Social Marketing Archives

Facebook Business Pages

Friday, January 13th, 2012 at 8:56 am  
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Social Media For Small Business

Thursday, November 10th, 2011 at 8:30 am  
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Are you paying attention to your Social Media Marketing?

If not, it's never too late, and there will never be a better time than now. A recent article in the Social Media Examiner says: "Social media marketing is a rapidly changing environment, as we all know. But the good news is that your customers are embracing social media as a normal part of their lives. Even the over-50 population is adapting at staggering rates.". You can download (no opt in necessary) a PDF of the Social Media Report here.

Facebook Local Success

Thursday, August 11th, 2011 at 6:51 am  
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A Facebook Local Business Success Story

It’s always interesting to read about how other local business owners like yourself have benefitted from social media. It helps to filter the hype from the facts and give you practical insight on how people are using social media in their local business. Here is a success story that I know you will find inspiring, especially to those facing hard times.

How Facebook helped save a restaurant from shutting down

The sluggish economy had worked its toll on the Bay area of St. Petersburg, Ohio and claimed its fair share of restaurant shut-downs. It was no different for the St. Pete Brasserie and after months of poor sales and imminent closure, Andrew Wilkins decided to share his problem on Facebook. His Facebook post read as follows:

"The situation at St. Pete Brasserie is dire. They are poised to close their doors if a miracle does not happen this week. Please support our local, independent restaurants. They have a great menu with an inspired chef and good prices. Prix fixe is $17. 15 jobs are at stake."

To his surprise, the Facebook entry received overwhelming response and was reposted by several people and soon became viral. Customers flocked to his restaurant till he had to reopen a dining room that had been unused for several months, and his sales shot up by 40%. He also got inquiries from potential investors.

All in all his local business was saved and his Facebook thank you post said it all:

"Well, thanks to the overwhelming support shown by our wonderful loyal customers, St. Pete Brasserie has a new lease of life. So please spread the word that the doors are staying open."

As a thank you to all his business’s Facebook friends and to generate even more customers, Wilkins offers 25% off the total bill when they dine at his restaurant.

Facebook Mobile Marketing

Monday, July 18th, 2011 at 9:43 pm  
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Facebook Mobile is one of the fastest growing aspects of the world’s largest social network, and business owners are quickly realizing the incredible opportunities for low-cost, effective marketing that Facebook’s mobile features offer. With nearly 200 million Facebook users accessing Facebook from their mobile phones, Facebook mobile marketing is hot!

Today’s mobile phone users rely on their cell phones as their primary connection to the world for personal and business use. In fact, many cell phone users are ditching their old-fashioned land lines and using their cell phones for all of their communication, including accessing the internet and popular online social networks like Facebook. Facebook has made mobile access of its features easy and its popularity has soared, with hundreds of millions logging on every day. For business owners, Facebook Mobile means low-cost and highly effective marketing that gets noticed.

To take advantage of the marketing opportunities available with Facebook Mobile, it starts with a Facebook fan page for your business, product or interest. Using one of the many proven ideas about how to get Facebook fans, grow your fan base in simple and affordable ways and start interacting with your fans via Facebook Mobile.

Facebook Mobile’s greatest advantage is how effortlessly it incorporates into the average cell phone user’s regular texting habits. According to a recent study from marketing research experts at ComScore, nearly 2/3 of all Americans are regular ‘texters’ and the average user sends and receives dozen of messages each day. It is simply a habit to check any incoming message when one receives notification that a text has arrived. That is why mobile marketing through Facebook is so effective!

The benefits of Facebook Mobile marketing are clear: instant connection with fans, communication that is consistent and timely, highly affordable and simple to do! Business owners with even the smallest marketing budgets can use Facebook Mobile to connect with fans, and these are just a few of the many ways to reach out to a fan base with mobile messages that capture their attention:

• Poll your fans about issues relevant to your product or service. People love to be asked for their opinions!
• Ask trivia questions related to your business to get people thinking and interacting in a fun way.
• Offer coupon deals only available to those receiving the text.
• Notify fans of special events and happenings connected to your business or Facebook page.
• Make your mobile marketing campaign engaging and entertaining and watch it go viral!

Facebook Mobile is a simple and affordable way to reach out to fans and connect with them wherever they are in the world. With a simple text, business owners can maintain relationships with their fans, share ideas, send special offers and create a sense of community that reminds people about products and services they love. Connect with fans through Facebook Mobile with effortless ease and find out what a simple text can do for your bottom line.

How Can LinkedIn Help Small Business

Thursday, May 19th, 2011 at 7:02 pm  
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Do You Need Social Media Marketing?

Monday, May 2nd, 2011 at 5:34 pm  
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Social Media Marketing Success

Saturday, April 30th, 2011 at 6:48 pm  
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How to Get Facebook Fans

Tuesday, April 19th, 2011 at 10:16 pm  
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For newly-established Facebook fan pages, the primary focus is attracting new followers and spreading the word about a product or service. Facebook marketing experts know the secret tricks for getting Facebook fans, and knowing these trade secrets can help a fan base to grow rapidly in no time at all.

Facebook fan pages are nothing without the fans, and attracting fans to a brand new fan page must be done quickly in order to spread the buzz about a product or service on the worldís largest social network. Anyone who has ever created a Facebook fan page knows that attracting new fans goes beyond just inviting people you already know because you soon reach a limit. Perhaps friends of friends will spread the word, but that only goes so far. Real Facebook fan page success happens when you reach thousands and do it quickly. But how is it done? The secret lies in a few trade secrets of the most successful Facebook fan pages:

Get Noticed with Keywords: New changes in Facebook fan pages allow you to maximize your online exposure with the use of keywords. By adding to your fan page specific words or phrases related to your business, using them in your URL and including them in your public postings and status updates, you can increase the likelihood of your Facebook fan page coming up as a search result on Google. The beauty of key words is that you are more likely to find people who share your passions and interests for a particular field, or attract shoppers searching for the exact product you sell. Once they find you on Facebook and click ìLike,î youíve got yourself a new fan and a potential new customer.

Reach Out with SEO: Search engine optimization, or SEO, is a proven strategy for increasing exposure of a website or brand name. SEO operates in conjunction with major search engines and takes advantage of search engine "crawling" that seeks out optimal search results in articles and blogs, and can be used to attract Facebook fans, too. By creating timely and relevant articles or blog postings with popular search phrases included in the title and throughout the text, you increase the chances of Google targeting your site or article in search results. Simply link readers back to your Facebook page with a "Follow Me on Facebook" button and the odds are in your favor that they will click "Like" and become a long-term fan. With SEO, it is important to make your articles engaging and informative; packing your text with keywords and phrases may initially capture search engine attention, but supplying well-written and attractive articles or blogs will make readers want to know more about you and your product or service. For writing help, visit one of the many online freelance writer forums and find someone to create affordable and effective articles for you.

Make the Most of Photos: Using photos to promote your page and reach out to prospective Facebook fans is inexpensive and highly effective. One means of using photos to get Facebook fans is to take a photo related to your fan page or business and tag the friends of your current fans. Considering that most people on Facebook have nearly 150 friends, you can quickly reach a large number of people in no time at all. Those friends of your fans will receive a message that they have been tagged in a photo. In nearly every case, they will be curious to see the picture and be led right to your fan page. Itís simple, but it really works!

Photos can also be used as a promotion gimmick that has shown great results. Ask your Facebook fans to take photos of themselves using and enjoying your product and offer a discount or special prize or promotion for those who post them on your Wall. Go ahead and tag their friends in the photos to invite them over to your fan page and see what happens!

Link Up with Successful Sites: Find a website that attracts the kinds of fans you want for your fan page. Contact the page administrator and offer a mutually beneficial link agreement, in which you promote their site on your website or fan page, and they will do the same for you. You can also post links on fan pages similar to yours to spread the word to like-minded Facebookers, which is simple and easy to do.

Spend Five Bucks: Networking sites like www.fiverr.com offer fan page builders unique opportunities to link up with thousands of potential future fans for just a few dollars. On fiverr.com, Facebook users with hundreds and sometimes thousands of friends offer to invite all of their friends to check out your fan page and it only costs you $5. It's a quick and simple way to spread the word about your new fan page at lightning speed!

Make Them Click "Like": If some of your fan page material is protected and accessible only to those who click the "Like" button, itís a great way to generate some excitement and encourage people to become fans. An effective way to do this is with coupons, giveaways and special promotions advertised on a customized landing page for first-time visitors to your page. If you can create enough interest and intrigue, youíre sure to collect new fans who are excited to learn more about what you have to offer.

Creating a Facebook fan base in a short period of time is not an impossible dream. Even for people with limited budgets and few marketing skills, it is entirely possible to spread the word about a new Facebook fan page without being a computer expert or knowing thousands of people. Facebook fan pages grow in popularity when you know the tricks of the trade. Regardless of how you choose to reach out to prospective fans, make sure that the Facebook fan page you are endorsing is full of entertaining features that will make people glad they found you. Post regularly, keep information current and timely and you will keep your new fans eager for more.

Bill Enross knows why Facebook is the hottest social media network in the world and how to help your business thrive with Facebook fan page applications and Facebook marketing tips. Call Bill at 508.203.1660 to learn proven ways to monetize Facebook and traffic generation techniques for Facebook that get results.

Facebook Fan Page

Thursday, April 14th, 2011 at 9:09 pm  
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Creating a Great Facebook Fan Page

For businesses of every size, creating a Facebook fan page is the easiest way to become active in the global marketplace. As an extension of a web page or as a stand-alone representation of your business, a Facebook fan page is an effective and inexpensive means to potentially reach millions.

With the global popularity of Facebook growing daily, business owners are quickly realizing the benefits of staking their claim on the world's most popular social network by establishing a Facebook page, or Fan page for their businesses. Inexpensive, simple to create and easy to maintain, Facebook fan pages can benefit companies with the smallest of marketing budgets and it does not take a computer whiz to create an effective and exciting fan page.

Great Facebook fan pages do so much more than just tell your story and present your product or service; they entertain, inform and enthrall. When you understand the common elements of the best Facebook fan pages, you can quickly and easily make yours all it can be in no time at all. Following are a few of the most common elements shared by successful fan pages and how you can incorporate them into your page:

- Connection to other platforms. Link all of the social networks you use in one place. From your fan page, provide links to your website, your blog, your MySpace page and any other networking sites you utilize. Likewise, link your Facebook page on each, as well. Visitors appreciate easy links to their favorite forums.

- A good reason to join. If Facebook users have to click the "Like" button in order to see your page or access a special coupon or other incentive, they will be more likely to do so. Make that ìLikeî button a powerful tool by using it as a key to your fan page and watch your list of fans grow.

- Understanding of demographics. Currently, the average Facebook user is a young female with children and money in the bank. Successful Facebook fan pages keep demographics in mind and target their ads and campaigns toward the majority of Facebook users. Demographics change, and great Facebook marketers keep current on demographic changes and trends.

- Variety of interactive media. The most successful Facebook fan pages offer a variety of interactive media options. Among them, the most effective tool is video, and studies have shown including a video on any web page increases viewer participation. People prefer to learn from watching videos and cannot resist a "Play" button! Other interactive media options are available through Facebook Apps, and include game widgets, polls and contests. Keep them clicking and you will have a fan for life!

- Regular status updates that capture attention. Keeping your Facebook status update current is easy to do through Twitter and Facebook Mobile. Fans accessing Live Feed of status reports will see your update and intriguing status updates are more likely to attract fans over to your page for a visit.

- Landing page for new visitors. Greet newcomers to your Facebook page with a customized welcome. Landing pages for first-time visitors are an easy way to introduce yourself and your business and invite the newcomer to become a fan and join the rest of your followers.

Creating a great Facebook fan page is about identifying what Facebook users love about the most successful Facebook fan pages and incorporating common elements into your own page. Facebook Apps make it easy to install customized versions of things like Wall tabs, games, contests and interesting features like articles, blog links and videos that captivate. Study your favorite Facebook fan page to identify what makes it useful and likable and make their ideas your own with the customizable options available for most Facebook Apps. The result will be a unique and personalized fan page that incorporates proven elements of success with your unique features.

Want help creating your Facebook Fan page for your business? Call Bill at 508.203.1660

Social Media Strategy for Local Businesses

Tuesday, April 12th, 2011 at 4:40 pm  
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With everyone extolling the virtues of getting your local business on the social media scene, how exactly should you go about it? You need a strategy- a game plan to win and to win big. Here are some pointers to a successful social media strategy.

Establish a resources budget

Know exactly how much of your finances, human resources and time you are going to dedicate to your social media plan. Consider such things as how much you are willing to spend on ad campaigns; whether its better for you to hire a social media manager or assign an employee to the task ; and if you have to do it on your own decide which days and times are you going to dedicate to focusing on your campaigns.

Do market research

It pays to get your facts right before you dive into the social media world. Research will show you who your target market is, what products and services they want, their demographics, what appeals to their emotional psychology (since this is what drives buying decisions), which social media platform they are more likely to use and the best platforms to engage with to deliver your business message.

Choose what suits your business niche.

A big mistake businesses make in social media strategy is spreading themselves too thin by joining every social media bandwagon. Each business niche is unique and every target market is unique too and some social media platforms just wonít work for certain businesses. Itís always best to focus on the top 2 to 3 social media that work best for your kind of business. A professional consultant would wisely choose Linkedin and Facebook Groups, while an interior decorator would best profile their expertise through YouTube videos and an entertainer would certainly find Twitter and Facebook fan page a good fit.

Have a social media policy

When you first start interacting with social media it looks easy and manageable, but as your business gets more popular, you can easily find yourself avalanched with a mass of followers. A wrong comment by your employee on your companyís social media account or their own personal account can be damaging to the companyís reputation and open the door to legal problems. If you have employees, itís therefore best to develop a policy from the get-go that governs their online communications. Have them read it and sign it.

I hope these pointers have opened your eyes to see the bigger picture of social media and how your local business can go about maximizing the potential of social networks by starting out with a plan before engaging in any action.

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