Does your PR Agency Know How to Connect?
May 15, 2013 - Posted by Stephanie Graves
“We need more people talking about us!” As a CMO, or PR director, how many times has someone at the top come to you and said those exact words? Did you immediately start to feel the heat? When an organization decides it needs PR representation or that their current PR strategy needs an overhaul, it usually starts with a desire to create more buzz. And many times, this desire is motivated by a positive article in the local news about a competitor, or a look at another company’s thousands of seemingly engaged Twitter followers eagerly and happily interacting with their brand online. THE GOAL Simply creating buzz should not be the end goal for ramping up PR efforts. In the past, the end goal of public relations for brands may have been limited to raising brand awareness, but as the digital age has caused a major shift in how we… read more
Creating “Share-alicious” Content to Build Your Online Community
April 30, 2013 - Posted by Stephanie Graves
Ever wonder why some organizations seem to have no problem at all building and engaging their online communities when your company spends a great deal of time working to get more fans, to no avail? Does it seem like no matter what you post, tumbleweeds blow across your page. Very few, if any “likes” or comments are happening, with the exception of the one super fan you can always count on (read: your mom) who “likes” everything you post (because she loves you). You’re not alone. Many companies struggle to find the sweet spot in content creation. But if you listen closely, your audience is telling you what they want to hear. Deliver it, and you’ll see your online community start to take shape. First understand what moves your audience If you don’t have a deep understanding of who your audience is then you’ll have a difficult time figuring out… read more
3 Steps to Gaining Valuable Brand Recognition with LinkedIn
December 18, 2012 - Posted by Amanda Norris
When LinkedIn was launched on May 5, 2003, it was described as a place where business professionals could maintain a list of contact details of the people with whom they did business. It was part social network, part job and career center, and 100% tailored to the individual user. In November 2010, LinkedIn began allowing businesses to list products and services on company profile pages – and members were encouraged to “recommend” products and services and write reviews. Barely two years later, LinkedIn has emerged as the leading business to business (B2B) social media platform – a place where your company and your brand must have recognition in order to take full advantage of social media’s power to drive business. Does your company page give you the brand recognition you want? If you have to ask the question, then the answer is “probably not”. Here are three strategies for improving… read more
Can Your Social Media Profile Be Both Personal And Professional?
October 4, 2012 - Posted by Rilee Chastain
Blurring the lines between business life and personal life with social media. Back before the immense growth of the internet and social media, it was never too difficult to keep your business life separated from your professional one. Intense sport and political talk was reserved for passing moments around the water cooler, and live commentary of your favorite television sitcoms were reserved specifically for whoever was in the room with you at the moment. However, as we saw just last night following the first presidential debate, more and more people are turning to Facebook, Twitter or Google + in order to share their thoughts and opinions on everything from politics to pop culture references. And while this may a great platform to banter back and forth with friends or dive deep into the thoughts of your favorite celebrities, where should you draw the line when your business and personal social… read more
Celebrate Social Media Week With These Fun and Interesting Facts
September 26, 2012 - Posted by Rilee Chastain
A few fun facts that you may have known about social media marketing. All week long, we here at The Marketing Zen Group have been celebrating one of our favorite weeks out of the entire year―Social Media Week. Given our teams passion for social media marketing and the web, it should come as no surprise that we jump at the chance to celebrate the power of Facebook, Twitter, Google +, etc. on marketing in our current society. But other than being a chance for us to geek out about our love for social media, what exactly is Social Media Week? This worldwide event was held for the first time in February 2009 and has since become a global platform that connects people, content and conversation around the many growing trends in the worlds of social and mobile media. It is predicted that over the next 10 years, 3 billion new… read more
The Biggest Social Media “Don’ts” For Businesses
August 1, 2012 - Posted by Rilee Chastain
Be sure that your company avoids these common social media mistakes. It is no secret that social media is a large part of business marketing and promotion in this day and age. If you are a business owner who has yet to sign up for a Twitter account or create a Facebook page, not only are you missing out on an easy (and free) way of spreading the word about your business, but you are also ignoring the chance to develop meaningful relationships with your consumers that would otherwise not be possible. However, while the debate of whether or not your company should have a social media presence may be obvious, the question of how to best execute a successful, engaging approach that generates results is not as simple to answer. In fact, some companies are so determined to make a name for themselves online that they may actually be… read more
LinkedIn Introduces Follow Company Button
February 28, 2012 - Posted by Shama Kabani
So once you’ve optimized your company page on LinkedIn (which we’re sure almost all of you have done, but we’ll get to you in a minute if you haven’t), how do you get people to follow it? Twitter and Facebook have like and follow buttons – respectively – that you can embed into your website, allowing people to become a follower or a fan with a single click. Too bad there isn’t an equivalent for LinkedIn. Well hold on to your hats, folks: now there is an equivalent for company pages on LinkedIn. As of yesterday, LinkedIn now has a Company Follow button for you to add to your website. Additional followers on LinkedIn can mean more leads for you in the long run. Read on for more on LinkedIn’s importance to your online marketing strategy. Installing the Follow Company Button Visit this page. Enter your company name in the… read more
Why you must start with a WELL-ENGAGING, WELL-CONVERTING WEBSITE – Part 1 of 2
April 26, 2011 - Posted by Stephanie Cross
So many times, we have clients who want to jump into social media, which is great because social media marketing definitely works. BUT…there are a few components you have to have in place before diving in head first. The very FIRST PRIORITY and MOST IMPORTANT TOOL in your toolbox when marketing online is your website. Just “having” a website is not good enough. You must have a well-engaging, well-converting website. You have to remember that when it all boils down to it, one of the main reasons we market on various online networks is to DRIVE TRAFFIC TO OUR WEBSITE. So it is imperative that when people get there, that the site engages them to convert in some form or fashion. We don’t want all of our efforts in driving people to our website to result in them just hitting the back button. What good does that do? Let’s first… read more