I hate to be the one to break this to you

Sam & I have to accept some of the responsibility because we encouraged you to get started, to join the main networks and to actively engage with people. We also introduced you to lots of automated tools to make life easier.

Unfortunately in a desire to be helpful, we may have misled you as to how best to use each of the main online networks and the automation tools, so you get good results for your business.

Here’s what we mean:

Too Much Too Soon

Using an automated ‘welcome’ tweet to direct me to your Facebook page or profile is irritating and inappropriate. Just because we’ve just connected on Twitter doesn’t mean I want you in my LinkedIn or Facebook network as well. Give me time to get to know you better first!

Social networking is not a numbers game. 

If I met you for the first time at a networking breakfast, you’re not very likely to invite me round for lunch on the following Sunday, are you? And yet you expect me to become a ‘friend’ or link to you as a fellow professional before I’ve had a chance to find out if I really want to.

Overdoing the Automation

One of my personal pet peeves is visiting someone’s Facebook or LinkedIn profile to find nothing on their wall but a long list of tweets. This happens when people link their accounts together and delegate their updates to the automation tools. I’ve even seen people using Twitterfeed to broadcast updates from authority sources and doing nothing else!

That’s a bit like sending someone else to attend all in person networking events on your behalf, and expecting that will build personal and business relationships.

Social networking is about being ‘social’ with your connections. You need to take part, and that means listening as well as broadcasting.

Updates Should be Different Depending on the Social Network

Your communities on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn are very different from each other and need to be treated accordingly.

Twitter is fast moving and ‘in the moment’ which is why it works so well for breaking news. It’s also useful for sharing snippets of information and links to useful and interesting stuff.

Facebook is much more friendly and has become a place for publishing, sharing and commenting on personal observations, inspirational quotes, videos and photos.

LinkedIn is known as the network for professionals and provides opportunities to connect with fellow professionals. I classify small business owners as professionals too.

If you use Google+ you’ll know that ‘Circles’ allow you to differentiate what you share with whom, but the same feature doesn’t exist (yet) for other online networks.

You wouldn’t share exactly the same information with each of your family, friends, colleagues, networking contacts and prospective clients. Nor should you send exactly the same updates at the same frequency to all your social networks.

Further reading: 

Sharing on Social Networks – How Often is Too Often?
10 Powerful Tips to Increase Fan Engagements on Facebook

If, like me, social networking tends to go to the bottom of the list every day as there are 101 things you’d rather do or have to do, then these tips will at least keep up your presence and give you some ideas as to what you could share on your profiles.

1. Follow/connect with interesting people who share interesting things, then you have information you can share with your followers.

2. Make sure you automatically update your profiles with your latest news or blog posts. This can be automated by using applications such as Twitterfeed, RSS Graffiti for Facebook and ensuring your blog is linked to your LinkedIn profile.

3. Share photos particularly if you have a business where visuals are important, although any business can benefit from sharing images. Apps like Instagram or Twitpic for Twitter make this much easier.

4. Update more than one profile at a time with your latest news. Use some of the tools above, or if you use an application such as Hootsuite or Tweetdeck, make sure your social networking accounts are linked to it so you can update multiple accounts at once.

5. Pre-schedule updates – again if you use Hootsuite or Tweetdeck, you can pre-schedule updates to go out even if you’re away from the office or on holiday.

If it’s ideas that you lack, then the following may help you find interesting things that you could share with your network:

Reading blog posts or articles on what’s happening in your industry sector and sharing them (this is probably what we do the most). If you use Google Reader or Feedly to subscribe to your favourite blogs, it makes life much easier.

Share your thoughts and opinion on something that’s happening in your industry.

Share information about your favourite hobbies or things you like. This means that information you share isn’t just about work, but people get to know you a bit better too.

Participate in discussions that really interest you as you’ll be able to contribute in a meaningful way, rather than just posting because you feel you ought to, or making a comment for the sake of it.

If you want to find out a few more tricks and best practice techniques on social networking, then the following resources are some of the best ones around, certainly the ones we read regularly to make sure we’re as up to date as possible.

Social media examiner  -  always has excellent articles on getting the most out of social media.

Mari Smith  - Although she has positioned herself as an expert on using Facebook she also writes useful posts on other aspects of social networking.

Econsultancy – one of the leading UK resources on internet marketing generally, with plenty of insight on social media marketing.

Social media agency Simply Zesty has a very popular blog and often posts excellent content on social media.

What are your tips for finding the time to network online?

Image: Clock by Dave Stokes, on Flickr

Above shows example of web spam

Google have often stated (Google SEO guidelines video) that they have no problem with SEO. The issue they have is with webmasters, site owners and SEOs who try to gain an unfair advantage using ‘black hat’ techniques, or what Google refer to as ‘webspam’.

A couple of weeks ago, Matt Cutts of Google published a post in which he outlines again some of the benefits a good SEO can bring as well as some of the webspam tactics Google are ramping up their efforts to try and combat against.

In terms of some benefits of using a professional SEO, these can include:

1. Help improve usability of site

2. Help create good content

3. Help improve site performance

4. Help with the marketing message of the site

Some of the webspam they are constantly trying to beat include:

1. Keyword stuffing
–> Overuse of the phrase someone is trying to rank for

2. Link schemes
–> Trying to gain an advantage with link trickery

Google are rolling out changes to their search results algorithms all the time but this announcement makes it clear that more major updates are coming. From some of the rumblings on the Internet, this may well be happening so expect search results to fluctuate.

They stress again that site owners need to concentrate their efforts on creating good quality websites with unique, valuable content.

You may decide that you can outsource every aspects of your site’s SEO but I believe that the days of simply handing the reigns over to someone else and expecting them to get fantastic results just on the back of some dodgy link tactics are, if not long gone, rapidly on the decline.

You, as the site owner, need to take responsibility. It may be that you need help with some technical aspects of your site and an SEO could be the ideal fit. Or it may be you just need some help with creating content for your site. Again, perhaps you’ll turn to outside help to get this but don’t think you can just take a back seat and wait for the magic to happen.

There are some good individuals and companies out there offering professional search engine optimisation. Not everyone involved in the SEO industry is egocentric with more interest in buying fake awards than helping you. Take the time to speak with them and see if they are a good fit for you and your business.

To re-cap:

• Use Google Webmaster tools to find out how your site is performing
• Improve its speed and overall performance
• Use analytics to understand how your visitors engage with your site
• Add valuable, unique content to your site
• Engage naturally with your community
• Help and assist
• Use experts to help with specific tasks
• Outsource where necessary
• If you see a short-term surge in links to your site the moment you commence with an SEO company, ask how these people have worked such miracles?
• Can they also turn water in to wine?
• Run away as fast as you can from any muppet* claiming to guarantee you top spot in Google

Read the full article from Google here: Another Step to Rewarding High Quality Sites

*Disclaimer for the American market: This post has not been endorsed by The Muppets nor is it in any way associated with them.

Adrian Bold is the owner of Bold Internet Ltd, a Hampshire company providing SEO and PPC services. A Google AdWords Certified Partner offering AdWords campaign management.

Social Media Marketing is still relatively new and we’re all still learning how best to use it for our businesses.

The Profile Photo Faux Pas

Sam recently wrote a very comprehensive post on the importance of completing your social network profiles. I’d like to add a plea to use a profile photograph (also known as an avatar) that gives the message you really want it to. Cute animals and family groups are fine, but only if you don’t intend to use that profile professionally. And while logo avatars are suitable for company pages, owners of small businesses might be better off using a photo of themselves if they are the recognised ‘face’ of their brand.

I’ve been using the same avatar on all my social media profiles since I set them up back in 2007. While I may not look exactly like that photo any more – people still recognise me from it when I meet them at networking events for the first time. Would they recognise you from your avatar?

The Lack of Consistency Clanger

In order to get good results from social media marketing, stay on message and deliver tweets and updates on topics relevant to your audience. While it’s certainly a good idea to voice your opinion on occasion, try to avoid using your blog as a platform to post too many personal rants. We’ve spoken many times on the need to publish blog posts and email newsletters regularly. This can be made easier if you have a plan and use an editorial calendar, not only for blog posts but for all your social media updates.

Having a plan would result in fewer profiles being hastily set up on the latest networks and promptly abandoned. Or perhaps an initial flurry of activity followed by nothing at all for weeks or even months. If you aren’t ready to use a particular social network, then don’t publicise it on your website or blog. That’s almost worse than not setting up a profile in the first place.

However, it’s important not to become too noisy either. Tweeting or updating every few minutes will annoy your followers. No-one has that much good stuff to share, nor do people have that much time to read it all.

Other Assorted Social Media Clangers

Self promotion and little else becomes a turn-off after a while. For example I find that the links shared by some people always go through to a website home page, sales page, an ‘under-construction’ page, or to an error message. Their links don’t lead to content of value to my followers, so I rarely feel inclined to share them.

Tweets which are too long to retweet won’t be retweeted as often. It takes time to carefully edit them down to be within the required character count. If you want people to be able to retweet you, make it easy for them. Keep the character count down to 110-115 to allow for your RT @name and any link to be included.

Too much automation and not enough conversation. While many social media tools are free, that doesn’t mean everything should be set up to run automatically. You still need to work at social media and chat with people if you want to form any kind of relationships online. Being ‘social’ means sharing, liking and commenting on other people’s stuff too. It’s a two-way street.

A lack of social share buttons on a blog can mean missed opportunities. I can’t tell you how frustrating it is to read a really good article, want to share it with my online followers, only to find no social sharing buttons to click. Fortunately I have Buffer and Hootlet (from Hootsuite) installed on my Chrome browser, but even the free WordPress.com and Blogger platforms both provide sharing options, so there is no excuse!

What are the biggest mistakes you’ve seen small businesses make using social media? 

Photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bigdrumthump/3214172131/

However, times have moved on and it seems that whether you like social networking or not, if you run a business, you really need to be using these sites. We’ve gone through the benefits of networking in previous posts, and I’m sure you know what they are too.

Despite that, for many of us, social networking doesn’t come easily, even with the daily ‘what shall I talk about?’, ‘will people find me boring?’ worries, finding the time is even harder – and it probably always goes to the bottom of the list if you don’t enjoy it anyway!

I’ve battled with it for several years now, particularly as there are so many internet marketers on the social networks, just sharing the same stuff seems a bit pointless. If I talk about more personal aspects of my life, then I’m sure that’s not going to really interest people either and I never remember jokes, so that’s no good!

I have found that some networks are easier to interact on than others. I confess that I hardly use Facebook and am connected to just a few friends and family. LinkedIn is much easier as you can choose to contribute to ongoing discussions and you’re not limited to a certain number of characters. Google+ is also reasonably easy to use, share and discuss shared information. My main obstacle is Twitter as the conversations move on so quickly and you can’t really have a proper discussion in 140 characters – in fact it’s quite overwhelming. In my opinion, Twitter has become more of a broadcasting platform than a place to interact and network, although I’m sure some of you will disagree.

If you feel a bit like me about social networking, then these are my tips to get the best out of it:

Don’t feel you have to go onto these sites every day. We all have lives offline (well, some of us do anyway) as well as businesses to run, so prioritise your time.

But make time each week. Once you start using these sites and connecting with people, then you do need to commit to it and keep up a presence, so perhaps aim for putting aside some time 3 times per week. Even 15 minutes should be enough to post and interact on the sites you have accounts with.

If, like me, you’re in an industry with a prolific number of social networkers, then perhaps share things you personally like or are interested in rather than just the same industry news, which everyone else is sharing.

Automate some of it. Louise has written a post about automation, specifically using Hootsuite, and it means you can be seen to be there even when you’re not: Using Hootsuite for Business.

Don’t worry too much about it. If other marketing activities are working well for you, then don’t feel pressured into spending too much time on these sites. You need to enjoy the marketing activities you choose, you’ll come across as more sincere, and probably get better results from it!

What tips do you have for the reluctant networker? Please share your thoughts and experiences in the comments! 

Here’s one reason why you might want to - 

In January 2012, Pinterest sent more traffic to websites than LinkedIn, Google Plus, Reddit, AND YouTube put together – according to Shareaholic.

If that startling fact doesn’t get your attention, how about this one? 

Daily Pinterest users have increased by more than 145% since the beginning of 2012 – Mashable

In my opinion, there are two main reasons people are flocking to use Pinterest. First, it is undeniably attractive to look at and browse through. Second, it’s incredibly easy to use. You don’t have to read or write much at all. And at a time when we’re bombarded with so many pages full of words, it’s a refreshing change to be able to simply look at and share lovely images. Videos are popular as always.

Will it work for your business?

I have hesitated to suggest Pinterest before because I know you have enough to do already! However, the continued growth of this new social media darling means you really cannot afford to ignore it.

Although we haven’t opened an account for Savvy Marketers, both Sam and I have set up individual accounts so you can have a look to see what we’re up to, and of course we’d be delighted if you’d follow us.  (Sam is at pinterest.com/vintagetrading and I’m at pinterest.com/louisebj)

From personal experience I warn you now that Pinterest is incredibly addictive and can consume far too much time. You’ll need to be disciplined and keep it under control.

Plenty of articles have been written recently about using Pinterest, so rather than rehash what’s already out there, I recommend you read the following:

1. Apply for an account (it only takes a couple of days to be accepted) and then read this step by step post to get started. Be sure to set up your profile properly (as Sam writes in this post)
2. Watch this excellent webinar for some good ideas and tips [Video]
3. To help you add pins of your own, here’s a list of useful tools.
4. There are 56 Pinterest marketing ideas for your business in this post.
5. If you’re interested in more facts about the meteoric rise of Pinterest, this infographic (from Infographic Labs) has plenty of them:

Are you on Pinterest? Put your url in the comments below so people can find and follow you!

Perhaps you think the descriptions you add won’t have much impact, but I disagree. Getting this part right can bring plenty of benefits and is where your networking all begins. For starters, telling people what you do succinctly, with a link to your website and a photo can go a long way to encouraging connections in itself. That doesn’t include other benefits such as making sure your profile gets found in a search, either within the network itself or even in the search engines. The better connected, the more active and influential you are will also help towards your profile being found nearer the top of the list than the bottom!

Twitter is one of the easiest profiles to complete as there really isn’t a great deal to fill in. You only have 160 characters to use in your description, but still use these words wisely. Be succinct and to the point about what you do. Vague descriptions won’t help and won’t encourage people to follow you. Don’t forget to include a link to your website and a nice profile photo. Louise has previously written about profile photos, which you can read here: What does your profile photo say about you?

Facebook page set up has changed a lot recently, particularly with the new timeline layout. Many of you would have had to update your page over the last month. If you’re in the process of revising your page, then make sure you check all of your page profile is completed as fully as possible and find some eye catching images for your new layout. Mari Smith has a detailed post about all the changes and what you need to do: Facebook Timeline for Business Pages – 21 Key Points To Know

LinkedIn is probably the most complicated profile you’ll have to complete but well worth taking the time to do so. LinkedIn is quite helpful as they tell you what percentage of your profile is complete, and which bits are missing. You really need to aim for 100% to get the most benefit from it. The other important thing to remember as you complete your profile, are the keywords someone could potentially use to find your skills. It’s advisable to include these keywords in key areas such as in your main summary, your experience, your skills and expertise, where you can list your skills as keywords. Other things that help you get found are how many connections you have along with recommendations, so it’s well worth actively connecting and building a good profile that may encourage new connections and enquiries. You can find more tips on the LinkedIn blog.

Although Google+ is new, Google profiles have been around for a while and these are used to create your Google+ profile. To set up your Google+ account, use an existing Google login, then create your profile. It’s not particularly complicated but there are few key areas to complete such as the tagline which is a short summary of what you do, and is followed by a longer introduction, so complete these fully and sprinkle important keywords throughout your text. You don’t have to complete every field, but if you’re using Google+ for business purposes, then I would complete your occupation and employment. Make sure you link to your website and/or blog and any other sites you contribute towards, along with your other social profiles. It’s also worth linking to your author page on your blog. This helps Google to determine which blog posts you write. You may have seen images of people appearing next to articles they’ve written appearing in Google’s search results. There’s more to it than just linking to your author page, but this does help. You may find this post from Devonwebdesigners.com useful for actually setting this up properly: Rel=Author Step By Step Tutorial For WordPress. Finally, with recent changes to the profile layout, you can add some eye catching images, so make full use of this (you can see I have yet to do this myself).

Pinterest is as easy to complete as Twitter. Make sure you complete the description of what you do in about 200 characters, sprinkling in your important keywords. Add in your web address and a nice photo. You can connect your Pinterest account to Facebook and Twitter, to make sure this is enable too (if relevant).

The more attention you pay to completing your various online profiles, the more benefit you will have from simply being there. Then read our posts about how to use them to actually get your desired results!

What tips do you have for completing social profiles? Please share them here!

When do you need to use great Headlines?

• Blog Posts
• Web Pages
• Email Newsletters
• Marketing Messages
• E-Books & Reports
• Product Sales Pages (and for the products themselves)

The Headline is and always has been, the single most important part of all articles, blog posts, or other web pages. Strangely however, in view of its importance, it’s often the part that receives the least attention. In fact, it’s often treated as an afterthought, which is a terrible shame. To quote the late legendary ad man David Ogilvy:

“On the average, five times as many people read the headline as read the body copy. When you have written your headline, you have spent eighty cents out of your dollar. “

The headline or title is the most effective way to get people to read the rest of your post, page or article.

If you don’t understand and more importantly, put this principle into action, you’re going to miss out on a lot of readers and potential business.

Headlines draw people in, whether they see them in search results (also an important place to include your target keywords), on Twitter, in RSS feeds, or on your blog itself.

Ogilvy is well known for his advice on this: the purpose of your headline is to get people to read your first line (and the purpose of your opening line is to get people to read the next one, and so on, step by step). So we encourage you to invest time and energy into writing your titles.

So, what are the 5 secrets to writing great headlines?

Following hours of study and research, these formats seem to perform consistently well:

Arouse Curiosity – I hope that you clicked on the headline of this article because you were curious to find out the 5 secrets.

Provide Practical How-Tos – People who are keen to learn how to do things for themselves might click through to read: ‘3 Step-by-Step Ways to Get More Business from Social Networking’

Appeal to Pain Points – Identify and include a pain point or problem your target market wants to cure. ‘How to get rid of unsightly fat in time for your beach vacation’

Copy what the ‘Greats’ do – The best headlines written by the great copywriters are there to be copied, so you don’t have to struggle (we’ve included an excellent free resource below). Be sensible when copying and don’t get sued for plagiarism.

Refer to Celebrities or Trending News – with our obsession for the famous (and infamous!), quoting their name in a headline is another tried & true method. Similarly, tagging onto current events can work well to increase clicks to open.

However, remember that the headline is also your ‘promise’ to the reader of what they will find within your content, after clicking through. Don’t deceive them or you will not only lose credibility in their eyes, but more importantly you’ll lose their trust.

We are most definitely students of copywriting and don’t claim to be experts. For further reading, and to learn from a couple of the ‘real’ greats at headline writing, we suggest you try:

Headline Hacks ‘A “Cheat Sheet” for writing blog posts that go viral’ by Jon Morrow, Associate Editor of CopyBlogger.com (this is a free pdf download so is wonderful to keep for reference)

http://www.copyblogger.com/magnetic-headlines/ – This web page contains links to a series of 11 excellent free articles to read and learn from.

It’s very easy for copy to be nicked and passed off as someone else’s. Not only do you need to be aware that it could happen to you, but what to do about it if it does happen. Don’t be tempted to plagiarise other people’s articles either – using other people’s content is fine as long as you go about using it the right way.

Copyright is a huge legal area and we’re certainly no experts. However, we have taken steps to try and protect ours as much as we can. We’ve also heard stories of blatant plagiarism and the other way around too – someone copying someone else far too closely that they infringed on their copyright.

Firstly, protecting your own copyright

The steps we’ve taken to protect ours include a copyright notice on our website. Make sure you have one on yours and that it’s up to date. The UK Copyright Service has an whole page dedicated to this, so well worth reading. Make sure you take their advice when writing one for your website: Fact sheet P-03: Using Copyright Notices

Creative Commons – You can sign up to the Creative Commons and include their logo on your website. This tells people how they can use your content. There are different options to choose from, so choose the notice most appropriate for your business. If you use photo sharing sites such as Flickr, you will see that the images there are categorised under different sections of Creative Commons, you can decide how you want your images to be shared. The Creative Commons isn’t not just for images, but covers written content too.

My Free Copyright – This is a useful free tool we use for Savvy Marketers, basically it puts a time and date stamp on your new content. For example, when you publish a new blog post, the tool will automatically email you with the time and date of when the post was published, which you could use to prove that your content was there first, if it was ever copied.

Using other people’s content

Despite people protecting their copyright, it doesn’t mean you can’t use other people’s images and content. The UK Copyright Service has a statement about using other people’s content, from Factsheet P-12, Writers Copyright, as follows:

If you include quoted passages, illustrations, images or other items in your work which are not of your own creation. It is important to ensure that you have permission to use these before any publication or sale. If permission is given as a personal agreement, (rather than a formal contractual or licensing agreement), you should still ensure that you have some documentation, signed by the owner of the work to prove that permission has indeed been given.

You must have permission to use other people’s content before arbitrarily adding it to your site. Most people won’t mind if you cite them as the author, include their bio and a link back to their site. If using someone else’s images, again you must ask and cite the source of the photos.

What do you do if someone steals your content?

Firstly, ask them to take it down. If being polite doesn’t work, then you’ll need to seek legal advice, possibly sending them a ‘cease and desist’ type of letter. You can find templates for these on the web, but we would recommend seeking the advice of a solicitor who specialises in copyright first.

There’s a useful article about this on the University of Cambridge website & on the UK Copyright Service website.

Have you ever had your content stolen? What actions did you take to enforce your copyright? Please share any advice you have in the comments! 

Image: Large copyright sign made of jigsaw puzzle pieces by Horia Varlan, on Flickr

If you’ve only recently started exploring social media marketing tools to promote your business online, the terms ‘Content Marketing’ and ‘Copywriting’ may not mean a lot. They could just be terms you’ve heard of or read about. The aim of today’s post is to define what they are and suggest how to use them both to get better results from your online marketing.

And if you’ve been blogging and networking online for a while, there may be still be tweaks you can apply and benefit from.

Sam and I recently gave a short talk to the Chichester Chamber Breakfast Group where we shared an overview of the importance of Content Marketing, what it is and suggested quite a few different ways to create it.

Our definition of Content Marketing is this: it means moving way beyond having a brochure or other way of offering information about your products & services. It means delivering best practices, case studies, success stories, thought leadership – anything that will help you become a trusted resource for your customers and prospective customers. 

Content marketing will help you build credibility – as someone who knows what they’re talking about; build trust – as you share tips and successes; build your brand reputation – as you’re seen to be a part of the online networks and communicating with other respected persons.

Content marketing will help you generate leads for your business and nurture them until the point of conversion. But only if the content you provide is of high quality and useful to your prospective clients.

So where does Copywriting come in?

My definition of Copywriting is that it’s the way you put together your content in order to encourage the consumer to take the action you want them to. This means that online Copywriting can apply not only to webpages and blog posts, but also to podcasts and videos. After all, you still need to put together the words to record.

Professional Copywriters command very high fees because their copy is so effective. They’re the people who write the sales pages you read on websites – the ones that have you reaching for your credit card – and taking exactly the action they want!

But most content should not be a blatant sales pitch! If it is you will quickly feel the cold draught of people leaving your blog, unsubscribing from your newsletter, unfollowing and defriending you. That’s yet another skill of a great copywriter – their copy is very subtle indeed.

However most of us can’t afford to hire a professional copywriter. So we need to learn how to write (create) the content ourselves, in such a way that we get good results too. Copywriting areas to pay particular attention to include:

Headlines – these are possibly the most important part of copywriting to learn to do well, and we’ll be devoting a new post to this topic very soon.

Structure and readability – you want to guide your reader and present content in a way that is easy for them to understand. Doing this will encourage blog visitors to stay on your site for longer.

Relevant Content – Give your newsletter readers and blog visitors the kind of good quality content they’re looking for and keep them happy!

Rapport Building – Your online articles and updates may be the only way you connect with some prospective clients, so the tone of your copy is an important part of forming a relationship with them.

Call to Action – This is the part of copywriting so many people either forget or get wrong. What do you want your reader or visitor to do next?

If you found this post interesting, don’t forget to register for next week’s free webinar : “How to Write so Your Web Visitors Do What You Want Them To!” 

 Further Reading:

What’s the Difference Between Content Marketing and Copywriting?

Copywriting vs. Content Writing: What’s the Difference?