Tag: social media strategy

How to Choose the Most Effective Social Media Platform for Your Brand

Go where your audience is

This is a basic of marketing, digital or not. For example, If you are selling custom hunting bows, you wouldn’t advertise in the Vogue magazine. Instead, you will analyze the reader demographics and psychographics of each magazine to determine which magazines will allow you to best reach your target audience. This same process should be used for determining which social media platforms you should focus the majority of your efforts on.

The infographic below from Social Barrel analyzes the audiences that frequent ten of the most popular social media platforms to help you decide where you should focus your efforts. Continue reading →

us search ranking factors 2013 correlation

Search Ranking Factors: Rank Correlation for 2013 Infographic

3 Comments

With regular algorithm updates, search engine optimization is a game with ever changing rules. What helped websites achieve top position in search rankings last year (sometimes even last quarter) is frequently no longer a high priority or even relevant to current SEO strategies. To help digital marketers better understand the factors that determine which websites rank higher in search results than others Searchmetrics, a leading search analytics technology company,  recently published their Ranking Factor – Rank Correlation study. The study evaluated factors that differentiate better-positioned websites from pages placed further back in the Google.com organic search results, and compared those factors to rankings in 2012 to current rankings in 2013  to determine changes and trends. Continue reading →

social media workflow

Social Media Workflow [Infographic]

15 Comments

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 →

rock social mendia in 30 minutes a day

How to Rock Social Media in 30 Minutes a Day Infographic

2 Comments

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 →

Pinterest Boards

Things are Starting to Get Pinteresting

9 Comments

What is Pinterest and How to Use it

Pinterest LogoPinterest has become the third largest , as well as one of the fastest growing, social media websites. After launching in March 2010, Pinterest was slow to gain traction. But, after summer 2011, traffic grew rapidly from approximately 5 million visitors a week at the beginning of October 2011 to over 21 .5 million weekly visitors by the end of January 2012. Not only has total traffic on Pinterest increased, but it has also become a excellent referral source, as Inc.com saw last year when Pinterest drove as much or more traffic to their site than Facebook.

What and How to Pin

At its core, Pinterest is a visual social network that brands can use to promote their visual content. Most brands already have great visual content they can use to build their Pinterest boards, such as the images on their website, or from advertisements and brochures.Pinterest Boards

When pinning images to your Pinterest boards, there are several tricks you can use to increase both the possibility of your image appearing in search results, and the number of re-pins and link clicks back to your website: Continue reading →

The Pluses and Minuses of Google+

The following is my most recent blog on Mudbug Media’s Blog au Roux about how to determine if Google+ could benefit your social media strategy.

The buzz about Google+ has revved up again lately, possibly due to the negative press that has been recently circling around Facebook, like the sharks in shark week. The press around Google+ is also driven by recent changes to the social media platform, including custom URLs, social integration into Chrome iOS app, and the debut of the “slider” feature, which will unclog homepage feeds by allowing users to choose what and how often new posts from other users they have circled appear in their feed.

Even though Google+ is a known and changing platform, there are still a lot of unknowns when it comes to using it as a tool for marketing businesses and brands. Google+ is still a fairly new social media platform, finding its footing and place in the social media community. In addition, business and brands have only been on the social media platform since November, when Google+ unveiled Google+ brand pages. Even now, we are continuing to learn how best to use Google+ as a tool for connecting with customers.

So, how do you know if Google+ is right for your business?

The following breakdown of some of the pros and cons of using Google+ brand pages will hopefully help you decide if this tool could help promote your business.

Pros of Google+ Brand Pages:

  • Hangouts: Businesses can use video chats to talk directly to their customers. Hangouts can be used as a customer service tool to assist customers when they have questions or conflicts, as well as add a personal touch to customer service.
  • Circles: This allows businesses to target customers by demographic, interests, etc., so that they can better target promotional information and posts. Circles allow companies to reach the “right customers” with the “right message”.Google Plus Video Post
  • Posts: Google+ posts are much larger in size than Facebook wall posts, which is beneficial for posting images and videos, items that frequently increase user engagement. For example, videos in Google+ posts are full sized, and do not have to expand in order to be viewed.
  • Google Search Results Love Google+: Using a Google+ brand page to promote your business has the possibility of a very positive impact on your position in Google search result:
    • Google+ brand pages are indexed by Google’s search engine
    • +1 clicks on your Google+ brand page can help to increase you search engine rankings because Google ranks +1 items higher
    • Connect your Google+ brand page to your website by adding a Google+ Badge, a customizable widget that helps grow your Google+ audience and shows more recommendations for your page in Google search results
  • Social reports: Google Analytics is connected to Google+ pages. The social reports in Google Analytics provide metrics and insights into brand page activity.
  • Google direct connect: If your business has a Google+ brand page and someone types “+Company Name” in the search box, it takes him or her straight to your Google+ brand page.

Google Direct Connect Search

   Google Direct Connect Results

Cons of Google+ Brand Pages:

  • Limited Audience:While the Google+ audience consists of almost 40 million users, only 17% of those users are considered “active” or “frequent users”
  • The Google+ Demographic shows over 60% of users are male
  • Majority of users are between the ages of 25-34
  • Largest group of Google+ users is males between the ages of 24 and 25
  • While circles allow brands to separate customers into targeted groups, brands are only allowed to “circle” customers who have “circled” them
  • Google+ brand pages are tied to ONE personal account and additional admins cannot be added, so it is critical that companies carefully consider who will “own” the brand page because transferring or changing the connected account is not allowed. Ask this question: “What will happen if the person whose account is connected to the brand page leaves the company?”
  • A verification process for Google+ brand pages does not currently exist, so it is possible that someone else or competitor could create a false brand page for your company

Weighing the Benefits of Google Plus

Like other social media platforms, Google+ has its limitations and challenges, but it also offers features that other platforms do not. This changing platform can help businesses connect with customers through features like Hangouts, and understand their customers with Social Analytics. Based on the demographic of your customer base and social media goals,  Google+ may be a perfect match with your current social media strategy.

If you think that Google+ may be a beneficial component of your social media strategy, check out my post on creating an integrated social media strategy for your company. Also, check out more great articles on design trends, application development, and marketing strategy on Mudbug Media’s Blog au Roux.

Lowes Pinterest Profile

Building Brand Loyalty with an Integrated Social Media Strategy

7 Comments

I recently wrote an article for the Mudbug Media blog titled “Build a Following with an Integrated Social Media Strategy.” In the article I used Lowe’s Home Improvement store as an example of a company who got it right.

The following are snippets from the article about each component of Lowe’s strategy:

Lowe’s Facebook Strategy

The core of Lowe’s social media strategy is their Facebook page. With over 1.1 million likes (almost twice as many as the main competitor, Home Depot), Lowe’s has created a successful strategy to communicate with their customers using this social media platform.

Lowe’s leverages the best features of the Facebook timeline format, the cover photo and the history timeline.Lowes Facebook Page

For their cover photo, Lowe’s uses an attention grabbing photo composed of the top pins that followers have re-pinned on Pinterest. They also tie their profile picture directly into the timeline cover photo and use it to drive traffic to their Pinterest account.

The success of Lowe’s Facebook strategy is due greatly to their positive and real-time interaction with fans. Lowe’s responds to the majority of questions and comments within minutes. When a fan has a question about a product, Lowe’s not only answer the specific question, but frequently directs them back to Lowes.com and includes tips on how to use the product.

Check out the full article to find out how Lowe’s mastered the art of responding to negative comments and leveraged the other features of the new timeline format.

Lowe’s Twitter Strategy

Lowes Twitter ProfileWith over 47,000 followers, Lowe’s uses Twitter to answer customer questions and concerns, as well as spread community awareness. As with their Facebook page, Lowe’s does a great job of taking the conversation offline for any negative mentions by asking followers to email them at a Twitter-specific Lowe’s email address. They also respond to all questions, comments, and mentions, often within minutes of the original Tweet.

Check out the full article to find out how Lowe’s uses hashtags to give back to their followers.

Lowe’s Pinterest Strategy

The rapid growth of Pinterest has many companies overwhelmed, but Lowe’s has leveraged the user base and Lowes Pinterest Profilegrowing popularity create to a strong presence on the new social media platform. With almost 7,000 followers (and growing), Lowe’s is building a strong community around their brand on Pinterest. The boards on their Pinterest profile include topics that interest all their different types of customers.

Lowe’s uses Pinterest as a resource tool for customers to find fun and new projects. For example, they have a board for grilling recipes, which includes links to both the full recipe and grills available at lowes.com. Other popular boards on their Pinterest profile are craft, landscaping, and interior design projects using Lowe’s products.

Check out the full article to find out why Pinterest was the perfect addition to Lowe’s social media strategy.

Lowe’s social media strategy has been a success because they appear to understand that social media is a powerful tool for creating and maintaining relationships with customers. Visit the Mudbug Media blog to find out the five key factors that make Lowe’s strategy a success and to read the full article:

Build a Following with an Integrated Social Media Strategy

Related articles

5 Steps to Using Twitter Effectively

Check out this great blog on 5 easy steps for using Twitter effectively.

This post explains why each step is important and how to complete it successfully.

Some of the steps covered are:

  • What to tweet about
  • When to tweet
  • Why to re-tweet
  • Using hashtags (Hashtags are one of my favorite ways to draw attention to your tweets!)

This post also has some great links to social media resources.

Related articles

SkillPath – Social Media Conference

2 Comments

I recently was given the opportunity to attend the SkillPath Social Media Conference here in New Orleans on behalf of Mudbug Media. After the event I wrote the following blog on key takeaways from the day:

SkillPath – Social Media Conference

I recently attended the Social Media Conference hosted by SkillPath, to expand my expertise in the field and learn from others ‘ experiences. Throughout the day, discussions centered on social media strategy creation, platform management, content writing, measuring return on investment, and how to mange your company’s online reputation.

Attendees managed social media implementation for companies in many different industries, including automobile, restaurant, retail, and education. Due to the variety of industries and expertise levels represented, insightful conversations developed, shedding light on the evolving standards and practices in the social media realm. See more below on topics covered during the conference.

What do you want to achieve?

Before starting social media, it is important to determine your goals in order to develop a social media strategy. Your goals may include:
• Driving traffic to your website
• Generating leads
• Promoting your business
• Interacting with customers

Once goals have been established, a strategy can be developed to target your specific audience.

What your social media kit should include

Social media is not a single arena; it is a combination of many different platforms, with varying audiences. A social media kit includes different platforms including blogs, social conversation sites, social profiles, business profiles, search tools, social bookmarking sites, photo sharing sites, and video hosting sites. You may or may not include platforms from each category, as it will be very important to determine which platforms are right for your business. A kit will also include tools to manage the different social media platforms, including automating and mobile blogging tools.

Writing for social media

Content writing for social media is very different from writing content for your website, especially since you may have a text limit, such as a tweet which only allows 140 characters. A few key items to remember when writing for social media are:
• Always have a call to action
• Create attention grabbing headlines
• Use bulleted and numbered lists
• Use links and images whenever possible
Realistic required time commitment

While there are many tools available to help you manage multiple social media platforms, it is important to remember that social media never turns off. People will have the ability to comment, tweet, and post about your company 24/7, so a significant amount of time is required to not only post messages but also monitor responses. This allotment will vary greatly, depending on your company’s goals and the variety of platforms used.

Measuring return on investment

Social media is still a young media outlet, and consistent standards for measuring return on investment have not been established. The metrics for measuring the return on investment will correspond directly with your social media goals. Metrics may include increased site traffic, comments, inbound links, page views, or subscribers.

Managing your online reputation

One of the biggest concerns that companies have when considering social media, is how will they control their brand name. This is a valid concern and is one of the key components of a social media strategy. There is always the risk of negative comments, but the goal is to turn the negatives into a positive for your company. Handle the situation correctly and you many not only save a relationship with a customer, but you may also gain new customers. When managing brand reputation, it is important to consider:
• When should you respond?
• Who are you responding to? (Individual or the public)
• What tone should you use?

There are many different monitoring tools available that can help streamline brand management efforts. There are both free and subscription based tools that you can use. Tool selection will be based on your goals, number of platforms, and number of followers/mentions.

Check out more blogs social media strategy, check out Mudbug’s Blog au Roux!

Related articles