Successful Social Media Story: Zaggora

Zaggora is a fantastic example of building whole marketing strategy around social media.

And did they succeed? You bet!  500,000 products sold & 90 jobs created in 18 months!

Zaggora

The Founder of Zaggora, Dessi Bell started a  company that sells HotPants. These hotpants are not just another pants for the gym. Zaggora pants are made to raise women’s metabolism rate during exercise and help women sweat more and lose fat faster.

Using just twitter marketing since launching their website, the company has had 2,600 visits, over 2,500 facebook ‘likes’ and over 1,000 women who have signed up to be brand Ambassadors. On their Facebook fanpage, some women have even threatened to assault the postman to get them and they have received tweets like ‘I’m so excited, I could peeeee’. A presentation they uploaded to Slideshare has had over 6,500 unique ‘views’. And all this in just 2 weeks after the launch!

Zaggora are being really smart with their social media activities. Starting with their Ambassadors programme they are turning customers into brand ambassadors. Each ambassador gets a special code number. With each generated sale an ambassador will earn $7 and the buyer gets 10% discount.

They are asking customers, to share their experience with zaggora hot pants, send pictures, send stories to be shared on facebook and twitter.

Today they have 356,978 likes on Facebook and 29,616 followers on Twitter.

They also have a great video encouraging customers to tell them what they LOVE!

They also have a blog dedicated to all women called Zaggoragirl.com with loads of tips on healthy food and living, workouts from trainers and ideas on how and where to wear the hotpants! They claim that if you wear them for 30mins three times a week while doing your housework it equals to the time spend at the gym!

To no surprise Zaggora was awarded with The eCommerce Strategy of the Year award in 2012!

Use hashtags to boost your content virally on Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram

 

I found this great infographic by Social Media Buddy that I would like to share with you.

It explains the importance and benefits of using hashtags on Twitter.

You should be using at least 2 hashtags in each post.

Another 2 social platforms I would like to point out are Pinterest and Instagram. The use of hashtags on these networks can totally change the game and get you exposure and leads you are after.

So after publishing this blog I will share it on twitter as follows: Hashtags are a must on Twitter! #twitter #hashtags #socialmedia #bestpractise

Twitter Hashtags

 

 

 

 

 

 

Optimize your SEO efforts

We are hearing about importance of search engine optimization for a good number of years and by now we all know that SEO is crucial for a successful business.

Today I was reading a guide from Hubspot SEO experts with some great tips on how to optimize your efforts, what is right to do and what is wrong and what must be done to improve the SERP (search engine result page) ranking.

SEO is divided into 2 main areas of efforts:

1/ on -page SEO

2/ off-page SEO

On-page SEO is only 25% of what actually impacts your spot in SERP. 75% is off-page SEO which includes usage of right keywords in content you create, link-building, social search etc.

1/ ON-PAGE SEO

When it comes to on-page SEO the most important element here are KEYWORDS.

Keywords you use in your content to describe services or products you are offering are the words people search for in search engines like Google, Bing or Yahoo.

You should have a list of at least 10 keywords that identify your business and create content around these keywords. You should keep in mind your buying persona (your typical customer) and know what keywords to use for your on-page SEO.

The old way of using keywords was to use same words in the page title, url, meta description, heading etc. Stay away from repetitive keywords and try to use long tail key-phrases or variations of the words.

There are 3 main on-page SEO efforts:

A: Meta tags

Meta tags are part of HTML code (you need an HTML literate person to help you here) and include title tags, meta description and keyword tag. Title tags are first to crawl by search engines and shouldn’t be longer than 77 characters. Meta description is a description – you know those two first lines you can see in your search results under the title? – that is meta description and it shouldn’t be longer that 160 characters.

B: Content

Content is critical component for crawlers. For the crawl to recognize if the page is relevant for your search it should be longer than 100 words.

C: Localization

Physical address and localization also helps to determine relevancy and authority of your online business. Use Google places for example.

2/ OFF-PAGE SEO

Off-page SEO helps to build trust, reputation and authority. Off-page SEO includes all those elements outside of your website.

In the past it was about how many links are linking to your website. Today is not only about quantity of those links, but also about the quality of links that are linking to your website.

A: LINK-BUILDING

What do I mean by link-building? You want other websites, web pages etc to either mention your website as a hyperlink or use the url of your website in any other way on their website. That is link-building. Link from some else’s website to your website.

Create unique content for your target audience that someone else find as a great resource and link to it. Your content is more likely to be shared if it will:

a/ answer a question

b/ solve a problem

How to create content?

• Company blog – write a blog and share white papers, useful information or how-to blog posts with your audience
• Visual content – create videos or images that are educational, funny or simply unique and relevant
• Guest blogging – find bloggers that are willing to blog on your website or become a guest blogger for other websites

B: SOCIAL MEDIA

Social Media is a big part of your SEO efforts.

You have to make sure you are using it right.

LINK SEO WITH YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA

Have all social media plug-ins on your website to make it easier for your visitors to share the content.

CONNECT WITH INFLUENCERS

Think of industry influencer and bloggers as employees. They will talk about you and your company and share their experience with their audience. 92% customers believe their friends and family member opinion more than any marketing campaign! People trust people.

USE GOOGLE+ page and FACEBOOK PAGE

Have you hear about social search? Google will basically prioritize results according to your social connections on Google +. What have you liked, or shared, who are you connected to etc.

Facebook is becoming a new search engine. Just think how many times did you search for a person, place or a thing on facebook?

CONCLUSION

To make the most of your SEO efforts you have to follow these 4 steps:

1. work on your on-site SEO. Create content on your website around keywords people search related to your business.

2. Build social presence and include social media plug-ins on your website and blog.

3. Prepare content plan – who will be preparing the content, what will the content be about.

4. Share this content and make it easy for others to share it.

If you have any questions related to SEO or social media please feel free to email me on pavlim@live.com

Is Social Media dead?

The way it’s been used today yes. Let me explain why.

People and the way  they decide what and where to  buy has changed.
I found a presentation on Slideshare that I would like to share with you. It explains how the behavior of people has changed.

There are 3 most important changes we should keep in mind:

• attention span dropped down from 12 mins to 5 seconds in the last 7 years – what does that mean? You have exactly 5 seconds to get the attention of your potential customer. If you have no relationship with your customer how on earth do you want grab his/her attention in 5 seconds flat?
• traditional purchasing model – STIMULATION – FIRST MOMENT OF TRUTH (at the shop) – SECOND MOMENT OF TRUTH (own experience with the product at home) has changed! People research before they even get out of their house and decide to go and buy the product. Are you familiar with the Zero Moment of Truth? Are you providing your potential customers with relevant information to help them decide whether to purchase your product or not? They are looking for that information online – on their laptop, on their phone or ipad.
• we are living in the world of information – too much information. You can call it noise. Are you just another contributor to the “noise” or are you giving your customers something that they are actually looking for? Something they actually want to find, read and learn from?You have to be there and ready to serve 24/7.

Now have a look at the presentation.

Do you know what CONTENT MARKETING means? Do you understand why having a blog, sharing relevant and valuable content is extremely important? If you don’t, now is the right time to start thinking of your content marketing strategy big time.

Content Marketing is everything about blogging, webinars, video content, images and podcasting. If you have a great facebook page, twitter account and linkedin profile but the content you share is not making any noise you are wasting your time and energy.

If you share content you are building your audience. You engage with your audience. You get feedback and you improve and keep on engaging more and more individuals. When you try to  promote your next awesome campaign, you have a virtual relationship with your audience. You have a much higher probability of getting an attention of your customers.

Put yourself in your customers’ shoes. Create content that helps them solve a problem. Don’t try to sell a product.

Are you a health service company? Blog about healthy living and balance in life.

Are you an agent in  tourism? Blog about places you have been to and share your own experience and images.

Be transparent.

CREATE (content). SHARE AND ENGAGE (with your audience). The rest is plain sailing

 

Best Social Media Campaign

This morning I woke and had a look at my INSTAGRAM feed from my bed in Malta.

I went through about 30 images in 1-2minutes and I found an image of Rihanna lying in her bed with  her comment  ”missing my nigga” and another image of a well-known fashion PR agency (www.feverla.com) owner Vale Micchetti and her picture with Pharrell in Miami. Rihanna has 3.5 milion followers and the image below got 102k+ likes in 4 hours. Isn’t that amazing?

Instagram

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TIP: Social media gives you an incredible opportunity to connect with your audience on a personal level and they can get in touch with you  on a Sunday morning from their home. Use it to your advantage!

 

I am working on a social media strategy for a health service to be launched mid of next year 2013 and I was searching for the best social media campaigns for some ideas. This is my favorite.

DUMB WAYS TO DIE

I found a video created by a public transport authority in Melbourne, Australia, aimed at raising awareness about railway safety. The video was published on 14th November 2012 and since then (less than a month) it got more than 32 milion views on YOUTUBE. Thats a very good viral campiagn.

Why is this campaign so successful?

I agree with Vivienne Egan and her thoughts. It’s aimed at teenagers and teenagers don’t want to be told what to do; they’re also not that keen on being emotionally manipulated. There’s no preaching in this campaign, it’s colourful and kitschy, not bleak and bloodied. The song is catchy, it’s  not personal, we don’t know how old are those jelly-bean people or what gender or what race they are. Are they rich, poor, educated? Who knows? Who cares? Stupid behaviour doesn’t discriminate, so this ad doesn’t single out any particular demographic.

The video and the downloadable track are just two components in this campaign, there’s a separate Tumblr and interactive site.

Will it work?

Behaviour change is a hard thing to market; it’s not an easily measurable target – there is no conversion rate, and only time will tell if it is effective. However, in labelling train accidents ‘dumb’ instead of tragic, this campaign taps into an important principle for behaviour change marketing, and that is that peer pressure and shame can make people change their habits. No-one wants to be thought of as dumb.

How Social Media Impacts SEO

As a social media enthusiast I keep myself up to date with all social media latest news.

I recommend to anyone interested in social media ( every marketer out there should have a certain knowledge in social media) to follow the guys of Hubspot. They produce and provide a great content.

I recently joined a crash course on  How Social Media Impacts SEO

Its a 3 minute short video explaining how social media can help you rank higher in google search results.

These are 3 main tips you should take with you:

1. Create and share original, valuable content. Reviews by your customers are a great source for an offsite SEO. Make sure you have a profile on  Foursquare and Google+ local.

2. Link your blog and all of your posts to your Google+ account – its called Authorship – it enables your image to show next to your content in search results. You will guarantee a higher click-through-rate. And it looks more trustworthy. Here is how to do it: http://blog.kissmetrics.com/google-authorship/

3. Build relationships by interacting and sharing your blog posts. Its not about the content only. You have to make sure that your content is shared with and by the right people.

You can watch the video with tips from Rebecca Churt, the HubSpot’s SEO Manager, and Darin “Doc” Berntson, the Social Media Manager at SEO.com here:  http://offers.hubspot.com/seo-crash-course

THE POWER OF SOCIAL MEDIA

 
About me
I just can’t get enough of the power of social media.

Have you ever thought of how much time do you spend on facebook? How many videos do you watch everyday on YouTube? Do you listen to music on SoundCloud?

I do, and a lot. I don’t watch TV. I don’t listen to the radio and I don’t by any newspaper. I get all the news from social media. I talk to my 55 year old mum on facebook. I know exactly where my friends are and what are they doing.

Hurricane SANDY

What really fascinated me was the news about SANDY hurricane in New York. I was really curios and typed #sandy in my Instagram feed. I could see hundreds of images taken by real people of New York and power of sandy in real time. Isn’t that amazing? Read more about it here

The way of receiving news and staying in touch really changed and will keep on changing. Why do people LIKE pages on facebook? Or follow brands or public figures on Twitter? It’s simple. They want to know what’s happening asap. Social media brings speed to receiving news.

You LIKE or follow pages you want to receive news from. There is no need to buy a newspaper full of information you don’t care about just because you want to know what’s happening in sports. You follow or LIKE your preferred club or player and you are happy. Social media delivers more specific information and news you actually want to receive.

How long would it take you to connect with an social media expert living in Texas 3 years ago? Well, after googling a company, then trying to get a contact details, then sending an email and then waiting for a reply that might never come, I would say a good week or 2.. Today? Less than hour. Social media is a fantastic platform for connecting with the RIGHT people in a very short time. Did it happen to you that a person doesn’t reply to your email but if you approach him/her on facebook or linkedin you get a reply? Its happens to me very often. Especially in marketing industry, every connection counts.

Just to sum it up, there are 3 massive pluses with social media with regards to delivering your message to the right people you should keep in mind when coming up with a campaign for your brand or products:

1. being present on social media you have a bigger chance your message will reach the end customer faster than the traditional way of communication

2. if they LIKE or follow you, they want to hear from you. Don’t expect a miracle if you are not talking and listening to them and their needs.

3. connecting with the right people  – saves time, money for petrol, phone calls and coffees and you have a smaller probability you are wasting your time.

Example: I was asked to source contributors for an online knowledge base. I was given a list or pre-defined contributors and expected to get in touch with each person (around 50), set up a meeting with this person, explain to the person and get a reply and a date of delivery. Right, I did that. I also posted a message in 3 different groups related to the subject on linkedin that I am looking for contributors. After 2 weeks the result was this. I managed to meet 10 people, explain and got nowhere. From the message I posted on linkedin I got 2 contributors that already sent the contributions that are up in the knowledge base coming from 2 different countries and 2 different continents.

There is an incredible power in social media. If you know how to use it right, you can make miracles.