Author: Lisa Chapman

Integrate Social Media Marketing – Brand Advocates

When companies engage their audience and develop online relationships in social media marketing with real authenticity and trust, they have an exciting opportunity to make those individuals volunteer advocates of their brand!

Business has never had a bigger vehicle for positive word-of-mouth advertising. Fun campaigns can go ‘viral’ and trigger momentum like never before. This takes some strategic planning by management, and some genuine understanding of social networks. It’s a new culture that MUST be embraced by the entire organization, from the top down.

7 Steps to Start Strategizing – Target and Engage Your Online Audience

1. Gather together a company team to strategize social media marketing. Include a cross-section of top management, sales, marketing, customer service, and a knowledgeable social media marketing individual (bring in a consultant if you don’t have this expertise on staff.)
2. Convene this group for a minimum of four hours. Bring the current marketing plan. Ask everyone, “Does our (product or service) delivery match our marketing message?” If not, STOP. You must solve these problems before you can mount a successful social media marketing strategy/plan/campaign.
3. Discuss and decide on your marketing and advertising goals. Do your current marketing and advertising efforts achieve them? If so, challenge the team to set higher goals, and brainstorm ways that social media marketing can be implemented.
4. Identify online communities where your ideal customer congregates or searches. For example, if you are a local business, Google: “(your city) directories” to find local directories in which you should be listed.
5. Make sure that you have searched and settled on specific keywords and keyword phrases that you use consistently in all of your online content.
6. Establish 2-6 online “properties” (all optimized for your keywords) such as; at least one website, blog, social network site, and directory. The more places you exist online, the greater your chances of being found!
7. Brainstorm online campaigns that help you achieve your goals. Remember, social media is effective ONLY if you have an end in mind. Otherwise, it’s fun, but can be a waste of time and precious resources.

Hundreds of creative possibilities exist, depending on your time, budget and goals. Have fun with this!

What social media marketing goals work for your company?

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For more resources, see our Library topics Marketing and Social Networking.

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ABOUT Lisa M. Chapman:

Ms. Chapman’s new book, How to Make Money Online With Social Media: A Step-by-Step Guide for Entrepreneurs will be available in bookstores and online in January 2011. With offices in Nashville Tennessee, but working virtually with international clients, Lisa M. Chapman serves her clients as a business and marketing coach, business planning consultant and social media consultant. As a Founder of iBrand Masters, a social media consulting firm, Lisa Chapman helps clients to establish and enhance their online brand, attract their target market, engage them in meaningful social media conversations, and convert online traffic into revenues. Email: Lisa @ LisaChapman.com

Simple Steps will Integrate Social Media into Your Traditional Marketing Plan

As a marketing and small business consultant (www.LisaChapman.com and social media consultant (www.iBrandMasters.com), I am continually astounded at how SLOW small business managers really are in understanding, budgeting, and integrating online marketing into their traditional marketing plans. Lots of lip service, very little action.

I realize that this is old news, but if this post motivates even a just handful of small businesses to actually START their trek into online marketing, I will be thrilled.

For those of you who have already started – congratulations, and please read this in the spirit of checking yourself. Have you covered the basics?

Why is Social Media Marketing Important?

Traditional marketing has changed and will never be the same.

• Technology allows consumers to mute or skip TV commercials – and they do.
• Newspaper and all print circulation is dying. Ads do not get our attention.
• One-way “push” messaging is now viewed as offensive and hype-ish. Bad for the brand.
• Consumers are overwhelmingly ‘over-messaged’. We are all OVERLOADED.
• Consumers do not trust traditional marketers anymore.

Consumers Demand More Attention

Online, consumers have a voice. If a company’s product or service doesn’t match their marketing claims, WATCH OUT! Disgruntled and disenchanted consumers now have the power to publish all of their harsh and unedited opinions – anytime they want to! Once published online, those messages are likely permanent, and business has no control over the backlash.

Consumers want and demand that:

• Their voice be heard and ACKNOWLEDGED.
• Companies be accountable for mismatched promises and actions.
• Their peers be involved in the most powerful ‘word-of-mouth’ ever.

Business Can Take Action and Benefit Enormously

Think of it like this: social networks are actually a democratic form of business! Customers vote with their opinions. Business has a gigantic opportunity to directly impact their customers online, engage them, and develop a real relationship of TRUST that will be stronger and longer-lived.

Businesses of all sizes MUST adopt and USE a social networking and social media marketing strategies NOW – or risk being left in the dust.

In the next post, we will cover the basic steps every business must incorporate to get started right.

In the meantime, consider reading these. It’s easy – click here to purchase:

How has social media marketing benefited your company?

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For more resources, see our Library topics Marketing and Social Networking.

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ABOUT Lisa M. Chapman:

Ms. Chapman’s new book, How to Make Money Online With Social Media: A Step-by-Step Guide for Entrepreneurs will be available in bookstores and online in January 2011. With offices in Nashville Tennessee, but working virtually with international clients, Lisa M. Chapman serves her clients as a business and marketing coach, business planning consultant and social media consultant. As a Founder of iBrand Masters, a social media consulting firm, Lisa Chapman helps clients to establish and enhance their online brand, attract their target market, engage them in meaningful social media conversations, and convert online traffic into revenues. Email: Lisa @ LisaChapman.com

(Lots of background and tips are in the previous post!)

Use Google AdWords’ Keyword Tool to get the inside scoop on how many times your keywords are searched, globally and locally.

Go to: https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal and type in your narrowed keywords, one at a time.

How do Your Keywords Stand Up Against the Competition?

Google’s Keyword Tool results will also give you a simple indicator of competition (low, medium and high) as well as local search trends, among other interesting indicators. It will even sort results by traffic and other meaningful ways … it’s a fabulous tool!

Repeat your keyword search until you’re satisfied that you have identified at least six great long tail keywords. Repeat this for each website page, each blog post, each article, press release, etc.

If you want to take this research to the next level, try these two things:

1. Find your competition and check out their keywords. Jump onto a competitors’ site, click on “View”, then from the dropdown, click on “Source”. Now scroll through the mumbo jumbo (HTML) until you find the keywords imbedded into their site code. These are likely the keywords for which they are optimizing. And they very likely optimize each page for different keywords (as they should!)
2. Use Google’s free Traffic Estimator tool to find out how much traffic your chosen keywords probably get: https://adwords.google.com/select/TrafficEstimatorSandbox

Don’t be Fooled

Google has an auto-fill feature on the toolbar. When you begin to type your phrase, the drop-down suggestions reveal Google’s most searched terms. But remember, they are usually not long tail, specific enough to get you ranked for first page. Use Google AdWords’ Keyword Tool to test that!

Once you master this skill and art, it will become second-nature, and your traffic will SOAR!

What keyword research tips work best for you?

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For more resources, see our Library topics Marketing and Social Networking.

.. _____ ..

ABOUT Lisa M. Chapman:

Ms. Chapman’s new book, How to Make Money Online With Social Media: A Step-by-Step Guide for Entrepreneurs will be available in bookstores and online November 24, 2010. With offices in Nashville Tennessee, but working virtually with international clients, Lisa M. Chapman serves her clients as a business and marketing coach, business planning consultant and social media consultant. As a Founder of iBrand Masters, a social media consulting firm, Lisa Chapman helps clients to establish and enhance their online brand, attract their target market, engage them in meaningful social media conversations, and convert online traffic into revenues. Email: Lisa @ LisaChapman.com

Find the Best Keywords

The internet works brilliantly because keywords drive everything. They’re the basis for every search engine that helps researchers and buyers find exactly what they’re looking for. These tips are for you if you’re an internet business owner, marketer, blogger, or ANYONE who wants to attract and engage a specific audience.

If you don’t start by strategizing, researching and then using the right keywords in the right places, you may end up with a beautiful and well-written site, but no traffic and/or no sales.

Most-Searched Keywords

Remember, you’re looking for those special words that capture individuals’ attention – information and products that:

• Solve peoples’ pains and problems, and
• Promise to meet their needs and desires.

Keyword research is critical to your success. The exercises described here will also orient you to important marketing insights and competitive advantages. Work smart by paying close attention to this. And have fun with it!

In order to find excellent keywords, pretend that you are your ideal customer, and that you are sitting at Google’s search bar. What words will you use in your search?

More Specific Keywords – “The Long Tail”

Go ahead and actually use the Google search bar for this first step. It’s important to narrow down your search to very specific keywords. For example, if you want to investigate how to offer your services as a fly fishing guide, a Google search for the term ‘fishing’ is way too broad. That Google search will return a very broad mix – like Wal-Mart’s aisles – full of irrelevant things such as fishing rods, camping tents and oars.

Your search terms need to be more specific. Try ‘Fly Fishing Guide’ in the Google search bar – and then narrow your search more: “Fly Fishing Guide for Tennessee Streams”. This specific, long phrase is called a ‘long-tail’ keyword (phrase) and it’s more likely to deliver the results you desire; sites that are closer to your specific need or audience.

Your Keywords List

Since keywords are everything in this business, be sure to use the very best keyword search techniques possible. Make a list of possibilities, then Google them one at a time.

If you find that you’re getting a lot of irrelevant results, even after you try more specific, long tail keywords, try these tips for Google searches (other search engines may have different tips and rules):

• EXACT WORD: Enter ‘+’ before your keyword, such as ‘+toys’ (note: no space after the +), to return only listings that include the +keyword.
• EXACT PHRASE: Enter your keywords in quotes, such as “safe toys for toddlers” to get return listings that use the phrase exactly as entered.
• SIMILAR WORDS: Enter your keywords with ‘~’, such as ‘~ safe toys’ to get your word and all its synonyms.
• MULTIPLE WORDS: Enter your keywords with ‘OR’ in between, such as ‘safe toys OR toys for toddlers’, to get return listings that have either term.
• EXCLUDED WORDS: Enter your keywords with ‘-’ between, such as ‘safe toys – adult toys’, to exclude any listings with the second term.

Strike a balance between specific enough, but not obscure

You’ll know when you’ve found a great long tail keyword because the search results are more relevant, and you’ll see that the companies listed on the results pages could be your competitors. Click around and take note of what they sell, how they market, and how they engage their audience.

Use Google AdWords’ Keyword Tool to get the inside scoop on how many times your keywords are searched, globally and locally.

Go to: https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal and type in your narrowed keywords, one at a time. Google explains, “You can search for keyword ideas by entering a keyword related to your business or service or a URL (domain/website name) to a page containing content related to your business or service.”

The results will provide the number of monthly searches conducted on this term, as well as suggestions for alternate wording and their search numbers. You’re looking for keywords with at least 5,000 searches. Keywords that are searched more than a million times are not specific enough, because your chances of achieving first page results on Google are very low – there’s too much competition!

What keyword research tips work best for you?

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For more resources, see our Library topics Marketing and Social Networking.

.. _____ ..

ABOUT Lisa M. Chapman:

Ms. Chapman’s new book, How to Make Money Online With Social Media: A Step-by-Step Guide for Entrepreneurs will be available in bookstores and online November 24, 2010. With offices in Nashville Tennessee, but working virtually with international clients, Lisa M. Chapman serves her clients as a business and marketing coach, business planning consultant and social media consultant. As a Founder of iBrand Masters, a social media consulting firm, Lisa Chapman helps clients to establish and enhance their online brand, attract their target market, engage them in meaningful social media conversations, and convert online traffic into revenues. Email: Lisa @ LisaChapman.com

How to Design Emails That Work

Many of us feel inundated and overwhelmed by the sheer volume of emails that show up in our inbox every day. However, email is still a powerful marketing tool. In order to capture your audience’s attention, use these tips to boost your email open rates and begin to engage your readers.

Craft Effective Email Subject Lines

Remember that people scan for interesting information. Like newspaper or magazine headlines, if you don’t grab their attention and convey the right message in the subject line, consider them lost.

Things you can do that make email subject lines really work:

1. Keep your subject line under 40 characters. That’s an effective quick glance for the reader, but even more importantly, most email browsers will cut off anything over 40 characters.
2. Use sentence case, rather than all caps, which conveys screaming and low credibility.
3. Concisely state your offer (the benefit to the reader). Then, in the email copy, deliver exactly what you promised. You must build trust in each and every subject line, or you will lose your reader forever to the dreaded ‘unsubscribe’ button.

How to Write Effective Email Content

Online marketers are becoming very good at honing the craft of creating effective emails. Best practices are emerging, which focus on content, format and style.

Just like everything else in the marketing world, email best practices are evolving fast, but the best performing emails integrate some basics that increase click throughs and conversions:

• Place some of your most important content in the first two sentences. Readers will give you 2-3 sentences, but if they don’t find value almost immediately, they will delete it.
• Design the spacing in easy-to-grasp chunks (like this post!) Use headings, subheads, bullet points, short paragraphs, and white space.
• Personalize your email. Many email platforms make this easy.
• Include images, but no more than 20% of the entire space. Always include image tags or titles, so if the image doesn’t come through to the reader, they can still grasp the idea.
• Always include links back to your site or source, and test them before sending the email. (You’d be surprised at how many folks don’t take the time to test links!)
• Proof read it slowly and carefully. Even if you are in a hurry. Typos undermine your professionalism and credibility. Then have someone else proof read it, too.

(Many thanks to www.VerticalResponse.com for the inspiration for this post.)

What email tips make your campaigns more successful?

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For more resources, see our Library topics Marketing and Social Networking.

.. _____ ..

ABOUT Lisa M. Chapman: With offices in Nashville Tennessee, but working virtually with international clients, Lisa M. Chapman serves her clients as a business and marketing coach, business planning consultant and social media consultant. As a Founder of iBrand Masters, a social media consulting firm, Lisa Chapman helps clients to establish and enhance their online brand, attract their target market, engage them in meaningful social media conversations, and convert online traffic into revenues. Email: Lisa @ LisaChapman.com

Many internet experts agree that new websites are relegated to a “sandbox” by Google.

How Does the Sandbox Work?

The Google Sandbox, though not officially recognized or confirmed by Google, is widely recognized by webmasters worldwide as a type of ‘holding area’ in which new websites ‘do their time’ while they prove themselves worthy of Google ranking. When Google deems the website to be worthy – important and high quality – the site is removed from the sandbox and will show up in Google’s Search Engine Results Page (SERP).

Why did Google Create the Sandbox?

In 2004, it is believed that Google’s algorithm banned new sites from ranking in search results. This was intended to protect the integrity and quality of search results, to discourage spam sites from reaching the top of Google’s results page quickly.

How Can Websites Get Out of the Sandbox?

New websites start out with a page rank of ZERO. If Google deems a site worthy (quality, relevant), even a new site can show up in Google’s search results, but may take up to six months or more (by doing all the right work on Search Engine Optimization – SEO) to achieve its full potential.

What SEO Tactics Affect Google Rankings?

Although it is not an exact science, many SEO tactics affect a site’s placement:

• Your content is duplicated on other sites
• If your server is down while Google comes to index (spider/search) your site, it will not show up after that until the next time Google comes to index your site.
• Your webmaster does not keep up with Google’s algorithm, and your site no longer meets the often-changing requirements.
• Broken links on your site will greatly penalize your sites’ ranking.
• How old is your domain name? If it is new, that will count against you. ‘Seasoned’ domain names are much stronger.
• If your site goes after broad, popular keywords, it is best to change them to long-tail, narrow-niche keywords to decrease the competition and increase your site’s chances of being recognized.

For more information, see Sandbox Effect on Wikipedia

Do you have more tips to share on the Sandbox?

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For more resources, see our Library topics Marketing and Social Networking.

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