Reginald Chan

Tag: Social Media

  • 7 Most Influential Social Media Platforms For Bloggers

    7 Most Influential Social Media Platforms For Bloggers

    Since the previous Google algorithm update, social media isn’t just an option. Instead, social media had transformed into a necessity which will impact your website traffic and SEO ranking.

    And this is no secret either. The right social media platforms will help you build authority and web traffic to your site.

    I had written an article on why social engagement is more important than SEO and if you have yet to read it, I suggest you do it right now.

    There are more than 30 social media sites that you can choose from nowadays and you don’t have the time to find the best ones.

    I get it … totally.

    That’s why I have compiled the top 7 platforms for social media that will not only increase your blog traffic, but as well as assist you in terms of building authority as a blogger.

    Note: Thanks to Adam, I would like to emphasize that the criteria used to determine the standings is no other than the number of users it has. Yes, I am fully aware it is debatable but I believe this could be a good guideline for bloggers to determine which social media platform is the best for them. 

    Before you start reading, here’s a quick video recap on this topic. I hope you liked it and please share it! *p/s Do accept my apologies for the ‘loss of words’ towards the end of the video.

    The countdown for the top 7 social media platforms

    Social media plays a huge role in terms of web traffic and link building strategy.
    Focusing on the right social media platforms will increase the chances of gaining web traffic

    There are probably so many social media sites that you can choose from but the trick here is to ensure that every involvement or social engagement done have a high chance of success. Some call it ‘Return Of Investment’ aka ROI.

    You know, taking into consideration of the time spend and the traffic gained.

    An important tip I would like to share is that each social media platform works in a very different way. Therefore, you need to have the proper game plan in order to really stand out from the crowd.

    Here, I would highly recommend you to have a look at what Dave Kerpen wrote on Likeable Social Media which gained over 300 satisfied readers on Amazon itself.

    The 7th most influential social media platform: Pinterest

    Bloggers can increase blog traffic by using Pinterest
    Alike Tumblr, Pinterest is extremely popular with its ‘pins’ and ‘boards’.

    With over 70 millions users world wide, Pinterest has proved to be a great competitor to Tumblr especially in the photography world.

    How to do build web traffic through Pinterest?

    Alike Tumblr, Pinterest is a great social media tool for everyone if you uses it correctly.

    Pinterest works in very similar ways when it comes to attracting readers.

    Here’s a simple example: The hottest girl in the class will always get the most attention from boys. 

    Does this makes any sense to you?

    You have to remember that Pinterest is another social media tool that could deem very useful. Before you can actually earn some traffic and money from Pinterest, you got to practice the right techniques to display your ‘artworks’ like what Maddie Alexander said.

    The 6th most influential social media platform: Tumblr

    Increase web traffic using Tumblr by sharing beautiful images
    The right social media strategy need to be practised in order to gain traffic from Tumblr

    Tumblr as we all know is a great social media platform in terms of photography and images.

    It is doing extremely well especially by having more than 216.3 million visitors a month and 108.9 million blogs on the site.

    If you want to generate enough web traffic from Tumblr, you need to change your social media game plan … completely (almost).

    Tumblr is rich with images … and images only. You could do well in terms of text but the results wouldn’t be (at most times) that great.

    If you are looking for a trick or the ultimate Tumblr guide, you definitely came to the right place.

    Here’s the trick: There … isn’t … any trick!

    What?!

    Before you grab your 12-gauge shotgun and take an aim on me, spare me a moment to think. Tumblr is all about images and does that make sense that you need to focus on that (just) one thing?

    And yes, you are most welcome.

    Take a look at some of Tumblr’s popular blogs. You will see that they have great images and basically, that’s it!

    So the social media lesson here is —> If you want to gain traffic from Tumblr, start focusing in marketing your images. Ensure that these images are on high resolution and there’s a link back to your website.

    Again, remember that majority of the readers are looking for great images and NOT text. So, play the right social media game correctly and you will see a steady flow of traffic.

    The 5th most influential social media platform: LinkedIn

    LinkedIn provides a good social media platform especially for corporate users
    LinkedIn could be very social media tool if you are targeting corporate users

    Until date, there are about 238 million active users and this makes LinkedIn, the top 5 social media site in the world.

    I don’t use LinkedIn that much and I got to admit that.

    Depending on your niche, investing time into building a social authority with this social media platform could be a complete waste of time.

    What?!

    LinkedIn is great if you are running a business but if you are just a blogger or anything else that doesn’t really relate to business and the corporate world, you will probably not get much return from this.

    In order to benefit most out of LinkedIn, you got to know:

    • How your product could attract others?
    • What makes them (potential readers) to click on your link?

    As you can see above, you can’t just do the usual ‘social media techniques’ that never fails with LinkedIn.

    In order to ‘sell’ on LinkedIn, you need to think like a corporate user. Bear in mind that you are going to reach out to many corporate members.

    That’s why you got to change the tone and the approach methods in order to gain promising results.

    LinkedIn has quite an upper hand advantage especially when it comes to social media authority and traffic. Since the platform evolves around the corporate world, each social shares are taken seriously by others.

    Does this ring any bells?

    You are bound to get more authority and potential traffic if you are able to get social shares from large organizations. And you can probably find most of them ‘lurking’ away in LinkedIn.

    Facing problems with managing multiple social media accounts? Try Socialoomph for free today!

    The 4th most influential social media platform: Google+

    Google+ is very famous when it comes to link building
    Google+ brought social networking to a whole new level

    Google+ is trailing closely behind Twitter with 343 million users and this makes everything more interesting.

    Some people say Facebook and Twitter are for the masses while Google+ is for specific audience. Personally, I got to agree with that.

    So, what makes Google+ so different from the rest?

    Unlike Twitter and Facebook, Google+ brings social media to the next level. There are Google+ communities where you can join and these are very specific community.

    Let’s take this community for as an example:

    Google Community offers a chance for targeted traffic in social media
    Sharing related article or blog post in the right community will guarantee a good chance of traffic

    Sharing a related blog post or article here could mean having over 900 of targeted traffic

    You might be wondering right now that 900 plus active users isn’t going to make the cut right? Think again.

    What you have here is 900 plus of active users who are (and possibly) very interested with the related topic you are going to share.

    Does this makes any sense to you?

    There you go; Google+ is a social media platform where you are able to target very specific audience for your blogs, business, niche and probably, anything else you can think of.

    Related read: Get Traffic From Google Plus

    The 3rd most influential social media platform: Twitter

    Twitter is one of the best social media tools for bloggers
    Share information with thousands of readers with just 140 characters

    This is my favorite social media platform … ever. For the record, Twitter is the third largest community for social networking with over 500 million users.

    Sending out a highly optimized tweet could easily reach hundreds if not thousands. And, we have not even count on the total number of retweets and favorites.

    Twitter is a great social media tool if you are looking for:

    • High possibility of huge traffic (quantity over quality)
    • Wide range of recipients
    • Word of mouth (thanks to retweets)

    You see, Twitter is for the masses. The goal is to reach out (not send out) to as many readers as possible with the hopes of reaching the right audience.

    Generally speaking, you can’t really specify who you are reaching out due to the above factors. This is definitely something you must consider if you are trying to make an epic appearance on Twitter.

    For me, Twitter isn’t a very good source if you are looking for specific traffic (as I call) but with the right tune up and social media plan, you can turn that weakness into a huge marketing success.

    Social media management techniques for Twitter are rather easy and straight forward. You got to:

    • Compose a tweet that is highly optimized
    • Within 140 characters only
    • Possibly with one #hashtag

    Now tell me. Are you doing the above?

    The 2nd most influential social media platform: Youtube

    Youtube is the best media platform if you have lots of videos to share
    A video goes viral on Youtube will drive thousands of traffic to your website

    Let’s take a look at the stats. 1 billion users and over 4 billions views a day <– Oh wow! That’s epic!

    I would be speechless if the stats aren’t able to say anything for themselves.

    Honestly, I had just involved myself in this Youtube business recently. Until date. I had only filmed and published less than 5 videos which you can find the list of videos here.

    Doesn’t seem like a world record to you right?

    The biggest question is, “Can we classify Youtube as a social media platform?”. Probably yes and no but for me, my answer would be a definite yes (hint: watch the numbers).

    People talk about how to get a Youtube video go viral or how to make a video that attracts. Truth is, there isn’t any logical way to achieve that since it depends solely on us (readers and viewers).

    Now, how do you make Youtube works for you?

    There’s a few ways I could think of which are:

    • Create a good quality video
    • Make sure the audio is clear
    • Provide annotation if possible
    • A killer title
    • Video descriptions with a link back to your site

    I am very curious here. Are you using Youtube as a social media platform?

    The MOST influential social media platform: Facebook

    Facebook is one of the leading social media sites in the world
    Facebook is an excellent platform for both leisure and business matters

    Facebook is the world’s leading social media platform with over 1.15 billions users world wide.

    Oh Lord, I really hate Facebook! It all started out with by facing problems accessing my account etc and … okay I’ll stop it now. 🙂

    Regardless how much I hate Facebook, it is still an extremely important social media tool for bloggers.

    Look at the stats again, kid. Over 1 billion users and counting … yes there are 9 zeros at the back.

    Do you see the potential that lies within it?

    You should use Facebook if you want to build a strong authority in social media and with the number of users using Facebook, I don’t think I would need to explain it’s advantages.

    Social media technique for Facebook is not that straightforward because:

    • You need to know who your target market (audience) is
    • What to promote and when to promote

    If you think that Facebook marketing is all about composing a message, placing a link and press the submit button, you are absolutely wrong!

    There isn’t any point sharing information to readers who aren’t interested with the topic. Therefore, make sure every shared information are craved exactly to and for the targeted audience.

    Over to you

    Out of these 7 social media platforms, which are your favorite(s) and are you using any of them?

    Tell me what you think simply by replying using the comment form and could you please share it for me using the red button below?

  • 14 Must Have Internet Marketing Tools That Totally Rocks

    14 Must Have Internet Marketing Tools That Totally Rocks

    It doesn’t matter if you are a blogger, SEO writer, copywriter or a webmaster. You need to do at least some Internet marketing to boost your visibility to search engines.

    Have you ever experienced no traffic boost or lack of audience on your website? You probably had wrote more than 10 great articles, did tons of SEO and probably, bought a killer WordPress theme. And yes, your website isn’t converting and you ain’t getting much love from search engines.

    So, what’s the damn issue?!

    You need a good marketing strategy my friend. You may have everything done correctly (see above) and even having a killer title heading. However if no one sees that, you are going nowhere.

    Internet marketing is just like any other marketing services you can think of and yes, it works exactly the same. You have a great product and you need to tell others that you are alive…and kickin’.

    You need to find ways to broadcast the message to the public and spread the word. And lucky for you, we are in the 21st century where social media is plays a huge role in our daily life.

    This post is very long (with 2,334 words to be exact) and thus, I challenge you to do it in just one read. If you are able to do that, hit the comment button and tell me! Don’t worry if you can’t. Just bookmark this and come back later!

    I have compiled a list of internet marketing tools which you can use in order to boost your marketing strategies and their effectiveness.

    I have also divided them into several parts which are:

    • Social media platforms
    • Sharing portals
    • Social media programs
    • Email marketing

    Social Media Platforms

    Social media plays a huge role when it comes Internet marketing
    Using the right social media can easily boost marketing success

    One very important thing is that you need to understand that social media is a very strong and powerful marketing tool. Basically, you can connect to hundreds and thousands of people in just a matter of clicks. Make sure you know what you are doing and if not, you are going to have big problems heading over to you!

    Twitter

    Twitter is more than just great. Compose 140 characters and blast it to all your readers. That’s the power of Twitter.

    When it comes to Internet marketing, you need Twitter and it doesn’t matter if you like it or not. And yes, Twitter is my first choice when it comes to increasing my social share visibility. If you are not using it, you SHOULD start using it right now!

    This is what my Twitter account looks like. With slightly above one thousand followers, each Tweet would mean sending potential information to 1,000 plus ready listeners.

    Google+

    As for the record, I’m not a big fan of Google+ but I still got to share with you it’s effectiveness especially when it comes to link building and SEO ranking.

    If you want your articles, blogs or websites to rank well on search engines, then you need to have some love from Google+. It looks obvious isn’t it?

    The more shares you got on Google+ tells big daddy Google that your product is pretty impressive (or least, something search engines should look at). When it comes to Internet marketing, don’t leave out Google+.

    Share some information with your circles and you are already completed one easy part of the Internet marketing process.

    Yup, you’ve got the point!

    Facebook

    I believe I would know the answer if I would to ask you, ‘Do you Facebook?’

    You couldn’t be wrong since millions are on Facebook daily and if this is not one of your Internet marketing tools, something is really wrong either up or down there.

    The more likes, shares and comments you get on Facebook, the better chance of you marketing your product. And, you do not need to spend any money for it.

    Spend at least 30 minutes a day on Facebook on marketing (and not seeing your friend’s wall) and you will probably do better in your marketing tactics.

    Big companies such as HTC, Samsung and Apple are all advertising (paid) on Facebook and this just prove how important Internet marketing is right now.

    Linkedin

    For me, Linkedin will always be a place where ‘˜professionals meet up’. You are marketing a product and do you think it would be an attention grabber if popular figures such as Darren Rowse and Adam Cornell would share your content or website?

    That’s it mate!

    The truth is, if promoting a product is easier when you have respected figures sharing the information. This leads to a more stable, trustable and authority share on social media.

    StumbleUpon

    This is one Internet marketing tool which has a 50-50 success rate in my opinion. What you can do is submit an article (for instant) to StumbleUpon.

    The process of getting ‘˜Stumbled Upon’ is pretty simple. When you submit an article, it will be ‘˜shared’ among its users. And I’m not talking about hundreds or thousands of users. I am talking about more than 100,000 users around the world. Readers and members who think that your article is worth reading will continue to ‘˜share’ it with the rest.

    Obviously, the circle looks easy right? The more ‘˜stumble’ you get, the better chance of you having a successful Internet marketing campaign.

    Digg

    Digg works exactly the same with StumbleUpon and thus, it saves me from explaining everything (and for you, avoiding any falling asleep).

    You have to be careful using Digg as users has the ability to rank up or rank down your article score. So, getting the best content out there on Digg is very vital.

    Oh yes, search engines are giving the same amount of love to Digg just like StumbleUpon.

    SocialMonkee

    There are many people who disapprove this and which you can Google to see why. For me, SocialMonkee had served me very well.

    SocialMonkee is one part of my Internet marketing tool because I see the advantages in it. The strategy is pretty simple actually.

    You submit an URL, complete with different phrases for titles and content. The system will use The Best Spinner to spin those articles making similar copies to be submitted to other sites.

    My marketing strategy on SocialMonkee is basically playing smart when it comes to URL submission. This means that I am submitting not only my main website (1 out of 20 submissions) and article URLs but at the same time, I am submitting my Tier 2 or any other sites that are pointing to my article. SocialMonkee does not provide very good quality backlink and thus, you should focus more for your Tier 2 sites only.

    Backlink provided by SocialMonkee isn’t perfect (wait, who does right?) and you should avoid focusing them directly on your website. Of course, if your website is well established, then you have nothing to worry about it. However if you are running a new site, you got to be careful. SocialMonkee could easily backfire on you.

    You have been warned!

    Social Media Managements

    Social media management offers easy solutions when it comes to managing various internet marketing tools at one time
    Using social media management can save time and effort when it comes to Internet marketing

    I have listed not one, not two but seven different Internet marketing tools above and handling all of them takes time and effort.

    Social media management provides tools to help you cope up with daily task and most importantly, sending out important social shares on behalf. Here are the list of my favorite social media management tools which I used daily.

    Buffer

    C’mon guys. Buffer is more than just a management system for social media. People such as Kristi Hines and Brian Gardner uses Buffer as one of their Internet marketing tools. Are you next?

    What I love about Buffer is you can schedule articles and improve your social shares. Okay, let’s be frank here. Imagine sharing articles at any specific time of the day is tiring and takes up a lot of your time. This is where Buffer helps to manage those social shares for you.

    Just set a time and day for the share on Buffer and the system will do the rest for you. Crazy? I call that impressive.

    Their support team is also one of the best. You can email or Tweet them and rest assured your enquiry will be answered as soon as possible. This is something (in terms of service) I have yet to see on other social media management until date.

    HootSuite

    As much as I love Buffer, I still love HootSuite. And you are probably thinking why am I using two systems instead of one right?

    HootSuite does everything Buffer does (and vice versa). However, I love to use HootSuite because it integrates all my social media accounts under one roof.

    Oh yes, it does schedule social media marketing for you but integrating everything into one dashboard? I hardly can say no to.

    @HootSuite – if you are reading this, keep up the good work!

    HootSuite offers both free and premium accounts for bloggers. You can register for a free account here and when you use this link, you will automatically be upgraded to a 30-days full premium access for FREE.

    JustReTweet

    Okay, JustReTweet could easily land in social media part but there’s a reason for me to list it here instead.

    JustReTweet works in two ways:

    1. Share your articles on Facebook, Twitter and Google+
    2. Share other interesting articles on Facebook, Twitter and Google+

    In order to share your articles, you need credit and you can earn them by sharing other articles (not yours) first. Consider this bidding.

    You set the number or shares you want, where to share and how much credit you are paying others to share your articles. Nothing really free in this world right?

    Now, every time you share an article, it will not go live instantly. Instead, the developer was smart enough to set limits on sharing. This means that all these shares are scheduled accordingly and you can only share X numbers of shares a day to avoid spam.

    This is H-U-G-E! When it comes to search engine optimization, social shares plays a huge role and therefore, you should definitely take a look at what JustReTweet can do for you.

    Discussion and sharing portals

    Bloggers can increase website traffic by involving actively on discussion websites
    Discussion portals hold many untold power when it comes to the marketing industry

    The marketing world is getting more challenging each day and you need more tools to help you with. This is where discussion and sharing portals play a huge role for bloggers, writers and webmasters.

    The right portals will help you promote your website and you might even receive more followers if you are doing a great job. Not only that, you can also ask for critiques to make your website grow! Here’s the list of sharing portals I would highly recommend.

    Triberr

    Triberr is something new to me and I only came to know about it when one of my fellow blogger introduced it to me.

    Basically, you can create or join Tribes which consist of people of your niche. You can share information, ideas and even recommendations for improvements with them.

    Not seeing any love about Internet marketing? Read again!

    The more people giving you advices and tips, the better chances you are going to improve and of course, increase your market value.

    Scoop.it

    Let’s say you have some old articles that needed some traffic boost. Submit them to Scoop.it and walaa~! Assuming that you have some good content and stuffs like that.

    What makes Scoop.it interesting is the fact that you can do these:

    • Find topics that you like
    • Share your articles, blogs and websites
    • Merge all of them into a stunning, magazine-like reading material

    Now, get the point? Yes! Internet marketing at its best. Nuff said.

    Email Marketing Solutions

    Email marketing is very important when it comes to increasing sales
    Having the right email marketing solution is important to ensure emails are delivered promptly to the recipients

    There’s a very popular saying when it comes to Internet marketing, ‘˜the money is in the list’. And in this matter, it is so damn true. I left this out and you shouldn’t.

    If you want to perform the right Internet marketing, you need the right Internet marketing tools. In this case, you need email list or subscriber’s list. Here are two of the best email marketing providers which you can not go wrong with.

    Aweber

    Aweber is not free and I’m sorry. However, Aweber is one hell of an email marketing provider. What makes Aweber so famous is that they focus on click rates and providing spam score. This means more open rate than the email going into the spam or junk box.

    Comparing both Aweber and MailChimp (you can read below), I would say I love the designs and the abilities offered by Aweber. And yes, I am using Aweber as my email provider.

    Currently, they have a promotion where the first month of service would only cost you $1 and if you are unhappy with it, you can ask for a full refund. No question asked. Subsequently, each month will cost you $19 and you get a better discount for every quarterly or yearly payment.

    Tempted to try Aweber for $1?

    MailChimp

    I know there are probably thousands who stand by MailChimp and I totally understand that. MailChimp offers free email services for the first 2,000 subscribers. If you have 2,000 or less subscribers, then you should definitely get MailChimp.

    Another bonus on the free account is that you can send up to 12,000 emails per month to your 2,000 subscribers at no cost at all.

    MailChimp is different from Aweber because it has a very interactive layout. Their concept is to have a balanced combination of work and play. I believe their dashboard explains it all.

    If you want a risk free and zero cost email marketing service, you can try MailChimp using this link at no extra fee.

    Back to you…

    I got to admit this article is long and if you managed to read whole article in just one shot, congratulation! Moving forward, I really hope you enjoy my writing about Internet marketing tools.

    Do you use any marketing tools or you have anything to share? Feel up the form below and let’s discuss!

    If you like this article, could you please share this for me using the red Google+ button below?