3 Social Media Tips to Ensure You’re Doing It Right

Small business owners are using social media to reach their customers and potential customers. But are they using it correctly? Some are, but there are many small businesses that are not.

Two thirds of internet users in the U.S. regularly use a social network and they spend three times more time on blogs and social networks than on email. So, social networks, not email blasts, are the way to reach these people.

Here are some tips to follow to make sure time and effort you are putting into social media pays off for your business.

Set Up Your Accounts Properly

When you sign up for a social media account for your small business, thoroughly fill out your profile. Make sure you include you company name, logo and tagline, company color scheme, a photo of you or your business, your company biography and a call to action.

Connect with likeminded people on all your social network platforms. “Like” other pages on Facebook, create circles on Google+, create lists on Twitter and connect with other entrepreneurs on LinkedIn. Once you’ve made these connections, start conversations and build relationships. Chat with your followers, comment on other industry related blogs, join and participate in online groups and share your content.

Have a Plan

Your social network use should not be intermittent and unplanned. You should have a strategy that you re-visit every six months to make sure you’re posting the proper content and interacting with your followers correctly.

Create stellar content. Write snappy headlines, use short paragraphs and include compelling images. And don’t forget to include a call to action. Optimize your content using your SEO keywords. Businesses that optimize and promote their blogs receive 55% more traffic and 70% more leads than those who don’t.

Share your content on all your social network platforms. Make your content easy to share. Ask questions and spark discussions. Blog posts shared on Twitter and Facebook receive 149% more inbound links than those not shared.

Schedule Your Posts

When you decide to use social media to promote your small business, commit to a schedule and stick to it. Use a scheduling software, such as HootSuite, to schedule your posts to publish to your entire social media platform at the same time. Occasionally, link to your webpage to convert followers to customers.

Merry Christmas!

Wishing you and your family a very Merry Christmas!

5 Tips for Using Images in Blog Posts

Your readers connect to your blog content not only based on what it says with text, but what it says in images, too. Blogs that include images receive more views than articles without images.

Adding images to your blog is simple. Here are five tips to improve your blog readership.

1) Use images of real people.

Pictures of people are one of the most engaging forms of web content. Don’t just randomly insert stock photos in your blogs. Use pictures of real people. If you’re writing about a client, a new employee or even one of your product offerings, include pictures of real people. Have one of your employees pose with your new product. Get a great picture of that client.

Your readers will spend more time on your blog, maybe even read it, if it contains pictures of real people.

2) Combine photos and text to increase viewer retention and engagement.

Pictures work on Facebook. Studies have shown that posts with images on Facebook constitute 93% of the most engaging posts.

People remember in two main ways: verbal and imaginal. Images create impressions on our brains in a concrete way. Your readers will remember what you wrote if you include the correct images.

3) Optimize your images so they load quickly.

Sluggish loads are annoying. 47% of viewers want a two-second load time for images. Your images should be smaller than 100KB to load quickly.

4) Position your image to the right or left of the first paragraph in your post.

People are more likely to read an article that has an image to the right or left of the first paragraph.

Why is this effective? First, people are visually attracted to images. An image positioned in this way invites the eye to travel to the image and the text. Also, people are more likely to read short lines of text than long ones. When compared with lines of text below the image, the lines beside the image seem short. This means that people will be more inclined to read them. You have that first paragraph to capture their attention and entice them to read the rest of your post.

5) Use one image for every 350 words.

How many images should you have in your posts? In a study by Blog Pros, in the 100 of the highest ranking blogs on the internet, there was at least one image for every 350 words. You should use as many images as you need to in order to communicate your ideas clearly and precisely.

Today, we live in an age of the visual. From smartphone to video billboards, images are everywhere. Be sure to include them in your blogs. 

3 Unwritten Rules of Social Media

There are some unwritten rules for social media that you should follow when engaging your followers.

Rule #1 – Give Readers Value

The social media networks you use as a small business are the perfect platform to market your products or services. It is important that you make a concerted effort to post more than just promotional content about your business. Don’t disguise one of your ads as a social media post. Your readers are too savvy for that.

Your posts should educate your followers about what’s currently happening in your market. You can let them know that your company can provide the latest and newest product or service, but don’t make the post about you. Remember, it’s all about the pain your potential customer has and how you can solve it.

Rule #2 – Always Be Nice

Eventually, you will come face-to-face with a negative social interaction. It could be a complaint about an experience someone had at your business. How you handle the negative posts can affect how many see your company. If the person with the negative post has a legitimate complaint, acknowledge what your business did poorly, apologize and offer a solution that will make your customer happy.

Rule #3 – Double Check Your Posts

If you’re the person writing your blog and Facebook posts and your tweets, have someone check your work for spelling errors, proper grammar and accurate content before you publish it. You don’t want to be embarrassed online with blatant errors in your posts.

Consider these “rules” when posting to your social media accounts and your followers will thank you by remaining followers.

Happy Hanukkah!

Wishing you and your family a Happy Hanukkah!

If I Could Turn Back Time…

A recent USA Snapshot asked 504 small business owners what the top things they would have done differently. Not surprisingly, “doing more marketing/promotion” was the number one response.

Don’t let this be your regret. Contact an expert, like us at Blue Dog Marketing, to handle your marketing for you. We take marketing off your plate so you can concentrate on what you do best, running your business. Let 2015 be the year your business grows through marketing!

5 Ways to Get More Pinterest Followers

Want to get more followers on Pinterest?

Are you ready to take your Pinterest marketing to the next level?

Here are tips to show you how to build up your Pinterest fast.

Post Original Content

80% of the posts on Pinterest are repins. Posting original content is a great way to stand out.

Repin Content

Repinning posts should be a big part of your Pinterest marketing strategy. You will get noticed by the original source and may get them to follow your page.

When repining, be sure to add your own descriptions to the posts. Include your keywords too.

Follow the Leaders

A simple rule for Pinterest: If you follow others on Pinterest, you’ll gain more followers. It’s that easy.

Use Keywords in Descriptions

How you pin images is just as important as what you pin. Use relevant search terms in your descriptions. Your keywords should be terms people search for on Pinterest.

Make Your Website Pinterest-Friendly

Another way to get more Pinterest followers it by adding Pinterest follow and share buttons to your website. If a website visitor likes one of your pictures, they can easily pin your image. 

5 Awesome Ways to Promote Your Blog Posts

You’ve spent hours researching and writing your blog posts. Now, how do you get someone to read them? The answer is you need to promote your blog. Here are five ways you can promote each of your blog posts.

Be consistent with your blogging

This means you need to pick a schedule of when you are posting your blogs and stick to it. If blogging two or three times a week is too much for you, then only blog once a week or twice a month even. The idea is to post your blogs on a regular schedule so your readers will know when to come back to read more.

Add Interesting Graphics

Do you add visually appealing pictures or graphics with each of your posts? Your pictures should be relevant to the post and unique. Pictures can grab a reader’s attention and make them want to read your entire post.

Share Your Blog on Social Media

Don’t just post your blog and be done with it. You’ve spent time researching and writing your blog, so share it with the world! Add your blog to your personal and business Facebook page. Share on your LinkedIn profile. You can tweet about your blog too. Make sure your blog is connected to your website. People visiting your website might also stop to read your blog. You can also share your blog with your circle and publicly on Google+ to increase your SEO.

Don’t Forget Your Current Contacts

You might already have an email or newsletter list. Use it to promote your blog. Include your most recent blog in your email newsletter. You can link to your blog so reader can get more information if they want. Include a link to your blog in your email signature.

Leverage Other Bloggers’ Networks

Offer to guest blog. You know how much work blogging is. Bloggers appreciate offers to guest blog because that’s one day they don’t have to worry about. Through your networking or involvement in associations, find other businesses that you could partner with (don’t compete with) and write a blog relevant to their market. You can link back to your blog. This way you increase your audience reach into a whole new market.

6 Pinterest Tips for the Holidays

If your small business uses Pinterest, it’s important to have a strong presence there as the holiday season is upon us. Pinterest is the go-to social network for sparking gift ideas and referral traffic from Pinterest pages is growing at a significant rate.

If you want to obtain some of that referral traffic, you must position yourself as a must-follow pinner. It does take time to build your credibility on Pinterest, here are a few things your can do to create a stronger presence in just a few days.

Be Informative

Optimize your Pinterest profile. This section provides potential customers with valuable information about your company and your brand and it can influence their decision to follow your brand.

To optimize your profile section, make sure to write a description that informs visitors what kind of business you are and what kind of products you offer. It is important to include your keywords in this section.

Plan Board Placement

The boards that are featured above the fold on your company’s Pinterest page will influence visitors in their decision to follow and re-pin you. Place your most popular boards at the top of the page. For the holidays, you will also want to position time-sensitive holiday campaign boards at the top.

Know Your Niche

Use Pinterest’s analytics to provide insight about post content that is engaging. The analytics dashboard will provide you with a visual look at your most popular boards and pins.

Interact with Pinterest Influencers

Follow influencers on Pinterest and repin, like and share their pins. By doing this, these influencers will be more likely to engage with your content, which will increase your visibility on the site. Piqora is a contest promotion tool that helps you create your Pinterest contest and allows you to run analytical reports about your contest.

Hold a Contest

One of the best ways to increase engagement on Pinterest is to hold a contest.  A contest will strengthen your company’s presence on Pinterest and will attract a lot of attention.

Grow your Audience Using Facebook

By connecting your Pinterest and Facebook pages, you can grow your audience. Using Pinvolve, a software that automatically posts Pinterest pins to your Facebook page, makes it easy to increase your Pinterest traffic. 

Create a 2015 Marketing Plan Even If You Don't Want To

2015 will be here before you know it, so now is the time to prepare your company for the coming year by creating your 2015 marketing plan.

It’s so tempting to stick with the same old marketing plan that you’ve been using, with hopes that it will work better next year. But that’s not a wise move. Now is the time to update your marketing strategy for the upcoming year.

Here are a few ideas to assist you in creating your marketing plan:

Review Last Year’s Plan

See what worked and what didn't work. Not all your great plans for 2014 turned out as you expected. If you can look at what didn’t work and understand what went wrong, you won’t make those same mistakes again.

Reviewing your marketing plan will give you concrete evidence that supports continuing or changing your marketing strategy. This is one of the most important things you should think about when creating or updating your marketing plan for 2015.

Include New Technology

Since technology is here to stay, your marketing tactics should include ways to use technology.

To increase your profits in the new year, use technology in new ways to deliver your content and services. Are you using a mobile app to reach your audience? Do you have a strong online presence?

Increase Spending on Ads

Advertising can be expensive, but you can measure ROI advertising online and with other emerging platforms. Include advertising in your 2015 marketing strategy. Plan your ad placement smartly and you’ll see positive results.  

Include New Products and Services

Are you adding new products or services this coming year? Do not use the same marketing tactics on new products or services that you are using on existing products and services. You want your customers excited about your latest offerings. This necessitates a change in marketing emphasis.

Sure, last year's marketing plan worked fairly well for you, but why not aim for better results in 2015 by creating an updated marketing plan?

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving from Blue Dog Marketing! 

Wishing you and your family a wonderful day filled with great food and warm memories.

Marketing Video Content Ideas

You’ve decided to add videos to your marketing plan for 2015. Great idea! Now, what should your videos be about? If you’ve looked at YouTube, there millions of videos out there, some are getting looked at, while others are just sitting there. There are certain kinds of business videos that will generally fair better as opposed to others.

So what are your options?

Subject Matter Videos

Display your skills and establish yourself as a subject matter expert. Offer industry specific information for free. Show why your company possesses the knowledge other competitors do not. Publish seminars, webinars or training sessions that you have delivered.

Tutorials

Tutorials videos are extremely popular. Sharing content is always a good content marketing choice. Some people learn better by being shown “how-to.”

Reviews

A big niche on YouTube is reviews. Reviews are especially useful for retailers or direct manufactures. There are many famous reviewers on YouTube that retailers and manufacturers give out products to, knowing that their validation can help boost sales.

Testimonials

Similar to reviews, testimonials are actual satisfied customers telling the viewer how your product or service solved a problem they had. Ask your best customers to be in a video; it helps them promote their business too.

Better Blogging for Business

Blogging is one of the most popular and successful online activities for small business owners. Blogging about your industry, products and services establishes you as a thought leader and industry expert.

How can you achieve that status with your customers and potential customers? Here are some steps to help you blog better for your business.

Understand What Your Target Readership Needs and Wants

The most essential part of successful blogging is understanding the needs and motivations of your readers and potential followers. Don't be afraid to be yourself and to “speak in an authentic voice. This will ensure that your voice is heard. By being somebody who people feel they want to get to know, your business will grow.

Reader Engagement

If used correctly, social media is about solving people's problems. You are providing answers to questions they have. When your readers comment on a post, comment back. Engage them in a “conversation.” That’s the ‘social’ part of social media.

Comment on Other Blogs

An effective way of promoting your blog is to visit other blogs and websites and comment on them. Don’t just leave backlinks to your own blog or website, actually participate in a conversation.

It’s All About the Content

Content is king. The higher the quality of your blog content, the higher your business will appear in the search engine results. When writing your content, make sure that you use your keywords. 

Client in the Spotlight: BRIC Training – Building Relationships Improving Communication

Don Boice, president and lead trainer at BRIC Training, earned his Master’s Degree in Social Work from the University of Pennsylvania and is a New York State Licensed Clinical Social Worker and works as a marriage and family counselor.

Don also has a background in training. He very effectively uses the listening skills he developed as a counselor to listen to the needs of his business clients and bring training workshops to New York State businesses.

BRIC Training works with businesses to identify which training areas would create maximum benefit. Don’s training is always tailored to the workplace culture and company’s needs and can be valued as an additional benefit for employees.

Don’s workshops include Sexual Harassment Training & Prevention, Listening, Gender, Facing Fears and Attitudes. BRIC Training’s goal is to engage audiences in important discussions while teaching the best practices needed to position companies for increased productivity, interpersonal success and decreased liability. BRIC Training is based in New York and training sessions are held at the company’s site.

For additional information about Don Boice and BRIC Training, visit www.brictraining.com or call 585-802-1273. 

5 Tips for Creating A Successful Integrated Marketing Communication Strategy

How do you create a unified marketing communications approach? Here are five steps to help you design you own unique approach.

Create a budget

Budgeting appropriately plays a critical role in overall success of your marketing communications plan. Identify the funds you have available and stick to your budget. Having a budget in place first, will allow you to determine which paid marketing tactics you will use.

Know your target market

You can’t possibly market successfully to your potential customers if you don't know everything about them. Do your research on your target market.

Assemble your brand data

Do you have a firm grasp on your business’ specific brand identity? Compile all of your brand data. Your slogan (or tagline), the graphics you use, your color schemes and any other critical details should all be evaluated to determine exactly what your business brand is about. Brainstorm with your team to create the message about your brand that you will send out.

Plan your tactics

An effective integrated marketing communication strategy includes a wide range of tools and resources. Outline the tactics that best resonate with your company's goals and objectives. What tactics will your small business employ to get communicate your message? You website should be the first place you start. You can also add online and print ads, trade shows and social media to your tactical plan. These are just some of the many ways that you can deliver a cohesive brand image to your potential customers.

Analyze your results

Quarterly, look at how your plan is working. If you're not achieving the results you were hoping for, it may be necessary to alter your strategy. 

Are You Integrating Your Marketing Communications?

In today’s fast-paced internet-based business world, small business owners understand that marketing success relies on far more than a single promotional premise. Instead of managing two, or more, marketing tactic as distinct entities, small businesses need to embrace an integrated marketing communication strategy.

This strategy effectively incorporates all of your business' advertising approaches together for a seamless, cohesive final advertising solution.

The benefits of an effective integrated marketing communication strategy are extensive. You can strengthen your brand identity by making all your promotional materials uniform and consistent. This consistent branding helps reinforce your business’ legitimacy. The more your customers your brand, the better they will feel that they know your organization. Ultimately, this creates a unified advertising message can play a critical role in strengthening relationships with prospective customers as well as enhancing loyalty with your existing customers.

In our next blog post, we’ll outline five tips for creating an effective marketing communications plan. Stay tuned!

Why small firms can use a blog....article in the 11/9/14 Democrat & Chronicle

The Rochester Democrat & Chronicle published an article I wrote about blogging in today's business section. So proud to have been asked by the D&C to write this column.

Enos: Why small businesses needs a blog

Laurie Enos, Guest essayist12:04 a.m. EST November 5, 2014

Blogging has become one of the most popular tools used to market a company. If you are a small business that does not have a blog, here are some statistics published by Social Media Today that will convince you to use a blog to market and grow your small business:

• Small Businesses with blogs generate 126% more leads.

• 61 percent of U.S. consumers have purchased products and services based on blog posts.

• 70 percent of consumers learn about a company through articles.

These statistics prove that blogs can be great resources for marketing your products and services, lead generation and sales. A blog can also help small businesses become recognized as an expert in their field, help to increase brand awareness and gain online recognition.

If you're thinking about starting a blog, not thinking and just do it. Here are four ways to use a blog to market your company:

Share your knowledge: You are the expert in your field. You live it every day. So why not write about what you know? Start by giving your customers ideas and helpful hints. Be sure to keep up to date about industry trends, which can help provide a constant stream of ideas and help avoid writer's block. Blogging on these things will help position you as an expert in the field.

Answer questions from readers: Blog readers love to start discussions with authors and fellow readers, especially when they have become attached to a small business blog. To keep readers engaged, reply to comments as quickly as possible. If not, it could quickly lead to a decline in readership, interaction from readers or result in slow growth of the blog. Comment forms, social media connections and email are all great ways to stay in touch with readers.

Promotions and deals: A great way to get the word out about special deals or promotions is to blog about them. Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn are other ways to spread the way about promotions.

Once the blog is names and built, be sure to promote it. Add a link to the blog from your website so visitors can view posts. Also, include a link to the blog in your email signature, post it to Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. Be sure to add the blog's web address to printed marketing materials.

While there are plenty of ways to market a small business on a very minimal budget, blogging is one of the most effective and low cost ways to do so. Get started blogging today.

This week's Nextpert

Laurie Enos is the president of Blue Dog Marketing.

3 Ways to Market Your Company Online

Online Marketing is a powerful tool that small business owners are using to promote and brand their products and services. However, to successfully market your products and services, you must get noticed by search engines and other sites. Here are three different ways to do so:

Use the proper keywords in your website 

You want your potential customers to find you online. Use the words and terms that they would use when searching online for a business like yours. This helps search engines place your site in the correct category and people to find you when searching the appropriate keywords to match yours.

Social Media Marketing: 

Social media sites are those where people socialize and websites become a social dialogue site. An extremely popular example would be Facebook. There are many other popular sites such as LinkedIn, Twitter, Digg and Four Square. Creating a site for small business on one, or more, of these social sites opens a new market for you. You can communicate in a different way than on your website with your customers and potential customers. You also help your search engine ranking rise by being visible and active on social media sites.

Blogs and Articles

Write blogs and articles about your industry, services, or products. Make sure your blog is attached to your website as this helps search engines to find your site and moves it higher in search results. Blogging establishes you as an authority in your field with your customers and potential customers. 

Blogging Can Boost Your Marketing

Have you decided to start blogging because everyone else is doing it? Blogging has become a very popular and you’re right to want a blog for your small business.

Now is the time of year that businesses are planning for next year’s budget and marketing. Adding blogging to your marketing plan for 2015 is a great idea.

So, how do you actually take advantage of a blog for your business?

Commit To a Schedule

First, you need to schedule time to plan your blog topics and write your blogs. Next, decide how often you want to blog and stick to that schedule. Nothing is worse for a business than having out of date information posted online. Potential customers will wonder if you’re out of date on everything in your industry. So, pick a frequency that you can stick to and keep your blog current or remove it.

Readers will come back to your blog, expecting to see new material. Once you are in a routine, it will be easy and your visitors will be coming back for more.

Stay Informed on What’s Happening in Your Industry

The best way to make sure you have something to write about is to keep informed about your industry. This will help you avoid “writer’s block Also, you will be viewed as an expert in your field and readers will turn to you for information and tips.

Give Value

Blogging is about building yourself as an expert as well as establishing trust and rapport with your readers. Your blogs must answer the common questions your readers may have that relate to your field. By answering these questions, you’re providing value to your audience. They will come back to read more of your posts.

Promote Your Blog

Once you have created your blog, be sure to promote it. Link your blog to your website, so your website visitors can read your posts. Add a link to your blog to your email signature. Post your blog posts on Facebook and LinkedIn. You can tweet about your blog too. Don’t forget to add the blog address to your marketing materials.

Keep at It

It takes time to grow your blog readership. By sticking to these tips you will see results. 

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween from Blue Dog Marketing!

What to Consider When Making a Video

Making a promotional video is a great way to market your company. You want to make sure your video stands out in the crowded video world. You want a video that highlights the best of what your small business is about. Here are three tips to help you achieve that.

Have a Script

Write a concise, informative and entertaining script. And stick to it! You want to engage your viewers.

Figure out what message you want to convey to your viewers and create your script around your main point. You will stay on track when you have a clear message.

Include a Call to Action

What do you want viewers to do? Whether it is to call you, visit your website, or follow you on Twitter, don't forget to mention it in your video. A good call to action is your ticket to a good return on investment for your video.

Make It Look Professional

You want your video to look professional, not like you used your cell phone. You should hire a professional videographer to help you make your video.  It won’t break the budget and you’ll end up with a video that will help your company stand out. 

Your Personal Photo Is Your Marketing Brand

I am on LinkedIn often and I noticed many people use snapshots rather than professional photos on their profiles. I see images where people are posed with their kids or pets, biking along a trail, or even worse, no photo at all. LinkedIn is a professional networking site. It’s not Facebook, which is all about family and friends.

Your photo on LinkedIn should brand you as successful and professional. Your photo says lots about you. Do you look friendly, confident and capable? A great picture of you can make you look active and engaged.

Have a professional photographer take a picture of you. Don’t wear something that can date the picture so it can be used for several years. Don’t just use the picture on LinkedIn, use it everywhere….on your website, on your business card.  A professional photograph of yourself is a good investment every small business owner should make. 

Create An Effective Marketing Plan

The success of your business depends on your marketing plan. A good marketing plan outlines how a business will go about attracting prospects, converting them into customers and retaining customers.

To have a successful marketing plan, you should incorporate the following:

Analyze the market

You cannot make assumptions about the market. You must conduct a thorough analysis of the prevailing market, your strengths and weaknesses and the existing competition. Get to know your target customers and what their pain points are. This analysis helps you determine your marketing objectives and product positioning.

Create your marketing messages and determine marketing methods

You have to come up with creative and compelling messages that address the needs of your target market. Use a variety of online and offline marketing tools to convey the messages.

Plan and monitor the budget

Determine what your marketing budget for the year is and how exactly you will spend it. Base your budget on your goals. Monitor it so you stay on track.

Evaluate and review your marketing plan

Determine your metrics for success. Measure your results and compare them with expected success. This will help you to know if any corrections or modifications are required to make your plan more successful.

Written a Book? Now Promote it!

Have you written a book? I’ve heard that everyone has a book in them. Some of us are just more proactive in letting the book out!

Several of our clients have written books. Most are in both hard cover and e-book format. Once your book is written and published, how do you promote it? Facebook is a great place to start as it is a free book marketing resource.

Create a Facebook fan page for your book. On this page, post about your book title, your book cover image, include your biographical information and create a search-engine friendly description of your book. Use your fan page to generate excitement about your book. Once your page is created, invite your social media network to “Like” your page. Don’t be shy, ask your friends to share your fan page.  Let the work spread through Facebook about your book.

Create an author website. Here you can build your brand, tout your book, post reviews and, most importantly, sell your book.  

Create a blog, link it to your website, and continue building your brand.  Post your blog articles on your Facebook fan page. Always direct traffic from Facebook and your blog to your website. Remember, people can purchase your book there.

Both your website and blog can promote your book, publicize your accomplishments, and inform people about your next book.