification, the connection between the two makes sense. For example, when your customers like, tweet, or share your latest blog post via social media, this interactivity signals to Google that your content is relevant and useful. Continued interaction via social media will help your site rank higher in Google search results.

#2: Websites that make content easier to share rank higher.

Understanding both the ways and reasons that people seek and share content is key to reaching new audiences. Highly shareable content builds relationships, credibility and trust, while also adding value. According to research conducted by the New York Times and Latitude Research, 94% of people who share social media content carefully consider how the information they share will be useful to their followers, and 68% of respondents share to give a better sense of who they are and what they care about.

What does this mean for your business? Create content that aims to be thoughtful, interesting, insightful and useful. Create content that answers your customer’s questions. Highlight the problem your business solves for the customer, and show what makes you stand out from others. Take a position and add your own insights to industry news. And by all means, be sure to take advantage of plugins that make it easy for website visitors to quickly click and share your content.

#3: Google authorship establishes authority and credibility.

Google Authorship is a quick, easy way to boost online influence while driving clicks and conversions and establishing one’s online authority. “Author Rank” is the concept that an author can build brand recognition, trust and industry authority based on the content they publish online.

The idea is that the more quality content you publish in a specific niche that is consistently shared through social media, the higher that content will rank. Authorship, as seen in search results, leads to more exposure as an expert in your industry.

4 Ways to Improve Content Marketing

by SEO Savvy April 3rd, 2014

Search engines can detect when a business creates content of value versus content that is designed solely to capture web traffic. Scalable link building methods and over-optimizing your website by unnaturally stuffing content with keywords is counterproductive, and likely to land you with penalties from Google. Today, effective content marketing is key for successfully building brands, interacting with customers, and selling products.

Two out of every three businesses currently spend more than 25% of their marketing budget on digital marketing, including content marketing, according Accenture’s CMO Insights Study. However, the same study found that while many marketing executives understand the importance of content marketing, they are “unprepared” and “unsure” how to best leverage this marketing technique for maximum success. Without a clear strategy in place, businesses are ineffectively throwing money at content marketing – and hoping something works.

Follow these four tips to get the most out of your content marketing budget:

#1: Be interactive.
Google’s algorithm updates are capable of detecting “interactivity” of content. How does Google determine if your content is meeting this metric? Content that is shared, reblogged, reposted, emailed, retweeted, and commented upon is considered interactive. In other words, you need to figure out how to use social media to your advantage. To increase your content’s reach, be sure that it is relevant to your clients, original, and creative. Don’t rehash old news; make each story your own.

#2: Solve a problem.
In order to improve your content’s interactivity, it is important to understand what drives your target audience to share information. Solving a problem is one of the most basic and important reasons why individuals share information. Rather than making a sales pitch on your blog, provide how-to instructions or tips that address a common problem faced by your clients or customers. Giving away valuable content for free will not only increase the likelihood that your content is shared, but also build your business’s reputation as an industry thought leader. When clients face another problem, they’ll likely turn to your business for a trusted solution.

#3: Be visual.
Content that includes a picture or infographic is more likely to be shared than a text-only blog post. From Pinterest to Instagram, today’s most popular social networks are increasingly based on visuals. Photos increase user interaction on Facebook. Images shared on the popular social network receive 120 percent more engagement than plain text updates, and the latest format changes reflect images as priority. Don’t hide your best information in a sea of words and numbers. Turn old PowerPoint slides and charts into a compelling infographic. Accompany each blog post with a unique or thought-provoking image. When adding images to a blog post, be sure to add keyword metadata to the image for enhanced SEO.

#4: KISS.
This acronym, which dates back to the 1960s, stands for Keep It Simple, Stupid. The KISS principle can be applied in many circumstances; for example, when you’re creating a piece of content, you want to keep the format as uncomplicated as possible. This is why lists have become so popular; you’ll grab the attention of your readers with a straightforward title, then keep them hooked with easy-to-read bullet points or numbers, subheadings, and brief paragraphs. Everyone is moving so fast on the Internet, jumping from website to social network to blog, that a simple, formulaic post delivers information most effectively.

Like any good marketing strategy, content marketing requires clear goals and benchmarks for success. Content marketing is also a long-term investment. While your business may not see immediate measurable returns, in the long run, effective content marketing will build your brand and improve customer relationships, two critical goals for your business’s marketing success.