Social With Sara Sara Nickleberry : Social Media Consultant

Google Plus Redesign Includes Smart Updates

By Sara | May 16, 2013 - 5:31 pm | Google+, Redesigns and Updates, Social Networks

Things Are Looking Bright At Google+

A surprise to many, Google Plus very quietly launched a redesign with a brand new layout and a focus on images. They’ve added a whopping 41 new features designed to make G+ operate more intuitively.

What Google Plus seems to be doing is paying more attention to it’s users, feedback and improving upon those features that make it a unique network. Smart. Here is a brief overview on some of the smart updates that Google+ made with this new redesign:

HANGOUTS

The ever popular Google Hangout feature will be enhanced with a mobile app. Hangouts can include text, photos and video and can be stored for you to go back and review later.

STREAM

The Google Plus stream will now have a multi-column which people are already saying looks a lot like Pinterest. I like it because it involves a lot less scrolling

EDITING

Each section of the About tab (skills, work, education) has it’s own separate section with it’s own editing feature. This makes it easier for you to edit your profile information, quickly.

REVIEWS

There is now a reviews tab that allows users to add local reviews of movies, restaurants and other businesses.

PHOTOS

Here’s where they really zeroed in on some smart updates. Photos just became even more “awesome” on G+: Auto Backup allows mobile photos to automatically back up so you have the ability to easily share them right onto G+. Auto Awesome is a feature that uses groups of photos in your library to create an animation. Auto Enhance is a feature that automatically uses a filter to do brightness, contrast and other editing enhancements. Auto Highlight is another pretty amazing feature that Google+ describes this way: “Auto Highlight helps you find your favorites faster by de-emphasizing duplicates, blurry images and poor exposures, and focusing instead on pictures with the people you care about, landmarks, and other positive attributes”

Learn more about the Photo Features in this video from Google+:

Google Plus Features And Overview

By Sara | May 10, 2013 - 3:35 pm | Google+, Social Media, Social Networks

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What is Google Serving Up?

I love to get questions from my audience. This gives me ideas for content and helps me better serve my online community. Sometimes we assume what our audience wants to know or what they need but that should all be dictated by our audience. This weekend I was the special guest on a conference call where I was asked to talk about Social Media Marketing. I shared with the audience some of the basic definitions and how they applied to this particular industry of the listeners on the call. At the end of the call, they opened the line for questions. One of the questions asked was, What is Google+? I was not at all surprised by this question because Google+ has been growing rapidly as of late, so as a result, there is much interest about this networking site.

Google+ is one of many social network sites just as Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest are social networking sites. All are unique in their own way and have unique features.

Google+ describes itself as having the ability to make sharing on the web more like sharing in real life. It’s somewhat similar to Facebook which has a news feed based on status updates and shared content, etc.). But with Google+ is designed to make it easier to share content with specific sets of people called Circles. This is one of the features that I like the most about Google+.

Circles make it easy to share specific things with specific people much like you would want to do in real life. Cirlces makes it so that you can share some things with close friends, others with your family, and almost nothing with your boss. When you “circle” people on Google+, it allows you to categorize them, by naming a circle and adding people to those circles. You might have circles for friends, family, business associates, business prospects, industry peers, or by special interests. When you post something that you want to share with only one or more of your circles, you can select that when you are crafting your post.

Google+ also has a feature called Communities. Communities allows you to create a group where you can discuss your interests with people who share those same interests. You can join public communities around shared interests, or create private communities.

Google+ also has a feature called Hangouts. Hangouts are video chat. Hangouts can be done in different ways: 1) chat one on one 2) host a virtual meeting where you can use powerful tools like screen sharing and Google Drive collaboration. 3) you can go live in front of a global audience. 3) Group chat with up to 9 people.

Google+ also has Pages. These are for businesses and brands. For businesses, Google+ helps you attract new customers and build deepers relationships with your current customers. This is done by making it easier to connect to the billion+ people who are searching on Google every day. Clearly, by this being Google, there will be SEO benefits that are enhanced by Google+ activity. I explain a bit about that on my Social Solutions Collective post about how to grow your online community with Google+.

Are you currently using Google+? What is your experience like? Please share your thoughts in the comments below.

4 Easy Social SEO Tips

By Sara | May 1, 2013 - 9:06 am | Content Marketing, Entrepreneurship, Google+, Social Media

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Social Media Marketing is all about connecting, engaging, building a community and sharing valuable information. Ultimately, we are trying to get our message across. We want to do that in the most effective way and with such a crowded online business world, we do our best to stand out. We also do our best to be seen. One way we do that is with SEO and Social SEO.

What is Social SEO? Well let’s break it down. SEO is Search Engine Optimization. The idea behind having an SEO strategy is taking steps to helps your website show up in search engine results when searching key words or phrases that are relevant to your content. Social SEO is simply the idea that there is a part social media links play in website search rankings. That means that your social profiles and pages will be key in helping with your SEO efforts.

Although SEO can seem quite complicated, and in some ways it is, there are some things you can do yourself to get on the right track. I am listing 4 ways that you can boost your Social SEO strategy with little effort:

1) OPTIMIZE your Profiles and Pages. In our Business Fuel Group, we share some “mini-training” from time to time on Fridays called “Friday Fuel.” The very first segment we shared when we launched our Facebook group community was about Making Your Social Media Profile ROCK! We were simply offering tips on how to optimize it. In a nutshell, be descriptive and take advantage of every opportunity to plug in those appropriate keywords and phrases in about sections and bios. By all means, DO create a BUSINESS Page on Facebook for example. For one thing, your business must have a page, not a profile based on Facebook’s terms. But also, Pages are indexed by Google, while Profiles are not.

2) Be Shareable. Make sure your content is as easily shareable as possible. Include social share buttons on your blog posts. This counts for your updates and tweets as well. That means you have to share valuable engaging content. So people WILL share it.

3) Post With Purpose. Be sure that when you’re sharing that valuable content, that you are including the keywords you have identified for your business. Be sure to also work in your business name. Share fresh content on Twitter. Always share your blog posts. “Cross-pollinate” your content by including images with your blog posts and pinning those images on Pinterest, for example.

4) Get to know Google+. Google Plus is google’s social site. That alone is a clue. Sharing your blog posts on Google+ is going to help you appear in Google search results better. The +1 feature allows people to recommend your posts and help further your reach and boost your SEO. See my article on Social Solutions Collective about how to grow on Google+ here.

Don’t neglect some very key things about your social presence like consistency, using your business name and customized URLS. Here is the video that my partner Tiffany Lymon and I made for our Business Fuel group that I mentioned above about maximizing your profile:

Smart Pinterest Marketing For Beginners

By Sara | April 23, 2013 - 2:53 pm | Pinterest, Social Media

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Pinterest continues to be a social media site that is growing at a fast rate and is driving lots of traffic to websites. For this reason, brands are finding ways to participate in the pinning phenomenon! People are going to Pinterest for a reason. They WANT to see what people are talking about. Including brands. They want to see what their friends are sharing. They want to get information and see the creative pins that are being posted. They come ready to engage.

Pinterest’s ability to drive traffic that converts to sales, makes it a smart component of your online strategy. If that isn’t enough, consider this: it’s easy to use, it drives engagement, and inspires ideas. Those ideas, inspires people to act, create, plan and shop!

So what should you do as a business owner to get started? Here’s how you can get started:

1) SIGN UP: Go to the Pinterest Business page to join the site as a business: http://business.pinterest.com/. Your name on your page (and the name people use to search for you) is your “Business Name.” You will also have a “Username”. This name will be used to create your URL, or link, on Pinterest, like mine for example: http://pinterest.com/socialwithsara).

2) CREATE YOUR BOARDS: Absolutely include Products and Services. This is quite simple if you have a product. Pin images of the products you sell. Do you sell candles? Clothing? Jewelry? Organize boards around the product. They can link directly to your site for purchase! If you’re a service- based company,
pin images that communicate your services. I have a board called I Love Social Media. On this board I pin images from blog posts (including my own) on the topic of all things Social Media Marketing. Social Sites, news and information on Social Media, SEO, blogging, etc;.

3) Valuable, Informative Info: Tips and tricks, how-to’s. Are you a chef? Do you sell beauty products? You can pin information on cooking tips, the best cookware, makeup tips, skin care tips. Anything related to your product or service that showcases your expertise and gives useful information to your audience.

4) Sizzle: This is where you pin the really good, fun stuff. A great example is for travel agents. Pin the most beautiful scenery, amazing resorts and sunsets that you and your audience would enjoy most. Travel images are very popular. What better way to get your target market dreaming of their next vacation?

5) Industry: Are you a entrepreneur? Why not create a board for likeminded individuals? Pin images of information, tools and resources for small business owners, solopreneurs or home based business owners. Build a community of your peers on Pinterest.

Make sure your images are attractive and interesting. Pinterest is a visually driven site. Pin images that want the visitor to want to know more, click the link and share it!

Make sure you dedicate time each day to following people, brands and businesses and sharing their content as well. Check out the Popular section of the site to see what people are interested in. Incorporate those trends into your strategy if it’s appropriate.

I encourage you to go on the site to explore. Get a feel for the environment and have fun. It is a FUN site that happens to have great business potential. So don’t take the fun out of it by ONLY selling. Be interesting and engaging and you will start building your community before you know it.

Are you pinning? What tips can you share? Please comment below.

Time Saving Content Creation Tips

By Sara | April 17, 2013 - 2:36 pm | Content Marketing, Social Media

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Maximize Your Content Planning time

As business owners, our time is very valuable. It is important that we manage our time wisely, make the most of the time we set aside for each task and work smart within that time. In order to have success with online marketing you need to have great content. Creating content takes time, planning and commitment. When you think of all that is required: posting to Facebook, tweeting, video creation, images, blog posts, email newsletter etc;. it can be overwhelming. But if you simplify the process it can be make your content tasks much easier to manage. Here are a few tips:

1) Short and Sweet: Your blog posts, newsletters, status updates, don’t have to be lengthy to be great. Yes, even with your blog posts. EVERYONE is pressed for time. Or at least that’s what they say So make your blog posts super readable by using lists, bullet points with powerful information (much like this one)

2) Do what you do best. If you are great with video but not so great with writing, stick with the videos. You can always hire a writer to put together articles for you based on information you provide. Outsource!

3) Share other great content. You don’t always have to share your blog posts. Share other blog posts with your audience. There is plenty of awesome content to circulate. Organize files of great content you come across to share with your audience in the future with a tool like Evernote.

4) Reuse. Create tips, status updates and tweets by taking excerpts from your blog posts and repurposing them on social sites. You don’t have to constantly create. You can recreate as well.

5) Be my guest. Ask for someone to guest post on your blog. It’s a great way to get fresh, new, useful content out to your audience and build relationships at the same time.

6) Review. Valuable information can come in the form of a review. You can review a product or service that you use that will be useful to your audience.

What other tips do you find work best for you? Please share in the comments below.

Establishing Your Brand Identity

By Sara | April 7, 2013 - 6:41 pm | Branding, Marketing

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Branding

There are often times when entrepreneurs will ask me questions about branding. They want to make sure they are clear on what constitutes their brand, their brand identity, etc;. They want to make sure they’re doing it right. So let’s make sure we understand the terms.

Your brand is more than just your logo, your website design, the colors associated with your brand. Your “Brand” is also the personality that identifies a product, service or business and how it relates to it’s customers or clients or potential customers and clients.

There is also a “psychological” aspect of branding: thoughts, feelings, images, experiences, attitudes, and so on that are associated with a brand based on experiences. The brand experience is a brand’s actions (performance if you will) that is perceived by someone. The brand image is what is created in someone’s mind consisting of all the information and expectations that product or service provides.

When you are establishing your brand identity, you need to define and establish some things. You can do that by asking yourself some questions and establishing some very basic things with your business.

Vision Statement. You need to create a vision statement for your business. What are your most important products or services? What makes your product, service or business unique?

Mission Statement. What needs of your target audience are you addressing and how?

Personality. How would your brand be described? What emotions derive from the experience? Are you serious, light-hearted, fun?

Your Market. Determine your target market: demographics, etc;. Who exactly are your serving? Make a profile of your customer. What makes you unique from your competition that your market will want to buy from you? What is your niche?

Once you have established these things you can begin sharing your brand message. Social Media is a great opportunity to spread your brand message and further establish your identity, and expertise. With a strong identity and consistency you are on your way to building a strong online presence for your brand.

Brand Credibility Scale

photo credit: askdebra via photopin cc

Google Plus Spring Updates You Might Have Missed

By Sara | April 7, 2013 - 5:45 pm | Google+, Social Media, Social Networks

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What’s Cooking At Google+

Google+ continues to be a social network that is growing and has many advantages. I like Google+ because I find that I can interact much more with people in my industry and users seem to be very genuinely interested in finding and sharing great content. I have both a profile and business page. While I have more followers on my Profile, my business page by far gets more engagement. I think this speaks to what I just mentioned: interacting with my industry peers and appreciating content. I mainly share my blog posts and blog posts that I find useful and helpful to my target audience.

Although I was not sure how this network would take off, I have come to truly appreciate it. So I have made it a point to keep up with news, tips, changes and updates to the site. One of the most noticeable was the change to the size of the cover photo. HUGE! But, I like it. I’m a fan of cover photos because I love to see how creative people get with them. You can reference this great post from Designer Rob Russo on the Google+ cover photo and it’s branding potential here.

Besides the cover photo, the About tab is redesigned, and a brand-new feature has been added called “Reviews”. This compiles all of your restaurant and point of interest reviews from Google Local.

Here are a few other changes that happened recently that you may or may not have noticed:

1) Users can automatically show their current location to circles or individuals they choose. The option, which will appear on their cover photo, must be enabled from the Google+ profile settings page.
2) The Circles Volume Slider has been replaced by a drop-down menu and moved under the pictures of Circled Plusers.
3) Interestingly, animated GIFs can now be used for profile pictures! What say you?
4) If attempting to comment on content shared in a community you have not joined, the pop-up dialogue box will include a link to this community.
5) Mobile device users have the ability to download their pictures directly from their Instant Upload page. I noticed this recently on my iPad Google+ app.

Are you a Google+ user? Do you have a profile AND business page? What are your thoughts on this social network? Tell me if it is or is not working for you and why in the comments below. I’d love to hear your thoughts!

Pinterest Updates You Need To Know

By Sara | March 27, 2013 - 12:45 pm | Marketing, Social Media, Social Networks

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Seems like February and March was the time for social media platform announcements, changes, updates additions, subtractions, you name it. Lots of changes and shaking up. So much so, that the Pinterest changes almost snuck by me completely unnoticed. Don’t tell me you’re a social media expert. It’s darn near impossible. It rightfully belongs in the world of technology: ever-changing!

I’m apparently in the right business because I love the social media world and I really get excited with changes and announcements. Yeah, I need to get out more. This particular change with Pinterest had me very interested because I do very much like the site and the concept. I am BIG on images. I love photography anyway, I love seeing photos and I love the creativity that Pinterest inspires. Naturally, I was excited to see what they had in store. I always love when they change a site to make it simply better to look at, and that’s what I noticed right away. Here’s a few ways they did that:

1) LARGER IMAGES. When you click on a Pinterest image you will notice right away that it is much larger. It’s gone from 600 pixels wide to 735. Pretty noticeable difference.

2) CLEANER LOOK. Pinterest eliminated the white space between pins and boards, and cleaned up navigation options. I think this change gives it a much cleaner look. Thumbs up!

3) NEW BUTTON. Keeping in line with a fresher look, they have updated the pinning option with a new red “pin it” button. The comment button is no longer an option until you open the pin and then you can comment below the image. Comments can no longer be left on the home page.

Pin It Button

4) RELATED PINS: When you click and enlarge a pin, you will be shown a sidebar with “related pins”.

5) SIMPLIFIED SETTINGS: Here’s a feature I love. Pinterest has updated the settings area to make it easier to select your notifications. Lovely!

When I logged on to Pinterest after the changes were introduced I immediately opted to have the new updated version, (which everyone will have soon anyway). No regrets, I like the new look.

I also did something I’ve been putting off for a while. I converted my account to a business account as I mainly intend to use my account to build a community for my business. I also, with the help of my business partner, verified my website. If you are pinning for business, these are options you should strongly consider, particularly if you are trying to drive traffic to your website.

Please note, you will need to verify your website to get the new analytics feature.

With the new changes, there are some features that are gone or have been tweaked:

1) HASHTAGS – that was a surprise for me. Not sure why, but it is no longer a function on Pinterest.

2) TWEETING - you can no longer tweet a pin at the same time that you pin it.

3) BOARD LIKES - Gone. You no longer have the option of “liking” a board.

4) LINKS - There is no longer an option to leave a link in your comments or pin description.

5) EMBEDDING LINKS – You MUST use Pinterest embed link to link your pins. Otherwise, your image is broken.

6) PROFILE DESCRIPTION – Your profile description is now limited to 160 characters as opposed to 200.

The REALLY big news is the new web analytics feature as I mentioned above for business accounts. Now you can find out what’s working and not working. Huge help to those of us with a strategy for our pinning.

Have you activated the new Pinterest design? What are your thoughts? Please share below.

Keys To Facebook Marketing Strategy Success

By Sara | March 22, 2013 - 11:03 am | Branding, Content Marketing, Facebook, Social Media

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Perhaps the #1 question that my audience asks me is how to get more Facebook likes, comments, and overall engagement. We all wish it was as easy as setting up a page to get people to notice us on Facebook, but like everything else worthwhile, it takes time and effort. Recently I wrote an article about easy ways to get more Facebook likes. This was mainly focused on being sure that your page is easily accessible. Today I want to focus on your marketing strategy.

It is important to first of all realize that you DO need a strategy. Don’t just try to wing it, you need a plan. When people tell me that they can’t seem to build their audience or get people to like and comment on their posts I noticed one thing right away that they’re not doing: POSTING! They are typically not posting, not posting often enough, and not being consistent. What’s important to remember is that it is very rare that someone logs on to Facebook, thinks of you thinks of your business page name, searches for your page and goes to see what you post. Just doesn’t happen that way. Your followers are noticing you most likely this way: you are in their newsfeed!

How do you show up in your followers newsfeeds? You have to post! Don’t be afraid that you’re bugging your audience. The lifespan of a post doesn’t last that long. While you don’t want to overdo it, you don’t want to UNDERDO it either. You don’t want your audience to forget about you. Some of your followers connected with you because your content showed up in their newsfeed as a result of THEIR friend liking, or commenting on your post. This is called reach or amplification. The more people that see your post, the greater your chance for engagement. That’s just another good reason to post and to post GREAT content. So let’s discuss a few key points for your Facebook Marketing Strategy Success:

1) Post consistently. You’re going to find that you will have a hard enough time battling Facebook’s algorithm But there’s truly no fight if you aren’t even trying. Not trying is not posting. DO POST!

2) Post GREAT content. Your audience is looking for value. Show them what you’ve got! Share your knowledge and expertise. This is why they’re following you. And share them in a way that will be most engaging. There are post types that work better than others. Pay attention to what your audience responds to.

3) Measure. Check your insights and analytics to see when your audience is responding to you best. There is no magic time. It all depends on who is following you and when they are most likely online. The best way to figure that out is to track it. I have read many many articles that site studies that swear by posting on Saturday and Sunday as being the time for maximum engagement. Just the opposite for me. For whatever reason, my audience is anywhere but on Facebook on the weekends. At least not like they are during the week. That may not be true for you, so you have to do some analyzing.

So be sure to show up. If you’re not in the game, you can’t win. Set aside time to plan out your content and share it with your audience regularly.

What have you found works best for you with your Facebook strategy? Please share in the comments below.

Social Media Marketing Benefits

By Sara | March 18, 2013 - 6:29 pm | Branding, Social Media, Social Networks

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Social Media Marketing

There are many benefits of Social Media Marketing. It’s no longer a trend or an option. It’s the way business is done today. Often when I am interested in a company or researching a product, I immediately look for their online presence for information. I also like to see how they are interacting online. The truth is, you want to be where your customers or clients are. And guess what? They’re on social media. So you want to be easily found on these channels, be accessible, interesting, sharing valuable information and consistent. These efforts have many benefits that go a long way.

Here are some of the opportunities social media marketing presents for your business:

Branding.
Your brand is the personality that defines you, your company and what it offers. Social Media can help you further define and solidify the attractive qualities you want to project for your business.

Expertise.
Social Media can position you as an expert in your field as you share valuable knowledge and information about your industry. This is particularly powerful when you have developed your niche.

Research.
Social media allows you to easily track and analyze your competitors. social media is public and it allows you an opportunity to listen to what your competitors are doing and saying, and what your clients want. Use it to research other businesses, get ideas for content to share with your audience, and to partner with people in your field.

Top Notch Customer Service.
Customer Service is a key component of the customer experience. Social media gives customers and clients the opportunity to reach out directly with the brands they follow. Customers and clients use social media to give feedback, praise, concerns or ask questions. Being there to respond timely is an opportunity to provide excellent customer service.

Grow Your Business.
The main objective is for you to obtain business. You want to be able to obtain leads, make connections and build relationships just by being a part of the social media conversations.

What are some of your goals for social media marketing? Are you looking to build relationships with your current clients or customers? Grow your email list? Get more website traffic? What are you hoping to accomplish online? What do you find works best for you? Please share with me in the comments below!

photo credit: esocialmediashop via photopin cc

Social Media Marketing Do’s and Don’ts

By Sara | March 12, 2013 - 12:19 pm | Marketing, Social Media, Social Networks

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For the love of social media!

What is social media marketing?

Social Media has changed the way people connect, discover and share information.
It is the technology that connects people– whether it’s to share content or just to simply chat.
Social networks, such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, are the places where these social interactions happen (discovering & sharing).

Social media marketing is the way to use that technology to build relationships, drive repeat business and attract new customers
through friends sharing with friends, and so on.

Simply put, social media marketing is really just word-of-mouth powered by technology.
It’s simply powerful.

There are a few things you want to use social media marketing to do:

Show And Tell

Show your audience who you are and what you can do for them. It’s great for brand awareness!

Sell!

Give customers offers that are so good they’ll share them with their friends. You want to be able to reach not only them but people they know.

Provide Great Service

Go the extra mile. Do a little more than expected. When you’re interacting online with customers, think of ways you can insure that they will want to continue to do business with you. Sometimes all it takes is simple acknowledgement.

Listen.

Pay attention to what your customers are saying about you and to you. It’s instant powerful feedback.

Make it last!

Build deeper relationships so customers will get to know, like, and trust you. People like to do business with people they like.

With that said, here are a few “Do’s and Don’ts!”

1. Do be nice. Social Skills apply in Social Media. Be nice, courteous, friendly and approachable.
2. Do share things of value. What expertise can you offer? Share it!
3. Do be yourself. Authenticity is crucial. Don’t pretend to be who or what you are not. Stand out from the rest by being you.
4. DO interact. The key is to build relationships. You must interact and engage to do that.
5. Don’t ignore people. Respond to comments and questions.
6. Don’t constantly broadcast. Social Media is relationship building. In relationships it’s not all about you, so be GENUINELY interested in other people.
7. Don’t assume you know what people want. Ask questions! You will better be able to serve your market when you know exactly what their needs are.

What do’s and don’ts can you share? Comment below!

I also invite you to join me and my business partner Tiffany Lymon in our Facebook group, Business Fuel where we share daily tips, news and information to help fuel your business success with online marketing tips. Join us!

photo credit: kdonovan_gaddy via photopin cc

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