Announced just yesterday it’s making tech headlines around the web as Facebook steps into the analytics game with recent purchase of Onavo, the application powerhouse that turns your data plan into a real-time numbers game. Giving you in-depth data regarding your phone’s data caps and holes, it’s a question of what Facebook is planning to do with this asset. Onavo wrapped everything up in a nice minimalistic interface for you to consume and cross-analyze, essentially making it the app’s app for showing you how you’re doing on the web, and what you can change to be even better. Sounds like Facebook might be adding a new branch of services to their brand, and with Onavo’s Tel-Aviv offices transforming into Facebook’s new Israeli office, it could be rolling out sooner than think.
News
YouTube revamps commenting process for the better? We shall see.
Recently video hosting giant YouTube has brought forth a new kind of monitoring system people can use to screen comments on their videos. The system, which was debuted to a key number of users on Tuesday, teams up with a user’s Google+ account to better filter comments based on relevancy and value according to the user and the video. A similar method that Facebook has with it’s commenting process, it allows a user to tailor how their video feed looks, and thus how it is portrayed in the world. No more spam, no more profanity. It’d be nice to see, right? We’ll have to wait and see how it plays out for Google in the long run. In the mean time, we can allow comments on our videos an see how it goes.
via CNET
Amp Up Your Social Media Marketing Strategy
Social Marketing is a cost effective method to advertise your business and routinely stay in touch with customers or clients outside of the standard points of contact. There are a few key points that need to be cared for and taken advantage of to make social media marketing work for your business.
Search Engine Results
The best way to begin marketing using social media is to gain ranking in search engine results. In a perfect world, when a potential customer or client types in any combination of key words to search for your type of business in your area, your website will be the top result that shows up in the search engine. Next, let’s say your social media websites such as Facebook and Twitter are loaded with content that is updated frequently. Not only will you have your website show up on a search engine as a top result but now your social media websites will show up as top results as well. By keeping social media websites updated often, it allows for the business to create dominance on search engine results.
Social Media as Two Way Communication
Using social media allows clients and customers to stay up to date on current productions, trends and sales specials going on with your business. It allows people to communicate directly with the business by asking questions about products or promotions. It is important to view social media sites multiple times throughout the day to keep the lines of communication open to avoid delays in responding to questions.
Last But Not Least…Gain Followers
An effective way to gain followers to your social media websites is to leave a laptop or tablet at the front desk. Ask customers to log into frequently used social media websites such as Facebook and Twitter and ask them to “follow” or “like” your social media pages. You will find that the majority of your customers will happily do so as it will allow them to connect with your business much easier. Ultimately, your connections to people will grow very quickly as your social media marketing will ultimately drive more traffic to your business.
Pinterest and It’s Gain in Popularity
Pinterest is gaining speed on the train of social media very recently behind Facebook and Twitter. Starting in 2009, Pinterest is a website that allows users to share photos on “Pinboards.” Users can organize their photos based on themes they choose such as food, clothing, home decor, etc.
With the know-how, Pinterest can be an extremely useful and profitable marketing tool for businesses as a lot of referral traffic can be obtained through the site.
Why Pinterest Is So Appealing
People are visual-based creatures and they like to see beautiful photos that catch their interest. People are more likely to post photos of things that strike their interest and will share these images with their friends via their individual Pinboards. The trick to effectively use Pinterest for marketing is to share captivating photos and allow users to share the photos.
At this point, you may be wondering how Pinterest will drive referrals and traffic to your business. Each photo is a link to the source of the image — i.e. to the business website thus leading potential customers directly to the site to gain more information.
Professional & High Quality Photos Are Important
The quality of your photo can make or break driving traffic to your website. If you are posting photos that are of low quality with poor lighting, most Pinterest users will pass over your photo. Using only high quality photos is vital to capturing customers. The image should appear professional with each space shown clean and organized. The size of the image is also important because the image needs to be easily accessable by potential customers. Keep the resolution of the photo around 800 x 1000 pixels.
Build Pinboards For Your Business and Keep Customers Coming Back
If your business is selling a product, there is no excuse for you not to create a Pinterest page with Pinboards to assist with selling your products. The first step is to create an attractive account with attractive pin boards. This could take some time but it will be well worth it in the end once you notice an increase in customers. Keep in mind that people tend to be more inclined to follow an individual versus a business as an individual tends to be more believable unless the brand is well-known. Create your Pinterest board under your own name to increase your followers.
As you gain followers, you can create Pinboards that are in relation to your product or idea. For example, if you are selling skincare products, then you should create Pinboards with titles “DIY Skincare,” “Moisturizers” or “Healthy Skin Diets.” You can then pin images back to your website that are related to these ideas.
With millions of users on Pinterest daily, gaining new customers is quite easy. Keep in mind that people are on Pinterest to discover and learn new things so take advantage of this and make this wonderful marketing tool work for your business.
Social Media and Handling Negative Comments About your Business PART 4 of 4
By checking and answering to your clients you are creating good bonds and providing great customer service for your clients.
Since social media is extremely public these days, you are letting your clients see how good of a job you are doing for other people. With showing people how good you are doing through social media you are establishing a good brand reputation and showing that your company is a social business.
Everyone likes to think that they run a terrific business, but that is not true every business has its flaws. By being open minded to your customer complaints allows you to notice problems that you wouldn’t have noticed on your own.
Noticing your business’s problems can help prevent issues in the future.
Remember…
Social media can help your business blossom. Acknowledgment of rational criticisms can be benign by making your reputation grow and making your business out to be social.
What can you say about feedback on social media? How do you respond and why? Let us know!
Social Media and Handling Negative Comments About your Business PART 3 of 4
customers, you should at least consult the issue positively. Thanking them would also be helpful.
What you can take from all of this
As your business expands, you will gain more customers; hence, more opinions and feedback. What a business does with this feedback dictates the character of the business. The feedback could either be accepted and lead to changes, or ignored and forgotten.
There are businesses who avoid using social media because they wouldn’t know how to handle the negative feedback the right way. Social media offers a lot of ideas for improvement, and not all of these ideas have to be used. It helps to keep your options open.
Negative feedback is inevitable. Just because some businesses don’t want to use social media and see criticism publicly, doesn’t mean that the negativity isn’t out there.
Listening to your customers and making changes in their favor can help gain major company supporters. Customers love a business who cares about what they have to say.
A 40/100 is better than a 0/100
The people who keep quiet and don’t give feedback aren’t being as involved as those customers who point out flaws. Disinterest is worse than concern.
Complaints are just another part of owning a business. There are always going to be customers that aren’t fully pleased.
Acknowledging the concerns of customers can turn them from judgmental to spokespeople who only praise your business. Ignoring them can either not to do anything at all or make things worse. Getting a customer to support your organization can help with the development of it.
Social media is making customer interaction that much more important
These days, if clients have a question or complaint, there is a greater chance for them to contact you using social media, instead of email phone or using a contact on your site.
