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The Ten Commandments of Social Media Marketing

10 commandments of social media marketing written on stone tablet

Over the years I have wanted to encapsulate a few fundamental rules for any organization to fall back on when developing their social media strategy. Social media and business have had somewhat a love/hate relationship as many struggle while others see success. Similar to having a mission statement or defined company goals, your business social media strategy should rely on a few general pillars of success to establish a powerful plan. I know it’s a bit bold to declare these pointers to be the “ten commandments of social media marketing” but they have been quintessential to my success, so I can only hope that they will do the same for you. Scroll down to see the full article 1. Be Consistent In Your Social Media Strategy Rule number one of social media marketing is to be consistent with your practices. That means posting on a daily basis and being committed to engaging regularly in the social stratosphere. Here are some rough guidelines for posting frequency: At least one blog per week (two times is great but focus on quality vs quantity) Post one-two times per day on Facebook, same for Google+ (I personally limit to one) For Twitter, I generally [...]

Prioritizing The Right Social Networks For Your Business

social media

As we approach the halfway point of 2013, the question is no longer whether businesses should use social media…it’s how should they use social media for business. Some businesses claim social media is a godsend and have incredible success while others complain that it is a waste of time, money and resources. Both of them are right. I’ve said many times that I don’t believe that every business should be on every social network. In fact, I usually recommend that most businesses only focus on 2-3 sites so they can spend the necessary time to do them well. The trick is picking the right social networks to focus on. Where are your customers spending their time online? 27% of total US Internet time is spent on social networking sites alone (Source), so saying that your customers aren’t using social media is a tough argument to make. Understand Your Target Market The obvious task before prioritizing the right social networks is assessing where your customers are online. You should already know and understand your target market, otherwise you are not ready for this step yet and should be reading another article. A deadly mistake in any social media strategy is making [...]

7 Shortcuts To Education Based Marketing Success Online

education based marketing

Unless you have been living under a rock the past 3 years, you already know that education based marketing is the most critical component to creating content that hooks prospects online. Unfortunately, not everyone is gifted with great writing skills and a seemingly bottomless supply of great ideas for blog posts. One thing I have noticed helping and watching countless businesses succeed with online marketing is how it always comes back to being good at what they do best. Although there is no secret formula or ancient secret that will brainwash everyone into loving you and wanting to shovel money into your bank account – it’s all much easier than you think…   7 Shortcuts To Success With Education Based Marketing 1. Get Ideas From Customer Inquiries If you are a business then you get emails, phone calls or questions asked face-to-face that you should be keeping track of. These questions are an extremely valuable insight into what your prospects need to know when they are in the market for the products or services you provide. 2. Answer Common Questions With Blog Posts What questions do customers regularly ask when they are inquiring about your  products and services? 3. Address [...]

OMG! My Twitter Account Was Hijacked & Taken For Ransom! [UPDATED]

UPDATED: November 1, 2012 @ 12:33PM I have finally gotten my Twitter account back after three long weeks of endless support tickets, reaching out to strangers and calling in every favor possible. I’m sorry to say that without the help of a great friend with some high connections at Twitter, I might not have ever gotten it back. I wish I had a great story to share about Twitter’s amazing support service but it seems that without a large paid advertising account, you are almost guaranteed to get nowhere. Take the tale below as a word of caution and heed the warning and tips shared at the end. You will need it! It started out like any normal Thursday morning. I had a cup of tea, read some emails and made my daily smoothie before making the rounds on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. TweetDeck is my main Twitter tool and when I opened it up, I immediately noticed my username being mentioned in several tweets but there was something a little strange going on. It wasn’t MY username…it had been changed. Those of you that follow or interact with me on Twitter know that my ID has always been @MelonieDodaro. [...]

Top 25 Social Media Statistics [Fall 2012]

Cara Pring recently posted a blog with over 200 of the latest social media statistics for 2012 (as of September) and the results are mind blowing. After reviewing all the social media stats for 2012, it’s hard to imagine that it won’t reach a point of near-complete saturation and integration into modern society. Some might argue we are already there but that’s for another article! There are many great social media statistics but I brought it down to the top 20 that truly blew me away. Make sure you visit the original article from Cara Pring to see the full list as well as links to the sources. Without further adieu, here are the stats:   Top 15 Positive Social Media Statistics For 2012 91% of online adults use social media regularly 9/10 mobile searches lead to action (over half lead to purchase) There are more devices connected to the Internet than there are people on Earth 70% of adult social networkers shop online 54% of active social networkers follow a brand 61% of global internet users research products online 93% of US adult Internet users are on Facebook Watching video on computers has become as common as watching video [...]

Your Customers Are Talking On Social Media. Are You Listening?

A couple weeks ago I posted a blog called Why Twitter Is Still A Powerful Marketing Tool and discussed the importance of monitoring relevant as part of your overall social media strategy. Since then, I’ve had the great pleasure of connecting with Tanya Thompson from Discovery Honda in Duncan, BC and heard about their social media strategy and Twitter success stories. Both stories are perfect real-life examples of why it’s crucial to have someone who can monitor interactions with your brand in real-time through out the working hours of each day. One of the things that make these success stories is the fact that Tanya, Discovery Honda’s Customer Relations Manager, was on top of watching the company’s tweets when an opportunity presented itself. Tanya didn’t have just one Twitter marketing success story but two incredible cases of a great social media strategy in action.   Social Media Strategy Includes Top Notch Customer Service After noticing a long time customer and Twitter follower had a service appointment coming up, Tanya from Discovery Honda took the lead and tweeted a reminder. Not only was this impressive to the client, it was extremely convenient since he was wondering if they did rock chip [...]

Blogging The Smart Way: An Interview With Jeff Bullas

I recently had the opportunity to chat with Jeff Bullas, a Forbes Top 50 Social Media Power Influencer and author of Blogging The Smart Way: A Complete Guide To Creating & Marketing A Killer Blog With Social Media, to discuss the state of social media marketing and the techniques that are helping businesses turn a profit in 2012 and beyond. Jeff Bullas is a consultant, coach, mentor, and speaker that works with companies and executives to optimize their online presence through branding with digital marketing and social media. His extremely popular blog at www.jeffbullas.com has over 250,000 regular readers and is ranked #46 in the AdAge Power 150, a ranking of the Internet’s best marketing blogs. Like many, Jeff believes content is the core of social media marketing and it’s obvious by the articles he puts out on a regular basis. For those of you who follow me on Twitter, you will notice me sharing Jeff’s articles consistently due to the high volume of quality content he puts out. The struggle for most business owners trying to get into social media is understanding what is important, what’s a waste of time and how much time and effort needs to be [...]

3 Critical Online Marketing Strategies For Professionals

The days of people looking for your business in the local phone book are almost over. Today everyone is turning to online searches when looking for a product or service they are in need of. There is no doubt in my mind when people ask me what are the top three most critical online marketing strategies for professionals. Professionals need tools that will have them quickly and easily showing up in online search results while also positioning them an industry leader and experts. In a world where decisions are made in a few clicks, you need online marketing strategies that will have you being found and, in my opinion, these three are your best bet for your time and resources. Three Critical Online Marketing Strategies For Professionals 1.    LinkedIn Recent stats show LinkedIn is 4 times better for B2B lead generation than Facebook and Twitter but that’s not what I love most about it. When your profile is properly optimized to get you found, prospects can literally come directly to you with little work on your part. You must ensure your LinkedIn profile is well optimized for the search results to make sure you are found.  Once this is done [...]

Top 5 Social Media Mistakes You Need To Avoid

Everyone learns these new tools for communication at their own pace. Heck, it took me years to finally start text messaging. Aside from the occasional autocorrect slipup, mistakes through text messaging aren’t too detrimental but some social media mistakes can be deadly to your reputation and/or sales depending on the severity. There’s a saying we have in social media…what happens in Vegas, stays on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube! What I mean is, nobody forgets on the web and that can be a painful or blissful realization depending on how you play your cards online. Before one of your valuable customers holds a silent (or not so silent) grudge against you, make sure you aren’t making one of these 5 social media mistakes! Related: Why Tomorrow Is Too Late When It Comes To Social Media Training 1. Not Responding To Customer Tweets/Messages. Make sure you are regularly checking to see if you have messages from customers or prospects on your social media pages. People get pretty upset when they’re ignored, especially by companies that they give money to. Why can’t they just call or email you ask? This is 2012, that’s why. Things have changed ‘round here, partner! 2. Too Much [...]

Why Tomorrow Is Too Late When It Comes To Social Media Training

Brands and companies are moving full speed ahead into the digital age as they finally come to grips with the fact that social media is here to stay. The fear of missing the boat is now overshadowed by the realization that proper social media training and a strategy are absolutely necessary to succeed. The Heavy Cost of Late Adoption There are several struggles companies are currently facing as they finally jump on the social media bandwagon: Catching up to the competition – The fact is that the competitors that have been using social media for years undeniably have a clear advantage over those who chose to ignore the what they thought was just hype. The conversations are happening without you – Your customers are online and they are discussing topics that are important to your industry, brand and success but there’s one thing missing: YOU. More time, more work and more money – Remember when the Internet first came out and entrepreneurs everywhere debated the value of a website? By today’s standards, you aren’t even considered a legit company if you don’t have a professional looking website. Social media training will get your foot in the door but if you [...]