Social Media and Content Marketing

So you want to get your company into the social media arena, but you don't know where to start or exactly why to start. No worries. Here are some basics that will help you decide what to do, and how much to do it.

Commerce on Social Media?

If you haven't taken a look, you may not know that there is very little purchasing of goods and services happening on social media. If this is the case, why should you even bother creating accounts and taking the time to create posts for your company? Social Media is great for the following reasons:

1. It helps to build your online Brand Community.
2. Social Media Drives Traffic to your site.

Traffic refers to how many people are visiting your site. Your brand community refers to the people who are familiar with and interested in your products or services. Enhancing these two things has the potential to help increase the number of purchases you achieve from your company's personal Website.

Content Marketing

An important thing social media does in order to accomplish the two goals listed above, is create platforms for you to share more content with your potential customers. Social media allows both you and the customer to interact in different ways than you would be able to through just your company's website. The more reliable, fresh content you can provide to your target audience, the greater trust they will gain in your company's desire and ability to help them meet their needs.

Which Platform to Choose?

Different platforms of social media are good for different types of content. You will want to do a little research to see which one best matches your capabilities and needs. Start with the basics. Check out how facebook, twitter, and instagram can help you in your quest to reach more people.

Facebook Business Basics, Marketing with Twitter, Instagram for Business

SEO Basics for Beginners

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. If you are new to building a website you may have some of these questions:
What is SEO? Why does everyone talk about SEO? How can SEO help me? What do I do?
Don't worry. With these 3 basic steps you will be on the right track.

Ever wonder how Google decides which websites should show up first when you perform a search for a certain keyword? It is all about SEO.
Implementing SEO will help your website to move up in ranking on the search engine results page (SER) for keywords that will help lead people to your site.

Keywords for SEO
Before you can optimize your page for a certain keyword, you must decide which keywords to use.
This will require some research. Visit a page like http://www.keywordspy.com/. The best words to target at first will be words with high search volume and low competition--pick battles you can win.
There are things you can do directly on your site or off of your site to increase your rankings for the keywords you choose.

Basic Onsite SEO
Start by focusing on one to three keywords per page of your site. Use these words throughout the page; e.g., in your URL, the headings, and throughout the text. Make sure not to sound like a robot. Vary your words by making the keywords plural or adding in synonyms. This will help the search engines know what your page is all about.

Basic Offsite SEO
Work on building links to your website. This can be a little tricky because who links to you is not totally in your control. There are things you can do to help get links. Quality links will help you rank higher. Don't fall for offers for tons of spam links--this can push back your ranking. The best way to get links is to make a quality page worth linking to. For more tips visit pointblankseo.com/link-building-strategies.

We hope this very basic tutorial on SEO will start your climb to the top of SER pages. Happy searching!

Get Higher Ranking for Wordpress Sites, Simple SEO, Benjamin Beck, SEO Video Tutorial

Boost Your Resume? Experts Tell How

This past Friday, our class was invited to participate in a panel discussion with experts in the field of online marketing. Established professionals who have worked for various companies such as: Facebook, Pinterest, Amazon, Microsoft, WordPerfect gave us advice on how we can better prepare and market ourselves to potential employers and start a meaningful career.

One remarked that, most often, when employers come to recruit college students they do not expect them to already know how to do the work that will be required in said position. Students would do well to show essential competencies and an ability to learn. When people are hired based upon sole skill set, those skills quickly become obsolete.

But what does this mean? How do you show an employer that you are competent and an able learner?
The question was posed: "What competencies should I be developing now?" The panel suggested developing competencies in leadership, being analytical, problem solving, and self initiative. Experience will help. Surround yourself with smart people and learn from every situation--the good and the bad. Internships are vital to help you understand what jobs you would really like to pursue, and to help employers see what you are capable of. A panel member advised students to include what they accomplished as either an intern or employee at a job. He told us that everyone can show experience, but showing what you did with that experience will put you ahead of the game.

Another aspect of the discussion focused on where to start your career with comments focusing on advantages of working for a startup vs an established business. Most of the panel seemed to side with starting with a big name. This gives lends to credibility on a resume and surrounds you with very experienced people to learn from. There are many competencies and skills that you will develop and then can translate into other positions. A solid foundation will better prepare you to succeed in following opportunities.

Hope from the panel:
No matter what happens, remember that a career is long. Always set goals for the future, and learn what you need to in order to make it there. Evaluate your position. If your job is changing every few years--e.g., you are advancing your scope of responsibility--you are on the right path.

Internet Marketing As A Career, How To Prepare For A Career In Internet Marketing: A Guide For Students