Social Media Marketing

7 Innovative Internet Marketing Solutions to Give Your Business a Boost

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 10:30:00 -0400

In today’s business world, Internet marketing plays a key role in the success of virtually every company. However, with many businesses using advanced marketing strategies, no longer is it enough to whip up a company page on Facebook, sign up for Twitter, or create a profile on LinkedIn. To be successful, you’ll need to be creative and you’ll need to invest some time in new marketing methods that may be unfamiliar.

Read on to learn more about going beyond Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, with these seven key marketing tools to add to your arsenal.

1. Vine

Haven’t heard of Vine? Well, now’s the time, given its meteoric rise in popularity over the past few months. Simply put, Vine is Twitter’s version of Instagram, but instead of sharing pictures, Vine allows users to upload six-second videos.

Six seconds may seem like a pretty short video, but if you can successfully communicate your message within that time frame (or at the very least pique the interest of users enough that they check out your website or follow you on Twitter), Vine can be a very powerful marketing tool.

2. SlideShare

SlideShare is pretty much what it sounds like: an easy way to incorporate slideshows into your web content, even on social media sites like Facebook. Why do slideshows matter? Because they keep people’s attention, which translates into more interest in your message and what you offer, thereby increasing your click-through and engagement rate.

Use SlideShare to make slideshows of anything and everything – just make sure it’s interesting content. Poorly curated content might actually be detrimental for your image.

3. Facebook Graph Search

Facebook Graph Search is a relatively new tool (still in Beta, unless you signed up on the waiting list) that allows users and businesses to search for other Facebook users based on common interests. As a business user, Facebook Graph Search can help you build your network and marketing base, though you may not want to market to new contacts right away. Instead, use this tool to build connections and relationships and increase awareness of your company.

4. Pinterest

Your business probably already uses Pinterest, but if not, sign up and get pinning today. That doesn’t mean you should just like and repin anything you see. The most effective way to use Pinterest is to post comments and engage your potential audience in conversation. Of course, liking and repinning can help your cause too, so don’t stop doing that.

5. Reddit

Reddit is a community-based website, almost like a web forum, though it’s laid out a bit differently. When users like a post, they’ll up-vote it, which will get it seen by others. When they don’t like a post, they’ll down-vote it, and it will be harder for other users to find.

When it comes to Reddit, the secret is to actually make personal connections and pretty much forget about selling. Reddit community members, who commonly refer to themselves as Redditors, are a tight-knit group, and they can spot a salesman a mile away.

6. Newsletters

Newsletters are still the go-to tool of choice for the successful marketer. In today’s era of social media, email newsletters may seem downright old-fashioned, but they persist as an effective method to communicate with customers. To send an effective newsletter, don’t bombard people with information - both quantity and frequency. It might be tempting to send out five newsletters a week, but quite frankly, people find that annoying, even if they love your product.

Keep your newsletters to once per week or less, and be sure that every communication clearly provides the ability for recipients to opt out. Make sure people can easily sign up when they visit your website, too!

7. Giveaways

The reason giveaways are successful is obvious – everybody loves free stuff! So, give them some. Using tools like Rafflecopter can be a big help for many businesses, and employing a variety of different ways people can earn entries is ideal. Some examples:

Liking you on Facebook
Signing up and logging in with their email address
Sharing the giveaway on Facebook
Following you on Twitter
Tweeting about the giveaway

When you do decide to have a giveaway, make sure the prize is actually something people will want. You don’t necessarily have to give away a really expensive product, but giving something away that’s the equivalent of a pack of gum isn’t enough for most people to go through the trouble of entering.

Your Marketing Machine

There are a multitude of ways to gain exposure, to deploy your marketing strategy, and to build up the popularity or your website. The seven tools above offer great ways to help engage with your audience. Try one or try them all - only by testing them out can you determine which will work best for you and your site.

5 Social Media Marketing Tips To Grow Your Visibility

Wed, 10 Apr 2013 17:00:00 -0400

Social media marketing is more important than it has ever been, and it seems like the amount of social media outlets is growing exponentially each year. Because social media is so important, it’s important that you use it properly if you want to help your small business grow.

Most businesses use social media at this point to try and gain new customers, but few do it the right way.

1. Be Social

Being social is an important part of growing your online visibility and communicating with existing and potential customers. Using social media regularly will allow you to keep in constant contact with people that matter to your business.

The easiest way to do this is to find an app online for your phone or tablet so you can keep up with who is mentioning you, sharing your content or adding and following you. Staying abreast of these things will allow you to respond quickly – even if that means nothing more than a simple thank you note or share. Hootsuite is a great tool for this.

Making your own social content is important, and it can help you get noticed. But without actually being social within the community, you’re not going to get enough attention for your content to really matter, even if it’s outstanding.

2. Don’t Limit Yourself

There are so many different outlets out there for your business right now that you really need to attempt to take advantage of as many of them as possible. Limiting yourself to just one or two social media outlets isn’t smart, so take the time to become proficient in ways that utilize all the different social media outlets, and make sure you stay up on new features that could boost your presence.

Use Facebook’s Graph Search, which is still in beta right now. Graph Search will let you find users with similar interests – for your business, that means you can find people who are more likely to be interested in what you do.
Add Vine videos to Twitter. Vine is a new tool that allows users to upload six-second videos. It’s new, but it’s going to prove important for small business.
Always update your contributor’s section on Google+. You need your contributor’s section to reference every site to which you contribute.
Use Instagram constantly. With Instagram, you want to share as much as possible. Try to share relevant photos sometimes, but it’s actually okay to add things that give your company and your page a human feel!
Just use Pinterest! Pinterest’s largest demographic is women between 20 and 40. That’s a huge group, and one almost any business can benefit from targeting.
Use Tumblr like a blog and upload snippets of content every day. It will help keep your company in your followers’ minds.
Make videos using Animoto and other filmmaking tools that will appeal to your followers. Just have fun with this one!

3. Keep Your Eyes and Ears Open

Knowing what people are saying about your company through social media outlets is extremely important. However, you’re going to have to do your part to stay connected so you can see and hear people’s comments in a timely fashion.

Being aware of what your followers saying about you could help you develop a new product or make changes to an existing one in order to increase sales and customer satisfaction.

If people aren’t talking about your products enough to get a feel for how the general public (or at least those with whom you’re connected through social media) really feels, consider hosting a giveaway or two to try and generate interest.

4. Be a Regular

You can’t expect your social media campaign to work for you if just pop in once in a while and leave a comment without communicating with others and really participating in the online discussion. Being a regular contributor on social media outlets will also make users feel like your company is more trustworthy and will show that you genuinely care about consumers buying your products.

If you don’t have enough time to contribute to social media sites regularly, download a few apps that will do things like schedule pins on Pinterest and updates on Facebook, Google+ and Twitter.

5. Be Original, But Don’t Be Afraid to Join In

Original, unique content that helps promote your business is essential. However, you can’t rely on it solely to make an impact when it comes to social media.

One of the best things your business can do, and one of the most commonly forgotten things, is to join in and like other users. See something funny on YouTube? Share it. Find a funny meme? Share it.

Joining in the conversation, even if it isn’t related to your business at all is an important part of using social media effectively.

Image Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

Getting Started with YouTube Marketing

Wed, 06 Mar 2013 18:00:00 -0500

HostPapa’s YouTube channel is a lot of fun! Not only is it a chance to be creative, but it has enabled us to effectively reach, share information, and interact with customers. Have you checked it out yet? If not, you should!

What’s great about video marketing?

Studies show video offers greater retention and recall than the written word. And online videos are popular: according to Strategy Analytics, 280 billion mobile videos were viewed in 2012, up from 108 billion in 2011; online video advertising spending is on the same trajectory. YouTube is considered the second most popular search engine by volume.

In other words, people are turning to online videos for research, education, entertainment and purchasing. The time to take advantage of YouTube marketing is now.

Just like any other type of marketing, social media marketing with YouTube has to be done with a plan. Here are some hints to get you started as you build your video marketing strategy:

Research. Check out the competition. See what works and what doesn't; check out the quality, content, tone and user feedback.
Focus on content over sales. Most people don’t come to YouTube to watch a blatant advertisement – they want information. Capture their interest and provide a link to your website. Inspire trust and relatability by showing real situations in the videos as much as possible.
Make sure you have time for this. Successful YouTube marketing requires regular new content to keep viewers engaged. You should also make time to comment on other videos, respond to comments on your videos – anything to improve the level of interaction. Above all, take care to be sure you are uploading high-quality videos.
Video optimization. Increase your chance of being seen among the billions of videos competing for viewers. Apply search engine optimization tactics to your videos, just as you would to an article or blog post. Use relevant keywords in your account profile and in each video filename. Add descriptive tags if available and always be sure to properly categorize your video.
Keep it short. Your video should run between 30 seconds and two minutes. If your video is longer than that, recognize that you will lose some viewers. If you have a lot of content, consider breaking it into a number of videos.

Do not plan your video marketing strategy in isolation. Connect all the dots by adapting your video content to reach more people. Create a transcript to post as text; create eye-catching stills from your video to post on your blog, Facebook, or Pinterest. Create an audio-only version for iTunes or other audio websites.

Social media marketing with YouTube is a valuable addition to your overall marketing plan. Get your plan in place, be creative, and have fun!

HostPapa is on YouTube

Fri, 01 Mar 2013 10:00:00 -0500

Did you know that HostPapa has a YouTube channel?

In addition to our website, knowledgebase and video tutorials, the YouTube channel features great info on our products and services, along with how-tos.

Our latest video features WordPress website hosting and shows how easy it is to get started with this powerful, feature-packed content management system.

There’s also a great video tutorial series that walks you through HostPapa Connect email marketing (which, by the way, is offered free to all shared web hosting customers).

Check it out and let us know what you think!

http://www.youtube.com/user/HostPapa

And stay tuned next week, when we’ll feature a post about how you, too, can harness the power of this ever-growing medium!

12 Tips to Jumpstart Your Blog - Part 2

Wed, 09 Jan 2013 10:00:00 -0500

Last week, we shared the first six blog posting ideas. As promised, this week we bring you the rest:

Tip #7: Make lists on your blog.
Similar to tutorials and how-to articles, lists make for terrific blog posts and are used liberally by the best bloggers on the web. Simple lists are great for just about every blog. You could provide a list of anything that interests you and fits your blog’s subject matter and audience. A list could be as simple as the top 10 books you read this year, plan to read next year, or that are related directly to your blog niche. Let your imagination and creativity guide you!

Tip #8: Use a guest blogger.
Another way to invigorate your blog is to feature a guest post. If you can score an influential guest to post on your blog, chances are that they will also bring some of their own fans to your blog. Even if you can’t find someone well-known within your niche, having a guest writer with a different writing style or something new to add will bring interest to your blog.

Tip #9: Create a special video blog.
A fun way to add some interesting content to your blog is to create the occasional video blog post. You can have the video hosted directly on your site, or you can have YouTube or Vimeo host the video, which can then be embedded on your site.

Tip #10: Write an interview.
Find someone well-known in your niche and contact them to see if you can do an interview. Many people will be delighted to give you an interview, but make sure you prepare ahead of time. If time permits, you can even announce the event on your blog in advance and let some of your readers come up with questions.

Tip #11: Live blog from an event.
Attending a conference or even heading out on vacation? This could be a perfect opportunity to blog live. Talk about the event, promote it on Twitter and Facebook, and encourage your readers to interact on your blog. Record video, upload photos and do some interviews as well, and you can use these in later posts.

Tip #12: Reevaluate your blog.
If you’ve tried the tips above and your blog is still not attracting new readers, it may be time for a complete overhaul. You can remain within your niche, but you might have to reevaluate the keywords that you are using in your content and the subject matter of your blog. Sometimes changing a few keywords to less-competitive ones can do wonders.

These are just 12 ideas that you could use to attract new readers to your blog and give it more life. We’d love to hear your ideas too!

12 Tips to Jumpstart Your Blog - Part 1

Fri, 04 Jan 2013 10:30:00 -0500

Is your blog languishing in the dust, neglected by all but a handful of dedicated readers?

Are you having trouble getting potential followers to visit your blog?

Are you new to blogging and need some ideas to get started?

HostPapa is here to help! Here are the first six tips to help get you started:

Tip #1: Connect elsewhere on the web.
Seek out other blogs, forums, and sites that have a similar subject niche and target audience as your own. Connect with people on these sites, comment on blogs, and interact on forums. You don’t have to overtly advertise your site, but people will want to learn more about you, at which point you can slip in a word or two about your own blog. Just like in the real world, making connections takes time and effort, but this is a tried-and-tested way to eventually find some loyal readers.

Tip #2: Ask questions of your audience.
Whether your audience is large or small, top bloggers effectively engage with their audience as much as possible. Ask your readers questions at the end of your blog posts to invite them to comment and share their views. Show them that you want their opinions, and make sure that you interact with your readers when they do comment.

Tip #3: Take a stand.
When you discover newsworthy events that have a connection to your blog’s niche, write about them. Even better, don’t just write about what happened - give your own opinion on the subject. Sharing opinions and opening up debate can be a great way to engage your audience interactively. Your blog could become a whirlwind of activity in no time!

Tip #4: Upload photos and graphics.
People are visual creatures. Pictures and graphics make your blog more personable and your posts more interesting. As an added bonus, when you tag pictures, they will start to show up in search engines as well, which is good for your blog’s ranking.

Tip #5: Create a tutorial or “how-to” article.
Blog posts that teach people new things can attract a wider audience and even rank higher in the search engines. Everyone is good at something, and if your blog follows your passion, chances are you have some skill or expertise that you can share with your audience. Be creative here!

Tip #6: Post on your blog more frequently.
Even if you don’t have a lot to say, shorter, more frequent posts are better than longer, infrequent ones. This is true for both followers (it keeps them engaged!) as well as search engines (they love new content!). Try to post at least once a week if you can. The more current, quality content you are able to post, the higher your traffic and search engine ranking will be.

Next week, we’ll bring you the other six tips. Until then, happy blogging!

Increase Sales Using Pinterest

Thu, 18 Oct 2012 12:31:00 -0400

Do you have zillions of followers on Pinterest but haven’t seen any increase in sales? You’re not the only one. Learn how to make the most out of social marketing—before everyone else figures it out too.

The same age-range (25-44) known for their compulsive shopping habits, are the overwhelming majority on Pinterest. Businesses have been quick to hone in on this, using the simple pin-boards as a free marketing device. Still for many businesses, the idea has yet to pay off, with loads of followers and nonstop pins, there’s still little increase in actual sales.

Just last week, while enjoying a beachfront dinner, one of my friends suddenly asked, “Am I pinning too much?” She demanded we tell her the truth before going on to gush, “My boss just wants us to pin everything from the store!”

Pinterest is like a virtual heaven- where all of the things we love, are attracted to, and envy get ‘pinned.’ But my friend’s question made me stop and think - ah hah - there really is an art to pinning.

Later, at home and leisurely scrolling through Pinterest, I took note of my friend’s excessive pins. Let me tell you, I don’t know how I missed it before. My friend wasn’t joking around when she mentioned her boss’s desire to pin the world in its entirety. Quickly, I noticed how one-sided these pins were; some had 1 or 2 likes and repins, while most were getting no action at all.

What does this mean for the fancy clothing boutique my friend works for? First of all, their marketing techniques are getting them next to nowhere - being socially active is only good marketing when others are re-pinning, sharing, and creating a world of new customers for you.

Common fails, such as this one, have inspired many sites to start popping up, all in the name of helping clients make the most of Pinterest. Just to name a few - Klout, Curalate, ShareAsImage, ShotPin, and the list goes on and on. In John Brandon’s Inc. article, “7 Tools to Get More Out of Pinterest,” these sites are addressed as a way to “turn those ‘pins’ into sales.” A promising phrase for hungry businesses left wondering when - and if - their new 3,000 followers will ever pay off.

For the stubbornly independent it might seem silly, paying money for a site to “manage” your pins - for isn’t that what you hired an employee to do? But in reality, it might not be so silly at all — in fact, it could be the exact opposite, like turning pennies into gold.

“What’s Your Klout Score?”

Klout is quick to address a large misconception with its clients: it isn’t about how many followers someone has; it’s about how many of those followers actually care about the brand. This is why your Klout score only increases when your pins are appreciated and shared.

Curalate is very similar to Klout, only I’m digging their ability to track the actual images you pin - no matter what happens to the image, even if the description or title changes, the image is still traceable, allowing you to see exactly how many people have re-pinned your product. From this, one can gather exactly how much attention a product actually draws. Are your items unique enough to be shared, obsessed, liked, and purchased? Curalate will help you find out.

Looking for a less evasive way to improve sales? Do you use a WordPress template for your storefront page? Then I suggest giving WP Pinner a try. An app created for one of the most common (and easy to use) website platforms, WordPress, it allows pins to be instantly placed in your WordPress posts and then easily shared onto your actual Pinterest boards. This quick convenience will not only save you time, but it will make all social media sites coexist - increasing the general popularity of your brand.

Sales Still Low?

So your followers do actively repin, comment, and share your merchandise and still, you wonder why sales haven’t increased. Many others are finding their popular Pinterest accounts have surprisingly low conversion rates, lower than both Facebook and Twitter. This has caused some experts to argue that Pinterest might only be good for creating referral traffic, instead of actual sales. Leaving one burning question: can enlisting the help of a site like Klout change that?

I dig a little deeper and find that many business do see an increase in sales after enlisting the help of these services. Only, it’s not necessarily because people suddenly want the items you’ve been trying to sell. Instead of promoting your own, original products, a lot of these sites are really just helping businesses understand what consumers want. In a way what could be better? Like a team of perfectionists chiselling away at your product until it becomes what others are actually seeking. On the other hand, it could mean starting back at the boating docks — learning that perhaps your products are not popular enough to gain the momentum needed to sail.

Who Does Pinterest Work Best For?

Businesses that are not reliant on sales but instead make their money through traffic are a perfect match for Pinterest. Known exclusively for its ability to increase traffic, Pinterest has bumped some small businesses traffic up 80%.

Free Advice

Remember, you can own the busiest shop in town, but if no one buys anything, you make no money.

Take note; are people liking, re-pinning, and even ‘tweeting’ about your pins? If so, you are on your way to success. For everyone else, make sure your products are neatly listed on a well-presented storefront website. Even if you have the most intriguing pins in town, a lousy site can instantly turn potential customers away. Lastly, don’t ‘follow’ the trend of purchasing followers. Like spam mail, they are completely worthless. Earned followers are more like fans, customers who care enough about your pins to repin, showing off your merchandise to a whole new world of potential clients.

12 Social Media Blogs you MUST Read

Tue, 11 Sep 2012 12:31:00 -0400

Social Media has gone way past tweeting what you had for lunch, or poking your ex on Facebook. Now marketers all over the world have an integrated social media plan and every brand its own digital strategy. Blogging is now an essential part of an integrated social media strategy and there are a whole host of social media savvy blogs out there giving hints, tips, reviews as well as practical hands-on advice for those working in the industry or just with a passing interest in all things digital.

We’ve come up with a list of the 12 best social media blogs that everyone should read. Put them on your favorite RSS feed reader, sit back and enjoy!

Social Media Today

Social Media Today – “The world’s best thinkers on social media” is their tagline and a pretty fair one too. This is a collection of bloggers who form part of the online community for professionals in PR, marketing, advertising, or any other discipline where a thorough understanding of social media is mission-critical. So basically: Social media experts talking about social media.
Socialnomics

Socialnomics – The blog spawned from the #1 Best Selling Book Socialnomics/ by Erik Qualman or Equalman as he is known on twitter. Erik also made the awesome Youtube video Social Media Revolution which became a hit back in 2009 for its social media facts & insights, but has been updated several times to keep it current. Socialnomics tells the story of social success, statistics and amusing insights. Qualman is a great resource for those interested in everything “social”.
Social Media Examiner

Social Media Examiner – All the latest social media news, tips, hints as well as reviews and lists of apps and services. Social Media Examiner also features case-studies of real life social media success stories.
Tech Crunch

Tech Crunch – Personally I’m not a massive fan of the layout of this site – but as content goes, it’s right up there with the very best of them. You’ll find over 20 different social media & tech posts here every single day.
Jeff Bullas

Jeff Bullas – Jeff is a digital consultant who works with companies and executives to optimize their online personal and company presence and brand with digital marketing and social media through the use of social media channels and other web and mobile technologies. His site is a very practical, hand-on guide for businesses with lots of tips on all kinds of social media usage. Especially useful for small businesses.
Scott Monty

Scott Monty – Only updated every 2-3 weeks, Scott Monty is not only the global head of social media for Ford Motor Company but also the guy who coined the term “tweetup”. Scott blogs some interesting insights into his world from a marketing/advertising/PR perspective.
Convince & Convert

Convince & Convert – Run by Jay Baer the tequila-loving, hype-free social media strategy consultant, speaker, and author that helps leading companies and PR firms harness the awesome power of the social Web.
Soshable

Soshable – is all about analyzing innovative applications and offering fresh insights into the world of social media. It wants to do more than offer just news & announcements, and try to offer opinions and to present the social internet on a golden platter for everyone to enjoy.
Edelman Digital

Edelman Digital – This blog is from the “world’s first and largest global social agency”. The Edelman digital blog has a broad scope of social media, PR and marketing. They also publish a very detailed Edelman quarterly which is also not to be missed.
Heidi Cohen

Heidi Cohen's blog is full of intelligent insights and digital marketing tips from her 20 years’ plus experience as a marketing executive. It offers hands-on advice for small & large businesses..
Likeable Media

Likeable – quite simply, provides tips and ideas on how to make your brand more likeable on the digital landscape.
Mashable

Last but certainly not least is Mashable, one of the most retweeted sites on Twitter. Scottish founder Pete Cashmore is definitely one of the ‘twitterarti’ with close to 3 million followers and a Klout score of 89. This blog brings together a plethora or information on topics such as social media, tech, business, entertainment and much more.