Entries from August 2011 ↓

The biggest mistake most people make with social media is that they treat it like an advertisement channel.

Once they have their accounts up and running they are like a mini marketing machine. Tweets and posts fly around with their latest offers or details of what they do.

But there are a few problems with that:

• People will get very bored of you very quickly
• You will be unfollowed left, right and centre
• You’re not adding value

Basically, you’ve missed the point of social media altogether.

Engagement is the name of the game – listening to others, asking questions and joining in the conversation.

Making the most of social engagement

There are a few easy ways you can make the most of your social media engagement that will help you enhance your relationships with your followers. As with most things in life, you only get out what you put in – so if you sit back and wait for others to come to you, you could be waiting an awfully long time.

1. Targeting your geographical area

You can enhance your local networking by searching for people in your own geographical area by using www.search.twitter.com . The advance search facility will also allow you to search for people tweeting about topics you’re interested in, hash tag discussions etc.

Using this facility you can tweet smarter by finding the people you want to engage with.

2. Questions

Asking questions (and answering them) is a great way to build interaction and engagement. Twitter is an amazing tool for finding information. If you have an IT problem, want to find a particular product, need some advice or a local supplier just send out a tweet and people will respond.

But don’t forget you must give as well as take. Be helpful and respond to other people if you want them to help you.

3. Fountain of knowledge

It’s unlikely you’ll be able to answer every question you see asked so set up searches for things you can help with. For example, I’ve set up searched for people with copywriting queries. Then when a question is asked, I get to see it and can respond.

So if you are a property lawyer you can set up searches related to property, if you’re a chiropractor you can set up searches for people looking for help with back complaints.

4. Don’t automate

There are a lot of people who automate their social media activities. You may think that’s a smart thing to do because it saves you time, but it’s not that smart.

Social media is about being social so automating your tweets could be like sending a video of yourself to a party rather than being there in person.  If someone sends you a tweet and you’re not there, how can you respond to it?

The only automated tweets I send are the ones that give links to my blogs because I have the blog RSS feed linked to Twitter. Everything else is me so I can be responsive to any tweets I receive.

After all if a customer rang you, would they rather get an answer phone or speak to you in person?

5. Patience

If you think that setting up a load of social media accounts is going to suddenly launch you into the social stratosphere, think again.

Building a following and getting to grips with social media isn’t going to happen instantly. It will take time and strategy.

Be patient, watch, participate and learn.

It’s very easy to be tempted to use social media as an advertising channel but if you do you’ll just hack off a load of people.

Social media is real life interaction – it just takes place online.

Think of it as virtual networking – if you walked into a room of strangers and tried to start selling to them you’d soon be given the cold shoulder. Networking, in all forms, is about listening, chatting, asking and answering questions and generally getting to know people.

Do that in a social media environment and you’ll start to engage and build relationships.

There’s a new kid on the block in the social media world.

Google + is the mighty search engine’s answer to Facebook, Twitter and just about every other social platform you care to mention.

And of course, with a new platform there’s a new language to learn. There are:

• Circles – which is the way you organise people you’re connected to
• Sparks – a bit like Google Reader as it brings in content automatically based on your interests
• Hangouts – these are virtual rooms for video chats with people in your cirlces
• Huddles – this is group messaging to people in your circle

Confused?

Me too – which is why I think you should take a look at these posts and videos put together by Chris Brogan:

1. Google Plus – First Look
2. Getting started with Google Plus

Thanks Chris!

You all know how great newsletters are. But do you really know how to write newsletters effectively?

They provide a way for you to keep in regular contact with your customers.

But what do you put in them?

Keeping your subscribers engaged and interested in your monthly mailings is essential. But how do you achieve that?

Timely

To ensure your content resonates with your reader, try to tie it in with topical events or seasonal subjects.

So in the summer months don’t start talking about Christmas!

By making your content relevant to what’s going on around you, you are showing your readers that you are a company that thinks – you’re not just emailing them to get them to buy. You will be providing timely and useful information.

Solving problems

Your newsletter shouldn’t just be about selling.

Adding an article that talks about ‘how to’ achieve something, how to solve a problem or one that offers general advice about something your readers are interested in, will add value to your relationship with them.

By offering this type of information they are more likely to remain subscribed to your newsletter. Plus talking about your field in this way will position you as an expert. So when they need help – guess who they’ll turn to?

Short and sweet

How long should your newsletter be?

It’s best to keep it short – no more than 400 words or so. That way you’ll keep your readers attention right to the end.

Send them something that goes on for eternity and they’ll delete it because they won’t have time to read it.

But it’s not only the length of your newsletter than should be short. By keeping your sentences and paragraphs short too, you’ll make it easier to read.

And of course, don’t forget your strong headline. If that, and the first couple of sentences don’t grab their attention, you would have lost them.

Link

OK, so you’re keeping your newsletters short but this month you want to talk about something in more detail because you feel it’s particularly important to your readers.

That’s where linking comes in; write a short piece outlining the main issues and then link out to more information. This could be a blog post or article you have written or an external news story.

This technique keeps your newsletter short and sweet and still provides your readers with the information they need.

Have fun

Your newsletter also has to be enjoyable to read.

That will not only come down to its content but also how it’s written.

Be human with your writing; conversational copy is far more readable than formal, staid language. Inject a bit of humour if you can and keep it light. Above all, let your personality shine through.

Newsletters are an amazing tool. They enable you to keep in regular contact with your customers and enhance that relationship by offering news, tips and offers.

Do you send out a regular newsletter? If so why not leave a comment below and tell us how you use it. You might have more tips for us all to follow.

Nick Cobb is a freelance copywriter, online marketing consultant and the founder and Managing Director of Write For You Ltd. His principal website, My Freelance Copywriter, provides a wide range of copywriting services to domestic and international businesses, while his sister site. Red Hot Sales Letters, is dedicated to producing profit-pulling sales copy for online marketers.

The author’s views are entirely his own and may not reflect the views of FreelanceCopywritersBlog.com. If you are interested in producing a Guest Post for this blog, please get in touch with your ideas.

The concept of SEO copywriting has taken on a huge amount of significance in recent years. More and more companies are realising just how important a role it plays in pushing their website higher in the search engine rankings. But like anything else, there’s a way to do it right, and a way to do it wrong!

Do it correctly, and you’ll end up with beautifully crafted, search engine optimised website content that appeals to both human beings and the search engines alike. Do it incorrectly, and you’ll end up with an incoherent mess that will have your readers clicking away in seconds.

So if you’re new to the concept of SEO copywriting but can’t afford to hire a professional to do it for you, here are some useful tips to bear in mind…

Don’t Stuff Up

Back in the day, people used to believe that the more keywords you included in your website, the more relevant your site would become, and the higher it would rise in the search engines for your main keyword(s). This resulted in the practice of “keyword stuffing”, which only succeeded in creating ugly and incomprehensible content that repeated the same words over and over again! Google soon cracked down on this and started to penalise sites that did it.

So if you’ve read about the importance of “keyword density” recently and were planning on loading your web pages with your main keywords, think again. By all means, use your keywords in your content, but make sure that your copy makes sense and reads well.

Always remember that good quality content is the most important factor, because not only will it convert visitors into buyers, but it will also have more chance of being linked to, which will ultimately boost your search engine ranking anyway.

The Crowbar Effect

Whatever product or service you’re selling, the headline (or H1 tag) is crucial. This is where you’ll grab your prospect’s attention and pull them further into your website or sales copy. Get this wrong, and you may lose them for good.

So first things first, your headline needs to be intriguing, powerful, and of course, persuasive. And in order to achieve this, it needs to make sense! There’s no point crow-barring your keyword into your H1 tag if it don’t read so good! So think about your readers first. Write the headline or H1 tag with human beings at the forefront of your mind, rather than the search engines. Of course, be sure to include your main keyword, but not at the expense of clarity.

License to Kill

With many sites being built on WordPress these days, more and more people are being given license to change and update their website content. This can be a god-send when designers take 3 days to add a full stop to the end of a sentence, but it can also give people a little TOO MUCH power!

For instance, internal linking can be a great way to boost your search engine ranking, as it allows you to make your site more relevant to your major keywords. Likewise, putting your keywords in bold and italics can also help a little.

However, upon discovering this, I’ve seen many site owners adopt a policy of turning every single one of their keywords into internal links, or putting them all into bold and italics! This has the effect of making the copy extremely difficult to read, which will only serve to drive visitors away. So remember, internal linking is good. Putting your keywords in bold and italicizing them can be of benefit. But don’t go overboard, because you’ll lose potential customers if you do.