Archive for the ‘Internet Marketing’ Category

Mircosites Marketing Strategy Effectiveness

Microsite Example for an Audi Car

The New Generation of Microsites

When we hear the term “microsite”, some might think of the old-fashioned websites where agencies used to produce entire presentations in Flash. Such websites were visually spectacular but had absolutely no SEO value because the focus was oriented towards the design itself, not the functionality and effectiveness of the site. Nowadays, that type of microsites is beginning to extinct, clearing the way for a new generation of microsites that uses new techniques and creates bigger opportunities for agile marketing and conversion optimization.

How to Make Microsites more Effective

There are two ways to enhance microsites visitors’ experience and make microsites more effective.
The first and most important way is using the principles of conversion content marketing. Mainly, visitors are looking for good and deep content, not fluff and teasers. For this reason, if visitors like the content, they will move on and take the next step.
But we should keep in mind that there could be a contradiction here. It’s true that visitors want deep content and rich information, but they also want immediate gratification, that is, they aren’t interested in digging through piles of raw material to find what’s important to them. An organized set of subtopics that shows the visitor rapidly what’s important and relevant to him/her is much better than a long post or a page comprising lots of content. Indeed, dividing one topic into many subtopics delivers deeper and more oriented content, and makes it much easier for visitors to understand the content.
The second way to enhance the effectiveness of microsites is through audience segmentation. In other words, it is about personalizing the users’ experience through providing them with the chance to self-select the content that’s relevant to them. Through multi-step landing pages (known also as “conversion paths”), you give the user a few options on the landing page, followed by a targeted presentation, thus enabling them to choose the content that’s more interesting to them, and resulting in much higher conversion rates.

Old Microsites vs. New Microsites

Unlike the old generation of microsites that needed a lot of money and time, the new generation is much cheaper, faster and easier to build. Since they consist of pure HTML, they require just a little more work to build than independent landing pages. They can even be constructed around a group of reusable templates which lets you leverage the design assets of one concept of a microsite into a group of campaigns.
Such microsites don’t exist inside the formal framework of the main website, and thus can be deployed rapidly to support the practices of agile marketing. Consequently, the new generation of microsites provides conversion optimization professionals with a completely new class of tactics to employ.

How to Avoid Customer Complaints on Social Media

avoid social media

How to Prevent and Address Customer Complaints on Social Media

by: Mohammad Jubran

Social media is a powerful life force, not only changing the culture of social interaction for entertainment purposes, but impacting the business arena as well. An organization’s success can soar with the right exposure on Twitter, LinkedIn and other public channels. However, it is also necessary to learn how to deal with negative online sentiment about your brand.

Gone are the days when criticism from a disgruntled customer can simply be routed to the complaint department and placed in the circular file. Tweets cannot be drowned out quite so easily. The good news is that customer service delivery is finally getting some well-deserved attention. The downside is the viral manner in which bad news spreads on social media when you do not know how to deal with negative online sentiment about your brand.

Ben Franklin’s quote, “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure”, rings true for customer satisfaction. Issues occur when management is driving external customer service without unifying internal processes. When technological systems do not talk to each other and customer service delivery is inconsistent, a disconnect results which ultimately reaches the consumer. In the traditional environment, being re-routed to an 800 number when issuing a complaint is bad enough, but having to repeat the story is intolerable. Consider how information disseminates on a social network and it is clear that negative feedback can increase exponentially.

Consumer comments, whether positive or negative, require an expedient response. Positive comments should be acknowledged in the public arena so that negative comments are not the only verbiage to surface. Respond publicly to negative feedback as well, but reserve the exchange of details for an offline discussion. For the framework of the conversation, SEA is an acronym which stands for shock, empathy and action. Express shock that this incident occurred, demonstrate understanding of their reaction, and outline the corrective measures to be taken. These measures should be definitive and followed through to closure.

Grievances are inevitable but, in the end, your brand will be assessed more by the organization’s reaction to the incident than the event itself. Allegiance to your brand will be earned if the company is viewed as part of the solution, rather the problem, and fans will come to your defense. At the very least, they may reserve judgment on future consumer complaints.

Promoted Tweets – Twitter Advertising

twitter advertising platform

Source: Twitter Help Center

What are Promoted Tweets?

Promoted Tweets are ordinary Tweets that advertisers pay to highlight to a wider group of users.

Where do users see them?

Promoted Tweets from our advertising partners are called out at the top of some Twitter.com search results pages.

Promoted Tweets are clearly labeled as “Promoted” when an advertiser is paying, but in every other respect they exist initially as regular Tweets and are organically sent to the timelines of their followers. They also retain all the functionality of a regular Tweet including replying, Retweeting, and favoriting. Promoted Tweets are displayed in search in Twitter.com and some of our ecosystem partners, and in user timelines for some users in Hootsuite.com.

If users click on a Tweet that includes a hashtag that is being promoted by an advertiser, they may see a Promoted Tweet among the related Tweets in the details pane.

Are Promoted Tweets only shown on Twitter.com?

We have begun to make Promoted Tweets and Promoted Trends available beyond Twitter.com – something we have discussed doing since launching Promoted Tweets in April. We are currently testing syndication of Promoted Products with a select number of partners, including HootSuite and TweetDeck. These partners will run Promoted Tweets in searches and also highlight Promoted Trends, sharing in Twitter’s revenue for these products. We are also beginning to test syndication of Promoted Tweets in user timelines. Initially, we are testing these with our partner, HootSuite. As with all Twitter launches, we’ll review the initial feedback and determine where we take it from here.

Are Promoted Tweets like other online ads?

Since all Promoted Tweets start out as regular Tweets, there is not a single “ad” in our Promoted Tweets platform that isn’t already an organic part of Twitter. This is distinct from both traditional search advertising and more recent social advertising.

Anything else to say, interested?

This is a new thing for Twitter and we expect to iterate and experiment to make the platform better. We’re really excited about it and appreciate getting your feedback. Interested advertisers should visit our Business site to sign up!

Facebook’s New Capabilities For Advertisers

Facebook Page

by: Tyler Willis  //  involver

The last 30 days have included two substantial updates to Facebook’s capabilities for advertisers, the release of a new ad unit called Sponsored Stories and the addition of specified landing tabs.

Hundreds of Millions of people take actions, such as liking a page or checking in at a place, with brands on Facebook. Sponsored Stories is a new ad unit from Facebook that lets advertisers turn those actions into ads that are targeted at that person’s friends.
The launch of this ad unit has been very controversial, but is very important for Facebook Advertisers — we wrote a 1700+ word review on the blog that has everything you could care to know.

Secondly, as Inside Facebook recently reported, advertisers on Facebook now have the ability to set custom landing tabs for their Facebook ad campaigns. This means that companies investing in creating effective application experiences quickly and at scale are going to empower a whole new wave of targeted advertising and conversion.

How to Use Twitter to Grow Your Business

twitter for business

How to build a Twitter strategy for your business

By Mohammad Jubran
Twitter is an extremely important platform for your business, but it is a huge mistake to try to promote your business on Twitter without first thinking through what your strategy will be. You have undoubtedly heard many times that you should listen and engage with your customers, but you probably want a strategy that is a bit more concrete. Let’s take a closer look at what you need to do to launch a successful Twitter campaign.

1. Find an Audience

Although there are millions of people who use Twitter every day, it is impossible to interact with them all. Instead, you need to be a bit more selective. But who should you choose to interact with? If you already have a few customers, then it may be a good idea to try to locate them on Twitter. See who they are already following and talking to. These people are probably good prospects for your business. Find out who has influence within their social group, and begin entering the conversation.

2. Learn the Language

If you are going to successfully reach out to your customers on Twitter, then it is important that they can relate to you. Listen in to their conversations. Figure out whether they talk formally or informally. Understand how to use hashtags. There is an entire language associated with Twitter, and you need to learn it.

3. How Much is a Lead Worth?

The entire reason that you are on Twitter is to improve the bottom line of your business, so you should treat your Twitter presence just as you would any other aspect of your business. Make sure you track your results so that you know exactly how much a follower is worth to your business. How often do they convert into a paying customer? This will let you know how effective your Twitter campaign is.

No matter how you approach Twitter, it is important to be flexible. You never know what will work and what won’t work. As long as you track your results, you can always tweak your strategy. As time goes on, you will grow more confident in your ability to utilize Twitter as an effective platform for growing your business.

Do you Trust Google Keyword Tool?

Google Logo - Keyword Tool

By Mohammad Jubran

How accurate the Google Keyword tools is?

Many website owners who want to optimize their website ask whether local keyword tool works to find accurate keywords. We’d ever keyword tool you use it is important that it contained accurate data. It’s doing keyword research using the global keyword tool it is important that the traffic predictions given be correct data.

Customers are not conducting keyword research simply because they want to, but because the ultimate goal is to bring traffic to a site and convert traffic to buyers. Search data given by the Google keyword tool should be accurate or you will end up with unrealistic sales objectives.

To make the Google keyword tool more accurate you need to know what data you are comparing. Determine whether you want to focus on global or worldwide data for local search results. Google clearly distinguishes which are the global monthly searches. this Global monthly data is gotten by estimated 12 month average. Other tools like the Google webmaster tools offered the exact volume of search queries for specific keyword where the website is ranking, but it only applies to the current month.

In essence, the Google keyword tool can only comparison the global monthly search volume based on the average taken for 12 month. The data will also depend on the match type you’re looking at on the tool. These keyword masses can be listed under broad, exact or phrase matches. Expert SEO professionals use the “exact” match type as this seems to be the most accurate. However, there are no exact studies that determine which of the categories works best when analyzing keywords.

You can however test the Google keyword accuracy. To do this you will need a test website with accesible Google Webmaster tools and several ranking keywords. Use keywords that rank on a first page of Google. Find the global monthly search volume for the keywords using the global keyword tool. Gather the data for each match type whether it be “exact,” “broad,” or phrase. Set countries to “All countries” and export the data to an Excel file when it completes. Compare the global search data to the Webmaster tools data. Compute the percent error between the data from Google webmaster tools and that of the Google keyword tool. The formula looks something like: percentage error = [(estimated data - actual data)/actual data] with the actual data being that of Google webmaster tools and the estimated data being from the Google keyword tool. You may notice that there is a high percentage error in accuracy measurements, with the “exact match” option having the lowest percent error, but still the way above 100 percent. This error is caused by seasonal keyword search volumes, and the inability to compare exact same time frames for both tools.

Because there is such a high percentage error, you should not rely solely on the Google keyword tool to predict sales.You should instead use a combination of the Google keyword tool and the Google Webmasters tools to get more accurate estimates of traffic possibilities.

Latest Social Media Tips for Business – 2011

Social Media

2011 Social Media Tips

By Mohammad Jubran

The promise of a new year brings anticipation for social media marketers. The field of social media is expanding rapidly, and it is crucial for social marketers stay abreast of upcoming trends in 2011. Here are three of the latest social media tips for business:

Mobile Is the Top Trend

Most social media experts peg mobile as the most important social media trend today. Social marketers are building mobile apps at a breakneck pace to keep up with competitors in the field and there are hundreds of new styles of ad units designed just for mobile devices. Businesses that do not consider social media within the burgeoning mobile market will lag behind those that do.

Leverage All Employees for Real Social Impact

Consumers like to feel that they have a relationship with the companies they patronize, and social media provides the perfect platform for personal interaction. An innovative development in social media for business has all employees blogging from their own points of view and interacting with customers as ambassadors for the company.

Businesses interested in leveraging social media as a marketing tool are allowing, and even encouraging, every employee to participate in branded social media activities. And not just the marketing team; this trend extends from the CEO all the way down to the lowliest shipping clerk. It can benefit SEO with more backlinks and keyword-rich content, and it is also helpful for CRM.

Admit That You’re Human

Another way to foster consumer confidence and intimacy is to show the human side of your company in social media. Everyone knows good social marketing is a two-way street. The content of business blogs should never be exclusively about business matters.

A futuristic trend for 2011 takes social media marketing to a new level with bloggers writing about activities far outside the office setting. Companies can find opportunities to blog about certain employees or customers who are involved in sporting contests, artistic pursuits, or altruistic activities, for example. Consumers may become enamored of the brand’s projected lifestyle, especially when the activity is well-related to the product being marketed.

Latest Facebook Marketing Methods

Facebook Page

Best Facebook Marketing Practices

by Mohammad Jubran

With over 500 million active users, Facebook’s virtual population is greater than the actual population of the United States.

So what marketing methods work well with Facebook?

Facebook ads have improved since the early days of the site. Because Facebook users tend to share copious amounts of personal data, Facebook’s targeted ads are usually seen by the right individuals that will be more likely to actually click on the link. No longer are ads a shot in the dark, Facebook has the market cornered on targeted advertising.

The most basic marketing method is a good, solid business page. But more and more businesses are now recognizing that Facebook users like to be engaged and enjoy interacting with companies, so a mere page is no longer enough.

Contests and promotions are a great way to make customers more interested in brands they like and an excellent method to make brands known to new customers.

Facebook users tend to follow favorite brands, but with contests and promotions, it’s easy to get strangers to your brand to fan your page. Just make sure it’s a requirement for the contest. As long as the prize is something worthwhile, the Facebook users will most likely be willing to jump through that hoop to enter. In addition to basically subscribing to receive future messages from that company, the Facebook user also serves as free advertising towards their friends. Even if their friends never click on your company to find out what exactly all the fuss is about, it is still a point of contact. Next time those individuals see your brand name, there will be something familiar about it. Familiarity equals comfort. Making your potential customers comfortable is good.

Striking a balance with pages is crucial to getting and maintaining a good fan base. If posts are too often or irrelevant, Facebook users are likely to simply hide the page, which is of course bad. But on the other side of the spectrum, failure to post often yields zero results. Balance is key.
With over 500 million active users, Facebook’s virtual population is greater than the actual population of the United States.
So what marketing methods work well with Facebook?
Facebook ads have improved since the early days of the site. Because Facebook users tend to share copious amounts of personal data, Facebook’s targeted ads are usually seen by the right individuals that will be more likely to actually click on the link. No longer are ads a shot in the dark, Facebook has the market cornered on targeted advertising.
The most basic marketing method is a good, solid business page. But more and more businesses are now recognizing that Facebook users like to be engaged and enjoy interacting with companies, so a mere page is no longer enough. Contests and promotions are a great way to make customers more interested in brands they like and an excellent method to make brands known to new customers.

Facebook users tend to follow favorite brands, but with contests and promotions, it’s easy to get strangers to your brand to fan your page. Just make sure it’s a requirement for the contest. As long as the prize is something worthwhile, the Facebook users will most likely be willing to jump through that hoop to enter. In addition to basically subscribing to receive future messages from that company, the Facebook user also serves as free advertising towards their friends. Even if their friends never click on your company to find out what exactly all the fuss is about, it is still a point of contact. Next time those individuals see your brand name, there will be something familiar about it.

Familiarity equals comfort. Making your potential customers comfortable is good.
Striking a balance with pages is crucial to getting and maintaining a good fan base. If posts are too often or irrelevant, Facebook users are likely to simply hide the page, which is of course bad. But on the other side of the spectrum, failure to post often yields zero results. Balance is key.

Facebook Pages vs. User Profiles

Facebook Viral Marketing

Why to Choose Facebook Pages For Your Business

Anyone using Facebook has an individual user profile to navigate the site and communicate with friends, family and colleagues. For your protection, your personal log-in information should never be shared. After logging in to your user profile, you can create and administer a Facebook Page for your business—and you can easily invite colleagues to manage it with you. The differences between user profiles and Facebook Pages help you protect your own privacy as a user while maximizing publicity for your business:

1) Facebook Pages are visible to everyone

Even people who aren’t logged in to Facebook can see Facebook Pages. A user profile, on the other hand, can only be seen by the user’s friends and others in her networks.

2) Facebook Pages can have an unlimited number of fans

Regular users can have up to 5,000 friends.

3) Users can automatically support your Facebook Page without confirmation

User profiles have to approve all incoming friend requests.

Add Your SEO Agency

4) You can send Updates to all your fans

User profiles cannot message all their friends at once.

Although a person could never use a Facebook Page as the primary way to navigate Facebook (for instance, a Facebook Page can’t join Groups or attend events), Facebook Pages are the perfect solution for businesses, bands, films, sports teams, and other organizations seeking to reach Facebook’s 70 million active users.

Source: Docstoc / Facebook

Facebook – Viral Marketing Guide – 2

Facebook Logo

Introduction to Facebook

Facebook offers you an unparalleled opportunity to connect with your fans and consumers—on their turf and in ways they find meaningful. By maintaining a Facebook Page and using all the available features, you can interact with consumers the same way they interact with friends and colleagues. Your biggest fans have probably already told a couple friends about your business in casual conversation, but Facebook’s technology makes it easy for them to spread the word instantaneously to all of their friends—on average, over 100 people.

Keys to Using Facebook

1) Make business personal

People primarily use Facebook to share personal information with friends. The more you showcase the human element of your business, your products, and your people, the stronger of an effect it will have on everyone who views it.

2) Update your Facebook Page frequently

Facebook is geared to highlight new information and recent changes. The more often you add new content, the more often people will come back to your Facebook Page. You can also send Updates to your fans to announce in-store events, special promotions, new products, concerts, screenings, or other news.

3) Harness the power of News Feed

The News Feed on users’ home pages tells them what their friends are doing. When users become your fan, News Feed tells their friends and invites them to become fans as well. In turn, this can lead to the friends of their friends finding out about your business through their News Feeds, and so on in a virtuous cycle. News Feed is the key to spreading your message virally on Facebook.

4) Choose the applications that are best for your

Business Facebook and its outside developers have built thousands of free applications for businesses, bands, and every other type of organization. Your Page comes with the basics pre-installed, but you can easily add whichever other applications are right for your business. For instance, a restaurant may choose to add an application for online ordering or reservations, while a film may add a cinema locator so the user can find the nearest screening without ever leaving Facebook. You can even build your own applications. The more useful your applications are to your customers, the faster your fan base will grow.

5) Promote your Page through Facebook Ads

Facebook Ads allow you to reach exactly the audience you want and bring them to your Page. You can choose your audience based on age, gender, geography, educational status, relationship status, and precise interests or keywords. Your ads can be socialized so that users’ interactions are reflected in the ads their friends see, increasingly the virality of your Page. You can run ads both in traditional “banner” locations and in the News Feed. As with your Page itself, the key to success with Facebook Ads is to experiment and iterate on your work. Facebook experts are all around you: in your family, on your staff, amongst your customers, at your competitors. Don’t hesitate to ask them for advice and to follow their lead when you see a successful strategy at work.  “Is Facebook becoming the social operating system of the Internet, poised to support a whole new generation of businesses?…Wharton’s Fader sees Facebook commanding a mass market in a way traditional forms of media no longer do. ‘Even TV does not have the same level of engagement. Right now, Facebook is unique.’” – Forbes

Presence

Facebook Pages, which launched in November 2007, allow local businesses, sports teams, artists, films, brands, public figures, non-profits and other business organizations to have a presence on Facebook. Users can add themselves to your Facebook Page as fans, write on your Wall, purchase products, learn about special promotions, upload photos, and join other users in discussion groups. You can send Updates to all your fans whenever you like. And you can add applications to your Page and engage Facebook users with videos, notes, links, Flash content, and more.

Source: Docstoc / Facebook

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