Reward your fan's!

Reward your fan's with a great Coupon! Here's what your Facebook Coupon could look like when it's "done right" by Sprocket Social Media.

Does LinkedIn have value?

I am frequently asked about LinkedIn. And, the most common question I get is... "so I signed up on LinkedIn, but I don't know what I'm supposed to do with it. Does it have any value?"

In fact, LinkedIn generates the most B2B referrals of all social media sites, including Facebook and Twitter (Source: Leadforce1, June 2010). And it also generates the most B2B lead conversions beating out the company blog, Facebook, and Twitter. (Source: Hubspot, State of Inbound Marketing Report 2011).

Let's consider the numbers. LinkedIn has 85 million users, of which 32 million are based in the U.S. The average LinkedIn user is between 35 and 49-years old, with $110k in income. Every Fortune 500 company is listed/represented on LinkedIn. Over 12 million small business people are LinkedIn users, of which 1.3 million are small business owners. Over 150 industries are included. And the list goes on. The answer to "does it have value" is YES.

A Restaurant Builds Relationships with Social Media

Build relationships: For B.Good, a Boston-based restaurant chain, Facebook and Twitter help to build stronger relationships with customers. On Facebook, the business runs contests to name its newest burger, posts pictures of holiday presents the company wrapped for its customers, and announces its latest menu items. On Twitter, the chain takes advantage of the immediacy of the network, collecting and responding to instant feedback. "With the dialogue and trust that we create, customers are much more likely to engage and help us," explains Jon Olinto, one of B.Good's founders. "Our loyal customers want us to improve and succeed."  Check out another restaurant, Ninja Steak and Sushi using social media to build relationships with clients.

Why does my business need a blog?

While blogging evolved out of personal expression, business blogging is less about corporate ego and more about empathy with customers. A blog is a way for you to show your expertise in your subject matter and help customers find what they need. A blog will give prospective customers a level of comfort in doing business with you. Blogging also helps you get found in search engines like Google, Yahoo and Bing. When someone searches for your product or service, your blog may show up as a separate listing as well as your web site.

Social Media and Trade Shows

One of the major benefits of a Facebook fan page is that you can post video footage from events or trade shows. Shoot some video footage with your Flip camera or iPhone of your booth and staff during a trade show and post it while the event is still under way. It will give your fans a chance to catch a glimpse of your location at the show and introduce them to the sales team.

A Social Media Golden Rule

Take the opportunity to help someone, without offering a sales pitch. With social media, you earn the right to promote by being helpful first. Reach out to people, direct them to resources, and establish a good relationship.

Target Customer Profile

One of the goals of social media monitoring is to gain a better understanding of the potential target audiences in your social sphere, where they are and what interests them. Monitoring will also help benchmark important metrics for social media objectives. Each month, Sprocket Social Media under the Monthly Campaign targets and identifies audiences that are interacting with your social media. We will create a "Target Customer Profile" for your business based on information that we discover in the Social Media Business Evaluation and monthly reporting. This target could be based on location, interests, affiliations, etc. This information will be used to create posts, contests, and email campaigns.

Do Real Estate Agents Need Social Media?

Lately, I have been talking to some Real Estate agents about social media. Their objection with social media is TIME. There is no doubt that social media and Facebook take up a great deal of time. It can even consume you. But it is so important that you tell everyone that you come in contact with that you are in real estate. Word of Mouth advertising is an agents best friend. The first place that most buyers go to look for real estate is the internet. They may look at Realtor.com, a web site or even Facebook. Did you know that search engines like Google and Yahoo are listing Facebook pages in their results? Print media is only good in certain situations. No one reads the newspaper, they read the internet. No one looks at real estate magazines; they look at Realtor.com or a real estate web site and the internet. No one sends a letter to a friend anymore; they send them an email or a Facebook message. It is real important that today’s real estate agents are up with the times and have a good web presence. 

Should an agent use their personal Facebook page or a Fan Page? I think that it is important to have both but keep them separate. None of your Facebook friends want to see a sales pitch or real estate facts every day. They want to hear about what is going on in your life, but also love to see pictures of new listings and happy buyers. The Fan Page is a good supplement to your personal page. You must have a FAN Page that is appealing and graphic rich. There are many applications available for real estate agents for Facebook. Invite your friends on your personal page to become a FAN of your FAN Page. When a friend goes to buy a house or hears about someone buying or selling, you want them to remember your last posting about that great property that your buyer was so happy about. Facebook can greatly increase your web presence. Before the internet we would get new customers through Word of Mouth or referrals. We are still doing the same thing, but with Social Media.

What is RSS?

RSS

Literally, this stands for Really Simple Syndication. An RSS feed allows the content from regularly updated websites (like blogs or podcasts) to be aggregated and posted to one website (often called a "reader") or mobile device. Choosing to follow an RSS feed is often referred to as "subscribing" to it. You can also have an RSS feed directly to your Facebook Page! 

You Can't Ignore Twitter Either!

67%

of Twitter users are more likely to buy from the brands they follow. (source: HubSpot)

Bing Taps Facebook Data for Fight With Google

Microsoft is hoping that its alliance with Facebook will get more people to choose Bing over Google.

Starting late Monday, Bing users will see search results that are influenced in part by what their Facebook friends liked or share on the social networking site. While Google has also tried to offer “social” inputs into its search results, Microsoft said that its partnership with Facebook would allow it to go further than its rival.

SEO 101 Tips

Here is a list of SEO (Search Engine Optimization) Tips to keep in mind:

·         You shouldn’t have 100 keywords stuffed into your keyword section of each page of your site. There should be no more than 5-7 keywords in this space strategic to the material on that web page.

·         Your web pages should not have more links than content. This is going to cause a horrible user experience and could even cause a penalty if really abused.

·         Directory submissions can generate nice link power when you are listed in strategic niche directories surrounding your area of business. Purchasing a directory submission package promising 1,000 links is not strategic and oftentimes abused.

·         Article marketing is all about positioning yourself as an expert in your field by writing a few key pieces of literature. This is a great way to help SEO and to become a recognized expert in your field on your Social Media sites.

·         f you are a plumbing company and you are seeking out links on a florist directory you have the concept of one way link building all wrong. It is all about creating targeted one way links from either news or niche sources. Completely irrelevant links such as this could actually hurt your search engine optimization efforts.

·         Yes, content is important but that doesn’t mean that your local dentist practice in Gainesville, GA needs 2,000 pages of content so that you can dominate the search results. This is an old school approach that really doesn’t work.

Like sprockets turning and working together, SEO works well when you have several strategies working together.

Defining Goals

“Defining goals” sounds almost too obvious to be worth mentioning, you’d be surprised at how often businesses fail to pinpoint goals for their social media efforts. The allure of Twitter and Facebook promotions is strong. It’s tempting to look around at the competitive landscape and imitate the actions of others without fully understanding what’s at stake. By defining exactly what you hope to gain from your promotion, you can better design the promotion itself to achieve these goals. Do you want to gain followers or “Likes?” Design your promotion to provide incentives for doing so. Reward your 1,000th follower with a lavish gift bag, free consultation, or complimentary meal. Encourage retweets and shares to further spread the word. Do you want to drive sales on your ecommerce site? Offer small, one-time discounts or free shipping offers to anyone who follows or “Likes” your brand and shares your campaign. Do you want to garner more newsletter subscribers? Give users the chance to sign up to your mailing list when you give them their coupon or promo code. Facebook and Twitter both have enormous potential to spread promotions at viral rates. It’s up to you to craft your campaign to take full advantage of this fact.

Understanding What Your Audience Needs

A core element of social media revolves around conversation. Online conversation follows the same patterns as “offline” conversations — it requires both talking and listening. If brands are always talking, they’re not listening, and if they’re not listening, they won’t understand the audience’s needs. By monitoring online conversations about your brand, industry, product or related services, you can strengthen your service offering, product development, customer service and a variety of other core business functions.

Constant Contact is the way to go!

A recent independent study by the Aberdeen Group has found that Constant Contact customers achieve 36% higher open rates, 60% higher click-through rates, and 29% more revenue than customers who use other email service providers. Sprocket Social Media is a Constant Contact Business Partner.

Facebook Photo Tagging & Brand Pages

Today Facebook rolled out a feature that could have big implications for brand pages. Facebook users will now be able to tag brand pages in their photos. This can represent a new avenue for brand pages as users can now associate your brand with their images thus further driving discoverability of your page and generating additional impressions. From a brand perspective it will be interesting to see what strategic changes are made to encourage brand tagging in user photos. It will also be interesting to watch how users respond to more images showing up in their newsfeeds. This is however big news for brands looking to acquire new users as this is a key feature that can now be leveraged on behalf of the brand page. NOTE: Users can tag your brand whether they have LIked it or not.

Fewer calls-to-action see higher engagement

Oreo is employing simple messaging and one-click action on their Facebook page. The eye scans and acts. Once the user posts, there is again a simple, clean action to encourage engagement with the wall. This is similar to the Geico example in which all the brand does is ask for the visitor's ZIP code and pull the user into the quoting funnel. In both cases, there is a big button telling the user what to do, and clicking the button captures a little data and then engages for more. Don’t overwhelm your visitor with asking for too much information or calls-to-action. If you follow this simple rule you will start to see higher engagement with your audience.

See the full gallery on Posterous

Ways to Find People to Follow on Twitter

Click “Who to Follow”: When you log in to Twitter, there’s a link at the top of the page that says “Who to Follow.” Twitter gives suggestions based on those you currently follow, as well as way to import your contact list(s) to see if any of them have Twitter accounts. If you’re new to Twitter, the latter option is a great way to build a list of people to follow right out of the gate.

Raise Your Marketing Results Through the Roof!

Video is a fresh, dynamic, and increasingly essential way for you to reach your customers.

• Visitors who view online product videos are 95% likelier to buy than visitors who do not view the videos.
(Internet Retailer, April 2010)
• Video increases the likelihood of a front-page Google search result by 53x with proper page optimization.
(Forrester, January 2010)
• A minute of video is worth 1.8 million words according to Dr. James McQuivey of Forrester Research.
(Forrester, January 2009)

Is your business taking advantage of video on your Facebook page, Blog, YouTube channel or Web Site?

Oh, social media is not right for my business!

How do you know? Have you taken the time to really explore the space to see what is going on? What if it is quiet and all of a sudden one day a potential client or customer does happen to search for what you offer? Are you willing to not be visible? The reality of social media is that it is right for every business. It truly does not matter how obscure or niche your product or service might be, there is an audience in the social space for you, you just have to draw them out of the woodwork. Look at it like a giant networking event; you just don’t know who or what you will bump into.

Social Media Marketing is just a fad!

False! The reality is that everything in life is a fad and some fads just last longer than others. Stonewashed jeans were a fad, big puffy hair was a fad…social media is an era. If social media lasts 10 years are you going to say “I told you so” or are you going to regret that you missed out on a potentially large business building effort for the last ten years? Don’t let denial get the best of you because social media is an entirely new communication effort. Much like the newspaper and the magazine, social media is aimed at bringing a new method of communication into the business game. Kicking it to the curb because you think that it won’t last long is not really an option.

Two important points to remember about Facebook Search:

It is impossible to predict: you never know what your friends or just

random users will see for any given search query. Facebook search is

likely to heavily rely on connections: how “close” the user is to each

page  - how many of their friends Like it or even how many Friends of

Friends Like it.

 It relies on exact match: Change your search term just a bit to see

completely different search results: for example, [blogging] versus

[bloggers]

Facebook Search

What it does: Facebook internal search helps users find content; Google and Bing also rank Facebook Pages. Why it  matters: Pages that are well defined and optimized will get higher rankings both within Facebook and on the major search engines. Sprocket Social Media uses Facebook page applications to enhance and SEO the site.

Cashing In On The Coupon Comeback

Today my wife took my kids to a new Dentist in town.  I asked her why she was changing Dentists? She responded that she found a coupon on the Dentist’s Facebook Page that allowed us to save over a hundred dollars on cleaning services for both kids.  You Go Girl! After 14 years of decline, coupons offerings and redemptions are on the rise.  Why? It’s the economy stupid. Businesses are needing customers and customers are need good deals. According to NCH Marketing Services Inc., Free Standing Inserts (FSI) Coupon redemption rate in 2010 was 50%, Digital Coupons: 9.8%, In Store Handouts: 22.7% and Direct Mail: 6.2%. Digital coupon distribution in the United States increased by 33.6% from 2009 to 2010.  The trend is toward online coupon offerings like on Facebook and other social media sites.  Growing in popularity is Groupon.com who Google tried to buy this past month. Groupon.com allows you to search for coupons offered in a geographic location. If you are a business or local practice, don’t miss out on offering coupons and promotions through Facebook Pages.

It takes months to find a customer and seconds to lose one

Are you doing everything you can with all of your marketing efforts to make your customers feel special? I am sure I am not the only person who has been addressed as "Dear Valued Customer" by a company I have done business with and opted in to receive its email communications. Now I might be crazy, but I don't feel so valued when the company isn't even willing to use the data that I have given to it to personalize communications to me. Sure, I understand that sometimes there could be issues within a database that prevent it from pulling my name -- but every time?

If your customers have taken the time to give you information about them, why wouldn't you make sure that you use it? I can't imagine any of you would respond to that question with "because I just really don't care about my customers and don't want to make them feel special." But that is exactly what your actions are communicating to those customers.

If you are collecting email addresses, and you should be, make sure that you are also collecting real names associated with those emails. Email services such as Constant Contact allow you to personalize colorful, graphic filled emails that will make your clients feel special and turn them into a loyal customer.

Sent from my iPad

Social Media Is Replacing Traditional Advertising

You hear the social media verbiage everywhere you turn these days, but have you ever stopped to take a look at the serious impact social media marketing is making on our personal and business lives? Social media has increasingly moved in and replaced a variety of communication efforts and I think that it is not slowing down anytime soon. How does this affect your business? How could it affect your business in the future? Are your customers less likely to interact with you in the traditional sense now?

Social media has made such a large impact on society that even the older generations that are typically reluctant to embrace anything tech related are starting to really support the process of social communication. I teach classes for seniors on social media, specifically Facebook. When I ask why do they want to take the class the most common answer is “to keep in touch with friends and family… and take advantage of the coupons being offered”. Wow!  Businesses that might have once relied solely on newspaper advertising and mailers now require a daily dose of Twitter and Facebook to keep revenues building and customers shopping.

When Do You Post?

Companies that post content on their Facebook pages outside normal business hours see engagement rates that are 20% higher than average, according to new data from Facebook marketing software company Buddy Media.

Buddy Media analyzed the Facebook posts and engagement rates for more than 200 clients over the course of two weeks in January and February 2010. The agency measured engagement by looking at comments and “likes,” and factored in fanbase size.

According to Buddy Media, 60% of posts were published between 10am and 4pm. However, many Facebook users prefer to log on to the site before or after work, and their engagement with company posts is higher during those times.

By timing content to post when consumers are poised to be on Facebook, companies have a greater chance of being seen in a fan’s newsfeed. Additionally, the study found that engagement rates are 18% higher on Thursday and Friday than the other days of the week.

"Like" is not the objective.

Social media is less about the technology and more about the sociology. It’s the idea of real people connected to real people. It’s not about collecting fans, friends and followers but real engagement. Businesses need to design social experiences that result in tangible outcomes and value for customers. Customers will break up with businesses who do not deliver value now and over time. “Like” is not the objective.

[galitho] Re: Advantages of Digital Printing

From: Posterous [mailto:post@posterous.com]
Sent: Wednesday, February 23, 2011 6:58 PM
To: bill@sprocketsocialmedia.com
Subject: [galitho] Re: Advantages of Digital Printing

Your email has been posted!     Click to view your new post   Do you want to edit or remove this post? Click here to edit or remove     Sent by Posterous. Change your email settings or unsubscribe Other questions? We'd love to help.

You can lead a horse to water...

Building and launching a good-looking custom Facebook page is great, but that alone is not enough to cultivate a loyal following of customers. Significant social growth happens when companies take innovative steps to promote their page OFF the Internet.  If you’re a retail company, are you printing a Facebook-only offer on your paper receipts to attract more fans?  If you have a local practice (Veterinarian, Dentist, Orthodontist, Optometrist, Accountant, Chiropractor) make sure your business cards and brochures have your social media icons on them when you pass them out at local business events. If you have an online store, are you stuffing invites (with a strong call to action) asking customers to join you on Facebook to discover special discounts and exclusives? Remember, you can’t just ask people to fan or follow you, you must craft and present a compelling and valuable proposition.  Don't just ask for a customer to like you on Facebook, give them a reason. If you misfire (or don’t even try to integrate offline), your customers will quickly find someone else to hang out with online.

One way to increase your FANS and Followers on social media.

When customers come into your place of business, it is important to take advantage of this time and let them know that your business is active in social media. This can be accomplished with in-store signage. Counter and door displays are great ways to communicate. Sprocket provides this signage for you when you sign up for a startup package.

Why Do I Need Fans?

The old way of marketing your business online was through a search engine like Google, Yahoo or Bing.  You had to wait for someone to type in the key words that pertained to your business and hope that your listing appeared on the first page. Then you hoped that the person would click on your listing.

With social media it works in reverse.  You accumulate FANs (Customers) through your social media site, very similar to collecting email addresses. Once they are your FAN, you can engage them in meaningful and helpful conversations (posts) about your business. In a sense, you have a targeted group of people who have expressed interest in your business, products and/or services. That is every marketer’s dream!

Vanity URL - A Must Have

While trying to decode vanity license plates can be a fun and entertaining game to play on a road trip, it’s not something you want to ask consumers to play online. A lengthy URL not only makes it virtually impossible to recall, but it also makes it very difficult to use your Facebook address on your website, in marketing communications, and on business cards.  Once you receive at least 25 fans or ‘likes’ to your page, you’re eligible to set your personalized URL. It is important to brand your business online.  Sprocket Social Media can help you.

Social Media Help For Small Business

As entrepreneurs seek new and innovative ways for advertising a business, social media only continues to grow in popularity, a recent survey reveals.

According to new data from MerchantCircle, the largest online network of local business owners in the U.S., entrepreneurs are increasingly attracted to the simple, low-cost options that online marketing, specifically social media, offer.

The survey found that approximately 70 percent of respondents use Facebook for marketing, surpassing Google (66 percent) to be the most widely used online marketing channel.

However, many businesses are still intimidated by the technology and resources that other online marketing strategies, such as search engine optimization, can require.

"Online marketing continues to be a challenge for most local businesses, and many merchants are working with very small budgets and almost no marketing resources," said Darren Waddell, vice president of marketing at MerchantCircle. "The marketing methods we see gaining the most traction are therefore the ones that offer merchants simplicity, low costs and immediate results." Contact Sprocket Social Media today for your FREE social media checkup!

SEO and Social Media Working Together?

The lines between SEO and social media are quickly diminishing as search engines begin to use links from Twitter and Facebook in their ranking algorithms. Recently, Google and Bing both confirmed that links from Twitter and Facebook carry some weight in determining a page's rank in regular search results. To date, the effects of links in tweets and links in Facebook posts are still relatively small. However, SEO experts agree that search engines will likely increase their use of this data over time.

An Important Rule To Remember About Facebook

Facebook is a very powerful marketing tool if used properly. The most important aspect to remember is that it is a social platform first and needs to be treated as such. In other words, do not expect people to respond to commercial messages but rather build a relationship with them first. Then, they will generate sales for you without you even having to ask. As long as you focus on the needs of your prospects and customers and provide them with value, your sales will increase exponentially and your brand will spread like wildfire.

How Strong Is Your Current Profile Pic On Facebook?

The competition for getting noticed on Facebook has become increasingly steep, and all it takes is one botched first impression to stunt any shot you have at making a quality fan interaction. A potential customer, given the choice, will most likely pick the business that has a full color, graphic rich Profile image. There is plenty of space in the image to promote a weekly special, highlight a “Customer Of The Month”, or just lead eyeballs and clicks to one of your custom tabs. Sprocket Social Media can create eye catching, creative Profile images for your business on Facebook.

Announce Special Deals, Sales or Promotions Through Social Media

Announce specials, deals or sales.  If you are a retailer or anyone who often has special offers, you can use Twitter and Facebook to announce these deals instantly to a large audience.  You know those commercials from Southwest Airlines about that "Ding" application you could download to alert you about specials on flights?  Think of Twitter and Facebook as a kind of free version.  Dell and Woot have done just this type of marketing, with a lot of success.

Social Media Usage Increases in 2010

A December Pew Research Study found that while social networking usage has risen from 35% in 2008 to 61% in 2010 among all online American adults, the increase among older adults is particularly striking. In the same time period, usage amongst both Older Boomers and the GI Generation has approximately quadrupled (rising from 9% to 43% and 4% to 16% in each group respectively). A July Nielsen study found that Baby Boomers comprise one third of all online users, social media users and media users.

Perhaps even more important than Boomers' presence on social networking sites is their spending power: ThirdAge reports that Baby Boomers control over 80% of personal financial assets and more than 50% of discretionary spending power. It's baffling, then, to read Nielsen's reports that just 5% of advertising dollars are actually targeted at adults ages 35-64 (including the older half of Gex X). Sprocket Social Media can manage your social media presence for you. Call today for your free social media checkup. 855-Get-Sprocket

Does Social Media Help Your Website On Search Engines?

When your site has poor presence on the major search engines, obviously your business is losing vast amounts of revenue. Web sites that are not easy to find via search miss out on bringing in new customers as well as repeat customers that use Google to find sites they already know about. The question is whether the same is true for web sites that are not social media friendly? The answer is yes. Why?

Not only do people discover new sites through search, but they also rely on recommendations made via email, word of mouth and through social media content. Making a web site social media friendly will make it easier to share content with others, extend reach and facilitate engagement. 

Social networking sites like Twitter, Facebook, favorite blogs, are often the starting point for discovering new content for an increasing number of internet users. Also, content creation and links that come as an outcome of social media participation can provide positive signals to search engines and affect search visibility. In a nutshell, making a site more social media friendly will expand the opportunity for content to be discovered directly and indirectly.

Why Do Businesses Need Social Media? Part 3

Question: How can Sprocket Social Media help your business?

1)  We will set up your social media correctly and link it to your existing web site. For social media to be effective, it must be set up correctly, enhanced beyond the basics and maintained consistently

2) Sprocket Social Media will search and find customers or groups of customers based on your target customer profile. We will introduce your organization, business, products and services through compelling social interaction.

As a business owner, your time is consumed with day to day operations. You do not have time to learn all of the ins and outs of social media.

Sprocket Social Media has a custom Set-up Package for your business. We provide a monthly marketing program that nurtures, maintains, and reports on the effectiveness of your social media. You can elect to participate in the program or let Sprocket Social Media handle it all for you.

Sprocket Social Media will help you get and keep more customers for your business. Call us today to reserve a free one-on-one social media check-up and consultation. Call today, 1-855-438-7776 that’s 1-855-get-sprocket or enter your email in the box provided and a Sprocket Social Media representative will contact you.

Why Do Businesses Need Social Media? Part 2

Question: Why is this important to your business?

Answer: You need more customers for your business.

With just a website, you have to wait for a potential customer to type a keyword into a search engine, and hope that your business listing will show up and that they will click on your link.

When done correctly, social media allows you to target new customers and introduce your products and services to them at a third of the cost of conventional marketing techniques. Social Media is also rich with reporting that allows you to monitor its effectiveness.

By becoming a “Friend or a Follower” with this target customer, you will be able to make this person aware of your location, products and/or services.

Remember, the average Facebook user has 195 friends. If that person “likes” your products or services, then all 195 friends of this person will be made aware of your business. It is presented to these friends as an endorsement. This is the beauty of social media: “Word of Mouth.”

Why Do Businesses Need Social Media? Part 1

Question: Why Do Businesses Need Social Media?

Answer: It is the new way people (consumers) communicate with each other.

It was once said that if you had a business and did not have a website, you were behind in promoting your business, behind your competition and missing out on new customers.

Today, the same is true with Social Media (Facebook, Twitter and Blogging, YouTube to name a few. You have probably seen these familiar icons in magazine articles and TV ads for large corporations. Social media is not just for looking up old high school buddies.

If your business is not actively engaged in social media, you are behind the marketing curve, most likely behind your competition, and finally missing out on customers that drive by your business everyday who use similar products and services.

Social media is here to stay. Currently there are 2 million web sites connected to Facebook. There are 10,000 new web sites being added every day. Today the average Facebook user has 195 friends.

72% of the internet population is active on at least one social media site.

It is time for your business to actively engage in social media. Sprocket Social Media provides a FREE social media checkup to evaluate the effectiveness of your social media activities. We also offer a monthly campaign that will optimize your social media.