To be successful, no social media effort can be treated as an island.  Anyone can sign up for a Facebook account or create a LinkedIn profile, but it doesn’t mean anyone’s paying attention – including you.  Implementing a social media strategy into your marketing plan requires effort.  But more than that, it requires empathy.  The question is – how do you get there?

Listen

The first step in any conversation is listening.  Does this surprise you? Many – actually most of us – think that the first step is talking.  This is why most of us lose the majority of our audience before we even complete a sentence.  Successful marketers also understand that they are customer service agents – we provide the forum for communication, then open it up to our customers as a safe place to tell us what they like – and what they don’t like.

Identify

What are your customers telling you?  We all like getting feedback – when it’s positive.  We don’t only notice this kind of feedback first, we tend to seek it out because selfishly it’s what we want to hear.  What happens when we hear from a customer who is unhappy, or even worse, angry?  We often run from and ignore this type of communication.  In actuality, this communication is probably the most valuable.  Your customers are taking the time to tell you what they want to see from you and how you can do better.  They are giving you ideas on how to improve your business and products.

Engage

So now that you have identified what your customer is saying, how do you respond?  Social media involves socializing.  Put yourself in your customers’ shoes – what would you want to hear from your favorite brand?  The message you send out shapes your image and can transform it overnight – good or bad.  Imagine sitting at a table and having a conversation with your customer – what are you telling them?  When you engage your audience as a tangible person rather than an obscure corporation, the quality of the conversation will change entirely.

Resolve

This may be the most important component of a successful social media marketing strategy.  Once you have engaged your audience and communicated a plan of action, the next step is following through with it.  If you tell a customer that you are going to do something – do it.  It’s easy to speak words, but taking the feedback you’ve received, disseminating it through the proper channels and producing results is the effort your customers need to see.  By turning your words into action, you will position yourself as a credible and trustworthy brand.

Implementing a successful social media marketing strategy doesn’t happen overnight.  Each stage of the process relies upon the last and is a continual, ongoing process.  Rome wasn’t built in a day, and neither are meaningful customer relationships.  By taking these steps, and dispersing them throughout your social media channels, you can achieve optimal results and become a brand that others will look to emulate.

What most people don’t realize is that to be truly successful in this highly competitive game, their entire web presence must be taken into account. You can’t have a top-notch search advertising campaign if you don’t implement some key elements from the top down.  Keep these 4 tips in mind to improve your search engine advertising campaigns, your sales, and your overall web presence.

1. Finesse Your Landing Page

Your goal: more conversions. But you’re not going to get them if you don’t have a carefully crafted landing page attached to that stellar search ad. The good news is that you can achieve more conversions with just a couple of simple tweaks. First, every visitor to your landing page should be able to immediately see the way of conversion, or, your ‘conversion path’, as many refer to it. The call to action should be clear and readily available. A direct call to action is best here, no cloak and dagger. It’s simple really: here’s what your consumer should do next and here is how. Often this is as simple as a phone number for them to call or submitting an email address.  Also, this is a great page to illuminate benefit after benefit, and those benefits should be crystal clear. Once again, don’t mask the important things with too much jargon or fluff.

2. Go Mobile

If you’ve gotten this far, don’t give up. 50% of U.S. mobile users own a smart phone, according to a latest Nielsen report. This number is not expected to stagnate or decrease either. More smart phones means more people will be searching with mobile devices, and that includes the opportunity to search you, if you’ve put yourself in the game. If your business, brand or product isn’t visible via mobile, then you could be losing a large opportunity to reach potential customers. All you have to do is include both a mobile component in your initial search campaign, and then develop a mobile-ready website. Lastly, if your business is local, you’ll want to make sure to claim your business on all of the local listing sites that have mobile versions so that you can really up the ante.  The goal is to seamlessly drive searchers to your business

3. Know Your Score

Your quality score is a real thing that search engines use to figure out when, where and for what cost your search ads operate. These scores are just one more reason to create a strong link between your text ads and your landing page, which essentially boils down to using the most effective keywords across the board. By having a good quality score, you can boost your placement on the search engine results page (SERP) and best of all, your top-performing keywords can lower in bid price.

4. Think About Your Reputation

The Internet is the wild, wild, west in some ways. There isn’t a lot of law and order when it comes to your image. Often, your website is not the first – or even the second place – customers will go to get the dirt on you. If your reputation has been tainted in other forums, which could be anything from business reviews, blog posts and comments about your product, brand or business, then you’ll have a much harder time getting them to click on your ads. You’ll want to start monitoring your reviews as much as possible and address any negative reviews as quickly as you can. With this tactic, your business can keep a positive online image which improves your overall web presence. There is another trick here, too: try shifting the tides by asking for positive customer reviews from your happy customers. This is a surefire way to boost your SERP appeal (it went there) and improves your overall campaign performance.

Is your business employing these tactics to boost your search advertising campaign results? Tell us about it in the comments!

Eminem Facebook Page:
Total Likes: 55.7m
Total Talking About: 398k
# of Posts in March: 7
Post Likes:  163k
Post Comments: 20k
Post Shares: 6k

Rihanna Facebook Page: 
Total Likes: 54.5m
Total Talking About: 788k
# of Posts in March: 12
Post Likes: 353k
Post Comments: 45k
Post Shares: 22k

Eminem edges out and wins in the quantity department with “likes” but Rihanna wins in the quality arena. In March, Rihanna had 2.2x more likes, 2.3x more comments, and 3.6x more shares on her Facebook posts than Eminem. How? A golden rule of marketing on Facebook is to post often and to post engaging content which includes visual content. Rihanna posted on Facebook 3 times a week where Eminem posted about 1 post every week and a half or so. Also, pictures say a thousand words and Rihanna had a lot of them.

Granted, Rihanna might have a lot more going on with her music, appearances, and other events than Eminem right now. A key mistake with marketing on Facebook is only posting when there is a lot of activity and slowing down when there’s not. It’s like a business, you hardly ever cut off marketing or sales efforts because things are going slow. These efforts are what grows companies and keeps them ahead of their competition. So in the battle of the top Facebook page, the title goes to Rihanna.

Don’t be shy – what celebrity Facebook page do you follow?

Knowing Your Metrics

Knowing your metrics isn’t too hard, because there aren’t that many things to track just yet. For each new pin you want to know how many clicks, repins and/or likes it received and be able to watch it in real time. Also, you want to pay attention to how many comments each pin gets as a measure for engagement. Then you can watch the visits to your website through your google analytics and track the rest of the funnel from there. If you add a text link to your pin, make sure to tag the link to your site using google’s url builder tool, so that you can tie the visits from this pin or pin board to a campaign in your analytics. That way you can compare campaigns against each other to see which ones performed the best.

The Best Tool to Use

And the obvious winner is … Pinerly.com. No surprise there, Pinerly launched it’s tool on March 3, 2012 and attracted 36,000 signups within one week of launching.  It has a clean and simple interface that allows you to track the metrics I mentioned above.  But has also promised to launch some useful features like: scheduling your pins to save time and a bookmarklet, so you don’t have to go through Pinerly.com to use the service.

It’s now become important for businesses to watch their Pinterest analytics.  Pinterest has now landed itself on the podium of the social network olympics, coming in with the bronze.  Cheap clicks are awaiting, get them while you can.

Too many people think that blogging is not for their company because they tried a few posts, felt like it didn’t improve their sales or visibility, and then abandoned ship. The problem? You need to think of blogging as a trial and error process – the long game – where you take risks, rethink, restructure, and stop referring to it as a failed experiment. It’s a learning experience, where you need to learn to think like the consumers you’re trying to reach. In fact, you should try to blog the way they do. If you think like a customer – and unless you’re a robot, you’re one too – then you can increase your traffic, boost your visibility, and essentially never wonder how to improve sales with a blog again. Here are 3 easy blogging tips to help you think like and appeal to consumers.

#1. Employ the Power of Comparison
Variety is the spice of life, and for consumers, comparisons of the many varieties will get you far. As consumers, we love to compare things, don’t we? We want to make sure we’re getting the best deal or the highest quality product. People scour the internet to find reviews of anything from cars to blenders. By utilizing the power of ‘versus’ you can generate a lot of traffic to your blog, merely by creating a trusted, ‘review-like’ atmosphere where your help consumers cut out all of the messy, circular research.
For instance, a technology retailer might consider pitting one form of technology against another, perhaps “PCs vs Macs: Which is Right for You?” followed by some contrasting and comparing, while referring to the individual needs of the consumer. If a consumer feels like this is an honest comparison – that you’re a trusted source – and that their individual needs are being taken into account, your traffic, sales and ROI could skyrocket. A bonus? Comparison posts could open the door to countless ‘spin-off’ posts around the same topic.

#2. Give Them Your ‘Best’
Speaking of comparison, consumers are constantly searching for things using the word, ‘best’. Don’t we all want the best for ourselves? It only makes sense that the savvy blogger would then give the public what they want: the best! We’re always searching for ‘What’s the best fuel efficient vehicle…” or “What’s the best type of tea…” and if you take those types of queries into account, you would then shape your blog posts around those questions. In fact, you’d use the keyword ‘best’ in your content frequently—especially in your title.
The ‘best’ things about this practice? Not only could you drive a lot more search traffic to your blog and increase sales, you could also set yourself up as a trusted source of quality information. You’re the expert now.

#3. Ripped from the Headlines
Author David Meerman Scott has now coined the phrase, ‘Newsjacking.’ It’s simple really: breaking news becomes your next blog topic. By taking a popular headline or hot story and working it into your content, you are drawing more eyes to your blog, including media sources, that then give you more coverage and basically even more eyes are on you.

For example, a travel agency blog might employ this tactic by finding a recent story about the love getaway of a celebrity couple, and editorialize by adding their advice on ‘how to have a romantic getaway’ like that celebrity couple. Whenever you get the chance, try to ‘jack’ some of the headlines you see, and make them relevant to your readers and your bottom line.

So now you know how to improve sales with blogging. In short, blog like a consumer. It’s actually easier than you think, and at the end of the day, could produce better results than you ever imagined.

1. Everyone’s Linkedin profile has an option to add multiple websites to your profile. Why not use this to boost your businesses’ SEO rankings? Instead of displaying the default “My Website” or “My Blog” title on your profile, you can spice this up by using Linkedin to include your targeted keywords. To change this, go into “My Profile” and next to your website link, click “Edit.” Now instead of choosing “Business Website” or “Blog,” you want to select “Other.” This will allow you to type in a title that includes your targeted keywords. Voila!  One of the best Linkedin profile tips you can easily incorporate today.

2. Did you just make a really amazing business PowerPoint presentation and already upload it to SlideShare? Great! Now let’s use this as part of your businesses’ Linkedin marketing strategy. There’s an app for that, no really there is. Just like Facebook and Twitter, Linkedin has apps too. There is a Linkedin app called SlideShare which allows you to share your amazing business presentations with your colleagues and connections. You can also view your connections’ presentations and find ones from leaders in various areas. Showcasing your business presentations builds your company’s reputation of being an expert in your respective industry. Take some time and discover other Linkedin apps that you can incorporate into your marketing strategy.

3. We all have questions, whether it’s in life or business. Let’s focus on the business questions because they’re probably a lot easier to answer. Using Linkedin to answer questions and even posting questions is another great way to make connections and develop your reach and influence within your industry. Linkedin Answers has question categories ranging from “Business Operations” to “Marketing and Sales.” To get to Linkedin Answers, click on the drop down box next to the search box and choose “Answers,” then click the search button. Another quick and simple tip to start marketing on Linkedin for your business.

How do you use Linkedin for marketing your business?

Maybe I was too quick to proclaim with the rest of em: Google Plus dead!  For months people have been calling Google Plus a “ghost town” or “the graveyard of social media.”  But that graveyard appears to be growing.  As of March 2012, Google+ topped over 100 million active users.  100 million active users in over 9 months.  It’s not Pinterest-style growth, but it’s pretty impressive.

And Kawasaki makes a pretty persuasive argument.  When it comes down to it, his bet on Google Plus is really just a bet on Google.  He says Google:

• has a track record
• has made Google+ a priority
• has money & talent
• owns the river (search), and
• owns the playing field (channels & devices)

Okay, that’s a fair bet.  After all, Guy admits, “I need another social-media service like I need more email or my dog to throw up on the carpet.”  Totally.

The fact that Google can and does redirect search traffic on a whim to suit its own needs is scary, but true.  Kawasaki points out that when Google put an arrow on its search page pointing to a button that directed people to join Google Plus, hundreds of thousands of people joined.  He also points out that Google+ comes pre-installed on your Samsung phone or device, and the same will happen with Motorola.

For those of you thinking about Google Plus for business but still wondering how to use Google Plus, take a peek at Guy’s book.  He does a good job at pointing out all the pluses (enhanced features) of Google Plus, like:

• higher post limits
• better profile visibility
• better video conferencing
• better posting features (more reach, better grouping & display, better use of photos)

Though user activity still seems a bit low, the Google Plus user base is growing, so it’s something businesses should be aware of.  Google has clearly made it a priority and will continue to push it.  So if you don’t have a google plus business page, it’s a good idea to set one up.  You may already have one and you don’t know it.  (Have a gmail account?  Then you have a Google+ account.  See what Guy means?)

What do you think of Google Plus for business?  Love it?  Hate it?  Share your thoughts below.

Most marketers who are fairly new to social media are spending the least amount of time, with 59% committing 1 to 5 hours per week managing their social channels.   Marketers who have more experience tend to spend more time.  Marketers been using social media for 1 to 3 years, spend 6 hours or more on social media activities.  For marketers who are the early adopters and have more than 3 years experience, 47% of them spend at least 16 hours per week in time spent on social media.

Benefits Gained:

So what’s the social ROI of all this time spent?  According to the study, the number one benefit of social media marketing is being able to stand out in an increasingly noisy world.  88% of the marketers responded that their efforts generated more exposure for their businesses.   The second major benefit?  Improved traffic and subscribers, with 72% reporting positive results.

Can businesses achieve more benefits with more time spent?  The answer – it depends.  The study showed some relationship between time spent and benefits reaped.  But keep in mind there is the law of diminishing return and the key is to find a balance that is right for your company and its goals.  How much time is your company spending on social media and what are the top 2 benefits your company has seen?

1. Think History

I know many of you businesses love that history wall you’ve created in your office. Showing off your accomplishments and milestones. Now you can translate that into the facebook experience. Significant posts become those pinpoints on your wall. Keep that in mind when you’re planning your posts. The newsfeed provides a new type of “milestone” post that will be added to the brand timeline.

2. Think Wider

You’ve got more space now. Use it. Facebook has so graciously given us 290 pixels more of horizontal space. We used to have 590 pixels, now we have 810 pixels. You’ll probably want to change that landing tab you created. Also, you can now add a nice big cover image to give your timeline page your own customer feel. The cover image should be 851 pixels wide and 315 pixels high. You can’t choose a default landing tab anymore, people will always (at least this week) land on the timeline. So, think about this cover image communicating the message you had in your default landing tab.

3. Think Highlights

At first you may think your tabs are gone or have lost emphasis. But really the tabs are more front and center now. The downside is that you can only highlight 3 tabs. The first one is your photos, you can’t do anything about that. So, pick your 3 well. If geography is important to your business, you may want your map to be one of those. If you’ve launched a new facebook app, then make that one of them. I’m sure most would agree with me that having your “like” count holds some weight, so you’ll want that to be front and center.

Also, you can pin posts to the top of your newsfeed. A pinned post will appear in two places on the timeline, as the top item and below where it fits into the chronology. Brands can pin one post at a time, for up to 7 days. Also, if you unpin one, it just falls back into the chronology of your timeline, so don’t worry, you aren’t deleting it. You can also highlight a post to fill the space of the newsfeed. Just click the star on the top right of the post.

4. Think Admin Panel

They’ve made some good changes to the admin panel. There’s a quick access bar to manage your page and create ads. Fans can now send you messages directly and you can reply to messages from the admin panel, this can be great for customer service interaction. Also, I think it’s much easier to get to your insights data and make sense of it. So, good job on the admin panel Facebook.

5. Think More Ads

And of course, there will be ads. Ads a plenty. There’s a new Facebook Reach Generator, that lets you pay money that will guarantee that your newsfeed posts will get to at least 75% of your fans each month. There’s a couple of new ad types:

1) “Premium Ads” – Brands can now make any post a premium ad. The premium ads will appear in four places – news feed, right-hand side, mobile newsfeed and on the logout page.

2) “Marketplace Ads” – These appear on the right-hand side of your current facebook pages. These are served up directly by Facebook or through third-party ad platforms that utilize the Facebook API.

Overall, I like many of the changes about the Facebook timeline for business pages. There’s no sense in fighting it, we need to adapt and see the opportunities. The mighty platforms have the crowds; to reach them businesses must proceed with Darwin-like finesse with a different approach to each platform.

But how do you effectively market across multiple online channels? A recent column by Shelly Alavarez at MarketingLand.com sheds some light on this. Alvarez suggests that marketers can’t expect to be successful across multiple channels if their customers aren’t ‘cross-informed’. In short, if you want to achieve multi-channel marketing success, start sharing common messages to your consumers across the board, as opposed to different messages for each platform.

Why is it so important to cross-inform? Alvarez emphasizes, “First of all, consumers are demanding it…cross-informed marketing efforts lead to deeper relevance, customer value, and faster, more accurate optimization. The ‘why’ isn’t hard; it’s the ‘how’ that takes some work.”

You’re probably wondering, how is this possible? Every channel has its own rules and its own forms of messaging, how can I cross-inform across completely different channels? Alvarez asserts, “It all starts with a better understanding of what consumers want. Consumers now expect to be able to interact with brands whenever and wherever it suits their lifestyle — and they want brands to be smart enough to recognize this fact and keep up.”

So what’s stopping everyone? Most likely it has something to do with companies employing a different marketing vendor for each and every platform; from mobile to SMS to social media. With different marketing vendors you get different objectives and results. How do we overcome such a hurdle? Alvarez suggests taking it one step at a time, “Focus on actionable, achievable steps.”

Here are her 5 steps towards cross-informing like a pro:

• Work with your technology team, customer intelligence team, and external partners to build a unified view of a customer across touch points.
• Map out an ideal, successful customer journey.
• Evaluate the tools you have on hand. Do you need integrated data support? Can you consolidate your point solutions?
• Baby steps: Add one new channel to your messaging plans at a time.
• Develop metrics that gauge the integration of channels with each other.

The author concludes, “Once your messaging is consistent across channels you can tell a more complete story and begin unlocking customer insights that will help inform and optimize your marketing efforts.”

Any ideas to share on how to market better across multiple online channels?  Share your thoughts below.