Thu, 28 January 2016
Twitter is an amazing platform to not only build community and brand awareness but also to generate leads and increase sales! Yes, smart and social savvy marketers know how to generate sales using Twitter. However, to do this you must understand that Twitter is not designed as a spamming platform. You can't just hop on Twitter and start spamming urls to your website, blog or sales page. Instead, you need to build relationships. You need to design and implement a well thought out and tested conversion funnel that helps you organically attract, inspire and engage your ideal customer. You need to inspire them to pay attention to you in a way that builds trust, nurtures relationships and helps you convert the business to the desired state over time. Learning how to increase conversions and sales using Twitter requires both art and science. There are many features within the walls of Twitter than can help you convert more sales. You can tap into the power of Twitter ads, Twitter cards, Twitter lists and more. However, what many marketers so not understand is that what you do off of Twitter is as important, if not more important as what you do on Twitter. Having an integrated, social and digital platform that is ready for the social savvy and mobile customer is a requirement, not an option for brands looking to generate leads and sales using Twitter. If your blog, website, content and engagement strategies suck, your conversions on Twitter will be the same. Take a listen to episode 202 of the Social Zoom Factor podcast to learn 14 tips and strategies to increase sales and conversions using Twitter. Included are 14 ideas you can implement TODAY to help you increase the ROI of the time and resource you invest in Twitter. Be sure to subscribe to the entire series on iTunes, Stitcher or SoundCloud! In this 25 minute podcast you will learn: 14 strategies and tactics to generate leads, increase sales and conversions using Twitter
Direct download: SZF_202_Twitter_Conversions_Final_mixdown.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 2:00pm EDT |
Tue, 26 January 2016
When many business leaders think of the term "brand" they think of pretty colors, expensive logos, fancy graphics, Facebook cover photos and traditional tv or radio advertisements. Smart marketers know branding is much more than a logo. In reality, the logo is the easy part and only one small component of your brand. Smart and savvy marketers also understand the importance of building a brand architecture and strategy inclusive of the brand identity with supporting visuals language and more. The colors, language and visuals are supporting elements, not "the" brand. Big difference. Your brand is your promise and value you offer customers, your community and all who come in contact with your brand. It's a promise delivered. It's value received. It's community. It's relationship. It's empowerment, inspiration, education and the list goes on. Are you influencing brand perception in a positive way? Your brand is your personality, communication, tone and perceptions of all who experience your brand. At the root of your brand are a set of experiences. You can't control perception. However, you can influence perception if you know how to build, launch and manage your brand architecture. Every brand touch is an opportunity to influence perceptions, to build your reputation. At the core, your brand is rooted in who you are and how you care about others. It's not just about you. It's not just about pretty colors or a logo you pay a marketing or branding agency big bucks to design. It's not a brand manual the same agency delivers and you don't look at again until the next agency asks for it. Your brand is the foundation and one of the most important aspects of your business. Regardless of the size of your business, you have one chance to make a first, second and third impression. Every brand touch counts. Every brand touch is influencing perception and building your reputation. You are either earning trust, building though leadership and relationships or you are not! A good brand architecture and strategy will enable you to better share your brand story in an authentic way. Doing such can emotionally bring people closer to your brand. The more confidence you have in your brand foundation the more confidence your ideal customer will have in believing in your brand promise. Would you like to learn where to start in building your brand architecture, strategy, vision, mission and more so that you can impact brand perceptions, increase brand equity and build a loyal tribe of brand evangelists? If you answer yes, then you have landed on the right blog post today! Take a listen to the 201st episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast where I provide the definition of a brand, reputation and most importantly the top 5 reasons why you must develop your brand strategy and how it can benefit your business, customers and greater community!
In this 30 minute podcast you will learn: Definition of branding
Direct download: SZF_201_Brand_Not_Logo_Final_mixdown.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 10:07am EDT |
Mon, 25 January 2016
It's hard to believe this is the 200th episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast! What started out as a "test of the podcast waters" transformed into an amazing media and revenue channel for our agency, Marketing Nutz. The Social Zoom Factor podcast has enables us to differentiate, diversify, build community, provide value to our audience, generate leads, increase revenue, diversity revenue streams and the list goes on. We entered the podcast world pretty clueless as to what it would take to not only lunch but run a successful podcast that could be an amazing part of our business. We dug in deep and did the research. We learned from mentors, and developed a solid strategy plan for success. We knew the future of podcasting is bright and wanted to be at the front of the movement to audio. Ever since the day we launched our first agency in early 2010, sold it in late 2011 and built the following agency, Marketing Nutz to where it is today, we have held on tight to our WHY of business and life. I didn't leave a corporate career of 15+ years to simply work 24/7. If it was about the money I would have stayed in corporate. I left corporate to build something amazing, something that could employee wonderful people, empower them to build something bigger together than we can ever do as individuals. Has it been easy? Nope. Have there been late night? Of course. However, I have much more time to live life on my terms today than I ever did during my tenure in corporate. We have tried our best to work smarter, not just harder. We believe in the #SmartHustle and building platforms that work even when you are not working. That is exactly what the podcast does. It works when I am not working. It works 24/7. Take a listen to the 200th episode of the Social Zoom Factor to hear how we launched and 5 solid tips to help you differentiate and diversify your media platforms and social networks to bring the highest ROI not only for your business, but also for your life! Take a listen and be sure to subscribe to the entire series on iTunes, Stitcher or SoundCloud! In this 20 minute podcast you will learn: 6 tips to differentiate and diversify by selecting the right new media & social networks to embrace to grow your business
Direct download: SZF_200_Diversify_Differentiation_Final_mixdown.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 12:30pm EDT |
Wed, 20 January 2016
The days of only using textual content marketing to build your brand, attract, inspire, engage and empower your audience and customers are long gone. If you are only using textual marketing you are already falling behind. In case you haven't noticed, the world is turning visual. As humans we are bombarded by marketing and media everywhere we look. Every brand, every marketer and human has an opportunity to be the media. Social media levels the playing field. Today even the smallest of businesses and brands can compete with the biggest if they know how to tap into the power of modern, social and digital marketing. Did you know... The human brain processes visual information 60,000 times faster than the time it takes to decode text? Have you tapped into the power of visual marketing? Do you understand the need for visual marketing and don't know where to start? Many marketers know they need to start better leveraging visual marketing. However, they don't know where to start. Would you like to know what types of visual content marketing work best? How about understand what visual content will be shared by your audience and fans like mad? Visual marketing doesn't have to cost you a fortune. You can leverage everything from infographics, personal photographs, video, to custom designed or even stock photos to build and share your brand story. Take a listen to 199th episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast for 12 Visual Marketing Content Ideas that Get Shared Like Mad! Be sure to subscribe to the entire series on iTunes, Stitcher or SoundCloud! In this 20 minute podcast you will learn: Why visual marketing?
Direct download: SZF_199_Visual_Marketing_Final_mixdown.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 10:57am EDT |
Mon, 18 January 2016
Do you struggle with having what you think may be the best social media marketing plan on the entire planet yet have no budget to implement? Show notes / blog post and resources can be downloaded here http://www.socialzoomfactor.com/198 Do any or all of these problems sound familiar? You struggle with getting budget approved to implement your social media plan Your executives don't understand social media You struggle with articulating the goals and objectives of your social media program to key stakeholders You feel like you are boiling the ocean as it relates to getting your social media plan approved You lack needed support and buy-in for your social media program and plan You don't know how to align social media to business goals and objectives your executives and key stakeholders care about You know your organization is filled with employees who want to power up your brand and could be loyal brand advocates but you can't get the support you need to empower them Would you like answers to these questions? If yes, you have landed on the right blog and podcast today. One of the biggest challenges business, digital and social marketing leaders face across organizations of all sizes is obtaining the needed support and funding to achieve their desired goals and objectives. My agency, Marketing Nutz works with organizations of all sizes from startups to Fortune 10 organizations. We help them earn the needed support, trust and budget to that they can begin to finally once and for all implement modern and social media marketing strategies and tactics into their business to increase measurable results. Take a listen to the 198th episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast and learn how you can setup a 6 month plan for budget approval. The key is to earn the trust and respect early on in your social media program so that you can earn the needed budget in later phases of your project. The podcast will provide you with the foundation to help you win support of even the toughest to please c-suite executive and stakeholders as early in the process as possible! I split the podcast into two sections. The first includes 5 things you should NOT do and the second includes 5 things you MUST do. In addition the bottom of this blog posts is loaded with helpful resources, templates and white papers for you to leverage in your planning and execution. Episode Highlights 5 things you MUST do to get approval for your social media budget and plan
Direct download: SZF_198_Social_Budget_Approved_Final_mixdown.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 1:47pm EDT |
Thu, 14 January 2016
Businesses of all sizes from solo-entrepreneurs, startups, small businesses to Fortune 50 brands often turn to social media and digital marketing agencies to help them develop a social media and digital marketing strategy. They tap into the agency teams of experts for help to implement the plan and tactics, identify KPIs, select measurement systems and social dashboards, build their digital brand and communities and the list goes on. How to Get Your Social Media Budget Approved (white paper) Show Notes / Blog Post For this Episode It is important that before contacting a social media agency for help that you first answer some foundational questions about your own business, team and goals. The better you understand your business, your ideal customer, your overall market and competition, the better an agency or consultant can help you. This doesn't mean that you need to know all of the answers before you start, or before you engage a third party for assistance. My point is that you need to be crystal clear on what you do know and what you don't know. What are your greatest strengths? Who are your strongest team members that can help you win, not just stroll along with status quo? What data do you have in your marketing arsenal that the agency can leverage to help you zoom turbo in building, launching and optimizing your online digital and social presence? In addition you must know what gaps exist. What are your greatest weaknesses? Where are you at risk? How do you plan to mitigate the risk? What resources, time and budget to you have available to commit to the project? Many business leaders struggle with budget allocation for social media and digital marketing. They think that if they contact a ton of different agencies and request proposals from as many agencies as they can, that they will eventually get a proposal that is low price and delivers higher value than all the rest. The truth is that most social media agencies are not going to lower or raise the price just because you give them a target budget. Instead, the better they understand your budget the better they will be able to better develop a proposal, strategy and plan that will serve your needs, help you win and can be realistically implemented with your available time and resources including money. Knowing these details will enable the social media or digital marketing agency to help you win. The online and social world is getting noisier by the minute. You can not just throw up a Facebook page, Twitter profile, Snapchat account, live Periscope stream, Facebook Live session or Instagram page and expect to build overnight community. Success using social media and digital marketing requires research, knowledge of the broader ecosystem, an understanding of your competition and how you fit within your industry and niche. The goal is to develop a strategy and plan with tactics that will help you connect with your ideal customer and audience in a human and authentic way. The goal is to earn trust and bring people closer to your brand. You must trust the agency you hire with the knowledge they need to enable this to happen. Results are not going to be achieved overnight or in a matter of a few days or weeks. You need to be invested in the program for the medium and long term, not just a short one night stand with Facebook and Instagram. Check out episode 197 of the Social Zoom Factor podcast for 10 Questions Every Brand Must Answer for Themselves Before Contacting a Social Media Marketing Agency. Take a listen and be sure to subscribe to the entire series on iTunes, Stitcher or SoundCloud! Episode Highlights 10 questions you must answer before hiring a social media agency
Direct download: SZF_197_Social_Media_Agency_Prep_Final_mixdown.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 4:13pm EDT |
Fri, 8 January 2016
Pinning tweets on Twitter is likely one of the most useful but overlooked feature of Twitter. If you are not using or haven't even thought about using pinned tweets, I hope this blog post and podcast will change your mind. Pinned tweets provide numerous opportunities for you to generate leads, convert more sales, grow your email list, increase brand awareness, conduct market research, increase ROI of your content assets and most importantly connect with your audience. You can easily pin any tweet that you have sent. After pinning the tweet it will be showcased at the very top of your profile for all to see! Do you ever have a tweet that you wish the world could see? Well, pinning the tweet will not obviously guarantee the world will see it, but it will guarantee more people who visit your Twitter profile will definitely see it! The new tweet stays pinned to the very top of your Twitter profile until you remove it! It doesn't require expert Twitter skills. Here is how you pin a tweet:
Don't know what to pin? No worries. Take a listen to the 196th episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast for 10 use cases of how to use the pinned tweet feature for business and life. Check out the blog post recap with more resources for this episode at: http://www.socialzoomfactor.com/196 Be sure to subscribe to this entire brand new series, "Welcome to The Inspiration Age. Are You Ready?" on iTunes, Stitcher or SoundCloud! In this 25 minute podcast you will learn:
Direct download: SZF_196_Pin_Tweet_Twitter_Final_mixdown.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 8:50am EDT |
Tue, 5 January 2016
Many smart and social savvy marketers and business leaders look forward to the starting of a new year! I personally love taking the time to slow down to speed up and plan, strategize, and prioritize. Our agency, Marketing Nutz lives for helping our clients stomp random acts of marketing and help ensure every dollar spent is providing the highest return on investment possible. Digital and social marketing is changing the game. Customer experience is the new brand. It's no longer just about your logo, brand colors or fancy words crafted by a paid marketer. Instead brands must learn how to embrace real-time engagement, conversation that inspires and connects with their audiences, community, partners and stakeholders in a human way. We must think mobile first as well as customer first. We must know our customer intimately before our customer knows what they want or need from us. This can get very overwhelming to many brand leaders. It's normal to struggle in trying to keep up with the technological changes, industry leaders or even your top competitors. The only guarantee we have in this crazy tweeting, Facebook and always on, social savvy, media hungry world is change! Regardless how overwhelmed you may feel, don't fall to spammy social and digital marketing tactics. Avoid falling back to old ways, old marketing strategies and tactics that are a recipe for failure in the new always on, always connected digital and social savvy connected SnapChatting, Twittering, Instagramming, Facebook posting world. Brands can no longer hide behind fancy corporate speak and pretty brochures. Today, marketing and communication is real and raw. It's human. It's not perfect. It doesn't have time to wait until words and visuals have been perfected. Given these challenges, how do you build a brand utilizing technology and social networks that are always changing? How do you utilize social media and digital marketing to establish thought leadership, earn trust and grow your business? The truth is you must know where and how your brand is positioned in the market. You must be certain of your own intent, goals and objectives. You must have a solid plan for content, conversation and be aware of your own digital body language. You must build an integrated digital marketing platform that works when you are not working, or else wind up working 24/7/365! The choice is yours. Are you going to work smarter, not just harder? Or are you going to keep running in the social and digital hamster wheel and wondering why you lack real business results. It's time you get off the chasing shiny object train. It's time you quit trying to be first on every social platform ever launched on planet earth. It's time you learn, and invest in the solid foundational elements that will help you build a brand online that will deliver real and measurable results for the short, medium and long term. Are you ready to learn the foundations for how you can leverage social media and digital marketing to build your brand in 2016? Take a listen to episode 195 of the Social Zoom Factor podcast for 8 foundational elements to build your social and digital brand upon in 2016. Show Notes / Blog Post for this Episode - http://www.socialzoomfactor.com/195 Audience Analysis Worksheet: http://www.socialzoomfactor.com/audience 105 Factors Digital Body Language Impacting Your Personal & Biz Brand: http://www.socialzoomfactor.com/digitalme\ In this 20 minute podcast you will learn: 8 foundational elements to build your brand using social media and digital marketing
Direct download: SZF_195_Social_Media_Branding_Final_mixdown.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 11:40pm EDT |