Erik Qualman's Blog, page 511

Amazon Sues For Fake Product Reviews

What to Say When You Pretend to Like the Gift Your Weird Aunt Gave You…

“It’s the best product ever!!” Well it looks like a lot of people are faking it on Amazon Reviews. The e-commerce giant is suing 1,000 “John Doe’s” who are giving fake product reviews. You might want to check the reviews on your next Amazon purchase and run far away if you see a comment from John Doe. (Source: The Guardian)

Yes, We’ll Take One Pop Culture Website

Publishing giant, Time Inc. added another player to their list of over 90 publications. Time Inc. wants to widen their audience so they purchased HelloGiggles. HelloGiggles talks pop culture, beauty and lifestyle, so it’s the perfect purchase if trying to reach younger women. Time Inc. plans on putting them in with People and Entertainment Weekly to give readers more pop culture. The more celebrity gossip the better, right?! HelloGiggles set Time Inc. back $20 million. (Source: The Wall Street Journal)

Quote of the Day: “Androids Forever!!!!!”

Android and Google fans are just as excited as Apple fans at a release event. Google’s Nexus 5X goes on sale today. The LG-made phone has some high expectations to meet with its 1080p display, Snapdragon 808 processor, 13 megapixel camera, and fingerprint reader. Cost varies by country.  United States prices range from $380-$430. Let the Android versus Apple battle continue. (Source: The Verge)

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Introduce Mobile Friendly Factors on Your Website to Rank Higher on Google

It is not surprising to see news channels and websites giving hype to even the smallest stories. They can make a small tornado feel like the history’s biggest storm. This is kind of what happened when it was announced that Google was going to bring in the mobile friendly changes in its algorithms. Right after the announcement these websites started flooding with news related to what was going to happen with the newest algorithm update from Google. They went so far that they named this new mobile friendly update from Google Mobilegeddon.

Of course, there were changes made to the algorithms but the impact of these changes was not as drastic as many had made them appear to be. Things changed on the search pages but there was no overkill from Google. It was already advised to website owners that they make their websites mobile friendly and websites that took immediate actions were not affected at all by this update. The ranking for websites that were not mobile friendly dwindled and that was a good lesson for these websites to become mobile friendly soon. Websites that became mobile friendly but did not do it properly also suffered bad rankings.

The newest reports released on search engine rankings show that mobile friendly websites saw improvement in their rankings. The more important thing was that there were now more mobile friendly websites in the top search results than there were in the past. However, this effect was not as big as many had predicted it to be. In fact, for most of the analysts the difference is not noteworthy at all. Before this new update in the search algorithms was made, there were 68 percent websites in the top results that were mobile friendly.

After the update was rolled out the number increased from 68 percent to 71 percent. This increase might not sound big but the fact that Google indexes literally billions of pages, this is a huge increase. What we need to note here is that Google is going to continuously make changes to the algorithms so eventually we will be seeing just the mobile friendly websites in the search results. The big question here is “what is Google looking at to rank the websites as mobile friendly websites?” If we look around we can easily discover what the most important factors are that make your website a mobile friendly website.

User experience or UX has been considered the most important factor in making a website mobile friendly and rise in rankings. The more your website has the factors that make users like it on their smartphones, the higher your website will be ranked by Google. It is best that you introduce more images on the website rather than writing too much text because images can explain things easily and more quickly on a mobile device. It is best that you keep the font of your website big enough to be read easily on small screens.

You can choose to have a dedicated mobile friendly website or create a responsive website to get better rankings. There should be fewer links on the website, links should be easily clickable, images should be of just the right size for users to be able to see them easily on their smartphones. Keep the size of your website pages small and you are sure to get into higher ranked websites. It is because the smaller the size of your website the faster it will load on smartphones. The loading time of your website plays a vital role in its ranking.

It is not that you have to remove everything from your web pages to make them smaller. However, according to the recent study you could have your website rank higher by keeping every web page of your website 25% smaller than the desktop web pages. Statistics have shown it clearly that websites with better loading times are ranking higher on search results from Google. If you talk about backlinks, they are not that important when it comes to the ranking of the website for smartphone users. Backlinks are extremely important for desktop websites though.

Keep as few links on your website as possible because people don’t like to move from page to page on websites when they are on their mobile devices. Even with the rising nofollow links, it has been found in the study that this number is quite low compared to the numbers produced by desktop websites. Furthermore, if you have any links of your web pages to news websites, you can think of removing them. Such links are extremely important for desktop websites but they don’t play any role in taking the ranking of your mobile friendly website higher. It has only been 5 months since the Mobilegeddon update. We might see stricter implementation of this algorithm in future.

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Turn to Social Media When You Need Law on Your Side

If you’re in need of an attorney but you don’t know where to look, social media can be a valuable resource during your search for legal help.

A growing number of attorneys are taking to social media in order to reach more clients.

With social justice in mind, here are just a few ways you can use social media to find the right attorney:

Attorneys and Social Media

Gone are the days when finding the right attorney meant visiting every law firm in town.

With a little help from social media, you can research numerous attorneys and law firms in your area from the comfort of your computer.

According to the American Bar Association’s Legal Technology Survey Report, LinkedIn is a social media hotspot for finding attorneys. Nearly 100% of large law firms, 95% of small firms, and just over 90% of independent attorneys have active LinkedIn profiles.

Facebook is also a great resource for finding legal help with 45% of law firms using the social media site to promote their practices.

Blogging is also becoming popular among law firms with 35% of firms and solo practices blogging on a weekly or daily basis.

Now that you know how many attorneys are socially savvy, there are a number of ways you can use social media to find legal help.

Researching Law Firms

If you want to get a general feel for a particular law firm before reaching out to an actual attorney, sites like Facebook and LinkedIn are helpful. Many law firms across the country have business pages on Facebook and company pages on LinkedIn.

As the following article looks at, whether you are trying to think of things to consider when hiring a wrongful death attorney or you just want some general legal information, social business pages are great places to start your research.

You can even perform advanced searches on Facebook and LinkedIn to find business pages of law firms in your area.

Connecting with Attorneys

Law firms are always a good option when it comes acquiring legal help, however, there are also a plenty of solo attorneys to choose from as well.

Through sites like Facebook, LinkedIn, and even Twitter, you can connect with independent attorneys in your area.

Reading Blogs

Law firms and independent attorneys alike are posting helpful law information, news, and updates on their blogs.

By visiting these law blogs, you can get a better idea of what kind of services each firm provides. Remember, most firms and solo attorneys have blogs that go along with their main websites.

Reaching Out to Friends and Followers

There is a good chance your social friends and followers have experience with attorneys and law firms in your area. By reaching out to them, you can get firsthand opinions on local law professionals.

If you know someone who has gone through the same legal process as you’re experiencing, you can send them a private message on Facebook.

Or, if you’re looking for general advice on which attorney to choose, you can also start a Facebook post or Twitter hashtag.

When it comes to finding the right attorney, let social media help put the law on your side.

Photo credit: BigStockPhoto.com

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Twitter Marketing for Businesses (and Twitter Cards)

Twitter is a popular social network and this is very evident by how often the topic is covered in popular blogs, like this one! Socialnomics’ articles include Make Use Of The Effective Insights Of Twitter Marketing To Buzz Your Business and How to Stand Out on Twitter.

Social Media Examiner seems to love those Twitter Marketing tips and how-to articles, too, including 7 Twitter Marketing Tips and Getting Started With Twitter Marketing.

Influencer Marketing is something that can be used on any social network, but is particularly easy on Twitter because of the ability to read the tweets (unless marked private) for Twitter users, even if you are not following each other on Twitter.

Twitter for Personal or Business

I have heard many people ask why anyone would want to use Twitter for their business when it appears that there is no value in it (no return-on-investment; ROI). Just taking a look at the infographic, above, demonstrates that there is value but it is about accessing those Twitter Users and finding a way for you to benefit, in your business.

Gary Loper makes his living on Twitter. However, you would hardly know that this is a business from the aspect of how Gary presents himself. I recently interviewed Gary and he is so motivational and inspirational. If you are considering how to use Twitter in a non-business way, listen to Gary. If you are considering using Twitter for business, listen to Gary.

His approach is so personable and that may just be the secret success to how he uses Twitter for his business. But, don’t take my word for it, see what Gary has to say for himself:

Hopefully, by listening to Gary, you can start to see where you fit in the grand scope of things called Twitter. There are so many possibilities and maybe your niche is waiting to be defined and you are just the person to define it!

Twitter Statistics 2014-2015

An infographic that appeared in Marketing Profs demonstrates the quantity of users and how they use Twitter, as shown here:

Twitter Cards

Twitter Cards are a fabulous way to get more exposure. Many times people will miss the regular tweets because they are lost in what is interpreted as Twitter “noise.” However, people still notice the graphics. It is true that you could send a tweet with an attached image, for the purpose of garnering attention. However, there is also another solution and that is to code your site to produce Twitter Cards (graphics and media) so that anyone who simply adds the link to the article tweets something that includes an eye-catching element that will garner attention. This does not negate the use of images with links, but it allows for attention when the tweets do not include their own images. It is another way to get eyeballs on your content, via Twitter.

There are three types of Twitter Cards:

Summary Card with Large Image
Photo Card
Player Card

Graphics for Twitter Cards

If you are going to compete with everyone else out there, you are going to need stunning graphics.

Why not use just any graphics?

Fortunately, you can create your own, with built-in templates, at places like Canva, with built-in size computations.

Plugins for Twitter Cards

Now that you have your graphics (and you know what Twitter Cards are), you need some way to get them working on your site. Personally, I code my own backend programming for my Twitter Cards, but I wouldn’t expect anyone else to be as geeky as me. If your site uses WordPress, you are in luck because there is a plugin that will do it for you. It is called JM Twitter Cards. I have included a few tips on configuration. This isn’t a complete configuration guide, but rather a sort of “quick start” so you can get those cards setup and start trying them out on your own.

In Summary…

Now that we have told you about how wonderful Twitter is for business (as well as personal), and given you some statistics for this past year (as well as sharing Gary Loper’s inspiring video about how he uses Twitter in his business), we gave you some action steps. This isn’t just about the importance of Twitter Marketing, but some steps on how to get started in one area of that marketing… Twitter Cards! And, you know what? Twitter Cards, once you get past the set-up stuff and geeky stuff, can be really fun. I just want to encourage you to give yourself some slack as you go through the setup and after that, you should be well on your way to sharing dynamic content and also having a site that is all ready for others to share your stunning content for you!

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Wayne Simmons – Our Fraud Celebrity

That Awkward Moment When…

Fox Correspondent Wayne Simmons says he is a “Former CIA Operative” and an expert on the CIA when he’s really not. It turns out his 27 years of experience in the CIA was more like 0 years of experience. Awkward. This is fraud. Fraud is worse than saying “I’m not a CIA expert, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night.”

Hotel, Motel, Holiday Inn. More like Pris-Inn. Federal prosecutors called him out saying all his claims were false. Simmons even used his so-called past to get security clearances and government contracting work. Yikes. He has been arrested for making false statements, major fraud against the United States and wire fraud. Think he’ll tell his cellmates he was a former CIA Operative? Orange is the new black Mr. Simmons. (Source: The Washington Post)

To avoid your Wayne Simmons moment we have a book for that: What Happens In Vegas Stays on YouTube.

Have A Safe Flight

US Airways will be flying their last flight EVER. If your recall US Airways is being rolled under the American Airlines name. The final flight is Flight 1939, representing the year it all began. Today, Flight 1939 will depart out of Philadelphia, fly to San Fransisco, and back to Philadelphia to end their legacy where it all began. Hey US Airways, we think a great going away present would be no delays for the day. No more US DespAir jokes. (Source: CNN)

Quote of the Day: “Netflix is not serious about a theatrical release”

Everyone’s favorite online streaming service, Netflix, wants to try something new…Movie Stars (Cue spirit fingers). Today they released their first film titled, Beasts of No Nation. Well Netflix isn’t just letting people watch this on their laptop screens, they can also see it on the big screen in a theater. Major movie chains (think: AMC, Regal, Cinemark) are refusing to play the Netflix movie and movie theater owners are not happy about the release. Many think that Netflix is not serious because why would people pay for a theater ticket when they can watch it without leaving their house? It’s a good question. Oh, Netflix. (Source: Wired)

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LinkedIn Marketing Tips for Businesses

LinkedIn is not properly understood by many. This is not a social network that is only suitable for job seekers or professionals. Obviously, there are millions of business professionals that use the network daily for career growth purposes but LinkedIn is basically a social network that is designed for business purposes. This includes benefits for business owners. Many companies can gain a lot from using LinkedIn and here are some marketing tips that you can take into account.

Find Connections and Customers That Are Highly Targeted

When thinking about digital advertising, LinkedIn offers targeting that cannot be matched. The small business can find the exact job role, company size and industry that is more likely to buy a service or a product. As an example, if you want to sell marketing software for US small businesses, the ads that you run can easily be shown just for the companies that have fewer than one hundred employees in the country and that are a part of a specific niche.

Building a Highly Targeted Email Marketing List

It is a really good idea to message the people that you have as connections on LinkedIn. Invite these individuals to join the email marketing list you have set up. You will not be able to add much personalization to the email so be sure that you apologize for this fact. Always mention what will be received when the sign up is done. Also, offer to sign up to one of the newsletters that they have. This works so much better than what many think.

Always Share Relevant Content for Potential Partners

Many underestimate the link sharing option that is available on LinkedIn. This is a huge mistake since you can so easily take advantage of the opportunity to showcase that you are a good source of information for the potential partners, even clients. As an example, let’s say that your business offers accounting services. Why not share a link with the best apps to do taxes? You show that you help those interested and you can gain more connects by simply taking a similar sharing strategy to what you use with Facebook.

Direct LinkedIn Posts

You surely already know about optimizing your LinkedIn company profile from an SEO point of view. If not, you can read this article. Besides this optimization, you can also take advantage of the possibility to add unique content directly on LinkedIn. What is interesting with this option is that content that is of a really high quality will be noticed. That automatically improves visibility and aids you to reach new readers. If that content goes viral, it even brings in automatic SEO benefits for your sites.

Showcase the Employees

Convince your employees to get a LinkedIn account and connect with the company. Complete profiles have to include job history, description, professional connections and suitable photographs. This only makes the entire company look more attractive and interesting. People want to see human companies. This means that they want to see you, the owner, and the people that work for you.

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How to Use Traditional Advertising to Expand Your Social Media Following

Most consumers now connect with companies through the screen of their mobile phone. Therefore, if you want to grow your business, it’s vital to build a large social media following via a range of platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram.

Why Use Social Media?

Social media offers a low cost way to increase your global reach; to make your brand more recognizable; to build trust in your business; and ultimately to give you the potential to increase your level of sales. This is true whatever type of business you have and whether you sell products or services. The reach on social media is so wide you will discover an audience, regardless as to what you offer.

Building Your Following

Once you have your profiles set up it is important to approach building your following from three key angles:

· Great content: The content you put out needs to be high quality and a mix of videos, images, articles and infographics, as this will dramatically increase your chance of the update going viral. Images usually do well, especially on Facebook, as they catch people’s attention when they are scrolling through their timeline, particularly if they are using a small mobile screen to do so.

· Interaction: Building interaction on your profiles is vital. Answer people’s questions and comments and add posts which will encourage your followers to share the item. This will extend your reach to the friends and family of your existing fans.

· Consistency: Social media needs to have a consistent approach. If a profile is seen to be lying dormant, even for a few days, it will quickly lose its growing popularity. Therefore, try to post at least daily. If this proves too big a time commitment then use a scheduling tool to retain a steady flow of posts and then check in live at least once or twice a week to answer comments.

Extending Your Reach

While social media is vital to gain exposure, its effectiveness can be further reinforced by the use of traditional forms of advertising.

Banner Advertising: Large banner advertising is a versatile way to get your message across. Banner adverting can be positioned just about anywhere whether you have a brick and mortar store or are exhibiting at a conference or business event. Include your core advertising message but don’t forget to add your social media handles to extend your reach. You can even include a QR Code which connects directly to your main social media profile, so that people can find you immediately on their smart phones.

Telesales: The traditional methods of warm and cold calling are far from dead and in fact have gained a new lease of life with the introduction of VoIP termination services. As well as standard telephone calls you can now connect to customers through video conferencing, screen share, online chat and instant messaging. With ‘click to call’ buttons in emails and online adverts, it’s now easier and more cost effective than ever to reach clients.

Print Advertising: If you want to explore print advertising don’t think only of local newspaper advertising but also consider niche magazines which often offer discounted pricing. Again include your social media web addresses because if people connect with you online, you can keep in touch with them on an ongoing basis.

Networking and Exhibitions: Finally, networking events and corporate exhibitions are an excellent way to connect with potential clients whether you sell business to business or direct to consumers. Give away marketing materials which include your social media handles and offer an incentive for people to connect with you, maybe a discount coupon, free shipping option or discovery call. Your aim is to grow your online audience so you can retain the relationship and help to build trust in your business.

 

With social media you may not make a sale the first time someone connects with you, but because they will be continually exposed to your message they will come to recognize your brand and look further at what you offer. Ultimately this can lead to them making a purchase or, just as important, recommending you to their family and friends.

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What to say when your friend’s TV is bigger than yours…

What to say when your friend’s TV is bigger than yours…

 

“Facebook.” Facebook is taking a strong initiative to conquer YouTube… well sort of. The social media giant plans to overthrow the video giant by incorporating a more robust video watching platform on their mobile app and website. Remember that Facebook already accounts for 20% of the time people spend online, and now they want more. Their aim is to make Facebook more video-centric, by making  it easier for people to “discover, watch, and share” clips. Why so much video? Because ⅔  of all content we will view on our phones in 2017 will be video.

 

The new feature will only be available for certain users in the early stages, aka the cool kids, and eventually move to the masses-that would be me and you. If you’re a chosen one it can be accessed in the Favorites section in the left corner of the website or via an icon at the bottom of your mobile screen. This should shake things up in the social world because as you may recall Google owns YouTube. More details on Facebook’s new video game plan. (Source MSN)

 

What to wear when you friend has x-ray vision…

 

Is the dress blue or black? Well in the future we may know better and the future may be now. On October 13th Google was awarded a patent for possibly the coolest wearable technology seen to date. Or not seen for that matter since it’s a very small contact lens. The patent is for a wearable communication device, complete with a microprocessor, sensors, and memory. Think Fitbit for your eyeball. The lens will be powered by “optical signals” and the technology will harvest light signals then convert the light into electrical power. Don’t close your eyes as the washing machine it’s almost done…

The patent proposes that the lens will be able to send information to user’s devices. Information like blood alcohol content (uh don’t drive), blood sugar levels for diabetics, body temperature. The lens will be able to assess the external environment for possible threats like allergens, and “hazardous material.” Google has not yet commented, but we can only imagine what their plans entail. (Source MSN)

 

Fun Fact

If you’re wondering when the next Halley’s comet is, don’t hold your breath. It last appeared in 1986 so it won’t be showing its face till the year 2062. Mark your calendars folks, and happy Skinny.

 

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3 Brands That Know the Importance of Social Media

While calculating social ROI isn’t always easy because likes and shares don’t translate directly into sales, there’s still no excuse for letting social marketing lag by the wayside. The most recognizable big brands are the ones killing it on social because they know it ultimately pays off in brand awareness, customer loyalty, leads or all three.

 

Small brands sometimes shy away from social marketing because while social campaigns might not cost money, they can require a hefty commitment of time – not to mention creative thinking. But when you consider that people across demographics now spend one seventh of their waking moments using social media and that YouTube reaches more people than cable TV, social simply can’t be ignored. The key is making sure your time and energy aren’t wasted and you can do that by checking out winning social strategies employed by big brands like these:

 

Red Bull: What’s one thing you’ll almost never see in a Red Bull post? The actual product. You might see the logo on one of its hundreds of YouTube videos – the most popular of which have tens of millions of views – or its custom Spotify channel or a promo for the latest episode of the Sheckler Sessions on Red Bull TV. What else won’t you see? Sales pitches. Red Bull keeps engagement high without sacrificing brand awareness by putting itself out there as the promoter versus the product being promoted. If a sport is extreme, it’s probably being brought to you by Red Bull.

 

See if this strategy works for your brand by silencing the sales pitch on social and concentrating on feeding your fans and followers content that will amuse and excite them. Make your brand one they want to be associated with.

 

T-Mobile: First off, this brand is leveraging social media in its customer service in a big way. Reps answer close to 90% of all questions asked across the brand’s social channels with a focus on getting people answers ASAP. In that sense social media is definitely a two-way street for T-Mobile. When T-Mobile creates conversations around new devices, like the new iPhone, it’s more than a sales pitch. At the same time it’s turning fans into hardcore brand ambassadors with hashtag campaigns like #breakupletter, #unleash, #nocontract and #UncarrierAmped, which leverage fan-created content to spread the word about new service and product options. This word of mouth approach to social has been behind a significant number of new subscribers. In fact, T-Mobile has enjoyed nine consecutive quarters of adding a million customers or more.

 

You can make this strategy your own by using customer emotions – positive or negative – to your advantage. Give fans opportunities to sing your praises and treat every complaint as a chance to demonstrate how responsive you are.

Taco Bell: With a presence on just about every social network you can think of, this brand’s social strategy can be summed up thusly: a picture is worth a thousand words. Or maybe a picture of Chucks-wearing hipsters enjoying tacos is worth a thousand likes. In fact, glance at your feed quickly and you might mistake a Taco Bell post for one of your best friend’s Instagram snapshots. Don’t think a Burrito Supreme can be on trend? Think again. And this commitment to the visual has gained the company more than 10 million fans on Facebook alone. But don’t discount the power of words. Taco Bell’s team has adopted an irreverent, playful tone in its responses to comments, and fans love it.

Assuming your audience is as young and hip as Taco Bell’s, have fun with your social presence. Next time someone says they love your brand respond by suggesting they “Put a ring on it.” Post plenty of pictures and see what happens when you get silly.

Even if you only have a few hours to spare, social needs to be a part of your marketing strategy. Leads and customers will be looking for you on social media and if they don’t find you, they are almost guaranteed to move on.

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8 Tips to help you carry out Big Marketing Campaigns without Breaking the Bank

Business marketing today comes with an endless stream of un-truths, half-truths and hype. Everyone claims to be an expert on the subject, with few offering ideas that actually work upon implementation. It’s no surprise that the average small business owner today cannot make heads or tails of the marketing scene.

Amid all the hype, this point remains true: An enterprise’s eventual success or failure is largely attributable to the kind of marketing campaign it runs. However, the traditional marketing and advertising methods like print, television and radio can be very expensive, particularly for those working with limited marketing budgets. In addition, they have a dismal return on investment, if any.

If you’re going to reach your eventual goals, you must become a master at marketing – spending much less to gain much more.

Even if you decide to engage service providers or invest in project management software to help you run your campaigns, it’s important to be knowledgeable enough to distinguish between a weak and strong marketing strategy to ensure you’re not pumping thousands of dollars down the drain.

Using the techniques given below, you can send effective, targeted messages to your desired audience and still save money on your marketing budget.

Partnered giveaways

Come together with other brands to birth one large contest with a grand prize rather than having small, individual giveaways, separately. All the participating businesses should combine support, distribution, and marketing manpower and share their social media followings and email lists. For instance, one TV Station, Oklahoma News on 6, partnered with a number of businesses in Oklahoma State to promote contests with giveaways.

User-generated content

Encourage your users to create content which increases your business’s brand awareness and following. A perfect example of this is what has been done by BuzzFeed, where community posts are highly encouraged. Sites like HerCampus.com are primarily dictated by their communities, with university women being the primary contributors and determiners of the site content.

In a related idea, you can create a contest to reward the best content from your users, just to up the stakes and ensure you get high quality content. For example, Doritos has been annually hosting a Crash the Super Bowl contest where fans are placed in the running to win a cash reward for creating the brand’s Super Bowl video advertisements.

Customer referrals 

Encourage your customers to refer others within their networks to your products and services, and reward them for doing the same. This tactic is responsible for much of Uber and AirBnB companies, which have highly effective referral programs in return for small incentives for participating clients. All you have to do to build up your referral network is to give a small discount, or a product/service/cash reward to both source and recipient of each referral.

Social media

Social media networking offers a number of expense-free channels to advertise your brand, particularly using Twitter and Facebook. The Reddit Ask Me Anything (AMA) also represents a burgeoning opportunity not yet fully explored. You can invite your following on Reddit to ask any questions and post answers – this has been done by a vast array of individuals and corporate establishments. Reddit AMA has been used for movie promotion by celebrities, brand promotion by large enterprises and creation of awareness by startup companies, among others.

Before you host your own Reddit AMA, ensure you to through some of the threads in your niche so that you have an idea what to expect, and how to answer questions and market your business in the best way. If you have a social media budget, consider putting up a YouTube channel to post videos on some relevant subjects. Borrow a leaf from what’s been done by the channel “Dumb Ways to Die”, which combines skillful animation, black humor and appealing music to pass an important message.

Brand ambassadors

Enlist the services of sociable persons to become brand ambassadors promoting your products of services. They are meant to be representatives of your business, creating awareness and spreading information about your brand in a number of ways. Large enterprises like Amazon and Lyft enlist university students to publicize their offerings and services within various college campuses.

Reengineered campaigns

Rather than start all your marketing campaigns from the dust, redirect, repurpose and/or update one of your older marketing campaigns, which saves you both time and money. Revamp the aspects of the campaign that can still work and get rid of those that were inefficient or unsuccessful.

In addition, this strategy is useful in the creation and sustenance of a consistent brand message, as reported by Rand Group. Having a consistent message builds trust in your brand, and raises brand recognition and awareness over time. Conversely, an inconsistent message can have significant negative ramifications for progress made towards building brand recognition.

On-line marketing tools 

There are many free or cheap marketing tools available on-line, which you can use to make your marketing efforts cheaper and more effective. For instance, SurveyMonkey offers free questionnaire and on-line survey tools, making it an excellent for carrying out market research, polling your audience and/or carrying out response analysis.

Another tool is MailChimp, which is a free email marketing tool that comes with newsletter templates to send out an email, including features for email result monitoring and subscriber management options. If you’re interested in the more powerful premium suites, enlist for HubSpot’s free 30-day trial to see whether you like their sales and inbound marketing features.

Weak ads

Stop pouring resources into advertising channels that aren’t performing or giving high ROI. This sounds like common sense, but research has shown that over 46% of ads in various locations go unseen, which means that so many businesses are pouring their hard-earned resources into ads that won’t reach their target audience.

Stay on top of your ads’ performance and ensure they are working to help you meet your goals. If there are channels with little or declining ROI, don’t be afraid to pull the plug and instead redirect that expenditure towards more current and effective strategies with high returns.

Conclusion

Marketing can be both costly and time-consuming in itself, but applying these tips will get your well on your way to finally mastering the game, and at much lesser cost that most conventional strategies would offer.

Daniel Mattei (@mattedt) is a web Marketing Coordinator at Dynamic Search and a filmmaker and founder of Shotlight Productions. He lives with his wife, Grace, and Pomeranian, Couscous in Phoenix, Arizona.

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