Five Sucessful Social Marketing Tips

The effects of social media on marketing and branding have caught many CMOs off guard. Just five years ago, it was conventional wisdom that social media would quickly peak and fade in importance. Then two years ago, CMOs found themselves scrambling to launch Facebook fan pages and Twitter streams, trying to catch up with consumers who appeared to be migrating in droves to social networks and smartphones.

While the 30-second TV spot has held its own, the evolution of social media marches on. It continues to grow, and is entering its third stage of evolution. It is now becoming the focal point for consumers and citizens to form strong links and communities centered around shared values and common goals to persuade corporations to participate in building a better world. A few brands have caught on with cause-conscious marketing initiatives like the Pepsi Refresh Project, Starbucks' Shared Planet, Walmart's Sustainability Index, Nike's Livestrong partnership, and Procter & Gamble's "Clean Water Blogivation" effort, to name but a few.

Social media represents a significant and permanent change that CMOs must embrace. Disingenuous efforts to fast track your social-media footprint simply by stockpiling "fans" will not only prove ineffective but will backfire. Savvy social-media customers know when there is no authentic commitment to engage with them.

The key today is CMOs must shift their strategies from trumpeting their brand as the "celebrity" (with all attention directed inward on themselves) to being the chief celebrant of their customers' community. This shift entails rethinking many fundamental elements of your marketing strategy. Here is a step-by-step strategy for brands to build customer engagement by leveraging the evolving tools of social media.

1. Define Your Core Values. Rethink how you want to define (or redefine) your brand. What are its core values? Its purpose? The answers should not be framed in terms of admirable but empty promises, but authentically humanistic values that are constructive and shareable within your brand community.

2. Get Leadership Buy-in. As CMO, you need to facilitate the adoption of these values throughout the company. It starts with getting buy-in from your CEO, and must extend down through the leadership and management ranks. You cannot let the inertia of the hierarchical organization become a stumbling block.

3. Align Employees Around the Values and Purpose. Your employee base is your first line of loyalty and word-of-mouth advertising for the brand, so you need to ensure that your brand's support for social cause resonates with them. A powerful way to do this is to invite the CEO to craft a video message or contribute to a blog especially for employees. Also, promote employee volunteer activities and celebrate the good works they do on their own time within the company culture.

4. Celebrate Your Customers, Not Your Brand. This step is one of the hardest for CMOs who have built their success on traditional broadcast thinking. It involves transitioning from a push to a pull strategy, from "me first" to "we first" thinking. One of the key shifts here is to share the brand's storytelling with your customers. You must invite them to co-author the stories your brand is telling and allow them to be partners in the distribution of content about your brand. The guiding principles of a pull strategy are as follows:

    Recognize that your story is now your community's story.
    Lead with listening rather than talking about your own brand.
    Start treating customers as living, breathing people with concerns about the world.
    Invest time and energy in building relationships as well as making profits.
    Expand from a sales focus into a service mentality.
    Become a day trader in social emotion by constantly monitoring your brand's reputation.

5. Focus customer service on engagement. Be mindful of the social footprint of your customers and see them as partners in disseminating your values rather than as purchasers of your products.

Taking these steps may feel uncomfortable at first, as they probably go against the grain of existing business models, profit centers and incentive schemes. But they are reflective of the new marketplace of customers that gravitate to social media at every chance they can to talk about their brand choices. Your goal is to authentically inspire your customers to become emotionally invested in the company's success not only because they love your brand but because they respect your values and purpose.

Article Source: http://adage.com/article/cmo-strategy/tips-social-media-marketing/227857/

How To Blog For A Business

So, you’ve decided to start up a business blog. Good for you! Blogging is great from a search engine optimization standpoint. We all know that the search engines like new content, which is what every blog post that you post to your website will be. It also provides you with the opportunity to target more keywords by posting content based on those words. However, when it comes to blog writing it’s important to write to your audience and provide relevant and engaging posts. The goal is to position yourself as an industry expert and keep your readers coming back time and time again. After you’ve set up the blog the next step is to start writing! This is where some people may have difficulties. However, don’t stress. There are numerous things to write about.

Here are some blogging ideas:

Industry News

If you’re working in an industry, you should know what’s going on. If you don’t, find out! Pay attention to the news, read industry magazines and other publications, and check out other people’s blog and forum posts. This should give you an idea of what’s going on. Write about it and provide your companies opinions and reactions.


Company News

A blog is a great outlet to reveal a new service or product that you offer. You can also notify your customers of a location move, branch addition, or new personnel that have recently been hired. Really, anything going on in the company is fair game.

Insider Tips

While you don’t want to give away all of your “secrets”, you can use your blog to provide some tricks of the trade. This confirms that you know your stuff and can be trusted. It’s a great way to get customers or clients.

Guest Posts from Employees

These “day in the life of” blog posts can be written by employees from every department and at every level of the company. They can explain their background, what led them to your company, and what their duties are.

A blog is great way to show your personality to customers and prospects. It should be less formal than your website, but still appropriate and business-like. So what are you waiting for? Get to it! If you need help starting a blog or social media marketing campaign contact Montari Brooklyn Marketing and Advertising Agency at 312-204-7253 or www.MontariBrooklyn.com

5 Big Differences Between Press Release Submissions and Article Submission

Building traffic for a brand, whether a storefront or online requires lots of work, dedication, and above all, writing.  Creating content is how you reach the masses, but knowing what to write for whom you are trying to attract can be very different.  Creating quality content is no good if you aren't directing it to, and in a manner that will allow the reader to digest and use it to the best of their ability.

1. Press releases should be written for writers or news media and outlets.  Think of it this way, your press release is a sales pitch, the idea is to get someone as much information as possible in the least amount of time and contain content that can in turn be re-written or broadcasted to the ultimate demographic of the project you are pushing.

2. Press releases should not be written for your demographic.  When writing a press release, you need to assume that the person you're sending it to has almost no knowledge of the content.  Write the press release so the content is easily digestible and understandable by a broad audience.

3. Articles are usually longer and contain more in-depth compared to a press release with the goal of attracting readers and can be used as purely informational, to sell, to suggest or to link to another article, but to drive traffic.  Unlike press releases, articles are written specifically for the target demographic that is to read them, so utilizing keywords and looking at current trends is that niche is essential.

4. Articles can be written to optimize search engines to get inbound traffic.  They can also be written to link to, or have links in-bound from other sites, unlike press releases which are once and done pieces.

5. Press releases are time sensitive.  They are used within a narrow window to make an announcement, draw attention and start a buzz, but they usually point to or reference an article, so in may ways they work together but are definitely different.

Before you start writing, look at who will be reading your work and what you want them to do with it, take from it or remember.  Writing articles usually involves more time and a longer thought processes, they tend not to be time sensitive and most are written with the intent on being archived on the Internet for years to come.  Creating a press release should be more focused on the objective, getting the reader to tell other people about the contents of the release.  Providing them with the tools, information and data they need to do this in an easily readable, no-nonsense manner will increase the chances they follow through with it.

For more information of press releases and public relations contact the Montari Brooklyn Team at 1-855-937-2538 or visit us on the website at www.MontariBrooklyn.com

How To Stay Up To Date With Facebook Marketing

Facebook's announcement that it was testing real-time ad targeting made waves across our industry. At this point, any major change in Facebook's advertising practices could lead more than a few marketers to rewrite their social media strategy, shift their assets and reshape their budgets.

What most people didn't know is that Facebook announces changes and updates to its ad platform on a nearly weekly basis. Granted, not all of these announcements are on par with real-time targeting; that one's a potential game changer. But smaller updates do impact how brands deliver their ads. For example, Facebook will soon roll out a feature that lets advertisers target their ads to specific tabs within its ecosystem. It's not exactly groundbreaking, but it affects targeting strategy and where ads are seen.

Facebook is still young compared to tried and true ad channels like search and banners, so evolution is still a given. With that in mind, it's in every marketer's best interest to keep up to date with the changes so you can take full advantage of every update and addition.

Stay in touch with your agency and vendor partners. 
Trying to stay on top of everything Facebook related is a full-time gig. Luckily, the agency or vendor you use employs someone to do just this sort of job. Keep the lines of communication open and ask for periodic updates. The real-time targeting announcement likely led to more than a few frenzied brand marketers calling their "social media experts" asking about the implications.

You don't have to be one of them. Stay in close contact with the people running your social campaigns and ask if there's anything new that might affect your campaigns or strategy. Request biweekly or monthly email updates. Not every detail is life-changing information, but it's good to stay in the loop.

The Facebook ad team is making a concerted effort to release updates to its Ads API Tool Vendors first, so that this group of vendors can integrate new advetising capabilities and educate the market before the story appears in the press or becomes available in the Facebook advertising marketplace.

Facebook's ads API is still in beta, and as a result, access is limited to just 18 companies. But these companies are the true Facebook insiders with access that others don't have. If you want to stay up to date, it makes sense to turn to them.

Read up.
Even if you're regularly discussing potential platform changes with your agency contact, you need to proactively learn about Facebook on your own. This doesn't mean scrolling through your friends' updates when you should be working. There are plenty of news outlets providing updates and analysis of the latest Facebook marketing tools on a daily basis.

Facebook itself has a Developers' Wiki that's a great resource for anyone running an application within the social network, but it's very tech-specific and might be over the head of the average brand marketer.

In addition to Ad Age, there are blogs specializing solely in Facebook minutia. Inside Facebook covers the platform from a developer and advertiser perspective, while the similar All Facebook is a great resource on marketing news and the companies involved in Facebook marketing, complete with tutorials Mashable, a social media blog, offers breaking news and analysis on the latest happenings in Facebook and all other social media.

Test, test, test. 
By now you know that Facebook is constantly updating its advertising capabilities, so you should build change into your strategy. Once you're up to speed on the latest Facebook updates, the only way to truly understand what makes sense for your campaign is to test.

You don't need to utilize every new feature to run successful campaigns, and trying to do so would stretch you thin. Instead, test, study the results and then apply them. That's basic marketing strategy, and it shouldn't be forgotten on a new platform. Real-time capabilities or targeting specific tabs within Facebook may not give your campaign any sort of boost. Instead, you may find more success targeting certain interest segments and demographics that are totally outside the box. We've seen some surprising correlations between people who buy specific products and the other interests they share. As you strategize about what works for your brand, don't leave out good old trial and error. For more information on Social Media Marketing contact Chicago based Marketing and Advertising Agency, Montari Brooklyn at 312-204-7253 or www.MontariBrooklyn.com

Article Source - http://m.adage.com/article?articleSection=digitalnext&articleSectionName=DigitalNext&articleid=http%3A%2F%2Fadage.com%2Fdigitalnext%2Fpost%3Farticle_id%3D227422

4 Ways To Get Consumers Talking About Your Small Business

Small businesses are in a unique position to truly benefit from customer reviews.  Chains are pretty well locked into their branding and there tends to be very little differentiation city-to-city and state-to-state.  They will build reputations for being consistent and predictable, but rarely break through to extraordinary.  However, small businesses are unencumbered by these expectations; small businesses have the opportunity to make a name for themselves as something really special.  Soliciting customer feedback can play a crucial role in building this reputation.  Here are 4 things to keep in mind as you encourage your own customers to review your business.
 

1)  Incentivize.  Give your customers a reason to review your business or service.  Offer them a coupon or discount off their next purchase if they go to Yelp, Citysearch or EZlocal and leave a review. 

2)  Link your business profiles on your own website.  Don't count on customers tracking down your listing on Yelp, InsiderPages or EZlocal.  Add links to your website for each profile and further encourage customers to go leave reviews. 

3)  Encourage a constant stream of reviews.  Keep the reviews trickling in, this serves two important purposes.  First, it looks better.  If you are visiting a profile whose reviews are all clustered around 3 or 4 dates, it looks questionable, a little bit planned and spammy.  A constant stream of reviews spread across all dates looks much better and will build more trust with potential customers.  

Secondly, a constant review stream will add up in the long run.  Make no mistake, review count matters so always keep that stream trickling in, it will add up and pay dividends, especially if your competitors are only making sporadic pushes for reviews.

4) Don't discourage bad reviews.  We don't live in a perfect world and no one expects your business to bat 1.000.  In fact, if your business has nothing but 5-star reviews across the board it might strike consumers as a bit suspect, is anybody that perfect?  Also, negative reviews offer a golden opportunity for you to prove yourself, to go above and beyond. The Consumerist actually has an entire category dedicated to incidences where businesses stepped up and made things right after something went wrong.  

The strength of small businesses often lies in customer service and attention to detail.  If a bad review falls on your doorstep, rejoice—you have a chance to showcase your talents and turn a negative review into a positive experience, something they will be impressed with and tell their friends about.  This word of mouth will prove to be incredibly valuable to your business.

For more information on growing your business clientele and marketing. Please contact the Montari Brooklyn Team at 1-855-We-Sale-U or visit www.MontariBrooklyn.com


 

7 Tips For An Effective Press Release

Creating a press release for a campaign or assignment requires thought and preparation, without the core fundamentals your release may end up right in the trash folder of your recipients email.  A well-written press release can be an invaluable asset to your company and the success of the content within the release you're trying to help generate attention for.  Here are 7 mistakes most commonly made when writing a press release that you can easily avoid to become more successful at pushing your product, website or idea.

1.  Lack of proper research.  Spend the time to read and subscribe to press releases not only in the niche you work within, but from some of the larger and more successful companies in the world.  Look to see how they are laid out, worded and put together and pick the best parts from each to incorporate into your own releases.

2.  Don't assume anything.  Your reader may not know what it is they are getting, and since your goal is to have your reader generate buzz to their readers or media outlet, lay out the specifics for them.

3.  Don't belittle or talk down to anyone.  While number 2 says to be specific with what you are writing, don't write in a condescending manner, which almost always ends in a delete from the reader.  Assume they are not a total idiot.

4.  Don't oversell your product or service.  The purpose of a press release is to put it into the hands of those who have influence and a crowd to share it with.  They are not the ones who will be buying or using whatever is in the contents of your press release.  Don't try to make them the buyer, rather look at them as your reseller and present the information in the same way you would teach a sales associate how to sell to a customer in a store.

5.  Don't over-write or bloat the release.  A press release is not an article, it's meant to be informative and easily digestible; keep the fluff to a minimum and focus on the details that pertain to the service or product

6.  Do write a clever subject line.  Log into your email and check the messages you have deleted but never opened.  Chances are the subject line didn't entice you to open it.  Be creative and to the point with the subject line, the difference here can be a success or total failure and most new press release writers skip the importance to this small but invaluable part of content delivery.

7.  Don't jump the gun with sending your release.  Wait until you have all the facts, specifics and proper information for the contents within, then send it.  Don't send the release announcing a forthcoming release, which will break the trust and relationship with the readers you have.  You're better off sitting on a release for a few days then sending it out missing crucial information.

These simple mistakes can all be easily avoided, in turn you will have a higher success rate across the board, from emails being opened to media outlets picking up your content.  As with all writing, reread, proof and then read it again to ensure it flows smoothly and covers the exact message across that is needed for each assignment. For more information about submitting a press release or editing, please contact The Montari Brooklyn Team at 1-855-We-Sale-U or visit us on the web at www.MontariBrooklyn.com.

Top 10 Ways To Keep Visitors On Your Website

What are the secrets of the super sites? Why do some sites suceed while the majority of others fail? More and more Internet business owners are asking themselves these questions. The answers are frequently more obvious than you may think. Below are 10 tips for better, more successful web sites.

1. Build Your Website For Speed:

It's a fact of modern life - people are in a hurry. Nowhere is that more true than on the Internet. It seems that no matter how much the technology improves, nothing is ever fast enough. In fact, several studies indicate that the fast technology advances, the faster people expect things to be.

So what does this mean for your website design? It means that you have between 10 and 30 seconds to capture your potential customer's attention. If they can not at least begin to read about your product in that much time, they will be headed going to another website. To minimize your load time, keep graphics small. Compress them where possible. Use flashy technology (Javascript, Flash, Streaming Audio/Video, animation) sparingly and only if it is important to your presentation.

2. Target Your Market:

Know who your market is and make certain that your site caters to their needs. It is critical that your site reflect the values of your potential customers. Is your market mostly business professionals? If so, the site must be clean and professional. Is your product aimed mostly a teenagers and young adults? Then your site could be more informal and relaxed. The key here is to know your market and build the site to their preferences.

3. Focus The Site:

Make certain your web site is focused on the goal, selling your product or service. A site offering many unrelated products is not necessarily unfocused, but this is often the case. If your business does offer many products, dedicate a unique page for each instead of trying to sell them all from one page. Upselling or cross selling is vital but don't dedicate so much to it that the customer feels caught in a bait and switch. Make mention of other products but do so subtly.

4. Credibility Is Crucial:

The most professionally designed site won't sell if your customers don't believe in you. The impersonal nature of the Internet breeds a certain level of mistrust. For your web site to be successful you must overcome this tendency.

A clear privacy statement is one way to build your credibility. Every commercial web site should have a privacy statement posted on line. Provide a prominent link to your privacy statement from every page on the site as well as from any location that you are asking your visitors for personal information. Provide legitimate contact information on line. Your contact information should include an email address, mailing address, phone number and a fax number, if applicable. If you are unwilling to provide this information to your customers, how can they trust (or buy from) you?

5. Offer A Guarantee:

Offer an ironclad, no exceptions money back guarantee. This item is really a credibility issue but it is important enough to warrant its own mention. What better way to establish your customer's trust than to eliminate any risk for them? If the customer sees that your are willing to assume all of the risk, they will immediately be more inclined to trust you.

6. Make Payment Easy:

Offer a variety of payment methods for your customer. If you don't currently take credit cards, start immediately. You can either set up a merchant account or use one of the many credit card clearing houses. Take checks on line. Provide an address for those who prefer to pay by cash, check or money order. Make sure the payment process is clear, easy to access and intuitive to use. Eliminate as many steps as possible. Do not ask for any more information than is necessary to complete the transaction. Nothing frightens a customer off faster than feeling that their privacy is being invaded.

7. Simple Navigation:

Make site navigation easy and intuitive. While it may be artistic to make your index page all black and hide the link to continue, will that generate business? If your customer can not navigate your site to find what they want, they will go elsewhere. Limit the choices and direct your customers through a sales process.

8. Consistency:

Make sure the site is consistent in look, feel and design. Nothing is more jarring and disturbing to a customer than feeling as if they have just gone to another site. Keep colors and themes constant throughout the site.

9. Design for indexing:

85% of all web users find what they are looking for via the top search engines. Make sure that your page is designed to maximize your placement. Focus on your keywords and keyword density but don't sacrifice your message. Utilize the meta tags keywords, description and title. Use your keywords when naming your pages.

10. Content Is Extremely Important:

Good content sells product. Ask yourself the following questions. Does your copy convey the message you wish to get across to your visitors? Is it compelling? Does it lead your visitor through the sales process? Have others review, critique and edit your copy to insure it is delivering the intended message. Always double check your spelling and grammar.

Implementing the ten steps above probably will not make your site as successful as Yahoo or Amazon overnight. If they are implemented correctly and integrated into an overall web site design and marketing campaign, you should see an improvement in your website traffic.