Pinterest Archives - Jody Raines

April 23, 2016 By Jody Raines 1 Comment

Social Media Tips: How Much Time Should I Spend on Social Media?

Clients who have accepted the fact that Twitter and Facebook and Linkedin are great for business, have asked me how much time they should devote to social media marketing. It’s a valid question, and one that has more than one answer.

It depends on what your goals are and what you hope to achieve. Keep in mind that Google has admitted that social media clout is one of the ingredients in their search engine ranking formula, and having your message tweeted by others can briefly have your website listed as number one on Google.

The Internet is a dynamic environment and the old days of optimizing a website and then leaving it for a year just don’t work any longer. We no longer can say the Internet is changing daily or even hourly – the content is changing every second as more and more people add to the information that is available online.

If you are not adding your business or brand information to the mix, then it’s tantamount to everyone taking a step forward, and you are standing in the same place. Even though you didn’t move, you wound up behind everyone else!

So, the first step to determining how much time you should spend on social media marketing is to determine what your goals should be. What do you hope to achieve using social media? Are you using social media as a broadcast device? If so, I can already tell you, it doesn’t matter how much time you spend, you are using it wrong!

One of the things I look at when I evaluate how my client is using social media marketing – and this is a great way to determine whether that so-called “expert” really knows what he or she is doing – is to see if there is a broadcast mentality to what they are sharing, or whether there is true engagement. I have seen these ‘experts’ with the same message sent multiple times. That’s enough to recognize that they obviously do not understand how to use social media and therefore, I wouldn’t waste any money or time investing in having them help set up a campaign.

Automated programs also are a waste of time. That’s the same as calling and hoping to get a live person, and then become frustrated with not being able to reach a person. They can actually cause more harm than good in a social media program, and any ‘expert’ who is advocating automating should be burned at the stake!

So, how do you manage your social media and how much time should you invest?

Just as organic optimization takes time, so does your social media program. If done correctly, it will stand the test of time. Just like “black hat” SEO techniques can have a short upsurge then have dire consequences, so can these ‘quick win’ social media plans.

So, with that being said, here is my recipe for a general social media program:

1. Post a blog at least once a week. Twice a week if possible.

2. Link your blog to your Facebook business page and Twitter and Linkedin profiles.

3. On a daily basis, check into Twitter and send out Tweets for fifteen minutes. You can break that into three five minute intervals during the day. You’d be surprised how much useful information you can obtain in those five minutes.

4. Post a question or observation on Facebook on a daily basis. Ask for input or feedback on a topical issue. Encourage interaction. This may take another ten minutes.

5. Daily, review your Linkedin messages and respond. This may take another 5 minutes.

So, all told, excluding the time you took to write your blog, your entire social media program may take thirty minutes a day. Of course you can spend more time if you’d like.

There are tools that can make monitoring your social media much easier, and we will address these tools in a future post.

How much time do you take for your social media program? Where do you focus your social media efforts? Have you seen an increase in sales based upon your social media efforts?

February 16, 2014 By Jody Raines Leave a Comment

What Is The Value Of Social Media Marketing?

This morning, as I am drinking my coffee and evaluating website analytics using Google Analytics website tool, I saw an interesting trend. Traffic comes from several sources, including organic search, direct traffic, referrals and social media. First, one of the most fascinating statistics regarding social media is that it contributed more traffic that any of the other channels. This phenomena may be due to the fact that I haven’t really worked on this website until recently, but I do have a fairly strong social media presence. Of the social media channels, the strongest was Facebook, followed by Google+. Surprisingly Twitter sent only a spattering of visits and even Linked In was much stronger than Twitter.

Of the traffic that came from social media, the quality of the traffic was better than the organic traffic, in that they stayed on the website longer, and they also visited more pages. It also out performed the referral traffic for the same metrics.

I’m not sure how much of this is due to the nature of the website, which is more along the lines of a personal blog than a company website. It could be that there is a correlation because the highest referral source, Facebook, does contain may people that I know personally. However, I also have a few pages on Facebook related to the company, my personal page, and a couple of podcasts that I co-host, so that may be part of the reason. I usually post on several Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn and social media sites as blogs and other items are published.

What does all this mean? Here are my thoughts, and I’m curious if you’ve noticed these trends as well, and also if you agree with my analysis:

1. Social Media offers higher engagement. It appears that when someone finds my website through social media, they tend to visit more pages and also stay longer on the site. It could be due to the fact that most of the visits are due to blog posts. I am careful when writing blogs to try to focus on topcs that I feel would be of interest to potential prospects, and this appears to be an effective approach.

2. Social Media offers opportunity for sharing. Many of my posts wind up being shared or re-tweeted. I’d like to believe that is due to the quality of the content and that I offer some good advice. Regardless, it’s more likely to occur within Facebook and Google+ and Twitter than this re-sharing seems to appear in LinkedIn. That means that I will tailor content that is sharable more to the networks where sharing seems to be more popular, and unique, more intellectual content to LinkedIn where it may only be viewed by my immediate network and groups.

3. Social Media offers amplification. Another trend that I’ve noticed is that the new visits as a percentage of all visits is higher from Social Media than from other sources, like organic search or direct search. That makes sense to me. Social media sharing can create a way of amplifiying word of mouth recommendations though cyber space. In other words, when someone retweets a message or shares a Facebook post, it’s perceived as almost a recommendation for the content. In some ways, that amplification is more valuable than the intial post. Moving forward, one way I will utilize this knowledge is to be more concious of “influencers” who can share my message and who seem to have a fairly loyal following.

If you are trying to get a message out, or to establish a brand, social media can be a powerful tool. I get a kick out of those businesses who are still avoiding social media because they think it’s not their “market”. The funny thing – your public and potential prospects expect you to be on social media, and to not only post, but also to be listening.

What do you think? Do you agree that social media is powerful for marketers? How have you utilized social media to amplify your messaging?

February 27, 2012 By Jody Raines Leave a Comment

Pinterest – For Search Engine Optimization It’s A Win!

I’m enjoying Pinterest, even though I didn’t think I would! It’s a social billboard service, like a visual Digg or StumbleUpon. If you haven’t tried it yet, be aware that pinning is very addictive… Not only can you pin things you love from other websites, but you can also repin other’s posts.

The really cool thing about Pinterest, and this is subject to change, is the fact that all pins act as links to the website the pin is from. So, if you are working on inbound links for a website as part of an SEO plan, you really should pay attention to Pinterest.

I noticed retailers are doing a fantastic job of taking advantage of Pinterest to engage with their customers. One such terrific example is the DEB shops. This could be the best example of how to use Pinterest for a retailer that I’ve seen. The beauty of how they are using the site is that it’s easy to repin their inventory if you like what you are viewing. So a person who sees a prom dress that she loves can click that she likes it, can comment on that dress, and can repin the dress to her own board.

How can you use this strategy to promote your own website?

Join Pinterest and set up a profile. Use keywords and your company name – these are searchable and indexed by the search engines.
Completely fill in your profile. Use a link back to your website.
Consider which boards make sense for you. The boards are categorized into broad categories by Pinterest. To the extent that you identify your boards with one of the broad categories, your pins will be available to be searched.
Be social. Follow people, like posts, add comments and repin other’s content. This is the way you are engaging and interacting.
Without being a pest, you can selectively share your Pinterest pins on Facebook. There is currently a hack to add Pinterest to your Facebook as a tab, however it requests access to your information and that of all you are connected with. While connecting is pretty slick, personally I won’t compromise my information or my friends or follows info either. I also refuse to allow other applications to post as me. I’ve seen too many bad things happen and Facebook accounts become hacked that way!

How are you using Pinterest? Have you discovered any cool new things as a result of using it? Every day I see more and more friends getting involved with it… Will I see you there? Let’s connect!

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