7 ways marketers can use Reddit

There is no social media site more misunderstood and undervalued by PR pros and marketers than Reddit.

Reddit is nicknamed the “front page of the Internet” for a reason. It attracts millions—if not billions—of eyeballs every day.

It’s also a quirky place with its own etiquette and rules of conduct, and people who don’t follow those rules are quick to be called out. There are two groups of people you don’t want to anger online:mommy bloggers and Redditors. Both can wreck havoc on you and your brand.

That said, many PR pros and marketers are quick to dismiss Reddit as a viable outlet because of their own preconceived notions or due to horror stories they have heard.

That’s not always a wise move.

Here are seven steps to use this platform—a Reddit marketing guide—that won’t anger the mob:

1. Identify subreddits.

Before you can even start to think about putting your plans into action, you need to test the waters and see what’s already being said about your topic on Reddit.

There’s basically a subreddit for anything and everything. Don’t believe me? There’s a subreddit for jerky, dog shower thoughts, many not-safe-for-work examples and my personal favorite: “find a reddit,” which is a subreddit to find other subreddits.

You can find subreddits related to your topic by running a few searches on one of these websites:

http://www.reddit.com/subreddits/search?q=yourtopichere

http://www.pearltrees.com/subreddit_suggester

http://subreddits.org/

Keep a list of all subreddits on your topic in an Excel or Google Spreadsheets document for easy access.

2. Crowdsource blog and long-form content ideas.

Another great use for Reddit is to cure writer’s block (or blogger’s block) once and for all.

Spend 10-15 minutes browsing one of the subreddits you discovered in the first step. You should be able to come up with at least three blog post ideas just from conversations already happening in that subreddit.

Here are some things to look for:

“How do I do x” types of questions.

Lengthy debates.

AMAs—short for “Ask Me Anything” Q&A sessions.

3. Use Reddit for keyword research.

I’m just going to come out and say it: Reddit may be better for keyword research than Google Adwords Keyword Planner.

This is because you can see which keywords come up over and over again, and determine the context and tone in which they are used. Keywords are good, but the context for how they are used is better.

You can use this newfound knowledge to help write SEO-friendly headlines for blog posts and news releases, craft meta descriptions, write landing page copy or gain a better sense of how your target audience searches for information on this topic online.

My two favorite ways to do keyword research for your Reddit marketing are through “MetaReddit” and “SearchReddit.”

4. Gather market research.

Just like you can use Reddit to generate post ideas, it can also be used as a great sounding board to see if your ideas will stick, but careful you don’t abuse this.

Your Reddit marketing should also consist of gathering feedback, which you can get just by asking. Make sure you have thick skin; Redditors are known, to be honest, and a tough crowd to impress.

5. Find sources.

If your marketing strategy includes working with experts in your industry, you can find them on Reddit—along with influencers on a variety of topics.

Journalists are already using Reddit, and it can be a goldmine for finding possible sources to amp up your pitch.

6. Participate in “Ask Me Anything” sessions.

This is the most common use people think of when it comes to using Reddit, with good reason. AMAs are so popular even President Obama has done one .

Here are a few good starting points to consider before going all-in with an AMA:

Have a solid angle that will appeal to a broad audience.

Get a well-known person (who already has an audience) in your industry to be the spotlight feature.

Seed some initial questions in advance. This helps get the conversation going at the start, and can help ensure the AMA doesn’t go off track too much.

Be prepared to handle tough questions and negative feedback.

7. Promote content through Reddit ads

Another great, inexpensive way to promote your content is through Reddit ads Largely overshadowed by Facebook, Twitter and Google, Reddit ads can be an excellent way to promote your content to a highly targeted audience for pennies a pop.

You can drill down by country, demographics and even by subreddit. Reddit has a great resource for how to get started with ads on their Wiki.

Are you using Reddit to supplement your marketing and PR efforts? If so, what would you add to this list? 

  Source ; http://bit.ly/1q7sWYq

7 Online Marketing Ingredients You Can't Ignore in 2016

Online marketing constantly evolves: What worked in years past won't necessarily be the most effective strategy today.

So, what should you focus on as you plan your online marketing strategy for the upcoming year? 

Here are seven ingredients that you can’t ignore as we enter 2016.

1. Content on platforms beyond your blog

Blogs are a great way to deliver your brand message to your target audience. They will continue to be an excellent platform for content marketing, but everyone has a blog these days. So, think about creating content on multiple channels in order to stand out in your industry. 

Consider creating a YouTube channel or engaging with your audience through live streaming. Video content is highly engaging, and best of all, it’s free to produce -- you don’t need fancy camera equipment. In fact, I know several brands that even film with smartphones.

2. A mobile-first focus

Mobile can’t be an after-thought any longer. Back in March, the number of mobile-only adult internet users exceeded desktop-only Internet users. Websites must be built (or redesigned) with a mobile audience in mind -- your forms, calls-to-action and content must all be easily readable and accessible on small screens. 

If you are running pay-per-click ads, consider a Google AdWords call-only campaign -- it’s a great way to drive phone calls with buyer-intent.

3. A strong brand voice

Consumers aren’t interested in engaging with a faceless generic brand these days. The social media age almost demands that brands have a face -- T-Mobile's CEO John Legere is a great example. You will often see the brand promoting Legere's tweets on Twitter. It gives T-Mobile that human element consumers love and connect with. 

Branding also comes close to home: In 2016 I'll be writing a book as a branding play to continue to get my company and personal brand out there. 

4. Website UX and speed

It’s important that your website provide a pleasant user experience -- both in functionality and speed. You want to make sure your visitors can access information and features on your website regardless of what type of device they are using, and you want to make sure your website loads quickly. 

Nobody has time to wait around for pages to load and if the UX is poor, you can expect your bounce rate to be through the roof. For feedback on your UX, consider using a tool like SurveyMonkey to get feedback from your users. Ask them what they like, what they don't like and what they would change. 

To check the speed of your website, use Google’s PageSpeed Insightsand GTmetrix. Both are free tools that will analyze your website and provide suggestions to improve its performance.

5. Influencer marketing

Influencer marketing via social media has the potential to be your most ROI-friendly online marketing of 2016. Leveraging the popularity and social reach of various influencers can help you position your products or service directly in front of your target market. 

The trust that’s already established between the consumer and the influencer he or she is following removes the barricade traditional marketing and advertising will typically face. If you want an example of a successful influencer marketing campaign, check out how this hover-board company used social media influencers exclusively to build a multi-million dollar brand.

6. Highly specific paid search remarketing.

Running remarketing campaigns became more popular this past year: Almost every brand running pay-per-click traffic was experimenting with remarketing on some level. I audited my own fair share of PPC campaigns this past year and noticed that many of these remarketing campaigns were not as specific as they could have been. Why? It takes time to really break them down.

If people are viewing a “blue widget” on your website, then, set up your remarketing so an ad featuring that same item follows them and sends them directly to that product when it's clicked on. Sending visitors to your home page or a page with several different widgets will greatly lower your conversion rates. Instead, put your remarketing traffic directly in front of what the visitor was previously looking at. 

7. More diverse social media marketing.

Are you currently advertising on Snapchat and Instagram? How about Periscope -- are you taking advantage of live streaming? Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn are all great advertising platforms and will continue to thrive, but you simply can’t ignore Snapchat and Instagram right now.

Nothing works for everyone, but I would highly recommend experimenting with these social networks. Instagram’s self-serve ad platform allows you to use Facebook’s highly favorable targeting options to reach your audience. I would also suggest experimenting with Meerkat or Periscope in your marketing.

Source : http://entm.ag/1mIq6XJ

12 Surprising Startup Tips From YouTube Stars

Sometimes you can meet your future business partners in the strangest places.

Joshua Keller and Nick Matzorkis met anonymously on the Tyra Banks Show in 2006, performing live in a band together as "the world's first Internet band." Their band, The ClipBandits, had become one of the early YouTube sensations. What made their band unique was the members had never met in person, didn't know each others' names, nor even knew where each other lived. Their story was featured on ABC World News, Good Morning America, and countless other media outlets, prompting Tyra Banks to invite them and other bandmates onto her show to meet and perform together in person for the first time.

After their first in-person meeting, Matzorkis, a seasoned serial entrepreneur, and Keller, who at the time was in the process of forming his first company, immediately hit it off. They began exploring opportunities for working together, and eventually started up Global Agora, a seed capital venture fund and holding company. This then led to their launching a group of companies that included Union Square Media digital advertising agency, and SUP ATX Paddle Boards. USM has since grown into an industry leader with offices in New York, Boston, Miami, Austin, and Los Angeles. SUP ATX triggered the stand up paddling global phenomenon and remains the leader in that space. Global Agora is currently forecasting revenues of nearly $100 million in 2016. Not bad for a couple of former YouTube stars.

Here are 12 startup tips from Joshua and Nick--the first 5 are from Joshua, and the others are from Nick. You can also check out a video of their old group The ClipBandits (with a cameo appearance by Justin Timberlake) at the bottom of this page.

1. Keep it moving

Never expect things to stay the same or always be perfect. The worst thing you can do is sit around and sulk. You can't lose if you never give up.

2. Be a problem solver--never a complainer

The difference between success and failure is working through challenges and obstacles. There will always be ups and down but continuing to do the same thing and not solving the root of the issue is like running with a weight vest and shackles.

3. Automate and replicate

Whatever basic functions it takes to make your revenue stream try to automate as much as you can. Try to take it out of individual hands to determine success or failure. While some functions and decisions require a human mind, others don't, so identify which is which.

4. Trust people who have earned it

Not everyone will do things exactly how you do it, but when people have earned your trust you need to believe in them. Without an able support system of a trusted team, you will always be just another entrepreneur that is spinning too many plates and never take a step forward.

5. Build a business not a revenue stream

While it's very impressive to build a steady revenue stream you will never be worth much more than 1-2x time the net profit. When you build a business, you begin to expand and multiply to create value.

6. Find the right partners

You want loyalty, integrity, and honor. Complimentary skill sets a must too, but without the previous three qualities, don't even bother getting started.

7. Make a commitment

Starting a company with a co-founder is a commitment like marriage--through sickness and in health. Expect to go through hell and back together. Know that you and your business partner(s) can take the heat.

8. Be ambitious

All business partners must share an exceedingly high level of ambition. Success mandates an equilibrium on this front, with everyone pushing the business--and one another--to excel.

9. Don't let accountants and attorneys dictate how to run your company

Consider their perspectives and proceed accordingly. If they were so good at building companies, they'd be doing it themselves.

10. Have a strong vision

Trust your instincts and don't second guess yourself until proven wrong. No one else knows more about or will care more about your vision and your success than you and your partners. Don't let anyone else steer you off track.

11. Love what you do and have fun even during the tough times

There's no law that fun and work can't coexist. In fact, it's just the opposite. The more fun it is, the more successful you'll be. Choose the business you pursue wisely and accordingly.

12. Don't give up control of your business

If your company requires capital from a third party, only give up control if absolutely necessary to get the funding needed. If you do have to give up control, do it in a way that leaves you the opportunity to gain it back or you'll live to regret it

Source : http://bit.ly/1HTdmYa

Make dthe difference with great marketing tips!

For daily updates

download the Fresh Ideas News and sign up with your email. 

5 Secrets to Monetizing Your LinkedIn Experience

Follow five simple rules using this reliable platform to share your expertise in the marketplace. Here they are:

1. Know Your Brand

No one is going to buy from you if you don't have a brand. You've got to ask yourself, "What do I want to be known for?" If you do 10 different things, no one is going to know what you do best. You have to let people know what you're really good at if you want them to buy from you. 

Here's what I do: I write, speak, and coach. That's all I do. If someone wants something else from me, I just recommend them to someone else who can use the business. This is what makes my brand reliable. That is why I get one thousand profile views every week. This is why I get leads every day. 

2. Develop Your Story

If you have a story, why not share it on your LinkedIn profile? Most people don't enjoy running through bullet points as you enumerate your experience in a resume-like format. You've got to keep it interesting. Look at my profile. Does it tell you who I am? It should.

Your story must be captivating. People should be asking, "I wonder what this guy/gal is all about?" If people aren't wondering about who you are and what you do, your profile needs a story. You also need a great headline and professional head shot. I have several recommendations for profile makeovers if you need one. Just reach out to me. 

3. Use the Phone

If you're a salesperson, you better be using your phone. Iregularly use the phone to call  LinkedIn connections. 

Your phone can help you earn millions. If you're sending messages back and forth, you're wasting your time. You won't get that many opportunities that way. You've got to reach out and transact business. If people say that they're just "trying to get to know you" or "want to have coffee," don't even bother with them.

4. Write Articles

For every 100 views that you get, you must making a sale. That means that if  articles are reaching 1,000 people per week, you have 10 sales. Readers reach out to you regularly and you're able to have meaningful conversations with them. Because people love your articles, they find value in paying for your services. 

If you don't know how to write, go ahead and share other peoples' articles. Comment and like as many good articles as possible. When people view your profiles, follow up with them. If you aren't doing this, you aren't serious about conducting business and creating opportunities for yourself and others.

5. Contribute Daily

You have to connect with people by making a contribution. Send out endorsements and recommendations. Get serious about following up with people. Be as resourceful as possible. Add value like you never did before. Join groups and share information.

You should be investing one hour per day on LinkedIn. People want to deal with people. When you meet people in person, tell them to add you on LinkedIn. Reach out as much as possible and ask for help. Don't just view other's profiles, say something nice and do something. People need you. Get activated!

Bonus Tip: Use Email Marketing: If you're familiar with email marketing, you can import your contacts from LinkedIn and send out newsletters to reach potential clients.

The people who you are looking for you are the same people who are looking for you. LinkedIn gives us the ability to leverage ourselves by meeting new people every day from all over the world. If you want to monetize your LinkedIn experience, find a way to give people value in the most reliable way and you'll gain more influence than ever before.

Source : http://entm.ag/1Hcw4K3

6 New Rules of Business for the Next Industrial Revolution

The world is in the midst of a new industrial revolution.

This morning, we release several important stories from the November issue ofFortune magazine, which provides an in-depth look at The 21st Century Corporation. It is our belief that the world is in the midst of a new industrial revolution, driven by technology that is connecting everyone and everything, everywhere and all the time, in a vast and intelligent network of interactive data that is creating an economic dynamic increasingly characterized by low or zero marginal costs, massive returns to scale and platform economics.

Fortune's Geoff Colvin has a fascinating piece here that lays out what this means for modern companies. I strongly recommend it. But for the time-pressed, here are my six big takeaways:

1. You don't need a lot of physical capital. You've probably heard it before, but it's true: Alibaba BABA -2.10% is the world's most valuable retailer and holds no inventory; Airbnb is the largest provider of accommodations but owns no real estate; Uber is the world's largest car service but owns no cars.

2. Human capital will matter more than ever. With less physical capital, employees become more important. You need to identify the ones critical to the company, and recognize that increasingly, they are the company.

3. The nature of employment will change. For the rest of your employees, gig work will grow. Former Cisco CSCO -0.11% CEO John Chambers predicts: "soon you'll see huge companies with just two employees -- the CEO and the CIO." An exaggeration, perhaps, but not by much.

4. Winners will win bigger, and the rest will fight harder for the remains.New business models often make fortunes for their creators, but destroy whole industries in the process. Or as the McKinsey Global Institute puts it: "tech and tech-enabled firms destroy more value for incumbents than they create for themselves."

5. Corporations will have shorter lives. The average life span of companies in the S&P 500 has already fallen from 61 years in 1958 to 20 years today. It will fall further.

6. Intellectual property knows no natural boundaries. A must-read this morning is a fascinating story by Brian O'Keefe and Marty Jones about Uber's "double dutch" corporate tax structure, which you can read here. As more of the value of modern corporations comes from intellectual property, income can easily be shifted to tax havens (...at least until authorities wise up and fix the global tax system).

Source : http://huff.to/1P7l9lD

The next wave of startups that will help publishers make money

A growing number of startups are thinking about how they can help publishers make money outside of advertising. These innovative young companies may not be able to sever the tie between publishers and advertisers, but they could help digital content makers offset their dependence on advertisers through additional revenue streams.

The intervention is much needed.

Every day, new market data shows the dire state of banner ads. A flurry of condemnations faces these digital ads. For instance, no one clicks on them. If someone does click on one, it was probably an accident. Furthermore, consumers that do click on them may be subjected to malware. Free consumer software exists specifically to block digital ads from ever being seen.

FROM VENTUREBEAT
Get faster turnaround on creative, more testing, smarter improvements and better results. Learn how to apply agile marketing at our roadshow in SF.
It’s a bad environment for the banner ad, and yet when it comes to replacing it, we’re seeing little innovation.

This is a problem for publishers, who have forever relied on advertising dollars to run their publications. To shore up the damage, a number of media outlets, such as Vice and BuzzFeed, are working on better integrating ads into their content. The purpose of this native content is to have it coexist seamlessly with existing articles and videos on the platform, meaning journalism is hardly distinct from advertising save for a “sponsored content” label.

Sponsored content comes in two flavors: native advertising, and posts paid for by advertisers who may not influence the material itself but pay to have their name associated with it. Though many have ethical questions about posing advertising as journalism, publishers like native ads because they garner a higher price than banner ads. Native video advertising, a blossoming tactic, comes at an even higher price.

Native content may be fine for publishers, but it doesn’t have to represent the only way they monetize their businesses.

Market research
One company is using market research as a way to help fund publishers. The concept is simple: Rather than forcing readers to pay a subscription fee or to slog through ads, HelloToken is helping publishers push market research questions to their audience for a fee. Readers get to read a set number of articles (as determined by the publisher) before they have to answer a market research question to continue reading.

The company, which has raised a $400,000 preseed round, launched earlier this week with clients that include 50 bloggers and the Harvard Political Review.

Founder Brian Truong said a publisher can get $0.03 per question answered from market researchers. By comparison, most digital display ads garner publishers $0.004 per impression or anywhere from $0.10 to $10 per 1,000 impressions depending on the outlet. And the demand for market research is big.

Companies have lots of questions about the market they’re targeting, but conducting market research can be expensive. Asking one question to a thousand respondents can cost up to $1,000, depending on the firm a company is working with. Even low-cost options like SurveyMonkey charge at least $1 per respondent, and the price goes up as demographic preferences become more detailed.

HelloToken, Truong said, charges $0.06 to ask one person one question. Put another way, it would cost $60 to ask 1,000 people one question. Making surveys cheaper is just the first step, according to Truong. Eventually, he wants to make market research more meaningful.

Ajouter une légende

“At the end of the day, there’s so much technology — everything is programmatic. It’s so predictive,” he said. “But it doesn’t actually know what your preferences are.” Ultimately, he said, HelloToken should be able to better understand its survey candidates and their likes, allowing retailers and advertisers to tailor the ad experience to the consumer.

Tips

Another option percolating among content creators is the pay-what-you-want model. This tactic has been most famously employed by Radiohead for its album In Rainbows.

Within this scope, Tipjar is enabling independent artists, writers, and musicians to make money off their past and present work by linking to a digital tip jar on YouTube, Vimeo, Flickr, and Soundcloud. Those who want to send a tip can set up what is essentially a digital wallet with Tipjar by typing their credit card info into a popup box. Content creators don’t pay anything to set up the jar; however, they fork over a hefty 20 percent fee when cashing out their donations. That’s likely because of the expense associated with micropayments.

The company is still prelaunch, but the concept isn’t entirely new. Companies in the Bitcoin community have been promoting the idea of tipping for some time. There’s also Patreon, which allows fans to make recurring payments to their favorite content creators.

Another company with a similar offering is Cointent. This company has created a platform for managing both subscriptions and micropayments for content. The company enables publishers to charge small amounts of money for a piece of content, like $0.50 for an article. A survey among its early partners showed that micropayments lead to 3 times as many paying customers as subscriptions do. However, like Tipjar, Cointent charges a heavy transaction fee, though the rate depends on the publisher. Depending on the size of the publisher, Cointent might take $0.40 on a $2.00 article.

Tips and pay-per-article offerings may never fully replace ad dollars, but they could help to loosen the ropes tying publishers and advertisers together.

The untethering of publishers and advertisers would be a welcome change. For years, publishers have relied on advertisers for their survival, and it has taken a toll on the industry, especially as the value of display ads continues to plummet. If publishers can expand beyond advertising revenue in a meaningful way, it could usher in a whole new era of media.

Source : http://bit.ly/1QwLKXS

9 Lessons For Entrepreneurs From A Sales Expert

Most aspiring entrepreneurs believe that a great idea alone will assure business success. Experts argue that it’s more important to have a great plan, and personal business acumen. 

Hardly anyone mentions selling principles. Yet in this age when customers have a thousand alternatives, and are overwhelmed by a multitude of messages, sales efforts can make or break a business.

In fact, I believe modern entrepreneurs need to be super sales people, in the most positive sense, to their team as well as customers. 

Based on my many years of watching entrepreneurs struggle and too often fail, here are some of his key lessons for dedicated sales professionals that every entrepreneur should take to heart:

1. Focus on what customers want to buy, not what you want to sell. You can either find customers for your solution or you can find solutions for your customers. The smart answer is to find solutions your customers need. Putting all your effort into driving your favorite solution can lead to forgetting the problem being addressed in the first place.
2. Your first idea about where pain resides is nearly always wrong. Smart founders and smart salesmen look for customers with a painful problem, rather than pushing a nice-to-have solution. No pain usually means no sales. Then every startup has to learn to pivot, because their first understanding of the real problem is usually not quite right.
3. Your price and their value are not the same thing. Entrepreneurs set the price of their solution based on their costs, and their perception of value. Customers set value based on similar products found. For example, with smartphone apps, most are free. Thus, no matter what your value, it’s hard to build an app business that makes money today.
4. You and the customer have to be on the same side. Too many entrepreneurs, especially ones with work-at-home schemes and multi-level marketing, believe that someone has to lose to help them win. Like many salespeople, they see themselves as hunters. With the best solutions, the customer gets value which exceeds your revenue.
5. You are not the servant of your customer. At the same time, every customer isn’t always right. Entrepreneurs need to be customer advocates, but not a slave to their every whim. Businesses must part quickly with low-profit or abusive customers to focus on those who deliver greater return, and appreciate the value their solution provides.
6. Proactively look for problems, rather than react only. In every new business, as in every sales territory, problems happen. Reacting to a customer crisis is always more expensive to recover, than to view a problem brewing, and head it off with proper actions. That mentality has to be part of the culture of every startup team member from the start.
7. Make the tough decision rather than no decision. It’s easy for entrepreneurs to postpone decisions in tough situations, in favor of more study. Yet a startup image can be destroyed more quickly than a big auto company, by not taking action on a customer problem today. Sales people alike, who won’t face their fears, lose in the long run.
8. Telling isn’t selling. Having a snappy presentation on your solution or startup is great, but it’s only half the battle. Entrepreneurs need to actively listen to customers, investors, and other constituents, just like sales people need to listen before they talk. Push marketing doesn’t work well today, in the age of interactive networking and peer reviews.
9. People buy from people and companies they like. Entrepreneurs who fail to invest in establishing rapport with their customers will suffer the same consequences as sales people who don’t put themselves in the shoes of their prospects. Through social media and customer interaction, you must convince customers that your culture matches theirs.
   
Morrison espouses a selling success triangle of good techniques, behavior, and attitude, to turn prospecting opportunities into business success and personal value. Again, these same attributes are equally relevant for an entrepreneur turning an idea into a business. So before you conclude that your technology alone will catapult you to riches, take a success lesson from some super sales people who have learned the hard way.


Source : http://onforb.es/1Fcw9Mq