Posted on Wed, Jun 23, 2010 @ 02:37 PM
With the rapid emergence of professional Twitter accounts, it has become more and more urgent to create a Twitter presence and manage it efficiently. Before your company begins Tweeting away, you need to create a Twitter Strategy or "Twittergy" as I like to call it.
Monitor the Online Conversations
First, you need to target your audience by selecting a list of 10 keywords to monitor on a daily basis and follow those discussing the topics your company should be weighing in on. A great way to find people who are writing about hashtags(#) based on your business is to use Blastfollow. Blastfollow will allow you to see anyone that is tweeting and using a "#" to identify the content of their tweets. Identifying these voices and following them is a great way to create a customer Twitter community.
Hashtags are trending topics that people are discussing, and can be seen on twitter in the following format; KeChange seeks answers to #SocialMedia. A hashtag will take the trending topic and serve as a resource for all users searching that topic. This will enhance your online presence and allow users to follow you based on your hashtag.
Project the Right Message
Once you have your 10 keywords in place, you need to establish yourself as an authoritative voice for these areas. Submit articles based on these 10 keywords that pose questions, concerns, and responses for your community of Tweeters. Providing your Tweeters with resourceful information is the best way to get your posts "Retweeted". Retweets are essential for getting your information out to multiple viewers. You can see in this diagram how a retweet can get viewed by hundreds and thousands of external Tweets that aren't apart of your following yet but are potential followers.
Here at KeChange we like to incorporate a content-based formula for Tweeting on an hourly basis. This content schedule includes approximately 8 tweets a day for our business with usually 4-5 of the tweets being business-oriented and 2-3 tweets that are more casual and fun. The combination of these techniques provides a personal way to deliver informative content.
Choose Your Platform Wisely
Twitter has many different outlets for keeping an eye on your followers and we found that a website called Hootsuite is one of the best outlets for staying up to date with your followers. Hootsuite allows you to see your homepage, @mentions, direct messages, as well as trending topics. Hootsuite also allows you to schedule tweets to be delivered at a later time and date. (FYI- @mentions are a public mention of a particular person during a post, designated by using the "@" symbol immediately before a person's twitter name. Responding and recognizing these @mentions is a great way to thank and encourage people to continue interacting with you.
Here's a list of some other effective Twitter outlets:
search.twitter, tweepsearch.com, refollow.com, oneforty.com
By Cameron Moulton, Internet Marketing Associate
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Posted on Mon, Jun 21, 2010 @ 01:36 PM
Attracting and engaging people online is social media at its best. To explain how 
your company can effectively engage viewers, I looked at the company Blendtec.WillitBlend, a video series that literally throws anything into a Blendtec blender and blends it, not limited to Iphones, video games, bic lighters, marbles, etc. I was immediately drawn to a clip that puts an Ipad in a blender.
I stumbled across Blendtec while browsing YouTube for interesting clips about Apple's new Ipad when I stumbled across
The list of products destroyed by this mega-blender is endless, demonstrating that this is certainly not a machine to be reckoned with. I was in awe that a blender had such power because I had never seen any kitchen utility with the ability to do that. I then realized that not only was Blendtec engaging in communities outside of their traditional scope, their impressive videos were actually drawing in viewers that would otherwise never visit their website.
Blendtec's effective marketing campaign managed to attract several markets that prior to WillitBlend, have never been accessible. Blenders are typically used for blending fruit smoothies, vegetables, and various food related products, but never electronics. By utilizing YouTube, one of the largest social media pioneers, to stream their videos, the company is able to create a buzz around their product and attract an array of people in the technology, food, and blenders market. Blendtec is leveraging YouTube in an effective marketing tactic and according to comscore, YouTube has over 320 million searches a day. Had BlendTec simply targeted the food market, they would have greatly diminished their exposure to countless viewers searching for Ipads, video games and the like.
I typed in Ipad to Youtube and there was Blendtec with a video that generated over 7 million views. If the company was only targeting blending fruit, they would have missed out on the ability to reach all those Ipad viewers, such as myself. Not only are they branching out into unforeseen markets, but they are proving to customers that their blender has remarkable capabilities that truly deserve attention.
So what have I learned from Blendtec?
1. Their blender has some serious swag to it and can blend even the most challenging gadgets without breaking down.
2. The outreach for BlendTec goes far beyond the food market and into the technology market
3. YouTube rules all! Why not view countless videos and expose your own videos to the 320 million daily viewers on YouTube?
4. New products introduced in the technology market are YouTube hits and if you can engage in these communities then you're going to create a buzz
5. Creating a series of videos keeps your viewers engaged and awaiting the next video, best known as retaining your customers.
By Cameron Moulton, Internet Marketing Associate
Posted on Thu, Jun 17, 2010 @ 05:43 PM
Companies of all sizes have been leveraging social media on their homepages in an
effort to establish online communities. After exploring several companies who are at the forefront of this trend, I came across Uni-ball who appears to be effectively using social media to differentiate and promote their brand. Where there once was no online community for pen lovers to share their experience, Uni-ball has filled that void by utilizing three social media networks. The company now has a solid social media presence on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube, as promoted on their homepage.
There are a number of ways that Uni-ball is using Facebook to promote their products and encourage conversation. The following is a list of just some of the various ways they are engaging in online communities:
1. Scavenger Hunts - Answer questions correctly and receive awards
2. Contests - Draw a picture with a Uni-ball pen. Winners receive free pens and get their picture up on the Uni-ball Facebook page - which currently boasts more than 10 thousand fans!
3. Famous Signatures - Identify the signature and win FREE pens
A trend is apparent in how the company gets its online visitors involved; through these interactive contests and events, they are able to effectively motivate users with rewards for their social engagement. By offering free pens and prizes, Uni-ball has established an incentive for consumers to converse with one another and create a buzz for their products.
After exploring their Facebook page, I felt compelled to inspect the company's YouTube page. YouTube is often an important component of a brand's social media strategy because it engages users by encouraging them to comment, subscribe, and post their own experiences. The videos posted by Uni-ball are informative and help differentiate them from competitors by exploring the unique benefits of using a Uni-ball pen. To maintain a dynamic social media presence, they frequently update their YouTube page with new content and regularly interact with their 50 subscribers.
By this point, I felt so immersed into community of pen lovers that I was eager to visit Uni-ball's Twitter page. Here, I was pleased to find more contests and a following of nearly 2,300 users, many of which provided positive feedback and excellent reviews.
According to Mashable.com, internet users spent 5 hours, 46 minutes on Facebook in the month of August. That is triple the amount of time they spent on Google! It should come as no surprise then, that nearly every successful brand has established an online presence, thus revolutionizing conventional marketing approaches. Research has indicated that approximately 70% of consumers trust fellow consumer opinions that are posted online. In fact, brand websites are trusted around the same 70% level, while only 14% of consumers trust advertisements. As a result, companies have transformed their traditional advertising roles and now act as event planners, aggregators, and content providers. Uni-ball is a great example of a company that has effectively incorporated social media into their overall marketing strategy. They have managed to engage customers by creating an online community for them that had not previously existed, resulting in increased brand awareness and customer loyalty. I would like to hear from Uni-ball to further discuss their use of social media, its impact on their business, and whether my observations are consistent with their experience thus far.
By Cameron Moulton, Internet Marketing Associate
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Posted on Wed, Apr 07, 2010 @ 02:17 PM
In 2004, Wired magazine editor Chris Anderson wrote an article exploring the booming success of online retail sites like Amazon, NetFlix and eBay. It focused on these companies’ ability to cater to the smallest niches of fans looking for the most obscure titles and items that traditional retail stores could not carry. If you liked the best-selling and widely known Freakeconomics, you just might be interested in the 1986 paperback Fatal Equalibrium. That recommendation is something you would never experience at your local book store (the man or woman at the register probably can't name more than a pair of economic books from the past 30 years) but it happens every day on Amazon. In all probability, those traditional stores probably don't even carry Fatal Equilibrium.
Anderson opened the eyes of many and kick started the reshaping of business models. He shed light on a new movement that consumers are currently consuming in the 21st century. Subsequently after the piece, Wired went so far as to purchase the LongTail.com URL and brand it as Anderson’s blog. How ingenious.
"The Long Tail" is a marketing term that refers to the population or demographic that seeks the lesser known, more obscure products, but when aggregated together can often generate more revenue than a few of the most popular products.
On the graph to the right, the long tail is the low-sloping green tail moving left to right. More specifically, it shows how long tail marketing can be applied to Internet marketing and SEO. If you’re a small to mid-sized shoe company looking to attract buyers via organic search traffic, “shoes” is a search term that’s going to make you look like that tennis player in the fantastic Ladders.com TV advertisment. You’re competing with hundreds– maybe even thousands– of companies of all sizes. You’ll be rendered irrelevant from the start. But, small-to-mid-sized shoe company, if you can focus on optimizing your content to focus on those fresh, new small-size high-heel open-toe suede shoes you just put on your shelves, you have a much better chance to corner that market and generate sales.
Because it’s a collection of the less popular, or less relevant search terms, the long tail is a cheaper and lower-risk investment. It also, as the graph notes, has proven to show a much higher rate of conversion. Someone perusing the web for small-size high-heel open-toe suede shoes clearly has a motive to buy just that. And you should be out there waiting for her... or him buying for her. Or just him.
Identifying and capturing the long tail should be a primary focus for any Internet marketing company and any company looking to effectively market and get found on the Internet. There's always an opportunity to distinguish yourself from from the competition. Understand your audience and spend some time to rank high on specific search queries related to your business.
By Nick Fasulo, Internet Marketing Manager
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Posted on Mon, Mar 08, 2010 @ 02:46 PM
As an Internet Marketing Consulting Firm, one of the most fundamental elements of our work deals with search engine optimization. We've all heard of it, and at some point we have probably all wished we could just wave a magic wand across all our web pages to ensure they are, indeed, optimally optimized. Sadly, no such tool exists, but having a good understanding of keywords will put you on the right path to proper SEO.
The idea is to establish keywords pertaining to each page's topic, and effectively place them in the copy and metadata. Seems simple enough, but how much is too much? Have you ever felt like you're getting carried away inserting "dog-grooming services" as you build your new site to increase sales leads? You should be made aware that while the Internet does not have a judicial system, it is still policed to prevent people called "Black Hatters."
Black Hatters are dubbed the villains of the Internet;webmasters who, in the short-term, can get their sites ranked higher than it should be through tricks rather than Internet Marketing best practices. This can be achieved a number of ways: embedding paragraphs of hidden text that only a Google Spider can see, made up strictly with keywords. Black Hatters have also been accused of duplicating content from other web pagesas part of a content buildout plan, or even stealing content from other web sites. Essentially, these "criminals" are purposely flooding a site as a way to improve their Alexa ranking or Google SERP.
So what is the optimum density for which your keywords should appear? There's no concrete answer. A few weeks ago, a marketing director in Tampa Bay relayed that he believes it's between 3-4 percent. Last summer, a webdesigner and copywriter said 5 percent of your copy should be your keyword. Others, however, have rendered keyword density as "irrevelant." Tomorrow morning, maybe the answer will lie in my bowl of cereal.
What's my opinion? Don't stress about optimum density. Instead, focus on ensuring your keywords are placed in your headlines, metatags, page titles and page URLs. You prevent the risk of sacrificing good, readable copy for choppy sentences loaded with keywords. If you feel like you're going out of your way to insert your keywords, consider pumping the brakes or rethinking the phrases you're using to reach potential customers.
By Nick Fasulo, Internet Marketing Manager
Posted on Tue, Mar 02, 2010 @ 09:54 AM
Written by SJ Petteruti, Director
It happened. The first shot across the bow of Google's content sovereignty. You may have seen it briefly in the papers, a blip of a headline, but there it was... "Three Google Executives were convicted in an Italian court of violating privacy laws." Mind you, it was an Italian court, which even as one who hails from the Ancient Empire, I don't find threatening. But these were criminal charges, and that can mean jail time. Odds are the decision will be overturned in a higher court, and even if it's upheld, the U.S. won't be extraditing Americans for what ultimately amounts to a nebulous crime at best. But the very fact that a decision was rendered means that the debate has taken a turn toward serious reality.
So what was the crime? In a nutshell, the three Google Executives were charged by Vivi Down, an Italian group representing people with Down syndrome, for not acting fast enough to remove from the site a widely viewed video posted in 2006 showing a group of teenage boys harassing an autistic boy. (Google says that it removed the site within two hours of receiving the formal complaint- apparently not quickly enough).
What does this mean? And why should we be talking about it? On a domestic level, this move is seen by some to unhinge an already fragile Internet presence in Italy, one of the few media outlets that Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi doesn't own. (He's sort of like Bill Clinton and Rupert Murdoch rolled into one.) But the issue we're more concerned with is what it could mean for the nature of internet content.
Think of Google as the Switzerland of the Internet: they make no claim of responsibility for content, they are simple the means of delivery, and are thus always neutral. So whatever ends up highly ranked on the Google Search Engine Results Pages (SERP), photos of the First Lady as a chimp, a site slamming Dell Computers- anything, Google shrugs and says it is the result of the democratic nature of the internet that is "sometimes beyond their control".
This Italian decision has the potential to change all of that. If the precedent is set that Search Engines are responsible for what comes up in search results, than it could mean a serious jarring of the Google Algorithm. Suddenly the Democratic nature of the internet will no longer be universal. Google will, for the first time in their history, be having a direct impact in manipulating results on their site. Sure, for 99% of us who are working to help websites rank higher, we won't have anything to worry about. This decision is being directed at content and organizations whose postings are so obscene, they gain attention for their infamy. But once that line is drawn in the sand it is very easy to move, and the definition of "appropriate content" can be a very fluid one. After all, at one point these books were all considered "too offensive" for the public.
Personally I have to say that I fall on the side of Google. The Internet may still be operating by the rules of the Wild West. But Google has been one of the greatest advancements to come out of the Internet. It has legitimized the Internet as a place to get reputable information, and it has done it by remaining objective and letting the democratic process remain the rule. To attack Google, when there are so many other uncontrolled expanses of the Internet (consider how easy it is to access Adult content through any browser), is to undermine a process that is giving this American economy new life.