Amplify Your Business with Google Posts

Are you using Google Posts to enhance your Google My Business Listing on search engine results pages?

If you have your business listed with Google My Business (if you don’t, you should), you can add a content post to share additional information directly below your business listing. Users will see your Google Post on Google search engine results pages (SERPs) and Google Maps when they search for you.

Google Posts are a free and easy way to boost your business listing.  Posts let you provide information about your products, services or events for people who are searching for your business.  In your post, include an image, video, up to 300 words of copy and add a button (Sign up, Learn more, Buy, etc,) that will link the url you specify.

Posts expire after 7 days so be sure to create a new Google Post weekly.

What Should Post?

Your Google Posts can include any type of information that will promote your business or inform users:

Offers/Coupons- Post info about your weekly sale or promotion

Promote a Product or Service- Add a ‘Learn More’ button to your post that links directly to your product or service web page

Events- Offer details and a link to your upcoming event

Announcements- What’s new and what do you need to tell your prospects and customers!

How to Create Google Posts

Sign in at GoogleMyBusiness.com and click on your business listing

On the Menu, click ‘Posts’

Look for the ‘Create New’ or ‘Write Your Post’ prompt

See options to add photos, text, events, and a button to your post. Simply enter the relevant information in each field. Once you’ve created your post, click Preview to see a preview. If it looks good, click Publish in the top right corner of the screen..  

For more marketing tips, visit www.marketing-er.com.

Live Tweet Your Next Event to Kick It Up a Notch!

Whether your event is a small local business meeting or a large conference, live tweeting will help to publicize your event, extend your reach and get more followers. Live tweeting at an event is a way to convey minute-by-minute activities as they are happening. It's a great way to communicate what's going on and being said at an event as it unfolds. Live tweeting allows people at the event to really engage and those who aren't there to feel like they are.

Quite a bit of work goes into preparing for live tweeting. Here are a few tips to help you with your next live tweet experience:

Preparation

Create an event hashtag to help attendees and others track conversations and the event's activities. Do your research to be sure the hashtag you pick is not already being used! Then use the hashtag with every tweet, before, during and after the event. Use the hashtag on pre-event promotional materials and be sure to announce it at the event so people can follow along or post using it.

Pull together a list of the Twitter handles of all the key people associated with the event(speakers, presenters, journalists, influential attendees, etc.).  Save this list to a document that you can easily reference during the event.

Prepare tweets and branded visuals ahead of time. Based on your event schedule and planned content, create tweet drafts so that you aren't scrambling to create all your tweets from scratch during the event.

Make sure you have strong Wi-Fi access and a mobile hotspot to use as backup. Be sure your phone, laptop and all device are charged and bring your chargers.

Live-Tweeting

Provide a tweet narrative that keeps your audience interested in following the action!  Make your tweets concise. Each tweet should make sense out of context.  Focus on quotes, brief sound bites of information, calls for action, photos and videos.

Engage with people who are using your hashtag. Respond to their tweets and retweet them. Start conversations to enhance your event and to get other people interested. Tag the people in all the photos you post to bring even more attention to your tweets.

After the Event

Continue to monitor your hashtag. Days later, your audience could be posting images and feedback that you'll want to respond to or take note of!

What other ways has live tweeting enhanced your events?  Please share by commenting below!

Twitter Trends: Are You Marketing with Hashtags?

If you're a devoted Twitter user, you know all about hashtags. If not, you've heard of them and may be wondering what the buzz is all about. Twitter's hashtag or # symbol can be used to highlight keywords or topics in your Tweets. You can insert hashtags anywhere in your Tweet.

People use the hashtag symbol # before relevant keywords (no spaces) in their Tweet to categorize Tweets and help them show more easily in a Twitter Search. For example if you search in Twitter on #jobs, you will see all the recent Tweets that have include that hashtag and are relevant to the word "jobs". Hashtags help other Twitter users find information on a particular topic.

Check out www.hashtags.org to find out which hashtags are searched on the most. Or create your own hashtag. For example, come up with an original hashtag associated with an upcoming business event. All interested and participating parties (attendees, speakers, moderators, event organizers) can use this special hashtag in their related Tweets and it provides real time feedback and information for anyone who searches on it.

Hashtags are in commercials, print ads and now they're even painted on football fields. Incorporate hashtags into your tweets to be noticed, collaborate with others and to reach a specific audience.

Leveraging LinkedIn for Business Growth

While most of us have profiles on LinkedIn, have you ever wondering if you're using this social media tool to its fullest? Many of us continue to build 'Contacts' on LinkedIn but rarely utilize them for referrals, introductions, conversations and other ways to expand our businesses.

Here are a few ways you can utilize LinkedIn as a sales, marketing and business development tool:

1. Complete your profile
Has LinkedIn rated your profile 100% complete? If not, take the opportunity to get your message across by filling in all aspects of your profile. Give people a reason to want to connect with you. Include the keywords and terms that your potential prospects would use when searching to find your services or products.

2. Join Groups
Groups are a good way to find and communicate with qualified prospects. Join groups that have the same professional, affiliations, goals or interests as you. Try creating a new group if you can't find one that suits your needs.

3. Prospecting
Are you looking for a specific person to connect with? Maybe you're looking for prospects in a certain industry or others with a specific title? Check out LinkedIn's Search field in the upper right hand corner. Clicked on the "Advanced" button and check out all the options you have to search the LinkedIn member database! Search by title, zip code, industry, etc. to find prospects.

LinkedIn will show you any "shared connections" you have with these prospects to possibly facilitate an introduction. Leverage your current connections to add more.

4. Events
Post any kind of event on LinkedIn to increase visibility. Click on 'Events' under the 'More' tab on the LinkedIn home page to create your event. Include as many details as possible and a link to where people can register. Use the 'Share This Event' tool to post your event on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook. The best news is you can go beyond simply posting info in your newsfeed hoping people will see it. Now you can send your event info to your Groups, or any individuals you're connected with in a personalized message.

If you personally engage with your network on LinkedIn, you'll find the value in the individual and company information it holds for your business.

Ways to Increase Seminar Attendance

1.Communicate the value- Be clear about what attendees will learn, how the information will help them and what the take away will be.

2.What's the hook? Make them an offer they can't resist. Whether it's a free consultation, a white paper or breakfast, let prospects know what's in it for them if they attend.

3.Registration fee- Consider charging a fee for your seminar or workshop. You'll have less no-shows if people know they'll lose money by not attending.

4.Use Social Media- In addition to direct mail and email, use all of your social media tools to promote your seminar/workshop to drive attendance.

5.Email and phone reminders- Call and email your registrants the weeks and days leading up to the event. Continue to restate the benefits of attending.

What other things to you do to fill seats? Let us know!