The Key to Social Media Marketing Success

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Overview: Social media marketing and social bookmarking sites are becoming increasingly more popular on the internet today. Generally speaking, they are sites on which communities use to share information, discuss and vote for, but how can sites such as Digg, StumbleUpon, Reddit, and YouTube help you to become successful ethically online?

Using social networking sites, you can promote articles or web pages that you feel will benefit the internet community. Your goal is to create a buzz and have people comment, bookmark or share things that they find interesting or useful.

So How do You Get Started?  Creating content on your web site that is interesting or useful to a site visitor is the first step, without this your site will not be ‘sticky’ and will not be deemed as popular by users of social networking sites. Writing ‘How to’ articles is a good example of useful content, i.e. ‘How to shortlist candidates for web design in Bournemouth’.

Why Use Social Media Marketing?  Although it won’t make you a direct profit, social marketing will drive traffic to your site that is targeted towards your theme or ‘niche’. Having a clean and well thought out design on your web site will let visitors navigate through other pages and find other areas of the site that are profitable to you. You can also embed hyperlinks within your article content that can link to products or other pages.

Increasing Initial Traffic to your site:  The main goal of social network marketing is to drive targeted traffic to your site, this can come directly from a social media site, or a site that has linked to yours after finding it through a social bookmark or tag. When you post on a social media site, you can get immediate targeted traffic if your post title and article description draws people in, try to think of teasers that get people interested and want to read more.

Gaining Longer Term Traffic:  The more links you have pointing to your web site the more popular your site becomes in the eyes of Google and other search engines, this can make a massive impact on your search engine positioning results over time and will drive even more targeted traffic through search engine results.

Every time you post on a social media networking site, you increase your site’s exposure which means that people will be more likely to link directly to your site. This can be a very powerful way of building natural back links to your web site which is looked on favourably by search engines.

Cost compared to traditional marketing:  One of the best things about social media marketing is that it costs nothing! When you compare this to more traditional marketing methods such as Pay Per Click you can really start to see the benefits. Effectively you are creating a steady flow of free organic traffic.

Increase Awareness of Your Web Site:  Through this method of marketing you will increase the brand awareness of your site and you can create a buzz about something that relates to your products or services. With the increased popularity of social media, you can not afford to miss out on the trend!

Tags: internet marketing, Search Engine, social marketing, Social Networking, Traffic

Social Media Marketing- the Top 10 Mistakes People Will Make in Social Media in 2009

Here we go again!
Another year and another great possibility! With the election of Obama to the presidency, there is Hope and all are looking for a great future.
But I am sitting here thinking of all the folks in social Media that are going to be frustrated again in their social Media marketing efforts. wondering why they are not getting the traction or friends that they thought they should. And the main reason is that they continue to make the same mistakes in Social Media as last year.
Are YOU going to do that- I sure hope not. You may not have the power of a Robert Scoble, or the personality of a Gary Vanyerchuck, or the mind of a Chris Brogan, or the networking focus of a Mari Smith or Coach Deb micek. Or even the amazing writing talent of a Scott Monty.
At least not yet.
But you CAN accelerate your Social Media Success this year by avoiding these top 10 mistakes made by people in Social media in 2009.
Ok…what are they?
1) Lack of Consistent Visibility.
You cannot make a path and create a presence in Social Media, without CONSISTENTLY being SEEN and HEARD with your message. Ask Carrie Wilkerson. Or Timothy Carter. NOT going to happen. That is why that you MSUT create a Presence on the web DAILY- and be seen and heard as part of the community. A tree does not grow part time. It must be consistent in it’s efforts. It is the saem with your Social Media marketing.
2) Focusing too much on being heard.
LISTEN first- THEN talk. Social Media is about Listening to what is being said- by your prospects and customers- and social media in general. You would never enter a party or social event and immediately start yelling out what you wanted to talk about.
Neither should you in Social Media. LISTEN and then LEARN- and then Let your voice be heard- ONLY as a part of the existing conversation. Your time to start the conversation will come.
3) Taking, instead of GIVING to the Social Media Community.
Ahhhhh- lots of takers out in the Web 2,0 world. But NOT YOU. GIVE first. Give Value. Give Suggestions. Give Advice. Give ideas. Give Encouragement. Give News. Give New Possibilities. Give Words of Gratitude. But do NOT take relentlessly. You will be shunned and labeled as such.
If you REALLY want to create powerful influence- GIVE. How does that work?
GIVE = Gain Influence Very Easily. Give FIRST – and you will never come in Second.
4) Not Joining groups.
Groups are where you can have some of the greatest growth and learning. I belong to a ton of groups. Why? Because of 2 reasons: 1) I learn a lot from other people. 2) I CONNECT with the folks in the group.
Groups are a “secret weapon” that you should use on as many social sites as you can. They will not only Enlarge you- but also the possibilities that the group can bring to your life.
5) Not attending Events.
Events ROCK. And you should be attending at leat 1 event a week to do 2 things: 1) Become more Visible. 2) To learn from people that know things you do not.
Events are what i call the “Hidden University” of social Media. You can learn a LOT and grow a lot from events.
Look at the events that interest you. And pick on event that mildly interests you. And see if you can learn something even from that event. I have an event journal. and every event that i attend- i keep a log of what was said so i can review it later. You may want to do the same.
6) Not enough VALUE in what they are doing.
Value RULES in Social Media. And we train on what we call “Surprising Value.” This is the type of Value that is so great and unexpected that it surprises the person that discovers it. Put More Value in your POSTS. Put more Value in your PODCASTS. Put more Value in your Conversations. Put more Value in your Articles. Put More Value in your Recommendations. Put More Value in YOU and what you bring to the Social Media table.
Value RULES. And the one with the MOST value at the end of the day- reigns.
7) Joining Too Many Social Media sites.
There are about 3,600 Social Media sites. You need maybe 5-7. You read that right. You need 5-7 PRIMARY Social Sites. Then you need maybe 25-30, or even 50 Secondary sites for Link Building and traffic purposes. The main sites that you should be a part of- is up to you. My ‘Big 7? are facebook, twitter, youtube, LinkedIn, Stumbleupon, Plaxo, and Wordpress- along with mashable. These are the CORE of my Social Media Marketing.
Do I belong to more? Heavens yes- a LOT more’ but have automated those through ping.fm and other social software.
Do NOT try and be seen on a hundred sites. Facebook alone can keep you busy with over 200 million people. The same with myspace, or friendster. Master ONE site while mastering social media and then another, and then another, until you have YOUR “Big 7.” And then automate the rest. Focusing too much on Monetizing Social Media.
Nothing wrong with monetization on the internet. We do it a LOT- and daily. But focusing too much on that in social media- is , well…not cool. People do not mind knowing about an offer, or new info product. But how about giving some VALUE first with it- then invite them to an event- and then at the end of the conference call or webinar-give them a chance to purchase your produst.
What do I see daily? Urls and messages SELLING SELLING SELLING! Whew- wish that would not happen so blatantly. It has gotten better, but if you have a great content rich info product- here is a novel idea: GIVE part of the info away FIRST’and let the person ASK you for the product if they like it.
Hmmm….that just might be an idea worth considering.
9) Thinking that You are Nobody and Social Media Success is for other people.
Ask Chris Brogan. Ask Scott Monty. Ask Alejandro Reyes. Ask Brian Solis. Ask Dave Taylor. Ask Shama Hyder. EVRYONE has a great possibility to becoming SOMEBODY in Social Media. THAT is the beauty of the culture. Everyone who contributes Value and Connection- is more than welcome to achieve whatever they want. Chris Brogan once had 10 readers of his blog. Now he has almost 40,000 people following him on twitter alone. Brian Clark of copyblogger fame once had 10 readers. So did Scoble. So did Monty. So did Shama. And the list is endless.
There is GREATNESS inside of you-and there is NO BETTER place than Social Media to unleash it upon the world. You ARE Somebody- and always have been. YOU are a Social Media Rockstar- in training!
10) Not Branding Yourself Strong Enough.
Branding is a tool that we all use in Social Media. It is WHO YOU ARE- and what people remember about you. It could be a phrase-”Just Do It (TM)”- or a slogan- “”We’ve Got You Covered.” Or even a questions- “Can You Hear me Now?” or just a Name-”Trump.”
You need to get a slogan or phrase that you can start wrapping in your messages. You need to get an image that speaks what you want the public to see and know. And you need to decide -what is the ONE THING I want people to think of FIRST- when they think of me and my company? THAT is the start of a good brand build. Do not be just another face in the web 2.0 world. Set yourself apart and above the fray with a brand that rocks. We teach what is called “Connection Branding” and we have saying:
“Do NOT just be known or remembered- become UNFORGETTABLE.” ™
THAT is what you need to do!
These are the top 10 mistakes people will make in Social Media in 2009. Yes, i Know there are others- but these are the ones that i see as the most prevalent in Social Media marketing.
blessings..doug firebaugh

Tags: Doug Firebaugh, Home Business, social marketing, social media, Social Media Training, Social Networking, Web 2.0

Social Media Marketing is Attracting Offline Interest

As social media marketing continues to grow in popularity online it has managed to capture the attention of the offline community as well. In many boardrooms, more serious consideration is being given to social marketing as part of the overall marketing strategy.The phenomenal success this type of internet advertising has achieved is hard to argue or ignore.Current marketing strategies still find ‘conventional’ advertising approaches being utilized such as television, radio and print. However with the cost efficient and highly effective channels online social media offers these ‘conventional’ offline methods are quickly becoming outdated. The only hurdle new online strategies seem to now face for offline application is good old fashion management skepticism.Here is what likely can be expected in the not too distant future regarding the offline business community’s adaptation to online marketing strategies.Offline Marketing Budgets at PresentAt present time there is little evidence of any significant spending by the mainstream offline business community on any type of internet advertising. It is inevitable however that the recognition of the effectiveness and cost efficiencies of marketing online is soon forthcoming in this area.Witnessing the recent failures of many long time business giants due in part to their own marketing inefficiencies will only serve as a wake-up call to the rest of the business community. The aftermath of the recent economic downturn will only result in accelerating the shift of marketing strategies to the more effective and efficient avenues available online.Increase in Online SpendingAs offline businesses begin to shift their advertising spending towards the internet social marketing will get much attention due to the viral nature of this particular method. Marketing online differs from traditional methods insofar as the consumer seeks out information on their own as opposed to having it presented to them. With that said the need for content, and lots of it, exists and must be supplied by the marketer to fill this need. This is crucial for the relationship building that is required to make this type of online marketing approach work. Online Specialist Will Be HiredWhether its video, audio, or text the supplied content will inform, entertain, and provoke thought in an effort to capture the attention and loyalty of the online viewer.Sooner rather than later specialist for content development will have to be added to the staffs of offline businesses involved in online social marketing.Ad copy and other messages created will be designed to catch viewers attention, initiate and maintain interest, develop trust and loyalty, and make product offers. This type of internet advertising is based more upon ‘relationship marketing’ as opposed to the ‘hard selling techniques’ associated with conventional offline marketing. The Need for Public Relations will DiminishNow that more emphasis is placed on searching the internet for breaking news there will be less need for conventional public relation tactics to ‘create awareness.’ The content developed and supplied to the internet will more than fill this gap resulting in cost savings and increased communication efficiencies.Online Marketing Research will be EmphasizedBy utilizing the give and take capabilities of web 2.0 marketing techniques the ability to get valued customer feedback can easily be accomplished. This cost effective and highly efficient means of collecting valuable input online will be a very significant benefit for research and development.As a result offline efforts to collect similar data will be de-emphasized and regarded now as more cumbersome due to the cost and efforts required.Social media marketing, as it stands today, continues to demonstrate new efficiencies that increase the effectiveness of communicating with the online consumer. Its popularity and acceptance can no longer be dismissed as a short term phase but rather needs to be recognized for what it is, the evolution of consumer marketing. This will result in a greater acceptance towards using online social media as a permanent fixture in a company’s overall marketing strategy.

Tags: internet advertising, marketing strategies, marketing strategy, social marketing, social media, Social Media Marketing

Social Media Marketing: 4 Reasons To Launch Your Social Web Campaign Now!

Social media marketing is the hottest “business reality-show” that’s generating leads for businesses of all sizes. As every business owner knows, leads are the lifeblood of their companies. Getting a consistent flow of profitable leads today is hard.

At a time when customers use social networking to search, discuss and explore new ideas and opportunities, “Companies have no choice. This is where their customers are going,” reported USA Today on August 27, 2009.

Advice on how to implement various social media marketing opportunities like Facebook, Twitter, Delicious and others abound.  However, like any media campaign, you need to make sure your social media program is strategic, measurable and encompasses the entire spectrums of opportunities that are right for your business.

Four key reasons social marketing will lift your business prospects are:

Bill Bean, president of Green Planning & Coaching noticed right away how adopting social marketing, “changed my approach to marketing completely! I had a website for 2-1/2 years that never brought in a single lead because I had no mechanism to collect email addresses of visitors, no analytics and no promotion through social media. I just launched my new website—and I already have prospects signing up for my newsletter. Amazingly, I’m also already getting responses to blog postings on LinkedIn and other green community sites I learned to participate in.”

Never in the history of consumer selling have companies, from one-person shops to multi-national corporations, been handed such an effective, low-cost opportunity to carry out promotional efforts.  Learn how to leverage this effective new tool for your business or you will soon be left behind.

BIO: Chris Marentis is founder & CEO of GenNext Media, LLC and author of Surefire Social, DIY Guide to Social Media Marketing Success.

Tags: internet marketing, social marketing, Social Media Marketing

Social Media Marketing â?? Doing it Right

Social media marketing is certainly a powerful marketing tool. This strategy has proven its effectiveness for quite a long time. Social media marketing has been an excellent marketing tool even under the worst economic conditions. Today social media marketing is said to be â??the best way to spread good news under the worst conditionsâ?.  From getting links to your website to attaining international exposure to your business, social media marketing has an important role in the marketing strategy of any business. Like any other marketing strategy, social media marketing also requires proper planning and appropriate execution of the plan. This marketing strategy without proper planning and execution will be a complete waste of time and may ruin your business too. This article will help you to plan and execute social media marketing in the right way.The Non-Spammy Social BookmarkingSocial bookmarking of your website to the popular social networks like dig and stumbleupon is a great strategy to boost the traffic flow. Many people do a mistake by over-doing social bookmarking with a single user account, which will result in the bookmarks getting flagged as spam. Ignoring this warning and continuing this activity will eventually end up with your IP address getting blocked. Hence you wonâ??t be able to use this strategy from that particular IP address. Moreover, all the time spent in bookmarking your website will be wasted. Hence it is always good to have different user accounts to bookmark your website over a prolonged period of time.The Well Customized Social Media ProfilesSocial media websites like facebook are greatly leveraged today for the marketing campaigns. You must have noted that President Obama made use of this strategy in his election campaigns. As every social media marketer is getting into these social networking sites, it is very much important to highlight your profile. Thankfully, there are lots of customization options available with these social networking websites to highlight your profiles. Another important thing to be noted is to create a fully complete profile with your real name and a few links to the recommended products in your website.Active Participation in the Social NetworksSocial media marketing is not a one time process. For instance, letâ??s take the example of marketing through the social networks like facebook. To get noticed in the social networking crowd, your profile should be active. All the social media profiles should be updated with some content frequently. Fresh, updated content is always loved by the search engine bots. Active participation also includes forum postings, commenting and participation in polls.Getting Professional assistance for Social Media MarketingIf you are unaware of the right way to plan and execute social media marketing, there are many professionals ready to help you. The social media marketing services provided by them will save your time. Moreover, with their expertise in social media marketing, they can create a great social media marketing plan that best suits your websites marketing needs.

Tags: social marketing, social media advertising, Social Media Marketing, social media marketing services

Return on Investment (roi) for Search Engine Optimization & Social Media Marketing

ROI for networking – a perspective

If you’ve ever placed an ad in any magazine or newspaper, what do the magazine or newspapers promise? Do they promise “x” leads and “y” calls leading to “z” number of clients? Or do they talk about “a 2 million circulation” which means that the ad will be viewed by many but there are no guarantees of new business?

Also, when you answer the phone, respond to emails, make cold calls, and attend networking events, how do you measure your ROI?

Or how many events have you attended where you’ve passed out 50 business cards, come back to the office with 100 business cards, sent out 10 follow-up emails and heard back from ZERO?

So you spent $25 to attend the event, $5 in gas money, 3 hours of your time that is worth say $150, and in the end what did you get? A bunch of business cards and a few people writing or calling to sell their services to you! So did you sit down and measure the ROI for that? I think not.

And how many events can you attend in a given day? What reach can you have, meaning how many people can you reach out to at any given event? And how do you build a relationship with someone in brief encounters where everyone is hurrying to meet one more person before the event is over?
You get my point?

The SMM ROIBy participating in Social Media Marketing (SMM), what we are doing is leveraging conversations and discussions to begin building relationships. Building relationships and networking online takes time and therefore it requires time and investment. Since you have a business to run, you can do this by retaining professionals like us (had to get a plug in).

And so to summarize, I leave you with this thought.

The evolution of online marketing and especially social media marketing requires a paradigm shift in how businesses view ROI. Social Media Marketing allows us to form relationships. These relationships may eventually lead to business.

But ROI for Social Media Marketing doesn’t apply nor does it make sense because how can we measuring ROI of human interactions?

Tags: online marketing, SEO, SMM, social marketing, Social Media Marketing

Return on Investment (roi) for Search Engine Optimization & Social Media Marketing

ROI for networking – a perspective

If you’ve ever placed an ad in any magazine or newspaper, what do the magazine or newspapers promise? Do they promise “x” leads and “y” calls leading to “z” number of clients? Or do they talk about “a 2 million circulation” which means that the ad will be viewed by many but there are no guarantees of new business?

Also, when you answer the phone, respond to emails, make cold calls, and attend networking events, how do you measure your ROI?

Or how many events have you attended where you’ve passed out 50 business cards, come back to the office with 100 business cards, sent out 10 follow-up emails and heard back from ZERO?

So you spent $25 to attend the event, $5 in gas money, 3 hours of your time that is worth say $150, and in the end what did you get? A bunch of business cards and a few people writing or calling to sell their services to you! So did you sit down and measure the ROI for that? I think not.

And how many events can you attend in a given day? What reach can you have, meaning how many people can you reach out to at any given event? And how do you build a relationship with someone in brief encounters where everyone is hurrying to meet one more person before the event is over?
You get my point?

The SMM ROIBy participating in Social Media Marketing (SMM), what we are doing is leveraging conversations and discussions to begin building relationships. Building relationships and networking online takes time and therefore it requires time and investment. Since you have a business to run, you can do this by retaining professionals like us (had to get a plug in).

And so to summarize, I leave you with this thought.

The evolution of online marketing and especially social media marketing requires a paradigm shift in how businesses view ROI. Social Media Marketing allows us to form relationships. These relationships may eventually lead to business.

But ROI for Social Media Marketing doesn’t apply nor does it make sense because how can we measuring ROI of human interactions?

Tags: online marketing, SEO, SMM, social marketing, Social Media Marketing

Why Is Social Media Marketing So Important?

Social Media Marketing is a modified term of conventional Product and Service Marketing. Social marketing is not about advertising, at least not advertising on its own. It is the art of getting others to talk about your brand or products. Social marketing is the future so learning to get it right is very important.
It’s about finding your customers where they are. Social marketing is not simply buying a banner ad campaign that runs on a social network. It uses marketing techniques to generate discussion and promote information, attitudes, values and behaviors. The benefits of marketing in this way are far too numerous to ignore.
One of the benefits of embracing Social Media Marketing campaigns is Traffic from the Social Network. Traffic is great for any website where the business model is based on site session numbers, page views, advertising impressions and CPC metrics.
As with any form of internet marketing, your campaign needs to be really well thought out, and you must spend a fair amount of time on planning strategy and creating exceptional content. This is followed by promoting and monitoring and tracking the results closely. Take your time and consider your campaign setup carefully, but be sure to get out and participate in this Internet Marketing strategy. Social Marketing is critical to the Internet Marketing Mix.
Many marketers are unsure of how to approach marketing in the social networks or even if they should approach it. The primary aim of social marketing by its original definition is social good, while in commercial marketing the aim is primarily financial.
When compiling your Social Media Network Strategy always keep in mind your customer base and what they want. Do they participate in the social networks online and is this something they would like to see your business involved with. If the answer is yes you might want to start by adding a Blog to your website.
If your employees are into the social networking scene ask them to add articles to the Blog. Always remember to add the company logo, name and any other identifying features to the background.
Once you have that in place you could consider joining one or more of the social networking sites. Choose carefully because there are many out there with some being just a waste of your time. Facebook and MySpace are two of the more popular ones. After joining you can start a group or become a member of a group whose primary interest is your type of business, product or service.
This is a good starting point and once you begin to understand how Social Media Networking operates you can expand your involvement to other areas of interest. Remember Social Networking is the new wave and ignoring it as a strategy to add to your marketing mix could be devastating to your enterprise.
Social marketing is just a smart idea. It’s not just a slogan, public service announcement, or one-time communication or mass media campaign. Social marketing is a powerful tool that can improve an individual’s, a group’s, or a society’s welfare. Social marketing is a relatively new, often misunderstood form of online marketing that is reaping huge rewards for website owners who incorporate it into their marketing plan.

Tags: internet marketing, Internet Marketing Strategy, Marketing, social marketing, Social Media Marketing