What Not To Do On Social Media

18Apr

Social media is one of those movements that really only work if the user is, well, using it correctly. It might seem overly simple, but there are certain unspoken rules and etiquette that should be abided by in order to have success. And, like the people that use it, the internet landscape, specifically social media, can be a tad fickle. Here are some good rules to abide by when presenting yourself to the world wide web and the many eyes that are watching you. Michael Morelli of Morellifit and Instagram giant (5 million followers going strong) has some suggestions on what to steer clear from.

Make sure you come off honest, true, and not like a scam artist. Nobody wants to question if you are who you say you are. There’s already enough of that on the internet. It’s important to show that you know that you’re a credible source of information for your field of specialty. Make sure the facts are actually true and that you’re posting credible information. If it’s your opinion, make sure you don’t push it too much, nor do you want to present it as fact.
Once you’ve built a decent following, they’re going to expect a consistent flow of new content and posts. Congrats, on your quest to reach out, you’ve become somewhat of an entertainer and news source, which you’ll have to keep up with. Be aware that internet silence can be deadly. You don’t want to be one of the mute screen names that eventually get deleted.
Do not push the sales side of your social media campaigns too much. This one is important because if you seem too much like a used-car salesmen (no offense to the automotive industry) you’re going to lose followers, and fast. Be sure to water down your pitchy posts with interesting news articles, contests, questionnaires, quizzes, whatever is engaging and relatable to your field.

It’s important to understand that, when using social media, you’re not speaking to an empty room. There is audience, and they’re expecting quality posts. Make sure you can deliver while still trying to push your brand in a subtle but effective way.

For more info about these helpful steps, Michael Morelli’s insightful article: http://ow.ly/10A9Up

Comment your thoughts below!

The Permanence of Social Media

By Christopher Tompkins

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18Apr

Social Media, Uncategorized

Let’s face it. The internet has not only reshaped how we conduct pretty much everything in life, it’s defined this age. With something so significant, people are sure to question its legitimacy and if its going to stick around. Especially with one of the internet’s biggest strengths, the way to communicate with one another. This is where social media comes in. How strong is it? Will we look back at social media with a nostalgic sense and think about it the same time we think about VHS tapes and Beanie Babies?

Anurag Harsh, writer for The Huffington Post, tries to answer this question in an article which tests our memory of one of 2015’s biggest hashtags, #TheDress. Do you remember when this odd piece of clothing was such a sensation? Some people swore that it was black and blue, while others proclaimed it was white and gold. Eventually, it turned into more of a social statement for spousal abuse awareness. Regardless of how much you remember the story, Harsh bets you at least are familiar with it thanks to the firepower of social media. He states that this is a prime example of why we wont be thinking about social media on Throwback Thursdays ten, twenty, or thirty years from now. This thing is here to stay.

Of course, many people love to say that about something they have a stake in, which Harsh definitely does. But even an objective pair of eyes can reason that social media has made a strong enough impact to exist perpetually, in some form or another. This doesn’t mean that social media as we see it now will always be around. For all we know, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram will join the ranks of abandoned websites, leaving their homepage as empty as Chernobyl. But you can be sure something will pop up in their places.

One thing that makes social media seemingly timeless is the fact that it has risen above a message board for selfies and pictures of what you’ve had for dinner (although there’s still plenty of that around). Instead, its made room for the serious side of communication, becoming innovative outlets for news, business solutions, and a way to get one’s message out, whether it be a political movement, or a hashtag representing something they truly believe in. It’s become our generation’s version of the newspaper, and with it, were reaching new heights that were once thought impossible.

For more information, check out Anurag Harsh’s Huff Post article here: http://ow.ly/10zAjt

Where do you think social media will be in ten years? Comment Below!

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

By Christopher Tompkins

23Feb

Social Media, Uncategorized

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.

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!

Video Marketing: Yes, You Can!

By Christopher Tompkins

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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

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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.

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.

Advertising on Facebook? Great! But….What’s Your Objective?

By Christopher Tompkins

20Aug

Facebook, Social Media, Uncategorized

If you have not considered advertising on Facebook – there truly is no time like the present to get started. I know in the past that I have been against Facebook advertising, and I am happy to admit it. At the time, it was not as advanced, and as crucial, as it is now.

The proof is in the pudding folks. How many people are your posts reaching? Just 1%? If you have ever been presented by this number – here are the facts. Facebook has changed its algorithm greatly, which is a high level way of saying that it has really reduced the number of people that will be exposed to your posts.

I’ve spoken with peers in the social media industry and we have agreed that organic engagement has dropped across the board. They have reported drops to 4-6% all the way down to 1-2% in terms of organic reach.

Cue Facebook Advertising.

While I am loathe to shove people towards advertising (as I believe in the online public relations aspect of social media), in this case I think it should be added as a crucial aspect of your overall Facebook marketing strategy.

But there are two pieces of good news – Facebook has made it easier than ever to understand their advertising model and your can get a lot of bang for your buck (currently).

My advice is that before you start ANY advertising initiative on Facebook or any other social media site, that you set forth clear objectives for why you want to advertise. In this case, Facebook has your best interests at heart and once you click “Create Ad” in your Facebook advertising section (yes, we all have them attached to our personal accounts), they will present you with a wonderful list of objectives to help you make the right choice.

I thought I would go through all of these here so that you can think critically about what your objective is before you even log into your account. Let’s go!

Possible Objectives for Your Facebook Advertising Campaign:

1. Boost Your Posts: Want to get more engagement on a certain post that you have on your Facebook Business Page? This option will allow you to create a sponsored post that would be seen by the audience of your choice to increase engagement.

2. Promote Your Page: Want more visibility and LIKES? Then this is the choice for you. It is a great way to get started with building your network on Facebook.

3. Send People to Your Website: Want hits to your website, blog, or online store? This allows you to create a sponsored ad that will be presented to the audience of your choice…right in the newsfeed!

4. Increase Conversions on Your Website: Do you want to promote conversions on your website? Want more email signups, ebook downloads, free consultation appointments? Use this objective to get more conversions on your offer.

5. Get Installs of Your App: Are you a developer with a new application that you would like to promote? What better way to promote this than to share your app via an add with a one-click download?

6. Increase Engagement in Your App: Is your application just not getting the user engagement that you want? Use this objective to get more people active using your app!

7. Reach People Near Your Business: Are you a local business that relies on your community for success? This objective allows you to hit your marketing with laser precision!

8. Raise Attendance at Your Event: You may have noticed that the number of people viewing your event invitations has decreased. Promote your event more aggressively with advertising and watch your numbers grow with targeted members outside of your network.

9. Get People to Claim Your Offer: Are you having a sale or special offer? Then this objective is the number one choice!

10. Get Video Views: Spend lots of money creating a promotional video or just have a video that you would like to see more people engage with? Use this to promote your video to a laser targeted market!

As you can see these 10 different objectives are a good starting point to better understanding where you need to start when it comes to Facebook Advertising. Now go onto your account and check these out in more detail. Facebook offers lots of flexibility, so click around and learn more about these objectives and what they entail!

Social Media Zen: 3 Mantras to Get You On Your Way

By Christopher Tompkins

27Jul

Facebook, Google+, Healthcare Marketing, LinkedIn, Marketing, Pinterest, Social Media, Twitter, Uncategorized

You are using social media to market your business. You are engaging every day, meeting new connections, finding new business, and starting exciting discussions. There is so much going on at times that you feel a bit overwhelmed, but are still eager to keep learning.

But, after a while, you begin to slip. You start cutting corners and begin to get unfocused. But this is normal right, happens to everyone?

No! You need to nip this in the bud now, before you go any further. When you spend time marketing on social media, you are investing time (and money) into your future online success. In order to keep the ball rolling, you need to keep your activity consistent!

Here are three social media mantras that I repeat everyday in order to keep me and my team at The Go! Agency on point:

Mantra 1: I will plan before I dive.

As you begin to engage with social media sites, you will come across new and exciting tactics, markets, ideas, and opportunities. When you hit these, do not drop everything and throw all of your effort that way immediately. Take a minute and see how you can approach new ideas in a way that is aligned with your overall marketing strategy and in a manner where you can get the most bang for your buck in the least amount of time.

Your marketing plan will be constantly evolving if you are incorporating social media into it, so please make sure to always approach each new idea with care. By having a well-thought-out approach, you will get the most out of the new opportunity that has been presented. Never turn anything down, but look at it objectively and strategically.

Mantra 2: I will listen, watch, and monitor before I join a discussion.

Many of us make the mistake of not listening before we leap. Our gut instinct is to stick to the same communication style as our conference calls, client meetings, email blasts, or corporate website. If you are going to use that style, you better make sure everyone else is speaking your language. In the social media world:

Listening = Reading

Speaking = Writing

When you are marketing in social media, it is 100 percent reading and writing until the time that the conversation moves to a phone conversation or in-person meeting. One of the aspects of social media marketing that you will have to come to grips with is that it requires a lot of writing and grammar skills.

Before you even write a single sentence, always read everything that has been written already. If someone sends you a direct message, read the entire message before responding (no skimming). If you are getting involved in a discussion on LinkedIn, make sure to read all of the points made by other members before leaving your own comment. If you are going to share someone else’s tweet, make sure that they don’t share explicit content regularly and make sure the link is valid.

For example, say that you are the leader of a national animal rights organization and are highly visible on Facebook. You look at some of your network’s Facebook updates and find a humorous one where they shared a YouTube video of a dancing dog. You loved it! And from the look of it, so did 34 other people. But since there are so many comments about the video, Facebook has hidden them, and you only see the most recent ones. One comment says, “My daughter loved the video, thanks!” You jump in and comment, “That couldn’t be cuter! Love everyone’s comments!”

The problem is that you didn’t read through those 34 comments because if you did, you would have seen that 25 of them were talking about how they would torture the dog. And then there you are, the leader of a well-known animal rights organization, endorsing this behavior.

Listen before you leap.

Mantra 3: I want to pull my customers toward me.

Any discussion of social media ethics would not be complete without first understanding the vital necessity of selflessness. I know it sounds pretty heavy, but stick with me here.

This is a good time to mention the terms “push marketing” and “pull marketing.” These terms refer to promotional strategies defined by the method of engagement. Push marketing requires pushing your brand message or offer onto your audience. Pull marketing requires customer engagement, wherein the customer pulls your products or services closer based on interest.

Push marketing is passive, but it can be pretty aggressive. The customer may or may not be aware of what you have to offer them, as is the case with traditional advertising. Even in an online environment, push marketing talks “to” the customer, not “with” the customer. In the online realm, push marketing can come across as “spammy” and heavy-handed. Most importantly, push-marketing methods are generally based on short-term strategies, such as discount offers for a limited time or coupons with expiration dates.

On the other hand, pull marketing is active. The customer chooses to seek out and engage with your highly visible brand. Creating relevant content that interests customers, entices them to register for your newsletter, or encourages them to join your community, are all effective pull marketing methods. Pull marketing methods focus on developing trust, reliability, and long-term perceived value. Prospects learn to believe your solution is the best for their needs. Pull marketing is the basis for social media marketing with a dash of push thrown in for good measure.

The point of this mantra? Every day you want to focus on getting your community to engage with you, not just read and forget. You want to create new and exciting opportunities for them to get close to you and share ideas, feedback, and their needs and wants. Your strategy needs to be focused on pulling your target audience closer rather than blasting them with one-sided content.