August 2013

Social Equity: Influence Marketing on Social Media

August 30, 2013/by Corey Padveen

Your business can benefit tremendously from influence marketing on social media.

There are few forms of marketing that have as big of an impact as influence marketing on social media. With a very clear understanding of who your industry’s influencers are and a plan on how to leverage their power, you can reach audiences tens if not hundreds of times larger than your own.

In the past, we have looked at case studies like Kotex and Standard Life, where brands leveraged the power of influence marketing to quickly reach their goals and expand their presence online. Here, we aim to explain how this form of online marketing can really add a lot of value to your business in terms of Social Equity.

Influence Marketing Defined

So what exactly is influence marketing?

If you’ve read the case studies we mentioned above, you know that influence marketing has to do with leveraging the influence of others on certain social networks in order to reach a broad audience very quickly.

Generally, influence marketing can be a benefit when it comes to reputation management (e.g. having influencers speak to their audiences on your behalf) or individual campaigns (e.g. having industry influencers promote a campaign to their massive audiences). Furthermore, engaging with influencers and leveraging their power can save you a bundle as well.

The Savings of Influence Marketing

Reaching millions of users can be very expensive. You want to reach a targeted audience with any campaign. What’s more important, however, is reaching an engaged audience. If my campaign has 20 million impressions that’s great, but if not one converts, it’s a failure.

Perhaps the greatest value of influence marketing is the fact that by reaching out to your industry’s influencers, you are essentially reaching out to a very engaged audience by proxy. Influencers did not get to be where they are by building an audience of disinterested followers. People hang on their every word, and if they talk about your brand, you can rest assured that it will translate into buzz and intrigue for your business.

The speed with which all of this takes place – thanks in large part to the inherent nature of social media – makes it a very viable undertaking from an economic standpoint. You can start seeing return within hours of a campaign launching; this is assuming, of course, that it is well thought out and geared towards the right audiences.

By engaging with your influencers and leveraging their power, your business can benefit in a very big way.

Have you ever taken part in a form of influence marketing? Tell us what you did in the comments below or on Twitter!

Social Media Case Study: Financial Times

August 29, 2013/by Corey Padveen

What is there for marketers to learn from the Financial Times social media strategy?

Visit the Financial Times Google+ page and you will see an innovative use of social media by a brand in an industry that many think is outdated. The Financial Times social media channels looks great on the outside, but there is a lot taking place on the inside as well from which marketers can take a lesson or two.

At a 125 years old, the Financial Times is not necessarily a brand that many would expect to see incorporating social media in such a crucial way. With the exception of a select few, like the Huffington Post, news publications tend to use social media for nothing other than a secondary vessel through which to share information. The Financial Times, on the other hand, has adapted their model to incorporate social media to the fullest, and it is paying off in a big way.

There are two key features when it comes to the Financial Times social media program that make it stand out. First, it is engaging with its broad audience on a number of channels, primarily Google+. Second, the marketing team behind this strategy has been paying close attention to the analytics of their social media efforts, and they have been evolving according to the successes and failures they have experienced.

Below are three key lessons that marketers can learn from the marketing team behind the Financial Times social media success.

Sharing Rich Content

Much like the case study we did about H&M, the Financial Times shares rich, social-specific content to their social media audience.

Their networks do not simply regurgitate information posted to their website, they are sharing much more with their audience in order to keep them engaged.

Engaged with the Audience

And speaking of engagement, this is at the forefront of their strategy. They are not simply sharing, they are talking.

The Financial Times has built their network to its current size by engaging with their audience wherever they could. By listening to what is being said, the strategy was able to adapt and appeal to what the audience wanted. This has proven to be among the most successful factors in their strategy.

Monitor Analytics and Adapt

The only way to grow a social media program is to pay close attention to your results, and use that data in order to expand your network. This is exactly what has grown the Financial Times social media program into what it is.

Few brands – in the media field or otherwise – truly pay attention to their metrics. It is hard to imagine considering the weight put on the measurability of social media. By focusing on their analytics, the Financial Times has managed to continually grow their social presence.

Which of these three features do you think is most important for a brand’s success on social media? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!

4 Tips to Properly Manage a LinkedIn Group

August 28, 2013/by Corey Padveen

What is the right way to manage a LinkedIn group?

LinkedIn groups are among the most beneficial features of the business network. The added benefit of having and being able to manage a LinkedIn group of your own can be quite impressive.

As a member of groups on LinkedIn, you are able to engage with users in a similar field, share content relevant to your network and, additionally, find great content being shared by others much more easily. As the manager of a group, however, your brand is at the forefront. Anyone interested in social media is undoubtedly a member of certain LinkedIn groups, like Social Media Today or Social Media Marketing. Building a group as large as these takes quite a bit of work, but the payoff for your brand, blog or website is well worth it.

Below are four crucial tips that you should consider adopting if you want to successfully manage a LinkedIn group.

Promote

It might be nice to think that people will flock to your group the moment you create it, but the reality is that it is going to take quite a bit of work to get the group active.

With well over a million groups on LinkedIn and a quarter of a billion members, you are going to need to get out there and let people know that your group is open for business. The next step, however, is going to ensure that your group continues to grow.

Share

If your group is a barren wasteland with no new content being shared to it, you will likely lose members and disappear from the ranks entirely. People want to see content going up, and as a group moderator, a big part of your job, particularly at the beginning, is going to be sharing content to your new blog.

Conversations get started around insightful and useful posts. Break the ice with your new group members by sharing content first.

Engage

You are not the group’s overlord. Though you might be a moderator, you are as much a part of your LinkedIn group as any other member. As a part of the group, you need to be engaging in conversations, providing input and sharing content just like the rest of your group’s members.

Engagement is at the forefront of any good social media strategy, and it is even more important when you are responsible for a LinkedIn group’s success.

Moderate

While you should be sharing and engaging with your group as if you were a regular member, you should also keep in mind that you are a member with additional responsibilities.

People may try to bombard your group with spam or unsolicited promotions. There is no harm in letting a poster down gently at first, reminding them that the group is about engaging and sharing relevant content, but if you want your group to be taken seriously, you need to give it the attention it deserves. Make sure that users are not abusing your group’s open policy, and clean it up whenever you have to.

Your group is a reflection on you, and you certainly do not want it to look bad.

Do you manage a LinkedIn group? Tell us which one in the comments below or on Twitter!

The 3 R’s of Successful Social Media Marketing

August 27, 2013/by Corey Padveen

What does it take to have a successful social media marketing program in place?

Social media can help propel your business further ahead than you ever thought possible, and much faster than you ever thought, as well. However, in order to find yourself with a successful social media marketing program, there are a few important things you need to keep in mind.

Below are the 3 R’s of a successful social media marketing strategy, and should always be at the forefront of your campaigns.

1. Respect

It sounds simple enough. We all know that we should be respectful of one another online. That said, there is no shortage of examples where brands disrespect each other and, even worse, disrespect their audience.

There is never an excuse for rudeness online. Never mind the fact that it is simply improper etiquette, but from a PR standpoint, everything you say is seen by the world-wide web. When you publish something callous or inappropriate on one of your social channels, your entire online audience, and in all likelihood, some extended audiences will see your brand portrayed in this negative light.

Keep your brand in the good graces of your audience. You might find the socialsphere unnerving and, at some times, completely enraging. It is always important to take a step back and cool your head before responding.

2. Respond

We never tire of pointing this out: engagement is the cornerstone of any successful social media marketing strategy. People are online to talk. If you are leaving comments and questions unanswered, what service is your social marketing program providing for your brand?

It is important that you actively engage in as many of the conversations around your brand as you can. This is helpful for a number of reasons. It keeps you in the loop of what is being said, it shows your audience that you care and, perhaps most beneficial of all, it keeps you abreast of any unhappy customers and allows you to help them deal with their issues before they spiral out of control.

Engage with your audience and your brand will shine on social.

3. Routine

Social media can never be an afterthought. Not if you plan on driving business with it, anyway.

Your social media program needs to be as fully integrated in your overall marketing strategy as anything else. Like a blog, your website or a press release, you should have a content strategy, a posting schedule and an engagement manual that applies to each of your social channels. Taking your social media seriously will result in far greater results than simply posting content whenever you remember to do so, or whenever it is convenient.

What other important rules (not necessarily starting with ‘R’) can you think of when it comes to success with social marketing? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!

Important Social Media Analytics [INFOGRAPHIC]

August 26, 2013/by Corey Padveen

Based on some of these social media analytics, there is no denying that social marketing is continuing to grow.

Despite all the evidence to the contrary, there are still naysayers out there who suggest that there is no significant value when it comes to social media. When you look through some of the social media analytics in the infographic below, it is very hard to agree with that viewpoint.

You have undoubtedly seen them: articles and blog posts talking about the ‘end of Facebook’ or the ‘death of social media’ and frankly, they simply do not match the numbers. Every year (heck, every week!) more and more businesses are involving themselves in social media marketing.

According to the data below, 94% of businesses are involved in social media in some form or another. 94%. And with each poll, it becomes increasingly clear that marketers from every industry – both B2C and B2B – are planning on furthering their involvement in social media. You simply can’t justify the argument that social doesn’t matter. It matters in a very big way.

Take a look at the infographic below and see just how important social marketing already is and see how its growth shows no sign of slowing down.

Which statistic do you find most interesting/important? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!

Social Equity: The Benefits of a BizBlog

August 23, 2013/by Corey Padveen

There can be some notable benefits of a BizBlog for your company, and you should certainly be taking advantage of them.

First, what is a BizBlog? If you guessed the most obvious choice and figured it stands for business blog, you are right. And there can be substantial benefits of a BizBlog for your company.

There are three main areas in which a BizBlog can add considerable value to your brand. First, there are substantial SEO benefits to a blog (and a BizBlog in particular). Second, unlike the majority of social networks, a BizBlog allows you to tout your company’s skills much more aggressively and, in essence, sell your readers on why your brand is the best choice for the job. Lastly, a BizBlog offers you the opportunity to not only showcase your company’s success, but your expertise more so than other social networks.

SEO Benefits of a BizBlog

SEO is still an important (and can be a very expensive) practice. Every business is (or, at least, should be) engaging in it in some way. A blog is an excellent way to boost your SEO success, and a BizBlog adds a few additional SEO benefits on top of the already excellent help a blog provides when it comes to improving your search rankings.

With a BizBlog, you can create links to other articles or pages on your site and boost their effectiveness with anchor text. If you are writing about the best social media marketing company in the business, you can link that to your homepage and help your search rankings. (See what we did there!) Sure, one little link isn’t going to skyrocket your website to the top of the rankings, but it certainly helps both in the short and long runs.

Self-Promotion

Self-promotion is one of those taboo issues that almost any social or digital marketer will tell you to stay away from on social media. Put simply, it is in bad taste. People are not sharing content on social networks to be sold a product.

On your BizBlog, however, people are landing on your content with the expressed intent of finding out more about you and what you do. At that point, it is acceptable to talk about why you are the better choice and why you should be chosen over your competitors to do a job. And that brings us to our third point.

Showcase Your Expertise

In telling your readers why you are the best choice for a job, you might want to highlight what makes you stand out.

A BizBlog is a great place to showcase how much you know, where you brand outshines others and, as with the point above, ultimately sell your readers on picking you for a job. People always want to work with the best, and a BizBlog is a great place to show them why you are that choice.

These three features are very powerful, and add a considerable amount of value to your brand. It is not hard to see how a BizBlog generates Social Equity for your business.

Does your company have a corporate blog? Tell us where we can find it in the comments below or on Twitter!

Social Media Case Study: Examples of Vine by General Electric

August 22, 2013/by Corey Padveen

Video clips are becoming an increasingly popular feature of social media marketing, and there are several examples of Vine used both well and poorly by different brands.

Ever since Twitter’s acquisition of Vine earlier this year, we have seen different brands sharing examples of Vine – sometimes used in an innovative, excellent way, and other times we feel as though they missed the mark completely.

In some cases, when companies use Vine and other short video tools as part of their social media marketing, we can have both good and bad examples of Vine by the same brand.

General Electric tends to use Vine quite often. They have done some very unique and exciting things with the tool, but there have also been instances where they missed the target by a mile. Below is an example of each with some explanations as to why one works while the other falters.

Vine Used Well

On Pi Day (you know, March 14th, or 3.14) General Electric decided to wish everyone a Happy Pi Day with a quick Vine of an endless Pi-themed pie.

https://vine.co/v/bd1xMduMTp9

Why It Works

It is easy, clean and gets a friendly message across is a simple way. While there is a lot you can do in six seconds, you certainly don’t want to do too much. If you’ll recall, The Wolverine tried to pack a two hour movie into a six second Vine. This makes it hard to follow and instead of conveying everything, you end up with nothing that resonates. General Electric hit the right note with this Vine. People who knew what it was for were very appreciative, and it was clear enough that some people probably learned about Pi Day as well.

Vine Used Poorly

Even if you are right on target 99% percent of the time, that still leaves one in every hundred that will not work. This was the case with Inventor’s Day and General Electric’s attempt with Vine.

https://vine.co/v/bvdXevrLW5p

Why It Doesn’t Work

First of all, if you listen to this Vine with sound, you are wondering what in the world is happening. The biggest issue here is that the concept might make sense in theory, but the execution is all wrong.

The Harlem Shake videos were short to begin with, but they work on their own because of certain key features, namely the music and style. They cannot be condensed into six seconds. The issue with this Vine by General Electric is that it is clearly forced, and trying to take advantage of a popular concept for the sake of relating to a mass audience.

The idea does not work organically, and it shows. The key to a Vine is to do something intelligent that fits into the parameters. For this case, it simply did not work on Vine.

What other examples of Vine used both well and poorly can you think of? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!

4 of the Best Content Curation Tools

August 21, 2013/by Corey Padveen

What are some of the best content curation tools that exist for bloggers and marketers?

If you’ve ever written a blog or managed social networks, you know how difficult it can be to consistently produce great, original content for your readers and fans. When publishing content on a regular basis, one of the easiest ways to facilitate the activity is to use one of the best content curation tools on the market.

Below are 4 of the best content curation tools that exist on the web. Take a look at them and see how they can help you find great content to review and share with your readers and fans on social media.

Curata

This enterprise-level content curation software scours the web for topic-relevant content. Though it is not for everyone – it boasts a starting price of roughly $1,000 – it does sift through a tremendous amount of content and produces only the most viable and high quality content to share to your social networks and blog.

There is also an option of hosting a microsite for those without a standalone blog.

Aggregage

Community building is one of the most difficult tasks faced by any social or marketing manager. To build a community around your content requires a lot of time and a serious commitment.

Luckily, Aggregage is designed to build communities around relevant content by sourcing it from around the web. You choose your niche, and Aggregage will find blogs, whitepapers, articles and other bits of content to share to your audience.

BagTheWeb

Have you ever found yourself on a website or blog with great content but no way of sharing it with your communities? BagTheWeb is designed to help you find great content, place it into your topic “bags” and share those “bags” with communities of interested readers.

The tool makes it very easy to collect content from anywhere and share it everywhere.

Eqentia

Though there are plans for individual users with Eqentia, this content curation and engagement platform is designed for serious enterprise users.

The enterprise version of the software allows users to mine for content, curate tens of thousands of items, edit the filters in real-time that bring the content to your portal, re-publish content, brand your curated content, integrate social media accounts and, lastly, monitor analytics to see how your content is being perceived by your audience.

All in all, Eqentia is designed for users that are very serious about publishing topic-specific content.

Though these are some great content curation tools, they are not the only ones. There are several other tools out there – free and paid – that can help you with your publishing efforts.

How do you source great content to share? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!

3 Tips to Help You Benefit from LinkedIn

August 20, 2013/by Corey Padveen

Everyone knows LinkedIn as the business social network, but apart from posting your resume, what are a few things you can do to benefit from LinkedIn?

There are hundreds of millions of users on LinkedIn, but only a small percentage are using the network effectively. There are certain ways users can benefit from LinkedIn far more than by simply posting a resume online and allowing others to see their skills.

Below are three points to keep in mind when using LinkedIn. By incorporating these tips into your LinkedIn strategy, you can rest assured that it will not be long before you start to truly benefit from LinkedIn.

Follow Influencers

Influence is important on any social channel, but it is of particular interest on LinkedIn. Influencers on the business social network are industry influencers. They share great content, have large audiences of like-minded followers and provide lots of insights and wisdom.

Once you follow your industry influencers, be sure to check up on your LinkedIn profile regularly to see what great content is being shared by these folks. Read it, comment and engage and be an active part of the conversation.

Spend Time in Your Groups

Just as you do with your influencers, you should be commenting on, liking and engaging with posts in your groups.

Groups are an extremely important and beneficial feature of LinkedIn. While you should join and be active in as many as possible (the maximum is 50), you should pay attention to where you are finding the best content and where your content is most appreciated, and make those few your top priorities.

People are constantly engaging in group discussions and reading articles shared, and it is important to your LinkedIn success that you do so, as well.

Endorsements and Recommendations

Have you found someone’s content particularly insightful, or worked with someone that was truly an expert in their field? Endorse them for their skills and recommend their work to others.

Though endorsements and recommendations are fairly simple to give, they can go a long way and help you increase the power of your connections. Letting others know that you find someone to be particularly good at something can lead to both those you are endorsing and their connections looking at your profile and possibly endorsing, recommending or even reaching out to you to do business.

These three tips are important to keep in mind if you want to fully benefit from LinkedIn.

What other LinkedIn tips can you think of? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!

20 Interesting Twitter Statistics [INFOGRAPHIC]

August 19, 2013/by Corey Padveen

Twitter has gone through some big changes and the value of the network has been shown in a remarkable way, and these Twitter statistics show just how important it is.

Last week, Carl Icahn sent out a pair of tweets worth approximately $17 billion. Why? He mentioned that Apple was undervalued and the company’s stock shot up to levels it had not reached since January of this year.

It is no secret that Twitter is an extremely powerful channel. As a pseudo broadcast medium, it allots businesses certain privileges that other networks do not, that the ability to direct network traffic to sales-oriented landing pages. You can also engage with audiences in real-time conversations very easily, and you can manage your brand’s reputation and prevent issues from spiralling our of control.

Of the statistics in the infographic from Wishpond below, perhaps the most interesting one relates to the fact that the last valuation of Twitter put it at a healthy $10 billion. One wonders how last week’s events will change the value of the company, and how the structure of Twitter’s model as it applies to companies might change in the coming years.

Take a look at the fun Twitter statistics below and let us know which one you find to be the most interesting/shocking. Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!

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