Tag: Hootsuite

3 Things You Should Avoid in your Social Media Campaigns

As a Content Manager and Trainer, I find myself challenged and frustrated with a few things I see frequently.  I would encourage you to read through my thoughts on the 3 things you should avoid in your Social Media campaigns, think about them and develop goals to overcome them. I get frustrated because I want so badly to correct these thing for people because I genuinely care about their brand.  So, because I can’t help everyone, maybe this post will shed some light on a few MAJOR DON’Ts in SocialMedia Marketing.  

First and foremost, AVOID always promoting yourself and your products.  NO ONE wants to hear you talk ONLY about you, they want to know tips, tactics and industry relevant information. Consider this – if the information you are sharing brings no value besides your own wealth – don’t make EVERY post about it.  WHY? Do you like SPAM?  I don’t. There are tactical ways of healthy weighing of material so you bring value to your viewers instead of constantly trying to sell them.  Promote your self on occasion.  You will find people will appreciate when you share information from other influencers. 
AVOID committing to a campaign and giving up on it before the completion date!  If you give yourself 6 months on a project, commit to it and DON’T just quit because you are uncomfortable! Commitment includes participation … meaning you need to participate in your marketing efforts EVEN IF you have  someone else is managing them for you.  If you aren’t participating, you lose the ownership of your campaign and it has less value to you.  Online marketing should be an active, visible activity for every level of Executive if they care about their brand and company.
AVOID tunnel focus.  Social Media Campaigns are diverse in multiple platforms.  if you are focused on 1 platform alone, you are missing out greatly on engagement opportunities in other platforms where your clients are present.  For example; if you only pull reports on your Facebook Statistics but avoid your Twitter Activity, you are missing the boat.

My 2 cents …. for what it’s worth.  I hope this helps you in refocusing and recommitting to your Social Media Campaigns, Business Marketing Goals and reaching your Milestones.


~ Social Media is changing the way people do business.  Don’t get left behind ~ 

Hollie Clere


Hollie Clere, of The Social Media Advisor is a social media manager, trainer and author in LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Blog, Google+ , Pinterest and the tools to manage them. Click here for her Social Media Links

http://www.socialpowerprogram.com/

Curious on whether your social brand is built properly?  Get your Social Media Analysis today. 
 

http://www.thesocialmediaadvisor.com/Social_Media_Analysis.html

Lifecycle of How Technology Changed our Business Communications


(Image found on Google)

Many of us remember the days of passing notes in the classroom, to getting letters in the mail. The first introductions to phone calls transformed into hoarding the phone from our parents because there was only 1 line with no call waiting. Communication with people has transformed drastically in the last 20 years. Let’s take a walk down that journey so we can better understand how to communicate with people today due to the technology changes.
Before telephones, people communicated in person, through mailed letters and although it seems like times were simpler, communicationtook much longer to make. You could invite people into your home for visits, but anyone not living within your community would get what we call today “snail mail” and respond in return.  It was a superb technology at the time that served well for many, many years.
Over time, the telephone was developed in many variations. From operator calls to family lines to later phones in most homes for people to call and visit on a more real time basis.
From this technology came the need for further access, introducing car phones and pagers. Not necessarily the most “real time” solutions as in most cases you were required to either pay at a phone booth for your call or access a friend who had a nifty brick phone in their automobiles.  Children still played in the streets until dark, letters were still being mailed, notes passed around classrooms, but communication was an optional, as these were less required things that not everyone felt the need to have.
Eventually the evolution of the car phone became the introduction of the personal handheld devices. People began to migrate more away from pagers and leaned more toward systems with voice mail and other features making communications a bit more accessible.
Then came the Internet and shortly after, email communication.  Businesses flocked to the new technology which became a spring board for businesses to have online presence, easily accessible website and people began to communicate more over email than letters.
Texting erupted quickly which migrated communications a little less from email (for personal users), eliminating a lot of need for personal, handwritten letters between people and a lot more real time – “where you are” – communication started happening.
Shortly after, texting on mobile devices became Email and Internet compatible devices which allowed people to spend more time out of the office (if your job allowed for it) and more dedication to notifications on your phone.
The phone quickly evolved from a “dumb phone’ system with texting capabilities to a “smart phone” system with quick access to email, quick access to internet and quick access to basically any type of application that could either make your life more intertwining or more enjoyable in the process.
During this time frame … specifically, the last 10 years, while the Internet was developing, email was thriving and communicationwas changing before our eyes, people discovered platforms and websites where they could communicate with friends and business people without having to pick up that phone or write a personal letter.  They could now communicate in social media.
Take a second … 10 years, people have been using social media.  Cloud computing which has been used in social media, has been around for YEARS! Look at Amazon, Facebook, Google and any other website you go to, to make purchases.  The internet has transformed our shopping, our games, our communication. It is no wonder that in this world now, with access to communicate, real time, at your finger tips, social media is so prominent.
Take a look at this evolution over time.  Your clients, have before them, the World Wide Web at their finger tips.  24 hours a day,  7 days a week, 365/366 days out of the year.  With this much activity online, you are truly missing the boat with visibility if you don’t have a website, if you don’t have an online presence and you aren’t communicatingactively. 
Your clients are online at any time, any day, searching for information in many, many platforms.  It is your choice on whether you will engage with them in this new age of activity in social media, or if you are choosing a presence where your clients aren’t active. 
We challenge you to take the step your clients already have. Get active, get social, remain in the front of your clients mind.  If you aren’t, your competitors are.

~ Social Media is changing the way people do business.  Don’t get left behind ~ 

Hollie Clere, of The Social Media Advisor is a social media manager, trainer and author in LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Blog, Google+ , Pinterest and the tools to manage them. Click here for her Social Media Links

Sign up for your Free Social Media Analysis 
 

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Making social media work for you in 2014

We are looking for your input on social media experiences. The last quarter of the year is upon us and many of us struggle with those end of year tasks: closing out projects, documentation for taxes and building goals and budgets for the New Year. One of our year end projects is to enhance options for our clients and connections based off of their needs. We are looking for your feedback about social media experiences so that we can provide articles, tactics and tips that will help you with your social media marketing efforts.

We would love your feedback on the any of following questions so that we can gauge what blog topics would help you most in 2014:

• What are some of the struggles you have had with marketing on Facebook?
• What are some of the questions you have had when you think of marketing on Twitter?
• Do you and/or your staff members have less than 500 connections on LinkedIn?
• Is closing business or prospecting for new clients on LinkedIn still a mystery?
• Have you considered adding video marketing to your social media strategy?
• How long has it been since your social and website SEO/keywords have been updated?
• Would you like to learn about using Pinterest to promote your business?
• What are some of the frustrations/questions you have had with Google+?
• Have you or do you use HootSuite and what are the things you like/don’t like about it?
• Are you posting status updates more than once each week in the social spaces?

***As a gift for you in return,
 
 We are offering you a free social media consultation. This is a $395 value, but we are giving it away free until 12/26/2013 in celebration of our 10th year in business. Please take a moment to answer our questions above, and take advantage of our free social media review before the end of the year.

Thank you for your assistance! Looking forward to learning more about you in 2014!

~ Social Media is changing the way people do business.  Don’t get left behind ~ 

Hollie Clere, of The Social Media Advisor is a social media manager, trainer and author in LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Blog, Google+ , Pinterest and the tools to manage them. Click here for her Social Media Links

Sign up for your Free Social Media Analysis 

5 Tips on Social Media Marketing

Managing online marketing can be rewarding and provide an increase of financial activity with your business, in addition to increase of communication to your customers and potential customers.

Many statistics have been published about activity of online users. One of the best videos about the potential curve I have found is listed in a previous post:
“Social Media Revolution 2011”

With enhancements in technology, your customers are utilizing the “cloud” through online applications such as Google, eBay, CraigsList, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Applications can be run on a standard computer, smart phone, tablet and the like. With so much access to social information, the last thing you want is to assume your static website is driving business your way. There are many things that need to be done to enhance an active visibility to your customers, but starting with these 5 steps, you will be well on your way to establishing a solid business practice to online marketing.

1. Develop effective SEO

SEO is Search Engine Optimization. Simply put – the things your potential customers type into a search engine to find what they are looking for. These are specific keywords that drive traffic to your website and social pages. Your keywords need to be embedded into the code of your web page so people can find you.

► Come up with a list of 50+ important words that pertain to your business. Type in words you would assume your company should be found under and start there. As you receive contact from new customers, ask them the words they typed in and specifically find out what search engines they used to find you. This will help in developing the right set of words for your code.

► Search out your competitors websites. Determine the words they are using and be sure to include those in your keyword results as well. (View, Source in most browsers works well if the code isn’t hidden from viewers)

2. Find out where your customers play

It doesn’t make sense to develop social profiles on sites that none of your customers use. It also doesn’t make sense for you to create 50+ pages of social sites if you only have the bandwidth to manage a few profiles.

► Pick your top 3 sites – most businesses who market through social media build profiles on Facebook Pages, Twitter and LinkedIn.

► Incorporate a blog into your social efforts to increase visibility and character behind your knowledge

► Ask your customers which sites they frequent and the best way they would like to be communicated with. Some may say they like email, others may frequent Twitter Timeline, LinkedIn or Facebook Status. You will be surprised to find out how many customers read Blog RSS feeds each day on their phones or imported into their Outlook RSS Readers.

► Ask your customers what kind of content they may be interested in receiving. Some may want to hear about promotions as you have them, while others may be interested in reading in industry related articles you recommend, charities you are involved in, events you are attending or educational information about your product or services.

3. Make your brand an extension of your website

It is unappealing and confusing to your audience if your brand doesn’t match the look and feel of your website. Be consistent with use of logos, colors, content and choice of language in your posts.

4. Consistent Content is Key

We teach our clients that it is bad to have too much activity on your social profile, but not having enough is just as challenging. It is better to have an active stream of content than none at all. Think about your audience and tailor your activity to their needs. If you post something every day, that may be too much for your viewers. Try on a few different communication schedules and determine what is best. Here is a schedule that would be good to try on for these specific types of profiles:

LinkedIn – Posting more than once a day can become overwhelming and distracting to your viewers

Twitter – More than 1 post a day is appropriate pending that the same information isn’t shared more than once.

Facebook – consider a rotating schedule: Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Tuesday, Thursday. Posting more than 2-3 times a week can be overwhelming for your viewers.

Blog – Once a week to once a month is appropriate communication. Change the topics and provide active information – but be sure not to just “sell” your products and services on each post. Blogs are education and information tools that should be used for that purpose. (include back links and labels in each of your posts to drive traffic to your website & other social pages).

A good rule of thumb – For every 1 “business” post you should have 2-3 non “product” related posts. Examples could be reference to other articles, blogs or videos that explain a topic that you agree with, sharing in events or industry related news.

5. Use Applications and Tools Wisely

There are many applications that can be used on your social profiles to enhance your visitors experience.

There are also wonderful tools of the trade to allow for flexibility in scheduling your content / status posts on a continual basis. For LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook, posts can be scheduled in advance via these popular tools. Become familiar with them & choose the one that works best for you.

HootsuiteTweetDeck

Social Media Marketing is fun and rewarding. Be realistic with your goals and don’t sell your self short. It takes time to build a following, maintain activity with your brand and build social relationships with your customers and viewers online. Be creative, have fun and don’t get left behind!

~ Social Media is changing the way people do business.  Don’t get left behind ~ 

Hollie Clere, of The Social Media Advisor is a social media manager, trainer and author in LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Blog, Google+ , Pinterest and the tools to manage them. Click here for her Social Media Links

Sign up for your Free Social Media Analysis 


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