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Business owners can track their social media marketing using several …

Social media continues to gain speed in the online world. Due to the huge adoption rate and use of some type of social media by the majority of Internet users, many large brands have taken the plunge and have integrated social media as part of their overall business marketing mix. For small- and medium-sized businesses, however, many have only dabbled in social media or are yet to really jump in.  

Particularly, companies where the leadership does not regularly use social media personally themselves have been the most reluctant to jump in. Often this is because these business leaders don’t understand social media, see it only as social fun, or do not recognize how social media can be used for business. In addition, they may struggle with how to measure social media investment as it relates to business objectives.  

There are a number of forms of return on investment that can and should be measured with social media. In order to determine the best method of measurement for a business, the leadership and those in marketing, need to review the company’s objectives and determine how and where social media marketing should fit in. Then map out the path that will measure how any social media is contributing to reaching these goals.

Social media can be tied in with the following three areas of objectives for any company:

Core business goals

Common business objectives include increased product sales, increased overall revenue, reduced expenses, and gaining efficiencies that reduce costs. Developing a marketing plan that details how a social media strategy can be measured as to how it supports one or more of the company’s objectives will be very valuable to gain buy-in from company leadership. Examples could include creating a Facebook page for a product line and growing a fan base to reach more potential customers with news about this product, as well as to reduce customer support costs by using the Facebook page as a channel to answer customer’s questions quickly and efficiently. The number of fans can be tracked to show fan growth and awareness of the company in key demographic areas. As well, posts on a Facebook page wall can be tracked and categorized as support related and time invested to answer as compared to time spent on a similar support ticket via phone.

Marketing objectives

Marketing objectives are the goals of any particular marketing campaign. Common marketing goals are to build greater awareness of the brand, grow the email opt-in list for future email marketing campaigns, increase quantity and quality of leads coming via the website, and increase conversions of leads to sales online. Marketers can fairly easily setup tracking and show results of how implementing a social media program will achieve these goals with measurable results. Adding a Facebook page tab to the fan page with a email sign-up form on it and then using this tab URL in tweets, Facebook posts, and other means can (1) determine specific traffic from each source to the tab, (2) Can measure brand awareness growth via new fans, and (3) can offer a specific measurement of new opt-ins to the email marketing campaign via the tab sign-ups .

Digital / web objectives

This is a more specific marketing arena that is related to all online efforts, such as web, mobile, and including social media. Common objectives measured in this area are increased sales from online leads, increased online leads, more satisfied and loyal customers and increased customer engagement. Using tools to track from tweet to website conversion, or from Facebook link post to customer lead can be methods to measure the impact of social media related to these objectives. As well, creating custom segments in Google Analytics website traffic tracking allows marketers to get data and easily create reports, as well as review and modify strategies based on results.

As companies weigh how much to get involved in social media as a marketing method, establishing a plan for how a specific use can be tracked and contributes to business and marketing goals is essential. This helps break down the details of how social media will be tracked to measure it’s specific impact.

Mike Gingerich leads the Social Application division of web design company, Digital Hill Multimedia (http://www.DigitalHill.com). He is a co-founder of TabSite.com, a leader in Facebook fan page tools for businesses. TabSite offers brands the power to boost Facebook marketing with contests and promotions. For more information on TabSite, please visit www.tabsite.com.

 

Social Caffeine Named Top 10 Social Media Marketing Blog

Lori Taylor's flagship blog, Social Caffeine was this week acclaimed as one of the world's top ten social media marketing blogs written by women.

Cincinnati, OH (PRWEB) May 02, 2013

Lori Taylor's flagship blog, Social Caffeine was this week acclaimed as one of the world's top ten social media marketing blogs written by women.

Social Caffeine was awarded the accolade by marketing blog UpCity in recognition of "providing an awesome resource for brands and marketers". UpCity's list featured 25 blogs on social media marketing written by women, placing Social Caffeine at number eight.

Lori Taylor, founder and editor of Social Caffeine, said the list which includes social media thought leaders such as Mari Smith, Ann Tran and Eve Mayer, shows how much quality advice is available online for social media marketers.

"This is an amazing list, and it shows that women really do lead the way when it comes to social marketing," Taylor said. "It feels good to be at the center of this sea change."

Angela Stringfellow, who compiled the list for UpCity, said she wanted to shine a spotlight on the "leading ladies who rock the social sphere."

Stringfellow said Social Caffeine was included in the list because of Taylor's intuitive understanding of how to generate buzz around a brand or business.

"[Lori] covers everything from using hashtags (the right way), capturing the attention of influencers, what she’s reading currently (trust us, you want to know!) and a whole lot more," Stringfellow said.

She added that all the women in the list have top tips to share.

"These 25 women know their stuff," Stringfellow said. "Many of them are generous enough to share their deepest, darkest social media secrets for success. If you want to kick your social strategy up a notch (or five) these are the social media blogs (written by women) you should be watching."

What's more, the depth of social media marketing advice from women bloggers online runs wide and deep.

"There are dozens of incredibly powerful women in the world of social media," Stringfellow said.

The award is the third given to Lori Taylor in a two-week period. She has also been named by Forbes as a top 20 women social media power influencer, and as a top 50 social media power influencer.

"Times are real good for us right now," Taylor said. "We've put a ton of work in rocking this boat, and it's great to be making a splash."

On top of editing the Social Caffeine blog, Taylor is CEO of REV Media Marketing, a social media marketing agency.

For the original version on PRWeb visit: http://www.prweb.com/releases/prweb2013/5/prweb10686852.htm

Social Range: Using Social Media Marketing To Better Hit Your Target Audience

Putting a Bead on It—or Them

In business, you often hear the sales pros talk about hitting the target. In other words: you have to try to reach the client base who would be most interested in your product for the best business potential you could possibly gain. Despite the seemingly endless landscape of the World Wide Web, hitting the target also applies in online business—it’s just a matter of figuring out how.

One outlet for this that some business owners forget about is the social media web site. Besides being fun to use, social media is great for accessing your target audience. You can create accounts on numerous social media web sites for your business, and in doing so effectively create a piece of online proprietorship for it. You can upload graphics and promo material, create your own social media marketing plan to advertise individual or groups of products, and so much more.

What’s key here is just how multi-faceted social media is in its use and that almost everybody can use it more or less on their own terms. And it’s usually free and easy to walk yourself through from the get-go. This is the beginning of targeting your audience or, as the old army phrase goes, “Put a bead on your target.” But then there’s more.

Split on the Aces

The common misconception of social media is that it’s all the same—web site to web site, program to program—but that isn’t true. Each social media web site has its own makeup and usage practice for online business owners. Thus it never hurts to investigate them all to see how much each one can be put to good use for online business potential. Using multiple social media platforms is a way you can split up some of your work and widen the possibilities for new client interest.

A thorough investigation of each social media web site is obviously in order, and it never hurts to take tips from your online business peers on which web sites are the best and how to use the sites optimally. Learn the sites’ functions and all the ins and outs, terms and conditions, and connection possibilities of all of them. From there, it’s worth it to approach each one with a different social media campaign; this is a plan of action for how to use each one individually for separate business purposes. Some of you might want to try to connect with a younger audience, while others may wish to target more professional types who would have an interest in a particular product. Either way, your plan of action is good as long as you approach each of your targets from a different social media marketing angle.

Another note here: be sure not to use duplicate content from one social media web site you use to the next. Not only will clients spot this and get peeved about your apparent lack of professional effort, but doing so could also hamper your social media optimization during online searches. So now let’s see what tools are available to help you out.

New Toys to Play With

The ability to optimize your social media content is a recent phenomenon. Now you can practice social media SEO [search engine optimization] in the same way you can optimize your regular web content and products. You can even measure your social media web site’s performance through analytics tools. They are all fun and handy “toys” that can help you with business improvements.

In fact, all of this is social media material worth getting to know. Moreover, it’s worth using these tools to full effect. Getting to know social media will allow you to connect with more people up close while hitting your business targets square on. Your social range in social media is huge and full of great prospects.

To get more help on all your SEO, web site design, and web traffic needs, e-mail Numero Uno Web Solutions Inc. at info@numerounoweb.com.

This article originally appeared on Numero Uno Web SolutionsNumero Uno Web Solutions and has been republished with permission.

Find out how to syndicate your content with Business 2 Community.

May 8: Got Social Media Marketing Skills? Maybe There’s a Job for You

Job seekers with a background in social media marketing are invited to attend a free recruitment event at the Santa Clarita WorkSource Center on Wednesday, May 8, from 12:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. with View Point 9, a social media marketing company looking to hire consultants and marketing assistants.

The recruitment will be held at the Santa Clarita WorkSource Center, located at the College of the Canyons University Center, Suite 250 at 26455 Rockwell Canyon Road.  All job seekers are encouraged to arrive by 12:00 p.m., allowing time to park and register.

Qualified job seekers must speak, read and write English proficiently, be registered with CalJOBS at caljobs.ca.gov, have a State ID or passport and Social Security card, and possess the following:

* experience managing and engaging in the development of marketing strategies,

* experience developing and implementing creative media strategies using various social media platforms such as Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn, and others,

* background promoting social media marketing services and products,

* and experience placing professional pre-screened calls to clients on a daily basis.

Job seekers are encouraged to dress to impress, have multiple copies of their resume, and be prepared to complete an employment application and interview on site.

For more information about the recruitment event or the Santa Clarita WorkSource Center, please call (661) 799-WORK (9675) or visit WorkSantaClarita.com.

 

About the Santa Clarita WorkSource Center

The WorkSource Center offers free services to connect job seekers and employers, by providing clients with the necessary tools and training opportunities to search and prepare for employment opportunities.  The WorkSource Center regularly collaborates with local businesses, offering a variety of services from pre-screening candidates to available interview facilities and access to Enterprise Zone eligible employees.  The WorkSource Center is made possible through funding and support from the Federal Workforce Investment Act (WIA) and the City of Santa Clarita in partnership with the Employment Development Department (EDD), the County of Los Angeles Community and Senior Service, and College of the Canyons.

Free Webcast: Google Tools for Social Media Marketing

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Social media marketing takes time and effort. It’s tricky to know which platforms your audience is using and how best to manage your time and resources.

In this free webcast, Monica Morse, head of small business solutions (SMB) at Google, will share some tips and tricks that will help you use free Google tools including Advanced Search, Trends, Google+ Hangouts, and YouTube to carry out your social media campaign ideas.

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Social media marketing matters

Visit a product page on 1-800-Flowers.com and you can click to share the item with your friends and followers on Facebook (in two ways—either via a public post or a private message), Twitter, Pinterest and Google+.

If you tend to forget your loved ones’ birthdays, you can sign into the site using your Facebook credentials and, once you grant the retailer access to your account information, it will present your friends’ upcoming birthdays on its site.

And, if you have a friend who Likes the brand, you’ll likely see that relationship noted in ads throughout Facebook, including in the news feed—both when looking at Facebook on a PC or on a mobile device.

1-800-Flowers considers itself to be a social media-focused company because social media is where consumers are looking.

“Social has become a critical marketing tool for all retailers, and especially retailers of our size,” says Amit Shah, vice president, online, mobile and social at 1-800-Flowers.com, No. 58 in the Internet Retailer Top 500 Guide.

Social is woven throughout the retailer’s efforts because the flower and gifts retailer believes that all marketing should be social, he says. That’s why rather than have a single social media department, or point person, the retailer says that everyone in the company should embrace a social mindset and find ways to make their marketing efforts more social.

That approach aims to get consumers to share, whether they’re on 1800Flowers.com or viewing a marketing e-mail. When shoppers are talking about 1-800-Flowers, he says, they’re doing the brand’s marketing for the brand.

1-800-Flowers is hardly alone in its embrace of social media marketing. Just having a presence on social networks is now a given. All but four of the Top 500 retailers (99.2%) have a Facebook page, nearly all (97.2%) are on Twitter, and most are also on YouTube (87.6%) and Pinterest (78.0%). That’s a sharp rise from 2009, when Internet Retailer began measuring merchants’ social media presences. Back then, 56.8% of Top 500 retailers were on Facebook, 20.4% were on Twitter and 41.4% were on YouTube.

Retailers are also rapidly gaining followers. The Top 500 retailers had 477.5 million Likes of their pages last year, up 28.1% from 372.9 million a year earlier. Similarly their Twitter followers grew 84.4% to 34.3 million from 18.6 million in 2011.

The more followers a retailer has, the more people its messages can reach. For instance, when 1-800-Flowers posted a special offer on Facebook for its “Precious Pink Azalea” for Mother’s Day for $31.99, the message received more than 2,500 Likes and nearly three dozen comments.

Having a robust social media presence appears to be providing a significant boost to several retailers’ financial performance. For instance, Fab.com is the third-fastest growing retailer in the Top 500 Guide with Internet Retailer-estimated 2012 web sales of $150 million, up 653.8% from $19.9 million in 2011. Fab.com is No. 150 in the Top 500 Guide, as well as No. 2 in Social Media 300, an Internet Retailer research guide that ranks retailers by the percentage of traffic to their web sites from social networks, thanks to 25% of its traffic stemming from social networks.

Fab.com describes itself as an “e-commerce site based on Facebook,” as it offers cash rewards for consumers who share its products on social networks and features a custom-built social feed that alerts Fab.com visitors of who’s buying, sharing or liking its products at any time.

In addition to Fab.com, four more of the 15 fastest-growing retailers—Nasty Gal Inc., PetFlow.com, JackThreads.com and King Arthur Flour Co. Inc.—are also in top 10 in the Social Media 300. Nasty Gal is No. 170 in the Top 500 Guide and No. 9 in the Social Media 300; PetFlow.com is No. 406 in the Top 500 Guide and No. 1 in the Social Media 300; JackThreads.com is No. 319 in the Top 500 Guide and No. 7 in the Social Media 300; and King Arthur Flour is No. 359 in the Top 500 Guide and No. 6 in the Social Media 300.

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Social Caffeine Named Top 10 Social Media Marketing Blog

Lori Taylor's flagship blog, Social Caffeine was this week acclaimed as one of the world's top ten social media marketing blogs written by women.

Cincinnati, OH (PRWEB) May 02, 2013

Lori Taylor's flagship blog, Social Caffeine was this week acclaimed as one of the world's top ten social media marketing blogs written by women.

Social Caffeine was awarded the accolade by marketing blog UpCity in recognition of "providing an awesome resource for brands and marketers". UpCity's list featured 25 blogs on social media marketing written by women, placing Social Caffeine at number eight.

Lori Taylor, founder and editor of Social Caffeine, said the list which includes social media thought leaders such as Mari Smith, Ann Tran and Eve Mayer, shows how much quality advice is available online for social media marketers.

"This is an amazing list, and it shows that women really do lead the way when it comes to social marketing," Taylor said. "It feels good to be at the center of this sea change."

Angela Stringfellow, who compiled the list for UpCity, said she wanted to shine a spotlight on the "leading ladies who rock the social sphere."

Stringfellow said Social Caffeine was included in the list because of Taylor's intuitive understanding of how to generate buzz around a brand or business.

"[Lori] covers everything from using hashtags (the right way), capturing the attention of influencers, what she’s reading currently (trust us, you want to know!) and a whole lot more," Stringfellow said.

She added that all the women in the list have top tips to share.

"These 25 women know their stuff," Stringfellow said. "Many of them are generous enough to share their deepest, darkest social media secrets for success. If you want to kick your social strategy up a notch (or five) these are the social media blogs (written by women) you should be watching."

What's more, the depth of social media marketing advice from women bloggers online runs wide and deep.

"There are dozens of incredibly powerful women in the world of social media," Stringfellow said.

The award is the third given to Lori Taylor in a two-week period. She has also been named by Forbes as a top 20 women social media power influencer, and as a top 50 social media power influencer.

"Times are real good for us right now," Taylor said. "We've put a ton of work in rocking this boat, and it's great to be making a splash."

On top of editing the Social Caffeine blog, Taylor is CEO of REV Media Marketing, a social media marketing agency.

For the original version on PRWeb visit: http://www.prweb.com/releases/prweb2013/5/prweb10686852.htm