The AWeber team invites you to participate in our monthly #AWeberHour Twitter Chat, Wednesday, February 5, from 2-3 p.m. ET. We’ll be speaking with Michael Stelzner, founder and CEO of Social Media Examiner. Michael and Social Media Examiner have been using social media and email marketing to help them become one of the top business blogs on the web today. Check out what tips Michael has to offer to help you launch your business using social media marketing and email. The top chat contributor will receive a copy of Michael’s book Launch and an AWeber goodie bag.
To participate:
Here’s a preview of the questions we’ll be discussing:
Mark your calendars for Wednesday, February 5, at 2 p.m. ET and be sure to follow @AWeber to stay up to date on all the action. Tweet you there!
Also, be sure to check out Social Media Marketing World 2014 in San Diego, March 26-28, presented by Social Media Examiner. Register by January 31 and save $230.
Facebook Pages are a great way to connect with your fans, but remember, at any point, Facebook can decide what to do with the content you post to your Page.
Recently, Facebook tweaked the Newsfeed algorithm so that it prioritizes text posts from friends above text posts from Pages.
“ Page admins can expect a decrease in the distribution of their text status updates, but they may see some increases in engagement and distribution for other story types. “
Now, if you create a text post on your Facebook page your Fans are less likely to see it.
There are a couple of ways to deal with this.
1. Try to use one of the other media types like Video or Photo when you post to your Facebook Page. Just upload your media and add a description.
2. If you are sharing a link, use the link share post type. (If you’re not sure how to create a link share post, here’s a quick video demo.)
These are given priority over text posts.
Of course, the best way to ensure that your readers see all of your content is to use your Facebook page to drive people to sign up to your mailing list. Once there, you have complete control over what they see and when they see it.
We told you about the new mobile responsive templates we released. They make your emails look AWesome everywhere instantly without any extra work from you.
But there are still a few things you should keep in mind for your mobile email readers. Your email might look good on mobile, but is it readable?
We talked to Julie Jarret, one of our in-house designers (who actually designed the new templates just for you!), and got some tips from her for how to make your mobile emails readable everywhere.
“Keep the message brief,” Julie says, “because your reader is most likely on the go.”
Think about it. You’re out with friends, or at an event, or walking around downtown. You get an email notification on your phone. How long are you going to stop and read it for? Probably not very long.
Get your message across in as few words as possible so your readers know what’s going on when they don’t have time to read a whole email.
I can read all I need to know in one glance: sale, free shipping, 12 hours. Done.
This could be very interesting, but I don’t have the time – or perfect vision – to read all this.
This pairs with Julie’s first tip. Keeping your message brief is easy if you have a strong visual to share in place of text.
But what if your message depends on text? “Break up paragraphs into bullet points instead,” Julie recommends. “They’re faster to read than a paragraph.”
Bullets set the key points apart to highlight them, as in Exhibit C here:
Julie’s third tip: “Avoid using columns.” While columns keep your information neat and structured on desktop, “the information might end up squished on mobile.”
What does this look like? Here’s an email that uses a sidebar column. Take a look at the desktop vs. mobile versions.
Everything’s where it should be: the sidebar is thin, letting the text take center stage.
The sidebar takes over! The text gets “squished” over into a thinner column on the left when the email re-sizes itself to fit the smaller screen. It’s harder to read and requires more scrolling.
If you have social or navigation links in a sidebar (like the example above), try moving them to your header or footer instead so you don’t crowd out your main message.
Got any mobile design tips of your own to share? What makes a good mobile email to you? Share in the comments!
If your social media plan includes the goal of reaching more people with content marketing, maximizing your Facebook presence can be a good tactic. After all, your potential customers are likely already on Facebook, and those who ‘like’ your Facebook business page are more likely to see the content you post on there.
Lou Abramowski, CEO and founder of Unbenchable, has a knack for helping businesses and brands increase their Facebook presence: with his help Jack Link’s Beef Jerky went from 9,000 to 1.2 million ikes, and the Renaissance Festival performer Twig the Fairy, whose Facebook page was born in March 2009, has since hit 260,000 likes.
What’s the key to that kind of growth on Facebook? Here’s a primer on Abramowski’s approach, in seven steps that you can apply.
Step #1: Identify your audience.
Determining the audience you want to target on Facebook can be difficult, especially if your business is very broad. Spend some time thinking about your dream client, or two to three types of people you’d want to reach. Determining their type of work, hobbies, and even demographics (such as age and gender) will guide your plan.
Step #2: Use a lot of photos
Facebook is a visual medium even though it’s not a photo site like Pinterest: posts with images tend to do well with a broad swathe of users. You can post interesting photos on their own, or pair images with text and memes that are trending.
Step #3: Time your posts right
Facebook now lets you schedule your posts in advance—previously marketers had to rely on third-party apps to do that. For marketers who take Abramowski’s advice about images that’s a godsend, allowing them to hunt down a week’s worth of cool photos all at once. Abramowski blocks out an hour each week per page and gathers 20 to 30 images at a time.
Posting at the right time of day can be important, helping your content get seen on Facebook when people are active but competition for their eyeballs is lower.
“Make sure to post them when traffic is attentive and not competitive,” Abramowski says.
The best times to publish, says Abramowski, are early in the morning before regular users start to post to their feeds (“sometimes publishing at 6AM will get you traction all day”), right before lunch, early evening and just before bedtime.
Although Abramowski doesn’t manage Twig the Fairy’s Facebook page day-to-day, the page pages uses images extensively. Software startup Otterology, an inventory system that works with Square, also includes images relevant to small business owners on their Facebook page. Some examples from Lou’s own projects: I want to go to there, a destination page with close to 70,000 likes.
Step #4: Vary your content
Make sure to share more than images on your Facebook page. Consider including funny or inspiring quotes, and links to relevant articles in your industry. Freshbooks is an example of a business that keeps their feed current.
Step #5: Spend a little dough on advertising
Abramowski recommends spending a dollar a day on Facebook advertising campaigns for your page, letting the social network do the hard work of acquiring more fans. “Facebook is generally going to do a pretty good job of finding people that are interested in your page,” says Abramowski. Just go to the advertising page on Facebook, which will ask you what type of results you want for your ads. One option is “get page likes to grow your audience and build your brand.” The Facebook ads manager lets you easily target demographics such as gender or age. You’ll be charged for each person who sees your ad, and Abramowski believes a dollar a day is enough to get results. Just remember, you want people following you who are interested in your products or services, buying likes doesn’t guarantee engagement. You need to have quality content and an ongoing compelling value to keep them around.
Step #6: Promote only your best posts
If you’re trying to reach a specific audience that’s not easily targeted with Facebook advertising, Abramowski recommends paying to promote posts that appeal specifically to that crowd. Promoting also known as “boosting” a post begins at an affordable $5. The more you spend, the more people you reach.
Just make sure not to spend money promoting posts or images that don’t already have some traction. “If there’s no fire, don’t pour a gallon of gasoline on it because it’s not going to go anywhere,” Abramowski explains. Promoting posts that have already shown promise will yield better results.
Step #7: Find a way to monetize
If you’re not already drawing paying clients or customers to your business but accumulating Facebook likes, consider trying to pre-sell a product or service to your Facebook audience to see if it’s interesting to them or not. “With pre-selling, if you don’t hit the target number, you don’t have to do anything,” Abramowski says, rather than go back to the drawing board.
Have any Facebook growth tips of your own? Share away in the comments.
This post contributed by guest author, Yael Grauer. Grauer is a Minneapolis-based freelance writer and editor. Find her online at Yaelwrites.com.
© 2014, VR Marketing Blog. All rights reserved. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited.
The post 7 Key Steps to Facebook Growth appeared first on VR Marketing Blog.
Did you know that about 51% of people open their emails on mobile devices now? Chances are, a lot of your own subscribers fall into that 51%, too.
We’ve talked about mobile email design before, and now it’s even easier to make sure your emails are mobile-friendly for your readers: all of our drag-and-drop email templates for broadcasts and follow up messages are mobile responsive.
A mobile responsive email automatically resizes itself to fit the screen your subscriber opened it on. That means your readers won’t have to scroll across their phone screens to read your message if your email is wider than their screen (which can be irritating for smartphone users). This makes your email easier and more enjoyable to read on a small phone screen.
And that can mean more engagement for your emails. Already, emails open on a mobile device have gotten up to 53% more click throughs than emails opened on a desktop computer. And with optimized, responsive templates, you could see your own click rates getting higher as more mobile users can read your full message without scrolling back and forth.
More AWesome news? We’ve got 5 new mobile responsive email templates for you to try out for the new year. And they’ll look AWesome on screens of any size.
All five templates are in your AWeber account now so you can test out mobile responsive emails for yourself. Or play with our 600+ other templates that are also mobile responsive! (Don’t have an AWeber account? Try us out for a full month for just $1.)
First, check out this video to see how awesome these templates are:
Second, sign up for our webinar on Jan. 29th at 1 (est), where we’ll talk about what mobile responsive means for your email newsletters and some other mobile design tips to keep in mind.
Now your emails will look AWesome no matter what device your subscribers are reading them on. Have you made your emails mobile-friendly in other ways? What other mobile-friendly marketing do you use?
A new year is a time to set some goals and try something different. And when it comes to marketing, there’s no better time than right now to plan for the year ahead.
Maybe you’d like to develop new content to keep your email subscribers engaged and excited. Or you want to get your blog posts in front of more readers. Perhaps you’d just like to find a little more time to do it all.
It can be intimidating to try and figure out where to start or how you’re going to get it all done. We surveyed our customers and found that 30% of business owners who do their own marketing feel overwhelmed. Sound familiar?
This year, we resolve to help you get more comfortable and confident with online marketing.
To start, we asked six small businesses just like yours to tell us their 2014 marketing resolutions. And we’re sharing their advice – and ours – for achieving these goals so you can get ideas for setting your own.
…and get some inspiration for yours!
From ribbon-cuttings to charity auctions, every small business wants to draw a customer-friendly crowd to its event. One undisputed benefit of hosting a live event: reaching your target audience in real-time. That’s why Cathy Mueller, executive director of Mapping Your Future, plans gatherings for soon-to-be college students to educate them about the higher education process.
“We might live in a digital world, but there is no better way to create and maintain customer relationships than a face-to-face meeting,” Mueller says.
The key, Mueller says, is to match your time and energy with your needs. “It takes time and effort to plan the event, so make sure you have the resources to devote to its planning and execution,” she says. “You’ll also want to pick a time that’s appropriate for your customers.”
For example, a new restaurant should schedule a ribbon-cutting around noon to capitalize on the lunch crowd. Once you have the basics figured out, it’s time to send out the invites. Here are a few tips and tactics to spread the word quickly and easily.
Use social media tools designed for events
Of course, social media offers a free and easy way to let your customers know about an upcoming event, but Mueller says small businesses can do more than just mention the date, time and place.
You can create a Facebook event or if you have a paper invitation you’re going to send out through the mail, take a picture of it and post it on Instagram or Pinterest. Twitter-based tools such as TweetMyEvents or TweetVite are also a great way to get the word out, Mueller says. Remember, VerticalResponse has an easy event marketing tool that includes a Facebook widget to help you promote your event.
Don’t ignore traditional media
While many small businesses gravitate towards social media now, you shouldn’t overlook the ‘old school’ newspaper or television station in your town, Mueller says.
“Keep in mind, not all of your customers use social media, so it’s important to utilize several media vehicles,” she says. “A lot of newspapers and television stations still have community calendars that you can include your event on for free.”
You can also send a press release to local journalists who might be interested in covering the event.
Partner with a non-profit
By teaming up with a non-profit, your event will attract new guests while helping the community, a win-win strategy according to Mueller.
“This collaboration provides an opportunity to draw new and existing customers to the event, and it shows your small business is interested in the success of the local community,” she adds.
Pick a charity that fits your business. For example, an athletic store might team up with Special Olympics.
Create a calendar invitation
Once your event details are set, you’ll want to send an email to invite your loyal customers and remind them to attend.
“Utilize your company email list when you’re having an event, but don’t overwhelm your customers with invite after invite,” she says. “It’s okay to remind your customers about the event as the date draws close, but keep it short and simple.”
Mueller suggests sending out a calendar invite, so the event will automatically go into your customer’s daily schedule.
“Anytime you can connect with your customers on a personal level, you win,” Mueller says.
It might not turn into massive sales on the day of the event, Mueller says, but customers will remember the experience and will turn to your company when they need products or services in the future.
This post contributed by guest author, Lisa Furgison. Furgison is a media maven with ten years of journalism experience and a passion for creating top-notch content.
© 2014 – 2013, VR Marketing Blog. All rights reserved. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited.
The post The Best Ways to Promote Your Small Business Event appeared first on VR Marketing Blog.
Did you know that 94% of small business owners consider online marketing very important to helping their business grow?
But while many of you plan to increase your online marketing, 29% of you feel overwhelmed by all your efforts.
If you’re feeling overwhelmed by online marketing, we’re here to help. We surveyed almost 1,500 of our customers in December to ask about their plans for 2014.
These are the 4 ½ things you should know about marketing your business in the new year:
We also compiled an infographic of all the stats you see in the video:
Share this infographic on your blog or website – here’s the HTML you can copy/paste to share it:
We heard from almost 1,500 of our customers and now we want to hear from you, too. How do you feel about your online marketing? Are you in the 88% who don’t consider themselves marketing pros? Or the 29% feeling overwhelmed?
What will you focus on this year?
(Don’t forget to share this infographic with other business owners you know – they could use help just like you!)
