Have you ever looked at your Facebook page and wondered how many of your Likes were just worthless? With fake accounts and other padding running rampant, can you really be sure of how many people you’re really reaching? It’s hard to truly measure the impact of your automotive Facebook marketing when you’re reaching a bunch of fake accounts. Well, there’s good news on that front: Facebook is stepping up their efforts to block users who violate their terms of conduct, especially when it comes to Likes. Zuck and the gang want to focus on real users liking real brands.

Here’s what Facebook had to say about the move:

“A Like that doesn’t come from someone truly interested in connecting with a Page benefits no one. Real identity, for both users and brands on Facebook, is important to not only Facebook’s mission of helping the world share, but also the need for people and customers to authentically connect to the Pages they care about.

When a Page and fan connect on Facebook, we want to ensure that connection involves a real person interested in hearing from a specific Page and engaging with that brand’s content. As such, we have recently increased our automated efforts to remove Likes on Pages that may have been gained by means that violate our Facebook Terms.”

This shouldn’t have too big an effect on any one account. Facebook estimates that only about one percent of Likes are currently in violation. In reality, this is a positive thing for most businesses. While you might experience a slight dip in total Likes, you can rest assured that the remaining Likes are genuine people, and isn’t that the real goal anyway?

Original article about fake Facebook Likes posted on Wikimotive's blog under the title Facebook Cutting Fake Likes

Earlier this month, Google (specifically Google+) started rolling out vanity URLs. Before the vanity URL, you were identified by a long numeric string, not exactly a great thing to throw on a business card. The new vanity names are instead located at plus.google.com/ +USERNAME, are being made available to certain people. Apparently they offer you a default vanity URL based on your username, but you’re free to ask for something different, which should definitely help your social media marketing efforts. Of course, they all must be approved by Google before they go live.

Right now these vanity URLs are free, but it’s looking like that wont be the case for long. Intrepid investigators have dug deep into Google+’s policies and principles page and have uncovered this gem:

“Custom URLs are free for now, but we may start charging a fee for them,” the page reads. “However, we will tell you before we start charging and give you the choice to stop participating first.”

At this point, it’s unknown how much Google will charge for the unique URLs. We don’t even know if it would be a one-time fee like purchasing a domain, or a monthly subscription style service. Either way, if you get the opportunity to obtain a custom URL, you should probably take it, but invest cautiously.

With the price being such an unknown, you can’t go forward safely. Sure, a custom Google+ domain looks sleek on your business cards, but what happens when they start charging a mint and you have to give it up? Until we know exactly what they plan to charge, and when they plan on charging it, don’t put your vanity URL on anything you can’t change overnight.

Original article about Google+ charging for vanity URLs posted on Wikimotive's blog under the title Google May Charge For Vanity URLs

Itʼs official: Twitter is THE place for advertisers of every shape and size. Weʼve long suspected itʼs true and last nightʼs Republican National Convention just seals the deal.

Obama has utilized social media marketing since his first campaign back in 2008, and many suspect thatʼs the reason he was able to defeat John McCain and the implacable Alaskan so handily; Mitt Romney wonʼt go so gentle into that good night. Heʼs been spreading his campaign over both Facebook and Twitter, he doesnʼt have the saturation of Obama, and evidence suggests he gaffed by buying a large quantity of followers, but at least heʼs trying.

The Romney campaign made history this week when they purchased a national trending topic on Twitter, the first presidential campaign to ever do so. #RomneyRyan2012 appeared as a trending topic Thursday night, the night Romney finally spoke at the RNC. His campaign also live-Tweeted the event, posting snippets of the speeches and additional commentary.

What were the results? From a pure numbers standpoint, it looks like it was a rousing success. There were tens of thousands of Tweets by the middle of last night and there are more every second. Keep in mind that Tweets means unique Tweets, there were also an abundance of reTweets and other shares, so itʼs safe to say that the message achieved a high level of saturation…but what kind of message was it?

You can check out the hashtag for yourself, but here is a sampling of the top 10 from the time of this writing:

–I’m sure Obama cringes when he sees ads like this! “America Bows to Nobody!”

–I wonder if after last night’s performance @MittRomney will take away#ClintEastwood‘s pension as well.

–So are we going to unite now and get #RomneyRyan2012 elected? YES!

And, not eloquent perhaps, but unarguably succinct:
–@BarackObama Pack ya s***

The majority of Tweets are actually positive, and the majority of negative Tweets are making fun of Clint “Dirty Harry” Eastwoodʼs invisible chair bit (which is currently going viral as a meme). So overall, the experiment was a grand-slam for #RomneyRyan2012.

Now, I know what youʼre thinking. “Should I sponsor a Tweet for my own business or event?” Well, to tell you the truth, in all this excitement I kind of lost track myself. But being as this is Twitter, the most powerful social network in the world, and could blow your reputation clean off, youʼve got yo ask yourself one question: Do I feel lucky?

Well, do ya, punk?

Original article about Twitter at the RNC posted on Wikimotive's blog under the title Twitter and the Republican National Convention

Blogging is about a lot of things, producing good content, building trust with your target market, driving traffic back to your website, adding value to your automotive SEO, but one of the most important things that often gets overlooked is that you can, and should, use blogging in conjunction with your social media marketing as well. A lot of bloggers make the same mistake with social media that everyone else does, they don’t connect at all.

When it comes to blogging and maintaining an online presence not using social media is likely the worst thing you can do. We all know where the benefits are with using social media as a marketing tool at this point, and most of us know it’s about staying away from hard marketing and instead posting good content that people want to see and engage with. What is a great source of unique and hopefully relevant, good content? That’s right your blog.

Just like with the comments section on your blog and any other social media effort you have to make sure you are engaging as well. You can’t expect to just post some good content and watch the readership flow in. If and when people engage with your posts and give you feed back you have to make sure you respond in a timely fashion, you want to gain peoples trust and loyalty.

Sharing your content via Facebook or Twitter is extremely easy to do. There are even services out there that you can set up to do it automatically for you. This will ensure that you have a consistent stream of content hitting your Facebook page. On the subject of sharing you want to make sure that your blog gives your readers the opportunity to share your content as well. You can add a simple plugin like AddThis or Sociable to your WordPress blog to automatically add social share buttons to every one of your posts.

Taking social media for granted is a mistake. Social media is actually very easy to integrate into your current blogging process and the return you will see in increased readership of your blog, and more fans on your social media, is well worth the extra effort.

Original article about social media and blogging posted on Wikimotive's blog under the title Common Blogging Mistakes When It Comes To Social Media.

If you’re involved with the marketing aspect of your web presence, then you’ve probably heard of blogging for business. Simply put, a well executed blog can be the hub of all your internet marketing efforts. Does your business have one? If not, you’re missing out on one of the most powerful and reliable methods of lead generation and SEO bolstering available.

If you want to know how to build and write your blog, or if you already have one and just want to make sure you’re following best practices, then you’re in luck!

Wikimotive has written a limited-edition eBook called ‘Blogging for Business’. This eBook is a step-by-step guide to understanding and mastering the use of blogging for marketing purposes, giving you an affordable and easy method of increasing website traffic and lead conversion.

eBooks—for those who are unfamiliar—are short, downloadable booklets that exist in digital PDF form. In ours, you’ll learn:

• The principals of blogging

• How to build an effective blog

• How to apply SEO to the blog’s backend

• How to write effectively and build an engaged readership

Wikimotive’s latest e-book is available now for free just follow this link to download your very own copy of Blogging For Business.

Pinterest and Instagram, the two new kids on the block. They are niche social networks each catering to a specific gap in the market and each are growing at exponential rates. We can expect Facebook and Twitter to remain the supreme social media leaders but these alternatives are growing in popularity very quickly, Instagram doesn’t have a huge value for marketing but Pinterest marketingmight become very relevant soon.

Experian has been collecting data on these two social networks for a while, and their digital insights manager James Murray had this to say about their growth. “The growth of both Instagram and Pinterest over the past year has been phenomenal. The reason for their success is that they haven’t tried to be ‘another Facebook’. Instead, they both identified a gap in the market and used the scale of Facebook to reach consumers.”

So just how fast have they grown? Between July 2011 and July 2012 Pinterest has grown it’s market share by 5,124 percent in North America. They have also grown by 2,373 percent in Hong Kong, 1,489 percent in the UK, 798 percent in Australia and 634 percent in New Zealand. This growth has put interest now in the top 20 social networks in North America, the UK, and Singapore. Also making that top 20 list was Instagram who, in the same time period, have grown their market share in North America by 17,319 percent. They have also grown by 8,121 percent in Singapore, 2,028 percent in the UK, 843 percent in New Zealand, and 362 percent in Australia.

If that is not a good reason to start thinking about a Pinterest Marketing strategy I don’t know what is. If you like what you hear about Pinterests growth but you’re not sure where to start with marketing on Pinterest feel free to download this great e-book on the subject called The Pinterest Spell Book For Marketing Wizards, or contact Wikimotive with any questions you might have.

Original article about growth in niche social networks posted on Wikimotive's blog under the title Pinterest and Instagram Experience Massive Growth This Year

Here at Wikimotive, we love educated customers. Thatʼs why we put together this list, laying out the top five questions a business should ask any prospective SEO company before hiring them. It doesnʼt cover everything, but with these five questions, you should be able to get a good overall feel and narrow down your prospective partners.

And SEO professionals–you better be sure you have good answers!

1: Do you engage in any black- or grey-hat SEO?
” A surprising number of companies will answer yes to this. Others wonʼt come right out and admit it, but youʼll be able to see them squirm. The fact is, black- or grey- hat techniques work…until they donʼt. Donʼt let yourself be fooled by strong initial results, only to get slammed with penalties after the SEO company has already cashed your checks.

2. What will I see for reports?
” Itʼs your business, and you have a right to know. Any SEO company who wonʼt share what theyʼre doing on your time (and there are a surprisingly large number of them) in the interest of hiding their “secret sauce” isnʼt worth the money. A good SEO company will be able to show you all the steps theyʼre taking to make you money while still protecting themselves from competitors.

3. Do you have a client limit?
” This seemingly simple question will actually tell you a lot. If a company tells you that they have no upper limit for clients, then warning bells should be going off. A truly effective SEO strategy requires constant dedication and if an SEO company has an unending client list, theyʼre more likely to sacrifice their smaller clients to make more time for the big ones.

4. What is the price, and is there a contract?
” If an SEO company hides their price or is otherwise evasive, then just keep walking. Sure, your tailored SEO campaign wonʼt be a cookie-cutter price, but they should at least have the breakdown of the generic services right on their website. As far as contracts, steer clear! SEO takes time, so you canʼt expect to see results right away, but you can expect clear reports and indicators of work being done and progress being made. As a business, you NEED the ability to drop any SEO company that isnʼt continually working for you.

5. How will we measure my success?
” Know what you want out of your SEO efforts, and know what the company you contract plans on delivering. If you can reach an agreement before anything is even signed, then there is a good chance itʼs a good match.

If you happen to be currently looking at a new SEO and/or digital marketing services company you really have to look no further. Wikimotive can cover all these questions for you and more, just saying… Contact us for a free evaluation of your SEO and digital marketing strategy and advice on how you can improve.

Facebook is undeniably one of the most influential companies on the internet; they dominate the social media landscape and cause web-wide rage with even the most minor of updates. Could they do more, though? They certainly seem to think so.

The social media companyʼs latest foray is encroaching ever so slightly into Googleʼs turf. Facebook is now offering a new form of search-based advertising. Much like Google and others, Facebook will allow paid ads, or “sponsored listings”, to be placed at the top of their search results.

The trial run is currently underway, with prominent companies like Disney and Zynga already showing up in the sponsored results section. Stylistically, the ads blend in fairly well with the organic search results. The only major distinguishing feature is the “Sponsored” header and a small X in the upper right corner, allowing users to close that ad.

For the duration of the trial, Facebook is allowing companies to buy sponsored ads on a pay-per-click system. These ads can then be targeted in a variety of ways. As of now, it seems likely that the payment system will change once the trial is over. The simple pay- per-click is great for enticing and for proof of concept, but it appears Facebook will be moving towards a more aggressive bidding model when the program goes live.

Even with this change, Google appears safe for the time being. Facebookʼs search tool only works internally. Everything the company does is still designed to keep users on Facebookʼs own little patch of the web. So once clicked, the new ads will only lead to the Facebook page of the sponsor, and not offsite. Moving people from your Facebook content to your landing pages still takes effort, so make sure youʼre Facebook page is looking good after the Timeline update.

Original article about Facebook sponsored search results posted on Wikimotive's blog under the title Facebook Launches Sponsored Search Results

Google announced this week that they would be making further adjustments to their algorithms, specifically with the Penguin and Panda parts of it. If you’ve been reading our blog and following our advice you should have nothing to worry about because you will already be creating good content. If not you might want to pay attention because the adjustments to the algorithm are all about devaluing sites that don’t appear to be doing their SEO organically.

What this means is poor content, created only for the purpose of “gaming the system” will be found and devalued. Keyword stuffing and using unnatural language in your copy will definitely attract the attention of Google but not in a good way. Google strives to deliver the best possible user experience so they have committed to weeding out the content that is designed only for their algorithms. The only way to rank better on Google now is to make sure you’re writing good, rich, original content that humans, not Google, will want to read.

Keyword research will always be important, because that’s how people search for things, and it will always be the core of how Google tries to serve them the most relevant content. What is important is what you do with your keywords. Title tags, descriptions and H1 text are still important use your keywords there. While writing your copy though, you need to be trying to sound as genuine and organic as you possibly can. Try to work some keywords in to your natural writing, make sure it sounds natural if you keep putting keywords into your copy where they don’t read properly or don’t make sense, Google will find you.

Original article about Panda and Penguin Updates posted on Wikimotive's blog under the title Google Cracking Down Even More On Unnatural SEO.

If you’re involved with the marketing aspect of your web presence, then you’ve probably heard of internal links. Simply put, they’re links on a website that lead to other pages on that same website (hence ‘internal’). Does your business utilize them? It not, you’re missing out on one of the most powerful and reliable methods of lead generation and SEO bolstering available.

The importance of internal linking is often upstaged by inbound links, but it’s a mistake to overlook them completely. It’s easy to fully implement an internal linking strategy and the ROI is truly amazing. Sure, inbound links tell search engines what the world thinks your pages are about, but inbound links let you tell the search engines what YOU think your pages are about, and that has weight.

Wikimotive has written a limited-edition eBook called ‘Internal Linking: Sometimes the most powerful links…come from within’. This eBook is a step-by-step guide to understanding and mastering the use of internal linking, giving you an affordable and easy method for increasing website traffic and lead conversion.

eBooks—for those who are unfamiliar—are short, downloadable booklets that exist in digital PDF form. In ours, you’ll learn:

• The principals of internal linking
• How to build an effective internal link
• Where your internal links should point to
• How to apply effective Search Engine Optimization (SEO) to make your pagesrank in search

  If you want to know how to build internal links, or if you already have them and just want to make sure you’re following best practices, then you’re in luck! Follow this link to get your free copy of our ebook Internal Linking: Sometimes The Most Powerful Links… Come From Within.