Social Media Strategies

What Works?

There’s a virtual explosion of social media tactics and tools available to help you in your online marketing campaign. How do you choose those that ‘fit’ your company?

Start with a great social media STRATEGY. Developing one always revolves around your marketing goals and objectives. Examples of some of the more fundamental social media goals include:

  • To increase overall awareness and/or goodwill
  • To increase engagement
  • To increase referrals
  • To increase conversions/sales

Ideally, you want to build a loyal base of Brand Advocates – individuals who “blow your horn” for you. They absolutely LOVE your company – and they will trumpet the benefits you provide – a totally unpaid army of PR agents.

Real World Social Media Strategy – Case Examples

Strategy – Brand Advocates:

360i Digital Marketing invited select bloggers to an exclusive screening of NBC’s “Kings,” which included a set tour and Q&A with the cast and Executive Producer, resulting in advocacy well above traditional Digital Word Of Mouth benchmarks.

Strategy – Tie-in to Offline TV:

NBC’s “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon” Facebook Page leverages the show’s interactive nature.

Strategy – Make a “Task” Fun:

H&R Block found that in order to truly engage taxpaying consumers in a meaningful way, they’d have to set up shop in a variety of social environments, making taxes funny, interesting and/or personal – depending on the audience and unique attributes of each platform. On MySpace and YouTube, H&R Block created the spoof character Truman Greene, who sang parody songs about his love of taxes.

Strategy – Focus on the Consumer

Skittles took quite a different route. In a bold move, the candy brand re-launched its Web site and put the focus almost entirely on consumer-driven conversation. For the new site, primary navigation was designed to overlay three main conversation hubs: Twitter, Facebook and YouTube, along with “official” content such as product information.

Strategy – Celebrity Attention:

Vitamin Water launched a campaign starring LeBron James and Kobe Bryant, putting an existing social platform, Facebook, at the center of its hub and spoke architecture.

Commonalities

Successful strategies all have one very important thing in common – they KNOW their audience. Keeping their audiences’ passions in mind, strategies directly appeal to them, their online content engages them, and they have areal opportunity to achieve their objectives by developing these relationships.

(Thanks to 360i Digital Marketing for the inspiration.)

What online strategies have worked for you? What HASN’T worked?

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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 has a name change! The Net-Powered Entrepreneur – A Step-by-Step Guide will be available very soon. 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

Best Practices and Marketing Case Studies

Stories, Test Results and Lessons Learned

In this time of information overload, contradictory messages, and fast-changing marketing ‘Best Practices”, some of the most intriguing advice comes from real experiences from real companies. So I took great interest in the MarketingSherpa’s Wisdom Report 2011, which shares a collection of their best marketing case studies and customer insights.

Over-arching lesson: COMMUNICATE

Companies tended to focus on marketing fundamentals in 2009. They took stock of basics and planned strategies and tactics for their 2010 campaigns. This makes enormous sense, since 2009 exploded with new tools and thought leaders who convinced us that without a strategy to achieve our goals, we wouldn’t achieve them.

So 2010 was a year for the execution of those strategies, in which companies, large and small, focused on their communication. Some extended the simplest expressions of “Thanks”, while others spent untold hours and budgets devising complex social media marketing strategies and tactical campaigns.

A few marketing case study excerpts from Marketing Sherpa’s report are intriguing, as you consider key elements in your digital communication strategy:

LESS IS MORE

“Since digital marketing is cheap (and often free), we tend to over-do it.

More links, more content, more email newsletters, more pages…

Seth Godin once said:

“Once you overload the user, you train them not to pay attention. More clutter isn’t free and is a permanent shift, desensitization to ALL the information, not just the last bit. More is not always better. In fact, more is almost never better.”

“Put simply, try reducing your company’s newsletter to above the fold or limit it to just one link.”

(Contributor credit: Nathan Potter, IDES, www.ides.com)

GUERRILLA MARKETING TRIUMPHS IN BAD ECONOMY

For one client in the business of education: “In this down economy, the pursuit of new students becomes challenging. Our marketing / communications department worked to strengthen our email marketing campaigns with great results. We added student testimonials to our campaign and prospective students responded to our present students.

“We also began to ask our present students to refer their colleagues and friends to us with an email campaign that succeeded beyond our estimation. One can prosper in a down economy by looking at guerrilla marketing tactics to reach prospective customers.

(Contributor credit: Dr. Raymond Guilette, The National Graduate School, www.ngs.edu)

EMAIL MARKETING

MarketingSherpa’s client wanted to increase renewal rates among members completing their first year of email marketing membership.

According to their client: “After pouring over MarketingSherpa’s Best Practices in Email Marketing Handbook, (excerpts at this link) we

recommended a “postcard”-type email format to deliver single-focused messaging. The outcome was a series of email blasts, by life stage segment, that were blasted every two weeks, PLUS a series of “special” emails that universal appeal, which were blasted based on calendar date or triggered event.

“Open rates of the first “Welcome” email were 2.5x higher than the previous benchmark and clickthrough rates nearly 300% higher. Open rates of the first

Segment-specific email were nearly 350% higher than the benchmark and clickthroughs, depending on the subject matter in the email, were well above benchmark metrics.

“After 16 weeks of blasting, segments were still at 30% open rates and 15% clickthrough rates. Event-triggered emails enjoy open rates of 50-80% with clickthrough rates between 70 and 95%. While retention rates are just starting to be measured, we know we increased engagement with the brand, so we’re hopeful that we see that reflected in renewal rates.”

(Contributor credit: Carolyn Goodman, Goodman Marketing Partners, www.goodmanmarketing.com

What communication tips do you have to share from YOUR experiences?

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

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Was the Guy Who Won the Client’s Audition Better than You?

People having an handshake happily

This post fits loosely in the training and development category, I admit, but I think within this tale runs a thread that affects how we should look at people we are training. In this case, we are talking creative types, voice-over actors.

Granted, voice-over actors need training or coaching as much as anyone. Here a case is being made that the voice-over actor who gets the job must be “Better than me. Better than you.” The point being, if you don’t get the job, you need training. My answer, and not everyone is going to like this, is sometimes. But also sometimes you do need training to improve. And, sometimes it is the answer, but it should be self-motivated or pointed out by those you trust and not necessarily the guy on the street.

It's important to remember that not every opportunity that was missed was due to your own inadequacy. Is a stranger more qualified to give you feedback than someone you know? Both have advantages and disadvantages. Someone you know may be too kind; someone you don't may have another agenda.

The opposing voice says, “We are reminded that human nature has always been inclined to denigrate what it cannot have.” I agree somewhat reluctantly. But let’s not denigrate the actor by telling him he’s not good enough because he didn’t get the gig; it’s more complicated than that.

I suspect the voice-over artist espousing these words is not only a reasonable successful voice-over actor, but a coach–a trainer of voice-over actors. He is entitled to his perspective, but I think it may be colored by his business angle. I think it is often better to sell to the client who needs you rather than you to “hard” sell the client you need.

The voice-over professional, let’s call him Jim, goes on to say, “…isn’t it also true that when you win an audition, you believe that there was more than luck involved? You used your talent and skill, you strategized, you hustled, you paid attention to the directions, you ‘got it,’ you communicated your offer clearly, and you won. My point is that some people win a much higher percentage of auditions not because of the luck of the dice, but because they are better.”

I don’t agree on the basis of too many subjective factors—even Jim, the subjective professional voice-over coach and trainer.

Here’s my side. If you aren’t good enough, you wouldn’t even get the audition. Better does not equate to different. Professionals will get the training and practice they need. The big moneymakers will work toward that end. Others may work to be more than they are. I want to work. If I’m good enough for the audition, I don’t need my “competition” saying I didn’t get the gig because I wasn’t good enough.

If we got the audition, someone who knows us thinks we are good enough. Just because we didn't win the audition, doesn't mean we need to rush out to find someone to correct our mistakes. If we think about it, we may know the answers ourselves. Or, it could be we weren't selected because of issues totally unrelated to talent.

Maybe my performance was inadequate in some way, but I’ll leave that evaluation to others, a coach, a trusted colleague to give me the advice–if I ask for it. I’m professional enough to know I was “off,” and that’s up to me to correct. There are a lot of people getting gigs, but not just because they are “better.” Some actually get gigs because a producer selected the wrong guy and didn’t want to admit the mistake. Some get the gigs because they know someone.

Hate to tell you this, but sometimes it’s just salesmanship or the theory of if you ask ten times you get at least one, yes. I know some guys who used to apply it to pick up women, too. The more women they asked, the more they were likely to succeed with the pick-up, no matter how lame. The quantity versus quality thing. Even as an actor, I allow myself three shows that I’d really like to do in a theatre I’d really like to do it and audition. One out of the three is usually successful, but I have weighted my choices and options so that my success is driven as much by what I want–not necessarily the potential monetary reward–which is the main gauge some people use to measure success. The same old story. Not “sour grapes”—”just the facts, ma’am.”

Should I take a class or find a coach, who I don’t know but who must be better because he has an impressive website, just to feel I have improved? If I’m working, I’m proving it. I know who I am and I know my limitations.

Ever hear a “bad” voice-over? I’ve heard plenty. I wondered how the guy got the job–not why I wasn’t enough for it. Sometimes the people selecting a “voice” make mistakes. I started listening to an audio book that is being read by a gentleman with deep, modulating voice that I find unappealing and so stereotypical I won’t continue listening. Let’s not talk about the fact he can’t distinguish characters very well. Somebody wanted his voice for the Michael Crichton book. Maybe they just like it deep, not best.

I do like the idea of getting together with other voice-over artists (a good training idea) as Jim suggests, but it seems the really serious, experienced ones (the ones we could learn the most from) are working, always working and evaluating, not necessarily others but themselves. It’s always good to support each other; I don’t think any of us shrug off that we didn’t get the job because it is “anything but us.” On the contrary, our undeveloped talent may be one of many factors. Or, just a feeling the client had that someone else was a better company or demographic fit. Those other factors, remember?

I agree there is a need for coaches and trainers just as there is a need for any communicator who wants to improve, learn tricks of the trade, be told “you do this really well, and this not so much,” and whatever else we need to know. I am one who actually tells people I may be a costly alternative at this point when they may be more in need of the basics more cheaply delivered by someone else. I’m not independently wealthy, but I like to think I take clients I can really help rather those in need of some basic acting classes who are going to resent me later for charging so much for what they could have had at a community college.

Here’s the best way to help me, the voice-over actor: get me the job, help me with the interpretation and delivery, and assure me the client is going to like it.

It’s not possible.

It comes back to the basics.

  • Don’t promise what you can’t deliver.
  • Don’t set yourself up as the Czar of the Biz if you aren’t really “all that.”

It’s not a marketing game of who can get the most clients. I prefer client loyalty myself, and client recommendations because I was fair, honest–and good. Professionals of any kind know when they need help, but it’s a fit like anything else. We all do better when clients trust us. End of tale.

For more resources about training, see the Training library.

Facebook Redesigns Pages

Facebook logo in a splash screen

More Similarities to Profiles

Launched today, Mashable reported on Facebook’s new Page redesign – giving users an experience more consistent with Profiles. Right away, you’ll notice the differences in the new layout. The new Page redesign will also operate more like Profiles. According to Rohit Dhawan, lead product manager for Facebook Pages, “We strongly believe you should have consistent experiences when possible.”

The redesign rollout was not completely unexpected, since it debuted in late 2010, when they accidentally launched it, but very quickly took it down, due to features that were apparently ill-conceived. But now, just a few short months later, they’re back at it with a much more thorough approach that’ll make it easier for everyone to learn and use.

“A Page can now use Facebook as if they were an individual with the ability to interact with other pages,” Dhawan said. “It provides interesting content when people are visiting the Page.”

Creative Facebook Page Photos

Pages can also now display photos at the top. Take a look at some creative facebook photo design elements, including segmenting photos and upside-down photos. A great way to distinguish your Page from your competitors’!

Other Important Changes

Some of the behind-the-scenes changes make social networking on Facebook more meaningful. Important changes include:

  • Page Admins have the ability to post and comment on other Facebook Pages through the “Login as Page” feature
  • The left-hand menu for editing pages has been removed in favor of a new navigation menu
  • Brand info can be placed at the top of the Page under the main title
  • A new section shows users how many of their friends have also “liked” that particular page
  • Most popular content will gravitate to the top

Test it and Tweak

Admins have until March 10th to preview and play with their design elements. After that, Facebook will automatically update all Pages to the new design. In the meantime, have fun with their Page Tour and a manual that explains the new design.

What do you see as the pros and cons of Facebook’s new Page redesign? Any suggestions for other Admins?

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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 very soon. 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

Facebook Privacy

Facebook logo icon in a box

Drill Down to the Basics

Privacy issues surrounding social media marketing, and Facebook in particular, have been big news for quite some time now – especially since Mark Zuckerberg’s own Facebook Fan Page was hacked. After all, if they can hack HIM, what else is possible?

Privacy is a concern for all of us, especially if your business is starting to ramp up its social media marketing as an important component of a comprehensive marketing strategy.

Privacy Policy Changes – Unpredictable and Unannounced

Did you know that most social media platforms can change any privacy policy at will, without even announcing it? You likely agreed to that when you signed up for an account. It’s in the fine print of the Terms and Conditions that 99.99% of us don’t bother to read. Or, if you did, you agreed to the Terms anyway, not thinking about all the ‘what ifs” involved. That’s what attorneys spend their time thinking about, right? Not busy business folks.

Facebook, for example, has over 170 privacy setting options. It’s overwhelming. Who actually goes through all those to determine what’s most important, and not?

“10 Privacy Settings Every User Needs to Know”

Stan Schroeder comes to the rescue with exactly that research and a Mashable article to help you narrow that 170 down to the ten essential privacy issues:

  • Sharing on Facebook – who can see what you share
  • Existing photos – who can see your albums and wall photos
  • Checking in to Places – lets your friends check you into Places
  • Connecting – how people can find you on Facebook
  • Apps you use – individual settings for dozens of already active apps
  • Instant personalization – third party websites use of your info
  • Info accessible to your friends – info available to your friends’ apps and websites
  • Public search – what search engines reveal about you
  • Friend lists – grouping friends into separate lists
  • Enabling HTTPS – security: Hacking or ‘account sniffing’

It’s a great article, and certainly worth your time to investigate which items affect you, and how. Schroeder makes it simple, with screenshots and non-technical summaries. FINALLY! We all appreciate your time and insights, Stan.

What other Privacy concerns do you have? Any suggestions from your own experiences?

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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 very soon. 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

Facebook Landing Pages

Facebook page on a phone screen

A valuable tool for Internet marketing

You’ve gotten out there and created a Facebook page for your business, but now you face the challenge of convincing current and potential customers to pay attention. One way to accomplish this is by creating a special landing page featuring a call-to-action asking visitors who are not currently marked as fans to indicate that they “Like” you, allowing your updates to be sent directly to their personal Facebook walls.

How do you do it?

Creating and configuring a call-to-action and landing page is fairly easy, and even novice users should be able to have one up and running quickly thanks to a step by step guide from the marketing professionals at HubSpot.

  • First, create a call-to-action graphic. They are available free at a number of places around the Internet, and Hubspot has a free generator as well.
    • Include a basic introduction and make the “Like” button easy to spot, then save it on your personal web space so that you can link to it later.
  • Next, you must enable the “Static FBML” app on Facebook. This creates a box on your Facebook page in which you can render HTML or FBML.
  • Plug your image’s Web address into the FBML (Facebook Markup Language) code provided by HubSpot.
  • Paste the full FBML code into the proper box inside the “Static FBML” app, name your page and save the changes.
  • Finally, set your new landing page as the default view for visitors by clicking on the “Wall” tab and selecting “Settings,” then “View Settings.” Under the list “Default Landing Tab for Everyone Else,” select the name of your landing page and it’s done.

Other uses

In addition to gathering followers, landing pages can be used to promote special deals, call attention to new products, or draw visitors in with an attractive and engaging splash page.

Fast, free, simple, and effective. Why don’t you have one?

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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 very soon. 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

Alyssa Milano’s Twitter Followers

Twitter logo on a black textboard

Huge Numbers May Not Mean Huge Conversion

With Twitter followers numbering 1.2 million, Alyssa Milano sent a tweet in support of a new book; “Connected: The Surprising Power of Our Social Networks & How They Shape Our Lives”.

The book, available at this Amazon page, broadcast to 1.2 million people who likely follow Alyssa closely, would probably have experienced a spike in sales, right?

So, Did the Tweet Convert to Buyers?

No. None! One point two million people – and not even ONE measly sale as a result?

Wassup? As the story goes (told by John Kremer, Book Marketing Guru), the authors of the book, Nicholas Christakis and James Fowler then turned to Tim O’Reilly to send it out to his 1.5 million followers. The result: ONE sale.

Influence and Impact

John Kremer, intrigued by this book marketing phenomenon, goes into elegant detail about how social networks actually influence – or not; and how we’re in the very early stages of learning how social networks and social media tools impact behavior.

Nicholas Christakis, a professor at Harvard, contends that “If we’re really going to advance this field, we need to figure out how to identify not just influential people, but also influenceable people;” and “we need to distinguish between influential, or real ties online, and uninfluential, or weak, ties online.”

Monitoring, Segmenting and Tracking is Just a Start

Like never before, the internet enables marketers to monitor, segment and track data – and its subsequent actionable behavior. But there’s more to it than just statistics. According to Christakis, “if we’re going to exploit online ties … measures of meaningful interactions will be needed.” We need to determine “…which online interactions represent real relationships, where an influence might possibly be exerted.”

Which means to me that there’s an important subjective human behavior element involved, too.

Kremer suggests that this is where the niche concept means much more than the sheer number of followers. Marketers must tap into communities of like-minded individuals – influential people – (not numbers) who share because they care.

(Many thanks to John Kremer – one of my book marketing heroes. Nice guy, too!)

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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 very soon. 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

U.S. Latino Marketing – Part 2 of 2

Marketing written on a wall with sticky notes

Resources for Hispanic Lifestyle Market Research

Demographic statistics on the Hispanic market, as sourced in the previous post, give important analytic information. But when it comes down to really getting to know your audience, it takes another perspective – LIFESTYLE insights.

These Hispanic market news and article sources let you see what statistics don’t – what’s important to this niche and how they feel about their world.

Hispanic News & Lifestyle Sources

Hispanic Market Weekly

Hispanic Market Weekly is the leading authority on news and events moving the Hispanic market. No other information source has Hispanic Market Weekly’s unparalleled expertise and the power of the internet to bring its readers in-depth coverage of the people, companies and trends that influence the U.S. Latino market. For the past twelve years, Hispanic Market Weekly has offered market professionals exclusive knowledge, research and analysis and provided them with a clearer picture of market behavior.

Hispanic Marketing (AdAge)

AdAge online is a subscription news service, with a free registration that allows registered users access to certain content, including “Hispanic Alerts”, an email delivered in English covering Hispanic related News. https://adage.com/register.php Registered users can sign up for any of Advertising Age’s suite of email products, participate in polls and share their opinion, or purchase individual articles or article packs. Only paid subscribers have full access to the articles on adage.com.

Hispanic PR Wire

Hispanic PR Wire is a division of PR Newswire – the global leader in news and information distribution services for professional communicators. Hispanic PR Wire is the premiere news distribution service reaching U.S. Hispanic media and opinion leaders. Membership entitles you to a host of unmatched, U.S. Hispanic-focused communication services. Value-added services for members include:

  • Access to the world’s most comprehensive Hispanic news distribution services
  • Guaranteed story placements on leading Latino news
  • Web sites with EVERY press release distribution, national or local Ability to include logo(s) with distribution of any news release
  • Ability to make any release an Interactivo Release. Interactivo Releases include posting of your press release alongside any photos, PDFs and a live website preview on HispanicPRWire.com.

Hispanicad.com

HispanicAd.com provides news and information, including photos and data from the USA, Latin America and the Caribbean. It’s information put together by Hispanics for our Industry. HispanicAd.com features regular contests and an abundance of reader forums, polls and other feedback opportunities.

HispanicAd.com offers three tiers of content:

  1. Daily news updates regarding Hispanic advertising, creative, marketing, media, promotions and research.
  2. Weekly articles pertaining to topics, individuals and corporations that define our Industry.
  3. Weekly newsletter.

Portada

Portada is the leading source about the Latin marketing and media space, offering world-class news and intelligence through online, print and conference vehicles to highly targeted audiences. Portada’s mission is to help Executives in Business and Media understand and reach Hispanic and Latin American consumers. Portada:

  • Operates the following Websites and associated Newsletters:
  1. www.portada-online.com (U.S. Hispanic)
  2. www.portada-online.com/LatinAmerica
  3. www.portada-online.com/enespanol
  • Publishes a quarterly magazine
  • Compiles and publishes two Online Databases:

1. Directory of Corporate Marketers and Media Buyers/Planners targeting Hispanic Consumers

2. Directory of Corporate Marketers and Media Buyers/Planners targeting Latin American consumers

  • Produces several research reports about the U.S. Hispanic and Latin American advertising, media and content markets.

Not Free, But Focused and Timely

AdAge offers these two Special Reports on the Hispanic Market for marketers. Considering the time you’d spend researching this info online, they may well be worth the investment:

Special Report

Hispanic Fact Pack 2010

Ad Age’s seventh annual Hispanic Fact Pack includes data on marketers, advertisers, media, demographics and agencies in the U.S. Hispanic market. Includes Ad Age’s extensive ranking of Top U.S. Hispanic Media Agencies – $29

Ad Age Insights White Paper

Hispanic America 2010

A report on the demographic trends and spending behaviors of this fastest-growing and vital part of the U.S. economy – $249.

Where do you go to gain invaluable insights to the US Hispanic lifestyle?

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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 very soon. 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

Marketing and Backlinks – The Key to SEO

How Google Views Backlinks

Backlinks are links from other sites that are directed to your site. Backlinks are widely regarded as one of the primary building blocks of SEO – important for high ranking by search engines. Google, for instance, gives more credit to sites that have a high number of relevant, high-quality backlinks because Google believes that is an indication of the site’s importance. As a Marketing strategy, backlinks are basic.

How do you get high quality, relevant backlinks?

IMPORTANT: Many of the promotional tactics below involve posting meaningful, keyword-rich content on the internet. This is the critical marketing strategy you MUST implement in order to drive interested traffic to your site – your ideal customer. This method is called ‘organic’, and is the backbone of search engine optimization.

Choose only high-ranking sites. (Page rank is Google’s way of assigning a relative importance indicator to a site, for the purpose of its search algorithm.) Post ONLY relevant material. Your content should ALWAYS include a link back to your site. If you use automated tools and receive irrelevant, low-ranking backlinks, search engines will actually penalize your site for it. There is NO shortcut method that is automatic, instant, or any other easy way to gain permanent, niche-targeted traffic that yields recurring buyers.

AVOID these link-building strategies:

They’re called ‘black hat’ techniques, and search engines will penalize you. Stay away from them:

  • ‘Link farms’
  • Inter-linking (exchanging links from sites with the same owner)
  • Sites that ‘rank’ less than four
  • Purchasing links
  • Sites that engage in illegal activity

Concentrate on getting highly ranked, relevant, natural backlinks. Place your links only on sites with a page rank of at least four. Five + is better. To quickly determine if a site ranks well enough to warrant your time and your link, use this free Page Rank Checker tool: http://www.prchecker.info/

One important ratio to track is the ratio of inbound to outbound links. You want to have MORE links point to your site (inbound) than links on your site pointing elsewhere (outbound). Periodically check the number and source of backlinks (inbound) to your site by using this free tool: http://www.backlinkwatch.com/ Then count the links in your site. Calculate inbound/outbound. The answer should be greater than one. Example: 202 inbound / 37 outbound = 5.45 – Good!

BACKLINK TIP:

Webconf’s free tool offers you a natural way to find relevant sites that invite link requests. Enter your long tail keyword. The result is a list of websites that include the keyword and “Add link”, “Add site”, “Add URL”, “Add website”, etc. You can check their page rank, contact the sites you like, and request to add your link. This takes time, but quality backlinks are essential to achieve recognition by search engines. As part of your marketing plan, try to add a few each day. http://www.webconfs.com/backlink-builder.php

Have you found helpful tips for building high quality, relevant backlinks?

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

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Build Organic Traffic

A man writing on a whiteboard

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the Key to Targeted Traffic

When building your site, be sure that it’s optimized for your long tail niche keywords and that it incorporates other tactics which help search engines find it.

Search Engines’ Goal

Search engines’ ultimate goal is to make it easy to find information relevant to the search topic. They are very sophisticated, and their “algorithms” for search are highly confidential. Many SEO professionals study search engine behavior and offer these tips for what the search engines deem important when ranking content:

  • Keywords in the domain name.
  • Keywords in the content pages.
  • Keywords in titles and subtitles.
  • Keywords with emphasis – such as italics, bold, and highlighted.
  • External links (backlinks) to your site.
  • Your site’s age.

You want to use your long tail keywords 3% of the time. That is, for every 100 words of content, 3 should be your long tail keywords. Use them “above the fold” – the portion of the site that shows without scrolling down.

SEO guide

One favorite guide to SEO has been downloaded FREE over a million times. Offered by SEOmoz.org, “The Beginner’s Guide to Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is an in-depth tutorial on how search engines work. It covers the fundamental strategies that make websites search engine friendly.

To download your copy of the world’s most read guide on SEO, join the community of SEOmoz PRO members.” The content covers:

  • How search engines operate.
  • How people interact with search engines.
  • Why search engine marketing is necessary.
  • The basics of search engine friendly design and development.
  • Keyword research.
  • How usability, experience, & content affect rankings.
  • Growing popularity and links.
  • Search engine tools and services.
  • Myths and misconceptions about search engines.
  • Measuring and tracking success.

Download your copy here:

http://www.seomoz.org/dp/download-the-pdf-version-of-the-beginners-guide-to-seo

More SEO Resources from SEOMOZ

For those of you who want EVEN MORE info, find it here, compliments of SEOMOZ:

Is your search engine optimization on target?

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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 very soon. 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