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Top 10 ways to create a social media dashboard

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Social media and all of the noise these sites create can take up a lot of your time if you are managing a social network, and if you are keeping tabs on multiple networks, this gets even more difficult. The hardest part is finding important conversations and vital comments that require action among all of the noise and other junk clogging up social sites.

A great way to help manage these accounts is through a social media dashboard. The dashboard isn’t another network, as some tend to think, but it is a tool to help you get and stay organized, productive, and efficient.

A social media dashboard can be a fantastic tool for day to day social network use that can help to make more meaningful connections and to engage more fans and followers. Instead of having to hop from network to network to keep up on all the conversations, you can access them all, easily and conveniently from a single location. These can be used to monitor your presence on sites like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google +, and more. [Read more…] about Top 10 ways to create a social media dashboard

How to Utilize Facebook Insights

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facebook insights

Facebook released an analytics dashboard for Facebook Pages, called Facebook Insights,  a few years ago. Since then, it has gotten more robust and able to show administrators several different types of data. While it is great that Facebook is so thorough, the multiple-column spreadsheet can be a little overwhelming. (It is  also impressive to show off to bosses and clients, but data-overload just for the sake of appearances never did anyone much good in the long run.)

However, there are some great metrics in Facebook Insights that can give business owners and social media marketers a good glimpse into the overall health and activity of their Facebook page. After selecting the date range and downloading the Excel spreadsheet, take some time to review each column and decide which strategy works best for you– several of the metrics are sequestered into daily, weekly, 28-day, and monthly increments.

Here’s where it gets confusing. For each date, the monthly increment is that date to the past thirty days. For example, if a spreadsheet was for June 2012, and you looked at June 9, 2012 in the monthly column, that number would be approximately the last 28 days, ending in June 12: May 10-June 9, 2012. Even though the spreadsheet is for June 2012, the monthly metrics hold that running 28-day total for that specific date. So, looking at the columns for the last day of the month should give you that month’s total.

The following are some of the most important metrics on the spreadsheet, which you should be focusing on and reviewing at least monthly. Explanations are provided from the Insights spreadsheet:

  • People Talking About This: The number of people sharing stories about your page. These stories include liking your Page, posting to your Page’s Wall, liking, commenting on or sharing one of your Page posts, answering a Question you posted, RSVPing to one of your events, mentioning your Page, phototagging your Page or checking in at your Place. (Unique Users)
  • Lifetime Total Likes: The total number of people who have liked your Page. (Unique Users)
  • Engaged Users: The number of people who engaged with your Page. Engagement includes any click or story created. (Unique Users)
  • Total Reach: The number of people who have seen any content associated with your Page. (Unique Users)

These are just some of the top metrics that are important to review. What is important to each company or organization will vary. Even though Facebook Insights doesn’t have scheduled reporting, simply setting a monthly reminder on the first day of the month to review the previous month’s Insights becomes like second nature.

 

Graphic from developers.facebook.com

Social Media and Litigation

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For many businesses, social media has become an indispensable part of their culture as well as an integral part of their marketing strategy. Social media outlets such as Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus, YouTube and LinkedIn are affordable and effective ways to promote a business, draw in new customers and keep connected with existing ones. Cost-effectiveness, popularity and ease of use makes staying connected with social media a high priority and a smart business decision.

However, along with the many benefits of social media comes a set of responsibilities for companies in the forms of eDiscovery and information governance. Without good policies and protections in place governing data usage pertaining to employees, clients and social media, it’s possible that a business could encounter nightmarish legal issues down the road. Problems could arise not just internally and from clients, but from information requests from outside parties. [Read more…] about Social Media and Litigation

Online Advertising Strategies To Get Out of PPC Limbo

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PPC, short for pay-per-click is usually the go-to paid online advertising strategy for companies wishing to get a foothold on their online presence. However, depending on a business’ industry, PPC can get very competitive and extremely costly. Instead of relying on PPC, it may be worthwhile to try other innovative online advertising strategies that may help you continue to grow your online presence.

Affiliate Marketing

For online service providers that offer online services or products, an affiliate program may be a great way to get exposure and let others grow your business for you. Affiliate marketing is promising individuals a percentage of the total sales, or a set price, for every item sold through the marketer’s personalized link. A reference code or personalized link can ensure that a marketer would get the commission from the sale that they helped generate.

There are many online affiliate networks, like Chitika, that will help you get affiliate marketers for your product. Commission Junction, Linkshare, and ClickBank are also well-known affiliate advertising networks.

Another opportunity to grow traffic through affiliate marketing is running an affiliate marketing page on your business’ website. Assigning marketers a special coupon code buyers can input in the checkout process or using a plugin or service to generate personalized links are two options to run and manage an affiliate marketing program on your own website.

Blogger Outreach Programs

According to some, blogs are becoming the new newspaper, with some getting hundreds of thousands hits every day. Because of this, many bloggers have the power to expose your products to thousands of potential customers that may not know about it otherwise.

Companies can work with blogging outreach networks, such as CleverGirls, Influenster, and Fitfluential, or they can simply begin contacting blog owners directly through contact forms or their public email address. Offer to host a giveaway or send the blogger free products in exchange for an honest review. This can be a timely process, but forging a personal relationship with bloggers can help create an open flow of exposure for new products in the future.

Social Media Contests

Regularly offering contests and giveaways through social media can be a great way to help gain online exposure. Use a contest widget like Rafflecopter on a website, blog, or Facebook page to collect entries and require entrants to tweet about the giveaway or follow the company on Facebook and Twitter.

Do you have any other good online advertising strategies? If so, let us know in the comments.

 

Do You Tie in Your Blog With Your Social Media?

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Many businesses may wonder why their Facebook or Twitter profiles don’t seem to be growing like they should. At first, they may seek to blame the employee or consultant that is responsible for updating and maintaining the profiles. However, before putting blame on the social media content provider, it may be time to look at the company’s website, especially the blog, to see what can be done to increase awareness and exposure of the company’s social media website.

In the sidebar, footer, or main page of a company’s website, they should have a Facebook Like Box, as well as a Twitter widget. For the blog, the sidebar is the best place for these engagement boxes. They allow visitors to instantly connect with the brand’s social media profiles without ever having to actually go to the external sites.  This can help drive growth for the social media profiles instantly.

Besides making sure that visitors are aware of the company’s social media profiles, they should also be making their blog content more shareable by adding sharing widgets or plugins to each blog post. If a site is hosted on WordPress, great free sharing plugins include Shareable and Sharebar. For other websites, try AddtoAny.com or AddThis.com. These plugins and widgets are all free, and can greatly increase your company’s social exposure online.

Sharing content socially shouldn’t always be the visitor’s responsibility. The company can set up automatic posting of a new blog post, news piece, or any other content onto the social media profiles when they are posted on a blog or site that has an RSS feed. TwitterFeed.com is a good resource to do this, especially since they allow sharing on Facebook Pages, not just profiles. Be sure that your automatic posts include a photo preview when shared on Facebook– this instantly gives them more visibility and makes the content more eye-catching to the user.

For original or linkbait blog content, be sure to also make sure that posts are shared via social bookmarking sites, which can make them viral in a short amount of time. However, only use social bookmarking for truly original content, such as “The 12 Top Mosh Pit Photos of All Time” instead of “Greg’s Hardware Store Now Open.” Social bookmarking users aren’t interested in self-promotional posts.

Encompassing social media site widgets, sharing plugins, and a social bookmarking strategy into your overall social media strategy can help ensure growth and continued success.

How to Get Your Content Shared Via Social Media

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content sharing via social media

Many companies and bloggers create content with the hopes of it going viral– that is, having it shared with thousands (if not millions) of online users around the country and the world. However, the so-called mystery of how to make content popular on social media sites and otherwise continues to be something to be solved. However, if a writer follows these guidelines, they are much more likely to have their content be shared via social media.

Make it Interesting

Content is successful only when it either answers a question for several users or entertains almost anyone who reads it. There is something to be said for content that is high-quality and content that is just there to fulfill a weekly blog post allotment. Forgo regular “fluffer” content for appealing and engaging content to make your linking ratio much more higher per post.

Make it Linkbait

This is similar to the guideline above, but there are certain types and formats of content that are much more successful online. These include top 10 lists, infographics, cartoons, tie-ins to current internet memes, mixed media posts, free widgets, and more. However, it is important to note that even though linkbait is content that is created solely for the purpose of going viral, it definitely still needs to be high quality and not something that is forced.

Make it Shareable

Offer several opportunities to share content for the readers. Include easy sharing buttons at the top and bottom or scrolling side of the content and check them regularly to ensure that they are always working (occasionally free social sharing plugins tend to be buggy at times). Besides offering sharing links to the top social networking sites like Pinterest, Google+, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, including buttons to print and email the content also offers additional opportunities for sharing.

Make it Graphic Heavy

Content that is broken up with photos, clip art, illustrations, or infographics further supporting or describing the text can help keep a reader’s interest. It makes the content more visually appealing overall without relying on the content alone. Additionally, graphics make content easier to share on social media sites like Pinterest and Facebook that offer an image preview of the posted links.

Getting your content shared on social media takes more than luck. It takes preparation, great writing, and an interest in sharing information rather than focusing on traffic. Making the quality of the content a higher priority than getting traffic usually achieves both traffic and loyal readers.


Five Great Social Media Books

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5 great social media books performancing

Even though social media is an online medium, there have been hundreds of books written on proper social media marketing and etiquette. While many are repetitive and state the same type of information that can be found in almost any online social media marketing beginner’s guide, there are a few books that stand out as insightful guidebooks by experts who know how social media should be used in business.

Socialnomics: How Social Media Transforms the Way We Live and Do Business, by Erik Qualman
This book explains the way that social media is changing not only the way that businesses can find new customers, but also how people communicate at a basic level. Tying in the basic concepts of this new vital communication medium with emerging and applicable business strategies make this book worth its reasonable price.
No Bullshit Social Media: The All-Business, No-Hype Guide to Social Media Marketing, by Jason Falls and Erik Deckers

A book with an expletive in the title is sure to get attention. And this book delivers. With real case studies and no-nonsense, straightforward advice, this book focuses on goals and results instead of all the fluff that comes from traditional marketing gurus attempting to make social media fit into their old methods.

Likeable Social Media: How to Delight Your Customers, Create an Irresistible Brand, and Be Generally Amazing on Facebook (And Other Social Networks), by Dave Kerpen

Dave Kerpen offers an easy approach to marketers and businesspeople that have little knowledge and experience with social media. While not a complete beginners guide, this book is easy to read and the content is highly digestible. Dave’s background as a successful social media marketer for several well-known companies shows that he knows what he is talking about in Likeable Social Media.

UnMarketing: Stop Marketing, Start Engaging, By Scott Stratten

Scott is a well-known social media expert, and it’s no surprise– UnMarketing explains why it is so important to start treating customers on social media as real people, not potential targets or sells. Engagement brings in a much return on investment than many hard-hitting traditional advertising methods.

Permission Marketing: Turning Strangers Into Friends and Friends Into Customers, by Seth Godin

Even though this book isn’t directly about social media (especially since it was published in 1999), the ideas are still revolutionary for its time and can definitely apply to social media marketing today. Seth explains the concepts behind gaining customers’ trust instead of inundating them with advertisements.

 

Do you have any to add to the list? If so, let us know in the comments below.

Are you Neglecting Your Video Marketing?

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video marketing tips

Video marketing can be a great opportunity to capitalize on one of the largest search engines in the world– YouTube. Additionally, other video sharing sites like Vimeo also bring thousands (if no millions) of views to the plethora of videos each site hosts.

However, some companies are hesitant to get into video marketing because they feel that it will be too much effort and too much time will spending editing, designing, and uploading a video post. Even though this may be the case for some longer videos, the fact remains that video recording devices have gotten much more advanced, leading to the ability to shoot and upload HD video virtually painless.

Some smartphones can shoot in HD, as well as pocket camcorders that can upload videos via USB to your computer or even straight to YouTube. So the excuse that video marketing equipment will be too costly doesn’t have a concrete basis, especially because many people now have smartphones.

To figure out how to best implement a video marketing strategy, outline a publishing schedule and specific goals. For instance, uploading videos on Tuesdays and Thursdays with the goal of 2,000 YouTube subscribers by the end of the year is a great beginning of a successful video marketing strategy. Other key points that need to be laid out include places to upload, connected marketing efforts (such as firing a new Facebook Post, Tweet, and blog post each time a new video is uploaded to a company’s YouTube account), and the completion and delegation of the video creation and upload. Once a video is uploaded to a video site like YouTube, all applicable fields need to be filled out because they have link and SEO value. This includes the description (which allows URLs) and tags.

Once a set of steps for each responsible team member is delegated, creating the content topics is the next largest component. Keep a running list of video ideas from frequently asked questions, event information, and key or hot topics that are happening in your company’s industry.  When all else fails, take to social media and employees to solicit ideas for video topics. Once these demographics know that ideas are welcome, it is fairly easy to keep your video marketing topic list updated with additional input and suggestions.

Video marketing can be a great way to reach a whole new set of customers in a different way. Once a strategy and plan is put into place, creating company videos can certainly be a fun experience.