Category: Social Media

How Social Media Networking can Benefit your Catering Company

Today, it is rare to come across someone who doesn’t have a Facebook page and now brands big and small are cashing in on the benefits that social networking has to offer. If you have a small business or have recently started your own company, here are three ways that creating an online presence can help you.


Increase your Customer Base

Having an online presence can help you to raise awareness and gain valuable exposure to your target market. Word of mouth is one of the greatest forms of advertising and creating a Facebook page and a Twitter page allows you to get the word out about your catering company and grow your customer base without spending a penny.


Improve Customer Relations

As any business owner knows, great customer service is paramount and by creating an online profile, you are giving your customers an outlet to provide feedback and it is via these social networks that you can find out what is being said about your brand. Many people fear that this will leave the brand vulnerable to negative feedback but many companies use social media to deal with customer complaints quickly and effectively. If a customer has a problem you provide them with advice in seconds rather than having them send an email or contact you via phone. Via these channels, you can connect with your catering clients and build lasting relationships by integrating yourself into something that your customers use every day.


Promote your Services

Social media provides brands with the perfect place to promote new products and services. You can let your customers know about a current offer or a service at the touch of a button and it won’t cost you anything at all. However, it is important to find creative ways to engage your customers as they will soon get bored of a hard sell approach. Facebook allows you to create visually appealing social campaigns that will drive traffic to your website and get people talking about your brand.

About the Author: Remie Lund writes on behalf of Buffets 4 Business. If you are looking for superior catering services, contact BuffetsForBusiness.com for buffet caterers in Reading.


How Top Companies Have Used YouTube For Successful Business Promotion

In this day and age, YouTube is a major way to get any kind of product or service offering out there to the public and potential customers. It was how the world discovered Justin Bieber and is the launch pad for people in various niches every day. Here are some ways a few major businesses have used YouTube to promote all manner of offerings.

Staying Relevant

Image via Flickr by Michael Cereghino (Avsfan118)

A 100-year-old company like UPS can sometimes find it hard to relate to young people. Even people who have grown up with the big brown trucks and the smartly dressed delivery people can find it hard to see this company as something modern and vibrant. But UPS has invested a considerable amount of money and energy into every aspect of technology and keeping itself a relevant shipper in the 21st century. Through the use of YouTube, UPS can share its modern qualities with the public.

Adding More Relevance

Image via Flickr by mrwangkai

Microsoft’s days as a heady startup are long gone and the world knows it. However, Microsoft also uses YouTube videos to connect with the public and demonstrate that its best days are still ahead. By using Webstarts.com advice on ranking Youtube videos, companies can achieve extraordinary numbers of likes and followers on their YouTube channels. The more videos you post, the more relevant you tend to become.

Demonstrating Expertise

Image via Flickr by erwin boogert

Intel is the ultimate chipset manufacturer. More than 90 percent of the computers that businesses and home users use have Intel chips inside. But why are they the best and how have these chips changed the nature of computing? If you don’t know, YouTube can explain this information in an easy to digest format. YouTube probably won’t ever entirely replace school as the principal educational venue of the world, but it’s certainly helped Intel to break down the complications of creating microchips so that ordinary people can understand them. With enough videos on any given topic, nearly everyone can come to a solid understanding of how something works.

Sharing a Vision

Image via Flickr by pjvenda

Cisco is one of the world’s foremost producers of networking hardware. You might be connected (or the server your ISP uses might be) through Cisco hardware. Sharing the vision of how Cisco wants to link the world together is a major component of its YouTube channel’s content. But Cisco is far from the only company that wants to help the world understand why it does as it does.


IBM Keeps Up to Date

Image via Flickr by The Library of Virginia

Some people don’t know this, but IBM is as cutting edge as it was in the 1940s. IBM has a strong and detailed vision for where it wants to take the joint worlds of hardware and software moving forward. Through YouTube, IBM can share the vision it has and let users understand what this vision means for them. A lot of times a picture really is worth a thousand words. The exchange rate gets even more unfair when a video enters the scene.

YouTube is a powerful tool to promote just about anything. These are some great starting ideas for launching your own promotional campaigns.


Looking Ahead: 4 Small Business Trends to Keep an Eye on in 2013

 

With 2012 nearly in the books, many companies have wisely started to look ahead to next year. What hot marketing tactics from this year will carry over? What new methods will emerge? Nothing is for certain at this point, but here are four trends small businesses will want to watch in 2013 and possibly beyond as well:

1. Internal Social Networking

Most organizations approach social integration by creating an account on Facebook or Twitter and sharing interesting content in hopes of engaging their fans. This method has been effective for some, but with all this talk of the “social enterprise”, the approach companies take to social media could change dramatically — even for the small business that doesn’t necessarily have enterprise-sized needs.

Companies such as Cisco, Microsoft, and SalesForce are creating solutions that allow enterprises to take the social component out of the public networks, and incorporate it into a private environment. The solutions these companies offer are generally designed for larger companies, but there are others made with smaller businesses in mind.

Internal social networking has much to offer the small business, including:

Streamlined communications. With an internal social strategy, your business can support consistent communications targeted across the entire network, or to specific groups within the organization.

Improved collaboration. Many small businesses not only have a need to communicate internally, but collaborate as well. There are some internal solutions that support internal collaboration with teams, and external collaboration with partnering firms.

Organizational growth. Internal social networking offers the ability for organizations to share information, collaborate on important projects, and gain convenient access to the resources it needs. These elements are all key in business growth and development.

2. More Content Hosted on Social Channels

Having a website or blog will always be important for small businesses. However, we are already seeing a growing number of brands opting to host their content on social channels. For example, instead of putting up videos on the company blog, they’re putting them up on YouTube. Images are being kept on sites like Facebook and Pinterest rather than a page on the corporate portal.

Hosting content on social networks appeals to small businesses for several reasons. For one, it is a practical and cost effective means of storage. Why waste precious space (and bandwidth) by storing video content on your own server when you can accomplish the same goal on YouTube for free? There is also the visibility aspect that comes into play by social networks making it so convenient to distribute and share that content with the world.

3. B2B-based Content Sharing

The web and the people who use it grow more hungry for content every year. Small businesses must continually find ways to feed that hunger. Coming up with fresh material can be demanding on resources, but content curation is proving to be a viable means of catering to the demand.

Look for more small businesses to put emphasis on tools that allow them to curate content from different sources. Some will show favoritism to partners. Others will won’t hesitate to put competitors in the spotlight for the sake of keeping their audience engaged. When it comes to what’s hot in 2013, some of the most interesting trends will be seen in the different approaches brands take to their content marketing strategies.

4. Deeper Integration of Traditional and Digital Marketing

Expect the bond between the physical and digital channels to grow even stronger in 2013. This will likely be a trend to watch over the next couple of years because of the stubbornness in the  business community in general. On one side, you have brands that are stuck in the old school and still hesitant about giving modern methods such as social media and even email marketing a try. On the other, you have businesses that are so deeply embedded in the digital channel they now dismiss the value in traditional tactics.

Slowly but surely, organizations across numerous industries are starting to realize the importance of connecting the dots and the benefits that lie behind such a strategy. 2013 will surely see increased activity on the integration front as smaller businesses strive to operate with the efficiency of bigger brands.

Conclusion

2013 will be here before you know it, but that doesn’t mean you have to sit around and wait to take action. By identifying the trends that are likely to offer the most value for your efforts now, you can put your small business in position to reap the benefits that are often enjoyed when getting a good headstart.

About the Author: Aidan Hijleh is a freelance copywriter and serves as the Non-Profit Partnership Liaison for Benchmark Email. Aidan advocates free email marketing services to assist with the flourishing of grassroots organizations.


Growing Your Social Media Platform in 2013

Social Media can be considered more powerful now than word of mouth has ever been.  As new platforms emerge, are remade, or dreamt up and built upon the urgency of connecting with your user base grows.  We all know this but what we need is how to make it work.  So here are some quick things to keep in mind as you reach your user base.

1. Invite an audience

Put a lot of effort into building that first set of followers.  Be earnest and honest in your rapport to keep them there.  Remember that to show a movie you need two things: a movie to show and an audience to show it to.  Ask people to follow or circle you.  Remember that something as simple as “Please ReTweet” will get you more followers than just posting content.  Just ask.

 2. Offer exclusive discounts

Discounts are instant content that’s ready to go. Everyone loves a good deal and when you regularly offer quality products with social media only offers you’re sure to maintain that user base.  One effective item in particular is to set up a special group or circle for discounts and offer to include people in that circle.  Target the discounts to avoid spamming the entire network and risking lost followers.

3.Engage with content

It’s tempting to post a long stream of endless promotions, sales, and updates for the company.  All of these things are great content (and for any end users who are also fans of the company they’re expected) but an endless stream of “ads” are a dangerous turn off for people.  Break up this stream with interesting or relevant content.  Use your media for more than just a sale and product directory by creating or relating content that people look for outside of your company.  The more people who follow you for your content the more people that will see your products and promotions when you mention them.

4. Be attentive to user response

Watch which posts get reposted, liked, or retweeted.  If you see a trend of people reposting your business entrepreneur themed content then target them as a group with more relevant content.  If “Terrible Tie Tuesdays” are going ignored maybe it’s time to replace the series of funny pictures with helpful infographics relating to business.  On services that let you parse your followers (like the Circles on Google+) set people into targeted groups so that the people who only followed for your real estate infographics aren’t turned off by the cat pictures your other followers enjoy.

5. Ask for user response

This is a common rule on internet forums but posting something that has no option for response won’t get a response.  End your posts with a question to the users, post an opinion piece for discussion, or just ask people to relate their own experiences on the subject. Request user participation just like you’d ask them to follow in the first place.  Any persuasion class worth taking will tell you that a speech without a call to action will leave the audience confused or apathetic. Give your users a jumping off point to join in and you’ll see a meaningful rise in participation.

A lot of these ideas are pretty common to the social media world.  Keep in mind that each user is a person and the best responses are when they’re treated as such.  No one enjoys a form letter so why should your social media platform treat them the same way?  Get your audience, engage them with content and reasons to stay or return, pay attention to what they like, and ask them to join in.  All of these things are key to growing your social media in the coming year regardless of the platform!

 

Author Bio: Will Parsons is a Marketing Associate at Signazon; a full colour printing startup that specializes in business signs and other marketing materials.  He holds a Bachelor’s in Emerging Media and Communications.


The Future of Video Blogging

Video blogging or “vlogging” is becoming a very popular online trend and most internet users will agree that video blogs are popping up in every niche and industry. According to recent statistics from internet giant YouTube, more than 65% of U.S. based internet users view online videos, and they each spend no less than 6 hours per month doing so.

These statistics are not only interesting, but it is a very useful tool for every internet marketer; with online videos becoming such an increasingly growing trend, this is definitely something that every blogger should focus their energy on. Adding videos to your blog will very likely lead to an increase in views, and this in turn will boost your online presence and your blog’s popularity. As an avid online marketer or blogger, it’s time you consider all the benefits that video blogging can provide. Here are a few very helpful guidelines that you can use to help decide if video blogging is the solution that you have been waiting for.

  • Determine Your Target Audience. Do you know if your audience enjoys watching online videos? Do you think they will benefit from watching a video when they read your next blog posts, and will they enjoy it? Where exactly are your readers when they visit your blog; are they browsing from their mobile device? Are they in the office behind their desk? Some of them might have little time available between jobs, and might be looking for plain “text only” blogs for easy reading. These answers will help you determine whether or not your audience can benefit from a video blog.

 

  • Take Your Time. Video blogging will take much more time than writing a normal blog post. You need to determine whether you have the additional time needed to create a quality video for your blog post, and if you can do this on a regular basis. It will be more time consuming to create a video, since you will have to write your message and record it too. If you don’t do a lot of blog posts, this won’t be a problem at all. Keep in mind that if you do a lot of posts, say daily, it might be a bit too tough to squeeze a video blog in every day; consider to add a video blog once a week, or twice per month to start. Even though it might take up to a day to complete a simple 3 minute post, the benefits far outweigh the challenges.

 

  • Represent Your Message. One of the most important benefits of a video blog is that you will be able to put a human face to your message, and in effect, you will be a representative for your company blog. This will add a more personalized feel to your posts and you will give your audience something to relate to. If you are camera shy, don’t worry; you can easily hire a model to do the video on your behalf.

 

Prepare for Success

There is no doubt that vlogging is fast becoming one of the most popular online marketing trends of the future. Bloggers from all over the globe are starting to include video with their blog posts and they are seeing a significant increase in the amount of page views they are receiving. Bloggers are seeing an improvement in their bounce rate and you can also post your video to platforms such as YouTube for an increase in valuable links back to your site. Video blogging is a great way of interacting with your existing readers and to building up a list of new ones, but it does take some time and effort to create quality videos that you can use with your posts. If you put in the effort, prepare to see a significant increase in the success of your blog.

The future of video blogging looks promising and exciting; and it is one of the most powerful tools available to modern bloggers. Not only will you increase your audience, but you will build a targeted list of customers that can help you increase your bottom line. With so many great benefits to offer, video blogging is definitely worth the effort; even if you cannot create a fresh post every day, just start with one per month and enjoy blogging success like never before.

About the Author: Lorien Roux is a keen writer, entrepreneur and business owner who has written on various SEO, marketing, and business related topics for blogs and business owners throughout the globe.

 


Social Signals Important or Just So Much Smoke?

The history of Social Signals

A groundbreaking article on the influence of social signals toward a site’s rankings in search engines was written by Danny Sullivan in late 2010. Ahead of its time the article went into great depth as to how these so-called signals could affect a site’s reputation. Bearing in mind that link methods that could be ramped up were the norm for good SEO at that time many of the key players of the web didn’t acknowledge the benefits of going social. Sullivan’s conclusions at that time show that his belief was that Facebook remained a non competitor when it came to getting Google rankings ,but he was one of the first to point out the power of tweets and retweets by respected figures as a means of getting ranked more highly in search results. The legendary Matt Cutts seemed to confirm this with a webmaster video highlighting the role of social signals in good SEO. Well we’ve moved on from that time, or have we…

So have social signals got stronger or…

Naturally, as it has always done, Google plays its cards close to its chest so any study or research that claims to have definitive answers, simply doesn’t. However all the little clues are present that show a gradual rise in importance of social signals. But questions that still remain unanswered are, will they affect future SEO, how do they facilitate a rise in rankings and more importantly what can a webmaster do immediately to improve the way his site ranks? Throughout this article we’ll try to explore these issues and hopefully give you a heads up on using our knowledge to boost your audience and of course your cash flow.

The ins and outs of social signals

Of course looking for a standardized answer is trying to herd cats, what we have established though is that they can either have a very direct influence on your rankings and also some more lateral influences.

The Direct Impact

  • Facebook and its assortment of social signals, including fans, likes and followers
  • The Twitter connection-followers, tweets about you-preferably with links, and retweets
  • And the new kid on the block-Google+ are gaining your attraction too.

The less obvious impact

  • You can expect more visitors to come back to your website again and again , and also increase the time they spend on your site (in other words better bounce rates)
  • As social reach grows so will your positive PR and hopefully this will be reflected in more positive reviews
  • Generally your reach will have grown and this should result in more people visiting your site both through links and recommendations.

Let’s look at these in more depth. As awareness of your brand and the fact that more people are noticing you online increases so will the amount of links that your site has. Links are the one factor that has stood the test of time with Google, and the fact that indirectly social reach improves linkage is a very powerful factor indeed. Matt Cutts pretty much confirmed this in a Danny Sullivan interview suggesting that in the very long term social will grow in importance but links are still very much alive today.

Indirectly you’ll get more positive reviews

In days of yore if a customer had a problem they’d have to pick up the telephone or shockingly write a letter, even for mundane queries. With the online sphere being ever connected some companies even respond to Tweets and treat this as an extension of their customer service. If a company doesn’t support their new products with a strong presence on their Facebook page they’ll soon lose the favour of their customers. This type of personal service brings a very personal face to big business and makes the customer a lot more loyal and trusting of their products. It’s this type of organic interaction that will make a happy customer likely to leave positive reviews on sites like Yelp and Google Local. It really is a way of trendsetting and bringing ‘cool’ to a company’s image. PR departments really love the way that they are able to define a brands personality with a strong online campaign.

Sam Roberts as the Central Executive Officer of Vudu Marketing understands the ins and out of a strong social network, he is firmly of the belief that a large amount of positive reviews can help in local search rankings, more than likely this will also apply to rankings on a larger scale too.

Increased interaction

If a site or brand is ‘cool’ then the fact that people will connect with it and associate with that brand means that in a way they will become analogous to distant Facebook friends. Just as people will be likely to check in on a distant Facebook friend every once in a while, so will these fans be likely to check in on the brands website or social pages to see what they are up to. This lowers bounce rates and increases visitors time on site. Again these factors debatably affect search. With bounce rate being a rough metric of whether visitors are getting their desired quality input from a site and time on site showing Google that visitors are genuinely interacting with a sites’s content. For personalised search results it is a fact that Google will tailor searches depending on whether a visitor frequents a particular site on a regular basis. Again the search engine giant remains close-lipped but there is certainly a strong case for this indirect influence really swaying more traffic your way.

Looking to the Future

The way webmasters conduct their SEO must evolve along with rapid changes in the way Google drives searches. Links are of course still very powerful as an easy means of seeing a site’s popularity, but as social sites grow exponentially so does their influence and this must form part of any webmaster’s strategy. Social networks are becoming the norm of online interaction. Facebook, Twitter etc. are not the new innovations they were a few years ago, they are very much the norm with many people growing up with them. With hundreds of millions on Facebook online it is foolish to think that brand awareness is not very much driven by this.

Old values still hold sway though, if word of mouth says that a certain brand has credibility than it will start to gain traction. The difference being that this word of mouth can reach others through social channels too! With your content being shared it is thus much more likely for search engines to use the fact that your site has great “share-ability” to increase your rankings.

And once again we’ve got to remind you of how having a strong social presence will lead to more sales and increased brand awareness, further increasing your credibility through more positive reviews.

Some other trends to watch out for is the fact that Google is starting to associate content not just with sites themselves but even down to their authors. Again evidence can be seen in a Cutt’s video: “Does Google use data from social sites in ranking?” where the concept of AuthorRank starts to be explored. The powerful tool in the presence of Google’s “Google Authorship” is a whole new means of credibility with individual authors able to be tracked from website to website. It’s a brand new way of giving authority to content and even has an associated effect bypassing on great link juice to the domains upon which the author publishes. Things to watch out for in the future are Google + authorship tools which could potentially allow AuthorRank to play a more significant part in driving organic social traffic.

Immediate Social Signals Improvement

Now that you’ve seen the benefits of social media you need to start efficiently planning your site and online campaigns to boost your rankings.

Better ways to plan your website

  • Make it easy to share your content. Social buttons can give your readers quick and easy ways to let Facebook, Twitter etc. know about your great content.
  • A step beyond sharing with connect buttons. Instead of just allowing them to share content give them quick buttons to Like or Follow you on social sites
  • One of the best ways to generate great content time after time is by having a blog

Beyond your own site

There are some big names out there in the field of social media that you really need to know about, the big players like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube need no introduction. But what about the rest, the up and comers and the new trends: include amongst them LinkedIn, Pinterest, and whatever other social platforms you can find. Let’s also not forget the power of guest blog posting.

Go social-Fast…

  • If you didn’t know about the social media sites before you certainly do now, so make sure that you, at the very least, go across and set up a full profile on them.
  • As content still remains absolutely crucial it remains the best way to get word of your brand out via a company blog. Stick to a regular blogging schedule, at the best you should aim for once away, but if that can’t be managed at least try to keep to a regular schedule such as weekly.
  • Generate content. With well managed and good articles dripping with keyword goodness you’ll do we’ll to generate a way to create site content. Even freelance writers can be used to add content, and if it is written well it will trend up your search engine rankings dramatically. The equation is simple-more content means note chances for your site to have keywords which search engines will pick up on and thereby increase your links.
  • Now that you’ve got great content being drip fed on to your website you need to do the same thing for your social sites. Your social presence can be managed by yourself if you’ve got the time, or one of the newest sexiest people on the net: a content manager. A content manager needs to be familiar and comfortable with the use of social media to bring your online presence up in strength in this area.
  • Why keep your website and social presence separate? Add means and ways for your site content to be shared on social media sites. Remember those buttons for liking you and sharing your content? Now’s the time to go off and add them to your site. Remember some media play better to certain social platforms strengths-videos are likely to be shared on YouTube and a pretty picture in every blogpost makes it possible to share on Pinterest.

Social search whole still not able to be pinned down as the be all and end all of generating web traffic is certainly growing rapidly in importance. It’s driven by interaction with real people which potentially makes it even more powerful than Google search. Just look at the example of music stars like Psy (Gangnam Style) and Justin Bieber who have shot to fame because of the power of social media platforms.

About the Author: Kausik Baisya is a Digital Marketing Professional and an enthusiastic writer, holding an editorial position in Prepgenie, a test prep provider that offers exam preparation courses for GAMSAT, PCAT, HPAT, LNAT, UMAT and UKCAT.

 


Using Social Media to Your Advantage When Job Hunting

 

There’s little doubt that social media has had a dramatic, and in many cases, revolutionary impact on how people communicate with one another and with the world at large. So much information can be shared with virtually anyone who has Internet access. But, like many other major technological developments, this ease of sharing has both a good and bad side.

It’s most definitely a good thing to be able to share your life with friends and family that are far away; however, the nature of public forums such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Pinterest also make it fairly easy for those outside your immediate circle to see what you’ve been up to. And if you’re job-hunting or work for a fairly conservative employer, this sort of exposure may be quite detrimental to your employment future.

But that doesn’t mean you have to unplug from social media entirely just to get a job, or to keep the one you have. All you need to do is a little cleanup and polishing of your online image. Here are some tips to get you started:

THINGS TO AVOID

There are some things that should never be a part of your online pages if you want to be taken seriously by prospective and current employers, as follows:

  • Pictures that show you to be out of control, under the influence, making rude gestures, etc.
  • Pictures of a sexual, lewd or suggestive nature. Sorry, but that does include those awesomely hot Spring Break pictures from two summers ago.
  • Pictures that show illegal or questionable objects, like drug paraphernalia or weapons. Yes, I know the 2nd Amendment guarantees the right to bear arms, but a picture of you posing in hunting regalia with your rifle, next to a deer that you’ve shot is too graphic for some people.
  • Similarly, it’s best to avoid commentary on political “hot button” issues, such as abortion, the death penalty, global warming, wars, religion, immigration, environmental activism, etc. Of course you’re entitled to your opinion on these topics but chances are they have nothing to do with your daily job. You need to present an image of a business professional that has his or her mind on the work at hand.
  • Excessive profanity, vulgarity and degrading speech in your posts and writings.

GRAY AREAS

After you’ve removed the obvious stuff, there are a few topics that fall into the “maybe” category. Although the goal is to keep your profile as professional as possible, it’s usually okay to let your hair down a little and show your human side. However, if you work in an ultra-conservative environment or are hoping to land a position in such a place, you may want to reconsider before allowing these topics to be a part of your online persona:

  • Hiking, camping, swimming or other athletic/outdoor-themed photos that show you wearing appropriate but minimal attire.
  • Pictures of you surrounded by lots of empty or half-full glasses, cans or bottles of alcoholic beverages. It can send the wrong message, even if you don’t appear to be drunk.
  • Make sure that any songs or musical groups you rave about are not overly suggestive or offensive. No one is saying you have to stop playing their music, just don’t quote long passages of questionable lyrics.
  • Discussing or promoting the business you have on the side. Some firms can see this as a conflict of interest, and that you won’t dedicate yourself 100 percent to the job being offered.

WHAT PASSES THE TEST

Okay, enough with the removing! Your social media pages should actually HELP you to get a job, not hinder you. Here are some hobbies and activities that are worth promoting on your social pages.

  • Charity work – Helping out those less fortunate reflects well on you as a person. Definitely let people know if you volunteer at a food bank; help send care packages overseas; serve meals at a homeless shelter; work with the Scouts or other boys and girls or big sister/big brother clubs; participate in neighborhood cleanups or organize neighborhood events; care for animals at a clinic or assist on adoption days; deliver meals to elderly or help them run errands; and so on.
  • Non-business writings or commentaries, like poetry or short stories, provided they avoid the political hot button issues mentioned earlier.
  • Fun interests, like yoga, cooking and healthy eating, fashion, antiques, model trains, collections (stamps, coins, old toys, photographs, hubcaps, old license plates, whatever), gardening, woodworking, etc.
  • Travel – It’s fine to share your adventures on the road and to talk about the parks, restaurants, and attractions you’ve visited. It shows that you don’t just sit around on weekends but actually enjoy being out and about.
  • Children’s activities – When your son hit that double, it made your heart leap. Feel free to share the joy of their accomplishments, their quirky little hand-made gifts and their comments on life.
  • Pet antics – Everyone loves to see pictures of adorable baby animals, goofy dogs, majestic horses, cats that look like they rule the world, etc. Pet pictures don’t necessarily add to your online image but they don’t detract from it, either.

Some of you may think a lot of this editing is too extreme. But like it or not, employers will try to find out as much as they can about you to make sure you’re a good fit culturally for their firm. Don’t run the risk of alienating that prospective employer with just a few misguided photos or comments on your social media pages. Take an unbiased look at what your online image says about you, and make sure the image portrayed is professional and free from controversy.

About the Author: Author of this post is Lizzie Wann. Lizzie is the Content Director for Bridgepoint Education. She oversees all website content and works closely with New Media, Career Services, and Student Services for Ashford University.


12 Best Social Media Monitoring Tools

 

Social media is firmly one of the most respectable forms of marketing today as many companies are engaged in it. Social media can be used as a marketing tool to discover new customers, converse with older customers, sell products and so much more. These uses make it a valuable asset to any forward looking business.

However, measuring impact in social media is harder than conventional marketing or advertising. Many business owners don’t know what the best ways to do this and this is bad.

The following compilation is a list of some of the best social media monitoring tools.

1. Plagtracker

Plagtracker is a plagiarism checker that allows you to monitor the originality of your status and statements on social media. This tool ensures that whatever you give or share with your audience or fans is authentic. This can establish you as an authority online and on social media.

2. Hootsuite

Hootsuite allows users to monitor a large number of social media accounts in one place allowing one to do all the social functions in one web window. You can use it to manage multiple social media accounts for your business.

3. Klout

Klout is a popular social media tool you can use to measure social impact. It gives the influencer score on social media, helping you learn from your competitors and what they are doing right.

4. TweetReach

TweetReach is a crucial social media tool which allows you to track activity around your twitter account.

5. PeerIndex

PeerIndex gives you the ability to find out how much online influence you have and what topics make you an influence. Its great if are planning the best strategy to have more impact online.

6. Twitalzer

Twitalzer is a tool which as the name suggests, helps you analyze Twitter activity for your business account. For instance, the tool states what engagement, influence and general impact on Twitter. Whereas this tool is not free, there are several plans which you can use to align to your business goals and objectives on Twitter.

7. Facebook Insights

Facebok Insights is a social media monitoring tool which allows businesses analyze what is happening to their Facebook page. Mainly, people use this tool to monitor engagement and growth to strategize growth.

8. Social Mention

Social mention is a tool which is dedicated to monitoring online mentions on social media. Social media works best if there is a lot of buzz around the brand or product. This tool monitors the specific individuals who mention you on social media, enabling you understand their needs, or become part of the conversation.

9. Tweetdeck

Tweetdeck is a social monitoring tool that has been around for a while now and hailed for its efficiency by many social media experts.  This tool allows you to view all your social media feeds in one place where you can respond on the go. In addition to the feeds, this tool allows you to schedule your Tweets. This is especially when you are busy with your business affairs; this tool allows you to make a schedule around it.

10. Brand monitor

Brand monitor is another popular social monitoring tool you can use to study what is happening to your brand on social media. For instance, you can learn what type of mentions you get on social media. If the brand news is bad, you can do damage control to avoid a slump in your profits.

11. Topsy

Topsy is a real time social media search engine. It collects all information happening in your industry in real time, enabling you know what others are talking about. Such insights can be a great blessing for your business’ social success.

12. Google anlaytics

Google analyticsis another great tool you can use to track information about what is happening socially for your brand. In most cases, this tool analyses your social traffic and how it converts into real buyers on your website.

About the Author: Phillip Garret is a freelance writer, loves writing Tech and SEO tips.

 


Search Engine Optimization Defined by LSF Interactive

LSF Interactive recently published a page that defines the term “search engine optimization,” or SEO, demystifying this phrase that is so often used but so rarely explained. It is one of those phrases that online media agencies and professionals throw around indiscriminately as if they assume everyone knows what they mean. The fact is that many Internet professionals have been in this business for so long that they forget businesspeople in other fields don’t necessarily know the lingo. For business owners and professionals working in other fields, however, terms like this can sound like a foreign language.

Search Engine Optimization: What Exactly Is It?

According to the LSF Interactive website, search engine optimization is the process of boosting the ranking of a Web page or website using “organic” search results. Basically, organic results are the opposite of paid results. Online marketing experts use a variety of techniques based on years of experience in the field and ongoing research into the latest methods being employed by the leasing search engines. If used effectively, these firms can help achieve the highest possible rankings for the given Web page or site whenever Internet users type certain keywords or key phrases into the search engine. The ultimate goal is to get a number one ranking, but being anywhere on the first page is almost as desirable.  

How Is SEO Achieved?

Search engine optimization, also known as SEO, is achieved through a variety of carefully planned and executed steps. The following example describes the typical planning and implementation of a campaign at LSF Interactive:

  • Meet with the client to discuss goals and keywords that describe client’s product or service
  • Determine the most relevant keywords for the client’s targeted demographic
  • Plan a campaign for the website based on expert recommendations for each page
  • Develop a system of natural linking to generate more traffic to the website
  • Foster continued interaction with the targeted audience to strengthen back link profiles

Social Media Considerations

Social media is another term often thrown around but not so often defined. According to LSF Interactive (@LSFInteractive), effective social media marketing includes creating and designing social profiles, creating blog content, implementing social bookmarking, utilizing Twitter and more. These strategies not only build the level of interaction with potential customers; they also influence search engine results. This is just another part of what we refer to as search engine optimization, and it’s an important consideration for any online business.  

 

 

 

 

Social Media Tips for Aspiring Entrepreneurs

 

Social media, one of the most powerful marketing tools, is often used incorrectly by entrepreneurs and small business owners. They use social media to promote their products and services, but they fail to connect with customers or other businesses. Social media works best when it is used to foster communication between the business and its customers to build trust and loyalty. Sharing valuable content goes a long way to establish a connection and trust with prospective customers. Through social media, you should provide useful information that your competitors don’t provide, and try to provide tips that prospective customers think should come with an asking price.

Provide content that makes you a leader in your niche; people don’t visit social media sites to read sales pitches and advertisements. Use social media to promote conversation. Employing a social media strategy that’s focused on sales and marketing typically results in failure.

Don’t post the same information on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn because redundancy loses followers. Use Twitter for instant communication and news, Facebook for building deeper relationships, and LinkedIn for business networking. Tailor the content for each social media platform and to each audience. Informing your audience about a new product or promotion is fine, but don’t over do it.

Do Your Homework

Aspiring entrepreneurs and those fresh out of college often rely on what they know about social media through their own usage, and this could be a problem. Professor Mikolaj Jan Piskorski, associate professor of business administration at Harvard Business School, believes that “Very often our perception of social media, and what we can and can’t do using social media, is very much tinted by what we think our favorite person is doing – and our favorite person in usually ourselves. So it is about getting students to understand that the empirical skills are absolutely necessary, because whatever they think is intuitively correct, is probably about themselves, but nobody else.”

Videos

Use how-to-videos to boost your presence online. Create a custom channel on YouTube. Videos increase the chances of making it to the first page of search results. Video thumbnails grab the attention of people more than text does.

Create a series of short instructional videos about your products or services. Add some positive customer testimonials. Create a video of an actual customer using a product.

Facebook

Make a customer welcome tab on the company Facebook page. A call-to-action may inspire visitors to become fans. If you receive a “Like,” offer a desirable free item in exchange for a name and email address.

Utilize Facebook to show visitors what you’re passionate about. Every week provide a few interesting questions and insightful answers related to your niche. On a monthly basis, provide at least one new how-to-video related to your niche.

Use Facebook to send traffic to your website. Send people to your website to find more information on subjects that are briefly discussed on the company Facebook page.

Using images and other rich media content allows you to tell visitors a visual story using Facebook Timeline.

Twitter

Twitter helps you stay connected with customers. If you haven’t had success with Twitter, follow some of the successful brands and learn how they engage people.

Be social with Twitter. Don’t just Tweet about products and services because you may annoy your followers. The last thing you want is for customers to consider you a spammer. Tweeting fun facts, unique information, inspirational quotes, and provocative comments may get you retweeted.

Blog

Provide interesting information and stimulate discussions by way of a blog. Be responsive to visitors; business is all about developing and cultivating relationships. Ask questions and generate debates in the comment section. People enjoy an interactive blog and they will always come back for more. Also, provide a call-to-action at the bottom of all the blog posts.

Ask visitors to share their stories, ask questions, and share the blog post at their favorite social media sites.

Reporters

Build relationships with reporters through social media. Engage relevant reporters about the subjects they write about. Reporters sometimes tweet a question. If this happens, make an insightful response and you may get interviewed.

Use social media to personalize your company and build trust with prospective customers. Building relationships through social media makes it easier for people to trust you, and this in turn makes it easier for them to buy your products and services. But remember, using social media to build relationships and increase revenue is a long-term process, so stay patient!

About the Author: Brian Jenkins writes about a variety of topics related to the workplace for The Riley Guide.