SEO and Social Media

How to Build an Invincible Brand

 
Brand invincibility isn’t something that happens instantaneously. It takes a culture that values crisis management on which this month’s guest is an expert. Melissa Agnes is a leading authority on crisis preparedness, reputation management, and brand protection. She sits down with host Rhoan Morgan, to discuss how companies can build an invincible brand that can withstand crisis in all forms.
Here is the link to the free guide Melissa mentions in this episode: https://melissaagnes.com/crisis-ready-formula-for-responding-to-emotional-relatability/
About Rhoan's guest:
Melissa Agnes, Crisis Management Advisor and Keynote Speaker, Agnes Day
 
Author of Crisis Ready: Building an Invincible Brand in an Uncertain World, Melissa Agnes is a leading authority on crisis preparedness, reputation management, and brand protection. Agnes is a coveted speaker, commentator, and advisor to some of today's leading organizations faced with the greatest risks.

Where to Start on Social Media to Avoid Mistakes and Burnout

As the Global Communications Director at inRiver, Erika Goldwater manages the strategy and execution of the demand generation, communications, social media, and content marketing programs. She has extensive experience in several companies and has learned a lot about leading and teaching her teams about social media mapping, scheduling, and execution
 Know your team, where they gained their knowledge and experience so you are able to bring them into your vision.
Present a plan and show the full strategy.
Baby steps to explain the steps of what they are, why they need them and how they can implement them.
There is regular cadence, ground rules. Those need to be known - a guidebook they can refer to when you are not right with them.
"After those first couple of tweets, they feel more comfortable and are usually good to go." - Erika Goldwater
"Meeting a tweet quota is not social media engagement." - Susan Finch
Determine, what are the strategic goals of the company? Don't spend the time peppering venues where your buyers don't usually engage.
 The goals: 
Engagement & Trust
Further your brand
Share information value to your customers.
If you aren't going to do that, please don't start social media.
It's social dialogue in real-time.
You have to be dedicated to it. If you don't have a team willing to back you up, 
Teams have to be aligned with the activity - there has to be a commitment to it.
One tweet, one post - isn't enough.
Be careful about re-tweeting blindly without actually checking and READING the linked article. Same with pinning - where did it originate? Did you read it all the way through? You may get bitten in the fanny if you don't.

Why leadership campaigns are important to nominees and those nominating

With the announcement of the 40 Most Inspiring Leaders in Sales Lead Management, Jim Obermayer and Susan Finch discuss the not so obvious reasons campaigns like this are important. It's not just about building your contact lists, email lists and gaining members. It goes way deeper than that.They will cover the evolution of such recognition campaigns within the history of the SLMA and other organizations. Points to include the value to the nominees, their companies but also to those who are nominating people. Join them for this, tweet your questions and comments before, during and after this episode. ------------------This episode is generously sponsored by The Vanella GroupThe Vanella Group, Inc. is the only firm that delivers telebased lead generation programs exclusively for enterprise technology providers. They achieve results 5 times higher than industry standards for outbound lead generation based on the research published by implementing their unique Telesales 2.0 methodology. We are an award winning leader in this space and get results like no other firms.The Vanella Group supports firms from Fortune 500 companies to startups.To learn more, visit BuildPipeline.com or call 888-335-0340and by ValidarWhether you're producing a seminar series, user's conference, lunch and learn, or exhibiting at a tradeshow, Validar has a solution. From capturing leads at tradeshows to managing onsite registration, tracking session attendance, gathering feedback, and providing sponsors lead retrieval we have a full suite of solutions for you. Since 2005 Validar has been turning Corporate Events and Trade Shows into Better Business. Call 888 784 2929 or visit us at www.validar.com

How to connect SEO directly to revenue

Revenue is rallying cry for marketing, as it has been since the last recession and seems to be accelerating.  In this episode Eric Kronthal of periscopeUP discusses how SEO is not simply a long term strategy for visibility, but it can be tracked for contributions to revenue. The host this week is Jim Obermayer.About Eric Kronthal Eric Kronthal is an experienced online marketer proficient in building custom solutions to meet online advertising and marketing objectives since 1996. Eric left PricewaterhouseCoopers' consulting services to become one of the early employees at Advertising.com (acquired by AOL) and he is credited with the launch of several industry leading online advertising solutions including Behavioral Targeting, Interactive Television advertising, and several self-service applications. Among the companies he worked with were Snap-on Tools, NASCAR, Match.com, USA Networks, H&R Block, PGA Tour, Southwest Airlines, TV Guide, and Comcast Cable.  Eric started periscopeUP in 2009 to guide marketers toward accountable Search Engine Optimization. He and the team at periscopeUP believe success should be measured by the number of leads and sales generated, and not by search rank, clicks or visits. Customers include Trump Entertainment Resorts, Bon Secours Health System, Carnegie Mellon University, The Gettysburg Foundation, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and CARCHEX.  Eric, his wife and two children, live in Chevy Chase, MD.  About periscopeUP SEO services are just one of many offered by periscopeUP, including: Pay Per Click Search Advertising, Search Reputation Management, Display Retargeting, Web Development and Web Analytics. Regardless of the channel(s) used, periscopeUP's philosophy for increasing website conversions and leads is to optimize the marketing message for customers and prospects first and the channel or platform second. Month over month periscopeUP's analysts track, measure and report on tactics to continually improve. While based in Washington, DC, many of periscopeUP's employees work virtually from Boston, New York, and Houston.

A New Marketing Term is Born: Mega Content

I love this “digital  commentary” by Paul Salvaggio. This month he tackles the thought that content marketing is part of what Gardner Research calls an over-hyped term deep in the “hype cycle”.   Paul gives us seven reasons why recent content management strategies are severely flawed and what he means by Mega Content and how it can benefit the user.   This is a very thought provoking commentary.About Paul Salvaggio Paul Salvaggio is the VP of Operations for Backbone Media, a digital marketing agency based in Boston – Paul provides the tools, processes, services, and teams to best serve their B2B clients in the areas of data, technology and content. He leverages his nearly ten years of experience in the industry to help clients get their message out so they can focus on creating and fostering relationships. Contact: paul@backbonemedia.com

Content and Lead Generation through RSS Feeds

The Geekspeak Guides, Susan Finch and Yvonne Heimann, are at it again giving you ideas of how to use your own site content, content from other sites and from venues such as Youtube, Pinterest and more to populate your site, your podcasting venues such as iTunes and Stitcher. These ideas will help create that fill in content for your social media posts to give you more time to REALLY engage with people in real conversations. This episode was recently featured on Blubrry as a valuable episode.RSS (Rich Site Summary or Really Simple Syndication) is your simple pipeline of information. In a nutshell, it’s a properly formatted text file created dynamically by websites such as blogs and other content management systems. They don’t all create them, but most do. There are even tools you can use to create one on your own. THIS is the file you want so you can PUSH your content and reuse it, reshape it and share it better with MANY more venues including iTunes. You may use this superpower whether you are gathering content from your website, Pinterest, podcast or other online sites and services.This video will give you several ideas and teach you how to find your RSS feed on your own site, and where you can use it.Did you know that PINTEREST is actually a BLOG with CATEGORIES? That means that your entire Pinterest account and individual boards can all be treated as an RSS feed. Google offers a great FREE tool to generate a feed post, allow subscribers, manage subscribers and allow you to bring in content from other sites into your own, share your content with others with just a few lines of code and it is all DYNAMIC using RSS.Having a feed address gives you something very specific to submit to Google on one specific topic. Podcasts use XML/RSS feeds, as well. It's a text file with useful fields for these various venues. For a podcast, it knows to look for the associated media file, episode art and excerpt. Depending on the podcasting service you use such as Blubrry, Podbean, Lipsyn, you'll be given different options before they send your fabulous content off to venues such as iTunes, Stitcher, SoundCloud and more.This 20 minute show gives you some great ideas to use your content to generate more interest, more credibility, more leads and ultimately more sales. Trust us, we know this works.-----------------------------------Find Geekspeak Guides on:itunes:    http://bit.ly/gsgitunesstitcher:  http://bit.ly/gsgstitcherblubbrry: http://bit.ly/gsgblubrry

Reputation Management: It‘s more than reviews on Yelp.

Join Susan Finch as she interviews  Director of Marketing and Joe Ibanez, Director of Sales for Reputation Impression. They will be discussing: ~ What is reputation management? ~ How do we control or respond to negative reviews? ~ How can we prevent negative reviews - or at least cut them WAY back? ~ Who is most likely to review your business and sully your reputation? ~ Who can help you BUILD it up?This is geared toward service industries including auto, home services, hospitality, medical, legal and wellness. Many business owners think that simply responding to reviews you receive on Yelp! is enough. It goes way beyond that. There are several venues that collect reviews, plus atypical places. *ASK YOUR QUESTIONS* in the event stream in case you can't make it. Please reply YES or MAYBE so you stay current on this discussion and don't miss the live event!*About our guests:*Brigitte Rubidoux is the Director of Marketing at Reputation Impression, creating & managing all aspects of the company's digital brand. After attending the University of California Santa Cruz, she returned to San Diego to pursue a career in marketing. Brigitte is one of the early employees of the company and with her get it done attitude, has moved up from executive assistant to the Director of Marketing. She is always looking forward, trying to stay up to date with best practices and new ideas related to Internet Marketing.As the Director of Sales for Reputation Impression, Joe has been able to utilize his Sales Training and his Personal Coaching skills learned while under the employment of Anthony Robbins and SBC Communications (now AT&T) to help Reputation Impression improve its Sales and Skill sets of employees under his direct supervision. Joe's skills are mainly focused towards Customer Service and satisfaction while having a proven track record in the sales arena as well.This will be a live event on YouTube LIVE, Wednesday, September 10 9am Pacific.

#B2C Google Local To Do List for Businesses and History

Join +Stephan Hovnanian and I as we have an enlightening important conversation with our featured expert, +Mike Blumenthal to talk about a website's local presence and what business owners need to know. We'll also get into some unravel issues that come up.This show will cover two parts. First, FINDING all versions of you and your business on Google... How do they search for that on Local, the new business pages, YouTube and G+.When you find all versions, where is the best place to start the merge and/or delete?What about when they have more than one location?The verification process to identify ownership and take control.As important as the new business page changes are, these first steps are critical to know the mess before you can focus and hit the local pages hard. Then we'll dive in with Mike about the new Places changes on Google. Here is his post http://bit.ly/finchshovi2l1 on the topic of Google Local:GOOGLE STARTS PROMOTING MY BUSINESS WITH PERSONALIZED DIRECT EMAIL & HANGOUTMike Blumenthal IS Mr. Google Local - he is THE expert on all things Google Local. Please check out his blog category on the topic:http://blumenthals.com/blog/category/google-plus/I think I'll be hiring him for my own tangled mess.Jump to the video here >or read the highlights first here:Some highlights include:02:59 How local search has evolved by +Mike Blumenthal 04:38 Google Plus is an advertising environment, Maps is a directory environment04:52 Mike talks about the bus ride to the current search results method.06:50 +Stephan Hovnanian   asks what businesses need to feed Google, as far as correct information.07:45 Top data providers:   #infousa     ,  #localeze  and  #acxiom  09:00 Several ways to influence the data and results09:40 NAP: Name, Address, Phone Number - must be consistent EVERYWHERE - not just Google.11:00 Start with a NAP Audit to verify they have your right location and info.12:20 step 2: Go to maps sites:   #navtech   #teleatlas and #openstreetmap   to see how your business address resolves.13:15 do the same on Google maps. If they can't find you, you can't close the sale!15:50 +Chad Russell   comment about citations.17:15 Local prominence - such as the Chamber of Commerce.18:15 Don't forget about local business guides and listing sites.20:00 The coveted 7 Pins on page one of Google search an the map to the right.22:40 - A fabulous profile image is critical.23:35 Q from +Jennifer Mortensen   Do reviews factor into rankings?5+ reviews will give you a ranking bump.25:30 Google will use driving directions for results if there are no reviews to consider.26:00 How frequently do people post reviews for local businesses? 56% of 1000 surveyed in US said NEVER, 22% less than once per year.27:54 Phone numbers are the KEY GLUE that hold a data cluster together. 29:00 If Google calls you to confirm your business, you'd better be answering it with the name you have in your listing and not a variation!31:30 Comment from +Linda Buquet   regarding location prominence and centroid - how it's changed over the years.33:20 Q from +Christopher Vogelmann   - Does the Twitterverse affect our search rankings. Jump to here to find out.35:44 - +Susan Finch  says the best advice she can give a business, "Be BETTER at what you do! Be the best." that's how you affect rankings, reviews and more.37:00 plug for Mike's service, http://getfivestars.comHere is the gift for today's show - a PDF checklist to get you started. I'll post it early so you can do some checking before the show:The PDF gift is here: http://bit.ly/finchshovi2d/
 

Why sales pitches and social media don‘t mix.

SLMA Host Jim Obermayer interviews Marge
Bieler, CEO of RareAgent, as they tackle
the subject of "Why sales pitches and social media don't mix!." We're led to
believe that everyone loves social
media, every company needs social media,
and many people use social media, but
are they using it the right way? About Marge BielerMarge Bieler is the CEO and founder of
RareAgent, a company that helps
businesses create cash conversations
through embracing humanity, humor and
social media. She has been an
influential businesswoman since 1996 and
strives to leave her mark on the
business world through hard work,
innovation and the ability to turn
'boring' into creative in a snap. Her
work has always been honest and
spiritual. Marge's spirituality and
belie in prayer have gotten her where
she is today and kept her level and
smart about her decisions. She hopes to
spread this knowledge and expertise to
as many people as possible, as well as
help others with the things she's dealt
with, such as teenage addiction and how
to become prayer warriors. About RareAgent 
RareAgent is a radically simple social marketing and training agency that drives cash conversations for businesses. Our mission is to help our clients achieve their business growth goals through conversational storytelling, social enabled programs, and social sales training. We've been in business since 2005 and in 2010 realized social media was going to be a significant driving force in creating conversations. Our Thoughtful Conversation Framework has helped our clients see a 5x uplift in opportunities entering their sales funnels, resulting in new logo business as well as closing millions of dollars in new revenue.

Art of Social Selling and Realty's Changing Face of Lead Generation

Susan Finch will be be interviewing Shannon Belew about onilne marketing and her new book, The Art of Social Selling.Our second guest is Wade Perry, Managing Broker, ABR, CNE,e-PRO, GRI, SFRSusan's second guest is Wade Perry of Coldwell Banker, Devonshire in Colorado. He has been in this industry for over 20 years. The designations after his name begin to paint the picture of his dedication to continue to learn and do better in this industry. His success as a managing broker is living proof. A bit about Shannon, in her own words:"I fit into almost all of the above categories. A specialist in online marketing and author of the best-selling book, "Starting an Online Business For Dummies All-in-One" 3rd edition, 2011 (Wiley Publishing), I have owned both offline and online businesses, written and blogged about online business, social media trends and tech for nearly two decades, and I am always up for learning more in this always-evolving industry. "About the new book, The Art of Social Selling:Social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google+ (yes – even Google+) are changing the way consumers are buying.  Learning to tap into these online social media communities is now a must – and social selling should be another  necessary part of your sales strategy. That's because the traditional sales funnel has changed for both B2B and B2C companies, thanks in large part to the unlimited access consumers have to  information. In fact, consumers are often 70 percent or more through the buying process by the time they first contact a salesperson. And much of that information is made available through social media.Conquering the modern sales process and reaching buyers through social selling means that a salesperson must become a trusted adviser – building meaningful relationships through social media.Connect with Shannon: Google+ Twitter and LinkedInOur second guest is Wade Perry, Managing Broker, ABR, CNE,e-PRO, GRI, SFRSusan's second guest is Wade Perry of Coldwell Banker, Devonshire in Colorado. He has been in this industry for over 20 years. The designations after his name begin to paint the picture of his dedication to continue to learn and do better in this industry. His success as a managing broker is living proof. He will be talking about how the Real Estate industry has gone through major overhauls and must continue to evolve with the changing way people think about purchasing homes and property. Door hanger days are long gone and more relationships are cemented within the communities (farms) these Realtors serve.Wade spends some of his time on Channel 9 talking about the market and touring homes. His first love is his family and coaching his son's teams.