e-commerce & social media

When it comes to conducting business online, trust is one of the scarcest and hardest-to-earn resources. No amount of money can purchase it, and it’s incredibly difficult to replace once it has been lost. Trust can be a defining factor that drives potential customers to choose your products or services over those of your competitors, so you can’t afford to overlook it.

To make establishing trust easier, let’s examine some simple tips that you can start incorporating into your marketing strategies today. These seven techniques involve educating consumers, personalizing marketing messages, and providing a positive user experience to help you get the most out of your investment and increase sales....

Via Jeff Domansky

...When it comes to organic search, Google and other search engines place a premium on backlinks. They interpret backlinks as “votes” for the content.Of course, to generate backlinks, you must create content that prompts other digital properties to share your content with their audiences.

For the type of content that grades out as shareable, it’s typically not product information or a personnel announcement or an industry award — information we characterize as company-centric. Instead, it’s the type of business storytelling that’s useful or informative and ultimately helps people in their jobs.In short, thought leadership plays at the industry level, not the company level, ideally offering takes that can’t be found elsewhere.

Such dot-connecting points to blogging as one of the best platforms for thought leadership....

Via Jeff Domansky

I shared this message with Target’s team members moments ago. As I told them, the truth hurts, but it can also set you free.

To say that the last five months at Target have been difficult is an extraordinary understatement.

The data breach we suffered rocked consumer confidence and ignited a nationwide discussion about phishing, cyber-security and the realities of living in today’s data-enabled world. Thanks in large part to social media, it looks like this will have been one of the most covered business crises in American history.

And just last week, our CEO stepped down after six years in position and 35 years at Target. His departure has already spawned over 6,000 articles wondering and speculating about what happened.

You’d think that these two incidents alone would create enough pain to last a brand a lifetime but one of the most challenging things that has happened, in my opinion, have been reports, some attributed to unnamed team members, that paint a picture of a culture that is in crisis. When a recent post on a well-known blog called me out by name, it only felt right that I should respond....

Via Jeff Domansky

"I mean, influencers are a nice idea. But actually, they’re not needed. They’re no better than a couple of normal people endorsing your brand and will have no long-term impact. They’re overrated and make no difference to your business as people trust them no more than anyone else on the internet…”

Imagine if someone said this to you, straight-faced. We’ve seen it happen and it’s stuck with us. Not only do we respectfully disagree, but we’d like to take this chance to refute the above notion and actually point out the benefits of getting ‘influencers’ on your side.

Increasing customer advocacy is now a top priority for 67% of CMOs, and with 74% of customers relying on social media to guide their purchasing decisions you can begin to see why it’s such a high priority.

Here’s 8 reasons why getting widely trusted people from your field to sing your praises can only be a good thing for your business....

Via Jeff Domansky

If you haven't undertaken personal branding or you haven't incorporated it into your organization's marketing strategy, you're missing out on a world of value.

...To explore this topic further, I recently collaborated with online powerhouse and fellow MarketingProfs contributor Barry Feldman of Feldman Creative to create "The Complete A to Z Guide to Personal Branding" (see the infographic) — to help people and companies dive into the wonderful world of personal branding....

Via Jeff Domansky