11 Questions Every Social Media Manager Should Be Able to Answer

If you are currently a digital marketer or a social media marketing professional, you have most likely heard someone say “well I use Facebook, I could ‘Do’ social media” or “How hard could it be, it’s just social media.” While offensive to those of us that have worked hard to become credible professional in the social media industry, these questions also have me worried for companies looking for help with their social media.

Companies understand the importance of social media, but they often need assistance developing and implementing a strategy, so they look to hire a social media manager to grow their brand on social media sites. Continue reading

5 Tips For Creating Traffic Driving Blog Posts

There has been a lot of buzz in the marketing world the last couple of days about an update to the rankings section of Google’s Webmasters Tools. The update reads:

In general, webmasters can improve the rank of their sites by creating high-quality sites that users will want to use and share.

Prior to this update, Google encouraged marketers to focus on link building for improving site rankings:

In general, webmasters can improve the rank of their sites by increasing the number of high-quality sites that link to their pages.

This is not a big surprise because the importance of unique and well written content on websites has been steadily increasing over the past few years.  This update does not mean that other factors, such as site structure, internal and external link building, Author tags, and social signals are not important. But, in level of importance, unique and well-written content is definitely at the top of the pyramid. Continue reading

seo copywriting 2013

SEO in 2013: 10 Tips for Writing Content that Ranks

Many factors contribute to a website reaching and maintaining high positions in search results for target terms. These factors include user experience, site structure, alt tags on images, site maps, and more. Above all content is definitely still king.  However, not all types of content can rule over the kingdom of SERPs. The following are 10 tips for writing content that will help your website rank higher in search results: Continue reading

best and worst times to post on social media thumbnail

Best Times to Post on Social Media [Infographic]

Social media is 24/7. Someone is always tweeting, posting on Facebook, or uploading a new picture to instagram. However, for social media managers and businesses alike, this can be quite of a challenge. We obviously can’t be online all day, even for those of us who are social media managers or strategist. But how do you know when to best reach your audience? There are a couple different ways to determine when your audience is online: Continue reading

social media workflow

Social Media Workflow [Infographic]

Ever wonder how much time you should devote to social media each week? While there is no set formula, this infographic breaks down the  components of maintaining and measuring a social media strategy  (based on a 40 hour work week). Maintaining a social media strategy is not only about scheduling tweets and replying to mentions. Rather, social media  marketing is a living process in which each component is connected to the others. From content creation, to post scheduling, to campaign development, to analytics reporting, social media is an ongoing process.

The social media work flow infographic below assigns time benchmarks for eleven components of a strong social media strategy: Continue reading

50 Mobile Marketing Facts That Will Blow You Away

Do you have a mobile website or app?
Not sure if you should invest in developing a mobile site or app?
Don’t think you need a mobile marketing strategy?

MOBILE! It is what everyone is talking about, and for a good reason. Smartphones and tablets have changed the way that business can, and should be, connecting with consumers.

Check out these 50 facts on mobile marketing in the presentation below by HubSpot , and see if you still think you have time to wait to develop your mobile marketing strategy. Here are the 10 facts I found most surprising: Continue reading

The Modern Marketer: Infographic

Want to be a marketer? Well, make sure you know what it truly means. To become a successful marketer it is no longer about developing a catchy ad campaign that you will shout from the roof tops. marketing has evolved into a combination of artistry and science. The modern marketer must have a strategic and analytical mind dedicated to measurable metrics but that is always craving a creative outlet.  Continue reading

rock social mendia in 30 minutes a day

How to Rock Social Media in 30 Minutes a Day Infographic

With a defined social media strategy in place, marketers can rock social media in 30 minutes a day.

Sound too good to be true? It is actually possible if your daily use of social media is built upon a well-developed social media strategy. But, a strong social media strategy does not mean that your brand has to be on every single social media channel out there. Instead, focus on the social media channels that the majority of your customers frequent.

The infographic below explains how having an over-arching social media strategy in place can save you time and make you a more effective social media strategist. This great infographic was developed by the talented Matt Wesson, a Marketing Content Specialist at the marketing automation company Pardot. It focuses on a six channel social media strategy, and how you can build engaged communities around your brand in as little as 30 minutes a day.

So how should you allocate your time on each channel? Well the  infographic breaks the recommended 30 minutes down as follows: Continue reading

social media for customer service

Using Social Media as a Customer Service Tool: Infographic

Social media is not just an excellent tool to grow your brand identity and connect with customers, it is also one of the best tools for customer service. Followers of brands on social media expect a two-way and  more from companies than ever before. Followers are not only looking for the newest coupon or information on the “Spring Line”, they want to be heard! When they are upset and shout it out to the social media world, they are also putting their relationship with the company on the line…”respond and respond well, or we are never ever getting back together.” Continue reading