3 Steps for Creating a Social Media Strategy

July 29, 2010 by WebWarrior  
Filed under Newest Trends

Social media is all about engaging with people whether it be clients, friends, or relatives. As Li Evans of Serengeti Communications explains, “Everybody likes to share, and they like to share a story.”

She goes on to tell WebProNews that businesses are just now grasping how they can use social media. If they create valuable content, she says people will share it, which will expand their reach.

Contrary to some beliefs, effective social media marketing is a lot more than simply having a Facebook page. Evans says businesses need to, first of all, understand where their audience is. Although Facebook and Twitter have exploded in popularity, it doesn’t mean that your audience is there. If this is the case, these platforms will not be effective for your business.

It could be that message boards and forums are where your audience is. Although these areas have been around since before the term social media was even coined, Evans believes they are still very powerful, have a large reach, and rank in search engines. Other effective platforms include ratings and review services and location-based sites.

Secondly, businesses need to understand what their resources are. It is important to realize what you are capable of doing before you jump in. Otherwise, you could quickly get overwhelmed, which could lead to failure.

Thirdly, businesses have to listen to what their audience is saying. Just as businesses need to understand their resources before embracing social, they need to do a lot of listening too. If not, Evans says it could be compared to petting a shark. Businesses should know what is acceptable and what is not before they embark on a social media campaign.

Once a business applies these 3 steps, she says it can build a social media strategy.

Twitter And Dental Marketing

Twitter is incredibly famous featuring its microblogging service which permits users you just read and send messages better-known as tweets. As you know, quite a few tweets already are indexed in Google. It’s no surprise that, lots of business use Twitter to promote their websites. Would Twitter be good for dental marketing much like Google Buzz?

Username

Make sure to create the best possible username for your product or service that is easy to remember. Your Twitter URL, twitter.com/yourusername, is your static address that can be used for future search indexing. Just a note: Make your username short so that it’ll be easy to tweet you.

Account Name and Bio

Develop a completely-wise account name. It may be completely different from your own username. Everything important in your business such as the taglines of your products and services must be introduced in your Bio. Realize that there are 160 characters for Bio far apart from the normal tweets having 120 characters. Bio is indexed automatically thus try to make your tweet appropriate towards the business.

Follow Me!

With personalized and customized widgets inserted to blog themes, it’s better to include your Twitter URL in your website. Your regular visitors can subscribe to your posts through your tweets aside from the RSS feeds.

URL

You could incorporate your personal website’s URL to help you to publicize it on other social networks. Twitter is definitely a good way to market your website but you should be aware of that the links you embed are no-ollow. On top of that, make your links instantly lead to a landing page with richer content.

Tweets

In every tweet you make, it comes with a great responsibility. Recognize that the first 42 characters is the title tag with the account name. Begin your tweets with your keywords. Don’t forget to make your tweets less than the character limits to allow your followers retweet your tweets.

Links

Place links on your tweets linking to your website or a specific blog entry. Twitter is well known to be a remarkable help to bloggers. If you would like to share links, you will find internet sites that provide shortening of links like tinyurl or bit.ly.

Utilizing this type of related information, Twitter is not only a social networking site but a valuable tool to assist you with good online dental marketing for dental practice.

Need more help with your dental marketing? Follow this link and download our special report on the New Paradigm. Your dental marketing plan will determine your long-term success.

Why SEO Fundamentals Still Matter

July 27, 2010 by WebWarrior  
Filed under Newest Trends

Since SEO is constantly changing, how can SEOs determine the most important areas of focus? As Matt Bailey of SiteLogic Marketing tells WebProNews, the foundation has to be strong in order to be built upon.  For this reason, he believes the fundamentals are critical to SEO success.

Content is just one of the fundamental areas of SEO. Not only is the content itself important, but the structure of the content is also important. Bailey says content needs to be scalable, readable, and allow users to understand the content on the rest of the page by simply looking at the headline. This is significant because numerous studies show that the majority of people scan content instead of reading it.

There have been many recent debates pertaining to long content versus short content. People often say they tried blogging, Facebook, or Twitter and found that they didn’t work. However, Bailey believes users need to examine their efforts to see if they are utilizing them correctly.

“The what is going to change daily. The why will never change,” he says.

He goes on to say that if you have a purpose, the “what” doesn’t matter and can always be applied.

Marketers also struggle with the challenge of creating content for both users and search engines. Bailey says the key to this dilemma is in the analytics. For example, it is very possible to have the right ranking with the wrong page. As a result, marketers need to look at their analytics to see which metrics work. He tells WPN that marketers can celebrate when they determine what is profitable, not when they rank high.

Although there will be many more changes for SEO, the job of driving people to a destination will always be constant.

Are you focusing on getting the fundamentals right or are you distracted by the “shiny, new object syndrome”?

Tapping Into Twitter And Facebook.

July 27, 2010 by Jim Tolar  
Filed under Social Marketing

On July 13, 2010 ExactTarget came out with a report detailing trends regarding Facebook and Twitter. The report found “nearly 40% of consumers (are) turning to Facebook and Twitter to supplement the news, information or deals they receive via e-mail marketing, reports RV Business.com.

The report goes on to say:

* More than 90% of consumers that are a fan of, or “like,” at least one brand on Facebook also receive at least one permission-based marketing e-mail per day.

* In excess of 75% of shoppers that ‘follow’ a brand on Twitter also are signed up for a minimum of one brand’s advertising marketing via email.

* About half of people who are interacting with brands on Twitter are doing so without having a Twitter account.

* 45% of mommies with kids residing in the home say they are ‘deal seekers’ and have become fans of ten brands on Facebook, follow ten companies on Twitter and get about fourteen permission-based advertising emails every day.

* 33% of people on-line say they are Info Seekers and are looking towards user-generated content and product reviews in order to make their buying decisions.

* For those under 25, about 28% say they are ’social butterflies,’ which means they friend more brands on Facebook than other users, however they are still more willing to purchase from companies that send permission-based emails.

For companies and advertisers trying to break into this coveted market, this is all good news. RV dealers and RV enthusiasts can find everything they are looking for in the realm of their favorite social media space. This report stresses the need for advertisers and companies to invest their advertising dollars on social media ventures. This is one of the most powerful places to interact with consumers and receive immediate feedback.

The positive spin for advertisers is consumers are seeking out the brands they prefer and are signing up for information. In the era of print and radio, they never had direct communication with interested buyers. Now they do. It’s important to keep content fresh, interesting and relevant content in order to keep consumers coming back for more.

One of the biggest challenges for RV dealers is staying on top of the latest social media trends and ensuring they continue to reach out to their target audience in a way their audience is not just receptive to but enthusiastic about.

Looking to find the best deal on RVs and motorhomes, then visit www.beaudryrv.com.com to find the best selection on new and used motorhomes.

The Increased Benefits Of Registering For A Business Account With Twitter

July 21, 2010 by Morgan Kingston  
Filed under Social Marketing

Worldwide, people are warming up to the idea of micro blogging. It is often that you will log onto Twitter and find your friends having commented on the scores to a certain tournament that is being played on your favorite tuft. Twitter became so popular that the website once even tried to trademark the word “tweet”. There are millions of followers online as you read this.

If you are an ardent visitor to Twitter.com, you have probably been interested in a debate where people were speculating on the future of the site. A captivating suggestion keeps many antennas out, to catch any wind regarding the possible commercialization of the website. This is of course, because Twitter has since its inception, survived without making money of its own.

People have a common misconception that signing up for a business account on Twitter only allows you to enjoy small time benefits like being able to write up a bigger message. Twitter aims to provide more than this with some premium products.

There is more to it than just getting additional privileges when you sign up for a commercial user account. With the premium payments, you will also get to enjoy premium services that individual users do not get.

The premium products are well worth their cost, as they will open to the registered business, a completely new realm of revenue sources because of business friendly applications and interfaces.

Unlike personal accounts, business accounts are likely to have more traffic per day. These calls for increased security features like account verification procedures. Twitter may also whip out a system to check how much traffic you command.

In case all you do is log on to Twitter to catch up with the latest jabber and have no plans of setting up a business account, then there are some things you may require to put up with. Expect a targeted advert sneaked into some of the pages you like visiting.

It is quite predictable to see some websites focusing on pampering the “paying guests” while downplaying the importance of other website visitors. Twitter needs not have preferential treatment accorded to some while the others queue to have as little as a question answered by the site administration.

This author additionally often gives advice regarding topics like asphalt driveway sealer and hardwood floor.

Next Page »