Well, for those who missed the news last week, Twitter finally put that hassle to an end!

Twitter’s official analytics feature is slowly being rolled out to non-advertisers and Twitter has stated they’re “happy with the response thus far.” With that said, we can expect the analytics to slowly make their way to all users in the near future.

To see if you’ve been given access, head to Twitter’s advertising page and log in with your regular Twitter account.

After you log in, you should see “Analytics” in the top left corner of your screen with a drop down that gives you the option of Timeline Activity and Followers.

Timeline Activity Section

The Timeline Activity section gives a broad overview of the performance of your recent tweets and even offers the ability to break that down by “Best” and “Good” tweets (presumably, based on the number of retweets, favorites, and clicks).

Official Twitter analytics are slowly rolling out to all users (Click to view larger image)

Similar to using Facebook Insights, you can filter your updates and get an idea of what kind of topics or content appeal most to your followers.

Followers Section

The Followers section of Twitter Analytics allows you to review your account’s growth over time and also gives helpful demographic information such as your followers’ interests, genders, locations, and more.

That information is gold for marketers and brands who are constantly striving to better understand who their customers are and what they care about.

Twitter Analytics shows follower growth and interesting demographics to get to know your followers (Click to view larger image) Image Credit: Mashable

Got Access?

Have you received access to Twitter Analytics yet? Check out the analytics by logging in on Twitter’s advertising page. In the mean time, leave us a comment about what future uses you see for marketers and brands on Twitter!

Storytelling in its simplest form is a connection of cause and effect. Narrative helps us make sense of the world around us. In fact, our conversations are dominated by stories; researcher Jeremy Hsu found 65% of our conversations are made up of personal stories and gossip.

The power of storytelling is something so many businesses fail to realise in marketing their brand and products. When information is communicated in story form, studies show people better relate and remember it. Stories have the ability to spark emotions, whether it’s happiness, empathy, trust or anger. When listening to them not only are the language-processing parts of our brain activated, experiential parts of our brain come alive too. Stories about food activate our sensory cortex, motion stories activate the motor cortex – fundamentally our brains are more engaged when listening to stories.

Brand storytelling isn’t new; companies have used advertising to evoke emotions through storytelling for years. However the landscape has changed, the digital revolution spurred new platforms, channels and devices through which to share and tell stories, opening up greater opportunities, but simultaneously greater challenges.

How do you cut through the noise, get your stories heard and resonate with the consumer? Here are my top tips for the art of storytelling in business:

1. Uncover your stories

This question is a common one: “What does our company have to say on social media, in a case study, in a newsletter etc. and why will anyone care?” And one that we are regularly asked by clients.

Firstly, everyone has stories. It’s the day-to-day things that you take for granted, which provide great content. From your customers’ stories, events you’re attending, an exciting project you’re working on, to a new product or service you’ve introduced, stories can be found everywhere.

And why will people care? By drawing on real life examples and telling stories through characters your audience will resonate with, the stories will be ones people want to hear.

2. Get your company values across

What is your brand and company about? Do you pride yourself on excellent customer service? Are you innovative, quirky, fun or you just really believe that your products or services are great? Define what makes your company great, work out how you are least like the competition and tell that story.

3. Make them colourful

The basic principles of storytelling apply: have a beginning, middle and end. In the beginning set up your story; who, what, why, where, when; in the middle present a conflict or dilemma, followed by a solution that ends in a happy-ever-after.

Above all, a good story is one that provokes an emotional reaction. Make the listener share the pains your customers were experiencing, illustrate how your product or service will make their life less stressful, lovelier, more luxurious, and get this across through your story. Remember it’s all about them not you. You need to understand your target market and audience and engage with them as you would in real life; appeal to people’s lifestyles, problems, interests and needs.

4. Use the appropriate format

Whilst content is king, how you make this content consumable is the crux of the marketing challenge. Your stories need to be not only relevant and engaging, they must be easily digestible – whatever format they take.

A story that’s right for Facebook isn’t necessarily the content of a customer case study. Remember stories don’t have to be words; pictures, videos, infographics, polyvores, can be fantastic ways of sharing a brand story and engaging the consumer. And how are you going to deliver them? Straight to someone’s inbox, via social media, or in a whitepaper perhaps.

Consider the shareability of the content too. Consumers don’t go sharing the technical spec of your product or listing your business services to their friends. Instead they tell the stories of the benefits; the impact your product or service has on real lives. Make your stories easy to share across multiple channels and good stories will speak for themselves.

Whatever the format, it is important to use experts who have the different skillsets required for each platform, including the ability to make the content consumable and shareable, and the knowledge of the media to get your stories across.

5. Leave people wanting more

Your stories need to give people a reason to come back. If you provide a service you don’t want to give away all your tricks before a potential client is engaged, but equally you need to give enough to hook them.

Consider teasers, “watch this space,” “see the sneak preview,” “like this page to find out more”. And remember when people come back for more they need to find more stories. You may have one really good customer case study but unless there are others, it’s not believable. Meaningful, consistent content across multiple channels, will give people a reason to return again and again.

In today’s fast-paced, multi-media and increasingly social marketing environment, stories have become an essential part of crafting valuable engagement with consumers. So what are you waiting for, tell us your story.

Unfortunately, us business-people aren’t superhuman (though some would argue otherwise about dynamos like Gary Vaynerchuk and Ann Handley). We have to deal with petty human issues like time and money. Even if we did happen to get bit by a radioactive spider like Spiderman, we’d probably just end up bedridden and have even less time to do marketing.

We may not be able to shoot content lasers out of our eyes or tweet with the power of our minds, but that doesn’t mean we can’t learn a thing of two from those with superpowers. The Superman reboot “Man of Steel” is in theaters now and it made me realize: Superman is one great inspiration for content marketers.

Now, I’m not suggesting you don a cape and develop an alter ego (that’s a great way to scare customers away), but you can learn some content marketing lessons from the last son of Krypton. And you don’t even need to read through the thousands of Superman back issues to do it.

Here are 5 content marketing lessons learned from Superman, the Man of Steel:

1. Be a Reporter

When Clark Kent/Superman isn’t saving the planet from bad guys like Lex Luthor, he’s writing top-notch new stories for Metropolis’s favorite newspaper, the Daily Planet. Now that’s multitasking!

Like Clark Kent, you too need to go beyond your main gig and publish original content on a regular basis. According to Christina Austin in an article for Business Insider, “Companies now see that to be successful, they need to become publishers of their own content.”

Be like Clark. Don’t let workplace woes get in the way of creating high-quality content. Clark created content for the Daily Planet to keep his ears to the ground and to maintain his secret identity. You need to pump out high-quality content to build long-lasting relationships with your socially inclined audience.

Develop a system to produce content on a regular basis. Create an editorial calendar. Hire freelance writers. Schedule posts in advance. With the right strategy and tools, you can get it done. Hey, if Clark Kent can battle evil rock monsters and still have time to write thrilling news stories, there’s a way for you to run your business and produce enough content to engage your audience.

2. Use Your Superhuman Hearing

When’s the last time you tuned out the noises of an entire city and focused in on the sound of one person’s heartbeat? Oh, you never have? Well, Superman has.

Superman uses his superhuman hearing ability to hone in on specific sounds and save the day. You might not be able to hear a heartbeat from miles away anytime soon, but you can use a form of “superhuman hearing” to accomplish your content marketing goals.

Matt Wesson, Content Marketing Specialist at Pardot, suggests that brands, like Superman, need to do some listening: ”Take control of your brand identity and create truly compelling content for your audience,” says Matt. “Your audience is telling you what that content is. You just have to start listening.”

Your customers are out there tweeting, posting on forums, commenting on YouTube videos, etc, so go to where they are and do some listening. Whether you use a tool like Social Mention or straight-up monitor conversations on your Facebook page, you’ll have a better grasp of your customers’ wants and needs and be able to provide them with relevant content that meets their unique needs.

For more info on social listening, check out a post by another dashing gentleman, Content Marketing Casanova. He may not be the Man of Steel, but he’s still the man.

3. Come to the Rescue!

Superman might have an iconic suit, and that curl of hair of his is pretty boss, but these things alone don’t make him an awesome superhero. People love Superman because he cares about the citizens of Metropolis and is always there to help!

You don’t have to rescue people from burning buildings or hoist cars over your head, but you should be there for your customers and provide helpful content as often as possible.

Content marketing expert Jay Baer offers some sage advice on the power of helpful content: “Sell something and you make a customer today. Help someone and you create a customer for life.”

Instead of bombarding social users with thinly veiled sales pitches, provide them with information they can use to solve their problems and improve their lives. For example, if you run a plumbing company, share a blog post that instructs customers how to detect minor plumbing issues.

Sharing helpful content might not be as amazing as saving California from nuclear armageddon as the Man of Steel did in 1978′s “Superman”, but it’s certainly something your customers will remember.

4. Develop a Memorable Look and Tone

There’s something about Superman’s “S” logo that just screams “truth, justice, and awesomeness.” One look at that symbol and you’re suddenly filled with feelings of triumph and goodwill. Superman really has the whole branding thing done pat.

Like the Man of Steel developed a memorable suit and symbol, you need to develop a consistent, high-quality look and tone of voice for your content. According to content marketing consultant Stephanie Kapera, “establishing the right tone of voice will help attract people to your brand and keep them coming back.”

When you see Superman flying toward you in that red and blue getup; you know everything’s going to be totally fine, even if you’re hanging off a cliff. When you develop a consistent look and tone of voice for your content, your audience will come to expect quality from your content and will be more apt to consume it.

5. Team up!

You know, even guys “faster than a speeding bullet” and “more powerful than a locomotive” like Superman need help now and again. Humble hero that he is, the Man of Steel isn’t afraid to call for help when he needs to get the job done. And hey, it can never hurt to have Batman and Wonder Woman on your side.

Content marketing, like superherodom, doesn’t have to be a solo venture. In fact, it can be a huge benefit to incorporate more members of your staff into the content production process.

According to Nicholas Putz, Creative Project Manager for Cultivate Communications, “Individuals have great ideas, but the more minds at work, the more ideas are generated.” Put more minds at work in your content marketing and you’ll have more great ideas than Superman has big, red capes.

Brainstorm together on eBook topics. Let different employees respond to Facebook comments. Invite someone from sales to write a blog post. Like the Justice League, the superhero team to which Superman belongs, you can get more done with more people on your side.

Whether you’re as big a Superman fan as Jerry Seinfeld or haven’t read a comic book since, well, never, follow the Man of Steel’s lead and your content marketing campaign will be simply super.

Do you feel like a content marketing superhero or a phony with zero muscles and a cheap-looking costume? Can you think of any other superhero-based content marketing strategies? Let us know in the comment section.

If you followed the Dachis Group’s Social Business Index, which “analyzes the effectiveness of strategies and tactics organizations employ to engage the market through social channels,” you’d know that Disney and the WWE are two of the most socially savvy brands out there. Apparently, people are still gaga for staged fighting and Donald Duck.

Did these corporate giants reach such great social heights by pursuing the exact same social media goals? Of course not. Disney and the WWE are vastly different companies with vastly different business objectives. You don’t market sweaty, hulking wrestlers the same way you do talking mice.

These two very different companies achieved social media success by applying specific social media tactics to achieve specific business objectives.

You may not be a multibillion dollar business with a killer mascot (at least not yet), but you can still do social like the best of them, so long as you connect your business objectives to an effective social media marketing strategy.

No Strategy, No Way!

According to the 2012 Small and Medium Social Business Study conducted by the SMB Group, just 24% of small businesses use social media “strategically, in a planned way.” Let’s hope for your sake you’re not part of that other 76%.

You could tweet a hundred times a day and have the fanciest looking Facebook page known to man, and none of it would matter if you didn’t have a social media strategy in line with your business objectives.

Don’t believe me? Just ask digital analyst and social media guru Brian Solis. “At the root of the problem, today’s social media programs start with the technology in mind and not the solution in mind,” said Solis in a September 2012 blog post. “Many businesses jump into Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Google+, et al, without thinking through opportunities or customer expectations and experiences.”

Are you one of those companies using social media “just because”? It’s not enough to post randomly on Facebook and throw whatever videos you have laying around on YouTube. You’ve got to be strategic.

It’s Time to Align

Before you dive headfirst into social media oblivion, take a cue from Mr. Solis and start with a solution in mind.

Follow these steps and you’ll be more likely to pursue a social media strategy that makes sense for your brand.

1. Define Your Business Objectives

Before you can pursue applicable social media goals, you need to make your business objectives perfectly clear. This is essential to running a business in general, let alone integrating a social media campaign that isn’t totally aimless.

Ask yourself this: What do you hope to achieve in the short- and long-term? Be specific. Do you want to improve overall customer satisfaction? Do you hope to increase profits by 10% over the next year? Do you want to be known as the coolest little ice cream shop in Austin, Texas?

Whatever they may be, your objectives are unique and require an in-depth, meaningful analysis of your business.

If you’re not sure how to set good business objectives, this article from Inc.com might come in handy.

2. Choose Relevant Social Media Goals

According to an Awareness Inc. survey of 469 marketers titled “The State of Social Marketing Report,” the top goals for social media are:

• better customer engagement (78%)
• revenue generation (51%)
• better customer experience (47%)
• increased thought leadership (41%)

These are all fantastic social media goals, but they may or may not be goals that pertain to your specific business objectives. You’ve got to pursue social media goals that relate to your unique objectives.

Are you launching a new product and hoping to get people interested enough to make a purchase? Do you want to direct people to your landing page, educate consumers, enable e-commerce, or deliver better customer service?

If you’re at a loss for good social media goals to pursue, this list by Web Ad.vantage founder Hollis Thomases sums up some of the most common ones.

3. Pursue an Appropriate Social Media Marketing Strategy

Just as your social media goals need to correspond to your business objectives, your social media strategy needs to directly relate to your designated goals.

Imagine you sell designer clothing and one of your business objectives is to increase sales of little black dresses. If your social media goals were to 1) increase revenue generation and 2) increase customer engagement, how would you get there? You’d have to figure out tactics that suited your social media goals. In this case one of your tactics might be posting articles about fashion shows, style tips, and other content that appeals to the dress-buying demographic.

Whatever strategy you decide to pursue, bear in mind that the best social media tactics are those that correlate directly to the social media goals you have in place.

4. Monitor Your Audience/Track Results

All that time you spend brainstorming objectives and tying it all together to your social media strategy won’t mean jack unless you’re monitoring your audience and tracking the results of your actions.

Be sure to keep tabs on what your customers are saying and measure the effectiveness of your social media strategy via analytics. There are tons of tools out there that let you do social monitoring and analytics, so you should have no problem measuring the efficacy of your social media tactics.

Make the Connection!

You don’t need to be a gigantic corporation like Disney or the WWE to establish a winning social media strategy.

All you’ve got to do to align your business objectives with an effective social media strategy is:

1. Define your business objectives
2. Choose relevant social media goals
3. Pursue an appropriate social media marketing strategy
4. Monitor your audience/track results

Be smart and strategic about your social media marketing strategy and you’ll have a much better shot at achieving your business objectives. It might not hurt, however, to have somebody like The Rock or Mickey Mouse on your side.

Is your social media marketing strategy in line with your business objectives? Let us know whether you’re ready to outdo Disney and the WWE by posting in the comment section below.

Social media is a powerful tool that instantly puts a brand in touch with thousands of potential customers. Yet, as they say, with great power comes great responsibility. This means that a company needs to tread carefully when using Facebook or Twitter to promote their organization. One ill-timed joke or tasteless status update can cause an uproar that costs that brand serious business.

Don’t believe us? Just ask Kenneth Cole. The company used political unrest in Cairo to make a joke about how the disturbances were due to the fact that the new Kenneth Cole spring collection was available online. Needless to say, the tweet was not well received and the company had to do serious damage control after the message was posted.

So what are some of the major social media errors that you should be aware of as you work on bolstering your business’s social media presence?

Throwing out an opinion on a controversial topic

Whether you’re a frozen yogurt shop, a shoe company, or a car dealership, people come to you for information about your product and your industry, not political commentary. Though you may feel strongly about gun control or drunk driving laws, save these thoughts for your personal twitter feed. Keep your brand’s Twitter focused on the product and issues that relate to it. Though you may think your take is a universal one, you can quickly alienate fans who have differing opinions.

Not paying attention to national tragedies

While avoiding inciting a political debate is important, a brand should also not completely ignore major events in the country. Brands that continued to tweet about specials as the events at Sandy Hook unfolded seemed callous and out of touch. Companies that happily threw out questions to their Facebook users as areas of Oklahoma were devastated by tornadoes seemed out of place and offensive. Many brands use pre-scheduled tweets and posts in order to save time and keep the editorial calendar on track. This is perfectly acceptable for ordinary days, but in the event of a national crisis a brand must quickly cancel their pre-scheduled posts and acknowledge that the company is run by humans who are just as affected by these tragedies as their clients are.

Creating vulgar content

Everyone appreciates a joke and a little sarcasm, but company posts and tweets should never be filled with foul language or off-color jokes. Even if your brand is more racy than a traditional restaurant or office, you still want to keep the content clean. If users open up their social media platforms and are greeted with obscenities and pictures that are not safe for work, they’ll probably think twice about connecting with you on social media. If you wouldn’t feel comfortable posting a message that clients or investors could read, don’t include it on your social media sites.

Posting too much

While your friends may enjoy your commentary about that annoying person in line in front of you at the grocery store, pictures of your lunch, and comments on the weather and your favorite television show, this kind of constant updating is not appropriate for brands. You want to stay on customer’s minds, but you don’t want to drive them crazy. Post once or twice per day, and only when you have something insightful or interesting to say.

Many brands often fall into a self-promotional trap. While you should inform clients about deals or sales, you don’t want your social media to turn into a blatant advertisement for your company. In addition to details about new promotions, also include links to industry-related articles, funny jokes, beautiful images, and other types of content that your target demographic would find appealing. Your brand needs a three-dimensional voice on social media, and plastering your platforms solely with advertisements doesn’t accomplish this.

The team at Grammar Chic specializes in a variety of professional writing and editing services. For more information about how we can help you, visit www.grammarchic.net or call 803-831-7444. We also invite you to follow us on Twitter @GrammarChicInc for the latest in writing and editing tips and to give a “like” to our Facebook page. Text GRAMMARCHIC to 22828 for a special offer.

Are you unhappy with your number of followers? Do you sometimes feel like you’re Wile E. Coyote, and Twitter is your Road Runner—always one step ahead of you? There is hope. Yes, the Twitterverse can be big and complex. But with the right know-how and a little time spent on planning each day, you can navigate your way through the network and gain more followers in no time. Here’s our 7-day guide for improving your Twitter reach.

Day 1: Look for Useful Content

If you Tweet it, they will come. People will follow Twitter users who post helpful or engaging things, so one of the best ways to attract a fan base is share things that people are interested in. But, given that there are so many hours of the day, and you can probably only spare a few minutes for researching, how can you find the right kind of content? Google Alerts. An aggregator is a quick and easy way to find just the right resources. With its help, you can Tweet nothing but the freshest content to your followers, without having to drain your time researching.

Day 2: Search for Good Industry Contacts

Over on Social Media Examiner, readers have suggested a range of good sites for finding relevant contacts. There’s WeFollow, for finding influencers, and ManageFlitter, for searching user bios. Of course, there are always the high-profile thought leaders, too. Just because they’re industry rock stars, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try to engage them. If you catch their eye, your followers can increase exponentially. Web developer Brad Knutson writes on his blog that he won lots of followers for a client when he Tweeted a question at an industry leader, and the person didn’t know the answer to the question. Their exchange circulated the Twitterverse and won the client a whole new following within the course of a single day.

Day 3: Schedule Tweets at the Optimal Times

According to an infographic by Buddy Media, Tweets posted between the hours of 7 a.m. and 8 p.m. receive 30% more engagement than Tweets posted at other times. This holds true even for Saturdays and Sundays. If you come up with a brilliant, hilarious, ReTweet-worthy thought in the middle of the night, don’t log on to Twitter, unless your target audience is halfway around the world. Write it down and Tweet it during business hours instead.

Day 4: Identify a Twitter Chat

Twitter chats are scheduled Tweet-fests centered one a certain hashtag, led by a moderator, and scheduled to take place at a pre-arranged time. The format of these chats vary; some are pure question-and-answer sessions where participants pose questions to one person, while others are an interview between the moderator and a guest, with the audience allowed to ask questions afterwards. Still, others pose questions to the audience, and here’s where you can really shine. If you share a useful insight during the chat, you may just find yourself with some new followers tuning into your Twitter for more info. For a list of current Twitter chats, check out this resource.

Day 5: Tweet Media

Even though Twitter may not let you show visual or video content quite as easily as Facebook does, posting different media is still a great way to reach people. With Vine videos now upon us, your next viral video might just be a few button presses away. Think of a way to show people your business, and ask a question that will get them talking. For example, you could shoot some footage of fun company goings-on and ask a question like, “What does your office like to do for fun?”

Day 6: Make a List of Possible Hashtags

The Buddy Media infographic reports that Tweets with hashtags receive twice as much engagement as those without. However, only 24% of the 320 companies surveyed included hashtags. Look at Twitter accounts relevant to your industry and see what hashtags they’re using. Brainstorm your own list of hashtags and keep them handy when it comes time to Tweet. Making a list can make Tweeting easier. How? It will prevent those times when you sit at your keyboard, experimenting with different hashtags and trying to make your Tweet fit 100 characters, which the infographic marks as the optimal Tweet length. Another takeaway from Buddy media? Use no more than two hashtags. Three or greater is just overkill and drives down engagement.

Day 7: Sign Up for a Paper.li Account

Paper.li allows you to create your own personal newspaper by culling from the content on your Twitter, Facebook, and Google+ accounts. Essentially, you’re aggregating the content you find interesting, then creating a customized, digital newspaper out of it. Paper.li can tweet the link to your paper and include the Twitter handles of the people whose content is included in the paper. This may pique their interest and get them following your account.

You’ll notice that a lot of these tips involve planning, instead of actually using Twitter—i.e. we advise you to “Look for Useful Content” instead of “Tweet Useful Content.” This is to make increasing your Twitter fan base less overwhelming. It’s easy to tell a person to improve their web presence with a WordPress blog. The real challenge, though, comes in learning how to master all of the different WordPress tools. So we’ve divided our advice into seven easy actionable steps that won’t take forever and a day. Spend just a few minutes each day implementing these steps, and your follower numbers will look much better.

Image credit: freedigitalphotos.net/Vlado

Perhaps you are one of them.

If so, the idea of writing a blog post might sound like the most miserable self-promotional task you could undertake on behalf of your small business.

I’m here to tell you it doesn’t have to be drudgery.

Blogging for business – even if you hate writing or consider yourself to be a terrible writer – isn’t terribly difficult. (What is hard is writing really great content that generates conversions and grows your business substantially… but that’s what a content writing service is for.)

Ready to get started? Here’s how anyone can write a blog post in 6 easy steps:

#1 Set Up a Blog

Go to WordPress.com and get a free blog. WordPress is a totally free platform, intuitively designed, and easy to use. I’m a big WP fan because – should your blog take off and you decide to put a bigger engine under the hood – switching over to WordPress’s paid platform is a breeze.

#2 Create Your Questions

I’m also a big fan of Marcus Sheridan’s approach to blogging. Sheridan advises first-time and intimidated bloggers to write down every question a prospect or customer has ever asked you. You now have a list of blog topics.

#3 Answer the Questions By Blogging

The answers to these questions make for great initial blog posts and should provide you with enough steam to build your confidence as a blogger. Aim for 250-300 words, which is about three-quarters to one page of content when using plenty of line breaks.

Don’t over think it. Endless revisions will kill your drive for blogging in no time. Set a timer and allow yourself just 25 minutes to write a blog post. Then, allow yourself another 5 minutes to edit and proofread it.

#4 Add Pictures & Video

You know what helps mitigate mediocre writing? Great visual content. It’s also free and easy to find. Tom Ewer lists four image search engines for this purpose. Make sure you stick a ‘Creative Common’s’ filter on your search so you don’t end up accidentally stealing someone else’s content.

#5 Understand How SEO Works

The whole point of this blog post is to keep it simple. But, I would encourage you to learn at least the very basics of SEO. The Blog Tyrant has a great post that explains this stuff in very simple terms. Having a little SEO-awareness won’t hurt you!

#6 Respond to Comments

Once you’ve published a few blog posts, you may start getting some comments or other interaction. Your writing may not be great, but you can make up for that with friendliness and dialogue. Be sure to engage with those who take the time to comment on your blog!

Interested in hiring a writing service? If so, know the difference between various writing services, what they cost, and what you get for your money.

So, now that the first paragraph had totally confused you, let me break this down into common language.

Service-Dominant Logic

Originally, Vargo and Lusch coined the phrase service-dominant logic to reflect the notion that all businesses, even ones who made things, rely heavily on service aspects to please customers. An example Bob Lusch uses in his YouTube video is that people buy cars primarily for transportation — a service.

Service-dominant logic is an unfortunate term that also means that service is a major component in all products, even ones manufactured in a factory. Going back to the car example, while you’re buying something you can touch and feel, you’re also buying a lot of things you can’t such as the reputation of the manufacturer, the quality of the service you’ll get, etc. And car companies realize these things have a big impact on the brand you choose. That’s why you’ll hear dealers advertising about their “free service for life” or “free oil changes for life”. They know these service elements provide competitive advantage that helps them make the sale.

Co-creating value

The notion of co-creating value means that firms succeed (gain value) when they provide value to their customers. Although this makes intuitive sense, many firms fail to understand their role in creating value for customers or the notion of customer value gets lost in corporate rhetoric around profits — especially in manufacturing firms where there’s a big distance between the firm and customers in both physical distance and time (since customers won’t buy products manufactured today for weeks or months).

So, how do firms co-create value with customers and how does using social media fit into this broader notion of co-creating value? I’m glad you asked.

Using social media to co-create value

Social media is a perfect tool for co-creating value because it increases communication between the company and the customer. In manufacturing, these communications were never there before unless the firm spent a lot of money doing focus groups or collecting survey data. Using social media, firms get unbiased opinions from real customers and prospects at a fraction of the cost.

1. Collaborative innovation – maybe the most important way using social media contributes to co-creating value is through collaborative new products. If you think about it, firms need new products consumers want to buy and consumers need new products to solve problems they face. What better way for firms to know what customers need than from the customers themselves. Using social media as a conduit for customer insights is probably the most value aspect for many businesses because they learn customer pain points, discover what customers don’t like about their own brands as well as those from competitors, and may even get suggestions from customers on how to improve their brands. For instance, I was working on some software a client purchased. It wasn’t working too well, so a colleague and I discussed features we felt were missing by sharing comments as Facebook status updates.
2. Customer complaints – Twitter has replaced the corporate suggestion box as the preferred vehicle for sharing complaints about failed products. Using social media to hear and respond to these complaints goes a long way toward reducing the damage from these failures.
3. Share brand messages – firms benefit greatly when customers share favorable brand messages using social media because it amplifies message reach and because consumers believe what they friends tell them much more than messages they get from the firm. But, how does this create value for consumers? Consumers benefit from the micro celebrity they get from being the go-to person for information. Firms can increase the value received by folks who share your brand messages using social media by recognizing them, thanking them, highlighting their comments, and other tactics that play into their micro celebrity status. Firms can even reward folks who share brand messages with discounts, free product, or other tangible benefits. For example, Red Robin offers discounts through Facebook updates and users share these updates with friends to claim the discount.
4. User-generated content — user-generated content creates significant value for both firms and users. When users create a YouTube video or song parody about your brand and it goes viral, you both get a boost. Firms can encourage user-generated content using social media through contests or special offers for folks creating content. Sometimes the simple act of providing space for users to upload content is all it takes to get a lot of content. For instance, NASA maintains a site dedicated to user-generated content where anyone can upload posts, images, etc.

See, that wasn’t too hard. And now you have some new tools you can use or new ideas for using these tools more effectively to co-create value for your firm and its customers. If you need help understanding how using social media in co-creating value can benefit your firm, we’re happy to help.

Be sure to subscribe to our email newsletter, where you’ll get even more insights to make your marketing SIZZLE Hausman Marketing Letter

In 2011, Mary updated her views on the above but also covered Content Marketing. She talked about how the value of undifferentiated content is approaching $0. She also showed that Google revenue alone is about to surpass all US Newspapers combined revenue. The takeaway: as content becomes a commodity, the value is moving from those who create content to those who curate and aggregate it.

In 2012, Mary talked about the rapid adoption of tablets, the increase of mobile commerce and the massive shift in the advertising market with the prevalence of web visits from mobile devices.

I have also covered what I think is one of the one chart every marketer must understand showing the massive and rapid disruption of the traditional advertising industry as represented by the decline in newspaper ad revenue in just the last 10 years.

But now Mary is back at it again with 117 internet trends charts covering the digital age we now live in. She also covers world economic conditions and the state of technology and innovation.

Chart 1. $20 Billion Dollar Opportunity in Mobile Advertising. Print advertising still has a long way to fall and the upside opportunity in internet advertising is vanishing.

Key Consideration: Does your marketing mix spend an appropriate amount of money in the channels where your audience spends their time?

Chart 2. Disruption in the Mobile Industry as iOs and Android have taken massive market share in just 6 years going from 5% to 88%. It’s now a 2-horse race in the mobile platform market.

Key Consideration: change is happening fast. Is your organization focused on the mobile market? And is it ready for the next evolution.

Chart 3. Content Explosion: the amount of information created has grown 9x in the last 5 years to 2 zettabytes or 2 trillion gigabytes. And the growth is accelerating.

Key Consideration: Have you conducted a content audit? How much of your content is effective vs. completely wasted? Most organizations that go through content audits are shocked at the % of their content that never gets used.

Chart 4: Mobile still has tremendous upside. There are more than 5 Billion mobile phones on the planet but less than a third are smart phones: suggests 3-4X growth in mobile internet use.

Key Considerations: Is the content you produce mobile-friendly? Is your website designed for the mobile experience? Is your workforce mobile-enabled?

Chart 5: Technology Disruption. Patterns of disruption generally occur every 10 years. We are still early on the mobile/tablet revolution but “wearable technology” and the “internet of things” is already upon us (2014+).

Key Consideration: Agile marketing processes and plans will become the norm. We are approaching a time of living in what have some have called “perpetual beta” where planning cycles are short, information is incomplete and with constant trial and error.

Chart 6. Global Economic Indicators suggest a massive increase in China, India as US and Europe continue to decline as a % of global GDP.

Key Consideration: there will be tremendous business impact from the economic growth in China, India and other countries like Brazil and Russia. Is your organization ready?

Chart 7. Pieces of mail and profitability of US Postal service peaked in 2006. Plummeting ever since due to rise of email and decline of direct mail open rates.

Key Consideration: How “traditional” is your organization’s mindset? Use this chart and the one of the newspaper industry to show how quickly the mighty can fall.

Chart 8. The increasing importance of Technology on large corporations. CEOs now place technology as the #2 largest concern after market conditions. This is rising rapidly and has supplanted long-standing issues of People skills and Macroeconomic concerns

Key Consideration: Like content, technology and innovation will become key differentiators for all kinds of business. How does your business approach the search for competitive advantage through new technology?

Slide 9: Disruption. Traditional markets are being disrupted all over the place. From Kickstarter in finance to AirBnB in travel to Uber in transportation to Spotify and Pandora in music to Netflix in video. JD.com and MakerBot in Logistics and Manufacturing.

Key Consideration: Who is out there trying to disrupt your business? If you could start over, what would you change about your business model?

Here is a link and embed of all 117 slides of Mary’s Internet Trends 2013.

Let me know what you think in the comments below.

Lack of healthcare

Protestors are also gathering in front of the new sports stadiums built for the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Olympic games, which will be held in cities across the country. Brazilians want the basic needs met like reasonable healthcare, education and a government free of corruption – not $600M soccer stadiums that won’t be used after these events are over. Here’s a video from a Brazilian hospital that has just one doctor on staff in the entire facility. Nurses are paid $250USD per month, which is even less than the menial $350USD per month minimum wage. People are literally dying while waiting to be seen, all while the government presides over one of the largest and most recently discovered oil fields in the world. The money from this oil is being used to build soccer stadiums and government buildings rather than healthcare, education and other basic services.

Government corruption

Not only has the government traditionally been extremely corrupt, now they are attempting to pass a law that protects politicians from investigation or prosecution. Government officials steal millions from government projects, funnel money to family members and murder politicians and reporters who investigate corruption. Some stories are so insane you can’t make them up – such as one popular political tactic in Brazil to drop off a truckload of thousands of left shoes to a poor neighborhood and only drop off the right shoes when the politician is elected.

Bank interest rates

The banks in Brazil would be known as loan sharks in the USA. All brazilian banks charge an effective 323% APR for the average credit card, turning everyday purchases for a Brazilian family into long-term debt.

Consumer goods prices

Imported products cost more in any country, but Brazil escalates this price further by charging a 100% tax on any imported item. Here’s how the math breaks down for imported goods from deodorant to LCD televisions:

1x price for actual product + 1x price for import/sales taxes + 1x price for business profit/operations = 3x price to the consumer

This is why a bottle of sunscreen in Brazil costs 15 USD. Combine these high prices with the 323% APR for a normal credit card and the result is a lifetime of debt just to meet basic household needs.

Lack of college opportunities

I was shocked when I arrived to the USA and found out that most of my friends were loaned money for their college degrees. In Brazil, banks simply won’t make student loans (why would they? At a 323% APR it would never be paid back). If you don’t have a family that can pay cash for your education, then college is simply not a possibility. There are no government programs for college aid. Some universities do have scholarships, but only about two hundred are given out which pales in comparison to the tens of thousands that take the exam!

There are many other genuine reasons for people to protest in Brazil right now, but these are the main reasons why you see so many middle-class citizens and students protesting in the streets. Every big movement has it’s spark. With the Arab Spring, it was the self-immolation of a Tunesian street merchant. These movements aren’t about the spark, they are about the human rights violations and corruption of the leaders in these countries. The bus fare hike was a small spark that woke up a nation of oppressed middle class citizens. Please spread the #changebrazil message and let the world know the truth behind recent protests in Brazil. Here is a video with shocking facts and more motives behind the protests.

You may have heard the news that Facebook is now allowing the use of hashtags on their site. But what exactly does that mean? More importantly, what is a hashtag!?

Let’s start at the beginning.

What is a hashtag?

A hashtag consists of words or phrases (with no spaces), preceded by a # sign (i.e. #SBW13 or #StanleyCup) that is used to tie various social media posts together and relate them to a topic. Topics are sometimes connected to an event, TV show, sporting event, or any happening or trend of your choosing. Originally, hashtags were created on Twitter, but today they can be used on Pinterest, Facebook, Google+, Instagram, LinkedIn, Tumblr, and Vine.

By clicking on a hashtag in a social post, that social network will automatically curate and display a feed of other messages also incorporating the same hashtag.

Facebook + hashtags

This week, Facebook was the latest social network to implement the hashtag feature (feature is rolling out gradually to users):

Here’s an example of the stream of posts you’d see when clicking on #Facebook:

In terms of privacy, don’t worry about private friends-only posts with hashtags on personal profiles. They will only be shown to your chosen audience. However, hashtags on business profiles are public. With or without hashtags, business page posts are public.

What is the point of a hashtag?

Hashtags let you add context to a post and show that it’s a part of a larger discussion. They can be good for connecting people to other individuals discussing the same topic and are also great for connecting people at events.

How can I use a hashtag?

To create a hashtag, simply include a # in front of a word or phrase, without spaces. A hashtag can occur at the beginning or the middle of a post. As a business, you can use a hashtag to make an event even more social, join other conversations, boost the visibility of a promotion or explore new content for content ideas.

How not to use a hashtag

Don’t abuse the hashtag, save it for when you need it. Too many hashtags looks spammy, and research has shown that engagement drops when a tweet has two or more hashtags.

#DontCreateAHashtagThatsTooLong: Keep your hashtag short and sweet, easy to spell, and easy to remember. If you want to incorporate your hashtag across multiple channels, you need to consider the character restrictions of those social networks. If you’re creating a hashtag for an event with a long title like National Small Business Week 2013, consider using an abbreviation or acronym, #SBW13.

Extra Tip: Do a search for the hashtag you intend to use before you use it. You never know what people may be using hashtags to discuss. You wouldn’t want to accidentally connect your business to a negative, controversial or embarrassing topic.

It sounds complicated, why should I use a hashtag?

Whether you like them or not, hashtags are a key part of social media marketing. In fact, 71 percent of people on social media use hashtags. They aren’t that bad either. The same study found that 43 percent of hashtags users think they’re useful and 34 percent use them to follow categories and brands of personal interest like your business!

What do you think? Are hashtags on Facebook a bad idea? Tell us on Facebook!

Why You Should Use Google Plus for Marketing

A Google Plus marketing page allows you to create and share valuable information about your business. You can create follow buttons, +1 like buttons, video hangouts, create events, and interact with members of your community. So, what makes Google Plus page so special for online marketing?

A well-optimized Google Plus business page for Marketing can benefit your internet business in several ways. First, an optimized business page will help you compete favorably with your competitors in local search. Secondly, it will help you build brand or business authority through +1’s one like and consumer reviews. Most importantly, a Google Plus business page for marketing has the potential to drive traffic to your business website and convert visitors into customers.

Create and Verify your Google Plus Business Page

The first and most important think that you should do when using Google Plus business page for marketing is to set up and verify your business page. You can simply do this by linking your official business or company website with your Google plus business page. So, why should you verify your business page?

Verifying your Google Plus business page for marketing will enhance the legitimacy and authority of your brand and content. A verified page also increases your chances of getting a custom URL once Google rolls out the custom URL feature. Besides establishing your legitimacy, verifying your Google Plus business page for marketing also enhances the value of your search engine (based on trust factor).

Optimize Your Google Page for the Search Engine

Once you set up and verify your Google Plus Business Page for marketing, you should proceed to optimize it by. You should use relevant and target SEO keywords (non-spammy) throughout your Google Plus business page. Think carefully about your choice of keywords and most importantly, the keywords that show up when people conduct Google Search. Also, make sure that you use a proper business name and business tagline.

Since Google Plus Business page for marketing integrates with Google Search, you should optimize your headlines and descriptions for the Search Engine. For the maximum effect, make sure that you include the keyword(s) in the tagline and in your intros. Assuming that you already have a Gmail account, you can add a page administrator to help you manage your Google Plus Business page for marketing.

Link Your Google Page with Your Website and Social Networks

Given the immense potential of Google Plus business page for marketing, you should integrate your business page with your social networks and your website. You can simply do this by creating and embedding links or using the +1 or share button which you can access in the Google Plus Developer’s page.

Seriously, I don’t know why some people are skeptical about linking their Google Plus business page for marketing with their social networks and even websites. The truth is that Google Plus is fundamentally a social media and content marketing channel. It has the potential to attract and engage visitors in your page and also direct them to your website.

Promote your Business Page

It’s not enough for you to create a Google Plus business page for marketing; you should go a step further to promote it. You can do this by adding your page to your Circles and sharing links to your business page or content in your social networks. Make use of +1 badges and share buttons too. Encourage your employees to share news on their individual pages and in their social networks so as to encourage followers to join your Circles.

Get and Organize Google Plus Followers

Just like Twitter and Facebook, Google Plus has a vast community of heterogeneous followers. So, if you are thinking of using Google Plus business page for marketing to engage some members (of this vast community) then you have to attract and organize the followers and people that you engage with.

As a rule of thumb, you should never acquire automated followers rather, build your community organically one step at a time. Take time to know who your members are, what they like doing, and the nature, composition, and conversations in their circles. Knowing your members will help you develop and implement the best online content marketing strategy for your target Google Plus community.

As you attract people to your Google Plus business page for marketing, you have to organize them so that you can optimize your content and messages for them. The best way of doing this is to create or join the relevant circles in the Google Plus community. You can create many circles and use them to segment your community so that you can target each community with specific and relevant information. When used properly, circles can help you track target customers and enhance the effectiveness of your Google Plus business page for marketing.

Create a Content Calendar

I know that many businesses have a rocky start when using Google Plus Business Page for marketing. Though opinions are many and varied, I believe that creating and maintaining a content calendar is the best content marketing strategy for your Google Plus business page. A content calendar will help you plan and develop relevant content for your followers throughout the year.

Once you identify and understand the community that you’re are targeting, then you should adjust your Google Plus Business Page for marketing calendar accordingly. You should create posts or share industry news and links to your latest blog posts.

It doesn’t matter whether you are a big brand or a small domestic business; Google Plus Business Page for marketing has great potential for you. Creating and maintaining a business page enhances the value of your internet marketing considerably by giving you an edge over your competitors. By using Google Plus business Page for marketing, you can easily dominate local search, draw more customers, and ultimately, establish yourself as a niche expert.

The recent reveal of “rich pins” provides further insight into the opportunities possible on Pinterest. These specialty pins, focused on movies, recipes and products, include custom details for an easier and more comprehensive user experience. The details provided on Pinterest blog post are shown below:

Product pins: Focused on items such as clothes and furniture – with pricing, availability, and where to buy.

Movie pins: Feature films with content ratings, cast members, and more.

Recipe pins: From well-known bloggers and websites that include cook time, ingredients, and servings. An example from this board is shown below:

With the promise of many more “rich pins” in the future, Pinterest is opening the door for effective advertising. Adweek predicts that advertising on the social network will likely be “native-looking and centered on commerce.” Pinterest is nearly there already, considering that “native” refers to the integration of ads and content.

Pinterest CEO Ben Silbermann explains the correlation: “There’s often a direct link between the things that people are passionate about and things they are planning in the future and the things they spend money on.”

Every board a user creates and each person they choose to follow provides Pinterest with demographic data. For instance, Silbermann says they can identify life stages through the site – whether someone is about to get married or have a baby. This presents a valuable opportunity to play off of rich pins with targeted ads.

Pinterest already drives more purchases than Facebook, with over 70% of users turning to the social network for shopping inspiration. With “rich pins” clearly striving to increase purchase intent, native ads seem to be the next step to improve conversion rates and strengthen analytics.

Businesses looking to create rich pins can do so here.

Contact ZOG Digital for a social media optimization audit today.

Don’t let the sun set on your social media marketing campaign. Analyze the alternatives. Is your audience there?

According to the latest research from the Content Marketing Institute, few B2B marketers use Tumblr, Instagram, or StumbleUpon. Does that mean you should avoid them too? After all, many marketers and organizational leaders follow the 80/20 rule; put the lion’s share of your resources into the areas delivering the greatest return.

That’s solid strategy. For example, when focusing on your accounts, greater attention paid to key accounts is more likely to reward you with a new stream of orders. It’s not always the best strategy though. You can miss potentially attractive opportunities if you’re not careful.

That same caution can apply to social media marketing as well. Although B2B marketers focus on the “Big 3”, Facebook,LinkedIn, and Twitter, the smaller networks can deliver significant opportunities. How can you tell?

Simple; dig! Look at the primary criteria that makes a difference when determining your social media strategy, your audience. Know them well, your success depends on it.

When it comes to social media, where are they? What content really engages them, and how do they share it? What kind of content do they like to interact with? How can you most effectively engage them?

Instant Social Media Success?

You may do better focusing on LinkedIn and Twitter. On the other hand, there may be a gold mine lurking just under the Instagram surface. As a social media marketer, it’s up to you to discover. Although many B2B marketers eschew Instagram, someone is using it, as the network has over 100 million users; a drop in Facebook’s bucket, but a consequential number, to be sure.

Are your customers or prospects among them? Perhaps. If so, here are some tips to brand build and and drive sales with Instagram. No matter your strategy though, make sure you follow the age old marketing axiom – Keep it about your customer!

1 – Plug Instagram into your editorial calendar. Much as with any other content, regularly releasing branded content on Instagram builds brand awareness and engagement.

2 – Release only high quality content. Straight from the broken record department to be sure, but high quality content gets shared and builds buzz around your brand. Mediocre or poor content may be worse than none at all. Do you want your brand associated with mediocrity?

3 – ###### – You should be well used to this from Twitter, but use appropriate hash tags to help users find your content when searching. Use them when referring to your brand and brand attributes you’re seeking, in addition to keywords you want to be found for.

4 – Engage. Sure, this made the Enterprise kick butt across the galaxy, and it will have the same effect on brand equity for you. Positively engaging customers and prospects bonds them to your brand emotionally and intellectually. Make it timely and regular; strike while the iron (and their emotion) is hot.

5 – Give them a peek behind the curtain. Nothing invests people like feeling part of something , knowing how things work, an who’s behind everything. Use Instagram to take them “behind the curtain” and see how your organization works from an insider’s perspective. They’ll love you for it.

For more on brand building and engaging you customers on Instagram, see this post from Ryan Northover on Social Media Today and take a visit to Nancy Messieh’s Post on MakeUseOf here.

Trip and Fall Through Social Media….

StumbleUpon is another potential relationship and traffic builder. I’ve used to almost since its inception, and it can be a real driver. Quality counts here, too. A little known secret to success with StumbleUpon is user groups. No, this isn’t an official function, and it needs to be used with care, lest the StumbleUpon powers that be frown upon you from above.

What’s a StumbleUpon group, as it sounds, it is a group of individuals that promote each others’ content on the network. Be judicious and use it sparingly, on only your most important posts and pages. Another word of caution. Don’t stumble self-promotional crap. You don’t want your brand associated with it, and it’s no way to build a rabid following (always the goal).

On little known aspect of StumbleUpon is that there are ads available. Unlike other social networks, the ads aren’t overt, they are “pay for Stumble”. With StumbleUpon, users are taken to a new page that the network’s algorithm thinks they’d like when they hit the “stumble” button. The more likes a page gets from users, the more likely it is to be called when the stumble button is hit.

The ads allow advertisers to insert their pages so they are displayed when a user hits stumble. The combination of ads and organic stumbles can be powerful indeed. As users can give a thumbs up to any page they land on, using pay for placement is a great way to jump start a SU social campaign. Always remember though, quality rules the day here.

What About You?

Analyze your audience. Do they frequent some of the smaller networks? If so, you should be there too. If not, stick to the big boys, because effective social media marketing takes commitment and consistency. Many smaller organizations simply don’t have the resources to spread their social media marketing across more than a few platforms and ensure its effectiveness.

Social media marketing is a veritable minefield. Stay on the right track, and steer clear of common social media gaffes so many marketers fall prey to. See my post on Social Media Marketing Mistakes to Avoid in 2013 for the lowdown.

Have you used any of the smaller social media platforms effectively in your marketing?

If you found this helpful, please share it so others can benefit too, thanks!

First, a quick overview:

• Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of making a site and its content highly relevant for search engines and searchers. When successful, it helps a site gain ranking for relevant words and phrases.
• Paid search marketing/pay-per-click (PPC) marketing is a type of search marketing where advertisers pay a set amount every time their ad is clicked by a prospect.
• Search engine marketing (SEM) is a combination of the two. It entails putting content in front of people who overtly and explicitly express a desire, via keywords, for a particular product, service, or piece of information.

With that out of the way, let’s get to the #1 most important thing you can do to rank well in SEM world:

Create content with your audience in mind.

• Write for your audience, and you’ll create content for customers and prospects, as well as ranking higher in SE algorithms.
• Search engines make money by recommending best content for a given search, so the better your content is, the higher the chance that it will be seen.
• If you try to game the system, it will likely backfire, so just don’t do it. In 2012, Google implemented the following adorably named algorithms:

These algorithms are nearly impossible to circumvent, and Google doesn’t mess around with those who break the rules – in 2012 alone, BMW, JC Penney, Overstock, and Forbes were all removed from Google’s index for trying to game the system.

Another important thing to keep in mind is to speak the searcher’s language. Most industries have their own specific lexicon, and you should use keywords with that in mind.

Develop an initial keyword list and compile a definitive list of keywords or phrases that when used should enable customers to find your content. You can do this in a number of ways:

• Analyze existing search engine referrals.
• Research external keyword databases.
• List product names (and generic equivalents).
• Ask your customers what they would type into a search engine if they were looking for your product.

Develop the searcher profile and persona. Who is the searcher? Who is looking for the information on your website? Is it someone who…

• Is looking for a general category of info?
• Wants a specific solution?
• Owns one of your products and needs help?

Define the searcher’s mindset. Why are they searching? Do they want to…

• Purchase a product or solution?
• Learn about a product or solution?
• Solve a specific problem?
• Understand a product category?

Map your important keywords to pages on your site.

• Look at each page on your site—what words do you think each is relevant for?
• Look at the pages again—are you using the words?
• Try searching for your own site with those words. If it’s not showing up, you have a problem.

Optimize your site content for search engines by…

Writing for SEO.

• Choose one keyword phrase that is targeted for each page, and try to include each keyword phrase three to four times within your copy, but there’s no golden rule for an ideal keyword density—if it sounds awkward, rewrite it.
• Use the exact term, with the words in the exact same order each time.
• Longer copy provides a better opportunity for keywords and lets you provide more information for visitors. 300 words is a good target, but page length should be dictated by message – don’t feel the need to draw out or cut down your content just to be at that number.
• Putting keywords in your…
  • Title tag
  • URL
  • Headlines and sub-headlines (H1 and H2 tags)
  • Call to action (CTA) links (hyperlinks)
  • Main body text copy, from top to bottom

Get quality links. It’s important. Seriously.

People link because of compelling content – they want to share it with others. This is the most important result of having good links.

People also link as a result of having had a great or terrible experience with brand. If they had a great experience, they’re probably promoting it with their friends; if not, they’re probably warning friends away from it.

So how can you get links?

• Write compelling content and let people know it exists.
• Provide helpful information.
• Network—people are more likely to link to people they know than to strangers.
• Social media: search engines take notice of what links show up on social media.

This takes us into the final factor to content creation: social media’s relationship to SEO. Social signals are important in the early stages of ranking. If influential people share content, you’ll get higher exposure for the short run; if they link, it helps in the long run, as Google will notice and add ranking signals to your content.

To facilitate social media SEO optimization…

• Include social buttons on every page of your site, and in all blog posts, press releases, and outbound communication.
• Focus on the channels your customers use. It’s better to do a thorough job in just one often-visited channel than poorly in three.
• Keep in mind that Google has made it clear that social signals play a role in its algorithm; Google+ is going to have the biggest role in your ranking.

The main point to all this is: create content people want to share. People like sharing interesting information; it builds credibility, creating the image that the sharer is in the know, and consistently sharing good information increases your audience. Good information also helps visitors and increases your authority on a subject – use white papers, case studies, fun facts, educational material, research results, thought-provoking blog posts, how-to articles, top 10 lists, and more to share your information in innovative and easy-to-read ways.

Watch the whole webinar: The 10 New Rules for SEO

Act-On customers: If you’d like to learn about Act-On Inbound, Act-On’s new features for search engine and AdWord optimization, click here to schedule a demo.