1. Optimize Your Pinterest Profile

Social media profiles are like all your other business profiles, so do it right!  Your username, account name, and business name should all be consistent. Provide a URL to your site too!

For example, searching “Donuts” in Pinterest’s “pinners” section, it provides a nearly endless list of users that all have practically the same name. It’s for this reason Social Media Managers need to keep account information organized, clean, and compatible across all platforms.

2. Verify Your Pinterest Account

Verified Pinterest accounts have more authority in searches. Here is a link to instructions on how to verify a Pinterest account. (Social Media Managers need to verify any and all accounts whenever possible.)

3. Write Solid Descriptions

Write descriptions for humans, not robots. People want the name of a product, where to learn more/purchase, and any specifics like size or color. (Pinners rarely rewrite descriptions, so make it count!)

4. Use Rich Pins

Rich Pins are similar to Twitter Cards in that they pull structured data from your site and display it on Pinterest. Depending on what type of Rich Pin you use, they can show price, availability, and even ingredients. The work managers put into this now will payoff in the future with less time spent on writing descriptions and higher click through rates.

5. Think Long Term

This is where a Social Media Manager can be a bit of an SEO. Make sure you stay on top of 404 errors and out of stock items. If for whatever reason an item/page on your home site is no longer available, redirect or re-work that page. Don’t have old pins sending new visitors to broken or out-of-date pages. This traffic is not only going to leave frustrated, but your bounce rate will rise too!!

6. Start a New Category

If you have a niche product or you simply can’t find a mainstream way to tag your products, create your own categories. Look for a category with a high search volume and a small amount of content. Or, tag your weird product or new design with old familiar tags that are more likely to be searched. On the other hand, DO NOT put all sorts of unrelated tags on every pin you create. This is the best way to scare off users.

7. Stay Organized

Just like SEOs tend to a website, Social Media Managers need to keep pins and boards organized as well. If you want to be a real champ, create a system of organization that is a reflection of your website. This way, Pinterest referral traffic will already have a feel for your site’s content.

Want to know what a real life Social Media Manager thinks? Contact The Clix Group.

The post 7 Tips For A Pinterest Manager appeared first on Clix.

Google Hangouts have been used in the past for NASA events, political promotions, and hot topic news discussions. While on the radar of the public, the Hangouts have not generally held widespread appeal until recently. The events appeal to a wide variety of demographics and have the potential to draw more national attention to the platform.

The Internship Google Hangout Debut

February 13th Google engaged in a shameless display of self promotion, debuting the trailer for The Internship- a film set at Google- on a Conan O’Brien hosted Google Hangout. The 30 minute hangout included the trailer premier, discussion with Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson (the stars of the film) and live questions from viewers using the #theInternship hashtag.

As a member of the SEO community, I personally can’t wait to see this movie. It’s clever promotion campaign just adds to the film’s appeal to the online community.

Fireside Hangout

President Obama will settle in to answer viewer questions in a follow up to his State Of The Union address on February 14th. The Fireside Hangout is described on the event page as: “the latest in the series… a 21st century take on FDR’s famous radio addresses.”

The event mirrors that of the 2012 Fireside Hangout which addressed similar themes. The timing allows the Obama administration to target younger demographics as well as provide the last word on the STOU. The platform has been used before by President Obama and Vice President Biden, but the White House Google Plus presence in general does not appear to be of high priority.

You may remember that following the 2012 election the Obama campaign took to social media to celebrate and posted messages of victory on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. Google Plus, meanwhile, remained silent. The Hangout marks Obama’s first significant foray back into the site since the reelection.

Image via WhiteHouse.Gov

You can tune in to the Fireside Hangout on February 14th at 4:50pm EST and keep up with the discussion using the #firesidehangout hashtag.

International Google Hangout

On February 22, 2013, NASA will host a publig Google Hangout with the crew of the International Space Station. This will be the first Google Hangout hosted with the ISS according to NASA’s announcement. 3,407 users are currently planning to attend. Commenters on the event page have suggested the Hangout is an opportunity for teachers to connect their classrooms to a greater learning opportunity.

Prior to the event video question submissions may be submitted via YouTube. On the day of the event the crew as well as astronauts and members of the NASA team will answer text questions in real time from Twitter and Google Plus using the #askAstro hashtag. Question will also be read from the wall of the NASA Facebook page.

Users can sign up to attend the Hangout and ad it to their calendars here.

The post Google Hangout Events: Fireside Chat, Trailer Premier, and Space Station Hangout appeared first on Clix.

Google converted Places to Google Plus Local, integrated Pages and Local listings, launched Zagat reviews, created Communities, and expanded the reach of brand pages. As a Local search specialist, I’m prepared to leave 2012 behind and find out what changes await in 2013. Before I do, however, there’s one last exciting change to make note of this year.

Google Pages Can Now Comment On Posts:

Google announced today that brand pages within Google Plus are now able to freely comment on posts outside of their circles. This greatly expands the reach of brands, allowing them to interact with those who do not already connect with them.

Previously, brand pages were only able to communicate with users who already “circled” them. There are both positive and negative aspects to the change, and small businesses should approach this new skill with great caution. Communicating with customers who have not sought you out runs the risk of turning them off with seemingly aggressive marketing behavior. In this sense, businesses must interact in the interest of a greater conversation, not just blindly pushing their own products or services.

The added reach, however, will make it easier to expand outside of a limited realm. Unlike social media giants Facebook and Twitter, Google Plus does not offer advertising space, making it difficult to get infront of new eyes. Now, brands have the ability to places themselves in a conversation.

Google made the following statement to The Next Web regarding the changes to the sharing capabilities:

“We’re always experimenting with new ways to make the social experience more organic. As such, Pages are now able to comment freely on posts of interest to them. We think this provides a better sharing experience for pages and profiles alike. For example, if someone praises their favorite bakery on Google+, that baker could now say thank you to that customer, right in the stream. Or if someone posts about a customer service issue, that business could reply directly, providing a better user experience.”

It is clear that Google has no intention of slowing its Social Media climb in the future.

The post The Times They Are A-Changin’ (For Google Local) appeared first on Clix.

How would the social media department ever take over for HR, well I was thinking about this the other day and the answer is relatively simple.  LinkedIn and Skype can turn any company small or big, into a player on the global market.  Companies can go after the exact employee they want and then do an online face to face interview within a couple of hours or days depending on everyone’s schedule.  LinkedIn has over 160 million members, and professionals are joining the network at a rate of 2 per second.  That’s 170,000 professionals every 24 hours joining a professional network.

These people joining are from every industry and many times are the best in their industry.  Other times they are new college graduates looking for a fresh start in their respective industry.   Still today 50% of people say they were hired from a personal connection and through networking.  We need to look at LinkedIn as a personal connection at a distance.  One cool feature of LinkedIn is it will tell you how many degrees of separation you are from that person.  You can almost always find someone who knows that person, and get a personal reference right away.

As of January of 2012 Skype had 31 Million users, but of course I simply used Skype as an example.  The interview could be conducted on several different platforms, such as Google+, or even face time on an iPhone or iPad.  This gives the social media department the ability to overstep the HR department, creating a one-to-one personal connection with virtually anyone.  Again this will give basically any business the ability to operate nationally or globally.

Maybe I am wrong and we will always need an HR department and I was just having a moment thinking how cool it would be for social media to take over another part of the world.  But, I do think there is something to be said for the power of LinkedIn when it comes to finding new talent and even new business.  It is personal connections and networking 2.0, but added together with a platform like Skype, I do believe some really great things could happen.

The post Could LinkedIn plus Skype Mean no More HR Department? appeared first on Clix.

So your site was hit and you have no idea why, it could be that you paid for text links matching an exact anchor text, maybe you engaged in comment spam, or did some guest blog posts on questionable sites.  Did you do some work on article marketing sites, or even link back to your site from “dangerous” sites?  In reality these are all things that Google has always said is a big no-no, but Mr. Penguin is more likely to catch up to these tactics.  If you did partake in these tactics, then shame on you and it’s probably best that the penguin caught you.

My question is pretty simple: Why did some sites get hit while others are perfectly fine?  I am hearing from person after person that they had almost the exact marketing plan for different websites, yet some are doing better than ever and others are wiped off the map.  Is this just an indication that the new update is taking a while to catch up with certain sites, or is it an indication that this new update is not as good as we are lead to believe.   Could it even be the topic that the website is about, maybe Google looks at certain sites with more leniency depending on the subject matter?  Of course this is just speculation, but if that is the case, is that fair?

It seems like everyone is confused and caught in the vicious circle that is the ever-changing Google algorithm.  So what are you supposed to do to get your rankings back if you were affected by the penguin update?  The short answer is who knows.  It’s obviously time to go in and clean up your website, go out there and clean up your links, make sure you don’t have any spammy links pointing back to you, start creating fresh content, make sure you don’t have too many ads, and without a doubt make sure your business is on Google+.  Again these are guesses on my part and I have no idea if they will help you regain your rankings.

I believe it’s time to devise a strategy that doesn’t rely so heavily on Google, this way your not going to take a major hit or have to worry about a hit every time Google changes their algorithm.  Which seems to be very often these days, did you know there was a Panda update just 7 days before the Penguin came splashing through the web world?

How do you devise a plan that doesn’t rely on Google?  You can start with a solid e-mail marketing campaign; try to partner with other companies that will send e-mails on your behalf.  Look towards Google’s competitors such as Bing and new search engines such as Blekko or DuckDuckGo.  And please diversify your tactics; don’t just focus on one blog network or backlink building tool.  Use videos, social networks, e-mails, and guest blogging, all with good unique content.  The last thing I would say is to be patient, let Google work things out with their algorithm and your rankings might just come back naturally.

I know this blog seems a little schizophrenic, however that’s how I feel about Google right now.  I guess the good thing is that all of us so called SEO experts are on this rollercoaster ride together.  All we can do is hold on tight and wait for the big drop that hopefully never comes!

The post Life after the Google Penguin. appeared first on Clix.

Here is a letter that Google has recently been sending out:

Dear site owner or webmaster of (X website),

We’ve detected that some of your site’s pages may be using techniques that are outside Google’s Webmaster Guidelines. Specifically, look for possibly artificial or unnatural links pointing to your site that could be intended to manipulate PageRank. Examples of unnatural linking could include buying links to pass PageRank or participating in link schemes. We encourage you to make changes to your site so that it meets our quality guidelines. Once you’ve made these changes, please submit your site for reconsideration in Google’s search results.

If you find unnatural links to your site that you are unable to control or remove, please provide the details in your reconsideration request.

If you have any questions about how to resolve this issue, please see our Webmaster Help Forum for support.

Sincerely,

Google Search Quality Team

My initial questions are what does this mean?  What do I need to change?  What is going to happen to my website.  Oh and I am probably going to have a few expletives for Google.  After reading through the letter again, it becomes clear that Google is cracking down on manipulative SEO practices.  Google loves content and if your site has good content, then other sites or blogs will naturally want to have a link to your content.  The issue is that people are using unnatural link-building methods, such as using blog networks.  Basically this is using a network of blogs that are usually unreadable and have unrelated topics, simply to create anchor-text links back to your website.  These blogs seem to be public enemy #1 to Google at the moment.  Again I see this as a good thing.

Google says they are trying to make their GoogleBot smarter, they want to penalize those that abuse it, and want to reward those sites that have great content.  So what can you do to make sure your site is ready for the changes that Google is in the process of making?  Here are some basic things to make sure your site is ready.

Create good content.  This has been and most likely always will be important, we have all heard it before and I’ll say it again “content is king”.  Create well-written unique content that is relevant and users will find valuable.  Add your own photographs, this will help with SEO and it will help engage your users.  Another thing to think about are videos, because users love to watch videos and Google loves videos as well.

Your site also needs to go social.  Your site needs to have a presence on social media, and an authoritative presence is even better.  It’s good to be visible and interact with users on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube at the least.  Pinterest is also becoming important in the social media world.  This will all take time and effort, however it is very important, because it’s where the conversation is happening.  Again you need good content here that will engage your users, this way they share your content and it will help you see rankings in Google.

Obviously link building is still very important, however it has to be done on the up and up.  Sites that use “black hat” techniques such as the blog networks will be penalized.  However, if your site is creating good well-written content, which your users will benefit from, you will gain links naturally from your users.  Again content is king and building relationships with other web-masters in your niche will help you get these natural links.

Lastly make sure your site and social networks create some sort of positive user experience.  As most of us know search engines follow people, this seems to be proven in most cases.  You can get users to your site several different ways, including social media campaigns, press releases, offline marketing, and many other techniques.  If you can get users to your site and interact, you will see a positive impact from the search engines.

So make a site that is useful, interesting, compelling, and relevant, and people will naturally interact, stay on your site longer and have an overall increased user experience.  Once this happens everything else should fall into place for your site.

In the end this is why I believe that, much like all of the Facebook changes, the changes Google are making to its algorithm will have a positive impact on everyone’s search experience, and it will force site owners and SEO experts to create better websites with great content.  Eventually people will forget what it used to be like, just like they do with the Facebook Changes.

The post Google SEO Evolution appeared first on Clix.

MLB:

With the start of the 2012 season, MLB announced its new social media strategy. Beginning with a Twitter hashtag giveaway (#MLBTVme), MLB dove headfirst into their new plan. In 2012, all Major League teams (including the St. Louis Cardinals) have been given Tumblr and Pinterest accounts. This effort to expand builds on the Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ accounts that were previously used.

In addition to an increased web presence, MLB has decided to employ real-time correspondents to provide on the ground coverage of the team and fans during games. The staff will be present at each ballpark interviewing players and fans, posting photos, and updating as the games progress. Keep an eye out for the social media correspondents when the Cards open Busch Stadium next week!

Tumblr:

The Cardinal’s have yet to post to their new MLB mandated Tumblr account, but it would be safe to assume that as the season gets underway and the team returns to Busch Stadium more content will start to surface.

Pinterest:

“Pinning is winning” so it seems natural for the 2011 World Series Champions to have a Pinterest account. The social media site is perfect for pictures and merchandise. After a quick search I discovered that there are a lot of people pinning Cardinals items, so hopefully the organization can harness that fan base and create boards that St. Louis wants to see.

Cardinals:

The social media presence of the Cardinals is well managed. Currently, the birds are the fourth most liked team in the National League. The team Facebook includes team updates, ticket specials, behind-the-scenes photos, and information about non-baseball events. Personally, I find the Cardinals to be a well-managed brand on Facebook. They follow the rules of posting relevant content and keeping the audience engaged. Of course, being the World Series champs probably helps too.

The Cardinals will make their attempt to snag #12in12 this year. If last year showed St. Louis fans anything, it’s that baseball is unpredictable. Having the most reliable sources can make the difference between winning and losing in some cases. Remember this announcement from a FOX affiliate in Dallas?

With such a strong social media strategy, you can get your Cardinal’s news straight from the team and avoid any potentially upsetting misinformation.

The post St. Louis Cardinals Baseball- Stay Involved With Social Media appeared first on Clix.

Social media is changing the way that we receive news as a society, and it amplifies reactions to cases that would not have received such attention in its absence.

The Old Media:

Let’s be honest, my parents aren’t exactly social media savvy. Actually, they have no clue what social media really does. My mom can’t even open a word document on her own, much less log in to a website (I still love you, Mom). For people in this situation, news comes in traditional formats. We’re talking newspapers, magazines, and the local news programs. In that kind of communication, there is a single sender (the media) and the receiver (the audience). The message flow is omni-directional and the audience takes a passive role.
When watching the news or reading the paper, the audience gets the “unbiased” opinion of a given station and is not invited to offer their own comment. Ok, you could call the station or write a letter to the editor, but honestly, it’s not a very productive system. There isn’t a lot of audience feedback here, and public opinion remains muted.

The New Media:

It’s not a secret that I’m a fan of social media. I think it’s a great sharing tool and awesome for promotional purposes. When you get your news solely through social media such as Facebook or Twitter it is important, however, to consider the source. The advantage of algorithms and sharing information with friends is that you are automatically directed to searches that relate to your interests or concerns. This is a double edged sword, because you are directed to issues or events that relate to your passions and those issues are presented in a format loaded with the opinions of the people you consider to have valuable views. Users can comment on a post or story when they share it, and you, the viewer, are hit with the opinion before you have a chance to read the facts and form your own decision.

Example: If I’m scrolling through my news feed and I see a friend has posted a story with the comment “This is a crazy example of XYZ!” I’m predisposed to take that person’s opinion in mind when I read the article for myself, regardless of the actual implications of the facts. I consider myself to be an educated person, and I still value the opinions of my friends.

Public Opinion:

The catch with this new social media news distribution is that it projects the opinions of a few onto the masses and creates the court of public opinion. The projection of opinion occurs through the “liking” of statuses, re tweets, and reposting information with commentary. In sharing the information, you are unwittingly sharing the opinion of the previous poster. Not something you always want.

Social media has also created the court of public opinion and projected it on a global scale. Everything from political events, protests, and criminal trials are massively distributed.

Making a Change:

Social media is the future of news and information sharing, but it will be up to the public to develop the ability to evaluate the quality of content and opinions of their friends. When commenting and sharing news stories it is helpful to focus on the factual information.

The post The Social Media News appeared first on Clix.

Overloading the Audience:

There is a balance that must be achieved by companies who do not want to drive away audience members as a result of SEO efforts. The number of posts per day a brand submits to social sites such as Facebook and Twitter can affect how the audience interacts with the brand. Facebook is primarily a friend sharing social tool. Users who “like” brand pages are showing support for the brand, but unlikely to want to see posts lining up in news feeds multiple times each day. Users who feel their feed is being overrun will unlike a brand or hide brand content. Neither of these reactions is ideal.

Twitter is a different avenue and allows brands more freedom to post multiple times per day. As a result of the constant flow of tweets and the likelihood that users review their entire Twitter feeds, it is a good idea to repost content to capture more users. Those who saw it the first time probably won’t see it the second time: it’s the nature of the media.

Knowing your audience and their level of engagement can help regulate the number of posts a brand projects. If users are participating actively multiple times per day, providing more content is suitable. If users are engaged in the morning and ignoring evening posts it would be advisable to remove evening posting schedules.

Reducing Content Quality:

Content is King in the world of SEO and social media. Users want to see that their time and support of a brand has not been wasted. Providing good content is a key element of developing an active social audience and improving search engine rankings. Over-optimization can cause the quality to decrease and disengage the audience. Overloading content with keywords and improper grammar is a red flag to the audience. No one wants to support a brand that doesn’t understand spellcheck or the basics of writing.

Obvious Marketing Efforts:

Obvious marketing efforts are one of the fastest ways to drive away an audience. The primary culprit in this avenue is currently the social media darling, Pinterest. As brands look for a way to incorporate Pinterest for SEO efforts many are too clearly promoting product sales and driving away potential follows and pins. Users view social media as a conversational haven, not a place where marketers will target them. It is up to the brands to be smart and develop keywords and captions that don’t appear to be sales pitches.

Over-optimization is a problem in the current social media climate. Finding the balance between engaging an audience and driving them away is tricky and should not be taken lightly. As a St. Louis SEO company, we know it is up to the brands to understand the population and its reaction to advertising and promotional posts. Accounting for the wants and needs of the audience can prevent over-optimization and keep your conversation relevant.

The post Is Over-Optimization Killing Your Social Potential? appeared first on Clix.

So why has the most shared video of 2012 completely gone against conventional wisdom?  KONY 2012 is 29 minutes long and isn’t funny at all, yet it has been seen more than any other video so far this year, at last count it was viewed 73,999,551 times since being uploaded on March 5^th.  It has also been shared more than 7.6 million times on Facebook and embedded in more than 6,200 blogs.  There have been nearly 5,000 news sources that have written about “KONY 2012”.

There is a recent study that was done by the University of South Australia.  The study identified the emotions that are most likely to be shared across the social web.  They found that most videos are amusing or boring, and most of them don’t go viral.  They found that videos, which evoke marked physiological responses, such as laughter, anger, crying, or shock are most likely to be shared.  So if you laugh or cry, you are more likely to share than if you smile or frown.  Videos that evoke positive emotions such as exhilaration, hilarity, astonishment, happiness, and inspiration are more likely to be shared than negative emotions such as anger, disgust, sadness, shock or frustration.

What does this mean for video marketers?  Knowing the emotions that people respond to and are most likely to share is a great indicator of how to make content in the future.  One lesson learned is that laughter is not the only way to get people to share your video, although hilarity is easily the most likely emotion to get your video shared.

The “KONY 2012” video shows us that the stronger the emotion, the more likely a video will get shared.  This says pick the emotion you are aiming for and then crank it up.  Being positive is a much safer bet when doing this as anger can lead to users becoming irritated and cause a backlash.

Of course this data doesn’t tell the full story, there can be things happening offline, the possibility of you having used the product before, and if the video is being promoted in one way or another.  Also you might find a video hilarious that I find disgusting or vice versa.  The main takeaway is we never know which video will catch on, however the stronger the emotion that video evokes, the more likely it will be shared.  Humor is no longer the only factor when making a viral video.

Here is the “KONY 2012” video in case you haven’t seen it and a funny marketing video about shaving.

KONY 2012

DollarShaveClub.com

Which one do you like more, is one more effective than the other?  Tell us what you think, how can this affect SEO, or Social Media?

The post Viral videos are changing marketing tactics. appeared first on Clix.