In both my book on Social Media Marketing and my online social media marketing course for Stanford Continuing Studies, I recommend that you identify a few “companies to emulate.” These are not your competitors; these are brands that you admire, brands that (hopefully) you engage with as a real consumer, brands that are “aspirational” to you in the sense of social media. Then, along the way – you can “reverse engineer” their strategies, whether it’s for their overall social media marketing, their content marketing, or within a specific platform such as YouTube or TikTok. In this post, I want to talk about a brand that I admire: Chipotle. Full disclosure: I also like to eat Chipotle! Continue reading
GA4 Tutorial: A Tongue-in-Cheek Tour of GA4 with Links to Resources
Google, in its infinite wisdom and (monopoly) power, is forcing us all into the world of GA4 (Google Analytics 4). Goody-goody! Oh, great joy! Please, sir, can I have another? GA4 is universally condemned as a trainwreck of a user interface, but few are brave enough or confident enough to get the attention of the Googlers on the GA4 team who are forcing us all to adopt it by summer, 2023. I’m not going to sugar coat this. I hate GA4. It’s the worst. Maybe over time Google will listen to user feedback… but for now, we’re stuck with it. Let’s make the best of it and learn the basics of GA4. Continue reading
Link-Building Ideas: The ‘Definitive List’ of Link-Building Ideas for SEO
Link-building is fundamental to SEO. In this post, I am not going to explain what links are, nor why they matter. I’m going to ignore nofollow vs. dofollow, domain authority, relevance and all the technical details. I’m assuming you know that. You’re ready for “link-building.” What you need is a list of ideas. A checklist of ideas on how to build links, that you can run through looking for easy link ideas. Continue reading
Content is King on Social Media: You are the Court Jester
In my book on Social Media Marketing, I remind people that “social media is a party” and “you are the party-thrower.” That’s totally true. People (customers, potential customers…) come to your Facebook, Instagram, TikTok… to “have fun” and to “consume content.” In this post, let’s dig into content. They say, “Content is King,” especially on social media… and we are all content marketers now. That’s true as well. You are the “Court Jester,” the person responsible for creating, nurturing, spurring, encouraging, and otherwise getting a reliable stream of text posts, text, pictures, photographs, infographics, videos (oh, yes, videos) onto your social platforms.
Let’s investigate! Continue reading
Digital Marketing: Strategy, Skills, & Attitude
That “marketing has gone digital” is pretty much a platitude by 2022. Yes, there still exists “traditional” marketing, especially “word of mouth,” and to a greatly diminished extent since the Pandemic, trade shows. But traditional print media – magazines, trade press, and daily newspapers… are all but extinct, reaching only the most “traditional” and “elderly” of consumers. Billboards? OK, yes, they still exist. Direct mail – not dead (yet), and so on and so forth. Some of the traditional venues and methodologies are “hanging on” but they’re more like a 99 year old woman in a nursing home, than a young vibrant lad of just 16. Continue reading
Managing Your Facebook Business Page: You Have (Too Many) Choices
A “business page” is a must if you want to use Facebook for marketing. Whereas individuals have “profiles,” businesses have “pages.” A “page” is the foundational element to using Facebook for either organic or paid advertising. Facebook has more than one way, however, to manage your business page. In this post, I will focus on “organic” marketing on Facebook and the different tools that Facebook (Meta) has for managing your business page. My examples are also drawn from the desktop, although if you’re a 100% phone person you can also manage these resources via the Facebook app.
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What is a Hashtag?
The goal of social media marketing is to “build your brand” and (ultimately) “sell more stuff.” One way to do this is to engage in online customer conversations. “Hashtags” are essentially the markers of “online conversations.” People who are talking about “organic food” will mark their conversations (on Twitter, Instagram, TikTok – primarily) with hashtags such as #organic or #organicfood or #natural. Continue reading
Social Trust Indicators & Social Media Marketing: Becoming a Trustworthy Brand
“Social Trust” is a buzzword you hear a lot among marketers. Either you’ve got “social trust” or you don’t. But what is “social trust,” and more importantly how can you – as a small business marketer – influence it in a positive direction? Let’s investigate. Continue reading
Autocomplete on Google: Brainstorming Keywords for SEO, Google Ads, and Social Media Marketing
Keywords are the foundation not just of SEO or Google Ads, but even, I would argue, social media marketing. What are your customers searching for? What are they talking about (on social)? Google’s autocomplete is an easy tool to research your keywords. Let’s investigate. Continue reading
Social Media Marketing World – Review & Random Notes on the Best Show for Social Media
Social Media World came “back,” bigger and better after a one-year hiatus due to COVID-19. The show is each year in March in San Diego, and the team at Social Media Examiner blows it off the roof as one of the absolutely best shows I attend each year. If you have the budget, get it and go to it. #lovethisshow. Here are my own random notes and thoughts from Social Media Marketing World 2022. Continue reading
