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Wanelo Marketing: Does Your e-Commerce Site Need to be on Wanelo?

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Pinterest-Alternative

Wanelo, short for Want, Need, Love,  is a visual image collecting site that is similar to Pinterest. Their website states: “Wanelo (“wah-nee-lo,” from Want, Need, Love) is a catalog of products organized by people. You can buy almost everything you see on Wanelo, and everything is posted by members.”

The main difference is that all images link to the pages where the item depicted in the image can be purchased. This is of great benefit to e-commerce sites that have their products on Wanelo, as it makes it easy for customers to purchase items quickly.

Wanelo is still a fairly new site, but has gained the greatest amount traction among  teenage to twentysomething women. For e-commerce businesses that offer products that may target this demographic, it is crucial that they get on Wanelo as soon as possible. While it isn’t experiencing the record numbers of growth that Pinterest has, it’s audience continues to grow.

For e-commerce sites that offer home, fashion, design, or even technology products and accessories, Wanelo can still be another great outlet to promote online products. The type of items shared on Wanelo shouldn’t be strictly feminine items– there are also several occurrences of gadgets, video games, and other products that are gender neutral and even masculine. Just like with Pinterest, Wanelo is skewed to the feminine audience. However, sharing items that are visually appealing and creative can still be of great benefit to online marketers.

Once a company’s products are shared on Wanelo, they can be reported for incorrect or missing links to product pages by users. This is great for companies who have had their products shared by a user instead of via their company profile.

To get your company started on Wanelo:

  1. Sign up for a profile on Wanelo.com.
  2. Add the Wanelo Save buttons to all product pages on your e-commerce site.
  3. Add a link to your company’s wanelo profile on your website with other social media profile links.
  4. Maintain the company Wanelo profile by regularly sharing new items to your collections, as well as uploading photos and links to new products as they appear on your e-commerce site.

Wanelo marketing is still a relatively new e-commerce strategy, but companies that stay ahead of the growth of Wanelo are sure to find success, especially if they are in the design, fashion, and technology industries.

 

Four Free Photo Editors For Marketing Campaigns

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Don’t spend hundreds of dollars for photo editors like Photoshop when you are just doing basic changes. There are several free online photo editors that make it easy to edit photos for Facebook posts, blogging, and other marketing campaigns. These can be done fast and on the fly, so you don’t have to worry about starting up a program from your computer or not having access to photo editing capabilities when you are out of the office.

PicMonkey

PicMonkey is a light, fun, and easy to use photo editor. They have great seasonal clip art and fonts that can be laid over your photos and loads quickly. Some of the slang used may take a while to get used to, but it is a fun program that has a lot of extra features. There are some paid options, but the free options make it possible to make the majority of basic photo edits without the additional cost.

Pixlr

Pixlr is one of the most popular online photo editors. Its layout is a lot like Photoshop, so designers who are familiar with that infamous Adobe program will enjoy this and get used to using it a lot faster. It has a basic navigation and features, but there aren’t any features that free users are barred from using, so that makes it a plus.

FotoFlexer

FotoFlexer states that it the “most advanced online photo editor”. You can import photos directly from sites like Flickr, Facebook, and myspace and the site allows you to use sample photos to get the hang of the layout and program before going in to edit your own photos.

BeFunky

four free photo editors for marketing campaigns

BeFunky is a younger, hip free photo editor, like PicMonkey. It features effects that are common on apps like Instagram and offers many interesting photo enhancement features. Besides the online website editor, BeFunky also offers apps for the iPhone and Android via Google Play.

 

Having an arsenal of free photo editors and other online marketing tools at your disposal is important for marketers because online campaigns usually move and change quickly. Easy online photo editors that allow the addition of text can be great for contests, banner advertisements, blog headers, and even profile photos. The variety of different fonts and photo effects that these free online editors can provide can provide some visual interest and break up online content, whether it is on a blog, social media profile, email newsletter, or other online marketing medium.

 

How to Market Your Business on Pinterest

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pinterest business marketing

It is possible to have a great marketing present on Pinterest. This is especially a case for companies in creative fields, especially home-improvement or hobbies, such as scrapbooking. However, websites that don’t have a lot of images may not be so successful at Pinterest when it comes to sharing their own content, especially if they’re wanting to share content that doesn’t have a catchy image attached to it.

If this isn’t the case, they may be more successful on content-heavy social media platforms, such as Twitter and LinkedIn. Additionally, Pinterest is a social media platform that needs to be updated daily, much like Twitter. This is because pins are shown by the date that they’re posted, so profiles updated on a regular basis are more likely to be shown in search results. This also leads to better engagement with the target community, which means engaged users will be sharing your company pins and links to content.

When first setting up company Pinterest account, it’s a good idea to get a base of 100-200 pins minimum in order to make a profile more credible. Pinterest profiles that are more likely to be spam usually only have a few pins (usually under 50). If you don’t have time in your company to set aside time for creating these initial pins and then maintaining the profile on a daily basis, it may not be worth the hassle. It’s important that companies are dedicated to providing a constant queue of new pins in order to be successful.

Another important step that may be obvious to some but surprisingly many companies don’t do is to completely fill out the profile. This includes the bio, links to Twitter and the company website, and making sure that your website link is verified. This usually involves uploading custom file or tag to your website to prove to Pinterest that you own the website you listed. It is important to note that only one Pinterest profile can verify one website at a time (for instance, Lowe’s can’t have 2 Pinterest pages and both have Lowes.com as their verified website).

When you have your initial pins and your profile is completely filled out, it’s time to set a schedule for maintaining your profile. This includes a pin strategy that list how many links to your own website content that should be pinned every week. For e-commerce websites that have several products, distribute this gradual process is over many months. Besides your own content and products, be sure to pin related images from other websites.

Much like twitter and other social media sites. Pinning other sites content, show that you are invested in being a valuable participant in the Pinterest community, making your target Pinterest count you as a profile to find creative ideas.
Finally, if your company is not yet open minded enough to give the employee managing Pinterest a more creative reign over what is posted, then Pinterest may not be right for your company at this time. However if your company is looking for creative outlet that is customer friendly and inspiring, then the Pinterest profile may find success and bring more traffic to the company website.

How to Utilize the Personalization Features of Facebook

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facebook marketingFacebook is becoming more intuitive and taking strides to give Facebook page administrators more creative control over their pages. There are several new features that make it possible to have a somewhat cohesive theme throughout the page as a whole.

Cover Photo
Many Facebook users are taking their time when it comes to getting acclimated to the new Facebook Timeline layout, but it  can be a great way to further promote your company and its products. A good example of this would be a website design firm listing their available services, or a business consultancy     including a photo of their office with the contact information. The photo could also change to reflect current marketing promotions or seasonal messages.
 
Custom Tabs
Custom tabs have been around for years, but they remain under-utilized, especially by small businesses. They have so many uses, but many owners stay away from them because they do require  some set-up time with a knowledge of HTML or FBML. Custom tabs can be used to create contact pages, coupons, event sign-up, and much more. All it takes is the installation of the blank tab app and creating the new page.
 
Posting Display on Timeline
Another new feature of the Facebook timeline layout is the options to decide how certain posts, timeline milestones, and photos are displayed. They can span the width of the page or just be on one side. Or, they can be removed completely.
 
Post Promotion
Facebook now allows page owners to promote either their pages via Facebook Advertising on the sidebar, targeted to their demographic,  or the promotion of posts via the option to sponsor it, meaning that the post may show up in target audience members’  newsfeed, even though they haven’t liked your page yet. Users can opt  out of this service, but a highly targeted ad is likely to engage their interest and make them want to “like” your page.
 
Offers
Facebook Offers is slowly rolling out to all pages; it is an option that isn’t available to everyone yet. It allows a business to host a deal or coupon on their page. If someone clicks “get offer”, they will be sent the coupon or offer link through their personal email account that is connected to their Facebook account. Users like claiming offers because it doesn’t tell the company their personal contact information and also allows them to get a great deal.
There are so many different ways to personalize Facebook and make it showcase your company’s personality and the products or services that you have to offer. Not taking advantage of these may only prevent you from being as successful as possible on Facebook.

Stay Updated on Social Media with Webinars

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Stay Updated on Social Media with Webinars

There are a variety of well-curated internet and social media marketing blogs and websites that offer great free webinars about social media. Regularly listing to webinars or podcasts from experts in the field that you are trying to improve on can help increase your expertise while keeping you up-to-date with the best marketing practices. Below are some great webinar resources for marketers looking to keep their skills sharp.

Hubspot: You can’t fault Hubspot for following their own advice when it comes to offering free resources to customers and users. Their Internet Marketing Webinar section of Hubspot.com has several free webinars about social media and internet marketing. You can view a live webinar or view all of their past webinars on demand.

Social Media Today: Social Media Today has a occasional webinars that tie in to current news and events. As these webinars are live, it’s important to check the webinar pages often to see a schedule of upcoming webinars.

Buddy Media/Salesforce: Buddy Media is a company owned by Salesforce.com, and has a great list of on-demand Social Media Webinars. They also offer free white papers.

HootSuite: If you use HootSuite for your social media marketing, they offer related webinars that show users how to use their products to improve their social media marketing.

VerticalReponse: VerticalResponse has a list of their past recorded webinars that can be listened to at any time. Each webinar focuses on a different expert and their take or expertise on a particular topic.

It is important to note that many of these webinars are viewable once you fill out a form giving the company your information. While free webinars are definitely a resource that can help your marketing strategy, it is OK to be wary about what information you give to companies. Each of the above mentioned are reputable, but be sure to make sure that the company is legitimate and practices the same methods they preach.

Other free resources that can help you increase your social media marketing knowledge include podcasts, audiobooks (if you check them out from the library), and white papers. In addition, subscribing to social media marketing blogs is an easy way to stay updated. SoundGecko is a free service that will transcribe articles into MP3s (and then email them to you) so you can also listen to them while driving, working, or exercising. For many, listening to information can help  them retain it much better.

 

Do Social Media Really Anchor Your Marketing Campaign?

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The strategy of positioning a website in social networks must be coherent and in concordance with the general business strategy of the company, and the efforts to position the website online need real and reachable objectives. We always say that the positioning strategy is the one that must guide the webmaster in choosing his social media platform. One thing is certain: without social media, a website can’t survive today, therefore it is important to have a strong online presence, and this can only be done with a good marketing campaign. [Read more…] about Do Social Media Really Anchor Your Marketing Campaign?

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.