Local Marketing Online: Part 6: Share Content

Posted on May 5, 2011

In Part 5 of this series: City Sites, Reviews & Recommendations, I discussed the impact of customer reviews on your local marketing search results and your online authority. Just as reviews and ratings are a form of recommendation, sharing your optimized, highly focused and strategically developed content by posting it to other social media and networking sites also functions as a recommendation.

You will recall in Part 5 that I discussed the Facebook ‘Like’ button that allows users to share your content on Facebook with Friends in their social circle. There are similar tools that make it very easy for you and your targeted readers to share your content on a variety of social media platforms.

Share Buttons: There are many widgets and tools that you can have implemented on your web pages that allow you and your readers to do just as the tool implies: share your content with others by email or via a variety of popular social networking platforms. Two of the most commonly implemented tools are the ‘Share’ button developed and provided by AddToAny and the ‘ShareThis’ widget by ShareThis.com. Simply by clicking on the desired destination, such as Digg or StumbleUpon, for example, you or your readers can post the content directly to the other platform for others to interact with. Typically you or your readers must register with the destination social media site first before having access to post content. Once registered, a simple process of identification and classification of the type of content being posted is all that’s required to share it with others.

It is to your advantage to register with all the social media sites you feel are likely to reach your targeted audience groups so that you too have the opportunity to share your optimized, highly relevant content. You probably invested a lot of time and money to develop the content so why not get the most mileage out of it that you can. If you have prepared your content the right way by making it topical and ensuring it contains the search terms that are part of your authority building strategy, then it is likely to be found by your targeted audience groups on the other social platforms as well. The more your content is accessed, commented on, and shared, the greater your authority score and your chances of achieving top rankings for the terms important to your strategy.

Here are some social networking sites you should consider registering for:

Digg
Reddit
Facebook
Twitter
Bebo
Google Buzz
StumbleUpon
MySpace
Orkut
Technorati Favorites
LinkedIn
DailyMe
FriendFeed

A lot of these sites have login associations with Facebook, Twitter, and a few other popular social networking sites. This allows you to use your already established login, say your Facebook login, to access some of these other platforms. One thing to keep in mind: it is important to separate your business and your social accounts so you can accurately monitor results. For example, if you use Twitter for yourself, either socially or professionally, then establish a separate account for your business to market and promote it. Be attentive when you are making posts that you post to the accounts associated with your business so you can develop Friends, Followers, and Subscribers that will help you to build your online authority and improve your search engine rankings.

Tweet: Exclusive to Twitter, the Tweet button can be implemented with your website, blog, and other social media content, allowing users to Tweet a link on their account to your content as well as make comments that are publicly viewable. The Tweet button also publicly displays the number of Tweets your content has received by other users. Many Twitter users have also linked their account with the professional networking platform LinkedIn, which means your content will appear on two platforms as a result of a single tweet.

Sharing content is a form of recommendation that works to build your online authority and improve your search listing results by demonstrating the interest others have in it.

In Part 7 of the Local Marketing Online series I will talk about email marketing and how you can strategically follow-up with reader interest to turn Followers into Customers.

Read the Series:

Local Marketing Online: Part 4: Search & Social Media

Posted on May 3, 2011

Search and social media offer you great local marketing opportunities for branding and lead generation if you understand the new search paradigm and strategize accordingly. The leading search engines, namely Google and Bing, are now aggregating information from a variety of online sources to help determine the indexing and ranking of web pages not only for local search but for all search.
Chief among these sources are quality social media sites, which are platforms where real people talk about their knowledge of and experiences with products, services, companies, and people. The idea is that information that comes “straight from the horse’s mouth” is reliable and hence relevant to others searching for the same things. Not only is this information being used as criteria for ranking but it is also appearing in the search results.

By aligning your search engine optimization initiatives with your social media initiatives you are setting the stage for building your authority online for the terms that correspond to the content you present, namely information about who you are and what you offer. For example, if you a recruiter for top executives, you want to establish your online authority for the principle terms that clearly identify you with that service as well as correspond to the terms used by your target audience groups to search for what you offer. (Good “old fashioned” keyword research is key here)

If you have been following this series you will begin to see that the connecting threads that weave your online ‘identity’ and ‘authority’ fabric are keywords. All of the highly focused content that you develop and present on your website and all social media platforms must contain the keywords you have carefully selected from your comprehensive research and analysis. These keywords must accurately reflect
a) the content you present and
b) the language used by your targeted audience groups to search for what you offer.

The idea, as I will continue to state throughout this series, is to establish and maintain consistency across the internet so you are easily and accurately identified. The way in which to build your authority is to continue to develop and present highly focused content that speaks to the current interests of your targeted audiences. That means you have to produce new and engaging content on a regular basis. The best strategy is to develop a schedule of delivery that you are willing and able to stick to.

The formula for developing your audience – acquiring Facebook ‘Friends,’ Twitter ‘Followers,’ or blog subscribers, for example – is to present content at least once a week, but preferably twice a week or more depending on the platform and your strategy, that capitalizes on known trends and popular topics among your targeted groups. This content should invite comments, questions, or even shared experiences. In other words, you don’t want to speak at your audience you want to speak with them. Better yet, give them the opportunity to speak to you!

Bottom line – align your search and social media efforts. Ensure that the right hand is working together with the left to create and deliver topical content that contains the keywords and phrases for which you want to be a recognized authority.

In Part 5 of the Local Marketing Online series I will talk about City Sites, Reviews & Recommendations and how they can help to boost your online authority and rankings.

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Local Marketing Online: Part 1: Intro

Posted on April 26, 2011

Local marketing has become one of the most powerful ways to reach and convert customers online. With more than 2.5 billion local searches a month on Google alone, Google has taken notice of this fact and recently initiated a direct marketing campaign in targeted regions throughout the US to promote its local marketing opportunities. The company sent, by FEDEX, to select businesses a white box containing brochures and offers about the benefits of Google Places and the company’s online advertising programs.

Google is smart. They’re taking advantage of the trend and so should you. Why? Because local searches are easier and less costly to convert as prospects are typically further along in the buying cycle. The key is making sure:

You can be easily found by your targeted audience groups
They can trust you because others have said so
You deliver the right message at the right time
They can easily contact you or visit your location
You’re easily identified online as an ‘authority’ for what you offer
You follow up in an appropriate manner with the appropriate communications
You deliver on what you promise, and maybe a little extra!

In this eight part series I will explain the multiple facets of local marketing online and how its various components are now cross-referenced by the search engines to determine an ‘authority score’ which affects web page rankings. This multi-part series will cover:

Web & Map Listings
Google Places
Search & Social Media
City Sites, Reviews & Recommendations
Share Your Content
Email Marketing
Pay Per Click Integration
Mobile Marketing
Optimized Web Design
Tracking & Reporting

Look for Part 2: Web & Map Listings, where you will learn about Google Places, web directories, maps, and the importance of claiming your online listings.

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Online Advertising and User Intent: Part 2: Social Media Advertising

Posted on April 13, 2011

When most of you think of social media you think of Facebook or Twitter. There are actually many forms of social media that attract a wide variety of users intent on doing a number of diverse things. These sites include personal blogs, consumer review sites, professional networking sites like LinkedIn, local city sites, travel sites, online book clubs, and so much more. This part of the series will discuss user intent on social media sites and what things to consider when developing your online advertising strategy and content for campaigns to be used on social media platforms. For those of you who are new to this series, you may wish to begin by reading Online Advertising and Reader Intent: Part 1: Intro, which explains the idea of intent and how it is important to online advertising.

To illustrate the key points, I will discuss a social media site most people are already familiar with: Facebook.

Advertising on Facebook

Facebook is a social networking site. The intent of users who frequent the site is to share aspects of their life and interests with the people in their network, who may be family, friends, colleagues, or virtual strangers they allowed to connect with them; or conversely, to learn new information from those within their network who are sharing with them. The point is they are there to share personal stuff – not to shop, not to do research, and typically not to find something specific for their home or work.

This distinction is critical to make when developing your online advertising campaign for a social networking platform. Bottom line is – Facebook users are not specifically looking for what you are offering them at this time.

Your carefully crafted message has to draw their attention away from what they are engaged in without interfering with their intent for being on the social networking site in the first place.

To demonstrate what I mean, I’ll share with you a typical offline experience I am sure most of you have had: have you ever walked into Home Depot and had a financial services rep try to get you to sign up for the store’s credit card?

Your intent was not to go to Home Depot for a credit card. Your intent was to run in, get the exact elbow pipe you need, and run home to finish the job so you can get it done before the football game starts. Right?

Well, your online ad is faced with the same scenario only you don’t have the advantage of getting someone’s attention by shouting out, “Excuse me, sir, are you planning on buying something today?” So how do you get their attention then?

First of all, you have to know whom you are targeting. Luckily for you, Facebook allows you to choose your audience by location, age, and interests. One successful advertiser targeted female users aged 24-30 who indicated they were ‘engaged.’ The very straightforward ad message spoke to the stated interests AND intent of the users: “Recently engaged? CM Photographics would love to be a part of your event. Mention this ad for $500 off.”

If we analyze this ad we see how the advertiser made use of what was ‘known’ and ‘understood’ about the target group:

Made use of known intent important to targeted users: “Recently engaged?”
Generally still establishing themselves at 24-30 years of age and faced with the upcoming costs of their wedding, the advertiser made use of the understanding that this group is typically looking to save money: “Mention this ad for $500 off!”
Most probably dreaming of the big day, the photographer included a photograph of a bride and groom kissing out in a field on their wedding day.

All of the elements of the ad indicate the advertiser understood the users’ intent and was able to incorporate accurate assumptions that served to strengthen the ad’s effectiveness. Another important point to make here is where your call to action takes users who respond to your ad by clicking on it. Ideally, you do not want to take users away from the web site they are ‘socializing’ on. Ensure the target is set to ‘open in a new window’, or better yet a tab, so that they can easily get what you offer without having to completely disengage from what they were already doing.

To summarize, in order for your online advertising on social media platforms like Facebook to be effective you have to:

1. Know whom you are targeting

2. Use your understanding of their intent to address their known interests

3. Use your understanding of their intent to address their assumed interests as they relate to their known interests

4. Include an image that indicates what you offer and taps into an emotion related to the known intent of the users

5. Include a call to action that when clicked is set to ‘open in a new window’ so that users do not have to abandon their intent for being on the social media site in order to engage with your message.

Stay tuned for Online Advertising and User Intent: Part 3: Search Engine Advertising coming soon!

Read posts in this Series:

Online Advertising and User Intent: Part 1: Intro

Online Advertising and User Intent: Part 2: Social Media Advertising

Online Advertising and User Intent: Part 3: Search Engine Advertising

Online Advertising and User Intent: Part 4: 3^rd-Party Website Advertising

Online Advertising and User Intent: Part 1: Intro

Posted on April 11, 2011

Planning your online advertising campaigns can be a daunting task. Once you have decided how much your budget is you are faced with the myriad of online advertising program choices including those offered by:

Search Engines like Google and Bing
Social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, Buzz, MySpace
Professional networking sites like LinkedIn
Professional organizations
Online magazines
Online industry blogs, newsletters, journals
News sites
Shopping sites
3^rd Party websites (related businesses, information sites, etc)
Web Directories

The best way to decide where you want to focus your efforts is after you have done your homework. You need to understand not only the advertising platform, pricing, and the structure of the ad program, but even more importantly the advertising venue and the intent of those who frequent it.

“Intent” refers to the reason a person went to that site in the first place. For example, it is pretty easy to understand the intent of people who visit Google. They are obviously searching for something. And we can know what that is by the terms they type into the search box. But the intent of a person who spends time on Facebook is very different. He usually wants to share aspects of his life and work with his Facebook friends, or conversely, to learn what they are sharing.

By making intelligent assumptions based on your informed understanding of the intent of the audience groups you are targeting with a particular ad program, you can develop a highly focused message that not only speaks to their interests but successfully draws their attention away from their task and onto the message you want them to interact with and respond to.

In the following series of posts, I will introduce you to the concept of intent and how it applies specifically to:

Social Media Advertising
Search Engine Advertising
3^rd Party Websites Advertising

You will learn how to profile intent for each venue in order to craft the right message that gets the results you are looking for. In the meantime, if you have a specific questions / concerns regarding your current / upcoming advertising venue selection and user intent impact on campaign performance, post a comment or contact me directly.

Read posts in this Series:

Online Advertising and User Intent: Part 1: Intro

Online Advertising and User Intent: Part 2: Social Media Advertising

Online Advertising and User Intent: Part 3: Search Engine Advertising

Online Advertising and User Intent: Part 4: 3^rd-Party Website Advertising