by Marcia King | Jul 16, 2015 | Twitter |
When you feel inundated with social media apps, virtual places to hang out, chat, swap stories, ideas, broadcast how you feel, who you love and what you do – you often end up asking yourself, why Twitter, do I need to post here too?
I wondered that myself from time-to-time. I’m not the type of person that likes to be ‘out there’ for the whole world to know and see. However, we are talking business here, and if you’re not engaging with your audience on various/multiple social channels, you won’t see many conversions (sales).
The answer is [bctt tweet=”If you have a social media platform they will come. If you don’t, they won’t see you or find you; plain and simple!”]
I have learned that you must have something exciting to draw people to, and you have to let them know about it, if you want them to do business with you.
There have been plenty of stellar computer applications, gizmos, gadgets and grand ideas that did not take hold because they were not marketed well. Nobody knew about them! Ever hear of the Franklin? Not many did – so the first Apple clone went out of business and Apple has stood alone in their field ever since.
So what is Twitter? Twitter is a series of quick information bursts, a search engine of sorts, like the old ticker tape from the stock market – current, up to the moment data, that keeps scrolling through. I’m here, this is how you find me, this is what I do, go here to read more. You can think of it like buckshot. Not necessarily targeted, because people choose to follow you. However, if your followers see and like something and they find you via search (i.e. #hashtag), retweet your post, then their friends retweet their posts, suddenly your one blast of buckshot has become a fireworks display. People are pouring into your space to get to know you. Once they know you and your product, they will love your product.
How do you draw them in? One thing to do is use a slick little tool called Tweriod – that monitors your followers posting times so that you can send out your microburst advertising minimally every 30 minutes at peak times. Couple that data with Buffer, a social media scheduling tool, and you won’t be up at 3 am, tweeting for your Japanese followers.
When formatting your tweets, TitleCase is a great little tool for your title field, and hashtags are a must. Hashtags are your keywords in Twitter, like threads in a giant spider web, if you click on a hashtag, you will see all the other tweets that use that keyword. It’s a great way to find things in Twitter, but don’t overdo it. Use Hashtagify and Google Keyword Planner, to get the attention-grabbing hashtags to use.
You won’t be inserting a full article into Twitter – you only have 140 characters – so it needs to be punchy, fast, and timeless. A picture says a thousand words, so couple your tweet with a punchy, fast, dynamic picture! One of the most important things to do is use content that is always going to be relevant to your audience – in the industry, this is called evergreen content. If I posted an article on how to code in HTML in tables, it would be very dated – if I tweeted @marcialking White Space in Web Design #awestruck #webdesign, with a link to my blog piece, and an awesome picture of a web page the article will be useful for years to come. Evergreen content will help you establish and maintain your authority in your field, and allow you to integrate new content easily – without having to refresh old pieces continually.
So are you ready to take the Twitter plunge? Follow the simple action steps to get those fireworks started!
Action Steps
- Create a spreadsheet of Evergreen Content
- Use Twitter and Google analytics to see which posts perform well
- Use Tweriod to determine best times to share
- Set a tweeting schedule
- Use a scheduling tool
- Use hashtags and images appropriately
by Marcia King | Jun 27, 2015 | Social Media |
I know I’m being a bit trite, but if Facebook is a blood line in your social media marketing, what is your Facebook Blood Type? Are you an A Positive or a B Negative?
We’ve all
seen it, unfiltered posts filled with swearing, negative posts and comments, inappropriate pictures and pictures that try to milk sympathy or dollars from “friends” on one of the most popular social media forums today. It feels as if no one has a filter these days, a thought goes directly from the brain to the keyboard and the social niceties have gone out the window. You hear and see family drama, people blasting others, and others who troll pages and posts, looking to pick a fight.
Most of us would just rather shut it off than deal with it day to day. BUT – Facebook is one of the most popular social media forums today. You wouldn’t stop advertising in a newspaper or on the radio because you didn’t like all of the content. You might change sections – but you would still use the resource. Facebook is a fabulous free forum for marketing your business. So how do you combat the B Negatives so you can C Growth in your Business?
Don’
t B Negative. Unfollow feeds and friends that bring drama along with them. A simple right click on a post will allow you to block a post, or unfollow someone. Right click on their name to unfriend them. This isn’t personal, this is business and if they ask you can simply say, I represent my business on my Facebook page, I can be your friend in real life, but your postings are the wrong presence for my business. If you know them well, talk to them about ways they can change their image on Facebook – some will.
Set A Positive example. Make sure your filter is established. Post helpful things, touching family moments, and things that lift your spirit. Always keep your posts upbeat and influential. Publish helpful tips about industry based items that the general public will find interesting, events that are networking based, connect people to 
people, and people to your product – but keep the sales language to a minimum. We don’t want to hear about the how and what, we want to know your why!
Limit the Engagements. If someone posts something that really riles you up – take it offline. You can instant message someone to have a conversation that doesn’t need to be shared with the world. Or, take the high road and simply ignore the post. There is no requirement to “like” everything someone puts up. And if you don’t like a comment someone put on your status post, hover your mouse on the right-hand side of the comment and click the remove button. If they do it frequently enough, block them or unfriend them.
Follow the leaders. Find trendsetters in your industry and follow them, or be a trendsetter yourself. Post A Positive Image and post A Positive Status every day! If you have a critique – post A Positive Solution along with it. Recommend sites that are upbeat, and add substance, and show yourself as A Positive Leader In Your Field.
by Marcia L. | Apr 20, 2015 | Instagram |
Keys to Improving Your Reach on Instagram
Instagram can be a valuable tool for most any business. The beauty of Instagram is it’s simple. Like any other social channel, there really isn’t that much functionality, Instagram is designed for one thing and it does it well. So why Instagram? With a dash of creativity, there are ways that will help you make your brand and posts unique.
Here are a few creative solutions that will help you increase your reach.
1. Hashtags #
For the love of social marketing, be sure to use hashtags for all posts. Adding tags to your photos is a great way to find new followers and share your photos with more people. But hashtags can be tricky. To get the most out of them, you’ll want to keep a few things in mind:
Specific-make it easy for others to find you by making your tag description specific.
Relevant-make sure your hashtag describes your photo.
Observant- pay attention to other similar photos and use similar hashtags.Links
2. Links
There is only one place to have a ‘live’ link and it’s in the bio/profile section. But the good news is, that you can change that link as often as you like. For instance, in the summary where you describe your photo and list your hashtags, invite people to click on your link in the bio for more information. You are able to drive people anywhere you’d like on your website. Customize your link with bitly so you can monitor how many people are using your link.
3. Photo Helps
Instead of bombarding your audience with multiple photos from the same event, make a collage with Diptic < >. You’ll also want to make the photos and collages interesting by branding them or adding other text with Word Swag . Make it your own.Posting Frequency
4. Posting Frequency
Building a following and keeping them is a balancing act. People want to see you out there, consistently building a presence. It has to be unique, and you need to post often to stay relevant and true, but not too much so as to appear spammy. How frequently you post depends on your audience, so it is basically trial and error. Start slowly (once a day) and increase your postings as you feel more comfortable and you aquire more content. However, you need to maintain consistency. Don’t blast out one post an hour and then go to once a day, you will lose your audience.
5. Editing
It never fails, you find a typo or forgot to tag or add a hashtag. You can now edit your post after they’ve been published, so always double check your work.
6. Share and Comment
In case you didn’t realize it, social media is all about sharing and commenting on posts from your audience and/or people you follow. Be friendly, upbeat and engaged. People will respond to people who are invested in them. In order to respond to comments and shares, you should initiate ‘Push Notifications’ so you are alerted right away. For iOS users: go to Settings→Notifications→Instagram→Allow Notifications
Instagram is ever changing just like every other social network. Try not to get frustrated, look at it as an enhancement to your social platform and your reach.
How do you use Instagram to promote your business?
