Networking is one way of gaining possible clients. If you intend to widen your horizons when it comes to dealing with the business you are in, you’ve got to exert additional effort. And can you do this?

A lot of business enthusiasts have found a comfortable niche via the online opportunities which the net has well given the technology-dependent beings. Ask any business enthusiast and he or she is sure to give you a precise answer about how positive you should go about with the stuff related to your craft. Dedication and hard work are among the main ingredients of a successful business venture. And if only you are hardworking enough to help boost your reputation, you’ll get plenty of positive outputs. Why worry? The top social networking sites can be one of your greatest avenues.

Some Valuable Tips to Go For

It is not enough that you can call yourself a part of the top social networking sites there are today. There is a more profound reason as to why you sign up yourself as a member of the top social networking sites known to mankind. How do you think will you become an effective member?

You must be fully aware of the significance of the networking process. Your networking capabilities are among the top determinants of your possible success in any line of business. With an adequate knowledge in networking, you can work yourself up towards the increase in your market assets and shares; open yourself to more innovative ideas, and worthy perspectives that deal with business and life in reality.

Be visible at all times. Allow others to recognize your present. Taking part in online discussions and by giving out your opinion in the most precise and professional manner will mark your fame to the rest of the members. Therefore, clients will recognize and remember you. Make sure to be willing to lend a helping hand and boost the morale of the beginners in particular.

Be on guard with your image. Your credibility will count at all times. Along with it, be confident and improve your own self-esteem. You will need these tools in facing the world of business when everyone seems to always compete with one another. Never stain your good name. Your business’s success depends largely on this point.

Treat networking seriously. Maintain your level of professionalism when taking part in online discussions. You have to set some demarcation lines when it comes to dealing with professional and personal matters.

Build relationships. This is one of the main goals of all top social networking sites—to build relationships. Business relationships should furthermore be strengthened through the course of time. Project an approachable, warm, understanding, and accommodating image coupled with a precise knowledge about the craft, tact, and empathy. Learn to develop mutual respect among every member.

Listen and talk accordingly. Beginners usually tend to seek advice from the pros. And if you are one of the pros, make sure that you do not deprive them of the gratifying feeling of being helped.

Be genuine. Do not pretend to be someone whom you are really not.

Be very organized. Do not manifest your being rascal. It will surely create a mess out of your good name.

Make business cards available. Online business cards will be of great help so that when people start needing your service, they will know how and where to reach you.

Remember that the impression which you leave in the top social networking sites will determine your becoming successful in the near future.

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So you have developed a mobile application and you think its ready for release. You will have probably tested it on an emulator of some kind and possibly a browser or two, and so now you think its time to release it. Before this is done lets consider what state the mobile App is in. The mobile App only ‘appears’ to function correctly at this stage, which to all intensive purposes is a good thing right? but an emulator really only shows you how a real device ‘should’ work when used with your mobile application, it is certainly no guarantee. A web browser can certainly show you what your mobile App will look like on a real device, but there are many factors it cannot show you, for example; the touch screen functionality, CPU difference, memory usage and many more very important areas of functionality. It only takes a slight a small difference in what is ‘expected’ behavior to what is ‘actual’ behavior on a real device.

So once the decision is made to test on a real device, there are some important things to consider:

Which mobile devices do I need?

Lets for example use the most popular for of a mobile application, the iPhone. Currently there are several devices that fit into this category; the iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, iPad, and iPod-Touch. In addition there are multiple hardware versions and multiple operating system versions associated with each device. This at first presents a dilemma, but we can rule out older hardware and firmware(operating systems), why is this? well, 99% of users will upgrade to the latest firmware whenever possible to take advantage of bug fixes and new enhanced functionality. Again, you can rule out older versions of hardware, particularly if it is several years old and no longer supports the latest firmware available. Most users of these types of devices will upgrade when their device ‘appears’ out of date. In short, aim to test on the latest hardware and firmware, this in effect gives you a longer period of mobile App longevity.

I can’t afford to buy real devices, what do I do?

Most carriers will offer you the mobile device cheaply if you sign a lengthy contract. This is not really a viable option if you just want to test with it. Most devices can also be bought without a contract, but for an expensive price. Again, this can be expensive, especially using our example of an iPhone App. Teh most cost-effective testing solution is to use an iPhone App testing company to do it for you. They have already made the expensive investment in purchasing the hardware so you don’t have to. A good iPhone App testing company should offer you bundles for testing on multiple devices too.

Should I get a professional App test before release?

As the developer, you are essentially just one set of eyes. It is very important to get a new App tested to some level before its release, as once its out there you can’t do anything about it, until its too late, i.e. you are receiving negative feedback and decreasing sales. You don’t have to hire professional App testers to do the testing, you can get colleagues or friends to help you out. This should at least get some other sets of eyes looking at your App. The advantage of using a professional App testing service however, is they will have experience of a variety of software testing techniques, such as Usability, Functional, Performance testing etc. on many other Apps previously. Their software testers will know where to look for defects within your App and will provide you with an all important degree of confidence which you will only get with a professional App tester.

Which carriers/network providers should I use?

Depending on the country where the software testing is carried out, there will be a limit to which providers can be used. To be honest though, as long as the testing takes into account network specific testing, then the carrier should not matter at all. For example, an App tester will typically test on good, medium and poor signal strengths to test the behavior of your App under these conditions. So, as long as these tests are carried out not only on a wi-fi network but also on a 3G carrier providers network, then it really doesn’t matter.

So to summarize then, you necessarily have to pay out a fortune in order to achieve a level of mobile application testing. With some forethought, you can effectively reduce the amount of real devices you need to test on. You can don’t have to pay a fortune to ensure the quality of your mobile application.

http://www.testing4success.com is a professional Mobile Application Testing company providing highly cost-effective Mobile App Testing services to companies around the globe. Free iPhone App Testing Service available.

Author: James S Clark
Article Source: EzineArticles.com

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In its brief history, Social Media, as called New Media, has traditionally been viewed as a place to meet new friends, reconnect with old friends and interact in an online social environment. In short, social networks were “a cool place to hang out” but held little applicability beyond that. There has been no shortage of funding in Silicon Valley for firms launching new media platforms. With the emergence of sites like MySpace, Facebook and Twitter, there is no question that there is value in the vast amounts of information on people that these platforms have been able to collect; however, there has been no clear monetization strategy beyond bringing in advertising revenue. Arguments have been risen as to the true value of these firms; some would state that their valuations are inflated and artificial, while other claim that the value of their databases alone are enough to justify multi-billion dollar price tags.

The New Value of Social Media and The Social Media Firm
More recently social media has spawned a new value proposition, which is the business applicability of the vast user-bases these social networks have created. Regardless of which side of the valuation fence you sit on, it can be said that social media holds vast utility for businesses looking for a new way to reach out to customers and engage in two-way communications. This has never been done before from a traditional marketing, advertising or public relations perspective, and has given rise to a new business model: The Social Media Firm. This brings forth the argument of whether or not The Social Media Firm is a good investment. Is The Social Media Firm a fad that will die out in the coming years, or is this a long-term, sustainable industry that will one-day drive obsolescence to the traditional methods of advertising, public relations and marketing?

Given the state of the current economy, Venture Capital and angel funding sources have been keeping their portfolio dollars close to their chest, reserving investment only to businesses with a decent operating history, solid revenue streams and unlimited growth potential. Does the Social Media Firm fall into this category? My answer is yes. The bottom line is: social media is not going anywhere. Social media has become a staple of the lives of younger generations, and the fastest growing adopters of new media are people over the age of 30. Since the recognition of the business potential that social networks holds, large Fortune 500 firms are devoting a good portion of their marketing budgets to social networks and new media campaigns. For instance, Pepsi has devoted $20 Million of their marketing budget for a social media program called Pepsi refresh, and many large firms are beginning to follow suit. Needless to say, the earning potential for The New Media Firm is substantial.

Is it sustainable?
As mentioned earlier, new media is not going anywhere. For the most part it has become a standard part of the Internet experience similar to email. The sites that are considered the gorillas in social media may churn; however, there will always be something new to which these Internet-based communities will migrate. For example, the social media migration to-date has gone from MySpace to Facebook to Twitter, and the next major shift and/or addition to this massive online social sphere is likely just around the corner. The long-term sustainability of The Social Media Firm is largely dependent upon these companies’ ability to identify and pre-empt the next big shift, and to develop effective methods of leveraging both the old and new platforms for the sake of driving revenue, profitability, sales volume and identity to their clients.

Why Outsource to The Social Media Firm?
One question that may arise is: why would large companies hire a social media agency when they have the monetary resources to do it in-house? The answer to this is the simple fact that it is cheaper to outsource a new media campaign to a firm that has a skilled team already in place that is intimately familiar with navigating the complex world of new media. In the same manner that large companies hire advertising agencies to design traditional media campaigns, this approach can and will be taken for new media. By hiring The New Media Firm companies can eliminate both the administrative burden that comes with hiring a multitude of new employees, as well as the learning curve that will inevitably be present when trying to integrate those employees into their corporate culture. It is more cost effective, in both monetary and administrative respects, to outsource these campaigns to professional teams that are fully adept at leveraging the potential of modern media, navigating the codes of conduct of these online communities and staying ahead of the curve when it comes to identifying the exploiting the latest new media trends.

Closing Remarks

In summary, I do believe that investment in The Social Media Firm holds great potential for many funds; however, it is imperative that when vetting these agencies, Venture Capitalists and Angels need to ensure that the company contains the correct personnel and management team to fully exploit this budding industry. The ditch is full of one-man shops and so-called social media experts that are no more than victims of the recession who happen to be adept at Facebook or Twitter. It is imperative that the architects of new media campaigns are familiar with the intricate details of new media, and the vast array of assets that exist online to for a business to take full advantage of the social media world. Utilization of the lesser known social media outlets such as Digg, BrightKite, hi5, Xanga and countless others could be the difference between a full-scale robust campaign that shows real results, and an ineffective and unorganized attempt at new media that wastes marketing dollars.

Due to the infancy of this industry, there are few companies out there that truly know how to unlock the value of new media for business. The one’s that do will quickly rise to the top, and if sufficient due diligence is done, these companies are ripe for investment. A strategic infusion of capital is likely the boost needed to take these companies from a sustainable cash-flow business to the next industry giant with A-list clientele.

Boom Media, Inc. is a new media optimization firm based in San Diego, California. New Media is the culmination of all online assets (such as social networking, blogs, micro-blogs, bookmarking and video sites) and tactics that can be used to drive revenue and identity for businesses. With a proven track record for success, the Boom Media team delivers results with innovative and measurable campaigns. Learn more at http://www.mymediaboom.com

Author: Eric A Rice
Article Source: EzineArticles.com

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You are reading this because you have likely just come across Twitter, or you’ve heard of it but are not really sure what it is or how to use it.

In this article you will learn:

o What is Twitter?

o What is micro-blogging?

o Why is it so successful?

o How to use Twitter to double your income in minutes a day

o The really important DO’s of Twitter

o The even more important DON’Ts of Twitter.

What is Twitter?

Twitter is the world’s preeminent “micro-blogging” social networking website. It was launched in March 2006. Even though it is so new, it has skyrocketed to dominance and is considered by many to be equal in importance to Facebook!

It is a social networking platform in which people invite you to follow them. Here’s an example. Let’s say a friend of yours, Albert, invites you, Bill, to follow him on Twitter. You may accept him (by clicking on the ACCEPT button) or you may reject that offer (by clicking on the BLOCK button).

You might block:

o People you do not know

o People you do not like

o People whose culture or morals do not fit with yours (like blocking porn stars)

Even if you accept someone, you could later block that person if, for example, you realize that they just want to sell and are not on Twitter for the true social networking ideals.

In this example, let’s say that Bill accepts Albert’s invitation. Now, Albert has one Follower (or one more Follower) and Bill now is Following Albert. Bill is now in the Twitter system and can invite Carol to follow him. You get onto Twitter by invitation because you must follow someone. In this way, a community is built. Albert has his community of those he follows and those who follow him. And, it is the same for Bill, and for Carol, and for the millions who are on this platform.

Twitter Popularized The “Micro-Blog”

Emails can be as long as you wish, with attachments as huge as you wish. Blog posts can be as long as you wish. Articles are limited to a maximum of about 1,500 words. But, comments posted on Twitter are limited to 140 characters – even including spaces!

In this era of speed in which no one seems to have any time, Twitter popularized updating your friends and sending text-based Direct Messages (called DMs) using only 140 characters. Here’s one I just posted today:

“I’m sitting in my hotel room in Gold Coast Australia writing an ezine article on Twitter.”

That’s 89 characters including spaces and punctuation. I could stop there, or add more. How do I know it’s 89? Because Twitter automatically counts down for me and displays that I had 51 characters to go. So, I kept going.

“I’m sitting in my hotel room in Gold Coast Australia writing an ezine article on Twitter. Though I live in Canada, I’m here giving a speech for World Internet Summit.”

Now I am at 167 characters. But, I’m allowed only 140. Twitter’s counter (now red) shows me at -27. That means I need to eliminate at least 27 characters. I realize that the comment “Though I live in Canada” is not too important because my Twitter followers likely know that. So here is my next attempt:

“I’m sitting in my hotel room in Gold Coast Australia writing an ezine article on Twitter. I’m here giving a speech for World Internet Summit.”

That brings me down to -3. I’m almost there. So, I delete one of the spaces between my two sentences. I’m at -2. Then, I delete the entire word “sitting” and I’m done. I hit the UPDATE button and my dozens or thousands of Twitter Followers know what’s up in my life. It’s easy. It’s fun. It’s free.

Why Is Twitter So Successful?

Twitter’s success is based on two principles important to social networking:

o Firstly, it is really easy to use and understand.

o Secondly, it takes only seconds to post or to read a micro-blog.

How You Can Double Your Income Using Twitter

You simply increase your number of Twitter Followers, build a relationship with them, then offer them something that they may well like.

Tweets (that is, messages sent to Followers on Twitter) are more eagerly read than mass-emails. So, there is a greater connection and a greater opportunity to monetize your list of Twitter Followers.

The Number One Key then is to dramatically increase your Twitter Followership.

The Steps to Increasing your Twitter Followership

Here are the steps to getting your list started…

o Open a Twitter account and post a photo as that is part of the fun of Twitter.

o Ask someone, by email or phone, to invite you or accept a Twitter invitation that arrives.

o Using Twitter’s search function, find friends of yours and invite them.

o Next, decide the type of Twitter Followers you would like to attract. Let me use an example. If you love scented candles (or wish to sell scented candles online through Twitter), then search for “candle” or “candles” or “scented candles” or “fragrance” or “relax” or whatever other key words you feel would find you the type of friend (or customer) you want.

o Each search will return to you a list of Twitter members. Read down the list and click the FOLLOW button for those whom you feel resonate with you. It’s totally your choice.

o Keep doing this and two things will happen.

o Firstly, you will be following lots of people.

o Secondly, some of them will eagerly follow you back.

o Thirdly, you will begin getting Tweets which you need to answer.

You are now beginning to have fun on Twitter. Congratulations. People will send you Tweets or DMs (Direct Messages). You need to reply. And, you need to initiate micro-blogs like the one I constructed earlier in this article.

Soon you will follow 2,000 other Twitterers. At this point, you may well have several hundred Followers. The difference is too large and Twitter will prevent you from following any more. With each day, more people will find and follow you so your ratio will improve. To follow more than 2,000 others on Twitter, you must keep your number of followers within about 10% of the number you follow. When you follow 2,000, you will need to wait till 1,800 follow you. But, there is a short-cut. Read on to the Second DO below.

Here Are the All-Important Twitter DO’s

The very first DO is: use your real name “Mary McGregor” so that others can find you. You may also use a nickname. I don’t.

The second DO has to do with speeding the process of getting more followers. Simply wait for several days after following someone and then delete them if they do not follow you back. How do you know? Just look at the list of those you follow. If you see a “DM” or “Direct Message” button, then they are following you. If it is blank, then they have not followed you. You may wish to go through that entire list and purge (or delete) anyone who has not followed you. Now, your ratio is in balance and you can go out inviting more and getting more followers.

The third DO is about keeping in touch. Each day, send a micro-blog of anything that is on your mind, a fun website you’ve found, etc.

The fourth DO is to reply to DMs sent to you.

The fifth DO (and you must wait till you have earned a relationship) is to offer something for sale, but in a conversational way. Here’s an example…

“WOW, I just found the world’s funniest video. I laughed like crazy. Check it out on my blog http://www.MyBlog.com.”

That just fits within the 140-character ceiling. If you’ve built good relationships and if the video is really funny and if the video is about scented candles in some way and if there is a compelling offer to buy scented candles on your blog website, then you will begin getting sales!

And the final DO is about publicizing your Twitter membership. Put on your business card and in your email signature and everywhere: “Follow me on Twitter.com/yourname”

And, Now For the Even More Important DON’Ts

Firstly, DON’T begin selling too soon.

Secondly, DON’T make your sell obvious. Make it conversational.

Thirdly, DON’T ignore DMs. They are what creates the social networking.

DON’T lose interest. Once you have created this network, you need to mother it to nurture it.

And, The Final Point…

Have fun. It’s easy. It’s fast. It really works.

And, you can get much more on Raymond’s proven success system in his bestselling hardcover book DOUBLE YOUR INCOME DOING WHAT YOU LOVE. Claim yours right now at http://GetMyBookForFree.com.

Author: Raymond Aaron
Article Source: EzineArticles.com

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Do you really want to build an iPhone app?

This might sound like a daft question at first. But I want to make sure that you have fully explored your target audience and considered whether it would be more suitable to launch an app on the Blackberry or Android platform.

If you have your mind set on an iPhone app, then I urge you to also consider what happens when it is a success? Yes, I am assuming that your iPhone application will be a success because they are growing so rapidly. Will the agency you use be able to launch a similar app on the other platforms so as not to alienate consumers? Will you choose to combine your iPhone app with perhaps a mobile website that would allow all other smartphone users to access your content?

Search out the iPhone apps you like!

I have managed many website and iPhone application projects and one of the mistakes I regularly come across is managers that are too reliant on the designers. I suggest that as part of your initial brief you really look into all the different types of iPhone apps that are within your market. If there are no iPhone apps then simply look at what you like. Consider why one flows better than another, what elements frustrate you and what ideas could you use to build your iPhone app.

Understanding Apple Connect for your iPhone Application

Apple Connect is a website used by your iPhone application developer. It is basically a website that holds the details of your app and is used to send your iPhone app binary code to Apple for them to approve… if you are lucky (I’ll get to that in a moment)

It is also the place where everything you see on iTunes is managed. So those screen shots you see for each app, you guessed it, they are uploaded through connect. You may want to go through connect with your iPhone app developer just to get used to what you can and cannot do.

Pricing your iPhone Application

Apple operates a tiered pricing structure so all you have to do is select a pricing tier from 1-10 to set your price around the world i.e if it is 59p in the UK then it will automatically be 99 cents in the US. Again, you can access this with your iPhone developer by visiting Apple Connect.

Planning your iPhone app layout

Bespoke apps will be much less expensive if you do the ground work. By this I mean work out exactly what you want and create a ‘work flow’ diagram. Basically start with a blank picture of an iPhone and sketch in your iPhone app splash screen and homepage. Work out what buttons will go along the bottom of your iPhone app to create the menu – you can have five buttons.

Next, using lots of blank iPhone images, create a hierarchical structure of your iPhone application. By doing this, you can literally show your designer how you want it all to work i.e. click here and it shows this screen or searches this item. Don’t worry too much about whether it is technically possible as your iPhone app designer will undoubtedly suggest some options for improvement. Once the iPhone app workflow is complete then you and your designer know exactly how the app should work.

Bespoke iPhone Apps V’s Online App Builders

Only about 12 months ago, if you wanted to build an iPhone app then you had to look for a bespoke answer. Today things are rapidly changing and there are a number of US based companies and one UK company offering a build your app online service.

The fundamental difference between bespoke iPhone application development and online app builders is cost and flexibility. So it all comes down to ‘what do you want your iPhone app to do?’ and how much do you want to pay?

With bespoke iPhone applications you really can create just about anything and there are companies or individuals very skilled in this area. So ask yourself what you are trying to achieve. Is it brand building through clever entertainment or are you trying to get content to your customers in order to a) interact with them and build your brand or b) help them through to the final purchase of your product or service?

Think back a few years to the use of flash in website design. I was lucky enough to be part of a website pitch to Disney and guess what; we went over the top with flash. Incidentally we won the contract, however soon there were full flash websites everywhere. Today it is very much a different story, for most websites the number one objective is to get content across quickly and efficiently and in a manner that customers are used to, so for example, having the menu on the top or the left hand side of your webpage. Flash is now used predominantly in other areas to add to the overall user experience.

So for what might be classed as ‘utility iPhone apps’ stick to the rules and always think about the content you are trying to deliver.

Online iPhone App Builder

The main thing that you need to consider when using an online app builder is will it deliver what your customer needs? Can an online iPhone app builder offer your customer everything that they require without you having to spend anywhere between 3000 and 20000 plus, building a bespoke iPhone application!

Most online app builders allow you try them for free for either a set time or until you publish your app.

iPhone App Download Restraints

Your iPhone application needs to be less than 10mb’s if you want users to be able to download it from their phone via a standard connection i.e. not wi-fi.

If you are developing an iPhone game application of sorts then you are likely to go over this limit, however for an iPhone business application, then ideally try to keep it under 10mb’s

iPhone Content

If you read only one piece of text in this whole document, make sure you read this next part which looks at iPhone app content and the importance it has in getting your iPhone application signed off by Apple.

When you set about building your iPhone application the first thing you need to realise is that content is vital. Let’s take entertainment and games out of the equation for a moment because by their very nature they are highly likely to get signed off. So let’s concentrate on building a utility or business iPhone application.

Whatever you do, don’t build it just because everyone else is. Build it with your customer in mind. Do your customers already view your products online, are they interested in your news, do they visit your website to access content that is not available elsewhere, can you help your customers with a problem, do you want to find out what your customers think? These are just some of the questions you should consider when building your iPhone application.

Like any marketing or communication tool…building an iPhone application only works as an entertainment gimmick on rare occasions. For 99% of us, it has to serve a real purpose.

What we do know however is that your customers want information, news, products or promotions in the palm of their hand and with an iPhone app you have the perfect marketing tool from them to access your content and interact with your company.

The Cost to build an iPhone Application

A bespoke app can cost anywhere from 3000 to 20000 upwards. The price of bespoke iPhone application development is decreasing as more and more as iPhone application developers enter the market.

Building an iPhone app online costs anywhere from between $10 -$100 per month rental in the US an around 45 per month in the UK.

Submitting your iPhone App

When your iPhone app is submitted to Apple for approval you can expect to hear whether it has been approved or rejected after 1 or 2 weeks. If it has been rejected than Apple will give you some indication as to what needs to be improved before you can submit your app again.

You will have to work with your developer to asses and fix the problem.

I hope that you find some of the information useful and good luck.

James Scott is a Markerting Director within the iPhone Development market. For More information on iPhone Development visit http://www.mvapphub.co.uk/blog/

Author: James Justin Scott
Article Source: EzineArticles.com

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Mobile marketing is a huge potential source of traffic, customers and profit for your business, but as yet fairly untapped. Yet, over the next three years, it is predicted that more than half current internet users will be accessing the web via mobiles and other handheld devices.

Mobile marketing offers a very personal kind of interactivity for relationship building with your prospects. It’s not just about bombarding folk with text SMS marketing messages. Mobile friendly web sites and mobile applications mean marketers can reach a much greater target audience.

The statistics are pretty convincing and competition in the mobile direct marketing arena is still comparatively low.

Growth in mobile customers

World wide there are 4 billion people with mobile phones. In fact, there are almost five times more cell phone owners than laptops and computer owners, especially home internet ready.

Gartner, the IT research company, predicts that over the next three years over half current internet users will be accessing the web via mobiles and other handheld devices.

“There are clear opportunities for mobile transactions to grow as users, in this and previous surveys, indicate that they want to be able to use their mobiles to buy more goods, such as books, music, travel services, household utilities and electronic appliances,” says BuzzCity CEO, KF Lai.

It’s a very global trend. BuzzCity’s recent survey questioned 1,798 mobile users across the Americas, Asia, Africa, Western Europe and the Middle East and showed that 90% had directly purchased products or services via their mobile.

The trend towards mobile marketing

It’s no surprise really that the fastest growing marketing technologies and emerging channels are mobile, rich media and social media. You only have to do a search on some of the popular keywords for the internet marketing and online home business industry to see how these methods are all being adopted with enthusiasm by marketers.

Unica just released its “The State of Marketing 2010″ results from the latest Global Survey of Marketers and there are some astounding findings.

The survey reported that “Nearly half of marketers surveyed have already embraced social media marketing, and adoption is healthy across most social media outlets, such as blogs, Facebook, and Twitter. However, marketers need to think more about integrating social media with other marketing tactics.”

Despite the rapid increases in the potential audience, “mobile marketing” is a relatively new practice. The term describes marketing on or with a mobile device, such as a cell phone using WAP or text messaging to communicate between the business and the customer.

Mobile marketing is increasing in significance with over 30% of marketers surveyed already using some form or other of mobile marketing and many sources of information (magazines, and services available to support them.

Nevertheless, mobile advertising has grown over the past 1-2 years (almost 100% in the UK), despite the economic recession. The total is pretty small compared to advertising on the internet, which last year was higher than that spent on TV.

However, the Mobile Marketing Association suggests the growth in mobile marketing is likely to accelerate as handsets equipped with new technology, including mobile broadband, become ubiquitous and consumer behaviour changes.

The response from marketing vendors isn’t far behind. For instance, 84444.com recently launched its Do-it-Yourself mobile marketing campaigns that can be run from the convenience of a desktop computer. YouTube is making huge changes to its mobile web presence and has now begun incorporating adverts throughout its mobile site.

How to tap into the mobile market

Anyone in business should always be looking for new ways to reach out and touch their customers and build attention from new prospects. And mobile marketing may just be the golden ticket.

Your mobile user is permanently switched-on, impulsive and ready to interact at the drop of a hat. Who wouldn’t want to tap into mobile marketing? It’s the ultimate direct response tool.

Mobile marketing, you could argue, is perhaps a rather more captive audience. When someone has their phone in their hand and downloads a page, they are much engaged than on a desktop based website. It’s a much more powerful direct response tool than the internet.

Conversions from mobiles compared to web or email marketing are five times higher. And, obviously competition is much lower because nobody really knows about this yet.

So what changes do you need to make in your business to attract mobile clients?

Well, first you should make sure your website is mobile friendly, especially if you are sending text SMS messages with active web links to your mobile contacts. There’s a tonne of reasons why this is important, but mostly because mobile is an instant and impulsive kind of medium, so you want the recipient to be able to follow the link and get to a useful page and quickly.

Consider that subscriber on your email list may well be reading their messages on their phone. So you want to keep your main message and link ‘above the fold’ to use a newspaper term. To clarify: when you’re accessing emails from a mobile, sometimes the longer ones will get truncated so put your link early on and remember the rules of compelling headlines.

But also, as with the SMS, your mobile user should be able to click your call to action link in the email and bring up the page right there and then from their phone’s web browser. The chances they will visit your website when they get back to their PC are far lower.

Google is actively hunting for decent mobile enabled sites to feature in its search results, since this is a huge source of revenue for them if their users are happy. There’s not enough mobile sites out there. So learn how to create a Google-friendly mobile version of your site and you could rank higher than for your regular desktop site.

There’s a whole spectrum of solutions for making your webpage mobile friendly. These range from the simple and cheap like adding a bit of code you add to your WordPress blog to a more complex and expensive decision to create a complete and total mobile website.

Getting your site indexed by Google on the mobile search engine?

Google have mobile site maps distinct from the usual site maps. Check out their webmaster tools for help on that. And get yourself listed in the Google local business listings. Google has a way you can build a mobile landing page within that tool. It works best for brick and mortar businesses, but it’s all good web presence.

Google knows that people search differently on their mobiles than they do on their desktop. They actually have a specific mobile keyword research tool. Not a bad idea, then, to clue up the whole different algorithms search engines are using for mobile searching.

Another thing to remember to keep your mobile text ads short, mirroring the style of social networking conversations. Opera (one of the mobile browsers) statistics show that 41% of people accessing the mobile web are going to social network sites, so MySpace, Facebook, twitter. These are intertwined and meshed together as a tool, so these ads need to work together.

Automating the SMS text marketing process

You want to add a mobile phone field to your web page capture form if you currently capture your visitors’ names and email addresses. With a list of numbers, you can unleash your mobile direct marketing power by sending automated, scheduled SMS or text messages to your subscribers.

Internet marketers have known for years the money is in the relationship with your email list. As mobile marketing gets unleashed, it’s likely your phone list will become the gold standard.

SMS has an astounding 97% open rate – and usually within the first 5 minutes of receiving the message. That’s powerful to marketers! If the “autotexter” replaces the autoresponder, do you have a business strategy for that dramatic change?

Early adopters ALWAYS make the most money. So go check out mobile marketing and see what a difference it can make in your business.

Jay Allyson
Pro Marketing Consultant

Jay Allyson is Home Business Owner, Internet Marketing Coach. She Teaches People To Make $250k in 12 Months. Family Strategy. Helping Others Achieve Time Freedom & Dream Lifestyle.

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Author: Jay Allyson
Article Source: EzineArticles.com

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Social media has become mainstream and as someone said: every media becoming social. I always think some brands and their attitudes to social media, content marketing, management. It is clear from every angle, except from view, that most brands are overlooking the “social” in front of the social media. This is what sets social media apart from other kinds of media. To excel in social media, you begin with cultivating a social media mindset. Most have not understood what this platform offers.

All that we are currently doing is majorly titled toward social media abuse which is based on advertising and shameless ego promotion. This affects corporate brands more though.

Most have concentrated mainly on mainstream traditional media. They have neglected or can we say they are unaware that the only way to survive in this time is a two-way communication media which embraces not only the traditional but online media platform. As we know, the current trend today is for brands to first learn about their brides-customers, get their attention through the use of social media platforms like blogging, Youtube, Xing, Facebook, Del.ici.ous, Bookmarking, RSS, Podcasting, videocasting, Wikis among many other available online media.

The evolution of these new media has opened up opportunity to seek opinion, interact, court, date and offers irresistible proposal that will hook the bride. Today customers are no longer buying one mode fits all offer by the traditional media. Some corporate brands here seem to hinge non-participation in online community building on such excuses that we are not yet online, neither are there recognized consumer fora which have major convergence of consumers online. Also no regulatory authority here pays attention to or gives any attention to whatever they have to say can. They also claim that online forums here have no impacts on corporate performance. Some also claim that social media is alien to us. My answer is that social media is not alien. The fact remains that many things had been part of us only that we do not accurately labeled them until the westerners help us out.

The idea of social media, content marketing is rooted in cultural rituals where a couple gets engaged before they could start dating. The process require that suitor’s intention has to be established through family contacts, integrity checked and a cogent promised is made that he is interested in a serous relationship and not flings. Without these background checks, no one officially allows the intending couple to start dating. If this is violated then, the bride to be would be disciplined.

Drawing a parallel in this ancient ritual, the customers want the brand today to show that what matters is her, not money making. The customers want to be sure that out of arrays of suitors-products, services- your brand can take the initiative of starting a conversation, the customer wants to be sure your brand is not just flirting, looking out for short flings but a real relationship that will enhance her lifestyle. Brand through social media, content and social marketing set up a bate by loading the right words in their contents to convince, educate, entertain the bride that they are out to make her life better even before selling anything.

Customer wants to see how much of your intellectual property will be made available without charges. The customer wants to find out you are a giver. One of their love languages is gift sharing. A giver without string attached always takes the show. Social media, content marketing requires a lot of commitment. It takes time before social media and content marketing make huge impact. Any brand that can show high level of commitment in social media will always carry the day.

Typical case studies of brands with efficient use of social media include Tony Hseih. Tony followers in Twitter today is over one forty million. Hseih is the managing Director of Zappos.com. Tony through his ‘tweet’ has course to meet with customers at a bar while many in his position will rather hide under the guise of busy schedule. Tony uses Twitter to build interaction with customers; he uses twitter to solve problems for clients. The strength of Tony Hseih and Zappos communities has been used to strengthen relationships with Zappo’s brand offline. Zappos client freely gives their ideas on what they want. This aids, leads to co- creation of brands products, services.

As busy as Richard Branson of Virgin group is, he also maintains a twitter account. He has used his twitter account to answer questions from angry customers as well as virgin potentials. The virgin group also has an integrated website that allows news update, blog among others. Southwest Airlines has used social media to build strong connection that impacts on the brand’s offline interaction

A good example of the use of social media to spread messages and connection was recently demonstrated by Michael Jackson’s personal doctor. As we are all aware, it was once insinuated that he killed Michael Jackson through drug overdose. About a week ago, he used Youtube video to spread his part of the case. This video spread across the internet as well as mainstream media. Popularity of virtual community has been soaring high with more people paying attention from academics and marketing communications practitioner discussing it in advance countries, yet Nigeria brands have assumed ‘I do not care attitude’. Nations and brands are not considered backward just because of their location but based on attitudes, disposition to the use of technology that will aid progress. Building emotional connection, loyalty with the brand is becoming an easy thing through social media.

Social media has become a great platform to identify with, interact, communicate brand element. This often starts in online forum and lead to offline beneficial relationship. Today, nearly three billion of the seven billion potentials are now connected in social media platforms. Agreed the ratio is still slow here but the number is increasing daily. Through social media brands can ignite confidence in the hearts of the bride, build thought leadership. Your brand competitors may have better product, services but will surely lose out to you if you can build strong connection with them before you ask them to buy through massive advertisement.

If your brand can give away enough information, answers to concerns and prove that you are on the verge of seriously neglecting your own best interest, of tight schedules, in order to serve these greedy, needy brides that desire your brands become more open, honest with them which is the essence of social media. Social media do not allow cover ups, unnecessary protection of corporate brand’s failures. I am of the opinion that if our banking industry’s Managing Directors have been active in social media, there is possibility of gaining public sympathy instead of this anger, tantrum they are now receiving from various angles. Their followers would have been able to defend them and take appropriate position that may have given them soft landing in this trying period.

Since our brands have concentrated on one form of media, mainstream, tell me why should their brides not block out their useless bragging through advertising? Tell me why is it difficult for brands n our environment to see handwriting on the wall that their brides now desire their authentic voices that are not coloured with jargons of self- serving moneybags? The brands’ brides are now also afraid; skeptical of marketing. Why should the brides be loyal when the element of trust is shaking?

Having established that let us now examine proper way of participating in social media which is now being exchanged for web.2.0. For brands to actively participate in social media, brands need to observe, listen, find clients’ hibernating medium. In doing this, brand should first define its social media strategy through careful evaluation of brand’s resources, analyze the target audience, and identify objectives. Having done this, brand must carefully pick or access platforms that fit their goals. This will inform the decision to run a blog or just to participate in other forums like Twitter, Facebook, discussion board, social media bookmarking, stumbleupon among others. Be sure you know that such platforms are used by your niche audience. Identify the top influencers of your industry online through recognitions given to their opinions, comments, awards etc.

To do this effectively, brand may consider creating the position of community or social media/knowledge management manager or hire consultant who has track records in skills like community management, online reputation management, monitoring, tracking, podcast, video cast, web links etc. These skills do not require a programmer’s knowledge and in actual fact, they are used by customer relations, brand, and Public relations experts. The only requirement is passion that is backed with proven results. The said manger or consultant must also understands forum rules, reputation software, know how to distribute contents without creating offense as this may be counter productive. Great ability to create qualitative content for blogs, create profiles and claim such blogs in online directories is also essential. Social media, content marketing, management is seen as collection of open-sourced, interactive and user- controlled online application used to expand the experiences, knowledge and market power of the users as participants in business and social processes, the social media landscape is basically about conversation before any marketing campaign.

Brands must therefore consider Rajesh Setty’s suggestion that it must demonstrate that your brand cares, is curious to find out what is the concern of the customers, contribute, make sure the content is worth their attention, clarify issues, build conversation that will lead to strong relationship, bring in a lot of creativity, demonstrate the brand’s character and values cherished, build community, tribe, brings change, instill courage and be highly commitment to a cause its believe in.

Let me conclude this piece by highlighting how brand can start participate in social media and content marketing. Content marketing is an art of understanding what your customers’ want, need to know and the science of delivering it to them in a useful and compelling way. The content has to be engaging in a useful and compelling way. To start, the brand has to build trust and credibility. This is huge work. This becomes easy if your brand can take time to listen to customers first. By that brand discovers their problems and the content is therefore tailored to provide solution.

Avoid talking too much about your brand or your expertise as much as I do know the fact that your brand need to establish the line that your brand is worth their attentions. This can make your brand’s efforts become suspect. Your customers want educational content without initial marketing spin. The content also has to be compelling, entertaining to earn the scarcest entity on the wed- time/patience. Great content must guides, clarifies, enlightened and connect. The language of the content has to be in tune with your industry. Contents that solve problems drive traffic and increases sale rate.

Social media and content marketing make your clients see your brand as unique resource, trusted advisor and a brand that makes them look good. This will make them to gladly exchange their money and loyalties for your commitment to the relationship. When you have so much to give, they will not wait to tell others about your brand. There are some other factors that come into play here but let us conclude today’s piece by saying that brand has several opportunities when it annexes the two way communication of mainstream and evolution of new media.

Yinka olaito is a Brand, Public relations expert and Social media advocate. He has gained over twelve years in the field. He is presently the chief consulting Officer Michael sage consulting, Lagos Nigeria. He authors The branding Gavel-http://www.yinkaolaito.com an award winning blog. This blogs has been rated as one of the Top 100 Branding Blogs in the world among others.

Author: Yinka Olaito
Article Source: EzineArticles.com

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About a year ago, I wrote an article with guidelines on writing a website design and development Request for Proposal (RFP), which received a great response. Now I think it’s high time to do the same thing for those wishing to engage an agency for Social Media Marketing and other Online Marketing and Advertising consultation and implementation.

Below are my suggestions of how to prepare an RFP for social media projects, retainers and campaigns. I also suggest doing research online and viewing other Request for Proposals to see what works best for your organization. Keep in mind that whatever format you choose will determine not only how long the responses are, but also what type of focus you are looking for from the respondents. Each section of the RFP is outlined below, along with some explanation and suggested questions. Have fun!

Information about your organization and project

Introduction

The purpose of this section is to give a brief overview of the company issuing the RFP and the social media project or desired work relationship between the company and the vendor. Provide as much information as you feel is necessary to allow vendors to prepare an accurate proposal. If you feel that there is certain proprietary or other information that you do not wish to make public, require a Non Disclosure Agreement be signed before receiving that information. This may limit the participation of vendors, but it is oftentimes necessary to protect private information.

1. Company Overview

• Organizational history
• Your business objectives
• Your company’s history using social media or reasons why your organization intends to begin to participate in social media

2. Overview of Project

• State the project objectives and how they relate to the business objectives stated above. Explain the type of vendor relationship desired i.e. Project-based, Agency of Record, etc. Explain the current involvement your organization has with social media channels and how they relate to both your organization’s primary presence and any related campaigns
• Explain the social media channels you wish the campaign to involve, unless you are looking for suggestions of which to use, then please specify that to the vendors
• Explain how the project fits into your overall marketing strategy (online and offline) and if there is another vendor involved in other aspects of your Advertising and Marketing initiatives
• Explain the measurable outcomes you would like to see
• Explain the duration of the work – is it a temporary campaign, or an ongoing organizational marketing platform?

3. Overview of Audiences and Stakeholders

• List primary audiences for the company, i.e. demographics, psychographics, etc
• List primary information needs of each audience group
• Identify if any market or audience research will be necessary in the execution of the campaign

4. Overview of Response

• Make it clear the type of response you are looking for:
• Are you looking for a hypothetical approach, or an explanation of the vendor’s process of how they will come to create your campaign. Many times a hypothetical approach is not the best way to approach an RFP process simply because a vendor will be missing several key pieces of information that might negatively affect their ability to propose a specific solution. We suggest looking for more general responses and weighing the effectiveness of past client work heavily

Guidelines for Proposal Preparation

• In order to give all qualified vendors a level playing field, it’s important to set up an easy to follow schedule for both when your RFP is issued, when and to whom questions are allowed, and when and in what format responses are required
• Specify the date the RFP was issued (Month, Day, Year). If your RFP is publicly listed, it will help those searching for RFPs on Google or by other methods to find relevant Request for Proposals
• An optional requirement is to specify that all interested vendors register their intent to submit a proposal by a certain date – usually within 1-2 weeks of the RFP issue. This is a good way to limit the potential number of vendors who respond if you anticipate a large volume of proposals and would rather receive a smaller amount
• We recommend allowing a question and answer period that ends at least 1 week before the proposal is due. It is up to you whether to allow questions by email, conference call or individual phone calls. We do recommend that you share all the questions (and answers) with all interested vendors in order to keep things as equal as possible. Always specify which format -phone call, email, and to whom these questions should be addressed. We recommend identifying a single person in your organization to be the point of contact. Just make sure vacation schedules, etc don’t interfere with this process, and if there is any other reason why the primary point of contact might need to be out of town during the process, specify a secondary point of contact
• Responses from issuer to be sent by 20XX in the following formats (specify whether electronic submissions, hard copies or both must be either emailed, mailed or hand-delivered)
• On the basis of the replies to the RFP document, a short list of potential vendors will be selected and this group will be asked to present demonstrations of their capabilities and vision for the project. These meetings will be completed by XXth, 20XX
• Awarding of the contract to selected Vendor by XXth, 20XX
• Work to commence by 20XX and to last until (if applicable)

Vendor Questions and Qualifications

The following is a series of questions that, if applicable, we suggest you ask the vendors submitting proposals. Some may not apply, but it is a great idea to get as much of an idea of the vendor’s approach and philosophy on social media as possible. Compare the responses both among each other, and to the research and reading that you have done to make sure that the vendor is up to date with the latest thinking and best practices.

COMPANY DETAILS

• Company name and parent company name
• Ownership structure
• Years in operation
• Mailing address (headquarters)
• Other office location(s)
• Primary phone
• Fax number
• Website and blog URL
• Primary point of contact (name, title, phone and email address)
• Total number of employees
• Number of vendor employees whose primary function is social media
• Current client list with those engaged in social media work identified
• Percentage of total revenue that is social-media related
• Three references for social media work including; company name, primary client name, contact details and brief explanation of services provided
• Any potential conflicts with existing vendor client base and this RFP
• Senior social media staff bios and links to social media profiles where applicable
• Please provide a complete list of relevant social media platform and technology partners
• References from clients currently engaged in social media work with the vendor

CAPABILITIES & EXPERIENCE

• List all social media and online marketing capabilities
• Do you have any proprietary tools or products related to social media?
• Please list any experience you have with integrating social, paid and/or earned media
• Is there a specific industry or type of work your firm specializes in?
• Please list and provide links to primary social media communication channels for your company (i.e.company blog,Twitter account, Facebook group, blogs authored by principals, etc.)

SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING STRATEGY

• Please outline your social media strategy process
• Which stakeholder groups do you typically include in a strategy engagement?
• Describe the final deliverable of a strategy engagement
• What is your approach to risk management in social media?
• How do you incorporate existing applications, websites, microsites and newsletter programs into your overall social media strategy?
• How do you ensure compliance with client legal requirements?
• Please describe your approach to integrating across client marketing, customer service and corporate communications departments. Please provide an example of your work in this area
• How do you approach adapting a traditional brand into a two-way dialogue?
• Please provide a case study of your strategy work that resulted in a social media initiative and the business results achieved

REPUTATION MANAGEMENT & SOCIAL MEDIA MONITORING

• What is your brand/reputation monitoring process (i.e. proprietary tools used, methodology, etc)?
• What is your opinion on automated sentiment analysis?
• What technology do you use to assist in online monitoring?
• How long (on average) between a potential issue being posted online and being flagged to the client?
• What volume of mentions has your organization handled in the past (e.g. 2,500 mentions per week)?
• What is your quality assurance process to ensure that the large volumes of data gathered in the monitoring process are handled efficiently and representative of the overall online conversation?
• Please detail your methodology for handling online crises
• What services do you provide in support of online crisis management?
• Please describe the structure of your crisis management team, including bios and relevant experience
• How do you assess which mentions require immediate responses and which do not?
• Please outline your general approach to sourcing and responding to comments
• Please provide a case study detailing your work for the purposes of managing reputation or online crisis management, including outcomes and lessons learned
• Please include a sample of your monitoring report format and/or a link to appropriate dashboards (specifics should be removed)

METRICS, MEASUREMENT & REPORTING

• What methodology do you use for measuring the success of your social media programs for clients?
• Please provide specific examples based on past work
• Have you developed any proprietary metrics? How have you applied these for clients?
• How have you defined Return on Investment (ROI) from a social media perspective in the past?
• How do you take data points generated from various social media channels and measurement tools and combine to give an objective/comprehensive view?
• What is your approach to server analytics and community analytics for program measurement?
• Do you have the capability to measure cost per lead or cost per acquisition? Please provide an example of a project on which you have done so
• What platforms are you unable to measure accurately, or able to provide only limited measurements from?
• Please provide a sample of a measurement document or final report (specifics should be removed)
• What percentage of the budget do you recommend be dedicated to metrics and measurement?

CLIENT EDUCATION & TRAINING

• Do you offer social media training services for clients? If yes, what formats are they available in?
• What internal processes do you have in place to ensure that your staff is kept current on social media innovations and best practices?
• How do you measure progress and evaluate training effectiveness?
• How do you recommend that clients keep up to date on the latest social media innovations and best practices?

SOCIAL MEDIA AND OTHER DIGITAL CHANNELS

• What are your design, creative and community management capabilities?
• What percentage of your staff is dedicated to building and deploying social media solutions versus management and consulting?
• Please describe your experience with the following platforms and tactics:

- YouTube or similar video sharing sites
- Blogs, Podcasts, Vodcasts, Forums
- Content Management System (CMS)
- Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
- E-mail Marketing
- Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Search Engine Marketing(SEM)
- Facebook Pages, Apps, API integration
- Mobile application development
- Twitter
- News sharing sites (i.e. Digg, Reddit, etc.)
- Virtual Worlds and Augmented reality
- Photo sharing (i.e. Flickr) and other content sharing sites (i.e. Scribd, Slideshare, Delicious, etc.)
- Social Media press releases(SMPRs)
- Crowdsourcing or Wikis
- Real world events organized via social media (e.g. Tweetups)
- Ratings/Customer service sites (i.e. Yelp, ePinions, etc.)

Please provide examples of social media channel development work completed within the last two years

COMMUNITY AND INFLUENCER OUTREACH (SOCIAL PR)

• What is your process for identifying influencers within various social media channels?
• How do you determine and define “influence?”
• What is your outreach process for communicating with identified online influencers?
• What tools and approaches do you use for Influencer Relationship Management? (Third-party, proprietary,etc.)
• How have you integrated Influencer Outreach with traditional communications and/or marketing campaigns?
• How do you approach seeding conversations within stakeholder groups?
• What is your exit strategy with influencers once the initiative is completed?
• How do you ensure authenticity and transparency when conducting outreach on behalf of a client?
• Please provide a case study of an online community outreach project

CLIENT SERVICES & PROJECT MANAGEMENT

• How is a typical client engagement with your firm structured?
• How do you structure your account teams?
• Please outline your internal communication structure. If your account staff is separate from your project management staff, please detail how these teams work together
• If you are selected to provide social media services, who will be assigned to our business (please provide names, titles and short biographical notes)
• What percentage of senior staff involvement is structured in to your projects? What role do they play?
• How are your projects priced? Using an hourly rate? Blended agency rate? If the former, please provide a rate card
• What change management practices does your agency employ?
• What reports will be provided to the client in order to communicate project milestones and overall project health?
• What is the frequency of these reports?
• What is your process for gathering business requirements?

Writing a Request for Proposal (RFP) is a good first step when considering Online Marketing and Social Media work as it takes thoughtful planning to specify and construct an effective, integrated campaign. A well thought-out, quality RFP is essential to a successful endeavor because it helps you to focus on your goals and exactly how to achieve them.

Greg Kihlstrom is the Chief Creative Officer at Carousel30 Interactive in Washington DC, an award-winning digital agency offering online advertising and marketing services as well as interactive design and development for social media, websites and mobile applications.

Author: Greg Kihlstrom
Article Source: EzineArticles.com

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Twitter is rapidly becoming one the most popular social networks on Earth! For the newcomer to the growing network, the website can be actually a little overwhelming. Even for some of the Twitter veterans, there are numerous too Twitter resources that can help you have a great micro-blogging experience.

Here are 25 great Twitter Resources You Don’t Know, But Should Be Using!

1. TwitWall: Using TwitWall allows users to embed their favorite videos and widgets, upload your photos, mp3 music or podcasts. Just the kind of stuff to keep your followers following (fans cheering, or clients calling). If you can’t Tweet it in 140 characters or less, Twitwall is the resource for you.

2. TwtTrip:Where will you go next? Share your travel plans with your tweeple! Connect with others who may be travelling to the same city, or even in the same airport.

3. Bubble Tweet: Say “Hello” To Your Followers With A BubbleTweet Video! This nifty website allows you to greet followers with a short video clip that you upload. With millions of people using Twitter each day, this one is relatively unknown, with only about 633 people currently using the service.

4. Tweet3: Whether you’ve got one Twitter account or manage multiple accounts (friends, business, another language – the reasons are plentiful). You can easily click between profiles and customize colors for each account. Tweet3 is utilizing Google’s powerful charting and map APIs to bring you useful data about your Twitter accounts and URLs that you share between accounts.

5. TwTip: TwTip created a bot which fetches all new tweets and picks the best valuable tips for you. With its simple interface, users can easily find tweet tips in any subject, like Photoshop, Macintosh, health tips and recipe tips.

6. Twittrans: OK, I really couldn’t think of a good use for this Twitter resource at the time of creating this post, but this website is an actual fast human translation of your tweets directly from your twitter account by sending (Reply message) to @twitrans with the source and target languages and the message to translate. Text will be translated by freelance translators around the world, translation service 24/7 in all major languages. Wow, it doesn’t get any better than that. Now you just have to find a reason to use it!

7. TwtPoll: Twtpoll is an easy to use survey/ poll twitter app. Type in a 140 chars question, type in multiple choice answers, and share it in social networks, or embed it into your blog or website.

8. Tweetree: Tweetree puts your Twitter stream in a tree so you can see the posts people are replying to in context. In addition, the website pulls in some of your external content including twitpic photos, YouTube videos and more, so that you can see them right in your stream without having to click through every link your friends post to Twitter.

9. My Tweet Space: There are numerous websites available that can allow you to create a personalized background on Twitter. However, if you ever wanted to completely brand your Twitter Profile but don’t know how, MyTweetSpace allows you to easily create your branded Twitter background.

10. Twilert: As if you already didn’t get enough mail in your inbox, here’s another inbox filler, but this tool can email you valuable information about you or your company. Twilert is a Twitter application that lets you receive regular email updates of tweets containing your brand, product, service, well any keyword you like really.

11. Split Tweet: Splitweet allows Twitter users to create a list of accounts and distribute their tweets, choosing their release in one or more of their accounts. Additionally, users can also follow your following tweets from all of your managed accounts in Splitweet.

12. Twistory: Users are able to add their Twitter backlog feed to their favorite calendar application and browser through their personal Twitter diary.

13. iTweet: iTweet 2 Web has a built-in auto-refresh, search and hashtags. Full follow, block, notifications features. With this app, users can view Tweeters bio, location, and URL inline with tweets.

14. Tweet Take: Tweetake allows you to back-up your followers, people you are following, favorite tweets, and tweets in general with just one click of your mouse.

15. Twitly: Twitly allows Twitter users to separate the people they follow into groups. Example groups include “chatty”, “friends”, “co-workers”, “journalists” , “celebrities”, and more. This makes finding and reading Tweets from the people that matter most to you much easier.

16. Tweenky: Tweenky is a web-based micro-blogging (“tweet”) client that currently supports Twitter. The Tweenky main feature is the Integration with Twitter search (formerly Summarize) to allow users to find & track content as it flows through the “Twitterverse”.

17. TwiZon: A combination between Twitter and Amazon, Twitzon lists all the tweets that reference Amazon deals so you can find out what’s popular and hot right now from Twitter users.

18.Twitzu: If you are making plans to have a meet up, get together or party, you can blast the news out to your Twitter followers. Twitzu creates an event standard for Twitter. Using the site, Twitterers can create an event page for their meet up, party, get together etc. and send it out to their followers who can then RSVP with just a click.

19. Feed Tweeter: Feedtweeter is a little service that allows you to link Twitter to your other activities. Basically it’s a system that keeps track of an RSS feed and processes any new items that appear.

20. Chirrup: is comment system which uses Twitter as a data store. People send Twitter replies to you about your site. Then, Chirrup fetches all of the replies from Twitter, and sorts them by URL so you can have a comment feed for each page in your site. You can put the comments wherever you want them, and style them however you please.

21. TwitterFone: TwitterFone is free service that lets you update your Twitter feed using your voice from any mobile or cell phone. You call it, speak your tweet, and hang up. A short while later, your tweet will be posted on Twitter.

22. My Tweet Map: Enter your Twitter name and password, and see the messages from those you follow pop up on a Google Map. You can also update your status right from this application.

23. Tweet Scan: Tweet Scan is a real-time search engine for Twitter posts. Just enter the term plus a user name (optional), and the system will scan Twitter to show you the results.

24. Twitdir: TwitDir enables you to find statistics of the Top 100 followers, Top 100 followed, Top 100 favoriters and Top 100 updaters. It also works as a search engine for Twitter users, which mean you can find any user information by searching the users name.

25. TwootBall: Where Twitter Meets NFL Football . Posting on Twootball is simple, to post something regarding the New York Jets, just add #jets to your tweet, and your message will appear immediately on Twootball. I guess this would have been a great resource during the Super Bowl, for all those trash talkers! Go Steelers!

Of course, there are a lot more Twitter resources out there, some may even be your favorite, but this list of unknowns should have you dancing for joy and thanking God you are on Twitter.

And now we invite you to find out more about the Twitter social network by visiting our blog at [http://www.thefreelancesquad.com/blog] and by following us on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/freelancesquad.

Author: Tamara S Johnson
Article Source: EzineArticles.com

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Shopping is either pure bliss or torture depending on who you ask. Regardless of which end of the spectrum you are on, Android apps will help you save money and allow you to become a more efficient shopper (which I’m sure appeals to most of you). So what does that entail? It’ll give the shopaholics more bang for their buck, which is never a bad thing. Perhaps even more importantly, these Android apps will provide shopaphobes what they really crave- less time in the stores!

The pure power and functionality of these Android apps can really make shopping virtually an all new experience. No matter if these apps function as a shopping list, database, storefront or a supplemental knowledge source, they’re all squarely aimed at one thing: if you use them, they will save you money!

You’re getting a feeling like Android shopping apps, in general, might just help you, right? Well here are 10 Android apps that will save you money while they help you fulfill all your shopping needs and desires. Oh and did I mention that all these ten are completely FREE to download?

SnapTell

Want to know more about an item you saw on the rack? Just use SnapTell to scan the barcode of any CD, DVD, book or video game and you will be able to get all the information you could possibly need. What type of information? Well, if you just want some more cursory information, that’ll work. Most notably, if you want to see how the price stacks up to other distributors, it can do that for you in seconds. This app could be a big time money-saver for you if you take the time to use it before you make that next media purchase!

Key Ring Reward Cards

This is a very handy app to consolidate all your clutter in your purse/wallet while ensuring that you don’t lose valuable reward/loyalty cards. How does it work? All you do is take a snapshot of the barcode of your reward card (just about any decent sized company with a rewards program is in the database- over 650 programs) and enter some basic information about the store. That’s it; you’re now ready to use your phone as your reward card at that store in the future by pulling up your reward information from that store on this Android app. It’s probably not for non-techies or those who crave extreme simplicity. It is, however, a great idea and technology that will no doubt get crisper in the future.

If you don’t mind carrying all your reward cards and potentially losing one or two along the way (and having to suffer through the wait to replace the card), this free Android app sounds like a waste of time. But, if the extra inch of not-so-soft plastic padding for your rump (or the misuse of perfectly good purse space- not to mention the potential inability to use your chic tiny purse out shopping) isn’t idyllic, this app is worth the few minutes to download and get everything set up properly.

OurGroceries

This is the perfect app for the happy, busy family of Android phone users. It allows the kids to endlessly add all their necessary foods. When the items are purchased, they can be removed from the list (on all the Android phones it’s registered to) and then, 4 hours later, they can easily be added back onto the list! Joking aside, this is a great app to have for the new-age hyper busy, hyper tech families that want to become more efficient.

Hey, it costs a lot of money to keep purchasing that extra loaf of bread that your husband/wife (or even you- thanks to that undecided hmmm, don’t we need bread moment even though you just bought two loaves yesterday- yes you’re not alone!) just picked up and will end up turning green before anyone has a chance to make a sandwich with it.

OI Shopping list

To me, this app, fully named the OpenIntents Shopping list, is like the OurGroceries for the single folks out there. Not to say a family wouldn’t benefit from this app, it just has more features and it’s not a perfect fit like the other app is for families that need a simple solution to keep up on their latest shopping needs. That being said, this app is a powerful workhorse and can really end up saving you countless hours and some decent cash at year’s end.

US Yellow Pages Search

This is one of the more useful free Android apps available and I’ll be honest, it doesn’t 100% fit with the theme of helping you save money while shopping. I could argue that it does, but for simplicity, I’ll just use an old clich: Time is Money! Saving some time is just as good as saving cash on those busy days out and about. Having this app on your Android phone is like having 300 super-thick Yellowbooks from all over the US crammed into your back pocket. Not a bad thing if you travel a decent amount or enjoy living outside of your house. It’s just a great resource to have on hand for those times when you need to find a business’s number fast.

eBay

This official app brings eBay to your Android phone. It’s kind of crazy, but I think I like this UI better than the actual website on my computer. I don’t know if that’s a good thing or a bad. Nonetheless, it gives you an idea that this Android app was developed correctly and really hits the mark. That is, if you’re an eBay fan; if you’re not, sorry!

Amazon.com

Similar to eBay’s Android app, this beauty from Amazon brings all the functionality from the full-sized website to your Android phone. It’s amazing how seamless this transition appears for these giant resellers. This is a great thing for us though!

Craigslist

The last of the GIANT resellers’ Android apps on this list, I promise. Well, kind of: if you don’t include Groupon in your list of “resellers”, I haven’t lied to you. So, if you’ve ever used Craigslist, you know how utterly important it is to check out a potential “killer item” within 5 minutes of it being posted and subsequently be the first handful of people to contact the seller to have any hopes of actually ending up with it in your possession.

That being said, if you use Craigslist and you have an Android phone, YOU NEED THIS APP NOW! Haha, sorry to scream, but if you’re going to use this portal of goodness with the hopes of eventually buying something you want/need, you have to have instant access to newly posted items. The only way to do that (I’m taking liberties assuming you aren’t a recluse and on your home computer 24/7) is to have access “on-the-go” to instant notifications for your set of items that interest you and also a way to view them. This app performs both of these necessary actions and does them well.

*Please, for your sake, if you want to be the guy (gal) bragging about the awesome deal you got on the “coolest thing in the world” instead of the not-so-happy version of you regrettably telling the story about “the one that got away” to anyone who will listen, download this app!*

Groupon

This is the official app from the immensely popular and rapidly growing Groupon website. This site has a “cult-like” following (not in a bad way!) which actually benefits its users. Essentially, the more people that use their services, the more offers are presented to the users and that helps all of us save a good amount of money! This free Android app ensures that you’re never out of the “Groupon loop” and you’ll have the opportunity to take advantage of the appealing offers wherever you may be.

The Coupons App

Another money-saving coupon app? Yes! That’s all I can say- the prospects of saving a buck in this economy is a powerful force it seems. I’m almost a bit surprised at myself that I didn’t completely inundate this “shopping list” with coupon apps (patting myself on the shoulder for spreading out the love). If only I could go back in time to 1989 and use this app instead of clipping 500-plus coupons from the Sunday paper (for my mom). Well those were good times- minus the paper cuts.

What’s this Android app going to do for you? Anything and everything coupon related; it brings the coupons with you on your phone and allows you to find new ones even while you’re at the store! That’s pretty awesome for those of us not commanding “Top CEO” salaries…

Honorable Mention:

There’s only one free Android app that I would consider putting on this list. The reason is because it’s probably the most important app for everyone to download today. I consider it more of a “mandatory app” than an Android shopping app and that’s why it’s here.

The app I’m speaking of is the Barcode Scanner. Among other things, it allows you to browse the web on your computer and take a photo of the QR Code of an app you’re interested in downloading. Once the code is processed (which takes very little time- talking seconds), the corresponding Android app’s download page appears in the Google Marketplace! It’s that simple and works like a charm once you get past the short “operator error” stage that plagues most of us.

I own the Android Apps Finder site where you can find every Android app.

If you enjoyed this article and want to read more “Top Ten” Android Apps articles like it, visit my Android Apps Blog where I upload new content at least every other day!

Author: Jed Lampi
Article Source: EzineArticles.com

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