Digital Profit Success

Why Does Your Online Business Need Social Media? Part 4

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As mentioned in the last post, the next reason for using social media marketing is:

Traffic!

If you are still trying to build a following using organic traffic and you scream when Google keeps destroying your rankings with one of their ongoing updates, then stop NOW.

Social media can bring you a steady, long term, reliable a stream of traffic to your sites and blogs, without having to worry that some algorithm will come along and wipe you out.

And if you have a little money (and it doesn’t have to be a lot) you can pay for traffic using ads to either drive people to your opt-in pages or to increase Likes to your fan page. Both are good strategies and should be included in you social media marketing arsenal.

In the final post in this mini-series we will look at control…

Why Does Your Online Business Need Social Media? Part 3

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As mentioned in the last post, the next reason for using social media marketing is:

Showcasing your stellar content

Social media is a great place to show off your best content, and highlight all your brand has to offer. It doesn’t really matter whether you use text, images, video, or a combination of them all; the beauty of content marketing is that you can tailor your campaign to ensure that it is laser focused on your target audience with the very best content, products, and services that your brand has to offer.

Adding content marketing to your social media strategy allows you to meet many objectives, including building brand recognition and reputation, increasing customer engagement, providing a better customer experience through valuable information and any other goals that your marketing requires so neglect showcasing your content at your peril.

In the next post we will look at traffic…

Why Does Your Online Business Need Social Media? Part 2

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As mentioned in the last post, the next reason for using social media marketing is:

Relationships

Social media allows you to reach people on a far more personal level than any other form of marketing. Listen to any good social media marketing expert and they all say the same thing; “social media is about building relationships.” You can use these relationships to steer the conversation towards your calls to action. When you connect with people and they connect with you, they are much more likely to follow you and/or your brand and everything that it has to offer.

In the next post we will look at content…

Why Does Your Online Business Need Social Media?

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Online marketing is a continually evolving space and social media is becoming a more prominent part of the majority of online marketing strategies to increase business growth.

There are a number of reasons to increase YOUR use of social media to engage and reach potential customers and I will cover a number of them over the next few posts.

1: Reach

Why does a business that is using social media marketing spend so much time planning, posting, testing, and perfecting their social media strategy? One word; reach! Look at these statistics:

• There are 3 billion active Internet users and over 2.1 billion of them have social media accounts.
• YouTube has over 1 billion users. Did you know that this is more than a 1/3 of all web users?! Just think about the hundreds of millions of hours available on YouTube and how these generate billions of views.
• Facebook has nearly 1.4 billion users, and that is 47% of all Internet users. Do you know how many Likes are generated on a daily basis? 4.5 billion! And did you also know that nearly 75% of Facebook’s revenue comes from mobile advertising. 936 million Facebook users login in at least once per day and over 50% of marketers found a customer on Facebook in 2013.
• Twitter has 316 million monthly active users that generate over 500 million tweets every day!
• Google+ has 363 million users that hit the +1 button over 5 billion times per day.
• Pinterest has 100 million users and the majority of them are women (85%). 47% of Pinterest users purchase a product based on pins, with the average sale being $58.95. Some other Pinterest figures; 67% of pinned content is linked a business site and 82% of Pinterest users would rather follow a brand than a celebrity.

So are you impressed by these statistics?

These stats are just one reason to use social media marketing in your business and they really do highlight the reach that social media can give to your business, whether it is online or brick and mortar. In the next post we will look at relationships…

How You Can Help Your Customers Get To Know You

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If you are trying to build a personal brand in order to build trust and authority in your niche, then one way to achieve this is to get your visitors to feel as if they know you. By doing this, they will be far more likely to trust your future posts and far more likely to want to listen to you when you suggest buying a product.
Think about it: who would you be more likely to listen to your recommendations to purchase a product; a friend or an advert? Obviously it is the friend and that’s because we feel as though we know them and can trust their judgement. If you can be seen in the same way by your audience, then your suggestions will carry much more clout and your offers will be much more persuasive.
So how do you go about establishing this level of trust? Well here are a few options…

Write in the First Person

Try to write some of your messages in the first person. This is rather different to what you may have learned in school. Most schools will teach that writing in the third person is preferable for business as it sounds more professional and authoritative but the point here is that you want your readers to feel as though they know you and as though you are personally recommending something. And you can do this by writing in the first person. Use ‘I’s and ‘Me’s and generally write as though you’re talking to that person; write as if you are writing a letter to your mother!

Be honest

And don’t just write in first person, make sure you’re being honest too. If you have concerns about a product, let your audience know; believe me, they will appreciate it. Not only does this fill in your personality but it also shows that you’re willing to ‘tell it how it is’ and boosts your integrity. The same goes for talking about issues in your personal life which has the added bonus of making you more relatable; you can be seen as a fellow traveler along the journey.

Use images or photos

Including images of yourself is a great way to help people feel as though they’re getting to know you. Remember that a picture paints a thousand words and it is always nice to put a face to a name. If you’re writing about the benefits of a certain exercise, then why not include an image of you performing that exercise? This is also a good way to get graphics for your site without paying the high prices charged for stock images.

Go on camera and shoot a video!

Why not go one step further and put yourself on camera?! If you are confident enough, then going on YouTube is a great way to reach a larger audience in a way that will leave a more lasting impression. Video is infinitely more engaging than text so if you have the confidence, go for it!

 

Are You Setting the Right Goals for Yourself?

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There is a lot more to goal setting than just picking a goal and moving forward. While that is important, you also need to make sure that you are setting the right goals at the right time in order to be successful. To check that you are setting the right goals for yourself, answer the following questions:

Are You Setting Specific and Realistic Goals?

It takes a little research to ensure that a goal is realistic. If you’re not sure if something is actually achievable then you probably haven’t done enough research. Once you’ve set a goal that actually is realistic, then you need to be specific enough in your description of it so that you are able to take the goal, and work backwards to create a plan of action to succeed in reaching your objective.

Are Your Goals Multifaceted?

Focusing on only one part of your life is a bad idea. People live multifaceted lives and need to make goals for all areas of their lives in order to feel successful. If you have a successful business or career but at the cost of your personal life, then no matter how successful you are, you will not feel successful. Something will always feel as if it’s missing if your goals aren’t covering all aspects of your life. Therefore, ensure that your goals include something from all aspects of your life.

Is Your Scheduling Representative of Real Need?

Once you have created your action plan, you need to truly consider how realistic it is. Say your goal is to be healthy and reduce your cholesterol by 10 percent in six months but you haven’t planned in the time needed to exercise and eat right. If you don’t schedule in this time you won’t succeed because something will always be in your way taking time away from you. It will be very frustrating to practice your schedule because it doesn’t represent reality.

For instance, if you are going to exercise 30 minutes per day, setting aside only 30 minutes isn’t going to be realistic. The chances are that you’ll probably need to set aside more like an hour as you will need to get ready and then cool down and get cleaned up before going on with your life.

Do You Learn from Failure?

Many times when setting goals and schedules, instead of learning from failure, people simply give up. Using the example above, once you implement your schedule to reach your goals, if you notice there are things that you’ve forgotten to take into account, don’t give up. Learn from your “failure” and adjust the schedule to be more realistic.

You might find that this means that you have to rewrite all your goals and your schedule, but there is nothing wrong with this! Many people believe failure is something negative, but the truth is, if you don’t fail sometimes you’re not going to learn much and it’s likely your goals are too easy. You must push beyond your comfort zone to grow.

Are Your Goals Yours or Someone Else’s?

Many people set goals that represent what someone else wants instead of what they want. This can cause a lot of bad feelings and resentment which can derail even the best laid plans. As you set your goals for your life, ask yourself if they’re really what you want or what someone else believes is best for you.

It’s okay to do things because of someone else, but you need to be honest about it and make some goals just for yourself that don’t involve anyone else’s needs or wants.

Are You Monitoring Your Progress?

Schedules are very important to ensure the best possible chance of reaching your goals. “To do” lists pale in comparison to a well laid out calendar of tasks and activities that will enable you to get from point “A” to point “B.” Look at your schedule every morning and evening and note when you succeed on sticking to your schedule and where you don’t. If you notice a pattern forming for when you don’t succeed, you can rectify it and keep on track.

Are Your Goals Positively Focused ?

When writing a goal it’s important to write them in the positive, or at least a way that feels positive to you. In the quest to improve your life,write down a goal and then change the words to see if you can make it more positive and see if it isn’t more motivating. For instance, “losing weight” seems like a good goal, but for some people it might signify deprivation due to dieting. In this instance, try making the goal “improve my BMI by 10 points” or “improve my cholesterol by 10 percent.”

Are You Setting Too Many Goals At Once?

Just as setting too few goals can be a problem, so can setting too many. We all have an active personal and career life and many points in between. If you have set goals in too many areas of life at once, you can easily become overwhelmed. Try picking one personal goal and one other type of goal to focus on until you reach them, and then you can add more goals in future. You don’t need to do everything today; remember that life is not a race

Setting the right goals for yourself takes some thought and consideration and whatever you do don’t try to set all your goals at once; try to set goals in different stages and in different areas of your life and give a lot of thought to why you want to achieve the goal in the first place.

What is Live Video Streaming?

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Live video streaming might just be the next ‘big thing’ when it comes to internet marketing. In fact, it might just be the next big thing when it comes to mobile technology and the web in general. This is an upcoming platform that presents a ton of amazing opportunities that every serious marketer should be all over as soon as possible. This is the definition of getting ahead of the competition – and if you can start making waves here before everyone else gets involved it could potentially set you up for huge success in the future.

 So What is Live Video Streaming?

First things first; what is video streaming? And how is this anything new?

In truth, video streaming of one kind or another has been around for a long time now. Of course we stream videos when we watch Netflix and video conferencing tools like Skype and Google Hangouts also allow certain types of streaming.

But what’s got everyone so excited right now is the advent of three new apps that are just brimming with potential. These are Periscope, Meerkat and Blab.

While these apps have their differences, they essentially all perform the same basic function and offer the same appeal. Using one of these apps, anyone can now start recording footage from their phone for people to tune into anywhere around the world and watch live.

When you load up any of the apps, you’ll immediately grasp the concept. You’ll be presented with a huge number of different streams to watch from users all around the world and when you select one you’ll be shown a live feed from their camera. This unlocks a world of completely unique content, from vloggers talking about things that matter to them and offering information and tips, to people walking down the road on their way to buy coffee. Meerkat describe it as the ‘closest thing to teleportation’ and it certainly does feel very much as though you’re able to see the world through the eyes of strangers.

On top of watching the feeds though, you’re also able to comment on them, ask questions, like your favorites, follow the top content creators and in the case of Blab even to join in with discussions and be featured in the videos yourself.

Increasing Your Video Stream Quality

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Live video streaming is quickly becoming one of the next ‘big things’ in internet marketing. This is a platform that really gives consumers the ability to watch live feeds from people all around the world, effectively becoming a ‘fly on the wall’ or seeing the world through their eyes. The potential uses are almost limitless and because of that it is creating a lot of excitement and buzz.

This is the real appeal of live video streaming and so the quality of the content doesn’t really matter. A lot of the footage is going to be filmed on mobile phones, which means it will be low resolution and the filming will probably be shaky.

So if you want to provide the best possible content for your audience, you’ll need to think about how you can improve your video quality. Here are a few things that will affect your video quality:

Camera

Most live video streams will be filmed through a camera phone, or in the case of Blab, a webcam. Because of this, most videos are likely to be relatively low-quality, and this is made even worse by the fact that the majority of the phone footage will probably be done using the front-facing camera.

So the first thing you can do to make your resolution a little more crisp is to consider investing in a better camera phone with a higher resolution front facing camera. And don’t forget to also look at the temporal resolution – AKA the framerate. This is more often an issue with webcams.

Sound

You also need to think about your audio. This will be partly determined by your camera but you also need to consider your recording environment (how are the acoustics?) and how close you’re sitting to the microphone.

Environment

Environment affects your sound and also your visual appeal i.e. you will also need to think about the backdrop of your videos. Ideally, you will want to create a professional feel to your video, so that means you should have a clean and tidy professional backdrop i.e. don’t film in your front room with washing piled up in the background!

You will also need to think about the lighting. The best way to ensure even lighting is to have separate light sources on your left or right side to create what’s known as ‘Rembrandt’ lighting.

Connection

Something that many people will overlook is to make sure that you have a stable internet connection! There’s nothing more frustrating than a video that keeps buffering, freezing or stopping halfway through. You should make sure that you have a good connection and always stream over WiFi rather than a data connection where possible.