Social & Mobile Media Marketing - 7 New Years Resolutions Businesses Can’t Afford NOT to Keep

2012 is here and many of you have resolved to make it the best year ever. I just thought I might add a few social & mobile media marketing suggestions that will help you to do just that (and in record time). A "to-do" list for serious marketers!

1. Upgrade Your Social WOW Factor

Finally, businesses have begun to stop asking, “is this going to last”. They have stopped sitting on the sidelines and watching the social train blow right by them. Hats off to all brands that have joined the biggest marketing movement since television. BUT…now it’s time to take your brand to the next level and add the WOW factor. Not only to the people who visit your social site but also to Google as well as all the other search engines.

Here are a few things you can do to WOW up your social sites:

• Add matching background graphics on Facebook, Twitter & YouTube

• Add a tab on Facebook for Twitter as well as YouTube

• Make sure you have lots of keywords throughout your social profiles (including fan page title and username)

• Add a landing/welcome page on Facebook with a call to action to like your page

• Add relevant Facebook tabs for your industry

• Optimize your thumbnail image on all sites for best exposure

• Secure your unique URL for your Facebook page

Just to name a few… 

Adding Social WOW is my specialty. Click on the image to the right to see details on the WOW ATI can offer your brand. Special Social Launch Package Pricing

2. Optimize Your Site for Mobile Users and Implement Mobile Marketing Strategies

Did you know that ½ of all local searches are performed on mobile devices? That is a BIG deal especially if your site is not mobile friendly. What a shame to get people visiting your site and leaving as soon as they get there because they can’t read the small print. So, get your site mobile ready as soon as you can. This needs to be a top priority for you in 2012.

With that said…2012 will be a gigantic year for mobile media marketing, namely QR Code & Text Message Marketing. It’s time to take a look at both of these avenues. I have had the pleasure of working with dozens of brands on strategizing their mobile plans. When campaigns are properly implemented, I am absolutely stunned by the successful, fast, measurable results these tools are providing. Don’t put these on the back burner…you will miss the boat!

I use Hootster Mobile for all of my QR Code marketing, they have tracking and analytics that no one else has!

3. Build Stronger Relationships with Your Social & Mobile Networks

As my mentor Gary Vaynerchuk says…. “The business with the most real relationships wins” in social & mobile media. Too many businesses have jumped into these channels with only 1 goal in mind, to get more followers and fans than everyone else. That my friends is not how you should be approaching social and mobile media. Approach it with a “we care and want to add value” mentality and you will WIN big. Become a resource to your audience. Passion + Intent = Success

In addition, no interaction should ever go unanswered. Let every person who interacts with your brand know you are listening and acknowledge all conversations. This takes some time but it’s the little stuff that will go a long way in this type of marketing.  Build the relationship now that keeps them coming back and loyal forever.

4. On Site Social & Mobile Signage

How many of you have signage on site announcing you are a social brand?  Here are some simple ideas you could and should implement right away:

• Check in on Facebook or 4-Square
• Social sites on front door (like the credit card stickers)
• Like us on Facebook
• Follow us on Twitter
• Subscribe to us on YouTube
• Sign up for our VIP mobile club
• Scan this QR code
• Social sites on business cards

Make it very apparent that you are a social brand and you want them to join you. Give them as many ways to do so as you possibly can.

5. Take Advantage of Your Business Blog

I call blogs the epicenter of your social world. Social media is spectacular at driving traffic, but if you don’t have somewhere to drive the traffic that’s new and fresh, people will stop clicking. A blog will be fresh and useful for your ideal customers and keep them coming back.

Your blog is the first and best place to begin conversion with your online audience. By that I mean…getting them to take the first step towards doing business with you. Capture them with a strong call to action to take the next step.

6. Add Call to Actions Everywhere

One thing I have learned by marketing online is the fact that people are typically very simple and are looking to you for guidance on what to do next. By guiding them to the next step you will be able to keep them in your “funnel” longer and have a much better chance of retaining them as a customer or getting them to do business with you for the very first time.

Do not forget to add call to actions on site as well as online. People are getting very used to seeing a CTA online such as “add to cart” and are basically trained to do as told. By incorporating CTA’s onsite you will be appealing to a habit they already are comfortable with and chances are they will act.

Click here for 90+ Call To Action Ideas

7. Analytics… Use, Track, Analyze and Adjust

I am always amazed when I ask a businessperson if they use analytics and they don’t have any idea what I am talking about.  All I can say to that is…check it out! There is so much you can learn (directly from the horses mouth) about your customer’s habits.

Study the analytics, learn what your customer wants and then dial it in. By using analytics you can measure the success of a social or mobile media campaign in real time and adjust as necessary instead of guessing. This will make for highly effective marketing campaigns with a much better ROI.

There are so many free analytics that you can implement in your business right now. Check out this article for a more extensive look at analytics What Are the Benefits of Using Analytics in Business?

So there you have it…a to-do list for 2012! I wouldn’t wait on any of this; I guarantee your competition won’t.

2012 is YOUR year…Let me know if I can help you in any way! 

Michelle Corteggiano

Want to stay updates on the latest in social and mobile media marketing...SOMO? Click NOW to get access to The SOMO Journal

Budgeting for Social & Mobile Media Marketing in 2012?



The days of leaving social & mobile media out of your marketing budget are OVER! It’s not free and it can’t be ignored. Check this out…

Did you know that in 2011, 24% of overall marketing budgets were allocated to social media? That is expected to increase in 2012 to an average of 40% (with leading brands upwards of 60%) of total budget. In addition to social, 23% of overall budget is expected to be allocated towards mobile media.

I find this fact interesting (only because most think Facebook generates the most business) when polled, 57% of companies that used social media in 2011 named their company blog as the source for generating the most customers (like I always say, your blog is the epicenter of your social presence). 57% also named LinkedIn as generating the most business for their companies. 48% named Twitter, and 42% named Facebook.

One more stat that cannot be ignored…in 2012, more than half of social networking sites’ usage will be on mobile devices. Are you listening? This is kind of a big deal!

So, here are a few things you need to consider when creating your social & mobile media marketing budget for 2012?

Social Media Budget Considerations

• Setup – If you are not in social media...GET THERE! If you are there but have put minimal focus on optimizing your different social channels, add some setup (rebranding) to your budget. As a guideline, I charge $2497 to do a fully optimized setup of Facebook, Twitter & YouTube (including backgrounds), please contact me if you need help with this!
• Image Branding – Make sure your brand pops when people stop by your social sites by utilizing the background areas in FB, Twitter & YouTube including a custom landing page on Facebook. Contact me if you need help with image branding. What looks better to you?

• Technical – there will be coding and graphics needed for additional tabs added on Facebook. For instance, you are a restaurant and want your menu pulled over to Facebook on a tab.
• Social SEO – Did you know Facebook gets more searches daily than Google? Search engines LOVE social sites when searching for keywords. Make sure you do some research on the top keywords for your brand and begin using them in all the right areas right away!
• Social Analytics – Knowing what I have learned from my analytics, I am continually shocked at how many businesses don’t even know what analytics are. If you aren’t using analytics for your business…you are missing a HUGE opportunity to discover your buyer’s habits, trends etc. Let your end consumer show you what they want more of and what they want less of. Facebook fan pages offer analytics for your page called insights. Even though they have that, I recommend adding Google Analytics to your site, blog and Facebook right away. You may need to take a class on how to utilize the data but it will be priceless priceless.  TIP: use static html app to add Google Analytics to your Facebook fan page I addition to the insights they provide, it’s much more comprehensive.
• Apps – Anybody who is anybody is having an app created for their business. Figure out something that will add value to your end consumer and off it for free. You will need to budget for app creation here.
• Blog – I can’t believe in this day and age I have to even mention this but, if you do not have an active blog for your business, you are really missing the boat here! This is the epicenter of your social presence and as the stats prove, it is the #1 social channel creating conversion (sales) for businesses using social media.
• Video – Add some budget for video creation and SEO. Video gets 7 times the response of written content. Don’t miss this opportunity
• Conversion Strategies – Ultimately we use social media to create business/sales right? So many companies have no plan on capturing the sale. Add some budget for creating a conversion strategy within all of your social channels as well as with your website right away!
• Social Media Participation – Who is going to be the face of your brand? Once there, you cannot dabble, your network will expect you to be there. You HAVE to allocate a decent amount of your budget towards your social participation. Building relationships is they majority of the battle in social media and you must focus here.
• Content Creation – Every good social presence has a lot of valuable information to share with their network. You will need to have this content created whether it’s done in house or outsourced; it will quickly become a topic of conversation between you and your social media manager.
• Brand Monitoring – Whether you are going to monitor in-house or hire a monitoring service for your brand, there is nothing more necessary than having a monitoring system in place. Monitoring brings awareness to bad situations as well as good situations in your social brand. Monitoring is your gift…it will give you the opportunity to say You’re Welcome, I’m Sorry, Is that how you really feel? Tell me what happened? How can I fix it OR Thank You!
• Post Purchase Support – Customer service departments are embracing social media all over the world. In fact, Zappos runs the majority of their customer service department via Twitter.

Mobile Media Budget Considerations

• QR Code Generator and Strategy – Quick Response codes or QR codes are taking the US by storm as we speak. You WILL need a strategy for this as soon as possible. I have been seeing some absolutely brilliant ways of utilizing these codes.
• Mobile Analytics – Just like site traffic analytics, what could tell you with more accuracy what your potential customers habits are better that QR Code analytics? I know of only 1 company that offers an extensive analytics tracking on their code scans right down to pulling demographics from the scanner’s Facebook profile. This to me is a MUST! Try Hootster Mobile for the best tracking and analytics ever for QR. Yes, there is a cost but it is so minimal ($19.99 a month for 25 codes) you would have to be absolutely nuts to not track your codes if you are using them!! This is a NO BRAINER to me.
• Mobile SEO – Put a plan in place to capitalize on organic search anytime you have a chance with mobile media. Keywords, keywords, keywords! Again, you must know your top hitting keywords and/or words you want to be found for.
• Text Message Marketing – 97% of test messages get delivered. Now, it’s your job to make sure the info you deliver to your text campaigns adds tremendous value so you can ultimately convert them. Mobile VIP clubs are a great idea. Put some money aside to work with a company that offers consulting on how to best make a text message campaign work for you. I also recommend Hootster Mobile for this.
• Mobile Ready Site – 50% of all local searches are performed on a mobile device. Is your site mobile ready? If not, you stand a great chance of losing the visitor because they can’t see it. Your job is to make it as easy as possible for people to do business with you. Put some money in your budget RIGHT NOW to get your site mobile ready. Contact me if you want a quote on making your site mobile ready.

Bottom Line: Make sure to put social & mobile at the forefront of your budget, you’ll thank me later : )

Want to stay updates on the latest in social and mobile media marketing...SOMO? Click NOW to get access to The SOMO Journal

12 Ways to Make Your Blog or Website More Social

It’s no secret, you have to be social these days! My travels have taken me down the path of analyzing many sites for their social potential and I must say…there are a lot of you out there that are going to ove this post.

I have put together a list of things you can do right now to help your site become more social today…enjoy!

• Call to Action to Join the Conversation – Simple, very effective but widely forgotten. Just ask…people love to be guided to the next step. Make sure you have a strong call to action in a highly visible area of your site asking your visitors to join you in the social world.

• Icons Linking to Main Social Sites – Facebook, Twitter & YouTube icons that link directly to its perspective social site are a must. Quick note on the Facebook url…make sure you use the unique username you have created for you Facebook page. If you use the short unique url and someone clicks it, it will go directly to your fan page without asking them to join or login. If you use the long url Facebook provided, they will be asked to login or join and you will most likely lose that person. Go here to claim your url if you haven’t yet: Facebook Unique URL (must have 25 likes to get your url)

• Social Badges/Plugins – Facebook has some amazing free tools to help you promote your fan page. The perfect gateway from site to social! These may require a very simple coding that your web team can handle in a matter of minutes. Go here to check out all of the free plugins Facebook offers: Facebook Social Plugins

• Like, Retweet, +1, LinkedIn Buttons for Blog Posts – These buttons make it effortless for the reader to share your blog post. If they share you win with mass exposure. YES, you do want as many people as you can sharing your content. Raving fans will help grow your business faster that you could ever imaging…make it easy for them!

For Wordpress users: Re-Tweet by Tweetmeme – Like by Bottomless - Google 'Plus One' Button by KMS – LinkedIn Share Button by John Blackbourn & Frank Prendergast

• Facebook, Twitter & Google+ Live Feeds – You can run a widget on your site that will show all of the action on your social sites. There are feeds available for Facebook, Twitter and Google+. They serve 3 purposes:

1. Let’s your visitors see what you have going socially right from your site
2. Allows visitors to like, follow or add you to their circle right from the widget without leaving your site
3. SEO! (search engine optimization) All of the feeds are searched for relevant keywords to your site. Big help for getting the search engines noticing you and growing your page rank with Google. 

• Wibiya – This company offers a free option for a bar at the bottom of your page that has connections to all of your social sites. Look to the bottom of this page right now and you will see it! Click here to get the free bar: Wibiya

• RSS Feed – Again simple but highly forgotten! If you offer blog posts you have to have an RSS feed so your readers can subscribe to your content and be made aware when there is new content to read. This IS a BIG deal. Check out this article on RSS feeds for more info: What is an RSS or RSS Feed? 

• QR Codes – A quick scan of your code can send your reader directly to the area where they can become a fan, follow you or subscribe to your channel. You can also pre populate a text message in their phone to like or follow you on Facebook or Twitter. Check these codes out!

If you need help with QR codes get in touch with me! I have access to the most comprehensive QR code generator, tracking and analytics EVER! It will blow your mind

• Outstanding Bio/Profile Page – Our new economy has created a world full of people that LOVE to “know” the face of the brand. Consistently, my profile page is the second most visited part of my blog. This tells me what I have expected…you must have a kickin’ bio and you must not be scared to put it out there, let people “peek behind the curtains”. Here are some tips on how to write your bio: How to Write a Wicked Good Social Bio Profile
  

• Photos – Statistics show that the number one reason come to Facebook is to see pictures. With that said, wouldn’t it make sense to have a photo section on your site? Let me help you…YES it would! Add one right away if you don’t already have one.

• Social Bookmarking – Digg, Delicious, StumbleUpon etc…Make it simple for people to bookmark your blog post. This will add it to a massive directory of good content and people will be able to access it there too. Also, in some cases, you will get an incoming link to your site that counts for SEO. If you look just below this article you will see a share button if you want to check it out.

• Solicit Comments – At the end of your blog post, ask the readers to engage. Ask them how this pertains to them? What do you think? Have you ever experience this etc… You want to get them talking for 2 reasons.

1. To get the conversation started
2. For SEO – search engines will view the content more relevant for the keywords of that post if it gets lots of comments and will move it up in the rankings

There you have it! A great place to begin…please feel free to ask any questions in the comment section and I will try to help. Also, if you have ideas on how to get social on your site feel free to add them in the comments also.

Thanks for reading : )

Michelle Corteggiano

Want to stay updates on the latest in social and mobile media marketing...SOMO? Click NOW to get access to The SOMO Journal

Social Media ROI?

Obsessed with figuring out ROI (return on investment) in social media? Many are ... and frankly that’s because it’s their job!

I am currently reading The Thank You Economy written by one of my mentors...Gary Vaynerchuk, a man with a brilliant grasp on business, our new economy and social media. He touches base on ROI in his book and I wanted to share an excerpt that I think ALL BUSINESSES NEED TO READ:

“Nielson conducted a study on what drives consumer trust – 70% of people turn to family and friends when making purchasing decisions. Where have people been talking to their family and friends lately? Facebook reports that 60% of the people online are going to social networks with half returning every day. If there is ROI in friendship and family, there is ROI in social media.” 

“We often forget the symbolic relationship between trust and ROI.”

“If consumers trust other consumers more than they trust traditional advertising, and the platforms to convey their trusted recommendations are now reaching billions, the ROI should start to enter the ‘no brainier’ zone”

So what does this mean? It means it’s past time to build strong relationships with your network. Relationships that will stand the test of time and new competitors because you were their source for (insert your product, service or opportunity here) before anyone else. Once you have built a bond that strong it would be very difficult for your competition to nudge their way in.

It’s time to build massive brand advocates, people who will go to bat for you and promote you ALL of the time. It’s time to treat every 1 person that enters your network as your only customer and bend over backwards to make sure they are happy…even if they haven’t done business with you yet! THEY WILL if you treat them like no one else is, I promise that!

Looking back to my very first piece of content I put on my blog 4 years ago…I described a new phenomenon called attraction marketing which is exactly the business/marketing world we all live in now. If you have not embraced this yet, HURRY UP!!!

“Getting back to the basics, it's the rebirth of the....You help me and I'll help you "relationship building" theory. It's like going back to old school marketing in the days where people did business with someone because they knew, liked and trusted them.... unlike recent times where the company with the biggest advertising budget wins (which by the way, is a dying statistic). Throwback means the reappearance of an earlier ‘way we do business’ characteristic dating back to the ‘Little House on the Prairie’ days.  Attraction Marketing is just that....Throwback Marketing!”

Your social ROI is directly correlated with the bond of the relationships you have built with your network Now…GO GET SOCIAL and treat every new person in your network like they are your best friend!

Michelle Corteggiano

Need help setting up your social presence? Two options:

• Do-It-Yourselferes - Build Your Social Brand (BYSB)

• Save 300-500 hours...Let ATI do it for you! Our Build Your Online Brand ( BYOB) program is designed to give you a completely setup social presence withtraining on how to manage in 30 minutes a day! This turnkey setup will allow you to focus on what's important to your brand...building relationships

 Want to stay updates on the latest in social and mobile media marketing...SOMO? Click NOW to get access to The SOMO Journal

How To: Write a Wicked Good Social Bio Profile

Social bios are big news these days! In fact, consistently, the second most visited page on my blog is my about me page…hmmmm? The bottom line is this, people love to “peek behind the curtain” without you knowing so they can get to know who you are. A good bio is key to attracting the right kind of people to you and your brand.

So how do you do it? How do you conquer the big bad blank white page and turn it into something so intriguing that people are knocking down your door to get to know you?

8 Easy Steps:

1. Jot down your interests, hobbies, activities, philosophies you live by, favorite quotes, quirky personality traits, accomplishments, awards etc. on a notepad

2. From those choose 3 – 4 of your most attractive personal traits. Choose the ones that other people often use to describe you

3. Choose 3-4 business traits that you feel best describe your professional persona

4. At this point, begin writing and don’t let the paper scare you. Remember who knows you better than you? Start the draft by conversing about yourself as you would to someone sitting across the coffee table from you. By doing this, your bio will flow very smoothly and the person reading it will feel like you are talking specifically to them.

Let your personality shine through and don’t be scared to add some humor. Be fun, be remarkable, be social and most of all “Be As You Are”

Side note: I chose to make a very distinct separation between personal and business in my bio. I was finding it difficult to merge the two without it sounding weird and this did the trick.

5. Now that your rough draft is done it’s time to go back and “fluff” it. What I mean by this is… Take a run through the professional areas and check for keywords. Keywords are words that people may type into a search looking for what you have to offer. Use keywords related to your industry often but, make sure they flow smoothly and don’t look like they were thrown in there just to be there.

6. Now, ask a couple of friends to proof read it to you and give you feedback. What you want to accomplish here is twofold…1. You want them to feel like they hear your voice when they are reading it and 2. There is a good chance that they will offer suggestions on something you should add. That 3^rd party perspective will help you put the icing on the cake to make it the best bio you could have.

7. Spell check!

8. Copy and paste to all of your social sites – same bio for all sites except Twitter

Now, your bio doesn’t have to be too long but, it does need to be long enough to get the point across. When they are done reading it, they need to feel like they have a really good idea of who you are.

But wait…what about the short 160-character Twitter bio you ask? Here’s a great formula: 3 personal things, 3 business things and possibly a quote. Sounds way too hard to get into 160 characters right? Check this out:

“Speaker, Author, Social Media Strategist - Mobile & Social Media Marketing Online Branding - Boats Sunsets Beaches Maui Flip Flops and Travel are my Passions!!”

Presto! Mission accomplished in 160 or less and it’s chucked full of keywords that I would want people to find me for…BRAVO!!

Always remember...your bio is a continual work in progress, you will be adding and tweaking as you grow and evolve.

Call To Action: Check out my bio for some ideas and then create yours. When done, please comment here with your finished product! Can’t wait to see it : )

Michelle Corteggiano | Social Media Strategist, Speaker & Author

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How To: Write Attention Grabbing Headlines or Titles

Your headline is the first, and possibly only, impression you make on your reader. Without a strong headline or title you’ll have trouble changing someone who is “just looking” into a reader. The headline deems the rest of your words...worthy of a look.

Did you know that 8 out of 10 people will read a headline, but only 2 out of 10 will read past that. Enter... the power of the headline! It totally determines the success of the content. The better the headline, the better the chance you have of engaging your potential readers.

A headline or title is used in:

•  Social Media posts and updates
•  Articles or blog posts
•  Email subject lines (to name a few)

The first priority of a headline is to grab your reader’s attention. If you can’t grab their attention, you fail.

Let’s start with the look of the headline; you want it to call attention to the eye like a shiny object.  A proven way to do this is to use capitalization on the large words in the headline.

Below are 2 examples of the same headline with different capitalization:

“How to collect from social security at any age”

“How to Collect From Social Security at Any Age”

Did your eye jump immediately to the second headline even though they say the exact same thing? 

The copy, or words chosen, in the headline is the biggest factor on whether it will get read or not. Perfectly chosen words will grab their eye and keep their attention. 

Below are 10 diehard headline templates that have been proven successful in grabbing the reader’s attention. The old faithfuls!

Hint: I recommend not reinventing the wheel with a headline when tested and proven headlines are available

1. “How To:___________________”

• How to Win Friends and Influence People

2. “WARNING: ________________”

• WARNING: 97% of Business Owners Will be Affected by this New Tax Law

3. “Who Else Wants____________”

• Who Else Wants Jennifer Aniston’s Body in Less than 90 Days?

4. “Are You___________________”

• Are You Embarrassed by Your Dirty Car?

5. “See How Easily You Can________

• See How Easily You Can Get Your Husband to do Everything on His “Honey-Do” List

6. “How I_____________________”

• How I Retired at 34 With a Residual Income for Life

7. “Secrets of ____________Revealed”

• Secrets of a Work From Home Billionaire Blogger Revealed

8. “Give me ____and I’ll __________

• Give Me One Hour a Day and I’ll Have You Speaking Spanish Like Pablo in 30 Days

9. “ _________Ways To_________” (number headlines are the most popular)

• 13 Ways to Whiten Your Teeth at Home

10. “How ______Made Me_________”

• How a Matchbook Made Me $342,653 in 24 Hours

If you have a headline formula that gets clicks...please share it in the comment section below.

Michelle Corteggiano

Want to stay updates on the latest in social and mobile media marketing...SOMO? Click NOW to get access to The SOMO Journal

Face to Face in a Digital World???

So here I sit…no connection to the outside world. Bad wind storms have left us with no Internet, TV or phone. I have to be honest, it is a bad feeling, I feel so detached! What do I do now? How do I communicate? Am I too reliant on technology???

Technology is changing everything including how we interact with each other. A couple recent incidences that I witnessed got me thinking…. It’s so critical for everyone to remember the importance of communicating “old school-traditional” style too.

Remember:

• how to go visit your friends and family
• how to write a letter
• how to mail a postcard
• how to meet up for coffee or lunch
• how to give a hug
• how to "high five"
• how to keep the digital vs face to face relationships balanced
• how to not lose track of good ole’ communication
• how to “keep it real”

I think maintaining an equal balance between the two will be important to everyone so we don’t lose sight of real people interaction. It”s okay to “go digital” but, keep in mind that it is important to take it offline as soon as possible so you don’t forget how to “be personal”. Imagine a world where there is little to no personal interaction…it doesn’t work!

 : )

We still need “face to face” time in this digital world!

Michelle Corteggiano

Want to stay updates on the latest in social and mobile media marketing...SOMO? Click NOW to get access to The SOMO Journal

What Does Your Social Media Profile Picture Say About Your Brand?

Simply put, your profile picture is a giant reflection of your social brand! Take it seriously and find the perfect picture that reflects who you are. It isn't necessary to have a professional photo taken but, if you don't have a nice candid shot...you should probably consider using a pro. Here are a few proven recommendations on what works:

A picture is worth a thousand words - your profile picture should have these characteristics:

• Rule #1 - DO add a profile picture! 
• Just you in the picture - additional people confuse your audience. You want them to know who you are
• Zoom right in so people know what you look like. You want them to be able to recognize you when they meet you. Don't be shy!
• No pictures of yourself when you were in second grade
• No pictures of your children
• No pet pictures
• No far away pictures
• No sunglasses
• No company logo (only on Fan Pgs)
• Hire a photographer if needed….$$$ well invested in Yourself!!

And most of all....USE THE SAME PROFILE PICTURE ON ALL SOCIAL SITES! This way your audience will know they have the right person as they travel from channel to channel...brand recognition.

As I grow in the Social Media world, I see every day how important this really is. In this "world", if you want to be taken seriously, these points are a must. Trust me when I say...I fought these tips for a long time but, once I decided to get serious and do it right...it quickly became apparent that this was the perfect thing to do.

Also, check out this video on how to set your Facebook thumbnail picture so you look good in the live stream!

Michelle Corteggiano

Want to stay updates on the latest in social and mobile media marketing...SOMO? Click NOW to get access to The SOMO Journal



Breaking News: How Social Media Helps Put the Customer Back into Customer Service!

Don’t be mistaken, little things DO matter to your customers!

We now live in an economy where brands have to do good for their customers before asking them for their business.  If you do this correctly you won’t have to ask… If you do it incorrectly, you won’t get the chance to ask (are you listening spammers).

Show them that you care and they will be yours for life. They will become brand evangelists and introduce all of their friends and family to your brand…word of mouth is powerful!

What do people like? What makes them feel good? What sucks them into your brand?

Back to the basics…Manners!

• Thank You’s – Simple and still highly effective. Sharing a heartfelt Thank You will go a long way! In fact, we counsel our clients to do Thank You's 3 times a day.
• You’re Welcome’s – Let them know that it was no problem to help them out.  
• Listening – Your consumer has the answers you need! Listen to them and act quickly on their responses. Who else knows better what your consumer wants or needs than your consumer?
• Human, Timely Responses – How many times have you called a customer service line and had to push 3 twice, 2 nine times and you still didn’t get the answer you want? Being accessible and answering questions in a timely manner will go far in business. People want to know that if they need an answer they can get it easily.
• Care – businesses have been massively underestimating the power of caring. We now live in a word of mouth world; our followers/customers have awesome BS detectors. Businesses have to care or they will lose…bottom line!

With the rise of Social Media everyone has a voice now! Take advantage of this and make sure you’re your consumers voices are heard in a positive manner.

_______________________________________________________________________________________

Here is a video I shot this week of Gary Vaynerchuk's speech at South by Southwest. He says it well in this video, his message is powerful!

WARNING: Gary swears a lot in this video, if you don't like that...don't watch this!

Michelle Corteggiano

Want to stay updates on the latest in social and mobile media marketing...SOMO? Click NOW to get access to The SOMO Journal

5 Free Tools to Help Businesses Combat the "Social Media Time Sucking Monster"

The number one thing we hear at each and every presentation we give is: We don’t have the time!! To that we say,

You have to make the time...... because your competition is already there

Time saved is $$ saved!!So, to help you save money, we are going to share a couple of the time saving tools we currently use daily in our business... 

 Posting to Multiple Social Media Sites

• TweetDeck: Can view and post to Twitter, Facebook, Facebook Fan Page, LinkedIn and MySpace…all at the same time or choose which one/ones you would like to send it to. Bonus: Wonderful organizational tool!

• Ping.fm: Post from anywhere >>> to anywhere. Post to all of your favorite services (currently 44 different choices)

Social Media Organizational tool

• Facebook Lists: Organize lists so you can easily access certain people. For instance: Family, Friends, Prospects, Home Town etc… Once you have created your lists, you will be able to view a feed with updates from only people in that list. Enter link

Social Network Scheduler

• Hootsuite: Manage Social Networks, iPhone App, Track Statistics, Twitter Lists, Brand Monitoring, Personalized View, Schedule Tweets

URL & Headline Shortener

• Bit.ly Sidebar Shorten, share and track your links! Once you install the bit.ly sidebar (located under tools) you will be able to shorten a URL to any page you are on with one click of the bit.ly sidebar. The shortened URL will appear once by itself and then once with the title of the page you were on and the shortened URL . We use this every day when we find an article we want to share. Bonus: All of the links you shortened will be tracked here so you can monitor the quality of your posts.

Five great places to begin at becoming more efficient with the time you spend in social media. You can and will dial this in to a very reasonable daily time allotment. With the Social Media Toolbox that we have built for ATI, we manage our Social Media visibility/presence in 30 minutes a day.

Michelle Corteggiano

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