More and more companies are taking marketing (or at least parts of it) into their own hands, but when it comes to SEO, those same hands often get thrown into the air in frustration and dismay.

The thing is, SEO is hard. But just because you’re not a master of the craft doesnt mean you can’t have impact. There are plenty of simple things you can do to help people find your website through search. Here are a few of them:

• Create a google places page for each one of your locations
• Link to your website from all social sites
• Blog – but pay more attention to what your customers want to read than peppering every sentence with keywords.

Speaking of blogging, use WordPress. It has much better SEO than TUMBLR or Blogger and you can experiment with different plugins that make it even better.

So there. You’re far from an SEO expert and yes it’s still hard but now you’ve got a good jumping off point!

Here is some good advice from Corey LaGrange and Adele Tiblier:

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About Megan Hargroder: Megan Hargroder is the founder and leading social media strategist behind Conversations, offering full service social media marketing management and consulting to all types of  businesses. She is also a contributing writer for SiliconBayouNews.com, where her articles also appear every Friday. Megan showcases social media news, tips, and more with her regular posts.

Google Drive is the newest cloud-based storage platform that works a lot like Dropbox. If you have no idea what cloud-based storage is, read this and then choose a platform and get started before you lose all your data and end up crying for days.

Chances are, you’re already using Dropbox. Me too – and I love it. Literally every document, photo, video etc. that I own is in my Dropbox and I’m comfortable in knowing that it is safe and I can access it at any time. I even use the iPhone and iPad apps pretty religiously for everything from pulling photos on the go to looking at recipes to finding my EIN.

So why would I want to switch from something I’m super happy with to Google’s new attempt at distracting us from the fact that Google+ is failing? Because I’m into simplicity.

My business runs on Google Apps. We use Gmail, Google Calendar and Julia and I primarily communicate and collaborate via Google Docs and Insight.ly (an add on app).  The only disconnect is that some of my content is stored in Google Docs and everything else is in Dropbox. What if I could synch this all up? IT’S LIKE THE HOLY EFFING GRAIL OF FILE ORGANIZATION!

The downside: currently there’s only an Android app for Google Drive and I’m all Apple all the time. I’m holding out the faith that they get this done stat, though. In the mean time, I’m getting acquainted with the system and how it works. Hopefully they also add an affiliate program (like Dropbox has where you refer people and get extra space every time someone signs up).

You  should definitely use Google Drive if:

• You use all Google Apps
• You have an Android phone

You might want to skip it if:

• You use an email account other than Gmail
• You’re already in love with Dropbox and it rocks your world

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About Megan Hargroder: Megan Hargroder is the founder and leading social media strategist behind Conversations, offering full service social media marketing management and consulting to all types of  businesses. She is also a contributing writer for SiliconBayouNews.com, where her articles also appear every Friday. Megan showcases social media news, tips, and more with her regular posts.

www.leapgo.com

When entering into the world of social media, many companies find themselves asking “who’s going to manage this?” Because it’s still so new, lots of people automatically outsource to a “professional social media manager.”

And while I’m not trying to put myself out of work, I think that in most cases it make more sense for companies to manage in-house, especially when working on a limited budget. I’ll be frank with you: if you only have $300/month to outsource your entire social media presence, you aren’t going to get quality work.

When you should take it in house:
If your main content is photos from  your store or office, someone within that space should be taking them daily, so they may as well be posting them. Also, if your brand has a lot of interactive conversations and your social media manager has to call your office a few times a day to get the answers to then respond on Facebook/Twitter then maybe your company should be responding directly.

“But no one on my staff is a social media expert:”
Of course not. Some of the most effective in-house social media managers that I’ve worked with started out knowing little more than updating their own Facebook page (not because I’m just sooooo awesome that my training creates social media superstars, but because they already had the recipe for success). The key is to find someone willing and interested – with good spelling and grammar skills! Because social platforms are just tools, anyone can learn how to use them easily. You want your in-house manager to first and foremost be very knowledgeable about your company and be able to engage and answer questions about it in the online space.

What kind of time will this take?
About an hour or two per day, depending on how interactive you are. Don’t appoint someone who already works overtime to take this on as well; ideally it will be someone who usually has a bit of free time during the work day.

What if you need help?
Having a relationship with a social media consultant is key – you want your in-house manager to have access to a professional who does this work full-time if they have any questions or need campaign or contest ideas.

Cover your bases:
Make sure that your company has a social media policy and that your SM manager signs something saying that under no circumstances will they delete or sabotage your accounts. (Yes, I’ve seen a disgruntled employee do this about two years ago and it was a total train wreck; Facebook was way less responsive back then and we ended up losing a 1k fan Facebook Page).

Also be honest with yourself about this employee and the potential longevity of their relationship with your company. Have them document process and submit a detailed monthly impact report of their online efforts, campaigns, conversations and stats.

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About Megan Hargroder: Megan Hargroder is the founder and leading social media strategist behind Conversations, offering full service social media marketing management and consulting to all types of  businesses. She is also a contributing writer forSiliconBayouNews.com, where her articles also appear every Friday. Megan showcases social media news, tips, and more with her regular posts.

Spring is in the air, and outdoor festivals are lined up for the next several weeks including French Quarter Fest, Jazz Fest, Festival Internationale….the list goes on and on! Stay savvy (and social) this festival season with these 5 apps that help you find your friends, be in the know and capture/share your experience.

1. INSTAGRAM – photo sharing
Because festival photos just look better with cool filters. Instagram is it’s own social platform where you can follow others and be followed, and you can share photos within this platform and/or send them to Facebook/Twitter.
cost to download: free
recommended by @IntricateSimple

2. GLYMPSE - finding your friends
Glympse is a lot like “Find my Friends” and other geolocation apps that let you find people and vice versa if you’ve added them to your list. The thing that makes it unique is that you can set a specific time limit for how long people can see you. Post-festival, this is also the best location app for business since clients and coworkers can access you through a Glympse weblink and don’t have to have the app.
cost to download: free
recommended by @TungLy

3. FOURSQUARE - checkins + friend finding (turn geolocation on)
Check in at different stages and landmarks so that your friends at the festival can find you and your friends sitting at home on Twitter can be jealous of how much fun you’re having. Foursquare also allows you to upload pics with checkins.
cost to download: free
recommended by @Ouroboring

4. iMotionHD - stop motion video + instant youtube uploads
Use this app to remember the best part of your favorite performance and share it with others.
cost to download: free to download, $1.99 to be able to export
recommended by @aroadscholar

5. The actual app for the festival you are attending
It’s becoming more and more common place for festivals to have their own app – usually a map of the space and overview of the lineup, performance and event times, etc. Download this (and all apps) BEFORE you get down to the event; you never know what your signal will be like once you’re there. Chances are it’s going to suck.

Something Taylor thinks you should remove from your phone: HIGHLIGHT. Why?

If you’re planning on getting very social with your smart phone at an all day festival, you should also consider a portable USB battery pack for recharging.

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About Megan Hargroder: Megan Hargroder is the founder and leading social media strategist behind Conversations, offering full service social media marketing management and consulting to all types of  businesses. She is also a contributing writer for SiliconBayouNews.com, where her articles also appear every Friday. Megan showcases social media news, tips, and more with her regular posts.

Last week, American Express started rolling out their new campaign that incentivizes card members with deals and discounts when they use a special hashtag to tweet at certain businesses.

Click here to read the full article on Silicon Bayou News.

Social media is successful because people network, share, and are attached to the information they share (cat videos, brand pages, favorite sunglasses, etc.). Learning why people share information, videos, links, and more can help businesses understand how to implement social media marketing strategies and get people to share beneficial information about the company.

According to Jim Tobin from Ignite Social Media, the number one question to ask is, “Does your social interaction, social promotion, social content fit one of those criteria?” The criteria is either you amaze people with your product experience or the information you share makes the person feel good about themselves in one way or another, further attaching them to the information and making them want to share.

People share for four reasons: self involvement, product involvement, other involvement, or message involvement. Tobin finds these four categories from a study done in 1966 by Ernest Dichter titled “How Word of Mouth Advertising Works.” Today, it’s easier to get a message across then by word of mouth via social networking sites, but the same principles apply.

Image taken from: http://www.ignitesocialmedia.com/social-media-promotion/why-people-share-content/

Product involvement is simple: people share because the product received a good review from a friend. In this day and age, it was probably seen through a Facebook post or tweet. Self involvement, the second most prevalent reason to share, occurs because people think they are special for being aware of certain information and thus want to share their insight with others. Other involvement usually means wanting to help a friend out (i.e. sharing a promo code), which, in turn, makes us feel good about our actions. Lastly, message involvement stems from people just wanting to share something funny or seemingly worthwhile (i.e. cat videos).

The reasons why people share vary from person to person and depend on the type of information being shared. Regardless, businesses need to be aware of these sharing trends and implement social media marketing strategies that will not only engage readers or viewers, but, most importantly, make them hit the share button.

Last week I got interviewed by mybanktracker.com about my thoughts on why banks are failing at social media. My response was that not enough banks were using social media as a customer service arm/listening tool and that they should really take a lesson from airlines.

Wondering what excellent Twitter support by an airline looks like? Check this out:

Click Here to read the full article on Silicon Bayou News

Enraged Twitter users have surfaced after online pawnshop, Pawngo, mocks Wes Welker and the New England Patriots’ Superbowl loss. The company dumped 900 pounds of Butterfinger candies in the middle of Copley Square in Boston this afternoon. Pawngo stated in their press release that they wanted, “everyone in the area stop to take pictures, grab a bar, and have a laugh,” which now seems to be the most unlikely outcome. No Patriots fans have found humor in this afternoon’s stunt.

A Twitter backlash has already emerged. Groupon is the parent company of Pawngo, and many have stated that they will never be a customer of either company again. For the amount of money and energy that went into this stunt, most of the response has been negative. The saying, “all publicity is good publicity,” does not come to mind today. Rather than growing their fan base, it seems Pawngo has lost many potential customers.

I spent most of today outlining what I’d like 2012 to look like – in terms of my business, health and personal goals; something that I take very seriously at the beginning of every year. I have to say – this is my most ambitious set of goals since 2010 (I never actually ended up mastering juggling while tap dancing btw).

Looking back on 2011, I’d have to say that the one word to describe how I feel about this past year is thankful. I’ve built a company – my own company that allows me to do exactly what I want and love to do every single day. I get to work with people and businesses that I love and admire and see the impact of that work. All of this is definitely due to literal blood, sweat and tears (and a huge leap of faith) but equal credit is due to quite a few people who have helped me out along the way.

I owe a lot of thanks to A LOT of people for making my dreams possible – from Chris Schultz and the LaunchPad community keeping me connected and inspired to Ray and Bev Nichols for believing in me before I even did. From Aileen Bennett and Suzy Rivera pushing me to start my own company and supporting me along the way and ALL of the Rivera sisters talking me off the ledge, keeping me focused and becoming like a second family here in New Orleans. On the flipside – I’m so extremely thankful for how great my health has been this year and can’t say enough good things about Jessica Blanchard and her Ayurveda practice. And perhaps my biggest thanks for this year is to my beautiful and supportive girlfriend – Pauline, for being everything that I need at every second of every day.

There are about 100 more people who deserve equal thanks for their kindness…you know who you are. My gratitude is so much larger than the words “thank you” can encompass so I’ll end on sharing one of my many resolutions for this year: paying it forward. What is “it?” The gift of believing in others – unconditionally.

Months ago, Facebook announced a new layout for your personal profile. It was rolled out to “Facebook Developers” only, so you could use this method of cheating to get it early.

Yesterday, the feature became accessible to everyone! Click Here to read about how to set yours up now!