Instagram is a “fast, beautiful and fun way to share your photos with friends, family (AND your target market). Snap a picture, choose a filter to transform its look and feel, then post to Instagram. Share to Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr too – it’s as easy as pie. It’s photo sharing, reinvented.”

This is a recent insta pic by me! @nickiraeg

Before you embrace any social network, there are some questions that you will want to ask before you invest the time and money to expand the reach of your brand. Let’s use Instagram as an example:

• Is Instagram right for my Brand?
• Will Instagram help me reach my current and target markets?
• Will Instagram help me reach my marketing goals?

After these questions have been answered and a strategy plan has been built  - then it is time to execute! Instagr.am is definitely a worthy investment for your brand if one of your goals is to show people why they should get to know you. *Hint: This is a part of every brands list of goals.

The Instagram blog shared this story about Nic Adler, who runs the legendary West Hollywood venue The Roxy, and how he started to connect with LA music lovers on Instagram. He checked out the Instagram photos that were taken at The Roxy and decided to create an account for the venue itself.  Nic had these statements to share:

• “We want to be where our fans are and we love being able to interact like this.”
• “We started only using Instagram to post show photos and pictures from inside the building, but the thing we learned right away is that the photos don’t have to be only music related,” Adler says.
• “The Roxy posts all kinds of photos now including art, scenery, and funny things we come across, while sprinkling in pieces to promote our shows.”
• “The best thing you can do for your business on Instagram is show people why they should get to know you.”
• @theroxy now has over 23K followers on Instagram and 311 photos.

Want to know who’s sharing photos at your business? Here’s a simple way to find out:

1. Take a photo at your business, then tap the Where? field before uploading the photo
2. Find your business in the nearby results or by searching for the location*
3. Select your business, then upload your photo
4. Once your photo has been uploaded, tap the location name that appears in blue text above your photo to see all the photos that have been tagged with that location.

Here are some early adopter brands that are using Instragram well:

• @npr
• @JamieOliver
• @abcworldnews
• @redbull
• @Threadless
• @starbucks
• @gucci
• @burberry
• @levisbrasil

Happy Friday my friends! For today’s Friday Funny I wanted to share with you a fun concept developed by my colleague Lorrie Thomas Ross and myself, playing on the famous book Eat, Pray, Love!

Tweet, Play, Like: One Woman’s Search for Why We Can’t Stop Searching the Social Web Across, Twitter, Blogs and Facebook is purely a fun concept at this junction, but we have high hopes for a book and movie deal (wink, wink). We’ve even been given a suggestion for the sequel Tumbl, Digg, Pin (Thanks for the suggestion Keir DuBois!).

But the big question is, who will play Lorrie Thomas Ross in the feature film??

Here at Web Marketing Therapy we recognize the importance of creativity in what we do. Heck, what’s more creative than creating a book cover for a concept as fun as the idea above!  Everyday we are asked to think creatively for our clients and internally for WMT; come up with clever slogans, artfully conceptualize SEO, construct a logo to encapsulate a company message, etc. With that I wanted to present a few inspirational quotes on creativity and the imagination! You can download any of these quotes for use as creative computer wallpaper.

Have a great weekend!

(note: original image sources of the portraits could not be found and are not the copyright of WMT )

Social Media Logos

Strong social media campaigns begin with great content, but it’s only part of the web marketing equation. I understood this through Multitasking Marketing as I witnessed first-hand the power a sales brochure, a press release or an article could have once it was web shared using social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn et al.

Spending my days on the web has resulted in the gift of social media knowledge. Here are some tips I can pass along that took my content writing to the next level:

• Write for your reader first, search engines second. Keywords and phrases are a necessary part of content but should be “blended” into the text so it reads and flows properly. Google changes its algorithms often, (the most recent, Penguin explained by WordTracker ) making the creation of white hat content (legitimate, authentic content) even more important no matter what.
• People scan online content, they don’t read. Use bullet points and titles as much as possible.  Killer, catchy keyword-rich tiles will provide more “link juice” to make the search engines happier and also make text scanning easier on the eyes.  Rule of thumb: if you can see your content on the page from 5 feet away, it has a better chance of getting read.
• Link It! – Linking provides useful information for your readers and the search engines love ‘em. Always try to insert a few outbound links as well as internal linking to other pages on your site with relevant information. The more you link, the more it encourages inbound links from others, and the better the search engine ranking. Note: Make sure to give proper credit to authors in your posts and social media efforts – it’s good for everyone!
• Become a Twixpert! Don’t know Twitter? You should because it is one of the fastest growing social networks that can help boost your business. At least learn the basics (we have a great Twitorial on our Shop Therapy page under eBooks) then give it a try and see how much fun it can be.

Remember: Continuing Education Matters – Staying relevant and informed is necessary. Social media platforms are always changing and education keeps you ahead of the curve. Online courses are great because they are inexpensive (often free) and self-paced. Here are the best resources I found:

• The online courses through Lynda.com helped tremendously as there are so many topics to choose from.  Online Marketing Fundamentals by WMT’s wildest web woman Lorrie Thomas Ross covers basics from SEO and SEM to social media, online PR, and content marketing.
• Newsletters/blogs have great free stuff: Social Media Examiner, Hubspot, Web Marketing Therapy blog, and WebProNews consistently provide helpful information and news on the ever-changing web.

I LOVE that social media marketing challenges my curious mind. Who would have thought only a few years ago, I would be writing and managing social media campaigns for clients – and seeing results! If I can do it, anyone can!

How did you learn social media? Reply to this post or Tweet me:  @themares1 – I’d love to hear your stories.

Move on UP!

Follow me @darlabea and let me know what songs motivate you – I’m taking requests!

Virtual High-Fives,
Darla Bea, Public Relations Specialist