4 Quick Steps to Creating Your Social Media Marketing Plan
With social media marketing gaining rapid speed in the world of business, both big and small, you want to be prepared to use it, and do so correctly. Social media marketing can make a significant difference within a small business that has minimal budget funds.
Before signing up for every social network on the market, you should have a plan in place. You’ve written your business plan, now it’s time to create your social media marketing plan.
1. Decide Where To Become Involved
Most companies assume that they should be relevant on every social media platform out there. This is a wrong assumption, and one that can hurt your business, rather than help. You should be choosing a platform that works best with your business model and targets your audience.
If experience is an issue, using a platform you are familiar with is recommended. Regardless of what social media sites you are affiliated with, it’s most important to be current, fresh and relevant. However, you do have a number of options.
- Facebook- The most popular social networking site, with over 800 billion users world-wide, you can be sure that you’ll reach customers. With Facebook, you can reach your customers on a level that is familiar to them.
- Twitter- Many may consider this the second most popular social networking site. Twitter has been the site of many breaking news stories, some that have damaged the reputation of popular companies. When you are able to be a part of the conversation, you have the opportunity to guide a negative conversation in a positive direction, instead of watching it spin out of control.
- Pinterest- While this site is just recently coming into the limelight, its popularity is finding its way into the business world. Pinterest explicitly states that businesses are not allowed to use their accounts for direct advertising. Though you may immediately think otherwise, this can be a positive stipulation for you. This gives you an opportunity to reach your customers on the level of the average user, as opposed to looming, un-relatable, marketing machine.
2. Make a Time Commitment
While 59% of businesses only spend about 1-5 hours per week on social media efforts, according to the Social Media Marketing Report 2011, it is becoming increasingly more evident that this may be due to a lack of knowledge or skills. It was reported that long time users dedicate 6-16 hours a week.
- If you don’t have the skills or knowledge, build a learning curve into your plan. It is critical that you use your social media outlets correctly. As a small business you can reach out to a variety of resources to learn from, such as tutorials or friends.
- If you have extra spending in your budget, consider hiring a social media consultant. With a social media consultant you can be sure that you’re getting quality work, catered to your business.
3. Make It Worth Your While
If you’ve decided to dedicate a significant amount of hours in the workweek to creating your online presence, you want to see results. Simply signing up will not bring you traffic, new customers, or more business. To make an impact there are a variety of suggestions you should bear in mind.
- Stay current: Customers don’t want to search out your Facebook page to find stagnant information from last year. With more than 60 million status updates happening every day, you need to keep up.
- Be Exclusive: Users want exclusivity. They expect to be compensated for their loyalty. You should be providing breaking news about the company, offers for your Facebook fans or Twitter followers, and frequent deals or coupons.
- Engage: Being on social networks is about interacting with your customers in a way that is familiar and comfortable. According to Facebook, more than 250 million photos are uploaded every day. Offering deals for those who pin or upload pictures of themselves using or buying your products is a strategic way for them to connect with your page and product.
4. Plan To Measure Your Results
Once you’ve put in the hard work, you want to see your results. There are a variety of ways to assess your ROI, effectiveness of customer engagement, etc. Social media monitoring allows you to assess how your customers see your brand, how they are finding you, and what they are searching for. Programs like Radian6 and Google Analytics offer you extensive monitoring services, which will give you an accurate picture of how your efforts are paying off.
Social media marketing can have a profitable impact on your business. By creating a social media marketing plan, you are setting in motion an important aspect of your marketing efforts. While many companies have an online presence, not very many are able to use it to their advantage. If you make the time investment, it is likely you’ll see significant results.
About the Author: Jessica Sanders is an avid small business writer touching on topics ranging from social media to merchant services. She writes for an online resource that gives advice on topics including credit card processing for b2b lead generation resource, Resource Nation.
Photo Credit: Watt_Dabney
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Three cost-effective ways to market your start-up in 2012
Friends sneered at you when you said that you are going the entrepreneurial way. You quit your job in that MNC to build this dream product. Now the product is finally out in the open but how do you find takers for your product.
Needless to say, being a startup you always have this financial question mark staring blankly at your face. Keeping in mind the limitations, startups can easily use these three tools to market their product. It is working for us and if you do it right, it will work for you too.
Social Networking might be passé but networking is not :
Start by using your own personal contacts and their contacts. Ask your friends to try and use your product. Talk about your product when you meet each other during social gatherings. You somehow have to ensure that the optimism you have for your product, gets communicated around. And all said and done, Facebook and Twitter are still one of the best ways to talk about your brand online.
Data Visualizations:
A picture is worth a thousand words. People might not be interested in your 1000 words article but they would love to see a nice graphic communicating the same idea. Try exploring infographics to market what your product stands for, what problem it seeks to solve, industry trends in your market, etc.
Blogging:
This is an effective way to make yourself heard online. Post articles that you think your target market would be interested in. Try and establish yourself as the thought leader in your industry. Encourage the idea of blogging within your organization. Ask employees to contribute their own take on things.
All the best and have a rocking year!
About the Author: Shilpi Choudhury is an Inbound Marketing Specialist and Business Blogger based out of Bangalore, India. She is currently working for DiscountPandit, Bangalore, which is a deal search engine that provides users a faster, simpler and a comprehensive deal search experience.
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What New Tools Does the Twitter Redesign Bring to Social Marketers?
Twitter has a new look, and some observers are calling it the single biggest overhaul the site has received at once in its five year history. The update is one that aims to unify both the presentation and functionality of the microblogging service across all platforms, essentially simplifying the experience for the user. This latest move has kept the internet community busy discussing the implications, so lets take a look at the new tools the redesign offers social marketers.??
Enhanced Toolbar
The change you will probably notice first lies in the toolbar. You will now see the following section categories at the top of the interface:??Home – Shows you the tweets posted by the people you follow on Twitter. This category keeps you up to date with the information that matters most to you.??Connect – This new section keeps you connected with the conversation. Through Connect, you can see who is following or mentioning your brand, endorsing your posts, or retweeting and sharing with friends.??Discover – Hence the name, the Discover section helps you find relevant and useful information via Twitter. The results you see are tailored to your location, network, and other areas that match your interests.??Me – This section the “Profile” section found in the old Twitter design. Here you can introduce yourself to the world of Twitter and even communicate with others through tweets and direct messages.??
Embedded Tweets??
One of the most interesting tools to accompany the Twitter redesign is the embedded tweets feature. This option can be accessed directly from the new interface. The actual process is pretty much like embedding a YouTube clip, meaning you copy a snippet of HTML code and paste it into the web page where you want the tweet displayed. Perhaps the best thing about embedded tweets is its seamless integration with Twitter’s new partners Posterous and WordPress. If you use either of these services, you can have your tweets automatically embedded by simply copying the code and dropping it into your web page – no cut and paste required. ??
Brand Pages??
Following in the footsteps of rivals Facebook and Google, Twitter has decided to introduce its very own brand pages. Similar to the feature offered by other networks, these pages will give social marketers the ability to promote their brand on the platform. You can have a promotional tweet on display at the top of your page, and even choose which tweets the user sees upon visiting your page. This is one of the most exciting new tools to accompany the redesign for obvious reasons. Twitter is currently testing the new brand pages with a select few brands, including Chevrolet and Coca Cola.??The redesigned Twitter is slowly being rolled out to the user base. For now, the update is only available to mobile users, though the company says all users will be able to experience the new and improved service over the coming weeks. Adapting to change can often be difficult, but in the case of Twitter, this looks like change both users and social marketers will come to embrace.
About the Author: Aidan Hijleh is a freelance copywriter and serves as the Non-Profit Partnership Liaison for Benchmark Email. Aidan advocates free email marketing services to assist with the flourishing of grassroots organizations.
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How to Build a Platform
We have entered a new age—the Age of the Platform. Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google (aka the Gang of Four) have done nothing less than introduce a fundamentally new way of doing business. Think about it. Odds are that you use at least one of these platforms on a daily basis—and millions of people use each of them regularly.
So, how can you build a platform for your business?
Defining Our Terms
Before answering that lofty question, let’s get two key terms straight. The word platform has become a buzzword, often misused by pundits, thought leaders, and media types. In the book, I define planks as integrated features, services, or offerings of a platform. A platform, then, is merely a series of integrated planks. For instance, the iPad isn’t a platform; it’s a merely a plank in Apple’s platform—and a really profitable one. The Google platform is comprised of Gmail, Maps, search, Docs, search, and a bevy of other planks.
What’s more, in this new age, the following hold true:
- Every business stands to benefit from developing its own platform, planks, and ecosystem.
- Benefit from utilizing existing platforms and ecosystems. In fact, you should use them as planks in your own platform.
- All else being equal, companies that have embraced platforms and planks will fare far better than those that have not.
Now that we have defined our terms, let’s move on.
Don’t Reinvent the Wheel: Use Existing Platforms as Planks in Your Own
Thinking of launching a new product or writing a book? Sites like Kickstarter allow would-be entrepreneurs and authors to test their ideas in advance. Think collaborative commerce. In a very short period of time, you can create a multimedia webpage and attract contributors.
The same principle holds true with launching your own social network. To be sure, you can use Ning or another private network—and there certainly are benefits to doing so. But these days its downright silly to ignore the 800-lb gorillas: Facebook, Google+, Linkedin, and Twitter. These sites can be effective ways to build your platform since millions of potential customers and users frequent them.
Ditch that 90s Site
In my last book, The New Small, I wrote about small businesses with primitive, text-based, downright ugly websites. I refer to them as 90s sites because, well, they look like they were built in the 1990s—and not updated since.
Content management systems (CMSs) like WordPress, Drupal, Joomla, and others are more platform-friendly. This means several things. First, you can more easily add planks such as blogs, plugins, widgets, integrated social networks, podcasts, videos, and the like.
What’s more, these CMSs scale exceptionally well. I run a bunch of WordPress sites and there’s no practical limit on the number of pages and blog posts I can add. I can blog five times per day if I want. And these CMSs are incredibly user-friendly. That is, you need not be a proper developer to create a robust, modern, inexpensive, compelling, and interactive website.
Be Patient
In the book, I contend that anyone can build a platform; they are not the sole purview of Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google. And I should know. I build my own over the past three years. While I won’t be selling more books than Amazon anytime soon (dare to dream, right?), I am doing better than I would if I had no platform—and no planks.
Because anyone can create a platform, don’t expect yours to explode overnight. Onlyi Charlie Sheen can open a Twitter account and sign up 4 million followers. (And for many reasons, you don’t want to be him, right?)
There’s saying about poker that’s apropos to building a platform: you can learn to play in five minutes but it takes a lifetime to master. Keep adding planks. You’ll get there.
Feedback
What say you?
About the Author: Phil Simon is the author of four management books. His fourth, The Age of the Platform: How Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google Have Redefined Business, is his most ambitious yet.
A recognized technology expert, he advises companies on how to optimize their use of technology.
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How to Create Fans from Scratch
You know your business should leverage social networks, but its daunting when you have zero followers, zero fans, zero members, zero connections. The good news about social networks is we all start at zero, so even those businesses with thousands of followers now, sat and stared at those big zeros too. The key to getting fans is to get your business “out there.” Where ever you are, you just have to start and here is a list of 30 strategies that get impressive results when you need to create fans from scratch.
Attract
- Craft a contagious profile. In 160 characters, people decide if they want to follow you or not. Make it wow!
- Post pictures, tag them and ask for comments or captions. Pictures highly like-able and share-able.
- Post videos and ask for comments and shares. Videos are compelling!
Integrate
- Create a twitter background that gets opt ins. Add your web address and blog url in the left panel so people know other places to find you.
- Include a link to your website in you Facebook About box.
- Add hot links to your website and blog in your Twitter profile.
- Use links on email blasts that take readers to your social networks.
- Incorporate your Twitter handle and Facebook page in your email signature
Give
- Guest post on bigger blogs. Use twitter to help build buzz. Tag the blog in your original post so their followers see it. The day that it goes live, be sure to search it on twitter and respond to every person who replied or retweeted it.
- Guest post on teleseminars and webinars.
- Comment on blogs where your customers are spending their time.
- Reply to every comment you receive.
- Reply to @mentions.
- Write a testimonial for someone else.
- Do a vendor case study.
- Say yes to every interview or writing request.
- Profile other people on your site and make them look fab. They’ll be sharing that link for sure!
Partner/Collaborate
- Look for ways to partner with competitors and pitch it. What else does your target customer want? What do you offer that your competitor doesn’t?
- Look for ways to partner with big shots and pitch it. What can you add to their offerings?
Promote
- Have a pay-what-you-can-day. Post it everywhere and ask that people share your link.
- Hold a contest. Offer your product or service in exchange for testimonials. Tell people they get bonus points for sharing your contest on their social networks.
Engage
- Start commenting on other blogs.
- Build relationships instead of self promoting. Try these conversation starters.
- Ask questions with simple answers. What’s one word to describe (your industry)?
Encourage
- Tell people you’re up to something new and encourage them to tell others. Give links and make it easy.
- Call in favors. Ask your friends to share what you are working on. Again, give links and make it easy.
- Do live speaking engagements. Ask people to tweet and post in real time about the event and include your twitter handle or tag your business..
- Put calls to action on everything.
- Ask for testimonials. Follow these 7 power questions.
- Keep posting. You’ll simply remind people you are there.
Social Networks give incredible opportunity to get your business “out-there.” Incorporate a few of these strategies when and where you can.
*Comment here and let us know what you are trying. You never know who might find you!
About the Author: For more actionable ways to create communities of fans who love what you do and happily share it with their friends, visit www.katrinapadron.com
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6 Quick Tips to Optimize your Website Using Social Media
Social media, a social instrument of communication is a phrase which is very popular nowadays in search engine marketing world. It changes the way of communication between individuals, organization and communities. Social media unlike the regular media is a two way street which allows you to communicate in response to the content in the media. Using social media determines the level of your website reach to people. In this blog let us look at those different types of social media which will aid you in optimizing your website for maximum results.
Social Networking Sites
Social networking websites help companies on a long term basis as they find the opportunity of getting a fan, follower or subscriber on a social media platform. On Twitter you get someone to follow you or connect with you in LinkedIn or subscribe to your YouTube channel- all these help to keep lines of communication open for a long time even after they are away form your website. To achieve maximum communication, make sure you set up an interactive profile page. You need to have a strong social media profile which shows in the top results for your name, website and blog. This will increase your brand’s visibility and yours too. If you intend to create a fan page in Facebook, let it be unique and content fresh. Add the social media buttons or the plugins (as we call them) in the home page of your website. These will help you interact, comment and build relationship. Also, you need to plan much ahead for the logo to be added in the Facebook page for a power brand.
Include the Facebook Like Box
Facebook Like Box is a social plugin through which you can attract a lot of visitors and get likes for your website from them. By adding a like box you create a page for your website and invite likes. People tend to believe when their friends like, support or promote something. Your visitors can “Like” your website with just one click and from the Like Box you’ll get to see how many people liked your website.
Add Facebook Like Button to Share
You can add the Facebook Like button or the Retweet button of Twitter in your website to help your visitors share the content in other networks easily.
Link Your Blog With Your Website
You can integrate your blog into your website and pull the recent posts as links to your Home page. Many businesses choose to build their website on a blogging platform like WordPress. By doing this you can improve the interactivity of your website by pulling your blog posts from your Home page.
Fix a Video
Add a video which tells about your products or services explaining how customers felt after using your products. You may also add a “How to” which would give instructions on how to use your products and the source to get assistance if required.
Social Bookmarking
Make use of the bookmarking sites like StumbleUpon, Digg and Delicious to add your new content and bookmark them. These websites have the potential to drive a lot of traffic to your website in a short time.
About the Author: Linda has been writing on latest technlogy for quite sometime. Her interests include mobiles, gaming seo and more. She has written many articles on airbnb clone, etsy clone, yipit clone and many more.
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Is Your Marketing Department Faced With Reality?
According to a recent study from MarketTools, nearly one-fourth (23 percent) of companies provide customer service and assistance to clients via Facebook, while 12 percent turn to Twitter for such activities.
The study goes on to note that while 34 percent of the executives polled reported they were aware of customers utilizing social media to discuss their business and its products and services, fewer than 25 percent of these executives claimed that their businesses “always” get back to these customers.
According to a spokesperson for the company, “Companies are increasingly embracing social media as a way to interact with their customers, though they are missing an opportunity to incorporate this feedback into a voice of the customer program. Organizations that use enterprise feedback management solutions are able to analyze feedback gathered through social media channels, along with feedback gathered through more traditional channels, to uncover insights to help improve business processes that lead to higher overall customer satisfaction.”
Some other numbers from the study note:
- Thirty-three percent of executives report that their businesses have a better focus on utilizing social media as a channel to obtain customer feedback when compared to the same time a year ago;
- As for what parts of their company are using social media, 44 percent cited public relations, 42 percent noted corporate marketing, while 34 percent stated product marketing and customer service/support;
- For the nearly 70 percent of companies sporting an active presence through social media, 48 percent are active on Facebook, 24 percent on Twitter, and 17 percent through their own business blog;
- Twenty-two percent reported that their company’s CEO oftentimes participates in social media on behalf of the business. Facebook is the social media channel of choice, used by 68 percent of the CEO’s, followed by 44 percent that participate through the company blog, and 35 percent who are active via Twitter.
If your company has been slow to the switch when it comes to using social media through your marketing efforts to interact with customers, keep a few things in mind:
- Active usage of social media allows you to interact with customers and potential customers in real-time. Whether it is a product/service question, a concern, or even a complaint, there is no replacing the immediacy by which social media venues provide;
- More and more consumers are using social media to obtain information on products and services, purchase items online and talk about their experiences. It only makes sense to have a social media presence so that your business can stay one step ahead of the competition;
- While some business leaders feel that social media is a fad, all signs point to it being around for the foreseeable future. To disregard SM now is only allowing your company the opportunity to fall further behind the competition, competition that in many cases are using social media on a daily basis to reach out for more business.
Whether it is to promote products and/or services online, respond to questions and concerns about your business or just follow the industry tides to see where you need to be, using social media in your company’s marketing efforts is more important than ever.
Are you a social or anti-social marketer?
About the Author: Dave Thomas, who covers among other subjects’ background checks, writes extensively for Business.com, an online resource destination for businesses of all sizes to research, find, and compare the products and services they need to run their businesses.
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Online Marketing for Small Businesses – a Social Media Primer
Small businesses that use online marketing have a number of tools at their disposal, including blogs, search engine optimization, review websites and other inbound marketing techniques. However, what may end up being the Internet’s most important contribution to advertising and brand awareness is social media networking platforms. Sites such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and even Yelp! are wonderful devices that make reaching out to customers simple and, most importantly, cheap.
Unfortunately, not every small business owner is internet-savvy enough to instantly capture a broad and deep customer base. This can make engaging with users on these services intimidating. With a little bit of practice and some clear guidelines, such efforts can actually be quite successful. Here are some of the most important lessons for using these social platforms to garner leads and additional business.
Establish a Policy
No two companies use social media in exactly the same way. For instance, some may choose to simply make Facebook posts and tweets messaging tools that inform customers about the latest promotions and discounts that an organization is running. Others may choose to use these services to actually contact customers and offer them deals and savings. Either way, be sure to set up some guidelines that will keep an organization’s tone consistent throughout a campaign.
Designate Users
In keeping with a consistent feel, it is a good idea to establish which employees will actually generate content for a social media website. The importance of these services is making it so that some organizations choose to hire full-time networkers to maintain their various profiles. However, this may not be necessary, depending on a business’ intent. Either way, choose an employee who is somewhat tech-savvy, grammatically sound and can maintain a level of professionalism that won’t sully a company’s good name.
Coordinate With Other Efforts
The odds are good that a business using social networking websites will have at least some other efforts ongoing in the online world. If this is the case, coordinate social media messages and profiles with them. Blogs and Facebook posts can link to one another, while promotions being held should be advertised as much as possible on these platforms. Even something as simple as the images and fonts used in traditional advertising should match those used on Twitter feeds and blogs.
About the Author: Guest Post by Myron Corp. Located in Maywood, New Jersey, Myron is a global provider of imprinted promotional products and works closely with businesses to integrate these products into their marketing mix. Myron manufactures quality items such as promotional calendars, personalized pens and other giveaways and corporate customized gifts designed to build brand awareness and customer loyalty.
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LinkedIn Publicity: How Online Press Release Distribution Can Help You with Your LinkedIn Marketing Efforts
Online press release distribution has not lost its power to create buzz and brand awareness. In fact, in speaking with many business professionals who have used our distribution partner’s press release services, we’ve been told:
- Their press releases were picked up by 40+ online sites and media news stations.
- Their press release placement brought additional credibility to the launch of their new books, products and services.
- They started to dominate the search engines – and “own” their keywords as search engines love optimized press releases
- They doubled and tripled their website traffic
- Multiple reporters and media professionals contacted them for additional interviews and media opportunities that give them more exposure.
- Their website now ranks higher on Google – because online press release distribution is a powerful link building too.
Here’s an additional benefit of online press release distribution that no one else is talking about…Online press release distribution will help you with your overall LinkedIn marketing efforts.
6 Ways Online Press Release Distribution Can Help You With Your LinkedIn Marketing Efforts
1) The press release generated publicity can provide you with instant credibility with your LinkedIn profile visitors.
For example my client Sara LaForest’s headline reads like this: “Top Management Consultant Featured in Business Week, Fast Company & WomenEntrepreneur.com – Connect and Find Out Why”. This shows readers immediately why they should trust her and why they should trust what she has to say.
Here are some of the other ways you can highlight your publicity on your LinkedIn profile:
- Create a quoted media positions
- Showcase your media mentions within your summary
- Add the publications section to your LinkedIn profile
- Create a media kit on your LinkedIn profile using Box.net
2) Showcasing your press release generated publicity will prove to journalists that you are media worthy.
On LinkedIn you should be looking to connect with journalists, editors, online radio show hosts and other media professionals. Now for those media professionals to accept your invitation, you have to prove you are credible and newsworthy. When your press release is published by a top publication, you have completed half the battle because you have given yourself expert status. Now, you just have to build a relationship with the media professionals you connect with and show them that your information is relevant to their audience.
3) Use press releases to promote your LinkedIn group and community.
We recently created and distributed a press release that promoted Skip Weisman’s Workplace Communication Strategies group – and it was published on CNBC.com. This helped him:
- Increase his LinkedIn group membership by making more people aware of his group.
- Give him a reason to re-announce his group again to his email list as well as any LinkedIn connection that were not already members of his group. Any time you have a success, you should be letting your connections know.
- Give new connections a reason to join his LinkedIn group when we sent out group invites.
4) Your press release placements can position you as a thought leader in your LinkedIn group – and those other groups you belong to.
I like to create discussions around a topic and link the discussion to a press release or article I’ve written that gives more information on the topic and is featured on a top website. This automatically gives me a third party endorsement which offers more credibility than if the information was just placed on my own website or blog.
5) Use your press release placement as a springboard for discussions.
For example, I distributed a press release titled “More Journalist on LinkedIn Than Any Other Social Network, Study Shows”. I then created this discussion within LinkedIn group: “How are you using LinkedIn to get you more publicity?
In the LinkedIn discussion summary I put “In the press release below, I reveal that 82% of journalist are on LinkedIn and that is more than any other social network. So now I am asking you, how are using LinkedIn to build and maintain relationships with media professionals to get you more publicity?”
I then linked the discussion to my press release on Yahoo News.
This helped me:
- Get more exposure for my press release
- Create a discussion among publicity professionals as they provided their insights. I then responded to their feedback with other ideas and explained to them how I can help them with their LinkedIn publicity efforts
- Start a discussion among small business owners and other business professionals who wanted to learn how to get more publicity by using LinkedIn
6) Getting published or featured all over the Web on top websites and blogs will give you access to more people who will want to connect with you on LinkedIn.
You will have people coming to you seeking your advice. They will see your press release and then look you up on LinkedIn wanting to connect with you. For example, as I was writing this article, I received an invitation to connect that said, “Hi Kristina, I just read your tips in Canadian Advisor’s Edge Magazine – I’d like to connect with you and learn more.”
Your Next Steps
Now that I have shown you how online press release distribution can help you with your LinkedIn marketing efforts, it’s time you take action and start writing your press releases. If you need help, check our my Instant Press Release Templates at http://www.40InstantPressReleaseTemplates.com
About the Author: LinkedIn marketing expert Kristina Jaramillo helps small businesses and organizations get more publicity, prospects and profits using effective LinkedIn. Now, at http://www.HowtoGetMorePublicitywithLinkedIn.com, you can gain full access to her FREE 14-Day LinkedIn Publicity E-course that shows you how to create an expert LinkedIn profile the media will love, how to build relationships with the media plus sneaky ways to get more PR using LinkedIn.
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Don’t Have a Facebook Business Page? 5 Reasons to Suck It Up & Create One Today!
If kids, soon-to-be-adults and millions of not-so-young adults are your future audience, then you need to have a Facebook Business Page as you need to be where your audience is. And, today, our children, teens, young adults and even older adults like my former room mates and my ex (who deny they are addicted to Facebook) can be found updating their profile, commenting and changing their status updates regularly.
The New York Times even wrote an article recently that showed kids are finding crafty ways to get around the increasing number of Facebook bans their schools are implementing. One eighth grader, who preferred not to be named, said he coached a school administrator on avoiding the ban last year. “She hated not being able to get on Facebook at work and asked for my help one day in the office,” the boy explained, more than a little sympathetic to her plight. “What could I do?”
It came as no surprise to me, and it’s speaking volumes of the need for small businesses, as much as they want to continue down that stream of FB Denial, to get on board and create a Facebook business page. It is time for them to put themselves in front of this next generation of Facebook addicts.
Need more proof?
5 Reasons Why You Must Setup a Facebook Fan Page Fast!
1) Kids, soon adults, and millions of young and not-so-young adults are your future audience and they are all there, “friending” Justin Bieber under their covers (like my daughter last night) when they should be asleep.
2) With over 600 million users and almost 50% of them on Facebook daily…. stop…. think about it….., AND over 40% of existing businesses already up and running on it, you want your business to be where your customers and potential customers are going, right? If you knew that your customers were passing by one of the huge billboards in Times Square every day and those billboards didn’t cost millions per month to be advertising there, you would want to be up there…wouldn’t you?
3) Your Facebook business page is like the huge billboard in Times Square except for the fact that it’s free. Your customers are there, their friends are there. And you can say a heck of a lot more on a FB page than you can on a billboard.
4) The search engines love a Facebook Business Page. Because a business page is a public URL and not a private one, your site will have a much easier time making it to the top of a Google search than your website. That’s unless you’ve invested a lot of $ into SEO (not that there’s anything wrong with that).
5) As mentioned earlier, your competition already has a Facebook business page, and not because they want to share about their favorite rice and beans recipe. The “like” button has become the new “link.” Many online marketers, myself included now believe that the Facebook “like” button is becoming just as significant as backlinks to a website. In other words, the more “likes” your page has, the greater the chance of it ranking high in the search engines for your specific field and keywords. So think of it as a link and encourage your customers to press it. Every time you update something on your page these customers will now see it as they have been “linked” to it.
There are so many good reasons to create one of these Facebook business pages I could blather on and on about them forever. For now, think about the math. The average Facebook page has 140 friends. When you post to Facebook, your “friends” and all their “friends” will view your post. Can you spell V-I-R-A-L? As insane as it might sound, there’s a reason why Shop Rite wants you to “like” them on Facebook.
About the Author: Suzen Pettit specializes in designing, building, marketing and maintaining optimized websites and social media profiles for busy small business owners. By using her strategic internet marketing techniques you will ensure your business is being found and that clients are seeing what YOU want them to see on the internet about you. For even more free tips, tools, strategies and resources, read her free articles at: http://www.omaginarium.com/blog/
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Protecting A SMBs Brand With Social Media Monitoring
The Internet is a tool used by many people for different reasons. Social media has become a huge part of Internet usage. People are able to express thoughts and opinions and communicate with other individuals.
What is Online Reputation Management?
With the growing number of people using social media, Online Reputation Management software has been created. Online Reputation Management is a part of the Public Relations field that helps businesses enhance their online image. The Internet is a dumping ground of information, thoughts, and opinions, which is why small businesses should utilize this software. Social media is a way for individuals to gain information, share information, and express opinions about anything.
Some popular social media technologies are Facebook, Twitter, and blogs. Each one of these has the power to make or break a company, product, or celebrity. Facebook incorporates “Fan Pages” for businesses and products to allow for discussion and opinions to be expressed.
The Impact of Social Media on Brand
The numbers of individuals who use social media technologies is constantly growing. Companies need to understand this fact and understand that it can directly impact their business and public image. With online reputation management software, a small business will be able to monitor all consumer talk about their business and respond to the situation in a timely manner. This will altogether increase customer satisfaction (which is very important!).
Another way in which a business’s reputation can be at stake is because of product and business review options on the Internet. Many people rely on the Internet to provide feedback on certain products and even company ethics.
Reviews allow consumers to express personal opinions, which may not be censored. A small business should use this software not only to monitor consumer reviews, but to learn more about competitor’s products.
Online reputation management software can also assist in unexpected ways. The software will help with marketing research.
A small business will learn marketing trends and how they should position their product or service in the community. Information about the industry as a whole will also help a business thrive.
Altogether, online reputation management software is the smart, efficient way to monitor your small business on the Internet.
About the Author: Stefan is an social media specialist with Reputation Observer a reputation management platform based in the US, Germany and France.
Photo Credit: karola riegler photography
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Google’s Social Media For Business Draws Ever Closer But What Will it Look Like?
Facebook has been an important part of many business’ SEO and client outreach for a couple of years now.
Anyone ‘on the inside’ knows that there’s an industry expectation that your business has a Facebook profile, indeed, many TV advertising and marketing campaigns use “visit us on Facebook” rather than using their own website as the platform is ubiquitous, user friendly and the API divulges a great deal of information about the consumer which wouldn’t necessarily be available if they went directly to the web1 address. Read more
10 Online Security Tips for Small Business
Many of us think because we have the latest version of anti-virus and anti-malware software running on our computer, our business is safe. This is definitely not the case.
There are many other situations you could be compromising your information and that of your customers. Your website, the basis of your online marketing and income, could come under attack.
It is prudent to look at all areas of your activities and have all of them covered. This article outlines all those areas to keep you secure.
10 Online Security Tips for Small Business
- Anti-virus. Yes, this is an absolute must. Your other option is to get an Apple Mac. Having said that, as Apple computers become more popular, there are more chances that problems will develop in the future. Your anti-virus software must contain anti-malware components.
- Firewall. Your operating system should already have this as a part of your network connection. This should always be turned on. There are addition software packages that are small and light, that can do a lot more. Software that allows to monitor incoming connections with more detail is a great idea as an addition to your firewall.
- Chat Client. While many people care about their internet communication, they often forget how insecure the standard chatting clients are. Products like Yahoo’s messenger and MSN messenger are broadcasting your chats for the world to see. Look for a chat client like Adium, that allows you to encrypt your messages. Skype is also pretty good for this.
- Hard Disk. Storing your information is very important. If your laptop gets stolen or lost, you could be in real trouble. Again Apple comes up trumps here. File Vault will encrypt your whole hard drive. Make sure you have something like this with whatever system you are using.
- Back Up. There are those who have lost data, and those who will. Make sure you are backing up at least 1 time a day. There are very good systems available. Again, Apple’s Time Machine, is an excellent example. It is not just a copy of your files, it is a complete snapshot of your system. Get this type of backup for what ever system you have.
- Online Storage and File Transfer. Online backup and storage is one of the best ways to protect your information. If you want to go the whole way, you can keep your laptop or computer just about empty — a great solution for business. Make sure the client you are using is secure. This goes without saying with any file transfer… no, those normal networks will not do the job.
- Payments. There are a number of systems that allow you to make and receive payments without sharing information of your customers. This is the best way for you. It might cost you a little bit in charges, but at least you will not have to worry about having anyone’s credit card details lying around. You are responsible for them too.
- Email. This is another area many of us forget about. Having the right software to encrypt your emails is extremely important. Encryption means that others will need a key to access the information, otherwise it will be useless.
- Website Firewall. Yes! Websites should have a Firewall too. Make sure your website design and setup incorporates this. This is your best defense against hackers harassing your site. This is extremely important if you are in the business of e-commerce.
- Online Physical Monitoring. Yes, set up cameras and watch them live online, where ever you are. You never can be too careful.
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Is Google+ Like a Post-Apocalyptic Facebook?
It was all the buzz in June and July this year but the disappointment of early adopters means that Google+ is like a post-apocalyptic Facebook, technologically advanced but with none but a few jaded survivors populating the streets.
I’ve been an early adopter on a few trends, I registered for Twitter early enough to get me own name but then didn’t even look at it again for about 2 years while it matured, the same with LinkedIn and I signed up for Facebook when you actually had to know the person you were friending up. Such a difference from MySpace. Do you even remember MySpace? But I digress. The problem is, with being an early registrant, that no-one really knows how a platform works so those who aren’t really engaged go back to their familiar utilities while the die-hard fans make it a useable place to be. Finally those who had lost interest realise that all their friends are talking about it again and they take another look and realize things have really improved.
At the time of writing Google+ are asking business not to get involved on the platform while users get to know how the environment works and iron out any wrinkles that still exist. But that doesn’t mean that if you have a business you shouldn’t be getting to know your way around, investigating the facilities and strategising your activities when Google+ for business finally goes live.
Does Your Business Need Google+ Like It Needed Facebook?
In the same way that it became a truism that you business needed Facebook if it was to have any chance to survive on the internet, being on as many platforms as possible is equally as important. And when you bear in mind that anything you produce which you release publically (rather than targeted to specific Circles) will be crawled by Google’s spiders plus a plethora of other benefits you should be able to see why allowing yourself to fall behind the curve is a poor option.
In the old days of three months ago Facebook was the industry killer when it came to social media. Zuckerberg could make up any rules he liked regarding our privacy and we’d just go along with it because we had no option. We’d put our business on Facebook so that we could look into our likers’ and friends’ API and use it as part of our client relationship management strategies, it was an industry expectation and if you didn’t have a Facebook page people would think there was something wrong. Zuckerberg seems to have changed his ideas about whether users actually need privacy and want the same comments to be visible to all your friends rather rapidly and purely coincidentally as soon as Google+ introduced Circles.
Set up a Google+ profile and follow everyone who’s in your sector, build relationships in the same way it was recommended you did in Facebook but with circles you’re able to keep competitors separate from suppliers, stakeholders from staff (if you think that’s appropriate). In much the same way Twitter users generally follow back so will Google+ users. Add them to your Circles and every time they Google something, if you’ve written about it, your articles will appear in their first page. That’s some good looking SEO for nothing but an on-topic blog or two.
Keep On Doing Everything You Always Did, Just Add Another Platform
In the same way that everyone was encouraged to Tweet about their blog and any new developments in their industry Google+ allows you to reach your followers in exactly the same way only you can provide a couple of paragraphs of précis and a small picture. The comments you and your friends and followers add stay associated with the original post or commenter and conversations can be ‘muted’ if you no longer want updates on that topic but you can still hear from the same people making comments on other threads.
As well as these relatively ordinary facilities you can also start hangouts with followers and their followers even if you’re not connected directly. These can take the form of either instant messages or video conference. At the moment you’re limited to ten participants at a time, but any more than that would be an impossibility to organise and control. If you want to visualise ideas that you are talking about there are whiteboards which everyone can contribute to and then save, these developments make virtual team management and integration more than just a realistic possibility, they actually make it fun! And given that Google+ integrates seamlessly with Gmail, Calendar and Documents even if you don’t use it for client relationships, internally it’s a free resource that is provided by other organisations at a premium.
Seeing Off Panda
But getting back to SEO and SEM, post Panda Farmer Google’s SERPS have been based on quality and, increasingly, social, be that bookmarking, Tweets, Facebook likes and Google +1s et cetera. Reposting your blogs on Google+ means that you can increase your outreach and get double the number of +1 (on your homepage and Google+ profile) so that as well as being searchable your social is optimised as well. Talking of +1, if you don’t already have the button, add it now. Forbes published an article saying that if you didn’t you could forget about being indexed on Google. They had to pull it again sharpish but the suspicion persists. Plus, they wouldn’t have introduced it if it wasn’t going to affect search, would they?
Some people wonder if Google+ is here to stay. Look at the fuss they had with other tools such as Buzz and Wave. They were technologies which solved nothing and in the case of examples such as Buzz were intrusive and unwelcome. Google+ offers so much more. With increased, more intelligent security and privacy it’s hard to make the comparison. And if those early adopters who couldn’t see the benefits and kept to Facebook are right to stay away, is that such a bad thing? There’s a place for them and if they like it, fine. Google+ may become the ‘Facebook for Business’ that LinkedIn seemed interested in becoming for a moment. The thing is that Google can afford to do it bigger, better and direct into SERPs.
About the Author: @DanCash is a features writer living on the south coast of England. He’s taking his laptop over to a friend’s later to show them the advantages of using Google+ in SEO so they can replicate the method on their barebones PC.
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Is Your Social Media Beyond Repair?
No one likes to admit they broke things. In fact, many people will run for cover so that they do not get blamed for such actions.
When it comes to your company’s social media efforts, are you putting the right amount of time and energy into them or is it done with just a passing interest?
As more small businesses identify and understand just how beneficial social media can be to their company’s success, it is incumbent upon them to know when and be able to fix a social media program when it is broken.
Social Media Gaffes
For companies who are having issues with their social media campaigns, what are the right fixes?
Do they take the time to correct them? Do they put the problem on the backburner to deal with another day? Lastly, do they just throw their arms up in the air and abandon social networking altogether?
If your small business has seen its social media planning come up short of what your intended goals were in the first place, there are options available to right the ship.
Start by taking a look at the following:
- Frequency of social networking – In the event your company has set up a social media campaign, how often are you tending to it? If the answer is not that often, you’ve got a problem. If you’re going to take the time to set up Facebook and Twitter pages to name two, you’d better plan on actively working them. What’s the sense in the first place of having such venues if you’re attendance on them will be limited to begin with?
- Being too rigid in who can use the sites – While marketing/PR departments typically oversee a company’s Twitter or Facebook venue, that doesn’t mean others cannot utilize it. Yes, you should have some rules for engagement in place, but that does not mean contributions from other employees should be excluded. While it is fine to review any tweets, shares, etc. that go out, don’t discourage employees from participating.
- Not engaging customers – In the event you’re allowing and receiving comments to your social media pages, by all means respond to them. Nothing will discourage return customers more than if you allow them the opportunity to comment, yet you turn a deaf ear to those comments.
- Throwing in the towel – It happens all too often. A small business begins a social media campaign, doesn’t get the results it wants and abandons it. So, what exactly have they accomplished? To put it bluntly, nothing. By all means, stay upbeat and try different approaches if things are not working out. The worst possible scenario is to give up on the project, therefore eliminating a great way to be seen and heard. Like just about everything else in life, results do not come overnight. Have a long-term social media strategy and be prepared to stick it out. Developing solid relationships with both current and potential customers takes time, so don’t get discouraged if things are not clicking right away.
The best advice possible for a successful social media campaign is to be in it for the long haul, knowing that some things will work and others won’t.
One thing that will definitely work in your company’s favor is planning on being social for a long time to come.
About the Author: Dave Thomas is an expert writer on items like purchasing decisions for small business owners and entrepreneurs at Resource Nation.
Photo Credit: e-magic
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