Online marketing is littered with fails; from the small business that fails to claim their Google+ Places page to the Enterprise level B2B that thinks social media isn’t worth the time, it’s easy to fail at social media marketing. Optimizing social media goes far beyond keyword research, search engine optimization and backlinks–rather, it encompasses all of those things and more. Join us for a lively webinar discussing common social media fails–and how you can avoid common social media optimization fails.
Online marketing is littered with fails; from the small business that fails to claim their Google+ Places page to the Enterprise level B2B that thinks social media isn’t worth the time, it’s easy to fail at social media marketing. Optimizing social media goes far beyond keyword research, search engine optimization and backlinks–rather, it encompasses all of those things and more. Join us for a lively webinar discussing common social media fails–and how you can avoid common social media optimization fails.
If you’re a local business owner who still has a relatively small customer base, you know the importance of word of mouth marketing. Your new business depends on what your customers have to say about you, and (as if that pressure isn’t enough) so does your local SEO. Off-page factors have an immense impact on your local SEO success; you need to claim as many local listings as possible, and more importantly, you need reviews—lots of them. The first part is relatively easy, but what about the latter? As business owners, it’s hard to control what other people say (if they say anything at all) about your product or offering. Here are ways you can encourage reviews:
1. The Obvious – Ask them directly
This can be very effective if you’ve just provided excellent customer service. People are more likely to remember you if you directly ask them for their feedback. My hair stylist pulled this trick on me and it was very successful. I felt inclined to help her out and leave a review because she took the time to ask me in person, and because she just gave me a great haircut. It’s simple; at the end of a customer transaction simply ask “Do you have a Yelp or Google+ account?” If they respond with yes, reply with “I would greatly appreciate it if you could leave your feedback.” If they reply with no, do not ask them to create an account. This will only inconvenience them and encourage them to write a negative review.
2. Create an Email Campaign
If your business collects emails and sends out regular newsletters, try dedicating an email campaign to existing customers for reviews. Make it as easy as possible. Thank them for their business and leave a link or two to your local listings. Ask them to please leave feedback about their experience, and make sure to emphasize that you value them as a customer.
3. Social Media
Don’t underestimate your social media fans. They already “like” and “follow” you, so they will most likely be inclined to leave a review—and a positive one at that. Create a Facebook post or send out a tweet asking them to leave a review. Include a link to the platform that you are focusing on (Yelp, Google local, etc) to make it easy for them.
4. Link to Your Listings from Your Website
Again, it’s all about making it as easy as possible for your customers. Make it so that returning customers can go to your website to find your local listings. Collect image logos for Yelp, Yellow Pages, Manta, Google Places, Bing or whichever platforms you prefer, and create image links out of these. When users click on these logos, they should be directed straight to your review page. Creating image links can be incredibly easy depending on which content management system you use, but here’s the html code that you can add to your site:
<a href=”domain.com”> <img src=”domain.com/image.jpg” alt=”Leave a Yelp Review” /> </a>
5. QR Codes
Quick response codes are perhaps the easiest way to direct your customers to your review pages (especially if your clientele is technologically savvy). If you’re unfamiliar with QR codes, they’re just like barcodes that retailers use to scan prices, except that these codes can hold thousands of alphanumeric characters. QR codes can link to content on the web so that when your customers scan the code they are taken directly to your review site. Customers with QR code scanner apps (such as i-nigma and barcode scanner) can easily scan the code and leave a review with their phone. To generate and customize your code, visit myQR.co. If you’d like more details on how to use QR codes for your business, read this article by Social Media Examiner.
6. Leave Messages on Receipts
The key to getting reviews is promptly asking your customers for them. Once a transaction is complete, your customers go on with their daily lives and aren’t likely to think of you again. Print a message on your receipts, invoices, or business cards that reminds your customers to leave a review. On their way out, you should verbally remind them to leave a review, and then reinforce that request with a textual reminder on the receipt. You can even leave QR codes on receipts to make it even easier!
7. Use Foursquare and Twitter to Monitor Check-ins
Foursquare alone is a great tool to keep your customers engaged and talking about your business, but used with Twitter, it can be a great way to see who checks in. Because Twitter and Facebook are integrated with Foursquare, users have the option of publically announcing their check-in on the platform of their choice. Then, set up “twilert” so that every time someone mentions your business name, a notification is sent to your inbox. Using this information, you can personally respond to these tweets and thank them for their business and request a review. Leave a shortened link to your review page in your response to make it easy for the user. Thanks to Search Engine Journal for the great idea!
We here at Apogee Results are all about marketing, and e-mail marketing is powerful. Just ask Groupon. Their billion dollar business is essentially based on it. You are sending e-mails either about existing products, deals for specific products, or notice for future products. It’s so effective that most companies incorporate e-mail marketing into their overall business strategy, and it is so popular that the U.S. spent 1.5 billion on e-mail marketing in 2011 alone, a number that is expected to almost double by 2016. Let’s break down e-mail marketing to explain why it’s so popular.
First, e-mail marketing is directed to specific customers. In its correct form, it’s not spam. People receiving these e-mails have either signed up for them or bought products and thereby agreed to receive them. It’s not like regular advertising where you attempt to target certain customers or display ads to the masses. While those methods are effective, e-mail marketing is much more targeted. You KNOW your customers are interested, so it becomes a matter of making a sale or drawing their attention.
Second, with the rise of an abundance of mobile devices, people check their e-mail several times throughout the day, are immediately notified of new e-mails, and even chat through programs while logged on to their e-mail . In this sense, e-mail marketing is almost instantaneous and has the benefit of word of mouth. Think about this: If you were a company and you sent out an e-mail at 2:00PM saying that the first 2,000 people to buy a certain product get it half off, and you sent that deal to an e-mail pool of 300,000 people, by 2:30 (or probably before depending on the product and the price) 2,000 people will have purchased the product. It could’ve happened through the e-mail pool, or friends chatting with other friends to buy the product now, or even people verbally telling others in an office to jump on the deal. Regardless, word would get around, which shows that the possibilities of e-mail marketing spread far beyond the realm of e-mail.
Third, companies offer deals for people that forward their e-mails to others. If you refer an e-mail deal to someone else, i.e. Groupon, and that person buys the deal, you get a reward. So not only does e-mail marketing send out e-mails to its intended customer base, but those customers are likely to forward the message along if there is a proper incentive.
Finally, when e-mail marketing is done correctly, an exact return on your investment can be tracked. This way you can see what e-mail deals and strategies are working, what’s not working, and it can give you great direction for future marketing endeavors.
Have you checked out our YouTube Page recently? If so, you’ve probably noticed our video B2B online marketing glossary–or, rather, the individual glossary terms. If you haven’t checked out your YouTube page recently, well, you’re missing out on great videos like this one:
So go subscribe to our YouTube channel already! New videos are being added every week.
Is there a term you would like to see explained in video format? If so, leave a comment and let us know!
Double the ROI of your B2B PR Efforts: Stuff Your Agency Either Doesn’t Know, or Forgot to Tell You
Tuesday, August 14, 1 p.m. EST
Speaker:
Bill Leake, CEO, Apogee Results
Description:
Online marketing is becoming an ever-bigger slice of B2B marketing budgets. In fact, it’s the fastest growing component, by far. But how much of this budget is being deployed properly? And is it properly integrated with your traditional PR efforts? Despite what your PR firm is telling you, most PR agencies fail to capitalize on the broader uses and implications of search & social to bolster their efforts, missing out on some easy opportunities to more than double the ROI on your existing PR spend. Learn how to get the most out of your PR efforts through effective paid media, search engine optimization, properly utilizing social media and just generally thinking outside of the traditional B2B PR box. Learn how to turn your existing PR investment into a content and lead generation machine.
Happy official release day to our CEO, Bill Leake, for his book Complete B2B Online Marketing! If you’re looking for a practical, well-written guide to B2B online marketing that ISN’T dry, this is your book.
Bill, Lauren and Maura did an awesome job–this really is a must-have for all B2B marketers (and I’m not just saying that because Bill is my boss ).
Want to win a free copy? Check out our official book landing page. The winner will be drawn this Friday.
Sometimes we Apogeeans do some pretty cool things, like ziplining through a rain forest, blowing up bowling pins at a gun range, speaking at SXSW and even writing a book. Okay, so maybe the thought of writing a book doesn’t seem as awesome as blowing stuff up or being suspended above a rain forest floor, but writing a book is a pretty amazing accomplishment (seriously–as a writer I often hear, “I’ve always wanted to write a book…” from people who will never even start a manuscript much less finish one). So join us in celebrating our CEO Bill Leake’s accomplishment.
This practical guide is for B2B marketers who want to leverage today’s search engine marketing and social media technologies to attract, nurture, convert, and generate leads. It’s the perfect B2B online crash course—you’ll quickly learn how to engage in social media and attract visitors to your site, apply social media listening and monitoring tools, and maximize the impact of banner ads and landing pages. By book’s end, you’ll better understand important strategic and branding issues, the best ways to track results, the secrets of sound SEO, and more. Packed with instructive case studies and hands-on tutorials, this is the ultimate how-to on successful B2B online marketing.
Identify your product value and establish an online brand
Drive quality leads to your site with paid search, display, and social ads
Nurture those leads with good content—emails, webinars, and more
Create websites and landing pages that make visitors want to stick around
Apply the very latest search engine optimization techniques
Chat up visitors and engage your customers with social media
Allocate your resources for success outcomes
Track and measure your efforts with top listening and monitoring tools
Generate reports that are targeted—and actually helpful
Integrate your marketing with CRM and complex sales cycles
“If you were looking for yet another boring B2B marketing book, keep looking. If you were looking for an absorbing, practical guide to sexy B2B marketing, then you’ve found it! From targeting to relevant messaging to nurturing to acquisition, let the authors show you how to truly rock it.”—Avinash Kaushik, Digital Marketing Evangelist at Google and author of Web Analytics 2.0
“Business-to-business online marketing is hard. Luckily, these experts are veteran B2B online marketers and excellent communicators—you want them on your side!”—Tim Ash, CEO of SiteTuners, author of Landing Page Optimization, Chair of Conversion Conference
“If you run a B2B company or are involved in marketing, this book is a must-read. Those that learn these tactics and concepts have significant market share to gain, and those that do not will feel the consequences.”—Aaron Kahlow, CEO of Online Marketing Institute
The word on everyone’s lips lately is “Pinterest.” Women love it, men are hesitant to use it, and most marketers are confused by it. The concept is easy enough. At its core it’s a social bookmarking site: a digital bulletin board where users can pin their favorite internet findings. But unlike Twitter, Facebook, or Digg, Pinterest is driven by visual imagery. Just visit Pinterest and your eyes will feast upon scores of aesthetically pleasing images: designer shoes, luxurious beach destinations, creative craft ideas, and a puppy or two. And while the aforementioned seems to indicate that Pinterest is a largely female driven site, word is spreading and gents are beginning to take interest. If your business is a male-focused brand, check out The Bro’s Guide to Pinterest by Ryan Sammy. It has some great ideas on how male brands can still build a brand presence on Pinterest.
Even if you’re not a wedding planner or home decorator, you can (and should) still utilize Pinterest’s growing user base. According to Hubspot.com, Pinterest has more than 10 million unique visitors, making it a great tool in your marketing arsenal. Many marketers are finding that Pinterest is driving more traffic to their site than most social sites, and consequentially converting more users into buyers.
It drives traffic, it converts, and (ask any Pinterest user and they will tell you) it’s addictive. It’s a fresh new way to organize and share your favorite things. I’m a user as of January 2012, and already I find it a great way to organize my favorite recipes and cool infographics.
Promote Your Brand through Pinterest
Alright, so we know it’s the hip new kid on the block, but, as marketers, how should we approach it? Here are just a few ways you can use Pinterest to build your followers and attract more customers.
1. Create Multiple Pin Boards
Your first step is to create pin boards where you can share your content. Give your pin boards unique and interesting titles that will grab users’ attention. Bergdorf Goodman created a board titled “I have a weakness for…” where they pin pictures of shoes, places, sweets and even celebrities, making it a diverse and appealing hub for sharing ideas. Use this approach to build your presence and extend your audience reach. Don’t simply crowd your boards with your own products. This will not only look like spam, it will deter Pinterest users from following you. Instead, use these pin boards as an opportunity to show users your brand’s personality. What kind of books do you like? Where have you travelled, or would like to travel? Middle Sister Wines does an excellent job of diversifying their boards to bring in more users. Not only do they have pin boards for both their white and red wine selections, but they have boards where they can share their favorite quotes, art, and recipes.
2. Post Fresh, Attractive Content
It’s important to note the word “attractive.” As opposed to Twitter or Digg, Pinterest is visually driven. When pinning a piece of content to a board, the image associated with that content is the lead. For example, if you decide to pin an article about the “Health Benefits of Peanut Butter” on your board, the article’s image will become the link to that article. Whereas Digg uses the article’s title to draw in users, Pinterest uses the image to reel them in. So if you hope to draw Pinterest users to your peanut butter article, you better have a delicious mouth watering photo of peanut butter to attract them. The key takeaway here is this: it isn’t enough to have interesting content. You must have an intriguing description coupled with a captivating image. If you don’t have a professional photographer or graphic designer, now is the time to invest in one.
3. Engage with Customers
Just like any social site, Pinterest can be a great way to engage with your customers and potential customers. Repinning is the key here. If you repin a user’s image, that user is more likely to visit your boards and see what you have to offer that they themselves can repin. Go beyond that by commenting on various pins that your brand is related to. Just like Facebook and Twitter, Pinterest has the potential to become a great venue for customer interaction. Have a new product that could use customer feedback? Pin it and prompt your followers to leave their opinions.
Don’t forget to track it!
As online marketers, it’s not enough to set up Pinterest boards and expect them to work. Track how much traffic Pinterest is directing to your site by setting up an advanced segment in your Google Analytics. You might be surprised to learn just how much Pinterest influences your conversions!
In the wake of Google’s Penguin update, we figured we would share with you some SEO Best Practices. Following these tips will help ensure your website not only ranks well, but that it also isn’t anywhere near as affected (if at all) when Google updates its algorithm.
Using a wide variety of keywords, peppered throughout your content
Using natural language in your on-page content
Linking to a variety of relevant websites
Linking to a variety of relevant pages within your website
Sharing content and links via social networks
Not paying for links from sites that have no other relationship except for links
Building relationships with webmasters of websites that are relevant to your content and product/service offerings, as well as sharing links
The key to getting reviews is promptly asking your customers for them. Once a transaction is complete, your customers go on with their daily lives and aren’t likely to think of you again. Print a message on your receipts, invoices, or business cards that reminds your customers to leave a review. On their way out, you should verbally remind them to leave a review, and then reinforce that request with a textual reminder on the receipt. You can even leave QR codes on receipts to make it even easier!
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