Once Yahoo doesn’t give the site the kiss of death, as it’s done before with other purchases, Tumblr could become even more main stream than it is now. So, for those of us who have dabbled or even those who have a long term interest in the site, we’ve compiled a number of tips to get the most from Tumblr.

Speed Things Up

Tumblr has a number of keys that allow you to push through the dashboard faster – which is great and saves a lot of moving about. Take a look.

J key – move forward
K key move backward
L – like a post
If you want to re-blog, but don’t want to leave the dashboard, then just press Alt. If you just want to tag then the Ctrl key does this.

SMS

So, if you want to use Tumblr but don’t have the Internet, there’s an answer – SMS. It’s also possible to post to audio once you set it up.

Just get the Tumblr email from your settings it’s possible to send a blog, image or most other features via text message to the site.

SEO

Tumblr offers the chance for you to make your post SEO friendly, so we’d advise you to do so. Include tags and customise the URL. It’s also possible to highlight the post at the bottom of the page.

Originals

Each Tumblr post has a fold on the top right hand corner and this becomes apparent when you move a mouse over it. If you leave the cursor there for a period it will show you the time the post was originally published. It’s also possible to click through to the first version of the post on the blog.

Chronological Order

Tumblr is a busy place and often it can be hard to find the beginning of a journal. However, adding ‘/chrono’ to the end of the URL allows you to find the posts on chronological order. It’s also possible to do this by date by adding ‘.com/day/YEAR/MONTH/DAY’

Other Shortcuts

Adding /photos to the end of the URL string will show you photos only in a nice and tidy tile format. However, if you add /show/text you will get the text only. This works for everything from photos, audio, video and most other forms of media – just add ‘/’ in-front of any of the aforementioned.

Limits

We all get excited when using a new tool; however Tumblr limits the amount of enthusiasm with a number of different limits. These are:

You can only re-blog 250 times in 24 hours and 75 can be images
Tumblr only allows for 300 friend adds a day
The queue only holds 300 posts
10 asks per hour and only 5 are anonymous

So, we’d say take a look and get to grips with Tumblr, it could play a big part in the future if things go according to plan.

 Looking for a creative Tumblr campaign? Click here for more information about our social media services.

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The research used anonymous Facebook data collected from users of the social network who agreed to participate. In order to look at interests, the study recorded likes and interests posted on their profile.

The UK-based scientist who carried out the research said: “It’s almost shocking how much this tells us about the evolution of people’s typical interests.”

“People talk less about video games as they get older, and more about politics.”

“Men typically talk more about sports and technology than women – and, somewhat surprisingly to me, they also talk more about movies, television and music.”

Genders not in sync with each other

According to the study, women tend to think about exercise seriously at around the age of 34, whilst men leave thoughts of getting healthy until the age of 45.

The only thing that men and women care about at the same age was found to be fashion at around aged 16 years. Women who read may find that their interest in books has peaked at age 22, whilst men don’t really get into literature until they are in their 50s.

The study is an interesting insight into changes in social behaviour and it’s thought that it could be used in the future to detect “changes in public mood”. This means that, potentially, people’s reactions could be gauged during a leader’s debate in a general election, for example.

However, not everyone will like the idea of their data being used for such purposes, especially since privacy concerns remain high.

Get a free report all of your own

Facebook users can get a report of their own using Wolfram Alpha’s “computational knowledge engine”, which is capable of generating reports and carrying out analysis across thousands of domains.

The personalised report sets out where most of a user’s friends are based, what is talked about most on the social network, global reach, the stage in life friends are at and much more.

However, it’s worth bearing in mind that many people misreport what they like and other personal details on Facebook, so you have to question how accurate the data is. For example, many young people on the social network misreport their marital status, listing best friends as their other half, very often.

This is more obvious in girls, Wolfram says in his blog, but “in general the trend is clear. The rate of getting married starts going up in the early 20s—a couple of years earlier for women than for men—and decreases again in the late 30s, with about 70% of people by then being married. The fraction of people “in a relationship” peaks around age 24, and there’s a small “engaged” peak around 27.”

Whilst the research may have been carried out for the world of Facebook, Wolfram believes that it corresponds closely with census information, although census information puts the average age of getting married a little higher.

The study is a fascinating insight into the behaviour of Facebook users from around the world and as Wolfram points out: “it’s letting us discover all sorts of phenomena. That have the potential to help us understand much more about society and about ourselves.”

We love Facebook. Get in touch with us to make your idea become a reality via Facebook app development.

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There are all sorts of actions that marketers take that violate permission, even the permission of those that follow them via social media. On the outset this may seem fine; however this sort of interruption marketing leads to poor results.

Permission based marketing is not an absolute. Of course, like most things the lines are blurred. Take for instance a scenario that a person follows you on a Facebook. In such an instance, one could consider this as a permission from the follower to be pitched to. While this could certainly be considered, it doesn’t tend to do the brand a lot of good.

Expectations to Permission Based Marketing

For example, if a person follows a business on Facebook, do you think they want to be barraged with adverts from the business to buy the product immediately? Or, alternatively, do they actually expect some form of value in the shape of information, education, entertainment and intriguing material?

In a lot of cases, businesses tend to go for the former and not the latter, hitting people with Newsfeed advert after advert and not offering value or giving the person a reason to purchase or take interest in the product. In essence, it’s like a TV channel with only adverts and no actual programs – how long would you watch it for?

What we’re saying is that just because a person follows or befriends a brand on a social media channel, it doesn’t meant they want to be constantly pitched to like they’re nothing other than a hot lead.

For a business this approach, albeit common, is one that irritates consumers and seldom works well for businesses.

Violations of Permission Based Marketing

Personalisation

The most common sort of social media discrepancy regarding permission is when marketers don’t even try to interact with followers.

For instance, asking people a question on social media, receiving complaints or issues and then not following it up or even acknowledging the individual, even though you created the conversation. It’s something the equivalent of asking someone how they are, them replying and asking you and then you turning your back and walking off without an answer.

Priorities

Not all social media accounts work for all businesses and just setting up an account and then not even engaging with it is a no-no.

If you set up an account just because competitors do and promise to offer something, but don’t, then you’re priorities are wrong. Only bite off as much as you can chew in the social media arena. For instance, Apple has both Facebook and Twitter and have thousands of followers on each, yet don’t even bother to use them.

Fake Promises

Expanding your fan base is best done ethically. For instance, if you set up a Twitter page to offer information and help, then you’re providing something of worth. However, if you decide to do expand a fan base via a poorly targeted viral video, then you’re in dubious unethical territory. Think for instance about those scandalous videos that automatically like and share when clicked upon – morally dubious at best!

Permission based marketing is the key to success, however like all permissions there is the opportunity for abuse.

MySocialAgecny are a UK based full service social media agency. Get in touch today for an expert consultation.

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Bill Gates world’s richest man again, Google Glass privacy concerns, prison for hacktivists, Amy’s Bakery update, real-life Facebook update

Microsoft founder Bill Gates has reclaimed his title as the world’s richest man, according to Bloomberg, for the first time since 2007.

The software magnate stole the title from telecommunications manager Carlos Slim with a total fortune of $72.7bn, which is $550m ahead of Slim. Gates has seen his fortune grow by a whopping $10bn just in the past few months it seems, although this is not from Microsoft stock, but other private investments.

Slim’s title could have been affected by the recent decision by the Mexican government to end monopolies by telecommunications companies. According to Bloomberg, at the moment America Movil has 70% of Mexico’s mobile market.

Google Glass privacy concerns

More concerns surrounding Google Glass have raised their heads this week, as US politicians are seeking reassurance that the specs won’t break privacy laws.

A congressional group has written to the search giants asking questions about the data that Glass will collect about consumers, whether they are Glass users or not.

“We are curious whether this new technology could infringe on the privacy of the average American,” says the letter from the Congressional privacy caucus.

The letter raised concerns about privacy, pointing out that Google haven’t always had the best record with regard to the issue. It also mentioned the problems caused and ultimate fines imposed on Google following the collecting of data for Street View that came to light recently.

The politicians are seeking reassurance that the same thing won’t happen again with the Glass project and also want Google to explain how they are going to protect the privacy of non-users, or those who have opted out.

Google has been given until 14^th June to respond to the letter.

Prison for LulzSec hackers

A group of British hackers who were part of the hacktivist group LulzSec have been jailed this week for their part in the 2011 hacks on high profile target such as Sony, EA and the UK’s Serious Organised Crime Agency.

The hackers, Ryan Cleary, Jake Davis, Mustafa al-Bassam and Ryan Ackroyd, were given a combined sentence of just over 7 years, plus a 20-month suspended sentence for Al Bassam.

According to lawyer for the Crown Prosecution Service, the attacks were “cowardly and vindictive”.

“The harm they caused was foreseeable, extensive and intended,” he went on to say. “Indeed, they boasted of how clever they were with a complete disregard for the impact their actions had on real people’s lives.

“This case should serve as a warning to other cyber criminals that they are not invincible,” he said.

Ackroyd, who received a 30-month sentence, was the ringleader of the group and the man responsible for choosing targets. He also provided the software which was necessary to carry out the attacks.

Al Bassam was responsible for posting the stolen data gathered in the hacks online.

LulzSec emerged as a splinter group from the Anonymous hacking collective in 2011 and carried out a series of cyberattacks lasting 50 days. The UK defendants, all aged between 18 and 21 years, were all members of the group except Cleary, who wanted to be.

Cleary also pleaded guilty to a further four changes involving possession of indecent images of babies and young children, as well as a charge relating to the hacking of US Air Force computers.

“It’s clear from the evidence that they intended to achieve extensive national and international notoriety and publicity,” said prosecutor Sandip Patel.

“This is not about young immature men messing about. They are at the cutting edge of a contemporary and emerging species of criminal offender known as a cybercriminal.”

Amy’s Bakery update

You may have seen the story published by us on Friday relating to Amy’s Bakery in the US, which showcased very well how not to behave on a social network. To cut a long story short, Amy, the bakery owner in question, went on a massive Facebook rant following a complaint from a client.

Amy thought it acceptable to call the customer a moron and a loser and went on to say that he would never be successful like she is.

Now it seems that Amy has called in PR guru Justin Rose, who is well known for cleaning up “PR nuclear disasters”. Interviewed on an Arizona radio station before his new appointment, the state where Amy’s is located, it seems that Justin’s first thoughts were that the bakery had no chance of recovering and should shut down.

However, it seems that he’s since changed his mind and is responsible for the upcoming talk to be held, so that Amy can put her side of the story across.

Can the bakery recover following the disaster that was behind the well-publicised rant? Possibly, but that will depend more on the inhabitants of Arizona than anything else.

Facebook updates in real life

We all know that social media users love to complain every time Facebook make changes to the site’s layout and functionality. The below video is an amusing mock-up of what would happen if Facebook applied to real life.

The video is highly amusing and an interesting take on what the future might hold!

The post Saturday Social Issue 39 – Richest Man, Google Glass Privacy… appeared first on MySocialAgency.

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There are a lot of parallels here with the way social media complaints and negative reviews should be dealt with. There’s not much point getting up after a negative review and senselessly returning a barrage of insults, you’ll only end up knocked down again – as Amy’s Baking Company, Scottsdale, Arizona found out after an episode of Fox’s Kitchen Nightmares.

Social Media Nightmare

Kitchen Nightmares is a TV show hosted by Gordon Ramsay, who in essence berates a restaurant’s owners into taking their finger out and along the way improves the whole shambles to resemble something of a reasonable eatery.

In a recent episode Ramsay dumped the bakery and the owners for being too much to deal with. The episode got much criticism on Reddit and the rest of the web and then the owners went on an offensive tirade on Facebook in cap locks. This god fearing, f-bombing harangue was then put down to a hacking issue. Of course – would you believe it?!

So what should you do if you suffer a similar but hopefully less dramatic fate at the hands of critics and wish to avoid competing for a place as the “most epic brand meltdown on Facebook ever.”

Chill Out

It’s natural to get emotional if you’re criticised, however beware the first reaction. Take five and relax and the likelihood is you won’t go with a kneejerk response.

Constructive Criticism

The review or comment may be horrific but it could just as well be some sort of valid feedback that needs to be acted upon. Take some time to decide on whether it’s trolling or is a viable and actionable piece of criticism.

Manners First

The first thing you need to do is to respond to the review in a polite manner. Do not respond in a sarcastic tone, whether you’d like to or not. Bite your tongue, be polite and thank the reviewer for their business and sharing their feedback. Remember, business is business.

Ignoring it

The only thing that’s worse than ignoring is the tirade, but it’s not much behind. By ignoring and not acting on the review or comment you’re not helping yourself. These criticisms can be as much an opportunity as an issue if dealt with correctly. People want to know they’re being heard and being treated accordingly. Once again, it could be an honest call to improve your business.

Caps Off

We’re not talking about headgear here. Keep your cap lock off for fear of coming across as a social media Ian Paisley.

Social media is like any form of communication and though it may be easy to ignore or be disingenuous via it as a medium, it won’t pay.

Rethinking your social media strategy? Get in touch with MySocialAgency to learn more about our social media marketing services.

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As we’ve discussed previously, one of the most powerful tools in a marketer’s arsenal right now is guest blogging to help drive traffic and increase engagement. Bearing this in mind, I’ve put together some of the best resources and outreach tools to be found online.

First up, let’s start with a relatively new UK outreach tool, bloggabase, an online database of opted-in bloggers for marketers to research and contact. Launched in March, you can sign up for a free trial to test out one of the four different subscription packages that are available.

Now with just over 3000 bloggers signed up to the service, marketers can contact and pitch bloggers in order to gain targeted outreach opportunities.

Co-founder of bloggabase.com, Rich Leigh said:

“Passing 3,000 blogs proves that bloggers are interested in hearing from brands and marketers in a relevant and targeted way, rather than the throw-enough-and-some-will-stick approach many time-strapped marketers have resorted to in the past.”

It’s a decent resource for contacting bloggers who are interested in receiving pitches from marketers and can save a lot of time when it comes to which blogs to choose. All bloggers on the site have listed their areas of expertise, so it’s a simple matter to find one in your niche.

Blogdash

Whilst the idea above is UK-based, you can find bloggers from all over the world with Blogdash. Like the above, Blogdash is essentially a database of bloggers who have expressed an interest in getting guest blogs on certain niches.

Further to this, brands can connect with the blogger to reach the right ones for their campaigns. There are more than 100K bloggers on the database, each of them with a full profile, which includes twitter stats, bios, publications they have written for and much more.

Blogdash is free to use for bloggers, but brands and marketing agencies will have to subscribe. The beauty of the site is the richness of information that it provides on each blogger, doing away with the need for lengthy research, which can still be common with other, lesser outreach tools.

MozBar from SEOMoz

MozBar is, as the name suggests, a SEO toolbar for Chrome and Firefox which delivers helpful metrics on the sites you research for outreach. There are a great number of features included in the bar, including Domain Authority, Page Authority, nofollow highlighting and links back to the immense, Moz owned ‘ Open Site Explorer’.

The Firefox version also allows you to export SERPs into a spreadsheet so that you have a list at your disposal later on. This is not strictly an outreach tool, but it’s vital to to see metrics at a glance and determine the quality of the site you are looking to place content on.

There is also an option to analyse pages with an overlay, so you can quickly see a number of stats to do with links, keywords and more.

Buzzstream – Outreach Tools

This was created to take the ‘time-sucking’ aspect of outreach away, or at least keep it to a minimum. For link building there are a number of useful features, such as the email research tool, which helps to build search queries to find the contact details of the bloggers you want to connect with.

Another great tool included in Buzzstream is the ability to extract descriptive text from any URL, so that you can get a good overview of the site’s content. You can also build blogger lists from blogrolls, export domain information into a CSV and much more.

These days, outreach is an important integral part of every online marketing campaign, or at least it really should be. It’s important not to adopt the “spray and pray” approach, where you just send out hundreds of generic pitches, this is unlikely to get you anywhere.

Instead, do the research and ensure that you’re building relationships with influencers in your niche, keeping context in mind at all times. With these outreach tools, your job can be made a little easier as more often than not, they are all about cutting down the time involved with outreach.

If you can build up a great list of sites and bloggers that have good social reach, DA and PA, especially if you know in advance that they are looking for guest bloggers or would be willing to write about your product and service.

Did I miss one of your favorite outreach tools? There really are so many, so please let me know in the comments, if I did.

Cant get your head around outreach? Fear not, get in touch with us to find out more about our content marketing services.

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We’re quite sure you’re familiar with the concept, but the re-cap, crowdfunding is a way of raising capital for a business over the internet by looking for investment from people who believe in your idea.

Crowdfunding figures speak for themselves and according to Massolution it grew by 81% in 2012 year on year and also 61% in 2011 year on year. Predictions are for over 100% growth in 2013, with crowdfunding figures globally expected to hit above $5bn.

So, obviously there’s plenty of potential for those with a good idea. However, how do you pitch a successful crowdsourcing attempt?

Communication

Clarity is central to success and you need to clarify what your idea is about in a concise but detailed summary. If you’re not blessed with the gifts of a wordsmith, then consult someone who has the requisite skills to write the pitch for you.

Images

A picture speaks a thousand words and you should create compelling video or images that will intrigue and interest. Once again, if you don’t have the skillset required then you should use someone who has. Videos tend to do better than stills, but a good version one of either still or video is very important.

Social Media

If you have a lot of social media friends then you’re off to a good start on a lot of the crowdfunding sites out there. Many of these sites have an onus on social media. Google+ is an often overlooked but vital social media area for crowdfunding, thanks to its tech savvy user base, utilising it can herald a lot of interest.

Test the Idea

There are plenty of great ideas out there and there are also plenty of poor ones too. So, before you send your campaign to go, ask your closest friends and family what they think. If they don’t believe it will work, then it’s less likely strangers will. Take a closer look at the communication at hand and get some impartial views before launching fully. This can be all so important.

Crowdfunding for Sale

By seeing crowdfunding as a form of payment method, rather than a form of investment capital, you often stand a significantly better chance of success. Seeing funders as customers and the end product as the thing they are purchasing can be an eye opener and leave you open to a larger group of potential funders/customers. This amazingly successful crowdfunding attempt worked in a similar vein and saw $4.1m raised to help Torment create their science fiction role playing game.

Crowdfunding can open up all sorts of amazing opportunities for businesses and can really and truly be a great way forward in these times. So, if you’ve got a great idea – why not get started or get in touch to let us know. We may be able to help

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We’ve all heard the speculation and now it seems to be coming to fruition; Facebook will introduce video ads by the summer, according to ‘sources’ talking to The Telegraph.

It’s thought that the ads, which will appear in user newsfeeds, will last for 15 seconds and play automatically, but won’t include sound in the first instance. However, when a user activates sound, the ad will restart.

Initially, users will only see ads from one advertiser per day and it’s thought that video advertising will be introduced slowly so as not to put people off using Facebook. Whatever the case, it’s bound to come in for user criticism just like every other single update Facebook make to the site does.

According to the report, the Financial Times say that the move is a bid to further monetise the site, following its poor performance on the stock market last year. The FT also said that prices are expected to be in the “low $20s” per 1000 views, making it cheaper than television advertising.

Video advertising is growing rapidly in popularity amongst brands and it’s thought that big brand names such as Coca Cola will be the first to advertise.

YouTube introduce paid subscriptions

YouTube has launched a pilot scheme to offer paid channels on its site for a select number of content providers to offer subscriptions from around 64p per month.

The video site says that it has been working on the plan for some time and initially, 53 providers will offer subscriptions with a free 14-day trial and discounted rates for certain providers.

The channels on offer are a good mix, from Sesame Street offering full episodes at launch, to a Harley Davidson channel ‘Fix My Hog Premium’ also expected. UK TV series will also be available through the channel Acorn.

Users can pay using a credit card or Google Wallet.

“This is just the beginning”, YouTube said on its blog.

“We’ll be rolling paid channels out more broadly in the coming weeks as a self-service feature for qualifying partners.

“And as new channels appear, we’ll be making sure you can discover them.”

It’s thought that around a billion people worldwide use YouTube, which already offers a wide variety of video from homemade pranks to commercial advertising clips, news and entertainment.

Currently, there are more than 1 million channels that earn revenue through the site’s partner program and these have been piling on the pressure for YouTube to offer other ways to monetise content.

Paid content will be available across all devices and a full list of the subscription channels can be found here.

Mobiles will outnumber people by 2014

A recent report from UN agency the International Telecoms Union, mobile subscriptions will outnumber the amount of people on the planet by the end of next year.

It’s thought by that time that there will be more than seven billion mobile subscriptions; currently, there are around 6.8bn. The number of people online is also on the rise, with more than a third of the world’s population now connected.

The former Soviet Union has the highest subscription rates, with 1.7 people mobile, but Africa has the lowest, with just 63 people out of every 100 mobile subscribers.

Europe has the highest online penetration rates, with 75% of the population connected, followed by the Americas with 61%.

“Every day we are moving closer to having almost as many mobile cellular subscriptions as people on earth,” said Brahima Sanou, director of the ITU Telecommunication Development Bureau.

“The mobile revolution is ‘m-powering’ people in developing countries by delivering ICT applications in education, health, government, banking, environment and business.”

ITU secretary-general Hamadoun Toure said that whilst the progress was “extraordinary”, more needed to be done to help get the rest of the world online.

“Two-thirds of the world’s population, some 4.5 billion people, is still offline,” he said.

“This means that two-thirds of the world’s people are still locked out of the world’s biggest market.”

Zachary Quinto vs Leonard Nimroy

The two Spocks go head to head in this ad for Audi, making for an amusing set up where they see who can get to the golf course first.

Of course, the new Star Trek movie has just hit UK cinemas, so it’s really a two-pronged ad which highlights Zachary Quinto’s role as Spock, one that he does exceptionally well it has to be said.

Having seen the movie, I can confirm it’s a great film for fans and non-Trekies alike; great plot, great effects – loved it.

The post Saturday Social Issue 38 – Facebook Video Ads, Paid YouTube… appeared first on MySocialAgency.

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An important thing to note is that a Twitter chat is very different and in some ways a lot more flexible than a webinar or a video. For one thing it’s in real time and anyone who wants to join in can by using a hashtag to tag tweets. It’s also quick and easy to follow, easy to add your two cents to and easy to review afterwards. However, like any form of social media activity, there are some tips and tricks you should know.

Preparation

How many times do we cite preparation as key to success – a lot? As Baden Powell said, ‘fail to prepare; prepare to fail’ and the mantra’s true for Twitter chats as it is most other things. Consider who the chat is for, who will most likely join in and research anything that may come up that you’re not sure about. Also, decide on a simple hashtag – it makes things easier.

Participants – how to hold an effective Twitter Chat

If you’re hosting the chat with another participant, be sure you can keep in touch with them. Use Skype or another similar tool to keep tabs on where you both want the chat to go. It’s important to know what others are thinking.

Retweets

Retweeting is very important here and it’s a great way to garner more interested parties into the chat.  The more you and others retweet, the more other people will see the chat and are likely to join in.

Summary

There are a number of great ways to wrap up what has been said and discussed, though Storify is a great curating tool for the post Twitter summary.

Markers – how to hold an effective Twitter Chat

So, you can keep tabs on where things are going and others can too, use agenda markets for reference.

Promotion

Twitter chats don’t just occur; they need to be prepared for. Promotion of a chat in the days leading up to the event is a must. If you want to increase the number of people attending the chat you need to promote it beforehand. So, ask customers, business partners and others to promote it on their social media accounts. Use whatever means you have and remember you want as many people not only tuned in, but also contributing, as possible.

Interest

Finally, create interesting and engaging topics of conversation and questions. You want people to be alive and excited about the chat, so make sure they are by creating and asking interesting and topical content they’ll be interested in.

Twitter chats can be a great way to create an interesting and rewarding atmosphere that stimulates, creates participation and engages.

MySocialAgency are a UK based social media agency with a difference. Click here to find out more about our services.

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However, popular keywords are highly competitive and it can take time to build up enough authority for high-volume keywords in SEO. What’s more, the cost can be substantial, as well as the time invested in research, so it’s necessary to look at the bigger picture.

Long-tail keywords are much less competitive, are more specifically targeted and can make a real difference to your campaign, giving an extra dimension to your SEM efforts.

What are long-tail keywords?

Simply put, they are more of a phrase than keyword, usually of more than three words, which are more specific in search terms. So for example, if you own a florist, then you will want to use the term ‘flowers’, of course.

However, the person doing the searching might be looking for something more specific, such as ‘yellow roses’, which is not quite as broad as flowers only. You can see then how these can also be built on.

In PPC, long-tail keywords are much more cost-effective than their broad, one-word counterparts and can drive higher CTRs. Whether you use competitive key terms or not, a grasp of how to use long-tail keywords should always make up a part of your SEM campaign.

How to find them

There are a few tactics that can be employed to find effective long-tail keywords. Firstly by looking at something as simple as Google Suggest, it’s surprising what you might come up with.

Thinking about it, when you begin to type into Google, what’s suggested are often common searches, so by trying out a few combinations, you can arrive at some excellent ideas and starting points for using long-tail keywords.

Of course, not all of these will be suitable, as I’m sure anyone who has used Google may have noticed. It’s a good starting point though, all the same. Sticking with Google, scroll to the bottom of a search page and you will see the related searches links, which can prompt further ideas.

Google Trends – how to use long-tail keywords

Another idea is to use Google Trends to see which search terms relating to your business are hot at the moment. So again, sticking with flowers, if this is typed into Trends, then it will return a graph showing you how much interest this word gets, related words, how it’s competing in your area and words/terms that are rising in popularity.

This is a great tool for keyword research and can be used as well as the Google AdWords tool to really help to kick-start your ideas and research.

It’s a good idea in fact to use as many keyword suggestion tools as you can, preferably from the larger sites. YouTube have one and so do Twitter, Amazon, eBay and of course Bing.

Whilst you can get third-party software to help too, it’s wise to ensure that it’s reputable by reading online reviews and asking friends who may be in the know when it comes to SEM.

Google AdWords tool

This is the best resource for finding keywords there is and to find long-tail keywords it’s just a matter of typing two or three words into the keyword tool. This will return results that are 3 or 4 words long, which can be searched again until the right term for you has been found.

For example, if you were to start with ‘flowers’, you will see results such as ‘mother’s day flowers’ returned. If you then go on to type in ‘pink flowers’, you’ll see more three-word results, such as ‘pink spring flowers’.

As you can see, this can give you a lot more scope and opportunity when it comes to learning how to use long-tail keywords. If you use suggest tools, alongside keyword tools, then you’re increasing your chances of success even more.

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