Online Marketing Solutions

Stir offers full-service Twitter marketing and advertising solutions. Below are the Twitter apps we use to develop Twitter marketing and advertising campaigns. Note: We can easily integrate Facebook marketing campaigns with Twitter campaigns.

Twitter Offers

This app enables world-class Twitter Contests, sweepstakes and giveaways allow users to add new followers and spread the word.

•     Custom landing page builder that uses your Twitter account image
•     Fan gating checkbox (participants must follow your account in order to join)
•     Auto-fill tweets for your new followers to send out
•     Auto-fill direct message for you to send to new followers (ie: links, thanks, promos)
•     Contest and campaign tweets and retweets tracking
•     Campaign countdown clock
•     Analytics and reporting

Twitter Viral App

This app provides a simple way to generate strong word-of-mouth advertising on Twitter about your campaign. Gain new followers and customers in the process.

•     Similar to Groupon – set the number of retweets needed to activate an offer
•     Supports online and in-store redemption – promos, links, coupons
•     Custom landing page builder that uses your Twitter account image
•     Contest and campaign tweets and retweets tracking
•     Campaign countdown clock
•     Analytics and reporting

Twitter Exclusive Offers

This app provides a simple way to reward Twitter followers by giving them access to exclusive offers, deals or content. Gain new followers and new customers.

•     Custom landing page builder that uses your Twitter account image
•     Supports online and in-store redemption – promos, links, coupons
•     Fan gating checkbox (participants must follow your account in order to join)
•     Contest and campaign tweets and retweets tracking
•     Campaign countdown clock
•     Real-time reporting

Twitter New Follower Incentives

This app allows you to “incentivize” new followers by giving them access to special offers and content. Send them automatic direct messages (thanks!) when they follow you.

•     Landing page to house the campaign  (optional)
•     Online redemption – upload unique promo codes for automatic distribution
•     Real-time analytics and reporting

Twitter Photo Contests (Facebook enabled)

Build buzz and engage fans by using this app that allows people to vote on other fans’ uploaded photos and content. Use natural Facebook behavior to drive awareness and viral participation.

•     Promote a photo contest in Twitter
•     Fan gating checkbox (participants must follow your account in order to join)
•     Set the number of times a fan can vote; allow voting for multiple entries
•     Organize entries and submissions into categories
•     Schedule submissions and voting windows
•     Real-time analytics and reporting

Twitter Video Contests (Facebook enabled)

Make friends and earn fans/followers by using this app that allows you to run fun contests that encourage Twitter/Facebook followers to share and vote on user-generated videos.

•     Promote a video contest on Twitter
•     App offers full video moderation and optional pre-screening capabilities
•     Fan gating checkbox (participants must like your page)
•     Schedule submissions and voting windows
•     Opt to accept photo entries in addition to video
•     Set the number of categories, and of times a fan can vote; allow voting for multiple entries
•     Real-time analytics and reporting

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).   

* * *  

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.

Do you participate in social media marketing as a way to grow your business and increase sales? If so, do you have a social media marketing strategy? Have you ever considered creating a social media marketing architecture? Do you know what “social media marketing architecture” means? If not, you’re not alone. 

Many businesses (even big ones who are actively marketing themselves through social media marketing channels) don’t. Which is a problem: All the time, energy, and money in the world spent on social media marketing won’t produce valuable results if it’s done in the absence of a solid plan and clear strategy (architecture).

A good social media marketing strategy (architecture) involves first deciding what your business’ goal is -- drive traffic to your corporate site? increase sales? gather new leads? lead conversion? more or better press? The next step is to decide who your audience is (your ideal customers/clients) and to figure out where they are online (what channels) and how best to reach them.With those things in mind (what you want, who you want it from, how you’re going to reach them, and how you’re going to motivate them to do what you want), dedicate some resources (time, staff, and budget; determined as part of your strategy creation) to those channels.

As you move forward, ensure that you stick to your plan (strategy) and have monitoring tools in place to that you can measure the efficacy of each effort (on each channel) and make changes to your architecture as needed. There are countless channels online today. Deciding which ones you’re going to work in (access) can be overwhelming. And depending on how they're used, combined, and leveraged can be the difference between quick and measureable success or wasted time and money. But this needn't be daunting; you don't need to reinvent the wheel. In fact, you can (and should) start small and simple: Choose the channel where most of the population (and, as such, probably a big cross-section of your audience) is already active!

That’s Facebook.

And whether or not you think Facebook is necessarily the right fit for your company or brand isn't really the point. If that's where your audience is, that's where you need to be -- interacting with them on their level and in the place most comfortable and convenient for them. (This can be a great testing ground too. From here, you can learn where else your audience is online.)

So, if you agree (you should) and decide that Facebook is one of the channels you'll explore, here are a few key things to consider:

Quality of conversations (and, ultimately, conversations) over content. That's not to say you don't have to post things that are relevant, timely, and of value to your audience, but getting them to interact with you in a meaningful way is definitely the most important factor.

Customer service is still paramount. You should treat your friends, fans, and followers as you would a real-live/real-time customer (in your store, for example). Customer service is as important here as anywhere else. In fact, perhaps it’s even more important, thanks to the speed at which news and views are shared online (read: like wildfire). Sentiment about your business can change in the blink of an eye. So following up with customers’ questions and concerns quickly is key.

Listen. Let friends, fan, and followers (your audience/customers) drive the conversation. Post/promote things you’re confident they’re interested in reading/receiving. Customers (like everyone) want to feel heard. 

Keep your corporate/brand identity in mind. Remember that even if you don't advertise or optimize your Facebook page, it's searchable. People will find it. So while it's totally appropriate to have a far less formal presence on Facebook than on your corporate website, and real-time interactions/conversations can be a bit harder to manage, make sure that your Facebook activity is in line with your corporate image/mandate, and that if people find your Facebook page before they find your corporate website (in a search for information about your business or your industry), they won't be mislead, misinformed, or turned off.

Twitter and YouTube are some of the other most popular social networking sites today -- though not nearly as popular as Facebook (Some sites indicate that as many as 50% of Americans, for example, are on Facebook, while as few as 13% are on Twitter (and 1% are on location-based sites like Foursquare and Gowalla).) Most importantly, whatever channel (site) you choose to pursue (there are literally hundreds and hundreds to consider), choose carefully. Choose to be active on sites where you know your audience is, and on sites that will encourage interaction and, ultimately, drive them to your corporate website (or your store or your service as the case may be). 

And make sure that you have the strategy/architecture/plan in place (the time, staff, and budget) to do it properly (read: frequently) -- to respond to activity (questions, concerns, and conversations) quickly, and that you have something meaningful to say and something valuable to impart. And remember: social networking through channels like these is about building your customer base (making friends, fans, and followers) and building brand loyalty (good-will). If you do it with the right attitude, the right plan, and the right goal, the result will be valuable word-of-mouth advertising that will increase sales, and customer loyalty that will keep sales growing. 

Stir Solutions offers analysis and consultation services so that you can develop an effective social media marketing strategy. Click here to learn more, and book your free, confidential 30-minute consultation today.

The Best Social Media Monitoring Tools for Tracking your Business, Service, Product, or Brand

 Social Media Marketing is the use of web-based and mobile Internet applications (or sites) like Twitter, Facebook, Youtube, and blogs by individuals, organizations, and businesses to market themselves -- to tell the world about their perspective, their mandate, their unique selling point, their services and their products, upcoming events, and news (campaigns). And it’s an inexpensive, fast, and far-reaching marketing tool for businesses.

But you can’t just tell people about yourself, your organization, or your company. You must actively listen to what they’re saying, analyze the response, and react to it in a proactive way.

That’s where Social Media Monitoring comes in.  Social Media Monitoring is the use of one of a variety of tools to gather and analyse that online conversation about you, your organization, or your company. Today there are a multitude of social media monitoring tools (of varying levels of quality) that will monitor the internet (social media sites), gather information,  and produce reports using which you can improve marketing tactics and increase sales. Below are some of the best Social Media Monitoring Tools available today.

Note: Choosing the right tool, analyzing the data it provides, and deciding how best to react to that data can be onerous, difficult, time-consuming, and costly. Working with an agency, like Stir Solutions, that specializes in Social Media Marketing and Monitoring will be a crucial component of your online marketing and monitoring effort. Stir Solutions will help to make the process of online marketing and monitoring easy, exciting, and effective.

Google Alerts
“Get the latest relevant Google results based on your choice of query or topic.”
Using the Google Alerts Monitoring Tool – which sends an email alert each time Google finds a new result – you can monitor a product, find out what’s being said about you or your company, and keep up with the news on a topic you’re interested in (like industry trends and competitor updates). Monitors webpages, newspaper articles and blogs and can accommodate up to1000 alerts at once.

Trackur
“Social Media Monitoring Tools Made Easy...with a money-back guarantee.”Trackur Social Media Monitoring was founded by online reputation management expert Andy Beal – widely considered the “the go-to-guy for reputation building, managing, and monitoring” – and offers powerful results through a userfriendly platform. Trackur offers several packages for different needs and promises users will “be up and running in less than 60-seconds”.

Lithium
“Social customers don't talk just to talk. They want to be heard.”
Lithium Social Media Monitoring monitors search-specific mentions and sentiment (whether online comments are positive or negative) on a variety of platforms including blog posts, Twitter, Facebook, and Flickr and presents the results in easy-to-read graphs and metrics. Current clients include Best Buy, Barnes & Noble, Disney Online, Motorola, Coca Cola, and Netflix.

Spredfast
“Ready to plan and execute your social media initiatives effectively?”
Spredfast Social Media Management is considered a full social media management, measurement and campaign tool with a user-friendly dashboard from which clients can manage, monitor, and react to online conversations from multiple networks. Clients include AOL, Nokia, and IBM among others.

Brandwatch
“A brand’s best friend. How are you listening to social media chatter?”
Brandwatch Social Media Monitoring’s tool monitors news, blogs, forums, wikis and social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook to provide clients with information about mentions of their company, brand, and/or product. Clients receive reports and brand summaries on which they can act. Clients include Aviva, CheapFlights, and The Body Shop.

Collective Intellect
“Our semantic technology pinpoints your customers preferences and considerations”.
Collective Intellect Real time Social Analytics is considered a “top-tier player” in the social media monitoring field, and combines self-serve dashboards and human analysis to provide comprehensive reports. CI’s tools are best suited to mid-size and large companies, and package pricing is scaled based on specific client needs and according to published reports. Clients include General Mills, NBC Universal, Pepsi, Walmart, and Hasbro.

Attensity360
“Listen, Analyze, Relate, and Act”
Attensity360 Customer Experience Management tool monitors trending topics, influencers, and “the reach of your brand” while recommending ways for your business to join the conversation and respond to customer needs and wants. Attensity360 uses text analytics to understand sentiment and to uncover trends. Clients include Whirlpool, Vodofone,TMobile, and Oracle.

Spiral16
“Go beyond social media monitoring.”
Sprial16’s Monitoring Software focuses on gathering and analysing “who is saying what about a company, brand, or product” in comparison to competitions. Spiral16 promises to help monitor social media strategy success while effectively sourcing and analyzing extensive data. Spiral16 works with companies (like Toyota, Lee, and Cadbury) to tailor plans that fit their budgets.

Sysomos’ Heartbeat
“...redefining social media analytics.”
Sysomos’ Heartbeat Social Media Monitoring Dashboard is a “real-time monitoring and measurement tool” that provides frequently updated synopses of social media conversations related to your company, product or brand in a variety of reports and graphics aimed at helping you find ways to engage in that conversation. Clients include IBM, HSBC, and Shell Oil.

Crimson Hexagon
“Know what the online conversation really means.”
Crimson Hexagon Social Media Monitoring and Analysis popular and reliable tools mine and analyze vast amounts of data and turn it into “actionable data for better brand understanding and improvement”. Clients include CNN, Hanes,AT&T, HP, Johnson & Johnson, Mashable, Microsoft, Monster, AdWeek, Thomson Reuters, Rubbermaid, Sybase, the Huffington Post, A&E, the Wall Street Journal.

Alterian SM2
“Are you ready to engage?”
Alterian SM2 Engagement Management & Analytics’ tools track and monitor conversations about a person, product, or company on blogs, forums, social networks, video- and photo-sharing sites, and Craigslist and provides easy-to-use and interpret reports. Clients include Rosetta, Pursuit, and YouCast.

Radian6
“Provides organizations with a platform to listen, discover, measure and engage.”
Radian6 Social Media Monitoring and Engagement helps business owners “listen to what’s being said about them” online and determine the best responses through a monitoring dashboard that tracks mentions on more than 100 million social media sites. Reports and summaries help clients respond to data, and a comprehensive dashboard allows for updates to various social media platforms all at once. Clients include Adobe, Cirque de Soleil, Red Cross, and Microsoft.

To find out which tool will best suit your needs and help you to reach your business goals, contact one of the Social Media Marketing and Monitoring Experts at Stir Solutions today.

 

Related Reading:
Social Media Marketing for Business

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 free 30 minute phone consultation or give us a call at 604-847-3447. Read testimonials from past clients.

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