Category: Social Media (Page 6 of 6)

Trending Twitter Hashtags – Are You Taking Advantage?

April 22, 2013 / Gail Oliver, Online Small Business Consultant

Trending Twitter Hashtags – are you taking advantage for your small business.

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.

Are You Capitalizing on Trending Twitter Hashtags 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

#MothersDay, #CincodeMayo, #MemorialDay, #KentuckyDerby.

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.

Which Facebook Ads Are Right For Your Online Business

March 30, 2013 / Gail Oliver, Online Small Business Consultant

Facebook ads can be confusing. 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.

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.

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.

Facebook Boosted Posts

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.

Facebook Sponsored Stories

This one can be a little confusing. A sponsored story ensures that any time one of your Facebook fans interacts with your page (likes your page, likes a post, comments, etc.) that this action will turn up in the news feed of all of their friends. Now, you may think, why would I pay for that because doesn’t every action by a friend/fan turn up in the news feed already. No. Surprisingly a lot of what you post and do on Facebook your fans will not see, and if they can’t see it, they can’t like it. If you look at your posts, it will tell you how many people actual saw it. So you could have 200 Facebook fans, but it will say “40 people saw this post”. Therefore, a sponsored story provides a better chance that your fans’ friends will see anything they like that has to do with you. The reach is limited to that. You pay per impression or click.

When It Works: So, if your goal is really to get to your Facebook fans’ friends, this may be effective, especially if you are offering a “Friends and Family” type deal and encourage them to “like” in order to pass it on.

FINAL WORD: The longterm effective of these ads remains to be seen. As more ads turn up in the news feed, it may turn more Facebook users off. But for now, the best thing about these ads for your small business is that they are extremely affordable and measurable, so if they don’t give you the results you wanted, you are not out a lot of money and you can quit at any time.

How to Write Your Website Title Tag

March 26, 2013 / Gail Oliver, Online Small Business Consultant

Want to know how to write your website title tag?

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 Brands Title Tags

West Elm: “Modern Furniture, Home Decor, Lighting & More”
Pottery Barn Kids: “Kids’ & Baby Furniture, Kids & Baby Gifts”
Amazon: “Online Shopping for Electronics, Apparel, Computers, Books, DVDs and more” (tend to list their most best selling categories)
Apple Store: “Buy Apple Watch iPad mini, iPad, iPhone 5, Macbook Pro, Mac mini and more” (gets specific with actual product names)

How To Use Your Title Tag to Get on the First Page on Google Results

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).

Title Tag Examples for Smaller Businesses

For example, I searched the phrase, “Cute iPhone cases“. The shop, Get Casely, came up on the first page, because one of their pages was entitled, “Cute iPhone Cases”.

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.

About Me

Do you need your Brand Story written or an SEO-Optimized Blog Post or a Personalized Business Consultation? As a 20+ year marketing professional and small business consultant, all of my services are super affordable.

I have consulted for thousands of small businesses since 2012, and my advice has been featured in the NY Times, Success Magazine, Yahoo Business, American Express, Big Commerce, Business2Community to name a few – so this is professional advice you can trust!

My Publicity Pitch service has also gotten my clients featured in Real Simple Magazine, Apartment Therapy, House Beautiful, Vanity Fair, Houzz, Martha Stewart, Glamour Magazine, LONNY, DesignMilk, Emmaline Bride,– just to name a few.

I also have a wide variety of business & marketing downloads you can check out at my Shopify store.

My Latest Pinterest Marketing Tip

March 15, 2013 / Gail Oliver, Online Small Business Consultant

Want to know my latest Pinterest marketing tip?

I am not sure if your business is using the popular social media site, Pinterest, but you may want to consider it. One of the most popular types of pins is inspirational quotes. In fact, quotes comprise almost 50% of all pins.

So how can you use this trend of inspirational quotes to help your business get noticed on Pinterest?

Pinterest Marketing Tip If You Sell Art

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.

Pinterest Marketing Tip If You Sell Kids Products

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.

About Me

Marketing Plan, Ideas, Strategy for Food Products Business

December 10, 2012 / Gail Oliver, Online Small Business Consultant

If you need a marketing plan, ideas, strategy for food products business, look no further! My 12-Month Marketing Plan for Food Products will help you indie brand get the exposure it needs to drive more traffic and customers to your business. Here is a sample for January.

January Marketing Plan for Food Products

PUBLICITY

Submit an email pitch to Bonapetit be included in an update to their article, “10 Great Online Food Specialty Stores”.
Check and submit daily to HARO requests. HARO stands for Help a Reporter Out and it is a free service you sign up for to receive media requests three times a day.

SOCIAL MEDIA

Post a favorite idea for Sunday supper every Sunday for #NationalSundaySupperMonth (make sure the recipe uses your food products).
Post a favorite low calorie recipe every Monday for #MondayMotivation.
Post a favorite soup recipe every Tuesday for #NationalSoupMonth #TastyTuesday.
Post a photo of a tower of bagels on January 15th for #NationalBagelDay #foodporn, #foodie, #yummy.
Post a favorite cheese creation on January 20th for #NationalCheeseLoversDay #foodporn, #foodie, #yummy.
Comment daily on the Instagram and Facebook posts of a major food blog, such as Half Baked Harvest, so that their followers take notice of your shop name and they then might click over to your page.
Respond daily to every comment on your social media posts.
Direct Message (DM) your new followers a coupon for your shop, as a thank you for the follow.

EMAIL MARKETING IDEAS

Create a free email signature (use WiseStamp.com) and include a linkable shop banner, links to your social media and your latest blog post.
Email your customers your winter theme food products as well as any early bird Valentine’s day offers or Superbowl party food ideas.
Change up your email opt-in incentive to include a free printable monthly calendar for the new year clearly labeled with your shop name and url with a recipe for each month that uses one of your products (to serve as a frequent reminder of your shop).

SALES MARKETING IDEAS

Ask a few local diners, coffee shops or food trucks if they will sell your products wholesale, as a second source of revenue for themselves.
Start planning for selling opportunities at spring markets, food fairs, festivals and craft shows.
Consider selling your products at Trader Joes.
Consider selling your products wholesale at Faire.

CONTENT MARKETING IDEAS

Write a short article on “Great Food Gifts to Send to a Friend” with a byline that mentions your shop and products, and submit it to Buzzfeed.
If you haven’t already, create a blog to drive traffic to your shop. You can then circulate your blog posts on social media as well as on blog sharing sites like Bloglovin’ and Blogarama even if your posts are something as simple as curated content, such as “Cooking Roundup: Our Favorite Recipes of the Week”. It also gives you a reason to email your customers weekly.

PROMOTIONAL IDEAS

Comment daily on the latest blog posts of popular food blogs as a great way to get seen by their readers. Most blogs allow you to leave a comment that includes your shop name and a link to your website (which also helps your site’s Google SEO ranking).
Add a recipe (for free) to the blog, Food52, and make sure that the ingredient list includes one of your products.

I hope you enjoyed January’s plan. Get all 12 months by downloading my 12-Month Marketing Plan for Food Products.