Archive for the ‘Social Media Marketing’ Category

Recently got invited to a facebook page that advertises itself as ‘a place for Essex Businesses to ‘Like’ each others business pages and reach their target market’. This silly and pointless marketing idea encourages you to like a facebook page in return for likes from that page. You could call it a reciprocal like. I feel that this could be called ‘black hat’ marketing and shouldn’t benefit the participants, much like the spammy reciprocal links that have now been identified and downgraded by Google I believe Facebook should identify and remove these reciprocal fake likes.

Here is my response to the invitation to like other business pages in return for receiving likes and makes amusing reading, especially as the person inviting me runs a Social Media company, or probably has bought the franchise for that company for the South East of the UK

James This is against facebook terms and conditions and against common business sense – you like something because you ‘like’ it not because you want more likes for your own page – I suggest people read the recent information about facebook removing fake likes

Social Media Company I disagree there James. You may not require a service or product yourself but your friends list will be exposed to it and it may be relevant to them. I’m all for Essex businesses helping each other in any way they can that doesn’t incur costs. Have a lovely day x

James What don’t you agree with? one comment doesn’t really make business sense ‘your friends list will be exposed to it’ meaning you want people to like a company so that those peoples friends can see that they have liked them? Thats hardly targeted advertising is it? These ‘fad’ ideas simply confuse people and waste time by abusing a great business resource like facebook and eventually get removed / banned.

Social Media Company That’s precisely the ‘targetted advertising’ that facebook ads offer

James erm no it isnt

Social Media Company Yes it is James I have spoken at length with a member of the facebook marketing department in the UK. You can create ads from your business page which simply tell friends which page another friend has ‘liked’. I’m sorry this method doesn’t work for you but is has for me and any others. I am here just to be supportive of other peoples business and for us to all work together. It’s not new, nor is it a fad. Lets agree to disagree and again, I hope you are having a great day

James This is misleading and wrong – you said ‘You can create ads from your business page which simply tell friends which page another friend has ‘liked’ ” which if this is what you believe is something have misunderstood

Social Media Company If I can get my screen dump to function, I shall demonstrate an example ad which simply displays when somebody has liked your page. Are you using the paid ads? I started a new one today.

James Yes we use fb ads as well as Google / Bing PPC advertising

Social Media Company us too James. I fear we may bore people with this discussion here. I’m happy to continue if you want to pm me and I will email the screen dump with an example of a fb ad showing as a sponsored link that highlights that someone has ‘liked’ a page.

James You are talking about ‘Sponsored Stories’ which is a newish addition to fb ads and I assume you are wanting people to like each other’s pages to spread this ‘Sponsored Story’ (xxx likes xxx) to their friends

Social Media Company yes sponsored stories are a paid option in facebook ads. So I’m not entirely sure what we are disagreeing on. As I said I’m happy to continue our conversation by inbox if you would like to. Bye for now x

Essex Business owner I like the like ladders for the simple reason that when a potential customer looks at your Facebook page it looks better to have a lot of likers than not! I have also made several orders for things I wouldn’t have known existed through doing the ladders so it does work!

James But thats the point – if you think having more likes on your page is better then by faking it by having reciprocal likes will eventually get your page downgraded – fake likes are not good – you can buy 10,000 likes to your facebook page on ebay if you want but it makes that metric meaningless. Reciprocal likes (Social Media) will eventually go the same way as reciprocal links (SEO – Link building)

Social Media Company Me too Sarah ! I discovered beautiful personalised name scrabble boards which I have since bought as gifts, and discounted beauty offers near to my mum, which she now uses too.

Social Media Company -  James you may be missing the point. Quite apart from the perception of popularity when you are starting out, having very localised ladders is helping businesses reach local customers as Sarah has stated and I myself have experienced. If liking each others pages and discovering a product you want to buy as a result isn’t of benefit then I don’t know what is.

Essex Business Owner 2 I tend to agree with James on this subject, from a personal perspective I avoid these schemes as I feel they downgrade my ‘like’ and make it worthless, not only that but I end up with a lot of unwelcome fluff on my wall from every other cake maker and hobby business around. I also feel that this kind of activity is demeaning, either your business stands on its own merits or it doesn’t.  This conversation also breaks our rules. This is a for Business people within Essex, to network, give and receive advice and generally support each other. Please DO NOT self promote your business, there are plenty of places to do that, I want this forum to be about discussion and helping each other

Social Media Company The page posted is not a business. It makes no money. Is entirely voluntary and only created to help support local small businesses. It is not associated with any website or company. And I still stand by the earlier comments that I and others have discovered other local businesses through pages like this, bought their products and recommended them / introduced them to other customers. I make no apology for that. It’s unfortunate when you do something with good intentions and it isn’t perceived as you have intended.

James The page posted attempts to ‘game’ the facebook like system and is against facebook guidelines – its a fad and dilutes the facebook ‘like’ metric. You say it makes no money but by putting your own two companies as the first two on the ladder I assume you want to benefit by having more ‘likes’. The only benefits that you have pointed out could be gained from a ‘Essex Business Directory’ or Essex business page like this one. I also think the facebook group should be deleted as it is self-serving and breaks guidelines.

I was so concerned by these reciprocal like schemes that I decided to contact Facebook about them

Message to fb

Can you tell me what facebook’s position is on these ‘like ladders’ where one company likes another in return for getting liked! I for one think they are a waste of time / pointless and dilute your very valuable ‘like’ metric

I await their reply …………

 Twitter

1 Create a Twitter handle. Use either your business name or a name your clients and customers will recognize.
2 Follow other users that are in your field, clients, and customers
3 Make it onto #FF (Follow Friday) lists. These lists recommend other Twitter users follow you
4 Recruit followers by letting people know you’ve joined Twitter. Post to other social media platforms and websites with links back to your Twitter.

Facebook

1 You must set up a personal profile before you create a company page (it is against T&C to create a profile for your business.)
2 Create your company page and add company information, photos, videos, upcoming events, and links back to your website.
3 Join groups on Facebook that are relevant to your business and company interests.

YouTube

1 Before you set up a YouTube account, you must first decide if video content creation will benefit your business.
2 lf the answer is yes, set up your YouTube account. Your account will be linked with any Google accounts you have.
3 Once your first video is posted, share it through your other social media platforms such as Facebook.
4 Connect with customers by liking or commenting on user customer testimonials.

Google+

1 Initially you will need a Google account and simply click on the Google+ icon to begin the process.
2 Add team members VIPS and customers to separate Google+ circles to organize your news feeds.
3 Connect your Google+ page with website using the Google+ Badge / Logo.
4 Begin posting content such as status updates, videos or photos to your Google+ account.

Tumblr

1 Tumblr requires a bit more planning and designing than the other social media sites. You need to choose a theme when creating a profile.
2 Begin to post. The most popular tumblr posts often have images associated with them
3 When you create posts on Tumblr you can have them instantly shared with your Twitter and Facebook feeds
4 Follow other blogs from clients, customers, and fellow businesses.

Digg

1 Digg is a social bookmarking site. After you create a profile you can post links for other users to “digg.”
2 Try to create catchy or interesting headlines and content that other Digg members may enjoy and make viral.
3 Post your Digg link to your other social media sites to encourage traffic to the article.

Getting plenty of requests for work for SEO including the one below, you can be sure that we will never let an offshore ‘stranger’ work on your website as we take pride in our standards and will never risk your websites design / development or SEO with an untested developer in India or the UK.

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another one

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Love at first sight: Social Media and Email marketing

Email marketing and social media have together become the greatest form of communication for businesses across the board. Though marketing budgets have decreased due to the economic situation, small business are increasing their budget for email marketing. With both of these mediums growing it is apparent that they work together.

How to promote Email Marketing through Social Media:
1, Increase your email readership by posting the “view as a webpage” link of your email on your social media pages.
2, Add an email opt-in form to your profiles.
3, Facebook allows you to add a section on your fan page that provides fans with the option of opting into your email list.
4, You can tweet a simple message asking people to join you email list.
5, Through Linkedin you can post a news update encouraging people to join as well.
6, Post surveys through your social media outlets, increasing your survey participation and ultimately gaining stronger results Social media provides a space for relationships to develop.
7, Email marketing pursues this and has the ability of creating lasting relationships.
8, You now have a better view into your industry at large. Pay attention to what is being said and provide valuable content and feed back through your email marketing efforts.
9, The content you share can be diverse. Your email campaign can have more exclusive material while your social media efforts promote featured content.

How to promote Social Media through Email Marketing:
1, Add links to your social media page on all your outgoing emails.
2, Download icons that represent each application or simply link the text.
3, They should be positioned in a place that your eyes will naturally move to but will not detract from the overall message or original call to action.
4, When there is negative feedback from someone on one of your outlets follow up through email if possible. You make the impression that you are free and willing to help through any form of communication.
5, Promote a social media campaign through email. For example, set a goal to reach 1,000 followers on Twitter by the end of the year. The 1,000th follower will win product A free of charge for a year. Use email marketing to encourage your recipients to join in.

The biggest hesitation you may have with social media is the time commitment it takes to really get into it. Here is a check list of items that will help you develop an efficient plan.

1, Set goals. What ultimately do you want to get out of this? What are the reasons you are involved? When you start out with a clear and articulated list of goals you will know the right strategies to get the most out of the social media avenue you subscribe to.

2, Decide what social media applications you want to be a part of. As I mentioned in previous posts Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin are the big dogs but maybe your target base is not present there. Consider local online communities and industry related ones. Bottom line: find where your customers and prospects are. If they are already fully engaged in a social network they are probably not going to leave it to find you – the ball is in your court.

3, Start slow. Once you figure out where your target base is sit back and listen to what is going on in the community. Get a feel for the environment. Once you have a good understanding of it start joining in the conversation.

4, Go ahead and make your presence known. Find key people you want to connect with and show your interest by engaging them. Share valuable content your company possesses. Post news, event invites, press releases, white papers, case studies meanwhile investing in your followers and key prospects. Again, remember to embrace your personality and share your story.

5, Look back over your goals. Are you following through with them? Have they changed? What expectations did you have in the beginning, what expectations do you have now. This check point will be an important one to continually come back to. You need to make sure that your valuable time is being spent well and your metrics are revealing that.

6, Don’t be a sales pitch. Listening and engaging the community around you will turn over more lasting relationships then a promotion centric mission. Social media is about relationships not how many followers your can attract. It is good to focus on growing your numbers but the process in which you do is the difference. Intentionally built relationships are more likely to increase your bottom line than pure promotion.

7, Pay close attention to your industry. Twitter applications such as Tweet Deck and Twitter.search.com allow you to search key words, companies and individuals. For example, if you search the keyword “email marketing” on Tweet Deck it will give you a log of the most recent posts that had that keyword in it. Going through each post, you can see what people are talking about the subject. You can do this same thing with individuals and companies. Find out who the leading professionals are and pay attention to the trends they introduce and follow. Determine if these are also important for you to get involved in.

8, Good content is good content. What you post on Facebook may not have to be exclusive just to Facebook. If it is good content share it everywhere. Services such as Friend Feed help you share your contact across your social media applications. Be mindful still of the uniqueness of each social media site. Some content is universal but also embrace each environment for what it is.

9, Pay close attention to your competitors. In the same way you can search industry key words and professionals, also find out what your competitors are up to. What are they doing that you are not and vice versa? Figure out how you can stand out among them as an industry expert and reliable source. However, always remember what your clientele’s needs are.

10, Encourage your follows to share. Encourage your followers to retweet, repost and start discussions about your content. Just the same, share your followers’ content.

Why is social media essential to your marketing efforts? Social media creates an avenue for businesses to engage in conversation. The people that are going to follow you want to know about your products and services, but don’t want to necessarily be the other end of a sales pitch. It opens doors for business professionals to educate clients and prospects through valuable content. The content you provide for this new community of people should be appealing enough to retweet or repost. Webinars, cases studies, live demos, articles, press release, events, giveaways, blog posts and white papers are all valuable content to be shared.

Embracing your company identity
Social media gives you the ability to share your story and your brand. You have an incredible opportunity to let the world know what sets you apart from your competitors. You don’t necessarily do this by shouting out who you are plain and simply. You do it by embracing your company’s personality and by sharing value-driven information to the people following you. If you are able to listen to your greater audience and engage with them in a way that is true to your company you will no doubt build lasting business relationships that will positively affect your business as a whole.
Ability to respond to negative feedback quickly

By paying attention to what people are saying about your industry or more specifically about your products/services you will be able to respond quickly to negative feedback. If someone is sharing something negative about your company, it is in your best interest to follow up with them immediately. Act gracefully and figure out how you can help them in the most appropriate way.
Driving traffic to your site

As I mentioned previously social media is a great way to promote news and drive people to your site. Facebook has an application for you to post events to. You can easily fit a product launch announcement or event invite in 140 characters or less. You can start a discussion about the upcoming tradeshow you are part of in Linkedin. And you can highlight the benefits of your event or new product through a blog post. These are all great places to share other content your company has created as well, such as whitepapers, case studies, demos, support resources.

In short, social media is your ultimate resource to share, engage and build relationships.

The business network – LinkedIn is primarily a business networking tool. Businesses can create profiles similar to a resume format You can also create groups centered around your business or an industry topic such as small business marketing, email marketing, social media, real estate, retail, etc

You can invite people to join your group or an individual can ask permission to join. Within the group, members can engage in discussions and post news for others to respond. LinkedIn, like Facebook, is a good place to share company news and maintain professional contacts. It also stands as a good resource for posting jobs and recruiting individuals.

We have tried to define for you the three big dogs of social media: Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin. In future posts we will share tips and tricks of blogging and answer your questions about why social media is essential, how to be most effective and most importantly how to partner social media with website / business marketing efforts.

Perhaps Facebook is ‘The Social Network’ and now there is a film detailing the birth of the works favorite Social Network. Facebook currently has over 500 million users (2011 figures). It was originally created to help friends stay in touch with each other. It also allows businesses to create profile pages and share media such as pictures, videos and articles.

You can also create and invite people to events, start discussion boards and conduct polls. Expect to update your Facebook page—or at least your status—somewhere between once a day to every three days. Ask your current fans to invite others and consider providing incentives for doing so. Perhaps have a facebook widget on your site to show others that you are ‘liked’ and followed by other Facebook members. Facebook is always changing and evolving and currently we are recommending each business to have a facebook group (allows people to join and to allows you to create group events) as well as a facebook business entry (this allows you to show your appreciation by ‘liking’ the company)

Additional applications you can use for Facebook include static FBML and networked blogs allowing you to add your own HTML edits to pages and showing your RSS feed.

Find our Facebook Local Business entry and our Facebook Group

What are the social networks? Twitter is a fast paced mode of communication. With only 140 characters to use, content is quickly picked up by followers and transitioned to the next fragment of information. Twitter is used primarily for giving up-to-the-minute information. Within Twitter, you have a small profile of yourself or company (whichever you are representing). It is a community that is open to the public.

Participants can follow you without you following them. Each user has “followers” who have subscribed to read your “tweets” (updates) on their own page. If you use Twitter for your business, expect to update your tweets at least two to three times a day—this may involve developing a process for regular news. Twitter can be an excellent tool for providing news during a trade show, product launch or other business-related events.
Through applications such as TweetDeck, twitter.search.com and twellow you can strategically listen and react to your industry at large. You can find people looking for products/services similar to yours and pay attention to your followers’ excitements, concerns and questions.

You can find us here on Twitter