1. Keep Your Posts Short

   Having a good headline and keeping the post length to less than 250 characters generates the most interaction and engagement.  According to Facebook, posts that are 250 characters or less generate 60% more likes, comments and shares than posts that are longer.

2. Post Photos, Videos and Quotes

   Posts that include a photo album, picture, or a video generate 180%, 120% and 100% (respectively) more engagement than a text post.  Quotes also tend to have high interaction.

3. Post on a Regular Basis

   Once a day is a good place to start.  Try not to make your posts too promotional, however, or you could turn off your fans.  A good practice is to post one marketing message for every 9-10 informational posts.

4. Ask Your Fans for Feedback

   Facebook is a great tool for conducting focus groups and generating quick feedback.  It can be used when trying to improve or launch a new service, product, or promotion. Asking questions helps foster engagement with your fans.  Questions that require one-word or one-click answers increase your response rate as they are easy and painless for fans to answer.

5. Link to Interesting, Relevant Content

   Providing interesting and relevant content (and links to content) helps to position your company as a go-to resource and expert in your field, and provides value to your customers and Facebook fans.

6. Give Fans Exclusive Info

   Providing exclusive information to fans provides incentives for people to “Like” your Facebook page (and to keep “Liking” it).

7. Provide Deals and Perks

   Your Facebook Page is a great tool for posting coupons and promotions, and fans love deals!

8. Respond Quickly

   Breaking news on Facebook that is relevant for your audience can drive more interaction and engagement. In addition, many people are using Facebook as they would email, posting time-sensitive questions on your wall.  Providing timely customer service and responses is very important.

9. Create an Editorial Calendar.

   Use a calendar to identify key times of the year for your business and plan Facebook promotions around these times.

10. Measure Key Metrics & Keep Learning

    Use the Facebook Insights to measure metrics: # of fans, # of impressions per post, feedback % per post, daily “Likes”, number of comments, “Unsubscribes”, etc., and use this information to guide your Facebook Page strategy. Pay attention to what your competitors are doing on their Facebook Pages.  Track industry leaders’ Pages.

1. Cover Photo

This is the first thing people will see when they visit your page.  The photo (851 x 315 pixels) can be changed as often as you’d like, and is a great way to provide some branding to your page and express some creativity while showcasing your company and its products & services.

2. Profile Photo

Your profile photo (180 x 180 pixels) represents your page on other parts of Facebook, in ads, sponsored stories, and the news feed.  This will typically be a company logo and should scale well from 180 x 180 pixels to 32 x 32 pixels.

3. Page Title, Likes & People Talking About This

View your most important stats such as the number of Likes, People Talking About This, and Check-ins at a glance.

4. About

The About information has been revamped and provides a brief overview with a link to detailed information, as well as your hours of operation, phone number, address, services, and price range of products and services.

5. Photos & Apps

Your photos and three custom apps now appear at the top of the page (the remaining apps can be viewed by clicking on the arrow to the right of the 3 app boxes).  The app images can be customized under “Manage” in “Edit Page” in the admin panel, and the order in which they appear is sortable.

6. Composer

The composer is the best way to reach your audience across Facebook and drive engagement.  It also now includes a Milestone feature (see Feature #10 for more details).

7. Pinned Posts

The most important stories can be “pinned” or anchored to the top of your Page for up to seven days.

8. Larger Stories

Photos, videos, and link stories are now larger, which is meant to help drive engagement.

9. Starred & Hidden Stories

Important stories can be highlighted with the star icon.  Stories that aren’t as engaging or relevant can be hidden or deleted by using the pencil icon.

10. Milestones

Milestones can be set to define your key moments over time.  Examples might include reaching a certain number of fans, winning an award, launching a new product, etc.  Milestone photos are 843 x 403 pixels.

11. Friend Activity

People will see stories about how their friends are interacting with your page throughout your Page’s timeline.

12. Admin Panel

There is now an admin panel at the top of all Pages which offers a snapshot of all Page engagement, including: Notifications, Insights, Messages, new Likes, and Page Tips.

13. Activity Log

An activity log allows you to view all of your stories and posts by year, star, hide or delete stories, and change the dates of your posts.

14. Date Selector

Visitors to your Page will be able to navigate to different dates and sections of your Page timeline easily.

15. Larger App Width (not shown on diagram)

If you have custom tabs, the Page app width can now be adjusted to be “Narrow” (520 px) or “Wide” (810px) in the Developer App under “Edit App”.

Related Article:

How to Set-up a Custom Username for Your Facebook Page

1. Website Design

As the face of your company, your website design needs to be professional, clean, and easy for all visitors to navigate. When designing your website, focus on:

• Including calls to action on many pages so viewers are continually thinking about what your company can do for them.
• Optimizing the site on all browsers, including those on smart phones. The percentage of people who surf the web on smart phones and tablets is growing. In fact, 25 percent of mobile Web users never or infrequently use the desktop to search the web.
• Incorporating relevant keywords naturally to help your search rankings.

2. Blog

Statistically, companies that blog get 55% more visitors to their websites than companies that don’t blog. Therefore, your website should include an integrated blog, which helps you provide customers with useful, relevant information. When creating a blog, ensure that it is:

• Easy for readers to subscribe through RSS and email.
• Easy to share through social media.
• Easy to interact with you by commenting on posts.

3. Search Engine Optimization

Many potential customers start at the search engines when they need what you sell. To be found, you must use search engine optimization techniques to help your website, blog, and social media accounts rank high in the search engines. Follow these steps in your marketing strategy:

• Make sure each page of your website is optimized for the search engines (read: 7 Ways to Optimize a Web Page for the Search Engines).
• Research specific keywords that people most commonly search for in your industry.
• Use these keywords on your website and through social media.
• Include long-tail keywords specific to your market, which are one of the keys to ranking well on search engines.

4. Email Marketing

Because you can’t always keep your website on people’s minds, email marketing is a great way to stay in front of your customers. Pay attention to:

• Creating a quality design for your email template so it ties in with the look and feel of your website, completing a comprehensive marketing strategy.
• Providing useful, relevant information through email on a regular basis to help you convert potentials into customers.

5. Social Media Presence

Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, YouTube, and Google+ are not just for individuals. They have several major advantages for businesses:

• Provide an opportunity to create a community around your company through interaction with the people who are interested in you.
• Help you remain on people’s radars by posting status updates, media, blog posts, and information about your company regularly.
• Allow you to reach exponential numbers of people at a very minimal cost because of the viral nature of these networks.

6. Analytics

Measuring the results and trends of your website, blog, email campaigns, search engine ranking, and social media reach plays a crucial role in any online marketing strategy. The most important metrics to measure include:

• Website: Site visitors, page views, pages per visit, average time on the site, bounce rate, top landing and exit pages, top content, leads & conversions.
• Blog: Subscribers, views / visitors, conversions, comments, clicks, rank, inbound links, social media shares.
• SEO: Page rank, # of indexed pages, # of inbound links, # of keywords sending traffic to your site, long-tail keyword rank & opportunities.
• Email Marketing: # sent, bounces, spam reports, opt-outs, opens, clicks, forwards.
• Social Media: # of likes, followers, connections, etc., growth, engagement, momentum, results.

Aspire Internet Design has created successful marketing strategies for hundreds of clients. Contact us for a free consultation and learn how we can help you take your business to the next level.

QR Code: Link to Aspireid.com

QR codes have been popping up and seem to be everywhere these days.  They are ubiquitous in Japan, and are growing in popularity within the United States.  In case you don’t know, these quick response codes are computer-generated codes that are decoded with smartphones (by using free software and the phone’s camera), and generate all sorts of useful information when scanned.

QR Codes Provide the Following Info When Scanned:

• Text
• Images
• A Web Link
• Email Address
• Contact Information
• A Facebook Link
• Coupons
• Specials
• A Menu
• Videos
• A Sign-up Form for an Event, Product, or Service
• Newsletter Subscription
• Google Maps Location
• A vCard
• Signage
• Or, Any Other Kind of Promotion

Newer smartphones come with a QR code reader installed.  Older phones can download free software.  The beauty of QR codes is that they are free and easy to create, provide instant access to more information,  and tie offline marketing to online resources.

Possible Uses for QR Codes

QR Codes can be used in an unlimited number of ways.  Here are 17 ways to use QR codes for marketing purposes:

• Catalogs
• Direct Mail Pieces
• “For Sale” Signs
• Newspaper & Magazine Ads
• Postcards
• Product Labels
• Menus (ex: QR code linking to a video of the chef creating the dish or nutritional info)
• Packages
• Clothing Tags
• Fliers & Brochures
• Business Cards
• Bumper Stickers
• Storefront Displays
• Clothing
• Trade Show Booths
• Billboards
• Promotional Items

Creating QR Codes is Free & Easy

You can easily create QR codes for free online or on your iPhone, using an app, in seconds by using one of the many available resources.  Here are a few sites with free QR Code generators:

• http://qrcode.kaywa.com/
• http://www.beqrious.com/generator
• http://goqr.me/

If you haven’t started using QR codes but would like to integrate them into your marketing strategy, contact us.  We offer custom QR code designs and can provide tracking tools to measure the success of your campaigns.

Custom usernames allow businesses to promote their presence on Facebook by providing a short, easy to remember, url.  Once you have 25 or more “Likes” on your page, you are eligible to customize the url.  This url can be shared across each marketing channel, and featured in all marketing materials.

How to Set-up a Custom Username:

1. Login to your Facebook page.
2. Go to http://www.facebook.com/username.
3. You may be asked to verify your Facebook account.  Do so by entering your mobile number and request either a text or call with the confirmation code.

   

4. Once the account has been verified, type in your desired username.  The username cannot have any spaces or characters other than letters and numbers. A common way to break-up multiple words is to capitalize the first letter of each word (the username will not be case sensitive, however).

   

5. With the desired username entered, click on “Check Availability”.  If the username is available, you will see the following screen:

   

6. Click on “Confirm”, and your new Facebook username will take effect immediately.

   

That’s all there is to it! Now, you can easily share and promote the Facebook page and new username across all of your company’s marketing channels and in all marketing materials (website, brochures, ads, business cards, etc.)

1. Find Keywords:

Pick a list of words relevant to your business.  Look for keywords on your website, your competitors’ sites, ask current customers, vendors, friends, and relatives what words or phrases they associate with your business.  Go to Google and type the keywords and key phrases in the the browser.  Google will return a list of related searches (found at the bottom of the 1st page of listings).

Add all of these keywords to a list and create a web page for each keyword phrase you are targeting.

2. Put the Keywords in Your Page’s URL:

Google and other search engines use the text of the url of the page to determine the page’s content.  Placing the keywords in the url (ex: aspireid.com/ways-to-optimize-a-web-page) will help optimize the page for your intended keywords.

2. Put the Keyword / Keyword Phrase in the Page’s Title Tags:

Well-constructed title tags contain the main keyword or keyword phrase for the page, followed by a brief description of the page’s content. The title tag should be less than 65 characters and avoid using stop words such as: a, if, the, then, and, an, to, etc. Your title tag should also be limited to the use of alphanumeric characters, hyphens, and commas.

4. Put Keywords in the Page’s Meta Tags:

The next step is to add keyword and description tags to the page.  These tags contains information about the page’s content and help search engines index the information.  The description is what appears in search results and helps to persuade search engine users to visit your web site.

The description tag should be between 25 and 35 words in length.

Your keywords meta tag should contain between 1-3 keywords or keyword phrases that are also found in the page’s content.

5. Keywords Should be Placed in the Heading Tags:

Your page should include your keywords in the H1 heading tag.

6. Use Keywords in the Page Content:

Pages should have between 300 and 700 words of descriptive content that contain the keywords specified in the keywords meta tag for the page. These keywords should appear in the first paragraph on the page, and also be those that occur most frequently on the page. The keyword density for a web page should be approximately 4%.  So, for every 100 words, the main keyword for the page would be mentioned 4 times.

7. Monitor Your Rank:

Give the search engines a few days, then check to see how the page is ranking with its intended keywords.

If you were to examine successful larger companies, you will find, in nearly every case, system-based protocols at work. Managers and owners of these businesses are not spending their days putting out fires and switching from one role to another. Instead, they are managing their systems and continually improving upon them. As a result, these companies are able to provide better products and services, and achieve continual growth and success. This system-oriented approach is something often not found in small businesses and is a fundamental reason 95% of all small businesses fail.

Sam Carpenter’s book “Work the System” asserts that improving your business’ systems is the key to being able to pull yourself out of the day-to-day operations of your business and ultimately be able to work less and make more.

Examining and improving your company’s systems will provide revolutionary results. Doing so will allow you, as a small business owner, to hand-off many of the tasks you were doing on a regular basis. This will free up your time to continue to improve upon the company’s systems and provide better services and products, and customer service, as a direct result.

Working your system involves the following steps:

1. Create a strategic objective that outlines your business’ reason for being, its purpose and overall goals.
   This objective should be what drives the direction of the company and every business decision.
2. Identify each system and sub-system within your business.
3. Create working procedures for each system and sub-system. Put everything in writing. Set-up these documents as if someone “off the street” were going to need to perform these tasks and outline each and every step of the process within each system.
4. Examine each system’s steps and procedures and look for ways to improve the systems and make them more efficient on an ongoing basis. At the core of each system, keep simplicity in mind. Simplicity is the key. Get rid of out-dated or inefficient systems. Add new systems when warranted. Ask for staff involvement and make it easy to change and improve the working procedures, as needed, in a quick and simple manner.

Since every process is documented, the quality of your output and customer service will increase. Customers will appreciate and know what to expect each time they interact with your company and employ your services or purchase your products.

Click here to learn more about “Work Your System”.

Here’s a typical scenario of how companies are being found today…

I have a friend who just bought a new home. She is in the throws of decorating, renovating and furnishing this home, and needed a contractor to do some renovations in her kitchen.

Conduct a Google Search & Read Through Reviews

First, she Googled “Kitchen Contractors” and a social review site called servicemagic.com came up.  The site has thousands of reviews, and she spent some time checking the reviews on contractors.

Ask for Recommendations from Friends on Facebook

Second, she posted to her Facebook Friends, asking if anyone knew of a good contractor who specializes in kitchen renovations.

Ask for Recommendations from Followers on Twitter

Third, she posted the same question to her followers on Twitter.

Cross-reference Comments

After receiving many replies, she cross-referenced the comments (giving the most weight to those she received from her Facebook Friends).

Read Reviews on Recommended Contractors & Checkout Websites

She then went back to the Service Magic site and looked up the reviews of the recommended contractors and checked out each of their websites.

Choose Contractor & Post Review

After the kitchen remodel was complete, my friend wrote a glowing review about the wonderful work provided by the contractor on Facebook.

This post received 15 “likes” (which went out to all of her friends and her friends’ friends).

Finding a service professional or contractor in this way is becoming more and more common.  If you are a service professional or contractor (or any other type of business for that matter), it’s important to understand your customers’ buying process and position your business in a way that makes it easy for potential customers to find you and satisfied customers to recommend you to others.

30 Content Ideas for Your Blog & Social Media:

1. Case Studies / Success Stories of Customers who Have Used Your Company’s Products & Services (Identify the Problem, Solution, Outcome)
2. Topical / Relevant Book Reviews & Synopses
3. Industry Trends & Statistics and What it Means for Your Customers / Prospects
4. Industry News & Events
5. Company News & Events
6. Conduct a Quick Search Using Google’s Keyword Search Tool to Find Out What Topics are Being Searched and Write Content About these Topics (Great for Search Engine Optimization)
7. Use Yahoo! Answers, Google Reader, and LinkedIn Questions as a Resource and Idea Generator
8. Conduct Interviews with Thought Leaders, Authors, Bloggers, Etc. in Your Niche
9. Set-up Google Alerts and Track Long-tail Keywords to Generate Daily Content Ideas
10. Identify Your Customers’ “Pain Points” and Write About How to Solve Them
11. Generate a List of the Most Common Questions Customers Ask and Write a Blog Post that Clearly Answers each Question
12. Create a Simple “How To” Video or Guide
13. Aggregate Industry Information (Save Your Customers Time by Compiling Industry Updates Into One Article)
14. Seek Out Guest Authors
15. Create Lists (Top 10, How To, Best Of, etc.)
16. Create Charts
17. Provide Info on Industry Related Resources
18. Ask for Feedback from Your Community to Stimulate New Ideas (Create Surveys or Polls)
19. Share from Other Blogs and Add Your Own Perspective
20. Share Info on New Products or Services
21. Government Information
22. Conduct Contests and Publish the Results
23. Sales, Coupons, or Promotional Info
24. Highlight Employee Recognition or Good Deeds
25. Create an Award & Write About It (Ex: Fan of the Week, Employee of the Month, Customer of the Month, etc.)
26. Trade Blog Content with Similar Companies in Other Markets
27. Ask Vendors, Manufacturers, Distributors, Suppliers for Content
28. Check with Associations You Belong to & See What Content You Can Use.
29. Read Competitor Blogs and Websites for Content Ideas
30. Retool Your Company’s Brochures, Offline Marketing Materials, Documents, Reports, Etc. and Share them Online

Related Article: Want to Increase Your Company’s Search Engine Ranking? Start Blogging