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8 Actionable Tips for More Effective Digital Marketing

by Jamie · 0 comments

It can be easy to get caught in the vicious cycle of researching information online and compiling lists of things you “should” put into practice, but never actually getting around to putting any of those information nuggets to use. They just collect dust in your brain, in your desktop files, or if you’re old school, in a Moleskine notebook.

What good is all that information if you never use it?

Collecting too much info without taking action can actually have a toxic effect, slowing down your marketing efforts and making your campaigns sluggish and dull. Learning to stop the cycle is crucial.

overload of information

We’ve compiled some of the best recent information on social media and digital marketing and put it into actionable points you can use-RIGHT NOW.

8 Actionable Tips for More Effective Digital Marketing

Check out this social media advice from Robert Scoble via Mashable:

1. Become an early adopter.

Getting in on the ground floor of any new social media platform helps you grow your followers along with the platform. “If you come in late,” he says, “you have to spend more energy to get a network of 1,000 people than I did [for all of my followers].”

 

2. Go where the people are. 

Sociable says its much easier to go where the audience is rather than convince the audience to come to you. He left his blog and now spends his time posting on other social media outlets. “After giving it some thought I have completely moved to Facebook [and Twitter and Google+ ]… Someday I might come back to the blog, but the world has moved and it is on social media.”

 

3. Hedge your bets.

By not putting all your social media eggs in one platform’s basket, you’re more likely to find your very own sweet spot online. “Even if you’re into the weirdest, most esoteric thing in the world, there are probably at least 50 other people in the world into your thing,” says Scoble.

 

And Sarah Snow from SocialMediaToday urges us to all learn to use humor in marketing.

4. Most viral content is funny, and there’s even research to back that theory up. 

Using humor well takes practice, so hone your skills before unleashing your wit on the world.

 

5. Inspire anger, awe, or anxiety in your audience to get more shares online.

Emotion

 

6. Make use of a “Viral Checklist” before publishing your content.

 

  • Did you sufficiently cover the topic? Is it long enough?
  • Does the content inspire a high-energy emotion like awe, anger, or anxiety?
  • Did your tone convey emotion?
  • Is it practically useful?
  • Is it interesting?
  • Is it surprising?
  • Does the author have fame/credibility?
  • If it’s supposed to be funny, is it actually funny? Are you sure your friends aren’t just being nice?

 

7. Use the power of collaboration to make your content stand out. 

SocialMediaExaminer has a nice list of 8 Collaborative Tools to Improve Your Content if you need help getting started.

 

8. Knowing when to share information is almost as important as the information you share. 

If you want as many people as possible to engage with your deep thoughts, clever quips, or hilarious memes, be patient, be calculated, and try to share them during the week, in the morning or early afternoon.

What Your Personality Can Tell You About How You Interact Online

by Jamie

The Meyers& Briggs Personality Types are standards in most business and educational settings today. Understanding more about your self, your coworkers, and your clients can help you relate better, make smarter choices, and motivate yourself and others more effectively. It can also tell us a lot about how we do business- what we struggle with and where we excel.

If you’re not familiar with all the MB Types, here’s a quick refresher from the Meyers & Briggs Foundation and ThoughtCatalog (images courtesy of Intuity).

In General: Quiet, serious, earn success by thoroughness and dependability. Practical, matter-of-fact, realistic, and responsible. Decide logically what should be done and work toward it steadily, regardless of distractions. Take pleasure in making everything orderly and organized – their work, their home, their life. Value traditions and loyalty.

On Vacation: Schedules visits to every museum and historical site within a hundred mile radius.

At Work: Often works in management, administration, law enforcement, and accounting.

In General: Quiet, friendly, responsible, and conscientious. Committed and steady in meeting their obligations. Thorough, painstaking, and accurate. Loyal, considerate, notice and remember specifics about people who are important to them, concerned with how others feel. Strive to create an orderly and harmonious envi

What Really Gets Shared Online

by Jamie · 0 comments

Finding the “secret sauce” for social media popularity is this century’s Holy Grail. Everyone wants it, few find it. But perhaps we’re looking at it the wrong way. Instead of looking for some cookie cutter formula we can mass replicate, maybe we should be looking at the psychology of what people actually do online. What really gets shared online, and why?

social media

Why Do We Use the Internet?

Using the Internet is a far different experience than it was in 1993. Back then, the Internet was vastly a place to get limited information. Now, you can do just about anything online, it’s like Vegas for media junkies. What happens here, stays here… forever.

There are basically two main reasons for going online: information and entertainment. You might pull up a webpage to find the store hours of your local home improvement store, or get a phone number for the nearest pharmacy. You may be researching the latest diet craze or that new medication your doctor prescribed.

The Internet helps you solve problems:

  • I need a good pair of running shoes.
  • How do I get my puppy to stop barking?
  • My computer is making a whirring noise.
  • Who’s running for president in 2016?
  • When is the next Game of Thrones episode airing?

These are problems that require information-based solutions. The Internet is a limitless resource for quickly garnering basic information about a problem. The best solutions to the biggest problems get shared the most online.

But the Internet isn’t just a tool for solving problems.

Enter the cats. Nearly every nook and cranny of the Internet is filled with cats, dogs, babies, people doing stupid yet funny stuff (-but mostly cats. Why? They got there first and claimed the best spots. It’s what cats do.).

And this (arguably) meaningless stuff gets shared like crazy. LOL CatZ do not solve any problems. They don’t tell you how to fix a stuck microwave carousel or why your right ribcage hurts after you eat a cheeseburger and milkshake from McDonald’s after the age of 40. But they do entertain us- and that’s where the magic happens.

You see, we’re media addicts. We carry around smart phones and tablets that are connected 24/7. We check our screens in the middle of the night and while we use the bathroom. We can’t eat a meal without a screen of some type glowing in our faces. The entertainment stream coming from our devices soothes our frazzled emotions and feeds our busy minds. The more we get, they more we want. So when something catches our attention, we share it with others, because we know they too are looking for a good entertainment fix.

Meeting the Need

Which of these two needs does your social media meet? Do you provide stellar information or star-quality entertainment? What gets shared online informs or entertains, or in the rare case, does both. And it does it well. If you want your media to be shared, you don’t need a secret formula, you just need to feed the beast.

Creating Shareable Media

Creating popular media isn’t rocket science.

Let’s face it, the strangest things tickle our fancies.

We like cute and funny things that distract us from our lives.

We have similar struggles and fears.

We have the same needs.

https://youtu.be/LuVsf_hE7gM

But not all great media goes viral. Why?

It doesn’t get seen by enough people and it’s “shareable hot streak” cools off when the next BIG THING comes along and replaces it. Its moment in the sun isn’t enough to microwave a leftover burrito.

Getting Seen Online

A few really phenomenal things go viral organically, like Charlie and his choppers:

But if you can’t get your kids to do something spontaneously adorable, and then find some way to monetize it, you’re going to need to promote your media.

Promoting your media is a lot like coordinating a well-planned military maneuver. You need to strike the masses with your information or entertainment and generate enough heat to not only nuke that burrito, but burn it to a nice golden brown. If you gain enough momentum, your media will snowball into a shareable tidbit that generates lots and lots of buzz and traffic, which translates into revenue for you if you’ve set up your website properly in advance.

So what are you sharing today? What’s caught your eye and prompted you to give it that highly coveted click?

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