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Twitter Tool Tuesday – Backtweets

08/05/2012 By

Backtweets allows organizations or individuals to search for tweets that link back to their website or blog, including those with shortened URLs.

To use it you simply enter a URL into the search box, click the search button and the tool will present you with a list of tweets that include the URL you’ve just entered. To make things really easy, tweets are presented in chronological order according to when they were sent. There are also some advanced options that let you filter results by date and user.

Once of my favourite things about Backtweets is the Alerts Service, which lets you opt-in to receive email updates whenever someone tweets a URL you’ve entered. The frequency of these alerts can be set to daily or weekly.

All-in-all Backtweets is a great way for organisations or individuals alike to keep abreast of what people on Twitter are saying about them.

Filed Under: Social Media Marketing Tagged With: , , , ,

Twitter Tool Tuesday – ChumpDump

08/05/2012 By

ChumpDump is an iPhone/Android app/game for Twitter based around the idea that you probably have a lot of “chumps” clogging up your feed.

Each day, at random, ChumpDump will present you with a screen of stats for someone you follow on Twitter including their number of DMs/replies to you, the number of times they’ve retweeted you, the number of links in their tweets and their overall influence. You then have to choose whether to “save” or “dump” them. The game works in such a way that that you cannot continue until you’ve made a choice. Saving someone keeps them on your friends list, dumping someone removes them altogether. Once you’ve made a choice you need to give a reason. “Reasons” are key to how the game works as they motivate others to play and let everyone know what constitutes a good tweeter.

Another key aspect of the game mechanic involves “karma”, which can be amassed by adopting people who have been dumped by other users of the app. Amass enough karma and you unlock a feature that lets you dump more than one chump a day. You can also earn badges.

ChumpDump is intended to be a bit of fun, however for those who genuinely feel their Twitter feed is getting a little clogged up, it could be a useful tool.

Filed Under: Social Media Marketing Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Facebook Friday App Review – Post Planner

04/05/2012 By

As its name suggest, Post Planner helps you schedule posts for your Facebook page. However, unlike many “scheduling” tools, the app is integrated with Facebook meaning it looks and feels just like Facebook AND users don’t need to visit another site to schedule or post things.

Posts can be scheduled in your time zone, for YEARS ahead, so if you already know of something you’ll be doing years from now and want to schedule a Facebook post about it, you can do so quickly and easily. You can also schedule recurring statuses, which is a great time-saving feature.

All scheduled posts can be reviewed in a section called “Your Plan”. Here you can add to and delete from “Your Plan” as well as edit and reschedule pending posts. Helpfully, all scheduled posts are displayed in chronological order and you can preview how they will look on your Facebook page.

Another great thing about Post Planner compared to other “scheduling” tools is that it allows you to brand your post. Many “scheduling” tools display ‘their’ name as having scheduled a post, however Planner inserts ‘your’ company/brand name with a link to ‘your’ website.

The only real drawback I can find with this programme is that it’s not free; with tariffs ranging from $4.95 to $24.95 per month. All tariffs allow users to posts to their profiles/pages and give access to a database of status ideas. Features such as group posts, syndicate RSS feeds, branded posts, website links under every post and multiple admins are only available on the higher premium tariffs.

Overall, Post Planner is a great way to streamline the process of using Facebook to drive traffic to your website. It’s also a rich source of ideas for creating engaging Facebook posts.

Filed Under: Social Media Marketing Tagged With: , , , ,

Facebook Friday App Review – FanGager

04/05/2012 By

What is it?
FanGager helps organisations engage effectively with their fans on Facebook and other social networking sites such as Twitter. It awards fans points for actions that encourage brand exposure such as commenting on or “liking” a post, taking part in poll, playing a game etc. Users of FanGager can choose to reward their fans with badges, virtual gifts and real prizes. Fans can obtain real prizes by redeeming points they’ve accumulated. FanGager also provides analytics to help users pin point their biggest brand advocates and get an overall picture of how they’re regarded by fans.

Key features
FanGager enables users to set up stores specifically for fans. Points earned by fans serve as currency in stores, giving fans an incentive to interact/promote with a users brand and therefore increasing the likelihood they remain loyal to it. FanGager also has a clear dashboard that allows users to monitor fan base growth and an abundance of customisation options that allow users to give the app an aesthetic that matches their website or social networking presence.

Getting started
New users can register for FanGager by clicking the “Get Started Now” link in the top right hand corner of the website homepage. An orange pop up box will appear, into which you need to enter your name(s), company, job title, email, phone number, organisation type, location, number of Twitter fans (if applicable) and finally number of Facebook fans. Once you’ve sent these details a representative from FanGager will get in touch to discuss your specific requirements.

How much does it cost?
The FanGager website doesn’t provide any information on pricing. The amount users pay is most likely dependent on their size of their fan base and what they want to do to engage with them.

Should I use FanGager?
Overall FanGager is a good solution for organisations who want to engage effectively with their fans on Facebook and other social networking sites. It’s also good for encouraging brand loyalty and monitoring fan base growth.

Filed Under: Social Media Marketing Tagged With: , , , ,

Top 5 Yahoo/Bing PPC Mistakes

02/05/2012 By

By the end of this month, the long awaited merger of Yahoo and Bing’s search technology should finally be complete. Microsoft Adcenter powered ads are already appearing in Yahoo search results and by the end of May all ads appearing on Yahoo will be driven by Adcenter.

Here we give 5 of the most common Yahoo/Bing PPC mistakes to avoid:

  1. Not bidding on your brand name
    Even if your brand name is in position 1 of the organic listings, bidding on your brand name is still worth doing. It will increase your visibility on the search engine result pages, combat any competitors which are bidding on your brand name and the cost per click should be relatively low as your quality score will be high.
  2. Not adding negative keywords
    If you are using broad match type keywords, the chances are you’re getting some irrelevant traffic. For example, if you bid on the keyword “locker” with the broad match type and someone searches “foot locker” your ads may be showing and getting clicked. Simply adding “foot” as a negative keyword will avoid your ads being shown on searches containing “foot”.
  3. Not using keywords in your ad texts
    It seems an obvious one, but plenty don’t do it. Using your keywords in your ad texts will help your ad stand out to the user, not least because the terms will be bolded by the search engine.
  4. Not tracking conversions
    It’s important that you have some sort of way of measuring performance beyond click through rate. Whether it be an order confirmation, customer enquiry or PDF download there are plenty of ways to track conversions and this will give you the best insight into what keywords and ads are working for you.
  5. Aiming for the top position
    While position 1 is always desireable, it’s not always the most cost effective and may not even be attainable. Average position is down to a lot more than the keyword bid alone and the jump in cost to enable you to rise from position 3 or position 2 to position 1 may well lead to negative ROI.

Find out more about how we can help you maximise your return from PPC Marketing.

Filed Under: PPC Marketing, Search Marketing Tagged With: , , , ,

Twitter Tool Tuesday – Pockets

01/05/2012 By

What is it?
Pockets is visual voicemail for Twitter. It allows you to leave a private voicemail for anyone on Twitter and they’ll be notified by @reply.

How does it work?
You must first sign in and allow the tool access to your Twitter account. It will then ask for a phone number and Twitter username to send voicemail to. Once these bits are out the way, you’re ready to start using the tool. Simply enter the recipients Twitter handle, click the “Send Voicemail” button and Pockets will call you to record a message. When you’ve finished recording, hang up, and Pockets will posts an @reply to the recipient asking them to likewise allow the tool access to their account so they can retrieve the message.

Closing comments
Pockets is a novel idea and a fun way to message friends on Twitter who you know, but don’t have a number for. On the downside its very nature gives it potential for spammy miss-use, although there are ways for message recipients to block the tool in such circumstances.

Filed Under: Social Media Marketing Tagged With: , , , ,
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