Saturday, April 22, 2017

Social Customer Care | Social Media Marketing

Social Customer Care Is The New Marketing

For those brands that have already embraced social media as a powerful customer service channel, I applaud you. For those that haven’t, here is a crash course on getting started. (Even those that already have might find an idea or two that is useful.)
  1. Get social. Your company probably has a presence on the major channels, but are you using those channels for customer service and support purposes? If not, it’s decision time – and that decision should be to move forward with a formal social care strategy.
  1. Be on the channels your customers are using. When I’m asked which channel a company should be on to support its customers, I simply respond by asking: What channels are your customers using? That’s a good place to start.
  1. Invest in software that monitors every mention of your brand on the Internet. There are a number of excellent software programs that will track mentions, comments, reviews, etc. Some are even free. You need to know when people are talking about you.
  1. Respond to every comment or mention. One of the biggest social media mistakes a company can make is to ignore social posts, comments and reviews. There is a reason they call this social media. It’s social, and that means others are watching to see how you respond to comments, especially complaints. All comments should be acknowledged.
  1. Respond quickly. If not responding to a social post is one of the biggest social care mistakes, then not responding quickly is a close second. Surveys indicate that companies are taking days to respond. If you’re in the social care game to win, then do it right. Don’t wait hours or days to respond. Respond within minutes.
  1. Avoid canned responses. Be authentic. A robotic or canned response may work initially, but over time people will see the pattern and pick up on the insincerity of the response. So, make it personal. Don’t just copy and paste messages. People are watching and making judgements about your brand based on the way you respond.
  1. Be proactive and engage with your community. Don’t just react to social comments from customers. Put out your own valuable posts. Not promotional posts, but good information with value to your customer community. YouTube is an excellent way to post content such as answers to frequently asked questions, cool and unique ways customers are using your products and much more. While some view this as content marketing, others (including me) see it as a valuable part of the customer experience.

Monday, April 17, 2017

SEO - Internet Marketing | Modern Imprint

SEO Simplified: 3 Main Factors In Getting The Right Customers To Your Site

Online sales already account for more than 8 percent of total retail sales, and eMarketer predicts that North America “will see consistent double-digit growth through 2020.” By then, online sales are expected to exceed $4 trillion worldwide.
But the biggest question is: how will customers find your products on the ever-changing and extremely crowded world wide web? The name of the game is search engine optimization but it has to be done right and in compliance with Google’s webmaster guidelines. SEO is all about coming out at the top of search results relevant to what customers are looking for.
There are 200+ factors involved in Google's core algorithms, and majority of these factors fall into the following three areas: technical website structure, on-page SEO and off-page SEO. In order to rank well in a Google search, you need to not only pay attention to what these factors are, but maintain your site anytime Google releases an update or you make changes to your website. This isn’t an easy task, but if you build it into your day to day website maintenance routine, you can stay relevant while maximizing exposure and sales.

Tuesday, April 11, 2017

SEO | Small Business | Internet Marketing

Most small business owners have come across the term search engine optimization (SEO). Many of them know it is critical to their business online. But prod them a bit more and it becomes clear many don’t know what it really means.

According to a new survey by Memphis, Tennessee-based marketing agency HigherVisibility, 20 percent of small businesses still don’t have a website. What’s more, 54 percent of the surveyed respondents said they don’t have a budget for SEO.

For a small business, SEO is essential because it helps drive more people to their website. But as the survey reveals, businesses are making some common mistakes that have an adverse effect on their website’s SEO.

For example, 38 percent of surveyed respondents wrongly believe keyword stuffing is a good thing. Twelve percent incorrectly think it’s okay to publish duplicate content that has been copied and pasted from another website or page.

Tuesday, April 4, 2017

Internet Marketing | Social Media Marketing

6 Must-Do's for Effective Social Media Marketing

A lot of businesses do social media marketing wrong. They hear everyone screaming, “You must have a social media presence,” but what that entails isn’t always spelled out correctly. Social media marketing should be effective and affordable, and when done correctly, it can help scale businesses of all sizes.
Just like with traditional channels such as television commercials, radio spots and print ads, your results are going to be minimal at best if you broadcast your message to the wrong audience. To help you execute a successful social media marketing campaign, I spoke with six entrepreneurs to put together a list of must-do's.