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Social Media Trends That Are Bad For Your Brand

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Social media marketing can be comparable to traditional media marketing. The only difference is that it is a lot faster. Trends waxes and wanes in hyper speed, going from cool to super lame in a matter of days or weeks. As a result, it is becoming more and more difficult to stay relevant.

Here’s a list of social media trends that can hurt your brand. Read on to find out which trend you should finally put to rest.

Facebook exclusive

Facebook may be one of the most popular social media channels today, but focusing your marketing efforts on Facebook is certainly not a good idea. Why? It’s because it has the most competition and advertising can be more expensive.

Focusing on one platform is like advertising on TV alone, and not using radio, print, billboards and any other channels to reach your audience.

Live blogging

During the SuperBowl event last year, a lot of people were active online, chatting and posting about the event as it happens. Some businesses took the opportunity to engage with their audience by posting something about the said event. If the brand is about sports, then this is justifiable. But if not, then there’s no sense talking about the SuperBowl.

Try focusing in topics that would be of interest to your target audience. They’re expecting you to provide them with content about specific topics, not some general world news.

Half-baked story

Social media is a great place to keep up with breaking news. We strongly advise that you check your facts first before sharing stories on your blog or business page. Do your research and make sure that the news is from a reliable source.

Sharing half-baked stories will affect your brand in a negative way. The last thing you want is for people to see you as an unreliable source.

Ignoring LinkedIn

If you’re not on LinkedIn, then you’re missing out on a lot of opportunities to get more branding for your business. LinkedIn is the best social media platform for business owners and executives to be in. Here, you can expand your network and meet people in the same industry.

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Secrets to Growing Your Business Using Social Media

GrowingwithSM

Social media has been so popular nowadays that is has entered the rare stratosphere of recognition and fame that is usually reserved for Presidents and rock stars. Ironically, rock stars of this generation bow to the power of social media.

You’ve probably heard that social media provides business owners an amazing opportunity to market and grow their business. So, how can you use its dominance on the world scene to grow your business? Here are a few tips.

Keep it short

Unlike the text written on your web page, your social media posts must be kept short. Considering that most social media sites allow users to type only 140 characters, you should strive to be concise with every post. Remember, your customers are more likely to remember short and focused messages as compared to long and incoherent ones.

Instead of trying to say everything at once, you should focus on one key message per post. Also, it would be a good idea to schedule your posts over the course of a day or a week.

Keep it fresh

With a continuous stream of new content, old posts rapidly recede. To make your posts stand out, you should post timely and eye-catching content and post regularly. Use videos and images whenever possible.

By creating fresh content, there’s a great chance that your followers will visit your page or site, purchase your products or avail your services.

It requires dedication

If you believe that a few random status updates, blog posts and a healthy number of likes and followers are enough to grow your business, you are wrong!

Social media marketing requires planning and dedication. In order to harness the power of social media, you need to listen to your audience, come up with high quality content and encourage others to share your content.

Whether you’re small or large business owner, social media marketing can be least expensive and most powerful marketing tool in your arsenal that will help you build authority and trust. Ultimately, it can help you grow your business exponentially.

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Generating Leads through Social Media

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.

 

 

 

 

 

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Internet Marketing Trends for 2014

As another year comes to an end we have seen the online world continue to evolve!  Businesses are finding more success with original content than with advertisements within content. They are also building brand awareness and building online communities.

Internet Marketing Trends for 2014

1. Content Strategy- Businesses gain consumer trust by creating valuable content, this content can be different amongst social media platforms. This takes into consideration industry information that gives greater insight and entertainment to audiences. Having a good content strategy and marketing in social media on websites, blogs, as comments, in emails plus videos and more often provides opportunities for businesses and high brand recognition.

2. Social Media- Social Media is not going anywhere, but the key factor is to see what platforms work best for you and your business. There are always new Social Media sites popping up, that does not mean you need to be on every single one, you do need to do your homework and see if Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Google+, Tumblr etc. are a good fit.

3. Keep it simple– People want simple! Keep your marketing messages and recognizable logos simple, they are the key to your online marketing. Don’t burn out your audience by constantly barraging them with advertisements and content that is irrelevant, boring or non-productive. Consumers today want to look at what you have in about ten seconds and move on to something else!

4. Mobile Marketing- The usage of smartphones continues to grow, this means you need to make sure your website is mobile friendly, and may require that you have apps and online marketing adaptable to smartphone and tablet use. They say by 2017, it is predicted that 87% of cellular phone use will be via smartphones. Provide a marketing experience that can be easily used through smartphones.

5. Info graphics- We are a visual society, people want to see pictures and info graphics that explain something to them in a simple format. Info graphics are a great way to create a blog, social media post and post on Pinterest.

6. SEO (search engine optimization) will continue to be used in online marketing and play a very important role in search ranking in 2014. Providing users with the best and most relevant content is what makes Google run. Share good, targeted content, and the higher ranked a website will be. Also keep in mind that top ranking search results often connect to social shares.

With all of this being said online marketing will continue to grow and it is important that your business is online and being seen! Social Media and blogging and add some videos into that mix can really help your SEO for your business. Does all of this sound a little overwhelming? We are here to help you navigate your way through your online marketing and manage it for you! Email us today for a FREE 30 minute consultation!!! Marketing@TheBIMSTeam.com

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Seven SEO & Social Media Trends For 2012

 

 

In the year ahead, there seem to be some major social media tactics you can expect to see affecting businesses. Some of these trends have already been carried out by companies, but in 2012, expect to see a mass adoption of these plans carried out by all types of businesses.

1. Google+ Explosion

Google+ will continually come out with new features, and Google+ pages will continue to become more business-friendly. The integration with other Google properties, like in paid search ads, its search engine results page, Google Reader and YouTube will be the greatest advantage for Google.

Google had a strong focus on social media last year by basing its employee bonus and salary structure off of its success through social media. This has resulted in everyone involved the Google world constantly considering social media. This internal focus will lead to an external force where consumers will make Google+ a main social media platform in 2012.

2. Creating Engaged Communities

Businesses will be sure to pay attention to their current community members in 2012, as marketers become more advanced in planning and measuring their campaigns. There will be a stronger emphasis on creating an engaged community as opposed to mere numbers of followers. So, community managers need to energize community members and engage with them in multiple areas, like market research, product development and product discounts, for example.

Managing and building communities is about the consumers, the information and staying consistent. This strategy will be seen heavily in 2012 and will become a key part of community management.

3. Stronger Marketing Intelligence

Last year there was a lot of new technology platforms that changed social media monitoring and provided advanced data to help drive marketing campaigns.

This year, businesses will move beyond just looking at company mentions and influencer scores, and move more toward combining different social data in order to create a marketing intelligence that will drive future marketing campaigns. Many tools do this already, but there is sure to be more this year.

4. Social Media Driving SEO

The usual on-page SEO factors will still remain constant, as it makes your content search friendly, but in 2012, strong sharing activities through social media will drive SEO results.

SEO conversions will be higher and simpler to measure on organic search. And as a result, more companies will carry out a closer collaboration between their social teams and searches.

5. Real, Quality Content

Everyone appreciates content that is relevant, engaging and unique to the consumer. In the past few years, companies have worked hard to come up with content with the sole purpose of creating content for SEO.

In 2012, there will be a more structured way for businesses to form content with a focus on giving unique value to consumers that will lead to higher engagement levels with community members.

5. The Power of Facebook

In the past, companies worked to get a somewhat superficial quantity of Facebook fans without considering the quality of those fans. This year, expect to see companies focus on finding greater profitability with a sharp ROI emphasis in the form of Facebook ads, contests and promotions.

Companies will find that there’s more to Facebook than measuring a linear conversion path from a fan to a consumer. Marketers will measure the non-linear path of ROI more by making Facebook-exclusive promotions to drive foot traffic to the retail stores.

Facebook Ads campaigns will be measured based on the profitability that leads to revenues or supports.

7. SoLoMo (Social, Local, Mobile)

More integrated campaigns that combine social media with local offers involving mobile devices will be seen in 2012. Socially promoted mobile content can build brand loyalty, and ultimately increase sales.

Sites like LivingSocial and Groupon are good examples of using deals to drive local sales. Foursquare is another example of the SoLoMo strategy.

It’s clear that the quickly changing social media environment can be overwhelming. However, by staying on-top of the latest social media tactics, your company can stay strong in the social media world.

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