by Suzy Godefroy | Oct 4, 2013 | Latest, Social Media
In our last blog we talked about SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and today we are going to cover SEM (Search Engine Marketing) and Google. SEM is essentially the process of gaining traffic and visibility from search engines through paid advertising and unpaid advertising in Google, Yahoo, Bing, Facebook, LinkedIn and other social media applications and on-line websites and blogs.
First and foremost, you need to make sure that your business and/or company is part of the Google family! So be sure to set up your Google accounts as there are several different platforms from Google, so the more user-friendly you are with these tools the more savvy you will be with SEM.
At the #GA Summit a new set of API’s (Application Programmable Interface) were announced to help large companies and their web developers and IT Departments better manage their metrics. These upgrades allow users to seamlessly integrate their software with Google Services such as Google Analytics, Google Adwords and YouTube. As many large corporations have unique demands, manage several websites and have many users. The new API’s will streamline configuring the reports from Google Analytics and cut the amount of time spent reviewing and compiling all of this information so that IT Departments and Marketing can spend more time analyzing the factual insights.
Google Platforms:
Google +: If you are not using Google Plus properly this will affect your ranking with Google and ultimately your SEO or Search Engine Optimization. So make sure you have an account and are updating your account with newsworthy content! Google Plus content helps you with your page rank, and your information stays around for a long time!
Google Analytics: If you are looking to boost sales, improve your mobile app and increase the number of visitors to your website, Facebook followers, Twitter followers, you need to be using Google Analytics and you need to be reviewing this on a regular basis.
Google Tag Management: Just recently, Google has added a new feature called Google Tag Management , which was launched at the #GASummit last week Link to summit . The theme this year was ACCESS, EMPOWER, ACT with numbers and metrics. VP Engineering Paul Mure and Product Management Director Babak Pahlavan talked to the masses about what is coming down the pipeline for Google Analytics. So it was not surprising that Google launched Google Tag Manager. As Tagging is vital to your Search Engine Marketing and performance. Google Tag Manager will help you manage your metrics through Google Analytics and your conversion rates. You can click here to hear the live stream from the #GASummit.
Google AdWords & ADVERTISING: How Google AdWords work is that you set up an account and pay based on a cost-per click. You can also set the payment parameters base on a daily budget that you and your client are both comfortable with. The best part about Google Adwords is that there is no minimum and you are not locked into a contract. You are only charged when someone clicks on your ad to go directly to your website. Again essential for Search Engine Marketing.
YouTube: Again if you are looking for more opportunities for your SEO and SEM make sure you are up-loading content on YouTube. Control your story, start a conversation and keep your audience growing with YouTube and be sure to use YouTube analytics!
by Suzy Godefroy | Oct 1, 2013 | Business Success, Latest, Social Media
Social Media Strategies.
If you are reading this post, odds are you are savvy with several social media platforms and know how to post on Facebook, write a Tweet, post a pin, upload a few photos, share some links, re-tweet, post onto YouTube and are connected with your business colleagues through LinkedIn and Google +.
Odds are you are also extremely busy, and time is a precious commodity for you, and you know that you likely need to spend more time on your social media strategies to better analyze the social media platforms that you are using.
Firstly, be sure to download a campaign management program such as www.campaignmonitor.com whereby you can set-up and design some great blogs, e-books, and/or a strong email marketing ad campaign. The beauty and ease of these programs is that you can share them across multiple platforms and social media applications such as Facebook, Delicious, LinkedIn, Google Plus, Pinterest, Redditt and Stumble Upon with a simple click.
Do some homework:
But before you do this be sure to do some homework with Google Ad Words, so that you can increase your SEO and also do some investigating on the products and/or topics that you are writing about. Again the purpose here is to apply your social media strategies to you blog, your web pages, your e-books, and e-campaigns. It is really important to look for Google Ad Words that have a strong searchable rankings and will optimize your campaign and overall website ranking so that you are climbing the SEO ladder! Again there are many programs out there to analyze your website url performance, and Alexa is a great tool for starters!
Google Analytics & Social Media Metrics:
Be sure to take 20 minutes to acquaint yourself with Google Analytics and set this up for your company website. Install the tracking code and set some goals for your marketing team to review in a weekly and monthly basis. Again, this will help you set some base lines, and be able to measure the effectiveness of your social media strategies and campaigns. Facebook has a great tool called Page Insights that will give you important metrics on your social media community and how engaged they are with your brand.
Word Press:
Another great blogging and web design program is Word Press, as it is helps you map out your blog or web pages with post titles, meta descriptions, robots Meta configurations – an experienced web designer can help you go through all of this but it is vital that these configurations are done properly to optimize your website ranking. Yoast offers more insight into your blogs and web pages and really is the litmus test for you!
Social Media Strategy:
Strategy…Strategy…Strategy! The most important thing we want you to take home with you today for your marketing team is to make sure you have a Social Media Strategy as a complement to your Annual Marketing & Communications Plan. Be disciplined, measure everything and make sure you take time to learn the latest technology out there to keep your brand alive!
by Suzy Godefroy | Sep 24, 2013 | Branding, Latest
Your corporate brand and branding promise are both the most significant factors in running a successful and progressive business. No matter what size of company you run, own, and/or manage it is crucial that you invest your time into branding yourself and your business.
It is not surprising to see many business owners lose site of their branding and confuse a company logo and corporate slogan as their brand. Rule number one branding not a quick fix. Branding is all about discipline and a 
commitment to a long-term business strategy that you review on a regular basis and make changes and modifications where you see fit. A logo and slogan are tools to communicate your brand attributes and deliver your brand promise. Your brand promise is what your company stands by, how your markets relates to this positioning and how your businesses stands out from your competitors.
At the management level, the day-to-day strategic approach is a key success factor in building and maintaining a strong brand. If your business strategy gets lost in paper, things can quickly go astray very quickly, as the consumer messaging will become fragmented weakening your branding.
Often staff and management are not singing to the same tune. So take note! Just like your heart you must protect your brand and weigh your decisions extremely carefully so that you are confident that you are being true to your authentic brand identity and branding promise.
Brand strategists are the gatekeepers of your brands and look at the bigger picture on a daily basis. Reviewing how your staff is carrying out their day-to-day functions. Strategic Brand Management also reviews your consumer feedback to effectively deliver your brand promise.
How do you choose your branding promise? We recommend that you hire a professional branding company or marketing company and invest in some time and money and do it right. Do not rush the process!
Engage! Engage! Engage…Engage with your stakeholders, your staff and most importantly with your loyal consumers. And use this information to formulate your brand promise. This exercise is also a very effective way to integrate your brand internally across the board with all staff.
Brand Trust…In such a competitive marketplace trust, accountability and corporate leadership are imperative factors for a business to protect and hone. It’s the little things, like how you react and solve problems, what types of programs do you have in place to react and solve this issues immediately? How do you treat your customers? Is your pricing competitive? How do you support your staff? All of these corporate character traits relate back to your consumer and the markets that you are serving, so be sure to be vigilant.
Brand Values… What kind of value system and culture does your company have? You need to ask yourself this question, day in and day out to be able to assess your values and make sure your team is helping you stay true to the corporate vision. This is also where you can have some fun with your staff and get involved in non-marketing events and do some community relationship building to build your corporate public profile.
Your brand promise is really an extension of you! So at the end of the day, your brand promise is an extension of your business products and services and how your consumers truly relate to them. The big question is what does your consumer need? And this really means what is important to them and how do you differentiate from your competitors?
