Archive for Social Media Strategy

Miss Kemya | April 10, 2012
No comments

Social Media Is Not A Bullhorn, Please Stop Screaming At Me

I have noticed there are lots of entrepreneurs that use “follow me” or “like my page” as their social media strategy. They’re offering zero in the way of engagement, fostering networking, conversation or interaction. Have you noticed this too? Does it drive you nuts? Or… are you one of the offenders?

You don’t have to admit it publicly. But if you are a fan of the bullhorn “team follow back” strategy, it’s ok, I’m going to help you out right now! First things first, please stop with the bullhorn tactics.

No shouting allowed here

Social media is a relationship building tool, a way to meet and interact with your audience and peers. Social media is not a big bullhorn from which you shout your sales ads to everyone and anyone that you think will listen. More importantly, doing so will alienate a large percentage of people who might have been interested in following you or “liking” your page.

Say NO to social media bullhorns!

So you want to use social media as an advertising vehicle? Well, we just found the challenge. Pushing your business on customers via social media will make them pull away from you. So no pushing!

The old rules of advertising, as in tell the customer what they want, are slowly fading away. You cannot push your product on today’s informed consumer. Note: I’m not referring to sites like Yelp, Yellow Pages, Foursquare, or sites that are specifically designed to advertise your business.

Think marketing and sales strategy

Instead of a “like me” strategy, define a real marketing and sales strategy, so that you aren’t just grabbing that bullhorn and simply shouting your latest sales specials. There is a strategic way you can advertise your business without looking like you are advertising your business. The key to advertising on social media is to be a subtle charmer. 

Here are 5 tactics to use:

  1. Figure out who you want to sell to (your prospects) and go where they are.
  2. Find businesses that complement your business and cross promote with them. Think of affiliated vendors and organizations that would serve as a reputable partner. Join forces and cross promote each other!
  3. Make sure your business ranks well on search engines. It’s cliché, but it’s true.
  4. Give your fans and followers a reason to like and follow your business. For example, do you give sales and specials for your social media fans? Do you offer industry tips to help your fans be more productive? Do you have insider knowledge of special events that you share regularly?
  5. Choose quality over quantity. When using social media to gain exposure for your business, think beyond “likes” and #teamfollowback. This mere click of a button may make your numbers of fans look great, but how much is it doing for your bottom line? I dare say not much, unless you have a marketing and sales strategy in place to do something with those likes.
Watch what happens next…

If you invite your customers to become a part of your brand, engage in meaningful interactions, increase your site traffic, all resulting in more sales, guess what? You are advertising in the age of social media. Congratulations!

Ciao,
Miss Kemya

Category: Marketing Strategy, Social Media Strategy | Tags:
Miss Kemya | February 21, 2012
3 comments

Your Customers Are Talking, But Are You Listening?

Don’t worry, Google Alerts is listening for you.

Google Alerts is one of those tools that the

  • majority of us have heard of,
  • many of us are using,
  • some of us are pretty good at using, but
  • not enough of us are using like we should be.

Our past, present, and future customers are talking about our businesses and/or our industries in some way or another. Past customers might be giving you a referral or listing you as a resource, present customers may be keeping track of what you’re doing via social media, and future customers may be performing searches right now for the same products and services you offer.

So we can agree, there is a conversation going on about your industry, and hopefully your business, at any given time.

With all this talking going on, are you listening? Are you keeping track of what’s being said and searched? Are you joining in the conversation, either directly or indirectly?

Google Alerts knows exactly what’s being said about your industry, your company, and your competitors. So pay attention! Set up Google Alerts to keep track of your company, your name, your industry and your competitors.

I already set up my Google Alerts, I’m done.

Whoa, not so fast! Google Alerts is not a set-it-and-forget-it tool. Why not? As your business changes, so will your need for information, such as

Industry developments. Key terminology and new developments in your industry are bound to occur, so you’ll need to make sure your alerts reflect these changes.

Competition. As your business grows, you will generate more income, which will continue to change your position in your market. Which means your true competitors may change as well. In addition, keeping up with competitors that are entering or exiting your market should be of value as you build a strategic plan to capture market share.

Drama. Let’s not forget this reason to keep your Google Alerts current – scandals and drama. If your industry has some strange happenings, or some crazy breaking news, you may want to set up alerts to capture those conversations. Your alerts might just show you a new opportunity for your business!

I was going to list all the different alerts you should set up. Fortunately, as I was writing this post, I read a tweet from Stephanie Chandler that pointed to one of her articles all about Google Alerts.

It was a great article, so I thought to myself, why reinvent the wheel? Here’s the article – 10 Ways to Use Google Alerts for Business and Social Media (Plus Bonus Tips to Improve Search Results) - and it‘s comprehensive. If you’re an expert at using Google Alerts, then you’re probably familiar with everything outlined in this article. However, if your Google Alerts strategy could be more effective, read her article.

Get your Google Alerts started.

Between my post and Stephanie’s article, you can probably tweak your Google Alerts strategy to make it more efficient and functional.

First, outline the ways Google Alerts can benefit your business and set up your alerts.

Next, set up your Google Alerts at http://www.google.com/alerts.

Then, set up a specific email folder(s) for your alerts. Or you can set up a specific email address just to receive those alerts. The point is to make sure you have these alerts in an organized place so you can look for patterns, read them together, and make decisions based on what you find. Don’t let them sit idle in your cluttered inbox.

Now you’ve turned up the volume on all the web searches and conversations that are relevant for you and your business. Be sure to take a few minutes each quarter to make sure all your Google Alerts are still working, and that they’re still relevant. Remember my don’t set-it-and-forget-it speech earlier?

Your peers and customers are talking whether you’re listening or not, so why not listen in the easy way?

Ciao,
Miss Kemya

Category: Marketing Tools, Social Media Strategy | Tags:
Miss Kemya | February 16, 2012
4 comments

Don’t Piece Together Your Social Media Strategy With Duct Tape

Has social media become your only source of marketing? Have you cast aside a formal marketing plan, and jumped 100% onto the “social media as marketing” bandwagon?

If this sounds like you, let me ask you this: Do you have a social media strategy?

It is vital to incorporate your social media activity into your overall marketing plan. I know, I know… social media gets all the marketing attention these days. However, it is important to remember that social media should be a part of your overall marketing strategy. Which means you still need to define a strategy, define metrics, and determine whether your social media activity is actually producing results.

Many people don’t hire a marketing professional to develop a comprehensive marketing strategy, and then wonder why they aren’t successfully growing their business with their marketing activity. The same holds true for social media. If you are not a marketing and/or social media strategist, or if marketing is not your strong suit, trying to build a social media strategy on your own may not yield the results you’re looking for.

Think about it like this: 

If you wanted to build a house, would you go buy some bricks and duct tape, or would you hire a professional who builds houses?

Think of your social media strategy in the same way. If you’re not a marketer, hire a professional to help you build the proper foundation for your business to grow.

Don’t stunt your own growth by trying to do it all. Me personally, I don’t work with bricks and duct tape, so when I need work done on my house, I call in the professionals. Do you?

Ciao,
Miss Kemya

Checkout my earlier post for insight on DIY marketing versus hiring a professional.

Category: Featured, Social Media Strategy | Tags: ,
Miss Kemya | February 6, 2012
2 comments

10 Ways Conference Attendees Can Use Social Media

We’re all using social media when we have an event to promote, go out and network, etc. But just like you should develop a strategy to promote your event using social media, you should also have a strategy when you attend a conference or popular event, and social media should be a part of that strategy.

Conference season will be in full bloom before we know it. Perform these action items before, during, and after the event to maximize the potential of social media as a conference attendee.

Preparation Before the Conference

  • Find out who’s attending the conference. Set up meetings before, during or after the event in advance. Once the conference gets started, you may lose track of time or lose those people you know you want to connect with.
  • Checkout the speakers ahead of time. Not just their names, but their bios, websites, previous engagements, etc. This will give you an idea of their style, their experience, and it will also help you frame your mind to ask the right questions and get the best bang for your buck.
  • Make sure you know the event hashtag or the event page so if you do any live feeds or posting you’re showing up in the live feeds. Remember, people that can’t attend the event follow along with live feeds during events. This will exponentially increase your social media visibility!

During the Conference

  • Whether you’re at a meetup or there’s a Facebook page associated with the event, check in. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been somewhere and people don’t check in and then complain that there was no way to know who attended. I can’t find you if you don’t check in or give me a heads up via text, live tweets or something “live” to let me know you’re in attendance..
  • Use your smartphone! Use apps to collect attendee information, scan business cards, download .vcf cards, etc. And be sure to include a note or two about the person with their contact information. Those notes will help refresh your memory after the conference.

After the Conference

Make sure you’ve connected with all those people across different social media platforms, not just one platform.

  • Send out LinkedIn invitations to connect almost immediately, with a note like “it was great meeting you at the xyz conference” so they’ll be more likely to connect. Please don’t send the canned LinkedIn auto-message.
  • Create a specific Google+ circle for the event and add those connections to that circle.
  • For some, you’ll want to send Facebook friend requests. Like those fanpages while you’re at it.
  • You’ll probably want to connect with everyone via Twitter. Group them in a list to make it easier to interact with just these folks.
  • Checkout their blogs, and keep an eye out for event recaps so you can comment.

For those local people you really connected with, schedule a time to catch up in person. Keep the momentum and conversations going, and transform those conversations into a relationship if you so choose to.

There you have it, 10 easy ways to strategically use social media before, during, and after a conference. If you develop an event plan the next time you register for a conference, you’ll get much more out of your networking at the event.

What other ways do you use social media as a conference attendee? Please let me know by leaving a comment!

Ciao,
Miss Kemya 

Category: Events, Social Media Strategy | Tags: , ,
Miss Kemya | January 19, 2012
No comments

Automated Tweets Can Stunt Your Growth

Let me start by saying I know plenty of Twitter users who automate their tweets. I have no problem with this whatsoever. I do the same thing. However, some people schedule most, if not all, of their tweets. Here’s where the problem comes in.

You Can’t Schedule All of Your Tweets Because…

  1. Your scheduled tweet may refer to something that is no longer being discussed. Time moves fast on Twitter. Our attention spans are fleeting. For example, I’ve seen people retweet an event that has already passed. That’s a clear giveaway that your tweet was scheduled.
  2. Your tweets should be engaging. Not simply a “click this” or a simple “RT”. You should be commenting on tweets, asking questions, responding to retweets, @replies and comments. If you are doing this in a timely manner, you can’t possibly schedule all your tweets.
  3. You will miss the live interaction. If you are not engaging in live conversations, you’re missing the whole point of Twitter. Which means your Twitter strategy needs some CPR or you’re doomed to stagnant growth. That just stinks!

Having a presence on Twitter requires more than tweeting and retweeting links. It requires interactions, live conversations, and, if you’re on Twitter for business, it requires a STRATEGY.

Moral of the story: Social media is not a set-it-and-forget-it marketing tool. Scheduling posts is fine, most of us schedule posts. But you must keep up that live connection, that live conversation to successfully build your social media strategy. The same goes for Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+… you get the idea.

If you are a scheduling offender, try this approach. Make time to go live daily and often, and you should see a noticeable difference in the quality of your interactions with your social media friends.

Ciao,
Miss Kemya

How’s your Twitter savvy? Could you use a few tips to build your Twitter presence? Have I got an event for you! Visit my fanpage at http://www.facebook.com/PhiscoMarketing and “like” the page. Then click the “Events” tab and attend “Get Twitter Savvy NOW!” happening Thursday Jan 19th at 8pm ET. See ya there!

Category: Social Media Platforms, Social Media Strategy, Twitter | Tags: , ,
Miss Kemya | December 30, 2011
2 comments

A Few Simple Ways to Leverage LinkedIn

Are you using LinkedIn to build your brand and increase the visibility of your business? If not, you should be! Assuming you already have your basic profile complete, don’t you want to have a profile that commands attention and makes people want to connect? Of course you do! So here are five quick tips to round out your LinkedIn activity and make your profile more robust.

LinkedIn Logo

Send email regularly via LinkedIn to your connections. I especially make sure to do this when I notice a connection isn’t posting updates or appearing active in any other way on LinkedIn. It gives them a reason to check back into LinkedIn. It also gives me a conversation starter and a chance to catch up with them.

Maximize those applications on LinkedIn. Why? People actually look at your apps, as they round out your profile and give a better picture of your professional interests. Portfolios, blogs and books, oh my! Browse the applications and select a few that you can use to enhance your profile. You can always remove or add an application, so see which ones will work best for your products and services. The applications are listed in the “More” drop down menu:

Get social and extend the conversation from LinkedIn to another social media platform. Use your Twitter address and/or Facebook profile or page in your comment signature. I’ve taken relationships from LinkedIn to Twitter and Facebook and beyond.

Personalize as much information as you are allowed on your profile. For example, LinkedIn allows you to list up to 3 websites. Did you know that you can modify the standard website names of “company website” “blog”, etc as provided by LinkedIn? No worries if you didn’t know, here’s how you do it, it’ll take you 2 minutes: under “edit profile” go to your website listings and click “edit”. In the drop down menu for Websites, choose “other”. This will allow you to give a title to each individual website. I’m sure you want the title of your company/blog listed here. This is an easy fix!

Join appropriate Groups, including local groups. Groups are a goldmine of information and opportunity! Don’t limit yourself to industry specific/niche groups; there are plenty of general groups that may spark your interest. And by all means, announce your presence, join in the discussions, and/or start your own! You don’t gain visibility by lurking. While you’re there, sign up to receive daily or weekly digests from those groups. And read the emails! No need cluttering your inbox if you don’t use the information. You can use these digests to catch up on discussion topics as well as target the more active members of the groups.

Don’t forget, when you’re sending an invitation to connect, nothing says spam more than the default canned message. And please don’t leave the message area blank, yes that still says spam. Take the time to write a couple of sentences about why you want to connect. For more info on that one, read my previous post on using a personal message to connect.

Now for the extra sizzle…

Are you doing all the above, yet still don’t feel like you’re making the most of your LinkedIn activity? Would you like to take your LinkedIn activity to the next level? If so, here’s a little known secret, it’s a biggie… use the question and answer section! It’s a section under that same “More” drop down menu that lists the Applications.

This is where you get to showcase your expertise, and highlight your brand. This is the happening section of LinkedIn, the place to be. If you have a specific niche, or are knowledgeable about particular subjects, go here to ask questions and give answers. Ask any of the movers and shakers on LinkedIn and they’ll tell you, the Q&A section is where the magic happens!

Ciao,
Miss Kemya

Are we LinkedIn? Connect with me here – http://www.linkedin.com/in/kemyascott - and let me know you found me via this post. See you there!

 

Category: Featured, LinkedIn, Networking, Social Media Strategy | Tags: , ,
Miss Kemya | December 13, 2011
No comments

Quick Tip: Choosing Social Media Platforms

Which social media platforms should you use? Now you know I’m not going to say all of them! But I am curious, which platforms are you using? More importantly, are you using them all effectively, or do you have a mix of profiles that aren’t really working for your business?

Consider these factors as you join social media platforms:

  • how often you can post
  • what you will post
  • how and where your prospects communicate on social media
  • which social media platforms your competitors are using
  • your business offering

I know there are tons of social media choices out there, and there seems to be no end in sight. However, take this key factor into account: the most effective ways to communicate with your audience. After all, isn’t that one of your main goals, to reach your prospects and clients?

For example, do you have a visually based business (ex. photography, culinary)? Your business could take great advantage of Facebook and Pinterest because you can post photos of your work. Is your business technical in nature? Submitting your blog posts for syndication as opposed to trying to fill a photo bucket may be more helpful for your business. Are you building a public speaking platform? Creating your own YouTube channel may be a great avenue for you. Do you offer a back office B2B service? LinkedIn may become your best friend!

Once you take into account the nature of your business and the market you’re trying to reach, you can get better informed about the most beneficial social media channels for your business. Whatever you do, don’t sit idle. Jump in and join the conversation!

Ciao,
Miss Kemya 

Category: Marketing Strategy, Social Media Platforms, Social Media Strategy | Tags: , ,
Miss Kemya | October 16, 2011
No comments

First Things First – Content Strategy Before Social Strategy

This is a guest post from Patricia Redsicker,  Principal at WordView Editing. 

At the heart of social media is the desire that every consumer has to talk about something interesting, compelling and relevant and to share that information with his or her friends.

The question marketers must ask themselves is: “What makes my brand so interesting that people will want to talk about it and share it with their friends?” (Even boring brands have something interesting to say!)

You can’t succeed in social media if you don’t have something interesting to say.

At this point in your social media experience, you (hopefully) understand that social media marketing is not just about having a Facebook page or a Twitter profile.

Social media is the vehicle for communicating and distributing interesting stories (content) across the internet. In turn, readers share the content they think is compelling.

What does content strategy have to do with it?

The purpose of content strategy is to facilitate the consistent delivery of interesting stories. The end result is that you will attract and retain the attention of the targeted audience that you want to reach.

Imagine for a moment that you’re invited to pitch your business to a room full of potential investors. They’re willing to hear your story and let you persuade them with your ideas. How much time do you think you would need to prepare for such an opportunity? A week? A month? More?

The point is you’d be foolish to simply show up, stand on the podium and say whatever comes to mind.

And yet, most businesses do exactly that when it comes to social media. Given the opportunity to present their brand to an online audience of potential customers, they simply show up without preparing a compelling message.

What a wasted opportunity.

Preparation is important because social media is a very active space. There’s a lot to do and a ton of conversations taking place. It is a very distracting environment, and everyone has a very short attention span.

You have to figure out what kind of conversation you’re going to spark that will make people pay attention to you because in social media attention is very hard to get (or retain for that matter).

Your competition isn’t the guy or gal who sells the same stuff that you do. Your competition is every person, every brand, every church, every small business, every big technology company, every politician and every celebrity who has something interesting to say.

That’s why it’s important to have a plan (content strategy). And that’s why your plan must be put in place before you show up on any social media channel.

How do I approach my own content strategy?

As you brainstorm your own content strategy, ask yourself these questions:

  • What niche do I want to be known for?  Example: Chiropractor.
  • What are my customers’ challenges? Example: Back-pain.
  • What kind of content do they consume? Example: Articles and videos
  • How can I create interesting yet consistent content that will attract new customers and retain old ones? Example: Create a blog on my website showing them how to manage back injury and how to treat back pain (featuring both text and video).  Publish weekly.
  • When all is said and done, what business results do I want to achieve for all my hard work? Example: More clients and more sales.
  • How will I know if this stuff is working? Example: By periodically measuring how many new customers and how many new sales, I have made since executing my content strategy.
Do I need a social strategy to make this work?

Indeed, you can achieve your business objectives through your content strategy without social media marketing. For example, visitors using long-tail search terms (e.g. lower back pain or injury-related back pain) can certainly find your content through Google or Bing (although this doesn’t happen overnight).

However, social media marketing can help you distribute your content much faster and reach more people than your website. But, your social strategy doesn’t need to be complicated, and it certainly doesn’t need the help of a ‘guru.’ It’s simply a plan that will work seamlessly with your content strategy to help you achieve your business goals.

To do this, first understand how consumers behave online:

  • They meet in different places (Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, YouTube, Digg);
  • They read, share and discuss different content (blogs, videos, podcasts, music);
  •  They evaluate brands based on content. “People buy products to accomplish something” ~ Clayton Christensen author of It’s the Purpose Brand, Stupid. A brand’s content needs to explain what that ‘something’ is.
  • They are connected with one another and influence each other’s purchasing decisions (e.g.GAP logo story)

In other words, online conversations are the new market place.

The conversation opportunity

Organizations that understand this behavior are able to communicate directly with consumers and influence their perception of their brands. Here’s what you need to do:

  • Think about where your customers are located online and join those communities.
  • Establish a listening campaign to figure out who’s doing the talking and what’s being said.
  • Consider how you will connect with the more influential ‘conversationalists’ within those communities. Do you need to create your own Facebook page or Linkedin profile? Or do you need to comment regularly on select blogs? Use these channels to interact with your community by asking questions (surveys), participating and contributing to conversations (comments/discussion forums) and sharing your expertise (your content).
  • Share whatever is going on in your offline world with your online community (pictures and videos).
  • Reach out to other bloggers (guest blogging).
  • Respond quickly to comments and feedback on your own blog.

Quick recap: Content marketing is enhanced by social media but can also survive without it. Social media on the other hand, would not be popular without interesting, informative or humorous content. Before entering the social media space, you need a plan to figure out how to deliver interesting content on a consistent basis so that you may attract and retain the attention of your target audience. That is your content strategy.

This post first appeared on the Content Marketing Institute blog on May 9th, 2011. The original author is Patricia Redsicker.

 

Category: Blogging, Branding, Guest Posts and Mentions, Social Media Strategy | Tags: , , ,
Miss Kemya | September 21, 2011
2 comments

Too Many Social Media Choices, I Can’t Decide!

I can’t count how many times I discuss social media with business owners and they feel like they can’t get the hang of a particular platform. Or they feel like they should be using them all, and they get completely overwhelmed at all the options popping up pretty regularly. Here’s my advice: don’t feel coerced into stretching yourself across all the social media platforms out there. You won’t have time to run your business! Here’s the one thing these business owners (and maybe you) don’t understand: Not all social media platforms are created equal. They each have a purpose, user group, frequency of use, their own language, etc. 

Start with the most commonly used platforms and learn the ropes. Read some articles/how-to’s on each platform. Review the FAQs, user guides, and take a look at your fellow business owners. Which platforms are they using? I read comments on LinkedIn all the time from business owners still trying to figure out what they should be using. It’s ok to ask. Then you can check out some of the newer platforms and give them a try, but don’t be so quick to invest so much time on them. Again, you have a business to run! If you’re still having trouble, and really want to learn what to post, how often to post, and how to develop a dynamic profile that generates business, consider hiring a marketing professional for help.

Why didn’t I say hire someone to post for you a couple of times a day? Your social media activity should be a part of your overall marketing strategy to build your business. Yes, there is a strategy! Hiring someone to tweet for you won’t build your business if you don’t know what you’re supposed to be tweeting! You can’t hire a ghost blogger if you don’t have a marketing plan to decide what you want your blog to cover. Quite frankly, knowing what to post is just as important as how often you post and engage. 

Ciao,
Miss Kemya

Category: Marketing Strategy, Marketing Tools, Social Media Platforms, Social Media Strategy | Tags: , , ,
Miss Kemya | July 28, 2011
No comments

Got Klout? Use It For Marketing

So by now you’re familiar with Klout. If not, take one step back and read my previous post on getting started with Klout, and this post will make more sense.

Whether you like it or not, Klout is being used to develop your online profile, so stay ahead of the curve and use it to your advantage! But do you know to incorporate Klout into your marketing strategy! Here’s 4 quick tips to get you started:

  1. If you’ve already registered at Klout, you know you have a Klout Style. You can use this to get a pretty good idea of what you’re chatting about online. Suppose you don’t have Klout in a category that’s your specialty/niche – checking your Klout influence can help you determine what you need to be chatting/sharing on the social networks to develop your overall Klout profile. Even though it’s relatively new, I’ve already heard talk of people checking Klout scores as part of their hiring process. So don’t go calling yourself an expert these days if you don’t have some easily found stats to back up your claim – someone just might do a social background check on you and give preference to someone with more Klout!
  2. Much like many social media platforms, you can use the search usernames to find people who share similar interests or prospective clients. With Klout you can get a summary of topics they post about. Suppose you follow someone on Twitter but not Facebook (or vice versa), you may want to connect with them on other platforms as well, thus expanding your reach and exposure. You can also use this for competitor analysis couldn’t you? For example, I could check the Klout score of my competitor and see how our profiles compare. As I stated in the first tip, people are already comparing Klout scores for hiring purposes whether you agree with it or not.
  3. #Kloutchat is an interesting tweetchat centered around using Klout. This as excellent marketing research tool to use to learn how other companies are leveraging Klout. You can learn new ideas and adapt them to your own company. I’ve learned quiet a bit just lurking around #Kloutchat.
  4. Learn how you influence your followers. Use your Klout Score Analysis to find out why you’re influential. Are your followers retweeting your posts? Are you starting discussions? Are you creating calls to action? Understanding the reasons and methods you’re using to gain influence can help you refine your social media strategy to build your brand. You can figure out what’s working for you and what you need to improve upon.

Klout has other tools you can incorporate into your strategy, and since it’s relatively new there are constant improvements. I can’t say whether Klout is right or wrong. But as a marketer I must learn to navigate social media platforms and figure out how to best utilize them for myself and my clients. If you want to maintain control of your brand, you must learn the tools people are using to make decisions about your brand, and Klout happens to be one of those tools. Any platform that gives a quantifiable measure of your online profile will certainly cause a stir. Whether you think Klout is good, bad, or you’re indifferent, understand Klout and make it work for you!

Ciao,
Miss Kemya

Category: Klout, Marketing Strategy, Marketing Tools, Social Media Platforms, Social Media Strategy, Twitter | Tags: , , , , , , , ,
Miss Kemya | July 18, 2011
3 comments

Quick Tip: Stay In The Know With Paper.li

Do you publish a paper.li newspaper? If not, do you subscribe to someone else’s paper.li? If you’re scratching your head wondering what I’m talking about, a paper.li is a free service that basically takes links from the people you follow on Twitter and organizes the links into a virtual newspaper.  You can create your own paper.li based on a list, hashtag, a user, or a custom setting with advanced features.  Once you choose your source, you can name your paper and set it to generate daily or weekly and receive the latest editions via email. Just like a newspaper, there are sections for Headlines, Business, Arts & Entertainment, etc. and popular hashtags.

So go ahead and create your own paper.li newspaper or subscribe to one you like. I’m sure you follow someone who has a paper.li you’ll find interesting (hint hint). I particularly like paper.li because it keeps me in the know when I don’t have time to “check in” with Twitter often. I can read a newspaper and stay up-to-date on the day’s topics. I currently publish 3 newspapers, feel free to read and/or subscribe to stay in the know!

  1. The Miss Kemya Daily is a myriad of interesting tweets from people I follow
  2. The Social Media Minds Daily is a collection of tweets from great social media guru’s I follow
  3. The Cool Atlantans Daily has all kinds of goodies from my Atlanta and surrounding-area tweeps. Of course I have to stay in touch locally!

Just another quick tip to manage your social media activities. Stay tuned, I’ll be exploring ways to use paper.li as a marketing tool…

Ciao,
Miss Kemya
Category: Marketing Strategy, Marketing Tools, Social Media Platforms, Social Media Strategy, Twitter | Tags: , , , , , , ,
Miss Kemya | June 29, 2011
2 comments

3 Quick Tips For Using RSS For Business

Ever been puzzled by this little orange symbol that appears on blogs and websites?

Phisco Marketing RSS Feed Button
And why should your business be using RSS feed anyway?

If you are in business of any kind, here’s 3 quick tips for using RSS feed to subscribe to websites and blogs to help your business.

1. It provides one neat place to keep track of updated content from your favorite sites. No more surfing individual sites for content. aka time-saver

2. Makes industry research a much simpler task. Keep up on trending topics by following the leading sites, experts and authorities in your industry. aka easy-research

3. Your clients/potential clients can subscribe to your updates if you give them the RSS feed option. Not everyone wants to share their email address to receive your newsletters. But they still want to keep up with your content. aka non-intrusive

BONUS TIP:  Site owners can see subscribers, so think beyond the basic orange button. Think synergy, sales, and relationship building. If you have the RSS feed option on your site, you may be building a potential client base without realizing it. Think about it: there’s a reason I’m subscribing to your site.

Readers, how do you use RSS for your business? Do tell!

Ciao,
Miss Kemya

PS – Have you clicked the button to subscribe to this blog? What are you waiting for?

Category: Marketing Strategy, Marketing Tools, Social Media Platforms, Social Media Strategy, Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , ,
Miss Kemya | June 27, 2011
One comment

I Want To StumbleUpon Your Site

I read an eye-opening article about the power of StumbleUpon as a referral source to boost your social media traffic. Did you know it has surpassed Facebook as the largest shared source of traffic? How many of you use StumbleUpon to drive traffic to your site? I just started using it recently and it’s quite interesting. I’ve seen the symbol and little “I like it” hand at the top of toolbars as I view articles on the web, but I didn’t fully understand its impact until I started learning the stats.

If you are new to StumbleUpon or haven’t incorporated it into your social media strategy, check out this StumbleUpon 101 to get started! You can set up a personal profile, receive recommendations based on your interests, and you can index your own articles and blog posts. You can also find your friends (via Facebook or email addresses) to see what they’ve stumbled upon. There’s tagging options when you “discover” a new article to StumbleUpon, etc…the list of options is too long to describe here.  As you can see, there’s a great opportunity to sync your StumbleUpon profile with your business in order to increase your ranking and drive traffic to your site.

Bottom line: Don’t rely on a single social media source to drive traffic to your site. You need to incorporate different social media platforms to build a comprehensive online presence for your business.

Ciao,
Miss Kemya 

Category: Guest Posts and Mentions, Marketing Strategy, Marketing Tools, Social Media Platforms, Social Media Strategy | Tags: , , , , ,
Miss Kemya | June 18, 2011
4 comments

You Are Your Brand, Own It!

I had the pleasure of attending a fantastic social media seminar, dubbed an Online Marketing & Social Media Crash Course, featuring none other than Entrepreneur Magazine expert Starr Hall.  Now since I already know Starr I was prepared to be blown away by all her proven tips to navigate the online marketing environment. For those of you that don’t her, let me tell you she is indeed a marketing machine!

My friend and event attendee Author Brian L Thompson asked me a question after the event that really had me stumped. He asked me “What was THE most important thing I learned? And what am I going to do with it?” The nerve of him asking me such a loaded question right?! After giving some it some thought, I answered: I think the most significant takeaway for me is that I AM THE BRAND. My personality must resonate in everything I do, so I’m working on adjusting all my communications – social media and otherwise – to accurately reflect my brand.

Why am I sharing this? As business owners, we spend so much time making our clients look fabulous that we often neglect our own businesses in the process – don’t despair because I’m guilty too! As it relates to branding and communication, part of this stems from traditional marketing tactics. You see, before the age of transparency via the internet and social media, too many of us were taught to NOT put a personal spin on our communications, thus we would write a bunch of stodgy copy for our marketing collateral. Great design elements, but the copy would either bore you to sleep or be too sales-pushy. Unfortunately, many of us still accidentally succumb to this traditional ideology and it hinders our success – again, call me guilty. As I pondered my most significant takeaway from the event, all of the tips and tricks I learned are rooted in the understanding that it’s okay for me to let my personality shine through as I build my brand. My personality, my uniqueness,  is what you buy, not my degrees or brochures! Ok, maybe you buy my degrees but you know what I mean!

What makes this so ironic is that Janice Clark, one of my tweeps and mentors, pointed this very thing out to me a couple weeks ago. Anytime I try to hide my personality I bomb, as in no “hits”, no feedback, no inquiries = no sales. So how timely is it that I attended this seminar while I am in the midst of making drastic updates to my online persona? Sometimes timing is everything isn’t it? If you’re reading this post I’d dare to guess the same lesson applies for your business – YOU ARE YOUR BRAND!

I could write a thesis on all the things I learned from Starr during this seminar, but you need to check her out for yourself… Seriously though, I am thankful to know people like Brian, Starr, Janice and my tons of business friends for asking me loaded questions and forcing me to think and ACT on strategies to build my business. Remember, you are judged by the company you keep, and  I happen to choose my company carefully. After all, I AM MY BRAND!

Ciao,
 MissKemya

Category: Events, Marketing Strategy, Marketing Tools, Social Media Platforms, Social Media Strategy | Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
Miss Kemya | June 14, 2011
No comments

Twitter Is For Right Now – Not Yesterday!

There are many articles that tell you how little time it takes to use social media. Yet, if you’re a relatively new user, this will sound like hogwash! It can take several hours to understand how to use just one social media platform. However, once you’re up and running,  your time spent can be drastically reduced. You’d be amazed at how the pros manage their time using Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Blogs, etc. There really is a method to the “spend 20 minutes a day” advice you hear out there. Today’s quick tip is an invaluable lesson I learned several months ago from Warriorpreneur Ann Evanston:

When using Twitter, don’t go backwards in your timeline to get caught up. 

When you open Twitter, depending on which platform you’re using (Hootsuite, iPhone, etc.), it usually opens to the exact time period you last viewed. The problem is that this could be several hours (or days) ago. When I was a newbie, I’d scroll through old tweets to get caught up and it was a complete waste of time! It takes too long, and Twitter is about as live and “real time” as it gets with social media. You are essentially catching up on old news, and if you start reading and retweeting from too many hours (or days) back, you’ll never catch up to the most recent tweets! You’ll miss all the current news, or worse, the conversation will have already ended and you’ll show up loud and late! For the most part, if I’m “behind” in my timeline I scroll forward to tweets within the past 60 minutes or so, UNLESS I’m performing a specific search. This one little tip made a HUGE difference in my understanding and use of Twitter, so I thought I’d share the advice.

Ciao,
Miss Kemya 

Category: Marketing Tools, Social Media Platforms, Social Media Strategy, Twitter | Tags: , , , , , , , ,
« Older Entries  
seo packagespress release submissionsocial bookmarking services