Social Media Zoom Factor with Pam Moore | Social Media Marketing | Branding |Business | Entrepreneur | Small Business | Digital Marketing | Content Marketing | Marketing | Influencer
SocialZoomFactor is a podcast created for you, the business and marketing leader in startups to enterprise organizations. If you want to learn how to integrate social media, content marketing, experiential branding, digital marketing and the latest technology to zoom results in business and life you won't be disappointed in the energy and information Pam Moore delivers 5 days a week. Each episode brings you actionable tactics and strategies you can implement today for real business results. Pam is CEO / founder Marketing Nutz and ranked as Top 10 Social Media Power Influencer by Forbes.
Pam Moore of Marketing Nutz a digital, social and branding training and consulting agency shares 7 Foundational Steps to Develop a Digital Marketing and Social Media Marketing Plan. A power packed 30 minute episode to help set you and your marketing plan up for success. Learn how to stomp random acts of marketing and build a plan that ignites your return on investment, website traffic, lead generation, brand authority, social media engagement and loads more!
Download Audience Priority Worksheet
Download Content Calendar Template
Sponsor:
User.com - Save 50% for 6 Months on ANY Plan + the First 10 people to Register Get a Free Consultation with Marketing Automation Expert
Pam Moore of Marketing Nutz a digital, social and branding training and consulting agency shares the top 3 reasons businesses and marketing leaders fail with digital marketing and social media. Plus she shares with you the best and most simple steps to fix these broken strategies for higher return on investment and to achieve your goals! A power packed 15 minute episode with proven methods to help you break through what may be stopping you from achieving success with your marketing programs.
Download Buyer Persona Template
Download Audience Priority Worksheet
Download Content Calendar Template
Sponsor:
User.com - Save 50% for 6 Months on ANY Plan + the First 10 people to Register Get a Free Consultation with Marketing Automation Expert
Pam Moore of Marketing Nutz a digital, social and branding training and consulting agency shares the 5 Major Pillars to Build a Personal Brand of Authority to help grow your business. Take a listen and learn the solid foundations for how to build a personal brand that connects you with your ideal audience and dream customers in meaningful ways! Learn how to tap into the power of influencer marketing, content marketing and relationship marketing to expand your brand awareness and become the go-to expert in your industry and niche!
Download Buyer Persona Template
Download Personal Branding Guide
Download Audience Priority Worksheet
Download Content Calendar Template
Download 20 Questions You Must Answer Before Developing a Content Strategy (visual ebook)
Dig in with Pam Moore of Marketing Nutz to learn how to easily research your customer and audience. These 15 methods will help you understand your target customer desires, where they hang out online, what social networks they use, how they use social media, what content will help them solve their problems and so much more!
Understanding your target buyer is the first steps to developing an audience first marketing plan that helps you attract the RIGHT customers for more traffic, leads and sales!
Supporting Resources:
Buyer Persona 5-Day Bootcamp Virtual Training
Sponsor:
User.com - Save 50% for 6 Months on ANY Plan + the First 10 people to Register Get a Free Consultation with Marketing Automation Expert
Dig in with Pam Moore of Marketing Nutz to learn how to develop an audience first marketing strategy for your digital marketing, social media, content marketing and branding execution that inspires, attracts and converts your dream customers to buyers.
Learn exactly what an audience marketing strategy is and how it can help marketers get more traffic, leads, sales and return on investment. Targeting the right audience helps increase the ROI on all of your Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, blogging, YouTube, video marketing efforts and plans.
Supporting Resources:
Buyer Persona 5-Day Bootcamp Virtual Training
Sponsor:
User.com - Save 50% for 6 Months on ANY Plan + the First 10 to Register Get a Free Consultation with Marketing Automation Expert
Knowing where to focus and what digital marketing, content marketing, branding and social media strategies to implement when is key to success online today!
Also knowing what NOT to do and what you need to change is what will set you apart from the status quo and help you leapfrog your competition!
Dig in with Pam Moore of Marketing Nutz to learn how to optimize everything you do for marketing this year! This will help you not only increase ROI but also generate more leads, sales and new customers!
Supporting Resources:
Personal Branding Worksheet / Guide
Digital Body Language Guide: 105 Factors Impacting Your Brand
Buyer Persona 5-Day Bootcamp Virtual Training
Pam Moore of Marketing Nutz a digital, social and branding training and consulting agency shares proven strategies to preserve your personal and business brand in a political minefield. Should you or should you not share political topics and posts on your social media profiles such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram and Tik Tok? If you do, what are the best practices? Take a listen and learn the solid foundations for how to be a part of the political conversation during an election year without risking damage to your brand.
Download Buyer Persona Template
Download Personal Branding Guide
Download Audience Priority Worksheet
Download Content Calendar Template
Download 20 Questions You Must Answer Before Developing a Content Strategy (visual ebook)
Pam Moore of Marketing Nutz a digital, social and branding training and consulting agency shares proven strategies to grow your business and ignite your brand awareness, leads and sales by increasing your engagement on LinkedIn . Pam has been an active user on LinkedIn since the platform was in beta. She has more than 350,000 followers and 14,000 connections. She has been nurturing relationships on the platform for for almost 20 years.
Download Buyer Persona Template
Download Personal Branding Worksheet
Download Audience Priority Worksheet
Download Content Calendar Template
Download 20 Questions You Must Answer Before Developing a Content Strategy (visual ebook)
Sales and marketing conversion funnels are the key to success if you want to drive revenue with your digital and social media marketing.
Dig in with Pam Moore of Marketing Nutz to the art and science of the marketing and sales conversion funnel. She shares strategies and tactics to optimize every stage of the marketing funnel to attract more of the right prospects and convert them to paying customers!
Supporting Resources:
Buyer Persona Worksheet
Buyer Persona 5-Day Bootcamp Virtual Training
What you will learn:
What is a sales and marketing conversion funnel
3 Top phases of the sales and marketing conversion funnel
How to optimize each phase of the conversion funnel
Key metrics to help you optimize your funnel and convert more prospects to buyers
If you are struggling getting your boss, board of directors or other key stakeholders with your social media, digital marketing or content plan, you must listen to this episode.
Learn the exact steps to get your digital marketing, social media and content marketing plan and proposed budget approved!
Learn what to do and what not to do to get your boss on board with your plan
Free Guide: How to Get Your Social Media and Digital Marketing Plan and Budget Approved
If you are struggling getting your boss, board of directors or other key stakeholders with your social media, digital marketing or content plan, you must listen to this episode.
Learn the top 3 reasons your boss is not approving budget and not getting on board with your plan.
Free Guide: How to Get Your Social Media and Digital Marketing Plan and Budget Approved
Facebook ads that convert require more than learning the technical specifics of the Facebook Advertising platform.
Learn the 5 Things You Must do Before starting even one Facebook ad! These are critical must to do steps for social media ads that convert to business.
FREE Buyer Persona Worksheet
FREE Content Calendar Template
5- Day Buyer Persona Bootcamp (virtual training)
Learn the 5 shifts marketers must make during time of crisis.
Resources mentioned:
FREE eBook: How to Get Your Budget Approved
FREE Content Calendar Template
Pam Moore of Marketing Nutz a digital, social and branding training and consulting agency shares proven strategies to grow your business and ignite your brand awareness, leads and sales with LinkedIn. Pam has been an active user on LinkedIn since the platform was in beta. She has more than 350,000 followers and 14,000 connections. She has been nurturing relationships on the platform for for almost 20 years.
Download Buyer Persona Template
Download Personal Branding Worksheet
Pam Moore of Marketing Nutz shares with you the top 20 questions you MUST answer before starting your content marketing strategy. Answering these questions will help you leverage your content to convert more customers.
Download the free ebook with all 20 questions: https://pam.online/content20
Join Pam's 5-Day Buyer Persona Bootcamp:
https://themarketingnutz.com/bootcamp
How do you market your business and connect with your audience in authentic ways during a global crisis? Learn why you need emotional currency, trust and connection.
Take a listen to this episode with Pam Moore, Founder of Marketing Nutz to learn the top strategies and tactics that are working today. She'll also share with you what is NOT working and how to stomp fear and deliver your audience real value!
Learn how to create a drumbeat of authentic content that consistently connects you with your target audience in meaningful ways.
Learn how to market your business in the new normal.
What role do you want to play? How can you be a foundational powerful center of hope, love and success both online and offline today?
Join my 5-Day Buyer Persona Bootcamp!
FREE Resources:
Buyer Persona Worksheet to clearly define your top target customers
10-Point Checklist for Irresistible Content
Learn the 10-Point Checklist for Irresistible Content that converts to more customers!
FREE eBook 10-Point Checklist for Irresistible Content (beautiful 29 page guide)
In this episode Pam Moore, Founder of Marketing Nutz shares 6 ways you can give your brand personality.
Supporting Resources:
Brand Persona Worksheets: https://pam.online/mybuyer
5-Day Buyer Persona Bootcamp: https://pam.online/bootcamp
What is a brand personality? It is a set of human characteristics attributed to your brand that make it more human.
6 Ways to Give your brand personality.
What is brand personality?
7 traits of a successful brand personality
Brand personality vs brand identity - how to know the difference
Proven strategies you can start implementing immediately!
An audience first marketing strategy combined with powerful and accurate buyer personas are the key to connecting with your audience in meaningful and human ways.
This episode teaches you 10 things that you MUST know about your customer. Knowing your audience will help you increase the ROI on all of your marketing programs, campaigns, content and more.
FREE Buyer Persona Worksheet: https://themarketingnutz.com/zoombuyer
5-Day Buyer Persona Bootcamp:
https://themarketingnutz.com/zoombootcamp
This episode is sponsored by Fiverr
Check out the Fiverr Microgrants program helping businesses zoom results. Up to 3 businesses will get $1000 in Fiverr credits to use however they would like.
Learn More and Apply->> Fiverr Microgrants Program
An audience first marketing strategy combined with powerful and accurate buyer personas are the key to connecting with your audience in meaningful and human ways.
This episode teaches you the what, how and 10 reasons why every business needs an audience first marketing strategy to grow their business in the digital age.
FREE Buyer Persona Worksheet: https://themarketingnutz.com/zoombuyer
5-Day Buyer Persona Bootcamp:
https://themarketingnutz.com/zoombootcamp
Buyer personas are the key to connecting with your audience in meaningful and human ways.
This episode teaches you the what, how and why every business needs buyer personas and an audience first marketing strategy to grow their business in the digital age.
FREE Buyer Persona Worksheet: https://themarketingnutz.com/zoombuyer
5-Day Buyer Persona Bootcamp:
https://themarketingnutz.com/zoombootcamp
Marketing Nutz Partner and CEO, Pam Moore shares 15 Digital Branding Trends you can't ignore in 2020. These trends will influence how marketers leverage digital marketing, social media, influencer marketing, content marketing and overall approach how they connect with their target customers utilizing these technologies and best practices.
Download these supporting resources to ignite your digital brand in 2020:
2020 Content Marketing Editorial Calendar Template
Personal Branding Worksheet and Guide
Ignite Your Brand and Business with the You Factor of Your Personal Brand
Download FREE Personal Branding Guide: https://themarketingnutz.com/mybrand
In this podcast you will learn:
What is Personal Branding
Why Personal Branding Matters for Business Leaders
5 Tips to Get Started in Building Your Personal Brand Today!
Reality Check: The LAST thing your audience needs from you is more content.
Use my content calendar template: https://themarketingnutz.com/calendarzoom
When it comes to content marketing, less is truly more. Though you may hear some of the loud voices in our space screaming at you to be everywhere ALL THE TIME... trust me... do NOT listen to them.
You need to be where your audience is. And you need to be delivering your audience what they need and want from you. The last thing your audience and dream customers are thinking when they wake up in the morning is... "hey, I sure do hope to see MORE content from brands trying to sell to me today."
In reality, they are looking for human connection. They want to solve the problems that keep them up at night. They want to know that you and your brand actually care about them as humans and as helping them in business (if that is what your business does.) They are wanting to be inspired, empowered and made to feel better than they did before they read your blog post, opened your email, listened to your podcast, watched your Instagram story or an entire video on Youtube.
The truth is if your content is not delivering value, your audience doesn't care about it. The days of throwing social content spaghetti at the wall and hoping it sticks are over and done.
It is critical every status update you post, every blog post you write, visual you create and video you publish is providing value to your audience. It needs to connect with them in a human way that makes them think... "hey, I want to know more about that person and/or company!" This will separate you from the status quo of spammy noise.
You Need a Content Calendar to Streamline Your Content for Big Results
One of the best ways to start planning your content and escape from the "post all the content spaghetti things all the time on all the social networks everywhere" is to develop a content calendar.
A content calendar helps you streamline your efforts and achieve a higher return on investment of every piece of content you create and publish.
And lucky for you...I have a proven 2020 Content Calendar Template you can download for free here. I have been publishing the calendar template for 10 years.
Join 30,000 of your peers and download it now. It is proven to work for entrepreneurs, startups to Fortune 10 brands. It is the exact same template we use with our clients ranging from small business, franchise, up to enterprise companies.
Still not sold on why you need to use a content calendar for your marketing?
Take a listen to this episode to learn the 15 top ways that a content calendar will benefit your business immediately!
8 strategies to maximize investment in professional speakers and trainers for live events, conferences and workshops.
Learn more and get professional help with your live events and conferences: https://themarketingnutz.com
Hire Pam Moore as a speaker or trainer at your event https://themarketingnutz.com
Is your CEO giving you the blank stare when you present your digital and social media marketing, or content marketing plan for approval? Here are the top 3 fears your executive leadership has when it comes to embracing digital and social marketing technologies, new media and the latest methods and best practices for online marketing.
Understanding what they they are thinking and why they are not giving you the support you expect is critical to your success. It is far more than digital marketing and media budgets at stake. Their fears run much deeper and at the same time are quite simple if you look at them objectively.
Take a listen to these top 3 fears business leaders have when it comes to integrating digital marketing technologies, methodologies and new media into their business.
Let us help you facilitate the needed conversations to get the buy-in you need from your organization leaders. We can conduct a quick digital and social branding audit and get you on the right track to success.
Grab Your Ticket!
How franchisors and franchisees can leverage social media and digital marketing to amplify their brand, build authority and grow revenue.
This episode is focused on providing franchisors strategies and tips to leverage social media and digital marketing to build trust, increase brand awareness, sell more franchises and generate revenue.
It is critical that franchisors help guide and prioritize areas of focus for their franchisees as it relates to digital and social media. This will not only improve ROI but also reduce and help mitigate risk of a non-consistent brand.
These tips are also helpful for franchisees and provide guidance as to what they should be requesting from their franchisor organizations including what details they should be looking for in a franchise disclosure document (FDD) and more.
Marketing Nutz - Digital and Social Media Marketing and Branding Training and Consulting Agency
Social Profit Factor Training Academy
https://socialprofitfactor.com
Download Free Social Media Content Calendar Template
https://themarketingnutz.com/calendar
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Facebook marketing for small business strategies. Reduce the overwhelm and increase business results with these local marketing strategies that you can implement immediately!
Pam Moore of Marketing Nutz shares proven strategies to help you maximize your investment in Facebook local marketing.
Download 2019 Content Calendar Template: https://themarketingnutz.com/calendar2019
Digital & Social Media Strategy Secrets Training Course Bundle 70% Off for limited time!
https://themarketingnutz.com/stratpack19
Social Profit Factor Training Academy
https://socialprofitfactor.com
How do you stay relevant in a digital and social media world that is not always pushing play? Pam Moore, Co-Founder of Marketing Nutz shares strategies and tips for you to stay relevant and connected to your dream customer and online community. These strategies and tips are timeless and will help you grab the attention, trust and loyalty of your community, audience and customers for both the short and long term. These strategies have been proven with thousands of students and hundreds of Marketing Nutz clients.
Download 2019 Content Calendar Template: https://themarketingnutz.com/calendar2019
Digital & Social Media Strategy Secrets Training Course Bundle 70% Off for limited time!
https://themarketingnutz.com/stratpack19
Social Profit Factor Training Academy
https://socialprofitfactor.com
If you need help with content ideas then this episode is the one for you! Hear 10+ BIG content ideas to help you generate more leads, sales and connect in a human way with your audience, community and customers!
Our brand new 2019 Content Marketing Calendar template is here and better than ever. (Download our 2019 Content Calendar Template here.) We have added some incredible features you don't want to miss out on, trust me.
The students we teach in our Social Profit Factor academy and the companies we consult with to help them leverage a content calendar often beat the socks off those that don't. They win when it comes to engagement, community growth and of course also leads and sales.
Why do you need a content calendar?
Your next steps.
Download 2019 Content Calendar Template: https://themarketingnutz.com/calendar2019
Enroll in my Digital & Social Media Strategy Secrets Training Course Bundle - 70% Off for limited time!
https://themarketingnutz.com/stratpack19
Social Profit Factor Training Academy
https://socialprofitfactor.com
Our brand new 2019 Content Marketing Calendar template is here and better than ever. We have added some incredible features you don't want to miss out on, trust me. (Download our 2019 Content Calendar Template here.)
For some of you, the sound of a new content calendar template can be a really exciting thing. For others it may bring a feeling of “oh great, another download that you ned to use, but just never get around to it.” Then others of you may be thinking you have no idea what a content calendar really is or how it will help you.
The fact of the matter is this – the students we teach in our Social Profit Factor academy and the companies we consult with to help them leverage a content calendar often beat the socks off those that don't. They win when it comes to engagement, community growth and of course also leads and sales.
Why do you need a content calendar?
Learn from Pam Moore, Founder of Marketing Nutz for 10 reasons you need a content calendar and exactly how it will benefit your business. Pam and Marketing Nutz has worked with, consulted and trained thousands of marketers and business leaders and hundreds of clients ranging from startups to entrepreneurs, small business owners up to Fortune 10 Brands. All of these companies have found benefit in implementing content marketing strategy, structure, planning and goal setting combined with a content calendar.
Your next steps.
Download 2019 Content Calendar Template: https://themarketingnutz.com/calendar2019
Enroll in my Digital & Social Media Strategy Secrets Training Course Bundle - 70% Off for limited time!
https://themarketingnutz.com/stratpack19
Social Profit Factor Training Academy
https://socialprofitfactor.com
Do you feel as if you have fallen or are falling into the sea of status quo? Use these 10 strategies to stand out from the crowd of digital and social noise in 2019 and beyond.
Need help building your digital, social or branding strategy in 2019? Marketing Nutz can help! http://themarketingnutz.com
Learn how to embrace the power of branding, social and digital marketing in our online training academy - Social Profit Factor. Use the coupon code zoom to save big! http://socialprofitfactor.com
How important is social media engagement as a metric to measure your business success? Take a listen to this podcast episode from Pam Moore, Co-Founder of Marketing Nutz and Social Profit Factor for help in determining what role engagement plays in your business success and how you can best measure and leverage it to connect with your ideal customers and achieve your business goals.
Your next steps.
Download 2019 Content Calendar Template: https://themarketingnutz.com/calendar2019
Enroll in my Digital & Social Media Strategy Secrets Training Course Bundle - 70% Off for limited time!
https://themarketingnutz.com/stratpack19
Social Profit Factor Training Academy
https://socialprofitfactor.com
Tap into the power of fun to ignite your brand awareness, business growth and to connect with your audience at an emotional and human level.
Pam Moore, Co-Founder of Marketing Nutz and Social Profit Factor online Training Academy, shares 10 strategies and tactics you can start implementing today to embrace imperfect perfection and connect with your audience in a personal, human and fun way!
Learn how to incorporate your personal hobbies and interest to bring depth to your brand.
There is only one you. Embrace the power of fun and the topics, activities and events that bring you joy to share with others!
Your next steps.
Download 2019 Content Calendar Template: https://themarketingnutz.com/calendar2019
Enroll in my Digital & Social Media Strategy Secrets Training Course Bundle - 70% Off for limited time!
https://themarketingnutz.com/stratpack19
Social Profit Factor Training Academy
https://socialprofitfactor.com
Stop listening to the social media gurus until you build your own plan. Pam Moore, co-founder of Marketing Nutz and Social Profit Factor shares some tough love to help you achieve a higher ROI on the digital and social web by building your own plan and not falling prey to random acts of marketing and chasing shiny objects. Plan your work and work your plan!
Additional Resources:
7 Steps to a Profitable Social Media Strategy and Plan
http://socialzoomfactor.com/249webinar
Do you really know the difference between a strategy, plan and tactics? This applies to social media marketing, digital marketing, content marketing, branding, business planning, influencer marketing and the list goes on. Understanding the difference of strategy, plans and tactics is critical for success to execute any strategy or plan that delivers a positive return on investment.
In this episode Pam Moore provides a succinct explanation of the difference and relationship between strategy, planning and tactics.
7 Steps to Develop a Profitable Social Media Strategy Webinar:
http://socialzoomfactor.com/249webinar
How to Get Your Social Media Budget approved: http://socialzoomfactor.com/250webinar
Ever feel as if your boss, c-suite and colleagues just don't "get it?" Do you have what you think is an amazing social media or digital marketing plan? However, you just can't seem to get the budget approval nor the buy-in you need to be successful?
You may have even been hired or specifically tasked with creating this fantastic plan, yet it seems nobody wants to support you to make it a reality?
If this is you, you are not alone. You definitely landed on the right blog post today as I am going to help you. The good news is I have the answer for how you can get your budget and plan approved, guaranteed.
Learn the top 3 reasons your budget is not getting approved.
Watch the full 1 hour webinar replay for 3 Easy Steps to Get Your Plan Approved! http://socialzomfactor.com/250webinar
We have worked with 100's of businesses and 1000's of students to help them get their budgets and plans approved. I have seen marketers take the fast track in their social marketing and digital marketing careers as a result of proper planning and understanding of how the social and digital ecosystems of today can help support their business. I've also seen a fair number of marketers lose their jobs (get fired) for lack of this knowledge and ability.
Be patient and understand that your management may be more comfortable working with a 3rd party consultant or agency that can help coach and guide them.
We have done this type of work with many executives and business leaders. They often feel more comfortable working with us as their partner than they do having a new college graduate teach them the social and digital ropes. Thinking you can be the one to teach them the world of social media may be a pipe dream so it's time to get a reality check.
Take a listen to episode 250 of the Social Zoom Factor podcast for more details on these 3 Reasons Your Boss is Not Approving Your Social Media or Digital Marketing Budget and Plan.
In this episode Pam Moore shares the 7 steps to develop a profitable social media plan and strategy.
Register for the full webinar at http://themarketingnutz.com/249webinar
Also, learn how to get your social media budget approved and the boss off your back on this webinar: http://themarketingnutz.com/socialbudgetapproved
Learn the #1 reason your social media isn't working in 2018.
Register for the full webinar and receive the Social Media Strategy Zoom Kit: http://socialzoomfactor.com/246webinar
In this episode you will learn why your social media efforts are not delivering real results.
Quit wasting time and money on social media strategies and tactics that don't work.
Do you feel as if you are doing all the right things with content marketing, influencer marketing, visual marketing, live video, Facebook marketing, Instagram marketing, LinkedIn marketing, blogging and more... yet nothing is working?
Are you listening to the experts and doing what they tell you to do but still the results are non-existent?
No worries... listen to this episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast from Pam Moore and learn the number one reason your social media strategy is failing in 2018.
Learn 10 power tips to create Content Like a Boss.
Register for the on-demand webinar & get the free Facebook Content Marketing Zoom Kit: http://themarketingnutz.com/fbboss
No doubt 2018 is a year of change. From Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn, it seems the foundation is changing underneath our social feet constantly.
Watch this webinar to learn more about how to create amazing content in 2018 even for the most boring and unsexy industries: http://themarketingnutz.com/contentwebinarzoom
Don't let this worry you and don't let the fear mongers drive your content marketing strategy.
In this episode Pam Moore covers the top 10 content marketing myths in 2018 that you can ignore. These are things that can make or break your online marketing as it relates to content in 2018.
Grab your seat to the webinar specifically designed for anyone working in an industry where content is tough to create due to regulations, or the fact it's simply not sexy. This includes real estate agents and brokers, financial, healthcare, government and more.
Unless you have been hiding under a rock or too busy to do the double click, you likely know by now that Facebook recently announced some big changes to their news feed algorithm that impact every business, brand and publisher using Facebook for business purposes.
Regardless, it is imperative as you head into 2018 that you get the facts. Do NOT believe everything you read, watch, or listen to. Make sure you are getting your information from trusted sources that you know have a vested interest and a top goal to share truthful knowledge and information that can help you achieve your goals, not just help them fill their bank account.
In this episode you will learn exactly what you need to know about this latest announcement from Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg, I break down the announcement into bite size chunks that you can quickly grasp even if you haven't had the time to even read one blog post or scan a Facebook message on the topic. No worries, I got ya' covered. No fluff or fear mongering, guaranteed.
Take a listen to episode #243 of the Social Zoom Factor podcast and learn how you can get a grip on not only the recent announcement, but also how to get a grip on your Facebook marketing in 2018.
I also recently hosted a Facebook in 2018 webinar that goes even deeper. Grab your seat here -> How to Get a Grip on Facebook Marketing in 2018: What You Need to Know About the News Feed Changes
Episode Highlights:
- Current state of Facebook marketing 2018
- How to Get a Grip on Facebook Marketing in 2018
- Recap of the recent Facebook announcement and changes being made to the Facebook News Feed
- What you need to know about the details on the Facebook announcement from Mark Zuckerberg
- Why you need to ignore the Facebook fear mongers
- Why you may need a new perspective and mind shift change to be successful with using Facebook for business starting in 2018
Stop building your business on rented land! Our Social Media Training Academy can help!
Check out our new comprehensive online social media and branding training academy, the Social Profit Factor. We created it to help people like you quickly create a solid social media and Facebook marketing strategy and plan that connects you with your ideal customer in a human way! Stop building your business on rented land. Sign up now to become a founding member and receive some incredible deals plus bonus offers.
Need us to help train your team? Give us a shout and let's get a custom workshop scheduled for your organization. Increase sales by generating more leads using social media and content marketing to nurture relationships.
Content marketing in 2018 is going to hit a new dimension of importance, organization and integration.
Smart and savvy marketers know the days of throwing social spaghetti at the wall and hoping it sticks are over and done.
It's not good enough to just create cool visuals, be on Facebook Live video daily and tweet a few links. The social web is getting noisier by the minute.
If you are ready to once and for all see a real return on your investment in social media and digital marketing you need to look deeper than the follows, clicks and retweets.
Download 2018 Content Calendar Template
It's time to get 100% proactive to take the time to plan and ensure every piece of content is providing massive value for your audience and aligns clearly to your business goals and objectives.
A perfect way to begin adding more organization, prioritization and results for your content marketing is by utilizing a content marketing editorial calendar to plan your content.
Showing up on Facebook every morning thinking "hmmm...what should I post today?" is going to get you in nothing better than the "everyone ignores you pile," guaranteed.
This blog post and supporting Social Zoom Factor podcast episode #242 is packed with valuable information to help you get a grip on your content marketing so that you can achieve your business goals and provide your audience with maximum value without having to work 24/7, 365 days of the year. Quality over quantity is where success is going to come from in 2018.
You are a social media manager at an organization and your boss, manager or ceo just hired a social media agency. What do you do now? How do you partner with the agency and ensure you secure your job and do not get fired! Don't worry. You got this. This episode will help you manage the entire process from research to kickoff to execution. If you are a social media marketing manager, content manager, digital marketer, audience marketing manager, brand manager or work in marketing role of any kind, this information will help you build a career by learning to partner with 3rd party resources!
Check out Social Profit Factor Training Academy for to up-level your social media, digital marketing and branding skills!
How to partner with your social media agency for the highest success and ROi possible.
Are you ready to gain an unfair competitive advantage on Facebook? Would you like to stomp status quo and serve your customers quickly, personally and in a more human way by leveraging automation and a platform that more than 1.2 billion people are currently using?
If you answer yes to these questions then you need to understand the power of Facebook Messenger for business and how it can easily help you serve your customers, even while you sleep.
Did you know…
Number of Businesses on Facebook Messenger = 60 million Facebook Pages using Messenger – 20 million
2 billion messages sent between users and businesses on Facebook messenger monthly
17 billion photos sent through Messenger per month
25,000 GIFs per minute / 22 million daily via Messenger
1.5 billion games have been played on Messenger
2 billion reactions sent on Facebook Messenger to date 5 billion emojis sent daily on Messenger 11% of world’s population use Messenger monthly 30,000 chat bots in 200 countries on Messenger 64% Facebook monthly users use Messenger
50% US teens use Messenger daily
Download this Facebook Messenger 101: Get Started Guide for Business for some quick steps to help you setup and optimize the foundations Facebook Messenger on your business Page.
Not enough time for social media? Here are 4 strategies and tips to help you save time and maximize every minute spent on social media, digital marketing and branding.
http://socialprofitfactor.com
Audience marketing is a requirement for business success on the social and digital web today. An audience first marketing strategy increases ROI, generates more leads, increases sales and helps brands better know their customers so they can serve them better.
Audience marketing is a requirement for business success on the social and digital web today. An audience first marketing strategy increases ROI, generates more leads, increases sales and helps brands better know their customers so they can serve them better.
http://socialprofitfactor.com
Do you need a personal brand as a working professional? Here are 5 reasons why you do and why personal branding is an absolute requirement for business today.
Learn more at http://themarketingnutz.com/personalbrandwebinar
Do you need to worry about your personal brand as a working professional? Or is a personal brand only for those “online gurus” trying to get rich and famous?
The truth is this…
You have a brand regardless if you plan it or not.
Your brand is made of perceptions. You can sit in a room and create, ideate, and develop your brand for the next year to 10 years. You can create fancy messages, fancy graphics and amazing social profiles that rock the online web.
However, at the core of human attraction is the fact that people will either like you and your brand or they won't. They will decide within a matter of 8 seconds if they are going to stick around on your website, LinkedIn profile or Facebook page… or not.
Your brand is not simply the fancy graphics, words and colors you spent hours, days and weeks to create. Your brand is what others think and say about you. It's how you make them feel. It's how special you make them know they are to you, or not. It's how you smile at them, how you respond to their comments, tweets, posts on your Facebook page… or ignore them.
Your brand is made of perceptions more than it is made of your fancy lingo and graphics.
So let me ask you the question again… do you need a personal brand? Do you have a personal brand? Do you need to worry about your personal brand?
Find out the answer to these questions and more in the free webinar I am hosting on Thursday, September 28th at 2pm et!
Register for Webinar: Irresistible Content Creation & Curation: http://socialzoomfactor.com/contentwebinar1
Are you sick and tired of spinning your wheels in the content creation marketing engine feeling as if you are creating, creating, creating loads and mounds of content yet getting nowhere? ROI is not something you have seen in a long, long time?
Have you ever thought that maybe you have lost your mojo? Maybe, just maybe you have been shot down one too many times? Maybe you are falling to some lazy content marketing tactics without even knowing it?
Or could be you are stuck in a bit of a rut? You know what they say about "insanity." Doing the same thing over and over and over, yet expecting a different result. Could this be you?
If this is you... have no fear. I am here to help you do a reality check and get a grip on your content marketing program starting right now.
Take a listen to episode #234 of the Social Zoom Factor Podcast where I serve you a serious yet nice dose of TOUGH LOVE!
Find out if these 8 content marketing bad habits are stopping you from achieving more success creating and leveraging content!
In this 30 minute podcast you will learn:
- 8 Bad habits that stop content marketing ROI in it's tracks
- How to get unstuck if you are guilty of these bad and lazy content marketing habits
- Why you must slow down to speed up if you want success
- Why you can't skip the planning and goal setting
- The risks of building your business on rented land such as Facebook and Instagram
- Why integration should be your favorite word when building your online platform
- Questions to help you understand if you know your audience and ideal customer as good as you should
- How to create content that will inspire and attract your ideal audience
- Why you must get out of your own way to achieve real success
- The importance of call to actions being bold, loud and clear when creating content
- Why quality really matters in all facets of content creation and curation
Facebook advertising can be a challenge particularly for new marketers or those still figuring out the best strategies and tactics for ocial media marketing. Here are the top 7 reasons your Facebook ads are not converting. If you are having challenges converting your Facebook advertising investment to a positive return on investment, then this podcast is for you.
You can also learn more inside of our Social Profit Factor Training System and Member Community - taking you from zero to turbo with social media, branding and digital marketing! Everything you need to develop your social media strategy, plan, set goals and master every top social network such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, YouTube, Snapchat and more! Use the coupon code ZOOM for extra special savings.
http://www.socialprofitfactor.com/zoom
Facebook advertising is an incredible way to increase sales, brand awareness, build community and achieve your business goals.
With more than 1.28 billion daily and 1.94 billion monthly active users on the platform, it is probably your target and ideal client is using the platform on a regular and likely daily basis.
Developing and launching a Facebook advertisement is easy and only takes a few minutes. You can spend as little as $1 a day up to hundreds of thousands if you have the budget.
Although the tactics of simply setting up the ad are quite easy, achieving real business conversions at an optimal cost is not always as easy.
There are some key mistakes many marketers make that are stopping them from success with every ad they launch.
Take a listen to the latest Social Zoom Factor podcast episode 233 to learn 7 Reasons your Facebook ads are not converting and how to fix them!
In this 30 minute podcast you will learn:
- 7 Top reasons your Facebook ads may not be converting
- How to increase the ROI of your Facebook advertising investment
- Why you must know your customer and who you serve before even thinking about starting Facebook advertising
- Why you must respect where your ideal customer is in the sales funnel
- The importance of visuals in successful Facebook advertising for business
- Why your ad may not be converting due to message that is not relevant, or on target with the needs of your audience
- The importance of a relevant and valuable offer that resonates with your audience
- Understanding the different levels of your conversion funnel
- How to stop the leaky bucket and capture more leads
Need more help? Social Profit Factor Training Academy and Marketing Nutz Can Help!
Check out our new comprehensive online social media and branding training academy, the Social Profit Factor, that will help you tap into the power of Facebook marketing and help you create a solid social media strategy and plan. Sign up now to become a founding member and receive some incredible deals plus bonus offers.
Need us to help train your team? Give us a shout and let's get a custom workshop schedule for your organization. Increase sales by generating more leads using social media to nurture relationships.
Facebook Groups provide a unique opportunity for brands of all sizes to build community, increase brand awareness, generate leads and sales.
Take a listen to this podcast episode to learn how you can leverage Facebook groups to achieve your business goals.
Learn more detailed strategies and tips for social media in Social Profit Factor Training Academy and Member Community http://www.socialprofitfactor.com
In this podcast you will learn
Difference between a Facebook Page and Facebook Group
When to use a Facebook Group
When to use a Facebook Business Page
How to setup and start your Facebook Group
How to build and grow your community using a Facebook Group
How to market your business using a Facebook Group
How to promote your Facebook Group and Community
Importance of establishing community Guidelines for your Facebook Group
How to choose the right privacy settings for your Facebook Group
Tips to inspire natural community leaders in your Facebook Group
Do you have social media problems? How about digital marketing problems? Or maybe even business branding and personal branding challenges?
I have amazing news for you today. We have answers -> http://www.socialprofitfactor.com/zoom
We have been working the past year on a game changing project to help your biggest challenges and problems related to social media marketing, digital marketing, branding, Facebook marketing, Instagram marketing, LinkedIn marketing, Twitter, blogging, content marketing, audience marketing, influencer marketing and the list goes on!
I am beyond excited to announce that we are opening the official public doors to our brand new Social Profit Factor training academy and member community TODAY! Yes, we have removed the opt-in wall and you can now check out the details of Social Profit Factor right here, right now!
Take a listen to this podcast to learn more!
Have you been spinning your wheels trying to utilize social media to grow your business? Do you feel as though you know the tactics and strategies yet are still struggling with how to align social media to your business for real results?
When you hear your colleagues or others in your industry talk about the success they have achieved with social media, digital marketing, content marketing or email marketing do you want to just run away crying?
If these thoughts seem familiar to how you feel, no worries. You have landed on the right blog post today.
Unfortunately many small business owners, entrepreneurs and even marketers working inside of larger organizations struggle with how to achieve measurable business results using social media.
Much of this comes from the fud that exists in the social ecosystem. Too many bloggers, podcasters, YouTubers and more spend their life touting how easy it is to make money using social media. Unfortunately most of these same people are still living in their mother's basement and/or struggle with keeping the lights on, let alone make an actual income from their efforts.
Many talk a good talk but when you pull back the black curtain, they are far from walking the walk.
So, how do you define success? How do you set goals? What is the difference between a social media strategy, plan and tactics?
How do you determine what Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) you should focus on?
If you struggle with answering these questions, then you need to take a listen to the latest Social Zoom Factor podcast episode #230 which will help you understand how to define what success looks like.
In this episode you will learn:
- How to define success for your social media efforts
- Example business and marketing goals
- Definition of a business goal, marketing goal and how they differ
- The difference between a goal, objective and KPI
- Definition of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
- Example KPIs
- and loads more...
Need more help? Social Profit Factor Training Academy Can Help!
Check out our new comprehensive training academy, the Social Profit Factor, that will help with you improve the ROI and business return on all of your social media, digital marketing and branding investment. Sign up now to become a founding member and receive some incredible deals plus bonus offers. Social Profit Factor will teach you how to win at the long game, not just jump in and out for the short one night social stand.
When was the last time you read a blog post, watched a video, listened to a podcast or engaged with a piece of content of any format and thought "wow, that was an amazing piece of content that will help me solve the problem that has been stressing me out lately"?
The truth is if you recently had this experience, you likely remember not only exactly what the content was, but also what person and/or brand provided it to you.
The same person or brand likely earned your trust and has a higher level of authority in your mind. Chances are high you will be back to their website, blog, YouTube page, Facebook profile or whatever platform it was you originally found the content, to explore more ways that they can help you!
It's easy for marketing and business leaders to get caught up in the whirlwind of social media and content marketing vanity metrics. Many get addicted to the likes, shares and follows. Sometimes the desire for quantity over quality wins out over producing content that provides real value for our target audiences.
If you really want to connect with your target and ideal customer in a real, human, meaningful and memorable way, you need to help them. You need to consider producing content that actually helps them solve problems. Content that helps your audience be better, perform better and achieve more in their life brings your content true meaning to their business, heart and sometimes even soul.
Instead of chasing shiny social media objects, watching Facebook Live video all day long, I challenge you to set the same time side aside and focus on a few pinnacle pieces of content to set you apart from the status quo and even your toughest competition.
The road is rarely crowded on the extra mile. While others are settling for generic content that looks, smells and acts like the same content everyone else is producing and publishing, you should be taking your content to the next level and developing real solutions to your customers problems. I know you can do it!
Take a listen to the latest Social Zoom Factor podcast episode #229 to learn 25 Ideas for Helpful Content Marketing that will inspire, educate and empower your dream customer!
Need more help? Social Profit Factor Training Academy Can Help!
Check out our new comprehensive training academy, the Social Profit Factor, that will help with you improve the ROI and business return on all of your social media, digital marketing and branding investment. Sign up now to become a founding member and receive some incredible deals plus bonus offers. Social Profit Factor will teach you how to win at the long game, not just jump in and out for the short one night social stand.
If you are responsible for content marketing in your organization you know the importance of proper planning, organization, work flows and structure of content. The days of throwing social spaghetti content at the wall and hoping it sticks are over and done.
Smart marketers and leading brands both big and small know that content is at the core of every online and social conversation with prospects, current customers, online community members and more. It is content that delivers value, context and inspires the reader, viewer or listener to take action to open, click, read, listen, share and even buy.
The social networks and social media simply provides a medium for brands and marketers to communicate in different ways with other human beings. We can't take the converstaions for granted and just assume that because we write the message, the blog post, the status update or a beautiful Instagram image that our audience will find it useful.
We must do our research and not only understand who our our audience is, but also be clear on exactly what their needs are and how we can help them solve their most simple and even big problems.
Social savvy marketers know how to leverage content marketing to better inspire, connect with and help their audience achieve their goals. They know how to write the blog post headlines that grab attention, the blog post content that gets read, the visuals that gets shared. They know how to whip up 140 character conversations and Facebook posts that keep their audience engaged and activated toward growing closer to their brand.
Content marketing is at the foundation of every business of every size. Regardless of your industry, niche, age of company or primary communication medium used, you better have a content marketing strategy to connect you and your brand with your target audience, customers, partners and stakeholders.
This episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast provides a tutorial for how to use our new 2015 Content Marketing Editorial Calendar.
Download the calendar here-> 2016 Content Marketing Editorial Calendar Template
What is content marketing?
Content marketing is an umbrella term encompassing all marketing formats that involve the creation and sharing of content in order to engage current and potential consumer bases. Content marketing subscribes to the notion that delivering high-quality, relevant and valuable information to prospects and customers drives profitable consumer action. Content marketing has benefits in terms of retaining reader attention and improving brand loyalty.
*Source: Wikipedia
Editorial calendars are important because they:
- Help you focus on needs of your audience
- Help you inspire and connect with your audience
- Help you provide value to your audience
- Force you to think further than today and tomorrow
- Help you integrate across mediums
- Leverage across mediums, different audiences
- Create once, use many (= increased ROI)
- Streamline resources
- Drive internal teamwork
- Fuel idea generation and innovation
- Create a drumbeat approach to content development
- Help set expectations with your audience
- Help you create loyal brand evangelists
Editorial Calendar Highlights
- Monthly conversation theme.
- Weekly conversation theme.
- Blog post title.
- Social Post.
- Channel.
- Target audiences (primary, secondary & tertiary)
- Author
- Editor
- Purchase cycle (awareness, consideration, preference, purchase, loyalty)
- Draft due date
- Primary keywords (5-10)
- Blog categories
- Supporting image(s)
- Other supporting media (image, video, podcast)
- Embed in other resource kits or publications
- Syndication
- Possible whitepaper (y/n)
- Client testimonial / graphics
- Call to action
Social Zoom Factor Podcast #228 Episode Highlights
- Tutorial for how to use our new Content Marketing Editorial Calendar Template for 2016
- 2017 Content Marketing Predictions
- 2017 Content Marketing Statistics and Trends
- Why every business and marketers needs a content marketing editorial calendar
- Why you manage your content marketing like a publisher
- Benefits of using a content marketing editorial calendar
- The importance of knowing your audience
- How to organize and keep track of your content marketing assets such as visuals, call to actions and more
- Leveraging content you already have to increase business results and ROI
Supporting Resources:
- Content Marketing Editorial Calendar Template for 2016
- Audience analysis worksheet to help you identify and prioritize your top audiences.
- Content Marketing in a Nutshell (episode 50)
- How to Create a Content Marketing Framework, Strategy & Plan
- Evergreen Content Marketing in a Nutshell
- Content Marketing ROI: Leverage Content You Already Have (episode 30)
- 16 Content Marketing Golden Rules
- Brand Humanization in a Nutshell (episode 5)
- 8 Steps to Develop a Social Business Plan and Strategy (white paper)
- Social Media Audit, Consulting and Marketing Services from Marketing Nutz Agency
Would you like to have customers come to you organically because they know for a fact you can help them achieve their business and/or life goals? It's a wonderful thing when you don't have to sell to your customers, instead they contact you and are excited to business with you! They aren't thinking "should I do business with this person or brand." Instead they are thinking "HOW can I do business with this person?"
Would you like to increase brand awareness, generate more leads? Even better, let's help you get more sales and even decrease the sales cycle and the time it takes you to close business or that big deal you have been working on for months!
It's not a new phenomenon that people buy from people. Long before Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and even blogs, people have been buying from people.
Yet, why do people still hide behind social media logos and contact forms? It seems they either don't understand or are afraid to come out from behind the social media corporate wall and show their true human side. They fear they must share what they ate for breakfast, lunch and dinner to build their personal brand. This couldn't be further from the truth.
Have you thought about your personal branding strategy? If not, you should.
Regardless if you have taken time to plan your personal brand or not, you have a personal brand.
Your personal brand is defined not only by what you want it to be, but also by perceptions. Your personal brand is impacted by what people think of you. It's what people say about you behind closed doors. It's what they say about you when you leave the room, what they think about you after they watch your Periscope or Facebook Live video. It's how they giggle with or at you after watching you and your funny filters on Snapchat.
The truth is everything you say, do, post, like, comment on and share is a representation of your brand.
Building the best brand of YOU, requires understanding and defining your goals. What do you want to achieve as you become more known in your industry? How do you want people to perceive you? What are the goals that will drive your actions? Have you ever thought about these things?
Take a listen to the 227th episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast for 7 Top Goals of Personal Branding. These will help you better define your personal branding goals and also develop your personal brand strategy.
Building a personal brand is not just about creating a shiny social profile, but presenting yourself in the most authentic way possible to your community and audiences in a way that will attract them to you organically. When done right, personal branding not ony builds the brand of you, but also will help you achieve many personal, life and business goals.
Business and life are about human connection. The social web is really one big fat social conversation and relationship, made up of many micro-conversations and relationships. It's about humans connecting with other humans as humans, not robots. You might as well define how you as a human want to fit into it and not only give the most that you can to help others but also be able to benefit from it as well.
This episode is part of the "You Are the Media" series in which we are digging deep into how you can build an integrated social and digital platform that works when you are not working. A platform that helps you inspire, connect with and delight your audiences. Be sure to subscribe to the entire series on iTunes, Stitcher or SoundCloud!
In this 25 minute podcast you will learn:
- 7 Top Personal Branding Goals
- How to define your own personal branding goals
- Why personal branding matters
- Tips to become the "go to" thought leader in your industry and local market or niche
- How to increase brand awareness of your business with your own personal brand
- How to generate more leads and sales by building your personal brand
- How to decrease the sales cycle with personal branding strategies
- How to tap into the power of influencer marketing more easily when you build your personal brand
Supporting Resources:
- Digital Body Language: 105 Factors Impacting Your Brand (white paper)
- 10 Reasons Personal Branding is a Requirement Not an Option (white paper)
- Know Your Audience! Audience Analysis Worksheet
- 7 Foundational Steps to Build Your Personal Brand
- Personal Branding: Zoom Your Brand with the YOU Factor
- Brand Storytelling in a Nutshell
- Brand Strategy in a Nutshell
- 10 Tips to Zoom Your Brand with Social Media
- You Are the Media: 10 Reasons You Need a Blog (episode 111)
- 15 Characteristics of Human Brands (episode 55)
Facebook live streaming is an amazing way for businesses of all sizes to tap into the power of live video.
Take a listen to this episode to learn 10 ways small business can use Facebook Live Video Streaming to build brand awareness, nurture relationships, grow community, generate leads, promote events, launch new products and more!
http://www.socialzoomfactor.com/226
The days of slamming out content that looks, smells and feels like what everyone else is writing are over and done. I recently saw a video and blog post from a leader in our industry offering tips to come up with ideas for content blog writing. The worst part is that the only idea this person offered was to leverage content from other people. They instructed bloggers to "borrow" ideas and themes from other leading bloggers and influencers in your industry. They went so far as instructing them how to leverage RSS feeds, do social listening and more to get ideas for new blog content.
While this strategy may work for some, it is going to be short lived. It's also not surprising this recommended strategy came from someone who has been known across the industry to borrow and even steal content from others.
The truth is that there is not a shortage of good or even epic content on the web today. The goal is not to create masses of content that looks, reads and sounds like everyone else. The goal should not be to copy ideas and themes from others so that you have masses of quantity.
What happened to providing value to your readers, listeners and views by...
- being unique?
- being relevant?
- solving problems?
- providing solutions?
For new businesses hopping onto the social and digital web, taking the advice of following status quo copycat content is going to do absolutely nothing to set you apart from your competition!
So, how do you create content that...
- inspires?
- educates?
- empowers?
- connects emotionally with your target audience?
- differentiates you from your competition?
- helps you rise above status quo?
- enables you to stand out from the noise of yesterday?
Your goal is not to build a blog, website or business that is status quo, right? You want amazing customer experiences. You want customer relationships that are real, authentic, relevant and unique. You want a business that is built on what it is you have to offer that is unique.
Your blog should be a living, breathing representation of who you are, and what you have to offer. Your blog should not be a copycat version of the rest of the blogosphere.
When you write amazing and epic blog content, people will remember it. They will share it. They will write about it. They will link to it. When they share, click, like and link your friend Google will also fall in love with you and your blog. Traditional SEO is changing. What your customer thinks of your brand and content will show in the actions they take to share and engage with your content, or not.
If you want to establish thought leadership, trust and authority in your industry and niche, then build the brand of you, not the copycat version of someone else!
Take a listen to episode 225 of the Social Zoom Factor podcast for 10 tips to create epic blog posts that will keep your readers coming back for more. This episode is filled with strategies and tips you can implement immediately to start differentiating from your competition, increase brand awareness, generate more leads and even impact your bottom line!
Take a listen to episode 225 of the Social Zoom Factor podcast to learn the following:
- 10 tips and strategies to create epic blog posts for business
- Importance of blog post format, planning and goal setting
- How to identify 3 problems you can help your audience solve and create content to solve those problems
- Writing blog headlines that draw people in authentically and organically
- How to leverage your blog to tell compelling brand stories that connect with your audience emotionally
- Informing your readers early on in the content of what they are getting and ensuring the expectations are set properly and honestly
- Using visual images to grab attention and connect with your readers
- Backing up what you write about with facts, case studies and examples
- Including the YOU factor in your content to differentate from competition and stand out from the crowd
- Why you must share your best content and not hold back the good stuff!
- Importance of making content actionable!
Are you speaking to your audience in a way that they understand? When you tweet do people listen? Do they take action? Do your tweets help you increase brand equity, generate leads and sales? Are your tweets helping you grow community and nurture relationships? Are your tweets helping you increase the ROI of all of your content marketing, digital and brand marketing?
If you answer no to any of these questions then you have incredible opportunity to fix the problem and turn every answer listed above into a yes.
Could it be that you are over automating your tweets? Maybe you are speaking to your audience like a robot vs being a human. Maybe you are over selling? Or maybe your tweets are all about you and it's obvious you are only using social media and Twitter to blast noise about yourself.
Newsflash: You can not fake relevancy or caring using social media. Your audience knows.
The concept of people buying from people was not invented by Facebook or any other social network. People have been connecting with other people in human ways for centuries. We communicate, we share, we help one another.
Social media is really no different if you think about it. It's just a medium for us to do the same. Social networks such as Twitter, simply enable us to more easily connect with other human beings.
Social media empowers us as humans to inspire, connect and help our audience achieve success.
Just because you can spam and automate every message on Twitter 24/7 doesn't mean that you should.
Instead of logging on to Twitter each day and thinking... how can I get people to read my blog, watch my video or buy from me, we should be thinking how can I empower, inspire and help my audience be and do more.
Would you like to...
- Connect with your audience in a human way?
- More quickly earn trust with your target audience?
- Provide your audience massive amounts of value via your tweets and content you create on other platforms such as your blog, YouTube channel?
- More quickly establish thought leadership in your niche or industry?
- Generate more qualified leads?
- Increase sales?
- Increase ROI of every marketing dollar you spend?
- Become the "go to" source of information for your industry and niche?
If you answered yes to the above questions then you are going to love episode 224 of the Social Zoom Factor podcast!
Take a listen to the 224th episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast to learn 10 easy ways to humanize your tweets!
Take a listen to episode 224 of the Social Zoom Factor podcast to learn the following:
- 10 ways to humanize your tweets
- Why you must listen more than you talk when it comes to social media
- Why you can't fake caring or fake relevancy on the social networks
- Why your over automation of tweets may be hurting your brand more than helping
- How to balance automation with real-time engagement
- How to make time to connect with your audience in a human way
- Importance of varying the types of content you share on Twitter (video, images, text etc.)
- How to become a curation expert by sharing 3rd party content
- Tapping into the power of the OPC - other people's content and community
- Tips to humanize your visual brand - personal profile image, colors, header etc.
Be sure to subscribe to our entire digital and social media
Thought leadership is important for any person and brand wanting to establish themselves as a leader in a particular industry, niche or related to a certain topic.
Answer these questions...
- Would you like to be seen as a trusted resources for your target customers to help them learn and grow?
- Would you like to be a leading authority of information in your industry or niche?
- Would you like to be the "go to" person for people wanting to learn about what you know and offer as a business?
- Would you like to establish authentic relationships more easily built on trust and authority?
- Would you like to increase brand awareness and equity simply by being an authority?
- Would you like to increase brand affinity as people are more organically attracted to your brand?
- If you answer no to this question, would you like to be?
- Would you like to become part of the natural conversation earlier in the customer research and buying process?
If you answer yes to these questions, then you need to take the time to understand how you can establish thought leadership as a leader in your industry.
Establishing thought leadership for your business and for your own personal brand can bring much benefit to you personally and professionally. This is important for both B2B and B2C businesses but incredibly important in B2B due to the longer and more complicated buying processes.
It is clear social media marketing is delivering real and measurable business value for companies large and small today. Marketers of all specialties from digital, content, strategy and even operations know they must not only learn, but also deeply embrace social media as a way to connect, inspire and serve their new online audiences as well as current, prospective and future customers.
With this incredible opportunity created for businesses using social media there is obviously solid opportunity for smart and savvy marketers to specialize and build a career in social media marketing.
However, as I discussed in detail in episode 218 of the Social Zoom Factor podcast, social marketers must also have a solid understanding of business and marketing. Smart social media marketers also know how to align social media to business goals.
Building a career as a social marketer is not as easy as jumping on Twitter or Snapchat and firing off some 140 character tweets and selfie snaps. Being able to rock your personal brand as a new college graduate doesn't necessarily translate over to knowing how to use social media for business. Big difference.
Unfortunately many new social media marketers jump into the fields of social networks, tweets, snaps, and Facebook live video to find themselves overwhelmed. They are often thrown to the wild pack of tweeting craziness as their management teams and leadership know less than they do in understanding how to drive business value using these new social tools and methodologies.
Many new social marketers start out excited only to find their hopes of a career in social media completely deflated. Not only do they feel overwhelmed but they find it hard to show and prove their value. They lack the necessary training to understand data and measurement, conversion funnels, content marketing, foundational digital and visual marketing skills and the list goes on. It's even more challenging for recent graduates who lack solid business or marketing experience in the real world.
These same new social marketers may be working 24/7 yet making little progress. They're tweeting through the hamster wheel and making little to any forward progress in learning. They often lack real mentorship, business experience and because of this they wind up stunted in their career.
They think.... "nobody told me it would be this hard." I've had many new college graduates working in social media marketing come to me and proclaim they had no idea they would need to know so much about marketing or business to be successful running social media for a company.
The truth is that social media is not a band-aid for a broken business. Hiring a cheap intern who knows how to tweet, snap and stream a live video is not going to fix your brand perception problems, inspire your customers to engage in a relationship with you. The intern or person new to social media is not going to help you solve the customer services problems you have by setting up some auto Twitter auto direct messages (DMs) to anyone who asks for help.
Embracing social media for business is a journey, not a destination. We are all learning and the only guarantee we have is change.
Take a listen to episode 222 of the Social Zoom Factor podcast to learn 10 truths nobody ever told you about being a social media marketer.
This podcast episode is helpful for the following people:
- New or experienced marketers considering jumping into a new role as a social media marketer
- Current social media marketers struggling to grow in their career
- Managers of people working in social media marketing
- Business owners and leaders who are hiring or leading teams and want to understand the truth about working as a social media marketing
Be sure to subscribe to our entire digital and social media marketing series on iTunes, Stitcher or SoundCloud!
In this 20 minute podcast you will learn:
- 10 Truths nobody ever told you about being a social media marketer
- Why social media for personal branding is not the same as social media for business
- Tips to grow in your career as a social media marketer
- Why social marketers must understand the foundation of business and marketing
- The importance of having a mentor to help you learn and grow as a social marketer
- Why even social media newbies must learn to be a data and analytics junkie
- How to navigate working for a manager who doesn't understand marketing, business or social media
- Giving up the drive for perfection and importance of embracing imperfect perfection
- Why business leaders must be careful who they hire to manage their social media programs
We all have 24 hours in the day. It's how we spend each of those hours that determines the pulse, depth, happiness and quality of our life.
Have you ever wondered why it seems that some people just simply have more free time? Yes, they may be busy, however, they seem to float through life a bit (or a lot) happier, while you feel as though you are stuck in a hamster wheel.
Do you have a vision and mission for your life yet feel as though you are having a difficult time getting there?
Do you wish you had more time to spend with the people that matter most to you in your life?
Or maybe it just seems that there is simply not enough time in a day to do all that needs to get done?
Take a listen to the 221st episode of the Social Zoom Factor for 10 Time Hacks to help you build the life and business of your dreams.
In this 20 minute podcast you will learn:
How to have a mindset of essentialism and focus on what will get you to the life you dream of
Why you must focus on mind, body and spirit
The importance of taking care of you so that you can take better care of everyone else
How to start from the dream life you envision 10 or more years from now and work backwards to where you are today so you can make the right decisions to help you get there
Why you must first value your time so that others will value it too
The importance of being bold enough to break the rules in regard to what the rest of the world tells you that your working day should look like
Importance of working with clients that bring you joy
Avoiding time stealers in both life and business
The power of the pivot and not being afraid to change the plan
The importance of confidence
Power of smart multi-tasking for increased productivity
Success in business utilizing social media and digital marketing requires both art and science. Learning how to connect with your audience in an authentic and human way can help set you above the crowd, rise above the noise and build a relationship with your audience members and customers that only you can do.
The social networks present a goldmine of data and insights that can help you learn about your audience, understand their behaviors and empower you to connect with them in a unique, relevant and human way.
Take a listen to the 220th episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast to learn 5 easy ways to humanize your brand utilizing data and social insights.
Sign Up for More Training: Social Profit Factor
Learning how to increase conversions is often a top goal of smart and internet savvy marketing and business leaders. Unfortunately most marketers lack the basic foundational skills to truly optimize their conversion rates.
Conversion rate optimization (CRO) is a process for increasing the percentage of visitors to a website that convert into customers or take the desired action the owner of the website is wanting the website visitor to achieve.
In simple terms, CRO helps marketers determine what users are looking for and then giving it to them in the best way possible that will help the visitor take the desired action.
Conversion rate optimization helps businesses increase leads, sales, return on investment and more. For many businesses, CRO can make or break their business success.
Any business that is utilizing online marketing, social media and digital marketing of any kind should not only learn the basics of conversion rate optimization but should dive in deep to understand specific strategies and tactics that can help them increase conversions rate.
Bottom line, conversion rate optimization can have immediate and long term positive impact on business results when done correctly and with clear focus.
Conversion rate optimization requires knowledge of the business target customer such as their behavior preferences, desires, problems and aligning such with solutions to help them solve those problems. CRO also requires knowledge of how to properly build a website, blog, landing page.
In addition, optimizing conversions requires quality content writing of headlines, call to actions, and even button placements. One color used could be throwing off the entire psychology of if a website visitor converts to a sale or not.
If you would like to learn more about conversion rate optimization as well as the factors impacting conversion rate for your business, you have landed on the right blog post and podcast today!
Take a listen to episode 219 of the Social Zoom Factor podcast to learn the following:
- Conversion rate definition
- Conversion rate optimization (CRO) definition
- Why conversion rate optimization matters to your business
- How to increase sales, leads and ROI with conversion rate optimization
- 20+ factors impacting conversion rate optimization on blogs, websites and digital platforms
- Tips to create a landing page that converts
- Conversion rate optimization testing basics
- How to determine your call to actions for online visitors (website, blog etc.)
Are you a digital or social marketer wanting to progress in your business and marketing career? Do you find yourself getting stuck, getting passed over for promotions? Do you often find it hard to win budgets, grow your team or simply justify your own job? Or it could be you are having a hard time landing or even keeping the job in the first place.
If this is you, then you definitely landed on the right blog post and podcast today.
Social media is not a band-aid for a broken business. If business leaders really want to ignite business results using digital and social marketing, they must do more than hire a social media intern who knows how to get new followers on Instagram, post to Snapchat and do a live video stream on Facebook.
Before you even think about how you are going to tweet, snap, live video stream or tell stories on Instagram, you better nail the business goals and have more than a 101 level understanding of business and marketing.
If you are a social and digital marketer working at a new company in a new position, the first questions you should be asking should be related to understanding business goals and objectives, not asking for the logons to the social networks.
Business owners and leaders must start being more careful of who they hand over the social media keys to. In addition, social media and digital marketers must learn business. There is a clear gap in the social ecosystem of qualified people who know business, know social and digital marketing and also know how to align social media to business goals.
Check out episode 218 of the Social Zoom Factor podcast to learn 3 things you MUST know to be successful in your career as a social and digital marketer.
These three things are...
- Understanding business
- Understanding marketing
- Knowing how to align social and digital marketing to business and marketing goals and objectives
Do you have an interest in Pinterest for Business but don't know where to start in developing your Pinterest for Business plan?
Pinterest is an amazing platform that surpassed more than 10 million users faster than any stand alone social network in history. Pinterest is different than some social networks though in that it requires both art and science even more so. It requires visual connection and an understanding of the ecosystem of Pinterest. Many business leaders overlook Pinterest as it confuses them and they may not understand it's true power.
This episode is the 2nd in a series on Pinterest for Business I'm providing to help business leaders and entrepreneurs like you, explore if Pinterest is something you should take a deeper look at to help you differentiate from competition and ignite business results.
In addition, you can download the slide presentation deck I used for the 90 minute "Advanced Pinterest for Business" workshop at the Social Fresh Event. It includes all 7 steps, loads of statistics and more. Download here-> "7 Step Success Strategy to Build a Pinterest for Business Plan"
In this 30 minute episode you will learn how to build a Pinterest Business Plan to help you achieve your business and marketing goals.
Would you like to...
- Increase traffic to your website or blog?
- Increase brand awareness?
- Generate more leads?
- Increase sales of your product or service?
- Grow your email subscriber list?
- Leverage the investment you have made in your mobile responsive blog or website by connecting with Pinterest's highly mobile users?
- Build a loyal community of trend seekers that are engaged, shares your amazing content and takes action?
Pinterest is a powerful social network and platform that can help you ignite your marketing and business success by...
- Tapping into a social network with more than 110 million active daily users and 175 million registered users
- Increasing opportunities to connect with the 49% of US women online who use Pinterest
- Inspiring and educating an audience that visits blogs as the top destination from Pinterest
- Creating authentic and inspirational opportunities to build relationships with an audience that accounts for more than 90% of the social shares on the web
- Tap into a platform that is available in more than 30+ languages with offices in London, Paris, Berlin, Brazil and Tokyo
- Leveraging a blank canvas to inspire and connect with your audience with a goal of helping them achieve their goals and objectives
- Organize your content in a way that empowers your audience visually, emotionally and intellectually
With features such as buyable pins, rich pins that support blog posts, place and product locations, maps and more you could be missing an incredible opportunity by not at least doing the double click research to understand if Pinterest can help you achieve your business goals.
In this 30 minute podcast you will learn:
- 7 Steps to Create Your Pinterest for Business Plan
- Key Pinterest features you must consider for your business
- How to leverage Pinterest for customer and audience research
- Setting Pinterest goals and objectives
- How to quickly learn in just a few clicks who is already pinning your content, even if you don't yet have a Pinterest account for your business
- How to learn who your Pinterest audience is following
- Key Pinterest tools and technology to help you achieve your goals and continuosly optimize business results
- Understanding behavior of Pinterest users
- Making sure you have the right mindset to succeed on Pinterest
- Recommendations to explore if Pinterest is right for your business
Why is it so many smart social media and digital marketers claim they want to lead or are already leading their industry and niche? They write blog posts, record and publish videos, webinars and podcasts teaching and preaching others how to build a unique brand or how to have ultra success overnight. They talk about differentiation and how to stand out from the crowd.
However, when you do the "double click" and take a deeper look at their strategies, tactics, and content you may see it's truly lacking differentiation. They have become a spitting identical image to everyone else.
Too often they are chasing shiny object, have a deep rooted fear of missing out and end up wasting cycle after cycle on social networks, technology and tactics that simply are not even appropriate for their business. They forget who they are serving, such as their customer and audience as they get caught up in social media fame and being the first to make the leader board on a social shiny object.
Unfortunately many of them don't have close to the results and success they claim to have, yet they paint this picture that their "unique" methods work and that for the low, low price of $99 you too can be rich and famous if you buy their magical super powered class.
Even worse most of them don't know how to measure results. Many don't know the basic data and analytics when it comes to their blog or website traffic, conversion funnels or even social media community engagement. They lack basic business, digital marketing and social media marketing knowledge and experience.
The truth is that the real rebels are the leaders who trade in fear of missing out for focus. They know how to work smart, not just hard. They know the key to success is smart hustle, not just working 24 hours a day, 365 days of the year. Success requires a healthy mind, body and spirit.
So, how do you rise above the status quo? Are you a leader who wants real, impactful and measurable results? If this is you, then you have landed on the right blog post and podcast today.
Take a listen to episode 216 of the Social Zoom Factor podcast for 10 Tips to Be a Social Media and Digital Marketing Rebel.
It's time you stand out from the noise, rise above the crowd and and stomp status quo forever.
Are you ready? Listen to the podcast now. You won't be sorry.
In this 30 minute podcast you will learn:
- 10 Tips to Become a Social Media and Digital Marketing Rebel
- Why real marketers are not afraid of data and analytics
- Why prioritization and focus delivers better results than chasing shiny social objects
- Why less is truly more when it comes to social media, digital and content marketing
- The truth about following your passions with no real plan to monetize
- Why you should not be afraid to leverage social media automate and get your life back
- Why smart and savvy marketers understand the deep foundations and details of developing and optimizing lead conversion funnels
- Why you must never be afraid to ask for help
- The power of stomping the fear of missing out and embracing focus
- Why it's not about what the technology can do for you, but instead what you can do with the technology
Do you have an interest in Pinterest? How about Pinterest for your business?
Would you like to tap into a social network that can help you generate leads, sell more product and deliver you more blog or website traffic than Twitter? If yes, you can't ignore Pinterest.
Did you know...
When Pinterest launched in 2012 it surpassed 10 million users faster than any other stand-alone social network in history
There are 110 million active daily users and 175 million registered users on Pinterest
49% of US women online use Pinterest
70% of purchasing decisions are made by women
60% of Pinterest users are from the USA, followed by India, UK, Brazil and Canada
Pinterest is now available in 30+ languages with offices in London, Paris, Berlin, Brazil and Tokyo
50% of those who notice promoted pins click to get more information (*Ahology 2016 Report)
40% made a purchase, suggesting promoted pins inspire future action (*Ahology 2015 Report)
More than 60% daily winners access Pinterest once a day or more using a smart phone
67% active and 86% daily pinners have accessed Pinterest while shopping to buy something they pinned
The average site visit to Pinterest = 14 minutes
The most common destination for users who click on a pin is a blog (*Coschedule infographic)
Pinterest = 90% social shares on the web
Take a listen to episode 215 of the Social Zoom Factor podcast to explore if Pinterest may be right for your business. With features such as buyable pins, rich pins that support blog posts, place and product locations, maps and more you could be missing an incredible opportunity by not at least doing the double click research to understand if Pinterest can help you achieve your business goals.
Every marketer and business leader is faced with the challenge of where to prioritize their time and investment. Time is our greatest asset in both business and life. How we spend our time can make or break our business success.
When it comes to digital marketing, social media and branding, it is no different. In my 20 years of business and marketing experience I have never heard a marketer exclaim, "I have so much time, resource & budget I don't know what to do with it."
Unfortunately, there are far too many "experts" online touting that you must be on every new shiny object and social network. They'll even go so far as to warn you that if you don't start snapping on Snapchat, storytelling on Instagram and delivering live video on Periscope that your business is destined to fail. Let me tell you right now this is 100% false.
Marketing and business leaders must give themselves permission to prioritize. You do not need to be everywhere all the time. You do not need to be on every social network. You do not need to work 24/7, 365 days of the year to be successful. Release your fear of missing out and start prioritizing your time and investment of money and resource.
The truth is that the more you focus and prioritize, the better your results will be. Stop only playing around with the social networks. Instead, get serious, get focused and you will start seeing real results.
It's not about what technology will do for you, but instead, what you can do with the technology. " quote="It's not just about what the technology will do for you, but instead, what you can do with the technology. You are in control of your business, your time and your investment in social media, period.
What matters is where your audience and target customer is online. You must be where they are. You must deliver them value where they are using methods, language and mediums that will inspire them, connect with them band bring them closer to your brand.
How do you prioritize what social networks you invest in? How do you know where you should engage? How do you determine where your audience is hanging out online so you can build the most meaningful relationship with them as possible?
Take a listen to episode 214 of the Social Zoom Factor podcast to learn our 5 Step Success Strategy and Tactics to prioritize what social networks you invest in for your business.
Pre-register for our brand new training portal, Social Profit Factor!
In this 30 minute podcast you will learn:
- 5 Step Strategies and tactics to prioritize what social networks you invest in for business.
- Why you must get real on your time and budget available to invest in social media
- What skills you must have to be successful at social media for business
- How to leverage the data available natively via the different social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and more
- The difference between a business goal, KPI and objective
- Tips to set goals, measure results and continuously optimize
- What to look for when you do a monthly audit and refresh of your online social presence and efforts
- How to prioritize and select tools for analysis, measurement and audience research
- Suggested tools for audience research
- Why it's not about what the technology can do for you, but instead what you can do with the technology
Instagram recently announced a new feature called Instagram Stories that looks, smells, feels and behaves a LOT like SnapChat!
The new Stories features empowers users to share their favorite moments in 10 second increments of video and photos into a story that gets compiled and stored right within their Instagram profile. Viewers of the profile not only see the stories of the people and brands they follow at the top of their Instagram app, but they can also easily view the story when clicking on the profile picture of any Instagram user.
These stories are non-intrusive and do not currently appear in the standard feed for Instagram users. Instead, people can easily choose to watch or ignore the Instagram Stories of the people they follow.
Similar to Snapchat, the Instagram stories only last 24 hours. It’s a snooze or lose type of viewing engagement. If you miss it, you miss it.
Snapchat turned down an offer to sell out to Facebook in the past and now it appears this is Facebook’s way of coming back and kicking Snapchat straight in the shins, or maybe the face.
Snapchat has done an amazing job at capturing the hearts, minds and eyeballs of teens and millennials. Many other social networks envy Snapchat with this demographic.
There are simply too many choices when it comes to where people and brands can invest their time. Smart marketers know they must focus where their customers are hanging out online, not where the fud and the hype of the internet tell them to invest their hard earned dollars.
Unfortunately for Snapchat, Instagram Stories launches at a time I believe many brands were / are on the fence about investing in Snapchat. Our agency, Marketing Nutz, works with brands both large and small and I can tell you we have numerous clients in this situation. With the launch of Instagram Stories I predict many brands who were “sitting on the fence” with Snapchat, may very well head on over to Instagram instead. Could this deliver fall over adoption from Instagram Stories to Snapchat? Only time will tell.
Snapchat has struggled since day one with discovery. Building community and followers on Snapchat is difficult for both brands and people like you and me.
It’s become the wild wild west with brands and users of Snapchat begging their audiences to follow them on Snapchat. It reminds me of the early days of Facebook where brands were desperate begging for likes and follows. It didn’t take social savvy marketers long to learn that it’s not just about the “like”, it’s what happens after the like that matters most. Brands must give their audience a reason to follow them, a reason to do more than simply click the like button.
This is an area I strongly believe Instagram has an immediate advantage over Snapchat. Brands have already invested in community and relationships on Instagram. Discovery is built into the platform with hashtags, search and the list goes on.
You can’t argue with the fact that Facebook owns Instagram and features such as the advertising platform are integrated. Marketers don’t have to go to a 2nd platform for advertising on Instagram. It’s build into their Facebook business manager and ad manager platform. This enables brands to easily “test the social advertising waters” without a lot of extra time invested to learn another platform. Win win for Facebook and Instagram obviously.
Would you like to know more about Instagram Stories and what it can do for your business?
Check out this video for an overview of the features, how businesses can use it and a comparison to how it differs from Snapchat for marketers wanting to embrace the power of easily digestible video and visual marketing to inspire and connect with their audiences.
- What are Instagram Stories?
- How do Instagram Stories differ from Snapchat?
- How can brands use Instagram Stories for Business?
- What are the key benefits of Instagram stories for business?
- Prediction for what the teens will do. Will they jump ship or stay on Snapchat?
- Key differentiation for Instagram Stories vs Snapchat, including
- discovery
- community
- Facebook advertising platform
- Usability and a friendly interface
- security for women and much more
Be sure to subscribe to our Social Zoom Factor podcast brand new series, “Welcome to the Pay to Play World, Are You Ready?” on iTunes, Stitcher or SoundCloud!
Free webinars: We are launching a series of webinars and training opportunities to dig even deeper. Sign up here-> Social Profit Factor
To be successful in business and online, digital and social marketing, you must do more than simply focus on the near term. You must know where you are going and how you are going to get there. In addition, you must understand the larger ecosystem of which you are working within.
In the online world, keeping up with trends can be a challenge. Not only do you have to keep your current platforms and content performing, you must also be ready to embrace the changes to come. The only one guarantee we have in the social and digital world is change. Get use to it.
Would you like to know this about your peers....
- What they are doing to ignite their business using social and digital technologies?
- What priority are they placing on video and visual focused social platforms such as SnapChat, Instagram etc.?
- Top social media goals and objectives chosen?
- What social networks are marketers achieving the greatest ROI?
- Where do they plan to invest in the future?
- What social platforms do they plan to spend the most money on for advertising?
- What forms of content are they creating the most and least?
- What role will video and live video play in their marketing plans?
- Most popular social media software platforms?
- How are they utilizing and implementing influencer marketing programs?
- What types of roles are they hiring for?
If you would like the answers to these questions you have come to the right place.
In the 212th episode of the Social Zoom Factor Podcast I interview Jason Keath, the CEO and founder of the Social Fresh Conference. He partnered with Simply Measured and Firebrand Group to develop "The Future of Social Media" research report. It digs deep into how brand and marketing leaders are utilizing social media today and how they plan to embrace the new technologies and opportunities in the future.
The report is packed with insights even the most seasoned social and digital marketer can leverage and learn from today. Download your copy now and take a listen to the podcast to hear even more details from Jason Keath.
As the Founder and CEO of Social Fresh Conference, the longest running social marketing conference, Jason Keath curates some of the smartest voices in marketing. He has trained digital marketers at over 200 of the Fortune 500 companies. He is on the Advisory Board for Internet Week, cohost of the Social Toolkit Podcast and editor of SocialMediaCurrent.com, a daily news source for social media professionals.
Take a listen to episode 212 of the Social Zoom Factor podcast and download the "Future of Social Media Report" to learn the following:
- Top social media trends
- Top social media goals chosen by marketers
- What social networks produced the most ROI in the past year
- How social media teams are spending their time
- Most common social media roles being hired for
- Where marketers are investing their dollars for social advertising
- What content types are marketers planning to invest in (video, blog posts, infographics, Snapchat stories, whitepapers etc.)
- Most popular social media software
- How marketers are using and executing influencer marketing
Join me at the Social Fresh Conference in Orlando! I'll be delivering a 90 minute workshop on Pinterest Advanced Strategies & Tactics to Generate More Leads & Real Profits! Check it out and use this link to save $100 off your ticket! Hope to see you there! The event will include speakers from Twitter, RedCross, Economist, Spotify, IBM, Citrix, Full Sail University, and loads more! Grab your ticket & meet me there!
Be sure to subscribe to this entire brand new series, "Welcome to the Pay to Play World, Are You Ready?" on iTunes, Stitcher or SoundCloud!
Supporting Resources:
- Future of Social Media Report (download free report)
- 5 Unpublished statistics on the future of social media
- What is a better social media goal? Customer loyalty or brand awareness?
- Not using social media software? It may be costing you.
- 2016 Social Media Predictions
Free webinars: We are also launching a series of webinars and training opportunities to dig even deeper. Sign up here-> Social Profit Factor
It's probably not news to you that blogging is an incredible way to build your business and your brand. As tempting as it may be, building your business on rented land such as Facebook is quite risky. The only guarantee we have today with the social networks is change.
Mastering the skills and knowing how to build and utilize an integrated social and digital platform inclusive of a quality blog will help separate any marketer and business from the crowd of status quo.
The #1 question we hear from the clients our agency, Marketing Nutz works with is "how do I build a blog and write content that brings real and measurable business results?
The days of hiring an SEO company to simply throw up some text on a page, buy some links and watch the sales come in are over and done. The truth is these lazy tactics never really worked that well anyway.
If you want to learn the foundational requirements for writing a successful blog post that will support your business and marketing goals and objectives then you have landed on the right blog post today.
Blogs today are not simply text thrown on virtual walls. Successful blogs integrated different forms of media such as audio, video and compelling visuals that inspire and help you connect with your target audiences.
Before you waste a ton of money and time throwing social content spaghetti on the wall, take a listen to this episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast to ensure that you maximize every word and minute!
You have created the perfect marketing campaign. It's 100% in tact and beautifully integrates social media marketing, video and visual marketing. Now you are ready to take it to market and let the world know about it. You know Facebook advertising is the perfect platform to help get the word out and reach your target audiences. So, you login to the Facebook ad manager or Facebook power editor and spend the next hour setting up your campaign. You submit the ad for approval to Facebook and are dreaming about the increased brand awareness, new leads and even sales this new campaign is going to generate for you and your business. You head to dinner for a pre-celebration with a glass of wine.
Unfortunately, later that evening you get an email notification from Facebook informing you that your ad was not approved. "What the heck!" is what you are thinking. How could Facebook not approve your ad? The email states it violates their policy. "What policy?" is your next thought.
Now you get to spend the next day reworking your campaign, supporting visuals and maybe even some of the video, depending on what creative and social assets you have included in your marketing program. Not exactly what you had planned for the next day or two, correct?
If this has ever happened to you, don't be too hard on yourself and go crawl under the "hide from social media and Facebook forever rock." Instead, it's time you educate and empower yourself to better understand the Facebook advertising policies. Yes, Facebook has what may seem like a ton of rules and guidelines if you are new to them.
However, the truth is that as a marketer or business owner it is up to you understand the Facebook advertising policies and guidelines. Facebook is not going to force you to read the guidelines. Instead they are going to make the policies available to you and it's your responsibility to not only learn where they are but understand them. If you don't take the time to understand the Facebook policies, particularly for advertising it will only hurt your efforts over and over again in the future. It's obviously much better to be proactive and take the time to understand the details.
Take a listen to episode 210 of the Social Zoom Factor podcast to learn the following:
Clear explanation of the Facebook advertising policies
Walk-through of the key highlights of the Facebook advertising policies
Prohibited content - content that is prohibited from Facebook advertising
Restricted content - content that is restricted from Facebook advertising
Video advertising - guidelines, prohibited content and restrictions, entertainment and related restrictions
Targeting guidelines and restrictions
Positioning guidelines including relevancy, accuracy and landing pages
Guidelines for lead advertising
Use of the Facebook brand assets
Data use restriction
This Social Zoom Factor episode is part of a new series titled "Welcome to the Pay to Play World, Are You Ready?"
Would you like to achieve more ROI from your Facebook advertising and boosted posts? Do you see that cute little Facebook “boost post” button but don’t really know how to optimize it? If you answer yes to this question then you have arrived at the right place.
The truth is that although the Facebook boosted post advertising option is very easy to use and may often seem easier than other Facebook advertising options, there are clear scenarios where it may be worth your time to consider the alternative options. There are definitely pros and cons to using the Facebook boosted post ads.
Take a listen to episode 209 of the Social Zoom Factor podcast to learn the following:
- Clear explanation of the Facebook boosted post
- Key differentiators for how the Facebook boosted post differentiates from other Facebook advertising options
- Pros and cons of using the Facebook boosted post
- When and how it is appropriate to use the Facebook boosted post
- How to maximize the use of Facebook live video, uploaded recorded video in combination with the Facebook boosted post
- How to set yourself up for success with Facebook advertising
- Tips to best use the Facebook boosted post for the highest return on your investment possible
This Social Zoom Factor episode is part of a new series titled “Welcome to the Pay to Play World, Are You Ready?”
Be sure to subscribe to this entire brand new series, “Welcome to the Pay to Play World, Are You Ready?” on iTunes
Facebook advertising seems to be one of those things that “every marketer is talking about it, but very few actually know how to drive real business results.”
Our agency, Marketing Nutz works with brands big and small to help them drive a positive ROI with every dollar spent on digital, social media and marketing overall. We train and speak all over the world and one of the top questions I always hear is… “does Facebook marketing actually work?” Then, the next question I hear is…”why doesn’t Facebook advertising work for me and my business… I have tried it numerous times and finally just gave up.”
Does this sound familiar?
- You get confused when you logon to Facebook ad manager
- You run away from the Facebook Power Editor because it gives you bad dreams
- You have wasted far too much money on Facebook advertising with little to zero return
- You don’t know where to start when it comes to paid media, earned media and everything in between
- You don’t know the difference between a Facebook boosted post or any other type of Facebook advertisement
If these thoughts feel a little too familiar, then you are in the right place. The truth is that Facebook advertising requires both art and science. You can’t just hop on Facebook, insert your credit card and out pops loads of leads, sales and ROI. I know some marketers may want you to believe such, but the truth is they likely just want your email address or your money.
This podcast is part of a new series titled “Welcome to the Pay to Play World, Are You Ready?”
Take a listen to the 208th episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast to learn 5 things you MUST know before you spend one dime on Facebook advertising!
Be sure to subscribe to this entire brand new series, “Welcome to the Pay to Play World, Are You Ready?” on iTunes
- 5 foundational and fundamental elements you must know before spending a dime on Facebook marketing
- How to get started right from day one as you start using or learn to optimize your Facebook marketing efforts and investment
- Why you must have the right mindset for success using Facebook advertising
- Different types of Facebook advertising options
- The importance of setting goals, objectives and key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure success
- Tips to determine your Facebook offer
- The importance of an integrated digital and social platform for converting leads and achieving your goals
- Why your problem in achieving your results using Facebook advertising may not be Facebook but other issues with your digital platform and conversion funnels
- Why you must focus on your conversion funnels as a top priority before wasting time and money on Facebook advertising
- The importance of knowing your audience to target your audience and increase ROI of Facebook advertising
Check out the new social media and digital marketing training platform launching soon here-> http://www.socialprofitfactor.com with training to help marketers succeed in a competitive, pay to play world. Training will include everything from social media foundational strategies and tactics, paid media, influencer marketing and more.
Every smart and savvy marketing and business leader knows the power of branding. They also know that a brand is much deeper than a logo, pretty colors or a tagline.
Download resources mentioned in episode: http://www.socialzoomfactor.com/207
The best marketers know that emotional branding is the secret sauce to igniting customers to loyal advocates, followers and fans!
Emotional branding helps connect you in the most human ways to your audience, customers and fans. It helps you build a foundation built on human feelings, emotions, understanding and desire that drives action that engages the customer or audience member even deeper with your brand.
Emotional branding is not just about finding a funny or sad photo, video or quote to tap into the emotions as a one night Facebook gone viral approach. Instead emotional branding is about igniting emotions at the core of everything you say and do. It's about understanding your audience, humanizing your brand, using language that connects you with your brand and the list goes on.
Wikipedia defines emotional branding as follows:
"Emotional branding is a term used within marketing communication that refers to the practice of building brands that appeal directly to a consumer's emotional state, needs and aspirations. Emotional branding is successful when it triggers an emotional response in the consumer, that is, a desire for the advertised brand (or product) that cannot fully be rationalized. Emotional brands have a significant impact when the consumer experiences a strong and lasting attachment to the brand comparable to a feeling of bonding, companionship or love." Source
Take a listen to the 207th episode of the Social Zoom Factor to learn how you can tap into the power of emotional branding to ignite your audience, business and brand! I share with you 8 foundations for integrating emotion into your branding strategies.
Be sure to subscribe to this entire brand new series, "Welcome to The Inspiration Age. Are You Ready?" on iTunes, Stitcher or SoundCloud!
In this 20 minute podcast you will learn:
Foundations of emotional branding.
Why you must know what excites, motivates, empowers and enlightens your audience.
Why it's NOT all about you!
How to strike an emotional chord with your audience.
Learning how to surprise and delight your customers and audience every chance you get.
Importance of being human in your communication, language and engagement with your community, customers and audience.
Understanding the difference between authenticity and transparency.
Storytelling with audio, visuals and text.
How to plan your content and why you should not "wing it".
How to plan content yet save time for dynamic, real-time content marketing.
Building something bigger than yourself and engaging your audience and customers in it as well.
It's not news that social networks such as Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn are moving to a pay to play model. The glory days of being able to gain massive organic reach with a simple, on the fly Facebook post are over and done. Results in the social world of today require more planning, integration, and money.
The social media ecosystem over all is moving to pay to play. What this means is that brands and the marketing leaders within must not only purchase media that in the past use to be free, but that they must also know how to develop and execute an integrated program and strategy that organically attracts, inspires and engages community.
Marketing leaders today must understand and embrace the know, like, trust and pay model for growing their business. At the heart of business today is people. At the heart of social media is people. Marketing leaders and brands that embrace and master the art of human connection will leap frog years ahead of their competition that only focuses on clicks, follows and likes.
You can’t buy advocates, friends, fans, evangelists, or word of mouth. A person that likes your Facebook page or follows you on Twitter is not immediately going to trust you, love you or want to tell their friends about you.
Paid media will help you attack the right audience, get more likes, followers, views and clicks. However, it's up to you to invest in relationships that will help you earn trust, advocates and loyal customers.
Earning brand advocates and making friends via the social networks is based on trust. It requires investment in the human beings within your community.
Unfortunately, less than 3% of the people that like your Facebook page will ever visit the actual page again.
Bottom line, the best relationships take time.
Take a listen to the 206th episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast to learn 8 strategies and tips to build loyal tribes of advocates and social media friends.
In March I spent almost a week with 10k digital marketers at the Adobe Summit event. 2016 was my 2nd year being paid as an Adobe Insider to cover the event. Again we took our #GetRealChat on the road and talked live on Twitter from the event in Las Vegas.
I love the Adobe events as I get to hang with my kind of people. They're not just geeks or technologists. It’s a marketing and business event packed with 10k marketing technologists. These are geeks that understand not only data, coding and marketing, but the importance of inspiring, connecting, engaging and serving the customer.
This year the event had quite a line up on speakers including George Clooney, Thomas Middleditch (star of the HBO show Silicon Valley, Donny Osmond, and Abby Wambach. Of course there were brand Leaders as well from Mattel, Mcdonalds and industry leaders such as Brian Solis, a good friend and one of my favorites in the industry.
The focus of content and discussions this year at Adobe Summit centered around customer experience as the future of business and marketing.
For marketers, it's imperative to understand the true definition and foundations of customer experience.
What does an experience business look, smell and feel like? What
are the top 4 characteristics of an experience business? How do
they differentiate? What are the benefits? How and where do brand
leaders start if they want to shift focus of marketing and business
investment toward customer experience? How do you get approval from
key stakeholders and executives?
To hear the answers to these questions and more, take a listen to
the 205th episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast for a recap of
the event and my key take-aways.
http://www.socialzoomfactor.com/205
Do you ever feel as though you are going through the motions, maybe even working what may seem like 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, yet the results are not bearing the fruits of your labor?
Download White Paper: How to Stomp Random Acts of Marketing
We all have the same 24 hours in a day. It's how we use the hours that matters most.
If you are struggling with achieving real results in your life or business could it be that you need to better prioritize your time? Maybe you need to better focus on the right things that are going to help you move forward in the right direction?
Could it also be you are struggling with patience? Are you struggling with an addiction to Random Acts of Marketing that may bring a short term false sense of success? Often times a lack of patience is what drives randomness. Although crossing random tasks off your list may feel good for the short term, RAMs will eat every morsel of ROI before you even realize where the problem is if you are not careful.
Think about these questions...
Do you know what success looks like to you?
Do you know where you are going and why?
How do you envision your life and business 1, 3, 5, 10 years from you?
What do you want to achieve and how are you going to achieve it?
How are you going to provide value to your ideal customer and audience?
WHY should anyone care that you and your brand exists?
WHY are you doing what you are doing?
Are you prioritizing and investing your time in activities and tactics that are truly helping you achieve your WHY of life and business?
Are you prioritizing your time on activities that will truly help you achieve your goals and objectives?
Are you making measurable progress toward your goals and objectives this year? If not, why not?
Is it time to pivot or stomp the Random Acts of Marketing in your business?
Take a listen to the 204th episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast to hear some solid strategies and tips to help you focus your time, energy, life and business on the highest value tasks that will help you achieve your goals and objectives. In this episode I share my personal reflection after being off the mic and podcast for two months while fighting a terrible flu bug and bronchitis.
In this 20 minute podcast you will learn
Strategies and tips to better focus on the most impactful priorities.
The importance of patience and avoiding Random Acts of Marketing.
Why you must focus not only on short term results but most importantly, long term sustainability and endurance.
Staying focused on your WHY of business and life.
Why life and business is about the journey, not just the destination.
Achieving measurable social media ROI is very similar to teens and sex. Everyone is talking about it but very few are actually doing it!
It's interesting because many marketing and social media leaders within brands and organizations of all sizes dream about achieving real ROI using social media and digital marketing, yet very few of them actually bring to fruition much more than a social media dream.
In addition to running a busy social, branding and digital agency, Marketing Nutz, I also do a ton of international keynote speaking, training and workshops. We work with brands of all sizes from startups to Fortune 10 brands. Regardless of the size of the organization or their allocated and approved marketing and social media budget, unfortunately very few social marketers take the time they should to set goals, objectives and map a path for success.
As marketers it's in our DNA to move fast. We want to dig into new platforms, learn by trying and failing fast. This mindset can be good and drive results. We believe in risk. We believe in jumping onto social platforms before they are proven. We believing in life long learning and that life is one big course for the taking. However, at the same these behaviors can push teams and organizations into cycles of wasted time, mindshare and investment.
It's one of the biggest fallacies of the digital and social media world... that social media is free! Social media is not free. Social media takes your biggest asset which is time. How you as a marketer or business leader spend your time every day will determine success. It will also determine if your dream of achieving an ROI using social media ever makes it out of your dream and into the real world.
Too many social marketers promise goals and objectives to their executives and key stakeholders that they know from day one they will not deliver upon. They feel as if they get backed into a corner. Many fall into the mistake of thinking "I must promise something, anything, so I can get and keep some level of budget." The truth is this thinking is hurting them more than helping.
Smart social media marketers know they must...
Understand social media business success and ROI is only as good as the business goals and objectives for which it is aligned
Align social media to business goals where it can have the greatest impact
Take time to slow down to speed up
Avoid shiny object syndrome and fear of missing out (FOMO) unless it aligns to their core business goals and objectives
Care about customer experience across their digital and social platforms because customer experience is their brand
Understand the needs of their audience and ideal customer
Know how to not only build community but build real relationships with human beings built on trust and authenticity
Build, tweak and optimize conversion funnels, content strategy and plans, digital platforms and more over time and that results are not achieved overnight
Be patient when changing mindset within a company that is new to social media and digital marketing strategies and tactics
So how do you choose, set and prioritize goals and objectives for social media? How do you align social to business goals where social media can have the greatest impact?
Check out episode 203 of the Social Zoom Factor podcast for strategies, tips and a framework to help you not only set goals, but also achieve them. If it's ROI you are looking for, then you want to listen to this episode! You get out of social media what you put into it. Take a listen and learn how you can prioritize every dollar and minute spent.
Be sure to subscribe to our entire digital and social media marketing series on iTunes, Stitcher or SoundCloud!
In this 30 minute podcast you will learn:
How to identify and prioritize business goals and objectives to align your social media efforts for the greatest impact
4 Foundations social media goals are usually centered around
How to make sure your goals are SMART - smart, measurable, attainable, relevant and time bound
15+ sample business goals where social can have the greatest impact
10+ sample KPIs (key performance indicators) for social media
The difference between a KPI, goal, and objective
How KPIs help you measure desired transformations in your business
Why the focus must first be on humans, relationships vs solely focusing on conversions and sales
Why it's not about what the technology can do for you, but instead what you can do with the technology
Supporting Resources:
How to Get Your Social Marketing Budget Approved (white paper)
10 Proven Strategies to Get Your Social Media Budget Approved (podcast)
Your Logo is Not Your Brand - Marketing Branding Strategy in a Nutshell
10 Habits Highly Effective Social Media Marketing Leaders
Audience Analysis Worksheet (worksheet to help you prioritize your niche)
2016 Social Media & Digital Marketing Predictions
10 Questions You Must Answer Before Hiring a Social Media Marketing Agency
Earned, Owned an Paid Media in a Nutshell
Influencer Marketing in a Nutshell
Content Marketing in a Nutshell
7 Metrics to Measure Value of Your Content in the Inspiration Age (episode 173)
Twitter is an amazing platform to not only build community and brand awareness but also to generate leads and increase sales! Yes, smart and social savvy marketers know how to generate sales using Twitter.
However, to do this you must understand that Twitter is not designed as a spamming platform. You can't just hop on Twitter and start spamming urls to your website, blog or sales page.
Instead, you need to build relationships. You need to design and implement a well thought out and tested conversion funnel that helps you organically attract, inspire and engage your ideal customer. You need to inspire them to pay attention to you in a way that builds trust, nurtures relationships and helps you convert the business to the desired state over time.
Learning how to increase conversions and sales using Twitter requires both art and science. There are many features within the walls of Twitter than can help you convert more sales. You can tap into the power of Twitter ads, Twitter cards, Twitter lists and more.
However, what many marketers so not understand is that what you do off of Twitter is as important, if not more important as what you do on Twitter. Having an integrated, social and digital platform that is ready for the social savvy and mobile customer is a requirement, not an option for brands looking to generate leads and sales using Twitter. If your blog, website, content and engagement strategies suck, your conversions on Twitter will be the same.
Take a listen to episode 202 of the Social Zoom Factor podcast to learn 14 tips and strategies to increase sales and conversions using Twitter. Included are 14 ideas you can implement TODAY to help you increase the ROI of the time and resource you invest in Twitter.
Be sure to subscribe to the entire series on iTunes, Stitcher or SoundCloud!
In this 25 minute podcast you will learn:
14 strategies and tactics to generate leads, increase sales and conversions using Twitter
How to tap into features such as Twitter advertising, Twitter cards, Twitter lists to increase sales
Using Twitter, blog content and other social media posts for A/B testing to increase conversions
Leverage Twitter analytics for optimized results
Using web analytics such as Google Analytics to optimize conversions and sales
How to use Twitter to learn more about your audience and ideal customer
Importance of a good content strategy and plan to increase sales
Avoiding spammy tactics to ensure positive brand perception
When many business leaders think of the term "brand" they think of pretty colors, expensive logos, fancy graphics, Facebook cover photos and traditional tv or radio advertisements.
Smart marketers know branding is much more than a logo. In reality, the logo is the easy part and only one small component of your brand.
Smart and savvy marketers also understand the importance of building a brand architecture and strategy inclusive of the brand identity with supporting visuals language and more. The colors, language and visuals are supporting elements, not "the" brand. Big difference.
Your brand is your promise and value you offer customers, your community and all who come in contact with your brand. It's a promise delivered. It's value received. It's community. It's relationship. It's empowerment, inspiration, education and the list goes on.
Are you influencing brand perception in a positive way? Your brand is your personality, communication, tone and perceptions of all who experience your brand. At the root of your brand are a set of experiences.
You can't control perception. However, you can influence perception if you know how to build, launch and manage your brand architecture. Every brand touch is an opportunity to influence perceptions, to build your reputation.
At the core, your brand is rooted in who you are and how you care about others. It's not just about you. It's not just about pretty colors or a logo you pay a marketing or branding agency big bucks to design. It's not a brand manual the same agency delivers and you don't look at again until the next agency asks for it.
Your brand is the foundation and one of the most important aspects of your business. Regardless of the size of your business, you have one chance to make a first, second and third impression. Every brand touch counts. Every brand touch is influencing perception and building your reputation. You are either earning trust, building though leadership and relationships or you are not!
A good brand architecture and strategy will enable you to better share your brand story in an authentic way. Doing such can emotionally bring people closer to your brand. The more confidence you have in your brand foundation the more confidence your ideal customer will have in believing in your brand promise.
Would you like to learn where to start in building your brand architecture, strategy, vision, mission and more so that you can impact brand perceptions, increase brand equity and build a loyal tribe of brand evangelists? If you answer yes, then you have landed on the right blog post today!
Take a listen to the 201st episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast where I provide the definition of a brand, reputation and most importantly the top 5 reasons why you must develop your brand strategy and how it can benefit your business, customers and greater community!
In this 30 minute podcast you will learn:
Definition of branding
Definition of a brand identity
Definition of brand architecture
Definition of visual branding
Definition of brand trust
Definition of reputation
Top 5 reasons you must develop a brand strategy for your business
Importance of brand story telling
How to increase brand equity
Risks that lead to decreased brand equity
Establishing thought leadership, earning trust and credibility via branding
How to differentiate from your competition via branding
How to tap into the power of emotional branding
Take a listen and be sure to subscribe to the entire series on iTunes, Stitcher or SoundCloud!
It's hard to believe this is the 200th episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast!
What started out as a "test of the podcast waters" transformed into an amazing media and revenue channel for our agency, Marketing Nutz. The Social Zoom Factor podcast has enables us to differentiate, diversify, build community, provide value to our audience, generate leads, increase revenue, diversity revenue streams and the list goes on.
We entered the podcast world pretty clueless as to what it would take to not only lunch but run a successful podcast that could be an amazing part of our business. We dug in deep and did the research. We learned from mentors, and developed a solid strategy plan for success. We knew the future of podcasting is bright and wanted to be at the front of the movement to audio.
Ever since the day we launched our first agency in early 2010, sold it in late 2011 and built the following agency, Marketing Nutz to where it is today, we have held on tight to our WHY of business and life. I didn't leave a corporate career of 15+ years to simply work 24/7. If it was about the money I would have stayed in corporate. I left corporate to build something amazing, something that could employee wonderful people, empower them to build something bigger together than we can ever do as individuals.
Has it been easy? Nope. Have there been late night? Of course. However, I have much more time to live life on my terms today than I ever did during my tenure in corporate.
We have tried our best to work smarter, not just harder. We believe in the #SmartHustle and building platforms that work even when you are not working. That is exactly what the podcast does. It works when I am not working. It works 24/7.
Take a listen to the 200th episode of the Social Zoom Factor to hear how we launched and 5 solid tips to help you differentiate and diversify your media platforms and social networks to bring the highest ROI not only for your business, but also for your life!
Take a listen and be sure to subscribe to the entire series on iTunes, Stitcher or SoundCloud!
In this 20 minute podcast you will learn:
6 tips to differentiate and diversify by selecting the right new media & social networks to embrace to grow your business
How we got started in podcasting
Strategies that helped us hit and maintain 100k unique monthly downloads
Mentors we depended on to create, build and launch our podcast
The benefits the podcast has provided our business
Why you must keep your WHY at the foundation of business decisions when looking to shake things up, diversify and differentiate
Avoiding shiny objects and the fear of missing out (FOMO)
Aligning your passion with your why
Understanding where you fit in the market and the unique value your brand offers
The importance of taking risks
Never giving up!
The days of only using textual content marketing to build your brand, attract, inspire, engage and empower your audience and customers are long gone. If you are only using textual marketing you are already falling behind. In case you haven't noticed, the world is turning visual.
As humans we are bombarded by marketing and media everywhere we look. Every brand, every marketer and human has an opportunity to be the media. Social media levels the playing field. Today even the smallest of businesses and brands can compete with the biggest if they know how to tap into the power of modern, social and digital marketing.
A picture can truly speak a thousand words! Visual marketing is a form of content marketing that enables and empowers savvy marketers to better communicate, educate, empower, inspire and connect with their audiences in a human way.
Did you know...
The human brain processes visual information 60,000 times faster than the time it takes to decode text?
84% of communication will be visual by 2018
People are 85% more likely to buy a product after viewing a video
89% of internet traffic will be video by 2018
The average person gets distracted in 8 seconds
People form a first impression in 50 milliseconds
Posts that include images produce 650 percent higher engagement than text only posts
*Source: WebDam Infographic
Visuals are powerful as they help people more quickly understand and retain information. It takes at minimum 5-6 brand impressions for someone to remember your brand. Visual marketing can help ensure each touch counts even more and becomes more memorable. Standing out from the noise is half the battle for even the smartest of marketers. Rising above the noise and connecting in a human way can help smart brand leaders zoom past the status quo quite quickly.
Have you tapped into the power of visual marketing? Do you understand the need for visual marketing and don't know where to start? Many marketers know they need to start better leveraging visual marketing. However, they don't know where to start.
Would you like to know what types of visual content marketing work best? How about understand what visual content will be shared by your audience and fans like mad? Visual marketing doesn't have to cost you a fortune. You can leverage everything from infographics, personal photographs, video, to custom designed or even stock photos to build and share your brand story.
Take a listen to 199th episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast for 12 Visual Marketing Content Ideas that Get Shared Like Mad!
Be sure to subscribe to the entire series on iTunes, Stitcher or SoundCloud!
In this 20 minute podcast you will learn:
Why visual marketing?
12 visual content marketing ideas that get shared like mad
How to leverage infographics to educate, empower and inspire
Humanizing your brand with visual marketing
Brand storytelling with visual marketing
Sharing behind the scenes images and video
Sharing stories of travel, corporate and customer events
Why images of action can drive action
The power of connecting as humans in an emotional way with images
Leveraging simple branded images for quotes, tips and tricks and more
Tips for using coupons on the top social networks such as Facebook and Twitter
Do you struggle with having what you think may be the best social media marketing plan on the entire planet yet have no budget to implement?
Show notes / blog post and resources can be downloaded here http://www.socialzoomfactor.com/198
Do any or all of these problems sound familiar?
You struggle with getting budget approved to implement your social media plan
Your executives don't understand social media
You struggle with articulating the goals and objectives of your social media program to key stakeholders
You feel like you are boiling the ocean as it relates to getting your social media plan approved
You lack needed support and buy-in for your social media program and plan
You don't know how to align social media to business goals and objectives your executives and key stakeholders care about
You know your organization is filled with employees who want to power up your brand and could be loyal brand advocates but you can't get the support you need to empower them
Would you like answers to these questions? If yes, you have landed on the right blog and podcast today.
One of the biggest challenges business, digital and social marketing leaders face across organizations of all sizes is obtaining the needed support and funding to achieve their desired goals and objectives.
My agency, Marketing Nutz works with organizations of all sizes from startups to Fortune 10 organizations. We help them earn the needed support, trust and budget to that they can begin to finally once and for all implement modern and social media marketing strategies and tactics into their business to increase measurable results.
Take a listen to the 198th episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast and learn how you can setup a 6 month plan for budget approval. The key is to earn the trust and respect early on in your social media program so that you can earn the needed budget in later phases of your project. The podcast will provide you with the foundation to help you win support of even the toughest to please c-suite executive and stakeholders as early in the process as possible!
I split the podcast into two sections. The first includes 5 things you should NOT do and the second includes 5 things you MUST do.
In addition the bottom of this blog posts is loaded with helpful resources, templates and white papers for you to leverage in your planning and execution.
Episode Highlights
5 things you MUST do to get approval for your social media budget and plan
5 things you should NOT do if you want to obtain approval for your social media plan and budget
Why you must have a solid foundation that includes knowing your audience, goals, and objectives
Why starting with a well defined scope and plan will help you achieve results faster than trying to boil the ocean from day one
Why you must simplify your plan for key stakeholders to understand and provide you the buy-in you are seeking
Why you must know where you are going and why before you can get others to board your train
Setting key performance indicators (KPIs) and ensuring all stakeholders and executives understand them
The importance of ensuring all team members and executives are speaking the same language
Consider doing a survey to help you better understand the skill and needs of your executives, stakeholders, team members and employees
Why you must align your social media efforts to your top business goals and objectives
Why collaboration is key and you must avoid working in a bubble
Why you must not "fake it until you make it" and instead get the necessary 3rd party help if needed
Businesses of all sizes from solo-entrepreneurs, startups, small businesses to Fortune 50 brands often turn to social media and digital marketing agencies to help them develop a social media and digital marketing strategy. They tap into the agency teams of experts for help to implement the plan and tactics, identify KPIs, select measurement systems and social dashboards, build their digital brand and communities and the list goes on.
How to Get Your Social Media Budget Approved (white paper)
Show Notes / Blog Post For this Episode
It is important that before contacting a social media agency for help that you first answer some foundational questions about your own business, team and goals.
The better you understand your business, your ideal customer, your overall market and competition, the better an agency or consultant can help you. This doesn't mean that you need to know all of the answers before you start, or before you engage a third party for assistance. My point is that you need to be crystal clear on what you do know and what you don't know.
What are your greatest strengths? Who are your strongest team members that can help you win, not just stroll along with status quo?
What data do you have in your marketing arsenal that the agency can leverage to help you zoom turbo in building, launching and optimizing your online digital and social presence?
In addition you must know what gaps exist. What are your greatest weaknesses? Where are you at risk? How do you plan to mitigate the risk?
What resources, time and budget to you have available to commit to the project? Many business leaders struggle with budget allocation for social media and digital marketing. They think that if they contact a ton of different agencies and request proposals from as many agencies as they can, that they will eventually get a proposal that is low price and delivers higher value than all the rest.
The truth is that most social media agencies are not going to lower or raise the price just because you give them a target budget. Instead, the better they understand your budget the better they will be able to better develop a proposal, strategy and plan that will serve your needs, help you win and can be realistically implemented with your available time and resources including money.
Knowing these details will enable the social media or digital marketing agency to help you win.
The online and social world is getting noisier by the minute. You can not just throw up a Facebook page, Twitter profile, Snapchat account, live Periscope stream, Facebook Live session or Instagram page and expect to build overnight community. Success using social media and digital marketing requires research, knowledge of the broader ecosystem, an understanding of your competition and how you fit within your industry and niche.
The goal is to develop a strategy and plan with tactics that will help you connect with your ideal customer and audience in a human and authentic way. The goal is to earn trust and bring people closer to your brand. You must trust the agency you hire with the knowledge they need to enable this to happen.
Results are not going to be achieved overnight or in a matter of a few days or weeks. You need to be invested in the program for the medium and long term, not just a short one night stand with Facebook and Instagram.
Check out episode 197 of the Social Zoom Factor podcast for 10 Questions Every Brand Must Answer for Themselves Before Contacting a Social Media Marketing Agency.
Take a listen and be sure to subscribe to the entire series on iTunes, Stitcher or SoundCloud!
Episode Highlights
10 questions you must answer before hiring a social media agency
Why you must know where you are going and why
The importance of understanding your business key performance indicators for success
Why you must know your budget before hiring a social media agency
The importance of assessing the time, talent and resources available to allocate to your project
Why you must do a sanity check on your in-house skills
The importance of understanding your strengths and weaknesses
Assessing the state of your digital platform
Understanding the state of your social platform and digital brand
The importance of a content strategy aligned with your business goals and audience needs
Why you must understand the larger ecosystem at least at a base level
How to clearly identify your gaps so that the agency can best help you achieve your business and marketing goals
Pinning tweets on Twitter is likely one of the most useful but overlooked feature of Twitter. If you are not using or haven't even thought about using pinned tweets, I hope this blog post and podcast will change your mind.
Pinned tweets provide numerous opportunities for you to generate leads, convert more sales, grow your email list, increase brand awareness, conduct market research, increase ROI of your content assets and most importantly connect with your audience.
You can easily pin any tweet that you have sent. After pinning the tweet it will be showcased at the very top of your profile for all to see! Do you ever have a tweet that you wish the world could see? Well, pinning the tweet will not obviously guarantee the world will see it, but it will guarantee more people who visit your Twitter profile will definitely see it!
The new tweet stays pinned to the very top of your Twitter profile until you remove it!
It doesn't require expert Twitter skills. Here is how you pin a tweet:
- Find the tweet you want to pin.
- Click the three dots on the bottom right of your tweet
- Click "pin to your profile" in the box that pops up
- Hit "pin" again when Twitter asks you to confirm or cancel
- Now go back to your Twitter profile and refresh to make sure it is there
Don't know what to pin? No worries. Take a listen to the 196th episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast for 10 use cases of how to use the pinned tweet feature for business and life.
Check out the blog post recap with more resources for this episode at: http://www.socialzoomfactor.com/196
Be sure to subscribe to this entire brand new series, "Welcome to The Inspiration Age. Are You Ready?" on iTunes, Stitcher or SoundCloud!
In this 25 minute podcast you will learn:
- Benefits of using the Twitter pinned tweet feature
- 10 use cases for using the pinned tweet feature for business
- How to use the pinned tweet to increase conversions
- How to use the pinned tweet to increase brand awareness
- How to use the pinned tweet to increase ROI of content assets you create
- How to incorporate video and podcasts into pinned tweets
- How to embed a video or podcast as a pinned tweet
- Maximizing views of live video from Periscope, Meerkat and other mobile broadcasting platforms using the pinned tweet
- How to maximize brand storytelling with the pinned tweet
- How to grow your community using the pinned tweet
- How to humanize your brand using the pinned tweet
- Why you must avoid spammy tactics even for the pinned tweet and focus on value
Many smart and social savvy marketers and business leaders look forward to the starting of a new year! I personally love taking the time to slow down to speed up and plan, strategize, and prioritize. Our agency, Marketing Nutz lives for helping our clients stomp random acts of marketing and help ensure every dollar spent is providing the highest return on investment possible.
Digital and social marketing is changing the game. Customer experience is the new brand. It's no longer just about your logo, brand colors or fancy words crafted by a paid marketer. Instead brands must learn how to embrace real-time engagement, conversation that inspires and connects with their audiences, community, partners and stakeholders in a human way.
We must think mobile first as well as customer first. We must know our customer intimately before our customer knows what they want or need from us.
This can get very overwhelming to many brand leaders. It's normal to struggle in trying to keep up with the technological changes, industry leaders or even your top competitors. The only guarantee we have in this crazy tweeting, Facebook and always on, social savvy, media hungry world is change!
Regardless how overwhelmed you may feel, don't fall to spammy social and digital marketing tactics. Avoid falling back to old ways, old marketing strategies and tactics that are a recipe for failure in the new always on, always connected digital and social savvy connected SnapChatting, Twittering, Instagramming, Facebook posting world.
Brands can no longer hide behind fancy corporate speak and pretty brochures. Today, marketing and communication is real and raw. It's human. It's not perfect. It doesn't have time to wait until words and visuals have been perfected.
Given these challenges, how do you build a brand utilizing technology and social networks that are always changing? How do you utilize social media and digital marketing to establish thought leadership, earn trust and grow your business?
The truth is you must know where and how your brand is positioned in the market. You must be certain of your own intent, goals and objectives. You must have a solid plan for content, conversation and be aware of your own digital body language. You must build an integrated digital marketing platform that works when you are not working, or else wind up working 24/7/365! The choice is yours. Are you going to work smarter, not just harder? Or are you going to keep running in the social and digital hamster wheel and wondering why you lack real business results.
It's time you get off the chasing shiny object train. It's time you quit trying to be first on every social platform ever launched on planet earth. It's time you learn, and invest in the solid foundational elements that will help you build a brand online that will deliver real and measurable results for the short, medium and long term.
Are you ready to learn the foundations for how you can leverage social media and digital marketing to build your brand in 2016? Take a listen to episode 195 of the Social Zoom Factor podcast for 8 foundational elements to build your social and digital brand upon in 2016.
Show Notes / Blog Post for this Episode - http://www.socialzoomfactor.com/195
Audience Analysis Worksheet: http://www.socialzoomfactor.com/audience
105 Factors Digital Body Language Impacting Your Personal & Biz Brand: http://www.socialzoomfactor.com/digitalme\
In this 20 minute podcast you will learn:
8 foundational elements to build your brand using social media and digital marketing
Why you must decide first how you want to position your brand in the larger ecosystem
Why intent is so important in the online, social and digital world
How intent drives behavior, and how behavior determines how people perceive your brand
The importance of content and conversation in building your brand platform and perception
Why your brand is so much more than just your logo, brand colors and fancy corporate speak
Why you should build an integrated platform that works even when you are not working
Importance of understanding the impact of your strategies and tactics and how to set goals that will help you achieve your business objectives
Why customer experience is your brand
At the foundation of business and life is people. At the core of people are hearts and minds that want to connect with other people. It is in our DNA to want to connect with other human beings in a communal way. We want to rub elbows, clink glasses, laugh, cry and celebrate with people who have the same goals, objectives, beliefs, and interests as we do.
At the heart of social media is people. Social media is one big fat conversation that inspires, empowers, engages, delights, educates, and activates human beings when used for good.
So given that people want to connect with other human beings at the core of their being, and that social media is about connecting humans, why is it that marketers struggle with connecting humans together, using social media?
Do they struggle because....
they have self centered goals?
they don't know how to connect humans to other humans so they simply focus on what they do know, which is spam?
they are technology addicted shiny object chasers and put their geek desires before business?
they struggle with communication?
they don't know their audience?
Whatever the reason is, we all know there are far more brands and digital marketers building communities with self serving goals vs brands delivering real value for their communities.
We also know many brand leaders question the real value of social media. They struggle with connecting the dots from a social network to a human to a business goal or objective. They don't know how to prioritize where they spend their time or what social shiny object they should invest in.
Are you confused as to what social networks you should be leveraging in 2016 and beyond to build community? Should you continue to focus on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter? Or should you start integrating live streaming? If yes, then should you dig into Facebook mentions, Facebook live, Periscope, Meerkat or none of the above?
The truth is you should not start with the technology. You should start with the people. You should start with your goal for building community. Why do you want to connect with other human beings? WHY do you want to connect other human beings together? What is in it for them and you?
If these are some of the question you would like to answer as you finalize your social media and digital marketing strategies and plans then take a listen to the 194th episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast. In this episode I provide 10 goals for building and nurturing community that you can leverage to help you select and prioritize the social networks and platforms you should invest in to build community for your business and brand.
Take a listen and be sure to subscribe to the entire series on iTunes, Stitcher or SoundCloud!
Episode Highlights
10 goals for building community
How to leverage the 10 possible goals to help you select what social networks and platforms to focus on in developing your social media and digital marketing strategy and plan
Why building the size of your community should never be your only goal
The power of tapping into the OPC - other people's community and content
Leveraging community to increase brand awareness or improve public perception
Establishing thought leadership with community
Increasing reach of content with the power of community
Why you must be careful of chasing shiny objects
The importance of knowing the goals of your audience and ideal customer
Is your marketing delivering promises that you can't keep? Are your websites, blogs, social profiles, Instagram photos, tweets and Facebook updates over promising?
As marketers we are paid to build excitement, increase brand awareness and drive results.
The social web is becoming more noisy by the day. It's difficult for even smart marketers to stand out from the crowd and rise above the noise. Many marketers fall into the frenzy of beautiful visual graphics, never ending sales pages, over exciting live video sessions and the list goes on. Before they know it they have made a long list of promises that are far outside the scope of what their websites, blog, content, or business can provide. Instead of helping their efforts, their over promising marketing messages and actions are hurting the brand. These broken promises lose trust, hurt relationships and decrease brand equity.
Today, authenticity and transparency rules the social web. Customer experience is your brand, period.
Customers, community and audience members demand that brands deliver on what they promise. Marketers must learn to stop over selling. They must stop over promising and under delivering. Smart and savvy digital marketers know they are better off under promising and over delivering. Why not surprise and delight vs oversell and then disappoint?
Check out the 193rd episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast for 7 ways social, digital and brand marketers can keep their promises. Included are strategies, tips and tactics to earn trust, create a conversion funnel that actually converts and ensure that marketing efforts are helping the brand, not hurting brand reputation.
It is every marketer and business leaders dream to have crystal ball that can predict the future. Imagine having the knowledge to know exactly where to invest your time, resource and budget to bring the maximum return in all facets of product, service, digital, social and content marketing.
Unfortunately the chances of any of us finding that digital marketing nirvana crystal ball are slim to zero.
However, the fun part is we can predict what we believe can happen. We can base these predictions on data, experience and our gut feeling. Smart marketers know their audience and know how to selectively choose the right social and digital platforms, content channels, communication mediums to inspire their customers to connect with them. They know how to tap into the power of earned, owned and paid media to drive more than clicks, and to build community and grow brand awareness. They know how to invest in influencer marketing relationships, not just influencers who will tweet for them for a single one night show.
So what will happen in 2016 in the world of digital and social marketing? The good news is even though I can't deliver you a magical digital marketing crystal ball, I can offer you my predictions based on experience working with brands ranging from well funded startups and entrepreneurs to Fortune 10 brands.
Check out the 193rd episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast for 12 Digital Marketing and Social Media Predictions for 2016. I provide insight, strategic direction and recommendations on tactics for you to embrace the new year and business planning with the knowledge you need to succeed.
Check out the 190th episode of the Social Zoom Factor for 10 Top Content Marketing Mistakes that could be killing your marketing and business results.
In this 30 minute podcast you will learn:
Top 12 social media and digital marketing predictions for 2016.
Video will obviously be big. Okay, huge in 2016. How brands can be ready.
The importance of working with earned, paid and owned media.
Why many brands will take influencer marketing more serious in 2016.
Content marketing will get even noisier. Are you ready?
The winning brands who break through the noise will do so because of an integrated strategy, knowing their audience and selecting the right tactics and platform.
Embracing the pay to play media model on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and more.
Why Facebook will continue to rein.
Why I think the jury is still out for Snapchat in 2016.
Communities will continue to be more formalized. I also predicted this in 2014. Brands are still learning in this area.
Visual marketing will continue to be big but quality, inspiration and emotional branding will rein in 2016.
User experience is your brand. Brands must embrace designing the best user experience for their audience, readers, listeners, community and customers in 2016.
Mobile first has been a requirement for several years. Some brands are still learning this.
Why omnichannel marketing is a requirement, not an option for many retail and other brands.
Social media can be a powerful communication medium to enhance relationships, earn trust and build brand awareness.
Delivering a solid and quality product or service is only part of the equation for brand success and serving the needs of the always on, always connected customer of today.
What customer journey and experience are you designing for your customers and audience?
Your customers do not just land on your website and then buy from you within 5 seconds. They have likely been on a journey and your website, blog or social platform is simply one of the stops on their journey.
Communicating with your customers when, where and how they want you to communicate with them is critical. Today's mobile and connected customer requires you know not only the right time but the right place to communicate with them. If you don't, they will just go to someone else, to another brand who has taken the time to understand who they are and what they need.
Smart brand leaders know that social media can help them differentiate and rise above the sea of status quo and leap frog their competition if implemented correctly and with goals that help improve user and customer experience. Social media can easily be used to provide the most positive experience possible. Social media can be leveraged to nurture relationships with customers, prospects, partners and their broader community.
Every brand touch matters. From the first touch on your website, contact form to your Facebook page, Twitter communication, email marketing or phone conversation with your customer or sales support team, every brand touch requires thorough thought and planning.
Did you know that it takes on average 6-7 brand touches before someone will remember your brand? You have less than 10 seconds when a person lands on your website or blog for the online visitor to determine if they are going to stick around to learn more about you or bounce right out. The same goes for when they land on your Facebook page, LinkedIn company page or your own personal social profile on any of the social networks.
Your brand is not what you say it is or what you write for your corporate Twitter bio, Facebook profile or LinkedIn company page. Your brand is what people say about you. Your brand is what and how you make people feel.
Your brand is the experience you deliver to customers, prospective customers, partners, your community and your audience online and offline. Your brand is how quickly you reply and answer questions. Your brand is the tone you use when communicating with your peers, thought leaders in your industry and niche, your employees and even competitors online.
You brand is how you show gratitude. It's how you handle a public online, crisis. It's how you build and nurture community.
Customer experience is your brand, period.
What customer experience are you delivering your customers, audience, partners and community online? Is it positive? Is it human? Is it authentic? How transparent is it? Is it helping you build a lasting and meaningful impression? Is it inspiring people to connect with you, engage with you and buy from you today, tomorrow or next year? Or is it turning people off? Is it pushing them away or bringing them closer to you and your brand?
Take a listen to the 191st episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast to learn 10 easy ways you can start using social media today to provide an amazing customer experience for your audience, customers and broader online community! Learn how you can leverage social media to differentiate your brand and win in your specific industry and niche.
Be sure to subscribe to this entire brand new series, "Get Fit Social Digital Business" on iTunes, Stitcher or SoundCloud!
In this 25 minute podcast you will learn:
10 ways to improve customer experience using social media
How to design a customer journey that inspires and connects you with your ideal customer and audience
Why you must be proactive in creating a crisis preparedness plan vs being reactive and waiting until a major crisis happens and causes major problems for your brand and business
How to integrate social media into the overall customer journey and experience
How you can enhance the customer experience at every brand touch point
Why even answering simple questions quickly online using social media can improve customer satisfaction
How to solve problems by integrating social customer service processes into your overall business support procedures
How to leverage social media and social customer service to differentiate from your competition
How to gather feedback and customer insights to learn about your customer
The power of giving your employees and customers a voice
Embracing the power of brand humanization and ensuring that you are communicating with your customers in an authentic, transparent and human way
Do you ever feel like you are spinning your wheels when it comes to developing and integrating your content marketing strategy and plan into your business and overall marketing initiatives and programs to achieve your business and marketing goals?
Content marketing planned and executed properly can help you ignite not only online results but also true business results. You can increase sales, generate more leads, increase brand awareness, build and nurture communities, humanize your brand, and reach markets you simply couldn't reach with other mediums.
Unfortunately many brand leaders are their own worst enemies when it comes to defining and executing a well laid out content marketing plan with strategies and tactics that delivers real results. Often times they get lazy and impatient. They want immediate results and don't understand it takes time and ongoing investment.
Content marketing is not a "set it and forget it" type of initiative. You must constantly be feeding the content engine, inspiring and connecting with your audience to achieve desired objectives.
Bottom line, content marketing for business requires work. Real work. The kind of work that may even make your head hurt from time to time. It may even keep you up at night.
Could it be that you are making some basic content marketing mistakes that are holding you back from the success you deserve and expect?
Sometimes we get so focused and stuck in our ways that we need to have a fresh eye, a fresh perspective, a fresh voice to help us acknowledge it could be one, two or a few silly things we are doing that are sabotaging our efforts.
Check out the 190th episode of the Social Zoom Factor for 10 Top Content Marketing Mistakes that could be killing your marketing and business results.
In this 25 minute podcast you will learn:
Top 10 content mistakes killing your success and business results
How to not sabotage your own content marketing success
Why you must have a foundation to build on that includes a plan, goals, objectives, KPIs, call to actions, knowing your audience
Why you can't ignore the data and why you must focus on data driven decisions
Why you must avoid too much selling and self promotion online
The danger of not sticking to a plan
Avoiding chasing shiny objects and your competition
Why you must write for your customer, not Google only
The importance of headlines
How to not get stuck in a rut and ensure you are always innovating
Why basics matter such as spelling, grammar, user experience and visual appeal
Why you must own your distribution and platform vs putting all of your social and content marketing eggs in a basket (social network you do not own)
How is your content marketing plan and strategy coming along for 2016? Are you ready to create and deliver valuable content that will inspire, connect and organically attack your ideal customer, audience, investors, stakeholders, and partners?
Do you know what content you will be delivering on what month, week and day to inspire, empower, engage and activate the members of your online social communities? Are you ready to leverage content marketing to achieve your business and marketing goals and objectives?
Are you ready to tap into the power of content marketing to generate more leads, earn trust with your ideal customer audience, establish thought leadership, connect with and foster relationships with influencers in your industry, and grow your business?
Did you know:
Only 30% of B2B marketers say their organizations are effective at content marketing. This is down from 38% last year. (Content Marketing Institute)
67% of B2B buyers rely more on content to research and make B2B purchasing decisions than they did a year ago. (DemandGen Report)
70% of marketers lack a consistent or integrated strategy. (Altimeter)
51% of B2B marketers indicate they will increase their content marketing spending in the next 12 months (Content Marketing Institute)
If you want to get a grip on your content marketing starting today, then you have come to the right place.
We are thrilled to announce the availability of our 2016 content marketing editorial calendar template.
The 189th episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast provides a detailed tutorial to help you create your own content marketing editorial calendar for 2016.
Step 1: Download our calendar here-> Content Editorial Calendar.
Step 2: Listen to the 189th episode for step by step directions for how to use our content calendar template.
Step 3: Subscribe to the entire series, "Get Fit Social and Digital Business" on iTunes, Stitcher or SoundCloud!
Benefits of using a content editorial calendar:
Helps you focus on the needs of your audience and ideal customer
Helps you inspire, connect, empower and activate your audience
Force you out of your box and to think further than today or tomorrow
Increase value of your content to your audience
Better integrate and leverage different communication mediums and platforms to keep things fresh
Create content once, use many = increased return on investment
Streamline all investment and resources for content creation and marketing related activities
Encourage teamwork internally and with external partners and stakeholders
Fuel innovation and idea generation, avoid getting stuck in a rut
Better set expectations with your audience and fans
Helps you create loyal brand evangelists
Editorial Calendar Highlights
Prioritization of audience via our audience analysis worksheet
Monthly conversation theme
Weekly conversation theme
Blog post title
Target audiences (primary, secondary and tertiary)
Author
Editor
Purchase cycle (awareness, consideration, preference, purchase, loyalty)
Draft due date
Primary keywords
Blog Categories
Supporting images
Other supporting media (image, video, podcast)
Embed in other resource kits or publications
Syndication
Possibly white paper (y/n)
Client testimonial / graphics
Call to action (link and description)
In this 20 minute podcast you will learn:
Content marketing definition in a nutshell
Why you need a content marketing calendar
How to use the 2016 content marketing editorial calendar provided by Marketing Nutz (download here-> Content Calendar Template)
Recent industry trends and statistics regarding content marketing for 2016
How to increase the ROI of all of your content marketing by planning ahead, documenting your strategy and knowing your audience
Why you must set goals, objectives, clear call to actions
How to create and prioritize monthly and weekly themes for content and social conversations
How to keep track of visuals integrated with your content marketing
Importance of quality over quantity in developing your content marketing assets
Do you know what your ideal customer and audience wants from you? Do you know the perfect content that would help them solve their biggest problems and inspire them to connect with you and your brand immediately? That would be the perfect content marketing scenario wouldn't it? The scenario where your ideal customer visits your blog, website, or other social or digital platform and is provided with exactly what they want and need!
Content marketing is an amazing way to build your brand awareness, foster community, establish thought leadership, generate leads and grow your business.
Content can come in many forms such as text blogging, video blogging, audio and podcasts, visual marketing, infographics, live streaming mobile content and the list goes on.
While it may be tempting to start testing every social network and content medium available, it's better to crawl, walk run and ensure you have a plan before wasting a ton of time, resource and money on content that your audience may not even like, read, watch, listen to or engage with.
The first step in creating your content marketing, digital marketing and social marketing plan is to ensure that you know your audience.
You need to know what your audience needs and wants from you. How can you help them solve their real problems? How can you offer a unique perspective and solution that stands out from the crowd of noise in your industry?
A top goal for social and digital marketers should be to ensure their content is providing value for their ideal customer and audience. The better the content can inspire, connect with and engage the reader, viewer or listener, the higher the return on investment the content is going to provide.
Check out the 188th episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast for 10 tips and strategies to help you write for your ideal audience.
Be sure to subscribe to this entire brand new series, "Get Fit Social and Digital Business" on iTunes, Stitcher or SoundCloud!
In this 20 minute podcast you will learn:
10 ways to create content for your ideal customer and audience
How to increase ROI of all content created by writing for your ideal audience
How to research and know your customer using social media
Importance of selecting 3 specific problems your customer has and creating content that helps them solve the problems
How to select the right mediums for your ideal customer and target audience
Importance of understanding your competition
Why you must understand industry trends in your niche and larger ecosystem
Why you must select the right headline and make sure you make it clear what the value is for your audience
Importance of not throwing social spaghetti at the wall and hoping it sticks
The new always on, always connected, digital and social world provide amazing opportunities for smart digital brand marketers and business leaders to develop, test, and launch marketing programs, campaigns, products and services to market in far less time than days past. Gone are the days of waiting weeks and months to see how a multi-touch direct mail campaign performs to receive feedback on how well the program and message was received and acted upon by the target audience.
Thanks to social networks such as Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, Snapchat, Periscope and even native Twitter video, marketers can literally obtain real-time customer insight within seconds and begin using such data to optimize their digital and social marketing programs for the highest success and ROI possible.
Social media is equivalent to one big fat focus group that never sleeps. There is not a time of day or night that you can't crawl up in your cozy chair with your laptop and learn what people think of you and your brand. It's there for the taking. Smart marketers know how to tap into the research and testing power of the social networks without becoming a spammer.
Would you like to...
know how your new message and brand platform resonates with your audience?
know what people think of your brand?
pre-test campaign themes before launch to best optimize for success?
know what people think of your latest campaign?
understand what visuals are going to drive action?
know what call to actions will drive the highest conversion using social media?
how to design your website or blog for highest traffic, engagement and conversion?
know what content will drive social conversation, conversion and ROI?
know what marketing mediums such as audio, video or text your audience will best respond to?
test visual marketing campaigns before launch?
know the goals and objectives of your audience?
know the best times to publish on each of the social networks to better achieve your business objectives?
The answers to all of these questions and more are available for the taking by smart digital marketers who know how to tap into the power of social media marketing to learn, tweak, rinse, repeat and optimize!
Take a listen to the 187th episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast for 8 ways you can leverage social media for test your own marketing with social media starting today!
Be sure to subscribe to this entire brand new series, "Get Fit Social and Digital Business" on iTunes, Stitcher or SoundCloud!
In this 25 minute podcast you will learn:
8 ways to use social media to test your own marketing and social media programs
How to test headlines for blog posts within seconds
How to pre-test marketing programs and campaigns prior to launch
How to save time with marketing and program development by using social media
How to test content marketing programs
How to test visual marketing programs
How to conduct a/b tests using social media
How to leverage social media to select the best mediums for your audience
How to measure results of your own posts to Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and more
How to understand the impact of different mediums and actions for posting content such as tagging, using urls, hashtags and more
How to test different marketing call to actions, offers, events, milestones
Social media presents tremendous opportunities for digital and social brand marketers to conduct market research.
Long gone are the days of spending months and years in long drawn out focus groups, hiring expensive 3rd parties to gather people, rent expensive venues, pay for their insight, analyze the data for months and the list goes on. While there may be times that these longer research projects are required, most modern businesses of today don't need them as often as they may think they do.
Social networks present all of us with focus groups that are alive and dynamic 24/7, 365 days of the year. Any time of day or night there are people online, ready to engage and likely give you feedback by way of their actions or conversations.
It is important for marketers to focus on the needs of their customer as a top priority before developing any marketing program, campaign or piece of content marketing.
Would you like to learn...
what people think about your brand?
What people think of your service?
What people think of your employees?
What people think of your store location?
What people think of your website or blog?
What people think of your content?
What people think of your competition?
What people think of industry influencer in your niche?
Many of these answers are only a click or two away for smart marketers who know how to find the information needed. The goal is not to purchase the top 10 social monitoring and analysis tools. The goal is to select the tools and technology that will help the brand achieve the desired business goals and objectives. Marketers must have the power to select new shiny objects selectively and know when a new tool or technology is going to provide real and measurable value to their audience and the brand itself.
Do you know the emotional driver behind the actions your audience and customers take online or offline? It is critical that brand leaders understand what is driving their audience and customers action. Why are they clicking? Why are they engaging? Why are they choosing to take a certain action? What is the business or personal driver inspiring them to take such an action? What was the emotion behind the specific driver of the action?
Take a listen to the 186th episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast for 5 easy ways you can leverage social media for customer and market research today.
Be sure to subscribe to this entire brand new series, "Get Fit Social and Digital Business" on iTunes, Stitcher or SoundCloud!
In this 25 minute podcast you will learn:
5 Easy ways to use social media for customer and market research
How to leverage social media to learn more about your market
Top social media research tools and technology (free and paid)
Why you must know your audience
Why you should focus on the relationship with your audience as an input to the type of research you need to do
How you can leverage social media to better understand your industry
How to leverage social media research to create content for your audience that will inspire and connect with them in a human way
Importance of understanding what content your audience is reading, listening to, watching, engaging with, curating and sharing
How to leverage social data to understand specifically what your audience wants from you
One of the most foundational elements in creating a social and digital marketing platform is building a platform that works when you are not working.
Unfortunately too many marketers think they need to be the loudest brand on the social web to get attention. They focus on quantity versus quality. The truth is you want your audience to discover and find you in a natural and easy way.
A goal for smart marketers should be to build a platform that helps you achieve defined and measurable business and marketing goals in the most efficient way and with the highest ROI possible. The platform should be constantly increasing brand awareness, inspiring people to connect with the brand, generating leads and even sales without the marketing and social media teams having to sit at the keyboard all day spamming links.
The goal is not to spam the digital and social web with massive quantities of the same content every other brand in your industry is publishing, or to win the award for sending the most tweets on a daily basis.
The goal is to work smarter, not just harder. Digital marketers must find a way to create unique, valuable content that is discoverable. You must find a way to create content that your ideal customer finds without you having to push it to them. You must find a way to create unique and personalized experiences that your customer, partners and audience will remember for a lifetime.
Discoverable content is easy for the right people to find and engage with and share. It's content that is relevant to what they are searching for. Discoverable content that is relevant will give your reader that "oooh I like this" feeling after reading only the first paragraph. They should know they have landed on the right page, with the right content source and are about to read, hear or watch content that is going to help them solve their problems, achieve their business and life goals.
Would you like to know how to...
Optimize content for discovery
Stop being a slave to traditional SEO since in reality it no longer works anyway
Understand how SEO and SMO can work together to increase business and marketing results
Maximize investment and results using the social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and Snapchat
Create evergreen content that has a long shelf life and can help you achieve your business goals not just today or tomorrow but next year as well
If these are the questions you would like to understand the answers, then you are in luck today. Take a listen to the 185th episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast for 7 strategies to create more discoverable content.
People will not remember every word you say. They will not remember every tweet you write or the Facebook post you publish. They won't remember every visual image posted to Instagram.
However, people will remember how you make them feel.
When it comes to marketing, experience is everything.
Smart brands know how to create personalized experiences that are memorable, meaningful and inspire the human on the other end to connect with the brand in a real and human way.
The truth is, customer experience is your brand. You can spend days, weeks, months and years and hundreds of thousands of dollars crafting the perfect brand story, brand and message architecture and still miss connecting with your audience, customers and broader community in a personal and human way.
You must realize it's not about you. It's about the people.
It's not about being perfect. It's about being human. It's about creating human experiences that give other humans a glimpse into who you are, what you are and what you can and will do for them.
Would you like to better inspire and connect with your audience, customers and online or offline communities? Would you like them to feel they know you and you know them?
Take a listen to the 184th episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast to hear 3 reasons why you should create personalized experiences for your audience and customers. You'll also learn 7 tips and strategies to help you start creating these unique and amazing experiences today.
You don't have to have hundreds of thousand or a million dollar digital or social media marketing budget. Even if you are working for or own a startup or small, medium business you can learn from these examples. You need to embrace imperfect perfection and accept the fact you are human and so is your customer.
Give them a feeling they will remember for life and maybe you will have them as a customer for life.
Be sure to subscribe to this entire brand new series, "Get Fit Social Digital Business" on iTunes, Stitcher or SoundCloud!
In this 20 minute podcast you will learn:
3 Reasons why you should be creating personalized customer experiences today
7 strategies and tips to create digital and social marketing personalized experiences
How to leverage customer experience to stand out from the crowd
Differentiating from your competition with unique customer experiences
Why you must start from the inside out when creating the customer journey and designing personalized experiences
Why you must also include partners, sponsors and your broader community
Importance of planning and thinking about the end to end customer journey
How to make the most of the 6-7 brand touches it takes your customer to remember you
Making it easy for your customer and audience to engage, communicate and work with you
How to build community and leverage online communities to differentiate your brand
Key metrics in measuring success of the personal and digital, social experiences you design
The holiday season is here. We're jumping smack dab into the middle of the time of year where digital and content marketers must balance keeping their family and own soul fed while at the same time ensure they are giving their audience, community and customers the content they need and expect from you.
The truth is that the holidays are an amazing time to rise above the noise by providing real value. There are so many brands both big and small that fall to spammy sales tactics, pushing products and services, coupon codes and constant in your face promotion. Brands and marketing leaders that can focus on providing relevant, contextual content that inspires, connects and serves their audience will grab the mindshare, attention and heart of their readers, viewers, listeners and online communities.
Maybe you are feeling overwhelmed and have no idea how to keep up your social presence, content marketing and overall brand during the holiday? You want to take time off but you don't want to do it so much that you lose the connection with your audience you have worked so hard to nurture this entire year.
I believe wholeheartedly that we must take time to unplug. We need to disconnect from technology, social networks, mobile apps and connect with the people who are often the WHY we are connected to all of these devices in the first place!
Take a listen to the 183rd episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast for 10 tips to help you not just survive the holiday season but leverage the holiday to inspire and connect with your audience in a human way!
Be sure to subscribe to this entire brand new series, "Welcome to The Inspiration Age. Are You Ready?" on iTunes, Stitcher or SoundCloud!
In this 25 minute podcast you will learn:
10 tip to maximize every piece of content during the holiday
How to leverage a content marketing calendar to increase efficiency and productivity in creating content
How to rise above the holiday online noise with real value and inspiration for your audience
How to focus on higher quality content over mass quantity
How to leverage old content and refresh for the new year
Content ideas to summarize your year
Types of content to help you inspire and connect with your ideal customer and audience
Tips for writing "greatest hits" and "predictions" type of blog post and content
How to ensure your content is unique and not falling into the echo chamber of others in your niche
How to create one bigger higher quality piece of content you can break into numerous pieces of content to use over a long period of time
How to leverage visual marketing
How to leverage automation to save time
Importance of taking a break over the holidays
How to inform your audience you are taking a break in your content
Do you have a dream so big it scares you? Is it a dream that keeps you up at night and zooming turbo all day, every day?
Many entrepreneurs, business owners, business leaders and marketing leaders have dreams so big even some of the closest people in their life and business can't understand them.
Many people struggle with getting people on board to join their journey.
How do you get past the starting block to build the life and business of your dreams? How do you bring your dreams to fruition?
The truth is you must start small but continue to build the dream. Most people have limited resources, time and budget. Very few people have millions of dollars sitting in a bank account ready to help them make their dreams come true.
Dream it, plan it, do it, live it, love it!
You can build your dream business and life. The only catch is that you must have plan to get there. You must be realistic. You must set goals. You must prioritize. You must learn to say no. Say no to the wrong thins so you can say yes to the right things! You can't spend the next year chasing shiny objects and implementing random acts of marketing and business and expect to be in a better place than you are today.
Take a listen to the 182nd episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast to hear 7 tips for how to dream big and execute small for the win.
Social media is changing the game for events and conferences. It seems like just yesterday conversations were limited to the stage, break out sessions and show floors. Now event organizers have the opportunity to almost immediately ignite community, inspire, delight and entertain audiences like never before.
You are serving an audience of audiences. Event conversations are now happening on every flavor of social network from Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, to Snapchat. Attendees are live streaming what they see, hear and experience via live streaming on their mobile devices. They are using mobile apps such as Periscope, Meerkat to give their audience a real-time behind the scenes and front row view into exactly what they are experiencing.
If you are a marketing or business leader planning an event in this ever changing social landscape, you better understand the social and digital landscape of today. There are tremendous opportunities to build community and increase overall business results and ROI if you integrate social media into your event with a well thought out, planned and organized approach.
Event organizers and business leaders must understand the opportunities as well as the associated risks.
What will you do if your hashtag gets spammed heavily?
How will you curate attendee and user generated content?
How will you organize your live stream video, audio, visual and other marketing assets to make it available pre, during and post show?
How will you maximize use of all investments and the content that others are creating on your behalf?
How will you handle wi-fi issues if too many attendees are live streaming?
How will you handle intellectual property if people want to live stream your event and you prefer they don't?
What is your plan B when something goes wrong with a social network?
How can you maximize the conversations with hashtags?
How will you maximize investment in paid speakers?
How will you ensure maximum value for sponsors, partners, speakers and attendees?
If you wait until the last minute to setup your Twitter account, choose a hashtag and jump on Periscope you are setting yourself up to fail. Marketers must educate themselves and truly understand both the art and science of inspiring and connecting with their audience. Even if you are brand new to social media, your audience and attendees are not.
Take a listen to the 181st episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast and learn 25 tips and strategies to increase ROI at events and conferences by integrating social media. Learn how to plan, how to align to business goals, build community and more.
In person events are the perfect medium to fully embrace the power of social media and social business. Social media is really one big conversation.
Twitter is an amazing platform to connect in a human way with clients, potential clients, colleagues, industry leaders, influencers, old friends and new peeps you haven't even met yet. They can live next door, down the street, across town or across the globe. No matter the time of day or night, it's a guarantee that someone is available right now and eager to have a conversation with you.
The biggest struggles most business and marketing leaders face when it comes to Twitter is the learning curve as well as finding the time to make the investment to achieve a positive ROI on time invested. It takes time to plan a Twitter strategy, manage your account and following, create content, find new followers, inspire the followers they you already have and the list goes on.
Many new to Twitter think it's a very overwhelming platform. They struggle with not only knowing how to inspire and connect with other Twitter users in a human way, but finding the time to do such.
Leveraging automation and technology can help increase the ROI of time spent on Twitter as well as give you back your life! There is much debate in regard to automating Twitter or not automating Twitter. It is definitely both art and science. It requires setting goals, knowledge of your audience, customers and knowing how much automation will benefit your audience and your business vs hinder the results you are seeking.
Using automation with social media requires a crawl, walk run approach. It's best to test the waters first and see how your audience responds. Then you can more easily tweak, rinse, repeat, and optimize for the highest results possible. The last thing you want to do is tick off your loyal followers just because you want to save a few minutes a day.
If you are not already tapping into the power of Twitter video, you should be. Take a listen to the 180th episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast for 5 of my favorite Twitter automation tools plus 5 best practices to leverage Twitter automation so it helps, versus helps your business.
Show notes Page loaded with resources, worksheets and more.
In this 25 minute podcast you will learn:
5 Best practices for using Twitter and any social media automation
5 of my favorite tools for Twitter automation
5 things you can easily automate with Twitter
Why you must set goals and develop a plan for what you want to automate with Twitter
How to leverage automation and not be a spammer
Why you should not automatically tweet your Facebook posts
Why you must understand each social network and not treat them all the same
How to automate and curate content to keep connected with your audience
How to choose the right times of day to automate your Twitter efforts
Balancing both art and science with Twitter automation strategies
Do you have a brand story that you share with people who come in contact with your brand? A story that serves as the connective tissue and foundation representing the who, what and why your brand exists on this planet today?
Your brand story should be the thread which connects your value proposition, team, vision, mission, and purpose with your customers, potential customers, audience, community and partners. It is who you are, what you are, why you are in business, where you have been, where you are going, why you are going there, who you have helped, and the list goes on.
Can you answer these questions?
What is your brand story?
Who are the characters in your brand story?
What is the setting?
What are the lessons learned?
What happened and is happening on the journey of building your brand and business?
What differentiates your brand story from your competition?
Why did you start your business in the first place?
What is your short, medium and longer term vision and mission?
How do you do what you do?
Who do you help? What have the specific results been to date?
Many marketers struggle with developing and communicating their brand story publicly. They may feel uncomfortable or simply have a hard time pulling it together in a way that they feel comfortable and confident knowing that it represents who they are and what the have to offer the market and the humans within.
If you have ever struggled with creating, developing and launching your brand story, then you have landed on the right blog post and podcast today!
Take a listen to 179th episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast to learn 6 key foundational content elements that must be included in your brand story.
In this episode you will learn how to begin to craft your own brand story that represents who you are, why you are in business and why anyone who comes in contact with you and your brand should trust you and be inspired to engage in a relationship with your brand and the people within.
Marketing and business leaders are experiencing tremendous pressure to get online, embrace and start leveraging the social networks, create content, launch corporate and executive blogs, design new Instagram profiles, fill Twitter feeds with amazing content, build Facebook communities, embrace live streaming and the list goes on.
Unfortunately there are still some digital marketers who buy into the the thought process of "if you build it they will come."
Sorry folks, but "build it and they will come" has never been a recipe for success for smart, social and savvy digital and social marketers. It simply doesn't work that way.
Believing that if you build it they will come works about as well as chasing shiny objects as a foundation for your social business strategy.
Stop the excuses and get to work. Quit wasting time all day on Periscope or Blab listening to your competition and all the awesome things you think they are doing. Why aren't you the one doing amazing things? You are not going to leap frog your competition and knock your business and marketing goals out of the park in the next 12 months by copying what others are doing. You need to design, build and implement your own plan that will attract YOUR ideal customers and grow YOUR business.
The new year is coming and you need a plan. You need to know where you are going and why.
You are never too big or too small to plan. If you fail to plan you plan to fail.
Take a listen to the 178th episode of the Social Zoom Factor for 10 reasons you need an integrated digital and social media marketing strategy.
You can't just throw some digital websites, blogs and pretty images at the web and tweet them out. Facebook ads for your social spaghetti content is also not going to solve the problem.
You need to get your marketing, digital, social marketing and branding efforts aligned to business goals, integrated and rockin' real measurable results. You need key performance indicators to measure and optimize your success. There is no way around it. If you want to succeed in business today you need to plan your work and work your plan.
Subscribe to series: Get Fit Social Digital Business
In this 25 minute podcast you will learn:
Why you can't skip the planning process
Why if you want to succeed in business today you must have a plan for your digital and social marketing
Importance of integrated marketing including digital, social media, SEO, SMO, branding, email marketing
Why Random Acts of Marketing (RAMs) can kill your marketing results
Avoiding Random Acts of Marketing (RAMs)
Acknowledging you don't know your customer or standing in market place
Identifying your unique value proposition and positioning in the market
Setting goals for where you want to take your brand, market position in the next 30-18 months
How proper planning helps you be more agile, more proactive vs reactive
Building a human brand requires proper planning, research of your audience and how you can connect with them
Tips to achieve buy-in for your program
Why brand consistency requires planning
You are the media. Yes you. You, your friends, your mom, your dad, your kids, your pastor, your teacher, your hair stylist, your car mechanic, and even your dog has the opportunity to be the media. We all know cats steal way too much time from the inter webs.
Each of us has the opportunity to be the media. We can launch a blog, start a business, embrace video live streaming, get on snapchat, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram and everything in between and within a short time steal media attention from even some of the biggest, baddest media platforms that have been doing this for decades.
Media at a human level gives us all an even playing field. It enables the little guys and gals and even furry friends to compete with the big media.
Here is the catch though. You are only the media if you participate. Times are changing and you can't simply throw sloppy media to the masses and expect to build your business or brand.
Welcome to the participation age my friends. The age where you must embrace conversation, human connection and meaning in dialog, not just one to many show up and throw up content. The traditional media is changing regardless if you want to accept it or not.
I am the co-founder and CEO of a successful social media, digital marketing and conversion optimization agency. We help brands of all sizes embrace the media of today to build community, build their brand, build their business and most importantly build the people who want to engage and join them in this world of inspiration and participation.
The one thing we have found consistent in working with entrepreneurs to Fortune 10 brands is that the brands who have the mindset of participation, inspiration and human connection are the brands that see an ROI from the new media of today. Unfortunately the brands who embrace media today as a way to blast their noise, beg for tweets and downloads never see the light of day when it comes to success in the digital world of the ever and always connected consumer.
Did you know that 90% of smart phone owners have their mobile device in arms reach 100% of the time? Why does this matter? Because they are available 100% of the time to listen, learn, engage and participate. It's up to you what you do with that person on the other end of the smart phone, iPhone, Android device.
Are you ready for the participation age? Are you ready to inspire, connect and help your audience achieve their goals? It's going to require participation from you, period. You can no longer throw masses of dollars at a traditional agency and expect to get the same return you did 10 years ago.
Take a listen to the 177th episode of the Social Zoom Factor to learn more about the participation age. I share with you 10 ways you can embrace the participation age and ensure your brand is smack dab in the middle of the fun, action, reaction, conversation, engagement and success of this new participation and inspiration era.
It's every smart and social, savvy digital marketers dream to reach their audience in a human, relevant, memorable and meaningful way. Video marketing provides marketers the unique opportunity to connect with their audience in the most human and relevant way. You can almost look your audience in the face eyeball to eyeball. They can hear your voice, see your facial gestures, experience where you are and the power of what you have to share like never before.
Are you an active user of Twitter? Did you know that you can now within one minute record and upload a video to Twitter natively that will engage, inspire, educate and entertain your audience? Yes, one minute. Simply record up to a 30 second video, craft a simple 140 character tweet and hit the "tweet" button. Plus you can see the response and statistics within seconds! You will almost instantaneously know how many people saw the tweet, engaged with the tweet, watched the video, shared the video and more.
Did you know...
82% of Twitter users watch video content on Twitter
41% of Twitter users think Twitter is a great place to discover Twitter videos
Native video on Twitter drives more engagement than other 3rd party players (2.4x replies, 2.8x retweets, 1.9x favorites)
I had not done much with Twitter video until Gary Vaynerchuk sent me a personal video using Twitter. It literally took me experiencing the personal and engaging video from Gary that inspired me to pick up my iPhone and send and share my first Twitter video that same day with my audience and community. Thank you Gary! :)
If you are not already tapping into the power of Twitter video, you should be. Take a listen to the 176th episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast for 5 best practices to tap into the power of Twitter video marketing as well as 10 ideas for Twitter video content to inspire and connect with your audience and social media community.
It's no surprise that even the most social and content savvy marketing leaders find it difficult to keep up with everything including creating compelling, relevant content that will inspire, delight, entertain and educate their audience. They have good intentions and know they need to provide value. However, finding the time is an entirely different story.
As a result many overwhelmed marketers unfortunately resort to sloppy, irrelevant content that looks. smells and feels like everything their competitors are providing. It clearly lacks the unique factor and is often far from inspiring or valuable.
These cookie cutter blog posts, podcasts, presentations, webinars, and even live stream videos all start to sound and read the same. It's like everyone is reading and writing from the same exact play book. They know they are starting to sound like a broken record. However, given the overwhelm they continue down the path of the status quo. It's almost a guarantee they wind up scratching their head thinking... "hmmm I wonder why my content isn't delivering value!?"
Creating content that inspires and connects you with your audience doesn't have to require a PHD in rocket science or master of the shiny object syndrome. With knowledge of your audience and a creative mindset you can easily create a content calendar and framework jam packed with value, inspiration and helpful knowledge to keep your audience and community coming back for more. If done right you can absolutely leverage content marketing to attract your ideal customer, increase brand awareness and achieve your top business goals.
Check out episode 175 of the Social Zoom Factor podcast for 10 types of content to help you consistently deliver value to your audience in the inspiration age!
Be sure to subscribe to this entire brand new series, "Welcome to The Inspiration Age. Are You Ready?" on iTunes, Stitcher or SoundCloud!
In this 25 minute podcast you will learn:
10 types of content to help you inspire and connect with your ideal customer and audience
How to create content that inspires, delights and entertains in the inspiration age
How to create content even on a very limited budget and with limited resources
How to tap into the power of co-created content in partnership with industry thought leaders and influencers
Leveraging offline and online events for content
How to tell brand and customer stories that inspire and engage your audience in your journey
The difference between storytelling and bragging about yourself constantly
Why it's important to share the good, bad and sometimes even the ugly to bring your audience closer to your brand
Incorporating different mediums into your content such as video, audio and presentations
Supporting Resources:
Audience Analysis Worksheet (worksheet to help you prioritize your niche)
Welcome to the Inspiration Age (episode 170)
50 Ways to Inspire Your Audience (white paper)
Twitter Persona Worksheet (worksheet to help you develop your Twitter Persona)
Twitter Lists in a Nutshell
7 Metrics to Measure Value of Your Content in the Inspiration Age (episode 172)
Should You Narrow Your Marketing Niche? (episode 171)
Brand Humanization in a Nutshell
20 Tips to Humanize Your Brand
10 Tips to Focus on Needs of Your Customer
8 Steps to Develop a Social Business Plan (white paper)
Show Notes Page loaded with free resources, worksheets, content calendar template and more! http://www.socialzoomfactor.com/175
Are you tired of hearing business and marketing leaders brag about the measurable results they are achieving using the social network, Twitter? They talk about all of their new friends, new communities and even new clients. Do you feel like you are being left in the Twitter dust and that you are never going to catch up or really learn what it's all about?
Have you tried to use Twitter for business but honestly have no idea how to achieve anything close to an ROI on your investment of time and resource?
Does this questions sound familiar?
You want to reach new audiences and markets?
You want to increase and enhance brand awareness?
You use Twitter but have no idea what you are doing?
You wish you could better nurture relationships using social media?
You want to learn how to better use Twitter for business?
You want to learn more about what your competition is up to?
If you would like answers to these questions, then you must listen to episode 174 of the Social Zoom Factor podcast. I share with you 5 proven strategies to maximize your results using Twitter in the inspiration age!
Be sure to subscribe to this entire brand new series, "Welcome to The Inspiration Age. Are You Ready?" on iTunes, Stitcher or SoundCloud!
In this 25 minute podcast you will learn:
Why you must learn how to embrace the inspiration age for success using social media for business
How to tap into the power of Twitter to nurture relationships
How to leverage Twitter to grow your email list of subscribers
How to use Twitter to learn more about your market and competition
How to test new products, services, taglines and other marketing messages with Twitter
How to truly inspire and connect with your audiences using Twitter
http://www.socialzoomfactor.com/174
It's time get real on the value of your content. Is your content really providing value to your ideal customer, audience and community?
Many business and marketing leaders are spending loads of time and money on content strategies, framework, media, posts and distribution. However, when you ask them the value of their content and how it is resonating with their audience they often return a shoulder shrug and head shake meaning "I have no clue!"
Can you answer these questions?
Do you know if your content is truly resonating with your audience?
Is it providing them real value?
Is it helping them solve their problems?
Is it helping them grow their business?
Is it helping them become part of something bigger together than they can be by themselves as one?
Is your audience truly engaging with your content in a human way?
Is your content helping you nurture real and human relationships?
Is your content helping or hurting your brand?
If you would like answers to these questions then you are in luck today. Take a listen to the 173rd episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast to learn 7 easy ways you can measure and determine if your content is providing value to your audience in the inspiration age.
When I ask business leaders, owners and digital marketers who is their ideal client or target market I often get the response similar to "anyone between the ages of 35-65 who has problem A, B or C." What does this translate to in real business results? Nothing, nada, zip ROI.
Having a business that is focused on selling to everyone and their mother, grandmother, kids, dog and cat is a recipe for failure.
The world is filled with generalists who can sell you whatever you want if you simply pay the $99 and you too can become rich and super duper famous.
We all know the tricks, the lies, the spam that many marketers throw at us. The media is everywhere. Heck, as we have discussed in past blog posts and Social Zoom Factor podcasts, you and me are also the media.
We now live smack dab in the middle of the Inspiration Age where inspiring and connecting with your target audience and ideal customer in a human way is a requirement, not an option.
Tell me, how can you connect with your ideal customer at a human level if you don't know who they are? If you state they are somewhere between the age of 35 and 65 and live in Colorado, Florida, Australia or Timbuktu? How you market, speak to, inspire, connect with, engage and build relationships with each individual persona is going to be different.
This is why if you are wanting to build a successful business you need to consider narrowing your business niche. Maybe you are focusing too broad and it's time to get laser focused not only on who you are serving but also on what you have to offer them.
Take a listen to the 172nd episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast to learn the benefits of narrowing your niche as well as 7 strategies and tips to help you build a niche strategy and plan. Be sure to subscribe to this entire brand new series, "Welcome to The Inspiration Age" on iTunes, Stitcher or SoundCloud!
In this 30 minute podcast you will learn:
Benefits of narrowing your niche
Answer to the question of "are the riches really in the niches?"
How to find the right fit for your niche
Why you must be careful of being "too unique" when choosing a niche
Importance of researching your niche, what you must know
How to research the larger ecosystem of your target market niche
Determining how to position yourself
Telling your brand story so people will understand your brand promise and value proposition
Importance of planning your go to market strategy versus "winging it"
Determining the actions you want your audience to take to engage with you
Why focusing on a niche strategy will help you prioritize investment, time and resources for better success
How to embrace the inspiration age with a solid niche strategy and plan
Importance of humanizing your brand and leveraging niche marketing to do such
Welcome to the inspiration age where connecting with your audience is a requirement, not an option.
In this episode Pam Moore, CEO & Founder of Marketing Nutz provides 5 solid tips to help you better connect with your social media communities and audience both online and offline.
Welcome to the inspiration age, where connecting with your audience and communities is not an option, but a requirement for business and life.
What is the inspiration age and why should it matter to you and your business? We answer these questions and more in episode 170 of the Social Zoom Factor podcast. Take a listen and learn what the inspiration age is as well as 8 solid strategies and tips to inspire your audience.
You must learn how to embrace the inspiration age to grow your business, nurture relationships, earn trust, establish authority and most importantly touch the hearts of the people you want to bring closer to your brand.
Coming out of the information age it was easier to put most marketing tactics and strategies in a box. Brands with big budgets could simply throw big money at advertising agencies and the remainder at more predictable marketing mediums such as traditional media, direct mail and email marketing.
However, times are changing drastically. Now it's practically a free for all. We are all the media. The world is noisy on and offline. It is more difficult than ever to stand out from the crowd, to rise above the noise and to earn trust and connect with hearts. We can communicate anyway we want. We can communicate how, when and where we want... and so can our audience.
You do not own your audience. You do not own your social media communities on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat even if they are following you, like you or snap with you.
Your audience is not there to serve you. You are there to serve your audience, period!
Download Whitepaper 50 Tips to Inspire Your Audience: http://www.socialzoomfactor.com/inspireme
Many business leaders, social and digital marketers are finding it hard to get buy-in and approval from their c-suite for their social media programs.
Do any of these statements sound familiar?
- You can't get your social marketing budget approved.
- You are not getting buy-in across the organization for your social business program.
- Your CEO, COO, CTO and most executive stakeholders have shut down your employee advocacy program.
- You don't know where to go next as you just keep hearing no, no, no.
If these are your struggles with regard to your social media marketing or social business program then you definitely want to tune into the 169th episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast as I share with you 5 top social media metrics and priorities your CEO and c-suite cares about most when it comes to social media.
If you are having difficulty getting the buy-in, approval and budget allocated for your social media program, the problem could very well be you are not understanding what really matters to your stakeholders and executives. You must "get in their head" and understand the risks they are concerned about as well as the metrics that truly matter to them.
In this 25 minute podcast you will learn:
- What key metrics your CEO is most concerned about for your social media and social business program
- The key risks your CEO and C-suite is most concerned about regarding social media
- How to communicate the strengths, benefits and risk to your key stakeholders and executives
- How to get buy-in on your program from the C-suite and board members
- Why you must think both internally and externally
- Understanding the key risks associated such as brand protection
- Importance of aligning social media to business goals and outcomes including sales
- Importance of identifying key performance indicators that matter to the business and CEO
Learn how to save time and maximize ROI using Twitter for business. Pam Moore provides 8 social media tips to help zoom business results and save time. Learn how to balance automation with real time engagement, provide content marketing that is relevant and helpful for your audience.
If you are new to the content marketing, digital marketing or social media you may have heard the term "evergreen marketing" by the experts and not been certain what it is or why you need it. It's often a term that is thrown around by even top industry experts who don't develop or implement evergreen content marketing best practices themselves.
Evergreen content is content that is timeless, sustainable and has a shelf life longer the latest Facebook feature or favorite mobile application. Evergreen content is foundational to helping your ideal client and audience solve their smallest and biggest problems. When done right evergreen content will drive continuous traffic to your blog. It's then up to you to make sure you can convert a large percentage of that traffic into community members, new friends or even sales.
So what is evergreen content marketing and how can it help you achieve your business and marketing goals? Why should you care about evergreen content?
If you would like to know the answers to these questions, today is your lucky day as the 167th episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast puts evergreen content marketing in a nutshell. We also provide 15 types of evergreen content you can start creating and implementing today to help you better connect with your audience, build community, increase brand awareness and increase sales.
Take a listen to the episode and be sure to subscribe to the entire series on iTunes, Stitcher or SoundCloud!
In this 40 minute podcast you will learn:
- Evergreen content marketing in a nutshell - what is it and what it is not
- 15 types of evergreen content marketing you can start implementing today
- Top business and marketing benefits of creating evergreen content
- Why evergreen content must be relevant, timeless and sustainable
- Importance of knowing your ideal customer, industry and niche
- Why you must inspire, inform, educate, entertain and delight your audience
- Why success is in the details and the importance of information rich content
- Why less is not always more when it comes to evergreen content marketing
- Why Google loves evergreen content
- How to tap into the power of industry influencers and leaders to curate evergreen content
- How to easily curate content that has a long shelf life
- How to leverage one piece of quality content to create multiple additional pieces of evergreen content
Would you like to build authority, establish trust, increase brand awareness and grow your business results?
Guest blogging and syndicating your content to top sites in your niche can more quickly help you establish industry leadership, brand awareness and trust. When done right, integrated and aligned to your business goals and marketing objectives, guest blogging can also help you improve business results. When attached to a solid online conversion funnel you can grow your email list and subscribers, grow community and even increase sales.
Successful content syndication and guest blogging requires both art and science. You must know your ideal customer, current and desired audience as well as understand the platform and audience for which you are wanting to guest post.
Before pitching an editor it's best to establish a relationship, earn the trust and prove you are ready to deliver value to their audience and readership and you won't have to pitch.
Take a listen to these 10 foundational elements to zoom business and marketing results with guest posting on the 166th episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast. This episode is part of a new series in which we are digging deep into how you can build an integrated social and digital platform that works when you are not working. A platform that helps you inspire, connect with and delight your audiences.
Why am I not on blab? Take a listen to this podcast to learn why Pam Moore has not yet jumped into the latest social shiny object and video streaming, collaboration platform. The answer might surprise you!
In this 30 minute podcast you will learn:
Why Pam Moore is not on Blab
8 Tips and strategies to work smarter, not just harder
The importance of the Smart Hustle
Why you must know your WHY
Why you must know your audience
Prioritizing activities, priorioties and goals
Avoiding the Fear of Missing Out when it impacts your business and life goals
Not getting caught up in the fallacy that hustle is required 24/7 to drive results
The importance of adequate sleep for mind, body and spiritual health
Smart marketers and business leaders know that their online integrated digital and social platform is not simply a megaphone for to tell the world how great their business is and beg them to make a purchase. Though you may see many new marketers to the online and social world fall to spammy tactics, they don't usually last long.
Your website, blog, Facebook page, Twitter profile, YouTube channel, Instagram page, Blab conversations, Periscope sessions and Pinterest boards all create opportunities for you to inspire, delight, connect, entertain and inform your audience and readers.
With every virtual touch, swipe, view, and listen you have and opportunity to earn a friend, to earn an advocate and customer. You have an opportunity to earn trust, start and nurture real and human relationships. You have an opportunity to earn a sale, not just push sales.
If you have not thought about using your online digital and social assets to inspire, engage, entertain and inform then you should. How are your sales? Are they hurting? Maybe you should look at the content you are sharing? Is it really helping your audience want to buy from you? Are you truly helping them make a decision to buy? Or are you leaving them confused or maybe even pushing them away to your competition because you are all about yourself.
Take a listen to the 164th episode of the Zoom Factor podcast for 10 Tips to help your online community and audience buy from you.
Be sure to subscribe to the entire series on iTunes, Stitcher or SoundCloud!
In this 25 minute podcast you will learn:
- 10 tips to help your online audience buy from you
- Why you need buyer personas
- Why first impressions are so very important
- Why you must have a brand foundation and message architecture
- The importance of testing varying forms of media such as audio, video and text
- The importance of articulating clearly who you are, what you do and WHY
- Why you must share HOW you do what you do to help your ideal customer
- Why the first, last and every brand touch in between matters
- Why you should be a connecter of value, knowledge and people
- The importance of inspiring action
- How to choose a call to action that can help increase sales
- Letting your audience know what the next steps are to engage with you
With the explosion of social, digital marketing platforms and technologies such as mobile live streaming even small businesses and individuals have the opportunity to become the media.
Becoming the media today does not require millions of dollars spent on advertising and fancy websites. Instead an individual person serving as an industry influencer or thought leader can launch a blog and integrated digital, social platform and quite quickly have brands eagerly wanting to engage with them. The brands want to tap into the power of their community, reach and voice because it is truly people who are becoming the media. You and me are the media.
Many brands and people struggle with how much of them personally do they incorporate into the communications, platform and media.
Because they don't know how to brand themselves, incorporate brand storytelling or properly engage their audience they wind up spamming and pushing people away versus drawing them closer to their brand.
The leaders who are rockin' their personal and business brands online know how to balance content about themselves while always serving and making it about their audience. It truly requires both art and science.
Take a listen to episode 163rd of the Social Zoom Factor podcast to learn 10 key foundational elements to successful brand storytelling.
This episode is part of the "You Are the Media" series in which we are digging deep into how you can build an integrated social and digital platform that works when you are not working. A platform that helps you inspire, connect with and delight your audiences.
Social media is a great way to rev up your brand to turbo speed and leave your status quo competitors in the dust! Not only can you tap into the power of community, human relationships but you can also increase brand awareness, equity and even sales.
Zooming your brand to turbo speed using social media requires both art and science. It requires the knowledge and ability to connect with humans in a way that inspires, connects, delights and entertains while at the same time staying true to your brand personality and tone.
Unfortunately many brands hop online with no solid understanding of their audience, or even their own business goals or objectives. They have no plan and wind up throwing social spaghetti at the wall and then wonder why it doesn't stick. They wonder why they get stuck with at best status quo results.
Brands that hit turbo speed know who their audience is, know intimately how to grow and nurture their community and network, how to create and deliver content and conversations that surprise and delight them. They aren't afraid to try new things while at the same time balancing the desire to chase shiny objects while staying focused where they know they can achieve the highest measurable business results.
The smartest social media marketing leaders know how to best leverage multiple mediums to tell brand stories,
Take a listen to the 162nd episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast to learn 10 tips and strategies you can start implementing today to finally once and for all start leveraging social media to grow your brand and business results.
It's not news that people buy from people or that business and life are about personal, human relationships. People have been buying from other people, communicating with other people and connecting with other people for years, decades and centuries. It's in our DNA to want to connect with other human beings who believe in the same things we do. It's these common foundations that weave the threads for relationships, trust and community.
If we all know life and business is really about people, then why do so many marketing and business leaders still fall to lazy marketing tactics and corporate marketing speak as they set out on their online digital and social media adventures? They claim they want to connect with real human beings. They say they want to build community. However, their priorities, actions and language is doing the opposite.
For years people have gathered around campfires and dinner tables to connect and relate to one another. We share. We laugh. We cry. We tell stories. We grow. We become part of something bigger than ourselves.
When you share a story you share a piece of you. You invite people into your world. You share with them who you are, what you care about, why you are doing what you do. You are inviting them in a human way to be part of your story, part of your journey.
Brands can tap into the power of storytelling to inspire, connect with and serve their audiences. Storytelling helps build relationships and earn trust.
Brand storytelling is not about bragging about yourself all day on the latest live video streaming mobile application. It's not about creating a viral video or a long winded essay in corporate speak. Brand storytelling requires both art and science. It requires having a solid brand architecture and message foundation as well as knowing your audience and how you can serve them real value.
There is a clear separation between true social marketing business leaders and those that are sliding along with status quo. Many new and seasoned marketers and business leaders hop into the world of digital and social media marketing thinking they can send a few tweets, learn how to optimize visuals and social profiles and they will have a positive ROI on their investment in social media. Unfortunately too many of these same "status quo" seekers find themselves struggling to keep up with the true leaders, holding down a real job or feeling and experiencing real success.
So what are the habits, behaviors and foundational success elements that true social marketing leaders embrace? How do they rise above the status quo? How do they consistently serve the needs of their customer, keep the brand top of mind and help achieve a positive ROI for the investment and time into social media?
Take a listen to the 160th episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast to learn 10 foundational habits of successful social marketing leaders. Be sure to subscribe to the entire series on iTunes, Stitcher or SoundCloud!
In this 25 minute podcast you will learn:
- 10 Habits of Successful Social Marketing Leaders
- How to rise above status quo with real business results
- Why social marketing leaders must take lead. Own the plan, business and results!
- Why social marketers should learn to embrace data and analytics to improve business results
- The importance of integration into business and marketing initiatives, programs
- The difference between social media and social business
- Why social media is not just about YOU!
- Importance of community and relationships
- Importance of shutting up and listening
- How to set priorities
- Why content is king, queen and joker
There is much confusion regarding online brand and reputation management. Some think it's only for brands who get themselves in trouble and need to cover up the bad. Some think it's public relations, while others think it's just social media monitoring or some ninja SEO tricks.
The truth is every brand has a reputation regardless if they think they do or not. Your brand is the sum of what people think, say and tell other people about you. You can spend all the money in the world to create a beautiful brand inclusive of digital elements and visuals, fancy logo, website, blog and social media channels and profiles. However, if you don't deliver on your brand promise it's all for nothing.
Your brand is the foundation of your business. It doesn't matter if you are a small business, corporation or something in between you impact your brand with every action you take. Every tweet, call, post on Facebook, Instagram photo, Google+ update is a representation of your brand. Every employee that works for you is leaving hundreds of brand impressions every day online and offline.
They are talking about you! Yes, people are talking about your brand, your executives, your service and your employees. They are talking about what you do right and what you have screwed up on. The question is do you know what they are saying? Are you part of the conversation? Or are you choosing to ignore it? The truth is, the conversations are not going to go away. You might as well be proactive and understand how you can leverage the same social technologies and strategies that may scare you half to death to your advantage. It's all about perspective and how you choose to look at it and manage it.
Take a listen to the 159th episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast where I share 10 solid tips to help you protect your online brand reputation.
Trust me, this is something every business leader, digital and social marketer should care about. If it's not keeping you up at night you should ask yourself why. Is it because you are proactively managing it or is it because you are ignoring it? Ignoring the need to manage your online brand and reputation is simply not an option if you want to be in business tomorrow.
It is every digital and social marketers dream that their ideal customer, partner and fan will easily find their blog, website or other online social channel. Unfortunately it's not as easy as building a website or blog and people just show up at your digital front door, banging to get in and buy from you.
It takes time for the traditional search engines such as Google and Bing to even know your site exists so they can start sending your traffic your way. Plus now you have tremendous opportunity to earn traffic to your blog or website via the social networks.
You can of course leverage paid media, earned media and even influencer marketing to increase blog traffic.
Remember though that visitors to your online platforms are tourists. They are stopping by. It is up to you to make sure that you are inviting them in, inspiring them to connect with you and helping them feel at home so they will stick around for awhile and maybe even tell a few friends how great you are.
One of the best ways to increase traffic to your blog or website is via organic traffic. Organic traffic is not paid media. Organic traffic is traffic that comes to you via search on the search engines, social networks or other online platforms. You don't pay for it directly, though you pay for it via your time invested in content marketing, website and blog development, influencer marketing and the list goes on.
Our websites and blogs earn between 45% - 75%+ organic traffic. We don't pay for expensive SEO tricks or expensive earned media. Instead we focus on creating a platform with content that inspires and connects us with our target audience and online community.
Take a listen to the 158th episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast for 10 strategies and tactics you can implement today to increase organic traffic to your website or blog. I share with you the exact strategies and specific tactics we use in our business every day.
This episode is part of a new “in a nutshell" mini-series of the Social Zoom Factor podcast to do a deep dive on many marketing and business concepts, strategies and tactics important to understand if you want to be successful in the online world and with digital marketing.
Social media agencies face many exciting opportunities to work with brands and clients of all shapes and sizes. Although some may focus on a certain niche or industry, many consultants and agencies work with clients from varying industries, experiences and levels of understanding of what social media really is or what it can do for their business. Obviously, each client has different expectations, goals, objectives and grasp of the power of social media.
Although it may be tempting to take on any client, a key to success is ensuring the client is a match for the agency. It’s also critical that as new clients are onboarded, they are taken care of from the start.
A client’s first interaction with an agency sets the entire stage for how the relationship will kickoff. You only have one chance for your team to make a great first, second and third impression, so why not make the most of it at every touchpoint?
Below are some best practices to help social media agencies ensure the onboarding process goes as smoothly as possible with new clients. The best part is that most of these tips can be used for many different types of businesses, not just social media agencies.
Take a listen to the 157th episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast for a deeper dive discussion on each of these 13 points. I share with you exactly the most important steps, tips and strategies for how we onboard clients for my agency, Marketing Nutz.
Facebook has launched a mobile live streaming application and feature only available to users of the Facebook Mentions application which requires the Facebook page be verified.
This podcast shares Pam Moore's thoughts on why Facebook made the decision and what is the possible future for the mobile live streaming via Facebook
What does it really mean to be a thought leader? Unfortunately too many digital and social marketers have a false belief that they can simply write a few blog posts, send a few tweets and increase their social influence scores such as Klout and they will quickly become the go to thought leader of their niche.
We've all seen the blog posts promising the magic 10 steps to be a thought leader in 140 characters or how to be a thought leader on LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and every other social network known to digital man and woman.
The truth is that you can not become a thought leader in 140 characters. You also can't become a thought leader via mastering one single social network.
Becoming a thought leader requires earning trust, respect and investing time in helping the human beings in your community, network and audience.
I've seen loads of businesses and people promoting their own personal brand spending months or even years of time trying to become "thought leaders" yet they have no real business. In reality they are helping almost nobody as they are too focused on becoming "influential" vs actually helping a real business or person.
Take a listen to the 155th episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast for an overview of what it means to be a thought leader as well as 5 steps to help you build a plan do establish yourself and your brand as a thought leader.
This episode is part of a new “in a nutshell" mini-series of the Social Zoom Factor podcast to do a deep dive on many concepts, strategies and tactics important to understand if you want to be successful in the online world and with digital marketing.
In this 15 minute podcast you will learn:
- Definition of thought leadership
- Why you can not establish thought leadership overnight or in 140 characters
- How to build thought leadership
- 5 steps to get you started in building thought leadership
- Who can be a thought leader
- Why thought leadership is important for B2B and B2C organizations and brands
- Benefits of establishing thought leadership
- What thought leadership is not
- Why a content marketing strategy and framework is at the core of establishing thought leadership
Do you know the difference between traditional marketing, ecommerce, multichannel marketing and omnichannel marketing?
Omnichannel marketing is not simply a buzzword for multichannel marketing. Omnichannel marketing requires that the multiple marketing channels are working together to create and deliver an amazing, seamless user experience.
Did you know that according to Google, 25% of shoppers start on a PC but eventually move to a mobile device. Shoppers are no longer using one channel to research, shop and buy. People don't always simply walk into a store and buy a product. They may first be researching the product or service online via mobile device, tablet, desktop or all of the above.
Even in the B2B (business to business) space, business leaders are doing the same thing. They are researching products, services and people behind the brands using multiple channels. They jump from iPhone to iPad to laptop within minutes. Both B2B and B2C (business to consumers) customers expect brands to design a user experience that is personal, relevant and seamless across devices.
It is important for digital and social marketers to understand the reason why, the context, the when, where and how their customers are using what screen to connect with and buy from the business.
Take a listen to the 154th episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast "in a nutshell" episode for an overview and definition of omnichannel marketing.
This episode is part of a new “in a nutshell" mini-series of the Social Zoom Factor podcast to do a deep dive on many marketing and business concepts, strategies and tactics important to understand if you want to be successful in the online world and with digital marketing.
In this 20 minute podcast you will learn:
- Definition and overview of omnichannel marketing
- Difference between traditional marketing, ecommerce, multichannel marketing and omnichannel marketing
- Why channels must work together to be considered omnichannel marketing
- How omnichannel marketing differs from multichannel marketing
- Why you should not force your online buyer to scale up screens (move from mobile device to desktop)
- Why marketers should become experience architects
- The importance of being at the right place at the right time, not every place all of the time
- The importance of creating personal and seamless user experiences
Marketers and business leaders spend a lot of time thinking about what we need to do as content writers, sales people, digital marketers, social marketers, brand leaders, data analysts and business owners to grow our business.
We focus on content and visual marketing that grabs attention. We build beautiful landing pages that convert readers, listeners and viewers to buyers. We dig in deep to data, analytics, and key performance indicators so we can measure and optimize business results and achieve the desired business outcomes.
However, what can often happen is that we get too inwardly focused. Too many digital marketers start forgetting about why they are doing the work in the first place. Remember, that human being you need to connect with on the other end of that tweet, post, pin or video? Yes, that is the person you need to be thinking about.
Let's flip this conversation around. Let's talk about what we need from our buyer. What do you need from a potential customer or buyer before you can sell to them?
Take a listen to the 153rd episode of the Zoom Factor podcast for 4 things you must have from your buyer (or anyone for that matter) before you can sell to them.
In this 15 minute podcast you will learn:
- 4 things you must have from your buyer before you can sell to them
- Why you must earn the attention of your buyer
- Why trust is so important in online marketing and social selling
- Why it is important that your buyer also invest in a relationship with you and your brand
One of my favorite childhood stories is Goldilocks and the three bears. A story about a little mischievous little girl that made her way into a house owned by a family of bears. Goldilocks made herself comfortable in the house so much as to fill her belly with good porridge and even fall asleep in the little bear's bed.
As digital marketers there is much we can learn from the story of Goldilocks. We need to build a digital platform that is inviting, serves value, makes our readers, viewers and listeners feel safe, comfortable and taken care of. We need to help them feel comfortable and invite them to come back for more.
Take a listen to episode 152 of the Social Zoom Factor podcast to learn 8 key takeaways we can learn from Goldilocks to improve our digital and social marketing results.
In this 30 minute podcast you will learn:
- 8 things digital and social marketers can learn from Goldilocks and the 3 Bears
- 8 tips to improve digital marketing results
- How to make sure your social media and digital platform is inviting to your target customer and audience
- How to make your blog and website visitors feel welcome
- How to make sure you are serving your audience real value
- How to earn attention but not be too overbearing with your marketing and sales communication
Smart marketers are not afraid to dig in deep and even "geek out" on data and analytics to achieve success in social media, digital marketing and business.
Many marketers get overwhelmed with trying to understand how they can leverage data and metrics to guide their business in the right direction. As a result they run away from data and the power it can provide versus digging in and learning how to tap into the power of what it has to offer.
I am thrilled to introduce Andrew Caravella from Sprout Social as a guest on the 151st episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast.
Andrew leads the marketing team and efforts at Sprout Social and has an amazing background and years of experience in digital marketing to help us all.
Take a listen and learn how you can better tap into the power of social and marketing data to zoom your business.
In this 30 minute podcast you will learn:
- How Sprout Social uses data and analytics to create an amazing customer experience
- Biggest mistakes brands and digital marketers make in embracing or not embracing social metrics and analytics
- Top questions Sprout Social receives from customers of all sizes as it relates to social media data and analytics
- The importance of planning and selecting the right key performance indicators for success
- Where to start when selecting KPIs, goals and objectives
Content marketing is at the center of marketing today. Everything we tweet, post, pin and create is a form of content marketing.
Blogs are a foundation for many brands and people establishing thought and brand leadership online. Blogs can serve as a home base and help connect the dots between earned, owned and paid media to nurture relationships and achieve desired business outcomes.
Unfortunately too many digital, social and content marketers think they can just write a long blog post or throw social content spaghetti at the wall and hope it sticks. They foolishly believe that hundreds or even hundreds of thousands of readers are going to come beating down the social blog virtual doors begging to buy from them. This couldn't be further from the truth.
Attention is the most scarce resource marketers struggle with today. Throwing blog content spaghetti at the wall is not going to help you gain attention, build community or achieve real business results.
Writing epic blog content that attracts, inspires and connects you with your ideal customer requires a combination of both art and science.
There is not a morning I log into Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook or Instagram that my feed is not bombarded with spam. From people begging for clicks, link backs, free shout outs to over the top self promotional automated messages, replies and the list goes on.
I even recently had an social media agency CEO spamming and begging for support of their non-profit campaigns that are based on a foundation of 1000's of fake RTs on every tweet on behalf of the client. They are charging the client for campaigns based on fake followers and fake metrics. This is a true story my friends and these things are happening all around us every single day.
Think with me for a moment...
- Would you walk into a room of real human beings and start blasting the name and url of your business?
- When you meet somebody new at an event would you walk up to them and ask them to watch your video on YouTube before you had a chance to say hello?
- Would you tap someone you just met on the shoulder and asked them why they unfollowed you or if they would follow you, listen to you?
- Would you yell at people in real life asking them to pay attention to you?
- Would you keep sending people the same message over and over even if they already told you they were not interested?
- Would you keep talking to someone about a topic if they clearly let you know they didn't want to talk or hear about it anymore?
If you did these things people would think you were crazy. However, there are thousands of marketers and brands who are embracing these spammy tactics every day.
It's time we stop the spam insanity. It's time we put the human back in social media, marketing and business.
Attention is the most scarce resource we have. The lack of attention is a core reason brands and even smart digital marketers are falling to lazy social spamming tactics. They are desperate for attention. They think that by blasting into our social feeds they will grab out attention.
The thing many marketers are missing is that by spamming they are losing trust. They are hurting their brand more than helping. We all need to put food on the table to feed our families. However, that is not an excuse for any person or brand to fall to spammy, fake tactics. Build a brand that is built on authenticity, trust, integrity and serving others and success will be exponentially higher. Will it take a bit longer to get there? Absolutely. However, doing such will help build a brand that is sustainable and that will out last any campaign or Facebook news feed built on spamtastic nonsense. Yes I know spamtastic is not a word. I just made it up. ;)
Check out episode 149 of the Social Zoom Factor podcast for some serious tough love to help you identify if you are guilty of these spammy non-human tactics. I also provide 10 solid tips and strategies to help you put the human back in your social media, business and life.
Take a listen and be sure to subscribe to the entire series on iTunes, Stitcher or SoundCloud!
In this 30 minute podcast you will learn:
- 10 tips and strategies to put the human back in your social media marketing
- How to identify if you are guilty of spam tactics
- How to balance automation with being human
- Why you must be patient in building relationships and not just go for the sale at hello
- Why you must be aware of your own digital body language
- Why your intention is at the core of how others perceive you and your brand
- Why trust is key to earning the right attention and building relationships
- How a mentor can help you get real with your own digital and social behavior
- How to know if you may need to get help from an external social media digital agency or consultant
- The importance of knowing your audience
- Why spam will not build your business for the medium and long term
Welcome to the digital marketing era where attention is the absolute most scarce resource. There is clearly no lack of people and brands trying to grab your attention. Every where we turn, every device we turn on, every social network feed we scroll, there is noise. Brands want us to check out their hot deals, digital marketers want us to watch their videos, download their white papers and the list goes on.
Many digital and brand marketers hop on Twitter with the hopes of grabbing quick attention of their target customer and audience. They foolishly think they can send a few tweets to a handful of influencers, beg for some clicks and links and they will achieve their business and goals.
The core foundational issue is they have the wrong intention. They have an intent to help themselves and achieve a quick win versus investing in the people who they want to trust them.
The truth is our actions speak louder than their words. Unfortunately many business leaders and even the most social savvy digital marketing experts are clearly unaware of their own digital body language. Their intention is easily seen by even those new to the social networks. It's often easy to identify a spammy business or marketer. When their posts, tweets and conversations are all about them, they wind up pushing people away versus bringing them closer to their brand.
Your intention may be good, but your execution may be poor and negatively impacting your digital marketing results if you are not earning trust and attention as a result of the right intention.
You don't have very long to earn and lose trust. You can lose trust in one single 140 character tweet if you are only using spam tactics. Because attention is such a valuable resource, it is critical for marketers to maximize every second they achieve attention from their communities and audience. Attention can no longer be taken for granted.
Check out episode 148 of the Social Zoom Factor podcast for a "get real" discussion on the power of intention and trust in earning attention. You will learn why intention and trust are foundational requirements to earning attention for your digital, social media and marketing strategies and tactics.
In this 13 minute podcast you will learn:
- How to earn attention with the power of trust and intention
- Why and how your intention shines through your digital body language
- How to leverage social networks to best meet your goals and objectives
- The power of relationships and earning trust in building your business
- Why you must know who you are and how you can provide the greatest value to your audience
- Why the quick fix, spam tactics will not earn attention for the short or long term
Welcome to the digital age of marketing where you are the brand. You can run, you can hide but you can't escape the need to build your personal brand.
We all know people buy from people. People also tweet with other people. They connect on LinkedIn with other people. They live video stream, Instagram and SnapChat with other people as well.
When a new potential client contacts us to do business, the first place go to learn about them is the internet. We will start with a Google, Facebook or Twitter search. We then immediately click through to LinkedIn.
In a matter of seconds we can find out who the person is and if they are who they said they are in the contact form. We can find out where they work now and where they have worked the past 10 - 20 years. We will within seconds know if they have a blog, if they have kids, where they went to school and the list goes on.
Yes, you may be sitting there reading this and think... "Pam, you will never know that about me because I will never post all of that information."
I want to ask you why? Why would you not want me to find out the best information about you? Why not ensure your digital persona is a true representation of who you really are?
It is becoming a requirement , not an option to develop your personal brand. If you want to be trusted and rise above the noise you must connect with people as a human being, not just a logo.
Building your personal brand doesn't happen by jumping on Facebook or creating a fancy Twitter background or highly edited profile photo of yourself.
You don't build your personal brand in minutes or hours. You build your personal brand over days, weeks, months and years. You must earn trust, establish credibility and authority.
You must know who you are. You must know who your audience is and how you can serve them.
Even if you are just getting started online, it is important you start somewhere. It only takes a seed. it's how you nurture your personal brand that will bring success.
Check out episode 147 of the Social Zoom Factor podcast for 7 fundamental steps to build your personal brand.
Take a listen and be sure to subscribe to the entire series on iTunes, Stitcher or SoundCloud!
In this 23 minute podcast you will learn:
- 7 fundamental steps to build your personal brand
- Why you must be self aware of your strengths and weaknesses
- Why personal branding is a requirement, not an option
- Why you must stop excuses and start building your personal brand today
- Why you are the media
- The difference between authenticity and transparency
- Why you must know who you are and what you stand for
- Why you must know your audience and what they need from you
- How to be aware of your digital body language
Do you ever feel like you are going through the motions of life? Maybe you get a strange feeling that your life is set on auto drive but you don't know who is at the wheel?
Maybe it's the not the life you thought you would live? Maybe you aren't really sure how you got where you are right now but you do know you want a change.
Do you ever feel like your business is running on turbo yet you are running out of fuel? Good things are happening but they are not the right things at the right time.
Are you working way too many hours and the work is taking you away from the reasons you started your business or career in the first place?
If we don't take charge of our life and business, there are sure enough things that will steal our time and mindset and run us into a state of frenzy, late nights without sleep and time with the ones we love most.
It is time you take control of your life and business. It's time you design the life you want. Design your business to help you achieve the life you want to live.
Take a listen to the 146th episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast for 10 strategies and tactics to help you design your dream life and business. These tips include actions you can implement starting today. They are applicable to entrepreneurs, small business owners up to professionals and executives working in large corporations.
Regardless of the size of the company you own or work for, taking charge of your own life is key to success and happiness.
In this 25 minute podcast you will learn:
- Why you must design and take control of your life and business
- 10 tips to design the life and business you dream about
- Why you must value your time and knowledge so others will as well
- The importance of mind, body and spirit to achieve success in life and business
- The importance of envisioning the life you dream about
- Designing every hour of your day to achieve your goals
- Embracing and integrating your passions into your business
- Choosing clients and work that truly brings you joy
- Prioritizing your time and a focused mindset into the most important things
- How pivoting can help you move forward
Are you sick and tired of being sick and tired? Are you tired of working 18 hours a day and yet still not achieving your life and business goals?
Do you ever feel like a silly hamster in a wheel, running and running and not getting anywhere?
There are far too many business leaders, entrepreneurs, digital marketers and executives who feel stuck. They know that things are not working. However, they are afraid to make change. They believe that if they move to plan b, c or even d that they have completely failed.
The truth is moving on to plan b, c, d or even plan e does not mean you failed. We all learn from our mistakes. True success comes from falling down and getting back up, over and over again.
Real leaders are able to embrace change. They help their organization, team and themselves stay relevant.
Real leaders must be able to pivot. They must know when it's time to pivot.
Staying "stuck in a rut" is not good for business or your life. It's the easy way out.
Take a listen to the 155th episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast as we explore the importance of embracing change and learning how to pivot. If you are feeling stuck, as though you need to make change in your life or business but haven't had the guts to do such, this is the podcast episode for you!
In this 15 minute podcast you will learn:
- Why true leaders are not afraid to embrace change and pivot
- How pivoting can help you move forward
- How to stay focused on your life and business goals through major changes
- Importance of empowering and training your team to embrace change
- Definition of leadership and pivoting in business
- My personal story of embracing major career, business and life changes
What happens to your anxiety level and blood pressure when you think about Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram going away? Does it rise? Does it stress you out?
If Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest or Snapchat were to drop off the face of the earth tomorrow what would happen to your business? Would your business be negatively impacted? Would it thrive or would it crumble under algorithm changes and paid media models being aggressively implemented by every social network that hits prime time.
Are you building your business on digital property that you own? Or are you too dependent upon the social networks and larger social ecosystem for your business success?
Are you building your business on rented land? Are you building your business on social land that is far from a solid foundation to build your life and business upon?
Building your business foundation on digital and social networks you don't own puts your business at much risk. You have no control on what these social networks do, what happens with their product roadmaps or how your audience and ideal customer react to their upcoming changes in the future.
Simply take a look at Facebook, Twitter and any social network for that matter and you'll see how quickly they are changing. Facebook organic reach is in the tanker. Brand and digital marketers who put all of their social eggs in the organic Facebook basket are being hit incredibly hard.
Don't let this happen to you. You need to build your own plan, strategy and integrated platform that inspires, attracts, engages and nurtures your ideal customer. You need to look past the numbers and market segment statistics and connect with real human beings in real ways on your owned digital property.
You have put your time, resource, sweat, sleepless nights and maybe even some tears into your product or business and are ready to take it to market. It's an exciting time. It feels like your baby. You want to shout from the mountain top to the world how awesome it is.
You look at all the millions and billions of people on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Snapchat, Periscope and the list goes on. You want to tap into the power of community. You want some social buzz. You want people to be talking about your brand.
Slow down there my friend. I know you are excited but how you enter the world of social media is very important. Remember you only have one chance to make a first, second and third impression. You don't want to lose people at the first 140 character hello because you are all about yourself.
Even though you may be new to some of these amazing social networks, the millions of people who are already living and breathing them daily more than they want to admit are not new to them. They have behaviors they are accustomed to. They have certain ways they like to communicate with people and brands.
You can't just plop onto Facebook or Twitter and announce your new product or mobile application has launched expecting to build instant community and fame.
You need to develop a solid plan and strategy for how you will integrate social media into your business and launch for real result. You need to think it through. You must start long before you launch, not the week before or morning of.
Take a listen to the 143rd episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast where I share with you 5 foundational elements you must have to launch your business or product using social media. I also provide 10 simple ideas and tips to integrate social media into your launch immediately.
Take a listen and be sure to subscribe to the entire series on iTunes, Stitcher or SoundCloud!
In this 30 minute podcast you will learn:
- 5 Foundational Elements Your Social Media Product Launch Must Have
- 10 tips to integrate social media into your product, service or business launch of any kind
- How to best leverage pre-launch activities and time to build community and earn trust of loyal advocates early on
- How to tap into the power of the OPC - Other People's Community and Content
- How to NOT work with influencers and industry thought leaders
- How to avoid damaging your brand with spam
- How to tap into the power of video live streaming and mobile broadcasting on apps such as Periscope and Meerkat
- How to leverage Twitter chats and Facebook groups to grow community
- The importance of integration vs random acts of marketing (RAMs)
What is the first thing that comes to mind when I ask you define social media? Is it Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Periscope, or Snapchat?
What if I told you that you should not be thinking about the technology first? You should be thinking about people. You should be focused on your ideal customer. Think DNA, not tools. How can you get in the head of your customer and inspire and connect with them?
Your mission with social media is to figure out where your ideal customer is hanging out online and then determine how you can have the most relevant conversation with them possible.
You need to be where your ideal customer is, not just where you want to be or even necessarily where you feel comfortable.
Do these questions found familiar?
- I am spending loads of time on social networks with little business return.
- I am spending loads of time learning tools and technology with zero business return.
- I feel like I am online 24/7 yet am making no progress.
- I don't know where to go next and sometimes feel like throwing in the social media towel!
If this is you, then you definitely need to listen to the 142nd episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast. I explain in plan english why you must quit focusing on the technology, and instead focus on how you can connect with real human beings. How can you best serve them value? You must know where you are going and why.
Take a listen and be sure to subscribe to the entire series on iTunes, Stitcher or SoundCloud!
In this 25 minute podcast you will learn:
- Why you can't start with technology when building a social media strategy and plan
- 5 Tips to build your social media strategy and plan
- The difference between social business and social media
- Why your priorities must first be focused on your audience and ideal customer
- Tips to avoid being online 24/ 7 and have even higher result
- Why your most important question you must ask in building your social media strategy is WHY
- Example social media outcomes, goals and objectives
Many digital marketers scramble and fight for attention every day to get their message heard on the social networks. They may fall to spammy tactics such as tweeting 24 hours a day with automated tweets, automated direct messages, blasting Facebook business pages with too many updates, constant cat photos and word puzzles. They often dilute their brand with these silly tactics when they could be increasing brand equity and building a thriving community who is on the edge of their seat waiting for every word they say.
There is also another group of smart digital marketers who know the value of an email list. They create epic and compelling content offers that inspire, educate, delight and help their ideal customer and audience solve their greatest problems. They earn their trust and email address. They are then able to more easily nurture relationships with a captured audience who WANTS to hear from them.
Unfortunately many business leaders and even smart marketers don't understand the value of email marketing. They don't know how to integrate email marketing into their programs and business. They don't know how to grow an email list and write off email marketing all together.
Did you know that 88% of B2B marketers cite email marketing as their most effective lead generation tactic?
If you are not using email marketing to inspire, connect, delight, entertain and serve your audience you are truly missing out on opportunities to grow your brand and business.
Take a listen to the 141st episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast to learn 10 tips to grow build and nurture your email list. These are the exact same tactics we have used to grow our list from 12,000 to over 50,000 people over the past 18 months!
Be sure to subscribe to the entire series on iTunes, Stitcher or SoundCloud!
In this 30 minute podcast you will learn:
- Why digital marketers can not ignore email marketing
- 10 Ways to grow your list by 400%
- Important foundational elements to implementing email marketing
- How to choose an email marketing service provider
- How to integrate email marketing with your other marketing tactics
- How to integrate social media to grow your email list
- How to leverage the new call to action button on Facebook to grow your list
- How to organically attract your ideal customer with relevant, contextual content
- Importance of managing the entire conversion funnel, end to end
- Importance of end to end user experience
Business leaders and digital marketers all over the world are struggling every day with how to stay up to date on the latest trends, technology, social networks, methodologies and more.
Even with the large number of people we see of embracing change and having a genuine desire to "be the change" as change agents, there is very little real change happening in regard to mindset. There is very little that most people are doing to truly help people take action and move their business and life forward. Instead people are getting stuck on social media buzz from their own community and wind up in a dangerous swirling, whirling echo chamber.
It's easy to get stuck in a box. Does any of the below sound familiar?
- You don't know where to start so you gravitate to things you feel comfortable with such as shiny objects or deep analytical data.
- You avoid public conversations on the social networks as you are afraid of saying the wrong thing.
- You are a lurker more than an active contributor.
- You want to embrace change but feel stuck.
- You worry too much about what others think of you.
- The arguments over semantics drive you nuts.
- You are part of the arguments and complaining over semantics.
- You have lots of social media buzz but very little social media bucks.
- You spend far too much time online for the business results you are achieving?
The truth is there is far too much talk and not enough action being taken in the world of digital marketing, social media and online marketing.
Answer this...
- Does it really matter if we use the term social media expert, guru, or professional?
- Do your customers and prospective customers really give a rip about half the things the masses argue about online all day via Facebook, Twitter chats and more?
- Does it matter if you get thousands of hearts on Periscope, or on every leader board on the planet? Is it really moving your business forward?
- Why do you have the customers you have? How can you earn and retain more of them? Shouldn't you focus there?
- Why are there so many events becoming a real life "echo chamber" that the only people speaking are the sponsors and same people speaking everywhere?
- Do you need to get out of your own box and help move the industry forward?
- Are you ready to truly embrace change and start helping the industry move forward?
- How are you going to get out of your box?
It is my belief many are living and embracing the echo chamber. It's time we get out of the box. It's time to quit arguing about semantics. It's time for the masses to start delivering value, real value.
Take a listen to the 140th episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast for some real talk on how we can get out of our box and move the industry forward.
Be sure to subscribe to the entire series on iTunes, Stitcher or SoundCloud!
In this 15 minute podcast you will learn:
- Why it's time the social ecosystem gets out of the echo chamber and embraces change
- Why people must stop arguing about semantics such as "social media guru"
- Why you must stand on the foundation of your morals and value you offer your customers and community
- Importance of unplugging and getting out of your own box and way
- Tips to get out of your box and out of your own way, starting today
- The importance of self reflection and mindset
- Why you should take a look at your 2015 goals and assess how you are tracking toward progress
Many brand and digital marketers are poorly confusing influencer marketing with earned media. Some of these marketers may be making innocent mistakes. However, some very well know the difference but are pretending that they don't. As a result they are negatively impacting their brand perception and damaging relationships with the people who they claim they want to embrace and invite closer to their brand.
Yes, this is the elephant in the room for many brand marketers and the influencers, thought leaders and people who they are reaching out to begging for tweets, likes, free blog posts or even days spent at an event on behalf of the brand with zero compensation. The brands make themselves foolishly believe they don't need to compensate the influencer for their time since they are bucketing the engagement into "earned media."
Let me put this very simply for you. If you are paying for travel, accommodations, fancy dinners and entertainment it is not earned media.
Earned media is media that you earn. It's not media that you pay for. It's not dependable. It's not something you can wine and dine an influencer for and expect to get measurable results.
Learning how to integrate earned, paid and owned media is key to success for digital marketers.
Check out the 139th episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast for some real talk on why brands must quit confusing earned media with influencer marketing now. I share with you a story of how one of the largest car manufacturers in the world reach out to me asking for 5 days of my time at an event without any compensation and claiming they couldn't compensate for time as it fell into the category of "earned media." Seriously people, let's get real on this topic. It's time we make the leaders in this industry accountable. They need to walk the walk,not just talk the talk.
This episode is part of a new “in a nutshell" mini-series of the Social Zoom Factor podcast to do a deep dive on the 3 types of media you must understand if you want to be successful in the online world and with digital marketing. I provided a quick overview of paid, earned and owned media in episode 138 of the Social Zoom Factor podcast.
Be sure to subscribe to the entire series on iTunes, Stitcher or SoundCloud!
In this 15 minute podcast you will learn:
- Difference between earned media and influencer marketing
- Why influencer marketing is not necessarily earned media
- Importance of valuing relationships over reach, followers, Klout scores
- Why brands must value time of influencers and thought leaders they want to work with
- Tips to best use influencer marketing
- The difference between paid, earned and owned media
- How to avoid blurring earned and paid media
Remember the days of simple media and mass communication? The days marketers would simply buy an ad, tv commercial slot, throw out some direct mail, a few magazine ads, radio spots, measure the response and get on w/ their day job of herding cats, taming elephants and locking up the crazy monkeys in-house begging them for everything under the sun ;) Joking but you get the point.
Media is not simple anymore, not that it ever was, but now it’s even more complex. It’s not just the explosion of social media, but the fact that according to a Nielsen study that confirmed the most trusted source of info in all countries surveyed world wide is earned media, also described as what use to be known as word of mouth. The issue is that many are confusing earned media with paid media and owned media. They are blurring them all together and as a results wasting millions of dollars, ticking off their audiences, ruining relationships with thought leaders and influencers and the list goes on.
Today we are kicking off a new “in a nutshell: mini-series on the 3 types of media you must understand if you want to be successful in the online world and with digital marketing - paid media, owned media and the favorite earned media.
This mini series is part of a larger “you are the media” and “influencer marketing” series.
In today's episode we will cover in detail the definition of paid, earned and owned media.
Twitter can be very overwhelming to even the smartest and most social savvy business leaders. Many people find it frustrating to sort through the chatter and noise to get to the people, content and conversations that matter to your business and life.
Twitter lists are a great way to organize the people you follow and also help you organize conversations to get a grip on the clutter and noise so that you can truly leverage Twitter to rock your business and brand.
Twitter lists enables you to organize people you like to follow so that you can better read, engage and even curate content you want to share with your following. Lists can help you keep track of potential clients, clients, partners and even competitors.
Take a listen to the 137th episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast for 15 business use cases to maximize your use of Twitter by utilizing Twitter lists. They are 15 use cases you can begin implementing today!
My blog and our agency site is loaded with information to help you with all aspects of social media, marketing and business. I encourage you to first listen to the podcast and then download our free resources listed at the bottom of this blog post including the Twitter Persona Worksheet.
In this 15 minute podcast you will learn:
- Why you should use Twitter lists
- Overview of Twitter lists
- 15 business use cases for using Twitter lists
- How to use Twitter lists to organize the people you follow
- How to use Twitter lists to highlight your team
- How to use Twitter lists to organize industry and niche content
- How to maximize micro-communities with Twitter lists
- How to maximize events with Twitter lists
- How to learn what your audience thinks of you by analyzing what lists your followers put you on
If you haven't heard about the latest live video streaming apps on the market, Periscope and Meerkat, you must have been hiding under a rock. Periscope won the hearts of the social community and hit 1 million users in only 10 days!
Periscope and Meerkat are grabbing attention of everyone from celebrities to geeks, pastors, journalists, marketers, moms, dads, teens and more. Meerkat stole the spotlight at the SXSW event in Austin Texas in April. Twitter quickly announced the launch of their recently acquired mobile live streaming app, Periscope. Twitter then immediately shut down the API for Meerkat putting a damper in the quick growth Meerkat was experiencing.
Live streaming is not new. However, the ability to so simply live stream directly from the palm of your hand via a mobile device is what these two new apps have to offer that is unique.
With these two apps you have the ability to potentially launch your own TV channel from your mobile device. Crazy opportunities are in front of us if you really think about the ways we can use this technology.
It's not news how addicted TV and online video viewers are to reality TV. Now you can host your online daily reality show straight from you car, bedroom, front porch, or local coffee shop!
The biggest question marketing and business leaders have in regard to using these two new live streaming apps is how can they use them for business?
Take a listen to the 136th episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast for 10 use cases for how you can use Periscope and Meerkat for your business starting immediately! Also included is a succinct overview of these two exciting platforms!
Be sure to subscribe to the entire series on iTunes, Stitcher or SoundCloud!
In this 25 minute podcast you will learn:
- Overview of Periscope and Meerkat
- What is live video streaming
- 10 use cases for how you can use Periscope, Meerkat and any live video streaming application
- Key differences between Periscope and Meerkat
- How to crawl, walk run when tapping into the power of these new applications
- How to give your audience a real-time, front seat view even if they are not at your event live
- How to offer up close and personal interviews with your executives, clients and partners
- How to share events, product demos, product launches and more to build community via live streaming
- How to conduct market research using live video streaming
- How to give a behind the scenes and exclusive access to your live video streaming audience
- Where to focus your efforts for greatest results
- Live streaming behaviors to avoid
Supporting Resources:
- 10 Tips to Stomp Random Acts of Marketing (RAMs) - White Paper
- Social Media Authenticity vs Transparency (episode 16)
- 22 Tips to Get Twitter Conversation Started Like a Boss (episode 128)
- 15 Tips to Zoom Your Brand (white paper)
- Audience Analysis Worksheet
- Steps to Develop a Social Business Plan (white paper)
Failing to plan is planning to fail. When it comes to anything in life or business, you get what you put into it.
Although many smart marketers and business leaders know what they need to do to achieve real business results when it comes to marketing and integrating social media into their business, the truth is far too many are still searching for the easy button.
Unfortunately too many marketers are simply being lazy.
They are too busy self promoting themselves, chasing shiny objects, bashing their competition and focusing on problems versus solutions. As a result they have no time put time and effort into the right things that could bring the highest return for their efforts.
Check out the 135th episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast to hear the top 10 stupid marketing tactics you must stop today!
In this 25 minute podcast you will learn:
- 10 stupid marketing tactics you must stop immediately
- Why failing to plan is planning to fail
- Why you must set goals, objectives and KPIs early on in project planning process
- Why you must define what success looks like and be able to measure it
- Why you must put effort in solving problems versus worrying about problems
- The importance of integrated marketing versus silo'd marketing
- Walking the walk, not just talking the talk
- The importance of prioritization and alignment to business results to ensure you are not wasting precious time
- Taking time to slow down to speed up
Many marketing and business leaders hop online to the social networks and struggle with getting attention or achieving their goals and objectives. When this happens, often times without even realizing it, their mindset starts to shift to negativity.
Though they may want to feel positive, they let emotions take them over. They may be frustrated with people in their communities, their own team and leadership and even clients. They may be jealous of competitors or others in their field. They wind up comparing their chapter 1 to everyone else's chapter 20. Instead of looking over the fence they should be focused on their own business and life! Because they let negativity enter their mind, they let negativity enter their life and business.
We attract what we are and what we put out into the world. When we let our mindset and thoughts shift from positive to negative it is eventually going to be the negativity that people see, feel and hear from us.
When it comes to online marketing and communication via the social networks, live video streaming, photo sharing and even texting, we are limited to 140 characters or short bursts of information. One negative tweet can change the perception of a potential client who was thinking of contacting you or your business to conduct business.
Mindset is key to success in both business and life. The power of positivity is incredible. If you feel as though you have fallen off the positivity wagon recently, take a listen to the 134th episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast for some inspiration to focus on your mindset and assess if maybe you are the reason so many people feel negative around you?
The 134nd episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast provides a quick 10 minute dose of inspiration to help you embrace the power of positivity in your life today!
Be sure to subscribe to the entire series on iTunes, Stitcher or SoundCloud!
In this 20 minute podcast you will learn:
- How your mindset may be impacting your online and offline relationships
- What to do if you know negativity is impacting you, your brand, and your communities online
- Why we are what we tweet and post to the social networks
- Why you may be finding yourself in many negative conversations online
- Why you must take time off to recharge and reinvigorate your mind and brand
Do you ever feel like you are running up against brick wall, obstacle after obstacle when it comes to trying to get people on board with your social media, digital marketing or social business plan?
Do you feel as if nobody around you "gets it?" Or that the people around you might be just stupid or clueless?
Smart, social savvy marketers who at the heart are innovators and change makers often feel a deep sense of frustration when trying to get their management, board members, direct team, partners and clients on board with where they want to take them in adoption of new media, technology and improved processes. These marketers know that there is benefit in tapping into the power of this new ecosystem of the constantly connected customer and 24/7 online environment has to offer. However, getting buy-in across their organization and even with outside clients and partners is more than challenging.
There is a solution. Change agents don't just dictate change. They must embrace the reasons people want or don't want to change. They must facilitate discussions, educate, earn respect and obtain buy-in, even from some of the least supportive team members and executive managers.
Change agents do not ignite transformational change by preaching, yelling & banging tables. They don't inspire their management to adopt new media by yelling about it on Periscope or a Google Hangout. Instead they must understand the people. They must understand where they are, why they are where they are and how they can emotionally motivate them to move the needle in the right direction.
As a first step as this relates to the adoption of new media and technology it is important for marketers and change agents to understand where their team, management, customers and partners are in regard to the adoption of technology. Are they innovators and technology enthusiasts who will willingly embrace new technology and ways of doing business? Or are they more conservative or even skeptics?
If you walk into an office of a skeptic trying to sell him or her on the why he or she needs to approve your latest plan and budget because you will be first to market, and will be breaking new ground in your industry, you are likely to get kicked out to the curb. This may work with a tech enthusiast and early adopter, but not the laggards and skeptics.
Take a listen to the 133rd episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast for a quick yet informative dive into the Geoffrey Moore Technology Adoption Lifecycle. We explore why you need to make this model your best friend to help you win the hearts, minds and support of the people you need to get on board with your plan and strategies! This is a must do for any marketer or business leader working in technology today.
Be sure to subscribe to the entire series on iTunes, Stitcher or SoundCloud!
In this 25 minute podcast you will learn:
- Overview of the Geoffrey Moore Technology Adoption Lifecycle
- History of the Technology Adoption Lifecycle and how it started in the farming industry, 1957
- Why smart marketers must understand the technology adoption lifecycle
- The importance of taking time to understand where people are in adoption of technology and why
- How to best communicate with innovators, tech enthusiasts, pragmatists, laggards, skeptics and everything in between
Does the thought of jumping on a new live streaming app such as Periscope or Meerkat, or other social media network give you major anxiety? Does it excite you yet at the same time make you want to bury your head in a pillow for the next 30 days?
Many marketers want to embrace the new media of today. They want to lead. They want to take risks. However, they also fear they will fail. They fear they will make mistakes. So they avoid anything new when it comes to marketing and social media. Or they are the laggards, the last to adopt new technologies and processes that could improve their business and life.
Does this sound familiar?
- You want to learn to better maximize your time on the social networks but don't know how.
- You want to try out the latest social network but are fearful of making a fool of yourself.
- You don't want to hurt your brand by making a silly mistake.
- You don't know where to start.
- You don't feel comfortable with the format such as video, audio, but would like to try and learn.
- You want to do more but fear is holding you back.
If this is you, you are in luck today. The 132nd episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast provides you 10 Tips to help you knock your fear of adopting social media or any new communication medium to the curb.
Use these 10 tips to gain confidence, develop a plan for learning and know how to prioritize your time spent learning and engaging.
Be sure to subscribe to the entire series on iTunes, Stitcher or SoundCloud!
In this 25 minute podcast you will learn:
- 10 ways to stomp fear of social media to the curb
- Why you should consider setting up test accounts
- The importance of social listening as a first step to learning a new social network
- Why knowing your audience is key to success
- How to prioritize your time spent learning new social networks
Supporting Resources:
- Digital Marketers Must Learn to Lead and Say No! (episode 114)
- Your Product Is Marketing Adobe Summit Recap (episode 107)
- How to Get Your Social Marketing Budget Approved (episode 3)
- 10 Google Analytics to Zoom Your Social Media, Blog and Business (episode 106)
- You Are the Media: 10 Reasons You Need a Blog (episode 111)
- 15 Tips to Zoom Your Brand (white paper)
- Audience Analysis Worksheet
- Steps to Develop a Social Business Plan (white paper)
Creating content that people want to share with their communities, audiences, friends and colleagues is the icing on the social media and online marketing cake.
When people share your content with their communities you are able to tap into the power of the OPC (other people's content and community). You can exponentially increase the reach of your content within seconds when it is shared. Social media amplifies this like we have never seen with any other communication medium or platform.
Unfortunately even many smart and social savvy marketers have no clue how to truly produce content that is shareable. It's not just about having the right share buttons on your blog or website or begging people to retweet. it comes down to trust, value, context and relevancy.
Many marketers are spending loads of time creating content but find that their content is still not being shared? Many new clients come to us with these problems and can't understand why their content is still sitting on or within a silo that nobody knows about but them.
The truth is there may very well be solid reasons that your content is not being shared. Ask yourselves these questions...
- Do people trust you and your brand?
- Are you selling too hard versus focusing on establishing relationships?
- Are you providing real value?
- Does your content help people solve real problems?
- Does your content have a purpose other than to sell more of your products or services?
- Is your content easily understood by your readers, listeners or viewers?
Take a listen to the 131st episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast to learn 10 tips to create content that is share worthy! Be sure to subscribe to the entire series on iTunes, Stitcher or SoundCloud!
In this 25 minute podcast you will learn:
- The power of creating share worthy content
- How to create content that people trust
- How to create content that people want to not only share but shout about from a mountain top
- Why it's about relevancy, value and context
- How to create content that inspires your audience to take action
- Why accuracy of your content matters
- Why you absolutely must know your audience
Supporting Resources:
- 10 Ways to Activate Your Audience (episode 124)
- 10 Ways to Monetize Your Blog & Digital Platform (episode 116)
- You Are the Media: 10 Reasons You Need a Blog (episode 111)
- Is Your Content Worth of a Share? (blog post)
- Audience Analysis Worksheet
Build it and they will come never worked. Many marketers and business leaders waste loads of time and money on creating stand alone silos of content without ever having a strategy for how they are actually going to get eyeballs on it or ears listening.
Creating content is simply the first step. It's the easy part. Everyone including their mom and even some of their dogs are creating content. You can find a video, YouTube channel, podcast, blog, Instagram feed, Snapchat feed on almost any topic you can think of.
The challenge is not in creating the content but instead in getting people to read, listen, watch and engage with your content.
One great way you can break through the noise, grab real attention from your audience and earn their attention is to inspire people to subscribe to your content. Increasing and growing your subscriber base across your email newsletters and updates, RSS feeds, blogs, video channels, podcasts, and social networks will help you nurture relationships, grow community, and even increase brand loyalty!
Would you like to increase the number of subscribers to your content? Would you like to have hundreds or even hundreds of thousands of people sign up to receive updates from you automatically? This means they choose to receive updates from you. They WANT your content.
The 130th episode of the Social Zoom Factor provides 5 easy ways you can increase subscribers to your content.
Does this sound familiar?
- You have created loads of blog posts but nobody is reading them
- You don't know if anyone is reading your content
- You have a podcast but not sure if anyone is listening to it
- You struggle with getting people to view the videos you have invested in
- You don't know how to build community
- You don't know how to build a loyal base of readers, viewers and listeners
This podcast will help you activate your audience to invest in a relationship with you as well as increase the ROI on your content marketing, digital marketing and social media investment.
Take a listen to the 130th episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast to learn 10 ways you can activate your audience and online communities to achieve your business goals starting today! Be sure to subscribe to the entire series on iTunes, Stitcher or SoundCloud!
In this 25 minute podcast you will learn:
- 5 Ways to Increase Subscribers
- How to use RSS feeds to nurture relationships
- Using email marketing to grow subscribers and increase ROI across numerous marketing channels
- Leveraging video, podcasting, white papers and useful tips and kits to increase subscribers
- How to introduce your audience to different communication mediums / subscriptions you use via one single method
- How to organically attract your right audience with relevant, contextual content
- The power of earning trust to increase subscribers
Supporting Resources:
- Social Media Agency Zoom Kit
- 10 Ways to Activate Your Audience (episode 124)
- 10 Ways to Monetize Your Blog & Digital Platform (episode 116)
- Digital Marketers Must Learn to Lead and Say No! (episode 114)
- You Are the Media: 10 Reasons You Need a Blog (episode 111)
- Audience Analysis Worksheet
- Steps to Develop a Social Business Plan (white paper)
Sometimes in life the moments that create the most success are the ones that may feel a bit rough around the edges as they are happening. The key to success is standing back up even when you get knocked down flat on your face.
There are many business and marketing leaders who may tout they are change agents. They claim they lead their organization to embrace change and empower change agents with a goal of better serving their customers and broader community. They want higher efficiencies, margins, and to lead the way in innovation and working smarter, not just harder.
Unfortunately when you pull back the covers on some of these so called change agents, they are really not doing anything innovative at all. They spend more time following, copying and bashing others in their industry vs really innovating. In reality they are falling to status quo. They fall to
Following status quo is a huge risk for any organization or business leader. Though it may feel safe for a short time, you can easily lose your competitive differentiator. You may never get to where you need to go mostly because you are stuck in status quo and following others.
In this 129th episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast I share a personal story explaining a big event that happened early in my career. I got myself fired from an organization almost fresh out of college.
I was fired over an Apple computer. Yes, an Apple computer.
Had I not gotten fired, or refused to accept status quo I would not be where I am today, period.
If you have hit a wall of fear lately in stomping status quo, I encourage you to take a listen to this podcast for a serious dose of inspiration. I explain in detail why and how I got fired and why it was a very positive career and life changing event for me personally.
I truly believe your business and life need to be free of status quo if you want to live a life zoomed with success and happiness.
What do you believe? Do you believe in status quo? Or do you believe in real change for the right reasons?
You hear your colleagues, boss, friends and even teens rave about how crazy amazing Twitter and other social networks are. They brag about how many people they have met, relationships nurtured and rocked. The are excited about new partnerships, friendships and opportunities that all started with a simple 140 character tweet.
You smile as they share the excitement with you. You nod your head in agreement. However, the truth is you are questioning the validity of their statements. If what they say is true you wonder why you have such a hard time even getting a conversation on Twitter started.
Does this sound familiar?
- Do you struggle with what to tweet about?
- Don't know if you should share what you ate for lunch or not?
- Wonder if you should share the kids Saturday morning soccer game on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook or all of the above?
- Don't know where to start when it comes to getting a conversation started on Twitter or any social network for that matter?
- Does Twitter intimidate you more than any other social network?
- Does Twitter seem like a bunch of crazy noise to you?
- Do you feel that everyone understands this crazy 140 character language except for you?
Social media is one big fat relationship and conversation. Learning how to be a relevant, contributing, inspiring part of the conversation is key to seeing real business and personal results using Twitter.
Take a listen to the 128th episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast for 22 Tips to help you get the conversation started on Twitter! My blog and our agency site is loaded with information to help you with all aspects of social media. I encourage you to first listen to the podcast and then download our free resources listed at the bottom of this blog post including the Twitter Persona Worksheet.
In this 30 minute podcast you will learn:
- How to get the Twitter conversation started
- How to develop your Twitter persona
- Importance of content that is relevant, contextual and helpful
- How to properly setup your Twitter profile
- The importance of understanding the needs of your audience
- Using Twitter lists to filter the noise
- Installing Sprout Social or Hootsuite on your mobile device
- Embracing imperfect perfection
- The power of the OPC - other people's content and community
- Integrating Twitter with other social networks
- Quality over quantity in everything you do
- Power of Twitter chats
- Why you should never buy fake Twitter followers
- How to keep your Twitter content fresh and relevant
- How to learn about your audience with social listening and Twitter lists
When Monday morning comes do you wish you could crawl back in bed, cover up your head and come back to the real world on Tuesday or Wednesday?
Monday is going to come and go regardless if you crawl back in bed or take it on like a champion.
Each of us has the same 24 hours in a day. Success is determined in how we use the 24 hours.
Answer these questions...
- Are you owning your Monday? Or are you letting your Monday own you?
- Are you letting negative people impact your positive mood on Monday?
- Are you letting email control and take over your day and week?
- Do you have a "not to do" list?
- Are you in the right mindset to start your Monday?
- Are you taking time on the weekend or working 24/7?
- Are you prioritizing the most important projects, people and meetings as the top priority?
- Are you owning your mindset, mood and results?
- Are you making up excuses?
Take a listen to the 127th episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast for 10 tips to help you rock business and life results on Monday! No more excuses.
In this 20 minute podcast you will learn
- 10 ways to rock your Monday business and life results
- How to prioritize the projects, people and meetings that matter
- How to increase productivity Monday morning starting Sunday night
- How to minimize stress Monday morning
- Why you need a "not to do" list
- Getting in the right mindset
- Why you must get rid of the negativity
Triberr is a platform that brings together smart, savvy and talented bloggers, podcast and content producers of all kinds. It’s a mini social network that helps content creators amplify their content, find new bloggers and build community.
Using Triberr effectively is both art and science. There are some who use Triberr for self serving reasons and/or are using it to blast noise to an already crowded, noisy online world. However, there are even more people who are using it to find great content, provide their audience with valuable content, learning the perspective of others, establish trust and credibility and the list goes on.
We have had great success in using Triberr for the past few years to successfully grow our online brand, establish trust with our audiences, consistently provide value to our readers and listeners and most importantly grow our business.
Take a listen to the 126th episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast to learn exactly how I use Triberr. I also share the fun story of how I got started with Triberr and my first conversation with the founder, Dino Dogan that changed my perspective toward sharing other people’s content in big ways!
In this 15 minute podcast you will learn
- Why I love using Triberr
- How I got started with Triberr
- How to use Triberr to establish trust and authority
- How to use Triberr to grow your brand awareness and audience
- The importance of opening your mind to other perspectives
- Why creating epic content that inspires, educates and informs your audience is key to success with Triberr and business in general
- How I choose what content I share via Triberr
- Why I don’t believe in simply sharing content via Triberr for the only reason to get shares of your content
- How Triberr can provide your audience with amazing, fresh content with varied perspectives
- Why you must care about the quality of content you share from others
There is obviously not a shortage of content, conversations and brands begging for your attention.
Brands and the smart marketers within them are quickly learning that they are media. It’s easy for brands to hop on Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram and Twitter to start blasting noise.
The opportunity that every human being and brand can truly be the media is incredible for marketers who respect the media.
However, unfortunately many marketers take the lazy way out and are thinking it is their purpose in life and business to fill a media blank space that doesn’t exist.
They for some reason think that if they are not blasting their brand message from a megaphone that people will not hear them. When in reality if they shut their yapper long enough to listen, engage and provide value they could be spending far less time on the social networks and providing much higher value.
It’s not about being the noisiest one in the room. It’s about being the brand, the guy, the gal, who can provide the absolute most value. It’s about being hunan. It’s about connecting as real people and establishing trust.
Don’t be the noise. Be the value.
In this 125th episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast I provide a quick 5 minute dose of tough love for why marketers must stop filling space. There is no space to fill in this crowded, noisy online, connected world we live in. It’s a myth that marketers have created for themselves believing they need to create more noise to justify their job, be heard or whatever the excuse may be. Choose to rise above. Choose to not follow status quo. Choose to stand out from the crowd by putting down the megaphone and listening more than you talk.
We are living in exciting times with the advancements in technology, big data and analysis, communication mediums, social media marketing, social networking and the power at our fingertips to bring human beings and communities together.
Smart marketers of today have incredible opportunity to increase brand awareness, build community, establish trust and activate their audience to actions that will bring fans, customers and partners closer to them and their brand while at the same time helping both the audience members and brand achieve their goals.
Unfortunately too many marketers are lazy. They invest in social media platforms but don’t do much more than slap some fancy marketing branding lipstick on a Facebook business page, Twitter profile or Instagram account. Then after months of wasted time they wonder why they have little to no real measurable business result.
If you want to see success in online marketing you must activate your audience to help them achieve their goals. When you inspire your audience to connect with you with a goal of helping them achieve their goals, you by default achieve your goals when you are successful. Inspire, connect, achieve.
One of the top questions I receive from clients, colleagues and members of our training seminars is “how do I activate my audience?”
Take a listen to the 124th episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast 10 ways you can activate your audience today! I provide you some solid examples and recommendations for how you can activate your audience with content, value and community building.
There is no need to over complicate activating your audience. You can start with baby steps. The mission of everything our agency, Marketing Nutz does in business is to put these types of things in a nutshell for you so that you can activate your audience, grow your brand and business without having to spend the next five years researching and figuring out these details. This podcast will help you activate your audience and better tap into the power of social media and online marketing this week!
In this 25 minute podcast you will learn:
- 10 ways you can activate your audience today
- Why you must plan your conversion funnel, hope is not a strategy
- Why call to actions must be relevant and valuable
- How to activate your audience to nurture relationships and build community
- How to leverage live streaming via apps such as Periscope and Meerkat to activate your audience
- Tapping into the power of Twitter chats to grow community and provide value to your community
- Leveraging Google Hangouts to grow your business
- How to tap into the power of email marketing
- Leveraging audio communication such as podcasting
- Why you need an RSS subscription option on your blog /website
- How to use content marketing assets to activate your audience
- Why earning trust and establishing credibility must be a top priority to activate audience
- How giving your audience an insider, exclusive view can activate your audience
- Tapping into the power of the OPC - Other People’s Content & Community
The power of human connection, relationships, content, context, relevancy is multiplied exponentially when you bring people together in community for a common goal.
Communities are the foundation of social media. Communities are where conversations happen, relationships are nurtured and people connect on topics that matter to them.
The truth is that people don't just buy things, they join things. Of course we buy products. We buy everything from burgers, furniture, to iPhones and houses. Yet if you look at some of the most powerful brands on earth they are also connected via community. The fans of the community share their love for the brand and product via Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and the list goes on. Or they may not ever share their love for that awesome burger they just devoured at all via a tweet or post of any kind. Instead they may simply show their love for the brand by simply buying the product and being a loyal, paying customer or evangelist.
People want to be part of something bigger than themselves. It's in our DNA as human beings to want to connect with other human beings.
For business and brands this foundational need creates tremendous opportunity for brands and the humans within them to provide some of the human glue and connective tissue that connects humans to one another. We can do this quite simply when we know what needs to be done.
Many marketing and business leaders struggle with how to not both start a community and struggle even more with figuring out how to take it to the next level and bring true value to both the community members and the business or brand leading the community.
In this 20 minute podcast I will answer these questions:
- How do you determine the purpose of your community?
- How do you start a new community?
- How do you build the proper foundation for community growth and health?
- How do you select the right social networks and tools to help the community grow?
- How do you manage the organic growth and needs of the community?
- How do you keep the community fresh, vibrant and alive?
- How do you empower leaders within the community?
- How do you utilize data such as Google Analytics, Facebook Insights to grow community and provide the highest value possible.
Attention is the most scarce resource for digital marketing leaders in businesses of all sizes. The world is filled with media. Everywhere we turn, look, see and hear there is a brand or person trying to grab our attention.
Even smart, social, savvy digital and social marketers are finding it difficult to stay front of mind for their customers, audience and community.
Are these some of the questions keeping you up at night?
- How do you break through the clutter?
- How do you stand above the noise?
- How do you earn the ear, eyeballs and mind of your ideal customer?
- How do you get more people to listen to you?
The most important question you should be asking is WHY. Have you ever considered that maybe you are asking the wrong questions?
Instead, try these questions on for size:
- How do you provide the highest value possible?
- Why should anyone read your blog, watch your video or listen to your podcast?
- Why should anyone care your brand exists?
- What are you offering that is unique that 100 other people just like you aren't already offering?
It is time to put down the megaphone and serve. It's time to stop babbling all day about yourself, your brand, your lunch, and you, you, you. It's time you shut your yapper and listen. It's time to serve. It's time to show up big time, but for the right reasons.
Take a listen to the 122nd episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast to learn 5 easy ways how you can put down the megaphone for good and provide the highest value possible to everyone who comes in contact with your brand online.
In this 20 minute podcast you will learn:
- 5 easy ways to trade in the loud megaphone for service to your audience and customers
- The reason WHY is the most important question you should be asking
- Starting with 3 simple ways to provide value to your audience by identifying 3 ways you can help them solve their problems
- Why you must listen to your audience and community more than you talk
- How to know if you have a content problem or the challenge of not knowing your audience
If you haven't heard about influence marketing you have likely been either on a long vacation on a beautiful island with zero internet connectivity or you have been hiding under a rock.
Influence marketing is helping brands big and small ignite their online and offline communities, increase brand awareness and nurture powerful relationships when done right.
As with anything in marketing, business or life, there are some marketers doing it right and there are others who are burning more bridges than the ones they are trying to build. Many are doing it without really knowing they are damaging relationships.
I developed episode 121 of the Social Zoom Factor podcast with a goal to help marketers brand new to influence marketing as well as seasoned veterans get the most out of their influence marketing programs.
The goal of today's podcast is to save you some heartache, wasted time and help you save your reputation along the way as you build, launch and execute your influencer marketing program.
I share with you tips in this podcast from my experience in working with brands of all sizes from startups to Fortune 100 brands helping them develop and execute influence marketing programs as well as from being an influencer myself.
In this 30 Minute Episode You Will Learn:
- How many brands are confusing spam with influence marketing
- choosing wrong influencers
- How to choose the right influencers and avoid choosing the wrong influencers
- The importance of the influencer being able to drive real action
- Why trust matters with influencers
- Building your team to succeed with influence marketing
- Importance of doing your research on influencers before reaching out to them
- How to create value for the influencer as a top priority
- Importance of connecting influencer with other people at your in person events
- How to decide if you should compensate influencers for their time
Do you ever feel as though you hit a wall when it comes to creating epic content to rock your business, audience and content marketing goals and objectives? Are you running out of good ideas for content topics? Ever feel like simply giving up and throwing in the content marketing towel?
Don't give up! You have already invested in your online brand, blog, website, and content marketing. What you need is a simple refresh to revive and reinvigorate your content marketing.
Take a listen to episode 120 of the Social Zoom Factor podcast for 5 top ways you can easily refresh and revive your content marketing starting today!
This episode is part of a new series "You are the Media." In this series we are diving deep into how to build an integrated online digital and social platform that works when you aren't working. A platform that helps you achieve your business goals. We'll be diving into digital frameworks, content calendars and plans, strategic and tactical options for social media, personal branding, business branding, measurement and more.
Free webinars: We are also launching a series of webinars and training opportunities to dig even deeper. Sign up here-> You are the Media - Building Your Media Foundation
In this 25 minute podcast you will learn:
- How to do an inventory of the content you already have
- How to maximize every piece of content you have already created
- Shifting the focus of your content topics from you and your business to your audience
- Creating evergreen content that Google will love
- Turning one piece of content into an evergreen, content machine
- Tapping into the power of Google Analytics to better understand your audience and create epic content for them
Do you have questions related to social media, digital marketing, blogging, content marketing, strategy, entrepreneurship, startups, or branding? Questions keeping you up at night?
Do you also like learning from others? Do you like hearing the questions and answers that many in your niche may have?
If this is you then you are in for a treat today as this is the first Social Zoom Factor podcast episode that we are incorporating questions from the audience.
Episode 119 questions and answers will cover the following:
- Using social media to test a product and do market research before launch
- Where to focus for a new online business? Thought leaders and influencers, ideal customers or both?
- How to price social media services
- Where I get my inspiration
Have a question? Submit your question via voice mail right here on this site and I will play it live on the podcast and answer question for you! All instructions are here-> Ask Pam a Question
Have you invested heavily in an integrated social and digital platform, content, a blog, website or all of the above? Have you defined your audience, goals, objectives and a plan to reach them?
Do you feel as though you have done everything right, yet your content is still not igniting your business or your audience like you know it could and should be doing?
If this is you, then you are going to love this episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast as as we interview Mark Schaefer, the author of the newly published book, Content Code: Six Essential Strategies for Igniting Your Content, Your Marketing and Your Business.
In this episode Mark explains why people share content, who they share content with and how you can increase the sharing of your content by earning trust and connecting emotionally with your alpha audiences.
Mark Schaefer is a globally recognized thought leader, international speaker, consultant and owner of the award winning blog, Grow. Mark is also the author of The Tao of Twitter, and Social Media Explained.
In this podcast you will learn:
- Why focusing on blog traffic alone creates nothing more than tourists
- Why creating content is not enough to drive real results by itself
- How to maximize investment in your content marketing by increasing sharing
- The power of little data over big data
- How to make it easy for your fans to share your content
- How do you create content that connects with your audience in an emotional why
- Understanding WHY people share content
- The importance of understanding and earning trust with your alpha audience
- Why people share content for intrinsic and emotional reasons
- Brands share content for economic reasons and are missing opportunities to connect with their audiences
- The difference between economic value and intrinsic reasons for sharing content
Unless you have been living under a rock, or on an island all by yourself, you have likely heard of "Mobilegeddon" or in kinder terms, the Google Mobile Friendly update.
On April 21, 2015 Google officially released quite a significant new mobile-friendly algorithm. The new algorithm is designed to give a boost to mobile-friendly web pages in Google's mobile search results.
This is very good news for those of us who have invested in ensuring our sites are mobile friendly!
If you are one of the people who has been living under a rock and/or ignored Google's announcement informing the world this was coming back in December 2014 then this is likely not good news for you.
Don't freak out on me. In this 15 minute episode of of the Social Zoom Factor podcast I am put this new update in a nutshell for you. I provide you with the most important information you need to know as well as what you can do to ensure your site is in good graces with Google and it's new mobile search ranking criteria.
In this 13 minute podcast you will learn:
- Google Mobile-Friendly Update Overview (what you need to know and why)
- Answers to some of your most frequently asked questions regarding the new Google mobile update
- How to check if your site is mobile friendly according to Google
- What to do to ensure you are in good graces with Google's new mobile search ranking algorithm
- Common mistakes to avoid
- Best practices for mobile sites
Recommended Resources mentioned:
- Check if your site is mobile-friendly according to Google's new algorithm
- Google Developer tools for making your website compliant with mobile friendly guidelines
- Google Identified Top Mistakes for Mobile Websites
- Google Showcase of multi-screen success stories
- Genesis Studiopress Wordpress Framework (mobile responsive framework and themes)
- Google Analytics
Resources mentioned:
- Mobile Marketing: Stop Ignoring the Modern, Connected Social Savvy Customer (episode 40)
- 15 Steps to Build a Mobile Marketing Plan that Rocks Results (episode 41)
- Mobile Marketing: 5 Tools to Optimize Conversions (episode 42)
- 10 Google Analytics Metrics to Zoom Your Blog, Social Media and Content Marketing (episode 106)
- Do You Really Know Your Audience? (episode 4)
- Audience Analysis Worksheet (worksheet)
- Why Your Blog Sucks and How To Fix it (episode 9)
Have you ever tried to get somewhere in a car, on a bike or on foot and you find yourself constantly running run into roadblocks and detours? Chances are the roadblocks and detours made you feel quite frustrated. This is because there are barriers stopping you from getting to your destination of choice.
Many brands are doing this same thing to their customers, audience and community today. Brands who are not using social media are putting up virtual language barriers stopping their most precious customers and audience from communicating with them.
If you are a business owner or business professional would you ignore your customer if they called you? What about if they walked through the front door of your business? Would you ignore their actions if they went all around town posting up signs telling people how terrible or great your business is?
Brands are ignoring their customers who are doing these things today. Their paying customers and fans are communicating with them via Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Blogs, FourSquare, and the list goes on. However, many brands are sticking up their virtual hand and saying "sorry Mr Customer, I am too busy to talk to you the way you want to talk to me."
Your mission as a brand leader in the world of online and digital marketing is to simply figure out where your customer is hanging out online and be sure you are ready to have the most relevant conversation with them. You need to speak to them where, when and how they want to speak. It's no longer on your terms.
As much as brands may want to control the message, the truth is they can not. Your brand is the customer experience you deliver. Your brand is your reputation. Your brand is how you treat your customers online, offline and behind closed doors. The truth is these doors are opening and all of these channels are becoming more blended, more transparent. Brands can simply no longer hide behind a barrier and expect to be in business in one, two or three years.
Take a listen to the 115th episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast for a deep dive into this topic and hear case studies about brands that are putting up barriers and brands that are tearing them down and making the decision to be human, own their mistakes and put relationships and long term customer value and loyalty first.
Brands covered include Fitbit, CBS UnderCover Boss Reality Show, Delta Airlines, United Airlines, Gold's Gym, HostGator, and Panera Bread.
Take a listen and be sure to subscribe to the entire series on iTunes, Stitcher or SoundCloud!
In this 30 minute podcast you will learn:
-
In this 30 minute podcast you will learn:
- Explore if you are creating language barriers by ignoring social media channels?
- How 8 big brands are utilizing social to open communication doors or create barriers?
- The importance of communicating with your customers where, when and how they want to communicate with you
- Why brands can no longer hide
- The importance of a consistent customer service experience across communication channels such as phone, email, in person and social media
Supporting Resources:
- 15 Tips to Zoom Your Brand (white paper)
- Band Humanization in a Nutshell (episode 5)
- Brand Humanization: Social Media Authenticity vs Transparency (episode 16)
- Digital Body Language: 105 Factors Impacting Your Personal and Business Brand (white paper)
- Personal Branding in a Nutshell (episode 11)
- 15 Characteristics of Human Brands (episode 55)
- Content Editorial Calendar Template (worksheet / template)
- Content Editorial Calendar Podcast Tutorial (episode 77)
- How to Develop a Content Marketing Framework and Plan (episode 7)
- Free Webinars & Training: You are the Media - Building Your Media Foundation
Many social and digital marketers feel that they are pulled into too many directions. They complain of being too busy. They complain of not having adequate budget allocated to their programs. They may struggle with obtaining buy-in for their program. In addition they feel they are more reactive than they are proactive. Many even struggle with proving their own or team value for their basic existence in the organization.
It is time digital marketers step up and lead. It's time the senior digital marketers own their programs. They need to learn to say no. They need to develop a plan and obtain the resources needed to implement it.
Do these problems sound familiar?
- You struggle with getting buy-in for your programs
- You lack adequate budget for success
- You are forced into tactics and strategies you don't believe in
- Your are executing Random Acts of Marketing (RAMs)
- You struggle with proving value for yourself and/or your team
- You wish your executives better understood your goals and objectives
- Your program is not delivering measurable results
We'll be diving into digital frameworks, content calendars and plans, strategic and tactical options for social media, personal branding, business branding, measurement and more.
One of the critical and foundational elements for success in business and online marketing is understanding the power of data and analytics to grow your business and ignite relationships with the people that matter most to your business and life.
Take a listen and be sure to subscribe to the entire series on iTunes, Stitcher or SoundCloud!
Free webinars: We are also launching a series of webinars and training opportunities to dig even deeper. Sign up here-> You are the Media - Building Your Media Foundation
In this 30 minute podcast you will learn:
- 10 Tips to take lead on your social and digital program
- Lead without asking for permission
- How to say no so you can say yes to the right things
- Designing your dream team
- Setting short term 3, 6 and 9 month goals for both short term and longer term buy-in
- How to get your social media budget approved
- Why you must dig into the data
- Speaking the same language as your executives and team members and why you may need to invest in training as step one
- Importance of being accountable for results, with no excuses
Many digital and social marketers shy away from data and analytics. The foolish marketers may fear it's the dark side of marketing and that they will get drawn into week long meetings discussing menial metrics and data algorithms. This couldn't be further from the truth.
Smart marketers know that data and analytics is the light at the end of the tunnel to build their business. It is data that helps us know our customers, know our audience, understand how we can inspire, connect with and build communities. The focus on data should be to create delightful, meaningful conversations, experiences and relationships that can help sustain both business and life.
This podcast is part of a new series titled "You are the Media!" where we will dive deep into how you can build an integrated online digital and social platform that works when you aren't working. A platform that helps you achieve your business goals. A platform that helps you achieve and live your dreams. A platform that organically help you inspire, attract and connect with your ideal customer and simply amazing people who you want to have by your side.
We'll be diving into digital frameworks, content calendars and plans, strategic and tactical options for social media, personal branding, business branding, measurement and more.
One of the critical and foundational elements for success in business and online marketing is understanding the power of data and analytics to grow your business and ignite relationships with the people that matter most to your business and life.
Free webinars: We are also launching a series of webinars and training opportunities to dig even deeper. Sign up here-> You are the Media - Building Your Media Foundation
Take a listen and be sure to subscribe to the entire series on iTunes, Stitcher or SoundCloud!
Are you focusing on menial metrics, vanity metrics and things that are really not moving your business and life forward? Or are you staying laser focused on the right things. The tactics, strategies and big ideas, concepts and innovations that can bring real meaning to your business, your life, your customers, your community and anyone that comes in contact with your brand?
As you end the weekend, start the weekend, start your week or end your week I simply ask you to think about these two words... menial and meaningful. Make sure you are focus on the right things.
Take a listen to the 112th episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast to learn more.
Thanks to digital marketing and social media, one single human being can have as much and often times more impact than a large Fortune 100 brand. Even some of the world's largest brands are turning to individual influencers, bloggers, podcasters, videographers and more to tap into their trust, credibility and community they have fostered.
Online marketing and social media never has been and never should have been focused on number of followers, Klout scores or other vanity metrics. What matters is being able to inspire, connect, and move an audience. What matters is being able to change minds, touch hearts and connect emotionally with the people within your community.
Remove the buzzwords of the crazed digital world and boil it down to what really matters. It has and will always be about human beings. It's about the people. It's about connecting humans with other humans. It's about helping the humans within your communities solve their problems and achieve their goals. It's about connecting humans to be part of something bigger than they can be themselves.
YOU have the opportunity to be the media today and tomorrow. You can build an integrated online digital platform that works even when you are not working.
You can be the media that educates, inspires, connects, serves, and changes the world. It only takes a seed, one single tweet or Facebook post to create life changes for one, hundreds, thousands and even millions of humans.
However, even with this opportunity there comes much work. You must figure out how you can have the greatest impact in a world where the the scarcest resource is attention. Every brand, every blog, every tweet and Facebook page is vying for attention from the same people you want attention from.
I am thrilled to announce a new series of the Social Zoom Factor podcast titled "You are the Media." In this series we will dive deep into how you can build an integrated online digital and social platform that works when you aren't working. A platform that helps you achieve your business goals. A platform that helps you achieve and live your dreams. A platform that organically help you inspire, attract and connect with your ideal customer and simply amazing people who you want to have by your side.
We'll be diving into digital frameworks, content calendars and plans, strategic and tactical options for social media, personal branding, business branding, measurement and more.
To kickoff the series episode 112 covers the top 10 reasons you need a blog. You must have a home base and build your foundation on property you own, versus rented social land from Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn.
Free webinars: We are also launching a series of webinars and training opportunities to dig even deeper. Sign up here-> You are the Media - Building Your Media Foundation
Take a listen and be sure to subscribe to the entire series on iTunes, Stitcher or SoundCloud!
In this 30 minute podcast you will learn:
- Why you need a blog (10 top reasons)
- How a blog can help you establish your personal brand
- How a blog can help you earn trust, and establish credibility
- How to find your voice by serving your audience and customers with content that inspires, connects and educates
- Why you must focus not only on economics but on emotional and human connection
If you are attending live in person industry and networking events or trade shows you are likely investing a decent amount of both money and time. How can you maximize your ROI for the time and money spent?
Take a listen to the 110th episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast to hear my top 5 ways you can increase your event ROI with networking, pre and post event planning and execution.
In this 30 minute podcast you will learn:
- 5 Tips to maximize ROI at in person events
- How to set goals and objectives for attending an event
- Why pre-event planning is key to maximizing your time invested
- Tapping into private social networking groups such as Facebook and LinkedIn
- Importance of researching events on the front and back end of the main event that you can attend
- Reaching out and connecting to speakers, organizers and attendees via Twitter and other social networks pre-event
- Creating Twitter and other lists to keep track of contacts
- Importance of not being shy and reaching out to people you may not know prior to event
- Making your list of people you want to meet
- Why event halls are magical for networking
- The importance of being in the moment, vs having your head stuck in your phone
- Capturing the moments real time via visual marketing and live streaming
- Prioritizing networking event opportunities
- Post event networking opportunities
- Maximizing visual marketing to keep the conversations going post event
Take a listen and be sure to subscribe to the entire series on iTunes, Stitcher or SoundCloud!
Your brand is the foundation and one of the most important aspects of your business. Doesn’t matter if you are a solo entrepreneur, small business, large, super size, business to business, business to consumer or anything in between. You only have one chance to make a first, second and third brand impression.
In a nutshell your brand is your promise to all those who come in contact with your brand. It's your promise to your customers, partners, employees, audience and community. Your brand will help you tell your story and helps you build trust as it informs people what to expect. When done right it will also help differentiate you from your competition.
Your brand is rooted in who you are at the core, what you are about and what you do for your customers, employees, partners, audience and even online community.
Your brand is so much more than your logo. Of course your logo, colors, website, mobile site (or not), mobile applications, videos, tweets, Facebook and other social network pages, packaging, communication is also part of your brand foundation.
Some may argue that "your audience determines your brand, so why worry about it." While this is true that the perception of your brand is in fact in the eye, heart and mind of the recipient. It is not true that the receiver is responsible for that first, second or third brand touch. That responsibility comes from you.
As a marketer you have the opportunity to be storyteller, and to also engage and empowers others to not only be part of the story, but to give them a canvas and a paint brush and inspire them to help you write and tell it.
By developing your brand strategy, brand architecture, vision, mission and more, you can impact perceptions. You can better connect with the human beings on the receiving end of your brand visuals, messages, social media updates and everything you create and deliver via whatever mediums you are using to connect with your audience, community and customers. Although you obviously can not control how others perceive your brand, you can definitely influence and design a positive, inspiring and engaging experience every time they come in contact with your brand.
Take a listen to the 109th episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast where I provide the definition of a brand, reputation and most importantly the top 5 reasons why you must develop your brand strategy and how it can benefit your business, customers and greater community!
In this 30 minute podcast you will learn:
- Definition of a brand
- Definition of brand identity
- Definition of visual branding
- Definition of brand trust
- Definition of reputation
- Top 5 reasons you must develop a brand strategy for your business
- The power of brand story telling and why you must invest in creating your brand story
- Inviting and taking other along to help you craft your brand story
- Earning trust and credibility via branding
- How to differentiate from your competition via branding
- How to use branding to connect emotionally with your audience, fans and customers
Every smart marketer wants their brand to be relevant, memorable, inspiring and positive in the mind of their audience, ideal customer and online community. What many marketers don't know is that the little things they are doing online every day could be hurting their brand more than helping.
When you think of leaving memorable brand impressions what comes to mind? Do you first think of a logo, colors, messaging, tone, sentiment or all of the above? None of the above?
Even the best business leaders and marketers get overwhelmed with staying up to speed with new media, social media and integrating it into the DNA of their business.
Social media is both art and science. It's easy and dangerous to get caught up in the tools and technology that you lose sight of why you are doing it in the first place. Are you getting so focused on building your community, generating revenue, growing your email subscriber list that you are falling to lazy marketing behavior? Or even trying some spammy tactics that are hurting your brand more than helping your brand?
It’s not so much about what the technology can do for you as it is what you can do with the technology! It's important to make sure you are using social and digital technologies in a way that is helping you versus hurting you.
Check out the 108th episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast to hear 25 ways you may be hurting your brand online without even realizing it!
In this 30 minute podcast you will learn:
- 25 ways you are hurting your brand more than helping it via social media and digital marketing
- Why you must regularly audit the social media applications and tools connected to your existing social profiles
- To send auto direct messages (DMs) on Twitter or not?
- The risks associated with over self promotion
- Why you should be careful of not having only negative posts on Facebook and other platforms
- How to avoid being seen as a spammer
- You are what you share, tweet, pin, post and update via the social inter webs
- Why you can't ignore the mobile user and customer and the importance of a mobile responsive website and blog
- To use curse words or to avoid them?
- The risk of buying fake followers and fans
- How much is too much information to share about your personal life?
- How not to reach out to industry influencers
Attention is the most scarce resource in business. Earning the attention of your customers, audience and community is one of the greatest challenges for marketers in businesses big and small.
- 5 Key Takeaways from day one at the #AdobeSummit 2015
- Why customer experiences don't have to be perfect
- Why creating delightful customer experiences is both art and science
- Why the most scarce resource in business is attention and what to do about it
- Why marketers must know how to leverage the data and tools to drive outcomes and desired experiences
In this 30 minute podcast you will learn:
- The power of Google Analytics and what it can help you understand about your online platform, blog and website
- 10 Google Analytics metrics you should be paying close attention to on a regular basis
- How to tap into the power of Google Analytics to better know your customer
- How to know the value of traffic from social networks such as Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook
- How to know what content your audience loves and even dislikes
- Why you must enable and setup goals and conversions feature within Google Analytics
- Why both quality and quantity matter when it comes to your online audience
- How to know what percentage of traffic to your site is coming from mobile devices
- How to use Google analytics to help measure the achievement of your goals
- How to measure what pages are working to help you achieve your goals as well as what pages may be hurting your efforts
The challenge can be overwhelming for marketers to consistently create content that is fresh, relevant and provides real value to their audience, customers, and prospective customers.
Because of this pressure, unfortunately many marketers fall to lazy marketing tactics. They quit creating their own content and start curating and sharing other helpful content from leaders in their industry. Even worse they start copying, pasting and regurgitating other people's content. They copy, tweak and pretend it is their when in reality they have often lost the real meaning of it without even knowing. They wind up hurting their brand more than helping.
Though curation can be an impactful and excellent way to establish your brand online as well as serve the needs of your audience, it also requires both art and science to see real benefit.
Is anything really new anyway? Does content have to be new to be relevant? How can you curate content from other industry leaders and still be relevant to your audience? Where do you draw the line of endorsing other people's content vs supporting their brand more than your own? What are the negatives of content regurgitation?
If these are some of the questions you have then take a listen to the 105th episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast to learn the difference between creation, curation and regurgitation of content. I also include tips and strategies to develop your own curation platform and ensure you are not simply regurgitating content that will hurt you more than help.
In this 30 minute podcast you will learn:
- Definition of content creation and new ideas
- Definition of content curation
- Definition of content regurgitation
- How to create content that represents the brand of you!
- Why you must keep the brand of you in your ocntent
- The importance of adding your own perspective in every piece of content
- How to curate content like a curation rock star
- The difference between regurgitation and curation of content
- Why you must stop regurgitating other people's content.
Your customers, employees, audience, partners and online social media community is human. They eat, sleep, breathe and talk like humans.
So, why are so many of you talking to them like they are a robot who wants to read your corporate speak? Why are you afraid to let your human show? Why do you keep trying to win them over with stupid stunt marketing and upside down tricks?
Your audience wants to see you, hear you and understand you. They want you to inspire them to connect and engage with you. They want you to help them achieve their goals and objectives. They want relevant content and conversation that makes them think. They want you to inspire them to do more, be more, achieve their life and business goals. better and be better.
So tell me, are you doing these things? Are you even thinking about these things? Or are you too focused on yourself? Too focused on your own campaigns or developing the next big thing that you forgot why you were doing it all to begin with?
Humanizing your brand is a requirement, not an option if you want to be in business 3 years from now. Yes, you can put brand humanization on hold. However, every day you lose is a day you could be building relationships, nurturing friendships, establishing and earning the respect of powerful brand evangelists who will shout from a mountain top how wonderful you and your brand are.
Take a listen to the 104th episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast for 20 tips to help you humanize your brand starting today. You don’t have to be a rocket scientist or social media brain surgeon to do these things. Start now and start somewhere. Perfection is the enemy of good. Embrace imperfect perfection.
In this 30 minute podcast you will learn:
- 20 tips you can implement immediately to make your brand more human
- The definition of brand humanization
- Why brand humanization is a requirement, not an option for brand survival today
- Why you want to connect with the heart of the person on the other end of your content
- Why relationships are the life raft to the sea of technology change
- Why getting in the head of your customer is imperative to humanizing your brand
- Difference between authenticity vs transparency
- Humanizing your brand from the inside out
- Tapping into the power of employee advocacy programs
- Why you must stop the interruption marketing
- How to develop a plan that provides results
The days of interruption marketing and throwing social spaghetti on the walls of the internet and hoping it sticks are over and done. No longer can you create marketing messages in a vacuum and expect to build relationships, build community, increase brand awareness, or achieve your business goals.
Marketers must learn to work smarter, not just harder. Smart marketers are realizing they must stay relevant in the mind of their ideal customer, audiences and social communities. They must consistently provide value and connect in a real, human and memorable way.
You can not fake being relevant. You can not fake earning trust. You certainly can't fake a relationship that has depth.
Take a listen to the 103rd episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast to learn why you must make it a top priority to stay relevant in the mind of your customer.
In this 30 minute podcast you will learn:
- The questions you should be asking to stay relevant
- How to stay relevant in the mind of your customer
- Why failing to plan is planning to fail
- How to select the right key performance indicators (KPIs)
- Getting in the head of your customer
Are you one of those people who sees others tweeting and talking in 140 characters to build their brand and wish you knew how to do the same? You see them rockin' their personal and business brands, building community, fostering new relationships and growing their business, all using Twitter. However, you may feel like you are left out of the tweeting, posting, pinning, social world.
Would you like to take your brand to the next level by tapping into the power of Twitter but not sure where to start?
If this is you, then you are in luck as this episode and new series of the Social Zoom Factor podcast is going to help you quickly understand how you can begin to brand yourself and your company using Twitter.
This is the first in a series of podcasts that will put how to build your online personal and business brand in a nutshell for you! Over the course of the next few weeks we will be digging deep into each of the major social networks as well as overall brand architecture building strategies and tips.
Take a listen and be sure to subscribe to the entire series on iTunes, Stitcher or SoundCloud!
Did you know that according to Google, the average consumer researches 10.4 sources before making a purchase decision? This includes researching content via the web, social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn as well as talking to trusted colleagues, friends and family.
How is your brand doing when it comes to delivering the needed information and customer experience that inspires your audience, customer and online social community members make the desired action or purchase decision? Does a visit to your blog, website or Twitter stream provide information that helps your customer become inspired to further connect with you and your brand? Or it is pushing them away to your competition?
76% of marketers believe they know what customers want. However, only 34% have ever asked them.
The truth is many marketers don't know their ideal customer. They don't know what keeps them up at night or how they can best help them solve their problems.
If you want to achieve real results using social media you must know your customer. You must refocus your energy, content, digital marketing, social marketing and more to the needs of your customer.
Refocusing your lense to your customer can exponentially increase business result in a short time period.
Take a listen to the 101th episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast to learn how you can refocus on your ideal customer to truly zoom your social business results.
In this 30 minute podcast you will learn:
- 10 Tips to refocus your social media marketing and business on the needs of your customer
- Why you must stop the stupid marketing
- Don't forget marketing 101
- The risk of focusing on the wrong key performance indicators (KPIs)
- Why you must put customer DNA before social media tools
- How to conduct a quick content audit and content inventory analysis
- Why you must know your audience
It's official. We have hit 100 episodes of the Social Zoom Factor podcast! Little did I know when I set out to test the media waters with podcasting July, 2014 how much I would fall in love with the medium.
We did the research and had solid plans for how to integrate podcasting into our business model, ensure we were providing value for our existing social communities and strategically align to overall business and life objectives. We knew the future of podcasting was bright and wanted to be at the forefront of the movement to audio.
I had no idea though that myself and our online community, customers, friends and partners would like it so much that I wouldn't even need to publish a regular blog post for over 7 months!
Have you considered adding podcasting to your marketing and communications platform? Would you like to explore how podcasting can help you better connect with your audience, deliver better content faster and more efficiently and help you zoom results in your business?
Take a listen to the 100th episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast to learn how we have used podcasting to ignite our communities, customer relationships, media platform and business.
In this 30 minute podcast you will learn:
- 10 Reasons why we chose podcasting as a primary marketing and communications medium
- Benefits of podcasting over other mediums including video and traditional blogging
- How we got started podcasting
- Lessons learned during our first 100 episodes
How much time should you, your CEO, CMO, CTO, CIO, and staff spend on social media?
Are you more or less of an expert or qualified for whatever it is you do in business based on the amount of time you spend tweeting, on Facebook or posting photos to instagram?
As a personal brand and human being utilizing social media how much time is enough, too much or not enough? Must we always be connected, plugged in and turned on to the social networks?
Should your CEO, CMO and other executives even be on Twitter?
If these are some of the questions you have, tune into this episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast as I answer them for you.
In this "Get Real" style of podcast today I lay it out there for you in plain english and tell you exactly what I think on these important questions I have been asked by business leaders across the globe hundreds of time.
In this 15 minute podcast you will learn:
- Should your CEO be on Twitter?
- How much time must you spend on time to be an expert?
- Why being online all day is not a requirement to be a professional in online marketing or social media
- Why there is only one way to do social media and that is the way that works for you and your business
This is the fourth in a series of conversations that will cover influencer marketing in detail.
Your worth on this planet is not measured by the number of social media followers you have or your Klout or other influence score. Instead, what matters is the lives you are able to impact and change.
What really does it mean to be influential? What is influence? How can you establish yourself and your brand as a thought leader?
Would you like to know how you can you become more influential to better achieve your business and life goals? If yes, then this is the episode of today's Social Zoom Factor podcast is for you.
In this 15 minute podcast you will learn:
- What is the definition of influence
- What is the definition of social influence
- 5 solid tips to become more influential
- Why you must focus on helping your audience and community as a top priority
- Why you must build a community that helps one another.
- Why influence requires changing mindset and driving action
- Why you must stay true to yourself
This is the third in a series of conversations that will cover influencer marketing in detail. Take a listen and be sure to subscribe to the entire series on iTunes, Stitcher or SoundCloud!
It's not news that your customers, online audience and social network communities are bombarded by information. There is not a lack of blogs to read, Google Hangouts to engage in, tweet chats to tweet into, podcasts to listen to or videos to watch.
How do you stand out from the crowd? How do you rise above the noise?
One of the best ways to stand out from the crowd of never ending tweets and mundane advice is to bring together some of the greatest minds in your industry or niche to co-create content that is unique, relevant, timely and of value to your ideal target customer, audience and community.
Co-created content is not just a buzzword or the next new shiny object that will solve your business problems. It's also not something you should run off and implement as a Random Act of Marketing (RAM) disconnected from your overall business goals, objectives and strategic marketing plan.
If developed and implemented correctly co-created content can help you drive efficiencies in developing and taking to market content that will help you ignite relationships, inspire your audience to connect with you organically and achieve your business goals.
Would you like to better understand how to develop co-created content working with influencers and internal employee advocates can help you zoom results your business? If yes, then this episode of today's Social Zoom Factor podcast is for you.
In this 25 minute podcast you will learn:
- What is the definition of co-created content
- Business benefits of co-created content
- How to develop a co-creation content marketing plan
- How to work with influencers to create co-created content
- How to engage employees and external influencers together to create co-created content
- Finding the sweet spot for co-created content when working with external influencers and internal employee evangelists
This is the second in a series of conversations that will cover influencer marketing in detail. Take a listen and be sure to subscribe to the entire series on iTunes, Stitcher or SoundCloud!
You have heard the buzzwords surrounding influencer marketing. Everyone is talking about it. People are sharing blog posts, tweets and maybe even writing them without having any real experience developing and driving a real influencer marketing program for a business entity.
Are you one of these marketing or business leaders who really doesn't understand how you and your brand can ever use and benefit from influencer marketing to achieve your better business and marketing goals?
If you answer yes to this question, then this episode of today's Social Zoom Factor podcast is for you.
In this short 20 minute podcast you will learn:
- What is the definition of influencer marketing
- The four main activities for influencer marketing
- How to find and select influencers to work with your brand
- How to identify your top influencers
- Why numbers are not everything. Quality over quantity is the goal.
- How not to recruit and kickoff a new relationship with influencers.
This is the first in a series of conversations that will cover influencer marketing in detail.
The Patriots were clearly not the only winner in the Superbowl XLIX. The Social Media SuperBowl set some new records of its own that are pretty exciting for all of us social and marketing geeks!
On this episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast I provide the following as it relates to the social media and brand advertising portion of the SuperBowl XLIX:
- A recap of the Social Super Bowl statistics including the top social moments, winning and losing brands in gaining attention from the SuperBowl social audience
- My thoughts on some of the top SuperBowl commercials and why some flew and some flopped
- 8 takeaways from the SuperBowl brand advertisers we can all learn from and incorporate into our business today
You can listen here or on iTunes, Stitcher or SoundCloud!
A few stats to wet your social whistle:
- For a 30 second commercial during the Superbowl, NBC was seeking $4.4 - $4.5 million!
- This was the most tweeted SuperBowl event ever with a record breaking 28.4 million tweets during the broadcast, second only to the FIFA soccer semi-final between Germany and Brazil which brought in 35.6 million tweets.
- Top hashtags used were #SB49, #SuperBowl and #SuperBowlXLIX
- Demographics were 54.7% male, 45.3% females
- 50% of the 66 TV commercials aired during the game incorporated a hashtag
- On Facebook, the SuperBowl was discussed by 65 million people versus 50 million in 2014. It generated 265 million costs, comments and likes.
Take a listen to the podcast to hear the rest of the statistics and the 8 key takeaways we can all learn from!
Be sure to subscribe to the entire series on iTunes, Stitcher or SoundCloud!
Episode Highlights
- 8 Social Media SuperBowl Advertising Key Takeaways for brands big and small
- Why emotion still sells
- People don't forget what the big brands did last year and the year before
- The importance of making sure your ad does more than drive emotion and also aligns with your brand
- Balancing having a plan and being human during and after the game online
- How Volvo creatively cut through the noise of other automobile advertisers
- The importance of a social listening
- Why you must have a call to action
The SuperBowl is right around the corner and presents tremendous opportunity for brands to jump into the spotlight. Of course, the big brands are spending millions of dollars to get their short lived moments of fame with the hope of making a lasting impression, earning loyal brand evangelists and inspiring people to talk about them, share their message and become a viral hit sensation. NBC is seeking $4.4 million to $4.5 million per second!
The good news is that you don't have to be a huge brand to tap into the energy of the SuperBowl to power up your brand!
Check out this episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast for 10 tips to make a touch down with your marketing this upcoming SuperBowl weekend!
Episode Highlights
- 10 SuperBowl marketing tips for brands big and small
- How to tap into the energy of the SuperBowl even if you are a small brand
- Why you can't use the SuperBowl logo on your marketing materials
- How to associate your brand with the SuperBowl without using the trademark
- How to tap into the power of visual marketing
- How to engage your employees to humanize your brand
- How to leverage hashtags to tap into the power of the OPC (other people's community and content) to grow your own brand awareness and community)
- Why you must get local and not just focus on national conversations
There is only one way to do social media, create content, setup a blog, measure results and build your business. The only way is what works for you, your customers, your audience, your community and your business!
One of the worst traps many business leaders and marketers fall in when diving into digital and online marketing is following the advice of others when they shouldn't be.
It's easy to find a blog post with a step by step guide for how to blog, build community, establish thought leadership and close more business. The harder part is figuring out what are the RIGHT steps for you to achieve real results in your business.
In this episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast Pam Moore, CEO Founder of Marketing Nutz, answers two of the top questions she receives in regard to social media and blogging.
Episode Highlights
Why I don't over focus on blog comments as a top metric for success
Why I don't hang out on Google Plus 24/7, 365 days a year
How I stay focused on top priorities
Importance of building your own plan that supports your goals and objectives
Why you must know where your audience is hanging out online
Why you must know what your audience needs from you
WHY is the number one question you must answer
Are you tapping into the power of visual content marketing to tell your brand story? Visual marketing empowers brands and the people within them to share their business and personal stories and lives real-time. No longer is it required to have a full time, dedicated design team on staff to serve up a good healthy dose of visual content marketing for your audiences and clients to devour!
Now even small marketing teams can easily take photos with an iPhone or other smart phone, mobile device and use them to engage their audiences via the social networks such as Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and blogs within seconds.
Visual marketing enable you to show your products without telling people about them. Viewers can then easily make their own decisions without feeling "sold" or pressured from you and your business. Let the visuals tell your story and help you close the sale!
Did you know that the human brain processes visual information 60,000 times faster than the time it takes for the brain to decode text?
46.1% of people say a website's design is the number one criteria to determine the credibility of the company.
Visual marketing can often help you inspire, connect and engage with your audience more quickly and better than what a simple text message can do.
Check out this episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast for a succinct definition and summary of how you can use visual content marketing in your business or to build your personal brand. Included are loads of statistics just in case you still or sold or have a colleague or executive than needs to hear the data before investing.
In this episode Pam Moore, CEO and founder Marketing Nutz, a full service social media, digital marketing and branding agency puts visual marketing in a nutshell for you with a goal of inspiring you to begin including visual marketing into your marketing strategies and tactics to drive improved results. If you are already using visual marketing but not seeing results, hopefully the podcast will inspire you to take it to the next level.
Visual marketing is the discipline studying the relationship between an object, the context it is placed in and its relevant image. Representing a disciplinary link between economy, visual perception laws and cognitive psychology, the subject mainly applies to businesses such as fashion and design.
Episode Highlights
Definition of visual marketing
Why visual marketing?
Benefits of using visuals to tell stories
How visual marketing can help you close business
Why it's becoming easier for marketing teams to use visual marketing without a dedicated design team
Loads of statistics on the power of visual marketing to inspire, connect with and engage audiences
Many franchise organizations shy away from implementing social media, new media and the latest digital and web technologies due to fear and lack of ability to roll out such big marketing and media changes to their franchisees from the corporate organization.
Often time the franchisor fears that adopting social media and new technologies will put the brand at risk. They are afraid of brand inconsistency, negative interaction with audiences and the list goes on.
The truth is that regardless if a franchisor, franchisee or brand of any type or size decides to engage on the social web, there is a conversation happening in their honor already. The question is do they want to be a proactive part of the conversation.
My agency, Marketing Nutz has worked with numerous franchise organizations. We help them not only implement social media, adopt new technologies but also setup an infrastructure that empowers the franchisees while also ensuring brand consistency, streamlined communication and ensuring the corporate organization and franchisor is consistently providing value and partnering with franchisee teams.
In this episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast Pam Moore, CEO and Founder of Marketing Nutz, a full service experiential branding, digital marketing and social media agency shares 10 tips to help the franchisor setup an infrastructure and culture that promotes teamwork, collaboration, and successful adoption of social media and the latest digital technologies and methodologies. These tips are also helpful and applicable for any brand and organization setup in a distributed model with teams in different locations and geographies.
Be sure to download our brand new Franchisor Social Media Zoom Kit loaded with resources to help both franchisors and franchisees zoom business results with social media!
Episode Highlights
- 15 tips for franchisors to successfully implement social media at the corporate and franchisee level.
- The importance of having a servant heart vs only focusing on control.
- Why franchisors must stay knowledgeable on the latest media and technology to empower franchisees to succeed.
- How to setup a social media policy that empowers vs simply controls.
- Why social media policies are required, not optional.
- How to provide value to franchisees in the form of social media templates, training and more.
- How to more quickly roll out new media to franchisees by learning and rolling it out at the same time.
- Why franchisors must quit overwhelming their franchisees with too much marketing information. Less is truly more.
- Embracing imperfect perfection
When it comes to digital marketing and social media too many people throw spaghetti technology at the internet walls and then wonder why nothing sticks, why they have zero revenue and are working 24 hours a day.
We all have the same 24 hours in the day. Wishing you had more time to do what you need to do is not a strategy for success in life or business. Finding a path that enables you to live the life you dream and get your business on the path to massive success doesn't happen over night. You are going to need to roll up your sleeves and get to work.
The truth is you need to slow down to speed up. You need to quit chasing shiny objects. You need to build yourself an integrated platform that works when you are not working. Leveraging your knowledge and reducing time spent to do such is the key to success.
Building a platform that works when you are not working enables you to quit trading time for money.
To do such you must set goals, architect it for integration vs silos, integrate the right technologies that support your business goals and more.
In this episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast Pam Moore, CEO Founder Marketing Nutz shares 15 Tips to build an integrated online marketing platform that works when you are not working!
Take a listen and be sure to subscribe to the entire series on iTunes, Stitcher or SoundCloud!
Episode Highlights
- 15 Tips to build an online digital and social marketing platform that works when you aren't working
- Why you must build an integrated platform where all pieces are working together vs stand alone silos disconnected from each other
- How to increase ROI, improve efficiencies and grow your business with a platform that works for you
- Defining the vision of your life and business before you implement any technology
- Aligning business goals and objectives to the development of your digital platform
- Why you must properly architect the platform before implementing
- Creating content that connects with your audience
- Selecting the right components such as email marketing, social sharing widgets and more
- Don't forget the easy functions easily over looked such as contact forms, sharing buttons
Social media has given consumers, viewers, partners and stakeholders a new platform to speak their mind. Brands can no longer hide behind the brick walls of buildings, public relationship companies or administrative assistants screening calls.
There is likely a conversation happening in the honor of you and your brand right now, regardless if you have chosen to be part of the conversation.
What should a brand do when crisis hits? What should they do when the Twitter and Facebook storm gets out of control and tweets are flying left and right with angry TV viewers, customers, partners and friends? Should they ignore the tweets? Should they close their eyes to the Facebook comment stream with hundreds or thousands of comments complaining and sharing their negative opinions of the brand?
Is ignoring customers and online community members on social media even an option? Take a listen to this episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast for a case study in how CBS and the Under Cover Boss TV show has chosen to ignore even their loyal viewers online. A social firestorm happened after an episode that CBS aired of a CEO of a Bikini Sports Bar and Grill fired one bartender but gave a different waitress a breast enlargement after six more months of work. Yes, this is not a fake reality show. This is real life and how a CEO is treating his employees. Viewers of the show were fired up and shared their thoughts via social media. To date (two weeks after show aired) CBS has still not replied to the Twitter stream. You view a recap from Huffington Post here -> Undercover Boss CEO Fires Employee for Not Wearing a Bikini, Offers Another a Boob Job
In this podcast episode Pam Moore, CEO Founder Marketing Nutz, a full service social media, content marketing, digital marketing and branding agency shares with you a quick recap of the CBS Under Cover Boss scenario and why brands should never fall to "ignoring their audience and community" as a strategy for success. Unfortunately, it's quite obvious CBS has chosen to use their Twitter stream and hashtags for specific shows as a one way push communication versus truly investing in relationships and engaging with their audience.
Podcast Episode Highlights
Recap of a terrible episode of CBS UnderCover Boss and how CBS has ignored the Twitter storm
Why ignoring your audience is never a strategy
Why hashtags should not be used to only promote your brand
Why brands must be ready to use the mediums and tactics implemented such as hashtags to respond and engage even when conversations get negative
Importance of developing and implementing a social media crisis preparedness plan
Being proactive and ready to manage a social media crisis should it hit your brand and community
At the foundation of social media is people. Social media is about people communicating, sharing, engaging, laughing, crying, and living life together online. It's about relationships, meeting new people, finding old friends, and fostering relationships that help you zoom your business and life.
Understanding how to nurture relationships, and most importantly bring people together so they can be part of something bigger than themselves is where the real power of social media comes in!
Many organizations will assign a team member to be the "social media community manager" assuming this person can take charge on everything having to do with social media. Usually this happens because the business and marketing leaders making such a decision don't really understand the difference between social media and social business.
Assigning an intern or entry level person to run a social media or social business program is a potential recipe for disaster for the business as well as a career demolition derby for the social community manager assigned. Knowing how to tweet is far different than defining strategy, tactics, building and launching an integrated social media program that will help the business achieve business and marketing goals.
Many social community managers jump into social media work expecting it to be glamorous! We've even seen this with our agency, Marketing Nutz. What many social media professionals find surprising is the amount of detailed work, knowledge, data, analysis, team leadership and business acumen is required to be successful in the world of social business. Social media requires much more than knowledge of how to send a tweet or post to Facebook.
In this episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast Pam Moore, CEO Marketing Nutz, full service social business, digital marketing, branding, content marketing agency shares 12 strategies and tips to help social media community managers be successful. This is the first in a series of conversations that will be diving deep into strategies and tactics to help marketing and business professionals be successful in integrating social media into the DNA of their business to achieve results. Take a listen and be sure to subscribe to the entire series on iTunes, Stitcher or SoundCloud!
Episode Highlights
12 strategies and tips to help social media community managers be successful in any sized organization, big or small
Why social media community managers must realize their are not a team of one. Teamwork is the awesome sauce for success.
The importance of learning the business quickly
Taking pride in even the small tasks.
Learning the language of your customers
Being proactive vs waiting to be told what to do
The power of relationships with internal and external team members, including agencies
Setting yourself up to succeed in a career of business and marketing
Why you must let go of the ego at the door
As more and more brands jump on the social networks there is no shortage of tweets to read, podcasts to listen to, blog posts to learn from, videos to watch or people to talk to!
What's even worse is as the competition for eyeballs, ears and hearts is increasing across the social web, even the biggest and most popular social networks such as Facebook are moving even further into a pay to pay model. The days of free organic reach with little investment in content and community are quickly coming to a close. Not that this ever really worked or was a strategy for smart brands.
Did you know that on average 98% of the people who “like” a business Facebook page will never visit the actual page again? They may only see it in their newsfeed “if” the brand is lucky and Facebook’s algorithm determines it is worthy of a view in the newsfeed of their fans.
What are you doing to adapt and be ready for the new social web?
The number one question you should be answering is WHY! Why should your audience and online social community care that your brand exists?
We consult with business owners and brand of all sizes, from entrepreneurs and startups to Fortune 100 brands. One of the first things we ask when conducting a social media audit or developing a social business strategy or marketing plan is WHY. It’s amazing how many brands can’t answer this simple question.
Why should anyone care that you have a Facebook business page? Why should they check out your tweets? Why should they read your blog? Why should they click on any of the call to actions you offer on any of your social network profiles? Why should they trust you with their email address? Why should anyone follow you on Twitter? Be your friend on Facebook? Check out your photos on Instagram?
In this episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast Pam Moore, CEO Marketing Nutz a full service social media, digital marketing, branding, content marketing, web development agency discuss why every brand on the planet must make it a priority to answer the question WHY. It's a short 15 minute podcast designed to help you get your butt in gear and start zooming your business to turbo speed in 2015!
When is the last time you met a perfect person? Do you have a perfect friend? How about a perfect client? How about a perfect product? Do you know of a perfect brand?
The truth is you can never be perfect. Humans are not perfect. Each one of us makes mistakes. We each have a unique wackiness about us. It's our quirks, scratches and bumps that make us human and that help us connect with one another in simple, meaningful and memorable ways.
Brand can never be perfect because they are made up of human beings, which are not perfect.
Many business and marketing leaders avoid embracing social technologies and methodologies because of their desire to be perfect. They fear making a mistake and looking like a fool in front of the social universe online. When they do make a mistake some of these same brands run and hide instead of owning the fact they made a mistake and showing their human, imperfect side.
Your customers, audience and online community will appreciate the fact you are human and aren't afraid to show it! They will be happy to see you own mistakes. How you handle these mistakes can help your brand shine and nurture relationships if done right.
It is time that marketing and business leaders embrace imperfect perfection. Embrace what makes your brand human. Let your brand shine from the inside out. Your brand is going to be exposed from the inside out before it is transformed. Waiting to embrace the latest social technologies until you, your brand and your team is perfect is going to do nothing but waste time.
Social media is about relationships and connecting one to one with other human beings. It's both art and science. It's imperative brand and marketing leaders learn now how to embrace the human factor and quit expecting their teams to be perfect or to develop and launch a perfect social media program.
In this episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast Pam Moore, CEO Founder of Marketing Nutz, full service social business, digital marketing, branding, content marketing agency discusss why you must humanize your brand in a way that enables relationships to be built with the people within your business. She also share case studies of two brands (Brighthouse and HostGator) who boldly embrace imperfect perfection and have earned the loyalty of our agency, Marketing Nutz, time and time again.
Podcast Episode Highlights
Why brands must embrace imperfect perfection
Two case studies of brands being human and owning their mistakes (Broighthouse and HostGator)
Why business leaders must quit expecting employees to be perfect
Importance of brand humanization
How social media will reveal your organization from the inside out before it transforms it
Why you must own your mistakes and how to do such to increase brand equity and nurture relationships
Invest in your employees and loyal brand advocates
Do you ever feel like you want to jump in the fast lane of business and life but something is holding you back? Does it feel like you are stuck in the slow lane doing the doggy paddle?
Many business leaders and marketers deep down inside are afraid of success. Because of fear they often stick to status quo as they are more comfortable there. They are afraid to put themselves out there so stick with a nice, slower pace of "doggy paddle."
Unfortunately the doggy paddle is not going to help you zoom turbo in business or life. Although it may be comfortable, it's unlikely you'll be able to sustain anything at such a slow pace for much longer than the short time. The chances are high you will burn out, run out of money or simply fail.
There is no better time to kick the doggy paddle to the curb than the launch of a new year. As we kickoff 2015, I am challenging you right here and now to jump in the fast lane. I want you to kick the social media doggy paddle to the curb. It's time to leave the amateaur stroke to the lil' puppies. It's time for you to start zooming turbo with those who are going places. It's time for you to work, live and play with the big dogs!
In this episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast Pam Moore, CEO and Founder of Marketing Nutz, full service social media, content marketing, branding, digital marketing and social business consulting agency shares 10 tips and strategies to help you leave the doggy paddle in the dust. I share why it's important you set goals, prioritize, stop worrying about competition as well as embrace new technology to drive efficiencies and deliver value to your audiences on a consistent basis.
Also, be sure to download our brand new SWOT analysis worksheet. It will help you map out your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats so you can properly assess your business, market, skills and build a plan to zoom turbo in 2015!
Episode Highlights
- Why you must kick your doggy paddle to the curb if you want real results using social media for business
- Why you need to stop peeping over the fence at competitors constantly
- How to stop worrying about FOMO (fear of missing out)
- How to become more confident and jump to the fast lane even before you think you're ready
- The importance of mindset to achieve your goals and objectives
Are you feeling overwhelmed with keeping your social presence, online brand, and content marketing rockin' over the holiday season? Do you want to take some time off, enjoy time with family and friends and seriously unplug but are afraid to do such because you don't want to lose touch with your audience and online communities?
It's important for all of us to take time to disconnect from technology and connect with real humans in real life who are usually the reasons we are doing all the tech and social work to begin with!
If you wish you had more time off for the holidays but still want to provide your audience with content that keeps them inspired and remembering you through the New Year, then this episode of Social Zoom Factor podcast is for you.
In this episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast Pam Moore, CEO & Founder Marketing Nutz, full service social media marketing, digital branding, content marketing conversion optimization agency provides 10 tips to help you not just survive the holiday season but keep your content thriving and nurturing your audience with amazing content, and a healthy pulse of value to help them ring in the New Year with style and smarts!
Episode Highlights
10 Tips to Keep Your Content Marketing Rockin' Through the holidays
Why planning content is imperative even if you are delivering 1/4 of the volume of content that you normally do
Giving yourself permission to take time off
Informing your audience of your plans to unplug
Why you should focus on one killer piece of content
Using visual marketing to save time and differentiate
Splitting one piece of content into multiple segments
Leveraging content you already have
It's no surprise that Facebook is still one of the hottest social networks around. Check out these statistics published by Facebook as of September 2014.
864 million daily active users on average
703 million mobile daily active users on average
1.35 billion monthly active users
1.12 billion mobile monthly active users
As with anything in life or business, when there is opportunity for goodness, there is also much opportunity for risk and even damage to your brand and business.
Facebook is no different. Facebook presents tremendous opportunity to nurture relationships, establish and grow community, increase brand awareness and even your business bottom line. However, if you don't understand the ecosystem, how you can best fit within it to build relationships and your brand, you may wind up hurting your brand more than helping it.
It is is as important to understand not only best practices but also worst practices that can damage your personal brand, corporate brand and business success when it comes to social media, business and life!
In this episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast Pam Moore, CEO Founder of Marketing Nutz, a full service social media, digital marketing, experiential branding, word of mouth, content marketing agency shares 15 things you should never do on Facebook.
Episode Highlights
15 things you should never do on Facebook
Focus on relationships over spamming
The importance of managing your privacy by being careful who you let into your Facebook network
Be yourself and never fall to tactics that waste time stalking and copying competition
How to ensure you don't lose people at hello when inviting them into Facebook groups
The importance of giving credit where credit is due when sharing other people's content
The differences of how you communicate and post content to Facebook vs Twitter
The importance of customizing content for your Facebook audience vs blasting the same content to every social network
How to avoid the drama and negative posts and conversations on your Facebook wall
Why you should never setup a personal Facebook profile to use to solely promote your business
We have all seen them…the videos, photos and social network status updates by frustrated parents.
The story goes something like this:
1. The kid does something wrong.
2.Parent implements a consequence such as grounding, taking away car etc.
3. Parent vents on Facebook or Twitter.
4.Child vents on Facebook, Twitter, text and who knows where else!
5. Parent takes photo of messy room, wrecked car or mad teen.
6. Parent posts photo and/or another frustrated status update to Facebook.
7. Parent and child go about their life. They make up, forgive one another and forget about situation.
8. Parent does not update social network status that everything worked out great and that their child is now back to the perfect angel the Holiday cards will depict they are.
So, what’s the problem?
So now you may asking “what is the problem and point of this post and podcast?” Why is it a problem to complain about your kids constantly? Isn’t it part of life? Part of sharing everything you do, what’s on your mind via Facebook?
The truth is that your child's reputation sits in the palm of your hands. Every image you post, rant on Facebook and tweet complaining or bragging about them is impacting what people think and know of them.
This could either positively or negatively impact not only their personal brand, ability to land a job but their life.
Take a listen to this episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast to hear the thoughts of Pam Moore, CEO & Founder Marketing Nutz, a full service social media, digital marketing, branding and content marketing agency on this very important topic. I share some solid reasons why you need to think twice about what you post to the social networks. I also provide some proactive strategies and tips to help your child and teen in staying safe online while still building their online persona and brand.
Episode Highlights
Why everything you post about your child or teen to social media is impacting their personal brand and future
Proactive tips to keep your children and teens safe online
The negatives and risks of posting too much information about your teens
Why some things are better left unsaid
How to assess if your postings to the social networks are negatively impacting your child or teen
The role parents play in helping their child manage their online brand
Patience is one of those words that many business and marketing leaders struggle with. It's natural to want results and to want them right now at this very moment. As humans we tend to want what we want when we want it, right?
However, as time pertains to both business and life it is always good to be patient. You know the saying... "good things come to those who wait." But does it? Do we really need to wait?
I think that is the greatest misnomer about patience, is that you have to wait. The truth is that being "patient" doesn't necessarily mean you sitting on your tush doing nothing. In business it can mean that you are doing the right things to get to where you want to go and to achieve the business goals and objectives in the right way.
Patience in business is more about doing the right things that will sustain and grow your business for not only the short term but also the medium and long term.
When it comes to marketing and social media, too many business leaders are far too impatient. They are looking for the the easy button, the magic pill or the magic carpet ride that will give them instant results. The worst part is that there are also many agencies and consultants who take advantage of these desperate, impatient people! They love their weaknesses and will sell them on the fallacy of instant results that are not feasible and take advantage of an unknowing customer who is looking for the shortcut to instant fame and success.
In this episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast Pam Moore, CEO Founder of Marketing Nutz, full service social media, social business, content marketing, digital marketing, experiential branding, word of mouth agency delivers some tough love to those who struggle with being impatient. I share tips to kick that impatient attitude to the curb and help you understand why you must slow down to speed up, set goals, determine objectives and build a plan to achieve and build your dream business and life. I also share some things to look out for when hiring an agency or consultant who may be promising you more than anyone could possibly deliver.
Episode Highlights
Why you must kick your impatient attitude to the curb if you want results using social media
Acknowledging you are impatient
How I deal with my own impatient personality in business and life
How to embrace your impatience to achieve the results you want
Planning for the future sustainability of your business, not just today
How to identify an agency or consultant overselling you results that are not feasible
Is your content and social media digital platform ready for 2015? Is your content ready to inspire, connect with and help your audience achieve their goals? Is the lack of compelling, relevant content keeping you up at night? If yes, I have some tips for you to help you get your content marketing in tip top shape before the new year!
One of the keys to success in content marketing is creating evergreen content that has a life span longer than a day or a couple weeks. If you are like most marketers and business leaders you have likely spent a lot of time on creating content the past 12 months or longer.
Wouldn't it be great if you could kickoff 2015 by maximizing the investment you already made in content marketing assets so that you can zoom results even more without spending a lot more time or money on new content?
In this episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast, Pam Moore, CEO Founder of Marketing Nutz, full service social media, social business, digital marketing agency is going to help you do exactly this! She will teach you to how to do a quick content marketing inventory analysis so you can 1) Identify the content you already have 2) Better align and integrate the content in your 2015 marketing plan and 3) Achieve a higher ROI by leveraging what you have already invested in!
You can download the content inventory worksheet referenced in the document at http://www.socialzoomfactor.com/calendar
You’ve heard the words… Tweet Chats, #TweetChats, Hashtags, or even hashbrowns as one of my clients first called them. You see the early notification tweets: “Peeps – high tweet warning, for the next hour, headed into a tweet chat.”
For those who aren’t engaged in the tweet chat or don’t understand them, a tweet chat may seem like a bunch of noise. You are half right and half almost right. Yes, there may be some associated “noisy tweeting.” However, tweet chats can offer great benefit for you and your business to build new relationships, increase blog readership, build community, increase brand awareness, and even get new followers or Facebook fans!
So what is a tweet chat? Why should I care? How do I use a hashtag? How do you find relevant chats? What are the business benefits? What are the unspoken guidelines for joining them? What tools should I use to participate and filter tweets?
Take a listen to this episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast for an overview of Twitter Chats from Pam Moore, CEO Founder Marketing Nutz, full service social media, social business, digital marketing, branding agency. She puts Twitter chats in a nutshell for you so you can understand what they are and how they can benefit you and your business. Future episodes will cover tips and strategies for how to start a tweet chat, how to monetize them and how to best join them for business and life benefit.
Episode Highlights
------------------
Definition of a Twitter chat (tweet chat)
What is a hashtag
Benefits of Twitter chats for business and personal branding
Best tools to use for Twitter chats
How to find relevant Twitter chats
How to monetize Twitter chats
How #GetRealChat started
Best practices for organizing Twitter chats
Choosing relevant topics for Twitter chats
Organic roles within the community for Twitter chats
What is a hashtag you see on almost evey social media network? From Instagram, Facebook, Twitter to Google plus, hashtags are everywhere! How do you make sense of them? How do you know how many to use? When should you use them?
Hashtag, hash brown.... they sound somewhat the same. I've even had a few clients confuse the two just for fun.
Explaining the difference between a hashtag and hash brown is one of my favorite questions to answer. Often times, the people who have the guts to ask are the ones who get it the quickest. Why? Because as I always say, social media is about people. It’s about conversation. It’s about having a conversation to connect with real people. Social media simply makes it easier to do such.
Social media is not rocket science. We believe that most of marketing, business and life really can be simplified and put in a nutshell in terms that doesn't require a PHD in acronyms to understand.
So, what exactly is a hashtag? Take a listen to this episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast for a succinct definition of a hashtag and how hashtags can help you grow your business using social media platforms such as Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and Google plus as well as increase brand awareness, help you nurture community and better measure your results and conversations using social media.
I even give you a fun recap of the differences of a hash brown and hashtag for those of you who like breakfast analogies to solve your social media problems ;)
Episode Highlights
- Definition of a hashtag
- Why you should use hashtags
- Difference between hashtags and hash browns
- Benefits of using hashtags
- How to leverage hashtags to nurture community
- How to leverage hashtags to do market research
- How to identify top industry hashtags
- How to select your own hashtags
- Short summary of Twitter chats (will be covered in depth in episode 79)
Content marketing is not just a fancy buzzword or a shiny object invented via Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook.
Smart marketers and successful brands have learned that they are the media and that thinking and working like a publisher helps them inspire and connect with their audiences, customers and stakeholders in ways they could never do with traditional, "throw the social content spaghetti at the wall and hope it sticks" style of marketing.
Content marketing is at the foundation of every business of every size. Regardless of your industry, niche, age of company or primary communication medium used, you better have a content marketing strategy to connect you and your brand with your target audience, customers, partners and stakeholders.
This episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast provides a tutorial for how to use our new 2015 Content Marketing Editorial Calendar. Download the calendar here-> 2015 Content Marketing Editorial Calendar Template
Content marketing is an umbrella term encompassing all marketing formats that involve the creation and sharing of content in order to engage current and potential consumer bases. Content marketing subscribes to the notion that delivering high-quality, relevant and valuable information to prospects and customers drives profitable consumer action. Content marketing has benefits in terms of retaining reader attention and improving brand loyalty.
*Source: Wikipedia
Editorial calendars are important because they:
- Help you focus on needs of your audience
- Help you inspire and connect with your audience
- Help you provide value to your audience
- Force you to think further than today and tomorrow
- Help you integrate across mediums
- Leverage across mediums, different audiences
- Create once, use many (= increased ROI)
- Streamline resources
- Drive internal teamwork
- Fuel idea generation and innovation
- Create a drumbeat approach to content development
- Help set expectations with your audience
- Help you create loyal brand evangelists
Editorial Calendar Highlights
- Monthly conversation theme.
- Weekly conversation theme.
- Blog post title.
- Target audiences (primary, secondary & tertiary)
- Author
- Editor
- Purchase cycle (awareness, consideration, preference, purchase, loyalty)
- Draft due date
- Primary keywords (5-10)
- Blog categories
- Supporting image(s)
- Other supporting media (image, video, podcast)
- Embed in other resource kits or publications
- Syndication
- Possible whitepaper (y/n)
- Client testimonial / graphics
- Call to action
Episode Highlights
- Tutorial for how to use our new Content Marketing Editorial Calendar Template for 2015
- Content marketing definition
- Why you manage your content marketing like a publisher
- Benefits of using a content marketing editorial calendar
- The importance of knowing your audience
- Leveraging content you already have to increase business results and ROI
What do you and your brand stand for? What are your morals? What ethics are you building your business and life upon?
How solid of foundation are you standing on? When if ever will you trade in your ethics, integrity and morals for a few bucks?
I was recently approached by the agency of a very large technology brand inviting me to help them out with an online influencer program.
The brand offered to pay me $1,500 to help them promote a campaign for a few short weeks. The campaign intertwined both a social good, random act of kindness type of game with a giveaway for a product.
Take a listen to this episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast to hear why Pam Moore, CEO & Founder, Marketing Nutz, social media, digital marketing, experiential branding, web development agency turned down the opportunity. It did not align with my beliefs, morals and foundation for which I am building and have already built my brand. Although I would have loved to work with this particular brand, it was not worth the risk to my personal and corporate brand nor how I would want to kickoff the relationship with the brand.
Episode Highlights
Why I turned down the $1500 influencer marketing opportunity
Why you must know what foundation you are building brand upon
The importance of keeping true to your beliefs, ethics, morals and integrity
The importance of trust in building a social media community
Why you must keep the needs of your audience at the core of business and marketing decisions
Tips for working with influencers and thought leaders
Resources mentioned:
Influencer Marketing and Launch Strategies for Startups, Tech Companies and Corporations (podcast)
Influencer Marketing Services from Marketing Nutz Agency
8 Steps to Develop a Social Business Plan and Strategy (white paper)
Social Media Audit, Consulting and Marketing Services from Marketing Nutz Agency
Cyber Monday and online holiday ecommerce sales.… either you are ready or you’re not! Many business and marketing leaders miss out on tapping into the power of these online shopping holidays to increase sales, brand awareness and most importantly connect with their audience.
Too many times they think it's just for the big online and offline retailers. The truth is even small businesses can join the Cyber Monday and online holiday sales to drive business results. You don't have to be Wal-Mart, Best Buy, Amazon, Apple or Target.
By tapping into the power of mobile marketing, social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and Pinterest you can really turn up the volume in sales and business over the holidays with your online platform, website and blog.
In this episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast Pam Moore, CEO Founder Marketing Nutz, full service social media, social business agency shares some solid strategies and tips to help you rock online Cyber Monday and Holiday sales. I provide you tips to help you get your cyber house in order as well as help you with ideas for your special offer clients can't refuse to act on. I also share ideas for how to announce and communicate your offer to your target audience and close with solid tips for overall success.
Even if you don't plan to participate in Cyber Monday or Holiday sales this year, you can leverage these tips to help get your online presence and social media platforms in tip top shape for the new year!
Episode Highlights
20+ Strategies and tips to rock your online holiday and Cyber Monday sales
How to select offers that your audience can't wait to get their hands on
Tips to communicate and launch your offer to your target audience
9 Tips to help you succeed overall with an integrated platform
How to leverage visual marketing and social media to humanize your brand during the holidays
Social Zoom Factor holiday podcasting schedule
Why is it so many marketers are looking for the easy button? Why do they think they can jump on Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and throw hundreds of thousands of dollars at Facebook ads and be successful?
Failing to take time to plan is planning to fail when it comes to social media, business and marketing.
Many marketers and business leaders are unfortunately spending loads of time and money on the tactics of social media, influencer marketing, content marketing, and the list goes on with no real understanding of why they are doing it in the first place.
It's like going fishing in the back yard pond hoping to catch a shark with a Barbie fishing pole. You are looking in the wrong place, have the wrong tools and no real plan how to land the big one, let alone even catch some bait fish.
In this episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast Pam Moore, CEO Founder Marketing Nutz, full service social media, social business, branding, digital marketing agency share a healthy dose of some tough love. It's time for all marketers, new and experienced to stop the stupid marketing. It's time to roll up your sleeves and get to work. If you are lacking real social business results, there is likely a reason why. You need to get real with yourself and your business to set goals, get in the head of your audience and build a plan that will help you achieve your goals with helping your audience achieve theirs as a key objective.
Episode Highlights
Why marketers must stop stupid marketing now!
Why failing to plan is planning to fail
Why planning to fail is like fishing in the back yard pond for a shark with a Barbie fishing pole
Supporting Resources:
Audience Analysis Worksheet
10 Tips to Stomp Random Acts of Marketing (white paper)
8 Steps to Develop a Social Business Plan (white paper)
5 Reasons Marketers fail using social media (episode
15 Reasons Random Acts of Marketing are Bad for Business & Life (episode 28)
How to Build a Social Business Strategy & Plan (episode 14)
How to Build a Social Business Strategy & Plan (white paper)
Brand Humanization in a Nutshell (episode 5)
A picture can speak a thousand words! Visual marketing is not just the latest marketing or social media buzzword. Visual marketing is a form of content marketing and branding that enables you to communicate with, inspire and connect with your audience in very memorable, inspiring and compelling ways.
Did you know that the human brain processes visual information 60,000 times faster than the time it takes for the brain to decode text?
Visual marketing can help you better tell stories, emotionally connect with your audience and community, increase brand awareness as well as achieve your business and marketing goals.
Check out this episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast to hear my 5 favorite visual marketing tools to drive efficiencies in creating visual images, better inspire audiences and enhance your social brand!
This is the fourth Fab 5 in 15 episode we publish on Fridays. In our special Fab 5 Friday Social Zoom Factor episodes Pam Moore CEO Founder Marketing Nutz, full service social business, digital branding and marketing agency shares with you 5 ways to zoom your business in life in only 15 minutes! We want you to get out there and enjoy life. The Fab 5 in 15 series is designed to help you save time so you can enjoy the WHY of life and business you are doing all of this in the first place.
Episode Highlights
5 Top visual marketing tools
Why visual marketing?
Using visual marketing at live events
How to drive efficiencies with visual marketing tools
Sharing visual images across multiple Instagram accounts
How to frame multiple images into one framed image to be shared on Instagram and other social networks
How to repost images from another Instagram account
Recommended Resources mentioned:
Repost
Instaframe
Wordswag
Hyperlapse
Canva
Every brand touch and impression you have on a client, audience, partner or potential customer matters. There is not one touch or one experience that matters more than another.
It takes on average a minimum of 6-7 brand touches before someone will remember your brand. You only have one chance to make a first, second and third impression.
A brand can be delivering 95% positive, memorable and delightful brand experiences. However, if even one touch is negative it could be destructing brand equity, brand loyalty and bottom line revenues. It could be the key inhibitor keeping a brand from achieving their business goals and objectives.
In this episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast Pam Moore, CEO Founder Marketing Nutz, full service social business, digital marketing, experiential branding and word of mouth agency shares a recent experience visiting Divani Apollon Palace and Thalasso and Intercontinental hotel on a recent trip to Athens, Greece.
It is a compelling case study that validates the impact one single brand impression can make on a series of brand impressions and overall brand loyalty and decrease in average spend during a hotel stay. One of the hotels discussed delivered a consistent positive experience, where the other did not.
Take a listen to the podcast and learn why you must ensure every brand experience is as as delightful as possible if you want to earn loyal brand evangelists, increase brand equity, brand loyalty and customer satisfaction overall.
Podcast Episode Highlights
Comparison of Intercontinental Hotel and Divani Apollon Palace and Thalasso
How one brand impression decreased my overall spend at Divani Apollon Pallace
Why hotels must care about every customer experience, including the gym area
Why value matters and ripping customers off can decrease money spent as well as decrease brand loyalty
Supporting Resources:
Digital Body Language: 105 Factors Impacting Your Business and Personal Brand (white paper)
Social Media Audience Analysis Worksheet
10 Things You Must Know About Your Audience (episode 4)
Surprise and Delight Customers to Earn Brand Loyalty: Delta Airlines Case Study (episode 69)
Power of a Smile: 10 Tips to Smile Virtually: Delta Airlines Case Study (episode 71)
Employee Brand Advocacy Webcast Instant Replay (webcast)
Real results can be achieved using social media only when you know how to inspire and connect with your audience. Earning brand loyalty requires both art and science.
The power of a smile can be life changing. Have you ever had one of those moments where a smile on someone's face simply brightened your day? Where an unexpected simple smile reminded you there are still good people in this world?
A smile can warm a heart. It can help shed a tear. It can make a cloudy day feel sunny.
In business a smile can earn a loyal customer for life. A smile can help solve a problem and even save a customer.
In this episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast I share a recent positive experience I had with Delta Airlines on a recent trip to Greece where a smile simply made my day. Through a series of positive brand impressions and experiences, Delta has quickly earned my loyalty and trust. The experience even inspired me to share it with my friends, family, online community and listeners to this podcast.
In this episode Pam Moore, CEO Founder Marketing Nutz, a full service, social media, digital branding, content marketing, conversion optimization agency shares 10 tips to smile at your customers online. Though we can't always smile at our customers and community in real life, we can definitely deliver them smiles in the form of digital and social body language. How we talk, how we listen, respond and communicate are all virtual ways in which we communicate and the loyal trust of our audience and social media community members.
Take a listen to the podcast and learn how you can deliver virtual smiles to your audience and increase brand equity, brand loyalty and customer satisfaction overall.
Podcast Episode Highlights
The power of a smile
Delta Airlines case study in the power of a smile
10 Tips to virtually smile at your audience, community and listeners utilizing social media
The power of social and digital body language
Have you tried implementing an employee brand advocacy program only to find you are constantly hitting internal business road blocks?
Do you struggle with getting the buy-in from key stakeholders? Do you feel like you are herding cats getting even your pilot program off the ground?
A successful employee advocacy program requires more than a fancy slide deck, and lip service approval from the c-suite.
If you want real results everyone from the CEO and c-suite, executive directors to employees must have skin in the game. You must earn their buy-in, support and belief in your program. You need to ensure them they are part of something that is bigger than themselves and what you or them can do alone.
Take a listen to this episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast from Pam Moore, CEO and CoFounder Marketing Nutz, a full service social business, digital marketing and branding agency, for a discussion on why key stakeholders, business leaders and employees must invest in employees and why employees must be committed to the program for the right reasons.
Podcast Episode Highlights
Why commitment from the c-suite is imperative
Why buy-in from middle management and directors is important
Why employees must have skin in the game
What human being doesn't love a delightful surprise? An unexpected and positive brand experience can create memories that last a lifetime.
It's not the status quo of life and business that we remember and want to shout from a mountain top and tell our friends and colleagues about it.
Why is it so many brands focus only on status quo? I really do wish more brands would choose to delight me and give me something more than what I expect and what all of their competitors deliver.
Brand leaders must embrace the need and importance of creating positive customer experiences. Surprising and delighting customers can help brands increase customer loyalty and even inspire their audiences to share the delightful experiences far and wide with their networks both online and offline.
Check out this episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast to hear Pam Moore, CEO and Founder Marketing Nutz, a full service social media, digital marketing and branding agency share a case study about an amazing, delightful and unexpectedly pleasant experience I recently had while flying on Delta Airlines on a trip to Athens, Greece. I also compare the experience to a not so delightful experience I had on a recent and prior trip flying Jet Blue airlines.
Listen to the podcast to also hear specific tips and strategies for how business and marketing leaders can create delightful and unexpected experiences for their customers and community.
Podcast Episode Highlights
Why all brands should have a goal to surprise and delight their customers consistently
How to create delightful and unexpected customer experiences
The benefits of creating delightful, unexpected customer experiences
Earning loyal brand evangelists via delightful customer experiences
Why brands must provide a better than status quo customer experiences
Importance of knowing your customer and giving them what they want before they know they want it
Acknowledge the needs of your customers and clearly communicate the fact you will deliver to the needs
The importance of consistently making every brand touch count
Did you know that 41% of people believe employees of an organization are more trusted than the CEO, founder or public relations department, according to Edelman Trust Barometer?
Your employees are the front door, back door and window to your brand. They know what is inside your brand and are the people who make the authentic delivery of your brand promise to your target audience, customers and social online and offline communities a truth or a myth.
Your employees are already active on the social networks today regardless if you want to acknowledge it or not. They are already making hundreds and thousands of brand impressions every day on social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and the list goes on.
The majority of organizations and business leaders today want to increase brand awareness and brand equity, grow their community, increase sales and earn the support of loyal brand evangelists.
What they don't realize is that some of the greatest opportunities for quickly recruiting and earning internal brand advocates and external brand evangelists to grow their business are sitting right within the walls of their own company.
Take a listen to this episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast and learn the top 10 reasons employees are your best brand advocates from Pam Moore, CEO and founder of Marketing Nutz, a social business, digital marketing and experiential brand agency.
An employee brand advocate program can help you inspire and engage employees to not just understand your brand promise but to live it! Creating such a program often helps you do the "double click" on what is really happening within your organization in regard to employee advocacy or lack there of, understand who is already utilizing the social networks and who needs training.
Bottom line, you can never go wrong by investing in your greatest asset, which is the human beings within your organization. When you invest in them, they are more inspired to invest in your customers, partners and greater community of humans.
Podcast Episode Highlights
Top 10 reasons employees are your greatest brand advocates
How employees create organic conversations to inspire others to connect with yuor brand
How empowering your employees powers up your brand
Why employees are more trusted than your CEO, Founder and marketing department
Your employees are already investing in your brand, invest in them
How to bridge the social digital divide with an employee brand evangelist program
There is a new social kid on the social networking block. This kid goes by the name of Ello. Many are jumping on to the new social network and saying hello Ello by the thousands per hour. However, the real question is how long will they stick around? As I always say, what happens after the like is far more important than the initial like, or in this case "hello."
Are the people jumping onto Ello doing anything more than saying hello?
Ello touts itself as the anti-Facebook and plays against the Facebook business model of advertising, privacy issues and now requiring real user names.
In my opinion, any network that has a primary value proposition of taking out Facebook is failing from the start and needs to go back and do their marketing 101 homework.
In this episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast Pam Moore, CEO and Founder of Marketing Nutz, a full service social media, digital marketing, experiential branding and content marketing agency shares with you her thoughts on the new social network, Ello and if it's "Hello Ello" or "Goodbye Ello." I also do a quick review of the Ello Manifesto, privacy policy and business model.
Episode Highlights
Do we need another Facebook?
Is it time to say hello to Ello?
Will people say goodbye to Ello before really saying hello?
What will it take for a social network to ever beat out Facebook?
Becoming a social business is a journey, not a destination. You can't just mark a day on the calendar and say "this is the day we will be a social business."
We must embrace the journey. We need to endure the bumps, valleys and remember we are in this journey for the long haul! We need to build a team of people who are ready for the journey and can see the vision ahead.
If you are having difficulty seeing real results from your investment in social media, it may be time for you to do a quick mindset check. The problems may be in your own heart, mind and attitude vs The keys to success in integrating new media, social technologies and social business practices into your business for real results are in the people, human relationships and leading teams to achieve goals and objectives.
We must embrace imperfect perfection and know that perfection is the enemy of good. Sometimes really good is good enough!
In this episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast Pam Moore, CEO Founder Marketing Nutz share with you 25 tips for a healthy social business mindset. I share with you why success is as much about the art of human relationships as it is about learning and understanding the technology and new media platforms.
There definitely is no shortage of social media self proclaimed gurus and experts willing to tell you exactly what you should do to achieve results in business using social media.
You could spend every waking moment of your day reading blog posts, analyzing industry reports, peeling back the onion of the best practices from the social scientists.
They have advice on everything from how to tweet, how to get retweeted, what time of day to tweet, and when, how and why you should be on one social network over the other. In addition you can find a ton of advice on how to become a social rockstar overnight with their magic social media pill for a low price of $49!
There is a hard reality you must understand. You need to quit building your strategy based solely on the advice of social media gurus and scientists.
Why you ask? Because you need to build your own plan that supports the needs of your audience and your own business goals and objectives. These gurus we are referring to do NOT know your audience, your business or your goals and objectives.
In this episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast Pam Moore, CEO Marketing Nutz a full service social media, digital marketing, content marketing and brand agency explains why you must stop taking the advice of gurus as the social media gospel and why you need to roll up your sleeves and get to work building your own plan.
Episode Highlights
Why you must stop basing your social media strategy on guru advice
Why you must build your own plan
Two case studies showcasing why the guru advice does not always drive desired outcomes
Why there is no replacement to knowing your audience
Your employees are conversation starters and the front door to your brand 24 hours a day, 365 days of a year. Their reach, impact and conversations with their friends, colleagues, communities and networks they influence don't stop when they punch out for their day job with your organization.
According to Edelman's Trust Barometer, 41% of people think a company's employees rank higher in public trust than their PR department, CEO or Founder!
84% of people trust recommendations from friends and family above all marketing.
In this episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast, Pam Moore, CEO & Founder Marketing Nutz a full service social media branding, digital marketing and word of mouth marketing agency explains why you should consider an employee advocate program to quickly power up your brand and business results!
We are also pleased to announce the first of a series of conversations and educational events to help business leaders understand how to develop and execute a brand advocacy program in their organization to increase employee engagement as well as increase brand awareness and business results.
This exciting new series is co-hosted and sponsored by our new partner, EveryoneSocial.
How to join the conversation and tap into the power of your employees to power up your brand!
Download the white paper outlining 9 Steps to Develop an Employee Brand Advocate Program
Listen to the podcast to learn why employee brand advocate programs drive results.
Join the conversation on October 7th at 9pm et via #GetRealChat Twitter Chat.
Register for the webcast scheduled for October 15th at 1pm et!
Episode Highlights
How to join the conversation and upcoming events to help you build your own employee brand advocacy program
Why you should consider an employee brand advocacy program
Compelling industry statistics validating the trends and power of employee brand advocates
Key performance indicators influenced by employee brand advocate programs
Are you building a social media community built upon trust, meaningful relationships and value? Or are you building a self serving empire?
Many marketing and brand leaders struggle with success in building community. They spend hours a day posting updates, engaging with community members and measuring results or lack of there of. However, when you do the "double click" to see how exactly they are building this so called "community," it's easy to see they are really all about themselves. There is no real sense of community and in reality they are simply bringing people together so they can promote themselves and their business.
Real communities are built upon trust, open communication, sharing, relevancy, context and meaning. They help nurture relationships and the members within the community help one another often times in both business and life.
If you are frustrated and not seeing business or life results utilizing social media to build community it may very well be time for you do an assessment on your strategies for building community and nurturing relationships.
In this episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast Pam Moore, CEO Founder Marketing Nutz, full service social media marketing, branding and conversion optimization agency explains the difference between a real community built on trust and value vs a self serving empire. Pam helps you with a series of questions to help you identify if your behavior is attracting people to come closer to your brand or if your social media strategies and tactics are pushing them away.
Episode Highlights
How to identify the difference between a community and self serving empire
How to determine if your social community building efforts may be coming across as self serving to your audience
Providing value for community members
Enabling people to be part of something bigger than they can be by themselves
How to ensure you bring people closer to your brand vs pushing them away
It's not rocket science or hot news that earning trust, establishing authority and nurturing relationships is the key to success in business and life. Do you wish you had more business conversions? Focus on earning trust as a top priority. Relationships are nurtured over time with a foundation of trust, caring, and open communication. Relationships are not formed via a spam auto Twitter direct message or a spam link blasted via Twitter to the top 50 influencers in your industry niche.
Many marketing and business leaders hop onto the social networks and get excited about how easy it is to blast the noise to hundreds and thousands of people. Even for those who don't like to write, they find it easy to throw together a few 140 character tweets spamming links and self promotional content with the hopes of growing their business.
Spamming and over self promotion will hurt your brand more than help it. These behaviors may be pushing people away from you and your brand vs attracting them and inspiring them to have a relationship with you.
If spamming and self promotion are the behaviors you have been falling to then it is time you do a reset. You can easily stop spamming today. It's one simple decision.
In this episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast Pam Moore, CEO & Founder of Marketing Nutz a full service social media, digital marketing and experiential branding agency explains why spam and self promotion is not going to help your business. Pam also share why your business and marketing results will be exponentially higher if you focus on earning trust and establishing relationships.
Episode Highlights
Why trust and relationships stomp spam and self promotion for business results
Why spam is hurting your brand more than helping
The importance of providing consistent value to earn trust and build relationships
Why you must know your audience and develop a strategy to help them achieve their goals
Focus on the human relationship first
Humans are creatures of habit. Since marketers are humans, this means it's easy for marketers to fall to old tactics and strategies to achieve their business and marketing goals.
Times are changing. Smart marketers are quickly learning that it is no longer simply about eyeballs and impressions. To inspire audiences to connect with brands, marketers must connect in a human way.
Even more important is that audiences and community members are invited to join something bigger than what they can be or do by themselves.
It is human behavior for people to want to feel connected. They want to connect with other humans. They want to know that they are safe, cared for and that their worth on this planet will have a lasting impression. They want to feel a sense of belonging, achievement and actualization.
Bottom line, people want to be part of something bigger than what they can be by themselves. They want to not just buy something, but join something.
In this episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast Pam Moore, CEO Marketing Nutz, social media marketing, social business, branding agency explains why marketing and business leaders leading social media marketing for brands of all sizes must empower their audience and give them something to join that offers value, relevancy, community and relationships that are meaningful. Pam also share 10 strategies and tips to nurture and grow communities that offer value to all who choose to participate.
Episode Highlights
Why people want to be part of something bigger than themselves
Why people want to do more than buy things
What people look for in a community
How community leaders can build a "sticky fabric" that attracts and inspires people to stick around for the long term
10 tips to nurture and grow meaningful communities
There is not a day I don't wake up that my social media stream and email inboxes are not filled with spam and self promotional garbage from people I don't know trying to sell me their goods. Everything from Twitter direct messages, public spammy tweets, to LinkedIn spam messages and the list goes on.
Whatever happened to first saying hello? Or how about building a relationship first? Or even better, how about earning my trust and inspiring me to check out your blog, website, mobile application or other products and services?
It is imperative that marketing and business leaders learn both the art and science of social media.
Just because you CAN spam the world using social media doesn't mean you should.
It's time marketers shift gears from the "me me me" selling strategy to the "give, give, give" mentality.
Inspire your audiences to connect with you with a top goal of helping them achieve their goals. When they achieve their goals, you then achieve yours by default because you are aligned with the needs of your audience. Inspire, connect achieve! Don't make it more difficult than it has to be.
In this episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast Pam Moore, CEO Founder Marketing Nutz, full service social media marketing, branding, digital marketing agency shares 10 ways you can provide more value and quit the selling, spamming approach to social media engagement.
Episode Highlights
10 ways to provide value
Why you must stop spamming today
Using language your audience can understand and connect with
Earning trust and nurturing relationships is the key to success
Building an integrated platform that helps you connect with your audience over time
Building an authentic, human brand
It is a myth to think you can jump on the social networks and see immediate results. Many marketers and business leaders fail simply because they underestimate the amount of work required. They get sold on the social media easy button and "Facebook is free" mentality.
The truth is that the ability to achieve real business results using social media requires proper research, education, planning, an understanding of your audience and much more. You must know what your audience wants from you as well as how you can offer them unique value that helps them achieve their goals in life and/ or business.
In this episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast Pam Moore, CEO Founder Marketing Nutz, full service social media, experiential branding and digital marketing agency shares 5 reasons why marketers and business leaders fail and never see real results using social media. Do the opposite of these 5 things to increase your results and better achieve your business goals and objectives.
Episode Highlights
5 Reasons why marketers fail using social media
Why being unprepared and lacking an understanding of the social ecosystem impacts business result
Why being impatient can be disastrous to your social media planning and execution
The importance of understanding your customer
The importance of a solid brand architecture and messaging platform to inspire and connect with audience and community
Are you one of those people who has spent the last 6 months or longer searching for the social media easy button? Do you wish there was a perfect cookie cutter solution you could buy or a social band-aid you could slap on your broken business that would make all of your social business problems go away? Do you wish there was a magic carpet ride to increase brand awareness, Facebook news feed mastery and Twitter viral master heroism?
The truth is that there is only one way to do social media and that is the way that works for you, your audience, your customers, and your business.
You might as well quit searching for the social media get rich fast pill as it doesn't exist. There is no class that you can download or workshop you can attend that will help you become a social media rockstar or guru overnight.
There is no shortcut that will help you bypass rolling up your sleeves and getting in the head of your audience, setting goals and objectives and building and implementing a strategy and plan to inspire your audiences to connect with you.
In this episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast Pam Moore, CEO Marketing Nutz, full service social business, digital branding, online marketing, conversion optimization agency shares 5 reasons why you can not follow in the footsteps of others doing social media. I explain clearly why you must build your own plan if you are seeking real business results. There is no way around it.
Episode Highlights
The only way to do social media in a nutshell
5 Reasons why you need to stop searching for the social media easy button
Why you must know your audience deeply
Why setting goals and objectives is unique to each brand and business
How to put the "you factor" into your marketing and business for increased results
Finding your unique value for your audience and community
Are you an entrepreneur, small business owner or leader in a corporate organization and feel as if you are stuck in a rut? Ever feel as though the rest of the world is zooming past you? Or maybe that you have fallen victim to the status quo bug? You know your results could be better but you don't know how to get there.
If this is you, then this episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast is exactly what you need.
In life and business we always want to be looking ahead to what we can be doing that is better, smarter and more efficient. Most importantly we need to always be striving to deliver the best value for our audiences, customers, partners and larger community.
In this episode Pam Moore, CEO Founder of Marketing Nutz, a full service social media, branding, digital marketing and content marketing agency shares 5 tips to help you get unstuck and hopefully inspire you to take your business and life to the next level. You can implement these tips immediately. It's time you stomp status quo and zoom past your competition once and for all!
Episode Highlights
Stop comparing your chapter 1 to other people's chapter 20
Stop copying your competitors and others in your industry
Doing research to understand what is the current status quo in your industry
Why you should take a day out of the office
Focus on the needs of your audience as a top priority
Everything you tweet, post, pin, say and do is a representation of your brand.
Does adding the disclaimer "my tweets are my own" to your Twitter profile really make them your own? Does it really separate your thoughts in 140 character increments from that of the brand you are associating yourself with?
Brand, marketing and business leaders must realize and learn that a simple statement of "my tweets are my own" does not mean that another human being reading them is going to necessarily separate those thoughts and a particular tweet or post to any social network from that of the brand.
Instead, brand and organizational leadership should be focused on investing in employees as human beings. They should be training them, empowering them to be loyal brand evangelists!
In this episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast Pam Moore, CEO and Founder Marketing Nutz, a full service, social media, social business and digital marketing agency shares with you exactly why she does not believe your tweets are your own and that they have a direct impact on the perception of the brand for which you are associating yourself.
Episode Highlights
Why Your Tweets are Not Your Own
Everything you do online is a representation of the brand you work for
The importance of an employee brand advocacy program
Social media will reveal your organization from the inside out before transforming it
Can a brand really be human? In this episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast Pam Moore, CEO Founder of Marketing Nutz, full service social media, social business, digital marketing, branding agency answers this question.
Becoming a human brand is different for each organization. There is no perfect cookie cutter solution. However, there are definitely some best practices that can help marketers and business leaders better humanize their brand and connect their audiences in a real and meaningful way.
What are your favorite brands? Why are they your favorite? It could be you like the product, the service, the way it makes you feel. It could be many different things.
If it is not the actual product you are in love with from the brand, then the chances are high that you like the service as well as the way the brand makes you feel.
The brand has done something within you heart that makes you feel good. Do you feel empowered, inspired, capable of doing more, being more than you would be without the brand and its offerings?
The feelings you are feeling likely didn’t happen by accident. Smart marketers have been executing emotional and human brand strategies and tactics for decades. People buy from people. People connect with other humans more deeply than they can connect with a logo or an inanimate object.
The goal with brand humanization is to empower your people to power your brand while at the same time ensure you are building and igniting your brand as a whole, as an organization. The days of hiding behind corporate collateral that is scripted word for word, presentation decks that are wordsmithed for weeks are long gone.
Today’s communication online, via mobile devices, text, via social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn,Instagram are real time. Brands must figure out how to part of the organic conversation that is happening 24/7.
Brand leaders must figure out how to connect with their customers in a real, relevant and personal way.
So how do you do this? What are some of the characteristics of human brands? Take a listen to this episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast for 15 characteristics of human brands.
Episode Highlights
15 Characteristics of human brands
Importance of social listening
Giving people something bigger to join than what they can do on their own
Engaging and communicating as humans
Empowering your employees to put the turbo into your human brand power
Embracing imperfect perfection because humans are not perfect
Staying focused on the right metrics, quality over quantity
If you think LinkedIn is only for looking for a job you are missing out on benefits that could be increasing brand awareness, generating leads and increasing sales.
Did you know that there are executives using LinkedIn from all 500 of the Fortune 500 organizations? Or that LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional network online with more than 313 million members in over 200 countries and territories?
Although they started with only 4,500 members in 2003, professionals are now signing up to join at a rate of more than 2 new members per second.
LinkedIn can provide many benefits for brands, marketers and business leaders both personally and professionally. From establishing authority, building trust, igniting your personal brand, increasing corporate brand awareness and community building to nurturing relationships, generating leads and increasing sales LinkedIn can provide tremendous value for those who learn to embrace and maximize the potential.
LinkedIn is a platform that myself and our agency spends the least amount of time on. However, we see high value and return on investment for time and investment spent.
Often times when new prospects contact us via LinkedIn, they are ready to do business. The question is usually, “how can we get a proposal quick and when can you get started. LinkedIn is often the last stop of our online platforms and profiles before they make a decision to explore a business relationship with our agency, Marketing Nutz.
In this episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast Pam Moore, CEO Marketing Nutz shares 10 things you can do on LinkedIn besides look for a job. She also provides some history on LinkedIn and current statistics of use and demographics.
Episode Highlights
10 things you can do on LinkedIn besides looking for a job
LinkedIn statistics and business trends
Benefits of using LinkedIn for business
Using LinkedIn to develop your personal brand
Using LinkedIn to establish trust, authority and thought leadership
Using LinkedIn to nurture relationships
Using LinkedIn to grow community
How to leverage LinkedIn to maximize ROI of your other social networks and marketing efforts
There is not a day that goes by that I don't hear an ear full from a client, partner, colleague or friend of how much they dislike a particular social network, or how a social network is not delivering value for their business.
It's human nature to want to blame a "thing" on the lack of a result. It's easy to blame Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn for the problems you have in your business. It's easy to blame the lack of success on the never ending changes to the Facebook algorithm, spammers on every social network and the list goes on.
The truth is that your results are 100% dependent upon how prepared you are as well as how patient you are.
Your return in business and life is only going to be as good as the quality of inputs. If you are always trying to take the easy way out, your results are going to be lacking.
If you take time to plan, set goals, understand the needs of your audience and help them solve problems, your results will show such!
Bottom line, you need to stop being lazy. It's not Facebook's problem you are not achieving your goals. You must think bigger than Twitter or LinkedIn! It's time you take responsibility for the results or lack of results in your business!
In this episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast Pam Moore, CEO Founder Marketing Nutz, full service social media, branding, digital marketing, content marketing agency delivers a dose of tough love on how to achieve real results in both business and life using social media.
Episode Highlights
Why social media is not free
Your time is your greatest asset
Importance of developing an integrated platform that works when you're not working
Importance of developing a social fabric to zoom results in business and life
Importance of setting goals and objectives
Why you must know the needs of your audience
Why doing the RIGHT things is better than doing EVERYTHING
If you know anything about using Wordpress for business, you know that having the right plugins is key to maximizing the platform and ensuring you are leveraging the technology to achieve business goals as well as deliver a pleasant and consistent user experience.
In this episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast Pam Moore, CEO Founder Marketing Nutz, full service social business, social media, branding and digital marketing agency shares 5 of her very favorite Wordpress plugins.
An important note is also that a plugin will not do anything for your business and online platform if you do not have a solid foundation from which you are building your online marketing strategy upon. It is important that your site is mobile friendly and preferably mobile responsive to meet the needs of the modern, connected customer.
I also encourage you to check out the other associated podcasts and information provided below if you are struggling with achieving an ROI with your online marketing investment. The sum of the parts are greater than the hole.
This is the third Fab 5 in 15 episode we'll be providing on Fridays. I share with you 5 ways to zoom your business in life in only 15 minutes! We want you to get out there and enjoy life. The Fab 5 in 15 series is designed to help you save time so you can enjoy the WHY of life and business you are doing all of this in the first place.
Episode Highlights
5 Top wordpress plugins
The importance of security and backups
How to improve performance by optimizing image sizes
My favorite social sharing plugin that is also mobile responsive
Why the foundation of your blog or website is still most important
Ever feel like banging your head against the Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn wall trying to think of ideas for your content marketing efforts? If yes, you are not alone.
Some of the brightest marketing and business leaders run out of ideas when it comes to inspiring and connecting with their audience. It's alright to feel stuck now and then. However, if you find yourself continually running short on ideas it's time you find some inspiration and quick!
Even if creating content doesn't come easy for you, the truth is inspiration for creating amazing content that connects you and your brand with your audiences in a meaningful, relevant and human way can be found within the most simple parts of your business.
Content marketing that inspires your audience and helps them solve problems will organically attract them to your brand. By establishing trust and thought leadership you can more easily nurture relationships that will endure the never ending technology changes.
In this episode of the Social Zoom Factor Pam Moore, CEO Founder Marketing Nutz, experiential branding, digital marketing, social media and conversion optimization agency shares 25 content marketing ideas to inspire your creative juices to get unstuck and start delivering content that will engage, empower and organically attract your target audience to you and your brand.
Episode Highlights
25 Content Marketing Ideas to Kick Writers Block to the Curb
How to leverage news, frequently asked questions and product reviews as content
The art of incorporating storytelling into your content marketing efforts
Best practices for creating amazing content
How to leverage video and podcasting as content
Conducting expert interviews and turning them into content in multiple formats
It is not news that content marketing is one of the hottest buzz words for online business today. Many self proclaimed social media, social business and internet marketing experts want to convince you that content marketing was invented via the era of social media and social networks. The truth is that content, relationships and connecting as human beings has existed for decades.
Content is simply how we communicate, help, and share information with a goal to inspire, engage and activate our audiences and communities to a desired action.
In this episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast I put content marketing into a nutshell to help you understand what content marketing is and how you can use it in your business to serve the needs of your audience, grow community and achieve your business goals.
Episode Highlights
Definition of content marketing
Best practices of developing and leveraging content marketing for business
Creating content that helps your audience solve their business problems
Different types of content marketing
Using content mediums such a video marketing, podcasting, blogging, and social networking
It is no surprise that social media networks such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram is changing the landscape for events and conferences. The conversation is no longer limited to the stage, event break out sessions, paid for booth displays and show floors. Instead, there is a conversation happening 24/7 both inside and outside of the event.
In this episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast Pam Moore, CEO Founder Marketing Nutz, full service social media, social business, digital marketing, branding agency shares 25 tips and strategies to increase ROI at events and conferences by integrating social media.
Event managers and marketers have a tremendous opportunity to leverage social media to increase awareness of the event, increase attendance, and better engage participants live at the event as well as online. Your audience and attendance is no longer limited to the people sitting in seats in the chairs.
By integrating social media into the DNA of your event, creating visual experiences for participants and developing influence programs that tap into the power of other people's communities within your industry you can quickly and better engage loyal brand evangelists and exponentially turn up both the buzz and business results for your event.
Events are the perfect medium to fully embrace the power of social media and social business. Social media is really one big conversation.
Episode Highlights
25 Tips to Increase ROI at events and conferences
Pre and post show planning and integration
Using and integrating hashtags into conversation
Utilizing Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and more
Creating a visual experience that humanizes your brand engages attendees
Taking the conversation outside of the venue and event walls
How to turn up the buzz
Importance of measurement and analysis from the start
How to set goals and objectives
Is the real estate and vacation rental industry keeping up with technology including social media and mobile marketing? Are they doing all they can to inspire, engage, and connect with the new modern customer? Or are realtors ignoring these mobile, always connected and social savvy customers?
Many realtors, property managers and others working in the industry complain of not enough leads, their websites not performing to a level that delivers a positive return on investment and that they are not seeing results using social media.
This shouldn't come as a surprise with a few quick Google searches. Even the top searches return websites and blogs that are not mobile responsive, listings that lack visual appeal and the list goes on.
In this episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast Pam Moore, CEO Founder Marketing Nutz, full service digital marketing, branding, social media, conversion optimization agency shares strategies, tips and best practices to increase business results using social media, mobile marketing, online marketing as well as a higher return on their investments online.
Episode Highlights
My experience in looking for a home using the internet and a mobile device
What I would do if I were a social realtor
10 Tips for realtors to improve their online marketing results
How realtors can better use social media to connect with the modern buyer
How realtors can leverage new media such as video, podcasting and social media to grow their business
The importance of creating a community others want to join
Creating something bigger than yourself, bigger than what you and I can do alone
It is easy to get lost in the bits, bytes and 140 character conversations of social media. For many entrepreneurs, marketers and business leaders, deciding what tools to focus on to optimize social media efforts can be a daunting task.
Twitter is a platform that many people have a difficult time learning. However, it's also one of the most powerful platforms for those who take the time to understand, embrace and utilize it for their benefit.
Knowing what tools to spend time on versus ignore can save you much time when it comes to actually seeing a business return using Twitter for business.
In this episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast Pam Moore, CEO Founder Marketing Nutz, social media, digital marketing, branding, conversion optimization agency will share with you 5 of my favorite Twitter tools.
These tools will help you better inspire and engage with your audience, manage social media efforts, listen as well as analyze real-time conversations and results so you can continually rinse, repeat and optimize.
This is the second Fab 5 in 15 special Friday episode. Each Friday Pam Moore will share with you 5 ways to zoom your business and life in only 15 minutes! We want you to get out there and enjoy life. The Fab 5 in 15 series is designed to help you save time so you can enjoy the WHY of life and business you are doing all of this in the first place. Please let me know your thoughts and if you like this format. You can comment below or send a tweet to me at @PamMktgNut using the hashtag #SocialZoomFactor!
Episode Highlights
5 Top Twitter tools to nurture relationships, increase efficiencies, engagement and business results
Easy ways to break through the noise on Twitter
How to identify key influencers following and engaging with you
How to increase Twitter following
How to easily curate and schedule posts for posting to Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+ and Facebook
Can I pick your brain please? How about a free lunch? Will you review my mobile application and tell all of your friends about it? We have all seen and heard these desperate marketing attempts at gaining free knowledge and help. Despite the fact that we spend days every week publishing advice free blog content, podcasts, hosting tweet chats and more, people still want more and don't want to pay for it.
If you have worked a day in business you likely know that time is money. If you do not put a value on your time, nobody else will. You must put a value on your knowledge, resources and time you spend on whatever it is you do. When you put value on your time and knowledge, those around you will do the same.
There is not a day that goes by that I am not bombarded by requests to meet for a free "pick your brain" session, review new mobile applications, videos, marketing plans, infographics and the list goes on.
Every morning I jump on to Twitter to find people begging for follows, downloads of apps, sharing of content to help it go viral. The truth is that there is no cookie cutter solution to starting, launching and growing a business business for real results. You must get in the head of your audience. You must set goals and you must nurture relationships that can help you grow.
When you spend your days online begging and pleading for free help you are hurting your brand more than helping.
I am not saying we shouldn't give our time to those in need. What I am saying is that those asking for free time should first build a relationship with the person who they want to engage with and learn from. Life and business is about relationships. It seems that too many are wanting to skip that step in exchange for the magic carpet ride and easy button, which in reality does not exist.
The sooner you can learn this fact, the better your business and life will be.
In this episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast Pam Moore, CEO Founder Marketing Nutz, full service social business, digital marketing, branding and content marketing agency shares with you why I do not accept the free lunches that include a "pick my brain" free lunch invitation. I also share with you exactly how you can work with me, my agency and our team.
Congratulations! You have finally said “yes” to jumping into the social bird bath with that crazy blue bird, Twitter. It feels like a big commitment and you didn't make the decision lightly.
You may have thought this day would never come. You thought that lil' blue bird would fly away to its happy place so you would never have to worry about talking in 140 character fragments of conversation.
However, that lil' blue bird is still kickin', swimmin' and rockin' the social ecosystem. Twitter is where we get our news, connect with like minds and
You are probably even seeing trusted colleagues, other CEOs, CMOs and even your best friend nurturing relationships and seeing real business results using Twitter. The big question now is how can you do the same!
In this episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast, Pam Moore, CEO & Founder Marketing Nutz, full service experiential branding, social business, digital marketing, content marketing agency shares 15 things things every CEO, CMO, CTO, CIO and any member of the C-Suite must do before hopping on Twitter. This episode is helpful if this is you or if you are supporting the C-Suite and helping them achieve success using social media and Twitter. The content is applicable for entrepreneurs to large organizations. This is the fourth podcast in the series "Twitter in a Nutshell" that is geared at helping you take your business results to the next level by better understanding and integrating Twitter.
Episode Highlights
15 Things the C-Suite must do before hopping on Twitter
Developing your personal brand strategy and persona
Developing your own content strategy and plan
The importance of being human
The art and importance of social listening
How to start with a test Twitter account to get your social feet wet
Slowing down to speed up
Social media presents tremendous opportunity for us to connect with people across the globe like we could never do before.
The power is at our fingertips to ignite relationships and business results. With this power also comes much responsibility and associated risk.
Ever heard of the OPC? Note, it's not to be confused with the song, OPP, even though if you have ever attended one of my workshops you have likely not only heard the song but danced to it!
The OPC = other people's content and other people's community.
Tapping into the OPC can be a huge turbo boost to zoom your brand, business results and both personal and professional relationships.
However, tapping into the OPC requires as much art as it does science. This is because at the heartbeat of social media, business and life is people. People are the heartbeat of business. People are the heartbeat of Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.
Communities create markets, but only after you make the first investment in the human beings within. You must be willing to share yourself, share your knowledge and give without expectation of anything in return.
People who learn to do this in an authentic way can zoom straight past their competition with powerful relationships, extended reach, and multiple communities and people sitting on the edge of their seats to learn from the content they provide.
In this episode of the Social Zoom Factor Pam Moore, CEO Founder Marketing Nutz helps entrepreneurs, small business owners and corporate leaders understand how to tap into the power of the OPC starting today. Included are 10 golden rules to ensure you achieve the greatest results possible when engaging and participating in communities.
Episode Highlights
10 Golden Rules to Benefit from the OPC (other people's content & other people's community)
Definition of the OPC
Tapping into the power of other people's content
Tapping into the power of other people's communities
The importance of respect for the community guidelines
Listen before diving in head first to the OPC
Relationships and trust will take time to earn and establish
How to choose the right OPC
Sharing other people's content to provide value to your audience and followers
Heartbeat of social media is you and me
Many business and life experts will tell you that you should follow your passions if you want to get rich. As human beings it is normal for us to focus our lives on something we are passionate about. We want our work and life to matter.
We desire to make a difference in someone else's life. We want to leave a footprint on this planet that is something bigger than what you or I can do individually, something we can only do together.
We search for the dream job. We search for the dream products and services that can deliver happiness. We go on vacations that promise happiness. We purchase courses that promise wealth and improved health.
It's important that you design a life that brings you happiness. However, happiness isn't going to come in a box. Financial security isn't going to come in a box or a 3 day course.
Many search for the dream life where everything magically comes together, where our work can be meaningful, bring value to others and make us rich.
The truth is that the chance of this happening in such a way that everything is going to come to you is well, just about zero.
Monetizing your passions is far different than following your passion. You can’t simply follow your passions and the money is going to follow. Just as with anything in life that has a big and favorable, pleasurable return, there is usually up front planning, dedication and sacrifice up front so you can enjoy the benefits later.
In this episode of the Social Zoom Factor Pam Moore, CEO Founder Marketing Nutz, social media, social business, digital marketing, branding agency discusses the myths of following your passion and quickly monetizing them. I cover the difference between following your passion and monetizing your passion, and why you must set goals and a plan to monetize your passion, versus waiting for the money to come to you.
Episode Highlights
- The reality of the work required to monetize your passion
- Difference between following and monetizing your passion
- Definitions of vision, mission and path and why they matter
- Why you must set goals and plan
- Why you must treat your passion like a business if you want to monetize it
- Finding your WHY of life and business
- The importance of letting your passion energize you and your business
You have approximately 10 seconds to inspire, engage and keep visitors to your website or blog. If they are on a mobile device this can be even harder. Success in online marketing does not come from all of the visitors who "almost" became loyal brand evangelists or customers.
Marketers must figure out how to engage their online audience within the first 10 seconds or they are off to a competitor site. If a site is slow loading or has forms that don't work via mobile device the chance of that visitor ever taking the next step to engage in a relationship of any kind with the brand are slim to none.
Given that IDC predicts there will be 1.3 Billion mobile workers by 2015, marketers can not ignore the modern connected and social savvy customer. 90% of people who own a mobile device have that device within arms reach 100% of the time!
How do you break through the noise of tools and tech to identify the best tools to help you increase conversions and nurture a community of loyal brand evangelists and customers?
You must have a combination of a solid platform that inspires and engages with amazing content, and a conversion funnel that guides them toward the desired action you want them to take. You can't simply throw up a default web form from your email marketing company and expect real results. You must get in the head of your customer and not only give them what they want but make it easy for them to obtain from you.
In this episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast I share with you my 5 favorite tools to drive conversions for both the mobile and traditional online customer visiting from a desktop. All of these tools are designed to support the modern connected customer and will help you retain that visitor to your site more than 10 seconds!
This is the first Fab 5 Friday in 15 minutes episode we'll be providing on Fridays. Pam Moore, CEO Founder Marketing Nutz, full service social business, digital marketing, branding conversion optimization agency shares with you 5 ways to zoom your business in life in only 15 minutes! We want you to get out there and enjoy life. The Fab 5 in 15 series is designed to help you save time so you can enjoy the WHY of life and business you are doing all of this in the first place. Please let me know your thoughts and if you like this format. You can comment below or send a tweet to met at @PamMktgNut using the hashtag #SocialZoomFactor!
Episode Highlights
5 Top tools to increase conversions and business results for the modern connected customer
Why you must think about conversion optimization
Definition of a conversion
Types of conversions
Difference between mobile responsive and mobile friendly
Marketers can not ignore the importance of connecting with the modern, connected and social savvy customer. Mobile marketing must be prioritized in marketing strategies and plans from the start.
Did you know that the average American spends at minimum 2 hours a day on their mobile device. This adds up to 57,293 over a life time.
Mobile internet users have grown from 500 million in 2010 to a forecasted 3.5 billion by 2015!
You can't just throw the words "get mobile" onto a marketing plan and expect real business results. Developing a mobile marketing strategy and plan that delivers results requires proper planning, understanding of technology, created amazing user experiences, integration of social media, content and conversion funnels that drives desired action, proper reporting and measurement and much more.
The modern consumer of today is mobile, social, savvy and smart. Your online and mobile platforms must be able to serve them what they need and want from you how and when they need it.
Take a listen to this episode of the Social Zoom Factor episode as Pam Moore, CEO & Founder of Marketing Nutz, full service digital marketing, social media, experiential branding agency delivers 15 steps to build your mobile marketing strategy and plan. I share with you tips, strategies and best practices to help you integrate, create amazing user experiences and drive real business return on your investment. It's not just about developing a pretty mobile website or application, but instead about how you can develop and launch an integrated platform that serves the needs of your customers and help you achieve your goals and objectives.
Episode Highlights
15 Steps To Develop a Mobile Marketing Strategy and Plan
What is mobile marketing?
Why you can't skimp on the right technology investment
Harnessing the power of social media
Eliminating technology and online silos
Understanding search intent, local vs direct online visitors
Optimizing for local user experience and expectations
Why you must embed mobile marketing strategies into the DNA of your business
Difference between mobile responsive and viewing via mobile device
The importance of the human factor
How to get started with mobile marketing
Who is the modern, connected, social, savvy connected customer? 90% of them hold the knowledge of power in their handheld device which is in arms reach 100% of the time.
Did you know 90% of people have their mobile device within arms reach 100% of the time? Or that IDC predicts there will be 1.3 billion mobile workers by 2015?
40% of shoppers consult three or more channels before making a purchase decision. This is happening often times while they are shopping even at physical retail locations.
57% consumers will not recommend companies with poor mobile sites. This is important since 77% of consumers are likely to buy a product via recommendation and conversions are 4-10 times higher coming from trusted brand advocates.
The modern consumer of today is mobile, social, savvy and smart. They often hold knowledge in their hand more powerful than the sales representative standing in front of them.
They are not thinking "what device should I use to access website a, b or c to make a purchase decision so that the website displays best?"
Instead they are picking up whatever mobile device is charged and available, not "borrowed" by a colleague, kid or spouse! They are not questioning if it should be Apple, Android or Microsoft. They're choosing what is within arms reach.
Mobile marketing must be embedded in the DNA of your marketing strategy from DNA. You can't throw it in last minute or use it as a band-aid to fix a broken business.
In this episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast, Pam Moore, CEO and Founder Marketing Nutz, full service social business, digital marketing, branding and conversion optimization agency explains in detail why you can no longer ignore mobile marketing and why it must be at the forefront of your marketing plan, social business and launch strategies.
Episode Highlights
- Why you can't ignore mobile marketing
- Why your website and blog must be mobile responsive
- Who is the modern, mobile and connected customer of today?
- How much money are marketers spending on mobile advertising today
- Mobile predictions the next few years
- Importance of establishing trust
- Why you can't simply build a mobile application to solve your website problems
- Why you must embed mobile marketing strategies into the DNA of your business
- Difference between mobile responsive and viewing via mobile device
- How to get started with mobile marketing
What is a Twit? It’s not the same exact thing as a tweet although it’s sometimes referred to as one. Is it a person? Is it short for Twitter? Is it a tweet gone viral? Or a tweet gone bad. Or neither?
Twitter can be overwhelming for newbies to social media and even veterans of the online marketing world.
Understanding the social ecosystem you are jumping and tweeting into is critical for success. How do you know what is proper etiquette? How can you join the conversation and become a valuable, contributing member of the community as soon as possible?
In this episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast, Pam Moore, CEO Marketing Nutz a full service social media, digital branding, conversion optimization agency share 40 behaviors to avoid when using Twitter for business. With these tips the chances are quite high you will avoid being a "twit" all together!
Episode Highlights
40 tips to not be a twit on Twitter
Why you must be human and authentic
Why you must read the content behind all links you tweet
Establishing trust and authority
Why you must never tweet when you are mad or upset
Becoming a social business and integrating social media into the DNA of your business is not easy. You can't mark a day on your calendar and state "that is the day we will be a social business."
You can't just wake up and decide… “I am going to be a social business starting today. I am going to do social, be social and kick some social butt. My clients will know I am social. My neighbors will know I am social. My world will know I am social… because I am social.”
Unfortunately it's not that easy. Becoming a social business requires planning, goal setting, understanding of your customers, partners, relationships, the broader ecosystem, your brand, the market perception of your brand, internal culture, internal mindset, stakeholder buy-in and a million more details.
Time to simplify and humanize!
We must simplify instead of complicate the steps that will move us toward our goal. We can start small. We can simplify vs over complicate.
The heartbeat of social media is people. It's people who write and send the tweets, take the photos, record the videos and engage in conversation. We must take a step back from the technology and embrace the human factor in order to zoom real results.
In this 10 minute episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast, Pam Moore, CEO and Founder, Marketing Nutz, a social media, marketing, digital branding, content marketing agency puts social media in a nutshell! The goal is to simplify social media and help marketing and business leaders better leverage, integrate and benefit from social media.
Episode Highlights
What is social media in a nutshell?
Importance of focusing on the human factor and not just tools and technology
Doing social media vs being socially relevant
Heartbeat of social media is people
How online relationships are similar to offline relationships
Just as we think social media, marketing and business leaders were finally starting to "get it" in regard to the foundation of social media being about human connection, relationships, authenticity, there seems to be new wave of cheaters, influence score addicted self proclaimed "gurus" ready to risk their reputation, business, client relationships, integrity and more for a few hundred or tens of thousands fake Facebook fans or Twitter followers.
What is even more disappointing is that these are the exact same people who are tweeting, speaking, training and preaching about the importance of being real, nurturing real relationships and how to build and ignite a human social brand.
There are industry thought leaders setting up fake accounts that advocate for themselves all troll others on the web.
I believe these things are one big fat social elephant in the room that we all must no longer tolerate. Ignoring it is not going to make it go away.
Should you fake it until you make it? You can hear Pam Moore, CEO Marketing Nutz, full service social media, content marketing, branding, digital marketing agency share her answer to this question in this episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast.
Episode Highlights
Should you fake it until you make it?
How to identify fake fans on Facebook
How to identify fake followers on Twitter
The risks associated with buying fans and followers
Why you should never troll others on the web
The risk of spamming and cheating tactics to your brand
Why winning the sprint in life and business is not the objective if it requires cheating.
As entrepreneurs, marketing and business leaders, when we start our career or new business venture we start with a zoom. We are ready to jump in head first, join the team and make both business and life happen.
However, as the work piles on, tweets are flying and the never ending social networks are calling our name 24/7, we often grow weary. We let ourselves get caught up in algorithms, influence scores and things that don't really matter.
It's easy to lose track and sight of the why we started our journey in the first place. Why did we join the team and jump on the field to begin with? When we lose track of the why we are doing what we do, it's easy to wind up on the bench. Before you know it, you are watching life and business success pass you by.
If this is you, it is time you get off the bench! You need to reach back into your heart and mind and find the WHY you started this journey to begin with. It's time you get back on the field and zoom your own game of life and business!
In this episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast, Pam Moore, CEO and Founder, Marketing Nutz full service social media, branding, digital marketing, conversion optimization agency I provide 10 tips to help you build a social, business and life game plan to help you stay off the bench once and for all!
Episode Highlights
10 tips to develop a social media game plan
Working smarter, not just harder
Seeking joy even when times are tough
Why you need a team to support you
Why showing up is half the battle
How to get off and stay off the bench once and for all
The power of a mentor to guide, motivate you and keep you on track
I am simply shocked at how many startups, small business owners, entrepreneurs and even marketers in large corporations wait until the last minute before launching their business or product to market to implement social media marketing strategies and tactics.
We have all seen them. They hop on Twitter the day before or day of launch throwing nothing but social spaghetti and spam on the walls of influencers, begging for clicks, plays, downloads, shares and everything in between.
There is not a day that goes by that I don't wake up to an inbox filled with spam web forms begging me to share info graphics, videos and the list goes on. My Twitter feed is filled with beggars spamming links to apps and software that they are confident will take over Facebook in the next 30 days.
What these lazy marketers don't realize is that they are doing their brand more harm than good. It is obvious they don't understand the social ecosystem of which they have barged into blasting nothing but noise.
Two of the top reasons marketing and business leaders fail to achieve a positive ROI when investing and integrating social media into their business and marketing plans is they are unprepared and they are impatient.
You will get out of social media, business and life what you put into it. If you take time to nurture relationships that are authentic and real, invest in the empowerment of human beings and provide content that is valuable and relevant to your audience, your results will be exponentially higher.
In this episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast I provide another dose of "tough love" to help marketers in businesses of all sizes quit being lazy and understand the importance of a solid launch strategy. Included are solid tips for building an influencer marketing strategy, developing and integrated platform to zoom results and much more. The better you can prepare for your business or product launch, the better your results will be.
Episode Highlights
Top strategies and tactics to leverage social media to launch a new business, product or mobile app
How not to do influencer marketing and reach out to influencers online
Tips for what you should do when reaching out to influencers online
The importance of building an integrated platform
Why you must building relationships and establish trust first
The importance of knowing your customer and audience
The importance of embedding mobile in the DNA of your planning from day one
Why you should not damage your brand by spamming your audiences day of launch
Many marketing and business leaders jump onto the social networks after being sold a bag of social goods from consultants and agencies thinking they can drive immediate business return. They often get sold on the belief that all they need to do is "do social media" and the magical social media fairy will deliver them a basket of ROI.
The truth is they wind up feeling as though their social program is spinning out of control. They focus too much on the science vs art of social media. They chase shiny objects and random acts of marketing vs spending time aligning social media to business goals.
It seems marketing and business leaders have forgotten basic marketing and business 101.
If this is you, do not fear my friend. There is hope. You need to first acknowledge that you need a grip. Then you need to focus on your business goals and objectives and align social media to where social can have the greatest impact. You need to get stakeholders on board and integrate social into the DNA of your business.
In this episode of the Social Zoom Factor, Pam Moore CEO Marketing Nutz, social media, digital marketing, branding agency provides you with some "tough love" to help you determine if you need to get a grip on your social media. Don't forget to download the white paper for 22 tips to tame the wild social media beast!
Episode Highlights
45 signs you need to get a grip on your social media program
WHY is the most important question you must answer
Why should your audience care you and your brand exists?
Why you must align social to your business goals
Why YOU must lead the charge to get a grip on your social media program
How is that Facebook marketing strategy working out for you? Do you ever feel like you are pounding Facebook social sand that never has an end to in sight? Does it seem that no matter what you do, you just can't find the needle in the haystack of ROI (return on investment)?
Does it seem that Facebook takes all of your time yet you aren't getting a return on your time spent?
If this is you, I have a recommendation for you. You need to get OFF of Facebook to do a Facebook check-up.
You need to think bigger than Facebook. You need to understand your audience. You need to inspire, connect with and nurture relationships both on an off of Facebook.
Getting out of the Facebook box you are stuck in might be just want you need to drive some real business and life results once and for all.
In this episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast Pam Moore, CEO Marketing Nutz, social media, digital marketing, branding, word of mouth agency provides the steps needed to get your Facebook marketing strategy and results back on track. The recommendations may surprise you.
Episode Highlights
- How to Crack Your Top Facebook Business Marketing Challenges in a Nutshell
- Why getting off of Facebook may be just what you need
- How to assess your data and rebuild your Facebook marketing plan
- How to align to the needs of your audience
- Why the answers to your Facebook problem are not necessarily on Facebook
- The power of an integrated social business platform for driving real business results
It is challenging for marketing and business leaders in organizations big and small to prioritize where they invest their time when it comes to marketing, branding and social media. When choosing what social network they want to invest in they often choose the social networks they more easily understand the benefits.
Even smart and successful marketers and business leaders struggle with understanding not only how Twitter works but most importantly how their business can benefit from using it. Twitter can be one of the most powerful social networks to help brands build community, reach new markets, elevate brand awareness, better manage and monitor reputation and the list goes on.
In this episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast, Pam Moore CEO Founder Marketing Nutz, social business, social media consulting, digital marketing, branding agency shares the top 12 business benefits of using Twitter. The content is applicable for entrepreneurs to large organizations, and newbies to veterans of social media and Twitter. This is the second podcast in the series "Twitter in a Nutshell" that is geared at helping you take your business results to the next level by better understanding and integrating Twitter.
Episode Highlights
Why Twitter for business?
12 business benefits of using Twitter
Why brands can not ignore Twitter
How brands can use Twitter to connect with people they could likely never reach via traditional mediums
How to build community using Twitter
How to increase ROI across all marketing and social media investment by using Twitter effectively
The importance of building an integrated platform to zoom business results
Twitter is one of the most powerful social networks to help business and marketing leaders increase brand awareness, establish thought leadership, ignite personal brands and nurture relationships that bring great benefit in both business and life.
Unfortunately Twitter is also one of the most difficult platforms for many to understand and master. However, the results can be amazing for those who invest time to learn and understand how Twitter can fit in within their overall marketing and business strategies, tactics and plans.
This is the first of a series of episodes of the Social Zoom Factor podcast where Pam Moore, CEO Founder Marketing Nutz, full service social business, social media marketing, digital marketing, brand agency digs into the details of how business leaders in organizations of all sizes, from startups to large corporations can achieve a positive ROI and zoom both life and business utilizing Twitter for business. The goal is to help you put Twitter in a nutshell to help you learn, master and zoom results with Twitter as quickly s possible!
Episode Highlights
How Pam Moore got started using Twitter
How Pam Moore grew her following on Twitter to over 200,000 people
15 tips to zoom results using Twitter for business
How to develop a Twitter strategy and plan
Developing your own personal Twitter brand persona
How to balance both art and science
Importance of two-way relationships vs one-way
How to learn what your audience thinks of you and your brand with Twitter lists
Humanizing your brand using Twitter
What you should NOT do on Twitter
Do you wish the magical content marketing fairy would fly into your office and help you create the most amazing content that energizes and inspires your social communities, audience, customers, stakeholders and friends?
Does it seem there is simply not enough time to create relevant and helpful content that your audience will devour?
If this is you, today is your lucky day as this episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast is loaded with tips to help you get a running start again by maximizing the use of content and resources you already have.
Leveraging what you already have will help you maximize to monetize the investment you have already made to date in content marketing and other creative and social marketing assets!
It's not always about re-inventing the wheel but instead finishing what you have already started and learning how to integrate your efforts across mediums, audiences, organizations, programs, teams and more!
Pam Moore, CEO Founder Marketing Nutz, full service social media, digital marketing, branding and word of mouth agency offers tips and strategies you can implement immediately to help your content and business results zoom turbo!
Episode Highlights:
How to leverage content you have already created
How to maximize to monetize prior investments in content marketing assets
How to complete a quick content marketing asset inventory analysis
How to prioritize future investments with data and analysis
Aligning content to the needs of your audience
With the introduction of social media and modern marketing tactics and strategies, times are changing. Many of the old school marketing tactics that use to work for marketers in businesses from startups to Fortune 100 organizations no longer work today.
It's clear that there is not a need to send mass numbers of tweets or Facebook updates to fill space. The social inter webs are tearing at the seams with an overwhelming amount of noise. It's getting harder for brands to stand out and unfortunately many of them are falling to noisy, interruptive and spammy tactics.
It's not about pushing content to the masses as fast as we can and hoping we get eyeballs, ears and mindshare. Hope is not a strategy, nor is spam.
Smart marketers are quickly learning they must stop the interruption marketing tactics and instead focus on delivering value, meaningful conversation and connecting at the human level with the people within their communities and circle of influence both online and offline.
In this episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast, Pam Moore, CEO Founder Marketing Nutz, social media consulting, social business, digital marketing and branding agency helps you do a reality check on if you are interrupting conversations versus providing value. We'll dig into tactics and strategies to identify such negative strategies and transition to an approach that will deliver much higher result for both you and the members of your social media communities.
Episode Highlights:
Interruption marketing defined
Acknowledging if you are guilty of interruption marketing
How to quit interrupting and start providing value
The difference between value and noise
How to talk with your audience, not at them
Random Acts of Marketing (RAMs) are mean little monsters. They crawl in through open cracks in marketing plans and take advantage of people who feel overwhelmed and are desperate for results. They thrive off of lack of planning, short budgets and over stressed teams. They live in digital marketing plans, social media plans, branding strategies, website development projects and go to market activities and tactics.
Although RAMs may feel good for the short term, they are very bad for business and also for the career of the person implementing them. Unfortunately even the smartest and most social savvy business leaders fall victim to random acts of marketing (RAMs) from time to time.
In this episode Pam Moore, CEO Marketing Nutz, full service social media consulting, digital marketing, branding and conversion optimization agency shares 15 reasons Random Acts of Marketing (RAMs) don't work and why they are bad for our business. These tips are useful for marketing and business leaders in organizations of all sizes, from entrepreneurs, small business owners, to corporate marketing and business executives.
RAMs will eat every last bit of your ROI for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Stomp them before they stomp you and your budget!
Episode Highlights:
-15 Reasons Random Acts of Marketing are bad for business
-Why RAMs can destruct your career
-How to identify if you have a problem with RAMs
-The importance of aligning to business goals and objectives to stomp RAMs
-Why you can't over focus on the task list
Can an audience or a social media branded community be owned? What does it mean to be owned? You have invested time and resource into building and nurturing your social community for your organization. Do you think you have a right to control them?
The truth is you can NOT own your audience. We should not be trying to control communities or the human beings within them.
It is more about communicating and engaging WITH other human beings versus communicating TO them.
Instead we should be inspiring, energizing and influencing conversation. The focus should be on value, context, relevancy and giving, not control.
In this episode of Social Zoom Factor podcast, Pam Moore, CEO Founder Marketing Nutz, full service social business, social media marketing, branding, digital marketing conversion optimization that works with entrepreneurs to fortune 100 brands discusses very openly thoughts on if it is possible for brands to control and own an audience or social media community.
Episode Highlights
Can an audience or community be owned?
Relationships are controlled by the people within your community, not just by you.
The importance of respect in nurturing communities.
The importance of communicating with human beings versus at them.
Your audience has an audience of audiences
How spamming your audience and connections destructs trust and relationships from ever starting.
Are you energizing and breathing life into your online communities or are you zapping their energy?
As a community leader, the people within your social media communities are looking to you to energize, inspire, and engage them.
People want to be inspired, educated, and empowered. They want to feel like they are part of something bigger than themselves. They don't just want to be talked at, but instead talked with. They want to feel a sense of belonging and that someone cares about them.
In this episode Pam Moore, CEO Founder Marketing Nutz, full service social business, branding, digital marketing, conversion optimization agency shares 50 specific ways you can energize, inspire and ignite your online social communities and audiences.
Episode Highlights
50 ways to inspire and energize your communities and audience
The importance of being patient when growing and nurturing communities
Why you must know your audience well
The importance of a content marketing plan and framework when building communities
Feeling overwhelmed with the amount of content on the social inter webs, podcasts and videos telling you how to tweet, Instagram, Facebook, write content, build your brand, and drive real results with social media?
Do you feel that half of the advice you receive conflicts with what others have instructed you to do?
One of the biggest challenges many marketing and business leaders face is learning to separate fact from fiction. Being able to separate the myths, lies and fairy tales from the truth is a first step to achieving real business results.
In this episode of Social Media Zoom Factor podcast, Pam Moore CEO & Founder Marketing Nutz, full service social business, digital marketing, branding agency busts some of the most popular social media myths that may very well be holding you back from success!
Episode Highlights
-Top social media myths busted
-Why you must be socially relevant, not just do social or be social
-Why cookie cutter approaches don't work
-Why you must be careful of the "just get on Facebook" social media plans
-Why you must let go of old habits, fast
-Why time is your most valuable asset
-How to separate fact from fiction
-How to set your own course of action for success
As entrepreneurs, marketers and business leaders, we all make excuses. It happens to the best of us. Even if we start out a project, career or new business venture with the greatest of intentions, life often gets in the way. People get in the way. Failing business systems and technology slow us down.
Many find themselves buried in challenges, obstacles and roadblocks. They often wind up settling for status quo and forget why they started the journey, the venture in the first place.
The key is to not let the challenges, obstacles and roadblocks stop you from success. Don't let them put you into a cycle of making up excuses that stop you in your tracks.
It's time you crack the nuts that are holding you back. Fix that broken business or email marketing system. Implement the website or blog you have been planning for the past year. It's time to get stuff done and stop making up excuses why it's not done!
Each day you have a choice. You can either own the day or you can let it own you. The same thing goes for the week, month, year and life. You can choose to make your life and business happen or you can sit back and make excuses why nothing good is happening.
Pam Moore, CEO Founder Marketing Nutz, social media, digital marketing, branding agency gives you some serious tough love. If you're stuck in a rut, need some inspiration to get unstuck then this is the episode for you.
Episode Highlights
-Quit making up excuses and get to work
-Why you must take the skeletons out of the closet and deal with them head on
-Selecting 3 top changes you will implement this month to move your business and life forward
-Getting your stakeholders on board with the needed changes
-Working across silos
-The power of mindset
Word of mouth marketing, buzz marketing, influencer marketing. You know the buzzwords maybe more than you want to. You want people talking about you and your brand.
However, you likely want social media business results even more!
Generating social media buzz is good. However, the key is being able to create buzz that helps you deliver real business results.
Buzz without bucks will not pay your team salaries, the office rent or the monthly subscriptions for all of those social media tools you are using to create all that fancy buzz.
Creating buzz without a plan to achieve results is equivalent to creating buzz in a social media vacuum where you just suck up the opportunity of success in a loud funnel of noise and mess.
The question is are you generating buzz that leads to bucks? Or are you generating buzz wishing you had more bucks?
In this episode Pam Moore, CEO Founder Marketing Nutz, Full Service social media, branding, digital marketing, content marketing agency digs into why so many are getting caught up in the buzz and losing grip of business and marketing 101. I also share with you some specific strategies and tactics for how you can move from buzz to bucks and real social media results.
Episode Highlights
Top reasons marketing and business leaders get stuck with buzz and no bucks!
How to move from social media buzz to real business results
Importance of knowing your audience
The importance of leveraging what ya' got when creating content
How to create a content inventory analysis
We all know that "turning off digital" is becoming harder and harder. There is literally a conversation happening 24/7, 365 days of the year that you can tap into and join instantly. It's almost as if we hear our devices whispering thing like "turn me back on, push that button, scroll me, post me, don't turn me off for so long."
Social networks, smart phones, apps, tweets, Instagram photos, text messages, Facebook posts, are Google+ conversations are becoming embedded in our digital life. 90% of mobile users keep their device within arms reach 100% of the time.
The question is WHY are you spending so much time online? Are you investing time online for the right reasons? Is your time invested delivering the results you want? It is getting you closer to your life and business goals? Or is it taking you away from them? Are you spending less time with family even when you have made life choices to spend more time with them. However, is it your digital lifestyle that robs your most precious time?
In this special 10 minute Sunday episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast, Pam Moore, CEO Founder Marketing Nutz, full service social business, social media, digital marketing, branding agency digs into the importance of assessing where you spend your time online. Is your digital life providing the value it could and should be?
Episode Highlights
-The importance of assessing where and how you spend your time online
-WHY are you spending time online?
-Brian Solis 5 V's of Value (Vision, Validation, Vindication, Vulnerability, Vanity)
-Turning off digital to turn on to what matters
We all know the social web is filled with a lot of fud and questionable information. Sometimes it is hard to make your way through the promises, tweets, differing opinions and more.
This episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast provides you with 34 Social Media Truths we have known to be true.
The Social Media Truth series is based on a keynote presentation I did at the Rochester Institute of Technology in late 2012. I have been writing on the core concepts since then and it has served as a foundation for much discussion. I used the content as a test project to practice what I preach, build and execute an integrated plan around one solid piece of content.
Pam Moore, CEO Founder Marketing Nutz, full service social media, branding, digital marketing, content marketing agency shares with you the approach she took to leverage one slide deck for almost two years and also the details of each one of the 34 Social Media Truths. It's an action and information packed episode definitely worth your listen!
Episode Highlights
- 34 Social Media Truths in a Nutshell
- How to leverage one piece of content (slide deck) for one, two or three years
- How people don't buy things, they join things
- Power of relationships
- Social media strategic planning
- Importance of setting goals
Many marketing and business leaders spend months developing an integrated online platform, brand architectures, message platforms, social media strategies and plans, logos, and more. They launch their business or new product with huge dreams to seriously rock the online world.
However, after a few months goes by, they realize their platform is delivering little if any results. Their audience is not engaging, clicking, or buying. Instead of an engaging platform it look like a deserted island.
So what is the problem? It could very well be they have a problem establishing trust. Does their audience trust them? If no, why not?
Do you lack the trust factor? Establishing trust and authority are critical to achieve business results online.
In this episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast Pam Moore, CEO and Founder, Marketing Nutz, full service social media, digital marketing, branding agency discusses why it is critical to turn up the volume on your social trust factor. I share 10 tips to help you establish trust, nurture relationships and grow your business the right way.
Episode Highlights
10 Tips establish trust and social business credibility
How to establish authority
Importance of authoring content
Importance of social proof
Connecting with your audience via content and conversation
How to build an integrated online platform that nurtures relationships and invites conversation
Do you wish you could get your CEO on Twitter? Want to get your c-suite, stakeholders and team members to jump on the social networks?
Pam Moore, CEO & Founder of Marketing Nutz, full service social media, branding, digital marketing agency shares how to hand the challenge of getting your executives on twitter and other social networks. It is critical to set goals, objectives and get buy-in on your plan, versus only selling your CEO on social network platform.
Topics covered include how to get buy-in on your social business and social media plan, not just Twitter, how to develop an online Twitter brand persona, how to humanize your brand and help your executives humanize their brands, and how to bridge the social divide between the social, generation s and the unsocial.
Pam Moore is recognized by Forbes as a Top 10 Social Media Power Influencer, best selling author, speaker, trainer and consultant. She works with clients and organizations from startups to Fortune 100 corporations helping them integrate social media into the DNA of their business to drive desired business results and outcomes.
We wake up in the morning, one eye open and grab our mobile device. How do I know you do such? Because 90% of people have their mobile device within arms reach 100% of the time.
Even though you may not want to admit it, chances are you have at minimum a slight addiction problem to technology,shiny objects, Twitter birds and social networks of any and all flavors. If you don't, congratulations! Chances are you are in the minority if you are reading this blog post and listening to this podcast!
We subscribe to podcasts on iTunes, blog posts via RSS feeds and email updates. We open up our email programs via mobile devices in bed. We then hop to Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn to see what's happening in our world of change.
We are starving for information, news, resources to help us learn, grow, achieve and be more.
At the core the biggest question is what exactly are we addicted to? Is it the technology, access to information or fear of missing out? Maybe it's the connection with human beings? Or maybe all of the above and more?
The only guarantee in life and business is change
There is hardly a day that goes by that we don't wake up trying to catch up from what changed overnight. Just as soon as you think you figure out the latest Facebook algorithm, it changes on you.
Many business and marketing leaders worry, freak out and even throw temper tantrums when they find out the landscape underneath their feet has changed yet again. Why do they go into freak out mode? Because they have put all of their social eggs in a basket they don't own!
Relationships are the life raft to social media, technology and business change.
Putting all of your social, technology and / or business eggs in a social network basket you don’t own is high risk.
The truth is that instead of worrying so much about the technology, bits and bytes we should be focused on relationships. It is relationships that are going to help you weather the storm. It's relationships built on trust that will carry you and your community to the next big thing. Instead of worrying about the newest shiny object and the next big thing, try focusing on today. Try focusing on delivering the highest value possible to each and every human being within your current community.
In this episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast Pam Moore, CEO Founder Marketing Nutz, full service social business, digital marketing agency discusses why you why you must shift focus to the art as much or more than the science of social media.
I share with you 10 tips to determine if your social life raft is ready to help you weather the technology evolution storm. Are you ready for the sea of change? Can your relationships endure the crashing waves of change?
Episode Highlights
- 10 Tips to determine if your social life raft can weather the storm of technology changes
- Why relationships are the foundation of technology evolution
- Why you must quit building an empire and start building a community of value
- Why you must stop putting all of your eggs in a social network basket you don't own
- The importance of owning your own social home base
- The importance of investing in human beings within your community at a personal level
- How to humanize your brand for short and long term benefits
How do you leverage social media to build, nurture, grow and sustain meaningful, connected and powerful communities?
It takes time, patience and an investment in people as human beings, not just dollars. It requires as much art as it does science.
Just as building relationships with human beings one to one takes time, nurturing communities to earn the support and develop loyal tribes of brand evangelists takes even more time.
Many marketing and business leaders wrongly assume they can simply hop on Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter and have an instant community waiting on the edge of their seat to engage, contribute and become loyal brand evangelists. This couldn’t be further from the truth.
We all know the foundation of technology, infrastructure and even the way we communication is changing underneath our feet almost by the minute. The only guarantee we have for tomorrow is change. Just as becoming a social business is a journey, not a destination, communities are much the same.
Building communities requires trust, investment in time, resource and development and dissemination of content that inspires and connects humans in meaningful ways.
Pam Moore, CEO & Founder Marketing Nutz, full service social media, branding, digital marketing and conversion optimization agency shares details for how to build, grow and sustain communities.
Episode Highlights
-10 Tips to build, grow and sustain communities
-Social hierarchy of needs and how Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs can be used as a model
-How to tap into the power of the OPC (other people’s content and community)
-Why humanizing your brand is a requirement, not an option
-The importance of feeding and nurturing communities the best content and conversation possible
-What to do if you “get stuck” and believe your effort in building community online has hit a brick wall
Social media brand humanization requires both art and science. It is important to understand the difference between authenticity and transparency to nurture relationships and earn trust of brand evangelists.
In this episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast Pam Moore, CEO Marketing Nutz, full service social branding, digital marketing, conversion optimization agency and Forbes Top 10 Social Media Power Influencer explains the difference between authenticity and transparency and why it is important that you focus on the right level of transparency to earn trust and build relationships with your audiences online.
Episode highlights:
-Difference between authenticity and transparency
-Building an authentic brand online
-Nurturing relationships
-How much is too much?
-The importance of authenticity and transparency in earning trust and nurturing relationships
-13 characteristics of human brands
Marketing and business leaders are struggling with how to best leverage social media to increase brand awareness, grow revenue, establish thought leadership and more. They want to humanize their brand but are doing such via technology and networks that make them less human versus more.
What are they missing? They are missing the greatest opportunity right within the walls of their corporation. Employees can be your most loyal brand advocates if you simply take the time to invest in them. Building and successfully implementing a solid brand advocate program tapping into the power of your employees can humanize your brand and connect with your audiences in amazing ways. When you connect with your audience you can nurture relationships, which in turn increase loyalty, customer satisfaction and revenue!
Did you know that only 40% of employees know about their organizational goals and tactics? Yet on the flip side companies that engage their employees have 2.5x the revenue. Conversion rates can be 4 to 10 times higher for offers from trusted advocates.
Smart brands are already tapping into the human power of their employees to increase brand awareness and market reach, create and curate content, engage with target audiences, listen to conversations and even help recruit top talent!
Social media exposes your company from the inside out. It will reveal your company long before it will transform it. Inspire and ignite your employees to live your brand. Empower them be a shining light of your brand promise and deliver it to your audiences daily!
In this episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast, Pam Moore, CEO & Founder Marketing Nutz, full service social media, digital marketing and branding agency digs into 15 ways you can empower your employees to power your brand!
Episode Highlights
*Why building a brand architecture and strategy is the first step
*Developing a business strategy and plan
*How to conduct a brand advocacy pilot
*Conducting an audit of employee social behavior
*Inspiring employees to live your brand promise
*Education and empowerment program
*Securing necessary funding
*Bridging the social digital divide with those not currently using social media
Becoming a social business is a journey, not a destination. Integrating social media, new technologies and methodologies is as much about mindset as it is about the tools and technology.
The goal is not to "do social media" but instead to be socially relevant. From a business perspective a goal is to build and implement a social business program that is sustainable and can help nurture relationships for both the short and long term.
Obtaining buy-in from needed stakeholders is critical for success. You must be able to clearly articulate where you are going and why so that you can inspire key team members to join you on your journey.
You must know your audience and what they need from you and be able to serve them up valuable content, conversation and helpful resources daily.
Empower your employees to power your brand. Invest in them as human beings. Inspire them to live your brand promise and be a shining light of your brand for your customers and all who they come in contact with.
Marketers must quit focusing on quick fixes, cookie cutter solutions and ways to cheat the social system. Instead, effort should be put into planning, goal setting, alignment to business objectives, understanding audiences, building community, nurturing relationships and earning the advocacy of loyal brand supporters.
In this episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast Pam Moore, CEO Marketing Nutz, social media, branding, digital marketing agency provides an 8 step approach to developing a social business strategy and plan. Perfect for enterpreneurs and startups to enterprise organizations.
Episode Highlights
- 8 steps to develop a social business strategy and plan
-Securing necessary funding
-How to prepare for the social business journey
-Difference between social media and social business
-How to set goals and objectives where social media can have a positive impact
-Obtaining support from key stakeholders
-Earning trust of loyal brand evangelists
-The importance of governance and planning
-Why providing value to your audience is core foundation for success
-Mitigating and managing risk
-Creating a center of excellence
-Empowering internal teams to become loyal brand evangelists
-Tap into the power of the OPC (Other people's content and community)
-Developing an influencer program
-Importance of personal branding
Many brands avoid embracing social media and online marketing because of the fear associated with risk to the brand. They think that if they avoid social media all together that the risk can be avoided. This assumption couldn't be further from the truth.
There is no opt-out button associated with social media. Chances are high that for the majority of brands, there is already a conversation happening in their honor, regardless if the brand chooses to join the conversation and contribute in a meaningful and relevant way.
Social media is going to reveal the organization from the inside out long before it will transform the organization.
Avoiding the social networks is not going to mitigate the risk. In reality it may actually do the exact opposite and increase the risk.
In this episode Pam Moore, CEO and Founder Marketing Nutz, full service socisl media, branding, digital marketing agency and Forbes Top 10 Social Media Power Influencer digs into these details and offers specific recommendations for how you can mitigate risk associated with adopting, integrating and embracing the use of social media to achieve business results, empower brand evangelists and nurture relationships.
Episode highlights:
*Why you must acknowledge you have risk.
*How to mitigate risk by planning ahead.
Why you must accept that social media is here to stay.
*Why you need to conduct a social media audit.
*Keeping your social network logon and access to the social networks secure.
*Proactive crisis management and policy development.
*Empowering employees to power your brand.
For small business, startups, entrepreneurs, and even "corporatepreneurs" within larger organizations, knowing the right levers to pull to gain competitive advantage can make all the difference in winning or losing.
Small businesses, startups and entrepreneurs can leverage their agility, quick decision making, personal branding, niche marketing and more to knock the socks off their competition.
In this episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast Pam Moore, CEO Founder Marketing Nutz, full service social business, digital marketing agency and Forbes Top 10 Social Media Influencer explains 10 levers small business can use to rock and win against the competition for amazing results!
In today's socially connected world and 1:1 constant communication 365 days of the year, human to human communication is at the core of business and life.
The heartbeat of social media is humans. The goal for businesses and the people within them is not to "do social" but to be social. Even "being social" is often not enough. We must be socially relevant.
In this episode Pam Moore, CEO Founder of Marketing Nutz, full service social business, digital marketing, conversion optimization agency explains why the best way to be relevant is to connect as humans, to inspire and connect in a way that nurtures meaningful and authentic relationships that endure the technology and platform changes that are thrown at us constantly.
Brands must learn to empower evangelists both internal and external. They must inspire their employees to live their brand promise and be the story tellers who their audiences hear, like and trust.
Did you know that 71% of CEOs believe human capital is a key source of economic value according to a recent study from IBM?
In this episode of Social Zoom Factor podcast I dig into the why and how of building a personal brand. This is the first episode in a series we will be covering on this topic over the coming weeks and months.
The only guarantee in social business is change. The landscape and ecosystem is changing with every step we take.
It's becoming harder and harder for even the smartest marketers and business leaders to find stable ground for which to build their business.
We must realize that change is the new constant. Accepting this fact and embracing the change with a positive mental and business mindset will make or separate the successful business from the failing. We must accept an increased level of risk and fail fast vs. avoiding risk and being left behind.
Marketers must be willing to let go of the old marketing ways and embrace new ways of doing business. It's time to embrace new technologies, processes, and ways to empower and train employees. We must break down the silos, earn the trust of loyal brand evangelists and realize it's not about us, but about what we can do for others.
We must take down the masks and let our human show. Brand humanization is a requirement, not an option if you want to be in business five years from now.
In this episode Pam Moore, CEO Founder Marketing Nutz a full service social media, branding, digital marketing agency covers 12 Social business shifts marketers and business leaders must get right and absolutely can't ignore.
You launched a blog. You spent a ton of time on it. You may have built it yourself or paid some serious bucks to a designer or developer to build it for you.
You had big dreams. You had big plans. You envisioned a blog rockin' with amazing content, engagement, community and of course new business leads.
The only problem is that none of this happened. Bottom line, your blog sucks and you don't know what to do about it.
In this episode Pam Moore, CEO and Founder Marketing Nutz, social brand, digital marketing agency and Forbes Top 10 Social Media Influencer shares 10 reasons why your blog sucks and what you can do to fix it, pronto!
Episode highlights include Top 10 reasons your blog sucks. Why design matters. The importance of having a mobile responsive blog and website. Why your blog is not just about you. To use pop-ups or not to use pop-ups. Embracing imperfect perfection and much more!
Generate leads and nurture relationships with email marketing. Know your customer, and provide content to help them solve business problems and achieve goals. Pam Moore CEO Founder Marketing Nutz shares 10 best practices to help you achieve results, grow your email subscriber list and meet your business goals by integrating email marketing into your customer acquisition strategies and tactics and social media and online marketing efforts.
Content marketing is one of the hottest buzzwords around. However, don't be fooled by the buzz. It's not just a trend nor is it something that is going away anytime soon.
Content marketing was not invented via social media and it's not going away even if Facebook or Google decide to close up shop and call it a day.
The days of creating corporate collateral that talks in gibberish nobody wants to read are done. Also gone are the days of throwing the content spaghetti at the wall and hoping it sticks and some desperate customer will come along with their bowl, scoop it up and find it tasty.
Marketing and business leaders who want to see real results utilizing content marketing must develop more than a few rockin' blog posts or a page filled with pretty visuals that have nothing to do with their brand but instead make them look like the look cat counselor and inspirational quote addict.
If you want results with your content marketing effort you must create a content management system inclusive of goals, objectives, editorial calendars, alignment to needs of audience and the list goes on.
In this episode Pam Moore explains how to get started building a content marketing system, set goals, understand the needs of your audience and much more. This is the first episode of a series that will dig in deep to the power of content marketing inclusive of strategies, and tactics you can implement starting this week to take your content marketing and online business results to the next level.
90% of mobile phone users keep their device within arms reach 100% of the time.
In this special "Sunday Weekend edition" of the Social Zoom Factor podcast, Pam Moore shares how her family has learned to unplug and live in the moment. We must take time to rejuvenate to reinvigorate our lives and business.
Pam Moore is CEO and Founder, Marketing Nutz, social media, branding, digital marketing and conversion optimization agency.
Is brand humanization just a fancy word for marketers and bloggers who have run short of things to talk and write about?
Or is it more? Is it something that brands should take the time to understand?
The short answer is no, it's not just a fancy word used by lazy marketers. Brand humanization can help organizations of all sizes better connect with their audience, nurture valuable relationships and achieve their business goals.
In this 5 minute Social Zoom Factor "Take 5" episode Pam Moore, CEO & Founder Marketing Nutz, social media, digital marketing & branding agency, puts brand humanization in a nut shell and explains why humanizing your brand is a requirement, not an option!
Have you been spinning your wheels when it comes to social media, content marketing, digital marketing, branding and online marketing? Are you spending loads of time creating content, engaging with your community, posting to the social networks yet the return on your investment is not in sight?
Do you really know your audience? Do you know what they need and want from you? What keeps them up at night? What problems do they have that you can help solve?
Are you creating content that satisfies their needs and helps the human beings within your social media communities solve their problems?
Are you providing resources that delight them? Are you creating brand experiences that are lasting and that help them remember you far above your competition? Or are you serving up the same ol' stuff you have been for years?
In this episode Pam Moore explains why it is so important that you understand your audience and the human beings within your social media communities.
She shares in detail 10 things every business and marketing leader MUST know about their audience. It is a requirement, not an option to know your audience and deliver the highest value content and engaging experience every day.
You can have the greatest social media marketing plan on the planet but if you don't have resource and budget to implement it's a wasted effort.
In this episode Pam Moore shares strategies, best practices and tactics for entrepreneurs, marketing and business leaders to obtain buy-in , support and budget allocation for their planned efforts integrating social media into the business. Pam is CEO and founder Marketing Nutz, a full service social media, digital marketing, branding, and conversion optimization agency .
Social Zoom Factor helps entrepreneurs, marketing and business leaders in startups to enterprise organizations integrate social media, powerful branding, and digital marketing to zoom results. In this episode Pam Moore explains why she started Social Zoom Factor, why and how she left a 15 year successful corporate career to become an entrepreneur and also 4 signs to identify Random Acts of Marketing!
