Success

7 Reasons Why You Need To Schedule Facebook Posts

July 21, 2014 by Marc Guberti 4 Comments

When Facebook decided to allow people to schedule posts directly on Facebook’s site, the social media world went crazy. Being able to schedule posts on Facebook’s site meant you no longer needed to use an app like HootSuite to get the job done (HootSuite is still good for most of the other social networks). However, there are not many people who are utilizing Facebook’s scheduling feature. Some people only send posts at the moment, and some of these posts get sent when few people are paying attention to them. Scheduling Facebook posts is super important, and here are seven reasons why that is true.

You can post on Facebook without being on Facebook. Are you going on a family road trip and can’t get access to your computer for the entire day? No problem. You can schedule Facebook posts the night before the road trip so people still get your Facebook posts while you are on the road trip.
You can be more strategic with your posts. This is the part when Facebook insights become very useful. You can use their statistics to see when most of your fans are on Facebook. That means you can send your Facebook posts during the times that most of your fan base will see them.
Your Facebook Page will get more likes. The more posts you send out, the more chances you have of someone clicking the like button. Most of the people who like one of your posts will also like your Facebook Page.
Your Facebook posts will get more engagement. If you are scheduling Facebook posts on a daily basis, people will realize you are active. Some of the people who realize you are active will check your Facebook Page every day for new posts. In addition, by sending out more posts, you also get more chances of someone liking, commenting on, or sharing one of your posts.
You have more time to think before you write. In a world filled with rushing and impatience, some people will rush a Facebook post and write a typo. As you are scheduling your Facebook post, you will have some time to look at what you wrote. That way, you will have a better chances of picking up typos.
You get to learn about what works. If you send out enough Facebook posts, you will learn what resonates well with your audience. Then, you can focus on sending out content that resonates with your audience. As your Facebook posts get hundreds of likes, people will want to learn more about how you got to this stage (maybe through a consultation session).
More people get to see your Facebook posts. One of the worst things Facebook did was preventing most of your fans from seeing your posts. Less than 20% of your fans will see your Facebook post. If you have 10 fans, then only two of those fans saw your post. Bummer, right? If you schedule enough Facebook posts throughout the day, you will be able to account for most, or if you get really lucky, all of your fans. That way, more than 20% of your audience gets to see at least one of your posts. Then, some of the people who liked the post they saw will visit your Facebook Page and like the other posts as well.

Scheduling Facebook posts eliminates the requirement of being on Facebook in order to post on Facebook. Implementing these methods will allow you to be more active on Facebook and grow your audience at the same time! What are your thoughts on these methods? Do you have any additional reasons why you schedule Facebook posts? Please share your thoughts and advice below.

5 Ways To Get More Returning Customers

July 20, 2014 by Marc Guberti Leave a Comment

Customers

For the typical brand, 90% of the sales it gets is from returning customers. In the remaining 10%, 9% of the sales come from satisfied customers who told others about you (word of mouth marketing) while the final 1% are completely new. With these statistics in mind, the key to a brand’s success is not getting more customers. Instead, getting more returning customers is what allows a brand to become successful. This is the part when brands and entrepreneurs ask how this can happen to them. Here are five tips to help you pull it off.

Create a stay in touch checklist. Is there a customer who really enjoys your brand or comes back? Put that person on a stay in touch checklist. Frequently send emails to that person and interact with that person on your social networks. It is also important to interact in a way that builds a strong connection. Don’t suddenly show up to the people on this stay in touch checklist when you come out with a new product. The connection needs to be strengthened well before the new product comes out.
Get people to subscribe to your blog. Someone who is subscribed to your blog will be more likely to buy one of your products than someone who is not subscribed to your blog. Subscribers see you often in their inbox, and being seen often creates a level of trust. This level of trust combined with valuable content will be sufficient to make people want to buy your products.
Get people to follow you on your social networks. The bigger your social media audience is, the more people will want to join that audience. We have a natural tendency to join the things that are popular. In addition to growing your audience, social media encourages word of mouth and engagement. You will be able to talk with the customers who have already bought your products. Some of my book reviews are only there because I asked my followers who bought my book if they could leave a quick review.
Have your wow factors in place. Your wow factors give your potential customers a reason to buy from you and a reason for customers to come back. Your wow factors are credentials that make people marvel at what you have done. If you do not have any wow factors, then you need to go get some.
Host giveaways, sweepstakes, and discounts. If you can give some of your customers a free prize, those customers will share it with their friends. Word of mouth will allow your message to spread and make the 9% of the customer pie larger. In addition, your product will get some extra exposure, and some of the people who did not win the sweepstakes or get the giveaway award will end up buying the product anyway. In addition to hosting giveaways and sweepstakes, you need to have discounts in place. Lowering the price of your product will result in a higher volume of sales, and some of the customers who already bought one of your products will get attracted by the discount.

If you are able to master the process of getting returning customers, then your brand will thrive. There is no such thing as overnight success, but as you get more customers, the numbers in the customer pie will get larger. Right now, 90% of your customers may only refer to nine people, but if you implement these tactics, 90% of your customers may eventually be able to mean thousands. What are your thoughts on the list? Do you have any additional tips to get more returning customers? Please share your thoughts and advice below.

How To Remove Yourself From The Competition With Blue Ocean Strategy

July 18, 2014 by Marc Guberti Leave a Comment

It has become an imperative to make yourself stand out from the competition. Removing yourself from the current competition and tapping into a new market is one of the best ways to stand out and get more attention. However, the idea of finding an entirely new niche sounds daunting. Luckily, I had the privilege of reading Blue Ocean Strategy which has been sold over two million times. Blue Ocean Strategy goes into detail about how different businesses were able to differentiate themselves from their competitors, but all of these businesses differentiated themselves with the same rubric. These are the components of the rubric that will allow you to differentiate yourself from the competition:

Reduction. What are certain aspects of your niche that can be reduced. Do the people in your niche push out too much content? Do they post too much on Facebook? Find something that you can reduce that your competitors overuse.
Elimination. There will be some aspects of your niche that can be completely eliminated. Blue Ocean Strategy goes into detail about Cirque du Soleil eliminating the need for animals and rings in their performances.
Raising. There are some aspects of your niche that can be raised. McDonald’s and most of the other fast food restaurants do not focus on providing healthy food options. Elevation Burger on the other hand, focus on providing healthy food options, and their slogan, “Ingredients Matter” enforces this message.
Creating. There are going to be some things that no one in your niche would think about doing. This is where the creation process comes into play. In order to make the creating process easier, look at what different niches do and see how you can apply concepts from different niches into your niche.

That is the rubric you need to create something that stands out from the competition. This plan will allow you to get out of the red oceans and go into the uncontested blue oceans. If you want to learn more about leaving your competition and creating an uncontested market space, then Blue Ocean Strategy is the right book for you.

Five Things You Need To Keep Track Of

July 16, 2014 by Marc Guberti Leave a Comment

Keeping track of statistics and data will allow you to identify what happened on the good days as well as what happened on the bad ones. You can track your results month by month and identify which months were your best and which ones were your worst. These statistics allow you to take action based on past results so you are able to optimize your future results. In a world with more statistics and data than ever, few people know which of those statistics and data are the most important. Here are the five statistics and pieces of data that you need to keep track of.

Your earnings. You will be able to identify the growth of your revenue. Some months will be good while others will be bad. There will be rises and drops in your earnings. In order to figure out why and how those changes take place, you need to record your earnings. In addition, you need to record which sources of income made what amount of money. While this allows you to identify and solve problems, it also allows you to look back at what you have accomplished and envision yourself making a stronger income as well.
Follower growth. The growth of your social networks has a big impact on your blog’s traffic, your sales, and your credibility. When you see a big growth in your followers, you need to identify what you did on that day to see the big change. Then, continue doing what you did on that day to see that “big change” become common.
Your blog traffic. With these statistics, you can keep track of views, visitors, clickouts, referrers, and more. You can identify which social networks are bringing in an abundant amount of traffic as well as the social networks that are not creating the same results. You can use these statistics to identify the best strategy for your blog and your social networks.
One competitor. I know what some people are thinking about this one. It is more important to differentiate oneself than it is to focus on the competition. The truth is that no matter how much you differentiate yourself, competitors will do everything in their power to catch up to the new change. Ford’s Model T was innovative, but now there are numerous car companies. Those car companies caught up to Ford just like competitors catch up to each other in their respective niches. By looking at the statistics from one of your competitors, you will be able to identify that competitor’s good days and bad days. If you look deep enough into the statistics and what that person did for the day, patterns–patterns that you can use to your advantage–will emerge.
Returning customers. One of the pieces of data most people forget to record is the returning customers. If your customers returned once, then they tend to return multiple times. By having the names and contact info of your returning customers, you will be able to contact them. Three great ways to contact a returning customer are to tell them about a big discount just for them, thank them for being returning customers, or ask them to leave a testimonial/review and that you would be honored if they did so.

By keeping track of these statistics and pieces of data, you will be able to identify where you need to improve and where your strengths are. This analysis will allow you to identify where you are lacking and where you have everything under control. This knowledge will allow you to take a different, better course of action that you may have never taken if you did not have this knowledge. What are your thoughts on the list? Do you have any additional statistic or piece of data that you track? Please share your thoughts and advice below.

10 Steps To Your First 1,000 Twitter Followers

July 15, 2014 by Marc Guberti 49 Comments

If you grow a big audience on Twitter, that audience has the potential to dramatically transform your business and get more people to know about you. Many people see growing an audience on Twitter as a challenging process. Some of the people who went through the challenging process now have thousands of followers while others are almost there. Regardless of whether you just started using Twitter or have hundreds of followers, you need to reach 1,000 Twitter followers as soon as possible. Here are the 10 steps that will allow you to get there:

Follow people who are likely to follow back. When you follow people who are likely to follow back, be sure to follow the people who are interested in what you talk about. Take a look at their bios and some of the people they follow to determine whether these people would be interested in what you tweet about or not. Some of the people you follow will feel obligated to follow you back because they do not want to get unfollowed.
Tweet often. Tweeting often is a great way to get noticed. The more you tweet, the more chances you have of getting a retweet. Retweets will allow your content to spread on Twitter and attract more followers.
Tweet valuable content. Tweet the type of content that people would want to retweet. Motivational quotes, incredible articles, and videos are some of the things that people would want to retweet.
Tweet with pictures. They say a picture is worth 1,000 words. Tweeting with a picture will add more value to your tweet and boost your engagement. Tweets with pictures get 10% more engagement than tweets without pictures.
Get people on your other social networks to follow you on Twitter. Your Facebook friends, people in your Google Plus circles, and Pinterest followers are some of the audiences who would follow you on Twitter. When you are trying to build an audience on your other social networks, you need to tell the audience you already have about your new account for a social network.
Have conversations with others. Conversations allow you to build connections with your followers. You can also have conversations with people who are interested in what you do and can become a potential follower. It is easy to turn potential followers into followers. They just need to know about you, and having conversations with these people is a great way for them to learn about you. Here are some tips for starting a conversation on Twitter.
Retweet other people’s tweets. If you are not retweeting a tweet once every week, then you are using Twitter wrong (if you’re going through my tweets…then you know what to do). When you retweet someone else’s tweet, that person will be grateful. If you retweet enough of someone’s tweets, that person will show their appreciation by following you. In addition, some people will follow you because they want their tweets to get retweeted as well.
Pin your most popular tweet. Pinning your most popular tweet only allows that tweet to become more popular. When potential followers see your popular tweet, the tweet will automatically grab their attention, and then those people will follow you. A popular tweet indicates someone is popular on Twitter, and people tend to follow the accounts that are popular.
Promote your Twitter account on your blog. Have a giant follow button on your blog that allows people to follow you on Twitter. Better yet, make sure people can follow you on Twitter without leaving your blog. This allows the connection to build.
Get interviewed and interview others. The people who you interview or get interviewed by will tell their audience about you. Some of the people from those audiences will decide to follow you on Twitter. Here are some useful tips to finding people you can interview, getting them to accept the interview, and get people to interview you.

By implementing these steps, you will gain more Twitter followers every day. As you continue to gain more Twitter followers, you will eventually reach 1,000 followers. Surpassing the thousand mark is a big milestone that shows other people that you have the potential to thrive on Twitter. Having 1,000 Twitter followers puts you in the Top 5% of all of Twitter (based on the number of followers you have). That is a big accomplishment, and it is an accomplishment you will be able to realize by putting in the work. What are your thoughts on these steps? Do you have any additional steps you use to get more Twitter followers? Please share your thoughts and advice below.

The Five Best Ways To Make Money With A Blog

July 15, 2014 by Marc Guberti 6 Comments

Money From A Blog

There are plenty of ways to make money with a blog, but most of the methods people tell you about are overrated. Putting up ads on a blog is an overrated way to make money. When someone clicks on an ad, you lose a visitor (potential customer, potential subscriber, and potential follower) and get two cents. There are better ways to make money from your blog that encourage your visitors to frequently come back to your blog. Here are the five best ways to make money with a blog:

Sell your books. If you have not written a book yet, you can write and self-publish that book on Amazon for free. Some self-published authors have been able to make six figures with their books.
Create a training course. Providing a training course will allow your visitors to realize that you are a top-notch expert in your niche. Some of those visitors will decide to buy your training course. If you publish your training course with Udemy (the easier and free option), you’ll get 50% of the sale, but if you publish your training course with Optimize Press (a lot harder, involves some coding, and costs money), then you will be make 100% of the commission. Regardless of which one you use to publish your training course, having a training course and promoting it on your blog is better than putting an ad there.
Offer one on one consultation sessions. You can conduct these one on one consultation sessions by using Skype. This means you can have one on one consultations with people in New York, California, Japan, and other parts of the world right from the comfort of your home.
Host a one hour webinar with a small fee. As you become more popular and your credibility grows, you will be able to get numerous people to attend a $20 webinar. Imagine what would happen if 100 people listened to the webinar. You would make $2,000 just from one webinar. Now imagine what would happen if thousands of people showed up. That’s over $20,000 just from one hour of your time. Pretty neat.
Become an Amazon Affiliate. Amazon has millions of products available which means no matter what your blog is about, there’s a relevant product on Amazon that you can promote. When someone buys the product with your link, you get a commission. Even if someone clicks on your link, buys a product, but does not buy the product you were promoting, you still get a commission.

Those are the five best ways to make money with a blog. There is no reason that you need to have advertisements to make money with a blog. Those take up too much time and result in you losing visitors who could have become subscribers, followers, or customers. What are your thoughts on the list? Do you have any additional methods you use to make money with a blog? Please share your thoughts and advice below.