Getting Word of Mouth Marketing Right

 

 

 

 

By posting and sharing information the right way through various social media platforms, followers will post and share your information with their friends and followers on more social media sites, and you will ultimately become a stronger brand. You want to get people buzzing about your brand in a positive way with word of mouth marketing.

With social media sites, you must be careful about choosing what to post and share with your audience. If stated correctly, your posts have the power to engage and inspire your customers and they will automatically want to share what your brand has to offer with others.

Word of mouth marketing is as social as it gets. It allows your fans and followers to become your advertisers. Furthermore, they advertise your brand to new audiences and demographics, allowing you to reach more potential customers.

However, if you word of mouth marketing strategy isn’t done right, it can backfire and give your brand a bad rep. So, be careful with your campaign and use these tips to help you along the way!

1. Offer Quality Products

Without taking the time to develop the quality of your content, no consumer will give a second thought about your brand or product. Or worse, they may feel the need to spread negative opinions of your brand.

Millennials especially are affected by word of mouth marketing when making purchases. This generation, aged 18-34, uses and makes recommendations online to help their favorite brands, and will also give criticism online to help others’ purchasing decisions.

Invest in perfecting your products and services in order to get positive feedback from your fans and followers. Otherwise, you will see a wildfire of negative reviews about your brand!

2. Gain Consumer Trust

In order to carry out word of mouth marketing successfully, trust is essential. Hiding and/or laying low in the social media world will only cause customers to easily look over your brand or question your brand identity.

With 76% of consumers already feeling that companies lie in their advertising, it is key to building trust with your audience to keep loyal consumers for life. By getting your consumers to advertise for you with positive word of mouth marketing, others will see truth and the “realness” to your brand. People are more likely to trust their friends and followers on social media sites than a brand they are unfamiliar with.

3. Get Some Recommendations

As long as you use your manners and say your please and thank yous to your customers, asking them for recommendations can strengthen your word of mouth marketing.

Through social networking, you can stand out among other brands by highlighting recommendations and creating forums to build conversations with your consumers.

In fact, 93% of customers have noted word of mouth as the best and most reliable source for information on brands, products and services. This means recommendations could be the golden ticket for your word of mouth marketing.

If you can gain happy consumers who enjoy following and promoting your content, you will see long-term benefits in building a strong brand image.

Use these three ideas to help build your brand and gain consumer loyalty with the power of word of mouth marketing!

 

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Using LinkedIn to Market Your Brand

 

 

 

 

There are several marketing opportunities with LinkedIn. Most companies know the basics, but there are some other unique tools that more brands should look into. With some of these tools, you can bet you will increase sales and boost brand awareness. Not of all these tools are free, but if your company can make some extra room in its budget, these LinkedIn tools will surely be worthwhile.

1. Upgrade company pages

Most businesses have filled out their company’s LinkedIn page, but it’s a good idea to consider buying extras to enhance your visitors’ experience. An analytics tab will let page admins get insights about company followers. An overview tab gives LinkedIn members a network-aware overview of your company. A products and services tab allows you to highlight your top products and services and lets you display product recommendations. And finally, a career page will let you advertises job opportunities and allows you to interact with those searching for a job. If you invest in a Silver or Gold Careers page, you can add more content and even videos to emphasize what your brand is all about.

2. Self-serve LinkedIn ads

Start with these ads on LinkedIn. Use geography, industry, age and gender, company size, LinkedIn group and job function to target your ad. These ads will be seen at either the right side of a home or profile page, or at the top of bottom of the page. They can be composed of text and images. If you link these ads to your website, or your LinkedIn company page, you can give visitors access to further information about your brand.

3. Display ads

You can purchase display ads from the LinkedIn field sales team that will give you ad space on the right side of the home and profile pages, where you’re likely to get lots of views. With this ad space, you can add blog feeds, videos, or a Twitter feed. A recommendation ad is a great idea to increase word-of-mouth advertising. If someone in your network recommends your product or service, the recommendation shows as an ad on others’ profiles who are also in that network.

4. Customized groups

With a custom group, you have more space for customization on the ride side of the page. You can even add a blog, video or Twitter feeds. Also, consider adding a poll so you can ask group members questions to get quick responses and keep them involved with your brand

5. Use Partner Messages

Partner messages are similar to the InMails service available on a premium LinkedIn account, where you can send private emails through the network. Partner messages allow you to send these kinds of messages, but you can send them as a bulk mailer. Companies can send out notes to a target segment and include a call-to-action button, an ad unit, and a co-branded landing page. Additionally, these messages can be shared through Facebook and Twitter.

Consider trying some of these marketing tools on LinkedIn and see if you notice a positive change in your marketing strategy!

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12 Best Online Marketing Strategies For 2012

At this time of each year we think about what we accomplished over the last year – and what we want to improve on for the upcoming new year.

From a marketing perspective, it’s easy to get overwhelmed with all new ideas and bright shiny objects out there to pull our attention away from the marketing strategies that matter most – those that will actually improve your business and expand your marketing reach.

So, in honor of the new year – I present to you the 12 best online marketing strategies to focus on for 2012. There could be more – but these are in my opinion the best strategies to bring you quicker to your business goals using online marketing strategies that work.

Don’t choose them all! Focus on the 2 or 3 that you feel could impact your marketing effort the most – and carve out the time and plan for implementing them next year!

1. Improve your irresistible free offer. Perhaps it’s time to replace that outdated “free report” or “eBook” with an even higher value freebie to offer site visitors. As I referred to in my post about the best freebie out there – my favorite is still the Audio CD – which has huge intrinsic value because it’s a physical “thing” and you can capture mailing addresses in addition to just email address.

2. Launch a new product or program. There is always something you can “launch” whether it’s a new product or program. You can also “re-launch” something you did this year that performed really well. My post shares some great methods for launching a new product or program. Think about what you can do differently this time around to make it even more engaging and worthwhile for your audience. Add more bonuses and juicier incentives to help increase sales.

3. Do a new webinar or teleseminar. Each new year is a great time to host a new topic using either a webinar or teleseminar. It can also be a perfect time to switch up the format and see what works best. Been doing a bunch of teleseminars lately? Try a webinar? Doing just webinars? Try a teleseminar. And, choose a topic that is new to your audience and see what kind of response you receive.

4. Connect with a new joint venture partner. Have this year be the year you establish a great partnership with a new strategic alliance or joint venture partner. I explained how to do this in my post about joint venture as a great list building strategy. Someone that you feel can really pull you and help you in a big way – while you can do the same for them. I always like to think outside the box about who to connect with – and expect something great as a result.

5. Create an affiliate program. Perhaps this is the year you launch an affiliate program. Affiliates are a great way to spread your message and build your list – while also supporting your sales of products or programs. Pretty much most shopping cart programs support affiliate programs and are easy to establish.

6. Update your website / blog. Website looking a bit outdated? Perhaps it’s time to hire a graphic designer for that new logo you’ve been craving or hire a website developer to update your entire site. I shared how important design is when it comes to marketing online in an earlier post so don’t skimp on the important details when updating your website. First impressions matter most when designing your website.

7. Be more active on social media. Are you one of the folks who has a Twitter account but hardly ever uses it? Perhaps you’re wondering exactly what to post on that new Facebook fanpage you created? Have this year be the year you be more “social” on social media. Remember, you can’t be active on these social media sites unless you show up and do the work.

8. Start a pay-per-click advertising campaign. I’m a huge fan of pay-per-click advertising. One of my earlier posts about PPC explains that it’s one of the best and most effective ways to quickly and authentically build your list with highly qualified leads. Whether it’s Google AdWords or Facebook ads – they convert brand new prospects onto your list and you can target very specific groups of people searching what you have to offer. Yes, you gotta pay for the traffic – but – it’s definitely worth it on the long run.

9. Add video to your marketing. It’s 2012 and you’re still not using video in your online marketing? It’s time to jump onboard with the most powerful and effective way to connect and build trust online with visitors to your site. With the advances of technology and video equipment costs plummeting – you really have no excuse to do more video and start reaping the benefits immediately.

10. Generate more content. Only posting to your blog once every other week or once a month? This is the year you need to generate a ton more content – way more than you’re even doing now (unless you blog every single day.) Putting out high-content and high-value articles and blog posts is how you get new traffic as well as nurture the existing audience you have on your list. Content is king.

11. Be smart about SEO. Still don’t have a clue about search engine optimization or how it relates to your blog or website? SEO is critical for having massive success online – and can’t be ignored or overlooked anymore. Develop a comprehensive SEO strategy about how to improve your search engine rankings for your best keywords and let’s get to work.

12. Email your list more often. Only sending the email newsletter out when you have the time for it? This is the year we get you on a consistent and frequent schedule of emailing your list all this great content you’re now generating. If you’re doing monthly now – consider bi-weekly. Sending the newsletter every other week? Let’s make it happen by sending it weekly. The more you email your list – the higher your open rates and consumption of your content – which is all good.

There you have it! The official 12 best marketing strategies to grow your business with online marketing for 2012.

Until next time… Learn It, Love It, Live It!

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6785650

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Internet Marketing Strategies That Can Boost Your Products Sales

There are various ways of advertising or marketing your business. Internet marketing is one of the most effective ways of marketing and making your business visible all over the globe. Effective marketing strategies can help you gain more visibility and increase product sales. In this article we are going to look at internet marketing strategies that can boost your business sales and promote its growth worldwide. Some of the well known marketing strategies that are proven to have good results are:

• Through the use of Search engine optimization {SEO} – This is one of the best of driving traffic to your site or business and thus increasing web recognition or visibility. In general the use of SEO in your website helps in improving website ranking. There are various form of SEO that can help you increase traffic in your site, let’s look at some form of SEO. There is the use of selected keywords phrases or words and placing them in search engines such as Google, yahoo, Bing among others. The choice of the keywords should be chosen diligently and in case you already know your targeted audience you can target them by using keywords that mostly use when browsing. In this way you will achieve your goals of drive traffic to your website. Keywords mainly helps web users to find website that have related content that they maybe looking for. Another way of improving ranking through the use of SEO is placing ads on search engines. Ads help in making your site or business visible in the search engines and this is a sure way of driving traffic to your site. Although placing ads on search engine site have a cost it is a perfect and proven way of increasing traffic.

• Article marketing – Writing original content related to your site and submitting to article sites is another proven way of increase traffic to your site. All you need to do is to write quality and informative content and when submitting put anchor text that will help reader to click back to your site. You can also place part of the article as adverts on newspaper or daily magazines. Article marketing is an effective and long term marketing strategies as it brings steady stream of targeted traffic over time and will also continue to produce results even years down the road provided you do not remove the article from the sites that you had submitted it.

• The use of social networking sites – Networking sites such as Digg, LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook among others can be used and most people use them to market their product and their website. The use of social networking sites helps you keep your clients update. For instance you can use LinkedIn to build your credibility simply by participating in its Answers forum. One advantage of using social networking sites for marketing your business is that you can reach a large number of targeted customers and you can be able to keep them updated on any special offers or even on arrival of new products.

In conclusion internet marketing helps you to draw potential customers who are already looking for the products and services that you offer. In this way you can make more sales and grow you business.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6702694

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Social Media Marketing – How To Get Comments On Your Posts

This was a great article from Marketing Artfully

Social media marketing is a bear! It can feel like you are posting all day and no one is commenting or even listening. Don’t let a lack of comments get you down, you never know who might be out there watching and not talking.

 

How to get social media comments - social media marketingThe picture that I have on this post was taken out front of my house with an iPhone and the app TruHDR (one of my faves). I noticed when I got inside that I had my thumb in the picture – doh! If I was “smart” I would have cropped it out and had a “good” picture to post (most of our clients want everything to be perfect). What I did was post it to my Facebook with the comment, “they are paving the road! and my thumb…:)”. I got 7 comments and a couple of likes. Social media is about being human and humans are not always scripted and perfect.

This goes for companies too! When Dominos Pizza started losing market share, they did not curl up and die, they said that they would have to change their sauce and the quality of their pizza and sales rose. Many small biz owners are SO concerned that they look perfect that they become bland and boring! Snazzy it up a bit! If you would like to find out about other companies who have admitted to being less than perfect, check out the Washington Post’s, Behind Domino’s mea culpa ad campaign.

Does It Matter How Many Comments You Get?

Getting blog comments and getting social media comments follow the same formula as all regular human interaction. There is research from 2006 that shows this perfectly (and given that the stats haven’t changed in the intervening years, tend to be pretty compelling). According to Jakob Nielsen,

In most online communities, 90% of users are lurkers who never contribute, 9% of users contribute a little, and 1% of users account for almost all the action.

So think about that, for each commenter you have on one of your posts, there are potentially 90 people who will see it and never comment, BUT they saw it none-the-less! This is why you will go to a party and have someone you have never heard of say, “I am your Facebook friend” or “I see you on Google Plus all the time”. They see YOU and what you are doing, whether they talk to you online or not!

Funniest part of the Participation Inequality post was, “How to Overcome Participation Inequality – You can’t.” You can’t make people comment if they don’t want to, you can only post things that ENCOURAGE commenting and hope that someone jumps in to get the ball rolling.

Additionally, (I promise I will get to ideas of what to post to get comments soon), you need to be aware of WHEN you are posting things and who might be online at the time. If you are a nightbird and posting all your “stuff” at midnight, it may be pushed down everyone’s wall by the time they get up, OR you may have a hoard of people who are all up in the middle of the night with you who jump in to comment because there is not all that much else going on.

Timezones and posting matter too! If you are trying to target overseas customers, working on Eastern time won’t cut it. You are going to have to do some posting and commenting when it is mid morning and early evening THEIR time. Test this and see if it makes a difference in how many comments you get!

Social Media Ideas – What To Post To Get Comments On Your Posts

If you skipped down here, go up and read the rest, we will wait for you..:)

  • Personal items – The people working on the street outside my house are not inherently interesting, BUT it shows that I do not talk about marketing and small business all the time! It makes me more of a person and less of a company. I would say if you use social media for business that you should not talk about your baby, dog, husband, girlfriend or any other super personal thing TOO MUCH but that doesn’t mean that you can never talk about them! One guy who really gets this right is Daniel Webster Johnson. He is a Colorado Realtor who traipses around every morning taking pretty pictures of the Colorado countryside and his dog. It REALLY works for him!
  • Quotations – Now please note, these should only be quotations that have meaning to you. Just popping something up there everyday with no background as to why it is interesting is not that great a practive. I like quotationspage.com for quotes, the search engine is good and they have LOTS! Another good things to do is make up your own quotes – one fellow, Imran Rahman, has Imranisms. It always gives me a chuckle to see what he has posted!
  • Selling With People – You CAN sell if you are giving credit to other people at the same time! Kirsten McKay Smith is especially good at it on her Passion Rockstars pagewhich is a clearinghouse for her to talk to her team (and people who follow it may also want to become a member of her team after seeing how neat she is!)
  • Great Links From Your Industry– I am always looking for new things that could help my clients increase traffic or get more clients. Frequently I find good resources that I share with my online community. I also save these for my newsletter so they do double duty!
  • Post your videos– people like to see interesting things and if you can pop out a quicky video about your industry or a topic that will appeal to everyone, you can get some good interaction. Remember to be QUICK! 2 minutes or less.
  • Things from your past that are interesting– Could be reference to Woodstock from our baby boomer friends or a really great Muppet Movie clip. Just make sure you let us know WHY it is important to you!
  • Open Ended Questions – Ask your friends and circles an INTERESTING question that does not work with a yes or no answer. According to Buddy Media, Posts that END with a question (rather than having it at the beginning or middle) have a 15% higher engagement rate.
  • Trending topics – It is okay to comment on current events, I just make sure to stay out of religion and politics. Just think, if you are PRO REPUBLICAN or PRO DEMOCRAT, you are effectively alienating about half of the rest of your customers. I had a funny thing happen the other day, a fellow who was selling insurance threw out the term “Obamacare” and giggled like it was stupid. I can tell you, he DID NOT KNOW that would be offensive to some people in the room who would then choose someone else to work with. I KNOW, some people like to be very partisan on their social media and that is their choice. As a small business owner, I cannot afford to lose that many potential new clients. Nuff said.

The NUMBER ONE Most Important Social Media Commenting Idea!

Talk back. That is right, if you get one comment, talk back. If you get two, talk back again. People are more apt to interact with your posts if they know that there is a real person on the other side! If someone posts something nice on your wall, thank them. In general, just interact as you would with plain old humans you would come into contact in your day-to-day life.

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Social Media Best Practices: 12 Tips for Making the Best of Facebook, Twitter, Google + or Any Other Social Site

This is a great article I found by Frank Barry http://socialmediatoday.com/frankbarry/328381/social-media-best-practices-12-tips-making-best-facebook-twitter-google-or-any-oth?utm_source=smt_newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter

Do you know how many of your supporters use popular social networks like Google+, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube?

Twitter has more than 16 million users, and 42.3 percent of the entire American population is on Facebook. YouTube is the second most used search engine in the world. Google recently made a big social medial play by introducing Google+ which saw 20 million users within the first three weeks.

With usage stats like that it’s probably safe to assume that a large portion of your supporters, customers and/or prospects use at least one of these sites on a regular basis, right?

Which means you need to get laser focused on figuring out how to best utilize sites like Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and YouTube.

But as with anything, it can be challenging to figure out where to start or how to ensure your efforts are going to be effective.

With that in mind, here are 12 tips that will help you succeed no matter what social-networking site you apply them to.

1. CLAIM YOUR LAND

As you get more and more involved in using social media, be sure to claim your land by creating your organization’s Facebook page, Twitter account, YouTube channel, LinkedIn profile, Google+ profile, etc.

Think about it like when the Internet became popular — you wanted to secure your domain even if you didn’t plan on using it right away so others wouldn’t register it.

2. FILL OUT YOUR PROFILE COMPLETELY

The social Web is essentially a place where relationships are built, maintained and enhanced in a digital space.

It’s really no different than real life in that people want to get to know who you are, what you stand for, how you’re changing the world and what they can get by connecting with you. So make sure to take advantage of all the profile space you have by adding a picture, putting up information about your organization, providing links back to your website and so on. This way others know you’re a real nonprofit doing real things.

3. SPEND SOME TIME OBSERVING (AKA LISTENING)

An easy way to understand this concept is to think about attending a party where you don’t know many people.

It’s doubtful that you’d go barging in to conversations or groups of people without first getting the lay of the land by observing the room, looking for others who you may know or know of, and thinking about what you could talk about with those attending. The social Web is no different. It requires that you learn the culture, people and way to interact on each specific site. Twitter is different than Facebook, and Facebook is different than LinkedIn.

Spend some time observing how others interact, speak, share and communicate before you dive in. Creating a social-media listening dashboard helps as you get started. You can get one up and running in 30 minutes or less for free.

4. LOCATE YOUR PEEPS

Once you’ve begun to get acclimated with the culture and overall way to interact on each social site, start to look for those who are talking about or interested in things you find interesting.

For example: If you’re a nonprofit that focuses on disaster-relief efforts in places like New Zealand, then you may want to connect with the Red Cross and begin building a relationship with it. Or you may want to find individuals who are talking about the events around the world where disaster relief is needed.

This allows you to engage with people who are interested in the things you do and who might become supporters of yours one day. You should also get familiar with using search features like Twitter Search to help you find the right people to engage with.

Here are 13 simple twitter search examples to get you started.

5. ENGAGE, BUT DON’T YELL (OR ASK FOR DONATIONS)

After you’ve been observing for a while and locating like-minded organizations and individuals, you want to begin building relationships with them.

The key point to remember here is that you should not start by selling your wares or promoting your programs or asking for donations. Even though Social Fundraising is a great way to empower your supporters it shouldn’t be the first thing you focus on. Start by getting to know the individuals who run the social-media accounts you interact with — offer your help, assistance and support to them. Be the initiator and giver.

Spend some time in chitchat-type conversations to build real connections and relationships with others — it will pay off in the long run.

6. BUILD YOUR FAN BASE (JUST LIKE BUILDING YOUR HOUSE FILE)

As you start to engage with the right individuals and organizations, you naturally begin to build your fan base — it’s the organic way of doing things on the social Web.

In addition to that, once you’ve developed a solid presence, part of your fan-, friend- and follower-growth strategy should include promoting your presence on social-media sites to your current supporter base. You can do this by putting social-media links on your main website and sending e-mail communications to your housefile, letting all your supporters know where to find you on the various social-networking sites you participate on.

This helps build your social-network fan base in two ways.

First, it gets all those who you have e-mails addresses for to connect with you on Facebook, Twitter and so on.

Second, it gives you exposure to your fans’ networks and provides the opportunity for many more to find out about you.

7. CREATE MEANINGFUL RELATIONSHIPS

Now that you’re building a nice-sized following and engaging with the right crowd, you should focus on building relationships that are useful to others.

Sticking with the disaster-relief example, if you were engaged in helping those affected by a natural disaster in New Zealand, then you could help others by providing them up-to-the-minute news, pointing them to resources that would allow them to help or participate in the relief efforts, and creating conversations with others that help draw attention to the cause.

By being a resource to your community and helping others, you quickly build a great reputation online.

8. IDENTIFY AND INTERACT WITH INFLUENCERS

A key part of any social-media strategy involves identifying influencers — those who have nice-sized online networks can effectively spread your message and are able to activate others.

These individuals can help you reach more people because of the trusted relationships they’ve already built. As you build relationships with people online, look for the influencers and be thoughtful about how you engage and build relationships with them.

It’s very possible they can help amplify your message like you’ve never been able to do.

9. CONNECT THE DOTS

The social Web is very much a game of relationships and a place where those who are genuinely using the tools for good want to connect with other like-minded individuals.

As you build your network of fans, help them to get to know each other by connecting them. Make introductions on Facebook. Share something that one of your fans has done with another on Twitter. Help build a tight-knit network by being a connector who’s always looking for ways to build beneficial relationships between others.

10. PUMP OUT USEFUL INFO. AND CONTENT

Think of participating on the social Web like you think about your website.

Would people come back if you failed to update your website with useful information on a regular basis? Doubtful. The same holds true on the social Web, so make sure to consistently share great content that’s relevant and useful to your fan base. Keep in mind that it doesn’t have to be content that you wrote or created. It can be news stories, resources from other websites, information from a partner organization, etc.

The key is that you become valuable by sharing useful content.

11. ACTIVATE YOUR NETWORK

At the end of the day, doing the steps outlined above have a purpose.

That purpose is to build a community of people who are supporters of your organization and willing to take action in support of your cause.

Your online network will respond when you ask if you’ve built real relationships, engaged with people, proved to be a useful resource, connected others and had an overall positive impact on your online community.

12. SAY THANK YOU

Good manners apply in any social setting, and the Web is no different.

Make sure to continually show appreciation when you’re fans support you by donating, volunteering, sharing your content, retweeting a tweet, liking a Facebook status update, attending an event or any other action you’ve requested them to take. It shows that you’re paying attention and that you’re grateful for every bit of support.

And that keeps people coming back to support you every time you need them.

What one tip would you add? There’s plenty more out there that you’re doing a great job at, I’m sure!

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Why Niche Marketing Is Important For Internet Marketing

What is a niche? A niche is a portion of the market that is not being addressed adequately. You must identify the niche that you are targeting so that you are able to focus your work properly. There are a few reasons why niche marketing is important that you must understand before you get started. The main thing about marketing online is to be prepared before you get going. Preparation is vital because it can take you from your dream to a reality.

1. If you get started with internet marketing and do not select a specific niche then you will likely lose your goal along the way. It is like going into something blindly and that just does not turn out well. You must know who you are targeting and what portion of the market is not being targeted already. If you go after a segment of the market that has a lot of competition then your likelihood of making a lot of money is very low.

2. Niche marketing is also important for your search engine optimization needs. SEO is a very important process and you must know what niche you are targeting so that you can use the proper keywords and carry out the process correctly. If search engine optimization is not carried out appropriately then your goals will not be fulfilled. Take some time to put some thought into this before you get started.

3. The best thing about niche marketing is that it provides you with a direction along your internet marketing process. It feels so much better when you have a direction. For some, niche marketing seems like such a simple part of the plan but it may not always be so obvious for everyone. No matter who you are, it is always helpful to have a direction and in this case, if you do not have a direction with your niche then you will fall off your path very easily.

Niche marketing is vital for many reasons. Take a look at a few of these reasons and learn to implement the ideas throughout your own internet marketing process.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/5567855

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Facebook for Business Launches To Help Companies Market Themselves

I found this article very interesting, when you click on Facebook for Business it takes you to the page that Facebook has already had in

Article by  Found on http://www.linkedin.com/news?actionBar=&articleID=660728748&ids=0Oe3gTejoMdzoIdPkTcPAOc3oSb3kVc3AUej4SdyMOd3kQcjgMdzoIe3gTe38Tc3oS&aag=true&freq=weekly&trk=eml-tod-b-ttle-80

As businesses clamor to join Google+, it may be no coincidence that Facebook has introduced a new site walking potential advertisers through the process of advertising and marketing on the social network.

The site, Facebook for Business, “provides step-by-step guidance for how to best use Facebook’s marketing tools,” a company rep says. Such tools include Pages, Ads, Deals, social plugins and Sponsored Stories.

Though Facebook is sought after by marketers, many have found the process of buying ads on the network complex, which has spawned a network of third-party agencies that specialize in placing ads on the network. With the site, Facebook hopes to offer more of a helping hand. “We want to inspire small businesses by seeing how other businesses have found success on Facebook by sharing their stories,” the rep says.

The new site is the latest effort by Facebook to court advertisers. In April, the company launched Facebook Studio, which showcases successful Facebook campaigns and gives awards for the best work.

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10 Ways to Use Google Plus for Marketing

This is an awesome article I wanted to share:

It was just a matter of time before Google created some real competition for Facebook. My prediction for Google Plus is that the technically more savvy and early adopters will flock to it, while the majority of people will continue with Facebook. However, there is much to be said about an early mover advantage yet! And, since Google rules the search engines, it may well be in your interest to setup a home on Google Plus. Here are 10 ways you can market using Google Plus. Keep in mind that Google Plus profiles do NOT yet exist for brands and businesses. They will add this in time, but for now, you, as an individual, can make the most of it.

1. Setup a solid profile. Your entire Google Plus experience starts with the profile. Just like on Facebook, your profile is key, so spend some time building it correctly. Start with a good headshot. And, if you think the advice is commonplace, just look at some of the pictures on Google Plus now. When you show up in people’s steams, all they will see is a thumbnail. So, choose something where you really stand out. Craft your introduction well. Make it so that people would want to add you to their circles. And, Google Plus allows for live links in the introduction itself, so make the most of it. Add links to your website, blog, LinkedIn profile, etc.

2. Add relevant and remarkable images. My hunch is that Google will index the pictures you share (unless you’ve kept them private). So, use images you want found in the search engines. If you are a speaker, add pictures of you speaking. An author? Add pictures of you at your book signing. The idea is to convey the right brand image.

3. Make sure your profile is OPEN to search. This is key, since Google reigns supreme in the search world, the chances are that your profiles will be indexed VERY quickly. When you hit edit profile, the very last item on your profile is “Search Visibility.” Make sure you have checked the box that says “Help others find my profile in Search Results.”

4. Optimize the links to the right of the profile using keywords. Again, a great SEO feature. What are the chances that Google will value these links highly? Pretty good, I’d say. If only to encourage people to use Google plus. On the right hand side of your profile, you can add links and the text that goes with it. Make sure you use the RIGHT keywords to connect to your website. For example, our link to the Marketing Zen homepage uses the phrase “online marketing.”

5. Use “Circles” to communicate with clients, prospects, media, etc. This is perhaps Google Plus’ greatest selling point. Most people’s lives have layers – professional, personal, acquaintances, etc. And, Google Circles allow you to make the most of the layers. For example, you can create a circle for prospective clients. And, then cater specifically to them with industry news, a solid case study, etc. (Tip: While Google will inform a person that you have added them to a circle, it won’t tell them which circle.)

6. Use +, Comments, and Share to boost relationships. At the heart of all good social media marketing and networking lies the power of relationships. As you interact with others, show support for their ideas. The +1 on Google is akin to “Like” on Facebook. You can also +1 and comment when you see fit, and you can also SHARE within your own stream.

7. Add videos to your profile. If only from an SEO perspective, the chances of your videos being indexed into Google’s search is higher. So, if you have online video, share it. If you are still missing the online video boat, go to Dave for some amazing web video help.

8. Add your industry or business name as a “Spark.” Sparks is a new Google Plus feature, and still in development. But, something tells me that this will also tie into search results or effect them in some way. For now, use it like you would a Google alert, and setup SPARKS for your name, company name, and industry terms. You can also always follow industry news using SPARKS. For example, I have technology and business as my SPARKS, and I follow the top articles in those areas.

9. Market research –ask questions and use Hangouts as needed. Google Plus is a hot bed for market research right now. People are a LOT more engaged there right now because it is a new playground. It reminds me of Twitter in the early days. Google hangouts incorporates video chat with circles. Want to invite all your sales people for a quick Monday morning meeting? How about a Hangout?

10. Get a custom URL to share your Google Plus profile. Just like the early days of all social networks, there will be a huge rise initially as people try to fill up their circles. And, as time goes on, this will slow. Make it easy for people to follow you, get a custom URL. You can do so at http://www.gplus.to.

Bonus Tip: Follow me on Google Plus at http://www.gplus.com/Shama for more Google Plus tips to come!

Article Source http://www.marketingzen.com/10-ways-to-use-google-plus-for-marketing/

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How Does Search Engine Optimization Apply To Internet Marketing?

If you have stepped into the world of internet marketing even slightly, you have probably heard the term search engine optimization before. This is an essential process that you will need to take on throughout your journey as an online marketer. A question you may ask yourself is why this process is so important. There really are a few reasons that this process is both important and beneficial for your business both short term and long term. Once you understand these benefits you will be eager to get started.

1. Once you have a website set up for your business, your next step will be to complete the SEO for it. Before you can carry out this important step of your plan you need to fully understand it. SEO is a process by which you design the internal structure of your site appropriately so that it can be found easier by search engines and site visitors.

2. Some things to pay attention to when you are designing the internal structure of your site are keywords and phrases. This is how sites are ranked among search results so when you structure your keywords and phrases appropriately, you raise your likelihood of being found by search engine spiders much higher. Also, when you are creating your site you need to be sure your content is both relevant and of high quality. This is important because it sets you apart from the competition and builds credibility with site visitors.

3. A part of your plan will always be niche marketing. When focusing on your search engine optimization you must be targeting your specified niche market. This will become relevant because the people that want your goods and services will find you much quicker when you are focused on a specific part of the market.

If you have ever wondered about search engine optimization, it is a good thing that you took some time to read up about it. The more you understand about SEO the better off you will be with your business goals. In the long term, your financial success will soar like it never has before.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/5575421

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