Why #Hashtag? Why #Now?

Posted on March 7, 2014 by admin
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Why Social Media Marketing is Here to Stay

Posted on March 6, 2014 by admin

Have you integrated social media into your marketing strategy?  If not you are missing out on a valuable part of your total marketing package. Social media is18459566_s (1) widespread and extremely powerful. Since it influences search rankings, enhancing your brand’s presence on social media can significantly impact the reach you have.

Take a look at these big-picture numbers:

  • 72 percent of all Internet users are active on social media
  • 89 percent of people aged 18-29 years old are active social media users
  • 72 percent of individuals between the ages of 30 and 49 are active on social media platforms
  • 60 percent of those in the 50-60 age brackets are engaged in social media
  • 43 percent of those over 65 years old are using social media

This shows us that no matter what age range your target market may fall into, the majority of people are using social media on a regular basis.

When it comes to social media marketing and the ever-changing Facebook, check out these numbers:

  • 47 percent of American people say that Facebook is one of the top influencers on their decision to make a purchase
  • 70 percent of marketers say that they acquire new customers through Facebook
  • There are 1 million websites that can be accessed using your Facebook login

With Twitter now using the power-house of visual media – images and video right in your newsfeed – it can make a substantial impact for your business.

  • 34 percent of marketers say they use Twitter for lead generation
  • There are over 215 million monthly active users on Twitter
  • There is an average of 58 million tweets per day

These numbers are quite telling about the social media marketing world. We use these numbers to make informed decisions when it comes to what platforms you should be on and how to generate the best possible outcome for your brand. Susan J. Campbell firmly believes that social media marketing should be best friends with other content marketing and a fantastic responsive website. Contact us today to find out how we can make social media marketing work for you.

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Creating Content That is Memorable

Posted on March 5, 2014 by admin

Thanks to news articles infiltrating our social media feeds and vise versa, these days it is difficult to decide what content is important and what content is irrelevant. For businesses who are trying to reach their target audience online, it can be a struggle to stand out among the clutter and constant information that is being fed to the masses.

Yes, there are hundreds of vehicles in which to reach your consumers, but today, that is just not enough. How can you not only connect with your consumers, but Content Creation 2also do it in such a meaningful way that they actually remember?

The key is just that, being memorable. Think less Comedy Central and more Hallmark. Emotional and sentimental messages are what make your consumers act and share.

Creating content that is meaningful to your consumers may seem like a daunting task, but putting yourself in their shoes may help. Here are some tips to consider when you set out to reach your customers in a meaningful way:

1.      Make a connection.
Allow your consumers to use your message to connect with others. Create content that is relatable to their lives and how your product or mission can fit into their everyday lives.

2.      Make it original.
Don’t follow the crowd. Give your target audience something new to consider, whether it is using your product in ways they likely haven’t considered or sharing a “behind the scenes” story about your company.

3.      Make it engaging.
Creating content that is meaningful causes your viewers to interact with your company. They see it, reflect on how it makes them feel and then act on those feelings by sharing the information with others or completing the call to action you provide. The purpose of creating content is to interact with your target audience, so choose something that elicits action.

Your content online is a branch of your business, so make it count. The professionals at Susan J. Campbell Copywriting Solutions can assist you in marketing your brand with social media management and content rich blogs and websites. Contact us today to learn more ways we can help.

 

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Provide a Better Customer Experience

Posted on March 4, 2014 by admin

No matter what industry we are in, we are all striving to provide a better customerCustomer Experience 1 experience. It seems like a few years ago, brands were starting this trend of trying to be everything to everyone. Pushing themselves into segments they didn’t really have a product or service to offer, but they were going to find a way to provide it.

All this effort was actually going to waste, it seems. Brands that stuck by their product and service and stayed within their market were actually seeing the greatest growth and loyalty.

Through several studies, it was discovered that the more choices offered, the less loyal the consumer. According to Matt Dixon, Nick Toman, and Rick DeLisi, this is something called The Effortless Experience.

Typically when a customer comes to you, they have a problem that needs a solution, an effortless (on their part) solution. Through their studies, DeLisi said that customers who are given a solution with low-effort on their part are 10 times less likely to become disloyal to a brand than those who have to make a significant amount of effort.

While it seems that this type of customer experience would take a lot of effort on your part, it seems that it actually makes things much simpler for you as a brand. Regardless of where you work, your mission is simple: To provide a great, low-effort customer experience by providing their solution. For each brand, it might look a little different but the end result should be the same.

When deciding how to proceed with your brand, think of how to provide the best customer experience. Is your website easy to navigate? Does it answer questions that might come to the mind of your target audience? Do you provide an easy and simple way for your customer to receive the solution they are looking for?

If you aren’t asking these questions, maybe the time to start is now. Susan J. Campbell wants to take the first step and provide you with a low-effort customer experience. Just give us a call and we will help you ensure an effortless customer experience for your customers!

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Monday Morning Coffee with Sweet Wishes Cakery

Posted on March 3, 2014 by admin

Have you ever walked into a new store and just immediately thought “I just want to stay here forever.” ? That’s the feeling you get when you walk into the doors of Sweet Wishes Cakery in Savannah, MO.

Maybe it’s the sparkling chandeliers, maybe it’s the adorable pictures of babies smashing cakes that hang on the walls, or mostly likely, it’s the delicious smell of icing and the smiling baker and owner, Shiela Dillman.

Shiela was the latest victim of the SJC team’s Cupcake Wars  and boy, did she deliver.

CupcakesOne of the things Sheila mentioned as she presented her cupcakes for the cupcake challenge was that she had a Facebook page for her business but wasn’t so sure she was doing it justice because she didn’t have time to post and interact with customers on a regular basis. She mentioned she would love to have more time to respond to her customers, post fun polls or pictures and create a place for her customers to go and learn more about what Sweet Wishes Cakery has to offer.

But when you are a business owner who makes cookies, cupcakes, cake pops and custom-designed cakes for all occasions, there’s a good chance you have enough on your cake already.

So of course Shiela’s dilemma got the team at SJC brainstorming. How can we help a busy business owner, whose greatest source of interaction with her customers is online, find the time to use social media effectively?

First we’d sit down with Shiela (over a red velvet cupcake, of course) and really get to know her and her vision for her company. We’d develop a brand strategy based on her vision and the overall goal of communication she needs to reach her consumers. And then we’d talk about the fun stuff: how to get people in the doors of her adorable, cheerful pink cakery. A social media strategy would be at the top of the list – interactive and interesting content on Facebook; scheduling of the posts, the pictures and the interaction;  commenting back with her customers and making sure connections for potential orders were followed up on.

So there you have it, SJC’s recipe for a successful online presence for Sweet Wishes Cakery. It’s no peanut butter cup frosting, but it just might do the trick!

For more information about how we can add the perfect ingredients to your social media plan, contact the team at Susan J. Campbell Copywriting Solutions today.

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Building Social Media Relationships With Customer Engagement

Posted on February 28, 2014 by admin

Let’s say you get invited to a friend’s house for a big party. You get there and start asking some questions about their life and how things are going, but no one responds. Nothing but silence. You might think they were pretty rude. The same principle applies to customer engagement on your social media platforms.

Social Media 5Customer engagement is foundational to great social media. And customer engagement is just the same as talking to someone at a party. Going beyond just the basic etiquette, responding to your customers is great for your business and the relationships that you can build.

Responding can increase your credibility. It makes you trustworthy, which in turn makes individuals more comfortable in both online and face-to-face interactions. While the perception of online interactions with brands might not be very great, consumers still expect a response. If you aren’t responding, they are going to begin looking elsewhere for their answers (and their products).

The best brands are the ones that show they care about you. Isn’t it the greatest feeling ever when you get a personal response back from a brand? Just earlier this month, I posted to Shatto Farms Facebook page. It was a simple picture of our Shatto milk in our fridge. I happily stated that the very first thing in our brand new fridge was a bottle of delicious Shatto milk. When I got back a comment saying, “Love this!” It made me want to continue buying their outstanding product.

In addition to all the above reasons, it can turn a negative to a positive. Seven out of 10 people say their view of a company changed when they received a response. So be sure to turn that frown upside down, with a simple response.

It’s time to respond to others on social media. We might go so far as to say that you should respond to other businesses, as well as your customers. Feel like you don’t have time to respond? Contact Susan J. Campbell today and see how we can help you.

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The Story of the Hashtag

Posted on February 27, 2014 by admin

13276610_sTo some, hashtags come naturally; to others, they are still a mystery as to how it began, how to use them, and what the point of it all is.

How about a short and sweet history lesson on hashtags?

For the most part, we can thank Chris Messina for the origin of the personal use of hashtags. He tweeted back in August of 2007. His message read, “how do you feel about using # (pound) for groups.  As in #barcamp [msg]?

But it wasn’t until two months later, when Nate Ritter used the hashtag #sandiegofire that it really caught on. By July 2009, Twitter officially adopted hashtags as we know them – as a tool for categorizing conversations. Soon, Instagram was on board, then Tumblr, and finally Facebook gave in last year.

So how do hashtags impact marketing?

1.  They Drive Engagement.
Those with a hashtag showed a 12 percent bump in engagement, which is a retweet (RT) a favorite (in Facebook terms, a like), or a reply.

2.  Tie Activity.
Since the majority of the major social media platforms have embraced hashtags, it is a great way to connect all of your platforms with a simple #(InsertYourTagline). Check out the Super Bowl this year. The #SB48 ads included more hashtags than mention of any other social media signal, such as a Twitter handle or Facebook.

3.  Track Results.
The NFL and Verizon created a solid campaign using #WhosGonnaWin, asking fans to vote for the team they thought would win. They even created a website to follow these results in real time, http://www.whosgonnawin.com/.

 4.  Create Stories.
Again during #SB48, Esurance ran the first commercial right after the game ended announcing that they would give away $1.5 million to a random person who used #EsuranceSave30. Imagine the stories that stirred up! Within the first minute, Esurance received 200,000 tweets. By the time the contest ended, a total of 5.4 million tweets had been collected.

There you have it, friends. The hashtag is a very powerful symbol and is growing all the time. Everyone is getting on board with hashtags. Are you ready? Talk with Susan J. Campbell today and find out how we can leverage hashtags for your company.

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Make the Right Call by Taking Advantage of Mobile Marketing

Posted on February 26, 2014 by admin

14562569_mThere’s no denying that wherever you go, people are on their phones. They are either calling someone, texting another or viewing a website or social media site. A study by Supermonitoring.com surveyed mobile users and found that 51 percent of those with smartphone mobile devices use their phone as their primary internet source.

The fact that people rely on their smartphones so much is just one reason why your business needs to take advantage of mobile marketing. If you need more proof that mobile marketing works, consider this fact: Supermonitoring.com found that 41 percent of people said that they use a mobile device to search for a product that interests them immediately after seeing an advertisement for it. Is your business taking advantage of mobile marketing?

The first step in being mobile ready is to design a website that is responsive. Trying to load a website that was designed for a desktop computer does not translate well on a smartphone. Your mobile website should be simple and concise. Make sure videos are formatted correctly and short enough to load quickly. Avoid hyperlinks that are difficult to click on or small search bars. Convenient navigation is key, as well as having the most important information like your contact information front and center.

Also, make sure your consumers know what your mobile site has to offer. Your mobile marketing plan needs to be meaningful and is meant to elicit a specific action from your consumer. Make it obvious that if they scan a code, they will receive a coupon. Let them know that if they need directions to your store, the mobile site has navigation capabilities. It is important to have a quick, specific call to action so consumers will know what they are getting if they use your mobile site.

Website design, including mobile ready sites is one of our specialties at Susan J. Campbell Copywriting Solutions. Contact us today to get your mobile marketing plan underway.

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Marketing Strategies Should Include Social Media for Older Consumers

Posted on February 25, 2014 by admin

Do your marketing strategies take into account the Baby Boomers’ use of socialBaby Boomers 1 media? If you think this generation of aging Americans are a group who refuse to accept technology, you’re missing out on a key demographic. Including them in your social media marketing strategies is important because they are consumers with a large reach.

People age 55 and older are using Twitter. In fact, more than 30 percent of Twitter users are in this demographic. Over the last couple of years Baby Boomers have taken to Twitter at an astonishing rate – about 80 percent more have joined. These are some important people – vice presidents, CEOs and executives that you should consider in your marketing strategies. These people have connected to social media because they know it’s a powerful marketing tool to have in their arsenal.

What about Gen Xers? These are people born in the late 1960s through the early 1980s who share a similar personality trait that includes a need for peer input. They get this input through social media. Social media channels also offer many opportunities to share pictures and videos, which is also important to the Gen Xers who prefer non-textual information.

Gen Xers and Baby Boomers are using mobile technology, too. About 40 percent of them are using smartphones and nearly half of them are connected to tablet computers. They use these devices to purchase products online, which means tying your marketing strategies in some shape or form to fit the use of mobile technology makes a lot of sense.

The professionals at Susan J. Campbell Copywriting Solutions know what characteristics separate each generation of Americans and they know the way to communicate to them through the right channels. Contact them today and get your marketing strategy in order.

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Why Business Owners Need to Know the Importance of Blogging

Posted on February 21, 2014 by admin

These days, when it comes to websites, the possibilities are endless. There is so much more than just having a place to list your business’s contact information and post a couple of pictures of your product. Business owners need to know of the importance of blogging. Adding a blog to your website enables you to gain authority in the industry, push your website to the top of search engine results and tell a story about your business that your consumer will never forget.

The importance of blogging is clear, according to a recent study about blogging.8815044_m Blogging increased customer bases 70 percent for businesses who blogged regularly. But how can weekly articles that are just 350 words long help establish you as experts in your field?

First, make sure you know the goal of your blog. If it is to establish yourself as an expert, write posts that are rich with news, trends, advice and updates in your field. Other goals to consider are to gain visibility, generate leads or build a community. All of these are a great focus for your blog.

The second step in creating a successful blog is to identify a unique niche for your company. It is important to find something unique that is not yet being covered, or at least something that has your own personal touch. For example, if you find there are not many blogs in your area of expertise that focus on the customer experience that may be a new viewpoint to offer your consumer.

Lastly, create a professional blog and plan posts ahead of time. Research shows that blog readers respond best to  quick, content rich reads and are not apt to read posts over 350 to 450 words. The possibilities of what to write about on your blog are only limited to your imagination. The ultimate goal of your blog is to share information that is useful and valuable to your target consumer. It needs to be interesting and timely enough that your audience will visit over and over.

Did you know that Susan J. Campbell Copywriting Solutions provides businesses and nonprofits will content rich blogs that are researched and specifically written to uniquely reach target audiences? Contact us today to learn more about how we can get a blog strategy in place for your business.

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