{"id":1842,"date":"2020-03-25T19:31:15","date_gmt":"2020-03-25T19:31:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/leap.staging.ribbitt.com\/leap-group\/a-business-once-lost-is-now-found\/"},"modified":"2022-08-10T14:49:21","modified_gmt":"2022-08-10T14:49:21","slug":"a-business-once-lost-is-now-found","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/leap.staging.ribbitt.com\/leap-group\/a-business-once-lost-is-now-found\/","title":{"rendered":"A Business Once Lost is Now Found"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Micro-is-Massive\"<\/p>\n

Social Media, Marketing, and Being Online Isn’t New to Me.<\/div>\n
\n

I typed out my first blog post in 2002 and not long after, hit publish on my
\nfirst podcast in 2004. Before that, I would spend hours online chatting with
\nstrangers from around the globe.\n<\/p>\n

Today, I travel the world speaking and consulting about social good,
\nmarketing and creativity.\n<\/p>\n

My first book Content Rules has been translated into fourteen languages
\nand is used in classrooms and offices around the globe. I share this with
\nyou, so that you know I’m not just another social media expert\/guru\/ninja\/
\nrock star who after figuring out Instagram and Snapchat, decided they
\ncould make money by selling their ‘knowledge’ to others.\n<\/p>\n

When I consult, the client’s best interests are always first, and any advice
\nI give is from years of experience in the trenches as a content creator
\nacross multiple mediums and working on a variety of campaigns for
\ncompanies of all sizes.\n<\/p>\n

My aim is help you and your organization spend your time and money wisely.
\nThe advice that follows is to help you be better with your online efforts.\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Find and Tell Your Story<\/div>\n
\n

Yes, you’ve got great products or services that people would
\nbe silly not to pay for, but you are about more than that.\n<\/p>\n

Why did you start your business?
\nWhy do you sell what you do?\n<\/p>\n

Consumers need to feel an emotional response in connection
\nto what you create and post online, in both the search AND
\nsocial settings.\n<\/p>\n

Work with your agency or team to find the heart of your story
\nand then work it into all that you create. Every story is unique
\nand by finding yours, it will help you stand out from your
\ncompetitors on both search and social.\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Time Trumps Money<\/div>\n
\n

When it comes to our budgets, we all dream of bigger ones.
\nEven though money is important, I’d argue that your most
\nvaluable resource is time. Everyone only has 24 hours a day
\nin which to work, create and do everything else that comes
\nwith our busy lives. You can’t throw away that time with social
\nefforts that are not going to bring you a return.\n<\/p>\n

Never do something because everyone else is doing it.
\nRemember that bridge our parents always talked to us about
\njumping off of? You probably don’t need a Pinterest if you are
\na staffing company. But, you probably DO need a Pinterest if
\nyou’re a DIY craft store. Choose your social platforms wisely,
\notherwise, they’ll rarely be found on search.\n<\/p>\n

Establish a clear social and marketing strategy with measurable
\ngoals that you can then develop tactics against. Yes, you
\nshould make time to experiment with new tools and opportunities,
\nbut never waste your time. By planning out your editorial
\ncalendar months ahead of time, you can better protect
\nyour resources and use them in the wisest way possible.\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Create Often to Get More Comfortable Creating<\/div>\n
\n

Ask anyone who has mastered a skill how they got to
\nthat point, and they will tell you through doing it day
\nin and day out.\n<\/p>\n

Companies like Google are heavily investing in monetizing
\nmobile platforms – which is no surprise, given the explosive
\ngrowth in mobile search. The most important thing to
\nremember is that this area is constantly changing.
\nWhat’s true and effective right at this moment may not be
\napplicable six months from now – as such, mobile marketing
\nstrategies must be flexible if they’re going to succeed.\n<\/p>\n

If blogging is going to be a big part of your strategy,
\nthen start writing. Every other day write a post, and
\nover the course of a few weeks, you’ll find yourself
\ngetting more comfortable with it.\n<\/p>\n

Want to understand Instagram? Take an office photo
\nat least once a day. Use the editing tools to give the
\nphotos a look you like. At first it will feel awkward
\nand you will question every photo you take, but in no
\ntime you’ll be whipping out your phone and taking
\nphotos because now you see images to capture and
\nshare, rather than having to seek them out.
\nThese photos give your audience a personal connection
\nto what your business represents. And don’t
\nforget, you want to be searchable on Instagram.
\nHashtags are your friends when it comes to optimizing
\nyour search strategy.\n<\/p>\n

In the beginning creating content will feel like a
\nchore. The more creating you do the more second
\nnature it’ll become, and you’ll find yourself
\nenjoying it.\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Content Starts Conversations<\/div>\n
\n

It doesn’t matter if it is an informative blog post,
\na quirky photo or a new product video. Your hope
\nshould be to always start a conversation with all you
\ncreate. The key is that you have to be there when the
\nconversation starts and keep it going.\n<\/p>\n

It is not unheard of for potential customers to ask
\nquestions on Instagram to find out where they can
\nbuy a product in your photo. And if you begin writing
\nthought leadership pieces on LinkedIn, be prepared for
\npeople to challenge your thinking and expect answers.\n<\/p>\n

Please remember one of our Content Rules of “Speak
\nHuman.” No one wants to hear your acronyms or fine
\ncrafted marketing messages. If they ask a simple
\nquestion, they expect a simple answer. After all, this
\nis their way of using SOCIAL to SEARCH for their answers.
\nSpeak to them as you would if they came into
\nyour store or asked you a question at a cocktail party.
\nJust because there is a keyboard between you and
\nthem, doesn’t mean you have to act any differently.\n<\/p>\n

There is nothing bad that can come from thanking
\npeople for their comments, replying to questions
\nand genuinely talking to anyone who reacts to
\nyour content.\n<\/p>\n

In fact, by acting like a human (rather than a brand)
\nyou’ll prove to the world that you care about what
\nthey have to say. They’ll feel welcomed to keep
\nchecking out what you publish because they’ll recognize
\nthat you are not just doing it for the Google juice.\n<\/p>\n

\"SEO-is-Dead-image\"<\/p>\n

A few years ago, all you needed was as many
\ninbound links as possible from any site on the web,
\nall the right keywords on your site and a few
\nother tricks, and you could increase your search
\nengine rankings.\n<\/p>\n

Google, realizing that people were gaming the system
\nand seeing their users quickly becoming unhappy
\nwith their search results, changed the game.\n<\/p>\n

The algorithm for how Google decides the order of
\nsearch results is constantly changing. But, right
\nnow they care about several different things including
\nhow mobile-friendly your site is, how often new
\ncontent is published on the site and how many other
\npeople are linking to and talking about your content
\non social media. Your social presence now enhances
\nyour Google search results.\n<\/p>\n

Yes, you want to make sure you have relevant
\nkeywords in your posts, and your headlines will
\nalways be important. But, so many of the tricks that
\nallowed people to put ‘SEO Expert’ on their business
\ncards are behind us.\n<\/p>\n

Your best strategy for showing up on the first page of
\nGoogle is to create the best content for your topics
\nand keep creating more of it. Don’t forget that Google
\nnow shows images and videos in search results,
\nso don’t neglect the visual side of the content coin.\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Play the Long Game<\/div>\n
\n

Social media is NOT going away. Every week you can see it evolving and growing beyond what many
\never imagined.\n<\/p>\n

Do you know anyone that doesn’t own a smartphone? What about someone that isn’t on any social
\nnetwork? The whole world is getting connected in one form or another, and after they get sick of
\npersonality quizzes and the latest BuzzFeed video, they are going to seek out other things.\n<\/p>\n

Customers expect to be able to find, follow and interact with brands not only by using a search engine,
\nbut also across social platforms. Over time, this can help you build deep business relationships and
\ntrust with them. But, you’ll need to constantly feed the beast and publish new things to continue to
\ngrow a social media presence.\n<\/p>\n

Every time you have a new product, special or something that you want your customers to know about,
\nyou’ve got to integrate it into your marketing strategy. Social media rarely gives its gold away immediately,
\nand thus you have to always be thinking long-term and ongoing.\n<\/p>\n

Unlike a media campaign where you can pay lots of money to ramp up quickly, today’s marketing world
\ntakes time. Unlike that same media campaign that ends as soon as you stop paying money, what you
\npublish today is out there forever. Every blog post, webinar, photo, video and status update lives on for
\nall to find.\n<\/p>\n

So when you are creating social media content, remember – it is also searchable.\n<\/p>\n

\"search-and-social\"<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Want to be found on both Search and Social?<\/h3>\n

Follow these basic rules:<\/h3>\n
    \n
  1. Find your story\n
    <\/div>\n

    <\/p>\n

    2. Establish a clear social and marketing strategy with measurable goals<\/span><\/div>\n
      \n
    • The key business objectives\/goals should be
      \n measured through relevant metrics. Results of
      \n an eMarketer survey of 632 marketers revealed
      \n the most commonly used metrics for measuring
      \n content strategy success were: lead conversions
      \n and sales (32%), social shares and “likes” (19%),
      \n page views (16%), unique visitors (11%), followers
      \n and subscribers (9%), time on site (7%), and other
      \n (6%)(eMarketer, 2016).<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
    • Measurement continues to be an area for
      \n improvement, as 21% of marketers feel they are
      \n successful at tracking ROI (Content Marketing
      \n Institute, 2014).<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
      3. Don’t just post or share something because everyone else is\n <\/div>\n
        \n
      • Uniqueness matters. 76% of shoppers felt more
        \n positive about a company after consuming custom
        \n content (Onboardly, 2015).<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
        4. Post content that matters to your target audience\n <\/div>\n
          \n
        • More content does not equate to higher traffic.
          \n Less than 20% of a website’s content drives more
          \n than 90% of traffic. Half of a percent of content
          \n drives 50% of traffic (Onboardly, 2015).<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
        • 60-70% of content is never used because the
          \n content is not relevant to the target audience
          \n (Onboardly, 2015).<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
          5. Spending time creating trumps spending money creating\n <\/div>\n
            \n
          • Curata surveyed a sample of marketers and found
            \n that most content is authored on behalf their own
            \n organization (63%), with less being curated (24%)
            \n or syndicated (13%) (Curata, 2014)<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

            6. Speak human and interact with your social followers
            \n <\/p>\n

            <\/span><\/div>\n

            <\/p>\n

            7. Use visuals wisely<\/span><\/div>\n
              \n
            • Visual display of content is among the most
              \n popular tactics among B2B marketers, with
              \n 69% using illustrations\/photos and 62% using
              \n infographics (Content Marketing Institute, 2014).<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
            • 37% increase in user engagement if the content has
              \n compelling visuals (Business 2 Community, 2015)<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
            • 40% of users will provide more favorable responses
              \n to visual content than text-based content (Business
              \n 2 Community, 2015)<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
              8. Again, CONTENT CONTENT CONTENT\n <\/div>\n
                \n
              • 91% of companies surveyed by Ragan (2015) use
                \n content marketing.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
                9. Social media is not going away – be ready to play the long game\n <\/div>\n
                  \n
                • There will be an estimated 2.29 billion worldwide
                  \n social media users by 2017 (Statista, 2016).<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
                • 43% of marketers think social media is the most
                  \n important contributor to marketing success
                  \n (Gartner, 2014).<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

                  Social Media, Marketing, and Being Online Isn’t New to Me.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":43,"featured_media":1843,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[85,59],"issue":[17],"collection":[],"class_list":["post-1842","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-campaigns-advertising","tag-search","issue-the-coming-together-of-search-social"],"acf":[],"gutentor_comment":0,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/leap.staging.ribbitt.com\/leap-group\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1842","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/leap.staging.ribbitt.com\/leap-group\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/leap.staging.ribbitt.com\/leap-group\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leap.staging.ribbitt.com\/leap-group\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/43"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leap.staging.ribbitt.com\/leap-group\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1842"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/leap.staging.ribbitt.com\/leap-group\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1842\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leap.staging.ribbitt.com\/leap-group\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1843"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/leap.staging.ribbitt.com\/leap-group\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1842"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leap.staging.ribbitt.com\/leap-group\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1842"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leap.staging.ribbitt.com\/leap-group\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1842"},{"taxonomy":"issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leap.staging.ribbitt.com\/leap-group\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/issue?post=1842"},{"taxonomy":"collection","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leap.staging.ribbitt.com\/leap-group\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/collection?post=1842"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}