tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-88544383592043804272024-03-21T06:03:39.058-05:00Marketing and Design I love design, marketing and creativity and that is what I will share. I curate blogs, articles, and how-tos that I find useful and informative. Tiffanyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05079264005458258819noreply@blogger.comBlogger172125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8854438359204380427.post-56874084481770247842012-12-11T12:05:00.003-06:002012-12-11T12:05:31.218-06:00Pinterest Business Accounts<a href="http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/pinterest-business-accounts-this-week-in-social-media/"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Pinterest Business Accounts: This Week in Social Media</span></b></a><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">By Cindy King</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Published November 17, 2012</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">On SocialMediaExaminer.com</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Welcome to our weekly edition of what’s hot in social media news.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">To help you stay up to date with social media, here are some of the news items that caught our attention.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">What’s New This Week?</span></b><br />
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Pinterest Rolls Out Business Accounts: Pinterest now offers a set of free tools and resources for businesses. There are new terms of service for businesses. To set up your Pinterest business account, go here.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUdqxywJYeTdcrYYTREOBeTs4ngQ0cdW_Kbabu-sDob9rT_5sqYkED6M2rdEfJ4celPXXvvkubolndfGrS7g9t5zsE_fC-hucFyV2wNVwGr_vAk9tgKYYy479OwqgYh7RCTeUOKLFQwG_k/s1600/ck-pinterest-business-account.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUdqxywJYeTdcrYYTREOBeTs4ngQ0cdW_Kbabu-sDob9rT_5sqYkED6M2rdEfJ4celPXXvvkubolndfGrS7g9t5zsE_fC-hucFyV2wNVwGr_vAk9tgKYYy479OwqgYh7RCTeUOKLFQwG_k/s1600/ck-pinterest-business-account.png" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">You can now use Pinterest for business.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>LinkedIn Enables Profile Editing on Mobile:</b> LinkedIn makes it possible for mobile professionals to edit their profiles on the go. ”Now you can update your profile with a new headline, add recent skills or add a new position so your professional identity is always up to date.”</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Discussion From Our Networking Clubs:</b> Thousands of social media marketers and small business owners are asking questions and helping others in our free Networking Clubs. Here are a few interesting discussions worth highlighting:</span><br />
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<li><a href="http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/clubs/small-business/forum/topic/topic-of-the-week-how-much-is-too-much-promoting-your-channels-11-11-12/"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">How much promotion is too much?</span></a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/clubs/blogging/forum/topic/share-your-best-blog-post-this-week-1192012-edition/"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Share your best blog post this week.</span></a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/clubs/facebook/forum/topic/facebooks-promoted-posts/"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">What do you think of Facebook’s Promoted Posts?</span></a></li>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><a href="http://youtube-global.blogspot.com/2012/11/making-it-easier-to-watch-youtube.html">YouTube Makes it Easier to Watch Videos on TV:</a></b> There’s a <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.youtube&hl=en">YouTube app update for Android</a> and Google TV that “automatically pairs your devices on the same WiFi. Just find a video on your YouTube app for Android—<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3PDXmYoF5U&feature=plcp">like the latest video from GoPro</a> or <a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/HplusDigitalSeries">H+ The Digital Series</a>—click the TV icon that appears and the video will play instantly on your Google TV.”</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdNm5KMxk4gHB42DzhFvexgq29rL76OxVIMNCExWPK4YXmGhVpwpqI4w1lt81aifUBEJjVvdy405tDnA2wZXlt6oPTnBdt-yEVen9NePW7zVXgc6IgWF5F_pxFNLfDiN1qr0F7WEuczBlb/s1600/ck-youtube-tv.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdNm5KMxk4gHB42DzhFvexgq29rL76OxVIMNCExWPK4YXmGhVpwpqI4w1lt81aifUBEJjVvdy405tDnA2wZXlt6oPTnBdt-yEVen9NePW7zVXgc6IgWF5F_pxFNLfDiN1qr0F7WEuczBlb/s1600/ck-youtube-tv.png" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This new YouTube on TV feature is "like a remote control—you can pause, scroll or skip to the next video with your mobile device as it plays on your TV."</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Facebook Launches Social Jobs Partnership Application:</b> The Social Jobs Partnership (SJP) unveiled a <a href="https://www.facebook.com/socialjobs/app_417814418282098">Facebook app</a> to ”make it easier for people on Facebook to find and share employment opportunities.”</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3wu_lgIDO5IkHE3okKbLJcNI-Y5NUNo5vVbqFzn5Pq4tM2k1FyjXHq01G_9nA84Qbq_IlPzuNAfeY-O8Llt4_ZL5SUYfIr3xmjGJ0khmiZ3CL1py14Q6r6E1aWibfE-aaioQQYhdOx_vO/s1600/ck-facebook-job-app.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3wu_lgIDO5IkHE3okKbLJcNI-Y5NUNo5vVbqFzn5Pq4tM2k1FyjXHq01G_9nA84Qbq_IlPzuNAfeY-O8Llt4_ZL5SUYfIr3xmjGJ0khmiZ3CL1py14Q6r6E1aWibfE-aaioQQYhdOx_vO/s1600/ck-facebook-job-app.png" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">"The new SJP app is a central location where recruiters can share open positions with the Facebook community sorted by industry, location and skills."</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Here’s upcoming news to watch:</span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><a href="http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/33835/Facebook-Now-Testing-Ranked-Comments-on-Business-Pages.aspx">Facebook Now Testing “Ranked Comments” on Business Pages:</a></b> Currently only a few people have this feature. “Ranked Comments” means that the comments with the most engagement will float to the top.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="http://allfacebook.com/sources-of-friendship_b104681"><b>Facebook Adds Sources of Friendship Under Users’ Friends Tab:</b></a> You can expect to see “more information under the Friends tab on users’ timelines, indicating how many of the user’s friends were recently added, from high school, from college or from work.”</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Here’s an interesting tool worth noting:</span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><a href="http://www.leaderboarded.com/home/">Leaderboarded:</a></b> A tool for companies to create their own online leaderboards powered by social data.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><iframe bordercolor="#000000" frameborder="0" height="320" hspace="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://ad.doubleclick.net/adi/N7433.148119.BLOGGEREN/B6676345.771;sz=320x320;ord=[timestamp]?;lid=41000613802463762;pid=UBM9781118328002;usg=AFHzDLsbnlaMw3axQezP-wkbuEbL-4LWWw;adurl=http%253A%252F%252Fwww.cdsbooksdvds.com%252Fproduct.jhtm%253Fsku%253DUBM9781118328002;pubid=573420;imgsrc=http%3A%2F%2Fc381821.r21.cf1.rackcdn.com%2F9781118328002.jpg;width=212;height=320" vspace="0" width="320"></iframe><iframe bordercolor="#000000" frameborder="0" height="320" hspace="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://ad.doubleclick.net/adi/N7433.148119.BLOGGEREN/B6676345.773;sz=320x320;ord=[timestamp]?;lid=41000613802463762;pid=UBM9780789749819;usg=AFHzDLsSINhKCdZByOyKI1j4G0Eb9WvZmA;adurl=http%253A%252F%252Fwww.cdsbooksdvds.com%252Fproduct.jhtm%253Fsku%253DUBM9780789749819;pubid=573420;imgsrc=http%3A%2F%2Fc383698.r98.cf1.rackcdn.com%2F9780789749819.jpg;width=213;height=320" vspace="0" width="320"></iframe></span><br />Tiffanyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05079264005458258819noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8854438359204380427.post-84738501523900703732012-12-03T15:00:00.001-06:002012-12-03T15:00:41.619-06:00The End of the Expert: Why No One in Marketing Knows What They're Doing<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This is a very interesting and on point article about how drastically the landscape of marketing has changed over the last 15 years. It is not only been a radical shift but now today's marketer must keep up with the ever-changing technology. One of the best points in the article is how you don't need to be a marketing expert, you need to be someone who is interested in and passionate about marketing. Someone who wants to stay on the trends and be creative to cultivate and nurture the new company/customer relationship.</span><br />
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<a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/dorieclark/2012/11/11/the-end-of-the-expert-why-no-one-in-marketing-knows-what-theyre-doing/"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The End of the Expert: Why No One in Marketing Knows What They're Doing</span></a><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">by Dorie Clark, Contributor</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Richard Branson's Virgin is one company that's succeeding in the new era of marketing. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It’s a stark verdict from a prominent source. “There are hundreds of thousands of people who were trained and mentored, and studied classical marketing, and they got good at it,” says Clark Kokich, chairman of digital agency Razorfish. Unfortunately, the world has changed – and that education is no longer relevant. “If your self-worth and your confidence is based on you being an expert, you’re in deep trouble, because there aren’t any experts,” says Kokich, author of Do or Die: Surviving and Thriving in a World Where the Old Ways of Marketing Aren’t Getting It Done. “Sure, there are experts in some fields. Someone may be really good in SEO or in mobile. But there aren’t any experts in making this transition.”</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In the late 1990s, digital marketing debuted to great fanfare, but it was still fundamentally about advertising to customers. But in the past several years, new social and mobile tools have upended that paradigm. “The focus has really changed,” Kokich told me in a recent interview at the Inbound Marketing Summit, where we were both keynote speakers. “It’s less about advertising and more about creating an experience that transforms what it means to be a customer of a brand. And that change has really caused a lot of consternation in marketing because none of us were trained to do that.”</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">As a model for the future, he cites the iconoclastic examples of Richard Branson’s Virgin; Nike’s “Write the Future” campaign, in which youth competed to be identified as a rising soccer star; and the “Epic Mix” campaign by the Vail ski resort, which leveraged digital technology to help friends connect, track each other, and compete on the slopes. To succeed in marketing moving forward, he says, “What you need more than expertise is curiosity, someone who’s interested in what’s happening, loves change, and wants to develop ideas and drive change. If you’re not one of those people, you’re going to hate what’s going on in marketing and you won’t be effective. I have friends who have told me they’re just trying to hang on before people realize they don’t know what they’re doing. But I don’t think you can fake it another five years. You’re just not relevant if you’re fighting the reality of what’s happening.”</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So how do you begin to “create brand experiences” instead of relying on past methods of advertising? The first step, says Kokich, is to “ask a different question.” He advises companies to pull together a cross-section of company and agency staff – “everybody that’s responsible for building anything that touches the customer” – put them in a room and ask: “What do people hate about doing business with us, and can we use digital to fix it?”</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The wrong frame, which too many companies use, is “This is what we are, and how do we shine it up?” Kokich believes more fundamental change is necessary. “We talk a lot in marketing about the importance of being good storytellers. Well, we need to be good story changers, because telling a story isn’t enough. Customers can see right through a great story about a lousy product.”</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If you succeed in the new marketing, Kokich says, the benefits can be profound: “Companies like Virgin or Vail fundamentally altered their market position, because they fundamentally altered the way they did marketing.” </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><iframe bordercolor="#000000" frameborder="0" height="320" hspace="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://ad.doubleclick.net/adi/N7433.148119.BLOGGEREN/B6676345.719;sz=320x320;ord=[timestamp]?;lid=41000613802463762;pid=UBM9780749440220;usg=AFHzDLvDzOVEUgeOF5n9_SvHQK_EHN0Zwg;adurl=http%253A%252F%252Fwww.cdsbooksdvds.com%252Fproduct.jhtm%253Fsku%253DUBM9780749440220;pubid=573420;imgsrc=http%3A%2F%2Fc374016.r16.cf1.rackcdn.com%2F9780749440220.jpg;width=211;height=320" vspace="0" width="320"></iframe><iframe bordercolor="#000000" frameborder="0" height="320" hspace="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://ad.doubleclick.net/adi/N7433.148119.BLOGGEREN/B6676345.720;sz=320x320;ord=[timestamp]?;lid=41000613802463762;pid=UBM9780749464271;usg=AFHzDLt7p4NW3yuPgNA5RdIwHWYo9OFapw;adurl=http%253A%252F%252Fwww.cdsbooksdvds.com%252Fproduct.jhtm%253Fsku%253DUBM9780749464271;pubid=573420;imgsrc=http%3A%2F%2Fc378078.r78.cf1.rackcdn.com%2F9780749464271.jpg;width=214;height=320" vspace="0" width="320"></iframe><br /></span>Tiffanyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05079264005458258819noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8854438359204380427.post-38663724716198711432012-11-25T12:32:00.000-06:002012-11-25T12:32:15.498-06:00Measure Social Media with Google Analytics<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I just did this. First, if you have a website or blog, make sure you have set up the Google Analytics tracking code on each page. You can google how to do this step-by-step. Also, be sure you have keywords listed for each page. These instructions were slightly difficult to navigate, but if you get stuck there is a help section on Google Analytics that you can use. The main point here is to set up the tracking. Then check back in a few days to see how it is working for you and refer back to this article to see ways to use the data you collect.</span><br />
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<b><a href="http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/measure-social-media-traffic-using-google-analytics/"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">How to Measure Your Social Media Traffic Using Google Analytics</span></a></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">By Liz Lockard</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Published November 15, 2012 </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Do you have a grip on your social traffic?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Measuring your social media impact can be overwhelming.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A tried-and-true favorite social media measurement tool is Google Analytics.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Google Analytics can track the impact of social media traffic on your site, going beyond clicks, retweets and other vanity metrics.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Here’s how to measure your social media traffic using Google Analytics.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">#1: Identify Where Your Social Traffic Comes From</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Google Analytics can help you understand the users’ social networks and their physical location.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">To see your social media traffic, you need to first set up an advanced segment in Google Analytics.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">When you’re logged into your Google Analytics account, head to Advanced Segments, +New Custom Segment, then add your social media traffic sources to the segment.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">You can see this below.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLD5JapxN0fXJnZT1V-J8f0ylMs597Li3UgCFiaYna4scygYP2wjALsZx1-1trIgdKEMR-eTz06J7nXdTqHLzVxWf4M29doqirJVGblepdgvBfdpH0vMKRpUULuVosv4GMT2gZqcGsSDhb/s1600/google+an+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLD5JapxN0fXJnZT1V-J8f0ylMs597Li3UgCFiaYna4scygYP2wjALsZx1-1trIgdKEMR-eTz06J7nXdTqHLzVxWf4M29doqirJVGblepdgvBfdpH0vMKRpUULuVosv4GMT2gZqcGsSDhb/s1600/google+an+1.jpg" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Use one catchall segment to capture all of your social media traffic at once.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Once that’s set up, head to Audience – Demographics – Location, and you’ll get a grid that looks like this:</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirAGxQb2rFW8yQ7gecTAr3DBpNuGgvDkO4pIeeHZ1Dj114B-BcYjZI86oajiXxgb-xqfL1Fr6ES1lgPTYddPid6Bwblqql3DjAqaOsOhqxjK7BpRs2SV_wrQYiPuW_3OXDCY2aKPbUHgQ2/s1600/google+an+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirAGxQb2rFW8yQ7gecTAr3DBpNuGgvDkO4pIeeHZ1Dj114B-BcYjZI86oajiXxgb-xqfL1Fr6ES1lgPTYddPid6Bwblqql3DjAqaOsOhqxjK7BpRs2SV_wrQYiPuW_3OXDCY2aKPbUHgQ2/s1600/google+an+2.jpg" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Shows what states my social media traffic is coming from (one step deeper than the default country-level report).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">How can this information help you improve your marketing?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">You can apply this information to your business goals. For example, you can use this information from Google Analytics to help you decide what locations might be best for a meet-up, where to set up the best Facebook location targeted ads or determine the best locations for a Pay-With-a-Tweet store.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">#2: Determine What Social Media Traffic Comes From Mobile Devices</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We’ve all heard that mobile is on the rise. Google’s 2012 Our Mobile Planet report shows that 80% of smartphone users in the United States use their phones to access social networks, and 55% visit more than once a day.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">What about your audience? Industry stats are great, but don’t you want to see what applies specifically to your site?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">With that advanced segment selected, simply head to Standard Reporting – Audience – Mobile – Overview.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">You’ll get a chart that looks a lot like this:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitwRPDfntfBOgizCX_iwhofJfsLxHUUTwZFtxclxRyRvORP9L1ehUO_xNBzrIlOy5W9wmE-fbXzxnd-x-_TrP-Zsc5UJ2LTbFl5LSk4zLzZxHgBFoyeG_QuQUKFtHjgGI50-gJMkfJX1Dn/s1600/google+an+3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitwRPDfntfBOgizCX_iwhofJfsLxHUUTwZFtxclxRyRvORP9L1ehUO_xNBzrIlOy5W9wmE-fbXzxnd-x-_TrP-Zsc5UJ2LTbFl5LSk4zLzZxHgBFoyeG_QuQUKFtHjgGI50-gJMkfJX1Dn/s1600/google+an+3.jpg" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Here I've selected the default All Visits segment to compare against my Social Media Traffic segment.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">How can this information help you improve your marketing?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">You’ll find it useful to know how much of your social media traffic comes from mobile. If there’s a significant number, you’ll want to check how your content shows up on mobile devices.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Maybe your detailed infographic is hard to read. Or your Flash video only shows up as a “?” on mobile devices. Or maybe that contest form you’re thinking about tweeting has a lot of tiny fields that are too hard to fill out.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">#3: What Social Media Outlet Sends You the Best Traffic?</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Google Analytics’ built-in traffic quality metrics like Time on Page and Bounce Rate are great. But when you’re serious about measuring the quality of traffic, it comes down to conversions.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In Google Analytics, conversions are generally defined as goal completions.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Let’s walk through a quick “how-to” for setting up one of the most common goals: signing up for your newsletter. (I’m assuming here you’re using a double opt-in process for your email marketing.)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Walk through your newsletter sign-up process. When you click on the link in your email to confirm your subscription, what page do you end up on? Copy that link. (Note: if that ‘Thanks for signing up!’ page is not on your own website, change that first. You can’t measure what’s not on your own website. With most email marketing service providers, you can easily tell them to redirect to your site as part of the process. Here’s how to do this for MailChimp.)</span></li>
</ul>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRNjhwpZld_NCx-deFR0Q2gSJNtDSJH4neLMfCvixZSRniHVXl-yu0mYZKYvvpVlp2qvVsmL_Nb107IU2lsnRrj7bhrzhk0gUX6fFVyxP6a6J8SMH-fL4g02sAutMoSis0q-4rIrIyIHQh/s1600/google+an+4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRNjhwpZld_NCx-deFR0Q2gSJNtDSJH4neLMfCvixZSRniHVXl-yu0mYZKYvvpVlp2qvVsmL_Nb107IU2lsnRrj7bhrzhk0gUX6fFVyxP6a6J8SMH-fL4g02sAutMoSis0q-4rIrIyIHQh/s1600/google+an+4.jpg" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In your Google Analytics account, head to Admin (upper right, orange bar). Click through to your profile. Click the blue-text Goals menu (next to Assets, Users).</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Click New Goal.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Enter Goal Name (something as clever as “Newsletter Sign-up” works well here).</span></li>
</ul>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8LQYEfx4CGddKrm09fEOFHlWXmmv1EHASiMtid7QgasncEorH47nekX1nqa1oltlctqJm4YrcIpW2qoT9J3HF77LOkNCnAFqGj_d5bTRcA9hdsNd1ksohFCCZq8acgdnvNDVgkhu-HyYt/s1600/google+an+5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8LQYEfx4CGddKrm09fEOFHlWXmmv1EHASiMtid7QgasncEorH47nekX1nqa1oltlctqJm4YrcIpW2qoT9J3HF77LOkNCnAFqGj_d5bTRcA9hdsNd1ksohFCCZq8acgdnvNDVgkhu-HyYt/s1600/google+an+5.jpg" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Select URL Destination as the Goal Type.</span></li>
</ul>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8PFIGWo1mkvMSnqBq1DJ63M9vUMGQtPhgZzjq07F9lvIo-o8Tgdxu12mVZG2wVUiGORi8KR5FjLRLMOXnPuduvUssLYKn0g4ShNzKzuW7ZvpBWTI7TFelbX9iUKPgWYjQb9hrR_29Lf9E/s1600/google+an+6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8PFIGWo1mkvMSnqBq1DJ63M9vUMGQtPhgZzjq07F9lvIo-o8Tgdxu12mVZG2wVUiGORi8KR5FjLRLMOXnPuduvUssLYKn0g4ShNzKzuW7ZvpBWTI7TFelbX9iUKPgWYjQb9hrR_29Lf9E/s1600/google+an+6.jpg" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">That URL you grabbed earlier? The one that’s the last page in your newsletter sign-up process? Copy that into the Goal URL box here. Remove the http://www.yourdomain.com part of it.</span></li>
</ul>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqaiY4PQyGJjrsA-1QyqQNGefAc7Tos0EB1DDB6bZ4O5fChCj9PbEqMcY1YLqB97_5RvTYlGbeH5zV_5h5UR4GIVOV-WQRSFYKNC_wqdguJNKe-eCLukoy5ByK2NcaFWP03EYEyxGLlc1v/s1600/google+an+7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqaiY4PQyGJjrsA-1QyqQNGefAc7Tos0EB1DDB6bZ4O5fChCj9PbEqMcY1YLqB97_5RvTYlGbeH5zV_5h5UR4GIVOV-WQRSFYKNC_wqdguJNKe-eCLukoy5ByK2NcaFWP03EYEyxGLlc1v/s1600/google+an+7.jpg" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Click Save.</span></li>
</ul>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Awesome. Now you have a goal set up. It can take 24 hours for Google Analytics to start tracking these.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Once you start to collect some newsletter sign-up data, you can move on to properly evaluate your social media outlets.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In your Google Analytics account, head to Standard Reporting – Conversions – Goals – Overview.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Here, you can compare your social media traffic in one of two ways:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<ol>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If you don’t have a lot of referral sources, you can tell with a quick glance which networks are working for you without having to use advanced segments.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If you have a lot of referral sources, you might want to set up different advanced segments for each social network (facebook.com + m.facebook.com vs. t.co + twitter, for example). Here’s more on that if you need it.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If you’re using segments, you’ll see something like this:</span></li>
</ol>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivx8rhBglpOHOEIVbnszSefi6MJhrRkXyAJu0l8o8eunZBwiCUwyfXZX9Njt9jnCO7mHiv0yykMplqw0Nqo7HWU2y6YvIqyxfvJ7eT7JDMY8jYrTFdZ3o2qNGU5flHTJ6qElouVsFYlsOa/s1600/google+an+8.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivx8rhBglpOHOEIVbnszSefi6MJhrRkXyAJu0l8o8eunZBwiCUwyfXZX9Njt9jnCO7mHiv0yykMplqw0Nqo7HWU2y6YvIqyxfvJ7eT7JDMY8jYrTFdZ3o2qNGU5flHTJ6qElouVsFYlsOa/s1600/google+an+8.jpg" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Google Analytics shows you how much traffic comes from each social media platform.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">But let’s not forget about the assisted conversion—not all traffic converts the first time they visit your site.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Here’s how to check if social media is helping some of your other channels:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Simply head to Standard Reporting – Conversions – Multi-Channel Funnels – Top Conversion Paths.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">You’ll get a chart that looks like this:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKYqRYKfCrHgkRGzJMUwVeqMqHjKHNImUUgWwmBJZGplXReIu9OtUx9Tz5XSsKlOjJiofhVVNESgUXIq2ypX8F09W6JuDudMhJP08TpN-BrWnFzEnqYK0-0JZTbjJ5XqmVoMxX_mSM_-TY/s1600/google+an+9.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKYqRYKfCrHgkRGzJMUwVeqMqHjKHNImUUgWwmBJZGplXReIu9OtUx9Tz5XSsKlOjJiofhVVNESgUXIq2ypX8F09W6JuDudMhJP08TpN-BrWnFzEnqYK0-0JZTbjJ5XqmVoMxX_mSM_-TY/s1600/google+an+9.jpg" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Social media plays a role in 2 of the top 5 conversion paths for my newsletter.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">How can this information help you improve your marketing?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This tells you where you should spend your time and where you need to improve your social media marketing.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">For example, let’s say you’ve been spending a lot of time on Facebook marketing, but Google Analytics shows you this is not bringing in much traffic, and you’ve been getting a good amount of Twitter traffic even though you’ve spent little time on Twitter marketing.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Consider switching things up. You could decide to change your Facebook marketing tactics to try to get more traffic. Or you could decide to spend more time on your Twitter marketing efforts, because this is what’s giving you the best results.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><iframe bordercolor="#000000" frameborder="0" height="320" hspace="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://ad.doubleclick.net/adi/N7433.148119.BLOGGEREN/B6676345.708;sz=320x320;ord=[timestamp]?;lid=41000613802463762;pid=UBM9780470292891;usg=AFHzDLuYz5XKO7vcRFrmjVUZlbWVH45CDg;adurl=http%253A%252F%252Fwww.cdsbooksdvds.com%252Fproduct.jhtm%253Fsku%253DUBM9780470292891;pubid=573420;imgsrc=http%3A%2F%2Fc376690.r90.cf1.rackcdn.com%2F9780470292891.jpg;width=255;height=320" vspace="0" width="320"></iframe><iframe bordercolor="#000000" frameborder="0" height="320" hspace="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://ad.doubleclick.net/adi/N7433.148119.BLOGGEREN/B6676345.714;sz=320x320;ord=[timestamp]?;lid=41000613802463762;pid=UBM9780470641644;usg=AFHzDLu12XBg4AzcstdET6yWG0A9zOM-Ng;adurl=http%253A%252F%252Fwww.cdsbooksdvds.com%252Fproduct.jhtm%253Fsku%253DUBM9780470641644;pubid=573420;imgsrc=http%3A%2F%2Fc375442.r42.cf1.rackcdn.com%2F9780470641644.jpg;width=252;height=320" vspace="0" width="320"></iframe><br /></span>
Tiffanyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05079264005458258819noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8854438359204380427.post-72042831041989888282012-11-24T12:42:00.003-06:002012-11-24T12:42:51.334-06:00Five ways companies are using Google+ to reach customers<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A good blog from <a href="http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/google-in-the-enterprise/five-ways-companies-are-using-google-to-reach-customers/1637?tag=nl.e101&s_cid=e101">Tech Republic</a>:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Five ways companies are using Google+ to reach customers</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">By Scott Matteson</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">November 16, 2012, 10:38 AM PST</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Google+ was launched on June 28, 2011 as a new effort to get Google into the social networking scene (prior efforts, such as Google Buzz, were not long for this world). It started out as invite-only - which I personally feel is a horrible way to promote a product - but then became publicly accessible to all. Google+ has been slow to catch on and occasionally derided as a ghost town, but it has been reported as scoring higher in customer satisfaction than Facebook. Google offers many different unique products and is linking them together via Google+, whereas Facebook is just Facebook.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Not Facebook</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I believe many potential users have been reluctant to try Google+ since they considered it a duplicate of Facebook that offers no truly compelling reasons to switch. This may be a thing of the past, however: Google+ currently has 100 million active users and 400 million registered users, according to Venturebeat.com (which, to be fair, has reported that the “active user” count for Google+ has fluctuated; last July it was clocked at 150 million users). Granted, Facebook now hosts over a billion users, but Google+ isn’t trying to be Facebook, but instead rather its own entity.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It’s been interesting for me to see fellow IT guys who saw Facebook as pointless suddenly flock to Google+ for the same idea-and-update sharing that social networking has popularized. I think it’s because Google+ has a more professional atmosphere free of suspicious apps and annoying ads.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I’ve also been fascinated with the ways companies have started to leverage Google+ to their advantage. Many of these companies have a presence on Facebook, where clicking “Like” on their page will populate your news feed with their updates and announcements. However, some more innovative developments have been brewed up over on Google+, where instead of using “likes” people can follow individuals and companies to connect them to Circles.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So what can Google+ do for me?</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">First and foremost, your organization can create a Google+ business page, which promotes your products or services. For example, here is TechRepublic’s page:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Figure A</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjr9fMNr22vMMgcYviejjTQBUjdeShwS9GjVQrqYu5gsi75j5_0SbNtOo_yo55GzAd3XQQzggNqIhUVylHe8RvMtop4jB8RF7izuBvs3uIuQSyRk81mZaQaYWStO2ucqqo-ubIzk4tx0hiA/s1600/plus+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjr9fMNr22vMMgcYviejjTQBUjdeShwS9GjVQrqYu5gsi75j5_0SbNtOo_yo55GzAd3XQQzggNqIhUVylHe8RvMtop4jB8RF7izuBvs3uIuQSyRk81mZaQaYWStO2ucqqo-ubIzk4tx0hiA/s1600/plus+1.jpg" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Note the “About” link next to “Posts”, which provides a tagline, introduction, and numerous links for our site:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Figure B</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi00ZlrwbdqN74rahWCCwwag6x_SlS0_n7cn_cXUBtAILh5g-rR_FlYx-NjmhcTP0JgdO0Lnvy9hfPf4vosSVn-fY5BKDtT6GiaMO4MNNbYnkd2z2l4RH6kwsP4qaRUgrSbDkoNK1Wp2h4n/s1600/plus+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi00ZlrwbdqN74rahWCCwwag6x_SlS0_n7cn_cXUBtAILh5g-rR_FlYx-NjmhcTP0JgdO0Lnvy9hfPf4vosSVn-fY5BKDtT6GiaMO4MNNbYnkd2z2l4RH6kwsP4qaRUgrSbDkoNK1Wp2h4n/s1600/plus+2.jpg" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">However, simply creating the page isn’t enough; just the same way planting a seed won’t achieve anything unless you also provide water and sunlight. The key is to put something in to get something out; this will reach throughout the Google+ community. Here are five ways to nurture your business through Google+.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">1. Use a Google+ badge on your site</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A Google+ badge is a widget for your website which will let viewers follow your Google+ page and recommend or share your material. The badge appears as follows:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Figure C</span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiok50-nnm7WSrURpMUiITjYznngD_8gHIJ6piz7Oy8juiVFHb4ro-xdLuEB-vsytlvrKTrJ4VeXiJtt_p2NBsmn1rV_A5ZwhbUQpOzHTCCkiphGxrMMs5Re5ym-kRmSEonizKxFctKe8cW/s1600/plus+3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiok50-nnm7WSrURpMUiITjYznngD_8gHIJ6piz7Oy8juiVFHb4ro-xdLuEB-vsytlvrKTrJ4VeXiJtt_p2NBsmn1rV_A5ZwhbUQpOzHTCCkiphGxrMMs5Re5ym-kRmSEonizKxFctKe8cW/s1600/plus+3.jpg" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Note the counter (+60252) which lets visitors see who else has connected with you.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This means people don’t need to search for and follow your organization on Google+ - you can encourage them to do so directly. According to Google, “Top publishers have seen an average follower increase of 38% after adding the Google+ badge to their sites.” For the full rundown on how to set this up, click here.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">2. Engage in Search Engine Optimization</span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">When people search for your company, if you have a Google+ page, you have the advantage because your company is moved to the top of the results pile. It’s like pre-boarding an airline with small children (I can state from experience that it is like being royalty; I had three kids so I could stretch this out for many years). Speaking of airlines, in the example shown I’ve searched for Delta Airlines:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Figure D</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqOLLoYeshiJtzSfiUa-jh-ALgOfH4Jo5R4GoJw14dAGEjEj2laYZChqLAbqmA7ViWEc5xXgn5bIYUN7XISjPRz2_scGnK9o4KojYzKjFPlvUCvKd0DVsiIiq3OY4JNqCiXiAQPUEqKyE1/s1600/plus+4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqOLLoYeshiJtzSfiUa-jh-ALgOfH4Jo5R4GoJw14dAGEjEj2laYZChqLAbqmA7ViWEc5xXgn5bIYUN7XISjPRz2_scGnK9o4KojYzKjFPlvUCvKd0DVsiIiq3OY4JNqCiXiAQPUEqKyE1/s1600/plus+4.jpg" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Not only does the search engine then allow me to click “Follow” to add Delta to one of my circles, but I can see who else is following this business and get a preview of their most recent post.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">3. Start using Hangouts</span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Now that you’ve got people following your Google+ page, you can let them know what your company is doing (or plans to do) by using posts. This is helpful to spread the word, but sometimes some face-to-face time is even more meaningful. Google+ Hangouts were made for this purpose. To start a Hangout or access other Hangouts (including past events), click the Hangouts link in the vertical toolbar in Google+:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Figure E</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQWILMqoxDB_XO_eENMQLuzQOz4i3IyHOAnc6vXEkcoRtAaSuorQ6SPxW-NsgxGdl7uwMVroOB7Nbaa0ysQOywDYJMwjhzRZVdpXTcvcZhlIaxgYHzCR4xvW4EL-FQEN8mpXvIvvpro-4Y/s1600/plus+5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQWILMqoxDB_XO_eENMQLuzQOz4i3IyHOAnc6vXEkcoRtAaSuorQ6SPxW-NsgxGdl7uwMVroOB7Nbaa0ysQOywDYJMwjhzRZVdpXTcvcZhlIaxgYHzCR4xvW4EL-FQEN8mpXvIvvpro-4Y/s1600/plus+5.jpg" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">You’ll need to download the Hangout plugin first.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In an effort to integrate Hangouts among their other services, Google lets people join Hangouts from Gmail, to work with Google Docs in Hangouts, and schedule Hangouts as calendar events.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Up to 10 people or locations can participate in a Hangout, which may not sound like much (this can be great for internal company or client video conferences), but you can also use “Hangouts on Air” to post the video to the web from your Google+ page or Youtube channel. This is perfect for presenting content to a large mass of customers, subscribers or affiliates. Of course, the material can also be archived for on-demand perusal.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">President Obama participated in a Google+ Hangout earlier this year. While it might be hard to argue that this effort won him re-election, it certainly helped establish him as being part of the tech-savvy community as well as provided an opportunity to interface with fellow citizens.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">4. Leverage product reviews in Google Shopping</span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It was recently announced by Google that they are combining features of Google+ with Google Shopping, which lets users search for products to buy on the web as well as in brick and mortar locations.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This means that if people search for products which have been reviewed by those in their Google+ Circles, these reviews will be available for them to read (this is similar to Google+ Local which I’ll discuss next). People can even post the reviews to their Google+ page.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This feature allows you to increase visibility for your products insofar as your customers are using Google+, and are either writing reviews or connected to people doing so. Encouraging honest feedback via these product reviews is a good way to start using this feature to your advantage. However, for the record I do not condone in any way the lowbrow tactic of padding a site with bogus reviews.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">5. Get Local</span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Google+ Local is a feature which allows customers to find and read reviews about businesses (as opposed to products in the last example). It’s possible to search by business name or just put in your location and see what’s recommended nearby.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">For instance, if I type Boston MA into the location field I get the following:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Figure F</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRDdxNXq6wUbQZCvmkXvEz__sKfyOQJfwywuM2CihLl2FNZO7lV1BfRY8N5AGyG7QLc_WfphgWsbizjBoJzG8OEgcV4UniUvJAI1ITZpuJ-dvLoAKLbbj7t2cR-LJ9nKrESu-awPcyeJLj/s1600/plus+6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRDdxNXq6wUbQZCvmkXvEz__sKfyOQJfwywuM2CihLl2FNZO7lV1BfRY8N5AGyG7QLc_WfphgWsbizjBoJzG8OEgcV4UniUvJAI1ITZpuJ-dvLoAKLbbj7t2cR-LJ9nKrESu-awPcyeJLj/s1600/plus+6.jpg" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A company’s Google+ Local page generally displays the business hours, directions, and other relevant details. Zagat summaries and reviews by people in Google+ Circles can be a big help to potential customers. If I click the “China Pearl Restaurant” link at the top I can then see their business page, complete with a link to the menu, pictures of the exterior/interior and a map.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Figure G</span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEio86axHrYDtWpDxYyPWoC9FqbaVbEGSW4VVftVg2DT8eTLAk0-XuCjSjAb3rF9HmY4xKpyLLa2PUp2E3vpt07QGsiJu3wRx6FOoRKo34RiANvdfNzZ5UgUJYK_sl83sEqUp1RI7k79aoSj/s1600/plus+7%5D.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEio86axHrYDtWpDxYyPWoC9FqbaVbEGSW4VVftVg2DT8eTLAk0-XuCjSjAb3rF9HmY4xKpyLLa2PUp2E3vpt07QGsiJu3wRx6FOoRKo34RiANvdfNzZ5UgUJYK_sl83sEqUp1RI7k79aoSj/s1600/plus+7%5D.jpg" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Note a “Local” page isn’t the same as the standard Google+ page, but you can set it up easily enough. Click here for details.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Bonus: Benefit from social extensions (for Google AdWords customers)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If your business uses Google AdWords, you can deploy social extensions to allow you to link your Google+ page to your ads.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Google states: “Google can show more endorsements for your business from your customers and supporters. This can raise the social awareness of your business and increase its relevance.”</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">By default, AdWords ads that appear on Google or the Google Display Network all have a +1 button. A web user +1′ing your ad endorses your specific landing page, and vice versa. With social extensions, a +1 on your ad applies to your Google+ Page. All +1’s from your Google+ Page are also applied to your AdWords ads.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This creates a larger social web presence for both your ads and your Google+ Page, making it more likely that someone who sees them will see an annotation. Since annotations make your ads more relevant, they may also increase your overall ad performance.”</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Here is an overview of AdWords in case you’re considering signing up.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">According to Google, “Search ads using Google+ average 5 to 10 percent more clicks.”</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Sounds great, but how can I see how I’m doing?</span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Google provides some methods to measure how Google+ is working out for you.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Ripples</span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Google+ Ripples is a service which offers handy visuals to let you see which of your public posts/links has been shared. You can also check what’s being said about it.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Social reports in Google Analytics</span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Google Analytics provides reports to let you see how you’re doing in the social media arena (even outside of Google+). It can show you how people are getting from social networks to your site, or how your content is being shared or interacted with outside your site. This can help you decide your next step or prepare goals for the future.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Conclusion</span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It isn’t just companies selling goods that can use Google+; individuals or groups offering services can benefit from it as well. I recently came across a great article for writers outlining How to Use Google+ as an Author Platform. You may not be an author, but the article presents some amazing strategies which could easily apply to other disciplines and careers.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Google offers a page for businesses outlining how they can profit from Google+. This provides a great amount of content including concrete examples and case studies.</span><br />
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Tiffanyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05079264005458258819noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8854438359204380427.post-47810211278864318652012-11-23T15:16:00.000-06:002012-11-23T15:16:07.738-06:00Free Vectors and Fonts<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A few new free vectors and fonts for your designing pleasure...</span><br />
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<a href="http://www.vecteezy.com/vector-icons/52452-free-vector-of-the-day--206--christmas-ball"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Christmas Ball</span></a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSb6_WSCC9DQ4BNTWPvHgtFbf6fB1xg4mcpJcNb8t9BzRouYFs534P6kcBBI6FuM4Y7MNfqvbFfCacl_IGLGWjqxbiRczYOrgbjz0kjOFC9ShlgAkg2IR1yd0GRBrKBw942jYZdAaYjguW/s1600/christmas-ball.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSb6_WSCC9DQ4BNTWPvHgtFbf6fB1xg4mcpJcNb8t9BzRouYFs534P6kcBBI6FuM4Y7MNfqvbFfCacl_IGLGWjqxbiRczYOrgbjz0kjOFC9ShlgAkg2IR1yd0GRBrKBw942jYZdAaYjguW/s1600/christmas-ball.jpg" /></span></a></div>
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<a href="http://www.vecteezy.com/holiday-seasonal/708-pumpkin-things-vector"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Pumpkin Things Vector</span></a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXC1xbH0qmbl5-Vn6uA2e6Am5xLDxjnqerEetUM1HM2e2YQCUPrIOw50AesPh6AcEsJ05thRbMo_fTJCfh92nf1evM1tK_Ez2sDJGw3kr-ca56CGLjRb_WR7Gpys_y4NWgmHH-We_529i7/s1600/pumpkin+things.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXC1xbH0qmbl5-Vn6uA2e6Am5xLDxjnqerEetUM1HM2e2YQCUPrIOw50AesPh6AcEsJ05thRbMo_fTJCfh92nf1evM1tK_Ez2sDJGw3kr-ca56CGLjRb_WR7Gpys_y4NWgmHH-We_529i7/s1600/pumpkin+things.gif" /></span></a></div>
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<a href="http://www.vecteezy.com/miscellaneous/51824-stone-texture-vectors-natal"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Stone Texture Vectors Natal</span></a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiqVIvwoj9Fobl3vc3il5pHUxYA8w94JrjFYmyQfTXy_AAOqxDJbjB_w7YhOJla1j4U6dacHN162MhZ0P4szNq3Rrn8xmcPGL5GbFILOgLWiflLkJDmxcgwTEObXFCkBdUfkb7soSmn2S-/s1600/stone+textures.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiqVIvwoj9Fobl3vc3il5pHUxYA8w94JrjFYmyQfTXy_AAOqxDJbjB_w7YhOJla1j4U6dacHN162MhZ0P4szNq3Rrn8xmcPGL5GbFILOgLWiflLkJDmxcgwTEObXFCkBdUfkb7soSmn2S-/s1600/stone+textures.jpg" /></span></a></div>
<a href="http://www.vecteezy.com/backgrounds-wallpaper/40792-planet-earth-vector-"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Planet Earth Vector</span></a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWZPS08T5dMtJQBpWDSySOkeHYyvRxde7EZp9CHVd7-el81NHxo2bQJQIw4kGDmX7NJQ7B9xTskIobkxwnkUysKU6XsTg0B9vlpqSTMvM3hMbhRkHdUiqqK6s2uw3skHKbJhgQDtIUa8X-/s1600/world.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWZPS08T5dMtJQBpWDSySOkeHYyvRxde7EZp9CHVd7-el81NHxo2bQJQIw4kGDmX7NJQ7B9xTskIobkxwnkUysKU6XsTg0B9vlpqSTMvM3hMbhRkHdUiqqK6s2uw3skHKbJhgQDtIUa8X-/s1600/world.jpg" /></span></a></div>
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<a href="http://www.vecteezy.com/patterns/190-green-floral-wallpaper"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Green Floral Wallpaper</span></a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfTLjW-SG2t2xOScSXiLstMcq24OYPWd4j3rh_bwks6zPei8lLW0y8NZqP0ugqUrd1ZdjML-kv1fuGTNpeyudyB44gx3GDxXGE-KyRtlwDwA_sI-aq5CfDnA7EEPR7f00dF1ltreaHyl7S/s1600/greenywallpaperthumb.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfTLjW-SG2t2xOScSXiLstMcq24OYPWd4j3rh_bwks6zPei8lLW0y8NZqP0ugqUrd1ZdjML-kv1fuGTNpeyudyB44gx3GDxXGE-KyRtlwDwA_sI-aq5CfDnA7EEPR7f00dF1ltreaHyl7S/s1600/greenywallpaperthumb.jpg" /></span></a></div>
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<a href="http://www.allvectors.com/night-city-vector/"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Night City Vector</span></a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLEwp7cfsvScUwEfLlvyms66RzXocqujrBPbo88fVKlxGkf4GU2MexMIYde7zh64OW-0m4yR3NukM9wZcZBEusTWM7Lf-LJy0KbmxOLEWW7xlDsYleoRuhofwhLBxKB9l5znyJ-nyPN_1H/s1600/night-city-vector.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="261" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLEwp7cfsvScUwEfLlvyms66RzXocqujrBPbo88fVKlxGkf4GU2MexMIYde7zh64OW-0m4yR3NukM9wZcZBEusTWM7Lf-LJy0KbmxOLEWW7xlDsYleoRuhofwhLBxKB9l5znyJ-nyPN_1H/s320/night-city-vector.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<a href="http://vector4free.com/vectors/id/876"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Christmas Sticker</span></a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6Wi4w0bUZirzFci-2JSyp3_3x9QukHNSDEguT6g-vMDuD10_q87nw51cMa1uuOndQW1uTBdbdrckUQ5BPvRTSkRdOkxS1WN2hBjDxps75ITXrliwp48MXsA3J2HDBX5iPl1IXibfLgmHh/s1600/christmas-sticker.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="228" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6Wi4w0bUZirzFci-2JSyp3_3x9QukHNSDEguT6g-vMDuD10_q87nw51cMa1uuOndQW1uTBdbdrckUQ5BPvRTSkRdOkxS1WN2hBjDxps75ITXrliwp48MXsA3J2HDBX5iPl1IXibfLgmHh/s320/christmas-sticker.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<a href="http://qvectors.net/abstract-vectors/free-tree-vector-illustration/"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Free Tree Vector Illustration</span></a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7l4TAFLVg6LMnFqXE4yVxEnqEhX7ntJ8mNSjsymtne2Ro6cvq7GGBMsYYnbQ7sP7vAtKP0yaFXLFkWb78OeCM6E0OIKHBZBXkVq45xdhslCtCoG5N9wEDrTNs7vtngSdP58rKdpVqFwk_/s1600/floral-tree-vector-illustration-preview.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="244" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7l4TAFLVg6LMnFqXE4yVxEnqEhX7ntJ8mNSjsymtne2Ro6cvq7GGBMsYYnbQ7sP7vAtKP0yaFXLFkWb78OeCM6E0OIKHBZBXkVq45xdhslCtCoG5N9wEDrTNs7vtngSdP58rKdpVqFwk_/s640/floral-tree-vector-illustration-preview.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div>
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<a href="http://www.freevector.com/jewelry-designs/"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Jewelry Designs</span></a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzv6az9C7m7pdqf67ibxMXGaYFWfwL9cGYuPqPpzT86UmazM1IxcW__1OFCs4dLI1Ybsfn-5ftiryGOnU2xmXyvURjXmSxcS7P6rPjpRTBKFVUW_0Kw7ehy_QHYGFrmhoEXk6pzNijCaO6/s1600/jewelry+design.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="238" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzv6az9C7m7pdqf67ibxMXGaYFWfwL9cGYuPqPpzT86UmazM1IxcW__1OFCs4dLI1Ybsfn-5ftiryGOnU2xmXyvURjXmSxcS7P6rPjpRTBKFVUW_0Kw7ehy_QHYGFrmhoEXk6pzNijCaO6/s320/jewelry+design.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<a href="http://all-free-download.com/free-vector/vector-landscape/free_ornate_vector_swirls_32226.html"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Ornate Vector Swirls</span></a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDOQbq54qWRP1yvdkL6s67TLzr2DfhDMqSuHS9Li-i0UpszdGf_ZDY_O3BUtqcBLCX1i3PCKA5zpEW5fpdhdhcafstBXkYQLHc3io8lVh-fX7Mvnc2-lQhxUUwOorl1dLvyUnXLM2XV51o/s1600/ornate_vector_swirls_32226.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="272" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDOQbq54qWRP1yvdkL6s67TLzr2DfhDMqSuHS9Li-i0UpszdGf_ZDY_O3BUtqcBLCX1i3PCKA5zpEW5fpdhdhcafstBXkYQLHc3io8lVh-fX7Mvnc2-lQhxUUwOorl1dLvyUnXLM2XV51o/s320/ornate_vector_swirls_32226.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<a href="http://www.1001freefonts.com/calligraphy-fonts.php"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Shelter Me</span></a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAuJ2cVKIkSckyYiBBx3ENb-b7I-_Y4AuWUIXx6cD_geZVyAbWDRk8BrEkTQ8gx1ry_f-v5ssc34aCHjGpWHAmXL2glQxwT1pcE_lU9AtwOT-DZL_uQ6uD6MAIbCK6nSSPIOPqtm-FKW1s/s1600/shelter+me.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="107" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAuJ2cVKIkSckyYiBBx3ENb-b7I-_Y4AuWUIXx6cD_geZVyAbWDRk8BrEkTQ8gx1ry_f-v5ssc34aCHjGpWHAmXL2glQxwT1pcE_lU9AtwOT-DZL_uQ6uD6MAIbCK6nSSPIOPqtm-FKW1s/s320/shelter+me.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<a href="http://www.1001freefonts.com/decorative-fonts-5.php"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Embossing Tape</span></a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj50bZSXACkOJWYA_0k2K1UlEJjD2RK-ZZeeCjBXLDWfMtJXLrwyeQMWqP9uhSj0cIaTEW16e9nVuUhCXS3exnnFCAKHtBEffgkm3z0ERAL7lQBJJy_iSS6JqH1Q71AJ_0tILt59V3pia13/s1600/embossing+tape.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="43" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj50bZSXACkOJWYA_0k2K1UlEJjD2RK-ZZeeCjBXLDWfMtJXLrwyeQMWqP9uhSj0cIaTEW16e9nVuUhCXS3exnnFCAKHtBEffgkm3z0ERAL7lQBJJy_iSS6JqH1Q71AJ_0tILt59V3pia13/s320/embossing+tape.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<a href="http://www.fontsquirrel.com/fonts/list/style/Display"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Hominis</span></a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEib-fc5TukbhwY3tp5biK94-gDK2Sgikh-WAbuceYRyb1d1AdhpVEarv9NkAjai1ZLBSTkPhIk8vpyFupyGohNNmRJhQjHU_z2oat-VzdSWo5Sajb-HNd3SgpKcj8anKAB2qpgM0ggcA0U4/s1600/hominis.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="32" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEib-fc5TukbhwY3tp5biK94-gDK2Sgikh-WAbuceYRyb1d1AdhpVEarv9NkAjai1ZLBSTkPhIk8vpyFupyGohNNmRJhQjHU_z2oat-VzdSWo5Sajb-HNd3SgpKcj8anKAB2qpgM0ggcA0U4/s400/hominis.JPG" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<a href="http://www.fontsquirrel.com/fonts/list/style/Retro"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Lemon Chicken</span></a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVAL27EZWLTSYmFKPwJzOHYPFmeXNXJ3vEDIguYGSoixGtkG4vfiQMwjV-yOvaqKvzkrB6iomOk5sVrwQKGFdrsfGBkVC5fjTah8SrHAzC4tUnspQQTCZm5Ds9PKXg-nUQao_UXTUjsSrB/s1600/lemon+chicken.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="35" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVAL27EZWLTSYmFKPwJzOHYPFmeXNXJ3vEDIguYGSoixGtkG4vfiQMwjV-yOvaqKvzkrB6iomOk5sVrwQKGFdrsfGBkVC5fjTah8SrHAzC4tUnspQQTCZm5Ds9PKXg-nUQao_UXTUjsSrB/s400/lemon+chicken.JPG" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<a href="http://www.dafont.com/theme.php?cat=501"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Coolvetica</span></a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhUFyNwbxzNdZHedecEjaXA7eXOvPJqfJyknZqYeFPFhlBRpa6yzmpmdvRiJ1ZwuP4PT_Uh3A8xUxXqv4xCgylZzhxHINEdcPU4jH0wEtotHsRLohaLi0UvxraKLBiMZbze0bpJVHe6SPW/s1600/coolvetica.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="66" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhUFyNwbxzNdZHedecEjaXA7eXOvPJqfJyknZqYeFPFhlBRpa6yzmpmdvRiJ1ZwuP4PT_Uh3A8xUxXqv4xCgylZzhxHINEdcPU4jH0wEtotHsRLohaLi0UvxraKLBiMZbze0bpJVHe6SPW/s320/coolvetica.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<a href="http://www.dafont.com/theme.php?cat=804"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Santa's Sleigh</span></a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1nx0-x2HuDWzGCEhwPxuDA1mYP0deg-xlGHstA1HloVl76YU3yb84z1ENopSmK34Ztko_g4vjHvA13jgpltOcnGdj2z7E9f9vCkCvUgbdWeYXW6gm4KV3zmUK7jHbJrQ-uFUQdHFlvuCg/s1600/santas+sleigh.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="79" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1nx0-x2HuDWzGCEhwPxuDA1mYP0deg-xlGHstA1HloVl76YU3yb84z1ENopSmK34Ztko_g4vjHvA13jgpltOcnGdj2z7E9f9vCkCvUgbdWeYXW6gm4KV3zmUK7jHbJrQ-uFUQdHFlvuCg/s320/santas+sleigh.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<iframe bordercolor="#000000" frameborder="0" height="320" hspace="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://ad.doubleclick.net/adi/N7433.148119.BLOGGEREN/B6696757.290;sz=320x320;ord=[timestamp]?;lid=41000613802463973;pid=sku5644107;usg=AFHzDLtUhT6HAzhzId7rJvLEaKgejBMjFQ;adurl=http%253A%252F%252Fwww.samsclub.com%252Fsams%252Fadobe-photoshop-elements-10%252Fprod5210191.ip%253Fpid%253D_DoubleClick_Affiliates%2526ci_src%253D15781033%2526ci_sku%253Dsku5644107;pubid=573420;imgsrc=http%3A%2F%2Fs7d2.scene7.com%2Fis%2Fimage%2Fsamsclub%2Fs7product%2F0088391922681_A.jpg;width=320;height=320" vspace="0" width="320"></iframe><iframe bordercolor="#000000" frameborder="0" height="320" hspace="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://ad.doubleclick.net/adi/N7433.148119.BLOGGEREN/B6533677.477;sz=320x320;ord=[timestamp]?;lid=41000613802463918;pid=64469;usg=AFHzDLsvembEngjLadBf6GCSf4Fac9aBMA;adurl=http%253A%252F%252Fwww.abt.com%252Fproduct%252F64469%252FAdobe-65165576.html;pubid=573420;imgsrc=http%3A%2F%2Fcontent.abt.com%2Fmedia%2Fimages%2Fproducts%2FBDP_Images%2Fbig_65165576.jpg;width=269;height=320" vspace="0" width="320"></iframe><br />
<br />Tiffanyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05079264005458258819noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8854438359204380427.post-45955495854726199642012-11-18T13:31:00.004-06:002012-11-18T13:31:40.086-06:00Helpful Tools for Social Media Marketing<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/24-must-have-social-media-marketing-tools/">Social Media Examiner</a> posted this article with 24 social media marketing tools. Read through and see what suits you and saves you time in your marketing efforts.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">24 Must-Have Social Media Marketing Tools</span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">By Cindy King</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Published November 13, 2012</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Are you looking for ways to enhance your social media marketing?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Do you want new tools to simplify your job?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We asked a group of social media pros for the hottest social media tools they use today.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Check them out to see if these social media tools are a good fit for you!</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">#1: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N56sibo2SU0">Unlock to Share Plugin</a></span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">My favorite social marketing tool of all time is the unlock to share plugin. What is it? It’s a simple plugin that “unlocks” additional content when your web visitors share your stuff on Facebook, Twitter or Google+.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEik-A5huEJi3qkfCzA6O5nuSEjGNct388ysVVrtU8xso5FYQURu4FVnrq0ngIZQKCaHSIzYgqBLlG8GS7PrIWk-HvbJQN-ACs7wes9ry2ltY5DiCWrgzB5qwum-cU5KrIukRE41LLV4-w6x/s1600/sm+tools+1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEik-A5huEJi3qkfCzA6O5nuSEjGNct388ysVVrtU8xso5FYQURu4FVnrq0ngIZQKCaHSIzYgqBLlG8GS7PrIWk-HvbJQN-ACs7wes9ry2ltY5DiCWrgzB5qwum-cU5KrIukRE41LLV4-w6x/s1600/sm+tools+1.png" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Make your site go viral by requiring the user to share your link to unlock content.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Why is this so valuable? Well, today everyone has a Like button on their site. But if you want your audience to share your stuff, you need to give them a little incentive! That’s exactly what this plugin does.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In my most recent experiment, I had 452 people land on a page where they had access to royalty-free music they could use in their videos. If you shared the post, I gave you an additional five music tracks. Out of those 452 visitors, 379 shared to unlock those five extra songs! That’s 84%!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">These unlock to share plugins are everywhere. The one I used was found over on CodeCanyon.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">James Wedmore, co-founder of Video Traffic Academy and founder of Video Sales Magic and Video Copy Pro.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">#2: <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/">SlideShare</a></span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This isn’t a “new” tool, but I’m amazed by the number of marketers who still don’t use SlideShare as a main staple in their social media distribution. According to the latest research from Content Marketing Institute and MarketingProfs, just 23% of B2B marketers and only 7% of B2C marketers leverage SlideShare (which now sees approximately 60 million users per month).</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsaPK-jmQIAqhyphenhyphena08jpTdpB4lcrJOhrcLH6HQdBjs1IlnTpvpdkMYOkFN5XHHWd0bN00PvWjVXSbDgLs6mDxkzyQz0YGCXRu3-p1rUKRh-P1l6HOKrqvR94rHA5I_P2zUJO9d1ecZxyqM8/s1600/sm+tools+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsaPK-jmQIAqhyphenhyphena08jpTdpB4lcrJOhrcLH6HQdBjs1IlnTpvpdkMYOkFN5XHHWd0bN00PvWjVXSbDgLs6mDxkzyQz0YGCXRu3-p1rUKRh-P1l6HOKrqvR94rHA5I_P2zUJO9d1ecZxyqM8/s1600/sm+tools+2.jpg" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">SlideShare is a great tool to use as part of your company's storytelling process.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We continue to integrate SlideShare into our visual storytelling, and it’s now a key part of our lead generation process. It’s a true sleeping giant.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Joe Pulizzi, founder of the Content Marketing Institute and author of Managing Content Marketing and co-author of Get Content, Get Customers.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">#3: <a href="http://commun.it/">Commun.it</a></span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I use Commun.it to help build and nurture relationships with supporters, influencers and potential customers on Twitter.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The basic service, which is free, keeps track of your most valuable followers and interactions, rolling up the data into an action-driven dashboard. One glance and you’ll know whom to follow, whom to thank and to whom you need to respond—all of which you can do directly within the tool.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Another big plus: You can quickly spot your most active conversation buddies. Commun.it tallies up the number of exchanges between you and other Tweeters, indicating whether or not you’re following each other.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdIdPftlqTTDPCV4XNNXwCwsv-l1kwfROfPczsYSjrePvmsRerq73nUIUCl8x7ZFyeXtOE0i6UeyPjzsaCaMUXsDdRlxm8hP17mDzgfYYu_GdbjzuFJYjsO2kypoXb4oQkIMdaQ6bS6C9G/s1600/sm+tools+3.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdIdPftlqTTDPCV4XNNXwCwsv-l1kwfROfPczsYSjrePvmsRerq73nUIUCl8x7ZFyeXtOE0i6UeyPjzsaCaMUXsDdRlxm8hP17mDzgfYYu_GdbjzuFJYjsO2kypoXb4oQkIMdaQ6bS6C9G/s1600/sm+tools+3.png" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Commun.it rolls up your data into an action-driven dashboard.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In addition to the dashboard, Commun.it has reporting functionality. I love the way it lists hard-to-find stats in one handy place, including new followers, the handles of who stopped following you, RTs of your content, direct messages and total reach.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Commun.it also records this social activity for your Twitter handle, so you can keep tabs on your own contributions and connections in the Twitterverse.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Shelly Lucas, senior marketing manager and leader of social media at Dun & Bradstreet.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">#4: <a href="https://support.google.com/youtube/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=1714323&topic=1728599&parent=1714169&rd=1">YouTube’s Audience Retention Report</a></span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">You’ve probably read that YouTube search is now optimized for time watched. Effective YouTube marketing demands that we understand (and create better videos based on) how our videos are watched, at least as much as we “optimize” them for SEO, etc. Those “gurus” who tell you to buy thousands of 5-second views to bump up your view count … yes, that does the search damage you always knew it would.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This is why audience retention is the new view count.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The new Audience Retention Report in YouTube is, without a doubt, the most important social media marketing tool to come around in a long time. You can now see what kind of retention you’re getting from your videos and how it compares to everyone else’s. Want to get to the top of the results? Study this Audience Retention Report like a hawk and update your video making strategies accordingly.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The following video walks you through a couple of reports and offers some insights on how to respond.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Paul Colligan, education czar for Traffic Geyser Inc. and CEO of Colligan.com.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">#5: <a href="http://www.cyfe.com/">Cyfe</a></span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">While there are a number of enterprise-level listening and monitoring tools available to assist brands, a new tool that I’ve been a fan of is Cyfe. It provides visibility into social channel and search metrics that typically only admins of those channels/tools have access to.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibQQRzStxg6JWlbrp1hnl_BRuMC92dCjnlkPmPIty_lxA6oVjVt23uUFu_UGepcefde1wtT62HGapKy4XeazVdwDy3f3F9MmZRksbfqwE2fddBfef8YJjIBjYs7EYjoHSlXbCHiC3rgzWY/s1600/sm+tools+5.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibQQRzStxg6JWlbrp1hnl_BRuMC92dCjnlkPmPIty_lxA6oVjVt23uUFu_UGepcefde1wtT62HGapKy4XeazVdwDy3f3F9MmZRksbfqwE2fddBfef8YJjIBjYs7EYjoHSlXbCHiC3rgzWY/s1600/sm+tools+5.png" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Cyfe is an all-in-one dashboard that helps you monitor and analyze data scattered across all of your online services.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">For example, we’re able to set up a visual real-time dashboard for GoToMeeting, which provides brand-specific Facebook Insights data, YouTube Analytics, Twitter and Twitter Search information, SEOMoz, Google Trends, Google Analytics and a number of other social or search data points.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">As a social media team, we’re often asked for such information from team members who are curious about the community, channel interactions and other related questions. Cyfe has enabled to us to make that data easily accessible to our team members.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Going one step beyond social and search, Cyfe also enables you to bring in your CRM, email marketing and blog data, with new integrations shipping on a regular basis.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Justin Levy, strategic advisor on all social media activities at Citrix Online and editor-in-chief of Workshifting.com.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">#6: <a href="https://www.cloze.com/">Cloze</a></span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The newest tool that I’m most excited about is Cloze, recommended to me by Jascha Kaykas-Wolff of Mindjet.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Imagine an aggregation and curation system for your social network and that’s what Cloze provides. I’m able to view the activity of people by date in my network and then check them off, respond to them, like them or retweet them directly from the Cloze interface.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtR7aaWr_y_oiktmU5Gx6hr85A-hKsNdTjPUno5zraZqkmA8nJhyk6mBDCI1VW2yUcVkHZXhl8QeQog2Y_RcZS6AY3l36aMru0oNNZoFEGUmdnOL61Cp2IbOwyMX9ytOE4zTZQ3PdEyxem/s1600/sm+tools+6.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtR7aaWr_y_oiktmU5Gx6hr85A-hKsNdTjPUno5zraZqkmA8nJhyk6mBDCI1VW2yUcVkHZXhl8QeQog2Y_RcZS6AY3l36aMru0oNNZoFEGUmdnOL61Cp2IbOwyMX9ytOE4zTZQ3PdEyxem/s1600/sm+tools+6.png" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Cloze helps you increase your interaction with those most important to you.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It’s absolutely genius and is already saving me tons of time, increasing my interaction with those most important to me and reducing the clutter and wasted time of having five channels open that I’m constantly trying to stay abreast of. This is the inbox of the future! Cloze is currently in beta.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Douglas Karr, founder and chief blogger at the Marketing Technology Blog, founder of DK New Media (an inbound marketing agency) and author of Corporate Blogging for Dummies.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">#7: <a href="http://www.agorapulse.com/">AgoraPulse</a></span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">There is no shortage of social media marketing tools these days, that’s for sure. But despite the overwhelming number of tools out there, it’s still very difficult to find the ones that will really deliver while remaining accessible for a small-business budget.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">When it comes to managing our Facebook Page, I’ve been very impressed with AgoraPulse. It focuses on Facebook (at least for now), but provides everything your Facebook Page will ever need.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In addition to contest and promotion applications that are a “must-have” for every Facebook Page, AgoraPulse offers unique features that really make a difference, such as:</span><br />
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<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Detailed benchmark with competitors</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">AgoraPulse shows you a detailed benchmark with your competitors.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Fan ranking and qualification</span></li>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyDsvl0SJrbiPvEL3um2JwySen7pVo6q5A8a9WLfBqcOXw-yJGyWzMnK1mNEJI_tWcgLxrQ_KLgyT7EUFlhh9v_otzrfBaAJ8LROcguBqoV8hciAgTT3IfvpJ0I9m306SNFzHSRajqQ1Q3/s1600/sm+tools+8.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyDsvl0SJrbiPvEL3um2JwySen7pVo6q5A8a9WLfBqcOXw-yJGyWzMnK1mNEJI_tWcgLxrQ_KLgyT7EUFlhh9v_otzrfBaAJ8LROcguBqoV8hciAgTT3IfvpJ0I9m306SNFzHSRajqQ1Q3/s1600/sm+tools+8.jpg" /></span></a><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_FeAkjhyBWnNOdTkoor7xdpn1dlvbWzjglT6KA-LaZa1qpEOgl9odzBfB3bpKKxUi8CImYB2JU8-JD0yT0wJ-ZGO5KVcGIQv6TP1JhPIIH-WiOOwMspvNl3iNeN52f-IUpeGKuObX1T7S/s1600/sm+tools+9.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_FeAkjhyBWnNOdTkoor7xdpn1dlvbWzjglT6KA-LaZa1qpEOgl9odzBfB3bpKKxUi8CImYB2JU8-JD0yT0wJ-ZGO5KVcGIQv6TP1JhPIIH-WiOOwMspvNl3iNeN52f-IUpeGKuObX1T7S/s1600/sm+tools+9.jpg" /></span></a><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The fan management feature shows you fan ranking and qualification.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Advanced statistics and personalized content recommendations</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">You can also track average users reached by day of week.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">They also offer a ton of other great features such as advanced statistics, automated moderation and even admin rights and workflow management. These are the kind of features that used to be only available in expensive enterprise-level solutions. Getting access to such advanced and useful features for a price that every small businesses can afford does make a big difference.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Aaron Kahlow, CEO of Online Marketing Connect and chairman and founder of the Online Marketing Summit and its related educational arm, the Online Marketing Institute.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">#8: <a href="https://gaggleamp.com/">GaggleAMP</a></span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">One application that I’ve recently been exposed to and am excited about is GaggleAMP. I talk to many marketers who say, “If only our sales and business development team would share our social media postings, it would help us reach a greater—and more relevant—audience in social media.”</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This is especially relevant in B2B companies where you traditionally have a large sales force compared to a small number of people in marketing. That sales force represents a potential army of internal brand advocates who can help make a company’s social media marketing efforts much more effective.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOiVIBonqnIx70MpwY9ic9A8WXxa92wLvZmgbRnjXYJ0eJxrrPHIPccivyl4z58QLY1ZtwqDWqkZtf1O5ernYPJiYavD5g-H4CvFEtC5uRl7YUL5l11ymvUxME74xiBDyoXKjiYfDRtq3N/s1600/sm+tools+10.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOiVIBonqnIx70MpwY9ic9A8WXxa92wLvZmgbRnjXYJ0eJxrrPHIPccivyl4z58QLY1ZtwqDWqkZtf1O5ernYPJiYavD5g-H4CvFEtC5uRl7YUL5l11ymvUxME74xiBDyoXKjiYfDRtq3N/s1600/sm+tools+10.png" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Leverage employees, partners, customers and fans to share your company's social media messages on your behalf.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">With the emergence of GaggleAMP, social media and marketing directors can now utilize the reach of their internal staff to help spread their message in social media, and internal employees have complete control in deciding exactly which messages they would like to share on which platforms and how frequently.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Companies simply sign up to GaggleAMP, create a “Gaggle” (a group revolving around their content), and then request that interested employees join the Gaggle. Employees then authorize their social networks and decide which content they would like to share with their network.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">GaggleAMP can send notifications when new content is available to be posted, and there is even a “point” system to gamify social sharing and reward those internal employees who are good sharers.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIQsvTHrx1LHQ5_Qq04dhTbepCHpeWVzbOFYZ1Cxk8CAzRazUfmfutTuW1-1kkeWMXGhLzScz5to_puEyJiClV1H__qMHSQVEi8jUEixgXhI6gquFDvyRGhG804hbPbC7Bs44kmWe23d0N/s1600/sm+tools+11.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIQsvTHrx1LHQ5_Qq04dhTbepCHpeWVzbOFYZ1Cxk8CAzRazUfmfutTuW1-1kkeWMXGhLzScz5to_puEyJiClV1H__qMHSQVEi8jUEixgXhI6gquFDvyRGhG804hbPbC7Bs44kmWe23d0N/s1600/sm+tools+11.jpeg" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">GaggleAMP tracks activity, allowing you to report on the impact and ROI for every message and campaign.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">B2B companies are sitting on a goldmine of brand advocates who work at their company. By using GaggleAMP, they can organize and leverage their internal tribe while ensuring control over social media messages that are sent out externally.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">For employees, it’s internal content curation served up on a platter to give them more timely and relevant content to share with their networks and maintain mindshare on whichever social networks the company’s customers or clients are on.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I expect to hear about more companies adopting GaggleAMP in the months to come!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Neal Schaffer, founder of Windmills Marketing, is a leading social media strategist and teaches social media marketing at Rutgers University.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">#9: <a href="http://sproutsocial.com/">SproutSocial</a></span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I’ve been enjoying the statistics and tools available on SproutSocial, and am using it to get good Twitter and Facebook overviews of my accounts and for some of my clients’ statistics.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">You can also do some Twitter account comparisons, schedule content, bring in your Google Reader to watch for content and share accounts with others.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirDxkFz9W3PvkU-RlZkQw5XZgry3nrIDtgZBTWiVdmxk1jhNAagL0ElTbgYWuFj0znhkMR-RdmrHL42Job4IWILXChvxlUyx3WoZwJOo_ws4gk4Yyv4U_DjE8mK2FBjLib1t7g0OKKbZSx/s1600/sm+tools+12.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirDxkFz9W3PvkU-RlZkQw5XZgry3nrIDtgZBTWiVdmxk1jhNAagL0ElTbgYWuFj0znhkMR-RdmrHL42Job4IWILXChvxlUyx3WoZwJOo_ws4gk4Yyv4U_DjE8mK2FBjLib1t7g0OKKbZSx/s1600/sm+tools+12.png" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Deliver beautiful detailed reports to your organization or customers.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If you manage many accounts, you can easily create nice-looking reports that give a good overview of activity and growth and SproutSocial is reasonably priced.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Andrea Vahl, social media coach, speaker and strategist and Facebook community manager for Social Media Examiner.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">#10: <a href="http://www.reachli.com/landing">Reachli</a></span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Reachli (formerly known as Pinerly) is the hottest new Pinterest analytics tool. Similar to Facebook and Twitter apps such as Buffer and HootSuite, Reachli allows users to pre-schedule pins and view feedback data such as click-through rates and number of repins. Creating social campaigns on Reachli is easy with its clean and simplified design.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Although the site is optimal for Pinterest analytics, it also allows users to post on any social platform and benefit from similar analyses. Boasting comprehensive capabilities, Reachli is an ideal page-management tool for any brand or community manager.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUtVTtEfRJEKBQaN8QTV8UAdV1uOVbmPfqUSWayTQt-fVzQnsqHktLI08FvD7vYe_Dfn5704emosXFiD9Z4MBfE0kc0U3R2TqpYtITEi_MhNuGpKgWrV5kzuJkGtHjwhFjzZ-BnCQFECJa/s1600/sm+tools+13.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUtVTtEfRJEKBQaN8QTV8UAdV1uOVbmPfqUSWayTQt-fVzQnsqHktLI08FvD7vYe_Dfn5704emosXFiD9Z4MBfE0kc0U3R2TqpYtITEi_MhNuGpKgWrV5kzuJkGtHjwhFjzZ-BnCQFECJa/s1600/sm+tools+13.png" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Reachli helps you understand what works and what doesn't to help you optimize your posts.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Social media analytics are essential in providing users with optimal content, as well as discovering hard data to support social initiatives. Offering real-time analytics and best practices data, Reachli helps you optimize your Pinterest content based on the analysis of click-through rates and repin feedback. This beneficial information can result in more effective scheduling and more engaging content.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">For a low cost, brands can also employ Reachli advertising, a service that uses a unique algorithm to match content with its most relevant online audience across the social sphere. As Pinterest grows in popularity, brands will find the capabilities of Reachli to be extremely beneficial in most effectively leveraging the social platform.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Dave Kerpen, cofounder and CEO of Likeable, author of Likeable Social Media and the forthcoming Likeable Business.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">#11: <a href="http://instagram.com/">Instagram</a></span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">For the team here at Sony, one of the new platforms we are most excited about is Instagram. When we launched our brand channel (@sony) 4 months ago, we couldn’t have imagined the wealth of beautiful, funny and creative content we would find. We’ve seen everything from the cutest pups and kitties with Sony products to gorgeous, artistic shots taken by professional Sony photographers.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">But the best thing about all of this content is that the community has been more than willing to let us share their work (crediting them, of course).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We’ve asked hundreds of Instagrammers if we could share one of their Sony-related photos and have never once been declined. The result is that we get access to authentic and cool content while honoring this community of artists.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6JdJs-seV0HMnpIM7UjHXIYzIy4xYKMSP6HNjryhMSsr-nQRgt5T_soQ7OsYgA4OlWuD4JM776WFp43V6sVBolMbTxzMGHXcvnbT_IHNiB1XHxxW4iI2VSs7WRDvVAekQO2jpLEAmkhaH/s1600/sm+tools+14.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6JdJs-seV0HMnpIM7UjHXIYzIy4xYKMSP6HNjryhMSsr-nQRgt5T_soQ7OsYgA4OlWuD4JM776WFp43V6sVBolMbTxzMGHXcvnbT_IHNiB1XHxxW4iI2VSs7WRDvVAekQO2jpLEAmkhaH/s1600/sm+tools+14.png" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Instagrammers share their photos with Sony.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We’re also exploring holding contests on the platform and have just recently launched our very first #SonyX contest. Although we’re only two days in, we’ve already received a lot of enthusiasm from the community and are building awareness for our new X headphones via the photo entries and the use of the hashtag.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Callan Green, senior social media specialist for Sony Electronics.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">#12: <a href="http://bufferapp.com/">Buffer</a></span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Buffer is to social media marketers like what a wand is to Harry Potter—it’s one of the coolest and most useful social media tools I’ve ever used.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">As you know, in order to benefit from social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, you have to actively be posting things—an account with no life is not going to be very interesting to those who follow it. With Buffer, you can schedule your tweets and posts ahead of time and create a consistent social media presence on your accounts.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Often, I’ll schedule a week’s worth of tweets, which will automatically drive traffic back to my site or keep my audience engaged throughout the week, without lifting a finger.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Of course, it’s best practice to follow up with those who reply and you may have specific time-sensitive tweets to share in between your scheduled posts, but anything that allows me to be more efficient in my business and ensure that I am posting stuff when I might not have the time otherwise is gold in my opinion.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHxKrbKIDLe8axYpKK4enFpWYs0S5ScOUzPPjPshlsBUU8hXBjuDp7aSLz3VIg4R1EUBYFsCYCFbt2Jwvk0SPph4JimkCXjdfcrB2jtkqMxKinv9SD-XKfEbQW6TSIELZ3FXSHQqxAVNPU/s1600/sm+tools+15.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHxKrbKIDLe8axYpKK4enFpWYs0S5ScOUzPPjPshlsBUU8hXBjuDp7aSLz3VIg4R1EUBYFsCYCFbt2Jwvk0SPph4JimkCXjdfcrB2jtkqMxKinv9SD-XKfEbQW6TSIELZ3FXSHQqxAVNPU/s1600/sm+tools+15.png" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">With Buffer App, you can schedule your tweets and posts ahead of time and create a consistent social media presence on your accounts.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In addition, the team behind Buffer is always friendly, responsive and looking to improve, which speaks highly about the tool and what kind of company created it, and where it’s headed in the future.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Pat Flynn, founder of the Smart Passive Income Blog.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">#13: <a href="http://www.socialtoaster.com/">SocialToaster</a></span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I’m excited to see some of the advancements in using social media to increase brand advocacy. SocialToaster is making great strides in combining gamification for sharing brand-related content with superfans to drive reach and engagement.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Brands like QuickenLoans, JustFab and the Baltimore Ravens are leveraging these tools to connect with fans in an authentic and mutually beneficial way to increase brand loyalty and advocacy. It’s exciting to see social media used in a way that drives and enhances brand passion.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2L4CjQa_FUhUg3jTW21T0Rj-QUQ8tDkozH5XfA15wjH7d0JT-OZ454yA_YbASPIYCI4Z37hYO35VyZgolt8jjb7gMhUB0UN3sAOej7ddILurEKRx2_K9CSn6Vk08F_hmnTTKTWT_6PbGv/s1600/sm+tools+16.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2L4CjQa_FUhUg3jTW21T0Rj-QUQ8tDkozH5XfA15wjH7d0JT-OZ454yA_YbASPIYCI4Z37hYO35VyZgolt8jjb7gMhUB0UN3sAOej7ddILurEKRx2_K9CSn6Vk08F_hmnTTKTWT_6PbGv/s1600/sm+tools+16.png" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">You can use SocialToaster to amplify your message.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Nichole Kelly, president of SME Digital, a division of Social Media Explorer and author of How to Measure Social Media: A Step-By-Step Guide to Developing and Assessing Social Media ROI.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">#14: Pop-Ups</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In the past, pop-ups were hated by many marketers, and rightfully so due to their unprofessional look and feel, plus the fact they were so disruptive to readers each time they came onto the site.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">But if you look around today, some of the most professional websites—like Social Media Examiner, Content Marketing Institute and others are using pop-ups for lead capture.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The main reason for this shift and “acceptance” is as follows:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Pop-ups today can be set on delays and scheduled. In other words, you can set a pop-up so that once a viewer closes it out, it does not reappear on their screen again for whatever amount of time you’d like—be it a week, a month or forever.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Now pop-ups look much more professional than in the past. Great visuals can be added, they can fade in and fade out depending on how long someone has been on the site, and their custom options are plentiful.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I added a pop-up feature to The Sales Lion a few months ago and the results have been exceptional. Instead of getting 15-25 signups a day for people downloading my eBook and subscribing to the newsletter, I’m now getting 25-40 a day, which is a huge increase.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">At the same time, I haven’t had any long-time readers complain that they had to see a pop-up one time, which was a fear I initially had.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjh6CJgjEB6zfznRWuxPsSgtbMRyRz6PG_ORHHLlLqQ-ZdzmPLBXBkXhhT07NUf4zJChUHSqt2y_J452Gm6s1X6uk_3d_ngI3iidWVvLBFEs2jV_7u8tI7Xgk_3StTHh9k3UUo2swav2sKg/s1600/sm+tools+17.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjh6CJgjEB6zfznRWuxPsSgtbMRyRz6PG_ORHHLlLqQ-ZdzmPLBXBkXhhT07NUf4zJChUHSqt2y_J452Gm6s1X6uk_3d_ngI3iidWVvLBFEs2jV_7u8tI7Xgk_3StTHh9k3UUo2swav2sKg/s1600/sm+tools+17.png" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The Sales Lion saw a huge increase in opt-ins from the use of this pop-up.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If you’re looking at adding a pop-up lead capture to your blog, you may want to consider Pippity, PopUp Domination or others.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Marcus Sheridan, co-owner of River Pools and Spas, founder of PoolSchool.us and founder of the popular sales/marketing blog The Sales Lion.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">#15:<a href="http://www.linkedin.com/skills/"> LinkedIn’s Skills and Expertise Page</a></span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">What if there was a social media tool that could tell you:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The best keywords to use in your social profiles?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Who the key influencers are and how to get in touch with them?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The exact companies you should be targeting with your particular skill set? What kinds of groups you should join for optimal relationship-building?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">What companies you should work for and who you know at those companies?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Of course by now you’ve probably guessed that I’m talking about LinkedIn. But the tool I’m talking about in particular is LinkedIn’s Skills and Expertise page. After entering “Facebook Marketing” in the search box there, this is what came up:</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGo5TH8sUdMSpdDZ7A2HbPKOKBQcn1Kp-vNTq_NG3dy4CWpXhFhKWA-x4CxzgEsO95TSszrd_5Pi3yhYbisjYh-OftSVyuEPSZdlW9hRGq53UWgdKkexxiMhIbV22KeLAWmipgIXWSSepn/s1600/sm+tools+18.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGo5TH8sUdMSpdDZ7A2HbPKOKBQcn1Kp-vNTq_NG3dy4CWpXhFhKWA-x4CxzgEsO95TSszrd_5Pi3yhYbisjYh-OftSVyuEPSZdlW9hRGq53UWgdKkexxiMhIbV22KeLAWmipgIXWSSepn/s1600/sm+tools+18.png" /></span></a><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The LinkedIn Skills and Expertise page helps you find experts in different fields.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Keywords: “Related Skills” show up on the left-hand side of the Skills page when you search for a skill to add to your LinkedIn profile. Think of them as relevant keywords. LinkedIn will also show you the popularity of those particular keywords (the higher the number, the more people are using that skill) Hint: Use the less popular skills too!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Influencers: LinkedIn will show you the influencers in your particular skill set by name, picture and title. It will show you how you’re connected to them. If they are a first-degree connection, send them a message. For a second-degree connection, ask for an introduction. Outside of your immediate network? You can still reach them through InMail or a shared group. What a powerful way to build your network and find mentors or advisers!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Companies, Groups and Jobs: The Skills page will also highlight the companies, jobs and groups that are recognized by LinkedIn as being relevant to your skill set. This can save you an enormous amount of time when you’re looking for companies to offer your services to, for groups to engage with to build your strategic relationships or jobs that will suit you. And of course, because this is LinkedIn, you’ll see who is already in your network and can give you access to that company, group or job!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Skills is truly a doorway into stronger connections and better business.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Viveka von Rosen, known internationally as the “LinkedIn Expert” and author of LinkedIn Marketing: An Hour a Day.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">#16: <a href="http://scoop.it/">Scoop.it</a></span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I originally thought Scoop.it was just another curation tool, a platform that allows users to gather together great content that they’ve discovered online. A Scoop.it button on the browser window can now rest besides those for List.ly and Pinterest, so that as you go around the Internet and find great content, you can simply click and share.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgY05Qsf7dRxnJ4Gx0y0BZ4DxkPP5YLRTNKtqRSia9Ha7kFRSQIKJutVdSFTcxQwuYcgV8yl6yorudhhH4evcXHtR97ytyu2PykCoIHxpicT8_6th17FqCo4QQ16gmZeD6tO1bApojM2Ked/s1600/sm+tools+19.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgY05Qsf7dRxnJ4Gx0y0BZ4DxkPP5YLRTNKtqRSia9Ha7kFRSQIKJutVdSFTcxQwuYcgV8yl6yorudhhH4evcXHtR97ytyu2PykCoIHxpicT8_6th17FqCo4QQ16gmZeD6tO1bApojM2Ked/s1600/sm+tools+19.jpg" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Scoop.it is a powerful curation tool.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">When you “scoop” a tweet, a blog post, or any other content, you’re creating a post that is added to a category, or a “topic.” You can easily create new topics that others can follow. In turn, you can follow the topics of others.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">At any point, a post can be re-shared through a number of other social platforms. People can add comments to a post, or give it a thumbs-up. Combined, these features make for a robust content curation tool that allow you to build community around topics, and to nurture relationships with influencers by sharing and discussing their content.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">When you create topics, Scoop.it suggests content for you to add. You can manage how Scoop.it recommends content based on keywords or the feeds of particular users. Those feeds can include their blogs, Twitter feeds, Twitter lists, hashtags, and Facebook.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In this way, Scoop.it becomes a powerful social discovery tool and if focused on an individual, can even act as an influencer outreach management tool.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If you’re a HootSuite user, you can now integrate your topics right into HootSuite. With or without HootSuite, though, Scoop.it can act as a central hub to discover great content, build community around that content, and nurture relationships with influencers.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Ric Dragon, CEO and co-founder of the digital marketing agency DragonSearch and author of Social Marketology.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">#17: <a href="http://getpocket.com/">Pocket</a></span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The hottest social media marketing tool I’ve discovered in the last 6 months is Pocket (formerly known as Read it Later). At first glance you may think that Pocket is simply a private online bookmarking tool, but it’s actually much more than that. Pocket is a centralized mobile content curation and social media sharing control center!</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpGhHtYxVRtQdpZ8NnfhZUYXAXEYMt3OC6mUrl1bF9De86grNTaNsUsI9kREmFjdpvMEU38i7vbipBBldKrA3p0rL-_weCdb7pSwEcRk2rMDVUKl8ojF2uFyXCgOIA1Gm9l5OsBoHVWz-q/s1600/sm+tools+20.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpGhHtYxVRtQdpZ8NnfhZUYXAXEYMt3OC6mUrl1bF9De86grNTaNsUsI9kREmFjdpvMEU38i7vbipBBldKrA3p0rL-_weCdb7pSwEcRk2rMDVUKl8ojF2uFyXCgOIA1Gm9l5OsBoHVWz-q/s1600/sm+tools+20.png" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Put articles, videos or pretty much anything into Pocket for later.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">You can save and tag content from anywhere (your smartphone, tablet or computer) to your Pocket account. You can even save content to Pocket from Google Reader and Twitter using the browser extensions.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSM1-O0J18na4vW6MpziAeHtrNzj57lhwTqwwS2E5dxTSs79SdiwKJBRyzEkgJlQSMm-d32oktQ0q5xUO0aFQNZx69Az4jmxd9Co40E2Do44jnoTVW83KBFPahm0wJOWOqx3yh15quZF6_/s1600/sm+tools+21.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSM1-O0J18na4vW6MpziAeHtrNzj57lhwTqwwS2E5dxTSs79SdiwKJBRyzEkgJlQSMm-d32oktQ0q5xUO0aFQNZx69Az4jmxd9Co40E2Do44jnoTVW83KBFPahm0wJOWOqx3yh15quZF6_/s1600/sm+tools+21.png" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Save content to Pocket from Google Reader and Twitter using the browser extensions.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The real power of Pocket, however, is that it integrates with over 300 web and mobile apps. This means that you can collect the best content you discover on any device and share it whenever and wherever you wish through Pocket.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Pocket drives my entire social and mobile content curation and social sharing system, whether I’m sitting at my desk or on the go.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6JHf_xsrwLGJehTe7nnCAjRKlOkpU6Jx5QlT7M5RyKeMw6lve_piRUJKr7taSYRpFEpgVnhynLjZQ5Jf86exRiOzan3BkHAelbm3Sl75qn5fN9ywW5SRCeD6GPn8c3qWRJj2yQS69MCcR/s1600/sm+tools+22.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6JHf_xsrwLGJehTe7nnCAjRKlOkpU6Jx5QlT7M5RyKeMw6lve_piRUJKr7taSYRpFEpgVnhynLjZQ5Jf86exRiOzan3BkHAelbm3Sl75qn5fN9ywW5SRCeD6GPn8c3qWRJj2yQS69MCcR/s1600/sm+tools+22.png" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Pocket integrates with over 300 web and mobile apps.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Here are three tips for using Pocket:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Download the Pocket app to your mobile device and/or tablet and install the bookmarklet to your web browser. If you have a Mac, be sure to install the Mac application. (You can now share content to your social networks directly from the new Pocket Mac Application.)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Save the content that you want to share with your social networks to Pocket from your computer, mobile phone or tablet. Be sure to add the tag “Share” to the particular articles you save that you later want to share with your social connections (you can add as many tags as you like).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Each day, login to Pocket on your smartphone or tablet and push the articles tagged with “Share” to Buffer (my personal favorite), or literally to almost any social network of your choice. Don’t forget to insert your own insights or comments when you share!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Note: Typically I share from Pocket to Buffer because it integrates with Bit.ly and enables me to track the links I’ve shared. Buffer also distributes my social shares at optimal times so that they can be more visible with my network connections.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Pocket is a smart content collection and distribution tool that allows you to become a master social curator!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Stephanie Sammons, founder and CEO of Wired Advisor, a digital strategy and marketing agency for financial advisers, business professionals and professional services firms.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">#18: <a href="http://crowdbooster.com/">Crowdbooster</a></span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">What if you had a system that informed you exactly when your best times to tweet are in order to reach the maximum audience, based on how your followers respond? And what if the system showed you the Klout scores of new influential followers so you can follow up? And how about spotlighting @mentions that you hadn’t responded to yet?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Look no further than Crowdbooster!</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOypI4JZRk6FRYrhdd3lK_X3X45Iwrh0jUQAICwMcRVarmXBLVd-7HjRZVr3V8edwrNCtGwGzKCLSsQlvNCp5aDF2GsdEtqOECNnzKa1uZ98xlmWsh3LdDrEJcNdPbMn90MakuuaXBCQkW/s1600/sm+tools+23.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOypI4JZRk6FRYrhdd3lK_X3X45Iwrh0jUQAICwMcRVarmXBLVd-7HjRZVr3V8edwrNCtGwGzKCLSsQlvNCp5aDF2GsdEtqOECNnzKa1uZ98xlmWsh3LdDrEJcNdPbMn90MakuuaXBCQkW/s1600/sm+tools+23.png" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Crowdbooster always shows your best times to tweet at the top of the dashboard. The times are adjusted as your followers respond.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">But this awesome tool doesn’t just analyze Twitter. You can also dig into your Facebook Fan Page metrics to analyze your top posts, number of impressions, fan growth, top fans and more. You can even schedule posts via Crowdbooster for both Twitter and Facebook.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgn8PrFfAJH66ABG3YFlaf8LVn_PqgcUGWaS6a862APOuwtIAVCZtf_k2dnmwsiNIUlqd2aQyGVKMigSogZR7WhtKxmHjRX2gwAA4cDsBrD3Gowq571-mRSpreundAxSoaOm8JlSzefu55D/s1600/sm+tools+24.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgn8PrFfAJH66ABG3YFlaf8LVn_PqgcUGWaS6a862APOuwtIAVCZtf_k2dnmwsiNIUlqd2aQyGVKMigSogZR7WhtKxmHjRX2gwAA4cDsBrD3Gowq571-mRSpreundAxSoaOm8JlSzefu55D/s1600/sm+tools+24.png" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Crowdbooster displays colorful "bubbles" showing how well your tweets (and Facebook posts) are doing. Hover over any bubble for more information as shown in the black box.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">You get one Twitter account and one Facebook Page for free. Upgrade levels include up to 10 or 30 total social accounts (currently only Twitter and Facebook Pages) for a reasonable fee. Give it a try and see what you think.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhi5sBiwfsVQPzWTBGSsPzl-jQt-4bju5voqSeedLj2rLmNHIldF3J4zX2ujinOSPCt091kiRMJn7Hz-Ay9X7H-1Aw1Fw9VD3ngdD7yj7Axk-9h87G22bDI9WsddDKs-S1F3pMzsrlDwBKU/s1600/sm+tools+25.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhi5sBiwfsVQPzWTBGSsPzl-jQt-4bju5voqSeedLj2rLmNHIldF3J4zX2ujinOSPCt091kiRMJn7Hz-Ay9X7H-1Aw1Fw9VD3ngdD7yj7Axk-9h87G22bDI9WsddDKs-S1F3pMzsrlDwBKU/s1600/sm+tools+25.png" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">See at-a-glance metrics for follower growth, influential followers, retweets and more.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The nice thing about Crowdbooster is the team is super helpful, friendly and approachable… and they’re always iterating, so stay tuned for even more awesome features in the pipeline!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Mari Smith, leading social media strategist and premier Facebook marketing expert. Co-author of Facebook Marketing: An Hour a Day and author of The New Relationship Marketing.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">#19: <a href="http://www.lithium.com/">Lithium</a></span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We use Lithium for our new community platform. Its phenomenal capabilities allow for a lean team to rally users, influencers and our own associates to participate. From an organic growing knowledge base through the ability to reward frequent contribution, it is state of the art with WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) functionality and a truly object-oriented environment that makes it easy for a layman to customize.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuLV2gAMxPcZa9eJDjhYpEkI3o43zhmgTey7AQqU1mXA31600bzv7cY44iba0WSWx_NxkCUL7BjxQ5AD-GdE_Z4OFIaL6aIwbrUOOwNkd5qYJHq6S_-2KzWkEKoQ3am9rGUKb_ANR4MB86/s1600/sm+tools+26.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuLV2gAMxPcZa9eJDjhYpEkI3o43zhmgTey7AQqU1mXA31600bzv7cY44iba0WSWx_NxkCUL7BjxQ5AD-GdE_Z4OFIaL6aIwbrUOOwNkd5qYJHq6S_-2KzWkEKoQ3am9rGUKb_ANR4MB86/s1600/sm+tools+26.png" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Lithium helps companies unlock the passions of their customers to build brand advocacy, drive sales, reduce service costs and accelerate innovation.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Lithium also has the capability to do private moderation areas so we can all learn what FAQs need answers, solution creation both by us and by users to populate the knowledge base with good content and the ability to co-create content with guest bloggers.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Kat Smith, director of social media and commerce at Petco.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">#20: <a href="http://tapbots.com/software/tweetbot/">Tweetbot</a></span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Tweetbot is a Twitter app that allows you to do everything you can do on any other Twitter app with an extra killer feature: the ability to filter out tweets.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4_yMJ8Eezi7O-1YVwaITxjqGPn5PWoI6PutfwYLJZIyZa_JKC5XrvEV9FNxrKuMywvhoStzTzmqc_bf-ES6ceI0VjaN7YXhEM2kGLrnY3HoIIpgzxwdcXUoycUvM4ZsNPKYs_85JdHMFO/s1600/sm+tools+27.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4_yMJ8Eezi7O-1YVwaITxjqGPn5PWoI6PutfwYLJZIyZa_JKC5XrvEV9FNxrKuMywvhoStzTzmqc_bf-ES6ceI0VjaN7YXhEM2kGLrnY3HoIIpgzxwdcXUoycUvM4ZsNPKYs_85JdHMFO/s1600/sm+tools+27.png" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Tweetbot allows you to filter out tweets.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This app allows you to focus on the tweets that matter in your Twitter stream. It’s available at the Apple App Store.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Michael Stelzner, founder and CEO of Social Media Examiner.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">#21: <a href="http://postacumen.com/">PostAcumen</a></span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Facebook is one of our brand’s primary social channels. Our goal with that channel is to deliver content that begs to be engaged with. We’ve had tools to measure how well our own content performs, but we also wanted to know how well we performed relative to the competition.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Thanks to a brand-new tool called PostAcumen, developed by the same folks who made EdgeRank, we’re now able to perform extensive competitive analysis on Facebook posts. We can see how our content resonates with our fans and how those metrics stack up against our competitors for Likes, Comments, Shares, etc.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEDCG76oxkMm1QoHHxIzKZB36w2TUAsWO0NaVJVBhIbVvedWyP5vsPxhQKDa6meEW-Q1lRrFsL6e2U1Jex5h6ZVIByk6gWXirMjmSRVtJctxEN_WTAl3T9BICx_7isX7W32pmA-M7eqkvC/s1600/sm+tools+28.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEDCG76oxkMm1QoHHxIzKZB36w2TUAsWO0NaVJVBhIbVvedWyP5vsPxhQKDa6meEW-Q1lRrFsL6e2U1Jex5h6ZVIByk6gWXirMjmSRVtJctxEN_WTAl3T9BICx_7isX7W32pmA-M7eqkvC/s1600/sm+tools+28.png" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">With PostAcumen you can see how your brand compares against direct competitors, or even industry leaders.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">There is a nominal cost for the service, but so far it’s provided great insights, is easy to use and understand and helps us get better at delivering engaging content to fans.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Liz Phillips, social media manager at TaylorMade-Adidas Golf, where she manages social media for TaylorMade, Adidas Golf, and Ashworth brands.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">#22: Facebook Pages Manager App</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">My favorite social media tool is the Facebook Pages Manager App. This tool allows me to manage multiple pages while on the go. Not only can I post, comment and engage with my fans on multiple pages, but this app does so much more. I’m also able to create Facebook Offers directly from the app, which allows me to promote my programs and services anytime, anywhere.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In addition, I can instantly get a greater reach for my most important posts by buying Promoted Posts on-the-go directly from my mobile phone.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCrPelRqB-MeXZtUJ5LIw1AiwhqmqSPLbbyK1c2YSpef2u26UT_xbycfDyKHK4d_RVkzAl0Jjg5ONUyA59324e4E3dHsh8PB9q9KxRUTP3buOFuyyMf6aGd4wxmmNvjsWBIbGZdzvyii0m/s1600/sm+tools+29.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCrPelRqB-MeXZtUJ5LIw1AiwhqmqSPLbbyK1c2YSpef2u26UT_xbycfDyKHK4d_RVkzAl0Jjg5ONUyA59324e4E3dHsh8PB9q9KxRUTP3buOFuyyMf6aGd4wxmmNvjsWBIbGZdzvyii0m/s1600/sm+tools+29.png" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This is what it looks like to buy Promoted Posts via a mobile phone using the Facebook Pages Manager app.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">With these features, I can make real-time decisions for my pages based on my fans activity and my current marketing goals. If you’re like me and often on the move, this app is one you don’t want to go without!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Amy Porterfield, co-author of Facebook Marketing All-in-One for Dummies and a social media strategist.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">#23: <a href="http://www.vocus.com/content/index.asp">Vocus</a></span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">One of my favorite social media tools is Vocus. Vocus is a suite that helps manage your social media profiles, monitor what is happening in real time and other key functions.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlssJpdj73aRke4_B2klOvjttHE7vd7MD-N4p4Iq256Bq0CGsS6cVPn4oK2EOxdlN7YNVUvBny1QLjMakQ8mWLM9Ym6HTEKG65dWfMzhD8MZa7mPuA7u7ujS0HnAPBiVyM5HRwSzKK1eWk/s1600/sm+tools+30.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlssJpdj73aRke4_B2klOvjttHE7vd7MD-N4p4Iq256Bq0CGsS6cVPn4oK2EOxdlN7YNVUvBny1QLjMakQ8mWLM9Ym6HTEKG65dWfMzhD8MZa7mPuA7u7ujS0HnAPBiVyM5HRwSzKK1eWk/s1600/sm+tools+30.jpg" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">One of the key elements that makes it different than other services is that it incorporates the very popular Help A Reporter Out (HARO) website. HARO is a site where reporters can post their requests for information and interviews anonymously, and where you can respond. If it’s a good fit, the reporter contacts you. It’s a great way to get additional free PR. Combined with the rest of Vocus’s platform capabilities, this provides a powerful one-two punch.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Michael Crosson, founder and publisher of SocialMediopolis.com and founder of the fourth-largest LinkedIn group, “The Social Media Marketing Group.”</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">#24: <a href="http://quozio.com/">Quozio</a></span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Can’t find an image to pin on Pinterest? No problem! I recently came across a simple, slick tool that allows you to take some text, like an inspirational quote or a particularly helpful blurb from a blog post, and turn it into a beautiful, pinnable image. The tool is called Quozio.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">You can use Quozio to create cool quotation pins for Pinterest, but it also solves a common problem.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">When you find a great article, or blog post, you want to pin it to one of your pinboards. But sometimes when you use your Pin It bookmarklet to try to pin it, the bookmarklet can’t find a pinnable image on the page. This is where Quozio can come to the rescue.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">All you need to do is highlight a snippet of text from the blog post you want to pin, copy it, then use Quozio to create a pinnable image from that text. You can pin your new image directly from the Quozio interface.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">To make sure your new Quozio pin links back to the original blog post you want to share, you just need to edit your pin after you’ve posted it. You can click on the “edit” button in the corner of any of your pins to edit that pin’s settings and add the URL of the original blog post.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/TdRf0OlH0Gs?feature=player_embedded" width="640"></iframe>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">When editing your pin, make sure you add the URL of the original blog post.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Then just click on “Save Pin” and viola! You’ve got a beautiful pin that links back to an awesome blog post.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><iframe bordercolor="#000000" frameborder="0" height="320" hspace="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://ad.doubleclick.net/adi/N7433.148119.BLOGGEREN/B6676345.704;sz=320x320;ord=[timestamp]?;lid=41000613802463762;pid=UBM9781118215524;usg=AFHzDLvfVBBIik0f9SVvkSj0yJEyhSclbg;adurl=http%253A%252F%252Fwww.cdsbooksdvds.com%252Fproduct.jhtm%253Fsku%253DUBM9781118215524;pubid=573420;imgsrc=http%3A%2F%2Fc379334.r34.cf1.rackcdn.com%2F9781118215524.jpg;width=255;height=320" vspace="0" width="320"></iframe><iframe bordercolor="#000000" frameborder="0" height="320" hspace="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://ad.doubleclick.net/adi/N7433.148119.BLOGGEREN/B6676345.705;sz=320x320;ord=[timestamp]?;lid=41000613802463762;pid=UBM9781615641598;usg=AFHzDLu_5EvABze86l04hv5KX0KzplG8mA;adurl=http%253A%252F%252Fwww.cdsbooksdvds.com%252Fproduct.jhtm%253Fsku%253DUBM9781615641598;pubid=573420;imgsrc=http%3A%2F%2Fc375396.r96.cf1.rackcdn.com%2F9781615641598.jpg;width=258;height=320" vspace="0" width="320"></iframe><br /></span>Tiffanyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05079264005458258819noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8854438359204380427.post-15915659196017087742012-11-18T11:59:00.000-06:002012-11-18T11:59:04.460-06:00Free FTP Services<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Don't know about FTP? It's a service/site that stores files available for download or upload with a password. If you often need to share files with clients or have clients send files to you that are too large for email, you need an FTP site.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Here are a roundup of some from <a href="http://www.techrepublic.com/photos/five-free-ftp-clients/6393097?tag=nl.e101&s_cid=e101">TechRepublic</a>:</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDYXU3e-lfkKs4NtPNxItVRDDi7Lx5WgBDFyH4gO37Y-Y29aSps4wQWGGGd9H-QGda40KO22nRaf4xPpwAM0_Yj4YkGUDcbas0LNqsFcEeIqS7ftr3QISBKBC6lQLISLS2ExAOECdjAcWv/s1600/filezilla.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDYXU3e-lfkKs4NtPNxItVRDDi7Lx5WgBDFyH4gO37Y-Y29aSps4wQWGGGd9H-QGda40KO22nRaf4xPpwAM0_Yj4YkGUDcbas0LNqsFcEeIqS7ftr3QISBKBC6lQLISLS2ExAOECdjAcWv/s1600/filezilla.jpg" /></span></a></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">1. File Zilla</span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">FileZilla is a cross platform client (Windows, Linux, *BSD, Mac OS X, and more) that offers tons of features, such as support for FTP, FTP over SSL/TLS (FTPS), and SSH File Transfer Protocol (SFTP).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It supports resume and files over 4GB. It has a site manager and transfer queue, a powerful filtering system, an easy to use networking configuring wizard, and much more. Filezilla is GPL and works seamlessly with FileZill Server.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLtLj1fgvzO5fvAQUmnlQAuAEB9Z5a_OmSeSH0lGPJ9wKizQzG7eNC1G81IqsNaC7I458Zn8zrfaRL7hW2MeWHF3SBSSTChnskL_rhkGOEoc6xL20kcukzubp39sxMy2jjIl__xMgZS1yx/s1600/gftp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLtLj1fgvzO5fvAQUmnlQAuAEB9Z5a_OmSeSH0lGPJ9wKizQzG7eNC1G81IqsNaC7I458Zn8zrfaRL7hW2MeWHF3SBSSTChnskL_rhkGOEoc6xL20kcukzubp39sxMy2jjIl__xMgZS1yx/s1600/gftp.jpg" /></span></a></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">2. gFTP</span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">gFTP hasn't been in development for a while, but still stands as a solid FTP solution for the Linux desktop. gFTP features FTP, FTPS (control connection only), HTTP, HTTPS, SSH, and FSP protocols. It also features FTP and HTTP proxy server support, and bookmarks tools. It supports FXP file transfer, UNIX, EPLF, Novell, MacOS, VMS, MVS, and NT (DOS) style directory listings.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Though the development of gFTP seems to have stopped (latest stable release in 2008), the software still works on the latest releases of nearly every distribution (tested on Ubuntu 12.10 to make sure).</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsBGR9blc8WogJDcHZJadc05onEMVSkx6ZxNznrnk7wU6mNMH-P_Jpw_k4RZX0BSrUn0JOeq82SvTNjZsUIdvxDZUISeQpkIN6dQrjw1rCI7HMBxpkiTFsngVY8fVPcDS-179JEqySx0yi/s1600/free+ftp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsBGR9blc8WogJDcHZJadc05onEMVSkx6ZxNznrnk7wU6mNMH-P_Jpw_k4RZX0BSrUn0JOeq82SvTNjZsUIdvxDZUISeQpkIN6dQrjw1rCI7HMBxpkiTFsngVY8fVPcDS-179JEqySx0yi/s1600/free+ftp.jpg" /></span></a></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">3. Free FTP</span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Free FTP is all about simplicity. From the interface to the features, with Free FTP you will be transferring files quickly and easily. Features include multiple server profiles, the ability to transfer files in binary, ASCII, or auto mode.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Free FTP includes drag and drop support and an easy to use and unique bookmarks tool. Free FTP works with Windows XP, Vista, 7, and 8. With the bookmarks tool you can not only save server information but local information - so transferring files from a specific directory to a specific server is as simple as selecting a bookmark and then dragging and dropping the files to be transferred.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhm-c3zvTxo_qYHXYM5cpmznDL2woevWyDJolUiLxB1SV8QJwWV4OSpdpRlU1hbC5FvMW93d7t_1OfvDbi4c9YWDBgaQoYFw5uWm4oo604xHaP0ONKV2IiFfdsfwURHJOVa0dFAMtxdLTdE/s1600/bareftp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhm-c3zvTxo_qYHXYM5cpmznDL2woevWyDJolUiLxB1SV8QJwWV4OSpdpRlU1hbC5FvMW93d7t_1OfvDbi4c9YWDBgaQoYFw5uWm4oo604xHaP0ONKV2IiFfdsfwURHJOVa0dFAMtxdLTdE/s1600/bareftp.jpg" /></span></a></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">4. BareFTP</span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">BareFTP is another Linux client that makes use of the Mono framework on the GNOME desktop environment. BareFTP focuses on simplicity and supports transfers with the following protocols: FTP, FTP over SSL/TLS (FTPS), and SSH File Transfer Protocol (SFTP). Any level of user would be immediately at home with the BareFTP interface.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Unlike gFTP, BareFTP is still in development (though the developer has been on a temporary hiatus due to other projects). Because of the issues with Mono, BareFTP is being ported into a strict Python port.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-nPtkklgrE4UlEdQNjJHmiZCdkM_x8IFyVjPfc1N7UTFPQcDttuXDUEUm_CcaeWPEG7nANBOQQTcqTQ9yIZKgfokqWMkzb9Mc7G5OwEOuydR6MnSJhm3GMePXBkGZUH21qXrK4Hj2cW5c/s1600/fire+ftp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-nPtkklgrE4UlEdQNjJHmiZCdkM_x8IFyVjPfc1N7UTFPQcDttuXDUEUm_CcaeWPEG7nANBOQQTcqTQ9yIZKgfokqWMkzb9Mc7G5OwEOuydR6MnSJhm3GMePXBkGZUH21qXrK4Hj2cW5c/s1600/fire+ftp.jpg" /></span></a></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">5. FireFTP</span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">FireFTP is a unique FTP solution in that it is an addon for the Firefox browser. Because of this, it not only works across platforms, it also already works within a familiar environment.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">FireFTP features: SSL/TLS/SFTP support, directory comparison, and support for nearly all encoding. It also features a search and filter system, integrity checks, drag and drop, remote editing, file hashing, proxy support, FXP support, timestamp synchronization, CHMOD and recursive CHMOD changes, and much more.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Bottom line</span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">FTP isn't going away anytime soon and for anyone looking for a solid FTP client, here are five free tools that should meet nearly any need. Whether you're looking for a simple tool or one with plenty of features - you'll find what you're looking for here.</span><br />
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Tiffanyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05079264005458258819noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8854438359204380427.post-88556117729973644962012-11-07T16:32:00.003-06:002012-11-07T16:32:44.104-06:00Free Fall & Winter Vectors<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<a href="http://www.vecteezy.com/patterns/37143-autumn-vector-pattern-"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Autumn Vector Pattern</span></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEho5WocQROu2dGeEzByDq_mm_YOHcyA9VHK23nsbaaab7UbRUZoKkpuKcIM9gC5_ngxIzN_Ea395pqWir-tvedqD-N-SfLJ_YEakUuzbK14-elHGoUDXGyWMBRtDu0SnPiKL7QsJCNHIaWM/s1600/autumn.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEho5WocQROu2dGeEzByDq_mm_YOHcyA9VHK23nsbaaab7UbRUZoKkpuKcIM9gC5_ngxIzN_Ea395pqWir-tvedqD-N-SfLJ_YEakUuzbK14-elHGoUDXGyWMBRtDu0SnPiKL7QsJCNHIaWM/s1600/autumn.jpg" /></span></a></div>
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<a href="http://www.vecteezy.com/backgrounds-wallpaper/51932-fall-leaves-vector-"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Fall Leaves Vector</span></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimGY7d3oIguJtrgHk14oon4Lrjlbi_WU_qd86ClQ1r-DFbifgV2fB1YMTeWXTWLWhSjk7Z3EGTowN9ZExvLKb0f-NpBgtHaHAmsrfeFbEQXFC4ZoH91dqQKO_eqEJ0in5ezF4M078LiDnk/s1600/vector.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimGY7d3oIguJtrgHk14oon4Lrjlbi_WU_qd86ClQ1r-DFbifgV2fB1YMTeWXTWLWhSjk7Z3EGTowN9ZExvLKb0f-NpBgtHaHAmsrfeFbEQXFC4ZoH91dqQKO_eqEJ0in5ezF4M078LiDnk/s1600/vector.jpg" /></span></a></div>
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<a href="http://www.vecteezy.com/ornaments/51858-floral-vector-art-design-elements"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Floral Vector Art Design Elements</span></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1PLoTXf3qN8P_wt2q16uzwCuNG6HwEwVVVjYbnmrI3vyvabrEYZV4xgpPA6ctvuNyFR4UKSBPxf58B00Iw2OqWdIOnxpHsI-1tObpgxzkh1C_0okcz0CNw7mAaWnDjI6KuFAawKWBlEq6/s1600/floral-art-design-elements.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1PLoTXf3qN8P_wt2q16uzwCuNG6HwEwVVVjYbnmrI3vyvabrEYZV4xgpPA6ctvuNyFR4UKSBPxf58B00Iw2OqWdIOnxpHsI-1tObpgxzkh1C_0okcz0CNw7mAaWnDjI6KuFAawKWBlEq6/s1600/floral-art-design-elements.jpg" /></span></a></div>
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<a href="http://www.allvectors.com/pattern-pack/"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Pattern Pack</span></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmxM8HQxmeIvTndBAlcnXSzVh1j4ZOhn1Q1CsEVVPZwAYkX4OUKEB0g-VgU5yuzUKdXOGhTT3YKi87322rxXeFN9qyLvBW3d7FyhnLbdv9PvZi_yuZlLfJAH9GEIsLntZlDzQ5wTBXdGNW/s1600/pattern-pack.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmxM8HQxmeIvTndBAlcnXSzVh1j4ZOhn1Q1CsEVVPZwAYkX4OUKEB0g-VgU5yuzUKdXOGhTT3YKi87322rxXeFN9qyLvBW3d7FyhnLbdv9PvZi_yuZlLfJAH9GEIsLntZlDzQ5wTBXdGNW/s320/pattern-pack.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<a href="http://www.allvectors.com/brown-autumn-tree/"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Brown Autumn Tree</span></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjI60DjqxN9JPBl4IV6Xv4yYgWT34EXIfl1dWArp6LhhyZY23FfgcQ89IS2MlrQEWgNd20LOQGUid6kPZQ1JX6E7waZwmJLjwrZlhrLWZaBcp6Y2ju0bF0z_mii19owi6kekkhoBh5XI7wK/s1600/brown-autumn-tree.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjI60DjqxN9JPBl4IV6Xv4yYgWT34EXIfl1dWArp6LhhyZY23FfgcQ89IS2MlrQEWgNd20LOQGUid6kPZQ1JX6E7waZwmJLjwrZlhrLWZaBcp6Y2ju0bF0z_mii19owi6kekkhoBh5XI7wK/s320/brown-autumn-tree.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<a href="http://vector4free.com/vectors/id/866"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Doodle Christmas Tree</span></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9jZ4sThy79kO71Gy6oRHW8ju8jr4wacS3hl93_3KF3of94mhh_dMcMTnTsXOjjb1gbXZypYU_okVWd5tRTIrhILLTkd3CdqJ1neCuAHrKxJIWp635q_6h7AYsefWs5iZvdKg4klmcd_X7/s1600/free-vector-doodle-christmas-tree.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9jZ4sThy79kO71Gy6oRHW8ju8jr4wacS3hl93_3KF3of94mhh_dMcMTnTsXOjjb1gbXZypYU_okVWd5tRTIrhILLTkd3CdqJ1neCuAHrKxJIWp635q_6h7AYsefWs5iZvdKg4klmcd_X7/s320/free-vector-doodle-christmas-tree.jpg" width="250" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<a href="http://www.freevectors.net/details/Christmas+Vector+Illustration3"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Christmas Vector Illustration</span></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2DysLZUjKSi-BBEa2b2yEEVKwhaXjcQ_FQ2bj44GGgouy36U1eVWZOsQxCLuCxmSclvH5Xop6Ck59SKK3RuYtqMiNegtL5nevf425mkhvCESutp3uaDqEcYvkQ95VVrlu8CrcHnGYK6Db/s1600/ChristmasVectorIllustration3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2DysLZUjKSi-BBEa2b2yEEVKwhaXjcQ_FQ2bj44GGgouy36U1eVWZOsQxCLuCxmSclvH5Xop6Ck59SKK3RuYtqMiNegtL5nevf425mkhvCESutp3uaDqEcYvkQ95VVrlu8CrcHnGYK6Db/s1600/ChristmasVectorIllustration3.jpg" /></span></a></div>
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<a href="http://qvectors.net/vector-illustration/holiday-ribbon-vector/"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Holiday Ribbon</span></a></div>
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<a href="http://qvectors.net/vector-illustration/gift-presents-vector/"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Gift Presents</span></a></div>
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<a href="http://www.freevector.com/xmas-decoration/"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Xmas Decoration</span></a></div>
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<a href="http://www.freevector.com/silent-night-vector/"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Silent Night Vector</span></a></div>
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<a href="http://www.freevector.com/winter-snow-design/"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Winter Snow Design</span></a></div>
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Tiffanyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05079264005458258819noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8854438359204380427.post-41311854880037845542012-11-04T21:22:00.001-06:002012-11-04T21:22:07.581-06:005 Ways Instagram Can Boost Your Marketing Plan<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">There are so many ways to market your business through social media that it is hard to keep up with it all. The key is to research the demographics of the site to determine what fits your target audience best. Then formulate a marketing plan for the most important sites. In some instances you can connect your pages to duplicate posts from one site to another. The point is don't spend a little time on 15 different social sites, spend more time on fewer sites with a calculated plan.</span><br />
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<b><a href="http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/224799"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">5 Ways Instagram Can Boost Your Marketing Plan</span></a></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">BY KIM LACHANCE SHANDROW | October 29, 2012</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">How can you use Instagram to take your marketing to the next level? Start with these five tips:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>1. Promote your goods and services.</b> Post creative snapshots of your company’s products and services and avoid boring stock photos, infographics or text-heavy images.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Show some flair when you tell your followers -- potential clients, customers and business partners -- who you are and what you do. Starbucks (@Starbucks) does this right. The coffee powerhouse posts casual, quirky close-ups of Frappuccinos, cake pops and other products for its 858,000-plus Instagram followers daily, as well as images of baristas frothing milk and sampling pumpkin spice lattes.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">To avoid brand burnout, don’t show photos of your products more than three to four times a day. And avoid posting the same picture twice. Repeat photos are generally a turn-off in the Instagram community, which thrives on fresh, new imagery.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>2. Host photo contests.</b> Photo contests can be a fun, free way to attract, interact with and convert potential customers. Ask your Instagram followers to submit personal photos of your products and then post the best ones on your online store.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">To keep followers coming back day after day, launch a photo-of-the-day campaign. Change it up and invite your followers to submit captions for your photos or answer trivia questions about your snapshots. Pick daily or weekly winners and reward them with prizes.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Make Instagram photo contests light and fun, but keep your eye on the marketing prize, as Levi's (@Levis) recently did with its #iamlevis Instagram photo competition. In a bid to discover its next star model and reach a wider audience, the company asked fans across the globe to post Instagram photos of themselves wearing their favorite Levi's clothing. During the contest, people shared more than 3,513 Instagram photo entries. Each follower’s image was a reinforcement of Levi's brand, basically a free ad, and the winner took center stage in Levi’s 2012 "Go Forth" ad campaign.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>3. Create images that feature promotional codes.</b> Promoting exclusive discount and coupon codes for new products and services within a single Instagram photo is a fast, low-cost way to attract fans and boost sales. British clothing retailer Topshop (@topshop), which boasts more than 218,000 Instagram followers, uses Twitter and Facebook to drive consumers to Instagram images that reveal "secret" discount codes and sneak peeks at new store locations.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Don't forget to hashtag your special-offer photos with #promocode. Hashtags on Instagram work exactly as they do on Twitter. They’re an effective way to attract and track deal seekers.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>4. Go behind-the-scenes.</b> Show your customers what happens at your company by posting candid snapshots of employees collaborating in their cubicles or kicking back in the break room. Post pictures snapped at company parties, charity dinners, product launches and industry events, too. Such behind-the-scenes glimpses help personalize your company and can create a sense of camaraderie and trust with your followers, making them more likely to do business with you.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Zappos (@Zappos), a relative latecomer to Instagram, is already a standout at posting brand-reinforcing, behind-the-scenes pictures. The online retailer predictably posts many pictures of shoes, but its designers mix up the feed a few times a day with colorful images of models on a fashion shoot or workers’ cubicles decked out with fake mustaches and cute family and pet photos.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>5. Make your followers stars.</b> Choose a follower of the day and promote him or her with an @mention. Similar to Facebook and Twitter, an @mention is how Instagram users tag each other in comments. This can fire up powerful word-of-mouth promotion and deliver more followers and potential customers. Many people -- Instagram photo buffs included -- like to be personally recognized by companies for their loyalty, and they're more than happy to spread the word about their special status within their Instagram network.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">For example, Sharpie (@Sharpie) showcases Instagram images posted by followers who draw impressive doodles and sketches using, of course, Sharpie markers and pens. The result? Sharpie has attracted nearly 39,000 Instagram followers so far.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><iframe bordercolor="#000000" frameborder="0" height="320" hspace="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://ad.doubleclick.net/adi/N7433.148119.BLOGGEREN/B6676345.584;sz=320x320;ord=[timestamp]?;lid=41000613802463762;pid=UBM9781118215524;usg=AFHzDLvfVBBIik0f9SVvkSj0yJEyhSclbg;adurl=http%253A%252F%252Fwww.cdsbooksdvds.com%252Fproduct.jhtm%253Fsku%253DUBM9781118215524;pubid=573420;imgsrc=http%3A%2F%2Fc379334.r34.cf1.rackcdn.com%2F9781118215524.jpg;width=255;height=320" vspace="0" width="320"></iframe><iframe bordercolor="#000000" frameborder="0" height="320" hspace="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://ad.doubleclick.net/adi/N7433.148119.BLOGGEREN/B6676345.585;sz=320x320;ord=[timestamp]?;lid=41000000028007181;pid=UBM9780749457587;usg=AFHzDLvkXpiyLL6adt-pifJaETqAQU2eaw;adurl=http%253A%252F%252Fwww.cdsbooksdvds.com%252Fproduct.jhtm%253Fsku%253DUBM9780749457587;pubid=573420;imgsrc=http%3A%2F%2Fc381405.r5.cf1.rackcdn.com%2F9780749457587.jpg;width=208;height=320" vspace="0" width="320"></iframe><br /></span>
Tiffanyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05079264005458258819noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8854438359204380427.post-70569687409875801972012-11-04T11:28:00.002-06:002012-11-04T11:28:22.470-06:00How to Attract Customers With Pinterest<br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/pinfluence-book-review/">How to Attract Customers With Pinterest</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">By Patricia Redsicker</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Published October 31, 2012</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">#1: Create Your Ideal Client Profile</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The best way to create a detailed and useful buyer persona profile on Pinterest is to connect directly with the source. If you have access to some of your favorite clients, why not interview them and find out what problems keep them up at night?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Oreck, a maker of vacuum cleaners, air purifiers and other small appliances, focuses on women as their ideal clients. They created a profile called ‘Suzy Homemaker’ and filled it in with details about where Suzy lives, whether she has kids or pets and what her hobbies are.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhB8ieyY_7zpgVwacfcPIg-vkSG1Hk9uyuHoejJOfEeYxNUZmCvGISrIxGhmtN9kPfZcC2yLwfSxIQ1V7oWPaF2HnGKt0kISBRR9StKB5ZbmTXDT3Rwz8_ufiyuQ1Uy39TQ8sORQT7PqVYH/s1600/pr-mindset-istock-image-15618746.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhB8ieyY_7zpgVwacfcPIg-vkSG1Hk9uyuHoejJOfEeYxNUZmCvGISrIxGhmtN9kPfZcC2yLwfSxIQ1V7oWPaF2HnGKt0kISBRR9StKB5ZbmTXDT3Rwz8_ufiyuQ1Uy39TQ8sORQT7PqVYH/s320/pr-mindset-istock-image-15618746.jpg" width="204" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Understand the mindset of your ideal client and develop a matching profile that fits his or her needs. Image source: iStockPhoto.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This exercise may seem silly, but don’t underestimate it. The more you know about the customers you’re trying to reach on Pinterest, the more successful you’ll be at connecting with them using images that will interest them.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">#2: Name Your Boards (There’s a right and wrong way to do this!)</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It’s likely that your instinct when you first get started with Pinterest (like so many other beginners) will be to create broadly themed boards that allow you to pin lots of images under a single topic; e.g., “Cruises.”</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">However, you must resist the urge to do this. You want your boards to be very specific yet memorable, so opt for a name such as “Fun Family Caribbean Cruises.”</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The difference may seem subtle, but as many marketers in that category know, it’s a critical one. Also be sure that your board names are short, snappy and to the point.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">#3: Add Compelling Descriptions</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It’s easy to pin interesting pictures on your pinboards, but descriptions are just as important. Even though Pinterest gives you 500 characters to use in your description field, use only what you need to properly describe your image and give your followers some context.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3HlM1vnltZFB2gMmMZZQXTVl86c4gPaoCKk4lX6Ze0RJvpDUCOgyJ4Tu-OhLnFigSeY6Qdgiwr5fiNphRm9MJYenAHHAKe4ygq4CRHI7QUZ84-S1HrRHk44DF7Dubtypfm8fbhsV7zBBA/s1600/pr-key-words-istock-14152609.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="206" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3HlM1vnltZFB2gMmMZZQXTVl86c4gPaoCKk4lX6Ze0RJvpDUCOgyJ4Tu-OhLnFigSeY6Qdgiwr5fiNphRm9MJYenAHHAKe4ygq4CRHI7QUZ84-S1HrRHk44DF7Dubtypfm8fbhsV7zBBA/s320/pr-key-words-istock-14152609.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Use keyword-rich descriptions to help customers find the content they're looking for. Image source: iStockPhoto.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Also remember to use keyword-rich descriptions so that people can easily find the images they’re looking for when they search. For example, instead of saying, “Our lovely spring bouquet,” use specific words such as “Our lovely spring bouquet of white hydrangea and pink roses.”</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">#4: Get More Pinterest Followers</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The quality of your Pinterest audience matters a great deal more than the quantity. However, you have to start somewhere and the way to build your list of followers is to:</span><br />
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<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Follow other pinners</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Pin consistently</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Actively seek out (and pin) new and interesting content</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Link your Pinterest profile with your other social networks (Facebook and Twitter)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Run contests</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Another very unique idea that Beth introduces in the book is to host a pin chat. Career coach Sean Cook hosted a unique online event that merged his Pinterest and Twitter worlds; he called it a “pin chat.” It was part of a regular Twitter chat for his higher-education job seekers.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Participants tweeted links and pins that features quotes, videos and other inspirational material for people seeking positions in higher ed (using a preassigned hashtag).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Sean then repinned those items to one of his Pinterest boards. The pin chat drew attention to the cool stuff he was doing to inspire his clients using Pinterest and provided a unique avenue for community-building that got people talking about him!</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">#5: Use Pinterest as Part of Your Sales Cycle</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Business coach Tommi Wolfe, president of The Startup Expert, recommends that you keep a list of current professional contacts as well as potential clients with whom you would like to connect. Why not keep this list on Pinterest?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">You could call it “People I’d love to know” and have those pins link to either that person’s Pinterest account or to his or her main website.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Another idea is to pin pictures of your clients and then paste their testimonials in the pin’s description. People love seeing faces with testimonials because it seems more credible and friendly. This is also an effective technique for sharing social proof about how awesome your brand is.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">#6: For Non-Visual Brands</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If you’re a B2B brand or in the service industry, Pinterest still holds enormous potential for you because you’re not limited to showcasing product pictures only.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Consider Mashable, a leading source of news, information and resources for the connected generation.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Currently they have 35 boards on Pinterest, 1,077 pins and almost 419,000 followers. Their most popular boards include:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Tech and Gadgets—obviously these are not Mashable products. They are cleverly curated images of interesting gadgets that are used in the tech industry (e.g., washable keyboards, tablets and typewriters, interesting apps and even imaginary futuristic gadgets).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Mashable's Tech & Gadgets board curates original and other users' images of cool devices.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Mashable photo challenge—each week they ask their readers to submit photos based on a particular prompt and these are then pinned on Pinterest. This is an easy idea that you too could piggyback off of.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Remember that all companies (whether B2C or B2B) are based on the same idea: people selling to other people.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So even if you’re selling to other companies, you can still have a successful presence on Pinterest as long as you’re creative and are able to offer a visually interesting experience.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Personal Impression</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Pinfluence is an excellent book that covers a lot of ground and offers the kind of advice that you would pay good money for.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">One of the most powerful ideas in the book is that Pinterest can (and should) be used by all types of brands, regardless of whether they’re traditionally regarded as visual brands.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Beth also has the advantage of writing the first book ever on Pinterest marketing, which means that many of her ideas are original and insightful.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">All brands, whether they have little or much experience on Pinterest, will find Pinfluence to be very educational and enlightening.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The one minor weakness that I found in the book is the impression it creates that Pinterest marketing is tedious and filled with numerous tasks. I fear that someone who has never used Pinterest might read this book and think, “Forget it, this is too much work!”</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Having said that, Beth has done a fantastic job in giving business owners both the strategic and tactical details of Pinterest marketing.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><iframe bordercolor="#000000" frameborder="0" height="320" hspace="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://ad.doubleclick.net/adi/N7433.148119.BLOGGEREN/B6676345.583;sz=320x320;ord=[timestamp]?;lid=41000000028007181;pid=UBM9781118383155;usg=AFHzDLtdxcwZFirgcjnGVI6K3Rs1NAeNPQ;adurl=http%253A%252F%252Fwww.cdsbooksdvds.com%252Fproduct.jhtm%253Fsku%253DUBM9781118383155;pubid=573420;imgsrc=http%3A%2F%2Fc376957.r57.cf1.rackcdn.com%2F9781118383155.jpg;width=255;height=320" vspace="0" width="320"></iframe><br /></span>
Tiffanyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05079264005458258819noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8854438359204380427.post-9586197109340105452012-11-03T21:32:00.003-05:002012-11-03T21:32:29.268-05:00Free Vectors<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A few of the latest free vectors I've rounded up for my designer friends. Let the creativity flow!</span><br />
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<a href="http://www.vecteezy.com/holiday-seasonal/51245-autumn-vector-banner-circle-design"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Autumn Vector Banner Circle Design</span></a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCJf02uXg5Ad2K_JIVPmpBjcPV-PCudg94sWrF5WFK7kD5XopB332Zc3ccZxDh88RQdCxaT_EDXPuV7OHmLDyiyLHbzk0c4QIDrSrXos9JDAS0KJHmui-WvQo_m9cz7RdXJHlQpWu-vumo/s1600/autumn-banner-circle-design.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCJf02uXg5Ad2K_JIVPmpBjcPV-PCudg94sWrF5WFK7kD5XopB332Zc3ccZxDh88RQdCxaT_EDXPuV7OHmLDyiyLHbzk0c4QIDrSrXos9JDAS0KJHmui-WvQo_m9cz7RdXJHlQpWu-vumo/s1600/autumn-banner-circle-design.jpg" /></span></a></div>
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<a href="http://www.vecteezy.com/abstract/51835-abstract-creative-logo-vector-design-elements"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Abstract Creative Logo Vector Design Elements</span></a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFbQAvSum4zDomR21_KcwFezGSYJUI-WTb23-NYonZwAtWvZqVgMyPZmCuFsZ-4i8No_IOza-Q2XvLOsn-344nqKcqUnP9JIT6Tgdd7jldICMPeodtIwlq6ckOWrgONlsEBbDGvkPWtP5L/s1600/abstract-creative-logo-design-elements.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFbQAvSum4zDomR21_KcwFezGSYJUI-WTb23-NYonZwAtWvZqVgMyPZmCuFsZ-4i8No_IOza-Q2XvLOsn-344nqKcqUnP9JIT6Tgdd7jldICMPeodtIwlq6ckOWrgONlsEBbDGvkPWtP5L/s1600/abstract-creative-logo-design-elements.jpg" /></span></a></div>
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<a href="http://www.vecteezy.com/web-elements/51400-grunge-vector-banners"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Grunge Vector Banners</span></a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzg-M-8KmR5ViZDLgNIn6Tc3yZubzz0LAzXHjQ0dzRxOWWRDAb3IVl2mWt9wKh3IapQpuIMDKqQP2C41YEAoCTw_6eaO0i-BlAulNO3zRatg-VSKu9PpRXgJo3ZCFjTVFfcfpcu_IHHmVP/s1600/vector-grunge-banners.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzg-M-8KmR5ViZDLgNIn6Tc3yZubzz0LAzXHjQ0dzRxOWWRDAb3IVl2mWt9wKh3IapQpuIMDKqQP2C41YEAoCTw_6eaO0i-BlAulNO3zRatg-VSKu9PpRXgJo3ZCFjTVFfcfpcu_IHHmVP/s1600/vector-grunge-banners.jpg" /></span></a></div>
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<a href="http://www.allvectors.com/colourful-ring/"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Colourful Ring</span></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSDzQ7OIS77iEpmOeT1zSdrDMXTB4c7YuUgoLbB0g3P_8Iqi7br4raatPPBcfNfDUSz_ANlcsDzlEa4GKwhPszmK4psELKPrDNRHYYoL3vIrX69MadB0oBk-pAaMXJHcINCVhkolnqr-Ah/s1600/colourful-ring-background.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="259" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSDzQ7OIS77iEpmOeT1zSdrDMXTB4c7YuUgoLbB0g3P_8Iqi7br4raatPPBcfNfDUSz_ANlcsDzlEa4GKwhPszmK4psELKPrDNRHYYoL3vIrX69MadB0oBk-pAaMXJHcINCVhkolnqr-Ah/s320/colourful-ring-background.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<a href="http://vector4free.com/vectors/id/848"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Gangnam Style Dance Vector</span></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRAXrwZZ4rJnYEJtpmDKFIbbgHYwWcYphyphenhyphenrRxBNUizO3tgTq1gqzrtxAa5ptg1ovImH35aRkZGa9OXXks8k3GRVpdWJAfiH8xyfJCo0-nqsGJ-26Y2_qNkULjpqzIhyh7ug_PbgcyOZqLv/s1600/gangnam_style_preview.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="275" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRAXrwZZ4rJnYEJtpmDKFIbbgHYwWcYphyphenhyphenrRxBNUizO3tgTq1gqzrtxAa5ptg1ovImH35aRkZGa9OXXks8k3GRVpdWJAfiH8xyfJCo0-nqsGJ-26Y2_qNkULjpqzIhyh7ug_PbgcyOZqLv/s320/gangnam_style_preview.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<a href="http://www.freevector.com/shiny-splashes/"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Shiny Splashes</span></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZ5VMVYIQtocSzjwgCUTlp8eiNFgozNX8l0rwXNPcOIKghcntCdhCul5_e1mS8TYtl6vFDessfiuMDE5NcKjy2QwNbspb0504hRBPpyzWW9IJ25iTs7SOD6g7YT1Enf805tcDT3g6jqMG3/s1600/a5df64b628429afe504b99fd52b3a750.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZ5VMVYIQtocSzjwgCUTlp8eiNFgozNX8l0rwXNPcOIKghcntCdhCul5_e1mS8TYtl6vFDessfiuMDE5NcKjy2QwNbspb0504hRBPpyzWW9IJ25iTs7SOD6g7YT1Enf805tcDT3g6jqMG3/s320/a5df64b628429afe504b99fd52b3a750.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<iframe bordercolor="#000000" frameborder="0" height="320" hspace="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://ad.doubleclick.net/adi/N7433.148119.BLOGGEREN/B6533677.439;sz=320x320;ord=[timestamp]?;lid=41000613802463918;pid=62363;usg=AFHzDLuKQvIdThpG9e_pmWVxzEzUCDu7mw;adurl=http%253A%252F%252Fwww.abt.com%252Fproduct%252F62363%252FAdobe-65164937.html;pubid=573420;imgsrc=http%3A%2F%2Fcontent.abt.com%2Fmedia%2Fimages%2Fproducts%2FBDP_Images%2Fbig_65164937.jpg;width=211;height=320" vspace="0" width="320"></iframe><iframe bordercolor="#000000" frameborder="0" height="320" hspace="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://ad.doubleclick.net/adi/N7433.148119.BLOGGEREN/B6696757.268;sz=320x320;ord=[timestamp]?;lid=41000613802463973;pid=sku5644107;usg=AFHzDLtUhT6HAzhzId7rJvLEaKgejBMjFQ;adurl=http%253A%252F%252Fwww.samsclub.com%252Fsams%252Fadobe-photoshop-elements-10%252Fprod5210191.ip%253Fpid%253D_DoubleClick_Affiliates%2526ci_src%253D15781033%2526ci_sku%253Dsku5644107;pubid=573420;imgsrc=http%3A%2F%2Fs7d2.scene7.com%2Fis%2Fimage%2Fsamsclub%2Fs7product%2F0088391922681_A.jpg;width=320;height=320" vspace="0" width="320"></iframe><br /></div>
Tiffanyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05079264005458258819noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8854438359204380427.post-28764729932827178722012-11-02T22:05:00.002-05:002012-11-02T22:05:21.625-05:005 Tips for Optimizing Your LinkedIn Company Page <br />
<a href="http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/optimize-new-linkedin-company-page/"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>5 Tips for Optimizing Your LinkedIn Company Page</b></span></a><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">By Stephanie Sammons</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Published October 29, 2012 </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Do you have a LinkedIn Company page?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Have you employed the newly designed look and features?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If you haven’t created a LinkedIn Company Page, now is the time to do so.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The new layout makes it easier for people to find, follow and engage with your Company Page.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Here are the new design updates and features that you can take advantage of on your Company Page.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">#1: Banner Images</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Bring your Page to life! Add a banner image to the top of your LinkedIn Company Page.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiI5XhV3EpiR7FDtRGuyVMQqS4RVQRzcK9Vnil7bU8pOYXnVfzW6rmgwPrfTZiH8m9du0gJe8StObKPBFWUeN7ebk_74RTtkoWiV_Zr53_MmTbTey8ANeQzRqs6c9OziD_vKOZnqk5g1hCJ/s1600/ss-sme-banner-image.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiI5XhV3EpiR7FDtRGuyVMQqS4RVQRzcK9Vnil7bU8pOYXnVfzW6rmgwPrfTZiH8m9du0gJe8StObKPBFWUeN7ebk_74RTtkoWiV_Zr53_MmTbTey8ANeQzRqs6c9OziD_vKOZnqk5g1hCJ/s1600/ss-sme-banner-image.png" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Social Media Examiner's LinkedIn Company Page banner.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The default landing tab for your Company Page is the Home tab. Your banner image will show up at the top of this tab.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This is very similar to the Facebook Cover Image that you are able to utilize on your Facebook Business Page, although the image size is different. The size of the LinkedIn Company Page banner image should be 646 x 220 pixels.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Use the banner space to illustrate and extend your unique branding and messaging.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Note that you will not be able to place a clickable URL behind your primary banner image.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh089NWs3zajqPj2D1ztike4Yc8xHj9GnnIoGCPrmhSpfH_b5E3j94RnGmFaPu7Yyn99TCVoMTnmVoyRKyfEScwRNsH6H2FNM5R3u9n-5Dd8yHwHjX36h8XIOvsRguU92kbbc9vZJsp5vl9/s1600/ss-sprout-social.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh089NWs3zajqPj2D1ztike4Yc8xHj9GnnIoGCPrmhSpfH_b5E3j94RnGmFaPu7Yyn99TCVoMTnmVoyRKyfEScwRNsH6H2FNM5R3u9n-5Dd8yHwHjX36h8XIOvsRguU92kbbc9vZJsp5vl9/s1600/ss-sprout-social.png" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Sprout Social's LinkedIn Company Page banner.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Don’t be afraid to make your banner image eye-popping or attention-grabbing! This is an opportunity to earn new followers for your Page.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Without collecting followers, any updates you post to the Page most likely will not be seen.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">LinkedIn has stated that you only need 100-200 followers for your Company Page to reach the tipping point to start making an impact and driving engagement. That’s great news!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The “About” section of your Company Page has been moved down to the bottom of the page. Still, it’s a good idea to review this area and make sure it’s up to date.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhW2eBVfAbSKjyc99loRms3lZ7MJ65UkZIJJpZY5SJbDQulAYMlW2bfwPJW3uHAN30zfv2EmxvYaSKZRhqr7pqXU71xaTmrIyISbkTvVIxDLwcGSZZzpGZP5GG5pbpbH0iRTBhchpygQYQo/s1600/ss-about-houtsuite.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhW2eBVfAbSKjyc99loRms3lZ7MJ65UkZIJJpZY5SJbDQulAYMlW2bfwPJW3uHAN30zfv2EmxvYaSKZRhqr7pqXU71xaTmrIyISbkTvVIxDLwcGSZZzpGZP5GG5pbpbH0iRTBhchpygQYQo/s1600/ss-about-houtsuite.png" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The "About" section now sits at the bottom of your LinkedIn Company Page Home tab.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In the Specialties section of your company description, you will want to use relevant keywords for your company so you’ll be found in LinkedIn searches.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Take full advantage of the Home tab and maximize all of the features here!</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">#2: Career and Products Now Featured on Home Tab</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Rather than burying information about your company’s products and services or careers, there are now sidebar spaces on the Home tab that feature these sections of your LinkedIn Company Page. This makes it easier for visitors to find what they are looking for on your Page.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIqtZTWj8pUszAL8CUCcQ0jnck0z8woPxKGNbNrdPl3s2Jak1gHx06dLsqfPXnKMMJivH6a6tQyHHbI5angVVA1unnJ4kmUN52LT1uvUmrTmQ7_-2hANfrhJ54xN5zr_1YSqgXv5Ktuz6v/s1600/ss-dell-sidebar-features.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIqtZTWj8pUszAL8CUCcQ0jnck0z8woPxKGNbNrdPl3s2Jak1gHx06dLsqfPXnKMMJivH6a6tQyHHbI5angVVA1unnJ4kmUN52LT1uvUmrTmQ7_-2hANfrhJ54xN5zr_1YSqgXv5Ktuz6v/s1600/ss-dell-sidebar-features.png" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Dell's LinkedIn Company Page sidebar.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If you are not utilizing the Careers tab section of your Company Page, you will see a default image of your logo icon and some default text that says “Learn more about our company and culture.”</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">For the Products and Services section in the sidebar, the first product that you’ve created in the Products and Services section of the Company Page will be featured here. Make sure your first product is the primary product you want featured.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Don’t be afraid to get creative with the products or services that you create. Think outside of the box. They don’t have to be products and services that you offer in the traditional sense.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Rather, you could showcase free downloads or special reports, a free assessment or even a conference or event on your Products and Services tab.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqEK42tgyOW1_np5AanK_a_h8jPMlf6kkMO4hcgpI-caWUXNPsNOH2gU2efcIMKzz7xCy365Zens27aCcPl3V-d1_origxt40-eGKCwVjfTdSQHyqx3383xcjEkxhiI3ODqcwBOOchCrSN/s1600/ss-products-and-services.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqEK42tgyOW1_np5AanK_a_h8jPMlf6kkMO4hcgpI-caWUXNPsNOH2gU2efcIMKzz7xCy365Zens27aCcPl3V-d1_origxt40-eGKCwVjfTdSQHyqx3383xcjEkxhiI3ODqcwBOOchCrSN/s1600/ss-products-and-services.png" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Showcase interesting offers from your company under the Products/Services tab.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The goal is to get your Company Page visitors interested in learning more about how you can help them accomplish their goals! Showcasing unique content in this tab will drive engagement and potentially encourage recommendations for your business.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">#3: Product Recommendations More Prominently Featured</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">There’s one major update on the Products tab of your Company Page. Product recommendations are more prominently featured in the sidebar! Any visitor to this area of your Page can see who in their network is endorsing your products or services.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">These recommendations are extremely valuable and are a display of social proof. We’re influenced by what our peers and network connections recommend.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQ7aD0JU-k7nhK94Vmc8yp-nPA_e4KvRjRHFneJ1pN8Xzf9HEj_kK97okYZh5VXV0MJD1gLIBe4zJNxV3K8VTdZ6SGy2dYG17p4iN1YPTLkoV2V5pg1MD0qnTJ9jXiUZvCydrsUl84M8Kk/s1600/ss-recommendations-featured.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQ7aD0JU-k7nhK94Vmc8yp-nPA_e4KvRjRHFneJ1pN8Xzf9HEj_kK97okYZh5VXV0MJD1gLIBe4zJNxV3K8VTdZ6SGy2dYG17p4iN1YPTLkoV2V5pg1MD0qnTJ9jXiUZvCydrsUl84M8Kk/s1600/ss-recommendations-featured.png" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Ask for Product/Service recommendations, which are now prominently featured.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The best way to get recommendations for your products and services is to ASK!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Consider running a campaign and reach out to existing clients, customers, partners and vendors and ask them to provide a recommendation.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">You might also ask their permission to showcase these same recommendations on your website or blog.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">#4: Featured and Targeted Updates</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The updates you share to your LinkedIn Company Page are now going to be front and center on the main Home tab. Images from your updates will be larger and more visible as well!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Given that updates are going to be highly visible, you will want to make your updates valuable, relevant and interesting!</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixs1c1Z5p5Ymm_N66Omj3oFnmWBX_ZjDU47VeAVMvX0-Q3gFkyG3LkUJvamu0z7dmtN7U7bmg2TANch0mwjM0Fry89kQU0o8wgfmoVBWGIjvmzndwi8cGt1m7dXuI2s6RHjnwi9q-eSKcz/s1600/ss-recent-updates.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixs1c1Z5p5Ymm_N66Omj3oFnmWBX_ZjDU47VeAVMvX0-Q3gFkyG3LkUJvamu0z7dmtN7U7bmg2TANch0mwjM0Fry89kQU0o8wgfmoVBWGIjvmzndwi8cGt1m7dXuI2s6RHjnwi9q-eSKcz/s1600/ss-recent-updates.png" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Use images to make your LinkedIn Company Page updates more visible and engaging.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">When you post an update, you will need to copy/paste your link to the specific article and LinkedIn will pull in the image and post for you. From there you can edit and publish.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Keep in mind that you can delete the URL that you pasted into the update after LinkedIn pulls it in. This will keep your update looking more clean and concise.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-vbX6qqiWAEfzdp0JVIva7Uow0r7XJtxllhp4CGNnaB9uecm-439M8LBkQ_Ykd2Tq9BCTp8A2ix2t7zj1biUX4pstF3ga5A7NwSYP-zk7Y8TbAn-z9GUECAV5PCBX9F7OlGxI163fdHYg/s1600/ss-delete-url2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-vbX6qqiWAEfzdp0JVIva7Uow0r7XJtxllhp4CGNnaB9uecm-439M8LBkQ_Ykd2Tq9BCTp8A2ix2t7zj1biUX4pstF3ga5A7NwSYP-zk7Y8TbAn-z9GUECAV5PCBX9F7OlGxI163fdHYg/s1600/ss-delete-url2.png" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">You can delete the URL from your status update once the content has been pulled in.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Don’t forget to customize the text in your update and ask a question or ask for feedback to drive engagement!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">You can also post your events here and even create polls to share with your followers.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">To achieve the best opportunity for engagement, I recommend that you post your company status updates manually rather than by relying on third-party applications.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Another new aspect of sharing updates to your Page is the ability to feature an update and move it to the top of your Home page. This is very similar to the way you can highlight or pin a featured post on your Facebook Business Page.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwHHv_ZfdfyS_kTCKeR2_jb7UzWYC2Yw2NNly52yIg2hZdsMwySFmXQRcVgsWCZezC8f0RQMH7mz-uw7J20EsixBGzmZRWJ_RWVpJbgf6BawMAlLIkU9_IpuxlbxLpZCc9xAR2oKjlRTAG/s1600/ss-featured-update.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwHHv_ZfdfyS_kTCKeR2_jb7UzWYC2Yw2NNly52yIg2hZdsMwySFmXQRcVgsWCZezC8f0RQMH7mz-uw7J20EsixBGzmZRWJ_RWVpJbgf6BawMAlLIkU9_IpuxlbxLpZCc9xAR2oKjlRTAG/s1600/ss-featured-update.png" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Feature select updates at the top of your LinkedIn Company Page.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">New targeting options for your updates are also available. In other words, you can decide which groups of followers you would like to target with each specific Company Page update.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi22jEo0WXHxay12sAZIX0jhaxzGYp3h1cPjHeBZ8c44GG4i5pha0qjDk4p0wC4dXHqKWT37z5Y5FZ3DXQ4BCLsAgsNa0hOjc7z3ry-5JmGFZfFJLym6rzsz-pGYI-aMVDVYN5cckgKzmMg/s1600/ss-targeting-updates.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi22jEo0WXHxay12sAZIX0jhaxzGYp3h1cPjHeBZ8c44GG4i5pha0qjDk4p0wC4dXHqKWT37z5Y5FZ3DXQ4BCLsAgsNa0hOjc7z3ry-5JmGFZfFJLym6rzsz-pGYI-aMVDVYN5cckgKzmMg/s1600/ss-targeting-updates.png" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Target your LinkedIn Company Page updates to a specific segment of your followers.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Remember to review how your updates are performing. After 24 hours, LinkedIn will show you impressions and engagement for each of your Company Page updates. In some cases, these updates can perform better than running paid advertising on the network!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Consider featuring posts at the top of your Home page that have received good engagement from your Company Page followers.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP5GLGYla1yXhe5FFFo_67mO6DCaE_tKlj_y1FnUzY7CVT0N1z86QQtjJdN-hnhXspremFfcpKhTxW1sArETMphNYuKF2JrSIqh_MMv9ZRIEoRiXTyX98uDkrbjyMu-1C6Z6Ly6_cv9L1o/s1600/ss-insights-and-featured-update-.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP5GLGYla1yXhe5FFFo_67mO6DCaE_tKlj_y1FnUzY7CVT0N1z86QQtjJdN-hnhXspremFfcpKhTxW1sArETMphNYuKF2JrSIqh_MMv9ZRIEoRiXTyX98uDkrbjyMu-1C6Z6Ly6_cv9L1o/s1600/ss-insights-and-featured-update-.png" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Feature updates that your followers have engaged with.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">#5: Visibility on Mobile Apps</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Last but certainly not least, LinkedIn has added Company Page visibility to its mobile applications and to the iPad specifically.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8RNJaJD7MrzDfiQUmKU97uc2_T6d7jDPWgNaMtbSW7Avyai5Duhq_r9tl672P_6gDEYuSLHnEx9XK-WfTBv9YoKqh5Ut0ZAZu9rudFctnbpNlwVeFHqgHFqfv2DDuqDYAEbkMkfHdIvB9/s1600/ss-mobile-apps.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8RNJaJD7MrzDfiQUmKU97uc2_T6d7jDPWgNaMtbSW7Avyai5Duhq_r9tl672P_6gDEYuSLHnEx9XK-WfTBv9YoKqh5Ut0ZAZu9rudFctnbpNlwVeFHqgHFqfv2DDuqDYAEbkMkfHdIvB9/s1600/ss-mobile-apps.png" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">LinkedIn Mobile Apps feature Company Pages.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">You can view Company Pages that you follow; find and follow additional Company Pages; see how you’re connected to the company through your network; and view job openings, the latest Company Page updates and suggested or similar companies to follow—all from within LinkedIn mobile apps!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">At this time you cannot update your LinkedIn Company Page from any of the mobile apps. However, just by building out your Company Page, you can become visible and valuable to employees, clients, customers, partners, vendors and prospects anywhere and everywhere!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Clearly LinkedIn is focused on providing companies, brands and small businesses an opportunity to tell their stories and engage with customers and advocates through Company Pages.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Take full advantage of the ability to extend your brand and achieve greater visibility, as well as add value to your industry and marketplace.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Not only can you benefit from within the LinkedIn network, but your LinkedIn Company Page will also create a valuable search result for your company. Any positive link and gateway to your brand online is a positive for your business!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><iframe bordercolor="#000000" frameborder="0" height="320" hspace="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://ad.doubleclick.net/adi/N7433.148119.BLOGGEREN/B6676345.579;sz=320x320;ord=[timestamp]?;lid=41000000028007181;pid=UBM9781118358702;usg=AFHzDLtDhDEQKhqm46O6rLQ3Z-vu_KENeA;adurl=http%253A%252F%252Fwww.cdsbooksdvds.com%252Fproduct.jhtm%253Fsku%253DUBM9781118358702;pubid=573420;imgsrc=http%3A%2F%2Fc382554.r54.cf1.rackcdn.com%2F9781118358702.jpg;width=255;height=320" vspace="0" width="320"></iframe><iframe bordercolor="#000000" frameborder="0" height="320" hspace="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://ad.doubleclick.net/adi/N7433.148119.BLOGGEREN/B6676345.582;sz=320x320;ord=[timestamp]?;lid=41000000028007181;pid=UBM9780982333204;usg=AFHzDLvjcjZfoaw2TnQbvOYT6GfQCKNbew;adurl=http%253A%252F%252Fwww.cdsbooksdvds.com%252Fproduct.jhtm%253Fsku%253DUBM9780982333204;pubid=573420;imgsrc=http%3A%2F%2Fc377007.r7.cf1.rackcdn.com%2F9780982333204.jpg;width=212;height=320" vspace="0" width="320"></iframe><br /></span>
Tiffanyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05079264005458258819noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8854438359204380427.post-40713207732082018982012-11-01T23:37:00.001-05:002012-11-01T23:37:05.565-05:0010 Tips On Creating Killer Gigposters <br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><a href="http://www.howdesign.com/design-creativity/idea-generating-tips/gigposter-tips/?et_mid=587041&rid=233806086">10 Tips On Creating Killer Gigposters</a></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Posted on October 22, 2012 by John Foster</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>1. PAPER IS YOUR FRIEND (AND CO-CONSPIRATOR)</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In the ever-expanding digital age, one of the great appeals of the gigposter is that it’s a physically printed product that revels in its inky goodness. While we will talk about those inks in just a minute, don’t forget one of the true joys of being a print designer —specifying paper (see design resources for HOW’s Paper Mills & Suppliers List)! You might want to stick with a white, but add in some incredible tactile texture with a finish, or invert the entire process and print silver on a black sheet. This is your dream come true for the paper nerd inside you, as a single box of nearly any sheet is affordable, and all you need for a limited edition print run.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhPZSNkoP8YeAZAQY4HRwLZL_xAX5MWmZnBxSjzyaIlf8zw0lIjqFd5Tvqe8p7xLL5y2N_JH2ubIo2luOxEAw_SQWU3XxxIk83dS7-lSyh7J5AiLpUOOzyWj6jx7JevocJhiD-5lt9ST3O/s1600/f2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhPZSNkoP8YeAZAQY4HRwLZL_xAX5MWmZnBxSjzyaIlf8zw0lIjqFd5Tvqe8p7xLL5y2N_JH2ubIo2luOxEAw_SQWU3XxxIk83dS7-lSyh7J5AiLpUOOzyWj6jx7JevocJhiD-5lt9ST3O/s1600/f2.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A man who only needs a clear concept, one or two inks and a lovely sheet of paper to create visual joy. Dirk Fowler uses dark sheets and metallic inks like the master that he is. Dirk Fowler, Lubbock, TX; f2-design.com</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>2. CHALLENGE YOURSELF TO TRY NEW TECHNIQUES IN IMAGERY</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Never illustrated before? First day with a new camera? Collage always seemed like fun, but too daunting? You love clean fonts but yearn to take a crack at some hand-scrawled type? What better opportunity than a project that demands cutting edge design and only has a very small limited edition print run based around a one-time only event? Push yourself! You will be rewarded.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPLSkWI0Qrpe4cWm4ffiHhQy7R15ayiqX0FFLWNZJlTeZFzFL4KISWheQMrCvq7aYekbdnGtCyhp8ooeN5R44Nkh5lqPcL757MExGyj21XDkhY8cn1bqSg26xL7sQy4NI8SJJRrkQF8NWT/s1600/hobbs.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPLSkWI0Qrpe4cWm4ffiHhQy7R15ayiqX0FFLWNZJlTeZFzFL4KISWheQMrCvq7aYekbdnGtCyhp8ooeN5R44Nkh5lqPcL757MExGyj21XDkhY8cn1bqSg26xL7sQy4NI8SJJRrkQF8NWT/s1600/hobbs.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Already a dazzling designer, one of the most amazing things to watch over the past year or so has been Zach Hobbs’ surprising and sudden exploration into radical collage, attacking and pushing his work to new heights. Zach Hobbs, Chicago, IL; weareyoungmonster.com</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>3. CHALLENGE YOURSELF TO TRY NEW TECHNIQUES IN PRODUCTION</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Limited runs mean that the financial implications of experimentation are lessened greatly. Now is the time to take a risk or two on the production side, without a multi-million dollar corporation over your should wondering if this is going to work or not. Mix in a spot varnish, split fountain, tweak the opacity of your ink and just experiment in general and take away lessons learned for your other clients and projects.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7MkHpeIMGpCvJY0aS8Mif8ZXi9l2A6ALvdXQmH886o-y7CjaI2KQIUpzIszkytAP2YjOA3ad2X3zd4oibW2Hj6HBTUEZssq0xc3FReeu0EQkdsfrG4JxR_v7CEyniogpauD_1Etg55J-Z/s1600/lfop.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7MkHpeIMGpCvJY0aS8Mif8ZXi9l2A6ALvdXQmH886o-y7CjaI2KQIUpzIszkytAP2YjOA3ad2X3zd4oibW2Hj6HBTUEZssq0xc3FReeu0EQkdsfrG4JxR_v7CEyniogpauD_1Etg55J-Z/s1600/lfop.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Few things delight me like the playful under, and over, printing on the posters by The Little Friends of Printmaking. JW and Melissa Buchanan, Milwaukee, WI; thelittlefriendsofprintmaking.com</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>4. TYPOGRAPHY ALWAYS MATTERS</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">While I have already impressed upon you the desire to create meaningful and challenging imagery, don’t ever forget that a successful poster depends on the typography that comes with it. Readability depends on the artist and their audience. Don’t forget that a lot of these posters are intended as merchandise, as opposed to items to promote the show before it happens. So you can take chances, but you had better bring your big league typographer game, because the gigposter field is filled with the most amazing designers working with type today.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Don’t commit one of these typographic sins.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhA1vaalOKjfG0kfI_LVp2vxG-6scLWVjAe83kzG8fkyqQiHNxfWugXOHCf0_wEwokAM_XBh90b5vEtcE0mrr__73Ep7yqkeYJ9Xvx0jQmPviievg31CM11yRSv5k_uvLYeJFzSyWfGGpXM/s1600/duval.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhA1vaalOKjfG0kfI_LVp2vxG-6scLWVjAe83kzG8fkyqQiHNxfWugXOHCf0_wEwokAM_XBh90b5vEtcE0mrr__73Ep7yqkeYJ9Xvx0jQmPviievg31CM11yRSv5k_uvLYeJFzSyWfGGpXM/s1600/duval.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Nate Duval always shows how vital typography is, in very different ways, on all of his posters. Nate Duval, Longmeadow, MA; nateduval.com</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>5. WOULD YOU HANG THIS ON YOUR WALL?</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This is the hardest thing to quantify, but there is no escaping that a gigposter is expected to be cool (aren’t all band and music posters, after all?). Cool enough to be the only piece of art on your wall. Cool enough to let everyone that walks in to the room know a little about you and your tastes. This is the rule of gigposter law. If you wouldn’t hang up your own poster (not that you should actually do that – what are you, some kind of raging egomaniac? Haha!) then you are doing it wrong.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7wBl8vQAbKCveo4-7b_KiZzAmo1aXVM-Kk8PnGtGONrePFlVTAYY17z3wcwYxMvYIwUJAeEyhaMnn2D69FNyl-ow7hjwLBtX9tpSiZ1wGOgjYRubAqeGkGSTT-itHicBRgyqBfEBJxfGn/s1600/pp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7wBl8vQAbKCveo4-7b_KiZzAmo1aXVM-Kk8PnGtGONrePFlVTAYY17z3wcwYxMvYIwUJAeEyhaMnn2D69FNyl-ow7hjwLBtX9tpSiZ1wGOgjYRubAqeGkGSTT-itHicBRgyqBfEBJxfGn/s1600/pp.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">One of my favorite duos is Jeff Kleinsmith and Jesse LeDoux, because their styles are so different, yet both create infinitely cool work that I could cover 100 walls with. Jeff Kleinsmith and Jesse LeDoux, Seattle, WA; patentpendingindustries.com </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>6. TAKE FULL ADVANTAGE OF THE JOYS OF SCREENPRINTING OR LETTERPRESS</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Using admittedly rougher printing techniques than big commercial presses bring with it a litany of quirks and shortcomings, so the only way to truly enjoy screenprinting and letterpress is to fully embrace the things they can do that no other process offers and celebrate and shine a spotlight on those quirks. No two screenprints are ever truly the same. Hand-pulled means that ink won’t ever quite distribute the same way, and colors blend and lay over one another in different ways. Under-printing is something workable to a fascinating extent in screenprinting. You like a rough texture, or silk smooth curves? Depending on how you set it up and do your pulls you can have it all. You want to change a letter on a poster in a different spot on every print? Letterpress can make it happen. One of my favorite printing stories ever was when Hammerpress told me that they started the next letterpress poster they designed with the last piece that went on the press for the print before it, something only possible with letterpress. Love it.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCGxXNoCntF1qAVrVXRVKsZhLMzq4Iv-cZOUjBgxmFSzVotJ5PKfum6oTvQ274SkG-rbgZOk9wVqvQxvj5StnVtNThxwGVNywKfDSW7rFzkIynIl3ZnILZQnImqzrbV2BmXOsa0IpCqTFx/s1600/hammer.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCGxXNoCntF1qAVrVXRVKsZhLMzq4Iv-cZOUjBgxmFSzVotJ5PKfum6oTvQ274SkG-rbgZOk9wVqvQxvj5StnVtNThxwGVNywKfDSW7rFzkIynIl3ZnILZQnImqzrbV2BmXOsa0IpCqTFx/s1600/hammer.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">1000% letterpress. All day. Every day. That is just how Hammerpress rolls. Brady Vest, Kansas City, MO; hammerpress.net</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>7. WHENEVER YOU ARE STUCK FOR IDEAS, USE A GIANT HEAD</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">World renowned designer and illustrator Dave Plunkert once said this to me half in jest as to how he removed creative blocks, but there is a great deal of truth to it. Posters allow for faces, illustrated or half-toned, to be manipulated and be shown larger than they naturally are, making a huge impact, and creating a magical funhouse mirror for the viewer to look back upon. We love to look in the mirror.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwYuxsmBcDZIjuwKQfmnvyWSL9w8mw9C4EZCpDv1Phkr3EfhubmP3OHzKbb-z4dfc5x65Ni-sFuSg5pLYc-EnZc-I4i_zyYsbZGyjr38YcvwNm2Bhuu5P7DeEq42sa3DgIp4Ne3DVV_GtU/s1600/aa.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwYuxsmBcDZIjuwKQfmnvyWSL9w8mw9C4EZCpDv1Phkr3EfhubmP3OHzKbb-z4dfc5x65Ni-sFuSg5pLYc-EnZc-I4i_zyYsbZGyjr38YcvwNm2Bhuu5P7DeEq42sa3DgIp4Ne3DVV_GtU/s1600/aa.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Few have mastered the crazy giant head like Aesthetic Apparatus. They are more “eye” men these days, but I always love it when they veer in this direction. Dan Ibarra and Michael Byzewski, Minneapolis, MN; aestheticapparatus.com</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>8. LISTEN TO THE BAND YOU ARE DESIGNING A POSTER FOR</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Sounds simple, but you can easily see when a designer has abandoned the studying part of the job. Your poster can reference a lyric in a beloved song, or exist as an abstract piece of art, but it needs to appeal to the audience for the band to have any worth. These are the people who you want to buy your print to frame and cherish it forever. Respect that and they will respect your work.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjn3OUkx1W5Tjmh6WIciflA9dPp8xQfjawvCYKdCRrMmOaPsOoLTskCZtEgwKJWONJWkt3pyI5QQV4RiA3WfcFyXRhlicrDNN65Av_kyNtwsrUxQVmo7x3mCCcI67dfdHYzTBreaA6WXF4j/s1600/methane.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjn3OUkx1W5Tjmh6WIciflA9dPp8xQfjawvCYKdCRrMmOaPsOoLTskCZtEgwKJWONJWkt3pyI5QQV4RiA3WfcFyXRhlicrDNN65Av_kyNtwsrUxQVmo7x3mCCcI67dfdHYzTBreaA6WXF4j/s1600/methane.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Methane have produced seemingly hundreds of posters for Dave Matthews Band over the past year, every one unique, and every one directed straight at the heart of his audience. Robert Lee and Mark McDevitt, Atlanta, GA; methanestudios.com</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>9. FOLLOW A FEW SIMPLE ETHICAL RULES (WE WILL ALL BENEFIT)</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Many young (and old) designers jump into the gigposter game because they love music and enjoy testing their skills in the cutting edge margins of the design industry. Too often, their enthusiasm blurs the fact that the same legal and ethical obligations apply to these projects. A final output of 50 prints, compared to 5 million cans of soda, just changes the scale, not the rules. Here is the easy part; just remember that if you are selling prints without permission, it competes with the merchandise sales of your favorite band, taking money directly out of their hands.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Tune in to this article to see more results of when music and design intersect.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The first thing you need to do is make sure that you have been hired or have permission from either the band, or their management, or the venue and/or promoter. This very simple premise seems to elude far too many designers. If you do not have this, you are essentially just making fan art. If you try to sell this work, you are essentially moving bootleg merchandise, something despised by all corners of the entertainment industry. Once you have all of these permissions locked in, make sure you do not sell your prints online until after the show has occurred. The other issue is that, in the desperate rush to make cool posters, the lines between appropriation and theft get pretty blurry. The absolute worst thing you could ever do is steal from your fellow gigposter designers, people in this game for the love of music, much like what brought you here, with only the tiniest compensation, and their creative exposure through their work to sustain them. Respect this and you will do fine.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimCx7D94zj0TUNurv9WTHIyj8W-2ODE3EygnObgFkViSLXr-8f0w64-qYdbSsVTSUzuRs95iv3zSs9IliIVTajmHbgVgCWPs_7KLUUvvn_0Gx1VKxdBA-FzxE46rCuAHUrMq567843_Ri1/s1600/seripop.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimCx7D94zj0TUNurv9WTHIyj8W-2ODE3EygnObgFkViSLXr-8f0w64-qYdbSsVTSUzuRs95iv3zSs9IliIVTajmHbgVgCWPs_7KLUUvvn_0Gx1VKxdBA-FzxE46rCuAHUrMq567843_Ri1/s1600/seripop.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">They just left the gigposter game for the art world, but no studio walked it like they talked over the last decade in the way that Seripop did. Yannick Desranleau and Chloe Lum, Montreal, Quebec; seripop.com</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>10. NOW, ONE LAST TIP — IGNORE EVERYTHING I’VE SAID (EXCEPT THE ETHICS PART) AND SHOCK THE WORLD</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">My number one rule for enjoying a gigposter is seeing something that I never, in a million years, could have produced. Insanely experimental work, to simple rudimentary drawings, they come from singular talents, so pure in their vision that it glitters in spotlight. They solve visual problems using parts of their brain that I am not even sure that I have. I. Am. Amazed. Now get out there and amaze me.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6BEe-fT3OXrLE1D_EDa05OXMmkGet24ib9tDoG99nUAytht7vlzosX-jskmNNEZuyqcekMpr2nWNWmiEIakjwC3-n0lIij_KKR8PXBwXzt57Rlb9vE1Njq87Rdt6ns1Qp7icssk4Yuh7f/s1600/sonnenz.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6BEe-fT3OXrLE1D_EDa05OXMmkGet24ib9tDoG99nUAytht7vlzosX-jskmNNEZuyqcekMpr2nWNWmiEIakjwC3-n0lIij_KKR8PXBwXzt57Rlb9vE1Njq87Rdt6ns1Qp7icssk4Yuh7f/s1600/sonnenz.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">No studio consistently blows my mind like the sweetest couple in the business, Sonnenzimmer. Nick Butcher and Nadine Nakanishi, Chicago; sonnenzimmer.com</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Now that you are properly inspired and informed, I hope you start making magic on paper. Follow a few rules, break a few others, and have fun! The gigposter community is an incredible place that will give you back as much love as you put in, and I, personally, can not wait to see what you create next.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><iframe bordercolor="#000000" frameborder="0" height="320" hspace="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://ad.doubleclick.net/adi/N7433.148119.BLOGGEREN/B6676345.561;sz=320x320;ord=[timestamp]?;lid=41000000028007181;pid=UBM9780764145056;usg=AFHzDLsDPv7Ass4s9qYuh3ihaLJirGw4fg;adurl=http%253A%252F%252Fwww.cdsbooksdvds.com%252Fproduct.jhtm%253Fsku%253DUBM9780764145056;pubid=573420;imgsrc=http%3A%2F%2Fc378864.r64.cf1.rackcdn.com%2F9780764145056.jpg;width=271;height=320" vspace="0" width="320"></iframe><iframe bordercolor="#000000" frameborder="0" height="320" hspace="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://ad.doubleclick.net/adi/N7433.148119.BLOGGEREN/B6676345.572;sz=320x320;ord=[timestamp]?;lid=41000000028007181;pid=UBM9781592537853;usg=AFHzDLvexxmAZBE6N8L3e2rmqi4-UkNpvQ;adurl=http%253A%252F%252Fwww.cdsbooksdvds.com%252Fproduct.jhtm%253Fsku%253DUBM9781592537853;pubid=573420;imgsrc=http%3A%2F%2Fc381671.r71.cf1.rackcdn.com%2F9781592537853.jpg;width=238;height=320" vspace="0" width="320"></iframe><br /></span>
Tiffanyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05079264005458258819noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8854438359204380427.post-26336823671929711512012-10-30T16:02:00.000-05:002012-10-30T16:02:02.182-05:00WHY THE AD INDUSTRY IS IN A TALENT RUT AND A PRESCRIPTION FOR CHANGE <br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">What a great and insightful article from Fast Co. If you don't want to read the whole thing, I've highlighted some key points. </span><br />
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<a href="http://www.fastcocreate.com/1681815/why-the-ad-industry-is-in-a-talent-rut-and-a-prescription-for-change"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">WHY THE AD INDUSTRY IS IN A TALENT RUT AND A PRESCRIPTION FOR CHANGE</span></a><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">BY: ALLISON KENT-SMITH</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Allison Kent-Smith says the advertising industry has failed to develop and educate talent. Here, she outlines the training-centric steps agencies can take to build a real digital workforce.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The advertising industry is in transition. This is the most auspicious period in recent history, yet it’s also the most disruptive. An agency either has the right 21st-century talent, or it doesn’t. Employees either understand digital, or they are actively pretending that they do. Agency talent stays far too long or turns over within the predictable 18-month cycle.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The current transitional time has shifted the spotlight from what we know to what we need to know. Tinkering and agile processes are valued. The prototype gets more attention than the brief. Big-idea people are no longer the singular hot commodity. <span style="background-color: yellow;">Employees who understand platforms, media, technology, trends, data, and “how to generate and make ideas” are the new model for talent.</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: yellow;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It’s no longer just about great ideas. It’s about great ideas that get made.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Understanding technology, embracing new talent, making things and not just imagining things, evolving traditional agency practices, and leveraging new ways of working are redefining 21st-century agencies’ competitive advantage. Yet many agencies remain stuck facing big questions: Where do you start? Where do you invest? The industry struggles to evolve, react, and fully embrace the new rules for retaining (and attracting) the brightest minds.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">On the subject of “Gen Flux,” a recent Fast Company article reminds us that “The vast bulk of our institutions--educational, corporate, political–-are not built for flux. <span style="background-color: yellow;">Few traditional career tactics train us for an era where the most important skill is the ability to acquire new skills.</span>” Or as Alvin Toffler says, “The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.”[ii] For many years, agencies have under-invested in reeducation in the workplace.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We expect talent to leave, and that’s okay. But is it really?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Many agencies share common symptoms. We continue to trade and exchange the same group of digital leadership. Managers invest in a revolving door of the same types of people, who have all-too-familiar titles, but fail to develop the employees who show up each and every day. We continue to highlight acquisitions, awards, senior hires, and big client wins, yet when do we highlight agencies’ practices for employee education?</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: yellow;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The advertising industry has failed to develop and educate talent. We now feel the effects of this neglect more than ever.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Walk a few steps down Madison Avenue, from one agency to another, and you’ll hear similar comments: “There’s no vision for digital at the agency,” “I’m faking it [with digital],” “Let’s just hire another social media expert,” “The client would like a top 10 app…in three weeks,” “We always bring in producers at the very last minute,” or “Digital is an agency priority (yet there is not a single UX designer or developer in-house).” Shared confessions across the profession point to serious issues with digital talent, process, and structure that prevent agency evolution.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: yellow;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The money lost on talent attrition, figurehead recruitment, and poorly executed digital projects should shift to the education and development of current employees.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">There are a few largely agreed-upon steps that can make an immediate impact. If you’re part of an agency or brand that is stuck, then march into your boss’s office or raise your hand at the next town hall and suggest the following changes. By the way, this will not necessarily make you popular, but it will make you right.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: yellow;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">1. PUT UX FIRST</span></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">How many UX experts do you have at your agency, and how are they utilized? An agency must have user experience, interaction design, and information architecture front and center. <span style="background-color: yellow;">UX experts are not easy to find, but heavy hitters in this area will transform ideas that are impossible to ideas that are reality.</span> A good UX professional solves for both business and user needs. Don’t hire just one UX lead and expect an impact. Ask your established strategy or planning department to “major” in UX and watch what happens.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: yellow;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">2. IT TAKES A VILLAGE</span></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Are there just a few digital experts at your agency who act as consultants internally? A couple of digital experts are not going to change an agency. Stop hiring one or two recycled digital leaders and expect to get results. A few individuals will not create sustainable digital change. Think of your pool of experts not as a separate department or a “call in the experts when needed” group. <span style="background-color: yellow;">Require that every single employee have working knowledge of digital. </span>Map out the village and invest in them.</span><br />
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<b style="background-color: yellow;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">3. EMBRACE THE BUILDERS</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Does your agency outsource most of your programming? If so, then an integrated understanding of how to build or make an idea remains external. You’re paying your partners to get smarter, but what about your employees? <span style="background-color: yellow;">All departments (not just digital producers) need to tap on the shoulder of a developer and ask questions.</span> This is how we learn. These interactions will create a noticeable change in digital understanding.</span><br />
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<b style="background-color: yellow;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">4. RETHINK TITLES</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Are the departments and titles at your agency the same as those at every other agency? Bring in “experts” who are not experts. The industry needs to embrace a new type of talent. Hire a group of high school students, start an agency incubator, begin an academic fellowship program, organize talent by competencies (not title), and ask leaders at the agency to actively teach. Ask your hiring manager or HR person if they have ever hired someone without a title in mind. <span style="background-color: yellow;"><a href="http://nordstrominnovationlab.com/#join_our_team">Nordstrom Innovation Lab</a> provides a great example of a shift in how to think about talent categories and competencies.</span></span><br />
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<b style="background-color: yellow;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">5. LAUNCH A SCHOOL</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Do you struggle with where to learn more about digital? A lot of agency leaders talk about the value of education, yet very few act on it. Start by establishing an agency school. Design learning experiences and opportunities for employees to teach each other. Invite external industry leaders to teach classes. Set up digital experiments. Take field trips and get out of your office. Create digital installations and foster play. Invite your clients to attend the school. <span style="background-color: yellow;">Establish expectations for continual learning and integrate participation into annual reviews.</span></span><br />
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<b style="background-color: yellow;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">6. TWO DAYS IS A WEEKEND, NOT A PROGRAM</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Is your education budget a conference budget? Going to a single conference or workshop is not going to make a difference in employee digital understanding. Your employees will return a bit more motivated or curious, but will they be more educated? Set aside a budget for learning and call the SXSW and Cannes investment something else entirely. <span style="background-color: yellow;">Don’t expect a change in digital understanding after a few days of lectures.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Although traditional practices are still in place and continue to be rewarded, agencies cannot ignore the shifts in tools, thinking, and culture that digital has created. We’ll look back at this transitional time in advertising and realize that successful agencies shaped talent through creative and unconventional approaches.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">With these common symptoms of digital neglect across the entire profession, it’s time to move beyond problem-identification stage and courageously invest in guiding and teaching employees.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Go on…fix what you recognize is broken.</span><br />
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<iframe bordercolor="#000000" frameborder="0" height="320" hspace="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://ad.doubleclick.net/adi/N7433.148119.BLOGGEREN/B6676345.545;sz=320x320;ord=[timestamp]?;lid=41000000028007181;pid=UBM9780335206933;usg=AFHzDLsURrytMqsYQcTzDJjROOYjx7WKSg;adurl=http%253A%252F%252Fwww.cdsbooksdvds.com%252Fproduct.jhtm%253Fsku%253DUBM9780335206933;pubid=573420;imgsrc=http%3A%2F%2Fc380750.r50.cf1.rackcdn.com%2F9780335206933.jpg;width=207;height=320" vspace="0" width="320"></iframe><iframe bordercolor="#000000" frameborder="0" height="320" hspace="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://ad.doubleclick.net/adi/N7433.148119.BLOGGEREN/B6676345.560;sz=320x320;ord=[timestamp]?;lid=41000000028007181;pid=UBM9780803987272;usg=AFHzDLvAj8fJy-CdK4X5_wgq2iFMqBOScg;adurl=http%253A%252F%252Fwww.cdsbooksdvds.com%252Fproduct.jhtm%253Fsku%253DUBM9780803987272;pubid=573420;imgsrc=http%3A%2F%2Fc381089.r89.cf1.rackcdn.com%2F9780803987272.jpg;width=213;height=320" vspace="0" width="320"></iframe><br />
Tiffanyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05079264005458258819noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8854438359204380427.post-17081019083576447092012-10-30T14:19:00.005-05:002012-10-30T14:19:50.099-05:00ROI and Direct Mail<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I think the big take away from this is to further explore ROI, return on investment. All marketing plans are trial and error. But you can't assume or guess at what is working based on vague metrics. You need solid data. Approach it like a science experiment. That means formulate a goal, try multiple approaches, measure the results, make changes, measure the results. Move forward or change your plan based on those results. Track your progress in any possible way and don't spend a marketing dollar without knowing how you will measure the result of that dollar.</span><br />
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<a href="http://www.marketingprofs.com/short-articles/2682/b2b-direct-mail-four-tips-for-a-healthy-roi?adref=NBBH4a12"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>B2B Direct Mail: Four Tips for a Healthy ROI</b></span></a><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Published on October 25, 2012 by MarketingProfs</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In a recent article at Chief Marketer, Beth Negus Viveiros argues that leaving direct mail out of your B2B marketing mix might be a big mistake—even in the digital age. "Done the right way, good old-fashioned direct mail can be a key part of your strategy," she says.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Viveiros interviewed marketers Michele Fitzpatrick and Kevin Kerner to get their insights on incorporating direct mail into a B2B multichannel marketing strategy.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Here are four tips from that discussion:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Make it meaningful.</b> If you're going to add a direct mail component, make it a meaningful part of your multichannel campaign. One of Kerner's clients, for instance, mailed a case for a mobile phone to prospects. When the prospect set up an appointment, the sales person brought the device (loaded with an app showcasing the company's services) to the meeting.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Start with your audience first</b>. Use tried-and-true, customer-centric thinking when creating your campaign. Why would they value this particular mailing? "Channel, offer, product, timing—these are all byproducts of who you are trying to reach," Fitzpatrick explains.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Balance spending with projected ROI.</b> Since direct mail can be costly, it's important to calculate your ideal cost-per-acquisition up front. Remember: With proper targeting, you can mail at a higher cost-per-piece and still reap a higher profit.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Consider going big.</b> Dimensional mail is making a comeback, Kerner says. That's because a unique, chunky mail piece can still break through the clutter and have a high impact. It's a great way to "get a person to respond and pull them online," he notes.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The Po!nt: Don't discount hands-on. Even in the digital age, a targeted direct mail piece can get you noticed. Consider adding it as a dramatic component of your next B2B campaign.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><iframe bordercolor="#000000" frameborder="0" height="320" hspace="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://ad.doubleclick.net/adi/N7433.148119.BLOGGEREN/B6676345.534;sz=320x320;ord=[timestamp]?;lid=41000000028007181;pid=UBM9780471103721;usg=AFHzDLtgPSFv2UXHCyKFKAFm7wIC4E0oQg;adurl=http%253A%252F%252Fwww.cdsbooksdvds.com%252Fproduct.jhtm%253Fsku%253DUBM9780471103721;pubid=573420;imgsrc=http%3A%2F%2Fc377526.r26.cf1.rackcdn.com%2F9780471103721.jpg;width=212;height=320" vspace="0" width="320"></iframe><iframe bordercolor="#000000" frameborder="0" height="320" hspace="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://ad.doubleclick.net/adi/N7433.148119.BLOGGEREN/B6676345.535;sz=320x320;ord=[timestamp]?;lid=41000000028007181;pid=UBM9780749449421;usg=AFHzDLv-N273r2duHK5t0dhCcO8hPonmxQ;adurl=http%253A%252F%252Fwww.cdsbooksdvds.com%252Fproduct.jhtm%253Fsku%253DUBM9780749449421;pubid=573420;imgsrc=http%3A%2F%2Fc383299.r99.cf1.rackcdn.com%2F9780749449421.jpg;width=214;height=320" vspace="0" width="320"></iframe><br /></span>
Tiffanyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05079264005458258819noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8854438359204380427.post-36901794642325992802012-10-26T12:28:00.003-05:002012-10-26T12:28:33.003-05:00Free Fonts, Icons & MoreA free font from generous Behance user <a href="http://www.behance.net/gallery/LSTK-Clarendon-FREE-FONT-DOWNLOAD/5557076">studioelastik.com</a>:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSeP7PdqMoBMWuM9f2pp04DGv_Lfpaj8F1loAw1hafGZ-pEc35nlLtSxV6hyMtSTcESuI93xpfVYvqwJNyr0rOUsegdH-IFERwomRqG0GyQ_KPzMFVj9zKMSdzmETIzKMEGarQcm05fOvf/s1600/a507b0d8cc68c1f2d558c4511bc296fd.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSeP7PdqMoBMWuM9f2pp04DGv_Lfpaj8F1loAw1hafGZ-pEc35nlLtSxV6hyMtSTcESuI93xpfVYvqwJNyr0rOUsegdH-IFERwomRqG0GyQ_KPzMFVj9zKMSdzmETIzKMEGarQcm05fOvf/s1600/a507b0d8cc68c1f2d558c4511bc296fd.jpg" /></a></div>
Free Icons from <a href="http://www.endlessicons.com/">Endless Icons</a>:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6Q5Hp-rJo8ndi6hyCze76HuHUyyf9RS7TQRwK0eWqRGFvLRNOVoBP6d_g-vjm3d1PARjbHla5fsgqj4F-Xo_XGuyjsP5yovo1-wMePJ3MdvDgIcnea3Bwh6KuZMGhd-ZXuNd_enYw2aC0/s1600/endless+icons.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="201" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6Q5Hp-rJo8ndi6hyCze76HuHUyyf9RS7TQRwK0eWqRGFvLRNOVoBP6d_g-vjm3d1PARjbHla5fsgqj4F-Xo_XGuyjsP5yovo1-wMePJ3MdvDgIcnea3Bwh6KuZMGhd-ZXuNd_enYw2aC0/s400/endless+icons.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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From <a href="http://www.1001freefonts.com/">1001 Free Fonts</a>:<br />
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Appleberry<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvS9qkYsBKZru68nj6J7xSKhq0Smpl6Jtrtz4RyU4KUFhRyjqKgw5oB78_fqq_4V7j6v48pAoFbu4b3kObySyahrGBUS4M7SmWv-GO9SN3GKgrWfp8lPnYR95Kd5wybQzctZMzQAQuwTcx/s1600/appleberry.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="73" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvS9qkYsBKZru68nj6J7xSKhq0Smpl6Jtrtz4RyU4KUFhRyjqKgw5oB78_fqq_4V7j6v48pAoFbu4b3kObySyahrGBUS4M7SmWv-GO9SN3GKgrWfp8lPnYR95Kd5wybQzctZMzQAQuwTcx/s320/appleberry.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<a href="http://www.1001freefonts.com/decorative-fonts-4.php">Coal Train</a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh25wOM5qtdXXI37R8oyn1lQUoYxJyoHs65HVx6Vp-rKUfbzuegJ3_n4_YdlGSIaUNuVuPnFeOygjYSucOVx-SQVx8eYYGFFH5GrWGT9wvxEs4zAIbvugnFO5Y8WyyALOYG5och5zLyUJNY/s1600/coal+train.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="55" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh25wOM5qtdXXI37R8oyn1lQUoYxJyoHs65HVx6Vp-rKUfbzuegJ3_n4_YdlGSIaUNuVuPnFeOygjYSucOVx-SQVx8eYYGFFH5GrWGT9wvxEs4zAIbvugnFO5Y8WyyALOYG5och5zLyUJNY/s320/coal+train.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
From <a href="http://www.fontsquirrel.com/">Font Squirrel:</a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIXSH3eocbrpvpZrtH9Qx4faszlaV8ajsCfUBGeZaAz94DFT864QM62ZC6RiXkMITOZer9ZOwLTHa4MP5hJ5HCtwZjaceipdesDxgHOz8qKbow03ywp4Het10ixy9ZmroEb4SiWS4ujPEn/s1600/stmarie.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="52" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIXSH3eocbrpvpZrtH9Qx4faszlaV8ajsCfUBGeZaAz94DFT864QM62ZC6RiXkMITOZer9ZOwLTHa4MP5hJ5HCtwZjaceipdesDxgHOz8qKbow03ywp4Het10ixy9ZmroEb4SiWS4ujPEn/s640/stmarie.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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Front Da Font:<br />
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<a href="http://www.dafont.com/new.php?page=6">Blue Oasis</a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_wszxLbbgtVVL1Z68YHUpE5xSZqG73Y6qKU7M6F5I5LjIJfVXjLXSpyTdsKMhgPPb8AqY-at9AdAUGqtoLaMSV6uwoObxszWJvwIr2JKaIu9ZUx3x7bH564slJSsRvnJuanPO_Nvfl9og/s1600/blueoasis.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="71" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_wszxLbbgtVVL1Z68YHUpE5xSZqG73Y6qKU7M6F5I5LjIJfVXjLXSpyTdsKMhgPPb8AqY-at9AdAUGqtoLaMSV6uwoObxszWJvwIr2JKaIu9ZUx3x7bH564slJSsRvnJuanPO_Nvfl9og/s320/blueoasis.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />Tiffanyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05079264005458258819noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8854438359204380427.post-25408400071459554862012-10-26T12:09:00.001-05:002012-10-26T12:09:21.970-05:00How To Get More Facebook Fans<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A common problem. You have gone to all the trouble to create a Facebook fan page, you invited all your friends, you are posting regularly; but your fan number has plateaued. Read this blog about creative ways to increase your following!</span><br />
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<b><a href="http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/facebook-page-likes/"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">10 Ways to Grow Your Facebook Following</span></a></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">By Andrea Vahl</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Published October 23, 2012 </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Has your Facebook Page growth stalled?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Now is a good time to examine your Facebook activities, cutting out what isn’t working and expanding what works.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Here are ten tips to help grow your Facebook community.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">#1: Connect With Other Page Managers</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This is a powerful tactic to a make a live connection with other Page admins who have a similar demographic to yours and cross-promote each other.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So if you are an ice cream store with a Facebook Page, make a live connection with the pizza parlor in your neighborhood that draws the same clientele (you may already know the owner of the pizza parlor). Then talk to him or her about doing a little Facebook cross-promotion and share each others posts with your audiences every once in a while.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Joint ventures also help forge these meaningful connections. Host a webinar with another company that has a similar audience. This can be a great way to become visible to their audience.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAfDWeYjiWeOAxZTR4KrHMjuuuusBXdkleNVDEM6n6S5ltxmuytc9aDUqZqTuK_q_-7hpdY6V-ogpibb_gASfqA3NHfxMY-7MCxpOY44epgbonxu3qZiC3yjQYcr7XIgU485TQrWjR0doK/s1600/av-meaningful-connections-webtrends.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAfDWeYjiWeOAxZTR4KrHMjuuuusBXdkleNVDEM6n6S5ltxmuytc9aDUqZqTuK_q_-7hpdY6V-ogpibb_gASfqA3NHfxMY-7MCxpOY44epgbonxu3qZiC3yjQYcr7XIgU485TQrWjR0doK/s1600/av-meaningful-connections-webtrends.png" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">When you make a meaningful connection, you can cross-promote to each others' audiences.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">#2: Share Original Content</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Content is still king and when people share your content, your Page name travels with it. Think of new ways you can add original photos as part of your content.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Maybe it’s a screenshot from a hot tip. Or maybe it’s a photo from something happening behind the scenes at your business that you ask people to caption. Or you can add an inspirational or thought-provoking quote to a photo.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Just make sure you are following photo copyright laws. Notice how this photo is also branded with the name of the blog.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhBJzs4VMwLc3MAjZCkkKTjbI9jv7iCh0ta9naBs4dJnJzjm_0YAChewzemPFi-R7Mlha9jqC4X4-t4LK4i0nPKuF4_sL1RrqQ-WwqZwSuw7ZBNv01Rc36JChPwifMrEmfgpXRDx7lYbGe/s1600/av-original-content.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhBJzs4VMwLc3MAjZCkkKTjbI9jv7iCh0ta9naBs4dJnJzjm_0YAChewzemPFi-R7Mlha9jqC4X4-t4LK4i0nPKuF4_sL1RrqQ-WwqZwSuw7ZBNv01Rc36JChPwifMrEmfgpXRDx7lYbGe/s1600/av-original-content.png" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Your Facebook Page name and original comments will travel with shared photos.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">#3: Tag Your Page From Your Personal Profile</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Make sure it’s easy for your friends to like your Page. As we know, Pages are not being seen as much in the news feed, so what is a page owner to do?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I recommend you post about your business occasionally on your Personal Profile. If you tag your Business Page (type “@” and then start typing your Page name until you can select it from the drop-down menu that appears) rather than share the status, people who mouse over your Page name in your post can easily like the Page right from your update.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5dWRFKGZ-GQRdu5EAh-7v6BZyHTVkb_gqLqIP1CDQFs56ofOiI7Xpvz2e7xekMyKF9QPo145O92G2_AyMjfIPq4kANswQnNn-o24SqNtdac8AFrcwF6O6jH9qdEFjiwOZZ1jezrA51I6S/s1600/av-tagged-status-update.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5dWRFKGZ-GQRdu5EAh-7v6BZyHTVkb_gqLqIP1CDQFs56ofOiI7Xpvz2e7xekMyKF9QPo145O92G2_AyMjfIPq4kANswQnNn-o24SqNtdac8AFrcwF6O6jH9qdEFjiwOZZ1jezrA51I6S/s1600/av-tagged-status-update.png" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">When you tag your Page, it's easier for people to like it without leaving the news feed.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">#4: Link Your Profile to Your Page</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This is a very simple thing to do, yet I see so many people skipping this step. If users are searching and finding your Personal Profile on Facebook, you want to make it as easy as possible for users to find your Business Page as well.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">When people list where they work and it’s not properly linked to their Facebook Page, a strange “Community Page” is created with that same name and it has a suitcase icon. Then people start liking that Community Page rather than your real Facebook Page.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">All you need to do is to delete the Community Page from your Work and Education section in your About area (click Edit in the About section), then add in the correct Facebook Page.</span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPamQWV0pjH1TTPmHPPfw1UK6IiqQnQm1aE1aaeL12ZwO_JZeF-901fCjkF8j3I4_5OpBQz0DxiluPoM5RPFE2AzyxCLfrzBXFKFL1aMHnc6EKpzM24lYOwRLsubYwnPO7qXGdI85NxwMa/s1600/av-link-your-profile.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPamQWV0pjH1TTPmHPPfw1UK6IiqQnQm1aE1aaeL12ZwO_JZeF-901fCjkF8j3I4_5OpBQz0DxiluPoM5RPFE2AzyxCLfrzBXFKFL1aMHnc6EKpzM24lYOwRLsubYwnPO7qXGdI85NxwMa/s1600/av-link-your-profile.png" /></span></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjk7mF4INv6c45_ZJzhb_J07g-AD6S7FC64k2mgbxOVpM5X7TUZdGI8094L8SetzbS-R86RLt5xnyoS-cFbZiRnBfd6chFeHA3MCVhoEc5p3kgA1E8Jegg0jhcLhsi5rEm-zMig_TdxcAo9/s1600/av-link-your-profile-edit.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjk7mF4INv6c45_ZJzhb_J07g-AD6S7FC64k2mgbxOVpM5X7TUZdGI8094L8SetzbS-R86RLt5xnyoS-cFbZiRnBfd6chFeHA3MCVhoEc5p3kgA1E8Jegg0jhcLhsi5rEm-zMig_TdxcAo9/s1600/av-link-your-profile-edit.png" /></span></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGpbKVUDtBPKxXUo8U7xsg4QoY8sHEAN3CbIx-78pzdJx10qfr-sImteQLi3FSnHgX2fgLrDlkq3gawxCFGRrmai7sBLQw7FxiWBAJe5ExePtVkG1KhqcExejRsH1FtctNARuQnfiWxqR4/s1600/av-link-your-profile-page-name.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGpbKVUDtBPKxXUo8U7xsg4QoY8sHEAN3CbIx-78pzdJx10qfr-sImteQLi3FSnHgX2fgLrDlkq3gawxCFGRrmai7sBLQw7FxiWBAJe5ExePtVkG1KhqcExejRsH1FtctNARuQnfiWxqR4/s1600/av-link-your-profile-page-name.png" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Your profile should be linked to your Facebook Page.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Click your About section on your Profile, then Edit in the Work and Education area.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Start typing the name of your Facebook Page and select your Page from the drop-down menu.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">#5: Add Facebook in Your Email Signature</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">How many emails do you send each day? Again, this is not rocket science—just consider this tip as your gentle reminder to add a link to your Page in your email signature. Many email programs such as Gmail make it easy to customize your email signature with clickable icons.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7yLRZfnHbM3gGfYC434mncrVwiM5j6e4vsb-jaGC9PGcrtapQmyBeMEmpGT1Jl6_HbtQzu7BuwaqSFn3CncmBfj2o6gvxr3J0rHWxT7g4wEJjkxAOCgc8T-7mYcmj2Vyh2xgz5v19TIdd/s1600/av-clickable-icons.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7yLRZfnHbM3gGfYC434mncrVwiM5j6e4vsb-jaGC9PGcrtapQmyBeMEmpGT1Jl6_HbtQzu7BuwaqSFn3CncmBfj2o6gvxr3J0rHWxT7g4wEJjkxAOCgc8T-7mYcmj2Vyh2xgz5v19TIdd/s1600/av-clickable-icons.png" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Get fancy in Gmail by adding clickable icons.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Or you can use WiseStamp to make your email signature stand out.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">#6: Comment (Thoughtfully) on Other Pages as Your Page</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This is a great way to get more exposure for your Business Page with a target audience. Participate on other Pages where your audience is already having conversations. Find complementary Facebook Pages and like them as your Page, then watch your Page home feed and comment on the posts.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Use Facebook as your business the same way you use it personally: by interacting and having conversations as your Page.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Remember to add to the conversation and authentically build relationships. That will lead to those meaningful connections I mentioned in point #1.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This activity takes time and you may find that you only have 10 minutes a week to do this. But it’s a good habit to get into to get more visibility for your Page.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjStX8FqoO8DoPadVBE6d6aTl9AslDFpKYBr6_v3D0rCWaqDehh2QK7s-DazcSjqNRSFvBW0bfBQCr3JXpJ68MHDQTguV_xf9rqNiBxB8mHqveJpDonUSE4OnSvHNKmocCkBhDui9sEM43I/s1600/av-comment-on-other-pages.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjStX8FqoO8DoPadVBE6d6aTl9AslDFpKYBr6_v3D0rCWaqDehh2QK7s-DazcSjqNRSFvBW0bfBQCr3JXpJ68MHDQTguV_xf9rqNiBxB8mHqveJpDonUSE4OnSvHNKmocCkBhDui9sEM43I/s1600/av-comment-on-other-pages.png" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">When you like other Pages as your Page, click Home to see your own Page's news feed and then make comments from time to time on those other Pages.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">#7: Run a Contest</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Running a contest can be a great way to get new likes on your Business Page. It does cost some money to run a contest, but hopefully you have a marketing budget for your business.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Many of the apps that are available for Facebook contests (and you MUST run a Facebook contest through an app) are not too expensive and are easy to set up yourself.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Running a contest is also a great way to promote your product or service in a fun way. Running a contest with a like-gate on your contest app also gives you the ability to make sure people like your Page before they enter. And it’s a great way to get folks on your email list to come over to your Page to like you and enter your contest. Who’s the winner here? It’s you.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIPJel22aI1OdBoNVqNfWEuCmi_32oeGHzSqFgol6ZCiNIk84VGbV3GyqI5kWyL5ftvixqZTwZ8uYvlqHVBmach1uMertiwNsqx-FkaJOK7EEMz-3pn-wMwCcYxi83Hk4MEUXFJY-tJTRj/s1600/av-vitamin-burst-contest.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIPJel22aI1OdBoNVqNfWEuCmi_32oeGHzSqFgol6ZCiNIk84VGbV3GyqI5kWyL5ftvixqZTwZ8uYvlqHVBmach1uMertiwNsqx-FkaJOK7EEMz-3pn-wMwCcYxi83Hk4MEUXFJY-tJTRj/s1600/av-vitamin-burst-contest.png" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Promote your product and get new likes on Facebook.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">#8: Add a QR Code to Your Business Card</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">How many business cards do you give out? Make it easy for the people you have connected with in person to connect with your Page. Creating a QR code is easy and free at sites like Kaywa and QRStuff.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Use the link for your Facebook Page and you have automatically created a QR code that you can add to the back of your business card.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">#9: Advertise Your Page on Facebook</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Today there are many options for advertising on Facebook. To get the best value for generating new likes for your Page, I would suggest you use a Sponsored Like Story. This will advertise your Page to friends of your current fans and give social proof in the ad by showcasing that the user’s friend likes your Page.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Sponsored Like Stories can be a bit cheaper to run, but you won’t have any ad copy to help convert people into fans. Hopefully seeing that their friend likes you is a sufficiently compelling reason.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Your Sponsored Like Story will be targeting the friends of your fans, but you can also use the regular Facebook targeting features to narrow the audience to your perfect demographic.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It’s easy to create your ad and limit your budget so you know how well it works before spending an arm and a leg.</span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYBKDuOMc2ZD5xwhjvCBPYeq0AZHA3mhqoTBnSNdDPxwAuZAiM3NcmLgQK94SrBq7gRtuPdJP5ZEllh-UJL0t5Vm5owN50bfSliVzvo61Tt3MZ5tvHcw1wt3cZs2euup7deqH9SYjYkwdt/s1600/av-sponsored-stories.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYBKDuOMc2ZD5xwhjvCBPYeq0AZHA3mhqoTBnSNdDPxwAuZAiM3NcmLgQK94SrBq7gRtuPdJP5ZEllh-UJL0t5Vm5owN50bfSliVzvo61Tt3MZ5tvHcw1wt3cZs2euup7deqH9SYjYkwdt/s1600/av-sponsored-stories.png" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Use a Sponsored Like Story as an easy way to get new likes for your Page.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">#10: Add a Like Box to Your Website</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In the Business Pages I have seen, a Like Box is one of the largest sources of likes for the Page if the website gets good traffic. It’s very easy to add a Like Box—just go to the Facebook Developers site, add the URL of your Facebook Page, configure the settings for how you want your Like Box to appear and click Get Code.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">You will now have a choice among HTML5, XFBML, iFrame or URL. For most WordPress sites, you can choose HTML5, XFBML or iFrame for your code. But your WordPress theme may affect your choice. In this case, the easiest thing to do is to paste the code into a text widget on your sidebar.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZjEYpXkHt7X6Bf_iWu1aHFlsyTy51EP_VBQzOS8PX0It7e4Uw4qNv8jQZIVEZ8dTHNEFfkuyg3cWZROR7JGGLH4sRTU2XyRGiAG5qqzkCbI3lzqw3dnk-RnEsd7tBPHLanWbzzG8jnf_-/s1600/av-like-box-code.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZjEYpXkHt7X6Bf_iWu1aHFlsyTy51EP_VBQzOS8PX0It7e4Uw4qNv8jQZIVEZ8dTHNEFfkuyg3cWZROR7JGGLH4sRTU2XyRGiAG5qqzkCbI3lzqw3dnk-RnEsd7tBPHLanWbzzG8jnf_-/s1600/av-like-box-code.png" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Use the Facebook Developer site to get your Like Box code.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Finally: Watch what is working.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Know where your likes are coming from and do more of that. Do some tracking by using link shorteners such as bitly to drive traffic to your Facebook Page and see how many clicks you get.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Dive into your Facebook Insights and click on the likes link to see your sources of likes. Many of these you can’t control, but at least you can be informed about your statistics and know what is currently working for you.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><iframe bordercolor="#000000" frameborder="0" height="320" hspace="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://ad.doubleclick.net/adi/N7433.148119.BLOGGEREN/B6676345.530;sz=320x320;ord=[timestamp]?;lid=41000000028007181;pid=UBM9780470942307;usg=AFHzDLvJ9NhOi0YJi9htweZ3B14Cbq5U_A;adurl=http%253A%252F%252Fwww.cdsbooksdvds.com%252Fproduct.jhtm%253Fsku%253DUBM9780470942307;pubid=573420;imgsrc=http%3A%2F%2Fc376106.r6.cf1.rackcdn.com%2F9780470942307.jpg;width=254;height=320" vspace="0" width="320"></iframe><iframe bordercolor="#000000" frameborder="0" height="320" hspace="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://ad.doubleclick.net/adi/N7433.148119.BLOGGEREN/B6676345.532;sz=320x320;ord=[timestamp]?;lid=41000000028007181;pid=UBM9781118107409;usg=AFHzDLttwmGMLXhTM-BKq7PG5-8yA0vahA;adurl=http%253A%252F%252Fwww.cdsbooksdvds.com%252Fproduct.jhtm%253Fsku%253DUBM9781118107409;pubid=573420;imgsrc=http%3A%2F%2Fc381226.r26.cf1.rackcdn.com%2F9781118107409.jpg;width=250;height=320" vspace="0" width="320"></iframe><br /></span>
Tiffanyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05079264005458258819noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8854438359204380427.post-65445630902079140292012-10-26T11:29:00.003-05:002012-10-26T11:29:40.953-05:00Seven Ways to Get Great Customer Testimonials<br />
<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">One of the biggest mistakes we make with our customers is not asking for referrals or testimonials. Consumers are quick to post a negative review when they have a bad experience, but will rarely take the time to post a review when they have a positive experience. Given a little suggestion or incentive we can encourage more positive reviews.</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.marketingprofs.com/articles/2012/9180/seven-ways-to-get-great-customer-testimonials?adref=nl102312">Seven Ways to Get Great Customer Testimonials</a></span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">by Sue Duris | 13,704 views</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Published on October 23, 2012 </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I recently asked a marketing director about customer testimonials on his company website. He openly said, "The testimonials aren't real, I made them up. Everybody else does it, so why can't we?"</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">My second thought, after "Two wrongs don't make a right," was "Aren't you in the business of building trust? What does that say about your company?"</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A company builds trust in three ways: the way it creates and delivers products, its values, and how it communicates its values into the marketplace.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">One thing that's common to all those is putting the customer No. 1; and to do that, having empathy for the customer is vital. Empathy is all about putting yourself in their shoes: What are their pain points? What are their motivators? What do they consider great customer service?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">That third point, what customers consider great customer service, is the basis of any great customer testimonials.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Testimonials can be inbound (customers want to provide testimonials, participate in a case study, be a reference, etc.) or outbound (we approach our customer to give that great "thumbs up").</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The following are seven ways we, as marketers, can make it easy to get great customer testimonials.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">1. Build and deliver great products</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Everything starts with having great products. As Seth Godin noted at a recent Art of Marketing conference, "the product must be worth making a remark about."</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">While you are on your journey to build and deliver great products, do you always keep the customer in mind?</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">2. Involve customers in your beta-test program</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The beta test is a great time to engage current and prospective customers: It's great for prospects because they typically get your product at a reduced rate and get to provide input on how to make the product better. It's great for you because you get to build deeper relationships. In short, it is a great way to get prospective customers in the door.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">3. Ensure customers are looped into your feedback mechanism</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Offer the feedback channel on your website, surveying customers about current and future product features and functionality, instructing them how to communicate with you, and the like.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Consider creating customer focus groups or even a Customer Council so that your customers can help you choose your direction and the focus of your strategy. I attended a recent CMO panel discussion, and the consensus among the CMOs was that in the future customers will be more directly involved in strategy and product development.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Always take the lead to check in with your customers on how things are going for them. If you don't, and there are issues, customers are more than tech-savvy enough to launch negative reviews of their own.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">4. Offer value-adds</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Provide your customers newsletters and blogs packed with information, such as techniques and tools to help them use your products more effectively. Explain new features and benefits, and cover news that affects them, as well as ideas to help them be more productive in their jobs. The sky is the limit here.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">One caveat is to keep promotions about your company at a minimum: 90% value to your customer and 10% promotion about you is a good guideline.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Not every customer is the same, so consider segmenting your customer base to deliver the information they want to see.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">You may want to consider providing your customers with an extranet, where they can log in to engage with you on service activities, view account information, and download thought leadership resources and other items.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Remember: The content you provide is paramount, so keep your customers' pain points and motivators top of mind as you produce thought-provoking information they will thank you for.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">5. Offer social options to your customers to engage with you</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Engaging and offering value are the two requisites you should keep in mind with social media. If you focus on those two actions, your customers will be coming back for more.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Every point at which you touch your customer online should reference your social media buttons. Interact with customers on your company's Facebook page and LinkedIn groups, ask and answer engaging Q&A questions, including on your company page and your company's Quora page. You get the idea...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Don't stop at social media of likes of Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Google+, and Quora. Also consider niche websites like SpiceWorks (IT professionals), Production Hub (film and video production), and others. And don't forget about local search sites like those of Google and Yahoo, City Search, etc.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">6. Solicit customer testimonials in a fun way</span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Have you considered offering a prize for the funniest 30-second customer testimonial video on your YouTube account? Or perhaps soliciting testimonials around an event or holiday, like the Fourth of July or Christmas? Think of creativity and content as your two-pronged attack here. Perhaps the prize could be that you would do a case study on your customer. (I love case studies, because they are a win for both you and your customer.)</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">7. 'The Ask' becomes stress-free</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If you keep your customers' welfare top of mind, "the ask" will seem stress-free. It may even turn out to be fun.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Give your customers options such as a testimonial, case study, reference, or even a quote for an article, press release, or whitepaper. Let your customer be your guide to help you determine which route to take.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Then really think about the intent of the testimonial: What do you want it to say? You'd likely want to position your company and your customer as thought leaders. You want to know that your customer thinks your company or product is good, but you also want to know why and how it is good.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In short, what do you want the message say about you and your customer? Think "forward-looking."</span><br />
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<iframe bordercolor="#000000" frameborder="0" height="320" hspace="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://ad.doubleclick.net/adi/N7433.148119.BLOGGEREN/B6676345.529;sz=320x320;ord=[timestamp]?;lid=41000000028007181;pid=UBM9780789747099;usg=AFHzDLubeTxpW4M_iGj5OQ6ahlBZPs-eeA;adurl=http%253A%252F%252Fwww.cdsbooksdvds.com%252Fproduct.jhtm%253Fsku%253DUBM9780789747099;pubid=573420;imgsrc=http%3A%2F%2Fc380916.r16.cf1.rackcdn.com%2F9780789747099.jpg;width=214;height=320" vspace="0" width="320"></iframe><iframe bordercolor="#000000" frameborder="0" height="320" hspace="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://ad.doubleclick.net/adi/N7433.148119.BLOGGEREN/B6676345.531;sz=320x320;ord=[timestamp]?;lid=41000000028007181;pid=UBM9781562865900;usg=AFHzDLu7bmv6d_CMb5Y06TMuqTiskYtmYA;adurl=http%253A%252F%252Fwww.cdsbooksdvds.com%252Fproduct.jhtm%253Fsku%253DUBM9781562865900;pubid=573420;imgsrc=http%3A%2F%2Fc379711.r11.cf1.rackcdn.com%2F9781562865900.jpg;width=216;height=320" vspace="0" width="320"></iframe><br />
Tiffanyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05079264005458258819noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8854438359204380427.post-24561845280026791162012-10-25T23:01:00.000-05:002012-10-25T23:01:07.175-05:00Free Design Vectors!<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Here are new free vectors!</span><br />
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<a href="http://www.vecteezy.com/vector-icons/51513-free-vector-of-the-day--189--halloween-elements"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Free Vector of the Day #189: Halloween Elements</span></a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgA15TL6Gr2n-ILI43wuHVQT6dPuwLMaQVrySGcf0y-psy5lJkO1ttfRZKdvJ1gcmOI9zsT1nNTYSTKDADtdR9ms6Tw7N-NOCahM-383YIbwHB3bouFvEMmqeXvcfDXdfZYVHtOfMH1aiMT/s1600/free-vector-of-the-day-189-halloween-elements.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgA15TL6Gr2n-ILI43wuHVQT6dPuwLMaQVrySGcf0y-psy5lJkO1ttfRZKdvJ1gcmOI9zsT1nNTYSTKDADtdR9ms6Tw7N-NOCahM-383YIbwHB3bouFvEMmqeXvcfDXdfZYVHtOfMH1aiMT/s1600/free-vector-of-the-day-189-halloween-elements.jpg" /></span></a></div>
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<a href="http://www.vecteezy.com/abstract/51116-glow-colors-abstract-vector"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Glow Colors Abstract Vector</span></a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHwzfcgg7sYfdoJkBUjAndUvP7ILiaPplGz7uKqQT4X2eTjcyI8RbFHhnyc3HmA8DH5V0sUDY8cvx22Kahtr23seNyqoWTcXUzmB_EjkA3j3SfJJq6BGGKNmKfaKqhwUpGl6XpP71p3k8z/s1600/glow-colors.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHwzfcgg7sYfdoJkBUjAndUvP7ILiaPplGz7uKqQT4X2eTjcyI8RbFHhnyc3HmA8DH5V0sUDY8cvx22Kahtr23seNyqoWTcXUzmB_EjkA3j3SfJJq6BGGKNmKfaKqhwUpGl6XpP71p3k8z/s1600/glow-colors.jpg" /></span></a></div>
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<a href="http://www.freevectors.net/details/Free+Retro+Vector+Illustration"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Free Retro Vector Illustration</span></a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9hIzdKtHxQlCSw29RmFxc21GXaOJJrXfNW3C2faNns7WLqPoAuoh5n1R_FK1tuRbzqiDD57eUb4KOogv2gfIOQV99iM3VAbmYB2RSZWAd3OOFOH9lsvC7JwYCnaIN79X-mXg7_iBQvGqy/s1600/FreeRetroVectorIllustration.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9hIzdKtHxQlCSw29RmFxc21GXaOJJrXfNW3C2faNns7WLqPoAuoh5n1R_FK1tuRbzqiDD57eUb4KOogv2gfIOQV99iM3VAbmYB2RSZWAd3OOFOH9lsvC7JwYCnaIN79X-mXg7_iBQvGqy/s1600/FreeRetroVectorIllustration.jpg" /></span></a></div>
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<a href="http://qvectors.net/abstract-vectors/abstract-vector-background/"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Abstract Vector Background</span></a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXh4LCf2Fu6OM1rqlBrE2cl8gM9Mow6z43zwXWHpd3OvEiLu9tA3l62JYvdZTV0pskaJ5qUD8divgLD9EFZYC8LPouhfu5hIfH6YlpGI_zbI5QVDpt1LXtd2qHlI3cjPOGk5SVLwY0QMzn/s1600/Abstract-Vector-Background-preview.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="122" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXh4LCf2Fu6OM1rqlBrE2cl8gM9Mow6z43zwXWHpd3OvEiLu9tA3l62JYvdZTV0pskaJ5qUD8divgLD9EFZYC8LPouhfu5hIfH6YlpGI_zbI5QVDpt1LXtd2qHlI3cjPOGk5SVLwY0QMzn/s320/Abstract-Vector-Background-preview.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<iframe bordercolor="#000000" frameborder="0" height="320" hspace="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://ad.doubleclick.net/adi/N7433.148119.BLOGGEREN/B6696757.271;sz=320x320;ord=[timestamp]?;lid=41000000024781945;pid=sku5644107;usg=AFHzDLtbHq8-uSiYBGhoNcs9yPNoTaw8iQ;adurl=http%253A%252F%252Fwww.samsclub.com%252Fsams%252Fadobe-photoshop-elements-10%252Fprod5210191.ip%253Fpid%253D_DoubleClick_Affiliates%2526ci_src%253D15781033%2526ci_sku%253Dsku5644107;pubid=573420;imgsrc=http%3A%2F%2Fs7d2.scene7.com%2Fis%2Fimage%2Fsamsclub%2Fs7product%2F0088391922681_A.jpg;width=320;height=320" vspace="0" width="320"></iframe><br />Tiffanyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05079264005458258819noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8854438359204380427.post-7734817519745382892012-10-25T15:09:00.002-05:002012-10-25T15:09:38.953-05:00The New Consumer Decision Journey<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It is way past time to throw out the old funnel model of consumer decision making. With the abundance of instantly accessed information on products and services, as well as the relationship cultivating via social media, the process has changed. This is a great infographic and explanation from <a href="http://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20121018110732-1816165-the-funnel-is-dead-the-new-consumer-decision-journey">David Edelman</a>. </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyOonKL1Go3npRvU1d4MljglPMfDYe8gj3x3_JO529LTHcpXr0rWKc16iY4YP1tSOUrhw2htaQNP3Qr9tvSJ1XvjCHuyjfsXMxHQ5XTpqg1hfGCLgqyDUa1p8CgY9Oy9fQVr5Kf_B-RiYW/s1600/223439c.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyOonKL1Go3npRvU1d4MljglPMfDYe8gj3x3_JO529LTHcpXr0rWKc16iY4YP1tSOUrhw2htaQNP3Qr9tvSJ1XvjCHuyjfsXMxHQ5XTpqg1hfGCLgqyDUa1p8CgY9Oy9fQVr5Kf_B-RiYW/s1600/223439c.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Here is a graphic I use all the time to describe the consumer decision journey (CDJ). I like to say that the funnel is dead, because it’s outdated. Today’s consumer takes a much more complex iterative path thru and beyond purchase. The classic funnel shows an ever-narrowing array of decisions and choices until purchase, when in fact the channel-surfing customer today often is expanding the set of choices and decisions after consideration. Just as importantly, treats the post-purchase process with the same level of importance as the pre-purchase journey.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It’s a pretty simple concept really but clients like it because this visual highlights and isolates the most important aspects of the journey.</span><br />
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<li><b style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Consider:</b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> What brands/products do consumers have in mind as they contemplate a purchase?</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Evaluate:</b> Consumers gather information to narrow their choices.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Buy:</b> Consumers decide on a brand and buy it.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Post-purchase:</b> Consumers reflect on the buying experience, creating expectations/considerations that will inform a subsequent purchase</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Advocate:</b> Consumers tell others about the product or service they bought.</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This visualization of the journey helps focus conversations on where to spend money, where the opportunities are, what sorts of people and processes you need to deliver on them, where you’re weak and your competitors strong. It’s incredible the conversations I’ve had where clients realize they’re over-spending in one stage of the journey or under-spending in another. The CDJ approach helps clarify the issues that are undermining your brand, or where your brand has an opportunity to grow. You can read more about it in this article.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">What part of the consumer decision journey is critical to your brand?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><iframe bordercolor="#000000" frameborder="0" height="320" hspace="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://ad.doubleclick.net/adi/N7433.148119.BLOGGEREN/B6676345.453;sz=320x320;ord=[timestamp]?;lid=41000000028007181;pid=UBM9780749440220;usg=AFHzDLvM3jyHoAG41kSiJBQy7vp67H6nsA;adurl=http%253A%252F%252Fwww.cdsbooksdvds.com%252Fproduct.jhtm%253Fsku%253DUBM9780749440220;pubid=573420;imgsrc=http%3A%2F%2Fc374016.r16.cf1.rackcdn.com%2F9780749440220.jpg;width=211;height=320" vspace="0" width="320"></iframe><iframe bordercolor="#000000" frameborder="0" height="320" hspace="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://ad.doubleclick.net/adi/N7433.148119.BLOGGEREN/B6676345.501;sz=320x320;ord=[timestamp]?;lid=41000000028007181;pid=UBM9780073404769;usg=AFHzDLt8y1Zf-9yaGgKdl9FE9891-cbQcw;adurl=http%253A%252F%252Fwww.cdsbooksdvds.com%252Fproduct.jhtm%253Fsku%253DUBM9780073404769;pubid=573420;imgsrc=http%3A%2F%2Fc378576.r76.cf1.rackcdn.com%2F9780073404769.jpg;width=256;height=320" vspace="0" width="320"></iframe><br /></span>
Tiffanyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05079264005458258819noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8854438359204380427.post-58226626972678174612012-10-25T13:42:00.003-05:002012-10-25T13:42:45.404-05:00Tips for Marketing on Google+<br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Great tips for Google+ marketing:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/google-plus-to-boost-your-marketing/">5 Tips for Using Google+ to Boost Your Marketing</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">By Jason Miller</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Published October 18, 2012 </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Are you wondering how to best use Google+ to enhance your marketing?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Google+ is quickly becoming an essential part of any business’s social media strategy.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It boasts a cool 250 million users! And this number is sure to grow very quickly as Google is making a Google+ account mandatory for all Gmail users.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It’s an audience marketers cannot ignore.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDZVYz-f0uoIgJNl2po2-g8EMkzkUel3x8FxHFWOLJPFu2ge91LkVE91nAP8TEuh3H4t53bH8AXDdhwdcaImFUTzDM0IAFJEGsEv1gOfD9WzaUcoF_DuzYkz2SrcjMdYRQ83Ama6IPd6eK/s1600/jm-google-plus.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDZVYz-f0uoIgJNl2po2-g8EMkzkUel3x8FxHFWOLJPFu2ge91LkVE91nAP8TEuh3H4t53bH8AXDdhwdcaImFUTzDM0IAFJEGsEv1gOfD9WzaUcoF_DuzYkz2SrcjMdYRQ83Ama6IPd6eK/s1600/jm-google-plus.png" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Google+ can help people learn about what makes your business tick -- your products, promotions, hours and anything else you want to share.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Google+ also plays a major role in search engine optimization (SEO) by making it easier for marketers to show up in search results—yet another reason to include Google+ in your social media strategy.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Here are five simple ways to give your business an almost immediate boost using Google+.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>#1: Include Keywords and Relevant Links on Your About Page</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>The About page is a fantastic opportunity to give a quick overview of your business.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">You can also link back to specific pages and services from this page, directing potential customers to the most important pages on your website.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It’s important to have a balance of marketing-savvy copy that’s also SEO-friendly. So make sure to include information that searchers will want to know about your company.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPcxXnqp5b0kkC8ZdJpDggJFNWR9ebIlYZGYCIThPYscLdLpuY5vK6HqJnpEj8e5k1li-Hcv0BsIQDQMOcLsvfdoQkhLJ5awK6r1oRJwk1os3lD2eBbydZ9bM6AlhgC67wUBsh3Yyd5xwj/s1600/jm-keywords-link-opportunities.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPcxXnqp5b0kkC8ZdJpDggJFNWR9ebIlYZGYCIThPYscLdLpuY5vK6HqJnpEj8e5k1li-Hcv0BsIQDQMOcLsvfdoQkhLJ5awK6r1oRJwk1os3lD2eBbydZ9bM6AlhgC67wUBsh3Yyd5xwj/s1600/jm-keywords-link-opportunities.png" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Include keywords and links relevant to your business on the About page.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Take advantage of the fact that Google+ allows you to use bullets in your description, which makes it simple to create an easy-to-read list of your products and services.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">You can also include links to specific pages and a contact form.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Test and track different variations to see what works best for your business.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>#2: Connect With Your Whole Audience Using Google+ Events</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Google recently announced the Events feature which allows Google+ users to send out customized invitations to anyone regardless of whether they are Google+ users. It syncs beautifully with Google Calendar and shows up automatically when a user confirms for an event.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In addition to sending out invites to webinars, work functions, parties, etc., Google Events can also send out invites for Google+ Hangouts.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This could be the catalyst to get your business on board with Hangouts or increase the awareness and attendance of the events you’re already hosting.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0RLw93v_ALQaxQhzWwHyU5dX8r-1u0XSFSrJ9m5r3QXmaYWaSfwCGr16UckPqfHJ1CZAt13FokJNwU01uVNMPzhwGf58sEOyUVTOrKRk3P1Jh7aiTDt9LHQUgzT912nOrGn7jCPt2czw-/s1600/jm-event-tool.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0RLw93v_ALQaxQhzWwHyU5dX8r-1u0XSFSrJ9m5r3QXmaYWaSfwCGr16UckPqfHJ1CZAt13FokJNwU01uVNMPzhwGf58sEOyUVTOrKRk3P1Jh7aiTDt9LHQUgzT912nOrGn7jCPt2czw-/s1600/jm-event-tool.png" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">You can use the Event Tool to send invitations for Hangouts as well as other events.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The “Party Mode” feature of Events allows everyone in attendance to instantly upload pictures into the same album using the Google+ mobile app, creating a living, real-time photo journal of a specific time and place. You can then show the photos off in chronological order as a slideshow, all within Google+.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>#3: Post Often and Optimize for Best Search Results</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Google’s Social Search results are more relevant when they take into account your social connections. That makes it important to include keywords within your posts so that they will show up in your followers’ search results.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Google’s search algorithm includes personalized search results specifically pulled from Google+ activity. The more relevant and content-based your Google+ posts are, the more search results you are likely to show up in.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_w3zCFlbPcXUzXcBTxHP84cyoYDHHkwlF0lt_EpegR-R7EtbOxggp-q6DUYZv5OFT1m6fEzxf4Ck9zF_E4IV4P_wVW3bCD9dHgTl2uB07y4_6sjXKVGH3b2yWaKGI4-TuZgajH_qsBe5o/s1600/jm-b2b-marketing.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_w3zCFlbPcXUzXcBTxHP84cyoYDHHkwlF0lt_EpegR-R7EtbOxggp-q6DUYZv5OFT1m6fEzxf4Ck9zF_E4IV4P_wVW3bCD9dHgTl2uB07y4_6sjXKVGH3b2yWaKGI4-TuZgajH_qsBe5o/s1600/jm-b2b-marketing.png" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">When a user is signed in to their Google account the search results may highlight relevant content that’s created by or shared by your social connections.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">For example, a search for “B2B marketing” shows activity from my connections as most relevant under Google’s Social Search personalized results.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>#4: Set Up Google Authorship for SEO Benefits</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Google is aggressively using SEO benefits to entice webmasters and bloggers to engage with Google+. Google Authorship is how Google authenticates and will increasingly begin to “trust” you as a quality source of content.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Setting up Google Authorship is simple and straightforward.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">You identify yourself to Google through your Google+ profile and then link back to it from your content and vice versa.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Google Authorship is the easiest way to take advantage of the SEO benefits of Google+. Doing so will allow the author’s picture to show up next to his or her blog posts in Google search results, causing higher rankings and click-through rates.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgW33ExmPqm1dA8Qpbr_1VM0J1Gp0IxByTbXh_3U33gAMFAggH_EeTCDwwoIEURYyrck7k5RxHSPeymozKJTkqAVBDll_uG2u6t0u2WbncPBNNEkWCzoKVpQAFroXA1vSkyDr7L-3ES9aC/s1600/jm-search-results.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgW33ExmPqm1dA8Qpbr_1VM0J1Gp0IxByTbXh_3U33gAMFAggH_EeTCDwwoIEURYyrck7k5RxHSPeymozKJTkqAVBDll_uG2u6t0u2WbncPBNNEkWCzoKVpQAFroXA1vSkyDr7L-3ES9aC/s1600/jm-search-results.png" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Search results with author images are more trusted and much more likely to get clicks.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The business benefits for setting up Google Authorship will:</span><br />
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<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Increase awareness of your overall Google+ profile page</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Add a human element to your content and increase trustworthiness</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Help your content stand out from the crowded search results page</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Improve your chances of showing up in more personalized search results</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Protect the original post’s ranking position as higher than a post that has scraped or syndicated the original content</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Studies have shown that Google Authorship will increase click-through rates</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Step 1: Add a link to your Google+ profile on each of your blog posts.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">On each of your blog posts, add a link to your Google+ profile with “rel=author” attached to the end of the link URL.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Here’s an example: https://plus.google.com/111498947729292607681?rel=author. It doesn’t matter where on the page you put the link or what the anchor text is (the clickable words in the link). You can even link an image instead of text.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The end result would look like this: “By Jason Miller“.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If you want to insert this link into all of your blog posts automatically, then you can add it to your blog template; for example, in the footer or header (assuming your blog only has one author).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Step 2: Link from your Google+ profile back to your blog.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">After you add a link to your Google+ profile on each one of your blog posts, the last step is to link from the opposite direction, from your Google+ profile to your blog. You do this by adding a link to your blog in the “Contributor to” section of your Google+ profile.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2jOC9q39oKUOoBUn6-KAQOM5ufJtXLV6C927h4Ply1uRDnm2I1VzLY3vvF3xUWmwey7dJNzCXXPgM3CdofWUYoLAmCQWSNZ5Yg4-ysZ52_yAAQ74K2lfJqYe_q-9Ia3olLWG2uhjsAZTk/s1600/jm-links-to-blog.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2jOC9q39oKUOoBUn6-KAQOM5ufJtXLV6C927h4Ply1uRDnm2I1VzLY3vvF3xUWmwey7dJNzCXXPgM3CdofWUYoLAmCQWSNZ5Yg4-ysZ52_yAAQ74K2lfJqYe_q-9Ia3olLWG2uhjsAZTk/s1600/jm-links-to-blog.png" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Include links to each blog that you contribute content to.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>#5: Find Relevant Users and Conversations to Engage With</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The number-one rule for success within a community or social platform is to engage in the relevant conversations that are taking place and add value when doing so. The success of your business within Google+ will be a direct result of how you engage from both your personal and business pages.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Here are two great places to find users and conversations to engage with.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Google+ shared circles directory: For your personal page, check out this Google+ shared circles database created by Chris Porter. It’s a fantastic list of Google+ circles based on industry.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_W1tzirLyuulfJwDCFU1xgJ9iVUyDg0ObqTNG4TsPMayU2NikFGOIbTpQiXlY7uvwwGSREKgrZY4PjQlS9MenQu-369U4O1rqtLeiiezbJ1S_kZXtm3p51MzC2n5dPzE6fV8tiu42PEZ-/s1600/jm-shared-circle-database.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_W1tzirLyuulfJwDCFU1xgJ9iVUyDg0ObqTNG4TsPMayU2NikFGOIbTpQiXlY7uvwwGSREKgrZY4PjQlS9MenQu-369U4O1rqtLeiiezbJ1S_kZXtm3p51MzC2n5dPzE6fV8tiu42PEZ-/s1600/jm-shared-circle-database.png" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Google+ shared circle databases are a great way to find targeted circles to engage.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">With one click you can add these shared circles to your personal Google+ circles and have a lively stream of relevant posts and conversations to engage with.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Since your business page cannot circle someone until they circle you, it’s important to build relationships with your personal page and introduce your business page’s content where appropriate.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Take advantage of the rich search functionality of Google+: Search for mentions of your brand and industry-related keywords. Save your searches and they appear on your left sidebar for quick reference.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFqPp5kbipHugfpmsryLnsF5OPtwDx5MTRUlijoHSgfgOtsq_XBaHsWPvJrTm07KQi6KRzw-gya36w7vl5AfFTZ3ZxTBxPZiCoFxKvPBWLR3mnS6iQRAdfH5M_W-jStxG-ABfqG62ntaKV/s1600/jm-search-your-brand.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFqPp5kbipHugfpmsryLnsF5OPtwDx5MTRUlijoHSgfgOtsq_XBaHsWPvJrTm07KQi6KRzw-gya36w7vl5AfFTZ3ZxTBxPZiCoFxKvPBWLR3mnS6iQRAdfH5M_W-jStxG-ABfqG62ntaKV/s1600/jm-search-your-brand.png" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Regularly search your brand name and top keywords to find mentions and conversations.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Monitor your saved searches daily and respond to mentions, comment on threads and re-share people’s posts.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Even if you have nothing to say, a +1 or a simple “thanks for the mention” or “great post” lets them know that you’re paying attention. Staying top of mind is terribly underrated and these simple gestures will make an impact over time.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Over to You</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Following the five steps above will give you and your business a jump-start and a solid foundation to build your overall Google+ strategy upon.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Spending a few minutes a day nurturing your presence will not only boost your Google+ profile, but also increase your business’s overall online presence.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><iframe bordercolor="#000000" frameborder="0" height="320" hspace="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://ad.doubleclick.net/adi/N7433.148119.BLOGGEREN/B6676345.437;sz=320x320;ord=[timestamp]?;lid=41000000028007181;pid=UBM9780596806606;usg=AFHzDLtm5CsWdnSsbxxx45HeDx8W-IgYCg;adurl=http%253A%252F%252Fwww.cdsbooksdvds.com%252Fproduct.jhtm%253Fsku%253DUBM9780596806606;pubid=573420;imgsrc=http%3A%2F%2Fc380422.r22.cf1.rackcdn.com%2F9780596806606.jpg;width=320;height=240" vspace="0" width="320"></iframe><iframe bordercolor="#000000" frameborder="0" height="320" hspace="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://ad.doubleclick.net/adi/N7433.148119.BLOGGEREN/B6676345.442;sz=320x320;ord=[timestamp]?;lid=41000000028007181;pid=UBM9780749457587;usg=AFHzDLvkXpiyLL6adt-pifJaETqAQU2eaw;adurl=http%253A%252F%252Fwww.cdsbooksdvds.com%252Fproduct.jhtm%253Fsku%253DUBM9780749457587;pubid=573420;imgsrc=http%3A%2F%2Fc381405.r5.cf1.rackcdn.com%2F9780749457587.jpg;width=208;height=320" vspace="0" width="320"></iframe><br /></span>
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Tiffanyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05079264005458258819noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8854438359204380427.post-960192579424381542012-10-21T20:54:00.002-05:002012-10-21T20:54:40.221-05:00Three Cross-Sell and Up-Sell Tactics to Boost Email Marketing ROI <br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.marketingprofs.com/short-articles/2668/three-cross-sell-and-up-sell-tactics-to-boost-email-marketing-roi?adref=NemW3a12">Three Cross-Sell and Up-Sell Tactics to Boost Email Marketing ROI</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Published on October 17, 2012 </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">"It's an old adage," writes Amanda Hinkle in an article at MarketingProfs. "Driving increased sales from your current customers is easier than acquiring new customers."</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And yet, it's an old adage many retailers don't heed: In a recent survey, only 37% said they use cross-sell and up-sell programs to boost revenue from existing customers.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If your company belongs to the 63% that don't, here's how to get started:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Take advantage of available data. You already gather an array of information from an array of sources: point-of-sale and transactional systems, Web analytics, email response, and self-reported preferences. Why not put it to profitable use? You could "send an offer for a Blu-ray player to someone who recently bought a TV," explains Hinkle, "or a discount for a spatula to an email subscriber who recently viewed it online while purchasing a new cooking pan."</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Deploy the right resources. "You'll likely need to involve data analysts and creative or production staff members, but the right technology can really minimize the level of resources required to set up, trigger, and time cross-sell and up-sell offers," she notes.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Consider when and where to reach out. You can send triggered messages based on customer behavior, or tie offers to a regularly scheduled newsletter. You might also send offers in transactional messages like purchase confirmations or shipping notifications; customers pay close attention to these emails, and cross-sell or up-sell offers are a natural fit.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The Po!nt: Think it over and up. If you're not using your email program to cross-sell and up-sell existing customers, why not try it? You may be in for a pleasant surprise.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><iframe bordercolor="#000000" frameborder="0" height="320" hspace="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://ad.doubleclick.net/adi/N7433.148119.BLOGGEREN/B6676345.302;sz=320x320;ord=[timestamp]?;lid=41000000028007181;pid=UBM9780470947678;usg=AFHzDLuwSlrsEx2pKFJ9_B5cik9r0-p4vQ;adurl=http%253A%252F%252Fwww.cdsbooksdvds.com%252Fproduct.jhtm%253Fsku%253DUBM9780470947678;pubid=573420;imgsrc=http%3A%2F%2Fc381496.r96.cf1.rackcdn.com%2F9780470947678.jpg;width=256;height=320" vspace="0" width="320"></iframe><iframe bordercolor="#000000" frameborder="0" height="320" hspace="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://ad.doubleclick.net/adi/N7433.148119.BLOGGEREN/B6676345.281;sz=320x320;ord=[timestamp]?;lid=41000000028007181;pid=UBM9780470122457;usg=AFHzDLtf_Z8nO2wBUjL0WVJpGudUiwmaDA;adurl=http%253A%252F%252Fwww.cdsbooksdvds.com%252Fproduct.jhtm%253Fsku%253DUBM9780470122457;pubid=573420;imgsrc=http%3A%2F%2Fc376256.r56.cf1.rackcdn.com%2F9780470122457.jpg;width=211;height=320" vspace="0" width="320"></iframe><br /></span>
Tiffanyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05079264005458258819noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8854438359204380427.post-7630666691525952302012-10-20T15:49:00.001-05:002012-10-20T15:49:39.463-05:00New Vector Freebies<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Free vectors from <a href="http://www.vecteezy.com/">Vecteezy</a>:</span><br />
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<a href="http://www.vecteezy.com/birds-animals/51213-flowered-owl-vector-"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Flowered Owl Vector</span></a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBqV9E0vAk-UU-Lp5jvgvvpfkS9EsxBoTePEBjJRYfJJzHR_Ok3g3XV-tDm9SagyUUCDW1HJblS8gcXEZwg_j3Q1VGNpsSYCH1iV5_9qDPks4wUbj6_Mz-6cdcW_N2inAUGnC-mOphA-Ya/s1600/flowered-owl.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBqV9E0vAk-UU-Lp5jvgvvpfkS9EsxBoTePEBjJRYfJJzHR_Ok3g3XV-tDm9SagyUUCDW1HJblS8gcXEZwg_j3Q1VGNpsSYCH1iV5_9qDPks4wUbj6_Mz-6cdcW_N2inAUGnC-mOphA-Ya/s1600/flowered-owl.jpg" /></span></a></div>
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<a href="http://www.vecteezy.com/cars/51089-free-old-car-logo"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Free Old Car Logo</span></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkPw4b-eL_RQU3GHQ4V6SSg0F7xt6fpFT5D2PwfSBpVY6H84NF3WTrLlqDairuQ2-ysxGrcxgviC377Jl_2Lyv4F2aj2xU6-JwiDe1_e4cfjrEhVeO_UPCXvSeHIRloQAMNp5bU4w9JWNR/s1600/free-old-car-logo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkPw4b-eL_RQU3GHQ4V6SSg0F7xt6fpFT5D2PwfSBpVY6H84NF3WTrLlqDairuQ2-ysxGrcxgviC377Jl_2Lyv4F2aj2xU6-JwiDe1_e4cfjrEhVeO_UPCXvSeHIRloQAMNp5bU4w9JWNR/s1600/free-old-car-logo.jpg" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And <a href="http://www.allvectors.com/">All Vectors</a>: </span></div>
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<a href="http://www.allvectors.com/creative-trees/"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Creative Trees</span></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhH6Eyw0pwPlGNuPvJCA-s7jfoj_yV18fsdXHWba5SfDI8yNasOdEPxeyg7aVdwCxa1TRJbIXXjN8QKiRbUy-iyDwFY6742pFR3bSuxdZdRlfknxamuDkVbsPr1Q6iZ9a6jpnEZWrwmiuxL/s1600/creative-trees.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="252" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhH6Eyw0pwPlGNuPvJCA-s7jfoj_yV18fsdXHWba5SfDI8yNasOdEPxeyg7aVdwCxa1TRJbIXXjN8QKiRbUy-iyDwFY6742pFR3bSuxdZdRlfknxamuDkVbsPr1Q6iZ9a6jpnEZWrwmiuxL/s320/creative-trees.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<a href="http://www.freevectors.net/"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Free Vectors:</span></a></div>
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<a href="http://www.freevectors.net/details/Free+Vector+Vintage+Background"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Free Vector Vintage Background</span></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiw5iWb024q1y9909ERQalwr1sW4wvzXcmtJV8CmLgAZrf-31mhH4nAHowgS6yNMQWlHt1OQhzjhosNjoujWrxKexmRjZ9rGn8XLYB5Ohe77ZUIfGdtpDMrJ-JeM2ugPpsAIqMPdJqGrV3a/s1600/FreeVectorVintageBackground.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiw5iWb024q1y9909ERQalwr1sW4wvzXcmtJV8CmLgAZrf-31mhH4nAHowgS6yNMQWlHt1OQhzjhosNjoujWrxKexmRjZ9rGn8XLYB5Ohe77ZUIfGdtpDMrJ-JeM2ugPpsAIqMPdJqGrV3a/s1600/FreeVectorVintageBackground.jpg" /></a></div>
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<iframe bordercolor="#000000" frameborder="0" height="320" hspace="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://ad.doubleclick.net/adi/N7433.148119.BLOGGEREN/B6696757.295;sz=320x320;ord=[timestamp]?;lid=41000000024781945;pid=sku5644107;usg=AFHzDLtbHq8-uSiYBGhoNcs9yPNoTaw8iQ;adurl=http%253A%252F%252Fwww.samsclub.com%252Fsams%252Fadobe-photoshop-elements-10%252Fprod5210191.ip%253Fpid%253D_DoubleClick_Affiliates%2526ci_src%253D15781033%2526ci_sku%253Dsku5644107;pubid=573420;imgsrc=http%3A%2F%2Fs7d2.scene7.com%2Fis%2Fimage%2Fsamsclub%2Fs7product%2F0088391922681_A.jpg;width=320;height=320" vspace="0" width="320"></iframe><iframe bordercolor="#000000" frameborder="0" height="320" hspace="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://ad.doubleclick.net/adi/N7433.148119.BLOGGEREN/B6533677.408;sz=320x320;ord=[timestamp]?;lid=41000000026530730;pid=64466;usg=AFHzDLtVsI8XzVpGK7Wg6eoJ9g4xVn3dJg;adurl=http%253A%252F%252Fwww.abt.com%252Fproduct%252F64466%252FAdobe-65165575.html;pubid=573420;imgsrc=http%3A%2F%2Fcontent.abt.com%2Fmedia%2Fimages%2Fproducts%2FBDP_Images%2Fbig_65165575.jpg;width=265;height=320" vspace="0" width="320"></iframe><br /></div>
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Tiffanyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05079264005458258819noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8854438359204380427.post-32455387955617669172012-10-20T14:38:00.002-05:002012-10-20T14:38:29.339-05:00Five Critical Elements in a Successful PPC Campaign<br />
<a href="http://www.marketingprofs.com/short-articles/2661/five-critical-elements-in-a-successful-ppc-campaign?adref=NsmF2a12"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Five Critical Elements in a Successful PPC Campaign</span></a><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Published on October 12, 2012 </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">"PPC campaigns can be a costly game when they aren't well-planned and wisely implemented," writes Charles Dearing in a guest post at Brandignity. "So, don't waste your time and money on ads or landing pages that don't do what they were designed to do."</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">To help you get the best ROI from your PPC budget, Dearing recommends a content strategy that focuses on five key areas:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Ad title:</b> Grab a visitor's attention with keywords, action verbs, and offers that match the intent of their search.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Ad copy:</b> Expand on the title, but do so efficiently. The key is knowing what motivates your audience, and tempting them to click through with a vision of irresistible benefits.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Landing page title: </b>Make it obvious that visitors came to the right place. Your title should get boldly to the point and use the same keyword as your PPC ad. Stay positive by highlighting solutions—not problems.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Landing page copy:</b> Build on the title's relevance with straightforward copy that clearly reflects the purpose of the visitor's search. Provide a single call to action and a clear path to the next steps.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Landing page organization: </b>Your most important information should appear above the fold—the portion of the page that can be seen without scrolling. Use an uncluttered layout that doesn't distract from the action you want your visitor to take.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The Po!nt: Know what points to hit—and hit them well. Without careful planning, a PPC campaign can be expensive and ineffective. But a well-directed one can grab interest and spur response.</span><br />
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<iframe bordercolor="#000000" frameborder="0" height="320" hspace="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://ad.doubleclick.net/adi/N7433.148119.BLOGGEREN/B6676345.268;sz=320x320;ord=[timestamp]?;lid=41000000028007181;pid=UBM9781847996497;usg=AFHzDLsE46k0xeMnNOxnan4Dqd3Y6ivsgA;adurl=http%253A%252F%252Fwww.cdsbooksdvds.com%252Fproduct.jhtm%253Fsku%253DUBM9781847996497;pubid=573420;imgsrc=http%3A%2F%2Fc380312.r12.cf1.rackcdn.com%2F9781847996497.jpg;width=213;height=320" vspace="0" width="320"></iframe><iframe bordercolor="#000000" frameborder="0" height="320" hspace="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://ad.doubleclick.net/adi/N7433.148119.BLOGGEREN/B6676345.291;sz=320x320;ord=[timestamp]?;lid=41000000028007181;pid=UBM9781430240143;usg=AFHzDLubxdlIbppcVIVkFEYzmfxpFRdVFw;adurl=http%253A%252F%252Fwww.cdsbooksdvds.com%252Fproduct.jhtm%253Fsku%253DUBM9781430240143;pubid=573420;imgsrc=http%3A%2F%2Fc373939.r39.cf1.rackcdn.com%2F9781430240143.jpg;width=242;height=320" vspace="0" width="320"></iframe><br />
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Tiffanyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05079264005458258819noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8854438359204380427.post-46040742872957287432012-10-17T20:37:00.002-05:002012-10-17T20:37:28.048-05:0023 Tips for Using LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter for Business<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.marketingprofs.com/articles/2012/9106/23-tips-for-using-linkedin-facebook-and-twitter-for-business?adref=nl101112">23 Tips for Using LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter for Business</a></span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">by Sookie Shuen | 19,124 views</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Published on October 11, 2012 </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">With the global economy still slumping, businesses and marketers are embracing new methods of social marketing as a way to spread the word in a more reliable, consistent, and cost-effective way.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Are you taking advantage of all that the LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter platforms offer?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Read these quick tips to double-check what you're doing now and identify what you could do better.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">LinkedIn</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">1. Complete your personal profile</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Set up a full, complete personal profile. The more thorough you are, the easier it will be for people to find you via the search engines. Make sure to list your skills in your profile, complete the summary, and include a professional photo of yourself to increase your credibility.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">2. Promote your LinkedIn profile</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In your email signature, add a hyperlink to your LinkedIn profile. Print it on your business cards, too.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">3. Grow and monitor your network</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Import your existing contacts lists from your email client to find out which of your contacts are already on LinkedIn. You should regularly scour through your email contacts for people you might want to connect with on LinkedIn.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">4. Engage with your connections via LinkedIn Groups</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">LinkedIn allows members to join up to 50 groups, which are a great way to make new connections. Seek out groups with large memberships and those related to your industry or organized around small-business concerns (if you're a small business).</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">5. Get recommendations</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">One way to build trust is to build a list of LinkedIn recommendations, which are one of the most looked-for feature when LinkedIn users view someone's profile for the first time. Request LinkedIn recommendations from happy customers who might be willing to provide testimonials.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">6. Integrate your blog feeds into LinkedIn</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Sync your LinkedIn and blog RSS feed by adding the BlogLink application on LinkedIn to your profile. It will automatically take your profile's website links and display it under the Application section.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Facebook</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">1. Ask questions</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">One of the easiest ways to engage with others on Facebook is to ask questions. People love to talk about themselves and offer their thoughts. The more comments and "Likes" you get on your posts, the more likely they are to appear higher in users' feeds.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Keywords such as "where," "when," "would," and "should" spark the highest level of engagement on Facebook. "Would," in particular, drives spikes in "Likes" due to fans using "Like" as a way of voting yes on a question.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">2. Interact and engage</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">When people write comments on your posts or wall, contribute to the discussion to maintain user engagement. Again, the longer a thread is, the higher it will likely rank in your fans' Facebook news feeds.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">3. Incorporate wall sapplets</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Instead of just posting items with text, vary the material and incorporate interactive components known as sapplets, which might include polls or coupons. They will prompt your fans to engage with your status updates directly in the news feed, beyond standard "Likes" and comments.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">4. Incorporate relevant photos</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Rather than just telling your fans about your products and services, show them. Relevant photos will attract people to your posts.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Most people aren't interested in reading through long text updates, but they love immediate content such as photos. Facebook has assigned a higher weight value to photos than to other types of content, so photos will keep you in people's news feeds.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">You could also post images to introduce fans to your company's employees or show them how things work behind the scenes.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">5. Comment or invite comment on current events</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Carefully, without wading into anything too controversial, try stating your position on current news or issues, or invite others to share their views. Ask people what they think about breaking news, celebrity gossip, sports, or other topics. Doing so can be an effective way to encourage fans to engage with you and take part in a discussion.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">6. Incorporate videos</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Everyone loves interactive content, and video is one of the best ways to draw attention. And because videos can be played within the news feed, users aren't redirected away when they start playing a clip.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Make the videos short—to keep people's attention—and set expectations within the text so your fans know what the clip is about. You could, for example, use videos to offer people a tutorial on how to best to use your products/services.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">7. Include links within posts</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">As a tool for sharing and spreading information, Facebook is an obvious place for you to post links.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Encourage people to interact with your brand by posting links that users will find valuable or interesting. Doing so will in turn encourage people to share the links with their friends, spreading word about your brand and driving engagement.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">8. Be explicit in your posts</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Not explicit as in XXX content or swearing, but rather explicit in the sense of telling people exactly what you want them to do. What action do you want them to take as a result of reading your post?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Simply posting content that you think might generate traffic isn't always enough. To get results, sometimes you need to tell people exactly what actions you want them to take. For example: "Click here and use our special tool to post to your wall."</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Twitter</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">1. Hashtag</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">You should familiarize yourself with the # symbol—and make it your friend. Put a hashtag in front of a keyword or your URL, and Twitter will convert them into searchable terms.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">What does this mean for you? Anyone searching for something can find all tweets containing your hashtagged word in a single location, thus making it easier for them to find your tweets even if they're not one of your followers.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Search the database for hashtagged questions pertaining to your business or topics of your expertise and connect with those followers.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">2. Engage with your followers</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Sending out tweets but never responding to your followers will get you nowhere. Respond to those who tweet at you and answer any questions they raise. Each time you interact with your followers, make sure it's a personalized message. No one wants to feel like they're receiving a mass tweet.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If they feel your message is sincere and they like what you have to offer, the chances of their retweeting your information is even greater, thus ultimately exposing your business to more followers.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">3. Combine your platforms</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Use applications like Twitterfeed.com or Hootsuite to syndicate your blog with your Twitter account. Every time you send out a new blog post, your followers on Twitter will be alerted, saving you the time and effort of tweeting about your new blog post.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">4. Update your profile</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Although most of your followers are reading only your tweets and not your bio, it's still important to have a profile in place that's up-to-date and professional. Think of it as an extension of your brand. Potential new followers and customers will be checking out your profile to see what you're about before hitting the golden "Follow" button.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">5. Use the power of lists</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A Twitter list is basically a compilation of followers, grouped together. You can use these lists to offer special promotions to customers—for instance, create a list of all your valued customers and tweet exclusive offers to those on the list.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">6. Keep track</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Track your followers and identify who is really paying attention to your tweets. You can do so by tracking retweets, clicks, messages, and hashtag mentions. And, by doing so, you can identify your most loyal followers and nurture those relationships.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">7. Ask questions</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Get feedback from your followers by asking the right questions. Find out what you're doing right, what you need to work on, and what they want more of. You will not only show that you're listening but also glean valuable insights about your followers and consumers.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">8. Tweet about others</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">You don't always need to talk about yourself and your company. Integrate others' ideas and links into your tweets. Retweet what your followers have tweeted, share their links, and let your followers know what you find interesting about a particular tweet. Doing so lets your followers know that you're human and are interested in what they have to say as well. Plus, it's a great way to expand your community of followers.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">9. Customer Service</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Create an account for your followers to use to tweet questions about products or services to you directly. You'll be able to interact with your consumers via this channel and provide them with something of value.</span><br />
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<br />Tiffanyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05079264005458258819noreply@blogger.com0