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ROI in Social Media

Posted by Patrick

3 New Year’s Marketing Resolutions for 2017

Advertising, Content Marketing, Email Marketing, Facebook, Google+, Instagram, LinkedIn, Marketing Campaigns, Mobile, Pinterest, ROI in Social Media, SEO, Social Good, Social Media 0

We’re nearly two weeks into 2017, and that means it’s still time to start making and working on some new year’s resolutions that are really going to stick and turn your life around for the better this year. The same can be said for your small business. There are so many new technologies and programs available today when it comes to marketing and promoting yourself, that it may seem overwhelming to know where to start. But nevertheless, if you aren’t marketing your small business in 2017 in new and exciting ways, how do you expect your business to grow? That’s why we’ve come up with a handy dandy list of new year’s marketing resolutions for your small business in 2017.

Revamp Your Website

January is the perfect time to take a look at your website and decide which pages and graphics, messages, etc. need to be updated, and which things can completely go. Giving your website a fresh new look in 2017 is a great way to attract more leads and potential customers. Be sure to hire the right San Diego website design firm who will take the time and attention it takes to ensure that every detail of your website is psychologically designed in a way that will attract more viewers, and bring them into your storefront or office.

Search Engine Optimization

The Internet is changing all of the time, and if you’re not keeping up with SEO, you may not even be visible in the vast digital jungle that is the web. Be sure to hire a professional search engine optimization firm that will not only help you reach the top of Google search pages, but also optimize your SEO in San Diego so you’re targeting customers nearby. Local search optimization is just as, if not more, important than overall SEO–depending upon your business and industry.

Boost Your Social Media Efforts

It’s always a good idea to make sure your social media content is current and up-to-date. If you want to grow a social following, be sure you’re posting relevant content your followers want to see on a consistent basis. Third party articles from companies you’d like to strategically align with are helpful. You may also want to refresh your profile and background images. Be sure to post content that is behind the scenes, without being too personal, and to mix in a bit of fun with your business-related information. Custom graphics, infographics, links to your website, videos and blogs are essential for social media, and not just on Facebook. LinkedIn is great for B2B marketing, while Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat and YouTube are growing fast. If you’re feeling a bit overwhelmed with navigating the ever-changing social media world, we are here to help. We offer social media management services that are sure to save you time, while increasing your following and overall profits. We can even create ads for your own personal Facebook and Instagram campaigns.

In this new digital age, it’s essential for small and large businesses alike to jump on the social media bandwagon. Whether you enjoy social media or not, there are billions of people around the globe who do, and it’s taking over the way that marketing and advertising is conducted moving forward. Therefore, we are here for you, and would love a chance to help make 2017 the best year yet for your San Diego business. For more information, or a detailed quote, call (619) 291-8181 or fill out our contact form. We look forward to hearing from you.

Posted by Patrick

Say Hello to the Digital Tip

Blogging, Content Marketing, ROI in Social Media, Social Good, Social Media, Social Media for Consumer Products 0

Gone are the days of spending money on newspapers and magazines to get the most interesting, thought-provoking material.  Society has shifted from paper publications to the digital world and cloud databases, and we’re finding new sources for our daily news and entertainment. Now that we’re getting our reading materials online, the need for writers has shifted from magazines and newspapers to blogs and social media content creators. We’re even seeing a rise in social media sites designed for sharing personal videos. Do these creatives make money for the entertainment they’re providing? Sometimes yes, but many times they don’t. Thanks to the folks at ChangeTip, content creators are now able to receive compensation from others who like their posts via a digital tip.Vintage Stylized Photo Of Coffee Cup, Diary And Coins On Table I

ChangeTip is a new program that allows users to tip anyone online through bitcoin. Say you stumble upon a blog, a social media post, or a video that you like; with ChangeTip you can choose to either “love” it when a “like” just doesn’t do justice, or you can choose to tip it, and leave a digital tip for the person who posted the content. Digital tips received through bitcoin can be spent at a variety of online and local retailers, or wherever bitcoin is accepted.

The word tips on black keyboard with green key

ChangeTip has made tipping online easy and fun. You can tip in any currency you choose, because ChangeTip is global. There’s also the option of posting Monikers, or pictures of an object, with value assigned to them. For instance, a cookie could mean $2.50, and a glass of wine could mean $5. The possibilities are vast. The process of tipping is easy as well. Users simply mention @changetip in a comment, as well as their phrase or Moniker for the tip, and the person tagged in the comment will receive the bitcoins.

An example of this would be: “Wow, great post @Tanya! This cookie is for you! @changetip.”

Another way to leave a tip could be: “This was such an interesting read @Daniel. Keep it up! $1 @changetip.”

Or, say you pick the phrase “best thing I’ve read all day” to hold tip value, you could leave a tip by writing; “Wow nice job @Sam, best thing I’ve read all day. @changetip.”

ChangeTip believes in using bitcoin to send and receive money. They also believe that creatives such as writers, designers and artists deserve to be compensated a little extra for their efforts, just as we would for a hair dresser, bartender or server. Why not tip for the content we enjoy reading?

If you want some assistance creating tip worthy content, we’d love to discuss your unique digital marketing goals with you. Contact Us today!

Facebook rules
Posted by Patrick

Facebook Contests- We Explain the Rules and Tips

Facebook, ROI in Social Media, Social Media, Strategic Planning, Uncategorized

Facebook rules

 

Rules for social networks change often.  If you do not follow social media news but use Facebook for contests, promotions or even advertising your services or products, you need to know those rules, man.

Plenty of contests have been shut down because people did not follow these and other rules:

  1. Pages can’t post a message on their Facebook wall and call it a contest.
  2. Pages cannot tell fans that liking a page counts as an automatic entry for a contest.
  3. Pages cannot ask fans to “share” a contest with friends in order to be entered its timeline contests — only likes and comments can be used as entries.

There is much to learn, so if you are not working with a marketing agency that knows all the rules, your next best bet is to use a third party app that meets Facebook’s guidelines.  We use Heyo for our Facebook contests: “Our clients are valuing our services and wanting to pay us more each month due to the success Heyo is helping us create,” said Patrick Eckstrom, CEO of MySMN.  Whether you decide to work with the talented team at MySMN or run a contest or promotion on your own, let’s help you focus on the current rules for Facebook Promotions.  Listed below are the most up-to-date rules and they can be seen anytime by accessing this link: https://www.facebook.com/page_guidelines.php

1. If you use Facebook to communicate or administer a promotion (ex: a contest or sweepstakes), you are responsible for the lawful operation of that promotion, including:

a.   The official rules;

b.   Offer terms and eligibility requirements (ex: age and residency restrictions); and

c.   Compliance with applicable rules and regulations governing the promotion and all prizes offered (ex: registration and obtaining necessary regulatory approvals)

2. Promotions on Facebook must include the following:

a.   A complete release of Facebook by each entrant or participant.

b.   Acknowledgement that the promotion is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with, Facebook.

3. Promotions may be administered on Pages or within apps on Facebook. Personal Timelines must not be used to administer promotions (ex: “share on your Timeline to enter” or “share on your friend’s Timeline to get additional entries” is not permitted).

4. We will not assist you in the administration of your promotion, and you agree that if you use our service to administer your promotion, you do so at your own risk.

 

So, what can your business do with this info?  Stick to the rules when starting up your next Facebook promotion or contest on your timeline (not on a personal timeline) and try some of these ideas:

  • Think first about your objective.  If you want more engagement, go with a Timeline contest.  If you want to collect more user data, use a third party app like Heyo!
  • Utilize likes on a post as a voting mechanism.  You can also ask fans to comment and like in order to win a prize.
  • Collect entries by having users message the page
  • Launching a new product?  Post a photo of the product you are developing and ask fans to comment and share their feedback.  Those comments can count as entries.
  • Giveaway overstocked items or distribute coupons
  • Grow your fans with a like-gated quiz.  Only those who answer the quiz correctly win.
  • As it gets closer to the holidays, run a contest and use a third party app to help collect emails to grow your holiday e-newsletter lists.
  • Give away an item that is related to your business so people do not suspect it as spam (ex: a bakery should giveaway cupcakes or cookies, not iPads)
  • Keep the length of the contest up to a week at most.

 Extra:

  • Make sure you understand local, state, national and international laws.  Some states or regions require that prizes worth over a certain dollar amount need to be bonded.
  • Do not “sell” entries to a contest; this is considered a “lotto.”  For every dollar spent, users cannot receive additional entries.
  • If at all possible, after you have set up rules and regulations, have an attorney review your verbiage.
  • You cannot notify winners of your contest that they’ve won only via a status update.  Use a third party app to collect their names, email addresses and phone numbers and send the winners a “winner notification” email and then post a status update announcement.

Heyo is a drag and drop platform that allows businesses to market on Facebook.

We like this platform because it helps to easily create Facebook contests, sweepstakes & mobile-optimized landing pages to help get more fans, leads and sales.  Sign up for free right here: https://heyo.com/

Posted by Patrick

Common Mistakes In Social Media Marketing

ROI in Social Media, Social Good, Strategic Planning 0

We are all rookies at some point when it comes to social media and here are common mistakes in social media marketing that you should avoid. Some of you have new businesses and others are trying to save or elevate their existing business. No reader wants you to beat your chest like a gorilla and talk about how great you and your services are. Facebook posts will not be your lifesaver, and purchasing fake Twitter followers will not put money in your pocket or get your business recognition. Most things in life take hard work and dedication; social media marketing is no different. You have to be persistent and put in time and effort.

Here is a list of some of the common mistakes in social media marketing:

Common Mistakes in Social Media Marketing by MySMN

Mistake #1: Deleting “negative” comments

This isn’t your personal life on the Internet and not everyone is going to agree with what you do, and what you say, but deleting comments is ignoring an important part of your business. You want to hear and see these comments so you can better your brand and services. Rather than posting a question to get people to leave a comment or respond to, post something that is engaging to your audience while giving them something to think about and share with others. Leave content that people can relate to while building their trust. If someone has something “bad” to say, take that as constructive criticism and become a better business by altering or tweaking systems. Business plans can easily be adjusted in order to avoid common mistakes in social media marketing.

Mistake #2: Mindlessly Posting

Not having enough time in the day to write blogs, create a YouTube video, post on Facebook, respond to emails, or whatever else you try to cram in an 8 hour day is something we all deal with; but auto posting the same content on all of your social media platforms is lazy and mindless. There is no magic button that will give you the exposure you want and post messages on several different social media sites; you have to do it yourself. Don’t create several pages (Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Blog, Website, Pinterest, Instagram) if you don’t have time to manage all of them. The President never gives the same speech twice, just as you wouldn’t give the same presentation twice at a board meeting, so do not auto blast. Instead, put time and effort into the pages you do create to avoid mindless posts and other common mistakes in social media marketing.

Common Mistakes in Social Media Marketing by MySMN

Mistake #3: Reputation is EVERYTHING

You can add these to the list of common mistakes in social media marketing, but with your reputation always remember this: buying and selling client’s email addresses is not okay. This will kill your reputation because your clients trust that you will not sell their email addresses, unless you ask for permission to do so and the same goes for purchasing them. If you do not have permission to email an individual, why ruin your reputation by emailing them what they consider to be spam?

If you need help in reaching more inboxes or getting higher in the search, My SMN is available and can help you with your goals.

Posted by Patrick

How Social Media Benefits SEO

Business Tips, ROI in Social Media, SEO, Social Media, Strategy 0

There are exponential perks to social media, but rarely do people consider how social media benefits SEO (search engine optimization). Of course at MySMN, we are quite the fans of everything social media, so we are going to share how social media benefits SEO.

According to Forbes, “Social SEO (a relatively new concept) encompasses the idea that social media links and interaction play a huge part in a website’s search rankings. Search engines consistently give more rankings weight to SEO-type activities that are harder to create.” For example, creating and distributing an original piece of content such as an infographic that ends up being shared 40,000 times is great. Whereas spending 40 seconds on a social bookmark is not so great. Because legitimate interaction between a customer and a business is extremely hard to fake, businesses that are more involved with social media have an increasing amount of relevance for search engines.

How Social Media Benefits SEO brought to you my MySMN

So what does this mean for your business and how can you get in on the social media SEO action? Forbes listed 10 1/2 ways social media benefits SEO and how businesses can leverage the power of this combination; here are our favorites:

  1. Use brand name in posts. This doesn’t mean that every post should have your company name, but using the company once in a while will help Google associate your brand with your keyword posts.
  2. Link your social media accounts from your homepage.
  3. Be selective. If your company doesn’t fit into the culture of a certain social networking site then don’t join it.
  4. Get involved with Google+.
  5. Publish blog posts immediately on Twitter—they will be indexed faster.
  6. More followers= more audience= better SEO
  7. Be consistent. The more often your post to social media platforms, the more Google will recognize you as an expert in your field which will lead to better SEO.How Social Media Benefits SEO

This is just the nutshell version of how social media benefits SEO, but hopefully you gained a better understanding of their relationship. If you would like more information about SEO or how social media can propel your business, don’t hesitate to get in touch with us!

Posted by Patrick

ROI and Social Media – No, It’s “ROE”

Business Tips, ROI in Social Media, Strategic Planning, Strategy 0

by Colleen Rugg

They key thing to remember that in social media, when measuring “ROI” you really want to measure “ROE” – Return on Engagement.  It’s important your team is looking for how people are engaging with you on social media, and whom they refer, and what people are saying about your brand.

Just like when someone sees a commercial on TV, hears an ad on the radio or sees magazine or billboard ads, then goes into a store to buy a product, a company cannot truly quantify what drove that person to buy.  So with social media, you have the ability to see where your buyers are coming from only if you ask questions (during check-out or when a salesperson closes the deal, or when a person checks into a store, buys a product and uploads the pic).  “Where did you find us?” “My friend told me about you on Facebook” or “I searched Google for XYZ and came across a helpful blog on your website.” “I heard about a contest and decided to take part.  I didn’t win XYZ, but loved it when I tried it.” When you know how people have bought your products/services, you might want to think about ways to reward them for making purchases – like 10% off their next purchase if they upload a pic of themselves in the store in your store.

Measure ROE instead of ROI. Artwork by: Kristian Zaspel (c) My SMN

It’s important to gain the loyalty of clusters/groups of people as they will carry your message farther and for a longer time vs. one person here or there that have a huge following.  Focus on acquiring more social media savvy people to try your products/services and ask them to share those experiences.

Do you need help with your next “ROE” report?  If so, give us a call.  We provide social media packages and also consult and educate on an hourly basis.

 

Posted by Patrick

Social Media ROI: Rocket Science?

Business Tips, ROI in Social Media, Social Media 0

By Alessandra Ceresa

Now that there is a social media campaign in place, how can it be measured? Measuring social media return on investment (ROI) is a debated topic, and how a company can go about measuring depends on a couple different factors involving both quality and quantity.

ROI in social media is not just about counting the number of fans or followers

Success to some means the number of Facebook “likes,” and Twitter followers, while to others, the level of engagement, and a better brand identity. Regardless, a successful social media campaign must take into account all of the above plus passion, sentiment, and reach.

Measuring how many “likes” a page has is only one piece of the puzzle. Quality conversation and the types of relationships that are established are key to your social media campaign moving in the right direction – where your fans become the force behind your success, driving appeal and building a community for you.

David Alston, a social media expert said, “Social media is not media, the key is to listen, engage, and build relationships.” Listening, engaging, and building relations are abstract and do not have a metric formula or number attached to them, they are qualitative. When talking about ROI, it is important to answer some of the following questions:

  • Is the business/ brand engaging with followers? Is there a conversation going on that is not just about selling product?
  • Have relationships and dialogues been established that were not previously there?
  • Is the voice of your business being heard, and what are people saying about it?
  • Does your business have sentiment, passion, and reach? Sentiment, being the feelings that people have about your brand, passion, being the way they communicate the brand and how often they engage with you, and reach, being how many people are you reaching out to, or how many people are hearing about and engaging with your brand or business.  A successful social media campaign is strong in all three.

These questions will help aid you in building a comprehensive ROI strategy. Remember to count “likes”, mentions, @replys and retweets. Then determine whether these numbers have transpired into word of mouth and increased revenue, brand identity and image. If people are having conversations and engaging with a business online via social media, that business is most likely experiencing a positive ROI. A brand can have 1,000 “likes”, but if it is only the brand leaving posts and the faces of fans are not showing up posting in response or leaving comments all together, then there is really not a lot going on, and therefore no one spreading the word.

There is no exact formula to measure the success of a social media campaign, but there is something more powerful: real time responses and reactions to a business, something that was not available until the age of social media.