The Importance of Participating in LinkedIn Groups

 

 

 

 

 

When it comes to generating leads, a HubSpot study conducted at the beginning of the year showed that LinkedIn is 277% more effective than other social network sites. This is a powerful statistic, but before you go looking for leads, you must first create prospects. By joining and being active in Groups on LinkedIn, you can benefit substantially from the site.

1. Join Groups Relevant to Your Business

Search on LinkedIn to find out which groups would be beneficial for your industry. If your business is a general industry, search for associations groups. If you’re a recruiter, look for networking groups. To join groups that will assist in your marketing efforts, look at the groups Social Media Marketing, Inbound Marketers and Marketing Innovation with LinkedIn.

2. Be an Influencer

When you first join a group, avoid the temptation about starting discussions that promote your products and services. No one in the group knows who you are when you first join, therefore you don’t have anyone’s trust just yet. However, if group members see that you’re part of the top five influencer list, you will be a noted helpful group member. To become a Top Influencer, you must generate contributions that lead to the most contributions from other group members. Remember that with your contributions and discussions with groups, it’s all about quality, not quantity, when shooting to become a Top Influencer.

3. Post a Poll

Group members like to see that you’re part of the group to engage, and not to promote or spam. By starting a poll, users will see that you’re interested in hearing their opinions. This is an easy way to get other members to get to know you and communicate with you.

4. Post Discussions

After you’ve created a respectable reputation within your group, start a discussion with group members. To start a quality discussion, remember these three components:

-Keep the title short. If the title goes over 140 characters, it will appear with an ellipsis at the end.

-Provide group members useful details. Give good context, but don’t get too lengthy with your information as you could easily lose readers’ attention.

-Add in a link that leads to your company page, website or blog. After posting a discussion, you want readers to have easy access to learn more.

5. Share Through Other Social Sites

On LinkedIn Groups, there are convenient share buttons that share the actual group, as well as individual discussions and polls. Extend your engagement in discussions by sharing them and providing them additional visibility.

6. Measure Results

There are free tools available for you to measure how your participation on LinkedIn Groups is contributing to your marketing success. Take a look at Bit.ly links and tracking tokens to be able to see how many people are clicking on the links your share within the group.

In addition to these ways to benefit from participating in LinkedIn Groups, it is important to remember that success will not happen in one try. With LinkedIn Groups your participation must be ongoing in order to see results. Try lots of methods of communicating in groups and compare your results to get an understanding of which communication styles help benefit your company the most.

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Twitter’s Updated Search Feature

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Twitter has recently announced new changes to the way users search on their database. This could have a measurable impact on how brands compose their tweets.

The new search update appears to resemble the Google search engine in some ways. As a user types in a keyword, it attempts to guess what they’re searching for, as options that are trending will appear below in a drop-down menu. This lets the users view options before they finish typing. The Twitter search now also fixes spelling, similar to the “Did you mean” Google feature.

In addition, Twitter now will take your search and provide you with options of similar search terms. For example, when searching, “Social Media Strategy,” Twitter might suggest, “Social Media Agency” as another good search option. This will be very useful when users are trying to follow a trending topic or find new content.

Another new aspect to the Twitter search is its ability to filter search results to the people users follow. This helps users when they’re searching their feed for older tweets they meant to favorite, or messages from friends. This is a fairly small update, but it personalizes Twitter in a new and interesting way.

Twitter is the go-to place for breaking news. News tends to hit Twitter before appearing on television, in the papers, or on websites. Because of this, Twitter is trying to become the go-to place for people to search for news. The new Twitter search feature still only lets user search things within the Twittersphere (as opposed to the Bing/Facebook partnership). However, search results will be free of Internet junk and full of more relevant and recent tweets.

Perhaps the most important aspect of this updated Twitter search is how it will affect brands using strong Twitter promotions. Brands need to start adjusting their tweets for searches since the site itself is now being structured for searches. Just like blog posts and websites are composed to show up in Google, tweets must be optimally composed for Twitter. This new optimization will impact Hashtags and Keywords on Twitter. Hashtags will be even more important in tweets because they will now have more of an impact in searches. Companies should start utilizing their hashtags with popular search terms. With regards to keywords, tweets should contain keywords to help them show up in Twitter searches. But companies need to be careful not to go overboard with hashtags and keywords in their tweets!

This new way of tweeting should help brands see increased consumer engagement on Twitter overall. It is likely that there will be more organized conversation and detailed tweeting within the site.

This new real-time search feature is available to all users on Twitter. The updated Twitter search will provide for a more efficient social site. Keep in mind just how important keywords and phrases used by brands within tweets will become with this new Twitter search. If you are managing your company on Twitter, always think about which search terms people might be using on the site and try to appropriately incorporate them into your tweets without coming off as spam.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Twitter’s Updated Search Feature

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Twitter has recently announced new changes to the way users search on their database. This could have a measurable impact on how brands compose their tweets.

The new search update appears to resemble the Google search engine in some ways. As a user types in a keyword, it attempts to guess what they’re searching for, as options that are trending will appear below in a drop-down menu. This lets the users view options before they finish typing. The Twitter search now also fixes spelling, similar to the “Did you mean” Google feature.

In addition, Twitter now will take your search and provide you with options of similar search terms. For example, when searching, “Social Media Strategy,”

Twitter might suggest, “Social Media Agency” as another good search option. This will be very useful when users are trying to follow a trending topic or find new content.

Another new aspect to the Twitter search is its ability to filter search results to the people users follow. This helps users when they’re searching their feed for older tweets they meant to favorite, or messages from friends. This is a fairly small update, but it personalizes Twitter in a new and interesting way.

Twitter is the go-to place for breaking news. News tends to hit Twitter before appearing on television, in the papers, or on websites. Because of this, Twitter is trying to become the go-to place for people to search for news. The new Twitter search feature still only lets user search things within the Twittersphere (as opposed to the Bing/Facebook partnership). However, search results will be free of Internet junk and full of more relevant and recent tweets.

Perhaps the most important aspect of this updated Twitter search is how it will affect brands using strong Twitter promotions. Brands need to start adjusting their tweets for searches since the site itself is now being structured for searches. Just like blog posts and websites are composed to show up in Google, tweets must be optimally composed for Twitter. This new optimization will impact Hashtags and Keywords on Twitter. Hashtags will be even more important in tweets because they will now have more of an impact in searches. Companies should start utilizing their hashtags with popular search terms. With regards to keywords, tweets should contain keywords to help them show up in Twitter searches. But companies need to be careful not to go overboard with hashtags and keywords in their tweets!

This new way of tweeting should help brands see increased consumer engagement on Twitter overall. It is likely that there will be more organized conversation and detailed tweeting within the site.

This new real-time search feature is available to all users on Twitter. The updated Twitter search will provide for a more efficient social site. Keep in mind just how important keywords and phrases used by brands within tweets will become with this new Twitter search. If you are managing your company on Twitter, always think about which search terms people might be using on the site and try to appropriately incorporate them into your tweets without coming off as spam.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Marketing Your Business On LinkedIn

 

 

 

 

 

 

LinkedIn is a very prominent social media platform for B2B and B2C marketing. Here are some unique features to utilize on LinkedIn in order to successfully market your business.

1. Company Pages

LinkedIn is a very intelligent network in that it monitors other social sites and uses features from them that will benefit its users. Company Pages for example, let LinkedIn members follow a company, then share and recommend their products and services and directly connect with business employees in their network.

A Company Page lets you use hot links to highlight products and services that link back to landing pages. You can also add in pictures and videos within the product and services section of the page. The page acts like an online brochure, and you can even offer special discounts to followers.

In order to grow your marketing reach, you should promote your Company Page by adding a button on your website and email. Company Pages are easy to set up and maintain, so take advantage of them.

2. SME Groups

LinkedIn now has over 1 million groups. These groups are becoming the most used feature on the site. However, smaller companies that are not well known may not be able to get many users to join a group they’ve created on LinkedIn.

So, the best way to market by using Groups is to begin a Subject Matter Expert (SME) group. In a group like this, you can post discussions about the latest and upcoming trends in your industry, and invite other experts to join and post their comments. Try not to post news releases from your own company in these types of groups.

Position your company to be subject matter experts and your brand will grow in the industry it represents.

3. Group Discussions

Many marketers on LinkedIn will join a group of fellow business partners and end up posting only to that group. While it is important to interact with your peers, it is important in marketing to interact with potential consumers.

Try joining groups that your customers belong to. Join the groups that you feel could be the most relevant to your company. Don’t immediately begin posting about your company’s products and services, but rather offer insight and become a group member who people can go to if they’re interested in the services you offer.

4. The Status Bar

The LinkedIn Status Bar feature is helpful in notifying the network about company news, events and blog posts. In 140 characters, the update on your Status Bar can be updated to Twitter at the same time. Any person in your network can view your posts on the Status Bar and share, like or comment on them.

5. Answers

With the LinkedIn Answers feature, you can ask a question and promote that question within your network. You can even email a link to that question. Pose questions that let you market your business in a subtle way and it will help increase your network reach.

This feature lets you respond and comment to your own question, and interact and communicate with those who answer privately.

It is very valuable to learn the features of LinkedIn, as the site can be a great marketing tool for almost any business. Utilize these features on your LinkedIn account today and boost your social media success.

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Marketing Your Business On LinkedIn

morethanmarketing

 

 

 

 

 

LinkedIn is a very prominent social media platform for B2B and B2C marketing. Here are some unique features to utilize on LinkedIn in order to successfully market your business.

1. Company Pages

LinkedIn is a very intelligent network in that it monitors other social sites and uses features from them that will benefit its users. Company Pages for example, let LinkedIn members follow a company, then share and recommend their products and services and directly connect with business employees in their network.

A Company Page lets you use hot links to highlight products and services that link back to landing pages. You can also add in pictures and videos within the product and services section of the page. The page acts like an online brochure, and you can even offer special discounts to followers.

In order to grow your marketing reach, you should promote your Company Page by adding a button on your website and email. Company Pages are easy to set up and maintain, so take advantage of them.

2. SME Groups

LinkedIn now has over 1 million groups. These groups are becoming the most used feature on the site. However, smaller companies that are not well known may not be able to get many users to join a group they’ve created on LinkedIn.

So, the best way to market by using Groups is to begin a Subject Matter Expert (SME) group. In a group like this, you can post discussions about the latest and upcoming trends in your industry, and invite other experts to join and post their comments. Try not to post news releases from your own company in these types of groups.

Position your company to be subject matter experts and your brand will grow in the industry it represents.

3. Group Discussions

Many marketers on LinkedIn will join a group of fellow business partners and end up posting only to that group. While it is important to interact with your peers, it is important in marketing to interact with potential consumers.

Try joining groups that your customers belong to. Join the groups that you feel could be the most relevant to your company. Don’t immediately begin posting about your company’s products and services, but rather offer insight and become a group member who people can go to if they’re interested in the services you offer.

4. The Status Bar

The LinkedIn Status Bar feature is helpful in notifying the network about company news, events and blog posts. In 140 characters, the update on your Status Bar can be updated to Twitter at the same time. Any person in your network can view your posts on the Status Bar and share, like or comment on them.

5. Answers

With the LinkedIn Answers feature, you can ask a question and promote that question within your network. You can even email a link to that question. Pose questions that let you market your business in a subtle way and it will help increase your network reach.

This feature lets you respond and comment to your own question, and interact and communicate with those who answer privately.

It is very valuable to learn the features of LinkedIn, as the site can be a great marketing tool for almost any business. Utilize these features on your LinkedIn account today and boost your social media success.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Tips For Successful Social Media Marketing

 

 

 

 

Businesses everywhere are finding new opportunities to engage with consumers through Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Pinterest. It’s known that Twitter gets about 460,000 users to sign up per day, and Facebook is expected to reach 1 billion users by August, so it’s easy for businesses to realize that each and every one of these users have the potential to be a customer.

But social media marketing is more than just making an account and adding friends and followers. It is critical to have a well-established strategy and to do your research so you can develop the best social media plan for your company.

Follow these tips before you hit the social media highway.

1. Have A Plan

Too often Facebook becomes littered with inactive company pages. These pages are the result of marketers making a company page without a goal in mind.

It’s important to understand your objectives. State what it is you want to accomplish. This might be to create brand awareness, to provide a platform for consumers to give input and ask questions, or to build customer loyalty with promotions and specials.

Also, you’ll want to make a plan for measuring your ROI. It’s very helpful to be able to tell if your efforts are paying off. If your efforts aren’t getting results, then you can have a plan set to help you modify your marketing tactics.

It’s also wise to know you’re target audience. Define the demographics of who would be most interested in your products and services so you can send your brand message to those specific people.

Finally, make sure you have the time necessary to run your social media marketing plan. If you can’t make the time needed for your social media marketing, your attempts will not get very far. Consider hiring someone to help you so you can have the time to make a successful social media marketing campaign.

2. Keep It Simple

After you’ve got a basic plan set up, don’t go overboard and try to join every social network site out there. That will only end up fragmenting your efforts. What you should do is focus on creating one or two accounts on social media sites and grow your audience there.

3. Don’t Spam

With social media, it can be tempting to start promoting your products and services like crazy, but advertising should not be the main focus of social media marketing. Facebook users don’t go on the site to just look for something to purchase, so make sure you’re engaging with followers and fans on a level beyond advertising and promoting.

4. Communicate

Silence is not golden in the social media world. Communication is a must for any business, especially social media marketing. If you are not able to maintain ongoing communication with your customers, you will lose the value of having a social media presence. So be “social” and make contacts and boost your reputation.

5. Build Your Fan Base

It’s easy to gain customers by building your fan base. If you communicate well through your social media sites, your fan base will grow, and the potential for more customers will grow as well. Be sure to post interesting and unique information often, and follow people who are relevant to your brand, and they might just follow you back.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Tips For Successful Social Media Marketing

 

 

 

 

 

Businesses everywhere are finding new opportunities to engage with consumers through Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Pinterest. It’s known that Twitter gets about 460,000 users to sign up per day, and Facebook is expected to reach 1 billion users by August, so it’s easy for businesses to realize that each and every one of these users have the potential to be a customer.

But social media marketing is more than just making an account and adding friends and followers. It is critical to have a well-established strategy and to do your research so you can develop the best social media plan for your company.

Follow these tips before you hit the social media highway

1. Have A Plan

Too often Facebook becomes littered with inactive company pages. These pages are the result of marketers making a company page without a goal in mind.

It’s important to understand your objectives. State what it is you want to accomplish. This might be to create brand awareness, to provide a platform for consumers to give input and ask questions, or to build customer loyalty with promotions and specials.

Also, you’ll want to make a plan for measuring your ROI. It’s very helpful to be able to tell if your efforts are paying off. If your efforts aren’t getting results, then you can have a plan set to help you modify your marketing tactics.

It’s also wise to know you’re target audience. Define the demographics of who would be most interested in your products and services so you can send your brand message to those specific people.

Finally, make sure you have the time necessary to run your social media marketing plan. If you can’t make the time needed for your social media marketing, your attempts will not get very far. Consider hiring someone to help you so you can have the time to make a successful social media marketing campaign.

2. Keep It Simple

After you’ve got a basic plan set up, don’t go overboard and try to join every social network site out there. That will only end up fragmenting your efforts. What you should do is focus on creating one or two accounts on social media sites and grow your audience there.

3. Don’t Spam

With social media, it can be tempting to start promoting your products and services like crazy, but advertising should not be the main focus of social media marketing. Facebook users don’t go on the site to just look for something to purchase, so make sure you’re engaging with followers and fans on a level beyond advertising and promoting.

4. Communicate

Silence is not golden in the social media world. Communication is a must for any business, especially social media marketing. If you are not able to maintain ongoing communication with your customers, you will lose the value of having a social media presence. So be “social” and make contacts and boost your reputation.

5. Build Your Fan Base

It’s easy to gain customers by building your fan base. If you communicate well through your social media sites, your fan base will grow, and the potential for more customers will grow as well. Be sure to post interesting and unique information often, and follow people who are relevant to your brand, and they might just follow you back.

 

 

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The Effects of Facebook Brand Pages on Purchasing Behavior

 

 

 

 

A recent report from Facebook and comScore looked at how using Facebook Pages effects consumer behavior and social media marketing. The report closely examined the impact of paid media exposure on Facebook Fans. Here are some of its key findings.

1. The Facebook Page has become the brand’s new website.

For several companies, Brand Facebook Pages are turning into the hub of the company. For example, the popular candy brand Skittles had 23,000 visitors in May on their website, versus 320,000 visitors on the Skittles Facebook Page during the same month!

This doesn’t necessarily mean that Brand Pages are the main source of brand engagement on Facebook, however. It’s known that Facebook users spend the most time on the News Feed, so the amount of brand exposure on the News Feed is greater.

Also, this does not mean that you should abandon your company site and focus solely on your Facebook page. Websites are important for focusing on lead capture and transactions. The popularity of the Facebook Pages is just a shift in consumer behavior, which should be understood by companies.

2. The number of Facebook Fans is not a major measurement of performance.

Many companies are still too focused on taking their number of Fans as the main indicator of their performance with social media marketing on Facebook. The more important measurement however, is how brands are delivering their message to make the most out of their consumer reach and engagement.

In order to increase reach, companies should optimize their posts so they will be more likely seen in all of the News Feeds of Fans. Additionally, the ad platform is another way to help brands increase their reach. By promoting a post, it is more likely that it will reach a greater percentage of the brand’s fan base.

3. Facebook Fans and Friends of Fans are spending more.

It doesn’t seem to matter whether purchasing decisions of Facebook Fans and Friends of Fans are truly influenced by earned media exposure because they are “substantially more valuable” consumers based on actual purchase behavior, according to the report.

The report found that Fans of Amazon’s Page spent over twice as much when shopping on Amazon compared to the average consumer. And Friends of Fans spent about 8% more in purchases.

4. In-store purchasing behavior is influenced by Facebook earned media exposure.

When looking at Starbucks, researchers examined the behavior of Fans and Friends of Fans during a 4 week period and found that on the fourth week after exposure, a test group had purchase incidences that were .58 percentage points greater than the purchase incidences in the control group. Furthermore, the fact that the normal lift in purchases rose with each week following exposure, which shows the effects exposure has in increasing purchase behavior.

 

 

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The Effects of Facebook Brand Pages on Purchasing Behavior

 

 

 

 

A recent report from Facebook and comScore looked at how using Facebook Pages effects consumer behavior and social media marketing. The report closely examined the impact of paid media exposure on Facebook Fans. Here are some of its key findings.

1. The Facebook Page has become the brand’s new website.

For several companies, Brand Facebook Pages are turning into the hub of the company. For example, the popular candy brand Skittles had 23,000 visitors in May on their website, versus 320,000 visitors on the Skittles Facebook Page during the same month!

This doesn’t necessarily mean that Brand Pages are the main source of brand engagement on Facebook, however. It’s known that Facebook users spend the most time on the News Feed, so the amount of brand exposure on the News Feed is greater

Also, this does not mean that you should abandon your company site and focus solely on your Facebook page. Websites are important for focusing on lead capture and transactions. The popularity of the Facebook Pages is just a shift in consumer behavior, which should be understood by companies.

2. The number of Facebook Fans is not a major measurement of performance.

Many companies are still too focused on taking their number of Fans as the main indicator of their performance with social media marketing on Facebook. The more important measurement however, is how brands are delivering their message to make the most out of their consumer reach and engagement.

In order to increase reach, companies should optimize their posts so they will be more likely seen in all of the News Feeds of Fans. Additionally, the ad platform is another way to help brands increase their reach. By promoting a post, it is more likely that it will reach a greater percentage of the brand’s fan base.

3. Facebook Fans and Friends of Fans are spending more.

It doesn’t seem to matter whether purchasing decisions of Facebook Fans and Friends of Fans are truly influenced by earned media exposure because they are “substantially more valuable” consumers based on actual purchase behavior, according to the report.

The report found that Fans of Amazon’s Page spent over twice as much when shopping on Amazon compared to the average consumer. And Friends of Fans spent about 8% more in purchases.

4. In-store purchasing behavior is influenced by Facebook earned media exposure.

When looking at Starbucks, researchers examined the behavior of Fans and Friends of Fans during a 4 week period and found that on the fourth week after exposure, a test group had purchase incidences that were .58 percentage points greater than the purchase incidences in the control group. Furthermore, the fact that the normal lift in purchases rose with each week following exposure, which shows the effects exposure has in increasing purchase behavior.

 

 

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Twitter Marketing Strategies That Work

 

 

 

 

 

Twitter is one of the most important sites to use in any Internet marketing campaign. To strengthen your Internet marketing, it is crucial to understand the latest and greatest strategies to use in your marketing campaigns, especially those that work for Twitter. To stay ahead of the Internet marketing game, use these tips on your Twitter account regularly.

1. Focus On What’s Important

A major problem social media marketers might run into is not being focused and precise. You must keep in mind that your followers like your brand and want to read your updates because they are in your target market and are interested in the topics you tweet about.

Don’t tweet mindlessly; tweet about the things you know your consumers are interested in and the things that complement what your brand represents. Having targeted, precise tweets will keep your brand focused on reaching those who are most interested in what you have to offer.

2. Be A Professional

On Twitter, being able to write snappy headlines is key. You only get 140 characters to tweet, so it better be meaningful and interesting in order to excite followers. Your content should be quality and attention grabbing, so that traffic to your site will continue to grow.

Don’t worry about how many followers you have. It’s better to have a fewer number of followers that are followers who are clearly in your target market. Your tweets should address those real customers who enjoy visiting your site and are likely to retweet your posts, which will then lead to new consumers who also share the same interests.

3. Communicate With Your Followers

Remember, Twitter is a SOCIAL media; therefore you must be social for it to work for your company. Twitter is about connecting, sharing and communicating. If you interact with your followers, you will get to know them better and as a result, you will be able to create tweets that you know your followers will be interested in and appreciate.

Start commenting and asking questions to your followers about things that are relevant to your brand, and that you know they’re interested in. Then take it a step further and try interacting with your followers’ followers as well, so you give your brand more exposure to others who could become potential customers.

These tips are easy ways to help make the most out of your Twitter account. They must be part of your Internet marketing campaign in order to see results. Twitter is hugely important in increasing traffic, so use it efficiently and your campaign will be successful!

 

 

 

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