Social Media Marketing

Seven Best Practices for How to Use Pinterest for Marketing in 2020

This how to use Pinterest for marketing post contains affiliate links, meaning that if you choose to click through and make a purchase, I will receive a small commission at no cost to you. I was also compensated to create this post, though all opinions are my own. Living in the shadow of Instagram, Pinterest…

The Top 19 Podcast Statistics You Need to Know in 2020

I just spent the last few days at Podfest Expo in Orlando, Florida, which is considered the largest conference for independent podcasters in the world (note: Podcast Movement is probably the largest podcast conference dedicated to podcasting, but not necessarily focused on independent podcasters like Podfest Expo). While podcasting has always been seen as a…

The 10 Best Social Media Marketing Podcasts to Listen to in 2020

Let me tell you a true story about me and podcasting: I have had a podcast since 2013, but as I indicate in my own Episode 140, which you can listen to below, I was never a consumer of podcasts. It was a conversation with a millennial marketer at one of my clients that changed…

As marketers, we tend to be busy people. Between social media, emails, Slack conversations, internal as well as client meetings, phone calls, webinars, conferences, and on top of that creating the latest, greatest ad campaign ever takes up a lot of time. But what about continued learning in our field? If we don’t keep track…

7 Fatal Social Media Mistakes in Corporate Communications

Social Media have long since established themselves as valuable platforms for corporate communication. Whether traditional businesses or startups, hardly any business can afford to skip social media because this is the place where your customers are. Social media has changed the way we make business and communicate with each other. And social media provide new…

7 Tips and Tools for Integrating Social Media into Your Website

Social media is a great way to reach out and interact with customers and targets. Integrating social media into your website can make your social media marketing much easier and effective for both your website and your social media channels. With the growing popularity of social media, a business website is no longer enough to…

Neal Schaffer Speaker Headshots Social Media Marketing World #smmw18 social media conferences

Why attend a social media conference? It goes without saying that social media is always changing. There is no better way to tap into the collective wisdom of experts than by attending social media conferences where you can: learn from subject matter experts, such as corporate practitioners, well-known bloggers, authors, and speakers, in the field…

Social media turned personal branding into a 24/7/365 challenge. And there is a huge crowd out there who is ready to destroy you in one moment. Party and fun are what we see in the social media of almost everyone, but these also can ruin the whole digital reputation of your personal brand. Personal Branding…

Do you want to improve your social media performance? Perhaps you are not satisfied with the results of your social media or content marketing campaign. Your ecommerce website may not be producing the results that you want. Is the demand for the items that you are promoting on your website and social media accounts below…

Japan B2B Marketing is in the Midst of a Crisis. Here's Why & What to Do

I travel to Japan frequently for business (read My Japanese Approach to Social Media Strategy for some background), so it is fascinating to see the unique developments in digital and social media marketing there. I know that many of my clients are Japanese-owned or sell to the Japanese market directly through a subsidiary or indirectly…

What Consumers Really Think About Businesses Using Their Social Media Data

There’s no doubt that the potential reach of social media is massive. In fact, it’s become the main marketing channel for an increasing number of businesses. Accompanying the massiveness of social media is the plethora of social media data that exists. “If you took out social media, Bark and Co. wouldn’t be a company,” said…

Do Social Media Marketing Automation Apps Pose a Security Risk to Your Social Media Channels?

Do you realize how much social media marketing automation goes on around us? Engaging in social media is essential for any business today. It’s no surprise, then, that in order to scale and become more efficient, some marketers try to employ the use of social media automation to save time and add consistency to posts…

We are all authors now, whether we have published a book or not. It’s the secret to building a personal brand for all of us. In fact, in today’s times, writing is really a skill to be learned. Entrepreneurs must learn to express themselves, sharing experiences, sharing their own story and finding their own personal…

Why You Must Embrace Customer Experience Marketing To Stand Out As A Business (with Dan Gingiss) - Ep. 138

Customer experience marketing. It’s a buzzword that a lot of people throw out, but what exactly does it mean, how important is it to you business today, and what are the first steps you can take to implementing customer experience marketing the right way? I could not think of a better person than friend and…

How can you get in front of more people in your local community? Networking is an efficient and fun way to meet lots of people and build your personal brand. READ MORE >>

Social Media Audience: Your Audience Might Not Be Where You Think They Are

social media audience being where your audience is today and tomorrow

Marketing is the science of influencing buying decisions by convincing your customers that they need what you are selling – no matter if it’s a product or a service. In this day and age, marketing is at the heart of the economy – after all, there are simply far too many products and services for…

Do each of your salespeople have their own social selling playbook? It is a social selling best practice that you need to follow for social selling success. Having just finished another 5 ½ hour social selling training session, this time for insurance sales professionals, I reflect upon how I can do better at not just…

Recently, social media marketing has turned into one of the most efficient ways to generate more leads and increase the ROI of your business. However, a large number of methods available to boost your social media impact may make you feel daunted. In this post, we’ll cover the top 15 tips to make your social…

How to Promote Your Ecommerce Store’s Promo Codes on Social Media

For many e-commerce business owners today, promo codes are a necessary evil. You have to create discounts and post them on coupon sites in order to keep up with the competition, and there’s no way around it. But promo codes don’t have to be all about sacrificing revenue to encourage sales. If you use your…

E-commerce Marketing on Twitter_ What's Different and What's the Same

E-commerce marketers face a quandary. Whenever they find a high converting traffic source, competition grows and it becomes harder to capitalize on it. Facebook and Adwords CPC bids cost more than ever before. That’s why many advertisers look to Twitter to promote their e-commerce campaigns. Twitter is an under-appreciated social media advertising platform I’ve probably…

The What, Why and How of Employee Advocacy

Every business is going digital and trust has become the new marketing currency in today’s digital business world. According to Nielsen, 92% of consumers trust recommendations from family and friends. Today’s ever-changing social media landscape opens up a new world of advocacy opportunities for tapping and motivating the most important marketing assets of your organization…

5 Ways Panera Bread Creates an Engaging Customer Experience - A Case Study

Panera Bread wants to be a comfortable place for their customers to gather. Their stores have been designed to invite and welcome customers to enjoy relaxing, conversation, reading; all in a casual atmosphere and creating an engaging customer experience. Panera has built a successful business based on providing an experience that was aligned with their…

What's in It for Me? Six Benefits of Employee Advocacy

The proliferation of digital and social technologies empower today’s modern workforce to spread company updates online. Recent studies enumerate the fact that the ‘Rise of an Employee Marketer’ is evident in today’s digital world. However what exactly are the benefits of employee advocacy for both the company and employee? Does employee advocacy play a pivotal…

10 Stats That Prove the Importance of Employee Advocacy

Employee advocacy has become a buzz word in today’s digital world due to the rise of social media landscape. Social media opens up a new world of advocacy opportunities for modern marketers. For example, online reviews can make or break any businesses today. Many companies are beginning to leverage employees’ personal social channels for evangelizing…

“Sales is a numbers game.” I began my B2B selling career back in 1977 when I went to work for a national company and I was assigned a geographic territory in Los Angeles where I was expected to make 30 in-person cold-calls each day. We were offering business calculators that averaged $500 each although we…

Many social media marketers see holiday posts as “fluff” – content that doesn’t really mean anything, but is easy to create and post. The truth is, holiday posts and newsbreaks can be some of the most valuable content you produce. And, with the right tools, it could be easy to produce, but it should never…

10 Key Customer Experience Design Factors - Part 1

Customer experience design is more important than you might think. We live in a world where change is the new normal. Just about anyone in business these days has to be able to deal with change on an increasingly frequent basis. Customers now have a growing number of options, from new start-ups to consumer packaged…

How to Drive Traffic to Your Website Using Social Media in 8 Different Ways

Is Social Media still important and should you bother? If you’ve just started a business and put together the social media profiles for your company brand on different networks, then I’m sure your mind is filled with questions like: “How do I get followers and likes?” “How to drive traffic to your website using social…

What are subreddits? Subreddits are – unknown to many – free to create and customize. Just like we might create our own forum or Facebook group, a subreddit bears many similarities to these platforms. It has a theme: we can designate what type of content and discussions are appropriate and which are not. It has…

The current social media authenticity crisis is a reminder that you have only one job on social media. Be authentic. Be true to who you really are. That’s what they’re saying anyway. We hear this all day every day, and it’s a sound that continually rings in our ears. But why aren’t we being who…

The Ultimate Best 61 Social Media Books List [Always Updated!]

As a social media speaker, author and professor, I often get asked at the many social media conferences I speak at what are the top social media books I recommend. The barrier of entry is so low for anyone to pretend that they are an expert and publish on Kindle that it is an important…

Utilizing Pinterest tools to easily create graphical pin images is the secret to success on Pinterest. Online marketers understand the importance of having great visuals to post on their website, blog and social media channels. However, there is a misconception that you need to have extensive talent in graphic design to create compelling, eye-catching graphics….

More often than not, I see a lot of social media marketing tips from people that don’t know their eyeball from their elbow. These people are usually known for spouting off pieces of information like, “How not to lose your following” and “Ways to increase your social followers.” They fail to address the important issue…

Looking for Pinterest ideas on what to pin on Pinterest? If you want to get more customers and grow your business, you need to consider adding Pinterest to your marketing arsenal. Piqora, a social media marketing firm specializing in Pinterest marketing, analyzed thousands of accounts and found that a pin generates an average of 78…

What are subreddits and Why Should I Care?

If you’ve been following my monthly column here at Maximize Social Business, you’ll know I have a passion for translating the odd world of reddit. Now it’s time to answer the frequently asked question, “What is a subreddit on reddit?” If you haven’t, you should read my post on 15 reddit Beginner Tips as it will…

There is no doubt that businesses, especially ones that sell their products or services online, should be exploring Pinterest as a major weapon in their marketing arsenal. As with any online marketing tool, you should be using Pinterest strategically, with an eye on achieving your business goals. An effective Pinterest account for business starts with…

It is becoming less and less often that I see a national brand, or even a local Mom and Pop store without some form of social media profile. This is a good thing. However, more often than not they are only using Facebook and social profiles are not integrated with other marketing communications, or worse…

A Reddit Guide for New Redditors Last month I introduced 10 reasons to consider maximizing Reddit for business. In that article I included examples, mini-case studies, and screenshots to bring light on what seems to be a rather foggy place to increase sales and market a business. Rest assured, Reddit is a viable place to…

You’ve established a great social media presence. As the head of marketing, or a marketer in charge of social media – you’re really proud of what you’ve done. Your fingerprints are all over your social media program – but the time has come to bring in other team members. How do you stay consistent with…

15 Social Media Concepts to Become a More Marketable Social Media Professional

Approximately 73% of Fortune 500 companies have a Twitter account; 66% have Facebook Pages. However, many of these organizations lack experienced personnel to truly unleash the power of social. According to a survey by Harvard Business Review of 2,100 companies, only 12% of those utilizing media feel they use it effectively. Further, online job postings…

SoLoMo is an acronym for Social+Local+Mobile marketing and it is an increasingly common term referring to a new marketing approach. You may have read plenty about each of the individual elements; if so, you’re likely to be asking questions like: Isn’t this just semantics? What’s so different? Where is the opportunity? Good questions. But hopefully…

Great writing can connect with your audience, so it’s only natural that you should be gearing your updates toward the audiences on your social media platforms. Even though Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter tend to get lumped into the same general category of marketing, they are actually quite different. The audiences and the platforms call for…

I frequently get invited to speak on social media for professional associations, and when I do it often seems as if the clocks in the room have been turned back 10 years since before the advent of social media. Although there are always some savvy users of social media in the room when I present,…

With so much public information about us out there in social media and on the web, do you ever start to wonder what others can find out about you? On the other hand, if you are doing social recruiting or looking to do business with or even get back in touch with someone, wouldn’t you…

How to Start a Social Media Consulting Business in 6 Steps

As a leading social media speaker and consultant, I often get asked about how to start a social media consulting business and develop initial clients. I am happy to mentor a new generation of social media-savvy business consultants, and I plan to be blogging about this more in the future, as I believe the subject can…

Manners in the Digital Age : Use Old-School Etiquette to Rise Above the Social Media Mainstream

Today’s blog post is written by my guest Jennifer V. Miller. Jennifer is the founder and Managing Partner of SkillSource. She advises executives on how to improve workplace productivity via positive workplace dynamics. Jennifer blogs at The People Equation and considers her old-school professionalism and digital manners a key to her personal brand. Follow her on Twitter:…