Joy | January 26, 2012
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Confidentiality Matters

Some of you have asked me why I don’t have more testimonials from my clients on this site.

I am so glad you asked.

My goal for my clients isn’t to draw attention to me – it’s to get them noticed by the search engines and ultimately found by current and potential clients/customers/patients. And, I promise them that unless they go public with the fact that I work for them, it’s going to remain a secret. This is a normal PR practice – when you hire someone to represent you, the goal is to get you noticed not them. Unless there is status in the company hired, most small business people don’t mind a ghost marketer. (For another blog post ont this topic click HERE.)

This committment to their confidentiality makes proving how effective the work I do for them is. I realize this may be a deal breaker for some clients. That’s okay. I’m protective of the people I work for and determined to keep my word to them.

The question I have for any potential clients reading this is: Do you want others to know I work for you or would you prefer the attention be focused on you?

You’ll have to take my word for this: I’m good at what I do. Most of my clients are already on page one of the four main search engines, are getting new client contacts directly from their websites, and are converting those same contacts into new clients/customers/patients weekly.

Thanks for asking!

Joy

Joy DeKok, Social Media Manger

Owner of Social Media Infusion

Let me get you connected.

 

507-358-8332

socialmediainfusion@gmail.com

 

 

Category: Uncategorized |
Joy | January 19, 2012
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10 Ways Your Blog Can Work Harder For You

1. If you use WordPress as your platform, activate the Sexy Bookmarks plug-in. If you use another blogging source, see what sharing buttons they have available and make them visible.

Buttons you may want to include:

Facebook LIKE, Twitter or Tweet, Digg, StumbleUpon, Tumblr, Reddit, My Space, LinkedIn, Delicious, FriendFeed, and Posterous.

2. Ask 10 friends who understand the importance of getting the word out about your product or service to read your blog posts. Then, if they authentically like your content, ask them to click on at least six of your bookmarks. To do this, they must have an account with each site. Notice I used the word AUTHENTIC. Please don’t expect them to share your blog if they don’t benefit from your information. Ask them to consider sharing your posts to the vtial three: FB, Twitter, and LinkedIn for sure.

3. Ask those 10 friends to leave at least one comment a week o your blog for a specific amount of time. Be reasonable. Of course, you want positive feedback, but let them know if they disagree, they are welcome to state that as well. How you handle  negative input shows readers something important about you. Serve your friends the way you would a valuable customer or client.

4.  If your friends have blogs, do the same for them. Offer to let them “repost” one or more of your articles. Now and then, repost one of theirs.

5.  On many of these sites, you can share your posts. Twitter, Digg, Stumble, or Tumble yourself from your blog site.

6.  Can you rewrite this content into a brief article? If so, join an online article library like EzineArticles.com and submit some of your work.

7.  Do you have a Squidoo Lens? Consider using this content by sharing it on your Squidoo page or pages – these lenses get noticed by people who enjoy this fun and funky platform.

8.  Do you have a long blog entry that you could offer as a free report to your blog readers? A simple PDF is all you need. Make sure this resource is written and edited with excellence. This is as important as the product or service you are marketing. You can ask people to sign up for this report, or not. It’s up to you. List building is important, but so is a true freebie – if it comes with absolutely no strings, potential clients or customers may be more willing to sign up for something else later. You can use a portion of this report on your blog as an introduction or what some call a “teaser.”

9. Give your readers both expected and unexpected content. Maybe on one day of the week you provide them with information and on another you give them a bit of insight into your personal life. One of my clients is an artist. Although his profession has nothing to do with art, he is developing a comic strip he can offer once a month or so to his readers. His cartoon character will be the one who shares this client’s life, on a surface level, and offer his readers a bit of humor. Another client loves to cook. She will be sharing a weekly recipe for success and one from her kitchen with a bit of business wisdom tied in. Another is adding her cat as her business mascot. I’m still trying to figure mine out. I do know that when my clients blog about something personal, they get more readers that day and their other pages get read.

10. Ask people to sign up using the RSS feed you provide them. By ask, I mean regularly ask at the end of a blog post or all of your blog posts. See the text at the bottom of this post – use it or rephrase it to fit you.

It’s good business practice to think about the numbers – if 10 people help you by sharing your blog six times every time you post, your blog is working much harder for you than if you wait for people to come to you.

There is another side benefit of this besides the numbers: you are reaching more people with content that could impact their lives in major ways. This kind of marketing is gracious (never desperate) as they read your message, absorb it, and pass it on.

Until next time,

Joy

Joy DeKok, Social Media Manager

Social Media Infusion

Let me get  you connected.

 

If you enjoyed this blog post, please use the buttons below to share it.

Thank you!

 Graphic purchased from fotolia.com  © Mariusz Prusaczyk – Fotolia.com

Category: Uncategorized |
Joy | January 10, 2012
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Creating Your “Hub”

With all the social media marketing options available, it’s a good idea to work from a hub or center. It’s from this point that you can create “spokes” for the other media that works best for your message, service, and/or product.

This ”hub” is your blog. A 250 to 750 word blog post can result in at least four Facebook updates, six Tweets, and a Linkedin update or two. Beyond these tools, it can become a new article or two you can place on EzineArticles or on your Squidoo Lens. You can also Digg it, Reddit, or share it on De-li-cious. If your readers like your blog post, they can pass it on to all of these social media outlets as well.

Later, you can repost, retweet, re-update, and re-share each blog article you put out there.

While a full spectrum of social media tools are essential, your well thought out and carefully crafted blog is vital. You may do well without one, but I believe you’ll do better with one.

If you’d like help with this, email me at socialmediainfusion@gmail.com.  You can also check out the services and prices on this website.

Joy

  

Joy DeKok, Social Media Manager

Let me get you connected.

507-358-8332

 

Graphic purchased at fotolia.com  © g0b – Fotolia.com

 

 

 

Category: Blogging, Social Media Marketing | Tags: , , , , , ,
Joy | December 13, 2011
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What Is SEO and Why Does it Matter to You?

What It Is: SEO = Search Engine Optimization

What’s an example of a search engine? Google is the most recognizable.

Why are they important? This is how the world finds you.

Think about how you use Google, Yahoo, Bing, Ask, or other search engines to find answers and purchases products or services. Consumers looking for what you offer are going to ignore most traditional marketing and take the most direct route to you: the Internet.

Here’s an example: if you own a style salon in a specific area, clients are going to search for location’s close-by. It’s also likely they will only take a look at the salons listed on the first three pages of their search. Many will choose where to get their next cut and style, by the time they get to the bottom of page ONE. People are in a hurry. If they find your link fast, and like what they see when they get to your website, they are far more
likely to call or email you.

How do you get to page one? Search engine optimization. When done right, SEO moves you up the rankings, or toward the first page.

You get noticed by the search engines when you post optimized information about your business. This content comes from the high-quality material you create and post on our blog, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and other social media sites. It involves a strategic use of keywords, careful choices regarding links and link backs, and site maps. (We’ll go into each on this blog later.)

Why It Matters to You:

Consumers trust the search engines to showcase the best up front. You know this is true. As a consumer yourself, you turn to the search engines to find you the best product or service in the least amount of time.

The current numbers look like this:

•Over 17 BILLION specific online searches were done in September of 2011.

•Google: 65.3%  (11.2 billion)

•Yahoo: 15.5%   (2.6 billion)

•Bing: 4.7%   (2.5 billion)

•Ask: 3%  (507 million)

•AOL: 1.5%   (265 million)

As a business person, SEO is vital to your success.

At Social Media Infusion, I use both a manual system and an automatic system for my clients. Without it, the people looking for my clients, will find and buy from or hire someone else. I’d like to help them find the people who hire me to manage their social media. I’d also like them to find YOU - that’s why I write this blog: to help you get connected.

I’m working on an after Christmas series on planning your marketing.

Until then,

Joy

Joy DeKok, Social Media Manager

Social Media Infusion

Let me get you connected.

 

 

 

To talk to me call 507-358-8332 or email me at socialmediainfusion@gmail.com

 

Category: SEO, Social Media Marketing | Tags: , , , , ,
Joy | December 1, 2011
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What Piece of Your Marketing Puzzle is Missing?

I enjoy putting puzzles together; the sorting out of the
edges and then by color. Finally, my favorite part: the satisfying”snap” as the right pieces are connected.

Most of the potential clients I’ve talked to know about social media marketing, but resist it. These business owners tell me they have a personal Facebook page and know what Twitter is. A few of them have a blog and most of them have a LinkedIn account. One of the knows about StumbleUpon. None of them know what Digg or Squidoo are although both would benefit them. Only a couple were tweeting (once a month or less), three of them had Facebook professional pages, but weren’t using them, and other than signing up for LinkedIn, only two were using it to connect with other professionals.

A couple of them who have blogs told me they don’t think blogging is an effective use of their time (they were posting once or twice every few months). I disagree. If the statistics are right and 32 to 50% of the buying population are reading blogs, this is a
costly mistake and is usually a missing puzzle piece. Today’s marketing is information or content focused. If a professional isn’t willing to provide the content, their potential clients/customers are looking online for, someone else is. If they find excellent content, on the first couple of pages of their favorite search engine (Google, Yahoo, Ask, or Bing among dozens of others), it’s likely they will purchase that professionals service and or product. Blogging is the number one way to provide this information and for many is the center of their successful social media marketing plan.

Another thing these people are saying is, “It’s so complicated.” As we continue to talk, two things rise to the top and seem to be the culprits behind this response.

• although these professionals can see all the pieces to the puzzle, they are overwhelmed by their current responsibilities and can’t imagine investing the time to learn, or taking on more work.

•they do not realize how powerful and efficient social media marketing is and are often resistant to change so all they see is chaos in the new marketing revolution.

Social media marketing takes work – a lot of work, but without utilizing at least the basic 4 (blog, Facebook, Twitter, & LinkedIn), any business person’s marketing plan is incomplete. It’s like being stalled on the side of a 6-lane freeway. You’ve got the vehicle (product or service), and you’re on the road, but sidelined by a marketing system that no longer works.

Want to know what piece of your social media marketing puzzle is missing? Contact me for a free evaluation. I’ll let you know what’s working and what could work better. Then you can decide if you want to use this plan on your own or hire me to help you. (check out the packages page on this site)

If you have questions, please email me at socialmediainfusion@gmail.com or call me at 507-358-8332.

Your business + social media marketing = increased success.

Let me help you get connected,

Joy

 

Joy DeKok, Social Media Manager

Social Media Infusion

 

Category: Blogging, Social Media Marketing | Tags: , , , , , ,
Joy | November 29, 2011
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How Do You Get Them to Notice You?

Some business people think getting noticed these days is harder than it used to be. I disagree. Think about the old way: you placed  print ads, called people you’d never met (cold calling), paid for billboards,  and pushed to close every sale.

Today, social media marketing allows you to focus your  marketing dollars where your potential clients, customers, or buyers are –  online. Not sure this is true?

Consider these 2011 statistics  (I usually link to the site I find the stats at, but there were so many this time. I encourage you to Google E-commerce  statistics for 2011.):

•As of June, 2011, it was estimated that 179 million people will research products
they want to purchase online. (one study said that 90% of those asked read
online reviews to help them to purchase or not. 60% stated they check Amazon
reviews first.)

•E-commerce sales are far higher than store sales – the numbers varied on this, so I am not quoting the numbers here. Every source reported E-sales as greater than in-store
sales.

•86% of consumers have Facebook pages (this is growing daily), nearly 40% have
Twitter accounts, and over 63% have YouTube channels.

•50% of those polled follow their favorite companies via Facebook and/or Twitter

•7 out of 10 people who use the Internet, buy online.

•social media is the standard choice of marketing for online business people.

•71% of all U.S. citizens buy online.

•32% of the population read blogs. (some sites say this is an extremely low estimate,
and the number is likely nearer to 50%.)

•91% of us use email.

The facts cannot be denied:

  • You get noticed when you use social media  marketing tools.
  • Social media is also the best way to get people talking to other people about you.

If you’d like help getting your social media marketing started, call me at 507-358-8332 or email me at socialmediainfusion@gmail.com.

Joy

Joy DeKok, Social Media Manager

Let me get YOU connected.

Social Media Infusion

507-358-8332

socialmediainfusion@gmail.com

Category: Social Media Marketing | Tags: , , , ,
Joy | November 25, 2011
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7 Reasons You Might Want a Social Media Manager

1.

You know  social media is vital to growing your business, but you don’t have time to take on more work.

2.

 You know social media is important, but you have no interest in setting up and maintaining several online sites.

3.

 You hear terms like Facebook, Twitter, Tweets, Links, SEO, Digg, StumblUpon,
De-lici-lous, Like, Apps, Plug-ins, Fan Pages, Followers, blogging, guest
blogging, and online articles and long
for the good old days.

4.

 You want to succeed, but you also want more time with your family, friends, or
walking tropical beaches.

5.

 You like the idea of being connected, but you need someone to weed out the top of the line contacts  from the others.

6.

 You know  that in order to accomplish more, you need to do what you’re best at and that’s  not social media marketing.

7.

You want  more  you time.

To learn more about my services, click on the packages page or email me at socialmediainfusion@gmail.com.

I enjoy helping other succeed.

Joy

 

Joy DeKok, Social Media Manager

Social Media Infusion

Let me get you connected.

507-358-8332

 

 

 

Graphic purchased from fotolia   © morena – Fotolia.com

Category: Social Media Marketing | Tags: , , , ,
Joy | November 23, 2011
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Thanks to You

Thank you to my current clients!

This is a very special Thanksgiving. Social Media Infusion is a brand new business and I have clients. That’s something to celebrate and I am – my heart is full of gratitude for the opportunity to make a positive difference in my client’s businesses.

With gratitude,

Joy

Joy DeKok, Social Media Manager

Social Media Infusion

Let me get YOU connected.

 

Category: Social Media Marketing, Uncategorized | Tags: , , , ,
Joy | November 14, 2011
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I’m Your Ghost Writer/Marketer

Potential clients often ask, “So who knows you’ll be doing my social media management?”

My answer: I’m your friendly, professional, hardworking, and efficient ghost. Unless YOU tell someone about the work I do for you, no one will know.

 

 

 

 

I’m the person in the far background getting the word out about you and your service/product where your clients spend time in the marketing revolution we call social media.

I will get your blog site designed and set up using your ideas and the best platform in the world today. Yes, I mean WordPress – partnered with GoDaddy. While many designers will charge you $750 and up, I charge $300 to $500. Why? That’s a fair price – I’ve paid thousands for previous websites and got very little traffic or notice. When I decided to learn the ropes, myself and realized I wanted to do this for a living, I knew I wanted to build efficient blog-sites for people to get them noticed – not me. I don’t own the sites and don’t advertise my design expertise on them. They and all the content
we create together belong to YOU.

Most of my clients send me blog information and ask me to improve the idea before posting it. This means a little ghost writing, using WhiteSmoke editing software to find most of the errors, and thinking of 5 or more ways to use a single entry. It also involves getting the information posted to the right social media sites. Does it hold potential for Digg, StumblUpon, or Delicious? What about Squidoo? I do the SEO (Seach Engine
Opitmization) work for your blog with a special focus on Google, Ask, Yahoo,
& Bing.

Remember the kid who threw the newspaper on your porch? That’s what I do now – I get your news to where your clients or readers are, and then we wait for them to pick it up.

Most of my clients prefer to remain anonymous. I’m not sure why, but I enjoy being their “ghost” or the unknown part of their success. If clients decide to tell people, they work with me, I’ll share their comments here on the blog. I know for some potential clients, this is important.

If you’re looking for a social media manager, call me to find out if you and I are a good fit.

Joy

Joy DeKok, Social Media Manager

Social Media Infusion

Let me get you connected.

 

Graphic purchased from fotolia.com   © ioannis kounadeas – Fotolia.com

Category: Uncategorized |
Joy | November 8, 2011
One comment

Bloggers Beware

If you already have a blog, you know comments can show popularity and are often the starting point of a viral social media marketing buzz – something we all hope to create to get our services, products, or opinions noticed. Links matter too.

Both can also be risky to your business.

I have several blogs of my own and manage several others for my clients. This means I delete hundreds of comments a week. Yes, I said DELETE. The people leaving these comments one goal: to get linked to your blog/website. They are not interested in your blog, products, services, or opinions. They leave comments hoping you are not approving comments so their links are on immediately on blog or they leave flattering comments they hope will move you to post them. They often can’t spell, their grammar is poor to awful, and they always include their website link/s in their comment. If you
click on their link, you will often discover poorly designed websites that have
no connection to your business. If you decide to investigate a little more, you
may find the home page is actually a fake page for a site you would never want
to receive comments or links from.

You may have heard: accept all comments and link to everyone who links to you – you can’t afford not to. This is an unhealthy attitude.

This is vital so remember it: the people you allow comments from and link to reflect your professional approval.

The truth is, you can afford to be careful and even picky. Your blog is one of your main social media marketing tools – decide now if it will work for or against you.

I’m not saying all your commentators have to agree with you – that would be boring, plus a healthy bit of disagreement can energize all your social media. I am saying accept comments and links carefully. Consider the risks and the rewards.

Here’s an example and a sad result: I visited a blog site the other day I thought would be of interest to me. I read two posts and the comments. Every comment was easily identifiable by the spelling and grammar as well as the flattery (which had nothing to do with the  blog posts) as fakes. This author had also linked to them all. Not one of them agrees with this person’s stated values. When I tried to leave a comment, I found that they had to be approved by the blog owner which means he or she intentionally confirmed each one. I left without commenting and it’s unlikely I’ll return.

As I pondered this bloggers decision, I realized something else repelled me from that site: the bloggers desperation.

You may not find any comments (many ended up accidently deleted when I changed templates) on my blogs. I get them, hundreds of them each month, but I refuse the vast majority of them. If they aren’t helpful to the rest of my readers or to my business, I delete them.

There is a risk in having no comments. There is a bigger risk in allowing them without consideration.

Do I have fewer clients because of this decision? No. A vast library of fake comments and bad links would be one of the worse business risks I could take.

So bloggers,
now you know.

Joy

 

Joy DeKok, Social  Media Manager

Social Media Infusion

socialmediainfusion@gmail.com

Find me on Twitter @SocialMediaInfu

507-358-8332

 

Graphic purchased at fotolia.com    © gunnar3000 – Fotolia.com

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