She Owns It

Celebrating, Connecting, and Supporting Women Entrepreneurs

How to Use Facebook Live to Grow Your Business by @donnaamos

by Leave a Comment

Facebook live for small business

by Donna Amos | Featured Contributor 

Since being launched in April 2016, Facebook Live rose to overtake YouTube as the #1 video streaming service on the Internet. Facebook also has 2 billion monthly users as of June 2017. That’s more than any other social network. So, using Facebook Live to grow your business seems like a no-brainer.

Most businesses recognize the importance of video. By 2019 it’s anticipated that 80% of the Facebook news feed will be video. Perhaps you thought about using video in the past, but the high costs and complexity turned you against it. True, storyboarding, writing, shooting, and editing a professional video can be extremely costly.

That’s the beauty of Facebook Live video. All you need is a smartphone and an idea. The online marketing world is praising live video like crazy because of its simplicity and versatility. Opportunity can meet innovation at any moment to produce a live video stream to promote your brand in any number of ways. All on the largest social media platform available. And FREE.

 

Video Storytelling

The essence of all good marketing is storytelling, and that is the prime focus of video. Storytelling applies to any business or industry, no matter how large or small. Anyone can tell a good story. We tell stories all the time as we talk about our product or service and the people with whom we interact.

Four primary types of storytelling:

  • Informational: Drop knowledge bombs and tell people what you know.
  • Inspirational: Speak to the heart, stir emotion, and motivate others.
  • Entertaining: Engage with people, make them laugh or cry.
  • Experiential: Show people who you are, where you are, and what you are doing.

 

As you tell your story, remember these important tips:

 

Always Be Authentic

The hook of live video streaming is the connection with a real person. This doesn’t mean you don’t want a clear idea of what you’re doing or want to say. It does mean you show authenticity. Be real. Speak to the camera as you would speak to an individual in front of you. Reflect real emotions. If what you’re talking about upsets you, it’s OK to appear a bit upset. If you fumble a word or two, keep going. It’s live, remember? It’s supposed to be real and not completely scripted.

 

Engage with Your Audience

Another great hook with live video streaming is the ability to engage with your audience, and for them to engage with you. This is more than acknowledging when participants join the broadcast or comment. Ask questions for your audience to answer and interact with them as the video continues. The unscripted nature of live video is one of its huge drawing points, so capitalize on that and have fun.

The engagement doesn’t have to end when the video ends. Leave an offer at the end of the broadcast and include an engagement button on the post so viewers can get more information or simply connect with you. Leave the live post available on your Facebook feed for more users to view and engage with later.

 

Promote Live Events in Advance

Covering a live event for your brand is huge, and you want as many people watching as possible, so advertise the live video in advance. Set a time and location when you will be streaming live and promote it on every social media channel and your website. Invite local fans to come and be included in the live video audience.

Consider giving away some freebies to the live audience and allow one of them to choose a remote viewer to win as well. Encourage interaction from your streaming audience and share that with the live audience. This is especially helpful if you have regular online events, like auctions or product showings.

 

Brand Your Content

Always have a purpose in going live on video, and tie that purpose to promoting your brand. You can produce a moving live video session about the homeless in your city that engages thousands of viewers without benefitting your brand in any way. Always tie your video to your brand. What are you showing? Why? How does your brand connect to that event, project, or need?

As you tell your story, include the why. Why is your brand showing this? What makes it important? Why should viewers care? How can they connect your video to your brand? Live videos don’t always have to be about promoting your business; but they should always promote your brand values and showcase your brand.

Do you currently use Facebook Live in your business marketing efforts? What are some of your best tips for using it successfully? Share your suggestions and stories with our readers in the comment section below.

 

Using Facebook Messenger to Increase Leads by @donnaamos

by Leave a Comment

Facebook messenger

by Donna Amos | Featured Contributor 

In 2016, The New York Times published an article sharing with readers the surprising amount of time social media, specifically Facebook, consumes out of our day. Active users on Facebook and Messenger reached over 1 billion people and the average amount of time spent on these platforms is nearly an hour.

With users spending about 50 minutes a day using Facebook and Messenger, it’s a no-brainer that you want to leverage Facebook to gain customers and leads. To be successful, your business must change as its customers change. Time spent on mobile devices and social media networks is steadily increasing, so you need to be easily accessible and open to communication.

But recent publications indicate that it won’t be Facebook that’s dominating the marketing world in 2018. Instead, it will be the new ability to use Messenger as a channel to promote your business. Aside from the regular Facebook newsfeed, there are a few ways to also utilize the Messenger app to draw in new customers with your promotional tactics.

One-On-One Promotions

Now, not only can you can create an ad that appears on the Facebook newsfeed, you can take your ad to your audience with a one-on-one experience. You can personalize an ad with a custom message to your audience and choose a call-to-action. When your ad appears on the homepage of Messenger, potential customers are just a click away from chatting with you in real time.

Utilizing Chatbots

If you’re going to utilize Messenger to communicate with customers and clients, a chatbot may be just what you need. By using a Messenger chatbot, you can automatically reply to customers. Instant access and quick replies keep clients and customers happy, and keep them coming back with your excellent customer service. You can create a custom message that will automatically be sent to the customer, giving you time to get back to your computer or phone to reply.

Companies like Food Network and Whole Foods Market also use chatbots to help their followers find other interesting related content and articles. This opens up a new way to reach your audience and allows you to deliver personalized content – you now have a way to give your customers and clients an experience that you otherwise would not have before.

Convenience of Privacy

Taking advantage of the ability to instant message is not only convenient for your customers, it’s convenient for you. Messenger is also a great tool because of its ability to be more private. You can easily handle negative feedback or other matters privately at an instant without ever leaving the Facebook messenger app. It also allows you to keep track of and document all your conversations for quality control or to bring forward later on if they are needed.

Event Reminders and Updates

Another feature of Messenger that works well for marketing is the ability to engage your audience with events outside social media. Facebook users have the ability to sign up for events through Messenger. When they do, they will automatically be sent a reminder for the details of the event. In the days before the event, your customers may be notified and kept up to date about any new information.

This way of communicating updates about events proves more effective than traditional email updates. A study done by Hubspot noted the open rate for Messenger broadcasts was at 80% while the open rate for emails was only at 33%.

Collecting Customer Feedback

Since Messenger allows conversations to be kept for future reference, using data from Messenger chats can be a great way to create better ads that ensure you’re reaching the people you’re targeting. Your communication with customers can reveal a lot about the audience you’re trying to reach – struggles, desires, and wishes.

Messenger is a great place to get feedback and ask opinions. You can get a small piece of the conversations already going on in your customers’ lives. Being able to transform Messenger data into something real and substantial can help you better serve your customers. When you understand more about the people who are using your products or services, you have some great intel into what marketing tactics can help you most effectively reach your target audience and give your business a boost.

Comment-to-Messenger Function

An essential part of using Messenger to help you understand what customers want is the comment-to-messenger function, which allows you to auto-message anyone who comments on your Facebook posts. Instead of using an ad to create a promotion or produce a lead, you become invested – you are taking an approach that is relationship-oriented.

Now, not only can you gain context into the goals of your customers and clients, you have made a way available to have a sales conversation. Offers for products, deals, or special promotions have become relevant to them. Your advertisements aren’t random and they aren’t just considered spam, so your business has an even better chance of success.

The sky is the limit with interactive Facebook Messenger marketing. If you are ready to take it to the next level you might want to look into a service like ManyChat. How have you used Messenger to personalize your marketing efforts? Have you had success? What problems have you encountered, and how did you solve them? We’d love to hear your feedback. Share your comments below.

How to Determine the Subject of Your eBook to Generate Subscribers by @donnaamos

by Leave a Comment

by Donna Amos | Featured Contributor 

A visually engaging and informative eBook can be invaluable when trying to generate leads. One of the primary reasons is that an eBook builds trust in your knowledge and brand. This is because eBooks are informative and educational in nature. They present evidence, research, and logic, and raise important questions and concerns that customers may have without pushing your product or service in their faces. They also establish your business as a thought leader and expert on particular subject matters.

Within the three stages that customers go through before making a purchase (awareness, consideration, and decision), eBooks facilitate the decisions customers make in between the “consideration” and “decision” stages. They often provide an important “tipping point” by offering useful content and showcasing your credibility.

When using an eBook for your business, the goal is to generate leads. Therefore, choose a topic that will make it easy for a prospect to go from downloading your eBook to making a purchase or booking a consultation or subscribing to your site.

 

Questions to Ask

As you ponder over prospective topics for your eBook, there are some questions to ask that will help you focus your efforts. Use them and others you may discover to narrow down your choices to the top three topics that will resonate most with your target audience.

Who is your ideal subscriber?

The first question to ask helps you identify your target audience. Who are you writing for? You must know to whom you are writing in order to create a resource they will need and want. It’s a good idea to develop sales personas for your target audience. Each persona contains details about your prospect that help you determine pain points to which you can direct your eBook.

What are customers asking for?

As you communicate with your current clientele, what comes up in conversation the most? What do you see them complaining or asking about on social media? Current customers will be most like the new subscribers you want, so their business pain points will be similar to those of your potential subscribers. Perhaps a survey or some one-on-one conversations with as many clients as possible would yield some valuable potential topics.

What interests you?

Ideally, your eBook will be about a topic that holds an interest for you. Even better, it could be about something for which you hold some level of expertise. However, just remember you are creating a resource to entice subscribers. Your topic needs to scratch where they have a terrible itch, so to speak. If you are a genuine expert on ice cream, and your target audience is lactose intolerant, well…. don’t expect a wealth of eBook downloads and subscribers. A great took to help identify what is being searched for is Answer the Public, type in a keyword and it will tell you what questions are being asked on Google around that keyword.

 

Pick a Narrow Niche

You may have heard it said, “A successful eBook provides a laser-targeted solution to a major problem.” That is absolutely correct. That’s why it’s important to identify a narrow niche. For example, here are four broad categories with suggestions for narrower niche topics given:

  • Health – Muscle gain, fat loss, raw food diet, low-impact exercise, reduce stress, natural ways to lose weight, and how to thin or tone certain body parts (thighs, stomach, arms).
  • Passion – Fishing, hunting, gaming, sewing, boating, skiing, skating, wines, golf, gaming, gardening, cooking, and surfing.
  • Relationships – Dating tips for men, dating tips for women, break-ups, divorce, sexuality, parenting, social skills development, marriage, and long-term relationships.
  • Wealth – Passive income, debt, retirement, investing, bitcoin, how to start a business, employment, time management, and internet marketing related business (ie: blogging, affiliate marketing, social media).

Once again, your niche topic needs to solve a major problem for as large an audience as possible. So, be as specific as your target audience will allow.

 

Decide What Train to Ride

There are two trains of thought about how to create a successful eBook. Many people have gotten on each train and produced wildly successful eBooks. The choice is up to you, and there are many pros and cons for each.

The Unique Idea Train

This train of thought requires a completely unique idea that hasn’t been tried before. If you can hit upon that one single thing no one has tried before, and make it work, that is an excellent way to jump into an over-saturated market. You’ll stand out by solving a problem that doesn’t have too much competition. This is a sure-fire way to carve out a sub-niche within a major market and be recognized.

The downside is, how many new ideas are really out there waiting to be tried? The problem with a unique product is it’s risky. It’s breaking new ground. There might be a reason that nobody has written an eBook around this topic – it doesn’t work or sell!

The ‘Me Too’ Train

The ‘Me Too’ train involves an established product that’s in a proven market. The best thing about them is there’s already a demand for this kind of information. The key to riding the ‘Me Too’ train is to have a unique selling position. You need an interesting twist or a different way of doing things. Maybe even your solution flies in the face of conventional wisdom, but works.

The downside of this train is the difficulty you will have standing out and gathering a large audience of subscribers from your eBook. If there are 75 eBooks on Google on this popular topic, it will be hard to get noticed above the others.

Whatever your process for settling on a topic for your next eBook, it MUST generate interest if you plan to use it to get new subscribers. What success have you had in the past using an eBook for your businesses? To gain subscribers? Share your stories or advice with our readers in the comments below.

Tips for Using LinkedIn Sales Navigator by @donnaamos

by Leave a Comment

sales navigator

by Donna Amos | Featured Contributor 

It seems everyone is looking for ways to expand their brand and increase sales. With all the strategies and sales tactics available, it can be difficult determining which direction to go and what platforms are most useful in reaching your desired goal. LinkedIn has significantly expanded its outreach to help you succeed in your business. Although it may be easy to overlook this social media platform and the potential they hold, you will find it is useful, user-friendly, and results-oriented.

LinkedIn Sales Navigator has been designed with a multi-faceted approach, and will aid in whichever marketing strategies best fits your needs. If you are not familiar with this feature, LinkedIn has made it simple to explore and understand this beneficial product, as their business section features the highlights of Sales Navigator. This is outlined in the goal of targeting, understanding, and engaging business prospects. Additionally, they offer a free demo and free trial to play around with the options.

Don’t let the endless possibilities overwhelm you when you explore Sales Navigator. It may be easy to rush through, or get lost in the expansive selection of filters and tools. When using a valuable resource, a little planning can go a long way. Even if you are already seeing the benefits of Sales Navigator, you can always find ways to make it work even better for your business and sales with these tips.

A Little Planning Goes a Long Way

The first tip to using Sales Navigator is to start with some planning and set a strategy. This tool makes achieving sales incredibly attainable, but it does take some consideration on your part. The best feature is that this product can generate a tremendous amount of leads that you may not find anywhere else. The important part is to plan how you will sort and take advantage of these leads.

Regardless of your time using Sales Navigator, ensure that you have set a realistic lead criteria. Take some time to think through the ideal lead, start with generic qualifiers, then add more specifics to essentially have a few sets of criteria that would best fit your niche.

Use Filters to Your Advantage

Start with Top Filters to narrow down the leads that Sales Navigator will scan and produce. This is the time to play around with how specific you need to be to get the leads you are seeking. A top tip is to start with the basic filters and see what results you get back. If it is vast and you find you need to be more specific, employ the advanced filters to get the desired results.

Some of the top filters to adjust are keywords and geography. Keywords can fluctuate, and it may be helpful to look for synonyms of common keywords that are bringing quantity over quality. For advanced filters, you may want to narrow down to postal code and look at company type.

Utilize Your Resources

If you have felt frustrated or think there is more that Sales Navigator has to offer, you’re probably right. Often, it is easy to let limited time take away from all that a program has to offer, which leads to missed opportunity. Fortunately, LinkedIn has developed an extensive variety of resources for you to utilize within Sales Navigator.

The Learning Center  is an extensive set of resources developed to help users maximize what Sales Navigator has to offer. There are modules, webinars, video tutorials, eBooks, and simple guides to support your business and expand potential within Sales Navigator. The more time put into learning about what the program offers and how to best use the tools, the better leads generated and outreach you can have on LinkedIn.

Strategize Communication and Connections

A theme that LinkedIn has found strength in, is making connections through people, places, careers, companies, and interest. Sales Navigator draws heavily on this and makes using LinkedIn even more effective for generating leads, and the filters are such a benefit to streamlining an outreach. However, this tip moves away from having Sales Navigator do all the work.

Once the leads have been provided, it is on you or your liaison to prioritize and build on the connections made within LinkedIn. Although Sales Navigator has a private messaging option, it may not always be advantageous to rely on in-app messaging. It takes a little more time, but employing an excel spreadsheet and doing a little research can go a long way when it’s time to reach out and communicate with your generated leads.

It can certainly pay off to see if you have mutual connections and reach out to that person to the lead. This creates a more personal outreach and can make the person feel more comfortable or open to what you have to offer.

If you have no mutual connections, another tip is to do some research and send emails in addition to messaging through LinkedIn. For the right person, an email may generate a quicker response. This may end up being a bust, but it also may bring a higher response rate than only one type of outreach.

How have you found success using Sales Navigator? Please share your experience and any tips you’ve found to work to your advantage in the comments.

Ways to Use Facebook Groups to Grow Your Business by @donnaamos

by 3 Comments

Facebook Groups

by Donna Amos | Featured Contributor 

Facebook is ever-changing, as is how people engage and utilize the social media platform. From simply keeping up with family and friends, to making connections and getting thousands of followers, it is not always clear what someone’s intentions are. Facebook groups have greatly expanded as a way to make connections, get more information, and spread awareness. It seems there is a Facebook group for everything under the sun. Thus, there are a number of ways to use Facebook groups to grow your business and make your group stand out among the crowd.

Review Your Profile

First, it is always a good idea to review your own profile before trying to grow your business through groups. If you are seeking to make connections, spread information on your skills or a product you have to offer, you must realize you are representing that brand or product. Facebook allows us to show as much, or as little, as we want with privacy settings.

Before seeking groups or creating one, review your profile and figure out how you want to represent yourself. You can even employ an objection friend to review it for anything that may be offensive or prevent your success. This may require additional privacy settings, removing photos or tags that may deter a potential client or consumer if they don’t know your intentions.

On the flip side, you also don’t want to have your profile where people can’t see anything about you or present yourself as uninvolved on Facebook. If you count yourself an expert in something, you may want to strategically share informative articles or videos to your friends and followers.

Finding Groups to Join

Growing your business with Facebook groups can be fairly simple when you explore the public groups that relate to your business, and are open to join. Public Facebook groups are a great way to add to a conversation or thread, or create one yourself. It is important to review the page and especially the rules. Most groups have guidelines or expectations, and it is frowned upon to solicit business or spam the group. Be selective and intentional in what you post.

Additionally, reviewing the page and recent comments will prevent you from posting the same questions or ideas that someone else may have already shared. One item to be aware of in larger groups, is there may be an onslaught of people with similar skills or products, and it may not be as profitable to get lost of the shuffle.

On the flip side, smaller or closed groups may offer the clientele or sharing platform that you are looking to reach. With private groups, it is also important to follow the guidelines and expectations. Closed Facebook groups are private, and have requirements set by the administrator for joining. It is important to meet the criteria to be authentic and trustworthy.

For instance, they may have a group for a certain geographical location. Even if you are trying to branch out, you should be up front if you don’t meet their criteria. In the end, you could leave a bad taste in someone’s mouth if you are dishonest to get into an exclusive Facebook group.

Engage the Right Way

Regardless of the type of Facebook group you join, you want to engage with people the right way. Try to be warm and friendly, engaging with others in an authentic way in the group. Do not send unwanted messages or spam the group with products or unwanted information.

The best way to grow your business is to share useful information and build on the knowledge, skills, or products you can provide. Set yourself apart, and even invite connections to join a group you’ve started to learn more and gain more insight.

Start Your Own Facebook Group

After you’ve made connections and seen what other groups have to offer, you can look to start your own Facebook group to grow your business. This way to grow your business needs to be the most thought out and intentional use of a Facebook group. Starting your own group should come after some time spent in other groups, adding to the conversations and also seeing how you can set your group apart.

Depending on your goal and product, decide what you like and don’t like about other groups you’re involved in. This should be the template for how you want your group to be structured, and will determine if you start a public or closed group. You don’t want to start a group that is going to flop or have no one interested, so take the time to plan out the content and what your group has to offer. This can be the best way to use Facebook groups to grow your business.

What do you look for in a Facebook group? Do you have your own business-related Facebook group? Please share how starting your own Facebook group has grown your business in the comments below.

8 Twitter Tools to Use for Success by @donnaamos

by Leave a Comment

8 Twitter Tools

 

by Donna Amos | Featured Contributor 

If you’re a small business owner, it is easier than ever to connect with your customer base and create a successful community for your business. At the touch of your fingertips, you have the power to make a call, send a message, or research anything. Statistics show that nearly 2 billion people worldwide used social media in 2017 – 330 million of those users have an active Twitter account. Using social media to promote your business can have a great effect on its success, and knowing how to use it effectively for your purpose can help you even more. Check out these 8 Twitter tools to help you get the most out of your social media marketing.

 

Twitter Dashboard

Twitter dashboard is a free tool created for business owners to use Twitter to their advantage. Dashboard allows you to create a custom news feed so you can see what’s most important to you. Mentions you want to see will appear first in your news feed so you know exactly what people are saying about your business, allowing you to better engage with your community. You can also schedule tweets so you can be sure you’re still connecting with your customers even while you’re busy. Dashboard also offers tips and creative ideas to help you send out tweets that are relevant to your customers.

 

Commun.it

Commun.it is another effective way to stay connected with your community. It offers a free or paid membership. This site analyzes followers so you can see users who are most beneficial to your business. This can help you prioritize the time you spend on Twitter and ensure you interact with the right individuals to increase your potential for success. It also allows you to monitor what people are saying about your business by watching hashtags, phrases, and shared links. You can start for free today at https://commun.it/growth.

 

Buffer

Buffer is a service that helps business owners see what tweets get the most feedback and allows you to see who is interacting with your tweets. It has the ability to monitor “high traffic” times for your followers, as well as the most well-received topics, so you can effectively engage with your audience.  It can also accommodate other social media platforms such as Reddit, Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn as well as Twitter. Buffer is available as an app on your smartphone and offers extensions for Google Chrome, Firefox, or Safari. Check it out at https://buffer.com/business.

 

Hashtags

The hashtag is a common feature that is among a few underrated Twitter tools. Hashtags are a way to label common words or phrases and link tweets that have the same topics. Using hashtags can help filter content so you can draw more followers and attract customers to your business. Taking note of popular and frequently used hashtags can help you see what topics your customers are interested in so you can understand effective ways to market your business and target your customers.

 

Demographics Pro

The key to a successful business is knowing your target audience. Your services or products are aimed at a specific range of demographics. Demographics Pro is a twitter tool to help you find the right target market and use your social media to reach them effectively. It will analyze the people who influence your target market and help you tailor your advertising to the right people. See what Demographics Pro can do for you at http://www.demographicspro.com.

 

Twitter Advertisements

Simple social media advertisements are another underrated Twitter tool. As of August 2017, 66% of people who use Twitter on a regular basis have discovered a small business from advertisements. Nearly all users who discovered a business on Twitter plan on purchasing something from the small business they discovered. Promoted tweets or promoted accounts are also a great way to advertise using Twitter. Using promotions gets your content in front of your target audience. This can help your business’ social media gain followers that could benefit from the services or products that you provide.

 

Mention Mapp

This is a Twitter tool business owners can use to navigate conversations, save and track important ones, see mentions, and make connections. Mention Mapp sounds just like what it can do. It creates maps to help you keep track of mentions, retweets, and commonly used words. In a simple format, you can see how people are talking about your business and get an idea of how many people your tweets are reaching. Mention Mapp also creates clouds so you can see words that are most commonly associated with your business. See what it has to offer at http://mentionmapp.com.

 

TwtQpon

Draw in customers by providing a little incentive. TwtQpon is a Twitter tool that allows you to generate QR codes or virtual barcodes. You can choose if your coupon is used in-store or online. You can subscribe to TwtQpon by coupon page or pay for a monthly subscription. You can see examples of how these coupons work at https://www.twtqpon.com.

 

These are some great tools to help you leverage the Twitter social media platform for more success in your business. Do you have a favorite tool not mentioned here? Why not share it with our readers in the comments below?

Why You Need Email Marketing Automation and How to Use It by @donnaamos

by 4 Comments

WHY YOU NEED EMAIL MARKETING AUTOMATION AND HOW TO USE IT

by Donna Amos | Featured Contributor 

There are 3.2 billion email accounts in the world, and 91% of email users check their accounts every day. It’s likely that your customers and target audiences are part of that number. As marketers seek to make personal connections with consumers to generate income, email is one of the best options for doing it. In fact, email marketing automation is the largest driver of ROI among digital-marketing channels.

Automating your email is the perfect way to drive conversions while not taking up too much time. Email-automation programs allow you to create personalized email interactions based on how customers respond to your advertising, website, products, or services. Targeting the customer or potential customer with the right message at the right time is an extremely effective tool in your marketing and sales arsenal.

Investing the initial time to create an automated-email program helps you save time and increase revenue; it is well worth the effort and expenditure. Email marketing automation makes it possible for you to send messages based on an internet user’s behavior and effectively target messages in real time. Automating email responses to customer interactions delivers a high ROI and takes a load of effort off of you. So, how do you get started?

What is Email Marketing Automation?

Email automation is also sometimes called “email drip campaigns” or “marketing automation.” Automating email marketing is about building relationships with customers and target audiences. By automating the email response process, you combine customer data and your marketing channels to enhance the relationship with consumers. Email automation, if designed correctly, can become an extremely personal channel of communication.

Automated email campaigns can be simple or complex, depending on what you what to accomplish and the time and resources you can invest.

  • A simple email automation campaign can begin with just a few emails timed as a response to a single interaction, like when a user joins your email list.
  • A complex email automation campaign can consist of varied email messages that stem from a user’s interaction that nurtures another response over time. I can include reminders of items left in a shopping cart, specials on items previously viewed, further enticements to convince a sale after downloading an eBook, and more. The campaign is complex because various emails are triggered by numerous different user responses.

How Does Email Marketing Automation Work?

Email marketing automation allows you to create email workflows that automatically send email messages to subscribers once certain actions are taken. These workflows are initiated by the behavior that acts as a trigger, combined with the user’s data. Personalized, relevant emails are created and sent to nurture positive responses and move the user along the sales funnel.

Example triggers for a B2B company:

  • A visitor views a landing page but doesn’t submit the form
  • A lead downloads several content items but has not contacted you directly
  • A potential client starts following your social mediaaccounts

Example triggers for a B2C company:

  • A visitor views several products but didn’t add any to their shopping cart
  • A consumer places products in their shopping cart but doesn’t buy them
  • A consumer makes a purchase

Email marketing automation workflows can be used for a host of different purposes. Companies can create workflows to nurture existing customer relationships that encourage making additional purchases. Some workflows work well for both B2B and B2C companies:

  • Welcome emails – These are best sent immediately after someone joins your subscriber list — either by registering their email or making a purchase — when they’re most receptive to hearing from you. B2B companies should include a link to a relevant content piece; B2C companies should include an exclusive offer or coupon code.
  • Feedback request emails – Show subscribers that their opinion matters to you with these emails. 1. Negative Trigger – When someone unsubscribes, send a message asking for their reasoning and feedback.
  • Positive Trigger – After a brief time interval following a purchase.
  • Re-engagement emails – These messages aim to reconnect you with subscribers who haven’t interacted with your emails over a set time (say, 60 days). Offer the subscriber an incentive to re-engage, such as a free eBook or special discount for purchases.

Practically any action a user takes when engaging with your company can be tracked and used for email marketing. Using website visitor information, create triggers that will deliver the most relevant and meaningful email messages to your responders.

Why Should I Use Email Marketing Automation?

  1. Create segmented email lists that are automatically updated based on user data
  2. Quickly convert website users into customers
  3. Easily continue your engagement with existing and potential customers
  4. Increase efficiency by automating repetitive customer relationship management tasks
  5. Improve engagement by delivering subscribers timely, relevant, and personalized email messages

Some companies may fear that email marketing automation may make their messages seem impersonal. The opposite is actually the case. By automating your email responses to consumer actions, your business will seem more personal. Therefore, your messages will become more effective and in turn, increase engagement and ROI for your business.

How do you use email marketing automation in your small business? How did you begin? What have you learned from it? What are your most effective email automation practices? We’d love for you to share your experiences and lessons with our readers. Enter your comments in the box below.

 

5 Ways Positive Customer Reviews Affect Your Website’s SEO by @donnaamos

by Leave a Comment

by Donna Amos | Featured Contributor 

As a business owner, you must know how important customer reviews are to your company. In fact, by the time an internet user has begun scanning reviews, their purchasing decision has already been made. They are simply selecting which business will best fulfill their needs or wants. That gap between deciding to buy and choosing from whom to buy is relatively small, so a customer review is often the single item that makes the sale – or loses it.

For those who ask, “How many consumers actually read online reviews?” check out the following statistics:

  • 85% of consumers read online reviews
  • Approximately 67% of consumers will read 6 reviews or less before forming an opinion
  • 90% of respondents in another survey said positive online reviews influences their buying decisions
  • 86% of respondents in the same survey said negative reviews impact their buying decisions

While it’s a no-brainer that positive customer reviews help potential customers make purchasing decisions, you may be surprised to learn that those same reviews can positively affect your search rankings. According to Moz’s 2017 Local Search Ranking Factors Survey, online reviews are believed to contribute as much as 13% to the local pack ranking and 7% to localized organic rankings.

“Local search engines love online reviews for one primary reason, consumers love online reviews.” Bottom line – search engines exist to provide internet users the best information possible to help them make decisions. User-generated reviews are the most accurate and relevant information they could provide.

Here are 5 ways positive customer reviews can help your website’s SEO:

Customer Reviews Attract More Organic Search Traffic

Every good customer review provides natural long-tail keywords in the consumer’s own language that creates content. Customer reviews frequently use the same words and phrases internet users employ when conducting online searches for products or services. For example, if a product page gathers lots of reviews saying, “high quality boots,” or “best prices,” search engines will index these long-tail keywords for when other consumers perform searches for similar products. Over time, the search engines begin associating your website with those search terms and phrases, thereby attracting more long-tail search traffic.

Star Ratings in Search Results Get More Clicks

Everyone looks for proof of quality, and a high starred rating is an immediate indicator of customer satisfaction. Multiple star ratings beside your website listing in search results attract more attention to your listing and can help pull a much higher click-through rate. Such starred ratings are real-world proof of satisfied customers. Bottom line – building a five-star rating to show up next to your links in search engine results helps customers make purchasing decisions.

Customer Reviews Lead to Improved Product Page Rankings

E-commerce websites with hundreds or even thousands of products depend on reviews to help their product pages rank higher in search engine results pages. You should be sure to allow reviews for every product to provide more opportunities for customers to leave reviews. Consumers will often begin their search phase by searching for positive reviews. Building a positive online presence that includes starred reviews on multiple product pages is a great way to beat out competitors.

Using User-Generated Content for Social Sharing

While your website copy can be expected to paint your products and/or services in a positive light, user generated content that gives a positive review is unbiased content. These real-world opinions present your business in a raw and revealing manner. Capitalize on these reviews by using them as fodder for your social media marketing campaigns. Posting your best customer reviews to your social media profiles make them stand out. Personal accounts and reviews literally beg to be read. They present a hard selling component to your marketing that doesn’t come from you. These posts will also contain the afore-mentioned long-tail keywords with links back to your site, which enhances your website’s SEO.

High Customer Review Ratings and Volume Give Your Website Authority

Another important SEO ranking factor influenced by customer reviews is website authority. Google and other search engines recognize that websites which consistently garner positive reviews are valuable search results links for internet searchers. Such high-ranking websites are the leading companies in their industry, and such sites carry weight, or authority. When consumers seek products or services in various industries, those with the most positive reviews will show up at the top of search listings.

How Can I Begin Boosting My Website’s Positive Customer Reviews?

Here are some tips for how to begin:

  • Develop a process that gathers and promotes your best customer reviews on your website, third-party review sites, and social media.
  • Create and promote your company’s profile on third-party review sites important to your industry. Search engines pull these ratings to feed their results pages.
  • Create and promote your company’s pages on social media networks where consumers turn for reviews and suggestions before buying.
  • Respond to the best and worst reviews in a way that demonstrates the value you place on customer satisfaction.

How do you currently leverage customer reviews to boost your website’s SEO? We’d love for you to share your ideas and practices with us in the comments below. Thanks for sharing!

How Do I Create a Powerful Social Media Strategy? by @donnaamos

by 2 Comments

social media strategy

by Donna Amos | Featured Contributor 

Three-quarters of the world’s population is accessible through social media. Over 3 billion people are active users with profiles on one or more social media platforms. Such astounding numbers demand that businesses create and maintain a presence on social media. But simply being seen here or there on a social media platform is not enough. A business owner can truly grow their company to have a global impact through a sound social media strategy. Let’s explore how to set one up together.

Step 1: Create Social Media Objectives and Goals

The first step for any successful social media strategy is to establish the goals you hope to achieve. Having definite objectives allows you to measure your effectiveness and make necessary changes. Without goals, you have no way of gauging success or proving your social media return on investment (ROI).

As you set goals, keep your audience and customers in mind. Do your goals help reach your audience? Use the S.M.A.R.T. framework when setting goals. This means each objective should be specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound. Here’s an example of a well-written S.M.A.R.T. goal: “For Twitter we will share descriptions and photos that showcase our most popular products. We will post three photos daily of differing products. The targeted response for each is at least 30 likes and five comments.” Write down three to five social media goals for each channel you use. Ask yourself what the goal will look like when completed, and use that to determine how you will track it.

Step 2: Choose your Social Networks

Social media is as unique from platform to platform as different carbonated beverages. Although they all fall under the umbrella term “social media,” Facebook and Twitter might as well be Mountain Dew and Dr. Pepper. Each network is singularly different, with its own style, audience, and best practices for success. Therefore, you should choose the social media platforms that best fit your strategy and goals. It isn’t really necessary to be on every platform – just the ones that matter most to reaching your desired audience.

Consider these factors when choosing your social media platforms:

  • Audience– Where do your potential customers hang out?
  • Time – How much time can you devote to a social network? Begin with an hour per day for each social network, at least at the beginning. After getting started, some automating tools can save time.
  • Resources– What personnel and skills do you have to work with? Facebook emphasizes quality content. Visual platforms like Pinterest and Instagram use images and videos. Do you have the resources to create what you need?

Step 3: Fill out your Account Profiles Completely

Completing each social media profile is a signal of your professionalism. Using the same logos, photos, and text from platform to platform shows cohesive branding and makes for a more memorable presence across different networks. Social media profiles include text and visual elements. Use quality in both to reflect well on your business.

For text, the main area to customize is the biographical or information section. Use these key steps to create and maintain a professional bio for each social media platform:

  • Show, don’t tell: experiences translate with your audience better than credentials
  • Tailor your keywords to your audience
  • Keep language fresh and avoid buzzwords
  • Answer this question for your potential followers: “What’s in it for me?”
  • Be both personal and personable

For visuals, aim for consistency and familiarity. Profile images should be consistent across all social media platforms. To create the correct images for each platform, consult this social media image size chart that shows the necessary dimensions for each photo on each network. Some image tools like Crello or Canva come with prebuilt templates of the proper size for each network.

Step 4: Pick your Posting Strategy

Getting social media right is about your individual audience and niche. What works for your business may not work for another. The only way to know is dive in and begin, then see what works best. However, there is some pretty good data available to help find a starting place. Follow these tips to get a running start.

What should you be posting? Start with the six basic types of updates: Links, videos, images, quotes, reshares, and plain-text messages. A good rule to follow when posting is called “the 4:1 ratio of sharing.” For every four “staple” updates (your most often type of update), publish one different type for variety. Consider composing each social media platform’s updates in a unique way to complement each network’s own best practices, culture, and communication style.

How often should you be posting? Theories and opinions abound and the best way to discover your own best times that match your niche and audience is test, test, test. If your updates are hugely popular you can get away with posting more often. However, the typical standard for posting on the major networks are as follows:

  • Facebook – 1 or 2 times per day
  • Instagram – 1 or 2 times per day
  • Instagram Stories – 8 to 16 stories, 2 times per week
  • Twitter – 3 to 10 times per day
  • LinkedIn – 1 or 2 times per day
  • Pinterest – 5 to 10 times per day
  • Snapchat – 5 to 20 times per week

When should you be posting? Ideally, you need to be posting updates when the largest number of your audience is online and active. Again, your own testing will help you refine this for your own business niche and audience, but the following are some general guidelines.

  • Twitter – 1-3 pm weekdays
  • Facebook – 1-4 pm and 2-5 pm weekdays
  • LinkedIn – 7-8:30 am and 5-6 pm Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday
  • Tumblr – 7-10 pm weekdays and 4 pm on Fridays
  • Instagram – 5-6 pm weekdays and 8 pm on Mondays (best time at 6 pm)
  • Pinterest – 2-4 pm and 8-11 pm weekdays (weekends are best)
  • Google+ – 9-11 am weekdays

Step 5: Analyze and Test

The more you post, the more you’ll discover which content, timing, and frequency is right for your business. The best way to test your posts and their effectiveness is with a social media analytics tool. The major social networks have basic analytics built into their platform; but it’s a much simpler process to use a single tool that shows all your social media channels on a single dashboard. These tools show a breakdown of how each post performed in the vital areas: views, clicks, shares, likes, and comments.

Follow these steps to analyze your social media update performance:

  1. Set a benchmark. After a few weeks of sharing, check your stats and find the average number of clicks, shares, likes, and comments per post. Use this as your benchmark for further testing.
  2. Test something new. Do Facebook Live videos get more views than non-live videos? Do colorful images garner more attention than black and white images? Did 4 PM get more responses than 10 AM?
  3. Did it work? Compare the numbers from your test to the numbers from your benchmark. If your test performed well, then you can implement the changes into your regular strategy. And once your test is over, test something else.

Remember, your social media strategy should be constantly changing. As new networks emerge, analyze them for a while and then test an account. As you reach your initial goals, you should set more ambitious ones. Challenges will arise that will cause you to make changes, test the results, and make still more changes. Your social media strategy should grow and develop with your business. Used effectively, social media can become the single most important tool in your marketing arsenal.