How much is too much? How little is not enough? This infographic does a pretty good job of answering those questions.
One of the more popular questions marketers tend to ask relates to how often to post to social media. The truth of the matter is simple: the frequency with which you post will differ based on both the industry in which you find your business and the qualities of your audience. That said, there are some basic guidelines that serve as a starting point when considering where to begin.
This great inforgraphic from Spokal does a great job of analyzing current trends, aggregating that data and providing us with a guideline which can easily be followed when deciding how often to post to social media. Though you might find that, with time, your strategy might change, this will help get you off on the right foot.
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With the constantly changing social media landscape, it’s hard to keep up with trends.
There are a lot of hugely beneficial and fairly simple social media best practices in which brands and individuals should be participating, but most people simply don’t know about them. Social moves at such a high speed, that it can be difficult – and for some, even tedious – to keep up. So, with that in mind, these are a few of the more valuable things that most people should know about when it comes to social.
Leveraging Employee Advocacy
For brands, something that often goes overlooked is the fact that your first set of brand advocates is much closer than you might think. Within any company, there exists an entire workforce of prospective brand advocates. It’s important to take advantage of the opportunity that comes from leveraging this audience.
While a best practice would not be requiring that your employees share your content (in fact, this would like backfire in an extraordinary fashion) it is certainly wise to consider adopting an internal culture whereby employees are invited to share content, create content and involve themselves with the brand on social media. It might surprise you to see how much faster your audience can grow when capitalizing on this opportunity.
Taking Advantage of LinkedIn
For most people, LinkedIn is seen as nothing more than a large network in which to share your virtual resume. The truth of the matter is that LinkedIn offer a tremendous amount of opportunity if you are using all of its features.
First of all, LinkedIn’s rich media feature (shown in the image below) allows users to integrate much more than a simple resume. You can link videos, upload images and a little further down, showcase some of your publications. It is really a one stop shop for every bit of professional exposure you have received.
Screenshot taken 5/2/2014
It’s also important to take advantage of Groups on LinkedIn. Whether you are an individual or a business owner looking to increase your personal or brand exposure, LinkedIn Groups can do wonderful things. Take note of the groups that are meant for discussion, and those that are meant for articles, and build a content strategy on LinkedIn that you see resonating with your audience.
Use Google+…A Lot
It’s still surprising that so many people ignore Google+. On the personal side, Google Authorship is an outstanding way to increase your content’s exposure. For the brand side, sharing content to your Google+ Circles and Google+ Communities that generates clicks and +1s is a more powerful practice than virtually any other when it comes to SEO. And that’s SEO in total, not just SEO with regards to social signals.
Source: Searchmetrics. 2013 US Search Ranking Factors.
Write About Your Competitors (in a Good Way)
If you go to Google and type in “Best Social Media Listening Tools” one of the first items that pop up is an article from monitoring tool Brandwatch. The thing is that this isn’t a page on the Brandwatch site that talks about how it is the best tool in the marketplace. It is actually a blog post wherein they list ten competitors that offer free social media listening capabilities and do it quite well.
Often, business owners are afraid of touting competitors. After all, why would you recommend a competitors products when you are trying to reap the business for yourself. But people respond to useful information, not self promotion. If you’re an ad agency, you have a far better chance of having an article seen that showcases the ten best commercials of the year rather than a simple case study that features your own work.
A mix of the two is an important component of any strong content strategy and content marketing campaign.
Use a Suite of Technologies to Help You Execute a Strategy
There is no such thing as the perfect tool. People are looking for it, some applications claim that they have created it, but the reality is that to really execute a strategy effectively, you’re going to need a suite of technologies to help you.
Evaluate different tools that offer different services and see which ones will a) provide you with the greatest value and b) work well in conjunction with one another. It’s better to have several tools doing each task exceptionally well than one tool that is mediocre at everything.
Conclusion
These are just a few of the social media best practices you might not have known about. Considering the fast nature of the evolution of social media, no one can be expected to know everything. But as you try to build out your brand – whether it is your personal or professional brand – these are a few of the items you might have overlooked.
Can you think of other social media best practices that are not all that well known? Tell us about them in the comments below or on Twitter!
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What are the 3 key steps every brand should take when getting started with Twitter?
When you are getting started with Twitter, there are a few steps that must be taken in order for your page to look and work for you.
Below are the three steps that every brand should take before really getting started with Twitter marketing.
Complete Every Section
You create your Twitter account and are walked through several steps before you can start tweeting. These are not for nothing!
It is important that you fill out every one of your sections for several reasons. First, sharing links in your profile will help increase the ease with which followers can click through to your website or blog. Your about section also help with Twitter searches and SEO. With the right use of keywords in your Bio, it will be much easier for users to find your page.
Geo-targeting your tweets (and account) can be a very beneficial tool for local businesses trying to garner international attention. The ability for users to look you up by proximity means that it will be much easier to build a geo-targeted audience and help them find you.
Personalize Your Page
You have the option to include a profile image, a background image and a header image on your Twitter page. Take advantage of all three!
You can add valuable information to your background on the left-hand column. You can include specials, calls-to-action, your physical location(s) and anything else you would like your audience to know. Your background image can be an extension of your profile bio, or an image that tells the audience more about your brand.
Your profile image is your headshot. This is the first thing people see when they look at your profile and you don’t want to appear as nothing but an egg. The general assumption is egg=spam. Nothing hurts your brand more than having users think you’re a spambot.
Lastly, take advantage of your cover header image. Put something together that is both creative and a resourceful use of the space. Like the background image, your header is an extension of your profile, and allows you to do more than a short 140 character tweet might allow.
Hint: your profile image should be 150x150px (shows up at 80x80px), your background should be 2500x1600px with a 200px left border, and your header image must be 520x260px.
Segment Your Followers
Twitter Lists are a very under-utilized resource that can be very beneficial to your Twitter strategy.
When getting started with Twitter, create lists and segment your followers right from the get-go. If you find potential customers, put them into a list. Industry influencers should make up another list, and so on. When your followers are all given a clearly designated segment, you can send targeted messages to each. You can send promotional tweets to engaged potential customers and share an informative blog with your industry influencers.
Lists are a great way to drive targeted traffic from Twitter, and few brands use them effectively. Don’t miss out on the many uses of lists!
Keep these three steps in mind when getting started with Twitter and you will find that the network is about much more than sharing more than people might want to hear. There are many business applications to Twitter and these three important things will help you derive these benefits.
What other important beginner steps can you think of for Twitter? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!
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What are a few easy steps you can take to maximize your reach on Twitter?
Twitter is all about communicating information to your fans and followers in a simple and efficient way. The issue, however, is that with hundreds of millions of tweets being sent every day, it is easy for your message to get lost in the noise. So what can you do to maximize your reach on Twitter?
There are three key issues that factor into reaching as broad an audience as possible. First, when are your sending your tweets? Second, are you incorporating all the necessary components in your tweets to increase reach? And third, are you keeping it short and sweet?
Best Time to Share Information
Studies have shown that engagement increases by over 15% when tweets are sent out on weekends. Conversely, tweets sent on Wednesday and Thursday tend to have lower engagement rates.
With regards to the time of day, keep it to the day time (of your target audience, that is). Tweets sent between 8a.m. and 7p.m. see 30% more engagement than those sent outside of those hours.
Tweet Features
What can you add to your tweets to maximize your reach on Twitter?
First, engagement increases by roughly 20% when a hashtag is used. But don’t bombard your followers with hashtags – that looks spammy. Keep it to one or two hashtags per tweet, and customize them so you can follow your topic. (For example, #SocialMedia is going to be used widely, whereas #t2SocialMedia is easily identifiable as a customized hashtag campaign.)
If you really want to reach more people, then simply ask! Asking for a retweet increases retweet rates twelve-fold! Now, don’t abuse the request. Eventually, people will get tired of that kind of promotional content. However, asking for a retweet is certainly a viable option when it comes to increasing your Twitter reach.
What’s more, you are going to want to specifically ask for a retweet and not simply RT. While using the term ‘RT’ tends to increase your retweet rate ten-fold, specifically using the term ‘retweet’ increases that rate to 23-fold.
Short and Sweet
Are you creating tweets that fit nicely into that 140-character space? Well, if you thought 140 characters was short, this might not be what you want to hear: keep your tweets to roughly 100 characters.
Engagement increases by over 15% when your tweets are 100 characters or below. First, this is easily absorbed and appears less cluttered. Second, it allows for retweets accompanied by a comment. Third, and it might sound crazy, but people are moving so fast through the content online, that 140 characters might be too long!
These are a few quick tips to help you maximize your reach on Twitter. Try them and let us know how they work out! Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!
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There is a lot of debate over whether or not social media factors into your search rankings. There are those who firmly believe that social media is the ‘next big thing’ in SEO, and those who feel as though the power of social media has been taken out of context as it pertains to SEO, and that is has not real benefits at all.
The fact of the matter is that social signals do have an impact on SEO, and that you can, through the use of a few key practices, boost SEO with social media.
Focus on Google Authorship
Whether it is through blogging, Google+ or YouTube, you should try, whenever possible, to increase the authority of your name on Google.
Google Authorship is an important social signal when Google ranks its results. Ever see a blog article pop up in Google with a little picture on the left? That’s a ranking factor that should be considered when writing. The more authority your name has on Google’s social layer, the more likely those articles are to pop up when someone searches for a specified keyword.
Share Links with Your Content
When it comes to social signals, link-sharing on social networks is very similar to link-building through anchor text. While keywords do not necessarily hold as much weight on social media, your links do. When someone shares a Facebook post linking back to your site, or retweets a link you shared, search engines tend to pick that up.
Don’t miss out on an opportunity to get noticed – share some links (when they are appropriate).
Consistency
Your presence needs to be felt on social media and your content needs to be ongoing. You should be partaking in conversations on a regular basis if you want to see your search rankings improve. This results from two things. First, your content will be shared more regularly on social networks. Second, the effect of your presence on social media means a greater potential for people to search for you outside of these networks.
Social media networks are a great way to get your name out there, so be there as often as you can.
Go To the Source
Google is the world’s largest search engine. Google+ is a social network owned by Google. Ergo, one can easily conclude that Google+ is important to search rankings in Google.
It’s a fact. In a recent infographic created by Searchmetrics that measures 2013 ranking factors on Google, Google +1s topped the charts. Sharing interesting and engaging content on Google+ is going to lead to +1s on your content. +1s mean more love from Google. Join Google+ Communities, join conversations and share relevant material and you can be sure to see your rankings improve.
Integrate Social Media and SEO
These are not two standalone factors that increase your business. Social media and SEO needs to be approached together. Granted, one strategy might have been in place before the other, but that does not mean that they cannot be integrated into one another.
Look at your keywords, where your traffic is coming from and where you are finding success on both social media and SEO, and create a single strategy where the two act as complements, not competitors.
These are just a few ways you can boost SEO with social media. How have you found social media has an impact on SEO? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!
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What are a few ways you can increase engagement on Google+?
Google+ can be a great resource when it comes to increasing your search engine rankings, finding new clients and driving traffic to your website or blog, but the key to achieving any of this starts with engagement. It is therefore important to know how to increase engagement on Google+.
The tips below are just a few ways to increase engagement on Google+. They are simple and effective, and you can start implementing them right away!
Create Niche Circles
Circles are a great way of divvying up your network. Say you are a tech blogger with a side passion for fishing. You might have hundreds of people in your Google+ network for blogging and another set of network members for fishing. You probably won’t want to share the same content with both of those groups.
By creating niche circles filled with users that fit specific criteria, you can share content targeted to those users and expect considerably higher engagement than if you are simply sharing content to the public.
(Hint: When you share to circles, users receive a popup notification. On the contrary, when you simply share to Public, your network will not receive a popup.)
Give and Take
We all want to see our engagement levels rise, but in order to get other users familiar with our brand and build up our Google+ network, there needs to be a little give and take.
Take time to go through your feed and communities and comment on, +1 or share content you find intriguing or relevant. People appreciate the gesture as much as you do, and rarely does it go unnoticed. So take the time to engage with others and it will not be long before you see the same.
Join Relevant Communities
Google+ Communities are among the greatest features on any social network; this is particularly true when it comes to business and engagement.
By joining Google+ Communities relevant to your industry, you are joining groups of people that have an already expressed interest in what you have to say. Half the engagement battle is fought as soon as you step in the door! By sharing relevant content to the groups, you can expect significantly higher engagement rates than simply sharing to a broad, unspecific audience.
Join Hangouts
Hangouts are a great way to involve yourself and your brand in the conversation organically. Google+ hangouts are designed to share stimulating ideas and conversations, and by actively parrticipating in them you both give more of a personality to your brand and have the opportunity to showcase your expertise with a group of interested peers.
These are just a few of the ways you can go about increasing your engagement on Google+
How do you increase engagement on Google+? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!
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There are certain best practices Tumblr beginners need to be aware of in order to take full advantage of the social blogging network.
Tumblr beginners might not know exactly how to use the network; it is not the most familiar territory and certainly does not feel or operate the same way most other social networks do.
Tumblr is a social blogging platform that allows users to share content that appeals to them on a customized, fully social blog. Sounds great, right? Well, in order for Tumblr to work for you, it is crucial that you follow certain best practices. Otherwise, your blog is just one of the tens of millions with little activity.
Tag Your Posts
Tumblr tags are an excellent way of increasing your post’s visibility. At the bottom of your post (shown below) you will find an area in which to add tags. Take advantage of this the same way you would tags on a standalone blog post. People can search for tags and categories on Tumblr, and the more well described your post in tag-form, the better the chances that people will find your content.
Diversify Your Content
One of the great features of Tumblr is the ability to share several types of content. Your posts can be as simple as a single image or a quote from your favorite author or as complex as a step-by-step explanation of functionality of a particle accelerator.
One key thing to remember, however, is that you should aim to share a diverse selection of content (all related to your blog’s theme and tone) in order to engage as broad an audience as possible. You might have a small group interested in the process of particle acceleration, but be able to broaden your reader base with an album of some impressive, research-grade particle accelerator images.
Social Sharing
You’ll notice in the image above (in the tags section) that there are small icons under your post for Facebook and Twitter. Now, this might not apply to all of your posts (you don’t necessarily want to duplicate other posts on Facebook or Twitter) but in order to streamline your social media marketing, you should consider sharing the content you post on Tumblr to your other social networks.
This is a great way of promoting your Tumblr blog and quickly building your readership.
Be Social!
Tumblr might be a blog, but it is as much a social network as Facebook or Twitter. You should be re-blogging (sharing other people’s content to your own blog) and commenting on other blogs the same way you would on Facebook.
Being social is the goal of Tumblr, and it is also a great way of increasing your own exposure on the network.
Though there is a lot more to Tumblr than these 4 simple tips, these are must-dos for Tumblr beginners in order to get the Tumblr activity off the ground.
Do you use Tumblr for social blogging? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!
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There is no shortage of content to post on Facebook, but what type of content is going to help build your business?
Recently, Wishpond published an infographic detailing Wal-Mart’s journey to 30 million Likes on Facebook. With 28 million of those coming from their targeted market in the US, they are the biggest Facebook brand in the United States. That’s quite an achievement.
So how did Wal-Mart get there? A lot of elements factored into their success, but when it comes to the types of content to post on Facebook, every brand can learn a thing or two from Wal-Mart.
Below are the six types of content observed by Wishpond that Wal-Mart shared on Facebook to bring their brand to the top.
Product-Specific
Roughly 45% of the content shared on the Wal-Mart Facebook page is product-specific. There is often talk of avoiding promotional content, but if you are not trying to showcase what you have to offer, then you are not really making an effort to drive business, are you?
Wal-Mart found a nice balance in sharing content about their products a little less than half of the time.
Fun and Entertaining
About a tenth of the content shared by Wal-Mart are fun internet memes with little or no correlation to their products or services. Simply sharing content people will enjoy seeing.
Engagement-Oriented
Roughly 13% of the content on Wal-Mart’s Facebook page encourages fan participation. Asking questions, opinions and other engaging types of content are important to keep your fans coming back and get your fan base growing.
This type of content is also a great way to get user feedback and find out what’s going well and where you should make some changes.
Informative and Useful
If you can provide helpful information that your users can actually put into practice, then you are providing a service that makes your page all the more valuable to your audience. For Wal-Mart, this type of content makes up roughly 15% of their posts.
Culturally Significant
Again, a tenth of the content shared by Wal-Mart relates to events and culture in their target market. By sharing content that is socially and culturally relevant to their target audience, they give their target audience all the more reason to become fans on Facebook.
Social Awareness
Lastly, another 10% of the content shared by Wal-Mart sheds light on events, organizations and causes that are culturally and socially significant to both the brand and the audience. People like to know that there is more to a brand than business. Show a lighter, more thoughtful side of your brand. Goodwill is just as important as anything else your company does.
Wal-Mart has found an excellent balance of content on their page. Take a look at it and you will understand why.
What type of content do you think is most important to be sharing on Facebook? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!
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The Facebook EdgeRank algorithm is crucial when it comes to your exposure on the social network, and these tips will help you greatly improve your EdgeRank score.
The Facebook EdgeRank algorithm is one of the few ranking algorithms out there that is well understood. We recently posted an article that outlined the Facebook Edgerank algorithm, and embracing some of these tips will help you improve your EdgeRank score.
The common theme in these tips? Engagement. The common motif in the algorithm is user engagement levels, and each of these five tips is designed to improve your EdgeRank score by increasing engagement on your page.
Ask a Question
Comments are one of the most vital forms of engagement when it comes to EdgeRank. Asking a question at the end of a post or in relation to an article you shared is a great way to incite fan participation. If you start the discussion, you are much more likely to see others join in.
Run a Poll
A poll is simple, effective and a great way to encourage engagement on your page. Asking a fun question with simple answers to choose from takes the first tip above to a whole new level.
Furthermore, the added benefit of a poll is that it not only helps improve your EdgeRank score, but it also provides you with some detailed information about your fans. With that in mind, try and make the question something that is not only fun for your fans to answer, but provides you with useful information.
Fill-in-the-______
People love sharing their creativity, and fillin-in-the-blank posts are a great way to do that. Keep them light, because affinity weighs heavily in the EdgeRank algorithm (i.e. the sentiment of comments left on your content) so avoid hot button issues (unless, of course, that’s your page’s theme).
Share Photos
According to HubSpot, photos shared on Facebook generate 53% more ‘Likes’ than the average post. One of your goals should always be to share content that drives higher levels of engagement. On Facebook, that happens to be visual media (i.e. photos and short videos) and sharing this content above other types will surely help boost your EdgeRank score.
Keep the Conversation Going
The first tip above suggests that you ask questions to incite engagement with your content. Organic engagement, however, will only last so long. To really increase your page’s exposure with EdgeRank, you will need to actively take part in as many conversations as you can.
Actions as small as a ‘Like’ on someone’s post shows that you, as a company, care. Developing that personality for your brand is crucial to increase engagement levels in the future.
As noted, the central theme with these tips is engagement. Essentially, that is one of the focal points of the EdgeRank algorithm, and sharing content that increases those levels of engagement is a great way to improve your EdgeRank score.
What types of content have you used to generate higher engagement levels? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!
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How much is too much? How little is not enough? This infographic does a pretty good job of answering those questions.
One of the more popular questions marketers tend to ask relates to how often to post to social media. The truth of the matter is simple: the frequency with which you post will differ based on both the industry in which you find your business and the qualities of your audience. That said, there are some basic guidelines that serve as a starting point when considering where to begin.
This great inforgraphic from Spokal does a great job of analyzing current trends, aggregating that data and providing us with a guideline which can easily be followed when deciding how often to post to social media. Though you might find that, with time, your strategy might change, this will help get you off on the right foot.
https://t2marketinginternational.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/TheCompleteGuideOnHowOftenToPost_smaller.png44561100Corey Padveenhttps://t2marketinginternational.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/logo-t2-300x138.pngCorey Padveen2015-01-26 13:31:022015-01-26 13:31:02How Often Should You Post to Social Media [INFOGRAPHIC]
With the constantly changing social media landscape, it’s hard to keep up with trends.
There are a lot of hugely beneficial and fairly simple social media best practices in which brands and individuals should be participating, but most people simply don’t know about them. Social moves at such a high speed, that it can be difficult – and for some, even tedious – to keep up. So, with that in mind, these are a few of the more valuable things that most people should know about when it comes to social.
Leveraging Employee Advocacy
For brands, something that often goes overlooked is the fact that your first set of brand advocates is much closer than you might think. Within any company, there exists an entire workforce of prospective brand advocates. It’s important to take advantage of the opportunity that comes from leveraging this audience.
While a best practice would not be requiring that your employees share your content (in fact, this would like backfire in an extraordinary fashion) it is certainly wise to consider adopting an internal culture whereby employees are invited to share content, create content and involve themselves with the brand on social media. It might surprise you to see how much faster your audience can grow when capitalizing on this opportunity.
Taking Advantage of LinkedIn
For most people, LinkedIn is seen as nothing more than a large network in which to share your virtual resume. The truth of the matter is that LinkedIn offer a tremendous amount of opportunity if you are using all of its features.
First of all, LinkedIn’s rich media feature (shown in the image below) allows users to integrate much more than a simple resume. You can link videos, upload images and a little further down, showcase some of your publications. It is really a one stop shop for every bit of professional exposure you have received.
Screenshot taken 5/2/2014
It’s also important to take advantage of Groups on LinkedIn. Whether you are an individual or a business owner looking to increase your personal or brand exposure, LinkedIn Groups can do wonderful things. Take note of the groups that are meant for discussion, and those that are meant for articles, and build a content strategy on LinkedIn that you see resonating with your audience.
Use Google+…A Lot
It’s still surprising that so many people ignore Google+. On the personal side, Google Authorship is an outstanding way to increase your content’s exposure. For the brand side, sharing content to your Google+ Circles and Google+ Communities that generates clicks and +1s is a more powerful practice than virtually any other when it comes to SEO. And that’s SEO in total, not just SEO with regards to social signals.
Source: Searchmetrics. 2013 US Search Ranking Factors.
Write About Your Competitors (in a Good Way)
If you go to Google and type in “Best Social Media Listening Tools” one of the first items that pop up is an article from monitoring tool Brandwatch. The thing is that this isn’t a page on the Brandwatch site that talks about how it is the best tool in the marketplace. It is actually a blog post wherein they list ten competitors that offer free social media listening capabilities and do it quite well.
Often, business owners are afraid of touting competitors. After all, why would you recommend a competitors products when you are trying to reap the business for yourself. But people respond to useful information, not self promotion. If you’re an ad agency, you have a far better chance of having an article seen that showcases the ten best commercials of the year rather than a simple case study that features your own work.
A mix of the two is an important component of any strong content strategy and content marketing campaign.
Use a Suite of Technologies to Help You Execute a Strategy
There is no such thing as the perfect tool. People are looking for it, some applications claim that they have created it, but the reality is that to really execute a strategy effectively, you’re going to need a suite of technologies to help you.
Evaluate different tools that offer different services and see which ones will a) provide you with the greatest value and b) work well in conjunction with one another. It’s better to have several tools doing each task exceptionally well than one tool that is mediocre at everything.
Conclusion
These are just a few of the social media best practices you might not have known about. Considering the fast nature of the evolution of social media, no one can be expected to know everything. But as you try to build out your brand – whether it is your personal or professional brand – these are a few of the items you might have overlooked.
Can you think of other social media best practices that are not all that well known? Tell us about them in the comments below or on Twitter!
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There are certain best practices Tumblr beginners need to be aware of in order to take full advantage of the social blogging network.
Tumblr beginners might not know exactly how to use the network; it is not the most familiar territory and certainly does not feel or operate the same way most other social networks do.
Tumblr is a social blogging platform that allows users to share content that appeals to them on a customized, fully social blog. Sounds great, right? Well, in order for Tumblr to work for you, it is crucial that you follow certain best practices. Otherwise, your blog is just one of the tens of millions with little activity.
Tag Your Posts
Tumblr tags are an excellent way of increasing your post’s visibility. At the bottom of your post (shown below) you will find an area in which to add tags. Take advantage of this the same way you would tags on a standalone blog post. People can search for tags and categories on Tumblr, and the more well described your post in tag-form, the better the chances that people will find your content.
Diversify Your Content
One of the great features of Tumblr is the ability to share several types of content. Your posts can be as simple as a single image or a quote from your favorite author or as complex as a step-by-step explanation of functionality of a particle accelerator.
One key thing to remember, however, is that you should aim to share a diverse selection of content (all related to your blog’s theme and tone) in order to engage as broad an audience as possible. You might have a small group interested in the process of particle acceleration, but be able to broaden your reader base with an album of some impressive, research-grade particle accelerator images.
Social Sharing
You’ll notice in the image above (in the tags section) that there are small icons under your post for Facebook and Twitter. Now, this might not apply to all of your posts (you don’t necessarily want to duplicate other posts on Facebook or Twitter) but in order to streamline your social media marketing, you should consider sharing the content you post on Tumblr to your other social networks.
This is a great way of promoting your Tumblr blog and quickly building your readership.
Be Social!
Tumblr might be a blog, but it is as much a social network as Facebook or Twitter. You should be re-blogging (sharing other people’s content to your own blog) and commenting on other blogs the same way you would on Facebook.
Being social is the goal of Tumblr, and it is also a great way of increasing your own exposure on the network.
Though there is a lot more to Tumblr than these 4 simple tips, these are must-dos for Tumblr beginners in order to get the Tumblr activity off the ground.
Do you use Tumblr for social blogging? 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 Padveen2013-07-03 06:15:052013-07-03 06:15:054 Tips for Tumblr Beginners
There are certain ways to go about dealing with customer complaints on social media.
All customer complaints are not the same, but there are certain features that are true to every one, and certain best practices that should always be adopted when dealing with customer complaints on social media.
The most important thing to note when it comes these complaints is that under no circumstances should any customer complaint go ignored on social networks. In addition to this one universal rule, there are a few things to keep in mind when it comes to dealing with customer complaints on social media.
Always Be Courteous
A 2011 survey on Customer Rage conducted at the W.P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University found that 90% of complaining customers want one thing above all else: to be treated with dignity. Yet, only 40% said that this is the kind of treatment that they received.
At Zendesk, the philosophy is to treat a complaining customer as you would treat (or, at least, hopefully treat) your grandmother. Kindness goes a long way, because for a lot of complaining customers, they simply want to vent.
Respond Quickly
If I am a dissatisfied customer and I send you a tweet and hear nothing for days I might be tempted to take my efforts to the next level. The same survey mentioned above also found that 88% of people who had a negative experience with a brand chose to deal with their issue by telling their friends about it. In the age of social media, “friends” could mean tens of thousands. So act fast to help your customers or things could get way out of hand.
Be Knowledgable
Have you ever called a customer service line and found yourself waiting on hold every time you ask a question because your service representative doesn’t know the answer? It’s frustrating. Having answers to customer questions and complaints (both on and off social media) is your most powerful weapon, and you should always have an answer locked and loaded when an issue arises.
Be Proactive
The answers and solutions your customers are looking for should be readily available in as many places as possible. If an issue comes up once, you should always assume it will come up again and prepare for it the next time it does.
The faster you can resolve someone’s issue the happier they will be, and a proactive approach to customer service is going to help you do just that.
Use Your Experience
While this is not a method for dealing with a customer complaint directly, it is a means of using these situations for the benefit of your company. Customer complaints are a great way of figuring out where your product or service needs work. It is your product, so for you, it is perfect. For others, that might not be the case.
Adapting your product or service to the requests and complaints of customers is a great way of making your product more user-friendly, and it is going to make your job of customer service a lot easier down the road.
How do you deal with customer complaints on social media? 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 Padveen2013-06-11 06:15:232013-06-11 06:15:235 Tips for Dealing with Customer Complaints on Social Media
How did Cadbury make their social media presence as sweet as their candy?
It was early in 2012 that Cadbury realized they were approaching the 1 million fan mark on Facebook. It was around that same time that they realized that only about 16% of fans ever saw any of the content they were posting to their social networks.
Cadbury wanted to get the most out of their social media marketing, and they knew that for an internationally-recognized brand, 16% simply wasn’t good enough. So they decided to do something so big that it would grab the attention of a lot more than a mere 16%: they built a Facebook ‘Like’ thumb out of chocolate to say thanks!
The results of this gesture were 40,000 new Facebook fans and engagement of well over 30% for this campaign. Clearly, there are a few takeaways marketers can pull from this campaign by Cadbury.
Always Engage Your Audience
Engagement is going to be at the forefront of any successful social media campaign. Your audience needs to have a purpose for viewing your content, and providing engaging content is always going to be on top of that list of reasons.
Simply sharing promotional information, or a piece of text, isn’t going to entice anyone to share, comment, or necessarily like your content. The results? It hurts your EdgeRank and can be somewhat damaging to your brand’s growth on social media in the long run, due to the lack of exposure.
Let Your Fans Know You Care
Whether you are a Cadbury with 1 million fans or a Mom n’ Pop with 100, you should always let those that have become fans know that you care.
Success on social media stems from the ability to reach a wider audience than on any other medium, and each fan is another new network of possibilities. So when reaching milestones, show your fans you care – you’d be surprised at how appreciated those gestures are.
Never Ignore Your Analytics
It took Cadbury until the million fan mark to realize that only 16% of those fans were engaging with the brand. Moreover, Cadbury is an international brand; imagine how few fans are engaged with your small business on Facebook if only a small fraction are engaging with a brand like Cadbury!
The reality is that roughly 98% of people who ‘Like’ a brand never return to that brand’s page. You need to find a way to optimize your content and your strategy in order to get those numbers as high as possible. Don’t ignore your analytics. They are providing valuable information that is going to help your brand blow up on social media!
The Case Studies on Cadbury’s Facebook campaign provides a great set of Do’s and Do Not’s for marketers.
Which of these lessons do you think is most important? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!
LinkedIn can be one of your greatest business assets. However, in order to get the most out of it, you need to be properly optimizing your profile on the network. Take a look at this great set of LinkedIn optimization tips and apply them to your profile!
No matter how hard we try to satisfy every one of our customers, there is always a chance that someone has a complaint. And the bigger we grow, the larger that chance gets. With social media in the mix, one complaint or crisis can mean a devastating ripple effect. So to avoid this, we have put together some great tips on dealing with a crisis or negative feedback on social media!
We hear about social influence all the time. There are plenty of services that help us measure our influence, but what is influence on social media, really, and why is it so important? Take a look at this information-packed infographic and find out why social influence is so important.
Everyone knows Best Buy as one of the largest electronics retailers around. But a few years ago, Best Buy decided to venture in something new and establish themselves as major social media influencers. Find out what they did, how they did it and why it was so successful in this week’s Case Studies.
Why are communities on social media so important? Why are they unique and so much more beneficial than traditional business networks and communities? In this week’s Social Equity segment, we look at the value added to your business from social media communities.
Have a look through some of these great articles and enjoy your weekend!
https://t2marketinginternational.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/logo-t2-300x138.png00Corey Padveenhttps://t2marketinginternational.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/logo-t2-300x138.pngCorey Padveen2013-05-04 10:45:492013-05-04 10:45:49Social Media: Week-in-Review, May 4, 2013
Social media selling is all about engaging with your audience, and Burt’s Bees has managed to build an engaged Facebook audience of 1 million fans and convert quite a few of them into paying customers.
Facebook was one of the first social networks that businesses sought to take advantage of. As a result, Facebook adapted and created pages. Burt’s Bees, the notable personal care product line, saw Facebook as the perfect medium in which to engage with their audience, and the result has been a growing, highly engaged audience that converts to paying customers.
How did they do it? Burt’s Bees uses Facebook as a place to not only build an audience and share great content, but promote their products in a fun, engaging way that does not turn people away from the brand, and actually converts them into customers.
Selling on social media is a tricky grey area. People do not necessarily want to be bombarded with promotional content, but at the same time, many people follow a brand because they either use it, their friends use it or they want to keep up to date with specials and promotional offers. Burt’s Bees recognized this fact and modeled their Facebook marketing and sales strategy accordingly. In this Case Studies, we aim to showcase the lessons social media marketers can extract from the Burt’s Bees brand in order to build an engaged audience on Facebook and convert that audience into paying customers.
1. ‘New’ is Intriguing
People are often curious about new products. There’s a certain mysterious quality about ‘new’ that tends to intrigue people. Burt’s Bees saw this and capitalized on it when it came to Facebook. One of the most prominent features of the Burt’s Bees Facebook page is their promotion of new products in fun and engaging ways. For example, one of the main ingredients differentiating their products is Cupuaçu. Nothing special about that. But when they wanted to emphasize the benefits of the new product, they took to social media to promote it by creating a video wherein they interviewed New Yorkers, asking them to try and pronounce the word.
The video is short, funny and the word stays on your mind. And there is little more than a branded sign off at the end. However, Melissa Sowry, Social Media and Content Manager at Burt’s Bees stated, “Through Facebook, we can introduce new products more interactively than in print or banner ads…and provide a space where [our consumers] can connect with one another.” So, what is this new product? People might like the word and the video, but they were starting conversations to find out more.
Lesson: Find a creative way to introduce new products and your audience will engage with your brand to find out more.
2. Social Media Selling
Burt’s Bees has integrated “Buy Now” buttons into their content and features coupons for Facebook fans. The result? Dramatically increased sales through social media.
Unlike many brands that may feature a product and a link to a store, Burt’s Bees allows users to click through to an e-commerce site from a product post thatalready has the product in a shopping cart. This may take a little customization on the part of the Facebook page and app designer, but any hurdles (e.g. clicking to the store, finding the product, adding to the cart, checking out, etc.) you can eliminate from the buying process means higher conversions.
Lesson: Help facilitate the buying process for your fans and you will see your conversions skyrocket.
3. Engaging and Influential Content
In addition to fun content like the video post above, one of the cornerstones of Burt’s Bees success on Facebook has come from their ability to engage with their fans in conversations. In an interview with eMarketer, Sowry said, “We also create opportunities for consumer education around skin care, for example, and sampling offers. We ran successful sampling programs on Facebook for our relaunched body lotions and new tinted lip balm.” Furthermore, the brand also asks questions and directly responds to user comments.
An active Facebook page is one thing, but to be engaging directly with your social media audience (particularly when that audience is nearly 1.5 million people large) will mean a returning audience, and that makes the social media sales process that much simpler.
Lesson: Engage with your audience and your products will sell themselves on social media.
4. Educate Your Audience
Burt’s Bees has increased their conversions on Facebook through education. By educating their fans on products and informing them as to which product best suits their needs and why, people want to buy from Bert’s Bees, and they don’t need to do too much research on their own.
The easier it is for a lead to learn about your product, compare it to the competition and ultimately make the decision, the higher the likelihood that you will see social media conversions when it comes to sales.
Lesson: Social media selling should be more about teaching people why your product is the best as opposed to simply telling them.
Burt’s Bees is one of the few examples out there of brands that has mastered social selling. It is not an easy task; not by any means. People do not necessarily want to be sold, but if it is done in the right way, your fans are more than open to the idea of buying from you through social media.
With regards to social selling, Facebook has been around a long time. But people still seem to struggling when it comes to engaging with their Facebook fan base and converting those fans into dollars. Burt’s Bees is a great example of social media selling done right.
What is your Facebook strategy with regards to social selling? Have you seen positive results? 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!
When you are getting started with Twitter, there are a few steps that must be taken in order for your page to look and work for you.
Twitter is all about communicating information to your fans and followers in a simple and efficient way. The issue, however, is that with hundreds of millions of tweets being sent every day, it is easy for your message to get lost in the noise. So what can you do to maximize your reach on Twitter?
There is a lot of debate over whether or not social media factors into your search rankings. There are those who firmly believe that social media is the ‘next big thing’ in SEO, and those who feel as though the power of social media has been taken out of context as it pertains to SEO, and that is has not real benefits at all.
Google+ can be a great resource when it comes to increasing your search engine rankings, finding new clients and driving traffic to your website or blog, but the key to achieving any of this starts with engagement. It is therefore important to know how to increase engagement on Google+.
Recently, 
The Facebook EdgeRank algorithm is one of the few ranking algorithms out there that is well understood. We recently posted 
All customer complaints are not the same, but there are certain features that are true to every one, and certain best practices that should always be adopted when dealing with customer complaints on social media.
It was early in 2012 that 
Let Your Fans Know You Care
Facebook was one of the first social networks that businesses sought to take advantage of. As a result, Facebook adapted and created pages. Burt’s Bees, the notable personal care product line, saw Facebook as the perfect medium in which to engage with their audience, and the result has been a growing, highly engaged audience that converts to paying customers.
2. Social Media Selling
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.
