Put the Web to Work

2018 is the year to amp up your internet marketing strategy! You know you need to do it. Having an updated and mobile-friendly website is a great start, but this alone is no longer enough. An effective internet marketing campaign has several critical components, all of which are important for great social reach and great organic search engine rankings. Businesses with successful internet marketing campaigns tend to include not only  social media marketing , but they also produce consistent high-quality e-newsletters, have a testimonial gathering strategy, include a re-marketing strategy, and many are also utilizing SMS text messaging in their campaigns to drive traffic and draw in customers. In reality, most businesses today aren't truly leveraging the full power of a robust internet marketing campaign simply due to lack of time and expertise. If you're one of them, consider these five reasons why you should really consider amping up your internet marketing mix this year. ...

Email can be one of the greatest ways you can access and reach your customers. If you haven’t considered email marketing , now may be a great time! If you use email for marketing , are you using it in the most effective way possible? Check out these do’s and don’ts to help you build a strong email list and produce quality content that they WANT to read! DO Send Emails to Lists That Want to Hear from You It’s important to make sure that your list of contacts actually want to read your information. CAN-SPAM laws crack down hard on email lists that contain people who don’t want to get your emails. Because of this, we don’t recommend buying email lists. We DO recommend that you put a sign-up form for your e-newsletter on your website and social media. You can also ask customers if you can add them to your contact list. DON’T Send an Email Without a GOAL What is the goal of sending out your newsletter? If you don’t have a defined goal, you won’t be getting defined results. Her...

An MSW Thanksgiving Thank You 2017 has been a year of reflection and redefining direction. As the owner of MSW Interactive , and frankly just as a human being seeking to be better, I've been doing more reading, listening to mentoring sessions, and have also had the fortune to become part of an incredible peer advisory group that challenges my thinking and ideas to help me better serve my clients and lead my team. One of the AHA moments this year (after almost 20 years in business) was being asked to articulate my "Why". If you've never done it, I encourage you to try it. It's much harder than you might think. We all know WHAT we do and HOW we do it, but very few can articulate WHY they do it. I'll share our why at the end of this blog, but it ultimately came down to my simple and  deep desire to impact small businesses in a meaningful way. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday because it's a very sincere holiday. It's a time to offer...

Smart phones, tablets, smart watches, PCs, smart TVs, gaming consoles...  We live in a world where practically any device can access the internet.  According to a  report by GlobalWebIndex , most people spend more than 6 hours a day online. Of that time, 1.72 hours is spent on social media networks. This means that browsing social media makes up almost 30% of the time consumers spend online . Yet despite these staggering statistics, there are several business owners out there who have not yet embraced social media marketing . Unfortunately, what these business owners may not realize is that neglecting to maintain a social media presence may actually hurt your business. Keep reading to find out what we mean. 7 Reasons Why Not Being On Social Media Is Bad For Business 1. Your Customers Expect You To Be There. According to a report issued by Social Media Examiner , 93% of marketers are using Facebook   and 66% of marketers plan to increase their use of Twitt...

Instagram is one of the fastest growing social media networks out there. Unlike other social media platforms, Instagram's focus is primarily on pictures, which users seem to be loving! Is Instagram currently a part of your internet marketing plan? If not, our social media marketing company at the Lake of the Ozarks is here to try to convince you otherwise. 1. People Spend A LOT of Time on Instagram. Instagram has over 300 million active monthly users. Aside from Facebook, internet users spend more time on Instagram than any other social media network. According to Econsultancy.com , the average Instagram user spends 21 minutes per day using the app. On an average day, those users hit the "like" button 2.5 billion times. People are on Instagram, and if you want to do business with those people, you should consider getting on Instagram as well. 2. Instagram Gives You the Ability to Enhance Your Brand Through Visual Content.  You've heard the saying a picture...

While posting that cute cat video to your business page may seem like a great idea, you want to use your Facebook page and other social media outlets to create brand awareness. Your social media outlets can also help increase your search engine rankings. However, there's a strategy to this and that's where a social media professional will come in handy. Here are 5 reasons to consider hiring a social media company: 1. Experience Sure, it's simple to setup a Facebook page and invite all your friends to like it, but then what? Now you have to actually create content that your fans are going to want to see. Many people don't even know where to start. A social media professional has the experience needed to help your business grow. Since they have dealt with multiple accounts, they will have a better idea of what works and what doesn't. Sometimes the experience is worth the investment, not to mention the amount of time you would save.  2. Time  When runnin...