Successful Blog

Time to Automate Your Social Media?

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social-media-100183509Social media has been proven to be an effective tool for performing a wide range of business tasks, from marketing to recruiting. As such, businesses around the world are adopting social media at a rapid rate.

If you have already joined the social media fray, you should know that you need to invest a substantial amount of time and effort in order to be successful on social media. One thing you can do to make your social media activities easier and less time-consuming is to use social media automation tools.

Here is a look at three great tools that you can use to automate your social media efforts.

Post Planner

If you want to promote your business and engage with consumers effectively on social media, you have to make a point to share interesting and helpful content regularly.

Post Planner can help you save time and effort by automating the publishing of content on your Facebook page.

This tool enables you to publish content based on a predetermined time schedule; target your content based on details such as age group, gender and education level; look for trending content and add it to your queue; crowd-source content from other people who use Post Planner; access a database with thousands of updates to find new ideas for updating your status; and upload bulk posts.

Additionally, it can perform simple analytics to show you the percentage of users who “liked”, clicked or commented on a certain post.

According to the article, “3 Great Tools to Automate Your Social Media“, Post Planner comes in four different versions, including the free Pro Planner and the paid Guru, Master and Agency plans.

Dlvr.it

When you have new content to share, you want to post it on all your social media channels. However, it can be time-consuming to do this if you have many posts to share on a regular basis.

Dlvr.it is a tool that you can use to deliver content to multiple social media networks.

All you need to do is specify the source and destination of the content. Whenever you create a new post, Dlvr.it will send out your updates automatically.

Currently, this social media automation tool supports Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, Delicious and App.net.

Social Oomph

Evergreen content is content that will not be outdated.

As your social media following grows, you will have fans or followers who have never seen some of your previously posted content. So, when you post content that is evergreen, you should continue to share it in the future.

Social Oomph features a queue reservoir that allows you to add content that you want to re-share to a queue, and you can specify how often the content should be shared.

Also, you can create variations of a post, so that you will not send out identical posts when you re-share content. Social Oomph can also help you find the right people to follow and monitor your social media activities.

Social media automation tools are becoming more advanced and useful.

If you do not have enough time to manage your social media activities, you should try using one of these tools.

Photo credit: Image courtesy of ddpavumba at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

About the Author: John McMalcolm is a freelance writer who writes on a wide range of subjects, from social media marketing to Cloud computing.

How to toot your own horn with humility

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By Diana Gomez

It’s okay to take pride in giving back to your community.

Research has suggested that volunteering and donating money to charitable causes not only increases emotional well-being, but physical health as well. And when hungry people get to eat or when a family in need gets a brand new home, why not spread the good word?

dropping a heart into donation can

In today’s online reality, it’s easy to share your rewarding volunteer experiences with your Facebook friends.

However, the lines of humility here are blurry. Does posting that you’ve donated $1,000 to the Make-A-Wish Foundation come off as sweet, or just bragging? Does anyone really want to see a photo of the three new rescued greyhounds you are fostering?

Here are four questions you should ask yourself in order to maintain your humility when sharing what you’ve been up to in the community.

1. Why am I sharing?

This is a pretty good way to initially approach any social media post. Simply ask yourself: “Why am I posting this, really?”

Here are some possible answers to this question:

  • “I want to share my experience.”
  • “I want to inspire people to do the same.”
  • “I want people to know I’m a good person.”
  • “I want people to think I’m accomplished.”

Now here’s a surprise: None of these are a bad reason to write up a post.

Whether you do it purposefully or not, social media paints a picture of you as a pared down “brand” of a person. So it’s important to realize your true motives when publicizing this simplified version of you.

If you realize that your true answer is, “I want people to think I’m a good person” and that makes you feel icky-don’t rush to post. Keep that “goodness” to yourself while you think about it a little longer. If you recognize that is your motive, and you feel okay about it-because chances are, if you donate $1,000 to cancer research, you probably are a good person-then it’s okay to share! Just keep reading.

2. What should I post?

Short text, photos, walls of text, and videos are all relevant methods for sharing your charity experiences.

Take the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, for example. Over $100 million was raised through this viral video campaign-with much debate over the ice bucket dumpers’ humility. Detractors thought it was over-the-top and self-serving; the supporters thought it was just clever and self-deprecating enough to work. I think you can tell here that I’m trying to get you to be introspective again. What did you think of it?

Feel free to be creative with your post. Something that’s engaging for your readers, like a photo, can seem less like bragging than a straight-to-the-point status update.

3. How will people feel?

The language that you use for a post or photo caption is key.

“Just finished my 100th hour volunteering at the soup kitchen. It feels so good to give back!”

“Met a Vietnam veteran who once sang backup vocals for Elvis tonight. #100hours #soupkitchen”

“Feeling so blessed and humbled to have met so many amazing people. Message me if you want to come with next week!” (Location tag: Baltimore Food Pantry)

Again, no wrong answers! Can you spot the differences between these posts?

As the first puts focus on your own feelings, it is honest and relatable. The second is removed from the charitable aspect of the experience while still publicizing that you participate. The third puts the focus on the people you are
helping while gently inviting others to do the same.

Think critically about how your Internet-using friends will feel upon reading your post. Are you attempting to guilt or inspire?

Finally, It is important to remember that the only true way to help disadvantaged people is to empower and dignify them. How would the recipients of your good deeds feel if they saw your post?

4. Where should I post?

After you give to a cause online, there is usually a button to “Share” a boiler-plate post on your Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, etc. This is an easy way to maintain humility, as it’s coming from a third party. You can’t help it if someone else says something nice about you!

Otherwise, you can craft your own post. Besides social media, you could blast out a mass e-mail, a private message to just a few people, or as a blog post on your website.

5. When should I share?

The most basic rule of humble charity work is to keep the publicity to a minimum. Although you may be incredibly proud of each fundraising goal you reach, it’s good to keep these tips in mind before posting about it every single day.

Just because you do something altruistic doesn’t mean you have to keep it to yourself. Posting with care can inspire others to give back as well-and that’s the “share” that keeps on sharing.

Author’s Bio: Diana Gomez is the Marketing Coordinator at Lyoness America, where she is instrumental in the implementation of content marketing strategies for USA and Canada. Lyoness is an international shopping community and loyalty rewards program, where businesses and consumers benefit with free membership and money back with every purchase.

How Do We Get More Social in 2015?

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global-social-media-concept-10084871Are you a business owner who is afraid of social media? If the answer is yes, why is that?

When you stop and think about it, there really are no downsides to being socially active when running a company.

Among the advantages of having a steady and solid social presence are:

  • Increased opportunities for sales;
  • Being seen as an expert in your respective industry;
  • Interaction with current and potential customers;
  • Ability to stay up to speed on industry trends and discussions by seeing what others are sharing on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn and more.

Must Give 100 Percent

In order to successfully use social media going forward, keep in mind that you can’t give a half-hearted effort to the cause.

When you stop and look at some company’s social sites, do you ever stop and wonder why they do social media in the first place?

Too often you will come across social pages that are sporadically updated, do not share useful information for consumers, and almost never respond to consumer inquiries. Basically, these pages exist just to have a social presence, something that at the end of the day is not all that beneficial for the company or the consumer.

If you’re thinking that 2015 might be the year you and your business fully invest in social media, consider the following:

  • Who is in charge? – First and foremost, who is in charge of your social media outreach? Your two basic options are doing it in-house or outsourcing it. Either way, there needs to be a command structure in place so that there are no communication issues;
  • What are the goals? – It is also important that you set social media goals and stick to them as much as possible. If your main goal is to provide useful info through shares and retweets, follow that plan. If your goal is to interact with consumers, do that. Ideally, you will be doing a little of both and have a well-rounded social media plan;
  • Who speaks for the company? – Lastly, you need to have it understood by all employees of who is allowed to represent the company when it comes to tweets, shares, pins etc. While you may want to encourage your employees that have social accounts to retweet and share stuff, you almost certainly do not want them speaking to customers (current and potential) regarding issues of concern. For example, if a customer sends a nasty message via Facebook or Twitter, you don’t want one of your employees engaging in a conversation that puts a bad light on the business. Have a social plan in writing that details who can speak for the company socially.

As 2015 nears, make it your goal to be the most socially active business going.

Photo credit: Image courtesy of arztsamui at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

About the Author: Miguel Salcido has been a professional search marketing consultant for over 11 years. He is the founder and CEO of Organic Media Group, a content driven SEO agency. He also likes to blog at OrganicSEOConsultant.com and share insights into advanced SEO. 

Effective social media sales gets personal

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By Diana Gomez

Figuring out how to use social media effectively for your business is a lot like trying to hit a moving target…about the size of a pea, three hundred yards away, from the bow of a skiff in fifteen-foot-high seas. Did I mention that you’re also trying to use an unwieldy, twenty-pound harpoon? (You get the picture.)

speedboat going fast

Getting the attention of your target market, let alone followers and regular activity on your social media sites, is one of the biggest challenges in today’s marketplace. However, it’s not impossible. As with our seafaring harpoon-ist, the best way to hit that target is with practice, patience and a little bit of luck. And with social media marketing, your odds also go up in proportion to your creativity: the more you use, the better chance you have of hitting home.

Remember: It’s Social Media, not Sales Media

Before launching any type of social media sales campaign, be sure that you have the following in place: a strong following and a good relationship with your followers and friends.

This may seem like a no-brainer, but a lot of businesses come into the social media world expecting people to start following them simply because they’re posting regularly, or that they can launch a campaign the same day they open their social media page and get instant results.

The fact is that social media is just that: social. If you were to walk into a room and hand out business cards, talking only about your business, people would get tired of you pretty quickly. But if you were to engage others, answer their questions, talk a little about yourself and comment on their personal accomplishments, you’d not only be welcome in that social circle, you might also be invited to other, bigger parties.

Social Campaigning

Once you’ve built up that all-too-important following, it’s time to break out the campaign strategies. From Instagram picture challenges to pop quiz prize questions on Facebook, there are potentially thousands of ways you can start actively engaging your customer base. And don’t let anyone try to pigeonhole your business by saying a particular social media type isn’t “right” for your company. An accounting firm can have just as much fun with a photo challenge as a nail salon. In fact, it might shine an even brighter spotlight on your business when you take a more unconventional campaign route.

Following are several social media campaign ideas, but keep in mind that creativity is the key to standing out in an overcrowded social media market.

Ideally, these suggestions should only be a basis for creating your own innovative spin-off.

  • Say it like you meme it: Random pictures transformed into funny, witty memes is a great way to build connections through shares and likes. And for small businesses, using local references or images can help engage area residents.
  • Caption captivation: Don’t have the time to make a meme? Get your friends and followers to do it for you by posting a picture and inviting them to caption it for you. The cuter, funnier or more surprising you can make the image, the better.
  • Local resource: If your small business is located in or near an active community/business hub, take the opportunity to become a go-to resource for local events. No matter your business, if you post regularly about upcoming events in your neighborhood, people will begin to seek you out as a reliable resource. And as an added bonus, your business would likely become known as a strong supporter of the local community.
  • What we’re up to: Show off some of your company’s personality by sharing family album-type images. Pictures of some regulars who dropped by, renovations, even a picture of you fixing a leaky sink in the break room will make your business feel more relatable and consequently, more engaging.
  • Pop quiz: Everyone knows at least a few random facts for no apparent reason, so why not give them a chance to show off their odd knowledge by posting a pop quiz question? From movie trivia to microbiology, you can pick a question that pertains to your industry or go with something totally random. Either way, it’s a great way to build on your following.
  • Image open invite: This is another one that can work for virtually any business. Invite your followers to post images following a theme – any theme. It doesn’t necessarily have to relate to your business, but there are plenty of ways to tie photos in with your line of work. An accounting firm, for example, could welcome pictures of frugal DIY projects (ex: turning old VHS cases into mod picture frames), or a lawn care service could post images of bizarre yard art and invite others to share their own.

Whatever your approach, just remember to keep it creative and relatable. People spend time on social media sites to escape from the business world and to engage with friends and family. By gearing your campaigns more toward the light-hearted and entertaining, you’ll eventually be able to expand your social outreach exponentially.

Author’s Bio: Diana Gomez is the Marketing Coordinator at Lyoness America, where she is instrumental in the implementation of marketing and social media strategies for USA and Canada. Lyoness is an international shopping community and loyalty rewards program, where businesses and consumers benefit with free membership and money back with every purchase.

Photo Credit: Keith Marshall via Compfight cc

How to tame social media’s sound and fury

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“Out, out, brief candle! Social media’s but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more: it is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.” (almost) Macbeth Quote (Act V, Scene V).

You’re building a business, right?

That means you should be spending most of your time making your product or services as amazing as they can be. You need to focus.

single black dot on red field

Social media is one little piece of your marketing puzzle, so it shouldn’t be absorbing large chunks of your day, even if you’re a solo entrepreneur who’s running everything.

“But I’m getting alerts across my screen all day long,” you say.

In the immortal words of Chef Gordon Ramsey: Shut. It. Down.

If you truly are building a business, you must create space for innovation, planning, face-to-face contact with customers, and other things that take you away from a computer screen.

Tips for Putting Social Media Back in its Place

  • Don’t let social status updates absorb time throughout the day. If you’re going to curate content, use scheduling tools like Buffer or Hootsuite, so that you can stay focused.
  • Start your marketing planning with your actual business goals, not with a new tool you just heard about.
  • Don’t get caught in the social media echo chamber. Be sure you read widely, on a variety of topics that support your business.
  • For each social network you use, have a reason why you’re using it. And be sure that reason is related to your business plan.
  • Stop saying social media is “free.” It’s not. Your time is worth money.
  • Dedicate blocks of time to your social media strategy, and the rest of the time shut off the alerts, close the Facebook tab, and set your phone to vibrate. You really don’t need to see the notification that Joe and Stacy are talking about Zac Efron on Twitter.
  • Remember that nothing is set in stone, particularly when it comes to social media tactics. Trust your own gut more than some “guru” who doesn’t know your business.
  • If you have a choice between Tweeting a customer and talking on the phone, choose the phone. Better yet, meet for coffee.

Above all, keep it in perspective. It can seem as though everything revolves around social media, but your customers just want your fantastic product/service, delivered with a smile. Everything else is just “sound and fury.”

Author’s Bio: Rosemary O’Neill is an insightful spirit who works for social strata — a top ten company to work for on the Internet . Check out the Social Strata blog. You can find Rosemary on Google+ and on Twitter as @rhogroupee

Photo Credit: http://heretakis.com via Compfight cc

Mastering a Social Media Career

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asociallle

Are you an avid Facebook user? Do you enjoy keeping friends up to date on your activities with multiple Twitter posts? Do your pins get re-pinned on a regular basis from Pinterest?

You just might be able to turn your love of social media into a career.

Career Options for Social Media Fans

You can begin as a content writer for social media sites and work your way up to manager and finally to strategist.

There are also other jobs in between these options that range from providing the content to organizing it to incorporating social media into an entire marketing strategy.

The different jobs require various experience or education and provide different levels of income.

Starting at the bottom is the content writer that can earn between $14,000 and $60,000 annually based on experience and the job demands. Public relations managers and social media strategists can earn six figures in the larger cities.

How to Get Started

If you want to know how mastering social media can turn into a career, you have to get away from your computer and meet the professionals.

Attend events, conferences, and seminars on social media. Don’t just sit in a corner and listen; use these opportunities to network. Pick the brains of those who are successful to find out what they did to get where they are.

Social media is just beginning to be viewed as a viable career choice. Because of this fact, there aren’t a lot of training guidelines and requirements to go by. Instead, it is more important that you stay updated on changes in the industry.

Know the latest technology and news about social media. You must know them in-depth, understand the newest tools and applications. You must know what is current, but also where social media is headed.

Of course, some standard education will put you ahead of the game.

A background in marketing and public relations or even journalism can give you an edge over the competition.

Perhaps the best advice for people who want to have a career in social media is to develop a strong online presence on social networks.

By creating networks and demonstrating your ability to gain a strong following, you can show your skills to potential employers.

Finding Jobs

Put your contact information on your sites to make it easy for people who stumble across your profiles to contact you. Join groups and establish strong profiles on networks such as LinkedIn to enhance your visibility.

Also, don’t be afraid to approach potential employers.

See a company that you’d like to work for that either doesn’t have a social network nor has one that is ineffective? Send them a message and let them know how you can help them. You have to be able to tell companies why social media is important and why you are the right person for the job.

As social media continues to grow and develop more credibility, more businesses and organizations will increase their interest in it.

This means that there will be more jobs for people like you.

Photo credit: my6essentials.com

About the Author: Joyce Morse is an author who writes on a variety of topics, including SEO and social media.