By google on Oct 15, 2016 09:00 am
 Weekend Favs October 15 written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing My weekend blog post routine includes posting links to a handful of tools or great content I ran across during the week. I don't go into depth about the finds, but encourage you to check them out if they sound interesting. The photo in the post is a favorite for the week from an online source or one that I took out there on the road. 
Animoto – Marketing video builder with voice-over, text control and collages/layouts. NiftyQuoter – Easy-to-use proposal software with customizable templates that will save you time and improve communication with clients. Swipe-Worthy – The place for copywriters & marketing minds to dissect and discuss great marketing examples. 
Source: News from Duct Tape Marketing
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By google on Oct 14, 2016 10:00 am
 No One Cares How Many Followers You Have – How to Properly Measure Social Media Success written by Guest Post read more at Duct Tape Marketing When social media first started being used by businesses, it was all about the numbers – the bigger, the better. Your performance was measured in follower counts or the volume of Likes, Shares, Retweets or Pins you could accumulate. But as social media has evolved to become a core marketing channel, the way we interpret these numbers has changed. As we spend hours every day scheduling Tweets, finding content for Facebook and editing pictures for Instagram, we must be able to determine if the effort is paying off. We need to know whether these numbers are indicative of success and how they correlate with actual business growth. What Is Social Media Success? As a brand, counting followers is a 'vanity metric' that is not always reflective of success. Although having a large number of followers can be beneficial in terms of your reach, credibility and positioning against competitors, that number is not a representation of how deeply your brand's message resonates with its audience and is not an indicator of how many sales or leads you are generating through social media. Social media is a marketing channel that requires as much time, effort and often as much spend as the likes of SEO, PPC and email marketing. Its success should, therefore, be analysed and defined in the same way – in terms of business KPIs. How To Measure Social Media Success – 4 Steps 1. Situation Analysis When measuring the results of any marketing activity, you require a starting point. Carrying out a detailed audit on your social media channels will help you understand your current performance and give you a position from which to plan growth. Firstly, use each platform's analytics tools (Facebook Insights, Twitter Analytics etc) in conjunction with Google Analytics to evaluate your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and to determine who your audience are on each channel. This is of particular importance as audiences can differ greatly from channel to channel. For example, Irish Parcels, an Irish courier company, has a primarily female following on Facebook, yet their Twitter audience is slightly more male. This will not only impact the content you create for each channel but will also affect the goals you set. Take a close look at your best performing content in terms of reach and engagement. Examine the kind of traffic it generates to your website and map the user journey to understand if your current activity is driving conversion.   2. Set Goals Around Metrics That Matter
Once you have a well-rounded understanding of where you currently stand in terms of social media marketing, you need to establish realistic and specific goals that serve a purpose and are set around metrics that matter. This will help you develop a manageable strategy that is results-driven. Look at your overall business objectives and determine how your social media efforts can help you achieve them. Perhaps you want to increase brand visibility among the 18-25 demographic. For this, a realistic goal may be to increase Facebook interaction among this target market by 10% month on month. When possible, you should also set attainable goals around direct conversions and set sales or lead acquisition targets. An example of this kind of goal might be: "Gain 20 sales from organic Facebook posting" or "Get 15 sign ups through Twitter traffic". However, for many companies, and small businesses, in particular, focusing on direct conversions is simply not realistic and social media marketing is a much longer game than Pay Per Click or email marketing. This may instead be something to work towards as you first focus on your boosting your reach and engagement, as these are loyalty building metrics that help cultivate conversions in the long run. 3. Focus On ROI As mentioned, social media is a long game and can be difficult to quantify in terms of actual money. But regardless of whether you're able to gain direct conversions or not, always keep some form of ROI at the forefront of your efforts. Establish a monthly cost per channel in terms of labour hours or spend, if applicable (like Facebook advertising), then outline your results. For example, in August, you may have spent 20 hours on Facebook and gained 10,000 visitors to your website via this channel. You will have to determine what this traffic is worth to you, to decide if you are gaining a return on your investment. Putting an emphasis on ROI ensures that you are fully aware of how much work you are putting in and exactly what you're getting in return. This prevents you spending more time and money than you need to on each channel and means that everything you do has a purpose. 4. Use Tools And Measure Often If you're not measuring, then you're not marketing, so be sure put time aside each week to review your social media platforms and note any changes, improvements or other results. Each channel has its own analytics tools which provide valuable insight into your content performance and who your audience are. Some will even give you an idea of what time of the day/week is best to post. Don't just take note of your results; analyse and restrategise accordingly. For example; if you notice that your reach is poor, your marketing message is not strong enough. If your engagement is low, your content may not be specifically targeted and if your conversions could be better, consider rethinking your call to actions. Be sure to measure frequently. Social media is an instant medium and you can determine almost instantly what is generating results and what isn't. Don't wait to create a monthly or quarterly report before you change or adapt your strategy. Pay close attention on a regular basis; if something isn't working, stop doing it. It something is generating great results, find a way to build upon it.  Lana Richardson is a journalist and digital marketer, specialising in content and social media marketing. She is the current blog editor for NIParcels.com and IrishParcels.ie.
Source: News from Duct Tape Marketing
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By google on Oct 13, 2016 10:00 am
 7 Ways Brands Can Connect with Social Media Messaging written by Guest Post read more at Duct Tape Marketing If you have limited your social media participation promotional content only, you are missing the point. There's nothing inherently wrong with using social media as a place to share announcements about new products, upcoming sales, and specials, or boost flagging sales. In fact, doing these things is a good idea. It's just that your biggest opportunities on social media channels isn't promotion. It's branding, and the best way to improve your branding is to reach audiences with your unique messaging. Remember that consumers don't just care about your products and prices. They want to connect with brands that reflect their values. 1. Give Your Audience a Behind The Scenes Look Your values and your mission can be best seen in your daily operations. Invite customers in by filming behind the scenes videos. Let them meet the people who produce your products and run things behind the scenes. The passion, enthusiasm, and professionalism that is reflected in your workplace can be infectious. This is especially the case when customers see that your branding and your operations are in line with one another. You'll accomplish something else by doing this. People enjoy feeling like insiders, and as if they are in the know. It makes them feel as if they are a part of something exclusive. Behind the scenes content gives people those feelings. 2. Highlight People And Causes You Believe in Is your business active in social causes? If so, let your audience know the causes that you support, and that they support by patronizing your business. Even if you don't include charitable giving in your business model, you can still find causes that reflect your mission and signal boost them on your social media pages. Don't forget about inspirational people. Has someone on your team beaten a serious illness, run a marathon, or accomplished some other amazing feat? What about someone in your community. Share their story on social media. 3. Curate Humorous Touching or Inspiring Posts That Reflect Your Brand Finding trending stories and videos that make an emotional impact is relatively easy. In fact, you could probably head to your Facebook feed right now, and find at least one post that fits in this category. The challenge is finding the right content to curate. Sharing just any viral post or video might earn shares and a little bump in traffic, but that doesn't help you with your messaging. The key is to find content that resonates and represents your values. Instead of thinking, 'hey, a lot of people will like this post', think 'people who like this post share the values that my brand represents.' 4. Tape Introduction Videos of Company Representatives Why not take the concept of the 'About Us' page to the next level. Film video introductions of the folks who represent your company, and who were responsible for getting your operations off of the ground. People will feel a much stronger connection, and will buy into your messaging if they connect your brand with people they believe are sincere and trustworthy. Getting to know you content should be very important to brands as part of a marketing strategy that focuses on customer relationships. 5. Use Visual Content to Make Emotional Connections Trust is a key element when forming connections with your customers. Visual content has been shown to evoke feelings of trust. It also evokes emotions. So, include pictures, videos, and other visual elements in your social media posts. To really connect and give your messaging impact, share lots of photographs with members of your team. Remember that smiling pictures of women are especially good at increasing trust. 6. Ask Questions And Solicit Opinions It might help to think of social media marketing like online dating. You can tell potential matches all about yourself. You can broadcast what you like and dislike, your stands on social issues, even share your future goals. In the end, in order to establish a relationship with anybody, conversations have to take place. On social media, you have to create openings for these conversations to happen. The way to do this is to ask open-ended questions and invite your followers to share their thoughts. Then, when they do this, engage them. When you participate in conversations, rather than simply posting content, you help to establish and strengthen customer relations. 7. Focus on Accuracy And Consistency The best way to make your messaging connect with your followers is simply to show up with good content on a regular basis. If you curate content, source it from reputable sites, and be sure that your sources' values are close to your own. Remember that when you share content, you aren't just endorsing a particular piece, you are endorsing its source as well. When it comes to the content that you create, it should be relevant, accurate, and it should focus on meeting your audience's needs. If you become known as a source of quality information that helps people to solve their problems, you will have no trouble getting your message out. Conclusion By focusing on messaging instead of promotion, you build trust, establish your brand and your employees as thought leaders, and create believability. Doing this takes creating and sharing content that reflects your values, allows people to get to know your people and your story, and that is high in quality and visual elements. Finally, consistency is key.  Kerry Creaswood is a passionate writer and blogger. Her topics of interest are SEO, marketing, and social media. To find more about Kerry – check her Twitter
Source: News from Duct Tape Marketing
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