Small Business Marketing 101How Small Businesses can use Marketing to gain customers

By @DanGalante

1.What are the best ways to market to my industry? The best ways to market to your industry is through offerings such as

whitepapers, industry events, Social Media/Content Marketing and through direct selling. As there is no single best way, all of these methods need to be integrated together and function as a synergy. The Sales and Marketing functions need to be aligned and support one other in order for any marketing effort to be successful.

Becoming a part of your industry community is one of the best ways to market to them. This can be achieved by becoming a trusted advisor. Earning the trust of the community can be achieved by demonstrating your value and becoming a resource they the turn to all of the time not just when they have a need. Understanding the pain points of this group is critical to creating and implementing the best solutions to solve their problems.

Questions to ask before Launching a Marketing Campaign for your products

Performing SWOT Analysis

Knowing who could use your product is also something important to consider. If you do not have any existing customers you will need to be the Sales rep for your business to get yourself set up in the marketplace.

To be able to make an effective Sales Presentation to a customer, you will need to compile your Marketing research in a competitive analysis chart as seen above.

Image via smartdraw.com

Before businesses can sell anything, they need to determine if there is a market for their products and services. 

Most businesses will not necessarily be creating new product categories. As a result, they will be entering into a market place that already exists. This is true if you are a re-seller or distributor of products and services. Once you decide that there is a market for your products and services; you need to study your competitors. 

You can see who your competitors are by doing internet research, reading trade publications and attending industry trade shows. On the internet, you can view your competitors' websites. Once you have all of this information you need to determine the sales, and marketing channels that you will use to sell your product. Are you going to sell products via a website, direct mail, social media marketing, retail space, trade shows or a direct sales force? There are many options available to you. 

How is the product being used? What is the product designed to do? What are the demographics of the people using the product? How long is the sales cycle between purchases? What channels is the product sold through? What offerings does the competition have? What channels does the competition use to sell? How do your offerings measure up compared to the

competitions?

8 Key Marketing questions to ask before Selling a Product or Service

Product literature from your company and the competition Reading industry trade magazines and journals Attending industry trade shows where products are readily

on display Viewing product training and demonstration videos by

experts in your field Talking to prospects and existing customers about how they

use the products Examining your company’s data on sales and the sales

cycle of your products

Where could you find this information?

All of this information can be used in your sales presentation to convince your prospects and customers that you are an expert. This is the cornerstone to the consultative selling approach.

Once you know who your products are a good fit for, you can come up with a prospecting list based on geography. If you work for a company as a sales representative you will be given a territory with a list of names and addresses.

The only exception to this is if you are selling life insurance and financial services, in these professions you can call on anyone. You are not limited by geography. 

If you are starting your own business you will have to come up with a prospecting list on your own.

I would do internet searches that focus on certain professionals that are a good fit for your offerings and organize it by zip codes. You will be able to build and improve on your prospecting list as you call on prospects.

Your prospecting list is a building block you can use to develop a sales plan. I will talk about this in a later post.

This is how you prospect and identify your target market.

How do I build a prospecting list if one is not provided?

3. Imagine you could speak to a current customer. What would you want to ask them? How would you use their responses to market my product?I would want to ask current customers the following questions:

1.Why did you chose my product?2.What do you like about the product?3.What do you dislike about the product?4.Is it easy to use?5.How long did it take to put the product to work?6.Would you be willing to provide a testimonial in writing, on video about how the product helped your business, speak at an event?(Questions may differ based on the user’s answers.)

I would take the information from questions to 1-5 and discuss them with the product manager and engineer to see how the product could be made better. Testimonials obtained would be uploaded to the website and integrated into product literature.

What questions are you asking before starting a content & digital marketing campaign?

Using Existing customers to do Market Research

Content Marketing is a great way to connect and engage with potential customers. Only through thoughtful connecting and engagement with others will you be able to obtain quality leads and create demand for your products.

Making people want to connect with you on Social Networks is the key to uncovering any needs they may have. A great place to start is to write and create content that informs people on how they can use something or how they can fix an issue that they are having. This has the effect of offering a value message to potential customers because you are showing them what you can do to help. In essence this is your digital portfolio. Just as in the offline world, when you are trying to acquire new customers part of your strategy is to show samples of your work and what you have to offer.

Now this might sound like a lot. To start, try writing comments on blogs that you think are interesting. This is a great place to get comfortable sharing your insights in the digital world. Once you write a comment, make sure to follow up and respond to any replies as this will help get a conversation going. Make sure that you share the blog that you commented on so your insights can reach others. You can do this with articles on LinkedIn as well.

Building Channels to Share your Content

Wordpress & tumblr Writing a blog is great way to share your ideas and market your expertise in an area. I

began blogging back in November 2011. Blogging had connected me with so many great people around the globe. I began publishing on the Wordpress platform. 

WordPress The first thing that you need to do is to register on the site. You will have the option to

create either a wordpress.com address or a custom domain name. I suggest that you pick a custom domain name because your blog will come up better in search results. Wordpress gives you a choice of web suffixes to choose from, for example .com, .me etc. I chose the address http://dangalante.me. If you decide to change the address after you set up the blog that is ok. The wordpress.com address will automatically be directed to your new address.

It is important to note that you will have to buy the domain name if you want your own. Hosting is inexpensive and should cost about $25 per year at most depending on the name you choose. The investment is well worth it because this will give your blog its own brand identity.

Creating a Wordpress Blog

Creating a Wordpress Blog Once you register, you will see WordPress’s default theme. Click on the appearance tab and browse the free and premium themes that are available. You can then choose the one that you would like to install.

Now you are ready to write a post. To do this click, on the new post tab. A window will pop up.

Here you will find tools to write and edit your post. When you are ready to post, just click publish and you are ready to go.

tumblr Like Wordpress, you will have to register on tumblr to set up your blog. I

have provided the link to the registration page. If you land on the home page, just click on the sign up button.

Once you have signed up, you will be prompted to create a web address. You will notice that the only address you could create is a tumblr.com address. Tumblr does not support or partner with site hosting companies. In other words, you will need to find a third party host on your own. I purchased a domain name from Yola.com . The name I purchased is http://askdangalante.com .

Once I secured the name, I had to point the address to the Tumblr servers. (Tumblr provides the specific address and exactly what CNAME or A-Records need to be changed. Here is the link. You will know if this is correct if your address redirects to Tumblr and it say page not found.

You can test your domain address in the box under your tumblr address in the blog settings. Your address will not link to the site right away. It took 24 hours; although it can take up to 72.

Creating a tumblr Blog

Creating a tumblr Blog Now you can click on the customized theme and

browse through the free and premium themes. Pick a theme and now you are ready to post. To post, click on the text tab which is located underneath the Dashboard tab. You will see a window where you can copy, paste, write and edit your posts. When you are done, just click the publish button.

Now you have your all of this content. How do you track your progress? To do this you will need to set up analytics. LinkedIn provides this for the long form and Wordpress does this. However for your own blog on tumblr and a custom website you will need to use a site like Google Analytics.

Image via zanderchance.com

Blogging on LinkedIn’s Publishing platform

Writing on LinkedIn's long form post is similar to writing blog posts. Your goal is to engage your readers & build an audience. Let's explore the features of the LinkedIn publishing platform. 

The Structure of the LinkedIn long form 

 Title The platform provides a place for a

title. Tool Bar Underneath the title, there is

a tool bar similar to one you would see in Microsoft word that allows writers to use headings, Bold, Italics, underline, center, bullet pints and numerical lists. Users can also use the tool bar to insert links, images, and videos. 

Image via vni.s3.amazon.aws.com

Body Next, is the body of the platform

where users can write the body of their content and lastly there is the SEO tags.

SEO Tags/Keywords A key difference with these tags is

that LinkedIn allows users up to three tags or keywords to index the content where traditional blogging platforms offer more.

Pictures/Images Users can also upload an image at

the top of their post, LinkedIn recommends pictures 700 x 400 pixels look best. LinkedIn also allows users to credit their image source. 

Writing on LinkedIn Now that we have described the

inner workings of the LinkedIn long form, let's describe how to write compelling posts. Now you might be asking what topics should write about?

Popular topics are as follows:1. Your insights on trends in your industry.2. Case Studies3. Topics in the News 4. How to articles that teach readers how to do something.5. How you learned from failures and adversities.If you are not still unsure what to write about; LinkedIn now uses an algorithm that analyzes previous posts you have written; offering 3 to 4 ideas based on your industry. The Body of your PostOnce you have chosen your topic you are ready to start writing. You must create a thesis which is the claims that you are making. This should be followed up with three to four paragraphs that prove your thesis, claim and assertion. Paragraphs should be 4 to 6 sentences when possible. Within these paragraphs, you should use headings and  sub headings along with built points so your text is easy to read. The text should be visually appealing  to the reader. In terms, of how long your post should be it is up to you. There is no set length, rather your post should be long enough to prove out your thesis, assertion and claim.  

TitleYour title should reflect what the topic that you are writing about while being engaging to readers. Most people just skim the headlines as they are bombarded with content, in other words you have just seconds to catch their attention.Popular titles include:1. How to's,2. lists ex 7 ways to _______3 A question.SEO tags KeywordsMake sure to pick keywords that reflect your topic as you only can use three. ImagesMake sure when you upload an image that it reflects what your post is about. Video's/embedsTo enhance your text, you can embed videos and presentations from Slideshare & YouTube. This can be a strategy to re-purpose existing content. Calls to actionMake sure that your posts have a call to action at the end. In other words, what action do you want your reader to take as a result of reading your post. 

SharingYou can share your post in the following ways:1. On LinkedIn through a status update, your LinkedIn groups & messages. 2. Through the Social Sharing buttons that include LinkedIn, Facebook & Twitter. 3. Through links on Google+, tumblr, Wordpress etc...Also, you want to ask questions of the reader that encourage them to comment and start a discussion. This is how to write a LinkedIn long post that engages readers & builds an audience. 

How you would repurpose/rewrite/market to increase readership?In order to increase readership, I would create accounts on other social networks such as Twitter, Facebook, Google+, YouTube and Slideshare.Rewriting/Repurposing The first thing I would do is to change the title in the form of a question.

This way it invites the audience to weigh in. I would also ask a question at the end of the article.

Great calls to action would be: feel free to comment, or asking a question of the reader at the end of the post. By having a call to action to comment, readers are more likely to start a discussion and share the content. It is important to talk with your audience and not at them.

I would add is an about the author section at the bottom of each post. This is another great way to showcase the author’s expertise and incorporate a call to action such as see how we can help or click here to sign up for a free demo.

Repurposing: Extending the Life of Content

The contents of the article can be put into different formats such as a PowerPoint, a YouTube video all of which can be uploaded to Slideshare.

Article can be published to LinkedIn’s publishing platform as well. The article can also be written and have presentations and videos

embedded in the article itself. There are endless ways to repurpose content.

Repurposing Formats

Using Google Analytics to monitor your traffic

. Google Analytics also lets you track your Adwords campaigns. I use Google Analytics for my website and tumblr blog.

Google Analytics is a great way to monitor your efforts online. It allows you to see how many people are visiting your site, the duration of their visit, what content they are looking at and from what network. You can also see what country they are from. Another thing you could do is to set custom goals to check for certain things. The site allows you to measure the amount of traffic that comes from social networks. To access this, just click under the social tab under traffic sources. Google Analytics also lets you track your Adwords campaigns. I use Google Analytics for my website and tumblr blog.

Next, you will need to copy and paste this into the html section of each page of your website or blog. If you have done this correctly, you will see that the tracking code is installed.

You will start to see statistics about your visitors within a few hours. It is important to note that you cannot use Google Analytics with WordPress.com. WordPress provides users with a set of analytics.

I have also included a video tutorial

How to setup Google analytics for your website and blog. The first thing that you will need to get started is a Gmail account. Now with your Gmail account, go to the Google Analytics website. You will need to click the create an account button. Next you will be asked to login to you Gmail account. You will then be asked to create a profile and add the website URL that you want to track. You can also provide your time zone.

Once you provide this, the site will provide you with a tracking code. Next, you will need to copy and paste this into the html section of each page of your website or blog. If you have done this correctly, you will see that the tracking code is installed.

You will start to see statistics about your visitors within a few hours. It is important to note that you cannot use Google Analytics with WordPress.com. WordPress provides users with a set of analytics.

I have also included a video tutorial

Sharing Your Content on Social Networks

Twitter is a great social networking site for people and brands to spread ideas quickly. Twitter is also a great marketing tool for brands to promote products and services. Twitter has a few hundred million users worldwide. Getting started with Twitter is quick and easy. To get started using Twitter you need to do the following:

1 Click on the join link. 2 Provide your first and last name. 3 Provide a valid email address. Once you join, you will need to choose a

name for your account. I would recommend using your name or your business name. You can also choose a name that relates to what you do. I have two Twitter accounts @DanGalante and @TrendSettingSM.

Now that you have an account, you should fill in the bio section. Twitter gives you 160 characters to describe yourself. Although Twitter provides a place for a web link, two links are better than one.The next step is to upload a photo of you. Make sure that the photo that you choose is professional and clearly visible to members. Remember, this is your image that you are sharing. Twitter provides users with an option of uploading a custom background. To do this, click on the settings button and click design. Here you can upload a picture from your computer or view different Twitter backgrounds.

Twitter is a great social networking site for people and brands to spread ideas quickly. Twitter is also a great marketing tool for brands to promote products and services. Twitter has a few hundred million users worldwide.

Now you are ready to tweet. However before you start tweeting away, you need know the following:1 Tweets are limited to 140 characters. At first, this may seem annoying, but this is a great exercise for your creativity.2 Make sure you have something of value to say, nothing will turn people off faster than nonsense.3 Make sure to share articles and content that you create in your Tweets by including links. Doing this will help you gain followers. Twitter also allows you to share videos and photos in tweets. This can be a great way to share experiences, ideas and to promote a business or a brand.4 Do not be afraid to make a mistake. Twitter provides a delete button with an icon that is a trash can. This is great if you make a typographical error.

5 Make sure to change-up your message. No one likes the same message over and over.6 Leave 10 to 20 characters for your tweets to be retweeted.Once you start tweeting, your goals are to:1 Get other users to share your content.2 Build a following3 Follow other users who interest you.

The Retweet and The MentionWhen a Twitter user shares a message from another user, this is called a Retweet. Retweets are sought after because the more your content is shared, the higher your influence is perceived.Mentions are when a Twitter user references or quotes you in on of their tweets. Some users may use this instead of simply retweeting because a mention shows up quicker than a retweet does in a users timeline.Retweets and mentions show up in the interactions and mentions section of the Twitter account.

The Direct Message or DMThe Direct Message or DM as it is referred to, allows Twitter users to send messages to other users. I waited to mention this feature until now because Twitter only allows users to send messages to users who follow them. This is a great way to send a private message to users on the site.

Sharing Tweets with More than Just Twitter FollowersIn order for users to share tweets with more than a their followers, users need to use hash-tags. Hash-tags are a number bracket next to a word. For example, #business is a hash-tag. Hash-tags create an index of information on a specific topic. A hash-tag reaches more people than a regular tweet or just getting a few retweets. Hash-tags are a great way for users to earn new followers.

LinkedIn is a professional networking site that allows people to search for jobs and connect with people they know. You can also make new connections on the site. Right now, over 400 million people around the world are using LinkedIn.

The Basics LinkedIn allows users to sign up for free. To get started you need to

do the following. 1 Click on the join today tab. 2 Enter a first and last name.

LinkedIn

3 Write a professional summary that provides information that describes past accomplishments along with what you can do for potential clients and employers. You should also describe what type of position or client you are seeking.4 Upload a professional picture that will make your profile look more attractive.5 Create a professional headline in 160 characters or less. If you leave this blank, LinkedIn populates this with your latest position. My advice is to create your own catchy headline to captivate readers to read your profile; unless you have a great position and have achieved your career goals. The professional headline provides you with an opportunity to quickly sell and market who you are and what you do.6 Fill out the specialties section with keywords related to what you do. Your idea is to use keywords to optimize your LinkedIn profile to come up in searches on LinkedIn. Also fill out the skills section and interests section.

7 Connect with customers, colleagues, bosses and professors. To do this quickly, upload your address book from your email account into LinkedIn. LinkedIn will identify which members in your address book are already members. You can then decide which members you want to invite to join your network. LinkedIn is based on a network of first, second and third degree connections. First degree connections are direct connection. Second degree connections are a connection of a connection or a friend of a friend.

Third degree connections are friends of second degree connections. You can connect with people by entering an email address for them, indicating that you share a group with them, stating that they are a colleague, stating that you have done business, together or by stating that you were classmates.

Make sure not to abuse the contact form otherwise you will have to enter email addresses every time that you connect with someone. Inmails are a premium feature that allows you to contact people anyone on LinkedIn. This is good if you are not able to reach a person through traditional means. Basic accounts on LinkedIn also provide a feature called introductions. Basic accounts allow five introductions. This feature allows you ask one of your connections to connect you with one of your connections.

8 Get recommendations. Once you have first degree connections, you can ask them to recommend your work. To do this, click on the profile tab and click on the recommendations link in the drop down menu.

This will allow you to choose the position you want to be recommended for. Once you have identified this position you then can send out a request to your connection for a recommendation. Recommendations are social proof and are a great way to boost your credibility online. LinkedIn requires three recommendations for your profile to be considered complete. For recommendations from non LinkedIn members, use the Slideshare plugins.The Endorsement. Users can also list skills they have. Connections can endorse each others skills to show what talents they have by clicking on the particular skill. 

9 Use the three profile links LinkedIn provides in the website section of your profile. I would include the following links, your website, your blog, your Facebook page, your YouTube channel and your Google plus page. The sites you choose are up to you.

LinkedIn also provides users with two additional Links for Twitter accounts. In other words, LinkedIn provides you with up to five touch points to connect with people and to showcase your work. LinkedIn now allows users to publish articles using the long post form. This also a great way to share content. 

10 Make sure to make your profile public. LinkedIn allows users to create a custom URL to make it easier for users to find them. I would make the address one that easily identifies you. My public profile URL is http://www.linkedin.com/in/dangalante .

These are the 10 steps to create a complete LinkedIn profile that will be optimized for search on LinkedIn. Also public profiles are indexed in search engines such as Bing, Google, and Yahoo. It is important to know that you can determine what activity that you share. You also have the option to hide your connections from your 1 Degree connections. The settings tab will allow you choose options.Make sure to share content and status updates with your network to engage them. LinkedIn allows people to like and comment on posts. Status updates can be shared on Twitter, with groups and with individuals. Another thing that you can do to build your brand on LinkedIn is to join groups

LinkedIn allows members to join up to 50 groups. I would target industry groups or groups that match your interests. Groups are great places to facilitate discussions. I would also recommend creating a group. This is easy to do. I have provided a link to my sales and marketing group to give you an example. Groups are a great way to make connections and to share and start discussions. You can also post jobs in groups as well.

Companies can also take advantage of LinkedIn. LinkedIn allows companies to create pages. On these pages, companies can post jobs which are a premium feature.

LinkedIn added the status update feature for company pages. This is great to provide updates about your company along with promoting your products and service. I have included a link to my company page as an example. As you can see, LinkedIn is a great place for personal and corporate branding.

Facebook

image via telegrapg.co.uk

Facebook is the largest social networking site in the world. Facebook has over  a billion users worldwide. Almost everyone is on Facebook. From teenagers to baby boomers, people from all walks of life are using Facebook. In this post, I am going to discuss the basics of personal branding on Facebook.

To sign up for an individual account you need to do the following:

1 Provide your first and last name. 2 Enter a valid email twice. 3 Create a password

4 Provide your date of birth to verify your age.To get started, you need to fill out the basic information section which includes the following information: your birthday, your sex, your relationship status and if you prefer men or women.

The next step is to fill out your contact information. In this section, you can include links to your websites, blogs, and other social networks.Facebook also allows you to share your education and work experience. This is a great way to make your profile professional. To tell your story, make sure to fill out Facebook’s about you section. This is a great place to tell your story. You can sell who you are and what you do.

You can also create a timeline to tell your story. This is a new feature on Facebook. Make sure to upload a professional photo of yourself. Facebook also allows you to create photo albums. Make sure to upload photos that contain nothing embarrassing such as drinking or nudity. Remember you are trying to build your image here. Here is the link to my Facebook profile for you to see an example of what I have discussed so far. http://facebook.com/dgalantenyc Facebook allows you to pick a custom URL to make it easier to find your profile.

Now that your profile is set up, your next goal is to add friends to your Facebook account. You can do this as follows:

1 Do a manual search for your friends.

2 Upload your address book to see which of your contacts are on Facebook

3 Send email invitations to people who are not on Facebook.When you find a contacts profile, click on the add friend button. When you click the add friend button.

Facebook allows you to specify how you are connected with the person. I would also include a message with your friend request.

Try to connect with people who you know well because if too many of your requests go unanswered, you will be blocked from adding friends. Also if people flag your request as spam, you will be blocked from sending messages.

If you want to add more people, make sure that you share an interest with them. You can also subscribe to people’s updates even if you are not friends with them. Now that you have friends on Facebook, the next step is to post status updates. I would recommend posting interesting content you come across. This is also a great way to share your own content.

Next, I would use your Facebook wall. The Facebook wall allows people to publically communicate on Facebook with one another. Also if you approve of a status update or comment, you can like them. Likes on Facebook serve as a social endorsement. You can look at my profile to see examples of my likes and people who have liked my content. http://www.facebook.com/dgalantenyc .

I am going to discuss how to brand your business using Facebook pages. Remember Facebook is the largest Social networking site which means that your customers and prospects are on the site. Your job as a business and a brand is to engage with fans, prospects and customers. The goal is to convert this engagement (marketing) to product sales. Facebook pages are a great way to do this.

Facebook has greatly increased the kinds of pages that people and brands can create. Currently there are six types of pages. These pages include: a Local Business or place page, a Company page, a Brand or Product page, an Artist, Fan or Public Figures page, an Entertainment page and a Causes or Community page. Each of these pages has their own benefits.

Facebook pages

I am going to focus on the public figure and the Company pages; using my public figure and company pages as an example.The first thing that you need to do before setting up a Facebook business page is to set up a Facebook account. The steps to set up a Facebook account addressed in my last post. Once you create an account you need to do the following:1 Log in to your account2 Scroll to the bottom of the page and find the create a page link3 Once you click on the link, a page will come up that will list all six types of Facebook pages. (For this post we will focus on the Public Figure and Company pages.)4 Choose the type of page you would like which in our case is the Public Figure and Company pages.5 Once you choose the type of page you would like, you will be asked to select the category your page falls into.6 The next step will be to name your page. For the public figure page use your name or your band’s name if you have one. Use your company name for your company page. I started with a public figure page and added a company page later.7 Agree to Facebook’s terms and click the get started button.Getting Started

I will start by discussing how to set up a public figure page. The first thing you will need to do is to fill in the basic information section of the public figure page. The basic information section asks for the following:1 The category of the page, the type of person you are public figure, journalist etc…2 Your name3 Your Address (This is optional for public figure and company pages)4 Your affiliation5 Your date of birth6 An about headline which is similar to the headline feature on LinkedIn except you need to provide the content, where LinkedIn will let you use your job title and company as a default. I would use this space to briefly sell who you are and what you do. You should be brief.

Once you reach 25 likes, Facebook allows you to set a custom URL to your pages. I recommend doing this because it will be easier for people to find your page and it will be easier for search engines to index your page. Here are my custom URL. http://www.facebook.com/djgalante I picked one name that was my name and one that is a shortened version of my name. You should pick names related to yourself and/or your business so people will find your page quickly and easily.Facebook also allows you to use insights to see who is talking about your page and who likes your page. Also make sure to upload a professional photo of yourself.Another thing you can do is to choose an administrator for your page. I would recommend doing this yourself unless you have a professional moderator for your page because the administrator will have full access to your page. You can also post your tweets to Facebook using the Twitter plug-in the under the resources tab.Getting LikesOnce your pages are complete, you want to get people to like your page. For a long time Facebook likes have been Facebook’s social currency. Likes symbolize social approval from friends and fans. In order to get likes, you should do the following:1 Provide compelling content that engages Fans. (I share my blog posts with my fans.) Encourage them to share their stories using your product and services. This could be done through wall posts or videos2 Promote your page by inviting your Facebook friends and sending email invitations to people who are not directly connected with you.3 Use Facebook ads to get people to like and interact with your page. (I will discuss this at a later time)4 Post content from your Facebook page. (Facebook allows users to switch between their personal accounts and their Facebook page.)Remember that this takes work and it is an ongoing process.The company page on Facebook is similar to the Public figure page. The Company page is good to promote your business if you have employees. It is also good if you want to promote your company as a brand. If you are a in a band or working by yourself, I would use the public figure page. I use both pages because I am looking to get customers and I would like to grow my idea into a large business. The difference with the Company page is that you will not have to provide a date of birth. However, you will have to provide a company description instead of a personal description. (About me) Also you can provide a mission statement and describe your offerings in the products box. These are the key differences between the pages.Promoting your Facebook page on other Social Networks and other Platforms1 Share your Facebook page on LinkedIn, Twitter and Google plus by sharing your pages URL on these sites; inviting your connections/followers to join you.2 Include a link to your Facebook page in your email signature3 Include Facebook plugins on your website and blog4 Include your Facebook page on any printed materials that you give customers and prospects5 Include your page in any TV, Radio or print advertisements that you engage in.This is how to successfully build and promote a public figure and company page on Facebook.

1 Provide compelling content that engages Fans. (I share my blog posts with my fans.) Encourage them to share their stories using your product and services. This could be done through wall posts or videos2 Promote your page by inviting your Facebook friends and sending email invitations to people who are not directly connected with you.3 Use Facebook ads to get people to like and interact with your page. (I will discuss this at a later time)4 Post content from your Facebook page. (Facebook allows users to switch between their personal accounts and their Facebook page.)Remember that this takes work and it is an ongoing process.The company page on Facebook is similar to the Public figure page. The Company page is good to promote your business if you have employees. It is also good if you want to promote your company as a brand. If you are a in a band or working by yourself, I would use the public figure page. I use both pages because I am looking to get customers and I would like to grow my idea into a large business. The difference with the Company page is that you will not have to provide a date of birth. However, you will have to provide a company description instead of a personal description. (About me) Also you can provide a mission statement and describe your offerings in the products box.

These are the key differences between the pages.Promoting your Facebook page on other Social Networks and other Platforms1 Share your Facebook page on LinkedIn, Twitter and Google plus by sharing your pages URL on these sites; inviting your connections/followers to join you.2 Include a link to your Facebook page in your email signature3 Include Facebook plugins on your website and blog4 Include your Facebook page on any printed materials that you give customers and prospects5 Include your page in any TV, Radio or print advertisements that you engage in.This is how to successfully build and promote a public figure and company page on Facebook.

Content creation is one of the best ways to engage an audience, making it essential to content marketing. However, we simply cannot cover every single topic in our industry. This is where content curation comes in handy, content curation is where you share the work of others in your industry.

Content curation can enhance your content marketing efforts in the following ways: it offers users a fresh perspective on a topic, sharing others work can plug a hole because you can't write about every single topic in your industry and you are engaging the person whose content you are sharing. Sharing the content of others is key if you hope get your content shared.  

Supporting Your Content Marketing with Content Curation

Content curation takes many forms across social networks but it always comes back to sharing the work of others and celebrating them. By celebrating others, content curators get to build relationships with those in their industry allowing reciprocity. In other works, people will help each other get their message out because they are part of digital community. Content can be shared in the following ways:1. On blogs.2. On social networks. 3 Through online publications.4 Guest blogging/Content Syndication1.Blogs WordPress/tumblrBlogs are a great way to create content and share ideas. Blogging platforms such as Wordpress & tumblr have a like button and a reblog function. The like button allows user to say they like a piece of content and a reblog button allows users to republish a blog they like on their own blog. When a user reblogs a piece of content from another blog, the original publisher is notified of the reblog or share.

A reblog is much more powerful than a like although a publisher see both types of notifications. Blogs also allow users to categorize topics with endless SEO tags. Users can also search out keywords or tags to find related content on a topic which they can reblog. In addition to reblogging, users can share blogs to other social networks such as LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook & Google+ etc... by clicking share buttons embedded on the platforms.  

LinkedIn Long form Posts

LinkedIn also has a blogging platform of it's own called the long form post. Users can curate content in the following ways: clicking the like button, sharing the article which will appear as a status update, sharing the article in groups, using social share buttons to share content to Twitter & Facebook and of course LinkedIn. Each piece of content in LinkedIn is indexed with three SEO tags that categorize it by topic. Users can also embed content from Slideshare along with videos. This can be a great way to share your work and that of others in the form of a blog.

Users can curate content in the following ways: clicking the like button, sharing the article which will appear as a status update, sharing the article in groups, using social share buttons to share content to Twitter & Facebook and of course LinkedIn. Each piece of content in LinkedIn is indexed with three SEO tags that categorize it by topic. Users can also embed content from Slideshare along with videos. This can be a great way to share your work and that of others in the form of a blog.

Slidseshare is a great tool for content curation. The site was acquired by LinkedIn. Slideshare allows users to upload documents, presentations and videos. Users can create descriptions of the content, a category along with SEO tags to further categorize the information. Slideshare is a great way to repurpose content. Content on Slideshare can be shared to social networks via sharing buttons & embedded on other blogging platforms such as LinkedIn, Wordpress & tumblr. Slideshare is a platform in itself.

Image via whitehatmedia.com

LinkedIn Slideshare

Social networks such as Twitter, Facebook and Google+ offer users like and share buttons that allow users to curate content that they like. All three networks allow users to categorize & index content by topics using #hashtags. 

Twitter Twitter allows users to create lists based on topics they found

interesting. Users can add other users to lists. This helps to build a digital community by uniting people around common interests. Tweets are also indexed in Google. 

Facebook  Facebook is similar to Twitter in the sense that it let's users tag

content based status updates; helping users to reach beyond friends and followers. Facebookalso allows users to share content in groups as well. Facebook is partnered with Microsoft's Bing Search engine. 

Content Curation on Social Networks

Google+ Google+ is similar to Facebook in the sense that it allows users to join groups. It is also helpful for content curation because the results are indexed in it's search engine. The like button is a plus one button and Google+  has  a sharing button. Users can also use hashtags and build a community based on topic as well.  Online PublicationsOnline newspapers and newsletters are another great way to curate content. Flipboard is a great site. I like Paper.li Users can sign up with Facebook or Twitter. Paper.li allows users to customize newspapers and is a great way to curate content. Users can pull content from multiple sources to create newspapers based on topics. These sources include RSS feeds social networks, lists, hashtags etc... These newspapers celebrate the work of others by mentioning them on social networks in the form of a status update. I have gained a lot of followers this way. There are countless sharing sites out there.

 Guest Blogging/ Content SyndicationWriting on other blogs is a great way to get your message to a wider audience and it allows the blog owner to curate great content that happens to be yours. This can be a great way to build up a following. Another way to use curate content is to syndicate your content. Content syndication is when your share your blog's RSS feed with other websites. When you share your RSS feed, your content can be shared to multiple websites simultaneously when you publish on your blog. tumblr offers a widget where you can share a blog on a stand alone website. 

These are some content curation strategies you can use to improve your content marketing results. How do you curate content?

Email Marketing

Image via freshlime.com

Many people ask, what is the best day and time to execute an email campaign?

Instead of trying to get the best day and time to execute an email marketing campaign, I would instead focus on the developing compelling content that includes visuals.

Before starting you should be able to answer the following questions when creating the content for your email campaign:

1) What message do I want to send? 2) What action do I want my customers and prospects

to take? 3) Is the content of my message relevant to my

customers? 4) Will customers see the email campaign as a value

message or just another solicitation?

• For example, I write a blog on the topics of sales, marketing and social media. My readers can choose to follow me through my RSS feed, through email, Wordpress, tumblr, LinkedIn, and Facebook. I use my blog to do my email marketing. As you can see my blog is seen by those whore receive it through email and the other ways I mentioned as a value message. In fact, when you enter your email address to subscribe to my blog, you will receive a confirmation email. This is known as an opt-in.

• It is important to note that when building an email list that you get the recipients consent through an opt-in. If you are building a list from your website you can use services such as Constant Contact.

• When executing an email campaign, make sure to protect the privacy your customers by blind copying them. When the customer receives the email, it should say sent to undisclosed recipients.

• To answer the original question, I would say that any day and time is a great day to engage consumers through email marketing; especially in today’s digital world. Consumers are on different schedules and have different needs so it is hard to predict which day would be best to send out emails.

• If you wanted to obtain concrete data on which day would be best to email consumers.

• You would need to develop and implement a survey that asks consumers what day they opened and received your messages. Services such as SurveyMonkey can be used to create the surveys. I use a widget on my site to obtain feedback on what content people want to see from me. . This information could then be compared with the customer’s date of purchase to see how long it took them act on your message. (The sales cycle)

• If at first you get a low response rate to your survey, you may need to offer an incentive like a gift card for each completed survey or a chance to win a gift card in a drawing; this would be dependent on your budget.

Direct Mail

Today we receive a lot of mail. Most of the time, a majority of

the mail that I receive is a solicitation and/or junk mail.

People are very busy; as a result they will skim their mail

very quickly. They have to think that your message is compelling and relevant to

them within the first 30 seconds. Otherwise, your mail

will get tossed in the trash. Image

via getorthocases.com

• To make sure you get your mailing opened, you have to make sure that you are directing your message to the decision maker. The decision maker will be different depending on your product. It is important that your recipient see’s your message as valuable. In your mailing, I would ask catching questions in terms of the person you are trying to market to.

• For example, I would ask questions such as: Are you happy with your company’s current sales and marketing results?, Are you satisfied with your company’s standing in the marketplace?, Do you want to know how you can produce more?, If you lost ______ what would you do?, Do you have a backup plan in place if this happens?

The insurance industry does this when they want to sell insurance policies. • You have to customize the message for your product or service. This

message will get the decision maker thinking because everyone wants to produce more. In other words, you need a message that drives people to act.

• Another thing that you could do is to offer a free trial of your work. You could also offer a discount to new customers. For example, you could offer a free consultation. Also, if you are sending the mailing to existing customers, I would offer them rewards for referrals. Make sure to provide a direct response card with paid postage for them to mail back.

• Besides the copy and content of the message, it is important to make your mailing visually appealing to your prospect. The copy should be clean, neat and easy to read. Use colors and images that are visually appealing in your message. Make sure that prospects are aware of your presence on social media sites by including badges with link addresses.

• Make sure that your business address, phone number and website are included in each piece of the mailing. This is a good precaution to take in case any piece of your mailing gets lost.

I have presented a lot of information in this presentation. It is a lot to take in. My hopes are that you will use it as a guide as you create, implement and execute your small business marketing strategy.

Putting it All together

About the AuthorDan is passionate about using Marketing to help businesses drive

sales. He has worked on various marketing assignments that include a Start Up, Political Campaign & a Digital Marketing Conference.Prior to Teaching, Dan served customers as an Outside Sales &

Marketing Representative in the Dental industry. In this role, he taught and trained Dentists on the company’s products and services using a

consultative selling approach.He also supported the company’s marketing efforts at industry trade

shows & in the field through lead generation of Digital Technology along with large Dental Equipment.

He writes and publish a business blog on the topics of Sales, Marketing & Social Media entitled Sales, Marketing & Social Media Today.Dan is seeking a full time marketing role in New York City. He is

interested in roles in Direct, Digital, Content & Social Media Marketing. If your company is hiring for roles in these areas, contact him directly via a free LinkedIn Message or email him at Dan@DanGalante.com to

set up interviews.

Subscribe to my Blog Sales, Marketing and Social Media Today Wordpress http://askdangalante.com/ tumblr View my PresentationsMy slideshare Presentations Portfolio Subscribe to my content on LinkedIn Follow me on Twitter @DanGalante Follow me on Facebook Visit my Website http://dangalante.com/

Additional Resources