townsend.bunksite.com

Tag: marketing

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
Influencer Spotlight: Gabrielle Benedetto

Native New Orleanian, Gabrielle Benedetto has been working on the Search Influence account management team for over a year and a half. When she isn’t at the office, you can probably catch her running around New Orleans training for her next big race or enjoying time with friends and family.

As an Account Manager what do you find yourself doing on an average day?

As all members of the account management team, my goal everyday is to make sure my clients are happy! Regardless of how simple a client’s question may be, my job is to make sure they feel confident about their SEO campaign and they understand what our team is doing to improve their online presence.

Many of the accounts I work on have very niche markets. I make it a point to spend quality time with each client so I can get a better understanding of their marketing goals to insure we are running a great campaign.

What would you say is your specialty and what do you enjoy most about it?

I’m one of the few members of the account management team who works on site audits. This is basically a report run on an entire site that analyzes everything from internal links, HTML coding, optimized content, site navigation, and even off-site marketing. I really enjoy working on these as it provides me with a pretty deep understanding of how the site is currently optimized and shines light on opportunities to improve.

Many client come to me saying “I have a user friendly site and provide visitors with unique content about my business, but I just can’t seem to increase my rankings.” In presenting a site audit, this allows me to spend time with the client and not only show them what areas of their site need improvement but how my team can address each issue.

You’ve had a great deal of experience working with a wide range of clients, from local business to some national companies. After working with and analyzing their websites, you’ve discovered some funky stuff along the way. Any easy tips out there for an average Joe looking to improve their site?

Ah great question! I have three rules: make it natural, make it pretty, make it search engine friendly. This may be a little easier said than done, but that’s where Search Influence comes into play.

When optimizing or looking for ways to improve your site, you can’t go wrong if you follow these three rules.

1) Make it natural: Although sites with all the bells and whistles can be really nice to look at, they don’t always work properly. When optimizing a site, do what comes natural. This applies to something simple like making sure the content on your site reads naturally and is well optimized for your keywords. You could even take a more technical approach with this in making sure that you’re setting up an easy-to-use navigation and structure for your site.

2) Make it pretty: I think we have all visited a site that wasn’t organized well and looked unattractive. Having a site that isn’t organized properly or comes across as ugly or outdated is immediately going to make you think of the “s” word… spammy. Having an updated, attractive, and welcoming site allows for a better user experience and also allows for your site to be seen as a little more trustworthy when compared to some of your competitors.

3) Make it search-engine friendly: So you now have a site that just looks stunning! Your site is organized properly, attractive to visitors, and reads and functions naturally to the human eye. Regardless of how good it looks, if the search engine spiders can’t access your site’s information, no one will be able to visit your site. Make sure all content, pictures, pages, and URLs (just to name a few) are accessible to the search engines.

If you could give advice to a new client starting up their first SEO campaign, what would you say?

SEO is a marathon, not a sprint. I have many clients who come to me with larger-than-life goals for their campaign. While the competitive streak in me is eager to accept a challenge, I always want to make sure realistic goals and expectations are set properly. If you want to rank on page one tomorrow, launch a paid search campaign. If you want to build strength, trust, and authority to your site, run a properly optimized SEO campaign. Results traditionally aren’t immediate, but SEO is a great way to naturally increase your search presence. Once we lay the foundation and the campaign starts to pick up speed, we can see the rankings “increase to infinity and beyond” as one of my clients put it.

What’s your favorite thing about working at Search Influence? Anything in particular you could live without?

Something that makes Search Influence different than other companies is our staff and work space. Our office is full of monitors, MacBooks Airs, and extremely talented young professionals plugged in and focused on their work. Our staff is not only talented, but energetic and brings so much personality to this company. The team is constantly looking for ways to improve day-to-day internal processes, deliverables to increase the success of our clients’ campaigns, as well as our overall brand.

SI has a finite amount of candy at the office. There is a love/hate relationship between the team members and the candy supply. I’m trying to quit, but candy is always in the office taunting me. There are brief periods when the candy supply is low. I secretly enjoy this time without candy, but everyone else in the office starts shaking and needs their candy fix. I think I could live without the candy in the office, but I might miss the constant battle to cut down the candy. Strange enough, this bonds us a little. But let’s quickly move on to the next question before someone yells at me for speaking out against our candy supply.

Tell us a little more about your life growing up around The Big Easy. In your free time, what do you do for fun?

I am New Orleans through and through. Although we may be called the “Big Easy” there are always events going on in this town. Between races, social events, restaurant openings, or fundraisers there’s always something to do down here.

In a perfect world, left to your own devices, what would you be doing all day?

When I’m not at the office I’m probably at one of the events mentioned above. Yet, subconsciously I’m still working, networking, and meeting new people. Since a lot of people aren’t extremely familiar with SEO or Internet marketing for that matter, I’m always explaining how Search Influence helps companies all over the country promote their business and increase their search presence. I never leave the house without a stack of business cards.

One last hard hitting question —- If you could identify yourself with one designer brand what would it be and why?

That’s easy, DVF (Dianne Von Furstenburg)! Her line is classic, professional, and fashion forward. She’s been rocking it for decades and still vogue — just one of my own aspirations!

July 25, 2013
The Return… of the Website

The website is back, y’all! Yeah yeah, we know they didn’t go anywhere, but for the last few years we have had a large shift to companies investing in their social media presence and building out experiences that their fans can interact with on Facebook.

It made sense 100% of the way at that point in time. That’s where the users were — on Facebook. That’s where MANY users still are. Facebook is still growing; albeit, not quite as rapidly as 2 years ago, but doesn’t it feel like you see at least one new aunt and uncle popping up on Facebook each week?

If it’s growing, then why does it feel like it has become stale?

The challenge here lies in the evolution of Facebook over the more recent years. Facebook started with a wall for each person. That was the only place, besides on your own profile, that you could write anything on Facebook.

If you wanted to see what someone was saying, you had to visit individual Facebook profiles. Since 2006–and then expanded upon by “the new Facebook” in 2010–we have the News Feed. Facebook prioritizes what it thinks is news based on an algorithm of what it thinks you want to see. The problem is, I am pretty bored with checking my Facebook because the algorithm hasn’t quite got it right, and it’s too far gone to ever get corrected.

If you are a business, Facebook admits only 16% of your fans (I refuse to call them “like-ers”), are seeing your posts that you are putting all of that thought and energy into. Now I am not recommending you abandon Facebook — as you shouldn’t — buyers (especially women) are on Facebook, so learn how to improve your EdgeRank with our recent post by Laura Manning.

When Facebook users see only a couple new posts every time they check, they get bored. And bored on Facebook means your user starts to think “hmm… what else can I do on my mac, iPhone, or iPad?

I have found that I have started to wander the internet much more than I did a year ago. Facebook used to consume about 90% of my leisure internet use. Now it consumes about 20%.

What I am starting to find is an appreciation for websites again: a place where you can go and dive deeper into a product or service and really discover your options. Kind of how it was in 2000.

So for those of you who have truly been investing in your websites in the right ways over the past decade, who have recently started, or want to make an investment now, my prediction is that is the right time to do so.

The Key Things You Need to Remember:

1. Make sure they can picture themselves using your product.

Got a spa? Make sure they can see themselves in it. Got a house cleaning business? Make sure they can picture themselves sitting in their clean living room when you are done.

2. Sell it.

Sell what you’ve got to offer. Whether you’ve got, again, a spa or a house cleaning service, buyers want to read all the juicy details of how they’re getting a quality, comprehensive service for their hard earned cash. Explain every aspect of your packages, down to the last detail. Even if you think it’s insignificant, your buyers will appreciate it. Your customers want to know the benefits!!

3. Update your website.

Feature all of your products or services on your website. I want to know what you can do for me. No one wants to ask “do you do stump grinding?”

4. “Give away a little bit of the store.”

Search Influence’s Director of R&D, Amy Arnold, often preaches that each website needs to “give away a little bit of the store.” This means provide info on your site that you would typically share with someone when you have an initial call, consultation, or meeting with them. Yes, yes, it may be more than you want to put out because “what if they don’t call me” but trust me, this is the right thing to do. We have low bounce rates on sites that support this recommendation.

If you provide them the information they are looking for without them having to call you, you are proving to them that you have the knowledge — when you competitors are probably not.

The key learning here is simple — don’t ignore your website — your website should be updated almost as many times as your aunt comments on your recent pics on “the Fbook.” Your customers are searching, and they will likely find you if you continue to keep your website up to date. Of course, doing some off-site promotion of your site never hurt either, but that’s not the point of this post 🙂

Your website is being looked at more than you think. And if you don’t know how many visits you are getting to your site and from where they are coming, for heaven’s sake, install Google Analytics on it!

July 24, 2013
Expand Keywords for Expanded Results

Keywords are the key—no pun intended—to driving traffic to your site, and is part of the SEO basics a site owner needs to know. A smart business manager will put a great deal of thought into which terms to target. Even a fantastic list can always use improvement—however, four simple keyword expansions can be the trick to increasing your impressions using terms that are proven to get results.

Keyword expansion is quick, easy, and almost guaranteed to work. It might not drive tons of traffic, but it will certainly add to your existing pool.

1: Pluralize

Many of the main keywords can come to mind almost automatically: if you sell dog brushes, you’ve probably already factored “buy dog brush” into your list. But even if someone only wants to buy one, they’ll often search for “buy dog brushes”. Because some engines recognize plurals as separate keywords, you are potentially losing out on all the impressions from the “dog brushes” searchers. Adding an –s or –es to your common terms becomes a no-brainer when you realize how easily it can boost your traffic.

2: Rearrange

People typing search queries don’t always use syntax and grammar the way they do in everyday speech. To continue the example above, someone might search “dog brush buy,” which follows a pattern of what they want (dog brush), followed by what they want to do (buy). Yes, it’s likely to be a far fewer number of people than those searching “buy dog brush,” but that fewer number is not insignificant. Mixing up your word order often elicits more results.

3: Misspell

Another regularly overlooked area for keywords are typos and misspellings. Some errors are certainly more common than others; a check down the search query report should show you where you might have luck. If your canine brushes are of the affordable variety, running both “cheap dog brushes” and “cheep dog brushes” could benefit you. Fewer search engine gurus are competing for misspellings, as well, meaning you’ll have a good chance at capturing more of the market.

4: Match

The three different match types—exact, broad, and phrase—generally work together to generate the most impressions and clicks even though many choose to limit to exact match for a quality response. If your aim is to get more traffic to your site, though, casting a wide net will bring in more fish. Broad match additions to “dog brushes” might include “dog kennels” or “hair brushes,” but people running those searches might also be pleased to stumble across you. You’ll also pick up on new keywords, through broad and phrase matches that make sense, which you can incorporate into your list.

Keywords and keyword rankings are important to being found online. With a few additions and clicks, you’ve now expanded your keywords to draw impressions from those who pluralize, rearrange, or misspell words, as well as those running similar searches. You’ll benefit in impressions and ultimately traffic as well, without stressing over your keyword list.

Megan Totka is the Chief Editor for ChamberofCommerce.com. She specializes on the topic of small business tips and resources. ChamberofCommerce.com helps small businesses grow their business on the web and facilitates connectivity between local businesses and more than 7,000 Chambers of Commerce worldwide.

July 22, 2013
Google Slider Replacing the Maps Seven Pack?

Many people have seen the slider on the top of Google search results when searching for “things to do various city,” but have you seen it when searching other local terms lately? When I searched the term, “Pizza New Orleans,” I noticed the slider appearing instead of the seven pack for the first time today! I search this term often–not because of my love for pizza, but because of my client’s pizza chain. Never in the history of everdom have I seen the slider show up for this particular term.

What if Google is leaning more towards this instead of the seven pack? This can be a good and bad for local businesses. Good because your business will not be pushed all the way to the bottom of page one, way under the seven pack. Potentially bad, because many people may be driven to click the pretty images on top of the screen vs. clicking on the plain jane search results.

What does this mean for me, you ask? How can I be a part of this beautiful slider? As our fearless leader says, “Barnacle SEO is the answer!” A well optimized Google Place listing and page are the first steps. Your best possible scenario is to be the Theo’s Pizza of the page! Theo’s is the first Google Place listing in the slider AND the third organic listing on the page. As per usual, the more real estate the better.

It’s going to be very interesting to see where Google takes this and how far it will go. Will it eventually replace the seven pack? Only God–I mean Google knows!

P.S. This doesn’t show up for everyone. A few of my co-workers have seen this in the wild and a few have not. Have you noticed this type of result for other queries besides “pizza” or “things to do?” Tell us in the comments below!

June 19, 2013
5 For Friday — Links, Stories & Posts For Your Weekend

1. A New Google Search Result in Beta – Search Engine Land

As usual, Google is always testing new search results and the way the results display. Dr. Peter Meyers of Moz recently noticed a change in the Google search interface. The results displayed included restaurant reviews from Reason, New York Times, and the Wall Street Journal when he searched [mexican restaurants].

2. Facebook Cuts Ad Units – Facebook

In a recent announcement, Facebook plans to consolidate its ad offerings down from 27 to close to half of that. Offers for online deals will disappear and they are changing way “Sponsored Stories” are laid out. Expect these changes to slowly roll out.

3. Beware of Big Brother – The Guardian

If you have heard of this NSA PRISM program, you should pay attention now. The Guardian uncovered a top secret document that showed that officials had direct access to systems of Google, Facebook, Apple and other internet bigwigs. The document was allegedly used to educate intelligence operatives on the program.

4. Google is now Displaying Option to Claim Local Business in Search Results – Mike Blumenthal

Jade W of Google announced that Google will now start displaying “Are you a business owner?” to direct branded search results. Although it is a minor change, it seems as though Google is attempting to engage small business owners more. Have you started seeing this change for other SMBs?

5. Yahoo’s New Search Results – Search Engine Journal

For those who still use Yahoo as their primary search engine will notice a change in the search results. Yahoo has attempted to de-clutter the SERPs and moving search results higher up on the page. Do you like the new changes? Will you start using Yahoo?

June 7, 2013
Five for Friday

1. How Google Now Will Impact SEO & What You Can Do to Get a Head Start – Search Engine Watch

Google hosted their big developers conference this week, Google I/O. Although there were no big new products introductions, one service that has been getting a lot of attention is Google Now. Although this product was released over a year ago, it is now available for free download on Apple and Android phones and tablets. Guillaume Bouchard has some interesting ideas about how Google Now will affect the SEO community and what we can do to stay ahead of the curve.

2. Google Maps Gets a Brand New Look – Search Engine Watch

Google announced another big update this week. Google Maps is undergoing a complete makeover. The maps will be more interactive and customized for each user. Search results will be clearly labeled on the map with icons and brief descriptions. They’re also promising “smarter directions” and “tours generated from user-submitted photos.” The update is invitation-only right now.

3. How My Mom Thinks Search Engines Work – SEO Moz

This is a fun article and a good read for anyone working in SEO. Introducing somebody to SEO is not easy, and it’s good to take a step back from our industry jargon and realize that clients – usually small business owners – might not know what “organic search” is!

4. Content Marketing is a Hit! [Infograhic] – Marketing Pilgrim

We’ve been hearing for a while about the importance of content marketing. This infographic lays out the cold hard facts about how and why content marketing is essential for your business.

5. Google Local Adds New Troubleshooter to Move Reviews When a Business Relocates – http://blumenthals.com/blog

One more update from the all-important Google. Google has announced that they now have a process in place to submit requests for when a business relocates, changes its name, or changes ownership. This is something that has plagued Maps teams for a while and it’s great to see Google doing something proactive in order to simplify the process.

May 17, 2013
5 For Friday — Links, Stories & Posts For Your Weekend

1. Back to Basics: Meta Descriptions 101 – Search Engine Journal
If you haven’t looked at your meta descriptions in over a year or 6 months, it may be time to refresh your meta data. Meta descriptions are the ones that will show up in search results, so they should sound coherent to humans. Read this refresher on meta tags.

2. Thinking about adding 10,000 pages to your site at once? Take caution. – Search Engine Land
If you are adding a large number of pages to your site, it is better to do so in stages according to Google’s Matt Cutts. Adding them in batches may be better. Releasing thousands of pages at once may cause Google to manually review your site for any suspicious behavior.

3. Want to learn how to segment out your image search in Google Analytics? – Blind Five Year Old

Google image search, universal image search, Bing image search. How do you keep them all separate? AJ Kohn from Blind Five Year Old walks you through the process of setting up filters for image searches in Google Analytics. Read and implement.

4. Foursquare emphasizes its local search in its latest app update. – Search Engine Land

Attempting to take on Facebook and Yelp, the social check-in company rolls out its 6.0 update for its app. With local search as the primary focus of the new update, Foursquare users will see nearby recommendations and discovery features. Check it out.

5. Are Facebook fans really worth it? – Mashable

According to a Syncapse report, a Facebook fan is valued at $174. The study takes a look at Facebook fans versus non-fans and analyzes their spending behavior along with their brand loyalty and several other factors. Would you agree with their estimation?

April 19, 2013
Pinterest Announces Analytics for Business Profiles

Recently, Pinterest launched its Web Analytics, allowing for businesses with verified accounts to track how many users are pinning from their site, the number of impressions from each pin, and incoming site traffic that is being generated directly from Pinterest.

Outside of SEO and social media campaigns, many may argue that there is no way to successfully tracking branding and traditional advertising efforts. Pinterest will argue this as this data now allows businesses to successfully track how users are interacting with their pins, products, and most importantly – how they are most likely to convert.

The launch of Pinterest for Business in late 2012 welcomed businesses to develop professional profiles and the implementation of “pin-it” widgets. Naturally this has been great for businesses across the board! Not only does having a professional Pinterest board increases brand awareness and a brand’s social presence, but also provides another avenue in generating site traffic.

By implementing social sharing widgets on a new product page, allows for users to quickly view a product they are interested in, and repin this great finding to the world of Pinterest.

So, yes we know how great Pinterest is, but what we really need to know is how it can make us money! As a business owner, our job is to create shareable content to promote products, and Pinterest’s job is to push it out. With this tool, we can track exactly how our marketing content is being socially pushed out! Businesses can now track how many pins are being pinned from the site, the impressions generated by each pin, and the number of repins generated by the original pin. Tracking of clicks and social reach is also available. Pretty cool we can now track the click through rate (CTR) for a specific product or pin!

Successfully tracking how customers pin their favorite blouse to a board where all their followings can see it (impression), allowing for new followers to visit your site (traffic), and potentially buy that same blouse (conversion), is a dream come true for e-commerce sites!

From a business perspective this allows us to really understand what our target market is interested in. Tracking which pin is the most successful allows us to analyze specific, engaging content that may lead to a higher conversion rate.

With social media constantly growing and changing, and the need to market businesses on social platforms only increasing, the launch of this new tracking device may even convince other business to get on board with Pinterest.

Now, how much longer until we see ads on Pinterest?

March 26, 2013