If you haven’t already registered for our webinar “Navigating Online Marketing for the Tech Industry,” there’s still time!
The webinar is scheduled for tomorrow, October 20, at 1 p.m. EST. Michael Mazzone will provide you with successful strategies for making online marketing work for your tech company. All registrants will receive a FREE white paper, “Online Marketing, Demystified: What Your Technology Company Can Learn.”
No Comments yet, your thoughts are welcome. »With social media channels ranging from Twitter to Google+, your presence through social media can be a major contributing factor to your company’s success or failure. By having a rich social community, you can build your brand and develop a sound reputation within your i
ndustry. However, by having a floundering social community, you can lose followers and business for your brand.
Looking for a surefire way to sabotage your social media efforts? Try any of the following tactics and watch your social media channels suffer:
- Blur the lines of your personal and professional accounts – While you probably already know this, combining your personal and professional social media efforts is the number one way to sabotage yourself. Always keep your personal life separate from your professional life.
- Misuse the available privacy settings – Having very strict privacy settings on your Facebook or Twitter account can actually prevent people from connecting with you. As a business, you should want people to find and connect with you. Don’t make this hard for your audience to do.
- Post too often or not enough – Avoid cluttering your followers Twitter or Facebook feeds with constant updates and information. Only post enough to keep your audience engaged, and to provide them with information relevant to your business.
- Create an inadequate company bio – On both Twitter and Facebook, you have the opportunity to offer users a quick glance at the highlights of your business. Your bio is your chance to put the spotlight on exactly what sets your company apart from others. Don’t miss out on this simple opportunity.
- Ask too much of your followers – While you want your followers to get engaged in your social media efforts, it’s not going to work in your favor to constantly ask them to share, tweet, like and comment on your blogs. You have to do your part to encourage participation by being active through your social media channels.
Don’t become a victim to these social media mistakes. It can be easy to find success through Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Google+. By actively engaging your audience and using the social media channels to promote the best aspects of your business, you can grow a faithful following of interested people.
Avoid sabotaging your social media efforts, find out how Fathom can help you grow your social media channels to their full potential.
Photo courtesy of Sean MacEntee on Flickr
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As the Internet continues to expand its ocean of random organization and elegant chaos, Content sits above the waves as the shining lighthouse of reason, purpose and value for users. For every need, question and desire, there is a website that provides topical context, answers and satisfaction. ALL of this is due to Content.
At the recent Content Marketing World 2011 conference held in Cleveland, Ohio, Susan McKittrick of the Patricia Seybold Group offered a fascinating presentation on content curation as an effective method and resource for all types of industries engaged in online marketing. Much as librarians present book series by certain authors to the public, or DJs introduce exotic sounds or forgotten bands to their listeners, or as galleryists and museum curators select artworks to introduce to the public with thematic narratives, today's content marketers can greatly increase the value of their websites by offering content from numerous sources on their industry's area of expertise.
This content, presented in an editorial or curatorial manner, has the power to amplify and support the value proposition of the website; to engage niche audiences who are curious and hungry for just such content; and to enlighten searchers who are seeking hard-to-find or valuable information they need in order to make wise buying decisions. Websites that offer such relevant information consistently provide a trusted perspective and create an ever-expanding community who rely upon them as a resource and will eventually buy from them - an online marketing home run.
Some of the best practices Ms. McKittrick advocates for keeping content curation artful and legitimate for a website include:
- Providing multiple sources of content on a topic for objectivity and balance
- Clearly identifying each source of information in journalistic fashion
- Adding a bit of curatorial commentary to each content resource to explain its value or reason for inclusion
- Including a link to the full article or piece of information
As the Internet becomes larger and larger and filled with all manner of wondrous and weird material, remember that one of its original purposes is to serve as an incredible repository of information. Becoming a trusted resource in your industry - whether you take a light-hearted, scientific, political, satirical, ojective or analytical stance through the information you present to readers - can only engender respect among your peers and lead to greater brand awareness and sales down the road.
Fathom offers multiple content marketing strategies for our clients, created by a dedicated team of writers with experience in many industries and verticals. Read more about content creation on our blog.
No Comments yet, your thoughts are welcome. »A lot of us here at Fathom were shaken by the death of Steve Jobs last week. It was clear on the faces of the Fathom staff Thursday morning that we had lost an important member of our team. Someone who has helped us innovate and create better results for our clients through his vision and products, even though he never stepped foot in our building.
We have many Apple enthusiasts on staff. They have even been known to start arguments with naysayers because they are so passionate about the vision that Steve Jobs set forth. We’ve spent many days at work with Apple press conferences running in the background. There have been numerous times that we’ve chatted about our Apple products during lunch and discussed which product we are getting next.
Steve Jobs contribution has not only made a difference in our lives personally, it’s helped us professionally, which is why we created this tribute video. We hope it inspires you to take time to think about how Steve Jobs has changed your life and workday. Maybe it will inspire some of you to come up with your own Steve Jobs tribute story! Please post your comments and stories below for the staff to see or post a response video on YouTube.
We know a lot of people are feeling the same pain. Here are some other articles discussing the passing of Steve Jobs.
• How the Web has paid tribute to Steve Jobs by Micah Mertes from the Lincoln Journal Star
• The legacy of Steve Jobs by Robert J. Samuelson in The Washington Post
• What I Learned From Steve Jobs by Guy Kawasaki
• The Beginning of an Era by Bill Nussey
• Reflections on Steve Jobs by Susan Marshall
• A visionary passes away… by Simon Grabowski
• A Love Letter to Steve Jobs by Tim Sanders
Everyone knows that in order to increase the number of followers you have on Twitter, you must engage your audience. But, what does it really mean to engage your followers? How do you go about creating an environment that keeps your followers active and interested?
The key to engaging users is to interact with them. Using twitter as a marketing tactic is acceptable, but you should also be using it as a way to interact directly with your community. By using Twitter as a customer service outlet, you can offer your followers an added benefit for following you.
Interact and Respond
If your followers are trying to interact with your brand, respond! If someone comments positively on a purchase they made through your site, retweet it. Respond with a thank you. Anything you can do to show you actually care and appreciate their efforts will keep them more engaged.
Damage Control
Conversely, if your products or services receive negative feedback, acknowledge it. You can follow up negative Twitter feedback with an apology or solution to improve overall satisfaction. In responding, you show your followers concerns are important and that you are committed to improving your brand.
This type of Twitter commitment can also lead you to finding key influencers in your field. By having key influencers follow you and interact with your other followers, you can grow your community to include people that have an actual passion for your industry.
One of the best ways to find success through Twitter is to interact with your audience. Whether they have questions, feedback, praise or complaints, do your best to acknowledge your followers. Get everyone in your company involved. Have schedules for your employees to contribute their time to interacting with your existing followers. This type of engagement will lead you to more followers and a community with a rich desire for what your business has to offer.
Let Fathom help you grow your social media efforts. Learn about our social media package today.
Have your own ideas for getting your followers involved with your Twitter account? Share with us how you use Twitter, we’d love to hear what is working for you.
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