14 Powerful Tips for Marketing on Facebook
Finding a good place to showcase your products, services and websites for free in the online world is a dream for everyone – Facebook has made this a reality. With half a billion Facebook users and thousands of online communities to choose from, Facebook has brought potential customers much closer to you.
It’s no big secret that Facebook can help you in online marketing. However, I know there are many of you who believe that just registering on Facebook is enough… it’s not. Your Facebook
success story ends before it even begins!
There is much more to marketing on Facebook than just creating a profile. Keeping your fans engaged is the key. Don’t be a brand, but be a community they love being a part of. In this article, I’m going to tell you how you can use the medium of Facebook to increase your customer base as well as retain the ones you have!
CREATE YOUR PRESENCE ON FACEBOOK
1. Facebook Profile: By creating a profile for yourself or your business, you are establishing your identity. This will take you a long way in developing relationships with fellow users and in positioning your business. You profile lets you interact with people on a personal note, more so if it’s a local business. Here are some aspects of a profile page:
o Profile Picture: Always put your best foot forward, which means use the most flattering picture as your profile picture. 
No matter what they say, a book is judged by its cover. I came across M.A.C makeup’s profile and thought it was really catchy with the colors used on the face. Hundreds of indifferent people with little time to spare are going to decide whether to add you based on your picture. So, make sure you get this one right!
o Add Friends: After creating a profile, don’t wait for things to 
happen. Add new friends every day and the word will spread that you’re on Facebook. Before you know it, you’ll be starting your day by accepting friend requests! However, make sure you don’t add more than 25 – 30 people a day as excessive adding can get your profile removed from Facebook.
o Wall: This is your main platform to interact with Facebook users. Post messages on your wall and also comment on members’ activities, though, only when relevant. A cafe once commented on my status when it was something about food. And there! A personal connection was built in a second! I knew that I was going to visit this place more often. However, make sure you don’t spam people every other day or they may remove you from their friend list.
o Photo Albums and Videos: Photos and videos are a great way to showcase the latest collection of your product
. I know many people who love to see what goes on behind the scene during a photo shoot or while a baker does his magic in the kitchen. Moreover, the first thing most Facebook users check are photo updates. So take that camera and start shooting!
2. Fan Pages: Facebook Pages, known as Fan Pages, are designed for businesses, brands, companies, products and celebrities. It enables public figures, organizations and other entities to create an authentic and public presence on Facebook. You can encourage users to become fans of your page and share information with them by uploading pictures, videos, status updates, hosting discussions and displaying wall posts. Unlike Facebook Profiles, Pages are visible to everyone on the internet and are generally better for long-term relationships with your fans, readers or customers.
5 Compelling Reasons To Make Your Site Mobile Friendly
Maybe it is a matter of convenience, or in this age of zero patience, it could be a matter of instant gratification even, but the number of people turning to mobile devices to access the web has been steadily increasing. 
The increasing popularity of smartphones only underscores this emerging trend. Last year saw iPhone sales doubling while the worldwide sales of smartphones shot up by 24%, and by the end of 2011, they are expected to outsell PCs. So, you get the picture, we are smack in the middle of the smartphone boom, (in hindsight, this should have been foreseen the minute we learnt Google was venturing into the phone business). We will more than likely, see a paradigm shift of a kind in the way people access the web. As web-forecasters predicted earlier this year, mobile internet is inevitably taking center stage, and now is the time for you to remold your Internet marketing strategies to fit the mobile space.
If you don’t want to take my word for it, here are five compelling reasons to optimize and calibrate your site for mobile devices.
1. Mobile Search is for Mobile Sites – That’s right, when one searches from a mobile device, the query accesses a separate index maintained for mobile content. And mobile search being still in its infancy, the indices are relatively smaller, and what that means is, way lesser sites to compete with. So, optimizing your site and building a mobile presence will certainly help you rank high now, and in the future too when the indices get bigger and the competition grows fiercer. You’ll still have a better chance of ranking high, thanks to the authority you would’ve built over the years.
2. Think of your Customers – Non-mobile sites or ‘full’ sites, to put it bluntly, are a pain to access from mobile devices, and greatly hamper usability. Full sites are often rich, usually include flash and video content, and do not render correctly on a mobile platform. By not making available a mobile version of your site, you are deliberately providing poor user experience to customers who may access your site through mobiles, and thereby risking customer dissatisfaction. And dissatisfied customers mean only one thing – lost sales leads.
Social Media Marketing In The World Of Online Gaming
I am not a gamer, not even a casual one. To state I find it difficult to identify with those people who practically have controllers growing out of their hands would be almost redundant. I am not beguiled by Bejeweled nor have I felt an impulse to help Flo out with her Diner. Until a few months ago, gaming jargons that are now so popular on the Internet made little sense to me (now, they make a little sense because I looked them up in Wikipedia. Seriously, pwnd is not a word, it’s gibberish!). And for months now I have been stoically resisting various (separate) attempts by my friends to make a farmer out of me (No, I don’t want to be your neighbor, and I certainly don’t want to grow pumpkins!). But even I can’t deny that social games are the hottest trend on the web, and have gained enough impetus to change the social picture, and that marketers are practically chomping at the bits to capitalize on the massive marketing opportunity they present
Be it the wildly popular (and weird) games on Facebook or the social network-cum-location-based mobile game
Foursquare, the interweb is finally alive to the as-yet-untapped promotional possibilities that social games offer. Evidently, games make social experiences ‘funner’; once accustomed to such a model, users will hardly be open to embracing a game-less one. (I can say this on authority, as I have had a similar experience with my 5-year-old niece and her broken Game Boy.) That and the fact that the social gaming market, in spite of being in its infancy, is worth a billion help me assume that this trend of social games will only grow bigger (but if that means more Farmville invitations, God help me!), and hence, I think fleshing out a marketing model based on it is, in fact, a great idea.
Clearly, more people are on to it. Foursquare must have foreseen this trend too, because four months ago, it launched its advertising platform, Foursquare for Businesses. And possibly taking note of the blitzkrieg growth-rate that it is enjoying, marketers are (already) lining up, hoping to cash in on it. Foursquare has already landed a deal with Bravo Media, the force behind Bravo TV – famous for its housewives and Padma Lakshmi. There are other early adopters, local businesses mostly, that are teaming up with Foursquare to promote their brand and fares. For example, when Foursquare player ‘checks-in’ at a local café that’s collaborating with Foursquare, he may end up landing some great discount deals, that are not available to the regular patrons. Read more
4 Indispensable Tips On Viral Marketing That Cannot Be Ignored
If your goal is to promote your business, whether it is online or offline, you cannot do better than to rely on viral marketing. Viral marketing, in case you were worried, doesn’t involve viruses; the term alludes to the super-fast rate at which viruses spread. Viral marketing involves relying on techniques that will help spread your (promotional) message through a ‘viral process’ and reach a web-wide audience within a short amount of time.
The success of your viral marketing efforts depends on how expertly you play your social graph to use as a medium though with to push your message. However, if your message finds no takers, it can hardly go viral, which counts on people indulging in some furious sharing, and no one shares bad content. So, it would be a good idea to remember that a successful round of viral marketing needs both good content and some decent social networking skills.
Here are some handy dandy tips that you can fallback on in your hour of viral marketing need. (I love puns, can you tell?)
1. Giveaways. Everyone loves free things. Free makes everyone happy.
I could delve into the exhaustive scientific studies that attest to these statements, but really, there is no need for it. The giveaway model always works, it works off the Internet, it works equally well on it too. You can offer ebooks or Internet tools, or even sample mp3s if your music is what you wish to promote, and set the ball rolling. Just ensure what you give away is not sub-standard junk that you won’t use yourself. If people like the stuff, they’ll share, talk about it and generate interest in your business. Read more
11 Simple Tips That Guarantee More Comments For Your Blogs
I am sure I am not the only one who burns with envy when the neighboring blog receives more comments than mine does, or even worse, the neighboring blog receives a glut of comments, while my blog can’t even muster one. Apart from making me feel that my blog and I should be living under a rock, it almost makes my persistent fear that my blog has no actual readers fairly real, which is no good for a blog or a blog writer’s self-confidence. It’s every blog writer’s worst, confidence-sucking fear – a post not receiving enough or any comments. So, how can any self-respecting blogger persuade his or her readers to leave [more] comments? To issue a confirmatory sign that all the efforts that go into the running of a blog aren’t in vain? To engage daily in a spot of virtual hand-holding so that the said blogger can grow strong enough to withstand future, commentless days without turning near-suicidal?
My dear fellow bloggers, today, I’d like to let you in on a few trade secrets that can help you garner more comments and increase your sense of blog-worth considerably… You are welcome!
1. Invite Comments - Yes, as simple as that. Let your readers know that you are keen to hear from them. 
Most blog readers are expert lurkers, spending hours on end at a blog, but seldom letting their presence known with, you know, a comment. Regulars (especially) are usually a little in awe of the writer and hence a trifle embarrassed to comment. Think getting tongue-tied when meeting a celebrity, it’s a similar emotion. So, you the blogger should try your utmost to put your readers at ease, and let them know unequivocally that you’d like to hear from them.
2. Compel Them To Comment – Making your posts conversational, and peppering them with questions that invite your readers to share their opinions on whatever that you’ve written about is a stellar idea. While you are at it, ensure that the topic you’ve chosen is interesting enough; current, popular, even slightly controversial ones will give your readers an impetus to comment. For example, write a post about your take on the Tiger Woods ‘incident(s)’ and all the brouhaha over it, a topic that is current as well as suitably controversial, your readers will be more than eager to offer their two cents worth.
3. Reward Your Readers – You may think that the posts you write are rewards enough, but if you continue in that perception, you might as well bid all hopes of comments goodbye. 
Setting up fun virtual prizes and awards can help acknowledge your readers’ presence and at the same time express your continued gratitude for it, and hence, can prove to be a surefire way to elicit more comments and evoke more loyalty from them. For example, you could set up Reader Of The Month or Best Comment of the Day awards and have the winners’ name displayed on your blog; it won’t cost you anything, but sure will make your readers feel cherished.
4. Guest Posts From Your Readers - Stir things up on your blog with a little reader interaction. Invite a reader, preferably a regular, to write a post for your blog. That’ll give the other readers something to talk about, you can be sure. In addition to providing more ‘flavor’ to your blog, such a move will help the readers feel more connected to you.
5. Reveal Your Soft Underbelly – Well not literally, of course. Adopting a slightly self-deprecating approach or talking about things you are spectacularly bad at, or even revealing the most irrational of your fears will make it easier for your readers to relate to you, and tell them that you are just like them, with your anxieties and silly fears and everyday problems. Having said that, you’ll have to strike a balance between being relatable and whiney; too whiney, and you run the risk of losing whatever few readers you have (and you don’t want that, no sirree, no).
6. Comment on Others’ Blogs - Do unto others what you wish they did to you; that is the first commandment in The Big Book Of Blog Commenting. 
Linking opportunity aside, commenting regularly on blogs you enjoy can result in acts of reciprocation. Though not necessarily a quid pro quo deed, you can be assured that if you leave meaningful comments on other blogs, those bloggers will take note of it, and quite possibly repay you in comments.
Read more
Social Media – Avatar in 2010
Last year saw Twitter and Facebook rise to dizzying heights of popularity and the web trying to wrap its collective head around the concept of real-time search and the resulting collaborations between Twitter and traditional search giants like Google and Bing. Yeah, social media really came of age in 2009. So, what changes will be wrought in social media this year? Social media gurus all over the Internet have been frantically making predictions, many have come out with extensive lists of just what changes it will undergo in 2010. Listed below are six likely social media forecasts for this year.
1. Social Media And Real Time Web – We already got a glimpse of the real-time web in 2009, with real-time search rolled out by major social media networks like Facebook and Twitter and the consequent deals with Bing and Google. 
This year we’ll see it come to its own, and social media will be the vehicle that will take it there. Besides being the agent of real-time search, which is already being incorporated into traditional search, social media will also prove to be a trend forecaster that will help spread as well as start trends and fads in matter of seconds.
2. Business of Social Media Marketing – Businesses were already turning hip to the powers of social media in the realm of marketing in 2009 (Dairy Queen, American fast-food chain and a local radio station WUKY are among the few who actively built their social media presence last year), and 2010 will reveal more and more businesses, including small businesses, resorting to the aid of social media marketing. According to industry experts, “Social media in 2010 will cease being the shiny new object and instead become part of the everyday lexicon of business.” And that it will no longer be considered a ‘fad’ used by youngsters and movie stars, but a marketing force to be reckoned with.
How to Order with Social Maximizer Contd.
Importing Sites and Submitting Existing Sites
As mentioned in the previous post, the purpose of this post is twofold:
1) to show you how easy and simple it is to import sites from your Directory Maximizer account
2) also to show you how easily you can place orders by submitting sites or pages already added to you Social Maximizer account
Let’s first tackle the issue of ‘Importing’ sites.
If you are a Directory Maximizer user, you have the added advantage of importing your sites from your Directory Maximizer account and being on the shortest route to have your site bookmarked.
Once you’ve logged in to your account, click on the ‘Import Sites’ button. This will cause a page with the site listings to pop up.
Choose the sites you wish to import to Social Maximizer, then click on the import button. And voila! The sites are in your account and you are already halfway through with submitting them!
All Tweet, No Trick – Interesting Twitter Stories & Incidents
In the past three and a half years, Twitter has successfully left behind its humble beginning as a micro-blogging platform to evolve into a social media phenomenon that has captured the imagination of almost half the world’s population. I don’t know who is more surprised at the turn of events, the Twitter creators, Jack Dorsey and Evan Williams (who, it appears, are still a little clueless as to how to milk this cash cow of theirs) or the social media experts who wrote it off as a passing fad. Last year, Twitter’s rise was so meteoric that it caused the reigning social-media darling that is Facebook to break the tenth Commandment – “Thou shall not covet”, because, Facebook coveted Twitter. Big time! But that’s a post for another time.
Today, I’d like to talk about how practically the whole world is cashing in on the popularity of Twitter, though the site itself is yet to monetize the ginormous amount of traffic it receives – according to Compete, over 23 million unique visitors in September 09! (No, I can’t get over it.) Though I’d like to, it would be quite a challenge to cite all the different ways in which the world is using Twitter and still write a 1000 words post. So, I have found seven very illuminating instances I must share with you. They are not necessarily about people making money off Twitter, though there are a couple about that as well, what they have in common is the way they all illustrate how powerful a resonance Twitter has found with the Everyman. Okay, I’ll amend that to the net-surfing Everyman.
1. The first story has Demi Moore in it. Before you get any ideas, no, it’s not about Ashton Kutcher! Honestly, it’s a little scary and sad, but also a little amazing at the same time. 
Last April, Demi Moore a.k.a @mrskutcher was instrumental in saving the life of a suicidal woman. The woman, @sandieguy, tweeted her suicide note, with one particular tweet directed at @mrskutcher. It said, “@mrskutcher getting a knife, a big one that is sharp. Going to cut my arm down the whole arm so it doesn’t waste time”. Moore happened to catch the tweet and her timely retweet set off a flurry of retweets amongst her followers and caused the police to track down the woman, who was, thank god, found unharmed. Talk about saved in the nick of time!
2. Next, let’s learn how we can generate traffic (and possibly revenue) via Twitter, let’s take a page out of BBGeeks.com’s site – where you can find information on all things BlackBerry and buy apps and accessories for the smartphone. Like any self-respecting site, they wanted to explore new avenues to drive traffic to their site, and Twitter was as new an avenue as it got. So, they decided to set up a Twitter account in the hope of capitalizing on the new Twitter wave that the cybersphere was (and has been) experiencing. Though initially they weren’t very successful in finding many followers, a well-guided change in their approach rectified that. In their second attempt, they had one of their staff dedicated to the management of their Twitter profile and positioned him as a ‘BlackBerry troubleshooter’ who could actually help their followers and not merely push (their) links. 
The second time is the charm, because in less than two years they have gone from having just 100 followers to having over 23000 followers and according to a recent case study (the numbers were kept confidential), their Twitter traffic converts are higher than that of any other social network they have tracked. The occasional “Twitter only” discounts at their software and accessories store must have nicely contributed to that. Nice work, BBGeeks, that’s all I can say.
Read more
10 Bizarre Facts You Ought to Know about FaceBook
Facebook… A phenomenon, a revelation, a lifestyle, the eighth wonder of the world… I can just go on and might probably even run out of synonyms that will do justice to this 21st Century marvel. There are very few sites or companies that can boast the success Facebook enjoys… let’s see, Google, Microsoft, Amazon…? Hmmm, can’t think of too many sites that can compete with Facebook when it comes to popularity. Hell, it’s almost become a religion now (& I’m a follower I confess 
). In the 5 years it has existed Facebook has changed the way people live. I’m afraid we live our lives through Facebook, for Facebook & with Facebook! It’s become so bad that I don’t think I can even remember the time when Facebook was not there!
All said & done Facebook is equal to oxygen for millions & millions of people (including me!) but do we know the journey it has gone through? Here are 10 Bizarre Facts about Facebook we ought to know…
1. More than 60 % of men and women have used Facebook to stalk their ex… & why not???
It’s like godsend for jilted ex-lovers who want to know each & everything their ex is doing after dumping them! Your ex will not know you’re following their every move & there’s no way you’ll get caught… perfect! No more public humiliation & so much information… ahem
2. ??? Pictures Uploaded Monthly on Facebook
I don’t know about other people but whenever I attend a party or go for a holiday I take lots of pictures. This may seem normal but what you don’t know is that many of these photos are being taken only to post on Facebook. 
I also know that I am not the only one doing it. Of course there was a time when we use to click snaps for memories but hard core Facebook users like me will tell you that is no longer the case.
So we all keep posting all our photos on Facebook to share with our friends but have you ever stopped to wonder how many pictures are uploaded monthly??? The answer is 1 Billion!! That means 333,333,333 photos every day! No wonder the site keeps getting stuck so many times… I don’t blame you Facebook!
3. Active users
Lets take a look at the number of active members in Facebook over the years. In Dec 2004 there were 1 million active users in Facebook which grew to 5.5 million in 2005, 12 million in 2006, 50 million in 2007, 100 million in 2008 & has increased to 250 million as of July 2009!!! That is a growth of 250% in 5 years. Really man, Facebook IS making the world a smaller place.
4. More than 30 million users update their status at least once each day
This is not so much about Facebook but about how people lose their mind sometimes on Facebook. We all know that Facebook allows you to update your Status… but some people really take it to another level! I just couldn’t leave these gems out; you have to see for yourself…
o … can speak French in Russian..
o …’s charm is so contagious that a vaccine was created for it.
o … thinks that a day without sunshine is like night.
o … is a lover not a fighter, but he’s also a fighter so don’t get any ideas.
o … is so broke that she’s going to KFC to lick other peoples fingers.
o … feels ashamed of his smoking but it’s better that I smoke this and let the dreams of the cigarette workers come true then to be selfish & worry about my lungs.
Math Professor + Social Bookmarking = ???
Richard, a senior school math professor, is known as a modern day professor by most of his peers as he follows a more unconventional method of teaching. Instead of relying on the regular text books used by every other professor, he would use the Internet extensively to update himself and keep his students abreast about the changing phenomenons in the world of math. He was on every educational institutes’ newsfeed, apart from being amongst the first to be updated by publishers on new updates via email. But this isn’t just it, he also researches the internet on a day-to-day basis for new theories, which if he finds interesting, he has the site added to his desktop’s web browser.
Photography is also one of Richard’s interests, so when not at work he’s also reading up on the latest lens in the market, apart from different photographic techniques, participating in several activity forums, to mention a few. With the desire to share these sites with his like-minded friends in the future, he saves these bookmarks as well on his browser.
With his findings running into hundreds in a few months time, Richard is beginning to realize the need for a more efficient system as with time, it’s only becoming increasingly difficult for him to locate his bookmarks. This apart, every time he steps out of home, he doesn’t have access to his system, so just in case he’s forgotten to email the researched information to his students, sharing his findings becomes an issue.
On one such day, that he’s forgotten to email his previous evenings findings, he discusses this issue with his class. At that time, Andrew tells Professor Richard about this site called Del.icio.us, which he uses to manage his bookmarks of gaming sites. Whenever Andrew finds a great gaming website that he’d like to bookmark, he just clicks on the “Tag” button on his browser to add it to his Del.icio.us account and enters a few relevant keywords that can help him find this bookmark at a future date. Not only this, since his list is public, he also directs his friends and college mates to it, which they can then find through keywords. Del.icio.us being online, also means that Andrew’s bookmarks aren’t just restricted to a single system.
On listening to this information Professor Richard’s heaves a sigh of relief, for he knows that this is exactly what he’s been looking for. He goes back home and spends the next few weeks reorganizing his bookmarks taking them online to Del.icio.us for his respective groups.
As you have understood we are talking about Social bookmarking. To summarize, Social bookmarking can very briefly be explained as a method where users of the World Wide Web save, organize, search, manage and share bookmarks of pages on the Internet with the help of tags or in simpler terms, keywords.
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