Social Media Marketing Made Easy | Facebook & Twitter for Business

Drive Traffic To Your Website from Your Videos

You know that videos are The Hot Thing, but they can have a downside as well. When videos are hosted on sites like youtube.com there’s a danger of keeping your audience on youtube instead of your own site – not good!

To combat this, you need to make it super easy for people to get from your videos back to your website. And that’s why you need to make sure that every video on the web contains a link back to your site within the first line of the description. Here’s what I mean.

On youtube, you can insert a clickable link in your video’s description. But most people make the mistake of putting the link at the bottom of the description, and therefore hiding it from most viewers. Look to the right of this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7HFWpCIClE.  See where it says “More at http://www.lauraroeder.com/ “? Although it’s not the most genius headline I’ve ever written, it allows the viewer to click over to my site via a link that’s easy to spot.

For comparison, take a look at the sidebar of this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzMOwCxBSoc.  See how there’s no link? Well there actually IS a link but most people will never get to it because they have to do the work of clicking “more info” in order to see it. Even if they did click the link, it’s buried in a paragraph of text and not easily found.

Now that you understand why it’s important to put your link in the first line, take some time to go through any videos you have on the web and make sure there’s a link to your site in the first line of the description. In youtube you do this by clicking “edit video” from the video page then modifying the content in the “description” box. I recommend that you keep your link to one line, then have at least one blank line before the rest of the description to make your link stand out. This simple action can make an incredible difference in the amount of traffic driven from your videos to your website.

How To Not Show Other Videos At The End of Your YouTube Video

“Do you know how to set up the preferences so that at the end of the video it doesn’t show a whole lot of other people’s videos as options to click on to?”

Yes! Watch this video to find out.

A lot of people try and look for a youtube setting, but this option is actually found within the embed code for each individual video. (Unfortunately that means there’s no way to make this a universal setting on all of your videos.)

Go to youtube and find the page for your video. Then click “embed” below the video and make sure to UN-check “include related videos”. This will be checked automatically. Now when you embed your video on your site you won’t have to worry about all the other videos showing up at the end!

No, Press Releases Are Not Out!

Guest Post by Pat Romain

You might think that press releases are part of the old school PR way of doing things, that they have been pushed out of the way by blogs, email and even social media; but news releases, more specifically, online press releases are still alive and kicking.

Press releases are still a great FREE way to get publicity that you can use to get people to talk about you .  Although it is great to get people to talk about you through blogs whether it be your own blog or guest blogging; you can try to go a step further and get yourself known by using news releases to get your information out there and be seen by the news media.

There are a few rules that you need to consider when writing your release:

1. Follow the basic press release template (Check out the press release template that I use.)
2. Have a really great headline: Your headline needs to catch the attention of a media editor who already has hundreds (and sometimes thousands) of releases in front of her (or him); your’s needs to stick out.
3. Write in the third person and in a journalistic style. Do not write as if the story has been written by you. This is not about you but about the news/the story and it’s surely not an ad for your services or business
4. Add as much contact information as possible. It would really be a shame to do all this work and not have a means to be contacted by the people who wish to get in touch with you.
5. If you are short on ideas for a subject, craft your press release around news that is already out there, for example in my case I was compelled to write about girls self- esteem and what can be done at a young age to support girls in their growth,  and how my business has set up a fund for this purpose.

Now that you have some ideas of what you should write and how, what  do you do with your press release when you are done writing it?

• You can send it to your media list, if you don’t have one you can build one by watching and keeping track of reporters through Twitter or even their blogs; do make sure to actually entertain a relationship with them prior , no one wants to be a spammy friend.
• You can send it to editors through online news distribution services which help put your press release directly in the hands of reporters and editors, for example: HARO (helpareporterout.com), Newswrire.ca, Writersnewsonly.com, Freepressrelease.com and also Google news.

These are just some of the websites that I use but there are so much more out there.

Don’t be discouraged if your news releases do not get picked the first or second time that you submit them. The more you submit your releases the more you have a chance of yours getting picked and thus creating your buzz!

Pat Romain owns an outsourcing firm vizionva.com where she helps entrepreneurs achieve more with their time by delegating. She also helps her clients by implementing the day to day tasks in their businesses. Pat lives in Montreal, loves twitter (@patromainva), blogging and is a yoga fanatic.

Why I Go to So Many Marketing Conferences

Using Conversation Hooks on Facebook To Build Relationships

Guest post by Havana Nguyen

I’ve been using Facebook since early 2005. Back then, before the social media “boom”, Facebook was simply a place for college students to keep in touch with friends, whether sharing homework assignments, planning a night on the town, inviting, people to coffee, or just chit-chatting.

In short, Facebook’s appeal was social.

Today, that appeal continues, but when you’re in business, you can lose sight of the “social” aspect of social media.

Strategy IS important. We can’t reach our goals without strategy, but in my experience, simply socializing and building friendships through Facebook has been super effective in making me THE go-to designer within my many social circles.

Some people underestimate the importance of socializing because for many, its intuitive and frankly, a bit frivolous.

But you can actually be productively social.

My number one rule in social media activities, above all, is to make it easy for people to comment and talk to me. I make sure I have lots of “conversation hooks”– pieces of information that give insight into my life or create a picture of what I do or am interested in to incite my friends and followers to ask about my interests if they are curious.

Here’s an example of a normal, boring ol’ status update:

Havana Nguyen says, “Gettin’ some coffee and thinkin’ about design work for the day. Nummies ….”

But, with the addition of conversation hooks, we get:

Havana Nguyen says, “Getting some coffee so I can start thinkin’ about the layout for a website for an awesome interior designer I met at a conference last week!”

It’s the little details that paint the picture: I’m excited about the project, I’m working with an interior designer, and I am cool enough to go to conferences. By being more detailed in my updates, I show people WHAT I do and my attitude towards my work. These details don’t always have to be work-related either:

“Going to a movie with some buddies! Whoo-hoo!” versus

“Going to see ‘The Social Network’ with some friends I haven’t seen in a looong time! Whoo-hoo!”

Again, socializing in this way is intuitive and frivolous. There’s really no point in adding the detail above but it brings out personality AND the details open up room for comments. 70% of my status updates are non work-related but I still get a lot of leads from Facebook because people get to know me through my profile.

You can also apply conversation hooks to other aspects of your online presence:

Your profile:

When I meet someone, friend them, and then see a blank profile, I get so annoyed! A complete profile makes it easy for someone to reach out and start a conversation. I don’t just talk about graphic design on my profile; I talk about my major, my interest in astronomy, my history in building websites, my geekery with animation, and my triumphs in overcoming shyness. There are plenty of designers out there but only one ME. Don’t be afraid to talk about yourself on your profile; that’s what it’s there for! Those details are the conversation hooks for folks who’ve just met you.

Photos:

People looove pictures. Create visual conversation hooks by posting photos of yourself at events or trying something new. Sometimes, I just post pictures of what I look like that day or I may use it to showcase my design work. Remember when Laura talked about creating a demo reel for your business? Find a way to visually showcase your work. Posting doodles and clips of projects keeps me fresh in the minds of my friends and followers.

Notes:

To me, Notes are like a little blog I can share with a smaller group of friends. I’ll write movie reviews or outline plans for a new idea or talk about current projects or sometimes even express concerns or worries that need to get out. I write miscellaneous stuff on Facebook Notes that just doesn’t fit my own blog. People, including design prospects, often tell me that they love that I am so open and expressive online. I don’t make it difficult at all for people to learn about me and approach me.

I love meeting new people on Twitter, but I adore nourishing and maintaining friendships on Facebook. Because Facebook is a bit less “public” (as opposed to Twitter), I can create a sense of intimacy with my friends, followers, and fans. When Danielle LaPorte of White Hot Truth added on my Facebook, I felt like I’d just joined a little secret Danielle club. Make your fans feel the same!

And conversation hooks aren’t just for Facebook; they can apply to Twitter and even face-to-face networking. For example, when people used to ask me, “What’s up?” I would tell them, “Not much.” (That doesn’t give them much to continue the conversation, huh?) Today, I answer their question, letting them know what I’m up to and making it easy for them to grow the conversation.

Conversation hooks encourage the “social” side of social media but it also implements strategy! Be more aware of what details you can include in your profile and think about how you can include conversation hooks to invite comments and interaction. After all, the point of social media is to be social!

Havana Nguyen is a freelance graphic designer who obsesses over how to wow her clients’ customers through careful, thoughtful design. She specializes in web and print graphics and loves to illustrate. Tweet her at @havanatweets or visit http://www.havana-designs.com.

4 Tips To Market Your Business Like A Hollywood Blockbuster

Guest post by Casey Stevens

Imagine starting work one day and a line of people are waiting to work with you.

There are hundreds of people lined up out the front, with the line winding down the block, around the corner and out of sight.

There are even some people in sleeping bags or sitting on foldout chairs sipping coffee having just woken up from spending the night sleeping on the pavement. And all these people are waiting with cash in hand ready to buy that thing you sell.

Sounds pretty awesome doesn’t it? Also sounds a little unrealistic right?

Well the truth may be that you will never have customers sleeping out the front of your store, however there are some valuable lessons we can learn from Hollywood about creating buzz, excitement and a buying frenzy for your product or service.

Every year there is a a blockbuster of the summer. A movie so in demand and popular that people go crazy over. Getting people so worked up with excitement and anticipation that they dress up as their favourite character, sleep in the streets just to be firsts in line to buy a ticket.

These movies will go to have  hundreds of showings, thousands of DVD’s sold and they’ll even show up on the television. Yet people still feel they have to see it first and see it NOW.

Why is this?

The good news is it all comes down to marketing tactics that can be applied to your business!

So lets take a look at 4 common tactics used  in Hollywood and how you can apply them to your business:

1) Creating a story in your marketing:

This does not mean the story in the movie, rather the story surrounding the movie.

For example magazines and newspapers run many articles full of speculation and interest surrounding the gossip from the movie set. Is there tension between the lead actors? Is the starring actress refusing to leave her trailer before 11am? Has there been major issues with production?

People get pulled into the story that is happening and want to know what will happen next.

What story is happening for your business? Has there been major issues with suppliers, dramas at the factory or has something exciting happened that you can share with your audience?

2) Giving away your highlights:

A movie trailer may only be a few minutes long but in it they show the highlights, the exciting parts, the interesting bits, and all to make you go ‘I have to know more’.

In the online world this is the part where people give away cool free content. They give away a technique or idea that is working fantastically well. Sure they might be doing this to be nice, but generally people give away the highlights to draw you in and to raise your interest.

You can see this in practice In Laura’s latest launch of Creating Fame. Her first video shows you how to create fans out of thin air. She goes into incredible detail and takes you step by step through the process, and you come away knowing exactly how to create fans for your business.

3) Using scarcity:

You would think that there is no scarcity when it comes to movies. Once they are released they are forever out in the world on DVD, Blu Ray, on the internet, at the cinema, on your TV. There is basically an unlimited supply of the movie yet people get so excited about being the first to see a movie that they do all kinds of crazy things.

Scarcity works in a number of ways. People want and crave what they can’t have,  for example with the movies there is only one ‘first showing’ which creates demand as people vie to be one of the few that gets in first. The scarcity then breeds more demand as others want to get in on the act too.

How can you create scarcity in your business? A few well known examples are the use of limited editions or free gift with purchase. If it is a physical good that is actually limited that is fantastic. If it is a service and you can only help 10 people at a time that is scarcity that works extremely well.

4) Having a release date:

Perhaps the most crucial tactic is to have a release date or a launch date.

You can create all the anticipation, scarcity and intrigue you want but it all must culminate in a certain date or event.

In Hollywood this is the release date of the movie, in your business it can be the start date of a sale or the date you release a new product or service. One thing to remember is that there needs to be a corresponding end date as well. Your sale cannot go on indefinitely, your new limited and exclusive offering will not be around forever.

So if you want to market your business like a Hollywood blockbuster be sure to create a compelling story for your prospects to get involved with, give away something useful and interesting but not everything and be sure to get a release date!

Casey Stevens is a product launch marketer who helps real world businesses use the best internet marketing strategies in their offline businesses.

Get a free blueprint where a top marketer shares step-by-step how he created a $5 million launch for a car dealership at http://www.productlaunchsolution.com

6,008 People Typed My Name Into Google This Year (And Those Are Just The Ones That Spelled It Right)

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So far in 2010, over six thousand people have looked up my name on google and clicked on my website. You can have this too. I started out with nothing, and built this for myself in less than two years.  In this video,  I’ll show you how.

Sign Up Below To Learn The Three Steps to Creating Fame

Adapting to Social Media in a Highly Niche Market

Guest post by Jassen Bowman

If you’ve studied marketing for any length of time, you’ve likely already come across the adage that all marketing must be held ruthlessly accountable for measurable results. As a firm believer in testing and tracking every little bit of marketing I do, I was initially confused about how to apply tracking methodologies to this whole “social media” craze, where success is, on the surface, measured largely by popularity: How many friends, followers, or connections you have with other people. I suddenly found myself in the strange position of being an “old school” Internet marketer in a sea of social media confusion

Then came along (shameless plug coming!) Laura Roeder’s original “Creating Fame” course. Creating Fame not only gave me an actual direction in which to point my social media efforts, but also clarified how to translate my “old Internet marketing” thought processes into the new social media universe. In reality, there was nothing I really needed to do differently, as the core concepts of creating valuable content to generate traffic back to my own web site was still the dominant concept. All that was really changing was where I put that content, and how I needed to format my content in order for people to be able to properly engage with it in a social media
context.

My particular market is a very small niche, and something that most people are uncomfortable discussing freely with strangers: IRS tax debt resolution. My first challenge for integrating social media into my existing marketing was to determine how best to present my content in a way that people would actually use it. This had to go beyond just using content for SEO and link building purposes — I needed to actively engage people somehow to enter a dialogue about something
they didn’t want to talk about.

Because of this challenge, I ultimately decided that direct connection sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn would not be a core component of my social media matrix, and until the past two months I did not actively pursue those three popular social media outlets. Instead, we chose to tap into existing communities where people went for information about particular problems, e.g., business management issues, personal finance assistance, etc.

As per Laura’s suggestions, I first cleaned up my web site, migrated from B2Evolution to WordPress, and made the web site much more user friendly, interactive, and personable. Whereas before I maintained distinctly separate business and personal lives on the Internet, I
began introducing a personal element to my business sites, and took a softer approach to my tax relief articles and discussions. Ultimately, after significant deliberation, I collapsed all my web sites into one central location. From one blog I was then able to offer business articles to each of several specific industries that represent a large fraction of my client base, offer tax advice, and also let prospective clients see a personal side of me that let’s them know I’m human and
have interests outside of just being a tax geek.

The use of online press releases quickly became a large part of my “social media” strategy. Placing press releases specifically regarding successful resolutions achieved for specific clients on places such as prlog.com and prnewsire.com became important for engaging individuals that were seeking assistance with their tax problems, and bringing them into the fold at our main company web site.

When conducting keyword research in support of the launch of the new Phoenix Financial Group web site, I discovered numerous under-served keyword phrases. I made use of info-centric web sites, such as Hubpages.com, EzineArticles.com, and Google Knol, to put up purely educational content in order to attract searchers.

One of the more successful examples of direct engagement with an online community that we have had is actually participation in Craigslist forums. The Craigslist community can be a fiery bunch, and really requires thick skin in order to engage that audience. However, by being an active participant in the tax, legal, and money forums on Craigslist, I was able to establish our firm as an expert provider of advice to this fairly picky audience. In fact, posting ads on Craigslist and participating in the forums has secured us actual, paying clients, including a $12,000 sale that is still one of our firm’s top ten highest value clients to date.

As our firm continues to grow, our objective is to entirely replace our current method of generating new clients with only inbound strategies. At present, about 90% of our revenue is generated via outbound telemarketing. By replacing this cold calling with more relationship-based forms of client generation, we see not only better relationships with the client from the beginning, but also what we consider a client that is more likely to purchase additional services from our firm as we roll them out, such as payroll services, business valuation, bankruptcy petition preparation, etc. By the end of the second quarter of 2011, I anticipate a full ¼ of our new clients will be generated via inbound, relationship-based marketing methods (aka,
social media!).

Jassen Bowman is an IRS licensed Enrolled Agent, specializing in resolving tax liability issues for small businesses. When not working on tax matters or marketing, Jassen can be found at his local ice rink, where he is an active figure skater and judge. For more information about tax resolution and turning around businesses, visit http://SixFigureResults.com.