How To Succeed With Paid Advertising Through Facebook

As Facebook continues to expand both its commercial services and its global influence, it becomes an ever more powerful resource for businesses. Yet because paid advertising through social media is a relatively new marketing outlet, many companies are still struggling to craft effective campaigns that make the most of its vast potential. There are countless nuances and considerations to take into account when forming a strategy, and businesses that overlook important factors ultimately squander their resources. So to help you get the most out of Facebook’s marketing services, here’s how to succeed with paid advertising on social media.

Clarify Your Goals

Before launching your campaign, start by setting clear goals. Are you trying to drive traffic to a company site? Are you promoting a company event on your fan page? Or do you want to boost exposure for exciting new content your business recently released? The more specific your plan, the better. Just keep in mind that your advertisement is ultimately little more than a link. So give careful consideration to the best place to direct consumers, and focus on providing a clear call to action.

Choose the Right Ad

The two main types of Facebook advertising are traditional ads and Sponsored Stories. The ads show up in the right-hand column of users’ pages. The stories, however, are a recent innovation in Facebook’s advertising platform. They highlight Fan Page activity by providing newsfeed updates to your friends each time someone comments or likes your post. As a less obvious and more active type of marketing, Sponsored Stories are incredibly effective for those who have healthy conversations and a high engagement level with their friend community.

Thoughtful Targeting

The biggest strength of Facebook marketing is its ability to reach targeted audiences. Each ad on the social site is targeted based upon location, demographics, likes, and interests. So before you launch the campaign, spend time conducting consumer research and narrowing down your ideal audience. The more effectively you are able to target, the more results your ads will ultimately generate.

Diversification

The most effective Facebook ad campaigns are diverse. So rather than sending out a single ad at a time, send out a group of them. Closely monitor the results you get from each using Facebook’s metrics and Google Analytics, and build upon the successes while learning from the failures. A long-term marketing investment will allow you to improve your campaign with each post.

Aesthetics

It is also important to understand that aesthetics have a tremendous impact on the success of Facebook ads. So remember to utilize visuals as much as possible, and communicate the style and quality you want users to associate with your brand. A sloppy ad is a poor reflection on your company image, and can even hurt your business. So make your ad beautiful, stylish, and evocative. When your marketing stands out as unique, it inspires more engagement from the community and communicates a wealth of information about your brand. Something as simple as a single image can register in the memory of consumers, and forever become associated in their minds with your company. So never underestimate aesthetics.

It is estimated that Facebook’s advertising revenue will increase 31% in 2013, and that about 64% of advertisers will increase spending on their social marketing campaigns in the coming year. So as this unique marketing platform continues to expand and evolve, it pays to get a leg up on the competition by investing time and attention in your social campaigns. The faster you learn to harness the potential of social marketing platforms, the faster your company will be able to grow.

Out guest blogger, Kirsten, works for vouchercloud within the social media marketing team. She is responsible for launching new voucher deals and marketing them through Vouchercloud’s social media networks.

Why the Future of Marketing Is All About Helping

November 19, 2013Blogging, Help marketing, Small Business Marketing, Social Media Marketing, Video marketing, Viral marketing, YouTube MarketingHow giving away your service works, what is help marketing?, Why does helping your customer work?Peter Marino

The future of marketing is helping. Helping will bring you new customers, and forge trust in you and your brand for future customers. Jay Baer explains how and why the help marketing concept works here:

Transcript:

0:01 I’m going to try and make this
0:10 is entertaining as possible to start a full video watch this for me
0:16 in the right and yet he’s up
0:19 today we’re gonna show you how to remove viruses and spyware
0:22 your computer all home
0:27 the best way to remove viruses and spyware Caldwell where
0:30 video is awesome and you can see if amis it’s a guy
0:35 talking about mall so Geek Squad in addition to that sort of weird video
0:41 about viruses and spyware has YouTube channel the couple have 100
0:46 other videos on it all can you how to install Windows 8 not kinda crazy stuff
0:51 and I was at a conference
0:52 a few years ago and Robert Stevens who is the founder and Geek Squad was the
0:57 keynote and some in the audience
0:59ask him a question he was talking about the series videos
1:02 it’s Robert now let me see if I can get this straight
1:05 Geek Squad is in the business
1:09 fixing stuff for money it’s a kid that’s
1:14 that’s more or less what we do physical but you’ve got all these videos that
1:19 show people how to fix stuff themselves
1:22 how does that make any business sense at all in Stephen civil
1:27 you know first of all you gotta understand our best customers are the
1:32 people who think
1:33 they can fix it themselves
1:36 which is absolutely true right that is me I am I K
1:41 hot water heater repair in like four thousand dollars into trip to the
1:44 emergency room later we’re good to go
1:45 told effect and he said second of all eventually
1:49 everybody gets out of their depth right eventually you can’t do it yourself and
1:53 at that point who are you gonna call
1:55 but even a randomly dialed up the yellow pages or are you going to call Geek
1:59 Squad
1:59whose videos you’ve been looking at for 46
2:038 10 12 minutes because robert stevens a Geek Squad
2:09 understand a very important business principle
2:13 which is that the difference between helping
2:17 and Celine is just two letters
2:21 but those two letters make all
2:24 the difference in modern business
2:28 because if you sell something
2:32 you can create a customer today but if you help someone
2:37 you can create a customer
2:41 for life now so we’re going to talk about this evening
2:47 we are at a conference we’re talking a lot
2:50 about content and content creation and marketing automation
2:55 in feeding information to customers but the reality is
3:00 the content that will be effective is content that is truly
3:05 and inherently useful and I call that information
3:10 a utility yooo utility
3:14 and the definition of utility is simple it’s just this its market team that is
3:19 so useful
3:20 people would pay for it
3:24 now you’re not going to actually make them pay for that would be bold
3:28 but it’s so useful that if you ask them to you they actually work
3:33 me give you an example Hilton Hotels has a program
3:39 on Twitter called act Hilton suggests
3:43 they started as a couple years ago as a trial program they
3:47 they took 25 hotels across the United States took a volunteer from each ot
3:51 else was on a full-time job it was in addition to the regular duties
3:54 is that who’s we want you to do we want to listen on Twitter
3:57 pay attention to what’s been said on Twitter and if you can find a way to
4:01 help
4:02 just help so that’s what they did
4:07 here’s an example at Lt Houston
4:12 says on Twitter good places to eat your the Magnolia Hotel
4:17 downtown Dallas on Saturday Hilton suggest
4:21 jumps into this conversation note that this was an address templeton
4:25 they just thought they were strategically eavesdropping
4:28 if you will they saw this they leaped into the conversation said hey at LT
4:32 Houston
4:33 wild salsa on major camp easy’s on elmer awesome
4:36 both within walking distance of your hotel in Dallas enjoy
4:42 but here’s the fat the Magnolia Hotel
4:47 is not a Hilton property so now you have Hilton Hotels using staff time and staff
4:53 resources
4:54 to assist somebody that they know for a fact is not
4:57 a customer but eventually this guy’s gonna be in a different city and your
5:02 hotel recommendation
5:03 and at that point who’s it gonna think I’m first
5:06 Hilton because they helped him when
5:10 he needed it it’s a utility
5:15 a couple days later Melanie J who was at Rockstar
5:18 extreme on Twitter tweeted out
5:21 anybody know who’s hiring in Orlando for professional positions at this time
5:25 seems like it’s at a standstill
5:29 Hilton suggest jumps into that and says at Rockstar extreme check out Orlando
5:33 jobs dot com for a comprehensive list now
5:36 no I think what I would have said is Haley Melanie maybe if your Twitter
5:39 handle wasn’t at Rockstar extreme
5:42 you would have some additional interviewed maybe this is sending the
5:45 wrong message
5:48 it’s just one of many reasons I’m not in customer service
5:51 but now they’re trying to help her find a job and eventually maybe she’s gonna
5:55 get a job and he’s gonna have disposable income
5:57 and she’s going to want to travel and he’s going to need a hotel and at that
6:00 point
6:01 who is she gonna pinko first
6:04 Hilton because they helped her when she needed help.

Prevent Cyber Attacks that Can Grind Your Business to a Halt

November 18, 2013Security, Technologycyber attacks, Prevent Cyber Attacks, small business and cyber attacksPeter Marino

The risk of a cyber attack on a business represents one of the greatest security threats an organization might face. The National Small Business Association released a study suggesting that the average impact of a cyber attack on a small business amounts to almost $9,000, with nearly half of all businesses reporting they have been on the end of a hacking attempt or cyber attack. The good news is that a business can minimize its risk by putting several safeguards in place.

Know Your Digital Providers

Unless your company specializes in generating Internet servers for other people, you likely have little input in the creation of your digital platforms. Your company is at the most risk from the very digital platforms that allow you to make sales and connect with customers. Vikas Bhatia, founder of Kalki Consulting, recommended in an interview with Forbes magazine that companies ask their digital providers questions about what level of safeguards are in place. For a basic company page that runs on a platform like WordPress, there may be nothing at all protecting your sensitive information from a malware or Trojan attack.

Backup Plans

Having a Plan B in the business world lets you safeguard against risk. What happens, however, when both your Plan A and Plan B are on the same hardware? Cyber attacks do not necessarily happen from hundreds or thousands of miles away. An Asis Foundation study on computer theft estimates that the loss of proprietary data on a lost or stolen computer can cost a business nearly $700,000 per incident. This massive damage can be mitigated with extensive backup plans for all company documents. Never let an employee create any business document without backing it up on a cloud connection or an external piece of hardware.

Get Proactive Protection

Having an expert on your side when it comes to cyber attacks, hacking, phishing and identity theft can be a strong line of defense. Get information regarding identity theft protection from an identity monitoring firm that offers assistance with the threat of cyber attacks. Professional advice helps you take preventive measures that are proven to work, while identity theft protection services like LifeLock put safeguards in place against the creation of fraudulent credit cards or the unauthorized use of bank funds. These proactive service measures can stop ID theft before it happens, rather than having to clean up the damage after the fact.

Password Protection

Though many businesses are hardwired to change their passwords often, a steady schedule of changing passwords plays into the hands of hackers. Naked Security notes that a hacker or digital attack can capitalize on an expected password change, whether it is on the first day of the month or the end of a quarter. Instead of offering predictable changes, make password changes random—such as picking an employee’s birthday every three or four months, or a week prior to less popular holidays like Columbus Day.

Design a Clean Mobile App Website in Photoshop

November 16, 2013SEOAdam Prattler

In this day and age mobile apps get created often because people use them a lot more on their mobile smart phone. It can attract clients, sales and traffic when you have a great app for your website. If you would like to have a mobile app website that looks clean then you’re in luck because that is what you will be learning today.

People sometimes back away when it comes to Learn how to make your very own mobile website but the thing of it is making mobile websites is just easy these days. There are loads of tutorials and many other things available to help you with creating your user friendly mobile site.

Here are a few tips that can help you with creating a great mobile website.

1. You Need To Download A Source File

Join up with the Web Design Fan Club and download the source file that is required. You will get instant access to some amazing resources plus you’ll also gain some knowledge on what it takes to become a great web designer.

2. How To Create A New Document For A Mobile Site

You will first need to download something like Adobe Photoshop. Once you have Adobe Photoshop you can then open it and create a file document by using CTRL+N. Once this is completed the document will need to be 1200 px by 900 and the background should be white.

3. Guidelines Must Be Added In

Click on view and then go to new guide and then add in vertical at 200 px and 1000 px then you add in horizontal at 60 px 550 px and then at 610 px. It should look like this:

Step 3. A Background Will Need To Be Added In

Once you have created the guidelines then the background needs to be added in. You can find some easy tutorials on how to add in the background. Make sure it’s a nice and clean background and have a background that is readable.

Step 4. A Nice Header

Take your time with designing a nice header. If you are unsure as to how you should design a header then you can always hire someone to help you or either you can have a contest and see who does the best header.

Step 5. The Body

Creating a nice body is vital. Before you start creating your body look around and get some ideas as to how your body should look like. There are a few steps with creating a body and if you run into problems then research tutorials on YouTube or either online to make sure that you have done everything the right way.

Reading Tutorials Online About Mobile App Websites Is Important

It is very important that you stay up to date with the latest tools and information available in regards to creating mobile app websites. Just remember that things change and sometimes you might need to update your site according to those changes. Reading tutorials and watching videos on how you can make a clean mobile app site can help give you new ideas.

Conclusion: Watch Your Traffic Increase

After you have successfully launched your mobile app website just watch your traffic increase on the site. You still might need to promote your site even after you’ve made the mobile app but you will still get more traffic to your site then you did before. Creating a mobile app website might take you a few hours to do but in the end you will reap many benefits from having a website that is mobile user friendly.

Author Bio

Adam prattler, App Developer, knows what it takes to create great apps and can help you with getting more traffic to your site at, he also does marketing for a name necklace company.