The phrase “social media” has become a catch-all for a long list of viral marketing strategies often associated with the chicklets listed under a blog post for well known platforms like Facebook, Wordpress, RSS, Twitter, Stumble Upon, Del.oc.ious, Technorati and others. How to make these platforms work for your business is often a mystery that scares the hell out of many business owners.
Two chef’s in L.A. created a roach-coach success called Kogi that mixes Korean and Mexican flavors in a mobile taco truck experience. When they first started the business no one came. They quickly found that people liked their tacos and created a strategy to get the word out quickly regarding their daily location and specials using Twitter. They now have 8,000 followers. YouTube is another platform that they use to showcase the unique experience Kogi brings to a neighborhood. Notice the very young audience Kogi attracts.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pbQuCW95ESQ
So how do you decide which social media platform is right to promote your business?
- Create compelling content - Kogi’s content is a unique menu as well as a dynamic experience
- Think about your target audience. What social media platforms do they use? If your demographic falls in the age range 30-50 consider email as a social media platform.
- Define measurable business goals to reach that target audience such as selling 20 subscriptions over the 1st quarter.
- Develop a strategy to reach your business goals factoring in how a social media platform can compliment your marketing efforts. If you have a blog, there are plugins to allow your subscribers to share your information with others easily.
Don’t rule out social media altogther. Be creative and think of social media as platform to deliver information much like email (a social media strategy.) If the platform compliments your business goals, test it out. When it comes to the new social media platforms, don’t rule them out completely as millenials are bringing the Gen X’ers and Baby Boomers up to speed quickly.
Search Engine Optimization strategies bring awareness to your Web site. Understanding your target audience and conveying a message that resonates with visitors is the key to great SEO.
GrokDotCom published this amazing story that illustrates the difference between conveying information and communicating a message that resonates with your target audience. When you know who you are speaking to, Search Engine Optimization becomes more effective.
I don’t trust GUI’s and this is why. A simple URL 301 redirect was botched by PowWeb’s URL Redirect tool. I had an issue with an error page being among the top content viewed and found an problem with a URL name change conflicting with a PPC campaign landing page target. I knew what had to be done.
PowWeb has a handy set of control panel tools that allow .htaccess editing. The .htaccess editor has a URL Redirect tool that defines the from path as http://… and the to path also as http://… in it’s instructions.
The non-working redirect was defined by the tool as:
Redirect http://www.domain.com/home.html http://www.domain.com
After going through various resources, I found this lovely note that saved my sanity:
“Notes: Don’t add “http://www” to the first part of the
statement - place the path from the top level of your site
to the page. Also ensure that you leave a single space
between these elements:”
PowWeb also has a very nice direct .htaccess editor that allowed me to modify the .htaccess file so I manually changed the redirect to the following:
Redirect 301 /home.html http://www.domain.com
There was no designation for a 301 Redirect so I had to modify the .htaccess file manually. It worked… Check your redirects here - http://www.internetofficer.com/seo-tool/redirect-check/.
Luckily I have FTP access to the Web server but that is not always the case. In using the editor, I found there were actually 3 .htaccess files on the server. I had to ensure I was modifying the correct one and my next phone call to PowWeb will be about having 3 .htaccess files on the server.
Pay close attention to your redirects. Check them. Then check them again.
