Social media From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Social media

Social media is media designed to be disseminated through social interaction, created using highly accessible and scalable publishing techniques. Social media uses Internet and web-based technologies to transform broadcast media monologues (one to many) into social media dialogues (many to many). It supports the democratization of knowledge and information, transforming people from content consumers into content producers. Andreas Kaplan and Michael Haenlein define social media as "a group of Internet-based applications that build on the ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.0, and that allow the creation and exchange of user-generated content"^[1]. Businesses also refer to social media as user-generated content (UGC) or consumer-generated media (CGM). Social media utilization is believed to be a driving factor in the idea that the current period in time will be defined as the Attention Age.

Your Social Media Strategy

Clarifying Your Social Media Strategy with the POST Method

It sounds simple, but before you implement a new marketing strategy in your business, you need to first know what your objectives are. That is, what is it that you are trying to accomplish? Social media is no different. It's not enough to want to add it to your marketing mix because "everyone else is doing it." Luckily Forrester Research came up with a handy little acronym to help out. It's called the POST Method, and it's a really easy way to frame your social media strategy.
Here's how it breaks down:

P: Who are the PEOPLE you would most like to attract via your social media presence on sites such as Twitter and Facebook? For example--mentors, colleagues, strategic alliance partners, raving fans, potential clients, local connections? Or a combination of these?

O: What are your primary OBJECTIVES for your Social Media presence? For example, is it to get found by those who are looking for your services or products, finding and interacting with current and potential clients and customers, building a community around your business, creating awareness of your content and offerings, building relationships with potential strategic alliance and referral partners, learning from mentors?



S: What Social Media STRATEGIES do you plan to implement? Will you have a Twitter profile, a Facebook Fan Page, a LinkedIn profile, join a Facebook Group, start a blog? Which ones have priority over others?



T: What TECHNOLOGIES will you use? For example--Hootsuite, Twellow, Ping.fm, Twitpic, YouTube, Bit.ly for link shortening? (The ones you determine to be of highest priority to you will influence the kinds of actions you take on the social media sites you have a presence on.)
Finally, for bonus points, you could also include "M" as in "how will you MEASURE your results?" Understandably, businesspeople still want to know the ROI of their activities--and although this is not as cut and dry to measure in social media, there are still certain numbers that you can look to: your number of newsletter or blog subscribers, number of followers and fans, your website traffic, the amount of comments on your blog, how many purchases made, etc.

The POST method is a good basic structure for starting to define your social media plan, objectives, and priorities. By identifying all the relevant parts of the structure you are creating a clearer vision and purpose--as well as implementing goals, strategies, and tools that will best enable you to effectively reach the ideal people you are looking to connect with through social media.

Want more traffic to your website? Nurture your current members.

Members, Followers or Fans depending on the social site your are on are loyal to your business for a reason.Some like your products and services, some are friends and some are family. While it is important to keep prospecting for new traffic through different SEM ( Search engine Marketing) programs, don't forget about your current clients because if you treat them right, they can be some of your most effective salespeople.
No where is social networking more important than on the Internet and to be truly successful a business needs to nurture and cultivate that client loyalty. We have all been to the local coffee or sub shop that gives us loyalty cards to redeem as we make more visits.
It is the same for the Internet business with one big exception. Your storefront isn't in a place where your clients can pass by everyday, they need to make a conscious effort to visit your web page while they are surfing the Internet so you need to be in touch with your clients to understand their wants and needs and strengthen that customer loyalty.
By offering your current clients incentives to bring in new clients you tap into their social networks as well as creating a stronger circle of influence. If your client suggests your product to their friends, their friends are more likely to view your services positively than if you were cold calling them.
"Internet Network Marketing" is the ability to increase your business circle of influence through the personal connections you make with your clients and they in turn make with their friends.
A business like Sound Reading Solutions rewards affiliates who actively promote their products through their own circle's of influence with multi tiered commission rates.
Other strategies include offering discounts for repeat customers or offering referral discounts to help spread your business.
So while it is important to tap into new markets, don't forget about your current client list because they can be a powerful sales force going forward for your business.
DMC

A website that is cheap to make, is just a "Cheap Website"!

The key to any business that wants an online presence is visibility (traffic). There are many programs and companies out there that offer you a bargain price to build your website and they tout your ability to be on line in no time as the end product, but buyer beware! Having a website that isn't SEO friendly is like having a sports car without any gas, it can look good, but who's gonna see it unless they happen to drive by your house.
The old adage "you get what you pay for" has never meant more than in regards to the Internet and Internet Marketing.
A whole new era of sales and marketing has opened up and along with the opportunity come many pitfalls to confuse a novice business owner. If having a website alone was enough for your business to succeed online, you wouldn't have to look any further than your desktop because there are software companies out there that provide you with the tools you need to build your own site (it's that simple). These build it quick opportunities are designed more for a family homepage, not a business that looks to grow. And 2 years down the road when you don't have any organic visitors to your site you start wondering about the Internet.
On one call Internet Marketing Magicians went on, we stopped by a medium sized business owner who had concerns about Internet Marketing because even though he had heard other companies were having success he was wondering if it was a gimmick because his company was not having any luck with their online sales. A quick look at their site showed a page rank of 0 ( 0-10 scale) and their online catalog was sending people to a sorting site where they were grouped with other retailers waiting for customers. So their site wasn't creating any "Juice" for the Search Engines to feed from. What they thought was a gimmick was actually their inability to accept that Internet Marketing is another form of marketing that needs to be studied and researched just like Radio,TV or even print.The same basic rules apply, you want your business to be seen by as many people as possible. Not using SEO properly for your website is like having your own TV station in your basement Ala "Wayne's World" trying to promote your products.
We started working with a company called Sound Reading Solutions and dramatically increased the sales of their Learning software by using "White Hat" SEO to create a multi-tier approach to their Internet Marketing campaigns.
The bottom line is a business needs to look at Internet Marketing as a growing field. The majority of individuals under 35 years of age use the Internet more than any other medium to gather information. If my teeth hurt I go to a dentist or if I want a new car I go to a car dealer. So why would the dentist or car dealer not go to the Internet Marketer for their websites? If you look "in house" to build your site that is most likely where it will stay.
DMC

Google is catching "Twitter" fever"

Google is adding their own Twitter accounts! When the biggest kid on the block is taking notice of you then you know you're onto something. Take a look at this link and notice how Google is adding Twitter accounts to their Press Center page. This is public affirmation by Google that the social network Twitter is building has some staying power.

Search Engine Strategies – How To Increase Your Search Engine Ranking

The methods employed to increase your search engine rankings may seem like rocket science to you, so you have probably avoided dealing with this issue. I am here to tell you—the time has come to face your website! A high search engine ranking for your website is so essential that if you have the slightest desire to actually succeed in your business, there is no way you can continue to avoid this issue.

At least 85% of people looking for goods and services on the Internet find websites through search engines such as Google, Yahoo, and MSN. The idea of optimizing your pages for high search engine rankings is to attract targeted customers to your site who will be more than likely to make a purchase. The higher your page comes up in search engine results, the greater the traffic that is directed to your website. That’s what search engine optimization is about.

You can immerse yourself in all the technical information available online to figure out how to optimize your web pages to achieve higher rankings. Or you can look at a few simple items on your pages, make some small adjustments, and most likely see improved rankings quite rapidly. The first item you should examine is the title bar on your home page.

The title bar is the colored bar at the top of the page. Look at the words that appear there when you access your home page. To increase search engine rankings, the words on your homepage’s title bar should include the most important keywords or phrases, one of which would include your company name.

Then click on all your links and examine the title bars on the pages you access. Each title bar on every single page of your site should contain the most important keywords and phrases taken from the page itself. However, avoid very long strings of keywords, keeping them to six words or less. Avoid repeating keywords more than once in the title bars, and make sure that identical words are not next to each other.

The next item to put under your microscope is your website content. Search engines generally list sites that contain quality content rather than scintillating graphics. The text on your site must contain the most important keywords—the words that potential customers will be typing into search engines to find your site.

Aim to have around 250 words on each page, but if this is not desirable due to your design, aim for at least 100 carefully chosen words. If you want to achieve a high ranking on search engines, this text is essential. However, the search engines must be able to read the text, meaning that the text must be in HTML and not graphic format.

To find out if your text is in HTML format, take your cursor and try to highlight a word or two. If you are able to do this, the text is HTML. If the text will not highlight, it is probably in graphic form. In this case, ask your webmaster to change the text into HTML format in order to increase your search engine rankings.

Next we come to what is called metatags. I know this sounds like something out of science fiction, but it is really just simple code. Many people believe that metatags are the key to high search engine rankings, but in reality, they only have a limited effect. Still, it’s worth adding them in the event that a search engine will use metatags in their ranking formula.

To find out if your page is set up with metatags, you must access the code. To do this, click the “view” button on the browser menu bar, and select “source”. This will pull up a window revealing the underlying code that created the page. If there are metatags, they usually appear near the top of the window. For example, a metatag would read: meta name=”keywords” content=. If you do not find code that reads like this, ask your webmaster to put them in. This may not do much for your search engine rankings, but any little boost helps.

Lastly, we come to the issue of link popularity. This is a factor that is extremely important in terms of search engine rankings. Almost all search engines use link popularity to rank your website. Link popularity is based on the quality of the sites you have linked to from your links page.

If you type in “free link popularity check” in a popular search engine, the search engine will then show you what sites are linked to your site. In the case that there aren’t many sites linked up to yours, or that the sites that are linked up have low search engine rankings, consider launching a link popularity campaign. Essentially, this entails contacting quality sites and requesting that they exchange links with your site. Of course, this requires checking out the rankings of the websites you want to link up with. Linking to popular, quality sites not only boosts your search engine ranking, but it also directs more quality traffic to your website.

Search engine rankings are extremely important for a successful Internet Marketing campaign. Before you go out and hire a search engine optimization company, try taking some of the simple steps listed above, and see if you can’t boost your rankings yourself. Don’t ever ignore this all-important factor in Internet marketing. Remember, the higher your search engine ranking, the more quality customers will be directed your way.

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Nelson Tan is the webmaster behind Internet Mastery Center. Download $347 worth of FREE Internet Marketing gifts at http://www.internetmasterycenter.com

This article courtesy of SiteProNews.com

Is your Website seen by the right people?

So many people are under the misconception that simply having a website is enough to do business in Cyberland and they are disappointed or disillusioned when their site doesn't receive the amount of traffic they had hoped for.
We meet with one such business owner recently who thought the Internet was just a gimmick because he was not seeing any traffic to his site.
Don't be fooled by those simple approach offers to build you a website, if they are not offering SEO and continued monitoring of your site traffic, your site will be left behind.

How to make a Website successful

When doing business on the Internet, there are many ways in which you can make a website successful. Although the look of your website is important, fancy websites don’t make sales. There is much more to creating a quality website. To make a website successful, you must create a website that will be of interest to your target market and make them want to visit your website over and over again. In addition, your website should lead your visitors to take the action you desire, such as joining your mailing list, or making a purchase.

Selecting a Website’s Niche

The first step toward how to make a website successful, will be to target your website for one specific niche. For example, if you are designing a website about wine, everything within your website should relate to wine.

Selecting a Website’s Keyword Phrase

You must also select the most relevant keyword phrase for each web page. A keyword phrase is two or more words that best describe your web page. For example, if your web page is about ‘making wine,’ your best keyword phrase would be ‘wine making.’ You should use your keyword phrase a few times within your web page, as this will enable the search engines to determine what the website is about. This is a very important step to make a website successful.

Using HTML Heading Tags

When you begin writing your content, it is very important that you use the HTML H1 heading tag with your main title at the top of your web page. In addition, use th HTML H2 tags for your sub-titles. This is very important, as some search engines place relevance on the text displayed with heading tags. As the default text for the H1 heading tag is very large, you may want to use CSS style sheets to display the heading tags in the font style and size you prefer.

Using META Tags Within a Web page

Another step to help make a website successful is to include META tags between the HEAD tags of your web page. META tags help the search engines to know what keywords are relevant to the web page. They are also used to tell the search engines what the web page is about. Many search engines will display this description within the search results.

Backgrounds and Text

It is always best to display a web page with a white background and black text, as this will make the text easy to read. Distracting backgrounds will make the text hard to read. A good rule of thumb is to just use common sense and keep your website simple. This alone is a great way to help make a website successful.

Animated Graphics

If you’re using animated graphics, it is important that you use them sparingly. Graphics that continually flash are VERY annoying and may prevent your visitors from returning to your website in the future.

Navigational Links

It is very important to include good navigational links on every page. They should be displayed at the top, bottom, left or right side of your web page. In addition, your visitors should be able to get to any web page within your website within four clicks.

Web page Layout

Always be consistent with your web page design. This is a very important step to help make a website successful. The layout for your website should be the same on each page. If you make it different, your visitors will become confused. In addition, it will make your website appear to be unprofessional. Your website design should include the same layout, logo, and navigation setup on each page.

Spelling and Grammar

Always make sure you proof read and spell check your web pages for errors. It is also very important that your webpage doesn’t have any broken images or links.

Important Web pages

When you launch your website, it is very important that you include the following web pages:

About – The ‘About’ page is used to tell your visitors about you and/or your company.

Privacy – The ‘Privacy’ page is used to let your visitors know what you do with their personal information, such as their email address.

Terms and Conditions – The ‘Terms and Conditions’ page should be displayed on your website for your protection.

Site Map – A ‘Site Map’ is used to help the search engines index your website more easily.

You can learn more about all of these pages by doing a search through your favorite search engine. They are very important and will help make a website successful.

Website Interactivity

Another way to make a website successful is to make the website interactive. This can be done by including a targeted forum that compliments your website, a form in which they can subscribe to an ezine, a feedback form to enable them to give their opinion, or an informative blog in which visitors can comment.

Web Browsers and Screen Resolutions

When you begin designing your web page, it is HIGHLY recommended that you install the most popular web browsers on your computer. This will enable you to see how your website will display in different browsers. You will find that your website may look great in one browser and terrible in another. It would be wise to design your website to display properly in Firefox and then it should display properly in Internet Explorer, Opera, etc.

It is also important that you view your website through different screen resolutions. You can either open your webpage in your browser and then change your computer’s screen resolution, or there are website’s online that you can visit, such as Any Browser, to test your website.

If you follow these simple guidelines, you can begin to make a website successful in no time.

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Shelley Lowery – If you want to learn how to make a website successful, visit Web-Source.net for a wealth of free website design tutorials, video tutorials, HTML codes, JavaScript codes, CSS codes, tips, tools and resources. http://www.web-source.net

This article courtesy of SiteProNews.com

The Wonders of Article Submission

Unknown to many, the creation of articles to be posted online can do wonders for your search engine optimization (SEO). Whether you’re a good writer or not, it is of utmost importance to get articles created, place them on your website or blog, and submit them to article directories online. Article creation is a free and extremely effective way to increase traffic to your website.

Step 1: Write an article

Even if you aren’t the best writer in the world, take some time to write a decent article on some “niche” related to your industry. The article should be very information-based and not a sales article. After all, people are reading the article because they want the information, not a product pushed in their face. Also, using relevant keywords in your article (not so many it’s annoying) will help Google to see the relevancy between your article and your webpage (which you link to), and if you have other relevant articles online, linking to them can help to increase traffic.

Step 2: Get the articles out there

As online marketers say, “content is king”. No one is going to view your website if all you have are a bunch of links and some advertising. Even more importantly, Google isn’t going to rank your page well if you don’t have something which is appealing to visitors. So, you should place articles on your website. Doing so will enable this important content, provide an opportunity to do some “silo” SEO (links to other pages on your website), establish credibility for you or your business, and hopefully some other sites will see the article and link to it.

It’s also very important for these articles to be placed in other places on the net. Create a blog related to your product or service, then put these articles in it. A good blog will not only help to establish more credibility, but it will give you an opportunity to link to your website. This will generate traffic to your site as well as help to boost your Google PageRank.

In addition to a blog, it is also important to submit articles to online article directories. Submission is very simple, and it is almost always free. For the same reason as with a blog, this can help make your site more visible and establish credibility in your field.

The advantages of article submission don’t only stem from increased traffic to your site. Articles can be used to promote a product or service as well. Like I said before, your articles shouldn’t be focused on selling your product or service—they must be informative—but it is okay to have a resource box at the end of the article highlighting your products. This is a place where you can tell a little bit about yourself or your business, and provide the link to your site.

So, now you know what kind of article to write, and what to do with it once it is written, but how often should you write and submit articles? Steve Shaw from SiteProNews recommends as many as 8 articles per month for the entire life of your website, and each article should be submitted to numerous of the most relevant and popular directories.

Unfortunately, this is not an ideal world and we may not always have time to write articles and keep up with their submission. If this is the case, hire someone to write articles for you. There are plenty of people willing to do this, and you’ll still be able to have your name listed as the author (giving you the credibility).

As I have explained, the creation and submission of articles is a necessary marketing effort to increase traffic to your website, obtain credibility for yourself or your business, and promote your product or service. Not only is a link created when you submit the article, but every time the article is re-published or linked to, your traffic is increased. Google will index your new articles, realize their relevancy, and your Google ranking will increase. But don’t forget, these processes take time, and don’t be surprised if it takes 3-4 months to observe a change in your Google ranking.

Good luck with your articles.

Your Search Engine Optimization Specialists,

Internet Marketing Magicians, LLC

Resources:

Nisbet, Peter. How Writing Articles Can Generate Traffic and Improve Sales. SiteProNews.com, July 23, 2009. http://www.sitepronews.com/2009/07/23/how-writing-articles-can-generate-traffic-and-improve-sales/, August 14, 2009.

Shaw, Steve. Article Marketing: A Beginner’s Guide. SiteProNews.com, July 31, 2009. http://www.sitepronews.com/2009/07/31/article-marketing-a-beginners-guide/, August 14, 2009.

SiteProNews. Article Marketing Tips: 7 Ways Articles Can Boost Your Business. SiteProNews.com, July 28, 2009. http://www.sitepronews.com/2009/07/28/article-marketing-tips-7-ways-articles-can-boost-your-business/, August 14, 2009.

Google Wave

Has everyone checked out the developer preview of Google Wave?

I'm sure you've heard about it--I know we've been following it for a while. But for those of you living under a rock.. Google Wave is basically a new communication tool developed by Google. It is based on "waves", which are like gmail threads, that allow real-time chat, addition of users at any time during the wave, and posting of videos/pictures/files via drag-and-drop. It also allows a "playback" option so you can see how the wave developed, as well as the ability to reply or comment on specific parts of the wave.

If you haven't already, watch the video--Click Here. It's pretty long (80 min), but if you have spare time, why not. If you dont want to take that much time, here is a good overview of Google Wave.

As I write this, I realize how often I use google programs (On a daily basis--search, Google Desktop, Gmail, Google Chrome), and I foresee future use in Google Wave (replacing Gmail..). I feel as if Google is taking over the internet...

-IMM, LLC

Twitter for Businesses

I've been telling you about how businesses should be taking advantage of social media networks such as Twitter, but I haven't explained exactly how to do so.

So first off, how do you set up a Twitter account?

1. Go to www.twitter.com, and click “Get Started-Join”
2. Fill out form using First and Last name (or supply exact company name if creating a business account). For username, pick any name you would like, but for a business account I would recommend using the exact name of your business in order to prevent confusion. Develop a password and supply the email which will handle the twitter-related traffic. Click Create my account.
3. Log in and start Tweeting! Express personality by posting “Tweets” into the “what are you doing” form. Using the ‘Find People’ tab, search for those of interest to you, follow them, and hopefully they (and others) will follow you. Using the guidelines highlight in this blog, you can successfully give some personality to your business, answer questions, and see what consumers think of your company or products.

Not so difficult at all..

But now what do you tweet about? Well, according to the article Tweeting for Companies 101, there are a number of possibilities:

• Thoughts & Reflections from the perspective of your business' personality.
• Your business' and others' events
• Contests - it is always entertaining, and who doesn't want to win stuff - people will follow you like crazy.
• Replies to other people (make sure to use proper Twitter Lingo as described in the article)
• Direct replies - discuss an issue with a consumer on a non-public basis
• Blog posts (your's and other's) - make sure not to gloat your own posts, but also to focus on other people's posts you find of interest.
• Company announcements
• Overhear something interesting or utterly hillarious? Share it.
• Internet games - show some personality and humor in your Tweets
• Lyrics and Quotes - once again, keeps your company's profile interesting and different
• Links to media you (and other people/businesses) create
• Shout outs - give thank you's, draw attention to others, etc. They'll appreciate it.

Again, I strongly suggest reading the entire article - it's very detailed and interesting.

That's all for now,

IMM, LLC

7 Characteristics of a Successful Social Media Profile

I stumbled an article the other day which lays out what business owners should be doing on social media networks. What particularly comes to mind when i read this article? Twitter.

I cant say much about the seemingly irrelevant Lego-themed images scattered throughout the article, but the content seems pretty legit none-the-less. It's a good read.

Here's a brief overview of what was said:

1. Strong Profile Visibility: Developing Brand Recognition

Teach, guide and help others adopt and use the social media service.

Visibility is also reliant on your participation levels

Brand recognition; Broad visibility will give you a lot of opportunities for networking, which helps you along the way.

2. Active Participation: Maintaining a Continuous Presence

The amount of time you spend on the site is directly proportionate to the growth of your brand presence.

You must not only be active but regular.

3. Practice Reciprocity: Seek Win-Win Outcomes

Comment, respond to or vote on others’ comments or articles. Instead of reacting, take the initiative doing someone a favor, and ask nothing in return. The unspoken rule of reciprocation will ensure that it’ll come back to you.

4. Effective Communication: Conversations are Important

Request and listen to feedback.

Make a point to connect whenever you have issues to discuss and not only when you need a favor.

5. Support the Community: Putting the Collective Before Oneself

Develop Credibility, be self-less – don’t just flaunt your own articles, products, comments—point out others which you believe are important

6. Provide Value Above All: Gaining Trust and Attention

Earn trust by providing value through your participation.

Offer something, it may not be your own articles—don’t just seek profit.

7. Demonstrate Integrity

Don’t do anything that violates each social media website’s rules.

For more information and to view the article, click here.

Twitter's Upcoming Presence in Business

A recent article on SiteProNews highlights how Twitter may not be just another social network aimed at wasting people's time - It's becomming an important asset for online marketing & creating a branding strategy.

According to the article, CEOs of Fortune international corporations such as Zappos, Virgin, & AOL are taking advantage of Twitter to keep in contact with their customers - with purposes ranging from solving customer service issues, generating a flow of ideas between the company and consumers, creating marketing campaigns to increase sales or draw attention, or simply create a personality to go along with their business.

It also highlights a number of success stories (and failures) from using Twitter for business purposes.

Check out the article at: http://www.sitepronews.com/2009/06/21/how-twitter-is-teaching-business-the-lost-art-of-conversation/

Welcome

It's incredible how Social Media has developed these past few years--household names such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, among others have changed the way businesses market to their target audiences. Businesses are creating online personalities to help them reach these markets, and in doing so create an online following for themselves. But how do they go about doing so? There are countless strategies - some as simple as tweeting whatever's on their mind, others more complex internet marketing campaigns aimed at increasing their online visibility.

This blog is meant to keep you informed on these internet marketing strategies.

Hopefully, we'll answer questions such as:

What can your business do to be seen via social media? How do social media and internet marketing link together? What are the latest trends in social media & internet marketing?

This blog is brought to you by the internet marketing & SEO firm, IMM-LLC. Enjoy & feel free to comment.