PPC Management Tips: Fail-Proof Optimization

Like we always say, your PPC management expert should be gathering data, analyzing it on a regular basis (daily, weekly or monthly depending on the size of the account), and deriving tactics they could use to further optimize your account. There is absolutely nothing wrong with this picture except that these three steps week after week can make your PPC management expert lose sight of the bigger picture – settling for little tweaks here and there instead of making bigger changes that could bring you the best results.

Sometimes, we’re more familiar with what doesn’t work for an account. We know what affects the account negatively but don’t initiate steps to focus and turn it into profit. Start by comparing your current and previous key performance indicator(KPI) data. After that, look into your site flow analytics and determine which specific pages are losing visitors and find out what prevents them from converting. I know it sounds tedious, but PPC management does take work!

What you want to get out of this data is to come up with as many ideas to improve your site’s performance. Be open-minded about it; if possible, involve other PPC management professionals and brainstorm about how far you can take this account. Remember, no idea is too crazy or impossible – at first. The second step is to start narrowing your list and prioritize which ideas are achievable within the time frame. With the help of on-hand data and your team’s combined experience, you should be able to narrow it to two to three ideas that should get your metrics running.

Is there an end to this?

Yes, there is. Before brainstorming for ideas, set your goals and your evaluation criteria. PPC management is an ongoing process of change and consultation with your PPC management team.You may not come up with desirable results at your first run, but give yourself some leeway. Statistical significance is very important for your outcome just to make sure that the results are meaningful enough to take a risk.

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Developing A Content Marketing Strategy (Part 2)

As promised, we are back with more tips to help you come up with a content marketing strategy in this content-driven social media world.

Many companies will claim to be the best Internet marketing company out there but the best way to determine the veracity of those claims is to see how they develop content for their clients.

Do they create passionate subscribers?

Content created by happy customers is the most effective and perhaps the most powerful measure of an effective content marketing strategy. Take the case of Apple. Sure, they have haters. But their most faithful clients are truly loyal in every sense of the word. And that’s even when they don’t have a social media presence. Remember (and this is something that the best Internet marketing company would know): passionate customers are the best creators of content.

How do you create passionate subscribers?

First, you should know them. Never assume that you know what they think, want or feel. Think like a cable TV provider. Find your niche audience and create a message that’s especially for them. Next, your content should be able to address a need - something that eases their pain. By doing so, you create an opportunity for a return on investment.

Here’s something for you and for your Internet marketing expert to think about. What happens if you don’t write your story? Well, someone else will write it for you. It can be a good thing or a bad thing but with a solid content marketing strategy, you can control your story. You can influence what your market will think about you. You can even spin a negative story into a favorable one. That is the power of a content marketing strategy.

If you’ve always wondered where quality content comes from, wonder no more. Like everything else in business, it comes from careful planning and strategizing.

Did you find our tips useful? Let us know what you think!

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Developing A Content Marketing Strategy

Quality content is king.

It’s a simple social media truth that any Internet marketing expert knows.

Even Google understands the value of good content. (Hello, Panda algorithm change!) As the social media sphere expands, the challenge to consistently come up with quality messages is becoming a vital factor in the success of a social media campaign.

Ultimately, what you want is to be able to develop a content marketing strategy. Your Internet marketing expert can help you come up with one that is tailor-made for your business. Just take note that a content marketing strategy should take into consideration the following factors:

1. It should create passionate subscribers to your brand.
2. It should continuously engage them with great content from the first day throughout the entire social media cycle.

Other helpful tips to consider when strategizing with your Internet marketing expert can be found by answering these questions:

1. What is your business goal? What challenges are you trying to find solutions to?
2. What is the outcome if it works?
3. How will you make it work? What kind of content do you need? Who will create it?
4. How will you make it different from your other marketing efforts?
5. What are the risks if (knock on wood) you fail?

Another part of developing a content strategy is creating pillars for your content. The keyword here is the story. What is your unique story? For example, if you are in the fashion business, your Internet marketing expert should tell you that your story is not just providing trendy clothes; it is providing or restoring confidence through your clothes. This kind of story angle humanizes your brand and makes it more accessible for your customers.

As you brainstorm with your Internet marketing expert, you can also consider these content story ideas:

1. Who are your customers? Are they happy? Are they frustrated? What kind of content will make them happy?
2. What new experience will your product or service provide?
3. What challenges did you face in developing your service or product? How can your customers be part of that experience?

How do you progress your content marketing strategy? Come back tomorrow for the second half of this post. See you!

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Looking for shopping advice? Ask a stranger.

You’d think that when it comes to advice, family and friends’ opinions are paramount. Well, not when it comes to online shopping. Here is some interesting information that you and your Internet marketing service provider can chew on.

According to a recent survey, shoppers in their mid-teens to mid-30s prefer the opinion of strangers for as long as they are like-minded. Millenials—those born between 1977 and 1995—are more likely to be influenced by user-generated content than recommendations from family, friends and colleagues. Meanwhile, only 34% of Baby Boomers are in agreement.

Of course, it can’t be just any random stranger’s opinion. It has to be from someone experienced or like-minded or knowledgeable. The report from Internet Retailer adds that this does not mean that Millenials do not care about what loved ones might say. They actually do, but they also like to turn to social media platforms to find out what like-minded people think.

The article also reports that 84% of Millenial shoppers say that user-generated content has “at least some impact on the products they buy.” 70% of Baby Boomers agree.

What does this mean for e-commerce merchants and their Internet marketing services providers? It means more work has to be done in creating user-generated content such as product reviews. There are also Facebook plug-ins for this purpose namely the Comments box which allows a user to simultaneously post a comment on a website and on the Facebook pages of his friends.

At the end of the day, it’s all about a good reputation. E-retailers and Internet marketing service providers need to start by building a positive relationship with customers. If the customers are happy, the word will soon spread around.

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Integrating E-mail and Social Media (Part 2)

As promised, we’re back with the second part of our post on tips to successfully integrate your social media and e-mail campaigns, courtesy of the Social Media Examiner.

If you have an agency which claims to be the best Internet marketing company in the industry today, one way to test the veracity of their statement is to check the extent of their knowledge on Internet marketing integration.

With our additional five tips, you’ll surely be able to determine if they truly are the best Internet marketing company there is.

1. Use social platforms to encourage e-mail sign-up. This will especially work if you have a strong following on any one of your social media accounts. The idea here is to cross-promote—leverage each platform to promote the other.

2. Give them the instant option to retweet. Install a “Retweet This!” plug-in so that subscribers can easily resend a particular line or statement from your e-mail.

3. Use Facebook’s e-mail opt-in form. Facebook has this feature where you can embed an e-mail sign-up form as one of your apps. This will make it easy for your Facebook fans to sign up for your e-mail list. You can use an existing promo as a header to encourage the sign-up.

4. Don’t forget SMS. Another great cross-promotion technique is texting. You can ask your customers or clients to text their e-mail addresses to a special number which will sign them up for your e-mail communications. Southwest Airlines does this. It’s a novel idea and it adds up to your coolness factor, especially if you have lot of young ones in your demographics.

5. Mention it on your blog. Again, another too easy yet too often forgotten tip. Always mention, link and request for new subscribers on your blog. There are many creative ways to incorporate it so you won’t sound clinical (and pathetic) even if you do it repeatedly.

Well, what do you think? If you got ideas of your own, share it with us!

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Integrating E-mail and Social Media

In an effort to reach and even surpass your marketing goals, you and your social media agency need to use all tools available to you. If you feel you’ve done so, then the next step is for you to strategically integrate your social media efforts. If you have a really great social media agency backing you up, then they’ll probably know what we’re talking about. Today, we are going to talk about integrating your social media campaign and e-mail communications.

Yes, e-mail. With messaging incorporated into most social media platforms, you might, for a second, think that e-mail is dead. Think again. Sure, many people use social media to communicate but think about this: when was the last time you checked your e-mail? Today? An hour ago? We rest our case. E-mail may not be the star of the show now but it most certainly is not dead.

So now that we got that out of the way, you should now understand why asking your social media agency to help you integrate your e-mail campaign and your social media efforts is vital. For starters, integrating extends your reach and with the right kind of metrics, you can identify and focus on your key influencers. Plus, of course, it gives you more opportunities for growth. Integration also gives your subscribers more options which will then give you additional brownie points.

Courtesy of the Social Media Examiner, here are our tips for integrating your e-mail and social media marketing campaigns. Don’t forget to send this to your social media agency!

1. Incorporate social icons in your e-mails. Place where it can be seen immediately. Make it really noticeable and put it where it matters. (So this eliminates the option of putting your social icons under the page.) We know this sounds really obvious but you’ll be surprised at how a lot of websites ignore this simple tip.

2. Ask subscribers to share and connect. So you’ve got the icon. What will they do with it? Again, it does seem obvious but don’t count on it! Tell them explicitly. Say it in a creative way or say it in a funny way. Just say it.

3. Send a dedicated e-mail campaign. Do this if you and your social media agency feel that you are not getting major success from your regular e-mails. Send a dedicated e-mail (make sure it’s not a one-time thing) about your Facebook campaign and let them know what they can get from liking your page or from being a fan. Also, make sure you have content worth sharing on that social account.

4. Give them an incentive. It does not have to be financial. For example, you can give subscribers free space on your next e-mail blast so that’s free advertising for them (especially if your market includes fellow merchants). A little something extra or free is always appreciated.

We’re not done yet! Come back tomorrow for the second part of this post.

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PPC Management Tips: URL Tracking

If your PPC management expert is managing several PPC campaigns across different search engines, it is a must to add unique identifiers to your URLs. Also known as URL tracking, this will help you generate separate organized data for each of your online marketing endeavors as well as help you avoid being labeled as ‘organic’ in Google Analytics. If you’re running an untagged keyword campaign outside of AdWords, Google Analytics will record your data in the Organic category. PPC management knowledge considers organic data as no data at all because you will not be able to get valuable information from it.

If have already enabled ‘auto-tagging’ in your Google AdWords account then you’re in luck. Google Analytics automatically keeps track of your AdWords campaigns but you still have to manually tag your non-AdWords keywords and links. PPC management experts recommend using the Google Analytics URL Builder or a URL builder in Excel which you can customize for generating bulk URLs. The URL builder also works great for smaller PPC platforms like Facebook which don’t offer conversion code tracking for ads. For AdWords used in backend systems, ValueTrack Parameters comes highly recommended.

About any type of advertising can benefit from URL tagging. Try it on your banners or email marketing campaigns as well. Another way to improve your PPC management is to employ a search query filter. It is a little known fact that it not only works for Adwords, but for Yahoo! and Microsoft campaigns as well. Combining URL tagging with a search query filter will provide you with a sea of relevant data. Use this new found knowledge to further understand your users, to find better performing keywords and finally rid yourself of negative keywords that cause unnecessary traffic.

If it’s your first time configuring your URL tracking system, just remember to be consistent (and ask your PPC management expert for help) especially if you have several people working for one account. Do not be afraid to mix and match the tracking methods mentioned above to fit your needs. Go with what works and stick with it!

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The Daily for iPad: A Success Story

We all love success stories.

Here’s one to inspire you and your Internet marketing expert.

Last year, News Corp—publisher of The Wall Street Journal, The New York Post and UK’s The Daily Telegraph, among others—launched a daily news magazine especially for the iPad. Ultimately, it was an iPad app that maximized the features of Apple’s tablet—interactivity, video and audio capabilities and linking.

A year later, The Daily for iPad has 100,000 PAID subscribers making them the third largest-grossing app on iTunes. What does this tell us?

People are willing to pay for good content.

We told you this was going to be inspiring.

What did The Daily do to achieve such success? For starters, they hired journalists. The real ones. Then they made sure that the look and functionality specifically catered to the features of the iPad. For example, The Daily added tablet bells and whistles so that when you read a review of a CD, you can click the link, download it to your iPad or listen to the tracks while reading the review. Super cool! This is, of course, not as easy as it sounds. It’s hard work and it was worth it.

Now, you and your Internet marketing expert are probably wondering, what can we do? Well, if you have the money, you can go as far as creating your own app for a niche market. But you can also work on creating top notch content for your current social media platforms. Again, this sounds easy. But your Internet marketing expert will tell you that it’s not. It requires a lot of effort and dedication.

Another thing to be learned from this success story is the value of listening to your market. Things like how they read, where they read and what ads they click on are invaluable data that can help you and your Internet marketing expert create better content and a better online experience.

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Facebook’s Timeline Movie Maker

Time to call your internet marketing service provider again because here’s another Facebook innovation that can shake your world: the timeline movie maker.

The Palo Alto, California-based social networking giant now lets you play a mini movie showing the best years of your life, with music no less. Of course, this assumes that you documented your life on Facebook.

If you’ve been living under a giant rock, timeline is Facebook’s new default home page look (we say default because Facebook is making it “mandatory.” Whether you like it or not, you’ll soon have to embrace the timeline look.)

So going back to the timeline movie maker, what does this mean for you and for your Internet marketing service provider? Well, once users start embracing this (we all complain about this and that but Facebook ends up “winning” us over anyway) new feature, online marketers and e-commerce merchants, like you, can have more access to public data which then means better targeted ads for your potential customers.

For your existing client base, using the timeline movie maker (which comes with Internet marketing services-friendly apps) can also be an indirect way to advertise your products or services. So if you are selling shoes and one of your customers include a picture of them wearing your product while doing something cool and adventurous, boom! That’s free online air time for you, courtesy of Facebook’s timeline movie maker.

For personal users, the reception is uncertain but for you, as an entrepreneur, and for your internet marketing services provider, the possibilities are endless.

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PPC Management Tips: Understanding Analytics Regular Expression Characters

Do you ever feel that some PPC management language seem foreign to you especially when it comes to Google Analytics? Well, today’s your lucky day because we are giving you a lowdown on regular expression characters on Google Analytics so you can better understand them and work with them.

Ready? Here we go!

1. \ (backslash). It turns the character following the backslash into plain text.

2. | (pipe). The pipe creates an “or” statement. Your PPC management team uses this to find all visits from branded terms. You can even create a custom filter setting a regular expression for all brand keywords.

3. ? (question mark). The question mark tells Analytics that the previous item is optional. This expression is useful for filtering for keywords that are often misspelled.

4. ( ) (parentheses). Like in basic algebra, parentheses tells other characters how to function. For example, you want to see all searches for Google Display Network and you know people also refer to it as Google Content Network. Your PPC management expert uses this expression to include both searches in your results.

5. [ ] (square brackets). Square brackets create a list of items to match to. However, it will only match one item in the list.

6. – (dash). In tandem with square brackets, the dash extends lists. In the example, /page/[2-9], the dash includes more page numbers to match to without having to type all those page numbers.

7. { } (braces). Braces tell Google Analytics to repeat the last information a certain number of times.

8. . (dot). This expression matches any one character including letters, number, symbols and even a white space.

9. + (plus sign). PPC management experts use plus signs to match one or more of the previous items and only these previous items.

10. * (star). The star is used to match zero or more of the previous items. It’s a lot like plus signs except for the part where it allows you to match zero or more of the previous items.

Do you feel more confident going through Analytics now? For more handy PPC management tips, keep reading this blog!

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Tips To Integrate Social Media Into Your Website (Part 2)

In our previous blog post, we gave you four tips on how to integrate social media into your own e-commerce site, courtesy of the Social Media Examiner. Today, we’re adding up five more tips help you better maximize your social media platforms.

These are relatively easy and simple tips but ironically, these are often overlooked. If someone is pitching to you as the best Internet marketing company out there, test their basic know-how of the industry by asking them about these social media integration tips.

1. Use Google Analytics. How many people click on your outbound social media links? To find the answer to this key question, set up Event Tracking in Google Analytics. The data you gather can help you think or rethink the effectiveness of your social media buttons.

2. Find out what can and can’t be done. This relates to our tip from last week. Stay updated. Did you know that you cannot use Google+ for contest entries? Or that a Facebook page should not be used to run a brand? There are rules for running a promotion of Facebook. Anyone claiming to be the best Internet marketing company in the industry today should know these terms and conditions. The way you use social media reflects on your brand in general so use it wisely. If you’ve made an honest mistake in the past, remove those pages and do not link to them again.

3. Be careful not to overdo it. Do not litter your site with social media buttons. Make sure that if you do have a button, it leads to information worth sharing.

4. Get your social media features right. For example, if you put a “Like” button on a webpage, it won’t mean that they will be directed to your Facebook page if they click on it. In the same manner, directing customers to your Google+ page is different from adding a +1 button to a specific webpage. Make sure you or your Internet marketing expert knows the difference.

5. Subscribe to social media insights. Ask your social media agency to help you get access to software which gives you social media insights alongside web analytics. This is helpful for getting in on trends and for better understanding what makes a campaign succeed or fail.

Do you have your own social media integration tips? Share it with us!

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Tips To Integrate Social Media Into Your Website

You've probably heard your internet marketing expert say this. Social media platforms and your e-commerce website should work together harmoniously to promote your brand. Okay, sure. But how exactly do you do it?

Here are four expert tips from the Social Media Examiner on how to seamlessly incorporate social media into your own e-commerce site.

1. Include visible social media buttons. Ask your Internet marketing expert to analyze (and if necessary, change) the position of your social media buttons. Links or buttons that remain in your navigation as you scroll the page or move from one to another are most ideal. Another best practice is to create buttons or links so that your social media account pages open in new windows. Just make sure that you link to accounts which are actively maintained. This also means that you don’t have to link to all of your existing social media accounts.

2. Put social media buttons where it’s reasonable to do so. If social media is your main tool to keep your client base updated on company news and you have a social media agency or an Internet marketing expert actively managing your account, then consider putting your Twitter feed or Facebook posts directly on your site. Of course, this assumes that you maintain your active presence in that social media platform.

3. Incorporate up-to-date buttons. It is extremely important to stay updated in the world of social media. If your terminologies are outdated (or if you are still focusing your energies on a “withering” social platform), then you are headed for a social media rut. Make sure that as part of their services, your Internet marketing expert provides you with up-to-date social media news and helps you choose the right kind of social media platform for your business.

4. Add share buttons. Make sure that there are share buttons on your product pages. Any Internet marketing expert will tell you that it is an effective way of letting site visitors effortlessly share or recommend your product. And remember tip #1, make it visible.

Come back tomorrow to check out the second part of this blog post!

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Three New Apps For Social Media Management

Even with a social media agency, managing multiple social media accounts can get confusing. A simple management error can ruin an entire campaign so you need all the help you can get to stay on top of the dynamic social media game.

Today, we are sharing with you three new apps (courtesy of the Social Media Examiner) which can help you and your social media agency manage several social networking accounts in just one neat dashboard.

1. Alternion. This new app is fresh out of private beta testing and it certainly came out impressively. It covers more accounts than any other dashboard—whether it’s blogging, bookmarking, image-sharing and shopping. Privacy is a key aspect of Alternion. It has a feature where only you (or your social media agency) can decide whether to show a link to each account on your Alternion profile or who can see your updates from a particular social account. The layout is clean thus making it easier for users to focus on what has to be done. This app has many remarkable features, among which is the ability to create brand new lists from within the Contacts tab. With Alternion, you can also see updates you made on all linked accounts and even photos and videos you have shared. Plus, this app also offers full e-mail integration so you can attend to e-mail messages without having to leave the dashboard.

2. LiveGO. Whereas Alternion scores points for covering a lot of accounts, LiveGO focuses on a smaller number of popular social networks like Facebook and Twitter. It also allows you to access data on instant messengers such as GTalk (Gmail) and AOL Instant Messenger. In terms of layout, LiveGO has a smooth design which allows you or your social media agency representative several viewing options. You can choose to have an overview of everything at once or zoom in on a particular area. Each of your linked accounts has its own button on the left and your instant messaging accounts are on a sidebar to the right which you can opt to hide if not in use. There is also a constant update box which is on top of the screen so you can update any of your linked social networks easily. A feature unique to LiveGO is the automatic collection of updates from the same person. Another rather quirky but nonetheless fun feature is the ability to add special characters (as in hearts, arrows, music notes) to updates. If you are big on Facebook, Twitter or e-mail accounts, this app is great for you and your business.

3. Netvibes. This one is described as more of a monitoring dashboard than an integrated updating tool. Its key value is in brand monitoring rather than communication. Using Netvibes, you can include multiple dashboards to your account which makes it easier for you or your social media agency to monitor different brands. You can also add widgets (like calculator, weather or to-do lists). A downside is that the e-mail widget is limited in its features but the social networking widgets have the standard functionalities. Netvibes integrates RSS feeds so you can also get a lowdown of recent headlines. This app is great for you if you and your social media agency are set on monitoring rather than social engagement.

Have you tried any of these apps? Let us know what you think!

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The Business Impact of Social Media

This is why you need a social media agency.

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Which companies spent the most in AdWords last year?

Our friends from Wordstream gives us a graphic answer.

© WordStream, a Google AdWords partner company.

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Storytelling vs. Corporate Speak

How do you speak to your customers?

Are you telling a story? Or are you constantly trying to do business?

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Facebook Shopping in 2015?

Anyone claiming to be the best Internet marketing company in the industry today should have foresight. And based on today’s Internet marketing trends, it looks as if Facebook is going to be the next shopping platform.

While this is not new at all, Facebook shopping does seem likely. Hundreds of millions of people are on the site everyday and people express their support for a product by “liking” it on the social networking site. It seems that an actual purchase is just a click away.

And in fact, it could be. According to a post from the Marketing Pilgrim, a company predicted “social commerce in the US will rise to $14 million in 2015.” The data does not refer to Facebook alone but since it still is the “king” of the social media landscape, the post assumes that it largely refers to Facebook shopping as the next big trend.

According to an Oracle survery, one in five respondents will buy from Facebook while a third said “never.” Of course, things could change drastically in the near future and before we know it, Facebook will have us shopping on their pages. For now, there is a lot of work to be done including incorporating a payment system to facilitate easier and safer transactions.

Is Facebook the future of shopping? What do you think?

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The Ideal PPC Campaign Manager

For today’s post, let us take a break from the technical aspects of PPC management and focus on another key factor that can drive PPC success—the manager. When hiring a PPC management expert, what qualities should you be looking for? Here are some tips to help you find the right person for the job.

1. The ideal PPC management expert can set long-term goals, but can immediately respond to unfolding details along the way. Even while setting long-term goals, it is important for the head of your PPC management team to be able to anticipate challenges concerning seasonal traffic, emerging market trends and other factors that may impact goals. This requires the PPC manager to have persuasive motivational skills.

2. The ideal PPC management expert can take care of the financial side of the equation. Reading data, establishing budget, and managing the campaign spending—these are all crucial parts of the job. Handling a PPC campaign involves “facing numbers” and a manager should be able to deal with issues such as user traffic, strategizing investments and monitoring quantitative data.

3. The ideal PPC management expert knows how to communicate for success. Managing a PPC campaign requires face time with clients and the kind of communication between manager and client can help ensure repeat business. The ideal PPC manager should know how to keep communication upbeat and motivational as well as flexible and responsive. The manager should also be able to present a database of effective strategies and details about specific client needs. This kind of foresight and preparation is what makes loyal clients and increases referrals.

4. The ideal PPC management expert has integrity that inspires the team, as well as the right attitude to complement the skills. Clear confidentiality protocols must be set and employee training must be conductedto make sure they adhere to the highest standards of integrity. In this competitive market place, integrity is a valuable commodity.

Once on your team, the ideal PPC management expert can help you implement data-driven expansion strategies that yield increased profits, better brand recognition, increased client trust and better overall business.

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Google+ Is Fast Becoming A Necessity

If your Internet marketing service provider is still not hooking you up to Google+, then it’s time for a serious conversation.

According to a report from the Internet Retailer, the new Google search tool is designed to “pepper search results with data from Google+.” Thus, it leaves online retailers little to no choice about signing up for an account on the fledgling social networking site. Many Internet marketing service providers have cited the advantages and the benefits of being on Google+ but so far, this seems to be the most compelling reason.

Jackie Jenkins, global manager of ChannelAdvisor Corp., offers expert advice to e-commerce merchants and their Internet marketing service providers. For starters, she advices retailers to “create and beef up” their Google+ pages, whether it’s a personal or a business page. As much as possible, complete all data, add photos and set up Direct Connect which enables users to type in a retailer’s name and go directly to their Google+ page. Any reputable Internet marketing company or Internet marketing expert will also tell you that on Google+, it’s all about the Circles. This can be quite challenging for the retailer because you cannot add users to the circles unless those users have added retailers to their own circles. According to Jenkins, one way to go about this is to “add the Google+ badge to your web site” and invite people to add you via your site and your other social media accounts.

Jenkins also adds that it is vital for users to be able to “+1” products in the same way that people can “Like” products. Thus, talk to your Internet marketing company about the possibility adding +1 to online ad displays.

Google’s new tool, “Search, plus your World” allows users signed into Google to click a button near the top of the search results page to “call forth content from the Google+ social network.” Google says that this feature can be used to include photos posted by Google+ connections, people searches, and other relevant Google+ posts.

For retailers (and their Internet marketing service providers), this new feature means that users searching for specific products can see that someone within their Google+ circle has also bought that item and that they like it (thus clicking the +1 button). The likely effect is that the user will go directly to the retailer’s Google+ link.

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Social Media Success Stories (Small Business Edition) Part 2

Yesterday, we shared with you two examples of small businesses who have found online success through the ingenious use of social media tools. Today, we are back with more inspiring stories, still courtesy of the Social Media Examiner. Make sure your social media agency gets a chance to read this!

1. Coconut Bliss. Coconut Bliss is an organic dessert company specializing in ice cream. Yum! This small business heavily and effectively utilizes photos to create a fun and likeable social brand. Of course, in their case, they feature photos of customers eating and enjoying their dessert items. Another tactic that they use is promotions. Recently, they partnered with VegNews to give away a special prize while utilizing the wider reach of VegNews. So, what can you and your social media agencylearn from this organic dessert makers from Oregon? First, take compelling photos (especially if it is relevant to your business). For this, you might need to invest in quality photo equipment. Next, make sure to integrate photos in all the social media platforms that you are using. And third, take advantage of contests and partnerships to grow your fan base and spread the word about your business.

2. JamaicansMusic. This online music channel has quite a social media success story. They were able to get 1.5 million new fans in just four months! The look and feel of their website is very social and this kind of strategy works for them. Of course, JamaicansMusic gives away free music, games and other valuable resources. And they also have lots of contests. This gives their fans more reasons to come back to their page and bring their friends along. What can you and your social media agency take away from this online music breakthrough? For starters, give your followers more reasons to come back to you. How do you do that? Free valuable content never fails. Next, make sure that there are opportunities to connect socially on your site so it’s easier for your followers to bring their friends along.

3. EasyLunchboxes. Founded by super mom Kelly Lester, EasyLunchboxes is a huge success because of smart social practices and social branding. Like JamaicansMusic, there are several ways to connect socially on her site and her blog has a clean and compelling look that suits her kind of business. Kelly also maximizes her Facebook welcome tab by letting her visitors know what they can expect from her page. She provides unique content on her different social media channels and integrates them with each other. On her YouTube account, she created her own TV series, which draws on her acting background. How can you and your social media agency mimic the success of Kelly and her lunch business? One: take advantage of your Facebook’s welcome tab. This is where they decide if they want to “like” your page so make the first impression count. Next, make sure to have different social strategies for each social platform. Think outside the box! You and your social media agency can tap into special talents to attract more fans and followers. Finally, invest time and effort into planning and executing your social branding because more often than not, you only get one shot at putting yourself out there.

We hope you learned something from these social media success stories. Got your own success story? Share it with us!

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Social Media Success Stories (Small Business Edition)

Somewhere along the way, you have probably asked yourself or your Internet marketing expert: does social media marketing really work? Of course, we are inclined to give you a resounding “yes” but until you yourself have experienced social media success, then it’s really hard to defend our answer.

So for today, we are sharing with you some social media success stories courtesy of the Social Media Examiner. The best part about this is that these are small online businesses so you can most definitely relate to how they achieved online success. Time to call your Internet marketing expert for some tried and tested online insights!

1. JarvieDigital Photography. Scott Jarvie takes wedding and nature photographs and he even has his own method named after him: The Jarvie Window. In addition to posting his amazing photos on his site, he also uses Facebook and Google+ to engage clients and promote his products and services. He has a personal Google+ profile where he shares resources and comments on questions. He also has a business Google+ page where he promotes his services. What’s notable about Scott is his generosity despite his level as a photographer. He even posts works of his students, which is a great way to show and spread social media love. What can you and your Internet marketing expert learn from Scott? First, differentiate your social strategies especially if you have separate personal and professional profiles. Second, give away free and useful knowledge. It’s a great way to grow a solid fan base and establish your expertise.

2. The Prospecting Expert. The Prospecting Expert is a business-to-business consulting firm founded by Steve Kloyda. He basically helps sales people with prospecting. His main social tools? Videos and podcasts. Like Scott Jarvie, Steve provides his followers valuable content on a regular basis via his podcast show and video channel. Steve also has a good grasp of branding and makes sure that he is recognized through a consistent look and feel regardless of the social platform he uses. What can you and your Internet marketing expert learn from Steve? Three things. One, start a podcast or a show for sharing your content. Two, make sure your branding is recognizable and consistent. And finally, develop an app for delivering content to your customers. This is, of course, quite an investment but the marketing benefit in the long run is worth it. Steve has an iPhoneapp that distributes his content straight to his followers’ mobile phones. Ingenious.

Come back tomorrow for more of social media success stories, small business edition!

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How To Be More Social

If our previous blog posts have not helped you at all to become more socially active, then at the very least, get yourself a social media agency. But if you have been picking up some helpful pointers from us, here’s another blog post you’ll surely appreciate.

Today, we are sharing with you five useful tips on how to be more social, courtesy of the Social Media Examiner.

Thanks to social media, communication has become easier and faster but it has also become more complicated. Having a social media agency will help you better navigate this complex online landscape but having these tips in mind will also make you a better member of the social community. Learn how to spread your message more effectively and more efficiently.

1. Find out your brand personality. What are your unique personality traits? Why do your customers come to you? What makes you stand out? Determine your brand voice so your social media message has a better conviction. For example, are you more of a Steve Jobs? Or are you more of a Bill Gates? Consistency is important in social media and knowing who you are is the best way to start.

2. Find out who your true audience is. We have said this before and we will say it again. You cannot please everybody so find the people who will be receptive to your message. Next, find out where they are. Don’t just jump into any and all social media platforms. Ask your social media agency to help you filter the information you need. Take advantage of demographic data available such as those on Facebook Insights.

3. Be consistent. Adapt a familiar messaging style and tone. There really are no strict guidelines but generally, the idea is to be consistent and to be congruent with your audience. Once you have developed your unique voice, stick with it.

4. Timing is crucial. Knowing when to say something is just as important as the message itself. Make sure you and your social media agency are in on the loop on what is happening in your industry. One of the simplest ways to do this is by subscribing to Google Alerts. Being informed helps you avoid the pitfalls of under- or over communicating. One concrete example: if your last blog post is three months old, then there’s certainly work that needs to be done. On the other hand, rushing into a conversation without gaining a sense of what is actually happening is also bad for your social media rep.

5. Practice, practice, practice. Start with your company blog so you can hone your message better. You don’t need to be overly active on Twitter or Facebook from the get-go. Slow and steady does it, even in social media.

What are your own “social” tips? Do share!

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PPC Management Tips: How To Shorten The Sales Cycle After Conversion

Aside from being a great way to drive low cost leads and e-commerce revenue, PPC is also a great way to get ahead of the competition by increasing closing rates, reducing sales cycle times and maximizing up-sell and cross-sell opportunities.

Courtesy of PPC Hero, here are four tips on how to use effective PPC management to optimize leads and customers after that initial conversion.

1. Remarketing. Prepare remarketing lists that targets people who have “taken a desired action” on your e-commerce site. One example of a desired action would be as simple as filling out a contact form. Afterwards, target your leads or your customers with remarketing campaigns five days, 30 days or even a year after they converted on your site. This gives you the opportunity to offer them relevant promos while helping you increase conversion rates and expedite your sales cycle.

2. Bidding on competitors. Any PPC management expert will tell you that bidding on your competitors’ branded terms is common but the key here is to understand that some of this web traffic is actually coming from people who have already converted to your site. Try sending visitors to a landing page that compares you against your competitor. Or to a page which shows that you have a special offer. Another clever PPC management idea is to create a free download of questions which they can ask you or your competitor during a sales call.

3. Targeting “do-it-yourselfers.” Where are these “do-it-yourselfers” going to find the answers? On search engines, of course! A neat PPC management trick is to create a landing page which explains the pros and cons of doing it themselves and which subtly suggests that going with (your) help is still the best way to go. Next, start a new PPC campaign targeting these do-it-yourself keywords. You can also try to get yourself on the Display Network so that you’re a click away when prospects realize that resorting to DIY can be quite tedious.

4. Coordinating your nurturing and PPC campaigns. Coordinate your e-mail nurturing campaigns with a Display Network campaign. The reason behind this is simple: you get more conversions from the e-mail marketing piece and more conversions in general.

For more expert PPC management tips, keep reading this blog. And let us know what you think too!

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