FreeMarket Media Group | Tag Archive

You are here: Home » Blog » Archives for Facebook

Posts Tagged ‘Facebook’

4 Tips to Small Business Marketing on a Shoestring

Monday, February 15th, 2010

So you are a small business. If I ask you what your marketing budget is – does your answer sound like: “What marketing budget?” If that’s the case (or if you said, “pretty small”…) you need a dose of guerrilla marketing – or marking tips for a shoestring budget.

Following are some tips that will help you get new customers and clients – and get them to take action – without breaking the bank.

1. Word of Mouth Marketing

Once your business is up and running, tell everyone you know – friends, family, business colleagues and acquaintances, essentially, anyone who will listen. Describe your business to them – what it does or offers. You can even offer them an incentive – like a discount on your products or service or even a cash commission. Nothing wins over allies like cold, hard cash…

2. A little Public Relations

A lot of folks believe that Marketing and PR are one in the same. Not quite…

There are a few differences: Marketing is paid-for exposure under a company’s direct control, while public relations was free exposure.

Marketing has at its core a desire to reach consumers and make them think, believe or do what you want. Public relations is more focussed on influencing reputation, whether corporate or personal.

There are several ways that a small business can generate good Public Relations – using press releases, media events, even getting yourself exposure in local media. By positioning yourself (and your business) as experts in your arena – you suddenly create a lot of value for yourself to the local media.

3. Social Media

If you know anything about me, you know that I believe no business (large or small) should be without a social media marketing strategy. I suggest that you focus your attention on this power trio: Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. They are a great way to create new relationships and deepen existing ones. They allow you to highlight new products and company news. They also provide a great platform for customer feedback. And remember I mentioned “Word of Mouth’ efforts above? These sights give your friends, connections and followers the opportunity to tell their friends about you.

4. Email Auto Responders and Newsletters

No business website should be without an email capture – right there on the home page (and every page, if you ask me). Put you signup form right in front of your site’s visitors. Don’t make them click for the privilege! Yes there was sarcasm… Statistics show that every time you make a visitor click a link, 50% don’t do it. And if you have other links on your page, you reduce the odds further.

Good, they’ve signed up, now what?

A regular Newsletter is a great marketing tool – it let’s you reconnect with existing contacts on a regular basis. This accomplishes two things: 1) It acts a a gentle reminder about your business and service, and 2) You can offer specials that get them returning to your site and/or physical location. Pretty cool, huh?

My suggestion for an email service provider is MailChimp. They are great, they automatically clean your list and provide a nice easy way to create beautiful newsletters.

Best of all, until you grow over 500 subscribers, their service is free!

Tags: email auto responders, Facebook, guerrilla marketing, LinkedIn, marketing on a shoestring budget, marketing strategy, newsletter, PR, public relations, shoestring budget, social media, social media marketing strategy, Twitter, word of mouth marketing
Posted in Doing Business Online | 1 Comment »

A Kinder, Gentler Facebook Design

Saturday, February 6th, 2010

Yet another Facebook Makeover

What did Facebook Change?

So here’s the scoop – The top navigation has changed. One big change (some may say RADICAL!) is that Facebook’s search bar is on the left – “Oh no! Say it isn’t so! On every site I visit, the search is on the right, what will I do?!”, I can hear the cries already… Sometimes change is good.

Top Right Navigation

Now on the right you’ll see your “Home”, “Profile” and “Account” links:

The “Account” link opens a dropdown menu so you can easily navigate to all your account needs:

On first glance, I wasn’t really sure about any of the new features, but now I feel tht it does make it a little simpler to navigate and a bit more intuitive.

Top Left Navigation

Here’s the top left side of your new Facebook:

There’s that search bar hanging out on the left. Starting on the left, the Facebook logo still links to your home page. Next is the feature that I really like on this redesign: 3 icons for:

Friend Requests
Messages in your Inbox
Notifications

Remember on the “old” Facebook, your notifications were on the bottom right of the screen, your messages were up top on the left (close to where it is now) and friend requests were only found on your home page. I really like that these 3 are all together now. Anything that makes my time spent on Facebook more efficient!

See? Instant Notification Gratification!

Left Menu Bar

This is pretty similar to how it was but here is a list of features here:

Your News Feed, Messages and your Friends – are at the top, this way it’s easier to keep up with what’s new.
Applications you’ve bookmarked are now higher up the page for easier/quicker access.

Here’s the part I both like and dislike: The next feature, “Chat with Friends” and “Go Online”. Once you click “Go Online” you are connect to all your friends also online – this can be cool if you like to use the Facebook Chat Feature. Here’s my beef: Once you click “Go Online”, there is no link in the Left Bar to “Go Offline”! Instead, you have to navigate to the bottom right where the chat feature still lives and go to Options –> Go Offline. That’s kind of lame if you ask me.

And Finally

Not much really, except that the new layout increases the amount of clicks I need to take care of some simple tasks like logging out and accessing settings.

All in all, I like the changes – I am always helping my clients reduce the amount of time needed to maintain efficient and personal contact on Facebook (and other Social Media sites), so any good intuitive simplifying works for me.

Tags: Facebook, social media, social network, Social Networking, Web Design
Posted in Facebook | No Comments »

10 Tips to Getting Your Business Blog Started

Friday, February 5th, 2010

I preach about blogging (using Wordpress) for small business – until I’m blue in the face, really. But there is good reason. Let me explain:

Blogging might very well be the single most important thing you do for your small business online. It’s not the only thing – but it sets the foundation for everything else you do online. What ever you are doing anywhere else online, your blog is what will ultimately capture your visitors’ interest and as long as you are consistently adding new, engaging content, keep them coming back for more.

Consider your blog as your “Relationship Maker” , “Branding Agent” and your “Expert Creation Assistant”. A well written, informative blog will help you accomplish all three of these things.

Relationship Maker

Certainly you can begin “relationships” on social networks like Twitter and Facebook, but your business mission on these sites is to create enough interest so that your social media “friends” will go visit your website. This is why it is not only important to have a nicely designed site but a well integrated Wordpress blog to keep their interest. If your visitors like what they are reading – it is extremely important to give them value – not only will they continue to come back and possibly buy your products, and services or even walk into your store, they will also become advocates for you and your business to their networks!

Branding Agent

Once you get people to your site, your blog can help mold people’s perceptions of you and your business. Branding as a concept means much more than your logo and colors… What you say on your blog will shape your visitors opinions about you in ways far greater than any logo of service mark. This is why it is important to use your blog consistently, relevantly and on message. And above all else: Give your visitors HUGE VALUE.

Expert Creation Assistant

The more valuable and insightful your blog is the more you leverage yourself as an expert – Period.

One of the major reasons to use your blog to establish yourself as the expert in your field is because your competition probably isn’t… Yet.

All that being said, here are 10 things to do to get your blog started:

Install and set-up your self hosted WordPress blog (Or hire someone else to do it. Your blog should be fully and neatly integrated into your site and not hosted somewhere else like blogger or Wordpress.com
Write a list of 30 topics you can write about – just headlines
Set up news alerts from http://www.google.com/alerts. Once Google Alert is set up, you can receive daily digests of articles and blog posts on virtually any topic. This is a great way to discover new topics to write about.
Write 1-3 Blog posts per week.
Always stay Ahead! Write five to 10 posts and save them as drafts in your blog. Do not publish them yet.
Send an email to your friends, family and colleagues and invite them to read you blog and ask them to leave comments.
Invite people in your online networks (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn) to read your blog.
Find 10 blogs that target similar markets (not competitors) – read them, add comments and make friends with those bloggers. The blogging community always seems ready to help other bloggers spread the word.
Make friends with 10-20 people who already have strong social networks and ask them to help you spread the word.
Stay consistent with your blog posts – write 1-3 blog posts per week.

Good luck and happy blogging. Above all else… Have fun!

Tags: blog, Blogger, blogging, Branding Agent, engaging content, Expert Creation Assistant, Facebook, LinkedIn, Relationship Maker, Twitter, WordPress
Posted in Small Business Online, WordPress | No Comments »

6 Reasons Business Owners Should Embrace Social Media

Monday, January 11th, 2010

There are tons of reasons, literally tons, that you should be using social media to generate more revenue for your business. Today I’ll give you six reasons why you as a small business owner or sole proprietor should be using social media every day to effectively connect with your current potential and future customers and clients.

1. Social Media helps you establish your business online.

By using sites like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, you not only stay connected to current customers and clients you also allow new ones to find you. Social media is a great way to introduce yourself to people who share the same interests. By engaging them on social media sites you can turn some of those people into customers and clients.

By establishing yourself online, you help establish yourself and your business as the experts in your field.

2. It’s a great way to stay connected to customers and clients.

Social media sites provide a very easy-to-use platform where you can stay connected to your current customer and client base. So what exactly do I mean by staying connected? Let’s take a look at a site like Twitter. Twitter is a site commonly referred to as a micro-blogging site, where you can post messages that have 140 words or fewer. By staying active on Twitter, posting information about your business, links to your site, links to other useful resources and even asking for customer feedback, you engage current customers and clients as well as potential future ones.

3. It’s a great way to offer coupons discounts and specials

Social media sites are one of the most inexpensive ways you can reach an extremely large audience. You can create special offers available only to those people who are connected with you online through social media sites.

I have a friend in Minneapolis who owns a coffeehouse, nearly every day on Twitter he announces daily specials, and sometimes even gives out a secret word that you have to use in order to claim the special price. Do you think you could do something like this to bring people into your store, or to have them pick up the phone and schedule an appointment for your service?

Social media is an extremely overlooked way to get people to take action and walk into your store or schedule an appointment for your service.

4. It’s that great way to receive feedback

Social media sites are great way for your customers and clients to let you know how you’re doing. On a regular basis ask your followers some of these following questions:

a. How are we doing?
b. What product or service would like to see?
c. What can we do differently or better?

By using questions like these you allow customers and clients to feel like they have a stake in your business, and to feel like they are being heard. Not only is this great customer service, but it also gives you an opportunity to learn from your current customers and clients.

5. Social media can turn your followers into an army of referrers

By engaging current and potential future customers and clients online, you actually create a network of people who will refer you to others. Staying consistent and providing your followers with valuable and helpful information you also give them the opportunity to pass that information on to their network. And the best part of this is: it’s free.

In general, people are much more likely to take an action suggested by a friend or acquaintance, than from a perfect stranger. How many times have you seen a particular movie or gone to eat at a particular restaurant because a friend suggested it? I’ll venture to guess that sometimes when a friend refers something to you they might be very excited about it. Imagine now, if you will, a perfect stranger coming up to you with that same level of excitement insisting that you go to a particular restaurant or see a particular movie. Kind of weird, right?

The same thing holds true in social media. It is important to build a level of trust. once you do, everyone you connect with on social media sites has the potential to be an avid referrer.

6. Social media can help you generate extra revenue

As I talked about numbers two and three, social media can help you drive people into your store or business, and even pick up the phone to schedule an appointment. Social media allows you to touch many people at once and by using great tools like HootSuite, where you can actually pre-schedule your social media activity. More people walk into your store or picking up the phone and scheduling an appointment equals more revenue.

If you aren’t using sites like Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn as part of your consistent marketing efforts, times a wasting… Create accounts on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, and start engaging your current clients and customers as well as all those potential future once. And above all else, have fun doing it!

Tags: business, Facebook, HootSuite, LinkedIn, marketing, social media, Twitter
Posted in Social Media Revolution | 1 Comment »

Starbucks’ at it Again – DIY Marketing

Saturday, October 3rd, 2009

Maybe you recall grabbing your free pastry from Starbuck’s on Free Pastry Tuesday. If you missed it, let me assure you that the pastries were great (and FREE) and above all the marketing plan was awesome!

Starbucks’ last campaign worked so well that they are at it again. Before I tell what’s going on now, let’s have a quick Free Pastry Tuesday Marketing refresher:

Starbucks created an internet frenzy leading up to Tuesday July 21st, 2009 (Yup that was the date of Free Pastry Tuesday). They used social media sites (primarily Facebook & Twitter) to alert and communicate with their fans. They used these sites to drive their fans to their website so they could print out a coupon – to be presented in exchange for your pastry.

Do you think you could use this concept in your business?

Here’s how they did it:

They set up a fan page on Facebook. (they now have 4,251,445 fans). They used this page to keep “fans posted” about the event.
The set up a Facebook event, encouraging all their fans to invite their friends in addition to attending themselves.
The used Twitter to keep their fans up to date on the event. This also allowed their followers to tweet about their experience and excitement!

Looking at #3 above, the followers did their part. On the morning of July 21st references to Starbucks accounted for 1% of Twitter’s total traffic!

What is cool about how Starbucks’ does it – is that any brick and mortar business can do it too!

So what are the up to this time?

Starbucks is introducing Via – their patented instant coffee. Not only are they introducing it, they are inviting everyone in for a free sample!

Again they created a Facebook event and are using their fan page and Twitter to promote.

Do you think that some of the people who visit the store might buy something while their there?

Do you think that maybe some of the “buyers” wouldn’t have gone into Starbucks were it not for the promotion?

Do you think that maybe Starbucks will even get some new customers using this promotion?

Methinks the answer is yes to all of the above.

Now let’s put our thinking caps on and think of some (not just one, but several) ways that you can get customers to your business, introduce new people to you and what you do and create a whole lot of good will – by leveraging the perfect storm (or trifecta) of your website, Facebook and Twitter.

What Starbucks shows us is the how. Do you need to do it so big? Only if you have 4000+ stores and the overhead to go with it… Would 20 new clients/customers per month make a difference? (Or 10? Or 5?).

Using Facebook’s event feature, create an event, Tweet about it and drive people to your website so they can take advantage of your offer!

If you have found this post helpful or insightful please leave a comment or post to Twitter using the button above.

Thanks!

Lennie

Tags: Facebook, Free Pastry Tuesday, instant coffee, marketing, marketing campaign, Starbucks, Starbucks Via, Twitter, Via
Posted in Marketing & Promotion | 1 Comment »

DIY Marketing: Paranormal Activity

Wednesday, September 30th, 2009

I really love clever marketing campaigns! Here is a case study on Paramount Pictures Marketing Campaign for the low budget feature “Paranormal Activity” and some tips on how you can use some of the ideas in your own marketing.

Hoping to catch lightning in a bottle (or the ghost in the machine), Paramount Pictures has been treading carefully with its release of “Paranormal Activity,” which opened in 12 theaters on Friday and an additional 20 cities this weekend.

The Slamdance 2008 pickup’s ridiculously low budget of $15,000 and cinema-verite approach to the supernatural evoke that ultimate sleeper success, “The Blair Witch Project.”

So, let’s take a look at what is going on here and how you can apply it to your business.

What’s going on?

We have a very low budget film, Paranormal Activity ($15,000 is ridiculously low) that has been picked up by a major studio, Paramount Pictures. According to Variety, director Oren Peli shot the film over one week with a high-def camera in his own house with two unknown actors, Katie Featherstone and Micah Sloat, who manned the camera much of the time. The movie premiered at the Slamdance Film Festival in January 2008 and was purchased by Dreamworks/Paramount with the intent of remaking the film with Director Oren Peli directing.

Here’s where it gets interesting

They did a few test screenings to see what parts of the movie worked and which didn’t. It tested so well, they decided to make a few slight changes and release it as is… Traditionally, movies get a huge advertising budget, commercials etc, but paramount decided to do something a little more interesting.

Last November, they showed the film to international buyers. here’s the twist, they invited dozens of older teens and young adults to sit alongside 150 buyers in a Santa Monica theater. “It was nothing short of riotous” – In the next 24 hours, they sold out all the international rights in 52 countries. (Isn’t this genius?! Stacking the deck!)

A few weeks ago, rain was coming down in a hard drizzle at the Telluride Film Festival, and as midnight approached, the several hundred festival guests wrapped themselves tighter in blankets, tarps and ponchos as they tried to stay warm. The free, outdoor “Paranormal Activity” screening at this year’s Labor Day festival scarcely benefited from the cold, wet weather, but few in the audience left early. By the next day, positive Internet reviews and Tweets were flowing in.

Following the example of some DIY filmmakers they set up midnight screenings in 13 college towns – this continued the word of mouth campaign.

Paramount’s expectation is that as word-of-mouth builds for “Paranormal Activity,” people who haven’t seen the film will use eventful.com/demand to request the movie in their towns. Over 250,000 have demanded the movie in their towns!

The Internet service has been used by music fans who want bands to play a local gig; Paramount says the “Paranormal Activity” application is Demand’s first for a movie.

“It allows us to be really responsive to what is actually happening,” says Megan Colligan, Paramount’s marketing co-president.

Using a combination of Social Media outlets, Paramount is “assisting” the word of mouth marketing campaign. By setting up accounts on Twitter and Facebook (Fan Page) – they have provided a platform for people to easily spread the word.

The Facebook fan page now boasts over 24,000 fans, who leave comments, reviews (“Best horror movie ever!!!!! I am soooo going to see it a second time. Maybe even more if my wallet will allow me to!”) and a link (with encouragement) to eventful.com/demand so that people will demand the movie play in their area – It worked on me.

How can use this idea in your own marketing?

“I can’t do this, I don’t have Paramount Pictures money…”

First off, Paramount doesn’t have Paramount’s money anymore. That’s what we are talking about here.

Here are the steps to follow if you are modeling what is going on with “Paranormal Activity”:

Create a good product or service.
Give it away to a few people so they will give your reviews/testimonials and tell their friends. Make sure you ask them!
Leverage Social Networks like Twitter and Facebook in your marketing – Huge reach, low effort.
Listen to your audience (Fans, client base, customers) and respond to their needs

Thanks to my using eventful.com/demand (along with 17,412 others) – demanding the movie play in LA it opens here tomorrow and, yes, I am going to see it with 17,000+ of my closest friends.

Using the model above I am going to ask that if you found this post useful, please leave a comment or Tweet it using the “Retweet button” above. Thanks!

Lennie

Paranormal Activity Official site, Facebook Fan page, Twitter

Check out the Trailer:

Tags: DIY, DIY marketing, do it yourself, Facebook, marketing, Paramount Pictures, Paranormal Activity, Slamdance, social media, social network, Telluride Film Festival, The Blair Witch Project, Tweets, Twitter, word-of-mouth
Posted in Marketing & Promotion | 5 Comments »

Social Media Revolution – Fact or Fad?

Thursday, August 20th, 2009

Does Social Media represent a total shift in the way we communicate?

Does Social Media fundamentally change the way we do business?

Is Social Media the Biggest shift since the Industrial Revolution?

Personally, I think YES. If Starbucks can get almost 600,000 people to register for their Free Pastry Tuesday “Event” on Facebook and account for 1% of all Twitter traffic on the morning of the giveaway – don’t you think that fundamentally changes the playing field?

Consider these facts:

By 2010 Gen Y will outnumber the Baby Boomers – and 96% of Gen Y has joined a social network.
More people use the Web for Social Media than for Porn (The traditional #1).
With it’s 250+ Million users, if Facebook were a country, it would be the 4th largest.
More than 120 million users log on to Facebook at least once each day
80% of companies are using LinkedIn as their primary hiring tool.
There are 200 Million blogs – 54% of Bloggers post content or Tweet daily!
25% of search results for the 20 largest brands are links to user generated content.
80% of Twitter usage is on mobile devices.

We have come full circle. Baby Boomers grew up with the notion of a “corner store” – they knew and/ or were friends with the Grocer, the folks at the hardware store, etc. Then came the big cold media conglomerate era – who sold to us and talked at us.

Now we are experiencing the personal touch again – businesses listen to us and invite us to experience what they have to offer. They respond to complaints since those complaints often become trending topics on Twitter. They even avert PR disaster by preempting backlash by getting their apologies and fixed broadcast on social media before the critics can.

Social Media has allowed Small Business owners to play on a more leveled playing field – they we have never had as much reach as they we do now.

With this opportunity – how are you using it?
How would you like to use it?
What are some things you don’t understand about social media?
What is your favorite Social Media site and why?

I would love to hear your answers to that question in the comments below.

After you do that – take a look at this very cool movie about the Social Media Revolution by Author Erik Qualman – All about the Social Media Revolution.

Tags: blog, Blogger, Facebook, Industrial Revolution, LinkedIn, selling, Small Business, social media, Social Media Revolution, social network, Social Networking, Starbucks, tweet, Twitter
Posted in Social Media Revolution | 9 Comments »

Suspended by Twitter

Monday, July 6th, 2009

Lessons Learned from a Twitter Timeout

Twitter suspended

Yesterday provided an amazing lesson. A ton (yes, probably a ton, if you could weigh them) of legitimate Twitter accounts were suspended. WOW! We’re not talking any accounts here, we are talking big hitters like my friend and social media goddess Mari Smith (Twitter – @marismith), Twitter blogger @AlFerretti, plus – @CoachDeb, @JoelComm, and @Tweetlater.

Twitter says that the account suspensions were due to human error. Here’s what they had to say:

Earlier today, we accidentally suspended a number of accounts.

We regret the human error that led to these mistaken suspensions and we are working to restore the affected accounts—we expect this to be completed in the next several hours.

One additional note: some the accounts suspended were using the third-party site Tweetlater. However, Tweetlater is not to blame for these suspensions nor is it in violation of our Terms.

Read all about it here on Twitters tatus Blog:

http://status.twitter.com/post/136164828/restoring-accidentally-suspended-accounts

Oops!

Mashable was one of the first to break the story – and a story of intrigue it was.

There seems to be a wave of suspensions going around Twitter today, and it’s turning quickly into an echo chamber of confusion and frustration. We’ve received several tips (the first one being from Mashable guest writer Matt Singley) that a range of users are being taken down, including some with large followings such as @marismith and the LA Times Top of the Ticket account. A quick look at Twitter chatter is another indication that something’s amiss.

Read Mashables article here:

http://mashable.com/2009/07/05/twitter-account-suspensions/

So is there anything to be learned from all this?

As with an off-line brick and morter business, disaster can strike. Just like a flood might “liquidate” your business, one push of a button can inadvertently delete your social network account… OUCH! See Number 2
Make sure you are connected in multiple places, like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, FriendFeed and your own blog! That way if disaster strikes in one arena – you have connections and friends in the others that can help!
As Mari puts it herself on her great blog: Why Facebook

It’s vital to your social media success to be diversified and have a) a built-out Facebook profile (unless you’re choosing to only use your profile for close personal friends/family), b) a built-out Facebook Fan Page, c) an active blog with increasing subscribers, d) an active account on LinkedIn with increasing contacts e) an active channel on YouTube, f) an active, built-out account on FriendFeed… and many, many more platforms.
Stay connected and pay attention to your connections – Don’t simply go after numbers of social media connections, go forth and engage people. This will help both your presence and business grow online.
Make sure all of your networks are intertwined – Very convenient if you have a problem with one – then friends can alert you through another.
Take action – At one time or another, I have had my Facebook and Myspace accounts suspended. By being proactive, meaning I contacted them (vigorously), I got my accounts restored.This from Al Ferretti at TwitterWatchDog.com:

Sadly, tonight Skeeter Hansen and myself (Al Ferretti) became part of the suspended on Twitter. When we logged into twitter we received a message in a redbox that states:

Account Suspended
This account is currently suspended and is being investigated due to strange activity. If we have suspended your account mistakenly, please let us know. See Suspended Accounts for more information.

Meanwhile, if you visited our updates while we were under suspension, you would’ve seen the infamous “Mosey along now”

Ouch Again!

Read more from TwitterWatchDog.com here:

http://twitterwatchdog.com/2009/07/05/mosey-along-now-accounts-suspended-on-twitter/

Read the rest of Mari’s article:

http://whyfacebook.com/2009/07/06/lessons-learned-from-temporary-twitter-account-suspension/

Tags: Al Ferretti, Facebook, FriendFeed, Joel Comm, LinkedIn, Mari Smith, Mashable, social media, social network, suspended twitter account, Twitter, Twitter chatter, twitter suspended
Posted in Twitter | 6 Comments »

The Amazing Power of “HTTP://”

Monday, June 1st, 2009

Huh? What’s that? Or even “yeah, so what…”

How many times in an email, Facebook, Twitter or other sites have you seen a web address like this: www.govisitmysite.com and the damn thing isn’t clickable? A little annoying, right?

How many times have you copied and pasted the link?

My guess… very few. By adding these 7 simple characters, you unleash the mad, straight up power that is the INTERNET! You are leaving money, leads, customers, clients (and did I mention MONEY) on the table by not making your link clickable everywhere and anywhere you can!

NEWS FLASH —–> No one is going to take the time to copy and paste your link, EVER! (almost)

Err on the side of good business – use the http:// and your link becomes live: http://www.govisitmysite.com (this is an example only). Don’t leave prospective clients, customers and/or cash hanging on Facebook, Twitter and even in your email.

The other bonus is that you get those important backlinks to your site – without the http:// all you get is some text on another site…

Here’s a little experiment for you. Pay attention to all the non-working links you see, just on Facebook (especially on the person’s profile and their own link) and report back here. I would love and appreciate the feedback. If you found this post helpful, Please leave a comment!

Thanks and happy linking, Facebooking and Twittering…

Tags: clickable link, Facebook, Linking, Twitter
Posted in Doing Business Online, Facebook, Google, Twitter, Web Design | No Comments »

What NOT to put on Your Facebook Profile

Sunday, March 1st, 2009

Teenage fired for complaining about job on Facebook

Ok – here’s the deal. Don’t put anything on your social network pages that you don’t want the ENTIRE world to know about. You on Facebook is a window to your life – or so is the perception of people who read what you post on Facebook, what you tweet about on Twitter… get the picture?

I ran across this story of a 16 year old girl who wrote on her Facebook that her first day at her new job was “boring” and that she hated the menial tasks. Guess what? A co-worker who was her “Facebook friend” read the comment and told their boss… Bummer.

So again, back to the rule. It’s really simple: Don’t put anything on Facebook, Twitter, or any other social network that you don’t want you boss, your husband/wife, kids, friends, teachers… to know. Period. You mold the way you interact through speech in situations, e.g you (hopefully) don’t cuss in front of your kids or priest… so intelligently mold yourself in social media. Cultivate your persona. Be real, but be smart. Choose your words carefully. We really don’t need to know everything. Somethings are better kept to yourself.

So when the girl’s boss learned of the comments on Facebook:

Kimberley Swann was called into her boss’ office where she was told, “‘I have seen your comments on Facebook, and I don’t want my company being in the news.” She was told it was not good for the company, fired, and escorted from the premises in Clacton-on-Sea, Essex.

So if you decide to write about your job and get fired, or complain about your wife and she’s not happy, that’s your choice. Just don’t complain afterward. You made your bed.

Read the rest of the story here.

Swann is upset and, as only a 16 year old can, complained: “I just put that my job was boring. They were just being nosy, going through everything. I think it is really sad; it makes them look stupid that they are going to be so petty.

Maybe they are being petty, but here’s the deal: it’s their prerogative. Check the consequences before you write.

Tags: Facebook, Kimberley Swann, social media, social network, Twitter
Posted in Facebook | No Comments »

Yes We Can! The Fed Website goes 2.0

Wednesday, January 28th, 2009

Interacting through social media (Youtube, Facebook, Twitter and others) is quickly becoming an integral part of business (large, small and entrepreneurial) promotion online. Through Twitter interaction with your followers, you can keep them updated with your goings on and more. Faceboook provides a platform for deeper interaction when you start using their posted items, groups and (fan) pages features.

So with a new age of promotion among us, is it any wonder that Barak Obama’s administration would lead the way for government to find a beter way of keeping us informed allowing for simple feedback?

Taking a cue from the updated WhiteHouse.gov Web site, the federal government has gone Web 2.0 with is own site.

“Using these Web 2.0 tools is a huge opportunity for government to be transparent and save valuable tax dollars,” said Beverly Godwin, director of USA.gov, in a statement. “Tools such as RSS feeds and gadgets allow the public to directly access content from the original source, no matter which Web site they’re on. It reduces duplication across government, because an agency creates content once and makes it available for reuse by others.”

By using social media, and by this I mean truthful and honest interaction witth your existing and potential customer/client base, you create familiarity which breeds trust.

Tags: Barak Obama, Facebook, government, RSS feeds, social media, Twitter, USA.gov, Web 2.0, WhiteHouse.gov, YouTube
Posted in Facebook, Twitter, Web 2.0 | 1 Comment »

3 Killer (Quality) Traffic Generating Techniques

Monday, December 22nd, 2008

There are many effective ways to drive targeted to your website traffic without having to resort to expensive pay per click. The quality of the traffic is good, and sometimes even better than those paying for clicks. Here are 3 to wet you appetite.

And these methods are… Drum roll please…

1. Article Marketing

Article marketing works great! First off, it’s free. Second, you can attract targeted traffic when your articles get ranked in Google for the specific targeted keywords that you know your potential clients and/or customers are searching for. Getting a top spot on the left side (organic search results) of Google is as (or more) valuable as getting a top spot on the right (sponsored listings via Adwords). But the difference is it is free!

Using an article directory like EzineArticles, you can target specific, low competition keywords (aka long tail keywords) and rank within days, sometimes hours. Research shows that people searching 2 or less words tend to be browsers, while those searching phrases of 3 or more words tend to know what they want and are more likely to be buyers!

2. Forum Marketing

Forum marketing is another powerful free traffic driving technique. The key lies in using a catchy signature like “List building secrets of the masters”, or “5 killer secrets to an obedient dog!” But make sure the claims are legit. Remember, it’s all about the signature!

Participate daily in a handful of forums forums within your niche. Always go where your potential customers/clients are. Not only will you get traffic, you will also get some quality backlinks to your website.

3. Social Networking Sites

This refers to the new Web 2.0 social marketing communities like FaceBook, MySpace and Twitter. Even YouTube and other video sites count as part of this category. The best part of these Social Networking Communities is the huge audience.

Millions of people participate in these sites. And these are real-life audience! A good YouTube video can get lots of viewers. If you remember “Chocolate Rain” by Tay Zonday, that now has over 32,460,229 views. This video even landed Tay a Dr. Pepper spot and a knockoff/spoof, “Chocolate Rain by Chad Vader” has over 3 million views! See the

The potential for huge amounts of free targeted traffic is great!

Tags: Article Marketing, chocolate rain, EzineArticles, Facebook, Forum Marketing, Google, keywords, MySpace, Social Networking, Twitter, website traffic, YouTube
Posted in Creating Backlinks, Marketing & Promotion, You Tube | No Comments »

Lennie Appelquist on Twitter

Lennie Appelquist has 5523 followers

If you aren't using a blog, then you are missing the most dynamic opportunity in HISTORY do drive customers to ANY BUSINESS! WordPress makes this easier than ever.

The time is now to get yourself online, with an amazingly simple system that allows you to take full control fo your website. Doing business online has never been easier! We'll arm you with you own WordPress blog, 31+ templates and a handful of tools to get you started right away. What are you waiting for? Read more...

wordpress for doing business online

For the 1st time, you can get FMMG's WordPress 2.9 User's Guide. Taking the hard work out of the learning curve.

By using this easy-to-follow WordPress guide you will learn all the tips and tricks needed to understand all the ins and outs of WordPress. This E-book is a beginner's step-by-step guide to using WordPress to leverage your expertise using the sheer power of the Internet to bring traffic (read: interested buyers/customers) to your site. Read more...

When I decided to put a website up I never thought I'd actually get business from it. I started working with Lennie on the design and he understood what I wanted so effortlessly. In no time my site was working for me as I never imagined possible. And when I don't know what I need but know what I'd like to see happen, he jumps in with the latest on marketing and e-commerce tools that we can put in place. I consider Lennie to be a trusted advisor, and key to my ability to reach the people who need to know about my services.

Daisy Swan, MA, CPCC
Strategy Advisor and Coach
11812 San Vicente Blvd. Suite 505
LA, CA 90049
310-820-8877
www.daisyswan.com

Posts Tagged ‘Facebook’

10 Tips to Getting Your Business Blog Started

Starbucks’ at it Again – DIY Marketing

The Amazing Power of “HTTP://”

NEWS FLASH —–> No one is going to take the time to copy and paste your link, EVER! (almost)

Categories

Recent Posts

Meta

Monthly

Blog Roll

Links