3 Social Media Marketing New Years Resolutions For Maximizing Profit

January 22, 2012 By Leave a Comment

social media marketing on switch for 2012Social media marketing is certain to be more important for business growth in 2012 than ever before. Especially now that social media marketing is being tied in with search. This means that even if you’re primarily an offline business social media marketing is now a must.

If you’ve been fighting it then it’s time to surrender before you get so far behind you never catch up with your competitors.

Here’s 3 Social Media Marketing New Years Resolutions for Your Business in 2012.

1. Find more ways to sell your products and services.

Any wise and successful business owner will tell you that one way to maximize profit is to simply find more ways to sell. This is the perfect reason for you to begin taking social media marketing more seriously in your business.

Is using social media marketing worth your time as an additional way to sell?

Well, according to Ad Age, there are now more than 800 million active Facebook users. 200 million of those were added in 2011 alone.

2. Find more customers to sell to.

This one might seem a little obvious as a way to maximize your profits in 2012. The real question, however, is where to find these customers? If the social media marketing statistic about Facebook in number one above wasn’t enough convincing how about this statistic.

According to Social Media Examiner the average Facebook user has 130 friends and is connected to 80 pages, events and groups.

Where’s the leverage in this statistic? Well, if you can get one person to become a Fan of your Facebook business page then when you execute your Facebook social media marketing strategy and submit updates those updates automatically post to the wall of your Fans.

Do you see the significance here? When your update posts itself to your Fans wall their friends will see it too. If your update is compelling enough with valuable calls-to-action chances are good you will generate more Fans. Thus, more potential customers to sell to.

3. Communicate more with all of your customers, prospects, and Fans.

How do you communicate with your customers and prospects and how often do you communicate with them? Two very important questions.

Here’s something to consider. It’s almost impossible to over-communicate with your customers and prospects.

Why is this the case? Because every day your customers and prospects are getting blasted with communication through email, social media marketing messages via twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube to only name a few. They are also getting direct mail correspondence. Throw in radio and TV and you’ve got a perfect recipe for information overload.

The point here is that you have to communicate often just to compete for your customers and prospects attention. Here’s the key with your communication strategy?

It must be systematized.

Social media marketing is one of the easiest communication mechanisms to systematize. Putting in the effort to setup your social media marketing system is well worth it.

In case you’re not counting we’re already 5% into the New Year.

If social media marketing is not a significant part of your 2012 strategy for maximizing profit and growing your business it needs to be. Don’t waste anymore time. You’ve got 95% of the year left to setup your social media marketing system and take massive action. Need some help getting your system in place? Call us today for a complimentary social media marketing consultation! (303) 578-1290

How are you most effectively using social media marketing in your business? Share with us below!

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Chris White is the Grand Poobah of Social Media and Content Development at Poobah Marketing a Denver-based SEO company that helps small to medium businesses dominate online and on mobile devices.  For more information, visit PoobahMarketing.com or call (303) 578-1290.  Mention this article and get a free 20 minute business marketing consultation.

Filed Under: Internet Marketing, Local Search Marketing, Marketing, Social Media Marketing Tagged With: , , , ,

Social Media Marketing With Facebook Sponsored Stories

January 14, 2012 By Leave a Comment

social-media-marketing-with-facebook-sponsored-storiesSocial media marketing pop quiz of the day. Are you leveraging the full-power of Facebook’s social media marketing tools to increase ROI in your business?

If this pop quiz has created overwhelm, frustration, anxiety or any other negative emotion for you then stop reading this now and call us immediately. There is zero time to waste. Social media is no longer a luxury. It’s now a non-negotiable.

If you’re answer to the pop quiz was “yes” then you may want to consider Facebook sponsored stories into your social media marketing strategy.

Here’s 6 things you need to know about Facebook sponsored stories:

  1. Facebook has started to show sponsored stories in user’s news feeds.
  2. Sponsored stories will only show up on Facebook pages of people who have “Liked” your business page.
  3. You will not have the option to add any of your own additional information to the sponsored story. 
  4. The sponsored stories will be marked on the user’s Facebook wall to clearly identify them as such.
  5. Facebook users will have the option to click hide to remove these stories or even limit the number of stories from specific friends by clicking the “only important posts” option for that friends stories.
  6. Sponsored stories, according to Facebook, increase two things: (1) Ad Recall and (2) Likeliness to Recommend

Facebook’s sponsored stories are attempting to tap into the idea that when we are out in the world looking for information to help us make decisions we want advice from the people we trust. The correlation here to trust is that if a fan or prospect or customer has taken the time to “Like” your business page then they trust you at some level. In such case Facebook is now providing you an avenue via sponsored stories to include in the tactics of your social media marketing strategy to better serve your fan base.

Here’s one quick example of sponsored stories.

Example: Leveraging the power of check-ins

You are a local business. Let’s say a restaurant. One of your customers shows up and performs a check-in action on their mobile phone. This action will show up as an impression on their Facebook page telling all their friends they are at your restaurant.

This example is really cool for the restaurant. The fact this person trusts you enough to be your customer and post it on their Facebook page has now just been subtly advertised to all their friends. If you don’t believe this kind of social media marketing action takes places in a BIG way just do some Google research on the social media marketing company Foursquare.

The challenge Facebook has identified with this example is that this check-in impression from your customer or prospect has a good chance of getting lost among all the other impressions happening on their Facebook page.

Therefore, Facebook created sponsored stories to provide business owners (and all Facebook users for that matter) a vehicle to help them rise above the clutter of impressions that are happening on any one Facebook wall at a given time. A sponsored story allows the friends of the Facebook page owner to click through the sponsored story to your Facebook business page and then “Like” it.

The implications here are tremendous for your business not to mention at the very least creating more organic content for you.

So, if you want the check-in impressions of your customers and prospects to prominently show up on their Facebook wall for all their friends to see then you can decide to make check-ins part of your sponsored stories social media marketing strategy. You can do the same for “Likes”.

Social Media Marketing with Facebook Sponsored Stories VideoWill Facebook’s sponsored stories stick?

We believe they will. Facebook has chosen to be more considerate of the user experience than they were in previous failed attempts of placing ads into the newsfeed.

Facebook’s decision to roll out sponsored stories to users slowly is a wise one. Early indications represent no more than one sponsored story per day showing up on a users wall. While business owners may prefer Facebook to do more initially, the most important factor for business owners and marketers is adoption by Facebook users.

Too much at one time will likely cause backlash from the Facebook community and kill the sponsored stories movement. We are predicting that sponsored stories with have higher click through rates than ads on the side of the page. Time will tell.

As social media marketing on Facebook continues to evolve by providing business owners with better more effective ways to reach prospects and customers keep your marketing eye on this sponsored stories movement. It may prove to be one of the most effective ways for you to reach your customers. If you require some expert advice about how Facebook’s sponsored stories fit into an effective social media marketing strategy for your business we can help.  Call us today! (303) 578-1290 

What’s your opinion on Facebook sponsored stories? Share with us below!

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Social Media Marketing ExpertChris White is the Grand Poobah of Social Media at Poobah Marketing a Denver-based SEO company that helps small to medium businesses dominate online and on mobile devices.  For more information, visit PoobahMarketing.com or call (303) 578-1290.  Mention this article and get a free 20 minute business marketing consultation.

Filed Under: Internet Marketing, Local Search Marketing, Marketing, Mobile Marketing, Social Media Marketing Tagged With: , , , , ,

Here’s The Latest Social Media Marketing Branding Discoveries

December 15, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Social media marketing and branding endure a love hate relationship. Smart marketers who understand how to implement that latest branding discoveries into their social media marketing strategy love the relationship.

In contrast, not so smart marketers, who live in the dark when it comes to how social media marketing and branding co-exist well together, write the subject matter off as a waste of time.

Sometimes, these marketing types actually take it one step worse and try to implement branding into their social media marketing plans. Of course there is no better way to quickly ruin your brand than to market from a position of being unaware.

Have no fear if you or your social media marketing team more closely resembles the unaware type. Thanks to AYTM Market Research, after carefully studying the graphic below you’ll no longer have the excuse of being in the dark.

In fact, you’re going to be empowered to take your social media marketing strategy to a whole new level with these new branding discoveries.

So, let’s get to it.

AYTM Market Research recently surveyed 2,000 internet users from its database. The research company asked the following eight questions:

  1. Do you belong to Facebook or Twitter?
  2. Do you use Facebook or Twitter daily?
  3. Do you have more than 100/500 friends on Facebook or Twitter?
  4. How do you interact with brands on Facebook and Twitter?
  5. What is your sentiment about brands on Facebook and Twitter?
  6. Have you “Liked” a brand on Facebook?
  7. What types of content do you prefer to get from brands?
  8. How do you prefer to get updates from brands?

The infographic below represents the answers of those surveyed. Your social media marketing team would be wise to carefully analyze and assess your social media marketing strategy against these latest branding discoveries.

 social media marketing branding discoveries

These latest social media marketing branding discoveries are certain to ensure your social media efforts are on the right track. How are you using this information to effectively marketyour products, services and brand? Share your best practices in the comments below.
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Chris White is the Grand Poobah of Social Media and Content Development at Poobah Marketing a Denver-based SEO company that helps small to medium businesses dominate online and on mobile devices.  For more information, visit PoobahMarketing.com or call (303) 578-1290.  Mention this article and get a free 20 minute business marketing consultation.

Filed Under: Internet Marketing, Local Search Marketing, Marketing, Social Media Marketing Tagged With: , , , ,

Eye Opening Social Media Marketing Insights for Facebook Brand Pages

December 14, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Is your social media marketing team a savvy marketing bunch when it comes to Facebook brand pages?

Here’s a fun test that will give you your answer.

Look at the picture below from Coca-Cola’s Facebook brand page and put the following percentages next to each letter A thru D. Percentages: 47%, 83%, 60%, 57%, 93%

The percentages represent the percentage of people in a study who noticed that section of Coca-Cola’s brand page.

 Social Media Marketing with Facebook Brand Pages

 

 

 

 

 

(Image Source: Mashable)

Here are the main takeaways your social media marketing team should be aware of:

  1. Your wall. The content you are posting to your wall is important. No secret here, but you may be surprised when you look at the data how important it really is.
  2. Profile photos. Profile photos are also important. Case-in-point, to give away one answer from above, only 57% of people in the study of Coca Cola’s brand page even saw the profile photo. Why? Profile photos with faces in them (as a general rule-of-thumb) are going to get the most attention. Therefore, if your social media marketing team is using only a logo for your profile photo make sure to share this study with them. 
  3. Wall photos. Are you using photos in your status updates? If not you should be. The study supports brands with wall photos getting the most attention.

This EyeTrackShop study done for Mashable involved Coca-Cola, Skittles, Victoria’s Secret, Starbucks, Converse, PlayStation, Pringles and Red Bull.  The study also shows how many seconds the participants eyes were fixated on each section of the Facebook brand page. This is definitely key data your social media marketing team will want to get their hands on.

Check out the full eye opening social media marketing study on Facebook brand pages done by EyeTrackShop for Mashable.

The social media marketing team at Poobah Marketing is determined to help business owners develop effective social media strategy and implementation plans to help turn their social media marketing efforts into bottom line results.

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Chris White is the Grand Poobah of Social Media at Poobah Marketing a Denver-based SEO company that helps small to medium businesses dominate online and on mobile devices.  For more information, visit PoobahMarketing.com or call (303) 578-1290.  Mention this article and get a free 20 minute business marketing consultation.

Filed Under: Internet Marketing, Local Search Marketing, Marketing, Social Media Marketing Tagged With: , , , , ,

Local Business Reviews Secret Weapon

June 20, 2011 By 3 Comments

Getting local business reviews from your existing customers can be a difficult task.  You must not only encourage your happy customers to go online and rate and review your business, but you must also explain to them how and where to do so.

Since good reviews can be fairly hard to come by, why not get the best review possible?

Google just made this a lot easier.  Instead of just 5 stars, you could be rated “Best Ever” with a Best Ever Medal. How would that make you feel?  More importantly, how would that make your small business look in the eyes of a prospective customer who stumbles upon your business?

This may be a new secret weapon in small business local search marketing.  Watch this video from the Google Places YouTube channel:

 

Each Google account holder will get 10 Best Ever Medals to apply to their 10 Best Ever Google Places businesses.  They can always add and remove them, but they can only have a maximum of 10 at any given time.  There is a very good possibility that this new feature will factor into your small business’s authority when Google is ranking local small businesses in your niche.  Be the first to take advantage of it.

Here are some steps you can take to get more Best Ever Medals :

  1. Create a flyer with a QR code pointing to your Google Places page
  2. Put a call to action on the top of the flyer – something like, “Please Rate Us with a Best Ever Medal on Google Places,” and put in parenthesis underneath, “… if you truly believe it and want to really help us:)”
  3. Tell your most loyal customers about it and ask them to consider giving your business a Best Ever Medal
  4. Place these flyers in the easy-to-find areas of your business

Optional Tip:  use this simple tutorial (give it out to customers or clients),  How to Give a Best Ever Rating on Google.

We will keep an eye on this new Google Places feature and update you as we hear more.  Please comment or send us information on this topic if you find out anything new.

Filed Under: Local Search Marketing, Marketing

3 Things You May Not Know About QR Codes

April 11, 2011 By Leave a Comment

QR Codes are popping up everywhere.  They are quickly allowing small businesses to connect with their customers in a much more efficient way.

After speaking to multiple business owners this week about adding QR Code marketing systems to their overall marketing strategy, they became excited.  As we talked, they became even more excited as I was going through some cool features of QR Codes.

QR Code for PoobahMarketingIn this article, I want to point out 3 things you may not know about QR Codes:

  • QR Codes can be scanned and are readable from any direction for 360 degrees.  Try this out yourself by scanning the QR Code in this post.  Then rescan it with your phone turned sideways or even upside down.
  • QR Codes have built-in error correction so that even if the code is partially damaged or even has a small smudge, your scanner should still be able to accurately read it.
  • Up to 7,089 characters can be encoded into one QR Code.

Anyway, these little 2D codes can be pretty powerful for small businesses.  If you would like more information on how to get maximum results using QR Codes for your small business, please give us a call and we would be happy to discuss it with you – 303-578-1290.

Filed Under: Local Search Marketing, Marketing, Mobile Marketing Tagged With: , ,