Why Your Business Should Be Sweet On HootSuite

Every week it seems like I'm turning clients on to yet another content sharing social network that their business should use to augment its brand presence and get new customers. I can almost hear the collective sighs from outside of the office door - "Another one???"

True, it can feel like a daunting task to maintain multiple social media accounts for your business and with recent data evidencing that every network is accompanied by dramatically differing demographics and times of the day that each social network is most active, you could easily fill entire days of the week attempting to optimize your marketing efforts towards them all. But who has the time for that? Enter HootSuite - a Vancouver BC based tech company that takes the burden of your social media and content scheduling and streamlines it into one convenient platform.

Here is what HootSuite can do to ease your social media / content marketing efforts:

1. Add Multiple Social Networks

HootSuite allows you to add your Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn accounts (among others) and recently added Instagram to its growing Social network support platform and will be adding others such as Blogger to the mix soon. This allows your business the ability to coordinate social media marketing into one convenient place.

2. Add Multiple Business Apps

Popular business applications such as SlideShare have also now been integrated into HootSuite and they will be adding others like Yammer in the near future. This allows businesses to streamline and enhance their ability to share presentations and other business applications amongst staff, investors, and prospective B2B customers.

3. Per-scheduling

In addition to streamlining all of your business' social media networks and business applications into one place, HootSuite allows you to pre-schedule tweets, posts, and releases into the future. For those that don't have the time to revisit their content sharing networks every day (or every hour) of the week, or simply forget to do so, this is the most efficient tool on HootSuite. You can pre-schedule activity months in advance.

4. HootSuite's Mobile App

For business owners on the go, the HootSuite mobile app is a favorable option with an incredibly easy to use dashboard. You can schedule your tweets, posts, and releases while standing in line at the bank, local coffee shop, or anywhere else you have to pass the time.

5. HootSuite Upgrades

Many of HootSuite's features are free and for the most part small to medium businesses will get along fine with the basic account. However if you would like to add other members of your company as administrators, take advantage of HootSuite Social Analytics, or manage unlimited social profiles and networks such as Google+ via HootSuite, then you may want to consider HootSuite Pro or HootSuite Enterprise upgrades.

Advice

Using HootSuite can take a tremendous load off of your back with regards to social networking and content sharing. While it varies depending on how important these marketing strategies are to your business, I recommend selecting one day of the week and devoting at least one hour towards prescheduling of tweets, posts, and releases for your multiple networks. Don't forget to still check-in daily to see if you've had any responses to your efforts in the form of retweets, likes, comments, messages, or better yet - requests for more information. The whole purpose of this after all is to get more customers. HootSuite simply allows you to better maintain that effort.

Making Social and E-Mail Calls to Action More Effective   Social Networking - A Beginners Guide to LinkedIn   Making Efficient Use of Your Social Media Campaign - A Debut Into Social Media Marketing   Top Reasons to Engage on Twitter   How Are You Leveraging Your LinkedIn Groups to Build Your Empire?   How Online Social Networks Help Build Businesses   

Why Social Networking for Business Should Not Be Automated

Every piece of a business system can be automated. However, with automation comes the possibility of computer generated errors, and this problem becomes even worse when the automation has to do with content driven material such as social networking. If there is a piece of communication that should not be managed by computers, it is the social media component of a business's advertising strategy.

Newsletters are commonly one of the most automated pieces of social networking. These newsletters are great for generating top of the mind awareness that every business needs to generate revenue. However, when these tools make mistakes, they are usually grievous errors. For example, there are many systems that will allow a business owner to insert the first name of a prospect dynamically using code. There are times when this code is accidentally changed and the code itself is shown. There is nothing more challenging than recreating the goodwill that a person has built up when a customer realizes that the newsletter was not generated specifically for them. This look behind the curtain can cause the consumer to look elsewhere because they want to work with a company that appreciates them and does not try to have automated customer service systems.

Content created for social networking for platforms by computers also tends to be less than ideal. This is because the computer (as much as people have made advances in this field) does not understand language as well as a real live person does. Even when grammatically correct information is generated, it usually lacks the feeling that it was generated by a real human. Therefore, the content is ignored by search engines (if it does not pass the duplicate content filter) and humans alike. This equates to a loss of money because the advertising method is not effective at engaging the end user (in this case the reader of the material).

Another area where content is automated is the "friend" and "follower" requests. However, this is one of the worst places to automate your social networking system. These computer-generated programs are built to find people speaking on a certain topic or keyword and to automatically request them to be a "friend" or "follower." In theory, this practice sounds like a good idea. However, what happens is that these programs find other programs doing the same thing. This inflates the friend and follower list to high levels but these networks contain nothing but programs that are talking to programs. There are no end users and if there are real users, they usually end up frustrated by the amount of link spam presented by those programs. In the end, these programs end up speaking to no one and generate no money on their own.

In closing, a business should not automate their social media campaigns because computers do a poor job of relating to humans socially. A real life person needs to run the social networking campaign (especially if it is social networking for business purposes) because people like to talk to real people and not programs developed to speak to humans. Having a real person run the social media program will allow the business to feel more human and show that they care about the ideas and needs of their consumer base.

Making Social and E-Mail Calls to Action More Effective   Social Networking - A Beginners Guide to LinkedIn   Making Efficient Use of Your Social Media Campaign - A Debut Into Social Media Marketing   Top Reasons to Engage on Twitter   

Successfully Using Online Social Network Sites For Business

There is a lot more to using online social network sites for marketing your business than simply making product offers and assuming you are good to go! The fact is if you intend to use such sites you must first have an online presence that is consistent with any claims or offers you make! It makes little sense otherwise to try marketing your business to people if you've got little or nothing to show!

Here are 3 things you'll want to establish and maintain on a consistent basis if you intend to make product offers on any social sites!

Online Presence

When marketing your business at any social sites you need to have your 'ducks in a row' in terms of having a website or blog! Having an online presence such as this only lends to the legitimacy of any claims or product offers you make! Quite simply all businesses need a location or 'store front' that people can visit and where you can make available to them the opportunity to make purchases!

Useful Content

The 'destination' you send any traffic from social sites to should be one that contains plenty of useful and relevant content! Consider your site as the next step in your trust building 'funnel' and a much needed online presence! The content found on any site you use for marketing your business must reflect what it is you offer or represent! Furthermore you want to be mindful that any content people do view at your site is of interest and contains accurate information as well! The point here is that if people do not make a purchase they may at least be interested enough in returning later on to view any new content!

Thematic Promotional Offers

This is to say that whatever service or product offers you make must share a relevancy with the theme of your site and the content found on it! Displaying any inconsistencies here will only serve to confuse visitors you are marketing your business to along with weakening your brand! Let's face it getting traffic can be a 'headache' therefore it makes NO sense to 'blow it' by drifting away from the theme of the business you represent!

Online social network sites are a great source of traffic and an easy way for marketing your business provided you're set up to do so! You can't expect to start making product offers at these sites without already establishing some type of online presence! This presence only serves to lend a certain 'legitimacy' to what you do while also giving visitors something to view that 'reinforces' your business claims! The 3 things you'll want to already have in place before marketing your business to members of any of these online communities are listed and discussed above! After all, you can't expect to gain the trust of others or establish authority in your field without some type of 'consistent' online presence already established?

Making Social and E-Mail Calls to Action More Effective   Making Efficient Use of Your Social Media Campaign - A Debut Into Social Media Marketing   Social Networking - A Beginners Guide to LinkedIn   Top Reasons to Engage on Twitter   

How to Send a Pinterest Invite - 3 Methods That Work Fast!

Pinterest, the world's first social service to be named as a big virtual pinboard, allows users to create their own space containing various Web images that caught their interest while browsing the Internet.

As of now, Pinterest works as an invite-only website, which means you can't join the social network unless someone invites you to do so. Well, if you are already a member of Pinterest and want to share this awesome service to your friends and colleagues, here are the 3 fastest methods on how to send a Pinterest Invite:

1. Directly invite them through Pinterest.

The fastest way to get another person started on Pinterest is to send them an invite via the website itself. To do this, go to your account at Pinterest and hover your mouse over your name, which is located at the toolbar found on the top right corner. Simply click "Invite Friends" and then put their email addresses on the space provided. After this, tell your friend to open his or her email and follow the sign up steps provided in the email sent by Pinterest.

2. Use Facebook to invite friends and rescue others.

Through Facebook, you can direct your friends to Pinterest by sending them an invite. Don't forget to check out for your friends' statuses regarding their request for a Pinterest Invite. There's no doubt that they will be grateful for your little help. If you want to continue being heroic, you may go to the Pinterest fan page on Facebook and send invites to people who want to get started on Pinterest.

3. Connect with more people via other websites and forums.

For sure, there are a lot more people who want to create an account in Pinterest but don't know where to get the invite. If you have extra time in your hands, consider their plea and hook them up to Pinterest by asking their email addresses and sending them Pinterest invites. You can make a lot of new friends just by doing such a good Samaritan deed.

Unfortunately, Pinterest is not connected to Twitter as of the moment. But for sure, they will be associated with each other in the future. The same goes for LinkedIn and other popular social networking sites. But for now, you may use the mentioned 3 ways on how to send a Pinterest Invite fast and easy. Enjoy your new Pinterest account!

Making Social and E-Mail Calls to Action More Effective   Social Networking - A Beginners Guide to LinkedIn   Making Efficient Use of Your Social Media Campaign - A Debut Into Social Media Marketing   Top Reasons to Engage on Twitter   How Are You Leveraging Your LinkedIn Groups to Build Your Empire?   How Online Social Networks Help Build Businesses   

Facebook Boosts Businesses in an Unusual Way

Business leaders are fond of banning Facebook and other social networks. Indeed, I met a security expert the other day who told me that some firms even ban people from using their personal mobiles from accessing Facebook during office hours - either by confiscating all mobiles at the start of the working day, or by installing "blocking" radio waves, which prevent the mobiles from receiving a signal. What jolly workplaces they must be.

Some business leaders appear to think that social networking is a distraction. That's in spite of several studies which show that office productivity FALLS once you ban the likes of Facebook. Furthermore, companies that institute Facebook bans also find they lose the benefit of staff giving their company free marketing support.

But why are businesses happy to let their company lose out on the marketing potential of their staff talking about them on Facebook? The issue, it seems, is that they cannot trust their staff to say positive things about the firm. Oh dear. If you cannot trust your own staff to say good things about your company that says a great deal about your employment practices and your relationship with your workers. This is not a Facebook problem; instead, Facebook bans reveal more about inadequate senior management in businesses than anything else.

Now, a new research study emphasises this issue. Psychologists have discovered that Facebook usage during studying has no impact on the students who use Facebook, compared with those who do not. The fear was that Facebook would contribute to lower grades because of the distraction. However, this is not the case.

What is interesting in this research, however, is the fact that students who were good multi-taskers and who had good relationships with their parents tended to to better if they also used Facebook. For businesses this has important implications.

It suggests that the selection of staff is important - and that if a company has "issues" with social networks like Facebook it could mean they really need to look at staff selection, rather than banning Facebook. Ultimately, what this new research suggests is that if you select people who are good at multitasking (why wouldn't you want them anyway?) and who are well-rounded with solid family relationships (who wouldn't want that either?) then you are much more likely to be choosing people who will actually do better for your business if they use Facebook.

In other words, many business leaders need to look at themselves and how they select their staff, rather than simply banning social networks. Indeed, choose the right people and your business will benefit significantly in more ways than you think from using social networks.

Making Social and E-Mail Calls to Action More Effective   Social Networking - A Beginners Guide to LinkedIn   Making Efficient Use of Your Social Media Campaign - A Debut Into Social Media Marketing   Top Reasons to Engage on Twitter   How Are You Leveraging Your LinkedIn Groups to Build Your Empire?   How Online Social Networks Help Build Businesses   

What A Business Can Expect to Experience When Using Social Networking for Business

A business should expect to make more business contacts at a higher rate of speed when using a social network designed for business purposes. This is because the Internet is a place where a person can meet a high variety of people without physically being in the same room. This allows people to meet without the expenses of traveling or having to go somewhere for lunch. Obviously, this is not always possible. This is why social networking for business is very important. Business can be accelerated to the speed of the Internet, not only for transactions, but also for business meetings.

A business needs more contacts. More contacts can lead to more opportunities in the business space then a business that does not generate contacts at a high rate of speed. Part of being successful in business is being aware of opportunities as they arise. The ability of business to identify opportunities will determine how much revenue they can generate within the year. This is why socially networking for business through the Internet is so important. The Internet opens up a new world of business contacts that a company would not normally have access to in the real world. It is very important for any business to learn how to network effectively using social media to have a chance to succeed in the future.

A business should expect to make more money when they properly network through the Internet. A business is no longer limited to their physical location. The new technologies that have been created for the Internet have allowed businesses to grow outside their physical borders. For example, meetings can now happen on the Internet where they would have only happened in face-to-face meetings. A meeting can be scheduled for a person in the USA with a person in a different country within minutes. This is all possible instead of a sending a sales person to fly to meet with the other business person. This speeds up the rate that a business can close a business deal.

A business should also expect to be able to talk to their employees with a higher rate of speed than was previously possible. We business can also talk to a multitude of employees using the same medium an exact same message without having to pick up the phone and physically talk to every employee that needs to hear the message. This allows for quicker conversations about where a company is going and what the company needs to do. The speed of communication allows a business to move fast on opportunities and to adjust their strategy on the fly.

In general, a business using social networking for business can expect to be more capable to handle the advancements in technology and business. The ability to communicate with employees and perspective customers at a high rate of speed will determine the ability of the business to be successful in the future. A business that chooses the right platform for social networking will dominate their niche and become the most well known name in their market space. In closing, a business that effectively uses social media or social networking for business can expect to make more money.

Making Social and E-Mail Calls to Action More Effective   Social Networking - A Beginners Guide to LinkedIn   Making Efficient Use of Your Social Media Campaign - A Debut Into Social Media Marketing   Top Reasons to Engage on Twitter   

The People Who Need More Social Media Privacy Than What the Major Social Networks Provide

Law enforcement is in the business of making enemies. Whether they like it or not, it is what they do when they do their job every day. Therefore, it is important for these people to have the social media privacy they deserve online. However, they rarely ever get it because the social media systems do not manage the privacy needs of their clients very well. This makes using the social media systems very dangerous for most law enforcement agents because of the high amount of enemies that could be looking for them and any information about them on the internet. Unfortunately, most of the systems on the internet default to allowing everyone to see every post a user makes on their system. Not only that, but they also allow all profiles and their associated information to be viewed by friend, family, or foe alike. This is a massive security issue for most law enforcement and why most of the social media systems are not useful to them.

Business leaders also have the same problem with the social media systems. They are the leaders in the community and it is very unlikely that they have not made enemies on their way to success. Some of these enemies are very dangerous and should not know who the business leader is friends with and where their family is located as well. All of these things could become very dangerous knowledge. Therefore, the use of social media networks are very dangerous for them if the social media system does not have the right protocols in place to defend them from attacks from former employees or former business rivals (sometimes even current ones).

Finally, political leaders and candidates are people who need to be very careful as well. Even though they need the systems to generate support for what they do. They must also be very careful about how they use the systems because using the systems incorrectly will reveal a lot of information that people should not know about them. A political leader or candidate is in the business of hiding certain aspects of themselves or certain facts about themselves. This is not good or bad, it just is the way that the game is played. Therefore, the social networks must learn to help these people manage their social media privacy or they (the candidates or leaders) will find that they are left out in the cold when it comes time to generate votes. Again, the social media outlets that exist at this point do not do this well.

A social media network does not handle the needs of their clients well because the needs of the clients do not match the needs of the social networking platform. The social networking platforms that exist have never charged for their services. Therefore, a change in this system would cause the social media systems to lose many of their current users. The way they monetize the system is through advertising, and the way they entice people to advertise through their networks is by the amount of information that exists about the consumers on their network. Therefore, they cannot and will not stop collecting information and endangering the livelihoods of certain types of people within the populace.

In conclusion, the social networks should care more about keeping things that their clients need to have private, they will not do so until forced to do so by the government. There is far too much money at stake and the social media systems (and certain business leaders who make money off of the information) that will fight to keep things the way they are for better or worse. Therefore, law enforcement officials, politicians, and business leaders should seek more secure ways of communicating or find sites that give them more privacy then the other forms of communication.

Making Social and E-Mail Calls to Action More Effective   Social Networking - A Beginners Guide to LinkedIn   Making Efficient Use of Your Social Media Campaign - A Debut Into Social Media Marketing   Top Reasons to Engage on Twitter   How Are You Leveraging Your LinkedIn Groups to Build Your Empire?   

Protecting Your Digital Identity Online

One of the most important things to do online is to protect your digital identity. This one activity has become more important on the Internet because there are a variety of people trying to take your identity away from you. There is much they can do with your identity once they've captured enough information to have a decent shot at using your identity to get what they want. That is what they are really doing when they take your identity. Using your resources to get what they want because they do not want to take the time to do the work to get the results they could get by using your resources first.

The advent of social media has made it much easier for people to steal your identity online. This is because people share too much information on social media networks without really thinking about it. Most people share their birth date, their address, and sometimes even their cell phone number. In some cases this is enough to access the password by calling into a specific company and giving them this information which supposedly only the owner knows. However, these things are usually readily available on social media systems that exist. Therefore, this is all a big problem for most people as they do not pay attention to what they share on the social media systems.

There are also is another problem that some people have which is that once one password is hacked or decoded that password happens to be the password for many other items which may include bank accounts or social media profiles. Basically, a person may lose their identity through this security hole and they will not get it back until all the damage is done.

Therefore, most of protecting a digital identity is being very careful about what is shared on social media systems or at least being aware of what is being posted on the social media systems. There is a lot of information that can be gleaned from the social media profiles therefore a person must be very careful about what they say on the social media systems. That is the only way to make sure that a person has the privacy they want and need in all situations. This also protects them against digital theft of their identity.

In the old days, it used to be that a person would have to steal a wallet to get a hold of a person's identity and then develop a fake ID be able to steal a person's identity. However this is not true on the Internet today therefore, it is smart to take all of the ideas in this article in use them to protect oneself against digital identity theft online. It really doesn't have to take much more than being mindful about everything that a person puts on the social media systems. Even privacy settings on some of the major systems cannot be trusted as there are loopholes in their search functions that allow private posts to be seen especially on one of the major networks that exist at this moment. Therefore, the best defense against digital theft online is to be careful how a person uses their information when on social systems.

Making Social and E-Mail Calls to Action More Effective   Social Networking - A Beginners Guide to LinkedIn   Making Efficient Use of Your Social Media Campaign - A Debut Into Social Media Marketing   Top Reasons to Engage on Twitter   How Are You Leveraging Your LinkedIn Groups to Build Your Empire?   How Online Social Networks Help Build Businesses   

How to Maintain Social Media Privacy When Using the Social Systems

Maintaining a social media privacy campaign is as easy as making a plan. A plan should already be in place before a person starts using a social networking platform. However, there are many times when a person just starts to use the programs regardless of what conventional wisdom says. A person who uses the social networking system before they have a plan for keeping their social network private has very little privacy. The worst part about that is that they may or may not realize that they have compromised their own security. Therefore, the best thing for a person to do is have a social media privacy plan in place before they start using the systems.

Once, they have a system in place and they are using the system, then it is extremely easy to maintain the privacy. They just have to follow the plan. However, following the plan becomes more difficult when people try to peer pressure the person into using certain systems on the social networking platform. There are plenty of fun things to do on the social networks; however, each one of those activities costs the user in the form of money or privacy. In most cases, it is the latter, because there is a higher premium on the information about a person, then the monetary value that their attention can bring.

A good social privacy plan takes this peer pressure into account and gives the user a formula to figure out if they want to proceed with the action or if they should stray away from using the application. This is not always an easy decision on the fly because of the amount of ridicule a person can take from inaction, however, for privacy reasons, may be too great. Therefore, a person has to figure out, beforehand, what they will get involved with and what they will not get involved with and at what cost. It is OK to give up some privacy if the risks are understood and the user knows what they are giving up. However, what is not acceptable is blindly accepting terms and conditions unless a person fully understands what they are giving up in return for use of the system or application. Therefore, a smart user of the social media system has a plan or formula for figuring this out before the situation comes to pass.

Lastly, a person also needs to be careful who they let in their social networking friend or follower list. These people that the person lets into their little circle have the potential of helping or hurting a user. This is because anything that the user says about a business or person can be brought to that entities' attention by those people in the friend or follower list. There have been many incidents when the friends and followers of a certain person have gotten their "friend" fired because of statements that person has made about their company of work or whatever the case may be. Therefore, a smart social media user plans their social networking appropriately beforehand and keeps their friend or follower list to people they trust.

Making Social and E-Mail Calls to Action More Effective   Social Networking - A Beginners Guide to LinkedIn   Making Efficient Use of Your Social Media Campaign - A Debut Into Social Media Marketing   Top Reasons to Engage on Twitter   How Are You Leveraging Your LinkedIn Groups to Build Your Empire?   

Achieving Influencer Status Online

There is much talk about finding online influencers who can help you to advance your business through your online interactions. On the other side, there are ways that you can become an online influencer also so that others can benefit.

There is a great deal that you can learn from other people online in this age of ever-changing technology. Some of the concepts are common sense and others may be ideas that have never occurred to you. The best thing to do is to take the advice that makes sense for you and your business and disregard the rest.

WIIFM: People are not concerned with how wonderful you and your business are. The only thing that they really care about is whether you are able to solve their problems. WIIFM (What's In It For Me?) is a marketing term that means exactly that. As you are interacting with people online, their issues will probably come to the surface very quickly. Once you understand what they want and need, hopefully you will be able to give it to them. If you don't have the ability to do so but you know of someone else who may be able to help, that is still a good thing to do. Your online connections will not forget that you helped them, even if it was indirectly.

Be transparent: Other people definitely appreciate transparency and honesty. That should be an important part of your business model. That doesn't mean that you need to reveal absolutely every detail that concerns your business; however, if you come across as sincere, genuine and honest, people will want to do business with you. If you don't, they won't want to have a connection with you at all. Part of that transparency means that you not only share positive things but also negative information, if you feel that it is important enough to share. It will make you come through in a very positive light.

Be consistent: It is extremely important that other people can count on you being the same all of the time. They need to understand that they can rely on you every time and that you will do what you can to help them. That is precisely how you will earn their trust and they will start to see you as trustworthy and credible. It is also the way in which you will come to be regarded as a subject matter expert (SME), which means that people will think of you first when they need what something that is a part of your expertise.

Have a clear objective in mind: It is critical that you have a clear goal in mind from the beginning. If your expectation is that people follow you online, you must have a strong idea of where you are going. People will only follow you as long as it makes sense for them to do so. The reason why it is so important for you to have a clear goal in mind is not only for other people but is also for your benefit. You won't accomplish much if you don't establish a path and then follow that path to the ultimate end.

Connect with people on line and face to face: Sharing a relationship with people is very important, effective, and beneficial. However, it is also extremely important that at some point, you meet them in person. Connecting with someone online and then connecting with them in person will add another layer to your flourishing relationship.

Write content that makes a difference to others: Not only should your content be very well written but it should also touch your readers in a way that makes them react to you and to what you are writing. The secret is to touch them emotionally. If you are able to do that, your relationship will continue to grow stronger and stronger and your interactions will be meaningful.

Always reveal your story: It is critical that you reveal your story to your readers clearly. If there is no story, there will be no interest on their part. Remember that everyone has a story. It is just a matter of expressing it in the most effective manner possible. If you can accomplish that, you will see that people will start to connect with you frequently.

Share your expertise with other people: You should never feel nervous or insecure about sharing your knowledge with other people. There is no way that they could possibly take the information that you share with them and actually have the expertise to do what you do. After all, it took you a while to learn what you know. They won't be able to learn it in the blink of an eye.

Interact with other influencers: You will learn a great deal from other people of influence. See if you can identify how they got to be influencers. It is a good idea to read their online content and share it with others with your insight into what they have said. Everyone will appreciate what you have to say.

Help other people to achieve success: The more you help other people, the more they will help you in return. Partnering in some way with people who you feel have something important to share will make you look good and, in turn, you can do the same for them. Everyone will come out ahead.

Conclusion

There are many other things that you can do on your path to becoming an influencer. The information that has been discussed here gives you an excellent start and if you take the advice, people will begin to look up to you for your knowledge and expertise and will want to be a part of your circle of influence.

We are pleased to provide you with the insightful comments contained herein. For a free assessment of your online presence, let's have coffee.

Making Social and E-Mail Calls to Action More Effective   Social Networking - A Beginners Guide to LinkedIn   Making Efficient Use of Your Social Media Campaign - A Debut Into Social Media Marketing   Top Reasons to Engage on Twitter   

Understanding the Facebook Timeline Elements for Creating a Successful Fan Page

Now that the Facebook Timeline and cover photo feature has already been introduced, what's next? What should this mean for every business? Can companies gain a more positive social experience from the feature? The answer is yes, and much more! New directional strategy for any social network always brings new opportunities, and the Facebook Timeline and cover photo features boasts unique characteristics and elements to take full advantage of the changes.

Take Advantage of Timeline Capabilities

The researcher, Simply Measured, drew its results from an impressively small sample: just 15 Facebook Fan pages. Doing so may have generated a fabricated sense of buzz, especially since the ultimate beneficiaries, Livestrong and Toyota, saw their engagement rates skyrocket 161% and 156%, respectively. Diving deeper into the data exposes that replies to status updates in fact fell with Timeline, but engagement with videos and photos were up an unexpectedly 65%. Adam Schoenfeld, CEO of Simply Measured expressed his theory that the bigger images on Timeline are leading to more engagement with vibrant material. That will inform marketers to post additional videos and photos.

With Facebook filled with all kinds of products, brands, and companies, before implementing a Facebook strategy, companies want to know whether it would beneficial to invest in a Facebook marketing campaign for the new timeline and professional cover photo. Moreover, they want to know whether they can deliver their company message professionally and appropriately. Businesses also at the same time look forward to impressing their customers with the cover photo and timeline strategy.

A thoughtful cover photo and distinct approach to the timeline is proving to be an advantage for businesses in this regard. The timeline change has progressed from an obvious pitch opt in Fan page front end, to a non-aggressive visual representation to standout, communicating a simple message. Neither old nor new Fan page layout is the same as before. For Facebook, the design layout is the initiative.

Change is an ever constant in this world; we all know that. We are also aware that change can sometimes be painful too. Now that your business has finally acquired your very own Facebook marketing strategy to work for you, the creators at Facebook began the inevitable - changing the rules! The reality, however, remains; if you want to keep engaging with your audiences and prospects on the social network, you have to learn to adapt with any changes especially the timeline and cover photo. You just cannot ignore these important elements. Thankfully, there are smart tactics regarding how you can make this timeline dilemma work for your business effectively.

For starters, embrace the visual focus Facebook offers by brainstorming a subtle message comprised with professional design skills to enhance your company brand. The 850x315 pixels of cover photo image space with timeline layout, allows you to create a viral recognizable brand of your business on Facebook.

In addition to the cover photo, Facebook timeline Fan pages, groups, and profiles have upgraded the following:

A vertical timeline (wall) that posts status updates, highlights, and the ability to change dates in a two-way downward column A timeline to be sociable by sharing remarkable content exceptionally A larger layout design dedicated for applications, including editorial photos, and even dynamic videos The cover photo feature is a professional and unique element where a company or brand can display a creative photo that represents the company or brand characteristics

It would be in a company's best interest to shape an eye-catching message, symbol, brand, or identifiable picture to choose for their cover photo. Delivering a clear message in a professional manner for potential customers and clients to see is a positive representation of the company image. An important game changing strategy is to update your cover photo from time to time to keep your Facebook page fresh and upbeat.

Companies must understand that web users engage more with visual content naturally; which draws users in to anything interesting they can look at. Planning your editorial images comprehensively will generate the best engagement with fans, while attracting more followers that want to share your message.

Unique and entertainingly written posts will remain crucial as well; you may also want to provide subtle yet detailed correlation to compliment your visual content. The visually focused Facebook has provided the features necessary to create the best conditions for greater engagement. Visual focus is what companies and brands needed according to Facebook.

Always aim to be creative with the images you plan to display, because these dynamics either make a good or bad impression to your business from visitors and prospects point of view. With the new Fan page cover photo feature, including the thumbnail photos intended for the applications, you are now empowered to conceptualize an impressive page and implement it for effective Facebook results.

Conclusion

In this article you have learned the easiest ways to increase your exposure, gain, traffic, and create greater engagement with your Fan page or profile. By doing so, you will increase Facebook traffic flow through your site, and optimistically increase your search engine rankings as well. Minor adjustments like those you learned today can make a big transformation to your Facebook marketing campaign.

To review, make certain that you create a remarkable Fan page or profile cover photo that stands out. Also, give thoughtful time to mapping out your design, be unique and entertaining, and aim for creativity, avoid blatant promotion, selling, or calls to action and keep good standing with Facebook.

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How to Utilize Google+ For Your Church

If you have a church and are looking for a method by which you can keep your congregation abreast on news, prayer requests, and schedules, the social networking service, Google+, has some great ways to manage information and filter communications.

If your church staff doesn't already use Gmail or Yahoo Mail, the first thing to do would be to sign up for a free account to either, as a valid email address from one of those services is required. Once this is done, you'll want to connect with members of your congregation. If your church had been using Gmail or Yahoo Mail in the past to communicate with the church body, Google+ will use your established email address book to show you those individuals that already have a profile. For everyone else, you are allowed to invite them to join. You will want to give your congregation notice beforehand that you will be inviting them to follow you on Google+ a couple services before starting the process, and pass around a pen and sign-up sheet so you can gather their email addresses. You may also want to briefly explain the benefits of connecting on such a website by highlighting how it can offer a new way for church members to interact.

After you have set up your profile and invited members of the church to join, you'll want to start organizing folks into circles. Circles on Google+ are groups of people who have something in common to distinguish them apart from others. Certain individuals can be sorted into more than one group. For churches, some ideas on circles you might want to include are for the youth group, Bible studies, the board of trustees, the outreach team, and the general congregation. What these circles allow you to do is filter your profile posts so that only relevant friends can see a given post. Suppose one member is in the youth group and the worship band. By dragging and dropping his profile icon into those circles on your profile, he will receive any news and updates regarding the youth group and worship band, but not be bothered with posts regarding the Bible study.

Google+ also features hangouts. Hangouts are video-chat rooms that allow you to meet with people on a page of simultaneous, live video feeds from all participants. This face-to-face group chat might be a great way for a Bible study to meet, particularly if some members are too far away or have challenged mobility. This also might be a way for prayer groups to share testimonials and ask for support in a community setting while not having to travel to the church or another house. You can also share YouTube videos in hangouts, which might be a great way for foreign missionaries to show you the work they've accomplished, all while maintaining live interaction between participants.

If you would like to get ordained to start an online church, or want to expand the options for your congregation to connect with one another, Google+ has quite a bit to offer. To read more tips on growing your internet ministry, browse the free blog at the Universal Life Church.

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10 Questions a Business Owner Needs to Ask Before Using Facebook Advertising

Have you tried to use Facebook advertising and had no luck? I have spoken to a lot of business owners the last couple of years that have said to me that I tried to advertise on Facebook and it was a waste of time. First of all, I will be the first one to say that Facebook Advertising is not for every business and if people can easily buy your product elsewhere, or can compare prices easily online, then selling your product on Facebook is going to be difficult. However, on the flip side if your product is unique or personalized then Facebook advertising is for you. Facebook is the worldwide capital of individual expression and it is perfect to sell customized and personalized products. Here are ten questions every business owner needs to ask before advertising on Facebook.

1.) Can people buy a product very similar to yours at a big box store, i.e Walmart?

If you sell a product that can be bought easily in a brick and mortar store and at a lower price like a discount store like Walmart then it is going to be harder to sell your product and make money with Facebook advertising unless you are the lowest price.

2.) Do you sell to consumers? (B2C)

Facebook advertising is for you if you sell to consumers and not businesses. Remember Facebook is a place to socialize and hang out with friends and family and if a friend or family member talks or brags about something new they just bought you have a potential new client.

3.) Do you sell to other businesses?

As I just mentioned if you are a business selling to other businesses then Facebook advertising is not for you. However, and exception can sometimes be if you sell to small businesses with few employees because at those types of businesses work and home are sometimes mixed and blended together.

4.) Is your product technical, industrial, process oriented and/ or academic?

If your product is highly technical and process oriented it will be tougher to sell and make money using Facebook advertising.

5.) Do you sell events, memberships, experiences, and/ or entertainment?

If you sell "fun" Facebook Advertising is a great place to promote your product. Products that appeal to a person's core identity are great products to sell on Facebook. Because Facebook is social people are always asking "Where have you been?" What clubs do you belong to?" and "Where do you want to go?"

6.) Do you sell personal improvement products or travel?

Again, products that get to an individuals core identity and emotions are really good products to use Facebook advertising.

7.) Are your products or services customized, delivered in person or personalized?

Answering yes to this questions puts you right in the sweet spot to use Facebook advertising. The more your product is personalized and customized the higher your chances of getting people to click your ad and purchase from you.

8.) Does your market have strong preconceived notions about what your prices "should" be?

If your product or service is easily defined in the market place on price it will be more challenging to use Facebook advertising. However, if your product or service is one that the marketplace really does not know what it costs then you probably have a real good chance of profiting from Facebook advertising.

9.) Does your business harmonize with political, religious convictions, beliefs or social movements?

If you answered "yes" to this question then you hit another sweet spot because if your product or service harmonizes with a person's identity - political affiliations, religious convictions, beliefs, or social movements then you will have a significant advantage using Facebook advertising.

10.) Is your business local or national?

In a previous post I wrote about Facebook advertising - I mentioned that if your business is local and someone can turn a door knob then you have a really good shot at getting new clients from your Facebook advertising. There is one caveat and that is you need to have answered yes to at least questions #2, #5, #6, #7 and possibly #9. If you were able to answer yes to all of them then I would say Facebook advertising is for you.

I hope these 10 questions help clarify for you on whether or not Facebook  is right for you. Also, just so we are straight just because you may have a product that does not sell well using Facebook advertising that does not mean that you can't use it to build your brand and awareness of your product.

If you would like to learn more on how to use Facebook to get traffic and customers to your site I have developed a course for business owners that helps walk them through the process step by step. You can learn more about it at www.gettingfbtrafficsystem.com.

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Should Social Networking for Business Be Done Every Day?

Social networking for business should be used every day. The lifeblood of a business is revenue, and part of generating revenue is discovering resources that can help it sell more over the course of a year. The best way to find more resources is to network with people and businesses that can provide beneficial business arrangements with that person or business.

There is no faster way to build up contacts than to network with them online. Networking with people online is faster than meeting with them at a function. This is because a person can be in one place and still meet with someone in a completely different country. However, this still can be a beneficial business arrangement because that person or business may have resources available that are beneficial. Yet, all it took was a socially networking on the internet to make the business deal a reality.

Networking is also a skill that must be cultivated through practice. A person can practice their ability to market and network through the internet without the anxiety of a face-to-face contact. This allows the social networker to practice their ability to relate and present solutions with almost no anxiety. The practice also enables the person to feel more relaxed and confidence when they are meeting someone in person. This will lead to higher sales and more effective meetings with potential customers and peers alike.

The use of social networking for business on a daily basis will also keep a business on top of the newest developments with their field. A business that does not change will be left behind by those businesses that can adapt to the new paradigms that are coming in the future. Social media is a great source of information that is not typically reported on by the normal media outlets. An eye on social media will keep a business on the bleeding edge of their product or service.

Social media is also limited in scope. Social media usually has a limit to how much can be said in each post. This capability teaches a person to be very succinct in their speech patterns and makes them more effective. A major reason most people have less than perfect grammar is that that they tend to embellish what they are saying for effect. Social media platforms do not allow a person to say more than what needs to be said. This helps a person learn how to get to the point in any conversation, then focus on whatever project their attention should be on that current moment.

The ability to have effective social media conversations for business is a skill that must be built up over time. Therefore, a business needs to focus on developing their network every day. Once this network is developed, they must keep in contact with that network every day to keep their business at the top of their customers' minds. This is the best way for a business to give themselves a chance to succeed on the social networking platforms and gain more sales through the medium.

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How Social Networking For Business Came to Be

Social networking originally was a way for people to connect with their friends and family. These networks were an excellent way for college students to stay in contact with friends who graduated and then friends who had not graduated once they had finished their studies. This meant that the networks were built for personal use and not business use. However, they are highly effective at delivering content that is usable for the target audience (which is the friends and family of the user).

Social media was the brainchild of students who wanted a better experience on the internet than what they were currently being delivered. There were very few sites that provided the level of interaction that the creators wanted. The existing technology (such as internet-based bulletin boards) lacked certain functions such as chat and other functions that they thought would be useful. The creators of these sites took it upon themselves to generate sites that could serve the technology that would fill these niches perfectly. This how the bigger social media sites were created.

The explosion in popularity of these social networking sites is due to the fact that they are well built for personal uses. (However, they are not well built for business reasons, which would take a platform that was built for business specifically.) The early adopters invited their personal circle of friends and acquaintances to join these sites and the user based grew exponentially. The new features of the networks were exactly what that market (personal friends and acquaintances) needed to stay in touch with each other. The ability of the social networks to deliver the right technology at the right time is what aided their exponential growth into some of the most highly visited web sites in existence.

However, as previously stated, these sites quickly learned that they had a massive problem. They needed to generate revenue from this business model in order to grow successfully. If the social networks had anything it was a high number of users, therefore, this would be of great interest to advertisers seeking to get their message seen by many consumers. Many of the social networks then began to try to monetize their systems. This was the beginning of social networking for business purposes. Many businesses entered the social media realm, began trying to use status updates, and paid advertisements to push their business to greater amounts of sales.

However, because these systems were not well made for business purposes, many of the systems found that advertising was a hard model to introduce to the system. Many businesses grew frustrated with the use of the systems within the networks and only used the networks as a secondary advertising model or gave up all together. What became apparent was that any social network that was meant for business purposes would have to be built for business purposes exclusively. This is the current state of social networking for business. The bigger sites keep trying to make changes to their systems for business purposes and other sites have started to appear to fill the void created by the appearance of social media.

Making Social and E-Mail Calls to Action More Effective   Social Networking - A Beginners Guide to LinkedIn   Making Efficient Use of Your Social Media Campaign - A Debut Into Social Media Marketing   Top Reasons to Engage on Twitter   How Are You Leveraging Your LinkedIn Groups to Build Your Empire?   How Online Social Networks Help Build Businesses