May 2013

Social Equity: Video Blogging

May 31, 2013/by Corey Padveen

How is there a benefit to Social Equity from video blogging?

When it comes to video marketing, it is no secret that there can be substantial benefits and value derived from the practice. On Facebook, photos might generate twice as much engagement as text updates, but videos are shared 12X more than links and text posts combined!

With that kind of engagement, and the already existing Social Equity derived from blogging, it is no wonder that video blogging can add considerable value to your business.

(For more great info on the value of visual content on social media, click here.)

Giving a Face to Your Brand

People do not like to interact with a business, they like to engage with a personality. Social media is designed for one thing: engaging. You build a brand personality on social media and it is with that personality that people engage.

Video blogging provides a face for your company and humanizes your brand. With a more humanized brand comes a more approachable brand, and with a more approachable brand comes growth.

Make the Pitch

While one of the most regularly repeated rules on social media is that you should not focus on selling, video blogging provides a slight loophole in this regard.

The ability to tell a story using video means the ability to showcase a problem. When you showcase a problem, you allow yourself an opportunity to showcase a solution – your solution. Thus, with video blogging, you can sell your product in a way that is much less direct, and therefore much less intrusive than with other forms of social marketing.

Say a Lot More with Less

A minute of video can say what a thousand-word blog post cannot. And that is mostly due to the fact that most people would not sit around and read a thousand words.

Frankly, people do not care about how important your information is. If it takes too much time to get through, they are not going to read it to completion. Now, with a video entry sharing the same content with some added visuals, you can expect to see your engagement increase significantly, which means that the important information you need to get across will be much more effectively delivered in a video blog than in a traditional post.

Video blogging can be a great asset to your business. It compliments your social marketing strategy nicely and provides you with an entirely new avenue of marketing. With regards to Social Equity, a great deal of value is derived in terms of the aforementioned benefits that come along with video blogging.

Do you video blog? How has it helped your business? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!

Social Media Case Study: Cadbury

May 30, 2013/by Corey Padveen

How did Cadbury make their social media presence as sweet as their candy?

It was early in 2012 that Cadbury realized they were approaching the 1 million fan mark on Facebook. It was around that same time that they realized that only about 16% of fans ever saw any of the content they were posting to their social networks.

Cadbury wanted to get the most out of their social media marketing, and they knew that for an internationally-recognized brand, 16% simply wasn’t good enough. So they decided to do something so big that it would grab the attention of a lot more than a mere 16%: they built a Facebook ‘Like’ thumb out of chocolate to say thanks!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=uHtDRw4ujYw

The results of this gesture were 40,000 new Facebook fans and engagement of well over 30% for this campaign. Clearly, there are a few takeaways marketers can pull from this campaign by Cadbury.

Always Engage Your Audience

Engagement is going to be at the forefront of any successful social media campaign. Your audience needs to have a purpose for viewing your content, and providing engaging content is always going to be on top of that list of reasons.

Simply sharing promotional information, or a piece of text, isn’t going to entice anyone to share, comment, or necessarily like your content. The results? It hurts your EdgeRank and can be somewhat damaging to your brand’s growth on social media in the long run, due to the lack of exposure.

Let Your Fans Know You Care

Whether you are a Cadbury with 1 million fans or a Mom n’ Pop with 100, you should always let those that have become fans know that you care.

Success on social media stems from the ability to reach a wider audience than on any other medium, and each fan is another new network of possibilities. So when reaching milestones, show your fans you care – you’d be surprised at how appreciated those gestures are.

Never Ignore Your Analytics

It took Cadbury until the million fan mark to realize that only 16% of those fans were engaging with the brand. Moreover, Cadbury is an international brand; imagine how few fans are engaged with your small business on Facebook if only a small fraction are engaging with a brand like Cadbury!

The reality is that roughly 98% of people who ‘Like’ a brand never return to that brand’s page. You need to find a way to optimize your content and your strategy in order to get those numbers as high as possible. Don’t ignore your analytics. They are providing valuable information that is going to help your brand blow up on social media!

The social media case study on Cadbury’s Facebook campaign provides a great set of Do’s and Do Not’s for marketers.

Which of these lessons do you think is most important? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!

4 Ways to Increase Sharing of Your Blog

May 29, 2013/by Corey Padveen

Blogging can be an excellent business tool, but how can you increase sharing of your blog to get the most out of it?

You might be writing great content. You might be seeing your audience grow organically online. You might even see some backlinks popping up around the web to your blog. But how can you increase sharing of your blog to a wider audience?

There are a few tested and proven ways of going about increasing the sharing of your content, and these tips should help you increase sharing of your blog in no time.

Integrate Sharing Plugins on Your Blog

It may seem like a given, but you would be surprised at how many blogs do not make it easy to share. There should be a number of options all over your blog that allow users to share you content.

Put yourself in the position of your readers: you read an article, you like it, you want to post it to a social network. Would you be more motivated to do so if you had to copy the link, open a new window, log into your social account, paste the link and share it, or simply click a button and share it to every one?

Yeah, we picked the second one, too.

Promote Yourself

The best way to get your content out there is to get the sharing started yourself. Waiting for the numbers to increase organically is a slow, sometimes frustrating process. Give yourself an extra boost and get it started yourself by sharing all of your content on every network for each post.

Short and Original

Making it an easy read and something completely original stands a much greater chance of increasing shares when compared to a long, repetitive, unoriginal post.

People like reading content they have never seen before. Even if it is a subject that has been discussed a hundred times, a personal view is always going to captivate an audience. That, coupled with the short, to-the-point style of writing is going to encourage readers to share the great piece.

(Hint: Lists are among the most shared content on social networks, so try and organize your content into an easily navigable list for your readers to sift through.)

Ask!

According to Dan Zarrella at HubSpot, asking for a re-tweet generates four times the number of re-tweets. There is no shame in asking your readers to share your content. After all, you want people to see what you wrote – that’s no secret.

When sharing your own content, add that little request into your post and see how the response is significantly higher (assuming, of course, it is still great content) than it was before.

We all want to see our content get shared, and these tips are a great way to get you started when it comes to increasing the number of shares your blog posts are getting.

How do you increase sharing of your blog? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!

Make Use of the New Features on Pinterest

May 28, 2013/by Corey Padveen

An announcement was made last week about new features on Pinterest, and there are plenty of ways marketers can take advantage of them.

Over the last few months, there have been several new features on Pinterest. The social network recognizes its own potential for business, and is doing what it can to exploit that. First, there were business accounts, then analytics and now we have a few new features on Pinterest that continue to add to the network’s value.

Additional Information

Pins now feature ways of adding more information. Whether it is detailed pricing, product information, ingredients or movies, there is a lot more involved in a pin now than there was before.

It is important to make use of everything you can when sharing content to Pinterest. Essentially, a board can be a catalog for your business’s services and products in visual form, and you want people to get all the information they can. Before these updates, you could simply embed a link to a landing page or your website into a pin, now you can make your pin the landing page, and that is a huge bump from where it was.

Make use of all the information you are allowed to share on your new pins. Showcasing everything you can will mean fewer steps involved in the buying process, and if it is easier for your buyer, your conversion rates will skyrocket.

Mobile Capabilities

9 mobile apps now have a “Pin It” button integrated into the product. This means that mobile users can now pin what they see from their phones. If you are sharing images with these networks, you will want to optimize them for Pinterest.

Mobile is of ever-increasing importance. People are interacting on mobile devices more and more every day, and if you are not using the new features on Pinterest to take advantage of that, then you are missing out – big time.

Essentially, Pinterest is trying to make a real use for the platform. Sure, sharing photos is great, but for a company that has raised several hundred million in capital, they are going to need to start generating a revenue somehow. Optimizing their platform for businesses is a great way to do it, and before they start charging for these excellent features, you should be taking advantage of them for free.

Do you plan on using the new features on Pinterest? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!

21 Types of Content People Love [INFOGRAPHIC]

May 27, 2013/by Corey Padveen

Content is king when it comes to success online; and that holds true for your blog, your social media and your website.

It is no secret that content is going to be the driving force behind your success online, and for that reason you need to be creating content people love. Content is the crucial link to engagement, which is the first step towards the sale. If you are not creating content people love, then it will be hard to get there.

Luckily, there are certain types of content people love and engage with on a regular basis. The key is figuring out how that content fits in with your brand’s message. In the infographic below, 21 types of content are laid out that have been shown to produce higher levels of engagement with your audience. Why? We can all relate to it! If you can find a way to incorporate these messages into your posts, then you can be sure to see your engagement rise across all of your marketing channels.

Take a look at the types of content people love and let us know which one you most often engage with, and which one you most often see generating engagement for your brand online! Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!

Social Equity: The Big (Now Even Bigger) Value of Tumblr

May 24, 2013/by Corey Padveen

Tumblr has long been a great tool when it comes to creating Social Equity, and recently it’s value increased even more.

At the beginning of the week, Tumblr was acquired by Yahoo!, and the value of the social blogging platform increased significantly; and that is up from a significant value to begin with.

Blogging is one of the most crucial components to getting found online. Companies that blog get 55% more traffic and 70% more leads. Blogs are a great way of establishing your expertise and developing brand loyalists. We discussed the value of blogging in a Social Equity segment not long ago. The added value of Tumblr is the inherent social aspect.

Tumblr is a social network designed specifically for blogging. The value added to your business is derived from the existing base of readers (Tumblr users) and the integrated social sharing capabilities.

The Social Equity Derived from Tumblr

As noted above, there are two major factors that contribute to the Social Equity derived from your business’s use of Tumblr.

First, there is the existing readership. When you create a blog – either a standalone blog or one on your company’s website – you have to work at reaching a new audience. Essentially, you are one of the billions of pages on the web vying for the attention of a very distracted bunch. Furthermore, you are trying to get a group with an 8-second attention span to read a post containing several hundred words – that’s a tough goal to accomplish.

Tumblr’s existing user base of 216 million monthly visitors are coming for the express purpose of reading an article. The ability to optimize your blog and reach out to an already established audience means a great deal of time and effort saved, and a greater chance of showcasing your brand and expertise to an engaged audience.

Second, there is the social aspect that is inherent to Tumblr. As we mentioned, Tumblr is a social network. The ability to share your content across multiple networks and to reach an audience that expands far beyond your Tumblr followers is of great value. It means that you can quickly build your clout on the network (as well as others) and engage users on Facebook and Twitter (the two additional networks to which you can share your content directly from Tumblr) that might have otherwise never known you had a blog.

Tumblr’s New Value

The biggest news of the week was Yahoo!’s acquisition of Tumblr. While it is speculation at the moment, one can make a few educated assumptions about what that will mean for the future of the network.

As we have seen with Google+ and YouTube, social networks operated by search engines tend to be given heavier weight in search rankings. Therefore, we can safely assume that this same added weight will be given to Tumblr (with regards to tags, keywords, links, etc.) in Yahoo! search results in the very near future. This adds considerable value on top of what was already an impressive degree of Social Equity from the features above.

To read up on some additional facts and figures related to Tumblr, read this article.

Are you using Tumblr? Where do you see the value derived from your activity on the network? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!

Social Media Case Study: Oreo

May 23, 2013/by Corey Padveen

It is tough to say what story was bigger in Super Bowl XLVII: the stadium blackout or Oreo’s real time brilliance.

The most memorable moment of the 2013 Super Bowl was not a last second touchdown, or a heartbreaking finish, but rather a lengthy blackout that broke Twitter records. And what took place on Twitter from the brilliant marketing minds at Oreo was a simple post that blew social media marketers away.

Hundreds of millions of people were watching when the power went out in New Orleans. Twitter began flooding with activity from confused fans and viewers. It wasn’t long before a simple tweet from Oreo became the focus of the entire event, and the focus of marketers, bloggers and news sources for the days that followed.

The tweet was retweeted over 15,000 times, Oreo’s follower count increased by roughly 8,000 and their Facebook post (of the same image) received over 20,000 Likes. Oreo, in the midst of an Instagram campaign, also saw their Instagram follower count increase from about 2,000 to 36,000 after the game – the majority of whom joined in on the campaign after seeing the tweet and/or Facebook post.

The real-time marketing efforts of Oreo were simple, inexpensive, impromptu and the results were outstanding. Below are a few of the key takeaways marketers can learn from this little effort from Oreo that went a long way – very quickly.

Social Media Never Sleeps

Granted, Oreo posted their image during one of the busiest social media events of the year, but the fact remains: if you are running a social media program, you should know that it is not your typical 9-5 gig. A presence on social media needs to be ongoing and engagement with your audience should always be a focal point.

Be Ready When Opportunity Knocks

The marketing team at Oreo was not sitting in a control room waiting for a blackout to occur at the Super Bowl. (Though we are sure there is no shortage of conspiracy theories!) This was a spur of the moment post, and one so topical that it was literally the only thing on anyone’s mind.

Commentary in real-time on ongoing events is always going to receive more recognition than a post that is late to the party. That is not to say that you should have posts waiting and ready to go for any and all events, just don’t miss an opportunity when it comes knowcking, because when it comes to social media, events like this are few and far between, and pass rather quickly.

The Soft Sell is Key

This is a sales ad. Whether or not it looks like one, the goal of this bit of quick-thinking is to get you thinking about Oreo the next time you are in the market. Social media is all about the soft sell. Creating an engaging personality for your brand is what drives sales on social, and that is exactly what this ad does for Oreo. It is quirky, fun, and gets Oreo on the mind.

An ad like this turned thousands of people into brand advocates, and the proof of that is in the shares, likes, comments, retweets and other types of engagement. Remember, when it comes to selling on social media, you want to create content that engages others to share your brand’s message, not just you.

Some quick thinking created a tremendous social media case study for Oreo. A little bit of effort and ingenuity paid off big time, and others took note. Just a short while later when Poland Spring faced a similar situation, they tried a similar response, but were nowhere near as successul as Oreo. They simply weren’t quick enough.

What did you take away from this social media case study? Have you changed your strategy since this took place during the Super Bowl? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!

Social Media Marketing Industry Report 2013 – The Highlights

May 22, 2013/by Corey Padveen

Recently, Social Media Examiner published their 5th annual Social Media Marketing Industry Report, and there were some rather interesting findings.

The Social Media Marketing Industry Report surveys thousands of marketers from a number of industries to get a picture of the state of social media marketing in our industry. The data compiled always provides some excellent insights, and this year proves no different.

Below are some of the most interesting highlights from this year’s report. To read the full report, click here.

The Importance of Social Media is on the Rise

Since last year, there has been a 3% increase – from 83% to 86% – in the proportion of marketers who believe that social media is important to their business. Furthermore, of the marketers surveyed, the most important area where they are looking to increase their presence and knowledge is in the realm of blogging. 62% of marketers want to learn more about blogging and 66% plan on increasing their involvement in the activity. It is, after all, one of the best ways of driving traffic and establishing your brand as an industry-leader.

Measurement is a Top Question

Among the most pressing questions marketers want answered when it comes to social media marketing is measurement criteria. Considering the relative novelty of the marketing platform, there are still a variety of ways in which people are measuring their efforts, and there is no one convention that the industry as a whole sticks to. That is why 87% of marketers are looking for answers when it comes to measuring the return on investment (ROI) from their social media efforts.

There Are Still Marketers Adopting Social Media

A whopping 75% of marketers have been engaging in some form of social marketing for less than three years. Of those, 23% have been engaging in social media marketing for less than twelve months! So if you’ve been involved for a few years now, you’re way ahead of the game.

Marketers Are Slow to Adopt to Mobile

Only about 28% of marketers have optimized their blogs for mobile. Though the number of mobile users accessing the web and blogs is on the rise, many marketers have been slow to match.

Social Media is Becoming Heavily Integrated

A staggering 79% of marketers agree to some extent or another that they have integrated their social media into their regular marketing efforts. It is important to note that social media is not a standalone tool; it is simply another piece of the marketing puzzle that will help you build your brand, and it should be properly incorporated into existing strategies, not replace them entirely.

Exposure and Traffic Are the Biggest Benefits

When asked about the greatest benefits of their social activity, a significant 89% of marketers stated that their brand’s involvement in social media has increased exposure, while 75% stated that they had seen their traffic increase.

Increased Leads from Increased Involvement

Perhaps the most impressive statistic from the report relates to lead generation from social media. According to the survey, by devoting a minimum of six hours per week to social media marketing, roughly 64% of marketers saw an increase in their lead generation from social networks.

These are just a few of the great stats and findings in the report. To read the full report, download it here.

What findings do you find most impressive/shocking/interesting? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!

8 Tips for Optimizing Posts on Social Media

May 21, 2013/by Corey Padveen

Optimizing posts on social media can significantly boost your engagement, reach and influence across a number of networks.

When it comes to optimizing posts on social media, there are certain elements that are universal, and should be applied to posts on every one of your networks. Below we have showcased some of the most important tips when it comes to optimizing posts on social media.

Engage Your Audience

No matter where you are posting, you should be sharing content that engages your audience. Sure, sharing fun facts and information is important, but are you following that up with a related question? Where is the incentive to get your audience commenting, liking, sharing and talking? It is always going to be important that you keep engagement in mind no matter where you are posting.

Optimize Your Content for SEO

Each network contains different elements for SEO. (To find out more about those in detail, read some of these articles.) It is important that SEO is on your checklist when it comes to social media. Each network possesses different benefits when it comes to SEO, and in order to increase your findability, you need to incorporate those into your posting strategy.

Maintain Your Voice

The voice you create for your brand on social media needs to be clear in everything you write. Consistency is going to be crucial to getting your message across. After all, on social media, people are engaging with your brand’s personality, not simply your company. By maintaining that personality across all of your posts, people will be all the more willing to engage with you.

Consistency is Important

A posting spree followed by weeks of silence is going to hurt your brand. Consistently sharing relevant content with your network will keep your brand on the forefront of their mind, and it will do wonders when it comes to converting those fans into customers. Furthermore, sharing content on a regular basis will encourage visitors to return to your page frequently.

Make Sure You Are Linking Back

Social signals are of ever-growing importance in the world of SE (see the point above) and using social media as a back-linking strategy is going to be a big asset. When creating content on any of your chosen networks, be sure that you are linking back to your site whenever possible. As your build your network, this will serve as one of the most important linking strategies you have in place.

Engage in Conversations

Social networks are great for broadcasting your brand and showcasing your expertise, but the best way to see your referral traffic skyrocket is by engaging in the conversation with your network on your own posts. When someone responds to a tweet, post or update on any of your channels, you should engage with them. Whether it is a retweet, a share, or a simple ‘Like’, people will appreciate a reciprocal effort to engage.

Explain Your Links

Simply sharing a link with no explanation as to where it is going will mean a low click-through rate. Create a short but enticing description to go along with your link. Perhaps as a question that encourages the reader to find out more. When linking on social networks, provide readers with a reason to click on it.

Be Visual

There is a reason why Pinterest is so popular – human beings are visual by nature. Google+ is a great place to share images, and on Facebook, photos generate 104% more comments than the average post, and 53% more Likes. Use the visual nature of most social networks to your advantage, and get your content seen.

These are just a few tips you can use when looking to optimize the content you share on social media. Can you offer any other tips? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!

5 Tips to Optimize Landing Pages for Conversion

May 20, 2013/by Corey Padveen

If you properly optimize landing pages for conversion, then you can expect higher clicks, results and engagement!

Social media is a great referral source for landing pages, and with every landing page we are hoping for some form of conversion. Whether that is a sign-up, a download or a purchase, we want visitors to take that next step.

In order for a landing page to work in your favor and lead to that next step, you need to properly optimize landing pages for conversion. There are several ways you can go about doing this – after all, optimizing a site or a page may differ depending on who you are trying to target. But when it comes to surefire ways to effectively optimize landing pages for conversion, there are 5 main items that should always be on your checklist.

Is there a clear Call-to-Action (CTA)?

When I get to your landing page, do I know what to do next? Is it clear how I am supposed to proceed? This is going to be the most important element to any optimized page – you need a clear Call-to-Action.

According to the inbound marketing experts at HubSpot, you’ll want to avoid negative action phrases like “Submit” and focus more on phrases like “Download Now”, “Get Your Free Trial”, “Speak to an Expert” or “Buy Now”. This reduces anxiety and friction for the visitor.

Do You Convey Who You Are?

When I get to your landing page, do I know who you are? Be sure to brand your page. Consistency is everything when it comes to online marketing; you are creating a personality with which people are interacting, and that personality needs to be as apparent on your landing pages as it is on your social networks.

Is It Simple?

Am I going to be turned off by your landing page? Using flash, too many colors and varying fonts is going to turn people off and result in lower conversion rates. You are going to want to keep it simple, to the point and clean. The easier it is for the visitor to find and click on your CTA, the higher those rates are going to be.

(Extra Tip: The only area where there should be a contrasting color on your landing page is in the CTA button.)

Is Your Page Properly Formatted?

Headlines, images, and forms are just a few examples of professionalism when it comes to landing pages. And professionalism is key. If your page is all over the place and I don’t feel like it was put together with professionalism in mind, I am, in all likelihood, going to leave the page without asking for more information, buying now, or downloading your e-book. Proper formatting goes a long way.

Here are some examples of stunning, effective landing pages.

Can Your Content be Shared?

I love what I see. I not only want to get more information for myself, but for my colleagues and friends. Is there a simple way for me to do it?

Make sure your content is shareable. I shouldn’t have to copy your link, go to my Outlook, create an email and do the work for you; the more steps there are, the lower the conversion will be. With the click of a button (using ShareThis, for example) I should be able to share your content to every one of my social networks and my entire email address book.

While you are going to want to configure some landing pages differently based on the audience you are looking to target, these elements should remain consistent across every one of your landing page campaigns.

Have you seen success with landing pages? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!

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