Website visitors this month 1110
Facebook Friends 96
Twitter Followers 813
LinkedIn Connections 159
Email List Members 150
Inbound links 470
It’s remarkable that my number of visitors is exactly the same as last month. That’s kind of freaky. But it shows that my traffic driving efforts are very consistent.
The other noteworthy item is that my email list members only increased by a few members. There actually was much more people signing up, but there were also some people who unsubscribed. I launched My Social Marketing Class this month. The frequent emails may have alerted some people that they were on a list they weren’t interested in. That’s not a bad thing. My list weeds itself out so that I am only left with the interested readers.
A new measurement is inbound links. I want to see how well I’m doing driving inbound links to my site.
This month I will be continuing to put some traffic-driving activities in place. It may take a couple months before I start to see results from them.
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I’ve just read a great ebook written by Joel Mark Witt and Nicole Finsham called “21 Days to Twitter Leadership”. This book is a step-by-step guide for using Twitter to position yourself as a leader in your industry in less than 10 minutes a day, even if you don’t know anything about computers.
Filled with great information, this book gives you information most professionals and businesses don’t know about using Twitter to build your business and market your products and services. When you are done reading this book you will have mastered the fundamentals of Twitter. “21 Days to Twitter Leadership” gives you these fundamentals in clear, easy-to-understand language.
The authors take us through the basics of creating an account, gaining followers and offering useful information to followers. The instructions for using Twitter will allow you to draw people to you without turning them off with too much self-promotion.
For some readers, the length of the book and the amount of information offered may be overwhelming. But for readers who are ready to dig in and learn the techniques and strategies that turn a new user into a Twitter Leader, this book is your operations manual. I use Twitter every day in my business. I found myself nodding in agreement over and over as Witt and Fincham accurately lay out the how and the why of a good Twitter strategy.
This book is for anyone who is thinking of jumping into the world of Twitter to market a business. The section on how to sell your boss on the idea of using Twitter is a great resource for readers who will need to educate their superiors before they can Twitter for business.
Disclosure: If you buy this book from this affiliate link, I may gain monetarily from the transaction. If you don’t buy it, you could be missing the opportunity to learn how to be a Twitter Leader in your industry.
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Building trust is one of your main goals when using social media to market your business. One way to build that trust is to give away really good content to your community.
A potential buyer will buy from you much more readily if they feel they know you and can trust you. By giving away good information that they are looking for and can use, you are taking a large step in building trust. Blogs are an excellent example of giving away good content. For example, if you are a human resources consultant, write about all of those areas of human resources that often trip your customers up. Why do they come to you? What questions do they have? Answer those questions on your blog. You could write about “7 Things You Should Know About New Hires”, and explain all of the necessary paperwork and details required when a small business hires a new employee.
The content you share, doesn’t always have to be your own. No, I don’t mean you should take other people’s stuff and give it as your own. But you can recommend articles written by other people to your Twitter followers. If you read an article that you think your audience will like, cut and past the title and the URL into a Tweet. Your audience will appreciate that you’re sharing good content. By sharing content related to your field, you are also demonstrating to your audience what issues you focus on. This also helps establish you as an expert.
Some people are hesitant to give their best content away. They have learned over the years to protect their information so that they can offer it to only their paying customers. This is no longer a strong strategy. With information flowing so freely, if you hoard yours, no one will ever know you are out there sitting on great information. A better strategy is to freely share information. If you demonstrate you are an expert in a subject I am looking for, I will be far more likely to come to you for further assistance if I need it.
What content do you give to your community?
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I want to share an article with you from my friend, Joel Mark Witt. Joel has some great insights into social marketing. Enjoy this guest post.
By Joel Mark Witt
With all the talk about social media these days it is no surprise to me that business owners and marketers forget about one of the most powerful forms of internet marketing…
Email.
We see people spending time searching on Twitter, updating their Facebook fan pages and discussing business topics inside LinkedIn groups. While these social media marketing activities do in fact benefit your organization and professional life, don’t neglect the obvious marketing powerhouse in online media.
Why email marketing gets great response
Emails are personal. People are used to getting messages in their inbox from their mom, friends or spouse. It really is the modern equivalent of getting a personal letter.
Ask any business person, old or young, and 90 percent of them use email at work. Email is familiar. Facebook is not. Don’t expect to reach many 55-year-old executives using Twitter. They simply aren’t using the service.
And email shares a common benefit with its social media cousins…it is scalable. Write an email once and send it to thousands with the click of a button. That is marketing power.
Effective email marketing
Email marketing is very similar to traditional direct mail marketing in that you are looking to connect with people personally and ask them to take a specific action. But with email the cost is so low, you have the ability to spend time developing and nurturing a solid RELATIONSHIP with your readers.
Don’t get me wrong. Any effective email marketing strategy involves a strong call to action. But it will also work in personal elements and a writing style that can cut to the heart of a prospect’s problem or desire.
How to write an email that gets response
First, begin with the end in mind. Know what action you want your readers to take. Do you want them to buy something? Do you want them to take a survey? Are you helping them take a small action in their life or business that will continue a relationship with you?
Figure out your “call to action” and build your email marketing around that. For example, our company is interested in getting people to take action by using social media in their day-to-day business. In many of our emails I invite people to participate in a 20 minute free consulting call to answer any questions they have about Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn. This action benefits our readers and also gives us insight and feedback into their real-life business problems.
Second, build in metrics from the beginning. Track the nitty-gritty details of how many readers opened your email, who is forwarding emails to friends and how many click-throughs you are getting. These numbers can help you refine your email marketing in the future. Sound overwhelming? It doesn’t need to be. Most email service providers have these tools built into their systems.
Third, test everything. Email marketing is a process. Don’t assume you will get 50 percent open rates and massive clicks on the first few tries. It takes time to know what your readers will respond to.
A few items on the top of your list to test are:
- Frequency (daily, weekly or monthly)
- Headlines
- Call to action (what do your readers respond to?)
- Content
Finally, write with passion. Picture yourself writing to one person and pour out your heart and mind in a compelling and personal way. Don’t censor your personality. If you are a “faceless” business – change that and become the person your readers think of when they hear your business name. Become a mini-celebrity of sorts and nurture your personal touch. It will pay dividends in the long run.
Action Steps
Here is your assignment for today. So in keeping with our goal of being personable, think carefully about your ideal customer. List out their wants, needs and desires. In your mind, pick one customer and give them a name. Sit down and craft a personal email to that one person to help them solve one of their specific problems. Pick the need that is the biggest most obvious pain for them. Spend time showing them a simple, straightforward solution in a personal way… just for them. In your close, invite them to learn more from you by taking a particular action.
At the end of this exercise, you will have a powerful email to put into your marketing system. From here you can create a whole series of emails in a sequence to send to your email list.
Now go take action.
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Joel Mark Witt is the Publisher of Folk Media and author of 21 Days To Twitter Leadership and How To Use Social Media To Find A Better Job. He is a producer, author, and speaker who consults with businesses and nonprofits on how to use social media in marketing and communications. Get more from Joel on Twitter.
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