Archive for the ‘Social Media’ Category

11
Jul
by Justin McGill13 Comments »

Tweepi Review: Manage Your Twitter Account the Geeky Way

Managing your Twitter followers can be a headache, but with Tweepi, you can perform both simple and complex management tasks with the click of a button. Tweepi’s distinguishing factor is that it allows you to view stats about your followers in spreadsheet format, enabling you to sort and search on any number of criteria: the promotional geekiness.

Basic Overview
As self-described geeks, Tweepi offers four “geeky” tools to help you keep your Twitter account up to date.

  • Flush—This tool lets you find the people you follow who haven’t followed you back. Think of it as a geeky way to pay back the people who have insulted you by not reciprocating your follow. While this might be a fun tool for personal interactions, businesses may not gain much from it.
  • Reciprocate—The best way to make sure you don’t get Flushed, Reciprocate enables you to find and follow the people who have followed you but who are not yet on your follow list. Again, this may not be all that useful for businesses.
  • Cleanup—This is where the tools starts getting fun for businesses. Cleanup allows you to view all of your contacts in list format along with a broad range of stats for each one. Sort based on number of tweets, date of last tweet, link-to-tweet ratio, or any number of other stats and cleanup your list based on hard data.
  • Follow—Finally, the Follow tool enables you to type in a user and view all of his followers along with activity stats. It’s a great way to beef up your lists, but unfortunately doesn’t allow you to flip the equation in order to see who a particular user is following.

Cool Functions

While there are a host of Twitter management tools out there, Tweepi does have a few functions that set it apart. First and most obvious is the stats feature. Tweepi allows you to organize your follower lists the geeky way, based on activity stats and hard data. Another feature we like is the Safelist button. Safelist allows you to place a lock on a particular follower so you don’t accidentally follow or unfollow (we’ve all experienced the headaches that can cause). Finally, we love the customizability of stats. Hide or reveal columns and followers at will so that only the information you’re currently evaluating appears on screen.

Versions
Get started with Tweepi using their free package. If you like what you see, you can upgrade to silver or platinum packages which offer greater options and more features for a monthly fee.

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gravatar Tweepi Review: Manage Your Twitter Account the Geeky Way Twitter management twitter Tweepi Justin McGill is a web marketing professional and runs a successful Small Business SEO Firm. He is the founder and CEO of SEORCHERS (read: [surch-ers]) - a local web marketing firm specializing in organic search engine optimization (SEO) with a focus on converting visitors into clients. He is available for SEO Consulting and now you can connect with him on Google+!.
17
Mar
by Justin McGill17 Comments »

How Location Based Marketing Works Today

Apps like Foursquare, Gowalla, and now even Facebook’s check-in functionality have become all the rage these days. They represent a growing segment of the marketing industry that allows businesses to deliver advertising messages directly to their customers’ mobile phones based on their location. While check-in apps like these may be trendy, they don’t represent the whole picture when it comes to location based marketing. Whether you’re ready to dive into Foursquare or not, location based marketing can help your business in a variety of ways.

What is Location Based Marketing?

Location based marketing seeks to reach customers where they are by putting advertising messages that relate to their current location in front of them. It’s not a new concept. Phone books have been offering location specific ads for years. But with the new technological aspect, the process has become more personal, more effective, and more desirable. With the advent of mobile marketing, companies can use location information gleaned from a mobile phone to provide instantaneous marketing messages when people come within the vicinity of their stores.

What Can Location Based Marketing Do for Me?

The applications of location based marketing present new marketing vistas for the savvy company. Interactive point-of-sale texts that provide information about a product the customer is considering, location-specific coupons that entice customers into a store, incentives for checking in multiple times with an app like Foursquare, and mobile ads that appear when a customer is within a certain radius of the store can all help drive traffic and increase overall sales in your brick-and-mortar store. The key is to respect consumer privacy by using opt-in measures that allow them to choose which ads they want to see.

What is the Future of Location Based Marketing?

The future looks bright for applications like Foursquare. The company already has plans in the works for improved user experience, increased capabilities, and proactive recommendations. Spending in the location based marketing field is expected to surge to $4 billion by the year 2015 as companies like Google and Facebook jump on the band wagon with location specific features.

Location based marketing seeks to build a bridge between traditional and digital marketing. With millions of users relying on their mobile phones for internet access and product research, companies would be wise to take advantage of the opportunities available to incorporate location based marketing into their overall marketing strategy.

How Location Based Marketing Works Today mobile marketing Marketing strategy Gowalla geo location Foursquare Facebook
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gravatar How Location Based Marketing Works Today mobile marketing Marketing strategy Gowalla geo location Foursquare Facebook Justin McGill is a web marketing professional and runs a successful Small Business SEO Firm. He is the founder and CEO of SEORCHERS (read: [surch-ers]) - a local web marketing firm specializing in organic search engine optimization (SEO) with a focus on converting visitors into clients. He is available for SEO Consulting and now you can connect with him on Google+!.
27
Dec
by Justin McGill23 Comments »

Social Media Affects Search Engine Ranking

For quite some time now, search engine optimization gurus have postulated that Facebook and Twitter popularity directly affects search engine rankings, and now an announcement from both Google and Bing confirms those suspicions. Just what factors figure into the specific algorithms for each of the popular search engines remains under wraps, but the news holds significance both for search engine optimization and for web marketing. With concrete evidence to support the long-held theory that Facebook likes and Twitter followings will boost search engine rankings, marketers can now place a little more confidence in the fact that their social media efforts will produce tangible ROI sooner rather than later.

The announcement sparked a flurry of additional speculation regarding exactly how the popular social media sites play into search engine rankings and while much of that speculation remains unsubstantiated, both Google and Bing did confirm the following points.

●      User credibility carries weight in the algorithm.

In other words, the more authoritative a source is, the more weight its re-tweets and links carry. People who are recognized experts in their fields will affect the ranking of links they post or tweet more significantly than other users will.

●      The quality of the author can be determined by the algorithm.

This point gains significance when viewed in light of the previous point. Both Google and Bing denied knowing the identity of individuals, but Bing did confirm that public figures and companies could be identified as authoritative sources.

●      The number of people who re-tweet a particular source will influence ranking.

Referred to by Bing as “social authority,” popularity on both Facebook and Twitter can increase the importance of the links and tweets shared by individuals. In other words, the more people who share a particular link or post, the more important it becomes in the eyes of the algorithm.

While neither search engine revealed additional factors that play into the determination of which Facebook and Twitter posts receive greater weight in the ranking process, many acknowledged SEO experts have speculated about various possibilities. Some of these include source diversity, clicks and re-tweets, authority of friends and followers, and surrounding content. Just as a website is more than the sum of the keywords it includes, Facebook and Twitter are more than the sum of friend and follower quantity or even quality. In addition, search engines will now be able to more easily detect spammy Twitter and Facebook accounts just as they can detect keyword-stuffed web pages. Popularity on Facebook or Twitter typically indicates substantive content, allowing the best pages to be acknowledged for their quality by the number of followers they gain.

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gravatar Social Media Affects Search Engine Ranking social media marketing search engine rankings Internet Marketing Justin McGill is a web marketing professional and runs a successful Small Business SEO Firm. He is the founder and CEO of SEORCHERS (read: [surch-ers]) - a local web marketing firm specializing in organic search engine optimization (SEO) with a focus on converting visitors into clients. He is available for SEO Consulting and now you can connect with him on Google+!.
30
Aug
by Justin McGill21 Comments »

Facebook Ventures into Geo Location with Facebook Places

Facebook recently announced their newest addition, Facebook Places. Facebook Places is an application that allows users to tag their location or “check in” and create a trail of their locations throughout the day. This application will show users what their friends are doing and where they are. Facebook Places can be accessed from a cell phone and, as always, comments can be made on these location posts.

This new application will certainly be a hit with many Facebook users, but will also greatly benefit businesses. After claiming their locations, businesses can use Facebook Places as another form of word of mouth advertising. When Facebook users tag themselves at a particular business and even comment positively or negatively on that business, the opinions of other potential customers will be influenced. Businesses can even offer special deals to Facebook Places users as they do with users who become a fan of their company page. Companies that incorporate the Places application into their marketing plans will find themselves reaching their potential customers even better than before.

As always, some Facebook users are concerned about the effect that this new application will have on their privacy. However, this application requires users to tag themselves or “check in” at a particular location in order for the information to be revealed on Facebook. Users who do not want their information shared should check their privacy settings, but they can also choose not to participate in this new application.

But what effect will Facebook Places have on other location based sites like Foursquare? The Facebook network is much larger than the networks of location based services such as Foursquare, Yelp.com, Gowalla.com, and Whrrl.com, so some might think that these companies will be greatly threatened by the addition of Facebook Places. However, Facebook Places appears to be doing the opposite. Shortly after the announcement about Places, Foursquare experienced a huge peak in signups. Instead of crushing the smaller location based sites, Places appears to be attracting attention and getting people interested in location based applications of all sorts.

As Facebook continues to expand into other areas, smaller sites will have to keep on their toes in order to keep themselves unique and original, but they should not fear being squashed by the Facebook giant. The key for sites like Gowalla and Foursquare will be to differentiate themselves from Facebook Places. They will need to offer their users a different incentive for using their site in order to keep business thriving.

Will Facebook Places be something you utilize? Why or why not?

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gravatar Facebook Ventures into Geo Location with Facebook Places geo location facebook places check in Justin McGill is a web marketing professional and runs a successful Small Business SEO Firm. He is the founder and CEO of SEORCHERS (read: [surch-ers]) - a local web marketing firm specializing in organic search engine optimization (SEO) with a focus on converting visitors into clients. He is available for SEO Consulting and now you can connect with him on Google+!.
15
Aug
by Justin McGill6 Comments »

Helpful Marketing Discussion and Resources 2010-08-15

08
Aug
by Justin McGill2 Comments »

Helpful Marketing Discussion and Resources 2010-08-08

01
Aug
by Justin McGill3 Comments »

Helpful Marketing Discussion and Resources 2010-08-01

25
Jul
by Justin McGill3 Comments »

Helpful Marketing Discussion and Resources 2010-07-25

20
Jul
by Justin McGill21 Comments »

Creating a Viral Marketing Campaign

The term viral marketing, though sometimes negatively viewed as cousin to the evil computer virus, has created its own niche on the online marketing world. At its core, viral marketing simply means creating a marketing idea that viewers will pass along to their friends and contacts, creating far-reaching potential for exposure. By taking advantage of social networks and media, businesses can spread their message using word of mouth with the goal of reaching far more viewers than possible otherwise.

Creating a Viral Message

Successful viral marketing depends on two key principles. The first is crafting a message that people will want to share. Your message needs to resonate with viewers and give people a reason to pass it along. Most marketing campaigns that have gone viral included one or more of the following elements:

  • Humor
  • Giveaways or freebies
  • Controversy—political or otherwise
  • Appeal to basic desires
  • Ego boost
  • Useful service or resource

Think about the chain emails that come to your inbox, probably on a daily basis. If you’re the type to pass things along, there’s probably a certain category of messages that capture your attention and entice you to send them to friends. Political messages, comic strips, funny videos, 101 uses for vinegar—all of these appeal to a niche group that will be most likely to share them with others. In order to create a successful viral marketing campaign, you’ll need to determine what will be the most likely to appeal to your target audience and capitalize on that appeal to help disperse your message.

Getting the Message Out

The second principle for a successful viral marketing campaign is creating exposure in the right circles. If you want your message to catch on, you’ve got to make sure the right people see it. Social media outlets like Facebook, YouTube and Twitter, websites like Digg and StumbleUpon, and well-known bloggers all provide outlets for your message to be seen. Make use of communities that already exist such as your email contact list or your Facebook group to propagate your marketing idea and you’ll be well on your way to exponential growth. If your content resonates with your target audience, you’ve won half the battle. The other half will be won for you as readers hit the forward button on their email messages, post links on blogs and Facebook pages, and send out Tweets.

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gravatar Creating a Viral Marketing Campaign viral marketing Social Media social bookmarking Justin McGill is a web marketing professional and runs a successful Small Business SEO Firm. He is the founder and CEO of SEORCHERS (read: [surch-ers]) - a local web marketing firm specializing in organic search engine optimization (SEO) with a focus on converting visitors into clients. He is available for SEO Consulting and now you can connect with him on Google+!.
18
Jul
by Justin McGill1 Comment »

Helpful Marketing Discussion and Resources 2010-07-18

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