7 Effective Tips to Turn Your LinkedIn Profile into a Social Media Battle Winner

There’s one thing that separates LinkedIn from all the other social media networks out there: Everyone who comes to LinkedIn is there for a professional purpose. Your future employers, your future investors and your future business partners all likely have a profile on LinkedIn.

If you want to network professionally online, there is no better place than LinkedIn. Spending time to perfect your LinkedIn profile is therefore a high ROI activity.

Here are seven quick tips to help boost your LinkedIn profile.

Tip #1 – An Attention Catching Headline

Your headline should be written so that anyone who sees your profile in the search results would want to click on your profile and learn more about you.

It should say something either unusual or incredible about you. It should stand out from all the other results. It should speak directly to your target audience.

Tip #2 – Have Someone Proofread Your Profile

Your LinkedIn profile is your chance to make a professional impression. Having misspellings, grammar mistakes of factual inaccuracies on your LinkedIn profile is like going to a professional networking event with a mustard stain on your shirt.

Don’t blow the all-important first impression. Even one little mistake you miss could cost you a future job or client. Hire someone to proofread your profile before going live.

Tip #3 – Make Liberal Use of Recommendations

Recommendations are one of the most powerful things you could have on your profile. It’s the one thing that people trust the most on a LinkedIn profile, because it involves other people recommending you.

Getting a few good recommendations can change your entire profile. Contact a few former employers, employees and co-workers to ask them to leave you a recommendation. Most of the tie they’ll be happy to do it.

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How to Use Google+ to Promote Your Product or Service

Google+ is the newest social network in town and the fastest growing social network in history. As more and more people come onto Google+, it’ll become more and more important for businesses to be well versed in Google+ marketing strategies.

By learning about Google+ today, you’ll put yourself ahead of the curve. Not only will you be seen as progressive, but you’ll be able to establish your brand long before others have even realized the importance of Google+.

Here’s how to use Google+ to promote your product or service.

Create Meaningful Circle Segments
Perhaps the most valuable thing Google+ offers that Facebook doesn’t is the ability to sort your market by different segments. Using Google+’s circles, you’ll be able to choose exactly who gets to see what messages.

So how should you segment your customers?

Ideally, you should create a different circle and therefore a different segment for each different kind of “mindset” of customer that you have.

For example, you might have one circle for people who’ve bought your product, one circle for people who haven’t bought yet, one circle for people who’re affiliates of your product and one circle for people who’ve entered into a contest but didn’t win.

Each of these people might respond to different messages. For example, offering customer-only discounts to your past buyers could be a stellar strategy to get repeat buys. On the other hand, with people who haven’t bought yet, you might want to provide primarily trust building content.

Take Advantage of Google+’s Posting Features

One thing that’s inherently different about Google+ than Facebook is the length and style of your posts.

On Facebook, you can only post 420 characters in a status update. That really puts a limit on what you can post. Essentially, you can only post short thoughts, short content and links.

On Google+ however, the limit is well over 2,000 characters. (There’s no set limit yet.) In addition, you can link to several videos, links and pictures within your post.

That means that unlike Facebook, on Google+ you can post entire pieces of content for your network to see. You can use Google+ as a direct way to publish useful information to your circles without having to refer people to an outside link.

Use this feature liberally. If you want to build a brand as an expert, Google+ offers a much more suited style than Facebook does.

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Top 10 Tips to Tweet your way to 1000’s of Followers

If getting Twitter followers seems like a mystery to you, read this article carefully.

Getting Twitter to work for you is just like getting anything else in business to work: You need to first figure out a good system that works for you by testing a number of different things, then implement that system regularly.

Here are ten different ways you can increase your Twitter followers. Some of these might work for you, some might not. The only way to know is to try.

1. Springboard Your Followers With Existing Platforms

Do you have a blog, an email list or an active Facebook page? If so, springboard your Twitter follower base by posting something about your Twitter feed on your existing platforms.

Make sure you place a “tweet” icon or “follow” icon on each and every page of your website.

2. Give Away Valuable Content

The #1 thing people want on Twitter is valuable content. All the other marketing tactics really won’t matter if you don’t have valuable content being published on a regular basis.
Write your tweets as if you were writing a direct short message to your target audience. Make sure it’s packed with juicy tidbits or links to valuable resources.

3. Be As Controversial As Possible

Take on controversial topics. Explore the other side of the argument. Make statements that get people riled up.
While you might alienate some people by being controversial, you’ll also get a lot more exposure. Exposure means more followers.

The people who end up following you and becoming your fans are the people you’d want to attract anyway.

4. Retweet All the Time

Retweeting is a win/win for everyone involved. The person you’re retweeting will be ecstatic that you helped spread their message. Your followers will be exposed to new content that you like. And you’ll get more followers, as well as the goodwill of fellow tweeters.

5. Follow a Lot of People

Most active Twitter users watch their followers very closely. If you follow someone, there’s a very good chance they’ll follow you back.

In other words, if you want to get 300 additional followers, one of the fastest ways to do that is to simply follow 500 people.

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iOS 5 Update – The “O Where Art Thou” Reactions!

At the time of this writing, the iOS 5 has not launched as yet but it’s been fun following the various reactions over Twitter of people waiting keenly in anticipation for the new update. The launch time is rumoured to be either midnight PDT ( that didn’t happen ) or 10 am PDT (The update’s available now! It became available shortly past 10 am PDT).  Will also do a follow up post about reactions post the update, that should also be interesting! (UPDATE: Follow up post is ready – Survey of Reactions to the new iOS 5)

Here are some of the better ones that I found, if you have any suggest them in the comments section below:

Zachari123 Zachari Miller

Frustrated because I want to download #iOS5 but I need to sleep. If only I could wirelessly download it. Too bad I need #iOS5 for that!   Retweet this!

kaspershow Kasper

The “check for update” button has got to be sick of me by now. Retweet this!

RafAvila Raf Avila

#thatawkwardmoment when every iPhone user worldwide goes into seizure mode pressing the ‘check for update’ button on their iTunes.  Retweet this!

amyflandreau Amy Flandreau

I’m so pissed that I’m such an idiot who stayed up waiting for #iOS5 when it’s not midnight in the entire country yet Retweet this!

MrsNastashia ??Me ??

Apple is gonna make me carry my laptop to work tomorrow..cause I need this update ASAP!! Retweet this!

GeorgiaTiPb Georgia

OMG…Not wanting to update to #iOS5 has pissed some people off like I ate their first born child. What’s up w/ that? http://www.tipb.com/2011/10/11/updating-ios-5/
Retweet this!

bandpyro Jessie

Stay up till iOS5 comes out, or go to sleep and not be a dead tired teacher tomorrow? CHOICES CHOICES?!?!? Retweet this!

elzombo Jeffrey

I want to stay up for iOS 5. But then again I want sleep. Retweet this!

ammo_kills Cody

Ok I’m looking for #iOS5 and can’t find anything.. thought I would come to twitter, cause theres always an answer here. lol  Retweet this!

AlexHutchins1 Alex Hutchins

#ironic that bbm has crapped out the night before #ios5 Retweet this!

moldyminttea Miguel P.

i bet #iOS5 is gonna be infected with Steve Job’s ghost. Retweet this!

j_cic John C

Current version go away! Retweet this!

RichardHuckvale

Come on America catch up with the UK we are on the 12/10/2011 but can’t have iOS 5 till you catch up!!! #iOS5 Retweet this!

So these were some of the ones I found interesting enough to highlight. It’s wonderful to see so much interest and passion about the Apple brand and credit has to be given to the visionary Steve Jobs to have done everything he did to generate this level of excitment and enthusiasm about all his creations.

Find below a twitter stream keeping track of more mentions regarding iOS 5, you might catch a few more interesting ones there.

Other Posts you might like:

• iOS 5 Update – A Survey of the Reactions! Cast your Vote!
• 10 Bizarre Facts you ought to know about Facebook
• 7 Awesomely Amazing Examples of Success through Youtube
• 14 Powerful Tips for Marketing on Facebook
  

What to Include In Your Social Media Marketing Strategy

A well planned and executed social media marketing (SMM) strategy takes you where your users and buyers are. It lets you share the voice of your organization, get real time feedback for your products, create an instant buzz for your new product offerings, build customer loyalty, and reach an informed target audience. The great thing about a well carried out SMM strategy is that it requires very little financial investment from your side.

I)     What to Include In Your Social Media Marketing Strategy

An effective SMM strategy will leverage all quality online social hubs where users and customers meet and converse. A good SMM portfolio includes a presence on diverse and multimedia social sites. Let’s take a look at the key elements of a good SMM strategy.

• Social Networking Sites

There are various social networking sites where you can create profiles to connect with your target audience directly. Create a Facebook fan page. Create tweets and retweets on Twitter. Create your organization’s profile on Linkedin. According to statistics released by Facebook, the social networking website has around 500 million active users, of which around 50% log in every day for commenting or browsing. A Facebook fan page thus makes a lot of sense to reach an active online audience. On the other hand, Twitter has real time updates and news-worthy tweets that even search engines show in their search results. The tweets about your products are quickly read and responded to by other users. A Twitter account to respond to and create a buzz about your product is therefore essential. Linkedin is accessed by a variety of professionals and businesses looking to connect and research for work and business. Hence, a Linkedin account for your organization is great for networking within the industry or with vendors.

• Blogs, Microblogging

Blogs give you a wide platform to talk about key issues. Blogs are also a great way of bringing traffic to your main website. For an effective blog, you need to post fresh and relevant content frequently, monitor and respond to comments, create internal links, and build a community of loyal readers. Microblogging through sites like Twitter also lets you send short, crisp updates.
Some famous company blogs are www.engadget.com, googleblog.blogspot.com, blog.facebook.com & en.community.dell.com/dell-blogs/default.aspx. If you want blogs related to SEO, you can check out searchengineland.com, www.seomoz.org/blog or www.searchenginejournal.com.

• Online Videos

Websites like Youtube have created a whole new arena for multimedia interaction. Sharing and viewing videos is now, not just an activity enjoyed by individuals for their own pleasure, but also a great way for an organization to share information about its products. Organizations have found sharing interesting and related videos on Youtube to be a great way of ensuring continual, sustained interest of the target audience. You can upload interviews of your top management, share presentations, or even share videos of social or business events in your organization. When Intel uploaded fun and digitally enhanced videos of its Consumer Electronics Show exhibit, it not only created a buzz but also ensured users got to know about its new Core Duo processor.

• Photosharing, Slide Sharing

Sharing relevant and interesting images with your user base also helps in creating pleasant, long-term associations. The images can be about widely anticipated events like a product launch, celebrity associations, or the organization’s internal events. Websites like Flickr have an active user base and can be leveraged for this purpose.

Slide sharing, on the other hand, directly appeals to the user’s needs by sharing information that they need and would use in their business. If your organization has conducted any good-to-know research, you can share the findings online. You can also share your presentations, slides, and reports through websites like Slideshare and Scribd.

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Digg, Tweet & Like Your Way to SERP Heaven

Social Media Marketing (SMM) a tool for getting across the right information to your target audience through social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter, has truly arrived and is here to stay. Top search engines worldwide, like Google and Bing have already begun crawling for data from such social networking sites and are even using them for the final search ranking.

This was recently witnessed by the website SEOmoz.com, which not only got a huge surge in traffic after one of its posts “Beginner’s Guide to SEO” was tweeted by Smashing Magazine and then retweeted by followers, but it also reached among the top results (No. 2 in the 1st page as of today) in the Google search for the unusual term “beginner’s guide”. While the initial surge subsided after the first few days, the page nonetheless continues getting consistent traffic weeks after the initial tweet by a figure of authority such as Smashing Magazine.

The more number of times a particular page gets linked through the “Share” feature for various social websites, the higher the chances of a better search ranking. In fact, for the search engine Bing, the higher the number of “followers” or “friends” for a particular account or website on a social media site, the easier it is for the website to achieve a higher search ranking.

It is clear then that the importance of social media websites like Facebook and Twitter can no longer be ignored. SMO thus has to be a crucial component of your Search Engine Optimization (SEO) strategy. Let’s take a look at how you can optimize your activities on websites like Facebook and Twitter to get the best search ranking.

•    Stay Active
Having a presence on social media alone is not enough. You need to add meat to the bone of your online presence. This can only be done by staying active consistently, by posting or tweeting content, relevant images, and informative videos. You can also supplement this activity and stay active without too much effort by responding to comments, commenting on other relevant posts and pages, using the “Like” feature on Facebook, and retweeting. By investing a few minutes every day (as opposed to being online only once in a while) you can see really good, long-term results.

•    Yes, Content Is Still the King
For an optimal search engine optimization strategy, content is still king. Ensure the content you publish is good quality content. While posting often is good, ensure you don’t lose grip on the type and relevance of your content. If the content is interesting and informative, the hits will appear. For example, the Travel Channel has managed to make the most of their Facebook profile by asking readers who enrol as “Fans” to share their Facebook-related travel stories. Needless to say, the content is interesting, unique, and highly relevant to the readers themselves.

You also need to ensure your content is free from plagiarism, is 100% original, and does not violate any copyright laws. In addition, your posts need to reflect an optimal density of keywords related to your business for search engines to take note of your website. Make sure your tweets or posts consistently talk about your business and do not lose focus, subject-wise. Examples of the type of content you post could be updates from your business, changes on your website, offers, deals etc. This will increase your brand value as well.

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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.

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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.

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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

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