by tradesmeninsights | Mar 24, 2010 | Marketing Tips, Marketing Trends, Social Marketing
We all want to come up on page one of Google, Yahoo, Bing and all the other search engines. There’s a good reason that we need to strive for that. According to a recent article in emarketer data from an icrossing study shows only a small amount of people go beyond the first page.
Across the big three search engines, 95% of traffic came from first page results. That should make us all sit up and take notice. If you haven’t taken search seriously, maybe now would be a good time to do so. Don’t do all the hard work and have less than positive results because you’ve not taken organic search seriously.
A report from Econsultancy and ExactTarget indicated search spending would increase…nearly two-thirds of the marketers interviewed said they plan on increasing spending in this area.
by tradesmeninsights | Mar 18, 2010 | Marketing Tips, Social Marketing
I’m an Evangelist when it comes to using LinkedIn as a networking tool in the B-to-B arena, and I try to get all my clients to see the benefit. I think LinkedIn is one of the most under-utilized tools in a B-to-B marketers tool bag, but like anything else, you need to work at it.
One way I use LinkedIn is to promote my blog posts on a weekly basis. I normally do at least 3 posts a week, and on Tuesday, I put it up as a news item on all the groups that I belong to. It’s a great referral resource.
There are many other ways you can use LinkedIn. Here are just a few:
- Reach those prospective contractors and Professional Tradesmen by being active in groups
- Introduce and sell products
- Generate leads for possible demos of your product
- Become a thought leader in your market
- Get press coverage
I recently read a post by Darren Rowse on one of my favorite sites, Problogger, where he was interviewing Lewis Howe , titled Top 10 ways to drive traffic to your blog using LinkedIn. Here is a summary of some of the top ways to use LinkedIn to drive traffic to your blog:
- Complete your profile 100% – and add a nice photo.
- Increase your connections – the more the connections, the more people have access to your profile.
- Customize your web link – instead of the links saying my blog, make it relevant to what you do, i.e., blogging for plumbers.
- Join niche groups – it’s your best source for new business leads.
- Post comments on Niche groups – a great way to build your credibility and thought leadership.
- Answer questions – the more questions you answer, the better the chance that person will click over to your blog.
- Update status – it’s the first thing that pops up on the home profile of all your connections.
These are some points we all should consider to get the most out of our efforts.
What are you doing to best utilize LinkedIn? I’d love to hear from you.
by tradesmeninsights | Mar 16, 2010 | Marketing Tips, Social Marketing
For those of you who haven’t “bought into social media,” or haven’t gotten around to implementing programs, here’s an example of a traditional manufacturing company that’s “doing it right.”
The name of the company is RIDGID and they are a manufacturer of hand and power tools for several industries including Plumbing, HVAC/R, Utility, Industrial and Electrical markets. (Disclaimer: We have been the Ad Agency for RIDGID for almost 25 years and other than helping them with a few back-end details, they have done all this in-house under the guidance of the brand director.) By the way, they’re doing a great job.
RIDGID is a traditional manufacturer that realized that social media was allowing them to have another avenue to reach current and potential customers worldwide. They entered social media gradually and are getting good feedback from existing customers and potential ones.
Web site – When they redesigned their site, they made sure that as social elements were added, they included links to Twitter and Facebook, and to view their latest video, they added a link to YouTube, or to look at their product photos, they added the link to Flickr.
Forum – One of the first things they did was to introduce a forum to begin building a strong online community. They have several threads including plumbing and construction.
RIDGID not only promotes new products like RIDGIDConnect with social media, they promote industry events as well as their annual Reputation Roadshow. Tactics they use to engage their audience are elements such as catchy contests on Twitter or giving incentives to those who join their Facebook Fan page.
They’re doing everything right. But it was a process. They, like the rest of us, when entering the social space, had to re-think how to approach the medium because it’s different from “traditional marketing.” Whether it was Facebook or Twitter, they walked before jumping in with both feet.
I’d suggest that if you’re still on the fence about diving in, click onto some of the links I’ve supplied and follow them to see how RIDGID is doing it. It’s not rocket science, just good old fashioned marketing using a different medium to reach their core audience.
I’d like to hear from you if you have any other examples of manufacturers doing it right.
by tradesmeninsights | Mar 11, 2010 | Marketing Tips, Social Marketing
If you use your Facebook account for strictly business, then what I’m about to share won’t be as important.
Facebook, one of the fastest growing social networks, has become one of the fastest growing forums for embarrassing photos, awkward wall posts and uncomfortable sharing. Would you show your boss those pictures from last weekend or your opinion about the new office policy? Probably not, so why have it open to everyone on Facebook? Employers and schools are now monitoring Facebook and most people aren’t protecting themselves correctly.
Below are 3 basic privacy setting tips that will help you protect yourself on Facebook:
1. Use Facebook Friend Lists
Lists are by far the most important and coolest compliment to privacy settings on Facebook, and surprisingly, most people don’t use them. Friend lists allow you to group your friends together by category. For example, I have a Work, Professional Associations, Close Friends, Family and Other lists. These lists allow you to view friends by their list category on your feed and allow you to specify different privacy policies. For example, I want my close friends to see my wall posts, but I do not want my work or associations to.
To create lists:
- Go to the “Friend tab” on the left side of your home page
- On the next page, there will be a “Create List” tab in the top right corner
- You simply decide on a name and select the friends you wish to be in that list
To hide an element of your profile from a specific list:
- Go to Facebook privacy settings and choice which element you wish to conceal (make sure you go through each element).
For example, in the Profile Information there is “About me,” “Personal Info,” “Birthday,” etc.
- In the tabs on the right, pick “Custom”
- Type the name of this list in “Hide From” section
2. Protect Your Photos/Videos
Photos/videos can be some of the most incriminating elements on Facebook. Photos/videos are also something you don’t want to share with just anyone. For safety as well as avoiding embarrassing moments, you need to protect your photos/videos.
First, you want to make sure you protect the photos/videos you upload. On the upload page there is a privacy box. You can again choose “Custom” and select who to “Hide From” the album.
Second, you want to protect yourself from photos/videos others upload of you.
You cannot control someone tagging you in an album. You can detag yourself, but there is no way to prevent it initially. One way to ensure you do not have to explain a video or photo to a boss is to just ensure they cannot see any of your photos/videos.
- Go into privacy settings
- Under profile information, go to photos and videos of me
- Hit “Custom” and select who to “Hide From” the album
3. Search For Me On Facebook
When someone types in your name, what do you want them to be able to see? Facebook’s default search settings may surprise you and you definitely want to go in and modify them for your own personal preferences.
To change who can search for you:
- Go to Facebook privacy settings
- Go to the “Search” tab and choose who can find you
On the same page, there is a box “Public Search Results.” Having this checked allows search engines to access your publicly available information and any information you sent to everyone. By unchecking this, your Facebook page will not show up in search engines. Search engines can be a great tool to direct people to your page and another way for people to contact you, but if you are using Facebook as a private site used just to connect to friends, I would advise you to uncheck the box.
Conclusion
By going through each element of these tips, you can protect yourself from hackers or just embarrassing, awkward moments with co-workers. One of the most important things to remember though, is that to avoid embarrassing things being broadcast about you is to avoid doing the embarrassing thing!
If you can’t avoid that, at least make yourself aware of the settings available on all social sites to protect your privacy.
by tradesmeninsights | Mar 10, 2010 | Marketing Tips, Marketing Tools, Social Marketing
Manufacturers are missing the boat if they are not incorporating videos into their Web sites. According to Forrester Research, videos properly submitted are 53 times more likely to generate first page Google rankings. You heard me right, 53 times more likely. Other advantages are that results appear in days because Google is pushing video to the top. This is a great opportunity for B-to-B marketers.
Benjamin Wayne in a recent post, Search Engine Success: Getting Video SEO Right, outlines what needs to be done in order to get that first page placement. The key is submitting videos and pages in parallel and successfully indexing for each individual search engine.
Search engines can’t find video content on their own, so you need to get your submissions right in order to capitalize on this. Because the video search engine is complex, Benjamin offers these questions to your video platform provider:
- Will you index both the permalink pages as well as the videos?
- Will the links point back to my site?
- How often will feeds be updated?
- In which search engines will the results appear?
- How do I track click-throughs?
If you do this right, you can get great results in a relatively short period of time. If you’re going to do it, you may as well do it right.
by tradesmeninsights | Mar 9, 2010 | Marketing Tips, Social Marketing
Your company’s blog can become the “Gateway” to introduce your company and its products/services to prospective customers. Here are some best practice tips that will help you generate serious traffic to your blog:
- Post titles – Choose key phrases that you can dominate in Google by using them consistently.
- Posts need to be scannable – Tradesmen, like everyone else, will scan a post if the headline catches their attention to see if they should spend the time reading it. Highlight quotes, break up paragraphs, bold key phrases and use bullet points or numbered lists.
- Two kinds of posts – Original content and resources content. Try to do at least one original content a week. The balance can be resources you’ve found. You want your blog to be the “go-to” resource for info and that doesn’t mean it all has to be original.
- Lead with a benefit – Always provide a “benefit” or as I call it, a “golden nugget.” This helps engage the reader to continue on.
- Make your posts look good – You don’t have to be a graphic artist, but posts should look appealing to read. Try when possible to put in an interesting graphic.
- Engage your audience – Ask for feedback on what they are doing.
- Write from a position of expertise – Share info, but remember one of your primary objectives in doing a blog is to become known as a thought leader.
- Post on a regular basis – Do posts at least 3 times a week and ideally 5. You want to continually engage and inform your target audience. But don’t write for the sake of writing. Make sure there’s something of value to share.
What other ways are you making sure you get the most out of your posts?
