Archives for May 2014
Are You Using Facebookâs Interests Lists?
Did you know that you can follow entire lists dedicated to a specific topic on Facebook? Did you know that you could create your own interest list and then share it with other Facebook users? If you think about it for a minute, youâll soon see the possibilities!
Using Facebook Interest Lists for Inspiration
Short on ideas for writing blog posts each week? Follow a few Facebook interests lists dedicated to your specific interests and get a healthy dose of fresh ideas! For example, if you need to blog about business topics, you could follow Arianna Huffingtonâs Social Entrepreneurs list or Pete Cashmoreâs Innovative Brands list (or both).
Note that these lists will not take over your news-feed. Youâll still see the latest posts from your friends, Facebook groups, and favorite business pages without the added clutter of posts from your interests lists. When you want to see posts related to your interests, simply click on Interests in the left pane of Facebook and choose the interests list youâd like to view. From there, youâll see a collection of relevant posts from a variety of pages and people originally selected by the listâs creator. You may even like following interest lists better than following individual pages as you could be exposed to individuals and brands you wouldnât have otherwise discovered.
How you intend to use your interests lists will dictate how you set it up. For example, if you are using a list solely to stay informed on a given topic and do not necessarily want to share it with others, set up the list so that only you can see it. On the other hand, if you think others can benefit for your hand-selected list of Facebook users and pages, set up the list so that it is public.
Using Facebook Interests Lists to Gain Exposure 
Arianna Huffington and Pete Cashmore have both created their own lists (as have countless others). The list creator is prominently featured in the listâs cover image. By creating a list, you could get new followers.
In addition to adding users and pages that appear under Facebookâs suggestions, you can also search for users and pages or choose from pages and friends that you currently follow when building your own list. If you want to maximize your companyâs exposure, then add your businessâs page to your list as well. Now, anyone who follows your list will be exposed to your business page whenever they view the list.
Facebookâs interests lists are easy to start following or create, and they put relevant information at your fingertips. Use interests lists to stay informed, get inspired, or share information with a broader audience on Facebook.
Now hereâs an interesting question: How will you use interests lists?
Thomas von Ahn | Chief Elephant Slayer | Viral Solutions LLC
Watch out elephants! This slayer of business challenges comes with 30 years of record breaking sales, marketing, operations, training and leadership experience . He has worked face-to-face with 100âs of small business owners as well as large firms. His love of creating, communicating, developing and executing results for clients shines with each project, publication and training event. His entrepreneurial spirit, passion, industry experience, education, problem-solving prowess, charismatic personality and been-there-done that attitude leads his client focused approach.
Post Like a Pro on Facebook
Staying active on Facebook takes commitment, and itâs not always easy. Having a healthy dose of ready-to-post status updates available can help get you through those days when you have little time to spare or arenât feeling particularly creative. Hereâs how to post like a pro on Facebook.
1. Spend some time brainstorming ideas. When youâre feeling creative, sit down with a pen and paper and start brainstorming. Think of about five to ten broad topics related to your customersâ interests and problems and write those down. Some of these ideas may spawn additional ideas, so write those down too. For each main idea, try to come up with five to ten sub-topics. For example, if you run a pool cleaning service, your main topics might include: testing, cleaning, pool repairs, seasonal maintenance, pool accessories, and funny pool stories. Under testing you might have: do-it-yourself testing tips, pool chemistry, pool warning signs, problems associated with unbalanced pool water, testing saltwater pools, and so on. Under funny pool stories, you might include funny pool quotes, inspirational photos, funny pool cartoons, and stories. Remember, you donât have to strictly adhere to your list. Use it as inspiration for generating ideas.
2. Start writing. Open a word processor and create sections for each topic and subtopic and then start writing. You may find it easier to write a bunch of related short posts in one sitting than it is to write a single status 
update on demand, especially when you have a list of related ideas right in front of you. Likewise, when searching for relevant quotes, itâs not uncommon to find a collection of great quotes in one search. Writing a bunch of updates in a single writing session is generally more efficient.
3. Use a scheduling tool. Once you have a collection of status updates all ready to go, use Facebookâs scheduling tool or a third party social media scheduling tool to schedule them in advance. Decide how you want them to go out. For example, if you want to discuss pool testing every Monday, start with that topic and schedule those posts to go out on Mondays. Optionally, you could stay on the pool testing topic for several days before switching gears to the next topic. In either case, youâll copy and paste each update into a blank status update box and then click on the clock icon to pick its publish time and date. Once scheduled, Facebook will automatically publish your updates according to the schedule you created. This ensures a steady stream of updates, even if youâve been called away or are feeling uninspired.
Pre-writing and scheduling some of your Facebook posts can fill in the gaps of your Facebook marketing efforts. However, this is not a substitute for actively engaging with your followers. Make sure to respond to comments and post additional real-time updates.
Thomas von Ahn | Chief Elephant Slayer | Viral Solutions LLC
Watch out elephants! This slayer of business challenges comes with 30 years of record breaking sales, marketing, operations, training and leadership experience . He has worked face-to-face with 100âs of small business owners as well as large firms. His love of creating, communicating, developing and executing results for clients shines with each project, publication and training event. His entrepreneurial spirit, passion, industry experience, education, problem-solving prowess, charismatic personality and been-there-done that attitude leads his client focused approach.
How to Establish More Credibility as a Business Owner
As a business owner, it's extremely important to establish some credibility with your targets as it means your message you put out with your brand will be much more reliable and persuasive. Your credibility will give you much greater influence in bringing in new customers and in the types of tips, advice and information you provide through your website, blog and social media.
Here are five different ways that you can become more credible in the eyes of potential customers:
- Consume good information. Read books or news about your area of business. Stay up to date with all of the latest happenings in your industry. The first step to credibility is being informed, so you should be a
sponge for information that affects your organization.
- Publish. Write a book, or perhaps a little simpler, write articles. Publish expert articles on your blog, and look for opportunities to be a guest author on other websites and blogs. The more you get your own writing and thoughts out there, and the more people become familiar with what you have to say, the more they will take you seriously as an expert in your field.
- Network. Get on social media and connect with other people in your industry, as well as with potential customers and clients. You want people to see you interacting with some of the other top minds in your industry, as that will give you some instant credibility yourself. If you share great articles and media content on your social media pages, it will also help give you more credibility as someone who is “in the know” in your field.
- Market yourself. Turn yourself into a recognizable brand, using everything from your email and voice mail messages to your elevator speech and letterhead to work into that brand image. Use many of the same tactics you use to market your business to market yourself as an expert in your industry.
For more information about how you can establish yourself as an expert in your market, contact us today at Viral Solutions. We are pleased to be of assistance!
Thomas von Ahn | Chief Elephant Slayer | Viral Solutions LLC
Marketing to the Sexes on Social Media
When you think of Pinterest users, who immediately comes to mind? Women! While many social sites such as Pinterest appeal to women, it would be a mistake to ignore men on social media. In fact, according to The State of Social Media for Small Business info-graphic, only 36.5 percent of its survey respondents said that most of their clients were women. Both mean and women are using social media, making it important not to make assumptions. With that being quoted – many of you may have stats that are just the opposite. Awesome – you know this!
Who is Your Market?
In many cases, the sexual identity of your market is obvious. For example, if you sell womenâs shoes, your market is primarily female. On the other hand, if you sell dog supplies, your market likely consists of both men and women. Depending on your business, you may want to target one gender over the other for any number of reasons despite your products and servicesâ universal appeal. In any case, you should know who you want to target on social media so that you can attract the right users to your social media sites and then craft campaigns that will resonate with them.
Start by examining the sexual make up of your current customers. Is it an equal mix? Do you have more male or female buyers? Why? Does it surprise you? Is your current marketing affecting this mix? Does it make sense 
to replicate this audience on social media?
Attracting Your Target Gender
Once youâve determined who you want to target, you can then work on attracting them. On option is to use Facebook ads to generate more likes to your business page and show those ads only to users who meet your criteria. Facebook allows you to specify demographic details including gender.
Marketing to Your Target Gender
Building an audience is just the beginning. From there, youâll need to âspeak the same language.â After all, if youâve built an audience of men but then discuss issues more relevant to women, your message will fall on deaf ears and vice-versa.
What if your audience is mixed? Thatâs fine, too. While your messages will need to be more inclusive, you can still run the occasional gender-specific campaign.
Whether marketing to men, women, or a mix, getting a clear picture of who you are speaking to will help you to be more clear in your targeting and messaging. If you havenât yet defined your target audience, start by at least determining whether itâs primarily male, female, or an even mix. You can always build from there.
Thomas von Ahn | Chief Elephant Slayer | Viral Solutions LLC
Watch out elephants! This slayer of business challenges comes with 30 years of record breaking sales, marketing, operations, training and leadership experience . He has worked face-to-face with 100âs of small business owners as well as large firms. His love of creating, communicating, developing and executing results for clients shines with each project, publication and training event. His entrepreneurial spirit, passion, industry experience, education, problem-solving prowess, charismatic personality and been-there-done that attitude leads his client focused approach.
Is Your Blog Optimized for Mobile?
Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and other social media sites all have mobile apps, making it easy for social media users to interact with their friends, family members, and favorite brands when on the go. While these social apps, by extension, give your business profiles a mobile presence, what happens when a mobile user clicks through one of your links to your blog? If your blog is optimized for mobile users, great. If not, not so great.
According to Social Media Examinerâs 2014 Social Media Marketing Report, the vast majority of social media marketers (72 percent) are not optimizing their blogs for mobile users. If a mobile users clicks through to an unoptimized blog, the experience on their mobile device will be sub-par. Thus, you may receive a higher number of bounces and much lower conversions. With this in mind, consider optimizing your blog for mobile.
Is Your Audience Mobile? 
Start by finding out if your audience is mobile. Google Analytics will tell you. Go to your Google Analytics account and check Audience > Mobile > Overview to see an overview of your blogâs visitors broken down by desktop, mobile, and tablet use. From there, go to Audience > Mobile > Devices to view trend lines and see if this audience is growing (it probably is).
Test Your Blog on Your Own Mobile Device
Not sure if your blog is mobile friendly or not? Test it on your own device. Is it cluttered and hard to read? Do you have to scroll excessively? Do pop-up ads make it difficult to navigate?
Or, is the blog clean and easy to navigate despite your tiny screen? Even if it looks good on your device, keep in mind that other devices may encounter problems if your blog is not truly optimized for mobile.
Options for Mobile Optimization
Several options are available including:
- Using a professional website designer to optimize your blog for mobile users. Your designer may suggest a separate âmobiâ site or a redesign of your existing site so that it is âresponsiveâ and automatically detects device type and displays your site accordingly.
- Using a responsive theme for your blog. If youâre the do-it-yourself type, you could switch from a standard to a responsive theme for your blog. If you use WordPress, free and premium responsive themes are readily available.
- Using a WordPress plugin. If you love the look of your existing theme, consider using a WordPress plugin that will create a mobile version for your theme.
Optimizing a blog for mobile use has become increasingly important as more social media users access their favorite social networks via mobile apps. If you use social media to drive traffic to your blog, make sure that mobile app users have a clean, optimized experience by optimizing your blog for mobile users.
Thomas von Ahn | Chief Elephant Slayer | Viral Solutions LLC