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.