Important Tips for Sharing Content on Social Media

According to U.S. copyright law, it is illegal to publish someone else’s work on your website or blog without their permission. It doesn’t matter if you give proper attribution and link to them. If the artist or writer never gave you their permission, then it is theft.

Content Theft On Websites Vs Social Media

Now, that’s how it works when it comes to scraping text or copying photos, cartoons and videos off other people’s websites and publishing them on your own. But when it comes to sharing on social media, things are a little different.

Sharing someone else’s work is very different from stealing it. You don’t have to look very far on social media to find users who will copy someone else’s images, erase their signature or watermark from the images and then share them as if they themselves had created them. That is theft, and if you do that sort of thing, you will eventually get reported and have your account shut down.

Social Media Sharing: Best Practices

To protect yourself from crossing the line into copyright infringement and content theft, there are a couple of simple steps you should take before copying and sharing someone else’s art, photography or writing on social media.

First, look over the person’s profile to see if they specifically request that people not share their work without permission. Remember, many of these creators are making a living from their work, so they are losing money when people share their work without permission or without attribution. So if they specifically ask not to share, then don’t share without their permission.

Most content creators and influencers will be happy to have their work shared with attribution – that’s why they’re posting their work on social media in the first place. But it doesn’t hurt to check their profiles first. And ALWAYS ask for permission before posting.

Second, when you do share, always tag the writer or artist or account from which you took the content. This is just good etiquette and common courtesy. But don’t just tag them in the photo. Instead, tag them in the caption or text so that your followers will see the tag and click through to see more from that creator.

Many content creators love shout-outs like this to grow their business. So if you enjoy their work and want to support them, then be sure to give attribution in a way that will send more people to their page. But, do be careful not to share from the same person over and over. There’s a fine line between sharing content and scraping/stealing.

Ready to outsource your digital marketing? Top Tier Media provides a full range of social media marketing and influencer outreach services. Contact us today to find out more.

Top 14 Instagram Apps for Bloggers and Social Media Marketers

Five Reasons to Hire a Social Media Agency

Many businesses don’t understand why social media isn’t working for them when it works so well for other companies. It usually comes down to one thing – who’s managing the social media profiles. Would you trust an inexperienced intern to represent the face of your business? No. So why trust just anyone to represent you on social media?

It’s Not For Personal Use

All those interns or “discount” social media managers may not understand social media outside of personal use. Many don’t understand all the rules and policies for each network concerning interacting with others, running contests and promotions, uploading images and ensuring followers and fans actually get your updates.

You don’t want someone who will just post pretty pictures (or worse steal images and re-share without consent) – you want someone who understands digital marketing strategy.

Boost Followers

A social media pro doesn’t just try to copy what every other business is doing. They take time to understand your target audience and what they want most. They learn what type of tone to use, which images work best and how to work in a call to action that encourages more sharing and following.

Interact With Customers

What happens when you get a negative comment? What if a customer has a question? What if a celebrity or big-time influencer engages with the brand? Can an amateur handle these situations? Odds are, they’ll ignore any feedback and just keep posting. A pro will interact professionally with customers and boost any celebrity or press hits. They work to resolve issues and maintain a positive company image and online (and offline) reputation. They boost customer service and make your social media profiles a trusted place for customers to get the help they need.

Save Money

Spending less on someone might sound like a benefit, but it’s not. While an intern or low cost consultant tries to figure things out, you’re losing followers instead of gaining them. Your competition is becoming more popular. The ads they’re posting are costing more than you’re gaining. You’re not saving. You’re wasting money. A pro costs more upfront, but actually delivers results that increase your business for the long term.

They’re A Partner

A social media pro isn’t just someone who posts updates to Facebook and Instagram. They’re a business partner. When they take on a project, their goal is to work alongside you to grow your business. They understand your company as well as you and handle the social media marketing side so you can focus on the rest.

Tired of wasting time and money on someone who doesn’t understand social media or your business? Top Tier Media provides a full range of social media services. Contact us today to find out more.

Social Media Marketing for Beauty and Health Brands

Marketers aren’t just using social media to push products anymore. It’s more about increasing brand awareness and providing better customer service. The result is more conversions. Today’s marketers are using social media differently than they used to. Today, it’s more personal which helps engage your target audience better than ever before.

A Look At Influential Marketers

To get a better idea of what personal means for social media marketing, you only have to look at businesses such as Fab Fit Fun, Anastasia Beverly Hills, Colourpop and Living Proof. While they’re all active on social media, you can easily see the unique personality each brand brings to their channels.

Many of their posts aren’t specifically shouting, “Buy this product!” Instead, they focus on showing tutorials, inspiring customers, showing the company in action and posting fun visuals that make customers easily relate to the brand.

By creating a positive social media image that seems more like a close friend, these companies stay top of mind with their followers. Plus, they’re always available to interact with customers on all channels. Thanks to their efforts, customers easily recognize the brands and feel comfortable buying products from a brand they’ve grown to trust.

The New Social Media Strategies

Instagram is growing in popularity as marketers are realizing the power of visual content. Social Media Examiner’s report shows 71% of businesses have found visual content to be the most effective content for reaching their audience. This makes Instagram a must-have in the social media arsenal.

It’s important to note that businesses aren’t mainly focused on sales. The top three reasons businesses are marketing on social media include:

• 90% market for increased exposure
• 77% market for increased traffic
• 69% market for developing loyal fans

Only 51% actually market for improved sales. This means it’s time to consider changing your marketing strategy to engage your audience versus just selling to them.

By leveraging the power of all of these networks, plus reaching out to influential bloggers, YouTubers, Instagrammers, and other digital influencers, businesses are growing their followings and customer base by thousands. All it takes is a more personal approach to build trust and prove your customers are more important than your bottom line.

Want to learn more about how Top Tier Media can strategically help you? Contact us today and let’s get started!

Social Media: Defining Goals and Expectations

It’s no secret that social media is the driving force behind engagement marketing for many different types of brands today. With so many platforms to chose from targeting varying demographics, it makes sense that any business looking to establish their social reputation and expand their reach would do so with an eye towards utilizing social media to their own best advantage.

However before diving head-on into the fray, it is critically important for every brand owner to set realistic expectations for their company in terms of what social media can (and cannot) do for them. Though invaluable for reaching the masses, social media platforms are not a panacea when it comes to a poorly planned marketing strategy and as we all know, becoming an overnight hit rarely happens “overnight.”

Define Clear Objectives

The first step is to be realistic about what social media sites can and cannot accomplish. To simply establish an Instagram or Facebook page and posting pretty photos is not going to generate brand awareness on any meaningful scale. In order to create a community of brand loyalists, extensive planning must first take place before any actual data is transmitted.

Ask yourself:

“What do I expect social media to actually accomplish?”

“What steps will it take for me to reach that goal?”

“How long do I expect for it to take to accomplish that goal?”

Additionally, you’ll need to establish short and long term goals and identify key metrics to measure success. What does success look like? Is it acquiring 10-20% new fans weekly? Is it a strategic tweet garnering a set amount of retweets? Is it increasing sales monthly? And by how much? How often will you measure growth – weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, quarterly?

Understanding Social Media’s Role

It’s likely many business owners look at the role of social media sites as a way for prospective customers to obtain the somewhat nebulous concept of “brand awareness.” However, in reality there are several roles a strong social media presence can fill.

When focusing on social media’s role for your brand, try to think of uses that go beyond simply hyping a product or service. Several top brands such as Virgin America and Target have developed dedicated online followings by passing pertinent information to followers and offering superior customer service. Sometimes it’s not the social platform that drives the initial sale, but it is the customer care post-sale that creates brand loyalty for future sales.

Have a Long-Term Strategy:

Expecting near-instantaneous mass saturation of your brand is at best a pipe dream. The most successful social media campaigns have nearly all been the result of long-term planning and lots of trial and error. If you think you’ve got it all figured out, think again! Be flexible with your approach, and never become so wed to one idea that you’re not willing to abandon it if a better one comes along.

It’s an old adage that “slow and steady wins the race”, but in the case of social media campaigns this advice still rings true. There is no shortage of factors to consider when it comes to having a well thought-out social media presence. However, with a logical approach combined with realistic goals, you can offer yourself your best chance to succeed.

10 Rules of Social Media Marketing

When it comes to social media, there are some general rules or best practices that will help you succeed in reaching and engaging with your audience. Each of these ten social media marketing rules is designed to help make your business more visible and accessible to the demographic you’re trying to reach.

#1: Be Consistent

Your social media presence is the only contact some customers will have with you. Your social media account must be updated regularly to ensure visibility with your social media-only customers, not to mention a more active and visible profile increases your chances for customer engagement.

#2: Provide Value

You cannot promote sales on your social media accounts without providing real value to your customers. Customers are more likely to shop with you if they are learning something from your business. This includes behind the scenes access, a look at up-coming product launches, entertaining or informative content, answering customer inquiries and resolving any issues.

#3: Be Accessible

Ensure that all contact initiated by customers is returned within 24 hours (or less). Your customers are contacting you on social media because they need help, and you must respond as quickly as you can. People are less likely to call an 800 number these days. Social media is now considered a customer service channel.

#4: Be Polite

Social media can be the first stop for complaints and rude behavior from disgruntled customers, but you should always be polite and keep your cool. Your social media account should be a kind place where customers can get assistance with any issues.

#5: Choose A Proper Name

The name of each social media account needs to be consistent. Using the same name across all your social media accounts is important, and you should choose a name people can easily search. Using abbreviations or too many underscores or other symbols will only cause confusion among your customers.

#6: Share Across Platforms

You can share across social media platforms when you are using them, but put some thought into it. Make sure your posts are optimized for the social media channels you’re using. Don’t share the same item from one social media account to another multiple times. Your customers will catch on to an overwhelming amount of content if they think it looks like spam.

#7: Allow For Sharing

You want people to enjoy and share your content, right? The more eyeballs the better! The pages and products on your site should have a share button that allows customers to share your content on their social media accounts.

#8: Be Human

Your social media account must be run by a real person. If customers engage and are ignored, they will quickly go elsewhere. Joking with customers and being fun is part of the charm of social media! Your social profile shouldn’t replicate an RSS feed.

#9: Interact With Other Companies

Having online conversations with other companies allows you to grab a bit of the spotlight. These conversations amount to free publicity on the other company’s social media feed. Of course, use caution when communicating with your competitors.

#10: Expand Your Operation

You need to expand to new social media sites when they appear on the landscape, but only when that platform is appropriate to the demographic you target. Go where your demographic is!

Tips for Optimizing Pinterest Photos

We know that you want to receive as much traffic as possible when you write a blog post. Unfortunately, you may be missing some of that traffic and interested visitors if you aren’t paying attention to the important factors of correctly placing images on your website. Fortunately, we are here to help you and can offer some tips on optimizing blog photos for visually-oriented social sites like Pinterest.

Use Text on Your Images

Sites like Pinterest can be helpful when a person is searching for home interior ideas, crafts or recipes. Let’s say that you are a food blogger, and you have a delicious chicken Marsala recipe that you want to share with other people. It does take extra time, but you should be sure to add text onto your images. If you have a picture of chicken Marsala, pull up a fun font on your image editor and watermark your picture with the words, “Tasty Chicken Marsala.” This will catch someone’s eye when they’re browsing images and increase the chances of them visiting your website. You may also want to include your logo or website URL so people can find your site easily. You may also want to use longer, portrait-style photos rather than horizontal images. Putting your text toward the top of the image can also help get clicks and saves.

Use Keywords In the URL

The next tip is to use the main keywords of your post in the URL. On most content management systems such as WordPress or at blog creating websites, this can automatically be done when you have the settings take your post title and use it in the URL. Your URL should look something like this,”http://www.yourfoodblog.com/recipes/tasty-chicken-marsala-recipe/.

Title Your Image With Keywords

We’re pretty sure that taking these next two tips and incorporating them into your arsenal will help boost your traffic and increase visitors. We would also bet that many bloggers fail to use these techniques, and this may help put you above your competition. Be sure to use descriptive keywords when you title your image files. If you use something like, “tasty chicken marsala.jpg” and not,” image356.jpg,” it will help boost your images in search engine results.

Don’t Forget to Use Alt Text Correctly

Here’s a golden tip on why you should make sure that your alt text for each image is descriptive. Did you know that Pinterest takes the words from an image’s alt text description and places them automatically into their pin description? By using “tasty chicken Marsala” in the alt text area of your image, you are automatically giving a Pinterest user the description for their pin. This top tip will definitely help pop your images to a highly visible area when someone is searching for specific keywords.

What tips do you have to share? What has worked for you?

5 Best Practices for Instagram Content

With tens of millions of active users, Instagram is a marketing tool you can’t overlook. It’s not just another social network. It’s the best place to go beyond text and introduce your brand visually to your audience. It’s a more personal and interactive way to engage with customers.

Gaining followers requires more than just posting pretty pictures though. Make sure you’re posting only the best content while optimizing marketing strategy and using relevant calls to action.

1. Focus On Quality

Blurry or fuzzy images aren’t a good representation of your brand. The top brands have one thing in common – their images always look stunning. Utilize Instagram’s editing tools or outside photo editing apps or software to clean up images. You can also use a DSLR camera to make your images sharper.

2. Keep It Personal

Some of the most popular brands on Instagram don’t focus on blatant product marketing. For instance, The Ellen Show posts more candid shots of things that go on backstage. Using images your audience can relate to versus just images of your products makes your brand seem more personal and relatable.

3. Turn Them Into A Story

Thinking of what to post is one of the hardest parts of using Instagram. Keep it simple by turning your images into a story. For instance, if your launching a new product, post fun shots from the initial planning meeting, demos in action, the first official product coming off the assembly line and your team posing around the first product display.

Pictures are worth a 1,000 words. Create a novel by sharing your story through Instagram.

4. Have Personality

Uploading bland pictures of products against a white backdrop or people posing uncomfortably with your products isn’t going to help build followers. Is your brand fun? Post pictures of your staff playing around or people using your product at a popular event. The more personality your pictures have, the easier they are to relate to.

5. Use Hashtags

Skipping hashtags is like trying to yell in a crowd of millions. If you want your pictures seen, you have to use relevant hashtags. Participate in trending hashtags whenever possible for more exposure or create your own event specific ones to boost brand awareness. Make sure to use hashtags that aren’t overly broad (#naturalmakeup vs #makeup for example). You can use up to 30 hashtags in the first comment after posting your image. You can use up to 10 hashtags in Instagram stories.

The most important thing to remember on Instagram is to have fun and interact with your followers. Do this and it’ll be well worth your time. Looking for help with your Instagram strategy? Contact Top Tier Media for help!

3 Ways Social Media Is Changing Advertising

Today’s advertising landscape is an eclectic array of both online and real-world marketing strategies, from a post on Instagram to a billboard on a main drag. Social media, in particular, has created an entirely new platform for businesses to attract customers. Because social media is interactive, advertising is now more about relationships than ever before.

Take a look at some of the tops ways social media is changing advertising:

Constant Contact

When it came to old-fashioned advertising, your flyer or billboard had to be located in a busy area to be seen by hundreds or thousands of people. Advertising through social media allows your business to be in constant contact with key customers. Every time potential customers access their social media accounts, which is often up to a dozen times a day, there is another chance for them to see your posts, pictures and updates. There is no need to wait for customers to walk past your billboard because you can reach them on a daily basis through social media. They may even share or comment on your content, making your business even more visible in the marketplace.

Familiarity

With so many products and brands in the marketplace, consumers are often bombarded by images and logos throughout the day. Basic psychology reveals that people look for mental shortcuts as they make daily decisions. You cannot, for instance, research EVERY type of cosmetic, fashion or health product  to verify which are the best. People look for well-known brands and logos or testimonials from friends, family and influencers to learn about new products. Your business can use social media ads to reach your demographic and stay top of mind.

Targeted Audience

One of the major ways that social media has enhanced advertising is easier targeting. If your business sells cell phone accessories, for example, you may want to pinpoint teens and young adults in your advertising strategy. Post quirky or funny videos surrounding device use or start a conversation about tablets versus smartphones. The more you engage with your targeted audience, they’ll be more inclined to buy your product repeatedly because of the strong social media relationship. You have given them interesting news and conversation-starters which pique their interest, and make them want to learn more.

Take your social media to the next level by creating targeted ads for your demographic. Contact Top Tier Social Media for help with social media management and ad creation.

How to Credit Bloggers for Their Images

In this day and age it is so easy to do a quick Google search to find the perfect image for a blog post or advertorial. This is, in fact, what many people do to find compelling content. But they’re missing the critical step – crediting the original source for the image.

Contrary to popular belief, Google images, Flickr, Tumblr and Pinterest are not original sources for images. Many times, those sites lose the information on the original content creator, which is sad, especially when it’s a compelling image. So you must take another step to find the original author if you find images by those means. You want to follow the image back to the blog or site it originated from to credit that blogger or photographer. To find the original image source, upload the image to http://images.google.com. The original source will usually be the first or second link listed.

When you are a blogger and you spend hours on your blog creating images, you don’t want someone taking those images and using them without proper credit. To give proper credit, it’s as simple as the following:

Image: Sugarpill Minty Blues eyeshadow via Phyrra

If the text can be hyperlinked (if you’re posting on a website), you want to hyperlink the blog name with the URL for the creator to give them proper credit.

If it’s for Facebook, Instagram or Twitter be sure to tag the influencer or blogger:

Source: @Phyrra

All images are copyright to the photographer that took the images, unless that photographer signs away those rights. So typically, you need to have permission to use that image, unless they have licensed their work for Creative Commons. Most bloggers are happy to have their images used with proper credit. If you’re ever in doubt, just ask! And if a blogger asks you to take down an image, you should do so immediately to avoid a lawsuit.

5 Ways to Tell if Social Media is Working for Your Brand

In the competitive world of the beauty business, beauty brands want to make sure that their social media campaigns are working for them. While some brands expect a direct increase in sales, this increase is sometimes one of the last ways to tell if a social media campaign is working. So until your beauty brand does start to see an increase in sales, how can you measure that your social media campaign is even doing its job?

Here’s how:

New fans – Keep in mind that the primary purpose of having a fan page on Facebook or Twitter is to build an online community for your beauty brand. Think of your brand’s Facebook page as an online hub for customer service, brand awareness and direct fan engagement. Tracking an increase in new fans over a period of time is a great indicator that people want to be involved in your online community. If you are posting relevant and useful content, responding to fan questions/concerns and actively engaging fans with contest, trivia and more – you should always be seeing a steady increase in fans.

More visitors – Similarly to seeing an increase in new fans over time, an increase in visitor traffic to a beauty brand’s website and/or blog is a great indicator that existing customers or even potential customers are interested in your brand. What to do if you start seeing a lull in web traffic instead of growth? Make sure that you are still driving traffic from all of your social media platforms on a consistent basis. While you should always focus of posting relevant content to build your community, you always want to be linking social media posts back to your websites.

Comments and shares – A simple ratio suggests that an increase in fan engagement usually begins after an increase in fans. While fan engagement may naturally increase due to an increase in page fans, you want to also make sure that you are posting content that is engagement-worthy! Are you hosting contests and giveaways? Are you increasing buzz about your beauty brand by offering free samples? Are you asking questions and are you genuinely interested in your community feedback? Continue experimenting with different types of engagement until you get a feel for what your community wants and is looking for from your brand.

Building new relationships – Whether you are building relationships with the beauty bloggers reviewing your brand or other beauty brands in a similar niche as yours, you’ll know your are building your online community right if you are getting to know more people than you did before. Online communities should always be open to RTs, positive commenting and engaging with other beauty brands because it does less harm than good. It doesn’t mean you are promoting another brand, it simply means that you are establishing your own part in an even bigger online beauty community!

Sales – Ah yes, an increase in sales. While it’s hard to measure a direct increase in sales from social media unless there’s a specific campaign (specifying to mention Facebook, Twitter etc.), you will also want to know if social media, on its own, can be responsible for an increase in sales. If you remain consistent in efforts to build a lively and knowledgeable online community, you’ll increase the probability that a potential customer will select your beauty brand by simply being involved and being aware of your brand by being in the online community you’ve worked so hard to build. Remember, it often takes 7 points of contact before a customer is ready to buy. So increase the frequency by staying active on all social media channels.

Naturally, this has caught the attention of marketers worldwide and has once again shifted the mindset of social media marketing. Intermingling with personal boards of mothers keeping crafting or dinner ideas organized are businesses and brands maximizing their marketing opportunities on Pinterest. Since Pinterest is based on the forwarding of visual images, keywords begin to play a different part in order for a product, blog or business to successfully stand out.

According to 2012 statistics, around 68% of all Pinterest users are women. Knowing that women are a majority of Pinterest users, should say something to marketers on how to better attract users to their pins. For example, even men’s products can be pinned by a high number of Pinterest users if the wording attached to a pin is enticing to a female user as well.

80% of all pins are also re-pins, which speaks volumes of the amount of content that is originally pinned versus content that is being forwarded by users. Images inking back to your website is what makes Pinterest so useful for marketers. To make sure your business, blog or product is getting the most out of Pinterest, always make sure to label your pictures with company names, names of products or websites so that pictures (pins) will always link back to your brand.

Hashtags are equally important when it comes to helping users find your pins. Hashtags (#fashion or #beauty for example) can maximize the opportunity for your pin to be found by hundreds of users who may not be following your boards

While Facebook gains new fans with content shares and friend endorsements (every like is seen by an average of 130 Facebook fans), Pinterest allows users to bring in new followers that might not have found your website otherwise. For example, if you were a small hardware store owner, pinning and linking back pictures of new lawnmowers in the summertime might only bring your website partial traffic. Whereas if the store owner got creative and started pinning pictures of inspirational quotes about hard work, articles about home repair or BBQ recipe ideas, the store owner is them maximizing his opportunities to get a wide range of potential new customers. On Pinterest, diversity of boards is always better.

Just like Facebook and Twitter, Pinterest has peak times when users are researched to be more active. Pinterest users are generally more active during the “coffee hours” between 9 a.m. and 10 a.m., the lunch hour between noon and 1 p.m. and the hours before and during dinner, between 5 p.m. and 7 p.m.

With a little creativity, using relevant keywords and hashtags and finding a way to always link back to your brand, Pinterest can become a great asset for web traffic and a powerful social media marketing tool for any brand or organization.

How to Get More Followers on Pinterest

Pinterest is a popular social media site where anyone can share favorite clippings such as photos and videos with their followers. Pinterest can be used as a fun tool to post favorite recipes or as a business tool to grow an audience for a product or service. You can create your own Pinterest page or hire a social media consultant to design it for you.

On Pinterest, you create boards and name them. Under each board you post images, web pages or anything else that you can pin. It’s a good idea to keep a theme for each board. One board can be favorite photos from around the web and another board can be books you’ve read recently. The options are endless, and with a little creativity you can gain a large following on Pinterest.

There are many ways to get more followers. The first thing you should do is add a “Pin It” button to your website or blog. When people visit pages on your site with this button, they can click on it to pin an image or the entire page their boards. Their followers can click on your name, view your boards, and follow you.

Also consider adding the “Follow me on Pinterest” button to your website. There is also the “Pinterest” button that’s useful for people who visit your site but don’t have a Pinterest account. This allows them to see your boards and then choose to sign up for their own accounts.

When posting to your boards, make sure you only add good content that others would re-pin. A blurry image of a birthday cake won’t go far, but a funny picture of the birthday boy with cake on his face will catch a lot of attention. If you post high-quality images, you’ll gain more followers who will check your site regularly to see what’s new.

Organize your boards the same way you would organize file folders. Place boards close together that resemble the same theme. For example, if you have one board for Hawaii, one for London and the other one for Mexico, then place them all together with other travel-related boards. Then add those boards to the travel category; anyone looking for photos under that category will come across your boards. If they see you share the same interests, they will follow you.

These infographics were made with Visual.ly – an AMAZING new way to create your own infographics at the click of a button. Highly recommended – do check them out.

That’s it Facebook stats:

LaserAway Facebook stats:

Do I Have to Show my Face on Social Media?

If you’re a brand owner, in a word – yes. Sharing your face, your personality and glimpses behind the scenes are what make consumers trust you. You started your company with a passion. Now you have to let others see that passion. Don’t be afraid to share a little slice of life with your customers. They will stop seeing you as a faceless corporation and start seeing the person (or people) behind the brand. If this is too much sharing for you, hire a community manager to be the face of your company.

The first time I heard the term, “community manager” when referred to social media management I pictured that warm, friendly landlord that always waves at you when you leave your apartment. After all, an online community manager seems so much more approachable in sharp contrast to the terms, “expert in social media” or “social media specialist.” If you have a consumer complaint or question, would you rather ask an expert or a specialist or a community manager?

While it’s rare that any major brand is not on Facebook or Twitter these days, brands are still seemingly represented by faceless voices. While a brand may respond to one of my tweets, isn’t it odd that there is still a disconnect between the consumer and the person that represents the brand? Isn’t the point of social media marketing to make things more targeted, more direct and more personal? Let’s examine the potential pros and cons of a social media specialist versus an online community manager. Is there even a difference?

Call any customer service line and you are greeted with, “Thank you for calling ___, My name is so and so…” or you enter a department store and every employee has on a name tag (sometimes with an additional tagline, I’m here to help!) My store receipt usually identifies the name of the cashier that just checked out my groceries. Even a particular cosmetics company I love stamps their products with a sticker identifying the person who packaged MY particular shower gel with their picture and their name! (It’s actually one of my favorite things about the company.) So why, in an age when we are using the most personal of online platforms to connect, market, advertise and eventually sell, are we not identifying who we are?

The few companies that I have seen utilizing this personalization of social media really caught my eye and I haven’t forgotten about them. For example, I know that I can go to Social Media Examiner’s Facebook page and ask Andrea a question and she will quickly respond to me. (I love that!) There’s something to be said for a consistent tone and “online voice” when it’s connected to one specific person – granted it’s the right tone. There’s also a promise of accountability with giving your name in a customer service oriented world. This makes accountability an essential key to superior customer service, both in person, on the phone or through social media platforms.

With this accountability is there also an equal danger of making ONE social media specialist’s face an online representative of a brand? After all, what if a consumer doesn’t like the social media specialist merely based on superficial factors? Most likely, the net gain of happy consumers will outweigh any negatives. Either way, if social media has become a front runner in the world of making customer service more personalized, it just doesn’t make sense that online brand representatives are not identifying themselves. If Facebook and Twitter are becoming a tool for more personable, targeted marketing – why is social media hiding behind the anonymity of the internet?

What to Expect from Social Media Marketing

While social media marketing has been proven to have an overall positive impact on sales, it is not going to work overnight. Do not get discouraged if it takes a long time to build a decent following, and do not expect an instant upswing in sales. In my experience, it can take 5-8 months to build a decent following with good customer interaction and engagement.

Remember that your social media presence is like your own personal real estate. Your fans and followers grow and become more and more valuable over time. However, it is very important to keep it going. Constant interaction with your fans keeps you and your brand on their radar.

Building a following on social networking sites will take a lot of effort, but once you get the ball rolling you’ll gradually begin to see results. In order to start things off on the right foot you should include the URL to all of your social networking pages on your business cards, in your email signatures and on all print advertising. It is also a good idea to have all of your employees follow each of the company’s pages.

SEO (Search Engine Optimization) in a nutshell means optimizing your website and social media channels for specific keywords and content to help customers find you when searching via Google or other search engines. SEO can help drive qualified­ potential customers to your social networking pages, so be sure to put a lot of thought into the content that you post. Although it is very important to build an online community made up of your current customers, it is even more vital to reach out to new potential clients. SEO will help you achieve this goal, as individuals who use a search engine may be driven to your social networking page based on one of your posts.

Once you’ve put all of the pieces in place, you will begin to see the several benefits that are associated with social media marketing.

Your community of followers will grow on a regular basis, and many of them will become actively involved with your page. Reaching out to these followers regularly will encourage them to become brand ambassadors. These are your biggest fans and will often tell others about both your business and your page, which will result in higher follower numbers and increased sales activity. You can encourage the growth of sales by running special promotions, but pay close attention to the results. If no one takes you up on the offer then you need to tweak your message going forward.

Another perk of social media marketing is that when it’s done correctly, it really helps your business stand out from your competitors. The majority of your customers are likely to be online, and if your social media presence is more welcoming than that of your competitors’, then their customers may soon become your customers instead.

If you set realistic social media marketing goals and ensure that your pages and ads are updated regularly, then you will see a long-term positive impact. Stick with your social networking pages while they’re in their infancy and make sure to listen to the input of your followers. In time you’ll have a strong base of followers, and they will help introduce new potential customers to your page.

Maintaining a strong social media presence will take not only time, but also a firm commitment. It is very important to respond to followers who ask questions or make comments, be they positive or negative. Posting regular content, which is applicable to what your business is all about, combined with being responsive will help you build a strong base of followers. Building this base will take time, but in the long run it can have a very positive impact on both your overall brand image and sales.

How to Promote Your Brand on LinkedIn

Social media marketing has proven to be extremely successful, and it is increasing in efficiency with each passing year. While most people are familiar with marketing their brand on Twitter or Facebook, LinkedIn often gets overlooked. However, LinkedIn marketing can be just as useful. With over 135 million users (as of Nov. ’11), your brand is sure to reach a few new potential customers, but here are some tips to reach as many as possible.

Begin by updating your own personal profile. It should be a given that your brand profile will be fully filled out, but it is also a given that serious customers will do some snooping. This will probably include looking at the owner’s profile. If the customer can find out a little background about the owner, they will be assured that this person is honest and trustworthy. In turn, the company will appear honest and trustworthy.

LinkedIn can add credibility to your business in other ways as well. Ask some satisfied customers or colleagues, either former or current, to write recommendations. These recommendations will appear on the profile page of other members causing your brand and name to gain some exposure. However, try to ask people who will not be too over the top with their writing. This can often come across as staged or insincere causing the reader to lose faith in the brand.

One interesting feature of LinkedIn is that you can poll your network to ask any question you want. As long as you make certain that the question pertains to your industry, you can receive some great feedback. You can learn about what potential customers want or expect, and it drives a great deal of buzz because it allows people to interact.

Do not underestimate the power of groups.

Find groups that are relevant to your brand and be an active participant in them. Each time you post a comment or answer a question, your name and picture will be displayed. This increases the chances of other members seeing and clicking to your profile. You can even add a signature at the end of your comments that promote your account.

After you have gotten the hang of participating in other groups, try creating your own. This is an important step after you have a fan base. It is a place for questions to be addressed, links to be shared, and discussions to be had. Communication is a great tool, and this is where the conversations can start.

LinkedIn can do wonders in spreading your brand’s name. If you do not feel as though you have the necessary skills to make it work for you, contact a social media agency. Social media consultants like Top Tier Media can either get the ball rolling for you or can be hired as part of the business to handle all the social media outlets you choose to utilize.