It has come to our attention there really IS a social media guru out there and the gang at SocialMediaTips.com found him. Check out this startlingly profound video and share if you dare risk losing this edge you will now have on social media tactics!
If you need help making the best out of the myriad of social networks and strategies online here are a few thoughts: Read more…
The term ‘social shopping’ gets thrown around a lot and it’s used to mean everything from having reviews on your site to consulting friends on Facebook before you buy. To me, the essence of social shopping is the ability to consult with others before you purchase, whether that person is a sales clerk, an anonymous reviewer, or your best friend. Research suggests that greeting a customer can increase sales by up to 25%, so getting personal engagement on purchases just makes a lot of business sense. Here are some ways to increase social shopping on your own site:
Add better reviews: If you sell products and don’t have reviews, add them now. Even bad reviews can increase conversions by 67%. The latest trend is with video reviews. Companies like VideoGenie let customers add a 20 second product review, and sites like ShoeDazzle swear by them. Read more…
The first ever World Elephant Day (WED) will be this Sunday, August 12th. For the past several months I have been working as the Social Media Coordinator to raise awareness for the campaign and gain international support. We have steadily been building a following however it was evident that in order to gain significant traction, we had to go beyond our own social networks. I’ve tried multiple tactics and found the following 3 proved to be the most effective: Read more…
Pinterest, when used correctly, can drive valuable traffic to your website, promote your brand recognition, and increase conversions. In fact, according to HubSpot, as of January, 2012, Pinterest accounted for 3.6% of referral traffic. Shoppers referred by Pinterest are 10% more likely to make a purchase than visitors arriving from other social networks, and are likely to spend 10% more.
Read on to learn how your brand can cash in on the Pinterest phenomenon:
Pinterest is image-based; if a page doesn’t have an image or photo on it, no one will be able to pin it, no matter how interesting the article is. And, the more interesting/thought-provoking/funny/unique/artistic your images are, the more likely people will pin and repin them, giving your site the exposure that you’re seeking.
Or if it’s already taken, find one that’s as close to it as possible. Because Pinterest is indexed by the search engines, the closer you can match your Pinterest URL to your brand’s name, the better for your business’ findability. It will also make it easier for other Pinners to find you just by searching in the on-site search box.
Take advantage of Pinterest’s profile features; add links to your other social profiles and website. Complete your bio, using keywords in the description.
In the pin and pinboard descriptions, use hashtags so that they’re easily found, and include a website URL in pin descriptions where it makes sense. Don’t forget to include relevant keywords in the actual descriptions themselves. Some well-branded or optimized pinboards are ranking well in the search engine results pages. Read more…
If you don’t know about Twitter chats, or you have never participated in one, you’re missing out. Twitter chats are scheduled discussions that happen on a regular basis – usually weekly. They’re set up by a moderator and each chat usually has a loosely set topic to keep participants on track. Moderators sometimes ask a feature guest to participate; this is usually someone in the industry that people will jump at the chance to ask questions of.
If you’re new to Twitter chats, be prepared to be overwhelmed the first few times you attend. Depending on how popular a particular chat is, it can be virtually impossible to keep up with everything that’s being said. That’s exactly why most moderators will record the chat and make a transcript available shortly afterward.
Twitter chats are the perfect way to network with others who are in your field or have similar interests. Read more…
Wouldn’t it be great if there was a single place that offered insightful, useful tips on all of the social platforms we love? Well now there is. It’s called SocialMediaTips.com. The site was launched (by us!) this week. It is based on a crowd sourced model and will allow anyone who logs in the ability to leave their own tips on a variety of popular social media platforms.
What’s so Great about Social Media Tips?
Isn’t it frustrating when you try and figure out how to do something, and you come across how tos that were written several years ago? Irrelevant social media tips are everywhere and are not helpful. This site will allow people to flag out of date information and post their own updated tips. Read more…
Is there really something better than link building? It should, after all, only be a piece of your inbound marketing strategy. The fact is you still need to generate backlinks and you need to maintain a consistent link velocity (the rate at which you acquire links). StepForth has recently moved from offering professional link building services to something we like to call Better than Link Building. It’s a change that we’re all pretty excited about..
Better than Link Building is a way to actively engage with your company’s target audience, build brand recognition, monitor and respond to your niche, all while building natural backlinks.
Here are the problems with traditional link building methods: Read more…
There are a lot of articles out there that provide advice on how to develop a strategy for Twitter, however once you have a strategy, it can be challenging to implement if you don’t know HOW to act on the tactics. This article discusses several key objectives we all want to do on Twitter and how to go about putting them in to play.
Please note: this post will not define Twitter marketing strategy. Instead, it will show you the best ways to make Twitter work for you so you can achieve your objectives.
I have been working with an organization called Elephants Never Forget for the past few months helping them raise awareness on the plight of Asian elephants; StepForth takes a great interest in assisting charities and non-profits with marketing and this is my project. In order to gain interest and increase their numbers on Facebook, I’ve stuck to the following 4 key tactics that have proved to be quite successful. Below outlines the specific tactics I used. These relate directly to our campaign; however the principles can be used for any page working to build their fans. Read more…
I have always been fascinated with how fast things can spread on social media and how this can be used for social good. Recently a campaign has exploded online which I’m sure you have heard of by now – Kony 2012. It’s a campaign put on by the Invisible Children, a non profit organization in the US. They’ve sparked this campaign through a 30 minute video (see it embedded below). The video has only been out since Monday and its unbelievable what has come of it. As of Wednesday night they had over 15 million views (that’s only 3 days of it being online) with their YouTube and Vimeo video combine. And they’ve got people talking! Opinions are flying, sharing and liking and tweeting are going crazy in the social sphere. Read more…
