Interlace Communications

Category: Archive

  • Small Business Saturday — Ideas #21 to #25 — Marketing Secrets

    Small Business Saturday

    Ideas #21 to #25 — Marketing Secrets

    This week’s theme includes some marketing secrets and tips for Small Business Saturday as well as marketing your business everyday. Some I don’t agree with using and others I actually promote and provide.

    #21 – Ladders  

    Let’s start with Ladders. Yes, Linking Ladders, to be precise. If all you want to do on Facebook is have a huge amount of likes but don’t care about the return of involvement. Join a Liking Ladder group.
    Won’t find me there or ever recommend it to any of our clients. No sir. For our clients, we want quality not quantity, even if it is only 100 or 200 fans. Since I know about it, I feel the need to make you aware that something like it exists.  wanted to share this with you, if interested.

    #22 – A Twitter Shortcut

    The number 1 rule with Twitter is to follow first and then be followed. But who do you follow? Take a short cut by finding an active company or organization and look who they are following or have as followers. Then begin to follow who is on their twitter following. It’s a great way to build who you’re following quickly.

    Make sure to be involved in at least three different social medias

    #23 – Every Door Direct Mail or EDDM

    16¢ a piece for postage? Yes, you can. Get the word out through a mass mailing of your area with the Post Office by using the Every Door Direct Mail. There’s no mailing list. Just a few rules on printing. Try out the Post Office tool to create a campaign and give Jackie a call to create your flyer and assist you with the paperwork for the Post Office.But wait, there’s a way to distribute for only 6¢* a piece. 

    #24 – Inserts. Yes, Inserts.

    You thought inserts were only for big box stores? Think again. With a minimum of 5,000* households at an average rate of $60 per thousand households, your distribution cost is only 6¢ per household. Check out MACnet for a list of publications in the Mid-Atlantic Region. They are a great choice for marketing your business.

    *Check on the minimum. Your cost may vary based on the minimum rate.

    #25 – Remnant Space

    Do you know that from time to time publications will offer remnant space? This happens only at the 11th hour of deadline when sales are light. To take advantage of these deals you need to be ready with your ad copy and money. Savings on remnant space can be 50% or more. All you need to do is ask.We hope you enjoyed the 25 Ideas to prepare your business for Small Business Saturday.
    Need help with any of these ideas? Contact Jackie at jackie@gomaava.com

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  • Monthly Website Maintenance to Monthly Optimization for your Website

    Why the change?

    by Alyse Mitten, Owner of Interlace Communications, Inc.

    For the past four years we have dubbed our monthly focus on your website’s integrity and SEO as Monthly Maintenance. Recently, we have included some speed checks and added even more search engine optimization to your site to what we are doing on a monthly basis and have really ramped up the optimization portion of what we do.

    Then came the dah moment.

    The other day we were explaining monthly maintenance to a new client and they said, “If you are building my new site, why do you already need to maintain it?” Wow!!!! You are right, why do we call it monthly maintenance when merely 5 to 10 minutes is spent to update plugins, themes, and software while the majority of the time is spent optimizing your site to be found in searches. With that said and to better represent what we do for you each month we have changed its name to Monthly Optimization or MO for short.

    So, what is it that we add to your website? It’s words, photos, videos, new blogs, changes that make sense to attract all the search engines to your website. The most important thing is that each month we are doing something and making little changes here and there. Yes, Google likes that. They like to see changes on your site. It doesn’t need to be every day or every week. Just once a month is VERY IMPORTANT!

    So how do we find out what to add to your website? Sometimes, it’s just asking you what you would like to see changed on the site or receiving a note indicating that you want to add some information*. When you don’t have anything to add we turn to some tools that provide us with actual facts about when and for what your website is coming up in searches. Doesn’t mean you are coming up on the first page but it does guide us with the right keyword phrases that will move you up in those searches. It’s information directly from Google. Recently, we set up keyword phrases for a new client straight from the Google Search Engine Console. My feeling is it will give us better feedback than had we asked the client to give us his feedback. It’s sort of like reverse engineering the research for keyword phrases. Another tool we use to check your own website is called SEO Quake. What this does is provides us with the check and balance to make sure we are matching what is provided in the Google Search Engine Console. 

    Our Monthly Optimization program is a very unique way of checking on the effectiveness of your keyword phrases. Yes, we could take short cuts with tools like Google Analytics and Yoast but, frankly, this actually is how people are finding you and I can’t justify providing you with information that you can’t replicate. The way I see it is a search is proof. Oh, and for those living outside of Berks County, rest assured we take all measures to make sure when doing the searches that Google has no idea where we are living by using what’s called the “Private Window” on Firefox. You can use that, too. Try it. Go to the three dots to the extreme right side of your search menu bar. Click and you will see that you can choose a “Private Window”.

    *About adding information, allow me to stress something here that is very, very, very important. If you find an article or information on another website that you would like it included on your site, leave it there and link to it. DO NOT INSIST THAT WE NEED TO USE SOMEONE ELSE’S CONTENT. Google frowns on that. Instead write your own words describing whatever it is and backlink to their article.

    So Monthly Maintenance is no longer the name for what we do with your website on a monthly basis. It’s all about Monthly Optimization.

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  • No Facebook Page for your business? Are you behind the curve?

    No Facebook Page for your business? Are you behind the curve?

    The answer is NO!!!

    As I was preparing for my Social Media Class at Reading Area Community College, I had the most interesting experience happen to me. A week before the class a friend asked me to help him learn how to use Facebook. Me, being the helpful person I am, said, “Yes.” We sat down for what I thought would be a mundane experience for me which turned into a great lesson to share with my class and also you.

    Because my friend only had a few likes and posts, I decided to use my own Facebook page for a better learning experience. While there I went to my notifications and noticed a friend of mine had shared an invitation to like his Facebook page. Now this is a very well-known person in the community so he had a multitude of friends. To show my friend how this works, I clicked on the new business page to find it looking like this: No profile photo & No cover photo, no post, no nothing. Oh, but somehow he had 5 likes. So, because I was curious as to what would happen with this page, I clicked and became the 6th like.

    The next day, curiosity got the best of me and I went back to find this page of nothing had 61 likes!!!! Yes, sixty-one! Oh, there was now a profile photo … not with his logo but instead his photo. Oh, did I tell you what type of business this was? No?

    He is a photographer. His profile photo was a photo of him???? Someone did comment, nice selfie.

    I forgot to tell you the best part of all of this, when I went to search his name the next day, I noticed that 1,000 people were talking about the page. What this means is that all the 61 people who liked the page had this mentioned in their news feed to their friends. He had been seen by over 1,000 people. Imagine if he really would have had this page ready for those visiting his Facebook page. If he would have had photos of his work, his logo on the profile photo area, a collage of photos of his work for the cover photo, when he is available, and where he is available.

    The following week I visited the page before my class and he had 72 people like his page with no additional information or posts added. Still the same photo for his profile and no shares, likes, or comments. Oh, but somehow he had two reviews with 5 Stars. Someone knows what to do to help promote this page.

    This experience was a good lesson learned on how NOT to promote your page on Facebook and missed a huge opportunity to do business on Facebook. His experience was an affirmation that businesses who are not on Facebook have not missed the opportunity but instead would be entering a social network which is not only ready but accepting of your business. Facebook has and continues to change the way people can choose what they do and don’t want to see and experience. It’s all a matter of knowing what your fans want you to share.

    Using the Analytics on Facebook are key to choosing the right time to post your messages on Facebook. Creating a mix of videos, photos, surveys, helpful tips, and audience participation are key to engaging with your audience. Weekly review of your analytics will tell you what is working. When a post seems to have an interest from your fans, reach out for more fans by investing in a Facebook ad which is sent to your friends of friends. Yes, if you are an avid reader of my articles you know I’m not big on spending money on Facebook ads because of the wasted money with Bots but, there are times when it makes sense. The chance of wasting money through a post within your circle is less likely to be wasted. Make the best use of your marketing budget by following this method for Facebook advertising.

    Is it too late to market your business with Facebook? Absolutely not. I do caution though that because your audience is ready, you need to be ready, too. Your Facebook page needs to be complete even with posts that have been backdated. Now a note to myself, reach out to my friend and help him with his business page before he says, “See, Facebook doesn’t work.”

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    Alyse Mitten, Head Honcho of Interlace Communications, Inc. | GoMAaVA along with her staff, work with their clients to engage with their customers through websites built with SEO, social media marketing/social media engagement, and email engagement along with print marketing and advertising. We believe in a well rounded marketing strategy with current and traditional marketing.

  • Bots or Nots…over $4.88 of $11 B is wasted in ad spending. Ouch!

    Bots or Nots…over $4.88 of $11 B is wasted in ad spending. Ouch!

    Ok. You haven’t seen much from me in the way of promoting Facebook boosts in my column. Maybe it’s because of my allegiance to print advertising where I know how many real, live people are receiving the papers. No bots there! I cringe when people say to me I spent only $20 for 1500 people on my boost to become fans. Really? Only 1,500 people when you could have taken the very same amount of money and advertised to 30,000 real, live people. Well, enough of comparing notes on print verses online. I don’t even have to defend that fact. You can safely figure that of the 1,500 “people” who have the opportunity to maybe click your ad, there are bots out there, about 50% of them that are clicking your ad, too. Well, that’s only 750 fake clickers. But what if you spent $200 for 30,000 people? That’s 15,000 bots wasting not only your money but also your time and … trust.

    These bots are called fake ad clicks also false user accounts and they are out there creating the façade that you’re getting interest to your business. Bots should really be called Brats. They are computer programs that automate tasks to create fake clicks, generate fake user accounts, inappropriate comments, and steal your content.

    Bots! How can you tell?

    The other day we met with a new client to discuss their Facebook activity. The business is fairly new and their Facebook page had over 2,000 fans in a region which wouldn’t have produced that type of fan base in such a short period of time. I could tell without asking whether he had invested money in boosting the page. What really gave it away was the insights. Of those 2,000 fans, there was only evidence of activity from 50% of the fans on Facebook. The others were nothing more than bots. You can bet his boosting days are over.

    So what do you do to combat this?

    Well, maybe you want quantity. When meeting with a client I explained what happens and that only 50% of the clicks to their page will be real, live people. He was fine with that. He just want the numbers to compete with others in his industry who are doing the same. Ok, so I can live with that. Then there is knowing how to set the demographic information so you are leaning towards more real, live people instead of bots. Demographics could be a whole other column of conversation.

    Good ‘Old Sweat Equity!!!

    I’m a firm believer in quality versus quantity and engagement with those who WANT to know about your business. It’s about the messages and engagements. It’s about quality, relevant content in the form of videos, photos, and words! It’s about having a goal and a plan for what you are going to share with those prospects. It’s about rolling up your sleeves and creating real engagement with real, live people.

    Is it bots or not bots? That’s your decision.

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    Alyse Mitten and the team of Interlace Communications offer advice and assistance with online and print advertising. Interested in sending the right message to your current and future clients, see Interlace Communications for all your needs.

    www.iciconnect.com | alyse@gomaava.com | 484-709-6564.

     

  • Are You Ready for Snapchat and Periscope? Predictions for Social Media 2016

    social media engagement, 2016 Social Media Trends

    Each year, I like to research what’s being projected to happen in social media marketing for the upcoming year. It’s a great way to make adjustments of what we are doing and find out what’s being planned for growth and changes. Last year it was all about Facebook and Twitter adding videos to their social media platforms. This year, my review includes projections from Huffington Post, SproutSocial, AllInOneSocial, to mention just a few and it seems we’re still looking at video as a focus, but with a twist.

    In every blog I noticed the same mention of live video and live stream. A mention of Snapchat was high on the list as well. In fact, if your target marketing are the Millennials, embrace Snapchat and keep your eye on Vine, WhatsApp, WeChat, and Kik. The big five will continue to develop their enhancements to keep their real estate.

    Huffington Post shared these as Social Media Trends for 2016:

    Small(er) data is here. What is meant by this is that it’s time to micro-target your audience. Think about what Snickers is doing with their candy bar by recognizing emotions and personalities — “princess,” “crabby.” Or how about Coca-Cola recognizing consumers by first-names?

    Live broadcasting is becoming the new real-time. Having created a social club site, I know this to be true and have to say, it is much easier than ever to set up live streams for your clients to engage with live broadcasting. Snapchat, Periscope and YouTube can help you make all this happen. Andre Young, from YouEvolvingNow.Com, makes it happen by providing members to be a part of their M.E.N. and W.O.M.E.N. Forums, while they are happening.

    The passionate consumer is the new influencer. Remember when the rule of thumb was it took seven touches to reach out to your consumers. Consumer engagement through social media with comments, shares, and likes not only convert to customers, but help to convert others. One mention that I found interesting was that posts with curated content links generate 33% more clicks than original content links. I guess that makes sense because of including information provided from another source and referencing that source. I’m sure this article, when posted on LinkedIn, may have the same result.

    GIFs and immersive video are driving forces of engagement. 2016 will be the age of videos and video social networks. Now wait, didn’t I say that last year? Well, I guess we can repeat ourselves. Messaging apps and emojis just keep growing. Facebook Messenger continues to make it more fun to connect. A few to check out include: Liketoknow.it, Like2buy. Then there’s Twitter and Facebook with it’s Buy Now buttons. Get ready for Facebook’s “M”, to help you to personalize your needs. “M” will join forces with Siri, Cortana and Mona.

    While visiting All In One Social, top influencers shared the same sentiments that video, live streaming, and visual content will be big in 2016. Animated GIF’s and auto-play video will be the normal for social medias and websites.

    Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram will begin to push their “Buy Buttons” even more. Ironically, Business Insider reported that active social media users really don’t care about the Buy Buttons. In fact only 9% of respondents on Facebook showed interest. Then again, there was a time when the internet was ALL FREE advertising and, guess what, it’s now all about “pay to play.” My take on this is, we are at the beginning of the Buy Button Era. Somehow Facebook will find a way to MAKE ecommerce businesses HAVE to use Buy Buttons to see any sort of ROI on Facebook. The question will be how will they increase the interest and up the social media engagement?

    Personally, I’m not at all surprised by what I see as trending for 2016 and look forward to continuing to work with our clients who are already using live streaming as part of their social media engagement and are ready to introduce to our other clients who are candidates for live streaming. I also look forward to sharing more about all of these social media engagement methods to engage with you in my future articles.

    Alyse Mitten, Head Honcho of Interlace Communications, Inc. | GoMAaVA along with her staff, work with their clients to engage with their customers through websites built with SEO, social media marketing/social media engagement, and email engagement along with print marketing and advertising. We believe in a well rounded marketing strategy with current and traditional marketing.

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    Alyse MittenInterlace Communications, Inc. | GoMAaVA

    P O Box 433 | Hamburg | PA | 19526 | 484-709-6564

    Iciconnect.com | alyse@gomaava.com

     

    Resources:

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/layla-revis/social-media-trends-2016_b_8914190.html

    http://sproutsocial.com/insights/social-media-trends/

    http://www.allin1social.com/blog/social-media-marketing-trends-in-2016

    http://www.businessinsider.com/social-media-users-dont-like-buy-buttons-2015-12

     

  • Build right! Drip and Post Often

    When Paul met with me the first time, he had an adequate website but it wasn’t producing the traffic he was looking to reach. He also had an email engagement in place but was lacking in the engagement part of it. His social media presences was nonexistent.

    Build Your Website Right for Marketing…

    As we built his site it was apparent he had a great product which could be turned into a fillable, downloadable document that people could complete online. We also identified several key topics that could be created into videos. While working on the videos, Paul discovered a way he wanted to introduce the fillable document. We went to work on all the pieces of the site. While working on creating a gateway system where people would come onto the site, view a whiteboard introducing the document, we began to build an email drip program to help engage with those downloading the document.

    Create An Email Drip Program …

    The email drip program began 24 hours after they signed up for the document; two weeks later another email to see how they were doing; one month later a stronger email to check on their progress and provide more details about Paul. Along with the specific emails there were also ways to drip relevant information to educate them about other products and topics.

    Let’s Get Busy About Those Posts …

    email drip, social media plan, business planningWith the website and email drip program in place, we moved onto choosing the right social network to promote the business. Paul’s potential clients were identified to be between the age of 35 to 60; within 25 miles of his location; male and female; employed with retirement accounts. No need to concern ourselves with talking about business. We began to work on building our presence on Facebook by creating a business page. We built the interest to the page from inviting those he knew on Facebook, through his email engagement, as well as, having others within his circle invite friends as well.

    Then it was the message we wanted to send. With our arsenal of videos and content, it was easy to create a variety of engaging posts and boosts. Yes, boosts. Our goal is to reach out and build an initial following of 200 fans. With the right message, our videos, and interesting content we will create a buzz and get them into the sales funnel.

    With this online triad in place, it will become your online marketing arm to help drive new and current business to you. Once built it is important to continue to make changes on the regular basis to your website in the form of blogs and relevant information, send out email drips on a regular basis, and become involved with your social media audience on a daily basis.

     

    The team of Interlace Communications works with businesses through online and print marketing. Give them a call at 484-709-6564 or contact ICI to help your business grow.

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  • A Day in the Life of a Social Media Master

    Most people would think a person who teaches Social Media Mastery and provides businesses with daily posting to their business page would be on social networks all day. That is not the case at all. If all my clients were located in other states, yes, then you would find me online for hours at a time but that, too, is not the case. My clients are business owners in Berks, Chester, Lehigh, Lancaster, and Montgomery counties for the most part. So, when communicating with them it’s a combination of social media, phone calls, emails, text messages, and personal visits. Since my clients are business owners, I tend to favor LinkedIn as my social network of choice. I have discovered several apps for my phone which have made my discipline for connecting with those on LinkedIn much easier. First thing in the morning, I use an app called Connected with LinkedIn. The app provides me with information like who is having a birthday, work anniversary, job change, and suggestions for new connections. It takes only minutes to take care of this daily task. I have also synced my calendar to this app and if there happens to be a person on LinkedIn, who I am going to see on a certain day, it will tell me so and provide their profile information. This is a feature I really find useful with LinkedIn Connected.Another LinkedIn app I find useful is Pulse. I check the news I want to read with a quick scan and I bookmark what’s interesting to read later.I’m on a mission right now with my morning routine. No time to stop and read.

    Now, to Facebook. I have notifications come directly to my phone so it’s no wonder when I wake in the morning, Facebook is blowing up my phone with notifications. A quick scan of these and I can choose those that need a comment or a like. I’m not much of a game player on Facebook so Candy Crush requests pretty much get avoided, sorry friends.

    Facebook Pages Manager is next on the list. With managing over 50 business pages on Facebook this app is essential for keeping up with their fan’s activities. We can check who has commented and, if it is a comment we can handle, will answer it right from Pages Manager. If it needs the owner’s attention, we just send an email and they either tell us how to reply or take care of it themselves.

    Like Connected with LinkedIn, Facebook Page Manager provides me with the ability to check in on client’s pages in minutes.

    It’s time to move on from the social networks to email. So, what’s the latest news or new features happening on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Pinterest, Tumblr, and social media? There’s a Google Alert for that.

    In my inbox each morning are Google Alerts to provide me with information about what’s happening with each of these social networks and much more. This and Pulse helps me to watch for changes, improvements, new products and much more.

    My morning discipline is over and it’s time to get ready for a full day of work. How long did all this take? On an average day only 15 minutes. I’m finished with all the heavy lifting so to speak.

    During the day there might be a need to check in. How do I know? Well, those apps I have installed on my phone alert me and of course there are those occasional notifications.

    The evening is when I find myself off the business grid and checking my personal Facebook page to catch up on my friends and family.

    My question to you is, do you have 15 minutes to connect with your clients, prospects, acquaintances or your friends? The key is to be disciplined and have a routine.

    What I share in my classes is to spend 15 minutes a day on social media with business related communication, and then if you want to play Candy Crush, have fun.

    I hope what I do each day provided you with ideas on how you can better manage your time to include social networks as a part of your business marketing. If you need help to create a routine, give us a call at 484.705.6564 or email me at alyse@gomaava.com.

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  • A Business Event Without Twitter is Like a Day Without Sunshine

    by Alyse Mitten

    Twitter is such an under used and unappreciated “social network” for business use. In fact, in a survey conducted by Pew Research, only 19 percent of online adults use Twitter verses 71 percent using Facebook. With that said, those businesses not incorporating Twitter with running a major event are missing the mark on attendee involvement before, during and long after the event.

    Why Twitter and not Facebook? Twitter’s ease-of-use format lends itself as a better choice for engagement. With the use of a hashtag, attendees can share their experiences in real time, quickly. Those engaging with the comments can read them, quickly. With the use of the # (hashtag) it is much easier to find just what is being mentioned about the event and to follow those at the event without any negative feedback.

    Recently, I attended an international event for a major corporation. Their use of Twitter throughout the event became viral and viral is what you want. Long before we arrived at the Conference, we were able to download an event app to share with us who was there through Twitter, the sponsors for the event, the schedule of the event, speaker’s bios, and much more. Top of the list was the word “Timeline.”

    Once part of the conference, I began to receive alerts, that I was getting tweets from some of the first to arrive. Photos of luggage in the airports and signs and photos of the venue created an excitement for those attending as well as those, regrettably, not attending. The attendee engagement began long before the first keynote speaker.

    During the event, a large screen in the exhibit hall displayed a Twitter feed of the comments and photos being shared by those in attendance through Tweet Chat. People who seldom used their Twitter account where joining the conversation and getting involved. Did this take away from the conference activities? Absolutely not. If anything, it enhanced the camaraderie of those attending and continued the conversation about the conference long after arriving home.

    I know personally, my Twitter followers increased exponentially because of the event, as did a change in my tweets. So, what did the conference organizers do right?

    • Provided an app for the event through a third-party company like: cvent, attendify, crowdcompass.
    • Had key people attending the conference in place who were well versed in using Twitter to begin the excitement. They began by using the # [hashtag] to create an easy way to find out what’s being said about everything on Twitter about the event, and used @ [call outs] so those on Twitter would know what was said.
    • Displayed  the feed of tweets being shared at the event to encourage the conversation to go viral.
    • Mentioned the # [hashtag]  in all of their sessions.
    • Continued the conversation long after the conference had ended.

    By implementing Twitter at your event, it can become an excellent source of feedback about what people liked about your conference from speakers, topics, exhibitors, sponsors, and even the venue. The Twitter feed can actually be used as a source to help plan future events.

    Other ways Twitter becomes invaluable to you, imagine real time ways to communicate with those in attendance. Do you have a change in the schedule? Tweet it. Do you have access to speaker slides? Tweet it. Do you have a question or two to ask those attending? Tweet it.  And, after the event, do you want feedback about the attendee’s conference experience? Tweet it.

    Your takeaway from this? Make Twitter a part of your next conference or event to make it a way for those attending to engage with others attending and provide your organization with vital information for future events.

    Follow us on Twitter @gomaava.

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  • What Does 2015 Have in Store for Social Networks? Visual! Content! Money!

    by Alyse MittenAs I was preparing for this month’s column, I thought it would be a great idea to share what is being said by other Social Media Experts throughout the cybersphere.It’s no surprise that social networks continue to find more ways to monetize their networks and make it more difficult for businesses to organically reach their audience through quality posting. A part of me laments over the whole dynamics of Facebook boosts. Think about it. They insist that you need to boost your Facebook posts to increase your fan base and then, once you build a fan base, if you do, Facebook makes it difficult to have your organic posts be seen. What is wrong with that picture? Does every post need to be a boosted? And, what really is a fan? Is it a sale? That’s why I find it amazing how business owners have no problem spending the average of $20 for the potential of reaching 2,000 to 3,000 possible fans that maybe will become a fan. Yet, disregard the same amount of money to be spent in print for 30,000 people to see their advertisement, which has a more direct sales experience. It’s just my reality check! I know it is a necessary evil with Facebook. My word of caution on budgeting to market on social networks is to know what you are buying, and create a goal on results. I know for us as a social media management company, it certainly will change the way we work with our clients to market their businesses through social networks in 2015. Now, with all that said, What’s in beta right now with Facebook is the ability to add a “Buy” button to your posts. Now, that makes more sense to me. I’m looking forward to testing the Buy button myself, and write a future column about the results.

    Next, get busy with those video cameras and smartphones! With more and more of the social networks providing an environment where videos are accepted, we’re going to see digital network marketing take off. Facebook and, believe it or not, Twitter are making a major impact with video marketing to the point that YouTube is beginning to see a decline. Continuing with this theme, it’s time to include SlideShare and Reddit as social networks of choice for your business. I never thought about these two as social networks but, hey, why not. If there is a social network out there that benefits you to get involved so you can be found through SMO (Social Media Optimization) I say, “Why not? It is all about repurposing.” I find it interesting that Reddit actually has a website just for those subscribers who want to see videos. It’s Reddit tv. That’s how important it is for video to be seen.

    Content is still King… wait, that’s not how I say this. Relevant, timely content is king. We will continue to see this building to the point that by 2020 there will be a 600 percent increase in content online. And, frankly, I think, like others, that this number is very conservative. As more eBooks continue to emerge from self-published authors, the internet will continue to build with content.

    How are you planning to use social media marketing as part of your marketing plan for 2015? I know for our clients, we will be educating them on how to incorporate videos into their messages as well as monetize those posts to sell products as well as build their fan base. We know this is so important that we have created a class just to focus on social networks like Pinterest, YouTube, and Instagram that focus on sharing videos and photos. Make it a point to include them in your social media marketing.
    – See more at: http://www.422business.com/groups/mastering-social-media/what-does-2015-have-store-social-networks-visual-content-money#sthash.IYPut8PH.dpuf

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  • Using the Dropbox with Constant Contact

    This past week I was asked this question. “I am working on a newsletter and I am trying to link the pictures via Dropbox. Can I do that?”

    The answer is yes, by using the public folder in your Dropbox file.

    Here is how you do it.
    There are two ways to access your dropbox folder:
    • Launch Dropbox Website
    • Open Dropbox Folder

    When using dropbox on a normal basis you use ‘Open Dropbox Folder’. Today you will use ‘Launch Dropbox Website’.

    Our example is going to be the .mp3 created to promote the mixer held at Off the Avenue with Merra Lee Moffitt and Rick Herbert. This is a screen shot from the .mp3.

    (By the way, this is great to use for videos, audio files, and pictures.)

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    Step 1: Click on ‘Launch Dropbox Website’ what you will see is a file similar to the screen shot below.

     

    Step 2: Locate the Public folder.

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    Step 3: Upload the file to the public folder, the same way you would do for any other folder in your dropbox.

    There are several ways to do this so I won’t favor one over the other.

     

    Step 4: Once in the public folder, click anywhere between the items name and the document description.

    Do not click on the items name, it will open.

     

    Step 5: When highlighted, like you see in this illustration, click on copy public link.

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    Step 6: Copy the public link to your clipboard and begin to share in emails, enewsletter, on your website or anywhere you can share the link.

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    To see how to use video to promote an event, click the link below to go to Kasey’s public dropbox and view the video.

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