How Your Company Can Engage Users On LinkedIn

[By Sarah Faglio]

LinkedIn is a social networking tool that is used professionally by companies and associates all around the world.  The site allows users to connect with other professionals, as well as businesses.  After connecting with another professional or following a company LinkedIn page, you have the opportunity to share, learn and network.  Companies who maintain a LinkedIn profile page also have the opportunity to connect with professionals, create an online presence, share updates as well as interact and network with current and potential clients, employees and customers.  A company profile can be very useful in establishing your brand throughout a professional social network, as well as create opportunities for new business and ways to connect with professionals that may add to your success. 

LinkedIn is a centralized location where millions of LinkedIn members go to be up-to-date on company news, products or services, business opportunities and job openings.  LinkedIn company pages have two functions:

1.) For a business, it’s the opportunity to:

• Tell your company’s story
• Highlight your products and services
• Engage with followers
• Share career opportunities
• Drive word of mouth at scale

2.) For millions of professionals, a Company Page is a place to:

• Explore companies of interest
• Get the latest company updates and industry news
• Research products & services

Status updates

Recently, LinkedIn created the option for users (individuals and companies) to share status updates with people they are connected with.  For business, these updates should include company news, industry updates and helpful information.  The platform allows you to connect your LinkedIn statuses with your company's Twitter feed, allowing LinkedIn updates to reflect exactly what you share on your Twitter profile.  Updates should be shared at least twice a day, but no more than 5-6 times a day to avoid spamming or overindulging your followers' newsfeed.  Followers are also able to comment or 'like' a share, which opens the door to having a conversation started.

Employee profiles

When professionals set up their own LinkedIn accounts, they are given the option to denote their employment history.   There is a listing of all your current employees on your company page, therefore it is important for employees to have filled out profiles.  This creates opportunity for your employees to network with other professionals for advice as well as create new business connections on behalf of your company.  Your company's Twitter account can also be connected to your employee's LinkedIn status updates, so their connections receive your shares as well. 

Group interaction

There are a multitude of groups that make up the LinkedIn network.  These groups have ranges across many industries and interests of its members.  Through research and search, your company can determine a list of groups that are relative to your business or industry.  LinkedIn allows you to start discussions on relative topics as a way to interact with the other members.  These can be created as often as twice a week in order to provoke comments and feedback on what you share.  These topics should include helpful, informative tips and advice as well as industry updates.  Discussions are another way to introduce and share a new blog entry on your company's website.  Make sure you do not sell or advertise in these groups or people will just ignore what you have to share and have no interest in reading further.

LinkedIn is a very helpful tool to companies looking to further their audience reach and share ideas and topics relative to their business.  Through group and status shares, interaction is encouraged with potential clients, customers, employees, other professionals etc.  By making the most of your LinkedIn profile through status updates, filled out employee profiles and group interaction, your company is increasing its online presence, which is a huge step in creating business online.

How to Create a Strong Twitter Follow for Your Company

[By Sarah Faglio]

Twitter is a social media platform that allows companies to share messages directly to their target audience with little to no cost.  Messages on Twitter are allocated strictly 140 characters.  Therefore, it is important that your company constructs your updates with proper keywording and hashtags as well as be enticing enough to get read or clicked on.  The larger your following, the more resources you have in spreading important company news, blog update, specials, giveaways, contests or helpful industry information.  There are many steps that your company can take to increase your following, consequently raising awareness of your brand and products or services.

Directing traffic from your other sites
Your website is a great opportunity to bring awareness to your Twitter page.  Just by simply visiting your website, you know that users have an interest in your company, brand and/or product or service. There are multiple places where you can place Twitter social media buttons to direct traffic and interest to your Twitter profile.

A Twitter follow button can be placed on your homepage or throughout your website's pages.  This will direct users to your Twitter profile and make it easy for them to follow you.

Tweet buttons can be placed near newly shared content, such as press releases, blog entries, specials and contests or giveaways.  Making it easy to share your content on their own Twitter profiles helps to bring awareness to this new information on your website.

Widgets can also be placed on your website and Facebook profile to actively share updated news feeds from your recent Twitter updates, favorited Tweets, search results in real time (i.e. live events, broadcastings, conferences or TV shows) or a list of favorite tweets in one list.

E-mail signatures

Twitter follow buttons or links to your page can also be placed within your e-mail signatures.  It is likely that a person that you are engaged with through e-mail is interested in your brand or company.  Providing a quick link to your page tells them that you have a Twitter profile and you are welcoming them to follow it.  Twitter social media buttons should also be placed within newsletter e-mails or e-mail marketing campaigns as a way to introduce your Twitter profile and generate a followership.

Hashtags are a way to show up in search results, helping people find your shares and follow your updates.  Hashtags are # signs that are placed within a Twitter share.  They consist of keywords or other unique phrases that people who searched on it would be interested in your share.  The '#' is placed before the keyword or phrases, without any spaces (i.e. #marketing #socialmedia). 

Engage with Twitter community

Another way to create a following is to actively research and follow others.  Search using keywords to find any news sites, groups or bloggers that are relative to your industry.  Do not follow competitors or random profiles that have nothing to do with your business or industry.  The key is to not just follow random people in order to create a larger following, but follow people that are relative to  or interested in your industry or business.  When you follow people, you are making them aware of your profile, and giving them the chance to follow you back.  Also, it is also important to engage with the Twitter community, such as re-tweeting or sharing other helpful information relative to your industry on your own profile.  This information can be found from your Twitter newsfeed and research from other articles shared (except from competitors) on bloggers' or news websites.

Creating a strong Twitter follow takes time and is achieved through determination and commitment to the social media platform.  Updating your Twitter status often, at least a few times a day, is essential to being an active Twitter user.  Social media is vital in creating a strong social presence and helping your business get found online and generate more sales.

How To Engage Through Feedback on Social Media Sites

[By Sarah Faglio]

Many companies use social media to market themselves to their target audience.  Social media platforms, such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter are used to share valuable information directly to followers.  Companies use these sites to connect with potential clients or customers and provide information directly, in an effort to keep them engaged and aware of their brands.  These platforms allow followers to provide feedback to what you share, so it is important to make sure that your company shows that you value their comments and input.

When people show interest in what you share on your social media profiles, it is necessary to acknowledge their feedback.  This effort shows that you value their opinions and are willing to help them find answers to any questions they have have that is relative to your industry or business.

Here are ways to engage followers who comment on your social media profiles, while remaining both personal and professional:

Valuable content
People who choose to follow your company on social media sites show that they are interested in what you have to say and welcome your shares.  Make sure that you share content that is valuable to your followers so they are interested in reading or viewing it.  This would include helpful information, tips, advice, sales (special offers) etc., instead of blatant advertisements or sales pitches.

Provoke conversation
It is always good to have a conversation going on anything you share with your followers.  At the conclusion of your shares, ask your followers for their opinions or what they think.

Good timing
Monitoring your social media sites is useful when responding to a comment made on one of your company's shares.  It is easy to set up e-mail notifications so that an e-mail is sent straight to your inbox once there is new activity on your profile.  Following up right away shows how much your company values opinions and works to engage followers.  It is also valuable to be e-mailed right away where there are tensions or complaints made so that you can alleviate the situation as soon as possible.

SPAM
Normally I would advise you to not delete any comments made on a company profile, whether is be good or bad.   However, in order to maintain a professional presence, you should make sure your comments are free from SPAM litter.  It is also okay to erase SPAM or attempts of other businesses to advertise on your page.

Make it personal
When responding to a comment on one of your status updates or shares, be sure to personalize your message.  By addressing people by their first names when writing a response, you are showing them that you value them specifically and appreciate their comment. 


Become an industry expert
There are many times that people comment on your statuses or page expressing an interest in your product or service, as well as have questions pertaining to your industry.  This is a great opportunity to give advice and provide them answers that they are looking for.  This will help them view you as an industry expert and not only value your feedback, but also look towards your company as a more positive and trusting place of business.

Maintaining integrity
It may be very enticing to compare your company to other competitive businesses in the industry, however I would strongly advise against this.  It is both highly unprofessional and damaging to your integrity if you bad mouth or speak negatively about another company on your public social media sites.

Handling negative comments
There may be some instances where disgruntled people use your social media as an opportunity to complain about your company or its services or products.  However, do not fight back or get angry with these comments. Instead, say that you value their opinions and then offer ways to help them or solve any issues they have.  This type of damage control shows how committed you are to your customers and that you value them and will work to make sure everyone is satisfied with your company.  Showing that you will go out of your way to make sure they are taken care of shows how much your company values their business.

Create business
Social media is gives your company the means to guide your followers directly to your website.  After expressing interest through comments, or asking questions, if it very simple to reply back with links to your website that would either help them learn more about a specific industry topic or about your company and how it could help them solve a problem or acquiesce a desire.

Social media is an excellent opportunity to engage directly with your followers, potential customers, qualified leads or valued customers.  It allows you to ask questions and gauge the opinions of your followers on a specific topic related to your company or what it sells.  This free feedback can help your company grow and customize the way it sells to be more appealing to customers.  Interacting directly with your followers through comments allows your company to show that you value their business and are there to solve industry-related issues or questions.

Facebook Timeline: How To Brand Your Company

[By Sarah Faglio]

 Since its launch in February 2004, Facebook has fundamentally changed the way we network socially and market to our target audience.  Facebook Timeline has turned into an outlet for storytelling for marketers.  As of February 2012, Facebook has more than 845 million active users.  However, Facebook is going through a new change that will affect the way your company uses the application to brand itself to valued and potential customers.  Since December 15, 2011, Timeline has replaced the traditional Facebook profile as the new way profiles are organized.


In Timeline, the photos, videos, events and posts in a profile are categorized according to the period of time in which they were uploaded or created.  In addition to a profile picture, a cover photo is a large picture along the top of your profile.  The About section is where you describe your company: its mission, overview, description as well as when it was founded and contact info.  In addition to a section for photos, you can also add other applications such as Notes, how many people have liked your page (including which of the visitor's friends like your page), your Likes, Events, Videos and Maps.  The main part of your profile is your Stories, where you share and highlight your most memorable posts, photos and life events on your timeline.  You are able to 'pin posts' or anchor the most important story to the top of your page for up to seven days.  Larger stories (bigger in size than rest of posts) such as photos, video and link stories drive engagement to those topics.  You can also highlight important stories with the star icon or hide/delete stories that aren't as engaging or relevant with the pencil icon.  Milestones photos allow you to define your key moments over time, such as reaching a certain number of fans, opening a new location, winning an award etc.

Cover Photo vs. Profile Picture
The cover photo is the large picture at the top of your company profile page.  Some examples include a popular product or menu item, creative artwork relative to your company/industry or a picture of people using your products or services.  With these endless possibilities, you can change the picture as often as you like.  Your profile picture is the thumbnail icon used throughout Facebook whenever you post a comment or update.  This should be a picture that represents your business, such as your logo.  Make sure you use appropriate picture sizes for your cover photo (851x315 pixels) and profile picture (180x180 pixels to 32x32 pixels) to prevent it from being blurry and unprofessional.

Photos and Apps
Your photos and customized apps appear at the top of your company's profile page.  Photos that you can share can be pictures of your products, people using your services, your attendance at events etc.  There are many apps on Facebook that could help your company interact and engage your followers.  Here are some FREE top applications used by businesses to enhance their Facebook fan pages.

• RSS Graffiti periodically checks the RSS/Atom feeds of relevant blogs or news sites that you specify and posts new entries or articles on your wall.
• Pagemodo Pagebuilder helps you to design your page without any design or graphic art skills.  It has many templates to choose from that allow you to add photos, embed videos, change fonts and text as well as showcase your products.
• Social RSS allows you to add your blog and RSS feeds to your page and play flash, MP3 and Silverlight files directly from the tab.
• Wildfire Interactive's Promotion app makes it easy to add giveaways, sweepstakes, coupon giveaways, special deals and contests to your company's fan page. 
• Marketplace is a virtual classified ad for Facebook where you can post free ads that appear both online and via social media sites, and are seen by about 8 million active monthly users.
• Kremsa developed a poll app, used by about 1.8 million people monthly, that allows companies to place daily or weekly polls on serious or silly subjects as another reason for a fan to visit your page.
• Networked Blogs syndicates fresh posts automatically from your company's blog onto your wall.
• Survey Monkey or Poll are interactive tools that allow you to generate public opinion of your products or services or develop new business ideas.

The new Facebook Timeline allows your company to tell its story as well as highlight important occurrences and engage your followers.  With these new adjustments taking place for all Facebook accounts on March 30th, 2012, it is important that you make sure you learn how to use this innovative change made to this popular social media platform.  Remember the key to any successful social media marketing plan is to be creative and share information that is both helpful and valuable to your followers to provoke engagement and interest in your brand.

Helpful Tips to Successfully Blog for Your Company

[By Sarah Faglio]

Blogging is essential in helping a company expand its online presence in attracting qualified leads and creating customers.  With U.S. users spending 3X more time on blogs and social media than in e-mail, companies need to adjust to where their target audience is.  Blogs that are integrated with your website is able to add to its SEO value (helping your company rank higher in search engine results), essentially driving in more traffic for users interested in your industry.

Top 10 Tips for Successful Professional Blogging

1. Integrate blog with your website. By creating your blog on the same domain as your website, you are enabling the fresh content and traffic from your blog to be attributed to your website's SEO value.  Your blog could be added to your website as a sub-domain (i.e. http://blog.website.com) or in a folder of your website (i.e. http://website.com/blog).
2. Do not focus solely on your company.  Users go to your blog to learn about the industry and information that is relevant to them.  If you just write about your company, your accomplishments and products or services then users become disinterested since it is not relevant to them.  Your content needs to be written for your target audience as a place where they can learn about your industry, not a place filled with advertising or self-promotion.
3. Publish new content frequently.  In order to keep an active blog, you need to publish updated posts at least 2-3 times a week.  Freshly updated content puts it high in search engine results when users are searching for topics similar to what you are writing about.
4. Optimize content for search.  Proper keyword placement throughout your blog helps it to rank higher on organic search results for that terms.  Placing keywords at the beginning of the title and throughout the post helps it get indexed and ranked higher by search engines.  Meta-keywords and alt-tags in pictures also attribute to your organic search traffic. 
5. Use social media.  Promoting your blog updates on your company's other social media accounts (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google+) alerts your followers, people interested in your company or industry.  This draws traffic to your blog and essentially increases readership and popularity of your posts.  Adding social media shares at the end of your posts make it easier for readers to share your content on their own social media accounts to spread to their followers.  Being engaged in blogging communities also helps to spread your content to interested readers.
6. Optimize for lead generation.  Intriguing blog posts are able to draw in a strong leadership, but as a business it is important to know who these visitors are.  Many of them have the potential to be qualifed leads and paying customers.  By placing links throughout the blog post to call-to-action landing pages, you are able to develop a list of qualified leads who you can nurture into customers.
7. Using blog analytics.  Traffic, referring sites and popularity of posts are the essential analytic details of your blog that help you to determine potential strengths and weaknesses.  This helps you to learn which topics are the most popular and are most interesting to your readers.  By learning what your followers enjoy reading, you know what topics to write about for future posts that would generate the most interest.  Referring sites, such as specific social media account, provide insight into how useful those sites are to the success of your blog.
8. Comment box.  Comment boxes allow readers to give feedback and voice their opinions on your blog posts.  By closing off this option, you are preventing dialog between your company and a potential customer.  This also grants readers the opportunity to ask questions, allowing you to reply with suggestions or solutions to their problems (that possibly your product or service could provide).  If there are any inappropriate responses, you are able to delete them or moderate them before they are visible on your site.
9. Post new entries in the morning.  Research shows that the best time to share new content is in the morning, since that is when blog entries are read the most often.
10. Be professional.  Avoid trash talking competition, clients etc., as well as be as professional and relevant to your industry as possible.  You want to be viewed as the subject matter expert in your industry, so you need to attain respect from your audience that comes from maintaining a professional blog.

A recent 2011 ROI study found that 69% of companies attribute their lead generation success to blogging.  Studies have shown the significant contribution that blogging makes to the successful of a company's online presence and website. However, upon maintaining a blog for your company, make sure you pay attention to these tips in order to be the most productive and successful in your blogging endeavors.

Pinterest: How To Use It For Your Business

[By Sarah Faglio]

Pinterest is a new virtual pinboard where people can create and manage theme-based image collections to share with the rest of the community.  The pinboard-styled photo sharing social website has been growing rapidly since its launch in March 2010, with 10 million U.S. monthly users in January 2012.  While Pinterest is typically used socially for people to share photos, recipes etc. that are interesting or intriguing, the site can also be used by companies to network and market themselves. 

Setting up your company page
As of now, Pinterest membership is free but invite only.  That means that you need to request an invite before you are able to set up a company page.  It is important to note that you should use the same e-mail address that you use for your company Twitter account, since you are able to connect the two upon creation of your Pinterest profile.  After requesting an invitation, it takes a few days to receive an e-mail from Pinterest allowing you to set up your account.  Once you receive the e-mail, you will get a link to click to start setting up your account.  After connecting Pinterest with your Twitter account, you are brought to a page to create your Pinterest profile.  Select a username that is unique to your company, as well as an e-mail address (same one used for your Twitter account) and password.  You are then brought to a welcome page where you are prompted to select categories that are of interest to you.  Choose the category that is best suited to your industry, which leads you to follow people who contribute to those categories.  When prompted to create boards, you can start developing topics relative to your industry.   

Editing profile to market your company
In the top right hand corner of the page, click on your username then settings.  The about section should include a description of your company, with inclusion of keywords relevant to your industry.  Upload an image of your company logo as well as your company's website.  You can also link your profile to your Facebook and Twitter accounts by turning on those options.  Also, make sure you have visibility option off so that your profile is indexed by search engines.  The drop down option of pin it button in the about tab  in the top right allows you create Pinterest buttons to share on your website to help visitors find your profile.

Editing boards
Boards are used to organize your pins (images) into categories to make it easier for the community to view what you share.  In the top right hand corner of the page, click on your username then boards. Go to edit board, then create a title, then description with keywords relative to your industry.  Choose Just Me option in who can pin and choose a category most relative to the topic. 

Adding pins
The Add+ option in the top right allows you to start adding pins in your profile.  Click Upload a Pin to choose an image from your computer or Add a Pin to choose an image from your website.  Include a description filled with keywording and choose a board (or create a new board using the drop-down option) to upload the image to.  Click the Twitter square and select Pin It.  Click Edit, add a link to a page on your website where the photo can be found (such as a relative blog article on your site) and choose a board to add it to before clicking Save Pin.  The Create Board option allows you to create a new topic or category for putting additional pins into.


Engaging the Pinterest community
You can gain exposure for your brand and interest in your profile by engaging the Pinterest community without bothering or annoying its members.  Go through what others add to their pinboards and like or comment on their photos with positive feedback and praise for sharing the useful picture.  You can also re-pin someone else's picture onto your own profile by clicking the re-pin option.  These options are available whenever you hoover over a picture with your mouse.  When others start following your pinboards, be sure to follow some of their boards too.

What to share
People in a social community want to view valuable content, not sales pitches.  They are not interested in pictures of your business or workers.  However, this is a great place to put up pictures of your products or people using your services (such as hair and beauty).  If your company is more relative to business management, such as advertising or marketing, then helpful graphs, designs or infographics/data visualizations relative to your industry are great images to share.  Be creative, if it looks interesting or holds valuable information, then share it on your Pinterest profile to others who may be intrigued.

Twitter: How To Use It For Your Business

[By Sarah Faglio]

Many view social networking websites as a place to socialize causally with other people.  However, recently, many companies have discovered the value of using social media platforms to increase their online presence, which can lead to new customers and general interest in their company.  Twitter is a social networking and micro-blogging service that allows users to share text-based posts of up to 140 characters.  The service is growing at a rapid rate with over 200 million tweets per day and over 300 million users.  Twitter can be very useful for businesses in their online marketing campaigns if used actively and most productively.

Setting up your company page
Signing up for a company Twitter account is fairly straightforward and quick to do.  The name you provide should be the name of the company or owner.  However, the name of the company should be used so that it is easier for users to find you if they do not know the owner's name.  The username (also known as your handle) should also be the name of the company to allow for easy search as well.  The profile picture should be the company's logo, name, or other image that is clearly representative of the company.  The bio section should include a short synopsis of the company so that people know exactly what your industry is and what your company offers in terms of product type or service.  Be sure to use keywords in this bio that allow users to easily search for your company based on their interests or what they are looking for.  The web section should include a link to your company's website or blog.  The location section should include the city and state of your company's headquarters or main location.  When choosing a design for your background, use colors, images or logos that represent your company, as well as contact information.  Avoid making your background too busy, keeping it simple will make your twitter profile easier to view.

Posting updates
To maintain an active Twitter profile, it is important to produce tweets on a consistent basis - about a few times a day.  Tweets are allocated only 140 characters so it is important that your message uses keywords and an encompassing short description that successfully summarizes that main topic of the message.  These messages may include updates on your website such as new information, sales or special offers, new blog postings or press releases.  Tweets should also consist of industry updates, such as news or articles from credible sources (newspapers, industry magazines, study results or new blog posts from respectable writers of the industry).  Many articles found on the Internet have tweet buttons alongside or at the end of their articles, which make it easy for you to share by just clicking the link to share on your own Twitter profile.  This information could be found from tweets of credible sources that you follow as well as online research of those writing valuable content on your industry. 

Tweeting and getting your information shared
Sharing valuable content will get you the attention that your company needs from industry writers, clients, customers and potential customers or clients.  Including keywords, important topic that interest your customer or client base can boost attention and general interest in your tweets.  It is very important that you include hashtags (#topic) in your tweets so that they can show up in search results for that topic.  Hashtags consist of keywords relevant to your topic or main idea of the tweet.  A Twitter widget of your live stream could be connected to your website, so that it is consistently updated with topics shared on your Twitter profile.  Also, your Twitter feed could be connected with your company's Facebook page so that your tweets are circulated to that audience as well.  Tweet buttons can also be added to the conclusion or side of any articles or updates that your company produces - making it easy for others to share on their own Twitter accounts.  Follow buttons make it easier for your website visitors to find your Twitter account and follow your company.

Twitter is a very useful tool in spreading quick news and updates to your followers.  The short messages make it easier for people to engage with and understand the message being shared.  As a reputable company, it is important to be professional in all of your tweets and profile.  This makes followers take you seriously and value the information that you share.  When used efficiently, Twitter has the potential to greatly add to your business's marketing campaigns and reach to your target audience.

Lead Nurturing: The Key to Creating Customers Online

[By Sarah Faglio]

Creating customers is the key to success for any business.  With any buying decision, people need to take time (whether it be minutes or months) to contemplate if they are willing to spend money on a particular product or service.  For those people who need more time to decide on whether or not they want to buy from you, it is important for your company to take the right steps in nurturing them so they wind up becoming customers.  If these people who have shown an interest in your company are ignored, they may decide to not buy from you.  Therefore, it is important to nurture qualified leads to guide them and appreciate them so that they turn into customers.

There are a multitude of ways that people can express general interest in your company and what you have to offer.  These actions include but are not limited to: following the company's social media (Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Google+ et. al.), subscribing to a company's blog via RSS feeds, signing up for a company's newsletter and providing contact information to access a downloadable document (white paper, case study et. al.) or webinar .  These people who have voluntarily provided their contact information or chose to follow company updates are showing that they are interested in the company and what it has to offer.  These people are considered to be qualified leads since they have the potential to be paying customers for a company.

After a qualified lead voluntarily provides their e-mail address, your company has the authority to send informative e-mail messages, since they are interested in receiving them.  These e-mails could be newsletters, tips, follow-up, updates or other education information that is relevant to your company's product or service.  E-mail messages can remind  prospects of your product or service and sales, which can lead them to making a purchase based on familiarity and trust from being sent informative messages from a company of interest to them.  Various parts of the e-mail body should link to a landing page that expands on a particular topic, such as news, industry, sale, special offers or website updates.

Qualified prospects who follow a company's social media platforms (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+ and RSS blog feeds) are showing that they are interested in company updates.  Since they willingly choose to follow the company, they are welcoming any updates that the company posts.  This is a quick way to share industry news, helpful information, company news, website updates, sales and special promotions to prospects all at the same time.

Consistent blog entries (2-3 times a week) provide opportunity for companies to develop relationships with potential customers as well as lead them directly to a place where they could provide their information or make a purchase.  Feedback from readers through comments allows companies to speak directly with them, answering questions, giving them advice or provide solutions to their problems (which could possibly be solved through a purchase from their company).  Blog entries could end with or consist of links to various parts of a company's website, such as product or service catalogs or descriptions, free demos or other landing pages that require interested prospects to provide their contact information.

By placing call-to-actions in your landing pages, you are raising your chances of gaining contact information for qualified leads who visit your website, opening the door to an opportunity to nurture these qualified leads into sales.  These call-to-actions can request your website visitors to provide their information in exchange for more information on a product or service, downloadable resources, viewing of a company webinar or speech, access to free samples, demos or discounts, to receive your newsletter or to be contacted by someone in your company.

Research has shown that about 50% of qualified leads are not ready to buy after going to a company's website.  This shows the importance of nurturing these leads to guide them to becoming customers in an effort to avoid losing these potential sales.  By showing these leads the appropriate attention and guidance, you are able to create a sense of trust and loyalty to your brand, since they see you as a subject matter expert that helps them to solve their problem or satisfy their desires by purchasing your product or service.  By treating qualified leads as valued customers, you have the opportunity to gain both their business and respect for your company.

Blogging: How Your Company Can Benefit

[By Sarah Faglio]

Many companies do not realize the benefits that blogging could have on their online marketing campaigns.  It has the potential to have a significant impact on a company's popularity and subsequently its discovery of potential customers.  Blogging also contributes to a company website's search engine optimization (SEO) value, which affects its search engine result ranking, therefore driving more traffic to your website.  The more traffic to your website, the greater your chance of attracting qualified leads and potential customers.

Companies that blog on their websites have already seen significant benefits to their marketing campaigns.  According to recent data, the average company that blogs generates 55% more website visitors, 97% more inbound links and 434% more indexed pages.  As you may already assume, the greater the number of visitors to your website, the more popular your pages and subsequently your business.  Inbound links are when other websites reference to your link on their own site, which can direct their visitors to your website.  Indexed pages are how many of your pages are sorted by search engines, which allow them to be found in search results by users. 

In a recent study on ROI, HubSpot found that 69% of businesses attributed their lead generation success to blogging.  Lead generation consists of nurturing qualified leads into paying customers.  Blogging is a great opportunity to provide information to readers that is relative to what your company sells.  This helps to guide them along the path to trusting your company and gain an interest in what you could provide them.  In addition, 57% of businesses claimed to have acquired a customer through their company blog.  Not only are companies seeing more traffic to their website from blogging but also an increase in sales.  Information from blogging content helps readers to find answers to their problems or come across a product or service that they could benefit from.

Top 5 Tips to Creating a Successful Company Blog

1. Remarkable content.  Unique content stands out among the rest of the information on the Internet.  By creating useful, remarkable blog posts, you are attracting an audience that is looking for information that they do not already know.  Repeated information is boring and less likely to garner interest if it is the same as what everyone else is writing about.  Be sure to post information that is related to your industry as opposed to just your company.  You are trying to provide valuable information that helps position yourself as a subject matter expert in your industry.  You want users to come to you for advice and value your blog content information as opposed to feeling they are just being sold to.  Proper blog content consists of information that is of interest to your target audience, such as industry updates, news and important general information related to products or service that your company offers.  The information needs to matter to your audience and not bore nor interest them.  Content links can also direct to call-to-action landing pages, previous blog posts, free demos, newsletter sign up, product or service descriptions etc.
2. Social media.  After posting a new blog entry, it is important to update your other social media accounts, such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn with a direct link to the post.  This updates remind your followers, people who are interested in your company or industry, of new entries and drives additional traffic to your blog.  Also, by placing social media share links at the conclusion of your blog post, you are making it easier for readers to share your entry on their own social media accounts, which spreads your post to their followers as well.
3. Comment box.  Leaving the comment box option open allows readers to give feedback on what you wrote.  Many companies are hesitant to leave this option available due to negative feedback that could arise.  However, this gives you the perfect opportunity to speak directly to this person to quell any negatives and offer suggestions.  When people reply back with problems or questions, you are able to reply back with suggestions and advice that may lead them to your product or service to help solve their problems or make an informed decision about a potential purchase. Be sure to reply directly, by addressing them by name, to those who comment to show that you valuable their opinion or feedback.  In the case of unsolicited or inappropriate comment replies, you have the option to moderate comments before they are posted publicly, allowing you to delete if you deem necessary.
4. Keywords.  Posts including proper keywords help your blog entry get found in search engine results by users searching for that topic.  Be sure to develop a list of keywords relevant to your industry, product or service, company or location and try to use those words as often as you could without making the entry seem awkward.  Proper keyword placement and usage attributes to the SEO value of your blog, and subsequently your website.  This helps your website rank higher on search engine results, get found by qualified search users looking for that information and increasing traffic from organic searches, to your website.
5. Updating.  In order for your blog to be successful, it is vital to publish posts about 2-3 times a week.  Stale content does not draw interest to your website or add to your SEO as well as new content does.  By continuously updating your blog, you are showing your audience that you are a subject matter expert who stays keen to updates or alerts in your industry.  Maintaining an active blog allows you to generate a following as well as general interest in your blog.  By allowing readers to subscribe to your blog, by adding the RSS feed option, they are able to receive direct updates of when new content is added so they know to go to your website to view them.

Blogging is very important to a company's website and has a large impact on how it gets found by qualified leads.  A multitude of important factors of a website's SEO value that blogging can attribute to are keyword placement, updated content as well as how valuable its content is to users.  This would help your company's website rank higher in search engine results, therefore driving more traffic to your website.  By looking at the analytics of your blog posts and determining which gain the most views, you will learn which topics are most popular and are of interest to your readers.  This information could help you to determine what you could write about in future posts in an effort to gain more traffic.  More traffic means more interest and subsequently more qualified leads that can turn into valued, paying customers.

Digital Marketing: Would Your Business Benefit?

[By Sarah Faglio]

As technology advances, so does our means of communications with others and the public.  The radio and television were two technological mediums that companies used to advertise to their target audience.  However, since the mid-1990s, the Internet has drastically changed the way we share information.  It has turned into a new way for businesses to market their products or services directly to their target audience.  Online platforms, such as websites and social media, offer a lot to companies such as higher ROI on their marketing campaigns and more business.

Research shows that more than half of all U.S. residents and more that 3/4 of all U.S. adults are online.  A recent survey found that 92% of online adults use search engines to find information on the Internet, with 59% who do so on a typical day.  Of these daily searches, 46% are for information on products or services.  89% of U.S. Internet users search online before they make a purchase, even when the purchase is made at a local business.  With an astounding amount of people and potential customers online, it is important for companies to have an online presence so they do not miss out on opportunities and business that could be found on the Internet.

Top 5 Ways to Create Strong Online Presence

1. Website - This allows companies to post valuable information about their company and their products or services.  It is a centralized location where users can learn about what the company has to offer.  60% of all organic clicks go to the top three organic search results.  With correct SEO and keyword placement and number of indexed pages, websites are able to rank on search engine results - helping them get found by users who are searching for topics related to their company. 
2. Blogging - 65% of daily internet users read a blog.  By keeping a frequent blog, 2-3 times a week, you are contributing to your website's SEO and are generating traffic to your site.  B2B companies that blog generate 67% more leads per month than those that do not.  Businesses that blog at least 20 times a month generate 5 times more traffic and 4 times more leads than those who only blog a few times a month.  Blog posts need to be valuable and remarkable content and need to be of interest to your target audience.  Instead of solely company news, you should write about industry updates or other information that is of value to your target audience.  By continuously updating your blog with industry updates and information you are positioning yourself as a subject matter expert.  Also, by opening up the comment box, you are allowing direct communication between you and your potential customer - a place where you can offer advice and suggestions. 
3. Facebook - 93% of U.S. adult Internet users are on Facebook.  As of date, there are more than 800 million active users on Facebook.  When users "like" company pages get updates made to the business's profile, such as new wall posts (blog and industry news updates), pictures, videos, discussion questions and more.  Facebook allows companies to easily provide updates to followers as well as interact with users via comments.
4. Twitter -  There are 100 million monthly active users on Twitter with over 250 million daily tweets.  Companies with over 1,000 Twitter followers get 6 times more traffic.  70% of U.S. Twitter users are more likely to recommend the brands that they follow.  Twitter accounts allow companies to share quick industry or company news, as well as blog posts to followers.  Since posts are only allowed to be 140 characters, they are read quickly by followers, allowing them to easily decide if the topic is of interest to them.  These updates can link back to your website or blog to drive traffic to updates you have made.  With more than 1/2 of active Twitter users following companies, brands or products, it is important to make sure your company creates a continuously updated page for them to engage with. 
5. LinkedIn - As of date, there are over 135 million professionals on LinkedIn.  Company profiles allow businesses to connect with other professionals and establish themselves in a professional setting.  They are also able to provide status updates on industry or company news as well as blog and Twitter updates to its followers.  It grants companies the opportunity to network with others in their industry as well as become members in groups consisting of other members that may be of interest to them.

Establishing your company on the Internet allows your business to develop its online presence and reach towards potential customers.  Websites provide information to help users make an informed decision about their buying purchases.  Social media platforms keep users updated on the company and industry.  Actually, 71% of Internet users are more likely to purchase based on social media referrals.  By making use of what the Internet can offer your company, you have the opportunity to boost your sales and business.

Online Marketing To Add To Your Holiday Sales

[By Sarah Faglio]

The holidays are a hectic time of the year - for both customers and businesses.  While customers look for gifts to buy their loved ones, companies try and offer the best deals and stand out among their competition.  Companies use various marketing strategies to make sure that they take advantage of this profitable time of the year to drive sales towards their business.  It is important to increase their sales during these few months in order to gain the business in a time when masses of people are looking to buy.  The Internet has become a vital marketing tool for businesses who want to add to their holidays sales this year.

According to Deloitte's 25th Annual Holiday Survey of the 2011 holiday season, respondents' holiday spending intentions have improved.  The number of respondents who expected to spend more or the same amount as last year has risen 11 percentage points from last year's survey.  Also, expected sales on gifts is up 3% from last year, representing the first increase since 2004.  The survey also reports that respondents admit that technology has facilitated their decisions around whether and what to purchase. 

While in-store purchases make up a large part of holiday sales, online purchases have contributed to additional business that have been considered quite profitable for retailers.  During the second week of December, a total of $6.3 billion was spent online, which brought the total spend for the holiday season to $30.9 billion as of that week.  This is a 15% increase compared to the same period last year.  The top days for online holiday business surpassed last year's sales: 

• Cyber Monday (12.2.11) had $1.25 billion in sales, 27% increase compared to last year.  
• Green Monday (12.12.11) had $1.13 billion in sales, 19% increase compared to last year.  
• Free Shipping Day (12.16.11) had $1.07 billion in sales, 14% increase compared to last year.

Top 10 Strategies to Enhance Your Online Sales

1. Offer discounts for online purchases.
2. Send out targeted e-mails, to those who voluntarily provided their e-mail addresses, to advertise online sales.
3. Hold contests for free giveaways.
4. Provide free shipping for orders over a certain price.
5. Create clear navigation bars divided up into specific categories and search options to make it easier to explore options and find products of interest.
6. Use payment and money transfer services, like PayPal, to provide safety and security for customers' personal credit and debit card information. 
7. Use online shopping carts to make it easier for customers to view all their purchases before they check out.
8. Display product reviews under items to provide research to help customers make purchasing decisions.
9. Provide full descriptions for products so users are not left with any questions about the product.
10. Optimize keywords on website pages to attract and and convert the most targeted prospects. For example, by adding the phrase, "holiday gifts" or "great gifts for mom" to your page you are able to attract users searching for that term.

Online marketing and website optimization have significantly contributed to businesses' sales.  By using various marketing strategies, with a focus on top holiday shopping days, your company may be able to boost their sales and overall reach to potential customers.