Instagram for Social Media Marketing

Let us not discuss about the differences between Instagram and DSLRs and forget what Instagram has done to photography. If we get into that, we are going to have the pro photographer’s paralysis. Rather than looking at Instagram as a photography tool, we’ll look at it from a social media perspective. The Instagram user base is 100 million strong and when done right, there is a market to be tapped. The number one rule for social media marketing is establishing presence. You need to be there, right in the mosh pit before you even devise a strategy. Let us discuss about using Instagram for social media marketing.

Analyzing the pattern:

It should be noted that during November 2012 alone, there were more than 600,000 pictures that were hash tagged with ‘blackfriday’. You need to figure out the trending hash tags on Instagram. Since it is a free photo sharing site with millions, if not billions of pictures added every day, you need to make it through the maze. If you are adding a photo, make sure that you get the tags right. Add the trending hash tags along with the relevant tag that best describes your photo.

Expand the reach:

If you are adding a picture on Instagram with the hash tags, share the link on Facebook and tweet the URL too. Only when you have a community bumping up your picture, can you reach the top. Pictures on Instagram are like memes; they evolve and tend to go viral. If you don’t get it right, then you are not going to drive traffic to your profile and you need to rethink your marketing strategy.

Have a personal touch to the pictures

If you are promoting an offer and decide to take up Instagram as yet another marketing platform, you are doing it wrong. Say for example, if you have a confectionery store and if you are planning to market and generate leads through Instagram, then it is a wise idea to post behind the scene pictures. If you want to know the effect of behind the scene pictures, then go back and look at the heavy metal bands. Although well presented product photography is aesthetically pleasing, people can connect to you on a personal level through ‘behind the scene pictures’.

Use analyzing tools:

The day of the week and the time of the day that you choose to post on Instagram are very important. You can use tools like SimplyMeasure to analyze traffic and when you get the most number of views on Instagram. If you are posting a picture, have a schedule and stick to it. If your target audiences are in your locality, figure out when the usage peaks. You should also note that this traffic varies from sector to sector. If you are posting a pictures related to financial services, then a Sunday night will be an odd time. If you aren’t sure about this, search for analytical tips. There have been a lot of studies and you even have consolidated charts to help you.

The content and its aesthetics

You’ll have to realize that no amount of marketing strategy is going to help if you have poorly edited pictures. Although Instagram has tools that help you add effects, it is highly recommended that you shoot pictures with a SLR or a decent camera. If that is not possible, shoot it with your smartphone and to repeat, do not add effects. The high contrasts and blown out colors are not pleasing and some of the top rated pictures on Instagram do not have effects of any kind

These are some of the tips that you will need to follow while using Instagram from marketing.

Heather Protz, a freelance writer for USAheadlines.com - offers full home security to help protect your family, assets from burglary and other crimes. adt security reviews

5 Biggest Trends in SEO for 2013

The internet and SEO are always changing as Google and SEO workers quickly adapt and dance back and forth as Google looks to promote real websites and content while SEO analysts look to maximize the advantages of Google’s updates and changes.

Here are five trends that will have a big impact on SEO in 2013. Keep up and stay ahead:

5). Local Reviews

Many customers are relying on yahoo, yelp, and online reviews when they make choices and purchases. For that reason, it’s essential to target your SEO practices towards local audiences. Work to optimize your pages within local searches to make your sites more accessible.

For this purpose it’s valuable to use software that reveals your rankings in different locations. Build pages tailored to different locations and searches to achieve higher visibility within those areas.

4). Personalized search functions

Now that Google generates hits for users based on their search history, brand building and keyword research are all the more valuable in tailoring your sites to the preferred searches of your target audience.

If you are successful in drawing traffic, search personalization will dramatically boost your site’s rankings. Those who effectively use SEO will find this to give them a huge advantage over competitors.

3). Mobile-friendly

The internet is becoming more and more personalized for individuals and adapting to meet unique requirements. Sites that fail to address the growing usage of mobile devices to conduct searches will fall by the wayside.

People use mobiles for searches that occur to them on the fly, to find directions or sites in an hour of specific need, and to kill time. As an example, for a restaurant it’s essential that their site be easily downloaded and accessed on a mobile device in order for them to draw mobile users looking up a place to eat on the road away from their home computers.

“Responsive web design” is a growing strategy to meet the growing demand for mobile-friendly sites that’s geared towards creating one website design that can fit virtually any screen size or type of mobile device. This can prevent users from having to type “M” before the URL to draw the mobile-friendly version of the site and to cater your site towards the shift.

Some people believe that by 2014 most web traffic will be on mobile devices. It’s better to make wholesale adaptations now rather than quick fixes that will fail to meet eventual demand for sites easily accessed by mobile devices.

2). Google+

Google is placing a higher priority on author ranking, drawing traffic to sites with content by writers who are deemed authoritative on their topics. To create “authoritative” authors, it’s necessary to use Google Plus and create author profiles that list the sites that the authors provide content for and links to their content. Focus an author on one particular topic and you can increase the value of their links.

Long articles stacked with keywords are now less valuable than quality content with authority provided by multiple links within the same topics.

It’s no accident that Google wants to make Google products more important to SEO practices in order to build their company, make sure to be ready to integrate Google products like Google+ profiles in order to work with them and not against them.

1). Video Optimization

The number two search engine in the world behind Google is now YouTube. As heavily consumed as articles are, visuals trump all and video optimization is now an important part of SEO. By creating video content and promoting it through Social Networking sites is a growing factor in building page ranks and drawing traffic.

Youtube channels allow 1 backlink to a site which can be extremely valuable, and proper tagging will help your videos rank well on searches. Ours is a visual culture and it’s important to take advantage of the growing video marketing to tap into traffic and audiences that aren’t reached as easily through articles and word content.

Keep up with these growing trends and you’ll find the modern web searcher drawn to your sites in 2013 and beyond.

Author Bio: IanB writes for US Reports weekly, a source for news on all modern topics.

Adobe Marketing Cloud' to Help Businesses in Digital Marketing

Small scale businesses cannot have an exclusive marketing team to strategize and popularize their business. People who start a small business, have to juggle between marketing and sales. Though there is more exposure in the form of online training, people still struggle with effective creative marketing. Companies, especially the small-scale businesses cannot come up with strategies that will lead them to a successful marketing campaign or the strategies to avoid in the future. 

Marketing has evolved over the years. With so many channels available, marketing is now dependent on the product and how well marketers are going to establish it using various channels. This has revolutionized digital marketing. Many predicted the dramatic shift companies will have from traditional media to digital platform a few years back. It has come true with companies utilizing digital media effectively for the past few years and today, businesses are inching towards a new form of marketing through online cloud. 

Adobe Marketing Cloud:

Adobe marketing cloud now helps businesses in digital advertising. Adobe is offering two types of solutions: one is for creativity and the other one for marketers to carry on with the necessary promotional work. How can creativity and marketing be connected? Creative work is a vital piece to advertising. Insights from marketing can pave way to new creative work. So, Adobe creative cloud and marketing cloud go hand-in-hand. 

The Advantages of Using Adobe Cloud:

The marketing cloud from Adobe helps small business marketers to not only develop, but also scrutinize their marketing data. There are useful programs and tools available in this online software suite that can do everything except to create an advertising design. 

The Internet is not restricted to PCs nowadays. People use various platforms to access the Web. In fact, the usage of desktops has reduced substantially and many have started using portable devices to go online. Marketers are forced to optimize their online advertisements to all the platforms as it is hard to guess the kind of device their targeted audience will use. Plus, it is difficult to create advertisements for various devices. The specialty of Adobe’s cloud is it knows people access data from different devices like PCs, laptops, tablets and mobile phones. 

The ‘Adobe Experience Manager’, the software available in Adobe cloud will help manipulate the advertising content from one platform and efficiently uses it in another. By using this, marketers don’t have to create new ads or optimize their content for various platforms. For example, a desktop landing page can be converted in such a way that the navigation is easy on a mobile platform.

An added advantage of the program is that it allows the marketers to keep tabs on the user interactivity with the content. People can access the feedback given by the customers through this software. With the feedback, the forthcoming campaigns can be tweaked according to customer preferences. 

A business can reach a wider audience using the cloud services. The programs offered by Adobe helps small scale businesses in advertising their product or service and establish their brand identity in the long run. Now, marketers can concentrate more on the digital pattern of their customers and analyze trends to capitalize on instead of trying to find out the kind of devices they use.

Tanya Hansen, a freelance writer for Homesecurityreviewsite.com - offers full home security to help protect your family, assets from burglary and other crimes. home Security systems

Tips for Small Businesses Moving to Digital Marketing

More and more entrepreneurs are abandoning the age old marketing methods and are turning to digital marketing to publicise their products and services and to push sales and revenue. There are several advantages to digital marketing:

·    Wider reach because of the large number of online users

·    Less expense; many forums like social networking sites are free

·    Online marketing is instantaneous.

Here are some points to keep in mind to conduct a successful digital marketing campaign:

·   Think social: Facebook recently announced that they have touched the 1 billion online users milestone. No business, big or small, can afford to ignore this audience anymore. Whether it is setting up an FB page, arranging events or putting together a community, social media advertising strategy for small businesses are a necessity. Consumers are by now accustomed to engaging with the big guns online, so small businesses also need to do the same; both to preserve existing customer relationships and to create new ones. Regardless of which site it is, they should all be part of your digital marketing plan, and in any case it won’t cost you a single penny.

Once you’ve made your FB page, invite as many of your contacts as possible, to be your ‘fans’. Their friends in turn might also become fans, and gain you a huge audience. Be sure to respond to all queries and comments. Staying in touch with your clientele is of prime importance. Post regularly so that you will not be forgotten.

·   Be found: As a small business owner, it’s imperative that you ensure that your company is listed in all the significant online directories, maps, apps and popular websites throughout the year. Take advantage of events like Small Business Saturday, which happens annually in the fall/winter. An increasing number of consumers regularly visit online directories while on the move or even when at home (as it becomes that much more convenient for them, rather than go outside and hunt around) to find local shops or restaurants. I am sure nobody wants to lose such customers to their rivals.

·    Be Human: the more you interact with your consumers, the more they are likely to stick with your brand. People always like the human touch, even if the modes of communication keep changing. You can engage customers by discussing upcoming events like big Sporting events, festivals and the like. Steer clear of controversial topics though!

·   Listen and learn: Let your customers tell you what they are looking for and what they like and don’t like about your brand and products; use this knowledge to improve. Involve your customers in the evolving of your brand.

·   Ensure consumers know all about your brand: Websites are the usual platforms for small businesses. They are one of the best ways for customers to know what your business is all about. Remember that your website must prominently display vital info like contact numbers, emails and a form thru which customers will be to be able to reach you. If you can ship your products, it will give you a still wider market. If that is within your ambit, make it possible for customers to buy and pay online. Also mention your working hours, directions, map and address. Whether your website is just a sample of your physical store or it’s an online store by itself, it needs to be well designed, and must include videos, photos, and links to other places online where you have a presence, like your blog, for example.

·    Be mobile-enabled: Teens and young adults are now more into Smart Phones and Tablets than laptops or desktops, and do most of their internet browsing through these mobile devices. Make sure that your website is also mobile friendly.

Andrea Walters, a freelance writer for www.globalx.net – The Nation’s Lowest All-Digital Price Provider dish packages.

Is Pinterest winning the social media race?

Apparently it is, as far as connecting brands to their customers in concerned. Pinfluencer, the Pinterest analytics and marketing company, recently reported that brands such as Martha Stewart, Gilt and Shape Magazine were able to increase their follower acquisition rates by a massive 156% while boosting pins per day by an equally large 125% after running promotions on its platform. According to Jonathan Goldmann, head of JetSetter’s social media, a scavenger hunt initiated by the firm even managed to have its pins posted as much as seven million times.

Rising to the top

On the other hand, Facebook seems to be struggling in terms of marketing. Having lost an advertiser as important as General Motors at the beginning of the year, it still seems to be having a hard time in terms of holding its nerves together when dealing with things such as the number of brand messages that would be appreciated by users rather than annoy them, as well as the monetary charges that companies should be subjected to for making use of the privilege. It has also been in hot waters with the famous American business tycoon Mark Cuban who publicly announced his disdain for the said social network for charging ridiculously and still not being able to properly deliver his Dallas Mavericks posts to the Mavs fans and followers.

In the wake of Facebook facing such crisis, Pinterest has jumped at the opportunity to further strengthen its position as the ideal platform for advertisers. Pinfluencer plays a vital role in promoting Pinterest as the perfect choice for companies by demonstrating how they can effectively engage with followers and successfully conduct viral marketing, eventually leading to increased sales. Pinterest provides different forms of promotional opportunities ranging from pinning and repining products or posts to creating scavenger hunts or rewarding competitions and contests particularly for users pinning your product.  If used wisely, these options can serve as effective promotional tools, according to Pinfluencer’s chief executive Sharad Verma.

Doing things the Pinterest way

Verma claims that marketing efforts through Pinterest are extremely fun and creative and never demand users to indulge in something which does not interest them. All Pinterest requires users to do is simply pin products from websites which in turn leads to a large number of views, further resulting in hits and clickthroughs, and eventually sales. Users do not have to go through the whole hassle of conversations that are a Facebook norm. Pinfluencer even offers a solution for marketers who have invested heavily in Facebook as they can now have their contests hosted on a Pinfluencer powered Facebook tab which turns their Facebook followers into Pinterest pinners. To cut a long story short, Pinterest has been seen to perform increasingly well in terms of generating revenue for companies. Not only that, it also offers companies the privilege of making use of this useful platform while retaining followers that they have previously acquired through investing in other social media like Facebook, facilitating these advertisers to the fullest. What else can we possibly ask for? 

Author Bio:

Natalia David an author has significantly contributed towards a plethora of articles about iPhone spy, cell phone spy software and Blackberry spying apps. She provides tips and tricks about cell phone security and privacy. You can also follow her on twitter @NataliaDavid4

Basic SEO Tips for ASP.NET Websites

When running an online business, majority of our focus is on the design, architecture of the website and how efficiently it displays our product. These are not the only things that are required to target the infinite Internet audience. One need to keep in mind that the main source of audience come from search engines such as Google, Yahoo, Bing and others. So the application or the website should be able to follow simple rules and handle your business efficiently. ASP.NET application is spreading rapidly and if you are using an ASP.NET website few simple guidelines has to be considered. The below mentioned points need to be implemented:

Page Titles

Page titles between tags is one important thing that many fail to practice in SEO. When a search is made in Google, these titles show up as links in the result. So that explains its importance. The common mistake among website owners is giving the same title for all pages. Page titles drive traffic to your site, hence it is important to have a proper title to attract visitors. Adding titles is not as hard as you imagine. If you have a product catalog use your product name as title. You can also choose to give a different title that is related to your product.

Meaningful URL

URLs that are long with query parameters do not look neat and it is difficult for the visitor to remember. Instead use formatted URLs for your static pages. URL which has a meaning explains the content in your website. Although experts agree with using an URL that has query parameters, it is better to have a meaningful URL. Components like UrlRewritingNet can be used for this purpose. Mapping support in URL is offered by IIS7 which has plenty of features.

Structure of the Content

Content without a structure is not possible.  You will have titles, headings, sub headings, paragraphs and others. How would you emphasize some quotes or important points in your content? If you follow the below mentioned steps, the structure of your content will be semantically correct.

·         Divide long stories or parts using headings. Short paragraphs make more sense to the readers. Use tags to bring beauty to your content.

·         If you want to emphasize an important point or quote, place them between tags.

Visitors can create structured content if you use FCKEditor and the like. Integrating these to your website is not complex.

Clean the Source Code

Don’t panic, it is advisable to clean up the source code and minimize the number of codes. The following simple steps will assist you in cleaning the source code: You can use

·         External stylesheets and not inline CSS

·         -js files instead of inline JavaScript

·         HTML comments is not encouraged

·         Avoid massive line breaking

·         Avoid using viewstate when not required

The relation between the content and the code (JavaScript, HTML, CSS) determines the ranking of your website. Smaller source codes help build a strong relation.

Crawlable Site

Do not use

·         Silver or flash light for menus or to highlight information

·         Menus based on JavaScript

·         Menus based on buttons

·         Intro-pages

Do use

·         Simple tags wherever possible

·         Sitemap

·         “Alt” for images

·         RSS

Test the Site

What happens to the requests that are sent when the site is slow? Sometimes requests are sent by robots and if they are unable to connect to your site continuously, they drop the site from their index. Enable your site to respond fast to requests even during peak hours. Moreover, visitors don’t like to visit slow sites. Use the various tools available and conduct the stress test for your site. Perform this and locate all the weak parts of the site. Fix them so that your site gets indexed. 

Test the AJAX site

Spiders can only run a few parts of your AJAX website because they don’t run JavaScripts. Spiders can only analyze the data and hence they remain invisible to robots. The AJAX sites do not get indexed which does not help in search engine optimization. To make the site spider friendly, try and keep away from initial content loading into the JavaScript. You can also follow this only for pages that you like to index.  Make it easy for robots so that they can navigate. Try this simple trick to see how your AJAX site will appear to the robots. Disable JavaScript from the browser and visit your AJAX site. You can view the pages which robots will index.

This article has been brought to you by Roy Fernandez of acquiweb.com a site that offers savings and current information on Comcast cable and internet. We have the best and most affordable Comcast internet rates as well as comcast cable rates.

How to Write a Facebook Post with a Rousing Call to Action

No matter your industry or your niche—whether you are an affiliate marketing professional or an online merchant—the value of a strong call to action cannot be overstated. The call to action is where you lay out for your potential clients the value they will receive from buying your product, signing up for your e-mail list, or simply visiting your blog—and then, you urge them to take the appropriate action. The call to action is an essential part of your website or blog content, because the call to action is how you get things done.

Critically, though, a call to action is not just something you slap onto the bottom of your product pages. A call to action can also prove an important tool in your social marketing campaign. Say you have a Facebook account, which you use primarily to refer traffic back to your corporate website or blog. A call to action, affixed to each status update, will tell people why they should navigate away from Facebook to check out your other online assets. Ideally, the call to action will provide just the push you need to turn those Facebook fans into clients or subscribers.

Value Now and Value Later

One of the most important things to remember, when constructing a Facebook post with a call to action, is that you need to provide clients with some value, immediately. For example, you might include a post with some handy or intriguing facts and statistics, related to your business or product. Just by reading your Facebook post, potential clients feel like they are receiving a direct, immediate benefit, and your brand is established as one of trustworthiness and repute.

At the same time, you do not want to give everything away on your Facebook page. You need to provide some immediate value, but also make it clear that there is further value to be found at your website or blog. A good Facebook call to action might take this form, then: “Did you know that 25 percent of all online searches are performed on Bing? Visit us on the Web to learn more about optimizing your site for maximum Bing rankings!”

Asking the Right Questions

An alternative form of call to action is the leading question. Instead of asking your fans to visit your blog, you might ask a probing and attention-grabbing question that entices them into visiting you elsewhere on the Web. Again, providing a little background information helps. So, to return to our previous example, you might ask: “Bing searches make up a quarter of all online search activity. How is your company optimizing for Bing success?” Attach this status update to an article called “5 Tips to Ensure Bing Optimization,” and you have yourself a really compelling call to action!

The Most Important Ingredient

This might almost go without saying, but: When seeking to drive traffic to a separate online asset, including links is critical. You can also include phone numbers or e-mail addresses, if applicable, but using a link in each call to action post is essential for getting the most out of your Facebook campaign. A good link, married to good content, provides you with all the basic ingredients for a truly rousing and effective call to action!

Amanda E. Clark is President and Editor-in-Chief of Grammar Chic, Inc., a literary consultancy specializing in writing and editing services.  Amanda is a published ghostwriter and editor and her company provides a variety of services related to blog and content writing, social media marketing, press release creation and more.  For more information about Grammar Chic, Inc. visit http://www.grammarchic.net