The Ultimate Local Promotion – Online!

Our goal for Quiznos is to increase local awareness through online resources. We always try to keep our costs down by using smart advertising, and even with our fees, it’s been a relatively inexpensive campaign for Quiznos.

Aside from the usual custom landing page on Facebook and a Twitter account, we also focused heavily on using Google Maps, Foursquare and Facebook Places.

Google Maps + Offer + Boost Ads

We started by getting Quiznos to actually appear on Google Maps. Google Boost was pretty helpful, offering a set it and forget it approach to ad generation and integration. You can also place a coupon in your Maps listing, which gives added incentive for people to choose your business. And as the business “owner”, we ensured that all the images were high quality.

Foursquare Venue Coupons

With Foursquare, we took full advantage of their coupon offer as well. They have a GREAT selection of potential offers dependent on various criteria you select based on the number of people checked in and their status.We also did a similar tactic for Facebook Places. Not everyone uses Foursquare.

A Great Social Media Campaign

With Quiznos, we had a lot of savings offered. Coupons were available from Google Maps, Liking them on Facebook, or signing in on Foursquare or Places. We have effectively used QR codes in the campaign as well. There are signs throughout the store with a QR code that links to the Fb page.

The social media campaign items are ranking well on Google as well, so there’s no reason any should miss any of the deals.

We’re pretty excited with the results, and the owner has seen a marked improvement in sales, so he’s pretty happy as well. And with the low price of the campaign, we were able to offer an affordable solution that worked. While this wouldn’t work for every business, it’s well suited to representing the local branch of a national chain, and it’s low maintenance while bringing in a sustained revenue stream. It’s win-win for everybody!

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QR What?

For the purpose of this article, a QR code is a barcode that your smart-phone can scan in real life and then process, typically to take you to a website. QR codes are popular with advertisers now, because it gives marketers the ability to measure response rates with a high degree of precision and allows for easier ROI calculation, thereby justifying expenditure on marketing.

The Right Way and The Wrong Way

[sws_pullquote_right]The key to making QR codes work is by adding value! [/sws_pullquote_right]
One of the problems we had was trying to figure out how to use the code effectively. Too often people just use the code to take smart phone owners to a homepage. Who cares? They can Google search that. What you need to do is introduce value. Make people WANT to scan the code.

One way to do this is to ensure that where ever the QR code takes the user is unique. A QR code only accessible site, perhaps. And don’t forget to make the site optimized for mobile viewing. A full blown web site is too much for the small screen on a phone. The site should be a single page, with all the needed info right there and easily navigated with thumbs.

How To Introduce Value

We have many different clients in many different industries. Unfortunately, some of our clients are not in industries where a QR code is practical. The QR code is useless without something physical to put it on. However, not all of them fall into that category. I’ll use some of our current clients to provide examples.

• 

  A Clever Way to Put In A QR Code

  Merchandising - One of our clients produces a miniature figure game, among many other types of collectibles. This example is easily the most versatile one I have. They could add a QR code to the boxes for the pieces or even better, on promotional posters. The code could lead to a site with a LTO. It could be a site with a list of all the pieces in the set. It could lead to an app that lets people track their collection as soon as they buy some new figures. It could lead to phone wall paper based on the product. You get the point.

• The Energy Drink – Slap it on a can, and the sky’s the limit. It could take people to the Drink Mixes page. It could take people to various videos. It could take people to an instantly redeemable coupon.
• The Photographer – Use it on the backs of photos, and when you give away wedding photos, everyone will effectively have your business card. Offer a 20% discount for contacting you through the QR code.
• Fitness Gym – Stick it on a business card or flyer, it takes people straight to a sign up page for a free week trial. Bam!
• Wineshop – This one would take some work, but I think it would be cool. Set up a QR code for each section of wine or even each vintner. Put them on the shelves, people scan it, and they get a review, possible pairings, and maybe a coupon effective immediately. It would take away all the embarrassment people feel about not knowing how to buy wine by letting them learn as they shop.

So there are a few ideas to get you started if you’re stuck trying to figure out how to use QR codes in a marketing campaign. And if you want to include the social media part, a QR code can just as easily link to an FB page as a regular mobile site. Just saying.

See you next time, Guerilleros!

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I also noticed that we now have 42 followers on Networked Blogs, and 42 just happens to be my favorite number. Our 42nd follower also happens to be the newest writer I’ve been working with, and I invited her to write a guest post. Dr. Anna Gralton is a talented writer from Australia, and has been very helpful to the Chefe and I with some blog posts lately.

One of the blogs Anna has been running is topcornholeboards.com. The company name is The Cornhole King, and Anna has written some brilliantly funny posts following the royalty theme. They are completely worth stopping by for. But let me stop going on, and here is Anna’s article!

Tips on Writing Humor in Social Media

Writing humor for social media can be akin to a minefield. Humor’s a great way to get the message across, especially in this day and age with social media. If you get it right, the benefits can be nothing short of a miracle: increasing brand awareness; buzz; attracting new clients and leads; promoting firm-client interaction; increasing followers, fans etc. In contrast, if you get it wrong, you’re likely to confuse the heck out of your readers or, worse still, insult them. They will lose interest and not come back.

Although social media marketing is ultimately about selling and is very serious, the fact of the matter is that much content is set in a light-hearted, entertaining backdrop. As such, if you can find a funny angle or if it just slaps you directly in the face, such as with our Cornhole client blog, then why not run with it? Let’s face it; no one wants to read dull, dreary blog posts about an obviously funny topic.

You might also think that writing a humorous piece is easy and can be done on the spot. Wrong! When writing for social media, as you know, there are many more considerations that go into it. This is where you have to sit down and consciously merge the two.

Considerations

• Commonsense 101. Make sure the product and/or site is really set up for humor. Consider what the client wants and needs. What type of content do they already have on their site? Consider their brand identity and tap into it. This is where a thorough understanding of the business, their target audience and their objectives is required.
• The Underlying Guts. Think about the guts of the article. What is the post really going to be about? This will be serious and you’ll need to connect humor to it, not vice versa. Only create this connection after the crux of the post has evolved. Unless you have a specific idea in mind, don’t start with humor first.
• Idea Creation. Revolve humor around a subject matter that everyone gets. If a client is entering a nationwide market from a localized geographical area, the humor must be understood by everyone out there in cyberspace. Pick a genre that’s popular. You could even tap into a subject that’s already been done, such as a slapstick movie. One pointer, though, if you’re going to continue to make a series of posts, ensure the topic is large enough to run with.
• Tread Carefully. When writing humor, there are a few basics you should be cautious off. Readers won’t get in-jokes and it will only come off stupid. Don’t say anything politically incorrect – remember it’s for your client, not you. Also, don’t go overboard. A nice subtle bit of humor before getting into the core of the piece is great. Too much and it will come across as ridiculous.
• Feedback. Get a friend or family member with a normal, but lacking, sense of humor and find out on a scale of one to ten what they’d give it. This is the person you tell a joke to and they give that socially inappropriate smirk and walk away. If the scoring hits above five, there’s a good chance you’re onto a winner!
• Frame of Mind. Don’t write the piece when you’ve just had a screaming argument with your next-door neighbor because his dog dodoed on your front footpath for the umpteenth time and you were lucky enough to step in it – again! Do it when you’re in a relaxed, happy frame of mind and thinking happy thoughts. If this happens to be limited in your universe, at least jot down the outline when you’re in a happy mood. You can fill in the contents later.

When writing humor for a social media client, try not to get too carried away. This can lead to “humor specialization” – that is, humor that only you find funny. Keep it light, simple and connected to the brand and customer base.

• Dr. Anna Gralton is the head of Freelance Formations,a freelance writing and research company based in Australia.

Social Media Guerilla brings tips and tricks for effective social media marketing, as well as social commentary to anyone who is interested or will at least listen. We are waging a war on traditional marketing techniques. We are the underground. We are the future. Enlist now.

For an example using humor to drive traffic check out the Cornhole Kingdom, the place for custom cornhole boards.  The Kingdom is a great site for humor, and it certainly spreads into the realm of social media.

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And speaking of you, the reader, I have recently noticed an upswing in membership on the Networked blogs. That is a great app. The Chefe has almost all of our blogs on his wall with it.

We’ve been getting a steady stream of new readers coming on board, and I want to welcome them to the blog. I also want to thank whoever turned them on to us, because that is social media marketing at work. Especially on this blog, which is much like the shoemaker’s children, always going barefoot and without any marketing.

The Challenge

And in honor of all the new readers, today I have a challenge. It’s a simple one, so I hope you’re up for it. And it’s going to tie in to next weeks post, so I hope you do it.

Two of the main concepts behind Social Media Guerilla are stealth and networking. Have you read the About SM Guerilla page? It’s all of about five sentences, so do so if you haven’t yet.

The best social media marketing strategies should not even look like marketing campaigns. To quote the Guerilla Chefe, “Guerilleros are sneaky.”

The second part is networking. You need to have a network of friends in order for social marketing to work. Otherwise, who’d spread the news?

The Guerilla Chefe embodies these two principles. He has stealth so down pat, his name doesn’t even appear on this entire blog. And yet, you are all still part of his social network. Nice, huh?

So here is the challenge. I want all of you to find the Guerilla Chefe and friend him on Facebook. Make him part of YOUR network. This is just a simple way to flex your deductive reasoning  prowess, plus, it helps you become a little more stealthy tracking someone down.You probably won’t have to think real hard, but you’ll have to think a little. And if nothing else, haven’t you ever wondered who the Chefe is? Heck, he wasn’t even the Chefe until I started writing here.

And really, this is super easy. I gave you a clue on where to start already, and your choices are seriously limited. Really, the more I think about it, this is almost too easy.

Just make sure that when you friend him, you put the name of the movie I got the title of this post from in a message. And if you didn’t know what movie it was immediately upon reading it, then you must have completely missed the 80′s. Google it.

Next week I will explain why we’re doing this. That’s right, this does all have a purpose. But you’ll have to wait until next week to find out. So this challenge is only good until next Tuesday.

The Prize

Oh, and what’s the point of a challenge without a prize? I have no idea what to offer as a prize though, so here’s my proposition.

If you friend the Chefe, friend me, as well. And in return, I will write one blog post, masterfully crafted for your blog, free of charge. I will also put your name up here so everyone else knows how cool you are.

I would like to point out that I am a professional writer, and I do get paid well for what I do, so this does actually have some value.

I am a REALLY busy guy, though, so this is only eligible to the first five people who friend the Chefe AND me, so you have to friend us both to get it. Once you find the Chefe, finding me is as easy as saying “Oh look, there he is.”, so I don’t feel this makes the challenge any harder. Plus, for as long as it’s going to take me to write 2,000 words, I feel I deserve to be friended.

I will write it about any topic you like, up to 400 words minimum, and it will have my own distinctive flair. SEO and keyword usage is a given.

If you don’t have a blog, then I don’t know. I have trouble believing that anyone who cared about social media marketing could not have a blog. That’s like trying to fly by flapping your arms really fast.

Just don’t forget to put the name of the movie in a message when you friend the Chefe and when you friend me.

And that’s it Guerilleros. You have one week, so get a move on, and good luck. I hope you all have a merry Christmas, and I’ll be hearing from you soon. Don’t forget to tune in nect week, when I explain how this all ties into social media marketing, only on SMG.

For an example of my writing, check out some of the content at OBX Master Builders, the site for the best Outer Banks contractors.  The older blog posts are mine along with all of the page content.  If you like what you, take your spot at the table and try to win my services!

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Once we took over the marketing, we took control of the website and started updating both the site and blog on a regular basis. It was a custom WP site, which we’re pretty familiar with, but we still haven’t entirely figured this one out. It’s a pretty advanced theme.

The biggest aspect of our campaign, however, is on Facebook. Kill Cliff sponsors some pretty big name athletes, including UFC fighters. And since we have more than a little knowledge of the MMA world, we decided to go with what we know, and focus on that.

We created fan sites for the more popular fighters, and we’re monitoring their organic fanbase’s growth carefully. All the pages prominently feature the Kill Cliff can and have a trail back to the Kill Cliff page. Depending on the success of that experiment, we may develop more pages.

We’ve also developed a campaign demonstrating that Kill Cliff isn’t just for athletes. It features three videos of some of the more advanced students at our local MMA gym. We’re using those heavily in the campaign.

We have a lot more in plan for Kill Cliff, but we want to see what works best before we commit any more resources to a project with less than minimal results. We’ll probably come back to the subject more in future articles.

PS. Speaking of marketing, you need to check out some of the great real estate that is selling cheap on the Outer Banks.  For a lot less than you might expect you can get a Nags Head luxury home.  If you prefer something in a quieter neighborhood, how about a beautiful oceanfront home in Corolla?  I know what you are thinking: One is too far south and the other is too far north.  How about splitting the difference with a great investment property in Duck?  With OBX real estate prices so low, buying an Outer Banks home is one of the best investments you can make!

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The truth behind Google Maps!

Hello Guerilleros! It’s another beautiful day for Social Media Guerilla, isn’t it? And today, let’s talk about some of the changes Google has been doing. Specifically the Google OneBox, and a little about the preview function. The OneBox, and its Google Maps results is the big one though.

OneBox results are when Google shows information within a special unit, often with images associated with them. OneBox unit often appears to highlight news, shopping, image and other results that are blended into regular listings using Universal Search.

One of the best results you can hope for with your brick and mortar store is to get it to list on Google Maps. These results are above the organic results even, and are ideal placement for a web listing.

But how you get on there is a mystery. Yeah, there are theories, but no one knows the exact formula, probably not even Google. Even if you’re number one on the organic results and PPC, there’s no guarantee you’ll even be on the Maps.

Now though, Google has moved the OneBox results for the Maps to the right side of the page, by the PPC ads. In fact, as you scroll, the map covers the ads. Really Google? Thanks. However, this really does take the focus off the maps and back on results. And it seems they are better integrating Map results with organic ones. But that’s just my observation.

Another cool little feature I’ve noticed is the preview function. Beside the result is a little magnifying glass icon, and if you hover on it, you’ll see a small image of the website before you click on it. It’s nice, but really I’m not sure of the function. It’s too small on my monitor to really make anything out, but I guess if you have a larger monitor than mine it’s more visible.

These changes are not effecting everyone, and to be fair, I can’t even always get it to work for me. So your results may differ, and this may not even be permanent. You know how Google like to play around.

Well, that’s it today Guerilleros. I’ve had a long day, and I think I’m going to get some dinner. But if you need more help with your social media marketing campaigns, make sure you browse the site for more SMG tactics.

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So this morning I put it on, and it looked really good on me, so I took a picture of myself wearing it. Naturally, I uploaded it to my personal Facebook.

From here, I wanted to show all the people involved how well it fit. We all know that tagging the photo itself puts the picture on the persons wall, but you can’t photo tag with a fan page and I wanted the clients fans to see the pic as well.

So I put a message with the photo and I used the @ to tag people. When you type @, followed by whoever you’re trying to tag, Facebook will pop up a little selection of your friends and pages you like. Just pick who you’re looking for, and you’re good to go. But to tag someone, you have to be friends with them, or Like them.

Clearly, this is incredibly useful. If you have a company that sells kitchen furnishings, why not talk about Vetrazzo counter tops and tag Vetrazzo in your update? Then your post will appear on both your site and the Vetrazzo site. And, generally, there are more followers on their page who will hopefully follow back to your page and become fans.

I would warn you though, don’t abuse it. It has been my experience that other pages will take offense if you start blowing them up with your posts.

So thats this weeks update. The Guerrilla Chefe is beckoning, so I best be wrapping this post up. And of course, don’t forget to search the rest of the site for more social media guerrilla warfare tactics.  See you next week, Guerilleros!

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I don’t plan to talk about what Google TV is, you can find that on your own. I want to talk about possibilities. Ways to take advantage of a new technology. Several different ideas come to mind pretty quickly.

PPC based on TV

This is a no brainer. If PPC ads can read your search query, it can read what you’re watching on TV. Instead of basing your ads on keywords, in the future you may need to think about the TV that your potential customers are watching. This could be very interesting.  If you have a bakery, and someone sets their Google TV to record Cake Boss every week, possibly they would like your product.

Oh look, it already exists.

Direct Fan Interaction During Television Shows

Imagine watching the newest episode of The Big Bang Theory, and Chuck Lorre pops up in a little live chat on the side of the  screen and talks about the episode your watching. And not only that, but since it’s a live chat, you can interact with him. Awesome right? So how is this marketing? Well, imagine if you offered a similar service. Nice, right?

Community Building

If you have a way to tie your product to a TV show, you are golden. Find a way. You have a chiropractor for a client? Hey, Alan on Two and a Half Men is a chiropractor. It’s a valid enough connection. Start basing your communities around TV shows, and the clients will come from the fan base. Most popular shows have viewers in the millions.

Pulling it all Together

Let’s say I Like House on Facebook. I find an ad asking me to join a specialized House fan page run by a doctor who is local to my area.  I do, and the next time I’m watching House, I have the opportunity to chat with other fans as the show is playing. I eventually become a regular member of the community, because I am interacting with fellow fans as the show is on. This is the key time to catch me being receptive to a House community. And of course, the next time I get sick, guess what doctor I’m going to see? The one running the fan community I belong to.

Yeah, that was a pretty contrived example, but you can see where it’s going. This opens a whole lot of ways to interact with your community, and we didn’t even talk about apps yet. Google Tv apps open even more doors.

Well Guerilleros, that’s about it for me today. I have a few fan communities of my own to go take care of. And remember, for more guerilla marketing how-to’s and such, keep coming back to Social Media Guerilla!

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I like to check out the blogs and sites I follow, as well as Facebook. You know, like Copyblogger, Mashable, and Techcrunch. They’re all kind of industry related. However, sparked by a Monster-fueled Halothon, I decided to pop in on the Xbox community over on Facebook.

I had never been to their FB page, and it was nice. They have 3  custom FBML pages. One for everyone, one for the hardcore gamers (like me!), and one for the new Kinect. Of course, even though it has a separate tab, the “All” page had the Kinect, as well. And that was also the landing page.

Just recently, I had to ask the Guerilla Chefe how to set my custom FBML page as the landing page for everyone. It’s so simple, I felt dumb for not knowing. So just to keep you from feeling dumb, here it is really quick.

Go to a page you admin. On a page you admin, click “Edit Page”

See? I even highlited what to click.

Click “Edit” under “Wall Settings”

Select which landing page you want from the drop-down.

That’s it in it’s entirety. I told you it was pretty easy, and for some reason I even included pictures. So hopefully you guys learned something, and now, I have a few more Covenant to kill before bed.

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You should already be familiar with these sites!

That’s right, Guerilleros! As I promised, today we are going to look at how YOU can build a loyal fan base around your blog! I discussed the importance of a blog in the last post, and today I am going to give you 6 steps to follow for building a blog community that can attract real attention. Everything in it is easy, and with a little maintenance, you can have a killer blog following!

1) Provide Quality Content! (Duh!)

No one is going to read a blog with nothing on it, or worse, nothing good on it. So get a writer, or sharpen your pencil, because without some awesome content, written well, no one cares about your blog. Should this even be listed as a step?

The key is quality. An excellent test for this is to ask your self, Would I put this on my personal blog? If the answer is No, get back to writing. And it can’t be stressed enough: A Blog Is Not An Advertisement! You’re trying to give value to your readers, not sell them something.

2) Comment, Comment, and Comment Some More!

You can pack in as many keywords as you like, but that method is going to take some time to yeild results. Wouldn’t it be nice to find a large group of people who would be likely to be interested in your blog, all at once? You can! Unless you are blogging about something really obscure, someone else is already blogging about it. So go to their sites and leave comments.

But don’t just agree and leave a link. That’s not helping you. Leave insightful comments that show you know what’s up in your subject. Leave enough comments, and the readers will follow. Keep leaving comments, and you might get a link back! It takes time, but it will work!

3) Socialize Your Blog!

This is easy as pie. Put your posts up on Digg, StumbleUpon, all the major social bookmarking sites. This is a social media marketing page, and since you’re reading it, this too should be a given.

4) Keep Socializing!

Seriously, keep at it! Every word you write should go on all of these sites. And not just your writings either. you want to be very active on these sites, so people start to recognize your name, and trust you as a source for high caliber content.

5) Share the Page!

No one goes to just one person for advice, and that’s true for your blog, too! So instead of letting the reader go somewhere else for that second opinion, bring it to them. Ask other blog authors to write a piece for your site. They should be honored you asked, plus it’s free publicity for them, as well as a way to increase their followers with your followers. And your fans stay loyal, because you brought them a whole new place to learn from. Win-win for everyone!

6) Spread the Word Domestically!

Nothing is more aggrevating than asking an employee of your clients if they saw their picture on the blog, and they reply “What blog?” Really? Why are we even bothering, if your client’s employees don’t even know about it?

The largest fan base is initially  composed of an extended network made up of the friends of people directly connected to the blog. AKA, the employee’s friends and families are going to get the word out a lot faster than you. Use it!

That’s it folks! Building a blog community doesn’t get any easier than that. Yeah, it’s a little time consuming, but it’s worth it. Once you have a loyal fan base, you’re set. And speaking of loyal fan bases, make sure you join the revolution, and become a Social Media Guerilla!

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The origins of chiropractics?

Hello Guerilleros! So much for the consistency I promised last week, huh? But here we are again today! And today, instead of giving you a specific tip, I am bringing you a rather unique resource I found while searching for some ideas for one of my clients. A whole website devoted to using social media, specifically for chiropractors.

The site is full of interesting info tailored to help chiropractors use social media for promoting their business. In a recent post, he even gave examples of iPhone apps that could be used. All for chiropractors.

Obviously, if you have a chiropractor for a client, this website is extremely useful to you. You can thank me and we’ll see you next time. If you don’t have a chiropractor for a client, which is probably most of you, you may be thinking I just found an easy way out of doing a quality post. Here’s a great example of a chiropractor in the Outer Banks that is using social media very effectively.

Well, your wrong. this site has tons of great ideas that would really fit into any business. Replace the word “chiropractor” with the word “pizza store” and BAM! instant help. But even more intriguing is the fact that this person devotes his whole site to chiropractic social media. Is it smart to provide social media for only one profession?We’ll ignore the fact that he IS a chiropractor.

I say if you can get enough clients that are not in competition with each other, go for it. A large part of my clientele is based around Jiu Jitsu. (Imagine that, guerilleros.) I had only the vaguest idea of what Brazilian Jiu Jitsu was when I started writing for my first client, who happened to be a Jiu Jitsu organization. And through a little rapid learning and a lot of some help from the Guerilla Chefe, I quickly learned enough to write about it, and picked up several more Jiu Jitsu accounts nationwide.

However, none of them are in competition with one another. They are all located in different parts of the country. This is of great benefit to me, because it allows me to use the same posts on their respective Facebook pages, and use similar items on their blogs, saving me time. Notice I said similar, not the same. I never recycle content. But I will use the same concept for more than one piece.

So if you can specialize, it can save you some time and effort, allowing you to take on even more work! And that’s what it’s all about right?

Oh, and I now practice Jiu Jitsu with the Guerilla Chefe.

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I am a writer by trade.

Hello Guerilleros. I am Guerilla Roberto. As you are probably aware, the site hasn’t been updated much lately. Unfortunately for us, but fortunate for him, our Guerilla Chefe has been overwhelmed lately with new projects that are sucking up all of his time.

As a result of this social media frenzy, I have been asked to step in and take over for awhile. And for my first post, I will just introduce myself. Next week we will serve up a new tip or trick from the mouth of the Guerilla Chefe himself.

I am not exactly a social media guru, I am a writer. Hence I will now be writing this blog. As a friend and co-worker of the  Guerilla Chefe, I have unwittingly been involved in the chaos that is social media marketing. So far, it has been very good to me, and I hope to share some of the things I have learned along the way. I hope you all enjoy my style as much as you do our Guerilla Chefe.

And while I don’t know what the future holds, I do know the revolution hasn’t ended. In fact, we’re just entering a new phase. From now on, this site will be updated every week at least once. That’s right, we’re bringing some consistency to the site (and some better grammar!)

And for my final parting shot, how many of you can say Guerilleros out loud, with the correct pronunciation? That’s a tongue twister!

No related posts.

Most small business owners are scared of Social Media

Guerilleros, here’s an idea: a Social Media Guerilla manual for small businesses.

You guys impressed me so much with your ideas for the social marketing campaign for an online store that I want to open this up for discussion.

My company has been running Social Media Marketing for a handful of local businesses – I’ve posted some of their results here already.

But a lot of smart business owners are scared of social media – they either think it will clog their schedule with Facebook & twitter or they just dont want to let of their control over the brand. (which is BS and we all know it)

I thought about putting together a manual that gives them a clear action path for social updates – something like this:

Events such as a big landscaping project, a nice wedding catering, or a funny mma fight a  become a full blog post – write a quick blurb about the event (Who, What, Where, When, Why) and attach the most relevant pictures with the people’s names on them (so their names are indexed and they can find it)

After each blog post, you update Facebook (your profile, the fan page…) about the new blog post you wrote, and let the Fan page update your twitter automatically.

In between events (I’m assuming they wont post something new everyday) you can upload one pic every now and then to Facebook with a teaser to their blog.

What do you think, Guerilla brothers?

Let me know – leave a comment!

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Content Syndication = Your Own NON-PAID Army of Marketers

You write a blog post.

You tell somebody on twitter about it.

That person comes in, likes what you wrote, and click on the “add to digg” button.

When that person posts your article on Digg, their app automatically updates that person’s twitter saying that she’d just digged your blog.

That person’s twitter followers come to Digg and see your post. They read it through the Digg toolbar, and automatically “digg it”.

Now that more people have “Digged it”, your post is up on the Popular section of Digg – and you reach tons of other Digg users, who repeat the process.

This is called Content Syndication and it basically means Viral Marketing through Social Media.

Expanding The Syndication Of Your Content

In the example above, all you’ve done was update your twitter about the new post. Let’s say that brought 10 visitors to your blog.

What if you had updated Digg, Reddit, Jumptags, Social Median, Simply, Delicious, Folkd, Facebook, and Twitter?

Now, you may argue that you might not have as many friends on Delicious as you have on Twitter. That’s a good argument, one that leads to the understanding of what Content Syndication really is based upon: SOCIAL CONNECTIONS.

Here are tools that will help boosting your Content Syndication:

The Add To Any WordPress Plugin

You can see it at the bottom of this post – it even goes along the RSS feed. When you click on any option, the Permalink, Title, Description, and upper image are automatically inserted to the submit form of the service, reducing your time considerably.

You can get your add to any here

Ping.Fm

An impressive application that updates nearly ALL social services with the touch of a button – Ping.fm requires that you initially add each of your social networks to their list. They will then store your info and everytime you send a new update, it will refresh your status throughout as many social networks as you’d like.

Sign up for a Ping.fm account here

But You’re Still Alone…

Even with these great services, your submissions may very well never be clicked by anybody if you dont have an active social community of your own.

Luckily, there is a way to fix that: The Synnd Software

Synnd is a private community that exists solely to vote/bookmark/spread other users’ content, therefore guaranteeing a successful syndication (one that creates a viral marketing effect).

See the Synnd software in action here.

Exploring the benefits of social media and content syndication is a way to work around getting free traffic without having to know SEO and definitely not spending money with PPC.

If you’d like to know more about Synnd, leave your questions below.

If you dont want to know anything about it, leave your comments below.

If you hated my disorganized writing, leave your comments below.

See you soon.

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Social Media Halloween? Scary!

Guerilleros, today I ask for advice – my social guerilla skills have been put to test and I’m falling short at this moment.

I’ve been given the opportunity to manage the social marketing for an online costume store for toddlers called – tcharan… – cutetoddlercostumes.com. Their stuff is really cool (a bit pricey, but so am I…)

They’re brand new online, and according to their analytics, they’ve been receiving a decent amount of organic traffic for keywords such as kids harry potter halloween costumes and cinderella halloween costumes.

They need, however, to increase their brand exposure and want to interact with their customers through Social Media. (Dont we all?)

Their blog is well advertised within the site (on the upper right corner), but receives very little traffic. Apparently, their posts have been indexed, some are even on Digg and Reddit, but far from achieving the social viral effect.

Here’s my issue – social marketing for “real” businesses has the advantage that I can go in and get footage of their service/products, which makes content much more viral-friendly. For an online store, however, I’m coming up blank when I try to create an identity that doesnt consist of “buy our costumes”.

I’ve looked at Zappos and to a certain extent, Amazon, but their approach to Social Media is nothing like what these guys want to do: Zappos has their CEO on twitter, and on a personal blog, which adds a persona, a “face” to the brand. He barely speaks of the company’s products on his blog.

What CuteToddlers has been doing is basically discussing and advertising their costumes on the blog – yes, they add lots of personal touches to the posts, but they’re still salesy. Maybe that’s what I should work towards – getting a social media fan within the company and working with her/him to create a company “persona”.

What do you think?

Leave your comments – they are always DOFOLLOW and approved very quickly.

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