Tuesday, 10 January 2017
Monday, 9 January 2017
#SproutChat Recap: Maintaining a CRM via Social Media
For businesses big and small, a CRM is an essential tool for a sales team to keep track of the conversations they’re having with prospective and current customers. Social media isn’t any different. Social media managers in particular need to keep track of who they are interacting with across multiple social channels.
Maintaining a social media CRM is vital for ensuring customer retention and quantifying social ROI. Last week at #SproutChat, we discussed tips and tricks for referencing past conversations within Sprout and dug deep into understanding the value of a social CRM and how it can help your organization reach its 2017 goals.
Keep Track of Conversations
Remembering key details from past interactions helps build credibility as a brand and acts as a solid foundation for any authentic relationship. Use a tool or create an internal system that allows you to keep track of previous touch-points and interactions with your community members.
A1: For 1:1 communications, I use @SproutSocial which has all my social interactions right there when I'm responding. #SproutChat https://t.co/4gZISI04m1
— Erika Heald (@SFerika) January 4, 2017
A1: We use @SproutSocial to keep everything straight. #SproutChat
— Jessie Brown (@jbrownsocial) January 4, 2017
A1 I hold quarterly meetings with my Community Champions – top members who share the lion's share of the information #sproutchat
— Toby Metcalf (@Toby_Metcalf) January 4, 2017
A1: Personally, I engage with them daily! Share their content, participate in conversations & practice social listening #SproutChat
— Grace Mclaughlin (@grace_mclau) January 4, 2017
Show Your Customers You Care
Though it may sound obvious, practicing good listening and responding on social is a must for maintaining a good relationship with your brand loyalists. With the assistance of insight around past conversations, social media managers can provide better support, show a more human side of the brand they represent and connect on a 1:1 level.
A2: Answer specific questions you've been asked, engage! Also: give away FREE stuff 😉#sproutchat https://t.co/MYXO01up39
— ThinkSEM (@ThinkSEM) January 4, 2017
A2: Responding to comments, asking for their feedback on products/services, hosting UGC campaigns. So many options! #sproutchat
— Recovery Brands (@RecoveryBrands) January 4, 2017
A2: ALWAYS engage in a real way, true to brand – whether through direct mentions or social listening. #SproutChat https://t.co/55eCYusCrk
— Erin Fox (@erinfoxe) January 4, 2017
A2: Engage with your followers. And offer to help out if you see they are having a problem that you can help with. #SproutChat
— Cathy Iconis (@CathyIconis) January 4, 2017
A2b if they find a mistake or something we give them props for it. "Hey good catch @nameofpersonhere! We'll be more careful." #sproutchat
— Michelle (@michelletweet) January 4, 2017
Surprise & Delight, FTW
Keep your customers happy and engaged by surprising them with swag items or fun GIFs. Your community will be excited to receive something out of the ordinary, even if it is of nominal value. Work with your team to ensure the brand voice behind these efforts is consistent and be prepared to receive great reactions and strengthened retention in return.
@SproutSocial A3: Give them shout-outs, share their pics, maybe even a product giveaway! #SproutChat
— Stephanie Zatyko (@ExperianDQSteph) January 4, 2017
A3: Free items. Share their work. Talk to them. #sproutchat
— Netvantage Marketing (@netvantage) January 4, 2017
A3: Be authentic & show they're valued! Dedicate a small portion of your day to your community. It can make all the difference #SproutChat
— Grace Mclaughlin (@grace_mclau) January 4, 2017
A3 Be thoughtful! From a well-chosen gif to sending surprise gifts. Customized, personal interactions. #SproutChat https://t.co/cqouBjnXmA
— Erin Fox (@erinfoxe) January 4, 2017
A3: quick and friendly responses, sharing their content, humor #sproutchat http://pic.twitter.com/gmfrbIgmBd
— Jessie Brown (@jbrownsocial) January 4, 2017
A3: A small gift never hurts! It's a simple way to show your appreciation for those in your community. #SproutChat
— Express Writers (@ExpWriters) January 4, 2017
Don’t Forget About Social Customer Care
Social media managers already know this but it’s worth repeating that social customer care is so hot right now. More and more customers are relying on social as the initial route to communicate with brands. Don’t get left behind by letting your customer’s questions go unanswered.
A5: Social has become the first line in customer service and with social comes visibility. People will read/see and remember. #SproutChat
— Mackenzie Murray (@Mack3nzieMurray) January 4, 2017
A5. That gives ur brand an opportunity to empower and lead the consumer to make great choices that are connected w/ your brand. #SproutChat
— Melissa Kimble (@Melissa_Kimble) January 4, 2017
A5: Right now, it's easy to make automate everything rather than creating a legitimately excellent experience for the customer. #sproutchat
— Venture Icon Media (@VentureIcon) January 4, 2017
A5: Being authentic both on and offline, is so important. By humanizing your brand, you're able to build lasting connections 💛 #sproutchat
— Recovery Brands (@RecoveryBrands) January 4, 2017
A5: People are more likely to do business with companies that listen to their customers and actually help them. #SproutChat
— Express Writers (@ExpWriters) January 4, 2017
Join us this week on Wednesday, January 11 to discuss social media trends for 2017. Until then, keep the conversation going with our community on Facebook.
This post #SproutChat Recap: Maintaining a CRM via Social Media originally appeared on Sprout Social.
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8 Expert-Approved Tips for Creating Your First Online Course
Have a passion and expertise? A course is for you!
- Have knowledge or expertise around a topic? Get asked questions from your audience that you find yourself addressing time and time again? Consider an email course!
- If you have lots of information to share, a course is an easily-digestible format.
- An online course let's you take a deeper dive into the common themes you address on your blog.
Email courses are a great way to get started.
- Email courses are a great way to hold people accountable. Who doesn't love a gentle nudge in their inbox to stay on track?
- If you already have an email service provider, an email course is a great way to host your course for little to no extra cost.
- The extra benefit of using email as your platform? You own that list, meaning you can tap into your audience for future courses and events.
Don't be afraid to charge for your course.
- Not sure how to price your course? Do some research to see what comparable courses are going for.
- There are so many factors that go into pricing your online course. Ask your audience for feedback!
- Free courses will see a lot of engagement, since there's little to no investment. But a true premium-quality course should be priced accordingly.
The structure of your course is up to you.
- Self-paced courses are great for a busy audience. It can also help make a really extensive concept seem a little more digestible.
- Test, test, test. You never know what format works best for you or your audience.
- One great tip? Take a course or two and pick up on the things you like/dislike. (Call it investigative research.)
- Repurpose your content by putting out smaller cuts of video or text. It's a great way to give a new audience a sneak peek into what they can expect.
Take notes from these popular courses.
- Does your course come with a certification component? Take a look at some of Hubspot's popular courses for ideas on how to structure your own.
- Hootsuite offers a variety of popular, free courses. Check out their strategy for promoting them, too!
- Skillshare and Lynda are giant databases of free and paid courses. It's a great way to see what others are charging for similar content.
Reach the right audience with social media.
- Email is one of the best ways to promote your course. It's an engaged audience that wants to hear from you!
- Take advantage of your social networks by promoting your course to your audience (and asking them to share, too!).
- If you're willing to invest, Facebook ads are great for targeting the RIGHT people.
Email is a great way to stay connected.
- Email is a great way to stay in touch post-course to keep people updated on any future course offerings or events.
- Try adding a Facebook or Slack group to the mix. It's perfect for enhancing the experience of your course and form lasting relationships with your audience.
What's next
Join us on Thursday, February 2 at 12pm ET for our next #EmailChat. We'll be joined by the folks at Buffer to talk about Using Social Media to Grow Your List. And be sure to sign up for our blog newsletter to make sure you never miss a chat. See you there! 👋🏼The post 8 Expert-Approved Tips for Creating Your First Online Course appeared first on Email Marketing Tips.
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Friday, 6 January 2017
Thursday, 5 January 2017
New in AWeber: Apps that Support Tagging
Lead generation forms
Tagging subscribers when they opt-in is a great way to deliver targeted content based on their preferences and where they were on your site. And now that your favorite list growth tools that provide dynamic forms, welcome mats, two-step opt-ins and A/B form testing can trigger automated campaigns, there are unlimited opportunities to create even better experiences for your audience.SumoMe
SumoMe is a suite of proven site-growing solutions to help you get more traffic, build a following and track your success every step of the way. We currently use SumoMe’s ListBuilder form to promote content on our blog – check it out:
ThriveLeads
Thrive Leads is a lead generation plugin for WordPress. It’s one of our more popular solutions for optimizing conversions on your WordPress site or blog. ThriveLeads has an impressive amount of form types to choose from, including a Content Lock that will allow you to gate content behind an opt-in.OptinMonster
OptinMonster offers powerful customer acquisition and lead generation software for marketers. They provide multiple types of sign up forms and offer the ability to split test forms. (We use OptinMonster, too!)Optin Cat
Built from the ground up for bloggers and content marketers, Optin Cat is a WordPress plugin that includes everything you need to grow your email list. Their Exit Intervention Feature, for example, displays a form as someone tries to leave your site.Wishloop
Wishloop provides a powerful suite of website conversion tools to help you engage your audience and grow your email list. In addition to forms, you can also build landing pages to greet and engage potential subscribers.Privy
Privy provides a robust set of features that allows you to fine-tune the targeting and triggering of your sign up forms. We had a blast talking about data and signup form optimization with Privy founder Ben Jabbawy on the AWeber podcast! Other popular options for tag-supporting list growth include Justuno, Sleeknote, Upscribe.Landing page and website builders
Pop-up forms are helpful, but sometimes your form is simply integrated into your landing page or site itself. These landing page and site builders now support tags, which will allow you to trigger dynamic automated campaigns based on a specific page or form.Unbounce
With Unbounce, you can build, launch and optimize custom landing pages for any campaign. They also recently released Convertibles, which are targeted overlays that are simple to create and implement on any web page, blog or online store.Beaver Builder
Beaver Builder is a drag-and-drop WordPress Page Builder that empowers you to easily build beautiful, responsive WordPress pages in minutes.Sweepstakes, quizzes, and contests
One of the quickest ways to grow your list is to host a contest or sweepstakes, or offer your audience a fun, interactive quiz. These popular apps now integrate with tags, which allows you to trigger automated campaigns as subscribers sign up for your contest.ViralSweep
Build and run sweepstakes and giveaways that you can implement into any website using ViralSweep. ViralSweep is an all-in-one solution that helps you grow your email list, increase social engagement and collect user-generated content.Riddle
With Riddle, you can grow your audience and learn more about them by creating engaging quizzes, polls and more. Riddle has a free Wordpress plug-in as well.Quiz Cat
Quiz Cat is a premium WordPress plugin that lets you build quizzes to get more traffic, social shares and email subscribers. Quiz Cat lets you ask users for an email address in order to see their results, making it a great list building tactic.eCommerce, SMS, and Membership Sites
Tagging support isn’t just limited to form builders, landing pages and quizzes. Check out these eCommerce platforms, SMS tools and membership sites that are compatible with AWeber’s automation platform.Shopify (via Combidesk)
If you are using Shopify, you can now tag subscribers using AWeber Connector by Combidesk. This is a perfect way to send contextual content based on a subscriber’s eCommerce behavior.ThriveCart
Not on Shopify? Check out ThriveCart, a fully-featured shopping cart platform that also supports tags.Call Loop
Combine your SMS and email marketing strategy using Call Loop, which now allows you to tag new subscribers.WishList Member
Need a membership site? WishList Member is an easy-to-use membership software solution that can turn any WordPress site into a full-blown membership site.Event-driven actions
If you want to send targeted, contextual emails to subscribers based on their behavior or specific events, it's possible when you use Campaigns with these great apps.OptimizePlayer
Want to know how your users are responding to your hosted videos? Check out OptimizePlayer, a simple video hosting platform with powerful digital marketing tools. With automation support via Campaigns and subscriber tagging, you can send your video viewers the right content at the right time based on their video watching behavior.AWtomator
With AWtomator, you can trigger emails based on event-driven actions like when a subscriber clicks a link, visits a specific page, stops engaging with your messages and more. AWtomator now uses tags to seamlessly integrate with Campaigns.How will you automate your emails?
Connecting a third-party app to your AWeber account is a great way to supercharge your email marketing. As the AWeber team continues its mission to providing easy-to-use email automation for entrepreneurs like you, we hope this support from our integrated partners empowers you to build an email marketing strategy that nurtures valuable relationships, connects you with new audiences and grows your business. Don’t see an integration listed? Let us know in the comments! Not an AWeber customer? Sign up for a free 30-day trial!The post New in AWeber: Apps that Support Tagging appeared first on Email Marketing Tips.
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