• 15Jul

  How Social Media Marketing Promotes Your Business

  SociaLNK No Comments

  At SociaLNK, the goal is to promote your business. How can Social Media Marketing (SMM) accomplish this? Our focus is threefold: (1) Listen To and Understand Customers, (2) Engage and Interact With Customers, and (3) Monitor and Analyse What Customers Are Saying About Your Business.

  Listen and Understand
  At your business, it is imperative that your product be good quality and relevant to the customer. Ideally, your customer service will be excellent as well. By providing customers with not only a useful product but also an attentive ear should something come up, you earn that customer’s loyalty.

  

  Cartoon originally appeared on CustomersAreAlways.com

  Engage and Interact

  To promote your business, network. These days that means online interaction using social media. Create accounts on Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, and Flickr—making certain these accounts are maintained regularly and are relevant to your product. Create a business blog to inform your customers of the news surrounding your business and genre.

  Monitor and Analyse

  Along with broadcasting your business’s latest endeavors, use social networks to encourage feedback from customers through surveys or simply by starting conversations. This enables you to, once again, listen to and understand what your customers need. And the cycle begins again.

  

  SociaLNK

  Additionally, it may be helpful to familiarize yourself with other businesses in your genre. How are they using SMM to promote themselves? How can you relate that to your own business model?

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• 09Jul

  Five R’s of Social Media Marketing for Small Businesses

  SociaLNK, SociaLNK's Blog No Comments

  In case you were wondering, yes, social media is right for your small business. The important thing to remember when launching a social media marketing (SMM) strategy is simply to nail down a great plan, and don’t be overwhelmed by the process. SMM may seem like something your business should not invest in, but in today’s market it is becoming more of a necessity to reach out to consumers in this way. Recognize who your target audience is first. This will take a lot of the guesswork out of SMM. When you have narrowed down who you are reaching out to, then you can decide where that audience is (mostly on Facebook, for example) and focus your SMM energy there. Remember your plan. Do not let the vastness of the social media sphere scare you away from marketing there before you have begun to see progress. Keep your main goals for SMM in mind, along with your general marketing goals. Plug away and know that you are building long-term relationships with your customers. Remain an online presence. You must be willing to stay active with your chosen social media channels. If this is a problem for you, consider outsourcing to an individual or agency specializing in social media. See Results. Monitoring your progress can also be something a social media agency will handle for you. It is important to set up measurable goals so you can see your results and go on from there. Rebound. Change your plan, if need be. This will be a time of experimenting with where your greatest target audience is online, so if the results you see are not satisfactory, try something else. How do you use SMM for your small business? What fears do you have about doing so? Join the conversation by leaving a comment below.

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  Tags: B2B, small business, SMM, social media marketing

• 05Jul

  Search Engine Optimization on Facebook

  SociaLNK No Comments

  Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is much more these days than simply raising your business’s ranking on the search engines. It is that, but more, now that social media is increasingly part of our everyday lives. A company needs to build trust and a good reputation across the social networking platforms in order to maintain high search engine rankings. Search Engine Optimization applied to Facebook is much different from SEO for Google or other common search engines. To engage in Facebook or Twitter (or any other social media), one must consider that status updates and messages are constantly moving and changing, literally at the speed of light. Also, there are multiple ways of gleaning information from Facebook, whereas a Google search remains fairly straightforward. Since over 350 million people have access to Facebook, it should go without saying that your company needs a Facebook profile. The ease of searching within the site while checking friends’ status updates will guarantee many searches happen on the Facebook website. If you are present, you can be found there. It is as simple as that. There are other ways for Facebook users to talk about you: they can chat, share a link, share information, join a group or fan page related to your company, or just update their status. Any of these ways could be used to talk about your company, so you should work to maintain a solid reputation as well as a high profile. All of this Facebook activity will have only indirect results for your SEO, but it will not go without reward. Because of the popularity of the Facebook platform, it will benefit you in SEO to maintain a presence there. How is your company engaging on Facebook or other social platforms? What can you improve to increase visibility of your profile?

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• 24Jun

  Ethics

  SociaLNK No Comments

   

  A recent decision by the Federal trade commission highlights some important issues for users of social media marketing (SMM). The decision was taken in the context of bloggers who write about genealogical software without revealing that they have received an endorsement. However it is likely that this case could quickly be generalized to other situations. 

  Here at SociaLNK, we have always argued that it is critical for Social Media campaigns to maintain the highest ethical standards. Building trust with your customer base is central to maintaining your company’s reputation. This means fully revealing who you are and any endorsement at all times.

  SociaLNK has a strong ethical policy that focuses on building on the positive conversations that appear organically from the community. We would argue that deception, infiltration, dishonesty or any other method of manipulating customers is wrong. The penalties are high for companies that engage in this sort of behaviour. Bad news spreads fast on the internet.

  Rather than focusing on negative potentially damaging techniques we prefer to facilitate conversations and create interesting things to talk about. By creating communities and identifying stakeholders within that community good ideas will naturally emerge to promote your brand.

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• 24Jun

  Know Your Target Audience

  SociaLNK No Comments

  When using social media in business, it is crucial to remember who your target audience is and how best to reach them using social media tools. Although it may seem surprising, it is not the young adult age group that dominates the world of social networking any longer. In fact, the average age of Facebook user is 35. Knowing who the target audience for your company is consists of finding out the demographics you are attempting to reach. However, with social media, you must also find out how best to reach them. This could be through any of the social networks, and also through blogging or even direct emailing.

   

  http://www.seobangkok.com/images/target-audience.gif

  Depending on your audience, it may be best to reach them through Twitter updates, or through joining an online community on Ning. No matter what age or specificity of your audience, remember to reach them where they are. Expecting your customers to find you through social media is akin to the methodology of traditional marketing. In advertising, for example, you would broadcast a message and think that those who are interested in the product would find a way to get to it.

  With social media marketing, though, it is the opposite. Instead of simply promoting a product, the goal is to interact and present your company to the customer. You seek to find them and build relationships. This may seem tedious, but the long-term goal is a more loyal customer and potentially higher sales because you took the time to communicate to individuals, not just spout a recurring message.

  How are you reaching your best potential customers?

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• 26Apr

  Networking: Building Relationships through Social Media

  SociaLNK No Comments

  For any individual in the realm of business, maintaining a circle of valued contacts is a top priority. This is more evident than ever with the advent of Social Media. Networking is a social event, and the tools we now have available for social networking are just as useful for business networking.

  Business contacts are so important because they separate the talented and competent worker from the talented and competent worker with connections. Who you know, it seems, is just as important as what you know and how well you work.

  

  http://www.cuboulderblogs.com/leeds2.0/online_business_networking.jpg

  When using Social Media tools for business networking, keep in mind that it’s not about simply maintaining a large “friend” or “follower” list; the conversation is key.

  Twitter, for example, is a good resource because one can follow and be followed by anyone looking for work or looking for your business to work for them. This versatility and the speed of the network makes keeping up with the trends of your industry as simple as scrolling down a screen. Thus, one can stay connected with clients, potential clients, and colleagues. Sharing and promoting your business can be done, as well as gleaning advice and recommendations from others in your field. Also, you may BE recommended to another connection. These personal recommendations are priceless, and are what networking is all about.

  Online interactions require time. Do not underestimate the amount of time and effort required to establish and maintain relationships with valuable contacts. Networking—through Twitter or any other means—does take time and you will reap the benefits of networking as you continue to build relationships through social media in this way.

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• 19Mar

  Social Media and Traditional Marketing

  SociaLNK No Comments

  Social Media Marketing and Traditional Marketing are often seen as being at odds with one another, but this division between the two should not exist! They are not opposed to each other, contradictory, or mutually exclusive. What needs to happen is an integration of social media into already established marketing platforms. Many businesses have not taken this into consideration, however, and are instead implementing social media tools halfheartedly–without understanding how to use social media as a part of an overall marketing strategy. Is social media marketing (SMM) replacing traditional marketing? It is not. Again, the two need to work together!

  SMM is all about getting to know customers… but this is what marketing has always been about. The tools we use may have changed, but the goal remains the same. Social media just makes it easier to have two-way engagement with consumers. Because the needs of current and potential customers should come first, using social media to establish relationships is vital in the changing marketing scheme. How do we know what these consumer needs are unless we are in tune with the customer? What better way to be in touch with customers than real-time communication provided through social networking?

  

  http://nextup.files.wordpress.com/2007/09/collaboration.jpg

  How has this division of SMM and Traditional Marketing come about? There are two schools of thought when it comes to marketing—silo thinking or integration. Because of budget or time constraints, many businesses do not have the resources to blog, tweet, or interact otherwise online. There may not be staff enough to implement new programs. The marketing team may be too busy to consider utilizing social media tools. There may be no long-term strategy involving social media. Collaboration is essential; social media tools are meant to be incorporated into already existing marketing strategies.

  What can your business do to improve on the incorporation of social media into current marketing strategies?

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• 18Mar

  Teenagers and Social Media

  SociaLNK No Comments

  Teenagers are, by nature, social creatures. Because of the ever-ubiquitous nature of social media, these same teenagers are now more influential than ever through their social media interactions. Teens would rather text than talk, and they make statements about their likes and dislikes by what they become “fans” of on Facebook.

  A recent report from Euro RSCG, however, states that these young people may not be as influential in the social media market as was previously thought. The study showed that teens—girls, particularly—were more apt to share what they

  

  http://www.icis.com/blogs/icis-chemicals-confidential/teens-social-networking.jpg

  really liked with close friends, offline. When it comes to buying power, then, they may not have as much influence through public social networks as was once conjectured. Rather than sharing a shopping tip on Twitter, a teen girl will more likely text one or two friends—or meet with them in person. It is the older set (college-aged and beyond) that tends to broadcast a found deal more widely through public social media.

  Additionally, the study found that teens are also more likely to shop locally. Finding a deal on the internet does not seem to be as important as the physical act of shopping itself—which for many is a social activity as well.

  In general, then, teenagers are connected through social media and are active on social networks like Facebook and MySpace, but they don’t necessarily wield the power of influence in these realms as strongly as we may have thought. As always, they want to be aware of trends, but still do so through simple face-to-face word of mouth.

  With this new study in mind, how can your social media strategy include teenagers without granting them too much sway?

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• 17Mar

  Know Your Target Audience

  SociaLNK No Comments

  When using social media in business, it is crucial to remember who your target audience is and how best to reach them using social media tools. Although it may seem surprising, it is not the young adult age group that dominates the world of social networking any longer. In fact, the average age of Facebook user is 35. Knowing who the target audience for your company is consists of finding out the demographics you are attempting to reach. However, with social media, you must also find out how best to reach them. This could be through any of the social networks, and also through blogging or even direct emailing.

  

  Depending on your audience, it may be best to reach them through Twitter updates, or through joining an online community on Ning. No matter what age or specificity of your audience, remember to reach them where they are. Expecting your customers to find you through social media is akin to the methodology of traditional marketing. In advertising, for example, you would broadcast a message and think that those who are interested in the product would find a way to get to it.

  With social media marketing, though, it is the opposite. Instead of simply promoting a product, the goal is to interact and present your company to the customer. You seek to find them and build relationships. This may seem tedious, but the long-term goal is a more loyal customer and potentially higher sales because you took the time to communicate to individuals, not just spout a recurring message.

  How are you reaching your best potential customers?

  • 
• 17Mar

  New Social Media Tool, MediaFunnel

  SociaLNK No Comments

  What is MediaFunnel? This new social media tool has been formerly known by the name TweetFunnel. Sound familiar? This “Team Tool for Social Media” has recently changed its name and brand to reflect its more diverse use—for use with Twitter AND other social networks. Businesses can use MediaFunnel to incorporate all of their social media sites into one convenient space; since MediaFunnel is no longer limited to one social network—Twitter—it will now be useful to many in social media marketing.

  

  http://www.socialmediaworks.net/v1/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/funnel.jpg

  MediaFunnel is basically a place where all your social networks can come together. No longer will you have to check four (or more) different profiles. Instead, they all filter to your MediaFunnel site, and this is where you check and update your social networks. For those of us looking to get the most out of social media, this has the potential to save money and time.

  Besides updating profiles, there are also analytics options with MediaFunnel. These will help in measuring return on investment (ROI) for businesses who rely heavily on social media marketing (SMM).

  In short, this new social media tool can help you save time and money, both by consolidating your social networking profiles and helping to measure analytics.

  What other social media tools do you use? How have they helped you meet your SMM goals?

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