Vine Application Creates Buzz

Do you Vine?

If not, I urge you to try it out for yourself to see if you like it. Vine is a fairly new video app available to iPhone 3GS, 4, 4S, 5, iPod touch (3^rd, 4^th, and 5^th generation), and iPad users. What separates this innovation from the rest of its competitors is the ability to create clean, crisp, interesting videos related to a closed network. That is not to say that Vine will not expand to the Google Play Android market, however, it is currently popular as a result of its exclusivity. This app has caused a huge buzz throughout the personal use of it, but this has also transferred into the marketing and branding industry as well! Popular brand names such as Beats by Dre, Urban Outfitters, and Wendy’s have used vine to extend their branding efforts to target audiences within the mobile online community.  The White House even utilizes Vine!

“Tell me more”, you say?

Why of course we will. Here is a list of some specifics to get you started before posting your first vine:

-You have a total of 6 seconds to record (so make it interesting!)

-The front and back cameras are accessible (you can also flip to -and- from during your recordings).

-In order to separate your recording, press and hold the screen until you are ready to begin a new snippet.

-Embedding hashtags within your captions makes your vines easier to search and locate.

-Users have the option of searching popular videos, videos by hashtag relevance, and editor’s picks.

Perfect example of branding through Vine: Oreo

One of our twitter followers posted this link in a tweet, and before grasping the actual concept of this application, I was completely amazed by the strategic use of it. In regards to branding this may be the next big social platform to blossom in the online/mobile marketing industry. Should Instagram worry about the new app, or will this only add to the phenomenal outburst of innovative social networks for brands in today’s society?

Feel free to let us know what you think. Hit or miss?

TweetDeck Eliminates FaceBook Columns

Do you use TweetDeck for social media maintenance? If you’re using the program for twitter management in efforts to monitor multiple client accounts then you have nothing to worry about. However, if you are utilizing TweetDeck as a dashboard panel for your company FaceBook pages, this service will no longer continue as of tomorrow, May 7^th. The popular online social management platform has decided to terminate their support of FaceBook.

Who should be aware of this abrupt change?

-TweetDeck AIR

-TweetDeck for Android

-TweetDeck for iPhone app users

If you are familiar with the application, you are aware of the customizable FaceBook column made available to all users with active accounts. Anyone thinking of switching their update manager to a different platform should make this change as soon as possible in order to prepare for tomorrow’s shift. This conversion will eliminate your FaceBook column with or without your consent so it is wise to consider alternative dashboard options, before this takes place.

What is your perception of this?

TweetDeck previously mentioned that they are undergoing a shift in maintenance to primarily focus on their web initiatives. Do you think this will help or hurt them? Most web applications are going mobile, and with the constant battle of social media competitors (*coughs* Hootsuite) this may just be the gateway to a complete downfall for the platform. Many users have tweeted their responses regarding this new loss of FaceBook support, and most do not seem very happy with the change. Some TweetDeck users have even stated that they are switching to different dashboard applications to avoid this change.

Feel free to let us know your thoughts on this controversial topic.

Increase Engagement -Start Asking Questions

Social media has become such a vital necessity within the marketing industry. Time and time again, I run across blog articles, FaceBook posts, and tweets from business accounts that are only stating as opposed to asking. What do I mean by this? Don’t get me wrong if you are an expert in your craft it is wise to sell your service via social platforms, and offering your expertise significantly sets you apart from your competitors. However, I cannot stress how important it is to consistently engage with your audience simultaneously throughout the development of online marketing for your brand.

A social network isn’t very “social” without the aspect of interaction between its users. Many small businesses offer services for a variety of industries, and the addition of online branding enhances their presence. I’ve noticed that most companies receive a higher following rate on platforms they utilize for the purposes of connecting with their target audiences. This information is applicable to both B2B and B2C marketing (see B2B and B2C SEO for more). Sharing your knowledge and skill is a remarkable tool, and it also increases your credibility among potential and current clients. Asking questions is a great way to start a conversation with interested customers. When an appealing question is posted, this gives other businesses an opportunity to share their insight and/or feedback on relevant topics pertaining to your industry.

So give it a try! You’ll be surprised by the results you receive. Next time you’re creating your Social Media Priority List, start asking questions that may be of interest to your online visitors. Polls are great measuring tools for FaceBook and blog posts. Hold a Q & A session one day each week or each month to get the discussion going. Does your company have an Instagram account? Don’t run away from utilizing this platform as a method of engaging with your followers. For example, if you’ve recently re-branded your logo this application works wonders for feedback. Construct a Pic Stitch, and compare the old logo with the new version. Sit back and watch the magic unfold as you receive genuine responses from your target audiences (and don’t forget to place a hashtag in the caption to increase search finds).

Feel free to leave a comment. Any questions?

Online Business Pitching

Crush Path! What’s that, you ask? A new online pitching opportunity for your business. I stumbled upon this magnificent site on Mashable a few days ago, and instantly became impressed by the product so I decided to conduct further research. Before visiting the site, I stopped by YouTube and viewed a few informative videos of the product… Again, very impressed. So what does it do?Crush Path is a website designed solely for the purpose of conveying short and sweet pitches to your current and potential clients. Brace yourself for a platform that combines customized branding, social media, and online marketing all-in-one. Upon entering the site, if you’re interested, you have the ability to customize your pitch sites’ URL. From there you immediately edit your pitch page, and the admin capabilities are very “user friendly”. The edit options provide you with a background and avatar icon upload, a pitch, deals, company description, and services section. You also have the ability to enter a website URL, and contact page to your website (optional).

Keep in mind that the pitch page is created to directly reflect your company, it’s business, and your pitch so there are limited characters available within the editing fields. However, we feel that this platform is very innovative and the approach of clear and concise content will enhance it’s intended purpose. If someone or a company views your pitch page, and would like to do business with you, there is an “I’m Interested” option. Once this link is selected, you now have a notification displaying potential client interest. What also makes this site amazing is the addition of pitch page analytics. Can you believe it? After all of the amazing details we’ve shared about this they even have tracking abilities to seal the deal.

We’re still in the beginning stages of our pitch page, but we would like you to visit!

Share your thoughts with us on the new Crush Path site. Hit or miss?

Group One Slogan Contest

Group One LLC, our parent company, is making a few changes over at headquarters! New company slogans are on the way for all affiliated companies, and we’re happy to extend the opportunity to all staff members within our offices. Here at Truth Marketing we value the creative perspective of our fellow team members as well as our co-workers employed within other divisions of the company. After we receive all submissions, a winner will be selected. Stay up to date with us on Twitter and FaceBook to view the announcement of the Slogan Contest Winner!

Captcha Codes – Secure Website Log-ins

What’s that weird squiggly security field that appears each time we enter passwords online? We’ve all seen them before, and they’re called CAPTCHA Codes. They’ve been prompting us on a more frequent basis. This may have something to do with the fact that recently a group of hackers attacked 90,000 smaller WordPress blogs. (Gasp!) It is extremely important to create complex passwords and usernames in efforts to protect your online information. In February we posted an article, Online Social Hacking, to explain the dangers of internet hacking. We also used an example of Burger King and Jeep’s recent twitter hacks, which went public, and virally spread through headlines of publications like wildfire.

How are hackers able to access this information?

Well, in this recent massive WordPress hacking there were a few probable causes:

1. Usernames and passwords remained in default standing, and weren’t changed. This makes it easy to break into.
2. It has been noted that this particular group of hackers used a program which cycled through 1000 frequently used passwords.
3. Once a hacker has access to your WordPress admin capability, your blog becomes a “botnet”, meaning, the site is now able to be utilized for the purpose of spreading attacks.

So you see, no one gets special privileges when it comes to online hacking. If popular brand names such as Jeep and Burger King can become victims to such a violating act, your brand should also be protected. Captcha codes vary from squiggly letters and numbers to mathematical equations, but the main purpose of this is to ensure that the response is generated by a human being. Prevent your website and/or blog from becoming an accessed victim of hacking and include a captcha code to enhance security efforts.

Let us know your take on this topic!

Visit us on FaceBook at: https://www.facebook.com/TruthMarketing

We would love to connect with you!

SEO: B2B & B2C Marketing

What good is SEO without the comparison of data during a specific duration of time? You will have nothing to compare it to. SEO tends to be a very controversial topic, especially within the B2B spectrum of marketing.  In previous articles we’ve covered the basic aspects of SEO as well as the benefits of its use (see Do New Companies Really Need SEO and Do Companies Really Need SEO Part II). Some view B2C SEO differently, and I’d like to touch on both perspectives within this article today.

B2C Marketing

Business-to-Consumer marketing relies solely on the consumer’s requests and relationship. All content, strategy, and marketing material are tailored around the specifics of the consumer. Customer service also plays a huge part in regards to this genre of marketing. SEO is extremely important here for many reasons:

1. Understanding what pages your visitors click mostly, and ignore
2. Organizing data which displays how long visitors view your site
3. Analyzing mobile details which indicate whether you should integrate a mobile interface/application
4. Determines which products and services hold a greater interest to the public
5. Completely reviews all specifics which identify your websites Strengths and Weaknesses

B2B Marketing

Business-to-Business marketing consists of a completely different target audience. Here, all marketing and website material are centered on what businesses will identify with. SEO, done properly, will benefit your website’s online presence because you will obtain a first-hand look of overall data which identifies what captivates the company’s interest. Other factors include:

1. Analyzing your competitors, in efforts to detect your site’s flaws
2. Comparing sources which will ultimately reveal the industries that search for you
3. Displaying which social platforms provide the best engagement and interaction with businesses
4. Drawing the line on specific  good and bad content/pages that effect your target businesses positively or negatively
5. Identifying the direction your business should take, if your website is not receiving the proper results you are looking for

Our main goal is to gain awareness with any online platform whether it is your company website, FaceBook, or Twitter account. Many argue about the importance of value that SEO has within both genres of marketing. It is clear that optimizing any site to produce higher results will meet your needs, because content is key here. If you don’t provide a way to be found the search engines will not find you. End Result: Potential business and/or consumers will not find you either. At Truth Marketing, our experience with B2C has determined that applying SEO properly, will achieve higher rankings and improve your online presence. However in regards to B2B, your specific industry has a lot to do with the approach you take and the results you receive.  We are supporters of search engine optimization.

Feel free to let us know what you think! We are also on FaceBook. Let’s connect!

Inspiration Hunting – Creating Blog Content

Whether you have your own business, or your role involves a social media function at work, it is important to brainstorm ideas for content on a frequent basis. Writer’s block doesn’t have to be an issue as long has you have the right method of planning in order. In a previous article, Social Media Priority Lists, we explain the benefits of planning ahead when it comes to your blogs and social media accounts. Today, we want to take it a step further. Let’s dive into the inspirational aspects of blogging!

Inspiration Hunting

What exactly is this, you ask? The method in which we search for interesting industry-related content that:

A)     Provides Insight

B)      Gets our Creative Juices Flowing

How does one go on this hunt?

- Explore Current Interests

One of the reasons we love the internet so much is because it is virtually impossible to search for something, and come up with nothing. Information is a powerful tool, and we use it to jog ideas, develop drafts, and discover interesting content. We have a variety of options available to us online from hilarious YouTube video ads to blog worthy news updates on Twitter. Let us take advantage of these online sources, and use them for inspiration. Linking common interest or brand-related information when hunting through the internet can be very beneficial to your creative process.

-Review Your Own Experiences

Think about your daily experiences, business challenges, tips and tricks you’ve learned throughout certain instances… Is this not blog-worthy? Of course it is! What better way to produce content than to have an idea originated from a personal recollection? We’ve all heard of the expression “Straight from the horse’s mouth”, and in this case it definitely pertains to you. Many of us have content stored directly within our minds, and your own insight can do wonders for your blog. Unleash the power of your thoughts, and let the words do the talking for you.

Where do you get your inspiration? Sharing is caring, and we’d love to hear what your method of inspiration hunting is!

Social Media – Spring Cleaning

Alright, the moment we’ve all been waiting for has finally arrived: Spring Time! The season is transitioning, climate is warming up, and it is time to do some de-cluttering for the benefit of your business. Let us not forget the process of re-vamping. Each season brings different perspectives across the board for all of your target audiences on each social media platform. With that being said, it’s time to do some Spring Cleaning.

Emails

Let’s start with the basics. We all know throughout the year there is a hand full of emails we receive daily, (mostly) from companies we thought we unsubscribed from. Let’s make a clean sweep through all of the spam we ignore and finally eliminate the space it takes up in your inbox. Deleting and removing yourself from irrelevant email blasts is the best thing you can do for your email account. Clear it up! You’ll be glad you did, and sifting through your inbox will be a pleasant experience.

Social Networks

-If your company manages a LinkedIn account, and there are a ton of new promotional insights, changes within the services you provide, or new openings on the rise… Post them. Many companies neglect their LinkedIn pages once they are developed. Stay current and spring into the new changes.

-Block those incessant spammers that are always rearing their sneaky twitcons into your mentions on twitter. If you must, report them, you’d be making the twitter-verse a safer place for all brands.

-Change your company cover on FaceBook. Why not, altering your look reflects an innovative impression on your followers. Post information which displays upcoming events that your company may be having. Let them know you are socially savvy and digitally dynamic. Updating your accounts will give your company’s online social presence a face lift for the spring time.

Company Blog

Spruce up your blog’s content. Complete a mini-review of the most recent topics you’ve covered. Analyze which articles received more clicks, longer views, more comments, and more shares. In the same breath, acknowledge what doesn’t work, which articles tanked, and blacklist those topics for the future (you wouldn’t want to disappoint your readers). Once you’ve analyzed this information and compiled notes you will then be able to create a new list of writing topics. Planning ahead is the best thing you can do in regards to social media, because it is such a consistent game changer so in order to stay in the loop: Content must be Constant.

These are just a few Spring Cleaning techniques for you to take into consideration. Feel free to comment and share any additional tips, tricks, and tactics you think would be beneficial to the social aspect of online marketing for businesses.

Online Branding Options:
Paid Vs. Organic

Rankings, hits, clicks, follows, pins, likes… These are all terms associated with social platforms that benefit our businesses by expanding their online presence. Search engine optimization (SEO), keywords, trends, and industry related topics contribute to the enhancement of this process. However, there are two options available within the world of social media once a business decides to use these services. What are these options?

-Paying

Vs.

-Organic

Marketing your brand is always a challenge at first, because it is your responsibility to focus on your target markets, engagement, and maintenance of content (especially online). With that being said, we need to identify the difference between paid and organic results. Paying for positive results is possible among just about every popular online social platform. There are existing companies that charge rates for packages that will boost your views on YouTube, likes on FaceBook, Follows on Twitter, and just about any other source you can think of. For the right price/fee you can visualize the increase in feedback linking to all of the content you post on each account.

Organic results are produced the “old fashion” way. Here, at Truth Marketing we choose to operate organically. However if our clients choose to pay for services that they feel will benefit their online branding, we certainly assist them in every way possible. When it comes to organic branding research is definitely highly regarded in this case. For example, if you are managing a new twitter account it is important to conduct trend searches to get a better idea of what you should be tweeting. Your updates are essentially what will make-or-break you on twitter so it is extremely important to analyze your updates before they are posted. This approach is very similar when operating/managing company FaceBook pages. Review your insights to get a clear sense of what posts your fans are most interested in. Organic branding maintains your social presence online from a natural aspect. Here you are able to view exactly what contributes to your success by closely monitoring your traffic and pin pointing what areas you need to improve upon.

As you can see both options are available to your business, but the question is: Which will you choose?

Are you more concerned with numbers or the actual interest of the people/businesses that follow your brand? The bottom line here is the deciding factor and what effect it will have on the success of your marketing. Let us know what you think.