Recapping Our Second Understanding Series

For the past six weeks, we have been taking a closer look at various aspects of Squareberry. Our "Understanding" series has provided insightful looks into popular features and management of your account.

Wait, this may sound familiar. It is. This is our second "Understanding" series of blog posts. You can check out the first series here.

The Understanding series helps you do just that. Fully understand all the features and capabilities your Squareberry account offers. If you missed any of these posts, read below to catch up now.

Understanding the ‘Users’ Features

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Understanding Categories

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Understanding SMS in Squareberry

Read the Full Article >

Understanding Location Features

Read the Full Article >

Understanding Repeating Content

Read the Full Article >

Understanding Other Things – FAQs

Read the Full Article >

We Love Hearing From our Users

If you have any ideas for articles or features you want to see blog posts about, let us know. You can tell us on the Forum or email us at squareberry@squareberry.com.

Understanding the Social Conversation Search Feature

The Social Conversation area in your Squareberry account allows you to monitor and manage social media conversation. Previously, we took a look at fully understanding the Social Media Inbox. The Inbox is your centralized location for your ongoing conversations. But what if you want to start new conversation or find new things to talk about. That's where the Search features come in.

Twitter Searches

The Search features are currently limited to Twitter. Twitter is generally much more open than other social media platforms. People's posts are public and can be seen by anyone. This allows organizations to find new individuals & leads who are talking about their industry or looking for a company just like them.

The left column of the search section features all of your current searches. Clicking on a search term will show the current search results for that term. You can add a new search term by clicking "Add a Search".

Starting a Conversation

Once your search results are shown, you can Reply to or Retweet any tweet that is shown. This allows you to start a dialogue with someone you may not know. Click "Reply" and a pop-up appears to compile your reply message. You can instantly send the message right from this same screen.

Using Quotes

Putting a multi-word search term in quotes does a search for the words in that order. For example: "miami restaurant" will look for tweets with those two words together, instead of just tweets using one or the other.

Best Tips of the Year (So Far)

Every now and then, it is nice to reflect on some tips from the past. This week we wanted to look back at some of the best (or our favorite) tips from 2013 so far.

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Create a Media Section on Your Mobile Site

You may be interested in creating an entire media section on your mobile website, rather than simply having a single media page. Rich media such as photos and videos are engaging and help keep people on your mobile site... Read the Full Tip >

Summer is Coming – Will Your Marketing Change?

Summer is fast approaching. More than any other season, summer has distinct characteristics which can and should effect how you market. But, it depends heavily on your demographics and location.... Read the Full Tip >

Consider the Wording in Your Scheduled Social Messages

Squareberry allows you to schedule messages far in advance to publish to Facebook Profiles, Facebook Pages, Facebook Groups, LinkedIn Profiles, LinkedIn Groups and Twitter accounts. Scheduling messages in advance allows you to plan your communications... Read the Full Tip >

Listen&Count Polls on Your Mobile Website

In the Mobile Management area, you can easily add an interactive poll to your mobile website. In Mobile Content, click “Add Page” and then “Create New Page”. On the Add Page screen, select the “Listen&Count Poll” page type.... Read the Full Tip >

Using Snagged Categories As Planning Guides

Not every tip is a huge, mind-blowing, world flipping idea that will change the way you conduct business or handle your mobile and social marketing. Some tips are small, simple but great. This week’s Tuesday Tip is one of those, offering a simple idea that can lend you a helpful hand in your marketing strategy and planning... Read the Full Tip >

Post About Your Calendars & Upcoming Schedules

Most local businesses are all about getting more people in the door. For restaurants and local retail stores, events and promotions are great way to drive more foot traffic and generate sales.

Post About Your Calendars

Some people may not know about your calendars or your events. Some people may be knew to your organization or only recently started following you on Facebook or Twitter. Some people may just need to be reminded.

Schedule messages that link to the calendar on your website or to your Facebook page calendar. Of course, you want to make sure that your calendar is full of nice events, promotions and snagged events when people start looking at it. You can even setup a message that repeats every month, reminding people to take a look at your social calendars for upcoming events and promotions.

Schedule Social Media Posts About Upcoming Schedule

It is important to let people know about all the upcoming events and promotions you have going on. Some people's social calendars fill up early in the week. As you schedule events/promotions in the Planner of your Squareberry account, schedule messages along with them to let people know what is coming up.

For example, if you have 2 promotions and 1 event happening next week, you could schedule a message for Monday talking about those 2 promotions and events with a link to the calendar on your website or your Facebook page calendar. This gives a nice overview of your upcoming week and can help get people mentally committed to heading to your location.

Facebook Hashtags Are Here - What You Need to Know

What Are Hashtags?

#This is a hashtag. You've seen them. You may or may not use them. Their popularity expanded on Twitter and are also used on services like Instagram and Tumblr. Hashtags allow people to unify topics. Clicking on a hashtags allows you to see posts by users using that same hashtag, thus seeing what everyone is posting about that specific topic.

Until now, hashtags on Facebook had no functionality. Nothing stopped you from writing "#fun" on your Facebook post, but it had no specific function. Now, hashtags will be automatically turned into links which can be clicked by people who see your posts. They will then see a a feed of all other posts shared with them that use that hashtag.

From the Facebook Blog:

Introducing Hashtags on Facebook Starting today, hashtags will be clickable on Facebook. Similar to other services like Instagram, Twitter, Tumblr, or Pinterest, hashtags on Facebook allow you to add context to a post or indicate that it is part of a larger discussion. When you click on a hashtag in Facebook, you'll see a feed of what other people and Pages are saying about that event or topic.

Read the full post from Facebook here.

Image from Facebook Blog

What This Means for Your Marketing

This is great for marketers and organizations on Facebook. It will help expand your reach and help your followers share what you are talking about in a more meaningful way.

For example, if you own a restaurant in San Antonio, you may want to send a message about watching the Spurs game at your location. You can add "#Spurs" to your message. Now, people around San Antonio will be posting the same hashtag and if someone clicks on one to view people talking about this topic, your restaurant may be present on that feed. Using hashtags helps you get your post in front of followers who are interested in the same topics at that moment.

Messaging From Squareberry

Whether you are sending an instant message or schedule messages far in advance, you can include your hashtags in the message you compose. The most interesting aspect of this is for people who publish to both Facebook and Twitter. Previously, using messages with hashtags on Facebook looked silly and offered little to no benefits.

Now, using the same message on both Twitter and Facebook is more feasible and can be more effective. The only major difference remaining between the two services is the character limit. Facebook still allows you to publish much longer messages. Because of this, you may consider still scheduling separate messages for your different social networks.

Summer is Coming - Will Your Marketing Change?

Should Your Mobile and Social Marketing Strategy Change With the Seasons?

Summer is fast approaching. More than any other season, summer has distinct characteristics which can and should effect how you market. But, it depends heavily on your demographics and location.

The biggest changes in summertime revolve around education and travel. Summer is when high school students and college students are, for the most part, out of their routine and in different locations. Travel/tourism also sees a boost. These changes effect you differently depending on your location.

The Student Demographic

Summer results in a migration of young people, mainly college students. Many return home or travel to other cities for the summer, before returning back to school in the fall. Because of this, your local area may see an influx in young people returning home, eager to find places to eat, events to go to and stores to visit while in town. Be aware of this shifting demographic and market accordingly.

You may be on the other end of the migration. Perhaps your business is in a college town or area and summer is slower than the other parts of the year. You can have fun with this by running promotions like the "Still in Town" promotion or having a "Why Did I Take Summer Classes?" special night. Embracing your situation and being relative/current helps boost your brand on social media and draw in these young customers to your location.

Summer also releases high school students into the wild. If your organization offers a product, service or events for people of this age, you may want to adjust your hours of operation or offer more specials during the day. During the summer, you have more young people out and about looking for things to do.

Tourism

If your city sees a boost in visitors during the summer, your marketing strategy needs to shift from being geared towards recurring locals to attracting people who have never been to your location before. There are various ways to accomplish this. Here are a couple:

• 1. Twitter Searches - Utilize the social conversation area in Squareberry to search for keywords on Twitter. Find people asking about restaurants, shops, and things to do. Often times when people are out of town, they turn to the web for advice on what to do and where to eat in places that are unfamiliar. Find these people and reply to them, offering your business as a possible destination for them to check out.
• 2. Utilize Your Regulars - You can also offer promotions to your regular customers who bring in first timers. This encourages people to bring friends/family who are visiting from out-of-town into your business or to your event. Let your local customers know that your place is the places to bring anyone in the area on vacation.

Not For Everyone?

Of course, these suggestions do not apply to everyone. You may not cater to student-aged people or to tourists. Your business may be entirely local. Even if this is the case, be aware of how seasons effect your organization. Various professional services and local businesses have high and low times based on the time of year, the weather and more. Always consider these factors as you lay out your marketing plan.

Tuesday Tip - Fan Only Content on Facebook Pages

Facebook Pages can be a powerful platform for generating leads, driving in new customers and retaining existing customers. A customized Facebook Page is an essential aspect of that. These customized pages and extra tabs are becoming as common as standard websites and allow for powerful and creative interactions.

"Fan Only" Content

Customized Facebook Pages allow you to set content exclusive to those who have "Liked" your Facebook Page. This can be a powerful marketing tool and leads to creative and useful implementations.

With these capabilities, you could offer exclusive items to Fans. For instance, coupons or contest entry forms to those who have "Liked" your page are great ideas for generating more "Likes". The key is to make your "Welcome Page" eye catching and clear. When people visit your page they need to know why they should "Like" it.

Don't Be Too Tricky

While offering exclusive content and elements to those who are fans, it is important to not be too tricky. Remember, the Welcome Page (content for non-fans) is seen by everyone and may be the only thing someone sees. In many cases, you have one chance to get someone to "Like" your page.

Devoting your entire Welcome Page to encouraging Likes can help you get more fans, but it also can cloud your message or make exactly what you are offering unclear. A great idea is to have a video on your Welcome Page. Videos are eye catching and attention grabbing, allowing you to deliver the message you want right away. But remember, you do want to get those "Likes". At the end of your video include a "Remember to Like our Page for More Updates and Special Offers". A message like this at the end of the video is a great way to encourage more "Likes".

Use Media from Past Events to Promote Future Events - Tuesday Tip

It is important to document your happenings in some way. Whether you are recording with an HD video camera or just snapping some photos with a digital camera, photos and videos from your past events and promotions can help draw people in for future happenings.

Promote New Events with Old Events

What does that mean? Well, chances are you have had your "Family Night" or "1/2 Price Wings" in the past. If you have taken pictures or even recorded any videos you can use that media to promote the event the next time you have it. For instance, the video you shot during 1/2 Price Wings night of everyone watching the game and easting and drinking is perfect for showing off what it is like at your event.

The next time you hold the same event, you can embed that video in the event you create and anyone who views the event can get a quick glimpse of exactly what it will be like. Seeing other people there, participating at your event will create excitement and help draw first time visitors in.

Use Media Sharing Sites

Taking advantage of sites like Flickr, YouTube and Vimeo can help you in a variety of ways. First, they give you a reliable, easy and flexible place to store your media. Plus, most media sharing sites are free. With your videos on YouTube, you can easily embed them anywhere you want, add more videos and create a strong presence on the world's leading video sharing site.

The media sharing sites can also help you with your search engine optimization. Having a video on YouTube called "Atlanta's Best Wings" can help drive your organization up ranking on that keyword.

Easily Share and Promote

YouTube videos are shared, sent and viewed by people all over the world. Having a stronger rich media presence on the web can help spread your organization. Additionally, it gives you more interactive and rich elements to use when promoting your happenings. Your YouTube video from the last time you held your event can easily be embedded onto any event in Squareberry, giving your events rich content to drive viewers into your real world location.

Original Source: http://squareberry.com/news/use-media-from-past-events-to-promote-future-events-tuesday-tip/

Google+ Officially Now on Klout

Does Google+'s inclusion in Klout's ranking system increases the value of Google's social network?

Klout allowed users to add their Google+ account to their dashboard a couple of weeks ago after Google's social network released the Google+ API. Yesterday, Klout announced that Google+ is now officially part of its social influence measurement system with its Google+ scoring model.

Users who are active Google+ users will saw their Klout scores increase. Klout says its basis for measuring influence on Google+ is the rate of engagement public posts receive. Users who aren't on Google+ or simply don't want to include their G+ accounts to their Klout dashboard won't be penalized, but it wouldn't hurt to improve your Klout score by establishing a presence on Google+ and to increase visibility in social search as well.

According to Klout's blog, they are measuring influence of Google+ users who connected their accounts to Klout. Klout also says that 62% of users are active and their engagement levels on G+ will be the basis of their scores. Arguably, the king of Google+ is MySpace founder Tom Anderson who saw his Klout score increase from 64 to 77. But what's interesting is that ordinary users like nature photographer Tamara Pruessner is gaining some social media mileage that saw her score catapult from 11 to 67.

This only shows that users with low scores saw an increase by being active in Google's social network, but Google+ skeptics will dismiss that G+ being part of Klout computation is not necessary yet due to the fact that it only has 40 million users in tow. Here's a summary of Klout's announcement:

Active Google+ users on Klout will see an average Score increase of 2.177.

Active Google+ users tend to also be active on Facebook and Twitter.

Google+ allows for close interactions like Facebook, while retaining the ability to share widely like Twitter.

Users who see a big jump in score from Google+ generate a lot of discussion and engagement with focused, high-quality content.

My Take

Whether it’s Facebook or Google+ that your including in your Klout dashboard, a Klout score is a mere number to a customer. What I’ve noticed about the whole Klout issue that’s been trending for weeks now is that Klout has made social engagement a popularity contest and an ego-booster for some Internet marketers and social media strategists. It doesn’t matter if you keep or delete that Klout account of yours, an ordinary Internet user will not bother to research what Klout is. The real clout score can only be achieved on how a business can successfully integrate relevant social media platforms and make it work in synergy to generate leads. And now, with Google+ joining the Klout mix, will we finally see the value that Google+ can give to businesses?
Original source: http://squareberry.com/news/google-officially-now-on-klout/

Tuesday Tip - Run 'Daily Deals'

"Daily Deals" are the hottest thing since... well since the last hottest thing.

They are everywhere. From the industry leaders like Groupon and Living Social to retailers and travel sites. Special deals with huge money saving opportunities are very popular. Local businesses need to take advantage of this trend an capitalize on consumer demand for these kinds of deals.

Run Special Daily Coupon Promotions

Running your own daily deals is easy! With social media, local businesses have the power to instantly and effectively reach numerous people. Your followers will also spread your deals across social networks, via email and more. Your Daily Deal can spread around your local area quickly and help drive people into your real world location.

Of course, you do not have to run one every day. It all depends on your business and market. For instance if you are a restaurant, you may want to run Daily Deals Monday - Thursday to help drive more traffic on those non-weekend days. You could run a coupon promotion that says: 50% Off One Hamburger - Today Only.

A coupon with "Today Only" and a large percentage off is eye catching. It gives a sense of real savings and it has a sense of urgency. These kind of coupon promotions can help drive real world traffic.

Mobile and Social Media Coupons

Beyond social media, it is important to be communicating to mobile devices. Your daily deal promotions should be optimized for mobile devices and reach people no matter where they are. Mobile users are often already out-of-home and looking for places to go.

Squareberry's coupon promotions feature makes this easy. You can schedule promotions far in advance and watch as automated reminders about these promotions are sent across social media, email, SMS and more. Your daily promotions are also displayed on interactive website widgets and calendars. Learn more about coupon promotions here >

Original Source: http://squareberry.com/news/tuesday-tip-run-daily-deals/

Tuesday Tip - Events + Promos that Encourage Bringing More People

Events and Promotions can drive more people into your real world location. It is important, even in the digital world, to show that you have fun and interesting things happening in the REAL WORLD. After all, your end goal is to get people to come to your organization's real world location. You need to find ways to drive real world traffic through your marketing communications.

A great way to do this is by creating events and promotions that call for groups to stop by or encourage individuals to bring friends with them.

Real World Events and Promotions

Events are great. Events with a lot of attendees are better! You want your events to draw as many people as possible. A great way to maximize this is by encouraging people to come in groups. For instance, if you are hosting a "Trivia Night" you may want to tell people ahead of time to form teams or encourage their friends to come and cheer them on. Instead of one or two people coming that night, you may get a group of 5 or 6.

With coupon promotions, it is great to run specials that require more than one customer. For instance: "Buy One, Get One 40% Off". Now your coupon is driving in a pair, not just an individual. But, there is no reason to stop with pairs. You can publish coupon promotions like: "30% Drinks for Parties of 5 or More".

Mobile Marketing

Mobile Marketing is essential to driving in groups. During social nights, friends are out looking for places to go and things to do. In many cases, where they end up is not determined until right before.

Mobile devices allow followers to see you on social media, email, SMS and more. Your events and promotions need to be communicated on mobile devices. Mobile coupons are a great way to drive people straight to your location with the intent of spending money. Events show there is something to do at your organization's location. Followers easily share your happenings with friends and family as they plan where and when they are going next.

Communicating your events and promotions on mobile devices is essential to driving groups into your location.

Original Source: http://squareberry.com/news/tuesday-tip-events-promos-that-encourage-bringing-more-people/