Showing posts with label Twitter. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Twitter. Show all posts

Monday, October 15, 2012

Brands on Instagram for Marketing

English: A Red Bull advertising car spotted on...
English: A Red Bull advertising car spotted on Perry Street in Durham, North Carolina. Blacknall Presbyterian Church is visible in the background. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
The popular photo-sharing app, Instagram, gives its 50 million users the opportunity to become armature photographers with a unique photo editing feature set that has exploded in popularity over the last year. However, Instagram has not only provided a creative new medium for wannabe photographers, but for brands as well. Many brands have taken advantage of the opportunity to give consumers an artistic, behind-the-scenes look at what their products and services have to offer.

Today, some brands are using Instagram to give consumers behind-the-scenes looks at sporting events or fashion shows. Some brands have even enlisted highly influential Instagram users for advertising purposes. Here are a few brands that are effectively using Instagram for marketing, branding and advertising purposes:

1. Red Bull: From the average social media sites like Facebook and Twitter, to the new and uncharted social apps like the popular video sharing app, Viddy, Red Bull is definitely an industry leader when it comes to online marketing - and their Instagram presence is no exception. Red Bull posts a "daily awesome" photo, and maintains the tradition of "Flying Friday" to keep fans and followers engaged. However, Red Bull doesn't stop with just posting engaging content, the brand has also been known to "Like" other users photos as well.

2. Puma: Rather than simply celebrating shoes, Puma's Instagram was set up to highlight all the cool places that shoes take you. Puma has been known to send influential Instagram users to big events across the globe and take pictures. Puma even sent some very lucky and influential Instagram users to Abu Dhabi so they can Instagram the Volvo Ocean Race. Since Puma doesn't have the following of some other brands (like Red Bull), this strategy of employing influential users to photograph events was a good way of ensuring more people saw the pictures.

3. Tiffany's: Tiffany's adopted Instagram as part of its campaign about true love. They employed a well-known fashion blogging couple to take snapshots of love stories in Paris and New York and them on Instagram. Tiffany's also gave couples the opportunity to submit their own photos using the Tiffany's downloadable Instagram filter. Beyond just incorporating Instagram into their true love campaign, Tiffany's also used the photo-sharing app to give fans an inside look at how jewelry is made.

Though Instagram is still a fairly new medium for online marketing, many brands are realizing the power of and advantages of using the photo-sharing app for marketing purposes. Though it may require a great deal of creativity and thought to work Instagram into a company's social media strategy, those that have done so have seen amazing results and been greatly accepted by users on the platform.


Article Source:
http://EzineArticles.com/7130961
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Saturday, October 13, 2012

How to Use Facebook for Business - Your Quickstart Guide for Getting Customers Fast (Social Media for Business)


How to Use Facebook For Business:
Your Quickstart Guide for Getting New
Customers Fast (Image via Amazon aStore)
With Facebook you can identify exactly who wants your products and then actively attract them, according to Wynne Pirini in this book. Facebook enables people to voice their opinion about your business to hundreds of their friends instantly, and you can choose to take control of this new frontier, or you can leave it to others to influence what the market thinks about your business.

This short ebook focuses more on the practical steps involved in getting started on Facebook rather than the philosophical aspects or the broader business consequences. The author uses clear instructions and helpful illustrations to show how to set up a personal profile, how to set up a business fan page, how to advertise to a targeted audience, how to use images to enhance engagement, and why Facebook Apps are useful.

There mere use of Facebook does not guarantee a return for a business. Many of the advertisements currently appearing on the site are a waste of space. In order to succeed, a business needs to find a creative way of engaging customers and potential customers. Some businesses are naturally more interesting than others, but the book does give some hints as to engagement strategies that might work even for boring businesses.

Before reading the book I was of the opinion that it was not worthwhile for most businesses to devote resources to Facebook. Facebook ads are usually not appealing or very relevant. But now I am not so sure. There is endless scope for low-cost experimentation, and with sufficient expertise and ingenuity it clearly is possible to create a campaign that achieves results. If you have not already experimented with a Facebook fan page, this book provides a handy step-by-step guide for you to follow.


Article Source:
http://www.amazon.com/review


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Friday, October 12, 2012

Social Media ROI: La gestión y medición de los esfuerzos de medios sociales en su organización

La Otra
La Otra (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Durante los últimos años, los ejecutivos corporativos hábilmente derribado evangelistas medios de comunicación social con la cuestión de la muerte: "Ah, sí, es así, ¿cuál es el ROI de los medios sociales, ¿eh?" Los evangelistas desconcertados y gurús balbuceó algo como, "se trata de la relación", o alguna otra más nueva era mantra de resonancia.

Ahora los ejecutivos corporativos y los gurús de los medios sociales por igual pueden respirar un suspiro de alivio. Olivier Blanchard responde no sólo a la cuestión específica de retorno de la inversión, sino que también proporciona un marco sólido para evaluar la verdadera pregunta: "¿Cuál es el valor de los medios sociales?" Aunque las preguntas sonar como la misma cosa, son muy diferentes. Una de ellas es por el dinero. La otra es de aproximadamente propósito. Armado con ROI Social Media le sabrá la diferencia y usted será capaz de responder a las dos preguntas con inteligencia.

Olivier libro es una lectura esencial para cualquier persona que busca utilizar los medios sociales para lograr los objetivos del negocio.

Para obtener el máximo valor del libro, comprarlo, leerlo, marcarlo y luego aprovechar el poder de los medios sociales por sí mismo y ver el valor de todas estas cosas nuevas mediante la conexión con Olivier en Twitter y comentando en su blog . Cuando lo hagas, te va a tomar su propio desarrollo profesional a un nivel superior y te sentirás como si hubieras ganado su MBA en marketing. Es una buena sensación.

Fuente del artículo:
http://www.amazon.com/review/

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Tuesday, October 9, 2012

Marketing via Social Media: What Professional Firms Should Know

SAN FRANCISCO - NOVEMBER 15:  Facebook founder...
SAN FRANCISCO - NOVEMBER 15: Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg speaks during a special event announcing a new Facebook email messaging system at the St. Regis Hotel on November 15, 2010 in San Francisco, California. Facebook will launch a new messaging system aimed at enhancing it's social media product to its 500 million users. (Image credit: Getty Images via @daylife)
The recent explosion of Social Media - Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook, in particular - has probably caused enough head scratching and unease among marketing directors to last them a lifetime. How does Social Media actually work? Who does it reach? How influential is it? What happens if you ignore it? How should it be used? And how much time should be devoted to feeding it? Nobody seems to have clear answers to these questions, and the few that do, speak a language that most ordinary human beings struggle to understand.

Marketing heads at large professional organisations, by which I mean commercial law firms, accountancy firms and financial services companies, are as concerned about Social Media as anyone else - which, on the face of it, is surprising, because traditionally these outfits have relied upon a relatively discreet universe of mainly corporate clients. Their business relationships are built on face-to-face contact (not Facebook to Facebook contact) and often long histories of proven service. Nevertheless, the perception exists that Social Media is an arena in which every serious player has to be visible, as if to be invisible there would mean being invisible everywhere - an unforgivable capitulation in this age of mass communication. Just such preoccupations drive much of the current interest in Social Media: a fear of missing out, of seeming out-of-touch, rather than excitement at the arrival of a new marketing opportunity. So is the promise really there? And are the fears justified?

The first thing to remember about Social Media is its name: not Marketing Media, but Social Media. The reason sites like Facebook caught on in the first place was not because people saw an interesting new opportunity to go shopping. They saw it as a way to keep in touch with friends old and new, and to reach out to people with similar interests. Though discrete retailing of one kind or another has crept on board, most users says they don't like it. The exception here is cultural product: music, films, books and (to a lesser extent) video games. But even here - very much at the mass consumer end of things - the amount of promotion users will tolerate is limited. Any marketing that firms do attempt must be discreet, as well as useful, readable and current. Achieving all this is easier said than done.

Saturday, October 6, 2012

Text Marketing Mobile Call to Action

Image representing Twitter as depicted in Crun...
Image via CrunchBase
Let's face it, it's easy to sign up for a text message marketing service and have your own keyword and a short code for your customers to text into. But that alone won't make you any money and you will be no better off 30 days from now from when you first signed up to start mobile marketing. In order for text marketing to really increase your sales you need to promote your short code and give your customers a reason to text in. Here are the ten easiest ways to promote your text marketing mobile call to action:

  1. Add a new post to your Facebook wall. Do this every few days as new messages will gradually push your call to action down the page. You can also send a group message to all of your fans.
  2. Send a Tweet out and add "Retweet if you love this." Allow the message to get spread further than just your followers. People who love your business will want to share it with their friends.
  3. Tell your customers directly. Have you ever tried to check out at Kohls or another department store? They always ask if you want to sign up for their credit card and save 10% on the spot. Same goes for your mobile marketing campaign. Offer a reward on the spot for signing up. The auto-reply message will display on their phone in seconds after they text your keyword to the shortcode.
  4. Add the call to action to your Yelp review. Yelp users only visit an average of three business listing before deciding on a place to spend their money at. Give the readers on Yelp a great reason to visit yours by placing a mobile call to action that puts your offer right on their phone.
  5. Place a mobile phone graphic and the call to action on your website. Adding this is an easy way to capture and convert web traffic into real sales. Write a new blog post about your mobile campaign and what type of offers your customers can expect.
  6. Make up simple "box toppers," those of you in the pizza business know how powerful these can be to get customers to return to your business. Retail and restaurants should add the mobile call to action on the bottom of receipts or include it on a comment card you hand each visitor.
  7. Educate your staff. You can't do it all and the success of any marketing program often rests in their hands. Make sure your staff knows about the text marketing campaign, how it works, how it will benefit them and their excitement when telling customers about it will lead to higher opt-ins.
  8. Send an email blast out promoting the new marketing offer and describe the benefit customers will receive for signing up. We have seen businesses that offer something free to the customers on their next visit to grow their mobile database the quickest.
  9. Place a sign in your window. This will help capture opt-ins from people not visiting your business and leads to new customers trying you out for the first time. How many times has a coupon or special offer lead you to try a business for the first time? Give people a reason to spend money with you.
  10. Integrate into traditional marketing mediums such as newspaper, direct mail, radio or television. Don't go out and start a new campaign in these mediums if they are not part of your regular marketing strategy but if they are, adding the mobile call to action will increase their effectiveness by capturing opt-ins and delivering your offer right to their phone leading to higher redemption rates.

Most of these ways to promote your mobile call to action such as integrating with social media and other Internet sites takes less than an hour. Other methods are equally as simple and only take a little time. Building your list with mobile marketing is mostly hands-off and the results in redemption rates and return on investment are unmatched in marketing today. Take some time in the beginning and your text marketing efforts will pay off for months and years to come.


Article Source:
http://EzineArticles.com/4395215

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Marketing Your Business With Instagram

NEW YORK, NY - APRIL 09:  In this photo illust...
NEW YORK, NY - APRIL 09: In this photo illustration, the photo-sharing app Instagram fan page is seen on the Facebook website on the Apple Safari web browser on April 9, 2012 in New York City. Facebook Inc. is acquiring photo-sharing app Instagram for approx. $1 billion. (Image credit: Getty Images via @daylife)

While there is no capacity to allow links to various resources through the photographs, there is the option however to utilize hash tags in the comments section in an effort to further categorize any company specific photographs. These tags are extremely beneficial, as organizations have utilized them in marketing efforts to conduct sweepstakes and promotions involving users of this application. Many of these hash tag marketing efforts have gone viral and seen a tremendous uptick in user engagement and further brand communication. Since its inception, Instagram has continued to captivate millions of users and even been purchased by social media giant Facebook. In addition to its numerous features the service also has seen the birth of various spin-off services that allow users to turn their favorite Instagram photos into postcards stickers and even magnets.

The instantaneous effect and the unique set of editing features within this application really sets it apart from the rest. As such we have seen this social network skyrocket in popularity and various brands and corporations jump on this platform as a means of further interacting with their customer base. From a marketing standpoint, businesses now have another viable mechanism to promote their products and services while getting instant feedback from customers. Some organizations may see this as a more premature opportunity as they may primarily focus on more traditional avenues such as Facebook and twitter. The beauty of these social media applications in addition to some of the more prevalent Web 2.0 properties is their ability to cross-link with one another. By generating content for Instagram, companies also have a great benefit to their marketing campaigns as they can automatically set their uploads to be distributed to services such as Facebook twitter and even Flickr and e-mail. These integrated features are a terrific timesaver, as marketers do not necessarily have to visit each one of these sites individually to distribute this picture communication.

For businesses looking to utilize this social media application in their marketing campaigns is important for them to understand the effective use of hash tag keywords and the importance of consistency. While there are some resources available online today that will allow an organization to automate the posting process, having human interaction between this service and the content will be the best bet for any organization seeking to further interact with its customer base. On the Internet today customers and users want to interact with the real human being and not necessarily an automated system. Instagram represents another breakthrough in this fast growing and exciting social media landscape. The businesses that understand the marketing potential that services like this represent will be the ones who truly benefit from a greater return on investment.


Article Source:
http://EzineArticles.com/7270192

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Thursday, October 4, 2012

Maximizing LinkedIn for Sales and Social Media Marketing: An Unofficial, Practical Guide to Selling & Developing B2B Business on LinkedIn Review

Image via Amazon  
"Maximizing LinkedIn for Sales and Social Media Marketing" is the second LinkedIn related book by author, consultant, and speaker Neal Schaffer and is a follow-up to his first book "Understanding, Leveraging, & Maximizing LinkedIn" Before I share with you my review of the book, a little background may be in order.

LinkedIn was the first, and at the time, only social networking application that held any interest for me when I first began to look into it. This was maybe 3 years ago. Of course, it did not come with an instruction manual so, off to Amazon I went in search of answers. I did buy the only two LinkedIn related books that were available at the time and they were abysmal. My search for answers via Google began. Somehow, I happened upon a site called "Windmill Networking" and this guy, Neal, talked about LinkedIn a lot. I mean a whole lot and, better yet, he seemed to know what he was talking about. Sweet! I believe that this may have also been the very first site where I actually got up the nerve to leave a comment. To my amazement, Neal even took the time to respond! This, of course, ruined me for most other sites where nobody seems to want to actually "engage" (smile).

Fast forward to today and Neal and I still communicate regularly via Twitter, FaceBook, LinkedIn, and email. While his first book was phenomenal, the focus of his new book, Sales and Marketing, is exactly what I needed and it may be that also for you! I am a fairly ravenous reader but, I do struggle with books (attention span of a 2-year old). This is not the case with Neal's books. His writing style makes for very easy reading. He speaks to you, not at you.

Like many folks, I must admit that despite knowing better, LinkedIn had become the proverbial "red-headed step child" to my social business marketing efforts. While I seem to spend most of my time on Twitter, LinkedIn is where I belong. I am a life-long B2B sales person and LinkedIn is business. I also think that it is important to note that Neal shares this same background. Well, I am now a "born-again" convert and already am at work following Neal's advice for my profile! What do I like about this book?
  • It is written by a sales and marketing person for sales and marketing people.
  • It's loaded with real case studies and practical selling advice. Neal even includes a chapter devoted to prospecting on LinkedIn!
  • Neal goes into great detail about all aspects of LinkedIn and how to put its powerful features to work for you today. He also provides step-by-step instructions for all areas of the application. If I were LinkedIn, I'd be negotiating for the rights to use this as my reference guide (smile).
  • The book does not preach. Neal gives you your options, the pros and cons of each, and lets you decide what is right for you. Of course, he does provide you with recommended courses of action.
  • The book constantly reinforces the goals for social networking and LinkedIn while at the same time stressing that the rules of selling still apply as it relates to creating and nurturing relationships in real life.
  • I like Neal's attitude that "you might as well go big or go home". There is no middle road and it does require your commitment.
  • The book is both timely and up-to-date. What I see in this book matches LinkedIn's present UI and feature set.
  • Neal's advice on LinkedIn Groups is awesome! I thought that I understood the power and flexibility of groups before I read this book. I was wrong. Not only has Neal encouraged me to evaluate the groups I am currently in, I am putting the finishing touches on creating a new group, "Boise B2B Sales & Marketing Professionals".
  • Like many sites, LinkedIn's large number of features can be overwhelming. I now have a much clearer understanding of applications like Companies, LinkedIn Signal, and LinkedIn Today.
  • Finally, Neal spends time discussing a recommended daily routine and how to determine your ROI. Who cares about ROI anyway? Well .... I do!

I could go on and on but, simply stated, Neal's new book is the ultimate road map to LinkedIn!


Article Source:
http://www.amazon.com/review

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The New Rules of Marketing & PR: How to Use Social Media, Online Video, Mobile Applications, Blogs, News Releases, and Viral Marketing to Reach Buyers Directly Review

Cover of "The New Rules of Marketing and ...
Cover via Amazon
I've read the other two versions of Real Time Marketing & PR and it's a book I constantly reference and refer to executives looking to find a practical way to understand the benefits of participating effectively in a new media world. I've also found that social media and new media practitioners can find value in reading the book as a guide to building a thorough understanding of effective online marketing and PR that goes well beyond Facebook and Twitter.

This Third Edition, which has completely updated case studies and examples also includes a much needed Marketing and PR Strategy Plan template designed to help people get started in a step-by-step approach to social media. There's a great new chapter on measuring your success in the new media space and highlights some practical ways to start measuring your ROI. I particularly enjoyed a section entitled "The Power of Free." - Read it, it's worth the price of the book.

Finally, David Meerman Scott's new edition includes a whole new section on Mobile Marketing that covers everything from GeoLocation to Mobile Apps and Mobile Newsrooms. You'll really like his fun new concept of Cyber Graffiti.

In short, a book that's sold over 250,000 copies and set many of the Fortune 1000 company's social strategies in motion can't be ignored. You'll really enjoy the Third Edition - even if you've read the first two.

If you know what you're doing in the social space... buy a copy for your executive team. They'll immediately embrace your activities and start championing your efforts in the new media world.

In short, you can't publish a book called The New Rules of Marketing and PR in an internet age unless it's updated to still be 'New.' David's done exactly that and it's worth the read!


Article Source:
http://www.amazon.com/review
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