Here a few tips on how to promote social media in your e-mails. It is one more way to engage and involve your customers.
1. Add social networking logos to the header or footer of your e-mail template. A share icon would do.
2. Send solo e-mails promoting your presence on social media sites. You can also offer coupons for those who like your page or create unique promotions.
3. Capture data.
We’ve been talking about QR codes for a long time now and it seems that is finally picking up here in the US.
I’ve compiled some of the best posts we have on QR codes so you can read them and be the xpert on this amazing tool.
1. Different uses for QR codes for small business owners
2. Creating a bridge between offline and online
Have you tried Google plus?
I have and so far i like it a lot. I specially like it because it is not like Facebook. I think it can become a lot more relevant for businesses than FB. This because it relies on keywords and relevant searches, which Google is already very good at. In fact we shouldn’t even compare Google Plus with Facebook because even though they are both social, Google Plus is built to be mobile. it provides a more rich experience, less noise at the moment and is aligned with a shift in behavior that we are all leaving the desktop and using mobile devices more and more. Is is social media I can carry with me. not part of it, like Twitter, the whole thing.
The interface does not have clutter and very easy to use from a small device. It will free all of us to follow people hoping they will follow us. This does not matter here.
I specially like the hangout feature. Where you can video chat with up to 10 people, make the event public and even repurpose it later. This can be addicting and very useful for businesses. I plan to spend a lot more time researching this feature.
I say useful for business but Google wants real people there, not businesses at the moment. This will change
A few weeks ago we were one of the guests at the Info-Marketing Livestreaming party.
Hosted by Robert Skrob and guests such as Dan Kennedy, Buzzbooster, Fabienne Fredrikson, T.J. Rohler, Alex Mandossian and many more.
What not a lot of people know is that we also helped Robert organize the event that would promote his new book, lead to a teleseminar and the sales of a new program.
Here are a few steps that helped this launch be so successful:
We started working a year before the event because Robert at that time had not a strong presence in social media environments. So this presence was created over some months and we also asked Robert to start a web show called Quick Sustainable Wealth TV. All profiles, forms and Calls to action led to a leads capture page in order to build a list coming from social media environments.
Of course, Robert invited marketers for the event that have a strong presence online and as JVs they helped promote the event.
For the event, because there were quite a few technological components, many guests and many things could go wrong, we made sure we had some rehearsals to cover all possibilities.
Livestreaming has some limitations at the moment. Companies don’t record the sound of guests or cohosts. image of guests is pixelated, Cohosts don’t get the sound through their speakers. If cohost has the show page open, there will be echo.
All guests received detailed instructions ahead of time and constant communication.
So we decided to have Robert on camera and all guests coming through a phone line. This proved to avoid some problems, improve some quality issues and the attendees enjoyed the results. We this option we also guarantee less stress and unforeseen problems the guests could have.
Instead of having everyone go to the Ustream show page, we created a page for the event where we embedded the livestream, added a chat so people could interact during the whole 3 hours of the event and ask questions and added a banner leading to the book that was going to be promoted during the event.
In the back end, we had 3 people monitoring sound, chat and answering questions.
After 1 hour and a half into the event, a storm came by where Robert lives and the lights went out for a minute. Robert had a power source on and we didn’t lose the video but we did lose the audio. The assistants kept talking to people on the chat, everything was back in less than 5 minutes and we lost less than 20 people because of this glitch. We are talking about an event that was attended by thousands. One guest didn’t show up and another came in a different time than the one set but these didn’t cause the event to miss a beat. We had different option ahead of time to deal with some unforeseen possibilities.
The event was a huge success and Robert is now a pioneer in this type of launches. Yes there have been some product launches using livestreaming but all guests and host are in one location. In this case, each guest was in a different location.
The success was not only because of the caliber of all guests and the quality of information, follow-up with the list before, during and after the event but because of all the preparation, tests and rehearsals before the event.
We are looking forward to the next one.
This video doesn’t mention the biggest advantage of Google Plus: Being mobile. Something according to our current change in behavior. This is the future my friends.
This video gives you a pretty good idea about Google Plus
According to The Guardian Life research institute, female entrepreneurs are three times more likely to engage in social networking than their male counterparts. Female business owners are more customer focused and more likely to incorporate a sense of community into their business plan.
According to Zoomerang Facebook is the most used platform among all age groups. It is number one among the most-used social media among business owners in their 50s. Twitter and Likedin are among the most used social media by business owners of all ages.
So:
Under 30
Facebook 77%
30-39
Facebook 76%
40-49
Facebook 77%
50-59
Facebook 84%
60 and over
Facebook 84%
Quora is growing and offers great possibilities for business owners to market their business but you need a few things in place in order to be successful using Quora:
1. Respect Quora culture. They expect expertise, so give good answers with the best sources of information.
2. Quora is designed for individuals. Your focus should be on building an expert profile. You can use to address questions from users of your products.
3 Don’t promote too much.
4. It is ok to give your case studies as examples as long as they are relevant.
5. Don’t pitch to the media on Quora.
6. If you are an affiliate, disclose that please.
This social media thing can be crazy and if you don’t know what you are doing can eat your whole time..
Here are some third party social media marketing applications that can make your life a lot easier.
1. Tweetdeck: Easy to manage YouTube, Facebook and Twitter in one view. You can manage people you follow in lists.
2. Ping.fm and Hellotxt; Update your status in several platforms. About 50 of social networks. Post can be made online or mobile.
3. Seesmic: similar to Tweetdeck but allows you to manage multiple profile accounts
4. SocialOimph: Allows you to postdate posts on Twitter and Facebook fan pages. Has many other cool features too.
5. 8hands: This is an aggregator that streams notifications in real time and where you get summaries and statistics on your social networking activities. It covers content from multiple accounts.
6. Chi.mp centralizes content and contacts. Good for people without a website.
See? Small business marketing online just became a lot easier.
I made a comparison between pros and cons of social media managers and social media agencies. This for the case of you looking to start a new business. I need to say that both options are good because they are in very high demand.
They are both cheap to start
They both have ongoing fees
You are not obliged to have an advertising fee like you would in a franchise business, but of course you do need a budget to advertise your business
Social media agency would bring more name recognition that a social media manager.
They are both proven business models and both in very high demand now and in the next few years.
A social media agency usually has proprietary systems in place and these systems allow people running the business more freedom.
A social media marketing agency also provides the owner the ability to scale more than a social media manager. The manager can create a team in order to scale.
Which one is right for you?
I’d say that is a personality thing. You can run both from home. With any you can achieve 6 figures in a relative short period of time.
How big do you want to go?
Ongoing Fees
Required Advertising Fees
Name Recognition
Proven Business Model
Ongoing Support
Proprietary system
More freedom
