ROI of Social Media: Thinking of the Bigger Picture
When things are tough, it’s understandable that businesses look to save money. Budgets are cut back, expenses are limited and in the worst cases staff are let go. In such a climate it comes as little surprise that many businesses are looking at every existing and new...
Can You Really Outsource A Social Media Strategy?
The foundation of social media involves the interaction, engagement, and discussion with people using user-generated video, audio, and text through blogs, wikis, social content sharing sites, and video hosting sites. With that being said I ask…Is it possible to...
Top 25 Social Media Keyword Search Tools
Want to find out who is talking about what in your niche or industry? There are many search engines that allow you to search one or multiple sources of information to see real time results. Check out these popular (and free) blog, forum, and social media search...
Grow Your Twitter Following Through Guest Blogging
There are many reasons for guest blogging, such as getting exposure and backlinks for your website, positioning yourself as an authority in your niche, and so on. Can increasing your Twitter following be a benefit of guest posting? Absolutely! So what do you have to...
Top Facebook Application Development Companies
Recently I have noticed some killer Facebook applications designed to give your Fan Page more flair. I thought I would feature some of the companies that built these applications, along with links to these custom applications that you can try out on your own Facebook...
Is Your Website at Odds With Your Social Media Presence?
If you are actively participating on social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook and yet your website telegraphs the opposite of transparent and interactive, you and your brand or business may be suffering from a split personality complex.
Connect to Social Apps in Gmail With Google Buzz
Google just announced Google Buzz, allowing you to share photos, videos, and updates in gmail with existing friends you already have made. You have the option of sharing things with the world or specific friends. Easily connect with social sites you use like Picasa,...
Building an Impenetrable Brand
A business’s heart is its brand. For most industries, it costs many times more to retain an existing customer than to acquire a new one. Customers need to be able to trust a company before they’ll part with their money. A strong brand is the single most...
Are You Ready For Social Media? “The Office” Style
For anyone that is looking to dive into the wonder world of social media, there are probably a few questions you should ask yourself before you get started. Also, to express my love for The Office, I decided to use the show as my theme for this post. By the way,...
Using the Google Keyword Tool
Using Google Keyword Tool Among other functions, the Google Adwords keyword tool plays a vital role in effective SEO. All know the role of SEO on internet and the benefits it brings. If you ever plan to optimize your web content, you will definitely come across this...
A Twitter Exercise to Get More Followers
I’ll be the first too admit it, I started using Twitter as a one-way communication tool, so that I could help promote my content. However I quickly learned that by doing that, I would not be able to build the following and relationships that I wanted on...
Managing Agency and Client Responsibilities
Recently I wrote a post on how much knowledge a client should have, but along with knowledge also comes responsibility. For any internet marketing agency to work well with their clients, there must be a mutual understanding of the overall strategy, and most...
Using Employees to Help with Social Media Customer Management
Many employees are doing it anyway, whether the management knows it or not. The temptation is just too great. White collar workers sitting at desks, with computers and Internet connections are very likely using social media for personal use throughout much of their...
Why a WordPress Based Website is a Social Media Trend for 2011
The world of social media is witnessing a lot of changes in the year 2011 including location-based marketing, review websites, text campaigns, plugins etc. If you are planning your new social media strategy, it is important to make sure that you leverage all of these...
To Follow or Not To Follow, That is the Question
Whenever I am trying to educate a social media client, I find that they all seem to ask the same question in regards to Twitter. How do I know who to follow and who not to follow? That is a great question and frankly there is no exact answer to that question. ...
Are You Really Building Your Influence on Twitter?
Well, almost every business is jumping onto the social media bandwagon. But, the inside story may not be as interesting as it appears from outside. If you are a social media junkie, you must be aware that Twitter celebrated its 5th birthday last week. Since the number...
Is Twitter a Stethoscope or Megaphone??
I just don’t get Twitter!!! This is the catch cry I constantly hear from business owners almost every time I speak to them about social media interaction and marketing. And you know what?? This lack of understanding of how to use Twitter effectively doesn’t...
Who You Are, Not Who You Know, Matters in Social Networks
If you’re doing business in today’s market, you know how small the world of business is getting. You can join hundreds of new sites, get new tools and, most importantly, build a community that works for you. These communities will bring you new business. Here are a...
Ways to Use Facebook Video Chat
When somebody else decides to start something revolutionary, or at least nifty (let’s use this word) most people either don’t hear about it or it can’t be used properly due to small circle of people using the service. On the other hand, when Facebook releases...
How to Set Up a Google+ Account for your Business
Social media is a critical component of any online marketing campaign. Data indicates that when a business is involved on social networks, they can increase customer engagement with the brand and boost searchability on the web. LinkedIn is a popular network for the...
Making the Most Out of Facebook Fan Pages
Since my last post, Making The Most Out of Google Places got such good feedback, I thought I would do a similar style post for Facebook Fan Pages. Facebook Fan Pages if used correctly, can be a great way to drive traffic, generate leads and sales. When Facebook...
How to Use Instagram to Build Your Business
You’re on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Pinterest… what’s next? If you’d like to continue to diversify your social media efforts, read on. Facebook’s recent acquisition of Instagram is proof of the company’s promise. You might not consider Instagram a top source for...
100 Marketers You MUST Follow on Twitter
If you haven’t already seen my previous post about 100 SEO blogs you should subscribe to, make sure you check it out. In this collection, I wanted to highlight a number of marketers who really stand out from the crowd and do an outstanding job of engaging on...
6 Proven Tips to get Targeted Followers on Twitter
How many followers do you have on twitter? Are they your targeted one? Twitter is a powerful platform to do micro blogging. It is the best place to share news, show your emotion, share thoughts and follow your favorite celebrity and to promote your business. Your...
Moderating What Gets Hot on Social Networks
In light of the recent blog post on voting patterns and unexceptional content over at Sphinn which has drawn several desphinns and some heated debate in the story’s Sphinn page comments, I thought it would be a good time to touch on some issues when it comes to...
The Ultimate Social Bookmarking Content Creation Guide (Part 4: Mixx)
This is part 4 of a 5 part series that covers creating content for the following social bookmarking sites. The other parts will be released over the next few weeks so keep checking back. Part 1: Digg Part 2: StumbleUpon Part 3: Reddit Part 4: Mixx Part 5: Delicious...
Using Custom Short Domains with Social Networks
Do you share your social profile links via Twitter, or on other social networks where there is a character limit? Do you want to track the number of times that your profile link was clicked? If you answered yes to any of the above, then the obvious thing you would...
9 Professional Social Media Monitoring & Reputation Management Tools
Brand and online reputation management has become a growing concern for a lot of companies because of the multiple ways people can interact with each other online. People now are communicating via blogs, forums, discussion boards, wikis, Q&A, and video sites. ...
The Ultimate Social Bookmarking Content Creation Guide (Part 5: Delicious)
This is part 5 of a 5 part series that covers creating content for the following social bookmarking sites. Part 1: Digg Part 2: StumbleUpon Part 3: Reddit Part 4: Mixx Part 5: Delicious Delicious For anyone who is not familiar with Delicious, it is simply a more...
Facebook Deals: How to Setup Your First Facebook Deal
We all know that location-based marketing is becoming a huge hit with Internet Marketers. Services like Gowalla and Foursquare have been the front-runners in the space and have proven that users LOVE to check-in to tell their friends where they are hanging out and to...
Social Media’s Impact on Internet Communication
It’s difficult to remember the days before communication became instantaneous. Thanks to the internet we no longer have to wait for the daily newspaper or snail-mail. Now, news and information is relayed the moment it happens and the ordinary person is an integral...
Location Based Social Media Safety Tips
With more and more happening in the way of location based social media, including deals that you get and contests you can enter simply by checking into places, there is also a growing need to remind people just what they are sharing when they “check in”...
Using Web 2.0 & Social Media To Improve Customer Service
With all of the new communication tools and technology being introduced, the way that companies handle customer service has been transformed into a more effective and efficient manner. Users want to be able to receive real-time support and have multiple options to...
Google Follow Finder, the Newest Service From GoogleLabs
Google just released a new Twitter application called Google Follow Finder, that allows you to analyze a users following/followers to help you find people that you may be interested in following. The service is actually very simple, just enter in a Twitter username...
Instagram: How to Effectively Use Pictures to Market Your Brand
Just two months after its October release in the Apple App Store, the photo-sharing application Instagram already had 1 million registered users. As of April of this year, there are over 30 million registered accounts. For an owner or marketer of any business whose...
The Right Way to Create Branded Content
Content marketing is growing by leaps and bounds. More and more reputed companies like Red Bull are using branded content to create more awareness about their products, without actually “selling” directly to their target audience. However, creating the right mix of...
How To Measure Social Media ROI
Measure the ROI from a social media campaign, is much different than measuring a Pay-Per-Click or Banner Placement campaign. The reason is because there are many qualitative factors and other moving pieces that are hard to measure. Things like branding, company...
Three Pro-Active Tips for Online Reputation Management
For a business owner, reputation management is not getting easier. Twenty years ago it would have been really hard for a single customer with a bad experience (or just sour grapes) to single-handedly take down a business. But in this age of the Internet, it just...
Defining Facebook Profiles, Pages, Groups, and Communities
I know when you are just starting out with Facebook things can be hard to figure out. You probably have a lot of questions about what is the most effective way to market yourself or company using Facebook. Whats the difference between a Facebook Page and Facebook...
Is Social Media Over-Saturated?
Social media is an important part of our lives. Most of us rely on it to receive and relay all sorts of information. But lately it feels like there’s a bit of a social media bubble. Social Media: Tactic Not Strategy Social media is rapidly starting to reach...
At What Point Are You Wasting Your Time With Social Media?
In an online world filled with Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Friendfeed, Foursquare, Gowalla, Skype, gChat, Tumblr, Flickr, YouTube, and the millions of Blogs/Foums…at what point are you wasting your time??? I often find these days forcing myself to shut down my...
3 Ways A Small Business Can Dominate Facebook
Many small business owners have come to appreciate the benefits of Facebook for professional purposes in the last several years. But, for those who are just starting out, it can be frustrating trying to compete with some of the more established businesses. It’s a...
5 Social Media Faux Pas Affecting Your SEO
Are these social media faux pas affecting your SEO? Guest blogger Kaila Strong from Vertical Measures shares 5 social media faux pas that may just be affecting your search engine optimization.
How to Make Eye Catching Status Updates on Social Networks
There are many ways to update your social networks. Some applications and web services such as Ping.fm, HootSuite, and Twiterfeed (to name a few) allow posting of text only, Twitter-like status updates to other social networks such as Facebook, FriendFeed, Google...
Panda and the New Google
Google is a great example of how powerful the Internet really is. With more users than all the other search engines combined, and by a crazy wide margin, Google is a powerhouse the likes of which the business community hasn’t seen for a long while. No More...
Why You Need Dedicated Social Media Personnel
If your company or business uses Social Media to advertise, market and brand your business you might already know how powerful and persuasive it can be. Sites like FaceBook, Twitter, Pinterest, Tumblr and the rest (and boy are there a lot of them) can increase your...
Using Social Media Channels to Promote New Products
One of every nine people on earth log on to social media channels every day – and spend 700 billion minutes a day sharing content on social media. A new product launch needs a social media component, or may potentially lose the attention of over 750 million social...
The Powerful Convergence Between QR Codes and Internet Video
Quick Response Codes better known as QR Codes are frequently used in the physical world to drive individuals to check out websites, social media platforms, articles, music releases and of course videos. However, many marketers have actually been daring to take QR...