How to Secure Your Social Media Accounts

Social networking sites continue to be widely used by private individuals and organizations today. They also get updated every now and then the reason why users need to update their security settings on their preferred platforms on a regular basis.
Apart from changing passwords, there are now tools you can use to protect social and other online accounts whether you're using a computer or mobile device. Here are some of them you can use.

Intrusion Detection System
Installing an intrusion detection system is recommended particularly for mobile devices. This app can effectively detect suspicious activity and unauthorized access to your various accounts online.
The LogDog app for Android is one such system that keeps watch of your online accounts round the clock. It alerts users every time somebody attempts to access one of your accounts. Currently, the app works with Facebook, Gmail, Yahoo!, Dropbox and Evernote among others. More social platforms will be added in the future.

Password Manager
While you already have passwords for your different social accounts, using a password manager is a must for better protection. Use LastPass or 1Password which helps ensure online security and does not even require you to log in to your accounts every time. These apps features a random password generator that enables social media users to come up with strong and secure passwords when they register to new sites.
LastPass works on Android and iOS devices. It can also be downloaded as a browser extension for use on Windows or Mac OS. 1Password, on the other hand, is available for Android, iOS, Windows and Mac OS.


Social Media Management System
A social media management system will help you manage access to your personal or company's social accounts. This tool works by giving employees or team collaborators access to your social accounts without providing sensitive information about your account.
Examples of this are Hootsuite and SproutSocial.
If you have an IT staff managing your social accounts, it is a good idea to let them regularly change your passwords to prevent unauthorized access.
On Facebook, you can use the Login Approval feature. It helps control access to your Facebook page and will prompt your page admins to enter a special security code every time they access your page whether using a computer, a new browser or mobile device.

Manage Privacy Settings
Be sure to learn how to adjust your default privacy settings on every social networking site.
 Be particular about permissions as it will help you control the people who can see and comment on your posts. This applies to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest.


Install Antivirus Software
An antivirus software on your computer and mobile devices should also not be taken for granted. It will protect you against malware, viruses and other online threats. There are many of this type to choose from today.
But take note that it's not enough to simply install them because you also need to update them regularly to keep up with the latest threats.

Wendy Chamberlain is the founder of http://www.savvywebwomen.com and creator of the Savvy Online Engagement Blog - the information packed resource that shows business owners and entrepreneurs how to use online strategies to connect with key stakeholders, influence decision makers and be seen as a thought leader, all via the use of social media. To receive your FREE Special Report and how-to articles to expand your Online Engagement toolkit, visit http://www.wendymoore.net.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/expert/Wendy_Chamberlain/200434

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/9238727

Read More

Social Media Optimization Through Facebook

Today is a digital age as yesterday was an analogue one."

The above sentence is absolutely true in the sense that everything today is governed digitally, be it information or communication. We are heavily dependent on technology. One such dependence is on Internet which is a common application these days.

With multiple companies at the scene, promotion is very important. It can be done online (Internet) through social networks. The most popular of the social networks is Facebook. Promoting through Facebook is a common social media marketing technique. But with so many start-ups and companies, how can you market your company better?

Social Media Optimization (SMO)

Optimizing your website content in terms of sharing across social media platforms is a precise task of SMO. It is an efficient approach for improving your brand value. Its smart use will lead to a heavy traffic flow to your website or page.

Through Facebook

Facebook has some excellent features and over 200 million visitors per day. You should know the proper tricks in order to get an edge over your competitors.

Here are some tips:

Create a Facebook page
This is the first step of marketing. While creating a page make sure to choose the correct page type for e.g. if you are a band then choose "Music/Artist" or if you are an education portal then choose "Education".
Genuine Look
The page should look genuine and exclusive as watching new content excites and interests audience.

Best Configuration

The little details mean the most. In the "Edit Info" section you have to fill multiple details like: location, about, short overview about your company, your aim/goal, an email-id, your website URL and finally a phone number. This ensures your originality and leaves a good impression.

Consistency

Continuously update your posts, share links, and upload media. This helps in keeping a steady audience flow and if the posts are great then Bingo! You have got your loyal set of followers.
Beware of Services offering fans

Do not buy services offering fans to artificially increase your fans as most of these fans are not real people. Having such fan following will lead to false growth of your company and destabilize your marketing strategies.

Always Engage

You will lose audience if you do not engage with them. Always reply to comments, posts and questions for your customers to have a positive feedback of you.

Its Content Marketing

Make sure to use the best words in the crispiest manner possible. After all it is a mode of communication between you and your fans & represents your views. Use brand hashtags if and when possible like #Pepsi or #Nike.

Following these steps will definitely increase your traffic and ensure you a stable course of fans. And remember, if all hopes are lost then your creativity hasn't. Use the best of your brain and technology consciousness to maintain your lead above the others.

For effective SMO, including Facebook Marketing, that includes the creation of brand Pages, designing of Cover Photos & Profile Photos by professional Graphic Designers, posting of carefully selected content and Facebook Advertising, get in touch with Futuristic Simplified Computing Private Limited! http://www.fsc.co.in/
 

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/9178991

Read More

Facebook Vs Google: Which Social Media Platform Has The Better Impact On Business?

Internet plays a big role in today's business. Any kind of business can get benefitted with the vast possibilities in the global world. With the globalization in the e-marketing world, any business can use the power of the internet today. There are many mediums where one can successfully promote their business for the better prospects and more profits. Though these platforms are very user-friendly, it requires some amount of ability to understand and use the right platform.

Among all, Facebook and Google have taken their places by offering various features and facilities to its users. Since the beginning of their journey, both Facebook and Google have been tough competitors. As the battle of them rages on, it can often be difficult for many advertisers to choose where they should put their focus on. Though it is right that advertising or creating a brand value on Facebook has some unique advantages, but it requires a different approach than advertising on Google Ad-Words.

Facebook or Google?
Basically, on a neutral view, one should start their business tactics on both Facebook and Google. If you want to run a successful business, then you have to approach your business through all the possible platforms. There are some similarities in advertising on both platforms, as well as some major differences.

SIMILARITIES:
· Both platforms have a real and massive potential audience. You will be able to reach many people at a time while using these features.
· Both are primarily PPC ADVERTISING channels. They will charge you, while you are trying to advertise through the platforms.
· Though both focus on the PAID ADVERTISING MODELS, but they also offer some free online marketing tools. You can make use of the Facebook Fan Page features on Facebook, while on Google, you can check out Google+ business pages. Both of these pages give the same specification. These pages do not need the users to pay. Even though these pages are free, they still work as great venues for promoting any brand, as well as new products.
· You just need to understand the purpose. Just think about the purpose carefully prior to promoting any product or before creating a brand value.



DIFFERENCES:
· Facebook usually provides a long-term session than a normal Google search session. It helps a user to build brand awareness. That is the reason most of the users prefer Facebook for sending a specific message than Google
· Facebook allows its advertisers some unique features like targeting a particular group. One can easily target an interested audience through this platform.
· While Facebook provides some traditional ad displays, Google ads offer a different approach in advertising options such as the Google Display Network. It offers GEO-TAGGING and other more features and functions.
There are many researches that show that Google is the better choice for display advertising. It has a superior CPC performance, improved ad targeting options. Besides these, it has an enormous array of ad formats as well that Facebook lacks. So, for a startup business, it is best to try both and discover which fits best with your brands.

WHY GOOGLE+ CREATES MORE VALUE?
· Facebook has the benefit in terms of familiar data about preferred movies, books, TV shows and more for advertisers to use while Google plans on providing Facebook a run for its money with Google+.
Google allows its users to collect more personal user data, and with users remaining logged in to their account as they check email, use Google+, and surf the web. A recent research expected that the user data of Google will soon surmount Facebook in terms of Value.
· Google has a unique feature that is not available in Facebook and it is its search feature. One can avail the benefit when it comes to web searches. Basically, Google is known for its search feature and regarded as the SEARCH GIANT. Besides these, the AdWords is the ideal venue for business looking to drive clicks and conversions for specific products. While Google often has a specific intent in mind, Facebook allows its users to simply hang out and chat with friends.
· Basically, Facebook provides any business a unique way to connect with its users on the social, more personal level and in intimate and friendly space. But people with a need of a more specific need like making a purchase take the help of Google.
· A more interesting fact is that, Facebook's CLICK-THROUGH-RATES are as much as 1000 times lower than Google Campaign with the same intent.

VALUE OF GOOGLE REMARKING:
This is known as one of the powerful advertising options that Facebook does not offer. It is known as targeting. It involves showing ads to users based on their past web activity on your website. Generally, it is a great feature that allows its advertisers to follow the users and show ads to them throughout the Google's Large Network of partner sites.

TRAFFIC:
Traffic is another important feature. It is capable of growing your brand's popularity as well. Facebook usually tends to get more traffic than Google+, but Google is a medium that uses its focus on when it comes to drive traffic to your business.

PRIVACY CONCERNS:
Privacy is becoming a growing issue for internet users day by day. Facebook has long been threatened for changing users' default privacy settings. So, in Facebook, user shares more private information than earlier. But, Google has not fared better. It receives heavy criticism for combining the separate privacy policies for each of Google's services into one, all-inclusive new Google Privacy Policy.

CONCLUSION:
Any business that wants to take the advantage of developing brand awareness and developing messages for the specific niche interest should target Facebook. But Google is the venue for focusing on advertising. You probably know that Google has a range of advertising features and many options, it can give you more specific results.

This article was written by Chandrani Jena. Go to http://weavers-web.com/digital-marketing/ to learn more about Social Media tools.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/9178610

Read More

New Pinterest Tutorial

Read More

How to Get Started With Pinterest Promoted Pins

Of all the new social media channels out there, Pinterest has certainly grown into one of the most important ones for business marketing. Its visually-charged platform makes the most of what today's user looks for in a social network and gives brands a place to connect with followers through great images. Now, businesses can strengthen their reach with the use of Pinterest Promoted Pins.

Pinterest has almost 50 million individual users. Nowhere near the extreme numbers that are seen on Facebook and Twitter, but still a substantial number of potential fans for your brand. You can also expect a higher and more quality level of engagement from the type of people who use Pinterest.

Recently, Pinterest has been trying out Promoted Pins. This is a paid advertising option for brands that want to get more exposure. Promoted Pins are based on the cost-per-click model. You can set the daily budget limit for a set time period to better manage your costs.

Want to know how you can get started with Pinterest Promoted Pins? Here is what you need to know:

Apply for a Pinterest business account

Before you can use Promoted Pins, you must be approved to set up a business account. You must have a business account in order to gain access to the advertising functions as well as analytics.

It can take several weeks for approval, so be patient. It is good that the social network is more selective about approvals because it ensures a quality experience for users.

You will have to confirm your brand website and link to your Pinterest account by pasting a snippet of code to your site's index.HTML page.
Once you have this complete, your pins will now include a call-to-action button that will link to your website. 

Create appealing content

Pinterest relies on great visual content. Make sure that you are setting stunning images that will catch users' eyes as they are scrolling through the thousands of other images on the page.

Organize your pins into related boards. Focus on the interests of your target audience. Keep track of what types of images work best and see the highest levels of engagement.

When you create your boards, make sure you choose a name and description that will jump out at your audience and play to their interests. Include keywords in your descriptions to make them easy to find in a search.

Invite others to be contributors on your boards. This will help you create a larger following from other marketers and social influencers.

Boost results with promoted pins

Once you are in the swing of things and have a few different boards with visual content, you can start using the Promoted Pins to push your content farther. Choose from the pins that are seeing the most engagement when picking your first promoted pins.

To see what your best pins have been so far, check the Pinterest Analytics dashboard. A Promoted Pin must be created from an existing pin. You cannot make a pin just for promotion. This is to ensure that marketers are promoting genuine content instead of advertising copy.

Promoted Pins cannot have pricing information or calls-to-action. Content must not be profane. No nudity, alcohol, or anything considered shocking and disturbing. You can only include one hash tag in the Promoted Pin description.

After you decide on the best pin for promotion on the Pinterest Ads page, just hover over the image and click "promote." Once you choose to promote a pin, you then have to select your target audience and set key terms so that you make sure your pin is being seen by those you want to reach the most.

Using the Pinterest Promoted Pin feature is a great way to get your brand out there for a broader audience to discover. It makes the most out a popular social media platform using your visual content.
Have you tried the Promoted Pins feature yet?

Dawn Pigoni of Be Social Worldwide is a certified online marketing specialist and a virtual assistant. Dawn offers superb online networking, marketing and bookmarking to WAHMs, Small Business Owners, Internet and Affiliate Marketers, and Coaches who desire to bring stunning internet presence through online networking to their businesses. Get Dawn's free report, Social Networking today & see how she can assist you with being Social Worldwide!

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/9134721

Read More

How to Master the Art of Tweeting

Any person who has not been living under a rock for the past nine years has surely heard about Twitter. In fact, there are only very few active internet users today who do not have a Twitter account. This social media following is there best there is in its category that any sensible marketer could not afford to ignore it. However, doing marketing on social media platforms such as Twitter is not an easy task.

First imagine yourself as a regular Twitter user, someone who uses a personal account. Then imagine you are following a lot of people and some of them just tweet and tweet about advertisements and links to whatever they are promoting. For sure you would get annoyed at the spam on your timeline. So what would you do? Unfollow them, right. That's the only way. So if you are a dedicated marketer, would you want the same thing to happen to you? If not, then here is a guide how to not only be effective but more importantly, successful, in what you are doing.

The first thing you have to do is make an account with a name and username that you yourself can trust. There are many Twitter handler names today that just don't make sense. Next, put a decent picture which is favorably related to what you want to achieve on Twitter. After you have your account set-up, it's time to study the platform. As a marketer on Twitter, you have to understand the nature of this social network. You can do this by just observing what is going on or you can further your knowledge by doing some readings online. But if you are already adept at using it then all the better. Next you must attract followers who would be your audience. Now what a newbie would do is follow tons of people all at once. That might be a problem for several reasons: you will not gain people's trust that way, you can be reported and Twitter can ban you from following people for a considerable amount of time which might impede your plans. So what should you do to gain followers? The easiest thing you could do is to invite those email contacts. You know most of them and most may already have Twitter accounts. So through this, you can already have initial followers. Then to make sure you are doing the right thing, pinpoint your main competitors and study their accounts. What are they doing right? Is there anything they are doing wrong? If you think there are lapses then this is your chance to do better and increase the chances of getting followed. For example, if there are unanswered questions that you have the answers to then maybe you can do better than them. The next step is to link your Twitter account with other social networking accounts you have such as Facebook, Google+ and LinkedIn. This way, you can attract more followers.
 

The most important part in establishing a reputable marketing profile on Twitter is content. As you already know, Twitter only allows 140 characters so you have to use it wisely. When people know that you post good stuff on your profile, they will follow you just to see your interesting posts. However, the content on your Tweet is a big factor. Posting random links just won't cut it. Different types of content include links to what you are marketing and content from other sites with engaging text. Another one is Tweets containing inspirational quotes. People just love good and relat

able quotes. In fact, a huge amount of users follow accounts just to see the quotations they are posting. Questions asked through Twitter also increases the amount of user engagement. The last and most important thing to consider for your Twitter content are visuals. Images such as gifs, vines and memes, especially those that are currently trending are a very welcome addition. Also, using hashtags is a sure fire way to get your content noticed. Just don't overuse them. Use just a maximum of three of the most relevant hashtags you can think of.



Finally, for someone new to using Twitter for marketing, you should consider automating your tweets. You see, you have followers all over the world and you can't stay awake for 24 hours a day. Free applications like Buffer can allow you to pre-schedule up to 10 tweets at a time.

So those are pretty much the basics. Master these and you're on your way to establishing a great foundation for using Twitter as a marketing platform.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/9136302

Read More

Creating a Facebook Ad? Implement These Call to Action Tips

Anybody with a little bit of time and a few dollars can create a Facebook ad and run a campaign. Not everybody has what it takes to create an ad that generates clicks and converts these people into buyers.
When creating a Facebook ad, regardless of your company size or industry, the call to action is one of the most important factors. If your ad is boring and unattractive, you can't expect it to receive a high click through rate. On the other hand, if you implement a killer call to action, you may be surprised at how much traffic you drive.
Here are three call to action tips that can take your mediocre ad and turn it into something much more powerful:

1. Use at least one "action" keyword. A Facebook page is full of content and images, so your ad has to stand out in the crowd. By using an action keyword, you are telling your audience that you have something special to offer. You are telling them to take action now if they want to take advantage.
   
   Some of the best action keywords include: save, discount, book now, sign up today, order now, try, and subscribe.
   
   You can build off of these, based on your particular industry and offering, to create an even more powerful message. For example, if you are pushing a weight loss product, you could use a phrase such as "lose weight today" or "lose weight faster."
2. Don't beat around the bush. You only have so much time to grab the attention of your audience and convince them to click through.
   
   Don't make people read through your ad to find out what you want them to do. Instead, the call to action should be displayed in a prominent and powerful location. If your audience can identify the call to action at a glance, while also understanding what it means to them, you have reached your goal.


3. Ask a question. This is one of the best ways to engage your audience. Not only does a question draw people in, but it can improve your click through rate as they will be interested in learning the answer.
   
   Note: if asking a question, keep it short and sweet.
   

With these three call to action tips, you will find yourself taking a different approach when creating Facebook ads. Subsequently, you may also find that your campaign is generating better results.

Peg McDermott is an award-winning marketing communications expert,Internet marketing specialist, and public speaker. Peg is the founder and president of COGO Interactive, an innovative Internet Marketing firm specializing in helping small to mid-sized businesses increase revenue and awareness by leveraging Social Media Marketing and Search Engine Optimization.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Peg_McDermott

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/8834063

Swipe these 12 untapped profitable niches to build an online business

http://tiny.cc/12nicheshttp://www.MyTopFunnel.com/445273 

Read More

Enhanced Potential Gains Using Facebook and Twitter Integration

Dynamic business owners and marketers discover a greater profit potential with the integration of Facebook and Twitter via their viral marketing abilities and features. A good integration of these gigantic social media platforms that are popular with today's consumers can generate vast business potentials for any business in the market. An integrated marketing plan of both Facebook and Twitter brings about greater dynamics for online marketing as the two social media giants synergize to benefit the business entity in leaps and bounds as compared to individual performance.

Modern technologies today are assisting aggressive business owners and marketers via Facebook and Twitter, although some businesses may encounter a certain degree of inefficiency when they attempt to market across social networks. With the availability of advanced software and online marketing features in the market on social media platforms, businesses today are able to reap higher profits with greater traffic volume and better bottom lines as they seek to integrate the best of Facebook and Twitter to improve their online marketing strategies.
It is not surprising that businesses are discovering more benefits from Facebook and Twitter combined than individually to enjoy more cost savings and wider market presence. These social media networks are progressive with technologies to keep pace with the demands of consumers and fans. Customized apps are readily developed for these social media platforms which can be easily integrated to be workable on both. Businesses now can promote their brands on both these social media platforms easily with lots of savings when one online marketing strategy or campaign is activated.

Ways to Utilize Integration
Many business owners and marketers may wish to confirm the ways in which an integration of Facebook and Twitter marketing components or strategies can be of greater benefit. One such way is an update of business offerings such as products or services to all fans on both social media networks. An individual update would be time consuming and costly while an integrated application on both social networks would activate a simultaneous update that is quicker and more efficient. This would ensure a single customer list without missing out any customer or potential lead.

Business notifications that require mass posting to the large volumes of customers in the database with pictures and videos can be efficiently handled with an integrated social media application that would boost the marketing campaign process and outcome. An individual social site page update with a long customer list may be very time consuming.
When business updates are quickly sent out to customers and potential leads, businesses can activate their latest marketing campaign to gain profits in a shorter time frame than when these social media sites marketing activities are handled individually which doubles the time. Hence, a good integration of these social media networks allows a quick update on all business posts automatically and quickly to enhance the efficiency of the business in every aspect. This would also bring about a better image of the business entity where customers are happier with the faster and more efficient service.
Businesses utilizing an integrated social media marketing solution enjoy more time and greater savings on marketing the products and services while establishing a better brand and image in the marketplace. A wider and deeper scope of socialization is achieved among fans and followers whose confidence in the brand increases. A proper social media network integration allows businesses to manage their social status and profile professionally to ensure a consistent update and display to their fans and followers who are potential or current customers.
Such social media network integration promises more business leads from higher traffic to the web business site via a single business app that can run on both social platforms. Customized apps are easy to develop and deploy to manage the business processes and marketing endeavors for higher gains. This includes gathering and engaging fans for the latest business updates and attractive offers which benefit.
Other customized social apps include links to the web business site from Facebook and Twitter to monitor traffic flow and volume with specific statistics and information on sources and demographics. This is usually helpful for business marketers to plan and generate more dynamic marketing strategies to attract more web traffic and sales.

Implementing Workable Tools
Both Facebook and Twitter have user friendly icons that can be manipulated to enhance any social media marketing campaign when placed strategically on the web business site although there are no hard and fast rules on placements. Strategic locations of such icons would prompt website visitors to activate the desired actions such as opt-in.

These social media platforms also offer varied exciting plug-ins to ensure a smooth integration for an enhanced marketing campaign involving both networks. Simple installations are possible with the right plug-ins to activate a successful integration.
Another effective workable marketing tool in an integrated Facebook and Twitter marketing campaign is sponsored ads on the web business news site where greater exposure on user profiles would be generated in identifying preferred demographics. There is a need to secure the most engaging ads on these social media platforms to attract potential leads quickly for higher income generation and market visibility. This can happen through dynamic marketing strategies that entice web consumers. Business marketers can include freebies and online contests with attractive prizes to draw in the web crowd to the brand and website.
It is easier for business marketers to interact with their fans and followers regularly on an integrated social media platform than individually. Both social platforms have exciting and dynamic features for such interactions which could include emails, Twitter or Facebook accounts.

By Fred Lotgering 
 

Fred Lotgering is a professional Internet Marketing consultant working from multiple locations around the world. He is dedicated to help to grow small and medium sized businesses by offering a variety of Internet Marketing tools! He is the owner of Lot Con. ("LotCon" comes from Lotgering Consultancy). LotCon is registered in the Netherlands, soon also in Brazil). For more products suitable for "YOUR" business please go to: LotCon Biz Solutions Blog

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Fred_Lotgering

Swipe these 12 untapped profitable niches to build an online business

http://tiny.cc/12niches
 

Read More

Learn The Secret to Growing Business Spending Less Than One-Hundred Dollars Monthly

Is your business slowly dying of malnutrition? Have you noticed your competition is growing and you're scratching your head wondering what they are doing? What do they know that you don't?
You advertise locally in coupon books, radio, newspapers, hand out business cards, but nothing works. Are you aware of the cost of this advertising?

What if you had a way to grow your business for free or just a small monthly fee? Would you do it? Is it time for an advertising health check-up?

Growing business it takes time or money or both. A great way to do a business health check-up is list what you are paying for advertising, find out where you are spending your money, and look at the rate of return on the investment.

Evaluate your time management. Do you attend un-necessary meetings or phone conversations with people who don't add value to your business? You may find the results shocking.

Entrepreneurs must have an active local presence out-side of business. Keep your focus on building your reputation with integrity.

Is money is really tight? Are you working with a shoe-string budget? If so find ways to build relationships on-line. The best customers are referrals sent to you by happy customers.
How much money are you leaving on the table for your competitors who are using free or small monthly fee marketing methods.

What is the secret way of gaining exposure, clients and referrals? Are you actively working social media? Your competitors that are getting your potential customers are working social media with great success. These business owners aren't always buying ads; they are building relationships by giving something of value to people.

Worked correctly social media gives you a presence in the new age of marketing. Successful business owners who use this method create trusting relationships and convert prospects to buyers. These buyers then become your greatest referral source.

Working social media brings you customers who may never find you using old-school advertising. People buy from people they trust. Building that trust with your brand is not easy, but absolutely worth the time. How can you not find a great rate of return on your investment by spending little to no of your hard-earned money?

Social Media take time and effort. Find someone to show you how to work social media using time management and good strategy. Your business is your lively hood. Grow it carefully.

Growing small business the right way is specific and takes skillful authority. There is every reason to be successful. Do it right and enjoy the rewards.

For more social media tips visit http://www.easyinternetmarketingtools.com

By Patricia A Gaines 

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/9055903

Swipe these 12 untapped profitable niches to build an online business

http://tiny.cc/12niches

Read More

Using social media successfully in your small business marketing

Read More

Why Advertise on Facebook? My Customers Are On LinkedIn!

My clients are regularly asking me why they should consider advertising on Facebook when their prospects and customers are all on LinkedIn. The question makes perfect sense. After all, if you have invested time to establish yourself professionally on LinkedIn, creating contacts and building your authority, why would you then head over to Facebook to advertise?

Here are a few compelling reasons you might want to consider:
REASON #1 ­ They are on Facebook too!
Yes, you may have established your initial professional connections on LinkedIn, But chances are your customers are on Facebook too. In fact, the likelihood is that they are there even more off and then they're on LinkedIn. So taking advantage of the opportunity to engage with them while they're browsing pictures from family and friends, you have a high likelihood of standing out.

REASON #2 ­ LinkedIn ads aren't nearly effective enough (yet).
Let's face it, LinkedIn's ad platform just isn't as sophisticated as Facebook's. And that's understandable, because LinkedIn's primary revenue source is from subscriptions, not ads.

REASON #3 ­ It's super simple to reach your customers and prospects on Facebook
Did you know that you could actually target your LinkedIn contacts directly on Facebook? That's right, if you have a list of people you're connected to on LinkedIn, it's possible to export their information and then import it directly into Facebook's advertising platform.

Here's a quick breakdown on how that works:
STEP #1 ­ On LinkedIn, move your cursor over Connections at the top of your homepage and select Keep in Touch.
STEP #2 ­ Click the Settings icon near the top right to reach the Contact Settings page.
STEP #3 ­ Under Advanced Settings on the right, click Export LinkedIn Connections.
STEP #4 ­ Select the file type and click Export. In this case, you want a CSV file.
STEP #5 ­ Import Your customer list into Facebook as a "custom audience."

But here's the great thing. The magic doesn't end there. It's actually possible to import other things, like your customer list or prospect list into Facebook, so you can serve up customized ads directly to them as well. All you need are email addresses or phone numbers. Facebook designed their system to do just this. And they even outline this very process in their advertising tutorials.

REASON #4 ­ Find even more just like them
If you're not already convinced why Facebook advertising makes sense, this one should be the clincher. On Facebook, not only is it possible to advertise to a custom list of individuals, But it is also possible to identify tens of thousands, if not millions, of others who share similarities with those people already on your list. Facebook calls this a "lookalike audience," and, as you can imagine, its potential in helping your business grow is close to limitless.

MORE FACEBOOK TIPS AHEAD

So are you ready to start investing some time in Facebook advertising for your business? Great, but what you've just read is simply the tip of the iceberg. For more great tips on how you can leverage Facebook to further develop current relationships, establish new ones, and build your business with greater ease, check out my free guide, "Profiting from Facebook", which will supply you with some amazing ideas, plus a list of awesome tools you can use for even greater efficiency.

Brought to you by David Baer ­ Facebook ads specialist, passionately supporting small businesses and solopreneurs in their transition to more effective online marketing solutions.

By David Baer

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/9021820

Read More

How to Gain Twitter Followers Quickly?

Why is it so important to have Twitter followers? This is the question I have asked myself the same question for quite a time now. What is the purpose of having a long list of Twitter followers, what good will it do? And how in the world can I increase my Twitter followers? All these questions are very common and mostly asked by users or business owners who would like to use Twitter as a marketing platform. Here are some tips on how you can gain Twitter followers quickly.

Tweet It Back
Retweet the tweets of other people that is the best way of gaining more followers, so if you like somebody's tweet, retweet it on your profile. Twitter is a basically pay-it-forward kind of platform so you once you start re-tweeting people stuff you will see new followers.

Be Social
The best way to gain more Twitter followers is by using the @ symbol, for example @Mr.Bean. The more you use this symbol, the more interaction you will get on your tweets and people will follow you. This includes the big names on Twitter, this means if you @mention-a-celebrity they will respond you, because Twitter is all about being public. Everything is seen and retweeted on Twitter.

Use The Trending Subjects
Twitter makes it very easy to find the trending subjects and topics of the day, week, month or even the year. Take advantage of this and make use of hashtags.

Find The Sweet Spot
By finding the sweet spot I mean, try to find the best time to post your tweets. Test the responses on your tweet, for example, the tweet you posted in the morning has less responses than the tweet you posted after dinner. Depending on the age group of your followers and the nature of your tweets, you can judge when it is best to post a tweet in order to get more responses and followers.

Create A Special Hashtag Of Your Own
Make a special hashtag of your own and tweet it often, you never know when someone might see it and start using it and one day when you see the trending hashtags your hashtag is among the trending ones.

Round Followers For Twitter
If you are a blogger and you own a blog then put a disclaimer on it and suggest your followers to also follow you on Twitter. This will also help you gain new followers.

Maavan Software is a highly reputable company that offers social media marketing services, like real Twitter followers and Facebook likes, if you seek such services then contact them without hesitation.

 By Anum Sharf

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/9013916

Swipe these 12 untapped profitable niches to build an online business

http://tiny.cc/12niches

Read More

2 Reasons to Identify Social Media Goals for Business Success

"Can social media really be of benefit to my business?" is the question that many local businesses have asked me at networking events or when I sit down with them to analyze their online marketing strategies. It is a valid one because although social media is often presented as being free, there is a cost in time to consider, and sometimes an actual cost to have someone manage this area of your business.

Before launching into any social media activities for your business it's important to identify your overall business goals and then define your social media goals as both have to be in alignment, When you know what these goals are you can develop and implement strategies to make sure you're spending time where your market is so that you make relevant connections and increase your results.

What Points to Consider?
One of the significant points to consider centers around the results or outcomes you want to have from your engagement in social media activities. Here are two examples that show why it's important to have clarity on this point.

1) Your goal: Increase sales and revenue. Focus: Improve your brand awareness.
Your method would be create content on a consistent basis as this will give people an in-depth look at what your business is all about and what you can offer them. When you are authentic and consistent, it builds your visibility, credibility, and reputation online. Companies that consistently update their content and engage with their followers are typically thought of as more reliable businesses. Therefore more customers and potential customers and clients may follow or connect with you.
In addition to content, it's a good idea to consider offering incentives, such as a free report, written by you or generated by your business, with content that people would pay for; free samples, or service coupons. One recommendation is that these samples or service coupons should represent your brand rather than be generic Thank You gifts. For a local business with an office or brick and mortar store, this could include inviting them to Like your page (Facebook) and the next time they come in they let you know in exchange for a small gift or a discount. Again it would be good if these represent your brand.

2) Your goal: Social selling to convert social media followers into paying customers. Focus: Provide valuable content that educates and entertains.
A point to keep in mind is that you do not have to create all of this content yourself. You can find content that's written by industry leaders as well as other great content writers and share these on your social media platforms, giving the authors credit.
Your strategy should also include taking your visitors from social media site(s) by inviting them to visit your easy-to-navigate website where they have an opportunity to get to know you even better. Pages such as your product or service page, or your blog should be key areas. Having an optin box with an enticing lead generation offer is another way to achieve results.
So the first step to engaging in social media for your business is to start with a list of goals and clearly identify the steps that you'll need to take to achieve these goals. Social media can be advantageous to your business, yet without proper planning and assessment it can be ineffective. It's essential to clearly define the social media goals for your business.

Many business owners and entrepreneurs find that although they know their business well, it is a challenging process to clearly identify their business goals and even more to define their social media goals, and are uncertain where to start. I invite you to visit my website at http://YvonneAJones.com and schedule a Breakthrough Strategy Session with me where we can discuss this together so you can have a plan for your business success.

By Yvonne A Jones 

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Yvonne_A_Jones

Swipe these 12 untapped profitable niches to build an online business  http://tiny.cc/12niches

 

Read More

Social Media Strategy Guide

There are still some hold outs online in regards to social media. Social networks are thriving, and if you're one of the many hold outs, you are going to find yourself losing out on the greater good that comes from marketing within these pages. It doesn't cost anything to set up a profile on these pages, and the rewards that you can get are promising all around. If you do not sign up, and you watch others go on these pages, you will end up with diminished results, lackluster traffic, and perhaps no real conversion ratio. To succeed online today, you need to have a social media strategy guide, and follow it to see the results come through with ease. Without anything in place, you are not going to end up with a positive ratio of performance, that's for sure.

To start things off, make sure that you first separate your personal pages and your business pages. Focus on internet marketing from this separation as you start to work in social circles. If you do not separate the two, you could end up blurring the lines a bit. Blurring these elements is going to cause you to lose focus, and could end up dropping your page out of the internet marketing world as a whole. Take a few ideas that will take you to the right arenas.

Fill Out All Information
The first thing that you need to do is simple, fill out all the pertinent information on your profile. Do not leave anything empty, and focus on using keywords in your information. Your goal is to give people information about your business, not you. Avoid personalization, and focus on building the right pieces of your company online. Furthermore, make sure that you link to your site carefully, and focus on all the main elements. Some business owners ignore this, and end up with "about" areas that are not fully realized.

Befriend Real People Only
Here is the best tip that you can take away that you can pull from this guide, befriend only real people. Do not take any shortcuts that you will find online. That means that you shouldn't adopt the notion of buffering your friends list by putting in bots, or buying your influence. Social networks do not work in your favor if you have thousands of followers and friends that are not 100% real and focused on following you overall. It's going to cause you a great deal of turmoil down the line. In some instances, pages are deleted fake profiles left and right, focusing on dropping out the bots and fixing the numbers. If you're caught taking shortcuts, you could even get marked as a spammer or deleted from pages. Don't befriend bots, no matter how tempting it may be to bolster your numbers.

Post More Than Your Own Links
Amidst the best things that you can do to help your social media presence is to post relevant information about your niche, not just your website. It's easy to get caught up in the world of posting "self-serving" links. Do not do this, or you are going to get thrown out of these pages and perhaps get banned. If your page gets enough complaints, you will tarnish your reputation and that's not going to help you traverse the right arenas. There's nothing wrong with posting links, just make sure that you do not allow yourself to do this as your main focus of marketing on these pages.

Become A Member of The Community
If you don't have time to hang out online, then hire someone to do this for you. Join communities that are within your niche and start posting updates, sharing posts, and focusing on building bridges down the line. If you are working together with others online and building your reputation amidst community pages, you will get a good reciprocation of sharing information and building traffic. It's very important that you consider this as a larger framework of your internet marketing presence. You'll be surprised with how you can facilitate responses from interested individuals online, just by being gregarious with your process. In order to go viral sometimes, you will need to help others get there, and that's where hiring a professional can come in handy. The more time you are online, the higher the chances are that you are going to get your branding out to the right places.

The aforementioned are just a few things that can help guide you through the right places on social media. Set up a good business profile and you could very well get a lot of attention to your website, that's for sure.

By Daniel Roso

Are you looking for more information regarding Social Media Strategy ? Visit http://www.troyhollenbeck.com/ today!

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/8986313

Swipe these 12 untapped profitable niches to build an online business

http://tiny.cc/12niches

Read More

What Can a Social Media Calendar Do for You?

Have you ever wondered how those magazines you read get put together?
Especially if you also know that generally content for the average magazine is put together literally months in advance. While we might be celebrating Christmas, our favourite magazine is putting the final touches on their Labour Day issue.
The answer is that magazines use an Editorial Calendar.
What other applications could such a calendar apply to? Why not a Social Media Content Calendar?

A Social Media Content Calendar Makes Sense
An editorial calendar helps keep a consistent message. For instance, with a magazine, there are likely several staff or team members working on various aspects of the content at the same time. Everyone on the team shares the calendar and updates. This in turn provides direction to the team. There's no question what each person needs to be doing and when it needs to be done.

A Great Way to Keep You on Time & on Track
Similarly, a Social Media calendar can be a huge asset to a business. It breaks down your marketing strategy into monthly, weekly and daily tasks. As you populate your calendar with tasks, you will be developing a consistent message for your business, just like the magazine staff does. And that's not all. Similar to the magazine, you'll always know what you need to do and when you need to get it done by.

Keep the Calendar Fluid
But wait - something outside the plan just happened. How can you attend to the new information without disrupting your calendar?

You need to remember that, just like the marketing strategy you put into place at the beginning of the year, things can impact that strategy. Your calendar, much as your strategy, must be fluid enough to handle the occasional hiccup or allow you to jump on an unexpected opportunity.

Similarly to how you revisit your marketing strategy throughout the year, you need to revisit your Social Media Calendar as well. Changes to your marketing strategy need to be reflected in your calendar.

Without a calendar, you might not have noticed that there are times throughout the year where you are not doing as much social media activity. This might be just fine if your business tends to relate more to seasonal highs and lows. Perhaps that's the best strategy for you - come on strong when your product or service is in high demand and quiet down a bit during off times.
After all, that's better than simply throwing a pile of confetti out there in the hope that something sticks. Quality will always make a better impact.

Your calendar is also a go-to place for ideas that occur to you. And a way better repository than scraps of paper or post-it notes stuck to your screen.
If your marketing strategy includes outsourcing your social media work and/or content writing, imagine what a benefit the calendar will have not only for your business but for those you have outsourced to.

Let's Recap the Benefits of a Social Media Calendar
Breaks down your monthly, weekly and daily tasks into manageable bites.
Allows flexibility so you can take advantage of an occurrence or opportunity.
Provides an easy way to review and revisit what's working and what's not.
Makes obvious the times during the year when your content might be a little light.
Makes sure the people you outsource to are on the same page.
Acts as a repository for great ideas.

There's One More Reason
We've all done it. Spent more time on the enjoyable tasks and left the not-so-much-fun stuff behind. And we also know the stress that adds to our lives.
Perhaps we're just not comfortable writing content or we envy the way some people seem to have complete mastery over social media but we feel hopelessly muddled every time we log onto Facebook.
Having a Social Media Calendar in your arsenal takes a huge amount of pressure off yourself. Now you know what to do and when to do it.


By Orzala Quddusi 

If you need help developing a Marketing Strategy or developing a Social Media Calendar, we can assist you. We'll also implement those strategies if you need that help too! 

Orzala Quddusi is the founder & CEO of Make it Happen Services, a company dedicated to help small business owners increase their market reach through Social media and email marketing. Download a free copy of Social Media Calendar by visiting http://www.mihservices.ca

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Orzala_Quddusi

 

Read More