Until the launch of the Google+ business page, it was still questionable as to whether you should jump into the Google+ circle, but with this final piece of the Google+ puzzle in place. Before the launch only individuals were allowed to create a Google+ page. For a long time before that you could only create an individual page with your Gmail account, until Google finally opened the social network up to Google Apps for Business users (see the post on enabling Google+ for Google Apps for Business) a few weeks ago.  Most would agree at this point that you set up your new page, and use it as a part of your overall social media marketing strategy along with LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook!

Steps to Create Your Google+ Business Page

You will have several choices of how to set up your page. You should consider the type of page, since you won't be able to change it later. Note that if you already have a Google Places account set up, you can actually find your account using your telephone number and connect it to your Google+ business page. It will extract your information and give you the ability to customize who can see the information and what category you page should be placed under.

If you do not have a Google Places page, you can choose one of the other options, which include Product or Brand; Company, Institution or Organization; Arts, Entertainment or Sports; or Other. Note that the options  you have for your Google Local Business or Place are different compared to the other 4 listing types. The key difference between the Places based version and the others is that they include a map of the business location, feature the address, phone number and hours behavior. Below is an example of setting it up as a Company, Institution or Organization, in case you don't yet have a Google Places account set up.

Next, you will be logged into Google+ as your organization, similar to Facebook. Notice that the user name will be changed to the name of your page (i.e. Aday Interactive, Inc. in my case) and anything you post, or add to your Circles will be attributed to your Google+ page. When first logged in you will be prompted to edit your Tagline and add a profile photo.

After this very basic set up, you are able to promote your new page to your Circles. However, I don't recommend doing this until after you have done some more tweaking to the page.

Now you should be all set with your new Google+ business profile page. The final step will be to view your page and share it with the world! Below is the Aday Interactive page, which you can add to your "Circles" by clicking here. If you add me to your circle, I will be sure to add our company page to yours!

Still not sure about what to do with your new Google+ Business page? Check out some of these resources for more information: Google+ Pages: connect with all the things you care about (from the Official Google Blog),  Google+ Help and 10 Tips and Tricks for Better Google+ Brand Pages from our friends at Mashable.com. Here are several books you can pick up as well: Google+ for Business: How Google's Social Network Changes Everything, Google+ For Dummies, or Sams Teach Yourself Google+ in 10 Minutes (Sams Teach Yourself -- Minutes). Need additional help setting up your Google+ business page, or developing your overall social media marketing strategy? Feel free to contact us with questions or call 305-918-2329 to schedule your free 30 minute Social Media Marketing consultation!

 

In the early days of Halloween in America, homeowners who had become weary of being vandalized or "tricked" by neighborhood kids on Halloween night, began giving them "treats", such as homemade sweets and chocolates. The better the treats, the less likely you were to have your windows broken or your plants knocked over. This practice spread and seemed to qualm the more mischievous aspects of the holiday and lead us to the Halloween we know and love today! When kids come knocking on your door, are you giving out yummy treats or are you popping out a plate full of pennies?

You can think of companies that pursue an inbound marketing strategy as the houses who give out the best treats for Halloween. You don't want to be known as that house with the candy no one wants or are rude to the neighborhood kids. Trick or treaters don't like that, you don't want your house to be egged! When you are utilizing an inbound marketing strategy, you are making sure you have something to offer the visitors to your website, so that they don't leave empty handed! Unfortunately, when it comes to website visitors, if you don't have something for them to take with them, they won't hit you with eggs, they may just never come back to your website or remember they were there! So you definitely want to have some form of offer for visitors who come to your site, that meets their needs.

For this reason Inbound marketing differs from "outbound" or traditional marketing, which includes tv, print, banner advertising, direct mail, telemarketing and email marketing. Instead of sending out a large mass message, inbound marketing relies on the research behavior of today's consumer to attract them to a website that offers products and services that fit their specific needs.  You can utilize that behavior to help potential customers find information related to products and services they want to consume. Since this is based on the customers own search engine research, as opposed to a banner ad or email message telling them what to buy, they are more likely to convert from a lead to a customer, since they are pre-qualified to purchase that product or service. However, you need to make sure you have content available, and have the web pages optimized in a way that attracts the organic web traffic to the page, and provides the right call to action for the visitor to obtain that content.

As with trick or treaters, not every website visitor on your website has the same needs. If the trick or treaters are very young, you don't want to give them something they can choke on. Likewise, if you they are older, you don't want to give them something that they feel only a baby would want. It is the same with website visitors, you need to have a different offer for each of the customer segments that come to your website. Maybe they are not ready to buy from you now, but they do want to sign up for your newsletter. Perhaps they don't want to schedule an appointment, but they do want to download a white paper or case study on a similar company who used your products. Finally, if they are mature enough in the marketing/sales life-cycle, perhaps they will want to schedule that free 30 minute consultation with you! Make sure you have something to offer, and it is displayed somewhere they can find it easily!

So what do you do to give the best experience to the different visitors that come to your "home"? Well don't be one of those people who just put all your candy in a bowl and let the kids pick out "one". Not only will they take everything, but they will rip the bowl apart, take all the candy...oh and guess what, it wasn't a child but a high-school kid out with his buddies, wrestling each other for candy (ok...ok...that was me and my friends growing up I admit it)! Instead, you want to know who you are giving content treats to, so you can give them the proper type of treat. You should also keep track of what is popular (all the Snickers are gone, but you have tons of tootsie rolls left over), and if possible, to track who took what.

On a website this means using simple newsletter sign up forms, and website forms that gather the persons information, such as name and e-mail. These forms should have special codes that alert your website analytics package (such as Google Analytics) when a transaction occurs. In this way, you both win, since they are taking with them valuable content, and you are getting their information for lead tracking (or in the case of candy, you won't eat it all and gain 5 pounds the first week of November!)

So how do you give away your treats and what kind of content treats should you give away? Setting up a blog should be the first step in your content marketing strategy, and this is of course to publish free content to all visitors to your website. Think of your blog as your doorway and trick or treaters will come here first to "knock on your door". From there, you can promote your yummy content, which should be in the form of downloadable files that visitors can take with them to consume (and hopefully spread via social media or word-of-mouth marketing).

Great examples of treats for your website visitors include white papers, caste studies, ebooks, infographics and podcasts are all great treats to give to your website visitors. A white paper may be a special report or specific research you have conducted on a topic that is important to your customer segments. An ebook may be a compilation of your past blog posts, which you have re-edited and formatted to be consumed in PDF format on an e-reader or tablet. Audio and video podcasts can include interviews with employees, clients or industry leaders, or even recordings of seminars you have presented in the past. Infographics, which are a newer form of a down loadable graphic that can display your research and data in a visually attractive way. These are especially great for viral marketing, as they can spread very quickly through the Twittersphere and Facebook!

So are you going to have one of those homes which all the children rave about each year, about getting the best treats, or are you going to get egged? Check out these resources to learn more about inbound marketing: First, check out the Hubspot blog on inbound marketing, the leading website on all things related to inbound marketing. Second, you can check out this great Infographic from Mashable on Inbound vs. Outbound marketing. Here are some books you can check out to study how you can adopt an inbound marketing strategy: Inbound Marketing: Get Found Using Google, Social Media, and Blogs (New Rules Social Media Series), Content Rules: How to Create Killer Blogs, Podcasts, Videos, Ebooks, Webinars (and More) That Engage Customers and Ignite Your Business (New Rules Social Media Series), Think Outside the Inbox: The B2B Marketing Automation Guide, and UnMarketing: Stop Marketing. Start Engaging.

Finally, if you have any questions, feel free to contact Aday Interactive at 305-918-2329 (ADAY) or schedule a free 30 minute consultation to discuss your Inbound Marketing Strategy!

 

How to Enable Google+ for Google Apps
Even though you can enable Google+  it is not as simple as just going over to plus.google.com with your Apps account and joining, since you need to have it enabled for your domain. This post will show you how to enable Google+ on your Google Apps domain. Keep in mind that you will need to have adminstrative access to do this, or request that you can enable this to your adminstrator. So let''s get started! Assuming you are the domain administrator, log into your Google Apps account and click on Manage Domain. Once you you are logged in, click on Organization & users -->  Services.

Next scroll down to review your services. Between Google Webmaster Tools and iGoogle, you will find the option to turn on Google+ for your Google Apps domain.

After you turn on Google+ on your Google Apps domain, you will receive a prompt that provides all of the legal ramifications of doing so. You definitely want to read these, as enabling Google+ for your domain may have some unwanted ramifications. You can read the legal considerations of enabling Google+ for Google Apps here: http://www.google.com/support/a/bin/answer.py?answer=1689647

How to Migrate Gmail Google+ to Google Apps Google+ Account
For those of you who were early adoptors of Google+, you may be wondering, "How do I migrate my personal Google+ account to my new Google Apps Google+ account???" Well as of today, there does not seem to be a solution to this problem.  According to the good people at Mashable, Google is working on a way to migrate your personal Google+ Circles and information, but it may just be a one-way street. This means you may not be able to transfer the data back to your Gmail based Google+ account, but that is still to be seen.

So what do you do if you leave your job, and no longer have access to your Google Apps Google+ account? If this happens, you should be able to export your data  including their profile, circles, streams, contacts, and photos, using  Google Takeout. You can access this function by signing into Google+, going to Account Settings -->Data Liberation -->Download Your Data. Employers may want to keep this in mind, since your users can do this even if you disable their account! For this reason, you also have the ability to choose which users have access to Google+, instead of giving access to EVERYONE in your organization.

 

Let's start with the basics: What is a QR code? QR stands for Quick Response code, and it is similar to the UPC codes which have been found on most retail products for many years. You can scan QR codes with special software that you install on your smart phone, and they will link you to files online. It may shoot back an image or text, but more likely will send your phone to a web page. As with many cool gadgets, QR codes originated in Japan, and have been widely used there for about a decade already. They gained more exposure in the US due to the rise in use of smart phones such as the iPhone and Android based phones. These mobile devices often come with bar code or QR code scanner software pre-installed, or they have them available for a free download in their respective App marketplaces.

Once you have QR code scanning software installed, you can scan a QR code with the camera on your phone. If the QR code works correctly, your phone will send you back a link to an image, text or web address that is associated with it. From there, you can choose to open the link in your mobile web browser, without having to type in the address manually. This is useful, because it means people can simply scan your business card or post card, and they can be taken to your website. Below is an example of a promotional post card for Aday Interactive, that also includes a QR code on the lower left corner. You can scan it if you like, and it should bring you to my home page on your smart phone.

QR Code on Aday Interactive Post Card

How to Create a QR Code

Now you may be wondering "How can I create a QR code"? Well it is easier than you think to create a QR code! First, you have to have something to share, like a web page with a special message or promotion. Ideally this page will be optimized for a mobile phone. Once you have page or link you want to promote, go to a site that generates QR codes for you, like QuikQR (http://quikqr.com/) or  Bit.ly (http://bit.ly ). Below is a quick walk through for creating a QR code with Bit.ly. First go to the website, and enter a web address into the large box that shortens your web address.

Bit.ly allows you to customize the shortened web address to say whatever you like. In this example, I change the address to http://bit.ly/adayintPPTMMQrCode/.

After you create your shortened address and customize it (optional), click on the "Info Page+" link to see your new QR Code image. Now test out the QR code to make sure it works properly. If it does, copy the QR code to your computer and send the image file to your graphic designer or digital marketing specialist, to use in your next campaign, and you will have entered the world of mobile marketing!

Now I personally like to use Bit.ly to create my QR codes, since they provide  many analytics and reporting tools to track your QR code usage and traffic. This allows me to track what QR codes are being scanned, and which of my promotions are working. For example, I have QR codes on my business card, promotional post cards (see above) and my email signature. If people scan these QR codes, I can see which code is sending the people to my site. I suggest you keep all of your QR codes in an Excel Spreadsheet or Google Docs, to keep track of them for each campaign you use them for.

QR Codes and Digital Marketing

Where do QR codes fit in with your digital marketing strategy or online community building efforts? Well they can be placed on marketing materials such as catalogs, brochures, post cards and stationary. You can also use them on posters, signs, banners and other large promotional matetials. Want to put QR codes on a T-Shirt? If so, check out QR Stuff (http://www.qrstuff.com), which allows you to create QR codes specifically to place on t-shirts, hoodies, cups, bags, or buttons. Want to get your QR code customized? You can create branded QR codes using a service that embeds your logo and customizes your QR code like QRLicious (http://www.qrlicious.com). This is a great way to make your QR code stand out, in a sea of bland black and white blogs. You can see the QR Code on the side for an example of how you can modify your QR Code.

Does this mean QR codes are perfect for everyone, or that they will generate tons of business for you immediately? Of course not. Like any other marketing tool, you need to explore how they will best fit your business needs, to reach your target audience. They are also not without their faults....For example, they can be complicated for people to scan, people may not know what they are used for or how to use them. Many people still don't even have  a smart phone! The bottom line though is that the market for QR codes is growing and will only continue to get larger everyday. The more people use smart phones, the more they will be exposed to QR codes. It is best to learn how to use them now, because your competitors probably already are, and there are many opportunities for you to include QR codes in your marketing campaigns. They can help connect the offline world with the online world. They can prompt people to join your newsletter, follow you on Twitter,  "Like" your Facebook Fan Page, or connect with you on your LinkedIn company profile.

So want to get started? Here are some web pages and articles you can check out before you dive in: QR_Codes on WikiPedia, QR codes: a barcode on steroids, QR Code: marketing for the smartphone ERA, Designer QR codes: world famous outside New Zealand.(BIZ TECH): An article from: NZ Business, and How QR codes can generate leads for your business. There are also several books written about QR Codes. Some that you might want to check out are Scan Me - Everybody's Guide to the Magical World of QR Codes, Introducing the QR Code: the Reality & the Magic: A QR Code primer, and QR Codes: The Ultimate Guidebook. Of course, you can also contact Aday Interactive at 305-918-2329 (ADAY) or schedule a consultation today, to help you integrate QR codes into your mobile marketing strategy!

 

So what is Push Technology? It actually refers to sending direct messages or communications to a push capable client (i.e. mobile phone or tablet) from a centralized broadcast server (i.e. the messaging server). This differs from pull technology, where the client requests specific data from a server, and the server responds by sending data to the device, which is how you would browse a website. Instead push technology allows a users to "subscribe' to certain messaging channels that will be broadcasting messages to users.

Push messages can be sent using may different methods for data transmission. The most common push technology is Short Message Service (SMS), which is used for sending text messages from one mobile phone to another. If you haven’t heard of SMS, you either don’t have a modern phone, or have never seen a teenager communicate (since they use text more than voice calls). Similar to SMS is Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS), which uses both SMS and Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) to deliver multimedia messages. This is used for sending pictures and video from one phone to the next. Using these tools you can broadcast a message that can actually activate applications or alerts on a WAP enabled phone. This can include a short text message, a hyperlink, image or multimedia file. These messages can be opened using text messaging software, image/multimedia viewers and web browsers.

There are many different uses for SMS technologies, such as SMS-to-email and email-to-SMS, Machine-to-Machine SMS, cell broadcast, and please-call-me messages. A great example of a Please-call-me messages can be used to send a message asking your customers to call you back within a certain time period to get a special rate or discount. The receiver of the message would get the message as a text (i.e. 'Please call for a special promotion'), along with your phone number to call back from the text. SMS-to-email and email-to-SMS are available at no additional cost on many mobile networks. Email-to-SMS specifically can be useful for sending a small number of free messages, using the mobile operator's SMS gateways, however, most operators restrict the number of free SMS’s that can be sent each day. In addition, the sender would need to know the service provider of each of the people they are sending messages to which can be obtained, if the person had to sign up to an opt-in phone list.

SMS has a lot of potential for marketing, as it allows for communications to go directly to a customer’s mobile phone from a centralized server. This has a number of benefits to as it can enhance your overall marketing strategy, while reducing the costs of communication. For example, there are no costs for physical goods, such as printing flyers or other collateral. It is also possible to personalize the messaging, similar to e-mail, since the device has a single owner who will likely have it with them all day. Sending out messages using a broadcast server also can provide delivery reporting, similar to an e-mail management system, to follow bounce rates and other similar metrics. The message also forces a certain level of interactivity, as the phone owner are likely to view the new messages and updates they receive as they come in or soon after. Finally, messages can be broadcast directly to multiple customers at the same time, in a very targeted manner, reducing the number of uninterested customers receiving your messaging.

To launch an SMS campaign you can use a commercial service, or you can purchase software to do it yourself in-house. There are many commercial providers who offer bulk SMS services such as 84444.com (http://www. 84444.com ) or Clickatell (http://www.clickatell.com/). There are also software packages such as Bulk SMS Software (http://www.bulksmssoftware.net) and SMS Caster (http://www.smscaster.com/) which can be used to send SMS messages from the desktop. There are many resources you can use to learn more about developing your mobile marketing campaign. A good place to start is the Mobile Marketing Association (http://mmaglobal.com), which provides guidelines, resources, best practices and general research on mobile marketing. Another great site is Mobile Marketing Watch (http://www.mobilemarketingwatch.com/), which provides industry news and resources on mobile marketing. You can also find books on the subject including Mobile Marketing For Dummies, The Mobile Marketing Handbook; A Step-by-Step Guide to Creating Dynamic Mobile Marketing Campaigns, Mobile Web 2.0: The Innovator's Guide to Developing and Marketing Next Generation Wireless/Mobile Applications, Mobile Messaging Technologies and Services: SMS, EMS and MMS, and Short Message Service (SMS): The Creation of Personal Global Text Messaging.

If you wanted to start using push marketing, I suggest that you start off with a a small pilot targeting a specific group of current customers, whom would opt into allowing SMS messages to be sent to their phones. You can test the responsiveness of your sample group by tracking website visits, downloads or phones calls that stem from your new mobile campaign. I would also suggest you use a commercial service such as Clickatell (http://www.clickatell.com/) or 84444.com (http://www. 84444.com ) , which have analytics and statistics tools that allow you to determine open rates and click through rates, similar to email service providers. This will allow you to see how well your campaign is going, and track which message have the best conversion rates. If you are interested in knowing more or would like to discuss your mobile marketing campaign, and how it fits into your overall digital marketing strategy, please call 305-918-ADAY (2329) or schedule a consultation today!

 

For content producers (i.e. people with websites and blogs), StumbleUpon is a great way to get discovered by many people who are interested in your topic. Stumbling all of your posts is a great way to get a kick start on traffic generation. In the short time I have been a "stumbler", I have even seen that StumbleUpon is already the second highest traffic generator for my site after Facebook (which I have been on for much longer).  So I am already seeing a benefit for being a stumbler, and there is no doubt in my mind that StumbleUpon is a site you should join. Not only can you start driving more traffic to your website, but you will also discover new socially curated, recommended content.

So now that we know you should be a member, let's discuss what you actually do when  you stumble...According to the book The New Community Rules: Marketing on the Social Web, "... you can start surfing with StumbleUpon to find brand new sites that are related to your interests as suggested by other users on the service. The more active you are on StumbleUpon, the more opportunity there is for you to grow your network and expose your own content to more and more StumbleUpon users." To sign up, you either create a new account with the service, or simply log-in using your Facebook account. This is very convenient, as you won't have to register, and  it already shows which Facebook friends are also stumbling content. You can follow their stumbles, and they can follow yours, giving you a quick way to start building your online community on the site.

After you sign up to StumbleUpon, you have the ability to install a toolbar on your browser that automatically "stumbles" you across different random websites, based on preferences you added for hobbies and interests. Stumbleupon will take you to a new site which you can "like" or "dislike" it, using the Thumbs Up or Down symbols. It also gives you the ability to share on Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter, as well as leave and read comments other users have left. This peer-sourcing model is what has the ability to rate content and direct you to it, based on social proof. What is great about the system is that every time you rate an item, the system improves its ability to recommend more relevant content to your user profile.

Like other social sites, you have friends and followers which will see your "Favorite" pages and recommendations. You can add sites with reviews of pages you are interested in. You can add your own blog posts every time you post. For example, when I publish a blog post, I like to "stumble" it to my followers. There is a button I have installed on each blog post page that allows others to "stumble" the page to the network as well. This adds it to the system and allows others with similar interests to see the page as well. The StumbleUpon button is on this blog post as well, so if you could please stumble this post, by clicking on the button that looks like this at the bottom of the page, it would be much appreciated

Another great reason to use StumbleUpon is to see what others who have similar interests recommend. The web has so much garbage on it, it is nice to have peers review the content and give their stamp of approval, before reading it yourself. This social proof can help influence decision making process, when choosing what to read and what to ignore online. Additionally, you can select a certain category and it will only give you results from that category until deselected once again. Of course, if you find people who have very similar interests as you do, you can follow them and start building actual online friendships with them, based on your shared interests (it is social media after all!)

So what if you don't want to wait for your pages to become popular overtime? Like other social sites, StumbleUpon also has a paid/sponsorship option. This will increase your pages visibility, and the likelihood of being seen. The system, known as "Paid Discovery for Advertisers" allows you to focus on people in your target market, and provides impressions of the content. In other words, your content will be shown directly to people who have a specific interest, however, the targeting is not as granular as LinkedIn or Facebook Ads. On the bright side, people do not have to click on your ad before they are served the content. If your content is relevant, it will likely receive the approval of other stumblers, as they hopefully give it a thumbs up (not a thumbs down).

Overall, whether you are looking for new and interesting content to read, or looking to promote what you have written, I would highly recommend you join StumbleUpon. In fact, if you click here I can be your first friend on the site! Not only is the service useful for generating traffic to your website, but you can learn about new content your friends are reading, and it can definitely assist you in your backlinking strategy to increase your SEO as well. If you have any questions regarding that topic, please feel free to schedule a consultation to discuss your social media and digital marketing strategy, or call 305-918-ADAY (2329). In the next few posts we will review other similar social booking marking websites, and how you can use them to help promote your business and website!

 

According to the Tumblr about page, "Tumblr lets you effortlessly share anything. Post text, photos, quotes, links, music, and videos, from your browser, phone, desktop, email, or wherever you happen to be. You can customize everything, from colors, to your theme's HTML."  Tumblr as a network is similar to WordPress.com or Google's Blogger platform, in that you can set up a blog quickly for free, and customize it with built in templates and layouts. So what does this tool have that the others do not? In a word, simplicity: it is simple to use and publish content on Tumblr, and for that reason it is growing rapidly!

So let's take a look at this great social tool! First thing you notice when you log into the system, is a feed of the latest posts from other Tumblr blogs. Just like on Twitter, you can follow other users, and explore what other content is available on the site. This is great as it allows you to see what others are publishing, and can give you an idea of what to write on your Tumblr blog. You may also want to just “reblog” someone else’s content, and add a comment, to dip your toe in the content publishing world.

You will also be presented with very large icons that give you the ability to quickly post text, photos, quotes, links, audio and video files. The nice thing is the number of file formats and types of media that are easily uploaded and posted onto your Tumblr blog. Those last two features are of most interest to me, since this can be a quick and inexpensive solution to create your podcast or video blog feed!

If you know how to play with HTML and CSS, you are able to customize the look and feel of the blog. The site comes with many free and premium Themes you can apply to your blog. There is also the ability to edit the HTML and CSS in the page directly, to give a more customized design. Creating additional pages (aside from posts) is also simple in the system, and it gives you the ability to add the new page link automatically to the blogs navigation without programming knowledge. For this reason, you could potentially use Tumblr as a full CMS.

Tumblr plays nice with other social networking sites, and integrates with both Facebook and Twitter. You can add your Twitter feed into the account so that it displays on the side of your blog. You can also configure it so that your posts show up automatically in your Twitter feed or Facebook wall posts. Similar to other blogs and social tools such as Hootsuite, you can schedule your posts out ahead of time, so that you don't have to post everyday to keep a steady flow of content on your site. You can plan it all ahead of time and it will post for you. You can also post directly from your smart phone, as well as share photos and videos quickly using the Tumblr mobile app, which is great for on the fly posting of text, audio or even video!

If you don't have a blog yet, or don't want to dive into full blown blogging just yet, Tumblr is a perfectly viable solution to get your feet wet. However, there are a few drawbacks. First, there is a lack of integration with tools like Google Analytics, so it is not easy to track your visitors or post views in the same way you can track other social tools. The best way around that however is by connecting your RSS feed to Feedburner to track analytics; however there still may be some missing information that is valuable to knowing if your blog is a success.

You also can not add additional functionality using Widgets or Plug-in’s, like what are used in the WordPress platform. This makes it a difficult choice for a core blogging solution, since you won't be able to modify or extend your Tumblr blog to meet all of your blogging needs. Finally, unless your customers are already familiar with Tumblr, it may be difficult to start building your online community on the site. Since it is not as popular with the general population (like Google+) it may take some time for your family, friends or customers are even aware of what Tumblr is! Therefore, it is less likely potential customers will just stumble upon your Tumblr blog while leisurely browsing around!

The bottom line is this: Tumblr is growing in popularity, and should be a social network to consider when fleshing out your social strategy. However, it should only be considered after staking a claim on the major 3 social sites  (Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn) and building your core company blog on a more capable platform like WordPress. My suggestion is to use Tumblr to compliment what you are already publishing on your other networks, but not have it as your core social media offering. It is quick and simple to post content, and the posts are not expected to be that long (unlike my postings), so it may be a great fit for daily blogging activities to react quickly to news and events. This is what Aday Interactive will use Tumblr for moving forward at this location: Aday Interactive: Tumbling Along Blog. I would also recommend using Tumblr for publishing your podcast, due to the ease of uploading and publishing of audio or video content. This is no doubt in the near future for Aday Interactive as well...That ability alone makes Tumblr a worthwhile online destination to help grow your online community!

 

So why is  Word Of Mouth Marketing so powerful?

Word of Mouth marketing is all about TRUST...do you trust the person giving you a recommendation or not. If you trust them and believe they are a credible source of information, then you are more likely to do what they suggest. If you don't know the person, and are not sure of their motives, you probably won't do anything they say. This is where the core of influencer marketing lies. If you believe someone has more knowledge about a particular subject than you do, you are more likely to listen to their recommendation. It is actually as simple as that...and yet...not so simple to execute!

Think of the last time you wanted to go to a nice restaurant...did you ask people you trusted for suggestions? Perhaps you asked people you know who had similar taste and opinions as yourself. Or someone who you feel knows more about a type of food than you do. How about when you enter a restaurant you have never been too, do you look at the people there and consider them in your decision making process? I personally love Chinese food, and  when I enter a Chinese restaurant and it is full of people from China chowing down on Dim Sum and Sticky buns, I know the food is probably pretty authentic. The opposite is also true. I have been to Italian restaurants that were supposed to be authentic, but there was not one Italian to be seen in the kitchen or eating their. Sure enough, horrible pasta!

Seeking word of mouth advice is a great way to delegate your decision making process to those you feel are more able to make the correct choice. By getting information from presumeably unbiased sources, one may be able to obtain a more objective opinion of a product or service, speeding up the decision to purchase. Word of Mouth Marketing encourages people to share this type of information, ideally with a positive perspective. It can  also help create awareness and educate people about your products and services, as well as identify people who are the most likely to share their opinions about your organization. Social media takes this natural human activity and multiplies it by the network each of these raving fans have online. With a strong word of mouth marketing strategy, you may be able to encourage your most loyal customers to assist potential customers to move down the path from awareness to trusting you as a service provider!

How do you encourage "raving fans" and "customer evangelists" to recommend you?

Well you can begin by giving them something positive to talk about! Do you provide a service? Well then you need to add something above and beyond what one would expect for the service so that you differentiate your business. Have a product? Make sure there are features in the product that are not seen elsewhere. If there is no difference, than make the price something to write home about.  The bottom line is, give people something  to discuss with others!

What else can you do? Well think about how your target audience views your products or services, and what would prevent them from purchasing from you? Put your self in their shoes, and create a persona that would describe your typical client. What is their job function? What do they worry about? Who can influence their decision? After creating this generic customer profile, try to address their wants, needs and fears with specific content, client testimonials and case studies. Once you have generated content on your website that addresses these issues, make sure you put it in front of those potential clients, as well as those who may influence them. This way, if influencers of your customers  have the right information, they can provide to those potential customers, and in the process lower the barrier between you and that potential client!

Providing information to the influencers of your target audience is not enough however. You must also motivate them and give them a good reason to share that positive  information with others by providing incentives. This may include being part of a special insiders club (VIP or MVP club), having early access to upcoming products, and building relationships with company employees online. These types of perks for these customer influencers can help create the environment to encourage them to share with your target audiences. Remember though, this does not mean they WILL talk about your company. You have to create the conditions and relationships with these key influencers to enable and encourage them to talk about what you do!

What does Word of Mouth Marketing have to do with Social Media Marketing?

Word of mouth marketing is at the core of Social Media Marketing! Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, blogging , and podcasting...all of these channels allow people to transfer ideas and information, similar to how word of mouth works organically. However, instead of one-to-one reach, you can spread the word from one-to-many people with the click of a mouse, or push of the send button! By engaging with your online community, you are able to create conditions of trust and good will, with your potential raving fans. Building positive relationships with with potential customer evangelists, will help you build a volunteer marketing force that will promote your products and services for free!

Where can I find Word of Mouth Marketing resources?

Want to learn more about Word of Mouth Marketing? A great place to start is with the Word of Mouth Marketing Association (http://womma.org/), where you can check out many free resources on the subject, from the top level WOM marketers in the world. Some books you can check out include The Secrets of Word-of-Mouth Marketing: How to Trigger Exponential Sales Through Runaway Word of Mouth, Word-Of-Mouth Marketing, and The Anatomy of Buzz Revisited: Real-life lessons in Word-of-Mouth Marketing. Finally, here a few articles on the subject you may want to read:  Word of Mouth Marketing, Word of Mouth Marketing, and Word-of-Mouth Marketing Evolution.

As always, feel free to contact us for more information regarding WOM Marketing, or schedule a free consultation to discuss how Aday Interactive can help you and your digital marketing strategy!

 

The most obvious place to start is the most popular directory for podcasts in the world, iTunes! iTunes is the first place you should list your podcast, in order to take advantage of the massive number of potential subscribers who sync their iPods to it every day! The first step you should take to add your podcast to the list is to link your podcast RSS feed to Feedburner.com. When you sign up to Feedburner, you will receive a custom link (such as http://feeds.feedburner.com/AdayInteractiveInc). Feedburner allows you to track subscribers, statistics, optimize your feed, and monetization via Google adSense. After you have your RSS feed setup on Feedburner, you can redistribute your content (text, audio or video) in a format that can be used in iTunes and the Zune Marketplace.

Once you have your Feedburner link set up, you can submit it into iTunes. First you will need to create an iTunes account, and download the iTunes software. You can go to Apples support site where they provide detailed instructions on how to publish a podcast on the iTunes Store. Remember that the iTunes team does review every podcast submission, so it may take a day or two before you finally get it approved. After you have submitted your podcast and get it approved, you will receive a special iTunes web address that you can share on your site for people to subscribe to.

Along with iTunes, the next place you should submit your podcast is the Zune Marketplace, which is the Microsoft version of iTunes. People who own a Zune audio player, or a Windows 7 Phone use this to download podcasts, music and other content. Similar to iTunes, you will need to create an account and download the software in order to submit your podcast to their Podcast Marketplace. Once you download the software, you can go to "Marketplace>Podcasts", scroll down to the center and "Submit a Podcast". This is where you will fill in the same RSS feed as you submitted to iTunes.

In addition to these two directories, there are many other websites where you can submit your Podcast feed to publicize. These include Podcast Alley, Zen Cast and Yahoo Audio. There are many other directories you can check out as well. Just look up "podcast directory" in Google and see what you find. Remember the more directories you can post your podcast in, the more exposure you will get for your podcast!

Once you have submitted your podcast to at least iTunes and the Zune Marketplace, you should start promoting it on your blog. When posting to your blog, you should include your title, description and link to the podcast. You should also include show notes, which you can reference when recording your actual blog (i.e. see the notes for more information). This is not only great for a listener who wants to learn more about the topic of your podcast, but it is also great for search engine optimization (SEO), as it adds additional content for Google and other search engines to index.

After your blog, you should promote your podcast on social media networks, starting with your your Facebook fan page. I would suggest you create a fan page specifically for your podcast, but you can also add a custom tab for it on your current fan page as well.This tab can be branded with your podcast icon and logo, include an archive of past podcasts and you may even be able to embed your podcast directly into your page. You can also post each podcast onto your "Wall" and ask your "fans" to share that post on their walls, to get exposure to their Facebook friends. If you are more advanced using Facebook fan pages, you can also import your RSS feed using a custom add-on application, like "RSS Feed" from Involver, or some other RSS feed connector. If you have your Twitter account connected to Facebook, when you post the podcast to your wall, it should also post to Twitter automatically, to promote to your followers on that network. Finally, if you have that Twitter feed automatically updating your LinkedIn profile, it will Update your personal profile as well, exposing it to your LinkedIn connections! Finally, if you have done all of that, and are on Google+, you should also share across your various Circles, and ask them to share with their circles.

After publishing on your blog, and promoting on social networking sites, you should start promoting your podcast via email. This includes your e-mail subscriber list (if you have one), your e-mail signature, and any email auto responders you have set up for people who e-mail specific accounts or fill out forms on your site and have opted to receive e-mailed updates. You can send special one off e-mail blasts specifically to let subscribers know that you have published a new podcast, or you can include it in any current newsletter campaigns you are running. The newsletter can also be used to hype your future podcasts, especially if you have special episodes with expert guests who are well known in your target audience’s community. In each case, you should try to include the title, topic and a short description, with teaser copy on what your podcast is about. You should also include a link to your podcast archive or RSS feed, for people to download older podcasts, or to subscribe to the RSS feed to receive them automatically.

Now hopefully after some time, you will have grown an audience and increased your reach, if you are executing the above tactics well. If you have achieved some level of recognition for your podcast, you will likely gain fans who are enthusiastic about what you are doing. You should build relationships with these audience members so you can nurture them further, with the goal of turning them into raving fans of your podcast. These extremely happy listeners can help market your podcast for you (or any other service for that matter), extending the reach of your potential audience members. Don't be shy to ask your audience members to invite their friends, or to encourage them with contests, promos or some other exchange of value that will motivate them to share your message with others. This also goes for partners and guests on the show. Make sure they are promoting the episodes they are participating in to their own social media networks, email lists and on their blog. This will not only maximize their own exposure, but also promote your podcast to a whole another network of people.

For more information on promoting your podcast, check great podcast on marketing your podcast by the Podcast Answer Man. You can also read up on the subject with these books: Podcast Academy: The Business Podcasting Book: Launching, Marketing, and Measuring Your Podcast, Promoting Your Podcast: The Ultimate Guide to Building an Audience of Raving Fans and Podcast Church. Of course, feel free to call or email with any questions you may have about this topic: blogcomments@adayinteractive.com.

In conclusion, promoting your podcast will not only help spread your message, but it will also help you build an image of being an expert in your field. Don't be shy about promoting your hard work, and don't forget the great tools available today to share your message. Utilize social media, email newsletters, your blog and word of mouth marketing to reach the largest possible audience, at the lowest possible price!

Next post, we will discuss the ORIGINAL social marketing: Word of Mouth Marketing!