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The Powerful Art of Community Building – Increase Your Blog’s Reach & Traffic

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Community building is basically communicating with users in your niche, whether online or off, by engaging them in conversations important to them and the market, offering advice or any useful content to make their lives better. Its about becoming a leader in your industry, with whom other users can relate to and rely on. Its about building trust and relevance in a fast paced and ever changing environment. Yet, as bloggers, how do we achieve this? Where do we go to find the users and environment for building that closely knit and profitable community?

Well, the easy answer is that its everywhere. Wherever users have a voice and are free to connect and express themselves with others, you’ll find an opportunity to engage, extend your reach and grow your community. Although communities are all over the web there are some sites which will help you gain much better results and better connections.

Don’t know where to start? Here are 2 powerful places. [Read more…] about The Powerful Art of Community Building – Increase Your Blog’s Reach & Traffic

Are You Sharing the Right Type of Content?

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social media content

Sharing and promoting content that your target users are going to be interested in is key when it comes to having a successful social media strategy. It is not a good use of time and resources to post any content that users won’t find interesting or may make you or your business look unprofessional. For example, including an unrelated or uninteresting link with commentary that is full of typos isn’t going to give your audience a good impression of your company online (and sometimes, as a whole).

 

To find the right type of content to share, check out competitors’ pages (but do not copy them) as well as pages that you yourself find interesting as a member of the industry you are in. Sometimes being aware of what you find interesting and sharing it is all it takes to get started.

 

In addition, asking coworkers and online users themselves what type of content they’d like to see can be a very enlightening experience. They may have ideas or suggestions that you haven’t thought of before, or they may say they like something that you thought wasn’t popular.

 

To find out the best type of content that is best for your social media marketing campaigns and publishing campaign, test different types of content to see what gets the most clicks or engagement. It’s also important not to over think it. Not surprisingly, content about improving your LinkedIn profile goes over great on LinkedIn, and comics or funny news pieces can usually be popular on Facebook. Additionally, on Twitter, content that has really interesting titles, such as “5 Mistakes You’re Making While Networking” will get more interest than something like, “Common Networking Mistakes”.  These are all over-arching factors to take into consideration, as well as finding more specific niche topics for your business.

 

When sharing content, use link shorteners that have analytics attached to them when possible (such as cli.gs or bit.ly links). This will help you track shares, clicks and referral sources from your shared social media links. This just provides even more information that makes it possible to have the most targeted social media publishing calendar that is possible.

 

Along with the type of content, timeliness is also important. Because social media is very focused on the now, be sure to only share content that is relevant and timely to that day. For instance, when Michael Jackson passed away, it just wouldn’t be in good taste to post a news story announcing his death two days later. Everyone already knew. It will make your business seem out of the loop and just struggling to keep up– not an image you want to promote.

 

How to Participate in Twitter Chats

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twitterTwitter chats are a great way to participate with like-minded individuals in your community or industry, as well as possibly to get new Twitter followers. It also allows you to find new people to follow as well.

Twitter chats are usually about 30 minutes to an hour once a week. During the set time, there is a moderator who starts the chat with a discussion question or topic. Other participating users then chime in on their Twitter accounts, all using the designated Twitter chat hashtag.

For instance, there is a Twitter chat for glass manufacturers and vendors and their chat hashtag is #glasschat. When a user wants to respond to the discussion question or to another user’s comment, they tweet, and then end their tweet with #glasschat.

There are several different Twitter chats that are happening every day, in all different kinds of industries, including publishing, fitness, design, and marketing. The key to being successful in utilizing Twitter for this purpose is to only tweet with the hashtag when you have something valuable to say and to stay away from being self-promotional, unless it directly relates to the topic at hand and isn’t pushy or cheesy. This is the best way to turn people off from you and your company.

Here are two great resources that will help you find and participate in Twitter chats:

ChirpGuide is a great place to find Twitter chats to participate in. The chats are broken down into topics, such as politics, sports, TV, and news. You can also search by keyword or topic. If you sign in to the website using your Twitter profile, you can save your favorite streams or Twitter chats. This makes it easy to re-access them.

TweetChat is another Twitter chat website that functions more like a chat room when you are participating in a Twitter chat. You log in and choose the hashtag you want to follow. It then takes you into a “room” or window where you can see the tweets that contain that hashtag, streaming in real time.

No matter how you decide to participate in Twitter chats– whether through a site like TweetChat, TweetDeck, or just the old fashioned way through the Twitter website– regularly taking the time to talk to people in your industry can be a great way to continue to show credibility and value to you or your company’s Twitter profile.

How to Use Twitter Hashtags to Your Advantage

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Twitter Hashtags MarketingTwitter hashtags are an easy way to make your tweets more searchable by people that could be interested in them and your company’s products and services. However, it is easy to go overboard, so utilize these basic hashtag guidelines to make sure the use of hashtags on your company’s Twitter account is useful, not annoying or spammy.

Hashtags Existing Words

If there is a tweet that says something like, “5 Cool Festivals in Kansas City: URL”, it would be easy to add hashtags to the exisiting keywords in that tweet to make them instantly searchable: “5 Cool #Festivals in #KansasCity: URL”. In this instance, because the city name was two words, I made it one so the hashtag could be searchable for the entire city name. Twitter will only make a single word or phrase clickable, so if there is a space in between words, it will only make the first word into the clickable hashtag.

Use Extra Hashtags Sparingly and When Relevant

In the above example, it might be useful for Kansas City residents who are searching for Kansas City-related tweets to also include the hashtag #kc at the end of your tweet (after the URL). Because KC is a common abbreviation for Kansas City, a lot of Twitter users may be searching with it. However, adding an extra hashtag that is just keyword stuffing, like the word #parties, wouldn’t really make sense in this instance and is using up valuable character space. It is also making the tweet look more cluttered, spammy, and confusing.

Use Existing Popular Hashtags

Going into the Discover portion of Twitter can help you see what hashtags are already trending. If you have a blog post, story, or product that relates to a popular hashtag, it might be worthwhile to include a tweet.

However, it is crucial to be sensitive. For instance, the GAP had a tweet about shopping online during Hurricane Sandy. This can actually hurt your brand because it makes the company seem insensitive to all the victims of Hurricane Sandy and their families.

A good example would be, “Have #BieberFever? Check out our selection of custom @JustinBieber blankets here: URL” This tweet is relevant to the trending hashtag #BieberFever and users may actually be interested in the Justin Bieber blankets your company is selling.

This only works if the products are relevant. For instance, tweeting, “Check out our Clock Sale today! URL #BieberFever” that doesn’t mention anything about Justin Bieber (even if you sell Justin Bieber clocks) seems spammy and could get flagged by Twitter users.

Graphic from this blog post.

What Are the Benefits of Scheduling Your Social Media?

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scheduling social media posts

There are many services available today that allow social media marketing managers to schedule tweets, Facebook posts, and more. Some of the free and paid services available include Buffer, Sendible, TweetDeck, and Hootsuite. Many of these services also have mobile apps that allow for monitoring, publishing, and maintenance while on the go or away from the office.

While total automation is never a good thing, there is a great balance between automating your RSS feed from your blog and manually scheduling your posts, as well as taking the time to re-tweet or respond to content or posts when necessary.

Finding great content or internal news or marketing pieces to share and then scheduling when they go out can always be a great way to make sure that your company’s social media constantly have a steady social media presence.

Many social media users (depending on the industry) are most active in the morning and right after lunch. However, depending on the industry your company is in, this may vary.  To find out when your Twitter followers are most active, check out Tweriod.com. Then, schedule your posts around the times that Tweriod mentions.

Besides allowing your company to have an active presence on social networks throughout the day, scheduling posts have other benefits. For social media marketers that will be out of the office or away in a meeting, they can schedule a few messages while they are gone. This also works for holidays when the office or company is closed. The social media profile can wish followers and fans a “Happy New Year” or it can remind them that the offices are closed for Memorial Day– whatever is applicable.

This convenience can help decrease the stress placed on those responsible for the social media marketing of the company. Planning ahead is always a good thing, as long at the content that is being scheduled will be timely when it is finally published.

No matter how or why a company is scheduling some of their social media posts, it is important to look through the click-through rates of posts (or the Facebook Insights data) to see what posts were successful and if there is a pattern that relates to time of day, the content itself, or both. Tracking these can help improve the effectiveness and engagement of a company’s social media presence.

Offering Free Resources via Social Media to Increase Engagement

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If you are a business that is looking for ways to get more Facebook or Twitter followers, providing free resources that are relevant to those in your industry or are of interest to your target audience can be a great way to continue to grow your online communities while also setting your business up as a valuable resource. There are several great resources to promote via social media: white papers, exclusive information, or free products. These resources (and others), that are only available by liking a Facebook Page or following a company on Twitter (offerpop offers a service that allows you to send exclusive coupons or content to followers only).

White Papers

A white paper, according to Wikipedia, is “an authoritative report or guide that helps readers understand an issue, solve a problem, or make a decision.” Many marketers use white papers as a way to promote their survey or research findings or to elaborate on a specific area or issue of marketing that they specialize in. White papers are great to share via social media because they can be downloaded easily as a PDF from a customize Facebook page tab.

The key to a successful white paper is an engaging topic and title. These is what people notice first and what will entice them to complete the actions required to receive the white paper.

Exclusive Information

While white papers provide an extensive, multi-page look at exclusive information, there are other ways to package and present unique information, such as articles, ebooks, a set of tips, or specific instructions on how to complete a certain action.  Just like with white papers, these headlines and snippets or previews of the information promised must be engaging enough to entice users to follow a Twitter profile or like a Facebook page.

Free Products

Several companies give away products or entries into sweepstakes for prizes to users who have liked their page on Facebook. While in some cases, this may be against Facebook’s policies (please do your own research before setting up a sweepstakes on Facebook), sweepstakes, contests, and free products can help increase your online following and user engagement.

However, the hardest part of the strategy of providing free resources via social media is keeping these users engaged after the promotion is over. Companies must continue to provide useful and engaging content on their Facebook pages and Twitter profiles that will keep users interested. Because fleeting interest is so common online, the fight to keep the attention of users should always be a high priority.

 

How to Stay Connected With Customers Via Social Media While Out of the Office

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stay connected via social media while out of the office

In some company’s marketing departments, there are only one or two employees who may handle the social media aspect of a company’s online presence. Because of this, when those employees travel for work or go on vacation, there may be issues that arise from ensuring that the company presence online stays constant. However, there are some ways that social media coordinators or marketers can ensure that the corporate social media marketing and outreach isn’t compromised just because they aren’t in the office.

Scheduling

There are a variety of services that allow companies and individuals to schedule their social media posts to sites like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. These include LaterBro, HootSuite, TweetDeck, and Sendible. Costs and features may vary; some services offer a free account but have limited features. A social media marketer could schedule posts to run while they are out of the office, thus keeping the social media presence current and updated.

Smart phone Access

Scheduling social media posts may be part of the problem, but social media marketers will also need to monitor the accounts to answer any posts, questions, or comments. Usually smart phones like the iPhone or Android make this process fairly easy; the Twitter app can send a user an alert when someone follows or mentions their username in a tweet. The Facebook Pages app does the same. To stay connected to social media profiles, it is almost a necessity to have a smart phone so questions and comments can get answered in a timely manner.

Take It On the Road

Some social media marketers prefer to take their company’s social media presence live on the road with them. Companies live-tweet and share photos and updates from their conference, meeting, or other event that the company (or just a handful of its employees) have traveled to. This may make the users feel more connected with the company, but also takes a higher level of commitment and engagement from the employees’ side.

Transferring Duties

If the employee is on vacation or will be too busy with other duties, they may not want to be responsible for the social media community for their company. This is when it becomes necessary to cross-train other employees to handle social media while those who usually handle it are out of the office. This can take some of the stress and anxiety off of the departed employee’s shoulders while also giving other employees a chance to learn more about what goes into building and maintaining a social media presence and community.

 

Photo courtesy of vjeran2001 on stock.xchng

How to Combine Real-World and Social Media Marketing

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Believe it or not, real-world, in-person marketing, which may include booths, physical advertising (as in signs or banners), or demonstrations make it easy to tie in social media marketing efforts. By making your social media presence known to potential customers at your in-person event, it is possible to get a more involved online community that will carry on past any marketing events a company may hold.

Giveaways and Perks

During South by Southwest Interactive 2012, American Express had a booth that gave perks to attendees who connected their Twitter account with their American Express account. Those who did received perks, such as statement credits or t-shirts. The booth was constantly full of people waiting for their perk. Other booths at the popular annual conference held in Austin, TX included tweeting about a company or mentioning their custom South by Southwest Interactive hashtag. Attendees has no problem tweeting to receive a free t-shirt or other types of perks.

Signing up for Updates

Promoting your digital newsletter by having a sign-up sheet at your promotional event is a surprising way to get more mailing list subscribers relatively easily. Explaining the benefits of getting on the mailing list, such as coupons, exclusive events, or news updates can provide customers an incentive to write down their contact information.

Put the Information Out There

Sometimes companies may be surprised as how many customers just like their company page or follow them on Twitter just because the information is given to them. Put social media profile URLs on all marketing materials and correspondence, including flyers, brochures, business cards, banners, and even packaging. If a customer genuinely likes a product and wants to learn more about them, they are more likely to connect with them via social media. It may seem too good to be true, but just putting it out there can make a company more successful with their online social media marketing.

Stay Creative

Instead of badgering customers to sign-up for a newsletter, follow a company on Twitter, and like their page on Facebook over and over, think of a way to make it more creative. Give users reasons WHY they should complete an action. Skype at South by Southwest Interactive had another good example of this. When attendees tweeted about the conference and mentioned Skype with a special hashtag, a “Town Crier”, dressed up in American Colonial garb of a traditional town crier, read the tweets out loud in a Colonial accent of an iPad covered up by a leather book cover. The town crier generated a crowd and was a great way to get attention online and in person.

 

Thinking outside the box with clever, seamless offline and online promotions, along with a great overall design, can help a business stay connected with current and potential customers, no matter the event or time of year.