Content Tips from the Three Most Popular Blogs

Blogs come in all different shapes and sizes and can range from a personal web page updated by one person to a website updated by multiple authors. The key? Blogs are written in an “informal or conversational style.”  To learn from the best, we’ve selected eBiz’s Top 15 Most Popular Blogs for July 2015: The Huffington Post, TMZ, and Business Insider.

So what are their secrets?

Find and publish the best content.

Take The Huffington Post for example – they post viral articles, but not all of these articles are their own. Sure, The Huffington Post has plenty of people writing content for them, but they also have employees who look for content that other people write online. By publishing both types of content, The Huffington Post is able to achieve massive amounts of shares, which increases their popularity.

While this technique may not work for your blog, you can apply similar tactics. For example, you can promote your content to third-party websites, or even invite guests to write for your blog. These tactics will increase your blog’s visibility, while simultaneously generating more traffic.

Keep them curious.

TMZ’s celebrity news output generates more than 30 million visitors monthly. But why? We like to watch celebrities, and we’re generally curious about their lavish and often scandalous lifestyles. TMZ is known for their compelling headlines that generate clicks by leaving readers wanting more detail.

You can apply this to your blog as well – get your readers engaged by piquing their interest with a headline that leaves them dying to know more. Providing exclusive or inside information is an easy way to feed into this curiosity and generate more interaction.

Know your audience inside and out.

Business Insider has a thorough understanding of their target audience; most of their readers are young, business-focused men who consume content during the workday. Knowing this, Business Insider is able to generate content that is specifically tailored to their audience, and keep them coming back for more.

The style in which you write, the content you produce, and the amount of promotion you do is all dependent on your audience. Defining your target market is an important step for planning your blog’s content – you can’t be successful without doing so.

For content marketing and other integrated marketing services, please contact Sagefrog Marketing Group at 215.230.9024 or visit www.sagefrog.com.

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Tips for Gaining a Large and Loyal Twitter Following

Twitter can be extremely effective tool for promoting your brand and generating leads. How can you maximize your content exposure and increase your following? There isn’t one simple answer, but there are several changes you can implement to help you reach your goals.

First and foremost, make sure you’re setting realistic expectations. Aiming for 50,000 new followers in 3 months may be a bit of a stretch, so be reasonable and start small. Think about who you want to reach and how you plan on doing so. Segmenting your market is the best way to reach people who will follow you long-term, not just for a few days. 

Secondly, you need to engage with followers, hashtags, and trending topics. You can’t expect to increase your following without tweeting, or interacting with anyone. Posting regularly and responding to retweets and mentions are the easiest ways to stay active on Twitter, and the more active you are, the better!

Managing your followers and the accounts you follow is also a must. Using follower trackers such as Crowdfire or Followerwonk enable you to easily view new followers and followers you’ve lost. This technique helps you build a follower / following base that is long-term; you’re able to “weed out” spam accounts while focusing on users within your target market.

Scheduling tweets is a great way to remain consistent. Using auto-scheduling tools such as Hootsuite allows you to schedule posts for specific dates and times, which takes the pressure off of remembering to post regularly. Utilizing these tools keeps your account active even if you’re unable to live tweet.

If you choose to pay for Twitter’s “Promote” option, you can increase your account exposure to reach more potential followers. Tell users exactly why they should follow you, and what you have to offer.

Lastly, be sure you’re using tracking and analytics tools to measure your successes and failures. You don’t want your hard work to go to waste, so measure what worked, what didn’t, and adjust your strategies accordingly to optimize performance.

For social media and other integrated marketing services, please contact Sagefrog Marketing Group at 215.230.9024 or visit www.sagefrog.com.

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Five Tips for Building Customer Relationships

“The customer is always right.”

This cliché has been preached to business owners for years, but is it true? Sure, building meaningful relationships with your customers is important, but how can you build these relationships to benefit both parties? Take a step back and put yourself in their shoes, and then adjust accordingly.

Differentiate and specialize. What makes your business better than your competitors? If you’re able to offer a unique product or service, you are given more power within your field. Customers will also have more of an incentive to go to you for what they need, simply because not many other people are providing it. This makes the customer feel as if you’re more attentive to their specific needs, which is a huge plus.

Give the people what they want. Customers want to see results. If you make a promise, they expect just that. Your customers have a certain expectation of your product or service, so you want to make sure you live up to that expectation and if possible, surpass it.

Be accountable. No matter how hard you try, you’ll never be able to please everyone. If something doesn’t go as anticipated, you need to be held accountable for your actions. You want your customers to have a positive impression of your business, even if they’re thrown a curveball. Blaming the customer will only strain your relationship.

Value their input. The only way to get inside your customers’ heads is to ask. Have them fill out surveys rating their experience with your business, or ask them for testimonials. The only way to improve your relationship is to know what needs to be changed or improved upon.

Price needs to equal value. What you charge for your products or services needs to be equivalent to the value that your customers will associate it with. Keep your pricing consistent with the perceived value of your product or service to avoid over/under charging your customers.

To improve the relationships with your customers and for other integrated marketing services, please contact Sagefrog Marketing Group at 215.230.9024 or visit www.sagefrog.com.

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Modernize Your Company’s PR Strategy

Media itself has changed drastically in the past few years, so it comes as no surprise that the way we consume it has changed as well.  In the past, media was predictive; people read newspapers, listened to the radio, and tuned into the news at specified times. Today, the internet makes these lines a bit more blurry.

Since the way we consume media has transformed from word-of-mouth to 24/7 live feeds, PR has taken on a whole new meaning. If your PR strategy is stuck in the ways of the past, you may be falling behind when it comes to driving awareness, and ultimately delivering results.

Don’t worry – we’ve got a few suggestions to revamp your outdated PR strategy.

Share your own news. Don’t rely entirely on journalists. They may take a different approach to your press release than you anticipated, or may not get to your press release at all. However, if and when you do use a journalist, be sure to create a draft press release for them to work off of. Taking matters into your own hands mitigates these issues and allows you to create your own narrative.

Create a press page. Journalists are busy people, so do them a favor and make their job a bit easier by creating a press page on your website with your media relations contact info, company statistics, and recent news coverage. Having an “About Us” page and including profiles of your top executives are also helpful since reporters will most likely need this information from you anyway. Additionally, do your best to stay relevant – journalists are more likely to pursue companies that they’ve heard of, or that are newsworthy.

Build relationships with the media. In order to do this, you need to understand that journalists are NOT intended to sell your product or promote your brand; their job is to report relevant news in a factual and unbiased manner. Monitor how and when reporters are talking about topics relevant to your industry, and respond with your own helpful content. Demonstrate genuine interest and personalize all interactions you have with journalists.

For public relations and other integrated marketing services, please contact Sagefrog Marketing Group at 215.230.9024 or visit www.sagefrog.com.

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5 Social Media Mistakes You're Making Right Now

With consumers monitoring your every move, it’s imperative to micromanage all of your social media platforms. One social media mishap has the potential to severely damage your brand, which means perfecting your social media marketing strategy is a must. Here are 5 social media mistakes you’re unknowingly making right now, and what you can do to avoid them.

Sharing the wrong content.

You want to make sure that everything you post or share is relevant to your brand, and more importantly, to your audience. Be sure to read articles thoroughly before passing them along – you don’t want to share anything of poor quality, or anything that could be offensive or controversial. Additionally, make sure everything you post is appropriate for each individual channel; if people follow you on multiple networks, they don’t want to see the same thing over and over again.

Failing to regularly update your accounts.

Creating social media platforms is the first step; however, if you’re neglecting to update them, they serve no purpose. Be sure to remain consistent with your updates, and don’t over post. Stay up-to-date with news and trending topics to ensure you’re staying relevant within your industry.

Ignoring your audience.

Generic, automated updates come off as boring and uninteresting. Be charming, relatable, and more importantly, yourself. The way you are perceived on social media is HUGE. Interact with your audience regularly, and start conversations with them. Be sure to respond to your audience members in a timely manner – especially if it involves a complaint, or something that could negatively impact your brand.

Overselling.

Your brand is more than just YOU. Over promoting yourself gets old, and makes you seem egocentric. Share content produced by other people in addition to your own. When posting original content, avoid making it all about selling yourself. If you’re going to talk about your brand, don’t just say what you can do – prove it with results and testimonials.

Not implementing goals or measuring success.

Before implementing a social media marketing strategy, be sure to establish specific goals that you want to accomplish. These goals should be measurable – you want to make sure you can analyze how successful your efforts were in the end. This way, you can re-strategize and plan for ways to optimize in the future.

For social media marketing and other integrated marketing services, please contact Sagefrog Marketing Group at 215.230.9024 or visit www.sagefrog.com.

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