Ten Ways to Grow Your Facebook Audience

There is no doubt that having a larger audience will encourage more shares, interaction and a higher ranking but you want to engage the right audience. Your audience. That audience consists of a targeted demographic who wants what you have to offer. They are interested in your products and services. In fact, you create products and services with them in mind.

content

Create Original Content — We’ve gone over the different types of content you can share on Facebook, but you can never say it too often: Create an abundance of original content unique to your business.

1-qr-code

Implement QR Codes — These are those funny little squares with the shapes inside. QR codes are an excellent way to get activity on your Facebook page from people offline. Simply add a QR code to your business card or other paper collateral that carries the code to sign up for your Facebook page.

3-facebook

Use Social Plugins — On your website use a FB social plug in that enables your readers to “like” your content. An easy one is Simple Facebook Plugin. You can also use a “like box” on your website so that people can see who has liked you, and follow you on Facebook.

social network-s

Cross Promote — If you join with other business owners, like their page, and have them like your page and then all agree to promote each other’s posts, you’ll gain more followers. Ensure that you only join with people who sell complementary products and services to yours to the same general audience as you do and aren’t your direct competition.

comments

Commenting — By commenting in the name of your business on other people’s pages in an intelligent, useful and helpful way you will help develop yourself as an expert and thought leader. If you like their page as your business profile their information will appear in your feed so that you can easily see to comment. Although, it’s faster if on the day you want to make comments you just click on their page to view the active discussions. By picking the most active discussion you’ll get the most views.

social_media

Using Tagging Strategically — Pages aren’t being seen by everyone in Facebook newsfeeds without a little help. One way to help this along is to use strategic tagging. Tag your page inside of your personal profile this helps everyone see the page. You can also post updates on your business page and tag people whom you want to see it. This allows them to know the update is there, plus their friends and friends of friends depending on their privacy settings.

Nicole Munoz Facebook

Link to Your Business Page — Ensure that your personal profile links to your business page and not the fake page that is created when Facebook cannot find the right page. You don’t want people “liking” this fake page over the one you spend a lot of time on so ensure that your profile is linking to the right business page.

Nicole Munoz Email Signature

Use Signature Links — Your email signature line should include a link to your business Facebook page. Including beautiful clickable icons in your email signature that allows people to easily find you on each social media in which you take part is truly a no brainer when it comes to growing your Facebook audience.

contest

Have a Contest — You have to run contests using approved Facebook apps, but it’s a simple way to increase readership and grow your audience. Ensure that your contest is relevant to your audience. If your prizes are super tailored so that no one outside of your audience would want it, you’ll be even more successful. Asking current followers to share the contest or having a contest that naturally encourage sharing, you’ll find a larger audience.

ads

Create a Facebook Advertisement — It’s easy to create an ad on Facebook. You can use sponsored Stories, which basically encourages your current followers friends to like you, or create a special ad that will get a specific demographic to like your page. Facebook has stellar tools to help you create amazing targeted ads.

 

Growing your audience on Facebook is really a side effect to doing any and / or all of the above. These tasks can also encourage many other results such as interaction, participation, buying, liking, sharing and more from your audience.

30 Types of Content You Can Publish Online

When you think of creating online content, what flashes immediately into mind?  Most likely, “blog posts”.  But did you know there are at least 30 types of content you can publish online? Here they are.

1.  Blog Posts

We had to say it.  But take note that short blog posts are going out of fashion again.  Google has let it be known it will penalize blog posts that are so short, Google feels they are nothing more than excuses for ads and affiliate links.  Their emphasis on “quality, original content” has all the top bloggers writing posts over 500 words long and very often, twice that number of words.

2.  Infographics

Still at the height of popularity, the latest trend is to impart information in visual format people can absorb with a single glance.

 1-infographic

This works so well not so much because many people are visual learners, but because all of us internet-and-mobile age denizens have trained our brains to scan-and-glance digital content, to see if it’s worth spending time exploring further.

3.  Slide Presentations

Social platforms such as SlideShare make it easy for people to share slide presentations.  You can create these as stand-alone information modules… or as accessories for webinars you are holding.

2-slide-presentation

Plus you can have people follow you from SlideShare – and share your work across other social networks.

4.  Media Page

Every online entrepreneur should have a Media Page (section) on his or her blog or website.  Within this tab, radio hosts, news reporters and readers should be able to find:
  • Photos they can use (including your headshot)
  • Archived newsletters
  • Archived Press Releases
  • Bio information
  • The latest news about you/your business
And anything else you’d like them to share.

5.  Skype Chat Text Interviews

This is a brand new, dynamic and interactive way to present Skype interviews – a live link for people to join in and a blog transcript for those viewing the post after the call has completed.

 3-skype-interview2

Again, you can generate shares and follows for this type of content – as well as sharing your interviewer/interviewee’s website link, as Vera Raposo of Creative Biz has done with Kristen Eckstein’s Ultimate Book Coach site.

6.  Landing Pages

Short pages you send people to so they will sign up – either for your newsletter, a “freebie”, your website or blog – or a paid product.

7.  Sales Pages

Not-always-longer versions of Landing pages, promoting your paid offer.  Sales pages can come in many formats:
  • Traditional long letter format
  • Short landing page format
  • Horizontal
  • Vertical
  • Video
  • Audio
Pick the format that best suits your audience’s engagement style.

8.  Podcasts

You can make your website more interactive by providing Podcasts — .MP3 audio files your visitors can listen to (or download, if you let them).

 4-podcast

They can listen in real-time, if you provide a teleseminar phone link – and then enjoy the recording in podcast format on your blog.

9.  Newsletter Archives

Everyone who owns a blog or website should have a newsletter – and archive old newsletter editions either on a Media page or in an Archives page. Newsletter provide an instant history of your business.  People can go through each newsletter, from your very first one, and see where you started out – and where you are now. If your newsletters are high enough in value you can even choose to keep them in a hidden section for paid members of your membership site.

10.  Templates

People will return again and again to your site if they know you have great resources such as templates at your site.  These can be blog post templates, review templates – even HTML templates.

11.  Tip Sheets

This is another desirable type of content to offer as a sign-up incentive on your blog or website.  The key is to make it highly specific to their most pressing interest at this time – or to new technology that is affecting their niche: (E.g.  “30 Tips For Making the Most of Facebook Changes”).

12.  Images

We don’t just mean “stick a picture in your blog post”.  Image use should be an integrated strategy you use to brand your business and tell your story. They should consistently support your online identity and “voice”.

13.  Animated Gifs

There’s been such a prejudice against “distracting” animations, this is not a method most people think of, when it comes to content creation.  Yet under the right circumstances, they can be used effectively. There are two keys to creating a positive rather than a negative effect: a)     Choose a “loop” that looks natural repeating (e.g. a candle flame flickering, water gently tossing in a bay), rather than a moment in time endlessly replaying. b)     If you just want to catch attention, simply set the animation to repeat only once, as laid out in this Yahoo answer. 5-looping-once-yahoo There are many free sites that allow you to create animated .gifs.  Two that are easier than most are Lunapic and  Makeagif, with tutorials and wizards respectively. (Click on this link for an example of the sort of thing you can do.)

14.  Video

Every online entrepreneur should make videos and share them across platforms like YouTube, Pinterest and Vimeo.  The real issue is what type of video best supports your business?
  • “How to” demonstration
  • “Talking head” update from you to your followers
  • Animation
  • Recorded webinar with slides
  • Video blog entry

Nicole Munoz Youtube

15.  Downloadable .PDF files

You can offer eBooks and reports in .PDF format as sign-up incentives for subscribing to your blog or website.

16.  Checklists

Another great sign-up incentive – or bonus.  People love checklists – it helps make them feel organized in a world of chronic digital overwhelm!

 6-checklist

17.  Google Hangouts

You can host a meeting, interview or seminar by creating a “Hangout” within your Google+ account.  Ask fellow Circle members to join you. Better yet, choose the live streaming option to help it go viral, if it’s something you want everyone to see, and it will automatically be recorded and uploaded to your YouTube channel.

18.  Logo

A Logo that captures in a blink the essence of your business (and helps people instantly think of it) is essential, if you’re branding your business rather than you, yourself.

19.  White Papers

A “white paper” is much like a report, but is usually a formal presentation of statistics or a document analyzing something of great importance to your website visitors. If your target market are corporate-minded, white papers are usually deemed of more value than “reports”.

20.  About Page

This is one of your best pieces of online real estate.  While you are talking about yourself, you are doing so to build identification and rapport with your ideal visitor, so even when talking about yourself, it should really be all about her. Use your top keywords in your About page contest.  And it’s a great spot to put a headshot, if you haven’t done so anywhere else on your site.

21.  Bonuses

Bonus downloads and perks add value to your offers, blogs and websites.  These can take any format – video, .MP3, tip sheets, reports… And they can be created by you… or by a JV partner.  Or simply purchased as Master Resale items to share with your list.  (Pick the format your target customer or client would love best!)

22.  Coupons

A coupon can also add value to your offer or website.  You can make them printable, if you have a local business… or give a coupon code at checkout to sweeten an offer. Just be sure to set a start end date (and limit the number), to keep your ROI in the black!

23.  QR Codes

Are your best paying customers avid Smartphone users?  Then put QR codes on your website, blog, business cards, flyers, merchandise – and more. You can also set this digital bar code to take people straight to:
  • A telephone call (your number)
  • A text message
  • Your website
  • A coupon or special offer

24.  Cartoons

You don’t often see cartoons  in digital marketing – but that’s all the more reason to consider using them, if your niche members are highly visual-oriented.

 7-evil-cat

25.  Statistics

Sharing statistics can be a huge draw for many business niches.  You can share them in:
  • Chart format
  • Graph format
  • Tables
  • Lists

26.  FAQ Pages

Having a list of Frequently Asked Questions on your site is a great way to please visitors – and cut down on repetitive emails. A FAQ page is also indispensable in your Affiliate section, if you have affiliates.

27.  The Legal Stuff

If you are an affiliate marketer, you’ll know you need to provide a Disclaimer or Disclaimer Page, stating that you may receive compensation for recommendations. Other types of “necessaries”:
  • Terms of Service
  • Privacy Policy (this one’s a “must” too)

28.  Maps

Indispensable, if you’re a local business and want people to either visit your premises or see your range of service.

8-map

29.  Reviews

If you are recommending products, use a review template to provide consistent reviews. Your aim should be to become a trusted resource for people in your niche, so that yours is the site they turn to first, when looking for  product information.

 9-review

30.  “How to” Tutorials

These can be in video, diagram, audio, graphic or written format… or a combination of any of these.  (An added bonus: “How-tos” turn your site into a resource.)

 10-How-to

There are many more content types you can use on your website – but whichever you choose, be original, unique – and tuned in to your visitors.

Local Small Business Online Marketing Checklist

local-business

The marketing landscape for local business has changed dramatically. Smart business owners, like you, are relying less on print and traditional media advertisements and are instead embracing the power of the Internet and mobile technology. Consider this your checklist for ensuring you have all your bases covered when it comes to marketing your business locally.

Your Website

If you don’t have a website, now is the time to create one. Your potential customers are searching for you online and they want to see your operating hours, address, catalog or menu before they visit you. If they can’t find you, they’re likely to move onto the next business that readily provides the information they’re looking for.

Your website needn’t be complicated, but should include the following:

  • Hours of operation
  • Catalog / Menus and Pricing, where possible
  • Any specials you are currently offering
  • Contact information including address, phone number and email address
  • An interactive map to help users navigate to your place of business (Use Google Maps)
  • “About Us” information about your company
  • Customer / Client satisfaction and testimonials information
  • Website privacy policy and other legal documentation

 

Search Engine Traffic

There is plenty of potential for local traffic from search engines. Whether your customer is searching for your business name or searching for the type of service you offer in your local area, this is highly targeted traffic.

Free Search Engine Traffic

Most of the business listings you see in a search engine are free and businesses do not pay to be listed there. Search engines use a complex algorithm to determine which pages are relevant for each search its users make.  For example, if a user searches for “kids clothing boutique Raleigh, North Carolina” and you happen to own a kid’s clothing boutique in that city, you’re more likely to be found, provided that your website is descriptive and includes those keyword phrases.

 

Main Listings

Always be descriptive when creating your website pages. Include your complete address on each page and describe your products and services. Make sure you or your web designer also includes descriptive keywords in your title, description and headline tags. If you’re building your site yourself, find out how you can modify your title, description and headline tags as the method varies depending on the type of design tool you are using.

 

  • Google Local: On Google, you may have noticed that there are Places results that often appear before the other listings.
  •  Bing Listings: Bing also has a similar service to “Places” for U.S.-based businesses. You can learn more at http://www.bing.com/businessportal.
  •  Yahoo Local Listings: For American businesses, add yourself to Yahoo’s listings at http://listings.local.yahoo.com/.
  • Yelp: Go to https://biz.yelp.com/ to unlock your business listing.

Pay-Per-Click Traffic

PPCIf you’re not familiar with pay-per-click advertising, it is advertising that you pay for only when someone clicks on your ad. Unlike traditional advertising where you pay simply to have your ad shown, you are only paying for the results of clicks. You can also target your campaigns by only advertising for certain keywords and your ads will only be shown to people who are looking for the type of information or products you provide.

You can see pay-per-click ads in the search engines and they are labeled as an ad, but it’s not always immediately apparent. Here’s how pay-per-click ads look in the search engines…

Google: Ads are labeled as “Ads” and often appear at the top, before free listings and on the right side of the page.

Bing: Ads are also labeled as “Ads” and often appear at the top, before free listings on the right side of the page.

Yahoo: Ads are labeled as “Sponsored Results” and often appear at the top, before free listings and on the right side of the page.

Of course, there is a learning curve to pay-per-click advertising, but it is definitely a source of highly targeted traffic to explore.

A Few Pay-per-Click Tips

  • Set a budget and use the budget tools included in the pay-per-click program. They are designed to keep you from overspending when you’re not available to monitor your campaign closely.
  • Use coupon codes or other tracking methods, so you can calculate the profitability of your campaign and know what you can afford to pay for each click.
  • Be as targeted as possible. Don’t use the same ad for multiple keywords. Use different ads that you use the specific keywords in your ad text.
  • Make targeted landing pages for your campaigns. For example, if you are advertising “blue widgets Birmingham England” in one ad and then “red widgets in Bradford England” with another ad, not only will you use different ad text, but each ad should go to a different page that is highly relevant to those keywords.

Where to Purchase Pay-Per-Click Ads

  • Google Adwords: Google runs the most sophisticated and well-trafficked pay-per-click program and is the perfect place to start to learn the ropes and tweak your campaigns. You can sign up for an account at https://adwords.google.com

 

Mobile Technology

Mobile Technology is booming and we can see it everywhere we go. Whether it’s cell phones, tablets or other devices, this has opened up new marketing opportunities for local businesses. People are searching their devices for business information, “checking in” at various locations, sharing reviews and more.

Mobile-Friendly Website

While mobile technology has come a long way and many devices display web pages well, anything you can do to make the pages load faster and easier to navigate can go a long way. There are a lot of tools that can help you set up mobile-friendly websites, but you can also use the following tips in designing your website:

  • Make clear and simple navigation.
  • Avoid the use of Flash as it excludes your content from a large portion of mobile users.
  • Keep the number of images to a minimum. This helps ensure your pages load more quickly and your mobile user is more likely to stick around longer.

 

Text Message or SMS Marketing

You probably already have an email newsletter and understand the power of reaching your prospect directly in their inbox. Now text message marketing provides even more instant connection and results from your efforts. You can set up a cost-effective campaign using a variety of services, including http://eztexting.com

 

QR Codes

You’ve probably seen these black and white codes on printed advertisements in your area. They look something like this:

 

8-qr-code

 

These special codes are a great way to connect your traditional marketing with digital marketing. QR codes can be printed on any brochure or advertisement and mobile users can scan the code and automatically be connected to your website.

QR codes are an easy way to share coupons, special offers, schedules and more with your prospective and current customers. You can make your own QR codes for free at http://delivr.com

 

Coupons and Deal Sites

You’ve probably heard about sites like Groupon and Living Social that offer a special deal daily. These are a great way to get extra exposure for your business as these sites market locally and help ensure your offer reaches your local audience.

The deal site sells your special offer, collects the money and typically you receive about ½ the profits back. While it may seem like a large upfront cost, it can be a very effective way to get first-time customers through the door. After all, remember that satisfied customers are likely to come back for more, so the long term profits from a campaign could be very worthwhile.

Social Media

It seems like everywhere you go, people are talking about Facebook, Twitter and other social media. If you already have a large customer base and mailing list, growing your following on social media makes perfect sense. If you are a budding young business, it may take more work and strategy to gain a following, but your efforts can be very well be worthwhile.

  • Facebook: It seems like everybody’s kid and grandma is on Facebook these days and that makes Facebook a natural choice for embarking on a social media campaign. http://facebook.com
  • Twitter: Not quite as popular as Facebook, Twitter’s beauty is in its simplicity. It’s a great way to provide a sounding board for your business and to connect with your followers as well. http://twitter.com
  • Google+: This is a new social network created by the search giant Google. It attracts an older and more technologically sophisticated audience, but comes with some very powerful marketing possibilities. http://plus.google.com
  • LinkedIn: LinkedIn is known as the professional’s social network. It is a great place to connect with other likeminded business owners, make important connections and more. http://linkedin.com

 

Where to Start

It’s true, there is a lot of information in this checklist and the thought of getting all these things done can seem overwhelming. Consider this your ongoing checklist to work through over time. Start with your website, get listed in Google Places and work on the other points. Just remember to track your results and see what’s working, so you can do plenty more of what does.

How to Promote Your Business with QR Codes

scancodesIf you’re not familiar with QR codes, they make it easy for mobile users to find your website, ad or promotion. All they do is scan the code and they are immediately taken to the web page or information you want them to visit. They don’t need to try to remember or type in any website address, it’s all done automatically. So the next time they see your ad at a bus stop, in a flyer or in a magazine, all they do is point, scan and the marketing magic begins.

QR stands for “quick response” and they are two dimensional codes that you’ve probably seen on advertising. They look something like this:

1-qr-code

You can use QR codes to promote your business in many ways. Here are just a few ideas:

  • Use them in your print advertising, making easy for readers to find your website.
  • Create coupons. Once your user scans the QR code, they can access a coupon.
  • Provide access to interactive maps, so your customers can find your business.
  • Add QR codes to your printed catalogs, so your customers can make their order online.
  • Add a QR code to your business card, offering a special discount for scanning.
  • Does your business have schedules? QR codes are a quick way to access fitness, show and other types of schedules.

 

The possibilities are limited only by your marketing imagination. The gap between print and digital is closing quickly, providing you with so many options for using QR codes in your business.

 

But how do you make a QR code? Let’s talk about that next…

 

Make Your QR Codes for Free with Delivr

Delivr is a free service that allows you to create QR codes for your website pages and more. For this tutorial, we’ll be focusing on making a QR code for a website page or URL, but we’ll briefly explore the other features too.

Go to http://delivr.com to get started.

While you can use the service without any account, we recommend signing up for a free account so you can edit your QR codes and access tracking/analytics capabilities. We’re going to use the service with an account in this tutorial, so you can see all of the features.

 

 

Step 1: Log into Your Account

Once you’re logged in, click on the “Create New Code” box in the top right corner of the page.

2-create-new

You can create a QR code to a website, YouTube video, Flickr image or video, Google Maps and even just to display some text.

 3-choices

 

Step 2: Create a QR Code to a URL

Creating a QR code to a website page is simple. Just enter your URL at the http://. Then click “go”.

 4-insert-url

 

Once you’ve done that, you’ll see a few options to share and save your QR code. Your sharing options include Facebook, Twitter and Ping.fm, but we want to get the QR code that you can use in your advertising and promotions. You’ll find the QR code on the far right side of the page:

5-save-qr-code

You can save the file in a variety of formats including PNG, JPG and EPS. You may want to check with your printer on what format they’d like if you are hiring someone to do your promotional printing.

If you want to do a do-it-yourself promotion, you can try the “Print Flyer” option, but you can’t edit the flyer at all. It is simply a picture of your website and invitation to scan the code. Here’s an example of a QR code for YouTube.com.

 6-flyer

If you make a flyer for your website, it would show a picture of your website instead.

 

Campaign Editing

You have a few options when it comes to editing your campaign. To do this, click on “Dashboard” in the top menu of your account.

7-dashboard

 

Then click the edit icon for the campaign you want to edit.

You can change the destination URL. This might be useful if you’ve created a special landing page or promotion that you would like to direct your visitors to. You can always change the URL again later.

 9-edit-campaign

There are also some more advanced settings like prompting for a GPS location and advanced tracking, but for our purposes, we don’t need this.

 

Campaign Analytics

To access your Analytics, click on Dashboard again and then click on the “Analytics”. You can view daily, monthly and other reports.

 10-report-period

 

The report will show you how many scans your QR code has received and other data as well. You can also what type of device users are reaching you with. Our campaign is brand new, so there is no data showing at this moment.

 11-number

 

There is also a map that shows you where the geographic location of your visitors and what type of device they were using.

 

Other QR Tag Options

As mentioned earlier in our tutorial, you can make tags for YouTube videos, Flickr photos and videos and more. Let’s briefly go over those options here.

 

YouTube Video (or Flickr)

To make a code for a YouTube video, you can choose the YouTube option and enter the video URL or ID. The process is the same for Flickr, but we’re demonstrating YouTube below.

 12-youtube

 

The URL is what appears at the top of your browser or just enter the video ID.

 

Once you’ve entered your video information, you can also add a title and a description.

 14-video-personalization

 

Whenever someone scans your QR code, they will be taken to a page on delivr.com that includes your video and your personal message.

 

Google Maps

If you’d like to provide your customer with an easy map to get to your store or office, you can also connect your QR code to a Google Map. On the Google Maps option, simply enter your address in the box.

 15-google-maps

 

After you click, “go”, you can personalize the map by including a title and a description. Click “Finish” when you’re done.

 16-map

 

When your readers scan your QR code on a GPS-enabled device, they will be prompted to use their current location and they can easily get directions to your place of business.

 

Text

If you’d like an easy way to share a simple mobile-friendly message with your visitors, you can also make a QR code to a page with some text. To start, enter a title for your message. Click “go” when you’re done.

 17-text-title

 

Then you can edit your message. You can also insert photos, YouTube videos, a phone number, website links and more.  Click “finish” when you’re done.

 18-enter-text-info

 

When someone clicks your QR code, they’ll be led to a page that shows your ad on a mobile-friendly page.

As you can see, creating QR codes is a fairly simple process and provides your business with plenty of marketing options. With the growth of mobile technology, QR codes make it possible for you to improve the response to your marketing efforts.