THE MOST BASIC TIPS FOR USING SOCIAL MEDIA SITES:

February 20, 2013 Leave a comment

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These Tips For Using Social Media Sites Still Apply In 2013:

(“Like” us on Facebook for more helpful tips)
  • Not being on Pinterest either for personal use or for business awareness can be a mistake for certain brands.  Pinterest ties in perfectly to all other social media platforms.
  • Commonly overlooked when using Twitter; include not designing a page with a background reflecting your brand, providing a description of your page, or including a meaningful logo or photo.  Getting on Twitter, but not interacting with your Followers several times a day, or only discussing your brand and not the industry.  As well, following too many people who don’t follow you back, or who are not relevant to your industry.  Finally, not culling your Followers who may simply be useless robots or spammers.
  • Facebook mistakes include; failure to design a “brand page”.  Not integrating the Twitter streams into Facebook, or vice versa, not keeping the Facebook Page up to date, and not allowing customer feedback.
  • Google Plus is Google’s social platform that is an alternative to  Facebook and Twitter. We’ve got some handy hints to help you out in using this effective and visible means to promote your brand. From quicker sharing options, better content curation, and smarter privacy setting, Google+ can reach the right audience for certain businesses.
  • The most common mistake for businesses using social media is not having a plan. “I’m on Facebook!” is great, but what are you going to do there? “We’ve got 10,000 fans!” is also great, but what are you going to have them do? “We’ve got a blog!” is also fantastic, but does it have a strategic goal? Are you winning search results? Capturing leads? Monitoring what is being said about your brand online?  If you don’t have a business purpose for these activities and are not measuring that success, then social media is just a hobby.
  • Finally, ignoring the impact of customer reviews on such powerhouse social media review sites such as Twitter, Trip Advisor, and RateMD about your business or those of your competitors is a costly mistake no business can afford to make.  Appeasing ticked off customers, and rewarding those who give you kudos, is free and makes for good business sense.

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Customers Are Going Mobile; Is Your Restaurant Ready?

August 14, 2012 Leave a comment

Openmenu (not to be confused with OpenTable) did not take kindly to RED Brand Media using their information verbatim to market their idea for restaurant menus.  Their idea is an online platform wherein you can manage “a single menu which powers your entire online presence”.  So we have decided to re-write our article and include foodies who simply want to find a place to eat that has more than hamburger meat on their menu.

If you live in Toronto, and are looking for good food and eating adventures, in comes Yelp, and Zagat to the rescue.  Do a search for your favorite Toronto restaurant on one or both of these apps (Zagat is not free however), or online, then head over to diningdatenight.com to see if you can save 30% off by pre-booking.

If you are a restauranteur, an alternative to Openmenu is Must Have Menus.  You can create and manage menus quickly, easily, and affordably for print, web & Facebook.  Check them both out and see which one is right for you.  Creative, and adjustable menus have just gone primetime in the social media universe.

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Are You Using Twitter For Business Effectively?

July 24, 2012 Leave a comment

  • Understand how Twitter works so your business can actively and effectively join the conversation.

  • Engage your customers

    Learn how to tweet shareable information, plan for a weekly content calendar, and give your business a unique voice.

  • Grow your audience

    Learn how to work with partners, highlight your handle in other marketing channels, and extend the reach of your message through Retweets.

Go to Twitter for Business to learn more.  Download the guide to Twitter for Small Business hereImage.

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5 Ways To Measure the Effectiveness of Your SEO Strategy

July 3, 2012 Leave a comment

Reblogged from Snap!:

Click to visit the original post

 

Most of the information in this article first appeared in a July 2, 2012 article by Sage Lewis  on ClickZ.

Why Measure the Effectiveness of Your SEO Strategy?

Search Engine Optimization is a process to establish your website's visibility on popular search engines and also to improve quality traffic using organic results. SEO is not a magical trick to improve your website's search engine visibility.

Read more… 738 more words

The best ways to measure what you do or don't do in your SEO strategy: "Ranking is not important of itself, but is just a means to an end. The end results you are looking for includes influencing people to take action with regard to your brand."

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Infographic: A crash course on LinkedIn to help just about everyone who is Linked-less

May 29, 2012 Leave a comment

LinkedIn is the the world’s largest professional network with 161 million members worldwide.  Mashable has a recent guide (May 2012) to getting started on LinkedIn if you don’t have a profile, and especially if you are a recent college grad here. 

Meanwhile enjoy the infographic courtesy of mindflash.com.

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The Rise of the Visual Web, Image Overtakes Text, and Selling on Pinterest

May 22, 2012 Leave a comment

Kodak, before its demise was on to something; a picture is worth a thousand words.  People want to take and share engaging photos and video as evidenced by visual sites such as  Tumblr, Instagram, and hot new video site Socialcam.  Pinterest, the newest, hottest, and third most popular social media site behind Facebook and Twitter is a online scrapbook of feel good images shared with other people, with the ultimate goal of driving users back to the original website for more information.  Pinterest currently refers more traffic to external sites than YouTube, Google+ and LinkedIn, combined.  The more visually appealing the image is, the more curious the user will be about checking out the source.   Users will also be curious about checking out the poster of the image, and that will be you and a variety of other people if the image is popular.

Pinterest does not officially say how many users it has, but according to comScore, the site had 18.7 million unique visitors in March 2012.  Over 85% were women.  This represents a great opportunity to sell to mom’s, and women who love fashion, cooking, make-up, re-decorating…the list is endless.  Brands are still scrambling and trying to figure out the best way to sell on Pinterest.  Better Homes and Gardens has 73 pin boards, where images can be posted, with titles such as “Pretty Patios and Porches” “Fun Front Doors” and “We Love Baking.”  It has 47,854 people who follow all of the brand’s boards and about 350,000 who follow individual boards.  Their social media analysis has concluded that a younger female demographic appears to be following them via Pinterest.

Interesting stuff, but these followers most likely will not buy their magazine, nor can they directly make a purchase from any of the visually appealing images.  BH&G will not get advertisers swarming at their door unless they are able to mass sell on Pinterest with “Product Listings”.  For individuals who are running a small business on Etzy, Cafepress,  Zazzle, or their own ecommerce site product listings are a great way to sell items on Pinterest.  After all, Pinterest users enthusiastically clip and share items they might want to buy.

For experienced Pinterest users who already have cultivated a following, here is how selling on Pinterest goes:

  • You should have the pinbox uploaded on your toolbar from Pinterest.
  • Go to your website or your store where you want to pin your product.
  • Next, click the pinbox on your toolbar menu.
  • Pinterest will automatically open up and appear on your screen.
  • All your product images will appear on the screen. Pick the one you want to pin.
  • Pinterest will ask what board you want to pin it to. Or you can create a new one by scrolling down on the categories. I named mine Products I Love.
  • Add a description of the product to help people find your pin. Just as you would a tag or keyword. Important: Add the price after the description with the $ sign. Example: $9.99. Pinterest will place the price in the upper left corner of the image. Pinterest will also place all priced products on the gifts tab on the top of their homepage.
  • Pinterest will automatically link to your site or product when a person clicks on it.
If you don’t have the time or desire to set up an ecommerce site just to sell on Pinterest, keep reading.  Pinterest’s terms of service prevent you from using it “for any commercial purpose or the benefit of any third party, except as otherwise explicitly permitted for you by Pinterest”.   With that being said, if you are really  just interested in profiting from your creations or products on Pinterest and have a Paypal account, there is Pin2Sell.  Digital design and marketing agency, CliqueStudios has seen a need, and filled it.  Just go to pin2sell.com, fill out the details, post a photo of your item, and submit. When fellow Pinterest users click on your pinned item, they’ll see the the price, and will be automatically redirected to a PayPal checkout page.  The clincher?  There are no fees…yet.  As well, Pinterest may ban the application at any time due to their terms of service agreement.

As it is right now, the Pinterest community is best suited for visually-appealing content which encompasses retail, lifestyle, food, home decor, design, publishers, and travel.  As a brand, shift your social media strategy and figure out a way to to have what you do, make, create, and sell be more image led.   Develop a visual social media strategy to blend with the current text that you have.  Register your profiles on various visual social networks and continually illustrate your brand.

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Twitter for Independent Retailers

May 16, 2012 Leave a comment

Reblogged from Socialite SOS - Social Media Management in Halifax West Yorkshire:

Click to visit the original post

As an Independent retailer myself, I have personally witnessed how Twitter can add value to my business, both online and offline. People regularly come into the gallery and mention that they follow me on Twitter!  I love it, it's great to get customer feedback that advertising on Twitter really does work. It's very rewarding.

In my recent conversations with other retailers, some are still a bit unsure what Twitter is all about:

Read more… 1,196 more words

A very good article on using Twitter for beginners. Most important - "Don’t randomly follow as many people as you can hoping for a followback. If someone checks your account and sees that you have 10 followers, you are following 423 and you have tweeted 5 times, you will look like a spammer. Nobody wants to follow a spammer..." We usually block such users. Another good article about using Twitter can be found here: http://www.learningconversations.co.uk/main/index.php/2012/04/30/twitter-do-s-and-don?blog=5

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