Tag: social media

How to build an effective content calendar for Twitter

An active Twitter community has the power to drive foot traffic and increase brand awareness for a local business.  The first step is of course to get Twitter followers; the next step and equally important is to create a content calendar that will make it easy for you to Tweet to your community and stay on top of mind.

What is a content calendar: a content calendar is a schedule for when to post content and what to post about.  A content calendar helps you keep organized and consistent when it comes to social media engagement.  Remember, that which is scheduled gets done.

Who should read this post: a local business owner that just doesn’t have the time or energy to Tweet all day

What you will learn: how to create an effective content calendar that will make it easy to stay on schedule and send relevant Tweets to your community

Continue reading How to build an effective content calendar for Twitter

How Restaurants Can Increase Their Facebook Fan Base and Presence

Facebook Fans

In what can be considered a sort of social media arms race, brands and businesses are in a hurry to ramp up the number of fans they have on Facebook and Twitter. Restaurants in particular are slowly, but surely joining in the race. While some are better at utilizing Facebook pages and all of its features, there is still a large percentage of restaurants that are still in the ‘make or break stage’ of Facebook.

By the ‘make or break stage,’ we refer to the time period in which a brand may become frustrated at poor results which may discourage them from moving forward with social media. Rather than feeling like your efforts are wasted and that there is no hope, consider the following tips on how restaurants can increase their Facebook fan base and presence.

Facebook Layout

Mooyah Facebook Page

When you walk into an Apple store, the experience in itself is part of their value proposition. In the same sense, consider your Facebook fan page as your very own Apple store. Everything from your Facebook timeline to your Facebook Cover page image should be optimized and branded for your business. Continue reading How Restaurants Can Increase Their Facebook Fan Base and Presence

Video Interview: Local marketing with Carmen Sognonvi

Interview details:

About Carmen:

Carmen Sognonvi is co-owner and general manager of Urban Martial Arts in Brooklyn, NY.  Her views on local business and entrepreneurship have been featured in Fox Business, Inc.com, and Crain’s New York Business.  You can reach her at (646) 504-4092 or carmen AT carmensognonvi.com.

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Carmen is such a terrific person and professional.  I love that she not only talks the talk on her blog, but she walks the walk as well because she’s a local business owner.  In her interview, Carmen gives concrete tips that a local business can utilize to use social media to drive traffic and retention.  If there’s one thing I learned during the interview, it’s that online content is the most important asset that a business owner can focus on for the web.  Without content, there is no social presence.

Enjoy the video!

Continue reading Video Interview: Local marketing with Carmen Sognonvi

How to find the right person to lead your digital marketing efforts

How to find the right person to lead your digital marketing efforts

The perfect marketing plan is only as perfect as those who execute it. As a business owner, having the right individual to lead your digital marketing initiatives can be the difference between creating relevance and creating noise. In today’s current digital climate, where everyone calls themselves a social media expert, this can be an especially difficult task.

While the traditional route in filling a position is to post a job opening on a job board or in some cases a recruiting agency, employers are looking toward social media to find the right talent for their digital positions such as community managers and digital marketing coordinators. From Twitter to blogs, the amount of talent available is abundant; the hard part is finding the quality.

If you are currently in the process of hiring or evaluating your digital marketing team, here are 5 things to consider when choosing an individual to lead your digital marketing efforts:

1. Brand Awareness – Perhaps the most important factor to consider, the individual who leads your brand online should be someone who has a full understanding of your brand, past and present. From knowing how the company started to knowing how the brand has evolved (product, brand message, etc.), having a firm understanding and foundation of the brand will be reflected in their level of engagement and creativity. Continue reading How to find the right person to lead your digital marketing efforts

Effective local marketing strategies for your business

Effective local marketing strategies for your business

Whether you are a large corporation or a small mom and pops business, local marketing plays an important role in generating buzz and interest in the area around your business. Contrary to popular belief, being successful with your local marketing doesn’t mean you need to have a huge budget. While it helps, execution and a clear, well-thought out strategy is often the key determinant.

Depending on who your target consumers are as well as other factors, such as the type of business (grocery store, gas station, etc.), there are many marketing avenues that a business may choose to take. On the digital end there is Facebook and Twitter while for those looking for a more traditional approach there are press releases and mailers.

So what is local marketing?

Also known as ‘neighborhood marketing,’ local marketing generally refers to any marketing techniques a business uses to market and promote itself to the area in which it operates. In most cases, local marketing often becomes the responsibility of the franchisee with the parent company being responsible for the national and regional marketing initiatives. An example of this is how McDonald’s would focus on national advertisements that focus on brand awareness and new products that will be at all the stores across the nation, while the individual franchise owner may promote special deals they have on Monday’s at their own location. Continue reading Effective local marketing strategies for your business

4 Lessons From The FastCasual.com 2012 Top 100 Movers and Shakers List

Each year, FastCasual.com puts out their list of the Top 100 Movers and Shakers in the Fast Casual Restaurant industry. Nominated by readers,  and voted on factors like innovation and growth, the Top 100 list provides a learning opportunity for restaurant owners all around.

1. Get Social. Grow Your Brand.

Smashburger

If there is one common denominator that is present in all of the fast casual restaurants mentioned on the Top 100 Movers and Shakers list, it’s the importance that social media plays in regards to brand building and brand awareness. Continue reading 4 Lessons From The FastCasual.com 2012 Top 100 Movers and Shakers List

Infographic: Facebook EdgeRank and Why You Should Know About It

Facebook EdgeRank

The days of posting something on your Facebook Fan Page wall and having all of your fans see it are gone. As Facebook continues to grow and improve the way that users are served content, EdgeRank is something that all marketers and businesses should be aware of.

Playing a central role in the Facebook user experience, EdgeRank determines what items and stories are to be populated on an individual users News Feed. Specifically, each story is assigned a value which takes into account three known factors: Affinity, Weight, and Time

Affinity: the relationship between the user and the updates origin page and or/friend whose update it is. Continue reading Infographic: Facebook EdgeRank and Why You Should Know About It