Archive for the ‘Social Marketing’ Category

Niche marketing success, as all savvy online marketers know, requires several elements:

1)   You have to choose a profit-pulling target market;

2)   You need to know what keywords they’re using to find the solutions they’re after;

3)   And you need content to attract your audience to your offers for conversions.

But where is the best place for niche marketers to position this valuable, expertise-laden content?

Article marketing works.  Everyone agrees on that.  But then again, so does social marketing (done properly).  Everyone agrees on that too.

The argument about articles versus social networking sites has been brewing for quite some time.  Advocates of article directories say that social networks have too many restrictions or are too time consuming to learn how to use.

On the flip side, niche marketers who utilize the world of web 2.0 embrace the new platforms that help them build attractive web pages without having to learn complicated code.  And, they argue, article directories that perform best (such as Ezine Articles) also have limitations on how and where you can be promotional within the body of the content.

Fortunately, marketing is not a one-or-the-other thing.  But, if your goal is imply to use one or the other, your best bet is to do a split test of the two. 

Your best bet is to do a split test of the two, if your goal is to simply use one or the other.  

Split testing is when you’ll take similar content (same keywords targeted, same length, for example), and post to one article directory and one web 2.0 site, tracking the results of traffic and conversions. Then when you have a winner, you alter one element – such as testing out a different directory or social network – and pit it against the former winner until you know which site(s) perform best for your niche marketing needs.

Successful niche marketers like to have a good balance of articles on directories and web pages built on social networking sites.  The choice is yours!

I have had a profile on LinkedIn for a while now, but as with my MySpace account, I let it languish for a long time.  I wasn’t seeing LinkedIn as a place to make connections and find others in my niche.  It also seemed heavily corporate, with people looking for jobs more so than small business services or products.

Originally, serving that more corporate-type population was why LinkedIn was established.  However, I have recently noticed more activity among small business owners, entrepreneurs and solopreneurs.  While Facebook offers a more personal snapshot of a person, LinkedIn has really become a good place to create beneficial professional relationships as well as be found by potential clients and customers.

If you are interested in finding out how to use LinkedIn to help grow your business and boost your visibility, here are a few ways to use this social network to do so:

Do a search for people in targeted fields and positions. Send them a request to join your network and be sure to personalize your message.

Create a thorough profile with your photo, websites and title.  It is a good idea to include past experience, positions and education as well–the more information you supply, the more ways you allow others to find and connect to you.

Answer questions posed by other members in your community that fall into your area of expertise. “LinkedIn Answers” provides a place for you to view open questions that you may respond to.  This is a wonderful way to promote your specific knowledge.

Ask for recommendations of your work and offer to provide them for others.  The glowing recommendations you receive will be posted right to your profile.

Develop a targeted group of contacts in your niche and start connecting each other. Try to help others expand their own networks.

Look through your contacts’ networks. Select a few people each month you think would be good to know and request that your contacts introduce them to you.

As with Facebook, LinkedIn offers a way to feed your blog posts right into your profile.  Add an application called BlogLink–this supports blogging platforms such as TypePad, Wordpress.com, Wordpress.org, Blogger and more.

Invite people in your network to ask others in their networks to a discussion group or an on-line networking event.

A great tip for increasing your search engine ranking with your website listing: when you go to type in your web address for your profile, you will have several choices in the drop down menu.  If you choose “other” you have the option to type in any text you’d like which will then link to your site.  Choose the keywords that you think would best get you found when someone searches in the search engines and voila, instant search engine optimization! (LinkedIn is ranked very highly in Google.)

Get some publicity.  Many members of the media as well as some of the top bloggers have profiles on LinkedIn.  Why not reach out to them and connect?  You never know where the relationship will lead.  Of course, don’t spam them.  Send a polite and personalized message and you will have a spot on their radar.

Finally, don’t forget to add a link to your profile in your email signature.  The great thing is that LinkedIn allows you to customize the link to your public profile to include your name. You should always include your social networking profiles in your signature so that every time you send an email, others have a way to connect.

As you know by now, connection is what it’s all about!

Christine Gallagher, MLS, MSIS, founder of CommunicateValue.com, teaches solopreneurs and small business how to boost their business and their profits by using online marketing and social media tools to communicate effectively and authentically. For F.R.E.E. tips on how to build profitable relationships, leverage technology and create your own successful online business, visit http://CommunicateValue.com

Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/social-marketing-articles/linkedin-reach-your-target-market-and-be-seen-as-an-expert-with-this-social-networking-tool-866431.html

With Facebook recently overtaking MySpace as the number one social networking site, it is definitely worth taking a look at if you are in business.

According to a study done recently by the Aberdeen Group companies are using sites like Facebook to improve the interactions they have with their customers. The study showed that companies that use social networking sites are 17 times more likely to improve customer satisfaction than companies that don’t use them.

If you already have a profile on the site but aren’t sure how to leverage it for networking, brand visibility and gaining feedback–check out these top tips for boosting your reach through this hot social tool.

1) Take special care in filling out your profile: You will want to take the time to thoroughly fill out your profile, especially making sure to include your website address and your interests and activities. People appreciate this type of insight into the person behind the business.

2) Join and contribute to groups: Joining groups relevant to your niche is a good way to reach your target market and share your knowledge. Be sure to comment in the discussions and post helpful tips and links.

3) Start your own group: Taking the group idea up a notch, why not create your own group? Be seen as an authority while forming relationships with other members you have invited. Encourage conversation and participation and include a way for others to find out more about your business when you fill in your info as the administrator for the group.

4) Update often: This doesn’t mean you need to spend hours on the site, but for the time you do carve out, update your status and add relevant, helpful links, photos or information to your profile. Because these types of updates show up through the News Feed function for others, you are creating a viral spread of information that helps build your brand and create familiarity.

5) Suggest, recommend and introduce: If you know people you think should be introduced, then facilitate that. Recommend and suggest resources to others. All of these activities create community and contribute to the awareness of both you and what you have to offer.

6) Import your blog posts: You can use the Notes application to pull your blog posts into your profile. NetworkedBlogs is another application that is great for giving your blog exposure. The posts you import with this app appear in others’ news feeds, adding to your expert status and credibility in your particular niche.

7) Create a Page for your business: Facebook Pages are a nice option because it allows you to have a whole separate profile for your business. You can invite others to join the page, post relevant items, hold discussions and “naturally” promote your services or products. The best thing about it? Facebook is ranked so highly in the search engines that by giving your business a page, it helps your business rank highly as well!
 
Personalize your friend requests: It is a good idea to add a friendly message when you are making a friend request. People are more likely to remember you and it’s just a good relationship-building practice.

9) Promote your events: If you are holding sales, teleseminars, courses, live events or anything of the like, you can create invites for your friends to receive with all the relevant information included. This is great for increasing participation and driving traffic.

10) Place targeted ads: “Social Ads” as they are called on Facebook are another option. This can be a powerful way to increase brand awareness. With these ads you are able to select targeted demographics for your campaigns.

Remember, it is about relationship building, not “push” marketing. A few cautions: make sure you never do anything that could be seen as spam. Take time to explore the privacy options on your profile and keep in mind how all of your Facebook activities may be perceived by your potential clients and customers.

Once you really jump in and get involved I think you will find Facebook to be a fabulous tool for both networking and visibility. If it is overwhelming, take it one step at a time–but don’t stand on the sidelines any longer. After all, it’s not just for college kids anymore!

Christine Gallagher, MLS, MSIS, founder of CommunicateValue.com, teaches solopreneurs and small business owners how to use online marketing and social media to communicate effectively and authentically and attract more business. For FREE tips on how to build profitable relationships, leverage technology and create your own successful online business, visit http://CommunicateValue.com Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/social-marketing-articles/create-visibility-for-your-business-on-facebook-top-ten-ways-845996.html

When you are doing business online, it is important to build a list of targeted subscribers to market your products or services to. You want a responsive list and your job is to provide consistent value to them. Whether you have a blog or a website, you should definitely have an opt-in form to capture a visitor’s name and email address in a prominent location.

Two big components of effective marketing are reach and frequency. Reach refers to the number of people you reach with your message; while frequency refers to the number of times each person is reached on average. Frequency builds trust and drives your particular message home.

More people than ever are using social media tools so more of your target market is reachable there today than even just a few short months ago. Take advantage of these top ways to add subscribers when using social media sites so that you can begin communicating regularly with more potential clients and customers.

1) Create an effective profile. What do I mean by effective? Use a real photo of yourself and your real name. Include your location and a good bio–complete, up-to-date and with all contact information.

2) Offer events. A great way to add targeted subscribers is to hold an event such as a teleclass. Invite your followers and friends and direct them to a sign-up page specifically for the event. Let them know that in addition to signing up for whatever the event is, they will also receive a complimentary subscription to your e-zine or other valuable information.

3) Join a Ning network or create your own. Ning is a platform which allows people to create their own social networks online. Anyone can create a network for free around a specific interest.  This is a great tool for getting in front of your niche or target market.

4) Sync your newsletter broadcasts with Twitter. If you use an email list service such as AWeber, you have the option to automatically tweet a link to your newsletter when the broadcast is sent out. Just choose Syndicate and Twitter Update.

5) Place an opt-in box on your Facebook profile. This is something I explain how to do in detail in my free e-course. The Profile HTML application in Facebook allows you to add your opt-in box for collecting names and emails very easily. This way you can capture new subscribers right from your profile.

6) Use social bookmarking sites. Social bookmarking is a way for internet users to search, organize and store bookmarks of web pages.  Have a way for readers to submit posts they enjoy to bookmarking sites (Digg, Delicious, StumbleUpon, etc.) right from your blog. This is a nice way to drive traffic to your site when others come across your bookmarked site.

7) Feed your blog posts to sites automatically. Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn all have tools that will post your latest blog posts on their sites as soon as they are published. This keeps you consistently on others radars.

Be helpful and participate often. The best advice I can give for spending time on social sites is to give, give, give. You do not have to spend exorbitant amounts of time there, but when you do use them, offer suggestions, advice and tips. Create conversation as well as join it. People will get to know you this way and want to seek out more information about you.

Take action on several of these tips as soon as you can. It has never been simpler and more fun to build your list online than it is now!

Christine Gallagher, MLS, MSIS, founder of CommunicateValue.com, teaches solopreneurs and small business how to boost their business and their profits by using online marketing and social media tools to communicate effectively and authentically. For F.R.E.E. tips on how to build profitable relationships, leverage technology and create your own successful online business, visit http://CommunicateValue.com

Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/social-marketing-articles/build-your-email-list-using-social-media-8-surefire-ways-846004.html

What if instead of basing your business on selling and convincing people that don’t want to be sold to, you could have your customers chasing you down, ready to purchase from you.  Wouldn’t it be nice to have people contacting you first, instead of you hunting them down. You wouldn’t have to make anymore agonizing phone calls where you try to convince people to buy and get hung up on or worse. Think about how much more fun your business would be if you have clients chasing you down.

But just how do you get people to hunt you down? One of the keys to attraction marketing is positioning yourself as the expert and leader that can help your customers or prospects get what they want. When you do this you hold all the power and value in your customers eyes.  This eliminates the barriers and walls you typically need to knock down with traditional sales prospecting.

The second key is to brand yourself and show clients you have knowledge and value. They will perceive you as someone that can help them be successful and get what they want. When that happens, you are golden. You no longer need to sell them, they are ready to buy. People love to buy but they hate being sold to. 

There’s a big difference in what customers want today. They care about you and what you can do to help them.  People are buying “you” because you are a leader and perceived expert, and because you’ve convenyed to them that you can help them get what they want.

The third key to attraction marketing is adding value to your customers and prospects. The more value you have, and the more value you convey in your marketing, the more people will want to work with you and be around you for your knowledge, experience, and power. 

You can become valuable to your prospects by learning as much as you can and then sharing that knowledge with your prospects and customers. This is the key to attraction marketing, and being competitive in today’s modern market place.

In summary, there are 3 main keys to success in attraction marketing:

1 – Position yourself as an expert by providing knowledge and value to your clients and prospects
2 – Market your knowledge and value, not your product
3 – Become valuable by continually learning and adding new value

Use attraction marketing and watch your business take off, and have fun while you’re doing it.

To receive the information series “Top 15 Ways To Grow Your Business Online“, send an email to kw-online-mktg@aweb.com.

If you want to learn more from Karen on growing your business online visit her blog at http://www.KineticWealth.com/blog. Karen Sielski is a passionate online wealth builder, using her 20+ years in the high-tech industry to help small businesses, entrepreneurs, and online network marketers successfully grow their businesses online. Karen can be reached via email at karen@kineticwealth.com. Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/social-marketing-articles/attraction-marketing3-keys-to-success-850344.html

Ever commented on a blog and seen a little picture icon or photograph of the author at the side? Ever thought that they must be really techie and way more advanced than you? Not so!

They’re gravatars – globally recognised avatars (don’t ask – no idea!). They “follow you” on the web as you leave blog comments, and increase your “web visibility”. And as people feel more comfortable doing business with people they’ve met – gravatars help build relationships by showing you’ve nothing to hide and generate a feeling of “knowing you” that is so hard to achieve online. That can only be good!

Gravatars are easy to get. Go to http://en.gravatar.com/ and sign up for a free account. All that’s needed is your email address. Then simply upload an image, or choose an icon and you’ll start seeing it on gravatar enabled blogs!

They’re easy to put on your blog too – honestly if I did it they must be! Just type “gravatar wordpress plugin” into google, download to your desktop, unzip, upload to your server and activate the plug in from your admin area.

Now everyone can see what you look like!

We all know that Alex Jeffreys is running a competition for his coaching students to see who can generate the most traffic to their blog in the two weeks to 1 Jan 2009.  Well the much respected Jack Humphreys has posted Technorati Favorite Blogs Exchange which gives a step by step run through of how to use Technorati to get a major boost to your blog traffic. 

You probably know of Technorati as one of the sites you “ping” your site to when you post.  So it can give your site a major traffic boost because the visitors from it are already interested in your site because they’ve read about it in Technorati.  However, if you visit Technorati and “claim” your blog, rather than just “pinging” to it, Technorati gives more importance to your site in searches, bringing more traffic to your website!  

First go to Technorati and claim your blog (ie prove you are the owner of your blog by putting a bit of HTML on the front page).  Then head over the Jack Humphreys site and wait for the traffic boost!

Many thanks to Eoin O’Leary for the heads up on this.  Please head over to Octisage Technorati Profile and Fav Me!  Post that you have and I will return the favour.  Let’s keep the love flowing!