Succeed in Social Media Marketing through these 4 Steps

admin    Social Media     Marketing, Media, Social, Steps, Succeed, These, Through

Succeed in Social Media Marketing through these 4 Steps

Information about search engine optimisation (SEO) and social media marketing (SMM) have been overflowing that an average reader will really be confused on what strategy works best. If you’re just starting out in internet marketing, you’ll probably be baffled by the different tips being offered by different websites. In the end, it all comes down to understanding the basics of it. Once you’ll know the basics, knowing new techniques and strategies will now be easy.

These steps are composed of: Listening, Creating, Connecting, and Measuring. Everything should start with “listening” though. By this, it means monitoring trends, doing your research, and finding out what people are up to. Below are other details about the four steps:

Listening – there are a lot of research tools that can let you mine valuable data from online consumers. Don’t let these free, or sometimes paid, tools go to waste if they can be useful for your company. Keywords that are useful for your company should be identified and used. Additionally, the data on social sites including Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter can be analysed effectively. Take particular note of influencers in their network of friends and fans. When you get them to talk about you, brands can grow organically.

Creating – it has been said many times but we’ll repeat it here “content is king”. It is true in more ways than one. Content has been identified as the key ingredient to achieving and maintaining high search engine ranking. It is way of creating, optimising, and marketing text, images, videos, and other forms of information. Depending on the niche you’re in, success can go either way. Some sites are focused on timeless content while others are geared to providing the latest news.

Connecting – the internet is inherently a social place so go socialise! Find out what your target market is doing on the internet and become part of their network. It becomes simpler to know them after that. It is also essential not to fall into the mistake of ceasing to grow. That is, when you start, you painstakingly grow friends, fans, and followers. But once this is established, you stop. Invest the time and effort in socialising with more people.

Measuring – the results of every effort should be gauged. How else will you know whether you’re effective or not? There are different metrics that can be used. Some of these include the number of followers you got, the extent of your network, and the improvement in web traffic.

No matter if your company is small or large, the four steps to social media marketing is still helpful. The cycle should repeat itself many times over throughout the duration of your campaign.

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Digg as a Social Media / Branding Platform

admin    Social Media     Branding, Digg, Media, Platform, Social

Digg as a Social Media / Branding Platform

Social bookmarking, or the activity of highlighting and categorising interesting content for general consumption, has proved extremely popular, especially over the last few years.

Sites such as Digg can be very useful in finding information and even more convenient as a news feed or RSS feed. You are able to customise your favourite topics and enjoy relevant content in your chosen format, whether it be videos/images or written text.

While social bookmarking may still be a strange concept to many, the potential for social engagement and conversation is unavoidable. The communities on sites like Digg not only power the service, but are more active than you may think – sharing links across Twitter, Facebook and various other social media platforms.

The Social Digg Community
The Digg community is convenient when it comes to sharing and discussing links and stories with old friends, or even branching out and finding a new audience. Here are some ways to improve your diggability:
– Add a Digg favicon to your blog template. This will allow readers to submit your blog or individual posts to Digg and share your content with their social circle and beyond.
– Add a link from your blog, website or LookupPage profile to your Digg profile. Digg have embeddable badges which make it easier for you to be contacted via Digg.
– View your friend’s activities and see how they choose to participate, not only in the Digg environment, but across the entirety of the web – this can be very handy when it comes to understanding your audience and broadening your perspective.
– Click and connect. Easily import your friends from your contact list on other platforms such as Gmail or Outlook, and invite your friends who aren’t yet on Digg.
– Comment on the submissions and listings of others, and spark up interesting conversation or debate to be noticed in the online arena.
– Create your profile with your Personal Branding guidelines in mind, and link between your current social media profiles. Technically, these outgoing links won’t be a vehicle for search engine spiders, but will allow you to be found and contacted easily between social media platforms.

4 Ways To Use Social Media Effectively

admin    Social Media     Effectively, Media, Social, Ways

4 Ways To Use Social Media Effectively

Social media is a powerful medium to disseminate information on the internet. No one should ignore the power of social media when it comes to current trends and spreading the “in” thing going on. It was once said that social media will transform the way things work on the internet many years ago. Over a period of time, a huge number of social media platforms and networks mushroomed and populated almost every corner of the internet.

Today, almost none of us can live without social media. Are you skeptical about this statement? Then ask yourself are you using Facebook? If you are not a skeptic of social media, let me explain to you briefly in 4 ways how to use social media effectively.

Generate Fresh Content

Apart from being the driving force of the internet, content is very important for social media. Content not as in factual or informational content but more of what sets the trend for any niche in the social media universe. Understanding what is popular amongst the masses can greatly help with generating content. It is no longer effective to tweet 140 characters of generalized content but much more effective to tweet 140 characters of specific content to your followers.

In addition to that, keep your content fresh and current. If you have a blog, add snippets of your blog posts on the internet. This is also a great way to introduce people to your blog from social media networks. Again, remember get it targeted for your blog niche.

Tagging and Bookmarking

Tagging and bookmarking helps brings out the word to social media networks easily and instantly. This feature is an essential part of social media networks. Although Facebook has now infamously brought this feature to a whole new level with their “Like” feature, Digg and Stumbld are among the other popular ones you should use.  Be sure to bookmark good content and add the tag feature to the bottom area of your article or blog.

Reward Those Who Promote You

If you have a blog with a big following on twitter chances are your followers might really like what you are doing and promote your blog on their social network. Reward them by placing their contact or recommend them on your website. You are not only helping to build backlinks for them. This way of rewarding them will secure a more lasting relationship with them.

They might also be people who would like to publish content on your website or blog. I’m sure you must have seen retweets. Retweets are totally acceptable and they can spread info like wildfire on social networks. You can do this for tags. If I find something interesting about a tag, I will surely re-tag it and this will then get distributed across the social media network.

One word of advice is to be careful about rewarding those who only to scam and tarnish your name. You are better off finding good quality followers then going for quantity of followers.

Be the Source of All Information

Some people stand out amongst the huge crowd on Facebook or Twitter simply because they are the source of all information. They’ve become such an authority with what they are doing, people simply gravitate to them. Of course this takes time to achieve and you might need to build your reputation. On the other hand, you can build your reputation along the way by turning yourself into a valuable asset that people would not want to resist.

Turn your talents, gifts or experience into a resource in your niche. Developing your site and making it a place where people would go for helpful information about your topic will increase your credibility and make you the invaluable resource.

A lot of people use social media but the 4 ways explained above is a good guide to helping you use social media effectively.

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Make Social Media Marketing Work For Your Real Estate Agency

admin    Social Media     Agency, Estate, Marketing, Media, Real, Social, Work

Make Social Media Marketing Work For Your Real Estate Agency

Many real estate agents find social media marketing is not a very effective tool for them since they do not use it well. By learning how to make it work for your real estate agency, you can see an increase in your web traffic and potentially get more clients.

Facebook is useful, but instead of making a fan page for yourself, create one that is information focused and sponsored by your agency. You’re more likely to get fans this way and more people will share your links to the information than on you alone. If you want to have one for yourself, just make a general page and not a fan page.

Videos and podcasts can also help you increase your value within the community. These short videos are useful to people and they can be important since it can help identify you as an expert in your topic. The more of an expert you are, the more potential clients remember who you are and will share the information to others. Always make sure that you have a link to your own website on every video and podcast that you have.

Use blogging to your advantage. You can add the videos to your blog which can make it more interesting to a greater number of people. Make the blog have useful content as well, since this can help you increase your web ranking and can make you more likely to have your name associated as the go to agent.

Useful content is so important to have on every post that you make because it gives people information instead of just an advertisement. This can also help make you known as an expert in the real estate business which in turn makes your posts more important to the people that need it. Search engines also use content to rank your web page on the results and you’re more likely to get your links for your site shares which makes your web presence grow.

Back linking is also important because you’re more likely to add traffic to your web sites with them. Add them to places like digg and Stumbleupon so that people can discover them and search engine spiders can find you easily.

Social media marketing is an affordable and easy way to get your agency to the public. You’ll be able to allow potential clients to find you and gain a larger web presence using this undervalued marketing plan.

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5 Social Media Secrets That Work Effectively For Offline Networking

admin    Social Media     Effectively, Media, Networking, Offline, Secrets, Social, Work

5 Social Media Secrets That Work Effectively For Offline Networking

Social media has created an Internet phenomenon and has taken online networking to a dynamic level. Do you ever wonder why social media is so successful? It’s viral and it spreads quickly – just like word-of-mouth spreads quickly in offline networking.

When you meet people for the first time, take a few lessons from the social media gurus and apply their secret tactics to your offline networking strategy.

Secret #1- Social means both talking and listening. Listening is just as important as talking

When you interact on a forum or leave comments on a blog, you first read what the other person wrote and then you comment. If you constantly leave comments about yourself and don’t interact and comment off-topic, you will make a bad first impression.  Other members will ignore you.

This same philosophy applies when you are first introduced to people. You want to learn about them and ask questions. How can you learn about a person if you are constantly talking about yourself? Pay attention, listen and ask appropriate questions according to the conversation topic.

Secret #2- Widgets that instantly find thousands of followers don’t always give the best return on investment

Social media gurus always tout the benefits of handy widgets that automate Facebook and Twitter followers. Do you realize that the 5,000 people you just added probably won’t be interested in your products or services? You just wasted time and money adding people who don’t care about what you’re pitching.

Use this same social media approach when you attend networking events and collect business cards. Don’t just pitch your products/services to just anyone you meet. Talk to people who might actually benefit from what you offer. It doesn’t make sense to attend a networking event filled with seniors if you are a nightclub owner whose target audience is 21 year-old college students.

Secret #3- Freebies don’t always mean more subscribers, BUT worthwhile freebies make all the difference

Freebies don’t always mean instant success. Contests don’t always draw thousands of new members to your site either.  In the social media world, if you make your prize too abstract or unappealing, you will drive away visitors.

This social media tactic also applies to freebies offered in the offline world. If you attend networking events and conduct raffles or contests, make your prizes worthwhile for guests. Target your audience and get inside their heads. You want your guests to actually use the product or service you’re giving away.

•    How will this freebie benefit the contest winner?

•    Will this freebie make them contact me for more services or products?

Secret #4- Don’t scare away others with the “me me me” syndrome

If you start every blog comment or tweet with “I did” or “I want” then you are headed down the “me me me” syndrome path.  Social media is all about helping others. Being an expert in your field doesn’t mean acting like an egomaniac.

If you start every networking conservation with “I” you will be met with glazed over expressions. Don’t be surprised when people make excuses to leave the conversation. Remember the “social” in social media and apply that to your offline conversations. Social means give and take – social doesn’t mean a one-sided, it’s all about me conversation.

Secret #5- Always use professional Net-iquette

Don’t come across as rude or condescending in your Facebook or Twitter updates. You never know who will come across your updates in the cyber world, and how it can come back to haunt you.

This tip should always be applied to offline networking. Always remember to practice professional, ethical etiquette whenever you meet new people. Think before you speak, and remember that you represent your company/business. First impressions make a lasting impression, so always put your best face forward.

If you liked this article, tell all your friends about it. They’ll thank you for it. If you have a blog or website, you can link to it or even post it to your own site (don’t forget to mention www.meetingwave.com as the original source).

John Boyd is a professional networking expert and founder of MeetingWave, a community where people connect online to meet offline: http://www.MeetingWave.com

Social Media: Changes in Online Communication

admin    Social Media     Changes, Communication, Media, Online, Social

Social Media: Changes in Online Communication

Evolution occurs in all areas of life, including technology. As shifting factors merge, we begin to see an evolution in communication patterns. In order to follow the growth and evolution of communication, Charles Darwin’s survival of the fittest theory must be factored in. In the simplest of terms, which of the following forms of communication is the fittest for today’s world: newspapers or social media? The answer is quite obvious.

Now that most of us have converted some—if not all—of our marketing strategies from print media to online platforms, we can delve deeper into the evolution of communication and discover key strategies for surviving in the social media marketing world.

Most companies and social media users only skim the surface of social media marketing. We know how to post a tweet, post on Facebook, write on our friends’ walls, and bookmark a post we love. But these activities are merely skimming the surface of social media. The average posts and tweets aren’t going to cut it; there needs to be a level of value and intelligence in your posts.

As more and more new forms of social media arise and older platforms continue to grow and change, it’s difficult to understand each and every one in its entirety—especially when you have a business to run.

For this reason, many businesses seem to be following one specific generic formula: post a video, post a picture, post company updates, and interact with others. That’s great and all, but what does that even mean?

There needs to be a deeper analysis of these elements in order for you to survive and stand out above your competition (who is most likely following the same generic formula).

What makes an engaging photo? What inspires consumers to watch your videos and take that extra step to contact you? And what’s the point in interacting with others, and how can you build a relationship from this interaction? The answer is simple. Use your brand message in all that you do as a way to connect to your target audience’s needs and desires. The implementation of broadcasting your brand message, on the other hand, is not as simple.

Below are two steps required to break free from the generic social media marketing formula, evolve with communication, and rise above the competition:

1. Don’t chase the crowd—stay on top of it: Imagine running in a race. Those with more endurance and strength are going to lead the pack. The stragglers are holding onto the end of the line with dear life, but will eventually get tired and fall. Anyone can stay at the top of the race—you just have to have the right strength and the endurance to continue to succeed.

Your strength in social media marketing: Knowledge. Understand how social media works and how social media users behave. Specifically, understand how your target audience behaves on social media sites, and engage your prospects with your unique brand message. When you stop learning about new social media sites and the capabilities that all social media sites have, you’ll move further and further back on the chain.
Your endurance in social media marketing: The right attitude and the ability to believe in the power of your brand message. Never stop.

2. Refine your brand message and tactfully embed it in all you do on social media: You have two options: continue to market your business on social media based on a generic formula, or break outside of the box and showcase your unique brand message. Option two is the way to go if you want to succeed in today’s world of communication.

If you’re not projecting an accurate brand message on social media platforms because you are unclear about what your brand message is, it’s nearly impossible to connect with your target audience and engage them. The key to engaging your target audience is understanding your brand message and incorporating this messaging into everything you do and say online.

Our conclusion: The people who are looking deeper into the capabilities of social media are the ones who are going to survive in the world of online communication and marketing. The ones who continue to skim the surface of these complex communication realms are the ones who will vanish along with the outdated forms of media.

Discover simple marketing strategies to attract and convert prospects. My bimonthly ezine, Sumer’s Secrets is packed with tips on how to improve your web copy, promote your website, and market your brand.  Sign up and receive a FREE report on creating web copy that will increase sales and site traffic.

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

admin    Social Media     Effective, Marketing, Media, Proposal, Request, Social, Tips, Writing

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

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

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

Information about your organization and project

Introduction

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

1. Company Overview

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

2. Overview of Project

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

3. Overview of Audiences and Stakeholders

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

4. Overview of Response

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

Guidelines for Proposal Preparation

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

Vendor Questions and Qualifications

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

COMPANY DETAILS

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

CAPABILITIES & EXPERIENCE

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

SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING STRATEGY

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

REPUTATION MANAGEMENT & SOCIAL MEDIA MONITORING

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

METRICS, MEASUREMENT & REPORTING

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

CLIENT EDUCATION & TRAINING

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

SOCIAL MEDIA AND OTHER DIGITAL CHANNELS

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

- YouTube or similar video sharing sites
- Blogs, Podcasts, Vodcasts, Forums
- Content Management System (CMS)
- Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
- E-mail Marketing
- Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Search Engine Marketing(SEM)
- Facebook Pages, Apps, API integration
- Mobile application development
- Twitter
- News sharing sites (i.e. Digg, Reddit, etc.)
- Virtual Worlds and Augmented reality
- Photo sharing (i.e. Flickr) and other content sharing sites (i.e. Scribd, Slideshare, Delicious, etc.)
- Social Media press releases(SMPRs)
- Crowdsourcing or Wikis
- Real world events organized via social media (e.g. Tweetups)
- Ratings/Customer service sites (i.e. Yelp, ePinions, etc.)

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

COMMUNITY AND INFLUENCER OUTREACH (SOCIAL PR)

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

CLIENT SERVICES & PROJECT MANAGEMENT

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

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

==> Dumb kids on Facebook make 9,833.57!

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How To Use Social Media Marketing To Build Your Legal Business

admin    Social Media     Build, Business, Legal, Marketing, Media, Social

How To Use Social Media Marketing To Build Your Legal Business

During an unstable economy, many people are looking for ways to ensure that they not only maintain their lifestyles, but simply keep their jobs. Many people are even out looking for work before knowing for sure if they will even need to begin supplementing their income. Even professionals like lawyers might find it difficult to drum up some business in these unstable times, especially since their services can sometimes cost a pretty penny. In 2010, though, attorneys can actually take the hint from many other industries which have jumped on the Social Media Marketing bandwagon to utilize the many technological tools available online. Many of these formats are actually free, meaning that not only can you promote and grow your business in the most efficient way ever created, but you can do without expending any of your funds.

First of all, law firms will do very well to utilize Twitter, blogging, and Facebook to develop a fan base where they can remind their community of their presence.

Blogging has helped many people create web penetration for their bands and businesses and lawyers can use this same idea to educate people about the many intricacies of America’s laws. This builds their credibility and creates a brand in themselves that many people will remember in case they need legal counsel.

Similarly, podcasts and YouTube channels can provide the same result for those who may be a little more performance savvy, and will simultaneously create an image that people will quickly catalog in memory.

Finally, Twitter helps to connect all of these technologies through frequent updates to an entire community of followers, inviting them to respond and allowing you to openly communicate with many people on very specific topics.

Of course, all of this social media marketing is pointless if you are not out in the community connecting with new people. This is why attorneys should also increase their usage of smart phones, especially the web apps they provide.

Mobile technology allows you to keep up to date with all your internet applications easily and efficiently no matter where you are. Not only does this free you up to spend more time out of the office, but it helps you expedite the many tasks you need to perform throughout your day for the purposes of marketing. Trying to stay in contact with your firm partners along with clients and a handful of followers is extremely difficult if you aren’t organized.

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Adult Social Networking Tips to the Social Networks

admin    Social Media     Adult, Networking, Networks, Social, Tips

Adult Social Networking Tips to the Social Networks

I realize that for adults on the social networking sites, many of these tips are common sense. As I point that out, I also know that nothing is “common” about common sense. The tips are not listed in order of importance. Here they are!…..

1.) Decide on the type of networking you would like to engage in.

Most people that are new to social networking are nor aware that different sites cater to different groups of networkers. Some sites are for people in particular age groups, others are for people with specifics hobbies and interests. Still other sites cater almost exclusively to business networking. Before you join a site, spend some time getting a sense of what type of networking is most popular. For the newbie to the networks, MySpace and Facebook are good choices. Generally, these sites have wide appeal to a large cross section of networkers with a wide variety of interests.

2.) Have A Plan When Putting Together Your Profile

Virtually all social networking sites provide members with a personal profile page. Unfortunately, many people spend very little time planning the content to be included in their profile.

WRONG!
Remember, people will usually review your profile before deciding if they want to contact you. The information that you supply can attract quality networking opportunities. Let people know, via your profile, exactly what type of online relationships you want to pursue. Answer ALL profile questions honestly, with no hidden agendas. Oh, and by the way, include your picture. People want to “see” fellow networkers!

3) Let The Online Relationship Develop Naturally

One of the biggest mistakes made by social networkers is to “force” their agenda on new contacts. This type of selfishness does not work in the offline world, so why would it EVER work online? Become acquainted with your contacts first. Let them know that you intend to be a useful resource. During this process of getting to know each other, both of you will discover if you have mutual intentions. Do not rush this process of discovery. It could provide the foundation for a very beneficial, long term, relationship.

4) Do Not Get Too Personal Too Quickly

This tip is in the ‘common sense” category, and is similar to tip #3. Personal experiences have prompted me to include this tip. I have been contacted by individuals, and within the 1st EMAIL, they are disclosing very personal information, even inviting me to come meet them!! This approach is dangerous and leaves a bad 1st impression. It is a definite “red flag” if individuals give you “too much information” too soon.

5) Do Not “Hit And Run!”

Many people make the mistake of joining too many social sites. In their excitement to begin networking, they fill out profiles to every site under the sun! These same individuals spend very little time navigating each site. They will also make the mistake of adding a bunch of “friends” at first, and never following up with them. This “hit and run” approach is not a good way to form online relationships. Only become a member of a site if you plan to become an active member of the community. Without active participation, you will never achieve trust within the group.

In Conclusion….

Hopefully, these tips, and your common sense, will make social networking more productive. If you are specifically interested in the adult social networks for business, the FREE curriculum at Renegade University is a perfect training ground. It is possible to earn while you learn marketing with video, articles, email, and even marketing to the Web 2.0 communities.

You will also learn how to brand yourself in the social networks, and how to gain access to FREE social media tools.

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How to Make Money With Social Media

admin    Social Media     Media, Money, Social

How to Make Money With Social Media

The earning potential in social marketing is something you shouldn’t ignore. If you’re thinking the market is too oversaturated for you to get a piece of the pie, you couldn’t be more wrong!

Those looking to market online to make money can expect to see a lot of ways that promise to help them turn their online efforts into cash. For instance, social marketing sites which are what Web 2.0 is all about…

Make Money With Social Marketing

Can you really make money by socializing online through pay per post and paid forums, etc? With many of the new social media platforms you can in both direct ways and in indirect ways as well. Sites like FaceBook and MySpace are hard to beat. Those new sites who want a piece of the population of people who spend a vast portion of their spare time online are incentivizing their sites so that people will want to join and use their site too.

Maximizing Profit Potential For Web 2.0

How much time you spend on a site and how much value you bring to it will ultimately determine how much money you can make. How-to sites are particularly interested in having you share advice on how to do something and may be willing to share their ad revenue with you. Because so many people now search the web for information on how to do things, sites that provide that information can have huge income potential. Some people make a monthly income with sites like these by spending time every day on that site. At the same time, a lot of people invest time and effort into a social marketing site and don’t make a dime.

The thing is, you need to learn how to maximize the site’s potential with minimum effort and if you learn how to make money indirectly from these sites as well as directly through ad revenue, you can laugh your way to the bank.

Those with a large online circle of friends can use their wit and charm and guru status to make online sales through those friends as well as get paid as a contributor to that site where revenue programs exist. Micro blogging sites can have imbedded urls to tell people about the great product you’ve heard about. Free blog networks can help you build your search engine optimization up for your money making blog as well. There are many ways to exploit social media to your advantage.

Here are a few tips to help you:

- Don’t spam. Build a circle of online friends by being social and being helpful. People will see through a blatant spam attempt

- Visit sites often but don’t let them become productivity vacuums either. Allocate a set amount of time per day to play on social media sites.

- If a site isn’t proving to be worthwhile very soon, put your efforts elsewhere. While it can take time to build a following, you might want to shift your efforts elsewhere if you’re spending a lot of hours and not getting any good results at all.

Milk social media for all its worth as it can help you make great money while also having fun.

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