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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How to Reach Your Target Audience Online

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In the competitive world of online marketing, it takes more than a persuasive copy and a beautiful website to truly connect with your target audience. Your brand’s competitive advantage relies on your ability to stand out from the crowd and develop a genuine relationship with your prospects and current customers.

But before this, your first have to determine where these people spend majority of their time online and make sure that your brand has a presence in those channels. Read on for tips on how you can reach your target audience and grow your business in the digital world.

Speak with your audience

Thanks to social media, communication is now two-way and asymmetrical. Join group discussions on Facebook, LinkedIn and other sites where people are conversing about a topic related to your business. Participate in these discussions and feel free to provide answers to certain questions or share your opinion.

Start local

To get your message out to potential clients, begin with the idea of narrowing down your audience. This is especially beneficial for starting businesses that don’t have enough advertising budget.

Limit yourself geographically. Choose a specific section of the city and focus your efforts there. As your business grows, expand your selected zone.

Blog about your customer’s interest

Blogging is one of the best ways of connecting with your target audience and driving them to your site. If you want to attract visitors, you need to create blog posts that are in complete alignment with their areas of interest. Pay attention to the comments section of your blog. If anyone throws a question, you can use this as an inspiration for your next blog post. Fill your blog with informative and relevant topics and position your company as a though leader and expert in your industry.

 

 

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Tips to Boost Your Email Marketing Efforts

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With the internet spreading its wings all over the world, most business owners and marketers are choosing to switch from the physical aspect of business promotion to email marketing.

Email gives you a direct line of communication with your customers. However, in today’s world of cut-throat business competition, people are being bombarded with emails; thus, making it increasingly difficult for marketing messages to get through. Remember, your marketing efforts won’t do you any good, unless your emails are read.

Listed below are some of the most powerful email marketing tips. Give some of these tips a try and enjoy more productive campaigns.

Develop and maintain the email list

It is important to develop and maintain well-searched email list in order for your marketing campaign to be successful.

Email list is not a one-time thing. You have to remove people who do not respond to your emails or does not seem interested, at least every 3 months.

Longer lists should also be broken down into smaller segments – the openers, the new subscribers, the responders and the deadbeats. From here, you can plan your next move and get the desired results.

Creating the message

Most people skim past the vast majority of messages on their mobile devices. So you have to make sure that your subject line stands out.

Once an email is opened, you only have a couple of seconds to grab their attention. So keep the message short, to-the point and easily readable. Also, don’t forget to add a signature at the bottom of the email.

Build a relationship

When scanning your inbox, the first thing you usually see is the sender’s name. If the recipient does not recognize who the email is from, there’s a great chance that your message won’t get opened.

If that happens, then the rest of these tips won’t even matter. So, try to build a relationship with your subscribers and carefully earn their trust.

Personalize

Your subscribers will appreciate your messages more if they are personalized. You can use data analytics to generate emails and provide personalized recommendations based on the subscriber’s purchase history.

 

 

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Tips for Planning Your Social Media Holiday Campaign

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The holidays are just around the corner. With the Halloween rapidly approaching and Thanksgiving just a few weeks away, this means marketers are solidifying their holiday campaign for the most wonderful time of the year.

The holidays are the busiest time of the year. And you might find it difficult to stand out in the marketing frenzy if you don’t plan ahead. Since most people start shopping for Christmas presents after Halloween, it would be a good idea to start hanging the social media ornaments as early as now.

Incorporate these tips into your social media campaigns and make sure that your holiday campaign gets noticed.

Strategize early

The holiday season is slowly creeping up on us and will be there sooner than you think. The key is to plan ahead and get creative. Use social media to create a buzz around your brand leading up to the festive season.

Stand out from the competition

With the holiday season comes a horde of advertisers desperately vying for your attention. Think outside of the box. Remember, majority of marketers are planning to use some sort of promotional offers to capture the attention of their target market. Differentiate yourself from the competition and think of something that would get the public interested and excited to engage with your brand.

Offer coupons

Studies suggest that consumer spending increase by 11% during the holidays. Since it’s the most wonderful time of the year, give your customers a reason to shop by offering discounts or coupons.

Share holiday tips and tricks

Increase your social media engagement by throwing a bunch of informative and interesting content into your social marketing mix. With so many brands flooding the market with discounts and deals, sharing information about DIY home decorating projects or winter recipes for baking desserts will help you get noticed.

You can also ask questions to get people talking about their activities during the holiday, purchases and traditions.

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Social Media Tips for Bloggers

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While a lot of people believe that blogging is just about creating unique and interesting content, the truth of the matter is that you need to promote your content in order to ensure that each blog post reach its widest possible audience.

When it comes to driving traffic and building an audience, bloggers are turning to social media with record results. To get more clicks and promote their brands, successful bloggers know that need to develop a following on key social networks. It is ideal for accomplishing this goal since social media feeds on a never-ending stream of content.

Follow these tips and your blog will blossom in this new era.

Be on social media

You have done almost everything, yet you’re still not driving traffic. This can be quite frustrating, but you also have to consider all the links you have seen, but didn’t click on.

Spend some time on social media platforms. This way, you can find inspiration for that next blog post, keep up on industry news and build relationship with your followers and fellow bloggers.

Add social media sharing buttons on your blog

Make it as simple as possible for your readers to share your content by adding social media sharing buttons at the top and bottom of your blog. Reduce reader’s hurdles. If they have to hunt around just to share your content, then you’re hurting your content’s sharability.

Join blogger groups on Facebook

Participate on social media beyond sharing your own content. Join some active blogger groups on Facebook and become part of the community. Help others by answering their questions or sharing a link to a relevant blog post.

Once people get to know you, they are more likely to share your content.

Share other blogger’s content

Feel free to check out what other bloggers are posting and give them a repin, share or tweet whenever you can.

Be generous to your fellow bloggers by sharing their content. Hopefully, they’ll return the favor and share your content, too.

 

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Choosing the Right Channels to Reach the Right Market

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Choosing the right channels to reach your target market is a crucial decision. It is important that you know where your prospects and customers are spending their time online.

With Twitter, Instagram and Facebook leading the pack, most businesses are tempted to use more channels and to have a presence on multiple social media platforms. Of course, the more social media sites you use, the more customers you can reach. But it also increases cost. If building presence in multiple channels does not bring about extra sales, then you’ll end up spending more for little or no benefit.

Here’s a quick set of considerations as you select the right social networks to reach the right market.

Twitter

You should use this channel if are looking to reach younger men and women. Since Twitter appeals to information junkies, it is also a great choice if your business lends itself to the provision of timely insights or topic-based news.  It is also a two-way platform wherein you can engage and interact with your followers.

LinkedIn

If you are seeking to make business connections or are in B2B and you wish to provide useful insights to people thinking about their work, then LinkedIn is right for you.

It is optimal for industry-specific information and peer networking since most users are in work mode on LinkedIn. Given the educational levels and high income of the average LinkedIn users, this channel offers a distinct audience worth targeting.

Facebook

If you are looking to reach as broad a network as possible or wish to build a community presence, then Facebook is right for you.

Despite the introduction of new social media sites, Facebook is still one of the most popular sites, with more than 70% of online adults actively participating. However, since most people use this platform to connect with their family and friends, it may not be the best channel to reach your target market.

Instagram

If you have a visual aspect to what you do and what your customers are interested in, then Instagram is the right channel for you. Given its popularity among urbanites and its appeal to specific ethnic segments, Instagram can also be a good choice for certain market targets.

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Content Marketing: Tips for Generating Fresh and Relevant Content

BIMS blogYou only have a few seconds to capture the attention of your target audience. Think about the books you’ve began and the articles you’ve read in the past. Through the first few sentences, people will decide whether they want to spend more time to read your content. With so much articles posted on the web, you can’t expect people to invest so much of their time trying to overcome a tepid introduction.

Despite the intense competition, some people were able to generate thousands of laser-targeted visitors to their sites. If you’ve ever wondered how they did that, then you’re in for a real treat.

Here are some tips to help you generate fresh content and increase the popularity of your site.

Find other blogs to read

Set aside 10 minutes of your time browsing through other blogs in the same niche. This will help ensure that you have fresh content ideas when you’re ready to sit down and create new contents for your site. Take what you find and make it even better.

Don’t be afraid to dedicate more time everyday to read other’s blog posts. Mind you, the best writers spend majority of their time reading and learning how to inject different voices into their work.

Pinterest

If you’ll be hanging out on the same platforms as your competitors, there’s a good chance that you’ll be writing the same old stuff.

Pinterest actually drives more traffic as compared to Youtube, LinkedIn and Google+. So, focus there and use it for content mining.

Pinterest pins are ranked according to likes, comments and repins. So, keep an eye out for topics with the most number of repins.

Check the comments section

If you have an active community on your blog, then make it a point to read the comments.

Your site should focus on your visitor’s interest and address the question of what’s in it for them. By listening to what others have to say, you’ll be able to pick up some ideas to write for your next blog post.

However, if no one is commenting on your posts, we suggest reading the comments on other blogs within the industry.

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Tips to Improve Your Search Engine Ranking

Search Engine Optimization - Magnifying GlassWhen it comes to achieving online marketing success, getting found is probably one of the biggest determining factors. Unless your site shows up on Google and other popular search engines, you’ll definitely have a hard time improving your web traffic, getting your content out and reaching out to people who might be interested in the products and services you offer.

In this article, we’ll give you some tips on how to improve your search engine ranking. Read on and get your website well ranked in search engines.

Tweak your title tags

Your title tags are a supremely important way of providing search engines with relevant information about your website’s purpose and content. So don’t make the mistake of leaving the default “Home Page” title in the title tags. Otherwise, your site will only show up in search results when someone keys in the word “Home Page”.

Have high quality content

The best way to encourage people to visit your site is by consistently providing them with unique interesting and relevant contents.

Write articles about your industry, products or services and current market information that will be of interest to your target audience. Also, make sure that your texts are original. Or else, you might get punished for stealing others contents.

Optimize the right keywords

Find the most relevant and widely used keywords that relate to your business and incorporate them into your texts. Make sure to insert these keywords as seamlessly as possible.

Before deciding on a set of keywords, it would be a good idea to use Google Adwords to check how competitive your keywords are. Using broader keywords is also a good option.

Get help

If you’re managing a big site, we suggest hiring someone who really knows what they’re doing. A little knowledge may be helpful, but you may end up getting your site penalized or banned from search engines. Leave your site’s ranking in the hands of the experts.

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4 Ways to Enhance Customer Relationship with Social Media

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Your prospective and current customers are already online, and most of them are spending a few hours a day on social media. If your business is not active on social media, now is the right time to build a solid online presence.

Social media enables you to engage with your customer as never before. So, instead of relying solely on phone communication or email, consider reaching out to your target audience and existing customers through social media.

Here are a few tips on how to use social media to enhance client relationships, put smiles on customer’s faces and lead your business to growth.

Connect with your customers

If you are looking to build a social media presence, it is important to connect with your customers and make sure that you are having a two-way conversation with them.

Run polls. Ask questions. Turn your social media from a one-way channel into a two-way channel.

Encourage participation

Instead of supplying the information all the time, it would be a good idea to encourage your customers to share their photos and stories. As a way of saying thank you, take the time to come up with genuine individualized responses. This way, your customers will fee that you are truly interested in their experiences and are appreciative of their contributions.

Own your mistakes

Even big corporations are not immune to mistakes. So, when an unhappy customer tweets about a late order, take their complaints seriously, acknowledge the mistake and work on solving the problem fast.

Sincerity and humility goes a long way in social media in showing your customers that you respect and value them. While it is acceptable to make mistakes, owning up to your mistakes and saying “we’re sorry” is the best way to handle complaints.

Reward loyal customers

Highlight customers who take the time to consistently engage with your brand. Give them free merchandize or say thank you with simple personalized responses. By doing so, you can show them how much you appreciate and value their support. Mind you, that emotional component could turn a customer into a promoter.

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Email Marketing Mistakes to Avoid

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Email marketing isn’t dead. In fact customer acquisition has quadrupled over the past 4 years. This goes to show how effective email marketing is for small businesses. That’s great news, provided that your emails are being read by the recipients.

In order to make sure that you’re getting the most out of your marketing efforts, you have to focus on what’s killing your open rates and find a way to fix them. While some mistakes are harmless, the following mistakes could be costly.

Poor frequency

While a flood of emails may distance the customer you’re trying to attract, the same reaction can also be expected if you send emails on an inconsistent basis.

Have a consistent enough cadence that your subscribers would be thrilled to receive an email from you, yet relaxed enough that they don’t wonder whether or not you’re still sleeping at night.

Forgetting to send emails at important events

The introduction of new products or services, promotions and events your business will be holding are some examples of email worthy announcements. If you have an important event to cover, make it a point to create a multi-email campaign around it.

Poor subject lines

Subject lines are your first impression to every email recipient. They have to be clear enough that people know why you’re sending an email, short enough that they fit the screen of tablets and smartphones and enticing enough not to give away the entire email. Also, be cautious about using words and phrases that could mark your email as SPAM.

Unreliable email list

Whether you’re emailing inactive subscribers, not removing hard bounces or collecting bad data, having an unreliable email list can affect your open rates.

The key to a successful email campaigns is clean data. Make sure that all customer information is valid and up to date. Hard bounces should also be removed from your database.

Additionally, 43% of email recipients click the spam button based on the sender email address and name. So, it’s extremely important that the recipient knows who you are and are expecting to receive emails from you.

 

 

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