Social Media for Small Business Archives

What type of video content should I share?

November 13, 2012 By Joe Soto Leave a Comment

Have you ever asked: What type of video content should I share?

While video is increasingly the prime channel for content marketing, businesses are struggling to come up with creative content ideas their audience will find interesting enough to pay attention to.

In this video below, I give you one simple video tip you can implement today for your business using video as your content marketing channel.

Still not convinced you should be using video in your marketing? Here are some recent online video facts to consider:

In the US, 181 million people watched more than 39 billion online content videos during September 2012, according to comScore.

eMarketer reports 87% of US brands use video for content marketing initiatives.

A study from Unbounce shows explainer videos can increase conversion rates by a whopping 20%.

Including the word ‘video’ in the subject line of an email will boost click-through rates from 7-11% and emails that contained an embedded video achieved a 21% higher conversion rate according to Business 2 Community.

Isn’t it about time YOU start using video in your content marketing efforts?

From my video above:

Did you know 1/3 of social networking users are “silent?” It’s shocking, I agree. It’s hard to believe so many people are active on social media, but NEVER post.

(Source: Edison Research, Social Habit Project)

Joe Soto

Joe Soto is the CEO of One Social Media. A leading expert in social media marketing, Joe has over 16 years of experience in all aspects of sales, marketing, online lead generation, and Internet marketing.

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Can Social Media Be an Artistic Outlet?

April 16, 2012 By Tom Hummer Leave a Comment

In my last blog post, The Language of Social Media, I wrote about how social media is changing the way we write. Our vocabulary, grammar, and punctuation all take a back seat to being casual and brief.

Whether this movement is good or bad is entirely debatable: there’s no objective answer. But regardless of your view on the matter, some people are embracing this change and seeing it as an opportunity instead of an obstacle. Here’s one of them.

Teju Cole is a Nigerian-American writer, who has spent time living in both countries. Cole’s experiences give him a unique perspective on life, death, and the different social issues that America and Nigeria face. Along with being an accomplished author and photographer, Cole uses his Twitter account as an artistic outlet of a different kind.

Cole’s tweets mix social commentary, American history, and Nigerian culture– only he writes them as poetry. This unique blend of content and delivery often come off as morose obituaries or headlines, and they certainly aren’t for the weak-hearted. Still, Cole achieves a goal that most of the Twitterverse has yet to reach: he makes you think. Here are some recent examples of his tweets:

What Cole proves without a doubt is that social media can be used as an artistic outlet. And I don’t mean in the way that bands, artists, and authors use it to promote their newest product– I mean it in the sense that social media is providing the actual basis for creation. Twitter is Cole’s canvas, not just a place where he can post a link for people to view or buy his canvas.

On top of that, Cole hardly ever self-promotes on his Twitter. After going back through a week’s worth of tweets (probably about 100), the only kind of posts I could find besides the ones shown above, are the occasional wordy (albeit macabre) joke, and a lot of interaction with his followers.

Cole is showing how to make a personal brand through social media while keeping his integrity as an artist. So what can we take from his example? A lot of things:

Be unique.
Provide value in a way that nobody else is.
Don’t be overly-promotional.
Write about what you know and care about.
Don’t be afraid to be provocative.
Be persistent.
Don’t complain about or shun change: use it to your advantage
Be consistent.
Turn obstacles and restrictions into opportunities.

Tom Hummer

Tom’s two biggest passions in life are writing and music. In his free time, Tom reads, writes, and works on musical projects.

Using Pinterest For Business

February 22, 2012 By Rob Wormley Leave a Comment

Earlier today Kelsey and I aired our live show that runs every Wednesday at 3 PM Central. The topic for today’s show was all about how businesses could and should be using the increasingly popular social media site known as Pinterest. At the end of the show, I promised to publish a blog post that offered a few extra details and information about the site and how you can use it for your specific business and/or industry. Before I get into the additional information however, I wanted to share the archived recording of the show for those of you who weren’t able to watch live. Here it is:

Here’s a brief description of what Pinterest is, from the site itself:

Pinterest is a virtual pinboard. Pinterest allows you to organize and share all the beautiful things you find on the web. You can browse pinboards created by other people to discover new things and get inspiration from people who share your interests. People use pinboards to plan their weddings, decorate their homes, and share their favorite recipes (Source).

If you haven’t been following Pinterest very closely lately, here are a few facts you should know:

10.4 million Registered users on Pinterest
1/5 Ratio of Pinterest’s registered users who visit the site every day
11.7 million Unique monthly U.S. visitors for January 2012, according to comScore. Pinterest crossed the 10 million threshold faster than any other standalone site in history
18 to 34 Age demographic of women propelling the site

Sourced from: http://theweek.com/article/index/224399/the-webs-growing-pinterest-obsession-by-the-numbers

Naturally, as more and more people have started using Pinterest, the brands that really understand the power and reach of the site have established their own unique presence. Here are just a few examples (click the images to explore the profiles) from a number of different industries:

Now is the time to create a Pinterest account for your business. There are a lot of “big brands” jumping on the site each and every day, but there aren’t nearly as many small or mid-sized businesses taking advantage of the opportunity to reach a new community to interact with.

To take the first step, click here.

Rob’s Extra Tip: Want to learn even more about how your business could be using Pinterest? Click here to download a FREE e-book from Hubspot.

Rob Wormley

As a social media specialist, Rob thrives in situations that require constant creativity. On days when Rob isn’t working hard to create, maintain, and strengthen relationships online, you might find him spending time with family, browsing through his nearest bookstore, or sipping on a cup of coffee at his local Starbucks.

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4.5 Ways To Be More Interesting | Social Media Tips

January 12, 2012 By Mike Bal Leave a Comment

Being successful in social media depends on several things. You need to be relevant to your fans and customers. You should always be available in case they need your immediate attention, or if they feel like they need your immediate attention. You should be engaging so your fans don’t feel like they’re talking to a wall. And you should be interesting.

Being interesting isn’t as easy as it would seem. Successful brands like Skittles can be interesting by posting a question about a unicorn, but that won’t work for the majority of businesses in social media. The brands that haven’t formed a niche or style for their social voice are left teetering between “good content” and “interesting content”. Unfortunately they aren’t always the same thing.

The downside to playing it safe and providing strictly relevant information is that it really doesn’t give people a reason to be loyal to you. They MIGHT start to rely on you as a source or a curator but that doesn’t attach them to your brand. They aren’t hearing your voice they are simply seeing what you’re seeing. This is where being interesting can help. A quick witty comment on the end of a or a picture attached to a valuable status update can make all the difference in the world. Here are a few things that will help you be more interesting and as a result attach more fans to your brand.

1. Find New Sources – It’s great to have a list of places you can rely on for good and relevant information but don’t go to them too often. If you share from the same sources on a regular basis at turns you into a stepping stone instead of an interesting and valuable brand. Try to make it a goal to something NEW to share from a NEW source every day.

2. Give The World A Bit Of Attitude – People have already started to train themselves to ignore regurgitated content. The same headlines are streaming over and over again on all social media channels so it will take a little something extra to grab their attention. I suggest adding your opinion with a bit of attitude. Even if people disagree you will have obtained their attention.

3. Change It Up – You don’t have to attach a link to everything you share. Not every blog post has to be in five paragraph format. We call it social MEDIA for a reason. Find videos, pictures, infographics and quotes that are interesting and relevant to your brand and your customers/fans. All of the social media channels are becoming more media friendly so don’t be shy.

4. Throw A Curve Ball – You can still share something that has nothing to do with your business or brand. Your fans are real people who have personalities outside of their occupations. Share viral content, share feel good moments, share things that make you laugh, share incredible images, Share! Share! Share! Your brand’s personality has a human side too. If it doesn’t, it needs to get one.

4.5. Maintain Conversations – As I mentioned before, your opinions go a long way when it comes to being interesting. Find other brands or people and comment or reply to what they are sharing. Don’t leave a quick “Thanks for sharing” and call it a day. Read what they want you to read and give them some well thought out feedback. This is only half of a tip because SOCIAL media implies that you are being social but we see a lot of people out there who seem to have no interest in the social aspect of it all.

Feel free to shoot me and questions or thoughts on Twitter or post it up on our Facebook page.

Mike Bal

Hi, I studied advertising, I have a passion for creativity and I love working in social media. I try to write about the combination of traditional marketing, branding, and advertising strategies that can apply and work affectively with social media. I also enjoy music, batman and life.

3 Ways To Satisfy Your Customers On Social Media

November 30, 2011 By Mike Bal 1 Comment

What do your customers want from you? Your initial answer will probably be something like, ” A product/service that does what it’s supposed to do and great customer service to go with.” (or some variation of that) Now, what do your customers want from you online?

STOP! The same answer does not apply. Your customers aren’t connecting with you online for the same reason they buy your product, so get that thought out of your head. Your customers are connecting with you for their own benefit, not for yours. They are looking for value, and that comes in several different forms. Here are three things your customers are looking for that they aren’t getting.

1. A Relationship: Your primary job online isn’t to sell your product, it’s to develop a relationship. Once you get that part down the sales will follow. When your customers connect with you, whether it’s via e-mail or social media, they are opening up a channel of communication. We all know that communication is supposed to go both ways to make sure that you are listening, speaking and interacting, just like you would in a face to face conversation. If you miss any of these elements your customers will feel like they are putting their efforts into a bad relationship, and we all know how that usually ends. Break up! Which translates in business to “Lost Customer”.

2. Information, Entertainment or Conversation: Generally speaking, when someone is browsing through their social media sites they are looking for one or all of these three things. Your biggest goal is to become a reliable source for your customers. When they need something, even when it has nothing to do with your product or service, you want them to come to you. The first thing to do is to decide whether you’re going to have a niche or be a jack of all trades (Whether you will focus on one or provide all three). The next step is making sure that you are providing QUALITY content on a CONSISTENT basis. The final step is letting your customers know where and when they can get it, don’t ever expect them to find it on their own, at least initially. This is like the classic line from the movie Field of Dreams with one slight modification, “If you build it, and tell them about it, they will come.”

3. A Deal or An Opportunity – Going back to the initial idea of the give-and-take relationship. If your customers are giving you access to them and their connections they are going to expect a little something in return. There are two big ways to do this on social media.

Give your customers a discount - You have the ability to offer a discount to your customers right? Why not offer an exclusive discount to your customers who connect with you online? It’s not any different than running a coupon or deal on any form of ad. The people who see it might take advantage of it, and they might buy a little something else while they’re at it.

Give them a chance to win something they want or need - The fact is that you have to put some money into marketing. The good news is that social media is essentially free to use. Approach social media contests like you would running an ad. Instead of buying the space, you are buying the prize to give away. Your customers will give you their time and even tell the world about you for a chance to win something they want or need. You can run contests weekly, monthly, quarterly or even yearly depending on how much your willing to give away. On a weekly basis you might give away a $10 gift card to the local coffee shop, while once a year you might give away a flat screen. Those are just examples, but you get the point. The contest encourages your customers and their friends to interact with you on a regular basis and then to tell their friends about you. That’s what you get for running an ad right?

For more social media tips or to get answers to your social media questions connect with us on Facebook and Twitter.

Mike Bal

The Secret Spice For Successful Social Media

October 11, 2011 By Mike Bal Leave a Comment

There are a million “social media experts” out there and there are ten-million strategies being taught about how to use social media. I am going to give my insight based on the 40-50 hours a week I spend embedded in social media and what I have learned and observed. One thing to keep in mind is that every person or company measures their success differently so “successful social media” is a fluid term depending on the goals behind the strategy. I do, however, think that static social media would be considered a failure by the majority of users.

What I mean by “static social media” is that there is no progression, conversation, interaction, inspiration, entertainment, education or engagement happening, it’s just simply there. So the question then becomes, “what one thing can lead to all or any of the things I just listed?”. My research so far has lead me to believe that the answer is charisma.

If you look at any social media presence that has developed a large and engaged following you will get a sense of confidence, consistency and leadership from their outgoing communications. Every message sent out on any channel does more than grab attention, it directs it exactly where it needs to go.

The charismatic profiles/brands are also relating to their fans and allowing the followers to relate and communicate with them. There is never a one sided conversation. If you look back at history’s greatest leaders, you will notice that they did the same and that their followers were much more invested in their connection to that leader, because they felt heard. Brands and leaders today need to make sure that they represent not just their brand, but their entire following. No one likes to connect with a brand that only talks, but everyone wants to connect with a brand that listens.

Some people say that you can’t just develop charisma, you are born with it. That may or may not be true when it comes to people, but you can give your brand any personality you want, and I suggest you do. A charismatic leader has interests, a strong and consistent voice and a good set of ears. Listen to what your followers say and give them what they want to develop a stronger and more loyal relationship. You can use any strategy out there, but the best way to grow an engaged following is through the followers you already have.

I am not saying that Lady Ga Ga is just as good of a leader as Alexander The Great or Napoleon Bonaparte, but, if you look at her social media, you might be surprised by her influence.

Mike Bal

3 Smart Ways to Use Video In Your LinkedIn Profile | LinkedIn Tips [VIDEO]

September 13, 2011 By Joe Soto 4 Comments

Each month I speak in front of groups on the subject of Social Media and when I begin talking about LinkedIn I always ask this question: “How many of you have a video on your LinkedIn profile?” I rarely get even one hand that goes up. If the group is 300 or more people, I may get one hand up.

I believe there are really only four reasons you may not have a video on your profile. You either 1) don’t know why you should, 2) don’t know what to say on the video, 3) are too afraid to record yourself and get on video or 4) you just don’t know how to put a video on your LinkedIn profile. The short answers are 1) to add value so when someone clicks on your profile, they are better off as a result, 2) watch the video below for some ideas, 3) get over it – it’s social MEDIA – embrace it, and 4) there are two great applications I mention below to help you.

Whatever your reason, keep in mind that the most powerful way to differentiate your LinkedIn profile from the thousands of others who may be competing with your profile on LinkedIn is to put a video on it.

In this video below I describe 3 smart ways to use video in your LinkedIn Profile.

The best LinkedIn applications to put video onto your LinkedIn profiles are the Slideshare.net application or the Google Presentation application.

For more LinkedIn Tips click here to download the free ebook.

What comments or questions do you have about improving your LinkedIn profile or creating a video for it? Please share below!

Joe Soto

Husband, Father, Entrepreneur, Social Media Strategist, Speaker, and always learning.

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Filed Under: LinkedIn, Social Media, Social Media for Small Business, social media marketing, Social Media Tips Tagged With: des moines social media company, how to improve my linkedin profile, how to put a video on linkedin, how to use linkedin, iowa social media, linkedin marketing, linkedin strategies, linkedin techniques, linkedin tips, social media agency, social media company, social media marketing, social media marketing strategy, social media marketing tips, social media strategy, social media tips, using linkedin, using linkedin for business

Social Media For Personal Use vs. Business Use

August 10, 2011 By Jeremy Anderberg 1 Comment

On our weekly show yesterday, The Social Truth, we talked for a little while on the differences between using social media personally and using it for your business/brand. Unfortunately, due to some technical issues, the show was not recorded, so I thought I’d give you a short recap of what we talked about.

I’ve personally encountered a lot of people recently who have been thrust into doing their employer’s social media because 1) they are young and 2) they know a little bit more than the next person. This is all well and good, except that most people’s understanding of social media comes from how they’ve used the various networks personally.

The reality, however, is that using social media for your business or brand has a few key differences that must be taken into account. If you are using the exact same strategies (if you have a strategy at all), you are missing out on the full power of using the social world for your marketing purposes.

The highlights:

Content
- Personal. Here, it’s okay to simply share the old Twitter mantra “What are you doing?”. Your family, friends and coworkers may in fact be interested simply in what you’re up to that night. And they are definitely interested in pictures of your kids, kittens and kite-flying afternoons.
- Business. This is all about sharing content and giving value. Most of your updates will include links, or little nuggets of wisdom related to your industry. That’s why they are coming to you.

Networks
- Personal. Stick with what you like. Think of it more like a hobby. Love making videos? Dive in to YouTube, and try out Twitter later on. Are you a photographer? Stick to Flickr for now, and try out YouTube later. Don’t feel obligated to be on everything.
- Business. Have a footprint on all the channels you can reasonably handle. Obviously you don’t want to be overloaded, but you want to reach your intended audience where they are, and they probably aren’t all in one spot. We especially advocate for the Big 5: blogging, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and LinkedIn.

Facebook specifically
- Personal. You don’t have to reach out much. Here it’s okay to simply be a consumer and digest all the posts coming your way. Put smiley faces and “lols” on everything you like.
- Business. Get familiar with applications. You can literally do just about anything within a Facebook page that you’re able to do on a standard website. If you didn’t know that, you’re already behind. Do some research and know what they do. Also be intentional about reaching out and adding comments to other pages that add value to the people reading.

Consistency
- Personal. It’s not crucial that you’re posting every single day multiple times. I am one who has a love-hate relationship with social media. Yesterday, for instance, I forgot to tweet altogether, and I get paid to do social media (Yikes! Am I fired?). At the end of the day, though, my friends/family/followers will come back to me because they have a real relationship with me.
- Business. Consistency is crucial. If you’re not posting every day, your audience is finding a similar company who is. I guarantee it. There are tools like Tweetdeck and Hootsuite that allow you to do this if you have to be out for a few days. Make it a priority to share fresh content at least once or twice every single day.

A couple last points. You want to make sure to clean up your own social media once you become in charge of business or branded accounts. Go ahead and delete some of those old college photos, and clean up the language as well. This doesn’t mean don’t have fun, it just means be a little more aware of what you are posting and the people who might see it.

You also want to make sure you have a strategy for jumping into social media for business use. Read some books and take a look at the companies who are doing it really well. Have defined goals and ways of measuring those goals, just like you would with any other marketing or advertising strategy.

Using social media for yourself may be intuitive, but it’s almost certainly not intuitive when you are doing it for a business or brand. If you have questions or comments, drop ‘em below…or find us on Facebook and Twitter as well!

Jeremy Anderberg

Jeremy is a blog-reading, report-writing project manager. In his spare time he enjoys reading a good thriller, drinking a freshly brewed cup of coffee, and spending time with his wife.

Filed Under: Social Media for Small Business, social media marketing Tagged With: blogging, brand building, brand marketing, branding, des moines social media agency, des moines social media company, des moines social media firm, facebook, facebook marketing, joe soto, One social media, online marketing, small business social media, social marketing, social media, social media agency, social media blog, social media company, social media consultant, social media consulting, social media des moines, social media for small businesses, social media iowa, social media marketing, social media marketing blog, social media marketing services, social media services, social media strategy, twitter, twitter marketing

How To Improve Your Writing For Social Media (In 140 Characters Or Less)

May 14, 2011 By Rob Wormley Leave a Comment

To see the real-time stream of these tweets on Twitter, click here.

Rob Wormley

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Filed Under: facebook, LinkedIn, Social Media, Social Media for Small Business, social media marketing, Social Media News, Social Media Trends, twitter Tagged With: blogging, Business, business blog, business blogging, des moines social media company, des moines social media firm, facebook, facebook marketing, One social media, online marketing, small business social media, social marketing blog, social media blog, social media des moines, social media for small businesses, social media iowa, social media marketing blog, social media marketing company, twitter, twitter marketing

10 Reasons Why Your Competition Is Beating You On Social Media

April 29, 2011 By Rob Wormley 3 Comments

Although you might not want to admit it, I bet you’re paying attention to how your competition is doing on social media. Have you noticed lately that their social media profiles are growing a lot faster than your company’s social media profiles? It might be because of one of these ten reasons:

1. Your competition has a presence on multiple social media sites. While you’re spending all your time updating your company’s Facebook page, your competition is busy sending out tweets, uploading YouTube videos, connecting with potential leads on LinkedIn, creating a new album of photos on their Flickr photostream, and updating their blog. Your competition understands the importance and value of building an online brand presence through the use of multiple social media platforms.

Create a presence on all the popular social media sites

2. Your competition is updating their social media profiles consistently. Your competition’s social media profiles continue to grow because they continue to provide consistent, valuable content to their followers. They have maintained a loyal following thanks to the consistent updates they post on their social media profiles, and have even started attracting new followers.

3. Your competition is going out of their way to invite customers to connect with them on sites like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and LinkedIn. Are you telling the customers who walk into your door about your social media presence? Is it in your brochures? Your quarterly newsletter? Your email signature? On the back of your restaurant menu? Your competition is going out of their way to invite customers and prospects to connect with them on their favorite social media sites.

4. Your competition is posting a variety of content. Your competition isn’t re-posting promotional text from their website. They are creating Facebook photo albums of their last corporate event. They’re finding interesting links that relate to their industry and sharing them with followers. They are uploading client testimonial videos and behind-the-scenes video tours to their YouTube channel. Your competition is posting content that they know their followers will like. They aren’t worried about leaving out the promotional text from their website, because they are attracting new customers by providing value.

Create a Flickr photo gallery and share it on Facebook

5. Your competition is cross-promoting. Your competition is telling their Twitter followers about their Facebook page. They are ending every YouTube video by inviting viewers to connect with them on their other social media sites. They are embedding their Facebook page feed into their blog. They understand that their LinkedIn connections might not ever realize they have a Flickr account unless they occasionally share links to their Flickr photostream on their LinkedIn profile.

6. Your competition isn’t afraid to answer the hard questions. If you’re afraid to answer the tough questions that people might post on your company’s Facebook page, don’t be. Your competition isn’t afraid. In fact, they encourage their followers to ask tough questions, because they see it as an opportunity to strengthen their online reputation. Instead of ignoring or deleting tough questions that show up on their Facebook page, they’re being proactive. They’re taking the time to come up with a helpful, thoughtful answer that will show people how much they care about their customers.

7. Your competition is customizing their profiles with recognizable brand designs. You might understand the importance of presenting a consistent brand design when promoting your business in the physical world (you have a standard design or logo that appears on your flyers, your company shirts, your store sign, and your press releases), but you’re not (successfully) incorporating your company’s consistent design into your social media profiles. Your competition has taken time to design visually-interesting, customized designs for all their social media profiles.

: Customize Your Social Media Sites

8. Your competition is taking time to listen to advice, suggestions, and other helpful comments. Your competition is not only improving their online reputation by listening to advice and comments made by their followers, but they’re also using these comments to improve their business in general. They value the interaction that is happening on their social media profiles, and they are using suggestions made by followers to evolve their business in the physical world.

9. Your competition is utilizing social media tools to become the expert in your industry. Where are your potential customers going to learn more about your industry? If you think it is your website (or your competition’s website), you are wrong. Your potential customers are learning about your industry on places like Facebook and Twitter because it’s easy for them. Your competition understands that. That’s why they are going out of their way to provide valuable content and information to people on their social media profiles. They are becoming the experts in your industry.

10. Your competition has support from employees, clients, and other businesses in the community. Your competition is succeeding on social media because they have support from every employee who works for the company. Every one of their employees is promoting the company’s social media profiles in email signatures, at meetings with potential clients, and everywhere else. Your competition also has support from clients. They even have support from other businesses in the community who are interested in building a relationship online with them.

: Interact with other businesses in the community

If you want to start seeing better numbers on your social media sites, implement some of the strategies that your competition is implementing. Use this list to beat your competition on social media. Become the expert in your industry. Invite your customers to connect with you on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, and any other social media site you use. Listen to what your followers have to say. Update your profiles consistently, and provide value. It’s worth your effort and your time.

Still have questions? Ask me on Twitter. I’m @robwormley.

Rob Wormley

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Filed Under: blogging, facebook, LinkedIn, search engine optimization, Social Media, Social Media Case Study, Social Media for Small Business, social media marketing, Social Media News, Social Media Trends, twitter, YouTube Tagged With: blogging, Business, business blog, business blogging, des moines social media company, des moines social media firm, facebook, facebook marketing, joe soto, LinkedIn, One social media, online marketing, search engine marketing, search engine optimization, search engine optimizaton, small business social media, small business social networking, social marketing blog, social media des moines, social media for small businesses, social media marketing company, social media strategy, twitter, twitter marketing

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