BIMS Social_3.12.15

If you are using social media to build an engaged community of fans and customers, generate leads and raise awareness of your products and services, it is imperative that you post on social media on a daily basis. However, you also want to connect with your audience without driving them away. The key is to strike the perfect balance between informative and annoying.

Your social media efforts can take you places. This is especially true if you know when to share and when to listen. We’ve got some great tips for you to inspire you in your efforts.

Twitter

Twitter is a fast-moving social network. Due to its fast-paced nature, you’ll need to update it more often.

We generally advise business owners to maintain a consistent presence in Twitter. While being active on Twitter is advisable, you don’t want to overwhelm your audience. So, keep your posts spaced throughout the day.

With Twitter, it seems the more the merrier. You can tweet as much as 14 to 20 times a day. Just make sure that they’re full of great info.

Facebook

With over 1 billion users throughout the world, Facebook is the place to be. As a general rule of thumb, you’ll want to post twice a day, 7 days a week.

You don’t want to post too frequently as people easily get frustrated with too many posts. Make each post count by sharing fun pictures and posts that your followers will be interested in. Remember, the more your followers comment, share or like on your posts, the more likely are they to see them.

Pinterest

Like Facebook, Pinterest has a feed that almost everyone can see. With the high volume of content being shared on Pinterest, you’ll want to create new boards on a regular basis if you want your pins to get found. Feel free to post 5-10 times a day.

Pinterest is all about visuals. So we suggest that you use beautiful, quality images.

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.

 

Did you know that almost half of the people who visit Pinterest have a clear intention of purchasing products? If Pinterest is still not a part in your social media marketing strategy, now is the right time to include it.

Unlike Facebook and Twitter, Pinterest connects people based on their common passion. That being said, this could be beneficial for business owners as users can easily view contents which they find interesting; thus, leading to more sales.

Listed below are a few tips that would help you develop the right Pinterest marketing strategy. Read on to find out more.

Set up a business page

If you have jumped into Pinterest early, chances are great that you are still using a personal account for your business. Now, you can easily turn your old personal page into a business page. Your profile may not appear any different to your previous one, but you’ll get some built-in analytics that would allow you to track which among your pins are the most popular.

Keep your board organized

Pinterest is known for its neat structure. Even large boards consisting of hundreds of posts can be easily understood and looks pleasing to the eye.
If you are planning to use Pinterest for your business, we recommend that you use proper classification so that users would find it easier to browse through your boards. Create multiple boards so you can organize the content based on their category. This way, relevant content can be placed together.

Learn from your customers

In order to help you create a more engaging experience, we suggest observing the interest of your target audience.
Take note of the people who are following you, re-pinning your content and pinning from your domain. From there, you’ll be able to see other contents that they are pinning. This will give you an idea about the latest trends across your fans.

Make inspiring and exciting content

Thousands of pins get posted on Pinterest on a daily basis, but not all of them are engaging. In order to capture the attention of your target audience, your posts should be engaging even if they are not interesting enough.
The best way of doing this is by creating a giveaway event. Everyone loves free merchandises. Well, who wouldn’t want to be rewarded by just sharing a post?

If your business or company is struggling to find new customers, you can count on social media to help
you build your business network. However, before you can sell, keep in mind that creating a trusted
relationship with your potential customers is of great importance.
In this article, we’ll give you a few tips on how to use social media to find prospects and leads for your
business and establish a relationship with them.
Converse with people on Twitter

Tweet chats are recommended for building a network as they are seen as one of the most effective lead
generation tools in social media. The best thing about this is that everyone starts out as a stranger.
Eventually, they begin to know each other and may develop a relationship that extends beyond the
regular chat.
Here, you may encounter people who ask you questions. Since your reply is only limited to 140
characters, you have to be as concise as possible. Also, let them know that you are open to accept a
direct message and would be interested to carry the conversation further through another platform or
by phone.

Join LinkedIn groups
LinkedIn provides its users an opportunity for connecting with people who fit their prospect profile.
Here, you can find a specific group you’re interested in.
In the header navigation, just hover on “Interests” and click on “Groups”. From here, you can use
specific keywords to search for groups that are relevant to your business or company. Feel free to check
out each group and join a group with members who might be interested in what you offer.
Please be reminded that this is not a selling place. Build a relationship by being helpful and offering
services to the other members.

Share insights from an event
If you have attended a conference or trade show, feel free to share the highlights of the said event with
people who weren’t able to attend. This will help you attract people who are interested in the same
niche.
Share your notes through social networking sites like Facebook or Twitter. Also, don’t forget to include
the event’s official hashtag in your tweets. This will include them in the conversation. Most importantly,
this post will be visible to other users who are not following you. You have to pay attention to user who starts following you as they could be your new prospects. And when the time is right, reach out to them
and offer your services.

If you are considering starting a lead generation campaign, social networking sites like Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Google+ may be the best place to start. However, please keep in mind that it takes knowledge and practice to pull leads from the conversations that occur on these platforms.

In this article, we’ll give you a few ways on how to use social media in generating leads for your business. Read on and learn how to incorporate these steps into your marketing campaign.

Share useful and informative content

If you have a blog, feel free to share your content to different social media platforms. Make sure that the contents you share are valuable and informative as this will help increase your chances of getting more leads. Also, consider writing contents that your audience will appreciate and may find interesting.

Engage with your audience

Engaging with your audiences on a regular basis will help you create a great impression among your potential leads. By interacting with your audience, you will build a lasting relationship that could eventually result to more leads and sales.

Don’t wait for leads, look for them

In some cases, people use social networking sites to search for products or services they need. This is especially true for B2B, where a business may require the services of other company. In search for the best candidate, they use their social media connections and ask around.

Feel free to check on groups and communities from time to time and use certain keywords to find anyone who might be interested in your products or services.

Advertise on social media

Social media could help you reach lots of potential leads. Take advantage of Facebook’s Promoted Post feature. Use this to advertise your posts and watch as it drives traffic to your site, which could lead to conversions.

Regular advertising may also be of helpful. If you have a special offer that is ongoing, feel free to advertise it through social media.

 

 

 

 

 

social media goals

Social media gives you the opportunity to connect and engage with people with minimal effort and limited budget. If you are on the lookout for a creative means of launching your product, you might want to consider using social media.

In this article, we’ll give you a list of ways on how to use social media in launching a new product. Read on as we give you a few suggestions that will help you with your next launch.

Teaser campaign

Before the launch, try to think of creative ways that could hint your followers that something big and exciting is coming very soon. This will spark the interest of your audience.

Months before the launch, you can post random images that could be associated with your product. Also, feel free to use code names in all your updates in order to create a buzz within the online community.

Create a video

Social media provides business owners to easily connect with their target audience. Why not take advantage of this opportunity and create a video that is focused on the need you wish to address while providing a hint at the solution you wish to offer.

Create a founder’s list

Create a list of people who shows interest in your product and would want to learn more about your launch. Create a special page where you can direct these people to. On this page, consider placing an option where they can sign up for special updates.

You main goal is to gather a group of people who have shown interest on the teaser and video that you have posted. You can ask for the help of these people to spread the word about your product later on.

Behind the scenes

After creating a founder’s list, it is important to provide them something substantial that would keep them interested in your campaign. Creating a personalized video and giving them a peak of what’s happening behind the scenes will get them excited about the launch.

Encourage people to spread the word

Building a loyal fan base is one of the key advantages of social media. When the time is right, you can ask for the aid of these people and encourage them to spread the word.

The simplest and fastest way of doing this is by creating a clickable tweet. You can use ClicktoTweet to do this.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Extend reach

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

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

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

Choose a social media platform

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

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

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

Optimize your social media platforms

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

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

Connect your social media accounts with your blog or website

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

Add social media buttons to your blog or site

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

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

When working in an industry like social media you can’t create strategies for the present. By the time you complete your marketing strategy, all the tools and networks you rely on will have changed. In order to be strategic and be ahead of your competitors, you have to look into the future. What trends are on the horizon for social media? What’s coming next that we need to prepare for? Here’s what we think:

Step 1: Build an Ark

Nobody should “own” social media strategy in your organization. Social impacts all corners of the company, and should be more like air (everywhere) than like water (you have to go get it). Thus, the first step in the process is to create a cross-functional team to help conceive and operate the rest of the strategy.

 

Step 2: Listen and Compare

It’s an old social media strategy chestnut by now, but “listen” is still good advice that’s often ignored. The reality is that your customers (and competitors) will give you a good guide to where and how you should be active in social media, if you broaden your social listening beyond your brand name.

 

Step 3: What’s the Point?

Yes, you can use social media to help accomplish several business objectives. Butthe best social media strategies are those that focus (at least initially) on a more narrow rationale for social. What do you primarily want to use social for? Awareness? Sales? Loyalty and retention? Pick one.

 

Step 4: Select Success Metrics

How are you going to determine whether this is actually making a difference in your business? What key measures will you use to evaluate social media strategy effectiveness? How will you transcend (hopefully) likes and engagement? Will you measure ROI?

 

Step 5: Analyze Your Audiences

With whom will you be interacting in social media? What are the demographic and psychographic characteristics of your current or prospective customers? How does that impact what you can and should attempt in social media?

 

Step 6: What’s Your One Thing?

Passion is the fuel of social media.

It doesn’t matter who you are, or what you sell, your product features and benefits aren’t enough to create a passion-worthy stir. How will your organization appeal to the heart of your audience, rather than the head? Disney isn’t about movies, it’s about magic. Apple isn’t about technology, it’s about innovation. What are you about?

 

Step 7: How Will You Be Human?

Social media is about people, not logos. 

The mechanics of social force companies to compete for attention versus your customers’ friends and family members. Thus, your company has to (at least to some degree) act like a person, not an entity. How will you do that?

 

Step 8: Create a Channel Plan

Only after you know why you’re active in social at all, and how you’ll measure social media strategy success should you turn your attention to the “how” of Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and the rest. This channel plan should be distinct, in that you have a specific, defensible reason for participating in each.