YouTube is the 2nd largest search engine next to its parent, Google. “How to” is the most searched-for phrase. This class covers the basics of YouTube and the 2nd video covers how to optimize your channel for SEO and branding.
Here are the class notes: https://azsocialmediawiz.com/wp-content/uploads/YouTubeBasics.pdf
Let’s face it, business owners, Marketing Technology (or MarTech to the techie folks) can get out of hand. What happened to the days when putting your shingle outside your store and an ad in the Yellow Pages (remember those?) was enough?
You can click on it to view a larger image, but don’t go cross-eyed trying to make sense out of it.
This goes to show you the ridiculous amount of marketing technology choices out there.
You can’t be on all the networks all the time!
It’s impossible!
Clearly Define Your Target Marketing Niches – You can have more than one target market! But you MUST identify them. Start with this FREE Workbook. 
Take time to learn. You can never waste your time learning how to do something better and more efficiently.That’s why I created Your Social Savvy Solution Members Only. It’s where you can go and get all the knowledge that you need, in a logical progression, to become the confident, savvy marketer so you can….
Don’t you just love December? It’s the time when all the experts, gurus, geniuses, pundits, authorities and mavens write their recaps of the year’s social media marketing news and trends. They then come out and predict what’s coming in the new year. I’ve been collecting blog posts and articles from all the “experts” out there and will be curating them into my 2017 predictions which I’ll launch next week.
Let’s start with Big Daddy, Facebook. They were supposedly going to offer options for publishers to monetize content. That didn’t happen. At least not that I noticed. They did, however, focus on Messenger, adding advertising options and more features. They have enhanced their Business Directory, internal search algorithm and Places Directory.
What no one saw coming was Facebook Live Streaming Video. That has turned online marketing on its ear. Now any user can broadcast themselves from their personal profile and any business can broadcast from their business page – LIVE! And it’s FREE! Though apps like Periscope (owned by Twitter) and Meerkat offered live video streaming, it took Big Daddy, Facebook making this feature available to its nearly 2 billion users to really make live video a major trend. I’ll cover the future of this in the 2017 predictions post.
Though I didn’t have any specific 2016 predictions for Twitter, 2016 has been Twitter’s year and we can thank Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. Imagine that President-Elect Trump would rather tweet out his latest news of a cabinet appointee than tell the reporters waiting in the lobby of Trump Tower. 
Twitter is merging its Periscope live streaming into their mainline app. Yay! One less app to deal with. Twitter also improved their analytics and advertising audience targeting to compete with Facebook. They also tweaked their platform so you can easily add pictures and links without them taking up valuable 140-character space.
As predicted, Google+ is not dead, nor is it dying. It’s still Google’s social network that they use to measure what people find popular. They launched the new layout and format focusing on Collections (which are like Pinterest Boards – though not as easy to use) and Communities (which are like LinkedIn and Facebook groups – though not as popular). And of course, Google+ is still a network created by developers without taking the end user into consideration. What used to take 1 or 2 clicks in the old version, now takes 3, 4 maybe even 5 clicks. HOWEVER, Google+’s main benefit is its connection to the Google search engine. Anything posted public is indexed in the search engine. Even doing some micro-blogging on G+ helps with SEO (search engine optimization).
The professional networking powerhouse, LinkedIn, is on its way to joining Microsoft’s family. They did make changes to LinkedIn Pulse – where they incorporated Pulse articles into the user’s newsfeed. If they’re following a company or a user, they’ll see the articles. They did start calling them “articles” rather than “posts” which was confusing. LinkedIn is actually encouraging people to contact connections for sales by merging what used to be “InMail” — their internal email system — with their text messaging platform. They launched their Profinder, where freelancers can list themselves and receive RFPs (requests for proposals). Access Profinder from the “Interests” menu.
Most of the rest of the social media marketing predictions for 2016, I wrote about last year still hold true. Except for the demise of Blab and the slow death of Periscope, with both Facebook, Twitter and now Instagram adding the live streaming video features, anyone can be a broadcaster. We’re still waiting for YouTube Live. Interesting how Google, who was the first to come out with live streaming in Google+ Hangouts is the one that’s now lagging behind Facebook and Twitter with making it simple and user-friendly. IMHO, the Google developers need to stop thinking like developers and starting thinking like the end user.
You’ve got the latest webcam in your pocket in your smartphone. Why aren’t you using video marketing to promote your business?
“Buyer Beware”
Back in the day, whenever you purchased something, the advice was, buyer beware. Before you bought something or hired someone, you had to see credentials, check reviews, or asked a friend or colleague.
Today’s buyers are savvier and more demanding. They expect more. And, if you can’t provide content they can actually use, they will go elsewhere. They are…
To be successful in today’s marketing, you need to know your target market inside and out. You need put yourself in their shoes. Where are they hanging out online? What are they going to enter into the search box to find you? When they have a problem (a pain point) where are they going for answers? How are you going to solve their pain point?
When your potential customer discovers your website, what do they find?
Articles with answers to their problems? Stories about people like them who have the same issues and how your business solved their issue? An easy-to-see, clear, call-to-action where they can join a list, get a freebie or more info? Entertainment?
When that person finds your Facebook, Twitter or Google+ page what will they find?
A logo graphic that’s cut off? A cover graphic that’s fuzzy or has text that is blocked by page features? Or good quality graphics that instantly tell them what it is that you do? Your last post was over 2 months ago, a few minutes or hours ago? The posts are all about how great the business is — selling, selling, selling?
These pages are your company’s façade. They’re your online image. Everything from pictures, the about section and what your posting is part of your brand. What does it say about you?
Folks, it’s 2016. Social Media is not going away. You either have to have your act together and get in game or start planning to close or sell your business (if that’s where you have to go, I have someone who can help you).
Then do some research – where are they hanging out online? Which networks do they prefer?
Learn about the networks. They are like foreign countries with their own culture and lingo. Find communities where your target markets are as well as referral sources.
Make sure your social media profiles and website are optimized for search. Each of the networks has their own powerful, internal search engine.
Think Keyword-Centric
Develop a strategic and a tactical social media marketing plan. This will be updated every month based on your analytics and insights, which tell you what’s working and what’s not working.
If you keep doing what’s not working expecting different results – that’s insanity!
Remember, not being Social Savvy is no longer an excuse. You can learn, practice and succeed at social media marketing with a little help from your friends at AZ Social Media Wiz.
By Taylor Luke, Financial Potion, Guest Blogger
Who doesn’t love condiments? Ketchup, ranch, BBQ, buffalo; all condiments that add more flavor and flare to a meal to make it that much more memorable. Videos are your condiments to marketing.
By now every business owner knows they need a mobile website, and active social media sites to truly survive. However in order to thrive, businesses needs to pour videos onto these platforms like BBQ sauce to a rack of ribs.
It’s proven that when a video is on the top fold of the home page of a website, visitors will stay on the site at least three times longer than when there isn’t a video on the home page. Videos are first impression clones that allow people to get to know you and your business faster; making them one step closer to a confident buying decision. Sure, you probably have a lot of great content on your website, and you need that for SEO, however people retain 60% of the information given in a video versus only 20% when read. If someone decides to only visit your site once, how much information would you like him or her to retain?
According to comScore 45% of all Internet users view 1 video a month and the average views 32.2 videos in one month. If your target demographic includes Millennials, then you need to have video to educate them since 98% will watch at least 1 video a day to research content.
In 2006 Google bought YouTube because they knew it would be the future for communication. Google favors websites that have videos on them, and we all know Google runs the search world.
More social media platforms are leaning on video because it’s what people enjoy. Videos that are uploaded to YouTube can be simultaneously posted on Google+ and Twitter as well. Contents posts with a visible video attract three times more inbound links. On Instagram people can post short 15 second videos because of that fact alone. Periscope, a link of Twitter, is becoming very popular. This app allows people to live stream and become a reporter anywhere at anytime.
People want to work with people they know, like, trust and would hang out with. Videos create transparency for a business, and allow viewers to get an authentic view into the culture. A single video can be placed on multiple platforms to clone your message that could provide you a higher ROI than any other marketing tactic. Marketing is like a recipe, stick to a few basic rules, add your own ingredients and personality, then make sure to add plenty of video for flavor to make that meal, or your business, that much more memorable.
Taylor Luke has been practicing the art of video production for over ten years. Originally from the East coast, she moved to Arizona in order to get a way from the snow, cold, rain, humidity and expensive living. In Arizona she earned her bachelor’s degree in Film and Video Production at Collins College. During school she was a project manager at a video marketing company in Phoenix, then worked two years at a studio in Scottsdale, and since July of 2014 has been co-owner of her own video production company; Financial Potion. Her and her business partner believe video is the potion to relieve business owners of their financial worries. It’s an entertaining and effect way to communicate and educate people, and what she loves most about video production is the opportunities it grants to interact with so many different people and industries.
As a small business, budgets are tight. And, any entrepreneur knows that marketing – especially social media marketing – is a key factor for any business that wants new customers. However, today’s social media and digital marketing tools, are free to use if you know how to use them properly and effectively.
Sure there are tons of shortcuts out there that you can take, but are they really effective? Have you planned out the strategy? If you’re going to spend money, you need to have a clear plan as well as a budget. You must have clearly defined your target market so you can specifically target them.
Think about this: when you’re watching TV, are you paying attention to the commercials or do you tune them out – or do you watch on a DVR and fast forward through them? Now, there are ad-blockers online and for mobile apps so you don’t have to see ads online either!
I like “irrelevant”. Nothing is worse than irrelevant content whether it’s blog or social media posts or advertisements.
What this boils down to and what I tell my clients when they ask, “Should I spend money on social media advertising?” — My answer? — Don’t. Do it for free for 3-6 months following my instructions. Check your analytics, insights and website statistics monthly, see what’s working and what’s not working, then adjust your strategy and tactics accordingly.
You have 2 choices:
Though it may seem daunting, learning how to market your business on social media in a logical, progression that makes sense, will get you set-up, optimized and with strategic and tactical marketing plans in hand ready to take control of your marketing!
Giselle
AZ Social Media Wiz
Graphic courtesy of Wallblog.co.uk: http://wallblog.co.uk/2015/11/13/the-ethics-of-attention-and-the-inevitable-future-of-digital-advertising/
If your website was created before April 2015 and hasn’t it been updated since then, it may not be mobile friendly. If it isn’t, Google will punish you and no one is going to find you on the search engine. On April 21, 2015, Google made a critical algorithm change demoting any website that is not mobile friendly or mobile responsive. That means that a site must look good, be easy to navigate, and easy to use on any device whether it’s a desktop/laptop computer, tablet, smartphone or smartTV.
Google lost some of their desktop market share to Yahoo earlier this year when Firefox browser made Yahoo the default search engine so they are at 64%. However, on mobile devices, Google rules at 83%. Note: Microsoft’s Bing runs Yahoo’s search engine.
Especially if you’re a local business, coming up on the first page in mobile search is crucial. In this infographic from Global Web Index, it shows that though people still us their PCs and laptops, 80% use their smartphones for searching the Internet.
Here are your choices:
You decide.
Giselle Aguiar
AZ Social Media Wiz
2015 will go down as the year of the Live Streaming apps when Periscope and Meerkat allowed the average smartphone owner to broadcast live from wherever they are.
This infographic from lawyer Kerry Gorgone highlights some main points.
Someone once asked me, “Are there any businesses that don’t need to be on social media?”
Basically, if you don’t need to attract new business, you don’t need to be on social media.
However, most businesses do.
Back in the day, before the Internet, it was – if you’re not in the Yellow Pages, you don’t exist. In the 90s it was – if you don’t have a website you don’t exist. Now it’s if you’re not on social media, you don’t exist.
But what’s different about social media, is the social part. It’s not enough to just build your Facebook page and say, “OK, I’m on!” You have to be social. You can automate a lot of the media part, but you still have to be social.
Think about it. Before, you couldn’t start building a relationship with a potential client until they called you, walked into your place of business or you cold-called them. Now, you can start getting to know them as they get to know you – and get to trust you.
Want to or not, you have to be on social media if you want to grow your business. Period. You can hire someone to do it for you, but A: you’ll need a hefty budget and B: do you really want a stranger to build relationships with YOUR potential customers?
You CAN learn how to do it yourself with your full-access pass at Social Savvy Solution Members Only. And you’ll have complete control of your marketing!
