Social media marketing is all about direct engagement with an audience. It functions best when brands treat it as a bi-directional discussion, making prospects and customers alike feel like they are a part of a conversation. When it’s working, it builds trust little by little until a prospect becomes a customer, or a customer becomes […]
Choosing the Right Content for Your Social Media Strategy
In this post, let’s turn our attention to the content you are producing. There are three considerations: 1. First, does it match your brand? What’s the tone of your brand voice? Is it serious or playful? Instructive or inspirational?What’s the best format? Written content, audio content, or visual content? 2. Second, What can you commit […]
The Social Media Strategy Series: Wrap-Up
Social media for business is more than just Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. In the season finale of “Marketing Without the Marketing,” I give a top-level blueprint of a cohesive social media strategy that maximizes impact and efficiency.
LinkedIn Pulse for Business: Baseline Strategies for Personal Branding
While LinkedIn Pulse is a low-commitment way to get started with blogging for business, you really need a strategy to get the most out of it. Here are two distinct game plans for you to consider: Which one is worth the time investment?
Periscope for Business: Using Live Video as a Marketing Strategy
Have you tried using Periscope for business – or any other live video app? There are a lot of advantages for brands, and companies are getting really creative with it. Let’s have a look at whether or not live video will be a good strategy for you and your business.
Facebook Groups for Business: A New Approach to Marketing
With organic reach down to 9% or lower, Facebook has become purely a pay-to-play platform for businesses. Facebook Groups are the exception, and may be one of the most powerful marketing tools available. Here’s my strategy for how to build and nurture an audience of super-fans.
Twitter Ads for Business: An Underrated Marketing Strategy
Social media is a great starting point to drive awareness of your business, but let’s face it – there’s a ton of noise out there. One strategy that can help: Twitter Ads. If you haven’t tried ads yet as a part of your content strategy, here’s a quick guide to getting started.
Medium for Business: The Benefits of Social Blogging
Medium has a ready-made audience and a algorithmic feed mechanism to get you in front of an audience that’s different than your own blog. Here’s how to coordinate the two – your blog and Medium – into a coordinated and effective strategy.
Facebook Ads for Business: Taking Your Social Strategy to the Next Level
A lot of businesses are using Facebook – but not a lot of them are using Facebook Ads. With the right strategy, you can get a huge awareness boost for your product or service, targeted to the right audience. Listen to the episode for some starter strategies and other considerations.
Pinterest for Business: Are You Missing an Opportunity?
Pinterest is still one of the most popular social media platforms, and it has been evolving into a great marketing tool for small businesses. Here’s a “starter strategy” to get you up and running and taking advantage of their new business-friendly features.
Using Social Media for Business: Strategies for Long-Term Success
How would you rate your use of social media for business? Has it been successful, or a waste of time? Whether you are just getting started with social media – or you’re in need of a reboot – here’s a collection of resources to help you focus your strategy and make better connections with your customers and prospects.
Instagram Stories vs. Snapchat for Business (Episode 62)
Part 8 of The Social Media Strategy Series A couple weeks ago, Instagram launched a new feature called Instagram Stories. It's a direct copy of Snapchat Stories. The differences in feature set are incredibly minute, but the differences in context are potentially very meaningful. There's been a lot written about this move by Zuckerberg & […]
Instagram Stories vs. Snapchat for Business
Instagram and Snapchat are each powerful social platforms that can help you construct a visual narrative around you or your business. But each have specific limitations as well. Here’s a quick comparison so you can make a decision for your business.
Snapchat for Business: How to Nurture Your Audience (Episode 61)
Part 7 of The Social Media Strategy Series Should I be on Snapchat? It's one of the most frequent questions I get from small business owners. There's a lot of excitement about this new and unique platform with good reason. But a lot of it is just hype, too. So how can you make a […]
Snapchat for Business: How to Nurture Your Audience
“Should I be on Snapchat?” It’s one of the most frequent questions I get from small business owners. There’s a lot of excitement about this new and unique platform—and a lot of hype. Let’s look at the considerations so you can make a good decision for your business.
Phase 2 of the Resistance to Social Media
Are you going through the motions when it comes to social media? How do you expect to get good results without a genuine, concerted effort? This is what I call Phase 2 of the Resistance to Social Media, and here’s what you can do to move past it.
Instagram for Business: Brand Storytelling with Images (Episode 60)
Part 6 of The Social Media Strategy Series It's fun to create and share images. So it's easy to see why Instagram is one of the Web's most popular platforms. But under Facebook's ownership, Instagram is evolving quickly. What we're seeing is a series of strategic moves to make the platform much more brand-friendly. Perhaps […]
Instagram for Business: Brand Storytelling with Images
Instagram is evolving quickly, and becoming more and more business-friendly with analytics, ads, and more. But is Instagram right for your business? In Part 6 of the Social Media Strategy Series, I look at some of the factors to consider and offer some basic strategies to get started.
Respect Your Audience (Episode 59)
Your audience will come to you. Give them time. It’s not going to happen all at once, so be patient. Social media & blogging can be done in a pull fashion rather than aggressive, self-serving push tactics. Treat your audience with respect and let them make the decision when to buy from you. Given the opportunity […]
Phase 1 of the Resistance to Social Media
Could your business be getting more out of social media? What’s holding you back? In my view, there are two phases of resistance to social media in particular, and content marketing in general. Let’s look at Phase 1, and what you can do to overcome it.