Tag Archive for: Social Media Marketing

Evidence Of Facebook Advertising Success

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As Facebook establishes itself as an option to gain a piece of your advertising budget, you may find yourself wondering if can actually give you a solid ROI. Because it is a fairly new platform, some are still a bit skeptical about the realistic expectations they should have when they dump money into a Facebook ad.

iMediaConnection set out to investigate this matter and returned with an interesting case study about how Facebook advertising has worked for one specific company. Follow the link and watch the included video interviews with a car dealership’s marketing manager to hear about how they found success through Facebook advertising and parlay that into success with your own campaigns.

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Intro To Social Media Marketing

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If you haven’t launched a social media presence for your business or you’re getting frustrated trying to get your social media page off the ground, Miriam McNabb, a “social marketing professional” has some advice for you, as reported by Anne O’Connor at Nashoba Publishing.

First and foremost, there is very little sunk cost for social media marketing. So, you don’t need to worry that much about how to get started. It’s much more important that you simply start. Make a page on Facebook or Twitter and set aside some time to put out content. All you’ll be losing is some of your own time and effort.

Also, don’t feel guilty for bragging about your company’s achievements. Users like or follow you because they’re interested in your products or services, so tell them what you can do. If you donated something to a cause, be sure to let everyone know. If you have a special, sale or contest, get the word out and encourage your users to share with their friends.

Finally, establish yourself as an expert. I’ve talked about this particular bit of advice quite a bit and I understand it can be a little daunting. You may need to interact with users on more than just your own page, but finding questions pertaining to your business and answering them has a huge impact on how consumers view you. Twitter is an ideal forum for this, but you can accomplish it on Facebook too. So forget about your lack of expertise on social media and showcase your expertise in your field.

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Running A Facebook Competition? Do Your Homework

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Running a competitions through your Facebook page can be an effective way to build your audience and enhance brand recognition. But that’s only if you do it correctly. Neville Luff posted a list of concerns at Business2Community that you need to be aware of to make sure you get the most benefit out of your Facebook contest.

Have you read through Facebook’s terms and policies and page guidelines? Probably not, but not doing so could lead to Facebook shutting down your contest. For example, requiring a like or share to win is frowned upon. And you must use an app for your promotion.

Now, if you follow Facebook’s rules, your contest won’t be embarrassingly shut down, but will you get the most out of it. Be sure you promote it properly. Too many times, a business assumes simply having a contest will attract attention, but if you’re going to go to the effort of a giveaway, go the extra mile to make sure as many people know about it as possible. You need to have a plan in place to promote your contest, as well as on to actually execute it.

Finally, give away something relevant to your company. We all love Microsoft products, but are you really getting more customers because you gave away an Iphone? If your prize gives the winner access to your services, you are building your customer base and those who register will actually be users interested in what you do.

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Don’t Be A Stalker On Social Media

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There’s a legitimate concern when marketing your business through social media that you will overstep your bounds and actually turn off users while you’re trying to attract them. Remember, in today’s climate, people don’t trust and simply don’t like salesmen.

Rachel King reports this was a hot topic at SugarCon 2013 over at ZDnet. Mathew Sweezey, a so-called “marketing evangelist”, had some suggestions to keep you from becoming creepy in your sales pitch to consumers. They could be of value when diagnosing your current social media philosophy. Of note, Sweezey doesn’t believe in connecting with consumers through Facebook because he feels it is more of a private, personal community than Twitter or LinkedIn. There could be some debate on that point, but at the very least you should approach users differently on different social media platforms.

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Facebook Ads Know Your Offline Buying Habits

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Facebook has long struggled with how to monetize the site without alienating its users. Though there have been many outspoken critics at every new ad update, for the most part the number-one social networking platform has done an admirable job. There newest innovation, however, might rub the public the wrong way.

Julianne Pepitone reports for CNN that ‘Partner Categories’, Facebook’s newest feature for advertisers, allows users to be grouped based on purchases made both online and in a physical store. That’s right. If you hold a membership card at your local grocery store and purchase a larger than average supply of one item in particular, Facebook, and its advertisers are going to know about it.

As an advertiser, you’re probably pretty excited about this development. While you won’t be able to see specifically who you are showing ads to, you will be able to see how many people fall into each category and why they were placed there, meaning what buying habits they exhibited to fit in this particular group. In this way, you get a more focused audience and can only show ads to people likely to be interested in your product.

As a typical Facebook user, you may feel that your privacy is being infringed upon. Previously, advertisers could only group you based on the information your volunteered on your profile and your online activity.

So, is Facebook going to far with this new feature? Regardless of your opinion, I’m guessing ‘Partner Categories’ isn’t going anywhere and similar innovations will be popping up for advertisers on other platforms soon.

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How to Build Your Audience Through Pinterest

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It’s been about six months since Pinterest introduced “business-specific accounts” and their “business support page”. Add that to recent projections that Pinterest, rather than Twitter, will soon be the clear number-2 social media market behind Facebook. These developments suggest that Pinterest is a viable option to gain exposure for your business and Tehmina Zaman writes about how to do so at Business2Community,

There are a number of helpful nuggets in the article. For example, did you know you can schedule pins? Also, what do you know about group boards? They’re a perfect ways to increase the size of your audience, create brand ambassadors and get your message repinned consistently.

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Recovering From A Social Media Disaster

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Face in hands

Previously, I wrote about how to plan for potential problems with your company’s social media campaigns. Today, let’s think about how to right the ship, so to speak. Recently, HotelNewsNow published some advice about how to recover from a social media crisis. Though the site is geared towards hotel administrators, the tips ring true regardless of your business.

Be sure to read through the article and think about how you would specifically implement each piece of advice. As with most any advice of this nature, preparedness, quick action and honesty are key. Be sure to keep that in mind while you are struggling with your message in response to the crisis. How quickly you respond and how honest you are can often be more important that the message itself.

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Plan For Potential Pitfalls of Social Media Marketing

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While reading about advances and ideas on how to grow your business through online marketing are plenty helpful, you should also keep your eyes out for advice and warnings about potential problems that may befall you. Not to sound too much like your older relatives, but the Internet can be a dark and seedy place. In the context of social media, it can be an interconnected place where bad news travels fast.

That’s why Prasanna Bidkar recently wrote an article for Business2Community highlighting 5 potential problems that could ruin your business’s reputation. In it, he points to disgruntled employees, poor products and leaked documents that could all lead to your hard earned reputation online going down the drain.

There aren’t many solutions in the article, but that may actually be good for you. This way, you can think about potential problems and how you and your company should deal with them, not prescribe someone else’s solution to your situation.

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Social Media Marketing Basics

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Building Blocks

Regardless of your expertise in social media marketing, it’s always helpful to go back and review the basics from time to time and compare your company’s campaigns and strategies to these building blocks. Have you set a secure, stable foundation? Are you working efficiently to save time and money?

Leiden Johnson, of Business2Community, has a few of these social media marketing basics for you to keep in mind. Make sure you haven’t strayed too far from the path in your own campaigns.

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Using Apps To Grow Your Facebook Audience

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Are you hoping to grow your business through Facebook? Chances are, if you’re here, you are trying to do exactly that. It seems like everywhere you turn there are articles dispensing advice about what you should and should not be doing to gain a fantastic ROI from your company’s Facebook page. Many of those articles give you fairly similar advice about engaging with your audience and posting interesting, engaging content. While those are certainly great ideas to get the ball rolling, it’s refreshing when you read an article that has something different to say.

Such is the case with the article posted on the unofficial Facebook blog, AllFacebook. Head over and check it out to get a rare perspective about how Facebook apps can help your business grow from an employee of an app company. There are some other tips as well, which, while useful, are mostly things you’ve heard many times before. Concentrate on the advice concerning apps. It’s a unique perspective you won’t find many other places.

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