Popular Articles on Business 2 Community

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• 5 Critical Pinterest SEO Tactics to Get More Traffic to Your Website
• Is This The Social Media Marketing Tipping Point?
• 5 Apps To Take Your Instagram Marketing To The Next Level
• “Before & After”: How Digital Marketing Has Changed The Way We All Do Business

5 Critical Pinterest SEO Tactics to Get More Traffic to Your Website Posted: 03 Feb 2014 05:28 PM PST According to a new report from Javelin Strategy & Research, a financial services research and consulting firm shoppers Pinterest users' average order value is 126% more than Facebook users. Pinterest has proven to be an excellent tool for driving traffic to your blog or website but unfortunately many users I speak to don't know how to properly apply SEO tactics within Pinterest to drive large volumes of traffic to their website. Isn't the whole point of having a website to attract visitors? Prospective customers find you during their searches online by typing keywords into their search bars.  You want your Pinterest page and or web page to come up on the first page of the search organic results. There are 5 areas on a Pinterest page where you can apply such keywords and tactics. The 5 areas are: 1) Username The username that you choose has to include more than just your business name because most people will not search for you on Pinterest by your business or company name. Your username also has to include carefully selected keywords. For example if you're a Realtor and your business name is Anna Smith I would suggest you the keywords "SmithRealtor". If that username is taken then I would keep trying to use keywords that are closely tied to interior design or your specific type of business. 2) Profile Name Your profile name should include your business name or personal brand name. Make it a keyword conscious name to increase your Pinterest SEO. For example if you're a spa and your company name is "Breathe" I recommend that you use "Breath Day Spa" as your username. 3) About Description Describe what makes your company special & why they should follow you. Use keywords in each sentence to increase your Pinterest SEO. 4) Board Title Name Don't try to be too clever or fancy. Think of how someone would search for what you have to offer. For example if you have a board filled with all your cheesecake recipes and you name it "My Cheesy Creations" no one is going to search using those key words. Therefore the chances that you'll show up in the Pinterest search will be very slim. Remember that board names are indexed by Google too so you want to keep the board names obvious and simple. In this case "Cheesecake Recipes" would do fine because that is how cooks would search. 5) Board Description You have up to 500 characters to use. So select several keywords carefully and use them throughout your board several times each to increase your Pinterest SEO. Did you know that the Pinterest mobile audience has grown 50% in the past year and now makes up three-fourths of total Pinterest usage? Pin descriptions are limited on Android so place your vital information in the first 125 characters or they will not even be included. Study these 5 keys one by one and apply them.  Monitor your website traffic using Google analytics today before you apply these tips and then 30 days after you have applied all these tips and you will very likely see a difference in the amount of traffic Pinterest is sending to your website. If this is overwhelming for you and you feel like you are going around and around with Pinterest and not getting anywhere contact me to learn more about my Pinterest Marketing Course for Business.

Is This The Social Media Marketing Tipping Point? Posted: 03 Feb 2014 08:43 AM PST Social media has been with us for over a decade now. It hit the public consciousness when MySpace started to steal teenagers attention after it was launched in 2003. MySpace even surpassed Google as the most trafficked website in the USA in 2006. At its zenith it had 1,600 employees and was generating $800 million in revenue. But nothing is forever. In 2008 Facebook (which was founded in 2004) took the crown as the top social networking site as its unique visitor numbers exceeded MySpace for the first time. Where is social media now? In 2014 Facebook is still dominant with with over 1.15 billion users, Twitter has over 550 million registered users and Google+ has reached 359 million monthly active users. Social media as a marketing tool for business really started to make its presence felt when Facebook created and launched its self service advertising feature in April 2011. Before that social media marketing was restricted to an organic process. Grow your followers on your social networks and drive traffic to your website or blog with calls to action and links. Social media has promised much for business marketing because it was free and it had viral super powers. Businesses has seized upon this as it matured and in 2013 according to a CMO survey by Duke University is 6.6% of marketing budgets (about $4.6 billion in dollar terms) and is expected to climb to nearly 16% over the next 5 years. Social media is being woven into the web and is a subset of the digital universe. To provide some perspective digital ad spend according to eMarketer, accounted for 25% of all media advertising budgets in 2013 with over $42 billion in spending. So social media is still a small part of digital and marketing budgets. But in reality it has just started The tipping point? With the evolution of the web there are some events that are small but significant. One of those happened on December 13, 2013. It was when Beyonce launched her latest album with an update on Instagram just captioned as "Surprise" This broke convention. Normally millions are spent on traditional media. Lady Gaga hyped her latest album by spending millions on bus advertising, billboards, 2 pop up stores and performed countless interviews. The result. She sold 305,000 copies in 2 weeks. Beyonce, who has 8 million Instagram followers and over 53 million fans on Facebook decided to go straight to her fans. She decided to give the bus a miss. It was launched directly to iTunes and social media. She invoked the power of "World of Mouth" The results: It sold 828,773 copies in 3 days Twitter reported 1.2 million Tweets in 12 hours It was the largest single week ever in the Apple iTunes store It was iTunes fastest selling album worldwide The album had been in design and production for over 18 months and was highly visual and was sold as a full album for $15.99 including 14 songs and 17 videos. This has some implications for marketers and business that goes beyond a celebrity with millions of social media followers. The lessons and what can you do You may be not a Lady Gaga, Beyonce or a famous singer but the lessons are there. Start building your "own" digital assets. The world has changed. It is digital and it is social. Take control of your own digital future and build your own online assets and authority. Grow your social networks now. The priorities are still for the most part Facebook and Twitter. It will also depend on the demographic, audience personas, media preferences and industry. So you will also need to consider Instagram, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Slideshare and YouTube. It will also be determined by whether you sell to business (B2B) or to consumers (B2C). Create the best content you can. Repurpose it in a range of media including visual. Publish and promote it everywhere on social media. Don't forget your other digital assets. This includes a blog, search engine optimisation, continue to increase your email subscriber list and keep up your content creation. It also means using content marketing in your mix. Boost your marketing with paid and targeted social media advertising. It doesn't have to be expensive. You may need to get marketing traction fast and can't wait to build the social networks from day one. It sounds rather daunting doesn't it? But to remain relevant on the social web and to build online authority you have no choice. Where are you starting today?

5 Apps To Take Your Instagram Marketing To The Next Level Posted: 03 Feb 2014 05:49 AM PST Instagram marketing… it started long before Instagram introduced ads to the platform. But it's only been done well by a select few brands. And, to call it like it is, most of those successful brands are already visually driven lifestyle brands: Anthropologie, Target, W Hotels, Coca-Cola, etc. It's only every now and then that you come across a should-be-boring-brand with an absolutely dynamic Instagram presence. (I'm thinking of General Electric as a terrific example.) So, let's say you're one of those visually boring brands. You know… your company sells B2B services or propane. In other words, you don't just naturally have a whole lot going for you on the aesthetic front. If that describes your company, then these five apps for marketing on Instagram should be in your download queue immediately! Offerpop Offerpop is a marketing tool that lets you create and manage campaigns across just about every social media channel you can imagine (with the exception of Google+). You can track Instagram hashtags, track performance, store user-generated content in an easy-to-access library, knock out auto replies for your campaign, and publish photos across different channels. It's also worth noting that brands like MTV, Pepsi, TOMS, Gap, and American Express use Offerpop. Slidagram Jumping over into the world of free apps for marketing on Instagram, Slidagram allows you to create slideshows on your website that are based around popular hashtags or location. For marketers with a huge library of Instagram images, this is a great way to easily extract the photos that pertain to your upcoming event or campaign. Plus, it's hard to argue with free. VSCO Cam Short for Visual Supply Co., VSCO allows iPhone and Android users to create striking images, using unique filters that are almost in direct opposition to Instagram's many heavy-on-the-saturation filters. Maybe your brand will find its aesthetic in this app. To learn more about the quickly growing company, I highly recommend this in-depth read from Fast Co. Afterlight Afterlight is kind of like VSCO Cam's next-door neighbor. Combine the editing features of the two apps and you'll find yourself headed off in the general direction of aesthetic bliss. Especially valuable: Afterlight's 75 unique, simplistic, and adjustable frames. Followgram Followgram is the ultimate in Instagram analytics. This is a must-have app for marketing on Instagram. Followgram provides tons of free stats about who liked and commented on your content. Plus, the service offers special tools that allow businesses to run contests and get accurate analytics. Followgram is used by Ford, National Geographic, Nike, Armani, and others. Do you have a favorite app for marketing on Instagram? Drop a link in the comments.

“Before & After”: How Digital Marketing Has Changed The Way We All Do Business Posted: 02 Feb 2014 03:00 PM PST Everyone loves a good before and after photo…. but have we adapted as well to the before and after of marketing? Because when it comes to marketing, the times have changed. Before, you relied on good onsite customer service, now customer service includes a consistent social media presence. And cold calling might just be on its way out (finally). Here are three cornerstones of marketing that have transitioned from traditional to modern marketing, welcoming a new age of digital marketing, and the best practices that will help your company stand out from the crowd. Before: Customer Service, After: Social Media Management The foundations of customer service are still the same: listen to the customer, the customer is always right, and always follow up. Other than that, though, everything has changed. Where your customers expect service has changed, too. When your customers or prospective customers have a question or — hopefully not — a problem, one of the first things they'll do is perform a web search or reach out to your social media platforms for an answer at any time, 24/7. And if no one's listening? You're in trouble. Consider the example above, some results after a brief Twitter search for people mentioning @Comcast. It's overwhelmingly negative. But when you look a little further, you will find various Comcast Twitter brand representatives reaching out to customers, trying to figure out a solution. Brands large and small are using social media to grow and satisfy their consumer base using social media as customer service. Before: Sales Calls, After: Blogging The best news about digital marketing is in the lead generation process. Instead of interruptive content like TV ads and cold calls, content marketing and information-as-a-service is all about letting the customer seek out your services and self-select into your lead generation funnel. This process looks a lot like what you yourself might do when researching a customer or new business. Say you're looking for a new print and business card partner, but you're not sure if you want one in town or a national brand. Before you even perform a web search for "Richmond, VA printers," your first step might be performing a web search for "Local versus national printer?" to help you make up your mind (this is a trend that Google is seeing in web searches). And what's the first return for that search? This blog post from Paragon Printers, "Business Cards. To buy local or online?" A recent, detailed post about how you can get a high-quality business card from a small business for the same cost or less than a cheap business card from VistaPrint. Without a cold call or direct mailer, this company has created a path for someone seeking printer services to find their business, they've talked them into using a local or small business alternative, and their contact information is right there with the article. How's that for generating a lead with your website? Before: Advertiser Demographics, After: KPIs Back in the day, advertising was about the one-way streets of print, radio, and TV. Many advertising companies are still stuck in that rut. That means the important numbers weren't about you, they were about the advertiser, including demographics and viewership statistics. In the new world of digital marketing, the tables have turned. The statistics you want to track are the ones about your company, the key performance indicators that will tell you how your business is doing. Instead of focusing on what advertisers can do for your brand, you're monitoring these three important indicators against your own past performance: How your audience finds your website Where your customers live What technology users use to access your site Digital marketing is about meeting your customer in a new space: using your website, your content, and your social media presence to be available and informative, 24/7.

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