All posts in category Social Media Marketing

3 Quick & Easy Ways to Use YouTube to Promote Your Business

by G.B. Oliver

This blog post made the New York Times Small Business page, May 13, 2014

Women’s Wear Daily (WWD), a major business magazine for the fashion industry, is reporting that 4 in 10 consumers visit a store either online or in person as a direct result of watching a video online. It also reports that fewer major fashion brands find Facebook to be a top driver of traffic in 2012, but rather YouTube, with referral traffic doubling from 20% to 40% in 2012 over 2011.

So are you using YouTube in your marketing efforts?

A lot of people treat YouTube like television on demand. There are various channels, you can search for things you want to watch, and, particularly popular, are tutorials. And if you think it is only young people on YouTube, guess again.

Who is on YouTube (US stats only):

Ages 18 – 34 – 37.6 million each month
Ages 35 – 49 – 31.6 million
Ages 50 – 64 – 25.7 million
Ages 65+ – 12.3 million
Men– 59 million
Women – 63.7 million

3 Quick & Easy Ways to Use YouTube to Promote Your Business:

Have Your Own Channel – If you have a Google+ account, setting up your own YouTube channel is pretty much already done. Just go to YouTube and if you are logged into Google+ you will see a channel already set up for you in the right hand corner. It acts as a profile for your business because it shows your Google+ account and other social media icons, as well as your shop url (make sure you are using the new layout). You can now curate other people’s videos onto a playlist or favorites list. If you want to add your own videos, I will cover creative ideas for that in an upcoming post.
Comment - Using your shop name, add a comment on a popular video or one relevant to your business. Viewers may click on your name out of curiosity and they will be taken over to your YouTube channel, where they will see all your business information. You can also engage with people who comment on your videos.
Place an Ad – There are a variety of ads you can run on YouTube, all typically on a cost per view. This article explains all the different types of ads.

I CAN HELP! If you do not know how to market your online business and are not making sales, contact me at attentiongetting@gmail.com. You can also read an excerpt of my ebook, Small Business Marketing Ideas That Work! Jewelry & Accessories Edition, HERE.

FINAL WORD: Like all social media, YouTube is free so why not use it. Just don’t invest too much time in it if it does not pull in traffic for your business.

7 Comments

by Attention Getting Marketing on May 8, 2013 • Permalink

Posted in Home, Social Media Marketing

Tagged etsy seller advice, How to Market Business on YouTube, small business marketing tips, Social media, social media marketing, YouTube, YouTube Marketing Tips

Posted by Attention Getting Marketing on May 8, 2013

http://attention-getting.com/2013/05/08/3-quick-easy-ways-to-use-youtube-to-promote-your-business/

Are You Taking Advantage of Today’s Trending Hash Tags on Twitter?

by G.B Oliver

I bet the NFL draft is this week. How do I know that? Because NFL was been showing up in the trending box on Twitter all morning. In fact, when something major is going in the world, Twitter can act as your news feed.

So Are You Capitalizing on Twitter #Hash Tags for Your Online Business?

I’ve discussed this before in previous posts, but I wanted to give you some further insight. When a hash tag shows up in the Trends box on the left, it does peak people’s curiousity. So if they click on it they will be taken to a list of tweets using that hash tag.

I have been telling my small business clients (depending on what they sell) to be ready to take advantage of what I thought would be trending topics on Twitter this month for sure.

One is #Coachella. The popular California music festival has been on the last two weekends, and it always gets as much attention for its fashion as it does its music acts. So in the past two weeks #Coachella has been showing up as a trending hash tag. Great way for anyone selling boho clothing and accessories to get in front of this audience.

I also made them aware of #EarthDay, which is today (April 22nd) and is trending. So if you have eco-friendly, green or organic products, why aren’t you tweeting with the hash tag #Happy Earth Day? I even sent out a bunch of tweets of my followers who fit this description.

Besides annual events, there are weekly events you can take advantage of. If you have products relating to #GamesofThrones, you have to know that every Monday Game of Thrones is trending because everyone is talking about the episode that aired Sunday night.

Also, you will notice on Mondays the trending hash tag, #NewMusic. That is because new CDs drop only on Tuesdays in the US. So on Mondays, music lovers are trying to find out what #New Music will be available tomorrow. That is why the hash tag, #NowPlaying, is also popular on Mondays, as that is how new song clip tweets are tagged.

Trending Hash Tags to Expect in May: Mother’s Day, Cinco de Mayo, Memorial Day, Kentucky Derby.

FINAL WORD: Are you keeping an eye on those Twitter hash tags to make sure your products and services have a chance of getting seen by a target market relevant to what you sell? If not you could be missing out on a potential PR opportunity. Follow me on Twitter @AttentionGet.

ABOUT ME: I’m G.B. Oliver, a small business marketing consultant and author of the new ebook series, Small Business Marketing Ideas That Work! – 145 Detailed Tactics. I also do private consultations for online businesses. Feel free to contact me at attentiongetting@gmail.com.

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2 Comments

by Attention Getting Marketing on April 22, 2013 • Permalink

Posted in Social Media Marketing

Tagged attention getting marketing blog, how to use Twitter hash tags, small business and twitter, social media marketing tips, twitter tips, what is trending on twitter

Posted by Attention Getting Marketing on April 22, 2013

http://attention-getting.com/2013/04/22/are-you-taking-advantage-of-todays-trending-hash-tags/

Which Facebook News Feed Are Ads Right For Your Online Business

by G.B. Oliver

According to an article on the website, Mashable, an IDC report that stated that SmartPhone users, on average, checked their Facebook news feed 14 times a day. This would explain why Facebook announced earlier this month a redesign of the news feed, and is displaying more and more paid advertisements in it.

So are Facebook news feed ads right for your small business?

Types of Facebook News Feed Ads

You now have a few options as to the type of news feed ad you wish to do, and I have to be honest, they keep changing, so it’s a little tough to keep things straight, but here I go:

Page Post Ads

These ads essentially put your latest Facebook post out to a target audience you select, going beyond your Facebook fans to a demographic you choose, on a continual basis until you stop it. You pay per impression or click and you set the budget, even a low as $3 a day. The results may be a lot of page likes or a lot of post likes or it may actually bring traffic to your site.

Cynthia Boris over at Marketing Pilgrim wrote an article recently about Facebook ads, and she had a interesting point. If you are doing these types of Facebook ads, only post information relevant to your business, and include a link that sends the traffic to your blog, website, or social media accounts. This is not the time to post links from other sources (such as posting an article from CNN.com) because you are then essentially paying to send traffic to them.

When It Works: If your Facebook page is new and you want more fans, or you are trying to get more people to read your blog posts, this may be worth a try.

Promoted Page Post Ads

Say you want to promote just one post. If you have over 400 likes, a “promote” icon appears in the bottom right hand corner of the posting box. Select promote, then enter the amount of money you want to spend and it will tell you how many people that amount will reach, again beyond your Facebook fans. One shot deal.

When It Works: To me, this is a fairly inexpensive way to promote a sale or special event. But there needs to be a really grabby headline, a prominent call to action and the link needs to send the potential customer right to what you are selling to be the most effective for you.

Now You Can Get My Very Best Marketing Tactics for Selling Online in My New Ebook Series!

“Best buy ever!” . . “Cannot recommend this enough!” . . ”You will not be disappointed!” . . “Incredible!” – If you want my VERY BEST marketing tactics and advice, I save that exclusively for my Ebooks, Small Business Marketing Ideas That Work!, $12 US, 37-page PDF ebook, download today at my Etsy shop.

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Make Your Shop’s Title Tag Product-Specific to Do Better in Searches

by G.B. Oliver

Just how important is that title tag for your home page that describes your overall online business? Pretty important if you want search engines to find you. When you click on a website, look at what is written in that line in the top bar above the search box. This is the title tag. What you have here will determine whether you get found in searches.

Now, if you are a big online store with a lot of backlinks, you can be quite generic in your home page’s title tag and still turn up on the front page.

Some Examples of Top Online Stores’ Title Tags:

West Elm: “Modern Furniture, Home Decor and Home Accessories”

BaubleBar: ”Women’s Jewelry – Bracelets – Necklaces – Designer Fashion Jewelry”

Pottery Barn Kids: ”Kids’ & Baby Furniture, Kids Bedding & Gifts, Baby Registry”

Amazon: ”Online Shopping for Electronics, Apparel, Computers, Books, DVDs and more” (tend to list their most best selling categories)

Apple Store: ”Buy iPad mini, iPad, iPhone 5, Macbook Pro with Retina display, Mac mini and more” (gets specific with actual product names)

How Small Businesses Can Use Tag Lines to Get to the First Page on Search

Now, if you are a small business, you will need to be more specific in your shop’s home page’s title tag if you want to be noticed. You just won’t be able to compete with the larger retail chains on the more generic, popular keywords, like “designer jewelry”. You have to target in on one of your most prominent products and hope you can upsell other products once buyers are in your shop.

So maybe you want to say, “The Shop for Leather Wrap Bracelets” if these are your top seller, and, depending on how many other people are using that title tag, it has the best chance of getting your business on the first page for that search. (It should be noted that if you don’t want to get overly specific in your shop’s title tag, make sure your product category title tags are very specific, like “leather wrap bracelets”, as these are picked up by search engines as a secondary choice).

For example, I searched the phrase, “Cute iPhone cases“. Well the shop, Lolli Mobile came up on the first page, because sure enough, the shop title tag is, “The Place for Cute iPhone Cases”.

I tried another search, this time for “natural handmade soap”, and the first online store that showed up was the Natural Handcrafted Soap Shop because their title tag is “Pure, Natural, Handmade, Handcrafted Soap”.

FINAL WORD: The big retailers (with the exception of Apple) are not going to get product specific in their shop’s home page’s title tag, so this is where you can compete. This includes the title tag on the landing page of your blog as well. You get 70 characters, so make the most of it.

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4 Social Media Sites You May Not Be Using … But Should

by G.B. Oliver

★ THIS BLOG POST MADE THE NY TIMES – THIS WEEK IN SMALL BUSINESS

When you think social media, the top sites always come up Facebook (750 million users), Twitter (250 million users), Linked In (110 million users), Pinterest (85 million users). But there are others that also host millions of users that might be better for your type of business.

DeviantArt (26 million users) – if you sell any kind of art, photography, artisan craft, you should profile your business on DeviantArt. They allow you to post your products, include a detailed profile, link to your website, and will actually sell your creations for you. Now, you don’t have to sell on DeviantArt, they will let you link directly to your own shop to purchase.

BuzzFeed (15 million users) – BuzzFeed was founded by Jonah Peretti, who co-founded the Huffington Post, which is the most-read blog on the Internet. BuzzFeed is a magazine/blog with a variety of articles on different subjects, but there is a celebrity/lifestyle/politics/entertainment focus. You set up a profile and can post an article you write, images you like, products you like, etc. There is content already on the site written by their writers, but if the staff likes your post, they may put it on the main page exposing you to their millions of readers. For example, if you sell baby products could write a post entitled, “10 Crying Baby Santa Photos”. It has to creative and it can’t be blatant advertising. While you can include links to your shop, you cannot include links to your blog.

Indulgy (3 million users) – Indulgy is a lot like Pinterest. You add photos of things you love and it links right back to the direct source on the Internet. It is a little more streamlined than Pinterest with no categories to search on, just the main board or the popular category. Photos appear here with a board title listed, so you can click on the board to narrow down to something more specific. As I said, it is much more streamlined. Also, the sizing of the photos is more uniform than on Pinterest, making it easier to get noticed. Fashion and decorating photos definitely dominate the popular board, so if you sell these types of products, Indulgy may be for you.

Metacafe (11 million users) – This is a video channel, an obvious competitor to YouTube. I would definitely recommend it if you have a technie, geeky or gadgety type product as that seems to be the more popular posts. Also, pop culture such as movies, tv and music is big on this channel, so if you have products in that vein, ie. Fashion Inspired by Mad Men, your target market is definitely here.

FINAL WORD: New social media sites are always popping up and will continue to do so. To try and be on all of them isn’t the answer. Pick and choose the ones that are right for your target market and marketing efforts.

Have You Heard About My New Marketing Ebooks?

“Best buy ever!” . . “Cannot recommend this enough!” . . ”You will not be disappointed!” . . . “Incredible!” – just some of the customer reviews of my new ebooks, Small Business Marketing Ideas That Work!, available at my Etsy shop.

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by Attention Getting Marketing on March 22, 2013 • Permalink

Posted in Home, Social Media Marketing

Tagged business, marketing, new social media sites, selling on Etsy, small business marketing tips, social media marketing strategy, top social media sites

Posted by Attention Getting Marketing on March 22, 2013

http://attention-getting.com/2013/03/22/social-media-sites-you-may-not-be-using/

My Latest Pinterest Marketing Tip

by G.B. Oliver

I am not sure if your business is using the popular image gallery, Pinterest, but since it is free, you may want to consider it.

How it works, in a nutshell, is if one of your products gets pinned to either one of the main category boards (strictly by chance) or gets repinned by one of the popular pinners (some have over 5 million followers), then it can mean a lot of exposure and traffic to your shop, as well as continual exposure and traffic for months based on repins (when people see your product and repin it to one of their boards). Now, unfortunately that traffic doesn’t always translate into sales, but better some traffic than no traffic.

Now, I noticed an interesting trend on Pinterest that I thought I would share. 7 of the top 16 pins currently on Pinterest (and by top I mean the highest number of repins) were inspirational quotes. That is almost 50%. The others were food or fashion.

So here is my tip on how I think you can use this trend of inspirational quotes to help your business get noticed on Pinterest.

First of all, if you do wall art such as this, then you should have no problem getting your products pinned. Just make sure that you have a product photo that goes in tight on the saying so it is readable. Then, add a watermark of your url or shop name so people can trace it back. Sometimes when people pin your items from some of the mobile apps, the original source gets lost.

But what if you sell something else, like kids’ products? Well, here is where you can get a little creative. Simply find a cool or funny or inspirational saying that relates to your product and photograph your item against it or add the text to the product photo. For example, if I was selling baby booties, I would take a shot of the booties and to the side of the booties I would photoshop in the words, “I never knew how much love my heart could hold until someone called me Mom”.

FINAL WORD: You can do this for any type of product. If you sell food have a quote about food. If you sell jewelry, have a romantic saying. If you sell fitness products, have a motivational saying. It is almost like doing an ad with a tag line. But this is what gets pinned and repinned and will give you exposure.

Start Selling More Today with My New Marketing Ebooks!

You don’t think I put my best secrets here on the blog, do you? Find more marketing and social media ideas and tricks that will help drive your online business in my ebooks, Small Business Marketing Ideas That Work!, as well as other helpful marketing tools in my Etsy shop. Editions for Jewelry/Fashion, Wedding, Home and Kids & Baby Products.

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4 Comments

by Attention Getting Marketing on March 15, 2013 • Permalink

Posted in Home, Social Media Marketing

Posted by Attention Getting Marketing on March 15, 2013

http://attention-getting.com/2013/03/15/my-latest-tip-for-getting-exposure-on-pinterest/

Will Twitter Bring You Sales?

by G.B. Oliver

This was a tweet sent out this week by @gregorygarrick:

The biggest mistake a marketer can make is… Measuring success in terms of leads & NOT revenue

I couldn’t agree more. Leads, followers, likes, they are all pretty much the same thing. Don’t get mislead that having a lot of these means a ton of sales will be coming your way. I spoke about this a bit in a previous post, Traffic is Not Sales but I wanted to cover it again from a different angle.

As I have said many times, not all social media works for all types of products. While they are free mediums to use, they can be time consuming, so only spend time on the ones that are bringing you SALES.

Does Twitter Bring Sales?

Twitter is an interesting social media platform. It is a great medium for communicating and getting the word out, but does it bring buyers to your website? (and remember, that was never the original intention behind the creation of Twitter or any of the social medias).

Based on my research, and backed up by other research, Twitter is really more effective for business to business selling. So if you are selling jewelry supplies for example, yes, you should be on Twitter because jewelry sellers are there and it is easy to find them (use the #jewelry hash tag) and easy to make them aware of your services simply by following them. Why are jewelry sellers there? One, because they have been told by the marketing world they have to be on there to be relevant, and two, because they are using it to search for new customers as well. I am sure there are other reasons, but, in all honesty, those are the main two.

Now, if you do not sell to businesses but rather to the end user, research has shown that end users for not using it as much for search (but that may change in the future), except on trending hash tags. So if you include a trending hash tag in your tweet, for example #HappyMonday, you can get seen in front of a large amount of people (I covered this in my post, Clever Ways to Use Twitter Hash Tags). But again, sheer exposure is no guarantee of sales, especially if it is not to your target market. I see a lot of wonderful products every day, but if I have no need for them, I’m not going to buy them.

So, are there ways to use Twitter that might lead result in sales?

If a Twitter account that has a large number of followers retweets one of your tweets or sends out a link to your website, that does expose you to a large amount of people, and if they are your target market, even better. So there is a definite potential here for sales.
If you have a large following of regular customers and you tweet out a special offer or a new product, that could definitely lead to a sale.
If you use it to engage in a conversation with someone who is asking a question that pertains to what you sell, that could also lead to a sale (maybe not right away).
If your followers love you enough to retweet your tweets, that exposes you to new people, which could lead to sales.
You can also pay and do a sponsored tweet that goes out to a targeted audience (probably your best chance for sales).
If you tweet something really witty or funny or inspiring, that could go viral as your followers retweet to their followers and then so on. Again, exposed to more people, but not necessarily your target market, could result in sales.

Now remember the steps that must occur in order to lead to a sale: The person on Twitter must even see your tweet, which can be difficult if they are scrolling through an ocean of tweets. Then, they must be interested enough to click on the link in your tweet. If there is no link that takes them to your website, then they must click on your Twitter name. Then they must read your profile to see what you do. Then they must click over to your website from there. Then they must look at your products. Then they must decide if there is anything they want or need. Then they must decide if they want to buy – that’s a lot of steps and you are losing people at each one.

Don’t get me wrong, Twitter can be great for businesses, just not all businesses. So have a presence, because it is free advertising, but keep your expectations in check.

You’ll find hundreds of innovative, but solid marketing ideas, in my ebooks, Small Business Marketing Ideas That Work! as well as other helpful marketing tools in my Etsy shop.

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1 Comment

by Attention Getting Marketing on March 1, 2013 • Permalink

Posted in Home, Social Media Marketing

Tagged business, small business marketing tips, what is marketing, how to sell online, social media marketing, blogging, advertising, etsy marketing consultant, etsy advice newbies, etsy, does twitter bring sales, how does twitter work, twitter trending, twitter search

Posted by Attention Getting Marketing on March 1, 2013

http://attention-getting.com/2013/03/01/will-twitter-bring-you-sales/

Will a Blog Help Your Business?

by G.B. Oliver

I get this question a lot, “will a blog help my business?” And my answer is always the same, “it depends”. Let me explain.

Facts About Blogging

1. It is Time Consuming – you have to write at least one 400 word blog post Monday through Friday. Do you have something to say every day? Plus, you now have to promote the blog, in addition to your online business.

2. It is Free – there are a few upfront costs, like paying for your domain name or a layout, but otherwise it is free.

3. It Can Be a Source of Additional Revenue – if you take advertisers, but you have to build up a sizeable audience before that is an option.

4. It Can Help Establish You as an Expert in Your Field – which is helpful if you are selling your knowledge.

5. It Can Help Sell Your Products – if you do it right. And you can get ideas on how to do it right from these online stores below.

Blogs from Popular Online Stores

To help give you some examples of how a blog can help your online store, here are a couple of ones I like, and how I think their blog helps up-sell their products.

Layla Grayce sells everything from home decor to baby items to women’s fashion. Their blog is amazing because they have interesting, very visual blog posts that showcase their products but in a helpful way. For example, regular features include showing a product in their shop that matches something worn by a celebrity; inspiration boards that pull together various items in their shop for creating a certain look in your home; clippings of their products when they have appeared in popular magazine editorial. In other words, their products are the focus of every post, but they are doing it in a way that creates a need and helps establish use. Plus, the blog is pure eye candy, which will always keep people coming back.

West Elm has a blog called Front & Main. They offer lots of design advice with their Ideas & Inspiration section where they give you tips on colors, patterns and how to decorate with objects, all the time including their own products. Their We Love Handmade section profiles Etsy sellers that they carry in their online store and catalogs. In Your Open House they show before and after decorating photos and have guest posts offering insight from some of their designers. And in their Born in Brooklyn section, they include a link to every blog post, online article, inspiration board or Pinterest board that mentions one of their products, giving their press even more press.

Wedding Paper Divas is one of the most popular wedding invitation companies around. On their blog you will find photos from real weddings, wedding inspiration boards built around one of their designs, as well as tips for brides on how to add custom touches to all the paper products they offer. They even frequently have guest wedding experts that they let their customers ask questions to.

Want more suggestions and advice on how to use your blog to attract more customers? You’ll find that, and hundreds of other helpful ideas, in my marketing guides, Small Business Marketing Ideas That Work!

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by Attention Getting Marketing on February 25, 2013 • Permalink

Posted in Home, Social Media Marketing

Tagged advertising, blog, blog etsy, blogging, business, do i need a blog, etsy advice newbies, etsy seller advice, how to blog, how to sell online, inspiration, selling online, small business marketing, small business marketing advice, what is marketing, what to blog about

Posted by Attention Getting Marketing on February 25, 2013

http://attention-getting.com/2013/02/25/will-a-blog-help-your-business/

Will the Right Avatar Help You Sell More?

by G.B. Oliver

Ok, so right away you may be saying, what is an avatar – and we are not talking the movie. An avatar is the graphic image you use on all Social Media as well as on your online shop to represent who you are to others. The majority of people use a photo of themselves. Some people use a logo. Some people use a silly graphic. Some people don’t do anything and use the grey head image supplied.

The truth is an avatar is a great marketing opportunity so you should use it wisely.

My avatar – I use a photo in my online shop, but I use my logo in social media

Using Your Photo as an Avatar

Let’s take your shop for example. More than likely you are using a photo of yourself. Not a bad idea because it lets customers put a face to the shop and that may help them buy from you if they can visualize you. However, a bad, blurry or poorly taken photo will not help you. If your avatar is not top quality, why would your product be? So get a professional photo taken and ask the photographer to reduce it down to the avatar size to avoid pixelation, and you may see a difference in customer confidence.

Using a Photo of a Product as an Avatar

If you are a jewelry seller, for example, and you have a top selling or classic piece, then definitely consider using a photo of the piece as an avatar. When your avatar shows up on social media sites like Twitter and Pinterest, it clearly tells people what you are all about and that may peak their curiosity enough to click on your avatar, especially if your handle name states the name of your shop as well. It will not be poorly looked upon as everyone will try to tell you. The social media market has changed and it has been infiltrated with businesses who are doing it, including large players. All the major magazines like Martha Stewart and Glamor use their current issue as their avatar. Nothing wrong with that. It’s free advertising so why not.

Using Your Logo or Shop Name as an Avatar

While I do think your online shop benefits from some sort of personal photo, I don’t believe a personal photo helps much on social media. You will get lost in a sea of faces. Social media is a great free advertising opportunity, so as long as your company name can be clearly read in an avatar that is about 1/4″ size on Twitter and 1/8″ on Pinterest, it could serve you well because people see it and think, what’s that shop all about? One more tip. Avoid white backgrounds and light colored fonts. They will get lost on social media. You need strong colors and bolded text, even all capitals, to be attention getting.

★ I GIVE MORE TIPS ON AVATARS and how even minor changes to your shop and online appearance can help you make more sales in my marketing ebooks – a must-have for any online business with new ideas for today’s marketplace that you won’t find anywhere else (as always, I save the best tips for my books!)

1 Comment

by Attention Getting Marketing on December 10, 2012 • Permalink

Posted in Home, Social Media Marketing

Tagged avatars social media, etsy, etsy advice newbies, etsy marketing consultant, etsy marketing ideas, etsy seller advice, how to sell online, pinterest avatar, social media marketing, twitter avatar

Posted by Attention Getting Marketing on December 10, 2012

http://attention-getting.com/2012/12/10/will-the-right-avatar-help-you-sell-more/

Clever Ways to Use Trending Twitter #Hash Tags to Get In Front of More Customers

by G.B. Oliver

Yesterday I gave a tip on Twitter that if you are selling baby products and you want to get in front of a lot of people, use the hash tag #royalbaby as that was trending big time yesterday. Now, not everyone checking out these tweets is going to be your target market, but what can it hurt when it will put you in front of so many Twitterers?

I am not saying that you use this occasion to try and promote one of your products because the social media world can be unfriendly and that may not be well received. But you could send a congratulatory message and hopefully your logo and company name is clear as to what you sell, and that will get the curiosity seekers to notice you and click over to your profile.

This is what social media is about. I have never thought Twitter was ideal for getting to the end user or customer (unless you are a celebrity) because I don’t think most people use it for that, and I think more people like to tweet than read tweets. But you can reach potential customers if you are clever enough (and without looking like that is what you are trying to do) and taking advantage of trending hash tags is an effective way.

Now today for example, the hash tag #socialmedia is trending. Think of a relevant, clever tweet regarding this subject, such as:

#socialmedia has been great for small businesses like mine!

When Twitterers click on the hash tag in the Trending box on the left, your tweet will appear among the others. Again, if you are using your business logo and name, it is like putting up a free ad in front of hundreds of thousands of people. It will only be for a split second, but the volume alone should make up for that.

Another popular hash tag today is #VSfashionshow. Now when hash tags like this one are a little more unclear as to what they are about, that alone will get people to click on it. It actually stands for the Victoria Secret Fashion Show. So if you sell to women, think of a clever tweet so it shows up among the others and puts your shop in front of your target market.

✯ Do you really want to get your products in front of more people? Then check out my Marketing Ebooks, because I put all my BEST secrets and tips in there, guaranteed to make your online shop attention getting.

Traffic is Not Sales

by G.B. Oliver

Do you ever see marketing promises that say, “We’ll get you tons of traffic”. Well, that’s very nice but traffic is not a guarantee of sales.

For example, say you sell jock straps. If one day, all of a sudden, 500,000 women visited your site, how many jock straps do you think you would sell as opposed to if 500 men visited your site? Exactly, if they have no need for your product, they’re not going to buy it.

Large Twitter followers doesn’t always translate into sales

Another offer you’ll see is, “I will tweet you out to my 200,000 Twitter followers”. Well who are these followers? Are they just other companies who wanted a follow back, so the person reading your tweet is their Web marketing person (who is probably not reading tweets, just sending them). How many of their followers are actually still active on Twitter (people do get bored with social media and take a break). Don’t be lured in by high numbers. Again, if they are not who you are selling to, it is not going to make a difference.

What you want is traffic that is your target market. So if you sell wedding products, for example, and someone says they will get you in front of 200,000 brides, that is reliable traffic…maybe. How long have these “brides” been on their blog, Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, etc.? A woman plans her wedding in 12 to 18 months so if she first joined their blog 2 years ago, she is married now and not interested in wedding products. She just hasn’t taken the time to unfollow. So, it could be only 60% of these 200,000 brides are still potential customers. Which is still good, but remember numbers can be overestimated.

Same thing if you are selling maternity clothes, for example. Women are only pregnant 9 months, so if they’ve had the baby, they may still be on that person’s email list but have no need to buy your products.

So go find where your potential customers are really hanging out online, at this moment in time, and that is where you will find the traffic that will buy from you. Now, how do you find this out? Simple, ask them. If you are selling to 13-year old girls, you must know a few – family, neighbors, friends’ kids. Ask them where they go online and that is where you’ll find your traffic that will lead to sales.

Once you find this traffic, how do you get it to your site? Well I can’t give away everything on my blog, I have to sell too! But you can find these answers, as well as other ways to get attention, in my marketing Ebooks, available here.

1 Comment

by Attention Getting Marketing on November 19, 2012 • Permalink

Posted in Home, Social Media Marketing

Tagged etsy advice newbies, etsy marketing consultant, etsy marketing ideas, etsy seller advice, get more traffic, get more visitors, how to find buyers, how to get more customers, how to get to your target market, how to get traffic to your site, how to sell on etsy, how to sell online, marketing ideas small business, traffic versus sales, ways to get more traffic

Posted by Attention Getting Marketing on November 19, 2012

http://attention-getting.com/2012/11/19/traffic-is-not-sales/

3 Uses for Pinterest’s New Secret Boards

by G.B. Oliver

This week Pinterest launched the ability to do “secret” Pinterest boards. Users are given three secret boards and they control who sees what they PIN on them. In other words, these are boards you create for invitation only.

So how can these new secret boards help your small business? If you sell products online it can help in a ton of ways if you are creative enough.

3 Ways to Use Pinterest “Secret” Boards

Here are a few of my ideas for using “Secret” Pinterest boards:

1. If you currently send out a newsletter or email promotion, now use a secret Pinterest board instead. You could post photos of products you are having a special on that is for customers only, and just delete the PIN when the special is over. The customer is alerted by email when you PIN something new on the board and they can choose whether or not they want to join, so it is not as intrusive.

2. Because you can REPIN from these boards, it is a great way to ask your customers to spread the word about your products without it being as obvious as when you post on a public board. You can PIN a new release and nicely ask them to “like” it and “REPIN” in exchange for a percentage off their next purchase.

3. You could do a Pinterest board for your customers only that is really more of an inspiration board and PIN complimentary products from other vendors that would work with your products. In return, ask that complimentary vendors do the same for you on secret boards for their customers. This is a great way to cross promote and get in front of more buyers, and it serves as a value added service to your customers who may not know which shoes to wear with the dress they just bought from you.

Now, what would have made these secret boards even more valuable to online sellers is if Pinterest had given you the option to enable/disable the REPIN feature on these boards. Then you could have used them to give sneak peaks of your new products and offers to customers before they are made public, polled customers on new products to get their feedback (like having a focus group) and showcase how other customers have used your products without having the world see their private photos.

★ Want more advice on how to use Pinterest to Get Attention!? Then please see my E-books, available HERE.

2 Comments

by Attention Getting Marketing on November 9, 2012 • Permalink

Posted in Home, Social Media Marketing

Tagged how to use pinterest, how to use pinterest secret boards, new secret boards, pinterest, Pinterest secret, pinterest secret boards, secret pinterest boards

Posted by Attention Getting Marketing on November 9, 2012

http://attention-getting.com/2012/11/09/uses-for-pinterests-new-secret-boards/

G.B. Oliver from Attention Getting Marketing

Attention Getting Marketing

Welcome! I'm G.B. Oliver, a Marketing Consultant specializing in helping small businesses selling online. If you want fresh, innovative marketing ideas and advice – with that guerilla marketing touch – this blog is for you! Click above to download my new ebooks – Small Business Marketing Ideas That Work!, – guaranteed to help you sell more online. I also offer a variety of affordable consulting services. Enjoy!

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