Along with Facebook and Google+, Twitter forms the “Big 3” of social media networks. Thus, Twitter marketing becomes a powerful tool for businesses and websites of all shapes and sizes – from the multi-national online retailer to the niche blog. It is certainly a must have for leveraging an online presence, visitors, brand recognition, and/or sales.

Taking advantage of Twitter requires some knowledge of best practices. Of course, knowing what not to do will help you determine a sound Twitter marketing strategy.

The following mistakes will kill your efforts: (1)

• You Don’t Have a Content Strategy
  Ignoring engaging content that can impact Twitter tops the list for Cournoyer. By placing great content on a blog and leveraging it with Twitter, companies can position themselves as a “thought leader in your field.” It’s a great way to drive visitors to your site.

• You Tweet Too Often or Not Enough
  Find that right balance with tweets. While some mention twice a day as that “sweet spot,” Cournoyer likes the five to 10 tweets per day mark.

• Your Tweets Are Too “Me-Focused”
  Talking about yourself too much will get you tuned out. Consider the 4-1-1 principle, which uses one tweet for your own content, another tweet that’s purely promotional, and four that share content from others around the Internet.

• You Lack Staff Involvement
  Encourage your staff to, at the very least, share content and promote the brand with Twitter and other social networks. You can get your staff involved more with Twitter, putting a face to the business and improving the idea of positioning the company as thought leaders.

How can you better utilize the powerful marketing tool of Twitter?  Contact us to learn more effective strategies that can help your business.

(1) Source: Brendan Cournoyer

In the past, it has been adequate to place Facebook and Twitter in the same category. They could be deemed as the two essential social networks for any business. While YouTube and Pinterest could also make a case, they are niche social networks – and not necessary for every single type of business.

However, the landscape of social media – as always – is changing. No longer are Facebook and Twitter the only essential social networks. A Google plus marketing plan needs to be a focus for each and every business.

The numbers don’t lie. Google Plus is now the second largest social network, signifying a quick eclipse of Twitter for the new social network. (1) It is important to note that this isn't an either/or proposition – there’s plenty of room for all three. 

Google Plus has a few unique benefits that are worthy of any business’ attention:

• Searches
  There is a bridge between social media and SEO.  As Google is the largest search engine, and Google Plus is a Google product – you can only imagine how relevant the social network is and will be to search results.

• 

  Group Hangouts
  Video chat capabilities can help internal communications, as well as product demos and other uses for reaching out to customers.

• Google Plus Communities
  This new offering can help a business showcase its expertise.

Is your business taking advantage of the emerging social network? It is quickly becoming a powerhouse in this world, offering more of the same advantages of social media, as well as some unique benefits as well. 

Contact us to learn more about leveraging your marketing plan for success.

(1) Sean Johnson 

Considerable time should be spent on landing pages to ensure that you’re getting maximum ROI. Otherwise, you could be wasting marketing resources. 

Past studies on cognition and emotion to marketing stimuli have given way to neuromarketing. While it sounds quite advanced, it isn’t that complex – and the results make a lot of sense. According to Mona Elesseily, the following three considerations can help capitalise on landing pages from neuromarketing practices:

1. Provide Clear and Simple Choices
   Too many options can easily overwhelm a visitor. People remember items in chunks of three to four. Elesseily also recommends highlighting the “most popular” or “best value” product for the buyer, making the decision process much simpler. Aim for fewer items.

2. Anchor to Higher Priced Items
   Expensive items that appear on top of a list get purchased more often. Landing pages can anchor that highest price first, and then show prices in decreasing order. This creates a better buying environment that can lead to higher sales.

3. Customers Want to Belong
   Helping customers relate can “get them on your side” with advertising. Write specifically to your target audience.   

These strategies can benefit your landing pages and leverage what has been discovered in neuromarketing. 

Contact us for more information on how landing pages can be made to work for your business.

When it comes to marketing, it’s all about content.  Informative, entertaining, and useful blog posts that are circulated on social media have become a mainstay for businesses.  Along with written content, media such as images and videos have become powerful for businesses as well.

However, there is no one-size-fits-all approach for businesses.  It must be tailored to not only the business, but the industry. 

Real estate marketing is one industry that undeniably lends itself to a powerful area – visual media.  Prospective customers will value written content to an extent, but they are consistently drawn in by their eyes.  As a result, real estate marketing must leverage videos and images effectively to capitalize on each and every opportunity.

Remember that photos and videos are versatile.  Don’t be afraid to showcase media that adds some creativity to the mix.  A video walkthrough or unique photo can be a great change of pace from the standard media interpretations in real estate.  

Other elements, such as the wording that gets the visitor to view the media, is crucial.  Spend some time on your call-to-action (CTA) phrases to get the most of your efforts.

Media can be a major asset to any real estate marketing strategy.  Contact us to learn more about how you can improve your efforts to get the results you desire.

Image source

Facebook can be one of the most powerful ways to market a business, website, and/or blog.  However, Facebook marketing requires some knowledge and awareness of best practices.  And it also helps to know common pitfalls.

How can you learn from common Facebook marketing mistakes? 

Justin Lafferty identifies five common
slip-ups that can help you get your Facebook page on track:

1. No Plan in Place: It seems obvious, but many businesses are out of touch with Facebook due to planning.  Before starting a page on the social media outlet, you should have an objective.  Whether it’s customer service, driving traffic to the shopping cart, or something else, don’t ignore this pivotal step.

2. Assuming Facebook Marketing is Free: While Facebook is essentially free, Lafferty is quick to point out that it takes money to make money.  If you want to acquire new fans and build a following, you should look into powerful and paid options to do this on Facebook.

3. Not Giving Users a Reason to Connect: Why should users like your page?  Will you have Facebook-exclusive deals, great content that is genuinely useful, or something else that makes it a no-brainer?  If there is nothing compelling, users could simply pass over your page.

4. Measuring the Wrong Things – or Nothing: Facebook has powerful metrics built into the dashboard of your page.  Find out how your blog posts are generating traffic, or how your ad money is generating more likes.  These numbers can be powerful indicators of success.

5. Being Too Loud or Boring: Spamming users and lacing them with marketing-heavy messages is a great way to scare them away.  As Lafferty warns, post meaningful content, but not too often. 

Are you falling into some common pitfalls of Facebook marketing?  Contact us for more information on how to leverage this medium to improve your business.

While the effectiveness of videos on social media is not in question, navigating the best practices of this can be a bit confusing.  How can you make the most of this media?  Chelsea Perry identifies three areas with helpful tips that can help any business owner use videos effectively:

1. Find Your Niche: What is your demographic?  Once you figure this out, you can begin to look at items like keywords, tone, mood, themes, and other items that can guide your video selection process.  Perry notes that for the Purina Beneful dog food brand, it’s simple for the dog lovers – cute dog videos instead of dry material.

2. Serialise Videos: There is real value to serialising videos.  You can keep audiences coming back for more with this spin on social media videos.  Perry recommends a series of videos that depict common treatments for doctors, or supplementary videos for a product manufacturer as examples.  This type of approach can beat the “random video” approach.

3. Examine Its “Shareability”: You need to get videos, shared, retweeted, commented on, and so forth for maximum value.  Make sure that you keep your videos relatively short (under two minutes), and always watch for content and tone.  Entertaining and informative content, Perry notes, are two standards that can be used to gauge shareability.

Interested in learning more about using social media to build your business?  Contact us to find out more on the subject.

1. Your Hashtag Can Get Hijacked: On January 18, McDonald’s created the #McDstories hashtag to inspire customers to share personal stories at the popular restaurant.  However, it led to a flood of negative stories that prompted the chain to yank it two hours later.  It still goes on strong today, though.

2. Don’t Pay for Celebrity Tweets: Snickers paid a popular model and reality star (Jordon, or Katie Price) to tweet about out-of-character tweets such as China’s gross domestic product.  This “prank” led to followers thinking her account had been hacked, and it ultimately led to the wrong kind of attention for Snickers, Shandrow notes.

3. Say No to Mass Marketing Tweets: Nine Twitter accounts were created by Toyota to get the word out about the new Camry during the Super Bowl.  The backlash led to the closing of the accounts.  The moral of the story was clear: mass marketing, impersonal tweets can quickly alienate customers.

4. Remove Insensitivities: KitchenAid, for example, had to fire and clean up the mess of a social media manager after an insensitive tweet pertaining to politics was made. 

   Another example is Urban Outfitters, who on October 29 (during Hurricane Sandy), tweeted: “This storm blows (but free shipping doesn’t)! Today only…”  

   The backlash still continues to this day.