Popular Articles on Business 2 Community |
- 3 Reasons Why We Love Social Media
- Twitter Wants LeBron James To Meet High School Basketball Star Ebony Nettles-Bey
- 7 Trends In Cloud Computing To Watch Out For In 2014
- Getting Started With Google Plus: Top Tips and Best Practices
- 6 Social Media Marketing Myths To Avoid
- Tips for a Small Business Strategy in Social Media
- Utilize These Instagram Tools for your Business
- American Heart Month: ‘I’ll Always Be A Heart Mom’ Video (More Awareness Needed)
- How to Write an Action-Inducing Email Marketing Campaign
- 5 Signs Your SEO Firm is Lying to You
- 6 Steps To Being A Social Media Marketing Success
- Where Does Content Fit In Your 2014 B2B Marketing Strategy?
- WiFi In Restaurants
| 3 Reasons Why We Love Social Media Posted: 05 Feb 2014 09:27 PM PST Social media has grown to be the inbound marketing tool and connector for businesses and individual users alike. It is a global tool to stay in touch, meet, greet, communicate, network and market. Looking at all of the social predictions for 2014 is a strong indicator of things to come as well as viewing the exponential growth experienced over the decades. The statistics show that traditional media has taken a backseat to social media marketing and it will continue to explode, changing the way you do business and interact with your customers. Your consumers are online searching for information, longing to be educated, looking for solutions and sharing their brand experiences. You need to be online, listening and responding. If you don't, your competition will.
1. Relationships Social media isn't just tweeting and posting! Keep that in mind. It is an extension of your brand, your mission and your values. It is meant to support your company, reinforcing your reputation, products, service and commitment to your customers. Build relationships in and around your social channels, showcasing your desire to serve your audience. These relationships are the foundation of your brand's reputation, success and bottom-line. Build the trust and see the return. Nurture and cultivate your audience with real conversations and engagement, offering value and rich content. Don't just push URLs and self-promote; get involved. Share. Ask questions. While disseminating information is helpful, people buy from people and they want to get to know you. Humanize your brand and be personable. These relationships that you build will lead to increased brand advocacy. Make the time!! Your relationships may not just be client based but colleagues, co-collaborators, business partners, vendors or friends. Enrich one another 2. Brand Advocates Creating an online brand experience for your consumer is an opportunity to engage and interact on a more personal level than traditional forms of old age media. You are speaking WITH instead of AT them. These relationships can evolve into strong brand advocates to share your message, service and products. This word of mouth advertising and shouting from rooftops (social channels) is the greatest form of marketing your brand can hope for. Each consumer is connected and has a voice – they will share their testimonials and experiences with the world, so it is your job to make it a positive one. Pay attention to them, understand their pain points and give them viable solutions. 3. Global Communities One of the greatest opportunities of social media marketing is to create your community, your network all over the world, not just in your backyard or down the street. You can interact with customers all over the world without ever needing to leave your office. You couldn't get this from a newspaper and you don't have to wait to respond to an editorial comment on page 15 of the paper (if you happen to catch it). Social is immediate and interactive. You are of course monitoring your brand and industry via alerts and other key search channels. Right? It is this responsive communication that keeps the customers engaged and coming back for more. You build trust, authority and loyalty which again translates to generating brand advocates. There are little to no geographical boundaries when it comes to socially marketing online. Your bandwidth far exceeds local advertising giving you the opportunity to reach and engage with millions of people across the open seas. Personally, I marvel at my connections and know that without social media, I never would have had the great fortune to connect with so many incredible clients and colleagues. Relationships, brand advocates and global communities are of course just part of the short list of why we love social media. As you know, this is just the tip of the iceberg. It has become an integral part of our business and lifestyles; whether good or bad, it is here to stay.
What are your top 3 reasons for using social media?  |
| Twitter Wants LeBron James To Meet High School Basketball Star Ebony Nettles-Bey Posted: 05 Feb 2014 07:27 PM PST Twitter wants LeBron James to meet high school basketball star Ebony Nettles-Bey, who is currently battling stage four cancer.
Prior to her diagnosis, Ebony was a star basketball player at Madison West High School in Madison, Wisconsin. She'd been playing since second grade, reports Wkow. Having earned first team all-conference honors, the talented 16-year-old athlete was bestowed a full basketball scholarship to the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Ebony had a promising basketball career when she moved to Verona over the summer. However, before Ebony had the opportunity to play for the Verona Wildcats, she was diagnosed with Rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS). Rhabdomyosarcoma is a fairly rare cancer that effects the connective soft tissue within the body. Soft tissue sarcomas make up about three percent of childhood cancers. The two most common forms are embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma and alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma. The former occurs in infants and younger children, while the later effects older children and teenagers. For Ebony, the disease initially presented in intermittent difficulty breathing during games. Then during an AAU tournament Ebony was incapable of playing to her usual potential and was ultimately taken to the hospital. The discovery of a lump under the girl's breast alongside her rib and fluid surrounding her lungs led to Ebony's cancer diagnosis. The doctors disclosed the treatment and survival to Ebony and her family, and explained she'd be too weak to play the sport she loves. But the tenacious teenager fought and played basketball anyway, through the fatigue and exhaustion – even after surgery and chemotherapy. Although the girl has since lost her hair and over 10 pounds, the 5-foot-7-inch tall Wildcat has managed to make Verona's starting five. According to Yahoo Sports, Ebony says, "When I play basketball, I don't really think about cancer. It kind of relates to cancer. If you give up in a game — if you're getting blown out — then you'll lose, but if you keep fighting back, then you still have a chance to win. I'm going to beat it. I think that if I give up, I will die, but if I keep being strong, then I won't." Inspired by Ebony's story and strength, the public has since taken to Twitter, campaigning on behalf of the brave girl, as Ebony has always dreamed of meeting LeBron James. LeBron James is a professional basketball player who started his professional career playing for the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2003 and currently plays for the Miami Heat. During that time, LeBron James has won two NBA championships, four NBA Most Valuable Player Awards, two NBA Finals MVP Awards, two Olympic gold medals, an NBA scoring title, and an NBA Rookie of the Year Award. Using the hagtag #LeBronMeetEbony, thousands of Twitter users are enthusiastically trying to convince the pro athlete to fulfill Ebony's dream. Reports say the Miami Heat will be visiting the Chicago Bulls on March 9. This will be within reasonable driving distance from Verona, and happens to be on a day off for the Wisconsin's Division 1 girls' basketball tournament.
[photo credit: Newsone]  |
| 7 Trends In Cloud Computing To Watch Out For In 2014 Posted: 05 Feb 2014 02:06 PM PST Whether you're a seasoned CTO or rookie IT Manager, unless you've been living in the woods, you're likely well aware of the ubiquitous emergence of cloud computing and the disruption it is causing the IT industry. As the growth of cloud shows no sign of slowing any time soon, it is increasingly becoming evident that we are sitting on the precipice of an IT revolution. As we are now a month into 2014, I thought it prudent to take a look at some of the specific trends revealing themselves this year. 1. The Cloud Will Be the New Hardware Archetype Every major IT paradigm shift can be attributed to the development of novel and diverse computational platforms. As for cloud, we will witness the uniform virtualization of enterprise data and seamless integration of business operations. This will allow the entire elimination of many traditional IT infrastructure maintenance costs, with the corresponding savings being added to businesses' bottom lines. 2. Adoption of Better CRM Solutions We’ve written previously about the need to shift accounting and ERP practices to the cloud, but cloud solutions should not be reserved only for these record-based systems. In fact, they can also supercharge businesses that utilize them to enhance their customer engagement. When highly flexible cloud database solutions are married with efficient big data analysis tools, incredibly powerful consumer insights can come into focus. These will enable the optimization of marketing campaigns in real-time, and allow the crafting of customer experiences that are unforgettable. 3. Evolution of Big Data Continues Big data's value to your business does not in itself lie in the total volume of aggregated data, but how well analytic engines harvest valuable business insight from that data. With continued fine-tuning of data analytics' systems it is now possible to derive real-time insights from your business operations. These insights can enable everything from the improvement of product design to the elimination of inefficient redundancies. 4. Get Comfortable with JavaScript The growth mobile device usage in and out of the workplace means it is more and more imperative for organizations to strive for a singular code base, one that runs flawlessly on any browser. The current best practice is for businesses to develop JavaScript/HTML5 apps. An incredibly flexible JavaScript network and cross-platform mobile development platform allows for the seamless conversion of JavaScript coded apps to device native apps. This will continue into 2014 and (in my opinion) well beyond. 5. Stronger Identity Management Protocols Cloud vendors have the cumbersome task of optimizing the security of their platforms for both on-premise and SaaS (Software as a Service) applications. This is no truer than in the identity management area. The sanctioning or denial of access to specific employees and partners is a vital security concern that must be adequately addressed by all cloud providers. Those with superior cloud identity management solutions will thus be on the rise. 6. The Rise of PaaS (Platform as a Service) Once the cloud infrastructure is diversified further and more applications are perfected, an increasing number of enterprises will shed their inhibitions of operating on platforms not wholly owned by them. As complex web and mobile apps become the norm be prepared to see more companies opting for custom PaaS solutions built for their specific industry. 7. Customized Memory Solutions Memory requirement is a highly relative concept that varies according to the scale and operation area of a business. Multiple vendors now offer compelling cost-efficient memory upgrade solutions to both software and hardware systems. Enterprises can presently enhance their in-memory standards to improve their data analytics engine as a software solution, or as a hardware solution utilize flash memory to drastically cut down the total number of server side reads and writes required, improving overall speeds and minimizing the costly replacement of hard drives. There you have it. Seven cloud computing trends in 2014 and beyond. What trends do you see likely?  |
| Getting Started With Google Plus: Top Tips and Best Practices Posted: 05 Feb 2014 11:30 AM PST Google Plus is rapidly making its name as one of the main platforms within the social media space; and if it's not in your 2014 digital marketing strategy, you may want rethink your business's social media plan. However, if you feel launching and running a Google Plus page for your business is tricky and time consuming, you're certainly not alone. To help you get started, here are 4 quick tips to creating, implementing and dominating a Google Plus Strategy for 2014. Get Followers to Your Google Plus Page Make sure you get a Google Plus Badge or a Google Plus +1 button added to your website. Thankfully, Google has made this very easy – they provide the code that needs to be added to your website, which links directly your website and Google Plus page. This is very important, especially from an SEO perspective, because this will allow your Google Plus page will show up in Google Search! Creating and Sharing Compelling Content on Google Plus Google Plus has become totally integrated with other Google products, making sharing content a breeze. Share videos from your YouTube with the click of your mouse, use Google Docs to share a PDF with your followers, and add your location from Google Maps to your Google Plus page so followers can easily find your business. Google Plus also allows you to share pages straight from your website that are considered followed links; so share your landing pages to allow your followers to quickly download content you're offering on your site! Additionally, each post you share has its own separate URL making it very easy for your followers to share with their contacts through email. Adding & Segmenting Followers into Circles Once you start gathering a following you can start to add those followers to circles, which allows you to easily segment your followers, as well as the content you want to share with those individuals. A great place to start is with your reviews on your Google Plus Page. If the person reviewing is a customer, add them to the "VIP circle." If you know a person is an employee of your company, add them to the "Employees Circle." Use the "search people" feature to add followers to your circles. For example, if you've created a Google Plus page for your car dealership, create a circle called "Car Enthusiasts" and add people that are interested in cars and different car brands. Those followers should then follow your Google Plus page in return. Creating a Community & Joining Communities Start by searching for communities that relate specifically to your business. If you are a Nissan dealer, consider joining a Nissan Community. Most communities don't allow you to advertise, but it's always good to drop a post or two a month to thank the group for allowing you to be in their community. There is also an option to create a group. If you're a Nissan Dealer in the Philadelphia area, it wouldn't hurt to create a community called "Nissan Enthusiasts Delaware Valley" to try to get people in the Delaware Valley to join your community. Overall, if SEO, content marketing, social engagement and lead generation is important to you and your business, Google Plus has to be in your Digital Marketing Strategy. And since Google wants you to use their tools and play in their sandbox, why not try to own your Google Plus Strategy and use it to your business' advantage? Not creating a Google Plus page is one mistake that could impede your business's digital marketing success. So, if you want to learn more digital marketing secrets and the critical mistakes to avoid, check out this free webinar replay, The Most Common and Costly Digital Marketing Mistakes Business Owners Make… And How To Avoid Them!  |
| 6 Social Media Marketing Myths To Avoid Posted: 05 Feb 2014 11:22 AM PST
By recognizing the following six myths, you'll be better able to improve your social media marketing efforts while avoiding ineffective practices. 1. Social Media Will Let Me Reach Only Younger CustomersIt's true that much of the audience for social media is younger, and much of the driving force behind it rests with teenagers and young adults. However, it is a mistake to believe that only the young are using social media effectively and enthusiastically. A recent study by Pew Research Center and Docstoc show 77% of the age cohort 30-49 years old are using social media, and 52% of the 50-64 cohort. Arguably as interesting is that overall usage among 18-29 year olds is dropping for the second year in a row. At 83 % it's not hugely more pervasive than the next-older cohort; both are significant numbers. And if you're a B2B marketer, Forrester tells us all business decision makers use social media, regardless of age. Takeaway: Don't neglect social media as a means of connecting with older customers. You will be excluding a significant number of potential clients if you ignore places where they can already be found. 2. Frequent Postings on Facebook Translate to Improved Campaign PerformanceA Facebook user with numerous friends, who is subscribed to several groups, and who follows multiple celebrities or performers will receive dozens if not hundreds of new postings on their newsfeeds every day. In this constant stream of new information, sources who post too frequently can defeat their purpose (getting attention) and instead disappear into the background noise. Worse, Facebook's ranking algorithms can penalize too-frequent posters, reducing the chance that future posts will be seen. Don't overwhelm your Facebook followers with multiple posts that can get lost in the information deluge. A single daily post is usually enough to keep your followers informed and interested. Craft your posts to be interesting and useful – worth looking out for. Include images, relevant links, and video when possible to boost interest and increase the chance that the post will be shared or forwarded to others. 3. Social Media Efforts Must Go Viral to Be UsefulThe stories of social media campaigns, videos, and images that "go viral" and attract millions of views are appealing, but the reality is that most social media submissions will never reach that level. So do you let the "dream of viral" die? No. But don't expect it and definitely don't add it to your short list of success metrics. Remember, the best use of social media is adding value to your followers' experiences, cultivating relationships with current and potential customers, and providing a source of useful material that helps your followers time and again. This type of simple business-building effort takes time, but it will create a larger group of loyal customers who will be likely to support your company, recommend your products and services, and spread the word about you by sharing your posts … or opening their wallets. 4. Twitter Is Useful Only for Big Companies and Known BrandsBig brands, large companies, and popular celebrities are likely to have huge Twitter followings, but smaller organizations can also successfully use this social media platform to expand awareness and loyalty. Tweets are excellent for announcing new products or services, providing exclusive discounts, or otherwise promoting your business. However, not all tweets should be promotional; include tweets that provide useful information or insights from you as a business owner. And tweet sparingly (once per day is a good cadence). Twitter can also be a useful vehicle for finding out who is mentioning your products or services. Make an extra effort to contact these individuals to either show your appreciation or resolve any problems that have been mentioned. 5. Facebook Advertising Won't Attract CustomersAdvertising on Facebook can certainly generate "likes," but it can also be a valuable tool for engaging with current customers and driving revenue. Your Facebook presence can increase the number of individuals who know about you while also bringing existing customers back to you more frequently. As you engage with current customers, you can encourage referrals and recommendations. Consider offering a reward, such as a discount or coupon, to current customers who refer a new client to you. 6. Google+ Isn't UsefulAs a social network, Google+ is not a major contender. Yet. However, its value is that it provides a social connection to the vast number of searches performed on Google every day. Case in point: When users use the "+1″ function to endorse products or services, they create recommendations that can be more effective than Google's standard search results. Use Google+ as an add-on to your other social media efforts, but realize that a good profile on this service can be very beneficial to your company. A myth you can keep |
| Tips for a Small Business Strategy in Social Media Posted: 05 Feb 2014 08:03 AM PST Social networks are an important tool of online marketing. Its great advantage lies in its ability to reach the target audience and promote non-intrusive engagement. Therefore, before launching and establishing your brand in Social Media, a strategy should be properly conceived and planned. Key and essential aspects of a social media marketing strategy To design an effective social media strategy is important to consider those essential elements that will help take care of all the details, and know how to act at all times: Before starting to make an appearance on social networks, there has to be a clear understanding of who the target audience is, and what networks are the most effective to reach that audience. The target audience should be prioritized in order to begin to trace the path that will lead the brand to them. Study and know the product Is there a special quality that makes the product or service stand out? What elements or characteristics can be highlighted? What differs from the main competition? From this analysis original features and attributes can be determined giving a competitive advantage to the brand on a social media strategy. Exploiting the social power of the brand Social networks allow conveying our brand personality, those values and qualities that make it unique and special, and with which the target audience feels connected and identified. This attitude also encourages brand recognition, promoting the word of mouth online and raising awareness of the brand among the target audience. We cannot forget that social media is a channel open to conversation, where users are close, and willing to discover and share content. If the message is aggressive it will be rejected. It is therefore important not only to know what to say in social networks, but also how the message will be delivered. Proper management of social networking means having professionals The voice of the brand in the online environment cannot be left to people without familiarity with the project, or trained to perform such a great task. Depending on the strategy, brand and resources available, this activity may fall into the hands of a single person, or requires an entire department. It is always advisable to adapt the strategy to the budget, and set priorities along with achievable and measurable goals. It is not necessary or advisable to be on all social networks When selecting which channels to develop a Social Media strategy, a small business should choose the channels based on the aspects mentioned above. Everything depends on the audience to be targeted, and what the resources are. The fact that Facebook is the social networking giant, should not force the brand to focus its strategy on it. In fact, a brand focused on ecommerce, with women as a primary purpose, should probably draw its efforts towards Pinterest as the main destination. What, how and when to act in social networks? Before answering these questions, it is clear that each brand is different, so there are no universal laws that guarantee success. However, various aspects can be taken into account, although it is always advisable to try various options in order to draw our own conclusions and adapt the strategy. Thus, it is important to know that pictures and images triumph in social networks. Publications with images can register up to 53% more likes and 104% more comments on Facebook, or 150% more retweets. An activity that results in sales and conversions, 92.6% of consumers base their purchasing decisions on the visual component of both the product itself, and its communication. On the other hand, saturation is one of the main reasons why users leave or un-follow a brand. It is therefore appropriate to design a publication schedule, in order to control the content that is broadcasted, and analyze the most appropriate time for the performances in every social network. Thus, for example, it is advisable not to share more than two daily publications on Facebook. On the other hand, Twitter is much more flexible, and here it is recommended to publish news several times a day, even send the same content, albeit varying the message of the tweet. As to the time and frequency of publication, there is no foolproof manual so we must resort to trial and error. For reference, several studies indicate that the subject and the online user behavior also affect the scope of actions. An activity that is also made late in the day, when they are actively seeking information on products and offers. This could be the ideal time to make an appearance Pinterest time. As we see, there is no foolproof way to act in social networks, although a number of basic and essential premises can guide us when it comes to knowing how to develop an online presence recipe. The unwritten rules of action and behavior in these platforms should be focused around meeting customers' needs and provide a positive experience with the brand.  |
| Utilize These Instagram Tools for your Business Posted: 05 Feb 2014 05:30 AM PST Instagram is slowly growing as one of the top socially enabled mediums for Brands as well as individuals. With the cries of teens getting tired of Facebook over time and Instagram providing an alternative, Brands are slowly waking up to the fact that Instagram can also be leveraged as a visual medium to assist in their awareness/reach campaigns. According to SumAll's latest report , Instagram beat Facebook as well as Twitter in terms of engagement and return on social investment. Instagram being a mobile first social network, there are many tools which can be utilised by individuals/marketers & brands alike when they are looking at Instagram for building up authority on the platform. We list down Instagram Tools which you can utilise to begin your Instagram journey Nitrogr.amNitrogr.am is one of the first analytics platform designed for Brands/agencies to focus on their Instagram presence. The tool provides some basic features including tracking of your Instagram account for engagement as well as competitive benchmarking. Instagram contests can also be monitored with the hashtag monitoring feature along with multiple account support for agencies and brands. Key Performance Indicators which can be tracked on Nitrogr.am include:
 Nitrogr.am offers engagement and content level analysis of your Instagram account Statigr.amStatigr.am works on the similar lines as Nitrogr.am providing you a user friendly interface for managing your Instagram account with your friends activity to look at from a web based platform. You can preview your instagram pics, follow your friends feed along with which people are following you and what's hot currently on Instagram. Great way to discover new content. Dig in to the 'Statistics' section to know more about your profile including Engagement, Content & Community Growth. You can manage new comments through the 'Comment' section at the top and the 'Contest' tab lets you explore the ongoing contests by Brands which you can participate in. The Statigram Index also provides a scorecard of some top brands on instagram and their growth statistics which is always a useful tool to benchmark and assess your competition. You can also try out the various add-ons you get with Statigr.am including the RSS feed of your acocunt and Instagram widget which you can embed to your blog. It also gives you an option to create a Facebook Cover with the latest Instagram photos you have posted. For business pages, Statigr.am also provides Facebook Custom Tabs which can be integrated with their Instagram accounts allowing full customization and analytics. Brilliant and a must have tool for any Instagram user.  Statigr.am provides your Community and engagement stats along with various add-ons to be leveraged with Instagram
FollowgramFollowgram is another web tool providing you with free statistics related to your Instagram presence. The web interface is similar to Statigr.am providing the feed of your friends when you login with Instagram. The stats section provides you with the basic overview about your account activity. Followgram has a paid plan for Brands looking to extend their reach on Instagram which feature no advertisements and a whole lot of customization options. The 'Explore' section takes your computer's location and gives you geo based recommendations on new people you can connect with on Instagram (If the person has geo-tagged his/her picture on Instagram) and can be a great tool to build on local communities. Bonus Mention:If you would want to backup your Instagram photos all in one go, Instarchive can be of great help to you which can send you your Instagram Photos in a zip file to be stored on your local drive. When it comes to my personal usage, i prefer Statigr.am for it's cleaner and detailed interface. Which is your pick out of the lot? Are there any other Instagram Tools you use to make your life easier? Share it with us in the comments below.  |
| American Heart Month: ‘I’ll Always Be A Heart Mom’ Video (More Awareness Needed) Posted: 04 Feb 2014 06:25 PM PST
February has the unique distinction of being American Heart Month, in addition to being the month in which Congenital Heart Defect Awareness Week (February 7 – 14th) takes place. In previous years, my wife and I participated in "heart walks" but it wasn't until last year where the need for awareness hit close to home. On June 26, 2013, we were blessed with our first child as Matthew Emerson Rice entered this world looking just like every other "normal" baby. However, Matthew was / is special as he was born with a very rare and deadly heart disease known as Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome. In layman's terms, he only has half a heart but a helluva lot of fight and strength in him. Fittingly, our son was diagnosed with HLHS nearly a year ago today. I have mentioned before that during our journey, Sisters By Heart helped provide us with a sense of hope and earlier today, they shared on their Facebook page one of the most moving videos that I have ever seen. The video beautifully captures what it is like for families, especially the children, who are dealing with this same horrible and incurable disease. It features lyrics written by Carrie Walls and is performed by Nicole Bennett as the music is based on "Royals" by Lorde (see below). It breaks my heart just thinking about the fact that there are other families going through the same thing. For those families, I can only offer words of encouragement as the most important thing is to never give up. As hard as it may be, you have to dig deeper and deeper each day to find the strength to never lose faith. For those that have personally supported our family, I can ensure you that your kindness and love will never be forgotten. With a little over 4,000 views, I would like to ask your help in sharing this video with your friends and family to increase awareness. Please take the time to watch and share. Thank you in advance for your support! Special thanks to all of the "Heart Moms" out there, especially my wife, who is the glue that keeps everything together. The way that you handle the ups and downs of our everyday life with grace, strength and courage is inspiring. Together we can help create awareness and hopefully one day there will be a cure.  |
| How to Write an Action-Inducing Email Marketing Campaign Posted: 04 Feb 2014 05:31 PM PST Content might be king and social media its heir to the throne, but the marketing tool with the most power is without a doubt email marketing. Don't believe me?
The question isn't whether or not you should focus on email marketing (because, duh, you should), but how to write the most effective email marketing campaigns. A good starting point is to go through your 50 most recent emails and write down what you like and dislike about each one. Looking at it from a consumer's point of view will give you a better idea of what your followers want (and don't want) to read. There are also some basic rules of thumb you should follow. The most successful email marketing campaigns are those that integrate all aspects of content marketing – content, social and mobile – to give the subscribers the most cohesive experience possible. Content Think of your subject line as a headline. You've only got a few words to make a big impression. Check out this blog post about Cosmopolitan's headlines for inspiration. Just because you hook them with a killer subject line doesn't mean you can slack off on the email's body copy. Find a healthy mix of promoting your company with providing non-branded content useful to your followers. It's also crucial to have a strong Call to Action. It can be anything from "Check out our latest blog post!" to "Use this discount code to save 20% on today's purchase!" When thinking about content, it's also important to think about the visual elements you want to include. The growth of mobile email means email marketers have to account for followers opening their messages on multiple devices and in multiple browsers. I'll go into more detail below. Social Encourage your subscribers to share the information you include with their social media followers (look at that, there's your CTA!) and remind your social media followers that they can receive special content if they subscribe to your list (what do you know, another CTA!). Mobile This makes it more important that ever to build a simple, easy-to-load design. Include too many images or bright colors or give your subscribers tiny blocks of text they have to zoom in and scroll to see and they'll simply delete your message. Stick with larger fonts and a clean background and you'll be prepared for your followers to view your email on any device. Don't Forget…
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| 5 Signs Your SEO Firm is Lying to You Posted: 04 Feb 2014 03:03 PM PST An SEO firm has a lot of anonymity when it comes to working with businesses and organizations. Since they are the experts and know things the average person doesn’t understand about ranking and searches, they can operate almost covertly. They can tell you what you want to hear even when it’s not the truth. However, it is important to be able to tell when your firm is lying. 1. No Absolutes If your SEO firm tells you they can have a certain keyword rank and put your site on the first page of searches by a specific date, they are lying. While a firm with experience can give you an estimate about how long it will take to see improvement, they can’t guarantee a set time. A firm can work its hardest but they can’t know exactly when your site will see movement. They can’t guarantee how much traffic you’ll see or when the increase will begin. 2. Using Search Engines and Directories If an SEO expert tells you that submitting your site to dozens of search engines and numerous directories will increase your ranking fast, they are lying to you. Links do matter but only when they are high-quality. In fact, it could do more harm than good if your site is submitted to places that act as link farms. Google penalizes those types of links and it could actually cause your rank to drop. 3. An Unreal Increase in Traffic When your firm tells you that traffic has increased to your site by a ridiculous amount, be wary. It’s not likely that this traffic is going to benefit you much in the long run. That’s because today it’s more important to have quality traffic than high numbers. To put it another way, the only traffic that matters is the people who visit your site because they are interested in what you have to offer. SEO companies can bring in large amounts of traffic through various tactics, but most of those people will leave in just seconds because they aren’t quality visitors. Don’t forget that the bounce rate or how quickly people leave your site also matters and is measured by search engines. A large amount of traffic that isn’t really interested in your site can also increase your bounce rate, which can hurt your rank. 4. ”You Won’t Understand Our Process” If your SEO firm tells you that they can’t explain what they are doing, they are lying to you. Yes, SEO is a complex process with intricate details and complex equations. However, much of the work that is done involves marketing, a concept that you can understand. Good SEO firms take the time to help you understand what they are doing in basic terms. 5. Focusing on Content While creating content is essential to ranking well with Google, it can’t give you the top spot alone. If a firm tells you that you only need to concentrate on content, which they will provide, they are not telling you the truth. You must have a site that is easy to navigate and is user-friendly or no one will stick around long enough to read your content. It is part of a complete strategy. Pay attention to what your SEO firm is telling you so you know if they are lying. If they tell you one of these lies, it’s time to look for a new firm.  |
| 6 Steps To Being A Social Media Marketing Success Posted: 04 Feb 2014 01:50 PM PST I recently argued against the notion that you can do social media marketing in 30 minutes a day. So, when I ran across this infographic from RazorSocial, it seemed a perfect thing to share steps to being a social media marketing success. Now, I'm not sure being a social media marketing success really takes 18 hours a day, but it is a significant undertaking. Unfortunately, doing social media marketing halfway isn't likely to generate half the success, but no success. Doing social media marketing successfully is like being pregnant, you can't do it "just a little". Luckily, you don't have to do it alone. Being a social media marketing success also means building a team that believes in your business. The infographic lists a number of tools to help with managing your social media marketing, plus check out our page devoted to social media marketing tools. Steps to being a social media marketing successStep 1: Create contentIf I divide my tasks into parts of my day, I would attribute the greatest part to creating content — whether it's a new blog post, infographic, video, newsletter, slideshare, or social media post (Tweet, Facebook Update …). I create a content marketing calendar to ensure I have content to share at least 3 days a week. A content marketing calendar keeps you on track and makes content marketing easier. I also use a variety of tools to help with content creation.
Step 2: ShareYour content might go virtually unnoticed if you don't actively share it with your social networks, subscribers, and prospects. Syndication is also becoming a common means of sharing your influence to a wider audience.
Step 4: ListenTalking, creating content, is only part of the job. You should listen more than you talk — although I find it's less time-consuming to listen. But, what should you listen for?
Step 5: EngageEngagement is part a function of creating and curating valuable, non-promotional content from your RSS feed and from influencers and part a function of being engaged with your community. Responding to comments and questions, engaging with your community by liking, commenting and sharing their posts, and being a real person online helps build engagement. And, don't forget opportunities to engage influencers and use guest blogging as a way to gain traction with new audiences. Step 6: MonitorMonitoring your performance is an integral step in improving becoming a social media marketing success. I use a combination of:
Each gives a different view of my performance. I pay attention to my metrics every day, using tools like Cognos, an IBM dashboard product, to bring everything together in 1 place to make it easier to interpret how my social media marketing is performing. Need Help?Whether you need a complete analytics strategy, some help with Adwords, or some consulting to optimize your existing social media marketing, we can fill your digital marketing funnel. We can help you do your own social media marketing better or do it for you with our community managers, strategists, and account executives. You can request a FREE introductory meeting or sign up for my email newsletter to learn more about social media marketing. Be sure to subscribe to our email newsletter, where you’ll get even more insights to make your marketing SIZZLE 6 Steps to Being a Social Media Marketing Success Hausman Marketing Letter  |
| Where Does Content Fit In Your 2014 B2B Marketing Strategy? Posted: 04 Feb 2014 07:40 AM PST
According to our 2013 Marketing Measurement Survey results, 68% of marketing teams had a content developer to create consistent and meaningful messaging last year. Thus, it appears many marketing teams are evolving rapidly and placing greater emphasis on content marketing to drive growth and sales. To stay ahead of competitors, industry-leading marketing teams are investing in specialized campaigns and personnel to optimize different tactics that grow revenue, such as content marketing. These roles must also monitor campaign successes with accurate, detailed analytics to determine ROI and future budgetary allocation. Top marketers determine what strategies and tactics could generate the highest returns for a business, marketers by researching successful industry trends and compare their efforts to those of competitors. Without this insight, creative and budgetary decisions will be made without any sense of industry context. To avoid playing pin the tail on the donkey with marketing dollars, take the time to investigate industry best practices and compare to in-house campaigns. For example: has your company boosted its support and focus on content marketing for 2014? Tell us about it in the 2014 Marketing Measurement Survey and see what industry peers are implementing with content campaigns as well. Plus, participants will be entered into a drawing for a free $500 AmEx gift card! What The Best DoContent marketing is much more than simply adding a blog to your website a few times a week. It requires unique, valuable, data-driven information to be created, posted, shared and updated regularly on a variety of digital platforms throughout the day. The information should be used as part of a discussion, rather than a static post. Thus, individual roles are now dedicated to these projects – which require creativity, expertise in media platforms and knowledge of the subject matter. The Content Marketing Institute's research pinpointed some best practices the most effective B2B content marketers are implementing in 2014 to stay ahead of the game:
With content holding greater importance in 2014, it should be no surprise that budgets are shifting toward creative dissemination of information. Marketing teams are depending on content to increase brand awareness, lead generation, customer acquisition, thought leadership and engagement – as well as website traffic and customer loyalty. To achieve these goals, the study found 48% of marketing teams plan to increase their B2B content marketing spending this year, while 32% anticipate maintaining the status quo from 2013. Gotta Mix It UpCommon misconception: content marketing is mostly blogs and whitepapers. The truth is, the most successful content marketing strategies incorporate a wide range of tactics so as to effectively reach audiences on all platforms. The research listed the top content marketing strategies based on efficacy in generating leads:
The content being created should not only come in different forms, but also bring unique perspectives on each topic. Try to tell the audience a story when demonstrating the value of a product or service. Select the most valuable statistics or insights for downloadable content such as whitepapers or webinars to encourage more leads. Optimize all information across multiple platforms by repurposing certain points for blog posts, social media blasts or video content. And the content created for each tactic must then be shared effectively via social media channels to optimize audience reach. The top five social media channels for B2B content marketing are: LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Google+. Are these trends in content marketing mirroring the strategies at your company? Or do you have a different plan for engaging new and existing customers in 2014? We want to know! Share your perspectives in the Ifbyphone 2014 Marketing Measurement Survey.  |
| Posted: 03 Feb 2014 10:20 PM PST Wifi is one of the most important technologies that have emerged in the past few decades. It helps people remain connected to the internet and thus, to the world, even when on the move. The current trend for the use of wifi is in the restaurants. People like to spend time in restaurants with close friends and family. The wifi connection there helps them to remain connected and updated. Viewing the offerings at the restaurants in ipads and tablets, ordering through the latest devices and, at the same time, enjoying free wifi connections – these have made the trend of offering wifi at the restaurants a great option. It is a low-cost option, which helps to attract the customers. Usually, just a single wifi router is enough to cover the whole restaurant. However, the return on investment is comparatively high, as it is expected to drive the popularity of your restaurant. It is an easy task to set the wifi at the restaurant. All you need to do is install a router and set a few other details at the different tables. It allows you to set interactive tables and touchscreen menus, thus adding variety in the way customers can place the orders. Wifi in restaurants is a trend, which is on the rise. It is expected to gain ground with every passing day.  WiFi In Restaurants Source: Inspire WiFi.  |
Despite its relative youth, social media marketing has proven itself to be a valuable addition to the marketing mix. As reliance on Facebook, Twitter, and other social media platforms continues to grow, business owners and marketing managers must educate themselves on the myths and realities of social media marketing.
If you're going to consider myths, how about one that works in your favor? This is Tykhe (or 
Since starting this blog nearly four years ago, I have written over 500 posts but by far this was the most challenging to write. I started, stopped and erased this it dozens of times because emotionally I couldn't find the right words.
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