Social Media Training and Social Media Consulting: Keywords
A quick tip… from the desk of Mason Duchatschek
Here are a few things to consider before you spend a dime on social media training, social media consultants or any online marketing experts.
You will be wasting your time on video marketing, Facebook marketing, Twitter marketing too if you don’t get this one thing handled first. What is it? Keyword research.
Here’s a video that should help: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fv8Gr8skNFk
Social Media Training: Getting Facebook Likes
By Mischa Truong-Tran
Buildatribe.com – Social Media Consultants of St. Louis, MO
Want more fans on Facebook? Need additional LIKES and additional exposure through a solid social media campaign? Expanding your presence on Facebook is a lot easier when you implement a few of the basic tools and social media strategies.
When attempting to expand your number of fans on Facebook, you might need to offer something valuable so they will agree to LIKE your business page. It could be a prize, coupon, special report or a series of online marketing videos full of helpful and useful ideas.
There are plenty of ways to encourage prospects to LIKE your fan page. One of the best ones is to add a Welcome Tab to your fan page. If you do, then you will be able to welcome anyone that is new to your page, present special offers in exchange for their LIKE, and possibly get their name and Email address for future marketing opportunities. If you provide a good enough reason for visitors to LIKE your page, then the chances of them doing it, increase dramatically.
Another add more LIKES, is to place a LIKE button on your regular business web site. It makes it convenient for individuals visiting your web site to also LIKE your Facebook page by adding a social plug-in with a LIKE button. Many top social media experts and people providing social media training recommend using the social plug-in that shows the images of those who have also LIKED your Facebook page. It seems pretty popular.
Another way to increase LIKES is to add a Facebook icon to your Email signature, and all employees’ Email addresses as well. When you send out Emails, the link to your Facebook page makes it simple for the people who interact with to LIKE your page.
There are lots of ways to engage with your potential fans. The next step is about turning them into customers.
Social Media Consultants: Facebook Posting Strategies
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By Mischa Truong-Tran Buildatribe.com – Social Media Consultants of St. Louis, MO Two of the most frequent questions asked of social media strategists by people who want to use Facebook in their social media marketing campaigns relate to how often they should post and when. The best approaches take into consideration the needs of the businesses and the type of fans they want to attract to their business page. When attempting to identify the ideal frequency of posts, it may be a good idea to try a few different things in an effort to uncover the social media strategy that works best for Facebook marketing in your niche. After all, you know your customers best, and you know would make your idea fans. A recent Facebook study by Virtue asserted that posts made on Friday are 13% more engaging than Saturday posts, 7% more engaging than Monday posts and 3% more engaging than Tuesday and Thursday posts. In a separate study, Buddy Media suggested that there is an 18% increase in engagement rates for Thursday and Friday posts vs. other days of the week. This same study revealed that there was an 18% reduction in engagement when content was posted on Saturday. Evidently, according to this research, it looks like your opportunities for engagement increase if you post your content on Fridays. Here are some basic questions that may be worth your time to answer. 1) How often will you post updates to your page? 2) What will you post about? 3) When will you use text-only versus links? 4) Will you use 3rd party content to add value? 5) Will you mix up media and use video, audio, photos? Answering these questions should definitely help you create your ideal social media strategy. On top of that, you may want to consider having other people who can help you post additional content. If so, be sure to establish each person as an administrator of your page, and assign roles to each of them. Asses and establish the ideal topics of discussion. Establish times for updating your page. All of these steps will be important. It’s not a secret there are some automated posting tools that can make it possible for you to make automatic posts to your Facebook account. However, it is helpful to know that Facebook treats these auto-posts as “less valuable” than they do when you post live, directly on Facebook. If you use automated tools to schedule your posts too frequently, don’t be surprised if you don’t appear in the news feeds of your fans. One alternative strategy would be to use a mix of posts from an auto-posting tool along with a reasonable number of direct posts as well. While there are no hard and fast rules, written in stone as to how often you should post your content, be sure to keep your fans’ expectations in mind. Several posts a day may be too much information, while one post per month may not be enough to keep your fans engaged. You know your fans better than anyone else. Let your knowledge of your fan base serve as a useful guide |
How to Use Facebook to Engage Clients on Social Media
By Mischa Truong-Tran
Social Media Training and Internet Marketing Expert – St. Louis, MO
As part of social media training, individuals frequently inquire about how to use Facebook to engage with their prospective clients. There are a number of ideas worth considering. Here are a few of them.
So now you have a fan page on Facebook? What do you do next? How do you interact and attract other interested individuals? How do you keep those people enticed to the point that they want to purchase from you? Leading social media experts and social media consultants have written a lot about social media campaigns and social media strategies. They will tell you that one of their most frequently asked questions relates to engagement with followers. Unfortunately, when I think of the word engage, I think of weddings and romance. I don’t really think of business, clients, customers, and sales. So, what is this other type of “engagement” and how do you create it on Facebook?
If you examine social media statistics, you are likely to discover that significant amounts of interaction are tied to posts of photos and quotes. Posting a quote or posting a photo may get you discovered, but it is even more valuable when you can get visitors to do one more thing. For example, you can say something like “Click LIKE if you like this quote – it’s one of my favorites:” just before your quote. You have just “engaged” your customer and you didn’t even have to buy a ring!
Another way to engage your fans is to demonstrate that know them. Know what they want to see and what they enjoy. Then, use what you know to connect with them…by asking them to participate.
For example, if you choose to post a photo, then be sure to leave “fill in the blank” type statements and ask visitors to fill in the blank with a caption. Further, if your customers are dog lovers, post a photo of a dog in an interesting pose. Create a fill in the blank type statement, so they can use their creativity to create a caption. Again, you have just engaged your fan!
Engaging with fans in these two ways, just means you are creating an interaction. Social media strategists all agree that within these interactions, you want to encourage your fans and followers to take additional steps. The call to action can mean the difference between someone who visits your page one time and someone who will return frequently to find out what you are up to. The people who choose to return, will be your future customers, so engagement is definitely worthwhile. With this kind of engagement, there is no ceremony or fancy reception but you still have the long-term commitment of a loyal fan!
The Social Media Strategist and the Personal Trainer
By Mischa Truong-Tran
Social Media Expert / Social Media Strategist
Buildatribe.com – Social Media Training of St. Louis, MO
How is social media marketing, online marketing, video marketing and email marketing like a weight loss crusade?
If you are searching for ways to lose unwanted pounds, everybody knows that you get superior results by eating high quality, nutritious foods in the right sized portions and exercising on a regular basis too. It is crucial to do both.
If you join a fitness facility, hire a personal trainer and a dietary expert and you fail to exercise or eat properly, there is only one person at fault. It is you.
If you want to use social media for business and implement social media strategies to market products or services online, then you should to put out great content and do it often. If you want viral marketing results, then you better put out good content as often as possible.
Just like a personal trainer or dietary expert can show you a healthy pathway and help you get superior results in less time, a social media expert or social media consultant can help you with your Internet marketing efforts. However, if you don’t put in the effort and time that is required to produce quality content on a consistent basis, a social media consultant’s knowledge won’t be enough to help you accomplish your online marketing objectives.
If you don’t know what kind of content your ideal prospects would value the most, then let me urge you to begin by answering the questions that people ask you about the most. If there are objections or misconceptions regarding your expertise, then providing content that addresses them can also become quite popular.
You know what your prospects need most. It’s up to you to give it to them.
Social Media Strategy: How Commercials Can Ruin it For You
By Mischa Truong-Tran
Social Media Expert / Social Media Strategist
Buildatribe.com – Social Media Training of St. Louis, MO
While performing some social media marketing consulting work a short time ago, I was assembling some social media campaigns and social media strategies for an organization who came really close to making a costly miscalculation. The good news was that it was a simple mistake to avoid and I want help you avoid it too.
Before I reveal it, please consider the answers to a few basic questions. How do you feel about commercials you see on television? How come?
I don’t like to watch television commercials at all. I don’t appreciate it when products get shoved in my face and it interferes with what I am trying to do. My disgust for commercials is so strong that I watch very little live television. I would much rather record the programs I want to watch with my digital recorder. I love being able to forward through the commercials.
What does all this have to do with social media marketing, email marketing, Facebook marketing, Twitter marketing or other forms of online marketing? Everything.
The organization I was working with was wanting to do some YouTube marketing and video marketing. They knew their ideal clients usually went online to do a bunch of research before they would be willing to make the big investment required for their services. They created video scripts that answered questions their potential clients frequently asked them.
After creating the videos and submitting them for our client’s review, it happened. Someone said, “Hey, let’s put our music and jingle at the end of it, the owner loves hearing that.” I scratched my head, because I knew where the conversation was going. “Let’s put our slogan at the end too,” they said.
I had just one little inquiry. What does the owner love more, hearing the jingle or getting more clients? The organization almost ruined a valuable, credible and potential viral marketing social media strategy and tool. They nearly destroyed a web video campaign by transforming it into a crummy commercial.
When using social media for business, it is necessary to keep what matters most in proper perspective. Top social media consultants and social media experts will encourage you to become the “go-to” resource and get recognized as your industry expert. Become the thought leader that everyone else talks about and looks to for guidance.
Don’t make the mistake of ruining otherwise valuable social media marketing content by turning it into some lame commercial that will only repel the people you want to attract.
Here’s the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mId55BCIU2c
Video Marketing, Viral Marketing and Social Media Strategies
By Mischa Truong-Tran
Social Media Expert / Social Media Strategist – St. Louis, MO
Can you think back to the time before music videos became popular? If you were raised after the launch of MTV or never knew what it was like when that channel only played music videos, then I ask you to imagine what it was like for those of us who are a bit older.
We didn’t have a bunch of good choices if we were music fans. We could buy a band’s album, hear songs played on the radio or read articles about them in magazines. If we got really lucky, our favorite band might come to perform live in a city close by every once in awhile.
Video changed everything. Today, if we want to consume band interviews, viral marketing videos or concert footage, then we can get it by logging on to YouTube.
What does any of this have to do with social media marketing, email marketing, facebook marketing, twitter marketing or other forms of online marketing? Everything.
YouTube marketing and video marketing makes it simple, easy and inexpensive to promote yourself and use social media for business. You can execute social media strategy and social media strategies from top social media consultants and social media experts to spread your business ideas in your field of expertise just like rocks stars learned to do in theirs.
Video creation, production and distribution technologies are so simple to use and surprisingly affordable that you don’t have to be a millionaire rock star to use web videos effectively. If you aren’t willing to make internet video production and video marketing part of your internet marketing strategy, then it is my opinion that you will be overlooked when compared to those who do.
Here’s a link to the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjzDFIR5qSY
Linchpin of Social Media Campaigns and Social Media Strategy
By Mischa Truong-Tran
Buildatribe.com – Social Media Consultants
St. Louis, MO
I was visiting with people from a company who had expert marketers generating lots of traffic toward a special offer on their Internet site. They effectively utilized many forms of social media marketing, video marketing, email marketing, SEO, and mobile marketing.
The site attracted their ideal prospects. And, all the site visitors had to do to get their special offer was to enter their name and email address.
Unfortunately, hardly anyone took action. The offer was a bomb and the marketers were extremely frustrated.
Here’s what the company’s marketers learned about their social media strategies and the advice they got from top social media experts and social media consultants. It didn’t matter if they thought their offer was a good one. Their opinions about an offer were irrelevant. Why? Because the marketplace told them otherwise.
They also learned the value of having a sizable number of social media followers and solid, targeted, Internet traffic. Why? Because, when lots of people reject or ignore an offer who are ideally suited to become clients, then the value of that significant and instant feedback can save months of work and thousands of dollars.
Not all was lost. Viral marketing was still a possibility. It’s not like their special offer to capture leads was a tattoo. They did have the ability to change it quickly and easily. Obviously, changes were going to be necessary if they planned on achieving better results from future social media campaigns and their social media strategy.
Here’s the linchpin. If a special offer created to generate leads or orders isn’t working like it is supposed to, then change it quickly and move on. Don’t become overly attached to the idea of being right or wrong about what you suspect your ideal prospects are or aren’t interested in. If you ask enough of your ideal prospects and clients about their preferences, then they will tell you.
Here’s a link to the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hwo3BvXnj54
When Your Social Media Strategy and Internet Marketing Fails
By Mischa Truong-Tran
Social Media Expert at Buildatribe.com of St. Louis, MO – Social Media Consultants
When should you throw in the towel on your efforts related to social media marketing, video marketing, email marketing and mobile marketing? Should you keep throwing away and wasting resources on social media campaigns and social media strategies that aren’t paying off? As long as you learn from your mistakes and keep making forward progress, I encourage you to keep driving on. Here’s why and how.
Top social media experts, social media consultants and others who have executed their own social media strategies will admit, if they are honest, that they have discovered some of their most valuable ideas by suffering through mistakes. You don’t have to be a social media strategist to observe your results and figure out what caused them.
Want to know where to invest your Internet marketing time and resources? Ask yourself these important questions.
First, are you getting enough site traffic? If the answer is no, then don’t prematurely judge your online marketing messages or special offers as inept.
Second, if you are attracting enough site traffic, then you might want to ask yourself if it is the right type of traffic. If your traffic is not comprised of people who want to buy from you or refer you to others who do, then the answer may be a simple one. Top social media experts and social media consultants will suggest that you can fix this problem by adjusting your content. Make it more interesting and helpful to people who fix in your target market.
Third, if you’re getting plenty of the right kind of site visitors with your social media campaigns and social media strategies, but aren’t capturing their contact information or getting them to buy from you, then here’s a thought. Change your offer. And, keep changing it until it works.
Finally, if you are capturing their contact information and your follow up process isn’t bringing you the viral marketing results you hoped for (or even steady, predictable results), then let me encourage you to experiment with a variety of different follow up strategies. Implement and compare one campaign that is longer against one that is shorter. Compare one campaign that has longer intervals of time between contacts against one with shorter intervals. Compare different offers too. If you track and measure your results, then the feedback should give you the answers you need the most.
As my dad used to say, “Quitters never win and winners never quit.” When it comes to online marketing and offline marketing, his advice still applies.
Here’s the YouTube Video: http://www.youtube.com/user/buildatribe?blend=1&ob=0#p/u/6/qZk5hQsrZFo
