Tag: Media

Where Does Social Media Fit Into a Business Marketing Plan?

According to The Social Media Examiner’s recent Social Media Marketing Report, “The number-one advantage of social media marketing is generating exposure for the business, indicated by 85% of all marketers, followed by increasing traffic [to a website] (63%) and building new business partnerships (56%)”. With 65% of the marketers stating they are relatively new to social media, many questions arose as to how to implement it effectively without “wasting” a lot of time.

Let’s take a look at the overall Internet Marketing plan of a business to think about incorporating social media into that plan.

How are your potential customers finding you?

Traditional advertising such as word of mouth, TV, Yellow Pages, News Paper ads remain somewhat effective to get traffic to your business. Many of you have discovered that using the power of the internet through the search engines is making those methods nearly obsolete. Social media is an outstanding method to find people interested in what you offer and get traffic to your business.

An essential piece to marketing on-line is a Website & a blog. Most of you reading this will find that “old news”. The design, optimization, and content of the website and an informative blog will certainly be the hub of your internet marketing plan. Yet there is more to consider. You want people to find your website, visit it, stay for awhile and become a loyal customer.

The first step of an internet marketing plan is to ask yourself these questions: Have you carefully completed your market Research? Do you know if people are looking on-line for what you are selling? If people are searching on-line using the internet do you know what words they use to locate what you are selling or providing? These terms are known as your “Key Words”. It is important to have completed the “keyword research” to know if they are searching on line for a solution that you are providing.

The next step would be Search Engine Optimization, SEO – Designing the site and its content so that it is found by the search engines. This is not an exact science nor is it magic – experts in the SEO field understand specific things need to be in place so your site gets found. Having your site reviewed often brings to light details that are easily added to affect your search engine ranking.

Local businesses need to be maximizing their listings in Google Places, Yelp and other local map applications to get found quickly, locally. An optimized listing provides legitimacy and validates the content on your website increasing search engines recognition of your site.

Paid on-line advertising is another option. “Pay per click” ads through Google and Facebook are available. PR, articles, and blog posts drive significant traffic as well and many resources are free. The links back to your site from these resources again, legitimize your site. They “vote” for and provide validity of the authenticity of your website. These are just a few of the useful tools that can increase the number of potential clients to your site.

Social Media fits into this piece of the marketing plan by getting your message out there, increasing your visibility and building a following of people interested in your services.

Blogging, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, and local networking groups are just a a few of the many social media options out there. Choose your plan carefully Map out the possible services and gradually incorporate those that make the best sense into your plan. Start with one piece. Gradually add in the other pieces.

“Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and blogs were the top four social media tools used by marketers, in order.” according to the Social Media Examiner.

Blogging is easily updated keeping content fresh. It is used to inform, educate and entertain opening the door for clients to interact. Build your expertise, talk to followers using the known words that engage – give them what they are looking for, solve their problems, offer them solutions and educate them. Here is where you want to make sure you “capture” their contact information – what do your customers need that will entice them to give you their contact information? Provide it to them, and follow up.

With the analytics available on-line, you can test and determine what works within your marketing plan. What pages are holding their attention? What pages are the ones they leave from? How long do they stay? What interests them?

Building relationships– encouraging loyal, returning customers through social media significantly adds to your overall marketing approach. It has been said it is cheaper to keep a customer than find a new one. This is the phase in which profits are made.

What is your business mindset?If you strive to be helpful and known as the local expert willing to educate your potential customers, you build trust and loyalty. As a consumer, what keeps you returning to your favorite businesses? It is these strategies that keep you prominently in your customers mind.

Follow up. Stay in touch. If you don’t have a way to get information to your customers through email, it is time to implement that plan. Email is an excellent, inexpensive way to do this.

Social Media is one piece of a strong marketing strategy implemented over time. A social media marketing plan is designed with your client and your business in mind. Where do your potential customers go to find information about the products or services you offer? If they are on-line – you should be as well. With a few tools and a great plan, you just might find this your favorite way to interact and relate with your customers. It is another dimension to networking. See you on-line!

Tips on Writing an Effective Social Media Marketing Request For Proposal (RFP)

About a year ago, I wrote an article with guidelines on writing a website design and development Request for Proposal (RFP), which received a great response. Now I think it’s high time to do the same thing for those wishing to engage an agency for Social Media Marketing and other Online Marketing and Advertising consultation and implementation.

Below are my suggestions of how to prepare an RFP for social media projects, retainers and campaigns. I also suggest doing research online and viewing other Request for Proposals to see what works best for your organization. Keep in mind that whatever format you choose will determine not only how long the responses are, but also what type of focus you are looking for from the respondents. Each section of the RFP is outlined below, along with some explanation and suggested questions. Have fun!

Information about your organization and project

Introduction

The purpose of this section is to give a brief overview of the company issuing the RFP and the social media project or desired work relationship between the company and the vendor. Provide as much information as you feel is necessary to allow vendors to prepare an accurate proposal. If you feel that there is certain proprietary or other information that you do not wish to make public, require a Non Disclosure Agreement be signed before receiving that information. This may limit the participation of vendors, but it is oftentimes necessary to protect private information.

1. Company Overview

  • Organizational history
  • Your business objectives
  • Your company’s history using social media or reasons why your organization intends to begin to participate in social media

2. Overview of Project

  • State the project objectives and how they relate to the business objectives stated above. Explain the type of vendor relationship desired i.e. Project-based, Agency of Record, etc. Explain the current involvement your organization has with social media channels and how they relate to both your organization’s primary presence and any related campaigns
  • Explain the social media channels you wish the campaign to involve, unless you are looking for suggestions of which to use, then please specify that to the vendors
  • Explain how the project fits into your overall marketing strategy (online and offline) and if there is another vendor involved in other aspects of your Advertising and Marketing initiatives
  • Explain the measurable outcomes you would like to see
  • Explain the duration of the work – is it a temporary campaign, or an ongoing organizational marketing platform?

3. Overview of Audiences and Stakeholders

  • List primary audiences for the company, i.e. demographics, psychographics, etc
  • List primary information needs of each audience group
  • Identify if any market or audience research will be necessary in the execution of the campaign

4. Overview of Response

  • Make it clear the type of response you are looking for:
  • Are you looking for a hypothetical approach, or an explanation of the vendor’s process of how they will come to create your campaign. Many times a hypothetical approach is not the best way to approach an RFP process simply because a vendor will be missing several key pieces of information that might negatively affect their ability to propose a specific solution. We suggest looking for more general responses and weighing the effectiveness of past client work heavily

Guidelines for Proposal Preparation

  • In order to give all qualified vendors a level playing field, it’s important to set up an easy to follow schedule for both when your RFP is issued, when and to whom questions are allowed, and when and in what format responses are required
  • Specify the date the RFP was issued (Month, Day, Year). If your RFP is publicly listed, it will help those searching for RFPs on Google or by other methods to find relevant Request for Proposals
  • An optional requirement is to specify that all interested vendors register their intent to submit a proposal by a certain date – usually within 1-2 weeks of the RFP issue. This is a good way to limit the potential number of vendors who respond if you anticipate a large volume of proposals and would rather receive a smaller amount
  • We recommend allowing a question and answer period that ends at least 1 week before the proposal is due. It is up to you whether to allow questions by email, conference call or individual phone calls. We do recommend that you share all the questions (and answers) with all interested vendors in order to keep things as equal as possible. Always specify which format -phone call, email, and to whom these questions should be addressed. We recommend identifying a single person in your organization to be the point of contact. Just make sure vacation schedules, etc don’t interfere with this process, and if there is any other reason why the primary point of contact might need to be out of town during the process, specify a secondary point of contact
  • Responses from issuer to be sent by 20XX in the following formats (specify whether electronic submissions, hard copies or both must be either emailed, mailed or hand-delivered)
  • On the basis of the replies to the RFP document, a short list of potential vendors will be selected and this group will be asked to present demonstrations of their capabilities and vision for the project. These meetings will be completed by XXth, 20XX
  • Awarding of the contract to selected Vendor by XXth, 20XX
  • Work to commence by 20XX and to last until (if applicable)

Vendor Questions and Qualifications

The following is a series of questions that, if applicable, we suggest you ask the vendors submitting proposals. Some may not apply, but it is a great idea to get as much of an idea of the vendor’s approach and philosophy on social media as possible. Compare the responses both among each other, and to the research and reading that you have done to make sure that the vendor is up to date with the latest thinking and best practices.

COMPANY DETAILS

  • Company name and parent company name
  • Ownership structure
  • Years in operation
  • Mailing address (headquarters)
  • Other office location(s)
  • Primary phone
  • Fax number
  • Website and blog URL
  • Primary point of contact (name, title, phone and email address)
  • Total number of employees
  • Number of vendor employees whose primary function is social media
  • Current client list with those engaged in social media work identified
  • Percentage of total revenue that is social-media related
  • Three references for social media work including; company name, primary client name, contact details and brief explanation of services provided
  • Any potential conflicts with existing vendor client base and this RFP
  • Senior social media staff bios and links to social media profiles where applicable
  • Please provide a complete list of relevant social media platform and technology partners
  • References from clients currently engaged in social media work with the vendor

CAPABILITIES & EXPERIENCE

  • List all social media and online marketing capabilities
  • Do you have any proprietary tools or products related to social media?
  • Please list any experience you have with integrating social, paid and/or earned media
  • Is there a specific industry or type of work your firm specializes in?
  • Please list and provide links to primary social media communication channels for your company (i.e.company blog,Twitter account, Facebook group, blogs authored by principals, etc.)

SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING STRATEGY

  • Please outline your social media strategy process
  • Which stakeholder groups do you typically include in a strategy engagement?
  • Describe the final deliverable of a strategy engagement
  • What is your approach to risk management in social media?
  • How do you incorporate existing applications, websites, microsites and newsletter programs into your overall social media strategy?
  • How do you ensure compliance with client legal requirements?
  • Please describe your approach to integrating across client marketing, customer service and corporate communications departments. Please provide an example of your work in this area
  • How do you approach adapting a traditional brand into a two-way dialogue?
  • Please provide a case study of your strategy work that resulted in a social media initiative and the business results achieved

REPUTATION MANAGEMENT & SOCIAL MEDIA MONITORING

  • What is your brand/reputation monitoring process (i.e. proprietary tools used, methodology, etc)?
  • What is your opinion on automated sentiment analysis?
  • What technology do you use to assist in online monitoring?
  • How long (on average) between a potential issue being posted online and being flagged to the client?
  • What volume of mentions has your organization handled in the past (e.g. 2,500 mentions per week)?
  • What is your quality assurance process to ensure that the large volumes of data gathered in the monitoring process are handled efficiently and representative of the overall online conversation?
  • Please detail your methodology for handling online crises
  • What services do you provide in support of online crisis management?
  • Please describe the structure of your crisis management team, including bios and relevant experience
  • How do you assess which mentions require immediate responses and which do not?
  • Please outline your general approach to sourcing and responding to comments
  • Please provide a case study detailing your work for the purposes of managing reputation or online crisis management, including outcomes and lessons learned
  • Please include a sample of your monitoring report format and/or a link to appropriate dashboards (specifics should be removed)

METRICS, MEASUREMENT & REPORTING

  • What methodology do you use for measuring the success of your social media programs for clients?
  • Please provide specific examples based on past work
  • Have you developed any proprietary metrics? How have you applied these for clients?
  • How have you defined Return on Investment (ROI) from a social media perspective in the past?
  • How do you take data points generated from various social media channels and measurement tools and combine to give an objective/comprehensive view?
  • What is your approach to server analytics and community analytics for program measurement?
  • Do you have the capability to measure cost per lead or cost per acquisition? Please provide an example of a project on which you have done so
  • What platforms are you unable to measure accurately, or able to provide only limited measurements from?
  • Please provide a sample of a measurement document or final report (specifics should be removed)
  • What percentage of the budget do you recommend be dedicated to metrics and measurement?

CLIENT EDUCATION & TRAINING

  • Do you offer social media training services for clients? If yes, what formats are they available in?
  • What internal processes do you have in place to ensure that your staff is kept current on social media innovations and best practices?
  • How do you measure progress and evaluate training effectiveness?
  • How do you recommend that clients keep up to date on the latest social media innovations and best practices?

SOCIAL MEDIA AND OTHER DIGITAL CHANNELS

  • What are your design, creative and community management capabilities?
  • What percentage of your staff is dedicated to building and deploying social media solutions versus management and consulting?
  • Please describe your experience with the following platforms and tactics:

– YouTube or similar video sharing sites

– Blogs, Podcasts, Vodcasts, Forums

– Content Management System (CMS)

– Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

– E-mail Marketing

– Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Search Engine Marketing(SEM)

– Facebook Pages, Apps, API integration

– Mobile application development

– Twitter

– News sharing sites (i.e. Digg, Reddit, etc.)

– Virtual Worlds and Augmented reality

– Photo sharing (i.e. Flickr) and other content sharing sites (i.e. Scribd, Slideshare, Delicious, etc.)

– Social Media press releases(SMPRs)

– Crowdsourcing or Wikis

– Real world events organized via social media (e.g. Tweetups)

– Ratings/Customer service sites (i.e. Yelp, ePinions, etc.)

Please provide examples of social media channel development work completed within the last two years

COMMUNITY AND INFLUENCER OUTREACH (SOCIAL PR)

  • What is your process for identifying influencers within various social media channels?
  • How do you determine and define “influence?”
  • What is your outreach process for communicating with identified online influencers?
  • What tools and approaches do you use for Influencer Relationship Management? (Third-party, proprietary,etc.)
  • How have you integrated Influencer Outreach with traditional communications and/or marketing campaigns?
  • How do you approach seeding conversations within stakeholder groups?
  • What is your exit strategy with influencers once the initiative is completed?
  • How do you ensure authenticity and transparency when conducting outreach on behalf of a client?
  • Please provide a case study of an online community outreach project

CLIENT SERVICES & PROJECT MANAGEMENT

  • How is a typical client engagement with your firm structured?
  • How do you structure your account teams?
  • Please outline your internal communication structure. If your account staff is separate from your project management staff, please detail how these teams work together
  • If you are selected to provide social media services, who will be assigned to our business (please provide names, titles and short biographical notes)
  • What percentage of senior staff involvement is structured in to your projects? What role do they play?
  • How are your projects priced? Using an hourly rate? Blended agency rate? If the former, please provide a rate card
  • What change management practices does your agency employ?
  • What reports will be provided to the client in order to communicate project milestones and overall project health?
  • What is the frequency of these reports?
  • What is your process for gathering business requirements?

Writing a Request for Proposal (RFP) is a good first step when considering Online Marketing and Social Media work as it takes thoughtful planning to specify and construct an effective, integrated campaign. A well thought-out, quality RFP is essential to a successful endeavor because it helps you to focus on your goals and exactly how to achieve them.

How to Deleted Online Social Media Accounts No Longer In Use

Protecting your identity online is essential for your brand, reputation and credit worthiness, far more important than updating your Instagram and Facebook every day. Several times a year the news will cover a serious data breach of information being held by major banks, insurance companies and/or social media platforms. Once the data is taken, it can be misused or even lead to identity theft. Deleting your old social media accounts is a vital step to help ensure some measure of identity protection. It is imperative that you keep your online access to your current accounts safe and protected and delete any old accounts.

Here is a guide that will help you delete your old accounts on the most popular social media sites.

Facebook

Moving onto the biggest social network platform of all time, Facebook, with over a billion users, keeps things simple and makes it incredibly easy for you to deactivate your account.

Once you go into the “settings” tab from the down arrow in your browser, select your Facebook information and then select delete your account and information”. When you are in this menu you will go to delete your account and must add the password to confirm.

Foursquare

Foursquare hit the internet over a decade ago to let friends know where you are and figuring out where they are. In order to delete your Foursquare account, you will have to access the platform from your computer. Move onto the “privacy” settings tab where you have to scroll to the end of the page and find an option to delete your account. When you select this option you will go to a page where you need to confirm whether you want to delete your account or not.

Google

Google is the undisputed search engine leader with one of the most interconnected ecosystems. By creating one account for Google you are able to access a plethora of different applications and websites without having to create separate accounts. In order to delete your Google+ or Gmail account, you will need to delete your entire Google account.

Go to “Google account settings” and choose “delete account and services”. There you will see the “delete products” option, where you can access all of your Google applications. You need to sign in to all of the websites first before you can delete your account.

Instagram

Facebook’s younger brother is possibly the most used social media platform by Millennials, according to Hootsuite. Thanks to its focus on visual communication, it is the go-to place in order to find talented artists.

Deleting your account is very simple and takes little time to properly accomplish. While you can manage your privacy settings using the mobile app, you must go through an internet browser in order to delete your account. Simply go to the “delete your account page”, and there you will have to provide a reason for deleting your account. Once you provide the reason, you will provide your password and then select the option to permanently delete the account.

Linked In

LinkedIn is the social network for professionals looking for new opportunities to connect with other professionals and grow their business and careers. If you are on the platform, the profile should be complete and up-to-date. If you are no longer using the platform, delete the account. At the top right corner of any page of LinkedIn, you will first have to access the “privacy and settings” tab. From there, choose the “account” tab and then select closing your LinkedIn account. You will have to give your feedback and verify your account before you can delete it. From there you will see a post telling you of the consequences of deleting your account and then the final page which will be for confirmation.

MySpace

This social media platform has been bought and sold several times since its glory days (2005 to 2009). In 2016 their database was breached and leaked to a dark market website. To delete your MySpace account, you will first have to login to the account that you want to delete. From there, select the “gear” icon and choose the “account” tab. There, you will see an option to delete your account. Before you can delete your account you will have to provide a reason after which you will receive an email for confirmation. Open the email and follow its instructions.

Pinterest

Pinterest is a web-based pinboard or bulletin board, a place to bookmark images found online. To delete your Pinterest account you will first have to go to the triple dot icon on the website and select the “edit settings” option. From there you will have to go down to the “account” page and select “deactivate account”. From there you will click “yes” to receive an email, which you need to open and follow in order to permanently delete your account.

Snapchat

Snapchat is a service that, for a short time, rivaled Facebook and was the go-to social media app for many people. As is the case with Instagram, you cannot delete your account from the mobile app; you must delete it from a proper browser.

From the website browser, go to “delete your account” and enter your username and password. Your account does not delete instantly and it takes about 30 days to remove all of the information.

Twitter

Regardless of how famous your really are, everyone has a Twitter handle. Many people follow and get their news from the tweets of everyone from legitimate newsmakers and media organizations to raving fans of our favorite sport teams. Deleting your Twitter account is incredibly easy. It takes at least 30 days for all of your tweets to get deleted. Select “settings and privacy” from the form on the menu and go into the account tab. From there you will have to deactivate your account and enter your password to confirm the action.

Tumblr

Tumblr probably has one of the most bustling communities on the internet, which is also why it is very easy for anyone to delete their account. While you are able to delete your account, the content other people have reposted will remain available on the site. To delete your account, click on the person-shaped icon on the website, and go to “settings”. There select “delete account”, entering your email and password to confirm the process. Tumblr also states that it takes them a few days to properly wipe all of your content.

Whatsapp

Whatsapp is a free messaging app to send Voice over IP (VoIP), images, video calls and documents using a mobile device. To delete your account, simply open your Whatsapp and go to the “settings” menu. From there, select account and go to “Delete my account”, after which you will have to enter your phone number in international code and tap “delete”.

YouTube

YouTube is second only to Facebook as a social media platform, owned by Alphabet, the owner the parent company of Google. A well-managed channel can help to improve website ratings. A channel not in use should be deleted. Deleting your channel from the largest video-sharing platform on the internet is quite simple. You will first have to sign into your YouTube account and go to your advanced settings. From there, choose “delete channel” and then opt for “delete channel permanently”. This will launch a prompt where you can confirm if you want to delete your channel or would still like to keep it.

Final Words of Advice

According to industry experts and a recent article in Consumer Reports, it is a best practice to reduce the risk of having your personal and professional data being misused or stolen by keep your current accounts secure and deleting accounts no longer in use.

Adapt to Social Media

Adapt to social media and create residual income. By joining affiliate programs that are long lasting you stay in the game longer. Free tools must be exercised… some of them include backlink checkers and PR checkers ™ for Google PR.

When looking for backlinks… submit articles – they last the longest – on EzineArticles or sites like that but also talk to webmasters from related business to get a reciprocal exchange.

With Social Media – it is always changing so keep your post fresh and your ideas up to date.. Likes are gotten by people expressing interest in the posts that you recommend.. Video marketing can be done free with a Google YouTube account…

Getting back to the affiliate program longevity – the best ones I joined were Forex 7+ years I’ve been there… still profitable… ClickBank – many opportunities so you’ll never lose interest… and eBay – the biggest auction affiliate in the world in my mind…

In the twitterverse use #MLM #business and #entrepreneur as well as #Forex. hashtags are timeless and will carry on with the evolution of these sites… if you have questions I am always available.

One way to market was articles. One way to write an article is in essay format. Always appeal to the latest trends… visit the newest website in your niche… business news can be used as a reference as well

The best way to success is by positive thinking, One book you should read is “the secret” quantum physics has found that the ancient teachings prevalent in most religions today can be possibly modeled in modern science so don’t forget this tip.

To succeed in business you also have to stay healthy. one way is in habits and what you eat. here’s a simple recipe to end off the article

ingredients: blueberries

bananas

apples

yogurt

flax seeds

milk

juice

nuts

ice cream

Blend all the ingredients in a blender and place in freezer. After a few hours you have to cut the mix into squares and places on plates… then poke a hole and place one scoop of vanilla ice cream in the middle. chocolate sauce goes on top.

All in all in this business you have to be wise and live a balanced lifestyle. Keep up to date and come up with new ideas by brainstorming often, Usually the best ideas that work are the simple ones. feedback is appreciated.

Facebook Presentation Secrets for Social Media

Facebook Presentation Secrets for Social Networking.

Presentation is all about what your visitor sees first (usually an image and/or video) on Facebook and social networking. Scrolling through the feed content, your social media post must attract attention. Therefore, a featured image or video thumbnail of the required dimensions and file size is of paramount importance.

Learn how to create curiosity with presentation in social networking and on Facebook. Know what your audience on social media is looking for. There are 3 basic requirements to meet the criteria. Address an identified need within your niche on Facebook and social media. Offer a solution and create curiosity.

Your content must do the talking and consistent posting on Facebook. But we will get around to consistent posting with Facebook and social media later in this article. Done with an exceptionally well designed auto posting tool.

Timing Strategy for Social Media and Facebook.

Consistent posting needs timing and strategic writing with attention grabbing presentation. Therefore, it will require a few days and even weeks of sharing posts to establish optimized engagement time. That is why I mentioned the auto posting tool for social networking and Facebook. Which you will have access to shortly.

To target the right audience on Facebook and social media you post at times when audiences are most active. If you want to target a United States audience for instance, then search Google for the time zone. Then calculate the time you must post to social media and Facebook from your location.

Posting to Facebook and social networking at the wrong time can be devastating from a marketing point of view. Because your audience you wish to target may be sleeping. Therefore, all that presentation work just goes down the social media and Facebook feed in hope of some hits.

Creating presentations (posts) that will keep your visitors occupied is the whole point to posting on social networking and Facebook. Therefore, posting at the wrong time completely defeats the purpose. You have 2 powerful free tools, Google, and YouTube. Learn the secrets of how and what to do research on.

Creating Content for Facebook and Social Media.

Text position for social networking and Facebook post featured images are important for presentation. The key is consistent content and presenting your message in a timely and curios fashion. With social networks and Facebook, timing and presentation is crucial.

The image displayed with your post being it social networks, Facebook, or blog post. Will be cropped from the sides for mobile content display. Avoid creating “broken message” presentations this way with your writing and designing. Text focused to the sides of images will be cut off.

Although for social networking and Facebook posts our goal with text position is focused more on creating curiosity. Again, leveraging presentation and what your visitor sees first is the secret. URLs shared must be from your own blog, YouTube videos and/or bridge and landing pages. But never an affiliate link.

Social media and Facebook does have quite a few “hoops” to jump through. Like adding hashtags for instance. Because you are preparing your presentation (post) to share to selected Facebook Groups. The list of Facebook Groups I personally use will be available at the end of this article.

For knowing which hashtags are currently trending on social networking and Facebook, you can use a tool called (hashtags dot org). First you need to get to know your way around creating content consistently for social media and successful presentation.

Secrets for Social Networking and Facebook Posting.

The secrets of using emojis for social media and Facebook post presentations come highly recommended. Draw your visitor’s attention to the presentation by making it colourful. Create interesting 1 – 3 sentence posts. Make those first few sentences powerful and “need” specific.

But also use your free Facebook posting tools to add H1 and H2 headers to your presentations (posts). To focus your presentation on the H1 and H2 headers, add hashtags at the end of your presentation. Because then your H1 Header is the first text in your social media and/or Facebook post.

Adding headers however is only available when you do manual posts in Facebook groups. But it is a great way to make your presentation easier understandable by both your social media audiences and search engines. Remember to include your target keywords in the presentation (post) headers.

Use emojis to replace words in the text for Facebook posts, triggering curiosity. Use Bold and Italic text to highlight focus points as demonstrated above. And remember that all these social media presentation techniques can be accessed and leveraged 100% for free! All you need is to be a little creative really.

You can also ask your friends on Facebook if your post draws attention. Listen to people’s opinion and adjust accordingly. Remember, with social networks and Facebook our primary objective is to create curiosity through presentation. Because as mentioned earlier, the only secrets are presentation and timing!

Bridge Pages for Social Media and Facebook.

The fact that Facebook will not ban or block Google links, give us the upper hand from an affiliate marketing point of view. Google sites is an outstanding method to create consistent social media and Facebook posts. A Google site is a custom URL, and the slug can contain your target keywords.

But we will get to writing SEO friendly content and backlinks for the bloggers here a little later in the article. Keep reading, these social network and Facebook presentation secrets are rather simple to follow. You have 3 options for Bridge Pages with affiliate marketing on Facebook.

1. CB Pro Ads

2. One Page Profits

3. Clone Me

With Google sites all the work is on you, from writing to creating images. It is your job to create striking presentations for social media and Facebook. With the remaining 3 tools, all the bridge pages are done-for-you. You do not need to create any content or write anything except linking your affiliate networks.

We are creating Goole Sites and using Bridge Pages because sharing raw affiliate links will get you suspended on social networks and Facebook. Social media marketing is all about bridge pages, landing pages and funnels.

But for the purpose of this article. We are only going to focus on bridge pages for social networks and Facebook. And generating sales with affiliate marketing through this technique. Leveraging social networking, social media along with writing and media design secrets.

Secrets to using Google Sites for Facebook.

The secrets to using Google sites for social media and Facebook presentations is almost an unfair advantage. On second thought, no, not almost. It is an unfair secret advantage, especially once you get the hang of SEO. Because SEO is just the ability to best tell search engines what your content is about.

Share with Groups on Facebook but with different text on each share. But before you do there is one paramount requirement with regards to your presentation. Your Google Site URL will select a particular image on your Google site as social media post presentation image.

The question is, which “secret” image is automatically selected for social media and Facebook? And the answer is, the Google site logo. And a good, suggested dimension is 940 x 788 / 950 x 650. These presentation images can be created with Microsoft Paint or Canva for social media and Facebook.

But there are also a few great SEO techniques we will discuss under the last subheading. Keep reading and learn a lot about content creation, social media, Facebook, writing and presentation. You will be blown away by the traffic potential with social media and Facebook.

Apart from link building, strategic keyword placement in titles are important. But so is the first 2 – 4 lines of your Google site content. Much the same as the requirements for a great post on social media and Facebook. All part of the secrets to presentation and creating curiosity.

Get More out of Social Networking and Facebook.

Multiple social network profiles (pages, groups, spaces, communities) play a major role with presentation secrets for social media and Facebook. Especially Facebook pages because you get to leverage the call-to-action button. Which then redirects to a bridge page, Google site or landing page.

Audience engagement with Facebook is great for building reputation. Adding presentation secrets to the mix and creating curiosity makes success imminent. The more active and consistent you are the more visible you will become.

So, the secrets to getting the most out of social networks and Facebook. Focus on quality content and presentation, along with consistency and engagement. It is a lot of work to stand out on the internet, especially on social media. Because it had become rather crowded with marketers chasing the quick buck.

Always be real and do not make everything you offer on social networks a sales pitch. In fact, if your presentation creates enough curiosity, you will never have to sales pitch again. Ever. Commenting and offering solutions without any sales pitch and/or URL is another secret to build recognition on Facebook.

Be sure to get known as “the guy who helped” instead of the guy trying to sell something on social media. When people on social networks and Facebook recognise your knowledge, you will be unstoppable. Growing your audiences through presentation secrets and knowledge.

Secret List of Groups for Facebook Presentations.

Giving you 11 of my favourite secret Facebook Groups with social media that will drive a lot of traffic to your posts (presentations). Because we are looking at a total group member count of 1 824 800. Almost 2 Million Members! But that is just the tip of the traffic iceberg with social media and Facebook!

Make Money Online (151.6K Members)

Make Money Online Club Australia (193.3K Members)

Earn Money Online USA – Canada – Australia (85.3K Members)

Affiliate Marketing – Worldwide (335.3K Members)

Make Money Online Club (218.5K Members)

Affiliate Marketing Work – Worldwide (222.3K Members)

No1 Online Earning Community (245.6K Members)

Advertise Business and Make Money (69K Members)

Affiliate Marketing for Everyone (163.4K Members)

Unlimited Advertising + (80.2K Members)

Network Marketing Pro (60.3K Members)

Remember to follow the presentation and design secrets in this article. You will soon master the art of leveraging social media and Facebook for traffic. Getting unlimited free traffic can be done, but it is hard work. And unfortunately, there are no shortcuts. Competitive presentation requires maximum effort!

Establish the right time to post your presentations (Google Sites) on social networks and Facebook. And post only one post per day to each Facebook group. But read the group rules and understand what is allowed. Spamming and over posting is not a good idea. The secret is to build an audience over time.

Bonus Traffic Technique with Facebook Pages.

Leveraging Google sites and the call-to-action button with Facebook pages for social network traffic. One important thing to remember is that for everything we discuss in this post. There is probably a Google article and/or YouTube video that will show you exactly how it is done.

Therefore, just search your browser or YouTube for a video on how to use the call-to-action button with Facebook pages. Then follow the steps and redirect the call-to-action button to your landing page. Like a Google site or bridge page that must then redirect to your affiliate offer.

Using the post scheduling tool mentioned earlier is a fantastic way to build Facebook audiences. And eventually they start clicking on the call-to-action button. That is why interesting content with curios presentation is the secret to social media. Give people reason to want to like and follow your content.

Facebook Fan Pages – Key to Social Media Marketing

The phrase “Social Media” is everywhere these days, and if you are like me, you may be a bit unclear about what it actually is… the infamous phrase “I’ll know it when I see it” comes immediately to my mind!

I went looking online for a short, easy to understand definition and found this analogy:

Think of regular media as a one-way street where you can read a newspaper or listen to a report on television, however, you have very a limited ability to share your thoughts on the matter.

Social media, on the other hand, is an active two-way street that gives you the ability to communicate and respond.

As the internet develops and evolves, the various Social Media websites are also growing and changing. Several years ago, MySpace was the place to be but it is now, generally, considered to be on the wane. Likewise, on MySpace, 33% of its users are aged 17 or less.

Ravalry is a relatively new, large community based around knitting with over 1,200,000 registered users. As you would expect, its membership is primarily female and the average member age is not available.

Facebook provides this information about its users:

  • More than 500 million active users (I recently saw the number 600 million, but it hasn’t been changed yet, on the Facebook site)
  • 50% of our active users log on to Facebook in any given day
  • Average user has 130 friends
  • People spend over 700 billion minutes per month on Facebook

As you can see, each Social Media site appeals to and has a different user base than any other site.

One of the powerful considerations about using a Social Media web site is the fact that most of them provide a level playing field when it comes to small business owners vs the big boys. For instance, you can build a Facebook Fan page for your offline business and so can a major automobile manufacturer. Within those Facebook Fan pages, both you and the multi billion dollar car maker have the same tools and resources. On Twitter, as another example, both you and the big companies are limited to 140 characters per tweet. They can’t buy more characters and blast you out of the competition.

When considering which Social Media site to use with Social Media Marketing, you should consider the site’s membership but you should also evaluate its culture and how the members interact. It is important that any Social Media site have a population whose interests are in line with your goals and, also, that it have a structure and pattern of interaction that is compatible with your objectives.

In addition, you must keep in mind that things change on the Internet, sometimes at breakneck speed. As an example, between March 2011 and May 2011, Facebook implemented some major changes which changed the whole landscape of using it for business. Suddenly, controlling the content on a business Fan Page and using product images to build a brand became game changers… for those who knew how to do it!

While a particular Social Media site may be a good fit now, be aware that it may not always be a successful marketing vehicle for you! Monitor the efficacy of any Social Media site you are using AND also keep an eye out for the next big thing!

With all of that in mind, at the current time, I consider Facebook and Twitter to be the Social Media sites most likely to be compatible with the majority of offline businesses and their needs.

In this article I am going to briefly cover Facebook, its structure as it pertains to Social Media Marketing, discuss some of the pitfalls, and propose some strategies appropriate to it.

Facebook Marketing for Small Business

Facebook’s membership has exploded and is currently greater than 500 million, according to its own website.

It originally began as a way for college students to keep in touch with fellow students. As a result of that, the basic Facebook community seems to start from an academic basis, joining students and former students with friendship circles widening out from there. If you are like me, you will be shocked at how many members from your high school class seem to appear out of nowhere!

As part of the Facebook mechanism, possible Friends are suggested to you, based on Friends that you and the other person have in common. While you can do searches, it is hard to find and befriend a person that Facebook doesn’t think you should know. On the other hand, Facebook makes suggestions that will extend your network, based simply on friends you may have in common with someone.

Another important mechanism is the Facebook Like option, which has now been extended beyond Facebook Profile pages and Facebook Fan Pages and out into the web at large.

A third and exceedingly important Facebook mechanism is the ability to link between websites, Facebook Fan Pages, and Twitter accounts. This can be done with a variety of website creation software options. At the moment, I am encouraging my clients to use the blogging software, WordPress, for non blog websites.

With WordPress as your website management system, once you have signed up for the Networked Blogs Facebook App(lication), you can set your website to show any changes on your Facebook Fan Page and your Twitter account. Your Twitter Account can be set to show Facebook Fan Page Comments along with Posts from your WordPress website. In addition, your Tweets will be displayed on your Facebook Fan Page and your website.

Now, I know that the previous paragraph was confusing so let me give you the abridged edition! In my example, you have three web presences for your business – A Facebook Fan Page, a website built with WordPress, and a Twitter account. Any Post made on one of those three sites will automatically appear on the other two sites.

This is VERY powerful and is a REAL time and energy saver IF you take the time to plan your web marketing strategies with this capacity in mind!

With the potential of getting a three to one benefit from any of your Social Networking posts, as described above, let me go a bit deeper into the opportunities afforded to an offline business by having a Facebook Fan Page.

NOTE – It is important to understand that while a Facebook Fan Page can be considered a potential web site substitute, it offers long term hazards that, in my opinion, are not worth the risk.

Building your business’s primary web presence on a third party web site is taking the time, effort, and money to build a nice new house on land that you DO NOT OWN! You might be OK in the short term, but later down the road, you may lose you house, simply because you do not own the land.

While you may decide that it is efficient to start with a Facebook Fan Page, you should also plan to build your own website ASAP! As a business owner, you should be careful to own and control as many of your business assets as possible.

With that warning out of the way, before utilizing any Social Media site for your Social Media Marketing, take the time to read the site’s ToS or Terms of Service. Do NOT assume that you know what is allowed and what is not.

As an example, you may have multiple Twitter accounts, but each account must be tied to a different email address. Any email address can have only ONE Twitter account.

With Facebook, any human is allowed ONLY ONE ACCOUNT! This means that any Facebook Fan Pages built for any businesses will be offshoots of your primary, personal Facebook account.

If for some reason, you do not want a Facebook Fan Page to be obviously tied to your personal account, you can set the Privacy setting to obscure the connection. In the case of most offline businesses, this would not be a concern. However, I have a number of online businesses, some of which I am open about and others that I have chosen to run from behind the scenes. There is nothing questionable about doing this, I just prefer to keep the connection quiet to minimize others copying my business model. However, ALL of my business Facebook Fan Pages are offshoots of my SINGLE personal Facebook account.

Part of the evolution of the Facebook Culture is that, in most instances, it is considered appropriate to ask other members to share with their Friends about your Facebook Fan Page or your new post or any of a number of other Facebook interactions. This is markedly different from other websites and their culture, and as a business owner, it is a powerful tool.

It is perfectly OK to ask others to LIKE your Facebook Fan Page. In fact, this can be an important traffic builder for your Facebook Fan Page!

Google AdWords vs Facebook Ads

Another online marketing benefit offered by Facebook is the option to use their Pay Per Click advertising. In the Facebook universe these are known as Facebook Ads – which seems obvious, but online, things are not always obvious!

Last night, I was on a call with one of my consulting clients and she mentioned that she had just gotten a $100 voucher for Google AdWords. She wanted to know if this would be worthwhile. I said that I thought that using Facebook, creating a Facebook Fan Page for her business, and spending her limited budget on Facebook ads would be a better use of her resources, even considering her $100 AdWords voucher.

I explained it to her this way:

Google AdWords and Facebooks Ads are Pay Per Click… each ad is shown (this is called an impression) and you pay when someone actually click on the ad.

While the mechanism for figuring ad payments is the same (PPC or Pay Per Click) the basis for showing an ad differs drastically between Google AdWords and Facebook.

On the surface, the ads themselves are similar. While they may or may not have a picture included, the text or content of the ad is short and presented in plain and simple text. Ads are displayed off the side in vertical stacks or within the body of the page’s content. For the most part, these ads are subtle and unobtrusive.

However, the Ad Display Criteria is where the biggest differences lie.

In Google, AdWords are shown on the pages generated with Search Results as well as on website pages related to the Ad’s specified search term. This means that Google AdWords are displayed using a mechanism of which terms are being used in online searches. As AdWords have developed, in some instances they are also displayed according to the geographical location of the person doing the Search.

Facebook actually takes an entirely different approach – Facebook Ads are displayed in front of PEOPLE who meet the demographic requirements that you have chosen.

To simplify further, Google AdWords are displayed based on the content of the page where they are shown and Facebook Ads are shown based on the interests, and even the physical location, of the person doing the looking!

As you can see, there is a radical difference between Google AdWords and Facebook Ads.

This is one of the reasons that I feel that Facebook Ads may be far more beneficial for offline businesses.

It is also important to note that when creating a Facebook Ad, you have the choice of sending people who click either to an offsite web page or to a specific Facebook Fan Page.

All in all, I consider Facebook a strong option for offline businesses, since you have the ability to target both demographically and geographically. The potentially viral effect that is inherent in the Facebook culture is another good reason for adding Facebook in to your online advertising mix.

WordPress works well for integrating Social Media options

Finally, if you are using WordPress to build your website to blog, it is relatively easy to integrate WordPress Posts, Facebook Fan Page Posts, Twitter Tweets, and possibly even, your Autoresponder Service messages, so that each one appears on the others… AUTOMATICALLY!

Between the timesaving automation available and the three for one currently available combining WordPress, Facebook, and Twitter, spreading your company’s message across the internet has gotten MUCH easier!

Social Media Marketing – Facebook, Twiter, Digg

Getting your company or personal website to rank on the three major search engines (Google, Yahoo, MSN) is the quickest and most effective way to boost your sales and grow your business. Many search engine optimization (SEO) companies charge an arm-and-a-leg for ranking services, when you can do much of the work yourself for a fraction of the cost.

Marketing your business online is easier, and more importantly cheaper, than you probably realize. By using free web marketing tools and capitalizing on free social mediums you can easily drive traffic to your website and interact with your customers for no cost and very little time. Online social sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube require nothing more than a valid email account and password, and give your business free access to millions of potential customers. Social bookmarking sites such as Digg and StumbleUpon are a couple more free resources that will spread your product or message like wildfire.

Social media, also known as Web 2.0, is no longer for the kids. Don’t be fooled by the flashy profiles and young founders; networking online has become the driving force behind many marketing campaigns. Social marketing is still a new strategy for many major companies, but with literally hundreds-of-millions of users from all demographics, these free platforms provide great potential. According to a recent article on Forbes.com, social media outlets allow CEO’s and companies to interact with their customers daily in a highly productive way. Starbucks, for example, uses Twitter to get direct feedback from customers and update them on new products.

The majority of Web 2.0 users are between the ages of 18-34, and while MySpace still attracts the younger crowd, Facebook, Squidoo, and even LinkedIn are great for reaching the buying public in an innovative way. The best part about these free networks is that they come with built-in blog, photo, and email applications. These are the tools that make conveying your message and redirecting traffic to your site easier then ever.

There are two simple things to remember when setting up a social networking account: use keywords in your profile name, and use a catchy profile picture. Your profile picture is the first thing that customers will see when browsing the internet or considering your online ‘friendship.’ Your profile picture can be your logo, but in some cases it is preferable to set up an account as the company CEO, rather than as the business itself. If you are a photographer, for example, it is well worth your time to set up a Flickr profile with examples of your best work. By setting up a free account as an individual, you can blog about your work on upcoming projects, post pictures of your business convention, and interact on a more personal level. While statistics show that a certain amount of trust is already given to a social network ‘friend,’ that trust only enhances when the interaction is with an individual instead of a business.

Setting up a social profile, whether it be on Facebook, YouTube, or Twitter involves finding the “Sign Up” tab (or “Join” tab) usually located on the right-hand-side near the “Sign In” tab. You will be prompted to enter your email address and new password. I would suggest using your company email or setting up a free Gmail account using your business name.

When creating a profile on YouTube and Twitter, you will be instantly asked for a username. You basically have two options here: use your company name or use an optimized keyword name. Use free online tools such as Wordtracker and Google Keywords to research what names will attract more traffic. If your business name is already optimized, then you have the best of both worlds. Keep in mind that this will be how a customer finds you on these social platforms. When a user searches for new ‘friends,’ they will enter a keyword to find profiles. For example, if a MySpace user is searching for an Arizona Cardinal’s fan, they will type in the keyword Arizona Cardinals. If you happen to have a business selling Cardinal’s apparel, using this keyword is highly productive for you.

Use the free online tool CheckUserNames.com to simultaneously check multiple social networks for user name availability. From this site you can test your keyword optimized profile name, and sign up for many accounts quickly and easily.

When it’s time to fill in your personal information, don’t be too professional. Have some fun with it while conveying your company’s message. In order to update your personal information on MySpace, you’ll have to go to “Edit Profile” under the “Profile” tab near the top of your screen. From this page you will be able to change the look of your profile and add to your “About Me” section.

After creating your account, you will have to check your email to authenticate your profile. This is why you must use a valid email address. Follow the setup steps as prompted, and within a matter of minutes you have created your first social marketing site. Of course, it’s definitely not advised that you simply come out and post your product all over the network. That is a great way to get blocked and rejected by every user on every platform. MySpace comes equipped with a “Spam” tab to use when you send an unwanted or commercial email. If too many of your recipients mark your email as “Spam,” you run the great risk of being banned from MySpace.

Once your profiles are created and customized, it’s time to get down to work. Remember, you can have an account in every social network and can optimize each one to drive traffic back to your site. The more free profiles that you have, the more opportunity you give yourself to organically rank higher on search engine report pages (SERPS). By organically, I simply mean to rank on the top three search engines without paying for it through Pay-Per-Click strategies or paid advertising.

Each Web 2.0 platform thrives under different strategies. MySpace is a great platform for “shock-and-awe.” Search engine guru’s still typically stay away from this free medium. However, if you’re targeting a younger crowd, have a band or gaming product, this is the perfect free resource. Tools such as Pyzam will help you build your site with flair. To market your profile, use some of your email marketing skills to reach “friends.” Use a lot of art, photos and videos to convey your message. MySpace is an extremely visual medium, and you can use this to your advantage. Use banners that redirect traffic to your site. Embed links in every picture, video, and piece of artwork on your profile that will lead traffic back to your website.

In order to find your market customer, follow the “Friends” tab to “Find Friends,” where you can search by age, gender, location, and even interests. Find your customer and let them know who you are without sounding like a used car salesman. Build your profile with multiple links back to your website.

Advertising on MySpace is just as easy as setting up a profile, and, though it may take a little cash, it will drive traffic to your site. Facebook advertising is built to allow you complete control of who is seeing your ad. You create it, select exactly who will see it, how much money you are willing to spend, and an advertising timeframe. Be smart about how you word your ad, what photos or logo you use, and the money you are willing to spend. Check your numbers frequently, keeping in mind that weekends will show different results than weekdays.

After you have secured “friends” on these social networks, it couldn’t be easier to tell them anything and everything you want. For example, let’s say you have a new product coming out, or a discounted special. By simply posting a bulletin on MySpace, writing a blog, or posting a note on Facebook, you can reach all of your customers at once. Every time you update your website in any way, you should let your customers know. This is a great way to keep things interactive and personal between you and your Web 2.0 “friends.” By attaching or embedding a link back to your website, and a few bookmarking options, you are taking your social marketing to the next level.

Social mediums such as MySpace and Facebook have an amazing way of spreading photos, videos, gossip, and most of all, questioners and personality tests. By using a simple SEO strategy known as link baiting, you can drive traffic to your site. Create a simple questioner about almost anything from a users favorite things to what they had for lunch, and send it to your friends or post it on your profile. Entice your “friends” to fill out the questioner and send it to their friends, and the cycle will continue throughout the network. It may seem like a small process, but creating a small quiz or questioner will end up reaching for more people than you might imagine.

Twitter is a social network that you truly must be a part of. It’s unique in the way that it allows you to consistently update your status without being too obnoxious. The whole purpose of Twitter is to literally let your “friends” know what you’re doing in every second of every day. Use Twitter to inform customers of upcoming events, specials, and newly posted articles and blogs. Let customers know how you’re feeling about popular news, or a company event. Don’t be too professional, but send relaxed and informational messages to your “friends” on a constant basis. Embed links back to your site, or to a recent blog that you posted.

YouTube is another free social venue that is quickly becoming the SEO guru’s dream, and while it may take a bit more technical knowledge, it can be your greatest free marketing tool. Filming a short video, or throwing together a quick slideshow with music, and adding a link directing people to your site, is all the work you need to do. It rarely even matters what the video is about, as long as it’s entertaining and under about three minutes. You can simply use your Windows MovieMaker to edit the video, add music, a title and credits. Be sure to include a reference to your website.

How-To videos are, and will continue to be, in demand and creating one that is short and informational will do wonders for your website. Do a little research on Google Trends or Yahoo Buzz to find out what the hot topics are, and talk about them. If you’re a gamble, make a controversial video (or blog). If you can get people interested and talking, you will definitely get them to your site. This will also persuade people to bookmark your video (or blog) to share the controversy with others.

The key to YouTube marketing is filling your video description with keywords and links to your website. The only way that your video will be found is through the description that you give it. Be specific to either what your video is about, or what your business is about, without sounding too much like that used car salesman. Make your description as long as you need to, as long as the link to your website is within the first few lines. These will be the first words that a viewer will see in your description. By using optimized keywords, when users search for YouTube videos via Google or YouTube itself, your video will be at the top of the list. Don’t be afraid to comment on your own video, or have a friend or employee comment to get the ball rolling.

Post the videos you make on other video sharing sites such as MySpace and Meta Tube, and before you know it your video will rank on Google alongside your Facebook page and company website. If you have built your social profiles and video descriptions with smart links to redirect traffic, you should notice your numbers going up.

Another free Web 2.0 marketing tool is social bookmarking. Creating a profile on sites such as Digg and StumbleUpon is similar to creating your Facebook and Twitter accounts. Bookmarking sites are used to spread the word about interesting blogs, articles, and websites. For example, on Digg a user will post a story that he found interesting about Obama’s stimulus package. He will “shout” it out to all of his friends, where they’ll “Digg” the article and pass it to their friends. The more Digg users that see this link, the more readers this Obama article gets. The New York Times uses Digg as its number three resource to drive traffic back to its website. If you can harness the power of social bookmarking sites like Digg, you will drastically improve your traffic. This is why it is crucial that anytime you post a blog on Myspace, a video on YouTube, or an article on your personal or company website, you must add some bookmarking options for your readers.

Adding bookmarking options to your blogs involves one simple step. It’s an embed code that you will place directly into your work. Check out AddThis.com to get the code and customize your bookmarking options. SocialMarker.com is another great free resource for creating accounts on many different bookmarking platforms and easily accessing those accounts. This is a platform that will actually take you from site to site, allowing you to open an account or add your blog one by one.

An SEO strategy that has been implemented by many marketing companies is to combine RSS feeds with social bookmarking. (An RSS feed is a way of syndicating your content throughout the internet to anyone who is subscribed to receive it). Your employees should all be subscribing to your RSS feeds already. Anytime you post a new blog or article, they should be automatically notified. Their step is to choose one of the many free bookmarking sites, post your blog on that site, and thus spread the word to their Web 2.0 “friends.” If each of your employees bookmarks your blog, it will appear to the search engines that you must have something relevant and important to say. Your next step is to bookmark your bookmarking profile. This will only add more relevance to your blogs and articles.

Something to consider when doing social marketing is your online reputation, and the reputation of other users. By using the free online tool Trackur.com, you can monitor yourself as well as others across many social mediums. While this product is not entirely free, it can come in handy when you need to know the atmosphere of your online network. Tweetbeep.com is a great free resource that allows you to track who is talking about you on Twitter, what they are saying, and how often they are saying it. Lastly, by using Google Alerts and setting it up manage your online reputation as well as monitoring your competitors reputation, you can stay completely informed at all times. These are great tools for staying on top of what is new in your industry, what people in your industry are talking about, what they are saying about you, and how well your social marketing strategy is going.

Social marketing is free, easy, and incredibly useful if you know how to take advantage of it. While it’s still a new medium, and SEO guru’s are still learning how to capitalize on it, by using these simple steps you can drive traffic to where you want it absolutely free. Take some time to do your research on keywords and effective social strategies by simply Googling social network marketing. Use the sites like MySpace, Facebook, Squidoo, and LinkedIn to get your product known. Make the most of social bookmarking sites, exploit the opportunities your own employees can offer you through their online profiles and bookmarking pages. By converging many different aspects of social media, and implementing social strategies, you will no doubt watch your sales go up. It may take a little longer to see your website rank higher on Google or Yahoo, but in time this completely free online SEO technique will work towards your advantage.

Using the Power of Social Media to Market Your Online Business!

So how do you market your online business without draining your bank account? That’s a very good question, pay-per-click or PPC marketing is not necessarily the only way you can get fast results and generate more leads for your business. Social media marketing is becoming more and more popular and the best thing of all is it’s FREE!

Particularly if you are just starting out on the internet and have no experience at all I strongly suggest that you start your marketing using social media because PPC with Google, Yahoo and Bing can cost you a lot of money if you haven’t the experience with keyword research and campaign optimization. To learn the strategies to be a ‘Google Guru’ can take months when you can write an article or press release and shoot a quick video about something that interests you or share some knowledge you have about a particular subject with people, submit it and its out there for all to see. To give you an idea of the power of this social media revolution lets take a look at these statistics:

• There are more than 300 million active users on Facebook and half of those log in everyday!

• More than 75% of people using the internet read blogs!

• 20% of US adults use Twitter or some other similar service!

• 27 billion people used podcasts in 2009!

• There are 20 million viewers logging into the top 5 article sites per month!

• The top 10 book marketing sites attract more than 80 million visitors each month!

So as you can see this is BIG! This is why you need to learn how to use these incredible tools so you can build your brand, connect with your customers and very importantly position yourself as an expert. Don’t be intimidated if you’re just getting started in your online business and have no idea what I am talking about, social media really isn’t difficult and to get started try the formula I use. Write down 10 questions that you have about marketing your business and then do a Google search on a particular question and you will have a list of answers. Read through a few of them take good notes and before long you will have some great raw material to start your social media marketing.

Write an article and shoot a quick video, either using a video camera (it doesn’t have to be fancy) or webcam, each video being 2 to 4 minutes long. Submit your articles to 3 or 4 of the top article submission sites and blast out your videos to video sites and put them up on a blog. Do this consistently every day and you will soon see some significant results in your business. For more great tips on marketing listen to top earner Michael Force as he explains why you need a marketing educational platform to teach you how to effectively market your online business…

10 Ways to Promote Your Business Using Mass Media

Never rely on search engine traffic to support the bulk of your marketing efforts. The risk of doing this a greater than you think.

Search engines are constantly changing and evolving to stay one step ahead of spammers and unethical optimization practices. Recently, thousands of Web sites that were #1 in the Google search engine for many years suddenly found themselves on page 10, 20, 30 or worse.(This actually happened in September through early November 2005 due to a change in the Google algorithm.)

It is crucial to remember that your “natural rankings” or “non-paid page placement results” in the major search engines of Google, Yahoo, MSN, AOL and Ask Jeeves are free. Search engines do not guarantee the inclusion of any Web site in its search results.

That’s why a solid marketing plan will have diversity. In today’s advertising universe, media channels are converging. Television, radio and print are driving viewers to Web sites and Web sites are becoming 24/7 advertising mediums that supports them all. The World Wide Web allows us to re-experience commercials, music, messages and imagery.

The news media outlets and commercial broadcast companies use the World Wide Web to extend their reach into our homes and businesses. For example, after every HBO special of Rome, they drive viewers to the HBO series Web site to see additional clips and features. Fox Broadcasting did this with their popular military series “Over There.”

Think about it – the World Wide Web supports and extends 99.9% of all mass media communication including the federal, state and local governments. From the Wall Street Journal to the White House, Web sites have proliferated at an incredible rate of 10,000 new Web sites a day.

Global businesses are competing 24/7 for their fair-share of your attention with millions of dollars at stake. How in the world can small businesses compete? Fortunately emerging technologies and the Internet have helped level the playing field. Small business has a distinct advantage when targeting regional niche markets using mass media. Here’s how…

1) Placing Ads in Print Media

Basically there are two kinds of print advertising; newspapers and magazines ‘classified and display’. Classifieds are the small ads towards the back of the publication, while display ads can be almost any size depending on the publication.

Advertising in the print media can be expensive, and for most home businesses it won’t be economical. This is where you can really benefit from the expertise of a media or public relations specialist. My company contracted with David Rourk of Rourk Public Relations. David knows where my ad is going to get the most bang-for-the-buck. He also knows which local, regional or national publications reach the client base I want to target.

2) Buying Radio advertising

Once your business grows to a decent size, you may consider buying some radio time. But ad-buyer beware! You could get a big response. Maybe a little too big! Thanks to the immediacy of radio, you could get mobbed the next day, so make sure you have a support system in place to handle multiple inquires via the phone, Web site, emails and walk-ins. If you have a Webmaster or you can do this yourself, load a digital copy of your radio commercial in your Website for your customers to revisit. I did this for of my Web clients, Easy Money Now, featuring multiple radio and TV commercials.

3) Advertising on the Television

Unless your business is getting big, this would be a bad idea. You’d have trouble producing and airing an ad even on local cable channels for less than $5,000. Of course, if there’s a market for your product and you’ve got the budget for this, you could take the plunge and make a mint. Purchasing air-time or ‘media buys’ is a tricky business. Again, this is best left to a professional who has your best interests in mind. A public relations or advertising professional knows the best station and time slot in which to place your commercial. If you have a Webmaster or you can do this yourself, load a digital copy of your commercial in your Website for your customers to revisit.

4) Advertising on Billboards

If you do this right, a billboard campaign can be very effective. Billboard ads are relatively expensive, but they do generally stay up for a long time,and they can be specifically targeted to an area. Phone numbers and addresses are pretty useless, whereas your Web site address will extend your reach providing your URL or domain name is easy to spell and remember. If you have a domain name that is difficult to remember, consider acquiring a second domain name for advertising purposes.

5) Advertising at the movies

One type of advertising that often gets overlooked is cinema advertising. If you arrive to the cinema early, you’ll see local business ads followed by big-budget ads. This can be a great place to advertise relatively inexpensively in quite a high-profile way. Contact your local cinema chain and compare advertising rates.

6) Organic Advertising

There are multiple types of collateral advertising that help “brand” your business. These include printing, stamping or embroidering your business name and Web address on the following;

1) Pens, pencils, coffee mugs, coulees

2) Golf shorts, t-shirts and ball caps

3) Presentation folders, invoices, fax cover sheets and calendars

4) Bumper stickers, window stickers

5) Phone system ‘infomercial’ about your company for clients on-hold

7) ‘Grass Roots’ Advertising

Nothing beats the basic “meet and greet” or “smile and a hand-shake.” Get your name out in the business community. Check online and the local newspapers for business networking groups. Your local Chamber of Commerce would be a good place to start. Talk to community leaders, private business schools, and associations about business programs and events in your area.

8) Press Release Advertising

PR is popular because it is cost-effective and it works. Sending out a press release is just one example of free PR. There are many reasons for sending out a release: introducing a new product or service, celebrating an anniversary, winning an award, reaching a milestone and so on. Doing this on a regular basis is key to keeping your name in front of your customers and prospects’ eyes and being on the top of their mind when it comes to awareness. Popular forms of PR for the World Wide Web and print are; Writing Articles, Newsletters, Letters to the Editor, Online Forum and Blog Participation and offering Free Reports or (white papers).

9) Web Advertising (Web Marketing)

The most effective Web based advertising I’ve used is “targeted business directories” or business specific directories. For my business this would be any directory having to do or related to Web design and development. There are thousands of business specific directories to include: real estate, law, construction, engineering, flowers, bridal and so on. To find a directory that has top search engine presence on Google, Yahoo or MSN Search and type-in a ‘frequently used search phrase’ relating to your business, products or sevices.

10) Web Site Development

When you surf the Internet, the first impression you get from a Web site is its design. Much like a storefront, it either looks attractive and professional, or it looks shoddy and questionable. A powerful Web site design creates a sense of trust and respect between you and your on-line visitors. The site explains its purpose clearly and quickly, and why a visitor should spend time browsing it.

A Web site is your 24-hours, 7-days-a-week advertising brochure. Take time to plan, research, design and implement your Web site with a professional firm.

As you go through the process of selecting a Web design company, one of the keys to success will be the questions you ask. Following are some questions that will help you find the best company at the best price:

Important Web Design Questions to Ask

– How do you maintain communication with the client?

– How many designs of the home and interior pages will you provide?

– How are any design revisions handled?

– Do I get to keep all ordinal files and source code used to create my Web site? (Some of these ordinal files may include Photoshop files, Flash movie files and database files.)

– Do you charge for minor revisions once the Web site goes live?

– Do you provide a Web site maintenance plan? At what cost?

– Will you submit my Web site ‘manually’ to major search engines?

– Do you build ‘search-engine-friendly’ Web sites?

Increase SERPs For Your Social Media Marketing Business Enterprise With Link Exchange Application

Trouble is, I didn’t realize how challenging it would be for consumers to locate me. There are plenty of websites out there now that if you don’t gain a high position on search engine results pages (SERPs) you will be absolutely lost in a sea of competitors. That’s why I’m contemplating buying some link exchange software to market my business.

Search engine optimisation (SEO) specialists have completely different theories regarding how Google, Yahoo, as well as Bing (formerly MSN) estimate their search rankings and identify which websites to show in which order in the search engine results pages. Each search engine has a unique protocol, so you’ll frequently get a little bit different results even if you input exactly the same research. But nearly everybody concurs that backlinks, useful links from several other websites linking back to your own, are usually essential to getting a high ranking — which is exactly where link exchange software program can help.

It used to require a lot of time to put quality backlinks on the World Wide Web. You either had to invest lots of money to an search engine optimization company to make it happen or you had to select partner websites, and send e-mails to the webmaster requesting backlink placement. But link exchange software has altered the game and made it much easier to accomplish this task. Now you will no longer have to buy or beg backlinks, and you will skyrocket in the search engine results pages very quickly. With link exchange software program, all things are completely automated. You simply run a script, then relax and wait while your search engine ranking improves.

Apart from helping with Serps, link exchange application can likewise provide a boost in organic traffic. After all, backlinks to your own site are actually going out where potential customers would notice — and click — on them. So even as waiting for the Google spiders to pick up on all the new backlinks you have around, you should definitely notice an increase in client traffic on your site. It would be smart to get ready in advance for the extra visits by giving sale prices as well as other rewards in the hopes of generating some repeat business.

There are a few different link exchange software program products for your social media marketing business available on the market, so I’m going to have to examine each one a bit more closely just before I make an acquisition. The going rate seems to be between $50 and $100, which is not bad at all considering just how much time I am going to save from the automatic process. Frankly, it seems as though there’s no faster way to build up traffic, gain standing in the search engine results pages, and improve website popularity than to use link exchange application to get the job done. I should have tried this the day I unveiled my internet site rather than waiting this long!

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