October 2, 2015 by EziSell

Top 5 Reasons to Use YouTube for Your Business

For years, YouTube has led the ranks as the most popular social media site for videos. Yet, even with over 800 million regular users, the number of viewers is expected to grow. While many people started out going to YouTube for its music videos, pranks, and other entertainment videos, the site has gone on to help numerous businesses gain exposure across the globe.

If you’re still wondering if YouTube is right for your own business, consider the following 5 benefits, which apply to every company, no matter how large or small:

* You can create as many company videos as you want on YouTube. In addition, you can whatever kind of video you wish as long as it follows YouTube’s Terms of Service. Commercials, interviews, Q&A sessions, product displays, and company tours are among just a few of the videos that can help promote your business.

Not only that, but you can optimize your YouTube videos with appropriate geographic keyword terms related to your industry; this will help you pull in more local viewers.

* YouTube offers a few advertisement choices which allow you to either create videos geared towards a specific audience, or place ads into your own channel for extra earnings. Adwords for Videos allows business videos to be strategically placed as commercials throughout other similar videos so that your company can be exposed to a larger audience. Additionally, you can incorporate Google AdSense into your YouTube channel, which will help you earn residual income from views.

* There’s no need to post long videos on YouTube in order to get your audience’s attention. In fact, most viewers appreciate short videos between three to five minutes. The majority of the most popular videos on YouTube’s top charts have consistently been those that are under five minutes. You also won’t need fancy equipment if you’re just getting started. While it’s true that the best videos on YouTube are clear, crisp, and provide high-definition viewing, you can create similar videos with just the basics. A high-quality camera, tripod, ample lighting, and video editing software will have you on your way to creating custom videos.

* YouTube videos are watched more frequently than any other social media and/or video site. With millions of worldwide viewers visiting on a regular basis, you have an excellent chance of your videos getting a lot of exposure. Keep in mind, however, that since YouTube is such a popular site, thousands of videos are uploaded every day. In order to maximize your chances of getting the highest publicity, you’ll need to make your channel stand out with consistent uploads of entertaining, educational, and engaging content.

* YouTube allows you to create your own channel and profile centered on your business. With a wide range of options, you can customize your YouTube profile with unique colors, photos, keywords, and company information. YouTube’s “Featured” tab allows you to also create professional backgrounds according to category. Examples include a blogger, creator, or networking background. Last but not least, you’ll be able link back to your company website and blog by simply plugging your links into your video descriptions, your “About Me” section, and directly onto your channel description.

September 30, 2015 by EziSell

Top 5 Reasons to Use Twitter for Your Business

Founded in 2006, Twitter is a real-time social networking site that has gone on to draw in over 500 million regular users. Although similar to other popular social media sites, the main attraction that sets Twitter apart is called a “Tweet.”

Tweets are short, public messages limited to 140 characters or less that lets users share updates, ideas, questions, announcements and more. As more and more people go mobile, Twitter is quickly becoming the favorite social media application for smartphone users.

Many companies have already realized the power of Twitter and how beneficial it can be to businesses. If you’re still trying to decide if Twitter is right for your business, consider the following:

* Twitter helps businesses get exposure in several ways. Once you start tweeting, your messages have the potential of trending for millions of users to see. If you consistently tweet interesting and authentic information about your business, your tweets may even go viral, meaning other sites will pick up on your information and spread the word about your company. This allows invaluable information about your company and the services you offer to potentially to reach prospective customers quite easily.

* Twitter is a great way to network with other businesses in your industry and follow their progress. In other words, Twitter gives you an inside view of how the competition is doing by simply following their tweets. Additionally, you may find different ways to market your products/services by learning what other successful businesses in your industry are doing on Twitter.

* Twitter is one of the easiest ways to provide customer service. When your followers ask questions, all it takes is a few minutes to reply. Additionally, tweets are in real-time. Customers and followers will see your message just as soon as it’s posted, and can easily reply back to you with a click of a button.

* Twitter is one of the most efficient social media websites. If you’re busy, yet need to promote your business effectively, Twitter’s 140 word character limit along with the site’s ease of use will help you quickly say what you need to say within a matter of minutes. If you need more characters, consider using hashtags. Hashtags, words with the # symbol in front, will reduce your character count and put your keywords into Twitter’s search engine. For example, if you’re having a sales promotion, simply tweet #promotion and your keyword will be searchable to other users.

* Tweets are now starting to show up in most of the major search engines. For this to happen, however, there is a little bit of work involved on your part. By providing consistent tweets with the proper keywords on a regular basis, your tweets, along with your company website and other social media sites, have a better chance of moving up to the first page of Google, Yahoo!, and other major search engine results. Since most people click on the links that show up on the first page, having your company’s information rank as high as possible is imperative.

September 25, 2015 by EziSell

How to Target Early Adopters with Your Next Big Idea

Not to sound bigoted, but let’s just face the facts: some customers are more valuable than others. There! I said it! More specifically, customers who can be classified as “early adopters,” especially in the realm of digital technology, are major players in the success or failure of a 21st century business and/or product. Early adopters are so important because they’re often also your influences; they run blogs, Youtube channels, and everything they say has triple or quadruple-digit retweets on twitter. Get on the good side of an early adopter, and they can bring with them hundreds or thousands of average users. In some writings on the adoption curve and life cycle of new products in our day and age, early adopters are touted as those who can guide a new business across the “chasm.” The chasm is the period of uncertainty where it is uncertain whether a product will make the jump from something a few people try out to a technology that is adopted and integrated by the majority.

Today, we’re going to talk about how you can help your products and businesses be as attractive to early adopters as possible, and how you can best leverage that attention.

1) Find a genuine need. Depending on where you’re at, this might be advice coming too late, but the first step to getting your product into the hands of eager early adopters is to make sure you’re filling a genuine need. People have “cool” ideas all the time, but that doesn’t mean they’re ideas that will come to be known as “needed.” Sometimes, however, your big idea can simply be an improvement of another system (think: Facebook usurping Myspace), however the barrier to entry with these ideas is higher because your product has to be so good it entices people to drop something they’ve grown accustom to.

2) Have a proper incentive system. Don’t just offer to give people free products, give something above and beyond that. For example, you might take a note from the gaming industry: Often times, these companies will offer their early adopters exclusive titles for their profiles or unique character looks called “skins” that won’t be available ever again after the initial testing or adopting period. Think about what rewards could be relevant to your audience in the same way. Maybe you’re launching a mobile ecommerce platform and you offer “veteran seller” badges or other marks of credibility to those who sign up and start using your site within the first 3 months, etc.

3) Communication will make or break you. The world we market in today is one of two-way communication. Social media. You know, that kind of thing. You should be regularly reaching out to and interacting with your potential early adopter audiences through the channels that they use most. Beyond recruitment, this also expands to post-adoption feedback and support. Early adopters will likely be using these channels to either get in touch with you directly or to broadcast their opinions about your product or service. Either way, you should be monitoring social and traditional channels all the time to respond in a timely, appropriate way.

September 16, 2015 by EziSell

Top 5 Reasons to Use Facebook for Your Business

Established in 2006 as a social site for college students to mingle, Facebook has since gone on to attract millions upon millions of users of all ages worldwide, making it one the most popular sites ever in Internet history.

Facebook users flock to the site for a variety of reasons, such as online games, photo sharing, catching up, planning events, and more. However, a good majority of users have found that Facebook provides a convenient way to make informed buying decisions, keep up with their favorite brands, discover new products, and find new companies and businesses.

In fact, Facebook now has more than 1 BILLION users. This, of course, is beneficial to businesses as they have the potential to draw in customers from all over the globe.

If you have not yet made a business presence on Facebook – the 5 reasons listed below may change your mind.

* Facebook gives your company a personality. Since Facebook is all about engaging with others and sharing information, it’s the perfect platform for a business to humanize itself through one-on-one conversations, community messages, contests, Q&A sessions, and more. Companies that actively communicate with customers and followers have better chances of obtaining new customers and retaining current ones. Moreover, real-time customer service allows consumers to have a sense of trust, which ultimately will lead to more business.

* Facebook is currently visited more than any other social media site. Although it’s always a good idea to have a presence on all the major social networking sites, Facebook is extremely important as it brings in millions of daily regular users worldwide. In addition, a good number of Facebook users use the site to learn about new products and trends, get service recommendations, and help others make informed buying decisions.

* Facebook offers all companies and professionals their own free business page. In a matter of minutes, you can easily create your own page, complete with company information, pictures, events, product listings, and more. Additionally, your followers and customers will have a convenient way to engage with other like-minded people and share recommendations. If you have not yet set up your own business page, click the link below to get started: https://www.facebook.com/pages

* You can track the effectiveness of your company’s online social media presence. Facebook’s integrated tools and applications on business pages allows you to determine the makeup of your customer base, their shopping habits, and how likely they are to purchase from your business. Moreover, Facebook offers an “Insights” feature on all business accounts. The “Insights” feature allows you to see what kind of reach and impact each of your posts have had. It also can determine the age group, gender, and locations of the people that have read your posts.

* Your business page is public and searchable by millions of Facebook users. In addition, when people give your page a “Like,” it becomes visible in their News Feed. This means that their own Facebook friends will most likely see your company name as long as they share the pages they are fans of. Furthermore, Facebook ranks high on major search engines. By incorporating the proper keywords and staying active on your account, not only will your Facebook business page move up in search engine results, but your company website and other social media accounts can potentially move up as well.

Did you know that we can fully manage your Facebook Business presence. Currently we manage well over 200 Business pages. We know what works and can help you get the most out of your social media presence.

Want to know more? check out a few of our plans at:

http://eziadvertising.com/packages-available/social-media/

September 12, 2015 by EziSell

5 Reasons to Use Social Media for Your Business

No matter if you love them or hate them, Social media sites are here to stay.

Combined, social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, YouTube and Pinterest, have more than 2 BILLION users. With the massive amount of people using social media sites, there hasn’t been a better time for businesses to join in.

Social media has opened up some new doors in terms of marketing to your local consumers. Most of them are using these social media platforms, so there’s no reason why your business should not put yourself right in front of them.

In case you are still waiting to get started, I have put together a list of 5 great reason why your local business needs to get started with Social Media.

* More and more people are searching for businesses on social media sites. In fact, approximately 1/3 of consumers say that they usually search for and check out a company’s Facebook, LinkedIn, or Twitter page before considering a purchase. If the company is new and has no social media page, these consumers typically move on and look for a company with a social media presence. When a business has social media sites, it helps customers feel more at ease about purchases and in their mind, reinforces the company’s credibility.

* Customer service has never been easier and more convenient. Instead of customers having to wait days for a returned call or email, you can quickly resolve issues in real-time. You also have a simple way to engage with many customers all at once, which helps promote a sense of trust between you and your consumers. In addition, you’ll be able to give your business its own unique personality which will attract like-minded people.

* Social media helps your company get more online visibility. The more pages you have, the more likely your company will rank higher in the major search engines. Social media sites already rank strongly in Google and other essential search engines. If you have a presence in the popular social media sites, not only will your social media accounts rank higher in searches, but your company website can be pushed higher as well. If you’re in a high-competition industry, having your business presence show up on the first page of search engine results is imperative.

* The way consumers shop for products and services has dramatically changed. People are conducting more business via the Internet and social media sites than ever before. A good majority of consumers who shop online are regularly active on at least one social media site. Most of these consumers become social media fans of the businesses and companies they purchase from, and almost all would post positively on social media sites about their experiences with these companies.

* Social media is free. Aside from optional advertising costs that you can usually purchase for a nominal fee, creating and using social media doesn’t cost a penny. It’s free exposure for your business and a way to reach customers worldwide. Despite Internet hoaxes and rumors claiming that the top social media sites will start charging, all of the major sites have confirmed that the services will remain free. In addition, not only is social media here to stay, it’s expected to grow exponentially as users can now use their smartphones to check out their favorite sites.

September 10, 2015 by EziSell

Twitter Advertising Seeks to Evolve with New “ads editor” Tool

Advertising on social media has been a dominant force for several years now. In fact, search advertising has even taken a hit in recent years due to the amount of time people spend browsing social networking sites. It’s not like Google’s trembling in their Adwords boots right now, but it’s probably been on their radar.

That said, social advertising has had the disadvantage of being relatively uncertain for a time, due to the platforms and tools that facilitate it not having as much time to evolve like the ones that support more traditional online advertising. Twitter, long the number two social media network in the English-speaking world, is looking to rectify this by rolling out a feature they call “ads editor” – yes, all lower case – which allows advertisers to bulk edit the parameters and copy of their twitter ads using excel spreadsheet uploads. The use of such techniques is far from new, but it could certainly be a blessing for those who manage hundreds or thousands of different twitter advertisements for their clients’ campaigns (or their own, for that matter).

Things like end dates, budgets, and targeting criteria can be changed en masse by simply downloading a spreadsheet of your campaign, making the appropriate edits, and re-uploading it, explains twitter’s project manager Deepak Rao. Once uploaded, a single click will apply the changes you’ve specified to all affected campaigns; it’s that easy.

The tool will be especially useful to large-volume advertisers, who have the budget to bankroll massive trial and error campaigns based around hashtags and keywords much in the same way Adwords giants work: They begin with ads based around thousand of keywords, sometimes with multiple variants of copy each, and slowly trim the fat, taking away those that perform poorly and focusing instead on split-testing frontrunners. In theory, twitter’s new ads editor will allow advertisers to conduct these types of changes with relative ease compared to the manual editing required before.

Of course, your own intuitive (or learned) marketing savvy will be your best tool here, but no one ever complained about a little time-saving help from technology, right? The tool itself is not available to the public yet, but twitter plans to begin rolling it out to select advertising partners over the next few days. These individuals and firms will get the first chance to test the new product, before twitter expects to have the platform fully rolled out for everyone within two to three weeks. If you’re keep to see if you’re one of the chosen few for this tiered testing, keep your eyes peeled for a notification from ads.twitter.com

Of course, early skeptics of the tool have already emerged, arguing that the use of such a primitive tool as Excel might mean limiting the capabilities of users on ads editor. For example, finding a simple way to factor potential reach and suggested bid into spreadsheets will be difficult, as a spreadsheet will exist as a static, offline document once you edit it on your computer. If the tool worked in a browser-based office variant, however, it might be able to make suggestions in real time in accordance with your edits.

Of course, only time will tell how well the tool actually catches on, but here’s to hoping for the best.

September 6, 2015 by EziSell

Trimming the Fat – Copy Tips for Saying More With Less

Copywriting doesn’t always get the credit it deserves. From the billions of dollars in sales each day that hinge on a well-formatted sales letter, to a polished TV commercial script, to the catchy jingle or slogan you just can’t get out of your head, effective professional, persuasive writing, “copywriting,” does a lot for us as marketers.

It’s unfortunate then that copy is often neglected as a luxury expense or an unnecessary cog in many marketers’ or business owners’ sales funnels. The reason, inevitably, is cost. Good copywriters know that their words will have a direct effect on your conversion rates, and thus the money you make, and leverage that knowledge for a nice payday. It then goes to follow that many marketers begin crafting their own copy. To be honest, even if you don’t have the polish and practice of a professional, someone who is a good writer in general can learn to produce decent copy to keep them growing and selling until they can afford a dedicated copywriter. The key word there, however, is “learn.”

Amateur copy is almost always identifiable by a lack of brevity; people often write too much and get too wordy, losing their vital, important, life-changing points amongst superfluous, unnecessary adjectives and ineffective anecdotes. See what I did there? That sentence could have been a lot shorter! Today, we’ll take a look at how you can catch yourself and self-edit copy to stay effective and to the point.

1) Cut out very. The concept of “cutting out very” is probably referenced in proper copywriting books somewhere, but here’s my take on it. The tendency in sales writing is to be, well, selly. The way to do this however is with proper punctuation and, more importantly, by getting inside your audience’s head and telling them what they want to hear. Unfortunately, amateur writers usually use “filler” words. The word ‘very’ is one prominent example, because it is a false enhancer that is rarely needed. Don’t say “It’s very good,” say “it’s the best.” Another example is the use of very before the word ‘unique’, which is redundant. Something is either unique or it isn’t, it’s not “very unique.”

2) Boil it down to exactly what someone needs to know. One of the biggest things you can do to make your copywriting effective is to put yourself in the shoes of the person you’re writing to. This gets you out of salesman mode and helps you think about what someone with the problem you’re offering a solution for actually wants to hear. Sometimes, doing this can help us see that what we’re put down is over the top, too selly or spammy, or even just flat out unhelpful!

3) Proofread 80 times. And I’m not just talking about any usual proofread. Sure, you’re going to be checking your spelling and grammar and making sure everything lines up, but a copywriting proofread should see you putting on another hat as well, the “could this possibly sound any better?!” hat. Read each sentence and look for words that could be dropped, phrases that could be made more appropriate for your customers, etc.

Of course, just like every facet of IM, there’s always more to learn on the copywriting front, but this should get you headed in the right direction until you can hire a personal Don Draper of your own.

September 3, 2015 by EziSell

Social Media Marketing Tips That Works

Marketing your business through social media is quickly becoming a necessity rather than an option. If you’d like to see how this can positively affect your business, keep reading for great ideas on how you can utilize these online platforms to market and advertise your company, product or business.

If you are going to create a social media profile, you must be willing to continuously update it. Your customers may expect regular updates. If you don’t provide these, you may find yourself losing customers. Aim for publishing updates more than a couple times a week.

Always answer to the messages and comments you receive on social networks. Be sure to check for comments and questions at least once a day. They’re easy to miss, so you have to be vigilant.

If you are considering social media marketing, the first thing you should do is sign up with as many social media websites as possible with your preferred account names. These account names should include your business names. This is particularly important for websites like Twitter where your account name is your displayed name. As time goes on, it will become more and more difficult for you to get the account name that you want. Reserve those names now.

Employing social media marketing strategies can be a great way to keep in contact with your customer base, and develop relationships. Customers that friend you on Facebook, or follow you on Twitter do so willingly. They want to hear from you. You can therefore notify them of new upcoming products, sales and discounts, or even just information concerning your business and industry without the fear of being too intrusive.

Monitor the work of your competition. Find them on social networks and pay attention to their methods. You could either try using a similar method or think of something they have not yet started.

When you are introducing a new product or looking for feedback, use social media websites for market research. People love to give feedback about products and are eager to chime in. Their feedback will let you look at your business from the outside through their eyes, seeing the things they want and the things they have yet to find. On top of all this, this feedback is of no cost to your business.

To make the most of social media marketing, respond to questions and comments in a very timely manner. You do not want to sit at your desk refreshing your inbox 24/7, but you do want to check in multiple times per day if possible. Anyone asking questions is either a loyal customer you want to retain and get more business from, or an interested prospect who might open their wallet if you give them some personal attention.

Branding is so important within social media. You need to always incorporate your logo into your social media profile. Use the same color palette on every one of your social media accounts. Your followers will associate these colors with your brands and trust you because you are consistent. Consistency means advantageous branding in identifying yourself and letting you stand out from your competition.

Establish your business’s presences by name, on both Twitter and Facebook. Staking a claim to your business’s name on these sites will prevent someone else from posting content that is meaningless or even damaging to you. Even if you are far from actively employing the account, you’ll have staked your claim to your name.

Taking your business to the next level requires a new wave of marketing efforts that you have not previously tried. Social media marketing could very easily be this new wave that you are searching for. If you use the tips and suggestions here, you can find success in your new marketing efforts.

September 1, 2015 by EziSell

The No BS Intuitive Guide To SEO Success

SEO is one of those secretive beasts that has been the obsession of online marketers since the dawn of their profession. Especially with the event of one search engine pulling far ahead of the rest in its usage, an intense culture was born out of focusing on how to best game or manipulate Google’s search algorithms over the years.

Now, for better or for worse – and I think for better – Google has wised up and, through a series of updates, brought their algorithms into the modern day by being able to account for the factors that make a site most relevant to users today. While this is great for Google’s users, it does mean that getting your site on top of relevant search results is no longer a simple matter of pulling the right strings for a few days and awaiting results. So, without further adieu, here are a few ways you can ensure your SEO success in 2015 and beyond.

Google knows what it wants, and so do you!

Google’s end game has always been about providing the best user experience possible. They want to make sure that the results they display are getting people to their desired answers as quickly as possible. While there are literally thousands of metrics that go into determining what websites best service the interests of a given query, a little bit of honesty about your site can go a long way in getting results. In every decision you make, you should be evaluating your options from a consumer perspective: Don’t think about your bottom line, or your conversions, or your sales funnel. Instead, figure out what decision will provide the best possible experience for people searching your niche. Have you adequately answered an asked question? Will your bounce rate remain low because people want to stick around and read what you have to say? These kinds of questions can help you honestly evaluate the usefulness of your site.

Social Indicators Are Huge

If you aren’t killing it in social media already, you’re behind the curve – but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t get started now anyways! Google has been known to, since the beginning of their work as a search engine – weight links and references to your sites as more or less important depending on where they come from. Nowadays, you can bet that social “buzz” is a metric taken into account by Google when ranking any site.

Now, being an expert in your market requires you to also take your social controls by the horns and get active. Promoting your own brand and site(s) through social can generate a kind of natural traction â€“ providing you’re putting out good content – that Google has no choice but to love. Well, that is, until the game changes again.

Ride Waves, Don’t chase Them

The best note to leave you on has to do with education. Simply put, you should be researching SEO and social bloggers and thought leaders regularly. Keeping up is half the battle, and you never know which big trend you can ride the front of and end up catapulted to the top of your market.