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

A Beginners Guide To Using Pinterest Tutorial Part 1

Read More

Social Media Marketing Basic For Small Business - Facebook

Read More

Secret Benefits of Social Media Marketing

Social media marketing originally began as a concept that not many businesses took seriously. Today, however, millions of businesses worldwide are using it to reach out to a wider audience and develop stronger relationships with their customers.

If you haven't got a social media marketing strategy yet, then what are you waiting for?
As outlined below, there are countless benefits to using it to better your business:
1. Distribute Content
Firstly and foremost, you can use social media marketing to distribute your website's content. If you have a blog, you can publish your blog posts (or enticing extracts from your posts) on your social platforms to encourage followers to click through to your site to learn more. You can also post links to press releases, company news and other important information regarding your business. This is a great way to keep current and potential clients in the loop.

2. Boost Brand Awareness
Social media marketing also helps you to boost brand awareness. You can also use this online marketing tool to make people more aware of your brand and your website's existence and without it, you can automatically cutting out a huge potential target market.
Millions of people use social media and it's easy for good content to go viral. According to reports, 78% of small businesses attract new customers through social media, and people are quick to turn to their platforms to form their impression of a brand. For this reason, this is an essential brand awareness tool that boosts brand loyalty and encourages people to come back for more.
3. Improve Customer Support
You can also use social media to interact with your clients and improve customer service. Today, customers are quick to turn to the internet to talk about a positive (or negative) experience with a brand, so if you can provide a dedicated customer service department that offers communication through a number of mediums you will be able to provide a more positive client experience that is highly receptive to the needs of the individual. This is great for improving brand awareness and giving improving customer retention.

4. Boost Sales
By posting company content, boosting brand awareness and having a reliable customer support team, this will no doubt contribute towards boosting sales. You have the power in your hands to target specific audiences with the right message immediately, which ultimately leads to a boost in sales.

About 8 Ways Media
8 Ways Media SA is a Swiss-based web design and marketing agency providing 8 main services including branding, web design, IT development, offline & online marketing and much more. 8 Ways Media specialises in providing services that focus on creativity as well as the latest parallax designs and technological trends.

By Maria E Chambi

Visit http://www.8ways.ch/news to learn more.

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

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/8955002

Boost your marketing efforts.  Go to http://www.methodsocialmedia.com/ to collect 4 free marketing ebooks.

Read More

How To Find The Right Twitter Influencers To Grow Your Business

While having a large number of followers may look impressive, if you want your Twitter for business efforts to have an impact on your bottom line, you need to focus on quality over quantity. Now that you know why it's so important to target the right Twitter users, let's take a look at several different ways to connect with the right people:

The 3 Groups That Matter
Individuals who fall into your customer demographic are the first group you want to target. If you haven't taken the time to define the traits that one of your potential customers may possess, put that task at the top of your to-do list.

One commonly overlooked aspect of Twitter training for business is there are actually two other groups worth targeting. The first are industry influencers. Not only can the tastemakers of your industry send you qualified traffic, but having their endorsement can help close sales.

Amplifiers are the other group worth your time. Although there may be some overlap between influencers and amplifiers, not every influencer is active enough to be considered an amplifier. Since these users can be a little tricky to identify, the easiest way to pinpoint them is to visit Topsy. You can paste the URL of a popular post within your industry into this tool, and then you can see which Twitter users were most active in sharing it.

A Twitter Marketing Strategy That Works
Since a big part of Twitter training for business is identifying a strategy that works, we're going to give you an actionable plan that you can start putting into practice today. Followerwonk and Buffer are the two free tools you'll need in order to execute this strategy. Followerwonk provides lot of insights into Twitter users and data, while Buffer is a Twitter management tool designed specifically for content.
Twitter profile optimization is the first step towards making beneficial connections. Adding a profile and including relevant keywords in your bio will maximize your profile's visibility. Next, use Twitter hashtags and @ mentions to get on users' radars.

As you start using Twitter more, you'll want to share a mix of content from your own blog, as well as others. In addition to sharing content, be sure to actively engage with other users. Finally, as you get more comfortable with Twitter and all of the features this platform has to offer, you can utilize advanced tactics like creating Twitter lists.

This is the syndicated copy of an original article posted at WebStrategyPlus.

CEO of Web Strategy Plus a full service digital agency & a passionate Internet Marketer with 15+ years of successful online business development experience. We help businesses by providing web services such as website design & redesign, social media design, social media management, website logo design, SEO and more!

By Michelle Hummel

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

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/8955014

Read More

Why No Business Should Be MIA On Social Media

Whilst Social Media is being highly adopted by the wider population, senior management are very under-represented, with only 15% of executives active. Executives tend to misunderstand or prefer to ignore it, rather than embrace it in their organisation.

This also means that this space is void of appealing content about organizations that executives could provide to interested parties that are searching for this content.

There are six key myths about social media:
(1) It's just a fad (2.55 Billion are current using social media)
(2) People only use it to post photos of their pets or food 
(3) It's only for young people
(4) It's only for geeks, Tech heads, and IT savvy people
(5) It's only for marketing
(6) There is no gain or R.O.I

All of these myths are incorrect, and this is a reason as to why organizations often fear or are reluctant to engage in it.
The main issue is that, whilst there are so many benefits and advantages, only the small amount of negative experiences are publicised by the media, and so, people tend to get the impression that social media only causes dramas.
One potential barrier is that so many platforms of online community-based media exist today, it can be overwhelming for most users. Therefore, it is best to stick with the main versions: LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter for business.
An emerging trend today is that people are more willing to trust a complete stranger's review about a product online overall marketing collateral that exists. Social media encourages a "review" platform that organisations must be amongst, and not ignore.

In 2014, the G20 declared that the social media sphere was worth $US 16 Trillion of the world's economy.
The main uses of online, community based media are:
(1) Defensive (just be on there to deal with bad press)
(2) Online Reputation (building brand awareness presence)
(3) Active Use (regular posts, blogging, job adverts, updates)

The most effective use of social peer media is the Active Use.
It is important, today, that all organisations safe guard their territories in this space, which includes all URLs and user names on the main platforms (Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn) as imposters can claim it and spread incorrect information.
Truths about social peer to peer media:
(1) It's here to stay (it's been around for over ten years and is growing rapidly)
(2) It's about human moments and interaction of any kind, especially business
(3) It's for absolutely everyone
(4) It's about communications and relationships/followers/interested parties
(5) It's absolutely immediate
(6) It can be used effectively and measured

CrowdMed is an example of a platform where medical professionals from around the world submit and combine their expertise to solve even the most difficult medical cases. This kind of 'crowd sourcing' approach is an excellent example of how social media creates a portal of information from the masses, including target audiences.

 
MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) is another new trend now, where large, reputable educational organisations are providing free-of-charge courses, bachelors, masters and certificates in practically everything. They serve as a way an individual can access education and provide everything a full paid course does, however they do not award the official accreditation upon completion. Interestingly enough, some organisations are now accepting MOOCs certificates as official qualifications for entry into jobs.

Open Data is the most intriguing phenomena at the moment. It is the collecting and analysing of online community media data to predict trends and demographics due to its immediacy. Open Data saw that statistics and data organisations were able to accurately predict the spread of the Ebola virus before any medical organisation could, because areas of contraction were posting the events online in real time.

Another medical website of interest is Patients Like Me, where patients share their medical experiences and treatments.
Emerging trends with social media:
(1) It's only going to grow in importance more rapidly
(2) Everyone is mobile now, increasing its appeal
(3) Even older consumers are joining
(4) There are now millions of consumers entering the market that have never seen life without online peer media
(5) Consumer education and opinion has never held more influence than it does now.

Christopher Melotti

Freelance Copywriter at Melotti Media.

http://www.melottimedia.com.au

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

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/8814979

http://tiny.cc/12niches

Read More

Warning Signs You Are Wasting Time and Energy in Your Social Media Marketing

We've all been there. Someone told us we needed to have our business promoted in social media, so we opened up Facebook and Twitter accounts and started posting stuff. But then, we discovered the awful truth... nobody cared.

So the next logical step was to go out and find some people who might care. We asked our family, friends, and maybe even a few customers to start following us. But, as you might have experienced yourself, the results didn't change.

It can be downright frustrating. Think you might be wasting your time and energy on social media? Here are some warning signs you might just be (and what you should do to fix it):
1) You don't have an audience for your business.
Social media is a two way street. That's why it's called "social." If you don't have an audience there, then you are talking to thin air, and that certainly is a waste. But it can't be just any audience, it needs to be an audience that wants to hear your message.
2) You haven't created content that resonates with your audience's interests or needs.
Often times you have the right audience in place, but you fill your social media content with material that just doesn't matter to them.
3) You haven't asked for your audience's engagement or included calls to action.
If you do figure out how to share relevant content with your audience, you still don't manage to leverage the opportunity into a sale by giving them direction or asking them to buy something from you.

So how can you avoid wasting your time and energy, and actually use social media to your advantage?

The first step is to know what you want to get out of your efforts, so you have a better idea of what to put into it. By putting specific goals in place, you can create measurable outcomes, and be better about creating the right sort of content to realize those outcomes.
Be clear, simple, and provide great value.
Next, you want to create simple rules for your content. Develop a template for the content you produce, and be sure to keep it relevant, simple, and provide clear direction to your audience on how to engage... and how to buy from you.
Finally, be consistent.
If you want to get out and stay out of your social media rut, make certain to be consistent about producing great content.

So how are you going to get started?
Here's a simple answer. Invest a few minutes in David Baer's video on the 3 Marketing Essentials you must have in place to achieve massive success in your online marketing. And learn how to attract more leads and convert them into evangelical fans.

Brought to by David Baer, dedicated to demystifying Internet Marketing for entrepreneurs and small businesses. Online at Baer On Marketing

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=D._Baer

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/8943893

Swipe these 12 untapped profitable niches to build an online business

http://tiny.cc/12niches

Read More

Using Social Media - Marketing Your Brand As an Entrepreneur

Several designers asked me to further expand on the topic of social media with a few tips, so they may "re-vamp" or better enhance their online brand presence.

I am happy to share a few specific examples, but please keep in mind, I am not an expert or guru on this topic. This post is directed to entrepreneurs such as myself that strive to use social media as part of their business marketing objectives.

I utilize tools such as FB, LinkedIn and Pinterest, finding them extremely useful whether I am promoting my services, to make an event announcement, provide updates or simply to connect and network online with other like-minded individuals. Please, I beg those of you out there, do not send me endless rants on the "science of social media" or " theories that I should consider". Entrepreneurs want bare knuckle solutions, that they may attempt to implement easily for their company. Instead, please let's just all agree the needs of everyone will vary based on the type of business.

1) Determine which social media platform(s) will work best for your objectives.
This may sound obvious, but many designers I notice will place themselves on any and every platform because they think they will be found by everyone at anytime. Typically, their end result is very few followers on their page, and/or no direct hits to their website or blog. Not to mention they have no time to follow up with their online presence and stop using them all together or give the duty to their latest internet savvy intern.

What I'd recommend is to consider each platform and why'd you should use it just as you would consider an ad in a fashionable print publication. Certainly, you wouldn't purchase a full page ad in every single type of "woman's' publication" because you want to reach female consumers. Instead, you'd review all the magazines you like -- their audience, view other advertisers, time of year its published, the overall look and feel etc.

Only then would you decide to pay for the ad placement based on your evaluation of which one was the most relevant to your target audience. It's a good idea to do this as well with various social media platforms. Spend some time on a minimum of three types of tools when researching what works best. For each one also note and consider what type of people use the specific tool, and how brands use them-especially the customer engagement for sales, promotional marketing and brand awareness - pay attention to how often an item may be shared, where its cross-linked and amount of relevant tweets.

Take additional time to search and review competitors in your sector - what do they do, use and why? What seems to be working well and how to do they stay relevant when advertising their brand, sale or promotion? Are there some ideas you can incorporate on a smaller scale from a global company? I often participate in Facebook "event parties" by my favorite food brands - especially when they allow their customers to post or tweet questions to their healthy living teams of experts on ways to prepare their products at home.

Look at organizations you follow in other sectors, that are the complete opposite to what you do now - what do they do to capture your attention? Some companies are quite clever at using social media when they don't have a "non sexy" product. Perhaps that may give you a fresh idea to use in your marketing.

2) Dedicate 30 minutes, once a week, starting out with your tool.
Social media is about engaging people directly and consistently, but also be aware it takes time. You will not get hundreds or thousands of followers in a month or even two months. You cannot buy followers another misconception. You must think quality over quantity if you want real followers aka potential customers that will want to connect with your brand online and eventually offline at your next event, product launch or trunk show.
Think of your social media as a "window" to your store -- people may walk by and eventually decide come in (aka follow you ) but you have to make the consistent effort. As an entrepreneur you have many responsibilities, and working on your social media presence for 30 minutes a week, should be part of your marketing initiatives.
3)Take advantage of features, that can assist you with making social media a task not a chore. 

Here's two small action items you can try tomorrow!

The Facebook post scheduler. Its a great way to post regularly. You can schedule out your posts ahead of time - for the week or the month with exact times. Its a great way to promote a sale, event and the reminders in timely organized fashion.

Link ALL of your accounts together - I have my FB and Twitter accounts linked, so I can post simultaneously. This way if someone is just on one or the other, I've covered my bases. Not to mention, I'm not posting the same updates over and over.

3) Post relevant topics, people and things that relate to your brand image.
i.e. If you are selling cocktail dresses, then keep your posts relevant to that topic.
Don't post about a kids' event or the latest candy, if you can't tie it into your brand message. Perhaps, I'd instead, customize the post to prom season in a candy color that I am trying to sell. You have to be strategic with every single post. Direct or non direct each one should be a gentle reminder about YOU and what you are selling.Not your competitor, another event or brand that will lead them away from your page!

I don't understand why, in particular,emerging designer brands will talk about another designer in their category, (as they think this will be draw to their site), when they are trying to promote their own collection online. If you notice, competitors don't boast about an amazing brand similar to theirs no matter how much larger or more popular it may be - instead they tie in their message to something that keeps you on their page. There is a thin line between discussing trends and fads versus promoting someone else on your dime.

4) Understand not everyone communicates regularly on social media. It's not the end all easy marketing solution for your business.
I am assuming I will get a lot of flack for this last point. Yes, social media is here to stay, but know if your customer uses it, which one(s) and why. I have one high end very successful boutique client in a small town in Florida, that uses text messages to alert their clientele about sales, new collections, holidays offers and parties. They discovered that many of their customers were older affluent women and men that preferred a private personal touch - through a phone call and text rather than going online to a Facebook page.

Social media is a great resource and service for marketing - especially when used correctly. Like anything an entrepreneur tries to incorporate or implement, just realize its not the savior on the road to riches. Also know it is not "free marketing" your time is not free, so make the most of using it with a solid plan.

It can get daunting, reading about the trends, new platforms changes and updates, however, stick to your plan stay diligent and evaluate all pros and cons with each service. It's again about knowing your customers --what works and what doesn't for YOU and how the heck you going to share your brand message consistently and clearly online.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/8941571

Read More

Three Top Tips For Posting Videos On Facebook

When people log onto Facebook, they are often looking to upload their own images and videos. That is a whole lot of people who are sharing videos, and hoping that others will view, like, and share them. According to Facebook's data, more than 60 percent of activity comes from users who are watching videos. If you want to use your own videos to generate views, and drive traffic to your website, the following tips will give you an advantage.

Should You Upload or Embed Facebook Videos?

 There is some debate over this topic, so take what you read with a grain of salt. Essentially, when uploading your videos to Facebook, you should do both of these things: Upload and Embed. Of course, it would not make sense to use both techniques for each video, as you would be double-posting.
To embed a video, you must insert the link, as part of a post. Embedding videos is a great way to drive people to external links. For example, if you have a YouTube account that is related to your business, it is smart to embed the link. This will allow people to view the video on Facebook, but it can also drive traffic to your YouTube page, giving you even more hits overall. This is great for your SEO, which is another important thing to think about. An embedded URL like this is also great for sharing on multiple social media sites, such as Twitter and LinkedIn.

If you upload your videos to Facebook, it helps people to find them with the inbuilt search functions. Your videos will also be added to your profile page, making it easier for people to browse through your collection of videos. Of course, you lose the benefits of having your videos link to outside websites. However, uploading through your profile will make your Facebook page seem fuller, and more legitimate. People often shy away from pages with little-to-nothing on them, as they can appear fraudulent.

Include Good Copy with Videos
Firstly, you need to create high-quality videos, that people will be drawn to. However, that is often not enough. As users scroll through their Facebook feeds, they are bombarded by countless images and text. You need to include some written copy that will compliment your video thumbnails, and encourage people to actually watch your videos. This can be as simple as a single sentence, but it has to be exciting, and it really needs to instantly grab people's attention. However, be sure that you do not lie about the contents of your videos. If you lose people's trust, they are unlikely to want to spend their time looking at your posts.

Make Good Videos!
This might seem obvious, but no amount of special tricks can help you, unless you are sharing videos that people want to see. You do not need to be a professional filmmaker, but your videos should look clear and have good audio, as a minimum. People might avoid a great video, simply because it looks grainy, and has distorted voices or sounds. Put in a little extra effort from the start, and ensure that your videos are worth watching. After you have the basics sorted out, make sure that you include content that people will find interesting or entertaining.

Use Videos Sparingly
Rather than posting loads of short videos of average quality, upload great videos, less often. People are not on Facebook all the time, so it helps to save your best videos for the peak hours, when you anticipate that your followers will be online.

http://www.whatworksinonlinemarketing.com is a Sydney based company that specialises in Internet Marketing (website development and online marketing) using cutting edge technology and current social media trends. Discover how I can be your partner in helping you build a strong online presence for exponential results contact us on enquiries @askmaryphillips.com.

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

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/8921090

Swipe these 12 untapped profitable niches to build an online business

http://tiny.cc/12niches

Read More

How business owners can use social media

Read More