Lisa Buyer's Blog: Social PR Chat with Lisa Buyer, page 2

Public Relations and Funnels of Like, Love and Loyalty

Is PR connected to your sales funnel? Whether it’s a journalist, influencer, prospect or customer; public relations can be found in each part of the sales funnel from awareness to engagement to conversion and loyalty.

Over the years I’ve heard public relations compared to “fluff” or “buzz” and not the driver of any real business impact. Harsh, right?!

Not necessarily. It is easy to see why PR gets cut from the marketing budget when an agency or practitioner is laser-focused on top of funnel metrics like impressions and circulation. Those days are long gone in my world because today’s top public relations pros focus on the full-funnel, from brand awareness to the bottom line. 

Sure, we measure KPIs like exposure, influence, and reputation but the digital ecosystem we live, play and work in covers the full gamut of the customer journey. As McKinsey points out, the journey is much more complicated than a traditional top to bottom-funnel. It is a circular and rapidly evolving experience, directed by the consumer.

PR Approach to the Customer Journey and Conversion

Public relations funnels have four steps in the cycle: know, like, buy and loyal.

The first stage in the PR Funnel is “Know”





Start by generating awareness. Get your audience to know you exist and put your brand in their initial consideration set. Here’s how:

First: Have the right landing page. Optimize the page with video content, and clear, informative messaging about the product or service with a call to action (CTA) above the fold. Consider multiple landing pages for each channel and add social proof to each page to show how much everyone loves your brand. For PR this landing page can be a newsroom.
Use media outreach for coverage in local and national news. Pitch relevant and newsworthy content that’s topical and interesting.
Participate in and create events that your target audience cares to attend.
Write search engine optimized articles for relevant, top of funnel keywords that tie back to products or services. 
Promote content with social ads broaching new audiences with creative messaging designed to pique interest. Video is your best here. Quick, concise messages (under 0:15) with a strong CTA will drive action. Low production videos are often top performers. Test and optimize towards what works best in your niche.







Second customers move onto “Like” or the Consideration Phase





Side note: I’ve always liked the word “Like.” I don’t recommend it in verbal communication but I think it’s crazy that Facebook wants to remove Likes from the platform. Likes are the foundation of Facebook for goodness sake! I digress.
This stage is McKinsey’s active evaluation or consideration phase. The list of PR tactics used to attract customers here is vast. 
Influencers are today’s trifecta. Influencer marketing offers the content, audience and reaches brands that just can’t cultivate on their own. The reputation side of the PR puzzle plays strong and if your brand jives with an influencer’s voice, partner up and stick to it. Third-party point-of-view provides value and credibility throughout the buying cycle.
Optimized content and online articles via guest posts and credible sources are a great opportunity to move audiences from the consideration mindset to the buying cycle. The borrowed influence will always speak stronger than the brand itself.
Social ads and PPC can be used through every stage of the funnel and especially adhere to customers that have interacted in the past and can be reached with a retargeting tactic.





Funnel up! Que the cash register for the third stage: Buy





If you’ve made it this far, you’re golden. Right? Wrong. Customers require a stellar experience both digitally and in person. This includes having reduced friction when buying online (que Amazon) and a deliciously packaged item when it arrives (my recent fave is Pura Vida bracelets with their warm-hearted, surprise and delight packaging inserts).
The PR methodologies of getting consumers to the “buy cycle” are continued social ads, bottom of funnel blog content with deep link CTAs, email marketing, and influencer programs – using promo codes when applicable.
In the past two years, consumers have gone from being afraid of Facebook ads to literally buying directly from a brand’s ad at first blush. Paid social circumvents the stages of the traditional funnel at its core.
Affiliate programs through influencers are mutually beneficial, proving financial reciprocity for the influencer’s time while driving a sale.
Align your message with peak seasons and relevant days of the year. Brands taking advantage of the Labor Day weekend or Black Friday for a sale know what I’m talking about here. 





Funnel Rinse and Repeat
Your brand is winning when customers become Loyal



When steps #1-3 are fully functional and firing, loyalty comes. There will always be new competitors and a shiny object elsewhere, but if a brand’s proof points play out in the eyes of a consumer, there’s no reason to look elsewhere.
Cultivating a frictionless process with auto-ship, easy cancel and regular (but not overdone) communication is the goal here. Blue Apron does a great job of this with their meal service app that allows customers to cancel meals on the fly. They also offer great social PR customer service and resolve issues within moments on the Facebook channel. Keep in mind the page speed of your landing pages so that consumers are quickly getting to your message. Don’t make them wait. 
PR’s POV in the loyalty cycle combines all of the above tactics: media outreach, social ads, events, influencers, optimized content, and email marketing. Deciding on which blend to use and when is the ultimate game of Tetris and quite the fun challenge for top online PR agencies.  

 

Keep in mind to stay away from funnel activation until the brand’s foundation is laid. Craft the right message, to the right audience, with the right tone is imperative to begin. Knowing the creative angle that attracts your audience and speaks directly to the right persona can only be amplified by the PR funnel tactics mentioned in this article. Do testing to uncover the right creative, messaging and target audience first and foremost, then layer on the power.

If you’re looking for ideas on how to weave Social PR tactics into your buyer’s journey including the media, give us a shout. We’d love to talk through some ideas. 

 

Namaste, 

TBG

The post Public Relations and Funnels of Like, Love and Loyalty appeared first on Social PR Chat by Lisa Buyer.

Digital Detox Secrets by Lisa Buyer Now on Amazon

In an epidemic era of digital impact on health, wellness and productivity –  Lisa Buyer releases her second book, Digital Detox Secrets; as a testimony and guide towards finding balance in today’s digitally saturated world. 

For those looking for the perfect holiday gift idea or self-care remedy for the entrepreneurs, mompreneurs, digital natives, millennials or the digitally overwhelmed in your life, Digital Detox Secrets, the newly released book by Lisa Buyer, is the best gift to promote health, wellness, and happiness.

Buyer, Founder, and CEO of The Buyer Group, a Social PR Agency, realized the importance of creating a healthy balance between your work and personal life. This became the inspiration for Digital Detox Secrets: How to Create Space in Your Digital Life for Happiness and Productivity, now available on Amazon.

Digital Detox Secrets is a collection of tips, interviews, and ideas compiled from Buyer and other leading industry experts on how to help create space and balance in your digital life. She offers a fresh and real approach to sharing the struggles many people experience when it comes to living in a world filled with emails, direct messages, hashtags, and notifications. Some of the chapters include:

Chapter 1: Reprogramming Mind, Body, and Spirit

Chapter 2: Digital-Destress

“Stress and anxiety are like a glass of water. If we stress about things for a short while, nothing happens.

If we think about them for a long time, they start to hurt.

If we think about them all day, we will feel paralyzed; unable to do anything. It is important to remember to let go of whatever stressed you out.”

Chapter 3: Space for Yoga

Chapter 4: How CBD Oil Can Change Your Life

Chapter 5: The Skinny on Skin

Chapter 6: The State of Health, Thanks to Digital

Chapter 7: Suicide, Depression, and CEOs

Chapter 8: How Mindful Business Owners Cope

Chapter 9: Avoiding Digital Hoarding Disasters

Chapter 10: Empowering Business Events

Chapter 11: Write Way to Power Through Procrastination

Chapter 12: A Parent’s Guide to Teens, Social Media, and Smartphone Addiction

Chapter 13: Why Your Teen Won’t Get Into College

Chapter 14: Adulting the Steve Jobs Way

Chapter 15: Space to Grieve

Chapter 16: The Six-Second Mind Fix Test

Chapter 17: Lisa’s Favorite Digital Detox Secrets Apps for meditation, mantras and more

Chapter 18: Lisa’s Favorite Digital Detox Secrets including wine, Burning Man and candles

“This book has been five years in the making,” said Buyer. “Studies show how social media and our digital world can cause anxiety, depression and even suicide – it is also a necessity in our culture. If the information shared in Digital Detox Secrets helps just one person find a new way to detox from the digital chaos, then it’s served its purpose.”

Dr. Paul Savage MD, Co-Chief Medical Officer of Forum Health and Agenixs, provides his testimony on the importance of digital detoxing in the book’s forward.

“As a doctor approaching the age of 60, I’ve learned a lot along the journey called life about what it takes to age well. One of my biggest takeaways has been understanding the importance of making healthy lifestyle choices in areas like nutrition, exercise, sleep, and detoxification,” said Savage.

Other experts featured in Digital Detox Secrets include best selling author Cameron Herold, cannabis visionary Will Kleidon, CEO and Founder of Ojai Energetics, Karen Berzanski, Pro EFT Tapping Coach, Erin Phiel, of MindFix, renowned yoga entrepreneur Tymi Howard as well as Lisa Gianvito, detox, yoga, and wellness coach.

With 18 chapters and 100+ pages of personal experiences, recommendations, and at least one detox solution that every person can do, this is a must-read.

The book is available for purchase on Amazon. Those looking to further their Digital Detox journey can also follow the Digital Detox Secrets podcast and subscribe to the weekly magazine where we deliver monthly #DigitalDetoxSecrets to keep you on track.

About Lisa Buyer

Lisa Buyer is the author of Social PR Secrets in its 4th edition with a foreword by Guy Kawasaki. She is the CEO/founder of the Social PR agency The Buyer Group. She is also the founder of FemaleDisruptors.com, a passion project with a mission to spotlight women who are disruptors in their space. Lisa is a member of Baby Bathwater and hosts a Podcast Digital Detox Secrets.

A certified yoga instructor, Lisa is a mom and wife. She lives in Celebration, Florida. You can also find her on Anna Maria Island and Jupiter Beach, Florida part-time watching sunsets, going to yoga and working on her next business venture. Follow her on digital @LisaBuyer #DigitalDetoxSecrets

The post Digital Detox Secrets by Lisa Buyer Now on Amazon appeared first on Social PR Chat by Lisa Buyer.

Podcasting PR Secrets

Listen up. With the rise in mobile use, podcasts have made a comeback and are no longer just for the techie world.

A podcast is similar to a radio program, but they are audio files typically listened to via sources such as iTunes. The word “podcast” originated from a blend of words “pod” (from iPod) and “broadcast.”

Thanks to the iPhone and other smartphones, audio streaming is available at the touch of an app and can be accessed anytime and anywhere, including in your car, at your desk, at the beach, or working out.

How Many Podcasts Are There?

In Apple’s annual Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) in 2018, the company said there were over 555,000 podcasts, including 525,000 active podcasts.

Apple also reported in June 2018 there were over billion downloads from Apple Podcasts.

In 2019, Google Podcasts product manager, Zach Reneau-Weeden tells Discover Pods there are around 2 million podcasts indexed by Google.

According to Nielson, 52% of podcast listeners use iOS, 43% are on Android.

Podcast Listener Stats
Key Stats from Edison Research 2018

70% of Americans aged 12+ are now familiar with the word “Podcasting.”
51% of Americans reported having listened to a podcast at least once in their lives.
32% of Americans report having listened to a podcast within the past month.
The average number of podcasts consumed in the last week among weekly podcast listeners has stayed at seven
More than half (53%) of monthly Spotify users aged 12-24 report being monthly podcast listeners, up 32% last year
Podcasting grew slightly as the “audio source used most often in the car” — now at 4%, up from 3% last year.

Thinking about starting your own Podcast?

Go for it. From a public relations standpoint, it’s the equivalent of hosting your 120 Social PR Secrets own talk show and can boost credibility and authority in your industry. I caught up with author, podcaster, and business coach Charlie Gilkey to get the inside scoop on the A, B, C’s of podcasting and tapped into his Podcasting Social PR Secrets.

Podcast Realities

Between his business-coaching cocktails and book-writing wizardry, Charlie hosts The Creative Giant Show, a podcast that dives behind the scenes to talk about what it takes to thrive as a creative person who’s actually making a difference in the world. It’s a mix of interviews, jams, and riffs with Creative Giants at varying levels of success.

Podcast PR Secret #1

Think about search-friendliness for your podcast and episodes. People search iTunes for podcast topics, so consider what someone would be searching for when you’re titling your podcast and episodes as if they were blog posts. This works better for how-to and tips podcasts, but you can still use it for story-based or interview podcasts as well. If Seth Godin is on your podcast talking about marketing, then “3 Must-Apply Marketing Insights from Seth Godin” is significantly better than “Episode #21: Marketing Tips”. The previous title is also much more social-friendly.

Podcast PR Secret #2

Create a “home” page or a landing page on your website/blog for your podcast so that it’s easy for people to find it without being in podcatchers and iTunes. Imagine that someone finds your podcast after you’ve recorded 50 episodes. How will they really know what the podcast is about? They get Episode 51 Chapter 13 – Podcasting PR Secrets 121 and have to figure it out from there. Or imagine that they want to share the podcast with their friends on Facebook, Twitter, or email (it happens!). If you’re not going to create a site specifically for your podcast, at least have a page on your website that introduces your podcast and makes it easy to share. As an example, check out the page for my podcast, The Creative Giant Show

Podcast PR Secret #3

Create a podcast that you would want to listen to and that you’ll enjoy producing. Data is all over the place about what works best for podcasts because it’s such a versatile medium. Each host brings their own special sauce to it, and each community of listeners wants different things from their hosts. Some hosts can conduct a fascinating 45- to 55-minute interview that keeps people hanging on every minute, where others lose steam after 15 minutes. Some hosts can rock the 8-minute tip format, where others ramble and half-say something.

Podcasting is a long game, so make sure that you enjoy it as you do it, or it’s going to be a long grind. If you’re not sure what you’ll enjoy, just tell your listeners you’re trying something new and do it. Podcast PR Secret #4 Ask for reviews and tell people exactly how to do it on your FAQ page. Charlie Gilkey walks his audience through the steps using screenshots, a visual that actually shows people exactly how to do it. And don’t be shy; ask for a five-star review. If you don’t tell people what you want, they won’t know what you want them to do. It’s that simple. It works almost every time.

Check out how Charlie does it on his FAQs Page: https://www.productiveflourishing.com/podcast-how-to-faq/

What’s a podcast?

A podcast is like an audio blog. Rather than written content delivered to you via email or through a website, the audio episode goes right to your computer or mobile device. Podcasts are typically available as a series or have a theme.

How can I support a podcast?

Leaving a rating and review is the single best way to support the show. Next up would be sharing an episode with your friends or network.

Why is leaving a rating and review the best way to support the podcast?

In many ways, iTunes works like other search engines. iTunes uses ratings and reviews as a way to gauge popularity, and the more popular a podcast is, the higher it goes in its category’s listing. But iTunes also uses the number of listens to determine how popular a show is, and the higher a listing the podcast is, the more listens it gets. It creates a positive loop: The higher on the page a podcast is, the more listens it gets, and the more listens it gets, the higher on the page it goes. Leaving a rating and review is something we can all do, whereas directly causing a bunch of listens is something only a few people do. Listens, ratings, and reviews are important for three reasons:

1. They help us get great guests (if I don’t already know them).

2. They affect the amount we can get from sponsors. It’s expensive to run a great podcast, and we’re far from breaking even in current expenses, let alone startup expenses.

3. They help us evaluate whether it’s something we should keep doing. There are only so many things we can do, and we’re continually evaluating which projects are providing the most value to us and our community. Leaving a rating is also a way for you to reciprocate in the value that you receive from the show, and it doesn’t cost you anything. Thanks for your support!

What do you use to record your podcast?

My guests and I do a video meeting via Zoom, and I use a HeilPR40, Focusrite Scarlett 2i2, and my laptop. I upgraded to pro gear after I had done about 50 episodes. By the way, though a lot of people use Skype, I found Zoom to be better because Skype recorded my guest and me at different volumes, and fixing it made the audio sound worse. Another source is Zencastr.

How do you get big names on the podcast?

Gilkey says, “I’m blessed to personally know a lot of Big Names. Occasionally, I’ll muster up the courage to ask some Big Name whom I don’t know to be on the show. Sometimes they say yes. Then I freak out a little bit, count my blessings, and start prepping to make it the best interview they’ve had in a while.” Other ways might be to look at your LinkedIn connections, talk to conference speakers after a presentation or webinar, look for experts in your industry, or even check out postings on HARO (Help a Reporter Out) www.helpareporter.com. After all, you are now a journalist.

How do you figure out what to talk about?

For interviews, I mostly research what my guests are interested in, which makes me interested in it, too. I learn how they got to where they are and ask them to share that journey, especially the not-so-glamorous parts of it. I’m intensely curious about people. Though I always have questions to ask that my guests never see, I often abandon those questions. If I wanted canned conversations, I’d ask people to contribute something to the blog instead.

Who produces your podcast?

It’s a team effort for The Creative Giant Show. The good people at Podfly handle the audio editing and get it into Libsyn (a podcast hosting and publishing system) for us. The rest of the workload is distributed among different members of the Productive Flourishing team. Shannon’s the showrunner and manages guest coordination and chases me down, Macey works on the written content and promotional materials, and Vanessa designs the lead banners. Their support helps me focus just on the interviews and on recording great episodes.

Podcasting is a lot of work. How do you publish one episode, let alone two, per week?

Podcasting is a lot of work. A lot more than I estimated. But it’s also something I really love doing, and it has business value for us, too. The distributed workload above is the only way we get it done. As of now, we’re doing two episodes per week, and in case you’re curious, publishing two times per week is more than twice as hard as publishing once per week. We might not continue doing it that frequently.

Ready to start a podcast? Make a plan but don’t plan to be perfect.

Your show is calling

Speaking of Podcasts, listen to Lisa Buyer’s interview on Search Talk Live where she talks about the latest trends in Social PR and search.

 

Source: https://discoverpods.com/podcast-stat...

The post Podcasting PR Secrets appeared first on Social PR Chat by Lisa Buyer.

Writing Hacks to 10X Your PR Success

Imagine how much more productive and rewarding your writing time could be if, when you made time to write and sat down and opened that laptop, you could get right to it? Staring at a blank page wondering when the right words will come cost time you can’t afford to waste.

In a recent Office Hours Live Chat, I got to pick the brain of a business writer and writing coach Miranda Miller. She’s been writing for brands and other organizations for over 15 years and now teaches other writers tricks and tips to dramatically improve the quality and value of their writing. I asked her to share her favorite writing hacks to help busy entrepreneurs like you enhance your productivity, gain more publicity, and ultimately see far more value from the time you spend creating content.

Here are a few of the highlights from our talk.

1. Schedule time to write.

The greatest challenge for business people who want to create thought leadership and PR-worthy pieces, Miranda said, is that it ends up feeling like an extra chore you have to get through. When we deprioritize writing by leaving it until we have “spare time” or tacking it on the end of an already-packed workday, it becomes a sort of punishment rather than an opportunity.

Schedule time into your calendar early in the day to write. You don’t have to finish the piece in one sitting, so don’t put it off until you think you have enough time to do it all at once. Try setting aside a two-hour block to start, and use this next hack to make the most out of it.

2. Write in sprints using the Pomodoro technique.

The Pomodoro technique is a time management tactic created by Francesco Cirillo, who used a tomato-shaped kitchen timer (hence the “Pomodoro” moniker) to measure 25-minute work sprints. Between sprints, you take 5 to 10 minutes to get up from your desk and take a break (or, if you’re participating in group coaching such as Miranda’s, to network and chat with your fellow writers). This gives you four super-productive work sprints in two hours. 

You begin each two-hour session with a clear set of goals in mind. Set yourself up with writing success by setting an achievable goal for each Pomodoro. Structure your writing sprints to maximize your creativity by following the process in this next writing hack.

3. Work with your brain, not against it. 

There’s nothing worse than sitting down to write and just staring at the blank page. Set yourself up for writing success by making time to outline and research your piece. In your first Pomodoro, create an outline that will give your story structure. 

What information do you already have, and where does it fit in the piece—in the introduction, body, or conclusion?

What else do your readers want to know about this subject, and where can you find that information?

Who else is talking about this topic, and are there other reputable sources you can cite to strengthen the piece?

Will there be any images, video, or social content embedded in your piece, and how do they add to your story?

These tools can help you plan a more robust, compelling story, whether you’re working on a blog post, press release, thought leadership article or other pieces:

AnswerThePublic.com – Type in your topic and see what questions people have been asking search engines about it.
Google Trends – See topics and terms related to yours.
BuzzSumo – Find the most read and shared content on any topic.
Social media – Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube are all great places to see  

Get as much information down in your outline as you can in your first writing sprint, then walk away for your break. While you take a quick walk around the office or chat with another writer in your group, your subconscious is digesting the information it’s been fed. It’s percolating, as Miranda says.

4. Give yourself permission to suck.

Through these next steps, try not to edit yourself as you write. You don’t need to find exactly the right words or craft perfect sentences at this point. You might think that you’ll save time by not having to edit later, but can seriously hamper your efforts if you don’t allow yourself to write freely. 

If you get stuck and have absolutely no idea where to start, use one of these 103 awesome copywriting tips to get yourself motivated.

5. Flesh out one section at a time.

You might choose to write your introduction first, but don’t feel that you have to. Miranda often encourages her writers to leave the introduction until last.

“I like to get my subheadings straight right from the start. Establish the body first, because the information you find in your research might change the course of your piece,” Miranda said. Once the ‘meat’ of your piece is completed, you can then craft an introduction that accurately describes to readers what they can expect and why they should continue reading. 

Set a goal at the beginning of the session. Will you write one body section per writing sprint, and complete the introduction and conclusion in the fourth (and final) one? Write down your progress. It will help you stay motivated when you give yourself those quick wins.

6. Enrich and improve your writing with free tools.

Don’t have your own writing coach? No problem! You can dramatically improve the quality of each piece and build better writing habits by using a few tools as part of your editing process. The best part is, Miranda’s favorites are free. She recommends:

Hemingway App – Check your writing for passive vs active voice, readability, use of adverbs and more with this simple-to-use web-based tool. Simply copy and paste your text into the app and it’ll bring back helpful suggestions to make your writing stronger and more clear.
Grammarly – This free writing assistant can be installed as a browser extension that automatically suggests improvements to grammar and spelling in your web-based documents (such as Google Docs), emails, and more. There’s a more robust premium version, as well.
Copyscape – Make sure your content is 100% unique with this free plagiarism checker.

7. Get comfortable with SEO basics.

Google aims to provide each searcher with top quality content that meets their unique needs. As a writer, it’s your job to make sure Google understands how your content is relevant to specific searches. That’s SEO, in a nutshell.

Google is smart enough to recognize synonyms and themes, so you don’t need to repeat specific keywords throughout your copy (in fact, stuffing too many keywords into your writing can make Google pretty unhappy with you!).

Instead, make sure your content centers around a well-defined theme, and that you use words in your title, introduction, subheadings, image alt text, and throughout the body that make that theme clear. Think about your ideal reader—what are they typing into the search bar when they’re looking for content like yours?

8. Think like an editor when you write your pitch.

Editors have a job to do. Instead of approaching them with your own need to get published in mind, how can you help them?

Every day, they sift through massive piles of pitches. They have publishing deadlines looming and need to find the most interesting, engaging content for their readers. They’re under the gun from advertisers to produce page views and reads. It’s your job as a content creator to quickly prove to an editor you’re pitching that you can meet their need for top quality, timely, and relevant stories—and that you’re prepared to do the work to publicize it, too.

Keep your pitches brief and to the point. Nurture your relationships with editors by connecting with them on social once in a while, so you aren’t only reaching out when you’re asking for something.

Does writing feel like a punishment?

It shouldn’t! Improve your motivation, creativity and writing tips with these hacks and others from my interview with Miranda Miller.

Have any questions? Contact The Buyer Group for any suggestions or help you may need.

 

The post Writing Hacks to 10X Your PR Success appeared first on Social PR Chat by Lisa Buyer.

The Social PR Guide to Trolls

“After a recent attack where I sort of slightly lost my usual cool, I thought it would be beneficial to create a mini-guide for wizards on the different types of trolls I have come to observe in the wild interwebs and how to handle them, ” said Cat Howell, Founder and CEO of Eight Loop Social.

In the digital marketing world, trolls can be found in search, social and online reviews. According to Pew Research, more than 72% of internet users have witnessed at least one harassing behavior online.

The trolls seem to obsess and relish over instigating, starting quarrels or upsetting people just because.

Whether you are just entering the online space or a pro, it can particularly be disturbing, especially for social advertisers running campaigns, the last thing you want is to pay for PR brain damage. Remember, take a deep breath, they are not a reflection of your work or your client. #HatersGonnaHate 

Tip: Remember, take a deep breath, they are not a reflection of your work or client. #hatersgonnahate

I caught up with Cat Howell, Founder, and CEO of Eight Loop Social, a New Zealand-based Facebook Ads Agency and admin of the Facebook Ad Hacks Facebook Group for Facebook marketers and agency owners, to find out how she handles the haters of the digital marketing world, the ones who try to manipulate our psyche and ROI.

In case this sounds like you or someone you know, here is a guide to help you navigate what many never talk about – the haters on your ads!

“After six years of playing in the online marketing space, I’ve become somewhat immune to trolls – I often forget how horrible of an experience it was to deal with when I was first getting started out,” said Howell.

Here are highlights on Howell’s troll survival guide

The Social PR Crisis Guide to Trolls

“After a recent attack where I sort of slightly lost my usual cool, I thought it would be beneficial to create a mini-guide for wizards on the different types of trolls I have come to observe in the wild interwebs and how to handle them, ” said Cat Howell, Founder and CEO of Eight Loop Social.

In the digital marketing world, trolls can be found in search, social and online reviews. According to Pew Research, more than 72% of internet users have witnessed at least one harassing behavior online.

The trolls seem to obsess and relish over instigating, starting quarrels or upsetting people just because.

Whether you are just entering the online space or a pro, it can particularly be disturbing, especially for social advertisers running campaigns, the last thing you want is to pay for PR brain damage. Remember, take a deep breath, they are not a reflection of your work or your client. #HatersGonnaHate 

Tip: Remember, take a deep breath, they are not a reflection of your work or client. #hatersgonnahate

I caught up with Cat Howell, Founder, and CEO of Eight Loop Social, a New Zealand-based Facebook Ads Agency and admin of the Facebook Ad Hacks Facebook Group for Facebook marketers and agency owners, to find out how she handles the haters of the digital marketing world, the ones who try to manipulate our psyche and ROI.

In case this sounds like you or someone you know, here is a guide to help you navigate what many never talk about – the haters on your ads!

“After six years of playing in the online marketing space, I’ve become somewhat immune to trolls – I often forget how horrible of an experience it was to deal with when I was first getting started out,” said Howell.

Here are highlights on Howell’s troll survival guide

5 PR Reasons To Use YouTube Advertising for Exposure

Have you ever wondered how YouTube advertising can help boost public relations exposure? One that can target the right audience and engage viewers? Creating an effective YouTube ad is a careful balance between getting your message across to the viewers, but not dissuading them to click away because the ad is too long or not applicable.

Tom Breeze, author of “Viewability: Harness the Power of Youtube Ads and Be There for Your Customer- When it Really Counts,” gives valuable insight on YouTube advertising and how to get the most out of every ad.

Here are the top five reasons why you should be utilizing YouTube advertising.

1. YouTube Ads Engage

YouTube reported that its 1.9 billion users are collectively watching more than one billion minutes of video on a daily basis. What does that mean? YouTube users are highly engaged. As the second largest search engine behind Google, this audience is hungry for more content. Even with these statistics, brands are still not taking advantage of the advertising opportunities on YouTube. This means competition is low and opportunity is high.

“A lot of people using YouTube just are there for brand awareness, like a commercial on TV. But the big play is making sure you get your ad is in front of the right people at the right time,” said Tom Breeze.

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2. People Hate Ads Not Targeted at Them

One of the biggest problems with YouTube ads is many people strongly dislike them or they don’t understand the purpose. According to Breeze, the solution is to make sure ads are targeted to the right audiences. People don’t hate ads, they just hate bad ones.

Breeze said being there doesn’t always mean getting it right. If you are searching for a child’s show video, and an advertiser puts a 30-second video of a pharmaceutical drug, then the company has completely missed the mark with their targeting parameters. This can lead to a powerful emotional impact and make someone annoyed whenever they see the brand again. So a brand has to be careful where they decide to place their ad.

3. YouTubers are Full of Intent

A big advantage of advertisers on YouTube is it drives qualified traffic. People have watched 50,000 years of product review videos in the last two years alone. About 53 percent of users go to YouTube to look up things they are passionate about. This could be for entertainment or educational purposes like music, movie and tv show clips, YouTube personalities, how-to-videos and more.

Timing is everything. If you turn to a YouTube how-to video because your water heater broke and it is Christmas Eve and it still doesn’t work after you watch the video, this would be a good time to put in an advertisement of a repair company offering a deal for the service, according to Tom Breeze.

“YouTube is a platform where people have already made a decision to go into the store. They are already wanting to know information,” Breeze said.

4. YouTube Ads are Effective

Did you know that people watch 5 billion videos on YouTube every day? In fact, 300 hundred hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute!

Ads should tell a story with its viewers, something that resonates with them and it just happens to include your product. Breeze says his ads are value first, they create a story but they don’t fatigue the reader with the same ad over and over. To create a really good ad, Breeze uses a system called “ADUCATE” which stands for:

A – aim for viewer
D- difficulty
U- understanding
C- credibility
A- action plan
T- teach
E- exit (call to action)



5. Advertising on YouTube is Affordable

Advertising on YouTube is an efficient way to advertise, compared to digital banner ads and traditional media, with some of the highest ROI. It is different from other platforms like Google or Facebook Ads because of the way a view is counted: You only pay for a view if the user passes the 30-second mark or watches the entire video.

The flexibility to take control over who sees your ad with demographic targeting helps marketers get the most bang for their buck. For example, if you are a surf shop selling surf gear, you would target a demographic region near the coast.

Now that you have read five reasons why you should be utilizing YouTube Advertising, consider the following takeaways before you launch your next campaign.

Tips and Takeaways

YouTube is the second largest search engine with over a billion users and yet only 10 percent of companies advertise on it.
When creating an ad, quality matters more than quantity. Ads should tell a story that resonates with the user and then include your product.
Targeting the correct audience for your company or product when advertising on YouTube is critical.
Timing is everything.
When users visit YouTube, they have a purpose, whether it is for entertainment or education.
It is an efficient advertising platform.

So how will you incorporate YouTube Advertising into your next social PR campaign? Contact The Buyer Group for any suggestions or help you may need.

 

The post 5 PR Reasons To Use YouTube Advertising for Exposure appeared first on Social PR Chat by Lisa Buyer.

10 Tips for Aspiring Entrepreneurs from Larry Kim, Marketing & PR Unicorn

Larry Kim, a successful entrepreneur and founder and CEO of Mobile Monkey, has spent over a decade mastering digital marketing. You may be familiar with his work in PPC, but did you know that Larry is crazy-awesome at PR, too? He’s been able to land spots on national TV sharing his expertise in marketing and tech, and generates countless valuable links for his brand by being a “unicorn in a sea of donkeys.” (More on that soon, I promise.)

An expert on Facebook Messenger chatbot marketing, AdWords, Facebook Ads, entrepreneurship and start-ups, he founded his first company in 2008. (WordStream sold for $150m in 2018.) His latest entrepreneurial venture, Mobile Monkey, was founded in 2017 and is now the world’s most innovative Facebook Messenger marketing platform.

Larry recently hosted an “Ask Me Anything” (AMA) about entrepreneurship, start-ups, growth marketing, SEO, AdWords, Facebook Ads, or chatbots and messaging on Facebook Live. Here are the 10 top Q&As for aspiring entrepreneurs.

Q. Looking back, would you have done anything differently before you founded WordStream?

A. “I would have wanted to get a core group of people on board before founding WordStream. For example, finance, customer support, and operations.”

Larry has shared his experience getting started before—in fact, he was interviewed for the Twitter Business blog not long ago. He told Twitter that one of the main challenges in a startup is finding people who are equally passionate about your idea and excited enough to take the jump with you.

“This gets easier once you have a few wins under your belt,” he said. “But in the early days, it can be hard to convince people who are comfortable at their current job to embrace your crazy idea.”

Q. What are some tips on integrating email marketing with chatbot marketing?

A. “Use your existing email list to build up your messenger subscriber list. Add a click-to-messenger ad because they send people into a conversation with your business in Messenger. And include a link at the bottom of your email.”

In Facebook Messenger Chatbot Marketing: The Definitive Guide, we learn that you can use email and chatbots together, but there’s a key advantage to chatbots. While business emails expire on average 4%/month due to people changing jobs, etc., Facebook IDs tend to last forever. You can better retain your audience if you can get them to subscribe to you in Messenger.

Q. What’s with all the unicorns?

A. “I love unicorns. You need some way of making your content or brand more memorable. I realized early on you need some type of funny metaphor or gimmick so people remember who you are.”

Which brings us to…

“Be a unicorn in a sea of donkeys.”

Q. What does “be a unicorn in a sea of donkeys,” mean?

A. “Donkeys are unremarkable campaigns. Unicorns are the best marketing campaigns. So if you are a unicorn you are the top one percent of a particular marketing channel.”

Larry’s ability to reverse-engineer an algorithm is legendary. And while he was with WordStream, he had access to a massive treasure trove of advertiser account data that enabled him to crack the algorithms for AdWords, Twitter Ads, and Facebook Ads. In each case, he found that the advertising platform gives preference to advertisers and ads that are relevant, engaging, and high quality. Google doesn’t want to serve its searchers a dumpster fire of bad ads—that doesn’t help solve their problem.

His research has shown that average simply isn’t good enough; sorry to say, but the online landscape is a sea of average donkeys. You have to provide an exceptional experience to get noticed. Be like Larry. Be a unicorn.

Q. How is Mobile Monkey different from other chatbot providers?

A. “We are very committed to great software quality, experience and support. We also educate others on how to be successful because we are invested in your success.”

You can learn more about Mobile Monkey’s features and what it offers marketers in this article on ChatbotTech.io.

Q. What does Mobile Monkey provide other chatbots don’t?

A. “We feature natural language processing in 30 different languages. We have a very sophisticated A.I (artificial intelligence) set up. And the user interface is easier to use than other platforms.”

AI is becoming more and more important in marketing—in fact, you may already be using it! Artificial intelligence helps us automate repetitive tasks, analyze larger sets of data, gain insight into wider swaths of the customer journey, and more. Already, 80% of business and tech leaders say AI boosts productivity. Chatbots like Mobile Monkey, for example, allow you to engage prospects and customers, build your list and generate more leads without having a team on it 24/7.

Q. Do you have any tips to retain customers if you are an agency?

A. “Properly set the expectations. Nothing is ‘get rich overnight,’ it is a two-year journey with each other. For pricing, eliminate month to month because those users have the highest turnover. Do a special deal for six months or an even better deal for a year. Lastly, be picky on your target market. The best customers are the ones with a lot of budget to spend.”

See which 3 tools Larry recommends to help you better understand your online audience here.

Q. Best way to rank a website?

A. “Google ranks your website two ways. One is link-based scoring system and the other is click-through engagement rates. If your website is getting several clicks, Google will continue to bump up your website in the search results.”

Larry shares 11 battle-tested ways to increase your organic click-through rates in this post on the WordStream blog.

Q. What would you do differently with Mobile Monkey that you didn’t do with WordStream?

A. “I would focus more on brand marketing. Your success or failure as a company is usually determined by how popular your brand is in the first place. For example, a new shoe will probably sell faster if it is Nike. Focus on building your brand early on.”

As Margot de Cunha shared on the WordSteam Blog, “Back in 2007, when Larry Kim was just a one-man band settling into his usual spot at the Panera Bread in downtown Boston to build WordStream, the last thing on his mind was personal branding.” Margot got Larry to share some great advice on shifting focus and how he used personal branding to shape his career—and his company. Read more here: 6 Larry Kim Approved Strategies to Build Your Personal Brand.

Q. Should you use a chatbot for agencies?

A. “Yes. Chatbots can reduce the price for FB advertising.”

In one of his columns on Inc, Larry talked about the benefit to using Facebook Ads that send to a Messenger chatbot. “Facebook Ads that send to a Messenger chatbot get 4x-50x better ROAs,” he wrote. “Mobile-friendly ads convert about 3x to 5x times more than desktop ads. Most Facebook Messenger users are on mobile. The ability to show ads through Facebook Messenger is a boon for businesses vying to gain more visibility with potential customers.

Facebook Messenger ads not only raise awareness of your brand, but also create a customer record in your Facebook Messenger marketing platform that becomes a direct line for personalized communication.” Read more on Inc.

Don’t stop now! Larry’s just getting started…

Chatbots are an entrepreneur’s ticket to capturing those leads and turning them into customers. Join Larry Kim on his upcoming Free Marketing Agency Growth Accelerator Summit here and learn how to land huge clients, command higher retainer fees, and implement business strategies to turn your operations into a power-house of performance-driven PPC, SEO, CRO, Social Media Optimization and Marketing Automation!

The post 10 Tips for Aspiring Entrepreneurs from Larry Kim, Marketing & PR Unicorn appeared first on Social PR Chat by Lisa Buyer.

5 Steps to Help You Find Inbound Marketing Happiness

How can inbound marketing impact your customer’s happiness level? The answer might be in the reviews. The growth of social media has led to the growth of consumer power. If a customer loves a product, they have the power to recommend it to friends and family. If a customer felt like they didn’t receive a five-star experience, they have the power to let you know.

Due to the pressure of maintaining a positive online reputation, many brands are beginning to dedicate a customer service specialist to manage and monitor their online reputation. In fact, in 2018, 78 percent of people who complain to a brand via Twitter expect a response within an hour. If the customer holds the power to your online reputation, then shouldn’t they be the focus of your marketing strategy?

Out(bound) with the old, In(bound) with the new!

The way we communicate is evolving, and so is the way marketing operates. Traditional outbound marketing meant fighting for your potential customer’s attention. Inbound marketing differs because it is customer-centric. By generating content curated to tackle the needs and problems of your ideal customers, you appeal to qualified prospects and build confidence for your business.

Why is this important? Because “customer success is your success!” Reviews and customer opinions matter.

Eighty-one percent of people trust advice from friends and family over advice from a business. 69 percent do not trust advertisements.

Customers are your greatest marketers!

Funnel vs. Flywheel

The inbound marketing process is known as a flywheel, while traditional outbound marketing is thought of as a funnel. This funnel starts with marketing, then trickles down to sales and ends with customers as an afterthought. The issue with the funnel is that the only way to grow is at the top because growth is confined to what you can put in for marketing efforts, which are becoming increasingly expensive.

Meanwhile, the flywheel places customers at the center. The customers are the driving force. The basic definition of a flywheel is a mechanism that stores energy and releases it. In a car, a flywheel is designed to keep an engine running even when you aren’t “pressing the gas pedal,” which is what your content is doing online. The flywheel concept forces you to really take stock and invest in your customers in order to achieve growth.

Flywheel Elements: Attract, Engage, Delight

The flywheel puts the customer at the center with three elements based around the customer’s experience with your brand. The goal is for your content to keep attracting, engaging and delighting customers. There are three parts that make up the flywheel components:

Attract

In this stage, through relevant and helpful content you attract potential customers, they “enter your flywheel” and interact with your company for the first time.

Engage

In this stage, through conversational tools like chat and email, you engage with potential customers to promise continued value. In return, this influences the decision-making and purchasing process as early as possible.

Delight

In the final stage, you delight customers by continuing to act as an understanding guide and expert in your field. In return, it gives customers the potential to become advocates for your company.

Inbound Marketing Content Ideas

The content necessary for creating a successful inbound marketing approach needs to pull rather than push. It needs to educate rather than interrupt, and it needs to provide value rather than to sell or persuade. Below are five unique ways to stand out while providing inbound content.

1. Facebook Live

With Facebook Live the possibilities to offer inbound content are endless from expert interviews to meet the team specials and more! Customers watching also have the ability to comment and hit reaction buttons to what is happening during the live video. Through this tool you can provide customers with helpful knowledge in a creative and interactive way.

2. Blog-Like Posts on Instagram

Instagram is a visually driven platform, but when helpful information is turned into a post it can be a game changer. Simply feature creative graphics, created on a program like Canva, which contain blog-like information in either a carousel or single image that provides customers with tips, knowledge, or tools. It’s a growing way to grab a potential customer’s attention.

3. Free Trials

Who doesn’t like FREE? By offering a free trial of an online service or e-book, you have a chance to catch your potential customer’s attention with a more in-depth story than a short social media blurb, and the customer feels they are getting something of value in return. The most efficient way to offer a free trial is to have potential customers enter their contact information in a form. That way you have the ability to engage with them in the near future.

4. Templates

People love content that is ready-to-use and a  template can really appeal to a customer. For example, a social media manager can offer a free calendar template for planning posts. An accountant can offer a simple excel template for formulas. The most efficient way to offer a free template is to offer the download after a potential customer enters their email in a form. That way you have their contact information to engage with them in the future.

5. Podcasts

Podcasts are becoming extremely popular as many people are on the go! Fifty one percent (144 million) of the US population has listened to a podcast – up from 44 percent in 2018. Potential customers can listen to podcasts while commuting, working or just on their own time. A podcast gives you a unique chance to humanize your brand through your voice and stories. According to Podcast Insights, Podcast listeners are much more active on every social media channel (94 percent are active on at least one – vs 81 percent for the entire population). This is important to note for the delight stage of the flywheel.

The Best Marketers Use Flywheel

We are entering into the review revolution where customers have more power than brands do. Your best marketers are your customers.

By building a flywheel, you can take advantage of the power of your customers’ influence through inbound marketing. Using a flywheel strategy you can transform your company by doubling down on customer success. It’s not easy and it can be costly to make this change in your organization, but it’s an important one to get right.

Need help? Check out the Hubspot playbook and see if you can start creating a frictionless customer experience.

The post 5 Steps to Help You Find Inbound Marketing Happiness appeared first on Social PR Chat by Lisa Buyer.

Book on Free PR Puts Pitching in the Palm of Your Hand

Book on Free PR Puts Pitching in the Palm of Your Hand

My latest #SocialPRSecret is a book, a PR one. It’s called “Free PR”. The title is enticing, sensational, and revealing. Thought you knew everything about PR? Think again.

Some might say – “Well what do you get free anyway? You get what you pay for, right?” No. You see, you can’t actually “pay” for public relations. Public relations comes with effort, action, care, and momentum.

Fifteen years ago I was on the brink of leaving the PR industry completely, even though I was good at it and was running a successful PR and branding agency. The problem was nothing had changed in more than 100 years and I was sick of dealing with journalist egos, gatekeepers and competing against all the other PR people who practice spammy tactics and did the “Spray and pray” pitching practices.

Change is in the Air

Fast forward to today, PR has gone through a metamorphosis thanks to technology and digital domains like Google, Facebook, Twitter, and HARO (help a reporter out).

This gave me a new lease on “PR life “with all kinds of new ways to leverage influence, reach, exposure and publicity. A fresh start to what was a very archaic industry. I assumed all PR pros would see this opportunity quickly and it would be like a gold rush to reinvent and adapt.

Nope. Crickets.

It’s been an education process for brands to understand that PR is more than just press releases and pitching. Media outreach happens on Twitter and in the DM today. CEO’s can control their own destiny more than they know. Just look at the recent media frenzy @JeffBezos caused and how quickly his authenticity shut it down. He announced his divorce on Twitter and took to @Medium to expose the National Enquirer and their blackmailing ways.  

Gaining media coverage is ripe with more opportunities and outlets than ever. Optimizing content is a must.

Keeping Your PR Tactics Relevant

Even with the advances in technology and the social media platforms available, some public relations pros and agencies have disregarded these advances and instead still opt for old-fashion PR ways. Too many fail to take the extra step of continued and constant education and evolution in bringing the digital and social into the PR equation.

That’s why I wrote #SocialPRSecrets in 2013, now in its 4th edition, to help educate the agencies, business owners, digital marketing and public relations pros and future public relation pros, socialize, publicize and optimize the PR process.

What Successful PR Looks Like Today

I double down agree with “FREE PR” beginning to end. Just remember nothing in life is free and it requires time, resources and organized efforts to achieve the successful PR outcomes outlined by Cameron and Adrian. The silver bullet is putting it into action.

Some key PR takeaways from this book that have shifted the way I do PR:

Audience. Have a detailed understanding of your audience – make sure you have fully developed personas of your media and audienceWhy Care? If you can’t tell the journalists why they should care about your story then you’re not ready to pitch. Angles. Create a story angle and focus on a different one each month Getting your story angle right is the most important part of getting a journalist to write about your story. Relevant Relates. Make your angle relevant Matchmaker. Customize your angles for different media sources. Shoot, aim, target. Build a targeted media list. Headlines matter. The headline is the most critical part of your press release and essentially the pitch.



Back to PR Basics

Psst…here’s a little #PR101: Write a headline for the pick-up, the retweet or the open. For years, that’s the mentality Cameron Herold and Adrian Salamunovic had, and it paid off. From the Oprah Show and Dr. Phil to The New York Times and WIRED, writing with your target audience in mind has paid off for these two successful entrepreneurs.

Although the changes occurring in the PR industry gave me a jolt of life and sparked my joy for the business again, this book was just another fresh reminder of not only how great the business still remains today, but that the future of it is even brighter. Make sure to grab their book here or check out our Social PR survival guide in the meantime.

Traditional PR is not going anywhere, in fact, it’s here to stay. Crafting that perfect pitch and body of the press release is what’s going to make the difference between securing coverage or a tree falling in the forest, it happened, but no one was aware.

The post Book on Free PR Puts Pitching in the Palm of Your Hand appeared first on Social PR Chat by Lisa Buyer.