Marketing is essential for any business, and it’s a field that’s constantly researched, analyzed, and developed by professionals. In general, there are lots of marketing activities you can do on your own to save money, such as posting flyers around town or designing business cards. There are others, however, that are best left to the experts, and here are five of them.
Review Tracking Because so many people rely on online reviews to make their purchase decisions, it’s incredibly important that you keep track of what people are saying about your business online. Review tracking can help you stay ahead of the curve in managing your online reputation, but it’s also a time-consuming and tedious process. For the most efficient review tracking, it’s best to outsource the job to a company who has the necessary tools and experience to do it for you.
Mass Mailing Direct, mass mailings are incredibly effective when compared to other forms of offline marketing, and it’s still an approach that many businesses take and profit from. Mass mailing, however, is just that – massive. When mailing out thousands and thousands of flyers – as you need to do to achieve sufficient results – it is a job best left to another company who specializes in it. They have the printers, machinery, and hands needed so that you don’t have to waste time and suffer from papercuts as you address and stuff every envelope by hand.
Review Moderation Another job that’s best left to outsourcing is review moderation. Not only do you need a company to track your online reviews and reputation, but you also need a company who can moderate those reviews. For example, they can be on the lookout for damaging, fraudulent reviews, and they can take the necessary steps on your behalf to remove fraudulent reviews from the web. A company who specializes in review moderation can help you maintain a good online reputation.
Television Commercials Unless you run a video production company, it’s best to leave your television commercials to other professionals. When you run an ad on TV, the quality is highly important. If you run a poorly filmed and poorly edited commercial, it will make your business look of lesser quality. It’s also time-consuming and difficult to create a good commercial if you don’t know what you’re doing – if not impossible. Outsource your TV commercials to a video production company that specializes in creating marketing videos and commercials for businesses like yours
PPC Management A pay-per-click campaign is an excellent way to boost traffic to your website. It’s quick and efficient, but it also requires a lot of monitoring, maintenance, and strategic planning. An online marketing company that can help run your PPC campaign is a good investment to make. They can help you analyze its effectiveness, do tedious keyword research, make sure your ads look and read as well as they should to earn clicks, and make sure you’re getting the best value.
Garrett Payne is an online review management professional with a special interest in review tracking. Garrett suggests those involved in review management; which tasks are best left to the experts.
It wasn’t so long ago that when you ran a contest the only way people could enter the contest was to take the time to fill out an entry form and then whether mail it in or drop it off in a ballot box. The Internet has made things easier, but still, the consumer has to find their way to your website. Social Media properties such as Facebook has added a layer of ease to the process: Consumers are already on Facebook engaging and talking to their communities. More importantly, consumers have join in and subscribed to contest and promotional sites such as Red Flag Deals or Contest Forums. If the promotion looks interesting enough, clicking on a link that takes the consumer to a contest landing page and asks them to fill out an online form, isn’t that big a deal.
It doesn’t make any difference what type of business you have; running a contest on Facebook is a powerful and effective approach in building awareness, and engagement as well as generating more followers. As appealing as it may seem, Facebook contests can only be effective if it is properly promoted.
Here are 5 simple ways to get the best out of your Facebook contest:
1. Timeline photo
Your timeline photo can be used to tell people about your contest. Not only is this a ‘premium’ advertising space for your contest, there will also be an update to your fans about the changes of your timeline photo. A well-designed timeline cover is a good alternative to promote your contest.
2. Promoted post
In general, only 16% of your Facebook fans see your wall posts. Facebook enrolled the Promoted Post option, where a specific post can be promoted to reach a higher audience. If you recall that caused quite a stir in the business and corporate communities. However, it is here and the fact is that it can cost as little as $5 to reach your community target to get them engaged.
3. Advocate engagement
Have you noticed a particularly engaging fan that frequently shows support for your brand? Engaging with these fans to participate and promote your contest is an effective way to instantly build buzz. It is a form of word-of-mouth marketing that we all know can be influential.
4. Cross promote
Broadcast your contest on Twitter, Youtube, Pinterest, Linkedin and any other Social Media. Your audience is everywhere, so if you do not promote everywhere else, then your contest is probably not reaching its maximum potential.
5. Choose the prize that fits
Instead of offering some big-ticket prize that doesn’t relate to our business, how about giving away one of your own products? If your business is sevice-based rather than product-based, offer the winner a free month of service. The goal of a contest is to find more people who are interested in your business, not just a prize.
That said, here is a very good examples of a Facebook contest…and how you can leverage the impact and reach of Facebook.
Being Human: The Salman Khan Foundation is a registered charitable trust set up by Salman Khan (famous actor in India) for helping the cause of the underprivileged in two main areas: education and healthcare.
The timeline photo changed before the launch of the contest:
The Teaser Campaign Approach: Get your audience curious by adding some pre-promotion. Here we can clearly see the brand is trying to get engagement from their fans by asking and not telling their consumers what the was coming. They have to wait 4 days to find out….
Build and Leverage the Momentum.
In this case, each day a new count down image was posted. The Foundation got their consumers intrigued and made them come back to see the comment, what was new and that all leads to greater engagement.
The Grand Finalé… The Day of the Draw….
Finally here! A total of 31,416 likes, 1,124 shares and 6,170 comments were received! Fans were encouraged to create an outfit for the celebrity and from those comments a 3 random people would win.
Everyday another Timeline photo was posted promoting the new clothing line of Being Human.
Closing the loop… showcasing the winners:
A perfect end to show that this was not only a promotion stunt but the winners actually got to meet the celebrity.
Do you have a favourite contest that ran or is being run right now? Share with us any other great contests that you have seen on Facebook here. We’d love to know!
Blogging can be hard. Let’s face it we don’t always know what to write and I’m always told to write what I know… sorry reader I don’t think you would like to read about a secret world under the ocean or a forest elf battling a ferocious dragon. You are here for a better understanding of the marketing universe. I’m well versed in social media and 9 times out of 10 that’s what I’ll provide; a wealth of knowledge in the social media realm. Today, however, I’m going to try and help you get your brain gears going for writing your next blog or article.
Some of you might be able to pump out a 15 page article with no effort, but if you are like me you struggle to put thoughts and ideas down on paper. I’ve been writing since elementary school and my stories varied from thesis’ to fantasy stories, but for me it’s hard to just sit down and write. We all get writers block from time to time. It can be the worst thing when trying to finish an article or blog for next day delivery. EEKS! So what do you do? Many times I’ll take a step back from thinking about it to much, I know time is money, but racking your brain for words and getting a headache over something probably won’t come out as nice as it would if you took a break. It isn’t worth it.
I love to read and most of my inspiration comes from my favourite authors. You’d be surprised at what these guys… and girls, have to say about writing. So here are my top 10 author quotes to get you motivated; in life or in writing!
We are all apprentices in a craft where no one ever becomes a master. – Ernest Hemingway
I don’t care if a reader hates one of my stories, just as long as he finishes the book. – Roald Dahl
I do not over-intellectualize the production process. I try to keep it simple: Tell the damned story. – Tom Clancy
People say, ‘What advice do you have for people who want to be writers?’ I say, they don’t really need advice, they know they want to be writers, and they’re gonna do it. Those people who know that they really want to do this and are cut out for it, they know it. – R.L. Stine
Follow your passion. Stay true to yourself. Never follow someone else’s path unless you’re in the woods and you’re lost and you see a path. By all means, you should follow that. – Ellen DeGeneres
I don’t believe in being serious about anything. I think life is too serious to be taken seriously. – Ray Bradbury
Consistency is the last refuge of the unimaginative. – Oscar Wilde
You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose. You’re on your own. And you know what you know. And YOU are the one who’ll decide where to go… – Dr. Seuss
All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us. – J. R. R. Tolkien
Anyone who stops learning is old, whether twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young. The greatest thing you can do is keep your mind young. – Mark Twain
So blog on! Hopefully one or more of these quotes got you thinking and if you know of any more quotes that really help you focus post them in the comments! I would love to hear them.
Is there going to be a shift in social media this year? Do you think that there will be a new competitor making its way to our computers this year?
Being the fore front of social media can be key to targeting and gaining more reach for your brand. We all strive for the newest and hottest change in social media and we want to be the brand with the most knowledge of it.
From all of the blogs I’ve read it seems like 2013 will be a big year for social media, like every year there is something new and I’ve taken the time to sort through many blogs about the potential 2013 social media trends and I’m bring them to you!
Here are the shifts in social media to watch for:
1. A picture IS worth a 1,000 words:
We saw a huge growth in picture story telling. From tumbler to Pinterest, users are being more interactive by posting their life via images. Pinterest will continue to soar because it allows users to collectively use images along with their links to depict their likes. Also a new app called SnapChat is making headway by allowing the user to snap a picture for a friend as a way to chat. You collect points for people taking screenshots and a timer can be set for the duration of the images showcase.
2. Mobile
This really is a given and won’t go away for a while. With the growth of mobile and as the need to be more efficient continues; having everything at our finger tips, expect 2013 to see the rise of mobile over the computer. Most are seeing huge number increases with accessing mobile webpages and apps over computers.
3. A better Facebook for your business
From an article on The Social Media Examiner one blogger is expecting to see premium version offered for Facebook Pages. With content creation and more analytics it will be strictly business focused.
4. Podcasting will make a comeback!
We might see a rise in podcasting this year as more and more businesses are trying to give back and be more interactive with their consumers. It’s all about knowledge and educating the consumer. We’ve become so fast pace that rather than reading about trends, the world, or even how-tos we can now listen. It’s on the go and can be downloaded right to your phones and ipods.
5. Augmented Reality
With the prospective launch of Google glasses this year we will see a huge rise in augmented reality, not that we haven’t already. Mostly games like Ghostbusters Paranormal Blast that launched this year and Google Skyview are taking advantage of this technology. Expect to see Social Media integrated more as A.R advances.
We all know social media isn’t going away anytime soon. It has a powerful voice and it allows our consumers to have a big voice. If you aren’t already taking advantage of these sites, you’re missing out. There are huge benefits to being in the social game and I advise you to take your brand on Facebook or Google+. Be aware of the new up and coming social media and don’t turn your nose up to the change. Understand the the World Wide Web evolves quicker than a Justin Bieber tweet and we need to stay in the loop all the time.
Here’s a great video to sum up the 2012/2013 social media evolution, enjoy!
Have you noticed you’ve been losing Twitter followers and you don’t know why? Did you work hard to gain your followers and find yourself struggling to keep them? Do you have numbers but a very small engagement ratio? If you’re losing followers, then there is a good chance you need to adjust some Twitter techniques to stop this from happening.
Let’s take a look at how to gain and keep more Twitter followers:
Retweet like you mean it-One way that you can build and keep more Twitter followers is to retweet posts from other people. But be deliberate about it- don’t just spam RTs down your feed. Instead, take time to spot good posts from your network and share it, retweet from the blogs that you read and other great content you find on the Web.
Send @ Replies-Retweeting and sending @ replies to people is another good way to get them to follow you back. You don’t have to be following someone to talk to them or to see their tweets (unless they have a protected feed) so a good way to get more followers and to keep the ones you have is to take time to talk with people. Comment on their tweets, something interesting you read in their profile or tweet their blog post and you will find more people following you back and those who do follow staying around longer.
Follow Friday-Although it’s been around forever and is sometimes abused, Follow Friday (#followfriday) is still a good way to gain more followers and to keep the ones you have. If a follower sees that you are recommending them to your feed, they are much more likely to continue following you.
Buy some Twitter followers- It’s not enough just to buy Twitter followers though. You need to engage with those targeted users to keep them around. Did you buy Twitter followers and then fail to do anything to boost engagement? Buying followers will only get you so far if you don’t provide something for them to interact with. Even targeted fans will grow bored if you’re not using your Twitter stream correctly.
Create a Twitter content plan-Finally, the best way to get more followers to your Twitter is to create a Twitter content plan. Sit down and think about your target audience and your goals for using Twitter. What do you hope to accomplish with your Twitter account? What will your target audience want to read about from you? What types of content can you produce and share that will be of most value to them? Spend some time researching and planning and then you will have a Twitter feed that’s full of regular followers.
Twitter is a fast-paced micro-blogging social platform. If you’re losing Twitter followers, there’s a good chance you’re just boring them. While it only takes a few minutes to type out 140-characters or less, it pays off in the long run to put some thought into what you’re sharing.
Do you have some tips of your own to add to the list?
Lisa Mason is a Twitter addict, content marketing specialist and lover of all things social. Drop by and say hi @writerlisamason.
