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12Sep

6 Steps to Create A Dynamite Social Media Strategy

Posted by: Katie Leimkuehler Categories: Social Media
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Everyone is diving head first into social media, but do they have a plan? There’s nothing more important than knowing what you want to accomplish and how you plan on getting there before blindly taking a stab at building your brand. Here are few steps that will help you create a dynamite social media strategy for your company.

1. Create clear long and short term goals. Know what you want to achieve. Do you want to get 5,000 followers by the end of the year or grow you traffic by 20%? Write it out and make sure you know what your target is and then created smaller goals for each month.

Action: Create a social media plan for the year with specific goals. Write a more detailed one for the month.

2. Get your name out there. Create a company page on LinkedIn, claim your Twitter handle and Facebook page before someone else does. Sign up for directories that you can list your blog or you website on.

Action: Register for social media channels you want to be on or think you may want to be on. It’s better to claim you name now. Enter your website or blog in directories such as AllTop, Technorati, and OnTopList. Look online for more that are tailored to your audience.

3. Choose your social media channels. You don’t have to be on every social network, you just have to be on the right one for your company or business. And sometimes spreading yourself too thin to be on several networks isn’t effective as interacting with your core audience on just a few. Find out what your competitors are doing, what channels are they on? Are they not taking full advantage of one? What can you do that will set yourself apart? Where is your current audience already hanging out?

Action: Study Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, YouTube and Google+. Learn what networks would be the most beneficial for you or your company.

4. Nail down your voice. How do you want to be seen or heard? Do you want to be funny, inspiring, or seen as a solid source of information? Think of the message you want to send before you decide the voice in which you say it and make sure it’s consistent.

Action: Try writing out the same message in three different voices and see which one you like the best and which one you think your fans would like the best. Ask a few coworkers or friends for their input as well. Choose the best one.

5. Focus on engagement. Always put yourself in your fans and customers’ shoes. What would they want from your company? What would be helpful for them to know? How can you interact with them in an ongoing conversation? What do they like and dislike? How can you be a resource? Answering these questions will help you understand how you can give them what they want.

Action: Research your audience so you can provide the best content and conversations that are relevant to them. Check out conversations already happening on social media channels.

6. Measure your results. Taking advantage of the ROI in social media is absolutely key. Knowing what strikes a cord with your followers and where they’re coming from is one of the most important things to know. You can then provide the type of content they love and steer clear from what they don’t like while learning how to repeatedly attract and engage with them.

Action: Sign up for a few of social media measurement tools such as Google Analytics, Facebook Insights, HootSuite, TweetStats, Social Mention, and Radian6. 

What social media strategy steps have you taken that worked? Share them here! 

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29Aug

6 Easy Actions You Can Take Today to Increase Your Facebook Likes

Posted by: Katie Leimkuehler Categories: Advice Social Media
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The power of Facebook is undeniable. It reaches a huge audience and you can directly target your niche market. Almost every business is on it (if you’re not I recommend it!) but they are not all capitalizing on its true potential. So, what do the best brands with millions of fans do that not every other brand does? I’ll share them with you.

1. Create Awesome Content

In order to have a strong fan base you have to give them something to like and that’s awesome content. This is one of the most crucial factors in getting fans. They have to like what you represent and what your content does for them.

2. Give People an Incentive to Like Your Page

If you’ve posted an article, photo or video that someone wants to see you can adapt the idea of exclusivity by only allowing people who like the page to view it. This will give people more of a reason to like your page. They’ll want to know what’s behind the curtain.

3. Run a Competition

A great way to get fans to like your page and involved with your brand is by offering them a chance to win a prize. Create a contest that represents the values of your brand while increasing engagement. It’s a win, win.

4. Share Your Competition’s Content

What brands and companies are similar to what you do? Attract their audience over to your site by sharing the competition’s Facebook page content on your fan page. It’s an easy way to go after your target market.

5. Advertise on Facebook

This is one of the quickest ways for people to hear about your brand and easily connect with it. You can set the limit for how much you want to spend, when you want the ad to appear and the audience you want it to target. Try it out and see if it makes a difference.

6. Install a Facebook Badge on Your Website

If you have a blog or website be sure to include the Facebook widget that links back to your fan page. It’s important for fans to know that you have a presence on Facebook so they can connect with you there.

How have you increased your Facebook likes? Share your answers here!

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27Aug

3 Amazing Social Media Infographics Breaking Down the Social Landscape

Posted by: Katie Leimkuehler Categories: Career Inspiration Social Media
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Infographics have exploded in the last couple of years demonstrating knowledge and statistics in a fun and captivating way that has never been done before. And social media channels from Twitter to Pinterest have taken note–there are new infographics popping up every day to show the growth of social networks, the demographics, and how people and companies are using social media. Are you looking to launch your personal brand, land a job via your social media profile and see some return on your social media strategy? These awesome infographics highlights just how to do that. 

1. Personal Branding With Social Media

 

2. Social Profiles That Can Help You Land a Job

 

3. Getting Results on Your Social Media Strategy


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20Aug

5 Ways to Market Your Business

Posted by: Katie Leimkuehler Categories: Career Start-Ups
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The time has to come to spread the word about your business and tell people just how fabulous it is! And how do you do that? Check out these crucial marketing techniques.

1. Share you work. The newest way is to showcase your work is through Pinterest. The site lets you not only look for inspiration for your next project, but it lets you show off your current work. The image-based website allows users to post or “pin” images and photos to “boards” that serve as category organizers that you can share with your followers. Think of it as a real life bulletin board come to life—only in the public eye.

2. Build relationships. Never underestimate the power of meeting new people and maintaining strong relationships with them—both in person and online. This goes beyond networking. It’s about fostering work friendships that can create opportunities for you before you’re even looking for them.

3. Become an expert. If you have a strong focus in a specialty area people will come to you time and time again because they know you are the expert. Carve out a niche that sets yourself apart from other designers.

4. Dress the part. Not only should you be dressing to impress your client in person; impress them online. Develop a high quality, intriguing and creative website that entices clients to want to meet you in person. These days most first impressions are formed online so make sure it’s a great one. Need inspiration? Check out the Top 10 Best Flash Websites of 2012.

5. Create buzz. Develop a social media strategy that engages users that is not just self-promotional. Try to become a source for clients with industry news, relevant content and foster those relationships through conversations. Think of it as your own word-of- mouth marketing, but through an online platform.

*This post was originally printed in the IIDA Design Matters blog.

Making relationships both online and in-person is key for marketing your business.

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13Aug

How to Make Your Blog Stand Out Above the Crowd

Posted by: Katie Leimkuehler Categories: Social Media
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There are thousands of blogs created every day, so how can you create one that will stand out? Check out a few key ingredients that are need for all successful blogs.

  1. Provide stellar content. Writing great and intriguing content is an absolute must when is comes to blogging. You need to have perfected the art of writing something that will be useful to your website visitors and interesting enough to keep them coming back. What do they want to know? How can you help them?
     
  2. Be different. There are thousands of blogs on the internet and yours has to stand out. Create a unique focus on your blog that is slightly different from everyone else out there. Ask yourself what’s interesting to you? What will draw people back? And how can you be different from similar blogs?
     
  3. Take chances. Epic blogs don’t form over night. Those bloggers try new things. They play with an array of content, work with their website design and focus on engagement. They are willing to change it up and try it all. Find out what will work and what won’t. It’s a learning process and evolving your blog is crucial.  

Want to learn how to build a blog that matters? Check our Corbett Barr’s blogging course, you won’t be disappointed.

 

Find your blog ideas and make them stand out. Photo credit: OwenBrown.com

 

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8Aug

How To Turn Your Fans Into Brand Advocates

Posted by: Katie Leimkuehler Categories: Social Media Start-Ups
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So you’ve got some facebook and Twitter fans, people are liking and commenting on your pages—but what does that lead to? How can you capitalize on this? By turning your fans into your biggest brand advocates. Here’s how to do it.

  • First identify who are your brand advocates. These are the people commenting, sharing, and regularly engaging with your brand at a higher caliber than most fans.
  • Make them feel special. Send a message or email to those individuals thanking them for participating in your online community and encourage them to continue to interact.
  • Reward them. If they’ve done a truly great job spreading the word about your company offer them a gift card, free lunch or guest blog post.
  • Build a relationship. Chances are that if a brand advocate likes your company their friends and family will too. Value their connections. Encourage them to share and continue to share content with others by forming a relationship with them. They’ll feel honored and you’ll have a strong brand supporter on your side.

Want to find out how to turn you biggest complainers into satisfied customers? Check out this article from FastCompany.

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