Twitter is Now on Google Search-Use it to Grow Your Business

Last month Google started serving twitter posts on google search on smart phones, making it easier for twitter content to get more eyes on it. It also allows Google search to have more new content to serve in a more timely manner. That means that if you have a twitter account and you are including keywords, your post can be served by google on the topic you discuss.  It also means that hashtags on conversations that are current topics may include your tweet.  Here is how it works:

1. If someone sees your Tweet among the search results on a trending topic or your industry, they can learn alot about your social account right away: the Twitter handle, the profile pic, & the time the Tweet was posted.
2. It’s mandatory you take a good look at your twitter profile on a smart phone and your tablets in addition to your PC or laptop and optimize your profile and check your profile for keywords that make sense.
3. Trending topic searches are more likely to show Tweets first because they are more recent and often more relevant. Remember twitter is a format that in 140 characters describes what the content is about.  So while  Tweets won’t always show up as a top result, or show up at all—it all depends on the subject of the user’s search.
4. In the official announcement of the feature, Google states that Tweets in Google searches are “a great way to get real-time info when something is happening. And it’s another way for organizations and people on Twitter to reach a global audience at the most relevant moments.”
5. So, if your brand or blog features content that adds to a discussion of a trending topic, your Tweets containing the appropriate keyword or hashtag have a chance of showing up when that topic is searched. To maximize your chances revisit some strategies on how to write engaging Tweets, and how to use trending hashtags wisely.
6.  In addition to just seeing the Tweets show up in search results, you might want to explore how a mobile audience would see your page. All the profiles on the new Twitter mobile app are responsive, but not all cover photos would look ideal on a smaller screen. Plus, keep in mind that your Tweet conversations won’t be separated from the main stream, so you still need to identify your company and your company focus the best first impression on new visitors to your page.

Download my twitter getting started guide from my facebook page to help you navigate your twitter business account. Each month I give away a different free tool.  “Like” my page to be alerted each month for next free tool. Come to my local or online FREE Social Media, Email Marketing and Strategy Classes and Webinars or one of my hands-on laptop classes to actually expedite your campaigns and develop your marketing plan or next promotion.  Would you like to try Constant Contact to grow your business? Click here to get started adding this robust tool today.

Liz Harsch, has been helping small and medium sized businesses make the most of their marketing investments since 1988.  Her company, Tailor-Made Advertising, is an Authorized SCORE & SBDC workshop presenter and an awarded Constant Contact Email Marketer and Authorized Local Expert presenting Workshops for Constant Contact, SCORE, SBDC, Metropolitan Water District, multiple Chambers of Commerce, The City of Los Angeles and other Organizations. If you are interested in getting help for your marketing plan or your marketing projects or you need a trainer, Email us at tmade.mkt@verizon.net.  For more information about Liz or Tailor-Made Advertising, visit tailormadeadvertising.com or call us at 310-791-6300.

Develop facebook Ad Strategies That Accomplish Your Goals

Facebook Advertising Can Be Cost Effective When You Target Your Market First.

When it comes to facebook paid advertising, businesses can get a lot done with very little money. But before you begin, it is key that you ask yourself a few questions first:

1. Who are you trying to reach? Before you boost your post or do display ads on facebook, determine who y0u are trying to reach with your message. It is no longer enough to reach your fans on facebook since facebook is only sharing your posts with those people it determines want to see your posts.  This has greatly reduced your reach considerably.  But if you use the advertising tools you can target the people that you want to reach most and you can profile them to find others just like your current customers.
2. Determine a region or way to define your market in order not to waste your funds.  If you just allot money and then let your ads run, you will be shooting in the dark. However you can enter your demographic profile (age, shopping habits, interests, geographic location and more) in order to spend your funds where they will do you the most good. So before you get started see what your customers or target customers have in common and select an audience that makes sense.
3. Create an ad that gets attention with a desirable price, a great image or using content or copy that really defines the action you want people to take.   Don’t just try one ad or option, try several and measure your results. With facebook advertising you can limit your overall spend and run several types of ads at the same time.  You can also see the results like in this photo.
4. Measure your results. In this example we were trying to sell unused hotel rooms so we used a post and boosted it as well as running display ads to people who were in the area for concerts in the region.
5. Use your other social media platforms to enhance your reach.   In this case we used the conversation about #Coachella using the hashtag from twitter to reach people going to or interested in going to the concert.

Want to learn more about how to use facebook advertising and social media to reach your target market? Come to my Social Media, Email Marketing and Strategy Classes and Webinars or one of my hands-on laptop bootcamps to help develop your marketing plan and your next promotion to get results. It doesn’t matter what your business is, we can find a way to design your next promotion or event effectively to accomplish your goals. Interested in using Constant Contact to grow your business? Click here to get started integrating your marketing tools today.

Liz Harsch, has been helping small and medium sized businesses make the most of their marketing investments since 1988.  Her company, Tailor-Made Advertising, is an Authorized SCORE & SBDC workshop presenter and an awarded Constant Contact Email Marketer and Authorized Local Expert presenting Workshops for Constant Contact, SCORE, SBDC, Metropolitan Water District, multiple Chambers of Commerce, The City of Los Angeles and other Organizations. If you are interested in getting help for your marketing plan or your marketing projects, Email us at tmade.mkt@verizon.net.  

For more information about Liz or Tailor-Made Advertising, visit tailormadeadvertising.com. To schedule Liz Harsch as a speaker on Traditional and Online Marketing, Social Media, Analytics or Email Marketing for your organization, Email us at tmade.mkt@verizon.net or call us at 310-791-6300.

Repurposing Your Content — 5 Smart Tips To Spread The Word

5 Tips on Repurposing your Newsletter or Blog or Other Content

So you have a great article or newsletter topic and you want to make the most of what it get’s you.  Researching and developing content takes time, so once you have it, it is best to re-purpose it and spread the word across your network, ads, website and blogs as well as all your social media platforms.  One of the best formats for these platforms is a 5 Tips or bullet Tips or points that you can repurpose easily and bring back to the full article.  Here are a few tips of what to do once your content is created.

1. Start by breaking down your article. Break it down to individual tips you can use when you post them on twitter and facebook separately. Always end the post with “read the full article” so the readers can be pushed back to your full article on the blog, newsletter or event.
2. Always post the content on something that you own or control.  While you may be tempted to put the full content on your social media platforms, never do it. Always use a teaser that gets your reader interested but point them to your website, blog or newsletter. There they can see your services or products along with your phone number contact info and any specials you have during that time.
3. Use images and post those on image oriented platforms like Pinterest and Instagram. By creating a graphic element that is associated with your article you can push traffic from the image site to reading the full article or information, again where they can learn more about your organization than they can from images alone.
4. Remember your call to action- what do you want them to do from there? Have a plan and even a diagram of what you want the viewer to do after they view your post or your image. Wherever you have the full article or portion of the article you link from your individual posts on social media, should include an action you want them to take that moves them to a communication to you. Always include an option that offers a further discussion by Emailing you their questions or a FREE evaluation or coupon depending on your company’s goals.
5. Repurpose everywhere.  You have taken the time to develop this article so make sure you make the most of it on blogs, chatrooms, groups, social media, Emails and any communications you send that month. Add a “Read my latest blog” to your signature line and consider asking more questions in your groups on Google+, LinkedIn or Facebook groups that end with a statement like “read this article on …). You can even add a trackable url to your posts to learn where your traffic is coming from after you post throughout your network. Find out what works and what doesn’t.

Want to learn more? Come to my  SCORE Content Laptop Workshop on Saturday April 11, in Costa Mesa. We will be reviewing the tools to spread the word and the laptop workshop will focus on developing content that you can repurpose over and over again and the networks that make the most sense to repurpose them on.  Join me at my other workshops this month on Social Media, Email Marketing, Content Development and Online Promotions.

Liz Harsch, has been helping small and medium sized businesses make the most of their marketing investments since 1988.  Her company, Tailor-Made Advertising, is an Authorized SCORE & SBDC workshop presenter and an awarded Constant Contact Email Marketer and Authorized Local Expert presenting Workshops for Constant Contact, SCORE, SBDC, Metropolitan Water District, multiple Chambers of Commerce, The City of Los Angeles and other Organizations. If you are interested in getting help for your marketing plan or your marketing projects, Email us at tmade.mkt@verizon.net.  

For more information about Liz or Tailor-Made Advertising, visit tailormadeadvertising.com. To schedule Liz Harsch as a speaker on Traditional and Online Marketing, Social Media, Analytics or Email Marketing for your organization, Email us at tmade.mkt@verizon.net or call us at 310-791-6300.

Content Marketing For 2015 — 5 Tips To Success

5 Tips to Get Action Using Content Marketing in 2015

Content Marketing is the practice of creating content rich articles and posts to get the most results for your business or non-profit. It starts with the premise that I know my target market and therefore I can include content (words, articles, tips) that they are likely to want to learn or hear about from an expert.  By using words and content to drive the public to your website, ad or blog, your strategically placed stories and content with keywords and descriptions will attract more people like the ones you want the most. Here are a few tips of best practices for content marketing:

1. Create Trustworthy Articles & Posts. Remember that your number one goal on social media and online sites is to build trust for your organization. So ensure that every post or article you write is one that you would say helps create trust in the reader about you or your company.   60% of business social media posts should be helpful to the target market and provide them with something that saves them time, money or provides them with information they would not find easily on their own.
2. Keywords make your content easier to find.  The reality is that anything online is algorithm driven and popularity is important. If search engines are to find your thought provoking information, quotes or fact finding articles, you need to include words that people would use to search for that content. Also on your social media sites, you need keyword strong posts so that in a few seconds, I can figure out what you do or what your social media pages offer and see that I have arrived at the right place to learn more about what I am seeking.
3. Do Your Current Social Media Pages Descriptions Use Keywords? Take a look at the descriptions and categories for your facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, Linkedin, Instagram or your blogs and see what keywords are in your page description or about us section.  Edit the description to include those keywords that best describe your business or non-profit so it can be found and read more often.  Use the kinds of words the public uses to find your business. Use their common terms.
4. What you want to get out of your posts? What pages on your website or blog would you send your reader to in order to find what they are most interested in learning about? Don’t be afraid to repurpose other pages that support your business, like industry information or articles in local news that reinforce the need for your type of business or non-profit.  Example: It is fine to post an article from the Times online that talks about air quality if you are selling a product that helps reduce the impact of pollution. Even if that article does not mention your company, it may underscore the need for a product like yours.
5. Create a helpful newsletter that is a resource for your client & your prospects.  Your news articles should address the needs of potential customers and past customers so you may want an article on maintenance of the product you sell and another on the benefits of the product and how it affects other concerns your typical consumers face.  A balanced newsletter needs to be about what your consumers are concerned about so they see your newsletter as a solution source for them instead of being a vendor’s monthly ad. Provide them with free advice on the topics and keywords they are searching for most. The keywords will help you rank better with search engines and on social media.  Remember that a business that buys parts from you to help sell their products, is also interested in success stories about businesses like them and any tips you can provide to help them save time, money or find something that is helpful for their next step.  Be that source and they will subscribe to and keep in touch longer.

Want to learn more? Come to my  Social Media, Email Marketing and Strategy Classes  or one of my hands-on laptop bootcamps to help develop your marketing plan and your next promotion to get results. It doesn’t matter what your business is, we can find a way to design your next promotion or event effectively to accomplish your goals. Interested in using Constant Contact to grow your business? Click here to get started integrating your marketing tools today.

Liz Harsch, has been helping small and medium sized businesses make the most of their marketing investments since 1988.  Her company, Tailor-Made Advertising, is an Authorized SCORE & SBDC workshop presenter and an awarded Constant Contact Email Marketer and Authorized Local Expert presenting Workshops for Constant Contact, SCORE, SBDC, Metropolitan Water District, multiple Chambers of Commerce, The City of Los Angeles and other Organizations. If you are interested in getting help for your marketing plan or your marketing projects, Email us at tmade.mkt@verizon.net.  

For more information about Liz or Tailor-Made Advertising, visit tailormadeadvertising.com. To schedule Liz Harsch as a speaker on Traditional and Online Marketing, Social Media, Analytics or Email Marketing for your organization, Email us at tmade.mkt@verizon.net or call us at 310-791-6300.