Social Media Marketing

Social Media Marketing is a type of marketing that uses social media as a marketing platform. The advent and increase in popularity of social media has changed the way marketers, approach online marketing. If you are interested to know more about Social Media Marketing, click on this link, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_media_marketing. The platform that social media networks provide for marketing is enormous and therefore it is not possible for any marketer to cover all possible options that social media provides for marketing. As most of social media marketing is done manually, there are limitations to the amount of marketing that is done. However, a few social media automation tools have entered the market that allows you to automate certain marketing processes. In this post, we will discuss about some top tools in social media automation that will help marketers achieve their marketing goals.

Why you should use Social media automation tools

It is true that there can be no substitute for authentic and genuine interaction with your social media audience. However, there are limitations to what people can do and achieve in any specific period. It is not possible for a person to be available in all social media platforms always. The fact is that, by using the right social media automation tool at the right time, you will be able to save time and that will allow you to engage more with your audience. Selective automation will allow you to communicate with your audience without the audience being aware of your absence. Let us have a look at some of the top social media automation tools that have been designed for marketers.

Top Social Media Automation Tools

1.       Buffer:

• This tool allows you to share information to your Facebook, Twitter, Linkedln and App.net accounts from one place.
• You can schedule the time when the updates have to be posted in the respective social media.

Platforms: Web application, iPhone App, Browser Extension for Chrome, Safari and Firefox

2.       IFTTT (If This Then That):

• IFTTT gives you the option to create and share recipes to fit a simple statement.
• ‘This’, in the statement, acts as a trigger in the recipe. (Eg. If I log into Facebook)
• ‘That’, in the statement is the action in the recipe.
• Trigger and action combination is called a recipe.
• This service provides triggers and actions for more than 56 channels like Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram, WordPress, etc.

Platforms: Web application, Mobile Apps, Browser Extension for Chrome, Firefox and Safari

3.       Hootsuite

• It is considered the leader in social media management tools especially among social media management clients. However, the tool is only available as a chrome extension and only caters to Google+ accounts.
• Can create posts and publish them instantly or according to a schedule
• It can support multiple accounts and has a scheduler and an auto scheduler
• Can work offline

Platforms: Brower Extension for Chrome

The social media automation tools discussed in this post is what I consider as some of the top tools available today. Various factors have been considered while deciding on these three tools and is solely based on my experience in working with these tools.

Matthew Anton is a Social Media Marketing expert who has had the experience of working with many social media automation tools.

There’s a right way and a wrong way to sell through social media. Constantly sending hundreds of status updates and tweets about how wonderful your business is and why everyone should buy your products and services is not going to work. If you want to sell successfully through social media, you need to do the following.

Get your sales people on social media.

Make sure that your sales team is on social media, not just your company as a whole. When your company has real people as an extension of your brand, it allows your current and prospective customers to  have a real person to contact when they’re in need of information. This is more engaging and more personable than using your company’s account to do all of your customer service.

Listen to what your customers want.

Social media isn’t just about talking—it’s also about listening. It’s very important that you listen to what your customers are saying to gain insight into what they want. You will be surprised at how much you can learn by reading through your news feed and the comments left on your own wall.

You may also want to get off of your own social networks and visit some popular online communities that your customers enjoy. Some people are more willing to talk openly on these sites about things that interest them more so than on Facebook and Twitter.

Engage.

Social media should be about the soft sell, and the more engaging you can be with your customers, the more likely they’ll be to choose your company. For example, if you’re a restaurant using Twitter and notice that a customer complains about one of your competitors, simply say something like “So sorry to hear that you’re having a bad time.” You’re not telling them to come to your restaurant instead, and you’re not saying anything negative about the other restaurant. But this simple gesture of paying attention to what is being said will make your company stand out, and these patrons will be more inclined to choose your restaurant next time they dine out.

Brand your social pages.

Sometimes a customer will come across your social channels by accident. For this reason, you want to make sure that all of your social networks are branded appropriately. When your social channels complement your company’s branding, your customers will know who you are and associate your company pages with your actual company.

When you try and self promote through social networks, you’re going to turn your customers away. But when you use these tips, you will know the best way to stealthily sell your products and services through social media in the most effective and successful way.

This article was written by the marketing team at SEOMap.  Visit SEOMap go check out their social media fails series on their blog.

Here’s why.

Not Regulated

The SEO industry is not regulated. What does that mean? You are feeling sick, possibly hosting the flu. Will you go to anyone who calls themselves a ‘doctor’ for treatment? Of course not- such sentiments are silly to entertain. However, such a dynamic exists in the SEO vertical. Anyone could practice. Not all providers are good at it.

If your business has limited understanding of SEO, then it is much better to slow the pace and approach SEO consulting first rather than adopt services. It could save your business a lot of time, money, and grief. A consultation will provide a better understanding of how to proceed.

Many Options

What exactly is search engine optimization? More pointed, what types of elements does it imply? Do you really know all your options? What if you think you need a lot of link building, but what you really need is content? How can you make a distinction regarding immediate and long-term needs? SEO consulting helps prioritize and realize. Experienced professionals elucidate high-priority needs while counseling upon proper implementation.

In-House or Outsource

What types of SEO elements could be addressed in-house? What elements warrant years of experience and expertise? SEO consulting helps clients differentiate between tasks, which could be addressed in-house and those needed to be outsourced. Moreover, consultants can help prioritize, as referenced above. For instance, content production could be handled in-house for a limited time until more online traction is garnered; at that point it may be best to have an agency address content needs. Of course, varying brands will have different needs.

Conclusion

The sales cycle of SEO warrants time and thought. Be patient. Learn more about the industry and afforded options. Hasty decisions usually wind up costing businesses additional money in the future. Understand your needs. Use SEO consulting to help devise a strategy, then commence from a position of better understanding.

Stephen Craig is a part of an elite team of SEO consultants and enjoys writing about the latest trends in search engine optimization. Follow him @SCraigSEO.

• 1. I have a number of sites and I can’t keep up.
• 2. I’ve been off work on medical leave for a while (which is why I have so many websites) but I’m going back to work soon and I’d like to keep my sites going
• 3. I injured one of my hands almost three months ago and it’s still not quite healed so it makes typing quite difficult.
• 4. I’m being approached almost daily lately with requests to guest blog on my sites

I think having some dependable Guest Bloggers for some of my blogs would be a great idea. Certainly I’m not the only one who’s thought of this. Some blogs have a number of regular guest bloggers and do quite well.

Of course it’s generally the more successful blogs that have a lot of Guest bloggers. There are many reasons why large busy blogs might also need guest bloggers such as the owner being away for a vacation, and not wanting to leave the blog without regular updates.

I’m still working out whether I will go forward with using guest bloggers on some of my sites, but I can tell you right now that emailing me or just filling out a contact form and asking without telling me what kind of topic you might be interested in writing or giving me an example of your work such as your current blog is not a way to gain my interest. If you’re serious tell the blog owner about yourself or what and why you want to write for them.

Here are some thoughts about using guest bloggers and how to go about selecting, advertising for and perhaps even compensating guest bloggers.

Advertising for Guest Bloggers

There are quite a number of ways to go about attracting guest bloggers to your site. You can create an ad and list it on Job boards for freelance writers and bloggers. Some of these sites are free and some are not. If you are planning on paying your guest blogger definitely advertising on a job board is a good way to go as these job boards are often checked regularly by professional and experienced writers and bloggers who are looking for new writing jobs. You’ll find writers and bloggers at these sites that are adept at writing about particular subjects or topics or who can be creative and write about topics that you suggest on the fly.

A good thing to do when you post your ad is to request writing samples from those applying for you guest blogging position. Be sure to list whether your guest blogging position is temporary, trial or permanent as well. Also specify the type of work required, the type of articles and subjects you expect your writers to write and so on. That way you won’t be disappointed with the applications you receive.

You can also post in forums or message boards requesting guest bloggers for your site. It could be hit and miss as to the experience of the people who respond but if you do as above, post a detailed description of what you are looking for and what’s expected and ask for writing samples you’ll hopefully meet some interesting bloggers that might be suitable for guest blogging.

Selecting Guest Bloggers

Selecting a guess blogger might be the difficult part. This is where those writing samples that you asked for in your initial request and perhaps viewing the prospects past guest posts on other sites or their own blog will come in handy so you can get an idea of their writing style and even their work ethic. You want to pick a guest blogger that will be reliable, and capable of writing articulate, interesting and informative articles for your blog.

You should also request that any articles that an individual writes for your site will be exclusive to your site so that there are no other copies floating around on the internet. You can get into trouble with search engines if your writer posts the same article on 25 sites and you’re not checking!

If the potential guest blogger has guest blogged in the past or written articles else where it wouldn’t hurt to ask for reference. If the person does give you reference – check them! It’s in your own interest to do so. This person will be representing your website, your brand. Plus, you might also be paying them!

Compensating Guest Bloggers

So, now that you’ve chosen one or two guest bloggers have you decided how you are going to compensate them? Well there are a couple of ways you can do this. The most important thing is that the two of you mutually agree on this before any work is done for your site. A written contract which states the explicit terms of the agreement and compensation would be a good idea in order to avoid any future disputes.

You can financially compensate the blogger, paying them either per character, per word or per article or some other way.

Another form of compensation that is often used considering that many guest bloggers often have their own sites is to allow a link or two to the bloggers website within the guest post or in the author bio at the end of the article. This way the guest blogger gets links back to their site with every post and this will eventually help their website become more popular. Of course they are also gaining readership from the site they are writing on.

Do you guest blog or do you use guest bloggers? I’d love to hear your experiences no matter which side you are on.

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

I’ve been using the internet since the time of Bulletin Boards and 286 Windows computers. Yeah – the early 90’s for those of you who have no idea what a Bulletin Board is. LOL. Basically that was the precursor to forums and even forums are starting to die down these days.

So I’ve established that I’ve been using the internet and computers for quite some time. I’ve also been a webmaster for quite a while too. My first website was started in 1995 and it’s still in existence. It’s even my most popular site – even today!

Now, when I started on the internet and started making my first website I really had no idea that one day I might make an income on the internet nor that I might even be able to make a living via the income that I earned on the internet, but over the last few years that has been the case. Through necessity I’ve been stuck at home and blogging became a way to earn money.

I don’t believe that there’s any easy or fast way to start making money on the internet or by blogging. It takes time and it takes quite a bit of hard work if you want to be successful.

Hey, I’m being honest. I could tell you to just start a blog and post five times a day and in a week or two you’ll start earning money but that’s not how it works. Not at all. No, I think you have to have a passion for what you are doing, what you are writing about and you do need to write regularly, perhaps not several times a day, but several times a week to eventually become successful.

These days most of the advertising companies that might eventually become interested in your blog will not let you sign up with their companies until your blog has been around for a while – say 6 months and has a fair amount of content on it.

For example, one of the best Ad programs that I’ve been involved with is Google Adsense – it pays it’s publishers well, but your blog has to be 6 months old before they will accept it into the program and it has to qualify. Do not even apply if your blog doesn’t qualify or you might lose your chance to get an account later on when your site really does qualify.

There are many ways to make money blogging. Another great program is Chitika. I’ve been using this program for quite a while on a number of my sites and it can be used in conjunction with Google Adsense.

Other programs that you might try on your blog – not all at once mind you – are Kontera, Text Link Ads, Adbrite, Infolinks, BidVertiser or many others.

Eventually as your blog becomes more popular you’ll be able to sell some privately sponsored advertising spaces as well. In fact you might not have to go out seeking advertisers at all, they might come seeking you – daily! When that begins to happen you’ll know you’ve reached a modicum of success although all of the offers coming in might not be real or might not be the best deal. Do your research and get paid before adding a banner to your site! Lesson learned here, I know what I’m talking about, believe me.

I have a number of blogs now and as I said at the beginning of this article I earn a decent income from what I do on the internet. I could always earn more but it’s not bad. My biggest tip is dedicated yourself to what you are doing and don’t spread yourself thin. Don’t start 50 blogs – start one and make it a good one, make it a really good one. That’s all it takes.

So … Have you started earning money from blogging?

A blog can be created on it’s own website with it’s own domain or on a free website just by creating an account at one of the free blog provider sites like Blogger. One of the earliest free blogging sites was Live Journal. I believe this is where the blogging phenomena truly began.

There are all types of blogging from personal journaling to creating a blog as part of your businesses website. Blogs can be created about very specific topics such as niche blogs, perhaps about gardening or musical equipment or as part of a business to describe various services that a business offers within blog posts.

Another reason to create a blog for your business website is to help promote your business. Each post will bring in new readers that will learn about the business and each post will tell the search engines that that site is alive and doing well.

So, if you are thinking to create a blog, whether for business or for pleasure, you need to know some tips that could help you get through and make your blog one of the interesting blogs online.

Here’s how:

1. Consider your audience

Even if your blog is generally personal, still, it would be better to consider the minds of your readers. You have to think of something that would interest them.

Whatever topic you are writing about try to make the article interesting and informative. The reader should be entertained or educated or perhaps both!

2. Pictures speaks a thousand words

Whenever possible add photographs or images to your posts to either emphasis what your are discussing in your post or make a point. Images really do speak a thousand words. It’s important to add images to some of your posts to keep your readers interested.

3. Make constructive and beneficial blogs

Posts that inform, teach or at least entertain are worthy posts. I’m sure by now in this age of “the Blog” we’ve all visited a site or two were there’s nothing but one or two line blog posts that basically say nothing. The blogger might as well just be posting on Twitter rather than blogging. If your going to blog have a topic to discuss.

4. Make it interactive

When it’s suitable make your blog interactive by placing video or audio clips within your posts. Preferably not the auto-play kind as most people do not like that! People do like watching informative videos and podcast. Perhaps a weekly Podcast feature on your blog where you discuss a topic with your regular readers would be an idea for your personal or business blog.

Do use your comment area. This is a great way to get feedback on your posts and your blog in general. Reply to your commenters. Your visitors will love getting a response from you – especially if you’ve asked a question in your post and your visitors are answering in the comment section.

Blogs definitely have a purpose.

Do you have a blog? If you do – is it a personal blog or a blog for your business? Do you write in it regularly?

For many, that term conjures thoughts of websites or spamming or search engines like Google, Yahoo and Bing. For others, it’s all about graphical design, writing fancy code or even affiliate programs. All of those answers correct, but the essence of internet marketing is much simpler.

At its core, internet marketing is about these things:

* Understanding the target market to which the product/service/cause you’re marketing will appeal
* Determining exactly how your target market interacts with the internet
* Positioning your content on the internet to attract the attention of your target market
* Collecting information about your target market (also known as “leads”) for follow-up and conversion into sales
* Design of offers or incentives to induce the desired actions from your leads

Since there is insufficient space in this article to give all of these topics adequate attention, let’s focus on just one specific topic with the realm of internet marketing: Email Marketing.

My best payoff has always come by focusing on permission-based email marketing. Permission-based email marketing refers to the practice of collecting information (including email addresses) from website visitors and communicating with them via e-mail with their direct consent. The “permission” aspect of permission-based email marketing is what separates legitimate email marketers from the spammers that everyone despises.

My love of email marketing is strong for one reason: It works very well. Email marketing has been much like a never-ending goldmine: It enables us to produce income on demand simply by sending a good offer to our list. When you have thousands of loyal subscribers – as we do – and you put a strong and compatible offer in front of them, income becomes nearly automatic.

However, the key to successful email marketing is the development of a legitimate trust relationship with your subscribers. If you opt to send your subscribers a request for purchases every single day, they will likely tire of your badgering and cease reading your emails altogether.

Alternatively, if you take the time to provide good content to your readers on a regular and frequent basis, you’ll discover that your readers take all of your emails far more seriously, and as a result your emails will be opened, read and acted upon with greater frequency. Essentially, email marketing is really an exercise in trust.

Even though there are more sides to internet marketing than just email marketing (permission based), email has been the foundation that our business sits on.

The flexible nature of a blog has made blogging a widely adopted favorite by many internet marketers who want to create an online income. With the growth of the internet, new concepts are continually realized; and hand in hand with these new concepts, comes fresh ways to make money using a blog.

One of the most popular ways to make money using a blog is the pay-per-click advertisement approach. Those wishing to advertise pay from every.10 to someone clicks on one of their ads time After the code is placed on your blog. it will then automatically check the content of your blog, to ensure the advertisements match your content. that The next major way

affiliate programs to make money using a blog is Affiliate programs operate. as follows you advertise someone’s product on your blog – you get to keep a good portion of the profits, and You can find affiliate products to sell. by browsing centers online affiliate with clickbank being the market leader, An alternative.

by building a list way to make money money using a blog is This refers to the process of. the email addresses of visitors to your blog gathering provides you with the opportunity. This distribute to to information packed emails them will earn their trust that Having earned their trust. you are in a position to, recommend a product can be either your own or those of an affiliate to them, which If you are looking for a way.

carefully consider to make money using a blog, methods the just mentioned Use any. these of today ways to make money using a blog start reaping the benefits, and within the week .

Despite these challenges, professional blogging can prove to be very fulfilling once your site has gained a foothold in its own niche and readership base. After all, it’s one thing to write about what makes you tick; it’s another thing to do that and get paid for your efforts! Before you put up your blog, however, read up on these golden rules that will help you monetize your blog. Follow these principles, and you’ll find that blogging for money can be as enjoyable as it is profitable:

1.  Decide on a niche to specialize in, and plan out your blog accordingly:

Will you be writing about sports? Or will you be running a steady stream of political commentary on your site? Are you considering putting up restaurant reviews?  Whatever subject you choose to specialize in, the other elements of your blog should match it quite well. Choose a blog template, for example, that matches your overall theme, and keep your blog posts within the bounds of your chosen niche.

You can afford to create an off-topic blog post every so often, but if you want to gain your readers’ trust and establish yourself as an expert, it’s better to be consistent with your blog entries. If you’re dealing with technology, for example, it wouldn’t exactly serve you well to start talking about relationships or how your visit to the dentist was unsatisfactory.

Most importantly, however, you should choose a topic that you will actually love researching and writing about. It’s hard to fake enthusiasm for a topic that you don’t actually care much about, and it’s a tactic that usually backfires. Don’t start a blog on technology just because it’s a popular subject.

Instead, choose a niche that you feel strongly about, whether it’s food, politics, religion, photography, or even something as esoteric as zoology.

Remember, a good blog is one that’s written with obvious zeal and passion, and dealing with a topic you love ensures that you won’t get sick of writing about it year after year.

2.  Update frequently:

Updating your blog regularly can make a big difference in the volume of traffic that your blog receives. Because site traffic usually translates into revenue, you have to ensure that readers are visiting your blog frequently. Encourage them to visit by updating your content as regularly as you can. People don’t want to return to a blog only to find a post that they’d already read before! Make your readers’ visits worth their time by providing them with new content as often as possible.

Frequent updating also ensures that Google and other search engines index your site frequently, making your blog more visible and accessible to others. If you don’t want your blog to fall into obscurity, you have to work at giving your readers a lot of fresh entries.

3.  Take advantage of ad networks and affiliate programs:

Once you’ve got your blog up and running, you can look into more direct ways of earning money from your site. A good way to jumpstart this is by signing up for Google Adsense, which rewards you for each click that an advertising link receives from your site.

You can also sign up for an affiliate program such as Amazon.com Associates, Clickbank, or Azoogle. When you become an affiliate partner, you have to put up appropriate links to your blog that direct your readers to a product offer. The affiliate program will then pay you for each visitor from your site who makes a purchase or signs up for a service.

Whether or not you like it, blogging for money will always involve some form of advertising in your blog. Remember, however, that the volume of traffic your site receives will affect the number of clicks that your ad links will receive. No matter how great your affiliate program is, it won’t produce a lot of revenue if your blog doesn’t have a lot of visitors.

4.  Write quality posts:

No matter how frequently you update your site, and no matter how many ad networks you’re part of, you can’t earn any long-term revenue unless you offer your readers a lot of quality, credible content. Nobody wants to read something that’s poorly or shabbily written, so do your best to write as well and as accurately as you can.

When your readers realize that they can rely on you to give them solid advice and credible information regarding your niche, they’re bound to return to your blog, as well as create backlinks to your site that will boost your search engine ranking. The moment that your readers see that you’re an expert who can share valuable knowledge and information, they’re bound to become loyal visitors who can boost your traffic and create revenue for you.

Although there are different ways through which people make money blogging, the best tactic is still to provide quality content to your readers. After all, your visitors aren’t frequenting your site just to marvel at your blog template! Nonetheless, it’s also important to come up with a blog theme that works well with the niche you’re dealing with, as well as to use advertising networks and affiliate programs wisely. Once you’ve gotten the hang of it, you’re sure to be blogging your way towards a real and sustainable profit!

Squidoo is a favorite of Google and it’s absolutely free!

It is still one of the easiest ways to get to the top of the rankings for a long tail keyword quickly and with the minimum of effort. However, it is a good idea to do a little more than just put a page up, so here are my top 10 Squidoo Marketing Tips:

1. Always create your Squidoo page with the keyword as your title.

2. Make sure your content is keyword focused, aside from having good website design. It is a good idea to keep adding fresh content on a regular basis. (But as always, be cognizant of your return on the time invested. It is no good spending hours dominating the search engines for a phase like ‘left handed basket weaving’. Sure you’ll be number 1, however, I’m sure no one would care.

3. The higher your ranking in your Squidoo category the higher you will rank in Google.. (That same principle is being used by Google more and more, for example, videos have to become popular FIRST before being ranked in Google).

4. When you submit articles to the directories, always make sure one of the hyperlinks in your resource box your SQuidoo URL, hyper linked with your targeted keyword.

5. We’ll be talking a lot about Social Bookmarking in the weeks to come, but don’t forget to social bookmark your Squidoo lens too! bumpzee is a great place to start..

6. Always think of your Squidoo lens as another one of your web-sites. So, for example, if you are using any other marketing technique, such as classified ads or forum posting, then don’t forget to include your Squidoo lens as one of the targets.

7. Study squidoo FAQs. You are going to find out just how to tweak the engine under the bonnet. For example, You can check about their Lens Ranks automated algorithm they use to rank the lenses. They look at community ratings, lensmaster reputation, click through rates, frequency of updates, inbound and outbound links, revenue generated, and lots of other factors and give the lens a number.

8. Jump over to the home page of squidoo. Study Squidoo marketing strategy to your heart’s content. Always check out the forums.

9. And while you’re there, make a comment (or six) and add your link to your signature.

10. You might have gathered by now that Squidooing is a whole science by itself. There are people who make a living, just by Squidooing..

Finally you often find the best marketing tips on how to promote a site on the site itself (after all, they have a vested interest).

Here are some advice Squidoo give themselves:

{Email it. To your friends, your mom, your boss. Don’t be shy about bragging, you deserve a little limelight! Email it to your family, friends or even your boss. Don’t be shy about bragging as you deserve a little limelight}.

Blog it. Post your lens to your blog. Try sending a note to someone you admire who runs a blog on your topic, and ask them to check out your lens. Sincere flattery gets you everywhere..

Try linking it to the lens of your Facebook page, LinkedIn and Flickr profile, eBay auctions or email signature. Create your own little traffic network and get discovered in more places. Wouldn’t you like to get found more online?

Group it! Find a Group that’s busy talking about your topic and request to join. Get friendly, get relevant, get feedback, get found. Compete. Stop by the Lens of the Day Group for inspiration from winning lenses. And if your lens is up to snuff, enter it in the contest..