7 Strategic Tips for Better Competitive Listening on Social Media

By My Web Writers

Establishing an explicit social media strategy is important for your business or brand’s social marketing tactics to be effective and productive. Incorporating competitive listening as part of that social media strategy is advantageous for several reasons.

First, listening is ongoing. The internet and blogosphere are both always changing and social listening gives your brand a competitive edge.

Furthermore, it helps you understand your customers (the target of your social media strategy!), and also stakeholders, as well as potential target demographics or other types of opportunities for growth.

Evaluate whether the following tips are implicitly or explicitly incorporated into your current social strategy and identify areas for strategic competitive growth in social marketing.

1. Tune in to trends. Listen and track search behaviors over time to develop a better understanding of seasonality in your target demographic. Free tools such as Google Trends and Tweet Volume can help you gain an appreciation for what is in important as well as when it matters for the groups you are targeting.
2. Follow competitors on Social Media. Set up lists on Twitter, Circles on Google+, even separate lists on Facebook and various blog rings with your competitors’ social media. See what appears to be working for them and do recon with tools like SpyFu.
3. Understand where your target audience lives online.  Quantcast asserts that the majority of Tumblr users are under 34.  If your brand is targeting Baby Boomers for time shares in the Poconos, you probably aren’t listening competitively or strategically if you have Tumblr as part of your social marketing strategy.
4. Understand who your influencers are. Ben Straley, CEO of Meteor Solutions, researched and reported that “the type of friends, fans and followers a brand amasses on social media sites matters more than the number. On average, approximately 1% of a site’s audience generates 20% of all its traffic through sharing of the brand’s content or site links with others.”  Furthermore, a Forrester research report showed that the minority of users generates around 80% of the impressions and influence posts.  Promote your influencers even more. Make them famous.

1. Save targeted hashtags for industry specific keywords or events. Watch how people talk about you, your brand, your products and/or services as well as keeping an eye on topics of interest among industry professionals. You never want to be the last to know about anything relevant to your industry or profession.
2. Highlight in your social business strategy the need to dial in on “relevancy and reputation management.” You can even use those words. Be sure pertinent employees and contractors understand that is a critical focus and hone in on the other strategic methods for maintaining both aspects. In order to do this, Social Media Examiner recommends starting a virtual task force to share information that is learned.  Have conversations around best practices and negatives.
3. Use your own Site Analytics in conjunction with consumer keywords. Just because you operate a “pre-owned vehicle” dealership doesn’t mean that most of your target audience is searched “pre-owned vehicle.” A competitive listening strategy would uncover that the majority of searches for that type of item are from consumers typing in “used car,” even if you’d never use the term yourself.

For further solutions, Ken Burbary compiled a wiki of Social Media Monitoring Solutions that you can peruse to plug in and practice competitive social listening.  Remember, understanding various social media strategies is part of your social business strategy, and reading fun and insightful blogs across the social media industry is a legitimate use of your work hours – you’re listening competitively. ~Sara

See Also:

5 Ways to Write Content on a Shoe-String Budget

Social Networking for Business:; Success Stories from Three Brands

Is Your e-Store Prepared for Summer Shoppers?

What is Bing’s Subjectship and How does it Compare to Google’s Authorship?

By Natalie @MyWebWriters

Webmasters are always looking for the next great SEO boost. Google Authorship was launched this past year, so it was only natural that Bing would fire back with its own version, Bing Subjectship. Understanding the two and how they compare can help content writers and other authors and readers decide which they prefer from the world’s two favorite search engines.

Google Authorship

Although just a youngster, Google Authorship is proving itself as a successful tool to drive traffic to websites, especially blogs.  Look at the Google search to the right for “Google Authorship.” The photos you see are the authors of the articles.

Since Google added Authorship to its articles, the click-through rates are much higher than they were before.

Bing’s Subjectship

Bing decided to compete with Google via Bing Subjectship. Instead of seeing a picture of who wrote a specific article or blog post, you’ll see a picture of the subject matter.  If I wrote a popular blog post on a famous singer, my picture would show up next to the search result in Google, but Bing would show a picture of the famous singer and the picture might not be one I even used in my post.  Subjectship appears to be in an experimental stage.

This video further highlights some of the differences between Authorship and Subjectship:

After we contacted Bing for more information about Subjectship, we received the following reply.

It’s me again Docs from Bing Technical Support. We apologize for the delay of our response. We would like to provide you an update from our product group about your inquiry on Bing Subjectship. Allow me to discuss this with you.

Bing Support provides assistance for customers needing help with Bing and the features within Bing. We are unable to provide any additional information regarding Bing Subjectship nor any future plans and releases pertaining to Bing.

Thank you for your inquiry and interest in Bing.
Best Regards,

Docs
Bing Technical Support

So which do you find more appealing- a photo of who wrote the article or blog post, or a photo of who the post is about?

Clever Conference Presentation Openings

By My Web Writers

“Well, hello!” Presenter Smith greets his initially attentive audience, continuing with, “I’m Presenter Smith.  How nice of you to be here inside with me on this sunny afternoon.”

Yes, the audience thinks, nodding inwardly, wondering exactly how nice it is outside.

“I’m from Sheboygan—well, actually, Sheboygan Falls, Wisconsin, but Sheboygan’s close enough—and—“

The audience members start to check their brochures for the name of the presentation, wondering What was it I wanted to hear about here?

“—I’ve been running my own little XYZ firm for about the last twenty years. I never get tired of speaking about XYZ, and I hope you all will find this as interesting as I do.”

Presenter Smith’s audience has checked out mentally about 40 seconds into the presentation. It’s a familiar experience for seasoned conference attendees, and with good reason. The Internet and public speaking books are rife with advice that generally goes along these lines:

Build rapport with the audience. Establish a connection. Say something personal. Capture the audience’s attention.

All that sounds well and good, but in the wrong hands, is a recipe for disaster.

Collude and Inspire

Check out Peter Diamandis’ Opening Presentation at X PRIZE’s ‘incentive2innovate’ Conference. He opens by involving the audience personally as his cohorts in working at solving global problems at a crucial moment in time, stating, “At this moment in history, when the world has so many extraordinary challenges paired with economic restrictions, how we attack those problems and solve them – because fundamentally I believe all problems can be solved—the question is how to do it in an efficient fashion.”  For a talk such as Diamandis’, he could have set out to convey information—information he thought to be important, for sure, but ultimately, information—but instead, his opening move was to inspire.

Be different.

Watch the first 30 seconds or so of singer Amanda Palmer’s TED talk on the Art of Asking:

Palmer conveys both the unexpected and the personal.  You might scoff and say, “oh, she’s an entertainer, she can get away with that,” or “this is a TED talk, my conference presentation is for a totally different audience.” In response, you must know that one of the key elements for an interesting and captivating conference presentation is not only to hear information in a new way, but to be engaged in a new and different way, as well. Unless, of course, you are actually at the Boring Conference, but if not, well, then the odds are decidedly not in your favor that anyone in the room wants to hear a talk that’s “Like Listening to Paint Dry.”

Open Up

Don’t be afraid to say something different—your audience is crying out for it. If they can’t be in awe of your motivational presentation mojo, then let them see you. Remember, you’re unique, just like everyone else.  While that may seem trite, you should think of it as reassuring. While we may not all have been living eight foot statutes like Amanda Palmer, odds are that there was something in her weird that resonated with more than one person in the audience and who has since watched that clip.

Challenge Assumptions

A great speech answers a great need. This doesn’t have to be a speech or presentation on ending world hunger, solving the malaria crisis in sub-Saharan Africa, or turning the current economic crisis on end. The “great need” could be a need that your audience was not even aware that they had—and when you answer it, they’ll never forget your presentation.

Get Real

The best presentation opener you can offer is earnest confidence and true sincerity.  The primacy effect serves to remind us that as humans, we tend to remember things better if they were presented first, rather than later one. It’s also known as first impressions, because if you make a great connection with your audience, they’ll be sure to remember they could trust you, and be more motivated to buy your product, try your solutions, work for your company, and so on.

So, PUNCH It!

Use the acronym PUNCH to remember specific techniques for opening your next conference presentation (or your first).  Remember, the acronym isn’t just to remember the techniques by, but it also is the technique. Start strong, with no wibbly-wobbly “Hi, my name is” tried and true boredom trustees  that every other presenter you’ve wanted to walk out on has done. Start strong—PUNCH it! ~Sara

Other Articles You Might Enjoy:

Speech Openers That Capture Your Audience

Five Video Perfect Speech Opener Ideas

Pick Up the Pen: Essential Tips to Overcoming Writer’s Block

Use Your Writing Gifts to Better the World

Seven Local Angles to Address in Your Content

My Web Writers

As a local business or blogger, location alone is not enough to help maximize your reach to your target audience. It’s equally important to highlight local angles in your online content as well. In doing so, you create a niche market and improve search engine optimization (SEO) for those who may be searching by specific location. This is a powerful tool that can be easily incorporated into any type of content, no matter the size or industry. Take a look at these seven ideas for addressing local angles in your content:

1. Highlight other well-known businesses

As a local business you should be in touch and in tune with the fellow businesses that surround you. If you have a synergistic relationship with them, it’s easy to incorporate their services or skills into your own content by including their name and location. In doing so, you harness a portion of their SEO power for yourself. Link back to their web site and refer to them by their full business name. For content ideas, you can write about how your services complement each other and create an even greater benefit for customers who patronize you both.

2. Include landmark photos and tag appropriately

Another way to highlight your immediate surroundings is to include a mention of local landmarks, well-known businesses or tourist destinations in your content. All of these are heavily searched terms online. By including these same terms in your content as well as photos that are tagged with relevant keywords, you will improve your SEO for local searches. Try taking your own photos and writing about the personal meaning they have to you or your business. Maybe they’re something you see every day or something that inspires you.

3. Feature a local blogger

A quick search should provide you with many options for local bloggers in your area. They can cover an array of topics including opinion, sports, community events or night life. Reach out to one that is relevant to your content and ask if they would be willing to contribute a guest post for you to use. Even more simply, ask for permission to re-blog an article that relates to your business. Be sure to link back to the blogger and include their name and bio in your own content to maximize the impact.

4. Write a review

If you’ still stumped with how to include a local angle in your online content, try writing a review for a business or event that you know well. People are often searching for reviews online and by offering relevant and valuable content you will draw in more viewers to your own web site.

5. Make a resource guide

This is similar to writing a review, but instead you create an entire guide of multiple businesses or events in which you can offer some expertise. Give tips and advice that people can use to get the best experience and utilize links and keywords to your resources as much as appropriate.

6. Cover a community event

Businesses and night life are hot topics for local content, but so are community events. People are often looking for things to do or more information on a festival or community gathering they heard about. To incorporate an event into your content, try writing a “what to expect” feature where readers can learn what all is going on and when. Again, this creates valuable content which drives more readers and increases SEO.

7. Link to other local sites as often as possible

For all of the local angle ideas mentioned, it is critical that you include links to external sites for the different businesses, events and resources you reference. Linking to a web site that has strong SEO will help improve yours as well and will rank you higher in searches for the keywords you both share.

By adding a local angle to your content on a regular basis, you will improve your reach toward your target audience. For local businesses and bloggers this is a critical tool for maximizing your online potential and the impact of your content marketing! ~ Stephanie

Other MWW Articles:

Twenty-five Effective Call to Action Phrases

Local Ideas for National Brands

National Brands Without Physical Stores Struggle to Rank

 

What is Markdown and How Do Writers Use It?

By My Web Writers

HyperText Markup Language (HTML) has long been the official way to write content for the web. The pros use it to format text in ways that the average writer will never understand unless they take the time to learn it.

But there’s a tool some writers use and many more should be using when it comes to writing for the web. It’s called Markdown, and while it’s been around for some time now, many people still don’t understand how useful it can be.

Markdown, according to its creator John Gruber, is a “text-to-HTML conversion tool for web writers. Markdown allows you to write using an easy-to-read, easy-to-write plain text format, then convert it to structurally valid XHTML (or HTML).”

For web writers, XHTML/HTML can look like a complete mess and is difficult to read. Not only that, but it can be confusing with so many codes to remember and sprinkled about your writing. Writers might worry more about the HTML formatting than about the actual content.

Markdown is especially useful for web writers because it’s fast to type. There’s no highlighting, no dragging your mouse here and there, you simply use Markdown as you’re typing. It’s also easy to read. There aren’t tags and code in the way of what you’re writing.

Give it a shot using the online Dingus.  Here is an example of something written in Markdown, using the very helpful “Syntax Cheatsheet” on the right-hand side of the screen on the online Dingus:

Then, click on “Convert” and you are shown the HTML Source, which is covered in code and other sometimes confusing markings:

And the final preview:

Markdown is especially great for web writers who don’t know HTML and even more useful for web writers who have no desire to learn HTML. Writing in HTML can be a huge, intimidating beast for new web writers, while Markdown is a kinder, easier way to write web content.

One of the reasons so many web writers love Markdown is that it uses plain text files. You can write it in any app or program you like and still be sure the formatting will stay the same if you switch to another program. It’s also easily compatible with a range of applications on your desktop, laptop, tablet, or smartphone.  Search Google Play, the iTunes Store and online for a list of apps.

Using Markdown allows web writers to focus more on their content rather than the syntax of HTML. After all, it’s really all about the content, right? Using Markdown gives web writers the opportunity to type quickly while still formatting text.  There’s no more switching from writing-mode to HTML coding-mode.

Besides being easier to write and easier to read, it’s also available free (as shown above), which is difficult to find these days. There are some more extensive versions of Markdown out there, which do cost a minimal amount, but for the average user, you can find it online for free.  ~Natalie