How To Be A Google+ Genius

17Jul

In 2011, Google replaced its first attempt at a social media network, Google Buzz, with Google+. However, during its run the website seems to be underappreciated by the general populace. Of the top social media networks in the US, Google+ is one that is often overlooked. This is a shame since it really does have some interesting approaches to the social side of the internet and very effective tools for perfecting your marketing. In November 2015, it underwent a facelift in an attempt to attract new life to the platform and new users may be wondering just how to use the website.

One of the most powerful features of Google+ is its ability to improve one’s SEO. Since Google is the king of search engines, this may seem obvious for the uninformed but when you take into consideration that Facebook posts do not appear in Google’s search results, this automatically puts Google+ in a more preferable light, doesn’t it? On top of SEO, it indexes every piece of content you share through your Google account and comes up in search. This alone proves Google+’s worth.

Now, if you have a Google+ account, there is a very good chance you have Facebook and Twitter as well. This means you have already written content refined for social media that isn’t coming up on a Google search. By simply reposting your content onto your Google+ account, you will be doing your social media marketing a favor. However, there is more to this social media platform than search engine optimization.

While Twitter has their Lists, Google+ has Circles. Circles essentially perform the same function as Lists, however, you can use them to filter the content on your news feed as well. You can choose to only see posts from a specific Circle, which can help social media marketers refine content searches.

Google+ also gives you the room for writing long form articles, and helps spread your original content quickly. However, we would not recommend using a Google+ page solely for blogging purposes, but rather publish a snippet and then link to your actual blog.

As you can see, Google+ has a place in the social media marketing world, despite Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram’s growing domination. By having a Google+ page you will show that you are serious about social media and its effectivity, as well as spreading your word through the web. To truly develop a powerful page, you will need some background in social media marketing. We have seen professionals really benefit from its features and we have the know- how to help you succeed in this new frontier.

What do you think of Google+? Comment below!

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Is Your Social Media Marketing Social?

By Christopher Tompkins

16Jul

Social Media

For decades, marketing was a fairly straightforward job. Regardless of the medium, the goal was to present the client’s product or service in the most positive light possible so customers would buy, buy, buy. There was no mistaking that all the content produced was advertising, commercials, and sales. Now, however, social media has changed everything. Perhaps it’s that the general populace has become keen on what marketers are trying to accomplish or perhaps it’s the technology that we currently use. Regardless, social media marketing requires a different type of approach, one of humanity and warmth.

The whole premise of social media marketing is to have have instant access to a company’s representative. That’s right, a live, human representative. The same should go for your content. It needs to have that human spark to it. How exactly does one go about reclaiming the humanity in an industry that was once very shallow? Here are some of the best ways to keep your social media content down to Earth:

Respond quickly. When a customer contacts you on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, or one of the other websites we all know and love, you need to respond the same way you would if it was one of your friends asking you a question, which is quickly! The days of being put on hold are coming to an end and the best social media marketers keep their response times low.
In addition to responding quickly, your tone should be organic. You should have a natural, friendly feel to everything you write and depending on your industry, you should add some personality to each post.
Raise engagement. How do you strike up a conversation in real life? With questions, statements, and general icebreakers. Social media is no different. Present content that will get the dialogue going. Ask a question in the form of a poll, quiz, or just a simple inquiry into your customers’ thoughts. Then, when you respond, try to act in a professional, yet comfortable nature.
Share! On your personal page, what do you do if you see something that your friends will enjoy? Well if you are a good friend, you share it. Your business page should be the same. If you see content out in the wild landscape of the internet that pertains to your customer base, try to share it often. This will bring a lot of attention to your pages as well.

Making sure that there is a conversation and human tone to your social media content will satisfy customers and have more followers show up. It is helpful to always examine how you are writing and to make sure it doesn’t seem too robotic.

Share your thoughts on humanity’s role in social media below!

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What Social Media Marketers Can Learn From Pokemon Go

By Christopher Tompkins

What-Social-Media-Managers-Can-Learn-From-Pokemon-Go-200x300

12Jul

Advertising, Facebook, Local Marketing, Marketing, Pinterest, Reddit, Snapchat, Social Media, Social networking, Uncategorized

Do you remember the hit game Pokemon from the 1990s? While there have been several versions since Nintendo’s original incarnation, it’s popularity returned in a big way recently by tapping into the smartphone world where Pokemon Go, a completely new game, is available for free.

Not even Nintendo itself expected its new video game to take over the world as quickly as it did. Less than 24 hours after its release, Pokemon Go’s servers began to crash due to overpopulation on their digital frontier. Apple’s App Store and the Google Play Store both proudly house the massively popular game and at the time of writing this article, there are well over a million players trying to “catch ‘em all”.

Yes, it’s obvious that video games are popular. Yet by tapping into the mobile app market for the very first time, Nintendo has proven itself to understand the current trends in their field. However, there’s much more at work here than an app. From a marketing standpoint, they just accomplished a beautiful act.

Without getting into too many details, Pokemon’s popularity hit American shores in 1995 when their first two games debuted on Game Boy, the premier mobile gaming platform at the time. Children ate it up like it was the end of the world. Merchandising exploded. A TV show, a card game, action figures, stuffed toys, candy, clothing, themed stores, and much more took the world by storm. It was a marketer’s dream. Now, those children are in their mid-twenties and early thirties and have put the Game Boy down in place of an iPhone or Android device. Nintendo adapted perfectly to their original audience. Best of all, they made a majority of game play for free.

So, as social media marketers, what can we learn from this rising phenomenon? For one thing, watch internet trends closely. No surprise #PokemonGo was one of the top hashtags for quite some time. Brands that were able to somehow pull Pokemon Go into their social media posts received a nice spike of engagement. All over Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest, there were tons of Pokemon-related posts. Keep in mind that all of this publicity is free. Nintendo hardly advertised this app at all!

Social media marketers should also take note on just how ingenious Nintendo was to tap into their original market. Surely, today’s children could probably borrow their parents’ phones and play, but the numbers are coming in and it’s not a surprise to anyone that the most downloads are from those same people who played the original version. Nostalgia, it is one heck of a marketing tool.

Pokemon Go would not have been as much of a success without social media and you can take advantage of the firepower of these platforms just as easily.

What are your thoughts on Pokemon Go’s quickly rising popularity? Comment below!

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How to Run Circles Around Social Media Algorithms

By Christopher Tompkins

Run-Circles-Around-Social-Media-Algorithms-200x300

9Jul

Advertising, Email Marketing, Instagram, Local Marketing, Marketing, Periscope, Pinterest, Snapchat, Social Media, Twitter, Uncategorized

Social media marketers need to be as adaptive as chameleons in today’s cyber landscape. Our favorite websites throw us curve balls by constantly changing their algorithms and layouts. As such, we need to continuously tweak our strategies. Yet how can you compete with the inner-workings of a huge website such as Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter?

One of the more significant algorithm changes of late has been Instagram’s switch up. They had always ordered posts in a time-linear fashion, placing the most recent items first and older posts would be further down the line. Now, Instagram seems to be taking advice from its parent company, Facebook. Their new algorithm has the website trying to predict users’ potential interest in each post. There are several variables ranging from the person who posted it, subject manner, and the amount of engagement the post already has. No matter how you look at it, it is a new challenge for marketers, like all social media algorithms.

The first step of adapting to algorithms is to understand what they are intended to do. Like Instagram, Facebook’s current algorithm is meant to deliver quality posts to the user in an intuitive way, even if they aren’t frequent users. It delivers more posts from whom you engage with the most. You will notice this when you like or comment on an update from someone you haven’t talked to in a while. Soon, you will see their posts more often in your timeline and once you continue to like them, Facebook will think these kinds of posts are exactly what you want. Seems user friendly, right? This, however, doesn’t make it easy for social media marketers when they are trying to get the word out to new audiences. Now, users do have the option to switch off these algorithms. For instance, Twitter has a handy pre-checked box that says “Show me the best tweets first”. If one unchecks that, they are back to the old-fashioned type of news feed. However, you in no way can expect users to uncheck that box. You have to be proactive!

Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter have an answer to the outreach problem they have presented. Using hashtags and keywords will save you from being lost in the updated news feeds. Yes, it seems like hashtags may be a common saving grace, but it is one of the most effective tactics to reach audiences aside from utilizing advertising services. This way, your content will come up when a user searches for the hashtag’s subject manner. Hopefully, they will follow your trail of breadcrumbs back to your profile and you will be set.

For Instagram, one of the biggest ways to stay on your followers’ screens is to request they “turn on notifications.” If people choose to receive notifications from your account, Instagram’s algorithm will work in your favor and you will begin to take notice. For Facebook, engagement is key. If you want your audience to continue to see your posts, (and of course, you do) promote commenting, liking, and sharing. You will start to notice the tides turning in your favor, but you need your followers’ cooperation.

As you can see, algorithms can be tricky. This is just the tip of the iceberg, as everyday we have to study the workings of social media to see how we can have an advantage. In the future, we are going to see more restrictive algorithms and it is important to have an expert on your team for when the time comes.

What do you think of algorithms? How do you adapt to them? Comment below!

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Social Media: The Front Lines Of Customer Communication

By Christopher Tompkins

5Jul

Advertising, Email Marketing, Instagram, Local Marketing, Marketing, Our Work, Social Media, Social networking, Twitter, Uncategorized

Customers are the lifeforce of a business. For multiple reasons, a business simply cannot thrive without a substantial customer base. Social media marketing isn’t any different. Without followers, a business is just talking to itself. Our customers are the reason we have the marketing industry in the first place, and we take that concept a step further with social media. Each post written should be catered to a business’ audience and adhere to their wants. However, this new avenue of communication does much more than that. We are able to converse with our audience in new and exciting ways that could benefit any company. Here are the best ways that a customer can receive “above and beyond” customer service.

Since communication is one of the key parts of social media, a business page should perfect their responses and reply time. Like every action a company’s representative takes, activity online needs to be professional, friendly, and proofread. However, you will also want to be quick about it. A fast response, typically less than 24 hours, will be required to keep up a good online rapport. This will also show your company’s reactivity to negative comments or reviews. Keep smiling, stay positive, and do not confront them, even if they are acting hostile.

Are you unsure about how a product is doing? Good news! Your audience is right there, waiting to be asked. Since polls are easy to complete, they are a great way to engage your audience and to receive insightful knowledge. You will be surprised how many followers will participate in a poll that is embedded in a post. You can use this to tweak current services and products or to discover what your customers want next! Wouldn’t it be great if all companies offered this?

Consumers want to buy from a company that keeps giving and social media is the way to do that. We are able to provide customers and followers with new means of communications, but you can also deliver interesting content that may not land you an instant sale, but will attract new eyes to your brand.

How do you use social media for customer service? Share your thoughts with us!

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Why Your Company Can’t Fly Without Twitter

By Christopher Tompkins

3Jul

Advertising, Marketing, Social Media, Social networking, Tailwind, Twitter, Uncategorized

Many people immediately think of Facebook when social media is brought up in a conversation. Sure, it is the most popular of the platforms, but it isn’t the only helpful tool available. Twitter is a unique social media platform. Think of it as Facebook’s hyperactive, social butterfly of a cousin. News flies quick on Twitter, and more businesses flock to the platform everyday.

For those thinking, “Isn’t Twitter just a smaller version of Facebook?” they are in for a surprise. Yes, the infrastructure of the site enforces a 140 character limit for each tweet you publish, however effective social media managers use this to their advantage.

As we have said, news travels fast on Twitter. Because of this, you can quickly grow an effective brand with a wide reach. Due to the speed of the website’s activity, the 140 character limit is a necessity, otherwise it would be too long for someone to read, and it would be swept away in the news feed. For those saying that they only need a Facebook, you may want to realize that Twitter is where stories break the fastest. Time is a factor with social media, and your whole audience can watch your tweets unfold during an event, a Q and A session, or an unveiling of a product. As responsive as Facebook is, Twitter is even more so. This allows customers’ questions to be resolved as quick as they ask them and relevant topics to be on your news feed immediately. As a leader in your industry, weighing in on important news topics and rising issues is crucial. This is why reporters use Twitter every single day. They are able to post and tweet while a situation is still unfolding.

Twitter is like a sports car- without excess baggage, lightning fast, and it has the ability to turn heads. It has become one of the central hubs for social media professionals to promote a consistent and contemporary brand, and its demographic is universal. You can also gain some extra firepower in your marketing by utilizing Twitter Ads. They can ensure your promoted posts are in the spotlight, which will be extremely helpful considering how quickly other tweets fill up news feeds. We recommend you tweeting multiple times a day and share others’ content by retweeting and quote retweeting so your twitter account is top notch.

How does your business use Twitter? Comment below!

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

By Christopher Tompkins

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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Steps To Stay Ahead In Social Media

By Christopher Tompkins

30Jun

Social Media

It seems that news stories have shorter and shorter life spans with every major event. Events that happened last week are already old news thanks to the internet. We are hungry for fast, fresh, and high-quality content and it is up to social media marketers to deliver. How exactly do you keep up with it all? Here are some helpful steps to take:

Schedule. While planning your posts for a particular period of time won’t help you with breaking news, scheduling ahead will be one of your most beloved tools. If you devote a few hours each week to social media, you will not feel obligated to spend every moment on the computer. Then, use either the native scheduler of your social media platform of choice or a third party such as Hootsuite so your updates will go live when you want them to.

Stay Informed. Be sure to have a sharp eye on what is happening in the world and in your industry. To do this, you will want to follow the leaders of your field and reputable news sources. Once you see news start to break, it will erupt over the internet landscape very quickly, so jump in early.

Watch the calendar. Of course, knowing the date is important, but what we are referencing here is keeping on top of seasonal trends. Holidays, awareness months, and anniversaries all bring success to social media marketing. You don’t want to be that one Facebook page that doesn’t wish a Happy Mother’s Day!

Social media marketing isn’t easy. It is hard to keep up with all the moving cogs and gears that make up the internet. Yet with these tips, you will be good to go!

Do you have any other tips about staying ahead? Comment 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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Why Customers Are Your Biggest Social Media Fans

By Christopher Tompkins

Social-Medias-Role-in-Customer-Service--200x300

28Jun

Advertising, Facebook, Google+, Instagram, LinkedIn, Local Marketing, Marketing, Pinterest, Social Media, Social networking, Uncategorized

We’re aware of all the benefits social media has when it comes to personal communication. We’re able to connect like never before! That’s true when it comes to customer service as well. Each platform gives us unique opportunities to reach out to customers in innovative ways. Huffington Post explains how social media allows businesses to drop an intimidating veil and come down to an approachable level. Here are the top ways businesses benefit from what will define our generation in terms of business and human interaction:

Technically speaking, businesses now have access to a ton more data. Whether it’s customer reviews, demographics, or analytics, social media now helps get the numbers straight. We are able to look into the minds (and conversations) of our customer bases. This allows us to create better content, more engaging posts, and essentially adapt to the needs of the market.
Businesses now have a direct line to their customers. They don’t have to worry about other mediums like television channels and press releases if they don’t have to. If they want to reach out, all they have to do is press the “Publish” button. Now, with updates to Facebook’s Messenger app, we can greet them with immediate replies in case there isn’t someone near a screen to reply. There are also AI systems in the works so you can allow your customers to enjoy a quick, automated process.
As stated earlier, social media allows businesses to be human. They now communicate like everyone else and can have a real conversation. This is why we post engaging, fun content instead of constantly barraging our followers with ads. This is supposed to be social media, not a sales pitch.

We see a big shift in the way businesses market and advertise thanks to social media’s tools. The internet has opened up a whole new world for professionals to reach out to customers in a fluid, organic, and frankly, fun way.

For more on how social media changes the engagement of customers, check out Huffington Post’s article here: http://ow.ly/FH4P3008ThL

How has social media helped your business? Let us know!

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