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What is a social media marketing plan? And what steps do you need to create it? Read more here for the complete guidelines.
Via massimo facchinetti
It’s time we talked about how you’re using social media. That’s right, this is an intervention.
We’re concerned about what you’re doing, and more importantly what you’re not doing. Your lack of adoption of new channels. Your total disrespect of mobile first users. Your reluctance to try video. Your fear of spending money on social ads. Your results. We’re concerned.
We bring up these concerns out of love for you and modern marketing. You see, social media marketing has changed, but most social media marketers haven’t. A modern social strategy is light-years away from the definition we used in 2012 and it’s time to adapt. Adapt to a mobile first, video obsessed audience. Adapt to new tactics that take advantage of new tools. Adapt how we measure success and what we’re trying to achieve.
This isn’t a matter of making tweaks, we need to start over.
You may have heard of “growth driven design,” the idea that a website project is ongoing, much like a marketing strategy. It’s the model that we use at SparkReaction for all of our client website projects. Why? Because it works to drive long-term value on a web project. You don’t let your website gather dust until its next redesign. Instead, you continually monitor performance and react to the data. That means making frequent improvements — and you’ll have a website that’s always performing at its best. Here’s a mix of tools we use and recommend to monitor website performance. Incorporate them into your web workflow, and you’ll keep growing and improving your online presence....
Working on too many marketing channels at once is kind of like being a jack of all trades and master of none. Placing your attention on a single channel allows you to master that channel before moving on to the next strategy. Managing multiple channels can quickly become chaotic and stressful Did you know that the average B2B content marketer creates 13 types of content? You heard it right—13!...
Trying to find the optimal times and days for your social media posts can be a difficult challenge. You have to make it an effort to post at different times each day for each social media account, while tediously recording your results.
Via Brian Yanish - MarketingHits.com
Twitter, which has struggled to grow its user base to the size of some of its social networking rivals, is reporting earnings this week not long after news that companies including Disney would not be moving to acquire the service. This year, eMarketer estimates, more than 52 million people in the US will use Twitter on a monthly basis, and just shy of half will use the service on both PCs and mobile devices. Mobile-only Twitter use is becoming more common in the US as desktop- based usage shrinks, and will account for a majority of US users in 2018 for the first time. Currently, just 19.5% of internet users and 16.1% of the population of the US uses Twitter, compared with 51.5% of the population using Facebook. On a worldwide basis, Twitter penetration is even lower: Only 3.9% of people around the world use Twitter this year, and by 2020 the figure is only expected to rise to 4.8%....
Are you looking for the newest social media tips and techniques? Want to know how the experts are staying ahead of the social media marketing curve? We asked top social media pros to share their favorite tips for getting the most out of social media. In this article you’ll discover 25 ways to improve your marketing and save time....
There are hundreds upon hundreds of tools to choose from. For example, here’s a list of 75 content marketing tools that you should absolutely review.
But, here’s what you may not realize: there are many ways to use each tool. For this reason, it’s imperative that you spend the appropriate amount of time examining and experimenting with each one.
In this post, I’m going to discuss the finer details of five top online marketing tools. For each one, I’ll give you a better idea of how you can use it to your advantage.
Remember, accessing an online marketing tool is just the start. If you truly want to achieve top results, you must know how to use it. Here we go!
A recent CMO Survey indicates that marketers plan to double their spending on social media in the next five years. Yet IBM’s C-Suite Study reports that nearly half of CMOs believe they are not prepared to manage the challenges of social media. This disparity highlights an important, and potentially costly, problem: Marketers continue to increase social media spending, yet many are still uncertain about management, strategies, and integration. A quick Google search returns 140 million results for “social media marketing tips,” but no matter how many headlines promise it, there really is no one-size-fits-all social media strategy. Some articles indicate that stories are an effectivemarketing and advertising tool. But what story will you tell? How will you integrate it with your traditional efforts? Other articles advise using social media networks, such as Pinterest. But what will your brand post? Is your target audience even on Pinterest? Still more articles offer a glimpse into other brands’ social media strategies. But what worked for Comcast or Best Buy or Universal Studios probably will not work for a bank, tech startup, or retail company. What marketers need is a process that leads to individual solutions. They must use fundamental marketing concepts and modify them for this new two-way, consumer-empowered medium of social media. Here’s a framework for doing that, adapted from my book Social Media Strategy....
Over the past four years at Convince & Convert, we’ve continued to refine our social media strategy process. Here’s one of the latest iterations, presented as a keynote speech to ESTO (Educational Seminar for Travel Organizations) last Fall. I’ve pasted the slides below, but also included a short summary of the 8 steps in our social media strategy process, as the slides are more visual than descriptive.
Social Media Strategy in 8 Steps (Summary)
One of the major theses we employ in our social media strategy process is this:
Companies should focus more on how to BE social, and less on how to DO social media. (tweet this)16
With all the new tools and platforms constantly emerging, it’s very easy to fall into the trap of thinking about social media through a tactical prism instead of a strategic one. The best social media strategic plans are tools-agnostic, and set forth objectives and metrics that supersede any particular social venue.…
.Are you struggling to connect with your customers on social networks?
Do you know where they hang out online?
To optimize your social media marketing efforts, it’s important to know who your customers are and which social networks they spend their time on.
In this article you’ll discover how to connect with your target audience on social media....
Think about your social media strategy in the context of the seven Cs.
A lot of people and companies decide, after using social media for a while, that they need a strategy. Of course, that approach is like putting the cart before the horse.
To ensure success, you should think about your social media strategy in the context of the seven Cs....
“A hotel should be on Instagram, but a bank doesn’t necessarily need to be. How should a company decide which social media sites it can benefit from, and which are a waste of time?
Figuring out which social media networks deserve your brand's time and energy can be tough, especially since it seems like a new network arrives every month. There are many options, and social media accounts are often started without much forethought to who will run them or what a brand wants to say. Most importantly, you need to ensure you're reaching the best audience for your brand and using resources wisely.”
Here's an infographic from Salesforce delineating which social media sites should your business be on....
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Now more than ever, it is crucial for businesses to ensure that they are leaving the right impression on their target audience. It doesn’t matter if your business is established or a start-up, people do business with people, and they want to know who you are. What message does your current personal branding convey? In order to build a positive and professional personal brand, you’ll need to put more effort into ensuring that everything you do on social media will only serve to make your brand stronger....
Does this sound familiar to you at all? I used to log in to each and every individual social platform to compose new posts, check what’s happening in my streams, follow up on conversations and follower requests, and attempt to manually perform all other bits of social media management that was on my plate.Then, I switched to using tools, and my productivity has soared. Maximizing your time as a social media manager or business owner is crucial for social media growth and effectiveness. I’d love to share my 6 favorite tools for helping you along in that journey....
Do you have valuable social media posts you don’t want to lose?
Want to learn how to back up your social media profiles?
Downloading your social media profiles, content, and contacts will ensure you always have what you need to keep your business running, no matter what platform or features come and go.
In this article, you’ll discover how to download copies of your social media content and profiles....
I’ve been blogging for almost 4 years now and the one big regret I have is that I didn’t focus on building my list earlier. It wasn’t that I didn’t have an email list. I did. But it was really small and while I didn’t discourage signups, I certainly didn’t encourage them. And I didn’t have a good capture technique. Obviously, I learned my lesson and focused on building my list. But I was definitely behind on all the momentum I could have had. Lesson learned! So, if you have wanted to grow your email list, I want to make sure you have the resources to do so. I’m going to share with you my best tips for ways to use social media to grow your email list....
In a platform world, publishers face tough decisions on where to place their resources. In August, The Economist faced this head on and axed its ailing Pinterest and Tumblr accounts while ramping up its commitment to LinkedIn.
The publisher had been experimenting on Pinterest for the past six months. But even with a social media team that had grown from two to 10 people, The Economist couldn’t make it click. “From day one, it was a struggle,” said Denise Law, community editor at The Economist. “We found it difficult to articulate what our raison d’être for Pinterest was. It’s not the place to share serious content; it’s more where people go to share ideas.”
For Pinterest, The Economist was posting pieces from 1843, its culture and lifestyle magazine, then called Intelligent Life. Articles from travel blog Gulliver’s Travels were also going there, as well as pieces from its archives and links to items from The Economist Store. But it was gaining no traction. When it cut the account, it had 5,000 followers. “Not enough to move the needle,” said Law, adding that its Tumblr account shared the same fate. Earlier this year, The Economist also culled a number of its Twitter accounts.here's
The Economist’s approach to social media is, according to the publisher, to promote quality over quantity. It’s taken that mission to LinkedIn, which it uses for brand awareness rather than to drive traffic. By tweaking its approach to publish a broader spectrum of content, The Economist saw its LinkedIn follower count grow from half a million last year to 2.4 million, and it continues to grow at a rate of 25,000 followers a week, according to Law....
With all the different types of social platforms out there, it can be challenging for brand marketers to decide when is the optimal time and day to post. According to H1 2016 research, on Facebook and Twitter, the best-performing posts were made in the evenings, and later in the work week. Between January and July 2016,TrackMaven tracked 17.5 million social media posts from 17,737 brands worldwide across various industries to determine when was the best time and day to post. Social posts at the close of a work day (in Eastern Time) at the tail of the week performed the best on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, according to the data. Pinterest took this trend a bit further with posts tending to get the best traction on Fridays at 1am. Meanwhile, LinkedIn posts, which largely cater to the business crowd, had the advantage when made midweek at 9am....
Marketing on social media can be a daunting task for a small business or a startup. With so much conflicting advice and competition, it can seem impossible to even get started. An infographic from Social Media Marketo outlines 12 crucial steps your business can take to set up for success. More than 90 percent of marketers indicated that they use social for marketing and that social media marketing is important for their business. Sales teams said using social helps them reach their sales goals, consumers use social to research products and more than 30 percent of all web traffic is driven by the top eight social sites. Indeed, social is an important part of doing business on the Internet....
Via malek
As an author in the digital age, Twitter is probably a part of your online platform. It’s a great way to foster relationships with readers, connect with other authors, and build your personal brand. But there are some common mistakes even the most successful authors make on Twitter....
One of the best things about covering social media and digital marketing is that there’s always something new happening, some new update or feature being rolled-out to cover. But some of them are relatively small-scale so they’re not necessarily worthy of their own, individual post - though they are still relevant and worth knowing for anyone working in the field. To keep you up to date on these smaller changes and features, here’s a rundown of five upcoming or “in-test mode” features that are currently being trialled on some of the major platforms - starting with Twitter, which is testing some new customer service focused options....
We live in interesting times in the digital agency world – a time of constant change in our business landscape that provides both immense opportunity and a real threat to the survival of agencies that fail to adapt.
I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about this landscape over the last year or so. I’ve spoken with team members and peers in Canada, and with senior colleagues across our global network. As I’ve done so, I’ve highlighted five key landscape shifts that are changing the way that agencies and teams like ours need to operate: 1. Newly (re-)accelerated change in social networks 2. Less “social”, more “media” 3. Decline of community management (in some areas) 4. The (actual) year of mobile 5. Ubiquity of rich media...
In online marketing, having the right analytics tools and software can make a major difference. A good program can save you time and help demonstrate the value of your work to supervisors or clients.
Over the last couple of months, while preparing the syllabus for my next UC San Diego class and doing research for clients, I compiled and reviewed an extensive list of analytics programs for SEO and social media. I’m sharing what resulted in this column....
Do you know that there is an acceptable length for every type of content you make to optimize its readability and its SEO ranking?
Yes, there is a reasonable length for every type of content available and it is wise to follow them in order for you to attract as many readers as possible.
The lengths vary from social media networks to target audience. Facebook has no character limit yet the best content length for it is just around 40 characters while Twitter which has the famous 140 limit character has an optimal content length of up to 100 characters only.
The purpose of content is to be able to promote your business or brand in all available channels across social media without spending a lot of money for promoting your business. Knowing the criteria or limitations when making content saves you time, money and effort.
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How to build the ultimate social media marketing plan.