social marketing blog Archives

5 Embeddable Resources You Could Be Using To Enhance Your Blog And Keep Visitors Coming Back For More

May 26, 2011 By Rob Wormley 1 Comment

For a lot of businesses, the idea of blogging can be scary. It’s easy for a CEO to decide that his or her company needs to have a blog. For most blogging platforms, the setup process is fairly simple. In fact it only takes a matter of seconds. The hard part, however, comes when the person who has been put in charge of running the company blog realizes they have no idea what to write about. So what’s the secret to running a successful, interesting, valuable blog that keeps people coming back for more? It all comes down to two things: strategy and creativity. That’s it.

Here’s the deal: Blogging isn’t hard. It just takes a little strategy, and a little creativity. Blogging is a must for all companies. Joe Soto, CEO of One Social Media, said it best at a recent social media luncheon that he spoke at following New York Times bestselling author Jeffrey Gitomer’s sales seminar. When speaking on the topic of blogging, he said: “If you don’t have a blog, you’re not taking your business seriously.”

To help you come up with effective blog strategies, AND to help you boost your creativity, I’d like to share 5 embeddable resources that will help you enhance your blog and keep visitors coming back for more.

1. VYou
Site: http://vyou.com
What it is: The concept behind VYou is simple, yet ingenious: Ask a question about a topic—get a video response. Click here to learn more.
Strategy Tip: Set up a VYou account and start interacting with your clients. It provides a great opportunity for organizations and companies who want to start connecting with customers on an entirely new level. Invite people to interact with you on VYou by embedding your profile in a blog post.
Cost: Free
Example:

2. ISSUU
Site: http://issuu.com
What it is: ISSUU is the leading digital publishing platform on the web. It’s a site that allows you to upload and share publications.
Strategy Tip: Create a profile on ISSUU for your company and start uploading your brochures, reports, case studies, and any other marketing materials you have. Then embed your publications into a blog post on your company blog.
Cost: Free
Example:

3. Prezi
Site: http://prezi.com
What it is: A new way to present information. Prezi allows you to take your personal or corporate messages, meetings, and speeches to the next level by helping you create visually-stunning presentations.
Strategy Tip: Set up your account on Prezi, then spend some time learning how to use it. In the meantime, share other presentations that you come across by embedding them into your next blog post. Search for a topic that relates to your industry.
Cost: Free
Example:

Power of storytelling on Prezi

4. Twitter Search Feed
Site: http://twitter.com/about/resources/widgets
What it is: A Twitter widget that allows you to create a live stream of tweets based on a specific search term.
Strategy Tip: Search for a word(s) that relate to your industry. Help keep your clients and future customers informed by embedding a Twitter search widget into your next blog post.
Cost: Free
Example:

5. LiveShare by Cooliris
Site: http://www.cooliris.com/yoursite/express/builder
What it is: A new way to share YouTube videos, Flickr photostreams, Facebook photos, and more!
Strategy Tip: Use LiveShare by Cooliris to share your company’s YouTube channel with your clients. Embed the LiveShare app into your next blog post.
Example:

Hopefully these ideas will help get you started. At the least, they will help you drastically improve your next five blog posts. Just use one resource per blog post and share them across all your social media sites. You’ll be pleasantly surprised with the positive feedback you receive. The key to using your blog as an effective resource for future business is all about value, and in order to provide value on your blog, you need to invest in two things: strategy and creativity.

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

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.
More Posts - Website

Filed Under: blogging, Creativity, search engine optimization, Social Media, social media marketing, Social Media Trends Tagged With: blogging, Business, business blog, business blogging, business networking, des moines social media company, des moines social media firm, One social media, online marketing, social marketing blog, social media blog, social media company, social media des moines, social media iowa, social media trends, web trends

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

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.

More Posts - Website

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

More Posts - Website

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

5 Simple Things You Can Do To Improve Your Facebook Page

April 9, 2011 By Rob Wormley 2 Comments

One common question I often hear from businesses and organizations who are new to social media is, “How do I measure the success of my social media efforts?” It’s a fair question to ask in my opinion. Answering that question, however, isn’t always as easy as asking it. What’s hard for many businesses who are new to Facebook to understand, is that the success of their social media efforts shouldn’t (and can’t) be determined solely by the number of overall ‘likes’ their page has. There are many other factors that need to be taken into consideration when trying to measure the success of a Facebook page, or a social media campaign in general. Sometimes it’s important to recognize the quality of interaction that exists on a Facebook page, rather than the quantity of users who ‘like’ a page.

What I mean by that is this: you might not have as many Facebook fans as you would like, but what you do have is a number of loyal Facebook users who continue to consistently interact with you on your Facebook page. If you’re getting caught up in the numbers, you’re probably not paying attention to the great interaction occurring on your page. Measuring the success of your social media efforts sometimes requires you to ignore quantity (the number of ‘likes’ your page has), and instead focus on quality (the interaction from loyal fans).

I understand, however, that ignoring the numbers isn’t always easy for some businesses and organizations to do. For that reason, I’m offering five simple things you can do to improve your Facebook page. Here they are:

1. Add Value: I just got done reading a great new book about social media by author Jeffrey Gitomer, who explains that “the purpose of your online presence (especially on social media) is not to sell, it’s to attract people who want to buy” (Jeffrey Gitomer, Social BOOM!). Wise words coming from someone who is actively creating valuable content on his social media sites. It’s important to understand that people who connect with you on Facebook aren’t necessarily interested in buying from you (at least not right away). What they are looking for is value. They want to connect with you because you have something to offer to them besides your latest product. You have insight. You have advice. You have knowledge. You have expertise. Start offering valuable content on your Facebook page, and you will not only see an increase in the amount of people who ‘like’ your page, but you will also see an overall increase in the interaction that occurs on your page.

2. Add Variety: If you aren’t sharing photos, videos, or links on your Facebook page, you shouldn’t be surprised that your numbers aren’t where you want them to be. Providing consistent updates on your page is great, but it can only do so much. You need to start sharing other forms of content with your Facebook followers. Upload photos from your last event. Upload customer testimonial videos. Share interesting links, or links to your blog with your Facebook community. Once you start adding variety to your Facebook page, your numbers will most likely go up, and the amount of interaction occurring will also increase.

3. Engage When Your Followers Are Listening: Knowing when your followers are listening can be an extremely effective way to increase your Facebook numbers, and improve your Facebook page. If you’re wondering why no one is ‘liking’ or commenting on content that you are sharing on your page, it might be because you aren’t engaging with your followers at the right time. Your followers aren’t always logged into Facebook at the same time you post an update. I recently read a great report from Buddy Media that looked at the best time of day (and best day of the week) to share content on a Facebook page. I was surprised with some of their findings, and I’m guessing you would be too. I encourage you to download the report yourself if you are interested in learning more about how to engage when your followers are listening. There are a lot of great graphs like the one below that will help you understand their findings:

4. Cross-Promote: Your Twitter followers might never know that you have a Facebook page, unless you tell them. The people who visit your company website won’t look for you on Facebook, unless you show them you are there. Your company needs to make sure every separate audience you have online—your website audience, your blog audience, your newsletter audience, etc—knows that you have a social media presence. You need to cross-promote whenever you have the opportunity to do so. Cross-promoting is one of the easiest ways to increase your numbers on Facebook, because you are inviting people who already interact with you others places to join you on Facebook too. Need examples? Click on the photo below to see all the ways we cross promote on our site.

5. Respond: One of the best ways to improve your Facebook page is to respond to questions your followers ask you on your page. Ignoring hard questions is the easiest way to lose Facebook fans and damage your online reputation. If you have decided that you want your company to have a presence on Facebook, then you need to be ready to address questions or concerns that your followers have. It’s easy to delete a question or comment from an unhappy customer and move on, but it won’t help you in the end. Your Facebook followers will think much more highly of you if you actually take the time to answer their questions, and let them know you care. Responding to questions or comments on your Facebook page will show other non-fans that you have something to offer them that your competition doesn’t. It’s worth it.

I hope you are able to take at least one of these five tips and start incorporating it into your Facebook page. When you do, come back to this blog post and tell me if you saw any changes! I’d love to read your comments. Just remember, measuring the success of your social media efforts isn’t always about the numbers. Sometimes, it’s beneficial to think about the quality of interaction on your page, the loyalty of your followers, and the value you are providing to your Facebook community.

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

Rob Wormley

More Posts - Website

Filed Under: blogging, Creativity, facebook, LinkedIn, search engine optimization, Social Media, Social Media for Small Business, social media marketing, Social Media News, Social Media Seminar, twitter, YouTube Tagged With: business networking, 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 blog, social media, social media agency, social media company, social media des moines, social media for small businesses, social media iowa, social media management, social media marketing company, social media optimization, social media strategy, social media trends

Social Media Case Study: KOSAMA

February 23, 2011 By Joe Soto 2 Comments

In April of 2010 Kosama partnered with our company, One Social Media, to launch their social media marketing initiatives online in an effort to build market mind-share. Ten short months later, Kosama has become the fitness craze of the Des Moines metro area with multiple franchise locations opening throughout Iowa and other national markets.

As stated in the case study document, the over-arching goal for this project was to increase market mind-share, build company credibility, establish a favorable and recognizable company brand online, and attract new potential members who sign up for the Kosama 10-week program.

While the growth and social media numbers are respectable, the quality of the interaction on the social media channels such as Facebook and Twitter have been the highlights of Kosama’s social media presence. Every day people are conversing on Kosama’s social media platforms and interacting with one another.

Watch the video to hear from the owners of Kosama how social media has impacted their business:

Joe Soto

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

More Posts - Website

Filed Under: Social Media Case Study Tagged With: business blog, des moines social media, des moines social media company, des moines social media firm, des moines social media news, iowa social media, iowa social media company, kosama, One social media, online marketing, small business social media, small business social networking, social marketing blog, social media agency, social media case studies, social media case study, social media company, social media management, social media story

What Do Business Leaders Think of Social Media?

May 5, 2010 By Joe Soto Leave a Comment

It’s important to know what CEO’s and other business leaders think of social media. Getting to know their concerns about using social media as a part of their online marketing campaign, and understanding what kind of information they are looking forward to can give us a fairly good idea of the social media climate in the business world. A recently conducted survey by SmartBrief revealed interesting results which I’d like to share with you.

Familiarity: On being questioned on how familiar business leaders were with social media, 75% of them said that they had a fairly good idea of social media. Many among this group also admitted that they were actively involved in getting to learn more about social media.

Usage of social media: 51% respondents said that they are using social media and its various tools actively in their business. Around 30% of business leaders said that they were either testing social media platforms or considering using them. However, 27% are still reluctant to use social media for their businesses.

Reliability: 63% people find social media to be genuine and think that it’s here to stay, while the rest feel that it’s just a marketing fad. More than half are of the opinion that it’s not a waste of their company’s time and resources.

While discussing about the implications of business leaders ignoring the social realm, 40% of them felt that they were lagging behind their competitors who are also using social media. A quarter of the respondents admitted that they were oblivious of what their competitors were up to on social media.

We can conclude that businesses are showing a lot of interest in social media marketing and that they do believe in the potential of social networking for their company.

Article to Reference: SmartBrief stats: How business leaders view social media

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.

More Posts - Website - Twitter - Facebook - LinkedIn - Pinterest - Google Plus

Filed Under: Social Media for Small Business, social media marketing Tagged With: 2010 trends, ceo social media, online marketing, small business social media, small business social networking, SMO, social bookmarking, social marketing blog, social media, social media blog

Bring Your Personal Brand To The Social Platform

April 29, 2010 By Joe Soto Leave a Comment

There’s no better way to build visibility in the digital world than through social media. Talking of those who have a personal brand, social media is the best way to make connections, build a positive image, and get maximum exposure for your brand. You can target either a local audience or a global one, the choice is yours to make.

First things first. Do you have a goal or an aim? You might want to use social media just to gain recognition and make your brand a socially known name, or this might just be a means to your end which is sales. Point is, you can only reap what you sow. So once your goal is defined you can join the social ‘brand’wagon to create a solid Web presence for your brand and generate sales.

Always keep in mind, social rules of the real world are applicable to the digital social world. What I mean to say is that your social media activity, interaction, and tone should be reflective of your persona, conveying the message of your brand effectively. People who say that social media does not work have actually not put in value, which is why they are unable to extract any value from their efforts.

Be a good person to know, be likeable and be real; that’s what is going to get people to connect with you on a tangible, human level rather than merely on a technical, business one. Using light humor, sharing relevant information, personal interests, and showing interest in your followers is going to work way better than having a fantastic logo or impressive mission statement.

What goes around comes around – so be assured that if you are putting in your best efforts, sharing quality content, and are following a give-and-take policy, your personal brand will not only establish a positive presence in the social world, but you will also find that you are getting great leads, back links, and ultimately – sales.

Joe Soto

More Posts - Website - Twitter - Facebook - LinkedIn - Pinterest - Google Plus

Filed Under: Social Media for Small Business, social media marketing Tagged With: digital media marketing, online marketing, personal brand on social media, small business social media, small business social networking, social marketing, social marketing blog, social media marketing

Tips to Tweet Right

April 29, 2010 By Joe Soto 1 Comment

This one’s for the newcomers on Twitter and those who need some advice on how to do some meaningful tweeting. First and foremost you need to remember – be real, be yourself, and use a tone of conversation you would have others use with you. If you can remember and put this to use, you are on the right track.

1. Depending on the kind of followers you want to target, share information that is new, fresh, and offered from a fresh perspective.

2. Interact with people by responding to their tweets. You might comment on a bit of information shared by someone either by providing additional information, replying to a question, or by expressing your view on the topic.

3. Respond to Direct Messages or @mentions. Apart from spam, make it a point to reply to messages sent to you. When someone mentions you or retweets your post, acknowledge it. Thank your new followers and do all of the above mentioned in a sincere, authentic voice.

4. Get your new followers to know more about you and ask them about themselves too. Some people may use a Twitter client to respond to new followers while some may do it directly through Twitter. Whatever the case, you need to add a personal touch by expressing interest in your followers. Only then will they show interest in you and pay heed to what you have to say.

5. Follow live events on Twitter with a hashtag (#tag). You will find several people using hashtags and following events; if the event is of your interest join the bandwagon after introducing yourself. This is a great way to make new contacts among people sharing your interests. You can follow up with these people even after the event.

6. Ask questions on Twitter. This is probably one of the best ways to find niche followers and build your network. You will be surprised at the kind of ideas, leads, and insights you can receive by tweeting wisely.

Twitter is a very powerful social media platform which can work wonders for your brand or business if it is used optimally.

Joe Soto

More Posts - Website - Twitter - Facebook - LinkedIn - Pinterest - Google Plus

Filed Under: social media marketing, twitter Tagged With: business networking, social marketing blog, social media marketing, social media trends, social networking, twitter, twitter marketing

Social Media Use Has Become a Regular Habit for Three Quarters of the Online Population

April 15, 2010 By Joe Soto Leave a Comment

Each week I get asked, “Do you know what percentage of those online are engaged and influenced by social media?”
Rarely do I have a really good answer for that. Until now.
A new article from Adweek was recently published revealing new research. Research that shows social media use has become a regular habit for three quarters of the online population.
One interesting part of the research study point out that “more than half of top ten daily media destinations are social media.” It’s where people are turning too.
With Facebook climbing to half a billion registered users and Twitter adding more than 300,000 new registered users daily, it’s time for small to medium businesses to jump on the train.
To read the complete article on Adweek.com, click here.
To read the research study, click here.

Joe Soto

More Posts - Website - Twitter - Facebook - LinkedIn - Pinterest - Google Plus

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: blogging, business blogging, facebook marketing, search engine marketing, small business social media, small business social networking, social marketing, social marketing blog, social media, social media blog, social media marketing, social media trends, social media videos, twitter, web trends

Twitter: The most misunderstood social media tool for small businesses

April 3, 2010 By Joe Soto Leave a Comment

Even though 25 to 30 million people registered for Twitter between late 2009 and early 2010 (and company projections estimate 1 billion users by 2013), Twitter remains one of the most misunderstood social media tool for small business owners.
Avoiding Twitter could cost you money if you don’t take advantage of it. Too bold of a statement?
Think about it, at some point there was a time that the idea of the internet seemed very foreign to you. There was even a time when the idea suggesting every home could have a personal computer seemed impossible. But now the business community at large can’t imagine being able to conduct business without the internet or a computer.
With that said, admittedly Twitter may not be right for every business, but there is a way it can work for most.
One of the misperceptions is Twitter is only useful if you have a national or worldwide product or service. The fact is, local businesses can connect to local followers on Twitter and build a local following.