clearly conveyed communications

Take A Closer Look at LinkedIn To Grow Your Business

Are you using LinkedIn to expand your professional network and grow your business?

LinkedIn is moving into the spotlight with marketers. — LinkedIn is ready for its closeup, and marketers are taking notice.

LinkedIn tends to be the forgotten social network. Most people go one of two ways: set up a profile and forget about it or link it to their Twitter account, flooding their professional network with random bits of information. We don’t recommend either.

Related reading: LinkedIn: Are You Connected?

It was interesting to see LinkedIn’s presence on the recently published Social Media Marketing Industry Report by Social Media Examiner. The professional social network came in an impressive third (behind Facebook and Twitter) as marketers’ most used social platform.

LinkedIn is the 3rd most popular social network for marketers. — LinkedIn came in a close third as the most popular social network for marketers.
(Source: Social Media Marketing Industry Report)

But are marketers setting and forgetting or actually using the network? We’re going with the latter. LinkedIn came in (a distant) second to Facebook as the most important social platform for marketers, if they could only choose one, and that sentiment is growing. Twenty-one percent of marketers selected the professional network as their most important platform, up from 17% in 2014. And LinkedIn’s status in business-to-business (B2B) marketing is even more dominant. Forty-one percent of B2B marketers designated the professional network as their most important platform, even outpacing Facebook.

Will this trend continue? CCC thinks so. Sixty-six percent of marketers surveyed plan on increasing their usage of LinkedIn in the future, narrowly finishing third behind Twitter and YouTube. And we do mean narrowly: the top three networks in this category were all within one percent.

What’s sparked the interest in LinkedIn? The network has made changes to encourage business professionals to return on a more regular basis, including opening LinkedIn Publishing to all members and re-engineering LinkedIn Search.

How can you tap into the power of the largest professional social network in the world? Review our series on how to make the most of your efforts, including growing your professional network, rocking your profile and making LinkedIn Groups work for you.

What’s your favorite LinkedIn feature?

How regularly do you visit the platform?

Where does LinkedIn rank in your order of most important social platforms?

Let us know if you have any questions or would like some help tapping into the wealth of possibility on this platform.

Let’s connect!
Jaime

Let’s chat (about the SMM Industry Report, LinkedIn or otherwise):

Ten Common Misconceptions about Quick SEO

CCC welcomes Eve Haugen to the blog! Anyone with a website (or blog) is always looking to improve his or her search engine optimization (SEO), and of course, you don’t want to wait to see the results. Insert quick SEO — tips and tactics to give you a quick boost in your search rankings and website traffic. Eve’s here to share her knowledge on the subject and dispel ten common misconceptions about the practice. Enjoy!

The science of SEO is constantly evolving. Although a long-term strategy, it can also yield quick results with the right tactics. While there is a range of tips on how to get around quick SEO, the misconceptions about it are galore and the people spreading such rumors are the ones who have hardly dabbled in it.

Ranking factors of Google's search algorithms — Ranking factors of Google’s search algorithms

So, here are some of the SEO myths – If you are alert enough, you will immediately package these practices in a box and throw them away.

Google will NOT build strategy for you: This is a well-followed mantra of website building. You build a website fattened with content and you expect traffic to flow into it. Well, it doesn’t! That is why SEO professionals are still needed. You need to pay attention to the best keywords, develop your user’s experience (UXD/UED), insert links and ensure fast page downloads so that your website stands out.

Stuffing your page with unnecessary keywords can instantly get you a better rank: Well, that is not a good SEO tip. Keyword density – the number of keywords found on your page that determines the relevancy of your work – should never exceed a certain maximum. Keyword density may be an important metric for ranking a page, but it isn’t the only one. Your keywords also need to be relevant to your material. Don’t add them randomly because they always stick out.

Adding unnecessary promo boxes and ads can give you more clicks: Times have changed, and with it, mindsets. It’s best to do away with these ads as they hardly generate extra clicks. People are no longer interested in them.

Guest posts do not matter: Hell yeah, they do! Moving posts from guest bloggers to your page is an excellent technique to generate quick traffic. Recently, Matt Cutts, the head of Google’s Webspam team, drew attention to the importance of guest posting and promoted it on his blog. Well, he said it, so is there any reason to doubt it?

Link building can be ignored: A content marketing team greatly benefits from a link builder. Link building is an important aspect of Google’s ranking schemes that give you a greater visibility to the outside world. Especially back links – when you acquire back links in relation to your content, you make it visible to a larger audience. It’s a much needed SEO tip for good promotion.

Quick SEO is all that matters – after all it’s just a one-time strategy: SEO in its essence is a long-term process that requires immense planning, but in case you’re in a hurry, quick SEO tips can be of great use. However, these tips should only be used once in a while.

SEO is just a one-time strategy – do it quickly and get it done: SEO requires a continual investment of your time and energy. Otherwise, your website’s content just rots. Continuous SEO integration helps in keeping the competition away and allows you to keep track of the continuously evolving techniques.

We can miss out on the social buzz – after all we are in a hurry: Google doesn’t care about the number of Facebook shares or your Twitter followers but successful social buzz can put your content right in front of your target market. It helps in building links, search engine discovery and spreading of content to the outside world.

The flashier, the merrier: Excessive use of flash content can go against your desired SEO results as search engines mostly understand the language of HTML.

SEO is easy so anyone can do it: SEO is not child’s play; even quick SEO techniques require an able hand who knows how to implement them. It requires care and analysis and well-informed people can help you with this.

Well, these are just a few misconceptions about SEO techniques, which stem from people who are still fixated on black hat SEO. These unethical techniques are supposedly cheap and easy to work with, but they can cost you dearly.

Remember, quick SEO can work for a certain time frame. Once, twice – that’s okay. But never fall into the allure of quick SEO all of the time.

Eve Haugen is a freelance writer, whose passion in writing drives her to craft articles that are engaging, informative and meaningful. Her partnership with QuickSEOResults has given her an opportunity to take her writing to a new level.

Facebook Is An Enigma To Marketers But Its Still #1 (Most of the Time)

Social Media Examiner recently released its highly anticipated Social Media Marketing Industry Report. If you want to know how 3,700 fellow marketers are using social media to grow their businesses, then you’re in the right place. We’ll discuss a few key findings and surprises over the next few weeks that you can incorporate into your own plans.

“Planet Facebook or Planet Earth? by Paul Butler” via Duncan Hill via CC BY 2.0

Key Findings, Facebook Edition

Facebook, the ultimate enigma, at least for marketers. “While 93% of marketers are using Facebook, 68% want to learn more about it and 62% plan on increasing Facebook activities. Only 45% of marketers think that their Facebook efforts are effective,” however 52% would stick with the social behemoth if only allowed to utilize one platform. So you use it and are planning on increasing efforts but aren’t confident your current efforts are effective. Got it.

These conflicting findings aren’t surprising given the overall size of the platform and marketers’ struggles with connecting to their audiences on it. You realize the potential in Facebook but have yet to see your substantial efforts pay off. It is interesting to see that marketers are planning on increasing their activities despite the number of “I’m quitting Facebook” articles making the rounds.

If you’re frustrated with Facebook (which we all are from time to time), take a step back and look at the big picture. What are you trying to accomplish? What type of content is your audience most receptive to in this environment? While general tips are helpful to get started, you need to utilize Insights or 3rd party analytics to build your own knowledge base. Your audience is unique, so what works best for another page may not be music to your audience’s ears.

I'm excited about @Facebook Messenger adding payment capabilities. No transaction fees at this time. Could be big for #smallbusiness.

— Jaime Shine 💬 Marketer | Writer (@jaimeshine) March 25, 2015

Check out these new resources for Facebook marketers and get ready for some exciting updates coming in the near future, such as Facebook Messenger now being its own platform — and open for business. This is a game-changer for small businesses, especially the upcoming payment feature. If you haven’t heard, Facebook is adding a feature to Messenger that will allow you to send payments to other users, including businesses, for free.

Discover more helpful tips and tricks for succeeding on Facebook by checking out our blog posts on the subject. Or message us (here or on Facebook), so we can discuss your current status and how to get where you want to go.

SMM Industry Report: Facebook Edition Feedback

What’s your favorite way to use Facebook for business?

What feature is it missing?

What’s one tip that you would share with others using Facebook for business?

p.s. You can download a free copy of the Social Media Marketing Industry Report here.

Facebook fan and foe,
Jaime

Let’s chat (about the SMM Industry Report, Facebook or otherwise):

Tell Your Own Story Without Missing a Moment

We live in an era where people can tell their own stories like never before. You can capture key moments of your life and share them with friends and family all over the globe. Now a company is using technology to take capturing the moment to the next level.

At the big game! — Yours truly enjoying the Wagon Wheel Challenge, courtesy of PNC. Go Flashes!

Fanpics gives every fan a chance to tell their own story by turning the cameras from the competitors to the stands. Forget trying to grab a selfie with friends mid-game and missing a major moment. Now there’s an app for that. This innovative startup has you covered — from all angles.

What’s better than a selfie in the stands? A candid capture of you jumping for joy when your team hits a buzzer beater. Or being crushed in a spontaneous group hug after a late steal seals the win. Those are the moments you really want to capture — and share.

Now fans attending events at the STAPLES Center and other venues can. Fanpics has partnered with the home of the Los Angeles Lakers and Clippers to give fans the ultimate viewing experience. Simply sign in to the app, enter your seat number, put your phone away and enjoy the game!

Capture your moment! — Photo courtesy of Fanpics

Pictures captured of your reaction to key moments will be available to you on the app within 30 seconds of when they’re taken. You’ll be able to share these memorable moments in real time or during a break in the action. Don’t worry; all pictures taken of you are private until you decide to share them.

Speaking of sharing, think about the applications for this technology! My mind jumps to companies using it to capture attendees and memorable moments at conferences and events. How could you use this technology in your industry or for your business?

The best part is that Fanpics can deliver data too. Each image is time-stamped and comes with a description of what’s happening at the moment the picture’s taken. With data being such a big deal in business, there are endless opportunities here. Perhaps you could gauge attendees’ true reaction to a speaker without the hassle of follow-up surveys. Or you could see where seating areas are needed the most for random networking moments (by noticing where people naturally stop to chat).

The implications of this technology are huge. It could give us the ability to tell our own story without missing a moment.

Fan Feedback

Would you utilize the Fanpics app at a game?

How could you use this technology in your industry or for your business?

A sports junkie and technology fan,
Jaime

Let’s chat (about Fanpics, sports, technology or otherwise):

Amazon Turns Its Boxes Into Ads With First Of Its Kind Marketing Deal For “Minions” Movie

Recently, we blogged about taking your message to your audience instead of waiting for them to come to you. Well, here’s a great example. Universal Studios partnered with Amazon to promote its new movie, Minions, on the retailer’s shipping boxes.

What a great idea! You can’t miss these bright and cheery boxes, and everyone from recipients to postal carriers is sharing pictures via social media. Heck, some people are even ordering something from Amazon just to get a Minions box. On that note, we may need some office supplies…

If you are a Minions fan, Amazon has you covered. Check out http://amazon.com/minions for nearly anything with the little yellow guys that you could possibly want.

Have you received a Minions Amazon box?

Are you going to order from Amazon to get one?

Have you seen or been in a partnership like this before?

Poopaye! (Goodbye in Minion-speak)
Jaime

Let’s chat (on the Minions, brand partnerships or otherwise):

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9 Ways You Can Help Those In Need #allin1day

I give because I can.

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A post shared by Jaime Shine (@jaimeshine)

Did you know?

Every two seconds someone in the U.S. needs blood.*
The Red Cross has won three Nobel Peace Prizes, in 1917, 1944 and 1963.^
In 2013, the international Red Cross movement provided food aid for more than 6.7 million people and essential household and hygiene items for over 3.4 million people.`
The ICRC’s (International Committee of the Red Cross) water, sanitation and construction projects benefitted some 28.7 million people in 2013.`

Please join us in going #allin1day to help the Red Cross deliver essential aid to those in need.

How can you help?

Give blood.
SleevesUp: Host a virtual blood drive.
Host a regular blood drive.
Donate platelets.
Donate money.
Learn CPR, First Aid and how to use an AED.
Tell your story.
Volunteer.
Fundraise.

I gave whole blood for six years before learning that I was an ideal platelets donor, which I moved to three years ago. I don’t give in memory or honor of a specific person, although it is amazing when you meet people who have needed platelets — cancer patients, car accident survivors or organ transplant recipients, to name a few.

Go all in with us on June 2, 2015. — CCC is in. Are you?

I give because I can, and I hope that if I ever need platelets, someone will give for me.

p.s. Did you know the Red Cross has several apps, including one for blood and platelets donations?

Statistics sources: *American Red Cross ^International Business Times `ICRC Annual Report

Pay It Forward,
Jaime

Let’s chat (on the Red Cross, Paying It Forward or otherwise):

A Nation Full of Dreamers: Who inspired you?

Today would have been Sally Ride’s 64th birthday. She’s widely known as the first American woman in space, no doubt inspiring millions to dream big and shoot for the stars (literally).

Not as widely known is her work on Earth, educating millions of kids in science, especially girls and minorities. As someone who broke barriers, Ride, a physicist, wanted non-traditional STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) students to know that they could succeed in these fields too.

Most of us have someone who inspired us to do what we do. It could be a family friend or well-known individual in your field. We asked CCC Facebook fans what book transported them to a defining moment or event in their life, and Missy Radecki, an RN and Associate Professor of Nursing, gave a tremendous response.

“The Diving Bell and the Butterfly….published in 1997, memoir by journalist Jean-Dominique Bauby editor of French Elle. He had a stroke at the age of 43, woke 20 days later and had locked in syndrome, he wrote the book by blinking. It gave me insight into being a patient and how he saw his nurses….I was moved by it and was the cornerstone of how I treated my patients.”

That question was inspired by a book I read while in college, A Big Life (in advertising). The author, Mary Wells Lawrence, rose through the ranks in the advertising world and ended up owning her own agency when few women made it past the secretary pool. The Mad Men finale triggered memories of reading this book, which is set during the same era, and encouraged me to pull it from my office book shelves.

I first fell in love with the #MadMen era as an #advertising major when I read this book. ✈👠 💼 #bookthatchangedmylife pic.twitter.com/qjN7YgWWh3

— Jaime Shine 💬 Marketer | Writer (@jaimeshine) May 18, 2015

When I read this book, I was pursuing a degree in advertising, so Lawrence’s message of success hit home. Despite ad agencies still being male-dominated, I knew I could survive and even thrive on Madison Ave, just like she (and Peggy Olson and Joan Holloway) did. It was a bonus when I discovered that Lawrence hails from Ohio, just like yours truly.

So thank you, Mary Wells Lawrence, for living your big life (in advertising) and inspiring a fellow Ohioan to follow in your footsteps. Maybe one day I’ll get there.

Who fueled your dreams?

p.s. Another great book by a woman who excelled during the ‘Mad Men’ era of advertising is Mad Women: The Other Side of Life on Madison Avenue in the ’60s and Beyond by Jane Maas.

Living a big life,
Jaime

Let’s chat (on advertising, dreams or otherwise):

How To Test Your Way To Success As a Small Business

As a small business, you have an advantage over larger competitors: agility. It’s harder for larger, more established companies to be agile. You can, and here’s how to use that to your benefit.

Testing, Testing, 1, 2, 3…

Test, test and test some more. Try things out. You may have noticed that the CCC blog publishing schedule has been a little off lately. That’s because we’ve been testing different publishing days and posts per week. We apologize if we’ve thrown off your reading schedule, but things should be settling down now. After studying our data, we’ve decided on a Tuesday and Friday publishing schedule (for now).

In addition to testing out publishing schedules, we also like to test our content in different formats and on different social platforms. For example, we usually tweet each CCC blog post twice within a few days to a week after publishing: once with the title & featured photo and once with a quote or a question that is discussed in the post.

#Twitter’s ‘Retweet With Comment’ Feature Changes The Conversation http://t.co/Vy6hDu5sjM #socialmedia pic.twitter.com/BTZJkvfX0U
— Jaime Shine 💬 Marketer | Writer (@jaimeshine) May 4, 2015

On May 4, we tweeted the above tweet to promote a recent post, Twitter’s Retweet with Comment Feature Changes The Conversation. This tweet with the title and photo racked up 413 impressions and 16 engagements, which are fantastic for us. Then on May 7, we tweeted a quote from the post along with the social media hashtag. That tweet fared much worse, gaining 159 impressions and 1 engagement. Lesson learned: always tweet with pictures. Not so fast!

PB&J. Bert & Ernie. Cream & sugar.
Some things just go together, like partnerships & marketing: http://t.co/0kLiUyVxhu #marketingtips
— Jaime Shine 💬 Marketer | Writer (@jaimeshine) May 12, 2015

On May 8, we sent a title and photo tweet promoting a post, Inside/Out: Brands, Take Your Message To The People. It garnered only 94 impressions and 0 engagements. (The irony is that this same picture was a hit on Instagram, racking up 31 likes and 12 comments.) So on May 11, we sent a text-only tweet (shown above) that was viewed 311 times and engaged with 4 times.

Finally, we posted the picture shown below on Instagram on April 13th showing our love of all things Mad Men. (If you missed it, check out Mad Men: Master Storytelling In Any Era, and you’ll understand at least part of our love affair.) It’s still pulling in traffic, currently at 69 likes and 25 comments. We also posted this picture on Twitter with fantastic results (5/17/15: 556 impressions and 19 engagements) and Facebook with less fantastic results (4/14/15: 11 people reached, 1 engagement).

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A post shared by Jaime Shine 💬 Marketer (@jaimeshine)

Can anyone hear us?

Here’s our point: keep testing and trying things so you can stay in front of your audience, who is always moving. You’ll read so many posts that tell you to publish blog posts on Tuesdays at 10am and Facebook posts on Wednesdays at 3pm and LinkedIn posts on Thursday mornings at 7:30am. Those are general suggestions that can help you as you accumulate your own data to study and test. Your audience is unique, so they’ll set their own best practices. The hard part is breaking through all of the noise and clutter to hear, see and follow them.

Your Feedback

As a small business, we love your feedback! So let us hear it.

What suggestions do you have for the CCC blog?

What suggestions do you have for small business owners?

How has testing led you to success?

Enjoy your long weekend, but remember what Memorial Day represents. THANK YOU to everyone who has given the ultimate sacrifice while protecting our country and freedom. And please, stay safe and be smart; don’t put a first responder in harm’s way.

Always testing, always learning,
Jaime

Let’s chat (on testing, small business or otherwise):

https://www.pinterest.com/jaimeshine/ — https://www.linkedin.com/in/jaimeshine/

Think Outside of the Booth: Ideas to Promote Your Brand at Events

Last month, CCC traveled to Indianapolis to work an event for a client, and it was an amazing experience. In addition to fueling the conversation with 32,000 firefighters from around the world, we walked away with some creative branding ideas.

Think outside of the booth when promoting your brand!

While your booth doesn’t have to (and shouldn’t) be boring, there are so many other opportunities to grab attendees’ attention at an event. Take the above static cling, for example. It was hard to miss this manufacturer’s ad of a turnout coat on full-length mirrors in bathrooms around the convention center. It’s crazy. You can almost see yourself in TECGEN® PPE’s gear, can’t you? You might as well go to the company’s booth and try some on.

TECGEN® PPE shattered convention — and expectations — with this hallway display at a firefighter conference.

If you somehow missed TECGEN® in the bathroom, the company stopped attendees in their tracks elsewhere too. Instead of shattering glass (to remove a fire extinguisher), the manufacturer shattered convention with its newly redesigned turnout gear — and hallway display. In addition, the company’s unique display was in a high traffic area right outside of a doorway to one of the exhibit areas and a food court area.

Not to be outdone, MSA Safety’s booth was so hot it was smoking. Literally! This may be one of the coolest booth ideas we’ve ever seen.

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A post shared by Jaime Shine (@jaimeshine)

And we haven’t even talked about the well-placed floor graphics (stairs, anyone?), ceiling danglers, electronic signs, individual event sponsorships, fire trucks in lobbies and so much more.

Remember, your event experience doesn’t begin or end at your booth. That’s just where the party’s at!

p.s. If you’re planning to exhibit at an event or planning an event itself, we’d love to help! Drop us a line so we can help you maximize your event experience!

Cheers,
Jaime

Let’s chat (on events or otherwise):

CCC Turns 3! And the Winners Are…

We’ve been celebrating all week, and today it’s official. My company, Clearly Conveyed Communications, turns 3 years old.

The swag has arrived. How do you like the retro touch?

In some ways, it seems like yesterday that I made the leap to start my own company; in others, it seems like a lifetime ago. In 3 short years, CCC has gotten social with first responders, worked with international clients and connected with people the world over. We’ve scratched, clawed, struggled and grown, experienced the highest of highs and the lowest of lows. That’s the life of a small business owner.

And small business owners are close to our heart. While we’ve worked with companies of all sizes, we love helping small businesses succeed and realize their hopes and dreams. If you’re a small business owner, drop us a line. We’d love to hear about what you’re doing, so we can help spread the word.

We’re grateful to everyone who’s helped spread the word about us and wanted to thank you. Earlier this week, we announced a contest for those who engage with us on social media and are excited to announce the winners!

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A post shared by Jaime Shine (@jaimeshine)

The winners of the ‘CCC Turns 3’ contest are:

Missy Radecki, Associate Professor of Nursing, FL *** CCC swag prize pack
Lyla Larimore, Blogger & Fire Service Enthusiast, IN *** CCC swag prize pack
David Rose, CEO at PRSONAS *** Spotify Premium gift card

Congratulations to our winners! We’ll be in touch with more information on your prizes.

A sincere THANK YOU to everyone who has helped shape CCC in any way, from clients and customers to ardent supporters to close friends who serve as sounding boards. We appreciate you!

p.s. We’re still partying! Penelope and Mojo are swinging around the office. 🙂

Grateful and blessed,
Jaime

Let’s chat (on a topic of your choosing):

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