Tips for Twitter Advertising and Protecting your Campaign

Advertising on Twitter

Multiple firms, both large and small, have had great success advertising on Twitter.  Twitter provides case studies for specific companies that have had great success, and you can access these case studies on Twitter’s website.  If you want to advertise on Twitter, this article will provide resources and tips for a successful campaign. 

How do I start my Twitter Advertising Campaign?

If you want to sign up for advertising on Twitter, you’ll have to fill out an electronic form and then go through various steps.  

Before filling out the electronic form for Twitter advertising, make sure you have the following information:

·         a good username that reflects your firm’s name

·         estimated monthly budget

·         vertical of your advertising campaign (theme of products of services you’re advertising)

·         all personal information

·         additional  comments and concerns you have before you want to advertise on Twitter

The Best Tips for Successful Twitter Advertising

You have a large number of options while advertising on Twitter.  The following techniques can help to ensure your Twitter advertising reaches the most amounts of prospective clients as possible:

Set up a Promoted Account

If you want to advertise on Twitter, you should set up a promoted account so you can connect to people with similar interests.  If you set up a promoted account, your profile will appear on the “Who to Follow Section.”  This section can increase the potential of your Twitter advertising because your profile will appear when people search for similar interests and have the highest chance of showing interest in your services. 

Promoted advertising on Twitter can be adjusted for geographic location and a designated marketing area within the United States as well. 

Engage in Promoted Trends

The trick to promoted trends for advertising on Twitter is updating your information and encouraging other users to talk about your services and even recent case results.  If you want to advertise on Twitter, promoted trends are the best way to raise interest in your specific geographic location.  A trend will appear if the subject is immediately receiving a large amount of attention.  Users can search for promoted trends and see what is being discussed in mass around their area.

Engage in Promoted Tweets

A promoted tweet can increase your Twitter advertising when a user searches for a term that is related to your services.  Additionally, a promoted tweet can increase your advertising on Twitter if you target certain followers and the followers of the user.  For example, if you want to advertise on twitter, you can make a promoted tweet appear at the top of the person’s timeline, and all of the user’s followers will be able to see the tweet.

You can increase your Twitter advertising awareness within the legal field by using the following tips as well:

1.       Adjust your advertising on Twitter for both mobile and desktop users.  What services are mobile users most likely to use? What services are desktop users likely to use? How can you adjust your Twitter advertising to market to both users?

2.       If you’re in a law firm and want to advertise on Twitter for a political campaign, you can enhance your promoted tweets.  Tweets for campaigns will have to meet standards for FEC-compliant notices, and the advertising on Twitter will have a purple promoted icon at the bottom of the tweet. 

Brand your Profile

One of the best techniques for advertising on Twitter is branding your webpage and enhancing its appearance.  If you want to advertise on Twitter, you can add a header image including a logo, image, or tagline.  All promoted tweets for Twitter advertising will appear at the top of your profile’s page as well. 

What are Sponsored Tweets?

Another form of advertising on Twitter is when a user talks about a particular service and the firm sponsors such tweets.  If a user wants to advertise on Twitter for a particular service, the payments are solely established between the tweeter and the company advertising on Twitter.  Twitter advertising through a sponsored link is only permitted in the following cases:

·         If the company is promoting itself

·         Tweeting about unpaid consumer recommendations

·         Tweeting compensated links if the tweets were manually approved by the user

Advertising on Twitter through sponsored links or tweets is a great strategy.  However, there are multiple rules when you want to advertise on Twitter using this method:

1.       The sponsored information must be manually approved

2.       The post should have a disclosure statement if the client was compensated

3.       The same tweets should not be repeatedly posted

4.       A third-party tool or app used to approved and post any tweets needs Twitter OAuth approval

Automating Actions to Users

Twitter advertising can also come in the form of automated responses to users, but this type of advertising on Twitter borders on being spam.  If you want to advertise on Twitter and send automated responses to users, they need to approve the measure in the first place.  Otherwise, Twitter discourages the following types of automation and Twitter advertising:

Automated Retweeting to Other Users

If your automate messages based on keyword searches, you’re automated messages and advertising on Twitter will likely be blocked and reported as spam. 

Automating Direct Messages

Although automating direct messages for a simple “thank you” can represent a good Twitter advertising practice, Twitter still discourages the messages because users will likely find the messages annoying. 

Advertising on Twitter: Conclusion

If you want to advertise on Twitter, you have multiple options to set up a successful campaign.  You’ll want to update your information as much as possible, provide incentives and good deals, and relay your messages in language that is easy to understand.  You can use Twitter Analytics to track your results as you advertise on Twitter as well. 

Everything About Facebook PPC

Back just ten years ago, most internet advertisements based their costs in cost per mille (CPM), or cost per 1000 impressions.  Today, advertisers have realized that paying for impressions doesn't always lead to conversions, and most law firms now advertise with systems that allow them to pay per click (PPC).  Facebook PPC advertising is more popular than ever, with the site bringing in about $9.50 in ad revenue from the United States for every American using the social media website.  

If you want to know more about how to make Facebook PPC work for your law firm, keep reading: you'll find handy tips and solutions to common problems that can make it painless to get started with this revolutionary advertising platform.

Facebook PPC Advertising: The New Normal

Facebook PPC is taking off, and you don't want to be left behind if your competition wants to get there first.  Last year, Facebook PPC advertising generated over 3 billion dollars in revenue for the website, and in 2012 Facebook is on target to make over $5 billion with targeted pay per click ads.

While LinkedIn is the most common social media website for lawyers to advertise on, many B2C legal practices can benefit greatly from Facebook PPC advertising.  What's more, since many law firms have been slow to start running targeted Facebook PPC ads, you can still get in ahead of the competition.

Targeting With Facebook PPC Advertising

If you're used to using Google AdWords, it may take some adjustment before you get used to the targeting system that Facebook PPC uses.  First of all, if you're tired of figuring out all the possible kinds of keywords that might bring users to your website with AdWords, take heart!  Facebook PPC advertising puts an end to endless keyword hunts.

Instead, Facebook PPC lets you work with demographics.  This means that you'll be able to target, for instance, all women in their 20s and 30s who are currently listed as “separated” if you're a divorce attorney.  

That's not bad, but let's get deeper.  Let's face it, not all law firms have reach that extends beyond their local areas, and if you're a small firm that works best locally you need the best local targeting you can get.  Facebook PPC advertising makes targeting hyperlocal.  

You can either advertise to people who live in a particular metropolitan area, or even those living in a single zip code.  This kind of targeting gets your ad in front of the people who are most likely to do something about it.

Which Facebook PPC Advertising Works Best?

It may surprise you to learn that Facebook PPC ads targeted toward connections are actually among the most effective.  Why does Facebook PPC advertising work best when your friends and their friends see it?  Because it's most likely to be re-posted on people's walls and “liked,” making your ad visible beyond the immediate impressions it's making on your first viewers.

Facebook's New “Objective”

Not all Facebook ads are Facebook PPC advertising.  In fact, sometimes, Facebook still charges on the same old-fashioned cost per thousand impressions basis that was being used in the days of the early, pre-social web.  Why?  Because not everyone's looking for someone to click on their advertisement.

The way to make Facebook charge on a PPC basis instead of a CPM one is to change your “objective” in the advertising settings tab.  If you set your objective to generating likes or new fans, Facebook PPC advertising won't take effect.  Instead, you'll need to change your objective to “generating clicks,” and only then will you be charged for Facebook PPC instead of CPM ads.

If you want to try out another objective for some time just to see how it stacks up to using Facebook PPC advertising, give it a shot.  However, remember to run some head to head testing so that you can see which is really better in the end: Facebook PPC or paying for every impression.

Mistakes to Avoid with Facebook PPC Advertising

Your ad budget needs to be spent wisely, so it may surprise you that the majority of firms are actually wasting a huge percentage of their budget with sub-optimal Facebook PPC practices.  Ad fatigue starts to set in for Facebook users after just a few impressions, and that means that your Facebook PPC advertising actually does most of the work it's ever going to do in just the first few days it's used.

After 72 hours, Facebook PPC ads lose most of their effectiveness as your audience basically becomes “immune” to seeing it any more.  If you're not changing the text and images associated with your Facebook PPC advertising at least that often, you're spending a great deal of money that is unlikely to generate additional conversions.

How Will Facebook PPC Advertising Change in the Future?

Recently, there has been a shift of advertisers away from the traditional “sidebar” Facebook PPC ads and toward organic looking “sponsored stories” that appear in people's news feeds.  You may want to try shifting some of your Facebook PPC advertising budget toward this type of advertising, especially if you regularly make blog posts and other content that could easily become a sponsored story.

Another change that Facebook PPC has kept up with is the switch to mobile traffic.  This has been revolutionizing the way the web does business, and by 2015 more people will probably click on your site using their smartphone than their home computer.  These ads have been shown to be more effective than either sidebar or traditional sponsored stories ads, and may represent the wave of the future when it comes to Facebook PPC advertising best practices.

It's important to keep an eye on the Facebook PPC world to understand how to get the most from your advertising dollar.  As technologies change and the way people interact with the internet evolves, it's likely that Facebook PPC advertising will continue shifting in unforeseen ways even in just the next few years.

Everything About Facebook Advertising Coupon

It sounds almost too good to be true: Facebook advertising coupons can actually save you 25, 50, or even hundreds of dollars when you start to advertise with social media.  One of the biggest Facebook advertising coupons even gave businesses $200 of advertising credit.  With thousands of companies already taking advantage of a Facebook advertising coupon, is it time to get on board and start making ads?  This guide will help you find Facebook advertising coupons that are valid today, and avoid scam sites that are pushing fake coupon codes.

What is a Facebook Advertising Coupon For?

When Facebook issues coupons to companies, they're making a gamble: they're assuming that your advertising will do so well when you start to use Facebook as an ad platform that you'll keep spending money even after your coupon has been spent.

You can generally use Facebook advertising coupons for any type of paid advertising on the Facebook site.  Whether you're interested in trying out new mobile advertising campaigns with your Facebook advertising coupon or doing traditional sidebar direct ads on a pay per click basis, your law firm can usually decide on its own how to use the money offered in the coupon.

Some Facebook advertising coupons do actually limit the types of ads you can purchase.  If your Facebook advertising coupon has these restrictions, they'll be clearly stated in the email you receive with the coupon.  These kinds of restricted Facebook advertising coupons are typically issued when Facebook launches a new type of advertising.

Is There a Catch to Facebook Advertising Coupons?

When you work at a law firm, you're used to being skeptical.  A coupon for a few dollars off may not set off alarm bells, but when you see a Facebook advertising coupon for $100 or more you may start wondering if there are hidden terms you're not seeing.

Because Facebook works on a largely word of mouth basis, it's not really in the company's best interest to send you Facebook advertising coupons that have onerous terms and conditions.  Facebook is counting on the quality of their product, and on the fact that even a $100 coupon can be a drop in the bucket if your company decides to move a large amount of its advertising into social media platforms instead of traditional outlets.

What's the Difference Between Facebook Advertising Coupons and Advertising Credits?

If you've already been using Facebook advertising for a while, you may have noticed some Facebook advertising credits in your account and wonder if they're from a coupon offer.  Usually, though, advertising credits are not based on Facebook advertising coupons.

If the credits you're seeing are for very small (as in, less than a dollar each) amounts, the safest bet is that Facebook is refunding money that was spent on bogus clicks from “click farms” that artificially drive up traffic without giving you the ad results you want.  These tiny credits represent the vast majority of advertising credits awarded on the site.

If you've seen a larger Facebook advertising credit appear, perhaps you've qualified for some kind of Facebook advertising coupon.  You may want to check your email inbox to see if you've been notified about any coupon deals.

How Much Free Advertising Can I Get From a Facebook Advertising Coupon?

The amount of free advertising you can expect from your Facebook advertising coupons depends largely on what kind of ads you're using.  Typically, you can expect to pay around 30 to 40 cents per click for sidebar ads, and more (up to 80 or 90 cents per click) for sponsored stories that appear in people's Facebook news feed on their browser or mobile Facebook apps.

To get the most out of a limited number of clicks, it's important to make your landing pages as perfect as they can possibly be.  Make sure to include a clear and direct call to action, both on your landing page and in the ad copy that gets people there.  

You won't be able to get enough advertising out of a single Facebook advertising coupon offer to be able to do legitimate split testing—if you want to do complicated analytics, you're going to have to spend some of your law firm's advertising budget.

Can I Use Facebook Advertising Coupon Codes?

When you start looking for Facebook advertising coupons to get your advertising efforts started, you may see websites offering what appear to be free coupon codes.  When you go to use the Facebook advertising coupon code you've found, though, you get an error message.  What gives?

The truth is that Facebook wants to avoid any marketing fiascos caused by offering big coupons and letting them proliferate wildly on the internet.  In order to avoid these problems, instead of sending out coupons that can be used repeatedly, most Facebook advertising coupon codes are deliberately created to be one-time use codes.

Unfortunately for would-be deal seekers, this means that most of the Facebook advertising coupons you see online won't be available for you.  The reason that you keep receiving error messages is that some other person has already used the single use Facebook advertising coupon you were trying to use, and you'll need to hunt down your own individual coupon code to actually get the credits you're looking for.

How to Get Legitimate Facebook Advertising Coupon Codes

The best way to get Facebook advertising coupons is to have a Facebook page already set up.  Some Facebook advertising coupon codes are only sent to people who have not already used Facebook ads, while other coupons are sent to people who have used Facebook advertising in the past but have cut down on their budget.

Keep an eye out in your inbox and also on Facebook advertising blogs to find out more about coupon offers as they're made.  Typically, when Facebook offers one of these coupon deals, it's for a limited time only, so you'll want to make sure that you use your coupon before you lose it.

Everything About B2B Social Media Marketing

The social media marketing definition has been changing over the last several years.  While even in 2006, B2B social media marketing was just getting started, today in 2012 over 90 percent of attorneys in small firms report using some form of social media.  This guide will answer some of your questions about social media marketing definition and help you build a B2B social media marketing strategy that will bring in consistent, profitable leads.

The Biggest Mistake You Can Make

Social media marketing makes it much easier to share successes and get your message out to the world.  Unfortunately, it also makes it easier for your competition to capitalize on missteps or for a minor gaffe to turn into a reputation ruiner.  The one mistake that will turn the most people away from your company for the longest period of time is thinking that social marketing is just like advertising.

Advertising and social media have completely different goals.  If your social media marketing definition looks a lot like how you define your firm's advertising, you need to think again before you make a highly visible—and highly costly—mistake.  

If you seem like a salesperson hawking his wares, you won't make an impression as a great advocate, but as a scammer or spammer.  There's no faster way to be blacklisted than to waste other people's time with advertising when you should have been engaging them with interesting storytelling and innovative content.

Tell Me: Who Are You?

This is a question that probably has a lot of different answers.  In order to get the most out of your B2B social media marketing, you'll need to think about them all.  Who are you, as a person?  Who are you as an attorney?  If your firm was a person, what kind of person would it be?  These questions can help to give your social media marketing definition, and develop your brand whether you're working for a large or small law firm.

Remember that the market you're reaching out to with B2B social media marketing may be skeptical of marketing campaigns.  Many of the people you want to reach will be alienated if you sound fake or focus on the hard sell. Make sure that your law firm's social media marketing has definition: someone in particular needs to be the voice of your company, rather than just having an impersonal, cold web presence.

There's no one social media marketing definition that will work for all firms, but every successful social B2B social media marketing campaign has something in common: they all focus on authenticity and communication.  Until you know who you are and how you communicate best, your campaigns will seem scattershot and unfocused, or—even worse—inauthentic or high pressure.

Give 'Em What They Want

For firms that are working primarily with consumers, it can be relatively easy to identify the audience for your blog posts or Facebook feed.  But what if you're focusing on B2B social media marketing?  You need to incorporate your audience into your firm's social media marketing definition, because different audiences will want different types of quality content.

Content is always king.  No matter what social media marketing definition you're using, successful social marketing takes thinking about the needs of the people you're talking to.  What's more, you should try to develop content that doesn't look like what your competition is using for its B2B social media marketing.  

Why not try something new—like a brief quiz (perhaps with a bit of humor in the questions or answers) about a legal topic your clients care about?  What about a professionally produced video?  Talented marketers are expanding the social media marketing definition every day, and you can get as creative as you want.  Maintaining a brand identity for B2B social media marketing means you have to be professional, but you don't have to be stuffy or uptight.

LinkedIn: The Gold Standard for B2B Social Media Marketing

There's a reason that the vast majority of attorneys today maintain a profile on LinkedIn.  For attorneys, LinkedIn is nearly 300 percent more effective at generating B2B social media marketing leads than either Facebook or Twitter.  

While it's certainly a good idea to maintain a social media presence on more than one website, if you need to prioritize and your marketing is exclusively or almost exclusively B2B, it's best to focus your social media marketing definition on LinkedIn, learn its tools and interface, and then branch out.  If your firm does both B2B and B2C marketing, you may want to focus on other sites even when you're just starting a social media campaign.

Maximizing the Effectiveness of LinkedIn Ads

When you start on LinkedIn, you may just have a profile and not know what to do next.  Attorneys who are already comfortable with pay per click (PPC) advertising on search engines often start branching out their social media marketing definition by purchasing PPC ads on LinkedIn.

This can be an effective way to start your B2B social media marketing, but be careful about not just what keywords you're using, but also when you're placing your ads.  You can use analytics tools to learn more about whether your ads have been successful, and what times of day or days of the week seem to generate the most profitable leads.  Running analytics often is key to figuring out what parts of your social media marketing definition are working and which parts need more work.

Getting the Most From LinkedIn Tools

LinkedIn has worked to expand the social media marketing definition for many law firms by making free tools available that help you share and present content to other businesses.  Let's say you've just made a killer presentation with some amazing ideas about an aspect of law that might interest your clients.  Using SlideShare can help you make that presentation visible to people far beyond your law firm.

The biggest key to effectively using these tools is keeping on top of new developments.  If you're using something first, and using it well, you'll outperform your competition handily.  Every tool you use is another weapon in your B2B social media marketing arsenal—and you'll need every one you can get to thrive in today's tough economic climate.