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5 Social Media Marketing Tools for Your Business

Every marketing channel has tools that can make your marketing tasks more
effective and efficient. Social media marketing is one of them.
For the past few years, several social media marketing tools have been launched.
However, not all of them were created equal. So, before choosing which of these
tools you should use, it is important to have a clearly defined objectives and
measurable outcomes. This will help you determine if your social media marketing
efforts are successful.
Listed below are some of the most popular monitoring tools. Read on and decide if
these tools are the ones you need.

Viralheat
One of Viralheat’s most interesting features is that it allows business owners to
compare their overall brand mentions against their competitors. The data is then
presented in a pie chart or graph.
This is advantageous as it helps you determine if your marketing efforts enables
you to increase brand buzz across social media platforms.

Sysomos
Sysomos is especially useful for larger companies. With a $550 monthly plan, you
can throw in a few bells and whistles as it includes a dedicated account manager, 5
users and unlimited data.
Sysomos provides management of your company accounts and social media
account monitoring as well. Data Visualization is one of its best features. This allows
users to get to the root of conversations in order to understand the factors that
influence them.

UberVU
UberVU provides its users with actionable insights. When providing listening and
monitoring data, it sources the most social media networks. This tool monitors a
variety of networks such including Picasa, Youtube, Blogger, LinkedIn, Twitter and
Facebook. It also has a feature which they refer to as “Signal”, which scans all the
conversations and mentions relevant to your brand. They also detect dozens of
signals such as trending stories, spikes in sentiment and volume and influencer
mentions.

Sprout social
This is a modestly priced tool that can help you monitor and manage your company
profiles on the Internet. With a $39 monthly plan, it allows you to manage a
maximum of 10 profiles.
In terms of monitoring your brand metrics, Sprout Social only provides results from
Twitter and Facebook. However, this tool has the ability to monitor brand mentions
from other sources like news sites and blogs.

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Benefits of Social Media Marketing

There are a lot of blog posts and articles which stresses the importance of
integrating social media into your marketing strategies. Most people believe that
social media platforms provide a great impact on a business’ lead generation and
sales.
Listed below are some of the benefits of social media marketing. Keep in mind,
though, that these benefits may not be seen overnight. You have to put in a great
deal of effort and wait for a few months in order to see significant results.

Communication
Social media platforms are created in order to share information and interact with
other people. To maximize your marketing efforts, it is best to develop a social
media marketing strategy that would encourage your followers to interact with you.
This has to be a two-way communication.

Networking
Social media does not only help you extend your reach and build new relationships.
It’s also a great place where you can deepen and maintain the existing ones.

Build a reputation
As a business owner, you know that having a good reputation is one of the most
important ingredients to success. While your marketing efforts are focused on
maintaining what has been created, social media marketing makes these benefits
more pronounced.

Drive traffic
While driving traffic to your site is the main reason why you decided to create a
social media account, this comes as a great bonus. You can post a link to your
newest post and see people click the link and visit your site.

Promotion
Social media platforms are also a great avenue for promotion. Promote your brand
or your newest products, provide information about them and increase awareness
about your brand. You can also use social media to promote your events. Capture
people’s attention, create buzz and invite them to attend your event.

Extend reach

There are millions of users who access their social media accounts on a daily basis.
With this, it would be easier to reach as much people within a single post.
With over 150 million registered users, Twitter has been named as the 9th most
popular website on the Internet as of May 2011

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Tips in Using Video in Social Media

The Internet is filled with content and information. With the surplus of information, it may be difficult to entice people to read your contents or watch your videos, unless they’re actually in need of that information.

In this article, we’ll give you a few tips on how use video content on social media. Read on and get your message across your audience.

Introduce your company to the online community

Since you are on the Internet, it is best to introduce your company to the online community in a fun and creative manner. While fan engagement is encouraged, this does not mean that you have to post cute photos in order to gather likes. Instead, spend enough time to plan your video content and make sure to highlight your company’s strengths.

Capture the attention of your target audience

There is no denying that social media provides great benefits to business owners. However, most business owners find it difficult to capture the attention of their target audience and get them to view these videos.

Please bear in mind that the description that you include with the video actually makes a big difference. When writing a description, make sure to convey the message in a matter of 2-3 sentences.

Most importantly, be sure to grab the attention of the viewer, especially on the first 10-15 seconds. If you fail to do so, then there’s a greater possibility that they won’t finish watching your video and look for something more interesting. Your goal is to convey the message quickly and efficiently.

Video quality

You don’t need to create a video with the same quality as a cinematic trailer. However, please make sure that your video comes with a decent quality. A video taken from a shaky camcorder may not do well.

Meanwhile, an HD video with boring content may not attract as much viewers as well. So, we recommend a combination of both – creative and informative content matched with decent quality.

Length

A study which was conducted in 2011 revealed that viewers are more likely to watch videos ranging from 5 to 8 minutes. Longer videos, on the other hand, tend to turn people away.

 

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4 Social Media Marketing Tips for Beginners

Social media marketing is beneficial for small business owners as it helps them build awareness about their business and products or services through different social media channels. With the right tactics, you’ll be rewarded with increased product visibility, a new batch of potential clients and bountiful sales as well.

As a beginner, building a social media presence may not be that easy. We have compiled a few tips to make the process easier for you.

Choose a social media platform

As a beginner, it would be best to choose 1 or 2 social media platforms and stick with it. This would be easier instead of working across different platforms at the same time.

A great way to determine which platform is best for you is to follow the influencers and learn about their success story. Follow the leaders in your niche and check out their Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest and other social media accounts.

If they have 50,000 Facebook fans but only 5,000 Twitter followers, then Facebook may be a more suitable social media platform for your niche.

Optimize your social media platforms

Decide which social media tools you’ll be using and optimize your profiles. You are more likely to get more followers and boost your SEO efforts by optimizing your profile.

If you wish to have a trusted profile, then using a real photo would be of great help. Social media is all about connecting with people, so you have to show the people who you are in order to get their trust.

Connect your social media accounts with your blog or website

If your social media profile is ready, connecting your blog or website to your social media account would be the next step. Each platform has a certain set of procedures to follow. So, you have to abide by these rules and do it correctly.

Add social media buttons to your blog or site

Adding social media buttons on your blog or site is beneficial as it could help reader share your content easily.

For increased exposure, it is best to place the buttons above the fold. Also, larger buttons are more visible and are more likely to get you more clicks compared to smaller buttons.  

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5 Best Business Apps

As business owners we are on the go a lot, it is great to find those apps to make your life just a little bit easier! Here are 5 apps we love and use on a daily basis!

1) Flipgram- Bring Moments to Life! Create beautiful short video stories using your photos, set to music you love! http://flipagram.com/  This app is great for businesses they can take pictures of events they are at, or presentations or even new products and then take those pictures and create a nice short video to share on Instagram and social media.

2)  Web Recording Tool- Get ready to impress and be impressed, with this first of a kind app that is not only extra original but super useful too! Looking for the best way to explain or show someone how to navigate a specific area of the Internet but don’t have the words for it? Show it with a video! This is a great app for businesses when they are wanting to show someone their website, or how to explain something on their website, blog, YouTube, Social Media etc. https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/web-recording-tool/id683468115?mt=8

3) Dropbox- Dropbox is a free service that lets you bring your photos, docs, and videos anywhere and share them easily. Never email yourself a file again! This app is a great tool for businesses that are virtual or on the go a lot, you can upload important documents that you use daily on your computer, upload to Dropbox then when you are out and about if you have this app you can view and edit from your phone or tablet!

4)  Hootsuite– HootSuite is a social media management system for businesses and organizations to collaboratively execute campaigns across multiple social networks from one secure, web-based dashboard. Launch marketing campaigns, identify and grow audiences, and distribute targeted messages using HootSuite’s unique social media dashboard. https://hootsuite.com/features/mobile-apps This is a great app for businesses that are trying to keep up with their social media in a busy life style. You can log into 1 platform and be able to post to all your social media profiles. It is so easy!

5)  Evernote- Remember Everything- Evernote apps and products make modern life manageable, by letting you easily collect and find everything that matters. http://evernote.com/ As business owners we are very busy everyday trying to manage a company, social media, the books, personal life, bills the list goes on and on, this is a great tool to help you remember those things!

 

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What does being a “social business” mean?

Being a business owner today means you need to do more than just run your company, you need to be social! Social Media has been a great tool for business owners to speak with their customers and target audience, one problem some businesses have is making social media a 2-way street. Businesses should not just be posting everyday to social media, businesses need to get involved! Think of social media as an online networking event, you go and ask other people what they do and what they need help with in their business and get to know those people. Social media is the same thing; you need to ask questions, get feedback, answer questions, and get involved in your online community!

I did some research on what does it mean to be a social business, and I found this great article from YFS Magazine: Here are a few things they mention in the article that we totally agree with, be sure to read the whole article here http://yfsmagazine.com/2013/08/27/what-does-it-mean-to-be-a-social-business/2/#axzz2pvcIdtPw

What was most surprising, however not really, was the disconnect between social media strategy and overall business objectives. In our research we found:

  • Only 34% of businesses feel that their social strategy is connected to business outcomes.
  • Just 28% of companies studied felt that they have a holistic approach to social media, where lines of business and business functions work together under a common vision.
  • Only half of companies surveyed said that their top executives were “informed, engaged and aligned with their companies’ social strategy.”

 

What does it mean to be a social business?

A social business is more than social media. Yet, it’s a term that’s often confused with social media strategy. There’s an important difference between a social business and a social media strategy.

Each represent distinct qualities for which “social” is simply a qualifier. In the context of “media”, social is an adjective that describes the nature of channels, networks, or platforms that facilitate conversations online. When placed ahead of business, social articulates a philosophy or approach.

In this case, “social business” is a philosophy, a way of business in which social technologies supported by new approaches facilitate a more open, engaged, and collaborative foundation for how we work.

Isn’t ‘social’ just, a necessary nuisance?

The fact that social media and social business still cause debate, or even confusion after all these years, is understandable. Many business owners see social media as a novelty or a distraction for young adults and kids. They haven’t realized the impact of social networks because they either:

  • Don’t have time
  • Can’t see the value
  • Find it difficult to keep up with all of the networks
  • Or a combination of all of the above

Understandably, the priority and focus is driving business objectives, creating opportunities, and solving problems. Many founders and CEO’s don’t make decisions based on technology or trends, yet when their teams talk about social they tend to emphasize social media rather than social business goals.

 

The Goal of a Social ‘Business’ Strategy

A social business strategy starts with a vision for how social media will improve customer and employee experiences and relationships. It aligns social media initiatives with business goals and opportunities. Technology thus becomes an enabler for a bigger mission and purpose.

A social media strategy outlines how a business will employ social networks to engage customers or employees. When social is viewed through the lens of customer expectations, preferences, opportunities and challenges you can’t help but to at least consider further research and pilot programs that lead to bigger initiatives.

In the end, you will learn that a true social business strategy employs social media as one of the primary channels, not the only channel, to deliver a consistent, connected, and additive experience online, through mobile and in the real world by modernizing and improving the complete customer and employee lifecycle.\
Read more: http://yfsmagazine.com/2013/08/27/what-does-it-mean-to-be-a-social-business/#ixzz2pvgAECFl
Under Creative Commons License: Attribution No Derivatives
Follow us: @YFSMagazine on Twitter

So our question to you is . . .  What is your company doing to be social? Please share with us what has worked and not worked! We want to hear from you!!!!

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Social Media Tips for Small Business Owners

Planning and implementing an effective marketing strategy is one of the biggest challenges business owners are dealing with. Being successful in marketing your brand through social media means being able to introduce your products or services in a fun and creative way.

 

In this article, you’ll be able to discover some of the strategies experts use to boost their social media marketing. Read on and we’ll tell you more about it.

Diversify your social media presence

While Twitter and Facebook still dominate the social media scene, there are a lot of social media platforms being introduced from time to time. Instagram has also been increasingly popular among users.

In order to see better results, it is important for business owners to diversify their social media presence and interact with their clients through a variety of platforms.

Tell your unique story

Make your company stand out from the competition by sharing your unique story through social media. This way, consumers may be swayed to purchase from you instead of your competitors.

While most of your existing customers are familiar with your story, your potential clients may have no idea about it. So, try to maximize the power of social media and share your story to your audience.

Research popular content from your competitors

Try to sneak a peek into your competitor’s posts and see which types of content are popular with their audience. If this catches the attention of their audience, there’s a great possibility that your followers would be interested too. It’s not about copying their content; it’s about creating contents around a similar topic.

Use images to amplify your updates

Fan engagement is necessary in order for your post to be continually seen in the newsfeeds. So, if you’re Facebook posts are not generating enough shares, likes or comments, you’re wasting time.

One of the easiest and most effective ways of boosting fan engagement to your status updates is by using images. You can search for blank images, edit them and add a text or a question that your followers could answer or share with their friends.

 

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Internet Marketing Trends for 2014

As another year comes to an end we have seen the online world continue to evolve!  Businesses are finding more success with original content than with advertisements within content. They are also building brand awareness and building online communities.

Internet Marketing Trends for 2014

1. Content Strategy- Businesses gain consumer trust by creating valuable content, this content can be different amongst social media platforms. This takes into consideration industry information that gives greater insight and entertainment to audiences. Having a good content strategy and marketing in social media on websites, blogs, as comments, in emails plus videos and more often provides opportunities for businesses and high brand recognition.

2. Social Media- Social Media is not going anywhere, but the key factor is to see what platforms work best for you and your business. There are always new Social Media sites popping up, that does not mean you need to be on every single one, you do need to do your homework and see if Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Google+, Tumblr etc. are a good fit.

3. Keep it simple– People want simple! Keep your marketing messages and recognizable logos simple, they are the key to your online marketing. Don’t burn out your audience by constantly barraging them with advertisements and content that is irrelevant, boring or non-productive. Consumers today want to look at what you have in about ten seconds and move on to something else!

4. Mobile Marketing- The usage of smartphones continues to grow, this means you need to make sure your website is mobile friendly, and may require that you have apps and online marketing adaptable to smartphone and tablet use. They say by 2017, it is predicted that 87% of cellular phone use will be via smartphones. Provide a marketing experience that can be easily used through smartphones.

5. Info graphics- We are a visual society, people want to see pictures and info graphics that explain something to them in a simple format. Info graphics are a great way to create a blog, social media post and post on Pinterest.

6. SEO (search engine optimization) will continue to be used in online marketing and play a very important role in search ranking in 2014. Providing users with the best and most relevant content is what makes Google run. Share good, targeted content, and the higher ranked a website will be. Also keep in mind that top ranking search results often connect to social shares.

With all of this being said online marketing will continue to grow and it is important that your business is online and being seen! Social Media and blogging and add some videos into that mix can really help your SEO for your business. Does all of this sound a little overwhelming? We are here to help you navigate your way through your online marketing and manage it for you! Email us today for a FREE 30 minute consultation!!! Marketing@TheBIMSTeam.com

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Rules of Social Media Marketing

Leveraging the power of social media and content marketing could help increase your followers and customer base dramatically. So, it is important to understand the basics of social media marketing. From increasing your online presence to maximizing quality, abiding by these rules could help you build a foundation that will help stabilize your brand and increase your sales.

Rule of listening

Your success with content and social media marketing requires less talking and more listening. Know your target audience and join discussions so you’ll have a better idea of what they think. After this, you could create content that would capture their attention and spark conversations.

Rule of quality

Quality is more important the quantity. It is better to have at least 800 people who read, share and discuss about your content rather than having 8,000 people who would disappear after reading your content.

Rule of patience

It is impossible to achieve social media and content marketing overnight. If you are determined to introduce your business through social media, you’ll have to invest a lot of time and exert a lot of effort in order to see results.

Rule of compounding

If you publish high quality and interesting content on a regular basis, there is a greater chance that your audience and followers will share them in their own social networking accounts like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and even their own blogs.

When people shares and talks about your content, this provides more entry points for search engines; thus, allowing your keywords to appear in search engines. These entry points could potentially grow into thousands of ways for people to find you online.

Rule of acknowledgement

Acknowledging people who reaches out to you online is important. Building relationship with your followers and audiences is one important aspect of your success. So, try to reach out to them as much as possible.

Rule of accessibility

Publishing a great content and then disappearing afterwards won’t do you any good. Instead, try to come up with high quality and interesting posts once in a while and don’t forget to take part in the conversation. Online readers could be fickle and they won’t even hesitate to jump to another site if you disappear for a week or so.

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6 Tools for a Social Media Marketer

With the popularity of social media, there is an increasing demand for business owners to market their products and service via social media. In accordance to this, the number of tools and technology to support this marketing strategy is also abundant.

Mention

This is a reasonably priced social media tool that allows you to track mentions of your brand or keywords across social media channels and over the web. Mention would also provide you with a list of mentions and enables you to respond or delete these mentions.

Scoop.it

People use this tool in order to share and find contents in boards regarding a particular topic. If you do not have time to write contents, you could find someone in scoop.it to write it for you. Plus, it is a great source of traffic. So, you might want to try it out.

Google Analytics

Through this app, you could easily check your traffic and see how well it’s doing. Plus, you could also determine how many people have read your blog post.

Evernote

This is a great note taking app that you could use on your phone or computer. This app could capture images, texts and videos. It could also come in handy if you come up with an idea that you might need for your blog and need to jot down notes.

Nimble

This app is especially designed to help build and manage relationships via social media. This is becoming a popular app among business owners since it does not only help you interact with your followers; it also allows you to build relationship with them.

Hubspot

WordPress is a popular platform that most bloggers use in creating blog posts and content that could be optimized for search engines. If you are in need of a tool that covers both marketing functionality and blogging, this is the best option for you.

 

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