Winning the battle for content supremacy with Ryan Hanley

Podcast with Ryan Hanley from Content Warfare
This interview with Ryan Hanley, owner of Content Warfare, is the eighth in an ongoing series of podcasts with individuals doing great things in online marketing.

I am very honored to have the opportunity to interview Ryan Hanley from Content Warfare on today’s podcast.

For those of you who don’t know Ryan, he is a content marketer who LOVES Google Plus (a lot), and wants to see you succeed in a competitive online space.

In this week’s podcast, we talk a lot (nearly 50 minutes) about different techniques to help you consume, curate, and create awesome content for your business, why you need to stop ignoring Google Plus, and Ryan shares valuable tips and a few tips and tricks to implement on Google Plus to help boost engagement and more. Below is a breadown on the topics that Ryan and I cover on today’s show.

Podcast interview with Ryan Hanley from Content Warfare Continue reading Winning the battle for content supremacy with Ryan Hanley

How to overcome the 20% Facebook Ads rule with the Facebook Ads facebook text overlay tool

Are you tired of wasting time creating Facebook Ads only to have them rejected by Facebook, forcing you to start over?

While you cannot regain the time you lost, with the Facebook Ads tool, you can test your Facebook Ads before submitting them.

This way you can focus your time and energy on others important areas such as ad targeting.

How does the Facebook Ads tool work?

When running Facebook Ads, Facebook has a 20% text rule. What this means is that your ads cannot contain more than 20% text. But what constitutes 20%?

Instead of spending time creating Facebook Ads, uploading them, and waiting to see if they are approved or rejected, you can get your Facebook Ads approved faster with the help of the Facebook Ads tool.

The Facebook Ads tool or Facebook text overlay tool is a tool designed to let you upload a Facebook Ad you plan to use and determine if it meets Facebook’s 20% text rule for Facebook Ads.

Example of a Facebook Ad
Using the Facebook Ads tool to check for 20% text.

As always, before creating any ads, be sure you have read through the Facebook Ad guidelines. This way your Facebook Ads won’t get rejected for other reasons such as the type of content your ad is about.

To get started with the Facebook Ads tool, I’ve included a short video and instructions below.

Video: Using the Facebook Ads tool for faster ad approvals

Continue reading How to overcome the 20% Facebook Ads rule with the Facebook Ads facebook text overlay tool

Using a YouTube timecode to improve video conversions

One of the frustrating things about online video is that if a video is really long, you’re forced to wait for it to load completely before you can jump to different points in the video. Today we’re going to show you a shortcut using a YouTube timecode to jump viewers to a specific point in a YouTube video.

This way, instead of having to fast-forward through the video, viewers can jump straight to the part they want to watch on YouTube.

Use cases for a YouTube timecode

YouTube timecodes can used in a  number of different ways.

Here are some of our favorite ways to use timecodes on YouTube:

  • Break a long event video using a YouTube timecode
  • Break long videos using timecodes for sharing on social media sites such as Facebook or Twitter
  • Include videos using YouTube timecodes in an email signature
  • Instead of sending viewers to watch a video again, use a YouTube timecode to jump them to the part that answers their question
  • Create a blog post and include a YouTube video that jumps to a specific timecode that relates to the blog post

To learn how to add a YouTube timecode to your videos, follow the instructions listed below.

How to jump to a specific place in a video using a YouTube timecode

Continue reading Using a YouTube timecode to improve video conversions

Achieving Facebook marketing success for business

With over one billion users and new features being added weekly, it’s no doubt, why Facebook is good for business. But with so many changes happening, it can be difficult for businesses to keep up with all of them. As a result, it makes it hard to achieve Facebook marketing success.

While businesses recognize the need to implement different types of promotions on Facebook, what can businesses do to leverage Facebook as a marketing vehicle to drive engagement, interactions, and sales?

This infographic shows you different types of Facebook promotions that you can implement within your business to help achieve Facebook marketing success.

Here are a few of our favorite highlights from the infographic.

  • 98% of retail websites had a Facebook Page in 2012 (tweet this)
  • 33% of online shoppers have made a purchase based on seeing an item on a friend’s Facebook news feed (tweet this)
  • Implement the STIR method when trying to decide which posts to promote on Facebook

Keep reading to learn more about different types of Facebook promotions that you can implement in your business to help achieve success with using Facebook.

How to set your business up for Facebook marketing success Continue reading Achieving Facebook marketing success for business

Take Google+ further with Google+ Embedded Posts

Google Plus embedded posts

Google Plus recently rolled out Google Plus embedded posts. Now before you think they’re copying Facebook, Twitter, or Vine, hold that thought.

What Google Plus embedded posts do is they let you take a status update from Google Plus and share it on your favorite blog or website. Big deal, right?

Why use Google Plus embedded posts on your blog or website?

When I first saw this feature from Google, it got me excited. This is because with Google Plus embedded posts, you’re not just including an image of a post from Google Plus.

Instead, you get to do the following with Google Plus embedded posts:

  • Embed a Google Plus post
  • Circle the author
  • +1 a post
  • Share a post
  • Comment on a post
  • Follow the entire conversation outside of Google Plus

This is kind of a big deal (and an advantage), because now you have a way to share content on Google Plus – where you can engage with one set of users.

If you want to take things a step further though, you can take that content (and the entire conversation) off to your blog or website by using Google Plus embedded posts to engage with a different audience who might not be connected with you on Google Plus.

This also allows your readers to do the same on their blog or website, which in-turn can help spread the word about your content and allow those readers who haven’t yet connected with you to add you to their circles.

Penchant for Google Plus

For anyone who has spoken with me at length about Google Plus, you’ll know that I also see this having huge SEO benefits. While this isn’t happening now, it’s coming.

The more you embed and engage with Google Plus content, the more likely Google is to boost the SEO ranking for that website.

Still not sure if Google Plus embedded posts are THAT valuable?

Here is an example of using Google Plus embedded posts within your blog or website. Notice all of the touch-points that you can interact with.

 
Follow these instructions to learn how to embed Google Plus posts on your blog or website.

Using Google Plus posts to grow your social presence

Continue reading Take Google+ further with Google+ Embedded Posts

How to record Skype calls in 4 quick steps

When I first began creating podcasts, one of the areas that frustrated me was coming up with a consistent way to record the audio for each podcast interview. While we used Skype, I wanted a convenient way to be able to record Skype calls – whether on a PC or a Mac and to be able to use my own equipment.

Why I chose Skype to record calls

While most of my podcast interviews are with people who live in the United States, a large part of my audience is overseas. The great thing about using Skype is that it’s easy to setup – and it allows me to use my Internet connection to meet with individuals across the world.

Another benefit is that you can use Skype for audio calls. Skype also supports videos calls over Skype as well.

One other reason I chose Skype was because it’s mainly free.

To record Skype calls, follow the instructions below.

How to record Skype calls

Continue reading How to record Skype calls in 4 quick steps

3 steps to inviting people to join a Facebook Group

Facebook Group invite

You’ve created a Facebook Group – now what do you do to get people to join your group? Send out a Facebook group invite of course!

If you run a Facebook Group, there are three ways you can send out a Facebook Group invite.

  • Enter their name on Facebook
  • Send a private message with a link to your Facebook Group
  • Invite them to your Facebook Group using an email address

Which type of Facebook Group invite do we use?

Depending on the type of group you run, you’ll want to consider which type of invitation is right for your group.

For example, if your Facebook Group is made up of people you’re friends with on Facebook, you’ll want to use the first option.

The downside to using this type of Facebook Group invite is that it’s very impersonal because it doesn’t give you the option to enter a message to that person. Instead, they receive a standard email letting them know that someone has invited them to join a Facebook Group.

If you want a more customizable option, you’ll want to use the second option – sending a private message. This way you can add in your own message so that your invitation is a little more personal for members who you invite.

If your Facebook Group is made up of people you don’t have a personal connection with on Facebook, the third option is your best bet. This allows you to enter in someone’s email address; however, it doesn’t give you the opportunity to customize the message to people you invite to join the group.

How to invite members to join a Facebook Group?

Now that you’ve selected the type of Facebook Group invite you want to use, follow the instructions in the video below to send a Facebook Group invite.

Continue reading 3 steps to inviting people to join a Facebook Group

Build awareness, drive Facebook traffic for promotions – Infographic

With the launch of Facebook Timeline, Facebook tabs saw their engagement drop by 50%. This isn’t good news if you’re a business trying to leverage promotions to drive Facebook traffic.

If you have created Facebook landing page tabs and you’re trying to target users on mobile devices, things only go from bad to worse. This is because Facebook landing page tabs don’t work on mobile devices (unless you create them using ShortStack and promote the link to your page tab).

At this point, this  means that your business now has even more work to do on-top of running your Facebook promotions just to get the word out to fans and customers.

Fortunately, there a number of things you can do as a business owner after creating a Facebook promotion to help increase awareness and drive Facebook traffic when you’re running your next promotion.

For starters, if you’re promoting a Facebook landing page tab, you’ll want to be sure to share that link with fans. Otherwise, they won’t be able to access them from their mobile devices.

So you have your Facebook promotions created – what else can your business be doing to help increase awareness with customers and to drive Facebook traffic for your promotions? Let’s find out.

8 ways to drive Facebook traffic for promotions Continue reading Build awareness, drive Facebook traffic for promotions – Infographic

3 steps to block Facebook game requests

Facebook game requests – they’re annoying. One minute, you think you’ve blocked them. The next day, there are more Facebook game requests coming in from friends. Today, we’re going to show you how to block Facebook game requests in 3 simple steps – forever.

Why block Facebook game requests?

As we mentioned, game requests are flat-out annoying. Not to mention, they can consume a lot of your time. For example, if you have Facebook installed on your mobile device (who doesn’t), whenever you receive a Facebook game request, your phone buzzes.

This can lead to a loss of productivity because you stop what you’re doing to check your notifications, only to find out that it’s just a game request and not an important message.

Instead of letting Facebook game requests rule your life, be proactive and block Facebook game requests.
 
Block Facebook game requests

To block Facebook game requests, follow the instructions outlined below.

How to block Facebook game requests

Continue reading 3 steps to block Facebook game requests

Facebook link thumbnail image dimensions

Facebook recently increased the sizes of link thumbnail images in the news feed. This means whenever you share content from your blog or website, you’ll now start to see larger images from your posts in the news feed. To help you out, we’ve compiled a handy reference chart showing you all of the different Facebook link thumbnail image dimensions that you’ll need to know.

This way when you’re uploading images to your blog posts, you’ll be able to optimize your images for Facebook so that when fans share them, they look great in the news feed regardless of where they are shared.

So what are the recommended dimensions for Facebook link thumbnail images? Here’s a breakdown on everything you need to know.

Facebook link thumbnail image dimensions

Continue reading Facebook link thumbnail image dimensions