Paying the Facebook Tax: A Strategy for Boosting Posts on Facebook
Organic reach is so low that “paying to play” is one of the few ways to really see good results.
RMG Client Recognized for Social Media Success
We love seeing our clients recognized for their industry-leading work efforts in marketing and social media are so honored to be involved in their efforts!
Hillman Real Estate Group featured for best practices for social media marketing for real estate agents
Check out Hillman Real Estate Group’s blog post, “Hillman Real Estate Group Featured on Industry Best Practices Blog“, for more details on their recent industry recognition for their proven results with social media marketing on Facebook and the tactics that Placester.com say prove that Hillman Real Estate Group’s Facebook page us an “undeniable success“.
Instagram Feed Filtering is Coming – Get Ready to Pay to Play
The beautiful simplicity of your Instagram feed is coming to an end. And you can bet marketers will be asked to pay up.
Most Effective Times, Days to Send Email, Post Social Content
Media Post has a nice updated report, from various sources, of the most effective days and times to send marketing emails and post content to various social media networks, including Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.
Interestingly, the report shows that while the most popular time to send email is on Thursday between 11 a.m. and noon, the most effective time is actually on the same day between 2 and 5 p.m.
See the full report, and what it lists as the most effective time to post to your favorite social media network or to post blog content at http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/243355/when-to-post.html
Now Offering Social Media Management Packages
Raleighwood Media Group is pleased to offer a new service, designed with small business owners and c-suite executives in mind: monthly social media management packages (click the link to find out more, including pricing).
Is your time better utilized managing your business rather than posting to Twitter — although you know it’s something you need to do every day to remind your audience that you’re in business and ready to fulfill their wants and needs? Read what Fred’s Beds president Lisa Stansbury had to say about the month of posting we took off her hands recently:
The month of June was so hectic for me that I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to tweet much at all. Raleighwood Media Group provided me with quality content that was exactly what my customers needed to see. The content was much higher quality than what I normally produce myself. It was one less thing on my plate that allowed me to focus on other pressing matters. Social media is something that is easy to drop by the wayside when you have customers that need attention. You cannot make up for lost time. If you don’t send a message, no one receives a message. Raleighwood Media Group filled a much needed niche for me.
Social media management package begin at only $189/month and are scalable to fit your unique needs. Send us an email at Info@RaleighwoodMedia.com or call us at 919-229-9725 to get started today!
Email Never Went Anywhere
It seems like at least once a week I read a really well-written and well-thought-out article or blog post about how “email/email marketing is back” or that suddenly interest is surging in the “what once was old” medium of communication. I’m here to reassure everyone that not only is email not dead – it also never went anywhere.
Sure, social media has been the darling of all online marketing communications for the last seven years or so, but I personally cannot remember a single instance where I’ve seen the use of Facebook or Twitter alone out-perform the use of an integrated marketing communications (IMC) campaign that included email. As any marketing professional will tell you, it’s highly unlikely that anything you produce will ever go “viral” and even when things go viral, they’re still often shared via the original social media channel: email.
As Facebook continues to limit what shows up in users’ feeds, the ability to actually communicate directly to users who have expressed an interest in our products and services without fear of a filter will continue to prevail. Who wants to spend their hard-earned time and investment to build an audience they aren’t guaranteed of being able to communicate with?
While the currently under-25 crowd may not be strong users of email, I believe that trend changes as they become career professionals, where the modern workplace still depends heavily on the use of email as the primary form of communication.
I’m proud to say that consistent, well-branded email marketing has always been a staple product and service provided by Raleighwood Media Group to our clients. It has a high ROI and is very trackable when it comes to finding out what’s working and what’s not in regards to subject lines, content, list segmentation, and other variables.
For your reading pleasure and if you’re so inclined, here are some of the articles I’ve read about email (and the “return” of email) lately… and often replied with the simple statement, “duh”.
The NY Times – For Email Newsletters, a Death Greatly Exaggerated
BiZReport.com – Email newsletters top news source for business executives
EmailOnAcid.com – Is Responsive Design Really Effective?
I would love to hear your thoughts on where you’re getting the most bang for your buck when it comes to online marketing efforts in the comments below.
Cheers!
–Lisa
New Facebook Feature: More Local Pages You Might Like
To be honest, this may not technically be new, but it is the first time I’ve seen this feature, personally. Facebook often rolls out new features and functionality in waves to different users, so I’m curious – has anyone else seen it, yet?
Facebook Feature – More Local Pages You Might Like
A few thoughts follow – as scattered as they might be:
- Anytime I see something “new” on social, I wonder, “what can we (marketers, publicists, online marketing people) do with this?”
- Can we do some positive PR and leave a nice comment on the wall of a new page we found and say “Hi, I’m here because Facebook thought I might like you since I liked (insert name of other local business here)!”
- Does that open the door to a nice note becoming a nasty-gram if that other business is actually a competitor? (We can’t really expect Facebook to NOT suggest direct competitors, can we?)
- Do we leave just leave it alone and hope Facebook doesn’t start suggesting that we like “Target” when we’ve just liked the neighborhood independent gift shop?
- This rogue thought still burns me up and I think of it every time I think “Facebook Marketing”: when is Facebook going to finally stop so heavily throttling how many people see page-created content? These are the Facebook users who have opted-in to liking the pages we heavily invest time and effort into promoting (you’re welcome, Facebook). Facebook is forcing us to buy “sponsored” visibility to improve the chances that more than 10% of page subscribers will see the posts we take the time, and have been trained to, create. {Read more about this on NewMediaRockStars.com, if you’re so inclined.}
Ending today and this post on a positive note: big “thank you” goes out to Kim Adamof for the referral that came my way today in need of public relations services!
Happy Mondaying,
Lisa
Feeling Creative? Feeling Festive? Submit a Design for this Year’s Raleigh Christmas Parade!
The Greater Raleigh Merchants Association (GRMA) and Shop Local Raleigh (SLR) are looking for local artists to submit design ideas for the 67th Annual WRAL Raleigh Christmas parade. The WRAL Raleigh Christmas Parade Contest, sponsored by GRMA/SLR, will be accepting submissions from area artists from August 29, 2011 – September 26, 2011.
The winning design will receive $300 in cash, sponsored by Frameworks Gallery & Frame Design, Inc., member of SLR. The winning design will be used on the organization’s first official parade t-shirt, poster, and promotional items. The t-shirts will be worn by volunteers and sold to the public on the day of the parade held on Nov. 19 in downtown Raleigh.
“The Go Local message is a great unifying message for the Raleigh community and the new t-shirt will be a fun way to show your support,” says Emily Younger Wells, Board Member of GRMA/SLR.
Artists are asked to visit https://www.facebook.com/RaleighChristmasParade for rules and for submissions. The winning design will be selected by the GRMA parade committee.
For more information on the contest or to become a member of GRMA, log on to www.grma.org or contact Jennifer Bradshaw, GRMA Director at 919-755-9235 or info@grma.org.
About the Raleigh Christmas Parade
The Raleigh Christmas Parade will feature three giant helium balloons, approximately 35 floats, 20 marching bands and a number of other entertaining acts.
Drawing an estimated 60,000 spectators from across the state to downtown Raleigh and reaching more than 250,000 through television and live video streaming on WRAL.com, the parade is the largest single-day event in Raleigh each year. It is the largest parade between Atlanta and Washington, D.C.
About GRMA
The Greater Raleigh Merchants Association promotes the growth and sustainability of local businesses. For more information, visit www.grma.org.
Missed the February Social Media Seminar?
Did you miss the February 2nd Shop Local Raleigh social media seminar? We certainly missed you, but I’ve provided the information shared in that event below so that you can study up on social media and how it positively impact your marketing plans.
Presentation Files:
https://raleighwoodmedia.com/files/slr_marketing_seminar_2011_02_02.ppt (PowerPoint Format)
https://raleighwoodmedia.com/files/slr_marketing_seminar_2011_02_02.pdf (PDF Format)
My friend Greg – facilitator, educator, rhythmatist, Trained HealthRHYTHMS Facilitator, and founder of Shop Local Raleigh member business Drum for Change – asked if I could share these resources with him for an upcoming industry conference. I told him that “I am an open book” and would be happy to share this information as a resource for him and his group and also provided the following “talking points” (below) from the presentation (which I went back and added after the presentation, because if you’ve ever attended an event with me, you know I’m an “off-the-cuff” girl and like to let the audience and their questions about a topic steer our conversation). I thought it would be helpful to share here on the Raleighwood blog, too – for everyone’s benefit!
Talking Points:
Slide 3 – The AMA (American Marketing Association) board is comprised of working marketing professionals, so I feel this definition more accurately describes the business of marketing than the typical dictionary definition.
Slide 5 – As overused as the phrase “social media is a two-way conversation” is, it’s true! Businesses that only promote their businesses, but don’t take the opportunity to engage with their audience, are not going to benefit from the time and effort required to nurture this form of communication.
Slide 6 – BIG takeaway: DO NOT MAKE A PERSONAL PROFILE FOR YOUR BUSINESS. Make a PAGE. There is a difference. Signup at facebook.com/pages. Have a personal profile so you can understand how it works from the personal user perspective, but create a page for your business/brand/organization. A vanity URL is a short, personalized URL like http://www.facebook.com/raleighwood – this is the same as telling people what your website address is exactly so they can come right to you instead of telling them to “google you”, where your competitors could snatch up their attention, instead.
Slide 8 – Remember that twitter is a unique network in itself. You don’t want to have to Twitter profile for your brand and only populate it through your facebook activity. You won’t get very many followers if you’re not offering unique information to that audience separately. You’ll also be “blind” to the responses you get on Twitter if you never actually use twitter to engage your audience there, as well. (IE: They’re not going to go to your facebook page to leave you a comment, they’re going to do it on twitter and you will likely miss it.)
Slides 10 and 11 – I LOVE iContact.com for an email service provider. They are local to Durham, NC – as is Bronto.com. MailChimp.com is free as long as your list is under 1,000 subscribers.
Slide 12 – AllFacebook.com and Mashable.com are two nice resources for staying up to date on social media happenings and changes. They can be overwhelming due to the frequency of their content and updates, so I just check in once a month or so 🙂
Have any questions about this event? Feel free to ask! I hope to see you at the next Shop Local Raleigh seminar and will be sure to post details here when that event is confirmed!
Cheers,
Lisa
“This Better Not End Up on Facebook”
Clearly, a dog-owner wrote and/or directed this commercial!
PS – I half expected Pup-Peroni to have an official YouTube channel to share their clever videos. It’s a shame it took me as along as it did to find this video, not from an official source. When creating content that you hope viewers are enjoying, make it easy for them to watch, share, and engage!