25 New Social Articles on Business 2 Community |
- My Love Hate Relationship With LinkedIn: The Frustrations
- The Blog Blog – Why and How we Blog
- Time of Your Life: The Journey of the Class of 2016
- Why Social Media Is Critical To The Future Of TV
- Social Media Manager vs. Online Community Manager: Same or Different?
- De-Stress Now! An Easy and Inexpensive Solution for Your Small Business Social Media
- Microlending: Changing the World $20 at a Time (Infographic)
- Nothing’s Free in This World: Flickr Creative Commons Review
- Replacement Refs: Bad Call: WSJ Sentiment Tracker by NetBase
- New LinkedIn Company Pages Tailored For Inbound Marketing Success
- 5 Top SEO Tips From Wikipedia
- Why Insurance Marketing Should Include These 3 Social Media Channels
- Tips and Tricks to Design a Perfect Infographic
- 6 Easy Steps to Set Up Authorship Through Your Google+ Profile
- Costco Gets Slapped Over Social Media Policy
- 5 Quick Tips For The Busy Blogger
- Nissan India Drives Engagement Through FriendsTrip On Facebook
- Using Facebook Ad Campaigns to Enhance Business Success
- 8 Advantages Content Can Give You In Business Social Media
- How to Measure the Success of Social Media Efforts; A Look at Metrics
- How To Watch Your Competitors On Twitter, Without Them Knowing!
- My Love-Hate Relationship With LinkedIn: The Overview
- Facebook – What You Need To Know
- Getting Things Done
- 5 Great Benefits that LinkedIn Offers to SEO Consultants
| My Love Hate Relationship With LinkedIn: The Frustrations Posted: 01 Oct 2012 02:45 PM PDT
In this post I will go through a sampling of the issues that our team (and I'm sure other teams) has with LinkedIn. No ConsistencyAs recruiters, we rely on LinkedIn to find qualified candidates for the positions that need to be filled. Since we are on it all day, everyday, it's easy for us to forget that there are a lot of people that don't rely on LinkedIn like we do. Most people don't log in daily (which is already difficult for me to fathom), but some people don't even think to look at it weekly, especially if they aren't on the market for a new position. Those are the candidates we want! LinkedIn is the best way to reach passive candidates, but if the candidate we want doesn't look at our message for a month it doesn't work that well. LimitsLinkedIn limits the amount of connections you can make with one account to 3,000. I have been in the recruiting business for over two years and using LinkedIn exclusively for my sourcing for six months. I have 500 connections left before I run out, and I've really just started my career – what am I supposed to do after I reach the limit? Additionally, LinkedIn locks you out if you get too many "I don't know you" responses. First of all, why is there even an "I don't know you" response? Hasn't anyone learned the value of networking? Okay, you probably don't know me, and maybe you aren't interested in a new position, but what about next year? You will be looking at some point, and when that time comes my connection will come in handy. Beyond that, the management at LinkedIn needs to realize that the way the product is used has changed drastically since it started in 2003. With the amount of people who are using the site and the resources they give you (job postings, keyword searching, etc.) they are asking for it to be used by recruiters. LinkedIn is also the best place to connect about job hunting on the candidate side. It has grown to be more than just a social networking site. The archaic rules in place to prevent people connecting with others they don't know need to be lifted. The use has changed; the platform should change with it. Customer ServiceThere is no inbound customer service phone number for LinkedIn. I repeat, NO phone number at all to reach customer service. Excuse me? What benefit does that offer? If I have a premium account and there is a billing problem I want to talk to someone now! Not connect via instant message or email. I want a live person to talk to. I am completely dumbfounded as to why they don't have a number. When we were looking to get more information on the LinkedIn Recruiter platform at OpenView we sent in three inquiries to get more information. After no response for almost a week I started chatting (via instant message) with someone on the customer service team. I asked for a number to call and was told there was not one. The person then told me another inquiry would be submitted and I should be contacted soon. The next day, there was still no response, so I tried calling the corporate headquarters. After pressing 0 a few times and reaching no operator I started putting in random three or four digit numbers to reach someone on their extension. All that effort resulted in nothing. LinkedIn literally made it impossible for me to speak with someone on the phone. What kind of customer service tactic is that? TrainingAfter finally implementing LinkedIn Recruiter, our team wanted to take some training so we could learn how to use it in the most effective way. After signing up for three separate training sessions that are open to the public we found that we were not learning anything new and that they were essentially a waste of our time. About 30 people attended each training session via WebEx — all the other lines are put on mute and you have to communicate via chat to ask questions. This makes it very hard to ask a question and have it answered while it is still relevant. It is also almost impossible to ask a follow up question. At the end of the day we went through it on our own and used past experience working with LinkedIn Recruiter to make sure everyone was on the same page and using it the most effective way. All in all, we are very happy with the LinkedIn Recruiter platform and LinkedIn, in general, is obviously a great product. I do think that LinkedIn could make some changes to improve the process and the customer experience, however. Tune next week for some suggestions – I'm talking to you LinkedIn! photo by: ardenswayoflife Sign-up for our Free Weekly Newsletter to get the best new ideas for building technology companies.   |
| The Blog Blog – Why and How we Blog Posted: 01 Oct 2012 01:15 PM PDT I'm doing it. I'm blogging about blogging. There are reams of advice on how to blog, but there seem to be less conversations about WHY we blog. To me, why we blog is so important. It's important because you'll often feel like you are speaking to an empty room so you need to remember why. The "why" isn't even something you should just read about once, it's something that you should review often. I've come up with four reasons why you should be blogging. Within these reasons, there's also just a touch of strategy for how to develop your blog post to reach each goal. This post got sooooooo long that I'm breaking it up into a couple of posts. So we'll start with the first two reason and post the next two next week. I'd also like to follow-up with why you should work with other bloggers, so it may even turn into a 3-part series. Here are the first of two reasons you should be blogging: Look Good on Google As a marketing genius, you got the attention of a possible customer, so they Google you. What do they see? The home page of your website and the "about" page of your website? That's it? Not a great sales pitch for your business. If you are a small business, that's ok! If you are a wedding cake artist, or a tax accountant, or a Magento-licensed website designer, you don't want to be a giant corporation. However, no matter what your size or how long you've been in business, you don't want to look new or small on the Internet. You want to instill confidence in your possible customers, make them feel like their needs will be met, to feel like they are in good hands. Once you get someone to your website, you can sell them on how great you are and have testimonials singing your praises, but first you need to get them there. So back to you being a marketing genius. What if when they Googled you they also saw blog posts by you, both on your website and other websites? They click through, skim a couple, and note that you are a thought leader in your field. Now you've developed that differentiator from your competition, and you haven't even talked to them yet! So let's spit-ball a little on how you make sure that your blogs make you look great on Google.
SEO At first glance you might think that SEO and "Look Good on Google" are the same thing. Think again Obi-Wan, they are actually very different. SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization and it's when you strategically put content on your website because you want people to find you when they type in those specific search terms. The above "Look Good" point was all about looking good when someone Googles your name. They know you exist already, they are specifically shopping for your services, and are considering you as an option, so they Googled you. Where you need SEO is when shoppers are generally looking for a service, and you want to make sure you show up as one of the options. If someone types in the business name "Camp Saver," then Campsaver.com wants to make sure they look good on Google. If someone searches on Google for "hot pink windproof jacket" or "freshest powder gear that actually keeps me warm" and those are things you offer, then you want your business to be one of the top results that show up on the front page of Google. Blogs are maybe THE most powerful tool in an SEO strategy. Google likes fresh, original, consistent content around specific topics. The more original content you add to your site and the more consistent you are with it, the more Google will see your site as a trusted source and shoot your pages to the top of their searches. So what do you have to blog about that Google will like? I bet you have more content than you think. My experience has shown that inside the walls of businesses, there is massive amounts of content just lying around, you just have to recognize it as content, gather it up, and present it in bite-size morsels that will attract new customers. Here are a couple of ideas to get you started: Top 10 lists. Or top 6, or top 4, or top 65 lists. I don't know if David Letterman has always had it right, or if he single-handedly trained all of America to LOVE top 10 lists. Whether it was the chicken or the egg first, top 10 lists work every time. Back to our gear company reaching college students:
Reviews within your industry. This gets a little sticky, because, well, you can't really give a bad review within your industry, but you can point out differences and selling points.
Thought leadership. I bet there are things that you know more about then anyone else. Dig deep, get opinionated and spew it out. It's actually pretty fun once you get started.
These are all easy blog posts to write, what's easier than writing about your own product? Once they are posted, Google will find them. Then, when students shop for "dorm room essentials" or "best waterproof boots" or "student discounts on umbrellas" you are there with great, useful content and a student discount! Think of the sales!! This isn't short term. This strategy requires a weekly reminder on your calendar so you set time aside to tackle it weekly. You can do it. And when you see the results, it'll be even easier to carve out the time. Ok, that wraps up reasons 1 & 2. Next week we'll go into 3 & 4. Fun!   |
| Time of Your Life: The Journey of the Class of 2016 Posted: 01 Oct 2012 12:45 PM PDT If you're starting college this fall, you could become a proud member of the class of 2016. Your college years can offer plenty of timeless memories, from football games to all nighters, but one thing that's not classic about college these days is the technology. If you're entering college in 2012, you're pursuing a degree in an increasingly tech-saturated college environment. Technology in higher education has exploded during your lifetime. When you started kindergarten, iPads didn't exist and college students wrote papers without Wikipedia. Today, college students may be logging onto a class website to access course videos, downloading a lecture from iTunes U or participating in a class discussion via Twitter. The rise of technology in higher education has transformed more than just where students learn. It's also shaped the way students gather information and evaluate knowledge. Free, online resources such as videos from the Khan Academy enable students to go outside the classroom to learn and explore new topics with peers. Likewise, though Wikipedia's crowd-sourced nature can make it a questionable research tool, some professors have embraced it in the classroom to teach students about the dynamic and collaborative nature of online media. Technology is not the only thing that's changed a lot since you were born. You've witnessed the rise of Pottermania and the Olympic dominance of Michael Phelps. Your next four years can help you make big decisions about your college major, your life goals and your career path. Take a look at your class of 2016 timeline to see what else has happened to make your journey unique and imagine what the future could have in store.
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| Why Social Media Is Critical To The Future Of TV Posted: 01 Oct 2012 12:40 PM PDT Last week I had the pleasure of doing a keynote at the Televisa Conference in Mexico City. I talked about the shared future of TV and social media and wanted to pass on some thoughts from the event. I cannot stress enough how important the relationship between the two is, whether viewed through the lens of studios and network television, second- screen technology and e-commerce, or social media and viewer engagement. Here are four key reasons social media is so critical to the future of TV: 1. Product placement and social media increase the importance of television and advertising. 2. Viewers can now buy direct from television programming in real-time and share what they bought with friends. 3. By sharing purchases, viewers earn social currency and engagement with friends through discussions about the shows and what they bought. 4. TV programs are using social media to expand their audience, celebrities are using it to drive fans to their shows, and advertising and social shopping are connecting the two. In fact, according to Accenture's U.S. Consumer Study, April 2012, information about a show, product or service was the #1 motivator for interacting with a social media while watching TV (43%). Other reasons included getting coupons and promotional codes (32 %); entering a contest/sweepstakes (31%); watching another video (26%); interacting about the show or product on social media (26%); connecting with others with similar interests (21%); sharing or recommending video/program to others (20%); and making a purchase (16%) Currently TV can become social in 3 three ways: 1. Second screens: The number of television and Social TV viewers using second screens (laptops, smartphones & tablets) to interact with television is at an all time high. 2. Smart TV's: Smart TV sets (Social TV sets), outfitted with easily accessed social networks and social applications, are rising. 3. STB's: Newer Pay-TV Platform Operators' newer STB's (Set Top Boxes) outfitted with social networks and social applications that essentially turn them into Social TV STB's. So as, Kevin Reilly, President of Entertainment at Fox Broadcasting, succinctly put it earlier this year: "The future isn't either traditional or digital: it's a feedback loop between the two. Television fans want to get involved and be counted. It's how creative we are in engaging those fans – and keeping them connected even as they may move away from the traditional network – that will determine how potent and profitable we will be in the future." As a result each player in the Social TV ecosystem must assume a new role: 1. PRODUCERS must become MULTI-SCREEN STORYTELLERS + TECHNOLOGY INNOVATORS. 2. ADVERTISERS must become SOCIAL BRANDS + CONTENT PRODUCERS 3. VIEWERS are already becoming CO-CREATIVE CONSUMERS + REAL-TIME COLLABORATORS This shift has already begun as leading networks and innovative start-ups are racing to secure the advertising spend and eyeballs of the interactive and multi-screen Social TV space. So as you plan your content calendar for 2103, ask yourself what the marketplace will look like and how can you tell that story across multiple screens to get the greatest impact.   |
| Social Media Manager vs. Online Community Manager: Same or Different? Posted: 01 Oct 2012 12:30 PM PDT One recent morning I saw a post in one of my LinkedIN groups asking “what is the difference between a social media manager and an online community manager?” Easy, I thought, and offered a quick response on my mobile … “Social media managers bring the guests (clients, prospects) to the table and community managers welcome them in!” Ahh, but wait. This may require more words than I can manage on that little screen. So, naturally, I turned to trusty Google to see what others have said on this topic. Among the first mentions I came across was a CMSWire which discussed the confusion between social media and online community management, and suggested the two roles have become blurred. In my view, the confusion often begins with job descriptions, which are rarely written by actual practitioners. For larger organizations new to these rapidly evolving specialties, they strive to find and describe the commonalities rather than highlight the differences in the two roles. Next, I sought out my trusted peers and colleagues to see and hear what they had to say. In a post by the very knowledgeable Blaise Grimes-Viort from the UK firm e-Moderation, he shared the following definitions of these two roles: · Community Manager: Operates from deep within the company, managing customer relationships with a brand or product, and each other. Potentially she can be a fully Enterprise Community Manager, involved in facilitating efficient inter-team and staff communication and collaboration. She is focussed on the flow of information and knowledge, strengthening relationships and promoting productive collaboration, which may include moderation and hosting of both micro- and macro-events on the company's community platform. Placement within the Organisation chart is more likely to be connected to Editorial, Product development, Business development, and Marketing. In addition, I would add Customer Service/Support to the list of org chart nodes above. · Social Media Manager: Operates from the edges of the company, managing brand recognition and reputation outside of the scope of the brand website. He is focused on listening and evaluating brand perception, planning campaigns and promotional material or initiatives to promote the company's message, building and leveraging social networks on social platforms such as Twitter and Facebook to facilitate depth of communication. He will usually be found within the Organisation chart connected to Marketing, PR, and Sales. Another aspect of the blurring and overlap in roles is the type of organization doing the hiring — what is the business focus for the role? Business-to-business (B2B) and consumer companies have very different requirements. In consumer organizations, the community focus is individual consumers, and consumers generally frequent public social media channels with broad reach and large numbers. On the other hand, B2B organizations focus on building customer intimacy using channels such as online communities, customer councils and executive briefing centers along with offline outreach. For B2B, the desired relationship is deeper, just as the purchase cycle may be longer, revenue potential much greater and the depth of engagement (think suppliers and partners as well as customers) may be much greater and more complicated. In B2B organizations the social media manager is part of marketing and PR, facing outward for the most part. The B2B community manager has some outward responsibilities, but is connected to more core operations at the firm. These distinctions are especially visible in the success measures for each role – the key performance indicators. Of course, both roles may share responsibility for a number success metrics and will need to partner effectively to deliver results. Here is a short tabulation of key B2B success measures, the role involved and the organizational accountability path. B2B Success Measure Role Accountability Drive leads Social Media Manager Marketing Raise awareness of products or services Social Media Manager Marketing Visibility of company, products, services or thought leaders Social Media Manager Marketing Increase sales Social Media Manager Sales Event attendance Social Media Manager on public channels, Community manager on community channels Marketing Customer questions about how to use a product or service Community Manager Customer Service Learn from customers (e.g. feedback into product development) Community Manager Product Management/R&D Customer retention / satisfaction Community Manager Sales Call center reduction/ Improve customers' ability to get help from each other Community Manager Customer Service Increase utilization of the products Community Manager Product Management. Note that in the B2B world, where customers tend to be other organizations purchasing complex and expensive products and services, the lines between the social media manager and the community manager roles can be more clearly defined than in consumer space. B2B and consumer prospects have very different information and relationship needs, and when the sale is made the customers require very different levels of ongoing engagement and support. The overlap between the B2B social media and online community manager roles is usually much less than for those roles at a B2C firm.   |
| De-Stress Now! An Easy and Inexpensive Solution for Your Small Business Social Media Posted: 01 Oct 2012 11:30 AM PDT Social media, as a business tool, is a relatively new phenomenon. Several years ago when Facebook first started to enter our lives few small business people really looked at it as an opportunity to spread the word about their products or services. However, when social media is used thoughtfully and carefully by the small business entrepreneur it can make a considerable difference to the way that people perceive the organization. Still, most small business owners do not understand how to approach the subject. They don’t know how to use the potential, or to figure out whether they should choose one particular outlet over another. When this type of confusion is evident, the result is predictable. Nothing is done and an opportunity goes to waste. This is the perfect opportunity for a small business to consider using a Virtual Solutions Expert. Outsourcing your social media online is one of the most astute things you can do and a core component of any relationship that you have with your Virtual Solutions Expert. Let’s look at a few ways you can begin to De-Stress Now by leaning on a Virtual Solutions Expert: Social Bookmarking Let’s start off by looking at social bookmarking. Essentially we are using the power of crowd sourcing here. When more people talk about a particular subject more focus is given to that subject. In other words, the topic is given credibility. On the web, a great way of spreading the word is by “bookmarking.” This is when other people essentially vote for the topic in question within a variety of extensive networks, such as Digg. The Virtual Solutions Expert will write a compact description of a particular product, solution, service or whatever storyline you would like to publicize. This compact story will then be distributed through various networks by a variety of people and this will serve to provide links and awareness.
These three solutions represent just the beginning of the story when it comes to social media and business opportunities. Thanks again for reading! If you have any questions or need any assistance please feel free to contact me at any time using the contact information below. I am happy to help.   |
| Microlending: Changing the World $20 at a Time (Infographic) Posted: 01 Oct 2012 11:27 AM PDT Can you change the world with $20? Economist Muhamma Yunus believes you can. In 1983, Yunus started Grameen Bank, which has served over 50 million people in developing countries secure microloans to pull them out of abject poverty. While researching in the 1970s, Yunus found that a $27 loan could help propel impoverished workers to both care for their families and expand their small businesses. Workers in poverty often must use local loan sharks, which creates and entrenches a poverty cycle from which it is all but impossible to break. In fact, of the three billion adults in the world that lack access to legal credit worldwide, only 4% of these will escape poverty. Two-thirds of the world’s adult lack access to legal banks in developing countries. And Yunus finds this unacceptable. Microlending has exploded in the past decades, helping many women and men to create more advantageous economic situations for themselves, their businesses, and their families. And microloans build economic equality for women, especially. In developing countries, whereas 46% of men have access to bank accounts, only 37% of women are in a similar situation. In Africa, for example, women receive less than 10% of credit provided to farmers, but make up 60% of the rural labor workforce. 82.3% of microloan borrowers are women, and these microloans can help break a cycle of destitute poverty, increasing quality of life for women, men, families, and, indeed, communities. For-profit lenders, on the other hand, make poverty much worse, often charging impossibly high interest rates for the sake of a few bucks. Non-profit microlenders with stellar reputations include: Accion International, the Opportunity Fund, Women’s Initiative, and the Business Center for New Americans. Your $20 gift can mean a difference in quality of life for families and communities in the developing world.
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| Nothing’s Free in This World: Flickr Creative Commons Review Posted: 01 Oct 2012 11:24 AM PDT
Listen, I'm not judging. I know firsthand how frustrating it can be trying to find good images to go along with each of your blog posts. So whether you steal from Google images or spend way too much money purchasing images from iStock — or simply avoid images altogether — I'm here to tell you there's another way. Flickr Creative Commons offers bloggers like you and I free images (yes, you have to source them) to use in your blog posts. But is there a price to pay? Find out below! Why I Like Flickr Creative Commons:Creative Commons is great for those times when you need an image and don't want to spend money purchasing one. If you blog daily, purchasing images can get really expensive, so having Flickr Creative Commons as an alternative is really great for bloggers, no matter what the topic is. I can usually find a good image on Creative Commons (hence the gem above) for any blog post I write, but does it take longer than it should? Absolutely. (See below for more details on that.) Otherwise, Creative Commons offers free images for use wherever you need them, so it's a great option to have. Why I Don't Like Flickr Creative Commons:How can I put this nicely… Let's just say that the tagging skills of people who use Creative Commons could use a little work. Okay, a lot of work. If the images were tagged properly, it would save bloggers, or anyone searching for free images, a huge amount of time. For example, the other day I was searching for "person typing" because I needed an image of, well, a person typing, and what did the search pull up? A few images of a man crying and a woman dressed in a Norwegian national costume. Not helpful, Flickr. Not helpful at all. Yes, the images you can get on Creative Commons are free, but the price you pay is with your time. How To Use Flickr Creative Commons:Using Creative Commons is easy! Go to Flickr.com and type what you're looking for in the search box on the right. Once you've hit 'search,' you'll notice an advanced search option toward the right of the new search box that popped up. Click that and then scroll all the way down to the 'Creative Commons section' – it's the last option on the page. Be sure to check "Only search within Creative Commons-licensed content." Now you can start going through Creative Commons to find the image you need. The verdict: If you're willing to search a little harder than you would on a paying site, you can find really great, high quality images on Creative Commons. If you're not, Creative Commons may slowly drive you insane… one improperly tagged image at a time. Buy, steal, or source: What's your preferred method for obtaining blog photos? Image courtesy of Flickr by Louish Pixel   |
| Replacement Refs: Bad Call: WSJ Sentiment Tracker by NetBase Posted: 01 Oct 2012 10:35 AM PDT Monday Night Football doesn't rank when it comes to my list of priorities, but I would have had to be living under a rock to miss the uproar about replacement refs this past week. It's not my personality to get emotional or worked up about sports games, but I certainly understand that some fans do. So, when the September 29th installment of the Wall Street Journal Sentiment Tracker focused on the response to replacement refs from Facebook and Twitter users, I was not surprised to see that over 34,000 conversations were generated in social media. Despite 66% of social media users being furious about the refs, they're still watching the games and talking about it! 16% felt sympathy for the refs, and I have to agree; this is not the first game to be lost on a bad call, and it certainly won't be the last – and I'm sure the refs are just as ready to bolt from their jobs as the fans are to have them gone. 4% expressed relief that the replacements were on their way out, and 14% made some hilarious jokes. Check out some of the extra ones below! I failed my eye exam today, so now I am qualified to be a NFL replacement ref this SUnday…. These replacement refs are really making a lot of good calls… #stuffnoonesays Are you breathing a sigh of relief that Monday Night Football is no longer doomed to terrible replacements? Let me know in the comments!   |
| New LinkedIn Company Pages Tailored For Inbound Marketing Success Posted: 01 Oct 2012 10:23 AM PDT
The LinkedIn company page is getting a major upate and you have until Nov. 30 to prepare your business for the change. News of the impending change was published on the LinkedIn company blog recently, though no timetable for the changes were announced, other than the Nov. 30 deadline when the company will automatically switch pages over to the new format if they have not already been updated. As for when most folks would be able to get into their page, LinkedIn said selected companies such as Dell or Citi would have early access to the redesign, and the changes would be filtering out from there. The new look will no doubt be welcome aesthetically, as the current design, while functional, isn’t much to look at. LinkedIn is promising the new pages will make it easier for users to access the information they want about the companies they care about. For companies, the new look promises a more powerful way to build relationships with your target audience on LinkedIn. While the when of access to the new design has not been nailed down, the what of the new features has been circulating for a few days. New additions include:
In other words, it’s a thorough refresh with the chance to add a lot of new elements that can further drive traffic to your company website. If you have been following our blog for any length of time, you know we are big advocates of LinkedIn for attracting prospects and leads, and these tools should make it even more effective. Here is an example of a recently converted page: To see if your page is ready for an upgrade, go to your company page and check your administrative tools. If you see the phrase “Upgrade to New Version,” you can begin to upgrade your page. Check often so you don’t miss the opportunity. According to LinkedIn, the benefits of the new design include:
LinkedIn was already an important social media tool for lead generation and the redesign seems to have improved its use as an Inbound Marketing tool. To learn more about using social media to attract relevant prospects to your business, check out our Step-by-Step Guide to Inbound Marketing.   |
| Posted: 01 Oct 2012 10:21 AM PDT “Want to learn the five most important SEO (Search Engine Optimization) tips that allow Wikipedia to dominate Google organic search results“. Its fairly obvious to most people who use search engines that Wikipedia often appears at the top of search results. What’s not obvious is how Wikipedia does it. With over 200 ranking indicators included in Google’s search engine algorithms, it can be hard to determine which aspects of Wikipedia’s SEO outshine everyone else’s. This article will highlight 5 top SEO features that make Wikipedia such a stellar SEO performer. Wikipedia’s Top 5 Search OptimizationsBloggers, and small businesses stand to benefit by learning about SEO and implementing great fundamental SEO basics – as demonstrated by Wikipedia. Please note that I have focused on the SEO tips and techniques that most small businesses and bloggers can implement for themselves – in other words, I’m not going to advice you to suggest you try create millions of individual articles, like Wikipedia. 1. Highly focusedWikipedia offers articles that cover very specific topics. In fact, most Wikipedia article headings consist of only one or very few words. The reality of SEO today is that unless Google knows an article is precisely focused on a specific search term or phrase, it is unlikely it will rank highly for that exact search phrase. The reason is that there is simply so much content being generated that there will always be many tens, hundreds or thousands of articles devoted to each and every niche SEO term. Don’t expect an article focusing on “small business tips” to rank highly for anything other than a search on the phrase “small business tips“. It might, if it becomes popular, but chances are it won’t. 2. AuthoritativeWikipedia content is both well written and comprehensive. This means that it is used as a reference source by many people – it is quoted and linked to all over the place. Any good article stands a chance of being referenced and passed around in social media. Look at the quality of Wikipedia articles (they’re by no means perfect) and ensure that your content matches or exceeds that quality. 3. FreshWikipedia content is regularly updated. New articles are added and old ones are improved and edited. Google tends to favor content that is fresh. It’s no longer sufficient to build a website, add content, and watch organic search traffic continue to roll in indefinitely. Regularly add new content. Update existing content. Improve or correct outdated or incorrect content. 4. Great linking patternsWikipedia content is full of internal and external links. Internal links help readers find or research related content. This lowers Wikipedia’s bounce rate and is a good indication that their content is engaging and relevant for readers. In addition, Wikipedia cites information from high quality sources and Google also monitors outbound links. Link naturally to encourage a flow of traffic internally, and link to other high quality websites and blogs where it is appropriate to do so. 5. Great document structureWikipedia articles are generally well organized and easy to follow. Document structure is important to Google and is a good indicator of quality content. Always ensure that you utilize a single title tag for each article, and break up chunks of content into logical categories headed by H2, H3 and smaller heading tags. In addition, make use of and tags to indicate important SEO terms and phrases. Above all else, ensure that your documents are structured in such a way as to be easy for humans to understand and utilize. That’s my top five list. But, there are plenty of other great reasons why Wikipedia dominates Google organic search rankings. Can you name a few more? Share them in the comments. If you want to learn more about SEO, I recommend reading the following great articles and resources that will teach you everything you need to know:
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| Why Insurance Marketing Should Include These 3 Social Media Channels Posted: 01 Oct 2012 10:04 AM PDT
Insurance marketing doesn't really work like that. Big providers have a certain amount of reach and will use big advertising methods, but insurance agents operate in a different way. Marketing for insurance agents is about things like word of mouth and local and direct advertising. These are often the reasons insurance agents don't get involved in social media marketing. They don't think their target market use social media or they don't feel insurance marketing methods will work on Facebook or Twitter. The funny thing is, social media marketing is all about word of mouth and local and direct advertising. Let's look at the social channels that every insurance agent should consider and the reasons they will work for you. The most obvious social channel for insurance marketing is LinkedIn. More than a social network, LinkedIn is a professional network so it's the ideal starting point for insurance marketing. Even though it's an online network, the roots of LinkedIn are very traditional. It's all about making and building contacts, and building a reputation through word of mouth. By joining groups and getting involved in discussions on LinkedIn, you can get your name out there among potential clients. The more active you are, the more connections you'll make and the more visible you'll be. LinkedIn is also a great place to share content you've created, like blogs. If you share that content within the right groups, or if one of your clients shares it to others in their industry, you could access a huge potential community. It's local word of mouth in a digital age. Speaking of sharing content. Twitter is another great place to share out your content. The response when you mention Twitter as a marketing channel to a lot of small business is, 'Is that not just people talking about Justin Bieber and what they ate for breakfast?' The answer is, not by a long shot. Twitter is a huge community and, depending on who you follow you can interact with people on almost every subject imaginable. By interacting with other insurance professionals and prospects, you can broaden your visibility and build contacts. Just like LinkedIn, Twitter is a great way to use your contacts. If your account is followed by someone with influence in another industry and they share some of your content, or mention you in a tweet, you're accessing a whole new market. Blog We've mentioned content a lot here, because content is key to modern digital marketing. It's all about creating content that piques the interest of prospects so they visit your website and become a potential client. As well as being your main content output, your blog is also a social channel in itself. The best blogs offer interesting insights that encourage further reading or create debate. Creating interesting blogs around your products or industry can be a great way to attract traffic and hopefully generate a few comments. Your comments section on your blog will be another opportunity to engage with prospects. You should also visit other blogs within your industry and leave comments of your own. Blogging is very much a social activity and the more active you are, the more effective it will be as an insurance marketing tool. To use social media effectively for insurance marketing, you should really be using a combination of the three. You create regular blogs, post them to LinkedIn groups and tweet them to your followers. Then you follow up on comments and get involved in discussions. Traditional insurance marketing is about building contacts and getting word of mouth going, and so is social media. The difference is that you can do social media marketing without leaving the office or picking up the phone.   |
| Tips and Tricks to Design a Perfect Infographic Posted: 01 Oct 2012 09:55 AM PDT Infographics or information graphics are the graphical representation of data and information. Infographics are a medium of communication that presents complex data in a lucid way that facilitates quick comprehension. Designing an infographic is an art by itself, as its involves in-depth analysis and sifting through a lot of data to present concepts in a visually appealing and interactive manner that gets the message across. Here are some tips and tricks to design a perfect infographic. Find Out What’s Trending Readers are always on the lookout for something that’s new, unique and likely to pique their interest. And staying updated with the latest information and statistics makes readers feel empowered. So find out what’s hot or newsworthy in the industry at the moment when you design your infographic. Include nuggets of interesting information and useful data which your readers would like to absorb. Understand the Info-design Relationship An aesthetic blend of information and designs will win the attention of readers and keep them hooked. An infographic should be simple, easy to understand and have a pleasing design and color scheme to make your readers go wow! Analyze Concepts in Detail Designing a perfect infographic is going to involve a lot of data mining! Carry out in-depth research to amass statistics and data covering various aspects of your topic. Check the accuracy of statistics and present it in a condensed capsule format that helps your readers soak up all that you have to offer. The response you receive will be worth the efforts you churn out. Cater to the Attention Span of Readers Length is a crucial factor in infographic designing. An infographic that is too short will fail to attract people as it may not be worth their time. One that is too long will also fail to create an impact as readers have short attention spans online. Remember that your readers are likely to scan the content to decide if it has something valuable to offer them. So your infographic will have to create an excellent impression during the few seconds when your reader catches sight of it. Make Your Content Addictive Fresh ideas and innovative visualization techniques are the prerequisites for addictive content. People love facts and statistics. Present them with some compelling illustrations and images and there you go. Your infographic is ready to grab eyeballs! Infographics have created a revolution in data sharing in an era where readers understand and relate to visual representations of data. Infographics are recognized by firms as a powerful business strategy to present concepts which are trending in the industry in an interactive and engaging manner that improves brand value, reaches out to customers through a new platform and establishes an edge over competitors.   |
| 6 Easy Steps to Set Up Authorship Through Your Google+ Profile Posted: 01 Oct 2012 09:35 AM PDT If you've followed SEO and Internet marketing news over the past year, you've no doubt come across the concept of AuthorRank, which AJ Kohn says "could be more disruptive than all of the Panda updates combined." Google, who actually labels it "Agent Rank," describes it as "the identity of individual agents responsible for content can be used to influence search ratings." In other words, Google will begin (or has begun) to consider not only content quality as the basis of search results, but also their authors. If you have multiple authors within your company contributing to the corporate blog, you can see why it's critical that proper authorship be attributed to each of them in order to begin building their AuthorRanks. One of several (and, in my opinion, the easiest) methods for setting up authorship is through Google+. The following instructions can be used by anyone in your company to set up authorship through their Google+ profiles. Even if you aren't actively using your Google+ network, it's important to have a completely filled-out profile that includes the "Contributor to" field. 1. Go to https://plus.google.com/ and login. 2. Click "Profile" on the left: 3. Click "Edit Profile" near the top-right: 4. Scroll all the way down to the bottom, and locate a field called "Contributor to" – click on it and it will become editable (yours most likely will not have any links in it): 5. Click "Add custom link" and enter Company Name and http://www.COMPANYURLcom like so: 6. Click "Save" and then click "Done Editing" near the top: Once your employees have added this information to their profiles, your task is only half-way complete. Since your Google+ profile is now talking to your website, we have to enable your website to talk to your Google+ profile. WordPress users can download the Yoast WordPress SEO Plugin, which adds a Google+ profile field to all author profiles. Simply paste the profile url in this field and you're in business. The plugin will write a rel="author" to each post written by that author. If you aren't using WordPress, there are other ways to add a rel="author" tag to your posts, including manually applying for authorship through Google. Check out this excellent post by Mike Arnesen for more information. Once you've completed both phases of setting up authorship, you can test your posts using the Structured Data Testing Tool (formerly the "Rich Snippets Testing Tool). You can eventually check the SERP for the exact title of your blog: If the concept of AuthorRank is new to you, check out: How to Prepare for AuthorRank and Get the Jump on Google on SEOmoz.   |
| Costco Gets Slapped Over Social Media Policy Posted: 01 Oct 2012 08:49 AM PDT
be aware that statements posted electronically (such as to online message boards or discussion groups) that damage the company, defame any individual or damage any person's reputation or violate the policies outlined in the Costco Employee Agreement, may be subject to discipline, up to and including termination of employment. What does this mean to your company's social media policy?Well, if you have our social media policy, you're safe – we stay ahead of the courts and Federal agencies by keeping our fingers on the legal pulse. But, if you just put something together on your own or modified something you found online, you may face the same penalties faced by Costco. Not only does Costco have to change the offensive policy, a number of additional provisions in their employee handbook were struck down, which interferes with the functioning of the organization. Plus, the ruling comes after 2 years of legal fights between the union and Costco – with the huge costs associated with that fight. According to Forbes: In fact — without pointedly using the terms social media, Facebook or Twitter — the NLRB essentially called into question any policy by a company that states employees can be disciplined or fired for posting comments online that may damage the company. Again, the NLRB is suggesting that such policies are overly broad. And, we're already seeing the effect of this ruling. Days after the Costco ruling a judge used the precedent to strike down similar elements in the social media policy of Echostar, despite seaming exclusion of speech protected by collective bargaining laws. The judge found fault with a provision regarding social media policy that: prohibited employees from making disparaging or defamatory comments about the employer or its employees, officers, directors, customers, vendors, etc. Despite other language in the policy that stated the policy would be interpreted to comply with existing laws and urged employees to use "good judgment" and contact human resources with any questions, the administrative law judge found that the prohibition of "disparaging" comments was too broad and would tend to intrude on the rights of employees under the National Labor Relations Act. — Bernstein Shur, JD Social Media PolicySeveral take-aways come from these recent rulings.
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| 5 Quick Tips For The Busy Blogger Posted: 01 Oct 2012 08:35 AM PDT As the CEO of an innovative HR software company, a father to two, and an avid athlete, my days are typically pretty full. However, I understand the value of operating a blog and am unwilling to let my busy schedule hinder me from capitalizing on its benefits or sharing my ideas. So I've simply had to readjust a few times and learn a few things firsthand along the way. With any luck, these tips can help other busy bloggers push through life's chaos and maximize their writing efforts.
Busy people can and should blog because they're likely to have experiences worth sharing! It can help validate their professional efforts and provide a fantastic opportunity for networking. That said, if you're going to blog, make it a venture that's worthwhile for you and your readers.   |
| Nissan India Drives Engagement Through FriendsTrip On Facebook Posted: 01 Oct 2012 08:29 AM PDT Nissan is offering a day trip for fans and their friends on the Nissan Micra through the FriendsTrip Facebook contest and if you are lucky the Micra would have a chauffeur too! Nissan is all set to conquer the Indian market that is saturated with other Japanese automakers like Maruti Suzuki, Toyota and Honda. Ever since the launch of its small car Micra which saw good sales, India looks like a favourable market and the Japanese firm has been quick to leverage this. In the season where consumers are being tempted to visit the showroom for a test drive, Nissan is offering fans a day's trip on the Micra with friends, through the FriendsTrip Facebook contest. Fans have to upload a photo featuring themselves and their friends, tag their friends and spread it far and wide on Facebook and gather as many votes, shares,comments, likes as they can. They might just be the weekly winner of a FriendsTrip and a movie with their gang of friends. Nissan FriendsTrip Facebook appThe contest is hosted on a neat little tabbed Facebook app with Upload, View, Leaderboard, Terms & Conditions and About. Do 'like' the Nissan Facebook page as the contest is open only to fans, though the app is accessible to non fans too. As the names of the tabs suggest, you can upload your photo, view other entries as well as the top voted ones through the first 3 tabs. The T&Cs are fine but does not mention the contest end dates. About is the tab that explains the idea behind hosting FriendsTrip. How cool is FriendsTrip?Cars are a celebration of life, of progress and one of the many aspirations for consumers everywhere. And Facebook is a network for friends, family and fun. Together the two entities complement each other quite well. For me, FriendsTrip is an ingenious move to spread the feel of owning a Micra and having a good time along with friends, instead of the usual FBing them. Nissan has certainly nailed it again on Facebook engagement. That apart, the app is simple and provides for a smooth user experience. Nissan seems to be a Facebook savvy brand. Earlier, we saw the brand create the world's first Bollywood movie 'New Star of India' starring leading Bollywood actor, Ranbir Kapoor to endorse the Micra. The brand had launched an innovative Facebook campaign calling for auditions for New Star of India. 20 fans got a chance to star alongside Ranbir in the movie from amongst the thousands who had auditioned. You can see the final movie as well as the story of how it all started in the Facebook app. The 20 winners were chosen from the most highest votes received and some of Ranbir's favourites. In addition, the campaign gave an opportunity for fans to co-produce the movie on Facebook. I'm impressed with Nissan's endeavours on Facebook, how about you?   |
| Using Facebook Ad Campaigns to Enhance Business Success Posted: 01 Oct 2012 07:35 AM PDT
Before we proceed to the discussion of what these Ads are and how to create and use them, let us talk about the basics that you do not want to miss when embarking on a Facebook marketing campaign. You already know by now how important it is for you to have your own official website and an official Facebook fan page that connects you to your target market and redirects them to your official website. Let us think of the ads as flyers or posters to an upcoming event. The upcoming event is your website or your Facebook page. Even if you have effective flyers, without an event, your ad placement and creation will be futile. So let's say that you already have established your official online location with a website and a Facebook page linked together. Now is the time to start thinking about putting ads on Facebook to make the public know the existence of your website and Facebook page. You need to get people to like your page and since they cannot like it out of nowhere, you need to put ads on pages that they would most likely visit such as apps, groups, timelines, photos and of course, the home page. The wider the exposure, the more chances you have at being discovered and liked. You probably are a Facebook user already but let me give a brief explanation on what these ads are. If you look at the right-hand column of whatever page it is you are in on Facebook, you will notice small and eye catching ads that would redirect you to a page with more information about the product. These ads can contain a one-liner text that compels you to know more. A striking image to go with it also enhances its effectiveness. This ad can also come with a like button that you can click on without having to go to the page. So how exactly do these ads work? These ads are submitted by the owner to Facebook along with a description of its target market. Let us say that you are advertising fashion accessories and make up. Of course you will have a target market since make up is not for everyone. This description could include location, age group, gender and interests. Targeting people can also be based on relationship statuses, religions, spoken languages, educational background and even employment history. By making sure of that, your ad will be seen by the right people. Now to create an effective Facebook ad, you first need to choose the page that you want to promote or redirect the ad to when clicked. This landing page can be any website, Make sure that the text of your ad contains pertinent details about what you are trying to promote, its unique features and qualities and special offers if any. People need to know why they should like a certain page or click on an ad. With that, you also need to use clear calls to action that makes the viewer do something about the ad. Common examples would be "Like us to get updates on the latest products" or "Sign up to get exclusive discounts and offers." Make sure it is more compelling that the simple "Buy now" or "Get your copy today." The potential buyer must see that there is something in it for them. Once you have set up your ad, you can rest assured that it is running according to your specified options. All you need to do is manage your existing ads as you see fit and evaluating their performance from the success rate reports that you will receive throughout the campaign. Remember that Facebook has become increasingly popular these days and advertising on it is as effective if not more effective than advertising on the newspaper or any print publications.   |
| 8 Advantages Content Can Give You In Business Social Media Posted: 01 Oct 2012 07:17 AM PDT Content is supposed to be King in Social Media. But why is that so? What can content do for you, that you could not achieve without content? Done right content can work wonders for your business in Social Media. Yet many get frustrated because they do not get out of their content what they expected. I have written about reasons why content is king. I have told you how to get your content to work for you and I have had a closer look the ingredients that really make content king. Yet it is still hard to figure out what kind of content is best for a given business and purpose, because the goals you can achieve, the benefits a business could get out of content and the means by which these goals are met vary from case to case. Social Media is a large playground; you need the right toy for every different angle, challenge and personality. To get the most out of your efforts, you need to be sure about what you want to achieve and what you expect. The content that is best for you depends strongly on your own specific goals. Here are some benefits you can achieve with content, usually one does not come without helping the others. You can force the ones more important to you, by choosing the right content and actions. BUT: Do not expect the last one to come on its own and first! 1. Information/Answers You have a question, a problem, or need information but have trouble finding exactly what you are looking for? Write an article about your problem or question. Describe what you know, and what information your are looking for. Ask your following or post the article in a place where an active audience is present. Ask if someone in your following can point you to helpful information, pose questions in forums or better even on Quora. 2. Insights Where books often have a lot of valuable information, no content is better accessible than online content. You will be able to find almost any information online, without having to go to different libraries, you just have to find it. To stand out from the mass of content people online often share valuable personal experiences. If the already existing information is not sufficient for you and you are left with more questions – go back to 1. And ask! In addition to the existing information in content online, your own content can inspire discussions and comments, that can be a well of more information, often you are pointed to more information or given a different point of view. 3. Following/Audience You want to get attention in social media for yourself, your experience, expertise and products and services? Publish content online and share valuable insights. Connect to people in the different networks and communicate with them. You will be able to grow a following and an audience exceeding any audience you could gather offline with speaking and networking at conferences or other events. This is the ground work for point 8 "New Business" – build a following and start connecting to people in social media before you expect them to buy your products or services. 4. Visibility Do not fall for the wrong assumption that just publishing content will get you visibility. Yet good content is the starting point and the fundament on which online and social media visibility is built. Publishing content that is of interest to your target audience and sharing it through different channels will help you get the visibility you are looking for. You can grow your social media following based on the good content you share, your visibility will grow, too. Good content in the right outlets is the ground on which you can build your visibility. 5. Communication It is hard to create and publish good content and realize that it does not get any reactions, be it shares or comments. This is something that happens over and over again in social media and web2.0. It does not necessarily have to be like that. While it is really hard to get a conversation started on a newly established blog, there are more possibilities to get into conversation with interested people. The right content in the right outlet will help you start communicating with your target group: Choose content, that poses questions and gives room to different opinions. Publish your content in a place where an active audience is already present. Have a look at content that inspires reactions and try to learn from these pieces for your own content. Do not wait for people to talk to you: Start conversations yourself. Ask questions and share your opinion. If you already "talked" to people they will more likely comment on your own content. Do not limit your communication to your own content and the outlet where you published – share your content in other networks and communicate in these outlets: LinkedIn Groups or Twitter are good places to easily start a conversation. 6. Connections and Contacts Some people in social media mistake followers or audience as contacts. Yet, contacts need to be build, there is much more to "connecting" and "contact" than sending a contact request to any more or less random person in LinkedIn or following someone on Twitter. Even though the reason for contacting or following might be legitimate and the contact request fits the business needs of both sides, to connect you have to communicate, stay in touch and build the connection – and trust. Social Media offers a great opportunity to start connecting to people, content gives you the means to find a targeted group of people willing to connect to you. Yet connections and contacts are hard work – to build and maintain. 7. Reputation With your content you can show your knowledge and expertise, you can help people, and let your audience glimpse at your experience and customer references. You can show personality and character. You can choose yourself what information to share and what to withhold – all with the reputation in mind, that you would like to have. Sharing knowledge, helping people, giving a voice to happy customers – all the things that help you show your expertise and be recognized as a thought leader in your chosen area of interest, and all based on the content you publish and share. Let your content speak for you and show that you are the expert people want to connect to and work with. 8. New Business There are many people in social media that make the mistake of expecting this "New Business" first. They publish a product description or a service offer and expect tons of new customers to cry out: Deal! Yet without the other 7 steps the business you get out of social media will be meager, arise by chance and most likely not be what you expected. Yet by building a following, online visibility, communication, connections and building a reputation as an expert, you position yourself as the person to turn to, the thought leader people ask for help in case they need it, and you will get new business – growing with your growing following, connections and recognition in social media. All this with your own outstanding content! This article was originally published on exploreB2B.   |
| How to Measure the Success of Social Media Efforts; A Look at Metrics Posted: 01 Oct 2012 06:50 AM PDT An Approach to Measuring Success with Social Media; What Metrics Mean the MostSo I was speaking at a conference this week, when a marketer from a non-profit asked me a question we've all heard before, just in different words- whether from someone else, or to ourselves; "I've been doing Facebook posts for 6 months now, but I can't determine if it's increase our donations." Typical question- sound familiar? C-suite executives are still trying to grapple with these questions along with their marketing people. Remember gang, it's still called "new media" meaning that how to utilize these platforms to generate leads and sales is still being evolved. It's easy to get caught up in the hype. 4-5 years ago- a number of PR folk and marketing consultants discovered Twitter, then Facebook. It was- "let's learn this, let's become good at this, let's write books, let's write blogs, let's do speaking engagements" No matter what you read, who you follow, or what you hear, you and your management team still need to be convinced that social media activity does indeed have a contribution to business growth. Social media is unlike any other medium, yet we still have to substantiate the time and effort to manage it, produce content, and measure the data. Here's a recent CMO survey conducted by Duke University and commissioned by the American Marketing Association. CMO's are tracking social media by website visits and page views, then repeat visits, then the NUMBER of followers or friends, then conversion rate. What's not judged by these guys is the quality of your content and the engagement/virality rates that can lead to website visits. Here's the key marketing cycle of social media…if your content is good, and your target audiences share it or comment, and those who get exposed to the content click on links within that post/tweet, audiences, and hopefully prospects, visit your website to learn more about you, then it is hoped that those prospects are eventually converted into a lead or sale (via lead nurturing if you're lead generation firm, or purchase if you're e-commerce.) So what we're saying here is if you're social media engagement metrics are growing, it increases the likelihood of a clicked link opportunity to your website, landing page, or blog. That's exposure; and that can lead to a conversion. What engagement metrics are we speaking about? Ones that prove that your content is engaging enough to your followers, fans, and connections. Below are a few of the engagement metrics you should be looking at. Caution- there are no ideal benchmarks here. Every business is different. Of importance is that you start keep a custom dashboard, and begin measuring this stuff weekly of monthly, and hopefully your trends increase; otherwise you'll need to reevaluate your content strategy. Question: Is My Message Relevant to My Followers? Answer: (Active Followers/ Total Followers) X 100 = Engaged Follower Rate *An active follower is the number of followers who retweeted you or mentioned you in a tweet in a given time period) Question: Am I Engaging with Followers? Answer: ((Retweets Given + @replies)/ Total Followers)) x 100 = Conversion Rate Question: Is My Content Relevant? Answer: (Retweets Received/ # of Tweets) x 100 = Twitter Amplification Rate Question: Is My Content Influential? Answer: ((Mentions + Retweets Received + Favorited Posts)/# of Tweets)) x 100 = Content Influence Rate Question: Is My Content Attracting Website/Blog Visitors? Answer: Original Content Post Clicks/ Total Original Content Posts = Clicks Per Post Question: Is My Business Page Growing this Month? Answer: (New Fans – Lost Fans)/ Previous Month's New Fans = Fan Growth Rate Question: Are My Posts Viral? Answer: (People Talking About This/Organic Reach) x 100 = Post Virality Rate Question: Are My Posts Being Shared? Answer: # of Post Shares / # of Posts = Facebook Amplification Rate Question: Are My Fans (or Likes) Engaged With My Posts? Answer: ((People Talking About This + Post Consumptions)/ # of Page Fans) x 100 = Fan Engagement Rate Question: Is My FB Content Relevant? Answer: (People Talking About This / # of Fans) x 100 = Post Engagement Rate Question: Is My FB Content Attracting Website/Blog Visitors? Answer: Original Content Post Clicks (Content on your blog/website)/ Total Original Content Posts = Clicks Per Post While these social media engagement metrics are being tracked, you of course need to measure social media traffic to your website or blog via Google Analytics or a similar platform. You'll need to track:
All of these metrics and more, with examples and Google Analytics detail, can be downloaded for free from our social media analytics page. I hope this post helps shed some light into social media measurement for your business. Notice how I never mentioned amounts of followers or likes. Amounts, although important from an overall growth standpoint, are not what you generally should be measuring. It's how you engage with those likes and followers, and the quality of content. But you know that, right? How are you measuring social media? Does top management and sales have buy-in?   |
| How To Watch Your Competitors On Twitter, Without Them Knowing! Posted: 01 Oct 2012 06:25 AM PDT Without question, Twitter is a powerful research resource. Even if an organisation chooses not to have a public Twitter profile, they can still be listening via the real time chatter which is happening on Twitter all the time. With over 400 millions tweets per day, it's a noisy space. However, there are ways that you can cut through the noise and also segment the noise, via Twitter lists (see more on lists here). One area I often get asked about is competitor watch via Twitter. And this is a relatively simple thing to do. You can create Twitter Lists which are private or public. If public, anyone can see the list you have created and others can interact and even follow that list. If private – only you can see that list. Therefore, if you wanted to build a competitor watch list, you can do so very simply:
Once the list is in place you are then encouraged to add people to that list. You them simply search for your competitors on Twitter and rather than 'follow them' (so then they'd know you were watching everything they were tweeting about) – you can simply add them to your competitor list. If you are using a dashboard such as Hootsuite or Tweetdeck, you have options to pull various streams into that dashboard. So alongside your streams you can pull in your competitor list, so that you can keep a watchful eye on what they're up to in real time. Lists do have limits, you can only add up to 500 Twitter accounts to a list. However, it's highly unlikely you have more than 500 competitors. That's it. Simple eh! Get going Clouseau.   |
| My Love-Hate Relationship With LinkedIn: The Overview Posted: 01 Oct 2012 05:00 AM PDT So, we all know LinkedIn has a monopoly over the "strictly professional social networking" sites.Others have tried to compete — FaceBook with its "BranchOut," for example — and have subsequently failed. As of now, LinkedIn is the best (and only) way to reach those hard-to-find, passive candidates who we all desire — but at what cost? We recently went through a transition with the LinkedIn resources we use here at OpenView Labs for our recruiting when we made the switch to "LinkedIn Recruiter" — the platform designed specifically for corporate recruiters to source, recruit, and track their efforts. This brought the OpenView Talent Team through a whole range of emotions, from elated to completely frustrated. In this three-part series I will introduce why LinkedIn is so important to expansion-stage recruiters and why we love it. In the second installment, I will go into the things about LinkedIn that make me wish it was an animate object that I could shake some sense into. Finally, I will offer a few suggestions that might make our lives — and subsequently their business — just a little bit better. This will be a nail-biter, so be sure to tune in! So…why do we love LinkedIn?For starters, it's impossible not to. As I mentioned above, LinkedIn allows us to connect and network with the candidates we would not find elsewhere: the passive candidates. LinkedIn has over 170 million members worldwide, 4 million new members are added each month (about 2 new members per second), they support 10 languages, and have over 6,000 corporate clients. As a recruiter, you can't afford not using LinkedIn. Almost every professional at an expansion-stage company at least has a LinkedIn profile (whether they log on often is another story). With a basic account you can only see the name and profile of first and second-degree connections. You can also see the first name and last initial of 3rd degree connections, but not their profile! This means you need to grow your network as large as you can to make sure you are connected to more first and second-degree connections. Now, LinkedIn Recruiter is LinkedIn on steroids. It's amazing. It opens up your search capabilities to all LinkedIn members regardless of your connection. You can also send Inmails (direct emails to the candidate) and organize your candidates into folders. Additionally, LinkedIn recently released a new add-in called "Talent Pipeline" which you can use to add candidates to specific "project" folders (for different roles) and update their status in the hiring process (i.e. phone interview, in person interview, etc.). You can add notes, tags, sources, resume attachments, and even candidates without a LinkedIn profile. All the other members of your team can see your activity. Essentially, it's an ATS within the LinkedIn Recruiter platform. It is the perfect addition to a smaller recruiting team at an expansion-stage company. LinkedIn Recruiter makes everything very easy to use and tailor to your processes. You customize the tags, sources, and statuses to ones that your team finds most useful. However, neither LinkedIn alone nor LinkedIn Recruiter is perfect. We found that we did run into issues and overall frustrations with the product, itself. So stay tuned! More to come on that next week… photo by: Sean MacEntee Sign-up for our Free Weekly Newsletter to get the best new ideas for building technology companies.   |
| Facebook – What You Need To Know Posted: 01 Oct 2012 04:00 AM PDT
Over the weekend while checking my stats I noticed something strange, over 10% of my traffic was coming from Facebook. Ok that might be not strange to you but remember that it was only about 6 -8 weeks ago that I actually decided to try to get a grip on Facebook and learn as much about it as possible. I am sure that many of you feel as I did that Facebook is great for keeping in contact with friends but as a business tool it sucks. I am not ashamed to stand up now and say… I was wrong. If you take time to go and learn how you use it it can be an amazing resource and a great business tool. Leave Your Marketing Hat At The Front Door First off it's not a place to go and try to make sales right up front. You won't You might get lucky and make a few sales but the real income is in building relationships just like list building. Having said that I actually made $90 in sales in 48 hours while spending about $40 in advertising while I was testing something…and testing is important. However 99% of the time selling won't work because people don't got to facebook to buy, they go to be entertained and socialize. Consider it like this. When you go out to have fun do you go to Walmart or a nice bar? When you go out to shop do you go to a nice bar or do you go to Walmart? See where I am going there? Now just supposing you go to that nice bar and you are sipping cocktails with your friends and someone you don't know walks up to you and say's " Buy This iPhone 5 it's awesome" are you going to buy? Probably no If one of your friends or someone you know says, "Hey this Iphone 5 is great look at all the stuff it does do you wan to buy it ?" The i suspect a few of you would buy it or at least consider it if you were in the market for one. Like Me Like Me! So lets forget about selling on Facebook for the moment the thing we want to do is to build up fans and likes because initially these are all that matter So first off lets look at why likes are so important and easy to get No information required. Like trying out new pickup lines in a bar or other public place, nothing's exchanged. After a participant clicks to like a page or post, nothing else is required. Unlike email or text messages, nothing is pushed to them via a communication channel. Allure of potential discounts. For most consumers, this is the connection they're seeking. It's like wondering whether you'll exchange phone numbers with someone you've just met. For marketers, the challenge is that they need to attract prospects to Facebook in addition to offering lower prices. This is a double whammy! It translates to lower margins and trains customers to wait for better deals. Desire to interact with other fans. As a marketer, you need to get over yourself. Users fan you to engage with others with whom they share similar interests. In this case, you're just providing the social media drinks – in a manner of speaking. Gets them attention. Likes are a way to get enhanced information and other goodies without any commitment. Makes them look good. When it comes to romance, everyone wants to look his or her best. Depending on your product, a Facebook like may reflect well on how they're perceived. Yet for marketers this is a zero sum game since it's not the same as buying and using a designer handbag, for example. How To Use This as a Marketer Show up at the Facebook party. Let prospects and customers check you out while they're in the research phase. As the 800 pound gorilla of social media, Facebook warrants attention. It's important to stake out your turf for branding and competitive reasons. Offer valuable content. Provide context in the form of useful content that educates and entertains. Also, ask prospects and customers to contribute to the conversation and content. If you're too overzealous in your Facebook interactions, they're gone. Strike up a conversation with prospects, customers and the public. Contribute to the interaction as you would in any social setting. Also, let visitors talk to each other. In addition to answering each other's questions, they want this interaction. Just create the forum. Be ready to seal the deal. Make sure prospects and customers can purchase once they're ready. Whether you use f-commerce or another option, streamline the purchase process to the fewest steps possible or you risk loosing the sales. Offer good service to your customers. Consumers often cite this reason for connecting with brands on social media. To this end, have employees engaged on Facebook and other social media platforms who can respond to customer questions via written responses. Still Not Convinced?
I have in the region of 700 Fans, (Thank you!) I recently posted an image on my wall and asked people what they thought was the greatest skill an IM'er should master, that post was seen by over 9965 people. You see on Facebook people share interesting /good information. When was the last time someone shared one of your emails? You can see the post I shared. It's All About Perception Baby! If you email people 2 or 3 times a day , you'll lose most of your subscribers pretty quickly Facebook is totally different people like to see 2 or 3 good nuggets of bite sized information. You see it's all about Perception. People perceive that emails are sales tools , however they perceive that Facebook posts are generally interesting and entertaining, keep within your niche and people will continue to look at your content. Don't give them a reason to unlike you and you will continue to be able to put your messages infront of them AND their friends. Development is the Name of The Facebook Game Facebook is still in development which means things are changing and developing, very recently they changed their notifications API which gives you the ability to send notifications to people who have signed up through and app. You can read about it in their developer blog. However the bottom line is that it makes it potentially easier for you to communicate with people when you something important to tell them. For example if you look at the 2nd item down in the side bar, at the moment it's just a simple button and I've not added any information or offers around it as I don't want to draw attention to it yet. However the simplicity hides what is potentially the most powerful subscriber tool on the site. Think Like a Marketer Time to put your Internet Marketing heads on for just a short time and think like marketers. Imagine if you had a simple tool that when pressed added people to your email list, ok thats cool but not unique. How about if it also added the email address they used for Facebook which is not some throwaway email address, chances are it's one of their main ones. Ok thats a bit cooler How about if it also connected you to them in Facebook at the same time Yeah now that would be very cool… What if every time you wrote a post or had something important to say you entered a message in the back end of your blog and it appeared in their Facebook account under notifications…. Oh yeah now thats ultra cool, and that's exactly what Leah Butler Smith's FB Lead Genie does. I love plugins like this as they are right at the cutting edge and allow you to think out of the box and also do things that no one has thought about before… Round Up Internet marketing is all about getting your message in front of as many people as possible and thats what Facebook allows you to do. I promised you a free report for wading through this post, one of the members at WordPress Goldmine Dean Martin (he's heard all the jokes!) has just written a guide to getting started with Facebook pages. You can download it here. Stop by his blog and say thanks ! This blog post has hardly scratched the surface of FB but hopefully it will have inspired you to find out more. Thats it for this mammoth post… I hope you coffee didn't get cold and you got to the end… Please share the post and if you haven't yet done it, click that little box to the left and like this blog on facebook you'll get some great offers and contests and lots of useful information.   |
| Posted: 30 Sep 2012 08:50 PM PDT
Take a pen and a piece of paper. It's OK, I'm waiting. Now, write down everything you have to do today at work. Need to write a blog post? Write it down. Need to analyse the traffic data to a website? Write it down. Need to design a new flyer for your client? Writ… well, you get the picture. Now, estimate how long it will take you do each task. Don't try to fit them into your eight, or ten hour day. Write down how long these tasks will REALLY take you. Have you reached 15 hours yet? If you have, then don't fret – you are in the majority. Most people bite off more than they can chew, and commit, even if it's just to themselves, to too many tasks. When you don't manage to complete all the tasks you set of to in the morning, then you feel like you've failed – even if you've completed many other tasks. Now for the good news – there's a simple fix. Note that I didn't say easy – I said 'simple'. First of all, you need to get your tasks in order. Start off by going back to the list you wrote down at the beginning of the post, and add the tasks you need to do tomorrow, yesterday, and for the rest of the week. Now order them by priority – at the top put tasks that are really important, and at the bottom tasks that nothing will happen if they aren't done by next week. Now, write down by each task how long it'll take you to do it. Again, no wishful thinking here – you might WANT to design a new website in 30 minutes, but you know it's a three hour job. Of course your initial estimates might be off by a bit, but the more you do this, the better your guesstimates will become. Once you have your tasks prioritized and you know how long they will take, you can decide how your day will look. You can take one extra task each day over your time limit, but no more than that! You can do this task list every morning before you start working, or (like me) late at night before you go to bed. And when you start working the next day, you'll be amazed at how much more you'll accomplish, and how much better you feel!   |
| 5 Great Benefits that LinkedIn Offers to SEO Consultants Posted: 30 Sep 2012 04:55 PM PDT There have been a lot of questions in the market whether LinkedIn is the best and most viable place for SEO consultants and the answer is possible positive. However, it should be always noted here that the competition in the SEO has gone very fiercer and that is the sole reason why hundreds of SEO consultants are trying to hunt their jobs through LinkedIn. LinkedIn – What it really is?Quite similar to the popular site Facebook, LinkedIn also refers to the group of social networking places where people find it convenient to search and communicate with the friends & relatives; and also post their profiles. But the main target of this social networking website it to provide a common platform for the experts and business owners for connectivity and collaboration. You will be surprised to note here that around or over 150 million professionals are connected to the LinkedIn today. SEO Consultants and LinkedIn – Opportunity Welcomes ThemIf you are and internet hunter and always remain in touch with the updates about the SEO industry, you might have noticed that services are expanding for the industry. The consultants want more and more space in the consumer market and they always try to harness the online potential. People often look for the SEO expert on LinkedIn because it has earned its niche in the field of professionalism and business pursuits. That is where the real point comes for the benefits offered by LinkedIn to the major of SEO Consultants on this planet. There is no denying the fact that competition is very tight in this domain but when you spend some time anyhow on daily basis, you will definitely taste the flavor of quick success. Top Benefits of LinkedIn for SEO Consultants
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Last week I wrote about 
Facebook is at the center of anything to do with social media. It has swiftly become an essential part of many people’s lives. It’s a place that a lot of people visit not only every day but several times each day. A business can – and should – have a dedicated Facebook page. Your Virtual Solutions Expert can create one using some very sophisticated tools and technology these days. It can be branded so that it appears very similar to your actual website. Here, however, you will be able to interact with friends, new prospects and can gain exponential exposure by proactively working to establish your organization as the expert in your field.
If Facebook is the king of social media, Twitter is the crown prince. This is essentially a micro-blogging platform. Here again the Virtual Solutions Expert will brand a business page carefully so that it has the appearance of your website and other marketing collateral. Your Virtual Solutions Expert will work to engage with people who are by definition also interested in the area within which you operate. By constantly keeping in touch with pertinent news, information, updates and advice, an organization that uses Twitter can be at the forefront of the social media scene.
If you're a blogger, this scenario might sound very familiar to you: You spend 20 minutes browsing iStock for the perfect photo. You finally find it only to see that the amount of credits it costs will nearly bankrupt you. Irritated, you go to Google Images and decide to just "borrow" from there. Maybe you give credit to the original source, maybe you don't. Either way, you've wasted way too much time on this project already and your online rap sheet now includes possible image theft.
LinkedIn is changing again! For those of you who are heavy users of the business-based social media network, you have no doubt been experiencing the nearly constant rollout of newly designed pages and features for the past few months. The next big change is just around the corner.
Social media marketing is an often-misunderstood phrase. People usually see social media as the equivalent of a roadside billboard. It can access a huge amount of people, but it only really works for consumer products that reach broad demographics.
Costco restricted employee posts on social media through their social media policy and the NLRB (National Labor Relations Board) ruled that social media policy unfairly restricts employee right to organize and access to collective bargaining. Here's the offending social media policy statement:
If you own a business, you know how crucial it is to gain exposure and promote your brand and product to the public. However, if you are still starting or limited on funds, marketing can be a daunting task when we speak of finances and effort. Be thankful that you are operating your business at the time of Facebook's reign, making these worries go away.
Grab a Coffee this might be a long post, but it will be worth it and there a free report for you if you make it to the end!!
But if that doesn't inspire you to start using Facebook maybe this will.
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