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Category: Social Media

14 Social Media Mistakes to Avoid in 2014

We’ve all seen them… misfired tweets, Facebook fails, and huge national brands that just don’t get it. Last year we recapped the 12 worst social media mistakes of 2012, but brands just keep making the same errors over and over again. For 2014 we’re going to be proactive. Here are 14 mistakes to avoid this year, so that your brand isn’t ridiculed by friends, fans, followers, or the general public:

1) Avoid relating ANY holiday to your brand:

Unless you are a major fireworks distributor or 1-800-Flowers, holidays are NOT about you. Don’t force it. Even if you think your message fits in flawlessly with the holiday, chances are someone will take offense. Don’t believe me? Google MLK Day Social Media for proof.

2) Not understanding your company’s image

Banking giant J.P. Morgan decided to host a Twitter Q&A session utilizing the hashtag #AskJPM in November. Although they received thousands of amazing questions such as, “As a young sociopath, how can I succeed in Finance? #AskJPM” and “What’s it like working with Mexican drug cartels? Do they tip? #AskJPM”, the company quickly realized that Twitter was not the appropriate medium for a company discussion.

3) Using trending hashtags without first checking their meaning

Utilizing hashtags is a great way to get more eyes on your tweets, but don’t hijack trending tags without first researching the message behind them. Baked goods company Entenmann’s faced backlash after utilizing a trending hashtag without realizing that #notguilty referred to the verdict in the Casey Anthony trial.

4) Getting too political

This one practically speaks for itself. No one wants to hear outspoken thoughts about gay marriage, political candidates, or religion from a brand. Italian pasta company Barilla came under fire last year after stating that they would not feature gay families in any ads. After thousands of people tweeted at them with the hashtag #boicottabarilla, they finally issued a semi-apology (in Italian) from their brand account. The lesson here? Don’t get your brand involved in political affairs, and respond quickly if you find your company in a similar situation. Most users prefer their pasta without a side of prejudice.

5) Creating fake controversies

Real time marketing is a hot buzzword, but faking a crisis is not the way to achieve success. Brands like Chipotle and JC Penney have faked problems on their own social media networks to achieve attention. Effective real time social media campaigns react to events as they happen, not create unnecessary controversy.

6) Responding generically to complaints

If your company does something to upset a large amount of fans, you should not reply to them all with the same generic message. Either issue a blanket public apology to all of your fans, or personalize each response.

7) Not responding to negative feedback or customer questions

Not responding at all to complaints is also a bad policy. A study from Maritz Research and evolve24 found that over 50% of respondents expected a reply from a company regarding public complaints on Twitter. Deleting or ignoring complaints is not the way to approach social media management. Furthermore, if you engage with an unhappy customer, you should not stop answering them after one tweet.

8) Beginning tweets with “@” or “.@”

It might seem like beginning tweets with an “@” is Twitter 101, but tons of brands still make this mistake all the time. If you begin a tweet with a user’s handle, only that user and their followers can see it. Some companies have taken the lazy approach to combatting this problem, by adding a period before the @ symbol. Don’t do this! It looks sloppy, and if you’re getting paid to write tweets, you should be thinking about ways to word your response differently.

9) Using #too #many #hashtags #on #Instagram

This one is fairly self explanatory. Hashtags can lead to natural discovery, or can be utilized to chime in on a trend or theme (such as #TBT). Using too many hashtags in one post not only looks silly, but makes it extremely difficult to read.

10) Posting photos on Pinterest that don’t link back to your site

Pinterest can be a great platform for both small and large businesses to get their products noticed. However, pinning products without a link back to your site is a waste of everyone’s time! You want to eliminate any hassle or additional steps in the sales funnel so that someone who finds your amazing product can buy it on the spot. Pin directly from your website and see your sales soar.

11) Leaving the URL in your Facebook post

Facebook’s link preview feature is a great way to show off your links in a visually appealing and enticing way that encourages customers to click through. However, once that preview generates, delete the original link! This will clarify your posts, and allow readers to easily figure out where you want them to click.

12) Avoid using click bait to get users to read your posts

Which websites are exploiting Upworthy-style click bait to get viewers to read and share? The answer may surprise you.

13) Cross posting content from Facebook to Twitter (and vice versa)

Some companies save time by cross posting their Facebook posts to Twitter. Although this is occasionally fine, many Facebook posts are simply too long for Twitter’s 140 characters. These are shortened by including a fb.com link in the post, which defeats the purpose of the tweet. Tailor your message for each specific social media channel.

And finally…

14) Handing the keys to your channels to someone who isn’t responsible

This should go without saying, but the vast majority of brand social media fails are due to someone accidentally tweeting or posting from the wrong account. This is not a job for an unpaid intern. Make sure that whoever is running your brand’s accounts is trustworthy and reliable.

February 26, 2014
Career Advice from the Facebook Queen (and some life lessons, too)

Sheryl Sandberg is one of the most influential women in the world, according to Time, CNN Money, and Forbes. She’s the COO of Facebook, and in my opinion, one of the biggest badasses out there. I’ve been reading her book, Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead and it is changing my perspective on life, offering tips on how to navigate the business world, and giving me a little gumption to speak up for myself. I haven’t finished reading the book yet, but I guarantee I’ve learned some lessons that are going to stay with me for a while. Check them out:

1) Don’t Dis-credit Yourself

Many women (including myself) suffer from “impostor syndrome.” I often feel that my accomplishments really aren’t accomplishments, but rather things I’ve muddled through with many errors along the way. The truth is, we need to start acknowledging our efforts and own our accomplishments. You did it! With or without the help of others, you’ve most likely accomplished a lot of positive things in your life, and you need to be proud of yourself for that!

2) Fake It Till You Make It

When something negative happens in the workplace, sometimes it’s best to keep going and put a smile on. Recently, I had a frustrating experience at work (as we all do), and I was fuming mad before a conference call. However, I put those feelings aside and lead the call successfully. When these situations arise, do something that takes your mind off the situation. Even if that means stopping work to go for a walk, call a family member, or run an errand. Anything you can do to get away from the problem (for a while) will ultimately help reduce a negative reaction to the situation, which will make you look like and feel the professional woman you are.

3) Jump Into Opportunity (don’t wait for it to come to you)

Men apply for a job when they meet 60% of the requirements, but women apply for a job only when they meet ALL of the requirements. We hold ourselves back because we think we are not ready, instead of thinking, “There is an opportunity here and I can learn by doing it!” Apply for positions that offer growth, adaptability, and room for you to fill a gap that the company needs. Don’t NOT apply for a job because you’re scared. We are rarely handed things in life and you should take advantage of every opportunity.

4) Don’t Be Discouraged – Be Persistent!

Sheryl tells the story of leading a Q&A section and reaching a point where she had time for two more questions. When she answered those questions all the women put their hands down, but all the men who still had questions kept their hands up. She answered a few other questions, but only the men got answers because they kept their hands up! Ladies, we need to be as persistent as men! There is no reason why we should stop asking for more information, details, and answers. We live in the same world as men, and we need to start acting like we deserve to be in it.

5) You Don’t Have To Be Liked by Everyone

This is a complex that a lot of women have. We want to be liked by everyone, because we don’t want to be perceived as bossy or rude. Women think we can please everyone, but men know that’s not humanly possible. There are going to be times where we have to make tough decisions. Those decisions are not always going to provide positive outcomes for everyone, but we need to learn to make decisions that are going to positively affect a great number of people. You’re inevitably going to hurt someone’s feelings or make someone mad, but there’s not much you can do about that. So, make decisions that create positive outcomes and keep the ball rolling.

The moral of the story is, ladies, if you want to be a badass at life, go out there and do it! There’s no reason we should not be a part of conversations and advocating our thoughts and beliefs. I fully believe that we can have our cake and eat it, too. We just have to start leaning in and participating in life the same way men do.

Cheers, Sheryl! You’ve inspired me more than you know. Thanks for the encouragement 🙂

February 14, 2014
3 Reasons Why Your Business Should be Active on G+

Some may know Google Plus as a weak attempt by Google to compete with Facebook. However, it can be used for much more than just engaging with your target audience. Google’s social media platform can also help your SEO efforts while providing quality content and information to followers.

Here are three reasons why your business needs to be active on G+:

1. Google+ Posts are Crawlable

Unlike other social media platforms, all Google+ posts are crawlable by the search engines. Your business’ Twitter or Facebook profile may show up for your brand name search, but specific posts and updates are not indexed. All Google+ posts are indexed in minutes, and some even say seconds.

You can use your G+ posted content to target specific keywords. Each post has its own url, and the first 45-50 words in the post become the title tag. Links within Google+ posts are followed links. As you post content linking back to your website and that content is shared, the authority of your Google+ page and website are growing.

2. Boost CTR with Google Authorship

According to Google, authorship has no impact on the SERPs. However, Google Authorship can help you get more traffic to your website, which is why we are all trying to rank on page 1 to begin with, right?

By associating a G+ profile with pages on you wrote on your website, the profile photo of your G+ shows up with those pages in the search results. The image in the search results sets your site apart from the others and makes it more eye catching. Authorship increases the likelihood a searcher will click your site in the search result. And although authorship does not have a direct correlation with rankings now, we anticipate it will in the near future. And for now, using it for more traffic to your site is enough incentive to get on board.

3. Potential Increase in Rankings

The number of +1’s your G+ business page gets has been shown to correlate with top rankings in the SERPs. Moz did a correlation study to determine what aspects of a website show a strong connection to high Google rankings. The number of +1’s came in second only to page authority, with number of linking domains and Facebook shares, likes, and comments as the next most influential. Searchmetrics also did a similar study that found the number of +1’s to be the most highly correlated factor with top Google rankings.

Yet, Matt Cutts is very adamant that the number of +1’s for a Google business page “has no direct impact on their web search ranking algorithm” and “correlation does not equal causation.” Although this may be true, a business can no longer ignore Google+ and its added SEO value.

As a social platform, G+ is equally as important as Facebook. And Google+ goes far beyond social reach, it provides a great opportunity to boost your SEO efforts. So go ahead and get active on G+, the benefits are only continuing to grow!

February 3, 2014
Social Media Marketing and the Super Bowl: It’s All About Preparation

If you’re like me and you love sports and social media, there isn’t a better day than Super Bowl Sunday. From the creative commercials to everyone constantly updating their feeds with their own thoughts on the game, it’s the ultimate setting for sports and marketing to collide. Rather than sit back and let this once-a-year event pass by, business owners should seize the opportunity to jump into the frenzy and promote their brand.

But what do you say and when do you say it? The answers to those questions lie in preparation. Follow these simple tips so that you’ll be prepared to jump on the chance to be one of the social media accounts people are talking about the next day.

Log In
When something unexpected happens (like last year’s power outage at the Superdome here in New Orleans), you have to be ready. That doesn’t mean fumbling around trying to log into your Twitter, Facebook, or any other platform your business operates. By being logged in and thinking fast you can comment on a big moment right away.

Know Your Audience (And Who’s Playing)
Identify what content you want to create that relates to your brand, then follow the conversation surrounding the game and try to work it in at the appropriate times. For instance, are their certain hashtags your customers are using related to the game or big topics that have emerged? If so, try to join the conversation and interact.

Get Creative With Promotions
Use a promotion to drive customers to your website or place of business the week leading up to the big game. For example, offer a special that provides a discount if a certain player scores a touchdown or if the opening kickoff is returned. You can also take advantage of the many prop bets associated with the game, such as a discount on one product if the coin flip lands head and a discount on another if it lands tails.

These are just a few things you can do leading up to kickoff. Just be sure to formulate a strategy early so that you aren’t scrambling once game day arrives. And, as always, try to keep your content tasteful, but colorful and fun at the same time.

January 30, 2014
Social Media And Small Businesses
Early last year, an article was featured on StreetFight.com that made some overzealous claims about social media marketing for small businesses. The negative stance was made loud and clear: social media marketing + very small businesses = zero return.

I take the most issue with the article’s claim, “The type of business most likely to realize a social media return on investment are B2C businesses whose customers are younger than 50 and that focus on entertainment, retail, personal services, or tourism. B2B or home services, or businesses catering to older people, do not fare nearly as well.”

In my experience, that just isn’t true. Every business can benefit from social media marketing. Here’s why:

Social Media is for Everyone

First, let’s talk about the age comment. The whole “social media is only for young people” idea is dead. Besides the fact that every family member I have over the age of 50 is actively engaged on Facebook (and some are even on Twitter), there are numerous statistics that prove age assumptions wrong. The fastest growing age group using Facebook is surprising – 45-65 years old.

So, in all actuality, Facebook has transcended the age divide.

Second, the article singles out B2B companies, saying that these businesses do not do well on social media. Wrong again. According to Vocus, 90% of B2B companies are currently on Facebook. Outside of Facebook, Twitter has emerged as a popular platform for B2B, with 85% of B2B marketers citing Twitter as the top social platform, followed by LinkedIn at 82%. If those stats are not enough, there is a whole list here.

B2B Benefits

Social media generates leads and leads make B2B. That’s a fact. Social media allows businesses to:
- generate brand awareness
- increase customer engagement
- establish a personalized/genuine relationship with customers
- respond to customer reviews and make improvements
- share special offers and highlight products
The list goes on, but what I’m driving at is that social media drives site traffic. When executed well, social media marketing acts as a hook, getting customers intrigued. All social media business profiles should direct the customer back to the site. Regardless of the products sold, even if the business isn’t based in “entertainment, retail, personal services, or tourism,” social media marketing can work for small business.

Low Cost Alternative to Traditional Marketing

As the article points out, sites like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Google+ are all free, so the only cost is time. However, the easy-to-use formats of all these sites allow for quick updates. Plus, there are numerous scheduling tools out there, like Hootsuite, that allow you to make posts into the future. The benefits behind social media marketing are well worth the time SMBs are dedicating to it. Most businesses don’t have the time to run their own social media profiles, so these customers usually contract with Search Influence and our partners to manage their social profiles for them.

Finally, the article says “Sure, social signals are important for SEO. But as far as knowing that inputting X equals Y placement in search results, we don’t know the equation and never will.” Even if we don’t know exactly what X and Y are, we do know that there is an obvious correlation between social media traffic and site traffic.

For instance, an increase in followers leads to more shares, and shares are a great way to spread your website content and brand name. An active social presence will also generate inbound links and improve customer satisfaction as Facebook, Twitter, and other social networks provide the optimal forum for direct customer-business feedback. In other words, social networks increase online visibility, and they don’t just provide a small window of visibility – these business profiles open a genuine link between customers and businesses.

Putting Social Media to Work

So, small businesses shouldn’t count out social media marketing just yet. Create profiles that promote products and engage your customers in a genuine fashion. Of course, all of this support for social media marketing would fall on deaf ears without a direct example. One of our clients, a small business of the exact strain highlighted in the Streetfight article, reached out to Search Influence two years ago. At the time, they only had 97 Facebook fans and site traffic in the low hundreds.

Now, after a strategically designed Facebook ad campaign and other SMO tactics, the client has over 27,000 likes on their Facebook page alone and generates monthly site traffic in the thousands. Although their site traffic was not driven by Facebook alone, their Facebook ads had a click-through rate five times the average for other Facebook ads.

Annual ad spending is increasing most rapidly on Facebook. By the end of 2014, 88% of small businesses expect to put some of their marketing dollars on Facebook, up from 43% in 2009. Recent estimates show ad spending on Facebook and other U.S. social networks increasing by 31.6% in 2013 (eMarketer, 2013).

Even though social media marketing may still be a bit undefined, many online marketing experts predict that it will only become more prevalent. The future of links-to-like upheaval hasn’t been determined, but the power of the “like” is only growing stronger. Don’t count out social media marketing because you are afraid that you won’t generate a fan base due to age restrictions or the size of your company. Explore the social media networks out there and find the site that best works for your business.

Top 5 Keys to B2B Social Media Success
January 27, 2014
The New Google+ and How To Avoid Getting Your Business Account Suspended
As you all probably know by now, every Google account now has a personal Google+ profile associated with it. A common practice in SEO and setting up a Google Local listing in the past has been to create a Gmail account specifically for business purposes. This generally included using a business name as a First and Last name in the Google account setup. For example, if I owned “Delicious Cupcakes Shop,” the Google account name would be Delicious (First) Cupcakes (Last), not Mary Silva.

What Changed?

Now we’ve learned, however, that with the new Google+ profiles being created for accounts, having a non-human name as your profile is grounds for having your account suspended and your Google services revoked. This includes having your account associated business page removed from search results. If your profile goes more than 60 days under suspension, Google will start to automatically remove your content from their system. Learn more about “Google+ Profile Suspensions” here!

Also, regardless of the Google suspension penalty, having a page with your business name that would now be a public profile would possibly lead to confusion and appear as a sort of duplicate business page. So cleaning up your account name is definitely an essential move to make now.

Even Google has acknowledged that having what they consider an “improper name” will happen, and offer explanation on what happened. They’re clearly aware of the fact that many accounts may have been set up with something other than a person’s name.

What Now?

If you’re like many other business account managers who have set up an account using your business name as the account name, you might ask, “What’s the next step in getting this cleaned up?” Well, it’s actually quite simple! All you have to do is follow the next few steps:

Step 1: Log in to Google at plus.google.com

Step 2: There are 3 circumstances you might encounter after login:

2a: If your account is being accessed for the first time since the Google update that created Plus pages for each account, you will see a form where you will set up the Plus page for your account for the first time. Update the “First” and “Last” name fields with whatever human name you desire.

2b: If your account has already been set up through Google+, then you’ll have to check that the name of the account is a human name and not the business name. Here’s how!
- In the top right corner of your homepage, hover over the user photo and then click “view profile”
- Next, hover over the name and you’ll see that you can “click here to change name”. Update the “First” and “Last”name fields with whatever human name you desire.
Note that for both profiles and pages, Google limits how often you can change them, so choose wisely whenever changing this information in your account.

2c: If the your account has already been flagged/suspended, you’ll see a red banner across the top of your page when you login informing you of the suspension. Follow the same steps for part 2b but you’ll have to check back in 48 hours to make sure Google accepts the changes and removes the suspension. You’ll also have to see if the account has lost Google privileges and respond accordingly.

Hope this has been helpful to anyone who has encountered this issue or has a business account with Google! If you or your business have experienced similar trouble with Google, let us know in the comments!
January 21, 2014
Tips for Optimizing Pinterest boards for Small Businesses

Ever since the launch of Pinterest in March 2010, marketers and small businesses are leveraging the site to drive traffic and sales. There are some old school business leaders who are still anti-social media, but they are missing out on a big opportunity if they ignore Pinterest and other platforms. The great thing about using Pinterest for your business is the potential for your posts to rank in the search results. Check out one of our previous blog posts for more details. Below are some simple tips to optimize your Pinterest boards.

1. Be creative with your board.

Don’t be too self-promotional. Not only do you want to showcase the goods and services you provide, you want to make sure you are showing the inspiration behind it and promoting the lifestyle of your brand. Users will be turned off if you are only trying to get them to buy your products. Pinterest and any social media are about creating a conversation with your users and getting them engaged with what you do. If you are a fashion designer, post images of fabrics, places, and objects that inspire you. You can always reach out to a fan of your product that has a lot of clout and get them to be a guest pinner. The more creative you are the more you will gain engaged followers.

2. Check the linking of your images and provide a good description for it.

The most frustrating thing about Pinterest is when the pins are linked to a homepage or non-existent page on a website. Nothing is worse than having a missed transaction because your customer could not directly find the product on your site. If you pin something from the site, make sure it goes directly to the page where they can buy the product. Descriptions for your pins should be informative and interesting, but not too long or too short. You could probably do a little keyword research with the free Google keyword tool to find high value phrases for your image.

3. Utilize the location-based pins.

With the recent launch of Pinterest’s location-based pins, your board can include a map of where your products are and also allow you to collaborate with other businesses. The location-based pins allow you to input your name, address, and phone number. If your product is available at several retailers, this would be a perfect opportunity to use this feature. For example, Lululemon created this Om Finder app that allows you to look for yoga studios in your area and to also get tips. This board would be perfect for location-based pins so users can physically find a specific location. Below is an example of Andrew Zimmerman’s board utilizing the place pins for best BBQ places in the US.

Start applying these tips today to get the most out of your Pinterest page. Happy Pinning!

December 30, 2013
Google +Post Ads Offer Near Limitless Exposure to Social Messages

Google has just announced a revolutionary social ads concept for brands dubbed “+Post ads.” +Post ads will allow marketers to re-package selected Google+ posts for promotion by way of Google’s display ad network.

Unlike Facebook ads which live only within the walled garden, Google is taking the revolutionary step of pushing these ads OFF of Google+. In fact, Google+ will, for now, remain pristine, with no apparent ads.

+Post ads have the potential to be more disruptive due to their “content as display” nature. It is likely the novelty will wear off in time, but in the early going brands who jump into this platform will likely see great exposure for their Google+ social content.

For more information, see the related Google site. Our own Jeanne Gaudet has also contributed a brief writeup (published under my account) to the LocalU.org blog.

December 17, 2013
You’re So Vain, You Probably Think This URL is About You: Claiming Your Google+ Vanity URL

Google has rolled out a batch of Google+ updates yesterday, and among those updates, they are now offering vanity URLs for Google+ Pages or Profiles.

Requirements for getting a custom URL are pretty straightforward:

Well, this a fun and interesting small project, so I thought I would walk through it with a client. I logged in, and there it was! I’m not sure it could be any easier.

Ah, but there is always a catch. I don’t like the URL they gave me. What is that “Org” on the end? I don’t want that. It’s not part of the client’s name. I guess it’s there because their domain is a .org? They are a non-profit organization, unlike many domains which are .org, but still.

After a little investigating, it doesn’t appear we have the option to truly edit the vanity URL although Google mentions they may give you multiple vanity URL options to choose from. Not in this case. That is an unfortunate scenario, but I’m going for it anyway.

Super easy to just walk through the steps. And you can edit it – see the “Edit” button handy right there.

But when you edit it, you can only edit for capitalization. I can’t get rid of the “Org.” Aarrggh.

It said I can never, ever edit the URL again. So we can have a vanity URL, but you can’t create it. You are stuck with what Google gives you.

Or you can pursue it as Mark Traphagen suggests in his G+ post which drives you over to Google+ Help Page

And Mike Blumenthal gives us a heads up that it may not always be free:

Overall, it’s straightforward and simple (thanks, Google!). If you meet the requirements, this option should be available to you shortly, as Google is currently rolling it out.

October 30, 2013
What’s Wrong With Facebook Cover Photo Reach?

Facebook announced a new version of News Feed way back in March 2013 and emphasized that decreasing clutter and increasing images were the company’s top priorities. Months later, some of the highly touted features have still not rolled out to all site users. However, one change was made almost immediately: allowing Business Page cover photos to appear in both ads and stories in the News Feed.

This new feature was poised to make businesses’ cover photos more important than ever, especially after Facebook removed the 20% text rule from cover photos in July. These site improvements were welcome changes for most brands, as they allowed companies to improve their branding and use calls to action directly on their Facebook page. Unfortunately, business pages are unable to see just how many people are seeing their cover photos due to a bug in the new system.

We noticed back in July that a new cover photo we posted for Audubon Zoo had more “shares” and “likes” than it had organic reach. I assumed that it was a temporary issue, or a fluke, but we have seen it time and time again over the last few months whenever we change our clients’ cover photos. We updated the Center for Restorative Breast Surgery’s Facebook cover photo on Tuesday in conjunction with Breast Cancer Awareness Month. The new cover photo post received 225 likes, 71 shares, and 12 comments, but for some reason Facebook is reporting that the new image was only seen by 33 people total.

It certainly doesn’t take a mathematical genius to realize that number cannot be correct, but there seems to be virtually no information out there as to why we’re seeing underreported reach totals for cover photos. If this truly is just a bug, why has Facebook not yet identified the issue and fixed it? Have you encountered this problem on your Facebook Business Page? Let us know in the comments!

October 4, 2013