I began working for a particular type of traditional business industry recently, and I noticed that a great many of the small businesses operating within it were still proceeding as though it were pre-Internet days. They did promotions as though they were a one-way transmission instead of a dialogue. Unfortunately, that's not the only industry where this mindset persists. In order to achieve better sales, attract more potential customers, and, yes, improve your search engine rankings, you need to incorporate "Conversational Marketing" as a primary tactic. The Cluetrain Manifesto came out [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Social | How To: Social Media Marketing | Local Search | Search Marketing: Local Search Marketing | Social Media Marketing

The bane of most search marketers’ existence is search query ambiguity. Is a user searching for [one night stand] interested in an illicit affair or a piece of antique oak furniture for his bedroom? Does the query [internet security] reflect the needs of a consumer fed up with viruses or a CIO looking for a $10 million enterprise solution? John Battelle has called a search engine a “database of intentions,” but that database is often fuzzy, to say the least. In many cases, it would be much easier for marketers to know who the user doing the search was, as opposed to for what they w [...]

Related Topics: B2B Search Marketing | Channel: Social | How To | How To: SEM | How To: Social Media Marketing | Intermediate

In a typical organization, the social media tweets away in one department while content writers toil away in another. The social team links to fresh content, sure... and that’s about the extent of their interactions. But, at the end of the day, what you post and share on social media is content, and it’s time we start treating our social postings with the same amount of gravity as we do our content. Fact: social media posts are content. They may be abbreviated and (in some cases) more casual, but they’re content all the same. They’re written to get attention; they can be optimized f [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Social | How To | How To: Social Media Marketing | Intermediate | Search & Social

Do you spit out status updates on Facebook for your local business without much thought? Carefully engineering your status updates can result in more effective targeting, better engagement with your audience, and improved EdgeRank to help more of your followers actually see your status updates. These tips should be considered to be "spice", rather than the meat in cooking up your Facebook contents. Use these tips with some restraint and balance or you could create fatigue for your followers, resulting in reduction of your audience engagement rather than growth of it. Increasing engagemen [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Social | Facebook | How To | How To: Facebook | How To: Social Media Marketing | Intermediate | Local Search | Search Marketing: Local Search Marketing

It’s the 'new' social network everyone is talking about – and if you’re a local business owner, it could be a strong addition to your online marketing strategy. For the past few years, marketers have stressed the need for local businesses to leverage social networks like Facebook and Twitter to drive engagement with existing and potential customers. Now Pinterest, the visual scrapbook network that allows users to "pin" images and video they want to share from across the web, is becoming part of the conversation for a number of reasons: Unprecedented user growth. In March, Pinterest [...]

Related Topics: Beginner | Channel: Social | How To | How To: Social Media Marketing | Local Search

Anyone—anyone—can make a website. Anyone can create a Twitter account, start a blog, or launch a Facebook fan page. And anyone—from 13-year-old girls to 45-year-old men—can pretend to be an attractive 20-year-old woman on the Internet. In the world of Internet spam, scams, and shams, we’ve learned to be wary of what we find online. Search engines are no different. Too often we forget that search engines aren’t just a tool to help us find news articles or guacamole recipes. Search engines are running a business—a business whose success relies on providing you legitimate, rel [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEO | How To | How To: SEO | How To: Social Media Marketing | Intermediate | Search & Social

Earlier in the year, YouTube surpassed Yahoo as the world’s second largest search engine. In June 2011, ComScore reported that in the U.S., YouTube attracted 5.6 billion viewing sessions per month and the average U.S. visitor frequents the site 23 times a month with each visit lasting on average 26 minutes. And, just today, ComScore also reported that YouTube passed 20 billion video views during October 2011 alone. No matter how you look at the data, that’s a lot of eyeballs and a lot of time spent on a single site that a marketer can take advantage of. But creating a video is only hal [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Video | Enterprise SEM | Google: YouTube & Video | How To: Social Media Marketing | Paid Search | Search Ads: Video | Search Engines: Video Search Engines

Today, Google launched Google+ Pages, allowing businesses to take part in its social network. Here's a walk-through on how to create and manage these pages: Creating A Page Within two days or sooner, everyone is supposed to be able to make pages by using the Create A Page tool. Availability is rolling out now, so if you get an "Google+ Pages isn't ready" error, keep checking back. (NOTE: Google now says everyone should have access). Assuming you do have access, I'll start with what you see when making a page for the "Product or Brand" category, though the steps work the same for any c [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Social | Features: General | Google: Google+ | How To: Social Media Marketing

Image fatigue is a huge issue in Facebook. In general, people tire of seeing the same Facebook advertising images. Facebook also understands this and after 72 hours or so, they tend to decrease ad impressions to "old" ads. As a result, advertisers need solid strategies to help develop and "freshen" ads so they continue to appear in Facebook. In this article, I’ll cover ways to effectively and systematically incorporate new images into your Facebook advertising. I credit many of the tips in this article from a recent conversation with Jennifer Sheahan from FBadsLAB. Note: CTRs in Facebo [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEM | How To | How To: Facebook | How To: Social Media Marketing | Intermediate | Paid Search

If you're not using these tools to measure social media, you're getting it wrong.  These  tools enable you to measure social media properly, in a way that will lead to building stronger relationships, getting more traffic and converting more. What Social Media Analytics Includes ... And Excludes The purpose of social media is to interact with people, thus building relationships. From a business perspective, there are many reasons to do that, chiefly that people buy from people they know and like and because it opens opportunities - hence social "networking" - you're getting the same benefi [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Analytics | How To: Analytics | How To: Social Media Marketing | Search Marketing Toolbox | Social Media Marketing

One of the questions that we see a great deal of on our Search Engine Land Facebook Page and LinkedIn Group is "How can we get our Google+ feed to post in Facebook and Twitter?"  The correct answer to that question is that no official way exists to have the networks play nice. However, with the use of extensions & add-ons, this feat can be accomplished. There are two main solutions that work the best for solving this problem. One solution, PublishSync, allows for the simple sharing of content between the main social networks.  The other solution, SGPlus, enhances your Google+ expe [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Social | Google: Google+ | How To: Social Media Marketing | Top News

Not only is it important to make sure your tabs are interactive, but you need to give users reasons to keep going back for more. Facebook-only content and contests help drive users back to your tabs time and time again. What’s even better, these techniques can also help drive new users to your Page. The second piece of this two part series gives you some advice on how to do just that. Creating Facebook-only Content Reward your fans for liking your Page by offering them something they can’t get anywhere else. Coupons and special discount codes are often the first ideas that come to mind, [...]

Related Topics: Beginner | Channel: Social | How To | How To: Facebook | How To: Social Media Marketing | Search & Social

When it comes to custom landing tabs, all the big brands have them, all little businesses want them, but just how effective are they in engaging your Facebook Page’s following? Since landing tabs primarily target those who don’t already "Like" your Page, what’s in it for your fans, and are your fans even aware of the stuff you’ve got tucked away in your sidebar? Creating a worthwhile Facebook tab is an art, and using it effectively, both before and after a visitor has Liked your Page, can be a challenge. In the first installment of this two-part series, you will receive some tips [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Social | Facebook | How To: Facebook | How To: Social Media Marketing | Search & Social | Social Media Marketing

Earlier this month, Google released Google +1 buttons for websites. This seems like a good occasion to celebrate social conversion on landing pages — and provide you with the links and sample code to implement it in your own post-click marketing. By social conversion, we mean a social-oriented action that a user takes on one of your pages: clicking a Facebook Like button, clicking a Twitter Follow button, or clicking a new Google +1 button. For example, any of these buttons: In some cases, this may be the primary call-to-action for a certain landing page: you deliver meaningful cont [...]

Related Topics: Advanced | Channel: Analytics | How To | How To: Social Media Marketing | Search & Conversion

Because of its intrinsic relationship with the Open Graph protocol, there’s even more compelling reasons to use the Facebook like button than to use the official Tweet button. Like the Tweet button, the Like button is easy to install, and is highly standardized. Furthermore, the Like button is tied directly to Facebook’s analytics platform, Insights, which can provide you with valuable information about each Like button’s performance. Display Type The Like button is available in three formats. Standard, which shows the name of a visitor’s friend that has liked the page (if any f [...]

Related Topics: Beginner | Channel: Social | How To: Facebook | How To: Social Media Marketing

Where the standard Tweet button gives you little control over the button’s appearance, functionality or call-to-action (you can Tweet, Tweet or Tweet) you have virtually unlimited options when encouraging users to follow you on Twitter. This is because the following action takes place on Twitter itself, rather than on your website:  you’re essentially encouraging a user to click on a link. As such, there’s more optimization and testing opportunities. Call-to-Action Your call-to-action can take the form of a text link, a linked graphic or both. This gives you the opportunity to crea [...]

Related Topics: Beginner | Channel: Social | How To: Social Media Marketing | How To: Twitter

The official tweet button from Twitter is easy to implement, aggregates direct tweets and retweets in its counter, and includes a mechanism to encourage following (discussed below). These features almost certainly outweigh the slender benefits of employing third-party tweeting tools (the main benefit being more flexibility in styling the tweet button's appearance). There are a number of things that can be tested in order to improve the number of Tweets a page receives. Display Type The Tweet button is available in three versions, all versions sharing the same color, size and label ("Twee [...]

Related Topics: Beginner | Channel: Social | How To: Social Media Marketing | How To: Twitter

Whereas Twitter direct follow buttons are not easy to implement, Facebook makes it simple to "Like" a Page on Facebook (i.e., to become a "fan" of the person or organization represented by that Facebook Page) without actually needing to visit Facebook. The alternate method of enticing visitors to become fans is simply to link to the Page on Facebook, where there is a prominent Like button at the top of the Page. There are advantages and drawbacks to each method. The obvious benefit of a direct Like is that the user is connected in one step, without the danger of failing to click on th [...]

Related Topics: Beginner | Channel: Social | How To: Facebook | How To: Social Media Marketing

When you successfully encourage a visitor to share content they discover on your website, that action strongly recommends your website to that visitor’s friends, extends its reach, and increases its visibility in the search engines. That same visitor may also be persuaded to make a long-term connection with you or your business, forging an incredibly valuable bond with you or your brand. For these reasons, the structure of almost any contemporary website should advance the goal of converting casual visitors into engaged participants. For Twitter sharing a resource directly from its [...]

Related Topics: Beginner | Channel: Analytics | How To | How To: Facebook | How To: Social Media Marketing | How To: Twitter | Search & Conversion

In-house search marketers are often struggling to find ways to grow their responsibilities. For many, the search engine marketing program itself will only get so big or complicated before it settles into a healthy size for the organization that runs like a well-oiled machine. In-house marketers who are looking to grow their skills, expand their responsibilities and experiment with something new should make a case for testing paid social media marketing. Here are some ways you can put in-house marketing skills to work on campaigns to drive direct sales, fans, likes, and followers! Test The [...]

Related Topics: Beginner | Channel: Social | How To: Social Media Marketing | In House Search Marketing