COGO Interactive

Archive for October, 2011

Sometimes in the world of social media, it’s easy to get caught up in the idea that a greater following equals greater success for your business. So many people focus on “getting the numbers up” – increasing Twitter follower numbers, Facebook fans, YouTube channel subscribers, and so forth. However, there may be a sobering wake-up call if you manage to get your following to snowball somewhat, but aren’t managing to convert those followers into customers. As so many social media marketers can tell you, just getting the following isn’t enough – those numbers don’t mean anything unless you can also engage with your audience in an effective way.

If you have reached this realization after having already built up your follower numbers, there may be some backtracking involved if your method of growing a following has been somewhat indiscriminate. These days, getting people to become fans on Facebook or Twitter isn’t that hard, if the numbers are all you’re concerned about. But will those people necessarily be interested in what you have to offer? Will they tell their friends, or more importantly, their own social media followers?

When you seek people out on social networks, put some effort into ascertaining whether you are looking in the right places. Not all followers are equal – it’s better to have ten followers who really get your message and want to share it and engage with you, than a thousand followers who couldn’t care less about your company or what you have to say. There is a common misconception that having a high follower or fan count on a social network will in itself drive more business to you, because people will see the fan count and be impressed by it. But these days, so many people have a high fan count, it’s impossible to judge quality on that criterion alone, and your potential customers are smart enough to realize that.

Also, even if you were able to impress anyone simply by having a high follower count, getting them to come see your social networking profiles in the first place requires a driving force. This is where that follower count comes in handy, if you’ve played your cards right. A small army of people who believe in you and are willing to speak and retweet on your behalf is worth so much more than a large army of people who don’t even notice you’re there. Engage with your following, no matter how large or small. Otherwise, there’s no real point in having them.

It happens even to the best of us from time to time – something thoughtless, inappropriate, or downright dumb gets said on a social network, people react, and next thing you know you’ve got a big scandal on your hands. In the context of a small or medium-sized business, even a minor uproar on a social network can spell big problems for you in terms of unhappy customers and a dip in sales. Just like in every other aspect of business, mistakes will be made from time to time on social media. Even if you’re extremely diligent with your social media policy, there’s not really anything you can do about the fact that people are human, and sometimes they say damaging or offensive things.

What you can do, however, is make sure you have a plan in place to deal with issues as and when they come up, so that you can handle any mistakes quickly and efficiently, with the minimum amount of damage. As is often said, the best cure is prevention, so having a clear and concise social media policy in the workplace is essential. The more people you have working with you, the more comprehensive and specific the policy has to be, as you are dealing with a variety of personalities, all of whom may have different interpretations of what “inappropriate” or “offensive” means.

Even if you’re a sole proprietor, though, sometimes you might be your own worst enemy. I can’t count the number of times I’ve seen people posting on Twitter or Facebook who were clearly drunk, angry, upset, or a combination of the three. It’s one thing if you want to do that on your personal accounts, though I still wouldn’t recommend it. On your business accounts, it’s absolutely unacceptable.

If you do wake up one morning and find that you (or an employee) did the unthinkable and said something inappropriate on a social network, don’t just sit there and hope no one noticed. Delete the offending post immediately, and issue a public and very sincere apology. Trying to talk your way out of it or accusing your audience of not being able to take a joke is not a smart move. The sooner you can apologize and make amends, the better. Most of all, use the experience to learn how not to play the social media field, and do your best to be a model social network citizen in the future.

Ten years ago, internet marketing was much simpler than it is now. You had a website to promote your business, and that’s exactly what it did. It was basically an online brochure that told your potential customers what you would provide for them, and gave them all the contact details to reach if if they wanted to do business with you.

These days, a successful internet marketing strategy is about so much more than just having a website, and indeed your website needs to be so much more than just a glorified business card. Internet marketing involves things like search engine optimization, social media networking, pay-per-click, and article submissions.

If all these aspects of internet marketing make your head spin, never fear, you can certainly hire a consultant or marketing assistant to help show you how to do things. Nevertheless, it doesn’t hurt to become familiar with what’s going on so that you can usefully analyze the results of your marketing strategy and learn what works and what doesn’t for your business.

Probably the most hands-on aspect of internet marketing is social media. As the name implies, you will have to spend time connecting with your audience, which means more than just a one-time effort. Social media is used not only to seek your target market, but also to be there for your customers so that they feel they have a relationship with your business. This means you will have to be on hand, preferably on a daily basis, to answer questions and provide guidance.

Search engine optimization means streamlining your website so that popular search engines like Google rank your site higher than others in the same niche, thereby increasing your site’s traffic. SEO is a delicate balance of quality content and keyword usage, as well as integrating your social networking accounts.

Pay-per-click is like traditional advertising in that you pay for ad space, but the fee scale is set up on a per-click basis. In other words, the more people that click on your ad, the more you pay.

Article submissions work by putting information about your site and your business in as many places as possible. You can list articles about your business in articles directories all over the web, increasing your overall exposure to the people who are looking for the service or product you provide.

Combining all these aspects of internet marketing can be complicated, but you’re likely to see positive results that will encourage you to learn and try even more ways to get your message out there and bring customers your way.

Just when you thought you had the hang of this SEO and social media strategy stuff, a new player walked onto the stage: the tablet. Apple’s iPad started a wave of tablet use that is beginning to change how we use the internet in a very real way.

The first batch of research on how tablet use is affecting internet access is now surfacing, with studies consistently finding that tablet and other mobile device users spend more time online than their traditional computer-using counterparts. In fact, tablet users spend nearly fifty percent more time online than those who only use their home computers or laptops. Tablet users are basically connected all the time, wherever they may find themselves, which means there are endless opportunities there in terms of targeted marketing for consumers on the go.

According to Knowledge Networks, tablet users spend more than half their tablet time accessing social networks, games, and search engines, often not from their homes but while they are out shopping, at work, or sitting in restaurants. For a marketing strategy to remain relevant, companies need to consider that their target market in terms of tablet users is looking for information not to use at a later time, but for right now, at their exact location.

Although Apple iPad users remain the chief tablet demographic, the recent announcement of Amazon’s Kindle Fire has sent tablet speculation soaring. Those who were skeptical about the potential long-term success of tablet technologies are suddenly less doubtful, and SEO and social media marketers are taking the change more seriously.

In a world where computer users are just as likely to be performing Google searches in the car as at their desks, it would be irresponsible from a marketing standpoint not to take tablet users into consideration when formulating or updating SEO and social media strategy. Singling out tablet users and giving them specific content made for the mobile experience can not only help increase sales overall, but can also help create customer loyalty, as tablet users search for sites and services that are tailored to their devices in some way.

If your business is due for a strategy overhaul or even just some minor tweaks, it is certainly worth trying to build in some marketing either specifically for tablet users, or at least tablet-friendly. With the tablet market growing every day and tablet users being online more than PC users, it’s a segment of the population you don’t want to ignore.

By now you already know that social media is one of the big marketing tools at your disposal. Sometimes social media experts make it sound like all you need to do is open up a Twitter account, and suddenly you’ll be interacting with thousands of people and watching your content go viral. If you’ve been using social media and have had trouble getting any momentum going, you’ll know it’s not really as easy as that. There are, however, a few things you can do to start getting the ball rolling in terms of engaging your target audience and getting them interested in passing on your message.

When you first start out on Twitter, it often feels like you’re talking to yourself, and that’s because you probably are. People are hesitant to follow accounts that look like they were just created five minutes ago, so the first step is to make sure you’re regularly filling up your stream with content. That doesn’t mean you should just spam the world, as it were – fewer messages of value is better than a constant stream of filler.

Start building a following by adding people who you think are relevant in your niche, people who themselves already have a strong following, and then engage them in real conversation. People like to be spoken to like humans, and having some actual conversation in your tweet stream will convince potential followers that you’re not just a business bot.

The next step is to get people to help you share your content. The people you converse with on a regular basis are the ones who are most likely to help you by retweeting your links, so nurture as many of those relationships as you can.

Growing your retweet rate in your Twitter circle requires content that is consistently interesting. That doesn’t mean it has to be spontaneous, though, and in fact one of the best ways to ensure compelling content is to plan out a tweet schedule, perhaps utilizing themes for the week or even running a contest. People love to win things, and if you advertise a giveaway and ask your followers to retweet, you might get some decent results within the first few tries.

Repetition is also important. Not everyone spends all day looking at your tweet stream, and with most accounts these days following thousands of people, if you tweet something only once it’s very likely to get buried quickly. Don’t give up if you say something once and no one seems to notice. Rephrase the information and tweet it again later in the day. You’ll start to get a feel for how many times you need to say things before people catch on, and you’ll start seeing a greater response to your tweets over time.