Archive for aj kumar
How to Split Test Your Twitter Marketing
Would you like to improve your Twitter marketing?
Are you testing to see what gives you the best results?
Traditionally, split testing is a practice that’s applied to individual pages on your website to compare page variations and ultimately determine conclusively which version results in the highest overall conversion rate.
However, implementing split tests on your website alone is short-sighted! In fact, you can harness the power of split testing to generate valuable information about your target audience and their overall engagement with your brand on social media websites.
To see how to do this, let’s go step by step through how to carry out a split test on Twitter.
Step #1 – Create Your Split Test Tweet
The first step in the split testing process is to craft the text of the tweeted message you’ll use.
As an example, suppose you want to determine when your Twitter followers are most active. While services like Tweriod will estimate popular times, narrowing down these ranges and confirming their effectiveness using split testing will help you determine when future tweets should be published to reach the biggest, most engaged audience.
Sample split test tweet features a single call to action prompting followers to click through to a company blog.
In this specific instance, you’ll only need a single tweet, as the test variable in this case will be the different links used to track when followers are most likely to click through to your site.
In other cases where you’re testing the content of your individual tweets against each other, you’ll need to generate more than one split test tweet.
Obviously, you’ll want to include details that are more relevant to your company’s value proposition; this example is written to be intentionally generic.
In addition, be sure to leave space at the end of your split test tweet to include the test URLs we’ll create in the next step.
Step #2 – Use Bit.ly to Create Split Test Links
Bit.ly and similar URL shortening services allow you to turn long web addresses into shorter variations that fit more easily into character-limited social media updates.
However, they also give savvy users the ability to carry out social media split tests using URLs that vary based on your chosen test protocols.
Following the example above, we need to create two (or more) different Bit.ly links that will be deployed at different times of the day. Although all of the links will redirect to the same location, their individual click-through rates will be used to determine when the sample site’s social media followers are most active.
To do this, head over to Bit.ly and log into your account (or create one if you haven’t set one up yet). Once inside, paste your destination URL into the field in the upper right-hand corner of the page and click Enter. Doing so will pull up the following screen, which includes your unique shortened link.
Bit.ly allows you to create shortened links that provide experimental data for your split test.
Create as many unique Bit.ly links as times during the day you plan to test, with each individual Bit.ly URL corresponding to a specific timed test tweet.
For example, if you want to test the responsiveness of your audience at 10:00am, 4:00pm and 8:00pm, you’ll need to create three separate Bit.ly links, each with a different reference code and each pointing to the same page on your website.
As you do this, be sure to make a note indicating which Bit.ly URL you plan to use during each test period (in this example, the Bit.ly URL pictured above might be associated with the tweet that will be sent out at 10:00am), or consider customizing your Bit.ly URLs to include this information.
If you hover over the highlighted area, a link labeled Customize will appear. Within the screen, you can change the character string used in your link to better reflect your test variable (for example, bit.ly/tenamtest).
Step #3 – Deploy Competing Tweets
Once you have your tweet text and your test links ready, open a Twitter scheduling tool like Buffer and set up your split test tweets to go live at your specified times (as pictured below):
Split test tweets can be preloaded into tools like Buffer to go live at specified times.
Step #4 – Analyze Your Results
As your tweets go live, you’ll be able to monitor the number of clicks each Bit.ly URL receives within the service’s Stats dashboard area. Match up the total clicks each tweet receives with the time it went live and you’ll have a rough estimate of when your followers are most engaged with your brand’s updates.
The Bit.ly Stats dashboard gives you click data for the URLs you created in Step #2.
Step #5 – Expand Your Testing
Of course, keep in mind that a single test – carried out on a single day – won’t give you as much usable information as systematic, ongoing testing. As an example, consider that running the above experiment could produce completely different results on a Sunday than it would on a Friday.
A few of the different ways you can expand your testing protocols to generate more meaningful data include:
- Repeat tests across multiple days.
- Testing variables other than tweet times in your updates (for example, you could use this same method to test different benefit propositions, product promotions or other calls to action).
- Carry out tests on other social networks.
Split Testing on Other Social Media Websites
Now that you understand the basic mechanics of split testing on Twitter, you’ll probably be able to do it on other social media websites.
The possibilities truly are endless once you grasp the concept of social media update split testing. By taking the time to test your social profile updating assumptions – rather than relying on guesses or the advice of third-party experts – you’ll ensure that each new message you post to your social profiles results in the greatest possible impact on your company’s online performance.
What do you think? Have you done split testing? What results have you had? Please share your comments in the box below.
How to Effectively Rebrand Your Social Media Profiles
Has your business changed since you first created your social media profiles?
Are you considering a rebrand of your company’s existing social identity?
With the right preparation, it’s possible to manage your social media rebranding efforts without losing a significant number of subscribers along the way.
Should You Rebrand Your Social Profiles?
Before we review the process of rebranding your social media profiles, consider whether a rebranding is truly right for your company.
According to Luke Brassinga of Likeable Brands, “True rebranding involves updating a company’s goals, message and culture.”
Your social networking profile branding plays a major role in your company's online image. Image source: iStockPhoto.
If you’re only conducting a rebrand because you like the sound of a new name better, your end results may not be worth the extra effort and potential for losses involved in the rebranding process.
As a result, rebranding is best suited for companies that are:
- Changing their overall structure (perhaps as the result of a merger or acquisition).
- Substantially diversifying their product offerings (to the point where the existing identity is no longer applicable).
- Addressing business aspects that are outdated or failed.
If you’re approaching the rebranding process for one of these reasons, then here’s what you need to do to rebrand your social media profiles.
Step #1: Do Your Due Diligence
When Netflix first announced its ill-fated rebranding to split the Netflix and Qwikster services, it quickly became apparent that one vital element of the due-diligence process had been glossed over.
Because the company had failed to secure the “@Qwikster” username on Twitter, the handle was snatched up by a user who flooded his feed with images of a beloved children’s character making use of illicit substances.
Netflix quickly scrapped the launch of the DVD-only service Qwikster in the face of negative publicity.
To avoid similar missteps that may tarnish your brand’s reputation, carry out the following tasks before even hinting to your audience about the potential for a rebranding:
- Secure the .com version of your new brand name’s URL.
- Make sure that the Twitter handle you want associated with your new brand is still available.
- Run focus groups with existing customers to uncover any hidden issues with your proposed rebranding.
Be sure you take the time to carry out this research before you roll out your full rebranding campaign. This will prevent (or at least minimize) the potential for gaffes that could derail your future marketing efforts.
Step #2: Understand Social Network Limitations
As you prepare for rebranding, there are some limitations that restrict your ability to change profile information. While these restrictions shouldn’t affect your ultimate ability to rebrand your social media profiles, you’ll want to account for them before you begin undertaking the change process.
Facebook—currently, Facebook does not allow page owners to change the names of their pages once they’ve accrued 200 likes, in order to prevent the buying and selling of Facebook fans.
While the recommended solution is to simply create a new page and encourage existing followers to like your new page, some users have reported reaching contacts within Facebook’s customer support system who have changed brand names manually in legitimate rebranding scenarios.
Your results may vary, but be aware that asking fans to like a new page will result in fan losses.
To change your Facebook page name, simply erase the information found in the Name field and enter your new branding.
Twitter—changing your username and profile information within Twitter is quite easy. You log into your profile and navigate to the Settings area. Your first step will be to change the current username listed in your account to your desired handle (assuming it’s available) and click Save changes:
Rebranding your account on Twitter is an easy process.
Next, navigate to your Profile section to update your Twitter image, name, bio and URL:
Make sure all possible Twitter profile fields reflect your new brand.
Making these changes will disseminate your rebranded information across your profile automatically.
You’ll still want to conduct an outreach campaign to educate followers on why these changes have occurred and what your new brand represents.
YouTube—while YouTube doesn’t allow users to change their registered usernames, it is possible to create vanity URLs that effectively “mask” an old channel’s content to display at a rebranded URL.
For complete instructions on how to carry out this process, take a look at the video below:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cfQe1-OzZdM
LinkedIn—finally, while there are no issues changing your personal LinkedIn profile, the rebranding process becomes more complicated when it comes to LinkedIn Groups and Company Pages.
As of now, Group identities can only be changed five times, though this restriction applies to both changing your Group name and Group logo. To prevent complications, have your Group logo ready to go before changing your Group name in order to minimize the number of changes needed in the rebranding process.
In addition, LinkedIn Company pages can only be changed by contacting the LinkedIn Help Center directly.
Rebranding your LinkedIn Company page is an important part of maintaining a consistent digital presence.
You’ll need to provide details on the reason behind the change, as well as confirm that you own both the current account and new branded identity.
Once this process is completed, you’ll also want to go through your updated page to ensure that any references to your old identity are removed.
Step #3: Communicate Clearly to Your Customers
Besides managing these technical concerns, customer communications should remain a top priority throughout the rebranding process.
Make sure that all of the following elements play a part in your communications strategy:
- Create a video explaining the reasoning behind your rebranding—knowing why a company is changing its image may make the transition easier to swallow for some customers.
- Make it very clear what is and is not changing—Netflix failed to immediately announce that it was changing not just its image, but the login process required to request videos as well, and the public outcry was swift. Avoid this mistake and confirm up front what the transition means for your customers.
- Communicate using as many formats as possible—informed customers are happier customers, so publish communications regarding your rebranding on your blog, your social media profiles, your email newsletter and any other web property your customers frequent.
Good customer communication is the key to an effective rebranding. Image source: iStockPhoto.
Don’t expect that your customers will be on board with your rebranding process initially. Most people are naturally resistant to change and will view your transition with everything from fear to skepticism to anger.
However, by clearly communicating from the get-go, you’ll ensure the process is carried out in the appropriate order and you’ll minimize the impact of lost customers and goodwill as you rebrand your image.
What do you think? Do you have any other suggestions on how to rebrand your business on your social media profiles? Please leave your questions and comments below.
Images from iStockPhoto.
3 Ways to Use Social Media to Improve Your Search Rankings
Are you happy with the traffic coming to your blog or website?
Have you kept up with the changes in search engine optimization (SEO)?
This is essential for most businesses today.
Keep reading to learn how Google changes are making social media more important and what you can do about it.
Recent Google Changes Put Spotlight on Social Media
On April 24, 2012, webmasters around the world were dinged by the Google “Penguin” update—one of the latest in a series of algorithm modifications designed to weed out low-value results from the natural search engine results page (SERPs).
Google's Penguin algorithm update was a recent search engine change designed to eliminate spam from the natural search results.
Whether or not your website’s traffic flow was affected by this update, it’s important to understand what this change entails, why it came about and how you can compensate for it using social media marketing—as Google’s heightened focus on web spam is likely to result in similar updates in the future.
The Google Penguin update had three primary objectives to minimize the SEO impact of the following web marketing elements:
- Low-quality and manufactured website backlinks
- On-page over-optimization
- “Black hat” (or illicit) SEO techniques
Of primary interest to webmasters who use social networking platforms to promote their websites is the first item on this list—the presence of artificially created backlinks. In a post-Penguin environment, building natural backlinks should be a primary objective for webmasters.
Adapt your social media marketing with the following techniques to improve the SEO of your website.
#1: Use Social Networks to Generate Strong Content Ideas
Digital marketing today needs to be “natural.” Ideally, instead of building manufactured backlinks (as was a primary focus of past SEO best practices), your site should acquire links in a natural way—as it would if you did absolutely no promotional work whatsoever.
The key to building natural backlinks is to publish high-quality content that people will be inclined to share naturally on social media networks. After all, if you produce mediocre content, there’s no incentive for readers to link back to or share your website, making it even harder to get the backlinks needed to rank well in the new natural search results.
Social networking websites are a great place to find ideas for future content marketing pieces. Charlene Kingston outlines a great process for uncovering content ideas in your retweets in her “8 Ways to Discover Content Ideas From Your Readers” post, but you can also enter a series of prompts into Twitter’s search bar to uncover the topics your community has demonstrated an interest in.
Results for a search "How do I SEO?"
As an example, the above image shows a few of the results displayed for the search query “How do I SEO?” which highlights several possible topics for future website articles.
Further ideas could be generated by entering any of the following prompts into Twitter search:
- “How to” + industry keyword
- “Why is” + industry keyword
- “Question” + industry keyword
- “?” + industry keyword
Pay special attention to search results that don’t include outbound links, as these are often—but not always—self-promotional in nature. In addition, look for results that have been retweeted by others, as these demonstrate audience appeal.
Once you’ve identified a few potential article topics, produce quality content on the subject and promote your posts using the technique described in Step #2.
#2: Encourage Backlink Building Via Social Media Presence
Social networking websites are a great place to build natural backlinks to your website, as both Google and Bing confirmed that they track publicly shared links on Facebook and Twitter.
To encourage the creation of these valuable links, you’ll want to take the following actions:
- Build your networks on Facebook and Twitter, as more users results in more opportunities for link shares.
- Tie your blog to your Facebook and Twitter accounts (or use a tool designed specifically for this purpose) so that a link to each of your new posts is automatically created on your profile.
- Use an update-scheduling tool like Buffer to create repeat announcements of new blog posts that will allow you to reach users who are active at different times.
In addition, take the time to set up your Google+ page. There’s some indication that the number of “+1″ votes your articles receive is a factor that’s weighted in the natural search ranking algorithms. Boosting your presence here may help to ensure stronger SEO for your website.
Google+ pages can be created for different types of businesses.
#3: Build a Social Media Following to Reduce Reliance on Natural Search Traffic
One final thing to consider when using social media websites to protect yourself from future Penguin-like Google updates is the potential for social networking traffic to minimize your reliance on visitors from Google and the other search engines.
To see just how important this can be, take a look at the following list of some of the biggest post-Penguin losers (in terms of natural search visibility), as compiled by web data firm Searchmetrics:
Losers in Google's Penguin update experienced significant drops in search visibility.
In particular, take a look at the impact on great-quotes.com, which experienced a 94% decline in SEO visibility. If natural search traffic from Google was the site’s primary source of visitors, this single algorithm update could have dramatically decreased the company’s revenue.
To diversify your traffic base and increase the number of website visitors you receive from social media platforms, take the following actions:
- Include prominent social sharing buttons at both the top and bottom of each blog post on your website (or use a scrolling option that moves down the page alongside your readers).
- Add a direct appeal to your readers at the end of each blog post or email newsletter to encourage them to share your articles on their social networking profiles if they’ve found them useful.
- Use social media to brand yourself as an authority figure within your industry.
A blog article includes both a call to action and social sharing buttons.
This final recommendation serves two purposes. In the article referenced earlier on how Google and Bing weight social signals in their ranking algorithms, both search engines assert that they attempt to quantify the relative “authority” of a user as a part of their measurement of social signals.
However, being recognized as one of the “go-to” resources in your industry offers potent benefits from a traffic generation standpoint as well. When you’re recognized as a niche thought leader, your site will naturally attract repeat visitors and referrals—both of which can be great sources of traffic that aren’t subject to Google’s changing whims.
What do you think? What social media marketing actions are you taking to minimize the impact of search engine updates? Share them in the comments section below!
5 Ways Online Businesses Are Succeeding With Social Media
Marketing your online business through social media websites can be a great way to encourage engagement with your brand in a low-pressure setting.
However, getting started with this new type of media can be intimidating for some business owners.
Take a look at the following five examples of ecommerce websites that are succeeding with social media for ideas on how to use social media effectively.
#1: Use Facebook Apps Strategically to Guide Users
As social media expert Amy Porterfield mentioned in her recent “How to Use Facebook Apps to Improve Fan Engagement,” article on Social Media Examiner:
Since page admins can no longer designate a default landing tab (also referred to as the “default welcome tab”), businesses need to get more creative and use custom apps to direct Facebook page visitors to take action.
One example of an ecommerce website that’s taking this principle to the next level is ShoeDazzle, the discount footwear retailer, with its custom Style Profile app.
Once Facebook visitors grant access to the app, they’re able to complete the quiz to find their ideal style matches and are then redirected to specific purchase pages on the ShoeDazzle website, encouraging purchase decisions and eliminating the “tire kicking” that can occur with social media visitors.
This Facebook app works well because it helps drive Facebook visitors directly to the products that will appeal to them most back on ShoeDazzle’s own website.
Tip: Social media sites often have lower barriers to engagement (that is, users are less concerned about being “sold to” than on traditional websites). Facebook apps with interactive features to help convert viewers to buyers can make a big difference in social media ROI.
ShoeDazzle's Style Profile app gets visitors interested in specific styles before they even land on the site's home page.
#2: Use Playlists on YouTube
Specialty-goods retailer Vat19 has a wide-reaching social media presence, but where it really shines is on YouTube. Collectively, the company’s video channel has amassed more than 115 million views—no doubt resulting in significant traffic back to its ecommerce website.
Besides the high quality of the company’s video production and the regularity with which it publishes new content, one of the keys to Vat19′s success on YouTube can be attributed to its use of the often-overlooked Playlists feature.
YouTube playlists are a useful tactic to keep visitors on your own YouTube channel longer. Because YouTube playlists allow channel owners to select which videos will play sequentially (interrupting the YouTube Autoplay feature which may automatically launch videos from other brands’ channels), the company’s use of this tool enables it to present viewers with additional products they may be interested in and increase sales.
Tip: Create YouTube playlists within your business channel to control viewer movement through the site. This decreases the viewer loss that can occur when users navigate away to YouTube’s alternative recommended videos.
Here’s how to create a video playlist within YouTube: “How do I make a playlist?”
Vat19's YouTube playlists allow it to feature additional items to interested customers automatically.
#3: Use the Right Conversational Style on Twitter
Reaching out to consumers via Twitter is a great fit for “geek chic” ecommerce retailer, ThinkGeek. Not only is its target audience extremely active on Twitter, ThinkGeek’s conversational style and immediate response times have earned the small-but-growing company more than 500,000 followers.
It’s clear ThinkGeek knows how to cultivate the right communication on Twitter for maximum social engagement. By developing its Twitter community, ThinkGeek increases brand loyalty, as well as the possibility that tweets regarding its products will be shared socially among followers and non-followers. Both of these benefits have the potential to increase sales substantially.
Tip: Use your audience’s language when engaging via social media. Social networking site users are extremely sensitive to “phony” interactions, so be sure the person handling your company’s social media profiles is able to use the appropriate tone and language when communicating with followers.
ThinkGeek's use of colloquial phrases like "I will poke the t-shirt monkey" allows them to connect more deeply with audience members.
#4: Let Your Audience Share Ownership of Your Products
Plenty of ecommerce websites are integrating social sharing tools into their product listing pages, which is a great way to encourage interactions on these sites. But while this is a great first step (and too often is the only step that retailers take), what makes clothing retailer Free People stand out is the robust communities they’ve built on multiple social networking sites.
Free People allows customers to create their own clothing collections to share on popular social networking websites including Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and Pinterest.
Starting from the company’s main shopping page, consumers can hand-select items to form their own “look book” style collections, which can then be explored and voted on by other users. Customers can start from standard company collections or create their own unique sets to share on the Free People website and social networking profiles.
This helps to create a sense of ownership among visitors and is a great way to increase brand loyalty and social promotion.
Tip: To capture this effect for your own website, look for ways to go above and beyond simple social sharing tools by offering customers a way to “claim” your items as their own.
User collections can be named and liked by other site visitors, creating social opportunities within the company's website.
#5: Engage Your Audience with Social Media Integration
What’s most interesting about the Cree LED lighting company’s level of social media engagement is that home repair—and lighting design in particular—isn’t traditionally thought of as a socially oriented industry.
While it’s expected that niches like shoe and clothing shops translate easily to social networking applications (as these activities in real life are generally social experiences), getting customers to share their lighting purchases online isn’t quite as natural.
Cree LED lighting demonstrates how to bridge this gap in stellar fashion. They have completely integrated social media into their marketing strategy with a clear desire to encourage engagement on social media.
Cree’s social media profile is diverse and highly engaged, ranging from the traditional Facebook and Twitter presence to user “Tweetups” and social competitions that encourage users to submit their own lighting photos for the chance to win free products.
Tip: Even if your industry isn’t heavily represented on social networking websites, there are still plenty of opportunities for engagement! You may need to spread your net far and explore different types of social media in order to see what sticks. But when you commit to interact with customers in a variety of situations, you’ll increase your odds of finding your own industry’s sweet spot.
Integrate social media into your marketing strategy to encourage engagement with your community.
These are just a few ways online businesses are using social media.
What do you think? What other examples do you know of? How are other ecommerce companies using social media? Share your comments in the box below!
