blank
Binkd

All posts in Social Media

11
Jun

Increasing Your Presence on LinkedIn

Categories: Social Media
Tags: , , , ,
Comments: No

LinkedInConnections

LinkedIn is rapidly reshaping the way professionals meet and network and initiate new business. Simply having a profile on the rapidly growing platform isn’t enough though if you want to see real benefits in lead generation though. If you really want to increase your LinkedIn presence and exposure – and reap the rewards of doing so – there are a few key actions you can take.

Post Regular Updates

Posting regular updates on your LinkedIn profile – about your business or industry news, or asking questions you’d like feedback on is a great means of engaging your connections. After all – there’s little point having a valuable network of professional at your fingertips if they’ve forgotten you exist.

Your updates will be displayed in the news feeds of all of your connections – a great means of maintaining contact and reminding them of your areas of expertise.

Grow Your Network

Got a profile but only a handful of professionals in your network? Add connections you’ve worked with previously and whom you know outside of work, such as friends, alumni, club members. LinkedIn’s general rule is that you are only supposed to contact people you know or have met or worked with previously, but users are finding ways around this rule of thumb and utilising LinkedIn as a tool for expanding their current professional circles.

Browse the connections of your existing contacts and try specific searches for people in your industry or by location. Invite those people to connect whom you feel there is the genuine potential for mutually beneficial synergies and partnerships. They key here is not to just invite every connection you stumble across, because this can come across as extremely spammy.

Be sure to personalise your invitation message (though you’ll be restricted on word count), and then send a personalised reply once your invitation has been accepted, thanking them, outlining any potential for synergies, and directing them to more information about your, your business, your services.

Create a Company Business Page

LinkedIn ranks extremely well in search engines, so ensuring your business, organisation or solo venture has a business page is a great means of expanding your reach and improving SEO rankings. Setting up your company page is easy, but be sure to fill in as much information as you can, and make it a priority to include your company logo so people can instantly recognise your brand. Be sure to keep your profile updated to give people a reason to follow your company page.

Update Your Personal Profile

Is your photo current? You do have one don’t you? And yes, this is crucial. Similarly, is your work history up to date? How about your online and social links? Could your summary use a little tszujing? Is your headline interest-capturing? Give your personal profile a good once over, checking to ensure your information is not only correct and current, but that it best reflects your current professional situation.

Optimise Your Profile for Search

More and more LinkedIn users are searching for prospective employees, contractors and employers via LinkedIn, and they typically do this by searching keywords, industries and locations. To give your profile the best chance of showing up in search results, optimise the copy of your personal and company profiles for the keywords you most want people to find you on.

Get Your Profile Out There

Link to your LinkedIn profile from other networks and online spaces for greater exposure. Include a link or QR code on your business cards. Invite people to connect in your email signature. Similarly, link to your company page from all of your business’ online spaces, and include a call to action to connect on LinkedIn and follow your company page on all of your marketing collateral – particularly any B2B information.

Be Active

Finally, if you really want to increase your presence on LinkedIn, be an active member. There’s little point growing your network if your profile page is static and you never actually spend any time on the platform. Join groups, weigh in with advice when you have something if value to offer, ask questions to engage other members, and comment on your connections’ posts as they appear in your news feed. Engage. LinkedIn is an online community, as much as a professional network, and like any community you only get out what you put in.

Image Credit: The Word Nerdery

05
Jun

Finding Your Tribe

Categories: Social Media
Tags: , , ,
Comments: No
Finding Your Tribe

Finding Your Tribe

There seems to be a lot of buzz around tribes at the moment. Individuals, business, organisations and brands all seem to be looking to connect and engage their tribes, both online and in the real world. It’s not a new thing. In fact, as inherently social creatures people have craved a sense of belonging for thousands of years – a craving which led us to instinctively seek out tribes to feed this need.

What are Tribes?

We have family tribes and friend tribes and social tribes – but it has only been in relatively recent years that people have begun to really recognise consumers and fans as tribes. Or at least, recognised the immense value in cultivating and nurturing these tribes in a reciprocal way.

Thanks in part to the popularisation of social networking, in conjunction with the refocusing of web 2.0, and articulated like never before in Seth Godin’s 2008 book, Tribes: We Need You To Lead Us, tribe-finding, whether we recognise it or not, has become an incredibly important component in contemporary marketing and relationship building for businesses.

In short, finding and engaging your tribe is not about how many followers or likes you can accumulate – it’s about building relationships and cultivating conversations.

How do Tribes Relate to Business?

As Godin himself describes in this TED Talk presentation on The Tribes We Lead (which you should definitely take the time to check out in full), the real focus in business now is on leadership, finding something worth changing and challenging the status quo, and finding your true fans – your tribe – to carry your message to the world until it becomes a movement.

“It’s about leading and connecting people and ideas, and it’s something that people have wanted forever…

“It turns out that it’s tribes – not money, not factories – that can change our world… that can align large numbers of people. Not because you force them to do something against their will, but because they wanted to connect.”

Godin is quick to remind business owners and entrepreneurs that their idea or product or service isn’t for everyone – and it doesn’t need to be. In some cases you may only need 1000 True Fans to support your idea and make it sustainable as a business and grow it to the next level.

He asserts the real power nowadays comes from telling a story, connecting a tribe, leading a movement, and making change.

“What all these people have in common is that they are heretics. The heretics look at the status quo and say, ‘this will not stand – I can’t abide the status quo, I am willing to stand up and be counted and move things forward. I see what the status quo is and I don’t like it…”

So, How do You Find Your Tribe?

Finding your tribe – and at the same time, your true fans – is so easy you’re probably already doing it. What it comes down to is creating conversations. Reciprocal dialogue. Asking questions and offering suggestions.

You’ll find your tribe on Facebook and Twitter, and maybe even LinkedIn. You’ll see them commenting on your blog posts. You’ll be drawn to comment on their blogs. You’ll find them in the real world, at industry conferences and interest-based Meetups. You’ll chat with them on the shop floor of your physical store (if you have one). Your true tribe will come together effortlessly – because otherwise, they’re just not your tribe. All you need to do is make yourself known and open the lines of communication and engagement.

How do you connect with your tribe?

Image Credit: The Word Nerdery

03
Jun

The 3 Advantages of Being Yourself on Twitter

Categories: Social Media
Comments: 4
advantage of being yourself on Twitter

advantage of being yourself on TwitterOne of my favorite quote comes from Oscar Wilde: “Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.”  This is great advice especially regarding social media. Some people may take more liberties engaging on social media than they do in real, but being yourself is far more important. Some people think they can stretch the truth online and hide behind the shield of anonymity. This is especially true on Twitter where people communicate 140 characters at a time and you are known through your avatar or profile picture. People can easily include words and descriptions in their bios just to impress other people. Some might be successful in attracting people to them initially, but will soon be turned off when they realize that the person isn’t exactly who they claim to be.

Twitter is an awesome platform to meet new people, build relationships and create meaningful connections, although this can only be achieved if you are honest and authentic!  Here are three advantages of being your true self on Twitter.

Encourage The Right People To Follow You

If you share your real self on Twitter, you also encourage the right people to follow you. If you share information that you genuinely are interested in, the likely hood of you being followed by the right audience will increase. Not only will they follow you, engagement will increase as well. It will be a lot easier to carry on a conversation with people when you genuinely know what you are talking about and genuinely interested in the topic. Twitter becomes more fun and beneficial for you if you focus on building a quality community rather than a large number of random followers.

Follow me advantage of being yourself on Twitter

Gives You Confidence To Meet People Face To Face 

Social media, especially Twitter, has opened up more opportunities for me to meet a lot of amazing people in real life. I believe Twitter is an effective conduit to getting introduced and being part of a community. Have you had the chance to meet someone you met on social media offline and did not recognize that person right away? Have you ever encountered someone who does not want to meet in person because they do not feel comfortable and they are afraid they will not be accepted because they did not represent their true self online?

Opens Opportunity To Get A Job Or Work With Future Business Partners

I remember receiving a job offer and an interview request for a job in the United States from a Direct Message on Twitter. After my face to face interview I did get the job. The majority of employers now check perspective candidates social profiles before even considering that person for a formal interview. Don’t risk your chances of getting hired for that dream job. Utilize social media networks proactively to present your authentic self. Honesty and integrity are two important characteristics that future business partners value greatly.

Your Profile Matters

For everyone that has a Twitter account, it’s a must to include an up to date profile picture. Do not leave your profile picture as the default egg. Remember, people want to talk with people, not inanimate symbols. You don’t want to be viewed as a spammer. I recommend you use a picture that represents the real you. Make sure you also write a short bio and include your interests, professional affiliations or any other information that represents who you really are. You have 160 characters to write your bio. Take advantage of it.

Your Tweets Count Too

Aside from representing who you are through your profile, the tweets you post count too. Aside from tweeting information about topics you care about, share information about you as well. Sports you like, food you like, music you love, anything that makes you, you! Believe me your followers will appreciate that and will more likely to engage.

There you go, three advantages of being the real you on Twitter, plus a couple of bonus tips that can help you present the real you. Did I miss anything? Please share your thoughts with us. We would love to hear from you.

Image Credit: © designaart - Fotolia.com | © Thomas Pajot – Fotolia.com 

31
May

3 Google Plus Updates You Need To Take Advantage Of Today

Categories: Social Media
Tags: , , , , , , ,
Comments: No
Google Plus Updates Today Image

Google Plus Updates Today ImageGoogle Plus is growing so fast that it has over taken Twitter and is now the second largest social network after Facebook.  It has grown it’s active user base by 33% from June 2012 to March 2013. Along with it’s growth Google has been making a lot of changes to improve the user experience. If you have logged into your Google Plus account recently the first thing you will notice is the new look. Before the changes, I would check and make updates on my Google Plus account using my mobile device. One big reason is how beautiful and easy navigation is when I use my mobile phone.

Now with the recent design updates, even the web has the same feel and look as it’s mobile and tablet version. You’re presented with a multi-column layout. Depending on your screen orientation, you will either see one, two or three columns.  Similar to Facebook, media (photos and videos) is also a lot bigger and easier to view and watch. Marketers and brands should take advantage of this and make sure to use compelling images and videos to grab their audience’s attention.

Aside from the new look, there are three additional updates you may want to take advantage of:

Google Hangout Updates 

One reason I love Google Plus it’s because of the Google Hangouts tool. It makes video chats with multiple people (up to 9 participants per call) really easy and it’s free. Google Hangouts is a fantastic tool to use to host interviews or just connect with friends and family. The latest update is cool because you can now download and install a hangouts app to your android device and iPhone  or via Google Chrome, making it easy to do Hangouts anytime and anywhere.

If you love watching shows created by other people via Hangout on Air, the latest update makes it easy for you to follow your favorite shows via their schedule tab. If you use Hangouts to Air as a platform make sure to create an event for your show so that people can easily access and add your show to their calendars and never miss any of your shows, giving them also the option to share your show to their circles.

Google Hangouts on all platforms

Related Hashtag 

In this age of social, most people who use social sites like Twitter and Google Plus make use of hashtags to search deeper into specific topics or areas of interest. In the most recent Google Plus update, they have added a related hashtag feature. If you are reading or updated a post on your stream, Google Plus will automatically add a tag relevant to that particular post if you have not already done so. Google Plus will also identify and rank relevant conversations across the network and when you click on a related hashtag, they will flip the card and offering the opportunity to browse related content online.

Photo Enhance and Auto Awesome

Since Google Plus also made display size of photos a lot bigger, they also made sure users are able to make changes easily on their photos through an auto enhance feature  now available to all users. All you need to do is upload your photo and open the light box. Click on the tab “More,” to reveal a drop down menu to access auto enhance.

Auto enhance Google Plus

If you are fond of GIFs or animated photos, Google has added a new animated GIF feature. You simply upload a sequence of at least five photos at least 5 and Google will stitch them together creating a short repeating animation using those photos. Google can also stitch overlapping photos together to create a panoramic image. These are just two of the fun things you can do using Auto Awesome. Auto Awesome is on by default for all users. If you want to disable the function, just go to settings from the Google Plus navigational menu and uncheck the Auto Awesome option.

If you have not signed up for Google Plus, you may want to take a hard look at all the new features Google has rolled out. If you are a long time Google Plus user, what do you  think of all the recent changes? We’d love to hear from you.

Image Credit: © Deyan Georgiev – Fotolia.com 

 

27
May

4 Tips To Maximize Benefits From Joining LinkedIn

Categories: Social Media
Tags: , , , , , , , ,
Comments: 3
LinkedIn article Image

LinkedIn article ImageBy the numbers Facebook is still has the most number of registered users worldwide, recently reaching over one billion. Another social network that is growing significantly is LinkedIn. It now has over 200 Million registered members and is growing rapidly. For those who are not familiar with LinkedIn, it is a business-oriented social network.

LinkedIn was launched in 2003 to create an online space where people can connect and build professional relationships with other members, share information and network.

Why Should You Have a LinkedIn Profile?

You may say you are already overwhelmed with all the social media accounts and profiles you already have, but if you are a graduating student or just interested in broadening your professional network then joining Linkedin is a must for you. If you are still unsure here are some more reasons why you should be on LinkedIn:

Keep in touch with former colleagues – Whether you are searching for a job or gainfully employed, it is always good to keep in touch with former colleagues to swap messages or find out about leads to possible career moves or job openings.

Build your network professionally – Most people use social sites to connect with people with the similar interests and possibly find ways to do business together. LinkedIn is no exception.

Get career advice and news – Aside from your connections sharing information and news related to their industry. Recently LinkedIn also rolled out LinkedIn Channels. According to the Linkedin Blog - “This allows users to Channels represent a more comprehensive way to discover, share, and engage with high-quality Influencer posts, top news sources, and SlideShare content — all in one place.”

How Can You Maximize Your LinkedIn Experience

Okay now that you have decided to be part of the LinkedIn world, here are four tips that can maximize your LinkedIn experience:

Update Your Profile Properly 

Once you have created your account, whether it’s a free or paid account, make sure you fill in as much information as you can to let people know who you are, your work history, experience and school affiliations.  It is also important to provide a profile photo that is appropriate. Since this is meant to be a professional platform, post a photo that represents in a business and professional manner. Reserve your cutesy baby or couple photos for Facebook or other more personal social sites.

Upload Your Resume 

Uploading your resume is simple to do on LinkedIn. Take advantage of this tool. Professional recruiters are always on the look out for potential candidates to recommend and companies have been using LinkedIn to screen for potential hires. There are also employers who asks potential candidates to add their LinkedIn profile URL as part of the application process. Why not be ready ahead of time when the opportunity arises.

LinkedIn Article Image 2

Ask For Recommendations From Former Colleagues

Testimonials are always a great way to show potential employers or business partners endorsements of your work ethic as well as your personality based on the opinion of people who have worked with you in the past. Click on the tab profile to reveal a drop down menu and then click on recommendations to open the recommendations page. Choose the specific position and send to people you want to write a recommendation for you. Please remember, just like with any other social site, it is never good to be spammy. Make sure you only ask people who actually know you and have worked with you. Only people you have actually worked and known in a professional capacity can offer a true recommendation of your work.

Establish Thought Leadership 

Take advantage of the LinkedIn platform to further establish your thought leadership in your industry. Update your information with the social sites you are active on. Add your website or blog URL. If you blog or write content for other sites, share those articles with your connections. I also suggest you add a LinkedIn button on your site so people who visit your site can easily share your articles on their LinkedIn accounts. Remember the web effect: if you are trying to land a better job or want to connect with others for business reasons, someone from your connections may share your content and profile which makes it more likely you will be noticed by hiring managers and decision makers. The possibilities are endless.

There you go, four tips that can help you maximize your experience on LinkedIn.  Did I miss anything? Please share your tips with us. We’d love to hear from you.

Image credit: © Photosani – Fotolia.com

 

20
May

Best Tools for Social Media Monitoring

Categories: Social Media
Tags: , ,
Comments: 3
SMMonitoring

SMMonitoring

Monitoring what people are saying about your business, and what links and content they’re sharing across their networks, is an important part of managing your brand identity. You don’t have to spend hours trawling Twitter though. These handy social media monitoring tools will keep you measure your social reach and influence, and keep a close eye on consumer and audience engagement.

Klout

Klout is one of the best-known social media monitoring tools available, and designed to provide users with a social influence score based on their activity and engagement across a range of accounts, and determined using a reported 400 variables.

Link your Twitter, Facebook personal profile, Facebook pages, LinkedIn, Foursquare, YouTube, Instagram, Tumblr, WordPress, Flickr accounts and more, and keep an eye on your Klout score, but more importantly, your interactions, shares and mentions online.

You can view your most influential moments from the past 90 days, your influencers and their Klout scores, and the topics you’re most closely associated with based on your updates and interactions.

TweetReach

See how far your tweet travelled with TweetReach – an online tool that allows you to monitor the reach and exposure of specific tweets from your Twitter account. The service is free, though there are paid plans for higher volume analysis, and is as easy as entering a URL, username, phrase or hashtag and allowing access to your Twitter account.

You’ll have access to a report on the number of tweets relating to your enquiry, which contributors or users match your search, which of those users was the most retweeted, the level of exposure measured in individual impressions, and more.

Twitalyzer

Like services such as Klout, Twitalyzer is designed to measure the impact of Twitter users – and one of the best things about the service is that you don’t have to sign in to view your stats. Just enter your username on the homepage and you’ll be granted one-click access to your Twitalyzer report, which includes your user style (ie, casual or reporter), your determined impact, your Klout score, the topics your tweet about, the hashtags you’re using, your recently shared images, and your top influencers.

The information provided for free includes only the basics, and paid features unlock deeper analysis. Not having to sign in means you can also check out the statistics of other users – which may come in handy if you want a snapshot of the impact and influence of other tweeps in your network.

Topsy

Want to monitor your brand identity and online reputation? Topsy offers social search and social analytics tools, so you can keep a close eye on what people are saying about your brand. Search links, tweets, photos, videos and trending topics, or set up custom alerts so you can be notified when there’s something of interest or relevance to take a closer look at.

This is a great tool to identify who already has the most social influence in terms of talking about your brand, product or industry, so you can further engage them for maximum social impact.

Mention

Designed to help you be in the know, anywhere, any time, Mention allows you to create social media monitoring alerts for your brand, your industry, your name or even your competitors so you can stay informed in real-time. The free plan includes 3 alerts, though pro and team plans for unlimited alerts and added features are also available.

Who Shared My Link

Want to keep an eye on which of your links are the most sharable across social networks? Simply paste the URL in question in to the Who Shared My Link search field and see how many times it was shared across Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Google+. Though you won’t be able to see which individuals shared your link, you will be able to monitor what kind of content is getting the best response from your fan base.

Facebook Insights

Don’t forget to check Facebook Insights for measurements on your page’s performance, your audience and your level of engagement.

Twitter Connect

Twitter’s own interactions and mentions insights can be invaluable in monitoring who’s retweeting and responding to you, and really engaging with your content. Check the Twitter Connect section online or via your Twitter app.

What tools do you find most useful for social media monitoring? Leave your comments and tips here, or tweet them to @GetBinkd.

Image Credit: The Word Nerdery

08
May

3 Reminders On How To Keep Your Twitter Account Secure

Categories: Social Media
Tags: , , , , , ,
Comments: No
Twitter Security Image

Twitter Security ImageTwitter is a great platform to promote articles you write; and if you are a business owner, it is a great tool to share information about your products or services. If you rely on Twitter as a promotional tool or use it to keep up with the news or keep up with the latest from your friends, you’ll want to make sure that your account is secure. There has been a lot of news lately about accounts that have been compromised. I have noticed a lot of my followers have been sending me DM messages like “Someone said this about you” or “Someone is posting this photo of you LOL” with a link to it. This is a sign that their account has been hacked.

According to a recent Wired article Twitter is looking at implementing a two-step security solution that will be rolled out to all users soon. This is good news since it should help reduce the incidents of accounts getting hacked. Whether you’re new on Twitter or have been a power user for quite some time, here are some important tips to help you keep your Twitter account safe.

Use A Strong Password and Change It Regularly

Use a combination of at least 10 words, symbols and numbers up to 10 characters. More is even better. Don’t use information easily identifiable with you like your name and birthday. Implementing a number, symbols and letters combination password may be hard to remember but this is an effective method to keep your account safe and your password hard to guess. Last year, PR web posted an article listing the most common passwords  used by people with their online accounts. Are you using one of these easily guessable passwords? If you are, change it now! It’s also good practice to change your passwords on a regular basis to keep your accounts more secure.

If you don’t want the hassle of keeping tabs on your passwords, take advantage of available apps and tools that can can help you generate and store your passwords in an encrypted file. Here are a couple of popular and recommended choices:  1Password and  LastPass 

Don’t Click On Suspicious Links

As I mentioned earlier, if you receive a DM that encourages you to click on a link that starts with “Someone said awful things about you” or “You look so funny here LOL,” don’t click on it. I know it can be tempting to see what the link is all about, especially if the DM came from someone you know. Please resist the temptation and by all means don’t click on the link.  Most people don’t even realize their Twitter accounts have been compromised unless someone tells them.

 DM Message on Twitter

Also, do not click on links from people on Twitter who @reply you with just a link without any comments or headlines.

suspiscous link on Twitter

This usually turns out to be an attempt to hack your account by getting you go to an infected website and entice you to give them your personal information. My recommendation is to also make sure your computer has the latest anti-virus software installed and updated.

Don’t Give Out Your Twitter Credentials 

Last but not the least, never give your Twitter credentials to anyone you don’t know, including third party applications that require you to give them your password. When you give someone your login credentials, they can take over your account and lock you out. They may even conduct activities that can get you suspended.  Be careful about giving your account information to applications that promise you more followers.

BONUS Tip: Before you give out your information such as username and password, double check the URL and make sure you are logging into the actual site such as “http://Twitter.com” and not a fake hacker site designed to look like Twitter. It’s always good practice to manually type “Twitter.com” to ensure you’re accessing the verified Twitter website.

How Do I Know If My Account Has Been Hacked? 

Here are three ways to know if your account has been hacked:

1. You see unexpected tweets coming from your account that you know you did not post.

2. Your friends tell you they have been receiving tweets that looks malicious.

3. You receive an email coming from Twitter informing you that you have recently changed your password and you know that you have not done so.

If your account does get hacked, you must change your password right away. Delete the tweets that were sent when your account was hacked. Revoke all permissions to third party applications connect to your account. After doing that you are still experiencing issues, make sure to submit a report to Twitter by filing a support request.

Did I miss anything? Share your experience with us by leaving a comment. We would love to hear from you.

Image Credit: © designsoliman – Fotolia.com

 

06
May

Social Media SEO

Categories: Social Media
Comments: No
social media seo

social media seo

If social media is an important part of your online and content marketing strategy, it’s just as important to optimise your social media profiles for your targeted keywords as it is to optimise your website content and blog posts.

Social media SEO is really all about optimising your social media profiles for keywords. If you’re new to SEO, that’s okay – you can read more about the basics of writing SEO friendly content in one of our previous posts to get you started.

Know Which Keywords You’re Targeting

The number of keywords you decide to target is up to you, and the recommend number varies from expert to expert. As a general rule of thumb, you’re more likely to rank well in fewer, more carefully selected and well-targeted keywords than throwing more keywords into the mix and hoping something sticks.

If you’re just starting to search engine optimise your website and content for keywords, make use of freebies like Google’s Keyword Tool to help refine your options. Once you know which keywords you want to target – and you may decide to target different keywords for different areas of your business – you can begin to optimise your content and social media profiles for those keywords.

Custom URLs

Most social media platforms offer the option to select a customized URL for your profile, so be sure to make the most of that opportunity. In many cases your custom URL will be determined by your profile name – ie, your Twitter username – so take this into account when setting up your profile from the beginning.

Usernames and Headlines

As mentioned above, include your focus keyword in your username where possible. It’s also important, where headlines and subheaders are included, as with platforms like Pinterest, to optimise these for your keywords as well.

Bio Information

The majority of social platforms also allow users to include some brief description or biography information, and this is one of the best areas to include your selected keywords. Include your personal brand or company name, along with some high-impact content utilising your most important keywords.

It may be tempting, especially if you have the ability to include more text on certain profiles, to stuff your bio content chock-full of keywords. Resist the urge. Not only will this make your bio info ugly, unappealing and ultimately unreadable for potential connections and customers – but search engines may view your over-zealously-optimised profile as an exercise in keyword stuffing, doing you more harm than good in terms of SEO.

Link Love

Another important, and sometimes overlooked, aspect of optimising your social media profile for SEO is to include links from your profile to your website or blog or profile page. Equally important is to link from your website, blog or profile page back to your social media profile. Search engines view these links as social proof that all of the content relates and should be considered relevant.

Updates

Social media isn’t a game of set-and-forget. Yes, it’s important to optimise your profile information for your targeted keywords, but it’s just as important – if not more so – to then continue using those keywords in your updates.

This reinforces how relevant those keywords are to your account, and makes it even easier for search engines to associate those keywords with your brand. It’s common sense really: if you indicate how important ‘advertising’ or ‘engineering’ or ‘charitable giving’ is in your profile, it’s going to seem a bit odd if you never mention those keywords in your social media posts and updates. And Google doesn’t miss a thing.

It’s Not Just About Search Engines

Many search experts suggest the global shift toward social media means many people are using platforms such as Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn as a primary tool for search, finding information and connecting with brands instead of Google. This indicates a critical change regarding the ways in which users need to optimise their online profiles and presences.

The focus should no longer just be on ranking well in search engines, because it’s possible that in the near future users will be going directly to their most trusted social platform to search, and will be skipping sites like Google and Bing altogether. This ensures optimising your social profiles for your targeted keywords is more important than ever – because if you want those users to be able to find you on those platforms, you’ll need to leave them a trail of keyword-breadcrumbs to make it as easy as possible for them.

Who’s to say your target audience isn’t already skipping the search engines and heading straight to LinkedIn, Facebook or Twitter to find someone offering your services? There are no certainties when it comes to projected search trends, but optimising your social media profiles and presences for the right keywords will prevent you from being left behind should a major shift occur.

Image Credit: The Word Nerdery

03
May

8 Ways to Improve Your Twitter Marketing

Categories: Social Media
Tags: , , , , ,
Comments: 6
improve twitter marketing

If you feel that your Twitter marketing is going nowhere and you want to improve it then you should continue reading.

Recently, Michael Brenner wrote an article on Forbes giving away nine Twitter tips. As an example, he mentioned me. It was quite simply an honor I never thought I would have gotten the day I began using Twitter.

improve twitter marketing

I’ve been using Twitter for personal and business purposes for a couple of years now and I’ve learned many lessons on what worked and what didn’t. I even had my twitter account suspended once.

There are many strategies, tips and tactics that can help you improve your Twitter marketing. Some more popular than others, and some holds no weight in my opinion. But today is not the day I judge what is out there, today I simply want to share some tips that have helped me previously in the hope that it would help you in your business.

1. Share useful contents on twitter

The idea behind Twitter marketing or any social networking site is to share USEFUL content. Why? You want to be the person that people would go to if they have any questions. Sure, it might be hard if you are a social media manager of a large corporate brand, but think of it as being the thought leader in your industry – surely that is something that resonates with your employers. Be that thought leader by sharing content that can help your community instead of constantly promoting about your business or product.

Putting it plainly: People love to buy, however they don’t like to be sold! You have to build TRUST within your audience by sharing useful contents and being the go-to guy.

2. Connect with the right people 

If you want to grow your community, the best way is to connect with the right people. Your first 1000 to 2000 followers are extremely important because you need a strong base or foundation of relationships.

To do so, Twitter Chats is one of the best ways to find people that are relevant in your industry. Try Googling “twitter chats” in your niche.

Eg: music twitter chats

A tool that can help you keep track of communications around Twitter is Socialbro. Socialbro will list people who have participated in Twitter Chats and track the relevant people in your industry. Reading thousands of chats to find influential people may sound time-consuming, but I can’t stress how important it is for you to start building a relationship with them as it helps add credibility to your network.

3. Retweet

Want more people to notice you? Then share other people’s content.

Stop PROMOTING and start RETWEETING. That is the best way to get people to notice you and follow you back. Don’t just connect with the ‘big shots’ but connect with the little people too. Treat everyone as equal. You’ll never know if they have influential people following them.

One of my most retweeted quotes to this day is

“Retweet someone once they will notice you, retweet someone a few times they will remember you”

If you’ve tried it and they don’t appreciate it, move on to others.

4. Use hashtags 

According to a research, hashtags increase awareness. If you’re not using hashtags today then you’re probably missing out. According to the research, 24% of brands’ tweets constains hashtags. Brands that uses hashtags received two times more engagement than those without them.

However, the engagement levels drop if brands use more than three hashtags. Remember: Less is MORE! Think of a hashtag as a highway through the traffic congestion on your urban roads. Using a hashtag helps people to find what they need to find without having to scan EVERYTHING.

If you’re representing a brand or a business, be sure to check what the hashtag is about first before using them. Some brands make the mistake of using a hashtag without reading what it was first and have offended many people instead. (insert link to askaaronlee)

5. Mention people to be notice

If you wrote an article and had mentioned or quoted other people, be sure to get them to notice it by mentioning them on Twitter. It helps increase the possibilities of them sharing your article around their network and increase the buzz.

If you’re retweeting someone’s article, make sure that you mention them in the tweet. It will get them to notice you and is a great way to start a relationship.

6. Launch a contest 

If you’re looking for a way to spice up your Twitter marketing, one of the best ways is to launch a Twitter contest. A Twitter contest is beneficial to not only increase followers but to reward those who already follow you. It will also further motivate people to follow your brand if they already love your brand but isn’t following you on Twitter yet.

If you’re looking for a tool, Binkd has a free Twitter contest app to help you launch a successful contest. Contests may seem simple but third-party applications are crucial in overall planning, implementing and monitoring your contest.

 

7. Measure measure measure!

To know if your twitter markerting is working or not, you have to measure it. To find out moe on what to use, I recommended six twitter analytics tools on an article i wrote for social media examiner recently. Before you start measuring, be sure to have a goal so that you know what you should measure.

8. Use Twitter tools 

Here is where it gets complicated; there are MANY Twitter tools out there. Different twitter tools are useful for different occasions. Pick YOUR Twitter tool and stick with it.

Don’t be too fascinated with all the twitter tools out there, because at the end of the day, its your strategy that matters. The grass isn’t always greener on the other side and it is very easy to get lost in the many different tools out there. Trust me, I’ve been there.

What are my favorite tools? Social Engage, Socialbro and Buffer because these three gives me the complete Twitter experience I need to manage my accounts. Moreover, these three complement each other in a way that enhances your overall management and strategic approaches.

Those are some tips and strategies that have worked for me in the past. Do you have anything that you would like to add to it? Share with us below.

A version of this post was also posted on iStrategyConference Blog

photo credit: Rosaura Ochoa

Older Entries
    Recommend on Google
           Linked In Facebook Twitter RSS Google Plus

Recent Articles

Increasing Your Presence on LinkedIn

Increasing Your Presence on LinkedIn

LinkedIn is rapidly reshaping the way professionals meet and network and initiate new business. [...]

Finding Your Tribe

Finding Your Tribe

There seems to be a lot of buzz around tribes at the moment. Individuals, business, organisation[...]

The 3 Advantages of Being Yourself on Twitter

The 3 Advantages of Being Yourself on Twitter

One of my favorite quote comes from Oscar Wilde: “Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.”  Thi[...]

3 Google Plus Updates You Need To Take Advantage Of Today

3 Google Plus Updates You Need To Take Advantage Of Today

Google Plus is growing so fast that it has over taken Twitter and is now the second largest social n[...]

1000 True Fans Theory

1000 True Fans Theory

How many customers or consumers you do you think a business or solo venture or creative project [...]

 
© Binkd - Terms of Use & Privacy Policy