SuperHero Marketing - Online/ Offline Marketing Tips and Strategies

Cliche or Good Idea?

Charity Akers Durham ( aka Starlight) — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 12:39:40 +0000

Going the Extra Mile

Have you ever had to make a purchase and the ONLY sales person available was grouchy, irritable and obviously not happy to be there? The person acts as if it is an inconvenience for you to be in their establishment, spending your money, supporting their store. This is the epitome of an awful experience, but we have all had it. As small business owners, we know that optimal customer service is key. Anyone can get ANYTHING at WalMart, but I choose to shop at small family owned stores to support the local economy. Just the other day I went into my local hardware store, and since I don’t normally frequent the hardware store I had no idea where anything was, and the nice young man behind the counter didn’t direct me to where I needed to be but took me to the correct aisle, showed me the product I needed and made suggestions of other things I may need, to save me an additional trip. WOW. That’s amazing customer service!
Going above and beyond our clients expectations is what will keep them coming back and referring us to others. Make sure you are going the extra mile for your clients. Going the extra mile means the rendering of more and better service than that for which you are paid, and giving it in a positive attitude. Search the world over for a single sound argument against this principle and you will not find it, nor will you find a single instance of enduring success, which was not gained in part by this rule of thumb.

At this point, I can see the wheels turning. How can I go the extra mile? My resources are slim what can I do? Will it really make a difference?

There are lots of little ways to go the extra mile for your clients. In Charleston, SC there is an auto service center called, Gerald’s. When a lady brings her car in for an new brakes, or an alignment, or whatever, the technician places a fresh flower in her car! (I’m sure they do something nice for the men too, but since I’m a lady, I’m not really sure.) This is a small gesture that brings a smile to every woman’s face, I’m sure. And then she has another reason to recommend Gerald’s to others.

The advantages of going the extra mile are undeniable: It enables you to profit by the law of contrast since the majority of people do not practice the habit and it tends to make one seem indispensable and dependable. More importantly, it gives you the only logical reason for asking for increased compensation. If you perform no more than the service you are being paid for, then obviously you are receiving all the pay you are entitled. Doesn’t everyone want to make more money and have more happy clients? I think that as small business owners and entrepreneurs we’re all in it for the same reasons. So what reason will you give your client to sing your praises.

**I know this has been a cliche ridden post, but sometimes the tongue in cheek method can get your attention! You’re still reading, right?

Tweet This Post

Top 3 Internet Marketing Myths Debunked

Charity Akers Durham ( aka Starlight) — Mon, 17 May 2010 15:18:21 +0000

In the web design and internet marketing business, we consistently answer the same customer questions about hiring our firm. Some are the result of “myths,” some are the mother of invention. Either way, there are a lot of small business owners in need of web development, internet marketing or sometimes, just revisions to what they already have. Sometimes, they come to us right from the get-go. Sometimes, they try to do it themselves. And sometimes, they are just seeking information to make an informed decision.

But the common questions we encounter are:

“There are lots of templates on the internet, can’t I just pick one I like and build my own site?” Well of course you can. My first question to a small business owner is, if you’re spending hours and hours building your website, who’s building your business? Hiring a professional allows you to do what you love–and what pays the bills–which is work on your business. Also, if you’re not familiar with customizing templates, you can spend a lot of time trying to solve problems that may not have been necessary to create in the first place. Hiring a professional will also allow you a custom design, you can simply let us know the color scheme you like, what you want highlighted on your site, and then supply the content. We then build you a beautiful custom website designed to market you and/or your business in an optimum way. And, if you build your site yourself, who do you call when there is a problem? You call us. I’m just sayin’…… Then there’s the “If you build it, they will come” mentality. Just because your website is on the internet, doesn’t mean people will visit it. See below, ie. Internet Marketing.

“I wrote an online want ad/classified/job posting once, I think I can handle our Internet Marketing. How hard can it be?” If I had a dollar for every time I heard someone at networking function tell me a potential client said that to them, well…I’d have a lot of 1 dollar bills. There are two things about this statement, first, advertising and marketing are not the same. Advertising is “the act or practice of calling public attention to one’s product, service, need, etc.” Marketing is “everything a company does to acquire customers and maintain a relationship with them. Even the small tasks like writing thank-you letters, returning calls promptly and meeting with a past client for coffee can be thought of as marketing.” The ultimate goal of marketing is to match a company’s products and services to the people who need and want them, thereby ensure profitability. What a lot of people don’t realize is that there is an actual technique to internet marketing. More than your site and more than your Social Media (see below). Internet Marketing is a fragile beast. A beast because it should be a large part of your marketing budget and something that requires a great amount of attention. (Again, if you’re working on your internet marketing, who is working on your business?) It is fragile because while you do need to market your business, you do not want to be seen as a spammer. More importantly, you want your marketing, internet or otherwise, to look professional.

“Anyone can ‘do’ Social Media, I mean I already have a Facebook page.” It is true, anyone can “do” social media. It is the “how” of professionally handling your Social Media Marketing that we specialize in. While anyone and everyone may be your friend on Facebook, for your business page it is essential to target your market audience. It is your contacts, prospects and clients who need to be your friends on Facebook. If you can believe it, some small business owners are still arguing the benefits of Twitter! SuperHero Marketing, a division of Arcimedia, has designed a free Top Secret Twitter Traffic Guide to help you build your following on Twitter so you not only do have a lot of followers, but it is also profitable. Again, it takes a lot of time to implement these things for your business and that is where things can get sticky.

So often as entrepreneurs and small business owners we start out with the best intentions and then get bogged down by our to do list, that we have a bunch of unfinished tasks that get added on the bottom of our to do lists. Hiring a pro to help you with time consuming tasks, not just building your web presence but in other areas too, can be extremely beneficial to your company. Think about it, would you continue to work your full time job as an entrepreneur and attempt to replace the plumbing in your house, while you lived there?

Tweet This Post

Sometimes We Have to Say NO

Charity Akers Durham ( aka Starlight) — Wed, 05 May 2010 03:55:45 +0000

We have all heard it. “No, sorry can’t help you.” “No, you may not…” “No, you’re not getting the promotion.” No. It’s one of the first words we learn as children, often the first form of rebellion, the first feeling of disappointment or even sadness. But what if no were a positive thing? What if we said no to being lazy-how productive we could be! What if we said no to unhealthy eating-how strong we could be! What if we said no to poor business practices-How Successful We Could Be!

Just say NO to….

1. Poor hiring. Just say no to hiring the wrong person. I know it can be hard to find your perfect fit, but that person is out there. I have been in a position before thinking, “Would it really be so bad to hire this person? I know their track record is shady, and they don’t have much experience or education, but I think I can MAKE them who I need them to be.” Nine times out of ten, this person will not work out. It is different to hire someone lacking experience who is educated or vice versa, but if the candidate has too much working against them, you will be spending more time training and teaching this person than getting work done.

2. Lack of respect for your clients. Just say no to being a jerk. Treat your clients and customers as the valued people they are. Be on time, answer calls and emails in a timely fashion. Most importantly, do what you say you will! If clients cannot depend on you to keep small commitments, do you think they will trust you when the stakes are high? Stay true to your commitments and everybody wins.

3. Lack of focus. Just say no to your own lack of vision. When you were a child, what did you want to be when you grew up? The answer doesn’t matter. As adults, we still need to find that something that inspires us. Something that will light your fire. What are you working toward? Being successful? What does that mean for you? Making a lot money? Helping people? Vision and inspiration are different for each of us. Call it overly optimistic, but my vision for this blog is to help small business owners with their business. Sometimes through marketing tips, advice and bios of inspirational people. Maybe you would like to contact me for a website analysis and I can help you improve your business individually.

But that’s my vision. What’s yours? In what way can you say NO and make a positive difference?

Tweet This Post

Ignite Passion for Your Business

Charity Akers Durham ( aka Starlight) — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 12:32:35 +0000

Passion by definition is: a strong or extravagant fondness, enthusiasm, or desire for anything; an outburst of strong emotion or feeling.

When someone asks you, “What do you do?” Are you stuck in a rut with the same pat answer? Is it evident to them you chose your profession? Do you love what you do and express it in a way that is evident to strangers? Okay. Not everyone is an extrovert, so this is more difficult for some. If you’re a small business owner, daily doing something you love and making contacts to stimulate more business, you’ve got to have charisma and be able to convey it to potential clients, business partners and investors. What are you passionate about?

Use your 30 second commercial to give people a taste of what you do and the rest of the conversation to whet their appetite to find our more. Now, I’m not saying the conversation you engage in about your business should be rehearsed, but brainstorming is not a bad idea. Try to think of common questions about your product or service and then put together some answers that will make people want to know more. Not just your dry run of the mill answers, but engaging answers. What makes your business interesting and exciting? If you want to share how you really feel about what you do, show contacts your passion for your business though word choice and intonation.

Strangers are not the only ones who need to see your passion for your business, more importantly your current clients need to see your passion. Your attention to detail, personal concern for their happiness with your product or service and follow through will show them they made a great decision in choosing you or your product. They will also be more likely to recommend you to others based on the proof that you love what you do.

Excitement is contagious! Pass it on to all you meet and you may be surprised when you become that guy. “Oh, do you know John Doe? He is really great at what he does. If you need a ______, you should definitely call him!”

Tweet This Post

Why keeping a journal is important to your success.

Doug Greathouse ( aka Captian Arcimedia) — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 16:41:06 +0000

I have decided to add a new twist to Super Hero Marketing. I am adding a personal journal category. Below I list the reasons why I am doing this so that you may see the value in keeping a journal as well. They are not in any order of importance.

A journal helps you keep track of your life. Let’s face it we are not Elephants, we do forget or push some memories to the back of our minds. There may come a time when you want to tell a story from your life – especially if you do any type of public speaking. A comedian for instance would be able to recall and exaggerate so much more from his life if he wrote a daily journal.
All those great ideas you have – now you have a place to put them so they don’t get lost. This will allow you to be able to further evaluate those ideas as well and see if they fit into your life plan. Who knows, what you thought was a great idea when you first had it turns out to be not so great once you put it on paper or type it out. Also evaluating your ideas gives you an opportunity to expand on the idea as well as make a plan to put it in action. Some of the most successful people of all time kept journals – Benjamin Franklin, Da Vinci, and Thomas Edison.
Do you ever fail? I hope so, if you are not that means you are probably not stepping outside your comfort zone. If you are consistently stepping outside your comfort zone you are growing. A journal helps you keep track of that growth. If you fail or stumble at something you are trying to accomplish you now have a record. Just like those great ideas, you can evaluate your failures and get a different result from your next attempt.
If you have a blog (or write anything) it helps keep you writing consistently. How many times have you not written a blog post because you did not know what to write about that day? It happens to all of us and is probably the biggest reason for dormant blogs. We think just because we pick something to blog about that we are knowledgeable and/or passionate about we will never get writer’s block. I do not always have something fresh in mind to blog about that is related to my industry. I may wanna write about how messed up or great my day was.
Social media is a part of most of our lives now. We are making friends and contacts now that would have been impossible to make 10 years ago. If you keep a journal it allows your social media friends to find out a little more about you, your personality quirks, your triumphs, and your struggles. We all want more authentic connections and the more we feel we know someone the more authentic that connection becomes. Your life is a story – how good that story is depends on the type of life you choose to lead. Everyone loves a good story and if you have a public journal that may prompt you to really start living, so that your story is amazing. I myself am a self-proclaimed workaholic ( It seems to go hand in hand with being passionate about what you do) , so I do not have a lot of ” adventures” to blog about. Just writing this has made me reflect on that fact, I need a little less work and some more adventure in my life. Some of the best blogs I have read have been adventure blogs. Everything Everywhere is a good example of one of these blogs. I have a 101 goals poster (maybe i will post it in my next journal entry) that I made a couple of years ago – many have been accomplished already- that has a list of all the places I want to visit. I plan on knocking out at least one of those destinations this year. Now I am rambling and sort of off topic. Yet another advantage of a personal journal – consider it free flow writing. It is up to you how structured you want it to be – you are in a sense just jotting down your thoughts. A journal does not always have to be written or typed text, it could be photos or in the case of an online journal – it could be video.

You do not have to publish all or any of the personal journal posts you write. If you are a blogger, I suggest blogging daily either a journal post or a post directly related to the main concept of your blog. Publish only the personal journal entries you feel may also benefit your readers, they may also be experiencing some of the same things you are. So it’s funny that my first journal entry is not really a personal entry but more of a declaration that I am now keeping a journal and prompting you to do the same.

Tweet This Post

Why Video Makes More Money Than Anything Else Period!

Doug Greathouse ( aka Captian Arcimedia) — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 15:22:33 +0000

Are you scared of video for any or all of the following reasons?

It’s expensive

It takes to much time

Your not comfortable being on camera

You are not technically savvy

Well guess what- you can now throw all of those reasons out the window. Andy Jenkins shows you how any regular joe can become – A Video Boss.

For Free Tutorials on How to become a Video Boss Click Here

A rockin’ video review of Andy Jenkin’s The Video Boss

Here is a sample of what you will learn

How “Regular Folks” who are NOT professional Video-makers are CLEANING UP using simple video marketing strategies:

* How “James” created a short, 4 minute slide-show video as a gift to his dog, and how it went VIRAL and got over 4,000,000 (That’s Four Million) views.
* How “Robert” used camcorder Video of his wife exercising to ramp up to over 90,000 visitors per month to his YOGA site.
* How “Bill” made short, less than 2-minute long demonstration videos for his Artificial Christmas Trees site that are now 11 of his 12 most powerful converting web pages.
* The CURSE of Online Video Marketing – how to protect yourself and take advantage of what everyone else is afraid of.
* The absolutely fastest way I know how to make a killer sales letter video from SCRATCH, so you could be converting more visitors to sales in just a few hours.
* The most popular and powerful software you should use to make slick, professional looking online video. Some of these applications are so easy to use, you might not even need to read the manual.
* A silly, but hardly ever used trick to make the voice quality of your audio sound like it was recorded on an expensive, professional microphone.
* How to make “Flip-Cam” video look like “TV-Studio” video. This secret is a head-slapper.

I am not sure how long Andys going to have these videos available so get in while you can.

Go here to Become a Video Boss

Tweet This Post

10 things that will turn your website into a sales machine

Doug Greathouse ( aka Captian Arcimedia) — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 03:58:47 +0000

Being a media and marketing company I encounter bad websites on a daily basis. Granted there are different levels of bad, and in general your website will never be perfect as technology continues to evolve. Right now someone can point their Iphone at your business and get all the reviews that are posted on yelp and other review sites.

Businesses need to think seriously about hiring a web firm that is not just concerned with building a website for your company. In this day and age just having a website is not enough for most businesses to stay with or ahead of their competition. A good web company will not only build a website for you that will build sales and/ or leads but will also put together a marketing plan to effectively increase the exposure of your brand throughout the web.

I have put together a list of ten things you or your web company can do to increase the effectiveness of your website.

1. Add a blog.
Blogs are an excellent way to communicate with your customers. Believe it or not many business owners struggle with what to blog about. It is one of those things were it is right in front of your face and that is why you don’t see it. Blog about your business. If you sell intrinsic products like wine, blogging about your products should be easy. Gary Vaynerchuk has “Crushed it” with his vlog WineLibrary TV by tasting and informing the public about wine. You can also blog about how customers are using your products. Sell cameras or video equipment? ask customers to send you their creations so you can post and discuss them on your blog. Notice I used the word discuss, blogs with there commenting features can foster communities that revolve around your brand.

Their are also a lot of marketing and search engine optimization benefits to having a blog. I could go on and on about how much a blog can assist you in building your companies web presence. Their are entire blogs devoted to the art of successful blogging. One that I like is Problogger. Use it as a resource as you grow your companies blog. Last note about blogging is that you must be committed to update it on a consistent basis, having a dormant blog is no better than no blog at all. It can even be detrimental to the growth of your business if you let it sit without new content for too long. Whatever community you had built up will leave and look for other sources “maybe your competitors” to get the information they were seeking.

2. Add an “effective” lead capture element.
The contact form buried on the last page of your site is not an effective lead capture system. Put your website to work. It could turn out to be your best salesman. The best way to capture leads from your website is to offer something of value to your visitors in exchange for as little information as possible, getting a name and email is usually all you need. The more information you ask for the less likely that you are going to convert leads. It is important that what you offer is something valuable to your visitors. If you are a fitness trainer offering them a free session would be an excellent offer, not only does it get you a lead, it gets you in front of your prospect to convince them of the value of your service. Brainstorm on your value proposition and place this offer prominently on your website or on a landing page.

3. Connect your website to where your target demographic lives on the web. (Social Media).
Social media is here to stay and growing at astronomical rates. Let your visitors know that you are connected and participating in social media. Depending on your demographic certain social media sites may make more since than others for your business. Facebook ( 355 million people + and the complete range of demographics) and Twitter should be used by every business. Once again this is a subject that I could spend a lot of time on. Bottom Line: Integrate your website with social media.

4. Got Analytics?
You need to know where you are to plan where your going. Google Analytics is free and is very comprehensive in its traffic reports. You can use this information to develop a strategy to increase traffic to your website. It will also allow you to track sales and conversions.

5. Video, Video, Video.
Video can accomplish so much for your business. Types of videos you can release : typical TV type commercial (not my favorite for the web) , how tos, demos, creative skits, educational, and the list goes on..
The secret to video on the web is to give value even if it is just the value of entertainment, if you can combine high entertainment value with high content value. You have what I call the peanut butter cup formula. Your video will be just like putting chocolate and peanut butter together =Awesome!

6. Improve the design.
Do an honest evaluation of your website’s design. Is it ugly? You have 10 seconds or less to capture your visitors attention, and the aesthetics of your website are a huge factor on getting visitors to stay longer. Ask those around you that you trust to give you an honest critique of the design of your site. Friends don’t let friends have ugly websites. Make sure that the look of your site is cohesive with the rest of your branding. Many times the best idea is to keep it simple with a nice two color design.
It is also important to make sure the site looks good in all the major browsers (Internet Explore, Firefox, Safari, and Chrome). Unfortunately browsers do not all play by the same rules. Things can look “out of place” on one browser and not another. Also unless you are a musician , Do not have music play automatically on your site, it can distract the visitor away from your core message. I generally feel the same about video that auto plays. One of the exceptions for video would be landing pages, a lot of times the visitor is told specifically that they are going there to view a video.

7. Dumb it down.
The copy on your site should be understandable to the majority of the general public. Unless you are selling only to those within your industry, do not use “industry terms”. Your copy should not focus on technical specs or even features. Instead it should let the visitor know the benefits of and problems that your product or service will solve. The user should not need an instruction book to use your website. For some sites it makes sense to outline the steps you want your visitors to take while on the website. Navigating your site should not feel like running through a maze.

8. Search Engine Optimize.
Need a better ranking on Google? Search engine optimizing your site is one thing that can give you a huge boost against your competition. This especially true in local markets. In a lot of areas it is a level playing field, most businesses competing in a local market have poorly search engine optimized sites. You should hire a search engine optimization specialist to research where your industry stands as far as the competitiveness for search engine ranking. You may be surprised that there may be a huge opportunity to leapfrog your competition. As the level you want to compete on (local, regional, national) goes up so does the competition. Some industries are easier to compete in than others as well. The cost of Search engine optimization also goes up based on those dynamics. Many search engine optimization specialist will do work on a mix of results based commission and a flat fee. If you are interested Arcimedia does offer this service and would love to help you get your business a better search engine rank.

9. Sell
Believe it or not I have been to numerous websites that “forgot” to sell me anything or had their pitch buried deep in their website. If I am searching for a new front door, I am inclined to buy a new front door. I will buy from the first site that effectively sells me that front door. Yes, I want to know more about your business but I came looking first and foremost for a door. Once again, think benefits and problems solved when creating the copy for your website. Your pitch should be in the main content of your home page. By the way, remember the blog I talked about at the beginning, that is a excellent place to do more “brand building” and share more non-sales information about your business. You can also sell from a blog but that is not its main purpose. Also do not bury your contact information – It should be above the fold and preferably in the very top portion of your site. Also include testimonials on your home page and let other happy customers assist you in creating more happy customers. Note: This list is not in order of importance, if it was selling would be 1 and lead generation 2.

10. Treat your website like a tool and not a billboard!
Your website should encompass most or all of the following things:

Capturing Leads
Making sales
Building your brand
Growing – In both traffic and functionality.
Using analytics information to test different copy and design ideas and to seek out new traffic and expand on existing traffic.
Connecting with your customers -Using a blog, social media, and if appropriate video.
Educating your customers on the benefits of your product or service (remember to sell first)

For fun check out Web pages that suck.
Looking for inspiration? The following sites are sites that do most or all of the things I described above.

aaronbrothers.com – could expand even further with videos and a blog.
Winelibrary.com – as mentioned earlier Gary V is Crushin It!
beachfitnow.com – a client of Arcimedia who is in the early stages of developing her web presence but already has a great foundation set up.

So now I have given you a “road map” to make your website perform at an optimal level. If you need an experienced team that is dedicated to the success of your business on the web call us 843-200-5034 or visit our website Arcimedia or our blog Superhero Marketing. We are offering a Free website analysis that will let you know what we would do specifically with your site so that it can operate at it’s full potential.( I didn’t forget to sell) If you need a superstar social media consultant and someone to help you get connected with all the right people contact Mary Kurek .

Tweet This Post

Why Most Small Businesses Fail at Twitter

Mary McKnight — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 20:30:34 +0000

What’s that saying, “if you fail to plan, you plan to fail?” Well, just like any marketing strategy, social media needs planning. You cannot just jump on Twitter or Facebook and expect to make sales or generate a lead database without some planning. The fact is, most small businesses fail at Facebook and Twitter because they fail to plan strategies that convert followers and fans to leads and customers. However, when implemented properly, a customized Facebook fan page and a Twitter account can directly increase your ability to collect and message leads and boost sales. Take Papa John’s Facebook Page: it is responsible for improving sales by more than 28% for the pizza chain and their incentive initiatives like free pizza’s for friends helped them double their fan base in a single month. Conversely, check out Jet Blue’s Twitter Page: by tweeting their deal of day, they have directly improved sales and been able to prove ROI on Twitter. But neither of these companies jumped into social media without a game plan and nor should you.

Resources:

Incentivizing Facebook Fans: Papa John’s Doubles Fans with Free Pizza

Case Study: Papa John’s Finds New Facebook Fans

JetBlue Launches Twitter Deals – SmarterTravel.com

Build a Social Media Game Plan

Set a Goal

The very first thing you need to determine is what your goal is. Set a clear goal. For example – set a goal like “I want to exceed 10K fans on my Facebook page.” “I want to generate a database of over 25K subscribers I can remarket later. Or “I want to directly sell my products or services to increase revenues by 10%.” Like I said, be specific in your goal, so you can measure results based on expectation.

Allocate Your Resources

Be aware that social media is not some silver bullet that will save your business. It is one element of a successful online marketing plan and realistically accounts for 8% of all online leads according to a recent Hubspot study. So, figure out how much time and money you want to spend on getting this result. Quantify it and know the metrics of existing sales, leads or subscribers generated each month on your website or Facebook Fan page. The next step is to find the mechanism that will generate that result for you. For example – recently Shakira debuted her latest music video exclusively on her Facebook fan page. The goal? To build fan base in a single place online that allowed for easy messaging of fans. To drive fans in volume and within a limited time to that page by providing debut access to content irresistible to her audience. The result? 1.7 million fans visited and fanned that page.

I am not suggesting you are a pop star in need of fans – but what I am saying is find the irresistible offer that your market is looking for. If you are a web services company to small businesses, offer a limited time discount on services or a free eBook on conversion page design and marketing or even a white paper on social media – each requiring registration. My point is, set a clear goal for yourself.

Resources:

Twucked Up Twit in Social Media

Drive Traffic to Conversion Points

OK, so you have a goal. Making that goal a success requires that you drive the traffic from your social media accounts back to places where people can take action and deliver your result. I am a huge fan of single purpose landing pages. These are pages that you direct visitors to that have only one purpose – to call them to action and create a NEED for them to immediate buy or register their information so you can generate a lead.

Measure Your Results

Know how you will measure that goal before you begin the campaign. In the instances I mentioned you can measure the results even without third party tools – simply based on the number of new Facebook Fans, the size of your database or the number of downloads. Clearly you can get more rich data on your campaign from Google Analytics, Mint, Crazy Egg, Omniture or Visistat, but it is possible to prove ROI without them.

Use The Right Tools

Google Analytics Social Media Tracking Plugin | This will display social media metric data in Google analytics. It can display your activity and mentions from a variety of social sites like Digg, Twitter, Facebook, StumbleUpon, and Mixx.

Bit.ly | When you use a URL shortener, it’s always a smart idea to use one that has analytics information, like Bit.ly This will track information like number of clicks, traffic sources, and even at what time clicks occur.

Xinureturns | xinureturns provides a great dashboard overview of your website’s standing in social media. Run a report and you will receive information on Technorati, Googe Pagerank, Diggs, and even backlinks to your website.

PostRank | PostRank provides detailed information on Tweets, stumbles, diggs, and FriendFeed all in one place. It’s best for blogs and websites with a lot of content.

SocialToo | SocialToo is a comprehensive tool for creating social surveys and tracking social stats. It also will send you a daily email describing follows and unfollows on Twitter.

SM2 | If you are really serious about your social analytics you will use a monitoring service like SM2. SM2 is a software solution designed specifically for PR and Marketing Agencies to monitor and measure social media. As businesses and consumers increasingly utilize and rely on social media, your agency needs the best tools and expertise to stay competitive.

TwitterAnalyzer is one of the most comprehensive Twitter analyzer tools out there. It tracks followers who are online when you are, number of readers that have been exposed to your message, your tweet habits, who is retweeting your updates, twitter follow statistics, growth rates, conversations being made about you, the size of your audience and your followers’ demographics.

Resources:

Top 5 Twitter Analytics Tools

Conclusion

As a small business, you need to hold your marketing campaigns to the same standards enterprise sized businesses do and expect full return on the investments you make into them. Do not fully dive into the waters of social media if you are not prepared with goals and strategy. Results are what matter and using social sites effectively is the key, so plan for your success and know how you will measure that success against your expectations.

Mary McKnight serves as the Director of Internet Marketing for Fuel Records, an EMI Music Group Label and an outspoken blogger on music, social media, SEO and piracy. You can read more of her work on www.sacriliciousmarketing.com.

Tweet This Post

Super Show Episode 9:Niche content, burnt cookie beer, and the Governator stops by.

Doug Greathouse ( aka Captian Arcimedia) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 17:39:52 +0000

In episode 9 of The Super Show the Governator stops by to hear about the passion tree principle. Doug and Drew try some burnt cookie beer and discuss data backup and niche content.

Also available at Itunes

Tweet This Post

Pearls…

Michele Ashley — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 15:13:56 +0000

So here I am finally posting my blog! Geeze, it only took me nearly a month to get it down on ‘paper’ (virtually). I guess the most mind blogging issue is what to say? Believe you me, not everything that comes out of my mouth needs to be blogged, but I’d like to believe there are some things on this journey we call “life” that I’ve learned and would enjoy sharing with others. I liked to call these rambling of thoughts “pearls”. I can’t take credit for this, since I first heard the term during my Foundations Course to becoming a life coach, from my teacher and guide, Jan Hill. At the end of each class, all the participants would share their ‘pearls’ of what they’d take away from the subject of the day.

So here we go: First, learn what truly makes me happy and brings a sense of peace to my life. Discovering this I learned could be something as simple as staying home alone reading a good book on a rainy, cloudy cold day in fall. I learned the secret of “happy” was really about a state of being and not perfection or even everything going my way. It was about peace of mind. So, I began to think and re-evaluate those things in my life. Were they encouraging a state of peace or were they instigating anxiety, worry, sadness, frustration? – you get the drift! If any situation or circumstance in my life was not adding to the joys of my life, then it needed to go! Simple and to the point. I had to learn that it wasn’t anyone else’s job to clean my house and keep it clean except me. Now ‘cleaning house’ doesn’t necessarily need to be a bad thing or even complicated or uncomfortable. But I would say it should be done with thought and careful consideration. Think about it, when you spring clean, you normally give so much thought

Secondly, “to thine own self be true”. Being true to myself was paramount to my overall well-being. This one was a little challenging for me and at times can still be. What does it mean to be “true” to oneself? I simplify it by always asking myself constantly are my actions congruent with what I really feel and want for my life. For instance, it could be something as simple as choosing to spend some alone time rather than hanging with friends, it could be sharing my most tender or intimate feelings with someone special when indeed those are my thoughts and not give way to fear, or it can be deciding I’m going to wear loud, funky outrageous outfit to that “must be seen at” party, when I know everyone else will be sporting their new designer outfit. Yup, I can see my sister shaking her head in agreement. It might sound small but it is the small decisions that make up our quality of our lives. Life is really too short to pretend to be someone we’re not, when who we really are deep down is something and someone amazing. And guess what? A funny thing happened on my way to living my life, I learned that I really didn’t care all that much if anyone else agreed with me and I was always much happier in the end.

Thirdly, just let go and chill. Learning to ‘just let it go’ was HUGE for me. I have to admit there is that tad bit of the control freak in me (“No!-really”, I can hear my mates exclaiming right about now) and I’ve invested a lot of time trying to control circumstances around me for a long time. Oh there were days where the benefit of being so “hands on” with almost everything in my life seemed to be working, but mostly it just left me frustrated, exhausted and angry. Yes, far too much energy being wasted if you ask me. I learned letting go was more than just some cool spiritual statement that you heard in conversation with friends. Letting go became when someone didn’t agree with what I felt to be true or right for me, it was okay for me to just let that go and allow that person the right to have their say and think whatever they might. Most of the time it meant when things didn’t go the way that I thought they should, it was all good- everything happens for a reason. And there times it meant letting go of an idea or ideal that no longer served my personal growth. And it most definitely meant, not picking up the responsibility of changing someone’s mind or beliefs toward what I believe to be true for me or even about life. Now, there isn’t anything wrong with sharing one’s convictions about a variety of topics, but it reaps no reward forcing someone to think, act or believe what you do for yourself or you life. The one person whose opinion matters most in my life is me. I’m the one that has to be happy and at peace with my choices in life…and the rest, as they say, is history (or maybe that should be her-story).

Lastly, I learned to follow my dreams. Now that may sound simple enough, however, I’m sure you will agree with me that is far from the truth of the matter. What did that mean following my dreams? It meant that my actions day in and day out were deliberate, thought through and most importantly were consistent with what I wanted to see manifest in my life. This way at the end of the day, and hopefully the end of my life, it will have been about me and no one else. So really, it didn’t matter what I did nor did not receive as a child, or the education I felt I deserved, but it would always be about what did I take responsibility in making happen in my life.

Now that may sound a little selfish, but aren’t we all just a little selfish about those things, which are most important to us in our lives. Why not learn to be selfish in the right way, for the right reasons and with the right mind set. Sure the grass can always seem greener on someone else’s side (and in truth it very well may be), but if I’m busy working on my life and my dreams, there really isn’t a whole lot of time to be spent gazing over the fence in someone else’s backyard. Yes, it’s true, if you make your bed you sleep in it. So why now choose the sheets, duvet and size of the bed I want instead of having it picked out for me by family, friends or even society? Heck, if I’m going to sleep in it, I might as well be comfortable and cozy!!

So let’s see, that’ll be one queen sized set of 100% cotton, at least four nice large fluffy pillows that I can sink deep inside and lovely velvety duvet to boot! Ahhh, time for bed!

Cheers,

Miche

Tweet This Post