Essential Search and Social Media Promotion Tips for News Content Lee Odden on Apr 17th, 2017 Content Marketing, Online PR, Social Media Serena Ehrlich BusinessWire Marketing and PR greatness must include equal parts intelligence, creativity and a focus on results. But there’s one more important ingredient necessary to help you stand out: enthusiasm. Serena Ehrlich from BusinessWire has all of these characteristics and at the Digital Summit LA conference, she shared a cornucopia of practical advice about media relations and promotion of news content with zest and gusto. Here are a few highlights. Serena EhrlichIt’s common sense and supported by research that industry media is a source of news and trusted information for buyers of every kind. Consumers and journalists have changed right along with the technology used to discover, consume and engage with content. Therefore, it’s essential that marketing and communications professionals empathize with their audience to understand their preferences and give them what they want. Because newsrooms have shrunk and journalists are overwhelmed with bad pitches along with a news cycle that runs 24/7 it’s a challenge to stand out. But no fear, you can really increase your chances of successful media pickups by following a few news release tips from Serena: Include usable support data Be interesting Be relevant to target audience Be catchy Include quotes Include multimedia Of course, outbound media pitching isn’t the only way journalists can be exposed to your news content. Search engines and social networks can deliver thousands of additional readers that are actively looking for information that your brand has to give. That means making sure news releases and newsroom content is optimized for the right keywords and promoted through social media. Serena suggested using Google Trends to find keywords to add to your release headlines to increase opens, which is great. You can also use tools like keywordtool.io, Moz Keyword Explorer or if you have a Google AdWords account, their Keyword Planner. (we’ve covered press release optimization extensively here in the past in case you want to venture that way) Serena brought up that since journalists are increasingly judged on the traffic or page view performance of the articles they write, be sure to let them know when they cover your story, that you will share what they write across your social networks. If they know you’ll help promote the article, they might be more inclined to use you for the story and again in the future. When it comes to social media promotion, Serena stressed the importance of earning trust. How do you do that? Here are her tips: Share smart content: – News releases and coverage – New ideas – Stats and data – Ask provocative questions Share happy content: – Case studies – User generated content shares – CSR content – Employee life Share negative-fix content: – How can you solve this pain point? – Share consequences Social networks are where people spend their time, period. And to engage with customers, brands need to be where the customers are. To help you promote your news content where people are actually spending time, Serena shared these tips for LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Reddit, Instagram, Pinterest, Snapchat and YouTube: LinkedIn Tips: Professional Competition – Link with coworkers: Trigger LinkedIn’s algorithm by sharing updates simultaneously – Include contact information in your release: LinkedIn promotes people mentioned in news releases – Use LinkedIn blog opportunities to reach new audiences and drive traffic via company blog teaser – Write content that includes the 6 Ws, you, lists, hacks, psychology, careers, talent and multimedia Twitter Tips: Smart, Clever, First – Format: 118-character count – include a headline, link, comments – News content types to post on Twitter: Stats, releases, coverage – Don’t forget to use relevant hashtags – up to 3 – Include up to 4 images, GIF or video – Join hashtag chats – Add Influencers to Twitter lists – Create RT DMs groups – people you can reach out to for mutual sharing of content Facebook Tips: Personal, Smart, Visual – Increase Your Reach – Facebook parses content by type – Facebook matches word use in updates – Use free audience targeting – Upload video in early afternoon Use Facebook Live for reach: – 10 minutes in length – Include surprise material – Comment pinning pending Be sure to try Facebook Notes for the SEO value Reddit Tips: Passionate, Smart, Informed – Reddit has a large audience with 45,000 targeted communities – Share links to drive traffic, but be sure to participate with the Reddit community first to build relationships (don’t just dump your links) – Only share relevant information Instagram Tips: Fame, Recognition – Instagram is a visual social network, so be sure to use high quality or interesting imagery – Showcase behind the scenes, physical products, physical locations – Highlight employee engagement On Instagram, be sure to: – Sign up for a business page – Drive traffic via URL in profile or Stories – Be descriptive – Use hashtags (up to 30) – Like other people’s images to increase interactivity Pinterest Tips: Showing off + Smart – Pinterest is the most aspirational network – It is very focused on B2C, but there are opportunities for B2B – Extremely high CTR On Pinterest, be sure to: – Fuel the smart board – Be hyper-targeted – Be descriptive – Use hashtags Snapchat Tips: Unvarnished Truth – 71% of Snapchat users are 18-34 years old. – Users have an average of 15 friends – To maximize your impact on Snapchat, buy a geofilter! On Snapchat, be sure to: – Provide VIP/exclusive access to content – Be highly relevant with real time discussion – Include offers and coupons – Consider takeovers YouTube + BizWireTV Tips: Video News – 33% of YouTube searches are for news – YouTube TV is launching in 2017 On YouTube, be sure to: – Create content for all sales funnel steps – Determine what your audience watches in long form and shorten it – Create a video of text
Online Business Marketing Strategy For The Holidays – 5 Must-Dos
Are you prepared for the most difficult online vacation marketing season to date? Online shopkeepers with a bulletproof marketing strategy stand to triumph large-scale. As a good Internet Marketing coach, here at JoseFrancOnline, we’ve been preparing our clients to rise above the competition and get the results that they want this season. So, there are five tips-off to make sure that you cross the Q4 finishing line in splendor. Make adaptations for increased costs and competition while selling your makes in quarter four. Assess past historic trends on a commodity by commodity basis and optimize for future commodity inclusions. Render specials such as free ship for early vacations such as Black Friday and Thanksgiving. All kinds of patrons use all kinds of machines to find what they are looking for. So, you want to residence yourself in as many of those as possible. Then you want to optimize your makes so that you can be found for the keywords they are sought for. On pinnacle of that you wish to allocate enough fund make room for a seasonal CPC growths so you aren’t left behind contestants. Policies in compliance. Make assured that your up to date with all the current plans of the engines in the mart never submitted epitomes that have graphics, watermarks, or expression in them. The pricing that is submitted in your data feed has to befit perfectly with the pricing on your page. And make sure that you’re not utilizing any unauthorized expression including health or medical says or things like free ship in the language of your commodity datafeed. Take care the content and the SEO on any website and take care of the contents that’s in your datafeed. Now, when you optimize for those slice you want to pay attention to the commodity, the gathering, and the application. How’s the commodity use, who uses the commodity, and what is the product. Those are five tips-off for success this vacation season. Do you have a tip-off you’d like to share? We’d love to hear from you. Purchase helping products here! As found on Youtube
Ad Tracking Success
It’s no secret that there’s a lot of money involved with affiliate marketing. This is only true however, for those who are serious and hard working on their affiliate program. The biggest part of succeeding depends on your perseverance and determination. Even the best of affiliate programs won’t prosper if you don’t build the business on a solid foundation. Nothing happens if the banners and links you place on a website just decorates the pages. The affiliate must convince visitors to click on the banner or link then proceed to the program to buy products. Affiliate marketing can be easy if you have planned your campaign well and have taken the right steps towards success. Choosing the right product and designing your website with banners and the right material are keys to making things happen. An ad tracker is a software program that will allow you to trace and monitor every click that is made by visitors through your referral link. To make things even better, you know exactly where you placed the link. You can either use a service provider or purchase ad tracking software. With ad trackers, you can monitor the progress of your campaigns, even advertising offline. If you have several affiliate accounts, this tool can be very good to have. Each and every decision about Affiliate Marketing you make should be well grounded in facts. By using an ad tracker, you’ll be able to generate traffic reports for your personal sales page. Armed with the proper knowledge and an ad tracking software program, you’ll have no problems succeeding in the affiliate marketing world. It can be tough to get started – although once you start making money you’ll be glad you took the chance! My Best Wishes José Franc Admin of josefranconline.com
Selling through your Home Business Online
Consider Opening an Online Home Business. It is easy to open an online store just sell through the more trusted websites. Online shopping is becoming a mainstay of American commerce and more people are comfortable with making purchases from Internet Home Business. If you have something that you are passionate about selling, Before you start an online home business, do some research online and check out your potential competition. If you have a business idea in mind, it is worth the time and effort to see what else is being sold in your category of products. If you have no idea what you want to sell, you’ll also want to head online to search out what would be most profitable to sell. When you make the selection of what you are going to sell, remember to think a niche. A niche is a small category of products that meet the needs of a specific group of people. Your online home business shouldn’t have a “Wal-mart” approach where there is a little bit of everything for everyone. Online commerce is all about small categories of interest. There are so many things to choose from, you have more success when you cater to a small and specific group of people. The best place to start with finding a niche is thinking about your own interests. When you sell to a niche that you know well, you are more likely to know what products will be of interest to those people. You can sell to your clientele based on your own experience. Moms Working in a Home Business Many Wahms start an online home business because they have homemade products to offer. One example is handmade baby clothes and cloth diapers. Many Wahms have found success with putting their sewing skills to work and selling their wares online. Other popular handmade online stores include bath and body products, candles and gift baskets. This does not mean that you can’t have online store success if you don’t make your own products. There are hundreds (if not thousands) of Wahms who have success by opening stores stocked with store-bought inventory. Whatever your choice, whether handmade or store bought, there are many options for hosting your online store. These options depend on how comfortable you are with web design. Many companies, like Yahoo, offer store websites that are very user friendly and simple to set up. They can cost anywhere from $30 to $200 per month for the storefront services. Many Wahms also find success with eBay stores, which allow them to sell in auctions or in a fixed price format. Look At All Of Your Options Before You Choose Your Online Home Business Hosting Remember that the quality of your hosting will reflect the quality of your business. The last thing you need is your entire website going down due to cheap hosting. The best choice is to find a reputable host that will provide you with a storefront and hosting for a reasonable price. Don’t try to pinch pennies on this aspect of your business. You could end up out of business in no time. Once you’ve found a place to host your online home business, you’ll need to drive internet traffic to the home business. One of the easiest ways is to trade banners with other Wahm online home business. Many Wahms support each other in their online efforts. This form of networking is a great way to introduce your products to customers who already look to support Wahms. You can also advertise using pay per click advertising and work on your website so that it increases in page ranking for certain search terms. Keep your customers coming back with an easy to navigate website, simple ordering techniques and good customer service. Even though most of your business will be done online, it’s a good idea to get a business phone line and put that number on your website. This way customers can feel confident in purchasing from you because they know they can speak to a real person if there is a problem with their order. If you follow these tips you will be successful selling online no matter what type of online home business that you open. My Best Wishes José Franc Admin of josefranconline.com
10 easy steps to help your business flourish on Facebook
Whether your business is new to Facebook marketing or just in need of a refresh, columnist Will Scott’s Facebook tips will help you build a vibrant and engaged Facebook presence. If your business isn’t making itself visible on Facebook, then you’re missing out on one of the most cost-effective places to meet new customers. Everyone is aware of the popularity of Facebook, but not as many people appreciate the opportunities available to businesses that develop a social media presence. With social media, you have unprecedented control over your brand image, and you can put your message in front of the users who are most likely to be interested. Use these simple tips to take advantage of the internet’s most popular social media platform. 1. Flesh out your Facebook page Even if you already have an engaging and user-friendly website, take some time to completely fill out a Facebook page for your business. Include pictures of your storefront and staff, to make your business trustworthy and relatable. Your Facebook presence gives you a foot in the door with social media users who are looking to learn more without leaving their social media app. Be sure to include contact information, hours of operation and a link to your website. 2. Schedule frequent and consistent posts Once you have pictures and information about your business, an active page should also have relatively frequent posts. Try to post original content at least once a week, but prioritize quality over quantity. Posting several times a day might annoy your fans, causing them to unlike or unfollow your page. When you post blog updates or other business announcements, Facebook posts allow you to amplify that message to a wider audience. Direct social media users to visit your blog or special offers page. 3. Learn about your customers Once your page has attracted some attention, the Audience Insight tools gather quantitative information about the people who like and visit your page. Learn more about their demographics, and use that information to reach out to new groups. If your page is attracting more middle-aged women than expected, for example, then you may want to include posts that are particularly relevant for those potential customers. You can also make a point of reaching out to customers in other age groups to explore untapped markets. 4. Pay attention to — and encourage — reactions and comments Pay attention to the posts that get reactions and comments. Comments generally indicate a higher level of engagement because it takes more time to type a response than to simply hit “Like,” though the variety of new reactions provide more information than the older “likes.” Depending on your target audience, you may want to elicit a wide range of reactions to make your brand more relatable. Be careful about responding to negative comments, but invite dissatisfied customers to call or email directly. When your business does engage, interaction should be succinct and professional. 5. Post content that gets shared Even for a business page, social media can feel like a popularity contest. When more users share your post, your message goes a lot farther, hopefully generating leads for your business. Of course, not all popular content will be appropriate for your brand. Be especially careful of posts and links that could have political implications or alienate potential customers. It’s best to avoid controversial subject matter and stick to your area of expertise. 6. Stay engaged If your business replies quickly to messages on Facebook, then others will be able to see that your page is active and responsive. Make sure your posts are relevant to your target audience in order to get a response, and try to focus on things that readers will genuinely find useful or newsworthy. Present yourself as a resource for timely and interesting industry news. Consider engaging with your employees through their social media pages, too. 7. Connect with the community Stay relevant by posting information about local festivals and other regional news. If your business is connected with charitable organizations, then social media gives you an opportunity to highlight that connection. Post photos of your employees when they volunteer with local non-profits, and show the community how your brand has a positive impact. As a bonus, when you have an active Facebook page, other businesses and profiles can link their posts and thank-you announcements to your page. 8. Post and share events Create Facebook events for your next big sale. When events are happening in the community, you can draw attention to those as well. Many businesses fail to leverage events as opportunities to promote their social media page. Given the number of people on Facebook, creating an event page can also increase the turnout for your real-world event. Facebook events make it easy for users to invite friends and see how many people plan to attend. 9. Pay for advertising Once you collect a few hundred fans on Facebook, you’ll notice that your posts don’t seem to get as many views as they should. Your posts don’t necessarily get 50 times more exposure when your page has 50 times more followers. This gives new pages and startups an advantage when they first develop a following, but larger business can still have a big impact on Facebook. Paying for advertising allows you to target people with interests relevant to your industry. You can also target specific demographics and areas to maximize your advertising dollar. 10. Build social media into your SEO budget Like updating your website for search engine optimization, social media is a long-term project for your business. You may not have anyone experienced or qualified to manage your social media presence, and few businesses can afford to hire a new employee for this highly specialized job. Many managers have a hard enough time keeping employees off of their personal Facebook pages. Creating engaging content takes time, and the simplest option is often bundling social media maintenance with other SEO services. Final thoughts Maintaining an online presence
How To Act About Voice Search
Generation Z and early Generation Alpha will likely be the last of us to type. Keyboard users are a dying population. Who is the next generation? Voice users. If you spend time with young kids, you’ll notice that they favor voice assistants over keyboards. And who can blame them? People rarely turn down easier ways of doing things! Marketers need to be thinking about this shift, because voice search will have a significant impact on content discovery through search. Although currently there is no simple or precise way of identifying voice vs. non-voice queries, “Okay Google” queries are becoming far more common in search query reports for our clients, and they’re even showing up as rising terms in Google Trends. To be successful in this shifting landscape, marketers need to start fine-tuning their strategies across media and content types, including text, image and video. For website content, it may be in your best interest to have specific natural language pages that come from CRM (customer relationship management) exchanges so that search engines can index them and return more accurate information to consumers based on past conversations. Queries like “best running shoes” will start to fade, and hyper-specific requests tailored to that individual, like “Okay Google, I need a size 10 and a half running shoe with a 5-star rating that’s on sale in-store on Newbury Street,” will start to increase. For images and videos, traditional SEO factors such as naming, tagging, descriptions, titles, transcripts and where the assets reside will continue to be crucial to help map natural language queries to the best content. So if you’ve optimized toward head terms like “running shoes,” you may want to revisit the core value propositions of your products and work toward always winning on specific and critical points of differentiation. You can then optimize toward these specific attributes, because it’s unlikely that someone is going to use “Okay Google running shoes” as their voice search query. What are people actually talking to Google Voice about? The first step in pivoting your strategy to account for the rise in voice assistants is to understand how people are using them. The good news is that all marketers who run paid search can see all the things people are saying in voice when they receive an ad impression. You can download the raw data from Google AdWords Search Query Report and filter for “Okay Google.” Technically, I don’t think the activation line “Okay Google” is passed in every time there is a voice query. Also, I think many instances of “Okay Google” queries are from individuals who got a bit impatient and said the activation phrase multiple times, thus logging it. However, at this time, filtering by the activation line is the only way to clearly identify a voice query from a typed one, although some voice queries are easy to identify when looking at mobile-specific queries. Overall, it’s clear that a class on “How to Speak to Voice Assistants” would go a long way. Although I’m sure all the voice assistants would love to be your friend, they are simply not there, and there’s a specific way you need to speak to actually get what you want. That fact, however, doesn’t seem to prevent people from attempting to shoot the moon. Below are examples of real voice queries, and I find them to be hysterical, but also very informative. If you invest heavily in paid search, this data can be extremely valuable for many areas of your marketing, including your digital strategy, product development, and brand communication, which brings us to point one: 1. Consumers talk to their assistants like they’re people, not programs Overly complicated queries with multilayered requests are hard for assistants to answer. “Okay google go get the number for Ken Gop for me in San Bernardino California and also Dallas please” Close, but not quite. I don’t think Ken Gop is a real person. I looked into it. 2. Consumers are struggling with the basics of using voice assistants Consumers specifically struggle when Google Voice is already on and they don’t realize it: “you know I don’t like asking it it creeps me out, okay google when does tempe marketplace close?” Not bad, but I doubt Google will give you the closing time if you call it creepy. To be fair, voice assistants commonly join the conversation without being invited. My favorite moments during work meetings these days are when someone who has placed their phone on the conference table unexpectedly has their voice assistant join in after believing it heard an activation phrase. 3. Consumers who appear to understand voice functionality tend to get specific, sometimes disturbingly specific “okay google find the closest place my seven year old son can get white skinny jeans” C’mon brands! Where is the organic content that showcases 7-year-olds’ skinny jeans? Creating content with as many characteristics and dimensions as possible is going to be important for voice assistants. When I talk to my voice assistant, I’m going to ask for jeans that are 32w 30l, dark, on sale, high ratings — and if you serve me an ad that gives me anything but that, I will leave. I simply don’t have the time to click around. I’m a millennial after all. 4. People get personal and honest with their voice assistant “Okay Google, I want to get him trashy pajamas for Christmas.” Poor guy. So, Kohl’s… ouch. Google thinks you have the trashiest Christmas pajamas. But if there are sales to be had, I can’t blame you. In all seriousness, this highlights an important point for brands, especially as voice integration becomes common everywhere: You don’t want to be discovered for bad things. For example, when using Alexa to browse Amazon to buy pajamas, I’ll say, “Alexa, I want to see the highest-rated pajamas that are on sale.” In return, I’ll receive a list of 10 pajamas, and they look great. Then I will ask, “Which of these pajamas has received the