12 habits of successful social media pros

Great post by By Becky Gaylord.

My favorite?

 9. Blog

It’s nearly impossible to be effective with, on, and around social media without blogging. This is a vital way to stay engaged with your audience and to maintain and build a social presence. Pros blog. Period.

See the rest here. 
 

Using Pinterest Yet? 13 Tips for Gaining Business Exposure for Your Clients

I know Pinterest will by another useful marketing tool for my clients.

Here is an article about using it for business.

From the article...


Here are some tips to get your client business exposure on Pinterest:

1. Don’t Just Put Up a Page – Like any other social networking site, don’t just put up a page and walk away. You need to be able to curate it and put interesting pins on your page that will entice your followers. In addition, the more interesting the pin the more likely it will be repinned, which helps with search engine optimization (SEO).

2. Update Sites Every Week – Update them at least weekly, if not daily. Otherwise people lose interest and stop coming back.

3. Create Links Back to Your Web or Other Sites – Make it as simple as possible so that people can click on links easily and purchase or view products or services in other places.

4. Link Pinterest With Other Social Networking Sites – By doing this, your followers on other social networking sites will know your activity on Pinterest and will be able to make more personal connections with you.

5. Have a Daily or Weekly Theme – This will help entice your followers to keep coming back and keep piquing their interest. For instance, have a “yellow” day where everything you post on that day is the color yellow.

6. Don’t Only Promote Your Product or Service – Be sure to promote other brands that you like. By just promoting your product or service, you are being too commercial.

7. Follow Early Adopters – They often have an interesting perspective on new sites.

8. Use Back Links to Take Followers to Your Web Site – This will help increase your SEO and also draw attention to your Web site.

9. Need a Focus Group? – If you are interested in a particular demographic—say, for example, people who like to sew—check out their boards on Pinterest and see what interests them. This will help you target them better.

10. Use Keywords and Hashtags – This also improve SEO.

11. Enable Your Community to Add – Your followers can actually add pins to your boards, which makes your Pinterest page more interactive. This also helps with SEO and the engagement of your followers.

12. Use the Boards Creatively – You can use them for team building with your staff and you can also have a board on office things you need to purchase.

13. Have Fun – If your pins are humorous, they will be repinned more often than those that aren’t.

Social media linking Las Vegas doctors, patients

Here is a great article about social media & physicians.

It used to be that having a website was as high-tech as it got for physicians interested in reaching out to their patients or the public at large. If the site had things such as electronic medical forms, informational videos and online appointments, you had something fairly sophisticated.

But oh, that was so 30 seconds ago.

People now expect some form of two-way communication through social media in nearly every sector of society, and physicians are trying to address that desire by chipping away at the traditional doctor-patient relationship.

It makes good marketing sense because even doctors are trying to run a business. This is a way to get the word out and keep patients, who are among the best sources for referrals, engaged in the practice.

It also leverages what Facebook does so well, which is to create a community, albeit through cyberspace, for those with common interests and concerns.

The bulk of the information on these pages consists of links to medical websites and articles of interest based on practices' specialties. Many of the postings are aimed at showing the more personal side of practices, from items about their involvement with different charities, to photos of the office staff on crazy-Christmas-sweater day.

Read the full article.

I handle the social media for two physicians. Need help with your social media? Contact me!

Holiday Digital Marketing Strategies for Small Businesses | LegalZoom

With the holiday shopping season right around the corner, Santa's workshop isn't the only thing buzzing with activity. Search engine activity spikes every year as the holidays approach. It's likely that your current and potential customers are creating at least some of that online activity.

Managing your online presence is important all year round, but how well you accomplish that task can directly impact your bottom line during the holidays.

Here are some tips:

Holiday Digital Marketing Strategies for Small Businesses | LegalZoom

Dive Into Facebook Analytics: Performance Tracking for Facebook

In this first blog in a series, Linkup Marketing's Valorie Reavis walks you through Facebook Insights, explaining what your numbers mean.

Sitting behind your Facebook page, and visible only to you if Facebook Insights, a range of analytical tools that reveals instantly whether a page is thriving or underperforming. There are a lot of numbers to understand, and the authors are going to cover these over the new few blogs in my series—looking in-depth at each section to not only understand what the numbers are, but what they mean for your page.

To start, the author is going to familiarize you with what Insights has to offer.

Performance Tracking for Facebook

Ignoring Facebook as a potential practice tool could leave derms socially stranded

Found this article on Modern Medicine.com.

"EDITOR'S NOTE: Dermatologists who have integrated Facebook into their practices say the widely used social networking platform allows them to communicate news and promotional information quickly, easily, and at virtually no cost. In this issue, we look at experts' recommendations on how to start building your own digital presence — even if you're a novice. "

And the final sentence says it all...

"Let me tell you, if you don't have a dynamic website, have Facebook behind you and, now, YouTube, I think you're missing the ... marketing that social media can give you. It's dynamic," Dr. Torok says. "We only have a population of 20,000 (in Medina), but it doesn't matter. Everybody is on Facebook."

INFOGRAPHIC: 8 Ways To Conquer Facebook Statuses

Here's one of them. Write a fill-in-the-blank sentence, like this: "___________ always makes me smile."

INFOGRAPHIC: 8 Ways To Conquer Facebook Statuses

64 Awesome Facebook Marketing Techniques

I found an interesting Facebook Marketing article.

64 Awesome Facebook Marketing Techniques

Crush It by Gary Vaynerchuk

Crush It by Gary Vaynerchuk

A client suggested this marketing book, so I figured I'd better read it.
It's been well over a year since I've read any marketing books. Since I work by myself from home, I don't get to learn from other professionals as often as I would if I worked in an office setting. I always appreciate reading good, inspirational marketing books.

Crush It by Gary Vaynerchuk was very inspirational!

I've already suggested the book to many of my clients.

He basically explains how to build your brand using the power of social media.

He has emphasized a concept I've tried suggesting to my clients in the past. While I'm the "social media editor" (cool term he used to describe folks like me) for my clients, and my industry articles and perspectives are important and beneficial, they can only go so far. It's even more beneficial for clients to get into their social media accounts and post inside information as well.

Here's how Vaynerchuk explains this point:

"My business already has a Twitter account and a Facebook page, we’re set in the social media department.

This is the equivalent of claiming twenty years ago that just because your business bought a TV spot and a few ads in the newspaper, you didn’t need to pay attention to your advertising department. Social media isn’t about joining in, it’s about being involved."

Share your surgery schedule, share birthday photos of staff members, share what your diet coordinator is eating for lunch, share what your dental staff gives out at Halloween, share the exercise techniques of your cosmetic surgery staff, share your experiences during a hair training class.

A cool point about blogs from the book, "A website is for communicating logistics and facilitating sales; your blog is for communicating the essence of your brand. It allows you to expand your topic in ways that a static website simply can't.

Vaynerchuk gives a step-by-step marketing strategy that is easy to follow and will help readers "Crush It."

From the Amazon link:

Learn: Why social media has evened the playing field, destroying the “gate-keepers” who had previously dictated the distribution of content.

Learn: How to beat unemployment and create wealth-building opportunities by building and maintaining a personal brand.

Learn: Why storytelling is the most important business concept in the current marketplace.

Learn: How you can build an online business around your passion without quitting your day job.

Learn: Why Twitter and Facebook are just tools and not a social media strategy.

Learn: How to take advantage of the half-billion dollars in advertising that are moving to the internet.

Learn: Why transparency and being true to yourself are now winning marketing formulas.

Learn: How to build and maintain an online community around your passion and brand.

Learn: Strategies for turning attention into money.

Learn: Why the legacy element of the internet era is so underrated.

9 Ways to Use Social Media to Inspire Your Writing

Whether you’re a personal blogger, business blogger, article marketer, copywriter, novelist, poet, student writing an essay or any other form of writer, social networks provide a vast array of ways to get inspired to write.

This can be considered one of the best ways to beat a case of old-fashioned writer’s block. You just need to know where to look and set up some channels to provide at-your-fingertips-access when you need it.

Here are nine ways to use social media to find writing inspiration.

Originally posted on the Social Media Examiner.

13 fun, easy ways to find content for your blog

13 fun, easy ways to find content for your blog

Book Bloggers

Here is a long list of book bloggers that the Publicity Hound included in her recent newsletter. It was found in the Publisher's Weekly ezine.

Some of them discuss books. Many write book reviews.

The timing couldn't be better, as more newspapers and magazines are eliminating book review sections.

Check them out if you need to promote a book.

Reprinted from "The Publicity Hound's Tips of the Week," an ezine featuring tips, tricks and tools for generating free publicity. Subscribe at http://www.publicityhound.com/ and receive by email the handy cheat sheet "89 Reasons to Send a Press Release."

Dallas Morning News Features Story About "Haul Videos"

Teens and young women share their purchases in homemade videos.

Many of them have huge amounts of followers.

"Haul videos are an offshoot of beauty and style tutorials ..."

"It's easy to show off a $2,000 Versace shirt, but these women are finding fashion on a budget and finding style on their own and sharing what they love with others who feel the same way."

Don't look for the trend to slow down anytime soon. Quinn predicts social media sponsorships will increase 24 percent this year to $56.8 million.

"Ad agencies are pulling their hair out trying to figure out how to reach the youth audience," he said.

Click here to read the full article.

How can your company create "Haul Videos?"

Can you ask some customers to provide video diaries? Maybe invest in some video equipment to film them right then and there in your place of business?

How Much Is a Facebook Fan Really Worth?

I recently read this article on Gigaom.com.

Lots of companies — more every day, it seems — want to have Facebook “fan” pages, where customers or would-be customers can connect with them and become part of their online community. But what are those fans actually worth to a company?

Click here to keep reading.

Think Social Media is a Fad? I Dare You to Watch This Video

I saw this video and blog post on the Publicity Hound Blog.

By Joan Stewart
The Publicity Hound

If you work for a company, and the boss won’t let you participate in social media on company time “because it’s just a fad,” here’s a powerful video that will prove the boss wrong.

Or maybe YOU’RE the one who needs convincing. If you own a business and you already wear a dozen different hats, you don’t want one more to worry about.

Before you totally discount social media, please watch this video, think about the social media statistics you see here, and then decide.

How to Catch CNN's Attention

I read this in the recent issue of The Publicity Hound Newsletter.

If you've been pitching CNN and you're getting nowhere, take matters into your own hands.

Go to the network's IReport page where you're invited to write your own story, be heard and shape what CNN covers.

"One of the goals of CNN IReport is to expand the current definition of news. Please share the stories you think are newsworthy and participate in discussions you think are interesting. CNN's producers will check out the most compelling, important and urgent stories, so we can verify the information and add them to CNN's coverage."

The stories in this section are not edited, fact-checked or screened before they post. Only ones marked "CNN IReport" have been vetted by CNN.

But if you can pique the network's interest here, where you KNOW they're paying attention, you might end up on the televised news. Be sure to stop by the assignment desk so you know exactly what kinds of sources they're seeking. Your IReport article doesn't have to tie into one of the assignments, but it helps to know what they need.