Are you growing an online business with measurable success? Is your Facebook Page and Instagram account growing and driving sales?

Interested in hearing the story of one mom who is repeating success online? You're in the right place!

how-our-facebook-page-grew-alison-j-prince

In this episode of the halftime Mike podcast I dive into the Alison J Prince story.  

Alison has started 8 online businesses over the last 7 years, and has had some amazing success with growth, sales, and social media community growth…. taking one Facebook page for her business HowDoesShe from 150k fans to over 1.5 million engaged fans, not to mention an Instagram following of over 75k!

With that background and biz success, Alison is a perfect guest for our show here to share her story and some wisdom on growing an online business and social community.

Listen Now>

Subscribe:  Halftime Mike on iTunes  | Android users via RSS  | Listen on Stitcher.

Growing an Online Business - The Alison J Prince Story

Alison is having tremendous business success in her online businesses with the strategic use of social media. Initially, with zero funding, she focused on purely organic means to grow and engage her audience and continues to use paid ads only sparingly. This amazing mom has done great things with a focus on giving value to her community.  Through this singular focus her businesses have taken off!

Her secret? Wait for it....She said:

"The secret to social is being social." - Alison J. Prince

Yes, you read that right! That's the secret sauce from the woman of the hour!

Her solution is twofold.

  1. Offer value - It's about being a valuable resource!
  2. And find the group of people that compliments you, which you can collaborate with. Example:  You share each other's posts, you tag each other.  Basically, you're giving out there together, making connections, working together, being with them, being a team player - growing together.

Other inspiring advice for newbies diving into social media for their business: "be nice, share, compliment, take your turn....as kids are taught in  kindergarten." It must be a "win-win" situation for everyone involved.

One other fantastic piece of advice is the importance of knowing your worth as a solopreneur. Every professional is an individual with unique needs and expenses. Popular USD or EUR based flat hourly rates may not be feasible for you as a professional serving a clientele in a completely different zone. If you don’t use your time and resources effectively, it can be hard for you to grow your business. To increase your business efficiency, you must know how much time you are spending and what are your current costs to complete a project. Calculate your hourly rate now!

For other tips, check our brand new blog post that can give you information about enhancing your online presence to grow your business.

TAKEAWAY:  Who can your business partner with on social media and marketing that is complementary to your product/services?  Someone that can help you and whom you can help.  Take each other higher!

Alison J Prince Online Business Nuggets and Tidbits

(Hint: listen to the episode for full details and the stories)

Howdoesshe.com, is a mom blog, where she feature mom's and helpful ideas for mom's including information like: quick, healthy meals, how does she knit, how does she do her makeup,  etc.

Pickyourplum.com – Her e-commerce site with handpicked special deals.  It started with zero funding on social media.

Email Marketing:

Email marketing is a vital part of her business blog and sales funnel. Her main goal is to have an email list and from there do email nurture towards sales.

Howdoesshe gives away printable cards and gift tags on her blog via an opt in to a private account where the follower would access the printables.

Through incentives to access private posts and other simple offers she has grown her list to over 130k!

Social Media

Alison is now using Facebook Live Video for greater engagement.

She and her team do livestreaming videos with the intent to connect, engage and to better help and support their community.  Plus, it simply works on Facebook!  You have to adapt to what is working and can't stand still.  One of her livestreaming episodes reached over 7k people on Facebook live. So are you looking to optimize your online business? Click here.

alison j prince

With the tremendous successes from her business venture, Alison couldn't help but give back to people. She now ventures in online business consulting with her newly launched website Alisonjprince.com. She does consulting on business marketing for Facebook, Instagram, how to grow business niches, and special courses on entrepreneurship. The goal of her course is to help others create the same success as she did – especially for moms or dads who wants to work 5 hours a week and earn $100-150 thousand dollars a year. The basic goal: live a real rich life and to help people make money in their pajamas!

All this and more in this podcast episode!

So what’s your key takeaway from this?  What do you need to do in the next 24 hours based on listening?

Share below!

Growing an Online Business Resources:

 

Help Spread the Word!

Please let your Twitter followers know about this podcast. Simply click here now to post a tweet >>.

If you enjoyed this episode of the Social Media Marketing podcast, please “go over to iTunes,  leave a rating, write a review and subscribe!

Thank you so much for your support!

Why the Halftime theme Mike? 

I’m an Indiana Hoosier native where basketball is the top sport. Every team heads to the locker room at halftime to evaluate the first half and create an updated plan for the second half. That plan includes adjustments based on reviewing what worked and what didn't. The “halftime” is a key review point where the game stops, the team pulls away to huddle in the locker room away from the fans, and they come out prepared and ready to succeed in the second half.

That’s what this podcast is all about, taking the time to pull away for a bit to evaluate, learn, and set some strategies for your business to succeed in the second half. Join me by subscribing and let me be your “business halftime” to help you find great success going forward!

Subscribe: Halftime Mike on iTunes | Android users via RSS | Listen on Stitcher.

Catch all the episodes of Halftime Mike by signing up for inbox delivery!

 

Are you growing leads with Instagram and SnapChat?

Do you wish you were and want to know how to track the ROI?

Sue gave away loads of creative ideas here!

Growing Leads with Instagram and SnapChat

In this episode of the halftime Mike podcast Sue B. Zimmerman drops in to drop some gold on ways to use Instagram and SnapChat (and she slides in Periscope too) to drive traffic, grow leads, and cross-pollinate.

New to "cross-pollinating" in social marketing?  You'll want to listen in!

Listen Now:

Subscribe:  Halftime Mike on iTunes  | Android users via RSS  | Listen on Stitcher.

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Growing Leads with Instagram and SnapChat

Full video version...

Sue has had great successes both in online and offline business. She has been a million dollar serial entrepreneur and business builder starting at the young age of 22. Her biggest ally in business is the use of social media, specifically utilizing Instagram as her key platform.

Instagram Changes in 2016:

Instagram's evolution has recently paved the way to some new changes improving user experience.

To date, Instagram has over 400 million active users with its demographics shifting from only youth and young adults to adding more 30-50+ year olds daily.  One thing of note is that for youth and young adults, SnapChat is now surpassing Instagram in daily active use!

Summary of the Episode:

In this episode, Sue shares her daughter's Instagram business success.

She talks about how her daughter received tremendous feedback simply by sharing her passion for her vegan journey and how that ultimately generated her business.  This simple business model was founded by posting very high quality photos on Instagram, giving value in every post, sharing recipes, creating a website with a blog, and eventually creating an e-book where she shared a link in her bio that made thousands of dollars for her.

Sue gives emphasis on merging business strategies with the main core of strategy of giving value to your followers using really great visual content.  This can be a 60 sec video, or a fab photo.

What kind of call to action will you do to drive traffic to your sales funnel?  Sue covers it!

She shares also about cross-pollinating - using one platform to drive traffic to another platform, and vice versa.  Including using SnapChat to drive traffic to Instagram, Instagram to drive to her website and more.

Tip:

It is important that you put a geo-tag on your posts and put your store's physical location as it will get you 79% more engagements. When you do a "hashtag hub, geo-tag hub" people will know how to drive to your store because it shows them a map of your physical store.

Linking Strategy with Instagram bio-URL

A great bio and one content URL is also a tip as Sue calls it a  "natural sales funnel". Use a specific tracking link to each social media account when you share on that network.  Not only will this lead people to your website or a blog, but you can track ROI from that specific platform if the tracking URL is unique.

Do once a week blog post and a change the link in your Instagram bio to it.  Then, retarget from other social media platforms to drive traffic to your website's blog.

A simple way to ignite your content is to promote on Instagram thru an image and video, and the use of the bio URL space (using a trackable link) to lead followers to your sales page. Your Blog is gold so the content push is very essential and needs a "planning ahead strategy" that will consistently drive eyeballs to your posts.

Snapchat and Periscope

Snapchat and Periscope are video and livestream tools that you can use to ignite a blogpost and drive traffic to your site by doing a 'story behind the blog' and engaging with your live audience, ultimately leading them to your post.

You can announce a lesson and encourage your followers to engage and interact by leaving a comment to your post on Instagram or inviting them to message on SnapChat.

Sue creates an awesome strategy on SnapChat,  'Leave a ghost to the post and comment' on Instagram so she knows when a user came from SnapChat to Instagram and commented. Sue also makes sure to showcase a different aspect of the blog post when she shares on Snapchat, Periscope and Instagram.

How She Used Them:

She announces a Periscope lesson on Snapchat - the time of the livestream (EST), she talks about it and encourages them to attend and interact.

While she does whiteboard teaching then on Periscope.

On Email the List

Before posting a blog on social media, she makes it a point  to prioritize her email list and get the blog first to her email community because they are the most valuable customers and blog commenters for her.  She gives them the "earlybird" alerts and counts on them to start the engagement online on the blog and on social.

Interactive Strategy:

Sue does live Instagram audits by getting them to log in an opt in and lets her audience engage and be picked live. It is important to work with a team when you plan of doing this to become more efficient in your strategies of teaching and empowering to be successful.

Sue does this via Facebook and Periscope live at the same time.

One tip to do is to give a shout out to people who share your brand or story.

"When you shine the light on others, the light shines back on you."

Be Social Tip:

Have private conversations or send personal messages and people will love you back.

Embrace the process of learning and growing and discovering what social platform you love. Finding what you feel is fun to do and not painful work.  When you do what you enjoy, you do it very well!

About Sue B. Zimmerman:

My special guest this episode is Sue B Zimmerman!

Sue is a social media network ninja who believes that sometimes all it takes is a smile, a selfie, and a sunset to make people happy. Using her passion for all things social she’s built a thriving online community that is helping business owners, big and small, take charge of their social media marketing strategies.

She’s also known as #TheInstagramExpert, and has built her career empowering entrepreneurs and marketing professionals to utilize the power of Instagram to get tangible business results. As a highly sought after business coach,she’s traveled the world speaking, inspiring, and sharing her knowledge and about social media marketing.

So what’s your key takeaway from this?  What do you need to do in the next 24 hours based on listening?

Share below!

How to Grow Leads with Instagram and SnapChat Resources:

Growing Leads with Instagram and SnapChat

 

 


Help Spread the Word!

Please let your Twitter followers know about this podcast. Simply click here now to post a tweet >>.

If you enjoyed this episode of the Social Media Marketing podcast, please “go over to iTunes,  leave a rating, write a review and subscribe!

Thank you so much for your support!

Why the Halftime theme Mike? 

I’m an Indiana Hoosier native where basketball is the top sport. Every team heads to the locker room at halftime to evaluate the first half and create an updated plan for the second half. That plan includes adjustments based on reviewing what worked and what didn't. The “halftime” is a key review point where the game stops, the team pulls away to huddle in the locker room away from the fans, and they come out prepared and ready to succeed in the second half.

That’s what this podcast is all about, taking the time to pull away for a bit to evaluate, learn, and set some strategies for your business to succeed in the second half. Join me by subscribing and let me be your “business halftime” to help you find great success going forward!

Subscribe: Halftime Mike on iTunes | Android users via RSS | Listen on Stitcher.

Catch all the episodes of Halftime Mike by signing up for inbox delivery below!

Are you engaging your web visitors and social media community?

Do you have an "engagement" action plan"? Engagement in Your Digital Marketing Strategy is all about what you need to do at the TOP of your digital funnel to CONNECT.

You NEED to be engaging your web and social community to build rapport.  I talk about how to do this...

Engagement Keys in Your Digital Marketing Strategy

In this episode of the halftime Mike podcast I dive into the "Engagement" area of the digital marketing funnel.  What it is, what you need to do, and how it works!

Listen Now:

[powerpress]

Subscribe:  Halftime Mike on iTunes  | Android users via RSS

badge itunes lrg Growing Business Online: Identifying your Ideal Customer

Engagement Keys in Your Digital Marketing Strategy

Here's a window into the total digital marketing funnel outline and note "Engage" second to the top of the funnel.  This is our focus today!

Digital Marketing Funnel 1.21.16

1.  What is "Engaging"

Engaging is the art and science of responding and being social with your community.  It can happen on your website and it definitely happens with social media.  It's about responding, acknowledging, answering questions and offering support.

My big three ideas are that to be "Engaging" a brand must

You need to show attentiveness, care, and warmth.  In other words...your brand must be human!

2. Why it Matters.

Because in this day and age, it can be a competitive advantage and differentiator!

As well, many businesses are not ready to buy from a company right away.  They need to have multiple points of contact to better know, like, and trust the business.

That's right, the majority of people you engage with will not be seeking to buy right way.  However, since we know that it takes 7 points of contact before people have enough information to Know, Like, and Trust us enough to buy from us, engagement is key because it can be points 2-6 in the "connection" process towards making a purchase from you.

3. Key Issue Today:  Ignoring the Engagement Opportunity

The major issue today is that businesses are simply overlooking and skipping engagement.  They continue to be "old-school." Old-school marketing was all "push".  From billboards to magazine ads and more, but today, being social is at the forefront.  People need to like you before they will want to do business with your company and buy your product!

The way they will build that "like" mentality is through interaction.

To market on social media is to need to be ready to and committed to engagement.  Answer comments, reply to @ mentions, follow then on Twitter/Instagram/Pinterest back, etc.  Engagement is about making the valuable effort to respond.

4. TIPS for Engaging

permalatt

Engagement Example:

It started with a simple question.... We love San Diego craft beer. Do you?

The question begged for engagement and the fans did not disappoint!

marquis

The KEY here is that the Facebook Page responded and followed up with more engagement, a question!

You gotta engage!  Social is a two-way street and it's a way for you to build rapport and make those connection points that build the know-like-trust relationship!

So what’s your key takeaway from this?

What do you need to do in the next 24 hours based on listening?

Share below!

How to Ramp up your Engagement:

Resources outlined in this episode. Click each to explore!

 


Help Spread the Word!

Please let your Twitter followers know about this podcast. Simply click here now to post a tweet >>.

If you enjoyed this episode of the Social Media Marketing podcast, please “go over to iTunes,  leave a rating, write a review and subscribe!

Thank you so much for your support!

Why the Halftime theme Mike? 

I’m an Indiana Hoosier native where basketball is the top sport. Every team heads to the locker room at halftime to evaluate the first half and create an updated plan for the second half. That plan includes adjustments based on reviewing what worked and what didn't. The “halftime” is a key review point where the game stops, the team pulls away to huddle in the locker room away from the fans, and they come out prepared and ready to succeed in the second half.

That’s what this podcast is all about, taking the time to pull away for a bit to evaluate, learn, and set some strategies for your business to succeed in the second half. Join me by subscribing and let me be your “business halftime” to help you find great success going forward!

Subscribe: Halftime Mike on iTunes | Android users via RSS | Listen on Stitcher.

Download this Episode:
[powerpress]
Catch all the episodes of Halftime Mike by signing up for inbox delivery below!

 

 

Are you attracting enough visitors to your website?  

Do you have an "attraction plan"?  Online Marketing Success: Attraction Content Tips in the Digital Marketing Funnel is all about what you need to do at the TOP of your funnel.

You NEED to be attracting more of the right top of visitors.  I talk about how to do this...

Online Marketing Success: Attraction Content in the Digital Marketing Funnel

In this episode of the halftime Mike podcast I dive into the "Attraction" area of the digital marketing funnel.  What it is, what you need to do, and how it works!

Listen Now:

[powerpress]

Subscribe:  Halftime Mike on iTunes  | Android users via RSS

badge itunes lrg Growing Business Online: Identifying your Ideal Customer

Online Marketing Success: Attraction Content in the Digital Marketing Funnel

Here's a window into the total digital marketing funnel outline and note "Attract" at the top of the funnel which is our focus today.

Digital Marketing Funnel 1.21.16

1.  What is Attraction Content

An attraction piece of content is typically a blog post or resource article on your website.  It is not a product listing.  An attraction article is not a "selly-sell" over-hyped push-to-buy type of material but rather something that is useful to the reader and by which you can be found and discovered by those searching for answer to that type of situation/problem/scenario.

Attraction content is resource-rich.  It  adds value and is for building reader trust, as well as for building interaction.  It is also focused on attracting the right people.  Those "right people" are your target buyer demographic.  The "would-be excellent client" type you want more of.

Attraction content is also a style of social media posting.  It includes posts in social media that are informative, inspirational, and educational.  These posts connect with the audience on a more social and community level, rather than on a product/service specific level. It doesn’t always have to be a product or a service but a “how to” ...think quality, valuable information that is resource rich.

My big three ideas are that to be an "Attraction" piece of content it must do one of these three things:

top of funnel

Attraction has to be inspirational, something people feel good about. It can be in the form of video, image and links leading to a content.

2. Why it Matters.

Because we are looking for ways to reach new people, not just any people, but the right kind of people.  If you want to continue to grow sales, you need to reach more and more of the same type of buyer that is your best client.

Attraction is your means of simply doing that...attracting.

If 5% of people are ready to buy what you have right away.  How many do you need to be reaching weekly to achieve your sales goals?

That's right, the majority of people you attract will not be seeking to buy right way.  However, since we know that it takes 7 points of contact before people have enough information to Know, Like, and Trust us enough to buy from us, it's key to get this multi-touch approach started.

3. Key Issue Today:  Too Many are Skipping this Step!

The major issue today is that we do so much push of our products for people to buy, being all "salesy" that we turn people off.  We actually see many businesses skipping "Attraction" all together.  They want to drive right to the sale and it doesn't work!

It's like that rude dude on the blind date that pushes for a home run.  Grow up and mature!

Old-school marketing was all "push".  From billboards to magazine ads and more, but today, being social is at the forefront.  People need to like you before they will want to do business with your company and buy your product!

4. TIPS: Attraction Content

 

Video works!  Images are needed.  Too much text without enough imagery or ability to skim can kill your content!

Examples:

Starbucks’ Global month of Service post – social in style, multiple image, showed people having fun, inspirational. It mobilize 275 volunteers to get 8,000 community service project done and it attracted likes and responses - 1100 shares, 46k reaction.

Online Marketing Success: Attraction Content Tips

Marriott Marquis Hotel San Diego – post “We <3 Craft Beer” tells people what they can do in San Diego and where to go to when looking for event.  They are being a RESOURCE!

marquis

Pacemaker Buildings is a Post-Frame Builder.  They recognize people decide slowly to build a building and they research quite a bit.  So, Pacemaker is seeking to use an "Attraction Content" strategy to reach their ideal customer.

Example one is a post about keys for a Equestrian training building.  Why?  They have had success with clients needing equestrian facilities.  So, someone seeking to build a equestrian building is likely doing research and they can find this article and discover/be attracted to Pacemaker Buildings!   Post Frame Building Equestrian Facilities

Online Marketing Success: Attraction Content Tips

Another example from Pacemaker is a blog post (they call it their Resource Center! [Brilliant!]) about exterior design options in Post-Frame buildings.  Why? Because those thinking about building are thinking about this topic!

Answer questions. Be a resource.  Add value!  Exterior Design Options Attraction post

Attraction along with engagement (another episode) needs to be about 50% of your content mix on a weekly basis!  It will be about 50% of your website content.  It's helps you be found, trusted, and it helps you be top-of-mind.

So what’s your key takeaway from this?

What do you need to do in the next 24 hours based on listening?

Share below!

How to Amplify your Content Resources:

Resources outlined in this episode:

 


Help Spread the Word!

Please let your Twitter followers know about this podcast. Simply click here now to post a tweet >>.

If you enjoyed this episode of the Social Media Marketing podcast, please “go over to iTunes,  leave a rating, write a review and subscribe!

Thank you so much for your support!

Why the Halftime theme Mike? 

I’m an Indiana Hoosier native where basketball is the top sport. Every team heads to the locker room at halftime to evaluate the first half and create an updated plan for the second half. That plan includes adjustments based on reviewing what worked and what didn't. The “halftime” is a key review point where the game stops, the team pulls away to huddle in the locker room away from the fans, and they come out prepared and ready to succeed in the second half.

That’s what this podcast is all about, taking the time to pull away for a bit to evaluate, learn, and set some strategies for your business to succeed in the second half. Join me by subscribing and let me be your “business halftime” to help you find great success going forward!

Subscribe: Halftime Mike on iTunes | Android users via RSS | Listen on Stitcher.

Download this Episode:
[powerpress]
Catch all the episodes of Halftime Mike by signing up for inbox delivery below!

 

 

scott-monty-ford

I always talk about the need to make connections in your content marketing and social media.  Connections to current events, to people, to things others can identify with.  This is part of your "Attraction" marketing that needs to happen.  It personalizes your messages and gives you a way of engaging and providing content that connects with our events going on.

Jay Baer of Convince and Convert, as well as author of Youtility, does a great job of connecting with the 0pening day of Major League Baseball by rolling out his "Social Pros All-Stars" as baseball cards!

Jay hosts a Podcast called,  Social Pros podcast, where he and his co-hosts  interview a social media professional about their day-to-day work and successes.  After 110+ episodes, they've gathered together 27 All-Stars from big B2C brands to provide a handy reference for the education and employment history of some of America’s leading social media professionals, with interesting facts and their best advice for aspiring social media managers.

VIEW THE CARDS:

Social Pros All-Stars Collection One - The Education and Employment Histories of 27 Leading Social Media Professionals Compared, Baseball Card-Style from Jay Baer

WHAT CAN YOU LEARN?

Content marketing is not about pushing your products and services over and over.  It's about finding natural ways to connect and engage you audience.  This is a great example because it does the following:

1. Ties in to a current event

2. Connects the offering (the podcast) to the current event

3. Offers a creative and unique method to tell the story of the people they have interviewed (using baseball cards)

 

Well done Jay and team!   

View the full post here: Career paths and top tips from 27 big company social media professionals

 

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