Author: Buyer Advertising

Is Google+ a Positive or Negative?

Posted on by Buyer Advertising

Announced just days ago, Google has fired a shot over the port bow with its newest attempt for a piece of the social media pie. The appropriately-named “Google+” is made on the heels of two rather striking social media failures—Google Buzz and Google Wave—but this time around, the social media universe (yes, that includes the Twitterverse) has high hopes.

Google’s new innovation includes “Circles”, a new feature to counter massive lists of friends that’s the mainstay of Facebook. By dragging and dropping individuals into these customizable groups, users will have a tighter control over who sees what information (or that drunken party picture from last night). A piece of media shared in one circle goes out to all members of that group.

Google+ holds new opportunities for advertisers. With “Sparks”, an integrated feature of this new platform, Google will tailor entertainment information specifically for users based on their lists of interests and activities while logged into the platform. With a more comprehensive analysis of user data, we wouldn’t be surprised to find more targeted opportunities for HR professionals and marketing gurus to pinpoint their target demographic.

Google+ is still undergoing testing, but keep an eye out for future development!

Signing off for now,

Buyer Advertising
www.buyerads.com

Facebook Events to Remember

Posted on by Buyer Advertising

Creating an effective strategy on Facebook takes more than just the time to set up your site and fill in relevant information. You need a content plan where you’ll be disseminating helpful tips to your fans, enticing customers with special deals, and doling out entertainment to those who wander through your little spot in the social media space. Another powerful promotional tool on Facebook is events. Using the built-in utility, you can create and promote event happenings in a quick, easy, and very visible way.

1. In order to promote an event, you must first have a business Facebook page. A personal account won’t cut it—you need to have a central portal your attendees can “fan” as part of your registration process.

2. Choose a location that is close to where the majority of your Facebook fans reside. Consider integrating a Tweetup, holding a seminar, or hosting a hiring event for your business

3. Send out invitations. Decide if you want your event to be invitation only, where the only people who can accept and view details are ones you have sent to, or open to all.

Events remain a great way to show that your Facebook page isn’t just for looks—things are happening, and that keeps your brand foremost in the minds of your fans.

Signing off for now,
Buyer Advertising
www.buyerads.com

SEO, Facebook, and Your Strategy

Posted on by Buyer Advertising

It may have custom apps, updates from your best friends, and pictures of birthday parties across the globe, but at the end of the day, a Facebook webpage is still a webpage. Businesses maintain a Facebook page for the same reason they keep up a traditional website: to attract customers or potential hires. Therefore, it stands to reason they need keep an eye on SEO, too. If a company is invested in their Facebook strategy, they should keep a close watch on its visibility. Paying attention to a few attributes will help boost your Facebook site’s ranking in search engines, and make your new media plan that much more effective.

1.  Keep current on your content; post at least once a week—more often will get you ranked higher.
2. Stay consistent in your naming—your Twitter and LinkedIn account should all sport the same brand name as your Facebook.
3. Upload media to Facebook including images and video.
4. Get your industry keywords up in the “info” and “about” sections of your page.
5. Investigate events—by hosting an event and promoting it through Facebook, you’re adding another indexable element to your page.

Until next time,
Buyer Advertising
www.buyerads.com

Better Strategies for Linking Up

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LinkedIn remains a tools many marketers use–but few master. The static nature so often associated with LinkedIn is anything but. This social networking space can be a platform for announcing special events, hiring initiatives, and for actively seeking out and connecting with old and future business contacts. Here are 3 tips for making the most of your time on LinkedIn.

Helpfulness helps.Offer advice to other networked professionals, check in every so often with a genuine, “how are you?”, and offer answers to questions in the “Answers” section of LinkedIn. Becoming a resource is the number one way to attract attention in the world of social media—and in the case of LinkedIn, more attention means better access to qualified candidates.

Get up to date. Update your own profile with links to your personal and company homepages, provide an email address, and keep information up-to-date. Staying relevant keeps you foremost in the minds of potentially perfect candidates—and after all, isn’t that what we’re after?

Post often. If you’re logging onto LinkedIn only when you have a position to fill, you’ll be staring into an empty basket every time. The best recruiters spend time building their network even when they’re full up. LinkedIn gives you some great ways to do that: inviting colleagues and acquaintances to connect, joining professional groups, and listing yourself by geographic location.

Signing off for now,

Buyer Advertising

www.buyerads.com

Monitoring Social Media

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At first, it seems like an easy proposition—setting up an account on Facebook or Twitter and keep running updates about your company. After all, millions of teenagers and grandmothers do it every day. But there are unexpected challenges that come with a company staking a claim in new media venues: obstacles that get in the way of maintaining a neat and orderly operation that distributes the content you want while building your own community.

Disruptions to your social media strategy come in two distinct flavors: spam and negative feedback. To manage both, it’s not simply enough to set up static safeguards (ie. fan and comment approval systems); you need to actively police your wall, Twitter feed, or blog comments.
 
Spam can come as supposed fans posting messages on your own wall: solicitations to visit a specific blog or buy prescription medicine online. Oftentimes, spammers will target your industry specifically to lessen the chance that their missive will be detected. As a good policeman of your content, delete all spam messages immediately, and block the spammer from your system. Trust us, you’ll have a cleaner wall in the long run.

While criticism can be constructive, negative or angry feedback on your wall can be distracting and damage your reputation in an online space. By all means, answer questions and do your best to engage your community, but outright “troll” messages should be deleted. If a message is angry but making a valid point, engage a fan in a more personal way using a messaging system, and leave the public drama behind.

Until next time,
Buyer Advertising
www.buyerads.com

5 Tips for Tweeting Jobs

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Social media remains an amazing resource for companies seeking to attract quality candidates—without spending large sums of money. The “popcorn message” nature of Twitter allows businesses to present relevant information while skipping everything non-essential. However, it’s still up to you to make your tweets count. Here are a few tips to help you along.

Cover the essentials: Job title, responsibilities, location, and qualifications.

Answer direct messages: It’s impossible to explain the full scope of a job in 140 characters. Many job seekers root out further information by writing direct messages, that can in turn help you connect with potential hires.

Tweetup. Mix up your job posting by hosting hiring events, advertised in part by your Twitter account.

Join networks. If your “followers” list is a little slim, get the word out by joining job-specific networking groups. Your messages will be re-tweeted and you’ll get more impressions per post.

Don’t spam. If you post more than once or twice in day, you’ll be running the risk of annoying your base. Just like the length of your messages, keep things slim.

Good luck!

Buyer Advertising
www.buyerads.com

Economics of Advertising

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As the American economy enters a period of recovery and growth—albeit slower growth than many of us would prefer—eyes once again turn toward advertising. Advertising in any economy lays a solid foundation for development of your own, but in times of want, it often takes a back seat to other budgetary concerns.

It shouldn’t.

Advertising, whether for recruitment purposes in building a stronger, more capable company, or in promoting your services and product to customers, is the engine of success. Now, as we enter a period of economic recovery, it’s more important than ever to convince an increasingly consumeristic market to invest in your brand. Advertising will:

1. Make more jobs – Attract the right type of employees to your company, or drive the economy forward through sales.

2. Reduce selling costs – By creating a demand, you’re streamlining the way your product reaches its target destination.

3. Grow company profits – On average, every dollar invested in advertising sees itself multiply by half again. Targeted advertising will grow your investment even further.

4. Find security – By crafting an advertising strategy now, you’re creating a pattern of product recognition and sales that will keep your company solvent for years to come.

Until next time,

Buyer Advertising

www.buyerads.com

Strategies in Social Media Today

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If there was ever any doubt, the question is settled: sites like Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn have changed the face of business forever. The ability to connect with customers on an individual basis, to answer questions in real-time, and to provide a meaningful forum for brand interaction has made social media a staple for any truly comprehensive marketing strategy. But it isn’t all rose petals and sunshine. Operating social media venues requires time, talent, and strategy. Here are a few approaches industries are taking today.

Banking – Many banks today are slow in developing social media—and with good reason. Considering the negative attention the industry has received in recent years, it’s quite a chore policing message boards and walls for offensive and possibly damaging content. It’s important for banks to take the reins of new media now, however, rather than later—such as in the case of U.S. Bank and the group U.S. Bank Sucks, a Facebook group for sternly-stated complaints.

Amusement Parks – Although more of a niche industry, amusement parks are fertile ground for customrs to talk to each other and discuss favorite rides, memories, and stories. This is evidenced alone by Disney’s Facebook presence of over 22 million fans. Mascots are big business, too—before Shamu’s Feb. 2010 attack, her tweets were reaching over 10,000. After social media publicized the attack, however, Seaworld suspended the program.

Retail Establishments – Though the potential is there, many retail establishments are struggling to find a role for social media on their own. The reason they give is that there’s a large difference between a shopping experience—what customers encounter when they enter a real-world store—and a buying experience, which includes online sales. Staples and Bloomingdales are two heavy hitters in this field, accumulating millions of followers by actively searching out customer questions and providing helpful answers on Facebook and Twitter.

Signing off for now,

Buyer Advertising

www.buyerads.com

Strengthen Your New Media Footing With StumbleUpon

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Much like Digg, StumbleUpon is a site that’s rapidly gaining popularity. What does this mean for businesses? An opportunity to drive new traffic to your social media sites. StumbleUpon (www.stumbleupon.com) is revolutionary in that it’s a highly personalized experience for every user: as a person votes on what sites he or she likes, the portal picks up on interests and suggests new sites to satisfy their tastes. Think Netflix, only without the monthly fee.

This model is a great business opportunity because, as a business, you have more control over the way your content is presented. Unlike the also-popular Digg.com, registering a site with StumbleUpon is more individualized. You must a) visit a site either through StumbleUpon’s portal or by using their toolbar, and b) type in your URL and then “Thumbs Up” your site.

If you’re the first to register a page on StumbleUpon (say, your company blog), you’re in a very good position. You may set up searchable criteria by listing “topics” that your site covers. You can add tags. You can write a review. You even have the option of naming your site appropriately—something that you might not want to trust to an average web-surfer.
Once your site is in the system, StumbleUpon users can encounter your site if their interests match the particular tags you’ve defined for your page. This is a great feature. By attracting relevant consumers, you’ll be cutting down on spam messages and increasing the odds of generating a dialog concerning your subject material: the Holy Grail for social media content managers.

StumbleUpon is up and coming, and a great diversion for Internet surfers. Turn their rec time into face time for your organization.

Till next time,
Buyer Advertising
www.buyerads.com

Crowdsourcing: Part 2

Posted on by Buyer Advertising

If you’ve read our last post on the Buyer Advertising blog, you’re familiar with the concept of crowdsourcing and its ability to deliver specific business-oriented benefits. Crowdsourcing is the art of tapping into your existing social network to solve problems or achieve quick results. Here are a few ways you can leverage crowdsourcing to maximum effect.

Charity drives – The more people who know how to make a positive difference, the more successful a charity event or fundraiser will be. Keep your message concise, clear, and provide a way for fans to connect with your happening.

Lead generation – Whether you’re sourcing customers or clients, asking for a boost doesn’t hurt. In many cases, you can reach maximum effectiveness by sticking to a single industry—for instance, asking if any of your fans are involved in the health industry, and if they know someone who needs your company’s service.

Talent sourcing – If you’re tackling a project, you may have need of contract work—fast. Crowdsourcing is a low-overhead way to connect with discounted rates from professionals. In some cases, bartering services can eliminate cost altogether.

Taking home the prize – In some businesses, winning an award can mean a ramp-up of your market appeal. Tapping into social media to ask (nicely) for votes is considered acceptable, and could fast-track you to the blue ribbon.

Good luck in your future crowdsourcing endeavors! We wish you the best.

Until next time,

Buyer Advertising
www.buyerads.com