Is Social Media Right for My Business? Part II

by Robin Rath in Blog, Homepage Blog, Social Media on September 08, 2010

In “Is Social Media Right or My Business? Part I”, we talked about what to think about before jumping into social media for your business and some general guidelines for the common social networks. In Part II, we will look at common industries and how they are using social media and online marketing.

The key is that social media is not just an ecommerce or “fun” business trend. Social media is another channel of communication and businesses are using this channel strategically to support their overall marketing goals. Social media is here to stay, and if it’s not being widely used among your regional competitors currently, chances are it will soon be a part of their online marketing. St. Louis businesses are quickly growing their social media efforts, so if you are in the St. Louis area (or any city for that matter), we recommend putting your social media strategy in place to stay in line or ahead of your competition.

Below is a breakdown of some key industries. Feel free to add your own thoughts in the comments below for any industries that are not covered here.

Smackdown Part 2: Your Competitors’ Link Strategy & Indexed Content

by aaronstevens in Blog, Homepage Blog, Marketing, SEO on September 01, 2010

Be competitive with your online marketing efforts; even chess players harbor a little animosity for their opponents. You should know who you are up against, what makes them strong, and then work to be even less imperfect than them. In the second part of my Competitive Smackdown Series, I will show you how gauge the amount of content your competitors have indexed and how to analyze their backlinks.

This will help guide your own SEO, since making sure all of your valuable site content is indexed and then increasing the number of quality links to valuable pages on your site should account for most of your search engine optimization efforts. I suggest tracking the data you uncover for each competitor you investigate; a tracking spreadsheet works very nicely for this.

Mobile Marketing Tips: How to Create an Effective Foursquare Special

by lisakeller in Blog, Homepage Blog, Marketing, Social Media on August 18, 2010

Sometimes, there are sad days in mobile marketing. For me, that sad day is when I see a lame foursquare special. I’ve seen these missed mobile marketing opportunities come from both social media mavens and newbies. Bad foursquare marketing can happen to the best of us.

Whether you are new to location based advertising for your business or are A.J. Bomber’s savvy, here are some tips to help you create a stellar special that will make me want to check-in to your place over and over again:

Competitive Smackdown Part 1: Using Google for Competitive Research

by aaronstevens in Blog, Homepage Blog, Marketing, SEO on July 08, 2010

Researching your competition is an unbelievably important step in establishing your site online.  It will help set the basic framework for your internet marketing strategy, and if done effectively will also greatly reduce the resources you invest to increase your website visibility.  Part 1 of our competitive analysis blog post…

The Circle of Trust

by adamhallas in Blog, Business Development, General, Homepage Blog on June 16, 2010

When asked what sources “influence your decision to use or not use a particular company, brand or product” 71% claim reviews from family members or friends exert a “great deal” or “fair amount” of influence (Harris Interactive, June 2010).” – Bazaarvoice.com

The above backs what everybody else already knows: people buy from their friends. Imagine the iPhone 4 was released today and 10 people you follow on Twitter said it was the worst product since Pontiac came out with the Fiero (This was my dad’s midlife crisis mobile). How would it effect your decision in purchasing the latest goody by Apple? You’d likely think twice. Had Maslow lived in the 80’s in 90’s I think he might have adjusted his hierarchy of needs.

The Social Media Merit Badge is here!

by Robin Rath in Blog, Homepage Blog, Social Media on March 22, 2010

Oh, I’m sorry. You probably thought this was real. Well, it’s not real in the sense that the Boy Scouts of America is offering a social media award, but there are plenty of us out there that think we might qualify for one, if it existed.

There is a lot going on these days with social media, and lots of people who claim to be an expert in it – more the better I say. But just for fun, here’s a checklist for you guys (and gals) who think you are up to the challenge of earning the The Loud Few’s 2010 Social Media Merit Badge.

And for those of you who don’t aspire to earning your merit badge, you will find the list below as general overview of what it takes to be an active member of social media.

Effective Marketing Strategy: Push and Pull

by Erin Steinbruegge in Blog, Homepage Blog, Marketing on March 10, 2010

In order to build an effective online marketing strategy for your business, it’s important to understand the theory behind what we call “push” and “pull” strategies, and how they can be utilized together to drive optimal results.

Let’s use a hypothetical example to illustrate this concept:

Suppose it’s February and you’ve invented the world’s greatest stadium noisemakers. Called “The Loudinator”, these things put Thundersticks and Bam Bams to shame. You’ve just invested a lot of money into producing your line of MLB specific Loudinators, and you’ve built an e-commerce website that is ready to handle sales. Now you just need to generate awareness of your product before MLB Opening Day.

Push strategy involves any marketing strategy that “pushes” its way in front of users without the user initiating the request. Push marketing is great for generating brand awareness, promoting a new product or service, or delivering a time-sensitive message.