Social media – Page 2 – Online Marketing Juice

“Proof of Work” when Hiring a Digital Marketing Firm

The term “proof of work” originally came from decentralized consensus mechanism that requires members of a network to expend effort solving an arbitrary mathematical puzzle to prevent anybody from gaming the system. More recently, Proof of work is used widely in cryptocurrency mining, for validating transactions and mining new tokens..

However, you can also apply this “proof of work” example when hiring a digital marketing agency. For example, when evaluating a digital marketing agency firm (bid) for your business, request the following:

Industry experience. Agency experience in your particular field (niche). Ask for client (roster) names list and testimonials. Review agency clients website layouts, content (blog), social media accounts, etc. Drill down on Agency clients and look for website rankings, social media follower counts, blog content quality.
What results are they promising (vision and strategy)? Ask Agency what their KPI’s (metrics) are with clients and did they meet them (KPIs)? If Agency guarantees SEO rankings on first page, that’s a red flag. SEO top rankings takes years to achieve and its a “long game” strategy.
What tools are they using (website & blog building, Slack, Social Media, Google apps, email, CRM, etc) with clients? Id the tools aren’t industry leading, and you never heard of them that’s a red flag.
Size of agency? How many heads (resources) will they allocate for your marketing effort? How do they communicate (daily, weekly, monthly)?
Agency website. I needs to be elite. An Agency website needs to look clean, flow well, images top rate, mobile optimized, call to actions (CTA), and downright pleasing to look at. Anything short of that, don’t bother hiring them.
Communications. Do they speak well on the phone and in person (trust is crucial)? Make sure there is chemistry between you and the Agency’s team. If you feel a conflict in the first meetings (chemistry-wise), move on and don’t bother hiring them. Ask them for an initial audit (free of charge) of all your digital resources (website, blog, social media, etc). Most digital marketing agency’s will send you a quick audit and feedback/strategy when vying for your marketing dollars!

An outsourced Digital Marketing Agency should show you “proof of work” and a strategy on how to best achieve your business success in the digital world.

Social Media Marketing Is More Than Just Posting Once In A While…

Social Media marketing is more than just posting once in a while…Don’t let your Facebook, Twitter or Instagram gather cobwebs, you need to “show up” day after day with fresh content. Instead of spreading yourself thin across 5 different sites, focus on 2-3 primary accounts. Incorporating social scheduling and automation saves time and energy.

Why Teens Love Instagram

The proliferation of iPads (Air, Mini), Amazon Fire, Samsung Galaxy Tab, Microsoft Surface Pro, Smartphones = Frictionless share culture. Teens love to Share
Teens love self expression and identity development (creative outpost for ideas, somewhere where kids can share their ideas and photos)
Instagram fulfills fundamental teenage needs (discover what’s new and what’s next)
Teens want to be where their favorite celebrities/brands are
Teens are where their parents aren’t (although that is changing as more parents are now on IG to monitor their teens as well as enjoy the platform themselves).

If you are a “brand” or business, Instagram is a great way to expand your business’s reach and engagement (tell a story) with your customers. Growing a dedicated following on Instagram won’t happen overnight. But the bright side is that Instagram users are very active and love to engage. Instagram is the ideal choice for SMB‘s. You can engage with your customers, advertise your products and build awareness for your brand of service!

Social Media Crisis Action Plan For 2022

Whether your a big or a SMB company, a celebrity or some kind of a famous personality with a large amount external public exposure, chances are you may have to deal with some kind of social media crisis sooner or later. A crisis can occur at random (insensitive tweet), or it can occur with a product misstep or even a social media account hacked. In this digital world, speed of these harmful conversations can implode on you or your company in mere seconds.

While there is no “one size fits all” approach, the below basic social media action plan will help you quickly identify the crisis (issue) and resolve it before it goes viral and turns into disaster.

The first stage of social media crisis planning is to identify the problem or issue in real-time before it gets out of control and goes viral. There are many tools out there that can help you keep tabs and monitor the majority of social media platforms. Most of these social tracking tools depend on keywords important to you or your company. Keywords such as “Company” or “product name” “name of person” “events” “competitors” “social media accounts” etc.

A short list below:

Social Mention. A great social real-time listening tool for your brand. It measures your influence within four key categories: passion, sentiment, strength, and reach.

Google Alerts. Track your brand mentions across web and news sites.

Mention.net. Track your brand across blogs, news sites and forums.

Talkwalker. Track your brand across across mostly blogs.

HowSociable. Measure and track what your competition is doing in Social Media.

Sprout Social. Great tool for monitoring and measuring your brands.

Radian6. A salesforce product. It allows you to quickly and efficiently track, monitor, and react to comments, questions, and complaints as they happen on most all social media platforms.

Here are five basic steps to include in your social media crisis plan:

1. Act quickly. Speeds kills, but speed also resolves! Explain the issue or problem FIRST and what your going to do to address it ASAP before it takes hold on Social Media. Be very transparent. You need to do this before it destroys your brand or major lawsuit.
2. Take charge. Step up and take charge of the issue and move fast (even if its at 2am).
3. Be transparent. If its bad and your company screwed up. Take ownership. Own up to the problem or issue!
4. Engage. Engage all the nay-sayers. Engage all the Social Media Trolls and critics.
5. Spread the word. Post your PR response on your website, company blog, social media pages and media releases.

Bottom line: Don’t wait until the threat to your company’s reputation becomes visible. Identify the crisis and get out in front of it before it takes hold.

Pinterest Advertising “Quick Start” Guide 2022

Know your Audience first. Catering to Pinterest’s user base is key to marketing success.

79% of the Pinterest users are female. The age distribution of fairly even between 25-54. 60% has some college, 19% Bachelors degree, 10% High School degree, 6% Less than High School, 6% Graduate degree. Pinners spend 29 percent more than non-Pinners, delivering an average of $2 in profit for every advertiser dollar.

When you’re ready to get started with Pinterest, start with a business account. First, create a business account. Start with an eye-catching profile. A great blog post can be found here on”how to set up “Your Small Business on Pinterest in 2021.”

Figure out a Content Strategy first. Foster and grow your community, build brand awareness on other social media websites, pin hi-res images and videos that will interest your customers and demographic. Host contests and encourage customers to repin their favorite products from your boards to their boards!

Types of Pinterest Ads – Promoted Pins (One-tap Pins), Promoted Carousels, Promoted Video Pins, Promoted App Pins, Buyable Pins. Story Pins. When your ready to set up the ad of your choosing, make sure you have installed the Pinterest Tag. With the Promoted Tag you’ll be able to track the actions people take on your website after seeing your Pinterest ads, including checkouts, sign ups, and searches. After you installed your Pinterest tag, the next steps are:

Choose your campaign goal > Choose your campaign budget > Create an ad group > Choose your target audience > Select ad placement > Add interests and keywords > Set your budget and schedule > Tailor for optimization and delivery > Determine your pacing > Pick your Promoted Pins > Monitor campaign performance

Pin It! Add a price on a pin. Add Hashtags (will help customers find your product), Link back to your website product page.

Create organized themed boards. Group similar images as well as similar products and multiple boards. you don’t have to be a big brand or a have a massive marketing budget to make Pinterest ads work for you. Use your creativity and your brand’s uniqueness to showcase your products and engage with your target audience.

Social Media Sales in 2022

Forward-thinking salespeople are embracing a more “social” approach to break down old communication barriers such as Cold Calls, and Email = Social Media. Social selling allows salespeople to laser-target prospects, establish rapport and with their networks, and possibly even ditch the dreaded practice of cold calling.

While determining the best way to connect with prospects and help coax a consumer down your sales funnel, buyers are consistently going to social networks and the Internet to research products they have an interest in purchasing. Whether you are a B2B or B2C brand, potential buyers are looking on these social media platforms for product information. As smartphones are getting bigger form factors and faster processors, consumers are apt to looking, researching with these larger handheld mobile screens.

Here is a brief breakdown of Social Media as related to the Enterprise:

Business to Consumer = Facebook

Business-to-Business products (or services) = LinkedIn (if you have a first-level connection in common with the executive or buyer who will sign off on a PO)

All types of sales = Twitter

*Twitter is the best for “all kinds of sales” as it’s a very popular network (across all demographics) that doesn’t have privacy settings that keep you from high volume searches and actions.

Social Media Sales strategies

Twitter. Make sure you “add” to the conversation a little before directly engaging in customers:

Like (heart) a few Tweets
ReTweet one or two Tweets
Follow them

Friend, Follow, Follow Back or Connect with individuals with profiles that match you or your clients. Its VERY Important to build relationships on any Social Media platform. Not only can it help to generate leads, it can also help foster relationships with current customers.

Be in expert in your space. Provide solutions or tips and feedback to your customers or potential customers if they post a question or gripe on Twitter/Facebook. Prioritize the social channels and tools your audience is already using and that you’re familiar with, then organize those by their primary function.

Listening on social media is one of the most powerful tactics in a social selling strategy. Monitor for popular hashtags and keywords that are relevant to your industry or brand to find useful insights but also see what is being said about your competitors.

Never cold pitch on Social Media platforms. It comes off as desperate and will be ignored. If there is a conversation trending within your industry and potential customers, join in to offer meaningful commentary and interact with these potential buyers. Listening for these opportunities and finding out the pain points your potential customers are having will give sales people a feel for the conversation and allow them to add value.

Social media is “networking” more than it is “advertising”. The goal is to get them to call you (or vice versa), have an open mind about your product or service, and then make your sales pitch.

When its time to engage or pitch, follow these steps:

Ask for their email so that you can send them some info on your services.

Find them on LinkedIn and add “connect” with them.

Send a polite email and mention a conversation you had with them on Twitter or Facebook. You can also mention a tweet or Post that you “favorite” or “liked” from them.

Good Social Sales tools in this space that keeps track of conversations and engagement include:

Hootsuite. More for individuals and small business.

Salesforce Marketing Cloud. Enterprise grade and scalable.

Its apparent that Social Media like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn are not fads anymore. These platforms are now mature options to generate leads and sales online. By experimenting with different Social Media sales strategies, you can find the best way to convert them into real quantifiable results on all levels. There are no participation medals in social selling: if you’re going to do it, you have to do it right. That means providing valuable insight to the right prospects at the right time.