Online Marketing Solutions

This month Stir’s CEO Brent Purves provided insights on Social Media Marketing best practices to the Financial Post for a Canadian business case study called “Focused Messaging: Social media helps us stand out in a noisy new market with many competitors” (Denise Deveau, Financial Post, Mar. 5, 2012).   

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Excerpt: "When considering a social media strategy to build buzz around a new business, it's easy to go wrong if you don't follow some best practices. Hear are some basic things to consider when targeting a niche market: 

Stay engaged with customers. "Anyone who downloads our product or is even remotely interested gets one-to-one support," says Andi Wilson of MyVoice. "Follow up with anyone who talks to you, and remain active on your feeds. Spend every day searching out people, groups, keywords and hash tags that could bring people to your community." 

Make good use of search terms. For MyVoice, that meant understanding the vernacular of the speech language pathology community among other words (e.g. #SIpeeps - a term for speech language pathologists or #AAC - augmentative and alternative communication). 

Use multiple forms of social media. Link videos, photos and tutorials to your site. Add this type of content to Facebook and Twitter to create a richer experience. Don't forget to tweet new posts. 

Be aware. The more you follow people and access their posts, the more posts will appear in your home feed. Make the most of your connections with big users. 

Keep it going and current. "Don't start unless you have a plan in place or you might bite off more than you can chew," says Brent Purves of Stir Media. Post items daily, then listen and engage. "Wait for opportunities to join conversations rather than just pushing information out," he advises.  

[And] use analytics to track conversations, time spent in conversations, pathways, etc. Don't discount negative feedback Use those comments as opportunities to directly answer questions or concerns."  

Click here to read the full article. 

Click here to contact Stir today to discuss social media marketing for your business. 

Stir is a full service internet marketing  and web solutions agency. We provide marketing and communications strategy and consulting specializing in internet marketing, social media and business web solutions.

In today’s competitive business landscape, being “on top” when people search for businesses like yours using search engines like Google is critical. 86% of online searches in Canada are performed using Google, and research consistently proves that “the top listing gets the most attention” (capturecommerce.com). 

In fact, one study showed that “the top spot drove 34.35% of all traffic in the sample, almost as much as the numbers 2 through 5 slots combined, and more than the numbers 5 through 20 (the end of page 2) put together...The biggest jump, percentage-wise, is from the top of page 2 to the bottom of page 1.  Going from the 11th spot to 10th sees a 143% jump in traffic...As you go up the top page, the raw jumps get bigger and bigger, culminating in that desired top position” (insights.chitika.com). 

The Value of Google Result Positioning 

Excerpt: “How much is the top spot on Google actually worth? According to data from the Chitika network, it’s worth a ton – double the traffic of the #2 spot, to be precise. In order to find out the [real]...we looked at a sample of traffic coming into our advertising network from Google and broke it down by Google results placement. The top spot drove 34.35% of all traffic in the sample, almost as much as the numbers 2 through 5 slots combined, and more than the numbers 5 through 20 (the end of page 2) put together...”

Fig. 1 “Percent of Traffic by Google Result”

Getting that top spot in search engine results pages involves Search Engine Optimization (SEO). SEO is the process of creating or modifying a website and its content for the purpose of improving its visibility to search engines (and therefore its ranking on search results pages). SEO includes a combination of internal and external (on-page and off-page (ie: behind-the-scenes)) strategies like:  

URL structures; keyword/keyphrase research and implementation; site design; HTML; site navigation; link quality; menu items; title tags, metatags, and meta descriptions; navigation; directory and search engine submissions, and content writing. And, recently, social media marketing went from being an important aspect of SEO to a crucial one.  

Achieving that “top spot status in Google requires working with the confines of Google’s algorithm. (Definition, Algorithm: “A step-by-step procedure for solving a problem or accomplishing some end especially by a computer” (www.merriam-webster.com). In the case of Google search results, it means “how Google uses the search criteria you enter to find the best, most appropriate results”.   

In the early days of Google, understanding and working with algorithms was something only the most experienced web programmers and internet (SEO) experts could do. Today, Google’s algorithm is much more refined, and there are now some clear industry standards to help those of us who aren’t experienced programmers, SEOs, and Google engineers to compete. 

Remember, though, that at the end of the day, your website (or business’ online content) should serve human visitors before search engines. Again, make your site’s design and content interesting, valuable, timely, and accessible. Avoid tricks intended to improve search engine rankings (Google is smart enough today to tell when you’re stuffing content with keywords willy-nilly or participating in link schemes designed to increase ranking.) And ask Stir for a free copy of our “SEO 101: A Beginner’s Guide...” to help you get started. 

  Next Steps

At the beginning of 2012, Google launched “Search Plus Your World” -- a change to the way the search engine performs that promises to make internet search more personalized than ever.

“Google Search has always been about finding the best results for you. Sometimes that means results from the public web, but sometimes it means your personal content or things shared with you by people you care about. These wonderful people and this rich personal content is currently missing from your search experience. Search is still limited to a universe of webpages created publicly, mostly by people you’ve never met. Today, we’re changing that by bringing your world, rich with people and information, into search” (Google Blog). 

This development follows the launch last year of Google+ -- Google’s own social network that turns the whole search engine into one giant social network, and makes connecting online more like connecting in the real world. Now, your personal Google+ platform will be integrated with Google Search. 

That means that when you perform a search, not only will Google search the world wide web for results, it’ll search your Google+ world -- drawing on content from inside your Google+ social network for incredibly personalized results. Exciting? Sure. But it changes Search Engine Optimization (SEO) quite a bit.

Up until recently, Social Media was an important part of any good Internet Marketing and Search Engine Optimization (SEO) campaign. Now, with the launch of Search Plus Your World, it’s an absolute essential.

“Since Google is the most influential search engine and they are clearly integrating and favouring results coming from people’s Google+ circles, this becomes the most important social outlet to focus on from a SEO-Social perspective. No more ignoring it” (www.agent-seo.com).

In that sentiment, all of Stir’s comprehensive and customizable SEO packages include Social Media Marketing, Management, and Engagement -- that’s including (but not limited to) Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, and (of course!) Google+. So, Search Plus Your World has changed how your SEO agency will have to think about and incorporate Social Media. What else? Keyword/keyphrase usage (both on- and off-page) and link-building (among other aspects of SEO) will have to be approached quite differently. In reality, you need an expert now more than ever. 

Further, during these early days, some people have expressed concern about security and privacy now that personal content is going to show up in search results. Google assures us that we needn’t worry:

“Unprecedented security, transparency and control -- When it comes to security and privacy, we set a high bar for Search plus Your World. Since some of the information you’ll now find in search results, including Google+ posts and private photos, is already secured by SSL encryption on Google+, we have decided that the results page should also have the same level of security and privacy protection. That's part of why we were the first major search engine to turn on search via SSL by default for signed-in users last year. This means when you’re signed in to Google, your search results—including your private content—are protected by the same high standards of encryption as your messages in Gmail” (Google Blog).

These developments might seem scary for businesses just trying to get a feel for social media and search engine optimization. But they shouldn’t. The internet is always changing, and -- once we all get our head’s around this new search style -- the results will be exciting. And Stir is here to help. 

We’re Google experts and are looking forward to helping your business make use of these new steps. Book your internet marketing consultation now. 

• Click here to learn more about Google+
• Click here to learn more about Google and Search Engine Optimization

You’re not alone!

Today, most business owners understand the importance of internet and social media marketing for success and financial growth. But, as one survey indicated, “Social Media Marketing is so new and so different that many companies, large and small, locked in a traditional mindset, simply do not know how to use it”. 

That being the case, the most savvy business owners partner with experienced professionals to navigate the rapidly changing and consistently confusing world of social media marketing on their behalf. 

Stir Communications Group is an internet and social media marketing company in Vancouver, BC and, since 2002, we’ve helped countless clients like you to build their brands, beat the competition, boost their sales online.Stir tailors specific communications, web, and marketing strategies around each client’s unique needs, budget and objectives. We are committed to excellence in communicating with clients and consistent in creating positive results for clients. 

Choosing to partner with Stir Solutions for your business’ internet marketing campaigns and projects can make the sometimes difficult task of getting started (or gaining momentum) in internet marketing easy, educational, and fun!

To learn more about Social Media Marketing and Stir’s Social Media Marketing Services, click here. Or call Stir (1-866-899-7847) to book your social media marketing consultation with one of Stir’s Internet Marketing Experts.

Don’t trust your next internet marketing project to just any consultant. Whether you need a search engine marketing, pay per click or email marketing campaign, Stir's experienced Internet marketing consultants are available to help your company achieve its online marketing strategic planning, implementation, tracking & reporting goals.

Stir's Internet Marketing Consultants:

• offer strategic consultation services for commercial and nonprofit organizations in Canada, USA and around the world

• advise on marketing planning, Pay Per Click Marketing, Search Engine Optimization, Search Engine Marketing, Social Media Marketing, Viral Marketing, Video Marketing, Email marketing and more.

• offer consulting services to Business to Business (B2B) and Business to Consumer (B2C) companies of all sizes and industries.

• can bring your organization up to date with the latest and most effective internet marketing tools and strategies.

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Whether you're looking for help getting started in Facebook and Twitter, want to increase your social media buzz or presence, promote a product or special on Groupon, Foursquare, Yelp or Gowalla, start and email marketing campaign, develop landing pages, increase your online conversion rates, increase your company website ranking in Google, generate more online leads, or simply speak to a digital media consultant about your ideas or questions about promoting your business, products or services online contact us today for a consultation or give us a call at 604-847-3447. Read testimonials from past clients.

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We offer our strategic marketing and web development services to companies that can benefit the most from our internet marketing strategies. Click here to schedule an initial consultation for your company. Or click here to submit a request for proposal.

Located in beautiful Vancouver British Columbia Canada, Stir is a full service Internet marketing & web strategy company