Best Online Marketing Practices For A 'Bionic' Business: Part I

[Editor's note: This is the first installment in a series of three blog posts.]For those of you who are Gen Xers or Baby Boomers, you'll probably remember a popular TV show from the 70's called The Six Million Dollar Man.The lead character was Steve Austin, also known as the 'bionic man,' as he had abilities to do things at an exceptional level, compared to other people.Well, the following are real-life questions I've received from readers, subscribers, clients and colleagues. Little useful nuggets of information and best Internet marketing practices—all to help make your business 'bionic'—that is—better, stronger, faster. Today's best practices focus on online press releases and social media marketing. Enjoy!Question: When it comes to online press releases, I know that PRWeb.com has been the defacto standard. However, I just came across another one that appears to offer a very well-rounded option called: www.prleap.com. Have you heard of them? What do you use/recommend?Answer: I try to use 'free' online press distribution services whenever possible. PRLeap used to be free, now they charge a nominal fee. They do, however, get good listings on the search engine results pages (SERPs). But if you don't have a budget for press distribution and you're looking for top notch free sites, check out www.i-newswire.com, www.prlog.org, and www.free-press-release.com. I use these all the time. Another great paid press release distribution service is, PRWeb.com. They provided added distribution to traditional media outlets, publication and periodical websites. Online PR is great tactic to increase your website's visibility for SEO and traffic generation.Question: What are some tips for getting the best results with online PR? Answer: With online PR, the most important things are creating a newsworthy release which is keyword dense. It should also contain useful information for your target audience as well as media and bloggers. Releases that do well with pick up are usually about a company milestone, contrarian viewpoint, trend or forecast, important statistical data, launch of something (product, book, website) and similar information. The headline and sub-headline should have your top 5 keywords. In addition, your keywords should be sprinkled throughout the body of the release. There should always be a link to the longer version, which should be housed on your website in a 'Press Room' or 'News' section. And of course, there should be an 'About' portion of the release containing information or bio on the focus of the release. Having a call to action in the bio section is another great way to drive readers back to your site. For instance, having a 'For more information or to sign up for our free enewsletter, click here now'.Question: Can social marketing efforts be measured?Answer: Yes, they sure can. Even better, the tools are all free and based off of good old fashioned direct response and public relations metrics—the 3 O's-outputs, outcomes and objectives. The tools are all free and based off of the 3 O's: Outputs measure effectiveness and efficiency. For our example, I'd look at Google Analytics for spikes in traffic and ezine sign ups the days following social media efforts. Outcomes measure behavioral changes. For example, for this metric, I'd look at customer feedback... emails, phone calls, or website comments following social marketing efforts, and 'likes' or 'shares' on posted articles. Relevant Google Alert results. Objectives measures business objectives and sales. For example: The most obvious and directly related metric is direct sales of the product that are tied to the editorial that may be linked to your social marketing efforts. For each of the above, I would compare the current campaign data versus the year-to-date (YTD) average and year-over-year data to clearly illustrate pre- and post- campaign performance. Question: Do I need to market my social media accounts? Won't people find me with the right keywords. Answer: Not really. You DO need to market your social media accounts. Sure the right keywords in your account profile and bio page will help, but think of your social marketing efforts as an extension of your brand and implement 'social marketing branding'. Remember to include your social media account profile name, link, or icon in most everything you do: Email auto signature Ezine issues RSS Feeds Website home page Business cards PowerPoint Presentation cover page, footers and end slide Press releases Cross-market on other social sites

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Best Online Marketing Practices For A 'Bionic' Business: Part I

Wendy Montes de Oca

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