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Tag: social media marketing

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
5 Tips for Proper Hashtag Usage

I love social media. I also love staying organized. The great thing about hashtags is they bring the two together. For those who don’t know, hashtags are a way to categorize a post on social media platforms, like Twitter and Instagram, by tagging it with descriptive words or phrases. Hashtags are also helpful for businesses running specific campaigns to monitor what followers are saying about their company. Although we all love reading about the latest social media blunders, we never want to fall victim to them ourselves. That is why I’ve compiled a list of questions to ask yourself when choosing a hashtag.

1. Is this hashtag trending?

Trending hashtags are a great way to get your message out there, and even help you brainstorm interesting, relevant tweets. If you can seamlessly incorporate your message with a trending topic, others will be able to see your post when browsing that hashtag. Although trending topics are a great first step in choosing a good hashtag, you should be careful to understand why the hashtag is trending. This takes me to the next question…

2. How is this hashtag currently being used?

Before hitting the submit button, you absolutely want to see how the hashtag is being used. Learn a lesson from Entenmann’s. Back in 2011 when Casey Anthony’s trial ended with a verdict of “not guilty,” Entenmann’s tweeted the following using a trending hashtag:

Angry, Entenmann’s followers made their disapproval known causing the company to delete the message and issue an apology.
3. Is this hashtag concise, yet descriptive

You want to make sure your audience can read and understand the hashtag, whether you are posting for a business or your own personal account. This is important if you are a business trying to start a hashtag campaign, like Dominos or Edge shave gel, or simply telling friends about your new shoes. While it may seem funny to have a long hashtag (example: “Gabrielle stole my favorite sweater AGAIN #mysisterdrivesmecrazy”) it is not easily read at first sight. One way to make hashtags easier to read it to capitalize the first letter of each word in the hashtag. However, if you find your hashtag looking something like an excerpt from a Charles Dickens novel, you should probably just shorten the whole thing altogether. If your hashtag is easily read by your audience, it has a greater chance at being effective.

4. Is this hashtag too broad?

While it may be topical to your message, broad hashtags are generally not searched. If you are a business, ideally you would like your hashtags to be interesting and search-worthy, as this could bring new eyes to your message. If your hashtag is not searched, it will not help you reach new audiences. Another problem with broad hashtags, for both business and personal profiles, is that they do not add additional value to your message.

In this example, the hashtag #hat does not offer any additional insight, and causes the tweet to become repetitive.

5. Does the place I am posting to recognize hashtags?

As funny as it may seem, it is important to know that the hashtag you send your friend via text is not recognized online. That being said, here is a list of a few places that do and do not recognize hashtags.

These places DO recognize hashtags
-Twitter
-Instagram
-Google+
-LinkedIn
-Pinterest

These places DO NOT recognize hashtags
-Text messages
-Facebook (although they are working on incorporating hashtags now)

Whether your posts are seen by millions of viewers or just your closest friends, the important idea here is to think before you post. Let’s make 2013 a year with no social media mistakes!

March 20, 2013
5 for Friday — Links, Stories, & Posts for Your Weekend

1. Top 4 Strategic SEO Trends to Watch for in 2013 – Search Engine Journal

Don’t get lost in the mix! Take a broad look at your organization to make sure you’re producing top quality content, including social media, making your site mobile friendly, and understanding the knowledge graph.

2. Google Announces Retirement of RSS Reader – The Content Standard

Google has just announced that on July 1, 2013 Google Reader will retire. This is part of Google’s plan to remove irrelevant and no longer useful services. If most of your audience is using this to get your updates, now is the time to transition them to a new service.

3. How To: Use Twitter as a Listening Station – Small Business SEM

If being active on Twitter doesn’t seem to be producing the results that you’re looking for, then try being passive by listening first and then responding. Twilert allows you to create timed alerts for when certain phrases, handles, or hashtags are used. If that is too much, you can always go the traditional route by creating email notifications through Twitter itself.

4. Mobile Searchers Do It at Night – Marketing Pilgrim

Google and Nielsen recently put together a new report using data from 6000+ mobile searches to discover how it drives conversions. Did you know that 77% opt to use their mobile over a PC? So it’s important to make sure that you’re showing up in the first few results of a search otherwise you’ll never even make it onto their mobile screen.

5. Deadeye Keyword Research: Advanced Tips for Choosing the Right KWs from #SMX – aimClear Blog

The better the research, the better the keywords…even if Google stopped providing all referring keywords in analytics for “privacy reasons.”

Key Relevance’s Christine Churchill provides some alternatives to gathering this information because as Avalaunch Media’s Matt Siltala stressed, “you can’t skip over keyword research. You can’t get annoyed with it. You HAVE to do it.” Read on for more about keyword intent and keyword research tools.

March 15, 2013
New Orleans: A Growing Tech City
For those of you who don’t know, before Hurricane Katrina ripped through the Gulf South, New Orleans was on a steady rate of decline. However, the city we love to call home here at Search Influence is in the middle of a major renaissance. News sources across the nation have reported New Orleans is the fastest growing city in America.
- Population in April 2010: 343,829
- Population in July of 2011: 360,740
- Change in population: 4.9 percent (national average 0.73%)
- Unemployment rate May 2012: 7.2%
- Unemployment rate December 2012: 6.8 % (national average 7.8%)
With all of these growth changes and increase in jobs, New Orleans has also become a hub of entrepreneurial activity. Forbes recently said New Orleans is one of the biggest brain magnets in the country, attracting young, innovative minds. It is reported that 427 out of every 100,000 adults started up a new business in the New Orleans metro area, which is 40% above the national average.

Many of these entrepreneurial efforts are tech-based. Companies such as Idea Village and LaunchPad have helped young tech and digital media entrepreneurs start their businesses, giving them advice, a place to work, and grants. Marketing firms, apps, and software are all being developed in this city, which is quite shocking considering this has always been a city known for being 10 years behind everyone else. Kickboard, started by Jennifer Medbery after teaching at a charter school, is software that provides a centralized location for teachers to record their students’ progress.

Even Search Influence was founded during Katrina’s aftermath, and along with this city, we have grown at a rapid rate. In 2011 we made it on Inc. 500’s list of fastest growing companies, and we are now the largest online marketing firm in New Orleans. Digital media has many different facets, and we are proud to offer SEO, social media, and paid search services.

New Orleans institutions such as the Audubon Institute, Naked Pizza, and Southern Costume Company have integrated the digital space into their marketing efforts. Naked Pizza tweets on a regular basis, and they have truly embraced pop-culture (I strongly encourage you to watch their Harlem Shake video).

The Audubon Institute and Southern Costume Company have opened their marketing efforts to include social media promotions and building their brand on Facebook.

Digital Media, online marketing, and social media have become vital factors for today’s businesses to succeed. It’s all about the conversation and being transparent with your customers. We are so happy to report that our city and businesses are flourishing due to technology and media advancements.
March 13, 2013
The New Facebook News Feed – What Brands and Users Need to Know

Facebook announced a new look to their News Feed yesterday, which aims to streamline its appearance and cut down on irrelevant stories. In fact, the tagline on their announcement reads “Goodbye Clutter… Hello bright, beautiful stories.” The new version will focus on images, and they will appear much larger and richer than they had previously. To many reviewers, the updated feed looks like a cross between Google+ and the Facebook Mobile app. For the first time, the platform will look virtually the same across different devices. This leaves just one big question for both Facebook users and brands… Where will the ads go?

Never fear, Facebook advertisers, this update looks poised to deliver even larger and more effective ads than those that are available on the current version of News Feed. The three column design of the new layout allows for larger images and stories from your friends, but also allows for richer, more striking sponsored stories from advertisers. And in the end, isn’t that what Facebook shareholders are demanding? The new update downplays and shrinks the traditional right side bar ads, which seems designed to push brands to utilize creative content and sponsored stories to target potential fans.

The updated News Feed may impact businesses’ organic reach significantly. And truthfully, this may be a deliberate plan to get more brands to utilize sponsored stories in order to reach a wider audience. Facebook quietly released a “Pages” feed several months ago, which has been popping up more and more on my News Feed in the last few weeks to highlight brands I rarely click on. With the new update comes an “All Friends” feed, which allows you to only see people you are friends with in real life on your News Feed. Although Facebook claims the News Feed algorithm will not be changing, its not hard to imagine many users will be clicking “All Friends” rather than viewing their entire feed.

Mashable has some great tips on some ways brands and publishers can get a jump start on succeeding in the new News Feed, many of which are as simple as updating your brand’s cover photo. The biggest takeaway from Facebook’s new look is that brands need to focus more intently on sharable, high quality images, videos, and links rather than plain text updates. For some this might take a bit of adjustment, but it has been a known fact for some time that posts with photos or links get far more interaction on the social media network than text-only statuses.

For the average user, this update seems like an overall positive design change. The look of the News Feed hasn’t been updated in over two years, and quite frankly seems overrun by apps and useless stories. Personally, if the top story on my News Feed is never about “Candy Crush Saga” again (a game I don’t play, for the record) I will be one happy girl. With this redesign, Facebook seems to be getting back to what matters, content from people you actually care about. In the end, isn’t that the point of social media?

March 8, 2013
5 For Friday — Links, Stories & Posts For Your Weekend

1. How does social media affect your SEO? – Search Engine Journal
Does Google really pay attention to social signals? As more and more users share content through social networks, Google is taking note to what gets shared and has even trying to capitalize on that by starting Google+. Some users may use social media to see what is newsworthy, but you definitely have to watch how your company manages its social presence. How are you taking advantage of social media for your business?

2. Google’s Algorithms – How does it all work? – Search Engine Land
Did you know that the web is made up of over 30 trillion individual pages? Take a look at Google’s most recent infographic on “How Search Works.” The graphic is divided into three parts: crawling and indexing, algorithms, fighting spam. Check it out.

3. Google releases change history in Google Analytics – Search Engine Watch
If you logged into your Google Analytics recently, you will notice a new change. Google has added Change History in Google Analytics, which allows you to see what historical edits were made to the account. This is pretty neat and helps you keep track of what changes were made if you work with multiple admins.

4. Groupon fires its CEO Andrew Mason – Social Media Today
Andrew Mason, CEO of Groupon, was let go this week after board members were questioning his role in the company. As the daily deal market becomes more competitive and oversaturated, Groupon saw its stock decline since its initial public offering in 2011. Did Groupon make the right decision to go public? What does this mean for future IPOs?

5. Will Pinterest help Nars generate meaningful leads? – Mashable
Nars launched an interesting social media campaign last month on Facebook to promote their new Andy Warhol-inspired collection. Now they are launching a new campaign on Pinterest to see if they can generate actual sales from the popular site. Partnering with three popular Pinterest users, these pinners will develop their own boards on each of their accounts to offer early access to its new Satin Lip Pencil collection. Nars is stepping up their social media plans. Will others follow suit?

March 1, 2013
WTF Facebook?

On Friday, I received an email from Facebook regarding their Page Insights. My initial reactions were “Great! They’ve finally realized how horrible their reporting system is and are making changes!” Boy, was I wrong. The email in its entirety is below, but the man gist is that they have been incorrectly reporting on the number of total, organic, and paid impressions and reach as reported through their Page Insights. Supposedly, the Ad Insights and Billing Data reporting tools are not affected, not that those are great anyway.

They promise that these issues will be fixed by today and “moving forward, your impressions and reach numbers in Page Insights will reflect these updates.”

The real kicker however, is that these issues impacted their “logging system,” so they will not be able to provide accurate historical data for organic and paid reach and impressions (in Page Insights). I mean, come on! Not only is Facebook’s reporting platform not intuitive, but your historical data is now inaccurate or missing.

Facebook’s reporting platforms have continued to disappoint, and this is no exception. It would be great if they spent some time gathering data about what their users want and need, and how best to display that data. I guess I have to give them some props for admitting their mistake and fixing it ASAP, although I was hoping for more.

What data would you find interesting for Facebook to report on? Let us know!

March 1, 2013
Surprise Oscar Winner: jcpenney’s #YoursTruly Real-Time Marketing Campaign

During this evening’s 85th Academy Awards, jcpenney used real-time marketing to capitalize on our here and now, instant gratification tendencies by launching a strong activation through social media. The goal of the Oscars campaign was to grab new viewers and continue to update their more-than-outdated, less-than-classy image.

To begin, their Twitter page, much like many Oscar attendees, put its best face forward with a glitzy makeover. Before this evening it’s very likely that you, your wife, girlfriend, or 20 something daughter certainly didn’t think of jcpenney as fresh, on trend, glitzy, luxurious, or modern. Some of you may not have even thought it was still a surviving entity.

Well, as long-time believer that shopping at this store was calm, easy, and reliable, I have been having so much fun spreading the news of the come-back-company. About 15 months ago, Ron Johnson, the man who made the Apple Store the addictive adult version of a candy store, stepped in as CEO of jcpenney and vowed to not just turn the company around, but completely transform it.

There has been a slow, but certainly not subtle, roll out of a new store layout including mini brand shops, major tech updates and store renovations, and even a dramatically new “everyday low price” structure that so strongly alienated long-time customers and enraged critics that jcp back-pedaled and brought back the idea of traditional “sales” within months.

Throughout this time, Johnson had a flurry of critics but I always believed and still do believe they will succeed at their task of complete rebranding, taking the “affordable luxury” phenomenon to the next level.

Their most significant splash into the homes of their target demographic? Oscars 2013, when the company our children will know as “jcp” and my mom will always call “Penney’s” launched a feel good real-time cross-channel campaign that spanned from our televisions to our tweets.

In the commercial that aired this evening, jcp writes us a personal love letter stating, “Dear America, you deserve to look better and live better.” Why wouldn’t I want to shop somewhere that tells me I deserve more!?

The Key Components of the Real-Time Marketing Campaign:

In addition to appealing to our egos, let’s discuss the other aspects of the award-winning combination that made this campaign effective.

On-Time and On-Point Tweets

Early in the evening, @jcpenny tweeted a back-stage peek inside their social media command center. Many team members were on hand, watching the show on a larger than life projector, all well-situated for quick tweeting and ad targeting. I’m sure they were ready for quick fire graphics in case they needed to step up to the plate to try to out-Oreo Oreo, who gathered with their marketing team to attempt to re-create the magic of their Super Bowl 2013 social media win.

Demographically Targeted Twitter Ads

I am clearly in jcp’s target demographic. As I launched Twitter, this was the first thing I saw:

Even if I had not been popping open my computer to pen this post on the very campaign that was being targeted to me, I, or those out there with similar demographic profiles as me, would have been pulled into the well composed and thought out campaign.

Shareable Graphics

The rapid fire team rolled out right-on-time, clearly pre-planned graphics that tied in with the “Dear America” theme all while promoting niche, desirable products.

Strong Television Placement

Not only was the “Yours Truly” spot placed early in the broadcast, it had all the makings of a 90 second must-keep-watching commercial: the “who’s ad is this” mystery, a montage of memories, a cinematic soundtrack, clever word play, and continuing bold use of text throughout. All ending with the most important piece of the pie…

Calls-to-Action

If you happened to catch the ad, you saw the strong close driving you to jcp.com/yourstruly, a buy-now optimized mini site that directed you straight to the promoted products. In case you may have landed straight on jcp.com, they had a nice reminder of the evening’s festivities and invited all their new admirers to join them on Twitter.

The Free Prize Inside: $100 Gift Cards Galore

For many of those that jumped in the conversation, @jcpenney quickly returned their tweet with a $100 gift card. 2 big benefits here: 1. getting new customers into the store to see the new changes 2. creating social buzz. If you were given $100, you would tweet it, wouldn’t you?

That’s right. Congratulations, jcp. Although you didn’t have to try too hard here as I’ve always been a fan, I am sure you have turned a number of heads this evening on the red carpet.

You have our attention, and now, we’re tipping our hats to you.

Yours Truly,

plmk

February 25, 2013
5 for Friday — Links, Stories, & Posts for Your Weekend

How Brand Came to Dominate Google’s Relevancy Algorithm – SEO Book
Google CEO Eric Schmidt has said, “Brands are the solution, not the problem.” Going all the way back to 2003, this infographic details the timeline of Google’s preference for brands in rankings, even going into some high-profile companies using shady techniques and not being penalized in the same ways small businesses might.

Write a (Good) Blog Post in 1 Hour – SuccessWorks
The old adage goes, “write about what you know.” The SEO-focused copywriting agency SuccessWorks takes it a step further in this brief how-to list, saying we should write about something we enjoy. Not only is this more enjoyable, but it’s also easier to push out a post quickly when you like what you are writing about. The other main takeaway from this is to take a break after your first draft. Fresh eyes will pick up on typos and other mistakes when you come back to the computer. You may even see places where you can add more information.

Will Social Signals Replace Links? – Search Engine Journal
It’s obvious to anyone online, especially in marketing, that social media is becoming more and more important to building a brand, but what if it becomes more important to your rankings? This post explores some of the possibilities but maintains that proven strategies for link building shouldn’t be overlooked just yet.

How to Use Hashtags in Your Social Media Marketing – Social Media Jungle
We’ve written about how to use existing hashtags to your advantage, but what if you want to create your own? Probably one of the most important takeaways from this post is to search the hashtag before using it. We’ve seen what can happen if companies use a trending hashtag without knowing why it’s trending. It’s just as easy to make one up that is being used for something completely unrelated.

34 Tools to Help You Create Better Content From Start to Finish (and Beyond) – BlueGlass
Getting into creativity mode is not always easy. This list of sites, apps, and other tools is not exhaustive, but can’t be too far from it. From brainstorming to editing, there’s a tool to help you with every step of the content creation process. Lots of these are free and all of them could be helpful for writers. Especially fun is The Writer’s Diet, where you can run a diagnosis on a sample to see where changes can be made to make the writing more concise and accessible to your audience.

February 22, 2013
Super Bowl Social Media: A Touchdown Pass for National Brands

Super Bowl advertising spots are one of the most sought after 30 seconds in television each year. With the event having an estimated viewership of well over 110 million, many national companies view the hefty $4 million dollar price tag as money well spent. In fact, the New York Times reported that the ad spots were already sold out on January 8th, almost a full month before the big event. In recent years many companies have amped up their traditional television campaigns to include YouTube sneak peeks, dedicated websites, hashtags, Facebook campaigns, and apps designed to garner appeal and catch their audience’s attention on the second screen. Social media is a growing factor in many major corporation’s 2013 Super Bowl advertising campaigns, which is a huge change from the surprise element and secretive campaigns of years past.

The YouTube teaser video is a popular move by many major national brands. This year, one of the most viral involves model Kate Upton “washing” a Mercedes-Benz, a clip that has already been viewed by over 5 million people. The video directs the audience to the Mercedes USA Facebook page, where more teaser clips of their Super Bowl promo are linked. This method of social integration leads to viewers interacting with the brand on several different forms of media, all well before the Super Bowl kickoff, and creates a great deal of buzz for the 30 second ad spot.

Coca-Cola was the first brand to launch their Super Bowl campaign this year, which features a gamified “choose your own ending” storyline that asks viewers to vote on the official Super Bowl commercial. Like the Mercedes campaign, Coke has also expanded the storyline on their Facebook page. With polls, character bios, additional video clips and more posted on their Timeline, Coca-Cola also seeks to engage with their audience in an unpaid, organic manner. The use of polls and competition between the three video endings adds an additional level of interaction and has fans gunning for their favorites.

Other companies have taken a social approach to the entire advertising process. Popular deodorant company Speed Stick ran a contest through its Twitter profile with the hashtag #handleit to solicit pitches for its very first Super Bowl spot. The winning tweets are all already up on Tongal and lead to a funny and viral campaign for an everyday product. They’ve tied the campaign in to their Youtube Channel, which features dozens of “Handle It” moments. It’s definitely a nontraditional move to release a full Super Bowl ad ahead of the big weekend, but it works for Speed Stick’s entirely social campaign.

Major corporations’ Super Bowl social media campaigns extend their advertising buzz well beyond the big game. By harnessing organic user interest on multiple channels, the expense of a 30 second ad spot seems almost worth it. Do you like the modern trend of brands releasing their Super Bowl commercials ahead of the big game? Let us know in the comments!

February 1, 2013