Thursday, November 29, 2012

Moving My Blog Permanently!

Greetings!

Just to let you know, I've moved my blog from this place to http://www.Shivarkar.com
Will keep posting on SEO, SEM, Social Media, Mobile, Web Analytics and related Internet Marketing experiments and observations.

Thanks for your follow!
Pravin

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

How The Top Performing Brands Are Growing Fans On Facebook

Everyone looking for the Formula - How do the top performing brands become the top performers? Let me tell you for sure, They do not do magic and they are not born famous. In this article you will read how they have become what they are and how even you can achieve what they have:

1.    First and foremost it is essential to determine the key audiences which form the major communities of Facebook. There are three major audiences:

•    Joiners: they form the major percentage of audiences which can go as high as 83%. These people just join your community. Their participation ends here. Once they have joined, they forget about your community and do not put in any effort to promote it. Therefore as much as they look like they are vast in numbers, here’s a number-zero. That is what they are accountable for and you should not pay attention to them much.

•    Sharers: These people, though low in numbers (15%), they are much more active than the joiners and should be paid more attention. They share your posts, participate in your campaigns and make more and more people aware of your existence. The “friends of friends” metric is reached by them.

•    Advocates: these people are very low in number comparatively (1.5 %), but do not go into the numbers as these people make you who you are. They have the ability to make or break you. They do the sharers’ work and also convince other communities to join you.

2.    Constantly offer various ways to make your fans engage. This is possible by holding various campaigns, competitions and giving away free gifts. Maybe initially it will seem like a waste but later this stuff will make your brand gold.

3.    Tell them constantly which posts to follow, which links to follow and what questions to answer. This way the audience will know how to promote your brand in ways it will actually matter.

4.    It is really important to know which posts should be posted when. If you post extremely important stuff in a time where it does not matter at all (like posting about woolens in summers), your effort will go to a waste and people will stop looking forward to anything else you have to offer.

5.    People will not share as many advertisements and promotions as they will share a quiz especially the one which is more related to them for eg. A personality quiz. People want to hear about themselves and know about themselves. This makes them feel personal and special.

6.    Don’t just stick with Facebook. The more social media outlets, the better. Try Twitter, Instagram, Google+, Myspace, Youtube, Tumbir, Pinterest and even a blog. It is never enough. Your brand growth will take place in multiples if you use all of them. So there is basically no reason for you to avoid them.

Now that you know, how the top performing brands became who they are, follow all the tips religiously and smartly and your brand will surely gain the popularity it deserves.

Sunday, November 25, 2012

8 Ways to Develop Newsworthy Content & Earn Trust


In today’s Internet age, “likes” on Facebook and “tweets” on Twitter determine a post’s popularity or even existence. If you want people to acknowledge your post, you have to write stuff which is like-worthy or tweet-worthy. So in order to make that happen, you have to make sure that your content is newsworthy as in the content which is worthy of making news.
Here a few ways you can achieve this:

1.    Facts: People want to hear about the latest happenings in society instead of what has happened ten years ago. Therefore in order to hold people’s interests, try posting stuff which contains latest information and update it accordingly.

2.    Opinion: Try to give your opinion on the important events in the society. This way the people who support your opinion will obviously notice you but the good part is that is the people who don’t support it will also notice you and give their opinion etc. making your post popular.

3.    Only popularity matters: Sometimes it is best to not care about the type of popularity you are receiving whether negative or positive. As long as your post is gaining fame, you shouldn’t worry about negative publicity. Be controversial. People love that. But be sure to post something of relevance.

4.    Innovation: be original in your approach. If you are innovative about your product and mix it up with current trends and info, other people will also post about it.

5.    Timing: certain issues should only be discussed when they are hot. Talk about taxes in May and budget in August. You should know when to post what as people will look forward to the posting about that topic.

6.    Interesting Information: Make your post interesting. First of all try to choose topics which are interesting in themselves so that whatever you write becomes interesting. In case you have decided to write on something seemingly boring, try to make it interesting by using comparisons, sarcasm or anything else which suits your style. The most important aspect will always be people wanting to read it and actually have enough patience to go through it.

7.    Using Videos: this is not possible in all of the circumstances but try to use it as often as you can. If even one person likes it and shares, it will spread like wildfire and will be more talked about than just words. You can be much more innovative through this and this way there is no limit to what you can achieve.

8.    Pictures: Uploading and sharing pictures is also a grand idea since people’s eyes will automatically go to the picture before the words. They are more comprehensive and this way even a layman will be able to comprehend what you are posting about. As they say “A picture is worth a thousand words” and so it will be if properly used.

These short tips if implemented with the Marketing Sense can make your approach talk of the time and get those “likes” and “tweets” you always wanted along with the Trust for your Brand.

Friday, November 23, 2012

9 Social Media Marketing Pointers To Change Your Business

If you have a business, you would like to change or improve or even start, today you will learn about a few social media marketing pointers for changing your business.

1.    You should always make sure that your page, blog or website is always up to date. Nobody will want to visit it unless it provides the current information about your business. Whether you have started some new business, a new discount of some kind, promotion or coupon, verify that it is mentioned on the website, blog or page.

2.    Many Facebook apps are available which provide you the opportunity of holding many contests. Nothing excites people for winning something in return for nothing. This way you can have a win-win situation in which both you and the customer is happy. In these contests however, you have to make sure your brand is visible enough for the customer to register it in his mind. If you won’t have a lingering effect on their psyche, everything will be a waste.

3.    Using of social media outlets is very essential. You can be rest assured that it is never enough. Though Facebook is the most popular, it won’t hurt to use Twitter, Myspace or Google + too as all it will do is earn you profits.

4.    Be yourself, show yourself. Follow this rule and you will not be disappointed. Just because of the fact that you are a businessperson, you don’t have to act all corporate. As a matter of fact, people will support you more if they can identify a face and a human touch behind your business.

5.    Listen to your customers. They are just laymen. They are taking time to invest in your page and being on social media. Their opinions can make you improve and make you better and different from the rest. Read their comments, look at their posts and on top of everything else take action on what you learn.

6.    Be patient. Yes it is hard to keep it when you are getting no offers, the social media marketing take time but once people start recognizing you, you won’t complain.

7.    Have a schedule. Make a time table. Keep a note of when you are going to post stuff and do it accordingly. Do not keep any work pending and slowly but effectively you will get the popularity you deserve.

8.    Online media keeps going through a change and is a dynamic entity. In order to survive here, you must change too. Do not cling to old methods just because of their comfort. New companies are entering everyday and it is a fact that you will not be able to compete with all of them. Be humble and do not overdo anything. Just post great content and you won’t go wrong.

9.    Collaborate with your competition and they won’t remain competitors anymore. Come up with ways by which both brands can benefit. You will get noticed more as now you would have become a bigger company.