Karner Blue Marketing Website SEO & Optimization Blog

Business and Personal Social Media Profiles 101

Rebecca Murtagh — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 15:45:47 +0000

There is such media coverage and social pressure around people getting in to the social media game, that many jump on without really thinking it through. So, let’s address some of the most common questions from people and businesses entering Social Media Platforms for the first time.

Should You Create a Personal or Business Social Media Account, or Both?

The answer is always BOTH! Here’s why:

Creating a Business Social Media Account

A business Social Media Account involves brand and reputation management more than in a personal account. Everything posted should be consistent with the company’s mission, goals, promotions, etc. Social dialogue is still very important to the success of the social media account. However, it shouldn’t necessarily be tied to a person, unless you are 100% sure that person will never leave…or when they do, you have created a legacy issue to overcome at a later date.

As a Search Engine Optimization and Marketing expert, I would be remiss in noting that EVERYTHING in social media is searchable, either by the social platform itself, search engines Google, Yahoo, Bing, etc, or both.

3 Tips for Business Social Media Accounts:

Use Your Company Name (not arbitrary characters)
Be True to Your Brand
Engage with people, but try to stay away from unrelated politics, religion, personal preferences and opinions that could polarize or alienate customers.

Creating a Personal Social Media Account

A personal account is meant to promote personal dialogue with others. This is probably the only place you should be talking about your personal life, what you drank last night (or how much) and how you feel about other people, businesses, products and brands. If you absolutely must let off steam, here is where you do it. Although, word to the wise, everything you post in a tweet, update or website comment is out there…forever, even if you choose to delete it.

One mistake often made is a marketing professional that “Tweets” only as the company they work for. They’ve developed relationships, but when they change positions, companies or locations, those relationships are lost! Be sure to balance between business and social accounts if you value the relationships you’ve worked so hard to cultivate!

3 Tips for Personal Social Media Accounts

Use Your Real Name, or Personal Brand if you WANT to be found…omit it if you want to remain anonymous (but then what’s the point of using social media?)
Keep in mind everything you post reflects on you personally, forever.
Maintain a personal Social Media Account, even if you are the voice behind a Business Social Media Account. You may not always be affiliated with that organization, and your personal presence on Social Media is likely to far extend your professional career.

About us:

Karner Blue Marketing specializes in helping organizations optimize their Social Media conversations to reach target customers, increase visibility, promote clicks and conversion. Contact us if you’re looking for professional expertise to make the most of your Social Media efforts.

A Professional Social Media Presence is NOT a Part Time Activity

Rebecca Murtagh — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 18:01:54 +0000

Timely Social Media Response, Or Lack Thereof Can Damage Your Credibility

We follow organizations, companies and individuals around the world. One of the most alarming, if not downright dangerous, is the lack of attention organizations are giving to their social media accounts.

For example, this morning a Twitter DM (direct message) was sent from a local Chamber of Commerce that said something like “you look funny in this picture” and of course had links…which are SPAM and highly likely instantly drop undesirable malware and code on your system.

Out of courtesy, a direct message was sent to the Twitter account to let them know they’d been hacked and that they probably want to change their password. No reply.

A few hours later, a SECOND Twitter DM from the same Chamber of Commerce account expressed they were female, 24 and had a link to “chat” with a URL that was suggestive. So, we called the Chamber of Commerce.

We explained to the receptionist why we were calling, she explained that they’d become aware because a couple of people had let them know…and that the person working on Twitter was in a morning meeting (it was now afternoon) and that she knew about it and was going to work on it later in the day. After offering a suggestion on how to easily correct the problem, we were politely thanked for the call.

WOW.

Realistically, the Chamber of Commerce may not think this is a big deal because they only have 65 followers. But, what if every follower received one of these messages and unfollowed?

If you are going to enter the world of Social Media, you must be prepared to engage, respond and manage.

How importat you view your social media account is not nearly as important as how your friends and followers view it. It does not matter if you are promoting your business, organization, an idea, or yourself. Once you have a social media account, you are having an ongoing, live dialogue with the world.

Everything you do, or don’t do, directly reflects on your organization and its credibility. Be proactive!

Prioritizing Owned, Paid and Earned Media in Brand Marketing

Rebecca Murtagh — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 21:54:32 +0000

The typical Brand Strategy will include the deployment of various types of interactive media via website, blog, press releases, paid advertisements, sponsorships, Web 2.0 platforms, mobile website and social media accounts.

Of course in a perfect world, every brand marketer would have ample resources to orchestrate simultaneous deployment of all types of media. However, many large and small organizations struggle to deploy content of any type regularly, let alone, all types of media at the same time. When determining where to invest brand marketing efforts, it is wise to weigh the cost/benefit of each type of content influncing the brand.

As the internet evolved from the “information highway” as dubbed in the 90′s to a mass transfer of data, opinion and media to a literal “free for all” which empowers the brand consumer and unstrucured social interaction to impact the brand more than ever before.

It is imperative that a brand create quality content, but also nurture the source of content that will yield the most control over the brand – the customers!

- Rebecca Murtagh – Marketing Strategist

A recent study by Forrester well-defined the three categories of online media content and their respective roles, which can assist in the prioritization of where to invest resources.

< click for larger view

Owned Media – Controlled by the Brand

Branded content, uniquely created by the organization specifically for it’s target audiences. Benefits include ownership and complete control and scalability, with no limitation to how much content can be distributed. Owned content is also ideally search engine optimized for visbility, clicks and conversion, always targeting the most qualified customers. Owned media can include branded website, e-commerce store, blogs, social media accounts, media rooms, etc.

Paid Media – Leveraged by the Brand

Participation in distribution of content by a third-party, such as Google Adwords, AOL, Bing, Yahoo, other paid advertising networks, as well as directories, sponsorships, etc. The Downside is that most internet users recognized “paid” avertisements. Studies show customers are more likely to listen to friends and social connections when making a purchase decision.

Earned Media – Customers of the Brand Control the Message

The organic, natural or viral promotion of your content, without your direct influence. This is perhaps the most powerful type of content that can influence your brand. For good or bad, what your customers say will influence brand awarenss, market share and sales performance. (as mentioned above customers are highly influenced by what others say) which has perhaps the greatest impact, however offers the least amount of control over brand and content.

Content is imperative to the perpetuation of the brand. The days of simply broadcasting what you wish your brand to stand for are long gone. Today, marketers can do their best to project your brand, but in the world of Web 2.0, blogs and social media, it will ultimately be the customer and those they influence that will more directly influence brand equity and market share.

Twitter: The Most Popular Word In 2009 And What It Means To You

Rebecca Murtagh — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 15:29:42 +0000

You may be among those trying to ignore Social Media. You may believe that Social Media is comprised of teenagers communicating aimlessly about nothing. You may even be dabbling in Social Media. I suspect few expect the word “Twitter” to be deemed the most popular word in the English Language in 2009.

The recent designation of the word “Twitter” as the most popular word in the English language surely is an indication of what is, and what is to come.

The Global Language Monitor reported the results of its annual global survey which surprised some amidst all that was on the minds of English-speaking global citizens in 2009, that Twitter became the #1 word.

In addition, “Tweetup” and “Unfriend” were listed among the English Oxford Dictionary’s “words of the year”, voting the word “Unfriend” as “word of the year” in America.

What might these Social Media “word” trends mean to you and your business?

Twitter is more than a fad. Dell has reported 6.5 million dollars in revenue from Twitter alone.
Twitter is comprised 40% United States users and 60% international users, indicating wide adoption and use, connecting “birds of a feather” across the globe, making easier than ever to establish one to one communications with prospects and customers.
Contrary to popular belief, Social Media users are not just teenagers. In fact, the demographics indicate rapid adoption and use by Baby Boomers and Global Brands for meaningful conversation…justifying the investment in Social Media Marketing.

Words are always of interest for search engine, internet and social media marketing because they indicate how people are communicating on the internet and offline. It’s what we do to leverage these trends that will determine success.

Visit http://FreeSocialMarketingGuide.com for Free tips and information about Social Media, Marketing and Optimization.

Why Social Media Must be Part of the Integrated Marketing Mix in 2010

Rebecca Murtagh — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 14:14:16 +0000

Social Media Platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, etc. have delivered enough measurable success to early adopters to demonstrate that there is gold in them there tweets and updates.

In fact, it appears nearly every business is jumping on the bandwagon in some capacity to create a social media account for their company, organization or themselves.

Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, etc are driving business to your competitors websites through updates, friends and followers.

How will you leverage Social Media Marketing to impact the bottom line in 2010?

The greatest weakness still appears in meaningful integration of social media into the marketing mix…for a return on the investment of time, resources and budget. ROI can be achieved, if you have a sound strategy and social media marketing methods and measurements in place.

Click to Read the entire story>>Why Social Media Must be part of your Integrated Marketing Strategy for2010.

Reach and Frequency Apply to Social Media Too

Rebecca Murtagh — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 18:29:07 +0000

Traditional media concepts of Reach and Frequency apply very well to Twitter, Facebook and other social media platforms.

I’ve been studying social media accounts for some time now and the similarity between broadcasting ontraditional media and social media platforms Twitter and Facebook:

Those who Update or Tweet often, get more Friends and Followers. (Reach)

Those who have more Friends and Followers, get more Replies, Mentions and are Retweeted (RT) more often. (Frequency)
The more often you receive Replies and RT’s, the more new People you reach, and the more Friends and Followers you acquire. (again, Reach)

Remember the Fabrege Organics Shampoo Commercial from the 1970′s? (I know, now I’m REALLY dating myself). This commercial provides a visual for WOMM (word of mouth marketing) that has sustained for decades. In fact, you can view it on YouTube:

: Faberge 1970′s Organic Shampoo Commercial Video You Tube

Promoting viral activity, or building a following of friends via
social media may not be as important to someone who is using social media to be, well social.
More on Viral Marketing and Social Media.

However, to the many hundreds of thousands of corporations, businesses and individuals using social media to develop relationships with customers, strategic partners, employees and employers, Reach and Frequency will play a vital role in reaching target audiences in a meaningful way.
(meaningful = ROI)

Tips to To Promote Reach and Frequency Using Social Media:

Be True to Your Brand (whatever it is)
Post updates that are Relevant (create qualified audiences, even easier when you optimize social media updates)
Be Consistent (to build a following)
Be Diligent (update frequently)
Be Gracious (build relationships)
Sustain and Value 1 to 1 Relationships!

More on meaningful social media conversations to follow.

Will you Look at the Reach and Frequency of YOUR Social Media activity differently?

Justifying Twitter and Social Media to the Corporate Skeptic

Rebecca Murtagh — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 23:51:43 +0000

Social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and others are often dismissed as trivial pursuits by corporate executives and business marketers…but would they consider $3 million dollars in revenue trivial?

Dell Generates $3 Million Dollars in Sales From Twitter

In June 2009 Dell reported that they’d earned $3 million in revenue from the microblogging social media website Twitter. How can a site that only allows messages of 140 characters or less pack such a wallop for the PC manufacturer?

Dell reported they were able to use Twitter to post coupons, announce new products and drive traffic to the outlet store. Now this didn’t happen overnight. However if you are wondering if now is the time to get serious about marketing on social media, consider this:

It took 18 months for Dell to sell their first $1 million from Twitter.
From January to June 2009, they generated $1 million dollars.
Dell generated an additional $1 million from people who clicked from Twitter to Dell Outlet, then to Dell.com and made a purchase.

Click to Read the Rest of the Story . . .>

Learn more about the demographics of Twitter here:
Making the Case for Marketing to Baby Boomers on Twitter

To learn more about Social Media Marketing,
visit our FREE Social Media Marketing Guide

Join me on Twitter!
Rebecca Murtagh as “Virtual Marketer” on Twitter
Karner Blue Marketing Twitter Account

Never Underestimate How Content Plays into Google Search

Rebecca Murtagh — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 15:48:59 +0000

This morning I checked out a Mashable Post via Twitter that made me chuckle. The tweet read:

What Google REALLY Thinks of Twitter! http://tinyurl.com/nc5spx

Actually, the post which came to my Virtual Marketer Twitter account via Tweets from @PerryBelcher and @RichCurrie made me laugh out loud!

This is hilarious…and at the same time an exceptional (some might say tragic) example of how important content is to Google search.

To make sure this wasn’t fabricated, I went to Google.com and keyed in the same keywords: twitter is
(go ahead, try it!) The same keyword suggestions appear from Google:

Twitter is...

You can’t help but laugh initially. However, if you’ve read my previous Blog posting: Making The Case for SEO Content you’ll recognize HOW these results ended up ranking so high in Twitter results on Google is NO ACCIDENT.

The takeaway:
Good or bad, whatever people are saying about you (and what you say about yourself online) WILL be visible for the world to see on Google search, so it’s especially prudent to have a Search Engine Marketing, Social Media Campaign in Place…and crises management, when things don’t go as planned.

A professional search engine marketing firm can help you with a proactive SEM strategy, if your search results aren’t what you’d like them to be.

Making the Case for Search Engine Optimization of Website Content

Rebecca Murtagh — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 20:50:54 +0000

Despite how much most entrepreneurs, marketers, public relations and even copywriting professionals read and agree how important it is for website copy to be search engine optimized into SEO content, it is rarely executed effectively. This is not merely my opinion. Sadly, it is fact, backed up by website analytics data and conversion of sites pre and post SEO.

The best way to understand HOW to SEO your website content is to understand the reasons WHY it is important.

1. Search engines algorithms, especially Google and Yahoo, depend on text crawlers.

Indicating that the more search engine optimized your website content (copy) is, the better idea the search engine has of who you are, what you do/offer and where you are located (for local search)…and subsequently, the better your site will fare, or rank among other websites in keyword results.

What you can do to Insure you have search engine friendly website content:

Make sure your website has actual text for content. The easiest “litmus test” is to attempt to highlight the text on a website page with your mouse. If you cannot highlight it, as you can with copy within a text or WORD document, chances are pretty good that content is invisible to the seach engines.
Another method is to “view source” of a page (or every page) of your website. If you don’t see the content in that page full of code, neither do the search engines, it’s that simple.
Insure that there is ample “text” or data for the search engines to crawl that identify “who, what, when, where, how” as they relate to your goals and objectives.

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2. Search engine crawlers SEEK text, LIKE new copy, LOVE frequently updated content.

Website content is most valuable when it new content is added often, or updated frequently. The main mission of Search engines is to provide the most qualified result to those seeking a result. So, it makes perfect sense that search engines will be attracted to new and frequently visited content, especially when it is search engine optmized and adds to the overall “weight” of the website in the eyes of the search engines.

Search engines are naturally attracted to optimized Blogs, Articles, Press Releases, News, Website Pages, and other website content.

Unfortunately, static sites that do not have engaging content, are less likely to attract links from other websites, or entice visitors to return after their first visit…both of which are important to website SEO and conversion.

What you can do to improve the value of website content:

Use blog, news, articles or some other type of frequent updates that enable you to communicate with your audience, using the keywords and phrases your audience will find relevant.
Create a schedule to regularly add, update and search engine optimize content.
Seriously search engine optimize your content. This requires far more than “sprinkling keywords” and adding meta data. (learn more about “how to SEO your content” below).

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3. Search engine keyword queiries are not all PC based.

To be optimally successful, your website should be optimized for search engine accessibility via mobile, text to voice, ADA and other searches. One of the easiest, most effective methods to improve the performance of your website to every type of user over time is to balance design with function, and include real text as the foundation of website function. Text is the most universal, easily adaptable and most effective way to convey your core message on the nternet.

That’s not to say that website design and programs aren’t as vital to your value proposition and differentiating you from competitors, but if you want to improve site performance over time, over many browsers and throughout search engine algorithm changes, text as content is a mighty powerful and timeless weapon.

What you can do to improve SEO across multiple browsers and platforms

Refer to bullets in #2 and you are well on your way!
There are additional, more advanced techniques that we can address in a separate post.

Want to learn how to search engine optimize your website content? SEO Copywriting Secrets
…a powerful, easy-to-follow workshop, coaching and consulting program designed to help you develop SEO content.

Rebecca Murtagh is a recognized expert in SEO, SEM, internet marketing and social search marketing and trains corporate teams and individuals how to finesse their natural talents to support high-performance results using proven methods developed over the past 13 years.

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Next post:

The importance of Usability for Optimum ROI

(beyond what most businesses are thinking about!)

Converting Corporate Marketing Copy into Good Website Content

Rebecca Murtagh — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 12:52:14 +0000

It happens every day. A copywriter creates beautiful, compelling marketing copy that is then pushed through the corporate review process…first to the marketing manager, then to the director, then to the VP, possibly the company president, back through another round of edits and then it is presented to the website designer or webmaster to be pasted into the website.

Copying Marketing Copy to Website Content is one of the biggest copywriting mistakes you can make…here’s why:

1. People don’t consume content on the internet the way they will read offline marketing material, such brochures, reports or ads.

On the internet, you have only seconds to engage the user and prompt them to act, whether it be to another page, pick up the phone, or respond to a call to action on the site via form, survey or sale.

How To Translate Offline Copy to Website Content:

Break content into bite-sized pieces.
Leave white space to allow the eye to find what they are interested in reading.
Use the interactivity of websites to let the reader continue the “pre-qualifying” process by giving them choices.
Integrate interactive calls to action.

Remember, the Internet is a highly interactive medium that we have truly just begun to leverage. The more control you give the reader in consuming the content, the more relevant their experience will be on your website…And the easier it will be to convert them from a visitor to a customer!

Next Post: Making the Case for Search Engine Optimization of Website Content