Posts tagged ‘Marketing Tools’

November 9th, 2011

7 More Indespensable Tools to Grow Your Business

As a relatively young business, I’m always looking for cost efficient but also effective ways to do things on the web. During the past year, I’ve done some research into new tools for marketers and here’s what I’ve found.  I use many of these on a regular basis, and several are free. All have paid options if you want to upgrade to more expanded service (and on some of them I have).  But here are my top choices:

(1) Freshbooks - This is a fantastic service that allows you to do invoicing for your clients.  You can customize your invoices as well as your dashboard (which your clients see when they log in), send out late notices, keep track of time spent on projects and expenses, just to name a few things.  You can email or snail mail the invoices.  The first 3 clients are free.  I guess it’s a sign of success that I’ve upgraded to the paid version, so you won’t hear me complain.

Tools like Freshbooks can help you manage and grow your business. And many of them have free trial periods or offer a free and a pro version!

(2) Join Me - I’ve attended plenty of “Go To Webinar” seminars, and have always been impressed with the technology.  But when a potential client in Florida asked if I could do a virtual presentation on my laptop, I wasn’t interested in setting up an account with GoTo.  Join Me allows you to give a seminar and your clients can see your computer.  Join Me also get a free conference call number. Really, it couldn’t have been easier.  I have also used it to enable my WordPress coding guru Manny (who lives in Florida) to give me tech support.

(3) Dropbox.com or Box.net - Sometimes, clients have a lot of files (photos, documents, etc.) they need to share with me, but email is just too cumbersome. Both of these services offer free online document storage.  With Dropbox.net, you get 3GB free, and with Box.com you get 5GB free.  I prefer Box.net because as you run your cursor over the list of documents, you’re able to see an image of the document, whereas with DropBox.com, you have to physically open a document to view it.  Another good option is YouSendIt, although it also has size limitations.

(4) Hootsuite - As a social media manager, this is an indispensible tool.  I can see all of the accounts I manage, schedule social media posts, respond to Direct Messages, etc.  I do not recommend it for Facebook postings, however.  (Read this blog post to see why.)  Again, as a sign of my success, I upgraded to the Pro version, but at less than $6 per month, it’s worth it.

(5) Onlywire - This is a social bookmarking tool that allows me to simultaneously post articles on up to 42 social bookmarking sites.  Of course, there is a paid version that prevents you from having to fill in Capchta’s, but overall it really helps with increasing SEO.

(6) Tungle Me - This is a service I have not personally used, but one of my clients introduced it to me and I was intrigued.  Tungle Me allows you to keep all of your activities and schedules online in one place.  That way if you have virtual staff or team members in different locations who don’t share a server, you can invite people to view your calendar so they can stay on top of your activities.  You can also be selective about what activities people get to see, so there are built-in privacy factors.  AND… there are SmartPhone apps!  I’ll be trying this one out.

(7) Fiverr.com - Finally, this one isn’t free, but it’s very close.  Fiverr.com (for which I’ve written entire blog posts which you can read here and here) is full of people willing to do things for you for $5.  It was through Fiverr that I found my WordPress guru, my graphic designer, and my Twitter/YouTube graphic designer.  This wonderful service has helped me to build an amazing virtual team.

If you have any other free services to share, please comment below and let me know!

Karen Naide is a Social Media Barista for Project Social, a virtual social media management company in Alpharetta, GA.  She loves helping her clients make sense of the social media space, and use it to their benefit.  Karen is married to Adam Naide, Executive Director for Social Media at Cox Communications. Her Twitter handle is @ProjSocial.

CategoryGeneral Marketing | Comment2 Comments »

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July 14th, 2011

Top 10 Marketing Tips to Use LinkedIn to Your Advantage

LinkedIn is a great social networking tool for businesses, recruiters, marketers and professionals wishing to connect and establish relationships. Many users sign up to be a part of the professional community but are unclear as to how to establish connections and use this tool to their advantage.

AccountingDegree.com filled us in on some top tips to amp up your LinkedIn profile. I’ve broken down the top 10 that will help you get connected, establish meaningful relationships and use this tool to your full advantage.

1. Brand yourself: You don’t want to get lost in the mix, so it’s important to make your presence known. How? For starters, always make sure you have an updated professional photo to help create a personal connection with others. Personalize your URL link, it’s a great way to make yourself more marketable versus keeping the random URL given to you by LinkedIn. Include a summary so those connecting with you can learn more about you and your experiences. Think of this as your mini commercial selling yourself to businesses and marketers.

2. Increase your Visibility: LinkedIn ranks high in terms of page ranks in Google. Best way to get your profile more visibility is to make your information public by selecting “Full View” in settings. This increases your chances of coming up in search engines and gives you a greater possibility to connect with more professionals and companies.

3.  Promote yourself: LinkedIn allows you to publicize your profile so use this to your advantage. You can also create a LinkedIn signature to include when you comment on blogs or other social platforms. It’s a great way to get your profile out there across multiple social mediums.

4. Groups: Start a group or get involved in a group, either way this is an area you want to be involved in. When you start a group you become the “connector” and center of the conversation. It’s a great way to let people know your strengths and create a community of people with similar interests that can ultimately help you expand your personal database.

5. Applications: There are lots of great LinkedIn applications out there, however for all you bloggers, WordPress blog RSS is the cream of the crop. This app gives you the ability to syndicate your blog through your profile so those connected with you can view your blog and be updated with new posts and information.

6. Events: Connect with your fellow LinkedInners beyond the social networking page. From conferences to happy hours there is always something going on in the business world and you should be a part of it. Check out events in your area and view the RSVP list so you know who will be in attendance. Message your connections and let them know you will be there too.

7. Be a Resource: Listen to your connections questions and show that you can be of service to them. Show them what can you and your company bring to the table. Introduce your connections with others and become the “connector” and a person of resource. It’s a great way to grow your influence on LinkedIn.

8. Use Keywords: It’s the same concept when you are publishing blogs or websites, you want your link to appear as an answer to whatever keyword was entered into the search engine. Pick some keywords that you want to be associated with when searched. Use these words in your public profile to increase awareness about your brand or company and improve your search ranking.

9. Repurpose Content: So, what does this mean? Post content and mentions about you or your company on LinkedIn to spread the word and brag a little big about your accomplishments. Company Buzz is a great tool that sifts through Twitter to find whose talking about your company and what’s being said. Highlight these mentions on your profile and add to the buzz.

10. Customer Company Profile: This customizable page option helps company’s enhance their recruiting tactics and provide a targeted experience for potential connections. Through this tool a company can provide prospective employees with updated career information as well as participate in recruiting efforts.

Posted by Rebecca Wilson, Marketing Analyst for the 60 Second Marketer.

CategoryLinkedIn, Marketing Best Practices, Marketing Techniques, Marketing Tips, SEO, Social Media | Comment4 Comments »

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June 29th, 2011

Top 10 Must Have Applications to Build Your Company’s Facebook Page

The Social media sphere is an area where businesses and marketers need to be, but many are unaware of how to move beyond the initial faze of creating a Facebook page. For those of you that have a page, but are not quite sure where to go, this blog is for you. Adding a Facebook application can not only move your page from ordinary to extraordinary, but also help increase traffic and interaction from your fans and followers.

So where do you start? Below are the top 10 Facebook applications that can help take your Facebook page to the next level.

1. Wildfire

This is a great application for those interested in implementing a social media marketing campaign. Applicable for businesses, bloggers ad agencies and non-profit organizations, this application helps you design branded interactive promotions.

If you’re interested in doing a contest, sweepstakes, product giveaways or giving out coupons this application can help.  This app gives you the ability to design your promotion with their customizable promotion builder. They also make it easy for you to publish your promotion to all of your social network platforms so all of your fans and followers are made aware of the campaign.

Running a sweepstakes or contests is a great way to build brand awareness, increase followers and their engagement as well as drive traffic to your site.  After all, according to Jupiter Research, companies that run contests or sweepstakes have twice as many fans on their sponsored social network pages as those that don’t.

2. Wizehive

This application helps you build a web-based contest. They make it easy for you to create contest forms and surveys through their Facebook contest software. This app allows you to customize your forms and voting system, so if you want the public to decide the winner or have a randomized selection process, they can make it happen.

If you’re interested in turning a profit, Wizehive allows you to charge a fee through their system to generate revenue for entries. This application may not be the most affordable, so check out their site to see if it’s right for you. They offer three different plans that range in price from $750 (silver plan) to $7,500+ (platinum plan).

3. Votigo

This is a full-service photo and video contest application that allows you to do a lot with your Facebook fans and customers. Not only does it allow you to create customized promotions, but it also allows you to tap into the registration data so you can learn more about your contestants and build a more extensive customer database. This app focuses on user-generated content allowing for video and photo submissions, comments, voting and support for YouTube embedded content. Their services range in price, but start around $5,000.

4. SocialFly

This application acts as your personal secretary. It’s a great way for marketers to  keep in touch and keep up with their  businesses contacts. The application has a notes system that allows you to create and setup reminders as well as develop notes to help you organize your contacts. Their location feature allows you to identify where each of your contacts live or where you have to be at your next meeting.

5. Telephone and Voicemail

These applications allow you to communicate with your fans and customers on a more personalized basis. You can talk, IM, leave a voice mail and voice chat all through Facebook. It’s a great option for those that want to interact more with their customers and allows those in business to communicate more efficiently.

6. Networked Blogs

This is a great app for all you bloggers. It basically provides you with a community of bloggers allowing you to connect with others,  promote yourself and promote other blogs on your Facebook page. It’s an easy way to import your blog feed through your Facebook page, so all your fans and followers will be updated with your recent posts. The app also helps categorize the different blogs you read, making it easy to navigate through your favorites.

7. Web Trends Analytics

Want to learn more about your fans and the success of your campaigns? This is a great tool to do just that. This app pulls information from your Facebook page allowing you to track your social media efforts. You can track conversions, engagement, who you’re active followers are, what they’re doing on your page and the ability to earn more about their demographics. It’s pretty simple and very effective at pulling insights, allowing you to dig deeper into your Facebook audience.

8. Buddy Media

Buddy Media calls themselves a power tool for your Facebook page. And they’re right. They have the ability to amp up your page and take it to the next level. Their platform helps you build your audience, increase engagement, drive fans to your site, launch pages, track feedback and make updates easily.

9. Context Optional

This is a pretty cool company that helps major companies design and manage their brand on social media platforms. Their sophisticated technologies provide businesses with analytics tools to track their social marketing campaigns and measure results. Their Social Marketing Suite is designed to help you create and publish applications and find solutions for your brand’s Facebook page. Context Optional has created effective branded pages, interactive branded applications and has helped businesses develop integrated social marketing campaigns.  You should check it out.

10. Virtue

Virtue is a web development company that can do a lot for your company. They specialize in web application development, web site promotions and developing software to run across your social media platforms. What can they do for your Facebook page? Step-by-step, they help you design a branded page, your own branded application as well as market your application through their SEO services. They focus on concept and strategy so you’re not just creating a page or app to create one. They give it purpose and the ability for you to track your results and find opportunities to advance your social presence.

We may have missed a few cool Facebook Apps that you’d like us to mention. If so, let us know about your favorite Facebook App in the comments section below.

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Posted by Rebecca Wilson, Marketing Analyst for the 60 Second Marketer.

CategoryAdvertising, Facebook, Marketing Techniques, Marketing Tips, Social Media | Comment1 Comment »

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June 7th, 2011

Top 5 Features of Next Generation Mobile Websites

Are you Mad about Mobile? Well, Thomas Lichtwerch is and thinks you should be, too. Thomas and his team at Mad Mobile in Tampa, Florida design and build mobile websites and applications for top brands and retailers including Pier 1, Suzuki, Hunter Douglas, TJ Maxx, and Disney just to name a few.

Mad Mobile’s advanced technology and expertise can quickly convert the content and functionality from your desktop sites into mobile form. And the bonus is they can do it with little impact to your IT group.

Why take your brand mobile? Mobile is one of the fastest-growing platforms in the world. With 40% of U.S. mobile subscribers regularly browsing the internet on their phone and a projected 12.5% of all e-commerce transactions going mobile by the end of the year, it’s a channel that you need to be aware of. According to Google, mobile web traffic will surpass PC traffic by 2013.

Mad Mobile can transform elements of your regular website to seamlessly become part of your mobile website.

The mobile web space is flourishing with retailers creating innovative mobile-friendly browsers for consumers. And they are seeing the benefits. According to Mad Mobile, retailers have reported higher conversion rates and larger order sizes due to mobile-friendly websites.

So, what can we expect to see from these next generation mobile websites? Well for starters, they feature animations, layered menus, touch events, offline caching, embedded video and location awareness.

There’s a lot going on here, so Mad Mobile breaks down the top 5 Features of Next Generation Websites:

1. Hero Shots: The glamorous model shots and glossy product photos on retail sites are now going mobile. Developers have the capability to create animated rotating shots while incorporating touch events. Consumers have the opportunity to browse with a simple flick of the finger allowing for increased engagement and interactivity. Not to mention it’s FUN!

2. App-like Experience: ‘Mobile-web apps’ is what they’re calling it these days. Native apps provide speed and easy functionality capabilities. Now your mobile website can, too. Next-gen mobile sites include sliding menus, quick sort functionality and product list views that change without reloading the page. This means consumers can see your products quicker and get to the check-out line in no time. This translates into more conversions and less abandoned shopping carts.

3. Location Awareness: This is key. Mobile sites leverage the geo-location API to track users current location allowing them to provide relevant content specific to user’s surroundings. Looking for a product, but don’t know if it’s stock at your local Pier 1? With geo-location capabilities you can now find out!

4. Zoom/move product images: It’s no secret our smart phone screen is significantly smaller than the typical desktop. Product photos and information appear smaller, but ZOOM is a game changer. Zoom and move capabilities allow users to see the products in more detail. This easy function enables consumers to make smarter buying decisions.

5. Social Media Integration: Outside of email, social media ranks as the top mobile activity. Mobile and social go together, it’s that simple. Integrating social media platforms into the mobile website help brands engage with their consumers ultimately increasing the amount of time they spend with your brand. Include social media and you will enlist your viewers as brand activists, giving them the power to share your site and products with Facebook friends and Twitter followers.

If you’d like to read the full report, click Mad Mobile.

If you like what you read today, you can have these blog posts delivered to your in box each morning by clicking here. Or, you can sign up for our free weekly e-newsletter by clicking here.

Rebecca Wilson is a Marketing Analyst for the 60 Second Marketer.

CategoryConsumer Behavior, Location Based Services, Marketing Tips, Mobile Marketing, Mobile Media, Mobile Website Best Practices | Comment22 Comments »

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September 10th, 2010

Seven Ways to Get the Most from the 60 Second Marketer Website

Every so often, we like to remind our readers of the best ways they can get the most from our site. After all, the 60 Second Marketer is more than just a web magazine — it’s a community of marketing professionals from around the globe who comment, contribute and conspire with one another on the best ways to get the most bang from their marketing dollar.

So, with that in mind, here are the top seven ways to get the most from the 60 Second Marketer:

Marketing tips from the 60 Second Marketer
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  1. Comment on our blog: We respond to virtually every comment that’s made on our blog. So if you have a comment about one of our posts, we’ll follow-up on your comment by providing you additional information and insights. Give it a try. Seriously. We really do follow-up.
  2. Follow us on Twitter: If you’re interested in staying up-to-date on all the latest trends in marketing, you can follow me at 60SecondTweets. I’ll keep you posted on all the latest articles and information all day long. And occasionally, we’ll even say something witty and funny. But only if we’re in a witty or funny mood.
  3. Have the 60 Second Marketer blog delivered to your in-box every morning: Are you interested in learning about the newest tools, tips and techniques in marketing? Then have the 60 Second Marketer blog sent to your in-box each morning. Just fill out the box to the right of this blog post and walla! It’ll be delivered just about every morning, like magic.
  4. Sign up for our free weekly eNewsletter: Each week, we send out a whole slew of “How To” articles designed to help you instantly improve your marketing program. If you want tips on social media, email marketing, blogging, direct response marketing or just about any other topic, then sign up for our weekly eNewsletter.
  5. Visit our QuickTips page: It includes a long list of tips that you can put to use instantly to get the most bang from your marketing dollar.
  6. Check out our Free Tools page: Our Free Tools page has 18 different free tools or information portals where you can download additional content or tools designed to help you grow your sales and revenue.
  7. Download a free chapter from my book: Are you serious about social media? Then you’ll want to download the free chapter I’m offering from “How to Make Money with Social Media.” It’s packed with good information.

Of course, all this assumes you’ve taken a deep dive into our free Articles and our free Videos, right? If you haven’t jumped into the fray on those pages, you should start there because they’re packed with great tools and tips on ways you can improve your marketing.

So there you have it. Seven ways to get the most from the 60 Second Marketer. Plus a few bonus tips.

Posted by Jamie Turner, Chief Content Officer of the 60 Second Marketer, the online magazine for BKV Digital and Direct Response.

CategoryGeneral Marketing | CommentNo Comments »

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