by tradesmeninsights | Apr 29, 2010 | Marketing Trends, Social Marketing
That’s the $64,000 question. Marketers are split on whether social media will deliver measurability according to a recent study by Datran Media’s 4th Annual Marketing and Media Survey. 87% of those surveyed said that accurate online measurement was at least somewhat important for driving increased brand awareness, revenues or performance.
According to eMarketers’ CEO and co-founder, Geoff Ramsey, in his insight brief, Seven Guidelines for Achieving Social Media ROI, most marketers today do not invest sufficient time, effort or money on social media measurement.
The leading metrics used to measure social success focus on increased site traffic, but on its own, it cannot justify heavier investments in social media.
Of those respondents, those who are heavily invested in Facebook and Twitter were most likely to track online.
For the B-to-B sector, they are having a tough enough time finding justifications and budgets to do social media. After they cross that hurdle, then they’ll have to start monitoring their activities.
If you like this post you might like:
Why Do People Ignore Social Media Metrics?
B-to-B Marketers: Analytics Key To Your Internet Success.
by tradesmeninsights | Apr 28, 2010 | Marketing Tips, Marketing Trends, Social Marketing
Those of us who have been blogging for sometime may be under the assumption that once someone finds our blog they become a groupie and read every one of our posts. Well, here’s a wake up call.
Would you believe that 80% of the people who come to your site are first-timers?
This is true for most bloggers. Even the big boys like Jay Baer and Jason Falls have 65% plus who come to their sites for the first time. Jay Baer wrote a recent post, 5 Ways to Make Friends with Strangers on your Blog, where he outlines his suggestions on how to capitalize on your blog.
This comes from new research from Compendium Blogware (I recently attended a webinar from them) that shows that for more than two-thirds of corporate blogs, new visitors comprise more than 80% of blog traffic. So once your ego gets over the fact that the number of groupies following may not be as large as you thought, what do you plan on doing?
I’m a believer that the glass is half full and that this provides all of us with an opportunity to convert those first-timers to regulars. Here are some things you should consider doing:
- Make your site easy to navigate – 80-95% of all clicks to your blog are organic which means they didn’t come directly to your URL.
- Make sure your blog is focused – so the new reader can easily identify what it is you are focusing on and make it personal (put up your photo).
- Keep talking about your key ideas over and over – Just because you wrote something last week, it doesn’t mean they see it especially with 80% plus being first-timers.
- Keep them on your site by referring them back to other posts you have written on the same subject – this helps you build thought leadership quickly.
- Make it easy to subscribe to your RSS feed – if they like what they’ve read, make it easy for them to read you regularly.
These are my thoughts. Do you have any to add?
Here are some other posts you might find interesting:
10 Engagement Tactics That Will Help B-to-B Marketers
Forrester Report: Most B-to-B Blogs Fail.
If you like this post, please pass it on.
by tradesmeninsights | Apr 27, 2010 | Marketing Tips, Social Marketing
“Build it and they will come,” is not the answer to generate traffic to your agency’s blog. You must employ proactive tactics to create awareness and interest among prospective tradesmen. The more traffic that you can generate from among your target audience, the more inbound new business leads that will follow.
Denise Wakeman, Online Marketing Advisor and Founder of The Blog Squad, has created an excellent list of tips to generate traffic to your blog. I would encourage you to create a list of “to dos” from her suggestions. For more details, be sure to check out her article, “19 Tips for Driving Traffic to Your Blog.”
Here are 6 suggestions:
- Make your target audience crystal clear. If you can’t clearly and narrowly define your audience, you won’t build significant traffic.
- Optimize your posts’ content for search. Identify and dominate a few key words that your target audience will most likely use to find you. Use these words consistently in your posts’ titles and copy.
- Knowledge is power. Get in the habit of checking your blog’s analytics frequently. Keep it simple, but know at least daily the number of unique visitors, page views, top posts, how people got to your blog, search terms and incoming links.
- Don’t be afraid to re-purpose older blog content through multiple social media channels. Posts that I’ve written a year ago are still pertinent and continue to generate traffic to my blog.
- One thing to not do that will impact traffic. Don’t sell! The moment you start to sell on your blog is when you will most likely LOSE your audience.
- Identify who your audience is in your post titles. This is especially helpful when you re-purpose your content on Twitter and an important part of SEO for your blog.
These are some of my ways. What do you do to make the most out of your blog? I’d like to hear from you.
If you like this post please, pass it on.
Here are some other posts that might be of interest:
5 Quick Tips to Promote your Posts
How do you Find Readers for your Blog
by tradesmeninsights | Apr 20, 2010 | Marketing Tips, Social Marketing
We’re all trying to keep ahead of the curve, and social media is one way of doing that. Lots of people are afraid of social as if it’s something scary. I think the unknown plays a big part in the uncertainty. You can break social so why not dive in and try. The water is just fine.
I read a post recently by a friend of mine and fellow blogger Nicky Jameson, 19 Things I’ve Learned About Social Media, and it made me start to think about what I’ve learned and here are my 5 observations:
- Don’t ignore social media – Just because you may not understand it, don’t look the other way. This is not a flash in the pan. It will affect all of us in one way or another so you’re better off facing it. There’s lot of good business potential out there.
- Social media isn’t a silver bullet – I’ve said this several times before, social media isn’t the answer, it’s just more tools you can use in your marketing tool box.
- Have a plan – If you’re going to do social media, then have a plan. What are you trying to accomplish and how does it fit into your other current marketing programs.
- Content is still king – if you’re going to do social media. You need to give something of value. That’s part of the program. The more you give, the more you are considered a thought leader in that category.
- Face-to-face – is still the best for contact. As humans, we need to interact and as I say, belly button to belly button is still the best in my book. Social media is one way to identify potentials and start building a relationship that hopefully one day will end in a face-to-face meeting.
These are my top 5. What are yours?
If you like this post, please pass it on.
Here are a few other posts that might be of interest:
3 Ways Tradespeople Can Use Social Media to Boost Credibility and Business.
Why Do People Ignore Social Media Metrics?
Social Media: Who Uses It and Why.
by tradesmeninsights | Apr 15, 2010 | Marketing Tips, Social Marketing, Traditional Marketing
If you’re putting social in its own silo, you’re not going to have the impact you had hoped for. We need to realize that social media by itself really isn’t very useful if it’s not used in conjunction with other marketing tools. Integrated programs are the key to maximizing social media.
According to research by Unica, the proportion of marketers integrating their social campaigns with other channels varies widely depending on the tactic. Unica said in its report that the main ways marketers are integrating their social campaigns are in regard to timing, creative themes and branding.
What are you doing to integrate social into your marketing programs?
by tradesmeninsights | Apr 14, 2010 | Marketing Trends, Social Marketing
Social media is continuing to expand its reach (an estimated 940 million people worldwide), and businesses and their brands should look to social media as a place to build their brand. Granted, a majority of the activity is on a personal level, but interactions involving information about products and services have increased significantly according to a recent article in eMarketer.com as brands encourage word of mouth.
A recent study conducted in January of 2010 from InSites Consulting reveals some interesting points.
When asked what was the most believable source when it came to info found on the Internet, the most likely answer was their peers. That’s not surprising, but what is is that “the brand itself” came in a close second, far ahead of journalists which are traditionally considered an objective source.
InSites also found that, while brands were not at the top when users became fans, they did show up very well.
What’s this mean to you and your brand? Keep on connecting and conversing. There’s a big audience out there that can and will use your product (or your competitors). Let’s make sure it’s yours.
