Turbo Social Media Marketing » | | Turbo Social Media Marketing

New & Improved Portfolio!

Tom Sullivan — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 15:22:29 +0000

If you haven’t already noticed, Turbo has updated its portfolio! In fact, now there are three separate portfolios that showcase: website design, social media design and case studies. Feel free to browse through each to see our work.

As you can see, we work with a wide variety of businesses, including start-up breweries, gardening supply distributors, medical laser manufacturers and much more!

As a full service marketing agency, the best fit or ideal client is one that has a product or service they are selling and they need to improve their online visibility. Usually they have a loyal clientele, but are struggling to branch out and find new business.

Turbo Social Media can help develop or improve upon an existing internet marketing strategy. We not only work to execute different projects and campaigns, like most agencies, but we also serve as consultants, ensuring that our clients are on top of any and all additional marketing strategies, even if we are not managing these efforts.

If your marketing efforts have produced minimal results or if your company is simply looking to improve upon its online visibility then contact Turbo Social Media, or give us a call at 877-673-7096 x2.

What Types of Social Media Messages Should I Be Publishing?

Tom Sullivan — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 21:55:53 +0000

By now most medium to large businesses have a social media presence. An assortment of small businesses are also using social media. While this is a good sign, the problem is that “having a social media presence” and “using social media” doesn’t necessarily translate into success.

The goal of any business using social media should be to grow the brand presence, engage the new audience and monetize these new Fans & Followers. So how exactly do you do that?

The key here is engagement. More specifically, getting consumers to engage with your business via social media. A 2011 study by Chief Marketer revealed that when deciding on whether to engage with companies or brands via social media, users look to several key types of interactions, but primarily, consumers will engage so that they can receive free products, discounts or coupons.

As you can see, consumers will also engage with businesses so they can receive product information or answers to a question or concern. Many consumers also like the ability to give feedback about a company’s products or services. In some cases, businesses can even rely on their Fans to help develop a new product, technology, or even care out a task. This is a newer phenomenon known as crowd sourcing.

So does this mean that you should simply post your promotions or discounts on your social networks? NO! Despite what statistics have shown, even with discounts and coupons, consumers will get tired of the same, boring messaging. In fact, according to interactive marketing provider Exact Target, the third biggest reason (38%) for consumers “unliking” a business was “the content became repetitive or boring over time.”

What was the number one reason people “unliked” a page? “They post too much,” said 44% of people surveyed. This response leads me to my next point: do not over-post or “spam” your Fans! Once a day is more than enough. More than likely you’ll find a sweet spot of about 3-7 messages per week.

So if you’re not just posting promotions then what else should you post about? Talk about anything that will strike up a conversation: the weather, the weekend, the Holiday coming up, etc. More importantly, provide feedback in the form of tips, advice and education to your Fans about industry-related questions consumers might have. One easy way to do this is to link to your blog.

Another idea is to ask your Fans for their feedback. If you’re think about running a special, or you’re looking to combine products or services, or you’re just looking for new ideas, ask your Fans. Their feedback is valuable, and the could even provide new ideas for your business.

Finally, make it fun to be a Fan! Offer sweepstakes and contests that will get Fans excited to check your page every day.

If you have any questions about getting established on social media or developing a strategy then contact Turbo Social Media, or give us a call at 877-673-7096 x2.

Internet Blackout: January 18, 2012

Tom Sullivan — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 17:52:38 +0000

If you haven’t already noticed, several of the Internet’s most popular sites, namely Wikipedia and Craigslist, are unavailable today. There are a lot of people who will try to visit these sites today and they’ll be met with a surprise: they’re blacked out!

On this monumental day many popular websites are voicing their displeasure with with two potential bills that are set to be voted on by the U.S House of Representatives in the next couple weeks. These bills, if passed, could mean that sites like Craigslist and Wikipedia may cease to exist, marking the most historical shift in Internet history.

The Stop Online Piracy Act and Prospect IP Act, or SOPA and PIPA, as they’re commonly referred to as, were intended to “promote prosperity, creativity, entrepreneurship and innovation.” Proponents of the bill claim that it will protect against intellectual property and copywrite infringement, especially from foreign sites. Opponents, and there are many of them, say it violates the First Amendment, and that it would cripple the Internet.

As a result of these pending bills, many websites are speaking out by “going black.” Google, Yahoo, Amazon and eBay, while not “blacked out,” have expressed their disapproval of the bills. Here’s a complete list of companies opposing the bill.

Congress’ approval rating is at all all-time low, and many would argue that they have an utter disconnect with the average American worker, many of whom are still suffering from unemployment or underemployment from a recession that started years ago. While it’s not surprising to see Congress failing at legislating the economy, they know even less about technology. This ignorance puts Congress in a perpetual state of reaction, where they’re constantly “behind the eight-ball.”

Now you might be asking yourself, “what exactly does Congress hope these bills will do specifically? Who are they targeting?” This bill essentially pits content creators and providers, such as movie studios and publishers, with technology websites that disseminate it, such as Google and Facebook. Media mogul Rupert Murdoch is one such proponent of the bill, and he tweeted on Saturday, “Piracy leader is Google who streams movies free, sells advts around them. No wonder pouring millions into lobbying” (referring to Google’s efforts to shoot this bill down).

Craigslist founder Craig Newmark argued on his blog that the legislation would provide a “means by which bad actors (with lots of money and lawyers) can take sites down.” For Newmark, and others, the concern is that they would have to then “police” every aspect of their site content.

The bills are designed to take action against websites that sell fake drugs, pirated films, and other counterfeit products, all the while possibly stealing consumer’s credit card information. However, the bills could threaten legitimate websites and search engines, such as Google, the most visited website on the Internet. Wikipedia, which thrives as a non-profit encyclopedia website dependent on user input, would not survive if these bills pass.

Congress has proven time and time again that they live in a reactionary world, and this couldn’t be truer for technology. That is why I agree with Tim O’Reilly, founder and CEO of O’Reilly media, a successful media company that merges books with blogs, when he says, “[t]he solution to piracy must be a market solution, not a government intervention.”

The bottom line is that SOPA and PIPA threaten free speech, security, privacy, creativity, innovation, and economic growth. Congress’ solution to the piracy problem seems to a be a microcosm of their actions in general: overreact to new trends with legislation that does more harm than good.

Youtube Tips & Strategies for 2012

Get Ready to Transition Your Old FBML Facebook Pages

Tom Sullivan — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 17:42:45 +0000

The deadline is looming, or so we think! It’s been announced throughout 2011 that the end of FBML Fan pages on Facebook would be here by now. We heard June 2011, January 2012 and now June 1, 2012, according to the Sept 2011 f8 Developer Conference.

So when should you transition your FBML page? Sooner than later! While there have been numerous dates announced, at some point in the near future the FBML pages will be completely disabled. Therefore, you’re better off just transitioning now.

Why the reason for the change? FBML was Facebook’s first attempt at custom coding for Fan pages. It has always seemed a little buggy and unsustainable. Using iFrames take the load off Facebook’s servers (they’re hosted off of Facebook), and developers can now use standard web coding (HTML, CSS, JavaScript, etc) with their custom iFrame tabs.

So what are your options? You need to transition your page to an iFrame. This can be a little more difficult to set up than the old FBML, but a skilled developer can get this done. You can use any number of Facebook applications that allow you to use FTP to upload files to a secure HTTPS server. One Facebook app that can help you transition your old FBML page is TabPress.

If your company needs help moving their FBML Fan page to an iFrame, or you’d simply like to develop a new customized “welcome” page, then talk to Turbo today, or call us at 877-673-7096 x2.

Youtube Tips & Strategies for 2012

Tom Sullivan — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 19:53:14 +0000

By now most businesses realize the power of Youtube. Being the #2 most searched site on the web, after Google, Youtube has become a viable resource for information and answers to questions that consumers have. Having a solid Youtube presence can help enhance your brand, build your company’s credibility and drive more traffic to your website. Here are some more advanced techniques to get the most out of your Youtube efforts:

1) Backlink to your Youtube channel: There are probably many businesses out there that may have already been backlinking to their individual videos, which is a really good idea. However, did you know that you should also be backlinking to you channel itself? This will help build up the credibility of your channel and each individual video.

2) Include a “call to action” overlay: You may have already been adding a “call to action” to your videos with the video editing software that you’re using, which is a good idea. However, there’s now an even better solution: add a “call to action” overlay that is click-able! You might have seen this click-able overlay before in the form of an advertisement on a Youtube video that you’re watching, and it’s usually unwelcome and annoying. However, in this instance, the overlay will be an ad for your videos, so it couldn’t possibly be more relevant for the viewer.

Here’s how you set it up:

Set up your Promotion
Set the minimum bid to $.01
Click “promote” and then pay the $5 set up fee
Write your promotion and choose your keywords
Click “Edit” on the video you want to add the overlay to
Select “Call-To-Action-Overlay” and add the title, body, image, display url and external url

*Please note: this will only cost you $5. Unless you actually want to advertise on Youtube, the Promotion set up process is merely a formality. Keep in mind that you need to choose keywords that no one else is searching for and you need to set the minimum cost per view (CPV) to $.01 so that no one will ever see your ad in a search. In summary, you need to activate the Promotions in order to be able to add the overlay to your videos, even though you won’t actually be doing any Youtube advertising.

3) Generate comments and responses to your videos: Just like your blog, comments on your videos and channel help improve their visibility. Encourage friends and fans of your business to watch the videos and comment on them. You should even have your staff follow suit, just watch out for spammers looking to leave a comment with a link to their website!

Youtube is a great social network to have a presence on; however, many businesses overlook these additional tactics. If you have a consistent strategy in place for adding quality videos to Youtube, simply incorporating these steps (above) into your existing approach will help improve your company’s visibility and website traffic from Youtube.

If you have any questions about Youtube or video marketing then contact Turbo Social Media today, or give us a call at 877-673-7096 x2.

A Look Back at 2011 Predictions

Tom Sullivan — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 17:14:41 +0000

What a year! 2011 is nearly over and it’s time to look back. Rather than talk about Steve Jobs, the Zynga IPO, or any other social media news I want to look back on some 2011 predictions I made early in the year.

Keep in mind that I really didn’t go out on a limb with any of the predictions. It’s safe to say that social media will only continue to grow in the future, but some sites or applications, if successful, will be swallowed up by bigger companies (Facebook). In any event, here’s a look back at my predictions…

1) Video Marketing becomes more and more important to your online business success:

It’s safe to say that this prediction is true and will continue to be true. More and more people are searching on Youtube now, which is part of the reason why the search results and Youtube channels have been adjusted. Youtube remains the third most viewed site (after Google and Facebook), and Youtube also remains second to only Google in terms of number of internal searches.

2) Local Advertising & Marketing will continue to grow:

If you’ve noticed, Google has adjusted its search results to incorporate more local business results. Sometimes these results take up the majority of the page. This prediction was definitely accurate.

3) Software for tracking social media marketing efforts will be cheaper and more available:

There are more and more applications available to track social media efforts, and most of these companies have partnered with Facebook. Even Google Analytics has evolved to incorporate more data pertaining to social media. Real-time mobile statistics, demographics info and social engagements are now all measured by Google Analytics.

4) Review sites will grow:

I really didn’t go out on a limb with this one, but it’s safe to say that Yelp is as big as its ever been. During 2011 Google stripped out 3rd party reviews, making Google reviews much more important to your Google Places listing. Look for review sites to continue to grow in 2012.

Happy New Year, and stay tuned for 2012 predictions!

The Value of Google+

Tom Sullivan — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 19:00:26 +0000

At first glance Google+ seems like just another social network, and with all the time businesses already spend on Facebook and Twitter can they really handle another network? Better yet, should businesses be delegating even more time to social networking now that Google+ is growing?

As an internet and social media marketing consultant it might seem odd that I might would question the value of Google+, but just because I’m heavily involved in social media does not mean that I have to embrace every single network or site. In fact, I think my responsibility lies in truly understanding each new social media service and giving my opinion about how to best utilize this service to grow you business.

One advantage to using Google+ is the ability to use “circles.” This allows you to delegate different groups to communicate with, such as friends, family, co-workers, etc. Once you have the circles set up you can then set up privacy barriers for each of the circles.

The biggest advantage I see to Google+ is the ability for pages and posts to be indexed by search engines, namely Google. I’ve seen some early indications that being active on Google+ will help with the visibility of your company and website. While I don’t have any long term data to conclusively say Google+ posts get indexed more frequently and get better rankings than Facebook posts, the logic makes sense; Google likes itself more than anyone else, so why wouldn’t a Google+ post get more credibility?

Speaking of posting the same thing on Google+ and Facebook, if you use Hootsuite you’ll be happy to hear that the scheduling software will start to allow people to add their Google+ pages to their Hootsuite account in the near future. In fact, you can apply now, but it looks like Hootsuite is only offering this to Enterprise members. Those using the free version of Hootsuite will have to wait for their integration.

Bottom line, your business should get set up on Google+, and once Hootsuite integrates all users with Google+ then you’ll be able to seamlessly send messages to Twitter, Facebook and Google+, which means no additional time spent on this new social network.

How Often Should I Send Email Blasts?

Tom Sullivan — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 19:42:16 +0000

To build and continue to grow your business you need to invest in email marketing. Assuming you have a solid platform and you’re generating leads then you need to market the these people. The question that I often encounter is, “how often should I send email blasts to my list?” This is a very good question and one that does not have a universal answer.

The frequency at which you send email blasts depends on several things, including:

Type of people on your list? Is it primarily current customers? Old customers? Leads? Surely you’ll want to segment your entire list based on the type of person on the list.
Where did these people come from? Did they opt-in to your list? If so, did they knowingly submit to a newsletter or was there a different offer that encouraged them to give their email address?
What kind of message are you sending out? Is it a simple newsletter with the latest news and events? Is it educational? Is it strictly promotional with offers & discounts? Is it all of the above?

Generally speaking, sending an email blast out once a month is safe. I recommend that you avoid sending strictly promotional emails, unless you have some specials you’re running for the Summer, Black Friday, The Holidays, etc. Although for some businesses (people selling a product) it may be difficult to send anything that isn’t 100% promotional, and in these cases, that’s fine.

Make sure you analyze your list and where these people came from. If you’re in consulting, you never want to send special offers to clients who are currently paying for your services, unless the offer is an add-on to what they’re currently paying for. You also need to be aware of how these people submitted their info. If they’re not a customer then did they ask to receive your newsletter?

Be careful about “spamming” people who did not sumbit their information to you. This means avoid paying third parties for lists of emails. Focus on growing your list through paying customers and through opt-in boxes on your website, blog and on Facebook, to name a few. These “leads” may need to be warmed up until they’re ready to make a purchase, and that’s what social media and email marketing is all about; maintaining that relationship with your prospects until they’re ready to entertain a buying decision. When they’re ready, if you’ve done the correct follow up, provided valuable information and not spammed them then you’re more likely to earn their business.

If you have any questions about email marketing then talk to Turbo Social Media today, or give us a call at 877-673-7096 x2.

The Best Email Marketing Solutions

Co-Founder of Social Network Diasporo Dies

Tom Sullivan — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 17:08:33 +0000

One of the founders of the social networking site, Diaspora, was reported to have passed away on Monday at the age of 22. Ilya Zhitomirskiy, along with four other New York University students, founded Diaspora, an alternative to Facebook, in 2010. It’s currently unknown how or exactly when he died.

Diaspora let’s users keep control over their photos, videos and status updates while sharing them with friends. According to Zhitomirskiy’s profile on Diaspora, he’s “super passionate about building a world of hacker spaces, maker culture, sharing, cycling, and life satisfaction.”

Zhitomirskiy was a visionary that said he and his co-founders didn’t set out to make money when they created Diaspora. They simply wanted to provide an “open platform” for users. ”There’s something deeper than making money off stuff,” Zhitomirskiy said. “Being a part of creating stuff for the universe is awesome.”

Adobe Ends Flash Support for Cell Phones

Tom Sullivan — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 20:56:12 +0000

On Wednesday Adobe announced that it’s ending the development of its Flash multimedia software for smartphones and tablet browsers. This announcement came just one day after the San Jose-based company announced that it’s laying off 750 employees.

As many of you know, Flash was never something that’s been supported by devices such as the iPhone or iPad. In April 2010 Steve Jobs stated very candidly that he thought that flash did not belong on mobile devices because he considered it a “proprietary battery hog.”

“HTML5 is now universally supported on major mobile devices, in some case exclusively,” noted Danny Winokur, Adobe’s Vice President and general manager of interactive development. Winokur noted that Adobe would shift it’s focus to developing HTML5, while keeping Flash development for advanced gaming and premium video.

The shift toward mobile devices as a percentage of overall internet use has grown dramatically over the past five years. Until now, flash on mobile devices existed, although it has always been frowned up due to the enormous use of iPhones & iPads. I envision that there are many companies scrambling right now to come up with a new mobile website, free of flash.

If you’re looking for a mobile platform for your flash-based, or basic HTML, website then talk to Turbo Social Media today, or give us a call at 877-673-7096 x2.