Learn How Social Media Works For Business

Are you a Business Owner who hands over your social media management to someone internally or externally because they “know how it all works?” Big deal they know how Facebook or Twitter works, they’re just tools. How are they with online marketing or at producing content that is aligned with the strategy and goals you have for your business. In my experience working with SMEs I find many Business Owners take a hands-off approach when it comes to social media and the most common reasons quoted is a lack of time to learn how it all works and/or holding a belief that social media is the domain of the young.

I’m going to dismiss the latter reason quickly for the simple fact that social media is now a part of life and one way or the other it is a part of yours. On the other hand, lack of time is a real problem for SMEs, with many doing whatever it takes, regardless of hours, to stay on top of all that is going on relating to their business. When it comes to introducing new systems or tools like CRM or accounting packages it is standard practice to invest in training. It’s also acknowledged it will take training, time and practice before everyone is using the new tool to its full effectiveness. And yet this practical ‘real-world’ thinking is often forgotten when a business enters the online world.
Let me explain. I constantly hear Business Owners say, “I don’t know how Facebook works myself, I never use it.” So when I’m trying to talk with them about the customer experience on that same platform, the one they have chosen to promote their services on, the same one that has access to 1Billion users , they have no practical experience of how it works. Which seems a little remiss given it’s your business at stake.

In order for you to understand how Social Media works means taking a walk in the shoes of your online community. It requires you to become a user on the site(s) you’ve chosen to promote your business. You’ll learn how people interact and engage online with Brands, the kind of content that grabs attention and what turns people away. Armed with practical user experience combined with the vision you have for your company and shared with those tasked to execute it the direction and goals for your online marketing become clear. The content you share is better, it becomes more targeted and in turn engagement levels increase.



Images source: Creative Commons

And that’s important because when an online audience is engaged with your Brand, you’re creating relationships. As relationships flourish, trust follows. When we trust a Brand we are far more likely to buy from them than from a competitor. That’s how Social Media generates sales and it’s why savvy online marketers take the time to understand the customer experience online.

As New Year’s resolutions go, if you’re an SME Business Owner, using social media to market your business, isn’t it in your interest to have top of the list, ‘Learn how Social Media works in business?’

DIY PR Success - 7 Social Media Tips

Business owners can be the best PR managers. Using social media and the Internet as a distribution platform you can match the results of even the best PR agency. However, the amateur marketer can need a little help learning the short-cuts to early success.

Here are some easy steps to get these social media tools returning real PR and branding results:

1. Set-up your PR and Branding Platform. Start small and focused. This platform is going to be where you drive people to learn more about your business, products, and services. Pointing back to this central focal point with all of your PR and branding campaigns with assist lead generation.

If you are technically inclined a simple blog is a great place to start. However, it is not necessary--you can chose to make Facebook, MySpace, or LinkedIn your personal brand platform. Make sure a visitor is engaged with your strategy when they arrive.

2. Listen First. Once you have a good platform, a base station, you need to start listening to your market. Consumers are all over the Internet and making it easier and easier to survey their needs.

A great place to start listening is on Twitter--the premiere social networking and conversation tool. Search for key words associated with your market in the Twitter search engine, then sit back and see what they expect.

3. Participate. Listening is important, but participation builds trust, relationships, and targeted audiences. Ultimately, and online PR and branding strategy online is community building.

Community building means conversations and conversations build audiences. Audiences that will trust your recommendations, marketing, and services. Participation in your community will create sales leads for your business, if done appropriately.

4. Give Value First. Consumers are naturally skeptical, especially online. Nothing brings a sale faster than "giving first" and breaking that natural skepticism. Online publishing tools and platforms have made is a snap to leverage the Internet for big-time audience generation and distribution.

Creating valuable content targeted at solving problems for your ideal customer can make a big impact. This can be as simple as a blog post, eBook, or amateur video. This little effort and value given freely and distributed widely will bring enormous return.

5. Build Relationships. You have to care! Consumers and customers see this in a heartbeat--and they react. Quickly returning emails, phone calls, and even tweets show a passion for your business and the customers you serve.

Customers greeted with a sense of urgency can be the biggest advocates and promoters of your products and services.

6. Be Helpful. Consumers are using the Internet more and more to find information and solutions to their problems. Being helpful is one the most powerful marketing tactics. The psychological principle of reciprocity can produce incredible returns on a simple helpful tip, pointer, or referral.

If you know the answer to a question--help someone. There are lots of ways to help online and build your brand. Check out LinkedIn Answers or Yahoo!Answers.

7. Promote Others. Having a successful PR and branding strategy is not all about you. Promoting others builds your audience and reputation. This technique has two benefits: Getting the reciprocity of helping someone else with a campaign. Second, you get the attention and trust of those who follow your advice and gain value.

Promoting others is like doubling your product base and increasing your marketing reach.

7.5 Engage PR and Marketing Professionals. With so many social media tools available and free advice on the Internet it is easy to rush in without a plan. Doing PR and branding without clear objectives and concise messages can be an obvious train wreck to consumers--a lasting bad impression.

Professional advice and guidance from PR and marketing professionals can help you set firm footing and foundation under your idea. Then you can make do-it-yourself have real impact.






Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/1912105

7 Social Media Tips to Get You Started on the Path to Success!

The number one question we get from beginners is; "How do I get started?"

There are so many social media websites out there, and we understand it can be very intimidating. The Social Media Square One objective is to reduce those stress levels, and make the online process not only profitable for you, but fun too! We would like to share with you 7 tips for getting started with your social media marketing plan.


Use Your Real Name - For some reason, buying a product or service from "HotMama352" does not seem very attractive. Make sure to use your real name when signing up for social accounts. If your name is taken, then it would be acceptable to add some numbers so that it is still recognizable. For example, if your name is a common one like John Smith, it would be OK to use JohnSmith950.
A Photo of You - When choosing an avatar (profile photo) make sure to pick a one that is fun and representative of your professional personality. People do not want to do business with a logo, cartoon, pet or eyeball. Let them see your beautiful face so they know who they are talking to. People are more responsive when they can put a face to a name.
Know Your Audience - Many small business owners are working hard to sell to anybody and everybody in order to increase revenue. While this has you working hard and achieving some amount of success, we know that identifying your target market is one of the most important things a business can do. With so many social networks out there, you want to find the ones that your customers and prospects are using. For example, you might hear that a site like Myspace is out of favor in the social media world, but for a musician, it is still a must. On the other hand, if you want to target the 13-17 year old demographic, LinkedIn might not be the best place to be spending your time. Our advice is to do some research, find out where your customers and prospects are spending their time, and get yourself set up on those social networks as soon as possible so that you can jump into the conversation and start generating leads!
Listen - Once you are a member of the social networks, take the time to listen to what the community is talking about. If you jump in and use the platform with a megaphone to sell your product or service, your credibility will be lost. There is nothing virtual about this online social world, these are real people having real conversations. So act in the same way you would at a live networking event in your hometown. If you would not bombard me with a sales pitch at a live event, don't do it inside of social media either.
Build Relationships - People want to do business with others they like, know and trust. Social media gives us an amazing platform to earn that trust by simply taking the time to build great relationships with them. Just like in real life, this takes time. You must share something about yourself. Don't be afraid to talk about your likes, interests and passions. Nobody wants to do business with a logo or pushy salesperson, so open up and start making friends. Word of mouth is the most powerful form of marketing there is, and you have almost 500 million people out there with the potential to become brand ambassadors for your company. Let's make the most of it by caring about the people, creating value, and showing them that we are here to meet their needs.
Don't Worry About the Numbers - If you only have a couple of hundred people in your network, do not let that get you down. The key is to target your followers, and many times less can be more. We have seen people time and time again try to automate the process in order to increase their friend/followers, but most of the time it leads to a large number filled with bots, spammers, and vacant accounts that bring no value to you, your business, or the community.
Budget Your Time - Minutes can quickly turn into hours on social networks if you are not careful. Many people get caught up playing Facebook games like FarmVille, surfing YouTube for hours watching funny videos, or hitting the refresh button over and over waiting on responses from a post. Our advice is to log in with a set time goal and stick to it.



Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/4687893

Top 10 Social Media Tips for Business

1. Plan Your Social Media Marketing Strategy
As with any small business marketing campaign or business strategy, you have to create a plan and stick to it in order to be successful. Outline the goals and the steps you will take -- in addition to the tools you will need -- to meet your marketing objectives.

2. Find Your Customers
With so many social networking platforms available to consumers, it can be difficult to choose a social network for your business to use. I recommend Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and YouTube to start with. You can also research to find out where your customers already congregate online. You might find some specialized sites to join in addition to the big four.

3. Schedule Social Time
Once you become a social resource for customers you have to stick with it and be there on a regular and frequent basis. Using social networks is time consuming, so schedule social media posting time for yourself and your internal or outsourced employee.

4. Be Authentic and Human
People are more likely to create relationships with other people more so than with businesses. You can encourage customers if you use a "human" voice -- not a corporate presence -- when connecting in social spaces. You can do a few simple things like show a picture instead of a business logo on your profile, and assign one or two people within your small business to be your social voice.

5. Be an Expert
One of the best ways for a small business to interact with customers is to be an expert in social spaces. By joining existing communities where your customers are, you can easily insert yourself into the community by being a voice of expert advice. For example if your small business is plumbing hardware, find those online social communities on Facebook, Twitter, discussion forums and blogs and start answering questions and offering advice.

6. Learn to Listen
It's easy to fall into the "broadcast trap" where you spend too much time talking about how great your products are or how fabulous this week's sale is. In a social network you have to stop broadcasting and listen to what your customers have to say. People use social networks to converse, and the best way to build a strong social relationship with a customer is to be a "friend" who can listen.

7. Be Social
A small business also needs to demonstrate good conversation skills -- after all responding to people is the best way to show you are listening. The point of a social network is to converse, and customers will get bored very quickly if you don't participate in the social flow. You can demonstrate good listening skills and boost participation by responding directly to questions and comments in a timely fashion.

8. Respond Often
Successful social media marketing depends on your own ability to respond to customers in a timely fashion. You want to show customers that you are a "reliable friend," so stay active and participate in all conversations related to your company or area of expertise. If you see new questions or comments, be sure to answer immediately.

9. Provide Value
You'll find that just your own conversation and participation is not enough to keep a continued interest in your social network. There has to be value in the interaction for people, and you will need to provide the reason for people to stay and participate in your social network.

10. Offer Exclusivity
Your social network should not just be about deals, but there is nothing wrong with making your fans, friends and followers feel special. One way to do this is to offer rewards or promotions exclusively to social networking customers.



Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6418511

Social Media Tips - Top 10

Don't just broadcast a sales message

The key to a successful social media presence lies with the social part. Your business should engage with others and assist where possible rather than just trying to sell all the time.

Choose your social media sites

There are few business owners who have time to use all the various social media platforms. It's best to try some out initially and see how useful they are before deciding on one or two to focus on as an addition to your marketing mix.

Set your success parameters

Before using social media sites it's wise to decide on what you're trying to achieve. This could range from brand awareness to generating more comments on your blog or increasing the number of sales leads gained online.

Be persistent and consistent

Like most things in business, social media requires a consistent approach in order to get results. If you fail to regularly update your Facebook page or Twitter account then you can't expect others to maintain a level of interest in them.

Don't jump on the bandwagon

If for example you're using Twitter and a big story breaks in your industry, don't just comment echoing what the majority of others are saying. It can be hard to stand out from the crowd but if you take a considered approach and try to think of a different angle to the story, more people may sit up and take notice.

Share other's content

Building relationships online can be done through sharing other people's content. For example if you read an interesting blog post via Twitter or Facebook on your industry then you should share it with your contacts (quoting the original source). If you share content then others are more likely to reciprocate.

Brand your accounts

When setting up your social media accounts on Facebook and Twitter you should get the pages custom designed to match the rest of your branding so it's instantly recognisable.

Don't post things just for the sake of it

There may well be days when you don't have anything interesting or relevant to say. If this is the case it's better to post nothing rather than something nobody's interested in like what you're planning to eat for dinner.

Relevance is everything

It can be easy to get hooked on these sites and desperately try to get more fans and followers than your competitors. Remember that it's better to have a small number of followers who are interested in what you've got to say rather than hundreds who couldn't care less.

Put links to your accounts on your website

A good way to gain more followers and fans on social media sites is to integrate logos for the relevant sites on your website's home page.



Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/5478675

7 Social Media Tips From Top Industry Experts

Tip #1: Host Live Facebook Events

To add great value and give your fans a different way of interacting with you, every now and then offer live chat sessions, teleseminars and webinars. Mari Smith and her friend Chris Treadaway conducted what they called a "flash chat" as a way of crowdsourcing content for a book.

They used the webinar platform Linqto which enabled people to interact with them as the presenters used a webcam to take turns being on the floor. Participant interaction took place via chat.

If you don't have that type of technical know how you can keep it simple by doing a simple Q&A session on the wall of your Facebook Page.

Tip #2: Be Willing to Help the Less Than Famous

The best way to build your personal brand is to involve other people in the process. Do your best to help others and give others credit for the awesome work they do. Though it may seem like a lot of work, in the long run it pays off. On top of that, as Erik Qualman says in his book Socialnomics: How Social Media Transforms the Way We Live and Do Business, "It's the right thing to do."

Easy ways to help other people include tweeting their work and leaving great comments on their blogs.

Don't just target your help toward top name people; they get a lot of love and attention. You'll really stand out if you help out those who have great potential but are not yet well known.

Tip #3: Don't Overemphasize Marketing

Remember, social media marketing is... social. Heading right into marketing without investing the proper amount of time in the social part of social media marketing is detrimental. There are certain expectations within social media, with one of the major expectations being community. "Very often these expectations do not include having marketing messages jammed down their throats," writes Hollis Thomases in Twitter Marketing: An Hour a Day.

Tip #4: Find Out What Your Customers Want

Brian Solis, in Engage: The Complete Guide to Building, Cultivating and Measuring Success in the Social Web writes, "... my best advice to you is to go figure out what your opportunity is first." He suggests using the tool Research.ly to learn more about your prospects.

Tip #5: Meet People Offline

It's a natural tendency to go online for information and even for friendship and networking. While the Internet is a great place for these things, nothing replaces time spent face-to-face with other people.

Steve Garfield, writes in Get Seen: Online Video Secrets to Building Your Business about the importance of mingling with others in a setting where everyone is welcome.

Tip #6: Share the Knowledge of Experts With Your Readers

Find the experts in your industry and the offer to interview them about their newest product. Ask them a lot of questions that you know your audience will want to know the answers to. According to Michael Stelzner, the founder of Social Media Examiner, this is a great way to not only build a solid relationship with the expert, but to also provide content of tremendous value to your audience.

Tip #7: Be Controversial

Dean Hunt writes, "... here's a strategy I created to ensure that your content WILL get noticed....In fact, people will do a double-take when they see your content title and will not be able to resist reading it. I call it the 'negative slant.' It's very simple to do and works best with informational or how-to content."

As an example he gives the title of a blog post he recently wrote, "How to Work Really Hard and Make No Money." The negative spin on the title created shock value and contributed to it being a great success.


BONUS TIP:

When it comes to Facebook, you need a tailored strategy that works for your business. As time goes by, Facebook proves to be more important. You're starting to see a widening gap of those who get it and those who don't.

If you are looking to increase your leads, drive more traffic to your website and turn fans and followers into customers, FBinfluence is your step-by-step solution for making Facebook Marketing work for your business.



Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6504933

YouTube Secrets Exposed: Do's And Don'ts of Building a Successful YouTube Channel

YouTube is a vital promotion tool, if you're a independent/obscure artist and you're not lucky enough to have your music uploaded by someone else to YouTube, don't just sit around waiting for someone to do it. You have two options, send uploaders your music or create your own channel. I recommend you do both, it's great for all artists to have their own YouTube channels, that way you control the music and how you want your self to be perceived.

What I will share with you today are just some simple tips to get your channel up and running and build a steady fan base. If your goal is to make a channel with 30k Subscribers and get partnership then look elsewhere, this advice is just for normal artists seeking to bring in the fans they already have.

First, set up a account in your artist name, get the page looking good and when it comes to uploading music have this in mind:

Google the most popular times in your country when YouTube has the most traffic and pick the best days (In my opinion Thursday and Sundays are perfect days).
Spread out your uploads, don't upload more then one thing at a time. The first upload will get less hits then the last upload as people will overlook it.
Tag your videos correctly and honestly! Don't put nothing like "car crash martian conspiracy", tag your music by genre, artist, year and maybe even a couple similar artists.

That is the easy stuff that most people will know as it's pretty common sense. The hard thing about YT is understanding that you are a needle in a huge haystack and getting your music/content heard and watched can be tricky.

Now if you are already an existing artist and your music is already on YT the first thing you need to do is: Harness your fans. You do this by collecting the usernames from people who have commented on tracks of yours that are already on YouTube. Collect those usernames up and put them in a notepad file and separate them by a comma.

Now it's easier to contact them and inform them that you have a new channel where you will uploading your music and content from now on; if they want to follow your new music then they can subscribe. Don't be pushy or beg for subscribers from these people, your preaching to the choir! These people are already fans of your music so your only goal is to notify them of your existence on YT if they won't to subscribe that's down to them.

Now bare in mind when it comes to contacting these people you can do it several ways, you can write on their channel walls or you can inbox them, if you inbox them you can batch message 25 people a time in a comma separate username ID list but you run the risk that people will ignore the message because they think its spam as it is a bulk message. Either way, you should notice an immediate response.

In my opinion there is no point in having a YT channel if you are not going to engage with your listeners, appreciate the feedback you get, ask for opinions...etc and if someone takes two minutes out of their life to send you a message saying "thank you for making blah blah I love that song, it changed my life" then take 2 minutes out of your day to acknowledge them.

If you are a new artist or a lesser known artist, how do you go about gaining new fans on YouTube? This is a tricky situation because unlike above you are not contacting people that already know you, so some people may view it as spam. But if you target the right people, they will thank you!

In this day and age it's hard to find new artists so when your messaged from a artist who you like it's a win/win situation! The hard part like I stated previously is finding those fans. If you make deep conscious hip-hop there is no point contacting people you find on a Lil Wayne video asking them to check out your music, if you do that do us all a favor and don't start to begin with. Instead find your target audience by narrowing down similar artists to yourself, people who you have a similar sound to. For example if you make music similar to say: Sage Francis you wouldn't just contact Sage Francis fans you would narrow it down more by including another artist you are similar to.

How? Use Google! Narrow down your search by searching:
Google > YouTube.com "channels" for example. Atmosphere or Sage Francis

By putting YouTube.com in the search field it means Google only searches that site and by putting brackets on "channels" it will bring up channels making it easier for you to contact these people. Now remember there is a thin line between promotion and spam, if you think you can just click subscribe on all these peoples channels and they will subscribe to yours, then that's a stupid idea. Contact ONLY the people who you truly believe will appreciate your music if any at all.

Target hip hop heads, people who are part of the hip hop community don't target everyday folk who use YouTube to watch make up tutorials but also who happen to like the same artists whom you believe your self to be similar with. There is a huge hip hop community on YouTube. Use the above advice at your own accord but don't spam or ruin YT for the rest of us or make it harder for other artists who are using those tactics properly, don't put a stain on fellow underground artists.

A couple Do's and Don'ts:

DO'S

Your own videos for songs be creative or if you don't have Album artwork..etc use good high res images.
Post your videos to other similar popular videos as a response.
Keep your channel active, spread our uploads out and keep people up to date.
Post all relative information in the video description: Downloads/FB Fan page...etc.


DON'TS

Buy "fake" views or subscribers. It's obvious and achieves nothing! If your main goal on YouTube is to get popular then ask yourself why! Your main goal should be to get and maintain a steady, dedicated loyal fan base.
Post comments on other videos telling people to check out your music, it's totally different from what I mentioned above and most people will just thumb you down anyway!
Get pissed off with people if they leave a negative comment, one of the best reasons for a artist to have YT is for fan feedback, if someone don't like your music that's life! Appreciate their opinion and don't get involved in petty internet arguments.
SPAM! I've said it already but you will gain nothing spamming people, you will probably just piss people off and they will just dislike your videos without even giving it a try.


And remember YouTube is a huge site, any of the advice will work, you just need to be dedicated and time will provide results.

- See more at: http://www.praverb.net/2012/05/youtube-secrets-exposed-dos-and-donts.html#sthash.qk6GdvXh.dpuf

Google Plus Etiquette – The Do’s and Don’ts

A lot has been written about Google Plus and how people should use it, but in truth it is still a platform many people are still trying to get to grips with. It’s yet to really, fully establish itself (although it does have somewhere in the region of 20 million + users) but Google is tying it in more and more to many of its existing platforms. I personally love it and think it offers some key advantages over platforms such as Facebook andTwitter. Having become quite a big user of the platform i have learnt quite a lot and today i wanted to provide a round up of mine and others view of how to use Google Plus.


Guidelines on Posting Messages

As with any social space the key thing is to be yourself while being mindful of others. Audiences on certain platforms prefer certain types of content and communication methods and Google Plus is no different. If you are posting four or five things within a very short time period then this is going to annoy people. Why? Well, because you will dominate someones stream. This is probably the single quickest way to piss someone off on Google Plus. So avoid this at all costs.

The other big consideration is who you share your posts with. Google Plus is great because it lets you segment the people you share specific posts with. This means you don’t share things that won’t be of interest to certain people in your sphere. Remember if you are going to make your posts public then they will very much be this. Anyone can comment them. If you are tagging people in those posts makes sure you ask them. As they would also get public comments and responses.

A hotly debated feature of Google Plus is the ‘notify people about this post’ feature. If you select this then everyone in your selected circles will be notified. This is ok if it is a post for close friends but i would avoid it for any other audiences. This is another thing that will annoy your followers. You can also turn this feature off by click here.

Do’s: be yourself, share relevant posts with relevant circles, be creative, be respectful

Don’ts: notify every user of new posts, share all posts with all circles, post large number of posts in short succession, don’t be offensive, don’t post private pictures publicly
Guidelines for Re-Sharing

Re-sharing is a slightly trickier affair with accreditations and privacy. If you are re-sharing something that is already in the public domain then it is good practice to tag the post with some like ‘via +originalpostername’ and also provide a comment or opinion. This lets people know why you re-shared it and the original poster know that there stuff is being shared in good faith.

The area where caution is required is when you are considering re-sharing a post by a friend or someone in your circles who have only shared their post with specific audiences. There maybe a reason why they limited the post to certain circles, for example privacy. As a result you don’t want to be re-sharing this publicly as this would then mean anyone could see the post. It is sometimes difficult to remember this but is very important.

Do’s: Consider using +1 rather than a re-share where appropriate, re-share interest posts to interested circles, always accredit the original author

Don’ts: Don’t re-share private posts of others publicly, don’t re-share stuff without accrediting the original author
Etiquette in Hangouts

This really comes from my own experiences of hangouts but might not be applicable to all of them. The first thing is to ensure that you mute your microphone when not talking. This is because background noise can really disrupt a hangout and annoy other users. If you are not actively participating in a hangout you should also make sure you logout. This is because spaces on popular hangouts are limited and someone else can benefit from being involved. Other things include testing your camera and microphone before you login. This video about Google Plus Etiquette as posted by +Katerine Graman rounds it up nicely.

Do’s: Test your cam and microphone before hand, share your ideas, mute your microphone when not talking

Don’ts: Have loud music or noise blasting in the background, but in repeatedly, talk out of context
Check-ins

This feature doesn’t seem to be heavily used yet but i suspect it might do more with the recent changes to Google Local pages. If you have not come across these before it is when someone shares their current location through Google Plus. The FourSquare platform is currently much better at this but anyway the key thing here is to ensure that you only share your location with friends. Not everyone is going to be interested in your movements, especially people who don’t know you.

So as you can see there is nothing here that isn’t common sense. However people do often fall down on the smallest things. The main one i experience is over posting. I have unfollowed a number of people because of this. I could adjust my stream settings but frankly its not something i can be bothered to do for one person. If you want to read some other great posts on this i would recommend checking out JAANA NYSTRÖM’s post, Don’t Feed the Animals posts or Axel Kratel’s. All interesting reads and helped to form the basis of this post.

http://www.maynem.co.uk/blog/google-plus-etiquette-the-dos-and-donts/

Top Ten Linked-In Do's and Don'ts

If you are job-seeking, you need to join LinkedIn, an essential job-search tool. If you're not on a job search but you're into online networking; or want to acquire new partners or clients; or otherwise want to rev up your networking activity level, you should likewise become a LinkedIn user, in my view. All that being said, there are some iron-clad rules for polite and professional use of the network. Here's my Top Ten list for LinkedIn do's and don'ts:

1) DO connect to your "real-world" friends.

I'm amazed by how many LinkedIn users join up, create a profile, and immediately set to work inviting all sorts of online strangers to join their networks. Sure, it's fun to browse the LinkedIn database and look up people you might want to know better....but what about your friends back in three-dimensional space? The first thing to do as a new LinkedIn user - after creating a rockin' profile for yourself - is to invite your true-blue friends and former workmates to join your network. There are three steps in this process:

a) Download your Outlook address book so that LinkedIn can find your friends who are already members.

b) Use the Find Colleagues and Find Classmates functions to synch up with people you know from school and past jobs; and

c) Invite bunches of "real" friends who aren't already LinkedIn users, to join the network - you'll be helping them get connected at the same time you grow your own network.

2) DON'T become an Invitation Spammer.

It's tempting to start sending "connect to me" invitation to every Tom, Dick and Sally you find on LinkedIn, but it's bad manners. If you want to reach out to someone you've spotted who has an enticing profile, send the person a Contact request rather than an invitation to join your network. A Contact request, to use an offline networking analogy, is like an invitation for a coffee date. An invitation to Connect is like asking someone to go steady. Unless you know a person already, don't spam him or her with a "want to start recommending me to people, and vice versa?" invitation - it's creepy.

3) DO unto others....

It's astounding that a person would send out connect-to-me invitations while proclaiming on his or her profile that no new connection invitations will be accepted. Talk about all take and no give! There are other LinkedIn users who set up a profile and make connections, and then specify on their profiles that they won't act on requests to forward (a key piece of LinkedIn's value). These messages say, I want to be on this site and get its value, but I don't want to deal with other people's requests. A modern-day Dante would design a special, uncomfortable and crowded level of Hell for these folks: no pits of fire, but perhaps a zone where all connections are dial-up, cell phones can't hold a signal and no one helps you with anything, retribution for the me-first approach to online networking that you showed in your most recent incarnation on Earth.

4) DON'T make assumptions about your own irresistibility.

Connection invitations should state clearly why you expect your invitee to link up with you - for instance, because you serve on the same fund-raising committee or because your daughters are best friends in the fifth grade. With so many activities crowding a typical businessperson's schedule and so many people in the mix, it's easy for people to forget how they know you. Likewise, even Contact requests should state your case as plainly as possible. A message that says "May I call you? We could collaborate" is not the world's strongest pitch. People are incredibly busy - if you're job-seeking, or trolling for new clients, you may lose sight of the fact that a person needs a compelling reason to even spend ten minutes on the phone with you.

It's helpful to remember what I call the Happy Life theory of networking: when you reach out to a stranger, that person is presumably leading a happy and fulfilling life without the benefit of knowing you. It's not enough to say "I'll buy you lunch!" or the online equivalent of that offer; a $25 lunch (or a scintillating phone conversation with you) just might not be as hard to pass up as you believe. So lay it out there: here's what I can do for you, or here's what I need, or both.

5) DO keep your profile current.

A pox on the person who lets her LinkedIn profile languish! If you can't be bothered to keep your profile current, why should another person bother to engage with you? If I receive a Contact request, jump over to the requester's profile, and find that its details don't match what's in the requester's email message, I'm already underwhelmed. Bonus: when you update your profile, you can send a one-click blast message to let your entire first-degree network know about your news. Note: please don't abuse this feature! Reserve profile-update blasts for news on the order of a job promotion, book launch or appointment to a national commission....as opposed to news items like "I have started my PMP certification class."

6) DON'T confuse quantity for quality.

If I were a recruiter, I'd build the biggest network I could, on LinkedIn or otherwise. After all, there's zero downside to being able to view, and reach, a massive number of candidates when your job is locating talent. But for the rest of us, it's easy to get the notions "a big network" and "a strong network" confused. The question to ask yourself is "could I recommend this person, and could he recommend me?" If not, the principal value in any individual LinkedIn connection will be your ability to view his network (and vice versa). That's not a bad thing, but it would be a shame to mistake that kind of visibility for influence. Amassing connections can become a kind of addiction, but withdrawal will kick in when these near-strangers begin to ask you to vouch for them to your dearest friends.

7) DON'T pass along questionable requests.

I got religion on this item in an instant last summer, when a fellow asked me to send a friend of mine a spammy invitation to his business conference. "I can't do it," I wrote, "it's purely a marketing message." The gentleman's return message essentially ripped my head off, affirming my initial gut reaction that his request was an improper one. Don't hesitate to stand up for yourself and for your friends when sketchy requests come down the pike (and they will). If you pass along every bit of dreck that finds you, your trusted friends will start to doubt you, and that's a far worse fate than having to write to another LinkedIn user, "I'm sorry, but I don't feel comfortable passing this on."

8) DON'T abuse the Find Colleagues feature.

LinkedIn's Find Colleagues feature allows you to find old workmates and send unmediated connection requests to them, a boon if you've lost their email addresses over the years. Unfortunately, it's easy to abuse the feature by listing false employers or dates of employment on your profile. What can we say about this? If you believe in the wheel of karma, avoid the temptation to claim employers and employment dates you're not entitled to.

9) DO join the PowerForum.

Newbie LinkedIn users have lots of questions, and a great place to get answers is the user group called MyLinkedInPowerForum. Send a blank email message to mylinkedinpowerforum-subscribe@yahoogroups.com to join the group and get LinkedIn (and general) networking advice. MLPF founder Vincent Wright is a helpful guide and mentor to LinkedIn users all over the world - I can virtually guarantee that you'll learn something useful from the Forum's daily conversation.

10) DO disconnect from bad apples when you need to.

Finally, it's worth noting that LinkedIn gives you the ability to disconnect from other users if you find that the connection no longer works for you. If you're plagued by inappropriate requests or other annoyances from one of your connections, you can cut the cord and save yourself from recurring headaches. Some people just don't get the notion of an online community with standards and norms; and it's not your job to teach them how to behave. Just move on.






Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/184051

4 Internet Marketing Twitter Don'ts

Twitter is the latest big deal on the Web. Everybody's talking about it. And you can be sure that there are 1,000 wannabe gurus who want to tell you how to use Twitter for Internet marketing.

It's likely that these "gurus" just ripped their advice off from some list. Those lists are easy to find. They don't require any special knowledge. What DOES require a little thought--and a little bit of experience--is knowing how you SHOULDN'T use Twitter for Internet marketing. Here are 4 things you should avoid.

1. Don't Twitter every little event in your life. Why not? For one thing, everybody does it. You're not going to stand out in the crowd if you do what everyone else does. Except maybe, just maybe, everybody wants to hear about how cute your cat is, and how drunk you got on the weekend, and how you just lost two pounds. Think again--nobody cares.

On a slightly less cynical note, you have to realize that if you tweet every little thing in your life, people are going to stop noticing you after a while. People are selfish. That's no crime--it's just the way we're built. If you constantly tweet about yourself, people will stop paying attention pretty darn quick. Save your personal tweets for a group of people that already know you, and are genuinely interested in what you're doing all day.

2. Don't just tweet affiliate links. If you're in the pet niche, tweet about new ASPCA news, or a new brand of organic cat food (that you've got an affiliate link for), or the latest findings in how our favorite furry friends see colors.

These things are interesting to people in the pet niche. Guess what? Plain products aren't. If you just go around tweeting affiliate links to every pet product you can think of, you're not going to make any sales.

Give people a reason to follow you by being interesting. Tweet about that new ASPCA news and that scientific finding, and then tweet about the new product. If you constantly Twitter nothing but product links, people will just take you for a spammer. And that's exactly what you'll be.

With Twitter, as with other forms of marketing, you'll only make money if you provide something people want. And yes, people really do want those new products. They just don't want to be bashed over the head with them.

3. Don't use a product image for your profile picture. Let's put aside for a minute the fact that this is in extremely bad taste. This is actually a step worse than micro-blogging only about new products. It's one thing to post spam. It's another thing to actually BE spam. Please avoid this at all costs. It's a cardinal sin of Internet marketing [http://www.immembers.com/] here just like it is everywhere else.

4. Don't curse. Yes, we're all adults and we can handle four-letter "potty words" without running and telling our mommies. But each micro-blog post you make is going to be only a few words. It's neither classy nor mature to make 10% of those ten words a curse word. Some Internet marketers seem to think this makes them look cool. It doesn't. Don't do it.



Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/2140713

5 Social Media Don't's You Should Avoid

Social media marketing can be an excellent way to connect with your current and potential customers. When used correctly, it can increase brand awareness, create brand loyalty and help get you get the attention of new potential customers. However, when used the wrong way, it can end up annoying customers and driving them away. Here's how to avoid the 5 social media marketing "don'ts" so this doesn't happen to you.

1. Don't post the exact same message to all of your social media outlets. Some brands post the exact same information on their Facebook pages as they do on their Twitter accounts. If you do this, it means that customers who are following you on both networks are getting duplicate information. This shows your customers that you don't really care about putting an effort into engaging your social media followers. This will defeat the purpose of even posting on those networks at all and you will be in danger of losing your following.

2. Don't ignore the negative feedback you receive. It's inevitable that once in a while you'll get a bad comment on Facebook or someone on Twitter tweeting something rude. It's no secret that disgruntled customers often turn to social media to express their anger. However, to just delete these comments and act like they never happened is the wrong approach. It's important to follow up with the customer to resolve the issue. No one wants bad word-of-mouth advertising. Social media gives you a chance to see what people are saying about you and change their opinion of you. If a customer is upset because they came to your restaurant and received what they thought was "bad service," then invite them to come back free of charge. Whether you decide to publicly address the issue (so others can see how you handle it) or call the individual privately to resolve the conflict is your choice.

3. Don't use your social media network only as a sales tool. One of the biggest social media marketing no-no's is using your networks only to send a bunch of sales messages daily. Social media networks are a place to connect with and engage your customers, not bore them with generic sales messages. It's okay to announce a promotion or even a service you provide once in a while, but make sure your more "sales-y" messages are scarce when compared to your interesting and engaging content that customers will enjoy.

4. Don't constantly beg your existing fans to help you get more. Social media marketing isn't about who has the most followers, it's about who has the most engaged followers. If all you do is constantly ask your existing fans to help you get more, without providing any incentive or reward, they'll get bored and unfollow you. They'll also wonder why the great participation they're giving you isn't enough. Don't make your fans feel underappreciated; that's a big social media marketing faux pas.

5. Don't offer a promotion for "new customers only." We've all seen this marketing no-no. Although it's great that you're using social media to announce a promotion, it's bad that you're discluding some of your followers. Many brands offer a promotion only to new customers hoping to rope in some new clients. However, what about your existing clients? What do they get for being loyal to your brand? If they're following you on Facebook or Twitter, they're already a step ahead of your other customers. This means you should be giving them extra perks, not making them feel left out of a special discount. Remember to offer specials and inside information to your social network followers as a whole, because they are already a segmented group of your entire customer base.



Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6654140

Social Media Tips - 4 Top Tactics For Increasing Contacts and Online Influence

Are you a small business with desires of growing big quickly? Using simple social media tips, techniques and strategies you can do it with relative ease. Here is an example of one of my small business coaching clients who followed some easy to follow practical advice I shared with them:

With a daily advertising budget of less than $5, you can grow your site to:

1. 29,000 members, then to over 46,000 members within a matter of a few months using a combination of Search Engine Optimization (SEO),

2. Starting a LinkedIn group (currently has over 3,000 members)

3. Twitter announcements of leads (2,000 followers and growing),

4. A corporate blog.

Using these simple approaches, anyone can do it. However, it takes persistence on a daily basis. By following these steps you will see your revenue increase matching or exceeding your growth in membership. Not only that, but in the process you will quickly become known in your industry as an invaluable source of leads as well as being incredibly inexpensive.

In addition to these strategies, your business can be as easy as a pure B2B Web 2.0 endeavor in that all of your content is supplied by your members. Lots of your projects may come from issuing agencies and organizations, but the vast majority will come from your members that are participating in your exchange program. This social gathering of content will keep your site fresh and exceptionally active as more and more members join on a daily basis.

If you are out to attract prospective customers and develop your online presence and exposure, you owe it to yourself and the financial future of your business to learn everything you can about social media.



Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/3478955

Does Your Company Have a Social Media Plan?

Social media and conversation marketing have the potential for transforming brands like no other communication methodology ever employed. The reason? It transforms the fundamental nature of the traditional brand/customer relationship. Historically, companies have used traditional media to advertise in a uni-directional way. It used to be all about broadcasting a message - with feedback loops tied chiefly to the ultimate purchase of a company's product - or worse, no purchase at all.

Thanks in part to the transformative impact of online social media, that brand/customer relationship is experiencing a sea-change.. As increasingly informed and savvy consumers begin to demand more transparency and honesty from businesses they support, companies are no longer able to hide behind an ability to fully control the message. Steadily, businesses are now leveraging social media as both an offensive and defensive means to forge new and solidify existing relationships while building trust through transparency. The most successful of these organizations are now doing much more than simply monitoring the consumer pulse... they are engaging and interacting on a real-time basis with existing and potential customers, throughout the entire buying cycle.

In some respects, today's businesses face the same challenges that early marketers experienced with emerging print and electronic advertising mediums, the most important of which is building meaningful and lasting relationships with new and existing customers. The key difference this time around is that successful marketing efforts increasingly hinge on the ability to reciprocate, in authentic ways and real-time ways, with a growing and increasingly sophisticated online consumer audience.

That's why, planning for consumer engagement through social media is an increasingly central consideration for today's business owners!

However, the pitfalls of a poorly or ill-conceived plan are myriad, and social media and conversation marketing by themselves are only a part of an integrated marketing solution. Although it's important to stress the value of building relationships through social media, it's incredibly difficult to achieve success when you're developing those relationships in an unstructured fashion.

Thus, social media is not to be performed in a haphazard way. Rather, it works best when applied in a logical sequence using a more structured approach. The mistake that most often leads to frustration and ultimately, abandonment, is not having a plan of attack!

Instead of thinking of social media as a freestanding tactic, first consider how you can add social media components into your existing marketing plan. Before you begin any social media campaign, you should think about incorporating these three elements specific to these marketing channels:

1. Know what you don't know. 2. Determine how much time you have to commit to a social media campaign 3. Understand your audience objectives within each social network 4. Dovetailing social media objectives with where your customers "live"

Know What You Don't Know

Social media and conversation marketing are not ends unto themselves... like traditional marketing, they are simply tools, albeit transformative tools, to building brand, market affinity and sales. And while it may be too much to expect even the wisest "old dogs" to learn to master all the nuances of these "new tricks", true wisdom stems from surrounding yourself with people who get it. Don't let fear control, instead become intellectually engaged in ways that leverages your knowledge of your core business, customer and products and work with teams who can help convert your vision into the social media and conversion marketing space.

Social Media Time Commitment

It's essential to understand how much time you have to devote to social media. The online world is a vastly different place than the traditional advertising space largely due to the lightning fast and highly reciprocal communications the web presents. In terms of product marketing, people now have the ability to share experiences, provide recommendations and promote products and services with speeds unmatched in other forms of media. Positive experiences, as well as bad ones, are shared easily and can make their way through the online landscape with an immediacy never before experienced.

As a result, dipping a tentative toe in social media waters without knowing how to swim (or at least tread water) is a prescription for looking at the sky from the bottom of a pool. Nor is it right to spend time developing valuable online relationships, only to appear and disappear like a social media ninja. The best results are often achieved with steady participation, constant communication and engaging interaction with your audience. People will want to hear what you have to say as long as it provides real value to the community.

But note, online communities can spot an online poacher from a mile away! Savvy users of social media know what this term means but for those of you who don't, online poachers are only there for one thing: to use social media merely as a platform to broadcast their marketing messages in much the same manner as they would with traditional media. Don't fall into this trap. Make sure that you are prepared to get involved in more than a one way communication.

Ultimately, the only way to succeed is to make time and commit to an on-going online relationship campaign. Know that once you decide to engage your customers in the virtual world, there should be no turning back.

Understanding Audience Objectives Within Each Social Network:

What is the audience objective within each social network? The great thing about social networks is the ability to pinpoint with precision special interest groups that dovetail nicely with your company's mission. But beware the trap of hitting the "right" audience with the "wrong" message.

For example, professional networks like LinkedIn are not really the best place to deliver your sales pitch as they often fall on deaf ears. For instance, if your company sells women's high fashion clothing, you'll likely miss your mark with a buy now sales pitch on the 1,550+ entertainment groups found on LinkedIn. Here, you'll be better served offering helpful content relating more to industry news, trends, jobs and advice. On the flip side, Facebook's 100,000+ entertainment groups offer a tremendous opportunity to find and interact with audiences that may already be talking about your products. This may sound like marketing 101 stuff but no social media plan should be undertaken without understanding network- specific audience objectives.

Dovetailing Social Media Objectives with Where Your Customers "Live"

This said, where do you go online to find that audience? Social networks, much like traditional marketing channels, do tend to cater to specific audiences. However, unlike offline marketing mediums, social networks require companies to engage with consumers on their own terms. Therefore, it's important to do some research to find out which social networks are right for your business' message.

At a high level, social networks like LinkedIn focus more on professionals while Faceook and MySpace are more informal and cater to X and Y gen audiences alike. But the real value (and opportunity) with sites like LinkedIn and Facebook rests in the ability to get involved with a variety of mini networks such as Groups, Pages and Causes.

Here, businesses can find and interact with consumers in a highly relevant setting. Say your company sells high performance mountain bikes. There are currently an amazing number of Facebook Groups (3,600) devoted to mountain biking and over 35 on LinkedIn! Your company's target audience is here and might already be talking about your products so why not join in the conversation?

Facebook allows companies to create a free Fan Page where your product evangelists can "Become a Fan" and get breaking news, tips and even special Fan discount offers. In addition, Fan Pages can be marketed to other Facebook users much like the way Google's AdWords paid search service works. If your company doesn't already have a Facebook Fan Page, it is highly recommended to start one now.

The internet marketing era may have only come about in the decade or so but the rate of evolution is, to put it mildly, a revolution. We haven't yet reached the pinnacle nor can anyone say for sure where social media will be or what role it will play in business communications in the coming years but one thing is certain, having the right plan and committing to its proper execution will place your company at the forefront of the new age of digital communications.



Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/3303009

Why Social Media Is A Must For Your Business

 

For a long time, social media sites were only perceived as places where young people could stay in contact with one another: somewhere they could share their thoughts, photos and videos with their friends. Sites like Myspace and Bebo helped users connect with new people and keep in touch with their friends online, while also giving them a platform to express themselves.

After a few years at the top, however, Myspace and Bebo were replaced by new kid on the blockFacebook. Facebook, a site designed so that Ivy League college students could create a profile and exchange messages, has become something far greater than its humble origins. Companies and brands quickly realised that they could set up their own profiles, just like the college students, allowing them to connect with Facebook’s millions of users. In 2007, only a year after Facebook went public, there were over 100,000 business pages on the site.

Now, Facebook has over 1 billion users and millions of company and brand pages. The site’s huge membership figures give companies a present and active audience, one they can reach and engage with promotions, and even interact with easily. Companies can use Facebook to keep fans and customers up-to-date with new products, or even to run competitions and contests.

There are a number of other social media sites that provide businesses with fantastic marketing opportunities. Twitter, for example, is where the conversation happens. Twitter’s 200 million users access the site to talk about what they are doing and current topics of interest. Businesses can use Twitter to see what people are talking about and even what people are saying about their brand.

Picture sharing sites like Pinterest and Flickr give businesses a place to showcase their work with eye-catching images, while video sharing sites like YouTube help companies reach the public with viral video adverts. Google+, Google’s answer to Facebook, provides a very similar service to Facebook, but with a focus on building interest-based communities.

Over the last two years, social media has moved onto mobile devices. With apps like Instagram, Vineand Facebook Mobile, people can stay constantly connected to their social media profiles. Meanwhile, with geotargeting social media networks like Foursquare, and similar services on Google and Facebook, local businesses can even find customers nearby and target them with advertising.

In fact, thanks to the reams and reams of personal information users put on social media accounts, businesses can target their ideal customers with adverts.

Social media has become one of the most powerful tools in a business’ arsenal, providing them with a low-cost platform for advertising and marketing, an enormous and targeted audience, a place where they can keep up-to-date with all the headlines and breaking news, a stage on which to release and promote new products, and a forum to speak to customers and monitor the conversation

Article written by Will Sigsworth

Video created and narrated by Rob Thomson

How Social Media Can Boost Sales

As we all know, the sales manager is a major part of any organisation. It is their responsibility to ensure that all of the sales quotas set by executive management are met and that the business delivers its targets. The responsibility on the sales manager’s shoulders can be intense. Thankfully, sales managers are typically former sales people who have been promoted to a managerial position, so they know what hard work is needed from the bottom up. When they encounter any problems, they can use their personal knowledge, experience and know-how to can solve them.

The sales manager has to know their sales areas well and be on hand to assist the sales team when required. A crucial quality of any sales manager is the ability to motivate his/her team. To encourage hard work and dedication, sales managers often establish leader boards and hand out prizes to the best sellers. The role of sales manager is always evolving and many sales managers are turning to social media to create competition within their department. Using social media to create competition is easy, all you have to do is:

1- Create a Facebook page

2- Get your employees to unite on the page

3- Set up internal competitions, sales targets and post how employees are competing

4- Interact, upload pictures/videos of the development

By following the tips above, you could motivate your staff in a more social and interactive way and encourage them to get involved more, which could in turn lead to more sales!

The competitive sales and social environment

Traditionally, ‘sales’ is a very competitive environment. Sales personnel are known for trying every little trick in the book to get one step ahead of rival companies. The emergence of social media has improved and updated the work of a sales executive by providing sales departments with a plethora of resources and vital information.
Websites like LinkedIn allow sales managers to research and analyse companies in various different ways. They can use LinkedIn to introduce themselves to potential clients, gaining direct access in a way which would never have been possible without the internet. The sales manager now has the ability to connect with individuals without any geographical barriers. By asserting your position, you can display your credibility and establish key contacts. Physical meetings can subsequently materialise as a result of your initial social media strategy. As a result of these wider markets, an increase in sales is inevitable.

The Alternatives

There are other social network sites such as Twitter which have become extremely important to all sales managers. Twitter is a rich source of information, often showing users the trends and fads of the moment. Any self-respecting sales manager uses Twitter to keep up to date with what is going on in the market, as well as their own existing client base. Companies often display information which is useful to a sales person, such as the details of an upcoming event or a project that they have undertaken, on social media sites. By following certain companies and organisations on Twitter and Facebook, sales managers can stay informed and up-to-date, putting themselves in a very strong position to sell their services or products to potential clients.

Social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook are generally used as sales aids as opposed to direct selling tools. It is the responsibility of the sales manager to attract customers to the main website by encouraging their followers with interesting facts about the company and keeping them informed of the latest events.

Various strategies can be used by sales managers to assist them in their roles. Some might opt to create videos and integrate them on the company’s Facebook page, allowing them to speak directly to the customer and humanising the company as a whole. This strategy will create interest and make the organisation stand out from the rest.

In Conclusion

Social media helps the company to engage with their customers on a human level without the hard sales tactics seen in the past. Sales will ultimately increase as a result, as followers who are passionate about the company tend to post complimentary messages on the site, messages which are then viewed by other potential customers.

Social media is proving to be much more than a flash in the pan and we will certainly see many more sales managers embracing it with enthusiasm.

What has your sales job involved and how has social media affected you?

Please leave your comments below.


Jenny Beswick