Social media is all the rage nowadays. Everyone is doing it, but it can get noisy and frustrating if you are a business trying to blaze your own path. There are a number of things you can do, but what do the experts recommend? Well, I went about asking them in this month’s expert panel segment, “What are the top 3 things you should do with your social media accounts?“

The first thing we do is try to post consistent, relevant content. We focus on professional/business related information versus personal status type information except for FB where we often show our sense of humor. Our primary stance is we want to add value with information you like enough to read and pass on to others. Second, we monitor all channels in order to insure the communication is two way and is legitimate in nature. We respond immediately to any comments that we view as derogatory (though can’t recall that happening anytime recently) to keep the conversation going but in a proactive way. Third, we have an established a code of conduct as we do allow multiple Deferoans to post to our various accounts.

Currently I am a partner at Defero which is an integrated digital agency that helps our clients make strategic use of “new media” which includes solutions like facebook apps, mobile apps, web dev, email marketing, web video, SEO, social etc.

For business, social media gives organizations the chance to really reach their customers in a very personal way. It presents the opportunity for a two-way conversation, which was not readily available with older, traditional marketing. 1) Listen—there is no better way to receive first-hand feedback from your customers and potential customers. 2) Provide great content to your audience for no other reason than to provide great content and freely give people information (don’t always be selling in all your communications). 3) Answer questions for people looking for answers that you have readily available. In today’s world, the purchasing public does a significant amount of research before making their purchase. Make it easy for them to get the information they need and let them get it from you. With the various outlets available, it’s not difficult to do.

Anna is the Principal at Pinnacle Peak Marketing and sits on the board for American Marketing Association – Phoenix Chapter. She is a marketing professional with extensive experience in promotion implementation, brand building and new business development. Responsible for driving revenue/profit and growing sales and market share for new products, services and technology.

1 – Keep it fresh – depending on the channel depends on the frequency of your posting but ideally post everyday. 2 – Keep it consistent – along with freshness comes consistency. Keep on posting, day in and day out, month after month, year after year. 3 – Give more than you get – share, comment, promote, and follow… everyone else’s stuff. The more love you give out, the more love you will get back. And since social is about sharing, reward your fans and followers with great content and they will share you with their contacts.

Jacob is the Market Developer for Laimoon, a Dubai based online recruitment service, and a principal shareholder with GoMobile Innovations, a mobile web content management provider.

1. Do make sure the info is relevant to your audience, your business and current events. 2. Don’t be cheesy. 3. Do be genuine and respond to people as often as you can. Keep the audience engaged!

Gelie is the founder of NetworkingPhoenix.com, an online resource that has become the Valley’s leading resource for professionals, entrepreneurs and business owners looking to network and connect locally..

Post consistently and frequently. If consistently for you means Monday, Wednesday, Friday on Facebook, then make that content easy to engage with and use at least one photo. Twitter isn’t as “sticky” as Facebook, so if you want to really have a presence there, you’ll need to post a couple times a day. Use Facebook Offers. They are brand new. If your Facebook page is set up as a “Local Business” you can run offers.  Run some targeted Facebook ads. If you’ve never tried Facebook ads, it’s actually pretty easy and very powerful. Of course, if that sounds like a lot of work, I happen to work with some folks who can do all of the above for you

I love what I do. It’s a mixed bag of strategy, marketing, multimedia production, and thinking. I get to work with awesome people as we strive to help local business get the word out effectively. Krys Manages the Social Team at Gannet Local.

Stop, Look and Listen. That’s right. Everything you ever wanted to know about social media you learned in Kindergarten. If social media is not working for you, stop the “noise” you are issuing on a daily or weekly basis and start looking around and listening to what’s out there. Look around and ask yourself things like “what works for the competition” and “what companies do I admire in social media and what can I learn from them?” Finally, listen to what friends and fans of those sites are saying (or not saying!) and what they’re saying on other sites that you wish they would say about you. Once you have that picture mapped out, then adjust your social channels, content and activities accordingly. Perhaps you need to make your Facebook ads more prevalent or create a Pinterest account. These are all things that will be more apparent when you stop, look and listen vs. just jump into the traffic without first looking both ways.

Founder of Satow Strategies a brand marketing consultancy, and CoFounder of Buzzuka, the Pitch Place.

1.Listen, listen, listen … by acknowledging other’s posts and engaging in conversation. 2. Add your voice to the conversation by contributing in context … it’s NOT all about YOU! 3. Leave your sales pitch somewhere else. No one wants to hear it and it is the number one way to alienate your BFF’s!

Architect and genius behind brilliant and innovative outsourcing sales and marketing company called Synergy Sales & Marketing. Synergy Sales & Marketing is capable of producing massive increases in sales with a proven, integrated marketing and sales program.

1. Create a consistent campaign to reach out to your network. People typically remember a theme and rely on consistent, genuine behavior.  2. Be personable and let the social media be a reflection of you. I encourage our staff to post things that are of interest to them and move them. We still attempt to educate our network about our products and services, but mostly we are just wanting to engage in interaction with our friends and clients. 3.  Try not to use your social network to only sell your product or service. Having something else of value to provide goes along way.

Matt Blanton is the President and CEO of Printing Solutions, LLC and works closely with companies to assess their current printing and production environments to create a more marketable, effective, and efficient portfolio.

1. Use HootSuite so you can write one message and have it posted to all of your social media accounts. 2. Post something everyday.  The point of social media is to develop R and R (Remembered and Repeated). 3. When necessary, ask your social media contacts for help.  They will typically go out of their way to help you.

Since 1998, Dave Sherman has been a professional speaker, trainer and bestselling author. He has helped 1000s of small and medium sized businesses to find, meet and connect with more new business prospects. He has written three best selling books on the topic of networking. Visit Dave’s Speaking Website, Dave’s Product Website, and Dave’s Training Website for more information.

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Inbound Marketing Agency Helping You Get Found Online - SEO Company based in Scottsdale, AZ

How to use inbound marketing to generate leads and sales online.

Seminar takes place this Thursday from 11am to 1pm and is sponsored by NetworkingPhoenix.com.

Sign up here: http://seorchers.eventbrite.com/

9 out of 10 people go to a search engine when looking for products and services. 99% don’t go passed the top pages. Don’t you want your website listed on the top of search engines?

Attend this interactive workshop to learn the following:

• Basics of SEO to rank well in search engines
• How social media plays a role with your search engine rankings
• How to take existing website traffic and convert that into more leads and sales.

And MUCH more!

You MUST attend this workshop if your website hasn’t generated many leads or sales. Signup today!!

Don’t take our word for it, here’s what attendees from previous seminars had to say:

“What an education!! SEO Seminar by Jim Kulla of SEORCHERS.COM Great information and resources. Thanks Gelie for getting me there!!”
~ Rizalde Sherwood

“#FF #FollowFriday @NetworkingPhx and @SEORCHERS because they hosted a great event this week on SEO.”
~ Sue Kern-Fleischer

“Thanks for the great presentation today! It was funny to see you go from ultra-serious to hilarious in minutes.”
~ Linda Reyburn

Location

Keller School of Management
18500 N. Allied Way
Suite #150
Phoenix, AZ 85004

Sign up here: http://seorchers.eventbrite.com/

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Inbound Marketing Agency Helping You Get Found Online - SEO Company based in Scottsdale, AZ

Often overlooked, but just as important to your marketing as any other individual tactic is the art of conversion. If you got 1,000 visitors a month to your website and converted 1%, you are looking at 10 orders a month. What if you did nothing else to drive traffic, but actually studied and tested what your visitors were doing and were able to increase the likelihood of them going where you want them to go? You could see an improvement in your conversion rate to 2 or 3%. This doubles or triples your amount of orders and you didn’t even have to drive any more traffic. Once you have a well performing website, then is the time to invest marketing dollars to drive traffic.

Today’s visual learning infographic shows you the what, who, where, when, and how of usability testing:

Contact us today if you need a web conversion optimization analysis!

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It is every content marketer or business’s dream: to have your material go viral. There are so many attempts to get something to go viral, but it typically takes a big push unless you have something so incredibly funny or unique that would appeal to a widespread audience. So how exactly can you increase the likelihood of your content going viral?

Today’s visual learning infographic shows you how to best position your content for viral success:

Contact us today if you need help developing a content marketing strategy!

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Inbound Marketing Agency Helping You Get Found Online - SEO Company based in Scottsdale, AZ

Do you feel like sending out an Amber Alert to find your missing rankings? If this is you, and you have been working with an SEO Company – there is a really good chance that they were using SPAM techniques to try and get you rankings. Google has been on a mission to remove spammy websites from their index and their ranking algorithms, and this is another step in that direction.

Luckily for SEORCHERS’ clients, we are seeing many make great leaps in search rankings due to the some of the competitors ahead of them now falling behind or being de-indexed entirely. Why? Because we have managed to do things ethically and organic by creating original content and relevant links.

If you found your website, or those of your clients, were hit hard recently in the search results; then here are three things you need to shore up immediately:

1. Check for Duplicate Content.

First things first, head over to CopyScape and see if there are other websites out there with the same content as yours. If so, instead of trying to get them to change their content and waiting, just go ahead and get your content re-written. Your best best is to use a professional copywriter that knows SEO.

Another thing you will want to do is make sure you don’t have test servers or multiple instances of your website up that is being indexed. Simply update your meta section with the following:

<meta name="robots" content="noindex" />

Lastly, make sure you don’t have duplicate Google Places listings. If so, be sure and get the extra listings deleted. If you have reviews on multiple listings, keep the one with the best/most reviews.

2. Create a Content Generation and Marketing Strategy.

You will want to work with someone else to brainstorm several content ideas relative to your industry. Having someone outside of your business can help with this, as it can be difficult to convey what you need to convey when you are so close to it. Customer and prospective customers can be a great source of content ideas. Getting the same questions? Showing the same examples? Put a story around it and you have some great original content.

Once you have the content, you need to ask your social network, friends, family, customers, prospects, and anyone else you can think of to share it. You should spend the time to be in relative groups and participate in industry websites so that your content will carry some weight there as well.

3. Re-Optimize Your Website

It might be time to check the effectiveness of your SEO campaign anyway. Take the time to ensure keywords are being used to link to interior pages, alt tags are in place, headings and titles are optimized, etc. Once you have done all of these things, be sure to get an updated sitemap (or create one if you don’t have one) and get this submitted to Google Webmaster Tools. This will bring the search engine back and as long as the content is unique – you shouldn’t have a problem.

From here, you’ll just need to start creating authentic links. Unfortunately, there is no quick fix for this – you just have to be committed.

If you need any of these SEO services, just be sure and fill out a quote form and let us know.

Attend our SEO webinar to learn how to better position your website in a post penguin world.

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Inbound Marketing Agency Helping You Get Found Online - SEO Company based in Scottsdale, AZ

This much you know: B2B and B2C businesses are very different. However, it is surprising to see how many B2B companies take the same B2C type approach with their social media marketing. B2B social media takes a more specialized focus and you have to leverage business profile related networks. LinkedIn for us is absolutely number one, but there are also other networks out there that cater to the B2B type business.

Having a true social media marketing strategy with a realistic approach of consistency and long term commitment can help not only for lead generation, but also in lead nurturing and customer support.

Today’s visual learning infographic shows you some interested statistics on social media tactics:

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Inbound Marketing Agency Helping You Get Found Online - SEO Company based in Scottsdale, AZ

When you are an expert in your industry, especially if your industry is advanced or technical in nature, it can be a challenge to communicate with your prospects in a way that makes it easy for them to understand what value you provide. It is often said, “A confused mind never buys”, so this becomes a problem. It is imperative to simplify your sales messaging to make it easy to understand, and clarify precisely what problem your solution solves. Selling semi-complicated internet marketing solutions to our clients, here is the template we use:

Problem: What the problem is and why solve it.

• Step 1 – How this problem impacts their business
• Step 2 – Explain the rewards of solving the problem.
• Step 3 – Why solving it now gives them an advantage
• Step 4 – Future industry trends that add risk to not solving it now.
• Step 5 – How customers like this have solved the problem
• Step 6 – Simplify the complexity of solving the problem.

Listen to Albert!

Here is a more specific example of how we tackle each of these steps along the way.

The Problem:

A company struggling to acquire new customers

Step 1: How this problem impacts their business.

Future revenue potential is limited as well as overall business sustainability in question.

Step 2 – Explain the rewards of solving the problem.

More customers, more revenue, and business thrives and grows into the future

Step 3 – Why solving it now gives them an advantage

Customer acquisition costs are affordable and effective using the internet.

Step 4 – Future industry trends that add risk to not solving it now.

Lifetime value of customers lost to competition (repeat business, referrals from satisfied clients, etc).

Step 5 – How customers like this have solved the problem

Case studies of our current clients and the results we have produced for them

Step 6 – Simplify the complexity of solving the problem.

9/10 people use the internet to find products and services. Positioning your website to be found in these searches is the jackpot of small business marketing

Solution: How your expertise delivers business value

We offer a short term contract, along with a guarantee to allowing us to “prove” ourselves.

Improve search engine rankings for your business by first requesting a free consultation.

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The number one thing I tell people to do for their business is blog about it. Creating content allows you to have material for follow ups, lead generation, lead nurturing, customer education, and all the while positions yourself as an expert. There is no denying the impacts blogging can make over time, but you have to be consistent with it by posting on a regular basis. We recommend at least once per week.

Today’s visual learning infographic shows you just how small businesses can grow by using a blog:

Are you leveraging blogging and/or content marketing? If not, what is holding you back?

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Inbound Marketing Agency Helping You Get Found Online - SEO Company based in Scottsdale, AZ

With some many different business related websites, it is hard to follow them all. Between various blogs I am subscribed to and different books I’m reading, it can be difficult to find go-to sources for business knowledge. This was the reason behind this month’s expert panel question, “Do you have a faovorite website for business management that you visit regularly?“

The one site and email combination that provides me the most information and ideas is Adage.com  Ad Age covers all segments of marketing/advertising with news, campaign information, job changes, opportunities and events. They also aggregate some data from other sources so you can keep up with the industry very effectively.

Currently I am a partner at Defero which is an integrated digital agency that helps our clients make strategic use of “new media” which includes solutions like facebook apps, mobile apps, web dev, email marketing, web video, SEO, social etc.

I visit the Small Business Administration (SBA) website (http://www.sba.gov/) on a regular basis. I find it has a wealth of information for small businesses, which tend to be the types of clients I have. There are so many tools and resources in addition to things like counseling. This site contains all the due diligence elements that business owners should know. Even if an entrepreneur does not know what they should be doing at any stage of their business, the information on this website covers everything from beginning (planning your business) to end (exit plan). The SBA is able to be the guide that many people need.

Anna is the Principal at Pinnacle Peak Marketing and sits on the board for American Marketing Association – Phoenix Chapter. She is a marketing professional with extensive experience in promotion implementation, brand building and new business development. Responsible for driving revenue/profit and growing sales and market share for new products, services and technology.

I referenced this website in a previous answer, I strongly recommend Harvard Business Review’s Blog Network http://blogs.hbr.org. The amount of thoroughly researched, thought provoking and compelling content is the best on the web. I recommend following them on Twitter @HarvardBiz

Jacob is the Market Developer for Laimoon, a Dubai based online recruitment service, and a principal shareholder with GoMobile Innovations, a mobile web content management provider.

The latest and greatest tool that I’ve discovered to help me manage ideas is popplet.com. It’s similar to a flow chart system in the sense that it allows me to map out ideas and connect them. The great thing about it is that I can share it with my team and they can add their ideas as well. Before, I used to have giant post-its stuck to my wall with ideas and drawings…but now I do it all in a popplet.

Gelie is the founder of NetworkingPhoenix.com, an online resource that has become the Valley’s leading resource for professionals, entrepreneurs and business owners looking to network and connect locally..

The BBC web site (http://www.bbc.com/) has a wealth of current business information but it also has easy access to past articles too. Importantly it has an independent and world perspective on issues and current affairs. While the BBC web site offers business news it’s also a great way to stay up with Technology, Science & Environment, Sorts and current News.

Justin serves as Project Manager at 5 Pints Productions for web design, web programming & web development services and is a Video Producer for HD video productions & Live Events.

I leverage Buzzuka.com (www.buzzuka.com) to help clients figure out their key message BEFORE they start spending money on business strategy and marketing programs. Buzzuka.com is a tool I co-developed to help businesses discover their 30-second elevator pitch — the “short story” about how they stand up against the competition and what makes them unique. The Buzzuka toolset is a patent-pending formula that leverages brain theory in two ways. First, it taps into the left brain for “facts” about your message, the right brain for the “feelings” or passion in your message and the whole brain to integrate the messages into a short, concise and powerful pitch. Second, it follows short term memory theory that states that for a message to be memorable for the audience (and memorizable for the speaker), it should not contain more than seven pieces of information.

Founder of Satow Strategies a brand marketing consultancy, and CoFounder of Buzzuka, the Pitch Place.

I head straight to http://www.actioncoach.com/Business-Library where I find detailed articles organized by area of business management that I want to learn more about…

Bill Stack is a business coach with ActionCOACH and helps business owners to successfully grow their business.

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Inbound Marketing Agency Helping You Get Found Online - SEO Company based in Scottsdale, AZ

How to use inbound marketing to generate leads and sales online.

Seminar takes place this Thursday from 11am to 1pm and is sponsored by NetworkingPhoenix.com.

Sign up here: http://seorchers.eventbrite.com/

9 out of 10 people go to a search engine when looking for products and services. 99% don’t go passed the top pages. Don’t you want your website listed on the top of search engines?

Attend this interactive workshop to learn the following:

• Basics of SEO to rank well in search engines
• How social media plays a role with your search engine rankings
• How to take existing website traffic and convert that into more leads and sales.

And MUCH more!

You MUST attend this workshop if your website hasn’t generated many leads or sales. Signup today!!

Don’t take our word for it, here’s what attendees from previous seminars had to say:

“What an education!! SEO Seminar by Jim Kulla of SEORCHERS.COM Great information and resources. Thanks Gelie for getting me there!!”
~ Rizalde Sherwood

“#FF #FollowFriday @NetworkingPhx and @SEORCHERS because they hosted a great event this week on SEO.”
~ Sue Kern-Fleischer

“Thanks for the great presentation today! It was funny to see you go from ultra-serious to hilarious in minutes.”
~ Linda Reyburn

Location

Keller School of Management
18500 N. Allied Way
Suite #150
Phoenix, AZ 85004

Sign up here: http://seorchers.eventbrite.com/

Related posts:

1. Inbound Marketing Seminar – Thursday January 19th, 2012 How to use inbound marketing to generate leads and sales...
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Inbound Marketing Agency Helping You Get Found Online - SEO Company based in Scottsdale, AZ