Content – Game Changer
| March 3, 2011 | Posted by admin under Content Marketing |
The intersection of content, social media, and SEO equals today’s market.
Content is what holds them together. Content is a crucial part of a social media strategy and therefore an understanding of customer-centric social content is essential.
Consumers are interested in gathering content or marketing from many sources today. They want to be educated and their behaviors for information discovery, consumption and sharing have changed. Consumers expect to find solutions via search and word of mouth. They also expect to interact with what they find via search.
Consumers expect content from brands. They expect ease of discovery (via search or social), the ability to interact with and socially share content and to interact with others with similar interests (social networking). These aren’t little add-ons anymore, they’re expected.
Most corporate marketing is structured to create content around products & services vs. becoming a publisher. As a result, the idea of implementing a content marketing program can seem foreign. However, the abundance of publishing tools and platforms now makes it possible for companies to create content and media that rivals some news organizations.
Content fuels customer engagement at all stages of the customer life cycle from top of funnel to ongoing relationship. Content can educate customers about your products and services. It can help educate about the buying process and how to get the most out of the purchase. It can continue to reinforce the relationship and inspire renewals, appointments and referrals.
The challenge is for companies to rethink their content strategy and incorporate Social Media and SEO in order to fulfill customer expectations for ease of discovery, consumption and sharing. On top of that, content must educate and make it easy to follow a logical conclusion to buy.
Using social media to boost local search results
| June 15, 2011 | Posted by TeamGreen under Cloud computing, Content Marketing |
Companies are no longer asking if they should be active in social media. They understand that user-generated content is a required element of a comprehensive location-based search program. It’s now just a question of developing the right social media strategy that will give you greatest impact.
The right social media strategy will let you:
- Communicate directly with your customers
- Create engaging discussion topics
- Help your marketing go viral
- Boost your online brand-awareness
- Organically propel your business to the top of local search results
The evolving social media landscape can be a confusing place for marketers. However, here are some tips that will help you achieve those goals:
1. Build a fan base on Facebook. Forty percent of Facebook users follow a specific brand. More than half of Facebook users eventually purchase that brand. Facebook ‘Likes’ spread brand awareness virally, delivering information to everyone befriended by your brand fans.
2. Use Twitter to keep in touch with customers. One in every four Twitter users follows a specific brand, and 67 percent of them will end up purchasing that brand. Use your Twitter posts to engage consumers by providing them with helpful information about your products and services. Special offers are a great way to grab the attention of Twitter followers.
3. Encourage customers to rate and review your business. Consumers love online reviews because they can see what others really think about you, and your product or service before making a purchasing decision. In addition, reviews on social media sites improve your search engine rankings and will drive free web traffic.
4. Leverage YouTube in local search results. Embed videos in Google Place Pages, websites, and social profile pages. Videos showcase your products and services while putting a human face on your business.
5. Give customers incentives to share information online. Branded “Share and Receive a Reward” programs can encourage consumers to share your offers with their friends via Facebook, Twitter and other web channels in exchange for discounts or special prizes.
Creating an effective social media marketing program, you make it easy for your customers to find you and your business and talk about it online. The result can be incredible and greatly amplify your web marketing results, generate calls and appointments and boost long-term brand awareness.
Cloud computing – what is it and how does it work?
| June 9, 2011 | Cloud computing, Content Marketing, Local Marketing, Mobile marketing, Social Media |
Everyone is talking about “the cloud.” It’s currently all the rage. But what does it mean? Cloud computing is basically the shift from traditional software… more
Sorting Out ‘Recycled’ Advertising Claims
| June 1, 2011 | EcoMarket |
Grocery shelves, hardware stores, card shops, and other retail operations are filled with products and packages announcing environmental features that may influence your purchasing decisions.… more
Elements of a successful mobile marketing campaign
| May 25, 2011 | Content Marketing, Local Marketing, Mobile marketing, Social Media |
Mobile marketing allows you to communicate and engage your audience in an interactive and relevant manner through any mobile device or network such as smart… more
A few tips for adding followers to your Twitter accounts
| May 11, 2011 | Content Marketing, Local Marketing |
By now, Twitter should part of your company’s social media marketing campaigns. Here are some simple tips that can increase the number of your followers on… more
Guidelines for your Facebook promotions
| May 10, 2011 | Posted by TeamGreen under Social Media |
As Facebook grows in size and importance, companies continue to search for ways to stand out in the crowd and keep their followers interested and engaged. One of the options that businesses are exploring is creating special promotions on the popular networking site. But Facebook tightly controls all special promotions conducted on their site and you must follow their guidelines. To help with your social media marketing efforts, here are the latest Facebook guidelines.
Facebook Promotions Guidelines
December 1, 2010
These Promotions Guidelines, along with the Statement of Rights and Responsibilities, the Ad Guidelines, the Platform Policies and all other applicable Facebook policies, govern your communication about or administration of any sweepstakes, contest, competition or other similar offering (each, a “promotion”) on Facebook. A “sweepstakes” is a promotion that includes a prize and a winner selected on the basis of chance. A “contest” or “competition” is a promotion that includes a prize and a winner determined on the basis of skill (i.e., through judging based on specific criteria).
In addition to our other remedies, we may remove any materials relating to the promotion or disable your Page, application or account if we determine in our sole discretion that you violate any of our policies.
1. Promotions administered on the Facebook Platform
You will not administer a promotion through Facebook, except through an application on the Facebook Platform. Administration includes operation of any element of the promotion, such as collecting entries, conducting a drawing, judging entries, or notifying winners.
The following requirements apply to any promotion you administer through an application on the Facebook Platform.
- You will only allow users to enter the promotion in the following locations:
- On the canvas page of the application.
- On the application box in a tab on a Facebook Page.
- You will include the following disclosures:
- Adjacent to any promotion entry field: “This promotion is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with, Facebook. You are providing your information to [disclose recipient(s) of information] and not to Facebook. The information you provide will only be used for [disclose any way that you plan to use the user's information].”
- In the promotion’s rules:
- A complete release of Facebook by each entrant or participant.
- Acknowledgement that the promotion is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with, Facebook.
2. General Restrictions
The following restrictions apply to any promotion you communicate about on Facebook or administer through an application on the Facebook Platform. Communication includes promoting, advertising or referencing a promotion in any way on Facebook, for example, in ads, on a Page, or in a status update
- You may require that an entrant like a Page, check in to a Place, or connect to your Platform integration before providing their full entry information for a promotion. You will not condition entry to the promotion upon taking any other action on Facebook, for example, liking a status update or photo, commenting on a Wall, or uploading a photo.
- You will not directly or indirectly indicate that Facebook is a sponsor or administrator of, or in any way associated with, the promotion.
- You will not use Facebook’s name, trademarks, trade names, copyrights, or any other intellectual property or mention Facebook in the rules or materials relating to the promotion, except as set forth below.
- To disclose the requirement of liking a Page, checking in to a Place, or connecting with Platform integration as permitted under Section 2.1.
- If you administer the promotion through an application on the Facebook Platform, you may mention Facebook in the following ways:
- “You can enter the promotion through the [application name] application on the Facebook Platform. You can also find the application on the [tab name] tab on the [Page name] Page on Facebook.”
- To fulfill your obligations under Section 1.2.2.
- You will not communicate about or administer a promotion on Facebook if:
- The promotion is open or marketed to individuals who are under the age of 18;
- The promotion is open to individuals who reside in a country embargoed by the United States;
- The promotion, if a sweepstakes, is open to individuals residing in Belgium, Norway, Sweden, or India;
- The promotion’s objective is to promote any of the following product categories: gambling, tobacco, firearms, prescription drugs, or gasoline;
- The prize or any part of the prize includes alcohol, tobacco, dairy, firearms, or prescription drugs; or
- The promotion is a sweepstakes that conditions entry upon the purchase of a product, completion of a lengthy task, or other form of consideration.
Below we have provided a few examples to help you understand how to apply the Promotions Guidelines:
You cannot: Condition entry in the promotion upon a user providing content on Facebook, such as posting on a Wall of a Page, uploading a photo, or posting a status update.
You can: Use a third party application to condition entry to the promotion upon a user providing content to the application. For example, you may administer a photo contest whereby a user uploads a photo to a third-party application to enter the contest.
You cannot: Administer a promotion that users automatically enter by liking your Page, checking in to your Place or connecting to your Platform integration.
You can: Require entrants to like your Page, check in to your Place or connect to your Platform integration before they provide their full entry information, such as name and contact information.
You cannot: Notify winners through Facebook, such as through Facebook messages, chat, or posts on profiles or Pages.
You can: Collect an email or address through the third-party application for the promotion in order to contact the winner by email or standard mail.
You cannot: Instruct people (in the rules or elsewhere) to sign up for a Facebook account before they enter the promotion.
You can: Instruct users to visit the third-party application to enter the promotion (as described in Section 2.3.2.1). Since users must have a Facebook account in order to access an application on the Facebook Platform, if you give this instruction, they will be prompted to sign up for a Facebook account if they do not already have one.
Facebook © 2011
Local search engine optimization
| May 9, 2011 | Posted by TeamGreen under Content Marketing |
Establishing a web presence for a small or mid-sized business can feel like a case of “small fish, big pond.” Every business wants to appear search results for the top search engines like Google, Yahoo! and Bing. But as the Internet continues to grow in both size and importance, it can become even more difficult to get noticed.
Today people are using search engines to look for services and products within their local reach such as restaurants, doctors, lawyers, and lawn care services. As a result, the major search engines now deliver more and more localized search results into their organic listings. Search engines have even created special indexes that deal exclusively with businesses who want to list their services/products to their local geographical audience.
As a result, more and more small and mid-sized businesses are trying to take advantage of the fact that people are using search engines to find local business. After all, if you’re an accountant in Las Vegas, do you really care if people in Miami view your website? But local SEO can demand more creativity.
How does one truly go about the local search engine optimization process? Just like standard SEO, creating relevant and compelling content is crucial. Well-written copy for your user and proper local keyword research goes a long way in giving your business a competitive advantage in the SEO battle.
Local results showing up before organic web results gives you and your small business a golden opportunity to pay more attention to local business listings as an essential part of your search engine marketing (while still optimizing for the traditional web listings). With recent change in search indexes utilizing local SEO marketing is more important than ever.
Adding Value to Your Customer Experience
| March 4, 2011 | Posted by admin under Content Marketing |
Our content marketing approach has many tactical steps in your digital presence feeding; here are a few execution tips:
1. Identify the types of content that would be most useful for customers in the different phases of the buying cycle.
2. Gather the most important keyword list for your audience.
3. Connect keywords to existing content and create an editorial plan for related articles.
4. Identify sources to address content creation needs.
5. Develop processes for content creation, optimization, promotion and planned re-purposing.
6. Match goals with some kind of dashboard for reporting and method of extracting insight out of web analytics and social media monitoring to determine effectiveness.
7. Implement feedback mechanisms for content creators to reinforce content types/styles that are producing desired results.
8. Continue to refine strategy and allow for adhoc content creation/marketing opportunities.
9. Make an effort to test, refine and repeat. Expand upon what works.
10. Continuously educate yourself and your team on best practices because this is a constant moving target with multiple vehicles.
