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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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Tips to Maximize your Facebook Ads

Facebook has more than 1 billion users from all over the world and majority of which log in on a daily basis and spends a few hours on the network. So, if you are a business owner who is planning to advertise on Facebook, this could be advantageous since everyone is there. You just have to tweak your strategy a bit in order to start seeing great results.

In this article, we’ll give you a few tips on how to maximize your Facebook ads. Follow these guidelines and you’ll be rewarded with a higher conversion rate.

Use the newsfeeds

Nowadays, majority of Facebook users are accessing their accounts through their mobile devices or tablets. This has a great impact on the part of the advertisers as mobile users are unable to see the right hand column. So, it is important to divert some of your advertising on the newsfeeds.

In a study which was conducted by SocialCode, they revealed that Facebook mobile ads earn up to 2.5 times more compared to desktop-only ads.

Custom Audiences

Most advertisers have one simple goal – to sell more. In this case, it would be better to focus on people who are already leads, like the ones who are included on your email list.

With the introduction of the “custom audience feature”, you are now given the option to upload your email list on Facebook. This is especially helpful as you can easily choose them as a custom audience when targeting a certain group of people.

Stick to the 20% rule

Facebook has made a revision on their guidelines regarding ads that appear in the news feeds. Now, all ad images that appear in the news feeds can have a text overlay. However, advertisers should take note that the text should not take up more than 20% of the ad image.

Make sure that you adhere to this rule so you won’t get penalized.

 

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Things to Consider When Measuring your Social Media ROI

If you think tracking the return on investment of your company’s social media is not necessary, then you might want to re-think your priorities. When tweaked and tracked properly, it could provide a powerful web presence to any start-up company and could help you keep up with large companies. Plus, it helps business owners to determine if their marketing strategies are working or not.

Web analytics

Web analytics is one of the most efficient ways of gauging your social media marketing ROI. Most business owners use Google Analytics to do this. By using this tool, you can easily determine the number of people who clicked on the link you shared on any social media channel. Most importantly, you’ll have a more accurate count on the number of people who visited your site through the link.

Engaging contents

Before focusing on the metrics, you’ll have to post meaningful and interesting contents through all your social channels on a regular basis. Also, take note of the kind of contents that your followers share, like and comment on the most.

Create posts that will capture the attention of your followers. This way, they’ll be interested to share your posts and could lead to a more solid fan base. Though there are no guarantees of turning these followers into paying customers, having numerous followers might actually help.

Frequency

While we fully understand the importance of keeping track of your social media ROI, knowing how often you should check on the metrics is also helpful. Experts suggest you keep track of your metrics at least once a week. This way, you’ll be able to understand the types of content which drives the most number of web visits. Most importantly, you can focus on determining which content turns into sales.

Mistakes

Obsessing over the number of likes and followers your company gets is one of the biggest mistakes most business owners commit.

Please bear in mind that these information could be used in improving your social media marketing campaign. So, dig deeper and focus on the metrics that could help you climb the ladder of success.

 

 

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Top 10 Benefits Of Advertising On Facebook

  1. Facebook is one of the most popular websites on the Internet. With approximately 250 million unique visitors each month, Facebook is the 2nd-most visited website on the Internet (behind Google). All those eyeballs mean plenty of exposure for your ads.
  2. Facebook offers targeted advertising. Facebook allows advertisers to target a specific group of people based on age, personal interests and more. Facebook can even comb through user profiles to place your ads only on pages that mention a specific keyword.
  3. You can increase customer loyalty through a Facebook fan page. Countless businesses have created Facebook fan pages that users can join. These pages allow your business to interact directly with your customers so that you can build loyalty and brand image.
  4. Offer special promotions through your Facebook fan page. Your fan page can also be used as a platform to promote new products or ad campaigns. Updates on new product launches keep your customers more informed and up-to-date on what products or services you offer.
  5. Facebook ads are more flexible than Google AdWords. Compared to Google AdWords, Facebook offers additional character length for ad descriptions. The ability to create image-based ads also adds flexibility.
  6. Facebook users offer heightened audience engagement. Facebook users visit the website not only to consume information, but also to create it. This results in a higher retention rate that improves ad visibility.
  7. Facebook facilitates multiple ad views. Your ad has a better chance of getting noticed or having a positive effect when seen multiple times. A high number of Facebook users visit the site several times a day.
  8. Choose between PPC and CPM pay structures. Facebook allows advertisers to purchase ad space on a click-based or impression-based fee structure. This allows you to tailor your ad campaign based on budget and other preferences.
  9. Advertising on Facebook can be inexpensive. Thanks to the targeted nature of Facebook advertising, your online campaign can reach your target market for a fairly affordable price. Range of packages for impression-based campaigns is also fairly large, allowing you to reach as many users as your budget allows.
  10. Ability to reach smart-phone users. Facebook is accessed via smart phones worldwide every single day. This fact means advertisers not only have the ability to reach computer and laptop users, but people out in the world as well.
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Facebook Timelines Teach U.S. History

Want to bone up on the history you forgot from high school, or maybe never learned? Spending some time on Facebook might be a valid option. Here is an article we wanted to share on a less traditional way to  use Facebook.

During the past year or so, a number of federal agencies have filled in the history on their Facebook timelines all the way back to their founding dates.

The White House made the first strike in the spring of 2012, filling out itsFacebook history all the way back to George Washington’s inauguration. Since then, other agencies have followed suit.

The State Department has taken the task most seriously, papering its timeline with articles from its Office of the Historian on diplomatic accomplishments, initiatives and ephemera.

State Department posts vary widely in subject matter, from the Berlin Crisisand the U.S. effort to reconstruct Japan after World War II to lesser-known stories such as a clandestine 1919 visit to Soviet Russia by William Christian Bullitt, an American attaché to the Paris Peace Conference following World War I. Bullitt hoped to broker an agreement with the ruling Bolsheviks to end that nation’s civil war and allow the WWI allies to halt their blockade of that nation.

The Defense Department’s page is less ambitious but still well stocked with notable moments from Pentagon history, such as President Truman’s 1952 establishment of the National Security Agency inside DOD and Eisenhower’s1958 founding of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency known as DARPA.

The Agriculture Department’s page is built more around interesting photosfrom department history than around major policies.

The Labor, Treasury and Justice departments have filled out their agencies’ backstories more sparsely. However, their timelines still share some great facts, such as a 1976 musical commissioned by the Labor Department andthe day the Bureau of Public Debt got its first computer.

As an added bonus, you can also decide which attorney general had the most awesome portrait and spot the occasional silly typo.

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New LinkedIn Showcase Pages Reach Just the Right Users

LinkedIn replaced its news aggregator LinkedIn Today last week in order to get the right content in front of the right users.

The company took that mantra a step further on Tuesday, unveiling Showcase Pages for companies that will, in theory, allow them to share content to a more focused and interested audience.

Here is a great article that explains  Showcase Pages and what a great tool it can be for businesses looking to grow their audiences.

Showcase Pages work like less-robust Company Pages, giving major corporations like Microsoft the ability to create pages for niche divisions or business units, such as Microsoft Office or Xbox. Showcase Pages will be followable, meaning Microsoft can share Xbox content with LinkedIn users who have shown interest in the product, rather than every user who simply follows Microsoft.

LinkedIn hopes that brands will start focusing their content to specific audiences. Companies can operate up to 10 Showcase Pages, but LinkedIn says it will work with larger companies that have the need (and manpower) to operate more.

Showcase Pages aren’t Company Pages, and they don’t have all the same features. For example, Showcase Pages won’t have a tab for Careers or Products & Services, and they aren’t for recruiting, says a LinkedIn spokesperson.

Showcase Pages are also different from Groups on LinkedIn. (Xbox and Microsoft Office groups already exist.) The difference is that companies control the content of a Showcase Page, while an administrator controls the Group.

The other major difference is that companies can advertise on Showcase Pages.

Companies can purchase Follower Ads aimed at increasing the Showcase Page’s total follower total, as well as Sponsored Updates that will put the page’s posts and content in front of others who aren’t following the page.

LinkedIn has about 3 million Company Pages on the site, but isn’t saying how many Showcase Pages it expects to add. It seems likely that an abundance of new pages will increase the number of ads on the site, simply because there will now be more business units and brands looking to spread their news.

Showcase Pages weren’t the only changes for LinkedIn on Tuesday. The company also announced Talent Updates, a feature that lets LinkedIn Recruiters post content to their company page directly from their recruiter dashboard. Previously, recruiters needed to log out of their recruiter dashboard, and log in as the page administrator to post. (Or ask the administrator to post on their behalf.)

This is a behind-the-scenes change that shouldn’t impact users — they’ll still see content the same way they always have on a company’s page. It simply makes it easier for those operating LinkedIn pages to internally manage the content they choose to share.

(http://mashable.com/2013/11/19/linkedin-showcase-pages/)
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5 THINGS YOU NEED TO DO WITH GOOGLE+ NOW

If you haven’t already heard, Google+ is become a force to be reckoned with on the web. It’s still too early to predict if it’s a “Facebook killer”, but it’s already obvious that Google+ has caused a major shakeup of the social aspect of the web. It will affect you; I’d like to explain what Google+ is, how it will affect you, and the five things you need to do with Google+ now.

What Is Google+?

Google Plus is essentially a way to connect your entire Google experience with the people you know. Think of it as a very Google-centric version of Facebook. In fact, you will find it very similar to Facebook – except all the features, and their connection to your browsing experience, are amplified.

The most noticeable example of this is the +1 button. This works similarly to the Facebook Like button in that it functions as an upvote for pages you like. Site owners can install code for +1 on their site in order to allow people to vote, and when you vote for something using the +1 button, it shows up in your activity stream. The button also shows up directly in search results (if you’re logged in).

What are Some of the Main Features of Google+?

Instead of having “friends” a la Facebook, you have “circles” in Google Plus. These are groupings such as “Work”, “Friends”, “Acquaintances”, etc. that allow you categorize your connections with people. It gives you a bit more flexibility than the Facebook “friend” – especially since Google Plus allows you to make your own types of circles. This is a major difference with Facebook – and Google Plus has the advantage.

Another useful feature of Google Plus is it’s “Sparks” feature, which is similar to an alert feed. Not everything in sparks has necessarily been shared before in Google+, and it’s a good way to keep up with topics of interest to you.

A feature of interest to people who use instant messaging or Skype is the “Hangouts” feature, which is similar to Skype. Hangouts are virtual chat rooms that you can setup and participate in voice (using Google Voice) or text chat sessions. This can be very useful for business use.

How Does Google+ Affect the Rest of the Web?

Google+ is bound to affect the search ranking calculations, if it’s not doing so already. Twitter and Facebook shares, along with other socially-connected sites such as Digg and StumbleUpon already play a part in the ranking algorithm – and Google is sure to use +1 votes in a similar fashion. Aside from that, +1 votes already affect personalized search results. Expect to see different results delivered to you depending on what you’ve voted for in the past!

Google+ has well over 10 million users, and that number will only grow exponentially as more and more people adopt Google+ as just another aspect of the Google services most web users depend on in some way. Expect Google+ to become a vital part of social traffic – and get used to seeing the +1 button all over the web.

OK, OK…But What Should I Do Now?

There are 5 things you should do now – now that Google+ is beginning to influence the web.

  1. Grow your following, and don’t be afraid to add people.
  2. Treat it like Twitter: follow, follow, follow.
  3. Ask for shares and +1 on your posts.
  4. Add a +1 button to your site – either directly or by using one of the many social plugins.
  5. Share good content with your circles – because content is still king

(http://www.searchdiscovery.com/blog/5-things-you-should-be-doing-on-google-plus/)

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