Video Branding Strategies

Posted on November 27, 2013 by admin

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Top Companies Demonstrate How Social Media Tools Are a Part of Successful Marketing Strategies

Posted on November 26, 2013 by admin

11613956_mSocial media continues to pick up steam. The platforms are numerous and they continue to provide an excellent opportunity to companies ready to leverage their broad reach. The biggest boy on the social media block is Facebook with over 1 billion users. Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram and others also offer businesses a fast
and effective way to reach out to an enormous audience. Here are just a handful of examples of how brand names are putting social media tools to work.

1. Southwest Airlines
To get people to book flights and consider their airline first when planning
travel, Southwest developed a fall flight campaign called Wanna Get Away. People
who were fans of Southwest on social media received a code (LUV2LIKE) that
unlocked access to 50 percent discounts on tickets during the fall promotion. The
campaign is sure to keep people checking the Southwest sites for future deals.

2. Hertz
Once people land, they need to rent a car and Hertz used social media to get
people to interact with their brand through the use of coupons and discounts. The
marketing campaign was called Share It Up and encouraged viewers to share the
deals with their family and friends. Just about one half of those who saw the
coupons did so.

3. Ikea
This furniture company used social media tools to promote sales. The brand developed an interactive catalogue that shoppers enjoyed and encouraged them to post their experience with Ikea products which drove even more sales.

4. Burger King
Here’s a case of turning a problem into a promotion. Last year, hackers got
into the BK Twitter account and managed to change out the Burger King logo for
the McDonald’s logo. Once the hoopla started to fizzle, BK picked up 30,000 new
followers as a result.

5. Oreo
Facebook and its more than a billion users were bound to run into this brand
because the company advertised heavily there last year. This year they are
ramping up their presence on Tumblr.

Big name companies are connecting with customers on social media. You can too.
With a little bit of expert guidance from Susan J Campbell Copywriting Solutions
your business can begin to reap the benefits of marketing through social media.
Give us a call today.

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Monday Morning Coffee With UPCO

Posted on November 25, 2013 by admin

Animals are an integral part of St. Joseph, Missouri. They are part of the livelihood of the community, which is quickly becoming one of the nation’s and the world’s leaders in animal health and agricultural science. This focus on animal health spans several decades and includes several milestones. One of St. Joseph’s longstanding animal health resources started in 1952, when Charles Evans and two veterinarians saw the need for a reliable resource for supplies and equipment for farmers. Back then, waiting for a vet could mean losing an animal. Thus, United Pharmacal Company, Inc. was created.

Since then, veterinarians, breeders, and pet owners have come to rely on UPCO for UPCO 1supplies, as well as the expertise of the staff. The company is now run by the second generation of Evans who remain committed to providing the wide selection of products, great service, and amazing prices on quality animal products.

Just a few weeks ago, I received a call from a family member that I needed to stop and grab some medicine for our cats. I walked in to UPCO and saw a vast array of medicine, toys, food, and treats. Not quite sure where to even begin, my confused look hinted to an employee that I needed some help. Additionally, she gave advice on which product would do the trick, based on some facts I shared about our cats. This is just one example of the amazing customer service UPCO offers. I have observed several interactions between UPCO employees and customers, and every time it’s been amazing; it’s the kind of service that would make Charles Evans proud.

Recently, UPCO has launched a website, which serves as an online catalog. This has opened greater access for pet owners, veterinarians, and farmers to find supplies and equipment. They have a Facebook page as well, so if you’re an UPCO fan, don’t forget to let them know!

SJC wants to thank UPCO for being there for all types of animal lovers and supplying St. Joseph with supplies and equipment to pamper, care for, train, groom, and play with dogs, cats, horses, cows, birds, and other animals. UPCO really is “Treating Pets Like Family” and demonstrating that solid customer service goes a long, long way.

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Search Engine Optimization Tips to Direct More Traffic to Your Site

Posted on November 21, 2013 by admin

You’ve toiled long and hard to create valuable content for your blog page, but have yet to generate interest. Creating quality content is the biggest part of the battle. Now consider search engine optimization to pull in more viewers.

12058056_mSearch engine optimization involves a great number of things that one can do to become more relevant in Google search. Bloggers focusing on a single subject help to establish their sites as a source that contains relevant and quality content. If your business is centered on selling natural herbal remedies, your blog page should include subjects that pertain only to that industry. There are other tips to consider as well.

Your blogs now contain quality content about a single subject. Adding links to your blogs, links that direct traffic to equally reputable sites, is also a search engine optimization tactic that will bring you more traffic. Including keywords in your blog, including the title of each blog, will increase the odds of your site getting higher placement on Google searches.

Social media can’t be discounted where attempts to increase traffic are concerned. Your business should also have a Facebook page where your article and blogs can be accessed. Getting your friends to share those items can really boost traffic. Shares actually do a lot more to bring you traffic than “likes” or comments.

The more characters you have in your blogs, the better. Don’t skimp, but make sure the content is still quality. Try to land some guest blogs on other peoples’ sites that are of the same industry.

If you are still having trouble getting the attention you know your company deserves, consider bringing in a professional group to handle the situation. Susan J. Campbell Copywriting Solutions is a company dedicated to developing strategies for clients with goals to succeed. SJC creates quality content in the form of articles, blogs, press releases, whitepapers, brochures and more.

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What Can we Learn From Others Mistakes in Social Media Marketing?

Posted on November 20, 2013 by admin

Black Friday 1The story is a big deal right now: Kmart is opening at 6pm on Thanksgiving Day and staying open for 41 hours straight.

Whether you agree with their business tactic or not, there is something to be learned from their awkward way of explaining themselves on a variety of social media platforms. Business Insider tells us that in the 48 hours following this announcement, the same tweet went out over 150 times and it read, “Kmart is staffing w/ teams & seasonal associates when possible, giving them opportunity to make extra money during holiday.”

Facebook allowed Kmart to provide more detail to their response to mass-criticism, “We understand many associates want to spend time with their families during the holiday. With this in mind Kmart stores do their very best to staff with seasonal associates and those who are needed to work holidays.”

What can we learn from this and other brand responses to negative feedback?

Here are four tips to successful social media marketing – even when it’s negative:

  1. Think before acting: It can be argued that responding, even to the negative feedback, is important. Responding provides the opportunity to show your customers, both loyal and potential, how the brand handles itself. With this in mind, consider what is being said and decide whether a public social media message is the best way to handle the situation.
  2. Listen to the customer: Before you begin constructing a message, you must first listen and understand the complaint. It’s important that the customer feels heard and understood. If necessary, ask more questions about the situation. Truly comprehending where your disgruntled customer or fan is coming from will make responding so much better. Sometimes, even just the attempt to understand can diffuse the situation.
  3. Consider your message: You’ve decided to respond to the critique. Consider your audience, your message, and their possible response. Can you afford to make light of the situation or complaint? Are you arguing with the customer, or presenting facts?
  4. Know when to leave: If it is beginning to look like an argument, stop and walk away. Remember the old saying, “The customer is always right”? This has stuck around because it’s true. Whether you believe they are right or not, it’s okay to be apologetic and end things before it gets ugly. If you rise above and respond well, your loyal and potential customers are going to see this and commend you.

Having a well-thought response to any and all posts is an important and vital part of social media marketing. If you need help with social media marketing, the SJC team is here to construct a voice for your brand; one that is ready to respond to all types of feedback.

 

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A Copywriter Can Bring Value to Your Content

Posted on November 19, 2013 by admin

Every website has an intended goal. As webmaster, you are looking forWebmaster 1
ways to get people to interact with your site in order to accomplish those goals. It doesn’t matter whether you are trying to sell a product or promote an idea – you want your site to inspire a positive response.

One way to increase the chances that visitors will respond in the way you want is to sharpen your skills as a copywriter. How well you present your
information affects how well people respond.

First off, titles and headlines matter. They are the conversation opener. If
the conversation doesn’t look appealing, people will move on. You have mere
seconds to capture someone’s attention so make them count!

To engage your readers beyond the headline, you need to speak their language.
Think about who will be visiting your site and then talk to them in ways that
show you know them and have something relevant to their world to share with
them. Word choices, tone and even sentence structure can help you establish
this connection with your readers.

As you write, use strong action words to breathe life and energy into your
content. The Dragnet approach of “Just the facts, ma’am” will unwittingly come off as dull. You can create enthusiasm in your reader by presenting information in a lively way.

Lastly, the reader is most interested in themselves – not you. As a copywriter
it falls to you to show someone how a product or idea benefits them. Website content needs to do an expert job of letting readers see how something matters to them and makes their lives somehow better.

At Susan J. Campbell Copywriting Solutions we understand how these
skills work. Let us show you how our team can turn your website into a place
where readers engage and results follow.

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What You Need to Focus on When Starting Your Own Blog

Posted on November 15, 2013 by admin

One of the best ways to direct traffic to your website in a highly credible way is to Blog 12include a high-quality, high-content blog. It not only brings traffic your way, it also helps to establish online credibility.

A survey of bloggers and marketers shows that the most powerful blogs offer trustworthy information with links to reputable, high-traffic sources. Nearly 70 percent of those taking part in the survey agreed that a blog establishes credibility to a website. What makes a blog credible? Respondents answered “quality” first and foremost. When the blog contains useful information, users are more likely to return again and again.

The web experience relies on quality, which includes aesthetic quality. Users may not know anything about design, but they know when a page is difficult to navigate, and they won’t return. Maybe they can’t pinpoint exactly what is displeasing to the eye, but it will be enough to prevent them from returning, which is why the second most important aspect of blogging is the design of the page.

Starting your own blog takes a lot of planning and research. Planning for the future should include having a blueprint of what will be contributed to the blog for months out. Regular publication keeps the blog and the web page topical, current and valid. All blogs should link to social media sites as well, and by staying on top of regular blogging, the social media pages will also reflect that activity and keep “likers” interested in joining the conversation.

Facebook is currently the most important social network to add credibility to a blog. LinkedIn is second while Twitter is third. These channels offer a medium by which people who like what is being said in your blogs can share with others, thus driving more traffic your way.

Starting your own blog is something Susan J. Campbell Copywriting Solutions can help you accomplish. With a staff of writers producing quality content, and a graphic designer producing professional pages, it’s an all-inclusive solution to driving more traffic to your site.

 

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How is Your Social Media Customer Engagement

Posted on November 14, 2013 by admin

You’ve worked hard to create a quality product or service and you’re doing everything you can to let others know about what you’ve got to offer. You’ve probably established a budget for advertising, but what about social media strategies?

Social Media 3According to a Pew Research Center poll this summer, 72 percent of online adults are using social media networking sites. Teenagers are still more engaged in social media, but adults are catching up to them. With millions and millions of people engaged in these channels (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, etc.), it’s high time to get your brand engaged.

It’s not as simple as signing up and sending out friend requests. A little planning goes a long way in getting value out of social media. Customer engagement is the goal, so you need to establish where your audience is. Many users will cruise social media sites professionally and also personally/socially. Closed loop marketing is a good technique to use to track users. Marketing software used by marketing consultants can weed out avenues that provide lots of leads but no customers. Knowing where the customers are spending most of their time with social media is a valuable piece of information.

Once you’ve tracked down your audience and are linked to them, offer excellent content. Clogging your news feed with impersonal information that offers no chance for the audience to participate is not a good way to engage with your customers. Proper customer engagement tactics include offering tips about using your products; blogs that you’ve written or find; offering case studies that pertain to your industry and announcing webinars.

If you’re stuck and don’t know exactly how to actively engage your customers in a great way contact Susan J. Campbell Copywriting Solutions where engaging the audience is our expertise.

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Is Social Media Marketing For Everyone

Posted on November 13, 2013 by admin

We know it can sound pretty risky; there are a lot of challenges when it comes to social media marketing for any business. It gets even more challenging when considering some of the regulations your company might face.

Regulations may sound like something you don’t want to mess with, but we can give you this one good reason why you should:

It generates relationships and builds trust.

Here are four broad ways that any organization can be successful in doing this:

  1. Personal: Make the effort, reach out, extend that inner circle.
  2. Transparency: When leaders within the company are made available, it can build a kind of trust that you just can’t replicate without social media there to help.
  3. Quality: Producing valuable content and building a solid network is going to help create relationships with your audience.
  4. Building, together: Being able to ask questions and gather insight can make your customers feel like they are part of your organization; with that feeling comes trust and relationships.

For the most part numbers one, two, and four come quite naturally when communicating with other individuals. It’s that number three that we get hung up on, right?

Here are six categories of social media marketing content for companies to consider:

  1. Don’t just offer broad advice to your customer. Dig a little deeper and provide substance in your content.
  2. Even experts read to maintain their knowledge. Give your audience a glimpse at some of the things your experts are reading.
  3. Connect with your customers through a shared passion. Do you love the fact that the Chiefs are undefeated this season? Brag on them for a little bit. Are you passionate about fighting cancer? Share your story.
  4. Remind your audience of the good you do within the community.
  5. Respond to the customer. Engagement is a huge part of building relationships and trust.
  6. Make sure what you’re saying about yourself and your brand is interesting, funny, and relevant.

Overall, it’s about being genuine and honest. When you meet someone for the first time, it takes a little while but eventually you hit on a subject that you both enjoy. From that one conversation, a friendship builds and before you know it you are reminiscing, ten years later, about that very first conversation.

Let SJC help you build a relationship worthy of reminiscing! We love to help our clients build meaningful relationships with their clients.

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