After sharing this infographic on Facebook, we had a couple of emails asking how to they make the formatting changes  of bold, italics, and strike through. They saw the inforgraphic but couldn’t understand it.

Where infographics are relatively new, it makes sense that not everyone is accustomed to reading them. So after sending a few messages with the translation, we decided to post it here.

Below is the infographic created by Simon Heyes

To make words BOLD:

When you know which words you’d like to have in bold font type in and asterisk *just before the words you want bold and another asterisk after the last letter of the word you want to have in bold.
example: When you want   *BOLD WORDS*  use the asterisk.

To make words italic 

When you know which words you’d like to have in italic, type in an underscore _ just before the words you want italicized,  and another underscore  after the last letter of the word you want to have italicized.
example:    When you want   _italic words_  use the underscores.

To use a strike through   strikethrough

Some people like to use a strike through, if you’re one who wants to then use a dash – before the word and a dash after the last letter of the word.
example  Watch your spaces if you want   -strikethourgh-   to draw a line through the word

Be careful not to include a space between the  symbol and the letter that you’re styling.
You will need a space between the symbol and the next plain word in your sentence.
Not to worry, you’ll be able to tell immediately if it worked or not.

Happy styling!

P.s.   Please add us to your Google Plus Circles. We’d love to see you there!   http://bit.ly/GooglePlusEvotive

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Too many businesses feel they don’t need Reputation Management until they’ve got a problem with negative reviews, or other negative information appearing at the top of the search results.

The big mistake is that businesses often overlook the essential ingredient, which is Reputation Monitoring!  

The reason it’s often overlooked is that people don’t know enough about it. Businesses know they need to leverage Social Media as part of their internet marketing, since all of its insightful statistics are widely spoken about. And then there’s SEO, which is popular for helping business get found online. But Reputation Monitoring, as useful as it is, often gets neglected until there’s a glaring problem and a clear need for a full-fledged reputation management solution to help the crisis.

Reputation Monitoring is like your business’s GPS (navigation system). It can show you the best path to take with your marketing message, lead you to your ideal customers, and help alert you of any potential traffic jam of negative online comments, that could otherwise prevent you from reaching your prospective customers.

If you’re not yet seeing the fabulosity of reputation monitoring, then read on!

7 Marvelous Benefits of Reputation Monitoring:

1. Discover – Listen, learn and discover what people are saying about your business, your brand, your industry online. This allows you to learn more about your customer, what’s important to them, how they think, and their preferences. You get access to real market research without spending the time and money to create a focus group. It can give you an edge over the competition when considering releasing a new product or service.

2. Improve – Monitoring what’s being said about your business allows you to see through the customer’s eyes. It’s a tool that allows you to understand the customer experience and gain the necessary insights to help you improve customer satisfaction.

3.  Influence – You can measure the influence of those who are talking about your business on social media. You can identify the influencers in your industry, and through conversation you can work towards getting on their radar if you’re not already known by them

4.  Save – You can reduce much of the guessing element when it comes to your marketing efforts because you’ll better understand your customer and what marketing message resonates with them. This can save on dollars spent on marketing materials and marketing efforts that aren’t really working. Use the information you’ve gained from monitoring to shape effective marketing messages and utilize the platforms that are most effective for your business.

5.  Listen – You can listen to what people are saying about your competitors on the web. It’s like you’ve got the secret insider information from monitoring what’s being said about them in social media, on review websites, consumer complaint websites, articles etc…

6.  Alert – Reputation monitoring gives you the ability to hear what’s being said early on. It can show you if there’s a day with a negative spike in the conversation, and it can help you see what caused it. This means you can recognize the calm before the storm, and often diffuse it prior to it coming to fruition

7.  Identify – Reputation monitoring can help you Identify new leads, new customers and communities you aren’t yet involved with. It can open new doors of opportunity.

Reputation management is an essential tool. If you’re serious about monitoring it’s wise to know what specifically you want to monitor and what functions are most important to you and your business. If you’re not sure, we can help.

Reputation monitoring  helps our clients better understand their customers, and gives them a better understanding of what’s being said online. It’s also a great way to see potential issues before they become a problem, and see how their online presence compares to the competition. Like my grade-school teacher used to say… “Listening is the beginning of understanding.”

[stextbox id="alert"] P.S. If you haven’t yet grabbed your copy of “The 13 Biggest Marketing Mistakes and How to Avoid Them” be sure to do so, it’s FREE and will help you kick-start your marketing plan! You’ll also get our  monthly Newsletter filled with great marketing tips, current marketing trends and valuable information you can use for your business[/stextbox]

[tweetbutton] [wdgpo_plusone show_count="yes"][SFBSB button="button_count"] We were talking with a prospective client the other day and they couldn’t understand why they had to be logged in, to view their Facebook page. Of all the social media websites, Facebook has the most amount of changes, and it can be a lot to keep up with!  Since  we get this Facebook question so much, we thought we’d address it here to help others.

If people need to log in, in order to see your Facebook page, then your page settings have been set with restrictions and it’s not a public page. The good news is, you can fix this!

We’re talking about Facebook Business Pages, not personal profiles. If you’re not sure if your FB page is viewable to the general public, then give it this quick test:

Go to Facebook, check to see if your logged in, and if so  just click on the drop-down menu next to “Home” on the right hand side, scroll down and click logout.

Log out of Facebook

You may want to clear your cache (on your browser) as well.

Now enter in your Facebook URL, and when it pulls up your page do you see the generic Facebook page asking you to sign up or login? Or, do you actually see your page, but  it has an option to log in on top?

Below are two images. The one on the left shows a public page, while the one on the right shows a restricted page. If your page has restrictions, then the user will need to be logged in to view your page.

Example of a Public Facebook Page

Example Of A Non-Public Facebook Page

Adjust Facebook Settings

1. Login to Facebook

2. Go to your  page

3. Click “Edit Page”

4. Click “Manage Permissions” on the left hand side

“Country Restrictions”  If you have a restriction your  page will not be public. Someone must be logged in, in order to view your page.

“Age Restriction” If you have a restriction your page will not be public. Someone must be logged in, in order to view your page.  If you page is for a bar is alcohol related you must choose “alcohol restriction” which means your page will not be public. If you don’t go with it’s proper restriction you put your page and your business at risk for not being compliant. Bummer, we know!

“Moderation Blacklist” If there is anything written in that box, your  page will not be public. Someone must be logged in, in order to view your page.

“Profanity Blacklist”  If you have selected an option other than “none” your page will not be public. Someone must be logged in, in order to view your page.

Those are the 4 reasons that your Facebook page would require someone to login in order to see your page.

See image below. The red arrows point to the four areas of  restrictions.

Facebook Settings - Manage Permissions

If you’ve found this helpful, please share it on Facebook and Twitter to help out others!

 [stextbox id="alert"]P.S. If you haven’t yet grabbed your copy of “The 13 Biggest Marketing Mistakes and How to Avoid Them” be sure to do so, it’s FREE and will help you kick-start your marketing plan! You’ll also get our monthly Newsletter filled with great marketing tips, current marketing trends and valuable information you can use for your business[/stextbox]

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Yep, we hear this question when we talk with prospective clients. We’ve heard it three times today alone. And yes, that’s what prompted this post.

Much like the last question we examined, “Should Social Media be Kept In-House” this does not have a simple yes or no answer.

When is SEO not worth it?

1) When you do it wrong.

You might be surprised how wrong it can go, but lets just say most people want to optimize for a search term (keyword phrase) that won’t help them get a lead (a prospective client). Choosing the best long tail keywords (keyword phrases) is one of the main keys to unlocking the door of SEO success. Typically it’s not the obvious keywords that you’ll want your website optimized for, sometimes you might be surprised what search terms actually get your phone to ring.

2.) When your website doesn’t do it’s job.

A website can be one of your best marketing tools. Ideally it’s designed to attract your ideal client and its style or branding must be consistent throughout the website.  You can land on the top of Google, or dominate the first page, but if your website doesn’t reflect what the prospect wants, it will do you no good. It’s all part of well structured internet marketing strategy.

If your website is confusing, or too clever so that the reader can’t figure out what you offer within a second you’ve lost them and SEO doesn’t help you.  If you don’t have a lead capture form above the fold, in an easy to see place and easy to fill out, then your SEO won’t help you as much as it could.

3) When you can’t deliver the promise

Some businesses, start-ups and entrepreneurs want to have their website optimized for things they don’t offer yet and may never offer, but because it’s a search term they want, they optimize for it If you can’t provide what that searcher is looking for right now, than don’t optimize for it.

4) When the cost is cost is prohibitive

To determine if the cost is exorbitant you’ll need to know how much money you’re spending on optimizing your website, and how much revenue comes in because your website is optimized. If you’ve spent a significant amount of money on SEO and searchers aren’t finding you, then you’ll find it’s not worth the expense.

When is SEO worth it?

This is a bit tricky to answer because the ROI analysts can’t analyze this without knowing how much money you’re spending to optimize your website, what your average cost per lead is, and how many leads you’re getting.

So, let’s take a more generalized look at this:

• Your website is up and running, and it reflects the style and branding that your ideal client will be attracted to, you’ve got a lead capture form and maybe a nice offer in exchange for them filling in your form/lead capture.

• Your website is converting. This means when a searcher lands on your website they fill out your lead form, buy your product, or they give you a call.

• You’re building an email list with your lead capture form, and you’re prepared to keep the leads warm by sending appropriate helpful emails without bombarding their email box.

• Your website is optimized for search terms (long tail keywords) that will result in a phone call if the searcher is happy with what they read on your site, and it looks like you can solve their problem.

• You’re set up to track your website visits and search terms (Google’s new “secure search” does hurt a bit when it comes to analyzing the search terms people used to find your site, but you can still see the other search terms).

• You test, track, measure and adjust your SEO strategy to get it to where you’re getting the inquires/calls you desire.

Now SEO could be worth it, right?

How about measuring the immeasurable?

If your website can not be found online, how many leads are you missing?

If your website can’t be found online, how many of your past customers are going to your competition because they forgot your business’s name and looked up only what your business does, such as “carpet cleaner,”  and your competitors website comes up while yours doesn’t show at all.

How many of your current customers give your name as a referral, but the person who received the information just looked online because they forgot the name of your business, and now they’re calling someone else who they found online.

We don’t advise that search engine optimization be your entire online marketing strategy, it’s simply part of your overall marketing strategy.

Tips: 

1.) Get Professional Opinions - In order to determine if paying someone to optimize your website is worth it, talk with a few different companies and ask them to help you analyze whether or not it’s right for you.(As an example, some restaurants rock the review sites so awesomely that they don’t need to spend money on SEO.) 

2.) Watch out for Guarantees - Be cautious of anyone who gives you a guarantee such as we guarantee you’ll be number one in Google.

3.) Get Clear on Search Terms - Ask what search terms they plan on optimizing your website for, and ask them how they determine what search terms to use.

4.) Educated Exploration – Take the time to explore your options and evaluate how organic search optimization may affect your sales, your online reputation, and how it would work with your overall marketing strategy.

Share your thoughts: have you optimized your website for organic search? Tell us about your experience.

 [stextbox id="alert"]P.S. If you haven’t yet grabbed your copy of “The 13 Biggest Marketing Mistakes and How to Avoid Them” be sure to do so, it’s FREE and will help you kick-start your marketing plan! You’ll also get our monthly Newsletter filled with great marketing tips, current marketing trends and valuable information you can use for your business[/stextbox]

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This question comes up a lot, so it’s time to write a post about the common debate of whether a business should handle their own social media in-house, or hire a social media company.

Beyond the fact that every business is unique and can have its own unique voice, we need to recognize that every business has different employee talents and skills, and every business has a different budget.

There are businesses that have the budget for an in-house social media team, and they have hired the employees with the best talent and skill for this department.  But, a social media consultant could be a great asset, since they have the fresh perspective of seeing from an outside point of view. As well, the consultant’s job is to stay on top of the ever-changing specialty, and they can be a mighty resource for your business.

There are also business that do not have the budget to hire an in-house team, and hiring a social media company could be their best choice since it’s often times more affordable. But, if the business’s owner, co-founder, or key employee happens to be a social media marketing maven and has a mild obsession for building engagement and increasing customer loyalty through social media, then maybe they’re better off keeping it in-house and not hiring a consultant or outside company.

There are endless combinations of situations, and this is why it’s such a heavily debated topic. It’s not as simple as saying, if your business can afford for an in-house team, that’s what you should do. And if your business can’t afford an in-house  team, then hire a consultant or company. Heck sometimes hiring a social media company is more costly than having an  in-house staff, so it’s really not such a simple question.

The possible pros of keeping social media in-house, if you’ve got the social media marketing talent on your team.

•  With a full-time dedicated team you’ll be ready for immediate customer response and you can have access to real-time reputation monitoring.

•  You’ll also be able to have your company’s culture resonate online in real-time by layering events that happen throughout the day

The possible cons of keeping social media in-house if you have, or don’t have, a dedicated talented team and you’re managing it in-house

• If one or two employees are the only ones with access to the social media accounts and they leave the company, you could be in a long battle to gain control of those accounts, if the employee didn’t delete them all together.

• When using social media for business, it’s a combination of community, communications, customer service, public relations, and marketing.  It can go very wrong if it doesn’t have the right leadership guiding the online social  presence.

• Too often businesses fail to implement and communicate a social media policy. The dangers happen when a business gets too casual about it and it becomes either neglected, or it becomes a crazy free-for-all.

The possible pros of hiring a social media company

• Your business may not be able to keep up on this ever-changing industry and may be missing out on a powerful new social network that would truly benefit your business.

• There tends to be a higher degree of accountability when having the work done by an outside contractor or company since service providers have to constantly work hard to earn the renewal business.

The possible cons of hiring a social media company

• The company may not have done the proper research to get to know your business and therefore, fail to deliver a clear and accurate online presence and voice.

• The company may not care enough to work with your business on an ongoing basis to keep the content fresh.

So, how to make the decision on what’s best for your business:

• Meet with a social media consultant or company and ask for an evaluation. Have them analyze your current social media marketing, and the staff you have in charge of your social media.

• Ask how they plan on handling your social media, and how they work with a company.

• Ask their opinion, do they feel you’d be best with training and consulting, and have your staff implement the daily social media activities, or would it be better if the social media company handled it on your behalf?

• Discuss how they will work with you. Is it a weekly meeting, a monthly phone call? Will they create the plan in advance for your approval?

• Ask if you can have a three-month trial run and decide for yourself which is best.

The wise way to work with an outside social media company:

We’ve found the best results happen when we have a hybrid solution. That is, when sometimes we’re posting on their behalf, and sometimes they are posting since they have the real-time on location information that we don’t have. It’s more work having a hybrid solution, since both parties must be on the same social media plan, and not do anything that would hurt the flow or the overall strategy.

It takes a little while to get the blend, and learn to feel comfortable with your outside partner. We find that in the first month we have the most amount of back and forth communication, and by the second month it’s less and after the third month, we’re in a great rhythm and flow.

So, if you find yourself asking, “Should social media be kept in-house, or should we hire a company?” Then meet with a consultant or company and ask the questions above. There is no one right answer, since every business is unique. But let this article serve as a guideline to give you some clarity on the issue.

We help many businesses across multiple industries, handle their social media marketing. Contact us to schedule an evaluation. We just may be the solution you’re looking for.

 [stextbox id="alert"]P.S. If you haven’t yet grabbed your copy of “The 13 Biggest Marketing Mistakes and How to Avoid Them” be sure to do so, it’s FREE and will help you kick-start your marketing plan! You’ll also get our monthly Newsletter filled with great marketing tips, current marketing trends and valuable information you can use for your business[/stextbox]

]]> http://www.evotivemarketing.com/social-media-in-house-or-outsource/feed/ 20199 http://www.evotivemarketing.com/facebook-timeline-forbusiness/ http://www.evotivemarketing.com/facebook-timeline-forbusiness/#comments Tue, 20 Mar 2012 06:41:58 +0000 Evotive http://www.evotivemarketing.com/?p=1957

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Time to Get Movin’

Only 10 Days

until

All Facebook Pages Convert to Timeline

What You Need to Know!

** Due to the abrupt and dynamic nature of Facebook these details may change; however, as of now these are the latest updates.

** This guide is for Facebook business pages not personal profiles.

Deadline March 30, 2012

If you don’t publish the new Timeline version of your Facebook Page by March 30,2012, your page will automatically convert.  You will not lose your page if you do not take action. It will simply be converted to the default layout.

What’s Changed

The Layout

There is no longer a left hand column containing:

• Photo or logo image
• Custom tabs
• Basic stats such as number of likes, talking about, and check in

There is now a cover image and profile image (or logo).

The custom tabs, now called apps, are located under the cover image. Their page has an increased width.

The basic stats (number of likes, check-ins etc…) are under the cover image and next to the logo image.

Preview Your New Layout

You can see what the default layout will look like by pressing the preview button on your page between now and March 29^th.

You can make changes to your timeline layout and try arranging the layout without it showing on your live Facebook page. Your changes will not show on your live page until you hit the “publish” button. Once you hit that button your page will have the new Timeline layout. If you don’t hit the publish button, you can make changes, add a cover photo, explore the new layout and not change the way your live Facebook page is seen by the public.

Cover Photo

Create your image to the size of 850 x 315 pixels. You may need to contact your favorite graphic designer to create a strong representation of your brand, and use your logo or photo for your profile image.

Facebook has rules about the cover photo including not having your website address, or contact information appear on the cover photo. See below:

• http://www.facebook.com/page_guidelines.php  Section III   B talks about the Cover photo guidelines
• Covers can’t be deceptive, misleading, or infringe on anyone else’s copyright. You may not encourage people to upload your cover to their personal timelines.
• Covers may not include:

1. i.              price or purchase information, such as “40% off” or “Download it on socialmusic.com”;
2. ii.             contact information such as a website address, email, mailing address, or information that should go in your Page’s “About” section;
3. iii.            references to Facebook features or actions, such as “Like” or “Share” or an arrow pointing from the cover photo to any of these features; or
4. iv.            calls to action, such as “Get it now” or “Tell your friends.”

Custom Tabs/Apps

If your Facebook page has custom tabs (such as Twitter, Networked Blogs, Email Capture, Menu, Welcome Page etc…), those will be now be called apps.

They will no longer be on the left hand side of the page. They will be under your cover photo.

Only four apps (tabs) will be featured although you can have up to twelve total apps.  You can arrange your tabs to show your best ones. You can change them periodically to give them all some exposure. Most Facebook users won’t think to click the dropdown arrow to see all of your tabs/apps.

To arrange your apps so the ones you want featured are in the first four placements:

• Click the arrow next to your apps; this will open all the apps.
• Now click on the pencil icon, and you’ll see the option to switch with another app.

The new size for the custom tabs or “apps” is wider. It is now 810 pixels wide (previously it was 520 pixels). If your content is currently set at the old width of 520 pixels, it will be centered and surrounded by white space.

You can create custom images for your tabs/apps as well. This is in the settings option:

To change the image of the app icons:

1. Click the arrow next to your apps, this will open all the apps
2. Choose the one you want to change
3. Click the pencil icon
4. Click on “Edit Settings”
5. Click on change custom tab image
6. Then select browse and upload your 111 X 74 image

** Currently there is a known issue/bug with some apps showing random images rather than ones you’ve uploaded.  This issue should be fixed in the near future.

Facebook Landing Page

Like Page/Welcome Page

If you had set up your Facebook page to have a “Like Gate” meaning if a non -fan came to your page they’d automatically land on your “Like Our Page” custom tab, this will no longer work. Timeline has no options for landing pages. All visitors, both fans and non-fans will land on your Timeline/wall.

That custom tab, or welcome page, will still exist, but it will not be the page non-fans land on. It will only appear as an app under your cover image.

You may choose to call this app “Home” and have it placed next to your photos app, just under your cover image.

New Features

Highlighting and Pinning

When you have a post that you’d like to draw people’s attention to, you can either pin it or highlight it in order to call attention to it.

Highlighting:

If you want a particular post to run the width of the page (both the right and left column) this is the highlight feature. It will show as a rectangular shape post across the page. It won’t jump to the top of your page; it will remain in its location.

To highlight a post simply click the star icon that’s on the upper right hand corner of that particular post. If you change your mind, simply click the star and “remove from highlights.”

Pinning:

When you pin a post, it will appear on the top left hand side of the page, just under the cover photo.  It will stay there for seven days unless you unpin it sooner, or you re-pin it to keep it there longer. You might want to pin a contest announcement, a coupon, an upcoming event etc….

To pin a post to the top of your page simply click the pencil icon that’s on the upper right hand corner of that particular post. When you hover over the pencil icon, it reads “Edit or Remove”.  Simply click the pencil and click “pin to the top of page.”

Highlighting does not have the seven day life span that pinning does.

Pixel Sizes to Keep in Mind

Sizes for the new Timeline Pages
Cover image-850 X 315 pixels
Profile/Logo- 125X 125     Update April 25, 2012 Facebook Changed the profile photo size to 160×160 pixels
Apps (Tab) Icons- 111 X 74  pixels
Page Size Width – 810  pixels

Known Bugs to be Aware of:

Recommendations

A note about recommendations:

With the new layout, there have been glitches and bugs. Some of these will get worked out in time and others may not. Most of them are not a major issue. The main one to be aware of is that sometimes when pages convert to the new timeline the recommendations that your fans have written disappear.

These recommendations may be very important to you. We recommend you take a screenshot of your recommendations. That way, if they disappear, you can show them as an image and have them for your personal use.

App Images 

When you choose to change the image of an app under the cover image, it may show random images rather than the one you uploaded. This is a known bug. If this happens, just go back to settings and choose “delete” the image and you’ll go back to having the default image. In time, this glitch may be taken care of, but as of now it’s still likely to be an issue.

Additional Resources:

Additional FAQ Help from Facebook
http://www.facebook.com/help/pages/new-design

Facebook’s Guidelines
http://www.facebook.com/page_guidelines.php

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Are you doing Facebook marketing wrong, or is there just some big Facebook myth that no one told you the truth about?

Many of our clients come to us feeling overwhelmed or disheartened from their social media marketing attempts. The most common thing we hear is: why is Facebook not working?

It’s easy to understand what they feel so frustrated, after all they’ve heard all the glamorous and exciting statics:

• Over 700 million active users
• More than 50 percent of the active users log into their account on any given day
• Users spend over 700 billion minutes per month
• Average user has approximately 135 friends
• Average user spends more than 55 minutes per day on Facebook
• Average user clicks the Like button on 9 pieces of content each month
• Average user writes 25 comments on Facebook content each month

The assumption is that by your business having a Facebook page, you now have access to these 700 million people who will see your posts and become your fan and customer. Or, maybe you’ll just get a quarter of that awesomeness.  

Facebook marketing is often compared to having a free massive billboard in Times Square, and all those people and their estimated 135 friends will see your business and shabam you’re a rockin’ success!

Well, it’s no wonder so many businesses are frustrated, disheartened and confused. They hear about these viral campaigns and wonder why it didn’t happen for them. Sometimes they even hire someone who “specializes in creating viral campaigns” only to find themselves feeling lied to, angry, and even more frustrated.

The belief is that just setting up a Facebook fan page will bring your business massive customers and success.

But…..

There are a couple silent statistics that most people don’t know:

Approximately  1.3% of fans actively engage. ( Adage)

Between 3% to 7.5% of fans see your posts (Allfacebook)

Most users don’t go to your Facebook page, they only see your post if it appears in their news feed, and since most people use the setting “top stories” your post may not be seen at all.

So are you doing Facebook wrong simple because your business hasn’t experienced the viral miracle? No.

If you’ve got a small or mid-size business, it’s okay if your page doesn’t have one hundred thousand fans. It’s okay if only a percentage of your fans engage and share your content.

To determine whether or not you’re doing Facebook marketing wrong, answer these questions:

• Is there a decent amount of engagement and community happening on your Facebook page?
• Is the number of fans increasing, and you’re not seeing a decrease in the number of fans?
• When you have special contests, and coupons, do they get shared? Is there a good amount of participation?
• Do you have low to no negative feedback? When you look at your Insights, are few to none hiding your posts?
• Does your page look and feel alive?
• Are people checking in when they are at your location?
• Is there a community feeling with your page?

It’s important to set goals for your fan page, create and refine your strategy, and experiment with different types of content. It’s not meant to be a billboard. It’s not meant to be a static page. If there’s no interaction or very little, then it’s time to start thinking strategically. Experiment with ways to increase the engagement.

It’s not the Facebook shouldn’t be part of your marketing strategy, it absolutely it should! Matter of fact, creating a strategy and managing the page is one of our most popular services. We see the difference when a solid strategy and execution are implemented, but it’s important to set realistic goals, and then take the time to analyze and research in order to get the most out of this social media marketing tool. It’s not a magic trick; it’s just a wonderfully effective marketing tool when used correctly.

But don’t worry if it doesn’t mirror the same activity as your favorite celebrity.

If you’re not sure if you’re using Facebook effectively, contact us for an evaluation.

[stextbox id="alert"]P.S. If you haven’t yet grabbed your copy of “The 13 Biggest Marketing Mistakes and How to Avoid Them” be sure to do so, it’s FREE and will help you kick-start your marketing plan! You’ll also get our monthly Newsletter filled with great marketing tips, current marketing trends and valuable information you can use for your business[/stextbox]

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Most of the businesses we talk to are frustrated by the whole “internet thing.” They see that their ads aren’t bringing in as much business as they used to; they don’t know how to handle negative reviews. They realize they need internet marketing, but they’re completely lost and a bit scared because they don’t know who to trust.

They get tons of calls every day promising them top placement on Google, and magical promises about making their business go viral on social media. Some of them have been burned in the past, some are confused, and others don’t know why it matters if their business is on page one of Google.

I get it, that’s how I feel as a consumer when I know I need something, but I don’t fully understand it.

So what’s a business to do?

There’s already so much to do when it comes to running a business and there’s not enough time, so I’m not going to say, “Take a class.”

There are some powerful marketing lessons that can be learned from people who live and breathe the internet, bloggers!

Yes, bloggers.

For some of them blogging is their business, for others they blog to grow their business (by driving people to their blog via SEO and social media and converting casual readers into customers and clients. Bloggers understand how the internet works and how to leverage it.

If you’re not really sure what a blog is, or if you think it’s just a personal online journal, click these two links to read “what is a blog?” and “how a business can benefit from blogging.”

In this article here, we’re just talking straight up marketing lessons inspired by creative solopreneurs.

7 Internet Marketing Strategies You Can Learn from Bloggers

1. Lead capture – A website can be a great marketing tool if used correctly. Great bloggers have an email capture form on the home page of their blog/website. This is where they capture the reader’s email (the reader is the lead, or potential customer). Bloggers understand they need to give away something of value for free in order to entice and encourage the person to give their email address.  Once the person gives their email address, they are saying “I’m interested in what you offer.”

2. Authority – Bloggers understand they need to be seen as an authority in order to earn the trust of the potential customer. Yes, there is a whole lot more to earning a potential customer’s trust than just simply establishing authority, but that authority certainly helps! One way bloggers show their authority on a subject is by writing and publishing a book. Some become great public speakers. Then they leverage that authority to grow their business. Sometimes they’ll do special give-a-ways too, giving away their book or product, their course, or their service. They know they’ve got to give away some of their best stuff to earn that trust factor. Many local businesses are afraid to give away too much, afraid to discount too much, and the biggest problem we see is that they just don’t know how to do it. Don’t give away the farm for nothing in return. There are strategies to use and implement, which make the give-a-ways work for both the business and the customer. (There will be an article/post on this shortly).

3. Cultivate Relationships – Unless your business doesn’t have repeat customers or need any referrals, you’ll want to come up with a plan to maintain and grow your relationship with your customers. Just because your customer had a great experience doesn’t mean they’ll remember you in the future. Many businesses find this one confusing, but something such as a newsletter can do wonders in this area, add a VIP or customer appreciation program and now you’re cookin’!  If you look around the blogosphere, you’ll see this is pretty standard among bloggers. They understand the sales funnel and how it often takes several communications to turn a prospect into a customer, and it takes continued development to turn a customer into a raving fan.

4. Community Building – Talking about turning customers into raving fans, bloggers know a lot about this prized gem! Yes bloggers tend to be natural communicators, content producers and social online. That’s partly what makes them so great at building community. They love comments on their blog, and they encourage comments since that’s one area where community happens.  Where is your customer community? Is it with the local chamber, or networking events? Is it in your business location (like restaurants and dance studios)? Can you take your community online and grow its exposure? Bloggers don’t just build community with their costumers/subscribers they build community with fellow bloggers and cross network. Something many businesses don’t bother developing. It’s can be incredibly powerful.

5. SEO – Getting found online when a searcher uses the search engines, is oh so important! But it’s not the end-all-be-all of importance. If your online reputation is a mess, if your website is a turn off, then being found online won’t bring you more business. Bloggers need their posts/articles to be found online, they need their websites to be found online, and they invest the time or money to learn SEO or hire someone to do it for them. So many businesses think they have an online presence just because they have a website, but unless you type in their URL, their website doesn’t show up and that means they actually don’t have much of an online presence at all since no one can find them without typing in the address to their website.  When used properly SEO is a fantastic marketing tool.  It should be part of a bigger strategy though, since it works best when it’s well-integrated in a complete online marketing plan.

6. Social Media – What makes this one tricky is that many businesses feel they are doing social media “right” when they aren’t.  Bloggers tend to be pretty natural about sharing relevant content and engaging their audience, while traditional businesses tend use social media to just promote.  There’s nothing wrong with promoting your specials, but only do this a percentage of the time. People are human beings and we don’t like to nagged or shouted at. If we already like your business page, we most likely know about your usual deals and specials you can give us something new, something exclusive, specials etc…  But do more than that. Don’t just repeat your promotions. Social media isn’t meant to be a cheaper version of a billboard.

7. Personalize – Leverage the personality and essence of your business; humanize your business. This may take a while to go from concept to mastery, but take steps in this direction. Again, this is a brilliant marketing strategy that bloggers tend to understand and master. They know that the more we (potential customers)  see their human side and their essence, the more we feel we know, like and trust them, which is uber important when attracting new customers, and turning them into long-term customers and fans.

There are far more than just seven marketing strategies businesses can learn from bloggers, but you can take and develop these main pillars in several ways. 

Just like you wouldn’t build a house in a day, you won’t create and implement your master internet marketing strategy in a day either. If you’re the do-it-yourself type, create a marketing calendar and break it up into small steps. Or you can hire us; we love applying our skills and knowledge to businesses by creating, implementing and maintaining their internet marketing strategy.  We’re a boutique internet marketing agency, specializing in building businesses online presence and reputation in a way that reflects the brand’s essence, spirit and personality.  With a focus on customer service, our goal is your success!

Evolving Your Business to New Heights, that’ what we do.

Have you tried implementing these strategies? Which have you seen the best results from? Have any of them failed to yield positive results?

[stextbox id="alert"]P.S. If you haven’t yet grabbed your copy of “The 13 Biggest Marketing Mistakes and How to Avoid Them” be sure to do so, it’s FREE and will help you kick-start your marketing plan! You’ll also get our monthly Newsletter filled with great marketing tips, current marketing trends and valuable information you can use for your business[/stextbox]

[SFBSB button="button_count"] [tweetbutton] [wdgpo_plusone show_count="yes"]   Marketing is one of those things that, when done right, it looks so easy from the outside. Yet when someone’s trying to market their business it can feel incredibly frustrating. The principles seem simple:

• Create a product that a particular group of people want
• Place it where people will see it
• Price it at a level which matches the value they feel they’ll get out of it

It’s about putting the right product in the right place at the right time with the right price. Now depending on your business, and what you sell, you may need to create scarcity to motivate or encourage people to buy. Maybe your business is built around repeat customers, so you’ll need some sort of customer loyalty program to help incentivize them to keep coming back and stay on top of their minds.

So if it’s this simple, why do people hire marketers, and why are so many business making a mess out of their marketing, and why are so businesses struggling to figure out how to market themselves?

Reminds me of learning to turn in ballet, just keep your body stacked on top itself, don’t give way in the ankle, hip or knee, keep squared off and there you go, multiple pirouettes! Well, that’s until you try it and discover it’s not working. The idea is simple, but to get the results you desire you’ve got to analyze what you’re doing and figure out what pieces are working and what pieces aren’t. Then you need to try different adjustments until it works. Below is a checklist that will help you analyze your marketing mix. Go over the checklist not just once, but try looking at it a few times a year. Find areas where you can make  adjustments in your own marketing efforts, and that’s how you’ll get the most out of this.

The Marketing Checklist - 23 Questions :

1. Have you identified your target market, your ideal customer?

2. Are you ready for that ideal customer? Or should you revise it to be a little more realistic for now, with a clear idea of what you want it to be in the future?

3. Does your business have a clear presence where your ideal customer hangs out? Do they know you exist? Does your business’s personality and essence match what they need and want?

4. Do you survey (or ask) your current customers what they like about your business, what they don’t like, why they choose your business over the competition? Do they feel appreciated as a customer/client? Any suggestions on how you can better serve them? Any other suggestions on how your business can improve?

5. When a new customer arrives, do you ask how they found out about you, what made them choose your business?

6. When a customer leaves, do you send a friendly survey to find out why they left? And let them know you appreciate their candid response, as it will provide helpful feedback.

7. Do you incentivize your customers to buy? Do you offer VIP discounts, specials, freebies? Customer Loyalty programs, or benefits?

8. Do you ask for referrals? Do you get referrals? If you ask and don’t receive any, why is that? Does your product or service lack? Is your pricing off? 

9. Do you have a presence in your local community, such as being active with the local Chamber of Commerce, or business mixers, etc…? Does your local community, and potential local customers, know you exist?

10. Do you have business cards up on local community boards?

11. Do you advertise locally in church bulletins, local newspapers, direct mail, or other forms of local advertising? Have you tried advertising recently?

12. Do you have an easy to find online presence, so you’re easily found by those who are looking for what your business offers?Do you have a solid online presence so your product/ service is seen by a globally?

13.  Is it clear what your business does? Does your website, marketing materials, and online profiles have a clear message about what your product or service is, and how it benefits the prospective customer? Or is your message confusing? Do people see your website and not know what you do? Do they see your business card, or brochure and have no idea what your business offers?     (*hint, ask for opinions from a variety of people.)

14. Do you have a clearly defined brand? Is your branding consistent? Is it clear and easily identified? Do you have a logo; do you have colors that represent your brand? Does your business have a tagline? Does your website and your business give off a specific essence or feel? 

15. Do you advertise online? Google adwords, Facebook ads, etc…? Have you tried it recently?

16.  Do you participate in conversations online? Do you connect with other businesses that could be good partnership, such as a complimentary business but not direct competition?

17. Have you checked your online reputation? Have you searched your business name in quotes “business name” and looked through the search results? Are there review sites or directories that your business is listed in? Are you well listed? Do you have any bad reviews? If you have bad reviews, respond with an apology. If you have good reviews, respond with a thank you. Humanize your business.

18. How are you promoting your business? Are you over promoting and turning people off? Are you under promoting and no one knows you’re there? Are you only promoting over and over to the same audience? Do you need to widen your reach?

19. Do you do anything for PR? Are there any articles written about you and your business? Can you find avenues for additional publicity?

20. Can you find local speaking engagements, where you can both educate an audience as well as promote your business?

21. Do you have any brand ambassadors? This can be fans, friends, customers, clients, or family members who love your product or service and like to talk to others about your business, your product, your service? You might have one or two and not realize it. If someone loves your business and talks to others about it, offer them a Thank You gift for any business that comes in from their referral. Maybe it’s a gift card, or freebie product. Incentivize them to continue, and you may be surprised at much more they promote you.

22. Are you only staying within your niche? Power partners can happen when two complementary businesses unite. Explore outside of your own niche, explore beyond what professions you think might be your power partner. The more you try things, and measure the results, the more likely you’ll find your winning edge.

23. Do you have an easy to see, clear call to action (such as “buy now” or “subscribe here”) on all of your marketing materials, including your website? 

You’ve got to be willing to mix things up, make changes, try new things. And, continually measure your results.

REMEMBER to make one change at a time and measure those results, otherwise you won’t know what change was effective and what change wasn’t.

• Maybe your product or service isn’t quite “right”

• Maybe you’re not reaching the audience who is looking for what you have to offer?

• Maybe your price is too low or too high. Yes, too low can be a problem where they prospective customer doesn’t see the value because it looks cheap.

• Maybe your product or service needs a better online presence, or online social presence.

• Maybe your business needs specific advertising.

Sometimes it’s a matter of a few adjustments, and other times it needs a total overhaul. But if you see your competition succeeding, and yours is not, maybe you just need to really go through the checklist and begin to make some changes.

Be willing to survey your current and past customers and look for consistencies.

When testing your marketing or advertising, always make one adjustment then measure results. If you make a few changes you won’t know what worked and what didn’t.

What’s gotten you the best results in terms of marketing your business and bringing in new business?

What’s one thing that got you a great response and surprised you?

    [stextbox id="alert"]P.S. If you haven’t yet grabbed your copy of “The 13 Biggest Marketing Mistakes and How to Avoid Them” be sure to do so, it’s FREE and will help you kick-start your marketing plan! You’ll also get our monthly Newsletter filled with great marketing tips, current marketing trends and valuable information you can use for your business[/stextbox]

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Happy New Year!

Do you make New Year Resolutions for yourself?

How about for your business?

Want to resolve to improve your marketing efforts for 2012?

We think that’s a fabulous resolution, and we’d love to help you stick to it and really make it happen this year! Matter of fact, that’s why I’m writing this post, to give you a mini road-map to boost your marketing efforts. For more detail on creating a marketing strategy and avoiding common marketing mistakes, download your FREE copy of our e-book
The 13 Biggest Marketing Mistakes and How to Avoid Them!

Below are 7 Tips to Help You Improve Your Marketing Efforts:

1. Increase Your Reviews and Testimonials 

Love it or hate it, you can’t deny the power of review websites. Today’s consumer reads review sites and researches before they decide contact a business. Typically they contact the businesses with the best reviews and testimonials, then they choose who they feel is best. If your business isn’t on the review sites, you may be losing business without even knowing it.  It’s time to ask your current and past customers to write a review, if they’ve been happy with your product or service.

2. Incorporate a Mobile Marketing Strategy 

It’s 2012 and iPhones and tablets are being purchased like crazy. What this means to you is, more consumers are using a mobile device than ever before. How does your site look on a mobile phone, mobile device? Is it mobile friendly and easy for a mobile user to navigate?  Are you using  mobile coupons, QR codes, and SMS text messaging? There’s a mobile world happening, and if your business isn’t reaching the mobile consumer, you could be losing a chunk of business. Did you know that over 84% of people use a mobile device at home? It’s not just when they’re on the go.

3. Email Marketing 

 If you’re not leveraging the power of communication that email marketing provides, you’re losing business. You might choose to send a monthly newsletter, an article that your prospect or customer would benefit from, or send a special deal to your VIP e-mail list;  communication with your customers and prospective customers is important! Email Marketing helps build and maintain relationships. It can be great for customer retention, and it can really support customer loyalty!

4. Re-evaluate your Marketing Materials

 If you haven’t updated your website, your business cards, or your brochures in several years, then it may be time for an update. Today’s consumer is different; they don’t like corporate messages and slogans; they want transparency. Today’s consumer wants to know you, your business; business is more personal than it was before. Do you let your business’s personality shine? Does it show in your website and your marketing materials?

5. Get Social

If you have social media accounts such as Facebook and Twitter, be sure to be active and engage in conversation with your customers, prospects and fans. It’s easier to maintain social momentum than it is to start and stop …start and stop etc….  Remember to ask questions, and interact; don’t use it a platform to just shout out and promote.

 6. Double Check Your Advertisements

Re-read the verbiage you have in your ads; are your ads powerful direct response ads that compel the reader to contact you? …or are they blah, just general information ads?

7. Test and Measure

Test, measure, and tweak all of your marketing efforts. Many businesses just leave their marketing efforts as is, rather than taking the time to see how each individual marketing effort is performing. Test, track, and measure the effectiveness of your marketing efforts, and be willing to make tiny changes and test those changes. This is the key to creating effective marketing efforts. It’s time to evaluate what’s working and what’s not. Sometimes it looks like a particular marketing effort isn’t working, but it just needs to be altered a bit… be willing to tweak and refine!

Perhaps it’s the perfect time to work with an internet marketing company, like Evotive. We love helping businesses improve their marketing efforts and grow their business. We do offer a free consultation, so you can get to know us a bit more; it’s the no sweat way to finding out if we’re the right fit for your business.

Hope you find these 7 tips helpful. Explore, experiment and have some fun as you turn up the heat on your marketing efforts this year.

 Make 2012 a great year! 

[stextbox id="alert"]P.S. If you haven’t yet grabbed your copy of “The 13 Biggest Marketing Mistakes and How to Avoid Them” be sure to do so, it’s FREE and will help you kick-start your marketing plan! You’ll also get our monthly Newsletter filled with great marketing tips, current marketing trends and valuable information you can use for your business[/stextbox]