‘Marketing’ Archives

4 Most Common Facebook Mistakes

Facebook can be a fairly simple network to navigate through when promoting your business. Though, there are a few common mistakes business owners make. When you launch a Facebook marketing plan, planning ahead to develop a strategy is crucial to your success. Consistency is key. Listed below are the 4 most common Facebook mistakes made by marketers today:

Mistake #1. Losing Steam: Many businesses who create a new Facebook page in order to promote their company are enthusiastic and optimistic when the page is first launched, but as time passes, they tend to place less importance on the page, and in return, lose steady traffic and potential customers. In this case “build it and they will come” does not quite ring true. You should utilize Facebook every single day as part of your marketing strategy. Posting 1-5 times daily is generally regarded to be the optimal amount to keep your audience interested and your page active.  Keep in mind, however, that over-posting could be equally as damaging (see below).  Users should also update cover pictures, timeline banners and information often to keep the page up-to-date and fresh. Remember that this is a very linear process, and expecting immediate gratification will only set you up for disappointment.  With a strong effort, you should begin to see significant traffic and development around the 90 day mark.

Mistake #2. Posting Too Often/Shameless Self-Promotion: Make sure your content is interesting, engaging, and interactive.  Hold contests here and there.  This may be counter-intuitive, but constant self promotion will get you nowhere fast.  Naturally you are there to expand your business community and build your brand; that is best achieved through interesting, engaging and interactive posts, peppered with a little personal promotion.  Hold contests here and there. If your audience is seeing the same posts all day every day, your “Likes” and traffic will surely suffer for it.  Make sure to spread out your posts, and try to include some images.  Keep in mind, you don’t just want them to come, you want them to  come back.

Mistake #3. Not Responding To Users: You must respond to every single post made on your Facebook page. Many companies do not bother to take the time to read what their audience is saying. Correspondence from your audience is vitally important to your business, and by responding to posts and messages, you are relaying the message that you care about their opinions. This will encourage your audience to continue to be active on your page.

Mistake #4. Constant Re-Branding: When you are building your brand you want to make sure that it is recognizable to your audience.  If you constantly switch your logo, colors or format for each social media platform you use, you will only create brand confusion. Businesses should be sure that all of their network brands such as color schemes, photos, fonts, background variations and wording all match so it will be clear to the consumer or visitor that all the platforms are connected to the same company.

For daily social-media tips, visit our Facebook page here: http://www.facebook.com/TheIbisNetwork

Tags: Audience, Business Community, Business Owners, Consistency, Contests, Disappointment, Immediate Gratification, Launch Plan, Marketing Plan, Marketing Planning, Marketing Strategy, Mistake, Mistakes Made By Marketers, Personal Promotion, Promoting Your Business, Self Promotion, Single Day, Steady Traffic, Steam
Category Facebook, Marketing, Networking Strategy, Social Media |

Profitable Ways To Build Your Brand On Twitter

Digital media allows you the opportunity to explain yourself or your business to a wide and diverse audience. Twitter is an exceptional tool that can be used to build your brand efficiently and achieve a better business strategy while increasing your profit. Twitter offers an optimal network that can help your business reach a large readership in a quick and efficient way. Here are 5 tips that will help build your business brand on Twitter.

1. Your Twitter Name Should Reflect Your Company’s Name: This may seem like common sense, but many companies fail to communicate their brand in their Twitter name. This is the first thing people  see when viewing your profile.

2. Use Your Company Logo As Your Picture: Twitter has an allotted space designated for your picture. Businesses should use the space to share their company logo. This tactic will entice visitors and help them identify your logo with your brand and ultimately your business.

3. Tweet Often: Users should be tweeting multiple times daily to stay in Twitters home-page stream. Businesses want to be sure that the information they are tweeting is being viewed. This is an excellent way to ensure that you are reaching the largest possible audience.

4. Provide Valuable Information: Posting compelling information is of the utmost importance when tweeting. Sharing intriguing information about your area of expertise will keep readers engaged and serve as a constant reminder of your knowledge and commitment.

5. Plan For The Future: Social-media is an extremely fast-paced environment and to be prepared for the future you must think ahead. Plan your tweets for the coming days to optimize your Twitter strategy and  reinforce the growth and success of your brand.

Connect with us on Twitter here (we follow back): http://twitter.com/TheIbisNetwork

Tags: Audience, Better Business, Brand Name, Business Strategy, Common Sense, Company Logo, Constant Reminder, Fast Paced Environment, Knowledge, Multiple Times, Opportunity, Optimal Network, Readership, Space Picture, Success, Tactic, Tweet, Tweets, Twitter, Utmost Importance
Category Marketing, Networking Strategy, Social Media, Twitter |

4 Ways To Create A Thriving Facebook Fan Page

Integrating a Facebook fan page into your marketing campaign can be incredibly beneficial in building your brand while attracting more traffic to your website. Facebook fan pages were specifically designed for businesses and model-individuals to share information, build their brands, and gain “fans”. Below are 4 ways you can utilize Facebook fan pages to get the most from the feature and help your Facebook marketing strategy.

1.) Keep It Fresh: By adding new information daily you are keeping your fans interested and providing them with reasons to visit your page frequently. You can also take advantage of widgets to link your Twitter feed, Flickr account or YouTube channel directly to your Facebook page to automatically post photos and videos.

2.) Interact with your fans and visitors: It is always a smart decision to interact with your audience, but you may have to make the first move. Posting questions or polls are easy ways to get your audience involved. You should post a variety of open and closed questions in hopes of reaching a larger audience.

3.) Promotional Contest: Adding contests to your Facebook page is an excellent way to add value to your page while offering an incentive. Offer your fans something they can’t get anywhere else, and they will continue to visit your page to see what else you may have to offer.

4.) Measure Your Success: Facebook Fan Pages offer a vital feature called Facebook Insights. This tool allows you to measure your page’s growth and interaction. Insights provides you with information such as the amount of “Likes” you are receiving and how much time your audience is spending on your  page. By checking your measurements, you can see what tactics may or may not be working for your audience and then act accordingly.

For daily social-media tips, visit our Facebook page here

Tags: Audience, Contests, Facebook, Fan Page, Fan Pages, First Move, Insights, Interaction, Marketing Campaign, Marketing Strategy, Measurements, Open And Closed Questions, Polls, Promotional Contest, Smart Decision, Success, Tool, Traffic Website, Vital Feature, Widgets
Category Facebook, Marketing, Networking Strategy, Social Media |

3 Effective Ways To Build Your Business Using Linkedin

LinkedIn can be used for more than just finding a new company or career building. Marketers can use the site as a prime way to build business by making connections with influential individuals in their specific industry. LinkedIn company pages are proving to be an excellent way to advertise at no cost. Here are three tips that will help benefit your LinkedIn company page and help grow your business without spending a penny.

1.) Create Leadership: One of the most effective ways to build your business on LinkedIn is to position yourself as an expert in your field. LinkedIn Answers  and Groups allow you to gain leverage in your specific industry. You can do this by sharing relevant and informative information from your website or blog. People join groups and ask questions to gain valuable information from someone who may appear more knowledgeable in a certain field of interest. Having answers to hard questions will build your professional reputation and help establish yourself as the go-to guru.. This type of marketing is subtle but will help promote your business to new audiences.

2.) Update Your Status: This is crucial. The more you update your status, the better opportunity you create to generate more clients. Use your status  to notify your connections of promotions you may be offering, business announcements, or new products you have to offer. This will help build your brand while creating trust with your connections. Do this without flagrant self-promotion.  

3.) Display Your Brand: When people go to any social media site you operate, your brand should be prevalent. Add a picture or logo that represents your company. Be sure your site is constructed professionally and has your contact information prominently displayed. People do not want to spend a lot of time trying to figure out  who you are and what you have to offer, your brand should speak loudly.

For daily social-media tips, visit our Facebook page here

HereDeixis – In linguistics, deixis refers to the phenomenon wherein understanding the meaning of certain words and phrases in an utterance requires contextual information. →

Tags: Advertise, Audiences, Blog, Business Announcements, Expert, Groups, Guru, Inkedin, Leadership, Leverage, LinkedIn, Logo Company, Lot, Marketers, Marketing, Opportunity, People, Professional Reputation, Promotions, Self Promotion
Category Linked In, Marketing, Networking Strategy, Social Media |

14 Terms For The Social-Media Beginner

Many people who are new to social media can be  intimidated by foreign terms, acronyms and other up-to-the-minute lingo. This new language may be confusing enough to keep some people and businesses from fully embracing social media. The following is a list of some of the better known and most-used language in social media.

Blog – A regularly updated website or “web log” that allows a company or individual to post content and interact with readers through commentary, subscriptions, widgets, and syndicated RSS feeds.

Dashboard – The administrative area on blogs and social-media sites that allows you to edit your information, manage comments, monitor traffic, upload files, etc.

Domain Name – The identifying name or address of an Internet site.

Hashtag – Used on Twitter and Instagram, a hashtag is a keyword or phrase preceded by a “#” that helps organize posts, making them easier to find in searches.

Hyperlink – A navigational reference that embeds a link to a document or page on the Internet.

News Feed – Your news feed is where friends or followers share their current status.

Profiles and Pages – The pages on social-networking sites where a person or business displays their contact information, pictures, posts, and files.

RSS Feed – RSS (Really Simple Syndication) is a family of web-feed formats used to publish frequently updated content such as blogs and videos in a standardized format. Content publishers can syndicate a feed, which allows users to subscribe to the content and read it when they please, and from a location other than the website.

Subscribing – Signing up for a site’s feed, which automatically sends you new content from that site.

Tags – Keywords associated with a blog post or other content making them more easily found through searches.

Traffic – This term pertains to how many guests are visiting your social media site.

Trending – A popular phrase, word, or topic that is being used or shared habitually.

Viral Marketing – Viral marketing refers to marketing techniques that use pre-existing social networks to produce increases in brand awareness or to achieve other marketing objectives through self-replicating viral processes.

Wall or Timeline – The shared portion, or discussion board, displayed on a social-media profile.

For daily social-media tips, visit our Facebook page here

Tags: Administrative Area, Content Publishers, Current Status, Dashboard, Domain Name, Followers, Format Content, Internet News, Internet Site, Lingo, New Language, Phrase, Social Networking Sites, Syndication, Twitter, Upload Files, Web Feed, Web Log, Which Allows Users, Widgets
Category Marketing, Networking Strategy, Social Media |

Why Blogging Is an Essential Tool For Marketers In 2013

2013 will be a monumental year for blog marketing. Blogging, when done correctly, can be used as a direct and indirect mechanism to attract a large variety of visitors to your desired social-media page. The more visitors you drive to your sites the better probability of driving business awareness, and essentially, new customers. Blogs establish authority and interaction with visitors, existing clients, prospective clients, and referral partners. Listed below are 3 important reasons why every business should utilize business blogging as a marketing strategy in 2013 and beyond.

1.) Builds Your Brand: Blogging will help people understand what your company is all about and will further your company’s credibility by showcasing your knowledge. If you update your blog daily with compelling and relevant information, people will continue to visit. Visitors will be more likely to explore your other online sites and your company will be more likely to earn their business.

2.) Creates A Relationship With Clients: Blogging is an excellent way to connect with your clients if you cannot find the time for a face-to-face meeting. Blogging also allows you the opportunity to gain feedback from your clients, grow your database, and most importantly, strengthen your relationships. This is also an excellent way to show authenticity to your prospective clients by staying clear of solicitation or sales-talk.

3.) Expands Your Own Knowledge: When blogging, you are constantly researching and finding new information to highlight for your customers. Blogging will keep you, and your business up-to-date with current information and will make sure your business reaches its optimal potential.

For daily social-media tips, visit our Facebook page here

Tags: Authenticity, Blog, Business Awareness, Business Marketing, Credibility, Current Information, Face, Interaction, Knowledge, Marketers, Marketing Strategy, Probability, Prospective Clients, Referral Partners, Relationship With Clients, Relationships, Solicitation, Talk 3, Tool
Category Blogging, Marketing, Networking Strategy, Social Media |

Important Ways To Market Your Online Networks Offline

Creating any social-media site will only provide a percentage of achievable revenue if you do not promote the site itself. Some businesses may get lucky with a few potential clients stumbling across one of their sites, but, as a whole you will have a much higher social-media success rate if you are marketing your online networks offline as well as online. Cross-marketing is essential to any business hoping to attract the optimal number of clients and reach a larger audience. Promoting your social-media presence offline will better help to generate income from your sites. Here are a few ways you can drive  awareness to your online sites using offline tactics.

Add Your Social-Media Networks To Your Business Cards: This will enable you to reach a larger audience in a simple, cost-effective way. Many businesses hand out business cards and/or leave them available for pick-up in the reception area of the office. People tend to regard this as a non-pushy way of receiving information about your company and, will be more likely to explore your social media sites online after a face-to-face encounter with you. You should also add your networks to all of your brochures, flyers or promotional products.

Mention Your Social-Media Networks In More Traditional Advertising Outlets: This may seem like common sense, but many business fail to include their social-media networks when advertising via radio, newspaper or television. People will know you have a professional web presence and can choose the easiest way to find  and connect with you online.

Utilize Event-Marketing Opportunities: When your business is hosting an event or being recognized at a social function, take some time to ensure your audience is aware of your social-media networks.

Word Of Mouth: This is the oldest, effective way of helping a wider audience become aware of any marketing promotion you may be running. Don’t be afraid to ask prospective clients or referral partners to connect with you through their social network of choice.

For daily social-media tips, visit our Facebook page here

HereDeixis – In linguistics, deixis refers to the phenomenon wherein understanding the meaning of certain words and phrases in an utterance requires contextual information. →

Tags: Audience, Brochures, Business Cards, Common Sense, Cross Marketing, Encounter, Event Marketing, Flyers, Marketing Opportunities, Media Networks, Media Presence, Optimal Number, Professional Web Presence, Promotional Products, Prospective Clients, Reception Area, Referral Partners, Success Rate, Traditional Advertising, Word Of Mouth
Category Marketing, Networking Strategy, Social Media |

How Social-Media Polls Can Benefit Your Business

Social Media allows the opportunity to acquire quick feedback essential to all marketers in order to stay agile. When used properly, polls on social-media platforms can help you collect crucial feedback from clients or prospective clients in a speedy manner. Almost all top social-media outlets such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn offer the ability to create polls. Businesses should be utilizing this tool to advance their business and build their brand. Below are 3 reasons why every social-media marketer should be using polls in their social-media marketing strategy.

1.) Running a poll is a way to optimize your business. Clients can easily and quickly communicate how they feel about your business, product or general research.

2.) Polls will help you pinpoint what your clients or future clients are interested in, what they like and what they expect from you or your business.

3.) Using polls will help you keep all of your content on the right track in a cost effective way and, in return, will help you gain insight from your targeted audience.

There are 2 ways you can run a poll through social media; both ways can help build your business and provide excellent feedback. To optimize your campaign you should strive to incorporate both components into your marketing plan.

1.) Multiple Choice or Quiz- This option is highly effective and quick. Asking people whether they prefer (A) or (B) will allow you to receive fast feedback from your audience in a simple and straightforward way.

2.) Ask A Question- This is more advanced; you ask your community a specific question hoping they give you a detailed reply. This will help you gather highly specific data while maintaining awareness of your clients needs.

For daily social media tips, visit our Facebook page here

Tags: 2 Ways, Audience, Business Clients, Business Opportunity, Business Product, Insight, Marketer, Marketers, Marketing Plan, Marketing Strategy, Media Marketing, Media Outlets, Media Platforms, Media Polls, Multiple Choice, Opportunity, Poll, Prospective Clients, Reply, Speedy Manner, Twitter
Category Marketing, Networking Strategy, Social Media |

4 Common Mistakes Facebook Marketers Should Avoid

Facebook has quickly become one of the best ways to promote a business, as it is the leading social-media marketing tool available. Facebook provides the potential to drive brand awareness to an unlimited number of readers. As Facebook grows, businesses continue to join the new environment in hopes of expanding their marketing strategy. Without proper knowledge of how to operate the premier social-media outlet, you can dig yourself into a hole by making mistakes in front of an audience. Below are four of the most common mistakes new Facebook marketers make and advice on how to avoid them to achieve a successful Facebook marketing campaign.

Not Providing An Adequate Amount Of Information: When people visit your Facebook page they want information. When there is not a name, location, etc., on your page, visitors will quickly move along. You must provide as much information about your business as possible. Add your logo to drive brand awareness, provide your name, telephone number, location and what you can do for your Facebook friend or guest. Adding specific or unique content will also help increase your Facebook marketing strategy.

Underestimating Time: Many new Facebook marketers underestimate the amount of time needed to create and maintain a successful Facebook marketing strategy. Setting-up a page and leaving it barren will get you nowhere. You need to update your page daily with current and captivating information. Set some time aside to develop a plan to avoid frustration. Planning time to post, comment, or check your progress will help your strategy operate smoothly.

Not Being Familiar With Facebook Tools: Taking advantage of the free tools Facebook has to offer is half the fun when marketing on the site. If you explore the available functions Facebook offers, you will be able to better your entire marketing campaign. Business owners that are new to Facebook tend to be in a hurry to get information out to the public, but taking only 10 minutes to play around with the platform could optimize and build your online brand experience.

Excessive Posting: Keeping your friends updated and engaged is the best way to manage your Facebook page, but excessive posting will become annoying. Be sure you are changing-up your information and you avoid posting the same thing over and over daily. People want to see current news you have to offer. It is safe to post new information 3-5 times daily. If you really want to highlight a promotion or new deal, consider changing the information within the post, this way people will not be reading the same information multiple times each day. Try to avoid solicitation.

For daily social-media tips, visit our Facebook page here

Tags: Amount Of Time, Audience, Brand Awareness, Business Owners, Campaign Business, Facebook, Free Tools, Frustration, Half The Fun, Hurry, Marketers, Marketing Campaign, Marketing Strategy, Marketing Tool, Media Marketing, Number Location, Page Visitors, People, Proper Knowledge, Telephone Number
Category Facebook, Marketing, Networking Strategy, Social Media |

4 Reasons Why Social Media Is Now The Premium Marketing Strategy

For daily social-media tips, visit our Facebook page here

Tags: 1 Billion, Avenues, Business Productivity, Buying A Home, Cheap Advertising, Customer Satisfaction, Innovations, Keen Eye, Marketing Strategy, Media Outlets, Media Users, Minute Basis, News Feeds, No Doubt, Paper Surveys, Paying Attention, Platform Users, Powerhouse, Premium Marketing, Share Services
Category Marketing, Networking Strategy, Social Media |

Twitter Offers Advanced Marketing Tools

Twitter is one of the most popular social-media platforms available, with many businesses taking advantage of the free advertising the site offers. Over the last several months, Twitter has been promoting more advanced advertising options allowing users a greater opportunity to market to a bigger audience. Many Twitter users are unaware of the sites advertising opportunities and would undoubtedly benefit from the enhanced tools available. There are two main advertising tools that Twitter has been intensely promoting.

1.) Promoting Accounts: This is a paid campaign where Twitter examines your followers and finds individuals who share an interest with you, Twitter then will promote your account to those followers. This is an excellent tool to enhance your brand. Your account will also be promoted in the box labeled “who to follow”  featured prominently on users’ Twitter pages and will then be displayed in search engines. As noted above, this is a paid campaign. You will be charged when your account gains a new follower.

2.) Promoting Tweets: This is an opportunity that allows optimal exposure. This tool will help you share your most notable or engaging tweets to the right individuals. This is also a paid campaign; you will be charged when a follower engages with your specific promoted tweet. You can also choose to “pin” your promoted tweet; this means your tweet will appear at the top of your timeline and expand your exposure.

Twitter advertising offers a distinctive way of marketing but is the same as any other marketing campaign when it comes to strategy. To get the maximum amount of attention from Twitter advertising, be sure to refine your message before delivering it to the public. When promoting a tweet make sure you promote your  most valuable tweets while remaining polite and professional.  Your message and presentation are the most beneficial tools in any marketing strategy.

You can follow us on Twitter here (we follow back).

Tags: Advanced Advertising, Advanced Marketing, Advertising Opportunities, Advertising Tools, Audience, Beneficial Tools, Follower, Followers, Free Advertising, Main Advertising, Marketing Campaign, Marketing Strategy, Marketing Tools, Media Platforms, Optimal Exposure, Options, Search Engines, Timeline, Tweet
Category Marketing, Networking Strategy, Social Media, Twitter |

Daily Social Media Checklist

Developing a daily plan for your social media strategy can be highly advantageous. Starting a Facebook page or Twitter account and posting occasionally is simply not enough. To optimize the usage of your social media outlets, you must establish an effective strategy that will allow you to reach many followers and friends at one time. Take time to research and organize your content. Taking a short time to prepare for the coming week can optimize your social media campaign while making it easier on yourself. Decide where to post, what to post and when to post. Research has found that posting before 8:00 am or after 8:00 pm is close to useless while posting between 10:00 am and 1:00 pm will provide the most traction. After you have your plan constructed you must put it into action, using your social media platforms daily will ensure your marketing success. This is a very simple yet efficient check list you should apply to your daily social media campaign.

1.) Post Interesting and Valuable Information: Posts and tweets are essentially what make up your profile. Your posts should be informative and relevant such as a blog, an article or tip. You can also post something that will encourage interaction between you and your viewers, such as requesting feedback on a particular product or service you provide.

2.) Seek New Followers or Friends: The more followers and friends you have will only increase opportunities to benefit your business. A way to go about getting more friends or followers can be as straightforward as sending an informational email out to your contact list explaining that you have the site and encouraging your contacts to check it out.

3.) Run Facebook Ads: Create a Facebook ad campaign to help create awareness about your business. Facebook ads are very user-friendly; You can personalize your ad as well as select the duration of your ad and how much you want to spend.

For daily social media tips, visit our Facebook page here

Tags: Ad Campaign, Blog, Contact List, Contacts, Duration, Email, Facebook, Followers, Interaction, Marketing, Media Campaign, Media Outlets, Media Platforms, Media Strategy, Nbsp, Short Time, Social Media, Tweets, Twitter
Category Marketing, Networking Strategy, Social Media |

Why Content Marketing Is Essential

The importance of content marketing is vast; it encompasses all formats and can be utilized to attract customers. Content marketing is an expansive term for marketing via digital media such as social media, blogging, content syndication, newsletters, email marketing and more. If you are neglecting to use content marketing, then you are failing to connect with prospective clients and referral partners that you may not have been able to connect with using traditional channels. When content marketing, it is a necessity to provide your customers with fresh, relevant, and advantageous information. Listed below are three reasons why content marketing is essential to achieve a successful marketing campaign.

1.) Keeps Happy Customers: The general pubic is being perpetually assaulted with advertising; people are exhausted from seeing ads covering every website they visit. Content marketing is a way to get beneficial information about you or your business to the public without hassling them with ads. The key to hooking your targeted demographic is simple: Give them what they want. Trusted, useful, reliable information that they will find valuable.

2.) Spread The Word: Content marketing, when done correctly can have a dramatic impact on customers if they enjoy the provided information. Viewers that benefit from your material are more prone to share your information online or by word of mouth. Businesses can generate a large customer base by putting their voices to use. Word of mouth can also have an opposite effect if you have not marketed properly. Make sure that the information you post is not wasting readers’ time and is relevant to your readership.

3.) Build Trust: Learning customer concerns, asking questions, answering questions and providing readers with useful information will, in turn, create a bond between you and your client. Through natural interactions and reciprocal dialogue, you will be learning about their needs and wants, allowing you to build trust and assist them while also working to continually improve your business and strengthening the core building block on the chassis of healthy client-relationships.  Trust is key.

For daily social-media tips, visit our Facebook page here

HereDeixis – In linguistics, deixis refers to the phenomenon wherein understanding the meaning of certain words and phrases in an utterance requires contextual information. →

Tags: Answering Questions, Content Syndication, Customer Base, Customer Concerns, Dialogue, Dramatic Impact, Email Marketing, Information Viewers, Marketing Campaign, Natural Interactions, Prospective Clients, Pubic, Readership, Referral Partners, Successful Marketing, Traditional Channels, Voices, Website Marketing, Word Content, Word Of Mouth
Category Blogging, Marketing, Networking Strategy, Social Media |

Facebook Introduces New Search Tool

Last week, from their Menlo Park campus, Facebook announced an improvement to the popular social networking site that grabbed the media’s attention. The new feature called “Graph Search” allows you to draw connections between you and your Facebook network to find trusted recommendations to restaurants, places, events, businesses, and professionals from a specific industry (e.g. doctors, lawyers, etc.). The new Facebook feature is comparable to search engines like Google and Bing, but instead of having to search through one of the aforementioned popular search engines, you can simply search within Facebook for something to do, which business to use, or where to eat, through the collective wisdom and experience of your network. Below are three tips on how to start preparing for the release of Graph Search, as Graph Search is in “very limited” beta testing and not widely available. Facebook users who want to try the new search tool can join a waiting list, and Facebook will alert you when the service comes available. You can sign-up for the waiting list here: http://www.facebook.com/about/graphsearch

1.) Launch Your Strategy: Make a strong effort to build a following among your audience, Graph Search will eventually change how people discover your business. Your success will depend on how popular your business Facebook page is now, and how popular it becomes in the future.

2.) Add Data: Add as much information about you or your business as your profile allows. If Facebook users don’t add an increasing amount of data to their page, they will not reach the full potential for attracting attention from their network. Be sure to update your page fully by adding as much information possible such as your name, location, and URLs. Be sure to fill out the About section on the page in its entirety. All of these basic steps will contribute substantially to you or your business showing up in searches performed by other members.

3.) Give Your Followers A Reason To Interact With You: Update frequently and provide valuable and compelling information. Graph Search should prove to be a valuable tool to attract more traffic, new connections, and “Likes” on your page.

Invest some time in exploring the potential of Graph Search and the reward could be immensely beneficial. Failing to invest the time may result in your competitors having a serious marketing advantage over you.

For daily social-media tips, visit our Facebook page regularly: http://www.facebook.com/TheIbisNetwork

Tags: Audience, Beta Testing, Collective Wisdom, Doctors, Facebook, Followers, Google, Graph Search, Lawyers, Menlo, Menlo Park, Menlo Park Campus, New Feature, Popular Search Engines, Profile, Restaurants, Search Google, Search Tool, Social Networking Site, Waiting List
Category Facebook, Marketing, Networking Strategy, Social Media |

Top 6 LinkedIn Marketing Tools

Tags: Advantage, Audience, Colleagues, Demographics, Fan Page, Free Pages, LinkedIn, Mail, Marketing Strategy, Marketing Tool, Marketing Tools, Polls, Positive Marketing, Professional Industries, Professional Network, Solicitation, Status Updates
Category Linked In, Marketing, Networking Strategy, Social Media |

Three Leading Twitter Tips For Business

Social Media is vastly becoming a necessity for businesses. Each social media site holds unique benefits to take advantage of- acknowledging these benefits and how they help you, or your business will aid in your Twitter success tremendously. Twitter is known as the real-time social media page. Staying involved and active is essential due to the fast-paced environment.  What was posted an hour ago is long-gone for many Twitter users and, unfortunately, may never be seen by your followers. There are certain steps you can take to ensure your Twitter page is successful. Listed below are three imperative steps that should be taken to acquire an impressive Twitter page.

1.) Stay Involved:

If you are actively checking your Twitter page multiple times each day it is less likely you will miss an important post, and you are more likely to re-post and join in conversations. Staying involved is the most important step to ensure your Twitter success.

2.) Keep Your Followers In The Know:

You should be tweeting at least three times a day. Research has found that tweeting 3-5 times each day is an optimal amount. Followers with a smaller fanbase tend to get annoyed at “habitual tweeters” while others with a larger fanbase may only get the chance to see one tweet out of five. You should provide your followers with interesting information- information that is valuable and will help reinforce the brand you are building.

3.) Follow Back:

This may seem like a tip that has been run into the ground, but it is important that you reciprocate and follow Twitter users who choose to follow you. This will grow your fanbase and allow you to reach as many people as possible. Your goal should be to get your information out to as many followers as possible. Following back will continually aid in the growth of your Twitter page.

Twitter is a simple and free tool that can be advantageous to your business. If you invest the time needed and use Twitter correctly you will begin to see beneficial results. It can take time to grow your fanbase and readership, but by following these three steps, the growth time will be shortened.

For daily social-media tips, “Like” our Facebook page here

Tags: Conversations, Fanbase, Fast Paced Environment, Followers, Free Tool, Invest, Least Three Times, Multiple Times, Real Time, Success, Tweet, Tweeters, Twitter
Category Marketing, Networking Strategy, Social Media, Twitter |

2013′s Social Media Forecast

2013 has arrived and brings with it numerous changes to social media. If changes in 2012 are any indicator for the future, marketers have much to grasp quickly and understand. Usage patterns are changing dramatically, and for businesses this could be a life-or-death matter. To help marketers be more successful in 2013, there are four forecasted facts that every campaign should be aware of in the coming 12 months.

1.) Social Media Will Become Essential Company-Wide:

Social media is expected to become an office productivity tool in the same way E-mail did in the late 1990s. HR departments are accessing social media to reach out to job seekers and streamline the application process. Social media sites will soon be accepted as a serious and beneficial business tool.

2.) Visual Marketing Will Take Front Stage:

2013 will be the visual marketing year. When done right videos are highly effective. Brands will need to  understand what it takes to make a visual marketing campaign in networks like Pinterest, Instagram and others.

3.) Facebook Will Offer More Efficient Tools For Businesses:

Facebook will be introducing premium versions of Facebook pages. The new versions will have analytics that provide marketers with a  better understanding of specific fan segments. Facebook also has a plan to add a tool allowing marketers to stay hyper-local, for example; clothing stores will be able to allow visitors to pay for their online purchases via their Facebook account.

4.) Online Television Surfing Will Become Highly Popular:

Television surfing has already introduced itself, but 2013 will be the year lines may be blurred in what is a T.V and what is not. A huge shift over the next year from tablets, laptops and smart phones to televisions is expected. People will become more comfortable doing internet tasks on their big-screen T.Vs, and doing  television-related tasks on mobile devices. Statistics show that 61% will surf the web by television in the year 2013.

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Category Marketing, Networking Strategy, Social Media |

Advance Your E-Mail Marketing Campaign

Tags: Appearance, Campaign Techniques, Consumers, E Mail Marketing, Email Readers, Experiences, Form Mail, High Expectations, Marketers, Marketing Campaign, Marketing Strategy, Marketing Techniques, Population, Producers, Segment Your Audience, Sense Of Urgency, Shopping Habits, Strategy Target, Target Audience
Category Marketing, Networking Strategy, Social Media |

How To Keep Your Contacts Happy And Your Business Thriving

Like the holiday season, social media offers great promise but also a high risk of offending and angering the very people you hoped to gather together. If done incorrectly, your online fans and followers will turn on you and ruin your expectations of online success. However, with a few reminders, some forethought, and a focus on finding a consistent tone and producing quality content, your dreams of social-media success can be as easily attainable as making a Christmas wish list.

Here are some hints and tips for bettering your online presence and your chances for success …

Your Past: The first place to start when beginning a social-media campaign is with former clients, customers, and partners. If you had a good business relationship with someone in the past, chances are they won’t be reluctant to join your page and like your posts. They aren’t, however, going to be as interested in marketing pieces and sales pitches. That means, you’ll have to have content that is both interesting and professional, but that will also appeal to a wide audience. Having something to share that can interest both your past clients and potential business is key. Keeping your former customers close to you is an excellent way to boost word of mouth and repeat business.

Your Present: This will be where you place the greatest amount of focus. After all, chasing down potential leads and turning window shoppers into clients is where the money’s at. That makes this is an important category to cater to when thinking about how to approach your social-media pages and profiles. After all, a lot of these people have expressed interest in your services and may be ready to bite. That doesn’t mean, however, that they want to be hit with an inbox full of reminders that you’d like their business. Don’t seem desperate. Instead, approach these social-media contacts as though you’re interested in them rather than just their money.

Your Future: This is the area with the most amount of promise. After all, the idea that you can reach across the vast and varied Internet and pull in new contacts just by keeping a Facebook or Twitter account seems both unbelievable and undeniably attractive. Social media and the Internet at large have given businesses a much greater ability to reach out to their community and industry. If you keep your online presence focused on business and respect people’s boundaries, you will no doubt come across new clients you wouldn’t have otherwise. But, much like in the previous cases, you have to be considerate and not abuse your contacts by overloading them with unwelcome advertising or incessant solicitation. Follow common sense and treat people the way you’d like to be treated.

Tags: Articles, Audience, Blog, Blogging, Business Relationship, Christmas Wish List, Consistent Tone, Dreams, Facebook, Fan Page, Followers, Forethought, Free Loan Officer Training, Free Realtor Training, Free Training, Good Business, High Risk, Holiday Season, Inbox, Josh Millar, LinkedIn, Loan Originators, Marketing, Marketing Tools, Media Campaign, Media Contacts, Mortgage Loan Officers, Mortgage Marketing, Mortgage Professionals, Networking, Networking Strategy, Professional Networking Suite, Quality Content, Reminders, Repeat Business, Sales Pitches, Something To Share, The Ibis Network, Twitter, Window Shoppers, Word Of Mouth
Category Marketing, Networking Strategy |

The Basics: Social Media And The Art Of Communication

At its core, social media is about communication. It’s about keeping contact with friends, family, clients, customers, and whoever else you’d like on the list of people you keep in the loop. For business purposes, that means staying close to your list of professional contacts. Sounds easy enough. But the trick is doing it in a way that doesn’t make you a nuisance or an annoyance.

Here are some thoughts and tips …

It’s A Conversation: That’s the easiest way to think about your social-media campaign. You’re trying to start an ongoing conversation with a group of people that are connected to your business. These are people that you’re either currently doing business with or hope to be doing business with in the near future. In other words, you want to keep it professional and geared toward making a case for your services. For example, if your business was blankets, you’d post links to stories about how cold this winter will be rather than turning your blog, page or profile into an advertisement. In other words, everyone has an interest in the weather but someone who isn’t currently in the market for a new blanket is going to get tired of receiving your ads rather quickly. Then, when they do need a blanket, they will have already deleted and forgotten about you. Keep it conversational, interesting, and geared toward your audience.

It’s A Two-Way Street: In order to achieve some success with social media, you have to get your contacts involved and participating. Not only does this help them familiarize themselves with you and your business, it also provides an opportunity to do market research and receive feedback. For starters, you should probably interact a little with the social-media profiles and pages of your contacts. Reply or comment on something they posted or “like” an article or picture they uploaded. This encourages reciprocity and generates some goodwill. Also, ask for opinions and feedback from your online fans and followers. It will provide you with ideas for bettering your business, encourage interaction, and make your contacts feel included and valued. Which is, after all, the whole idea.

It’s Not A Chore: The trouble a lot of businesses have when starting a social-media campaign is their approach. If you’re trying to establish a personal relationship with your clients, contacts, and partners, you don’t want them to feel like you’re doing it out of obligation. Enjoy yourself and it’ll shine through. Try to have some fun with your online properties and it’ll be noticeable. That doesn’t mean posting unprofessional pictures or off-color jokes. It means approaching your Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn page the same way you would approach a phone call with a client. You wouldn’t mumble your words or seem unhappy to hear from them, you’d try to put your best foot forward and make them feel appreciated and eager to do business with you.

Tags: Advertisement, Annoyance, Art Of Communication, Articles, Audience, Blankets, Blogs, Business Purposes, Cold This Winter, Doing Business, Facebook, Family Clients, Free Loan Officer Training, Free Realtor Training, Free Training, Friends Family, Goodwill, Josh Millar, Loan Originators, Market Research, Media Campaign, Media Profiles, Mortgage Loan Officers, Mortgage Professionals, Networking, Networking Strategy, Nuisance, Professional Networking Suite, Realtor Marketing, Reciprocity, Reply, Social Media, Sounds, Starters, Twitter, Weather
Category Marketing, Networking Strategy |