Author Archives: Jake

How to Take Advantage of the Post-Holiday Lull

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Have you ever noticed how most big stores basically give away a lot of key items after the holidays? On December 26th, you’ll have no problem finding a fake Christmas tree for up to 75% off. If you’re a particularly clever shopper, you can probably get an even better deal than that.

That same store will resume to business as usual right around the turn of the year. The lights come down, the Mega Sale signs are stored away and the regular prices resume. Even a lot of online markets will call it a day after the holiday rush, reverting back to a business-as-usual approach.

If you are a small business owner working online, this is the exact opposite of what you should be doing. The few weeks after the holidays are one of the most vital times to ramp up your marketing efforts. While others are ending sales and returning to everyday functions, you should keep that holiday-like attitude of selling at the forefront of your business.

Think of it this way: how many gifts did you get for Christmas that you already know for sure you are going to return? Chances are, there’s at least one (and in fact, research shows an honest number is more like three). There are many like you out there that will be returning gifts. And they’ll be looking for somewhere to spend that return-money.

Sure, they may be a bit more selective with that money than they would a gift card to one of their favorite stores, but you need to make sure that whatever it is that you are offering, your sales tags and Christmas lights are still on at full force.

You can make yourself more visible by sending newsletters or sending out blasts via social media outlets to let your target audience know that your business is just getting started while others are winding down. In the void that is mid-January, the majority of business are beginning to wind down from the holiday onslaught and inboxes aren’t being as attacked by marketing ploys.

Take advantage of this and strike while the others are resting. If you can manage to remain visible while others regroup, you stand to make some of your best profits in January.

3 Tips to Market Your Business For 2013

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2013With the start of a new year, it’s time to buckle down and set some objectives for your business in 2013. In terms of marketing, there are countless ways to improve your brand and reach a wider audience that many businesses just like yours have already learned and started to utilize.

As 2013 officially begins, consider these three basic marketing strategies. They may seem simple, but when done correctly they stand to improve most aspects of your business.

 

Start By Looking Back

In order to see where you need to improve in 2013, look back to 2012 and see if there are any lessons-learned opportunities there. Review the marketing processes you took in the previous year; be critical of yourself and look for areas you could have improved.

Has the core of your target audience changed? Are there clear marketing failures from last year you can avoid in 2013? Were there marketing strategies we wanted to undertake but never had the courage or finances to do so?

Questions like these are best asked at the beginning of the new year rather than a quarter of the way through the year. By then, it may be too late.

 

Use Social Media to its Fullest Extent

Some are still stuck in the mindset that a business that is bustling with growth and activity doesn’t have the time to waste on checking Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, or whatever the new hot ticket social media platform might be. However, if you follow all of the right people and groups, you also have a world of new information about your industry at your fingertips.

More than that, your target audience will have a central area online where they can interact with you. This in and of itself can be vital to growing your business in 2013.

 

Blog More

You want your audience to feel that you are an expert in your field. One way to do that is to write meaningful and fun posts on your area of interest. Studies have shown that companies and groups that blog at least 8-10 times a month tend to generate almost two times as many more leads than those that don’t.

This is yet another way to share ideas with your audience and fellow experts within your group. Start by making a list of areas you feel confident that you could write about. Or, if writing isn’t your thing, look into hiring a qualified ghostwriter.

These are only starting points. Once you have explored these areas, move on to the next. Before you know it, 2013 will be a record year for your business!

7 Tips for Creating Awesome Content That Spreads Virally

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As both search engines and the people who use them continue to increase in sophistication, the importance of creating quality content has continued to increase in importance.  Most viral sensations achieve the level of penetration and popularity they do due to actual utility and value that it delivers to people.  So how can your business mimic the success of other viral content?  Here are seven simple tips you can follow:

  • Get Your Users to Promote For You – Make sure you make it easy for people to talk about your product and service.  Ultimately you want people promoting you on Facebook and via Twitter to their own friends and relatives.
  • Take Advantage of User Generated Content – Along with getting your own users to promote for you, consider taking advantage of content they submit, and then optimizing it yourself for SEO purposes.  For example, accept guest blog posts, or open a forum or wiki on your site.
  • Make it Easy to Involve Friends – Consider adding functionality to your messaging that makes it easy for users to reach out and contact others who they think may also be interested in what you have to offer, directly.
  • Make Your Content Newsworthy – If you’re able to get enough buzz going to interest a journalist, you can certainly take advantage of traditional PR efforts; consider the Kickstarter project for Detroit’s statue of Robocop for example.
  • Include a Call to Action – Even in the world of Twitter, where you are limited to only a few characters to express yourself, always include a clear call to action.  Something as simple as “check this out” is often all that is required.
  • Pay Attention to Timing – Social media sites have peak usage times, just like anything else, and paying attention to these trends is integral if you want to have the best chance to jumpstart your content virally.  For most platforms, the busiest time of the day tends to be between 2-6pm US-EST.  Release your content during peak use time to maximize your chances of going viral.
  • Provide Value – Last but not least, never forget that ultimately, its value that goes viral.  The more interesting, useful, and engaging the content you have to share is, the better chance it has to be picked up and shared by others.

So by following these seven simple social media tips, you can help increase the chances that the content and linkbait you create will go viral.  To learn more about social media marketing tips and tricks, come visit us at www.readybuzz.com.

10 Web Design Mistakes Small Businesses Need to Avoid

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2012 has been a particularly active year for companies who are looking to redesign their websites.  New companies and startups are launching along the redeployment of sites from more established companies, and for a good reason: web technology is changing.  Different design trends rule the marketplace, and the way that sites are used and engaged with by visitors differs drastically from the way things worked even only a few years ago.

As a small business owner, you absolutely need to stay on top of these developments.  Realize that your site needs to be changed, not just in the way it looks and feels, but at a much more fundamental level.  Presentation elements need to be paid attention to, as well as technical elements like loading times.  The platform you choose for deploying your site matters as well; are updates easy for you to make, or ponderous, difficult changes?  All of these considerations play a part in deciding whether or not your site needs an update.  Here are ten possible concerns you can focus on regarding your own website to evaluate whether an update is something you need.

  • Does your site have good response stats? – As the share of internet bandwidth that passes through mobile devices has grown in recent years, making sure your site is accessible by all of them is of paramount importance.  Your site cannot get by just working for those on desktop systems, you must account for users on smartphones, tablet PCs, gaming consoles, laptops, and more.  If you cannot confidently say that your site is ready for viewing on any device, you may want to consider an upgrade.
  • Is your site difficult to update? – Are you regularly updating and adding content to your site?  If the answer is no, is one of the things that stops you the difficulty of doing so?  If that is the case, consider that your platform may be out of date (and your own skills may need a brush-up as well!).  Take a look at content management systems and how they can help you keep your site accurately updated conveniently and quickly.
  • Are parts of the site outdated? – Your website, just like your business, changes over time.  It isn’t that uncommon to find that there are certain parts of it which just aren’t working that well anymore.  If this is the case, get rid of them (Facebook Fan boxes, anyone?).  Make sure to honestly evaluate your site every once in a while to identify and remove these outdated elements.
  • Is your site loading time excessive? – In general, the trend has been to make sites smoother and sleeker, rather than increasing the amount of data they deliver.  In many cases, this is due to the limitations of devices, as mentioned above, but it can also apply to people whose carriers restrict the amount of data they can download.  A good rule of thumb for this is the 5 second rule; if your site takes longer than that to load on slow bandwidth, you should consider re-optimizing your content or reducing the amount of data needed to load your site.
  • Is your site engaging your visitors? – This one can be tough for small businesses to answer.  However, there are a variety of free tools available, such as Google Analytics, which can help you answer this question.  The important thing is that your site draws visitors in, and gets them to click on several pages.  This ensures that you will retain good rankings with the search engines.  If you aren’t engaging well with visitors, definitely look at a site redesign.
  • Are your trends healthy? – Along with making sure your site actively engages visitors, you need to ensure that a steady stream of new customers are visiting your site all the time.  Staying on top of these trends using proper SEO tools is important; if your site gets too ‘stale’ in the eyes of the search engines, your ratings and traffic will suffer.
  • When did you last overhaul your website? – If it has been more than three full years since you have made major changes to your site, it’s definitely time to look into design changes, and if it has been more than five you may want to look at changing fundamental elements of the site from the ground up.
  • Do all elements and pages on your site work? – This seems simple, but you would be surprised how often business owners let 404 elements pop up on their sites, when all it takes is some simple management and oversight to keep things running smoothly.  Content management again is your friend here, and can be implemented in a site redesign.
  • Are you engaging in SEO? – If you aren’t getting the traffic you want, you should consider investing in managed SEO services, that can help boost your SERPs, which should lead to higher sales for your business.  Coding the on-page elements of SEO properly is an important element of online marketing, and can help your business get the revenue it needs.  Consider a website update if you aren’t ranked where you want to me.
  • What year is displayed in your footer? – If it doesn’t show the current year, consider yourself busted.  You’ve let your site get woefully out of date, and become quite stale.  This sends a message to clients and visitors, and you should make every effort to prevent making easily avoidable mistakes like these.

So, if you are a small business owner, and your website fails in some of these critical tests, it is likely time for you to consider a partial or full redesign of your site.  If you believe you are ready for a redesign of your site or want us to help provide you detailed examples of areas in which you can improve, give us a ring today.  If you do so, you can count on a solid stream of revenue coming from your site for years to come.

Is Social Media Marketing A Fad That Will Pass? Absolutely Not.

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In today’s economy, small business owners need to use every tool at their disposal to maximize their revenues. Social media presents the savvy entrepreneur with a wealth of creative and engaging ways they can use to differentiate themselves from competitors and reach out to current and potential customers.

All things considered, social media campaigns offer one of the most cost effective way for businesses to reach out to their communities. The average person spends nearly 20% of their online time logged into one or more social media sites, and establishing your business on those same sites lets you reach out and interact with customers like never before.

Just think of some of the things you can do using social media. Effective, prompt customer service delivered directly from management to customers. Special promotional offers which can be tracked in ways you never thought possible. Consistent and clear branding which can help encourage customer loyalty.

Best of all is the incredible degree of control the correct use of social media gives you over your marketing and advertising efforts. Never again will you have to deal with the hassle of direct mail campaigns that never seem to actually convert, or waste money on ads in periodicals targeting tiny slices of your demographic.

Instead, you will have a modern, easy to interact with online presence that will help drive increased loyalty to and sales for your business. You will receive fresh, interactive content that is designed to turn prospects into customers, which will be published across a variety of social media networks. You will notice results within a matter of weeks.

So call our office today, and schedule a strategic consultation with one of our social media experts. We will offer you expert analysis of where you currently stand in terms of social media engagement, and present you with an outline of how our services can help you take your marketing efforts to the next level.

4 Pitfalls Of Combining Social Media Accounts

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Many businesses try to save time and reach a larger audience by combining their social media accounts. What this means is you would create a single post that would then go to Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn, etc. While this may sound great in theory, it can actually kill your social media campaign before it even begins. In the end, you don’t save time. You actually lose followers and spend far more time trying to get them back.

Different Audiences

Your customers enjoy different social networks for different reasons. While one customer may enjoy longer statuses on Facebook, a Twitter customer may hate receiving cut off tweets that they have to visit Facebook to finish reading. On Google+, you have circles for a reason. A status that works well for one circle, may not be appropriate for everyone. Since each network is different, the audience on each expects something slightly different as well.

Boring Followers

Odds are at least a small portion of your followers follow you on multiple networks. They don’t want to read the exact same posts on each network they follow you on. This screams lazy and stale, not the image you want to convey. Your followers expect at least slightly different posts on each network to prove you are actually taking the time to interact with them, not just market to them.

Different Formats

Every social network has a different format. Facebook offers up varying status lengths, notes, highlighted posts, images and apps. Twitter offers 140 characters and links for everything else. Pinterest allows you to share images and a caption instead of text based posts. Every post you make is not going to be appropriate for each network. You must customize your posts based upon the network it is destined for in order to achieve best results.

Lost Posts

When you use third party apps to manage your posts on multiple networks, they may actually end up lost. The most common example is Facebook. If a follower is a fan of five companies that use the same app to automate their posts, all updates are listed together. Only the first company’s update is actually shown and it is up to the user to expand the list. You don’t want your carefully crafted updates grouped with the competition.

It may seem like it takes more time, but the payoff is well worth the effort. Cater to your customer and social media becomes successful.

3 Ways To Protect Your Brand And Still Be Social

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While social media is rather lenient on what you can and cannot do, there are still certain rules to follow. Unless you are prepared, you could find your account banned or even facing legal action. It isn’t difficult to abide by the rules and protect your brand while still being social. All it takes is a little understanding and preparation.

Know The Network’s Rules

Numerous businesses found themselves penalized by Facebook for running contests incorrectly. The last thing you want is to lose all your hard work. If your account is banned, you lose all your followers. The first thing you should do, even before creating an account, is read all the terms of service and even the privacy policy so you know who owns the information you post. Remember each network has their own set of rules.

Create Your Own Policies

The moment your social media page goes live, you should have a set of social media policies in place. These are policies you create yourself. Followers must abide by these rules or you have the right to ban them from your own account. These policies should include exactly how any information you collect is used, details on how contests work and what is and isn’t allowed on your page.

Use Only What You Own

Just because it’s on the Internet, it doesn’t mean you have the right to freely use it. All types of content are copyrighted. Unless you own the content you post or the content is copyright free, don’t post it. You’ll quickly find your company on the wrong side of a legal dispute. If you do want to use copyrighted material, obtain written permission first. Do not rely upon a verbal discussion.

Post Only What You’d Say Face To Face

When you don’t actually see or talk to anyone, it can be easy to forget you still have to abide by real world rules. Social media is no different than marketing face to face. It is personal. As such, you must show respect for your followers. Basically, if it isn’t something you would say to the people you respect the most, don’t post it online. Remember, once posted, you can’t take it back. Say the wrong thing and you could have your account banned or face a lawsuit.

Top 4 Ways To Profit From Pinterest

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One of the first things you may read about Pinterest is the fact it isn’t a promotional social network. What this means for businesses is you will have to get a little creative to abide by Pinterest’s rules while still profiting. As long as your page isn’t strictly an advertisement, you can and should use the fastest growing social network to showcase your products to a new audience.

Showcase Products In Use

Pinterest is all about images. Most people use the site for inspiration or tutorials. Give users what they want. Pin images of your products in use. For instance, hand crafted clothing could be displayed on models so others get an idea of how great it would look on them.

If you sell a service, you can still display an image of the finished product or the service in action. For instance, a lawn care business might post images of trimmed, patterned lawns with a family picnic being held. The key is to truly show users how your product or service benefits them.

Add A Price

Just because you can’t sell directly on Pinterest, it doesn’t mean you can’t advertise your prices. Post pictures of your products and add the price. This not only helps users compare prices quickly, but gets your posts added to the Gifts section of the site. You can always edit your post should prices change.

Group Images

Grouping products by occasion, person, season or even current sales is a great way to help users find the right product for themselves or as a gift. By helping users shop, your posts are shared more often. Making the shopping experience easier greatly increases social popularity and profits.

Promotion Through Opinion

One way many businesses are increasing their Pinterest following and profits is by asking for customers’ opinions. Some businesses post several products and ask users to share their favorite product. The one with the most repins (aka shares) will be sold at a discount the following week. This method also works with new products or product changes. The user is able to provide feedback while your posts are being shared with an ever growing audience. Add a quick discount to the promotion and suddenly profits soar.

4 Tips For Making Your Social Debut

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Just a few years ago, it was fairly easy to make your social media debut. You simply created an account with Facebook and starting connecting with your customers. Now, you have quite a few more options available. Believe it or not, Facebook may not be the best site to dive into the social media ocean. This is especially true for those completely new to social media marketing or small businesses uncertain of even creating an online presence. Before you debut, you must prepare in order to be successful.

Research Your Options

If you’re just starting out with social media or have little resources available to devote, start out with a single site. This means taking the time to carefully research which sites offer the best features to meet your needs. While Facebook may seem the obvious choice, many choose to begin with Twitter since it is easier to set up and learn. You should also remember, you do have choices outside of Facebook, Twitter and Google+. New sites are cropping up on a daily basis, such as Pinterest. There are also niche sites which may help you better reach out to your target audience.

Prep Before You Market

Before you starting advertising your new social media presence to your customers, ensure you are completely ready to go public. Fill out your profile in its entirety, select a professional picture and/or background and add links (if applicable) to your website. You want to look like a social media pro, not a beginner.

Create A Schedule

Don’t create an account and expect it to run itself. Decide upfront how much time you want to devote to social media marketing and create a strict schedule. This includes advertising your presence, creating promotions and making posts. When first starting out, try to be active at least once per day and build from there.

Visit The Competition

Unless your business is completely unique, you likely have at least one competing business already on the network you choose to use. Check out their account. Notice what types of posts and promotions get the most user engagement. This is your target audience too. For those just learning the ropes, you’ll save time and make a stronger debut by doing what works instead of using a lot of trial and error.

Why Your Next Post Won’t Survive Without An Image

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Many companies spend hours trying to think of the perfect text for their next social media posts. While the text is important, you need something to make your post stand out from everyone else’s. The solution – images. Before you post one more status update, think about adding an image to encourage followers to stop, read and interact.

When To Use Images

You have two options on when to use images. First, you can use them occasionally to make your most important updates stand out even more. Your second option is to use a relevant image for every post. The catch is making sure the image does work with whatever you post. A random image will make you seem spammy instead of useful.

Are They Really That Important

If nothing else, Pinterest has taught us that people love images. After all, they are perfectly content to browse and share images only. A picture is worth a thousand words. Add this to your text and suddenly, you are a business with more to say in an easily digestible format. Not only do images stand out for your followers, they also stand out more when your posts are shared.

How Much Is Too Much

Every single update shouldn’t have an image unless you are posting a link every time. Standard updates can survive without an image. However, the majority of your updates should have some form of image. Remember, you can share videos as well.

For networks such as Twitter, images aren’t quite as important. After all, all your followers will see in your tweet is a link to the image. You can still use images to encourage followers to click the link. Infographics, images of products, humorous images and other highly shareable images are all great options for Twitter. Just ensure you use a strong call to action to encourage clicks.

Every type of text based marketing always seems to work better with an image. Even the articles on your website or blog posts gain more attention with at least one relevant image. As a word of caution, only use images that you have permission to use.