What Your Social Media Marketing Doesn’t Have (But Really NEEDS!)

2Jul

Advertising, Email Marketing, Facebook, Google+, Instagram, Local Marketing, Marketing, Periscope, Snapchat, Social Media, Social networking, Twitter, Uncategorized

At this time, millions of businesses are on social media. Yet this doesn’t mean they are all successful. Perhaps, they have created accounts out of sheer obligation to a boss, or it was a one-shot attempt to stay trendy. As social media gurus, we see these kinds of accounts often. “Bare bone accounts” do the minimum by showing up on their platform of choice’s search results. However, this actually backfires on the owners by disappointing fans due to their lack of content. What should a social media account bring to customers?

To utilize the potential of your business profiles, you will want to optimize your page. In detail, go through each area that Facebook, Twitter, and other platforms offer, and your profile will have increasingly positive results. Sure, your name, address, phone number, and website address are all important, but an effective page requires in-depth copy for short descriptions, a company overview, a mission statement, and several other areas of the page.

Customers do not enjoy having to search for your resources and they shouldn’t have to. Facebook offers you two menus to provide helpful links. The “Apps” section allows your business page to showcase the essential pages of your company’s web presence. This section can also turn into a handy portal to your other social media platforms. The top of the page’s horizontal menu can be customized to transport customers to your most important assets and the web pages you want them to visit.

Twitter offers less optimization options, so you will want to take advantage of every single line offered. Descriptions, web addresses, locations, and a powerful cover image will make your profile look just right. Like everything else about Twitter, their customization options are effective and sleek.

Unlike Twitter, LinkedIn has tons of room for customization. Fill out as many fields as possible. Both personal and business pages have their own unique set of options, so take your time and don’t leave any room for customers’ unanswered questions. Your pages should speak for themselves!

Every platform offers different ways to present your information. Optimizing your page is one of the most important early steps in social media success. Here is another tidbit- this isn’t a once and done step. As your company grows, so should the information on social media. Keep everything updated and accurate. You may find this process repetitive, but by enriching all your pages with as many details as possible, a whole new level of professionalism will be yours!

What optimization tricks do you know of? Share below!

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How To Pick Your Pic: 4 Easy Steps On Getting Social Media Imagery Right

By Christopher Tompkins

28Jun

Graphic Design, Social Media

Here in social media country, creative writers and graphic designers alike can find a home. Social media thrives on the visual as much as it does the textual. With the written word, there’s plenty of rules to abide by. SEO rules will get your posts higher up on search engine results. Hashtags will get your updates in the right news streams. User names will grab the attention of the right people. Anyone who even reads social media can see there’s obviously some formulas to follow when writing. Yet what about imagery?

From the earliest days of social media, visuals have been just as important than anything written, if not more so. We talk a lot about how to formulate awesome content, but pictures tend to take a back seat. For an image to be eye-catching, there needs to be a few elements present. For the picture to actually help your social media campaign succeed, you need an additional set of things to consider. Here are the most important items to make your pic rock!

Clarity. The idea of clarity covers two fronts. First, the obvious. A picture shouldn’t be blurry, pixilated, warped, or blown out. Unless your posts are about those old bigfoot pictures, clarity shows you’re a professional. You’ll need a high resolution image of at least 300 dpi to make sure that it’ll be crisp and clean on most screens. Large pictures are always good to pick so you’ll have peace of mind that your social media posts won’t look like a vintage video game. However, you should also keep in mind that huge pictures will take time to load. You’re also going to want to steer clear of any images that have watermarks or another company’s logo somewhere on it. The second side of clarity is subject matter. Don’t have your followers trying to guess what they’re looking at. If they can’t figure out what’s going on in a picture, they’re going to give up and scroll away quickly.
Subject Matter. Most of the time spent on images will be on pictures that accompany posts. Make sure the picture you pick out actually makes sense and is appropriate for the subject and audience. Obviously, this means no obscene pictures plucked from the dark corners of the web, but also that it fits in with the tone of your brand.
Optimization. There are many ways to make an image jump off the screen. You could spend hours trying to make a picture just right. First of all, colors are important. If you have very specific rules with your company’s colors, be sure to adhere to them. You may want to consider some basic design laws. Choose colors that complement each other. Lastly, GIFs and animations have become popular once again, and you can take advantage of this. These will add a bit of motion to your images and it might help attract the right set of eyes.
Professionalism. Having high-quality, professional images is an element of all three prior items. However now we’re referring exclusively to your profile and cover images. For businesses, logos are always a great way to go for the profile image and a nice clean accompanying graphic for the cover image. If you’re representing yourself and you need a headshot of yourself, be sure it is a high-quality image, you’re wearing something appropriate, and you know…smile! A word to the wise: just because it’s your personal page, doesn’t mean recruiters, clients, and potential employers aren’t looking through your stuff. Get those old party pics out of there.

There’s no question about it, images can make or break any post. These are the kinds of things that social media marketers truly strive to achieve perfection with because we understand how quickly an image can bring a whole new wave of attention to a page.

What do you think about imagery’s role in social media? Comment below!

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Anybody Out There?! Understand your Followers

By Christopher Tompkins

28Jun

Advertising, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Local Marketing, Marketing, Social Media, Social networking, Twitter, Uncategorized

Those who are involved in the world of social media marketing could learn a great deal from a certain advertising star. Have you ever heard of Old Spice? If not, it’s a company that makes toiletries that are geared towards men. It’s been around since 1934 and as such, they’ve had some time to think about their intended audience. For a whole generation, it became the man’s fragrance. However, because of that, once “the greatest generation” that fought in WW2 and came home to reshape America began to enter their golden years, their iconic brand started to “get old” with it. People began to peg the brand with senior men and as such, their young customers started to dwindle. They needed a way to reinvigorate themselves to become popular again with the young crowd. They broadened their product line with multiple fragrances, body washes, and deodorants. Yet what really put Old Spice back into the hands of young twenty-somethings was their marketing campaign. They enlisted Terry Crews and Isaiah Mustafa, two celebrities know for their “manliness”, to endorse the product. Yet they did much more than that. They blew it up!

Their television commercials, which ended up being viral phenomenons, showed the men in such ridiculous poses in often psychedelic settings, that people had to pay attention. They looked absolutely crazy, entitling the campaign “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like”. Yet what was even crazier was that it worked, and then some. See, they didn’t just tap into a younger market, they infiltrated them because they utilized what the youth liked best- quirky, off the wall humor and viral marketing. They knew who they wanted to get and they assimilated the tone of the brand.

Now, we’re not saying you need to hire Terry Crews and put him on a unicorn while holding your product—although that would probably work. But you do need to know who your audience is, and what they want to watch. Like Old Spice, you need to understand how your audience thinks and what they like to watch. That’s the thing- it went beyond a commercial. People actually searched for these advertisements for entertainment value. Now, it’s your turn. Your content needs to go beyond pushy sales. That’s a surefire way to lose followers. You’re going to want to understand the following things to succeed:

WHO your intended audience is. Whether it’s an age, gender, style, or profession, you obviously have some type of target you’re aiming at.
WHAT content they want to consume. Does your audience like cute puppy videos? What about something more substantial like a sale? Figure out the type of things they want to have in their news feeds.
WHERE they’re at. Facebook is a go to. But younger audiences are flocking to Instagram and Snapchat. Professionals hang out over in LinkedIn. There’s those three guys who still linger in Google+ territory if you’re interested.
HOW they talk. This is where Old Spice really hits the mark. They knew who they wanted and they analyzed their tones. Witty, sarcastic, funny, and, to be frank, not all that interested in the complexity of the product. Figure out how your audience talks. Perhaps they like a more serious tone. Maybe they only like shop talk.

Before even clicking that “Sign Up” button on a social media site, you need to answer these questions. Chances are, you already know the answers to them and you’ll be able to translate your pre-existing business tactics onto the web.

What do you think about the tone of audiences? Let’s hear your thoughts!

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The New Kids In Town

By Christopher Tompkins

27Jun

Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Local Marketing, Marketing, Pinterest, Reddit, Snapchat, Social Media, Social networking, Twitter, Uncategorized

One of the most important elements of surviving the fast-moving social media waters is to keep in-tuned with current trends. While Facebook and Twitter seem to be steadfast names in this industry, there are new ones popping up all the time. How can you tell which ones are worth investing your time and resources into? It can be hard to gauge the firepower of a fledgling social media website or app. After all, who knew Instagram would be so popular? Social Times explores new platforms and sees if they’re worth clicking that “Sign Up” button.

Twitter and Facebook aren’t fools. They foresaw trends leaning towards live video streams and as such, they’ve adapted. Twitter’s sister site, Periscope, and Facebook Live allow companies to project live to an audience and answer questions on the spot. No pressure right? It has been working pretty well and with the help of promoting live events before they happen on your other social media accounts, a whole new wave of publicity is in your hands.
Snapchat. This app is starting to catch some serious speed. It’s a hit with Millennials and a lot of businesses are starting to take notice. The initial novelty behind this “app-only” platform is that you can see photos once and only once. They recently changed that so you can view pics and videos posted on an account’s story for 24 hours. Still, between geofilters that change depending on a customer’s location, to interactive news feeds, Snapchat is starting to be taken more seriously.
There are also niche platforms that appeal to certain audiences. Shouty brings sporting events live to a smartphone. ClearView Social has been used by law firms to reach out to all different platforms. Firef.ly helps travelers understand what’s in the surrounding area. What makes this one different than Yelp is that it actually recommends elements based on your preferences, as opposed to reviewing other user’s comments.
One that isn’t mentioned by Social Time is BizSugar. It’s a fairly new platform that targets small business. It’s kind of like a cross between LinkedIn and Reddit, if you could imagine such a thing. It’s is an interesting way to reach out and check out some relevant articles.

There are tons of ways to connect and there’s more everyday. You don’t need to (and shouldn’t) jump on every new outlet that pops up. At times, it can help to watch how quickly the new platform’s popularity increases and with more of them targeting specific audiences, it can help to figure out if your product is even welcomed there.

For more information, check out Social Times’ article here: http://ow.ly/AlMh3008ZXl

What are your thoughts on the new generation of social media platforms? Do you expect any of them to be the next Facebook?

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5 Reasons Social Media Marketing Has Become Essential

By Christopher Tompkins

21Jun

Social Media

Even before the internet took over everything, marketers had a duty to adapt the brand they represented to current trends. Whether the fashionable thing to do was to send out a thick catalog in the mail or to put up flashy billboards downtown, those in charge of promotions always had to keep contemporary. Today’s brands needs social media. If you think it is a fad, think again. If the marketing gurus of “Mad Men” worked today as opposed to decades prior, they would all be social media managers! Need more convincing that this is key to today’s business world? Here are the top five reasons that you need social media in your utility belt:

Your customers are already there. The main purpose of marketing is to have your message positioned where your audience congregates. It was the same when we put ads in magazines and commercials in prime time television shows. Now, we need to be on their computers, smartphones, and tablet screens via social media marketing. Facebook, Twitter, and the rest of the platforms have millions upon millions of users. If implemented correctly, your businesses can be on many screens.

Your competition is already there. If you think your business doesn’t belong on social media, think again. It isn’t just for tech-based companies. We’ve seen those in industries ranging from dentistry to real estate, to assisted living facilities to churches benefit from using these communication tools. Don’t think it’s true? Your competition does. Go onto Facebook or Twitter and you might be surprised to see that many of your fellow professionals are already there.

The companies you use are already there. Look around your house or office and inspect the packaging of your most used items. There is a good chance you will see at least a little Facebook or Twitter logo, which indicates that brand’s involvement on the internet. The big brands have already wised up to social media’s power. This should show you that this movement isn’t going away anytime soon, nor should it. It has allowed countless customers to connect with companies they trust in new ways.

You want to seem invested- Because of just how popular social media has become, you need to show that you care about your customer base by participating. You can do this by delivering engaging posts via the avenue of communication your audience prefers. In essence, it is the same as community outreach which, as all professionals know, is amazing for PR.

You want to keep in the know. Social media has become so much more than “connecting with friends”. Many people now use these platforms to network and promote themselves, but also to learn about their industry. Industry leaders post articles and news stories that are relevant to their work everyday.

As you can see, there are plenty of reasons to jump onto social media. So what are you waiting for? Start posting today!

Why do you go on social media? Comment below!

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4 Ways to Get Your Updates Visible (And Fast!)

By Christopher Tompkins

16Jun

Advertising, Instagram, Marketing, Social Media, Social networking, Uncategorized

Social media marketing is all about promoting yourself in a new, intuitive way and reaching out to your customer base in places they check every day. The only thing is, there are millions of people posting alongside you. At this point, news feeds tend to look like Wall Street with everyone screaming at the top of their lungs for the sake of their company. It can be overwhelming for the consumers, let alone the marketers. Because of this, advertising has a whole new level of challenges. A plethora of content is out there that floods everyone’s news feeds. How can you make your content stand above the rest?

Social media provides us with helpful options so that your important posts can be noticed amongst the swarming masses. Here are some of the most effective tools businesses can take advantage of:

Boosting Posts- Our beloved Facebook has some complex algorithms inside its machinery. At times, it can really impede social media marketers’ attempts at spreading the word. However, they do provide a way out and with no surprise, it is not free. By boosting a post, you are rapidly increasing your content’s visibility and also allowing for more engagement. It bypasses certain unspoken laws Facebook has into play inside its coding that would otherwise impede a perfect post’s promotional power.

Pinned Posts- Let’s say you have a big event coming up, or you really want to push a certain product, or something is time sensitive. The big social media platforms allow you to pin a post so that it is at the top of your page for all to see. This will be the first thing a follower sees. Instead of continuously posting about a subject, pinning a post will make it the star of your profile. This social media tactic will also allow you to give some extra publicity to posts that have done particularly well. It can be really great for content that is already catching a lot of attention. Pinning posts is free, so you will be able to pin away without consulting your budget!

Advertising- Each one of these platforms have offer the opportunity for self-promotion. Facebook’s advertising allows you to push your branding through advertisements via users’ experience. Twitter offers a “promoted posts” feature so your tweets will pop up on users’ feeds even if they don’t follow you (yet!). Even Pinterest has “Rich Pins” in which you will be able to reap the benefits of being on many new boards.

Verification- For Facebook, a fantastic way to bring attention to yourself is to verify your page. It is a process, that is for sure, but by having that blue check mark near your name, you will be able to have access to special features such as branded content. This will allow profiles to have a post with both a company and a personal profile attached.

All of these are very effective routes you can take to reach social media stardom. Yes, many have price tags, but this is exactly what these websites want. They want business professionals to invest in their advertising, and they will be sure to reward those who do with a whole new pathway of publicity.
Which of these methods have worked great for you? Comment below!

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Location, Location, Location! How Your Region Affects Your Social Media Experience

By Christopher Tompkins

13Jun

Advertising, Facebook, Local Marketing, Marketing, Social Media, Social networking, Twitter, Uncategorized

Even though the internet is a global institution, you’d be surprised just how significant your geographical location affects results. This is also true for social media. It might seem almost like an oxymoron. How could your current location matter when you’re sending something across the globe? It turns out things can change a lot. Here are the most significant elements that affect your social media experience:

–Research- Ever go on Twitter to see the top trending hashtags and are surprised to see a few of them apply to your current town? Yeah, that’s no coincidence. Many search engines, social media included, will adjust your results to accommodate your current location. This way, you’ll be able to really hone in on what’s going on in your area. The bad part of this, however, is that your attempts at finding nationally trending topics can be skewed. You can adjust these kinds of results in the settings of each site.

–Distinct Features- There are some added bonuses when using location services. Snapchat, the rising mobile-exclusive platform, offers Geofilters, which are illustrations to place over a photo or video that are only accessible in certain locations. You can also “Check-In” to places like businesses to promote their products. As a business owner, you can always encourage customers to check-in on their smartphones, which will spread your brand onto their newsfeeds. Periscope allows you to view broadcasters in your immediate area so you can see video streams from your favorite local spots.

While it may be creepy that your social media platforms know where you’re at, it can really help your social marketing efforts. You can take advantage of this by tapping into local markets in unique ways.

What do you think about social media location services? Comment below!

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Marketing Faux-Pas to Learn from

By Christopher Tompkins

2Jun

Advertising, Email Marketing, Marketing, Social Media, Uncategorized

There’s no doubt about it, we live in a society where one slip up can cost you an untold amount of money and a whole customer base. Even if an advertisement was never in any way meant to be offensive, an accidental negative message can crush a company’s image. Marketing can make or break you. How can you stay politically correct without ever intending for a political statement in the first place? Of course, people have the tendency to twist things and distort messages in a light that was never meant to be. However, the best way to protect yourself is to ignore the mistakes of the past. Here are some ads that backfired for their brand:

Gap received hard criticism for using an image that contained a Caucasian girl leaning her propped arm on an African American girl’s head. People were furious over this imagery and Gap had to apologize quickly.
Bud Light made a big mistake by using “The perfect beer for removing “no” from your vocabulary for the night. #UpForWhatever” on their packaging. People mistook it for promoting not only reckless behavior, but sexual assault. Bud Light’s VP apologized personally, but a large chunk of damage was done.
In an attempt to bash their competitor, Sprint asked a Caucasian woman what she’s reminded of when thinking about T-Mobile. She said it’s ghetto, which raised a firestorm around Sprint, saying they were insinuating racist and classist thinking.
Perhaps the most recent marketing blunder goes to Cheerios. They posted an image saying “Rest in Peace” meant to pay tribute to Prince. They replaced the i’s dot with a piece of their round cereal and people said they were using the music icon’s passing as a way to promote their product. Oops!

Talk about controversy, right? All these mistakes show that a message can be taken the wrong way without the creator ever intending anything. It can seem like you’re walking on eggshells, but try to put yourself in other’s shoes. When crafting posts, it is important to realize that EVERYBODY can see what you write and with that, comes a lot of subjective interpretation. Try your best to see your image from any angle possible and get a colleague to play devil’s advocate.

For more advertising errors, check out Entrepreneur’s article here: http://ow.ly/4nqLms

Do you have any other examples or personal experiences in advertising backfires? Share with us below!

10 Items That Will Boost Your Marketing Plan

By Christopher Tompkins

9Jan

Marketing, Uncategorized

It probably won’t surprise you to hear that not every business in existence has a marketing plan. But the question is: WHY NOT?

The honest answer is the fact that many of us have an aversion to the word PLAN. It immediately scares and intimidates us. Also, who knows exactly what needs to go in it and how you pull it all together?

Hard questions, but I think once you dive in and identify your goals and pinpoint your target market – you are ready to examine what is actually the toughest part, the marketing mix. Sometimes we can get overwhelmed with so many options, but here are some of my favorites and ones that I suggest to get my clients.

These are a mixture of online and offline marketing tools – ‘mixture’ being key. Notice that there are 10 items on the list, not 1. A marketing plan includes a blend of different tactics….not putting all of your eggs in one basket.

1. Email Blasts: Email blasts are great for getting your information in front of your target audience on a consistent basis. Make sure that they are packed with good information and that you schedule them on a regular basis.

2. Article Marketing: A great way to increase SEO and awareness is to share your blogs and articles on article marketing sites. Make sure that they are keyword heavy and really show off your expertise!

3. Advertising: While not an option for everyone, advertising in the media can reap wonderful benefits. Whether it is a free ad placed in Craigslist or a two page center spread in Fortune magazine, advertising is a wonderful way to get your message seen.

4. Social Media: PR is offline public relations and social media is its online sibling. While a relatively new addition to the marketing mix, this powerful medium not only helps you engage on another level with your target market, but humanizes your brand. It is a great way to engage your audience in real time.

5. Content Marketing: This is a very important, while widely ignored, aspect of the marketing mix. At the end of the day, if you have nothing to say or share – what reason does anyone have to listen to you. Press releases, blogs, articles, blurbs, announcements and the rest need to be a part of your strategy so that you have enough wonderful content to push through your various channels.

6. Public Relations: Another tried and true method of getting your brand name in front of the masses is through a media centric public relations campaign. Using talk radio, television, newspaper and magazines to get your content and brand out there is a wonderful way to grab attention and get more people interested in you and your message.

7. Video Marketing: Video is one of the greatest ways to engage with your audience. After all, YouTube is the second largest search engine (after Google). The biggest problem? The myth that it is expensive and time consuming. As more and more videos hit the web, there are more companies coming along, offering seemingly cost-effective solutions. Also, the technology for video is so advanced that you can even buy a couple pieces of equipment and hit the ground running yourself!

8. Contests and Promotions: These are very important aspects of your marketing mix as they drive traffic and interest like wildfire. Make sure that these “customer grabbers” are part of your strategy and be careful to not overuse them!

9. Podcasts: These are another one that, much like video, people tend to shy away from. But with sites such as iTunes and BlogTalkRadio out there….it is simpler than ever before. By following the instructions you can have yourself out on the airwaves in no time and into the iPods and speakers of your target audience.

10. Events: There are two sides to this one. You can attend an event or hold an event. Make sure to take part in events that are cost effective, not cost prohibitive. If you are going to spend $15,000 for a three day exhibition, have the average customer bring you $150 and think you can score 5 new clients – skip it! Brands like Sony and Simon & Schuster can handle it, but if you are a smaller business, make sure to do your homework and count the cost before!

This is by no means an exhaustive list. There are many more things that you can throw into your own marketing mix. In order to make the perfect marketing plan, look at the 10 items listed above (in addition to your own suggestions), put them against your strategy and objectives and then match them up with your budget.

As a lifelong marketer, I know how small these budgets can be. Anytime I hear “marketing budget” I’m always reminded of something a fellow marketer said to me once. “My boss wants me to create a Taj Mahal campaign for 50 cents.” Pretty much sums it up right?

So start off with the least costly items and then add in the rest. These are not written in stone so if something stops working, drop it and plug something into its place. Just make sure to never replace a successful activity with an unproven one. If your $25,000 quarterly advertising spend is garnering $100,000 in business…..keep it going! I’ve known many companies to jump at the latest marketing activity to the detriment of their successful marketing activity.

To end here, planning is not something that should bog you down and is also not something that can only happen at the beginning of the year. As the landscape for us marketers is constantly changing, be adaptable and be informed. An educated flexible marketer is a successful one!

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