social media

Blogging Tips for Starting a Business Blog

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blog ideas

After all the “back-breaking” work of setting up your business blog, it now comes down to the most important reason of having a blog in the first place – getting your content out to the world.

For some, this is an easy process.  For many others however, publishing useful and unique content regularly can be severely daunting.  Distinguishing yourself from other business bloggers takes a bit of understanding of who your core readers are.  Put some time aside to research your audience and find out what they would like to read about. Here are some considerations to bear in mind when publishing your content:

  • Should I make my posts educational, newsworthy, informational, entertaining and debatable or, a combination of all those? 
  • How long should my posts be (this is where getting feedback from your readers comes in)? 
  • Should I consider a blog partnership (getting guest bloggers to write unique content for your blog)? 

The initial excitement of publishing a blog can quickly dissipate when your “content well” starts to dry up.  So where do you turn to for ideas and inspiration to get readers queuing up to read your work?  Well, let’s start with how you can categorize your content in a way that could potentially skyrocket your readership: 

  • The infamous Top 10 lists blog-post
  • How-To information 
  • Reviews 
  • Interview someone within your business niche 
  • Latest trends and newsworthy information 
  • Present relevant business case-studies 
  • Recommend other business blogs that might be of interest to your readers 

But all the above may be rendered useless if you can’t get to a source for inspiration.  So here are some of the best places to visit when you need to get those creative juices flowing:

  • News sites – CNN, Yahoo News, Google News are just some of many News websites available to spark an interesting idea for a blog post.  Dig into News stories and press releases to see what is significant for your blog.  Cast your opinion on it and you’ve just got yourself a new post.  But don’t stop there.

Look for News sites that are specific to your industry as well.  For example, if you’re blogging about finance, head on over to Bloomberg Financial News and get ideas from there.  About.com is another site that covers a gamut of topics that makes for such a great source for content ideas.

  • Online Groups / Social Networking sites / Forums – Message board forums, Facebook Groups and Yahoo Groups are a wealth of information.  Your potential readers and customers could be lurking within these groups, freely exchanging the kind of information a market research company would pay thousands of dollars for.

Don’t ignore forums that are relevant to your industry. Like social networking sites and online groups, forums attract the kind of audience that could be interested in the information you are offering.

  • Social Bookmarking Services– Like social networking sites, social bookmarking services are all the rage today.  These services allow users to rate and recommend topics that are popular with them.  They are a portal into the hottest and latest trends as deemed by public opinion.

Visit sites such as Technorati.com, Delicious, StumbleUpon.com, Reddit.com and Digg.com to get blogging ideas.  While there are a great number of other social bookmarking sites springing up onto the web quite regularly, those are the most referred to by professional bloggers for research.

  • High Traffic Sites – Another fantastic source of blogging ideas can be found at high traffic sites such as Alexa.com, Amazon.com, Ebay.com, Craigslist.org and Wikipedia.org.  A wealth of ideas can be mined just from sifting through these sites’ categories.
  • Article Directories – Article directories offer you the option of re-printing the articles of your choice on your blog.  This can come in handy if you’re having an off day but need something to whet the appetite of your readers.  Even if you don’t intend to publish any of those articles, use them as a source of ideas for writing your next post.

Some of the more popular directories are EzineArticles.com, GoArticles.com and ArticleCity.com.  These articles are free to re-print but, read the terms on these sites on how to go about re-printing them.

  • Some Other Sources – Another idea-generating method is to look out for what people are searching for and decide if you could blog about these search terms. Visit popular sites like Google Zeitgeist and MetaCrawler.com for this purpose. You can use keywords tools like WordTracker.com.

Try searching for ideas using blog search engines as well. Try Technorati.com for potential ideas.

Creative Book Promotion with Facebook

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As an author you want to be as creative as possible when marketing and promoting your book to the public. You want to get started promoting yourself and your book(s) as soon as possible so that you can build a fan base even before you release your book. Even if you’ve already released your book, you can still get moving on Facebook marketing and promotion. Follow these steps.

1. Create an Author Website

No social media accounts can substitute for a well made Author’s website. Your Author’s website will be the hub of all your marketing activities. It will be where your content lives, where you can sell your book(s), show the ways to connect with you online and where your upcoming appearances are. Put a nice headshot on your “About the Author” page, and don’t ever forget to remember your call to action. If you want them to “sign up”, “connect”, “order”, or “download” you’ll need to tell them.

2. Create an Author’s Page on Facebook

Your author’s page on Facebook should be separate from your personal Facebook page. It’s easy to create a new page just sign in to your personal account, then scroll down to Pages on the left, click it, then click “create a page. Choose Artist, Band or Public Figure to make your Author Page.

3. Create a Product Page for Your Book on Facebook

In the same way that you created a new Author Page on Facebook you can also create a product page specific for your book. If you have more than one book you can create a separate page for each book. This will enable you to create better and more focused advertisements for each book that you write and make Facebook marketing and promotion easier.

4.Create a Group Page for Your Book on Facebook

Another fun thing you can do when marketing and promoting your book on Facebook is to create a special Group Page just for your book. A group page is fun because it has more features allowing your audience to communicate with you and each other. You can make a page like this private so that only people who have actually ordered your book know how to join.

5. Create Content to Share

When you have all these different places to promote your book ready you’ll need to create a constant flow of content to attract your fans and potential fans from across the Internet. You can use snippets from your book, share reviews of your book, create a book trailer using video and YouTube.com, and more.  Some content ideas might be to share quotes that you love, articles that you’ve written or that someone else wrote that you enjoyed, photos and videos that are fun or informative are great ideas too.

 

Even as an author you may sometimes run out of ideas on your own to keep the content flowing. If that happens you can actually hire someone to help you, or you can ask other authors to guest post on your blog. You can also ask someone to interview you and put it on your website’s blog. All the content that you create will be shared across all your Facebook real-estate so that you can connect with fans and future fans.

 

If you’d like to know more about Promoting Your Book Using Facebook , then don’t miss our free Webinar on December 12th, “How to Market & Promote Your Book Using Facebook”.

 

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5 Ways to Promote Your Book Using Facebook

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Facebook is one of the most useful resources on the Internet when it comes to marketing anything. But, if you want to market and promote your book on Facebook you’re in luck because Facebook is practically tailor made for just such a thing.

1. Create a Facebook Page for Your Book

That’s right, you want to create a Facebook Page just for your book. It will be under Entertainment. Simply go to home on Facebook, Create Page, and choose Entertainment. Choose Book for category, and then put in the name of your book and agree to the terms and conditions. Go through all the steps and don’t forget to pick a unique URL for your book.

2. Invite Friends to Your Page

Now you want to get some followers on your page, so use the tool on the page after you’ve created it to invite your Friends. This is a good start to building a fan base for your book. Ask your friends to share with and invite their friends too. You need to get at least 30 likes to have access to page insights and other features.

3. Connect Your Blog

If you have a blog, and an Author’s Facebook page connect your blog so that you can automatically post excerpts from your blog right on your Author’s page. You can use a number of different technologies to do this, one is called Networked Blogs. Once you set it up, each time you publish a blog post, it will post directly to any Facebook Page that you own as you’ve set it up. This is a great way to automate the sharing of some content.

4. Promote Your Page

Use the handy and easy Create Ads feature to promote your page. You can easily segment the audience that you choose to promote your page to. You can choose not to promote it to the people who already have joined or are your friends, and only promote it to just the right audience choosing your daily budget.

5. Update Daily

One of the keys to keeping your page active and attracting likes is to keep content going on your page every day. Not just any content, it needs to be relevant and useful content that is focused on the type of audience you want to attract. You can share your blog posts, YouTube.com videos and more using your Facebook Page. Your page needs to be updated enough to make people take notice but not so much that you annoy people. Most of all, keep it as close to the topic as you can.

 

Marketing and promoting your book on Facebook is fun and simple. It’s a truly essential element in ensuring that you can build a following. A lot of people don’t realize that even if you’ve been published by a publishing company you still need to do a lot of marketing on your own, so whether you’re self-published or not, using Facebook to market and promote your book is an essential component in book marketing today.

 

If you’d like to know more about Promoting Your Book Using Facebook , then don’t miss our free Webinar on December 12th, “How to Market & Promote Your Book Using Facebook”.

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Back to Basics: 10 Facebook Marketing Tips to Get Off to a Good Start

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social-media

Facebook continues to grow amongst most demographics. It’s widely used by many target audiences and can be an effective tool to grow your audience, and ultimately your sales. Use this checklist to make sure you don’t miss a step as you plan and implement your Facebook Marketing Strategy.

#1 Choose a Facebook name that is consistent with your business. Customers will be able to easily identify your business Facebook page and profile.

Nicole-Munoz-Facebook

#2 Create a vanity URL that you can use to promote your Facebook page. For example, Facebook.com/yourbusinessname is professional, consistent and apparent to your customers. (Go to Admin panel, Edit page, and Update info to set your Vanity URL).

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#3 Design and brand your Facebook page with current photos, logo and other images that are representative for the business. Upload a stylish cover photo and a header image that are also relevant to your business. Your tagline should be present on your Facebook page (usually in the cover photo).

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#4 Create an “About” page that embraces the company brand, voice, and communicates current and relevant information about your business.

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#5 Create a goal for your Facebook page and social media marketing activities. You can use Facebook to:

  • Drive traffic to your site
  • Provide valuable content
  • Promote/sell products
  • Build opt-in list

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#6 Establish a message for your Facebook page that supports your goals for Facebook marketing.

  • This message supports your brand and is authentic.
  • This message is engaging and provides value to your friends and followers.

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#7 Create a content schedule that provides a steady and consistent flow of valuable content that supports your goals and message.

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#8 Set aside time each day so that you can consistently connect with potential prospects and build your followers while building your business and reaching your marketing goals. For example, set aside fifteen minutes two times each day to share, comment, and post. Schedule one post for each day of the week.

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#9 Integrate Facebook with other marketing tactics including:

  • Blog
  • Website
  • Email signature
  • Email marketing
  • Other social media pages

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#10 Leverage technology and automate the process as much as possible. For example, your weekly email newsletter is posted on Facebook.

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#11 Create systems to test and track your Facebook marketing results. Set tests for:

  • Content
  • Delivery/posting time
  • Clicks
  • Subscribes
  • And measure the results as they relate to your specific Facebook goals. 

Facebook can be a useful tool to connect with your prospects and begin to build a community around your business. Create your message, follow through, and track your results.

How to Promote your iTunes Podcast

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 Podcasting

Once you’ve uploaded your podcast episodes correctly to iTunes, it’s not yet time to breathe that sigh of relief.  In fact, your real work is just beginning – promotion.

Promotion is the magic ingredient that ensures some podcasts go viral or are at least wildly successful in their niche.  Without it, the chances of people finding your podcast are, frankly, hit-and-miss.

Let’s look at the best (and least time-consuming) ways to promote your Podcast…

1.    Make sure you have optimized your iTunes Directory listing

Before you rush off to promote, do make sure you have:

  • Tested your feed and episodes
  • Included every optimization strategy possible in your RSS feed title, description and cover photo

Really think about your keywords too – even after you’ve selected them.  Do they have a double meaning you might not be seeing, attracting the wrong audience?  Are they weak words that detract from your stronger keywords?  Is your title packed with weak words such as adverbs and adjectives?  Are these the best keywords – that is, does your target listener actually search with these; or is there a better keyword?

Remember too that your cover photo will be small in the iTunes Directory display, so keep it as focused and simple as possible, with no clutter or background “noise”.

The best idea in ensuring you miss no vital steps:

  • Create a checklist and run through all its steps, every time you upload podcast episodes.

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2.    Brand your Series

What’s the first thing that strikes you when you see a Pepsi Cola can in a graphic ad?  That the ad is all about cola and soft drinks, right?

And not just any old cola – Pepsi.

One of the reasons you think of Pepsi or Coke:  These two drinks are much better branded than other types of cola drinks.

In other words, the instant you see the graphic, you know which company’s product you are looking at (as well as which product it is).

Do that with your Podcasts too.  Create a signature graphic and/or color scheme that instantly makes people think of you (or your series or product, if you are branding your series or product).

Include:

  • A short, memorable series name (in the same font and colors, every episode)
  • A logo (such as the flaming earth in the screenshot below)
  • Your website and company colors
  • Your head shot, if you are strongly branding yourself (and use the same photo every time)
  • Your name, for recognizability

The result with the podcast series below?  People only have to see the colors, the name and the flaming earth log and fans immediately go from neutral to highly interested in a split-second.

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That’s what branding can do – so put it to work for your podcast!

3.    Promote your podcast on social media

Don’t just promote it the instant it’s released – start a buzz about it yourself.

Talk about the process of creation; and why you’re excited about it.  Report on progress and glitches.  (Aim this at your target followers, of course – use a Facebook or Twitter List.)

Take out Facebook ads.  Promote it on Twitter.  Create a Facebook Page for your podcast blog or network.

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But remember, in all your social media efforts, to make it about your reader – even if you are talking about your own podcast-creation triumphs and struggles.  Only report things that they can identify with.

4.    Add your iTunes podcast URL to your signature

Do you belong to forums?  Membership sites?

And of course you send out emails to your lists.

If you do any of the above, consider adding your podcast URL to your signature, wherever it’s allowed.

(Note:  You can also add an iTunes button with WiseStamp.)

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 5.    Create Show Notes

You are most likely promoting your episodes on your blog with a separate post per episode.  Don’t just stop there, however:  Add Show Notes.

Your Show Notes should include:

  • The name of your podcast
  • Your targeted keywords
  • Mention of any current trend you tackle in your podcast
  • Some tidbit of information to stir them to insatiable curiosity

Remember, you have the time it takes them to glance over your little blurb to hook them into deciding they have to download your podcast.  If you were reading your Show Notes, what would hook you?  What would make it impossible for you to resist the podcast, no matter how busy you were?

Buzz Out Loud demonstrates a quick and easy way to add Show Notes to your .MP3 podcast file in this article.

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You should also publish your Show Notes directly on your blog:  iTunes will actually scan your blog feed looking for tagged .MP3 files.

6.    JV with other podcasters

One of the best ways to publicize your podcast series – especially if you’re new – is to land guest spots on other podcasts and invite guest speakers to your podcast.

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Learn what it takes to be a great guest.  Make your host look great to her audience.  Keep the pace fast, lively and focused.  (And be sure to ask for an on-air plug for your podcast, if you agree to be a guest.)

It works best if you interview experts in your niche who are close but not direct competitors.  (For example, a Business Coach might interview a Time Management Coach or a Lifestyle Coach.)

Your whole aim, when offering to guest or choosing guest speakers, should be to enrich the value of your target audience’s niche experience.

Besides, interviewing experts is another way of saying:  “Hey, I’m the one who knows who to call in.”  You psychologically brand yourself as a peer of the very experts you are interviewing.

It’s a win-win situation all round, if you pick your guest spots (and your guests) with your target audience in mind.

7.    Build Relationships and Connections at Google Plus Communities

Google Plus Communities provides a little-known place where you can become known as a podcaster, all while making new networking connections and building strong relationships – and picking up valuable tips.

The particular Community is moderated by Daniel Lewis:  It’s called Podcasting Technology Resources.

You can ask questions, answer questions – and talk about your podcast (as long as you keep it relevant to the Community’s mission and goal).

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And it may be a little-known Community to the average internet marketer and her client – but it currently boasts 806 podcast-loving members; many of whom might make excellent guest speakers… or subscribers.

(Check out other podcasting communities in other social networks, such as the LinkedIn version of the Podcasting Technology Resource Group.)

8.    Integrate your promotion across all platforms

Make sure each and every platform is thoroughly optimized, with links, buttons, badges and icons to help cross-share with each other.  That goes for social networks, blogs, contests and forums alike.

Include sign up forms, subscription buttons and RSS feed widgets too on your sites.

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Always be on the look-out for ways to promote – and cross share that promotion.

9.    Educate your listeners and subscribers

Not everyone knows how easy it is to listen to an iTunes podcast.

Not everyone knows they are free.

Provide easy instructions and links for downloading iTunes.  Let your listeners know the length of your podcasts too.  Many of the most popular podcasts range between 10 to 15 minutes in length:  People will often pause to listen to a 12-minute podcast; whereas they might regretfully pass up on one they’d really like to listen to – because it’s over 30 minutes in length.

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Tell your audience about apps that may help their podcast experience too.  Tell them where to find links they need.  Let them know about anything and everything that:

  • Makes their podcast experience ridiculously easy
  • Makes them want to learn more – from you

10. Submit your Podcasts to other Directories

Don’t just rely 100% on the iTunes store to help people find your podcast:  Submit your feed URL to other podcast directories too.  That way, you won’t miss any segment of your market that has a hate on for Apple, or who can’t access iTunes due to technical incompatibilities.

You can find a good list to begin with at the Podcasting Tools blog.

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11. Submit Press Releases about your Podcast

Some people will tell you that press releases are “dead”.  Nonsense.  The only dead press release is one that isn’t well-written and correctly formatted.

Look at podcast press releases in PRWeb to see how it’s done – and notice you are allowed to upload and use your iTunes miniature cover graphic.

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There are many press release directories around, but don’t waste your time on too many:  Instead, focus on ones like PRWeb that are heavy on reputation; or else find ones that specialize in your niche topic.  (Just search using the keywords “directory” and “[fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”][topic or niche name]” in Google.)

12. Create a provider page

Let’s finish off with one more quick tip from iTunes’ Making a Podcast manual about creating a provider page, once you have a stable of podcasts up and running smoothly…

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These twelve ideas are by no means the only steps to successful podcast promotion – but they are twelve of the most effective.

Don’t stop there:  Find other promotion methods for your particular niche or industry – and get the word out about your podcast![/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]

10 Things Not to Do on Facebook When Posting as Your Brand

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Let’s discuss a little bit about posting as a brand on Facebook. There are many examples of brands messing up on social media and you don’t want to be one of them. Think: Amy’s Baking Company Bakery Boutique & Bistro ( https://www.facebook.com/amysbakingco ). Look it up to see what happened with them. Essentially, they’re a fabulous example of what not to do.

9-no-slashDon’t Argue & Defend — So you get a poster who is complaining about you, your product or both, and you feel hurt and defensive. This is not the time to post an argumentative post back to the person, putting them in their place. It’s okay to admit mistakes and it’s okay to delete obvious spam, but it’s never okay to be rude, no matter how bad your feelings are hurt.

Don’t Post Only a Link — Everything you post should have a blurb about what you’re sharing, or posting. Whether it’s an image, a video, sharing other people’s content, or your own blog posts — always post a tease about it, plus don’t forget an obvious call to action. If you don’t ask your readers to share, follow, buy, or like, they probably won’t.

Don’t Automate Too Much — This might seem like a time saver, but in reality it’s pretty much a waste of time to automate too much. While all kind of apps and plugins exist to help you with these tasks (some mentioned in this report) it’s really not helpful to post the same thing to Facebook as you do Twitter. They are very different systems. Also the way EdgeRank works is that automatic status updates are relegated to wherever posts go that don’t wind up in newsfeeds.

Don’t Post Only Text — Images and Video get more love, that’s just a fact of both the EdgeRank system and human nature. Humans love video and images more than plain text. It adds interest to the page and gets fans curious to look further. Plus when someone who has not liked your page sees this as shared from a friend, they’ll be prompted to like your page.

Don’t be a Control Freak — It’s okay sometimes to let others take care of some choices for you. For instance, you can let your audience choose your next product title, the features of the product and more by posting a poll asking for their opinions or posting a link to a voting page. Offer incentives for participation.

Don’t Skip Days — It’s understandable if you get sick, or something like that happens, but it’s imperative that you keep a consistent pattern to your updates to guarantee maximum exposure and engagement. If you have a plan, and it’s only taking you 10 minutes a day there won’t be may excuses to not seeing it through. When you need to be absent use a scheduling feature or outsource it.

Don’t Ignore Comments — When people take the time to comment on a page, or share something, it’s nice to make a comment back, or “like” their share. They’ll see that you did that through notifications and appreciate that you noticed and do more of it in the future. Making people feel special will always win them over.

Don’t Post Too Much — Posting a continuous stream of stuff can actually cause your fans to be turned off. Try working your way up to three posts a day by starting with just one per day. Consider your target audience as to when the right time to post your updates are. Each audience is unique.

Don’t be Irrelevant — You have a target audience, and you have a niche. Stick to that niche and make each posted update fit into that niche. Don’t try to go outside of your area of expertise or you’ll create confusion amongst your target audience. Be relevant and post only useful, valuable and targeted information on your Facebook page.

Don’t Ignore Metrics — It’s imperative that you know whether what you’re doing is affecting your goals or not. There is no point wasting time doing things that are not seeing the results you want. If you don’t study the metrics you will be shooting in the dark without benefit of night vision.

Not only should you avoid these actions when posting as your brand, if you’ve connected your personal profile to your business page, be very careful about what you post there too. People can get offended very easily.

Time Saving Tips for Using Facebook

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Believe it or not, all the time you spend planning will save you time later. Taking the time in advance to define your audience, organize your information, create a publication calendar, as well as brainstorming and creating content along with the judicious use of management tools will go far in helping you save time.

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Define Your Audience — Know who you’re sharing with so that it’s easier to know how to phrase your updates, as well as to know what updates will be important to your fans. If you know your audience well you’ll avoid waiting your time and theirs will irrelevant posts.

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Create a Publication Calendar — You can use Google Calendar as your publication calendar. Simply create a new calendar called Facebook Calendar or whatever you want to call it and create an entry each day for the types of content you want to post. If you click edit, you can check the box to repeat entry.

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Brainstorm Content — Know exactly what type of content you want to create to share on Facebook in advance. Everything you share should have a purpose of some kind. Don’t just share things for no reason. Knowing in advance what you’ll share and why you’ll share it is a time saver because it keeps you from wasting time sharing content without a purpose.

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Create Content — Whenever you sit down to create content, do so in batches. Creating several blog posts about the same topic at once is faster. You only have to research once, then start writing based on that research. Your mind will get into the flow of writing. Then you can schedule the posts in WordPress easily. Next, either grab the links to share on Facebook manually (using Facebook’s schedule feature or another third party app scheduling feature), or using another app to share automatically with Facebook like NetworkedBlogs to speed up the process will help you work faster. Do be cautious about too much automation without a comment by yourself on each shared piece of content.

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Get Organized — The content you want to share should be inside a spreadsheet with links ready to grab. These can also be uploaded to Google Drive. When you create a new blog post, or new content, or find content on the web that you want to share, grab the link immediately and stick into your spreadsheet for sharing during your 10 minutes.

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Use Third Party Apps — Apps like the cloud-based MarketMeSuite , Hootsuite Pro, and others can help you automate your social media marketing strategy in a simple way. You can manage all of your social media for Facebook from one inbox. Messages can be scheduled in advance and appear without any type of branding or appearance of scheduling from a 3rd party app in some cases. Be cautious about using too much automation especially if the program announces it came from a third party app.

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Use Facebook Features — Use any feature Facebook already offers. One of the features Facebook already offers business pages is the ability to schedule posts. When you start to create an update just click on the little clock, then pick the year, month, day that you want your update to appear on your time line.

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Hire a Virtual Assistant — Hiring a contractor to help you with social media like Facebook is a great way to help create more time for engaging with others. Only you can truly engage with your audience, but anyone can post the planned updates and content to your Facebook page. If you outsource the things that don’t require personal attention, you can then focus only on what does require personal attention.

No matter what type of content you share, or how often you update, it’s important to always maintain integrity by ensuing that you are following copyright laws. It’s also important to stay up to date with the times. Social media changes fast. Technology is expanding at a faster and faster rate. For instance, most people are accessing Facebook via mobile devices than via PCs this offers the question: Is your Internet real estate mobile friendly? If not, are your Facebook promotions as successful as they could be?

Using Facebook to promote your business only needs to take ten minutes per day if you have everything planned out in advance, entered into a calendar and transferred to your “to do” list. Get started now with daily Facebook activity that will increase awareness, traffic and sales in just 10 minutes a day.

Twitter for Business Step-By-Step Guide: Managing Your Brand on Twitter

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Branding strategies just help people identify your business or product:  They create it.  The more people see your branding elements in a bigger variety of location, the more firmly your brand will become established in their minds.  They know what to expect from you – and until your brand is well established, this relationship-trust building block is your biggest asset.  That’s why it’s important that all your branding efforts go towards reinforcing your company “message” and mission.

Twitter is just one of the many social networks that can effectively help you build your brand.  Let’s focus now solely on this objective…

 

Step 1.  Fine Tuning Your Profile

Think about your profile from the average Twitter user’s point of view.  If he or she clicks on “Go to full profile” or sees the pop-up version, your bio URL is the only one that will be visible – so make sure you actually included one.

Include your location too – even if you do business solely online. Many people prefer to search for businesses in their area; and this way, you’ll ensure your profile is included in their search results.  And, of course, add your keywords – the ones you want associated instantly with your business in the minds of viewers.

In addition to your header, consider adding a custom background – even if this is just a plain background in your company and/or website colors.

To create a Twitter background:

1.     Go to your Settings by pressing the little gear-arrow icon.

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When you Settings page opens up, choose the Design tab in the left-hand menu.

 2.     You can select one of many premade themes (backgrounds)…

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…Or upload your own custom background file; or select custom colors…

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If you create and upload your own 1920 X 1200 pixel custom background, you can include branding elements such as your QR code, logo, URL, colors, tagline, product photos, other social media URLs and any other element that can help viewers instantly identify your business.

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You can give your business a stronger identity by including elements that patrons or customers associate with it; or showing team members or staff.

Background design tips:

  • Remember that people will be viewing your background at all sorts of resolutions.  Use a professional template or have a graphic artist design one for you.

(Tip:  See if any offers for Twitter templates are currently being offered on Fiverr – run a search.  Check the artist’s rating and feedback before ordering.)

  •  Make sure every element of your background supports your business as an entity, giving it personality, mood, tone – and above all, consistency
  • Don’t make backgrounds too “busy”.  Let the viewer’s eye be drawn to your most important graphics or elements without distraction
  • Try to avoid tiling:  Unless you are tiling plain colors or textures, tiling is the quickest way to exhaust the viewer’s eye (which can be both confusing and irritating)

Optimize your Twitter bio:

If your business has different functions or departments, do include (besides keywords) additional, relevant Twitter handles for the people handling these functions or departments.  For example, a TV station might present the following bio:

  • “Your Top News for the Sage Mountain area. @ViewerPhotoUploads, @NewsTips, @LocalEvents”

Make sure your Twitter handle is optimized to your brand:

Time to check and ensure you are using your Twitter handle and URL to maximum branding effect.

Most sole-proprietor online business will benefit best by signing up with the owner’s real name ,but choosing their business name for their username.

What this translates to, when people view your Twitter profile, is the following:

 6-how-names-appear

Your Twitter URL is always the same as your Username – and your header display name is always the same as your sign up name.

If your business itself is more important than any one person, sign up with your company name.

Then have key staff members sign up under their own names or departments.

 

Step 2.  Integrate your Twitter Profile with Other Social Media

Be sure to add your Twitter link to these other main social media profiles:

  • Google+
  • LinkedIn
  • YouTube

Doing this reinforces your branding.  People remember your Twitter handle much better when they see it in other social networks and sites; and it adds credibility and weight to your other social media profiles.

Here’s how to quickly add your Twitter profile to these four networks…

Google+ Home>>Profile>>About>>Links (scroll below fold)

In Links:  Select “Edit” anchor text.  Select “Other Profiles”.

  • Select “Manage Connected Accounts”.
  • Choose Twitter from drop-down list.
  • Enter Username (e.g. “@BarnOwlPottery”)
  • Select “Show on Public Profile” and press Add.
LinkedIn Profile (automatically goes to “Edit Profile”>>Edit Contact Info button
YouTube Profile Photo>>MyChannel

  • Click on Pencil icon, top right of Channel photo
  • Select “Edit Links”

7-edit-links-youtube

  • Under “Social Links”, select “Add”
  • From drop-down, choose “Twitter”
  • Enter your Twitter URL

 

Step 3.  Building Trust  in your Brand on Twitter

Why is Twitter essential for branding?  It’s real-time, stream-of-consciousness.  It’s immediate – and that’s why you should never waste time pumping static article links to your audience.  (How do you feel when you see ream after ream of blog post titles and links?  About as excited as a dead fish, right?)

It also allows for retweets – and people are more likely to repeat than to engage in any other platform’s mode of sharing. (It’s so easy!)

How do celebrities brand themselves on Twitter?

Two things:

1.     They flatter their fans and make them feel special by appearing to engage with them – and the more personal and real their tweets, the stronger this effect.

2.     They talk about their world – the one we are fascinated by; and want on some level to share (even while we’re loftily denying this) – occasionally throwing fans “perks”.

In your particular target customer or client’s world, they don’t really want to hear that you ate Flaky Bits granola for breakfast:  They want to hear about themselves.

Your target reader is the real celebrity, when you are tweeting for business.

Only if your target reader is actually dying to hear about organic cereal (and your business is all about (a) cereal or (b) eating/living healthily, should you tip them off to a great brand you’ve discovered.

Cementing your brand on Twitter involves:

  • If your company sells PLR – a writing shortcut — tweet only mostly about things that make life easier and save time

Don’t beat them over the head with this: Again, this doesn’t mean a slew of links to other peoples’ blog posts.  It means talking from your own experience.

9-repetitive-posting

And if you bombard your reader with a whole host of such links within the space of minutes, as this poster did, the only thing you’ll brand your business for is spamming!

You can blog about milestones like awards or new venues for your product – but only if it would be relevant or interesting to your target reader.

Again: Your reader is the true celebrity you should always keep in mind.  (It’s really not about venting your feelings.)  “What would catch her attention and make her stop to read?” should be question # 1:  “What does this say about my brand?” should be the other half of your tweet decision-making.

 

Step 4.  Make it Mobile

It’s no accident that Twitter tweets are based on SMS text messaging format.  That’s probably one reason why study stats from sites like Salesforcemarketingcloud.com (Buddymedia) and the now-defunct Compete.com seemed to show that mobile users preferred Twitter over Facebook (especially if they also use Pinterest, which has largely replaced Instagram).

For example, you can:

  • Create and brand your own indispensable app
  • Brand your logo right into your QR code
  • Use QR codes in your campaigns
  • Run mobile contests
  • Use mobile micro-videos via Vine – and don’t forget to credit and acknowledge your followers

 10-vineapp

If your target customer is a big mobile user – and who isn’t, these days? – keep that in mind and decide how you can best use mobile technology to brand your business.

Ten Top Twitter Branding Tips

 

1.     Follow Branding Magazine on Twitter for useful tips and case studies.

2.     Don’t use more than two highly-relevant hashtags – maximum!

3.     Brainstorm, research, plan and implement focused campaigns.

4.     Create and use hashtags in a campaign – as the white house did with overwhelming engagement when they tweeted “What does #40dollars mean to you?”.

5.     Cross-promote your campaigns simultaneously over Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram for maximum reach.  (Make sure you promote and share your campaign from your website or blog!)

6.     Be interactive.  Take notes from successful Twitter branding campaigns such as Pepsi’s irresistible spin the wheel (highly promoted through Twitter).

 11-spin-the-wheel

7.     Always leave room for retweets and replies. It’s now common knowledge, after several studies, that tweets with less than 100 characters have as much as a 20% higher retweet rate

8.     Turn your focus 100% on followers – as Starbucks did with their invitations for followers to post their own photos in their Frappuccino sipface campaign

 12-sipface

9.     Search these hashtags (separately and together) for instant news relevant to Twitter trends and potential brand strategies:  #twitter, #stats, #infographics.

10.  Be original – as Ben & Jerry’s were when inventing the #FairTweets campaign (one of the most successful Twitter hashtag campaigns ever!

The premise was simple: For every tweet under 140 characters, Ben & Jerry’s would use the remaining characters to promote fair trade. The fact that each #FairTweet post would be unique (and reader-generated) rapidly made this campaign go viral.

 13-fair-tweets

Here’s the biggest secret:  When it comes to Twitter branding tactics, strategies and campaigns, there’s no wrong or right way – just the wrong or right way for your unique target customer or client.

Do your homework.  Check your facts.  Keep a tweet Fodder File and plan your content for consistent feel.  Have one person handle all your tweeting.  Make sure they know (a) your objectives (b) your policies and rules (c) your company mission.

Keep your Twitter “voice” consistent, so your followers know what to expect from you.  And don’t be afraid to be real – that’s what makes people qualify or disqualify themselves as followers, increasing your Twitter value.

Twitter often and factor it into your business plan.  Follow these tips, take the time to implement them diligently – and watch your branding power increase.

Twitter for Business Step-By-Step Guide: How Hashtags Work

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Twitter hashtags are one of the strongest reasons this social media network has done so well.  Let’s take a look at how we can make the most of them.

hashtag

Step 1.  What is a Hashtag and How do I Create One?

A hashtag is a keyword preceded by the “#” symbol.  When inserted into a Twitter post, it helps people quickly find all posts also containing that particular hashtag.  You can use capital letters within a hashtag to make them easier to remember (e.g. “#AllJobs” or “#alljobs”), but you cannot use spaces or all numerals. Hashtags can go in the beginning, middle or end of your tweet.

What hashtags do is allow people to search more easily for tweets on specific topics. When you search for a hashtag, every post containing that hashtag will be displayed in your feed area.

You can also create your own hashtag, but before you do, it’s a good idea to see if there is one that already exists – not just the exact hashtag you have in mind, but also similar hashtags already trending that might serve your purpose better.

There are two ways to quickly find hashtags out of thin air:

  • Enter a hashtag in Twitter’s own search box
  • Look for it on dedicated hashtag sites like Hashtags.org

Be warned, however:  If you use Twitter’s own search box to search for specific hashtags, a very nasty trend has developed all on its own recently.  People have been maneouvering extremely explicit pornographic photos into the “Top Photos” for such long-standard hashtags as “#FF” or “FollowFriday”.

How to find keywords at Hashtags.org:

This site is one of the best places to find hashtags – and not just find them, but see how well they are performing too.

1.     Go to Hashtags.org

1-hashtags-dot-org

2.     Click on the “How to” tab in the top horizontal menu and read up on the “Quick Start Guide to Hashtags”.

2-how-to

This wonderful resource won’t just tell you about Twitter hashtags, but give you information on other social platforms that have begun to use them.  It will also tell you about other Twitter facts.

 

Step 2.  How to Follow Trends

Follow trends and use their hashtags in your tweets.  Trends may not often provide much value, since they are not driven by your keywords and contacts – but they do provide two things you can use:

  • You can get a feel for Twitter culture by seeing what is going viral
  • You can make use of highly viral, “seasonal” tweets to grab some visibility and exposure for your profile.

 3-trending-hashtag

Even within tightly-focused niches, most people still celebrate holidays, seasons and seasonal landmarks.  Remember that, and use it to your advantage.

(You can find trending hashtags on Twitter in your left-hand, vertical menu, as well as in Twitter-serving sites such as Hashtags.org.)

 

Step 3.  How to use Hashtags Correctly

It’s easy to use hashtags correctly:  What is a little trickier is using them effectively.

Once you’ve got past the basics of what not to do (use spaces or all numerals), you need to create hashtags that are catchy, memorable and easy to use.

The same goes for pre-existing hashtags created by others.  Don’t grab the first hashtag you see for a topic or event:  Check to see if there are better-trending versions.

 

Step 4.  Making, Finding and Managing Hashtags

Don’t just search for hashtags in your Home feed search bar: Go to Twitter’s dedicated search and enter your keywords there.

 4-twitter-search

Click on the “advanced search” anchor text, if you want to add specific search parameters.

Hashtag.org also quotes Twitter on what not to do, when creating hashtags:

5-do-nots

Tracking Your Hashtags

Hashtags.orgs has heavy-duty analytics analytics – but as you can see, they don’t come cheap.

7-analytics-prices

And since TweetChat effectively discontinued itself, thanks to Twitter API changes (though it has been rebranded as “SmartStream” and there is still a TweetChat URL) there are no really good free alternatives for thorough hashtag analysis.

A better solution for the average, single online marketer’s budget is Hashtracking, which offers a month’s free trial and starts at $29.00 per month.  If your market’s main social network is primarily Twitter, this might be worth its weight in ROI.

 8-hashtracking-analytics

Hashtracking provides real-time analytics and reports, their “smart control” also allows you to analyze reach and effectiveness.

This is a snapshot of Hashtracking real-time analysis…

 9-real-time-analysis

You can also measure your hashtag reach manually (if less accurately) by keeping a count on how many retweets contain it and how many others use your hashtag.

Finally, after it has gained some use, you can return to Hashtracking’s main page and enter it in their “Hashtrack Explorer” field.

 10-hashtrack-explorer

Step 5.  How to Generate Hashtag Discussion

In order to generate discussion using a particular hashtag you’ve created, there are three steps you need to make sure you’ve taken:

  1. 1.     Create the hashtag around a highly specific, hot article, event or topic
  2. 2.     Actively cross-promote it – via your email list, your blog and other social media networks
  3. 3.     Provide a powerful incentive for people to share it

It doesn’t matter what this incentive is, as long as your target audience thinks it is something they can’t live without or can’t stop talking about.  Your incentive could be:

  • An affiliate contest
  • A new product your market has been craving
  • A free gift
  • A webinar, teleseminar or podcast
  • A viral video
  • An online event (e.g. blog tour, workshop, etc.)
  • A current, hot topic

You can also “register” your hashtag with services like Hashtag.org and Hashtracking.  This doesn’t give you exclusive copyright to your hashtag – but it does serve it up in these platforms for others to notice and use.

Make sure you use your hashtag actively during your campaign.  Increase your visits to Twitter, so that you can make sure your message reaches out to segments of your Twitter traffic that usually misses your tweets.

You can pre-schedule your tweets with free social media managers like Hootsuite, but a better idea is to tweet manually, in real-time – and hang around long enough to acknowledge retweets or thank or reply to those who spread your hashtag in person.

Ask others to retweet your hashtag-carrying posts.

You can also create a Tweet Chat or Twitter Party, which gathers people together within specific periods to discuss the hashtag topic (e.g. your weekly Google Hangout).

11-tweetchat

Keep your hashtags short, for memorability and appeal.  (Besides, if you #createahashtagthatswaytoolong you will eat up its retweetable real estate – there’ll be less room for people to write about it within their 140 character limit and it will lose its appeal.)

And remember:  Before you set a hashtag you’ve created in use, be sure that it isn’t already connected with a negative or conflicting current event.

 

Step 6.  Specific Hashtag Uses

The wonderful factor about Twitter hashtags is their versatility, while still providing specific functionality and uses.

You can use hashtags to:

  • Promote a specific event – online or offline
  • Promote a new product or free gift
  • Start a discussion around a hot topic
  • Bond with a group
  • Keep people abreast of updates on a topic, event or product

(This last strategy is a great way to help build a buzz by keeping conversation going.)

Note that several specific hashtag uses are the same as specific hashtag incentives.  Your hashtag should be something people can’t wait to pass on – and it should be hot.

When you are creating it, brainstorm your topics and keyword choices thoroughly and carefully.  Your choices will play no small part in the success of your hashtag.

As mentioned, hashtags that are too long usually don’t catch on.  And if you are promoting a particular hashtag, it’s better not to include other hashtags in your tweet.  (In fact, using multiple hashtags within a tweet is a fast way to be branded as a spammer!)

But the best part about hashtags is their flexibility. So do use them and track them – even if it’s only within a Twitter search, to see who were the last one hundred people to spread your hashtag.

Remember – when you create your own hashtag, you don’t just create a keyword:  If you’ve chosen and spread it correctively, you can create an entire online community.