Tag Archives: social business college

Top 10 Social Media Marketing Success Checklist

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Before you spend a single dime on marketing, check this list:

1 – Focus of “Thought Leadership?” That is, what key areas of your expertise could you blog about that people would be interested in about you and your solutions. That is, it will always be about content, content and content whether movies, products or services. And, if things go bad, respond quickly and with personal conviction to customer complaints, rumors or worse.

2 – Add More Keywords/tags/labels about your Expertise or Businesses. Examples would be: bicycle repair in Boulder, bicycle tours in Boulder, etc. The more tags/keywords/label are will generally increase you SEO traffic.

3 – Post Calls-To-Action on Social Media – Examples: Your life suffers because you . . . With xyz product, you will ….Our products have been proven to . .

4 – Push or Pull – Marketing for some is either inbound or outbound. The point is to do both. Newsletters, ads, tradeshows are examples of outbound. Ads are examples of inbound where customers come looking for you.

5 – Posting or Pinning – Blog posts are great to establish you as thought leadership. Pinning on Pinterest is a great way to create your own online catalog. Combine your blog posts with pictures and pin them on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Linkedin and others.

6 – IP-Intellectual Property and Legal – We have always advised clients to focus their efforts on their website rather than letting Facebook control their brand and to protect their brand name a critical part of their intellectual property.

7 – Consumer Service Education – Probably the easiest and greatest ideas to blog and share is information on your products and solutions. As has been said, “can’t sell what you don’t know” also means that in a DIY-do it yourself world, educate both your sales and customers to everyone knows more about what you do whether it be about the thread in your clothes or the way you build products.

8 – Channels – Who are you networking with in your community, online and social groups. Supporting friends’ idea is often a great way to help you with your idea.

9 – Go Mobile – If you have read this far, one of the most important points we can suggest is begin redesigning your website for mobile access. For example Chanel.com has a mobile version of their website to be viewed by smartphones aka iPhone. There are many examples of great mobile websites. Then get going because 50% and growing number of viewers see your website on their smartphones.

10 – Vision – Remember to always look toward the future and keep your vision focused and evolve as customers and markets change and change you along the way or change will change you and often for the worse.

If you are located in Boulder, we will provide a Free one hour social media marketing evaluation – call 303-594-1694 or email cross@gocross.com

5 V-Gifts for the TechChic – Tech Love for Valentines Day

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You can send chocolates, you can buy flowers, you can make reservations and you can buy gifts. But once it’s all said and done and you’ve gained five pounds from the champagne and are breaking out from the chocolate, what did you really gain from Valentine’s Day?

Instead of sending the tried and true (or should we say, “tired and true”) we searched the web for a few more unique gifts for tech chicks. These geeky gals will appreciate your creativity and they’ll enjoy having a gift they can look at or use throughout the year. Or ladies, buy these for yourself in celebration of National Singles Awareness Day. Don’t be shy, nothing says “I love me” like an 8-bit heart necklace.

1. The classic gift. This gift has been on the market and available to tech savvy consumers longer than any other gift on our list. Don’t just etch your love in stone or scratch it on a tree, carve it in metal on the back of an iPod or iPad with custom monogramming. It’s available on the Apple website for no additional charge.

2. The expensive gift. Turn up “Let’s Get It On” on your significant other’s new Bose iPod dock and tie a big red bow on the top of this $250+ gift.  The SoundDock 10 is $600 but cheaper versions start at $249. Click here to find them on Target’s website.

3. The creative gift.  Okay this one is a doozy and we love it. Plug this mug warmer into your USB drive to keep your caffeine heated. That’s right, it’s a USB-powered mug warmer in a romantic heart shape. Click here to find this amazingly cheap gift. No guarantees as to how long it will last, how long it will warm your coffee or how hot it will keep your coffee, but it’s so fun and creative that you really can’t go wrong.

4. The gag gift/nerdy gift. Heart paperweights are a little too practical for Valentine’s Day, which automatically makes them just a little too nerdy. While it’s definitely something they can use all year, we’re using the term “use” very loosly considering not many people are working at a desk frequented by gusts of wind. Click here for this $10 stone paperweight from Macy’s.

5. The fashionista gift.  Etsy brings us this fifth and fantastic gift by House of Darkley. It’s the 8-bit love heart necklace and it’s only for the super tech ladies out there. It’s laser cut and made of acrylic. How cool.  Plus, if you’re on a budget this is an affordable way to go at only $9.

With these five gifts, how could you possibly buy chocolate strawberries and call that a passable Valentine’s Day present?  However, consider that you could score some bonus points if you combine one of these techie presents with something like a creative flower arrangement or box of truffles.

Happy Valentine’s Day everyone. Enjoy and remember, the greatest gift of all is a night with your smart phone turned off.

 

 

 

Time For iPhone/iPad Addiction Intervention? – 10 Ways to Tell You’re an IPhone Addict

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On ChicsTech, we’ve featured a variety of accessories for tech-conscious, chic ladies. Like this post on great workout wear and this post on iPhone and iPad accessories. But while you’re accessorizing your iPhone/Pad, did you ever think you might be a little too into it? Is it an accessory or has it gone way beyond? Find out if you’re an iPhone addict by reading through this list.

1.  Your iPhone/Pad to the bedroom-bathroom everywhere 24×7 and you wakeup in the morning with a iPhone crease across your face. Ok, you can take your iPhone/Pad to bed with you but don’t expect your bedmate to love you more for it.  Indeed, they may find it a bit too much you are texting during intimacy.  As far as the bathroom is concerned, this isn’t really sanitary and not cool. When you’re out to dinner, the only reason you might need your phone is to fake a “getaway” call on a bad date. Don’t trek your iPhone to the bathroom with you because we all know someone who has had to save their phone from a watery grave after dropping it in the toilet.
2. You have named your iPhone. Yeah, really. People do this. If you no longer call your phone a phone, it’s time to call a spade a spade and admit your addiction. Names like “The Digitizer” and “Frank” go way into the weird category.
3. Your iPhone is accessorized. If you’ve ever set your phone on the table instead of your clutch, you might have a problem. If you’re so proud of the way you’ve matched the perfect case to your white phone or have gone all matte black on your black iPhone, you might have an addiction. Put it back in your purse.
4. You’ll immediately walk out of a wireless store if they don’t have Apple. Clearly, they aren’t cool enough for you. Wireless carriers are nearly required by techie law now to carry the iPhones but you’re the first to point it out to them if they need to carry the phones…or at least more iPhone accessories.
5. You have iPhone chargers in every room and everywhere else. Car charger, bedroom charger, desk charger, home desk charger, living room charger, kitchen charger etc., etc. If you have a mini freak out every time your phone buzzes 20% (“Oh no! It might shut off!”), then you need to admit the addiction.
6. If something doesn’t sync with Apple, it sure won’t sync with you. Yes, there’s something to be said for the ease of an all-in-one piece of technology, but just because your Word document won’t open on your iPhone doesn’t mean you need to ban Word from existence.
7. You still have the standard ringtone and you never have it on vibrate. Brag much? This is a surefire sign you want others to know just what kind of phone you have. Chill out.
8. You gave up your camera so you could whip out your phone for pictures. It’s totally true and legitimate that iPhones take great pictures and some phone pictures even rival those of cameras. But if you got rid of your nice camera just to use your iPhone more often, you might have the Apple Addiction. (*this does not apply to Twitter users who have many good reasons for taking photos with their iPhone!)
9. You love signing e-mails “Sent From My iPhone.” Did you know that some people have deliberately deleted this phrase so people don’t know they’re e-mailing from their iPhone?
10. You consider non-Apple technology obsolete. Android, Droid and any other smart phone might as well be a dumb phone as far as you’re concerned.
11. Apps – This was added since it yet another level addiction that we can only begin to understand and will write more about.

If this list started sounding too familiar around number three (or if you’re reading this on your iPhone) take a step back, a deep breath and turn your phone off for a few minutes.

Editor’s Note: this list was compiled by a “borderline” iPhone addict.

Hate the Facebook Timeline! Here’s Our 5 Reasons Why

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Facebook launched yet another “update” in late January after a short trial period where early adopters could voluntarily change to the new profile type. The new profile is very different, very photo-oriented and is supposed to chronicle your life. It is called “Timeline” and well, I don’t like it. I will be the first to admit that any new feature, layout or adjustment to Facebook takes some getting used to. You have to find things you used to be able to click on with your eyes closed. You have to relearn shortcuts and ways to manage any business pages you work with. And you usually have to readjust your privacy settings.

Since I am fully aware that some of my dislike for Timeline is solely based on the fact that I haven’t learned it yet, let me instead give you a few other reasons why I wish Facebook would have left our profiles alone.

Reason #1:  There’s practically nothing “above the fold.” Hasn’t Facebook heard of this age-old newspaper term? In the newspaper business, designers and reporters live and breathe by what is above the fold on the front page of a paper. In the Internet business, designers consider anything you have to scroll down to see worthless, except for SEO purposes.  The new Facebook Timeline requires so much scrolling you could wear out your mouse and this is partially to blame for the ginormous photo they call the “Cover Photo”. That leads me to the next reason.

Reason #2: The cover photo. What the heck? How many people really have a high-quality, horizontally framed, flattering photo they want showcased to every person who visits their Facebook profile? Um, I’d wager that not many do.  Having that huge picture there doesn’t help people get to know you, it’s just a giant profile picture and another thing you have to update. Plus, it gives those obnoxious Facebook users (featured in a post on ChicTech last week) a chance to post an even larger and more prominent photo of their cat.

Reason #3: It is leaving businesses guessing. There has been a lot of debate and speculation as to whether or not Facebook will push Timeline to business pages. That leaves some businesses guessing and other businesses preemptively creating strategies to adopt the new layout. While I have to admit that a Timeline of a business’s history could be really interesting and a great marketing tool, it will be painful for many businesses to adapt to the photo-heavy layout and emphasis on the past.

Reason #4: If it ain’t broke… You can see where I’m going with this. The previous profile layout was fine! It made some nice improvements over the layout that launched the year before and has been a great success doing everything Facebook intended it to do. This change was quite simply unnecessary and they were “improving” something that really didn’t need improvement.

Reason #5: The newsfeed. No, there haven’t been any changes to the newsfeed, but as Facebook users start to build out their Timeline, all of those changes are showing up in the newsfeed of their friends. Baby pictures, birthdays, college party photos, middle school dances. All of it is being pushed to the newsfeed of their thousand closest friends while they work to update their Timeline.

I’m/we are avid social media users. Chances are that we will warm up, suck it up and figure out the Facebook Timeline. But in the meantime, we are going to hold off and enjoy the old profile for as long as Facebook lets us change it.  As we know how hard it is to change and the only person who really wants change is a baby who wants their diaper changed now!  Or if you really want change, get up and go outside and sit on your porch, take a walk in the park or on the beach and meditate as to why Facebook isn’t all that important to really anyone and most of us had interesting lives before it was here.

7 Tips To Implement A Social Media And Blogging Strategy

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Want To Be More Effective In Social Media? Use an Editorial Calendar

Whether you’re a small business owner or an individual who wants to jump into the social media fray but are worried you simply won’t know what to write about, — long term – use an editorial calendar as your guide. The implementation of an editorial calendar helps keep track of social media status updates, article marketing efforts and blogging. Consider your editorial calendar much the same as the kind newspaper and magazine editor’s use.

Knowing who your target audience is will be the first step in planning your editorial calendar. If you don’t know who you want to reach, you won’t be able to effectively put an editorial calendar in place or target your marketing efforts. Spend time determining who your ideal client/reader is then work on your calendar.

Here are steps to jump start your editorial calendar planning efforts:
1.     Is your business or hobby seasonal? Are you writing about topics that have seasonal slants for your readers? Will you be looking to offer information that correlates to the season for your potential clients?
2.    Plan your editorial calendar for a 12 month period – getting it all down on paper for a year will make the planning smoother and will help you from repeating information and will also keep your readers interested throughout the year with fresh content.
3.    Readers love information on holidays and special events – even obscure ones – so plan for them in your editorial calendar. Will you market to traditional holidays?  Here’s a source for national and obscure events. Choose one per month as a way to set yourself apart.
4.    How about promotions and giveaways? Will you have these? If so, plan them throughout the year to keep the readers interested and so you aren’t lumping all of your promotions in one area of the year and leaving the rest without any giveaways. Prepare for your promotions and giveaways and have your promotions and blog posts mirror those promos.
5.    Set up content categories for your website and blog platform – keep it to ten or fewer. Choose topics you’ll want to cover and write your content and build your editorial calendar toward those categories.
6.    Choose keywords that are relevant to your area of expertise. What are your business objectives or your areas of expertise for your social media platforms? Your efforts need to enhance your business objectives.  Your social media efforts should enhance your overall business plan. Keywords help you to get found on Google searches.
7.    Establish “evergreen” topics in your editorial calendar. Evergreen topics are those that are viable and recur on an annual (sometimes more) basis. The river in the picture is included to remind you that all news especially social media news is a stream that flows continuously and there are also lots of floods which you have to realize that your message may drown in the tsunami of other news.  Consider the glut of magazines that crowd the shelves at certain times of the year: “Top 10 weight loss tips,” or “Top Ten back to school ideas,” or “Top Ten ways to get published,” etc. These topics are pulled out annually because readers love to see them and magazine editors know that.

Social media is a great low-cost, sometimes no cost, way to find readers and followers and grow your business. A well thought out editorial calendar for your social media efforts will set you apart from the competition.