Many companies are striving to acquire more “Likes” for their Facebook
business pages and may have difficulty finding success. The more “Likes”
your page gets the better the odds that your page will be seen and
visited by your targeted audience while optimizing your exposure to
prospective clients in your extended network. Below are 5 helpful ways
you can increase your Facebook “Likes”, grow your fan base, and build a
powerful social-media marketing strategy.

1. Incorporate The “Like” Button On Your Company’s Website- This will
help your online visitors easily find your Facebook page and, in turn,
increase the chances of them “Liking” your company’s Facebook page.

2. Utilize Your Email Signature- Add an icon in your email signature
that will alert contacts to your Facebook page when they receive an
email from you. This is a simple and effective way to share your
business page with established and prospective clients.

3. Offer Incentives- Running promotions is an excellent way to gain more
“Likes” on your page. For example, those who “Like” your page will be
entered into a raffle or contest. This is a proven method to build your
fan base.

4. Stay Engaged And Interact – Give your fans a way to express their
opinions. Be sure to reply to posts made by your fans and stay active on
your page so people will see your company as a reliable source. Use the Facebook “poll” feature as a way to get users to engage and
submit their opinions, and to show that you really are interested in
hearing what they think.

5. Add A Link To Your Facebook Page On Your Blog- Blogs are becoming
more and more popular among businesses as a quick way to keep clients
informed and up-to-date on industry news and company events. A daily
blog presence also serves to build your reputation as an expert in your
network. Additionally, blogs can help drive visitors to your Facebook
page and your company website.

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

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

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

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

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. →

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

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

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. →

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

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