Fan Engagement is exciting and involving the fans of a Facebook Fan Page
so that they like, share, and comment on posts, photos, videos, and
applications on your page-, which is reflected in the Facebook Insights.
The
question of how to increase an organization’s Facebook Fan Page
engagement has been a heavily discussed topic over the past year. Here
are some best practices for increased fan engagement compiled
from social media marketing experts:
A) Posting 3 or 4 quality materials will receive more likes and comments
than posting more often with lower quality. Don’t forget to adjust
numbers for audience size and organization
B) Ask the fans questions. If you ask questions, you are both inviting
engagement and giving them a prompt to help them get started. The key is
to ask questions that your fans will care enough about that they’ll
take the time to answer.
C) If and when it’s possible, take the time to interact with your followers
so they feel included. If you have a large following, it may not be
possible or practical to respond to every fan, but interacting when you
can, or giving blanket responses can encourage followers to continue
engaging with you.
D) People use Facebook to learn, but they also sign on to relax, have fun
and enjoy themselves. Try posting something light and fun once in a
while, your followers will likely appreciate it, and feel more engaged
and connected with your company.
E) Studies shows that
Posting on your Facebook fan page between 8 AM to 7 PM will receive 20%
more fan engagement than posting at other times.
I hope these five suggestions give you some new ideas on how to gain visibility for your business with both your Facebook page and by adding your Facebook profile into your marketing strategy.
A Copy of This Article was publishes in the Buzzle Website
There is considerable pressure to reduce cost in sales and marketing.
But how to cut sales costs without shooting oneself into the foot?
In times of a tough and difficult economy any business owner needs
to keep a track on his expenses in spite of results showing strong
sales, simply because escalating costs can eat into profits within no
time. Much too often business owners grow frustrated with weak sales and
rising costs only to make fatal mistakes while cutting costs. Some of
these decisions are, firing or reducing the sales team, cutting down on
the marketing budget or eliminating systems or technology that increase
operational efficiency. Provided an entrepreneur stays away from
such fatal decisions he/she can adopt some of these cost cutting ideas
that will surely boost his cash flow and enhance the overall health of
the business.
I did a bit of research and came up with a number of effective cost cutting measures to be used by small/medium enterprises in their marketing strategies.
1. Assess Company Finances: One of the first cost cutting ideas in
the office is to prepare a detailed record of the expenses. Prepare a
per month or quarterly income and expenses report that will include all
details of what are the needs of the enterprise, how much is currently
being spent, how much is the budget allocated for every section, and how
much can be saved. This gives a general idea as to which all areas
should be considered for cost cutting.
2.Work Intensity: Ensure that
sales people are actually visiting clients selling to them, instead of
sitting in the office doing administration, powerpoint, brochures,
calculations or a myriad other things that holds them away from the
prospect.
3. Cut Administrative Expenses: Administrative costs also have a
major part in the increase of the enterprise's operation costs. Instead
of purchasing equipment and tools, a better cost control method is to
take them on rent. If one wants to buy equipment, getting used but
operational ones is a good idea to save on costs. In buying office
equipment, opt for good equipment with discount or search for a
purchasing partner. Make sure that company employees use the office
equipment to its fullest and do not waste any. Ensure that employees do
not use office phones for personal purposes. Use electricity only if it
is absolutely required. Make sure everything that is purchased is used
in the best possible manner.
4. Review Marketing Strategies and Plans: As marketing is a vital
part of any business, a lot of finances is spend on it. Get the details
of all marketing strategies and programs that are not giving good
results. Reinvent those marketing plans and relaunch them in a new and
effective manner. If possible, one can even eliminate such ineffective
and cost-consuming programs. Instead of spending much on advertising and
marketing, one can use the records and clients' references to draw in
more business. Eliminating unnecessary marketing will surely reduce the
company costs substantially.
5. Split Defense & Offense:
Like in football, make a division between routine & new/special
sales work. Focus all in-bound, routine selling & customer service
work in an internal sales team working on the phone. On the offensive
side build and train a strong field sales team that is out and about,
winning new accounts and negotiating tough problems and contracts.
6. Speed Up the Sales Cycle:
Many default visits are not needed and even not wished by the client.
Ensure every call and presentation delivers on the closing of the
contract. Cut the "nice to meet" events and deliver real value each time
your client is talking with your people
Small businesses must be extra imaginative with their marketing efforts
in order to attract customers and get them to open their wallets. Another problem arises since most entrepreneurs have shallow pockets and shoppers are being more selective with the current economic trend. Its therefore valid if we say that Marketing can become quite handy and difficult to small business entities given their tight budget and lack of enough funds.
However, the Internet has come up as the great equalizer in that it gives small businesses
marketing opportunities on par with their larger competitors. It can
still cost money to market online though and, if you aren't careful, the
total costs can totally blow your budget.
Here are some proven low-cost marketing ideas that help small
businesses increase sales and generate referrals, ultimately helping you
build your cash cow, while spending very little.
1. Maintain Relationships With Clients
The difference between a successful company and a mediocre one often
boils down to an owner’s commitment to building (and sustaining)
relationships with clients and prospects. While it’s important to keep
up traditional communication and PR, business owners should also be
extending their relationships through online forums – website, blogs,
and social networks.
2. Use your blog to reach out to prospects and customers
"We use our blog to share news about our company, news about our clients, awards we have won, and other content like our videos on YouTube that we're pushing out," explains Hassan Bawab, founder and CEO at Magic Logix, an interactive digital marketing agency.
3. List your company on Google Maps/Local
"A company presence on Google Maps/Local is as extremely important, and it's completely free," says David Hudson, managing director at EasyClear, a family run house clearance business in London.
Google Maps/Local presence is important for many reasons, he says. It
directs customers to your establishment when they are in the area, and
your business typically appears higher in Google search rankings.
"Finally, because customers can review the company and leave comments,
it is also a tool to evaluate the efforts we made, and it helps us to
understand customers better.
4. Get Out and Walk
Next time you walk down a street
with high foot-traffic, pay attention to storefront windows
underutilized. Approach the store owner and offer to pay a small fee to
advertise your business in their window. Imagine, you pay $50 per month
for a location that costs someone else $2500 a month in rent. This idea
also works in reverse.
5. Special Deal Today Only
The next time business is
slow, try sending out an email to your prospect list that reads, "Please
call me. I have a special deal I can offer you if you call me today.
You'll be glad you did!
6. Twitter Giveaways
Give away your product or promotional item on Twitter. Ask a question
about a product on your website or blog. The first person to answer
wins. When you send the item write, “Retweet upon receipt,” to be
entered in a second contest.
7. Facebook It!
Your Facebook friends can be your greatest free marketing tools so
enlist their help! In Facebook, use the NOTES application to create a
special, limited-time “friends and family” promotion (i.e.: enter
“facebook09″ at checkout to receive 10% off), tag all your friends and
ask them to pass along your exclusive deal to their own friends. A great
offer goes a long way quickly…especially through our favorite social
networking sites!
8. Never Stop Growing Your Network
Expand your network of contacts and potential clients. Ask your best,
most powerful, most influential friends or business associates to
introduce you to the five people they think you should meet to expand
your business. Take each of the contacts out for coffee and get to know
them. Discuss your plans and future goals, tell them about why your
business is special and ask for their advice. You will be amazed at how
these new contacts will pay off ten-fold with recommendations to you for
new business and innovative ideas you hadn’t thought of.
9. Be Generous
To keep customers loyal to you, instead of a frequent buyer program,
send your customers small “surprise” gifts. Customers come to expect
rewards when they are members of a program. Surprises always work to
instill loyalty and retention.
10. Small Groups
It only takes one person to start a movement. So don’t hesitate to start
an informal group that can provide something of value to the market in
which you specialize. For example, a monthly breakfast discussion on
current news and events in the smart phone app industry, or
manufacturing or outdoor gear retail industry. Leaders and business
owners will come together in this informal, low-pressure situation,
because keeping an eye on the state of the industry is their job. Since
you’re the one providing the benefit of this group, they will already be
predisposed to a positive relationship with you, and it’s a short leap
to noting your business savvy in their field.
Email is "the most personal advertising medium in history," says Seth Godin, whose book Permission Marketing set the rules that transformed email marketing into what it is today. "If your email isn't personal, it's broken." Email marketing is a great way to reach your customers where they are without spending a lot of money. But it’s a big responsibility too .people don’t give their email addresses to just anyone.
Best practices in email marketing demand communications that go beyond advertising, respect the customer, and speak in a familiar one-on-one style.
Here are some tips that will help you get by if you're intending to start a company newsletter:
Make it easy to subscribe. Post a signup form on your homepage, blog, Facebook page, and wherever else your customers and fans are already active. You might want to collect names and birthdays (for a special offer or gift) or invite readers to join groups, but don’t go crazy with the required fields. A too-long subscribe form might scare people off.
Keep it simple and strong (K.I.S.S.).
Once subscribers open your email or click through to your landing page,
you have mere seconds to capture their attention. So don’t use
difficult words, “market-speak,” or technical jargon. Instead, write as
if you were talking to a friend. But at the same time, keep your content
powerful and to the point to grab and keep readers’ interest.
Tell a Story
In All Marketers Are Liars, Godin emphasizes the importance of
storytelling as a successful marketing strategy. Email offers the
opportunity to tell the story in continuous installments.
"Email marketers don't have a prayer to tell a story," Godin says,
"unless they tell it in advance, in another medium, before they get
permission. Otherwise, it quickly becomes spam. The best email marketing
starts with a foundation, like Amazon, and uses the email to drip the
story, to have it gradually unfold."
Too much email marketing, Burke opines, is one-off offers written as if
recipients "like to run home at the end of the day and turn on Home
Shopping Network so they can be targeted 24x7 by commercials.
Send a welcome email. It’s always smart to remind
people why they’re on your list and reassure them that good things are
in store. You might even send new subscribers a special offer or
exclusive content, as your way of thanking them for their loyalty.
Talk about the benefits versus the features. Let your
customers and prospects know “what’s in it for them” by talking about
the benefits of your products and/or services, instead of simply listing
the features.
Use less “we” and more “you.” Keep the focus of your
email-marketing copy on your recipients, rather than providing too much
unnecessary information about yourself and your company.
Send people content they want. Email newsletter
services offer features like groups and segmentation to help you make
your content relevant to the people reading it. If you’re sending
different emails for different groups (for example, a nonprofit might
send separate emails to volunteers, donors, and the board of directors),
then you can ask people to check a box to join a particular group on
your signup form. Segmentation allows you to target certain subscribers
on your list without assigning them to group. If your store is having a
sale, then you could send a campaign only to people near a particular
zip code, because subscribers who live in other parts of the world don’t
need to know about it
Think about mobile. If a campaign doesn’t show up on
mobile devices, it’s not going to perform very well. Everything you send
should be mobile-friendly. Check out ReturnPath’s “Email in Motion” infographic for some data that might affect the way you design your emails.
Build Your Email Reputation
"Understanding developments in the enterprise/corporate environment can
be enormously helpful in pursuit of best-in-class email delivery rates,"
says Al DiGuido, president and CEO of Epsilon Interactive, a provider
of strategic email communications and marketing automation solutions.
Punctuate prudently.
Be careful not to distract subscribers — or dilute your marketing
message — by overusing such punctuation as exclamation points, UPPERCASE
LETTERS (that shout at the reader), and emoticons.
Proofread, and proofread again. Although this may
seem obvious, proofreading is often overlooked. And typos and
inaccuracies in your email-marketing copy can hurt your credibility with
subscribers.
Modern women apparently wear so many hats and have so much expected of them. They are expected to be a mother, a wife, sometimes a father (for single moms), a career woman and so much more including in some cases a stay-at-home mom.
With the current economic conditions , 21st century ladies feel much obliged to do extra activities which would result to some extra income to cater for the ever increasing family needs and wants. I therefore have done some research on particular income generating activities and require minimum skills that perfectly match the modern day lady particular a stay-at-home moms.
What many people still don’t realize is that most small
businesses actually start off as side hustles while the owner still has
the financial cushion of a full-time job. In the case of a stay-at-home mom, realizing that particular talent you have and can possibly use it to generate some extra cash (Who wouldn't want that!?) is a brilliant idea.
Your talents might be obvious to you if you are a musician, artist, or
photographer. And
maybe you have a hobby, like quilting or candle making, that you know
you could market. But what if your talents are less obvious? If you are uncertain what your hidden skills and talents are, ask family and friends who know you! -You'll be surprised to hear some of their answers.
So, as you take time to evaluate what you are best at doing, here are some surprisingly mind blowing ideas you can consider venturing in:
Whats your side hustle? Please feel free to share new ideas that might be help to a stay-at-home mom somewhere in this world!
By: Muchiri Mathenge
We
are the wife, mother, single mom, business owner, career woman,
stay-at-home mom and so much more - See more at:
http://madamenoire.com/283179/let-the-dollars-flow-side-business-ideas-for-women/#sthash.VnVE6HYX.dpuf
Today Marketing for a start up business can prove to be quite difficult and sometimes if in-properly done, bears no results to cover the already incurred marketing costs. However, there are still steps upcoming entrepreneurs can undertake and ensure their marketing efforts yield significant returns and gets a fighting chance at success.
Key areas that one need to completely grasp before defining his/her marketing strategy will first involve identifying and understanding what makes your particular business unique- this will help in developing new tactics in the market environment. secondly, one will also need to identify the goals of his/her marketing strategy- Is it increasing the brand awareness?, converting prospective customers to buyers?, or merely gain social followers?. Whatever you want to gain from your market will help define the tactics to be used. Some marketing techniques that i found relevant and can be used by upcoming start ups will include but not limited to:
1. Consider Using Social Media Platforms
using social
media (Twitter, Facebook,Blogs e.t.c...) is one of the obvious tactics for marketing a startup . Making sure that you are posting consistently, and
that you are engaging with your customers may generate a positive outcome as well as increase the market reach. But still there are right and wrong ways of using social media
marketing. one of the wrong way is to use your Twitter
and Facebook platforms to just spout off promotional information about
your company. Instead, post interesting and shareable information. knowing your
audience is crucial so you can give them information that is either helpful,
interesting -or both.
2. Use of Incentives.
Using incentives will not only impress and satisfy the current customers but will also make them share information to third parties concerning your brand/product. Try and offer immediate discounts for tweeting about your product or service, or ask your followers to post about it on Facebook. But while doing it,make sure there is actual value in it for them.
3.Focus on Your Target Customers.
The obvious thing all entrepreneurs go through while starting a business is trying to capture a huge audience all at once. As much tempting as it may be to invest alot/ at once in gainig new customers, it is important to stay focused on reaching your target
customers who are mostly likely to help establish and grow your
business. Staying focused will help you reach your target customer more efficiently, rather than trying to attract any potential customer and it is a better use of your limited resources.
4. Consider Community Outreach
Visiting a local radio station or possibly being featured in a local newspaper/magazine will clearly deliver a message about your product and what makes it special.Another option is to go back to your university or college, and see if
they would be willing to publish your story in their student newspaper
or website. Universities love to report on alumni who are doing cool
things after graduation, so it never hurts to ask.
Development of new technologies has contributed to a wide range of benefits to the business/entrepreneurial sector of the economy. one of the significant benefits is the up-rise of Internet advertising which can be termed as a form of advertising which uses the Internet to deliver promotional marketing messages to consumers. It includes such avenues as email marketing, search engine marketing, social media marketing and others
Similar to other advertising media, online advertising involves
both a publisher, who integrates advertisements into its online content,
and an advertiser, who provides the advertisements to be displayed on
the publisher's content.
Avenues that can be used to rely advertising messages will include but not limited to:
Display advertising The methodconveys its advertising message visually using text, logos, animations,
videos, photographs, or other graphics. Display advertisers frequently target users with particular traits to increase the ads' effect.
Web banner Advertising
These are graphical ads displayed within a web page. Many banner ads are delivered by a centarl ad server. Banner ads can use rich media to incorporate video, audio, animations, buttons, forms, or other interactive elements using Java applets, HTML5, Adobe Flash, and other programs.
Social Media Marketing
This is a commercial promotion conducted throughsocial media
websites. Many companies promote their products by posting frequent
updates and providing special offers through their social media profile
Mobile Advertising
This involves relaying an ad copy delivered through wireless mobile devices such as smartphones, feature phones, or tablet computers. Mobile advertising may take the form of static or rich media display ads, SMS (Short Message Service) or MMS
(Multimedia Messaging Service) ads, mobile search ads, advertising
within mobile websites, or ads within mobile applications or games (such
as interstitial ads, “advergaming,” or application sponsorship)
Email Advertising
Email advertising can be termed as an ad copy comprising an entire email or a portion of an email message.
Email marketing may be unsolicited, in which case the sender may give
the recipient an option to opt-out of future emails, or it may be sent
with the recipient's prior consent.
Affiliate Marketing
Its sometimes called lead generation and occurs when
advertisers organize third parties to generate potential customers for
them. Third-party affiliates receive payment based on sales generated
through their promotion.
Adware
This is a software that, once installed, automatically displays advertisements
on a user's computer. The ads may appear in the software itself,
integrated into web pages visited by the user, or in pop-ups/pop-unders. Adware installed without the user's permission is a type of malware.
Online classified advertising
Online classified advertising is advertising posted online in a
categorical listing of specific products or services. Examples include
online job boards, online real estate listings, automotive listings,
online yellow pages, and online auction-based listings. e.g OLX, eBay and others are good examples. The number of online platforms hat an be used for online advertising may range from quite a variety of diffrentiated ones apart from the above named ones. Howevr, ones choice heavly depends on the target market intended to capture, cost effectiveness among other social-economic factors .
