February 06, 2013

How to Use Valentine's Day for Social Media Marketing

February 06, 2013/ Andrew Macarthy

Valentine's Day is just around the corner, and while many people view the ocassion as an over-hyped, over-commercialised cash-in for big brands (probably true), that doesn't mean they don't go along with it! And for social media and content marketing, the provides a great opportunity to give your profiles an overhaul and pump out some powerful related content to help grow brand loyalty and increase sales. Here are just a few examples of how to use Valentine's Day for social media marketing:

1. Update Your Facebook Cover Image

Giving your Faceboook cover a Valentine's makeover is a simple and powerful way of promoting the event to your fans, particularly if the product you offer - as in the case of Hotel Chocolat above - is heavily linked to the day. As many people will click on your new cover image for a closer look, don't forget to include a description, call to action, and a link to where you want them to go, e.g. your Valentine's online shop.

2. Update Your Twitter Header Image and Background

Walmart has amassed over 300,000 followers on Twitter, and it knows - with its love heart-themed Twitter background and header image, that it can communicate a powerful message about its Valentine's offerings to them. There's no hard sell with the images, but take a closer look what their Bio has been changed to: "Save Money, Live Better. Let us help with your Valentine’s Day needs. Tweet @Walmart for inspiring gifts ideas for your sweetheart this Valentine’s season!" Not only will this call to action be seen by Twitter users, but it also appears underneath Walmart's Twitter page description on Google search.

3. Share Images, Offers, and Promotions

Of course, Valentine's Day can also be used as a way to directly market to your customers via status updates across social media. In my case, 500 Social Media Marketing Tips is hardly the most romantic of gifts, so I've gone for a very playful approach. With a bit of creativity, you can capitalise on the impact of Valentine's Day whatever your business type. For example, a company that sells printer ink could launch a Valentine's Day offer for X% amount off Product X because they love their customers so much, or a pet store could remind people not to forget about the four-legged friends in their life that deserve a little Valentine's Day treat too.

Conclusion

These examples are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to hopping on the Valentine's Day bandwagon to help customers to love your brand more, or tell them how much their love and support means to you. How will you be using Valentine's Day in your social media marketing? Let me know in the comments below!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Andrew Macarthy is author of 500 Social Media Marketing Tips, the #1 Amazon Kindle Bestseller:

Buy 500 Social Media Marketing Tips
Amazon US: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007L50HE6
Amazon UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B007L50HE6

Follow Me:
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January 02, 2013

How I Increased My YouTube Subscriber Rate by 97% in One Month

January 02, 2013/ Andrew Macarthy

At the beginning of November, I started an experiment with YouTube's Invideo Programming feature. By turning the interactive watermark into a call to action that appeared throughout the entirety of all my videos (it reads "FREE Social Media Tutorials"), I wanted to see if it had a positive impact on the rate that I attracted new subscribers. After just 7 days, my net gain of new subscribers had jumped by over 100 per cent, from 10 in the week before Invideo Programming was added to 23 the week after.

It's now been a full two months since the experiment started, and now I have the data to compare the whole of November to the whole of December. And the results are still really promising!

In November 2012, I gained 40 subscribers and lost 4, giving me a net gain of 36. Not bad, not bad.

Now here's December, and wow! I gained 73 new subscribers, lost just two, giving me a net gain of 71 new subscribers - that's an extra 35 people and a 97 per cent increase over November!

As I mentioned last time around, these figures can be influenced by several factors, including subscribers gained on new videos during the test period, as well as those gained on old videos in the same length of time. However, this rise in subscribers is considerably more than I have seen since I started posting videos on YouTube in the spring of 2012.

I'll keep you posted on how things develop into 2013!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Andrew Macarthy is author of 500 Social Media Marketing Tips, the #1 Amazon Kindle Bestseller:

Buy 500 Social Media Marketing Tips
Amazon US: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007L50HE6
Amazon UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B007L50HE6

Follow Me:
http://www.fa cebook.com/500socialmediatips/
https://pinterest.com/500socialmedia/
http://www.twitter.com/500socialmedia/
http://www.youtube.com/500socialmediatips

December 10, 2012

Can YouTube InVideo Programming Increase Subscribers? Early Signs Point to Yes!

December 10, 2012/ Andrew Macarthy

YouTube's Invideo Programming is a relatively new feature that allows users to overlay a linked 'watermark' on their videos. When clicked by a viewer, it takes them to the video maker's channel page. The idea is that Invideo Programming will help to drive more subscribers and views, and keep people engaged with your content. By default, the watermarked image is your account's avatar, but crucially YouTube allows you to switch this out with any image you want.

As the screengrabs from my subscriber statistics show, in the full 7 days before Invideo Programming was added to my content (November 22 to November 29, 2012), I gained a net total of 10 new subscribers. In the week after Invideo Programming was added (November 30 to December 7, 2012), the net total gain in subscribers had risen to 23 - more than double the week before!

Admittedly, this is early days and there are a variety of factors that could have influenced a rise or gain in subscribers (new videos posted during the period I measured, old videos promoting new subscribers, luck, etc.), but the initial signs are very promising. I'll return to this topic again when I have a month to measure either side of adding InVideo Programming to see if the benefits hold up.

Have you added Invideo Programming to your YouTube videos? Have they made a difference to your subscribers or views?

Andrew Macarthy is author of 500 Social Media Marketing Tips, the #1 Amazon Kindle Bestseller:

Buy 500 Social Media Marketing Tips
Amazon US: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007L50HE6
Amazon UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B007L50HE6

Follow Me:
http://www.fa cebook.com/500socialmediatips/
https://pinterest.com/500socialmedia/
http://www.twitter.com/500socialmedia/
http://www.youtube.com/500socialmediatips
www.andrewmacarthy.com

Social Media Tips, Social Media Marketing Tutorials | Andrew Macarthy

1. Update Your Facebook Cover Image

2. Update Your Twitter Header Image and Background

3. Share Images, Offers, and Promotions

Conclusion

How I Increased My YouTube Subscriber Rate by 97% in One Month

Andrew Macarthy - Social Media Marketing