Business Development Archives - Life Simplified Learning Center

Social Media Tip: Use Google Alerts

by Jen Posted in Business Development

Please note since this article was written, it has been rumored that Google Alerts may be going away in 2013. Therefore we’ve added additional content at the end of the article of alternative resources.

What Are Google Alerts?

Google Alerts is a tool you can use to track if you or your company are being mentioned on the internet. It doesn’t track social mentions, but it will track blogs, articles, news releases, etc.

How does this save you time?

If you are interested in what’s being said about you on the internet, this is a valuable tool because you don’t have to scour the internet for mentions. It’s highly important when you are monitoring your business reputation online. Depending on your settings, you can mentions as they are picked up by Google.

This allows you to respond in a timely manner to mentions, keeping you on top of things rather than finding out about them weeks later.

Other Tools like Google Alerts

There are other tools that allow you to track where you are mentioned on the internet and social media. I’m currently exploring many of these to see how they save time. As I learn more, I’ll share that with you. In the mean time, you can check out this article with 5 Free Tools To Manage Your Online Reputation by socialmouths

Are you hiring a new social media manager, but aren’t really sure how to train them?

Email us for a 30 minute consultation to determine your needs.

Facebook Insights: What Do I Do With All Those Numbers?

by Jen Posted in Business Development, Marketing, Social Media

photo credit: Richawriter via flickr

Does reviewing your Facebook Insights feel like you’re on a roller coaster? You’re happy when the numbers go up and depressed when the numbers go down.

Is that all your using your Facebook Insights for, mood swing?

These reports can help you develop a smart plan for your business if you use them for more than a daily jolt of adrenaline. Below I’ve taken the 5 key numbers we’ve been talking about and given you some examples of how to use them.

Virality & People Talking About This

Virality and People Talking About This go hand in hand. Since virality is a percentage of the other numbers, it gives you a true understanding of your most viral posts. According to MozzillaWiki, good Virality scores are 1.5-2.0%.

People Talking About This will tell you what they are doing. A Like is good. A Comment is better. A Share is like gold.

Engagement of your readers drives both of these numbers. Virality shows you with which posts people engaged. People Talking About This tells you what they did. Notice what’s in common. Are they photos, videos, or text? What is the subject matter? Can you tell what time of day you posted them?

Use these factors to post similar types of posts to increase your engagement.

Demographics

Looking beyond the demographics of your page, the demographics of your Reach and People Talking About This helps you understand the voice of your message.

For example, if the demographics of the people who like the page are split 50% male/50% female yet the people who are engaging are primarily female, think about using more examples pertinent to women. When they read your post, they will feel more like you’re talking to them and want to share it with their friends.

Reach

As I said in the earlier article, Reach is how to attract new fans. Reach has always been important in marketing. For example Billboards on the Mass Pike might reach 10,000 drivers whereas your local paper might reach only 2,000 subscribers.

What’s better about Facebook Reach is the people you’re reaching are somehow connected to your page or they wouldn’t see the content. To drive this number again you want to think about engagement. This goes back to what is popular and with whom.

External Referral Sources

Although not usually referenced, this is an important number to monitor. It tells you where people are coming from. If you have a Facebook icon on your page, but you aren’t getting any traffic from it, it’s not working. Time to think of another strategy.

Review where outside of Facebook you’re driving people back to your page. If you’re not seeing referrals from these sources, go back and start to make tweaks. This will drive new interested traffic to your Facebook page. Interested visitors become engaged Fans who down the road are your future customers.

What Are Your Next Steps?

Look at these numbers on a regular basis.
Determine small goals for each.
Review them in relation to your goal.
Notice trends.
Adjust your strategy accordingly.

If setting goals for all of these seems too daunting, start with one. Once you feel comfortable, move onto another.

Review your numbers and trends so regularly they become as familiar as knowing your sales. When used, they will help you develop a healthy pipeline of new customers.

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Social Media Tip: Turn Off Notifications

by Jen Posted in Business Development

Social Media Time Management Tip: Turn Off Notifications

photo credit: booleansplit via flickr

Notifications Pop-Up, Blink and Buzz

If you’re trying to maximize your time on social media, having things pop-up, blink or buzz at you will not help.

Every time you are interrupted in a task, you naturally take recovery time or transition time between the two tasks. If you want to maximize your time, you need to take control of those transition times.

The Blog That Almost Wasn’t

For example, let’s say you’re in the middle of writing a blog. You have your email notifications on and you receive an email. With out thinking, you glance over to the notification. It triggers a thought that you need to send to that person. You say to yourself, I’ll just send that quick email, then finish my blog.

By the time you send the email, you’ve lost track of what you are writing about. It will take you a few minutes to get back in the swing of things. Those are lost minutes not to mention the time it took to send the email.

Instead if you’ve set a time limit for your social media activity, as we’ve talked about, and turned off your notifications, you can smoothly complete your blog without interruption. When you finish, you can check your email and respond accordingly.

Use Notifications Wisely

Notifications are good when you don’t want to forget something or waiting for something important. Otherwise, they are merely a distraction. Turn them off and focus.

How I Integrate Social Media Into My Day

by Jen Posted in Business Development

photo credit: ms-ito via flickr

Today was one of those days. Up at 4:00am. Out by 6:00am. Not home again until 7:00pm. How’s a person supposed to keep up on Social Media?

Here’s a real life account of how I kept up on my social media during a normal busy day.

4:30am Check email. Respond to 1 urgent email.

6:50am Check email, Facebook, and Twitter on train. Respond accordingly. Post to two business pages all using my phone.

7:45am Write a draft of a blog post before 1st meeting while having coffee.

8:30am Schedule 3 posts on client Facebook Page

9:30am Meeting

12:00pm Check email, Facebook, Twitter. Answer messages on Facebook and email. Respond to Tweets. Post 2 posts to business page and ReTweet some fun information on phone while on train to next meeting.

1:00pm Meeting

3:00pm Outline 1 blog post. Reply to email, Facebook messages and comments, Tweets and LinkedIn emails.

4:00pm Review notes for evening class.

5:00pm Prepare and then conduct class.

7:30pm Get home and put my feet up.

Throughout the day I had scheduled a few posts about upcoming workshops and a few blog articles.

Social media becomes part of my working day. It’s how I communicate with my community of clients, future clients and friends. The key to being consistent is not to think of it as a stand alone activity. It should be part of your integrated activities during the day.

When you are able to include social media into your day, you stop “doing social” and start communicating.