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How to Manage Social Media Without it Taking Up All Your Time

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Ok, we all know that social media marketing is, like, totally awesome. It can boost your business’ exposure, traffic, yada, yada, yada. Some even say web marketing can’t survive without it.

But in all of its awesomeness, there is one caveat about social media marketing: It takes time. A lot of it. Especially if you’re doing it right (i.e. actually engaging with your audience and not just posting links to your site). In fact, 63% of marketers spend 6 or more hours a week on social media marketing activities, and nearly 19% spend more than 20 hours a week.

Sorry, I can’t magically take away all of your social media marketing duties. But I do have some tips to speed the process along.

1. Limit It

We all know not to jump off a bridge just because everyone else does. So why do so many businesses basically do exactly that when it comes to social media?

Nobody has time to engage on all of the networks they “should” be on. The only real reason to be on a social network is because your audience is there, and you believe you can engage with them there.

The first step, then, is to figure out where they are. This takes a little detective work, but it will save you time by narrowing down the networks you need to engage on.

Start slow, building a presence on the network that is most popular with your audience first. Once you’ve established your presence, and have streamlined your participation there, then you can move on to the next most popular network for your audience.

If your audience isn’t there, don’t waste resources on it, no matter how popular it may be in general.

2. Automate It

This is a bit of a touchy subject, but the bottom line is you have to automate some of your social media participation – unless social media is your only job.

But just like any technology, social media automation can be abused. You should never, for example, automate responses. Case in point – no one wants an automated tweet that says “Thanks for sharing” every time someone shares one of your tweets.

You should always seek to engage in real-time. This is also another reason why you should take it one social network at a time, so that you can ensure you have the resources to respond in a timely manner when someone engages with your company on social media.

There are typically three types of social media tools you need to improve your efficiency:

  1. Scheduling: Scheduling tools enable you to plan your posts in advance so you don’t have to be on social media every time you want a post to go out. I mostly use Buffer to schedule posts from our blog and curated content. I’ve also put a number of evergreen posts into Social Jukebox because, unlike Buffer, it will put the posts back into a queue to be continually re-published.
  2. Curation: You need easy ways to find valuable information from other experts that you can share. I like using Tweetdeck to monitor the streams of industry influencers. I also use the RSS reader Feedly to keep up with the best digital marketing blogs, and I subscribe to some forum digests and industry newsletters that also provide great articles to share. I recently discovered another tool called Nuzzel which creates a newsletter based on what your friends are engaging with on social media.
  3. Monitoring: You also need to know if someone mentions your business or industry on social media, so that you can engage in those conversations and address any issues. Tweetdeck is good for monitoring Twitter streams, while Mention and SEMRush can help you keep tabs on your mentions across the internet.

3. Analyze It

Again, you’re not doing social media just to do it – you’re doing it to achieve certain goals for business.

You need to decide what those goals are (brand awareness, traffic, sales), then you need to track your social media metrics to see if your efforts are working toward those goals.

A good place to start is Google Analytics. Traffic isn’t the be-all end-all of metrics, but you do want to ensure that your social media efforts are bringing in traffic, and which platforms are doing that the best.

social media analytics

If a network isn’t bringing in much traffic, you may want to reconsider what you’re posting there, or question if the network is worth your time at all. But keep in mind, traffic is only part of the story. If you’re seeing a lot of engagement (shares, likes, comments, etc.), you’re raising brand awareness, and you may want to keep on keepin’ on.

We like True Social Metrics to track engagement and to see which posts performed the best. Each social network offers its own analytics as well, which can give you some of this information. Additionally. I often use Buffer’s analytics to determine which posts resonated with our audience, and then reschedule them so that they can be discovered by people who may not have seen them the first time around.

The point is, you want to figure out which social media efforts are helping you meet your goals and which aren’t, so you can focus your time on those that bring you ROI.

4. Time It

Social media has a well-earned reputation of being a time suck, so you should also decide, ahead of time, how long you’re going to allocate to it – even set a timer if you’re prone to zoning out. Just make sure that you’re setting aside a sufficient amount of time to get the job done right.

There’s no doubt about it, social media requires a time investment, but when done right, it’s one that can reap big rewards for your company. Using these tips, you’ll be able to better fit social media marketing into your busy schedule – without losing your mind.

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Sourced from Social Media Today

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How to maintain a healthy B2B marketing budget

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By Ruth Connor

Back in the land of B2C marketing, I could build a water-tight business case for TV using insight from Think Box, present a strong argument for redeveloping my e-commerce process by pointing to indisputable benchmarking data, and get under the skin of my target customers using a bucket-load of comms planning tools.

Best of all, I could prove the impact of my efforts to senior management.

“Just look at those numbers! No, seriously. Look. At. Those. Numbers.”

Before long I was up for a fresh challenge, so I jumped ship and embraced the B2B world.

Things were, shall we say, different.

My tried and tested methods didn’t land in the same way.

And it got worse.

The finance director said the B2B marketing budget was discretionary.

And if that wasn’t enough, the sales team got all the credit for the revenue generated.

10 years down the line and again things are different – only this time in a good way. I still use insight and benchmarking to inform my marketing planning where I can – but I’ve learned other ways to convince the board of the importance of investing in B2B.

Fingers crossed you never hear the dreaded words: “The B2B budget is discretionary.”

But if you do, these seven tips will help you present the case that a healthy B2B budget is a must-have, not a nice-to-have.

Get closer to your business

Marketing shouldn’t be a silo. Get to know the various levers in your business – the things that influence the outcomes your business is trying to achieve.

For example, the marketing budget is an important lever as it influences how many leads are generated. The pricing of your product and the effectiveness of your sales team will influence conversions. While your customer relationship management will impact how long customers stay with you and how much they spend.

Understanding these levers will help shape your marketing strategy – and improve its effectiveness.

Know the magic number to ask for

It’s hard knowing what a realistic B2B marketing budget looks like, so it’s useful having some credible research in your back pocket. The CMO Survey Highlights and Insights Report 2017 from Deloitte, Duke University and the American Marketing Association found organisations spend, on average, 7.9% of their revenue on marketing and 11% of their total company budget. While according to the Gartner CMO Spend Survey 2017-2018, the number’s higher – organisations dedicate 11.3% of their overall revenue to marketing.

Understand buyer-behaviour trends – and make sure your spend mirrors them

Then you can justify exactly how you plan to spend your budget. Online is making its presence felt across every phase of the B2B buying journey – according to a study by Earnest and Imperial College London, it accounts for 49% and 58% respectively of the ‘research’ and ‘purchase’ stages.

No surprise, then, that we’re seeing an increase in digital marketing spend.

Check what you’re doing matters to people other than you

Do your metrics turn the heads of people outside of marketing? That stuff you’re tracking and reporting on – is it in sync with broader business goals and key performance indicators? Truth is, your board probably doesn’t care about the same things you do. So make sure your KPIs demonstrate your marketing is having an impact on the stuff they do care about.

Incorporate alternative measurement models

It may seem counter-intuitive, but it’s not all about directly attributing sales to your marketing activity. Assists matter too. If your content marketing strategy aligns with your customer journey, you can use your marketing automation platform to see how the buyer engaged with it in the lead-up to the deal.

Be proud of your results – you worked hard for them

Don’t hide your numbers away. Make a visually striking dashboard or scorecard that makes it really easy for your board to understand what you’ve achieved. And don’t forget to highlight where your marketing successes align with the wider business goals.

Use the lingo being used right now

More and more we’re seeing the marketing department being relabelled the ‘growth department’. Who knows, maybe next year we’ll be relabelled as a chief growth officer. Or head of growth.

But that’s OK, because marketers are good at growth. We grow brand engagement. We grow customer bases. We grow revenue.

So choose your words wisely because sometimes it pays to use the latest buzz word.

By Ruth Connor

Ruth Connor is head of marketing at Earnest

Sourced from THEDRUM

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Pop-Up Magazine Starts Spring Tour

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By Kara Bloomgarden-Smoke

Live journalism with a decidedly literary bent.

Pop-Up Magazine, an innovative event that re-creates the experience of reading a smart, general interest magazine, is back with its spring “issue.”

At a time when seemingly every publication is trying to get into the live-events business, Pop-Up Magazine followed an opposite trajectory — it’s an event that grew to include a print publication. Pop-Up Magazine started in 2009 in the Bay Area as an experimental storytelling show, aimed at a public radio listening, literary crowd. As the show found its footing and began playing to bigger theaters in more cities, it led to the creation, in 2014, of the ASME-award winning California Sunday Magazine.

The surprisingly engaging Pop-Up Magazine blends reported stories, photography, fiction and front-of-the-book fodder — all told on stage by writers, editors, filmmakers, photographers and the occasional actor or radio host. Pop-up Magazine spends one night in each major city during its seasonal tour. It is not recorded, making each performance an ephemeral “you have to be there” event that plays to sold-out theaters in major cities.

 “We’ve got an incredible cast onstage with us this spring. They’ll be performing stories about crime, food, science, politics, music, a jaw-dropping family secret, and more, in all kinds of media mixed together,” editor in chief and cofounder Doug McGray said. “Film, photography, music, animation, sound — and we’re trying some things we’ve never done before. It’s going to be a really memorable night.”

Topics range from serious to humorous and include audience interaction. For example, the 2018 spring issue will feature a photographer’s look at the condolence gifts sent in the aftermath of mass shootings, a food writer’s analysis of President Trump’s favorite salad, the story of a filmmaker’s discovery of young children fighting their way out of poverty in Thailand, a true-crime story and an advice column for the audience. Performers include actors “Parenthood” and “Good Girls Revolt” actress Joy Bryant and Franchesca Ramsey from MTV’s “Decoded,” writer John Jeremiah Sullivan, The New Yorker’s Helen Rosner and illustrator and author Leanne Shapton, as well as photographers and filmmakers. 

And just like a print magazine, the performance includes advertisers. Advertisers for the spring installment include podcast staples such as Amazon Studios, Audible, Allbirds and MailChimp, as well as Skyy Vodka. Since most brands don’t have live-event divisions, they rely on Pop-Up Magazine’s brand studio to make content that fits into the context of the performance. During the winter production in February, the audience at the sold-out show at Brooklyn’s BAM clapped after each ad break — a rare feat of brand engagement that managed to feel more like a continuation of the show than an advertisement.

The spring issue kicks off on Thursday in Oakland, before heading to Los Angeles; Boston; Washington, D.C., and New York, where it will be performed at Lincoln Center.

Feature Image Credit: Pop Up Magazine’s Winter 2018 issue in San Francisco. Erin Brethauer courtesy of Pop-Up Magazine

By Kara Bloomgarden-Smoke

Sourced from WWD

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5 Social Media Marketing Tips that Businesses Can Learn from Influencers

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With thousands of followers loyally taking their recommendations and interacting with their content, it’s no wonder that brands are keen to add influencers to their marketing mix.

Influencer marketing can be a powerful way to place a product in the hearts and minds of potential customers – but while utilizing influencers themselves is effective, there are also plenty of tips and tricks brands can learn from influential users which can be applied to improving their own social media presences.

After all, these valuable followings are built on years of careful content creation and dedicated community management.

If you want to improve your social media game, be more influencer. Here’s how.

1. Nail your aesthetic

In such a saturated space, influencers know that a signature aesthetic helps set them apart, and makes their work instantly recognizable.

On Instagram, influencers will painstakingly edit their photos to ensure that they’re striking and compliment their individual look – whether that’s a color or content theme – while also blending cohesively within their wider feed. Some influencers have even been known to sell their presets, such is their value.

As @Stylebytrade explains:

“Having a streamlined approach, with one beautifully curated image after another, makes for a strong feed. Your top nine photos are the first impression you give a potential follower, who can either swipe away, or be intrigued to scroll down and hit the follow button.”

Think carefully about each photo you post. As well as being visually captivating and conveying the point you’re trying to make, it should be consistent with your feed and brand.

2. Stay curious

Years of reading and replying to comments, and tracking spikes in engagement, will inform influencers about the types of people that follow them – and the lives they live. This intel leads to more strategically planned scheduling to ensure content is posted at times when it’s most likely to be seen.

There’s also a growing number of influencers making use of the poll feature on Instagram Stories to ask followers about the type of content they like and want to see more of.

Make the most of the analytics available here. Instagram rush hour is different for everyone, so establish yours, taking into account the different time zones you might be trying to target. Track engagement of individual posts to see what’s popular – and most importantly, never stop asking your followers questions. The more you can learn about them, the more it’ll help you boost engagement.

3. Think native

One of the ways influencers have an edge over most brands is that they predominantly create content specifically for that channel. An Instagram influencer will think in grids and snappy captions, rather than trying to stretch a number of assets across countless channels.

Creating assets purely for Instagram, or Instagram-first, will give you a better chance of captivating audiences. Whether it’s the way you shoot an image (particular styles, such as overhead flat lays are incredibly popular among certain Instagram communities), or even introducing GIFs and animations.

@whatshepictures explains the importance of being overt with your product photography on Instagram:

“You only have a split second to stop thumbs scrolling past your image, so make sure your hero grabs their attention in that first split second. If in doubt, place it smack in the middle of your frame. Make sure it stays front and center and doesn’t get lost behind any props. This will leave no doubt in your audience’s mind what your story is all about.”

4. Work with the algorithm

Instagram’s algorithm makes engaging your followers within the first hour of posting crucial to ensuring your post remains highly visible and discoverable. The algorithm prioritizes ‘worthy’ content, and a flurry of engagement (whether that’s likes, comments or dwell time) sends a strong signal to the system that yours is exactly that.

This is why you see influencers choosing their timing carefully, and attentively responding to comments in the minutes after posting. Micro and macro influencers actually have the edge here, because they’re not dealing with millions of followers, and thousands of comments. As such, they’re able to meaningfully engage with a smaller community, and make a stronger connection.

Take the same approach with your business feeds. If someone has taken the time to comment, best practice is to reply when you can, and continue the conversation. It’ll help to both strengthen the feel of community and boost your reach.

5. Don’t wait until you’re Steven Spielberg

Video is the most sought after up-skill within the influencer community, and with 90% of consumers claiming video can help them make buying decisions, it should certainly be on the radar of all small business marketers also.

But don’t feel like you have to be a pro to capitalize on this powerful trend. @mrturner has created videos for ASOS and explains:

“I’m honestly the master of iMovie. Some may shriek in horror knowing that I use something so basic, but it all depends on the content. Focus on creating a seamless narrative. I also always like to cut clips to hit the beat of a song – it makes it flow so much better.”

Audiences don’t expect to see the same level of polished perfection on social as they would elsewhere, and many times simple can just as effective.

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Sourced Social Media Today

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Taming the Lone Wolf: 4 Ways for Sales Leaders to Promote a Pack Mentality

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By Greg McBeth

There’s no more dangerous myth in sales than that of the “lone wolf.” Grounded in 20th-century sales culture and reinforced by individual-oriented compensation structures, the lone wolf is a solitary salesperson who rarely engages with the team and brings down big deals by force of will. In today’s sales environment, however, the solo salesperson often struggles to succeed.

As a March 2018 study by CSO Insights and The Miller Heiman Group shows, just 53 percent of sales professionals reached their goals in 2017, the lowest number in the past five years. Despite all the technologies and data at their fingertips, salespeople aren’t turning prospects into customers effectively. To soup up sales, the report suggests “effectively collecting and sharing best practices across sales and service organizations.”

In other words, the wolves must learn to work as a pack. The Alaskan wolf forms packs ranging in size from six to 30 to bring down big game like moose and caribou. By hunting as a team, wolves and salespeople can tackle larger targets that provide a taste of success for the whole group.

Embrace the pack — teamwork works in sales.

Of course, every team has its star players. Many of them were probably weaned in an “eat what you kill” sales environment, where the best hunters take home fat commission checks and receive plenty of corporate recognition.

The trouble is that sales teams at most organizations follow the Pareto Principle, which states that the majority of outputs (about 80 percent) will come from a relatively small set of inputs (about 20 percent). This applies to sales in two ways: A few sales are often responsible for most of the revenue, and most successful sales come from effectively utilizing a few key strategies. Working together through account-based marketing and sales enables teams to decide on their biggest targets and share strategies for closing them. In contrast, a “lone wolf” approach all but ensures that reps will miss out on learning some of the strategies that drive success.

That’s why collaboration is the name of the game at Node. When we developed an elevator pitch that produced significant returns, competitors scrambled to copy our technique. Had we not shared our 30-second intro across our sales team and continually adapted the pitch via regular feedback from the front lines, we would’ve soon found ourselves at a competitive disadvantage.

Selling is a cat-and-mouse game, especially if you’re in startup territory. Staying nimble and adaptive requires every member of the pack to play their part. To get your salespeople to work as one:

1. Make healthy feedback a part of the process.

When was the last time you held a truly honest, no-holds-barred feedback session for your salespeople? I always ask my colleagues to formally or informally give me feedback so they see sharing criticism as a positive force, not a negative one. It can be uncomfortable, to be sure, but feedback is growth fuel for sales teams.

If you’re not sure where to start, pick a particular function to share feedback around. Rachel Clapp Miller, Force Management’s VP of marketing and digital engagement, uses sales calls as an example. She makes a habit of asking co-workers to evaluate her call performance. In turn, she offers opinions to employees, providing feedback to reinforce what’s working well and to fix what isn’t. She urges workers to talk about their performances objectively and without self-strangling skepticism. Not only does this tactic help her and her teammates improve, but it also turns sharing feedback into a cultural expectation.

2. Encourage knowledge sharing when you’re not around.

Candid cross-pollination of ideas often works best when the boss isn’t around. Sales leaders should set the process in motion but then step back and trust the team to share ideas without them.

My team members often get together at Node’s office for what they call their “war stories” meetings. In my absence, they swap sales tips, vent and coach one another. It’s not a formal event; they meet as needed and without leaders looking over their shoulders.

To get salespeople-only meetings rolling, assign contributor roles until the process becomes natural. Have someone who tends to hold back? Ask him to be the discussion leader. Encourage someone else to take notes, and suggest that a third person share relevant ideas with other teams, such as marketing and HR.

3. Balance individual and team-based compensation.

Dollar signs rule the minds of most salespeople. But if you’re tying your representatives’ paychecks solely to what they do on their own, you’re undermining the team. At the same time, eliminating individual commissions makes it easy for poor performers to coast on the backs of sales experts.

Optimizing the ratio of individual-to-team compensation is tricky, but it’s not impossible. Many models link somewhere between 10 and 25 percent of variable compensation to team performance. If team targets can’t be built into each individual’s plan, offer bonuses for team performance to demonstrate leadership’s commitment to the team’s success. At Node, we offer bonuses, including cash and “prizes,” for salespeople who go above and beyond for the team.

Also consider out-of-the-box models that encourage non-salespeople to support the sales team. At social media marketing startup Tint, leadership sets a monthly revenue benchmark for the entire organization. Any earnings above that threshold are equally distributed to workers, regardless of department. According to a Tint blog post, the system drives developers, marketers and others to actively offer help to sales.

4. Build team-building into promotion criteria.

Still have a few hold-outs on your sales team who won’t get on board with collaboration? Create a promotion policy that requires regular sharing of ideas. Most “A players” are ambitious people who seek higher titles and responsibilities, and they’ll do what’s needed to get there.

At a former employer of mine, everyone had to complete a 50-point rubric before being considered for a promotion, much of which was tied to cross-functional work and team leadership. That might be overkill at a startup, but it doesn’t mean you can’t dictate eight or 10 behaviors for personal progression. Be specific, though. It’s not enough to tell salespeople to be more team-oriented. You might stipulate, for instance, that they consistently lead sales knowledge transfer sessions as part of your criteria.

Sales doesn’t work the same way it did 20, 10, or even five years ago. Buyers have gotten smarter, competitors have gotten more cunning, and market spaces have become more crowded. “Lone wolf” salespeople aren’t bagging sales like they used to. Nowadays, it’s collaborative teams that are taking home the trophies.

Feature Image credit: Rüdiger Katterwe | EyeEm | Getty Images 

By Greg McBeth

Sourced from Entrepreneur Europe

 

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Why native advertising and branded content works

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In an interview with TechRepublic, Adweek’s Josh Sternberg talked about the blending of editorial and advertising content as a tactic to capture more consumer attention.

TechRepublic’s Dan Patterson spoke wth Adweek’s tech editor Josh Sternberg about the rise of blending editorial and advertising content in the race to capture consumer attention. Watch the video above, or read the transcript of the interview belo

Patterson: Five years ago, the New York Times launched their first native ad. I think it was March or April 2013, and in the media world this was a big deal, because there was a perception, and maybe you can help us understand the perception versus the reality, but there was a perception that native ads could help break down the wall that exists. It exists here at CBS Interactive (TechRepublic’s parent company), and at most media companies, between editorial content and advertising content. So, first, explain to us what native advertising is, where that idea came from, and where are we now?

Sternberg: Sure. So, very simply, and I don’t even know if we still use the term, native advertising, but at five years ago, six years ago, the idea of native advertising was really the atomic unit of a particular platform or media entity, and the ad that can only run on that. So if I buy a Facebook ad, I can’t use that Facebook ad on Twitter, or on the New York Times. We call that native advertising. But that kind of got distorted, so we call content marketing, sponsored content, branded content; it’s all the same thing.

But one of the interesting things about this is not that it was designed to break down the wall between edit and sales. There is a way for publishers … seeing that, back to those CPMs. CPMs were becoming depressed because of advertising technology making it easier to buy cheaper ads. Publishers were like, “Well, what can we do to make more money?” They realized, “Well, we’ve got something as publishers that advertisers want, and it’s not our audience. It’s our storytelling capabilities. It’s our journalism. So, let’s create a premium advertising product that we can go out and charge a lot more money for, and get better margins on it, so that way we can give something to the audience that isn’t a crappy banner ad, but is actually really good journalistic style content for that audience.”

And just for disclosure, I used to do this at the Washington Post, and NBC News, so my career path is kind of ping-ponged between the editorial side and the business side. Now I’m back on the editorial side.

Patterson: Where do companies, then, like NewsCred, Contently; we see branded content, not just on a publisher’s website, but you might see it in an airplane.

Sternberg: Yep.

SEE: Why product placement ads could come to the Amazon Echo very soon (TechRepublic)

Patterson: You might see branded content in a restaurant. What is the relationship between native ads, branded content, and these other distribution outlets?

Sternberg: So I think the distribution outlets, like the NewsCreds, Contentlys, Nativos, and, again, I’m not … There are so many, I’ve kind of lost track. Those distribution companies kind of came up as a way to mollify the naysayers of branded content who would say that branded content can’t scale; meaning, if I write branded content for the New York Times, it can only run on the New York Times, because it’s designed, and created, and produced for the New York Times, which is why it’s a premium product. So a lot of folks said, “Well, you may not like banner ads or display ads, because they don’t really work. You get a 0.01% click through rate. But they scale.” You can see a banner ad, the same banner ad on millions of sites. So these companies rose up, basically, as a way to spread sponsored content, native advertising, branded content, marketing contents, what have you.

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Does Social Marketing Really Make Dollars and Cents?

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By Michael Houlihan & Bonnie Harvey

Digital marketing is an investment. It takes time to mature before it can pay you back.

This is a question that has plagued us for years and we have spoken to many “experts,” but they seemed to be speaking in another language. We are not the professional online marketers they usually have as students. We are regular small business owners looking for advice we can understand and apply. We decided to ask Claudia Sheridan, a social marketing practitioner who specializes in small and medium-sized businesses like ours. After our initial meeting with Claudia, she was able to explain the various facets involved in digital marketing and how they work together to produce results — in terms we could understand!

1. The Big Picture

Michael & Bonnie: We’ve spent hundreds of thousands of dollars over the years on social marketers. We found that generally speaking, they understood one or two parts of the puzzle but didn’t have a comprehensive picture and certainly couldn’t deliver all the details necessary to make it happen. Typically, they would create and charge us for a funnel and put a lot of emphasis on landing pages but could not get many people into the funnel. Can you outline for us the various different aspects of social marketing that have to be in place to make it work?

Claudia: Social marketing is a part of a much larger concept, that isn’t really talked about. We think about social media and lead generation but rarely do marketers talk about all of the different aspects involved with Digital marketing, which is what businesses, in my opinion, really need to focus on.  It’s not one aspect of the available websites and tools, but rather how to make the different components work together in an effective and efficient manner that produces the desired results.

When looking to work with a marketer, look for one that understands the digital marketing landscape and can identify how the elements can best work for the goals you’re trying to accomplish.  For example, a company may want to utilize a social media channel, such as Facebook, to generate awareness and build their brand. They may decide to place an ad and make an offer but they rarely consider the stages at which the prospect is within the buying journey.

This reminds me of a stranger on a street corner who offers to sell you a fake watch from the lining of his coat.  It may capture your attention, or you may walk away. There is no friendship here, no relationship, no trust. What there is, however, is doubt. And, who wants to build a business relationship based on doubt? So then, what does this process look like?  And, the answer is that it varies on the strategy that is being used.

2. Metrics vs. Results

Michael & Bonnie: When we’ve dealt with social marketers in the past, they have tried to tell us that the likes, clicks, and shares, somehow resulted in increased business. But we found that it actually increased our overhead to maintain a current and interactive online presence. Further we’ve seen no substantial increase in business as a result of our investments in social marketing. What would you say to a client who has had that unfortunate experience before coming to you?

Claudia: I think that entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for that one thing, that silver bullet, that will generate a large amount of business for them.  In 2011-2012, commenting, liking and sharing would have done the trick, but today, that is no longer the case. Today, to be successful on Facebook, it means that you need to play within Facebook’s rules and adapt accordingly. More importantly, it means that you need to have a clear marketing strategy that can be executed, tested, measured, optimized and is able to adapt to Facebook’s changes. This isn’t a linear strategy, but an iterative one that is constantly evolving.

3. Changing Rules

Michael & Bonnie: It seems like every six months the rules change on social marketing. Just when you get set up, it seems like the rules change and you have to go back and reorganize. How can you anticipate and mitigate these changes?

Claudia:  The rules do change, and although the changes seem to be significant, they’re really not.  If a business has actively been participating in Facebook marketing, executing their strategy and making adjustments along the way, then as we learn of a new Facebook change, it just becomes a slight adjustment in the strategy.  Facebook’s changes, however, can appear colossal to companies who are not actively monitoring their Facebook marketing or do not have a solid strategy in place that they’re following.

It’s kind of like joining the gym every January.  If we had just stuck with the workouts that the fitness trainer laid out for us on day one, and we committed to working out a few times a week and eating right, then going to the gym after the holidays would be just another day.  But if we joined in January, stopped going in February, only to join back up 11 months later, the goal of getting into shape is much more daunting.  We don’t expect to walk into a gym on day one and walk out two hours later with six-pack abs, do we?  Yet with Facebook, we expect immediate return with very little effort and get frustrated when the work-out has changed.

 4. Overload

Michael & Bonnie: Don’t you think people are getting too many emails from social marketers? I know that I now have a setting on my Outlook that can take all those emails and put them on a lower priority profile. How do you get your clients prospects to open the emails in the campaigns you organize for them?

Claudia: If marketing was a pie, then email marketing should make up another piece of that pie. There are some companies who are amazing at email marketing and others who could use a little refinement. To get a prospect to open emails, you need to send them the right message at the right time. The question then becomes, how do you know when that is?  Well, with a good email system, you can segment your audience to deliver messages that best resonate with their needs.  Often with email marketing, businesses will craft a single message and broadcast it to their entire list, without consideration to where each person is within the customer journey.  But, if the email message aligned with the stage the customer was in, then the email is more likely to be opened and valued.

 

Expense or Investment?

Michael & Bonnie: What advice can you give to our readers so they will have a better understanding of what to expect from social marketing?

Claudia: I think the most important thing to remember is that social media marketing should never be the only method of marketing a company engages in. Work with someone who understands the digital marketing landscape and how the different elements fit together to accomplish the goals you’re trying to accomplish. Digital marketing should be viewed as an investment, not an expense. And as with any investment, it often takes time to mature before it can pay you back. Finally, make sure that there’s a strategy and work that strategy.

Feature Image credit: Westend61 | Getty Images 

By Michael Houlihan & Bonnie Harvey

Sourced from Entrepreneur Europe

 

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Why You Should Never Buy an Email Database (And What You Need to Do Instead)

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By Ivan Kreimer 

Do you remember when you first learned about email marketing? In most cases, one of the first things you learn is about the importance of building an email list.

Building an email list represents the foundation of a successful email marketing campaign. But doing so takes time and effort, and there aren’t a lot of shortcuts.

Some marketers believe they don’t have the time to build an email list, so they decide to hack the process by buying one. They reason that at the end of the day, a subscriber is a subscriber, and the email marketing stats prove it works, right?

If you agree with this, then you need to make a step back and reconsider your decision. Buying an email database is one of the most dangerous business decisions you can make.

We’re sharing why you should never buy an email database, as well as advice on what to do instead.

Why buying an email database is a bad decision

There is only one way to have an email list, and that’s by growing it. Buying lists is an out-of-date tactic that won’t get you far.

Buying a list is, as the name suggests, when someone purchases a list with a certain amount of email addresses. This can include name, phone numbers, location, verification, and more. Some services promise many things, like deliverability rate, accuracy, and more, yet they rarely work.

When you build a list, you need to attract and convert people to give you their email addresses. You also need to validate the emails with a double-opt-in process, which gives you the permission to email them.

Here’s why buying an email database is a bad decision.

It’s ethically wrong

Buying an email database is morally wrong. After all, you’re buying a list of email addresses without subscribers’ consent. This is a violation of their privacy, and it won’t endear them to you.

Not only is buying an email database unethical, but it’s also likely to result in bad results for your business.

ESPs will ban you

Email service providers (ESPs) won’t allow a user to add a list without a double opt-in, unless you are migrating a list from another ESP and can guarantee that you verified the list in the past.

If the ESP finds that their user is sending spammy emails (based on the responses of the recipients), it can ban you from their email system. Therefore, you will quickly lose all your email business.

You will spend your money on useless emails

The companies that sell lists can have old inactive emails in them, which means some of the emails won’t get opened. Therefore, you will spend money on emails that are worth nothing.

What’s more, spam-detection software like SpamAssassin can detect if the sender is a spammer and send all their emails to the recipient’s spam folder without any action from the recipient.

Subscribers will ignore you

Your ultimate goal is to make people do something valuable for your business, whether that’s signing up for a webinar, buy a product, or hire you for your services.

When you buy an email list of people who don’t know (or trust) you, they will ignore your emails. Even if the ESPs don’t ban you or if the emails are verified, these subscribers are highly unlikely to respond to your messages.

How to build an engaged list that you own

Give away value that serves your audience

You need to put your audience before yourself if you want subscribers to trust you. With so many companies using email, it’s hard to stand out in their inbox. If you focus on providing subscribers with valuable content, you will gain your audience’s attention. Once you have their attention, then you can start getting the results you desire.

The idea of giving before taking can manifest itself in many ways, the most common ones include giving away:

  • Discounts and offers, particularly by first-time shoppers in e-commerce stores
  • Ebooks, also known as lead magnets
  • Free courses sent by email

Segment, segment, segment

Realtors have one golden rule: location, location, location. Email marketers, consequently, have their own: segment, segment, segment.

Your list is made up of people with different needs, demographics, and behaviors. That’s why you need to segment it based on those attributes, which then will let you follow the other golden rule of email marketing: be relevant.

Email marketing works, but only when people want to open your emails, click through them, and act on your offers. If your emails aren’t relevant, why would anyone want to open them? Even if you gave money away, relevance plays a crucial role in making your emails more effective.

Segmentation allows you to find the right audience for your emails, which then helps you deliver the email at the time they most need it. The segmentation could be based on demographic, behavioral, or professional data you have.

The high relevance of welcome emails explain their performance: on average, 320% more revenue is attributed to them on a per email basis than other promotional emails.

Make email subscription easy

If you want to get people to subscribe to your email list, you need to make it easy to do so! If you hide your opt-in boxes and use ambiguous copy, it will hard to persuade people to give their personal information to your company.

To make the opt-in process easy for your users, the first thing you have to do is to add an email list building tool on your site, like Sumo and OptinMonster, among others.

Second, you need to use more than one opt-in tactic. You can use email pop-ups, slider, welcome mats, or embedded opt-in forms. Whichever tactic you choose, make sure to use more than one.

The reason behind this idea is in the difference in which people experience different opt-in forms. Some people will dislike welcome mats, while they won’t mind a slider. Other people will have a completely opposite experience.

Wrap up

In simple terms, buying an email list won’t do any good to your business; people won’t open your emails, trust you, and act on your offers. Even if it takes you more time, you need to build and own a list. Most importantly, you need to get started before you even need one, so if you haven’t gotten started, challenge yourself to start today.

Feature Image Credit: mcmurryjulie / Pixabay

By Ivan Kreimer 

Sourced from Business 2 Community

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5 Reasons Why Your Content Marketing Strategy Isn’t Driving Results

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By Angel Lawrynkiewicz 

Content marketing, if used wisely, can be extremely beneficial to your digital marketing strategy. But, with the Content Marketing Institute reporting that 92% of marketers view content as a business asset, it can be competitive. However, just because almost everyone in the industry is doing it, doesn’t mean that you should sit back and let your competitors take the reign. In 2018, virtually no business can stand to neglect the value of content. If you’re having issues with your content, or just not seeing results, you may be making a rookie mistake.

Here are five reasons why your current content marketing strategy may not be working, and how you can turn it around to better achieve your goals.

 

Many marketers believe that the whole point of content marketing is to convince your audience to buy your product or service, but that isn’t entirely true. Rather than treating your reader as just another sale, you should build a relationship with them by providing informative and engaging content.

By answering the readers’ questions and problems, you will gain their trust which will hopefully persuade them to make a purchase from you in the long-run. Read your content over and make sure that it’s written with the customer in mind, and that you sound like a human rather than a typed commercial.

 

You can’t write for your target audience if you don’t know who your target audience is. Marketers sometimes think the vaguer their content is, the broader the audience they’ll reach. However, when it comes to content, quality trumps quantity. Instead of throwing up mediocre content on your blog hoping to reach a large number of people, focus on narrowing in on who your potential customers are and what they’re interested in.

Take a look at your current customer base, and identify their demographics and interests. Head over to your competitors’ sites and scope out who they’re targeting. Once you have an idea of who your content is speaking to, you can start brainstorming what topics they’d like to read about and developing a voice that resonates with them.

 

No matter what industry you’re in, there’s a good chance that you’re up against some tough competitors. But that doesn’t mean you should just throw in the towel and not even bother with content marketing; it just means that you have to think outside the box a little. Do you know how many business funding lenders have blogged on the topic of “What is a business loan?” It’s been written to death. That’s why in addition to the common evergreen topics, my employer Fast Capital 360 makes an effort to cover unique subjects such as “What You Can Learn From Scott Foster and the Chicago Steel” and “How Culture Creates Championship Organizations.”

Think about it – if you’re only addressing cautious matters in your content, what is going to make you stand out from your competitors who have all essentially written the same post as you? Some may argue “Well, my industry isn’t very exciting,” but that isn’t an excuse. Think about different angles you can use to approach your content, and brainstorm with others in the office to develop exciting new blog ideas.

 

If you’re one of those marketers who merely publishes a piece of content to your site and calls it a day, you really need to break that habit. Writing the content and publishing it is only half the battle. Unless you already have a strong following on your company’s blog, there’s no way that you’re going to attract readers without putting in an effort to promote it.

Have a company newsletter? Great, include your latest blog piece in the next email. On social media? Head over to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and give that article a share. Take advantage of any possible way that can get your content out there and in front of your target audience.

 

Speaking of getting in front of an audience, you don’t want to forget about optimizing for search when it comes to writing and publishing content. What many don’t realize is that SEO and content go hand-in-hand. Sure, having a company blog is great, but SEO gives it that extra push so that readers can actually find it.

Utilize a tool like Google’s Keyword Planner to conduct keyword research, and include those keywords naturally throughout your content to help people find it. Do you post your content on a self-hosted WordPress site? Download a plugin dedicated to SEO, such as Yoast. This will help you properly optimize your meta descriptions and titles, which in turn will help provide search engines a better idea of what the content is about.

Conclusion

Content is a valuable asset that should be in every marketer’s toolbox. However, there is a right and a wrong way to implement content marketing. It requires more effort than just publishing an article on your blog and hoping for the best. If you’re making any of these mistakes mentioned above, utilize the content marketing tools provided so that your digital marketing strategy can reap the benefits it has to offer.

By Angel Lawrynkiewicz 

View full profile ›

Sourced from Business 2 Community

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Triggered Emails: A Case Study on Timely Content

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By Erica Bell

Using triggered email marketing campaigns can keep customers coming back for more by making sure you leave a positive impact from the…

Marketing automation is a hot topic for modern marketers. Businesses, sales pros, and marketing teams are all looking for ways to reach more of the right people in a more efficient way than they have in the past. Automated emails can be a thing of beauty — but only if your business does it right. It’s all about timing and relevance and if your business can get these two things figured out for its target audience, you’ll be more successful. We took a look at a case study released by BtoB online of how one business was able to turn its email marketing efforts around with a timely, tailored new user campaign. Here’s what the company achieved and what your business can take away.

The Case Study: Wasp Barcode Technologies

A 2011 BtoB Online case study analyzed the email marketing efforts of a company who wanted to reach its customers with more timely offers and information. Wasp Barcode Technologies wanted to leverage the idea of creating and rolling out a campaign of nine timed emails aimed at new customers. With goals of improving the onboarding process and encouraging users to engage with their new software immediately after activation, Wasp Barcode Technologies’ campaign took the form of nine triggered emails following a purchase for their software. The first email the company sent out, within 24 hours, was a message about the free training they offered. The next email provided the new user with information about downloadable tutorials and was sent three days after their initial triggered email. Emails three through nine were sent every 30 days with the idea of improving the user experience and satisfaction with information provided in each message.

The Results: The company found that the activation campaign opt-outs were 60% lower than in other campaigns and the open rates yielded a 105% lift over previous efforts. In addition to those successes, 50% of their new testimonials came directly from the email campaign and click-throughs for complimentary products averaged 25% higher than previous campaigns.

What You Can Take Away

New user email marketing campaigns are a great way for your business to deepen the relationship it already has with a customer. While returning customers may be the bulk of your business, new customers are key to a business’s success. Get your new customers on board and engaged right away to make sure they become repeat customers that keep coming back for more products, services and content from your business. If you’re considering developing a triggered email campaign, consider structuring your outreach in a way similar to the one Wasp Barcode Technologies took:

  • Email One: This can be your welcome email that encourages the user to get started with your product or service right away. Encourage them to check out a free training session, get in touch with a representative, or check out your FAQ or forum section.
  • Email Two: This is another warm, inviting email that encourages your user to interact with the content you have available. A relevant white paper, how-to video or podcast are all things you can feature.
  • Email Three: Offer an extended warranty or another one-on-one training session. Focus on relevance and context. If they have a certain period of time to complete registration for support or a warranty, this is your chance to send them a reminder.
  • Emails Four and Five: To improve the user experience, offer your customers more how-to’s, practical tips, and surprising ways in which they can make the most of your software or product.
  • Email Six: This is your chance to upsell the customer with an add-on or accessory. Just make sure you aren’t overstepping, especially if their recent purchase put a strain on their budget.
  • Email Seven: Offer your customer an upgrade. If they’ve been working with you and have become a loyal customer, you can do this at a discount.
  • Email Eight: Customer feedback is key. Use this email to ask your customer what they think of the purchase process you provide, the product or service they’ve invested in, and the content and offers you’ve been sharing.

Email marketing can work and your business can stand out from all the others hitting inboxes. If a customer has chosen to work with your business, make sure you’re providing them with timely, relevant information that can help them be more successful. Keep customers coming back for more by making sure you leave a positive impact from the first purchase onward.

By Erica Bell

Erica is the Social Media Specialist, as well as a content coordinator and writer. She writes on topics such as small business marketing strategies, human resources related best practices and customer service.You can find her posts on the home Business.com blog as well as the Performance Marketing blog. Erica is a double-major graduate of the University of California, Irvine. Aside from blogging and social media marketing, Erica enjoys playing soccer and rooting for the New Orleans Saints, spending time at the beach, and cuddling with her dog, Moo.

Sourced from business.com

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