Humanize to Power Word of Mouth Marketing

Humanize your brand for word of mouth marketing

When it comes to interacting with your audience, what is it that makes them feel comfortable with you? Is it your thorough reserves of knowledge? Perhaps it could be the unique service your brand provides. What many audiences truly desire is to do business with someone they can relate to.

This isn’t always the first consideration of many brands and is often overlooked. But the true fact remains: humanizing your brand creates a unique authenticity. So, how can you humanize your brand and really develop a loyal following? 

Five (5) Ways to Humanize Your Brand

1. Be Interactive 

How interactive are you with your audience? Do you interact through social content and blog comments? What do you say to them? How you respond to your audience will ultimately determine how approachable your brand is. Does your audience feel comfortable communicating with you? More importantly, does your audience enjoy communicating with you? Engaging the audience is more than just answering their questions; it’s about getting them to ask in the first place. 

2. Develop relatable and entertaining contents

Content is the backbone of your brand. What you say and how you say things affect your brand’s authenticity and visibility. But, there is something to consider when creating content if you are going to generate relatable content. Don’t focus on making your titles search-friendly. They often sound unnatural and more like you’re appealing to a search engine rather than humans. Though it might improve Google results, readers will quickly spot this particular “strictly business” approach (and they won’t likely relate to your content).

Additionally, laughter is contagious and often most likely to be shared (even if it’s just a quote or reference). Add a little humor into your content to entice the audience to share with others who could relate to it. Just be sure to keep it appropriate and relevant to your topic.

3. Create a great “About Us” page

This is one area where brands can either define themselves as mechanical or human operated. An “about us” page has a lot to say, whether it’s said or unsaid. Take some time to really develop this portion of your social sites and website. 

The best practice is to tell your brand’s story. How did it come to be? How has it developed?

[tweet this].

Simple as it may sound, it works far more effectively than simply listing out a few features of your brand. This will give your brand character that the audience can relate to.

4. Post personalized photos 

With social networks enabling brands to show off their best qualities, make your brand relatable with authentic pictures. Avoid pictures that look more like examples of a store’s stock or merchandise. Personalize it with photos of you, preferably interacting and networking with the audience. 

5. Maintain a good reputation

Above all, always be honest. When developing the relatable aspect of your brand’s image, always keep in mind that the audience’s perception will ultimately determine how authentic you truly are. Give them a reason to believe in you and what you can do for them. 

Etiquette is Still an Important Word of Mouth Tool in Social Media

Your social etiquette for word of mouth marketing

Have you ever considered your social media marketing attitude? How do you interact with your audience? What type of content do you deliver? In what manner do you deliver that content? Etiquette is an essential ingredient to any social marketing campaign, and will determine how your audience perceives you on a professional scale. 

What does etiquette mean to your social media marketing strategy? Do you discuss matters politely with your audience? Does your content appropriately tie-in with your brand? Above all, is your content presented in a clear and understandable context?  

If you can say yes to those preceding questions, it basically affirms to your audience that your brand puts into practice the art of professionalism. The authenticity of your expertise in your field will become clear. This provides extra value for your network. 

Basics of Social Media Marketing Etiquette

Socially acceptable contents

Perhaps, one of the most effective ways to practice social media marketing etiquette is through your contents.  Try to keep your contents professional. Too often, social media marketing contents mask or even detract from the professional image you’re trying to portray.

The best place to start keeping your content professional is to focus specifically on the subject of your brand. The art of professionalism in the use of social media is easy to lose track of – especially since, now and then, we’re all inclined to share opinions that we consider important to us. While this is generally acceptable for a personal or private account, when it comes to your brand, it’s crucial that you stay focused on 100% professional topics. 

Basically, a social network is a place where you share the ethos of your brand with your audience. It’s not a place for you to vent your personal issues, beliefs, and otherwise be socially self-centered. 

No one likes to listen (read) to social whining, especially since that particular aspect is already in abundance on the net. [tweet this].

Instead, you have to present brand authenticity. 

Consider what stance on issues your brand has. All brands will and must have their own viewpoint. But, each viewpoint must be presented in such a way that it opens a door for discussion instead of discouraging views. Keep your material conversation worthy so that your audience will be open to discussion and better yet, share it by word of mouth with their own networks. 

Because social networks already contain a vast array of updates and news information, it is important to understand that it is not necessary to keep your audience constantly updated on every news-bite. Your brand must utilize news updates effectively. They are not your personal contents, so they should be used sparingly (such as when they are directly relatable to your brand’s contents). You can use news updates to make an effective point. 

Socially correct approach

Keep in mind that each social network has a unique audience, which will require a specific marketing approach. So, it is necessary to have a different etiquette for each social network. Your Twitter audience may appreciate short updates and tags while your Facebook audience would enjoy conversation and interaction. For each social platform, you must have a different approach. Basically, you are looking at this as a way of speaking effectively to your audience. 

While content may be generally the same, it’s all about your presentation. How you deliver your brand’s message will affect how your audience perceives you. Do you understand what the audience wants? You need to be able to deliver contents that they want to see in a context that they want to see it in.

Of course, context also includes the way you communicate. Everyone wants to demonstrate themselves to be experts in their field, but if no one else understands what they’re saying, that isn’t going to be an easy accomplishment. 

The main issue with this is that many professionals talk to others in the way that they would talk to themselves. Their expertise has given them detailed insight into their particular field. So, it’s easy for professionals to understand complex data and technical jargon. Unfortunately, the audience may not have this same level of knowledge. Because of this, the audience may not be able to understand the message. They may be dissuaded from reading further or even misinterpret the message. As an expert, it is essential that you speak to the audience, at THEIR level. Not only is this professional etiquette, it is the most effective way you can ensure that your message is clearly understood. 

One last issue is the fact that it is possible to become too personal with your brand. While it’s important that you develop a relationship with your audience, it should always remain professional, especially when first initiating your social media campaign.

The use of appropriate social etiquette will affect how well the audience responds to your social marketing strategies. By providing quality content in a manner that the audience will appreciate, you will ensure that your brand sets a high standard for social etiquette. 

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. 

Pinterest Helps Garner Big Business for Small Businesses

Social marketing with Pinterest for your small business

Throughout the internet, imagery seems to be the most popular source of interest. People enjoy an iconic meme or a photo of the latest hot-topic. However, by considering the bigger picture, the prospect of visualization is presented. It’s easy to use and can easily influence a wide audience with minimal investment.

Pinterest has been an underestimated audience source for the business industry. Perhaps it’s because of the fact that its design was oriented around individuals sharing images they like. However, it has since grown far beyond that limitation.

Growth of the Pinterest network is extraordinary

More businesses are expanding their use for different social networks, especially the larger industries. This, of course, is a continuing trend that has opened up these industries to a larger network of individuals, contacts, and new opportunities. This radical growth has thus made Pinterest one of the leading opportunities for word of mouth marketing, by presenting an already established network that is ready to be utilized by businesses of all size. 

Pinterest is basically organized around visual appeal- the picture takes center stage and the message is displayed with simplicity so that it doesn’t distract from the purpose. Comments are applicable, but aren’t necessarily the primary intention of the social medium. Instead, it’s more about getting the attention of the audience and introducing yourself. By linking appropriately and with the right incentive, Pinterest allows you to guide the audience to primary sites, such as your webpage,LinkedIn site (with a professional profile), blogs, and other methods by which you increase your network. 

Gaining from imagery

While some social sites can be difficult to utilize or even navigate, this visual site focuses on being simple and relatively easy to use. The “Pin it” browser allows you to pin anything to your account without having to access the site or sign in. As you surf through the web, interesting imagery can pop up, such as statistical graphs or topics that apply to your business, in which case you can simply press a button and save the material. This helps the user avoid wading through the sign-in hoopla, a distraction that so many social networks tend to employ. 

“This is also a great site where you can simplify technical data that readers might find difficult to understand, such as business analysis. Information in general is often simplified through visualization, making it applicable to even the most technical fields.“ [tweet this].

Additionally, people tend to crave the taste of change regularly. This is perhaps why there are always new trends coming up, and perhaps why it’s also important to be conversant with the latest "hot topic", before everyone else. Social sites like MySpace and Facebook have in essence grown older. While their application is still viable, the introductions of sites like Pinterest generally possess a trending appeal which grabs the audience’s attention. 

"Social networks offer a wide range of marketing benefits, but not all businesses can utilize their communication outlets the same". [tweet this].

Pinterest relies on visuals, which means that your small business needs to be able to associate itself with something visual. In employing Pinterest, creativity is often essential, and it’s up to each individual to apply this in order to make their business appealing.

An Examination of the Social Demographics for Various Major Networks

Social networks have taken on a great role in our lives, and a number of major networks have established themselves over a few years. It is interesting to examine the kinds of social demographic that major networks such as Facebook, Google +, Twitter, YouTube and others have.

Why is it interesting to learn these demographic facts? Well, if you are a marketer, it always helps to know about the people you are advertising to. If you are not a marketer, you are probably visiting certain networks for some other reason. Knowing the kinds of users each network has will give you a greater understanding of where you can connect with people who have goals/interests similar to yours. Below is a brief examination of the people who frequent Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus, Pinterest, LinkedIn, and YouTube.

"Social networks allow you to find and connect with people who have goals/interests similar to yours" [tweet this].

Social Networks and Their Demographics

GENDER

Google Plus is the best social media site to promote gadgets, software and other products for males.  Given that more than 70% of its users are males (40% of them are single), products that will help with meeting or attracting ladies will be easier to sell.

Pinterest users are mostly (more than 80%) women. These women have been identified to be highly interested in sharing their knowledge and ideas about crafts, gifts, hobbies, leisure, interior design, fashion etc. Social media marketers are advised to open an account and promote their products in Pinterest if their product is for creative and fashionable women.

AGE

Twitter has a lot of captive buyers for you if your product is for 25 year olds or older. Whoever is composing tweets (messages) for marketing should be witty since there is a limit of 140 characters per tweet. In addition, more than 40 % of Twitter users access their accounts using their mobile phones so products related to mobile phones would be interesting to twitter users.

EDUCATION

As you can probably tell, LinkedIn is a network filled with academically-accomplished people who have a lot of money to spend. Many of them are businessmen and businesswomen. Studies show that more than 60% of LinkedIn users use the site for business. So, whether you want to make connections or help grow your business (or anything else business-related), LinkedIn is perhaps the best place to start.

INCOME

Considering the diversity of Facebook users, this site is a great venue for all social media marketers to connect with current and possible clients. Also, since around 200 million of their users access the site using their mobile phones, it is a great site to promote mobile phone devices, accessories and applications.  

YouTube’s social demographics are harder to get a clear or precise picture of; for instance, the base age demographic is said to be between 18 and 54 years (a very wide range), and 70% of the website's traffic comes from outside the U.S.

As a result, if you are going to be using YouTube to reach out to specific social demographics, you'll have a good chance of succeeding. There are millions upon millions of people of all ages, from all kinds of backgrounds and parts of the world, earning different incomes; from spoiled ten-year-olds to wise elders who just learned to use the computer. You'll find it's a true mixing pot of demographics.

However, one thing can be certain, and it's that most users go to YouTube to watch short videos and be entertained, meaning many users are looking for short thrills and don't have much patience, at least not when navigating that website. So make sure your videos are short and entertaining.

Conclusion:

Based on the above data, social network users come from all walks of life, and of varying ages. One can safely conclude that there is a huge pool of prospect clients for all social media marketers. All they (marketers) need to do is identify the right site for their product to ensure that they are promoting their product to the right clients.

Sources:

Mashable

YouTube Analytics

ReelSEO

Facebook Newsroom

Venture Beat

Amzini

Slideshare

HubSpot Blog

Ignite Social Media

6 Things to Avoid in Starting Your Company Blog

Blogging tips for an effective social marketing campaign

Have you ever wondered what you should do when starting a blog? What about what you shouldn’t do? Targeting an audience, creating quality material, and basically generating interest in your brand are the ultimate goals, but there are a few habits that tend to reduce the value our blogs bring to our brand image.

There are certain situations to avoid when constructing and ultimately posting a blog. Start by developing a plan. Basically, your blog should start out as a summary of your profile and goals. But, there are a few more important details to keep in mind when setting up your blog. 

Top Six Things that Must Not Be Overlooked

1. You don’t have to make a blog a group project for your entire business. While advice and even guest activity are welcomed when helping construct material, it shouldn’t be the task of every part of your brand to simultaneously establish a blog. In some cases, it can be useful to spread out the development process, such as investigating a portion of your business separately in each blog. Just be sure that it doesn’t interfere with your brand managers’ endeavors, since that would affect the material in the blog and the ultimate success of your brand. Basically, don’t allow the work on the blog set-up to become a burden - or else it will cost you…

2. This leads to the issue of being unreliable. When a business owner is focused on their business, establishing a blog can seem like a to-do project that can wait on the back-burner forever. But, one of the worst things to do is to establish a blog and fail to follow up regularly. Just like the material in a newspaper, people look for new material regularly, whether it’s in the Sunday comics or the sports. Don’t ever neglect to put in your allotted time and be sure to maintain a regular flow of material.

3. Of course, you don’t want to rush yourself or generate for the sake of posting. A common mistake is to write in order to gain SEO favor instead of creating quality content. Keywords are important, but are only to be used sparingly. Sure it’s a great idea to gain visibility – but only temporarily. SEOs look for current “hot topics” that are favorable and will abandon materials that lack quality content relatively quickly. Additionally such blog material doesn’t really generate interest or conversation, making it something that an audience will see and forget as quickly as a mouse click.  

4. This brings us to the important fact that people avoid blog posters who tend to be just plain boring. You can write a whole lot of words and end up with nothing if you have no structure, readability, or even humor (a little humor goes a long way). 

The main principle is to generate interest and thereby improve word of mouth marketing. You want people to talk about you, not just read the material and continue to surf the web. Make them stop and consider for a moment a simple but applicable point that you make that they are able to relate to their everyday life.

5. Of course, time is valuable to everyone, especially to a business owner or brand operator- hence the reason for ghost writers and guest bloggers. It can be useful at times to gain the aid of a helping hand, but it’s even more important to ensure that the content won’t hurt your brand.

To enunciate we target copyright issues and infringement. There are certain apps available to ensure the content is original, and it is important to filter it through systems so your blog isn’t just a repeating machine or even worse an infringer. Nothing is more upsetting than finding that your material is the result of “copy-and-paste,” even if you weren’t the one to do so. You are responsible so make sure you take all action to ensure the security and sanctity of your material. 

6. Then there are the links to consider. Too many sites have links that don’t work and that fact is noted in the comments. That doesn’t reflect well on your image at all, even if the comments contain praise for content. It can paint you as unprofessional or unprepared if your links don’t carry your audience where they want to go with the click of a button. Speed and availability identify your brand as reliable and efficient. Be sure that you apply yourself in this department. 

Generating a blog can be simple, as long as you avoid some common mistakes. Don’t misuse your publicity or it may cost your brand in the long run. 

Word of Mouth Means Listening and Responding

Social marketing and networking tips for effective engangement

There are numerous social outlets through which we can communicate with the rest of the world. But, it is not about always how many people we reach as it is how many people we share the experience with. How can you achieve a good conversation? What does it take to get people to not only talk with you but also talk about you? Remember that on a social platform, word of mouth marketing works by spreading through your audience’s networks, updates, and connections. If you do not stimulate conversation, no one will talk about your brand.

Often, the most popular question is: Are others influenced by your posted content? Are people listening or are they just passing through and ignoring? But when it comes to a social network, there are more variables to consider. 

Be aware of what’s happening

Start by paying attention to what is going on around you. Posting on a social network can stimulate activity, but if you don’t understand what direction the conversation is taking, you won’t be able to make the most of the opportunity. It is also beneficial to pay attention to what is currently trending and interacting on other sites by simply watching the flow of the conversation. One of the biggest issues with social networks is that you aren’t always able to see an entire comment list at one time. Be sure that you scan through from the beginning to get an idea of where things started and where they are now.

Know the purpose

So, ask yourself why it is that people talk in general. What is the purpose of a response? At the core level, the commenter seeks recognition, even if their comment is unrelated or irrelevant. They want their own words and response to be seen.

Primarily, each individual is looking for someone to converse with more than anything else. If they see a post, they might like it or put a short comment such as “great idea.” Keep in mind that any response deserves an acknowledgement. 

Listen and respond accordingly

Your main objective is to get them talking in order to provide yourself the opportunity to entice them. But, in order to keep the conversation going, you have to listen to what is going on and be alert at all times. If you create a post, check it regularly. Start a conversation that is open to outside comment, and watch which direction it goes. In many cases, direction can be altered by your response and interaction. 

You have to pay attention so that you can spot opportunity and jump in at the right moment in order to up-sell your brand. In this situation, you must be able to develop relevance between the conversation and your brand. Where did you start and where are you right now? You don’t want to jump in with a random input that breaks the flow of conversation. Listen and guide the conversation until the time is right, then approach them with how your brand influences the topic at hand. 

It is important that you never underestimate the value of listening so that you can effectively interact with your social network contacts. Remember, the worst thing you can do is post and hope it turns for the best. It is up to you to make the most of the opportunity by listening and responding to your audience.

Social Word of Mouth Marketing for Your Small Business

Word of Mouth Marketing for your small business

The online industry of social networking has become one of the primary windows by which businesses of all sizes can effectively mesh with their audience. When it comes to the small business owner who is first entering the industry, the online world has the greatest host of advantages if they can be harnessed properly.

Therein lies the key, because unless social networks are utilized properly, they won’t provide the desired results. For the business owner, word of mouth through social interaction is both efficient and effective, providing the ideal opportunity and possibly one of the best places to start building your brand image.

Social network sites are great places to start

First of all, social word of mouth has the lowest price tag - the biggest investment cost is actually time. And that is what is important, because time is money. So, one must be willing to invest one’s time in these social networks in order to locate new contacts and potential clientele.

Initially, social networks are ideal because they already have a widely established network. By simply joining in, you are exposed to a large network of people who are waiting to meet you. But, your task is to get out there and meet them, or they may never even know you exist.

You must make it easy for your audience to find you. Use keywords and phrases that are trending or popular at the moment. Link back to your websites and other networks through your postings and blogs, so that readers can easily find you and can conduct their own research about your business or brand.

You make social networking effective

Overall, it’s incredibly easy to communicate through social networks, but you need to be sure you do it properly. In particular, there are certain methods that will get the results you desire. Many first-time users have a large list of ideas and creative thoughts, many of which include talking only about themselves. Remember, that is what a bio is for. Pictures might be posted pertaining to merchandise or services offered - but that is selling yourself short. As a business owner and your own boss, you have far more to offer the audience than just sales pitches. What is it that makes your business special? What motivates you? How do you relate to the audience? These are questions that the audience will ask themselves when they view your networks. This is why, it is important to answer such questions.

There is also the importance of listening and responding to your audience. One of the worst things you can do is generate post after post without reviewing the discussions and interacting with the audience. This is the prime opportunity to develop social word of mouth marketing because they are talking to you- and talking amongst themselves about you.

When it comes to customer service, these social networks are quite effective at generating word of mouth. When a client interacts with you, it may be positive or negative. Regardless, during and after this interaction, others will inevitably hear about your customer service abilities.

In many cases, it is ideal to present this situation through live feeds, so that you can display your expertise to a wide audience. This is a great opportunity to build a social site based on recommendations made by the audience.

Additionally, social networking is a great opportunity to get effective feedback. If your social strategies are getting positive results, then you’re doing well. If you’re not getting results (views or comments), then it’s time to reconsider your methods.

In order to generate quality content, you must know who you are talking to. Research and understand your target audience so that you can deliver content that they want to view. What do they enjoy? Generate interest through postings that they are already talking about and relate them to your business. Trends and holidays are often hot topics and can be utilized quite easily.

As we interact through social networks and discover new methods and practices, we will be able to develop more sophisticated means of communication. We need to be forever changing and adapting to new advances in technology. The social networks of today link individuals together and make interaction easier than ever before. For those who operate small businesses, social word of mouth marketing strategies are perhaps the most effective and efficient way to build success.

Business to Business Could Stand to Learn from Business to Consumer Social Marketing

Business to business social marketing strategy

Consider what it takes for a business to business marketing developer to generate sales. There’s a long list of tasks they have to address which require more in-depth planning than when a business is strictly appealing to consumer audiences. 

Essentially, a business has to prove to the entire business, as a business, how their product or service can improve the target company. You don’t just have a single individual. You also have executives, associates, and management to convince, while at the same time, considering the business benefits both companies will receive and furthermore proving undoubtedly that you are the right choice.

Propel your word of mouth with the similarities

However, there are still similarities between the two, such as networking and interacting with a target audience. Social marketing is a tool that has found an application in every aspect of business. Keep in mind that a business is still a consumer on a larger and more intricate scale. 

Testimonials, such as visuals, memorable slogans are needed to make the sale to an individual, but are also needed when appealing to a business. You must undoubtedly prove to executives and decision makers that your services or products can improve their business. In this case, social marketing is played as an angular tool, utilizing testimonials from responsive consumers. Word of mouth marketing plays a key role even in business to business applications, primarily because businesses don’t move on a hunch or an “I’ll give it a try” spur of the moment decision. They move on good recommendation and proven results that social can provide if used properly. 

Consistency is key

This means that you must always maintain consistent brand marketing creativity throughout your social, advertising, and website. This is important because during business to business marketing, research is very thorough. You want to be able to deliver a firm message that won’t confuse your potential clients and provide a quality surface for them to analyze and prove to themselves that you are the right choice. 

The most effective aspect of social marketing applies the fact that a business still needs to speak effectively to their audience. A business functions as a unit, but is not a programmed machine. There are certain protocols and procedures, but the business still consists of human elements. Marketing strategies should still be interactive and appealing to the audience, both emotionally and logically. When handling consumers, it is essential to know your audience and treat them appropriately. Social marketing strategies rely on this essential element because one is always focused on appealing to each individual in a social network. The audience is addressed, but the focus is always on the uniqueness of the individual and the situation at hand.

Social is rich in research

Business to business marketing strategies take far more effort and are often more complex, but the principle is the same- address your audience and prove to them that you can deliver the product or service that is the right choice. Whether it’s business to consumer or business to business, approaching your audience appropriately is the only way to succeed. 

Blogs are Effective for Personal Word of Mouth

Personal word of mouth and your blog

Blogs are perhaps one of the leading outlets for business networking strategies. Through this medium, we can talk about our business and how it relates to present trends and your audience’s needs. There is more to a blog than stating the facts though. Remember that facts tell and stories sell. In other words, the content of your blog must appeal to your audience in every way possible. 

Designing an effective blog requires the creator to focus on several important topics. Content must be grammatically correct, organized, and above all, relevant to your purpose. 

You keep saying this word, but I do not think you know what it means…

Clean and neat is the primary technique. As a professional, you must be an exceptional spokesperson, using words effectively and correctly. You need to sound intelligent, but you don’t want to speak over your audience’s head. If they don’t understand what you’re saying, they won’t want to read what you have to say. 

If you are using technical jargon or exotic vocabulary, consider using a few words in a way that would improve your reader’s vocabulary. Then provide the definition and a story of how you did not know what it meant until you looked it up. Be sure that you maintain relevance to your purpose though. You don’t need to go off on a tangent to do this. Keep it purpose directed so that the education is relevant, especially if it is vital to your point. 

Keeping things organized…

As for the structure of the blog, it needs to be well organized. Use bullets and lists when appropriate to make the entire article easily navigable. Separate the structure into distinct sub-headings to avoid confusion, especially if you have several points to make. 

When comparing within the article, balance is often difficult to achieve. Some start with one point, followed by a completely separate analysis that disproves or proves another point. This can be confusing, especially if the reader is only scanning the content for points. Instead, when arguing a case, use your point and counter point as a heading. Then discuss. 

Quality that intrigues holds attention…

One thing in particular is the content of your blog. A good blog affirms your selling point- targeting the audience directly. Content such as stories and related subjects can be included, especially if they are viral, trending, or relatable fad, just as long as you can relate it to your business. Your content must sell your image and intrigue the audience. 

Content that reaches beyond and improves visibility…

An excellent practice is to make links inside of your blog. If you have relatable articles elsewhere, link back to them as a reference within your blog’s content. This is an excellent technique for increasing readers, especially if you post a hot topic. It will help navigate readers to other content you have, including videos, social links, and your website. Using your links as references and using terms such as “this is how I utilize my social networks and it has greatly improved traffic to my primary website” would help expand your content and improve visibility. 

Remember that social links are especially beneficial within a blog because it allows readers to share that information within their own network. Through these tools and techniques, you improve your personal word of mouth marketing strategies and allow your blog to reach a much larger audience through networks where individuals can recommend you to their friends. 

Blogs are designed to generate conversation

One thing to consider is that a blog is originally a statement and a question. You state what you know, but it leaves room for speculation and analysis by readers. They interpret what you have said and enjoy expressing their own related ideas. 

Be sure you keep this fact in mind when generating your content. Ask opinions of your audience. What do they think about the subject? Do they have ideas or techniques to add or discuss? A blog is an opening for discussion- primarily through comments. After you post a blog, don’t leave it alone like a forgotten newspaper article. This is a social outlet and discussion is going to be the next task. 

Blogs are for networking, education, and increasing visibility. Your blog should not only be able to intrigue your present audience, but also draw in new networking members. With quality content, a well-organized delivery, and effective marketing tool usage, you can create a blog that will raise awareness, create conversation, and improve your sales. 

The Importance of Being Social 24/7

Man your social media sites for an effective social marketing

Socializing is part of business, even if you don’t think of it that way. The tactic is to basically increase visibility, encourage conversation, and above all, get your connections to interact with you. 

While creative and valuable content creates engagement, it is just as necessary to make sure that it is visible all day every day. This is the real trick because it’s hard to accomplish, especially if your social interaction is left to fifteen minutes during a break in business.

Expanding from “me” to “we”

The most effective social networking practices incorporate the art of working together. Scheduling tools can be applied, but the important thing is to have someone ready to interact at all times. Put together a team that can share the task of social networking. These can be various individuals within your business, and it will help to increase versatility within your social content. 

It is also necessary to follow your own topics. The social world is large and it isn’t likely that your business name will be limited to just your site. Such as in applications like Twitter, you’ll want to be able to follow up wherever your brand is used. This will help increase visibility and even create a larger following of people.

These strategies do make it necessary to construct a team to assist you. But, there are tools and apps available that are becoming popular because they allow scheduled postings and update notifications. Make the most use of your technology applications in order to ensure a constant online presence. 

Choose wisely

If it is too difficult to manage all of your social sites, choose the most valuable and stick to those. Don’t leave social sites lying dormant or unmanaged because that is one of the biggest negative first impressions your brand can make. Invest your efforts into the most valuable, and don’t leave your networks unattended. 

This raises the question of how valuable third party published apps are to your sites. Social links between Facebook and Twitter, such as Instagram and Pinterest have been disputed as having little effect on an audience. But, they are just as effective in their own ways. Different audience members may appreciate these apps, meaning you shouldn’t be concerned about using these apps because they can help increase visibility within a new audience. Additionally, the use of third party app posting tends to stimulate word of mouth marketing. Situation in hand- “did you see my Instagram posting of that cute dog?” Different audiences will demand a different approach. Don’t be worried about expanding your applications and opportunities. 

Maintaining a constant presence on your social sites is integral to your online visibility. Be sure to integrate a 24/7 social strategy to ensure that you make the most of your social networks. It takes determination and focus, but with the right team and the right strategy, you can turn your social site into a success. 

Using Social to Find Products

Benefits of social marketing

Most businesses are missing out when it comes to potential impressions, sales and interactions because they are yet to leverage the social media power on the sites of their businesses. Websites and the channels for social media have a seamless working relationship which has seen many succeed in promoting their online brand. 

To be able to successfully integrate social media to your business website, then the following points should be considered: 

• Do you have visible buttons for social media included in your website? 
• Do the locations of these buttons make sense for effectively integrating social media?
• Make sure your social buttons are updated, i.e., be on the-know as to which social site is "calling the shots" at the moment.
• Make sure that you include a button to "share". This will enable your clients to share information about your services and products to their social media contacts.
• Use analytics so that you will be able to know how many people use the buttons you’ve placed for social media. If you find that the result is underwhelming, then chances are your buttons are not conveniently located.

Why use social media?

Now that you have had your business and social media sites integrated, you are off to a great start. The next step is to know how you can use social to find products for your business. These sites are a great source of information. You can get to create a blog on your site where various topics will be discussed especially on the products and services you provide. Such a blog will allow you to know which products are favored by your customers and potential customers; as well as know which ones are not. 

The great thing about social sites is that you can have a sneak peak of what gives your competitors a cutting edge without their knowledge. This will enable you to up (or even better) the products and services provided by them, which may lead their customers to re-locate from their businesses to yours. 

Social media sites also allow you to engage in online conversations with various people so that you get to know what they think of your business and the services provided. This will give you better insight as to what needs changing and what does not. 

Social media also gives you a wide selection option when it comes to the products and services your business offers. Thanks to the wide connections created by social media, you can now get products from various parts of the world and all by just the click of a button. And by doing so, you are able to provide a variety of products and services to your customers…keeping you always at the forefront.

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?

Word of Mouth Marketing Through Pinterest

Word of mouth marketing through Pinterest

Pinterest is now the official number 3 US social network, and it seems to still be rising in the number of brands that are planning to use it. Described as a virtual pin board meant to share and organize the things you love, the social network started in 2010 and has become one of the biggest players in the e-commerce world. Its number of users has reached 145% since the beginning of 2012, better than that of Twitter or even Facebook.

ComStore states that online shoppers are 10% more likely to buy if they are referred from Pinterest, making word of mouth marketing one of the best things this network has. Therefore, these shoppers not only spend more, but they also do it on more items and more often than in other social sites.

How is Pinterest useful for your business?

If you are a small business owner or you just want to know how Pinterest can be useful to you, here are some things you should know.

As with most social media networks, one of the things you might do is a campaign. The crucial aspect of any campaign is the analysis, seeing what the results are, what has been good and what can be improved or changed. In order to help you with measuring your results, Pinterest offers some free reporting tools. If you usually would have to pay a great deal of money for these kinds of reports, the free tools available on Pinterest are now doing the job for you, and they're doing it for free.

Here are three of the most useful tools available on Pinterest:

PinReach - also known as PinClout, this tool brings analytics and insights in order to help monitor trends and help you see how successful your Pinterest page is. This tool provides an overall influence score, as well as easy-to-read tables and charts, displaying most popular boards and pins. You can see the top 5 pins and compare them staked up against each other. Details about the most far reaching boards' performance are available. You can also see the number of your pins, re-pins, followers, comments and likes for each one of them, and the page's overall score, otherwise called the total PinReach. Practically, you can see at a glance all your activity, how viral (spread through word of mouth marketing) your pins are, how many people are actually reading, liking, pinning and re-pinning your pins, the boards created, and the ones you are contributing to. It's also easy to learn generally about the Pinterest community, seeing other members that are doing well and learning from their experiences.

Pinerly - this is an analytic tool, promising to make it easy to keep track of likes, click-throughs and re-pins your pins have. This is available for any campaign created on Pinterest. Practically it enables you to see how effective your campaign is, whether your content and efforts are rewarded, and it allows you to optimize your content if and where it is necessary. Each pin used on this website creates a campaign that you can afterword breakdown and analyze with four metrics: likes, pins, re-pins and reach. The tool is particularly useful if you want to know how many times people are making a click through to your link, and is not available with any other Pinterest services. Furthermore, you may receive suggestions of users to follow, or pins to re-pin based on your interests and boards.

Although pretty new and still in testing, this tool is planning to offer more services, like more drilled down analytics and scheduling pins in advance, making it easier for brands to pin at specific moments, when followers are most active.

PinPuff - this calculates the influence you have on Pinterest, providing you with your activity, reach, and viral scores (word of mouth marketing). You can also see a detailed breakdown of the evolution of your top 20 boards. The calculation of your referral traffic and pins is calculated in 3 ways: cost per click, Pin Worth (Gen), Pin Worth (Ecom). The first refers to the measurement of each outward click or traffic referral on your pin. The second one refers to the worthiness of a pin with a non-sales landing page. Finally, the last one represents the worth of a pin that has a landing page wherein a user can purchase something.

Conclusion

Pinterest has had an amazing evolution lately, developing new strategies and offering great tools for you to be able to get your business known online, making it cheaper and available for anyone to have great marketing campaigns. The tools stated above are just some examples of how much social media has evolved, and how important word of mouth marketing is in today's e-commerce world.

The Impact of Personal Branding Using Pixability

Professional videos as part of your social media marketing strategy

With the internet saturated with so many individuals and businesses trying to vie for attention and recognition, it is relevant for you to properly position yourself in terms of personal branding so that users can distinguish you from the others. There are many avenues individuals can use to brand themselves but one of the best mediums for personal branding which is currently not being properly utilized is videos. Unlike other means of branding, videos give you the chance to express yourself fully and allow people to see all your qualities. With videos, people get to experience you in picture, sound, text, and graphics. If you want your video to have a serious impact on your personal career, then you may want to make use of professional video-making services like Pixability. So what is Pixability and why should you use it?

Pixability is a company dedicated to helping businesses and individuals meet their branding goals with the use of videos. They help you organize your video presentations from the formulation of ideas to production and promotions. This is made possible by the company's collection of professionals and top level players such as videographers, internet specialists, film editors, web developers, and motion graphic artists with many years of experience in online video marketing. These highly skilled experts combine their expertise to ensure that your personal branding project is successful, effective and profitable.

For excellent personal branding and promotion, Pixability offers three unique products that are designed to help you market yourself effectively to your clients and the rest of the world. One of their products is the Caffeine package which can help you market and manage online portfolios and assets. The Caffeine package is also designed to manage full video analytics on websites and search engines, and provide dynamism to your video presentation. You'll also get video SEO tagging and descriptions, all this in addition to competitive analytics, search validation, and social media integration.

The Espresso package is the magic wand that is designed to help fix under-performing online videos. In addition to all the features in Caffeine, it also provides YouTube channel engineering that ensures channel setup, management, rebranding, and clean up. It also gives access to 1-year video marketing software, as well as access to video search maps and paid search campaigns.

The highest option for personal branding at Pixability comes in the form of the Mocha package. This package provides you with 1 personal overview video and 20 videos by experts within your very industry, making a total of 21 videos. The Mocha package is also all encompassing; providing scriptwriting, coaching, videographers, sound and light, voiceovers and editing for your personal branding video production. Mocha also provides studio-grade motion graphics and animation, as well as general video optimization, promotion, and social network integration.

Making a personal video on your own and putting it on social networking sites is probably not going to get you noticed by the people who require your skills and expertise most; it takes intricate work and planning such as the ones provided by professional services like Pixability to get noticed. Pixability will listen to your story and help you develop a video marketing strategy based on your budget. They provide a free trial, a learning center and have excellent customer service.