When it Comes to Social Media Marketing – It is All About Making the Right Choice

23Feb

When choosing social media platforms for your marketing strategy, it is necessary to dig deep to see which ones are going to be the best starting point to complement your cohesive and strategic social media marketing strategy. You need to look at a social media site and ask yourself, “What can you do for me and my business?” Social media should bring value to you by creating your own unique community and promotional hub.

Look through your current (or competitor’s profiles), compare and contrast, and answer the following questions:

• Which sites do you market on currently?

• Looking at your Buyer Profiles, which site has the most active members of your target market?

• Which site has groups for your company’s niche when you search using your keyword list?

• What sites do your competitors use the most or least?

• Which site’s tone aligns most with your brand voice?

• Which site is easiest to understand and use? Use the “Help” section of each site to learn more about its capabilities and security.

• Which site overall feels like the most natural fit for your business and marketing objectives?

Please take your time on these questions, and go through each one carefully, keeping in mind your needs and the pros and cons of each. Think about how much time you have, and who will be managing these sites. Also, based on the content in the past three chapters, which ones did you really identify with?

Now, once you have made your decision, you need to decide your starting point and note it on your pad.

• In Month One, I will market the business on: [Name of site(s)]

• In Month Two, I will market the business on: [Name of site(s)]

• In Month Three, I will market the business on: [Name of site(s)]

By setting a three-month plan, you will have time to get your feet wet and find your footing. After that, you can look back at your strategy to see what needs to be changed and updated.

Remember, when it comes to social media all plans are organic: they will grow and change over time. This is a wonderful advantage for your company as you can easily and cost-effectively change a marketing strategy on a dime if necessary.

If Trust is King….is SEO Queen?

By Christopher Tompkins

23Feb

Social Media, Uncategorized

Content is king. And if you are interested in marketing your business using social media, it is important to generate original content. Writing original content will not only help you get more traffic from social media sites and search engines, but also help you engage with your target audience and create a power of influence.

I want to give you a proven tactic that will help you get your content rolling BEFORE you even put pen to paper to formulate your first blog or social media update.

Building keyword lists.

With all of the fervor over the power of content marketing, one aspect of it that I don’t think is stressed enough is the use of keywords when developing your content. Those who know search engine optimization (SEO) tactics know how important keywords are to online success. Keywords are how the right people will be able to find you, your company, your services, and your products online when searching for you—plain and simple.

If you currently have an active SEO campaign, whoever is managing this activity should be able to supply you with a list of keywords. Another key person who could help you is your website designer or manager. Even if your website is 10 years old, your keywords should be present throughout.

If you do not have these resources, I have a simple two-step process to help you formulate your first keyword list.

1. Pull out a list of your target market

2. Pull out a list of your products/services

By looking at these documents, you will be able to consider who is searching for you online and what words they are they using to find you. Go above and beyond what you think the term “keyword” means, and really think about how your target market would look for you on search engines like Google. Come up with a list of words and short phrases that you think your target market would use to find you online. I would first write this down on a pad, but then transfer to an online document for future tweaking.

Need some more help coming up with keywords and phrases? The Google Keyword Planner can provide some good outside-the-box ideas. Also, this tool will help you discover competitive keywords and phrases that have high searchability but low competition with others in your market.

The point of this exercise is to come up with a solid keyword list that you can begin to use when formulating and executing your content strategy for social media and other content. The more relevant keywords that you pack into your social media updates, blogs, and website, the better chance you have of showing up in Google searches and social media searches for your topic.

Once you start to incorporate your keywords into your content, a great tool to see how your keywords are working for you is Google Analytics. If you are not using this wonderful tool to monitor your website, I would suggest that you install it now. It is free, and it helps you determine where your traffic is coming from and what words potential customers are using to find you. Just ask the person who manages your website if this tool is installed and, if not, get it installed today. Above and beyond keywords, Google Analytics gives you real-time data about on the effectiveness of your website on many different levels.

Keep in mind that your keyword list will continue to evolve and grow as your business does. I would suggest taking a look at your list every month to see if it needs tweaking.

While building and maintaining a keyword list can be taxing, in the end it will truly help your content strategy get off and running with a bang!

Is the Goal of Social Media to Turn Customers into Your Personal Evangelists?

By Christopher Tompkins

23Feb

Social Media, Uncategorized

Company evangelists. I love this topic because I believe it is one of the most underutilized social media secret weapons.

I am not referring to evangelists in the religious way, but rather fervent supporters of your company and products/services. If they have big mouths, even better!

Open up the mailing list spreadsheet you just completed in the last chapter, and focus in on your past/current client sheets, as these folks are used to your products or services and are familiar with you and your company.

Looking at this list, highlight by bolding anyone who has:

• Frequently expressed their happiness and satisfaction vocally

• Provided valuable feedback that you have used to enhance your processes

• Referred business to you based on their confidence in your service

• Provided a testimonial in writing or online

• Continued to be a loyal client

These are the first batch of potential evangelists, so take your time going through the list and highlight everyone who fits the criteria mentioned above. Don’t be shy. The more the merrier!

Also, you want to think about those who might not be on your spreadsheet as a prospect, client, or past client. It is time to wrack your brain, and add any people to the spreadsheet who might fit these criteria:

• People who would spread the word on a new initiative with little to no prodding

• People who have never worked with you, but are familiar with you and confident in supporting your business

• Business partners who would benefit from your business success

• Event organizers where you served as a speaker or advertiser

• Experts or opinion leaders whose endorsement would be beneficial

• Family members who move in circles where your target market exists

• Personal and professional friends who are always happy to help

• Clients with whom you have had a long and successful relationship

This list is just as important as, if not more important than, the ones in your spreadsheet already, as you will not have much trouble getting them to help you spread the word or endorse you and your business.

I’m sure you are asking, “Why am I doing this?” Well, once you begin to roll out your social media marketing campaign, these company evangelists play an extremely crucial role in ensuring your level of initial and long-term success.

Company evangelists will help you:

• Enhance your credibility

• Generate leads and referrals

• Gain testimonials for your website and social media

• Spread your message virally via social media

• Provide guidance and support when you first venture out into social media

• Provide the crucial first numbers in connections and followers in social media

• Provide protection during your first month or two out of the gate by creating goodwill

Now – get to work!

Want More Social Media Connections? Then Put Your Email Database to Work!

By Christopher Tompkins

23Feb

Social Media, Uncategorized

I am sure you have heard others talk about the importance of building a mailing list. Businesses just like yours have been amassing potential customer data for decades. If you have a sales department, it is likely that they have a lead list that includes names, postal addresses, phone numbers and email addresses so that they can engage prospects and translate them into sales.

If you have been gathering this information and saving it in a central place, well done and my hat’s off to you! If you are organizing all of this information for the first time, well, you will have a challenging time. Notice I used “challenging” instead of impossible…because it isn’t impossible in the least!

By centralizing your customer information, you will be able to market your business more effectively across the board and roll out a social media marketing campaign that is both effective and painless. As the members of your list are already engaged with your brand, you can easily add them to your social networks by using some simple functions on sites like Facebook and LinkedIn. You will not only be able to grow your connections, but also engage with your list members in a more enriching way.

To get started, open a blank spreadsheet. You can use a cloud-based customer resource management tool (CRM), but if you want to keep it easy, spreadsheets work fine.

Make three separate sheets in your spreadsheet and title them in the following order:

1. Prospects (leads who have not done business with you)

2. Current Clients (anyone who is currently doing business with you)

3. Past Clients (anyone who is no longer doing business with you)

I like to break down customers into these three separate sheets to keep a clear delineation amongst the data that I am trying to organize.

Next, set up three column headings on each sheet:

1. Company

2. Contact

3. Email

Now begin the compilation process. (This is the not-so-fun part. But think! This will help grow your business offline AND online!) Look for email addresses where they will be found most readily.

• Professional email accounts

• Personal email accounts (for any customer crossover)

• Trade magazines, newspapers, blogs, and websites

• Business cards

• Marketing collateral (pamphlets, brochures, etc.)

• Conference/event guides

• Association databases

Last, import the data to their corresponding sheets.

Once you have completed this process, you will have a nice, tidy batch of information that can be utilized for social media by simply following the instructions on each site, and that can be used for newsletter mailings and email marketing. The other great thing about this list is that you can also use it to locate people that you are looking for on social media.

For example, say that you are looking for a prospective customer whose name is John Smith on LinkedIn. Well, that could be a tricky name to search for on LinkedIn, as it is so common. But by having easy access to his email address, you can copy and paste that into the search and be able to find him more readily.

This is just the tip of the iceberg, as there are many ways to utilize your lists…and the opportunities will just continue to grow. Like I mentioned, preparing items for your social media marketing campaign will provide benefits to other aspects of your business marketing. Social media is the oil that makes the marketing

Video Marketing: Yes, You Can!

By Christopher Tompkins

photodune-7147303-business-concept-video-marketing-on-computer-keyboard-background-xs-1728x800_c-1024x474

12Jan

Uncategorized, Video, YouTube

On a weekly basis, I sit down and consult with businesses who need help creating effective marketing strategies. I relish these face-to-face meetings as they focus on two of my most favorite topics: marketing and strategy. Something that I have noticed lately is the companies that I encounter have a growing interested in video, which excites me. Online influencers, including myself, have always touted the power of video in promoting your brand online. Your target market engages more with visuals than the written word, so it is an important aspect of the online marketing mix.

The scary part of this ride is not knowing how exactly to create the video without hiring a specialist. If you are fortunate enough to be a business with a large marketing budget, then I suggest hiring a professional. This will save you time, a very expensive asset in your day-to-day live.

But, not many companies have an endless marketing budget that provides enough capital to produce a professional video. So the answer is the create the video in-house, with your own team putting all the pieces together. But how will busy marketers find the time to create a cutting-edge promotional video?

The answer is to take it step-by-step, not all at once. Creating a video is a fluid process that you can take at your own speed. To help you do this, I want to share my own step-by-step process on how you can complete your first video!

Let’s get started:

*Invest in an inexpensive video camera that can controlled by remote control. Go Pro’s are great (albeit a little pricey) and have lots of easy applications and settings. But just a thought.
*Print a blog that you have written, or some marketing collateral with a good chunk of copy in it. Setup your camera and record yourself reading the copy directly to camera. Then review the video and check the following aspects:
*Lighting: is it too dark, too light, too grainy?
*Setting: is it appropriate, too busy as a background, too cavernous?
*Sound: can you understand what you are saying, is there a lot of ambient noise?
*Frame: do you like how the camera is situated in the shot, are you cutting off anything important, or leaving in too much?
*Once you have done this, do a few more practice runs, making adjustments to the A-D elements above.
*Now you should be at a point where you can create a script/outline for your video. The first video that you create should be an ABOUT video explaining your business.
*Once you create the script, read it aloud and ensure that it does not clock longer than 3 minutes. Remember your audience is exposed to LOTS of information and visuals, so keep it concise and engaging.
*Decide who will be featured in the video. Usually go with a highly visible and credible person in your organization (which sometimes is not the CEO).
*Use the guidelines that you created in #3 and do a few dry runs taping the person.
*Review these and make any further adjustments.
*Do the final taping.

Now that you have the raw video, you can use a program such as iMovie (which is an Apple program) or a Windows Movie Maker (for PCs) to format the video. The main formatting items that I would suggest that you add to your promotional video are:

*Titles at the beginning: possibly company logo and slogan

*Titles at the bottom to introduce the speaker (or speakers)

*Call to action at the end with contact numbers and logo again

What is great about the video editing programs is that you can learn them easily (believe it or not) and you can create a wonderful video in no time. Also, to make you feel a little less overwhelmed, there are templates in these programs that you can apply to your video, thus enabling you to brand and edit it much easier.

My top tip here? Relax! This is your first trial, so it is going to take the most time. Once you nail the format, just imagine how easy it will be to create ones in the future. Generally I find that once I teach someone how to do this process, the first one takes a bit of time, but the second video takes about 60% less time.

Want to Make a Splash on Social Media? Here’s Where You Start!

By Christopher Tompkins

3000072-poster-road-map-poster_0-1024x478

12Jan

Social Media, Uncategorized

As someone who specializes in the online marketing arena, I meet and chat with people everyday who are interested in using social media to market their business. Not a big surprise right? But what you might be surprised to learn, is many of these medium-to-large firms have a major problem: they don’t know how to start.

While social media marketing advice can be found on every corner of the internet, most of it doesn’t address this problem or offer ways to enhance or “reinvigorate” an existing campaign.

So in this blog I want to push aside the “Go Get ‘Em Tiger”s and technical mumbo jumbo and provide you with a fool proof step-by-step 101 list to get your social media marketing campaign underway in no time flat!

Let’s dive right in:

Step 1: Write Down Your Objectives

The first thing you’ll want to do is really identify what you are trying to achieve through using social media to market your company. Keep in mind that more leads is not your only goal. Think about possible objectives such as; engaging your current customers/clients, offering better customer service, building brand recognition, getting more local exposure….these are the types of objectives that you should be looking at.

Step 2: Know Who Your Target Market Is

A social media marketing campaign that is laser focused has the ability to reap better results than a broad shoot campaign. You don’t want to waste time here wading through unqualified leads….you want the real deal. Make a list of 5-10 target markets that you want to hit and keep it handy throughout your campaign. Having this list will help you keep your “eye on the prize”.

Step 3: Look at What Your Competition is Doing on Social Media

Many of us do a competitive analysis when we put together our marketing plan….so why don’t we do one when we are developing our social media marketing strategy? Usually the easiest way to begin this exercise is to go to their website and follow their social media links from there. If you can’t find the links there, login to sites like Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter and search for their company name. When you find them, see what they are doing and if it is successful. Are they getting lots of comments? Do they use lots of graphics and design elements? Are they posting often? Taking a look at these items can even give you good solid ideas of what you need to do…and what you don’t need to.

Step 4: What Are You Going to Say?

This is one of the trickiest things to come by as many organizations don’t have a wealth of available info to share. If your company does – the battle is nearly over! If not, it has just begun. Make sure that you are able to come up with content that is timely, engaging, entertaining, thought provoking and educational…or one of those 5. Also, think out of the box! If I was a healthcare organization, I would go to the website for the medical association that is within my niche and share some of their updates and tips, as they would be relevant and interesting to my audience. Sharing is caring….not stealing! But content is king folks.

Step 5: Choose Your Sites

Once Steps 1 thru 5 are complete, it is time to choose the social media sites you want to start using in your marketing campaign. Every business is different and some will find success quicker on one site than the next. There isn’t a hard/fast rule on this (while many say there is). All of the sites are constantly evolving and making it easier for businesses to get involved everyday. The playing field has changed greatly over the past years (and even months!) and there is a spot for everyone on all of the social media sites out there.

Step 6: Find a Good Support Site

Search and find a site to help you manage your accounts. There are free sites out there such as HootSuite, TweetDeck, SocialOomph and others that allow you to track, search and even schedule profile updates on the fly. When you create your plan, these sites will make it a little easier for you to manage your overall campaign.

Step 7: Create a Daily Plan to Ensure Consistency

Plans save time and money and ensure consistency, which is key in a successful social media marketing campaign. Your daily plan should contain a combination of Steps 1-6 and have daily time constraints attached. Also make sure that you identify who will be the touchpoint for the communications that you get as a result of the campaign. For example if you have a marketing team of 5, decide beforehand who will be in charge of delegation and qualification of the leads, information requests, comments, etc.

Step 8: Create a Form of Measurement

This is tricky, so I would suggest waiting until after your first month of social media marketing. At this point you will be able to see what sorts of results come in: website hits, likes, comments, messages, leads, etc. Once you get a handle on this, you will begin to understand what gives you the best results. Create a quick spreadsheet and track these measures on a weekly basis. As all of the sites have wonderful archives, it makes it a cinch to go back through the week’s activity to find what you need. If you are going to use your website to track effectiveness, make sure that you have an analytics program installed that can monitor where your traffic comes from. If you don’t, Google Analytics is a free and easy option to use (and the results are tracked wonderfully).

And you are on your way! The best part about social media marketing is that it is an organic process that can change from time to time. Don’t forget to audit your campaign monthly to see if any of your measures or activities need changing or updating. Staying consistent, organized and informed will help you not only launch effectively, but promote your brand successfully.
“I Just Don’t Have Time!” Yes You Do – Try This….

There is nothing worse than getting into the office and immediately feeling two days behind. Go on, admit it…you have felt like this more often than not.

Is it because you are ineffective at your job? Nope.

Is it because you have no time to get anything done? Nope.

Is it because you don’t have a daily marketing plan? Bingo!

Whenever I speak about marketing plans (either online, to potential clients, or while speaking at events) eyes begin to glaze over. So please stick with me on this. I’m not going to talk to you about building the perfect marketing plan – I’m going to talk about how to build your perfect daily attack plan.

I’m going to assume here that you are currently using various marketing tools, and that your goals are crystal clear as to what your company’s goals are.

So, let’s move on to the plan.

First, grab a piece of paper and write down the days of the week that you work (if you are closed/don’t work Sat/Sun, leave these out). We want to focus on the “active” days of your week.

On another sheet of paper, write down everything that you are currently doing to market your business. For example, your list could look like this:

Facebook Marketing

Twitter Marketing

LinkedIn Marketing

Email Blasts

Trade Advertising

Google AdWords

Link Building

Blog Writing

Press Release Writing

Now, we step it up. Decide which needs to happen for each of these activities on a daily or weekly basis. If you are doing link building, this is something that happens everyday. So it needs to be listed every day of the week – but also with the EXACT actions that you need to take. Maybe your link building strategy is 100% built around blog comments. If so, then your daily activity would be “Link Building: comment on 5 relevant industry blogs”. Simple as that!

Then add the rest. If you are on Facebook, maybe you have to post an update, reply to comments, and engage with 3 new pages. Add this to the list. And so on.

My top tip is to pin point exactly what you want to do for each item that you have listed – per day or per week. This will help you get through these tasks quickly without having to constantly remember what you have to get done on a given day. This way, if your day goes south as soon as you turn on your computer, you can motor through this list later in the day when you finish putting out fires.

And it works! I have instituted this for my staff (as well as myself) and it does save lots of time AND it can grow organically. For example, Pinterest is a new site that just popped up and now it has been added to our daily marketing schedule with tasks associated with it each day.

I say give it a try! There is no risk when it comes to getting organized and saving precious time.

Nine Reasons Why Your Brand Should Be on Instagram…Like Now!

By Christopher Tompkins

12Jan

Instagram, Uncategorized

If your company is not active on Instagram, then today is the day that you need to reconsider your decision!

Current Instagram users can experience a plethora of positive outcomes for their business – many of which you may be surprised to hear about.

To start off, let me tell you just a little bit about Instagram as a company and platform. Instagram is an online social network focused on sharing photos and videos as well as networking. While you can access it on a desktop/laptop computer, this is utilized best as a mobile platform. The network was launched in 2010 and, due to exponential growth and popularity, was purchased by Facebook in 2012. Currently you can access the Instagram application on iOS and Android only (about a 50/50 split). Lastly, it is always somewhere in the top 10 of popular smart phone application downloads.

Now, why should you be using it? Try these 9 reasons on for size:

1. Telling Your Visual Story: Visuals on social media (generated as images or videos) are proven to be more engaging then straight text posts. About 65% more in fact. Using visuals to acquaint your audience with your company and brand is a slam dunk when it comes to engagement.

2. Your Competition is Using Instagram: Don’t believe me? Let’s check the numbers. 93% of prestige brands use Instagram. 25% of the Fortune 500 use Instagram. Add to this the fact that brands post on Instagram an average of 6 times per week (so they are engaging on a consistent basis with the site). Plus – all of these numbers are growing!

3. It’s Growing Fast! Currently at the time of writing this, there are 300 million active users and 57% of these users visit the site everyday. In fact, there are 60 million photos per day, 1.6 billion likes per day, and the average user spends 257 minutes per month on the site. And all of these numbers are growing as well!

4. Outstanding Engagement: Did you know that Instagram posts get 15 times more engagement than Facebook Page posts? Need I say more?

5. Multiplatform Access: Instagram promotes you sharing your pictures and videos on other sites, and makes it easy to do so! This makes it easy to create useful, engaging content across the platforms that you use!

6. A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words: Emotionally connecting with your audience using a visual is priceless. In fact, it is much easier to emotionally connect with a visual than a well-worded post with the same sentiment. Don’t believe me? Try it for yourself and check out the results!

7. Build Trust: By showing more about your company, products, services, and connecting with your audience in a visual way you are able to build that all needed trust with your audience. Having a tough time in the court of public opinion? Instagram is a great way to rehab a poor public image.

8. Free Traffic: With such a high level of engagement, add your customer links to your pictures, videos and profile – then watch your website traffic soar!

9. Build Visibility: Is your Instagram content getting lots of views and engagement? Then guess what? You are building your visibility! Oh yea….for free!

So what are you waiting for? Create your Instagram account today and get started! There is no time like the present and don’t feel like it is too late to get started. The time is now.

Also – don’t forget to check out our Instagram webinar available on-demand in our video classroom.

8 Instagram Marketing Ideas to Get the Ball Rollin’

By Christopher Tompkins

12Jan

Instagram, Uncategorized

If you have already been marketing your company on Instagram, I’m sure that by now you have seen the powerful engagement that your posts can get. In many cases (or, let’s be honest, most cases) your engagement is probably way higher than that of your Facebook Page posts.

But…maybe you are missing a couple of tricks.

As everyone wants to be getting the optimum result out of their marketing efforts, I want to share with you 8 Instagram marketing ideas that you can easily work into your campaigns to enhance your engagement and success rate.

Without further ado – let’s jump in!

*Reward Your Followers: Reach out to the people that follow you and engage with your content. Offer them special discounts or even just a thank you. Kind words and outreach like this from a brand can make all the difference in how your new followers will engage with you!

*Showcase Your Products and Services: Instagram is visual, so don’t forget to show your most important asset: your products and services. Show them being used, show their packaging, post how to use videos, answer questions. This is your time – show off! Just make it fun and interesting.

*Highlight Your Creation Process: Do you manufacture your product in a special way? Do you deliver your service in a unique way? Tell the visual story – your audience is interested!

*Show Multiple Uses for Your Product/Service: Illustrate how your product or service can be used in different situations by different users. This will enhance your opportunities of engagement with your audience.

*Let Your Location Be Accessible: What I mean by this is showcase your bricks and mortar store or your offices. Show your staff at work, answering customer calls, packing orders, having clients meetings, at the watercooler. All of this humanizes your brand and sets your audience’s expectations on what your brand really looks like.

*Use Hashtags…The Right Way: Hashtags are very important when it comes to Instagram, just use the right amount. I usually suggest using 4-6 tops, but just make sure that you keep them relevant and use keywords which your target audience will use to locate information similar to what you are posting. Hashtags are a great tool to building your relevant network on Instagram.

*Don’t Forget Video: So many new, and old, Instagram users forget all about the opportunity to post a 15 second video. Don’t forget this! This is a powerful engagement tool and allows you to have the opportunity to speak directly to your audience. Use it wisely and have fun!

*Consistency Holds the Key to Success: I can’t leave this off the list. Make sure that you have a plan in place of how many times that you would like to post per week, when you want to post – and stick to it. Posting ten pictures in a day, then nothing for two months does not a successful campaign make.

These 8 tips are easy for you to integrate into your Instagram approach and will bring you lots of attention in a little amount of time. Remember: have fun and think outside of the box. While this is an extension of traditional marketing, make sure that the content that you are sharing is relevant to the target audience that you are trying to reach!

What’s Right and Wrong? Instagram Do’s and Dont’s

By Christopher Tompkins

12Jan

Instagram, Uncategorized

There is nothing worse than using a new marketing tool to reach more members of your target audience with your message…and then suddenly finding out that you have been barking up the wrong tree the whole time.

As so many of us are new to the game of Instagram for business marketing, there definitely is a learning curve. But add to this the fact that many of us are ALSO new to the game of visual storytelling – and you will see the learning curve get MUCH steeper.

In the interest of helping all of us make better marketing decisions on Instagram, I want to kick off by sharing a quick list of things that you should avoid at all costs on Instagram.

So here we go!

DON’T upload pictures of others (without their permission or tagging)
DON’T randomly like endless pictures of others to try to get visibility
DON’T have massive gaps in your posting times (days, weeks, months)
DON’T forget to respond to those who have commented or sent you a message
DON’T excessively use hashtags
DON’T be negative
DON’T get off message, and post random images that don’t make sense in your feed
DON’T only sell, or promote yourself, your company, and/or your products/services
DON’T use only photos, use videos too

So now that we know what to avoid…bring on what we SHOULD be doing!

DO share your tips, insights and knowledge with others
DO show off new products and services
DO show people using your products and services
DO communicate benefits of your product/service clearly
DO use Instagram advertising to reach a larger audience
DO create and execute contests to increase engagement
DO use the design tools Instagram provides to enhance your visuals

And this list could go on! We’ll stop there for now. Now grab your phone, tap on your Instagram application and get started!

10 Ways to Get More Facebook Leads, Referrals and Visibility

By Christopher Tompkins

12Jan

Facebook, Uncategorized

Its not too surprising to hear that Facebook, while known as one of the most popular social media sites for marketers to use, is still one of the most mysterious and difficult to use to market your business.

How do I know this?

When I am teaching, speaking or consulting – Facebook is always, and I mean always, the subject of the most questions:

How do I get more leads?
Why don’t I get more engagement?
Why doesn’t anyone like my content?
Who creates the cover image for you?
What is Facebook Advertising?

And the questions go on!

So, with that in mind, I thought it would be helpful for me to share my 10 tips to getting more leads, referrals and visibility on Facebook. Let’s go!

*Make Sure to Set Up Your Page Properly: In order to do this you must choose the right category and the right subcategories for your page. This helps your audience find you through searches. Also a must in this tip is filling out all of your page information and making sure your page settings are maximized to get you the exposure you need!

*Optimizing Your Visuals: Here are some useful numbers you should be using to create hi-resolution and beautiful Facebook Images: COVER IMAGE: 851 x 315 pixels, PROFILE IMAGE: 180 x 180 pixels, SHARED IMAGES: 1200 x 630 pixels

*Call to Action Button: This lives in the bottom right hand corner of your Facebook Page cover image. Simply click and set it up using the options available. This is a great way to get more click-throughs to your website or get more people to claim your promotional offer.

*The Power of Video: With Facebook video on the rise (at a rate of 758% year on year…yes that is the rate, no typo), you need to be using video to increase engagement. Remember to upload your video directly to Facebook rather than using a link: this will increase your visibility by leaps and bounds.

*Facebook Advertising: With ad clicks on the increase at the rate of 70% year over year and ad click-through rates increasing 160% – it is time to consider adding Facebook advertising to your strategy! There are more than 2 million active advertisers on Facebook, proof that this is not a passing fad.

*Optimizing Your Tabs: Your tabs can support your page to no end. Make sure to choose and format your tags, choose the best order for them, and use sites like Woo-box to customize them to fit your brand and to promote click throughs to your website.

*Optimize Your Posts: Writing posts is just half the battle. Optimizing them to be found in searches by your audience is even better. Some extra tips: shorter posts receive 60% higher engagement, use keywords, create quizzes and contests, and don’t forget your visuals!

*Post at the Right Time: Did you know that 75% of a post’s total engagement will happen within its first 5 hours?! Track the time when your audience is using Facebook the most and post then! Highest traffic occurs mid-week between 1 and 3 pm. On Thursdays and Fridays (especially during the Friday afternoon slump), engagement is 18% higher.

*Integrate it Into Your Website: If you do not have a button on your website that links to your Facebook Page – you need to get that on your site NOW! This connectivity will get you more likes and engagement using the website traffic that you are getting already. An untapped resource. Top Tip: don’t bury it at the end of your page. Put it right at the top so that it is easy to see.

*Consistency: I know you may be getting tired of me saying this, but consistency is the key and a common mistake that marketers make. Create a content strategy and schedule and stick to it!

These are tips that will work for you right now, but remember that Facebook is a constantly evolving medium that you need to stay on top of. There will be constant changes to your page layout, how your content is ranked and delivered, and how you are able to manage the page. Stay on top of trends and updates, but also implement them. The key to Facebook success is being able to ride the wave of change and innovate along the way.

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