HOW TO: Mention Your Connections on LinkedIn

Posted on April 4, 2013 by Gatz Optimize

LinkedIn has made it easier to start conversations and share knowledge through the ability to mention your connections and companies in conversations.  LinkedIn mentions will make it easier for you to start conversations with your network while also enabling you to respond in real-time when someone begins a conversation with you.

How does it work?

  • Begin by typing the name of a connection or company in your status update box or a comment field on the homepage.
  • Select someone from your list of your connections that appear in the drop-down, complete your status or comment and post it.
  • The person or company you mentioned will receive a notification alerting them that they have been mentioned.

In addition to first-degree connections, you can also mention other LinkedIn members engaged in conversations in the comment section of posts on the LinkedIn homepage.

Screen shot 2013-04-04 at 11.14.41 AM

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Happy 7th Birthday, Twitter

Posted on March 21, 2013 by Gatz Optimize

Today your favorite 140-character social network turns 7!  We remember the days when Twitter was just for talking about what you had for lunch… it’s grown up quite a bit since then.

Want to pay homage to Twitter today? Here are 5 ways you can celebrate:

  1. Relive your best (and worst) tweets – There are some tweets you will want to cherish forever and others you will wish you could erase from your twistory.  You can see your old tweets with Twitter’s newly introduced archive feature.
  2. Play around with some fun Twitter sites – Check out favstar, which tells you your top tweets of all time and Twit Amore, which tells you who you love the most on Twitter.
  3. Give your Twitter account a makeover – Over the past year Twitter introduced a few changes to your Twitter profile, including the new header photo. If you haven’t already added a header to your profile, today is the day.
  4. Add a video with Vine – Vine is Twitter’s newest service that allows you to add six-second videos to your tweets.  Not sure what to make your first Vine about?  We heard it’s someone’s birthday…
  5. Clean up your follow list – Take time today to clean up your follower list.  Cut the accounts you can’t remember why you started following or you don’t want to follow anymore.  You can also look for some of your friends who you might not yet be following with Twitter’s “Find Friends” feature.

Don’t forget to include #twitter7 in your celebratory tweets today.

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5 Steps to Get Your Small Business on LinkedIn

Posted on February 6, 2013 by Gatz Optimize

Is your small business on LinkedIn?  If your customers are other businesses or have specific industry interests, you might want to give LinkedIn a second look.  A recent study showed that small business owners find LinkedIn to be the most beneficial social media platform – with 41% of respondents singling it out.

Not sure where to begin?  Once you’ve set up an account, follow these five steps from Inc. to get the most out of your LinkedIn page and spread the word about your business:

1.  Highlight Your Content

Your cover photo is the first thing people will see, so be sure you have one!  While you’re at it, you can now upload photos and files to share with your followers.

Next, fill out your company profile as completely as possible, especially the “Products & Services” section.  This section is also a great place to promote any presentations, webcasts, or guides you’ve produced.  Include a call-to-action like “view now” and have a link to the page on your website where the content lives.

2.  Start Sharing Updates

Post relevant business articles that you come across and share all your corporate blog posts.  You want people who are visiting your page to see lots of activity.  Your updates also will show up in the activity feeds of your connections = more exposure for your business and more chances they will get liked and shared.

3.  Invite Your Personal Connections

This is a no brainer – ask everyone on your personal Facebook, Twitter, and other networks to check out your company on LinkedIn and connect.

4.  Use LinkedIn Social Plugins

These plugins are simply buttons that tell people you’re active on LinkedIn.  There are “follow” buttons and “share” buttons.  Add these plugins to your website, blog posts, and in your email newsletter campaigns to get people following you and sharing your content.

5.  Join a LinkedIn Group

There are LinkedIn groups for almost every industry profession and skillset.  Why join a group?  It’s an opportunity to make new connections, flaunt your expertise, keep your finger on the pulse of what’s going on in your industry, and share your content.

Like any social network, people aren’t going to flock to your LinkedIn page overnight. Give it a few months and track your engagement levels so you know whether or not you’re accomplishing what you want.

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Social Media Content Ideas

Posted on January 16, 2013 by Gatz Optimize

Social media networks require constant attention and that can be a struggle for busy business owners.  Finding content ideas leads to the intensive process of creating, publishing and promoting that content.  In an information hungry world, fans and followers want information and they want it now!

According to Jeff Bullas, there are four main types of content that you should be considering creating:

  1. Educational content
  2. Informative content
  3. Entertaining content
  4. Inspiring content

Remember that content on the social web needs to be multi-media rich and include media such as photos, videos, images, and infographics.

If you’re having trouble finding the inspiration to come up with different types of content and information to keep your social networks and blogs fresh, here are some new content ideas:

  1. Create Lists – Give people a list of things to do
  2. Provide “How To’s” – Show people where to start and the steps along the way
  3. News – People want to know what is happening whether it’s in their industry or city
  4. Images – Create content that takes screenshots of uses images to convey an idea, concept or story
  5. Solving Problems – Provide step-by-step instructions about the major issues that plague your industry
  6. Quotes – Nothing like an inspiring quote to put gleam in someone’s eye to start their day

What content ideas have worked for you?  Please share them in the comment box below.

 

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Gift Guide for the Social Media Lover

Posted on December 17, 2012 by Gatz Optimize

1. Stitchagram
Keep your photos alive by bringing them out into the real world, to be enjoyed every day. Put them on a throw pillow, tote bag, wristlet, or coin purse.

2. You “Tube” Socks
Sport your YouTube spirit from your head down to your toes.

3. Facebook Like/Dislike Stamps
Make your thoughts clear in the office by using these Like and Dislike stamps.

4. Tweetbookz
TweetBookz allows anyone to print high quality books composed of up to 200 tweets from any Twitter account.

5. Social Media Pillows
Spruce up any sofa and show love for your favorite social network with these logo pillows from Etsy.

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HOW TO Calculate the Value of a Facebook Like

Posted on December 4, 2012 by Gatz Optimize

Do you measure social media return on investment (ROI) for your company? Marketers tend to track ROI for every other channel of online marketing including email, search, and ad marketing.  But for some reason, many seem to cringe when it comes to channels like Facebook and Twitter.

Realizing that his company needed to understand exactly what the value of each social media connection is to their bottom line, Dan Zarella developed the value of a like (VOAL) formula:

L (Total Likes): The total number of audience members connected to your social media account. On Facebook, these are Likes of your page, and on Twitter, these are followers.

UpM (Unlikes-per-Month): The average number of fans who “unlike” your social network account each month. On Facebook, this is an “unlike,” and on Twitter, this is an “unfollow.”

LpD (Links-per-Day): The average number of times you’re posting links, and potentially converting links driven from your social media account. On Facebook, this is the number of posts you’re making, per day, that lead to a page on your website. On Twitter, this is the number of times, per day, you’re Tweeting these kinds of links.

C (Average Clicks): The average number of clicks on the links to your site you’re posting on your social media accounts.

CR (Conversion Rate): The average conversion rate of your website, from visit to sale or visit to lead. This can be an overall average, but for increased accuracy, use the conversion rate measured from traffic coming from the social network you’re calculating.

ACV (Average Conversion Value): The average value of each “conversion.” In this context, a “conversion” is the action you’ve used to measure CR for. It could be average sale price or average lead value. For increased accuracy, use the average conversion value of traffic coming from the specific social network.

The first part of the formula uses UpM and L to calculate a chum rate for your social media following.  This will allow you to derive the average length of time an individual user will be subscribed to your social network profile.

The rest of the formula calculates the VOAL metric for each follower using the number of links they’re exposed to over the length of time they follow your brand and the values from your conversion funnel.

If this all looks a little daunting to you, don’t worry, there is an easy calculator tool that will calculate this for you.

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