LionShark Digital Marketing Blog

5 Reasons Why I Hate Social Media Conferences (and 1 Reason Why I Love Them)

6/30/2015

Social media conferences can be really exciting! They’re typically chocked full of the industry’s most recognizable names, the shiniest and newest technology, hordes of social zealots, and plenty of time to mingle over fancy beverages. But when you strip away the glitz and glamour and have a look at what you can actually take away from social media conferences/conventions, do they measure up to the hype?

Let’s take a look at some places where social media conferences fall short (and how you can overcome these shortcomings) and where they excel:

11 Blog Comments that’ll get Flagged as Spam

6/25/2015

Leaving comments on blogs is still an effective way to develop professional connections, increase your community presence, and direct traffic to your own blog or website. But spammers also love using the comments section of blogs to promote products/services gratuitously and sprinkle referral links shamelessly. If you’re not careful, your well-intentioned comments could be marked as spam. To avoid wasting your time, stay away from these clichéd spammer tactics:

Remodeling your AdWords Account

6/23/2015

I watch a lot of home design and remodeling shows and what I’ve learned is that there are a few tricks of trade that the pros use when making over a room or an entire home. These techniques are designed to make the biggest impact while taking into account time, budget, and space constraints.

An AdWords account is the house for your paid search efforts on Google, which means that you can use the same approach when it comes to updating and improving it. These 5 tips will help you remodel your PPC account so that it can achieve top-notch performance:

Getting Maximum Value Out of Pricey Industry Conferences

6/18/2015

Industry-specific conferences can be really beneficial to attend because they expose you to new ideas and perspectives, reveal the latest technologies, let you geek out with people who actually understand what it is that you do, and give you a break from the typical office day-to-day.

However, over the last few years conference registration prices have climbed to previously unheard of heights. (Heck, SXSW Interactive is up to $1,300 this year!) Once you add travel expenses, meals, and accommodations to a pricey registration pass, the cost can become difficult for a business to afford - especially a small business. The result is that most companies have cut back on the number of employees they’re willing to send to conferences and other education opportunities.

If you still want to be allowed to attend your favorite conferences, you’ll have to prove to your employer that they’ll get a solid return on their investment. Knowing how you intend on getting the most out of a conference will show your boss that you have a plan and will remain focused on doing what you’re being sent to do.

So how do you get the maximum value out of your next conference? Follow these 4 fail-proof steps:

Why We Love Memes and Why It Matters for Your Business

6/16/2015

Credit: quickmeme.com

Chances are, you’ve seen and shared a meme before. Actually, chances are that you’ve seen and shared a meme this month, this week, and maybe even earlier today. Memes get passed via email, posted to social media profiles, sent via instant message or text and shared by a simple pivot of a laptop screen. But have you ever stopped to ask yourself why? How did memes get their start and why do they remain so popular today?

Memes made their debut in the early 2000’s and were quickly spread with the rising popularity of Facebook, which allowed people to easily share them with their social networks. Once memes started to gain traction, free meme generators began to pop up, making it easy for anyone to create a meme without any sort of photo editing software or design skillset required. The rest was history. Now businesses make memes to market their products, gain brand awareness, and drive traffic to their sites.

So why do we love memes so much and what can your business learn from their widespread popularity? There are 3 very important takeaways:

Customer Service for the Modern Era

6/11/2015

Customer service has evolved perhaps faster than any other facet of business in the modern era. Back in the day businesses would set up a toll-free phone number, create an email inbox for customers with inquiries, and hire a team of customer service reps and call it day. People called in and waited on hold to cheesy music for a while if they had a question or a problem or sent an email and waited for a response. Nowadays businesses have stepped up their customer service efforts with live chat, social media accounts, and apps for every phone operating system available. Customer expectations have changed and business support methodologies have evolved to meet these expectations. So what does your customer service need in this modern era? These 4 tips will help your new business or growing business win at the game of customer service:

Getting Around Trademark Restrictions in Advertising

6/9/2015

I want to preface this article by saying that this advice is not intended to be used to aid people selling trademarked products illegally or counterfeit products. This is meant to provide tips for people that are trying to do any of the following:

Making a comparison between a company and its competitors for the purpose of explaining a value proposition (ex. “Our widget lasts 5 years longer than Company ABC’s widget!”)
Using a well-known product or technology to serve as an audience’s point of reference for a new invention or innovation (ex. “Love Product XYZ, but hate that it’s so loud? Check out our revolutionary new product that’s 50 times quieter!”)
Leveraging the popularity of brands that a retailer is selling (ex. “We sell the hottest apparel from Awesome Company #1, Awesome Company #2, and Awesome Company #3 – check us out now!”)

So let’s say you fall into one of those categories but the company name or product name that you want to use in your PPC advertising is trademarked. Do you have to completely throw your marketing plan in the trash? No way! All you need to do is go back to the drawing board and figure out a way over the hurdles of trademark restrictions. Here are the best ways that we’ve found to do just that:

Compare without Naming Names
“Longer battery life than other brands!”
“Most comprehensive warranty available!”
“Tired of overpaying for your membership every month? Switch now!”

You don’t have to mention a specific competitor to make a comparison. Referencing the industry standard or the industry as a whole is often just as good. In fact, it can even be better because companies that try to go toe-to-toe with their competitors can sometimes come off as slimy or aggressive. This direct comparison strategy can also give the less informed segments of your audience ideas of what other companies they should be looking into as they conduct their research – leading them away from your business.

Describe your way Around the Restrictions
“Standard display features with lightning fast performance!”
“Say goodbye to one-size-fits-all! Comes in 4 sizes and 25 colors that you’ll love!”
“All the features you already love plus everything you’ve been asking for!”
“The most accurate fitness band available!”
“Why wait for buffering on your device?”

Referencing an actual product is the easiest way to clue your target audience into what you’re selling, but it’s certainly not the only way. You can use non-trademarked terms that are well-known or you can just describe how your product differs from the average product in its class.

Talk About what you Sell (minus the Specifics)
“All of the top brands!”
“Over 20 of the hottest brands!”
“The biggest names in sports apparel!”

If you stock a bunch of name brands, you want people to know that. However, many big brands have very strict regulations about how you can use their names in your advertising. If your hands are tied when it comes to advertising (or you just don’t want to risk walking the regulations tightrope) you can always forgo mentioning the brands you carry specifically and make generalizations instead.

Hopefully you have a better idea now of how to hurdle over your advertising constraints when it comes to trademarked names. If you’d like some specific advice for your company, products or services, give us a call! We’d be happy to help!

Kate Pierce is the owner of LionShark Digital Marketing LLC, a West Michigan internet marketing company. Her areas of expertise include Paid Search, Search Engine Optimization, Social Media, Web Consulting for small businesses, Copywriting and Local Online Marketing. She lives in the Grand Rapids area with her husband and enjoys cooking, watching sports and spending time outdoors. Like a true digital marketing expert (i.e. geek), she loves talking about marketing theory and SEM trends… so don’t say you weren’t warned!

The Single Best Concentration Technique of All-Time

6/4/2015

Projects are stacking up, you have a million emails to respond to, and your upcoming deadlines are looming. How do you concentrate enough to get it all done in time? Well, I’ll tell you! There’s a fail-proof technique that you can use to concentrate on schoolwork, work work, or anything else that needs your full attention.

Copywriting Do’s and Don’ts

6/2/2015

Copywriting is critical to the success of any website or marketing campaign, but conveying the right message in the right way can feel like a daunting task if you don’t love writing (and, sometimes, even when you do). But don’t fret!

Writing great copy involves following a map of what to do and what not to do with all of your communications.

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