Relationship Marketing: Is It Working For You?

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14Mar

(This article is featured in the latest issue of Doctor’s Life Magazine. They have kindly allowed us to reprint this with permission. To learn more about Doctor’s Life Magazine and read the rest of this month’s terrific issue – click HERE)

We’ve all heard sayings similar to: “people, not products, drive sales” or “people do business with people they like.” Customer service and good client relationships have always been important when it comes to acquiring and maintaining clients, but now more than ever it’s so important to cultivate and nurture these people and businesses by using relationship marketing. Why?

Most consumers want to talk about their experiences, but now their opinions aren’t just shared across the fence, they’re shared online—worldwide, instantly, and not just to their friends, but to anyone that wants to know more about you. Are you just letting it happen, are you getting involved, monitoring what’s being said about you, your company, products, and services and translating it into higher revenue? Relationship marketing is vital in making sure that the positives are emphasized, and any negatives are corrected. It’s all about ensuring customer satisfaction and retention.

Let’s take a step back and look at exactly what relationship marketing is. In a nutshell, it’s considered marketing that puts an emphasis on long-term customer relationships by utilizing forms of communication other than advertising and sales promotions, and thereby developing a far more satisfying overall purchasing experience for both the buyer and seller.

Relationships of any kind exist for what each person gets out of it. It doesn’t sound very romantic, but think about it, if your significant other didn’t give you the security, affection, love, trust, financial stability, or whatever else you personally need—that relationship wouldn’t work. The same holds true for business relationships, they too are based on the “what’s in it for me” mentality. Are you providing what your client needs? How do you know?

Besides person-to-person interactions or speaking over the phone, social media is an extremely effective tool in furthering the client-business relationship. Let’s take a look at how Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube, Yelp, FourSquare or any other platform can help you develop better relationships with your current and future clients, other professionals, and leaders in your industry.

As we mentioned, people share their experiences, opinions, and even suggestions—good or bad. Now, they’re doing it online, with 757 million daily active users on Facebook, 400 million daily Tweets, and over 259 million LinkedIn members, 45 million users on Foursquare, and 117 million monthly visits to Yelp. People are talking!

The benefit for you is that since these platforms are public, you have the ability to join in on the conversation. Better yet, if you are proactive, you can develop relationships with these people that are lasting and beneficial to your bottom line. Remember, when you’re in a relationship with someone, they are much more likely to be loyal to you and tell their friends about you. A loyal customer is your best sales person!

Logically, some of the keys to a good personal relationship are; taking an interest, listening, meeting basic needs, having positive interactions, and good problem solving skills. Are you doing this with your business relationships?

Let’s look at each of these in terms of social media. Are you posting on social media with the goal of helping people to solve problems rather than gain sales? A great quote is, “People don’t want quarter-inch drills—they want quarter-inch holes” by Ted Levitt. This means that people do not necessarily pay for a “product” or “service,” they pay for the solution to a problem. In fact, what we do in business is rent those products and services to our clients to get jobs done in their lives.

Have you developed good “listening skills” online? One of my favorite true stories involves a famous steak house. A man had a same-day round trip flight from New Jersey to Tampa for a business meeting. While waiting to take off in Tampa that evening, as a joke he tweeted: “Hey @Mortons – can you meet me at Newark airport with a porterhouse when I land in two hours? K, thanks. :)” And guess what? They did. You may have heard of this very true story—it generated a lot of press, and a LOT of business for the steakhouse, not to mention some very loyal customers! (Read more here: bit.ly/MortonsCRM). What can you do to be sure you’re “listening?”

Obviously, part of listening includes handling in-person complaints, suggestions, and compliments. But as we mentioned, people may be more comfortable simply posting these things online. How can you catch them?

Here are a couple of ideas!

• Go to Google and search for, and set up, alerts. Enter all of the keywords and key phrases that describe you and your business, things like your name, company name, specialty, location, ZIP code, and even specific search queries that people may enter to find a business like yours. (You may even want to set up alerts for your competition to see what they’re up to!)
• To find conversations on Twitter that you might want to be involved with, go to twitter.com/search-advanced. Enter the criteria you are looking for, for example if you sold cars, you might search for the key phrase: “I need a new car” and your ZIP code. You’d be surprised at how many entries there are there. Responding to that tweet could have excellent results! Take a look, and see how you might modify it for your business! Another great tool is TweetDeck, a very inexpensive tool to help you manage your social media.
• On LinkedIn there are a plethora of groups that you can join that are dedicated to your specific niche. Find the groups that are right for you by typing in your keywords and start some discussions, or get involved with some current discussions! It will elevate your status as an expert in your field. It’s a great networking platform that can be dialed in to your target audience and location.
• Look in on Foursquare and Yelp to see that your information is there, and updated—then check in from time to time to see what people are saying.

Be active in posting on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter, putting up information that is informational and helpful to the reader. Post tips and articles that are related to your area of practice, and pepper in promotional posts only now and then. You want to make sure you have an active social “voice,” but don’t forget the importance of social “listening.” Remember that social media is PR, not sales. Emphasis on the word “social.” When someone “likes,” shares, or comments on any of your posts on social media, be sure to respond to them. Just like in a real-life networking setting, if someone “liked” or commented on your tie or shoes and you didn’t respond, they would walk away. The same holds true on social media.

Remember, just like any relationship, there’s work involved. The social media channels are free to use, but as we’ve said before, “time is money.” It’s crucial to develop a marketing plan for your social media activities and stick to it.

One last quote from Zig Ziglar: “Every sale has five basic obstacles: no need, no money, no hurry, no desire, and no trust.” When you develop a good relationship with someone and earn their trust, you can show them much easier that they do need, can afford, and want what you’re offering!

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Need Online Marketing Help? Stand Out From the Crowd With These Resources

By Christopher Tompkins

9Aug

Healthcare Marketing, Marketing, Uncategorized

We all know that putting together the definitive list of marketing tools is nearly impossible (and pretty daunting). There is just too much good information out there, not to mention that my team and I find new and exciting sites every day!

Over the years I have been compiling a list of online marketing sites from my friends, colleagues and just plain old excellent sources in the wonderful world of marketing. I was taking a look at it the other day and thought that I would share it all with you.

Here are some of THE BEST resources when it comes to marketing your business. Click and read any combination of the following blogs and be dazzled. Let them know I sent you and if you like what you see, make sure to subscribe to their RSS feeds.

Without further ado…..here’s the list (of course, my favorite is the first one!):

B2B Marketing Insider: http://www.b2bmarketinginsider.com

TrueYouMarketing.com: http://www.trueyoumarketing.com/

Read Write Web: http://www.readwriteweb.com/

Emergence Marketing: http://www.emergencemarketing.com/

MarketingProfs: http://www.marketingprofs.com

Marketing Interactions: http://marketinginteractions.typepad.com/

Michel Fortin: http://michelfortin.com/

Smart Bloggerz: http://www.smartbloggerz.com/

How to Change the World: http://blog.guykawasaki.com

Neuromarketing: http://www.neurosciencemarketing.com/

Marketing VOX: http://www.marketingvox.com/

Influential Marketing Blog: http://www.rohitbhargava.com

The Brand Builder Blog: http://thebrandbuilder.wordpress.com/

SEO MOZ: http://www.seomoz.org/blog

Search Marketing Standard: http://www.searchmarketingstandard.com/

Social Media Darwinism: http://pauldunay.com/

AdPulp: http://www.adpulp.com/

Jason Keath: http://jasonkeath.com

Yoast SEO Blog: http://yoast.com/cat/seo/

Majon International’s Official Internet Marketing Blog: http://www.majon.com/blog/

Stokefire: http://www.stokefire.com/blog/

Dominique Hind’s Collective: http://dominiquehind.wordpress.com/

Conversionation: http://www.conversionation.net/

Small Business Search Marketing: http://www.smallbusinesssem.com/

Conversation Agent: http://www.conversationagent.com/

Get Elastic: http://www.getelastic.com/

idaconcpts: http://idaconcpts.com/

blogstorm: http://www.blogstorm.co.uk/

REEL SEO: http://www.reelseo.com/

Zero-G Creative: http://zerogcreative.com/

Steve Rubel: http://www.steverubel.me/

HubSpot Blog: http://blog.hubspot.com

Jay Baer’s Convince & Convert: http://www.convinceandconvert.com/

We Are Social: http://wearesocial.net/

WindMill Networking: http://windmillnetworking.com/blog/

Branding Strategy Insider: http://www.brandingstrategyinsider.com/

Brian Solis: http://www.briansolis.com/

Damn, I Wish I’d Thought of That! : http://www.damniwish.com/

HigherVisibility Blog: http://www.highervisibility.com/blog/

The Search Agents: http://www.thesearchagents.com/

Mint Blogger: http://www.mintblogger.com/

The Future Buzz: http://thefuturebuzz.com/

ClickZ: http://www.clickz.com/

Doug Haslam: http://doughaslam.com/

Marketing TechBlog: http://www.marketingtechblog.com/

copyblogger Blog: http://www.copyblogger.com/blog/

ShoeMoney: http://www.shoemoney.com/

Jim’s Marketing Blog: http://jimsmarketingblog.com/

PR Squared: http://www.pr-squared.com/

Drew’s Marketing Minute: http://www.drewsmarketingminute.com/

Webbiquity B2B Marketing Blog: http://webbiquity.com/

Duct Tape Marketing Blog: http://www.ducttapemarketing.com/blog/

Marketing Pilgrim: http://www.marketingpilgrim.com/

Ypulse: http://www.ypulse.com/

Chris Moody: http://www.chris-moody.com/blog/

Bad Pitch Blog: http://badpitch.blogspot.com/

MarketingSherpa: http://www.marketingsherpa.com/

Wonder Branding: http://www.wonderbranding.com/

Wired PR Works!: http://wiredprworks.com/blog/

Mari Smith: http://www.marismith.com/mari-smith-blog/

Seth Godin’s Blog: http://sethgodin.typepad.com/

WebInkNow.: http://www.webinknow.com/

Insights & Ingenuity Blog: http://insightsandingenuity.com/blog/

TopRank Online Marketing Blog: http://www.toprankblog.com/

Success Works: http://www.seocopywriting.com/

Eat Media Blog: http://www.seocopywriting.com/

Web Strategy by Jeremiah Owyang: http://www.web-strategist.com/blog/

Writing on the Web with Dr. Patsi Krakoff: http://writingontheweb.com/

Any more that you would add?

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Off-Site Social Media Marketing: 10 Ways to Market Your Profiles Outside of Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter

By Christopher Tompkins

9Aug

Marketing, Social Media, Uncategorized

While going through numerous articles on social media strategies it dawned on me that there was a glaring omission: tactics on how to promote your social media profiles OUTSIDE of Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.

While it may sound odd, cross marketing is an essential part of a successful social media marketing strategy (as well as a successful marketing strategy). It is completely understandable that when you launch a social media campaign, you really want to spend a bulk of your time logged into the site trying to achieve penetration and engagement. For example, when marketing your business’s Facebook Page, you are logging in on a daily basis to update your page, share it and use different onsite tools to engage with your target consumers.

But what about the people that you speak to everyday on the phone or at events? How about those who you give your business card to? How about the people on the receiving end of the 100+ emails that you have to respond to daily?

This is where you need to focus on what I call Off-Site Social Media Promotion. The best part? It isn’t that tough (which is always a good thing, right?).

Here are my top ten tactics that you can instantly use to promote your professional social media presences…off-site:

1. Add to Your Email Signature: When it comes to promoting your social media presences off-site, email is your first stop. In your email signature, add a link to one or all of your social hubs. Just be careful not to overdo it! If you are a member of 100 different networks, don’t add them all. My rule is to try to keep it to around 3 or less.

2. Add to Your Business Cards: A trend that I have been seeing is the adding of social networks to business cards. This is a trend that I definitely support as it adds more relevance to the handing out of business cards (especially in our growing “green” landscape). The same rules apply, but with business cards I suggest adding the networks where you are the most active. For example, I may be the most active on Twitter, so that would be the one I would add. When adding the network address, make sure that you have a custom username so it is easy for the recipient of the card to read and then type into their browser.

3. Add to Your Website and Blog: One of the best ways of promoting your social networks off-site comes courtesy of the networks themselves. May have plug-ins that are free and easy to add into the structure of your blog and website. These look like boxes with your logo, recent activity and a box for the viewer to click to connect. These allow people who are visiting your blog/website to easily engage with you on the social platforms WITHOUT leaving your site. Plus, as you update your social networks, it reflects on your blog/website badge which not only makes you look up to date, but it provides your website/blog with fresh content on a consistent basis.

4. Add Share Buttons to Your Website and Blog: If you are constantly publishing content to your website and blog, why not allow others to share it? This is a bit more complicated, but a web design professional can help you do this. If you don’t have this, you are definitely missing a trick. Also – make sure that you have an RSS feed on your blog, it is very important and can be used in many wonderful ways online!

5. Add to Your Advertising: This one is a no-brainer – make sure that you add the link to your social media presence in your magazine, newspaper, radio and television advertising. Just think: you are spending quite a bit on advertising, why not get the most bang for your buck. Also, you can use your social media presence to support a contest that you are promoting through your advertising.

6. Add to All of Your Marketing Collateral: This is another no-brainer. If you have brochures, media packs, flyers or physical promotional products – add your social media link to them. Easy as that!

7. Add to Your Events: When putting together the promotional schedule for an exhibition or event that your company will be represented at, make sure not to forget to add your social media profiles to the game. Make sure that it is on the collateral and stand, but you can even run a Twitter contest during the event and promote it through a bag drop. There are lots of ways…just think out of the box!

8. Add to Your Contest: I touched on this earlier, but when you are holding a contest, a great idea is to use the opportunity to showcase your social media profiles. Especially on Facebook, you are able to nearly duplicate the look of your website on your Facebook Page – it is just down to making the cross marketing happen and finding a designer to complete the job.

9. Add Your Networks to Your Phone: This little tip does involve a bit of on-site promotion. One of the biggest tips that I have is that if you have a smart phone you should have the main social media sites you us downloaded and ready to use on your phone. This way you can share pictures, video and information in real-time from anywhere. There are always things that you miss that you regret not sharing, this makes sure that it doesn’t happen again. This tip is also helpful when you need to show people your profile in a pinch if you are meeting them face-to-face and describing your online work. I’ve had to do it about a million times, so it does happen.

10. Add it to Your Vocabulary: Do you ever tell anyone about your social media presence? Or do you just think they will find it on their own? In order for people to find and engage with you online, they need to know that you exist online….and many times if you have a very common name brand or name, it can be confusing and difficult to locate you. So make sure that you talk about your presences on your calls, when you meet someone new, at events and more. The people you interact with everyday can be some of your biggest supporters on sites such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

I think the overriding message here is to mention your social media presences as much as possible. Remember, if people don’t know that you are using social media sites to promote your company – they aren’t going to look for you. Let them know, it’s the best way to go! At the end of the day, you wouldn’t send out a marketing material without your web address on it, would you?

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What You Need to Ask Before Outsourcing Your Social Media Marketing Campaign

By Dale Griffen

15Jul

Facebook, LinkedIn, Marketing, Pinterest, Social Media, Twitter, Uncategorized

(This blog has been reprinted courtesy of Doctor’s Life Magazine CLICK HERE TO VIEW IT ONLINE).

In my last two installments of “Your Social Media Prescription” we discussed “Social Media 101” – getting your online marketing efforts up and running, and “The Cost of Social Media” – showing you the pros and cons, as well as the true costs associated with social media’s ‘free’ usage.

In this issue, we’ll discuss what you need to know if you decide to refer your social media marketing campaign to an outside provider!

As in your practice, there are several reasons that you may refer to a trusted specialist. Sometimes you need a second opinion. Other times the needs of your patient may fall outside of your scope of practice. Maybe you may not be taking on new patients at the time, so you look to other professionals to help out, or take over those tasks.

The same may be true for your social media marketing. If you are finding that you, or the person that handles your social media in the office:

•   logs into your Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter account and just doesn’t know what to say several times a day, or…
•   scratches their head trying to figure out how to get your current and potential patients and referral sources engaged, knocking on your door or calling for appointments…
…then you may need to outsource! This is exactly what social media marketing firms do! Not only that, but a properly executed campaign:
•   puts you on the leading edge ahead of your competition;
•   highlights your expertise in the field; and,
•   places you in direct communication with other thought leaders – giving your practice a wonderful boost!

Think about it another way, if you wanted to create a TV commercial, billboard or print ad, you wouldn’t try to do the entire thing in your office, would you? You would hire the experts to listen to your ideas and goals, and then using their expertise – allow them to come up with a campaign that you will love! Social media is no different.

With that being said, use caution! Obviously, as in any business, not everyone out there that claims to be an expert in the field always is. To avoid wasting time, money and getting a bad taste for social media in general, there are several questions you must ask when choosing a firm to represent your social media marketing campaign. Don’t trust this public relations, brand awareness and relationship-building effort to just anyone. Make sure that they know what they’re doing, have a proven history of success, and that their own reputation, platforms and online following are in line with what you would like for your own.

You need to protect your reputation and to help you do so, we’ve provided 12 questions you may want to ask a potential social media marketing partner…

1.   First, look at their online profiles (the links should be available on their website). Do they have at least daily activity on each channel of Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, etc.? Do they have a decent number of followers? Is their brand aligned with the services that THEY provide? Once you get this data, bring it to their doorstep and ask them about the infrequency/frequency of their posts and the quality – will this be what you are going to do for us?
2.   Ask what sets their company a part from other social media marketing firms?
3.   Do they work with medical or healthcare related clients now (or in the recent past)?
4.   Do they know how to deal/work with the healthcare industry, including rules and regulations, patient privacy and HIPAA, to name a few?
5.   Will you be allowed to view and approve all final work before it’s sent out to your audience?
6.   Is all of their work done in-house, or do they work with partners during the delivery process?
7.   How much of the marketing work on the accounts is automated? Can they give you a percentage?
8.   How many people will be working on your account and have access to your passwords?
9.   Will they be monitoring your brand through the social media channels they are using?
10.   Will they share 3-5 past/current clients that you can speak with about their services?
11.   Will you have access to your account(s) during and after the campaign?
12.   What happens to your campaign if you stop working with them? Who owns it?

These questions should get you off to a great start. Obviously you want to also ask questions about the campaigns (and how they work), but the questions above should enable you to figure out how credible that potential partner is. Remember – go with your gut. Choose someone you trust or have a good feeling about. If you have distinct reservations, beware.

Remember, social media marketing campaigns can be extremely beneficial in getting the word out about you, your brand, your services and your ‘WOW’ factor!
Should you have any questions about why the above points are important to ask, or have any other questions – be sure to give us a call or send us an email!

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Ok, I Understand the Power of Content Marketing – But Now What?

By Christopher Tompkins

7May

Uncategorized

There is absolutely nothing worse than having all of the passion in the world for something, but not knowing how to take that first step.

In this case I’m talking about content marketing. Content marketing is a powerful aspect of your overall marketing strategy and something that will not only take your search engine optimization to the next level, but will also help you reap the benefits of your social media marketing strategy.

So you have a blog on your business website and are ready to get writing. You’ve knocked out 4 or 5 blogs and it was easy as pie.

But now you are getting a bit dry on ideas.

You are not alone.

When you have to consistently write about topics, after awhile you will begin to experience fatigue with the subject.

So how do I renew my vigor?

As I always say, it takes a village to raise a blog.

Here are some content generation ideas that you might want to try out:

*Google Alerts: by setting a Google Alert for your given topic (for example “running tips” if you were running a sports apparrel store), Google will trawl through all of the new results on a daily basis (or more/less frequently as you choose) and email you with the results. These are great ways to come up with topics that are not only topical, but also hot off the press

*Your Staff: one of the most underutilized and most powerful forces, are people within your organization. Let them know that you are always looking for new ideas for the company blog and would appreciate them forwarding on/telling you about anything they think would be a great addition. Note: this is not a one-time practice. You will have to continually remind them about this as their busy day to day life can push them away from being as vigilant as you would like them to be.

*Competitive Analysis: this one is simple. Look at what your competition is writing about and see how successful it is. I’m not suggesting copying or plagiarizing their content, but look to see what topics seem to be working for them. Then write some original blogs and articles with those topics in mind.

*Social Media: do a social media search for your topic and see what comes up. I suggest using Twitter and LinkedIn for this as they tend to give you the most relevant results. See what people are talking about, see what they are asking about. Find some hot topics and create a blog or two around them.

*FAQs: another missed opportunity for many organizations when it comes to their content strategy is the power of writing blogs and articles that address questions or objections that they get from potential consumers on a regular basis. For example, if you were a plastic surgeon who administers botox, perhaps a FAQ would be “If I use botox, will my face be frozen forever?” Then the surgeon could write an article about “Botox: What You Can Expect” or something along those lines. This will not only answer the question, but you can share this link in the future with any potential clients who may have the same question. And believe you me, this impresses them.

Use the above tools and methods for dragging yourself out of the creative doldrums. Remember, blogging can be a tough subject – but perseverance and thinking out of the box will keep you, and your blog, fresh.

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It Takes a Village to Raise a Blog

By Christopher Tompkins

6May

Social Media, Uncategorized

Like many businesses, you have been trying your hand at social media. You have been building your LIKES on Facebook, your connections on LinkedIn and your Followers on Pinterest and Twitter. You have been putting out updates on a regular basis: either quotes, statements, sharing pictures or video, or sharing articles that you think your audience would enjoy. Sounds like a great strategy, right?

But why aren’t more people coming to your website?

You have been doing everything right. You have been engaging, you have been getting liked, followed, commented and Retweeted.

But why aren’t more people coming to the site?

Because you are not directing them to your original content, written and posted by you, on your own website!

Social media marketing gives you the prime opportunity to not only brand yourself as an expert and generate more visibility for your brand in less time than many other marketing channels, but it also enables you to influence the buying decision of your consumers.

What your potential customers are looking for on social media are helpful hints that will help to enhance their professional and personal lives. Who knows how to do this better than you? Your business fits a need and your expert opinion will help satiate this in your potential and current customer base.

And this brings me to the power of blogs and why you need to have one.

Your blog will contain information pertinent to your business and address topics that are related and of interest to your target market. For example, if you are an assisted living facility, your blog could be focused around topics that would interest the person searching for a facility such as yours. You can obviously write about upcoming events and announcements, but go a bit further. Write about aging topics such as dementia and caregiving. Write about healthy food choices for seniors.

Are you a tax attorney? Write about new tax laws and how they affect your target client. Write about how a family of four can easily manage their monthly budget. Write about investment opportunities that people can explore.

I think you get my drift.

Now, write an update on social media and share the link to this article. And…don’t do it just once. Share the article every so often. Ask your connections to share the article.

Now you may say “OK, I’ve done one….but where’s the traffic?”

Unfortunately posting and sharing one blog is NOT a strategy. You have to regularly write, post and share these. If you are looking for a strong content marketing strategy, I suggest writing at least one blog a day or 4-5 per week.

Immediately I’m sure this turns off many businesses. But the plain fact is that there is enough content within your industry to generate meaningful posts on a regular basis. Also, imagine the SEO implications of having keyword packed content being added to your website almost daily. This is a HUGE powerhouse and a wonderful value of having regular blogs done.

The second turn off I’m sure is double barreled: “I don’t know where to start and am not that strong of a writer.”

With every problem there is a solution. If the water main broke in your building, would you fix it? If there were more sales orders coming in than you could handle, wouldn’t you hire support staff?

If the design of the blog and the writing are out of your wheel house, find someone to help you get the ball rolling. There are designers and copywriters out there that can get right down to the brass tax of your message and formulate blogs seemingly overnight.

Next objection: but no one knows my business like me.

True. But think about how many books out there, best-sellers, are nearly written 90%-100% without the “author” being involved. This is the skill of a solid copywriter with experience.

My point is that if you are trying to make the most out of your social media campaign, a blog is really the cornerstone of success. Beyond social, it is also a powerhouse when trying to enhance the SEO capabilities of your website.

If this is out of your area of expertise, talk with someone who has experience with blogging and writing. They will be able to point you in the right direction. The bottom line is that sometimes it takes a village to raise a blog.

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Pinterest 101: 10 Ways to Get Started (Part 2)

By Christopher Tompkins

9Jan

Pinterest, Uncategorized

Last week I shared the first 5 ways to effectively get jump-started in marketing your business on Pinterest. Now I want to share with you the second batch of 5 ways to make your Pinterest account pop.

These 5 tips will help you overcome two of the most troublesome obstacles that new Pinterest users often face: how to effortlessly share links and information and, getting over the hurdle of not having enough content to share.

Here they are:

1. Install the “Pin It” button. On Pinterest, under the “About” section, there is something called the “Pin It” button. This is a browser-related plugin that, once downloaded, will appear on your bookmarks bar and will allow you to instantly pin just about ANY photo that you see on the internet to one of your corresponding boards on Pinterest. This is a fast and simple way to build your initial group of boards, and as you begin to use the app, you will think of new boards to add to the mix. It also allows you the opportunity to instantly share your pins on Facebook and Twitter….which is up next.

2. Connect Pinterest With Your Facebook Account. This is another great way to promote your content with your network and increase the back-links to your website. When logged into your Pinterest account, simply click on the Facebook button and allow access to your account. Then every time you share something new, you have the option of sharing it with on your Facebook Profile page.

3. Connect Pinterest With Your Twitter Account. I prefer utilizing this function over the Facebook link, as currently you cannot connect Pinterest to the branded Facebook Page for your company, just to your personal Facebook Profile. With Twitter you are able to connect it to your business Twitter account. This is a great feature, as any time that you add a pin, you are able to Tweet it out to your network. This is valuable as the more content that is shared through your Twitter account, the more back-links and shares!

4. Add the Pinterest Button to Your Website. If you want to grow your Pinterest network on a regular basis, add the Pinterest button to your website alongside your other social media links. This will promote more people following you and give you more opportunities to share your content.

5. Use a Third Party to Help Generate Content. There is nothing worse than when the “content” well is dry. Many of us can struggle with finding pictures on a regular basis that will be useful on Pinterest, so it is a good idea to look into any third-party option for help. There are many lists available through a quick Google search that show tools that can help with content creation on Pinterest. One such tool, called Spinpicks, enables you to search the web for images using a plethora of categories that you can instantly share via your Pinterest account. This can be a lifesaver if you have lulls in your content creation.

And there you have it: 10 ways to get jump-started on Pinterest! Remember, with any social media marketing that you do, consistency is key! Make sure to constantly update your account (as surely there will be changes introduced along the way) and engage with other members through commenting, liking and sharing their content. Is all of this successful for you? Make sure to track it using a tool like Google Analytics or your own version of tracking your website hits. You will be pleasantly surprised!

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Pinterest 101: The Top 10 Ways to Get Started (Part 1)

By Christopher Tompkins

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9Jan

Pinterest, Uncategorized

If you are not familiar with Pinterest, let me give you a quick explanation. Pinterest is a cork board-style photo sharing website allowing members to create theme-based image collections which other members can view, share and comment on. If you think: “That doesn’t sound business related…”, read on!

An easier way to understand what Pinterest is and how it works, is to think about it in terms of your Facebook Profile.

Imagine that your photo albums were the first (and only) thing that was visible on your Facebook Profile. Other Facebook members would be able to see your albums, look through your photos and view updates to your account. If a member liked one of your albums or photos, they could comment and/or share it with their own network.

Pinterest is really as simple as that.

That’s all great, BUT the best thing about Pinterest, and the biggest difference with the site, is that when you post a picture, you are able to hyperlink it to your website, online point-of-sale, blog…whatever. Thus, when people click on any of the pictures that you’ve posted, they will be transported to the link where it lives and to all of the additional information you have on the subject in order to bring people closer down your sales funnel. Also, if people share your photo (or “pin”) you will receive valuable back-links to your site, which in turn builds SEO.

So Pinterest is essentially an interactive photo sharing site where people can choose to follow a single board you have, or all of them – and get updates whenever you add to, update, or change a board. So the more you share, the better the opportunity you have to take advantage of its benefits.

While in its initial growth stages, the majority of the audience was women (at 83%) in the United States. But things are shaking, and now men are joining in droves. Outside the USA, in the UK for example, 56% of the users are men. At the end of the day, the ratio of male to female is fairly balanced.

Now – how can you and your business get started?

Here are my 10 essential ways for you to get jump-started on Pinterest so that you can begin to build your following and enjoy its benefits. These are the first 5 with the final 5 following next week.

1. Stake Your Claim Now! I usually suggest researching a social media site before creating your own business account, but as so many people are latching onto Pinterest so quickly – you need to get in there now to set up your branded account and stake your branded real estate. Go to Pinterest.com and you will see towards the top of the page “Request an invite”. If you will be using Pinterest for your company, add your company email address. Usually they will get back to you within 24-48 hours for you to complete the registration. When you get your invitation, go and sign up and register in your company’s name. Fill out your profile, add your company’s logo as your profile picture and add anything else to the profile that is necessary.

2. Plan and Organize Your Boards Before Creating Them. Setting up your Pinterest boards can be time consuming, so I suggest identifying what boards you want to create first. Although your new Pinterest account will come with a few standard ‘board topics’, you will want to edit them for your specific needs. I find the easiest way to think about this is in terms of your products and services. For example, if you were a doctor whose owned their own ear, nose and throat practice, you should create a board for each specialty area (ear, nose, throat). Then fill each of these boards with helpful information on each topic in visual form (“pins”). For example, perhaps you have a diagram of nasal passages, a chart of nasal afflictions and another graphic explaining preventative measures for sinus infections. Add each of these to the board pertaining to “Nasal Information”. Planning will help set you up for growth on Pinterest and save you precious editing time.

3. Add Hyperlinks, Hashtags and Keyword in Your Descriptions. First off, every organization who is marketing online should have a keyword list for their company. When you are sharing “pins” or pictures in your “boards” or albums, each one will need to contain a point of origination on the web (where the picture actually lives online) but also a description. Use #hashtags just like you would on Twitter to make the title of your ‘pin’ more searchable within Pinterest. For exmpale in the ENT example above, using #tinnitus would allow people searching for information on that affliction to find your ‘pin’, and thus a link to your website! Make sure that each description is packed with keywords and contains a hyperlink to the content you want people to see. The best way to do this as a rule is….

4. Add Images to Your Blog Posts, Web Pages and Landing Pages. Every page on your website should have a few images on it. If you do not use pictures on the pages of your website or on your blog….now is the time to start! This is the key method of pulling content from your website to Pinterest and linking it back for added SEO punch. No pictures on your website could equal no web hits generated from Pinterest. Remember that this is a visual site – so make sure that your pictures are eye catching, easily seen, and visually descriptive.

5. Connect With Your Existing Contact Base. The best way to build an instant network on Pinterest is to see who you know that is already a member. You can do this through the “Invite Friends” function where you can connect using your Gmail account, Facebook account or simply manually invite people by entering their email address. You can also send an announcement to your email list, or make an announcement on your website, etc. Connecting with those that already support you is crucial in social media! These people are comfortable and familiar with you, and they can make for the best brand evangelists on social media sites like Pinterest.

Those are my top five ways to get started. Look out next week for part two of the series when I will discuss how to easily share information on Pinterest as well as show you how to get over the hurdle of not having enough pictures and content to share.

If you enjoy this article, please feel free to share it with others who you think could benefit from it!

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Are You Tired of Trying to Figure Out What a Blog Tour Is? If So…You’ll Love This

By Christopher Tompkins

1Jan

Uncategorized

In the online marketing arena, my peers and I tend to get sucked into using lingo that can sometimes be a bit too “exclusive”. Much like other industries where the terminology can not only be off-putting, but can cut you right out of the conversation, the online community can be a bit tricky sometimes to navigate.

For me, I really hate it. I think there is nothing worse than reading an article with the goal of getting actionable tips….and then finding yourself Googling ten of the terms in the article in order to make sense of it? Now don’t get me wrong, I’ve been guilty of this in the past as well. That’s why I try to be as clear and to the point as possible. Our time is precious, so let’s just get to it, right?

This brings me to “Blog Tours”. I’ve seen this broadcasted far and wide, but never really saw an explanation that I thought hit the nail on the head.

Basically, toss the “cool” terminology out the window and think of this as a “blog comment” strategy. I’m sure you have gone onto a blog (or even a website) and read an article that at the end allows you to put in your comments. A simple idea, but it packs a punch!

Commenting on blogs is a wonderful way to build more links to your online point of sale, or your company website. In terms of SEO (search engine optimization) – it is definitely a golden child.

But how do you do this? Here’s my rules of blog commenting:

If you are using blog commenting for SEO purposes, before you even take time to read the article, scroll to the bottom of the page to make sure that there is a place for you to key in your website when you comment. If this is not here….there is no way to link you (unless you register to the blog or community which can be time consuming).

If you have to comment via Facebook, it will not pack the SEO punch that you are looking for. Again, having a spot to key in your website is the best option.

Once you’ve decided to comment on a post, first read the full article to see that it’s message is in line with your brand. You can disagree, but make sure that your comment is not vulgar in any way.

Think of the next three ideas as a “compliment sandwich”. Begin your comment by agreeing with a few points made in the author’s article.

The second part of your comment (the ‘meat’ of your activity here) should be you sharing your expertise. If you agree with the whole article, maybe share a quick story of something that has happened to you in this arena.

Round off your comment with a note of thanks for the article or something similar. ou don’t want to sound too canned, so make sure to make it personal.

Then after you post your comment (or sometimes before) there is a button you can push to have all future comments sent to you via email. Click this, as you want to see how people react to your comment as well as have the opportunity to jump back in if needed.

It’s that simple. I suggest to help you FIND these blogs (which is the most time-consuming effort), use a site like StumbleUpon, Zite, Scoop.it, Trap.it, AOL Editions, or even Google Currents to find random blogs within your company’s niche category. This site is easy to use and very straightforward. You can also use sites such as Alltop or even a simple Google search for keywords.

My final piece of advice is to make sure you do this on a consistent basis. If you comment on one blog a month, the SEO impact will be non-existent. I say shoot for two comments a day and keep up with it. After a week you will get in the groove and it will become second nature. Also there is a wonderful side-effect that I’ve found in searching around the web – you might learn something new!

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Tag : online marketing

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