What I’m Blogging About

Marketing to a Hyper- Visual World Online [Infographic]

by Keri

We are Visual Beings..Created to take in all of the eye-candy that we can behold, absorb, process and then share for all of our online communities to see and proceed to replicate.

But what does this mean, and how do we tweak our marketing strategies of businesses and brands to connect and engage with our audiences?

Many of the answers to these questions that I pose can be answered by this simple [Infographic]

What I believe is that we are going to see a major shift in how the identity of your business becomes stamped within all of your content.

Your brand image and the images that you leverage to curate content need to be appealing to your target audience so that you continue to draw them into an experience with your brand. Then you should make it your goal to duplicate this at every juncture and on every Social Media platform wherever you have a presence.

Allowing visual images as the bulk of the content that you create is now more important than ever before.

The images that you share, blog about and post, along with your status updates, should all tell a story and evoke some sort of emotion and segment the true DNA of your business.
Let people in to Who you are, What you do and How you do it!
Create a ‘behind the scenes’ peek to bring the goals of your business, marketing plan and product lines to life, so that people will want to buy your products!

Have Fun, Get Creative, Share the Goods- the zanier, more sentiment driven the image you define as the authentic you..the better!

What are your thoughts as we move forward online and share content visually? Love to hear and learn from your point of view!

6 reasons to visualize your data (infographic)

Why Pinterest is changing how we communicate online (socialmedia.biz)
9 Tips to Boost Your Business with Pinterest (inc.com)

Image Credit: Ridiculously Photogenic Guy

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A Day In the Life..Of the Internet [Infographic]

by Keri

We are spending more time online than ever before! This infographic gives us a visual on some big numbers that stand out about a Day in the Life on the Internet. Which stand out to you?

Pinterest is currently seeing super amounts of daily visitors- for just launching in Mar. 2010- this Social Network is just picking up tremendous speed and is going to be Huge!
Bloggers curate 2 Million posts per day
iPhone sales outpace the number of daily births worldwide
Facebook users spend 4.7 Billion minutes online daily

Created by: MBA Online

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Facebook Timeline: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

by Kimberly Gerhart

Timeline for Facebook Business Pages is here! Previewing your page and getting acquainted with it’s new features and functions is a must, as all pages must be converted by March 30, 2012.

You have the option to take a tour of the page and even take a helpful interactive video learning course. You probably already have an idea of the look and feel and how to navigate Timeline, if you’ve bee using Timeline for your personal profile.

Timeline Cover Photo

You now have the opportunity to express yourself and brand your business in a unique and creative way that makes a visual statement. Think outside the box here..Less may be More!

The large cover photo feature is now the first impression that people see when they land on your page. Cover photos are 851 pixels wide and 315 pixels tall. High resolution photos are the best. Be careful not to upload a photo smaller that 399 pixels wide or the photo will stretch. If you do not have a larger photo consider putting a few smaller photos together that represent your brand or business as a collage.

The profile photo is now positioned in the lower left corner of the Timeline cover photo. The image is now much smaller and must be no smaller than 180 pixels wide.

Your cover photo must NOT contain the following:

Facebook states:

Price or purchase information, such as “40% off” or “Download it at our website”
Contact information, such as web address, email, mailing address or other information intended for your Page’s about section.
References to user interface elements, such as Like or Share, or any other Facebook site features
Calls to action, such as “Get it now” or “Tell your friends”

Be respectful of Facebook policies at all times, as you never want to have the risk being outside of Facebook Terms of Service and the chance of having your page shut down.

With the new layout comes the improved page width of 810 pixels for apps and hosted iframes. Prior to the change was a 520 pixel page restrictions. This is good news; more space to work with, more space to share your message!

The apps designed at 520px wide still look good displayed in the 810 pixel wide canvas and there is no need for redesign unless you would like to take the opportunity to do so.

Tabs and apps are now located just under the Timeline cover photo in boxes that are 111 pixels by 74 pixels. You have the option to upload new images to the boxes by clicking the pencil icon and additionally can order the boxes to desired a position. The downside is that you are able show three of the custom tabs but have the capability of having up to 12 total. Photo is in first position and is set as default. Fans can access other tabs by clicking the arrow on the right.

Staring a post

This allows you to highlight the posts you think are important. When you star a post, it expands to widescreen.

Pinning a Post

Pinned posts are Page posts that display prominently at the top of their Page. A pinned post always appears in the top left of a Page’s timeline and remains for 7 days.

Milestones

Milestones are key moments you’ve decided to highlight on your Page that are relevant to your business such as a grand opening, the start of a new clothing line a merger or the initial offering of an IPO. Milestones are automatically expanded to widescreen and display at 843 pixels wide at 402 pixels tall. You can actually go back as far as January 1, 1800.

Messaging

Private messaging is now available between page admins and fans. Messages for Pages will permit admins to have a private conversation with people who have contacted the Page. However, admins can only message or reply to people who have contacted the page. You can’t message someone who likes your Page, unless they have messaged the Page first.

Fans can now View a Portion of Your Page Insights

Fans are now privy to a portion of the page insights such as the Pages most popular week, the most popular city, the most popular age group as well as total likes and who’s talking about this. The insights can be accessed under the top right under the cover photo.

You can no longer set a default landing for your page. Facebook’s reasoning behind this change is that they desire to create a “consistent user experience”.

There is now a fragmented wall, that isn’t as convo friendly as previous Facebook Pages and there is no longer a photo strip on the top of your page.

Overall, I think that the changes are GOOD and will be an asset for your business or brand. Like anything new, it just takes some getting to. What do you think?

This post was originally written by my team member Kimberly Gerhart, she’s a wonderful asset to me, and truly goes the extra mile to ensure that all of our clients are 110% satisfied with their Custom Facebook Pages and now Timelines! This is her website.

The Complete Guide to Setting Up the New Facebook Page Design (hubspot.com)

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Social Media Sharing..How it Looks Now and In the Future [Infographic]

by Keri

You’ve got to admit.. We’re all a bit narcissistic online aren’t we..Or is it just me?.. When I go to a concert, what do I do? Check in on Facebook, then over to my Foursquare app to do the same, then take a quick pic and post it to Twitter. The same thing happens when I’m out with friends at a favorite new club or when my hubby and I are at the airport getting ready to board a flight to a fun destination.. We all love to be seen and noticed, it’s just our nature!

A progressive digital agency, Beyond, conducted an extensive survey in the last quarter of 2011 whereby they gathered data based from user profile data that show the sharing habits of people on various Social Media platforms. The [Infographic] below depicts their user findings in the white-paper- The Science of Sharing.

The data from the 2000+ participants ages 16-40 who are active on Twitter, Facebook and Googe+ showed:

The 3 Reasons Users Share updates on their profile of choice are to:

Inform your friends of something
Express your point of view
Humor ( to be funny!)

2. If you are a business or brand and leverage either Facebook, Twitter or Google+, this study shows that in order for your followers to continue to share your content, you will have to make efforts to truly engage with them by offering continued Discounts and Free Giveaways.. People love a great deal, and are willing to word-of-mouth you online. Relationship marketing is more important now than ever before!

It’s interesting to note that when a new user first sets up a profile, whether it be on Google+ or now Pinterest, the level of sharing on that platform peaks withing 3-12 months of usage. Just like the new toy at Christmas is often discarded by Valentine’s Day.

When you look at the graphic below, it’s cool to note that what most of us know is true.. Everyone is on Facebook! 98% of the survey have a presence and of those, 60% log on several times per day!

We can’t deny that Facebook will still be top dog well into the future, especially with the new Timeline in place for all users and the growing popularity of mobile apps. Soon, Timeline for Brands will roll out along with Gestures for Facebook which will throw another ‘Share’ opportunity for us all over the web!

What are your thoughts about the Future of Social Media Sharing? I’d love to hear from you!

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4 Things Someone Needs to Tell You Before you Go ‘All In’ with Social Media Marketing

by Keri

Many times the sugar coating about what Social Media Marketing can do to enhance your businesses online success needs to cease.. and the truth needs to be revealed!

When a new client and I sit down for an initial consultation, we discuss what their current marketing strategy is, what has been working well for them in the past and where they would like to see their business grow in the coming year. Here are the top (4) insights that I share if need be.

1. If your website stinks, Social Media really isn’t going to be all that effective.. until you fix your website!

What I mean by this is that time and time again, I’ve encountered businesses that have built out their current websites on a free platform that is stealing any available SEO from them and redirecting traffic back to themselves..or they have a site that they have no clue or have never been provided any analytical performance data from and they haven’t updated their website in years!

In my opinion, without a self-hosted domain name and website that runs on a Word Press, Joomla or other reputable format, with a blog integrated into it’s nav bar, you’re just shooting darts and will never be indexed by Google. Which is the ultimate goal.

Social Media, in order to enhance your marketing efforts, has to be integrated into a viable website that ‘s full of fresh shareable content that is search engine optimized.

2. Social Media won’t be the cure for your own lack of desire to market your business!

If you haven’t poured any sweat equity into marketing your business during it’s lifetime, then a Social Media Manager isn’t going to be the remedy for what is ailing your business. An owner and it’s employees need to become involved in the network marketing facets of their business and build rapport with their target market offline, before their online reputation will blossom and grow.

3. If you’re not willing to partner with your Social Media Manager for Success, then your efforts will only be mediocre!

This is a hard pill to swallow, but I have seen this time and time again.. Dead Pages.. Dead Pages come from the businesses that really get behind the Social Media ball. But then they lack style, finesse and internal flare.

Don’t get me wrong..Social Media Managers are hired to manage, maintain, source content, create editorial calendars, studly analytics and more, but without an inside contact to be in constant communication with, there is a piece of the puzzle missing within the aesthetic of the profiles.

This piece that’s missing is some internal DNA to run through the profiles: Photos, Promotions, Contests, Sweepstakes, Events and more are all awesome to implement into your profiles.

4. Facebook isn’t One -Stop Shopping-You need a presence on other Social Media profiles also!

While almost any business can benefit from marketing their business on Facebook with a fully optimized custom profile banner, welcome page , email opt-in and even custom tabs, there are most definitely other platforms that they should have representation on also which also expand your Social Graph.

Remember that a Social Media platform presence adds to your Social Graph and creates a unique impression on Web 2.0 that the major search engines recognize and helps drive organic traffic to your website. If you have a brick and mortar location and the ability to run timely specials and promos, go for Twitter. If you are more of a professional B2B company, you really should set up a personal Linkedin profile and run a Company Page there also.

Several social media platforms work well in conjunction with one another and can assist you in pollinating your message across different platforms with different followers that can possibly engage with your brand.

*Google just announced on their blog that they have changed the way that they are indexing webistes and that Search has become more important than ever before. This is truly why brands will need to be engagment on Google+ in the near future, why you need to claim your business on Google Places and why Reviews about your business are ever so important to help you stand out and get noticed. It’s not just about SEO!

Defining your target market and creating a community of brand advocates for your business leveraging Social Media Marketing truly is a worthwhile endeavour! Time and time again my clients have increased website traffic and are generating trackable leads that bounce back to our social media efforts.. Social Media creates a Buzz about your business, and at the end of the day, that in itself is a good thing!

Do you have any other thoughts that you feel should be considered before you start going gangbusters with a Social Media Presence for your brand or biz? I’d love to hear from your experiences!

Ten Social Media Strategies to Define a Successful 2012 (briansolis.com)
8 Universal Traits of a Winning Social Presence (hubspot.com)

4 Things Someone Needs to Tell You Before you Go All In with Social Media Marketing

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Facebook vs. Twitter: How Your Fans are Engaging with your Brand [Infographic]

by Keri

Oh how I love visual eye candy!..Especially in the form of an [Infographic]. Social Media has become an essential marketing tool for businesses in 2011, and there are more great things to come in 2012!

The talented staff at AYTM recently surveyed 2000 internet users to seek an answer as to how they interact with brands specifically on Facebook and Twitter.

From the looks of it, Facebook truly is where businesses and brands should be reaching out and connecting with their target market. You can’t throw Twitter out with the bath water water though, especially if you’re a brick and mortar that can drive traffic into your place of business through mobile marketing, or to leverage it for pollinating your blog.

What stands out is that 80% of those surveyed who have followed a brand on Facebook, prefer Coupons/Promotion/Discounts from that brand, over most other forms of shared content.

This shows that your followers want to connect with you and are saying ”I want coupons & discounts and even contests and sweepstakes and I’m willing to share the news of your goodies with my friends”. So give your fans something to talk about!

Create and host a tab on Facebook ,especially for your deals, then shout it out on a regular basis as you still strive to offer your audience relevant content that they connect with. Then Tweet out that special to your Twitter profile and even consider carrying it over to Google+ and Linkedin if you have an audience for it there on your brand or company page.

Test what works for your brand and find your sweet spot and you’ll be well on your way to creating a community of brand advocates and loyal fans that you can count on. Go Be Awesome!

Source: AYTM Market Research

Should Brand Pages Get the Facebook Timeline? (venpop.com)
What Makes People Want to Like a Brand [InfoGraphic] (famousbloggers.net)

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Social Media Post Timing is Everything! [Infographic]

by Keri

As a Social Media Manager, I often get asked “When is the best time to post a status update on my Facebook Page?” And that is a darn good question, but one that isn’t easily answered in one sentence. There isn’t an exact science when it comes to Social Media Post Timing.

However, in my opinion, knowing when to post on any Social Media profile boils down to knowing the online patterns of your primary and secondary target markets. Determine this..then set out to post and engage with your audience when they are most likely to be online.

Studying Facebook Insights and utilizing a third party Social Media Dashboard like Buffer or Hootsuite supply you with analytical data about how well you’re potentially connecting with your audience. This data allows you to truly find out what is,or in many cases.. isn’t working as far as post timing, impressions, clicks and RT’s. You need to know the Who behind who you’re trying to reach to study their online patterns.

Many professionals log on to their Facebook and Twitter accounts before work, then mid morning and afternoon then late evening after the kiddo’s are in bed and reality TV has been watched. While the younger Gen Y’/echo boomers, are online many different times of day because of the use of their smartphones, along with the B2B crowd that is able to login while in the workplace. While the retirees and stay at home parents are fluid and might log in throughout the day. The news feeds are very fluid, so finding the perfect time to post, may actually be several times per day with a different type of status update each time.

Find the “Sweet Spot for each Social Media Network and listen to your fans.” This will allow you to then create editorial schedules accordingly and give you the freedom to be yourself.. Which is truly what your fans and followers are craving anyway!

The ultimate goal when managing your social media profiles is to gain loyal followers, engage with them when they are most likely online and create a community of brand advocates that you can market to and that will help to make you or your brand famous.. Don’t forget the Weekends- seems that that is when you can hit some peak post times for engagement! Have Fun Online- and let me know what is working for you?

How To Analyze Your Social Media Efforts (viralblog.com)
20 Ways to Increase Content Visibility on the Top 4 Social Networks (hubspot.com)

Social Media Post Timing is Everything! [Infographic]

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How to Create Email Signatures to Enhance Online Networking

by Keri

Image via CrunchBase

How many Emails do you either curate or respond to on any given day? .. Too many to count right! This is why you need a Social Media Integrated Email Signature!

Average Number of Emails Sent & Received/ Day – 110
In 2010 there was an average of 2.9 Billion Email Accounts in use Worldwide

Email Signatures my friends, are unique opportunities for networking just waiting to happen! You can network directly from your Email Signatures. We truly need to be connecting and sharing with our business associates and potential clients by meeting them right where we are already joining together and leveraging the use of an interactive Email Signature that allows the recevier to link up with us on whatever Social Media platforms where we are represented.

Check out these options that have compatibility on many different browser types.

I’ve had super Email Signature Success with the following (2) options working well together- Leveraging Wisestamp and a Google Chrome Browser Extension called Rapportive.

A Wisestamp Email Signature suggests to your Target Market “Connect with Me”- while Rapportive is a tool that you can use that suggests how You can “Connect with Them.”

KnDino Wisestamp Rapportative 1024x429 How to Create Email Signatures to Enhance Online Networking

As you look at the screenshot above, you’ll see Rapportive, (right) which is also a Google Chrome Extension. Rapportative integrates into the interface of Gmail which allows you to see personalized information about your connection as you send or receive email. Rapportive shows you where they are, what their role is within the given company, a profile pic, social media connections and more! You can build rapport further by instantly connecting with them with a click right inside your Email Inbox!

Wisestamp is a free email signature template creator that allows you easily create ( under 5 minutes,) an email signature that integrates and hotlinks all of your network Profiles, Logo, a QR code and more into a template that is inserted into the body of every email that you compose. You can create several different looks depending on your intended purpose for each email that you send. Click here for a tour via [Video].

Wisestamp integrates with many free webmail services: Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo!, and AOL
Wisestamp doesn’t need any html coding, and supports Google Chrome, Firefox, Thunderbird and Safari Browsers

The more impressions that you are able to put of your logo or personal brand in front of your Target Market in a visual way, the better. It’s like your branding yourself into their mind subliminally so that they think of you and what your business offers first and foremost when it comes time to partner with you for services.

Emailing will always be a permanent fixture for online communication. Findings show that email is expected to grow as we become increasingly more social. It’s a fact, we’re spending more time online which in turn allows us to market our brands to one another leveraging our Social Media Profiles.

You only get one chance at making a lasting 1st impression, so knock it out of the park with a snazzy Email Signature

How to Add Social Networking Buttons to Your Outlook Email Signature [Slideshare]
Write better emails with the Rapportive sidebar (rapportive.com)
Face-to-Face Networking or Social Media Marketing- Who would win in a Fight?]

Hope that this post has given you a few tangible options to continue to amp up your Social Media Network Connections and generate new leads for your Business!

Do you have any other email signature generators that are working for you successfully? I’d enjoy hearing about what’s working for you!

How to Create Email Signatures to Enhance Online Networking

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Don’t Miss Out on Connecting with these Social Media Blogs

by Keri

Blogs are branching out and popping up as more and more Internet users are finding their voice online. However, if a brand or business really wants to stand out, then they are going to have to make some noise that’s worthy of attention to the fickle and savvy users that have become accustomed to the ‘Content is King’ marketing strategies of today.

Alexa, the global website ranking company, provides a daily list of the Top 500 sites on the web. These are the Big Kahunas that have branded themselves into Guru status and whom others look to as marketing thought leaders and trending topic setters.

But, what about the oodles of other amazing content-filled, relevant blogs that assist us in automating our days (and late nights) by make our lives better by sharing relevant actionable posts? How do we connect with these influencers and find them online?

Look no further.. the Blog Tree, shown below, is a totally interactive plethora of hotlinks that connects you to the best sites for all things related to Social Media ! From Personal Journalists, Content Marketers, Design Specialists, B2B Experts and everything to do with Tech and Latest News- this Tree is a Wealth of Knowledge that truly needs to be Bookmarked and Shared!

Some of my personal faves are from Stanford at Pushing Social, Pam Moore the Marketing Nut and The Next Web.

I’m an information junkie and love to pass on every bit of knowledge I find to assist others. I try to do this by sharing usable Social Media related content that amplifies your reach so that you can connect with your Target Audience. We’re in this together right?.. By sharing best practices freely is truly how you and I engage with each other online and put the ‘Social’ in Social Media.

Do you have any others favorites that you would add to the tree? Please drop me a comment below and have a great time surfing the links!

The Blog Tree: New Growth by Eloqua and Jess3-–

Click Toggle found on the bottom right to Pop Out the Tree to Full Screen Mode. Every Leaf and Root Below is an Active Link to Investigate Further!

View more documents from Eloqua

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What I do!

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4 Things Someone Needs to Tell You Before You Start!

Allowing visual images as the bulk of the content that you create is now more important than ever before.

You can no longer set a default landing for your page. Facebook’s reasoning behind this change is that they desire to create a “consistent user experience”.

1. If your website stinks, Social Media really isn’t going to be all that effective.. until you fix your website!

2. Social Media won’t be the cure for your own lack of desire to market your business!

3. If you’re not willing to partner with your Social Media Manager for Success, then your efforts will only be mediocre!

4. Facebook isn’t One -Stop Shopping-You need a presence on other Social Media profiles also!

Related articles

Related articles

You only get one chance at making a lasting 1st impression, so knock it out of the park with a snazzy Email Signature

Related articles

Let’s Connect, Like, Follow or Link!

Get Notified When There’s a New Post!

Social Media Today Blogger

Let’s Engage on Facebook- Come over and share a link!

Popular Posts

Tweets I’m Tweeting!

What I do!

Keri’s QR Code

Get in Touch with Me!

4 Things Someone Needs to Tell You Before You Start!