How to Use Social Media to Heat Up Your Search Engine Rankings

[By Emily Carter] 

Social Media impacts each and every facet of Inbound Marketing. The Grass Roots team and I spend a considerable amount of time each day working on Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Search Engine Marketing (SEM). The goal of SEO is to improve a website’s ranking in Google – basically, I want to make sure you get found online by customers who are conducting product or service research.

So what do Facebook and Twitter have to do with getting found? Now, lots. According to Matt Cutts, Google’s head of Webspam, Social Media is now used as a signal in rankings. Social media profiles that are optimized correctly can increase a brand’s search results. 

To optimize your Social Media sites for SEO, there are a couple of things to consider:

• Get connected. Get out there and make some connections! You don’t go to a networking meeting and face the wall. Making connections through your Social Media sites is the first step in seeing what conversation is taking place.
• Brand yourself. Make sure your brand’s Social Media profiles have your logo, contact information and links to your website on them. If someone comes to your page and wants to find you, you need to make it really easy for them. Likewise, on your website, add social sharing buttons. Linking your website to your Social Media sites will allow search engines to see the correlation between all of your branded pages.
• Inform the masses. Having a great content strategy will improve your Social Media presence. Instead of posting about yourself, your company and your products, post information that people are searching for. Social Media sites now have their own search bars, so people are using them to look for answers to their questions. Also, once people share, like or comment on your content, it becomes fresh and influential on Social Media. This sticks out to search engines like Google.
• Keep it fresh. You don’t have to view your Social Media sites as a scheduled task to do every day or week. It’s meant to be a natural avenue to connect and socialize with others. If someone comments on your pages or posts, respond as if you were have a conversation with that person. Post articles as you find them.  The more personal your posts are, the more naturally people will respond to it. (And then it won’t feel like “work”!)
• Have a plan. Some people see the value in having a profile on every Social Media site, but that may not be the best option for you. Be sure to consider and strategize about which platforms will be most effective for you. Need help? Our free download - Supercharge Your Social Media Checklist will help you figure it out. But no matter what you do, when it comes to SEO, have a Google+ account. This Social Media platform carries the most weight in Google search results. So – make one! 

As you can see, search engines are onto the power of Social Media. There are other important factors to consider when implementing a SEO strategy, like on-page SEO activities and back linking or off-page tactics. To find out more about SEO, click here. 

Summer of Social Media is our way to spend an entire summer informing and educating about the importance of the use of social media in marketing, as well as in our everyday lives. For more information on Summer of Social Media, click here. 

Emily Carter is the Online Brand Manager and SEO/SEM Specialist at Grass Roots Marketing. Connect with her on LinkedIn by clicking here.

Social Media Tips: So Much Social Media - Where to Start?

[By Kelly Shepsko]

Try to think back to an ancient time when social media sites didn’t exist. Can you remember the first social media platform that you registered for? Could it have been one of the beta-tested versions of Classmates.com, Friendster, or MySpace? Regardless of where your very first online social presence was, you can probably remember that the layouts of these sites were quite simple with restricted marketing capabilities. Sure, it was possible to purchase ad space or sponsored links, but the “sharing” capability that resonates through social media platforms today was unheard of back then.

There were limited commercial marketing opportunities, but businesses began to realize that everyone was signing up for these sites and that it was a free way to spread the word about their products or services. Traditional marketing and advertising tactics were just not free; it was almost too good to be true. I remember seeing a couple MySpace profiles for local coffee shops and restaurants and that was only the beginning of the social media burst. These few businesses realized the potential of the use of social media for marketing, and they were right about that potential.

Fast forward to a couple years later. It’s 2013, and it has never been more important for a business to have a presence on all social media platforms. At the very least, a company should utilize Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn—but YouTube, Pinterest, Google+ and many more platforms are all marketing opportunities that should be fully taken advantage of. However, you’d be surprised about how many companies still don’t have a social media presence. These companies are behind in the game, because as of June 2013, there are 1.11 billion Facebook users, 500 million Twitter users and 225 million LinkedIn users. Why would anyone want to miss out on that kind of potential reach?

Let’s say that after reading this, I’ve convinced you to create a company social media page. Or, you’ve already created profiles and have an idea of how to effectively market yourself, but you’re not too sure of which platform will create the most traction for your business. GRM has created guidelines for this in our, “Which Social Media Platform Has the Power to Supercharge Your Online Presence?” checklist that you can download here.  Let me stress again—you must have a presence on Facebook, Twitter AND LinkedIn, but refer to these simple guidelines to figure out where to boost your efforts:

Maximize your use of Facebook if:

• Your company markets products and services to consumers (B2C company)
• You anticipate sharing many visually stimulating items (photos and videos)
• Your company plans/hosts many events
• You anticipate buying social ads for your company

Focus on using LinkedIn if:

• Your company markets products and services to businesses (B2B company)
• Your company has many clients and connections that are willing to write recommendations for your company
• The employees in your company are considered as experts in your industry
• You anticipate seeking out and recruiting new employees to your company through social media

Start becoming a Twitter expert if:

• You have a strong knowledge of how to properly tag content relevant to your industry
• You plan on composing and sharing 5+ posts per day or constantly updating your social media pages
• Your company hosts many events and anticipates giving play-by-play live updates of these events
• You plan on engaging with followers about their wants and needs in your industry in a quick, timely fashion

Those are only a few of the many reasons that each platform is good to utilize in its own way. The opportunities for social media marketing are endless; have you discovered and implemented these tactics into your marketing strategy yet?

Find out more reasons how each social media platform can supercharge your online presence by downloading our brand new checklist here. If you’d like to learn more about how Grass Roots Marketing can improve your social media strategy, click here. 

 

 

Summer of Social Media is our way to spend an entire summer informing and educating about the importance of the use of social media in marketing, as well as in our everyday lives. For more information on Summer of Social Media, click here. 

Kelly Shepsko is the Manager of Social Media at Grass Roots Marketing. Connect with her on LinkedIn by clicking here. 

#ThrowbackThursday: The Old and New in Video

[By Emily Carter] 

Setting up a film projector is no joke. Not that I would know, but I've heard. Movie theaters used to use film projectors to show their movies. In 2011, digital surpassed film as the prevailing movie projector technology in the world's cinemas. The introduction of 3D movies resulted in digital film becoming the new norm. Just like that, the way we watch movies has changed.

The way that we capture video has changed too. Digital Video Recorders, Social Media channels like Youtube and Mobile Apps like Vine have taken the whole "digital" thing and made it mainstream. The Internet has become a common ground - a way to watch and post videos so that everyone can see them. 

Speaking of Vine, you probably will be seeing it more and more. The app was made available on Android devices this week, and already has 13 million users. Not only that, but it was Rick Rolled this week, which means it's here to stay in the land of awesome. That pretty much is the nail on the coffin for film, if you ask me! 

Do you have a Vine account? What are your thoughts on the new video sharing Social Media channel? Let us know if you've seen it used creatively for business! 

10 Reasons Why This Summer Is Going To Be All About Social Media

Forget the summer of the cicada... this summer is going to be all about the power of social media. We are so excited about all of the ways that social media is influencing our lives lately that we decided to dedicate a couple months to Summer of Social Media, our newest campaign. Summer of Social Media is a time to celebrate the influences of social media from Memorial Day to Labor Day. It's also a time to showcase our summer through our trusty social media accounts by sharing our most loved images of beautiful beach days and firework-filled nights with all of you! 

To kick off our Summer of Social Media, we wanted to share our 10 reasons that we think this summer is going to be all about Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and more: 

1. Social Media influences your website's SEO more than ever. Not only does it add a personal touch to your business interactions, but several factors now affect your Search Engine Rankings. A Big Kahuna for Google Searches? You guessed it: Social Media.  

2. The beaches are too pretty not to document. Social Media is all about photos lately. Snap a shot of your favorite shoreline or your beach bbq and upload it to Instagram, Pinterest or Facebook. That Lo-Fi filter sure does make the sky a little bluer. 

3. New Jersey Businesses will use Social Media to recover from Superstorm Sandy. Located in Shrewsbury, we have seen the devastation that Superstorm Sandy caused first hand. Recently, we heard from several Jersey Shore businesses who told us that Social Media and Smartphones were game changers for their businesses. They have and will continue to use their Social Media accounts to get the word out the they are open for business.

4. Social Media increases your business' ability to make sales. No bones about it, Social Media is one of the driving factors in the Inbound Marketing Methodology. Inbound Marketing's goal is to drive qualified leads to your website in order to increase your company's overall sales. 

5. You need to find the best seafood specials in town. Would you really know about half-price Lobster Wednesdays without your friends posting status updates about it or seeing the restaurant promote it on their own social media pages? Better yet, since we're always Googling the best deals in town, why not utilize and download apps like TripAdvisor, Yelp, or UrbanSpoon? All of the most helpful reviews are at our fingertips all summer long, whether you're looking for laid-back outdoor dining or a kickin' beachfront bar and grill. 

6. Social Media is becoming a vital addition to your website. Use your website to help your viewers easily navigate to your Social Media pages. On the flip side, you can post your website's newest content on all of your profiles to get the word out. Someone's listening! 

7. Companies are increasingly using Vine for contest campaigns and other fun summer promotions. This new social media video platform is going to be all-the-rage for documenting this season's holiday shenanigans, but we can promise that you're going to see more big companies using it to connect with their audience. Show off your company's new product or service with a 6-second video that is sure to hold attention like Dove and Toyota did. 

8. We know you're not bringing CD's to the beach when Spotify exists. Spotify makes it possible to stream and share your favorite summer tunes and playlists with friends on-the-go. Whether you're soaking up the sun or sitting around the bonfire, you know that someone is going to be playing that summer 2013 playlist. 

9. Your "friends" and "followers" want to know about all of the exciting summer events that your company is hosting or involved in. All you have to do is use the handy event applications that make it as easy as 1-2-3 to invite, share and promote your most important summer soirées. Social media is an amazing outlet to be able to connect with those who are listening to you--make sure you utilize it! 

10. You want a six pack for summer. Using social media is like working a muscle - you can't just sign on one day and expect to run a marathon. Working your Social Media six pack all summer will strengthen your business' marketing goals and help you immensely in the long run. 

Whether it's for business or personal use, we bet that you can agree with at least a few of our reasons why this summer is going to be all about social media. That's why throughout the next couple of months, we will be focusing on enhancing strategy, SEO, web design and all of our other inbound marketing tactics through the use of social media, sharing helpful resources and spreading the word about this powerful marketing tool. 

Stay tuned for the official launch of the Summer of Social Media campaign on our website, but in the meantime, check out our current resources that will help improve your strategy. Also, don't forget to connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+ and Pinterest so you don't miss our summer days at Grass Roots Marketing!

Oops: Watch What You Tweet

[Guest Blogger: Megan Totka]

Twitter is a great platform for so many things. We have seen so many breaking news stories, funny videos, and political actions go viral with Twitter, it’s really pretty amazing. I think many people are wising up to the fact that Twitter, along with several other social networks, is a force to be reckoned with when it comes to sharing information. Social media has opened up a world of instant communication that has proven to be beneficial for a great many people.

But (there’s always a but, right?) there’s danger in that instant communication, also. Whether you use Twitter to market yourself or for business, it’s vital to filter what you post just the slightest bit. While social networks are designed to give you the ability to share pretty much whatever you want, whenever you want, it can still be dangerous if you’re not careful.

We’ve seen many stories in recent years about unwanted information posted on Facebook, unflattering or raunchy videos posted on YouTube, and Tweets that were shot off without the user considering what the consequences might be. A relatively recent story sparked my interest when it comes to this topic.

A tech employee named Adria Richards was irritated by a few men behind her making what she considered sexist and vulgar comments during the PyCon developer’s conference that she was attending. Richards did what a lot of us who are active in the social media world would do – she called them out over Twitter. She took their picture and tweeted the topic of their conversation out to her followers. No big deal, right?

Wrong. Richards was fired from her company for her comments. While it may not seem offensive to many people, the company that she worked for, SendGrid, didn’t approve of how she reported what she saw as misconduct from her fellow conference-goers.

So is the lesson here that you need to censor yourself when it comes to posting on social networks? I think the answer is yes, sometimes you do. Richards might have been better off confronting the men herself and letting them know that she didn’t appreciate their comments. Or simply ignored it, assuming that the developers making the comments were jealous of her success, or even just choosing to be childish because they were bored.

One thing is clear though; with the ever-growing popularity of social networking, it is important to remember that anything that you put out there is likely to be seen by many people, and you can’t control who those people are. Perhaps we need a slogan – “Think before you Tweet.” Has a nice ring to it, don’t you think?

(Photo Source)

Megan Totka is the Chief Editor for ChamberofCommerce.com. She specializes on the topic of small business tips and resources. ChamberofCommerce.com helps small businesses grow their business on the web and facilitates connectivity between local businesses and more than 7,000 Chambers of Commerce worldwide. 

#ThrowbackThursday: VHS Tapes, and other Miscellaneous Antiques

[By Emily Carter] 

 

Marketing tactics mimic real life in that as time goes on, certain items are sent into obsoletion. Pick an industry - any industry! - and this is proven to be true. Today we'll focus on the film industry.

The history of the film industry is detailed, as you can imagine. Why such a tapestry of history? Because things change, and they change quickly. Every few years, there is another innovation that changed the face of entertainment. Moving pictures at one point were groundbreaking. Fast forward through the years, and we see VHS tapes, DVDs, Blu Ray, 3D films and more. Twenty years ago, I doubt we would have predicted that we'd one day be able to stream a full length movie over the internet. 

It's important to stay current, in real life and in your marketing efforts. Don't waste your time trying to make a strategy that worked ten years ago effective in 2013. Like the film industry, the marketing industry has changed and will continue to evolve as new innovations are introduced to us. Yesterday, at Google's I/O conference, the company announced even more innovation in the tech industry. As these changes happen, marketing will be changing too. Stay tuned - we at Grass Roots Marketing will make it our priority to help you learn about everything that comes down the pike! 

#ThrowbackThursday: Radio Advertising

[By Emily Carter] 

 

According to HubSpot, the average consumer is now skipping over advertisements, and they have the means to do it. Outbound marketing efforts like radio ads are so shouty and annoying, don't you think? I mean, I barely listen to them at all anymore. Between my CD Player, iPod, Sirius radio and Pandora, I can totally avoid ads.

Not only that, but the Internet makes it so much easier to totally customize the music I want to hear. I frequent Spotify at work because of the playlists I've assembled, and in my car and at home, Pandora is my go-to. I can't remember the last time I actually heard a radio advertisement. I automatically flip through my presets when commercials come on, when I actually do listen to traditional radio. 

If you pay for radio ads, where's the proof that anyone is hearing what you're announcing? Sending your nice little ads out over the airwaves can be like sending your message into a black hole. An expensive black hole. After awhile you get a little...comfortably numb, don'tcha think? 

Grass Roots Continues to Bloom with April Staff Additions

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                  

Date: May 8, 2013

Contact: Tony Popowski, Manager of Public Relations

Email: tony@grootsmarketing.com 

Office: 732-380-8400

Grass Roots Marketing Adds Two New Members,

Creates Business Divisions in Response to Growth

SHREWSBURY, NJ – Grass Roots Marketing, Inc. (GRM), an inbound marketing company based in Shrewsbury, New Jersey, announces the addition of new staff members Rachel Sharkey and Kelly Shepsko. Sharkey will serve as a Graphic Designer for GRM and Shepsko as Social Media Manager. The professionals have more than 12 years of collective marketing experience.

Sharkey and Shepsko were hired in response to GRM’s continued growth.

 “As companies look for new ways to enhance brand awareness, increase leads and drive new sales, businesses are rapidly embracing the inbound marketing philosophy. The recognized results and cost-effectiveness of an inbound marketing approach has led to numerous new clients for our company and expanded contracts from our current clients. The addition of Rachel and Kelly will helps us be better equipped to address the specific needs of our clients,” says Frank Wyckoff, President of GRM.

Inbound marketing is a methodology based on attracting qualified leads to a company’s engaging and content-rich website. An inbound program uses search engine optimization (SEO) techniques, social media, blogging, email marketing and public relations to collectively support a company’s website which is designed to nurture leads and convert visitors into customers.

In today’s technology-dominant economy, studies show that more than 70 percent of the sales process now occurs online. 85 percent of online users cite a company’s website as a factor in their purchasing decision.

Sharkey comes to the GRM team after serving as a Graphic Designer in the non-profit sector. With GRM, she will be responsible for website design, social media platforms, sales collateral and various marketing materials for GRM’s small business accounts. Sharkey also has professional photography and video experience and will provide these services as new offerings for GRM’s clients.

Shepsko joins GRM after a role as Social Media & Public Relations Specialist with a New Jersey-based social media marketing company. As GRM’s Social Media Manager, she will oversee the social media strategy and implementation of GRM’s small business accounts. Shepsko will also support copy writing projects and SEO initiatives.

“We are very excited to add Rachel and Kelly. They are experts in their fields and are great for our company’s culture. We are very confident they are going to be a terrific addition to our team and help us bring tremendous value to our clients,” adds Koleen Singerline, Senior Vice President of GRM.

For more information about GRM and inbound marketing, please visit www.grmwebsite.com or call 732-380-8400.

Rachel Sharkey, pictured above

Kelly Shepsko, pictured above

 

About Grass Roots Marketing, Inc. (GRM)

GRM consists of HubSpot Certified professionals and provides inbound marketing programs for Manufacturing Extension Partnerships (MEPs), manufacturers, consultants, non-profits, environmental services agencies, staffing firms and organizations from numerous fields. Enhance brand awareness and drive sales by attracting qualified leads to your website through search engine optimization (SEO) techniques, e-mail marketing, public relations, social media and blogging. For more information about GRM, please visit www.grmwebsite.com or call 732-380-8400.

 

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A Facebook Fan is Worth What??

[Guest Blogger: Megan Totka]

As business people, we all know that the number of Facebook fans we have can absolutely influence brand popularity and sales. Many businesses choose to focus a majority of their social media marketing efforts on the ever-growing social giant. Facebook has made a huge impact on our business landscape, it’s undeniable. If you’re not using Facebook, then you’re falling behind and you should refer to these 10 tips for marketing your company Facebook page. 

But until now, I had never seen the worth of a Facebook fan presented in a quantifiable way. Most of the time, we just talk about more fans equaling more people seeing our brands. But an article published by Mashable presents a study that actually gives a dollar amount to each Facebook fan that a business has.

Syncapse, a social media marketing firm, teamed up with research company Hotspex to collect data from 2,000 U.S. citizens in January/February. The survey and corresponding results covered things such as whether or not they were the fan of a particular brand on Facebook, what their spending on that brand was, how likely they were to recommend the brand, cost of fan acquisition, and a few others.

The average value of a Facebook fan is $174. While that may not seem like a huge number, it really is quite significant when it comes to a fan vs. a non-fan. Considering that becoming a Facebook fan is free and easy, this jump in spending when someone joins a fan page is quite impressive. The $174 number is merely an average, an article published on Mashable shows a bar graph of the study results for 20 brands. For some of them, the number is much higher, with the highest value fan being one for the BMW Corporation. A BMW Facebook fan is valued at $1613 over a non-fan. That’s huge.

My only question about the study is if the researchers thought about all of the ways that people become fans of pages for businesses that they like. I’m not sure the numbers would always be accurate, if they only consider people who fan the business page and subsequently become customers. I actually went to a small, locally owned grocery store today that I frequent about once a week. I also just noticed today that they have a Facebook fan page, so when I got home from the store, I became a fan of the page. Would a study like this allow for people who are already customers and then become fans? Because I am not going to spend more money than I did previously at this particular store, just because I became a fan.

Overall, this study does show, to me at least, that having social media fans/followers is going to help your business, period, end of story. Businesses should make the most out of their Facebook pages – if they do, they’ll see good results.  Yes, some negativity may present itself on your page (happens to us all) but the increased worth of people who are fans of your page will make any headaches that appear worthwhile.

Megan Totka is the Chief Editor for ChamberofCommerce.com. She specializes on the topic of small business tips and resources. ChamberofCommerce.com helps small businesses grow their business on the web and facilitates connectivity between local businesses and more than 7,000 Chambers of Commerce worldwide.

 

#ThrowbackThursday: The Trusty Road Map

[By Emily Carter]

 

Hello...Is it [my business] you're looking for?

Today we rely on geotagging for everything. Our phones can find our location and help us out of a sticky situation. Google places pinpoints to the tenth of a mile the location of a business or home you are looking for. But it wasn't always like that - remember paper maps? 

In my family, we had a road atlas in each of our family cars. All 50 states, nicely laid out in a Rand McNally book that we could flip to quickly to try to find ourselves. My brother was the navigator - a job given to the person in the front seat, and he was especially good at figuring out where we were and what direction we were headed. Me? I was never very concerned with how lost I was. Luckily for me, GPS now exists. 

Today, the Internet and geotagging makes it so easy to get found. We can recycle those old Rand McNally pages - for good.