Your level of engagement with customers should be intentional. Once those decisions are made, these content ideas can support your intention.
Even Small Mistakes Can Cause Problems for Local Search Rankings
I recently completed a Google search on a client’s business name and noticed that several listings on sites such as Merchant Circle, Yellow Pages and MacCrae’s Business Directory included an incorrect address. Still other listings were incomplete, providing little if any information about the client’s commercial real estate business.
It’s important that content on external sites is both accurate, informative and consistent. Mismatched name, address and phone data can cause confusion for search engines as well as humans. The end result will be lower rankings in local searches.
You can identify outdated information on pages throughout the web by searching for the old address or phone number on Google. Check through the results and and note the pages that need to be updated. Keep a record of sites where you are listed, so that if you do have a change, you know what sites need to be updated. Input your address and phone the exact same way in every listing. For example, if you spell out Avenue on one listing, don’t list it as “Ave.” on another listing. Make sure that the information is communicated to anyone who may be involved in securing links or listings for your company.
To avoid confusing the search engines, avoid using the same phone number with two Google places. A local phone number will help connect the business to a local market better than an 800 number. And finally, be sure to include a physical address somewhere on your website.
Local search is of increasing importance to many B2B marketers, but most companies have a lot of questions. We’re here to help you find the answers and increase your success in Internet marketing.
Write Your Company History in 6 Sentences or Less
Because people scan web copy your company history needs to be chunked into simple paragraphs of six sentences or less by topic, event, or key dates.
Improve Response to Your Facebook Posts
A 2010 study from Vitrue, a social relationship management platform provider, offers some insight into what it calls “ The Anatomy of a
Facebook Post.”
The research is based on more than 32,000 Facebook posts representing a wide range of clients and 42.6 million Facebook fans over about a four-month period.
Engagement is measured by comments, likes and shares/divided by the number of fans for a particular stream or page. Data was also analyzed for two subsets: consumer package goods and quick serve restaurants.
Here are the key take-aways:
1. Use an Image
Image posts scored highest. They scored 22% higher than video posts and 55% higher than text posts. Image posts received 54% more engagement than text posts.
2. Don’t Miss Fridays
Overall, fans engage more on Fridays than any other day, and least on Sundays. Friday posts were just 7% more effective than Mondays, but 67% higher than Sunday. The most effective post day varies by industry. Wednesday proved best for quick service restaurants, while Thursday was highest among consumer package goods companies.
3. Consider a Morning Post
Posts made before noon achieved 65% higher engagement among fans. This same true for consumer products goods, but for quick service restaurants, the opposite was true.
Thanks to Vitrue for providing information to help better engage fans on Facebook. You can download the full report here. Give these strategies a try and let us know how they work for you.
If you like this, you might also like:” How to Measure Social Media Using Benchmarks.”
Useful Resources for Creating Social Media Guidelines
In 2010, the Federal Trade Commission revised its Endorsement Guidelines to include social media. What is said on blogs and social networking sites now is not just a matter of ethics, it is the law. The revised guidelines focus on three areas:
1) Endorsements must be truthful and not misleading
2) If the advertiser doesn’t have proof that the endorser’s experience represents what consumers will achieve by using the product, the ad must clearly and conspicuously disclose the generally expected results in the depicted circumstances; and
3) If there’s a connection between the endorser and the marketer of the product that would affect how people evaluate the endorsement, it should be disclosed.
As a marketing manager it is your responsibility to protect your company from all of the legal implications of social media. This is best done by establishing a social media policy and by ensuring that all internal departments involved in social media as well as external agencies, consultants and contractors are aware of the policies.
Fortunately, there are a number of resources available to help.
SocialMedia.org recently updated its Disclosure Best Practices Toolkit, which includes a series of checklists to help marketers formulate a social media policy.
In addition to publishing the Endorsement Guidelines, the FTC also published a document which covers commonly asked questions about the guidelines.
View the video for a quick overview.
Do you have a question concerning disclosure or developing a social media policy? Submit your questions to jcostin@contentforbiz.com.