So what does this have to do with social media marketing?Successful execution of a social media strategy requires an understanding of your target audience and creatively influencing their behavior. This has less to do with who they are than what they do and understanding their behavior online over time.

You must ask yourself two important questions.

What Are They Searching For?

Searcher behavior and keywords must act as a cheat sheet. There are many tools that businesses can use to uncover this information, such as:

• Google Analytics: To give you insights into what drives traffic to your website.
• Adwords: A deeper look into actual search terms.
• Google Trends: To give you insights into trending keyword themes.

Insights from these tools can help marketers develop more comprehensive keyword lists, better optimize paid search campaigns and achieve greater value from search engine optimization initiatives.

What Are They Saying?

Social media presents us with an always-accessible group of consumers who have experienced your brand or product and have something to say about it. It is absolutely crucial to monitor the conversation around your brand and to engage with your target.

Great tools that help you listen to your target audience include:

• Google Alerts: E-mail updates that are sent to you for whatever keyword or phrase you want.
• Twitter Search: Use this to track real time news and discover trends with hashtags.
• Hootsuite: The ultimate Twitter toolbox – save searches into tabs to monitor keywords and phrases.

Understanding what people are saying and how they perceive you is crucial to developing your online marketing strategy.

This may impact your overall goals and you may find out that you need to change perception or choose new keywords.

Finding out what your audience wants and needs is challenging, but when you take the time to understand your audience and use that knowledge to create relevant content that grabs people’s attention, you will inspire them to connect and engage with your business.

Are you engaging and delighting your audience? Find out today and request information about the Social Audit.

Contributed by Molly Casperson

Instagram is a new platform, but it must be added to your business’ growing collection of social media accounts.

The basics:

Instagram is a free photo sharing application that allows users to take photos, apply a filter, and share it through Instagram or a variety of other social networking services. The application reached 5 million members in just 8 months, and more than 100 million photos have been shared.

• 1 million: The number of accounts on Jan 1, 2011
• 15+ million: The number of accounts on Jan 1, 2012
• 51,600+: The most likes on a single photo

The importance:

Instagram’s impressive growth gives us a glimpse at the future of social media. As addiction to mobile grows, more consumers will adapt to new technology and Internet devices. The web will become even easier to access on mobile devices than on computers. Ease and convenience in sharing content is becoming the focus of social media and social networking. The door to new marketing opportunities will soon be opened.

World leaders now utilize social media and applications, such as Instagram, create an even playing field for any registered user. Sharing and connecting with individuals across the world has never been easier.

Do you have an Instagram account? What do you think the growth of Instagram means to social media? Please share your thoughts!

“The best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear.”

So let me ask you this: How are you using social media to be heard? It’s remarkable that Buddy the Elf manages a Twitter account and a Facebook page all the way from the North Pole. So what is the secret to an “Internet Celebrity” such as himself?

“Buddy the Elf” has mastered 3 important components that lend themselves to social media success. Here are simple recommendations to build an identifiable and popular brand online:

Branding – Buddy built a unique brand and identity.

• Dare to be different
• Be consistent in uniform
• Gain brand association

Audience – Buddy knows his target audience.

• Build trust from the consumers that matter
• Ask questions — “What’s your favorite color?”
• Give compliments (a virtual “smiling is my favorite.”)

Determination – Although Buddy failed at creating toys, he set out to spread the spirit of Christmas in new ways.

• Experiment with social media channels until you find the right fit
• If you truly believe in your brand, you’ll never give up on it
• Stay positive

“Buddy” may be a fictional character, but he has somehow managed to stay buzzing across all social media channels. What have you learned from holiday social media? How do you extend your brand online? Let us know your thoughts.

Contributed by Molly Casperson