One of the most important things you can do online is engage in some sort of scan for online reputation management. If you do not it is amazing what some dirtbags and douchebags can try to do to you.
So what do I mean by reputation management. Simply put it is keeping track across the web on an ongoing basis of things that are being said,written or referred to in others posts that mention you or your brand. . With the rise of the ability for anyone to post content it is possible for someone with an axe to grind to place an item higher in the SERP’s than yours that makes you look bad. Politicians and businesses have to also have a bit of a thick skin because overresponse sometimes gives more publicity to the inaccurate or opinion comments than they deserve. One has to respond factually where appropriate, when untrue allegations are made. As your business reputation is built on” know, like and trust” you have to project and reflect on what is being said.
One method is to post content not in rebuttal to the slagging you may be taking by unhappy readers,contrarian opinions or just malicious comment but to highlight what you believe are your strongest reputation factors, including posts by others who are your supporters and fans. You will often be surprised pleasantly from quarters that you might not expect in coming to your aid.
One tool that you can use to scan constantly are Google Alerts. You set up the alert whenever your name, brand or business appears in a search listing and you will get a message from Google automatically, on a schedule that you select, reporting on the keywords your alert query is based on and outlining the link and content.
I use Socialmention.com to do a scan also.Social Mention aggregates data from the web and a variety of social media sites and allows you to set up alerts as well as post a widget on your site when your terms appear.. Another site is MonitorThis,which allows you to search over 23 engines for items. Google Blogs allows for searching on blogs and another site called LookupPage allows you to setup a profile page of your own for your business or self.
For your info there is a good article by Alyssa Gregory on Sitepoint.com outlining more tools.
Filed under Brand Building, blogging, social media marketing by 
Facebook and Facebook Page status updates are read according to information I just heard on the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast.
Not only are they read, author and Social Media commentator AmberMac says. but from her discussions with inside sources at Facebook they are the most read item. It is important to keep your status updates posted there as well as on other social sites. They should be compelling and interesting and allow you to draw people in for more. Your updates are usually accessed via other people’s news feeds.
There are a great many useful tools such as Hootsuite, and TweetDeck to name a few that allow you to update and review multiple sites at the same time. Others may want to use tools such as ping.fm which can post to over 28 sites at my last check. As a sage marketer you should know what playground your social friends and readers play in and make sure you play there too. Hootsuite also has some excellent analytics built in also.
These are not just what Twitter users would call noise like “I ate a pb&jam sandwich for lunch” but posts that help and assist your readers or share valuable content. By using your Facebook pages postings you can drive more readers to your blog or let them know a little bit more about you.
Facebook, it goes without saying, is the ultimate social tool as people generally are very open and honest about their interests,activities and experiences. It is also wise to attach a photo when you can, to your update to reinforce your message. And as for social it is the 600 lb gorilla in the room.
Also while you are at it you might want to check your name and reputation in Facebook by trying your luck at YourOpenbook.org and see what is being said about you.
Filed under analytics, social media marketing by
Diversification of traffic on the web for your business is important.
No this is not about Jim Cramer of Mad Money on CNBC and his “Are You Diversified” segment but there are parallels to the investing world and the current web world for your business or practice.
The concept of not having all your resources invested in one stock or type of security is a wise one in that it always helps you to answer the question. What happens if things go wrong?
Lets look at where our traffic is coming from for our business. Is it all from Google or Yahoo. Does it come from social network sites like Facebook or Twitter or does it just come directly from our individuals users without a reference via search.
The best methods to ensure your visibility and diversify your traffic is to make sure you have referrals coming from a diversified group of sources . The second is to optimize all of your content similarily wherever it is coming from. According to ComScore in the United States You Tube is the second most popular search engine after Google. Facebook is growing faster than any other social location and across a wider demographic selection. SocialNetworking sites both on computer and mobile sites are the fastest growing category.
Are you using a variety of sites to get your message through and does your central hub site link-out to your presence on the various social networking sites. By using your server logs and analytic software such as Google Analytics you can see where your traffic is coming from. Make sure you are getting your share and make sure you have keyword rich links to support your main site from your social sites.
A few other ideas:
Social Network Traffic to Retail Grows – We’ve seen the trend for a long time: social networks are sending more and more downstream traffic to retail sites. …
Get Targeted Website Traffic – If anyone has ever had a problem effectively using search engine optimization (SEO) to increase web site traffic and revenue, you may want to visit.
DEFCON 17 – So there I was…. No really, I went to DEFCON 17. This is a slight departure from the normal Pulse Review fare, but one I expect you, gentle reader, will still find interesting. DEFCON is a conference held in Las Vegas on a yearly basis …
Filed under SEO Search Engine Optimization, Traffic Tools, analytics, blogging, social media marketing by
The evolution of social networking has changed the world of Marketing forever.
If you are one of my regular readers, you will know that I have been writing about social media and books about it a lot in the last year. Perhaps because social networking is changing some of the established players in marketing or because it can be the most cost effective ways to promote your brand or build awareness and engage people on your values, the way you operate and why they might want to “Like” you in Facebook terms or be your friend in any number of social playgrounds. The author of the book Socialnomics, Erik Qualman has a You Tube Video which I have embedded below that outlines the massive channel change that is occurring. This video is an update with newer statistics on an earlier video which showed up on YouTube in 2009. It had over 2 Million views.
The next video filmed 2 weeks ago at TedXLansing continues on the subject:
The concept of social media being the engine of social commerce is not far away. As Qualman says we will have automated local search and QR codes to provide instantaneous discussion right at the point of sale linked to your friends opinions. His example of the reach and power of Social Media is clearly outlined with the You Tube video by the Sons of Maxwell musical group in “United Breaks Guitars” which has had close to 8.7 million views at the time I am writing this post.
Businesses that are not participating and listening to what is out there are acting at their own peril. Ignore the hype, embrace the channel change. It is of little wonder the number of new books and videos appearing today. If you are interested in learning more about the many no-cost ways you can use Social Media for your business or practice you can read Power Friending by my friend AmberMac who will give you a quick education on listening and acting to grow your business. I look forward to your questions and comments . Join the conversation below and let me know what your thoughts are.
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- Fortune 100 Companies’ Social Media Savvy (STATS) (huffingtonpost.com)
- 3 Social Media Tips for Small Businesses by Author Erik Qualman [video] (hubspot.com)
- Finding New Heights in Social Media (and in Your High Heels) (socialmediatoday.com)
- FIR Interview: New Media Author and Speaker Amber Mac (nevillehobson.com)
- How YouTube made superstars out of everyday people (guardian.co.uk)
Filed under Marketing, social media marketing by
Care, Share, and Comment
My mother always said if you cannot say anything nice about someone do not say anything at all. My dad , a college football and basketball coach for over 40 years never spoke ill of someone, well maybe some referees who he might of accused of being deaf or blind, but he always found a good thing to say.
One the web we are all in it together and if we want to be good citizens we should always care about our readers, customers,competitors. That doesn’t mean we should engage with the “trolls” who do not add any value but just enjoy being rude or obnoxious. They are best ignored or treated politely. Flame wars do not look well on blogs and generally tune out readers. We should try to reply to the conversations and comments on our blogs unless they are spammers, who usually are filtered out by tools such as Akismet and others. Comments make your blog come alive and and give you valuable feedback.They also allow people to start a conversation with you and other readers.
Social Media Tools such as Twitter,Facebook,Posterous,Digg,Buzz and StumbleUpon allows us to share with our networks of friends. We publish links to items we found useful and provide others with the link and our comments. By sharing we broaden our own networks of influence and help others in their discovery of useful content. We also provide exposure to others, and their ideas and learn also at the same time. Some people consider it too time-consuming to share feeds and articles they have seen. I reject that out of hand and contend that the simple act of sharing ideas is hard wired into us and makes us feel good. Referrals are the best way to grow your business.
I am currently participating in a 30 day blog challenge with about 240 other participants sponsored by my friend Dr Jeanette Cates and have found that sharing some of the ideas from others to be a worthwhile activity. I also try to read other people’s blogs in the challenge and make comments on their blogs if I can add something of value to the conversation. If you use a Facebook application like Networked Blogs or My Blog Log you can expand your networks exponentially improve your online visibility and give back also at the same time.
Maybe I see the Law of Attraction and simple triggers like reciprocity here. What do you think? Do you follow my approach. Lets have a conversation.
Tags: comments, connie ragen green, Jeanette Cates, Law of Attraction, Liking, Networked Blogs, networking, posts, Reciprocal Action, reciprocity, retweeting
Filed under Internet Marketing, blogging, social media marketing by Rob Metras