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All About APPS!

In the social media world, one of your biggest allies are mobile applications or “Apps” for short.  They can help you manage your social channels and accounts on the go so you are not chained to your desk and chair all day, every day.  Not only do “mobile” apps help you stay mobile, but, they also help you to create systems, be creative, manage workflow and, they help you to easily adjust and pivot when your business demands it.  Once you begin using apps, you may, well, become addicted!  The power of conducting business from your smartphone or mobile device is truly liberating!

In this blog post, we will explore 3 types of apps you will need to be successful on Social Media:

  1. Creative Graphics Apps – Create professional apps that help to capture attention
  2. Scheduling Apps – Schedule social media posts ahead of time so you aren’t spending valuable time posting to social media when you should be working on your business.
  3. Never miss a Facebook Notification Again

BONUS TIP/APP:  Facebook Response Assistant.  Learn how to automatically respond to people who message your Facebook Business Page.

Intrigued how you can accomplish all of this and start saving a ton of time?  Read on!

Creative Graphics Apps:

These, by far, are a favorite of the Social Speak Team!  A good graphics app can make you look like a rockstar on social media.  Many of the apps we use have FREE versions which are very robust.  In most cases, for just a few extra dollars you can open up premium features to further your rockstar status.

Here are 3 of our favs that you should start using today!

  1. WordSwag (available in the App Store & Google Play Store) – Add text overlays to professional grade images from their image library or to your own photo library
  2. Typorama (available in the App Store) – Add text overlays to professional grade images from their image library or to your own photo library
  3. Adobe Spark (available in the App Store and on your desktop) – Add text overlays to professional grade images from their image library or to your own photo library, create collages, posters, animated images and so much more!

Scheduling Apps:

Save yourself time, become more productive and stay on top of what is happening on multiple social media channels with two of our favorite scheduling apps:

Hootsuite:  FREE & Paid versions available

Check out these 4 things you can do with Hootsuite:

  • Schedule Content
  • Content Curation
  • Analytics
  • Social Monitoring

Buffer:  Manage and schedule all of your social media accounts from this one app!  Pick the most popular times to schedule your posts to ensure the best results.

Both of these apps are effective from your mobile device and your desktop computer.  Regain control of your work schedule with these apps.  Elect to use either the free or paid version of both of these apps.

Facebook Notifications:

Don’t you hate it when you miss a Facebook like, comment or share or on your business page?  We do!  We want to consistently stay engaged with our brand followers and fans.  The best way to do this is to know when a post receives engagement or when you get a message to your page and respond immediately.

The good news, there is a way to accomplish this!  Facebook page manager.  This free mobile app will alert you every time someone likes, comments or engages with your business page.  You can also access page analytics and see other types of “back office” functions through this handy little app such as:

  • Messages
  • Reviews
  • Check-ins (if you are a brick and mortar)
  • Shares
  • New Likes
  • Followers
  • Manage scheduled posts
  • Manage page settings
  • AND SO MUCH MORE!

Download the app and tap on all the icons to reveal what’s available.  Do be afraid of “tapping,” you cannot break anything.  

Check out the image below to discover what the various Facebook Pages Manager functionalities/icons are:

BONUS TIP:

One of the most important things you can do when managing social media is to be responsive.  An easy and effective way to check this box is to turn on your

Steps to get there:

  • Click on “Settings” in the upper right corner of your Business page
  • Click on the second option in the left-hand panel called “Messaging”
  • Scroll to “Response Assistant”
  • Turn this option “ON”
  • Customize your outgoing message.  Consider adding your phone number to this message, prompting people to call you.

All of the apps we shared with you today are very helpful to managing your social media accounts successfully.  Let us know how you were able to implement them in your business by leaving us a comment.

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Putting Together a Social Media Schedule

This is updated from a post on Oct 26, 2010.

One of the most important parts of being active in the social media world is taking responsibility for your Facebook, Twitter, and any other internet marketing outlets you have. When we put our posts out and we like other peoples posts that is a good start to taking responsibility. When we send out Newsletters or email marketing campaigns we want other people to read them right?

Well it is a two sided road; I mean we all have to put in our efforts to read other peoples stuff as well. My tip for that is picking your inner circle of people and people you have made a power partner and start by reading their newsletters and/or emails. The same thing goes with our social media posts. We want people reading our post, tweets, events, questions etc. also emailing us wanting to work with us or learn more about what we do. We have to do that with others. The one thing I always say about social media is it brings people, communities, and companies together all over the world.

So how do we do that? It is easy . . . we put together a weekly schedule and then we implement it into our routine just like checking emails, and making calls.

Monday- Using www.Hootsuite.com schedule your posts to go out onto your Facebook personal page, Facebook business page, Twitter, LinkedIn, Foursquare, and Ping.fm. Using my post before this one to help first create your strategy so you know what you need to post on your social media profiles and when. (Schedule an hour and a half to start)

Tuesday- Login to Facebook and add 10 people into your business list, research these people. Find people that have common interest or maybe looking for your services and put them into the business list you created. Then get onto Twitter or Twellow and search for your Keywords or location. You can search for people using keywords or type in keywords people would use to find YOU and add 50 people. (Schedule about 45 min to start, once you get the hang of it you can probably get it done in 30 min)

Wednesday– Spend some time on LinkedIn checking emails and finding people you may know and ask them to connect with you. (Schedule 45 min)

Thursday- Login to Facebook and add 10 people into your business list, research these people. Find people that have common interest or maybe looking for your services and put them into the business list you created. Then get onto Twitter or Twellow and search for your Keywords or location. You can search for people using keywords or type in keywords people would use to find YOU and add 50 people. (Schedule about 45 min to start, once you get the hang of it you can probably get it done in 30 min)

Friday – Repeat what you have done Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. We are going to add another step into today, Once you are done adding people on Facebook and Twitter you want to go back to Facebook and go to your page, under your logo you will find a tab that says “Suggest to Friends” Click on that and then click the drop down tab to your list you made once that list pulls up on the top right hand side it will say “Select All” hit that and then send invitations. What this is doing is asking all the people you have been adding as friends to become a fan of your page!

Now this is what I do and share with people you are more than welcome to move it around however it works for you. Please let me know if you have any questions or suggestions of things that have helped you. I look forward to hearing from you.

Putting together a weekly social media schedule: ne of the most important parts of being active in the social media world is taking responsibility for your Facebook, Twitter, and any other internet marketing outlets you have. When we put our posts out and we like other peoples posts that is a good start to taking responsibility. When we send out Newsletters or email marketing campaigns we want other people to read them right?

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Boost Your Holiday Sales with These Quick Tips

boost-your-holiday-sales-with-these-quick-tipsHoliday season is the busiest time of the year for online retailers. According to studies, there is a 20% increase in online sales between Black Friday and Christmas. This is a wonderful time to attract more customers to buy your products and grow your business. But with so many businesses vying for the attention of consumers online, it’s time to think about how to capitalize on this potential influx of buy-happy customers.

Here are our top tips for holiday sales conversions.

Post regularly

During the holidays, social media usage is at an all-time high. Most people are at family events and are scrolling through their news feeds to pass time and keep themselves entertained. Some are looking for special offers and gift ideas. More users on social media mean more potential clients for you.

With more people turning into their smart phones during this time of the year, you want to make sure that you’re posting more often. Remember, more engagement means more exposure, which may lead to an increase in sales.

Get your visitors into the spirit of Christmas

Just like you decorate your home to get in a festive mood, you should also consider sprucing up your social media page or e-commerce site. Spread holiday cheer with seasonally themed cover images. Or better yet, give your online store a quick holiday make-over. Use the holiday season to change things up.

One study revealed that theming a shop for the holiday season excites visitors and gets them into holiday shopping spirit. This is a clever way to turn visitors into buying customers.

Don’t be a stranger

A lot of people fail to realize this, but it is far easier to sell to existing customers than it is to approach new prospects. Don’t be afraid to market to those you know. The best way to do this is by sending them an email. Let customers know that you have this certain product on hand. If they’re interested, they can drop by your store or visit your online store to buy the product. It’s as simple as that.

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Simple Ways to Generate Leads from Your Blog

Simple Ways to Generate Leads from Your Blogs

Your business’ blog can do a lot of different things. Blogging does more than let your followers know about upcoming events or recent news. Rather, it can help you develop better customer relationships, position your brand as an industry leader and generate leads.

If you’re not happy with the leads you’re getting from your business blog, then we urge you to keep reading. Use these lead generation tactics to drive more traffic and attract more high quality leads to your website.

Pen a killer headline

Make sure your title is interesting enough to capture the attention of your target audience and will compel them to click through and read your blog post.

Go social

Since you own a blog, you probably know how to write a blog post that that will generate leads. Now, your goal is to extend your reach to those people who know little about your business. Consider sharing your blog posts on social media so that people will come, learn something valuable and share them to their family and friends. This will help spread the word about your business.

Build a mobile-friendly site

A huge percentage of visitors use their tablets or mobile phones to access the internet. If they find it hard to read your blog posts or navigate your site through their mobile devices, they’ll leave even before they start reading your posts. Make sure your site is mobile-friendly or you’ll lose visitors.

Be consistent

Publish new content more frequently if you want people to visit your blog regularly. We know you’re busy, so you don’t have to write a blog every day. However, it is important that you keep up with your posting schedule.

Show up regularly and your readership will grow faster. You can’t expect people to return to your blog if you don’t have new content for them to read. Make sure you offer some valuable content to inspire them to keep coming back.

 

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SEO Mistakes You Need to Stop Making

SEO Mistakes to AvoidSo you have finally decided to incorporate SEO into your online marketing strategy. That’s great! You chose a keyword and started using it into your content. You have uploaded those contents one after the other, and now you’re hoping that your website will land at the very top of Google’s rankings.

If you want to increase your website traffic, it is important to have search engine optimization in mind when creating contents for your website. That plan starts by avoiding the mistakes most website owners make.

In this blog post, we’ll give you a roundup of the most common SEO mistakes people make. Most of these mistakes cause huge, deal-breaking, rank-destroying disasters.

Copying content

Google wants high quality, original content. If you think you can trick Google by stealing some pieces of content from your competitors, think again. Copying content is not only illegal; Google will punish you for it. In fact, it will push your site so far down no one is going to ever read your content.

Writing original, compelling content takes time and effort. But if you want your website to stand the test of time, then you need to work hard for it.

Bad content

Poor content will not only weaken your ranking, it won’t simply make an impact to your readers. For your content to flourish, we advise that you choose topics that are of interest to your target audience. Do your research and write articles that are informative, relevant and unique. Supply your audience with a steady stream of high-quality content and watch as your rankings improve over time.

Not using the right keywords

Some people use generic keywords such as health, weight loss, baking or love. These types of keywords are too broad. While they can help you reach a wide range of audience, chances are it’s the wrong type of traffic.

To improve your chances of landing on the top three spots, consider using more specific keywords. As an added bonus, this will help you attract prospective customers who might be interested in buying your products.

Keyword stuffing

This is a common mistake newcomers often make. While it is important to incorporate the keywords into your content, make sure you don’t overdo it. Otherwise, it’s going to sound spammy. You want the article to sound natural and not forced.

 

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Creative Ways to Repurpose Content into Something New

Creative Ways to Repurpose Content into Something New

Many of you have probably spent a lot of time creating those high quality blog posts. Despite the effort, most of your blog posts are aging like milk, not wine. Now, no one is interested in them because it has been years since you published them. The good news is that you can make your old content valuable and relevant through the process of re-purposing. The key is to spice up each piece of content and making it a bit different than the last.

Repurposing content can be beneficial for your business. It’s a second chance at content promotion. People who weren’t able to read your post will have a chance to read about it. It also ensures that great content is never forgotten. Ultimately, reformatting your content helps you reach a new audience.

In this blog post, we have listed 3 different ways to repurpose old content. Read on and we’ll breathe new life into your existing content.

Write an ebook

One of the best ways to repurpose old content is by turning it into an ebook. While writing an ebook requires a great deal of effort, they are often considered as high-value pieces. There are dozens of tools that can help you design and publish your ebook. Papyrus, for instance, can help you create a beautiful cover page within a few minutes.

You can either distribute it on the Amazon Kindle Store or as a free giveaway for those who would subscribe to your newsletters.

Create a video  

Online videos continue to grow in popularity with web users. A lot of people prefer watching a one-minute video than to read a 1,000 world blog post. Contents that you have previously published to your site can be a great jumping off point for a larger discussion. This allows you to open up a whole new way to connect with others, especially for your audience who prefers content they don’t have to read. You can post your videos on Youtube or Vimeo for maximum exposure.

Create an infographic

People love visual content. You can repurpose your content as an infographic and then share it on social media. Take boring information like statistics or raw data and turn it into an infographic. This is effective because it provides a fun and creative way to present complex information quickly and clearly.

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Why Social Media Is Important for Businesses

Why Social Media is Important for Business Over the last decade, social media has helped a lot of entrepreneurs grow their company. In fact, it is now considered as one of the most powerful digital marketing tools for businesses. 92% of business owners reported that social media has played a big role in their business’ success.

Here’s a look at the top benefits of social media for businesses.

Brand recognition

Because social media is used by more than 2/3 of the population, this is one of the easiest and most cost-effective ways to introduce your brand to your target audience.

If used correctly, social media can help you build a strong social media presence and connect with your current and prospective customers. We can guarantee, it is worth the time and effort.

Save money

For small businesses that are looking to spread the word about their brand and promote their products without having to spend a lot of money, social media is your best option.

Social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and LinkedIn allow you to share content to your fans and potential customers absolutely free.

Increased traffic

Sharing relevant and informative content on social media can help you generate leads. Here, you are not only limiting your content to people who are already familiar with your brand. Rather, your goal is attract people who may be interested in what you have to offer and encourage them to visit your website. Make sure you supply them with interesting content, so they’ll keep coming back.

Improved customer service

We all know that businesses have a dedicated customer service department that consumers can reach via phone and email. But because most people want a quick response, they still choose to connect with businesses through social media.

Here, you can see question, comments and complains instantaneously. Plus, answering questions and settling complains publicly adds a level of transparency to your business. Remember, all eyes are on you, so make sure you handle issues professionally, politely and in a timely manner.

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How to Build a Social Media Following

How to Build a Social Media Following

Most business use social media to generate leads. But in order to make social media marketing work, you’ll need to have an audience. This means having some fans and followers on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and other social media channels.

The number of fans and followers you have will give you an idea how big of an impact your message make. However, growing a social following can be quite frustrating, especially if you’re running a start-up business. But how do you build a social media following?

Here are some tips on how to get more followers on any social media channel.

Choose the right channels

One of the most important things you need to do is to decide which platforms are going to be right for your content. Twitter is an instantaneous outlet. LinkedIn favors professional content. Pinterest, Instagram and Facebook are more visual mediums.

Also, determine which social media networks your target audience use the most. There is nothing more frustrating than spending your time and resources, only to find out that you weren’t able to reach your target audience.

Interact with other users

Interact with your fans and follows on a regular basis. You can ask questions, answer questions, share some of their posts or encourage people to share yours. Also, take the opportunity to get involved in conversations. This will help you stay connected with your audience and not miss out on anything important.

Offer something unique

This is probably the most important thing you can do to acquire more fans and followers. Some people would post links to their work and promote their products in an attempt to get people to visit their site. But social media isn’t the place to advertise your products or services.

In order to capture the attention of your target audience, you need to make sure that you provide them with contents that are fresh, interesting and entertaining. Adding a picture to your posts can also make your posts standout and encourage people to follow you.

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4 Ways to Use Twitter for Business and Marketing

4 Ways to Use Twitter for Business and Marketing

Business of all sizes use Twitter for a variety of reasons – provide information, interact with their followers, promote their products and services, generate leads and monitor conversations about their company.

Maintaining an effective Twitter presence can be a powerful part of your marketing strategy. Despite its growing relevance, a lot of small businesses are still not using Twitter to its full potential.

In this blog post, we’ll teach you how to turn 140 characters into online marketing gold. Read on for some useful tips on how to use this popular social media platform for business and marketing.

Engage in two-way conversations

Twitter is a great platform to reach your audience. As a business owner, your goal for using social media is to build a community around your brand and to foster relationships.

Don’t go overboard with promoting your business. If you do so, people will stop following you. Keep an eye out for particular issues you could help with. Join the conversation and feel free to give some tips and advice.

Retweet

The last thing you want is to bombard people with tweets about your business. It is worthwhile to retweet particular tweets from other users that you find particularly useful or interesting. Sometimes, this encourages people to follow you. Plus, retweeting shows your followers that you’re also willing to share tips and advice, and you’re not just about flogging your products and services.

Customer service

80% of customer service interactions take place in social media. In fact, a lot of people post complaints and product queries on Twitter. Twitter is a great tool for customer service because it allows you to resolve issues in real time. Be sure to respond in a polite and professional manner. Don’t forget to thank the customer publicly once the problem is resolved.

Make twitter a daily activity

Social media marketing success does not happen overnight. You need to spend time posting updates, responding to DMs, thanking new followers, following new accounts, liking and re-tweeting other content and responding to other users.

Because twitter moves so quickly, it is not something you can handle whenever you have the time. Daily postings and engagement is important. Otherwise, people will forget about you.

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3 Ways Social Media Can Help Your Business

3 Ways Social Media Can Help Your Business

As a business owner, you have probably considered using social media to help you get the word out about your business. Building a strong social media presence may take a lot of time and hard work, but the pay off can be incredible.

Social media can be extremely beneficial to companies of all sizes. Here’s how social media can help grow your business.

Reach new audience

Sharing content to thousands of people at once is one of the biggest benefits of social media. But instead of trying to reach everyone, you need to find the right people to engage with. Social media provides the perfect opportunity to help you reach your target audience. Plus, it is one of the fastest and least expensive ways to connect with your audience.

Identify who your target audience is, and then determine which social platforms they spend most of their time in. If you share really interesting and engaging content, you are likely to reach thousands and thousands of people in no time.

Create meaningful relationship with your customers

Social media encourages two-way communication. It’s not enough that you share your knowledge or provide some updates about your products, services and upcoming events; you also want to communicate with your fans and followers.

Social media allows you to communicate with your prospective and current customers. Once you have earned their trust and goodwill, they would be much more willing to recommend your products to their family and friends.

Customer service

Providing stellar customer service is likely already a top priority for your business. Since most customers want immediate response, many of them would post their questions or concerns via social media. If they do, it is important that you respond and address the issue in a timely manner.

If you acquire positive feedbacks, ask the customer if you can share it on your page. People will trust and appreciate you when people say good things about your business.

 

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