How To Maximize SEO And Leads With Social Media Marketing

Marketing in the distributed web today can become very, confusing very fast.

Imagine you have content distributed all over the web and you continue to do this every week (and you should). Facebook pages, HubPages, Twitter, article directories….the list is endless, especially when you add the local and market focused social nets, blogs, and directories. If you did not have a strategy for managing the content and how you want to engage and move customers around your distributed content this can quickly become a giant mess. Even worse, the power of these efforts working together will be very diluted.

What to do? Track and plan…

1. Make sure you have tracking in place so you know where your content is and how well that vehicle is performing. Links within sites you are publishing content to should have tracking code (bit.ly is one of many solutions for this) so you can measure your return on time and money. You can also look at your Google Analytics reports and look at the reference sites report to measure how productive your social media efforts are by channel (e.g Facebook, ezine articles etc).
2. Social media marketing is as much about SEO as it is about increasing your digital footprint to generating leads and traffic. So, planning out anchor text cross linking in advance will really help make sure that you (or whoever you outsourced social media page creation and maintenance to) maximize this opportunity. Remember you want to send “link juice” to your social media authority sites as well as your website. Think of it as a nest that becomes woven together into a solid cross linking strategy.
3. Be consistent with your linking strategy as you publish new content every week to the various sites. Make adjustments to what content topics you focus on as you learn from your tracking.

Putting it all together is where the magic happens for your business. This will separate the companies that throw-up a Facebook page and think they are doing social media marketing from the businesses that are using it as a serious business building tool.

What do you think?

How To Win Friends To Influence People

Dale Carnegie’s How to Win Friends and Influence People is one of the bestselling self-help books ever published, the reason is it works. Relationships are the single most powerful element to success in business and life…online and offline.

As the web gets more social, winning friends online can make you immensely influential. It all goes back to that basic truth about building authority:

What others say about you is more important than what you say about yourself.

So, the goal in your social media marketing program is to make friends with influential people in your niche or industry who trust, like and talk about your business and expertise. Make friends with social media power users in your niche/market who can promote your content on Digg, Reddit, and Delicious. Make friends with people on Twitter who can retweet your content to their followers. Once that happens, other followers will start doing the same, and the benefits of authority really start to compound.

Key here is to target your activity in social media…go deep within a community versus covering lots of ground but not really getting to know anyone in the community (especially the people who run the community). Spend time searching the major social networks as well as local blogs and social networks to identify a handful of active communities you can participate in. You can search by geography as well as market niche and interest.

Start targeting influential communities and participate. Listen and try to give something to the community before you start to sell anything. Take conversations offline at the right time so you can discuss how your can help each other grow your respective businesses. That’s how this stuff works….

Manage All of Your Social Media Networks at Once? We Do…and So Can You!

In order to run a successful business, you must be organizes, inside and out. With all of the social media networks and constant updates, mentions and followers, it is no wonder that our social media strategy can fall under the radar.

As the social media guru at GenNext, I can attest to the sweat, pain and tears (maybe a little exaggerated…) we have gone through looking for a social media platform that can fulfill all of our needs.

The key to finding this, we have learned, is simply through trial and error. But first you must establish the features your business needs to run an organized and manageable social media marketing strategy.

So ask yourself, what is your ideal social media platform? Here are the things that were essential to us:

• Scheduled Updates. Based on analytics, we schedule our tweets/updates to go out at particular times of the day, when they will have the best conversion rate. Therefore, if I want my blog post to go out at 3:00 p.m. sharp, I can schedule this in the morning and know that it is complete.

• Combined URL Shortner and Analytics. A URL shortener is a must for Twitter updates, but they mean nothing if you cannot track who is clicking on them. We use analytics to monitor our target audience to shape our marketing strategy to what our customers are looking for.

• Monitoring Twitter Mentions. In order to stay up-to-date on people mentioning your business throughout the distributed web, it is important to have an automatic system that informs you of when you are retweeted, direct messaged or commented on. We like to engage our audience and let them know that we are there for the social marketing needs.

Can you find all these things in one site? We did. HootSuite is a great organizational platform that fits all of our social media needs. But it might not work for your business. So, ask yourself, what are your social media marketing needs? Let us know…we can lead you toward a platform that will fit your business.

What Would Martin Luther King Do With Social Media?

Dr. King made a huge impact on the world with his passion, revolutionary ideas, inspiring vision and charisma. That combination alone got him and his movement earned media worth hundreds of millions of dollars on network television, major weekly magazines and radio. Many of you might not be old enough to remember, but in those days, if you got on the three major networks (FOX, MTV and hundreds of other channels didn’t exist), the two major newsweekly’s and syndicated radio you reached virtually 100% of the US population.

Creating a movement today is easier in some ways and a lot harder in others. The proliferation of media channels provides a much larger opporutnity to tell your message but the fragmented audience makes it harder to reach people at scale…with earned or paid media. The big plus in building a moment today is the ability, with new technologies and social media, to engage and have a relationship with people on a large scale. We’ve created a three legged stool using paid media, earned media and now social media. Together they make a very powerful combination for a movement as President Obama demonstrated in the 2010 election.

What would Dr. King do with social media?

• Have a blog with RSS and email options to chronicle his thoughts and experiences every day as he moved through the country
• Use an HD video camera to do interviews with world and political leaders he met with, and distribute them on his own social media platforms and video distribution sites like You Tube.
• Post times and dates for events he was having on Meetup.com as well as his website, blog and other media properties he maintained.
• Use Twitter to activate his followers into action as well as read/view his latest posts, videos and articles.
• Listen to the dialogue taking place in the country to identify hot-spots, emerging leaders in his movement and hone his messaging.
• Use his followers to crowd source video, blog posts, articles and other types of media
• Build a list and keep it active with fund raising and fresh ideas

What a man. What a movement!

What else would Dr King do?

Bra’s and Facebook: A Social Media Inspiration for Your Business

Black. Pink. Leopard…I will let your mind do the rest. For those of you who are not avid Facebook junkies, like myself, you probably have no idea what these words even mean.  Well, it just so happens, that Facebook has been in the center of a social media-marketing storm.

Female Facebook users, from all around the globe, decided to implement a small “game” to raise awareness for breast cancer. All women (starting with only a few) bombarded the live news feeds with the color of their bras. Who knew that something this simple could become a ‘Grass-roots movement?’

Talk about viral marketing…within two hours, the Susan G. Komen Facebook fan page increased from 135 fans to 700.

Now, if this story doesn’t motivate you to get out there and brand your business, than I don’t know what will. With the power of the social media community, the Susan G. Komen Foundation was able to raise awareness about their cause, thus, causing an increase in donations, volunteers and event participants. Think of all ways your business can use social media networking to create and establish a visible brand, while driving traffic to your business.

Whether it is a contest exclusive to Facebook fans, releasing a discount coupon for your product, or hiding an eBook on your website to have people search for-get people excited.

Use the story above to inspire your business marketing strategy.     Think: How can I get people energized about my product/service? Don’t be afraid. The Internet is more forgiving than your think. If your idea doesn’t exactly “take off,” don’t get discouraged…just keep trying.

So, with all of that encouragement, I expect you to all to go out and interact with your community in a fun and creative way.

What ideas do you have to maximize your Internet presence?

3 Most Challenging Aspects Of Social Media Marketing

Marketing in the distributed web takes a completely new set of skills than traditional business marketing.  We have been conduction a poll asking our audience (almost 1,000 on LinkedIn)of business owners and senior executives “What the most challenging aspect of implementing a social media marketing program is?”.

Here are some results:

Most Challenging Aspects Of Social Media Marketing

Unscientific LinkedIn Poll

By far, “strategy for a campaign” is the most challenging. Not surprising since we have so much information coming at us all the time and new ideas, techniques and media options emerge every day. I also suspect that many are confused between social media marketing and interactive marketing in general (the emerging distributed web).

Second runner up is content creation and distribution. Most companies are not set up to be publishers. They don’t have the skill set or workflow and systems to do it. In the distributed web, becoming and information publisher and educator in your market are critical to success.

The third biggest challenge to implement a social media program is time to implement. This is scary stuff for executives already overwhelmed with things they need to do just to get their current tasks done.

Company Size

We also looked at these same variables by company size and it sheds more light on this subject.

Most Challenging Aspects Of Social Media Marketing

By Business Size

Unscientific LinkedIn Poll

Larger organizations appear to be more focused on understanding the strategy and how it fits the overall marketing communications effort. This makes sense since there is more structure and moving pieces in a larger enterprise. Larger organizations also do not appear to have as much of a concern with the content piece of social media marketing as does smaller businesses where resources and skill sets are more limited.

Social Media Challenges By Age

Interestingly, we also looked at these same variables by age.

Most Challenging Aspects Of Social Media Marketing

By Age of Respondent

Unscientific LinkedIn Poll

Business owners and executives in the “middle” of a career seem to focus on strategy.  Younger respondents have the most concern about content development and distribution. Possibly because they don’t have the experience, contacts or perspective yet to consistently create content.  Older professionals find the time issue hardest to handle. This new marketing world requires a time commitment and attention that they are not used to.

In our judgment, this all points to an idea we have been playing with (and testing in our GenNext Media Labs) over the past year. We created a system to abstract away the complexity of implementing a social media program. Not that our “system” is easy, because the fact is doing social media marketing right is not easy and requires more time and attention than traditional forms of marketing. Our solution to these challenges is a process with, work flow and organization businesses of any size can understand and implement.

The key, however basic, is to have a plan using a proven set of actions to start with so your organization doesn’t get trapped. Look at businesses that you think are doing it right and model what they are doing.  Follow what is working and then expand once you get started.

We launch social media marketing programs for companies large and small using a proven template of content, distribution, and a website/blog that all works together to have an impact. The focus is getting some level of leads and/or traffic to our sites quickly. It’s amazing how much time people find to do things once they experience some success.

If you have not responded to the survey, please go to this link and tell us what you think…most challenging aspects of social media marketing

Please Don’t Use Social Media Marketing If You…

Please Don’t Use Social Media Marketing If You…

…have the slightest inkling you have torpor.

Torpor means “lack of vitality or interest”.

Creating a long-term relationship with consumers, clients and brand advocates via the distributive and social Web requires that you have, or are doing, something we’ll find interesting: a message, product or service possessing value and exuberance.

Too many businesses, sites and brands are defined by torpor.

They have no purpose, they clutter the world with more useless “stuff”, they are boring, cookie-cutter products, and are not worthy of our attention.

These same brands and companies jump into the distributive Web hoping to build fans and to connect with existing as well as new customers.

Where is the passion and purpose in your brand or product? Can we “feel” it when we click on your site, Twitter page or blog?

Figure it out before you fill us with apathy (another aspect of torpor).

Definition from Visual Thesaurus: (one of the best sites and best annual subscription for just about everyone).

WR-per\, noun:

1. Lacking in vitality or interest.
2. A state of mental or physical inactivity or insensibility.
3. Lethargy; apathy.

Harnessing Brand Advocates In Social Media

Prospects involved in online communities can have a multiplier effect on your marketing effort if you can convert them into brand advocates for your business.

In a recent eMarketer post we found a recent survey conducted by Synovate for word-of-mouth ad network PostRelease investigated just how likely Internet users are to talk about Brands and motivate consumers to become advocates. The study confirms that involved Internet users express this brand advocacy in many ways online and offline. This is called “earned media” in professional marketing circles…where brand messages get repeated in traditional media outlets, online in social networks or offline in recommendations and conversations. It’s free and very valuable.

The concept of earned media is important because it is the most powerful form of communication. Studies have shown for years that work of mouth communication is the most powerful form of motivating consumers. This study looks at (and confirms) how online brand advocates influence friends and family around them online and offline.

The most common word-of-mouth activity reported by respondents was helping a friend or family member with a purchase decision, but more than two-fifths also said they had shared advice offline about information they learned on the Web. Significantly fewer Internet users posted their own ratings and reviews online, and only about one-half as many shared links to articles or reviews about products.

As you might expect, participation in social media and word-of-mouth activities was highest among the younger set. Even more interesting, almost half of them gave offline (in-person) advice based on information they saw online. But the numbers are strong across age groups.

eMarketer reports that PostRelease also broke down respondents according to whether or not they participate in online forums, which about one-fifth of those polled did. Forum participants were significantly more likely to take part in all the activities queried. Notably:

• 65% of forum contributors give advice offline based on information found online, compared with 35% of noncontributors.
• 66% of forum contributors post online ratings and reviews, compared with 16.8% of noncontributors.
• 43.6% of forum contributors share links to articles and reviews, versus 12% of noncontributors.
• 20.6% of forum contributors publish a blog, compared with 2.1% of noncontributors.

Users of forums, who are already actively engaged in online social activity, make for “enthusiastic consumers and influential brand advocates,” according to a statement by Justin Choi, president and founder of PostRelease.

What does this mean for your business?

You know those fans you are collecting on Facebook, the followers you are collecting on Twitter and the readers you are engaging with on your blog? Those are people you want to make into passionate brand advocates. They will have a multiplier effect on your top line revenue that will give you the edge in your market. The key is to carefully and deliberately build your fans, followers and readers so that you have a real relationship with them. Nurture them and activate them.

What do you think?

Business Marketing In The Coming Decade: Frustration Or Opportunity

In between skiing the moguls last week I was thinking a lot about what this next decade will look like for business marketers. We wrote the “Disrupted” book to give you a road map of what to expect with the profound changes taking place right now because of technology and new applications. This is all happening faster than we could have ever expected…and you have a choice to make.

That’s right. The ball is in your court, but you need to decide if you’re business is going to look at this change as an opportunity, or become bogged down with anxiety and frustration. Seth Godin had a great post on this a few days ago. He framed this in big, drastic terms because the stakes are so high. “The revolution is in full swing and an entire generation is eager to change everything because of it”.

Let’s get started in this first week of the new decade. No better time than right now to get your business and team on-board for the marketing revolution!

Where to start?

1. Embrace change- Learn, experiment and test new things. This is not a one time thing…you will need to build this into your business process and culture because this change is happening over years and is not stopping.
2. Lead by example- Some of this new stuff is hard. Just mention blogging to your staff and watch them squirm. Participating in the community and becoming a trusted source takes time and a new kind of professionalism that needs to come from the top.
3. Measure everything- Huge economic advantage will go to the businesses that understand this revolution and know how to optimize it for their purposes. You can’t optimize unless you are measuring.

Get help if you need it. Things are moving very quickly and it is hard to keep up unless you are following technology and case studies very closely.

Here’s to the next decade!

What are you thinking?

Social Media Marketing: 4 Reasons To Launch Your Social Web Campaign Now!

Social media marketing is the hottest “business reality-show” that’s generating leads for businesses of all sizes. As every business owner knows, leads are the lifeblood of their companies. Getting a consistent flow of profitable leads today is hard.

At a time when customers use social networking to search, discuss and explore new ideas and opportunities, “Companies have no choice. This is where their customers are going,” reported USA Today on August 27, 2009.

Advice on how to implement various social media marketing opportunities like Facebook, Twitter, Delicious and others abound. However, like any media campaign, you need to make sure your social media program is strategic, measurable and encompasses the entire spectrum’s of opportunities that are right for your business.

Four key reasons social marketing will lift your business prospects are:

• You can easily dominate your market at little to no cost. Because social media marketing is SEO on steroids, it has the ability to reach across all the important places for your niche on the Internet.

• Using the right content distribution and management strategy will get you a consistent flow of quality leads.

• You have control and can literally get started within hours if you want. Even better, you don’t need to go through a sales rep or purchase process.

• You can leverage expertise and become an authority in your niche with “followers” in social media groups. You business will be the “first call” when customers want to learn about products and services in your niche.

Bill Bean, president of Green Planning & Coaching noticed right away how adopting social marketing, “changed my approach to marketing completely! I had a website for 2-1/2 years that never brought in a single lead because I had no mechanism to collect email addresses of visitors, no analytics and no promotion through social media. I just launched my new website—and I already have prospects signing up for my newsletter. Amazingly, I’m also already getting responses to blog postings on LinkedIn and other green community sites I learned to participate in.”

Never in the history of consumer selling have companies, from one-person shops to multi-national corporations, been handed such an effective, low-cost opportunity to carry out promotional efforts. Learn how to leverage this effective new tool for your business or you will soon be left behind.

Chris Marentis is a serial entrepreneur and recognized Internet Marketing expert having served as SVP at AOL and CEO of Clearspring Technologies. For more information on Online Marketing and Advertising, go to GenNext Media LLC. today.

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