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All posts by Peter Marino

Getting the Most ROI From Your Social Media

content marketing, Small Business Marketing, Social Media Marketing, , , ,

Getting the Most ROI From Your Social MediaSocial media is very common for today’s business and many brands are doing all they can to establish themselves via these platforms. As many big brands have learned social can be a very challenging platform when it comes to measuring return on investment.

For companies that developed on conventional metrics and advertising models, it can be troubling understanding how valuable the online ROI is to their brand. Luckily, there are several must-know social media ROI growth tools that can be used to help succeed in this emerging marketing area.

Engage

The internet is full of user-generated content, chatter, tweets, videos and blog posts. You can empower participation by addressing customer concerns, fixing problems and harnessing the authority of brand advocates.

Remember, it is easier to fix problems than it is to ignore them. People are looking to interact and establish relationships with brands on the web. Indulging those fans through social interactions, real replies and product giveaways separate the companies or businesses that succeed from those that get stuck in the dark.

Keep Content High Quality

You should make sure that all content you publish is premium. Take advantage of Tumblr, social media and WordPress to craft strong messages. Be familiar with the rules and ensure you follow them.

Each network calls for a particular approach and language (Facebook posts are not written in a similar manner as tweets for example). Abide by a calendar for posting, and center on making the followers feel as part of the brand’s family. Applying platforms solely as selling instruments rapidly alienates clients. Employ social media experts and fight the lure to convert websites into content farms or computerized feeds.

Be Real

It is impossible to fake it on the web. You might think you have it all under control but people will smell your lies, and this will not go well for your brand. Very committed brand advocates who support your product will be the initial ones to make a noise when they sense shady behaviour or content which does not tie in with the brand culture.

When unsure, it is advisable to ask your community for assistance whenever it comes to content (they will appreciate being taken into consideration).

Incorporate Real-Time Apps

Integrate social media in all aspects of what you do. A good number of companies using Twitter feeds, ratings, reviews and comments on homepages have increased user engagement. Although this might sound very easy, adding these tools is very crucial. It empowers users to connect and share content. Moreover, constant updating betters search engine visibility more than pages that are static.

Experiment

If you do not risk something, you will gain nothing. This is true, particularly as far as social is concerned. Test tone, style as well as fresh monetizing tools, for example ‘native advertising’, which supplies sponsored content, Facebook stories and also tweets. As social media is always changing it is very important to keep experimenting with new strategies and tools to keep at the very forefront of this medium.

Our guest blogger, Jon, works with many large brands social media accounts in Perth. When not on the laptop, he is out surfing the waves of the Australian coast.

Quickest Methods To Design A Dreamweaver 8 Website In 5 Minutes

Content creation, Small Business Marketing, Web Design, , ,

Quickest Methods To Design A Dreamweaver 8 Website In 5 Minutes

Like many other programs available on the market Dreamweaver 8 is a software program that helps people to design different websites. This kind of program is quite suitable for both experienced or beginners because it is quite efficient and at the end anyone can have a great result in an optimal period of time. Dreamweaver 8 includes an interface that allows a person to see how the initial web page will look, while editing it. But here are some great tips about how to design websites in this program in five minutes.

Layout Of The Web Page

Usually, a web page in Dreamweaver 8 includes three sections where a person can edit facts like the logo of the website. The page also includes footer at the end of the page, where you can still have a text box for writing the wanted words. That is how you can type in a few seconds the wanted words and make the website look more familiar. Also in the layout sector a person can choose to work on the bulk section where there are two parts that include the skeleton of the future menu. Therefore anyone can replace these spaces with the wanted information in order to start having a nice page.

Work At The Page Title

For any websites, the page title is also quite important in order for other visitors to see exactly what the page contains. So usually the title of the page appears as “untitled document”. A user just has to put the mouse and click in the box where are written these words and include there the name of the page without any problem. Still, the words will not appear in the body of the page, but it will be quite useful for the searching motors to find your website and make it available for anyone.

Adding Content To The Web Page

In addition, to modify a text in your web page you have to work with the right column available. Any kind of content can be put there either if is about describing your activity or putting some interesting quotations. Adding text is quite easy in Dreamweaver 8, as it works similar to other programs that are based on writing, like Microsoft Word for instance. Sub-headings can be also done by the help of Dreamweaver 8, by making an entry in order for the cursor to move to another line. After that you can write the wanted text and format it in sub-heading type.

Finally after doing the right edits, you just have to save the page. Then it will have to be uploaded on a web server in order for the web page to be visible in any kind of engine motor, and be accessible for the users that want to visit it. Also remember to check if the page works properly, right after you have added your page to the web server. That is how you learn from dreamweaver 8 training and create a great website that will be quite accessible to any person.

Author Bio

Ashley Gardner is a private tutor and advocate of continuous education. She writes for the local paper and writes tips for college students.

How Social Media Is Changing The Way Companies Find Staff

Business Tech, Small Business Marketing, Social Media Marketing, ,

Social Media and StaffingIn a very real sense, social media has changed the world (mostly for the better) in recent years. What began as a simple way for friends and family members to stay in touch over the internet and organise their media libraries in one convenient place, has morphed into a global market sector worth billions.  YouTube, Facebook and Twitter are now household names across the globe, even amongst those who might not even own a computer! It’s also started to change the way companies hire their staff. All potential employees will doubtless have some kind of online presence and this is an incredibly useful tool for rooting out potential employees and expanding the profile of the company. Thousands of businesses across the world are using social media to hire new staff. Here we’ll explore how and why your company should be doing likewise.

The Pros

It has been proven that businesses which use social media experience a far less significant turnover of staff. This is primarily because social media networks allow companies to find staff members who are more suited to the job, not just professionally, but personally as well. Most of the top-tier companies are now using social media as their primary source for new employees as it not only works as a means for hiring new staff, but as an incredibly cost-effective marketing campaign. Whilst you’re looking for the best possible people, you can also use the time to expand your company’s brand and get your name out there. There is also the opportunity with social media to build a more tangible and emotional connection to your employees by building a more attractive and personable company brand. The most obvious boon however is the sheer reach you gain from using social media. Social media is fundamentally changing the way business gets done, and it’s not going anywhere anytime soon.

The Cons

To be completely honest the cons are few and far between but they are there. The primary con of course is the potential for fraud. It is quite simple for an outside source to hack into potential staff members Facebook, Twitter or Linked In account and sabotage their personal information. The ‘casual’ nature of sites such as Facebook could also prove a liability as employees might think that their privacy is being ‘invaded’.

LinkedIn

Perhaps the first social media site to exist primarily to create connections between employees and employers, having a Linked In profile is fast becoming an absolute necessity if you wish to be taken seriously in the business world. On your LinkedIn Page you can upload your CV, your previous jobs, interests, personal details and (perhaps most importantly) a list of skills that other members of the website can choose to ‘endorse’. For many companies and recruitment firms, Linked In endorsements are incredibly useful tools for gauging whether or not an applicant’s claims can be backed up by their fellow professionals.

Facebook/Twitter

The undisputed daddies of social media; more than 60% of recruiters now use Facebook and more than 50% use Twitter. Although Linked In dominates the social media market when it comes to recruitment, the fact that it’s specifically geared towards professionals means that its reach is rather limited. For example, at last count there were 225 million registered Linked In users but Facebook has a staggering 1.15 BILLION. Of course this is only an estimate. The figures are undeniably impressive though and of course Facebook cannot just be used for recruitment, but can be an invaluable tool in expanding your brand and audience awareness.

Top Tips

  • Know your target audience and stick to it. Decide early on which social networking site best suits your needs and focus all of your energy on it. Being a ‘jack-of-all-trades” is not recommended.
  • Be creative. Everyone and their dog will be using the same tactics so try to think outside the box.
  • Always return messages. By having an open dialogue with your audience and potential employees, you’re encouraging growth and will come across as a ‘people focused’ company.
  • Start early. Don’t delay and let your social media profile be the last thing you decide to focus on, if anything, it should be the first thing you focus on as it can be linked to all other aspects of your recruitment campaign.

This guest post was written by Crispin Jones. Before starting work with the team at www.depoel.co.uk, Crispin worked for several SME’s and has witnessed recruitment through social media at it’s finest, and at it’s worst. He actually found his current business partner through twitter, and would highly recommend for businesses who can’t afford administrative costs to give social media a go. 

Why Is Social Media Such An Important Part Of Web Traffic?

Social Media Marketing, Web Traffic, , ,

social media web trafficSocial media is in the spotlight of all SEO companies after recent changes to Google algorithms. It’s now the number one way of increasing the amount of web traffic flowing through to your website. It’s led to questions about what this is going to mean for other SEO methods and whether this has changed the way every website has to approach promotion.

What Happened?

Google Penguin and the updates after it led to various SEO metrics changing. Whilst we can’t prove this because Google won’t reveal how much each factor influences ranking, SEOs have reported how the effects of their techniques have changed. The value of hyperlinks and keywords has dropped significantly. The highest metrics are social media.

Obviously, Google+ gets the most emphasis since this is backed by Google. Twitter and Facebook follow close behind.

The Drive to Relevancy

The SEO rankings are designed to help the most popular websites appear at the top and the least popular to appear at the bottom. In the past, they’ve been relatively easy to manipulate. It’s why you could type a search string in and get results completely unrelated to what you were looking for.

Google has always wanted to make the sites at the top more relevant to you. They want to make sure the most popular websites reach the top. The easiest way to do this is to take social media into account. If people are talking about something it means it’s more popular.

Now you have to rely on other people to increase your SEO ranking. You can’t just pay an SEO company to make a few backlinks. You need to rely on total strangers to promote you.

What Does this Mean to You?

In short, companies have to cater to their customers for the first time. Their marketing campaigns need to be less self-serving. If they’re to succeed, they have to produce content that people like and that will actually want to share. You can rate how hard this is depending on what category you’re trying to target.

If you’re involved in building or accountancy, you’ll have to rely on customer reviews and testimonials. Blog owners can rely on funny and amusing pictures and stories. The latter will need to focus more on social media than the former, though.

Does it Change the Way You Promote Yourself?

It doesn’t mean older SEO techniques are now irrelevant. Webmasters still have to optimise their websites if they’re going to succeed in ranking highly in the Google search rankings. All it means is you’re going to have to sign up to the big three or four social media websites, and these are:

  • Facebook.
  • Twitter.
  • Google+.
  • LinkedIn (assuming you’re more business orientated).

It doesn’t take much to fulfil your social media quota. There are so many plugins and add-ons which automatically share your information to your social media channels. Make sure you get full email notifications of any direct messages from these websites. Try to encourage interaction by replying to any and all queries you receive.

Today’s guest post is authored by Neal Henderson. He is a popular freelance writer and a SEO genius. He has written many SEO, business and computer related articles. He recommends megawebtraffic to his readers who want to increase their Google page rank.