Twitter is an excellent medium in that it is somewhat more of a broadcast medium than nearly every other social channel. But what tips can you employ in order to get more followers on Twitter?
Building an engaged audience on the social network and sharing relevant, exciting content that drives then to landing pages is a great way to generate more business. Twitter is also an excellent channel in which your brand can establish itself as the authority in a given industry.
The infographic below from Wishpond outlines 7 tips to help you get more Twitter followers. Some of these tips may seem fairly simple, but you might be surprised at how easy it is to forget about one or two when you are building your Twitter audience!
In our opinion, the #1 is perhaps the most important our of all: engage your customer. If you are sharing content with which your audience wants to engage, it is that much easier to convert them into a client.
Take a look at these tips to get more followers on Twitter and let us know which one you think is most important! Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!
https://t2marketinginternational.com/wp-content/uploads/7719fe06686def7ea6d7300190d75cda.jpg00Corey Padveenhttps://t2marketinginternational.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/logo-t2-300x138.pngCorey Padveen2013-07-08 06:15:502013-07-08 06:15:507 Tips to Get More Followers on Twitter [INFOGRAPHIC]
Honda was looking for a way to promote their new CR-V to a specific demographic, and they found that the best way was through Pinterest.
The Honda CR-V has a very specific audience in mind: young adults on the verge of a major step. Whether that is starting a new career, getting married, or beginning parenthood, the Honda CR-V is aimed at making the transition easier for this group.
So how do you market to them?
The Campaign
In 2012, Honda decided to take advantage of the growing addiction to Pinterest among young adults to market their brand. How? By making people stop (for a whole day)! The #Pintermission campaign was intended to get influencers fitting the targeted demographic to stop using Pinterest for 24 hours and go out to live life. This is the aura Honda aimed to cultivate with the new CR-V, and this campaign was how they got that message across.
What was the reward for not pinning? Well, Honda reached out to a group of 5 key influencers and asked them to stop pinning for one day. In return, Honda offered them $500 to put towards making one of their dream pins a reality. Each of the five users was given a board on a designated Honda Pinterest page and asked to pin about activities they dreamed of doing. The reward money for not pinning over the course of 24 hours was then to be put towards making one of these dream activities a reality.
So how did the campaign do? Nearly 5 million users were exposed to the Pintermission boards. Furthermore, these five pinners managed to garner over 5,000 repins and 2,000 likes in a very short time frame. And what’s most impressive? There were over 15 million impressions on different media platforms. That’s a lot of exposure for Honda.
The Lessons
Some of the most important lessons from this social media case study appear to be counter-intuitive when it comes to marketing and advertising. But the proof is in the numbers; this method works.
Never Ignore the Power of Influence
Similar to our social media case study on Kotex, Honda reached out to influencers on Pinterest in the hopes that their reach would mean a viral campaign. Once again, this method proved to be a winner.
Influencers can take your campaign to the next level. Honda reached out to five people. Five. Granted, they have an internationally-recognized brand to fall back on, but they still attained those numbers with little effort. The brunt of the reach was due to the fact that these pinners had 6- and 7-figure follower counts.
Never ignore the power of influence on social media. Your average high-school senior can have more social clout than the most powerful executives in the world. Keep that in mind.
Make It Easy for Others to Do the Work
Apart from creating the #Pintermission campaign and the designated boards for the five pinners, Honda did not have much involvement in the evolution and growth of the campaign. They simply asked that they be included as collaborators on the individual pin boards in order to garner exposure.
There were no fancy apps or special requirements for the pinners to qualify, they simply offered five people a chance to win $500 (that’s right, the campaign only cost $2,500 plus some time) for not using Pinterest. After that, it was entirely up to the participants to provide the content.
By making a simple, straightforward campaign, Honda managed to reach audiences far beyond expectations and for minimal cost. When you open the door for others to collaborate on social networks, you can very easily decrease the costs of running a campaign.
Engagement > Selling
Honda did not, at any point in their campaign, try to sell a car. That was not what this campaign was about. The CR-V is intended to get people off the couch and outside to experience life. This campaign was about making people realize that, and having Honda to thank.
By creating a campaign that promoted the spirit of their product, and linking that product to the campaign, very superficially, Honda managed to capture the attention of a massive portion of their target demographic.
One of the most important marketing rules when it comes to social media is to avoid selling (at least, in most cases). People are on social networks to engage, not to be bombarded with promotional offers. Honda recognized that and their success is the proof that it worked.
What is your favorite aspect of the Honda #Pintermission campaign? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!
https://t2marketinginternational.com/wp-content/uploads/hondalogo.jpg00Corey Padveenhttps://t2marketinginternational.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/logo-t2-300x138.pngCorey Padveen2013-04-25 06:15:442013-04-25 06:15:44Social Media Case Study: Honda
Blogging was one of the incipient forms of social media marketing, and it adds a great deal of Social Equity to your business.
Considering the online attention span is only 8 seconds, it is hard to imagine how a lengthy blog article can be so beneficial when it comes to Social Equity. The fact of the matter remains, blogs address key issues, and if someone lands on your post, it is because you have already grabbed their attention and they want to know more.
Essentially, a blog is a lead generator. People are arriving at your site because you have information they want access to. And if done right, a blog can mean a tremendous increase in business and, subsequently, Social Equity.
The Power of Blogging
While any form of social media marketing is going to require an investment of time and resources, blogging requires a little bit more. Considering you are developing original, lengthier content, it is not surprising that you will need to ramp up your investment and efforts for a blog to function at maximum capacity. But the payoffs can be outstanding.
According to surveys conducted by the inbound marketing experts at HubSpot, blogs can be more powerful than any of your other social activities when it comes to generating business. Their findings showed that 92% of companies blogging multiple times per day acquired a new customer through their blog. And for those companies that simply have a relatively active blog – 57% of those businesses acquired a customer with it. Furthermore, 81% of marketers agreed that their blog was useful to business development and lead generation.
With regards to inbound marketing, perhaps the most surprising statistic was that companies that blog have 97% more inbound links than those that do not. When you consider the added advantage of social link-building, this is a very important statistic.
Social Equity of Blogging
As noted above, Social Equity is derived very directly with blogging. Furthermore, there is an indirect value added to your business from blogging.
With regards to the direct Social Equity, a blog generates leads and business. The ability to acquire new clients directly from your website means that the aforementioned investment blogging requires can be recouped from the direct impact it will have on your business alone.
The indirect impact blogging has on Social Equity is tremendous. Blogging, more so than any other form of social media marketing, enables you to establish yourself as an expert and leader in your industry. You know everything there is to know about your business. How can you show that to people before you acquire them as a client? Blogging is the best means of achieving this. Showcasing your value as an expert to your market is reflected in an added value to your business.
It is clear that blogging can do wonders for your business. With time and devotion, a blog can significantly impact the value of your business in a very positive way. Blogging is amongst the strongest methods of garnering Social Equity.
Have you seen a value added to your business as a result of blogging? How so? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!
https://t2marketinginternational.com/wp-content/uploads/rss.png00Corey Padveenhttps://t2marketinginternational.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/logo-t2-300x138.pngCorey Padveen2013-04-19 06:15:282013-04-19 06:15:28Social Equity: Blogging and Your Business
Social media can mean big things for your business, and the numbers are there to show it.
Considering all the literature, statistics and case studies that exist to show how beneficial social media can be for your business, there are still marketers out there that are hesitant to adopt it. Whether it is a question of not knowing how to use it, or not understanding how to measure it, people still seem to be having a tough time crossing that last hurdle when it comes to implementing a fully integrated social media strategy.
Every second a brand does not have a presence on social media, it is losing out. There is an international conversation taking place and people want to hear from you! Don’t believe us? This infographic gives a short, sweet breakdown of just how active social media is and gives a good indication of how important social media can be for your business.
Read through the information and let us know which statistic you think is the most important when it comes to building your business through social media. Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!
https://t2marketinginternational.com/wp-content/uploads/a30d7d681c1008cb3ca08e1aee7f0809.jpg00Corey Padveenhttps://t2marketinginternational.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/logo-t2-300x138.pngCorey Padveen2013-04-16 06:15:422013-04-16 06:15:42How Social Media Can Help Your Business [INFOGRAPHIC]
Many people do not believe in the power of Google+, but when it comes to Social Equity, the network cannot be ignored.
With regards to Google+, a great degree of the power of the network is derived from the reality that Google+ is owned by Google. Anything with the Google backing is automatically worth your consideration, and there is an inherent element of Social Equity added to your business because of it. But to simply say that the Social Equity of Google+ is derived from the fact that it is operated by Google is superficial and, more importantly, a misstatement.
In this Social Equity segment, we aim to define where the value of Google+ lies, and how businesses can profit from a presence on Google’s social network.
The Power of Google
As noted above, to simply state that Google+ matters because of Google is both true and false. It is the favouritism that Google will undoubtedly show signals coming from it’s own network over others that marketers need to be conscious of.
In last week’s Social Equity segment, we discussed the value added to your business from a linkage of SEO and social media. Google+ plays a major role from this perspective due to the fact that +1s on Google+ automatically register to the network as social signal backlinks. That’s a powerful feature. The fact that activity on Google+ can increase your search rankings means an inherent degree of Social Equity. But where Google+ truly stands out is in its Communities.
Google+ Communities
One of the main criticisms of businesses when it comes to Facebook has to do with the EdgeRank system. Effectively, the EdgeRank system is a complex filtration algorithm that prevents “unwanted” content from appearing in your timeline. Why does “unwanted” have quotes around it? Well, the EdgeRank system determines, based on engagement rates and other factors, what that content is; not you. So essentially, a page may publish a piece of content that you might be interested in, but because of the EdgeRank system, it may not show up on your timeline and the company might lose out on a prospective customer. Bad for business.
With Google+ Communities, there is no risk of this happening. When people join these communities, it is because they all share a common interest. Thus, it is assumed that everyone wants to see all of the content being posted to a group’s feed. So where is the Social Equity? Every bit of content you post to Google+ is seen by those who have shown interest in said content, whether that interest is by joining a community or following your page.
An unlimited potential for exposure means that you can constantly be targeting individuals who have come to you. Google+ is a pseudo-inbound marketing funnel. Considering inbound marketing is 62% more efficient than traditional marketing, it is no wonder there is value added to your business from a presence on Google+.
Despite the wealth of criticism Google+ is subjected to, it endures. The fact of the matter is, with the backing of Google and highly valuable abilities when it comes to social media for business, there is a degree of Social Equity involved with Google+ that no other network offers.
How do you find value added to your business as a result of Google+ marketing? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!
https://t2marketinginternational.com/wp-content/uploads/google-+.png00Corey Padveenhttps://t2marketinginternational.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/logo-t2-300x138.pngCorey Padveen2013-04-12 06:15:472013-04-12 06:15:47Social Equity: How Google+ Adds Value to Your Business
Pinterest marketing underwent a major overhaul recently with the site’s re-design, and there are a lot of changes marketers need to be aware of when it comes to Pinterest marketing.
Pinterest has long been a favorite medium for the visual marketer. In fact, last week, our Social Equity segment focused on the value added to your business as a result of your Pinterest marketing efforts. Well, we thought we would start the week off in similar fashion by showing you exactly what (major) changes Pinterest has undergone in the last couple of weeks as a result of their site re-deign, and how your Pinterest marketing strategies might need to be tweaked as a result.
One of the most interesting sections in the infographic below is the ‘Features Removed’ category, which details what is no longer available on Pinterest. When it comes to Pinterest marketing, the three most important features to disappear are undoubtedly links, tweeting pins and liking boards on Facebook.
With regards to links, do not forget that embedded links still exist, so make sure to embed a link to your website or landing page in each of your images. It is the featured link in your description that is no longer included. The difficulty that arises with the other two lost features is that it makes one’s efforts to create a cohesive, interconnected social media marketing strategy somewhat more difficult. You’ll need to be a little more creative when it comes to your Pinterest marketing in order to maintain brand consistency across all of your social networks.
That said, the features added to the newly re-designed Pinterest make Pinterest marketing a whole lot of fun, and introduce an entirely new business aspect to the photo sharing social network.
Have a look at the infographic below and let us know what your favorite new feature is or what you will miss most from the old Pinterest design! Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!
This week’s social media case study focuses on one of the most socially innovative airlines around: KLM.
When it comes to social media case studies, airlines often prove to have some of the most impressive, influential and trendsetting results. Yet, despite all of the data that supports the adoption of innovative social media marketing initiatives for airlines, few seem to be as willing to go the distance as KLM.
KLM’s social media program is brilliant…and they know it. When it comes to converting social media fans into paying customers, KLM is among the most successful brands around. In fact, on the KLM Facebook page, there is a section that breaks down their social media campaigns, explains how they went about executing them and posts the results. Effectively, they are their own social media case study as to why social is important to business. But our focus is a little deeper than that when it comes to our weekly case study. We aim to pull out the lessons marketers can learn from the KLM social media program as a whole.
The Campaigns
Featured on the KLM Facebook page are seven of their most successful social media campaigns. These campaigns include everything from “KLM Surprise” whereby special gifts would be presented to passengers who checked into flights using Foursquare or Twitter, to the “KLM Tile & Inspire” campaign whereby Facebook fans were asked to convert their Facebook profile picture into a Delft Blue tile and complete that tile with an inspiring message to be used as part of a mosaic design on a KLM aircraft that would travel across the globe. Below are two videos breaking down these campaigns.
KLM Surprise
KLM Tile & Inspire
Each campaign was equally inspired and generated similar results. For the two campaigns above, KLM reaped some considerable social benefits. The breakdown of the two featured campaigns by the numbers is below:
KLM Surprise Analytics
Foursquare
17.528 followers
Youtube
154,722 views
Twitter
1.597 followers
Tweet reach
2,6 mln
KLM Tile & Inspire Analytics
Created tiles
120.000
Number of countries where tiles were created
154
Views of the 2 videos
1.3 million
Number of destinations the 777 flew to
23
While the analytics are impressive enough as it is, the fact that KLM went on to further convert many of these fans is all the more notable. But what we wish to focus on is what KLM did that was as innovative and bold as it was simple and calculated.
The Lessons
Be Bold (But the Right Way)
KLM has had far from a conventional approach to their social media program. From presenting new meal options using Facebook videos that introduce the “chefs” (the “KLM A La Carte” campaign) to the controversial “KLM Meet and Seat” campaign that gave passengers the ability to preview their seat mates based on social profiles, KLM has dared to be innovative with each of their social media campaigns. But it is important to keep something in mind: the marketing execs at KLM knew exactly what they were doing, and these risks were as calculated as any.
By understanding the lead to conversion process, the KLM executives were able to put these campaigns together using careful market research, amalgamated and improved data from their own failed exploits (discussed below), and a clear understanding of the sales process for both the customer and the brand. You don’t garner new customers from social media by doing the same thing as everyone else (hence, the “Be Bold” part of the lesson) but you certainly won’t find them if you scare them away (and that covers the “Right Way” aspect). So keep in mind that for a social media campaign to work, you need to impress your audience and have the data to support your seemingly daring decisions.
Never Be Afraid to Try Something New
Social media is still in its infancy, and social media marketing even more so. There is no shortage of innovation out there, and with the ever-changing landscape of social media, you should never be afraid to be first to market. Your first-mover advantage will be huge when people see you doing something that no one has done before. KLM understands that and they have capitalized on it at every turn.
The airline only jumped into social media in 2009, but in these short few years they have managed to try their hand at virtually every campaign available on social media. Whether it is a Facebook campaign, a Foursquare promotion, a YouTube contest or a Twitter “Live Reply” campaign wherein the airline responded to user tweets using up to 140 REAL people to spell out the message, you should never be afraid to try something that has never been done before. When it comes to social media, people want something they have not yet seen.
Try, Fail, Fix, Repeat
No one knows failed experiments better than KLM. Sure, they might have the budgetary luxury of making these mistakes, but over time they have learned exactly what they should not be doing in order to perfect their social campaigns. And on a smaller scale, you should never be afraid of the mistakes you make when it comes to social media. As we noted above, this is an incipient form of marketing; people are bound to make mistakes. But when you do, note your errors, redraft your campaign taking that into account, and start again.
For KLM, one of their big blunders came in 2011 when they offered a promotional gift to the first 50 male and first 50 female “Likers” of a post. Within minutes they had 1,500 “Likes” and no way of knowing which came when. Oops! But what is important is that KLM recognized their mistakes, fixed them and, more importantly, accepted their failures. And that brings us to our final lesson.
Humility is an Underrated Trait
People appreciate humility. It is a humanizing trait, particularly when it comes from a company as large and reputable as KLM. That is why the last important lesson to pull from KLM is that, while you might be a big brand, social media is a place for you to simply be a voice in the conversation. While an image needs to be maintained, you can be a little less corporate and little more fun when it comes to social (respecting professional boundaries, of course). As we never tire of pointing out, social media is about exactly that: being social. Not only does KLM have a post on their blog detailing some of their yearly bloopers, but they also make an important point in their step-by-step guide on running their social media program:
“Not that campaigns always need to be global and spectacular. Many of our establishments have successfully launched their local pages, and we’ve learned that the power often lies in simplicity — like showing the interior of a cockpit, or thanking someone for notifying us about broken lighting on our KLM sign. Our creative editorial board delivers a daily dose of captivating, engaging posts through our various channels.
Social campaigns have won us several awards, but it hasn’t been one success after the next. We’ve certainly had our share of bloopers. But rather than hushing them up, we decided to make them public and take them as a learning experience. And as it turned out, people liked us even more for it.”
Well said.
What lesson do you think is most important in the case study of KLM? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!
https://t2marketinginternational.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/logo-t2-300x138.png00Corey Padveenhttps://t2marketinginternational.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/logo-t2-300x138.pngCorey Padveen2013-03-21 06:15:352013-03-21 06:15:35Social Media Case Study: KLM Airlines
Social media is a worldwide network, but every aspect of that network – from Facebook, to LinkedIn, to Twitter – is different, and as a result there will be different posting strategies employed in each.
Social media marketing is all about expanding your reach at every turn. Considering the vastness of your audience, it would be devastating to waste a solid piece of content on a dormant audience. As we like to say, if a post falls on social media at the wrong time, will anybody see it?
We thought that it might be helpful to break down where and when you should be posting based on best times to post by network. Before you can employ these tips, however, you need to answer two questions. First, what are the features of the audience you are hoping to target? In other words, what demographics are you targeting? Second, where does you content best fit when it comes to social media? Once you have established answers to these two important questions, then you can apply these tips and see your reach skyrocket on social media!
Best Times to Post
People are constantly asking what the best times to post on social media are, and the reality is that the easy answer is, “It depends.” Who are you looking to target? Night owls? Then these general data will not apply to your niche. However, based on amalgamated survey data, these are the best times to post to different social networks.
Facebook
For Facebook, traffic hits a peak between 1p.m. and 4p.m. The best time for traffic on the social network is Wednesdays at 3p.m. On the other hand, posting first thing in the morning (as people are getting to work) and between 8p.m. and 8a.m. will leave your post stranded on Facebook with few, if any, being reached.
Twitter
What is important to note for Twitter is that business hours are key, with an emphasis on the afternoon (1p.m.-3p.m. more specifically). After 11a.m., traffic on Twitter begins to build and by mid- to late-afternoon, it reaches its zenith. However, posting in the late afternoon on Fridays, or between 8p.m. and 9a.m. will, once again, leave your tweets with few users engaged.
LinkedIn
Leading up to and away from business hours is when you stand to see the highest exposure on LinkedIn. From 7a.m.-9a.m. and 5p.m.-6p.m. is when your reach will be maximized on the social network, while 10p.m.-6a.m. will generate the least exposure. Traffic also tends to fade during business hours on LinkedIn, and Mondays and Fridays are statistically a little quieter than the rest of the week.
Google+
Google+ is most active during business hours, with a peak being hit between 9a.m. and 11a.m. However, as you head out of the business day, traffic tends to slow and doesn’t pick up until the following morning. Evening posts generate the lowest reach on Google+.
Pinterest
Pinterest is where the night owls show up. (Well, also the afternoon owls.) Traffic on Pinterest begins to build after noon, and peaks between 2p.m. and 4p.m. and again between 8p.m. and 1a.m. However, avoid posting to Pinterest during dinner hours! Between 5p.m. and 7p.m. is when your exposure stands to be the lowest, and the same holds true for the couple of hours leading up to dinner. But Saturday morning is the Pinterest gold mine – this is the point in the week where the network has its highest traffic.
Now, these are all the hours where your content stands to garner the most exposure due to the traffic on the social networks. However, consider in your strategy whether you want to be competing at peak hours, or if you would rather be one of the few competing for attention in non-peak hours. For example, the weekend may not be the busiest time of the week for Facebook, but there is still a large audience on the network and very few businesses posting to it. Furthermore, there is a higher share ratio on Facebook on the weekend. Think about it!
When have you found is the best time to post to different social networks? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter! And don’t forget to ‘Like’ us on Facebook!
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Engagement on social media is one of the cornerstones of an effective social media program; but too many people go about it the wrong way.
So what can you be doing when it comes to social media engagement to ensure that you are doing it the right way? People are constantly talking about engaging on social media – ourselves included – but so few people give effective tips on how to engage with your fan base properly. Sure, every person and brand is going to develop their own unique voice when it comes to social media, but there are certain DOs and certain DO NOTs that everyone should be following when it comes to engaging with their fan base on social networks.
Today, we have decided to feature some of those tips to help your brand engage effectively on social media to ensure that you don’t run the risk of losing your audience or worse, having them comment negatively in a social forum.
1. DABC: Don’t Always Be Closing
In the Mamet-penned monumental monologue in the classic film Glengarry Glen Ross, the character of Blake (played by an Oscar-nominated Alec Baldwin in the film adaptation) gives a haunting speech to a group of terrified realtors wherein he tells them that they should follow the ABCs of selling: Always Be Closing. That might have worked for those realtors, but the reality of social media is that a better piece of advice would be to follow your DABCs.
You can’t always be closing when it comes to engaging on social media. Sure, the goal for most social marketers is to eventually convert leads generated on social networks into customers, but we can’t jump into our engagement attempting to close. We need to build a rapport with our leads and the only way to do that is to engage with them on a human level, not on a salesman-only level. That’s sure to turn them off.
It also brings us to our next point.
2. Talk Like a Human
If there’s one thing that people hate about engaging with certain corporate accounts, it is that it feels like just that: all business. There is no emotion or opinion behind a comment or post. Now, of course one has to take into account the political aspect that comes with running a social media program as a large company. Those in charge of engaging cannot say whatever they want. There is an image to maintain and thus, a certain standard to keep.
That said, if you feel like social media is the right place for your business to have a presence, then develop a strategy for engagement before you get started. People are going to reach out to your brand, and they want to feel like they are talking to someone there, not a computer directing them to simply call a customer service line for more information.
3. Don’t Discriminate
You might think that the only place where you stand to benefit from your engagement is with your industry’s influencers. And while it might be true that engaging with people who have thousands of fans or followers might lead to a quick gain, it is not always going to pay off. There are far more people out there with seventy-five or one hundred followers than those with seventy-five or one hundred thousand.
In a social media case study we did about Old Spice a few weeks ago, we noted that where Old Spice found the most success was in their ability to engage with any type of user in the same way, whether they were famous or simply Twitter fans with a few dozen followers. The payoffs were enormous for Old Spice and any marketer should take this as a lesson that it doesn’t pay to discriminate when it comes to engaging on social media.
4. Fashionably Late is a Social Faux Pas
Social media is an ongoing conversation. People are talking constantly and, when it comes to your brand, they are talking to you. And when it comes to all that social media has to offer and the fact that a recent study showed that the average online attention span is roughly 8 seconds, you can’t expect people to be waiting around for your response for too long.
We live in a fast-paced society and nothing embodies that better than social media. So when someone engages with your brand, do everything you can to respond as quickly as possible. You are half of the social conversation, so you can’t be late to the party.
5. Never Ignore Questions or Negative Comments
We thought we would save the most important for last. This is one rule we advocate above all others. When it comes to your brand’s image both in the eyes of your customers and the general public, the two types of posts you never want to ignore are questions and negative comments.
First, let’s look at questions. When someone goes out of their way to engage with your brand and ask a question, they are generally doing so because they want an answer. They are, for lack of a better analogy, calling for more information. This is a traditional call to action that we see in ads and commercials, and social media takes the first part of that CTA out of the equation. So when someone has a question, answer it! You wouldn’t have a hotline for leads to call in to if you didn’t have anyone manning the phones, would you? This is the same concept.
Next, you should never ever ignore negative comments. In doing so, you are basically burying your head in the sand while the whole world sees your flaws. If anything, negative comments are a great way to do two things. First, they are a chance for you to show the world how much you care about your customers by dealing with an issue on the social stage for all to see. Second, they are a great way to turn people into brand advocates. Social media is one of the best avenues in which to generate new brand advocates and negative comments are one of the ways to go about doing this.
What is your strategy when it comes to social media engagement? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!
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Marketing is no longer about simply our time; there are hundreds of marketing tools that can help us succeed.
Recently, we loaded an infographic with a detailed breakdown of the social media tools that we can use as marketers to improve and simplify our social media marketing. Well, this is just a small realm of marketing tools that exist to help facilitate the marketing process.
The world of technology has meant quite a bit of change from a marketing perspective. The advent of different tools has resulted in two things: first, on a superficial level, there world of technology may appear somewhat perplexing at an initial glance. After all, these are a set of tools that we have never seen before and, more importantly, there are so many of them that we may not know how to go about using them in a strategic manner. Second, these tools have added an entirely new realm to the world of marketing. And not only from a social media perspective. They have opened up the marketing world to so much more, and it is pretty clear why. The possibilities that these tools offer are virtually endless!
Below is a breakdown of nearly every piece of marketing technology that exists out there today. Take a look through the infographic and look up some of the tools you are unfamiliar with. It’s a great way to build your knowledge.
Do you use any of these tools for your marketing efforts? Which of these do you think is the best? Why? Are there any you haven’t used before that you are going to try? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!
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Tag Archive for: social media marketing strategies
Honda was looking for a way to promote their new CR-V to a specific demographic, and they found that the best way was through Pinterest.
The Honda CR-V has a very specific audience in mind: young adults on the verge of a major step. Whether that is starting a new career, getting married, or beginning parenthood, the Honda CR-V is aimed at making the transition easier for this group.
So how do you market to them?
The Campaign
In 2012, Honda decided to take advantage of the growing addiction to Pinterest among young adults to market their brand. How? By making people stop (for a whole day)! The #Pintermission campaign was intended to get influencers fitting the targeted demographic to stop using Pinterest for 24 hours and go out to live life. This is the aura Honda aimed to cultivate with the new CR-V, and this campaign was how they got that message across.
What was the reward for not pinning? Well, Honda reached out to a group of 5 key influencers and asked them to stop pinning for one day. In return, Honda offered them $500 to put towards making one of their dream pins a reality. Each of the five users was given a board on a designated Honda Pinterest page and asked to pin about activities they dreamed of doing. The reward money for not pinning over the course of 24 hours was then to be put towards making one of these dream activities a reality.
So how did the campaign do? Nearly 5 million users were exposed to the Pintermission boards. Furthermore, these five pinners managed to garner over 5,000 repins and 2,000 likes in a very short time frame. And what’s most impressive? There were over 15 million impressions on different media platforms. That’s a lot of exposure for Honda.
The Lessons
Some of the most important lessons from this Case Studies appear to be counter-intuitive when it comes to marketing and advertising. But the proof is in the numbers; this method works.
Never Ignore the Power of Influence
Similar to our Case Studies on Kotex, Honda reached out to influencers on Pinterest in the hopes that their reach would mean a viral campaign. Once again, this method proved to be a winner.
Influencers can take your campaign to the next level. Honda reached out to five people. Five. Granted, they have an internationally-recognized brand to fall back on, but they still attained those numbers with little effort. The brunt of the reach was due to the fact that these pinners had 6- and 7-figure follower counts.
Never ignore the power of influence on social media. Your average high-school senior can have more social clout than the most powerful executives in the world. Keep that in mind.
Make It Easy for Others to Do the Work
Apart from creating the #Pintermission campaign and the designated boards for the five pinners, Honda did not have much involvement in the evolution and growth of the campaign. They simply asked that they be included as collaborators on the individual pin boards in order to garner exposure.
There were no fancy apps or special requirements for the pinners to qualify, they simply offered five people a chance to win $500 (that’s right, the campaign only cost $2,500 plus some time) for not using Pinterest. After that, it was entirely up to the participants to provide the content.
By making a simple, straightforward campaign, Honda managed to reach audiences far beyond expectations and for minimal cost. When you open the door for others to collaborate on social networks, you can very easily decrease the costs of running a campaign.
Engagement > Selling
Honda did not, at any point in their campaign, try to sell a car. That was not what this campaign was about. The CR-V is intended to get people off the couch and outside to experience life. This campaign was about making people realize that, and having Honda to thank.
By creating a campaign that promoted the spirit of their product, and linking that product to the campaign, very superficially, Honda managed to capture the attention of a massive portion of their target demographic.
One of the most important marketing rules when it comes to social media is to avoid selling (at least, in most cases). People are on social networks to engage, not to be bombarded with promotional offers. Honda recognized that and their success is the proof that it worked.
What is your favorite aspect of the Honda #Pintermission campaign? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!
This week’s Case Studies focuses on one of the most socially innovative airlines around: KLM.
When it comes to social media case studies, airlines often prove to have some of the most impressive, influential and trendsetting results. Yet, despite all of the data that supports the adoption of innovative social media marketing initiatives for airlines, few seem to be as willing to go the distance as KLM.
KLM’s social media program is brilliant…and they know it. When it comes to converting social media fans into paying customers, KLM is among the most successful brands around. In fact, on the KLM Facebook page, there is a section that breaks down their social media campaigns, explains how they went about executing them and posts the results. Effectively, they are their own Case Studies as to why social is important to business. But our focus is a little deeper than that when it comes to our weekly case study. We aim to pull out the lessons marketers can learn from the KLM social media program as a whole.
The Campaigns
Featured on the KLM Facebook page are seven of their most successful social media campaigns. These campaigns include everything from “KLM Surprise” whereby special gifts would be presented to passengers who checked into flights using Foursquare or Twitter, to the “KLM Tile & Inspire” campaign whereby Facebook fans were asked to convert their Facebook profile picture into a Delft Blue tile and complete that tile with an inspiring message to be used as part of a mosaic design on a KLM aircraft that would travel across the globe. Below are two videos breaking down these campaigns.
KLM Surprise
KLM Tile & Inspire
Each campaign was equally inspired and generated similar results. For the two campaigns above, KLM reaped some considerable social benefits. The breakdown of the two featured campaigns by the numbers is below:
KLM Surprise Analytics
Foursquare
17.528 followers
Youtube
154,722 views
Twitter
1.597 followers
Tweet reach
2,6 mln
KLM Tile & Inspire Analytics
Created tiles
120.000
Number of countries where tiles were created
154
Views of the 2 videos
1.3 million
Number of destinations the 777 flew to
23
While the analytics are impressive enough as it is, the fact that KLM went on to further convert many of these fans is all the more notable. But what we wish to focus on is what KLM did that was as innovative and bold as it was simple and calculated.
The Lessons
Be Bold (But the Right Way)
KLM has had far from a conventional approach to their social media program. From presenting new meal options using Facebook videos that introduce the “chefs” (the “KLM A La Carte” campaign) to the controversial “KLM Meet and Seat” campaign that gave passengers the ability to preview their seat mates based on social profiles, KLM has dared to be innovative with each of their social media campaigns. But it is important to keep something in mind: the marketing execs at KLM knew exactly what they were doing, and these risks were as calculated as any.
By understanding the lead to conversion process, the KLM executives were able to put these campaigns together using careful market research, amalgamated and improved data from their own failed exploits (discussed below), and a clear understanding of the sales process for both the customer and the brand. You don’t garner new customers from social media by doing the same thing as everyone else (hence, the “Be Bold” part of the lesson) but you certainly won’t find them if you scare them away (and that covers the “Right Way” aspect). So keep in mind that for a social media campaign to work, you need to impress your audience and have the data to support your seemingly daring decisions.
Never Be Afraid to Try Something New
Social media is still in its infancy, and social media marketing even more so. There is no shortage of innovation out there, and with the ever-changing landscape of social media, you should never be afraid to be first to market. Your first-mover advantage will be huge when people see you doing something that no one has done before. KLM understands that and they have capitalized on it at every turn.
The airline only jumped into social media in 2009, but in these short few years they have managed to try their hand at virtually every campaign available on social media. Whether it is a Facebook campaign, a Foursquare promotion, a YouTube contest or a Twitter “Live Reply” campaign wherein the airline responded to user tweets using up to 140 REAL people to spell out the message, you should never be afraid to try something that has never been done before. When it comes to social media, people want something they have not yet seen.
Try, Fail, Fix, Repeat
No one knows failed experiments better than KLM. Sure, they might have the budgetary luxury of making these mistakes, but over time they have learned exactly what they should not be doing in order to perfect their social campaigns. And on a smaller scale, you should never be afraid of the mistakes you make when it comes to social media. As we noted above, this is an incipient form of marketing; people are bound to make mistakes. But when you do, note your errors, redraft your campaign taking that into account, and start again.
For KLM, one of their big blunders came in 2011 when they offered a promotional gift to the first 50 male and first 50 female “Likers” of a post. Within minutes they had 1,500 “Likes” and no way of knowing which came when. Oops! But what is important is that KLM recognized their mistakes, fixed them and, more importantly, accepted their failures. And that brings us to our final lesson.
Humility is an Underrated Trait
People appreciate humility. It is a humanizing trait, particularly when it comes from a company as large and reputable as KLM. That is why the last important lesson to pull from KLM is that, while you might be a big brand, social media is a place for you to simply be a voice in the conversation. While an image needs to be maintained, you can be a little less corporate and little more fun when it comes to social (respecting professional boundaries, of course). As we never tire of pointing out, social media is about exactly that: being social. Not only does KLM have a post on their blog detailing some of their yearly bloopers, but they also make an important point in their step-by-step guide on running their social media program:
“Not that campaigns always need to be global and spectacular. Many of our establishments have successfully launched their local pages, and we’ve learned that the power often lies in simplicity — like showing the interior of a cockpit, or thanking someone for notifying us about broken lighting on our KLM sign. Our creative editorial board delivers a daily dose of captivating, engaging posts through our various channels.
Social campaigns have won us several awards, but it hasn’t been one success after the next. We’ve certainly had our share of bloopers. But rather than hushing them up, we decided to make them public and take them as a learning experience. And as it turned out, people liked us even more for it.”
Well said.
What lesson do you think is most important in the case study of KLM? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!
The use of Pinterest and social media by Kotex proved to be one of the most successful and innovative social media campaigns run to date.
With the major announcement yesterday that Pinterest would now provide analytics to its business users, we thought an appropriate Case Studies this week would involve the use of the social network. And what better Pinterest-themed Case Studies than its use by Kotex last year to celebrate women’s inspiration.
The Campaign
As the world of social media exploded with the introduction of Pinterest last year, the first network of its kind, dominated almost entirely by women, Kotex and their social media marketing team had the brilliant idea to run a social media campaign centered on the women of Pinterest.
The brilliance lay in how they decided to design the program. Effectively, Kotex sought out the 50 most influential women they could find on the social network after reviewing thousands of accounts and their followers, and began searching through their boards to determine what inspired them. After that, they put together customized gift boxes inspired by these women’s boards, and reached out to these influencers on social media to share these gifts with them. They asked for only one thing in return: to repin the gift.
The results were far greater than what Kotex could have hoped for. Not only did nearly 100% of the 50 women comply with the simple request, but they went above and beyond. These women posted pictures of each component of the gift on both Pinterest and Instagram, made comments on Twitter, Facebook and reached out to their extended networks to tell them all about this wonderful gesture by Kotex.
By the end of the campaign – well, the end of Kotex’s analytics of the campaign, without measuring the extended secondary reach that the virality of the campaign created – Kotex had measured over 2,200 interactions and nearly 700,000 impressions. That’s quite the reach from contacting only 50 people directly!
Take a look at this video for a more comprehensive breakdown of the campaign:
The Lessons
There is a lot we can learn as marketers from this campaign. But when we consider the fact that this social media campaign relied heavily on a viral effect, we think the best lessons to pull from the Kotex Case Studies relate to the importance of influencers.
Find Your Influencers
Kotex knew their demographic and the audience they could reach, but they knew that referrals are so much more powerful than direct marketing. It was for that reason that the marketing executives at Kotex went looking for their social media influencers on Pinterest.
These were women who had a reach far beyond that of Kotex alone. And they were women with an audience that filled two vital criteria: the audience was made up of the right demographics and the audience was highly engaged with these influencers. When you can turn influential people into brand advocates, you can rest assured that you are going to generate quite a bit of new business. But in order to find these influencers, you need to keep this next lesson very much in the forefront of your thinking.
Influencers Can Be Anybody!
The women to whom Kotex sent gifts were not on any Forbes power list, they were not First Ladies and they were not Manhattan socialites – they were normal. (Well, that is not to say that these other women are not “normal” but you know what we mean.) These were every day women who happened to build a large and highly engaged following on Pinterest by simply being active and posting content their followers loved to share. It took a lot of insight for the marketing executives at Kotex to understand this.
When it comes to social media, industry influencers are no longer part of a closed off group comprised of the economic and social elite – anyone and everyone has the ability to be an influencer. Marketers need to keep this in mind.
Small Gestures Go A Long Way
The gift baskets sent by Kotex did not include fancy electronics, or high-priced jewelry. They were simply made up of small knick-knacks that Kotex knew these women would love because they did their research. Kotex could easily have sent them gift certificates for a lifetime supply of Kotex products, but rest assured, the returns would have been far fewer.
The reason why there was such a high response rate and such a viral effect was because Kotex customized these gifts to the tastes of the recipients. They did not need to include lavish, overpriced items because they knew that what they had included was worth much more. A little research into their industry influencers resulted in the numbers you see above. So remember, a little thought can get you a lot further than the easiest option.
Create Limitless Campaigns
Kotex asked these women to do one thing: repin the gifts. A simple request. But the beauty of social media is that these women decided, on their own accord, to take the Kotex campaign to the next level, and involve virtually every avenue of social media they had access to. Kotex created a campaign that had an inherently viral element to it; by giving these women individually-inspired gifts and making them feel unique, it was only a matter of time before they shared the experience with their communities. Furthermore, Kotex did not give these women an ultimatum. The gifts were not a bribe, they were simply gifts with one small request. Giving these women the freedom to do what they wished with regards to sharing the gifts and experience with their communities led to them immediately taking the opportunity to boast about how special they felt thanks to Kotex.
Don’t Hope to Go Viral – Work Your Way There
Kotex was lucky that the campaign was as innovative and original as it was. At the time, Pinterest was the newest, hottest social network and Kotex was the first brand to take advantage of it in the way that they did. First-mover advantage worked wonders for the Kotex brand, but we cannot all hope that our social media campaigns will go viral the way the Kotex campaign did. So, when putting together your next campaign, reach out to your influencers, but don’t neglect the average customer or social media fan. After all, by targeting influencers, the ultimate audience whom you hope to reach is the average user, so make an effort to reach out to every person you can. Brand loyalty is brand loyalty wherever you find it.
The Kotex example is one of the finest uses of Pinterest and social media to date. As marketing on social media continues to evolve, it is certain that we can expect other campaigns to catch on as virally as this one did, but with regards to the use of influencers, it is hard to think of another example as perfect a Case Studies as this one.
How are you reaching out to your influencers? What methods do you use to determine who your industry influencers are? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!
Social media turned the Old Spice brand into a personality with which people were eager to engage.
In the last few years, Old Spice has become a crowned jewel of social media. Their campaigns consistently skyrocket and the brand has developed such a distinct personality that anyone familiar with the brand can recognize one of their campaigns almost immediately. What is most fascinating about their branding, you ask? Well, perhaps it is the fact that, unlike Rome, it was built in a day. (Well, not a day, but you get the idea.)
In today’s Case Studies, we aim to explain how Old Spice used social media to quickly (and quite successfully) create a virtual personality that led to the explosion of their brand in new markets and demographics.
The Background
In 2010, Old Spice created the character that has widely become known as “The Old Spice Guy” and the campaign developed an instant following. When a second commercial aired with the same praise and hype, Old Spice decided to go the social media route, and did something brilliant: they never broke character.
Slowly, the proliferation of the Old Spice brand on social media began to pick up steam, and, as if by divine intervention, Old Spice did not seem to slip up in any of their steps along the way, creating a set of guidelines that any marketer should adopt when attempting to create a social media personality for a brand.
The Lessons
Be Original
People are always intrigued by something they have never seen before. Until their campaign, no one had ever seen a brand persona like the one Old Spice had created. Of course, since the dawn of marketing there have been mascots and spokespeople, but never a brand personality so bold that clients and fans were eager to engage with it.
Originality is much easier said than done, of course. It is not every day that you are going to wake up with an idea that no one had ever thought of before. Countless brands have attempted to do what Old Spice has done in the last couple of years, but few have been successful. But thinking outside the box is exactly what made Old Spice so successful, and that is the first step to creating a winning social media campaign.
Be Consistent
The second, and possibly the most important step that Old Spice took was maintaining brand consistency across every channel onto which they expanded. Have a look at the Old Spice Twitter account. You’ll notice that the witty, charming and larger-than-life personality they originally created a few years ago exists there as well. The same holds true for their other social media channels. Brand consistency is one of the most crucial aspects when it comes to developing brand loyalty. After all, how can fans recognize your brand instantaneously if there are major differences between your channels?
So remember, once you have that winning edge, maintain it on every level of your marketing, particularly in social media where you will be engaging with your audience. Which brings us to the next takeaway…
Never Stop Engaging
Commercials are one thing, but ongoing, personalized and genuine engagement with its fan base is what led to the ongoing success of Old Spice’s social media efforts. As with any campaign, Old Spice knew that eventually fans would move on and grow tired of the standard promotional commercials. So what did they do? They (once again) never broke character and engaged with their fans through personalized responses (whether they were tweets, videos or posts) in a timely and comedic fashion.
This kept fans coming back, asking questions or making comments in the hopes that “The Old Spice Guy” would respond to them. What did this mean for the Old Spice brand (as a company)? It meant increased brand loyalty through the strategic use of social media. As we noted above, people fell in love with the personality Old Spice had created on social media, and this kept them coming back to the brand on social media, and anxiously awaiting more content. As far as the business side of things was concerned, it meant a very quick 107% increase in sales.
Avoid Selling on Social Media
Last but certainly not least, Old Spice avoided selling their product on social media. Of course, posting commercials that are meant to advertise the product is different, but as far as engaging with fans goes, Old Spice kept to entertaining and shied away from selling. People like personalities, not salespeople, and Old Spice recognized that. And it was the right thing to do. After all, the personality they created took care of the sales, which is clear in the numbers above.
Old Spice showed that creating a personality on social media that engages with its audience (Old Spice was engaging with fans that ranged anywhere from celebrities to Twitter users with less than 100 followers) can build brand loyalty faster than any other form of marketing. Listening, engaging, consistency and originality were the four cornerstones of the success of Old Spice on social media. This is not to say that any idea is going to skyrocket the way Old Spice’s campaign did, but it never hurts to try something and see what happens.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z10Hrsx7FBY
Which of these lessons do you think will be most helpful in building your next campaign? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!
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Social media can generate quite a bit of success for your brand, and for Ford, their strategy and the lessons they pulled should be adopted by any brand looking to succeed on social media.
At a recent conference, Scott Monty, the Global Head of Social Media for the Ford Motor Company gave a presentation detailing the success of Ford’s social media campaigns in recent years entitled, “Social Wheels in Motion: Ford’s Lesson in Social Media.”
Of course, with so much success in social media over the last few years, Ford was bound to pull away a few key lessons that any brand should adopt with regards to their social media program. Below are the five top lessons you can pull away from Monty’s presentation and apply to your social media program today.
Stand By Your Product and Let Your Audience Share
In 2009, for the launch of the Ford Fiesta, Ford allowed a number of social media influencers to drive the Fiesta and share their experiences online. The videos and blogs were posted in real time, with no editing or filtering by Ford. The confidence Ford had in its product resulted in a great deal of success on social media. The campaign resulted in nearly a hundred and fifty thousand requests for more information about the new car. What’s more, more than 80% of those asking to find out more were new Ford customers!
Lesson: If you have a good product, let your influencers tell your social community about it.
Commit to Your Social Media Presence
Running a successful campaign is great, but your social media presence cannot be relegated only to when an official campaign is underway. In order to find success on social media, you need to be committed to your program. Ford created a hub wherein Ford users could engage with the brand in real time. This phenomenon is referred to as social care, and it is a social form of customer service that nearly a third of social media users prefer to conventional customer service options (i.e. phone).
Lesson: Make a point to stay active on social media, because Ford has shown that consistency pays off.
Integrate Every Form of Media
Disjointed campaigns will result in confusion for your audience. Different channels and department working on different campaigns and promotions will mean a diluted audience responding to a multitude of campaigns as opposed to a convergence on one major one.
For Ford, they approached their 2010 Explorer campaign this way, integrating every form of media in order to drive the most traffic at the launch. The result? The day of the launch they received 100 million social impressions and 400 million browser impressions.
Lesson: Integrate all of your media under one roof to drive every potential lead to the same place.
Build a Personality for Your Brand on Social Media
As much as people might like a brand, they want to engage with something more. Your audience wants to engage with a personality. For Ford, this realization came when they were looking to rebrand the Focus. So, how did they create a personality? They created a sock puppet mascot named Doug. The goal was to engage with a younger audience and find a new customer-base for the rebranded Focus. The results were impressive, and Ford saw a spike in interest in the Focus with a 61% consideration rate. Not bad considering most people tried to avoid the Focus even as a rental prior to this rebranding.
Lesson: Build a personality for your brand and engage on a human level with your audience.
Find Your Audience Where They Are Talking
One crucial element that marketers often forget is that they need to be going out and finding their audience where they are as opposed to waiting for their audience to find them. Ford realized this and took action. When building a program last year, Ford created a video and distributed it among every one of their followers most popular networks. The results were quite successful, with the video receiving over 1.5 million hits.
Lesson: Find your audience and engage with them where they are, and not the other way around.
How can you apply some of these lessons to your social media strategies? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!
https://t2marketinginternational.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/logo-t2-300x138.png00Corey Padveenhttps://t2marketinginternational.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/logo-t2-300x138.pngCorey Padveen2013-02-21 11:41:412013-02-21 11:41:41Case Studies: Ford
Twitter marketing can be an excellent resource, but only if it is done properly.
Time and time again we stress the importance of a strategy when it comes to Twitter marketing and other forms of social media marketing. Where Twitter marketing differs, however, is in the approach you take to promoting your brand. As we never tire of pointing out, Twitter is not a realm apt for self-promotion. And if you approach the social network as a place to simply tout your brand and aggressively pursue conversions, you will be disappointed with the results. So how can you go about conducting your Twitter marketing in an efficient manner so that you get the most out of all the social network has to offer from a business perspective?
Below are three pointers that should help you get the most our of your Twitter marketing efforts. Twitter can be an exceptional tool for driving business, but your strategy must be in line with Twitter best practices in order to see the best results.
1. Establish Your Goals and Measurement Criteria
There is an entire world of untapped leads and potential clients on Twitter, and heading into the social network blind may leave you stumbling to get on track. Therefore, before embarking on your Twitter marketing campaign, you should first define both your goals and how you plan on measuring said goals. If you jump into Twitter expecting that your first tweet will garner dozens of retweets and loads of conversions and followers, you’re going to be disappointed. (Unless of course you’re a celebrity, in which case we appreciate you reading our blog!) Your strategy needs to include a few key criteria. Below is a list of things to consider when launching your Twitter marketing campaign.
Who is your target audience?
Are you looking for followers in a geo-targeted area or worldwide?
Are you hoping for conversions on a website or at a location?
Once you’ve answered these questions, it is time to get a little more specific.
Do you already have a set of followers? If so, how would you categorize them? If not, how do you plan on acquiring them?
If you are looking for followers in a specific location, how do you plan on finding them?
What do you consider a conversion from Twitter? Is it s click through? A download? A subscription? A purchase?
Are you hoping to use Twitter to increase your current business or start something new?
The answers to these questions are essential before you begin marketing on Twitter. Once these goals are defined, you can establish your measurement criteria. This is a little trickier, because in order to measure the success of your Twitter marketing, you need to have answered the third question in the second set of bullet points above: What do you consider a conversion from Twitter? Once you have this answer, you can set up the appropriate criteria for monitoring the success of your campaigns.
2. Design Your Messages Around Your Niche
As you begin building your audience, you are going to want to keep them captivated. One devastating mistake many marketers often make is sending out nothing but self-promotion. While you might be the expert in a given field, constantly telling people about it and ignoring engaging content will get you nowhere. You will want to design your messages around the niche you wish to target in order to keep them engaged. Below are a few helpful tips to consider when drafting your messages and content.
People love advice and garnering knowledge, so share what you know to showcase your expertise as opposed to simply stating that you are the expert.
Quick, entertaining content is a great way to engage with your followers. Share fun facts and quirky anecdotes that people want to see.
Focus on a designated subject or theme that stretches across all of your messages. Keep your content on track so that the niche audience you build stays engaged.
Do not bombard you followers with links and promotional content. Once in a while a message like this is fine – but this should under no circumstances be your starting point.
Engaging content should be the focal point in drafting all of your Twitter messages. One goal that should always be present is to convert your audience members into brand advocates. We can’t all be Coca-Cola or Harley Davidson – we have to work to get our fans coming back. And, as with all social media, content is king when it comes to boosting your audience.
3. Narrow Your Audience with Twitter Lists
Twitter Lists are a fantastic way of segmenting your audience into appropriate categories. Say you have a thousand followers. Great! But not all of them will be following you for the same reasons. Some might follow you because they are in the same industry. Some might follow you because they are interested in your online product or service. Others might follow you because they live in your area, and are already physical customers. Each of these three categories will respond to your content differently. Lists will help you engage with all of them in the right way.
Once you have segmented your followers into lists, you will be able to design campaigns and messages to go out that are geared towards engaging with one of these groups specifically. The industry members might not be interested in your sales and promotions, but they might find some of your industry-relevant messages much more useful. Your physical customers may have no use for online promotions, but they might jump at the chance to collect in-store offers promoted via Twitter. Take this into account when setting up your campaigns, and use the Twitter Lists to your advantage.
These are just a few of the best practices when it comes to Twitter marketing. Over time, your Twitter strategy evolves and some of these points change and disappear while new ones are added. But to get the most out of your Twitter marketing when you are getting started, these pointers should certainly help.
Can you think of any other best practices when it comes to launching your Twitter marketing? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!
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When it comes to social media success, knowing the best practices is crucial.
Time and time again, we stress the importance of following certain best practices when it comes to your social media strategy. Sometimes it can be hard to keep up. But, regardless of how much there might to keep track of, it is vitally important to the success of your social media campaigns that you follow best practices so as not to lose out on possible successes.
While these rules might be modified or discarded over time – depending on what you are looking to get out of your social media program – there are some that will always remain. The infographic below details 36 rules of social media engagement and conduct. While some of these may seem simple or even trivial, they are there for a reason. Over time, as your program evolves, these rules should be your constant. Keep in mind that while social media might be changing, people (your customers), in general, stay the same. So have a look at these social media rules of engagement and see if you could be doing anything differently.
Can you think of any social media rules that are not present here? Which ones do you think are the most important when it comes to business? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!
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You might have great content, but if you are not choosing the right SEO keywords for optimization, you might not get anyone to see it.
There are plenty of SEO tricks and tips when it comes to getting found on search engines using targeted keywords, but the only way to ensure that your results are not only growing, but qualified, is to have an SEO strategy in place when it comes to selecting your keywords. One of the trickiest parts of building a social media strategy is that most people have no idea how search engine ranking positions (SERPs) are determined, nor do they know how to go about maximizing their efforts when it comes to increasing their SERPs. Below are a few of the best practices we have observed when it comes to choosing the right keywords for SEO on your website.
1. Don’t Go Overboard
While you might think that optimizing your site for dozens of keywords is your best option for maximizing SEO, the reality is that too many keywords will dilute your results and won’t help your SEO for any one category. We have found that optimizing for five keywords is the golden ticket when it comes to SEO. So, while your industry might have hundreds of keywords to choose from, try and keep it simple in order to avoid missing the mark entirely. Ultimately, you want a keyword density across all of your content between 2% and 5%. What is keyword density? This is the number of times your keywords are mentioned in relation to the total number of words in you content. So try to keep that in mind as well when drafting your posts.
2. Love Your Industry, Not Only Your Brand
Industry keywords perform much better than specific brand keywords. You might think that the more you mention your specific brand, the higher it will rank. While this is true, people might not be searching for “Acme Car Repair” – in fact, the majority of searches will not. So you are better off optimizing your content for the generic “car repair”, and other industry keywords as opposed to simply optimizing for your brand. While the ultimate goal is for people to be searching for your brand specifically, it may not start out that way. Not all of us are a Coca-Cola or a Harley Davidson, and may not have an internationally recognized brand name. So focus on the generic and allow your brand to reach the top of those results organically.
3. Do Your Research
Before choosing any one keyword, it is important to know whether or not you are choosing the right keywords. In keeping with the previous example, you might think that “automotive repairing” is the right keywords for your brand. But without the proper research, you might not realize that “car repair” has not only more global search results, but less competition density. How can you figure this out? The Google Keyword Tool allows users to search for keywords for free, and helps you choose the best keywords for you industry along with other suggestions for comparison.
The image above shows a comparison of these two keywords in terms of monthly Google search results along with some additional suggestions for other keywords. Studying this data will allow you to choose the best keywords when it comes to drafting your content for SEO.
4. SEO is an Ongoing Process
SEO is constantly evolving, and if you optimize for a set of keywords today, it might not be the same tomorrow. (Well, it might be the same tomorrow, but you know what we mean.) This holds particularly true for seasonal industries. Say you are living in the Northeast – the search term for “cheap winter tires” will be much higher during the winter months than in mid-July. So be sure to update your content regularly (corporate blogs are a great way to do this) and do your research on a regular basis in order to ensure that your site’s SERP does not drop over time.
5. Speak with the People
While your car repair company might be full of experts using complicated mechanic jargon throughout the course of the day, that does not mean that your average customer will have any idea what that means. As a result, he or she will not be searching for those terms when trying to find you. Optimize your results on a global level and avoid using complicated internal terms so that even the least savvy customer stumbles upon your page. Expertise is a great thing to have, and will result in increased business, but optimizing for terms that most people do not use will never help your SERPs.
Can you think of any other keyword selection tips that will help boost your SERPs? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!
https://t2marketinginternational.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/logo-t2-300x138.png00Corey Padveenhttps://t2marketinginternational.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/logo-t2-300x138.pngCorey Padveen2013-01-10 08:58:432013-01-10 08:58:43SEO Guide: How to Choose the Right Keywords for Your Website
When it comes to social media marketing, engagement is crucial, and Facebook is one of the best avenues to get the most out of it.
Despite the fact that Facebook is apt for social media marketing and a key source for customer engagement, several companies are not approaching the social network in the right way when it comes to business. Below is a set of 4 tips you can use in your social media marketing strategies to improve your Facebook engagement and get the most out of the social network for your business or brand.
1. KISS: Keep It Short and Simple
People, particularly experts in a given field, feel as though Facebook is the perfect place to showcase their talent and boast about their services over a competitor’s. While Facebook is a great place to capitalize on watchful eyes, it is the wrong place to bore potential leads to tears with long, drawn-out posts explaining what you do and how you do it. This is a step best left to the lead nurturing phase of a relationship, and it is the wrong way to approach social media marketing. In fact, a recent study shows that the optimal number of characters for an engaging Facebook post is 80. By keeping your posts short, to the point and full of engaging content (Point 3) people will feel more compelled to engage with your brand and find out more about you. While you may be able to write paragraph after paragraph of self-touting information, Facebook users are not looking for that. So, to sum up, keep it simple!
2. Nobody ‘Likes’ a Showoff
That holds true for both the real world and the world of social media marketing. Social media is about being social, and one of the least social things a brand can do is post content that is purely self-promotional. (This holds true for parties as well, by the way.) LinkedIn is a network designed around the concept of promoting services and expertise, and Facebook is not. Like we mentioned above, engagement arises out of commonalities, not from promotional posts. Share information, ask questions, and get visitors to your page interested in carrying on a conversation.
3. Engagement Only Happens if People are Encouraged to Enagage
We noted above that you’ll need to post updates with engaging content. Now you may find yourself, asking, “Well, how can I have engaging content that is short and simple?” There are two answers to that question that have proven effective and easy to use: questions and pictures. Images and questions prompting an answer have the highest engagement rates of any for of content on Facebook. By asking short questions or prompting a comment like, “Provide a caption for this image!” people are seeing far more engagement than they do with other types of posts.
4. Do Your Research
Those first three tips are a cakewalk. They’re easy to follow, easy to employ and do not require much more work than simply following the given steps. This last tip is a little bit trickier. If you want to capitalize on views, shares, comments and other engaging aspects offered on Facebook, you’ll need to do you research to find out when your optimal times to post might be. Luckily, Facebook Insights offers tons of great information that can help, but you will have to find it, study it and adjust your Facebook strategy accordingly.
If you follow these four steps you are sure to see quite a bit of improvement when it comes to your Facebook engagement. Can you think of any other helpful tips that will add to you engagement levels? Tell us in the comments below or on Facebook or Twitter!
https://t2marketinginternational.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/logo-t2-300x138.png00Corey Padveenhttps://t2marketinginternational.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/logo-t2-300x138.pngCorey Padveen2012-12-13 14:45:152012-12-13 14:45:15Social Media Marketing: 4 Ways to Improve Your Facebook Engagement
How can you go about maximizing your twitter marketing efforts to get the most out of the social network?
Twitter is a phenomenal resource for any kind of business. The real-time conversational aspect that it brings gives it a certain unique feel and a environment apt for engagement, but what are some Twitter marketing techniques businesses should adopt in order to get the most out of it? Below are some of the top Twitter marketing strategies businesses can employ in order to capitalize on all that Twitter has to offer to businesses.
1. Be Authentic
Don’t automate your posts – no one wants to hear what a machine has to say as it randomly generates messages using your pre-loaded content. People follow you to hear what you have to say, so tell them! If you decided to take the stage, and hundreds or even thousands of people came to hear you speak, would you simply play a recording a leave? Probably not. And if you did that, di you think they would stay? Also unlikely. So share what’s on your mind and engage with an audience that is eager to hear what you have to say.
2. Engage!
People like to converse and be heard. As a brand, it is your responsibility to listen to the customer and engage with them wherever possible. Nowhere is it more possible than on Twitter! As we noted above, Twitter is an avenue build for real-time conversation. So when someone is engaging with your brand, it is always in your best interest to address their comment, be it positive or negative.
3. Avoid Self-Promotion
Sure, the end goal is to convert these leads into clients, but endless self-promotion is nauseating, and the only thing you’ll succeed in doing is alienating your brand. We noted this in an earlier blog post and we are sticking by it. Social media is not for self-promotion, but for brand promotion thriugh engagement. When people are loyal to your brand, they will convert into customers.
4. Create a Relevant Database
It might be nice to see that you have thousands of followers and are following thousands of others, but this might not mean you have an account full of quality. If the goal is sales, then you will want to have as many targeted followers as possible, and the same goes for those you are following.
Can you think of any other best practices when it comes to Twitter marketing? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!
https://t2marketinginternational.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/logo-t2-300x138.png00Corey Padveenhttps://t2marketinginternational.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/logo-t2-300x138.pngCorey Padveen2012-12-05 12:34:562012-12-05 12:34:56Maximize Your Twitter Marketing Efforts
The Honda CR-V has a very specific audience in mind: young adults on the verge of a major step. Whether that is starting a new career, getting married, or beginning parenthood, the Honda CR-V is aimed at making the transition easier for this group.
Never Ignore the Power of Influence
Engagement > Selling
Considering 
With regards to Google+, a great degree of the power of the network is derived from the reality that Google+ is owned by Google. Anything with the Google backing is automatically worth your consideration, and there is an inherent element of Social Equity added to your business because of it. But to simply say that the Social Equity of Google+ is derived from the fact that it is operated by Google is superficial and, more importantly, a misstatement.
Google+ Communities
KLM’s social media program is brilliant…and they know it. When it comes to converting social media fans into paying customers, KLM is among the most successful brands around. In fact, on the 
“Not that campaigns always need to be global and spectacular. Many of our establishments have successfully launched their local pages, and we’ve learned that the power often lies in simplicity — like showing the interior of a cockpit, or thanking someone for notifying us about broken lighting on our KLM sign. Our creative editorial board delivers a daily dose of captivating, engaging posts through our various channels.
We thought we would save the most important for last. This is one rule we advocate above all others. When it comes to your brand’s image both in the eyes of your customers and the general public, the two types of posts you never want to ignore are questions and negative comments.
As the world of social media exploded with the introduction of Pinterest last year, the first network of its kind, dominated almost entirely by women, Kotex and their social media marketing team had the brilliant idea to run a social media campaign centered on the women of Pinterest.
