The DreamPix Studio

Basic Online Marketing Musts – Small Business

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Trying to weed through the clutter as it relates to online marketing can be a daunting task for a business owner. In fact, just navigating the terminology of the internet world can be enough to scare away the most ambitious in the group. There are essentially four marketing musts that a business needs to be competitive in the online marketing world.

1. A Good Website – This will ensure that your business can be found online, provide useful information about your products and services and close the sale.
2. A Facebook Page – The purpose of Facebook is to develop relationships, network with your customers and become an authority in your field.
3. A Twitter Page – To gather information about your clients and your competition, to share valuable information, and to drive traffic to your website.
4. A LinkedIn Account – to offer an inside view of your company and professional credentials. LinkedIn allows you to showcase professional know-how and to network with others in your industry.

The theory is that your company website will sit at the center of the workflow pattern and the social media accounts will act as a feeder to the website. There’s no need to sign up for all the social media platforms out there – just stick with the basics until you are comfortable.

Woo Clients on Social Media

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big-followingContrary to popular belief, social media pages are not the place for businesses to peddle their wares. Platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest offer the opportunity to unmask the more intimate, fun-loving side of a business. Tell your story but make it engaging. It’s okay to showcase your products and services, but this is not the time or the place to close the deal.

Social media sites are where you woo potential clients by showing them what you are all about.

Think in terms of building trust in your brand and solid relationships and the sales are sure to follow.

Five Common Marketing Mistakes to Avoid

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1. Look Good – Be certain that every piece of marketing material bearing your company name and brand looks good. Quality counts.
2. Do Not Overuse Social Media – surprisingly enough it is NOT necessary to have a presence on every social network just because you can. Select the medium that best reaches your customers and do it well.
3. Complete Your Website Or Social Media Page– Leaving it incomplete or outdated is worse than not having an online presence at all.
4. Avoid Shameless Self Promotion – while your website should be a viable marketing tool that provides information about your products you need to offer more than that. Valuable, relevant information that meets the needs of your market will bring you far.
5. Do Not Blindly Follow The Experts – test different approaches in order to determine which one works best for you. You might be surprised at the results. For example, Google Adwords does not work for everyone.

Take Revenge Against Bad Online Reviews

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While most small business owners spend their energy trying to catapult their website to the top of a Google search page, others are waging a battle against negative online reviews that are reaching the top of Google searches. Poor ratings and reviews on sites like YELP, Yahoo, Google, Foursquare, Citysearch, or Zagat can wreak havoc on the reputation of a small business. Whether it is a disgruntled former employee who is seeking revenge or an unhappy customer, there are ways to combat the problem. Naturally, the best way to combat this situation is to take a proactive approach from the start by encouraging customers to write positive reviews online. The theory is elementary – if the positives outweigh the negatives you will look better on paper. It is worth your while to give your clients a little incentive for doing the good deed – perhaps offer a coupon for a discount on their next visit. If the negative reviews have already done damage to your reputation then you have your work cut out for you but not all is lost. If it is an unhappy customer creating the stir – do what you can to appease them. Apologize and offer an opportunity to make things right. Beyond that, stay clear of excuses or negative remarks. Your best bet is to encourage more customers to post positive reviews in order to drown out the negative noise.

Other places that businesses can manage their online reputation include:

  • Facebook
  • Blogs
  • Claim your listing on the online review sites.

The DreamPix Studio … creating online impressions that make a difference.

Bloody Good Social Media

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Marketers at Procter & Gamble Tide jumped on the bandwagon with the Discovery Channel this week to celebrate the 26th season of ‘Shark Week’ putting great idea’s into action. The company purchased Promoted Tweets to push its animated Vine clip under the tagline “We get out blood, too.” TWC and Volkswagon have also taken advantage of timely promotions. These are great examples of how companies should seize the moment and stay current in order to capitalize on social media.

Online Video Marketing

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It’s a known fact that video has a longer shelf life than static content and its viral capability is more powerful than words or photos. Just spend a few minutes with a media-savvy twelve-year-old and see for yourself! If a person is given the choice between reading content or viewing a video they will undoubtedly choose to click the play button. This accounts for the wild success of mobile apps such as Vine & Instagram that allow users to create and share video clips. With the evolution of the internet, accessibility in the palm of our hand, and the low cost of storage, video is no longer an asset reserved for mega-rich media conglomerates.

Anyone can speak their piece you just need to remember a few simple rules of thumb:

  1. Show Personality: Don’t be afraid to muck it up. That’s what makes or breaks the success of a video.
  2. Commit to a Series: Whatever your market, don’t stop with just one video. Set up a schedule and invest the time to promote your brand.
  3. Make tutorials: Do-it-yourself tutorials are all the rage on the internet. Who needs to take a class when you can find quality online instructions for at no charge.
  4. Be Relevant: Timeliness is everything.
  5. Offer Testimonials: Social media is proof that people look to their peers for product & service recommendations. Video testimonials are a great way to capitalize on this opportunity.

Storytelling & Fame

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Storytelling is one of the oldest and purest forms of marketing and today’s social media platforms provide brands with the perfect venue to tell their tales. Used properly, companies can boost sales and solidify customer relationships.

It can take time to master the art of storytelling which should be simple, authentic & engaging. New England based Dunkin Donuts has done a bang-up job on social media. The brand’s new FaceBook ‘Fan of the Week’ campaign offers customers the opportunity to get their 15 minutes of fame by beckoning fans to submit photos of themselves enjoying their favorite DD product. Each week the winner will have their name and photo up in lights on a billboard in Times Square. Now there’s a That’s a simple campaign that has created quite a nice of incentive.

The top ten facebook brands are:

    • Coca Cola
    • MTV
    • Disney
    • Red Bull
    • Converse
    • Starbucks
    • Walmart
    • McDonald’s
    • Blackberry
    • Subway

Want your 15 minutes of fame?

Click on the following link and upload your photo. Dunkin Donuts Fan of the Week

The Five Commandments of Social Media

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Social media is a great way to connect with potential clients and build relationships, but it can also turn some people off. Abiding by these five commandments will make you a better citizen in the world of social media.

  1. Thou Shall Make Regular Posts

    Failing to respond to messages, including tweets and posts, is rude. It’s also unprofessional to post erratically – try to stick with a regular schedule.

  2. Thou Shall Not Overshare

    Monopolizing the conversation and excessive tagging & private messaging is annoying at best. Be selective and prioritize your posts. If not, your efforts will only serve to drive business away.

  3. Thou Shall Not Jump on the Social Media Bandwagon

    Creating an account on every available social media platform just because you can, isn’t a good idea. Utilize only the sites that you plan to embrace.

  4. Thou Use Appropriate Profile Photos

    Do not use party or family photos on your business page. Be sure your photo is not clear and no blank avatars!

  5. Thou Shall Not Share Spam

    Only value-added content is acceptable – links to silly videos are a no-no.

Pin it to Win it

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The rapid growth of Pinterest was one of the big social media stories of the past year and all indications are that it will continue to pick up steam. The learning curve in this industry is steep – I have dabbled on the platform I am still finding my way around this newer platform. After meeting with a Boston architect, who is a member of my business networking group, it became apparent to me exactly what type of business would thrive on Pinterest.

A quick glimpse at my own home feed tells the story … It’s filled with yummy linked images of food, beautiful clothing, hairstyles & home furnishings – all of which are a reflection of me and all of which are promoting a brand. If you are selling a product that has visual appeal such as Real Estate, Interior Design, Architecture, Home Building, or Landscaping (to name a few) then Pinterest might be for you.

WordPress Under Attack

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Hackers have been trying to break into websites 24/7 and spammers have been equally busy at their craft.

WP websites are generally hosted in a fairly lavish environment with high amounts of bandwidth. They offer a desirable place for hackers to take up residence and set up a command center from which to launch attacks on visitors and other websites on that server.

LOCK THE ENTRYWAY

Typically hackers work like an amateur burglar who walks down a hallway testing doorknobs until they find one that opens. To avoid this type of break-in be sure that you are not using the default ‘admin’ as the username and come up with a strong password.

UPDATE PLUG-INS & THEMES

Just as it is important to keep your antivirus software up-to-date on your computer, it is important for business owners to protect their CMS platform by regularly updating plug-ins, themes & Word Press when updates are available.

CAPTCHA

As annoying as they are, installing CAPTCHA fields will make it more difficult for spam robots to send and create a traffic jam on the mail server.

DISABLE COMMENTS

In an ideal world, comments would be a welcome addition to a blog. But in the real word comments add little value to the conversation and disabling them will cut back on the time that the blog administrator spends weeding out the spam.