Tag : Marketing

  • Should You Follow Your Favorite Brands on Social Media Platforms?

    Posted Aug 1st, 2011 By in Social Media With | 3 Comments

    Social media marketing is a booming trend, so it’s no wonder that it’s easier than ever to find all of your favorite brands on popular websites like Twitter and Facebook. Businesses of all sizes are relying on social media to improve customer communication since social networking is much more efficient and cost effective than communicating via the telephone or e-mail.

    If you’re a customer that has a concern, question, or a comment, you can reach out to the majority of brands through social media in a matter of seconds. On top of that, since brands are relying on social media for marketing purposes, many top businesses are giving their customers rewards for following them on Twitter or liking them on Facebook.

    Here are a few top benefits you can receive from following your favorite brands in social media:

    1. You can be heard. Rather than sending an e-mail to a business or even participating in a survey, you can post your comment or tweet a response in just a few seconds. Since most businesses are new to the social media plunge, it’s likely that you’ll receive a response within a few hours or even a day to your question or concern.

    On top of that, since Twitter is a public website, a business won’t want other customers to see a public customer concern that hasn’t been dealt with. If you’re posting on a public social media website, a business is much more likely to respond to you than if you just send an e-mail.

    2. You can find out about special deals and contests. Brands are more excited than ever to use social media to promote specials, giveaways, and contests. Even mega brands like Verizon have leaned heavily on social media by using hashtags on Twitter to promote a series of giveaways to drum up sales from new customers.

    If you have a favorite brand, it literally pays to stay in the know and use social media to take advantage of discount offers you can’t find anywhere else.

    3. You can eliminate confusion. If you’re confused about a company’s new product or how to take advantage of a coupon, you can post a question on Facebook to receive a near immediate response. This is much more effective than visiting forums with answers from other Internet users.

    Why rely on another customer’s speculation or perspective when you can go to the horse’s mouth and get your answer directly from the brand through social media? Even better, you won’t have to worry about staying on hold with a company for minutes on end to get the help you need.

    4. You can become part of the bigger picture. Starbucks is one of the leading brands in social media, and they have taken the next step by introducing the forum My Starbucks Idea. The amazing thing about this forum is that customers are allowed to post their ideas and suggestions, and Starbucks actually listens.

    This is a brilliant strategy on behalf of Starbucks. Customers everywhere are impressed that they are being heard by a large corporation, and Starbucks is getting great ideas for free that they can use for product development.

    Guest Author:  Bethany Ramos is an expert in Internet marketing and social media marketing, and she also co-owns her own e-commerce website, The Coffee Bump.

     

  • 4 Important Ingredients in a Successful Social Commerce Campaign

    Posted Jun 30th, 2011 By in Social Media, Social Networking With | 1 Comment

    What started as a mere trend several years ago has now evolved into its own culture. Social commerce is gaining popularity by leaps and bounds in the virtual world and shows no signs of slowing down. Selling products online was once reserved for major retailers with massive inventories and the selling power to reach the masses. Now, thanks to sites like eBay, web stores, and applications for social media platforms such as Facebook, anyone can market and sell their products online.

    Having a successful social commerce campaign hinges on a number of factors. It’s not something you should venture into blindly without having done at least some minimal research. Although once you get your ecommerce campaign up and running, it can run on autopilot to some extent. However, there are certain areas in which you always have to be proactive instead of reactive when it comes to selling your products online.

    Let’s take a look at the four most important ingredients in a successful social commerce campaign:

    A Multifaceted Approach

    Simply using one or two of the array of free social media tools available today won’t get you very far in your social commerce campaign. The key to making these tools work for your brand is not just using them, but using them in tandem with other avenues of marketing to gain maximum exposure. Add Facebook and Twitter widgets to your business website and blog. Add links to your website and blog to your Facebook Fan Page and Storefront and your Twitter account. Tweet about sales, promotions, new products and services. Blog about these events as well and announce the blog updates on your Fan Page. Let everything you do online reciprocate what you’ve already done, allowing the campaign to come full circle. (more…)

  • The One Single SEO Tip That Will Get You Targeted Website Traffic

    Posted May 19th, 2011 By in Search Engine Optimization (SEO) With | 1 Comment

    What is the one thing I should do to my website that would improve my SEO?  This is a common question I am asked and I always have the same answer.

    I tell people all they have to do is make their listing in the search engines the one that more people will want to click on. Simple!

    Of course, there is a lot in just that simple statement.  First, for people to be able to click on your listing it needs to be seen and for them to actually click on your listing then it needs to offer the answer they are looking for.  Put simply, it needs to say “Here I am and I have exactly what you are looking for”.  Actually, it needs to shout it at you!

    So how do you do this?  Well it’s all down to two very important fields on your webpage.  The Title tag and the Meta description tag.  If you are using a content management system to update your pages then the fields are probably called Page Title and Page Description.

    Now before any purist SEO specialists chime in and say that the description field has no place in your SEO strategy let me tell you they are plainly wrong.  What they mean to say is that the search engines place no value on what you include in your description field.  However, it isn’t the search engines that click on your listing.  It’s people that do that and they read your page description. (more…)

  • 62 Ecommerce Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Tips & Ideas

    Posted May 16th, 2011 By in Search Engine Optimization (SEO) With | 4 Comments

    One of the reasons I like ecommerce SEO is that there is a tremendous amount of opportunities to increase the optimization quality of an online store. Unlike service businesses or online brochure websites which typically only have a few pages, a catalog of products creates a great opportunity to increase the amount of content and provide relevance for the search engines.

    Here at Best Rank, we spend a lot of time educating clients about optimization and how they can use it to gain a competitive advantage in their marketplace.  Having a specialty in ecommerce, my conversations are often about tips and advice on what online store owners can do to improve their rankings and increase traffic. There are plenty of resources for learning SEO online, but not a lot specific to ecommerce.

    For those interested in getting their hands dirty, I have created a list of 62 Ecommerce Search Engine Optimization Tips & Ideas. Of course there are tips here that apply to non-ecommerce sites as well, but ecommerce SEO does deserve its own list.

    The list is in no particular order. If you have some tips or feedback you want to add, please feel free to comment .

    1. Do a search in Google using site:www.yourdomain.com. This allows you to see what pages of your website are being indexed and how they look. The results should be keyword rich and have call to action for users to click.

    2. Do a site: search in Google for your competitors. While you are looking at your own indexing, look at your competition. Are their search engine results better optimized or better written? Don’t let them win.

    3. Use Google’s Keyword Tool to find keywords. If you have an Adwords account you are probably familiar with Google’s Keyword Tool. If not, you can use Google’s External Keyword Tool Be sure set the match type on [exact] so you are looking at the number of searches for that specific keyword.

    4. Don’t forget text on your homepage. Graphics are attractive and are great for users. Be sure that there is some html text on the homepage as well. If you have to put it near the footer, fine. Just make sure it is somewhere.

    5. Be sure your homepage title uses your 3 most important keywords. I prefer to limit any given page to focus on 3 keywords. Some people like 4 and some people 2. Your homepage optimization is really important to tell the engines what your site is going to focus on. (more…)

  • The Important Psychological Components of Social Media

    Posted May 12th, 2011 By in Social Media With | No Comments

    When it comes to social media, psychology has a lot to do with the success or failure of a business. This greatly affects how business owners market their services. Social media communities are increasing in popularity, and there is no end in sight to this trend. Because social media is prevalent in marketing, there are ways to take advantage of the psychology connection.

    The Success of Social Media

    Social media channels flourish because society needs them. They allow individuals to connect with others on personal levels. This provides a person with a sense of belonging. The concept of group membership is what social media is born from. Contributing to an important group discussion can make a person feel important and valued as a part of a community.

    Creating interesting and enchanting content is the key to success in social media. The most effective content reaches people on emotional levels. An individual should feel a sense of connection to the product or service being presented. Marketing information should be engaging, relevant, and uncomplicated. It should also be displayed in a clear, simple, and logical manner. (more…)

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