How Social Media Privacy Can Build a Team Atmosphere

Social media privacy can build a team atmosphere when inside of a business. This is because maintaining social media privacy is not an easy job. There are many mistakes that can happen on the social networks that will reveal information that was not supposed to be revealed. Therefore, it can take a lot of people checking and double checking posts before they are sent out. However, the time that a company spends on maintaining this social media privacy is time well spent because the amount of information that a business can protect is the amount of time and effort they may be able to use to stay ahead of their competition.

There have been many celebrities on the bigger networks who have accidentally posted messages to their friends and families on the social networks. This means that they have accidentally released information that they were not intending to release. This can happen to anyone and has happened to regular users of the social networking systems. However, this could be fatal for a business, because there are certain things that businesses do not want their customers or competitors to know about their businesses. Revealing any of this information is a massive problem.

This happens because most of the social networks that exist are set to release all information to everyone. They are not set to default to total privacy. This is a problem because it is far too easy to release information that is not supposed to be released on the networks because of the settings on most of the social media systems. A business needs to use a network that has their default settings set to private. This is the only way (via the system) to make sure that the message is only seen by those who are supposed to see it and not seen by those who should not see the message.

The only other way to make sure this does not happen is to have an army of people behind the post who make sure that the settings are right. This is because everyone will check the post before it goes out. This system makes sure that the post is safe for consumption for those it is supposed to go to on the social networking program. This system of checks and balances makes sure that the business has the privacy that they need even if the program cannot support them (it is still important to note that the workers are human and there is still a potential for them to fail at checking everything in a post).

In conclusion, a person should never try to run a social media campaign on their own inside a business. There is far too great of a potential for that person to post something that was meant for certain eyes only. The only way to handle this situation is for a team to handle the post. The team will grow closer because they manage the social profile together. Therefore, a social media program for privacy and effectiveness is a team sport.

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Has Pinterest Got You Pinned?

Pinterest is described as an online pin board, to organize and share things you love. The site lets you add your own personally created virtual pin boards of things that you like and interest you. You have the capability of naming each of your pin boards which creates categories such as Recipes to try, Crafty, Art, Things that make Me Smile, New Workouts, etc. The site is set up in a very organized and simple manner and puts all of the "pins" that other people have found or like in categories, as well. You can follow people and "repin" things they like. You can even search something specific instead of manually looking through a category. If you know of a great recipe or want post information about SEO internet marketing that you want to add personally, then you just copy the URL from that particular website page, head back to Pinterest, select 'add a pin' and paste it in the space provided. Voila! It's an endless cycle of evolving eye candy and addicting discovery.

The site launched in March of 2010 by two college friends that wanted to create a place where people could share their interests. Initially, they experimented with people that were close to them. Today, the site has caught on and the growth has got big companies taking notice. Over 5 million people are now pinned to Pinterest. It is a big marketing melting pot that has struck a chord with people all over the world. When will you join in the addiction?

I have heard friend after friend tell me that they have been on the site and are anxiously awaiting their official invite that they requested from the home page. The site does allow you to search through pins without being a logged in member, but this does not allow you any of the fabulous benefits that Pinterest has to offer. So, how do you become an official pinster? The easiest way is to ask a friend that is already a member to invite you. Kind of makes it feel like an exclusive club. Maybe this is Pinterest's way of adding to the intrigue.

To make things even more heavenly you have the ability to report a pin that you find questionable or offensive. This will immediately pull the pin from public view and send it to a team that is in charge of deciding whether it is appropriate or not. The goal is to make Pinterest a safe place and the members of the site, in a sense, help police the content that is posted.

So, with explosive growth there has to change, which means better and more user friendly features. You can always access the Pinterest Blog and see what's new. Just recently the free downloadable iPhone app has been enhanced. Rest assured that if you are not a mobile Apple user, you can still access the site from your mobile web browser. Just today Pinterest unveiled a makeover to their site. It is subtle, but if you click on something that catches your eye from one of your followers, you will get a snapshot view of some more of that person's pin, the original pinner and the URL that the pin came from all in one well organized screen.

So what will they come up with next? Only time will tell, but one thing is for sure- The future of Pinterest will be an interesting one.

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New Business Advantages of Social Media Optimization Techniques

Ever since social media has gained the access in the online marketplace, online business owners get another way to promote their business online. Now they have a great tool enhance their business presence across the market place using digital media. The process of social media optimization is pretty similar to the viral marketing. This is most likely a process to use social bookmarking, video and photo sharing to promote the business website. SM Optimization is most likely the best method to get visitor traffic to a website. In the world of online business, this process is also known as web 2.0 marketing.

Online business owners always want to achieve massive visible traffic on the business websites. They make use of certain social tools like Digg, Furl, Stumble Upon and Propeller etc. These social tools also help to generate one way links from high-ranking websites. The process of SMO is very helpful in offering a great leap in traffic. Social media optimization experts cite a number of strategies to avail best ranking and exposure in the market place. These experts suggest a number of book marking services to ensure tangible results for online businesses. SMO always offers a great opportunity to businesses to have easy and quick linking with inbound links.

The world is a growing place and filled with a digital media revolution. Social networks play a significant role in this revolution. Social media optimization therefore plays an important role in improving the growth prospects of the online business. Facebook and Twitter are two major pillars in the domain of Social networks nowadays. Business owners across the verticals use these two major tools to promote their business in the upcoming market place.

If you also want to harness the true benefits of digital media, you can consult an experienced Social media service provider who can provide best consultation on the strategies. It will also help you to get high-ranking and one way links for your websites.

The technique of SMO takes the help of advertising through the means of major networking forums like social bookmarking, photo sharing websites and micro sites etc. Some of the experts also believe that blog writing and RSS Feeds are also necessary to promote the services among the targeted customer base.

The major benefit of social media optimization includes brand awareness across the social networks and a nurtured platform for fully optimized SEO and internet marketing campaigns for the website. The strategies also ensure good quality traffic to your website and improved non-reciprocal links in the long run.

The Facebook Timeline Covers - A Brief Introduction to the Newest Facebook Feature   Twitter Users Prefer Information to Being Social   Busting The Myths About LinkedIn   Benefits of Having a Neighborhood Network Site   Improving Your Facebook Timeline Fanpages   How to Link to Your Pinterest Pins and Drive Traffic to Your Site   

How to Maximize Facebook Timeline for Your Business Page

Ok, Ok, I know that Timeline looks a little bit like a scrap book your grandmother had in her spare bedroom. Filled with family photo's, recipes, and old letters (remember when we use to actually send those things). I also know that it's a little confusing and quite a bit different then the traditional Facebook Profile Lay-out. Many of us are lost trying to figuring out which post came before which video and so on. Not to mention that it has completely confused the Facebook Stalkers who only use the site to look at other people's photo's and videos!

So knowing all of this, why am I so Hyped and pumped that there will be more Timelines taking over Facebook? Let's break it down, from a business perspective.

First of all, we'll all laugh in a year from now (as our eyes have adjusted to viewing only Timeline pages) when we look back at what Facebook use to look like. I firmly believe that much of the resistance to Timeline is simply people resistance to embrace change, but the fact is that change is hard to live with and impossible to live without, we just have to accept it and adjust to it! So knowing this I'm not worried about the scrap book looking design, we'll all get use to it soon enough.

What excites me are two HUGE benefits to Timeline!! the cover image, and the story telling ability.

Let's start with the cover image. People pay big money for a banner image half the size of what Facebook is giving us with this banner image. This is prime real estate to display the products that you sell, your store front, your address and phone number, or a collage of images from your business. Business pages currently have 5 banner images, that are thumbnail size, and you have to constantly be managing your images every time you upload a new photo to your page (seriously, this is a pain in the A$$ if you upload a lot of photo's). Just from a maintenance point this change will be a relief and a major time saver! I love the cover image, it can also be interchangeable, so you can have 5 different ones made, and occasionally change your cover image to keep your page looking fresh!

Now, let's get down to the meat and potatoes, the story telling ability!!

One of the most powerful components to a successful brand is the creation story of the company. How Richard Branson started Virgin Airlines goes a little something like this:

His flight was delayed to mechanical issue with the plane. He was where none of us ever want to be, trapped in a small airport, with no word on how long the flight will be delayed, no alternate flights, no beds, Airport bars are closed, just stuck sitting in those uncomfortable chairs with his feet extended and rested on his carry-on luggage. this is where most of us would have camped and just let the airlines have their dominant way with us. But Richard is different, he is progressive, active, and entrepreneurial! Knowing that he had a long time until the plane would leave, he walked down the hallway, out of the doors and into a completely different section of the Airport. Back in those days many smaller airports had a separate wing for private planes. Richard poked around that hanger, looking for a pilot with a working plane. It didn't take long until he found a pilot with a larger plane designed for chartering flights. he got a price quote, thanked the man, said he would be back, and waked back into the terminal where his co-passengers had been grumbling about. With his entrepreneurial spirit at full strength he made a quick calculation of the number of seats and the price to charter the plane. Next he grabbed a piece of paper and a pen and wrote "Private chartered flight" with the price under it. Within 30 minutes he filled the private plane and was airborne!!!!

What an amazing story, and to know that at that moment the concept for Virgin Airlines was born!!!

Just hearing that story brings you closer to the brand of Virgin and how it makes you feel to fly with them. Now imagine if you could not only hear that story, but see images of a young Richard Branson holding up that sign. see status updates of the passengers flying in the plane. See who was tagged in the flight. Then see a video of the plane landing!!

Timeline can bring your businesses creation story to life with Video and photo!! Making it real time and personable!! You could then Chronicle the mishaps, journey, and success of your brand as it grows!!!

Don't think that this is only capable for a big brand like Virgin. Your businesses creation story is important too!! And you have a story, everyone has a story of how their business got created.

Timeline will also be great for the present, and the future. Start to be consistent in adding photo's of major events in your business. Tag customers and add photo's constantly, so your story is being told!!!

this is an amazing opportunity, Jump on board and embrace the change!!!!!

get a free eBook of the 5 Facebook Fan page Secrets, and schedule a free 20 minute Facebook strategy session webinar, and for more Facebook tips and just funny videos check out our page at http://www.facebook.com/jeffandvaden

Vaden Hoffman

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Do You Know How People Find You Online?

You probably have a Google Analytics account, but if you're not a search marketing wizard you've probably only used it to see at a high level how much traffic you're getting, and where in general your visitors are coming from. Google Analytics can do much, much more though. While this isn't intended to be a guide to using advanced features of Analytics, I'm going to show you a few tricks that can really make the info you get out of it work for you.

Knowing where your visitors are coming from, and expanding these channels, can make a huge difference to not only your traffic, but your conversions as well.

To illustrate my points I'll be using data from one of my own sites, a fledgling retail site in a developing country. The site is spending about $100 a month on AdWords, and has spent a few hundred on sponsored posts and things like that, but has done little off-site SEO due to resource constraints.

Get to Know Your Sources

The above is a table you should be familiar with - top 10 traffic sources. As you can see, Google organic traffic is by far the biggest, but there are quite a few referrals that are performing as well (about 25% of traffic).

But can you spot the anomaly? The referrer in line 9 sends traffic with a much lower time on site, which means those visitors aren't finding what they were expecting, and leaving. That's interesting, but because the numbers are so low, and it's not across the board, we don't have to worry about it.

Clearly, from this graph it's obvious that there's something to building up these referrals. We got most of them from paying around $50 apiece for sponsored posts. Over 3 months, those investments have definitely paid for themselves when our conversion rate of around 1% is considered.

Understanding Your Visitors

Next up I've got two simple sets of data you can pull straight from the Traffic Sources dashboard. The first is the browsers people are using:

The point of this exercise is to see whether or not you're effectively catering to visitors. We can see that most visitors are using IE, but that Firefox and Chrome make up an equally-large share. Since IE and the others treat web pages quite differently, we had better make sure we look good in all three (four if you add in Safari).

The site doesn't have a mobile page yet, but considering that those visitors are only about 5%, it's not really worth investing in right now.

Another good way to check if browser issues are affecting site performance is to change the dropdown "Contribution to Total" to another metric, such as New Visits or Time on Site. If you discover that one of these drops significantly for any browser, which means you have a problem with that browser that is affecting visitor experience.

Another metric I'm going to show you, which is a little more complex, is simply comparing the total visitors with new visits, and with returning visitors. (You can add these segments using the "Advanced Segments" dropdown above your chart).

This tells an interesting story, which I've highlighted in yellow. It's great that we're getting so many return visitors, but what's this? The return visitors are performing much better than all other segments. Much lower bounce rate, and much higher time on site. That tells us one important thing: it's really worth cultivating whatever is driving these return visits.

It also tells us what our marketing strategy should be: we're getting the return visits automatically, doing little to entice people back to the store. That means we should focus on getting new visitors. If over 20% of visitors return, that means it should be very easy to increase traffic if we just get more exposure.

The last thing I want to show you is a little more complex, and is a conversions report. For this to work, you'll have to have set up some kind of goal (getting to a page, completing an action), and even then the data might not be conclusive. In this case, it definitely is:

Here I've gone to the E-commerce section of the reports, and overlaid Visits with Conversions with Returning Visitors. Now, in this case a conversion isn't necessarily a sale - it's either a sale or a newsletter signup. But you can still see something obvious here: on days when there are more return visitors, there's a bigger chance of desired visitor actions taking place.

This confirms our initial thoughts that return visitors are the most desirable in this case. Knowing where our visitors are coming from, and what to do with that information, will now lead to us being able to exploit those visitors more effectively.

The Facebook Timeline Covers - A Brief Introduction to the Newest Facebook Feature   Twitter Users Prefer Information to Being Social   Busting The Myths About LinkedIn   Benefits of Having a Neighborhood Network Site   Is the Concept of Heaven Really Just a Beautiful, Boring, and Pristine Version of Hell?   Following Celebrities Online - It Has Never Been Easier Thanks to Social Media   

How to Market on Social Networking Sites

Twitter, YouTube and certainly Facebook are just few of those social networking sites used by online marketers to connect and interact on a much more personalized and dynamic level to their customers. By utilizing the social aspect of the web, social network marketing occurs. So how exactly do you market on social networks?

Social networking sites provide a resourceful platform for you to promote your product. It is one of the best means for acquiring loads of viewers and thousands of page visits to your site. Through word-of-mouth, social networking sites can create a viral-effect-marketing which is much easier to harness the online users to your marketing potential and use them to market your own business.

Initially, you may write a short biography for your profile. Include any experience related to the product(s) or service(s) you're marketing. Also include a link to your website at the end of your biography. It is best to then start linking to the site from key areas of the Internet so the search engines will have no problem finding and indexing it. Then proceed to adding contacts/friends that you believe may have an interest in the products or services you're offering. Then ask them if they can invite their contacts or friends as well.

Make yourself and your product known. If they found your products or services appealing or what you share on social networks useful, valuable, funny, entertaining, new, insightful or soul-stirring, people will find you - and stay with you. Be interesting and do something positive that people will start to talk about.

If you want to boost your credibility and stand-out ask people to share your content. By simply adding a phrase that encourages sharing like "If you found this content useful, share it". The more sharing options you include on your website, the easier it'll be for users to share your site. It's much easier for readers to click one link and instantly share your content than to go to individual social media sites.

Create a blog, articles or video sharing then place it on your social networking profile pages. Let them know that you are experienced and what you're offering to your potential customers is reliable. Take advantage of the features that allow you to broadcast to all your contacts/friends. Send links to any free information you offer related to the products/services you're offering, send details about special discounts, and send anything newsworthy related to you and what you have to offer.

Respond promptly to the contacts/friends that contact you and visit the profiles of those you're connected with. Read their content and visit their website and blog. In addition, comment on their articles, and videos. Show interest and share your insights or opinions. Get involved with your customers; hear what they are about to say or feedback to your products or services.

After all, that's part of social networking.

Join and participate in the groups related to your product(s) or service(s). Not only that you can broaden your connection but you can also get updates with what is the trend or the latest on the social networking.

To smartly leverage social media marketing, you must take advantage of all the benefits of social network marketing. What have been mentioned above are just few. There are still a lot of ways on how to market on social networking sites effectively and simple. The possibilities are endless just explore and do your research.

The Facebook Timeline Covers - A Brief Introduction to the Newest Facebook Feature   Twitter Users Prefer Information to Being Social   Busting The Myths About LinkedIn   Benefits of Having a Neighborhood Network Site   Improving Your Facebook Timeline Fanpages   How to Link to Your Pinterest Pins and Drive Traffic to Your Site   

Facebook Fan Pages: Do I or Don't I?

Love it or leave it, Facebook marketing is now an integral part of all businesses marketing campaigns. Even if you don't personally spend a lot of time on Facebook your customers do (and not just the 18-34 year olds either!) It's an easy and not too expensive way to grab customers and even get them buying your product right from Facebook. However, it does take some time and planning in order to understand what will engage your customer the most, and in turn, convert them into customers, or encourage them to continue buying.

First things first: Personal page or Fan Page?

Personal Page: Used only for social interaction with your friends and family. If you are a business owner, you can ask your customers to "friend" you, and then converse with them through Facebook. However, they are now potentially exposed to any personal information you put up there (like your nephew's frat party.) If you are very careful about settings, you can limit who sees your "friend's" posts, but unless you are careful about who you friend on a personal basis, best to use this for friends and family only. Additionally, this page is limited to 5000 friends.

Fan Pages: This Facebook function is easy to create and was developed especially for business usage. Fan Pages can be very simple, or extraordinarily complex-almost to the point of replicating websites. Fan Pages can feature: Content, Contests/promotions/links to email signup/e-commerce and much more. Fan pages are also public and aid significantly to Search Engine Optimization. In fact, depending on the size of your website, users may actually find your fan page BEFORE they find your website with Google.

Time does need to be spent to figure out content and posting strategies, but the:30 minutes a day can be worth it. However, Fan Pages are usually not a case of "build it and they will come." Usually, advertising must accompany a fan page growth strategy-and frequently the only way to start getting fans is to offer a free giveaway in order for a user to "LIKE" your page. Driving traffic to your fan page is accomplished through creating an "ad campaign" on Facebook (which is easy to do) and with low level of expenditures. Depending on your promotion, fans cost from $1.00 to $3.00 per fan to acquire.

So now that you know the basics of Facebook, what next? Here are some tips for what to do once you set up your fan page:

1. Logo or Photo - Giving your fans something to quickly identify your brand is always a good idea. Whether we like to believe it or not, a book with a nice cover sells more copies. A logo or a photo will be the first thing that your fans will notice so make it count!

2. Create a landing page - This is a great opportunity for a call to action. It's a good idea to ask your customers to "Like" your page and if you plan on holding a sweepstakes or giveaway, a "Like" is the perfect requirement for them to enter.

3. Information - One of the main reasons that Facebook has been so successful is that it is one of the best information hubs on the internet. Creating engaging and interesting content is key to both getting people to your Facebook page and getting them to come back. An interesting post or link to a good article 2-3 times per day is perfect for staying in touch without saturating.

The ultimate question is whether or not a fan page is worth the time, money, and effort it takes to create one. It can be, but the decision needs to be balanced against company goals and strategies and the time and budget available to manage your page.

Facebook continues to prove itself to be a valuable tool for marketers trying to drive targeted leads to a site. It will help keep a brand relevant by consistently engaging with customers which is exactly what every company hopes to achieve. Don't put it off any longer - get your fan page up and running now.

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The Importance of LinkedIn Networking Groups

The LinkedIn.com social networking site is more of a B2B (business to business) network, a place to converse with like minded professionals to learn and share information and build the popularity of your business and/or brand. All B2C (business to customers/consumer) posting that you might do on Facebook or Twitter should be avoided on LinkedIn. Promotions, sales, and specials at your company will be viewed as SPAM so be thoughtful to what you post.

One of the many benefits of growing your profile and thus your popularity on LinkedIn is that the greatest advocates for your business are colleagues in your respective industry. A referral as well as acknowledgment from a professional colleague is very valuable in terms of persuasiveness for any listening consumer, this holds true within any industry.

The most effective way to build your popularity and profile is through open and constant dialog. To do this you should become part of a Group, more than one is best. You can find this tab in the menu bar of your LinkedIn page, click on the Group button. On the right, simply type in a relevant keyword for your business and look at the groups that are populated on the screen. Geographical references might help but are also limiting, worth a try anyway. You can also click on 'Groups you may like' in the drop down to see what suggestions LinkedIn might have for you. Once you find a Group that looks interesting, have a look around. Look at the most popular discussions, observe the dialog and interaction level. The more people with the most interaction are the most valuable. Click the 'Join Group' button to request membership. Once you are accepted into the Group, start commenting, answer questions, become part of the discussion but be sure to provide value in your comments and answers. Elevate the conversation with fresh information, not just agreeing with the rest of the participants.

Share resources; to keep with the discussion/dialog, read all the comments so your comments are relevant and on point. This will start the process of building fans in your group and they will start to follow you.

The next step is to start a post, a discussion that provides value to your group. Provide a link to an interesting article and talk about it, share an opinion or one of a popular figure. Be sure to 'Like' your post, this helps the process. Next, comment on your own post with additional information, this increase the activity level of your post and moves it up higher in the queue of posts within that group. From there monitor and engage other participants in the discussion.

Mixing it up with like minded professional is stimulating and enlightening. Bonds are formed and advocates of your company are created. Your reach has been increased and potential leads for your business will grow.

This is the power of B2B networking on LinkedIn.com.

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Show Off A Moment In Time With A Facebook Cover Photo

Facebook is once again attempting to blaze new frontiers by introducing some new display features for their users. One of them is Facebook cover photo. These covers present a new way for users can not only display their creativity and personality to their family, friends, and connections over a set period of activity time but is also allowing them their "five minutes of fame" in a kind of a photo clip for and about themselves. In other words, it is creating a very public (can't be made private) pictorial personality image that will appear just above the profile picture on the user's page that is the size of a large banner.

Now most people enjoy standing out from the crowd, which this cover photo will do, but the way it is being presented to its Facebook users, this is not an opt out feature for their page and will have a limited trial period to get use to what they have to work with the apps interface. And the reviews for this feature has so far have been far from rave.

As part of the new "feel" of the Facebook cover photo, users can upload images and photos from their own computer or from other sites to their page. The layouts of these graphics, which can be made compatible or interactive with the profile or other images in the upper quadrant of the page to give it that "wow" appearance that will be available to all viewers. For individual users, these covers would immortalize the events and human experiences of people's lives. So last year's family reunion and anniversary picture can help remember everyone remember the time of their lives.

For business users, Facebook cover photo of a community sponsoring or other company marketing campaigns creates that initial attention getter and potential branding, but as a clearly stated advertising or self-promotional piece as per terms of use with Facebook. Assuming that the campaign would be an ongoing or annual event or are using some other type of imaging that somewhat incorporate the company brand but not something that will quickly become dated can work since this photo is for the most part permanent.

Facebook cover photo users do need to keep in mind that not all photo formats may be compatible with the new interface. Since the photos are being re-sized to being longer and wider than what is normally accepted, the picture quality can be grainy at the very least or distorted at the most. Once you have a handle on the size of the covers, you can upload a Facebook cover photo that shows off a moment in life you're most proud of.

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The Importance of Online Reputation for Beauty and Barber Professionals

By looking up your business, one can instantly find reviews, blog posts, Facebook posts, and Twitter tweets. One customer service gripe or mention of a less than stellar salon experience can go viral within a day.

Even though this quote is literally more than 19 centuries old, Latin writer Publilius Sryus stated it best when he said, "A good reputation is more valuable than money." This is certainly true. For your salon or spa, the online reputation of your business can directly affect the amount of money you bring in.

Think of the ramifications of a Twitter post seen by thousands of people saying, "Had horrible customer service from Anne at Salon X. Don't go there!" People on Twitter will tweet and retweet to their followers and all of a sudden your one unhappy customer could potentially prevent new customers from making appointments.

On the flip side, if you have a happy customer who shares on her Facebook wall that she "had the best facial and pedicure ever with Lisa at Salon XYZ! Can't wait to go back in 4 weeks!" your reputation will be greatly helped and it will encourage new people to come to your business.

It is not just customers who can impact your online reputation. It is also your staff. Now is the time to sit down with your team and talk about the importance of their online behavior and how it impacts your business reputation online. People do not think that it matters, but it does. Across almost every social website, one has the ability to create a profile and include their place of employment. If you have employees using your business name on social websites such as Facebook and Twitter and they are posting inappropriate photos or comments, it can have a negative impact on your business. When curious clients decide to look up their stylist's name or nail tech's name on Google, they could come across things that cause them to form opinions and judgment about your salon. After all, if they are associated with you, their behavior online will impact you.

Your online reputation is extremely important. It is also fragile. Google yourself and make sure that the listings align with your goals. Create forums to showcase your expertise in a positive way. Your reputation will always precede you. By providing the best in customer service and always being positive, professional, and giving your clients what they want, you will be protecting your reputation. This equates to a more successful business now and in the future.

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LinkedIn Etiquette For Mobile Marketing Professionals

You don't need to make blunders that other people make. You need to realize that LinkedIn is for professionals. And these are serious people with serious careers and business ventures. If you are to be perceived as serious you need to look like a person who can be trusted; follows the rules and looks courteous. Let me guide through some basic LinkedIn etiquette issues.

1. Do not contact people before your profile is 100% complete

This seriously shows you as a careless person and one who cannot be trusted in doing business with. Your profile is the only thing that will sell you. It will be bad to start to look for connections if the profile only has your name and basic information.

You see, people want to be connected to like-minded people. As a mobile marketer you want to be connected with business owners, company executives and other mobile marketing professionals. I guess you would rather have a fortune 500 executive than geologist who spends half his time in the Kivu area of Democratic Republic of Congo.

In addition, to having a complete profile, make it as enticing as possible. There is no need of mentioning in your profile that you worked as janitor 20 years ago; it is surely irreverent. Make your profile in such a way that a decision maker will want to hire. Let your expertise in the relevant area; experience and resourcefulness be clearly prominent.

2. Do not ask for recommendation from strangers

Much as you may be desperate and want recommendations, it is bad to ask it from people who do not know you. This is bad enough and you will be surprised how this happens often.

3. Do not use LinkedIn like Twitter

LinkedIn and Twitter though both are social networking mediums are different. Unless you have just landed on planet earth in the last 24 hours, I not need to go into details explaining the differences.

In addition, desist from using LinkedIn like Facebook. They different and expectations of the two are also far apart.

4. Avoid looking desperate

You do need to look desperate. For instance, you put your email address under your name in your profile; it shows that you are ready to connect with anyone.

In addition, even if you are jobless and are looking for a job, do not make it look like you will die the next day if you do not get it.

5. Remind people how you know them

If you are trying to connect with someone you met in a seminar, conference or airport transit lounge, then just tell them that. You see, people see different faces in the course of a week or even a day. It is not possible for them to remember everybody. That's why it is courteous to just remind them. You can a send a short a simple message that reads like: 'It was nice meeting you at the Mary Wilhite mobile marketing seminar in Atlanta Georgia'. That straight away rings a bell.

6. Know who you are connecting with

Some people because of the numerous requests they receive in a day may be reluctant to connect with you immediately. It is even harder when you are a no-name person. You see if you are the editor of Time magazine, it is difficult for someone to turn you down. But is you are not, not many care. That's why you should approach people you want to connect with from their perspective and view of their world.

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Power of Twitter - Squeeze Page Traffic Redefined

You know that your online marketing program is only going to be as good as the social networking techniques you use to drive users to your web page, but you also probably know that incorporating these techniques can sometimes be difficult. Here we are going to explore the power of Twitter by learning about how this service can actually turn your squeeze page into a serious hub for those who are interested in the marketing techniques that you are selling. Let's talk about it this way. Businesses from each and every industry use Twitter, so there is no reason to even think about not using this product.

If you want to use the power of Twitter, you need to consider what this service actually is good for. Unlike most other social networking programs, Twitter appears to those who want information, constant updates, that are not long at all, but which are defined by their brevity. As a matter of fact, if you want to use this service, you have to learn to get your thoughts into just a few words. You have to be graceful, funny, interesting, and compelling all in just a few characters. Is this easy to do? No, but it is extremely effective once you master it. As a matter of fact, many experts think that Twitter is a gateway to a new world of social networking activity.

Understanding the Power of Twitter:

So, let's discover the true power of Twitter:

With this service, you can get followers who get all of your updates and will actually be able to retweet your best updates, this way you can keep your network spreading Don't be afraid to link. The power of this service is defined in part by its ability to quickly bring different areas of the web together. Don't overdo it. Yes, it can be tempting to tweet a lot, but make sure that you only tweet when you have something to say Stay on topic. Don't become one of those annoying tweeters who has his or her hands in everyone's business

If you want to make the power of Twitter work for you, understand that you need to become part of a network. Don't be afraid to follow others in your industry. If you look out for them, they will look out for you. This doesn't mean that you should avoid health competition, but it does mean that you understand the core of affiliate marketing.

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Facebook Timeline and Its Most Appreciated Feature - Facebook Cover Photos

Facebook Timeline is the most recent item introduced on the social network and its most talked-about feature is Facebook Cover Photos, a tool meant to make a profile more attractive and personalized.

What is Facebook Timeline? Timeline is a section that is meant to substitute both the wall and the profile page, by merging them together, being thus some sort of a blending between an online scrapbook and a blog. It also makes navigation through posts much easier, as it shows your Facebook story in a reverse chronological order, listed by year on the right side of the page. The old Facebook wall as we all know it is structured chronologically, but searching for posts or updates older than a few months before is rather difficult.

What else is there to know about the Timeline? Besides the timeline embedded on the new type of profile that shows your Facebook activity history, people can now share "before Facebook" information as well, as everything added can be given a date. Therefore, if you went on Hawaii in 1991, for example, and you upload a photo and set that date, it will appear in the Timeline.

However, the most talked-about among the features of Timeline, seem to be Facebook Cover Photos - they are meant to individualize the web page. Because the profile pictures are just in a small format, most users choose something simple as their profile; Facebook Cover Photos, on the other hand, stretch across the width of the whole page, and users can use them to show something deeper, more personal, such as their family members, pets, favorite movie scenes or vacation spots. It is said that a carefully chosen image should not only adorn your profile, but should also let other people see a little bit of your personality.

One can choose to use as a cover one of their favorite photos (even one of those already on Facebook) or one can download a cover picture from the wide variety of photos that are to be found online. Another thing worth mentioning is that Facebook's staff also states that these customized timelines help them prevent spam and fake profiles, making thus the social network a more secure site.

Facebook is always changing and, with the recent Timeline introduced, it looks like Facebook Cover Photos will become the new trend in the future, even though not all users looks positively towards this change.

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Why You Need To Consider Twitter For Business

As a mobile marketer you may be wondering how you can enhance your image and attract more business. Though there are many strategies one can use, Twitter has lately become one of the top marketing tools. It is cheap, fast and easy to use. In addition, it is growing fast, meaning reaching more people will be easier in the coming days. Apart from that, here is why you seriously need to consider twitter as part of your business tools.

It is an important tool for connecting with customers.

Many people log on to their account to see what's going on and this is the right place to catch them. In fact, most disgruntled customers usually complain about company services on Twitter. And your presence and response will be crucial in order to maintain a good reputation. If their anger is vented using Twitter, then it is logical to provide a rejoinder using Twitter. Your presence in Twitter will make you know what's trending quickly and easily.

As Branding tool You see it is not only companies that need to do branding. As a mobile marketer you need to build your reputation online and Twitter is one of the tools that you can use. When you connect with other users and tweet what is educative, useful and interesting your profile will rise over time. On Twitter you get to connect with top businesses, leaders, celebrities, politicians and even college students. It is this connection that boosts your profile and perception.

As Feedback tool The products and services that you sell will be greatly improved if you take into account customer's feedback. On Twitter it is easy to get this feedback.

As a key marketing tool The main purpose of going to Twitter is to market yourself; get high-end clients and make money.

And this can be done almost free. You can give you latest update on Twitter. Tell people about the recent blog posts, videos, books or products.

You also get to learn what your competition is offering. You can study their weak points as well as the strong ends and improve you services or products. Reading about the praises, comments and complaints people have can give great insights into your competitors.

You can turn your tweets viral which will help you reach to an even bigger population. Nothing is as good as a tweet going viral. It puts some kind endorsement on your services and products.

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The Benefits of Creating a Facebook Fan Page and a LinkedIn Group

Facebook Although Facebook was originally designed by college students to connect with one another and to socialize on the web, it didn't take long for businesses to catch on to the idea that they could also socialize and connect with other people and potential customers via the web. In the beginning, there wasn't such a thing as a Facebook Fan Page specifically for a business to promote their product or service, but now that there is, you probably should have one.

A fan page is one of the best ways for a business to connect with their current and future customers because almost everyone has Facebook and this connectivity allows for customers to rave about their experiences and to express their questions and concerns not only real-time, but in front of the eyes of everyone else connected to this page.

I remember one time in particular where I had a bad experience with a company's bad customer service. I wanted to maintain their service but wasn't able to because of the location I was moving to. I pleaded with multiple people to waive my early termination fee, but they wouldn't budge. I loved their service but I was livid and swore that I would never do business with them again in the future. To say the least, you bet I was on their fan page letting them have it. I finally gave up because I knew I couldn't win, but they lost a customer for life because they weren't a little flexible and didn't listen to the customer.

Another great way for a business to utilize a fan page is by reaching out to its followers to get customer feedback about a specific product or promotion. For example, let's say a toothpaste company just launched their latest and greatest toothpaste. This toothpaste makes claim that it will not only whiten your teeth beyond the leading competitors, but it will also guarantee that you will never have to go to the dentist again. First of all, WOW! Don't we all wish?! But, second of all, this would be such a fantastic opportunity to learn whether their claims are holding up in the eyes of the public.

After the first thirty days, the company decides to ask its followers via their fan page whether they feel and/or believe the product is living up to its hype. This can be done by posing an open-ended question or by conducting a poll, although the highest response rate will most likely come from creating a poll.

LinkedIn LinkedIn is another social media website which is for business owners and this is an area you should definitely focus as much time as is cost effective for you. In fact, all Fortune500 CEOs have LinkedIn accounts.

By creating your LinkedIn page you are creating a public and more formal profile whether it be used for potential clients or even possibly to get a job. You can post all the professional imagery on the site as you wish as well as writing the words to create your brand. I say formal because most people are on LinkedIn to network for business purposes rather than personal purposes. It tends to be a more formal atmosphere the way you would conduct yourself within your profile and when connecting with other people.

When you are looking for those connections via LinkedIn, you will also want to ensure only to befriend those who will provide value to you. Don't request people just to connect. There's nothing wrong with networking, but make sure to engage the other person in conversation and connecting with them as much as possible in a professional manner.

And lastly, LinkedIn can allow you to exponentially grow your business if you conduct the right behaviors. Always look to answer people's problems and questions, and pose your own questions, as well. Become known as the authoritative figure in your domain. Attract people rather than chase people. Always remember that.

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