Courtesy of seoblogs.co.za

#1: Use Google+ More Often

Google+ may be a ‘boring’ social network, but people are using it for other reasons. Businesses appreciate how having a Google+ profile improves their SEO. You’ll come up in the search engines more often, and you’ll direct more traffic to your websites.

#2: Social Syndication and Proof

If you can get fans or followers to like, share, comment, re-pin, re-tweet, or syndicate your content in some way – you’re utilizing social proof. This instantly improves your on-platform SEO (like Facebook Edgerank) and it will also give you more off-page SEO power.

#3: Use Social Bookmarking Sites

The more sites that your content is shared on, the better your SEO will get. Use social bookmarking sites like Digg or Stumbleupon to get more endorsements.

#4: Select a Twitter Plugin For Your Website

Having trouble consistently placing new content on a website to keep it ‘fresh’ for the search engines? Use a scrolling Twitter plugin, and your daily tweets will become the content you need. Instant SEO boost!

#5: Become Extremely Popular

Use your blog to build a readership of thousands, and you’ll never have traffic concerns again. Best of all, your loyal readership will ensure that your site consistently ranks better.

#6: Nurture Your Amazing Twitter Feed

If you know a thing or two about SEO, you know that links are pretty much the things you need to focus on. So, create an exceptional Twitter feed. Get followers to click on your links, share them, even link to your pages from theirs.

#7: Social Media Content SEO

Spend time optimizing ALL of your social profile descriptions. Find the best keywords for your niche and make sure your written content contains these words.

#8: Ask Employees To Syndicate

If you have a few employees working for you, make it compulsory for them to share your tweets, videos, posts and updates via their social networks.

#9: Start Video Blogging (Vlogging)

Video is the ‘magic bullet’ in SEO. Get a super Youtube profile going, and you’ll never have to worry about not being found for the right keywords again.

#10: Utilize Your LinkedIn Network

If sharing improves SEO, and you have an army of LinkedIn members…try asking them to syndicate your content for you. Even offer incentives. This works!

BONUS: Pinterest is also driving more traffic these days than Twitter and Google+. If you’re an avid pinner, then get as many people to re-pin your images as possible. Link your Pinterest account with your Facebook account for extra viral impact.

Use these 10 excellent methods to instantly improve your SEO, to get your business seen, heard and found online!

Courtesy of thrustinternet.com

#1: The Word ‘Teach’

People always look for value in posts, so when they see the word ‘teach’ they know that they’re going to learn something. This is a great start to getting readers to communicate.

#2: The Word ‘Inspire’

Your social media fans love positive re-enforcement, so the word inspire is always well received. Most people would never say no to being a little inspired during the day.

#3: The Word ‘Motivate’

Everyone wants to be motivated, so when you have a secret weapon that will help them do just that, people respond to it. Tell your fans you have something that will get them moving!

#4: The Word ‘Share’

Social media is about sharing, but the word isn’t used much in the context of actually sharing something. Share and use the word, for a double whammy that will attract your fan’s attentions.

#5: The Word ‘Free’

Now, free can sometimes be a bad thing – but used on a credible site like yours, it can be a winner. Entice fans to engage with your brand using the word ‘free’ – it totally works!

#6: The Word ‘Entertain’

If there’s one thing you need to know about the internet, it’s that people LOVE to be entertained here. Promise them some great entertainment, and they’ll follow you anywhere.

#7: The Word ‘Now’

It’s easy to overuse the word ‘now’ so that it loses its meaning. Use it well, and it can have a very powerful effect on your fans. But this is only if you do it right, from now!

#8: The Word ‘Help’

While you aren’t a helpdesk, your fans often need help with things that they can’t find answers too online. Use the word help to direct them to the right information in your posts.

#9: The Word ‘Reward’

Fans love rewards, but they never know when they’re going to get them. Hype your posts and incentives by using the magical word ‘rewards’ and your interaction will spike.

#10: The Word ‘Discover’

When you use the word ‘discover’ it makes your readers feel like you have some exclusive piece of never-before-seen information, just for them. That’s why it works!

Use these 10 words to enhance your Facebook updates, tweets, blog post titles, Pinterest comments and Google+ updates. They have been found to have the most impact in the English language, on other people. Test word combos to see how they perform together.

For example: “Discover How This Inspiring Word Combo Will Help You Now – Rewards To Come!” Obviously you shouldn’t use them all in one sentence, but you get the idea!

Browse through your Facebook posts. Which words have received the most response from your fans? Add them here!

Courtesy of locankinsella.com

#1: Strip All of Your Unique Images

Whether you’re on Pinterest, Flickr or your blog, all of your unique images should be stripped with your business name and URL. That way if the pic gets shared or goes viral, you benefit!

#2: Get Personal on Pinterest

Take some photos of yourself and your employees and encourage interaction by being engaging and open. Start your own Q&A sessions on Pinterest, and you’ll see!

#3: Host a 5+ Person Live Tweet Session

Invite people to join in on your live tweet session. Get a few employees to tweet along with you to encourage chatter. Select a hashtag that will work, and promote it online.

#4: Talking Head Videos as Customer Service Answers

Record videos of yourself, or a team member, answering customer questions, or solving problems in your niche. Videos always get a lot of comments if you syndicate them.

#5: Facebook App Trivia in Your Niche

There’s one way to keep your Facebook fans talking and returning, and that’s with a custom Facebook trivia app. Come up with 500 questions based on your niche, and promote your app!

#6: Linkbait Posts For Your Blog

In the pro blogging niche, a linkbait post is a controversial or highly interesting post that is designed to get people talking, sharing, liking and syndicating. Do at least 1 a week.

#7: Record a Google+ Video Session

Invite experts in your niche to a video session on Google+. Record the session, which should be interesting, informative and enlightening. Then publish the video on Youtube.

#8: Publish Expert Insights in Your LinkedIn Mails

Invite your LinkedIn group to come up with great quotes for your community. Then publish the best ones each month, in your LinkedIn mailers. People will love it.

#9: Run Contests For Real Prizes

Run contests as often as you can – they always inspire chatter! Just remember that people either want a massive prize, or massive exposure, so give them at least one to secure a viral effect for your contest.

#10: Tap Into Tech With Scavenger Hunts

If you have a network of websites, create interesting clues on each of them – like a trail of breadcrumbs, to lead your fans to a discount coupon, or a fun freebie. People will love the process, and that’s what they’ll chat about. It’s a great way to collect email addresses.

Any one of these great ideas can get your fan’s tongues wagging. As long as you’re engaging them outside your pages, as well as on your pages – you’ll be able to insight some chatter. Incentives though, do tend to get people moving.

How do you inspire your social media communities to chat with each other, or about your brand? I’d like to know.

Courtesy of mysocialagency.com

#1: Less is Always More With Social

The key to any successful social lead generation strategy is to keep it simple, and balanced. If you own a small business and can only have a quality social presence on Facebook, Twitter and a blog – then that should be your entire profile. Exclude bits you don’t need.

#2: Collect Social Proof

Social media gives business owners the chance to collect social proof, or marketing collateral. Source testimonials, reviews and references from past clients on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and your blog. Publish these prominently to build credibility.

#3: Have a Weekly Analytics Strategy

If you aren’t bothering with analytics just yet – do! They can help you fix problems in your social sales funnel. Use your data to figure out where you should focus your efforts, as well as what is and isn’t working – content wise. Only analytics can tell you this!

#4: Focus On Interactive Media

Not getting enough interaction on your pages? It’s because you haven’t given your fans a reason to interact! Create an interactive application, an entertaining video or a fun infographic that can be syndicated online. Give your fans a reason, for max interaction!

#5: Check on Your Final Sales Processes

Most businesses can’t convert leads into revenue, because the final part of their sales funnel doesn’t work. What is yours like? How do you convince people to buy? Do you make your online processes as easy as possible? Can your fans buy from you in one click?

#6: Use Twitter as a Content Sourcing Tool

Whatever happens in the world, happens first on Twitter. Use it as a monitoring tool, to keep you updated on the latest trends in your niche. You’ll be able to write to-the-second posts on something hot, because you heard it first – before the newswires did.

#7: If It Belongs To You, Brand It!

There is a distinct lack of branding on the internet, especially from small businesses. If you create a piece of content, an image, a video – even a comment – brand it! Getting your brand out there will do more for you than you think. Brand recognition is key.

These 7 excellent lead generation tips are just the tip of the iceberg. When was the last time you looked at your business from the perspective of a potential customer? Do that now! You’ll be surprised what you find.

Fill in the gaps, concentrate on making some sites better than others, and you’ll be able to source more leads, and convert them into buyers. After all, what good is your social strategy if it’s not earning you money?

How do you source and capture leads, using your social media tools, sites and strategies? I’d like to hear from you!

Courtesy of foodista.com

#1: Lusting To Sell More To Your Fans

If nearly all of your posts try to sell your fans something, then you’re guilty of lusting after their money. You’re also guilty of making the #1 mistake in social media – direct selling, instead of letting your reputation, knowledge and community sell for you. If your Facebook, Twitter and blog pages are strewn with sales talk, get rid of it all right now!

#2: Being Gluttonous About Information

Most social marketers spend their days working to collect or encourage interaction on their pages. This could involve all sorts of marketing tricks, in a desperate attempt to get some comments, likes or shares. Don’t be gluttonous about information – the more you give, the more you’ll receive. Help people, teach people, comment lots and lots!

#3: Having a Greedy Attitude About Who You Are

You must have noticed that the businesses that do really well with social media, are the ones that highlight the people that run their platforms. It’s far more interesting listening to Greg than it is reading something from a stationary company. Don’t be greedy about who you are, you are your business – so share your personality with your fans.

#4: Moving Like a Sloth on Your Posting Plan

A torrid sin in social media posting, is posting too little. Fans like to visit your page each day and see something new there, even if it’s something small. If you’re like a sloth when it comes to strategies and plan implementation, then you need to change your ways – or your social media sites will go one way – down.

#5: The Wrath of The Online Business Guru

It’s nice to be respected in your field, but don’t forget to be humble about it. Being overtly negative in your posts, or overly hostile to an incredibly angry commenter – is not going to elevate you in the eyes of your fans. Settle disputes by email, or at least calm the person down with promises of free samples, incentives and customer service.

#6: Envious of Other Pages Resulting in Copycat Syndrome

If your competitor is doing something great and you feel compelled to copy them all the time, keep in mind that it takes a lot of resources to make an idea work. You could be driving away the fans you have, for the sake of posting something you ‘think’ will work. Find what works for you, use your analytics systems and test out your own campaign.

#7: Too Proud to Ask For Help

No business is an island – I say it all the time. In social media, it takes a community to make a page work, so don’t be too proud to ask them for help. After all, they use your page as well. Get ideas, knowledge and help from your pool of fans, and improve your pages the old fashioned way.

Do you know of another deadly social media posting sin, that small business owners need to avoid? Tell me about it here!

Courtesy of thesocialworkplace.com

#1: Find Debate Then Engage Your Community

There are always hot debates happening in a specific niche, and you need to find out what yours are. Then use them to engage with your fans. Ethical, moral or theoretical debates can draw people in, and will make them want to join the conversation.

#2: Quiz Your Community of Problem Solvers

Ask your community to solve quiz-like problems, by giving them a real world issue, and asking them to find the solution. This works best if you speak in first person. Jenny only has $200.00 per month to spend on advertising – what should she invest in?

#3: Make Your Questions Vivid By Example

Use vivid examples to illustrate your point, when you’re trying to engage your audience. Don’t be afraid to ask your fans for help, or to admit that you’ve made mistakes. Your fans will sympathize, and offer their advice on what to do next.

#4: Write with Creative Flair

Your fans appreciate a bit of humor or creativity in their favorite brands, so hone in on it. Instead of saying it was ‘cold as ice’ use interesting or funny descriptions to liven up your tone. Being witty means finding unusual ways to describe average things.

#5: Use The Rule of Three in Your Writing

The rule of three involves using structures of three to improve your writing. Use three examples, three bullet points, three anecdotes in an article. People process information in threes, and it makes a powerful statement when you use them.

#6: Be Controversial

If everyone is raving over the new Facebook functionality, post a blog about its faults, or the problems it’s causing in the community. Being controversial is a great way to attract interaction – you’ll get a lot of agreement and a lot of disagreement. Both are wins!

#7: Be Personal, In a Meaningful Way

Be personal with your communities. Add personal stories that enhance what you’re speaking about. But don’t be too personal – it has to be done within reason. Don’t use your pages to complain, rave or behave like you do with your private networks, that won’t work.

#8: Include Other People

Speak to people by name, and comment on their writing, on their pages and in their communities. You have to be a mobile authority, not someone who is only interested in running their own pages. Get others involved, by being involved on their turf.

These 8 great tips will keep your fans engaged and interacting with your content. And don[‘t forget the first rule of writing – be authentic!

Which tip do you find the most useful? Tell us why you think it will work in your niche.

Courtesy of viget.com

Today we’re going to take a look at the different types of social personality people relate to, and how you can create your own powerful online personality.

A Quick Disclaimer

You might be thinking – “but I’ve heard that being yourself is always best?” While this is true for many people, not everyone can communicate their personality in words. We aren’t all born writers, so it helps to have some guidelines in place!

What’s Your Social Media Personality?

You can fit yourself into one of these 3 categories, which will help you understand how you communicate with people online. From there we will identify what you need to work on, and why. The #1 rule is consistency. Always be the same person on every page.

#1: The Quiet Observer

You post infrequently, and check up on those posts all the time to see if you get any responses. You read tons of social content, but you rarely comment. In fact, you’re a big fan of the ‘like’ button. Your personality online is reserved and hesitant.

You can’t wait around for things to happen online. If you’re going to succeed you need to work harder on the amount of content you post, and respond too. Always speak in the first person, and practice chatting to people on other networks.

#2: The Active Participator

You love to comment on other people’s posts, but you have no idea what to post on your own pages. You tend to think that more is better, because it increases your chances of getting responses. Most of the content you post has no real purpose.

Continue to comment on other feeds, but sit down and work out what people love to talk about in your niche. Figure out a friendly, approachable and interactive way to start conversations on your pages. Learn what interests your readers and use it.

#3: The Rule Follower

You want your pages to be successful so you implement techniques and tactics you learn from authorities. The problem is, that you’re so busy testing what works, your content lacks that personal touch. Strategies are important, but it’s time to inject some life into your social campaign. Not everything has to be done by the book!

Do you fit into one of these three categories? Most of us will relate to at least one of these personality types. If you don’t want to share your private life with your fans, invent an alter-ego that everyone can enjoy. Often when you don’t speak as yourself it lets your creativity run wild, which is great for personal connections.

Most of all, empathize, listen, relate and have fun with your readers. Each post should set up the conversation, and then you have the green light to inject that personality into the comment sections! Tell stories, and let your readers see who you are!

Which one of these social personality types do you relate to and why? We want to hear from you!

Courtesy of activegarage.com

Behave Like a Friend

Your goal when interacting with your community, is to behave like a friend. What I mean by this is that you need to treat your fans less like objectives, and more like real people, who are in your life for a reason. Friends are always available to help, they’re easy to talk to and quite frankly – you want to hang out with them.

If you can become a friend to your community, then it will go a long way. Friends are more likely to buy from friends, because they want to show their support. Eighty percent of the time, your interaction with your communities needs to be from the standpoint of an educated friend.

The Personal Factor

When you publish content, and assist your community with problems, you need to illustrate your point with stories, drawn from personal experience. Your fans will eventually get to know more about you, because you are actively infusing your content with that ‘personal’ factor.

Some of the best blogs in the world became successful, because the person behind the content approached it from a personal angle. You want to interest your fans in your advice, and advice is better received from a real person, with real experiences.

Be Present and Interactive

Constant presence is important to social communities. It’s vital that you spend as much time as you can with each community, so that it can grow and gain momentum. That said, interaction is equally as important. Follow your fan’s businesses or pages, and be active on them as well.

Continually come up with new ways to engage your audience. A community will only interact with you, if they have a reason to do so. This means interesting content, multimedia and social apps are all part of your long term strategy. They want to DO things on your pages, so give them things to do, and be generous with your time.

Every social community is different, so don’t approach them all in the same manner. Your content will need to change according to the platform you’re using. Focus on your core social media pages, or alternate between them. Get to know your Facebook community better for a few weeks, then switch to your Youtube community, for example. Fans love to know that you are available because you want to be, not strictly because it’s your job and you exist to make money.

If you’ve been struggling to build your social communities, then you need to adopt the ‘giving’ attitude. The more time, effort or free stuff you give away to your communities, the more they will give back to your business. Whether it results in interaction, sales, word of mouth marketing or widespread content sharing, is up to them.

How do you build relationships with people in your social communities? We’d love to hear more about your social strategy, below!

Courtesy of opportunitiesplanet.com

What do you think of emails you get from businesses? Spammy, repetitive nonsense, filled with sales pitches – right? Now you need to learn how to socialize your email campaigns, to work in conjunction with your social media sites, for maximum impact!

The Key Ingredients

Your social media strategy can benefit from a well thought-out email campaign. The trick is not to think of them as two separate entities, but as one – feeding off each other, and working harmoniously together for a singular purpose. Emails no longer have to be text only, spammy, boring to read, worse to get rid of, pieces of content.

In fact, because email has such a bad name, you’ll have to work a bit harder to ‘socialize’ it. This means making it attractive, friendly, interactive and sharable – like Facebook updates, blog or twitter posts. Emails offer your social fans an opportunity to get even more intimate with your business.

Newsletters, special offers, exclusive competitions, content and incentives – these can all be syndicated to your email list. The larger that list grows the more people you’ll have in constant contact with your company.

Developing Emails Based on Social Themes

Marketing laden emails are a thing of the past. These days, socialized email campaigns are included in social media themes. If a company is focusing on one subject for a week, they might release an e-course about it, or a series of informational emails. These will contribute to the social strategy – as the theme is discussed over Facebook, Twitter, the blog, LinkedIn and on Youtube.

You’ll be able to promote your products and services while giving your fans valuable content via email. This means you’ll sell more, as your client base is being approached in a non-threatening, non-spammy manner.

Emails and Social Sharing

Emails that are socialized often contain links to your main social media sites. Once a reader has consumed your content – they can then choose to connect with you on your social media pages, to discuss or debate what they’ve just read. You can also include a ‘share’ button (or share with your network), that will forward the email to any number of friends the reader chooses.

Great emails can go viral – spreading around the internet at lightning fast speeds via good old email. This means greater brand visibility, more exposure and a larger community. Because your emails work in conjunction with your social strategy, you can use social analytics to help improve your campaigns.

There are a number of things you can do to cross promote your subscriber list. Pop an opt-in form on your Facebook page, on your blog – and promote it on Twitter, Youtube and Linkedin. Remember to keep that email campaign as vibrant and varied as your social strategy!

How do you use emails to complement your social strategy? Please tell us your story below!

Courtesy of thenextweb.com

Research indicates that a person’s decision to buy a product or service is largely emotional. We already know if they like your business better than other companies, they are more likely to become your client. That’s why personality, likeability and passion are three key ingredients that you need to have in your social media content.

The Art of Personality

Businesses on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn are expected to be like real people – which in fact they are, depending on who is doing the posting. You need to infuse your content with as much personality as you can, in order to get an emotional response from your readers.

This means finding the right balance between creative, personal and opinionated content. Use first person speech, and weave personal stories into your content. Try to steer clear of depicting your business as a faceless organization. Be as transparent as you can, without sounding false. Remember that stories are supposed to bring you closer to your readers, not push them away.

Being Likable on Social Media

Likeability is an understated, yet highly important part of any social media content strategy. If your fans or readers don’t like you much, they’re not going to care about what you have to say. To make them like you, approach them on common ground. Spend time creating content that really interests them, solves a problem they’re having, or makes them feel good about themselves.

When you are proactive in your content, and have a variety of media on offer – it rapidly increases your likeability. This is because people remember more when they are doing or watching something. Videos of you doing and teaching, are a brilliant way to build an emotional connection with your fans. The more they see your face and hear your advice – the more they’ll trust you.

The Passion Curve

Content needs to have a tone, which is what is lacking in many content strategies all over the globe. Passion, and getting other people excited about your business, products and services, is a direct route to social media success. One of the most shared subjects on the internet is motivation, and positive affirmations.

When you are passionate and positive about your business, it becomes inspiring for others that consume your social content. It’s also infectious, and a lightning fast way to make real emotional connections with your fans. The next time you plan your content strategy, remember personality, likeability and passion.

Healthy doses of these in all of your content will lead to a wonderful, vibrant social media community. Don’t just sit there, get cracking!

How do you connect emotionally with your fans? Do you have any tips you’d like to share with us? Please leave your awesome comment below!