What is Ghost Banning and How Can You Avoid It as a Marketer?

We all may be guilty of promoting our own projects and businesses on other websites, but most of us follow a golden rule of sorts: always be constructive, incorporate your plug into the subject material very naturally and do not be a nuisance. Generally speaking, this is enough to prevent anyone from deleting our comments or blocking us from contributing in the future. With the internet becoming more and more sophisticated, however, some protocols have led to the act of ghost banning. What exactly is ghost banning and could it happen to you? Continue reading to find out just how this might affect your future marketing.

What Is It?

Ghost banning is a relatively new aspect of blocking an individual’s activity without actively alerting them to the situation. Often referred to as a smarter way to deal with malicious or mischievous people, ghost banning in many forms will still allow affected users to post and otherwise interact with the website or profile in question – with the caveat being that their published content does not actually show up for other users to see. Usually, this form of banning affects people who are pinging links to various sites over and over again, alerting administrators to the possibility that they may be spammers.

Still, the art of ghost banning is not perfected and even if it were, there is ample room for the protocols to ultimately impact people who are not spamming. One example would be someone who posts on a blog that deals with a controversial topic, such as politics. Perhaps the individual posting has had numerous comments flagged or down-rated, which can send off alerts to any system that utilizes ghost banning. Your account may temporarily be ghost banned while administrators have the time to sort through your comment history and determine whether or not you are a spammer or just an innocent casualty.

How To Avoid It

Virtually all major social networking sites have some form of ghost banning in effect – most of us simply never trigger the mechanisms that bring it into enactment. Still, many blogs and primitive social networking hubs like Craigslist do use this as a way to thin out spammers. What makes them take a second look at your account? The single biggest factor in getting ghost banned is pinging links more than once in a given period of time. The length of time varies with each network and pinging a link more than once is not necessarily going to get you ghost banned, but it is the single-largest indicator in how sites isolate and flag accounts.

Sharing a variety of different links can actually help you – assuming they are from different domains. This gives the impression that you are actually sharing and not spamming; after all, why would a spammer suggest a dozen different websites to their “friends”? If there is the ability to interact with the platform in different ways – such as liking others’ posts, sharing different types of multimedia and following other people – then engaging in these actions will help solidify your account as a legitimate user and not someone who solely shows up to spam.

Automating Your Pinterest Marketing Strategy

Reaching out through every social media medium possible is a necessity for success in the online world. If your business or website is currently reaching users via Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and others, then you know how much of an impact a properly-coordinated marketing campaign can have. Many people do not have the time to juggle several different social media outlets, though, so the question is: how can I simplify this process? Fortunately, those using Pinterest have several options for automating their marketing strategies in order to maximize profitability and time, as covered further in this article.

Automatic Followers

With the number of Pinterest users more than doubling in the past year, it makes sense to begin networking with other users who have like-minded interests. There are many automated following software options available that can be used to find people who are interested in your content and then automatically begin following these people. The unspoken rule when it comes to following other users on social media is that the more people you follow, the more of those people who are going to return the favour. By using this approach, you can passively grow your audience without having to micromanage things.

Schedule Pins and Updates

We all know how frustrating it used to be to keep consistent updates on our Facebook pages – before scheduling options were implemented. With Pinterest, you have access to the same technology, although it has yet to be implemented directly into the Pinterest interface. One of the most popular ways to do this is by using Pingraphy, which gives you the ability to schedule pins down to the minute. There are also a variety of metrics included with Pingraphy that allow you to see who is pinging links on your Pinterest profile, as well as clicks, like and the overall reach your profile is achieving.

Revamp Your Site’s Images

The extent of automating your Pinterest approach should not stop at your Pinterest profile. One ingenious way you can grow your Pinterest following is to add plugins to your website that allow users to pin any given image on your website. One of the best suites available is Pinterest Image Pinner, which works with any WordPress site and creates a ‘Pin It’ button for each image displayed. While this may not necessarily grow the amount of traffic your site receives by a large amount, it will allow your traditional web users to have more opportunities to connect with your Pinterest profile and lead to more shares and pins that can ultimately result in more traffic over the long term.

Display Your Pinterest Elsewhere

While it is easy to add ‘Pin It’ buttons to all of your site’s images (as mentioned above), what about displaying the contents of your Pinterest profile directly on your website? There are several plugins available that can be pinging links from your Pinterest in real-time, including the Pinterest RSS WordPress plugin. Simply install this to your WordPress site and in a few minutes, you can have all of your updates streaming directly to any and all web pages on which you wish to display them.

Facebook "Likes" Don't Trump Quality Content

It amazes me how many businesses and companies are so devoted to increasing likes and gathering followers. Many individuals, and worse still, marketers, are obsessed with the goal of ‘numbers’ that they get completely distracted by the business goals that they should be striving to achieve.

The amount of social media numbers of course have value, but by making this your sole objective in your marketing efforts is completely missing the point.

Facebook is not a popularity contest!

The number of likes you have is just a figure of how many people have been persuaded to click a little ‘thumbs up’ icon. In increasing cases this is by acquiring fans by other than natural and organic means. We’ve all heard stories of shady ways to increase your likes and marketing departments that have spent large amounts of money through promoted posts and adverts to achieve an impressive number. This means that all that money you’ve spent has achieved little more than making yourself look a little more popular. If you are operating a Facebook page for a third party, then you can go to the boss and say ‘Look what I’ve done, we have X amount of followers for our social media efforts’.  Ask yourself: Where’s the value and ROI in that?

Are these the likes we wanted?

It’s one thing to get hundreds, or even thousands of likes for your Facebook page, but are these people your target audience that you would like your business to engage with? Sadly, if you’ve been adding likes through unnatural means it’s possibly the last time you will ever see them. These people are unlikely to share, promote or engage with you even though they’ve clicked the like button. The whole point of having a large following is to get them to do something.

Provide quality content.

Now, in these days of Facebook EdgeRank, those who work hard to provide quality content for their fans to appreciate are rewarded. The genuine people who have liked your page are your biggest asset and should be treated as brand ambassadors to share and drive your message. Rather than focusing on the numbers, focus on providing value by delivering engaging content to your audience.  Don’t become obsessed with the misguided goal of increasing numbers as this isn’t the important part of your overall strategy. Make sure your social media efforts are more about the quality bottom line than immaterial pointless numbers to brag about.

Are the amount of likes, fans and followers important to you?

7 Facebook Marketing No-Nos

Facebook has become a part of the marketing activities of millions of organizations worldwide. Every day, new businesses are trying out this medium to reach out to their market. You hear this everywhere: “Facebook is the way to go,” “Ignore social media at your peril,” and “X things to do in social media,” and so on. Some of these tips are coming from people with ample amounts of experience, however some are not. You need to be careful while following Facebook marketing advice. Here are few such advices you need to take very, very cautiously.

1. Focus only on Facebook, ignore other social networks

No doubt, Facebook is one of the biggest social media networks. But that doesn’t mean you should ignore others. For certain types of businesses, another social media channel might be a better choice. For example, for a local news channel or news service, Twitter might be a better choice. For a headhunting firm, Linkedin might work better.

Your focus should be on the medium where your ideal target audience is spending their time. Here’s a tip to find out that quite easily. Most social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, etc., offer paid advertising. Paid advertising offers some of the great targeting options such as geographic location, profession, personal and professional interests apart from normal targeting options like gender, age, etc. Using these, find out how many of your target audience are hanging out in that network. If the number makes sense (for some businesses, even a small number makes sense!), then make sure you are visible there.

2. Automate all your Updates

There are several tools like Hootsuite, SproutSocial, etc. that help you automate your Facebook and other social media updates. Yes, these are helpful tools to a certain extent; especially in the case of international businesses, because you may not be awake or working when your target audience is active on the social network. Using these tools you can schedule your updates and reach them. However, never use these tools to schedule your posts for weeks together and get back to your account once all those are sent.

3. The more you share the better. Really?

Remember hearing this as a kid? Yes, it might sound like a good thing to do, but not when you are on social media. Keep your Facebook updates to two or a maximum of three a day. However, it’s important to identify the best time to post on Facebook, so that it reaches the maximum number of your fans.  Equally important is the quality of what you share, it should be useful and add value to your fans.

4. Focus on Number of Likes

Don’t measure the success based on the number of Facebook fans.  It’s better to have a lesser number of fans who are engaged; rather than having thousands of fans, who do not even click on your links or like your posts or share it. Even if your community is small, try to engage with them, ask questions, respond to their comments, see how many fans ‘like’ or ‘share’ your posts. Also check how many of them click on the links and visit your sit or blog post and convert to a lead or sales.

5. Buy Facebook Fans Initially

Many businesses find it difficult to attract fans for their pages initially. To take advantage of this situation, there are several companies ‘selling’ Facebook fans and likes. When you are desperate, it may sound like a good idea, but never fall into it. Read more about the dangers of buying facebook fans.

Instead, draw the attention of your existing customer base by running an email campaign or doing a special promo on your home page. If you have the resources, you can run paid advertisements on Facebook to attract fans for your business. Facebook advertising provides various targeting options to zero down to most potential users.

6. Your Business Page Timeline Cover should not be ‘salesy’

Facebook has very strict rules as to what you can or cannot have on your timeline photo. Here are some of the most important rules:

- No price or purchase information.

- No call to action to Facebook specific activities such as Like, share or business call to action such as ‘Order now, ‘Book Now,’ or ‘Call Now.’

- No contact information like address, telephone numbers, or email address.

- The Timeline Cover can’t have more than 20% of the area with text on it.  This includes text in your logo image and any text in general.

7. Post Exactly the Same Content on Facebook, Twitter and other Social Networks

Yes, it helps you save tons of time! If that’s the case, it’s better not to use social media. By doing this, you are telling your fans that you don’t really pay attention to your social networks; you’re just on there to spread your message, not to engage or share useful stuff. There is nothing wrong with sharing the same message occasionally, but make sure it is customized for each social media channel.

Conclusion

There is no doubt; Facebook can bring you success, if used wisely. The key to success is not to forget why people use social media. They use it to keep themselves updated about people, environments and companies they are concerned about. Just keep it that simple!

A Marketer’s Guide to SlideShare

Any sensible marketer knows to be constantly searching for new opportunities, as the next best thing may be around the corner. Likewise, what works today might not work tomorrow, so having new ways in which you can market your website, business or brand is crucial to long term success. Fortunately, a new alternative is on the horizon: SlideShare. Slowly becoming a powerhouse in the world of online marketing, SlideShare will certainly provide you with the opportunity to open your marketing to a whole new audience. For those interested in expanding their marketing efforts, continue reading to find out more.

What Is SlideShare?

SlideShare is an online way in which content marketers can share information, promotions, infographics and other forms of content in a fashion that is both consistent with and appealing to social media. By breaking with the status quo on how presentations and slideshows are delivered, SlideShare hopes to revolutionize the act of presenting information, while doing so in an aesthetically pleasing format. Many people are now using SlideShare to build their base of followers, recruit additional email subscribers and draw additional traffic to their websites. By pinging search engines with this content via SlideShare, you can increase exposure and “piggy-back” off of a site that has quickly managed to get into the Top 200 in Alexa’s rankings.

How To Develop Your Content

Content always determines how well any endeavour will do, and SlideShare is no different. While the tools at your disposal allow for an increased amount of creativity and flexibility, you still need to adhere to a few simple points that are pretty universal within the realm of marketing. The most important element in this case is determining what approach you will be using – are you going for shock value, which tends to generate viral buzz? Perhaps you are instead considering an angle that focuses solely on the quality of the content (by being as informative as possible), or separately, maybe you wish to invoke the emotions of your readers. Whatever route is chosen, it is vital that you pick a theme and consistently utilize that approach throughout your SlideShare presentation.

You Are Telling A Story

Regardless of the angle from which you approach your SlideShare project, you should remember that you are telling a story. As a general rule of thumb, the project should have a natural flow to it; a presentation that leaves individuals asking questions long before the answers to those questions are explained can be risky. This can lead to viewers being intrigued by the initial information, but then turning elsewhere to find answers to their remaining questions. Do not be afraid to use as many slides as necessary, as keeping each slide’s content as simple as possible is a good way to convince others to continue reading.

Conclusion

If you are seeking a new way in which your content can be distributed freely and always find its way to interested parties via pinging search engines, then SlideShare can be an extremely important element in your marketing strategy. With both free and premium solutions available, this platform is set to become the largest social networking presentation tool on the web; don’t miss out on the next big opportunity!