Enjoy my final installment of the Bootstrap Business Blog Blitz, answering your quick questions on social media marketing and more to maximize your business success!
What are you favorite Influence Marketing tools to use?
For Influence Marketing I actually often turn to Quora. It allows you to easily search for any topic and find the Top 10 Influencers of the last 30 days. I also search on Influencer websites like Onalytica and Agilience. I'll even check Twopcharts or similar programs to more accurately gauge an Influencer's following on Twitter. I might even check Klout on occasion. That all being said, there is no substitute for really knowing your target industry when it comes to identifying and leveraging true Influencers that can provide you with a strong ROI.
What are your thoughts on Google's recent Fred update? How has it effected your websites and what do you think about blogging strategies going forward?
Very interesting article. Read a couple other related ones as well. I haven't noticed much of a change in my websites' organic traffic. Possibly a small increase but if anything I think that's due to other factors like more links to my site and a lot more content being published. I think the implications are very clear. If your site is too ad-heavy, or too content poor, or both it's going to be rough waters ahead.
Personally I've been working hard this past year to go back and improve the content and on page SEO in older posts which has helped a lot. I just need to make that an even higher priority, along with taking a little bit more care in each new post. I do use AdSense on my 2 main websites because I maintain profitability at all times, but it does give me some second thoughts. I may monetize my site in other ways going forward (besides eBook sales), and a lot of the websites hurt by Fred really need to update their monetization strategy.
What are some major social media marketing lessons you've learned over the last decade?
There are countless lessons but here are a few. With an adequate budget, unique offering, and comprehensive strategy a small company can compete with the industry’s largest players. Authentic, personalized, and localized social posts or campaigns are usually more successful than ones that appear more generic or corporate. The short term and long term ROI for social media marketing is exceptional compared to other advertising mediums.
Quora is very popular. Facebook tries to copy many other social networks like Snapchat, do you think they'll try and copy or acquire Quora?
That’s actually a good point and I love Quora but to Facebook Quora is probably small time. I think they’ve tried to nurture somewhat of a forum Q&A format with Facebook Groups, although that has failed for the most part. Facebook is more worried about bigger competition that more directly parallels their current and future offering.
Why should retailers shift advertising dollars to SMM ads?
The short answer is that social media marketing, including paid advertising, provides excellent value and ROI. They are investments that allow retailers to reach new customers and continue marketing to existing customers again and again. New customers, especially younger ones, have such a high customer lifetime value that the advertising pays off very quickly, if not immediately, and pays big dividends.
If you were Snapchat, how would you protect your intellectual property from Facebook?
That’s the question they are asking themselves and their own team of lawyers. Very difficult to do so, I think it will just end up being the survival of the fittest. Hopefully Snapchat can continue holding on to the young users and something shiny and new doesn’t come along and take them away. If that happens it could be the end of Snapchat.
I think Facebook is boring and barely post anything any longer. Just good for knowing birthdays and events. Am I the only one that feels this way?
You’re not alone in feeling that way about Facebook, hence the new FB features they continuously try to roll out and Instagram’s rapid growth.
How do you copy the comment text on an Instagram post?
You can copy and paste the URL of that specific Instagram picture from your browser (via mobile device or computer), or you could even take a screenshot of that picture/comment depending on what you were trying to accomplish. Screenshots on most smartphones are usually taken by hitting the Home and Power buttons simultaneously.
How do I write blog posts faster?
I’ve written / published about 1,200 unique blog posts, mostly between 2 of my websites, so you definitely get in a rhythm after the first couple dozen. It helps significantly when you start using a consistent structure in your business blog posts, or several templates based on the type of post you’re doing. You might have a different structure / template for opinion posts, technical posts, long form, etc . It could be as simple as Intro Paragraph - 5 Body Paragraphs - Conclusion Paragraph.
I’m not saying to make your blog posts “cookie cutter”, but consistency will help you increase your speed, while also differentiating you as a blogger. You have your own writing style(s) that your readers will come to expect. Sharing and distributing your blog posts on social media and other viable websites will also speed up with practice and an overall game plan. You always want to improve your formatting, user experience, SEO, and writing skills over time. Therefore your structures / templates will evolve over time, and you may need to update past popular posts for this reason.
Barring blogger burnout, each post you create should generate ideas for related future posts, follow-up posts, etc so over time that aspect of your blogging will be faster and more organized.
Has much changed on Wall Street since the original iconic movie from the 80's with Gordon Gekko?
Wall Street is one of my favorite business movies and Gordon Gekko is indeed an iconic character. If anything I'd say Wall Street greed has only grown since the original movie in the 80's. I agree with some who observe that the greed in this movie seems almost innocent compared to today.
How many companies actually insist on hiring above average talent?
I love my current employer, but I've worked for many companies and agree with your statement. Definitely less than 50% of companies follow this advice. Many company leaders hire people that are less intelligent than themselves to avoid threats and to maintain intellectual superiority, mostly for ego purposes.
What do you think of the Sam Adams (Boston Beer Company) brand?
Sam Adams Founder & CEO Jim Koch has a very strong company in many ways which is why it's a billion dollar privately held company with exceptional culture and sales. I was a big fan of Sam Adams beer for a long time, but obviously things have changed in the last decade with the explosion in microbrewery popularity. I still think the variety of their offering is unmatched (60+ different beers annually) and their brand is very strong. A 6-Pack for $8-10 though is no good haha.
I have over 1,000 Instagram followers now and wanted to know how much I should charge for sponsored posts. I've never done them before. Most of my posts get 100+ likes.
I agree with the comments of around $1-$5 per post for you. Think about the company seeking exposure or sales. They could use the same amount of money on Google AdWords, Instagram Ads, Facebook Ads, etc to get even better results unless you can prove otherwise. Growing your following and building up your other social media / blog / website / YouTube channel following could multiply that significantly though.
What are some differences between TweetDeck and HootSuite? What can I use to schedule posts to personal accounts and groups?
TweetDeck only applies to Twitter but HootSuite allows management of LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram (kind of), and more. I'm also pretty sure you can't use Hootsuite or most/all other services to schedule to FB Groups. Personal accounts not with Hootsuite but other programs may give you more luck there.
I just lost 2,000 Facebook page likes overnight, going from 9,000 to 7,000. What the heck?
Fake accounts for sure, whether you purchased them or somehow a massive cluster liked your page. Almost every page has a portion of their likes as spam/fake accounts, especially the bigger your page gets. You're better off within them and a more accurate page like count.
Do corporations just care about making money?
Corporations and other business entities exist for the sole purpose of making money so I agree. But the actual people who begin those companies or run them usually have some noble intentions at least.
How Can You Follow 7,500 Accounts on Instagram?
As you implied with the question, 7500 is the maximum any Instagram account is able to follow at once. Many accounts (for better or for worse) follow as many accounts as they can in hopes of gaining more followers, exposure, likes, website traffic, etc. You can follow them manually which is tedious and can sometimes backfire but many have had success. I’m not condoning it by any means because the best way to grow your Instagram following and overall brand is with excellent content and networking.
The tactic of following other IG (or Twitter, Pinterest, etc) accounts can work but you don’t want to risk getting your IG account suspended or considered an annoying account by those you follow. You’ll need to follow accounts manually without “abusing” the feature and violating Instagram’s terms and conditions. There is no exact amount specified in their terms with regards to how many followers is “too much” or “spammy” but depending on how fast you follow accounts they’ll usually cut you off at 200–500 follows per 24-48 hour period. For a newer account with less followers there might be more strict limits.
As social media marketer Neil Patel has noted in several articles, it might be worth following some of your competitors' followers so that you might receive relevant followers in turn that would be interested in your content. A lot of people will tell you that you can use automated programs or “mass follow” programs to follow many accounts but it’s a grey area at best, many of these programs get weakened or shut down each month, and it can risk getting your account shut down.
What do you think about performance in high school relating to real world success?
There isn't always a correlation as everyone knows. One thing I've learned since high school (14 years ago now) is never underestimate anyone, never write off anyone, and never disrespect anyone. You never know what's going to happen and it's a small world. The "nerd" you picked on in high school might be the one interviewing you at your next job or running your next company. Remember Bill Gate's quote: "Be nice to nerds, chances are you'll end up working for one."
Which social media accounts do you get inspired by?
In terms of social media marketing I get inspiration from the accounts of Gary Vaynerchuk, Neil Patel, Rand Fishkin, Dharmesh Shah from HubSpot, and Larry Kim to name a few.
What is your best tip for dealing with negative feedback on social media?
Don't "don't feed the trolls" on social media, if the negative comments are in fact subjective, without merit, spammy, or abusive. It will usually just make things worse and it's often a waste of time and energy.
Quick Snapchat marketing tip?
The more exclusive content / promotions you can include the better. Behind the scenes is a definite must where applicable.
Who is the lamest shark on Shark Tank?
The shark Kevin Harrington that was on the 1st season before being replaced by Mark Cuban. While he's rich and successful as a pioneer of TV Infomercial product advertising, he wasn't in the same league financially as most of the other sharks. He often seemed to use the same excuses to be "out" on each pitch. I think he invested in 1 pitch in the whole season he was in, and it probably didn't even pan out after the cameras stopped rolling. I'm not criticizing him personally because he's more successful than I'll ever be but I'm just picking the least powerful shark on Shark Tank as objectively as possible.
Keep your questions coming and Bootstrap Business will keep answering! Best of luck in business to you all!
I hope you enjoyed this article answering you questions about social media marketing, entrepreneurship, and more.
Interested in more articles about social media marketing?
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Published by Michael J Schiemer
Owner of Bootstrap Business
Money - Marketing - Motivation
Digital Marketing | SEO | Social Media
Mike Schiemer Builds Better Business
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