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4 Ways to Grow Your Email Marketing List

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While email marketing is an old, unsexy technology, the savviest of entrepreneurs have no intention of giving it up anytime soon. This is because email marketing provides a direct line of communication and has a tendency to turn leads into sales.

Contacts are the lifeblood of any email marketing campaign. That said, growing your mailing list should be a priority.

In this article, we’ll walk you through what you need to do to build a quality email list. Read on and start building a list of people who will want to hear from you.

Make your sign-up forms easy to find

You can use your website to generate more contacts by adding a subscription form where your visitors can sign up. Be sure to place the form at the top of the page to make it easier for people sign up. Survey revealed that sites that place sign up boxes as part of their top banner perform better as compared to those located at the footer area.

Social network

Another way to build your list is by using social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter. Due to the viral nature of Facebook, it pays to add a subscription form on your page. Be sure to include a sign up link to your email list on the “About” section of your page. For an added boost, you can also add it on your personal account and tell your family and friends about it.

Word of mouth

The best marketers for your products or services are the people who are already using them. For subscribers who have been on your list for a very long time, a discount or a small incentive would get them talking. Encourage them to share your list with their family and friends.

Tell subscribers what they’ll get

As a marketer, you need to answer the question most people ask: Why would I subscribe to your email list if I can just follow you on Facebook?

To urge people to subscribe to your newsletters, let them know that you offer subscriber-only content. Also, don’t forget to mention how often they’ll be receiving emails. Setting expectations upfront helps reduce unsubscribe rates.

 

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Things You Shouldn’t Be Doing on Your Company’s Social Media Accounts

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Social media marketing is essential for small businesses, but is considered as a double-edged sword. Use it the right way and you can attract potential clients and grow your business. Use it the wrong way, and it will definitely hurt your business and could easily wind up alienating much of your audience.

If you are running an active campaign for your company on social media, make sure you never do these things.

Yelping back at customers

Every single feedback given by your customers can be of value to your company’s growth and development. If a customer gave you a negative review, you need to deal with it in a professional manner and learn from it.

Of course, it is natural that you want to defend yourself, but make sure to do it calmly. Also, say sorry and admit that you have done something wrong. There has to be some reason why the complaint was made in the first place. Yelping back at customers is definitely a no-no.

Sharing political views

What you share on social media is a reflection of who you are and your business. So, you have to be very careful what you share.

While a bit of controversy may be beneficial for your business, sharing your political views on your company’s profile is a recipe for disaster. Politics tend to stir up controversy rather than discussion.

Borrowing other people’s content

Blogging is a great way to drive traffic to your site, but writing your own content may take time. So you have decided to copy and paste articles from another site.

Search engines know that you have copied someone else’s content, and this can get you in trouble.

Angry statuses or comments

It is never a good idea to write an angry comment or status about someone else. As much as you think that you are entitled to say whatever you want on your own page, remember that people are watching what you write on social media. This can spark a backlash that will surely melt your reputation to a sticky puddle.

 

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Visual Content in Social Media

In today’s technological world, visual marketing is becoming a very popular trend. Marketers have begun to use visual marketing to their advantage through social media. Strengthen your business by catching the eye of your consumer with visual content. Below are a list of the most popular social media platforms for visual marketing and how to use it effectively:

Twitter:

What many people don’t know is that Twitter is not limited to 140 characteristics to get a message across. In fact, you can add up to four images in just one tweet, making Twitter a great platform for using visual content. This is a great way to showcase an event or tell a story that would be difficult to do with only one picture. Using an inforgraphic is also a great way to add visuals to the message you’re trying to get across through twitter. Some tools to create infographics are Visualize, Easel.ly, and Piktochart. Videos are also a great way to catch the attention of your consumer. Time-lapse videos in particular are a great way to tell a story or show a product in just a short amount of time. The Hyperlapse app allows you to create time-lapse videos in a simple manner. Once you’re done with your video, you can upload it to Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and Google+.images

 

Instagram:

With Instagram, it’s more about the quality of your photos than how many you’re posting. With each Instagram, it is crucial to make sure they are capturing your consumers’ eye in a creative way that will make them want to learn more about your business. The 2014 Social Media Marketing Industry Report by the Social Media Examiner found that over time, marketers with more experience prefer Instagram when it comes to visual content marketing. Using hashtags can have a huge impact on your growth. But, knowing the right words to hashtag is crucial in making sure you’re reaching your target market. There are many tools that help you find the perfect hashtags to use. Webstagram helps you find find the most popular hashtags and with the search feature you can find more relevant hashtags to your post. Also, using Populagram can help you find the popular hashtags, filters and people which you can follow to stay on top of Instagram community.

 

Facebook:

Facebook can be used for visual marketing in a variety of ways. What makes Facebook so great is that you aren’t as limited when posting content as you would be on other social media platforms. A great feature of Facebook is that you can upload video directly to your posts. Pat Flynn of Smart Passive Income recently did an experiment comparing views and engagement of natively embedded Facebook video versus embedded YouTube video and he found that Facebook performs better overall. Facebook is also a powerful tool for graphics. You can create a graphic and then upload it to Facebook including the post URL in your caption, or you can share a link directly to Facebook. No matter which way you choose to use it, Facebook is a MUST for businesses who are trying to reach their consumers through visual marketing.

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Habits of Successful Social Media Managers

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The number of tasks a social media manager is expected to do can be quite overwhelming. Not only are they expected to engage with current and new followers, they also update several social media profiles everyday, monitor the effectiveness of their social media campaign and more.

While every social media manager would approach his or her job differently, successful social media managers share a few habits. Focus on these habits to reach new levels of social media success.

Reciprocate

Genuinely strive to help others succeed on social media. This attitude will help you build camaraderie, it will also help you stay on top of the game.

When you like or follow someone, they are more likely to reciprocate the gesture and like or follow you back as well. Alternatively, when someone shares your content, do the same for them.

Work with your team

As much as you would like to handle things on your own, you can’t do it alone. Do yourself a favor and build a team consisting of loyal and trustworthy people.

Collaborate with your team and harness a relationship that encourages partnership. This will help you build a strong social media presence and reach your business goals.

Prioritize

Prioritize your week’s plan based on priority rather than urgency.

Every business needs leads, traffic and sales in order to thrive. While having thousands of twitter followers can be beneficial to your brand, it would be a good idea to start by creating a webpage where you can create leads and connect it with your social media account.

Quick on your feet

A lot of things are happening on social media. Most of the time, it is happening pretty fast. Here, you have to be quick on your feet as you are not always given the luxury to take your time.

Negative comments, for instance, requires some quick, critical thinking. You should act quickly and know how to address the issue in order to avoid any negative repercussions.

Unplug

Some social media managers run ragged in an attempt to keep up with the “always on” medium. That said, you need to give your mind a break from time to time.

This may sound counterintuitive, considering that you don’t want to be inactive on your accounts for too long. However, unplugging at least once a week can help you recharge your social media spirit.

 

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Staying On Top of Your Social Media Marketing Plan This Holiday Season

The holiday season is among us again which means we all feel the urge to kick back and relax with our families, get cozy by the fire, and wind down from the hard work we put in this year. But, while it may be difficult to stay focused around this time, the social media world is busier than ever! Now is the time to crack down and strengthen your business, reach more consumers, and get your name out there. With over 1 billion monthly active Facebook users and 255 million active Twitter users, the holiday consumers are turning towards social media platforms for information and incentives on what they plan to purchase this season. That is why right NOW is the time for you to steer your efforts toward creating a strategic holiday marketing plan for social media. Below are some tips on how your business can make the most out of this holiday season:

1. Develop A Campaign Strategy:coffeemug

If you’ve been using social media for your business, chances are you’ve been focusing more on getting the straight facts about your business out there and less on creativity. The holiday season is a perfect time for you to transform your campaign in to something that can grasp your audience. Incorporating some creativity into your business campaign will ensure that your posts are getting noticed by your market and are staying fresh and relevant. Each season offers new ideas and trends, especially this season, and it is important to stay on top of that with switching up your campaign for this next month. Since now is the time for your business to be in the social media spotlight, incorporating creativity into your marketing strategy will strengthen your image and grasp your consumer’s attention.

2. Make Customer Service a Priority:

One in three social media users now prefer to contact brands using social media rather than the phone. Especially during the holidays, questions will be rolling in about your products, prices, shipping, etc., and it is crucial to be ready and available to your customers. Ensuring that your consumer is satisfied should be your top priority this time of year. Twitter is a great example of a social media platform that makes it easy to address your customer’s needs. Use Twitter to invite people to ask any questions they have regarding your business and products. Also make sure you are paying close attention to what people are saying about your products and how frequently they are talking. Doing this not only benchmarks progress for the 2015 holidays, but it also provides insight that can help shape your strategy in the new year.

3. Host Contests and Sweepstakes:

Creating a contest or a sweepstakes on your social media platforms is a great way to spread awareness about your brand and to engage your audience. People love to win prizes around the holidays, so why not take advantage of this season with a contest or sweepstakes? This is also the busiest time of year and people are pressed for time, so ensure that there is a valuable prize for your contestants so that they don’t feel their time is being wasted. Selecting a prize that is relevant to your target market is crucial to make sure you are attracting the right people. Asking participants to upload photos, videos, or text-based entries are a fast, fun, and easy way for people to get involved with your contest or sweepstakes. Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook are great platforms for your participants to get creative and take part in your contest.

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Advantages of Online Video Advertising

BIMS_12.6_14In the hopes of being successful in the world of online marketing, companies and organizations utilize different strategies. Video marketing is one of them.

Today, online videos are considered to be one of the most popular forms of advertising. In fact, a lot of businesses are using online videos as a part of their promotional strategies in order to stay ahead of the competition and keep up with the fast paced trend.

Still not convinced? Here are 4 reasons why you should advertise with videos online.

People love videos

People are getting more into viewing and sharing videos via Youtube, Facebook and other social networking sites. They just can’t look away.

Everybody is watching videos. Youtube alone has more than 4 million views per day. That said, you need to make promos, ads or video blogs, whatever format best reaches your target audience.

Feature your product’s functionality

Videos are an effective form of advertising as you can vividly show your audience, not just how your product looks like, but also how it performs.

Through this format, you can easily instruct and educate your current and potential customers about your products or services.

Stay ahead of the competition

Most people don’t have time or are too lazy to go through lengthy articles. They would rather spend a couple of minutes watching a video just to get the answers they need.

Users like to see something new and different, and videos can help you deliver. If you wish to stand out from your competitors, you need to create curiosity and offer information in a different way.

Capture interest of users

Videos are a great story-teller. By creating an engaging and compelling video, you can get people to cry, laugh, get mad or excited. This enhances user experience, making them want to come back for more.

 

 

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Twitter and the Power of the Hashtag

As Social Media sites are growing, so is the use of the hashtag. If you didn’t already know, a hashtag is a word or a group of words after the # sign. Whether it be Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest etc., hashtags are popping every everywhere. On Twitter especially, the hashtag has proven to be an extremely powerful tool for marketing businesses. But, how do we use this strategy properly? Hashtagging can either help you reach your target market and expand your business, or it could be a waste of your time. It is crucial to learn the power of this social media marketing tool and how to use it properly. Here are some useful tips:

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Tip#1: Defining Your Brand

The first major step to using Twitter and hashtags effectively is defining your brand or business in a few specific words. Twitter is one of the most widely used social media sources, so you want to make sure your posts are being seen by the right people. Your central business tag should be a word that is unique to your business. You can make it your company name or a tagline that people will know about your business. For example, Red Bull uses #givesyouwings which is their company slogan. Doing this will help your business become recognized.

 Tip #2: Use Trending Hashtags

It is also important to understand trending hashtags. A trending hashtag is a topic that has become very popular. Keeping an eye out for trending hashtags that have to do with your business is a great way for your posts to get noticed. This can help your post be seen by a large audience, but still focuses on your business. Your content can be seen by more than just your followers, so it’s important to get yourself out there by using a trending hashtag. Trends on Twitter can be found on the left hand side of your computer Twitter feed.

Tip #3: Use Content Tags Properly

Lastly, using the right content hashtags is another crucial step for your business success on Twitter. These tags are not branded, and aren’t necessarily popular or trending, they are just simply unique to your business. Using these enable you to get seen by your consumers who are searching for those specific hashtags. One of the biggest mistakes people make when using hashtags is not being specific enough to your business. For example, using #food if you run a catering business will end up working against your favor. Millions of people a day use #food and that is never an acknowledgeable hashtag for a business. Instead, using something more specific like #foodcatering will get your post noticed by your consumer. Finding common hashtags by checking out what tags are being used by your followers and your competition is a great way to make sure you’re using them effectively.

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Tips for Long-Term SEO Success

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The world of SEO is constantly changing. SEO experts around the world are watching the search engines like a cast of preying hawks, taking note of what Google is going to do next. That being said, the tricks you are using today may not have the same impact a year from now.

What do you need to do in order to make sure that you are focusing on long-term optimization and results?

In an attempt to help entrepreneurs and marketers succeed, we have put together some tips that would guarantee long term SEO success. Here are some of them.

Create and manage a blog

Even if you think that your business is not the most appropriate platform for blogging, it is imperative that you create and manage one. This is because your blog will act as your command and control center.

Think of categories and topics that are related to your business and start writing. The best articles are the ones that answer your audience’s questions such as how-to guides, top 10 list, industry news, company updates etc.

A high quality blog is more likely to bring more leads and attract your target audience. Plus, it gives Google more contexts to index.

Create a social strategy

Search and social used to be 2 entirely different things. Now, having a strong social media presence plays an important role in high search engine rankings.

Don’t rely on just one social media platform. In order to expand your SEO reach and build network connections, it is important to use various social media platforms. As long as you stay active, you can reap the SEO benefits.

Encourage good reviews

Positive reviews are great strategy for any business. This is especially true if your business relies on local customers.

The more positive reviews you have, the more traffic you’ll get. Plus, you’ll have more authority in Google’s local ranking algorithm. The most effective way to get good reviews is by giving your customers a great experience.

 

 

 

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Tips to Maximize Your Youtube Marketing Results

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YouTube might try to wow you with the latest statistics by revealing that 48 hours worth of video are being uploaded every minute. By the time you finish reading this article, we’re guessing 3 days’ worth of videos have been uploaded on the site.

With the competition getting tougher, you’re probably thinking if someone would be interested enough to watch your videos. If you are doing this to capture the attention of your target audience, you have to make sure that your videos standout from the rest and focus on conversion.

Here are a few tips to help you get the most from your Youtube marketing campaign.

Keep it short

Whether it’s in TV or the Internet, no one is interested to watch ads anymore.

Most Youtube ads allow users to skip the ad after 5 seconds. Majority of the users would take advantage of this option and click on the “skip ad” button immediately and proceed to watch the video they came to Youtube for.     That being said, you only have 5 seconds to capture the attention of your target audience and get your message across. Otherwise, it’ll be out of the picture. Make sure to keep your ads short and watchable. Don’t go beyond the 60-second mark.

Selecting the right keywords

Youtube is the 2nd largest search engine in the world. And the fact that Google owns Youtube cannot be overlooked.

Videos appear on search engines. To make your video more findable, you have to make sure that it lands on top of the search results page. To do that, you need to select the right keywords and use them in the first few words of your title, description and tags.

Create compelling videos

When individuals are searching online, they are looking for quick information. That said, each one of your videos should be relevant, valuable and educational to your prospective and current clients. Create content that addresses your audience’s needs.

 

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Pinterest for Your Business

Did you know that there are over 70 million Pinterest users worldwide? After Facebook and Twitter, Pinterest is the 3rd most popular social networking site. The question is, what makes Pinterest stand out among the rest? How can it be beneficial to your business? If you don’t already know the ins-and-outs of using Pinterest for your business, now is a good time to get on board!

What makes Pinterest so special is that it is so new(only 4 years old!), easy to use, and generates more traffic than most other social media sites. Along with that, there is an endless amount of opportunities and marketing strategies available through Pinterest. Here are some tips on how to get started with strengthening your businesses through Pinterest!

  1. Create A Strong Business Profile: Taking time to set up your account properly is the first step to success. By accessing business.pinterest.com, you can find all the resources you need including Pin it buttons for your website, follow buttons, tools, and a Pinterest for Business Guide. It is important to be aware of what’s happening in order to establish an active profile. Keep track of who is searching your brand name, product names, and who is pinning your pins. Actively commenting on pins where you brand is mentioned is also extremely beneficial to creating a strong and active presence to your audience. It isn’t the amount of content you have that strengthens your profile, but more the quality of attention you pay to the consumer you are reaching out to.
  2. Create Boards to Represent Your Business:  Once you’ve set everything up, it’s time to create your Pinterest boards! Promote your products and services in fun, intriguing ways that makes it easy for the audience to grasp. You can do this by posting interesting facts about your business, photos relevant to your industry, and showcase your previous work to give your audience an overview of your business. Become a go-to source for information by providing infographics, training videos, tutorials, and tips from your own business as well as others. Creating boards with an ideal client in mind with easily accessible information is a crucial step to using Pinterest to help your business thrive.
  3. Use Various Tools Offered: There is a wide range of tools to use for Pinterest that can be found at the Goodies Page including Canva, PicMonkey, and Pixir(to name a few). Canva is a Graphic Design Tool that simplifies the image creating process. Canva has a variety of templates that are made specifically for Pinterest, and overall helps strengthen the images you promote through your business. PicMonkey is a photo-editor that is fun and easy for every to use. Pictures make up most of what Pinterest is, so it is important to make sure your images catch the eye of the consumer. Pixir is another extremely useful tool available for Pinterest. It is a photo editor, a screen grabber browser extension, and a photo sharing service. Taking advantage of the variety of tools available for Pinterest is a key step in strengthening your business.

 

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