Word of Mouth Marketing and Your Content

Word of mouth marketing and your content generation

Generating and marketing your online content isn’t as simple as posting a hot topic to your social network site or blogging regularly. It takes strategy and teamwork to develop quality material and promote it to help expand a strong network for your brand. You need to have a strong marketing team that can help you develop valuable marketing plans.

Must-Haves of a Great Marketing Team

When it comes to developing a marketing team, there are certain qualities that are needed for each aspect of your marketing design. 

1. Expert Leader

No one will understand a brand better than the one who created it. You are the initial expert leader if you are your brand’s creator. However, if you choose to entrust it to an outside marketing organization, be sure that the appointed leader has a full grasp of your brand. 

An expert marketing team leader should be able to answer the following questions. What does your marketing strategy call for? How many social networks, blogs, and assorted sites do your strategies target? What are the best marketing strategies for your brand? 

2. Meticulous Data collector

While a clear vision of subject matter is important, one of the most time consuming, but just as crucial is the area of research and development. Who can identify trending topics? Who can undertake the necessary research? This is the data expert - the person who has the facts or who can find them when needed. When it comes to generating quality content, you must be able to provide the most effective and accurate data possible, which is where this expertise is required. 

3. Effective Marketing Strategist

Though data is essential, it is still necessary to develop that data and apply it to your marketing strategy. You need to find people who know how to approach the audience and influence them effectively. They are able to identify the approaches that your audience would enjoy. This job requires a clear understanding of different online tactics and the audiences that would be influenced by or open to those tactics. 

Different social networks require different approaches and analysis. This is where word of mouth marketing will become your strategy’s most influential tactic. Your data analyzers should be able to use data and content in such a way that it influences audience recommendations, discussion, and interaction. 

Your strategist must also be an expert face to face networker.  

Social media is after all, according to Warren Whitlock “99% social and 1% media”.  We agree.  Social media is word of mouth on steroids and if your strategist can’t generate it face-to-face and they don’t have an impressive resume of networking, shaking hands and referral marketing (in person), I wouldn’t consider them.

Must-Know About Content Generation

1. Content generation covers the creation of prospective designs, ideas and data for social posts, blogs, and video content. Keep in mind that it is always necessary to develop content that you created or legally own.

2. Marketing content does not just rely on blog material, quotes, facts, or data. There is also the importance of graphic design and visual appeal. Pictures, graphs, charts, memes, and videos are amongst the most searched items online. It is vital that you are able to demonstrate your brand, and its uniqueness through visual appeal, whether it’s through creating or locating the right image to present.

3. Post your accumulated content at the right time. It is wise to assign people to important tasks. Who is in charge of posting Tweets and comments? Who should engage audience interaction? Who is assigned to do cross indexing to highlight articles through social networks and advertising? This may sound simple, but remember that the tasks are schedule-relevant (timing) and are also about responding to the audience. 

Like any team, everyone must work together and communicate effectively in order to achieve success. Each department may rely on one or multiple individuals to achieve certain goals. Some may have expertise in particular fields or subject matters. You need to be sure that team members are placed where they are most effective. With a team that works effectively to build quality content and implements it in a way that is appealing, your online marketing strategy will obtain the right reaction and will drive your audience to action. 

When You Represent A Company

Outsourcing your social marketing strategy

Outsourcing is a very common practice for businesses everywhere. Whether it’s analyzing data or public relations, resources and time can be managed far more effectively by utilizing the services of other agencies that can effectively manage certain portions of your business.

However, outsourcing does not come without a cost- both financially and functionally. Specifically regarding public relations, such as social account handling and customer service, it is necessary that both you and your outsourced agency understand each other and communicate effectively. 

Be clear

The most important thing is that your outsourced agency represents your business with clarity- who is who and who said what? When it comes to social networks and associated communications with the public, it can be difficult to decide who has the ultimate authority unless you make it clear to everyone. 

When discussing recommendations and conversations- is there transparency? Is it apparent that the company has the final say in responding? Or do you promote the image that the company is wholly responsible for what is said? When an outsourced agency represents a company or brand, it can become difficult to maintain effective communication and ensure that each department has a clear definition of its role. 

Work out how to respond to the public

When it comes to social networks, responses come in all forms, negative, neutral, and positive. At times, they can even be considered as a referral for word of mouth marketing. There lies the question of how these referrals are handled by an outsourced agency. How does that particular business want to handle them? Basically, who will be in charge of responding? Does it need to go through the company or does the agency have the authority to make responses that reflect the image of the company? When you represent another company, it is crucial to make sure that each entities role is well defined before you begin designing a marketing campaign. 

Avoid miscommunication and misrepresentation of your brand image as well. Representing another brand or company will be affected by who is ultimately in charge. If you are contracted to assist, but do not have the final say in public relations, be clear about it. Allow the company to take responsibility for themselves in this type of situation, avoiding any misrepresentation of your personal brand. 

Deal well with both positive and negative feedback

Is it good to keep recommendations hidden or leave them open for public viewing? It is always possible that you will get an occasional negative response, but how it’s dealt with will decide its outcome and effect on the image of your represented brand. In many scenarios, a negative recommendation can be turned positive by handling it properly, thus effectively applying word of mouth marketing (visibility allows for others to witness expertise). Be sure that this particular topic is discussed with your represented company.

Communication is a key element to success, especially for those that represent another brand image. Whether you are responsible for an entire brand image or perhaps just in the role of administering recommendations, it is up to your company to define its role and ensure that your represented company receives the product they desire. 

Content Strategy Vital to Word of Mouth Marketing

Your content strategy is essential to your word of mouth marketing

Every business is faced with creating marketing content. What they say, how they say it, and primarily what context it’s placed in will decide how effective it will be and how the audience will receive it- be it positive or negative.

When it comes down to generating content for your business, there are various content strategies which can be applied. Do keep in mind that combinations between all of them will be the most practical tactic. Certain strategies are only as effective as the situation they are applied to. 

Outside

Some of the best sources to search for good content are easy enough to find, especially since you’re already looking at them. Start with the most likely place- customer questions and your responses. Customers see from the outside in, which means they also see all the things you don’t always see. This is a great time to learn and apply new information to create new and better content- especially since it’s what the audience wants to hear.

Also, consider all the value that customer stories hold. Nothing speaks stronger than a recommendation from a customer. This is a great way to employ word of mouth marketing strategies. When they share with you, share with everyone else. 

Inside

Of course, one can never forget themselves. You and what inspires you are great sources of content. Talk about what it is that drives you to do what you do. This is the opportunity for your audience to be able to relate to you and understand who they are doing business with.

Don’t forget about your own content. Have you written a book or another article? Write a blog that incorporates them as well and explains the content. 

What is it that makes that content source good? Well, it always depends on how it’s presented. These sources are great places to start, but it’s essential to have a good way to channel that content through technique and proper application.

New!

Talking about anything new within your business is always a plus. Defining efforts to better your business help to ensure your audience that their experience with you will only get better. Also be sure to cover in detail any new products and services that you’re about to launch or even considering launching. It can be very beneficial to get customer feedback before you release something. 

Educational

Throughout the online world, one of the most favorable content strategies is to provide information and educate the audience. The majority of people that search the internet are often looking for answers. If you can provide answers, they will come.

Describing

Talk about yourself and your business. Sometimes they can be together, sometimes apart. People love hearing about people. It helps to bring your business down to earth so that your audience can relate to you as more than just a name or title. They will relate to you as a person.

Showing

Infographics are relatable in several ways. Visuals are great for sharing complex information to a general audience and they save the reader time. If they see that your content shares more than just words, they are inclined to spend more time studying what you have to say or show.

Shocking

Creating controversial content can be a very helpful tool- depending on how it’s done. Considering that the “shock” effect of a very controversial marketing strategy can upset some, but also entice others to interact with you. 

So consider that this is most effectively done in small doses. Take for instance, asking a controversial question or making a statement. This gives you their attention without offending. 

Sharing

Have you ever considered responding to your competition- in a positive way? Sharing has always been contagiously effective in marketing. While both you and your competition are in business to succeed, that doesn’t mean you can’t work together occasionally and strategically. What happens when you award your competition for providing quality products and services? They like it and are just as likely to share what you said about them. That means they are going to share you in their content. Consider what you would do if someone complimented you. Wouldn’t you want to share it, even if it was from someone on another team? In fact, the compliment means more when it’s from competition. It’s only natural to share good news about yourself. 

The purpose of content is to educate and persuade your audience. To do this, you must be able to find good content to work with and properly apply it to your marketing strategies. 

Word of Mouth is Ignited by Knowing What a Customer Really Wants

Ignite word of mouth marketing by giving your customers what they want

Knowing exactly what your customer wants is very important. Many businesses collapse due to their inability to come up with products that are relevant to the needs of their clients. In business, customer satisfaction is always key to a thriving business, therefore being able to come up with products that cater to the needs of your clientele is of utmost importance.

The disparities that exist between what customers want and what most businesses think they need is very evident. Many businesses are oblivious of what their customers want and therefore end up introducing products that do not match the expectations of their clients. A study commissioned by Pivot to find out the disparities between what customers want and what businesses think they want came up with some great insights.

Pivot Findings

Referring to the findings commissioned by Pivot, most businesses feel that they have a strong knowledge of what their clients want and yet none of them has ever gone out of their way to ask their clients what they really want. In fact, out of 76% of the marketers who asserted that they had a strong knowledge of what their customers wanted, only a paltry 34% confessed to asking their clients what they really wanted.

According to the Research of Pivot, many customers look for deals whenever they buy anything. What is strange is that 6% of consumers suggested that they like to be offered deals while a mere 53% of businesses that were interviewed think deals are important to consumers.

Most importantly, the studies done by Pivot showed that more than 59% of consumers take feedback very seriously. They consider feedback as a way of expressing their satisfaction or lack of it to the business. On the contrary, the study suggests that only a paltry 37% of business think that consumers take feedback seriously.

It is these disparities between what consumers want and what businesses think they want that has resulted in the gap growing considerably over the years. As a business owner, there are some questions you ought to ask yourself in order to bridge this gap and ensure that your products are exactly what your customer want. Some of the pertinent questions include:

Where are the Gaps?

According to the Pivot research, there are a lot of things that contribute to this gap. It is of utmost importance for businesses to find out the reasons for this gap and try to eliminate them. According to Pivot, the gaps lie mostly in carrying out research on customer wants. Being able to interpret information from such results is also pivotal in ensuring that the business is well informed about the wants of their clients.

The study also suggests that the gap lies in not using feedback effectively to ensure that customer satisfaction is met.

How do you Bridge the Gap?

One of the greatest tools in bridging the gap between what your consumers want and what you think they want is feedback. Any business that utilizes feedback tends to know exactly what their consumers need and hence the gap is considerably reduced.

How do yo know what Your Customers Really Want?

One of the best ways to know exactly what your customers really want is to encourage word of mouth marketing. Every business should learn to listen to exactly what their consumers want. Instead of trying to come up with products that you think will appeal to your consumers, why not try asking them what they really want. Word of mouth marketing does help bridge the gap ensuring that businesses are in touch with the wants of their clients.

As a rule of thumb, businesses should strive to find out exactly what their consumers want. Businesses should no longer have the idea that customers do not know what they really want but should embrace a word of mouth marketing approach. The gap between what your consumers want and what you think they want can really hurt the progression of a business. Therefore, as a way of eliminating this gap and coming up with products that satisfy the wants of your customers, it is necessary to do research. Not only does research give you insights into what your consumers want but it also helps to improve the quality of your product, making it more competitive.

Word of Mouth, Brands, and Opinions

Your brand, values, and word of mouth strategy

While a brand presents a standardized image with its goals, products, and services, there are always the unexpected consequences (good or bad) of an opinion. An audience is composed of many different individuals, all with their own independent opinions and values. 

However, a brand is not always a sole individual. Often composed of various parts, it was founded with a goal in mind but is now defined by the values within the organization as well. Because hot topics that cover religion and politics are so very sensitive, they can often cost a brand dearly by distorting its image. It is therefore important to consider how we can handle opinions and how we can use them to our advantage.

Take a lesson in expressing opinions

Consider the brand lessons we can learn from Chick-fil-a. Chick-fil-a is a very well established fast-food chain which is privately owned and has rarely taken the hot-spotlight until recently. What can we learn from them? Right approach? Wrong approach? An individual can always express their own personal values, but it makes it difficult to remain separate when they represent a brand. Always remember that the public doesn’t separate personal opinion from the brand. People care about their personal values. When you express your personal values, it can undermine your audience’s approval and cause distrust with your brand. So ask yourself: Who is your audience? Who do you want your audience to be? Are you seeking attention? Controversy is still publicity. Sometimes it’s risky, but do the rewards outweigh the cost?

Just remember that the mic is always on and if controversy is the topic, it will be heard and will inevitably go viral. It is often best to avoid aligning your brand with political or religiously related stances. Neutrality is important because you are always targeting 100% of the audience, even if they aren’t doing direct business with you. Word of mouth matters and you always want to be a recommendation.

Protecting your brand from outside values

Is it possible to protect your brand from the opinions of employees and personal beliefs? A brand is composed of many different individuals, all with their own values. While it is impossible to force belief on others, when they are representing your brand, they are responsible for representing your values, not their own. Coach your employees and leaders. If they want to be controversial, they must do it outside of your organization and separate themselves from you entirely. Social policies are a must have. Share your values with the entire organization. Set goals and establish a standard value that limits any undermining. Be cautious because the public may still see them as speaking for your brand. This is a difficult task that lies before every brand and it is always wise to have a contingency plan. Hire right and work to ensure employees have values that align with your brand image. Match the employee to the brand. That is how you create the most effective team. And remember that common sense is not always common. 

The values of those inside your brand

With your values established, there is still the question of how your brand can embrace the values and beliefs of employees and members. While it is your brand, it is always important to allow those who represent it to be able to express their own values; otherwise you may end up with bad PR situations. It is reasonably effective to have a place where opinions can be placed without being tracked to ensure honest and open feedback. Allow employees to be open with you, yet remain discreet as well. This can often help to ensure that the brand is “real” and in touch with the world, not outside it. Remember that internal openness is different from external messaging and by remaining open, you can effectively limit what is expressed externally. 

Creating the perfect storm?

Though there are issues with becoming controversial by expressing an opinion or taking a stand on values, it often results in a storm. Would you advocate creating a PR storm? They can be good or bad, and because creating controversy creates publicity, it is a technique often performed by brands in order to accelerate their image into the public view. The problem is that a PR storm is a tactic that doesn’t always work. It is often more reliable to work with strategy than to flip a coin and see if it turns up heads. The real challenge is creating the right kind of storm. A brand should create virality, not an issue they think would go viral. Generate shock and awe, but beware of what is appreciated and acceptable by the audience. Take a stance, but do it in a fashion so that it will align with your brand image, like when a brand of recycled paper backs environmentalist ideals. It’s a stance, but within the value of their brand. 

Brands and opinions are hard to separate, but even harder to mix together unless you have the right formula. Be sure your brand takes a stand on its values and that those that represent it always stay in the bounds of enforcing and endorsing those values. 

Brands and Challenges

Overcome personal branding challenges

As trends progress and change with the demands of our audiences, brands must be able to adapt and evolve to accommodate in order to not only survive but thrive as well. Questions on a recent brandchat discussion brought up some very good points of how a company handles the challenges of building their image effectively.

Product innovation

Consider some of the best practices of a brand that reinvents their product. What must they do to accomplish this and how does it ultimately affect their image? Soda companies have been around for a very long time, but have always managed to keep their image and products current. While the brand is the same, it is the fact that there is always constant improvement and evolution of these products. The goal is to adapt and apply their brand to popular trend rather than trying to change their brand to match the trend. Under the leadership of Steve Jobs, Apple reinvented their products and how they applied to the current demands of the generation. The brand was the same, but the image changed from simply producing technology to producing technology that was desirable to its audience. At the same time, they worked to enforce the purpose of the brand, which is ultimately what this challenge must overcome.

Timing the changes

What key advice would you give a client as to the "timing" of reinventing or fixing their product and promotion? This is a unique question in that it is incredibly difficult to answer broadly. Depending on the product’s trend cycle, you would have to consider that what is popular today may slip away tomorrow. You must know your audience well, especially their demands and desires. You should only change as a response to customers, not as a response to competition or personal desire. Rebrand because you need to in order to appeal to your audience. Lois Martin once stated, “Carefully consider and plan. Is it a reinvention or simply an update? An expansion? An invite to a new market?” When reinventing and innovating, you must take into consideration what your goal is. Are you upgrading a format, fixing an issue (patching programs or promotions)? Or are you introducing a new line that will draw a new audience? 

Defining a spokesperson

A spokesperson is one of the most beneficial tools to creating audience appeal. How can a brand handle their spokesperson that is created, not a celebrity, and their rise to celebrity status? There is something unique about a created character because while you can make them do what you want, you also have to work to build their image, which means that it’s up to you how successful your spokesperson will be. The primary priority should be to align their values with those of the target audience. The task is to create a personality that your audience can relate to, not just speak to. When an audience can relate to someone, they begin to develop a relationship and word of mouth marketing takes place. People talk about characters they can relate with. Though there is always the other side of the coin which asks at what point a spokesperson-character would begin to draw attention away from a brand; when presented improperly, you can end up with an audience that recognizes a spokesperson but can’t relate them to the brand. That is the other task of developing a character. They must not only relate to the audience but will directly relate your audience to your brand. 

Brand image controversy

What are the best practices of brands on how they handle controversy around their brand? Perhaps the most prominently renowned brand image that had to overcome their controversy was BP and how they handled the gulf oil spill. They acknowledged the accident and quickly became involved in cleanup efforts. The best practices would include avoiding any hesitation and to be direct. Be personable. You never know when controversy will take place, so it’s good to have a personable image that people already enjoy doing business with. You shouldn’t wait for a problem to arise before you address it. Always admit controversy, don’t hide it. This is the first step to turning it around to your advantage. However, you must also be entirely transparent about the situation. An audience will want to know how your brand is addressing the issue and what is being done to prevent it in the future. 

Brands are often challenged with keeping their image current with the audiences’ desires and trends, but at the same time they must also hold on to what defines their brand. Ultimately, the task is to create a brand that is renowned for delivering products and services that customers want. 

Brands and Humor: Excellent Tips and Example

How to use humor with your personal branding strategy

A little bit of humor goes a long way because it improves your mood, defuses conflict, and produces a pleasant experience that you wish to share with others. Incorporating humor in your online marketing campaign is an excellent way to grab the public's attention. Moreover, you get to inject a unique personality and element into your brand. Read along and learn about several tips and examples on how to market your brand by using humor.

Great Tips for Brands that Consider Using Humor to their Advantage

When you want to add some humor in introducing or marketing your brand, make sure that you do it tastefully. Think about your target audience, and choose the best lines that will make them smile and remember your product. It helps to do some cultural research, so you will not end up offending others. The following are additional tips on how to use humor appropriately in your marketing campaign.

1. Make sure that your choice of words or images are in line with the product you are promoting. According to Megan Brown, humor should adhere to the company values, and it should imply a message that is meaningful and not gratuitous.

2. It is also possible that your detractors and competitors will leverage your own approach at humor. In this case, you should know how to deal with such a situation when it happens.

3. While humor is useful in promoting brand awareness or sparking conversations, it may not be functional for conveying information. You should have another option when your goal is to inform the public about your product's features.

4. You should apply humor strategically while retaining the element of fun and surprise. More than anything else, your humorous side should be aligned to your end goal. While you may want to entertain others, humor should not make you lose the main objective and message you wish to impart.

5. If you intend to add humor to your brand, you should prepare for backlash, since you will not be able to meet everybody's expectations. It pays to know the audience that you are catering to, so you know the right approach you should take.

6. As with every advertising initiative you plan to take, it is essential to consider your brand's persona. Humor may not be for all, and it should be used to promote sharing instead of ridicule or criticism. In addition, humor is one sign of intelligence and wit when used the right way. It has the power to make or break your brand's reputation.

7. Laughter can help showcase the unique personality behind you brand. When your punch lines and amusing images are used tastefully, you can engage many people to what you are selling. Just make sure that you test it first with your team and a few other people before you send it out to the public.

8. You should prepare a contingency plan in case you get a backlash in response to the humor you use, according to Tim Welsh. It is also a smart choice not to copy someone else's style. Be unique in your approach, and use your own creativity.

Brand and Humor Lessons from Newcastle Campaign

Many people have been talking about the latest Newcastle marketing campaign. Some rave about it, while others hold a different opinion. The following are only a few of what the public has to say about this particular campaign and its impact to them.

1. Most people like to talk about humorous advertisements, and it can be beneficial for any brand to take a risk. The use of humor in highlighting the differences of the beers help the audience identify with the brand.

2. It helps to use other existing brands as inspiration, according to Olivia Roat. In some cases, it is also a great idea to flip another brand's campaign, and use it against the competitors. Several people agree that the Newcastle cover photo on Facebook has won them over, and they check the page for regular updates.

3. Some people may have been offended by Newcastle's campaign because of the catchy choice of words that may result in defamation lawsuits. On the other hand, others do not detect any signs of mocking in it. In fact, they agree that the humor used was clever, well-targeted, and in line with the brand's image.

4. It may be useful to play off other brands, as long as you understand and present your brand's positioning. Most importantly, according to Megan Brown, you should make sure that the ad leads to a measurable conversion instead of just a few giggles.

5. Since not everyone is likely to get the joke, it is ideal to fight clean. Michael Blackburn states that the impressions given by the Newcastle campaign can be exponential. Others believe that Stella may leverage the campaign to their advantage.

Examples of Effective and Silly Humor Used in Branding

Witty humor can be very effective in promoting any brand. For it to be effective, you should consider many factors such as your audience, your brand's personality, company's values, and the overall message that you wish to imply. The following are among the best examples of silly yet effective humor that were used for branding purposes.

1. Some people agree that the ads for Volkswagen, Geico, and Old Spice were memorable and witty. They appreciate the funny taglines and images that have relevance to the brand's message.

2. KSwiss and Kenny Powers also made use of intelligent humor. The whole output was effective, persuasive, and entertaining.

3. Dollar Shave Club used silly humor that worked well in delivering the product's message. The ad went viral because of the excellent use of humor.

4. Others appreciate an understated and dry humor, which was evident in the "We Are Farmers" campaign done over the past years.

4. The Subway campaign was a hit to several people because of the great use of images. The popping buttons and busting chairs made the brand's point and delivered a message quite well.

5. Clorox's famous "bleachable moments" ads campaign was rather silly, and it promoted what the brand wanted to express to their audience.

6. Mayhem campaign was one of the greatest ads, according to several viewers. The images were enigmatic, and the message was presented clearly.

7. ESPN commercials were a hit to many audiences, and they believe that the silly humor has always been effective for decades.

8. Mayo vs. Miracle Whip was another silly ad that used outstanding consumer insights. This marketing campaign expressed the value of owning your difference and embracing your brand.

9. Beer commercials including Bud Light and Dos Equis were among the top favorite of viewers because of the ridiculous, yet effective humor used.

Brands that Convey a Sense of Humor

When several people were asked to name which brands deliver a sense of humor, they named a few of their favorites:

1. Target uses the right mix of witty and silly humor, and their branding is entertaining. - Maria Duron

2. Geico uses progressive styles and comedic images that work brilliantly. - Kathy-Ann Fletcher

3. Apple delivers a message while adding a subtle sense of humor. - Studio One

4.West Jet may not seem to convey much humor; however, the brand delivers great services. - Stephen Abbott

5. ESPN, Starburst, and Skittles all have a fantastic sense of humor. - Craig Kilgore

6. Taco Bell knows how to make effective ads that create a great impact. - Gerald Moczynski

7. Old Spice, Snickers, FedEx, Ikea, and some beer brands have humorous and memorable ads. - Natasha D'Souza

8. As for personal brands, Ellen and Anderson Cooper got a fabulous sense of humor. - Feast Interactive

Bottom Line

Humor is likely to enhance recall and purchase intention, as long as the message coincides with the ad's objectives. When you add humor to your brand, make sure that you take into consideration these important factors which are necessary to make it work perfectly. You should reach out to your target audience, avoid offending messages, and test drive the humor before letting it out to the public. With these tips and examples, you will be able to utilize humor properly in delivering a powerful and effective message for your brand.

Online and Offline Word of Mouth

Your word of mouth marketing, online and offline

How often have you purchased a product based on a family member or friend's recommendation? Or how many times have you learned about a service that people are talking about on the internet and decided to give it a try? Without realizing it, word of mouth marketing has just worked its magic on you. It has been around for a long time even before other forms of advertisements graced your TV or computer screens.

Word of Mouth marketing is a free type of promotion that can work either way. Simple as it may seem, it can easily make or break the reputation of your business. To make sure that it will work in your favor, getting the right information across is vital. The information needs to travel accurately- no additions or omissions.

When conversations travel from online to offline, then online again, there are a few points to consider so it will remain authentic and seamless. Before anything else, creating enough buzz is the first step you need to make. It is important to understand that word of mouth can not only be encouraged but also facilitated. This means that you can control the information you want to put up to attract customers and generate enough interest to keep people talking. This takes a lot thought and planning so that you can get the right message across. You'd want to use brief yet catchy statements so that people can easily remember them even after their computers are turned off. Also be careful about using words that can carry a lot of meaning. It would be best to use simple words that are easy to understand and have only one precise definition. The problem with complicated statements is that it can be translated in different ways and might lead to inaccurate perceptions. 

Identifying influencers

Influential individuals can have great reach.  Aside from their valued opinion, they have specific knowledge and a specific following.

To keep the conversation going, posting regular updates will be essential. Often, these updates can spark a conversation offline and get more people interested. For the seamless transition from online to offline, provide information that is simple to understand, educational and relatable. At this point you can present real life client testimonials or experiences to highlight a product's features or how well a service is done. This is how you can compare your offerings with your competition and let people know what sets you apart from them. This can create a good flow and will encourage others to share their own experiences.

Forums, Yahoo Answers and LinkedIn Answers

Take the time to research how, where and when opinions and views are shared online. Take advantage of popular sites or forums and join in on the conversation.  You can  provide information or answer inquiries and also educate others on valid information about your company or services.

Review sites

Reviews can also be your best marketing tool. They can provide and a perspective that other people may find helpful. Remember that although online exposure is valuable, the ability to take the attention and interest offline is just as important. If you want to be an effective marketer, you need learn how to improve and amplify the potential of word of mouth marketing and create a strategy focused on developing and measuring word of mouth.  

The Cutting Edge of Mobile Marketing

How your personal branding benefits from mobile  marketing

Mobile marketing changes fast and keeping up with those changes is daunting. What the latest for small business owners? New mobile marketing advances are in-store mobile offers, targeting consumers using public transport, and putting more emphasis on intelligently tailoring mobile ads to appeal to specific target markets.

The Growing Role of In-Store Mobile Offers

Today's marketers know they need to utilize geotargeting (a strategy that involves taking into account the target audience's real time location to make more effective ads) to get the most mileage out of their mobile marketing efforts.

Still dominating the geotargeting world is Foursquare. Foursquare is famous for helping people connect more intimately with businesses they are interested in. As a business owner, Foursquare is a potential goldmine for you. With it, you can send mobile offers to participating customers when they are in the vicinity of your store or business. This is an extremely powerful marketing strategy.

By targeting customers that are physically close to your place of business, you increase the odds that they will respond to your ads by visiting your business in person which increases your likelihood of a sale. Customers that actually visit your business are much more likely to buy something than those that do not. Even in the digital age, physical location is very important.

Public Transport Time: A Hidden Goldmine

The results of a huge research project recently conducted by the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) revealed that one of the times consumers are most likely to respond favorably to mobile ads is when they are using public transport. Partially because people using public transport have available time and are more open to read/review things that they wouldn’t normally have time for in the day. If you can reach people in this state of mind, you stand a reasonably good chance of making more sales.

How do you effectively target people using public transport? You have to use a combination of intelligent geotargeting and marketing savvy. First, plan on targeting cities that have well-developed public transportation systems. Next, make sure that you send out your ads during hours when people are most likely to be commuting.

Designing Ads More Effectively

It isn't enough to find out who is in your target market and targeting them. You have to tailor your ads to their individual wants and needs effectively. When mobile marketing was first starting out, a lot of mobile marketers made the mistake of ignoring important principles of human psychology and crafting overly simple ads. Since mobile marketing is more competitive now, you can't afford to make those mistakes if you want to be successful.

Take Advantage of the Desire for Instant Gratification

One of the most basic principles of psychology is that the vast majority of people would rather have something good now than later, even if by waiting they can net a greater reward. This principle has been widely used in most forms of marketing, but a lot of mobile marketers have failed to apply it adequately. To successfully apply it to your marketing efforts, make sure all your mobile ads emphasize an immediate payoff for your potential customers. Use discounts and other special bonuses  and even giveaways to satisfy that need for instant gratification and stand out amongst your competition.

Build Your Brand, Don't Just Sell Products

Ads that only sell products are never as successful as ads that also help establish a brand. You always have to keep in mind that your ultimate goal is to build up your business as a whole, not just to sell a particular product or service. Try to give potential customers a consistent presentation of the kind of business you have, your service, your benefits and really drive home your value.   If you do this, you will help make your business more memorable in their minds. Using distinctive slogans or catchphrases can really help assist with this process.

Mobile marketing isn't easy, and it's been getting harder. As more mobile marketers target a limited number of potential customers, more people are learning to ignore ads that they get on their Smartphone’s.  It’s important with every tool and with every promotion that you stay on brand and work towards communicating what your brand value is.

Questions to Ask Yourself to Help You Get Ahead with Mobile Marketing

1. Do I have a specific plan for using in-store mobile offers successfully?

2. What cities near my area have good public transportation systems that a lot of people use?

3. Do my ads do a good job of appealing to peoples' desire for instant gratification?

4. Am I trying to build a brand and not just sell a product?

Add Variety to Social Marketing With Tout

Add variety to your social marketing with Tout

Let's face it, the business world is far different than what it was a decade ago, let alone before that. Today, we cannot function without adapting our company an online presence, bringing business to a whole new level of clientele.

Social networks, like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and others, have become some of the greatest ways to promote businesses online. One new social network, called TOUT, has taken online social marketing to a whole new level. Find out how!

What is Tout?

TOUT was actually initially launched as a free iPhone application in mid-April. What Tout does is it allows users to record a 15 second video from their iPhones, and then easily post it to their Twitter or Facebook accounts. While being a third party application, the video also gets posted on the user's personal TOUT account at the TOUT website page.

Several well-known personalities, like Shaquille O'neal and Mitt Romney, use TOUT to express updates, allowing their followers to watch them, instead of just reading their Twitter or Facebook statuses.

Ever since its launch, TOUT has been gaining popularity, today being used by hundreds of thousands.  It’s grown into a major factor and a big opportunity for many businesses to promote their brands. Much like what Instagram did for photos, Tout does for short videos.  Business owners, who had to promote their businesses in the past via status updates, can now promote their businesses via 15 second video updates, which would reach thousands of their followers.

How you can you use it for your small business?

TOUT is of great use to small business owners because visual content is more noticed by potential consumers. Just think about it, how many times do businesses try to promote their current prices, deals and products via videos? On top of that, it’s easy and fast without a huge cost or production investment. This is HUGE for small businesses, allowing them to advertise greatly without spending a fortune!

Not only is it easy to use, TOUT makes reaching potential customers as easy as a Facebook post.  Businesses are able to save on monthly advertising bills, allowing them to focus their budget on improving the product itself.

TOUT is without a doubt a whole new social marketing experience. With hundreds of people researching this new engaging market and releasing tutorials and e-books on how to make use of it, TOUT is definitely knocking on Facebook and Twitter's backdoors, putting a whole lot of pressure on their powerhouse competitors. So, got a small business and looking to promote it in an easy, fast, and affordable way? Then try TOUT!

Social is Brand Research and Brand Communication

Boost your personal branding with social media

Social media is definitely a way to pass time now.  In the past, people used to while away their time listening to the radio or watching TV. Now it seems that everything and everyone can be found on the web. And the word “social” has come to mean social networking sites and platforms where people and brands can engage and connect.

For brands, social has a different meaning, however. It’s about reaching out to consumers in the best way possible. It’s about engaging with them and connecting with them. It’s about understanding what consumers want and providing it.

Social media provides brands with two basic benefits: ability to do brand research and brand communication.

Brand Research

If you’re wondering where to start in your word of mouth marketing, then social media is the way to go. And one of the best things you can do within different social media platforms is to conduct brand research.

There are many insights to be gained from social media interactions. By researching your target audience in social media, you can understand their lifestyles, their behavioral patterns, and even what motivates them to buy and purchase products and services. You can gain a better picture of your target audience and how they engage and connect with brands online. This can really help you discover and learn the best way to connect with them and hopefully get sales in return.

Here are some ideas on conducting social brand research:

       • Monitor keyword “buzz” in the social world and see what products and services related to your brand are trending

       • Test out campaigns to see which ones are effective and which ones aren’t

       • Create polls and surveys for your target audience

       • Monitor your customers and see what compels them to interact and engage with a brand

       • Get on Google Alerts and Analytics, use Twitter search, check Facebook insights, and monitor opt in rates to see which social marketing campaigns are getting the most reactions and which ones are getting left in the dust

Social media can definitely help you learn more about your consumers and what they’re really after. By conducting brand research in different social media platforms, you can effectively create a social marketing campaign that will reach your audience and make them respond.

Brand Communication

Another thing that social media allows you to do is brand communication. In the past, advertising and marketing campaigns were all about the one-way broadcasting of their message (think TV and radio) in the hopes of convincing people to try their products or services. Social media has changed all of that by giving consumers a voice. Now the conversation is a two-way street, where consumers can react to what brands say and claim, and brands can respond. Social media has basically given the power to the consumers.

As a small business brand, you can’t expect to just blare out your message and hope that people will docilely agree and accept it willingly. Consumers are a lot smarter nowadays – they ask questions, they want answers, and they aren’t passively absorbing what you say anymore. They react, they respond, they complain, and they make suggestions. If you don’t satisfy them, you can be sure that you will hear about it in social media.

Through social media, brands can communicate with their audience effectively. They can engage with them through different types of content, respond to their questions, and offer customer support if there are problems that need to be addressed. Many people prefer interacting on a brand’s social media page, as this gets a lot faster response than a ticket submitted through the brand’s website. After all, in social media, it’s not just the two of you talking – the whole world can view your conversation.

Brand research and communication in social media

Social media has truly innovated the way people interact with brands. It’s not enough to provide a solution to a problem anymore. With the competition among brands today, you really have to offer your consumers something more valuable than that in order to be successful.

Utilize social media in brand research and communication so you’re able to understand what your audience wants and can communicate with them effectively. Don’t just be the brand who blends in with all the others. Make yourself stand out by really offering what the consumers want.

So always remember to do your research and regularly engage with your audience so that your brand isn’t far from their minds. Social media is here to stay, so make sure you utilize it wisely.

Author:

Maria Elena Duron, is managing editor of the Personal Branding Blog, CEO (chief engagement officer) of buzz2bucks.com – a word of mouth marketing firm.   She helps create conversation, connection, credibility, community and commerce around your brand.   Maria Duron is co-founder and moderator of #brandchat - a weekly Twitter chat focused on every aspect of branding that is recognized by Mashable as one the 15 Essential Twitter Chats for Social Media Marketers.

Gaming and Couponing Your Brand

Gamification as part of your social marketing strategy

Companies and small businesses today have a lot of options when it comes to marketing and promoting their brand. It’s not just about going door to door, doing TV and radio advertising campaigns, or distributing fliers at your local grocery store. Now you have various other options such as creating a website, starting a blog, making a page in different social networking sites, and so on. It’s about visibility and the Internet is currently the place where most people spend a lot of their time.

There are so many ways you can promote your brand on the web. There’s Facebook and Twitter, and the fast growing site-  Pinterest. There’s LinkedIn, there’s Google+, and don’t forget SEO to ensure that you dominate the search engines. You can create websites, blogs, and join popular article sites such as EzineArticles. You can utilize well-placed online ads that will (hopefully) get clicked on. And you can use popular tools such as gaming and couponing in order to entice customers to buy from you or obtain the services you’re offering.

Games existed offline first

Though online gaming may sound a bit childish to you, many people continue to enjoy online games, even middle aged adults. Games are a great way to kick back, relax, and just let yourself forget about everything even for a little while. It’s also an excellent way to have fun, to challenge yourself, to compete against others, and even to bond with people. Games and contests are a great way to promote your brand. After all, who wouldn’t want to win in a contest?

Couponing – can be good and bad

Couponing has also become extremely popular among the public today. With the advent of Groupon and FourSquare, everyone now enjoys looking for the best deals when it comes to brands they love as well as the brands they want to try out. It’s a great way to gain exposure for your brand, as many people simply can’t resist a good deal. There’s just something irresistible about getting 50% off a new restaurant, or 30% off a nice dress.

As a small business owner, if you’re looking into using gaming and couponing in marketing your brand, then you should definitely consider using Fanplayr. Fanplayr.com gives you the ability to add coupons and offer gamification in your social marketing mix. It offers an excellent and innovative way to attract and engage your customers.

FanPlayr – A resource for you

Social marketing has quickly become the most popular way of promoting your brand. Everything has become “social” these days, as more and more people use social networking sites to with their friends, play games, use apps, connect with their favorite brands, and so on.

Fanplayr provides you the ability to engage with your audience through gamification and couponing across different platforms. And the best part is, you don’t have to be a programmer or developer to start creating your own gaming and couponing campaign. In less than 15 minutes, you can set up a coupon game that you could place on your website, include in your newsletter, share on Facebook, and offer on mobile. It’s that simple.

Fanplayr also recently announced that it has entered into partnership with Ifeelgoods so it can bring Facebook credits to “smart and targeted” social offers and coupons. This empowers Magenta merchants all over the world by being able to benefit from low-cost Facebook credits in order to get better returns on their offers and coupons.

Feeling rewarded and engaged

Your brand promotion and messaging can become boring if you don’t mix it up, which is why using gaming and couponing can definitely capture your customer’s attention. Both small businesses and large companies can utilize this feature in order to engage and connect with consumers better. Customers feel rewarded when they play the game and then win the prize of a coupon that they can redeem when they like.

When it comes to social marketing, it’s really about finding the best ways to enhance your brand and engage with your consumers. Since there are so many other brands that offer the same or similar products or services, it’s vital for you to stand out and differentiate yourself by offering fun and unique things to your customers.

Fanplayr in partnership with Ifeelgoods definitely offers some interesting options for small business owners who want to offer their customers something new. Don’t limit yourself to traditional marketing campaigns that may end up boring your customers. Add new and interesting offers, such as gaming and couponing to connect with them further.

Author:

Maria Elena Duron, is managing editor of the Personal Branding Blog, CEO (chief engagement officer) of buzz2bucks.com – a word of mouth marketing firm. She helps create conversation, connection, credibility, community and commerce around your brand. Maria Duron is co-founder  and moderator of #brandchat - a weekly Twitter chat focused on every aspect of branding that is recognized by Mashable as one the 15 Essential Twitter Chats for Social Media Marketers.

Your Culture and Consumers

Personal branding for professionals and small business owners

Personal branding has become essential for both professionals and small business owners today. It’s not just about providing the right service or selling the right products anymore. Because there’s so much competition out there, you really need to stand out, and one of the best ways to do this is through personal branding.

Developing your brand isn't something that can be done overnight. It takes thinking and planning and conceptualizing and most of all discovering what your personal brand is.  If there’s one thing that’s very important in the making of your brand, it’s your brand culture.

Interaction counts

Even if you’re just a small business brand, the culture within your company is important to your branding. Your company's culture is how you and the people you work with adapt and work together towards a common goal. It’s how you work together, interact with each other, communicate with customers, connect with them, and how you go about doing the daily tasks of your small business brand.

Your personal or small business brand isn’t just a brand anymore. It’s a culture, a lifestyle. The overall feel of your brand affects how consumers view you, and the consumers are affected by the culture of your brand. Even the people you work with are affected, and how they view your brand also affects the way they talk about it with other people.

Times have changed, and you can’t just be the best in your industry anymore. Maybe your coffee shop has the best coffee in town, but if your customers hate the ambiance in your place, then no one’s going to visit anymore. Maybe you’re the best doctor in your area, but if people hate your secretary's poor customer service, then no one’s going to be lining up at your door anymore.

Getting or losing customers is all about the culture in your small business brand and how it aligns with the interests of your consumers. You want your culture to be something that affects both the people you work with and the people who obtain your services or buy from you. It should be based on your values, and the best service that you want to provide to your clients and customers.

How exactly do you create a strong culture in your small business brand?

     1. Understanding yourself

As a personal brand, it’s important that you understand yourself first. What do you stand for? What are your values? How do you envision your brand?

Understanding yourself is the first step to creating a strong brand culture. By knowing what you stand for, as well as the things you can and cannot compromise with, you can really determine how you want to run your small business, and ensure that what you envision it to be can turn into reality.

     2. Understand the people you work with

Another important factor in creating a strong brand culture is understanding what motivates the people you work with. People don’t want to just do their jobs and exhale a sigh of relief when it’s time to go home. People want to love their jobs, love the people they work with, love their boss. Honestly, who would want to work in a place when you always feel as if you’re dragging your feet every morning when it’s time to go?

Communication is very important. Make an effort to know what the people around you think, and take their views into consideration. If you really want a successful brand, then it’s important that the people you work with love the brand as much as you do. So don’t ignore the people under you. Make sure that their voices are heard.

     3. Understand your customers

Who is your target audience? What do they want? What makes them tick? It’s all about getting into their minds and understanding what they truly want from your brand. Yes, you need to provide excellent products and services. But you should also give them excellent customer service as well as an excellent experience of your brand. Give them an experience that’s unique to your small business brand, something that no other brand can give them. This is how a culture is created.

Today, it’s not just about providing a product or service that the customer needs. It’s also about ensuring that you give your employees as well as your customers the best experience of your brand as possible so that they can talk about your brand in a positive light and share their experience with others.

Author:
Maria Elena Duron, is managing editor of the Personal Branding Blog, CEO (chief engagement officer) of buzz2bucks.com – a word of mouth marketing firm.   She helps create conversation, connection, credibility, community and commerce around your brand.   Maria Duron is co-founder  and moderator of #brandchat - a weekly Twitter chat focused on every aspect of branding that is recognized by Mashable as one the 15 Essential Twitter Chats for Social Media Marketers.

Do You Need to Change Your Reputation?

Your online reputation can harm your personal branding strategy

If there’s one thing that personal brands want to protect, it’s their reputation both online and off. You can’t expect to land jobs or get hired if your reputation is mostly negative, especially in the online world. Google now remembers every page where your name has been mentioned, and any site with a negative review about your products or services can remain there forever.

The nature of the search engines allow people to see that site with a negative post about you over and over. Unless, of course, you do something about it. If you aren’t sure where to start on getting back your online reputation, then you should try out Reputation Changer.

Reputation Changer knows how essential for personal brands their reputation is. Whether you’re a politician, a doctor, an athlete, or a marketer, it’s important that you maintain a reputation that’s good and positive. Otherwise, who will want to hire you? If you’re a doctor, for example, who recently had a series of complaints and bad reviews about your medical services, do you think patients will continue lining up at your door?

A good online reputation is essential to ensuring that you continue to have customers and clients interested in obtaining your services and buying your products. Make sure that you protect your reputation, because if you don’t do anything about it, it may even get worse. The bad reviews, news, and feedback will continue to populate the top search engine results, and more and more people will read it, making the decision to turn away from your personal brand and to look to someone else to obtain the same products or services.

Sometimes there are valid reasons for your bad feedback. But many times, these complaints and poor reviews can be the cause of the envy of your competitors or a person out to get you. Do you want to risk having your reputation ruined simply because of someone’s unreasonable vendetta?

Also, the negative feedback could be about another person who shares your name – and now your personal brand is suffering even if you haven’t done anything wrong. People who Google your name read these poor reviews, and they don’t really look into it further to discover that it really isn’t about you. So what can you do?

If you need to change your personal brand’s reputation, then Reputation Changer can help you. What exactly can Reputation Changer do for you?

Clear your name in the search engines

A single negative review or feedback can ruin the wonderful reputation you’ve spent years building. Honestly, it always seems that bad news gets spread faster than good news, so in many cases, a negative review about your brand spreads like a virus while the good reviews just aren’t talked about as much.

Reputation Changer can help you clear the search engine results of any complaint or negative listing that’s posted about your personal brand. The negatives will be buried under websites, media reviews, high PR article sites, and other assets that will show you in a positive light.

Most people don’t go past page one of the search engine results, so once the negative reviews have been pushed back, they you can consider them as dead and buried. When people search for your name, all they will see are the sites that Reputation Changer has created that show you in the best light possible.

Monitor and protect your personal brand

As the owner of your personal brand, you want to protect it at all costs. You want to know right away if someone posts a bad or negative review about you so that you can address the problem immediately.

Reputation Changer can help you by monitoring keywords related to your personal brand in order to immediately inform you if there are mentions or comments about you. Quickly addressing the problem can help contain it, so that it doesn’t spread. If you remain ignorant of the bad reviews, then they can spread like wildfire over the Internet, and it’s a lot more difficult to control.

Manage your online reputation

In today’s world, a good online reputation has become essential for brands, both personal and business ones. It can mean the difference between getting hired, getting fired, getting customers, and getting clients. So make sure that your search engine results are positive and clean. Don’t let an unreasonable complaint or a bad review ruin your personal brand. If you can’t manage your reputation alone, there’s always Reputation Changer to turn to.

Avoid these 3 Twitter Chat Mistakes that will Hurt You

Twitter chat done right for personal branding

Recently I wrote an article about hosting a Twitter chat. It’s an excellent way for you to corner your niche.  Yet, don’t host one if you’ve never been on one – the sheer speed of the event will overwhelm you.

So, attend a Twitter chat – yet, just like anything else done online- guard your brand and ensure that the chat is a positive reflection, not a negative one.

Here’s what to avoid:

     1. Steer clear of me, me, me

Every tweet doesn’t have to be about how you could ‘solve that’.  In fact, tweets like that are seen as spammy and do not engage – yet rather tarnish your brand.
Make your tweets helpful and interactive.  After all you are in a network, the basic networking skills are necessary.

     2.  Sending direct messages to people

During a chat, it’s fast paced.  In fact, I call it high-speed – because it is.  Just lurk on one and you’ll see the truth in that statement!

This is not the time to send direct messages.   People cannot see them.  Worse yet, there are people who want to continue the conversation via direct message with links – about them.  No, no, no (shaking head in disgust).

     3. Putting the hashtag in the middle of the tweet and making your tweets 140 characters

If you want to frustrate someone in a Twitter chat, this is the way to do it.  If they want to retweet you, they’ll need to dissect the #hashtag from the middle and shorten your tweet.  In the meantime, the chat is speeding by them.  That frustration then is linked to you.  Avoid it by not doing it.

Follow the basic rule of thumb that every tweet needs to be 120 characters and watch how you’ll be engaged and retweeted.

Looking for a Twitter chat to “cut your teeth on”, why not join #brandchat on Wednesday, 10 a.m. CST.  You can see recaps here to bring you up to speed!

Companies' Personal Connection as Influential as Friends'

For most brands of today, social media is “THE” place to be. It’s where most people are devoting their time nowadays, which is why small business brands are adding social media to their marketing mix in order to promote brand awareness and increase consumer engagement.

The main point in using social media in your marketing mix is to engage and connect with your audience. People don’t want to be bombarded with advertisements in Facebook or Twitter – they want to keep in touch with their friends, read interesting posts and updates, watch relevant videos, and get information about sales, specials and giveaways with regards to the brands they love.

As a small business owner, you’re definitely interested in how much you’re influencing consumers through social media. You want to know if you’re really increasing brand awareness, if your website is getting traffic from these platforms, and if it’s resulting in an increase of revenue for your business.

In a survey conducted by Market Force Information, they discovered that social content posted by brands are practically as influential as social content that are posted by friends. Social content is influencing consumers’ buying decisions, whether they’re posted by friends or brands.

The recent Market Force survey interviewed adults who are into social networking, and asked if they read comments, updates, tweets, and other social media content that were posted in the past 90 days by friends and brands they follow. The results showed that 81% of these people were influenced by their friends’ posts to purchase, while a comparatively high 78% were influenced by brands. This is very significant for businesses, both small and large.

Since companies and brands who are active in social media also wield a significant influence in consumers’ purchases, then there’s really no better time than today to ensure that you’re utilizing your social media platforms properly. As a small business owner, this is data that you can’t ignore – consumers want to connect with you on social media; they want you to influence their buying decisions.

The survey also shows that consumers are now seeking recommendations and checking reviews in social networking sites. This is where they try to obtain information about restaurants they want to try, retailers they want to buy from, and other products and services that they’re curious about. About 60% of those surveyed from the US say that they rely on brand feedback they read on friends’ social media posts, while in the UK, about half do this as well.

Some other revealing data: around 76% of US respondents regularly “like” the Facebook page of a business, with the most popular ones “liked” being those involved in food, travel, entertainment, finance and retail. This is comparable to 65% of UK respondents. Nearly half of these also follow the same businesses on Twitter. The main reason given by the respondents for following the brand on social media is to be updated on giveaways, specials, discounts and other incentives given by the business.

Perhaps the best part about brands in social media is the fact that it offers a two-way interaction between the business and its audience. Communication isn’t a one-way street anymore, and even the people in the audience can interact with each other within the platform. Your audience can reply to other people’s questions and comments, and this really helps in building a community around your brand.

Though having a social media account can also open you to criticisms and negative feedback, most brands find that having a social media presence really helps spread the word about their brand in a positive way. It offers an excellent way for the consumers of your small business brand to engage with you as well as with other clients and customers.

Rather than have people talk about your brand behind your back, it’s far better that they talk about you within a platform that you can monitor. This is what a social media presence helps you do. With the site, people can post both positive and negative feedback, and it really helps you discover what you can do to improve your brand and be able to answer any criticisms that come your way.

So don’t be afraid of social media. They’re currently the most popular platforms online that can help you promote your brand and increase revenue for your business. By ensuring that you have a social media presence, you can effectively connect and engage with your audience, and convince them to buy your products and services.

What's the Call to Action?

When it comes to marketing your brand, there is always a goal. You want your audience to sign up for your newsletter, follow you in Twitter and Facebook, comment on your blog posts, buy your products, and obtain your services. You want them to complete an objective – to like your posts, join your contests, and share them with friends. You want them to retweet your content, repost it on their Facebook wall, repin your pins on Pinterest. Basically, you want them to take an action, which is why using a call to action in your social marketing campaign is essential.

You may think that it’s obvious what you want people to do, but sometimes, if you don’t clearly state it, your audience will nonetheless be oblivious to it. They’ll read your social media posts, but they won’t click to “like” it, nor will they leave a comment. They’ll read your blog post, but they won’t subscribe to your newsletter. This is why you need to give them a push – a direct call to action. You have to encourage people to go a step beyond just reading your entry to actually completing these specific actions that will be beneficial to your brand marketing.

So how do you effectively create calls to action that garners the attention of your audience and makes them complete your objective? Here are some tips:

     1. State your objective clearly and prominently

If you want people to take an action, then you need to state it clearly and prominently. In a blog post, for example, you can easily end with, “What do you think? Leave a comment.” This is a direct call to action so that people can quickly realize that you want them to leave a comment about what they think. If you don’t place this action call at the end of your entry, then people are likely to simply read the blog post and then move on without doing anything.

Placing the call to action in a prominent position is also a good idea. You don’t have to put it in all caps, or use a bold font just to get attention. But make sure that it’s placed somewhere that people will definitely see it. If it’s a blog entry, ending your post with the call to action is a good idea since some people may just skim through the post, and they might miss it if it’s in the middle. This also applies to Facebook updates – you can place the call to action either in the first sentence or the last once.

If the call to action is on your website, you should place it in a position that gets attention, and also have it in a different color so that it pops out on the page. Ideally, you should put it high on the page and in a central place so that people can really see it. You don’t want it to just blend into the background where people won’t notice it.

     2. Use active language and create urgency

Since you are encouraging people to take action, you should use active language and create a sense of urgency so that people will be compelled to do it now. Examples of some active words commonly used in calls to action include:

- Buy now
- Subscribe
- Register
- Sign up
- Download

And here are some examples on how to create a sense of urgency:

- Limited time offer
- Register now and save
- Today only special
- First ten to sign up will get a free gift

The more active the language and the more urgent the offer, the better. Just remember to always deliver what you promised.

     3. Convince people to take the action

There needs to be some incentive for people to complete the call to action. Ask yourself, what will they get out of it? It can be as simple as getting them to think or laugh with you in your social media posts, or getting them to sign up for your newsletter so they can have access to exclusive discounts and offers. It’s essential that they get something out of completing the call to action. Otherwise, what’s the point, right?

When it comes to social and word of mouth marketing, calls to action are definitely essential. Sometimes people need an extra push before they do something, and a call to action done properly will be just the thing needed for them to do what you want them to do.

Make your call to action clear and prominent, use active language, create a sense of urgency, and convince people to take the step necessary to complete the desired action. These are just a few simple steps that will help you engage and connect better with your audience.

Now We Can Measure Pinterest

Pinterest is fast becoming one of the most popular social networking sites in the world. It currently ranks third with regards to the number of users, with Facebook and Twitter the first and second, respectively.

Due to Pinterest’s increasing popularity, more and more brands – business and personal ones – are signing up and using the site for social marketing. After all, brands need to be where the people are, so that they can spread the word about their brand as well as engage and connect with people.

Since Pinterest is still a pretty new platform, many brands are wondering how to measure the success of their marketing campaign within the site. Unlike other popular social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter, where there are already various ways to measure the ROI or success of your marketing campaign using the sites, the best way to measure the success of your Pinterest campaign remains elusive.

So how do you know if your Pinterest campaign is getting the results you want? How do you measure success? Is it enough to count the number of followers you have? Is it enough to see people liking and repinning your content? Can you already say that your campaign is successful?

Even if you answered yes to those questions, how can you be certain? As a small business owner, you have to ensure that you devote your time in the most lucrative way possible, so if you aren’t sure of the results of your Pinterest campaign, should you continue to devote time and resources to it?

Maybe not.

But don’t lose hope. Now there is something interesting that has come up to help you with this problem. A monitoring and analytics platform for sites involved in social curation, such as Pinterest, recently launched – and they’ve already signed up more than 150 brands and agencies.

Curalate is entering the scene at a perfect time – with the growing popularity of socially curated sites, brands really need to have the ability to measure the success of their social marketing campaign, otherwise, what’s the point of using the site, right?

What exactly does Curalate do?

Right now, it is the only available tool in the market that helps give brands a complete picture of how successful their campaign is in socially curated sites such as Pinterest. It uses a sophisticated mixture of proprietary image-recognition techniques and analytics to make you see how effective you are in engaging your audience. You gain insight on how your brand is influenced by your activities as well as your fans. Curalate is currently the only platform that is able to measure both first and third party actions – and this really gives it an edge over other platforms.

As a small business owner, you really want to make sense of social curation. You want to benefit from it, and that’s exactly what Curalate brings you – a way to monitor, measure, and help you grow your presence in socially curated sites.

Other social monitoring tools are effective when it comes to monitoring texts, but not when it comes to visuals. This is why Curalate really stands out – it helps you make sense of today’s visual platforms.

Within the site, you can easily review and respond to mentions of your brand. This helps you connect and engage better with your audience. What Curalate does is that it finds and consolidates all the conversations about you in one place, so it’s easy for you to reply to these mentions.

Curalate also helps you discover your fans and learn who your brand advocates are. These people are the ones who promote your brand and who can influence others to like your brand, so it’s very important that you learn who they are.

Another benefit the site offers is that it helps you identify what types of content are popular with users, so that you can plan your campaign effectively. After all, with socially curated sites, visual content is the most important.

It even gives you insights on your competition – Curalate gives you reports on how your curation efforts weight against those of your competitors. This is an excellent way to determine if you need to step up your campaign in order for your small business to succeed.

The best part is, Curalate shows you the complete picture, so you know which content is driving the most traffic to your site or store. This really helps you discover which area you need to focus on in order to promote your brand effectively.

Social curation is all the rage today, which is why brands need to have the ability to measure brand engagement as well as the success of their social marketing campaign. Curalate offers you that and more, so don’t hesitate and try their free trial now.