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How do you pick the right social media network for your business? In this podcast Joe gives you some great advice on which one may be right for you. http://contagioussocial.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/CS-Podcast-how-to-pick-the-right-social-media.m4a

How To Us Snapchat In this podcast I layout how to use Snapchat. Snapchat is getting ready to have it's Facebook moment here in 2016. Right now there are over 100 million users and climbing everyday. Snapchat is no longer a teenage platform now even the White House has come on board.  Lets Get Start!! Hit The Play Button :) -Joe Follow Me On Snapchat:  sfcram

So have you ever thought man how many times do I need to be posting on my social media accounts. Well have no fear the answer is here lol :) Research done by: Bufferapp  Twitter – 3 times per day Engagement decreases slightly after the third tweet. Facebook – 2 times per day, at most 2x per day is the level before likes & comments begin to drop off dramatically. LinkedIn – 1 time per day 20 posts per month (1x per weekday) allows you to reach 60 percent of your audience Google+ – 3 times per day, at most The more often you post, the more activity you’ll get. Users have found a positive correlation between frequency and engagement. When posting frequency wanes, some have experienced drops in traffic up to 50%. Pinterest – 5x per day, or more The top brands on Pinterest have experienced steady growth – and in some cases rapid or sensational growth! – by adopting a multiple-times-per-day posting strategy. Instagram – 1.5 times per day, or more Major brands post an average of 1.5 times per day to Instagram. There’s no drop-off in engagement for posting more, provided you can keep up the rate of posting. Blog – 2x per week Companies that increase blogging from 3-5X/month to 6-8X/month almost double their leads. Make More Memories, -JTR

Instagram and Pinterest are actually very different, contrary to popular social media assumptions. Let’s start with the big similarity… visual social platforms like Pinterest and Instagram both are on fire with brands and consumers. Why? Well the human brain likes visuals. People process images 60,000 times faster than text and 90 percent of information transmitted to the brain is visually based. But in order to make this work for you personally and professionally, you need to understand how to use the visual tools available, including their differences, to your advantage. So, what are the differences? Here are 7: 1. Links. On Pinterest, every pin is a link to the source of the image, usually an external site. Therefore, one of the common goals for businesses on this platform is generating website traffic and using Pinterest for SEO purposes. Instagram only has one place you can direct people to a link and that is in the bio. So users need to use it more wisely and not bank on that one link for the bulk of their new traffic. 2. Usage. Specifically, Instagram allows users to take pictures and videos from a mobile device, apply filters and a caption, and then share the image on a variety of social networks. Instagram users are looking for a much more personal experience with the brands they follow and engage with. Probably why I love it so much! The content you share on Instagram should give your audience an authentic view into you and/or your business. This often happens through telling stories and revealing an unknown side of something i.e. a behind the scenes post. With Pinterest, a user’s intent tends to be focused on the discovery and curation of other users’ content. Similar to Google, users can use Pinterest to search for specific content or products or ideas. They can then create visually appealing and special boards by pinning and grouping the content they discover. 3. Target audience. Pinterest users are predominantly female. In fact, women account for about 70 percent of Pinterest users and are about five times as likely to use the virtual scrapbooking tool as men, the largest gender difference of any social network. Pinterest users also tend to skew a little bit older, although the core demographic is still 18-34 year olds, representing 56 per cent of users. Compared with Pinterest, men and women are more evenly represented on Instagram. Fifty percent of the Instagram users are outside of the United States, making for a more g

Contagious Social Presents Tucson Entrepreneur Podcast In this episode We interview Kimiko Donahue Owner of Kimiko Donahue American Family Insurance Agency Tucson, AZ   http://youtu.be/xSAbwI4Heck

In todays Podcast I talk about branding. It took me a while to realize that my brand had a personality.  In some ways it’s a lot like me, which makes sense since I am the one who created it. But in some ways it is unique and has a life of its own. I finally realized that there was more to my brand that I needed to discover and explore. Like with any relationship, I wanted to get to know my brand better, and I figured that the best way to do that was  to spend time with it. So how do you spend time with your brand? Easy, you create. Ok what do I really mean by that? Well, your business needs content. You write blogs, offer services, post to social media and tell people about what you do.  All of these things are content that represent your brand. So if you want to get to know your brand better, I urge you to create more. Here’s the catch… you have to create mindfully, which just means that you have to pay attention while you create. Like any relationship, if you don’t pay attention miscommunication happens, and that is what leads to failed relationships. And there is nothing worse than when your brand is trying to tell you something and you just aren’t listening; that’s how businesses fail. Now, I bet you’re wondering how to listen to your brand. It isn’t always easy, but there are some simple ways to practice. 1: Creating visuals for your business should come naturally If you naturally know what colors and fonts to use when creating visual content for your business then that’s a good start. Do those colors and fonts feel good to you? Or do you constantly have the urge to try new things? If you don’t get excited to use your own style guide, then your brand might be trying to tell you something. Remember that each time you use your fonts and colors it should reinforce what your brand stands for; that means each time you create something, you should get more pumped about your own brand. I notice that each time I use my midnight blue and burnt orange that I am inspired by their flexibility. Those two colors can go with anything; they are bold and strong, but also supportive to other colors. Now it might seem silly to use such adjectives to describe my brand colors, but don’t be fooled, colors can convey strong emotions and I want my clients to have the same reaction I do when they experience my colors. 2: Your tone and words should always feel comfortable and authentic As I am writing this post right now I have

Reasons Why Your Business Needs To Start ‘Pinning It’ When it comes to marketing your business, social media engagement is the best way to go. The question is, which social media would you go for? If you have already created a Facebook page, then you then you have made a great start. Your next step should be pinning with the queen of visual social media networks, Pinterest. Shareaholic.com reveals that Pinterest has increased its traffic driving capacity up to 7.10% from 4.79% in just three months (from December 2013 to March 2014). This 48% increase has a huge effect for brand exposure through digital marketing in products such as books, magazines, antiques, services, and even IT/computing. Pinterest is a social media platform based mostly on images. For more than four years, you increase your social network by pins of uploaded, saved, and shared photos which are then organized into pinboards. It can be compared to Facebook as it has an increasing number of fans reaching over 70 million and still continues to grow. If you want your business to be big, here’s why you should go ahead and start pinning and start some Pinterest marketing.   Here are some top tips to start Pinterest marketing today! 1. Strengthen Your Brand With Pinterest, you could personalize your page to your business name and your logo as your profile picture to reach maximum exposure every time you pin an image. You could also add a paragraph describing the nature of your business including your business website, and even link this to your Facebook and Twitter accounts. If your business involves different types of services or products, you could categorize them into different pinboards for easier navigation. 2. Drive Heavy Traffic To drive traffic for your website, Pinterest provides a hover button which leads directly to your site. This is beneficial for users to pin images directly from your site and check your site as well. You do not even have to worry on how to use Pinterest for your business, Pinterest has a guided editor which helps you navigate through the pages without breaking a sweat. 3. Market Research Pinterest gives you an overview of the trend in the market and what appeals to customers most. You may think that most Pinterest users are women but these women still have husbands and male friends who they would want to give gifts to or shop for. By the way they build pinboards and pin things, you see what makes them tick as a customer an

With Google’s recent announcement of Search Plus Your World, there seems to be conflicting view points on whether or not the social network is worth our time. It’s clear that at the moment, that the network is not as big as the hype surrounding it. Nonetheless, we know from watching Facebook and Twitter grow that these things take time. Google’s new social updates may not affect each of our search results immediately, they eventually will. This is why it is critical that businesses get their foot in the door, and make their social presence known on Google Plus now. This means not only setting up a profile, but optimizing it properly to ensure higher search engine rankings. This post will discuss all of the key components necessary to do so. Title Google will recognize your name as your page’s title tag. Your name should simply be the name of your business or brand. We do not recommend keyword stuffing here, as this will be used as your name when leaving comments on posts. Description The field beneath your business’ name is your page’s description. In Google search results, it will be displayed as properly written meta descriptions often are. To ensure this, your description should describe your brand in less than 85 characters. It should be appealing as to attract clicks from searchers, but also include your primary keywords. Introduction The introduction should be optimized for your primary keywords, but do not over do it. It needs to read naturally and be appealing enough that potential customers will stay on the page to continue learning about your company. In this section you have the ability to use both paragraph and bullet point formats. When you do use one of your keywords, be sure to hyperlink it with a link back to the specific page on your site where people can find information about that product or service. Additionally, you may use rich text formatting such as bold and italics to help your primary keywords stand out. Upload Photos You may not consider photos as content in the traditional sense, but to Google they are. First and foremost, make sure you have a profile photo of your brand’s logo. Next up is to upload a minimum of five additional photos to fill up the scrapbook slots. These are the photos to the right of your profile photo, and directly under your description. Remember, these are the first five photos people will see when they visit your site. Before you upload any photos, however, you need to

Cyberbullying is now the number on concern for parents. The tragic deaths of several teens who were reportedly cyber bullied helped gain media attention to the growing problem among the youth. Victims such as the young Amanda Todd, 13-year-old Ryan Halligan, and 7th grade Sarah Lynn Butler were all victims who found a permanent solution to a temporary problem. Their suicide stories made headlines and helped raise awareness to other parents of the seriousness of bullying. Being open with your child and talking to them at an early age about the effects and consequences of such actions can help prevent other similar situations to repeat themselves. Here some tips to help prevent cyberbullying of your child or yourself:   Tips for preventing Cyber Bullying : Teach Yourself Do your research, find out what is Cyber-Bullying, why it happens? How it happens? What does your country’s laws state about it? Ask your friends and see if they are facing something similar. Tips for preventing Cyber Bullying:  Protect your online information Don’t share your passwords or secret account information with friends or class mates. If you believe someone else has your information, change it now! this is key for bully prevention. Tips for preventing Cyber Bullying: Never open messages from anonymous senders Even on facebook, for the ultimate bully prevention, keep your messaging option private so that strangers don’t contact you. Don’t open spam email or emails from people you don’t know. Delete messages that seem fishy without reading them because they might contain viruses that expose everything on your device to other people. Don’t open links from someone you don’t know regardless of how attractive the title is. Tips for preventing Cyber Bullying: Always LOG OUT If you are using a shared computer or a friend’s phone or tablet to check any of you accounts, always log out before stepping away from the device. Don’t use the “keep me signed in” option because you never know when you can forget to log out and that can jeopardize your account information. Tips for preventing Cyber Bullying:Don’t take potentially damaging photos of yourself We know it is fun if you take goofy or semi-exposed photos of yourself but can you imagine what might happen if someone shares these photos for the world to see? What if you lose your phone or your camera? It is simply not worth the risk. If taking photos, keep it “PG”. Bullying Pre

I get this questions a lot: " I have 3,000 friends on Facebook why should I start a Facebook page for my business and lose all my connections Joe" Ok to answer this here are my reasons why every business should have a Facebook Page and not run a business Facebook Profle. Unlimited fans A personal profile on Facebook has a friends limit, meaning when your business and your fan base grows, you end up with restrictions you don’t want. While 5,000 may sound like a lot when you’re starting out, it’s not compared to a page that has been used as a customer service tool for years. In fact, it’s not much at all. Many pages have 100s of 1000s of fans or more. Let’s start from a place of assuming that your page will have that many fans at some point, hopefully soon. And remember the 80/20 rule 80% of your business is coming from 20% of your customers, so you want to have as many fans as possible to increase that 20%. Analytics A Facebook fan page provides Insights into the users of your page.The information inside this tab is simple to read and gives you data that will help determine if your efforts are on target with your goals. You can find out which posts get the most engagement and reach (meaning how many people click on them or how many people actually see them), statistics on ‘Likes’, what times of days are seeing the most activity on your page and details about your pages demographic such as age, geographic location and more. My favorite tool in Insights is the “Pages to Watch” feature that allows me to add pages in my industry to a list where I can snoop THEIR statistics and see if their posts are getting more engagement or they are adding “likes” to their page faster than I am. Search Engine Indexed Facebook fan pages are indexed by search engines. This means there is a greater chance for your fan page to come up in search results when people are searching for terms relevant to your industry or actually looking for you! With all the social media profiles you are using, make sure you have filled out your profile fully. Use a lot of ‘key words’ or words that are relative to your business that people may use when searching on-line for businesses within your industry. By using a page that is indexed, you are increasing your search engine visibility. If you can only come up with one reason to justify the switch to a Facebook business page, this should be it. Targeted Advertising With a fan pages you are able to