Since blogging has been around for more than a decade, it’s well established that this practice has evolved far beyond individuals talking about how their day went. In fact, blogging has become so prevalent that there’s talk about an overabundance of online content. As a result, some businesses are questioning whether or not blogging is right for them. In addition to concerns about there already being too much content, some businesses simply haven’t come around to this method of online marketing. Read the rest of this entry →
Now that it's more than halfway over, it's safe to say that 2015 is turning out to be another big year for social media. As a result, countless businesses are relying on this channel as a primary driver of their growth. Regardless of where your business is at in terms of growth or using social media, it's helpful to know about the trends that are shaping the marketing that's being done via social media. Read the rest of this entry →
You've probably read at least a handful of blog posts that talk about content marketing. If you spend a fair amount of time reading about online marketing, you've probably actually come across a few case studies about content marketing. While both blog post and case studies are useful sources of information about content marketing, they're generally focused on how small and large businesses are utilizing this marketing technique.
What most sources of information about this topic don't touch on is whether or not content marketing is a good fit for personal branding. The answer to that question is not only is it a good fit, but if you're serious about building a strong personal brand, you definitely need to be engaged in content marketing. Let's go over four different reasons why this strategy works so well:
Many franchises are in one of two situations. The first is not using social media at all. Although studies show that most business owners are aware that social media can be a highly effective marketing channel, less than 40% of businesses actually utilize platforms like Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter. The second scenario is using social media but being disappointed with the lack of results it drives. There are plenty of businesses that have gotten started with social media but still haven’t seen it move the needle. Read the rest of this entry →
When Facebook changed their algorithm and reduced organic reach, a lot of businesses panicked. They worried that this change would torpedo all the work they had put into building a following on Facebook. For businesses that had made the mistake of buying low-quality followers just to boost their numbers, it’s safe to say that their “investments” didn’t pay off. But for businesses who have a real following, things don’t have to be so bleak.
It’s true that even if you have a quality following, you probably aren’t happy when you look at the current reach analytics for your posts. However, what businesses often forget is the reality of Facebook. When you pull up your personal Facebook feed or the feed of any other individual user, the first thing you’re going to notice is there’s no shortage of content. Read the rest of this entry →
If you want more traffic for your blog, strategically sharing your posts through social media can accomplish that goal. Since every social platform has its own unique features and audiences, we want to cover the best practices for promoting your blog on four different social media platforms:
Facebook
The biggest of all the social platforms allows you to share blog posts on profiles, pages and groups. Although posts can be as long as ten thousand characters, Facebook only displays the first 480 in people’s feeds. Case studies have also shown that posts with less than fifty characters do best, so keeping things short and sweet is one best practice for promoting your blog on Facebook. Another best practice is to use an image when you share. One strategy for promoting posts is to upload a relevant image and then link to the post from the text field. The other best practice for promoting evergreen blog posts is to share them more than once. Given that Facebook will only show it to a fraction of your audience, it's worth re-sharing posts every two to three months.
Twitter
Even though Twitter now allows posts to exceed the 140-character limit, keeping your tweets short is still a best practice for the platform. As with Facebook, including an image will help get people's attention. Two other best practices for Twitter are including a call to action in your tweet and sharing your blog post more than once during the first week after it's published. Since Twitter moves even faster than Facebook, sharing up to four times on different days and at different times can yield very good promotional results.
LinkedIn
This social platform has evolved a lot over the last few years. Because LinkedIn wants users to share and engage with content, it's a great place to promote your blog posts. With LinkedIn, you can make your descriptions a little longer than is ideal on Facebook or Twitter. You should also ask a question or include something similar to encourage interaction. And in terms of which of your posts will do best on LinkedIn, list and how-to posts are at the top of the list.
Pinterest
Because Pinterest is such a visual platform, the most important thing you can do to get attention for your posts is to ensure that you use really great images which are optimized for the site. Currently, the ideal pin size is 736 x 1104 to 2061.
To learn more about getting the most out of social media promotion, take a look at our self-study social media certification program, which provides exclusive access to every tool and resource you need for success.
Michelle Hummel is CEO of Web Strategy Plus a full-service digital marketing agency focused on Franchise Marketing. She was recently nominated for the Woman-Owned Business of the Year! She’s a passionate Social Media Trainer with 15+ years of successful online business development, sales, and marketing experience. She also holds a valuable Internet Marketing Degree however with the ever-changing world of web marketing she strives to learn something new every day.
She travels Nationwide visiting her 22 Social Media Enthusiasts Chapters delivering in-depth social media training. She also provides Social Media Certifications through founding Web Media University. A current contributing editor to The Franchise Dictionary Magazine and she has written 3 books in her series called, “The Social Media Magnet: Everything You Need to Know to Attract Customers with Social Media”, where she shares her best-kept secrets to success. She also specializes in helping Franchisors and Franchisees develop an integrated web marketing program to drive leads. She’s available for interviews via email, telephone, Skype video, news segments on location and more. Just let her know how she can help!
When it comes to a company that's as large as Starbucks, new initiatives don't get released to the public in a spontaneous manner. Instead, any big marketing push has to go through countless layers of approval before it goes out into the world. But while Starbucks and other large companies put a lot of work into their marketing, that doesn't mean they always get it right.
When people think of social networks, they often first think of places where people go to kill downtime by looking at fun pictures or checking up on the latest gossip. While that definitely describes one way that people use social networks, it's just the tip of the iceberg in terms of how social influences online behavior. Read the rest of this entry →
Although hashtags started out as something that only applied to Twitter, as a result of their ongoing popularity among social media users, they’ve become part of other sites like Instagram and Facebook. Hashtags have become so ubiquitous that even if someone doesn’t know what this term means because they’re not an active social media user, chances are they're at least one ad that included a term or phrase with a pound sign in front of it. Read the rest of this entry →
One of the biggest criticisms that businesses have about Twitter is that for all the hype surrounding it, the platform doesn't drive real results. Although it's easy to understand why plenty of businesses feel that way, it's not actually a problem with Twitter. Instead, it's simply because they don't know the best strategy for fully utilizing this platform. Read the rest of this entry →
Michelle was recently nominated for the Women Owned Business of the Year! CEO of her own full service social media marketing agency Web Strategy Plus. She holds a valuable degree in Internet Marketing with a strong 15+ year background in the field. She has published 2 books in her series titled, “The Social Media Magnet: everything you need to know to attract customers with social media”, where she shares her best kept secrets to success. Michelle travels Worldwide delivering keynotes and in-depth social media certification training to companies. She founded the Social Media Enthusiasts community with chapters Nationwide. Also a current contributing editor to The Social Media Monthly Magazine.
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