Tag Archives: digital marketing

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12 Twitter Tips that Increased My Twitter Followers by 328%

Increasing Twitter Followers - Follow Me Source - www.websiteandtechnology.comBy following the advice of influencers for digital marketing and social media marketing, I have been practicing a variety of Twitter activities to grow my Twitter following. Through my experiments, I increased my Twitter followers by 328% in 2 weeks.

Since my last post instead of blogging, I have been busy testing different Twitter activities to identify what works to increase my Twitter followers, and today, I am sharing share my findings with you.

Before dedicating the time to building a Twitter following, I honestly didn’t understand the value of Twitter. Now, after spending some time on Twitter, I am a Twitter believer, and I see the value of including Twitter in your social media marketing mix.

Twitter is a casual forum for buyers and sellers to connect. By following industry influencers, I gained access to news and resources that I hadn’t seen before. Also, I connected with fellow digital marketing managers and social media managers and discovered what they needed to help reach their goals.

With Twitter, You can Connect with Your Target Audience by

  • Providing information they need to make purchasing decisions
  • Giving them information to satisfy their needs
  • Giving them tips to better use your products or services
  • Starting two-way conversations
  • Building relationships

Before diving into Twitter, I identified the following items

  • My target audience
  • My goal to increase my number of followers that meet my target audience criteria
  • Find and Follow my market influencers – find experts using wefollow.com or twibes.com

Twitter Hashtags Source - http://www.waftr.com/2013/04/how-to-increase-twitter-followers.html

  • Popular Hashtags used by market influencers
  • Additional Hashtags for my market to use in my tweets – Some of these Hashtags are my keywords. Test by using the URL https://twitter.com/hashtag/(yourkeyword)

12 Twitter Tips that Increased my Twitter Followers by 328%

Follow Twitter Followers, Tweet, Favorite, Retweet Source - http://blogginggeeks.blogspot.com/2012/12/Increase-twitter-followers.html

  1. Follow relevant followers.
  2. Follow the Influencers – They include journalists, analysts, and bloggers for your market.
  3. Thank people who follow you.
  4. Retweet and Favorite Tweeted Content – Content you think might benefit your target audience.
  5. Tweet or Retweet Events – Inform your target marketing of upcoming webinars or events that are relevant.
  6. Especially, Retweet Relevant Content from Influencers
  7. When Retweeting, include a Quote when Appropriate – Quotes should add value, include a call to action, or link to similar content created by you or someone else.

Effect of quotes on retweets Source - http://heidicohen.com/twitter-16-ways-to-increase-retweets-research/

  1. Hashtags – Tweets with hashtags are posted on twitter streams seen by people outside of your followers.
  2. When Retweeting, include a Quote when Appropriate – Quotes should add value, include a call to action, or link to similar content created by you or someone else.

Effect of hashtags on retweets Source - http://heidicohen.com/twitter-16-ways-to-increase-retweets-research/

  1. Include Hashtags in your Tweets and Retweets – When applicable include hashtags to increase the exposure of your Tweets and potential people to follow you.
  2. For Followers or People that Favorite or Retweet your Tweets – Always thank them, and if they don’t already follow you, encourage them to follow you.
  3. Ask for the Retweet – When appropriate, in your tweets, you can ask your followers to retweet your content to gain exposure of your tweet.
  4. Most importantly, Tweet Consistently – If you don’t tweet consistently, your followers will stop following you and all your hard work to build your followers will be for nothing. I experienced this one the hard way. My followers decreased when I didn’t send and tweets for a couple of days.

Conclusion

To build your Twitter followers, you need to spend time on Twitter and consistently tweet, favorite, and retweet.

Start spending 30 minutes to an hour each day on Twitter applying the tips discussed today, and you can build your followers that meet your target audience criteria.

Once you reach your ideal number of followers, you need to keep tweeting to keep your followers. Consistently tweeting will keep the followers you have and help continue to increase your overall number of followers.
Maintain your Twitter Followers by tweeting consistently Source - girlsleadblog.com

Call-To-Action to Increase your Twitter Followers

  • Identify your Market Influencers
  • Follow your Influencers
  • Follow me on Twitter @cplough
  • Follow your relevant Twitter Followers
  • Identify your Market Hashtags
  • Start Tweeting, Favoriting, and Retweeting
  • Come back tomorrow to learn about How to Write the Perfect Tweet

Major Sources Where I found Twitter Tips to Increase my Twitter Followers by 328%

In other Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook News and Tips

In other Social Media Marketing News, Research, and Tips

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Social Media Marketing: Listen to Your Target Audience to Help Build Relationships Part 2

Listen to help build relationships with your target audience Source - http://brandlegendary.com/5-signs-you-arent-using-social-media-effectively/
On Monday, we discussed the advantages of listening to your target audience. Now, let’s discuss how you can go about listening to your target audience via Google Alerts and the different social media networks.

By listening, your brand will be able to build relationships with your target audience, create superior content, and deliver exceptional experiences.  If you missed part 1, you can still review the advantages to listening to your target audience.

By paying attention to the ongoing social conversations in your industry, you can pick up on emerging trends, new customer pains, and other valuable information. Here are some ways that will help you follow your brand and industry easily.

Gathering information from a multiple of sources will give you well rounded view of your brand, industry, and target audience.

Different Methods to Listen to Your Target Audience

  1. Google Alerts and RSS Feeds
  2. Facebook
  3. Twitter Hashtags
  4. Twitter
  5. LinkedIn
  6. Google+
  7. Blogs

#1 Set up Google Alerts and RSS feeds

When you create a Google Alert, you will receive email summaries on the subject matter you specify. Google Alerts will pick up anything included in Blogs, and you should follow any blogs that appear on your Google Alerts consistently. You should also identify any RSS feeds that consistently talk about your brand, competitors, and industry.

Different Google Alerts and RSS feeds you should follow

  • Your Brand
  • Keywords specific to your industry
  • Your Industry
  • Your Competitors

#2 Facebook

First, follow your competitor and listen for keywords or emerging trends.

Second, identify and participate in any Facebook groups that impact your brand. The more people in these groups, the more it gets promoted to their friends and social networks.

Next, organize different lists for different topics and influencers that you want to follow. These lists allow you to view and post to different groups or companies.

#3 Listening via Twitter Hashtags

Hashtags have become one of the best ways to monitor the discussion around a particular topic, trend or idea in your space.

Hashtags to Follow

  • Your Brand
  • Specific Keywords
  • Your Industry
  • Your Competitors
  • Your Competitors

#4 Listening on Twitter

First, conduct a couple of searches on your brand, keywords, industry, and your competitors. Identify the influencers, analysts, journalists, and other knowledgeable people in your arena who appear in your searches and follow them. Monitor what your influencers say and discover who is retweeting your influencers tweets.

Twitter Lists

  • Organize all of the people you identified into different Twitter lists.
  • Each list should be segmented/grouped together by similarities.
  • Twitter lists can be public or private.
  • Consider making your influencers group public to show that you are actively collecting information from knowledgeable sources.
  • Monitor what each group is saying.
  • If there are any complaints, develop a customer service method on how to handle the complaints.
  • Discover if you need to make tweaks to your services to satisfy your target audience.

#5 Listening on LinkedIn

Search for any groups based on your brand, industry, competitors, or keywords. Next, follow your competitors to monitor the conversations happening on their company pages. Finally, pay attention to any comments that are said on your company pages.

#6 Listening on G+

First, conduct a search on your brand, keywords, industry, and competitor and see what comes up.

Google+ Circles
Similar to Twitter lists, you can create different Google+ Circles of people. Each circle can have their own personas allowing you to tailor your communication based on the personas. When you notice people talking about your brand or industry, include them in one of your circles.

Google+ Hangouts
You can also use Google Hangouts makes to connect people in different circles. Google Hangouts gives you face time with your target audience on their terms.

#7 Listening on Blogs

Back in #1, you should have started following any blogs that appeared in your Google Alerts consistently. Listen for any news about your brand. Every once in a while you may choose to make a comment to show your target audience that you are listening, and this will indicate that you care.

Once you set your methods of listening, you may feel a little overwhelmed. However, you have access to an abundance of intelligence about your target audience to help you build relationships with your target audience.

My suggestions is to set aside some time once a week or take 30 minutes everyday just to listen(read). Don’t comment on anything or post anything. This is time for you to just learn about what people are saying. Take notes and make a list of action items.

When listening, look for consistencies and patterns. This will help you prioritize any action items you need to take. Look for potential marketing messages, or opportunities to connect with your target audience.

As you listen, remember to your purpose is to build stronger relationships with your target audience, so your brand can deliver exceptional experiences.

After reading today’s post, please comment on any ways you like to listen to your target audience via social media.

Take Care and Happy Listening.

Sources

Additional Social Media News and Resources

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Social Media Marketing: Build Relationships with Your Target Audience through Listening Part 1

Listen to help build relationships with your target audience Source - http://brandlegendary.com/5-signs-you-arent-using-social-media-effectively/One benefit by participating in social media is building relationships with your target audience. To build effective relationships, listening is extremely important.

Just like effective relationships in our personal lives, listening is essential.

I too want to build relationships with my target audience, which includes you. So I encourage you to leave a comment at the end of this blog post about building relationships or digital marketing topics you want to learn more about.

Additional Benefits to Listening to Your Target Audience

  1. Customer Opinion – Via social media, you can get unbiased opinions and learn about your target audience’s likes, wants, needs, hates, and desires. This information will help you form marketing messages and deliver your target audience’s wants.
  2. Potential Leads – Identify members of your target audience and develop methods to establish a relationship and start a two-way conversation with them.
  3. Understand your Market – You can stay up to date with your industry and learn about the factors that influence your market. Eventually, you will be able to discover emerging trends.
  4. Identify Your Influencers – On average, approximately 1% of a site’s audience generates 20% of all its traffic. By listening, you can learn about the 1%, and you can start building relationships with these influencers.
  5. Where does your Target Audience Hangout Online? – What social media networks do your target audience participate in? If you find out where they hangout online, you can start creating content for those specific social media networks.
  6. Possible Content Ideas and Formats – What kind of content does your target audience respond to?  By knowing what type of content sparks action with your target audience, you know what kind of content to produce.
  7. Keywords Used by Target Audience – What are the words and phrases that your target audience uses when talking about your brand? You can also learn what keywords or phrase are use in their search queries, and this can help you form your keyword strategy saving you lots of time and analysis normally involved in keyword strategy.
  8. Target Audience Needs – How can you fulfill your target audience needs with your marketing messages and products.
  9. Brand and Products They Use – What brands do they use? what are the similarities and difference to your brand? What experiences do these brands deliver? How can you improve these experiences better?
  10. Competitors – Are your Competitors a part of your target audiences conversations?

These are really good reasons to listen to your target audience. Listening can make our digital marketing jobs a little bit easier, so let’s take a look at some tips to make us superior listeners.

How to become and Effective Listener?

  1. Don’t Pretend to Listen – If you want your target audience to know that you a really listening, discover what are the best methods to find your target audience and hear what they are saying.
  2. Reduce Distractions and Background Noise – Identify the barriers that prevent you from truly listening to your target audience, and remove them.
  3. Take the Time to Comprehend What Your Target Audience is Saying – Take advantage of this intel to improve your relationships with your target audience and deliver superior experiences.
  4. Respond with Superior Content – Make your target audience indicate that you understand them by delivering superior content and experiences.

Over time, you will refine your listening skills, and you will learn how to take advantage of the information you gain when you listen to your target audience.

In conclusion, it is worth your time to develop methods to listen to your target audience via social media.

In the next social media marketing discussion, I will explore methods on how to listen to your target audience via multiple social media networks.

Until then, I welcome your comments about listening or anything else about digital marketing.

Sources

In Other Social Media Marketing News
social media news source - http://www.socialmediadelivered.com/2014/02/26/top-20-social-media-news-sites/

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3 Social Media Strategies to Nurture Customers in this Week’s Social Media Discussion

Nurture customers with social media strategies source - http://blog.proresource.com/how-to-nurture-leads-online-using-social-media/Social Media can be used a variety of ways, but today we will discuss social media strategies to nurture your current customers, to build relationships, and to generate repeat purchases.

As Digital Marketing Managers and Social Media Marketers, delivering on revenue goals is crucial. Nurturing current customers via social media for repeat purchases will help you accomplish this task.

The idea here is to keep your brand and expertise in the forefront of your customers’ minds, so when they need you, they remember to come back to you.

When communicating with your customers, you need to be genuine. If you are not genuine, your customers will see through you, and you will not be successful in building relationships to help meet your revenue goals.

Now, that you realize the importance of being genuine when nurturing your customers, let’s move on.

3 Social Media Strategies to Nurture Customers

  1. Reaffirm your customer purchases after the decision is made – There is time between when the decision is made to make the purchase and the action taken to make the actual purchase. During this time, use social media to reaffirm their choice to purchase your product by featuring customers who discussed their satisfaction after purchasing from your brand.
  2. Create lead nurturing campaigns for your new customers – Just like you have created social media tactics for potential customers, you want to deploy social media tactics for your newer customers to think of you for future purchases. Invite your new customers to follow you on social media networks, welcome them to your social media communities, post helpful information on how they can reap the benefits from their purchases, and create opportunities for cross sell and up sell products.
  3. Listen to your customers social media conversations for new needs, and requirements, or potential jumps to your competitors – By following your customers in social media, you can keep tabs on your customers satisfaction with their purchases. You want to listen for cues on the timing for repeat purchases, cross sell, or up sell opportunities. You can also listen to your customers to discover ideas for more relevant content for your social media and content marketing efforts.

Call to Action to Deploy Social Media Strategies to Nurture Customers

  • Be active on the same social media networks where your customers are active.
  • Look at your current lead nurturing efforts for new business and see if anything can be used to nurture new customers.
  • Create social media posts to welcome new customers to your social media community.
  • Without giving your customers a sales pitch, prepare social media content giving your customers an idea about repeat purchases, cross-sell, and up-sell opportunities.
  • Listen to your customers on social media to identify cues for potential repeat purchases.
  • Where it is genuine and makes sense, like, favorite, or retweet your customers social media posts
  • Listen for potential content ideas.
  • Come back for next week’s social media discussion about social media content ideas.
  • The next Digital Marketer’s blog post will explore the different types of content for your content marketing efforts.

Source for today’s Blog Post

Social Media Events

Social Media Network News and Resources

all social media site news

Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Google+

Pinterest

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How To Improve your Email Marketing Deliverability from the Digital Marketer’s Weekly Email Marketing Topic

Get your email marketing messages delivered to your email subscribers inbox Source:http://www.inwise.com/features/send/high-deliverability.aspxSince only 82% of emails from our email marketing efforts reach the inboxes of our email subscribers, Digital Marketing Manager and Email Marketing Managers need to explore how to improve delivery of email marketing messages to email subscribers’ inboxes to obtain revenue goals. (Source: Return Path’s Email Intelligence Report Q3 2012)

Return Path’s report also indicates that 70% of the emails in SPAM folders are actually legitimate emails.

Given these statistics, let’s talk about how you can deploy email marketing deliverability best practices to boost your email marketing performance and prevent your email messages getting blocked or sent to SPAM folders.

Before diving into the details about best practices for email marketing deliverability below, I want to give you some background information to help you formulate a better email marketing deliverability strategy for your brand.

Definition of Email Marketing Deliverability

The percentage of your email messages delivered to your email subscribers’ inbox.

Email Marketing Deliverability Fundamentals

email marketing deliverability fundamentals source - http://blog.campaigner.com/2013/10/the-3-keys-to-great-email.html

  • Algorithmic Filters – If an incoming email contains similarities to an email already marked as junk, the incoming email will be marked as junk. These similarities include email sender, links, or content. Also, if an incoming email contains an URL that is blacklisted by an ISP’s (Internet Service Provider), the email will be marked as junk.
  • Spamtraps – An email address was set up but never receives email.  These email addresses are created by Spamtrappers and set up to catch spammers. Deploying secure opt-in technique prevents you from collecting spamtrap emails.
  • Blacklists – Reports IP and URL addresses that send unsolicited commercial email. ISPs use these reports to block emails sent from these IP and URL addresses.
  • Bounce Handling – Understand ISPs and your ESPs bounce codes to help you manage your email marketing efforts effectively.  Bounce codes are values assigned to email addresses that are not delivered, and different types of bounces are handled differently. Work with your ESP to better understand your bounces.
  • Authentication Protocols – Use protocols to help email receivers separate legitimate and non-legitimate messages. According to Marketo’s The Definitive Guide to Engaging Email Marketing, the most common email authentication protocols are DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail), SPF (Sender Protection Framework), and SenderID.
  • Email Receiver and ISP Relations – Choose an ESP to help you manage your relationship with ISPs on your behalf and let them handle email messages that get marked as non-legitimate.

Now, let’s talk about best practices you can deploy to prevent getting labeled as a spammer.

10 Best Practices for Email Marketing Deliverability

Tips to precent SPAM complaints Source - https://econsultancy.com/blog/62852-five-tips-for-reducing-email-spam-complaints

  1. Include Unsubscribe Links in Email Messages – To comply with Anti-Spam regulation, you need to include an Unsubscribe link in all email marketing messages.
  2. Fulfill Your Promises – When you collect email addresses, you make a promise to provide them with timely, targeted, and relevant content that will meet their needs or solve their problems.
  3. Consistent From Email Addresses – By using the same from email address when you send email marketing messages, your email subscribers will recognize your emails and mark them as SPAM.
  4. Consistent Subject Line Wording and Tone – When the wording and tone of your email subject lines are consistent, your email subscribers will recognize your email messages and not mistake it for SPAM.
  5. Honor Your Email Subscribers Requests – Let your email subscribers manage their email subscriptions. If they only want to receive product informational emails, don’t send them promotional emails.
  6. Use Ethical Methods to Build Your Email Subscriber Lists – Verify all new email addresses through a double opt-in email address collection methodology, or you can send Welcome Emails to evaluate the validity of your email addresses.
  7. Regularly Remove Inactive Email Addresses – Review my 4 Ways to Reactivate Inactive Email Subscribers to Increase Deliverability blog post to learn about removing inactive email addresses.
  8. Choose a Reputable Email Service Provider (ESP) – Pick an ESP that have tools to handle email bounce codes, feedback loops, connection optimization, manage complaints, authenticate the quality of your IP addresses, and help you manage your relationship with ISPs.
  9. Manage Your Complaint Rate – If your ESP warns you about a lot of complaints take them seriously. According to Marketo’s Blog 7 Best Practices for Email Deliverability, set up an email address — abuse@your-domain.com — that your ESP can use to contact you with any complaints. Register that email address with www.abuse.net, an anti-spam advocacy group, to show that you take email abuse seriously.
  10. Be Proactive about Monitoring your Reputation – Work with your ESP to create relationships with ISPs to maintain a positive reputation and change whatever it takes to improve your reputation to get your email messages delivered to your email subscribers inboxes.  Both Return Path and SenderBase offer reputation monitoring services.

Call to Action to Improve your Email Marketing Deliverability

  • Develop your Email Marketing Deliverability Best Practices to increase your delivery rates and boost your email marketing results
  • Work with your ESP to deploy your Email Marketing Deliverability Best Practices
  • Visit Next Weeks Email Marketing Discussion: Always being Relevant with Your Email Subscribers
  • Visit the next Digital Marketer’s blog about Social Media including the latest news and updates from social media networks

Sources

Additional Email Marketing News and Resources

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4 Ways to Reactivate Inactive Email Subscribers to Increase Email Deliverability in Email Marketing Weekly Discussion

Inactive Email Subscribers and Active Email Subscribers Source: https://www.responsys.com/blogs/nsm/email-marketing/the-art-of-seduction-3-ways-to-re-engage-your-inactive-customers/To establish engagement with your email subscribers, Digital Marketing Managers and Email Marketing Managers need to maintain high quality email lists. By removing inactive email subscribers, you can maintain a high quality email list, increase deliverability, and establish engagement.

However, before removing inactive email subscribers, give them a chance to reactivate their email subscription, so they remain on your email subscription list.

To be considered an inactive email subscriber, an email subscriber has not opened, read, nor unsubscribed to your emails in a given period of time. Even if they opted-in or confirmed their email subscription, an email subscriber becomes inactive by not opening, reading, nor unsubscribing your emails.

According to Marketo’s Benchmark On Email Performance study, 26 to 50% of emails on marketers email subscription list are inactive.

Advantages to Removing Inactive Email Subscribers

Increase your email reputation with ISPs Source:www.cleansender.com

  • Higher deliverability
  • Lower SPAM complaint rate
  • Decreased costs
  • Increased reputation with ISPs
  • Increased engagement
  • Higher ROI

Currently, email marketers struggle to get their emails into their email subscribers’ inbox. Emails get delivered, but the emails go to to SPAM folders. This occurs when an organization has a low reputation with ISPs because they have a high amount of inactive email subscribers on their email subscriber list.

“In the end, removing inactive subscribers is often the action needed to get your mail back to the inbox and in front of your customers” according to Melinda Plemel of Return Path, an email service provider.

Given Melinda’s quote, it is worth the effort to remove your inactive email subscribers to increase your reputation with ISPs and increase the number of emails delivered to your email subscribers’ inbox.

Before removing inactive emails, give your inactive email subscribers a chance to reactivate their subscription.

4 Ways to Reactivate Inactive Email Subscribers

Example of a reactivate email subscribe effort to inactive email subscribers Source:http://openmoves.com/blog/email-reengagement/

  1. Series of Emails to Inactive Email Subscribers – Explain your email subscriber’s status and give them the option to activate their email subscription or Unsubscribe. You could give them free content or a discount on their next purchase. Make sure each email mentions the risk of being removed from your email subscription list.
  2. Mass Unsubscribe the Inactive Email Subscribers and Send a Final Email – Send one last email and give them one last chance to reactivate their email subscription.
  3. Perform a Telemarketing Campaign – Providing you have phone numbers for your inactive email subscribers, you may consider a more pro-active approach and call your inactive email subscribers.
  4. Deploy Direct Mail Effort – If you have mailing addresses for your inactive email subscribers, you could send them a direct mail piece.

You spend a lot of time and effort to build your email address list, and the idea of removing email addresses is scary and counter intuitive. However, by keeping inactive subscribers on your email list, it hinders your reputation with ISP’s, and ISP’s wont deliver your emails to your email subscribers’ inbox.

The idea of your emails NOT getting delivered to your email subscribers’ inbox is worse than removing inactive email addresses.  Therefore, take the time to identify and remove your inactive email subscribers.

Call to Action in Reactivating your Inactive Email Subscribers to Increase Email Deliverability

  • Identify your criteria of an inactive email subscriber
  • Determine the length of time to be considered an active vs. inactive email subscriber i.e. 2 months or 4 months
  • Consider any web activity by your inactive email subscribers
  • Create and deploy your reactivation campaign
  • Remove inactive email subscribers
  • Marketing Sherpa suggests this process occur every 4 to 6 months
  • Come back for next week’s Email Marketing weekly discussion on Deliverability
  • Come back for the next Digital Marketer Post about getting your target audience to share on your social media networks

Sources

Case Studies

Additional Resources and News Updates

Next Week’s Email Marketing Discussion: Deliverability Best Practices to Improve Reputation with ISP’s and Get Your Emails Delivered to Your Email Subscribers’ Inbox.

Next Digital Marketer Post: Social Media – How to get your target audience to share with you on social media networks?

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How to Write Meta Descriptions that Standout and Increase your Click Through Rates from Search Engine Result Pages in this Week’s SEO Update

Meta Tag Description Source: http://www.mysecondmillion.com/meta-tags-title-tags-meta-descriptions/Your keyword strategies and SEO tactics have landed your website on page 1 of a search engine result page (SERP), but now, you need to convince people, searchers, to click the link to your website versus another link. A well written meta description about the content on your website can help you stand out from other websites on a SERP page.

Is the likelihood of your competitor landing on the same SERP page as you high?

If yes, you can use Meta Descriptions to persuade searchers and make your website seem more appealing than your competitors.

What is a Meta Description?

The text below a webpage link on a SERP is a meta description about the content on the webpage. The meta description can lure searchers to click through to your website instead of another website.

Think of a Meta Description as a short sales pitch for your webpage.  This is an opportunity to engage searchers before they get to your website.

An Example of How Meta Descriptions Appear on a Google Search Engine Result Page:
Example of a Meta Description on a Google Search Engine Results Page Source: http://www.inmotionhosting.com/support/edu/website-design/meta-tags-explained/adding-a-meta-description-tag

Personally, when I complete a web search, I always read the meta descriptions to find out which website can meet my informational needs. Reading the meta descriptions can be a time saver, so I try to find the meta description for the best website to satisfy my search query. If I personally use meta descriptions to find the best website to click through to, I wonder how many other searchers might read meta descriptions as well.

A snapshot of the HTML Code to Help You Set Up Your Meta Tag Descriptions:
HTML code for Meta Description Tags Source: http://www.mycomputerforum.com/tutorials/meta_tags_seo.html

How to Write Meta Descriptions that Standout?

Components to set up effective meta tag descriptions that increase click through rates Source:http://www.polepositionmarketing.com/emp/complete-guide-meta-tags/

  1. Use Action-Oriented Language – use action words to tell readers what they will see if they click.
  2. Include a Solution or Benefit – give a convincing preview of how your content will satisfy the searchers needs.
  3. Length should be under 150 characters – the date when the content was posted could be included in the meta description, so you want to convince searchers to click through to your website in 130 characters or less. Best to be on the safe side.
  4. Be Honest – make sure your content on your webpage can deliver what your meta descriptions says it will deliver. This is your chance for searchers to build trust in your website. Don’t waste this chance.
  5. Be Relevant and Specific with Descriptive Words
  6. Meta Description should Accurately Describe the Content on Your Webpage, so expectations are met, and bounce rates are decreased.

Avoid these Meta Description Pitfalls

  • No Meta Description – Google will use text from somewhere on the page that matches the searchers’ query, and this text may not convince users to click through to your website.
  • Keyword Stuffing – Only using keywords may not properly describe the content on your webpage, and you do not want to mislead searchers and risk them never clicking through to your website in the future.
  • Bounce Rate – To avoid searchers from clicking the back button when they click through to your site, make sure the sales pitch in your meta description will be fulfilled by the content on your webpage.  Be aware that a high bounce rate may hinder your SEO and reduce your ranking.

Finally, don’t you hate it when Wikipedia outranks you on your keywords?

Use your Meta Descriptions to stand out and lure searchers to click through to your website instead of clicking to Wikipedia.

Have fun creating Meta Descriptions for your website and come back to learn more SEO tips and tools to help drive traffic to your websites from search engines and reach your digital marketing objectives.

Sources

Additional SEO News and Resources

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What is Content Marketing? See the Top Content Marketing Influencers Answers

How would you answer “What is Content Marketing?”

What is Content Marketing thought bubble Source:http://www.docstoc.com/article/163249665/What-Is-Content-Marketing
After reading this post, please share your thoughts in a comment.

As I scour the internet for information on how to improve digital marketing skills including content marketing, I try to provide information to help Digital Marketing Managers meet their objectives efficiently and effectively as well as provide information on how to create superior experiences for their target audiences.

Before my search, I already knew CONTENT IS KING!

BUT

What is Content Marketing?

Before this post, I had a basic understanding, but the goal in this post is to create a definition of Content Marketing for all marketing professionals to use.

The Top 25 Content Marketing Influencers Thanks for our friends at Onalytica, they did some research and collected many responses to develop a list of the Top 25 Content Marketing Influences located at Slideshare.

Who better to answer “What is Content Marketing?” then the top influencers of content marketing?

Here are the Top Content Marketers Thoughts on “What is Content Marketing?”

Juo Pulizzi Image Source:http://contently.com/strategist/2012/02/06/joe-pulizzi-content-marketer-of-the-year/ According to Joe Pulizzi at the Content Marketing Institute, content marketing is owning, as opposed to renting, media. It’s a marketing process to attract and retain customers by consistently creating and curating content in order to change or enhance consumer behavior.

Jeff Bullas Image Source:https://twitter.com/jeffbullas In his The One Best Thing Some of the Best Content Marketers Forgot, Jeff Bullas refers to content marketing as the result of the successful intersection of search engines, social media, email, content and blogging. Done well it is a multidisciplinary approach to the challenge of making your content as visible to as many people as possible in the shortest amount of time. It doesn’t matter whether you are a blogger, corporate marketer or a small business.

Michael Brenner Image Source:http://www.b2bmarketinginsider.com/about From Michael Brenner’s 9 Questions On Content Marketing Q&A, he states that the most effective content is that which best meets the needs of the audience. List posts and “How to” articles go a long way to building this kind of credibility but they aren’t enough. This kind of content needs to be balanced with deeper thought leadership that also inspires our customers to think differently about the challenges they face. He goes on to say the golden rule of content marketing is that it has to put the needs of the customers first and then the business results will be earned through trust and value already provided.

Doug Kessler Image Source:http://info.tracepoint.co.uk/blog/bid/188163/How-to-get-started-with-inbound-marketing-from-the-coalface-IMUK13-speakers During an interview, Doug Kessler of Velocity Partners explains what makes up great content. A brand creates great content from a variety of media that contains a point of view on it’s market. The content takes on issues that it’s audience cares about and puts a new spin on it, the brand puts some effort into producing special content. Great content is ambitious and confidant.  As a content producer you need to find your sweet spot which is the overlap between what a content producer is an expert at and what the audience cares most about.

Ann Handley Image Source:http://www.annhandley.com/about/ Ann Handley is “waging a war on writing mediocrity in 2014.” In her New Year, New You: 3 Things Every Marketer Should Be Doing in 2014 article, Ann stats ” I’m not talking about adhering to the rules of grammar; I’m talking about upping the importance you place on what you say, and how you say it. As a cornerstone of good writing (along with other things!), voice and tone are hugely undervalued in content and social media. Together, they constitute the secret sauce of great content, and I expect that more companies will pay attention to both in 2014.

Brian Clark Image Source:http://www.copyblogger.com/its-all-my-fault/According to Brian Clark’s Copyblogger, content marketing means creating and sharing valuable free content to attract and convert prospects into customers, and customers into repeat buyers. The type of content you share is closely related to what you sell; in other words, you are educating people, so that they know, like, and trust you enough to do business with you.

Conclusion

After looking at what the top influencers think about Content Marketing, the common elements are producing authoritative pieces that educates their target audience and meets their needs.

SO

When you prepare a piece of content marketing, ask yourself the following questions:

  1. Does it show that I am an authority or expert on the subject?
  2. Is it creative?
  3. Does it inspire OR is it motivational?
  4. Does it answer my target audiences questions OR does it fulfill my target audiences need?

If you answer YES to all of these questions, you have a piece of great content marketing.

Please leave comments with your answers to “What is Content Marketing?”

Learn More about Digital Marketing Manager, Cindy Plough

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Building a Social Media Army to Extend Your Reach Plus Updates and Tools for Social Media Networks

Building a Social Media Army Source:http://fingercandymedia.com/7359-building-a-social-media-army-3

Finding target audience members to follow your brands on social media networks can take time, but there are people within your grasp who can help. As another tool in your digital marketing toolbox for your social marketing efforts, you can recruit these people to become members of your social media army to help your brand extend it’s reach on social media networks.

Last fall, I attended a presentation by Jason Miller, Senior Manager, Content Marketing & Social, LinkedIn. During the presentation, Jason made a reference to using a social media army to promote your brand on social media networks.

With the help of Marketo’s Definitive Guide to Social Marketing,  I’ve taken Jason’s idea and put together a rough outline how you can recruit members and build your own a social media army to extend your brand’s reach.

Purpose of a Social Media Army:

Share your posts and retweet your messages in social media networks to reach army members’ connections and attract additional potential customers to experience your brand.

Think about what you want your army members to share and engage their social media connections to seek you out.

NEXT, start recruiting your own social media army.

Potential Social Media Army Members:

  • Internal Stakeholders
  • Employee Advocates of Social Media
  • Internal Thought Leaders
  • Top Industry Influencers
  • Brand Evangelists
  • Long-Time Customers

What’s in it for them to become a Social Media Army Members?

  • Personal Branding
  • Building personal social media marketing skills
  • Building relationships with your target audience
  • For Internal Members, building customer relationships
  • Increasing your company’s reputation as a thought leader

Train your Social Media Army Members:

Teach social media army members to create army strong stories Source:http://mashable.com/category/u.s.-army/

  • Provide background/history on the different social media networks
  • Explain the types of content that gets posted to each social media network
  • Outline the social media participation rules
  • Provide content tips
  • Instruct them how to post images, video
  • Provide formatting parameters for posts
  • Tell them how to optimize messages for SEO
  • Teach them how to create army strong stories to entice their connections to find your website
  • Tell them how their connections can give you their email addresses
  • Create a series of blog posts for your social media army members for communication and training

Think about the following quote from Pete Cashmore, CEO & Founder of mashable.com, “We’re living at a time when attention is the new currency. Those who insert themselves into as many channels as possible look set to capture the most value.”

A social media army can get your messages inserted into as many channels and increase your value.

Facebook Like in Fatigues Source:http://www.army.mil/article/84850/You can’t do it all. HOWEVER, with a social media army, you can participate in more social media networks and your messages can reach more potential customers than if you tried to build a target audience on social media networks all on your own.

SO, recruit some help and start building your social media army today.

Sources: Marketo’s Definitive Guide to Social Marketing

To learn more about Building a Social Media Army, look at Jeff Bullas’s How to Get Others to Do Your Social Media Marketing for Free article.

Updates and Tools for Social Media Networks

Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Google+

Instagram

Pinterest

Next Weeks Social Media Update Topic: Getting your Social Media Followers to Share your Brand’s Messages

Learn More about Digital Marketing Manager, Cindy Plough

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Take 7 Steps to Start Building Relationships at the Moment an Email Subscriber Gives You their Email Address

Building Relationships that leads to successfull Email Marketing Source: http://www.infogroup.com/resources/blog/inbox-success-3-things-to-keep-in-mind-for-your-next-email-campaignFor Digital Marketing Managers, building your email subscription list is one of several email marketing goals within your overall digital marketing objectives, but keeping a high percentage of your email subscribers engaged with you is another subject. To increase your email subscribers engagement with you and prevent an unsubscribes, you need to start building relationships at the moment an email subscriber gives you their email address.

From the beginning of an email subscribers relationship with your brand, take these 7 steps to start building relationships:

  1. Answer “What’s in it for Me?”
  2. Tell Subscribers what Type of Content you will Send
  3. Let Subscribers know the Frequency of your Emails
  4. Reinforce their Privacy
  5. Inform them about their Welcome Email
  6. Send the Welcome Email
  7. Give Subscribers Choices at a Subscription Center

1. Answer “What’s in it for Me” – Tell them right up front how you will meet their needs if they give you their email address.  Make sure your potential email subscribers can answer the “What’s it for me?” before they give you their email address.  This will decrease the number of unsubscribes on the welcome email because they know you can fulfill their needs.

2. Tell Subscribers what Type of Content you will Send – Inform your subscribers what type of information will appear in their emails.  Will you send product updates, general information, coupons, etc? You may even want to show a thumbnail email example. If they know what to expect, you can increase your chances of them opening your emails.

3. Let Subscribers know the Frequency of your Emails – Indicate how many emails they should receive from you in a week or in a month.

4. Reinforce their Privacy – Let your subscribers become comfortable and build trust in you.  Reinforce that their information is safe with you, and you will not share their data with anyone.

5. Inform them about their Welcome Email – When subscribers first give Welcome Email Example Source:http://sendsmarter.co/13-examples-of-beautiful-welcome-emails/
you their email address tell them that they should receive a Welcome Email. This is a good time to monitor delivery of your Welcome emails.

6. Welcome Email – You should include the following:

  • Thank You
  • Remind them about what they should expect from you and when to expect it
  • Ask them to whitelist your email address
  • Link to the Subscription Center where they control their subscription

7. Give Subscribers Choices at a Subscription Center – When Example of an Email Subscriptions Center Source: http://www.campaignmonitor.com/blog/post/1804/new-feature-let-your-subscribe/subscribers are logged into your website, give them access to a Subscription Center where they can edit their information, control what emails you send them, and control how frequently they receive emails from you.

By telling email subscribers what they should expect from you, they will start to build trust with you.  By allowing them to tell you what messages you send them and how often they receive your email messages, you give them control over your interaction with them.  Through these steps, you are starting a relationship at the very beginning. By creating a relationship, you create trust and can start conversations, and then, your email subscribers can start engaging with the emails you send and engage with your brands.

Experian Marketing Services just released it’s 2013 Email Marketing Study. Of the marketers included in the study, For Customer preferences, 60% of the companies do not give their customers an option in the types of emails they receive. If you start asking your customers what type of email they want to receive from you, you can separate yourself from everyone else and be unique.

Responses to the “Can your customers select the types of emails they want to receive?” from Experian Marketing Services 2013 Email Marketing Study.

Answers to Can your customers select the types of emails they want to receive? from Experians's 2013 email marketing study Source: http://marketingland.com/study-70-brands-personalizing-emails-missing-higher-transaction-rates-revenue-73241?goback=%2Egde_41352_member_5838131257690595331

If you establish a relationship in the beginning, you can increase your chances of engagement with your email subscribers and decrease the chance of unsubscribes.

Source:

Marketo‘s The Definitive Guide to Engaging Email Marketing

Experian Marketing Services 2013 Email Marketing Study

Additional Email Marketing Information

Learn More about Digital Marketing Manager, Cindy Plough