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Reward Your Customers

How do you connect with your customers online?

Rewarding your customers is an essential component of driving customer loyalty. Foursquare, the leading location based social network, offers a great medium to connect your offline and online audience. Foursquare allows users to check into locations on their mobile phones. Then, users can share that location with friends on other social media platforms, such as Twitter and Facebook. Your company can benefit from these check-ins. When users’ friends see where they are checking in to eat and shop, they are more likely to follow suit to eat and shop there too!

Your goal on Foursquare should be to connect your customer’s online habits and offline habits. You can do this by offering deals and specials on Foursquare. Use specials to attract new customers, and reward loyal existing ones.  Personalize your rewards to your customer. For example, to reward a first-time customer, award them a free cookie on their first check in. To reward a frequent customer, offer them 10% off their bill every third check in.  Use a combination of different specials to encourage a growing clientele and satisfy returning customers.

Make it easy for your customers to check in. You’ve already gotten people in the door, now its time to make sure you capitalize on that. You must claim your business’s location! Make sure to claim ownership of your physical location. If you do not see your business listed, you can access Foursquare from your mobile phone and select “Add this place”.  Provide as much relevant information in your profile as possible – this will help inform your current and future customers.

Switch up the specials you offer and see what seems to appeal to customers most. Get to know your audience by running two specials at a time. This way you can see if your customer base are mostly returning customers or new customers.  Treat your customers well with rewards – they will return the favor!

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Business Blogging: Are You Doing It Right?

When blogging for your business, maintaining quality in each post is crucial.

Are your blogs solely full of opinions? This is a problem. To add value to your blog posts, include research on topics instead of just opinions. Use examples to add in-depth coverage to your posts. Cite reliable sources for your readers.

Think of every post as a product.  People buy products because they need or want them to serve a designated purpose. Just as a product is will only be useful if others buy it, a blog post will only be useful if people read it. Write content you believe people will be interested in reading about.  Tip: before publishing a blog, tweet a question that pertains to the blog. You can gauge the responses to the question and then determine if your content is of interest.

Quality blogs produce their own media content. Use your own images and graphics and incorporate them into your topic. Be sure to link your visuals to your original blog post to boost your exposure.

The point of your blog is to show readers you are a professional. Don’t hold back on the content you post just because it is freely available on the internet. Showcasing your expertise and knowledge on a blog shows viewers that you are good at what you do.

Blogs are informal by nature. However, it is important to recognize that your company blog reflects directly on your company. When blogging for your business, remember to share professional quality posts.

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Your Blog Should Be As Professional As Your Business

Blogging for your business?

We are used to thinking of blogs as informal pieces of writing.  Even so, it  is important to recognize that your company blog reflects directly on your company. When blogging for your business, you must share professional quality posts.

Treat every post as a product.  A blog post, like a product, will only be useful if others want to use it. Write content you believe people will be interested in reading about.  Tip: before publishing a blog, tweet a question that pertains to the blog. You can gauge the responses to the question and then determine if your content is of interest.

Producing your own media content is essential to creating a quality blog.  Use your own images and graphics and incorporate them into your topic. Be sure to link your visuals to your original blog post to boost your exposure.

To add value to your blog posts, include research on topics, not just opinions. Use examples to add in-depth coverage to your posts. Cite reliable sources for your readers.

Don’t hold back on the content you post just because it is available on the internet. Showcasing your expertise and knowledge on a blog shows viewers that you are good at what you do.

Run your blog like you run your business. Keep it professional and worth your reader’s while.

 

 

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Top 11 Reasons to Use Social Media in Business

Over the past few years, to say social media has exploded would be an understatement. Members of social media sites have discovered it’s the easiest way to find, learn about, and share information that directly influences their purchasing decisions. It is this reason alone that every business should be on multiple social media sites in an effort to reach as many people as possible.

Below are the top 11 reasons to use social media in business:

1. Build relationships – personal and professional; connect with all types of people – past and present coworkers, current clients, prospects, vendors, competitors, and marketing professionals to build your network

2. Share information – share your blog posts; share interesting and useful articles, other blogs, webinars, podcasts, presentations, and poll/survey results with your fan base

3.Gather valuable information – research similar products/services, competitors, prospects, marketing tips, blog ideas, create your own poll/survey – the amount of information available is endless

4. Join a social network of like-minded individuals or start a new interest group where you can further brand your product/service, build relationships, and share ideas and information

5. Stay current with the latest trends – write a blog or join a discussion on a trending topic; become aware of new social media sites that might fit the needs of your business

6. Land a great new job – using your new connections on various social media sites, you can get the inside scoop on companies that are hiring, as well as resume and interview tips

7.Discover a new passion in life, become a volunteer, or start a fundraising event

8. Get found by prospects by using inbound marketing tactics – spread the word about your product/service through social media sites; to form a complete marketing plan, combine this with outbound techniques (interruptive marketing)

9. Build business reputation and brand – constantly add value to all your posts and become a trustworthy leader in your industry; to quote Bob Burg, “All things being equal, people will do business with and refer business to those people they know, like, and trust.”

10. Build a marketing department inexpensively – for start-ups, employing inbound marketing tactics is a cheap way to start marketing your product/service; most social media sites are free to join, while others have a minimal monthly or yearly fee

11. Help increase conversion rates – use social media and inbound marketing to steer more organic traffic to your website and convert more leads into sales; the average

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/7108746

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Using Social Media Marketing For Small Businesses

You need to get to know your audience and find out what these people do on social networks. Developing a campaign adapted to your audience is the only way to get results. Start by finding out which sites are popular among your customers: most people use Facebook or Twitter but there are a lot of other sites designed for specific niches or age groups, including Reddit, Pinterest, LinkedIn, YouTube, Flickr, Tumblr, and many others. If you sell products to customers from all over the world, you should also join foreign social networks too. You also need to find out what kind of content your audience is interested in: pay attention to how popular your different updates are to get an idea of what your audience is interested in and which format is the most appreciated.

Your social media marketing campaign needs to be connected to your other marketing ventures. Add links to your social networking profiles to your main site or blog and to the signature of your emails. Place social media buttons on your articles so that readers can easily share your content and give people a reason to connect with you on these sites. You could for instance share coupon codes or organize contests on social website. If you use mobile marketing, the two campaigns should be closely connected since a lot of people use their phones to access social networks.

Update your networks every day. Your goal is to get the attention of your subscribers in spite of the other updates their friends and other professionals are sharing. This means you need to create updates that stand out: do not hesitate to share pictures of your products or to put together a video since these elements will be more noticeable. If you want to share a link to an article or write a short paragraph, introduce your update with a catchy phrase that will encourage people to keep reading.

Encourage people to interact with you on social websites. You could for instance list social networks as a way of contacting you with questions, comments or complaints. Share updates that will make people want to react: ask questions, create polls or ask your customers to share their own content with you for a chance to win a prize. When interacting with customers on social networks, always remain professional and friendly. Take the time to answer to everyone and be as helpful as possible. Remember that your goal is not to make friends but to advertise your products or services.

Launching a social media marketing campaign is a lot of work but your efforts will be rewarded. You should read more about social networks and do some research about latest trends so you can try new sites and techniques before your competitors do.  Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/7273816

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YouTube Comment-Cleanup

 

 

 

 

 

 

YouTube is now making it difficult for users to remain anonymous when trying to post negative or inappropriate videos and comments. Currently the site is pushing for users to use their full name when uploading videos or making comments. Rather than showing a pen name that links to their YouTube account, the site would prefer to link to the user’s Google+ account, showing their picture and full name.

This new move by YouTube will attempt to prevent any hurtful, inappropriate or negative comments to be posted onto the site. In a YouTube company blog, it was stated that YouTube is, “giving you the ability to change how you appear on YouTube, with the option to use your Google+ profile on your YouTube channel.” This idea launched after the option to have one Google-wide identity seemed popular among new YouTube users when it was first offered back in March. Now the site wants to extend this option to its current users as well.

Now when posting a comment on YouTube, the site will ask if you want to use your full name. If you decline to use your full name, you must select a reason for doing so, such as, “My channel is for a product, business or organization.

YouTube has stated that, “We’ll help you review your YouTube content before your full name starts to display.” Furthermore, if a user changes their mind, they are able to return back to their username.

This new information about YouTube’s commenting system was released just about a month after a YouTube developer at Google’s I/O conference claimed that the website would be, “undergoing some changes to prevent bullying” in the site’s comments section.

YouTube is hoping that this new change will encourage users to think twice before posting an inappropriate comment. And for users who have made comments that they now regret posting, the site has a ‘Review my content’ section to view every video and comment they’ve ever posted to the site and decide if they want those videos or comments to be associated with their full name before committing to the new change.

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The Importance of Participating in LinkedIn Groups

 

 

 

 

When it comes to generating leads, a HubSpot study conducted at the beginning of the year showed that LinkedIn is 277% more effective than other social network sites. This is a powerful statistic, but before you go looking for leads, you must first create prospects. By joining and being active in Groups on LinkedIn, you can benefit substantially from the site.

1. Join Groups Relevant to Your Business

Search on LinkedIn to find out which groups would be beneficial for your industry. If your business is a general industry, search for associations groups. If you’re a recruiter, look for networking groups. To join groups that will assist in your marketing efforts, look at the groups Social Media Marketing, Inbound Marketers and Marketing Innovation with LinkedIn.

2. Be an Influencer

When you first join a group, avoid the temptation about starting discussions that promote your products and services. No one in the group knows who you are when you first join, therefore you don’t have anyone’s trust just yet. However, if group members see that you’re part of the top five influencer list, you will be a noted helpful group member. To become a Top Influencer, you must generate contributions that lead to the most contributions from other group members. Remember that with your contributions and discussions with groups, it’s all about quality, not quantity, when shooting to become a Top Influencer.

3. Post a Poll

Group members like to see that you’re part of the group to engage, and not to promote or spam. By starting a poll, users will see that you’re interested in hearing their opinions. This is an easy way to get other members to get to know you and communicate with you.

4. Post Discussions

After you’ve created a respectable reputation within your group, start a discussion with group members. To start a quality discussion, remember these three components:

-Keep the title short. If the title goes over 140 characters, it will appear with an ellipsis at the end.

-Provide group members useful details. Give good context, but don’t get too lengthy with your information as you could easily lose readers’ attention.

-Add in a link that leads to your company page, website or blog. After posting a discussion, you want readers to have easy access to learn more.

5. Share Through Other Social Sites

On LinkedIn Groups, there are convenient share buttons that share the actual group, as well as individual discussions and polls. Extend your engagement in discussions by sharing them and providing them additional visibility.

6. Measure Results

There are free tools available for you to measure how your participation on LinkedIn Groups is contributing to your marketing success. Take a look at Bit.ly links and tracking tokens to be able to see how many people are clicking on the links your share within the group.

In addition to these ways to benefit from participating in LinkedIn Groups, it is important to remember that success will not happen in one try. With LinkedIn Groups your participation must be ongoing in order to see results. Try lots of methods of communicating in groups and compare your results to get an understanding of which communication styles help benefit your company the most.

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The Importance of Participating in LinkedIn Groups

 

 

 

 

 

When it comes to generating leads, a HubSpot study conducted at the beginning of the year showed that LinkedIn is 277% more effective than other social network sites. This is a powerful statistic, but before you go looking for leads, you must first create prospects. By joining and being active in Groups on LinkedIn, you can benefit substantially from the site.

1. Join Groups Relevant to Your Business

Search on LinkedIn to find out which groups would be beneficial for your industry. If your business is a general industry, search for associations groups. If you’re a recruiter, look for networking groups. To join groups that will assist in your marketing efforts, look at the groups Social Media Marketing, Inbound Marketers and Marketing Innovation with LinkedIn.

2. Be an Influencer

When you first join a group, avoid the temptation about starting discussions that promote your products and services. No one in the group knows who you are when you first join, therefore you don’t have anyone’s trust just yet. However, if group members see that you’re part of the top five influencer list, you will be a noted helpful group member. To become a Top Influencer, you must generate contributions that lead to the most contributions from other group members. Remember that with your contributions and discussions with groups, it’s all about quality, not quantity, when shooting to become a Top Influencer.

3. Post a Poll

Group members like to see that you’re part of the group to engage, and not to promote or spam. By starting a poll, users will see that you’re interested in hearing their opinions. This is an easy way to get other members to get to know you and communicate with you.

4. Post Discussions

After you’ve created a respectable reputation within your group, start a discussion with group members. To start a quality discussion, remember these three components:

-Keep the title short. If the title goes over 140 characters, it will appear with an ellipsis at the end.

-Provide group members useful details. Give good context, but don’t get too lengthy with your information as you could easily lose readers’ attention.

-Add in a link that leads to your company page, website or blog. After posting a discussion, you want readers to have easy access to learn more.

5. Share Through Other Social Sites

On LinkedIn Groups, there are convenient share buttons that share the actual group, as well as individual discussions and polls. Extend your engagement in discussions by sharing them and providing them additional visibility.

6. Measure Results

There are free tools available for you to measure how your participation on LinkedIn Groups is contributing to your marketing success. Take a look at Bit.ly links and tracking tokens to be able to see how many people are clicking on the links your share within the group.

In addition to these ways to benefit from participating in LinkedIn Groups, it is important to remember that success will not happen in one try. With LinkedIn Groups your participation must be ongoing in order to see results. Try lots of methods of communicating in groups and compare your results to get an understanding of which communication styles help benefit your company the most.

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Twitter’s Updated Search Feature

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Twitter has recently announced new changes to the way users search on their database. This could have a measurable impact on how brands compose their tweets.

The new search update appears to resemble the Google search engine in some ways. As a user types in a keyword, it attempts to guess what they’re searching for, as options that are trending will appear below in a drop-down menu. This lets the users view options before they finish typing. The Twitter search now also fixes spelling, similar to the “Did you mean” Google feature.

In addition, Twitter now will take your search and provide you with options of similar search terms. For example, when searching, “Social Media Strategy,” Twitter might suggest, “Social Media Agency” as another good search option. This will be very useful when users are trying to follow a trending topic or find new content.

Another new aspect to the Twitter search is its ability to filter search results to the people users follow. This helps users when they’re searching their feed for older tweets they meant to favorite, or messages from friends. This is a fairly small update, but it personalizes Twitter in a new and interesting way.

Twitter is the go-to place for breaking news. News tends to hit Twitter before appearing on television, in the papers, or on websites. Because of this, Twitter is trying to become the go-to place for people to search for news. The new Twitter search feature still only lets user search things within the Twittersphere (as opposed to the Bing/Facebook partnership). However, search results will be free of Internet junk and full of more relevant and recent tweets.

Perhaps the most important aspect of this updated Twitter search is how it will affect brands using strong Twitter promotions. Brands need to start adjusting their tweets for searches since the site itself is now being structured for searches. Just like blog posts and websites are composed to show up in Google, tweets must be optimally composed for Twitter. This new optimization will impact Hashtags and Keywords on Twitter. Hashtags will be even more important in tweets because they will now have more of an impact in searches. Companies should start utilizing their hashtags with popular search terms. With regards to keywords, tweets should contain keywords to help them show up in Twitter searches. But companies need to be careful not to go overboard with hashtags and keywords in their tweets!

This new way of tweeting should help brands see increased consumer engagement on Twitter overall. It is likely that there will be more organized conversation and detailed tweeting within the site.

This new real-time search feature is available to all users on Twitter. The updated Twitter search will provide for a more efficient social site. Keep in mind just how important keywords and phrases used by brands within tweets will become with this new Twitter search. If you are managing your company on Twitter, always think about which search terms people might be using on the site and try to appropriately incorporate them into your tweets without coming off as spam.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Twitter’s Updated Search Feature

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Twitter has recently announced new changes to the way users search on their database. This could have a measurable impact on how brands compose their tweets.

The new search update appears to resemble the Google search engine in some ways. As a user types in a keyword, it attempts to guess what they’re searching for, as options that are trending will appear below in a drop-down menu. This lets the users view options before they finish typing. The Twitter search now also fixes spelling, similar to the “Did you mean” Google feature.

In addition, Twitter now will take your search and provide you with options of similar search terms. For example, when searching, “Social Media Strategy,”

Twitter might suggest, “Social Media Agency” as another good search option. This will be very useful when users are trying to follow a trending topic or find new content.

Another new aspect to the Twitter search is its ability to filter search results to the people users follow. This helps users when they’re searching their feed for older tweets they meant to favorite, or messages from friends. This is a fairly small update, but it personalizes Twitter in a new and interesting way.

Twitter is the go-to place for breaking news. News tends to hit Twitter before appearing on television, in the papers, or on websites. Because of this, Twitter is trying to become the go-to place for people to search for news. The new Twitter search feature still only lets user search things within the Twittersphere (as opposed to the Bing/Facebook partnership). However, search results will be free of Internet junk and full of more relevant and recent tweets.

Perhaps the most important aspect of this updated Twitter search is how it will affect brands using strong Twitter promotions. Brands need to start adjusting their tweets for searches since the site itself is now being structured for searches. Just like blog posts and websites are composed to show up in Google, tweets must be optimally composed for Twitter. This new optimization will impact Hashtags and Keywords on Twitter. Hashtags will be even more important in tweets because they will now have more of an impact in searches. Companies should start utilizing their hashtags with popular search terms. With regards to keywords, tweets should contain keywords to help them show up in Twitter searches. But companies need to be careful not to go overboard with hashtags and keywords in their tweets!

This new way of tweeting should help brands see increased consumer engagement on Twitter overall. It is likely that there will be more organized conversation and detailed tweeting within the site.

This new real-time search feature is available to all users on Twitter. The updated Twitter search will provide for a more efficient social site. Keep in mind just how important keywords and phrases used by brands within tweets will become with this new Twitter search. If you are managing your company on Twitter, always think about which search terms people might be using on the site and try to appropriately incorporate them into your tweets without coming off as spam.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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