20 free tools to evaluate social media. These tools are not for measurement, but instead evaluation. They will give you some form of meaningful data to use in reports—plus they don’t cost anything. This is by no means an extensive list. Others exist, but even a few of them together will provide you with meaningful intelligence. Here they are: 1. Gives you stats on websites, including global rank, country rank, number of sites linking in, and good basic audience data, including demographics. 2.
Like a lot of services, Amplicate operates a “fermium” model. Amplicate also has a blog with useful information. 3. Board Reader will search for mentions across forums (including sites like Quora) and will also churn out a chart based on mentions over time. 4. Along with companies like Radian6 and Lithium, the Canadian research firm Sysomos is one of the giants in professional sentiment analysis. We’ve had periodic problems connecting to the site, but when it’s live, the site is good for a free service. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14.
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4 Simple Steps to a Facebook Timeline that Tells Your Marketing Story. 10 Form Optimization Tips For Landing Pages. Over the years, I’ve done a lot of work with form optimization. In this article, I’ll cover some tried and true form optimization tips. I’ve done most of my testing on the PPC side, but obviously, the information can also be used effectively to improve overall form conversions on websites. 1. Include A Privacy Line In general, a privacy line below the form helps with overall conversions. 2.
Think of gathering information from a client not as an event but as process. For example, with a client who sells windows that block out loud city noises, we obtain basic information like name, email and phone number and follow up with an automated email that requests more information like the size and shape of windows (we provide easy diagrams in a follow up email). Note: it’s best to send follow up emails sooner rather than later as a hot prospect is better than a cold one. 3. Don’t leave a lot of space in between form fields. Try 2 elements per line to take up less space. 4. 5.
Page 1 of form: 6. 7. How to Make Money on Facebook. As a small-business owner, you probably don't have the resources that a large corporation employs for online advertising campaigns, but social media consultant and author Brian Carter says that even solopreneurs with limited funds can gain the competitive edge in this vast cyber-arena. "For years the Internet has provided us with the wildest opportunities that haven't been very competitive or expensive," says Carter. And with all of these options available to us, Carter is most passionate about Facebook advertising.
"It provides us with the biggest opportunities—it's a great place to profit," he says. "Advertising on Facebook is the biggest opportunity for businesses large and small," Carter says. "What Facebook advertising does, which is great, is to allow you to reach a TV-sized audience, locally, nationally and even internationally, and still target it the way you would in any internet marketing campaign, yet start with just five bucks a day. Best Social Bookmarking Plugins for WordPress. Social Bookmarking WordPress plugins therefore help and provide an option to share and submit your web contents to popular social networks and fetch huge traffic.
This is really a wonderful idea and very widely used and appreciated. Nowadays, social networking sites are being used heavily to share posts and contents on the blogosphere. No doubt it helps to build and publicize a particular brand and that’s why more and more people are using this strategy in marketing. WordPress bookmarking plugins are therefore in huge demand among internet users. Today website owners and bloggers find social networking to be an important factor for site traffic and popularity.
Unless you submit your website or blog contents or posts on social networks like Facebook or Twitter, you will not get desired traffic on your website or blog. There are quite a few social bookmarking options for WordPress. Digg Digg Socialize Light Social Sociable Bookmarkify Sharebar Simple Social Bookmarks WP Socializer AddThis. LinkedIn: 5 changes to make to your profile today. 5 Apps to Help Manage Your Twitter Account. Twitter Fact Sheet.
12 common PR mistakes. My frustration level is at about an 11 right now when it comes to client-created PR nightmares. Like most marketing/PR pros, I care deeply about my clients and their business. Sometimes it’s like watching slow, self-induced Chinese water torture when I’m forced to watch them self-emolliate via bad PR mistakes. Do you want to know the most frustrating part of it all? Most PR is based on common sense. 1. You think this sounds crazy?
2. To garner publicity and draw attention to your company, you need to have a statement that sets you apart. 3. It does you no good if you, Mr. 4. If you don’t have the channels of communication set up and regularly used you can’t get your message out. 5. Think that sounds unusual? It’s fine to set deadlines and goals, but how are you going to measure success? 6. I don’t care if you sell donuts, shoe polish or consulting services, bad things happen to good companies all the time; most of them aren’t expecting it. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 33 things the media wish PR people knew. The media want to cover your organization and its goings-on. Problem is, they have limited resources and need your help putting together a compelling story. For everyone to succeed, you need to know some things. Here are 33 of them: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33.
Do you have anything to add? A version of this story appeared on the author’s blog. (Image via)
Should you Post Press Releases in Social Media? 4 Ways Farmers’ Markets Are Going Digital. The Digital Marketing Series is supported by HubSpot, an inbound marketing software company based in Cambridge, Mass., that makes a full platform of marketing software, including marketing analytics tools.
The image of a farmers’ market doesn’t immediately evoke “high-tech.” Over the years, however, farmers’ markets have slowly adopted digital technologies to reach an increasingly connected consumer. The move toward digital often began with building simple email lists. “I would use [a list] to do a weekly pre-market pump up, tell them what would be there,” says Stacy Miller, executive director of the Farmers’ Market Coalition, an organization serving farmers, consumers and communities by providing resources and state and federal representation. Miller, who previously served as marketing manager of a farmers’ market, adds, “Email lists were kind of the spark for communicating electronically with a customer base.”
Over time, those emails evolved into a market website. 1. 2. They won the barn. The Window Salesman.
6 Ways to Be More Persuasive With Social Media. Neil Patel is the co-founder of KISSmetrics, an analytics provider that helps companies make better business decisions. How can you be persuasive with consumers on social media? One of the best books on persuasion is called Influence, in which author Robert Cialdini describes six elements of effective persuasion. I share those tactics below and analyze how they can best be applied to a social media audience. 1. Reciprocation is built upon the theory that if you give something as a gift and then ask the recipient for a favor, they’ll respond in kind.
For example, Dropbox will give you 2GB of storage space for free. Another common social media strategy is to give away ebooks. 2. When it comes to making decisions, we often look to other people for clues. Subscriber or follower counts – Are a lot of people following this blogger? Bottom line: When it comes to social media, a large audience is golden. 3. When Cialdini talks about “liking,” he doesn’t mean the “Like” button on Facebook. 4. 5. 6.
10 types of addictive content. Are you having problems driving traffic to your blog? Is no one is retweeting your content or sharing it on Facebook? The challenge for any blogger is to provide content that will entice and delight readers. You want your readers to look forward to your next article. One thing to keep in mind is that everyone faces daily challenges and problems. I have found these 10 content types to be very effective. 1. Reviews of products, books or applications in your industry provide a shortcut that saves people time. The other advantage with this content is the companies and people whose product or book you review will share your content with their networks, accelerating its spread and making it more viral.
Example: 8 Great Twitter Tools That Will Get You Tweeting Like A Pro This multiple review motivated the eight companies who developed them to tweet and share the review with their networks. 2. A long list of tips, tactics and answers that people can use as a reference works well. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. Hideous query email sparks 6 tips for PR job-seekers. This week, my firm received possibly the worst job query I’ve ever seen. That’s saying a lot, given the stacks of résumés and letters sent to our firm each year. Given the tight job market and need for skilled workers in our field, this applicant sets the bar for how not to conduct a job search and sell yourself. Here’s the letter, with some details excised to protect the applicant. All misspellings and missing words are preserved: I am a student from XXX State University I plan on graduating this spring and was very interested in applying at your firm.
My major is public but I have had experience in advertisement, campaign management, and social media. I will of course sent you a portfolio and resume upon my graduation I just find it appropriate to contact you early. OK, now let’s look at the letter a little closer. It’s clear from the first line that the applicant didn’t target our firm. Tip: Form letters never work. In the second line, the applicant says his major is “public.”
How to get the most out of a PR major. It is important to understand exactly how versatile a PR practitioner must be to keep up with the demands of clients and the fast-paced field. The best time to comprehend this is in college. Here are six ways to get the most out of your PR major: Get as much internship experience as possible. This may seem like an obvious key to victory in the career game, but some students feel one internship is enough. It’s not. The more internship experience you get, the better your résumé looks and the more confident you’ll be with your performance under pressure. Tip: Set up a meeting with your school’s career advisor. Practice how to write, especially a good pitch. Writing is a fundamental part of our job.
In college I took extra writing classes and wrote for various media outlets. Tip: Never stop practicing your writing. Knowing how to pitch well is also important. Tip: If you don’t already know, learn from Help A Reporter Out. Be familiar with multiple areas of expertise. Be well versed on news topics. 7 reasons I hated your speech. It’s hard to believe how much I hated your speech. I hated your introduction.
I hated the middle of your presentation. I hated your so-called conclusion. I hated the way you delivered your talk. And don’t even get me started on your PowerPoint slides. As hard as it is to reduce all of the reasons I hated your speech down to just seven, I‘m going to try. Here are seven reasons I hated your speech: 1. You opened your speech without doing anything to get me interested in your topic. 2. You didn’t tell me where one thought ended and another began. As a result, I couldn’t figure out where you were and where you were leading me. 3. C’mon, now.
Why didn’t you just highlight your most important points, tell me why they’re relevant, and add some memorable supporting material? 4. You had less energy than the geriatrics at the local senior home. Next time, try speaking about 15 percent louder. 5. I somehow made it through your speech without nodding off. But what should I do next? 6. 7. Visit the Mr. Top 10 Things to Test to Put Your Email on the Top 10 List! Masher - create free online video, photo and music mashups.
5 Ways to Catch the Eye of the Press and Public. What do readers want -- and what to editors and reporters want to see? Here are five ways to catch the eye of your audience, whether you're writing blog posts, press releases or doing a Public Service Announcement campaign. 1) Pull Back the Curtain Whatever business a public figure is in, it's a secret world that average people don't get to see. Hollywood. Big business. People are always interested in learning secrets. Plus, these aren't hard to write. What may seem like old hat to you -- how a bill really becomes law, what a movie set is actually like, being inside the locker room of the Boston Red Sox -- is completely different and exciting to the press and public. 2) Pick a Fight Peace and happiness is boring.
News is about conflict. A lot of times, conventional wisdom is wrong. 3) Revamp Your Products Not simply to freshen up the look. Since everything you do in public relations -- except for radio -- involves the eyes, this is an important issue. The conventional wisdom is wrong. Untitled. 50 Questions to Get to Know Someone | Humor That Works. By Andrew Tarvin on June 2, 2010 Want to get to know me better (or anyone really)? Just ask one of the below “get to know you” questions… they’re meant to be fun, interesting questions that can help you learn more about the person you are talking to. These questions can be great for team-building, learning more about your fellow co-workers, and for spicing up your standard introductions. A quick caveat: there are thousands of interesting questions to get to know someone, but I’ve found that the below questions (pulled from games like Table Topics, shows like Inside the Actor’s Studio, and from my own brain) are unique or interesting enough to force a person to think.
If they’ve been asked the same question a thousand times before, it’s not as effective in engaging the person in your conversation. And these are just a starting point; take these team-building questions and modify them to meet your needs and situation. What was your favorite food when you were a child? The Ultimate List: 40 Social Networking Sites Specifically for Small Business, Entrepreneurs, and Startups. Eight Questions To Ask Before You Start A Business. Writing Email Marketing Copy That Sells. Who Else Wants to Write Better Email Copy? 10 Search Engines to Explore the Invisible Web. 50 Questions That Will Free Your Mind. 35 Online Tools That Make Your Freelance Career Easier. How To Extend The Life of Your Email Campaign.